Although this week’s news has been dominated by the 2014 midterm elections, the drugs and thugs world continues on. Here’s a list of some of the more interesting news and analysis articles from this week. Like the rest of Drugs and Thugs Blog, the topics addressed will focus on terrorism, insurgencies, transnational criminal organizations, and narcotics trafficking.
War, Interrupted, Parts 1 & 2: From Craig Whiteside at War on the Rocks, a two part article on where ISIS came from. Although the general narrative is that ISIS arose from the Syrian conflict, Whiteside argues that as the remnants of al-Qaeda in Iraq, they methodologically planned their way back to power. By targeting Awakening leaders and the Iraqi judicial system, they were able to create an environment in which they could return to prominence. These are excellent articles.
US Drone Strike Kills 20 AQAP Fighters in Yemen: Via Bill Roggio and Oren Adaki at The Long War Journal, a report on a recent drone strike near the region where AQAP and the Houthis have been fighting. Although the ISIS campaign has been the most prominent news story in the Middle East this year, the conflict between AQAP, the Houthis, the Yemeni government, and US drones has been underreported and absolutely fascinating.
Colombia’s BACRIM Expand as FARC Talks Peace: Marguerite Cawley at InSight Crime examines the expansion of BACRIM (criminal bands) groups’ cocaine trafficking into FARC territory. Although peace talks are not finalized, the BACRIM groups appear to be situating themselves to take control once the talks in Havana finish. Even with a successful peace agreement, there is a high likelihood that portions of the FARC will continue trafficking, much like how the AUC evolved into many of the BACRIM groups.
Turkey Ignores ISIS’ Interest in Anatolia at its Peril: Aki Peritz at Overt Action analyzes the lack of Turkish action against ISIS. Although Erdogan claims that foreign fighters have never used Turkey as a transit zone, the reality is that Turkish inaction has allowed ISIS to expand. ISIS has regional goals, which include the capture of the last seat of the caliphate, Istanbul. Turkey can feign ignorance for now, but inaction will lead to blowback.
Chiquita Partly Off Hook in Terror Finance Case: Money Jihad’s post from earlier this week reports on the dismissal of the case arguing that Chiquita paid Colombian AUC insurgents for security in direct violation of US sanctions. Although they have already paid $25 million, the dismissal of the lawsuit is surprising.
Moldovan Crime Boss Arrested After Selling Weapons to OCCRP Journalists: OCCRP reports on their involvement in the arrest of Ion Druta, an organized crime boss in Transnistria, a breakaway province of Moldova. OCCRP reporters went undercover to buy weapons from him, leading to his arrest. Druta is alleged to have been supplying weapons to Ukrainian separatists.
Decentralization: The Future of ISIS: Major Nicholas Pace published an article at Small Wars Journal on the prospects for decentralization and potential breakup of sections of ISIS. This similarly happened to al-Qaeda, resulting in separate groups like ISIS. Pace also argues that we should have a greater impetus on attacking their ideology, not just their networks.
Sorrow, Memory, and the End of the Helmand Campaign: War on the Rocks Editor-in-Chief Ryan Evans had an excellent article earlier this week on his experience in Helmand and the feelings that came out after US and British troops ended their mission in the province. The conflict he feels is surprisingly personal and haunting.
War and Basketball: Finally, a moment of levity. Joshua Keating’s The World blog at Slate is always excellent, but this post was both poignant and hilarious. Trying to reimagine the current conflict in the Middle East as a Duke basketball game gone horribly wrong was just great.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the weekend.
For comments, thoughts, concerns, criticism, or submissions to D&TB, please comment below, email me at conormlarkin@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @ConorMLarkin
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