Welcome to this weekend’s Non-State Update. Below is a list of some of the best articles, podcasts, and other media from this week. Like always, the topics addressed are the usual Drugs and Thugs issues: terrorism, insurgency, transnational criminal organizations, and narcotics trafficking.
Jury Takes Less than Four Hours to Convict Ross Ulbricht of Running Silk Road: Leading off, Samuel Oakford at Vice News with the result of the Silk Road trial. Ulbricht aka Dread Pirate Roberts has been convicted, likely to face life in jail. With the overwhelming evidence against Ulbricht, this result is unsurprising.
Next, Foreign Policy’s Kate Brannen with commentary on a recent Fareed Zakaria interview with President Obama. Obama noted that their lack of governance will ultimately end the organization and urged that we continue to view the situation realistically, as ISIS is not an existential threat to the US.
At the Long War, however, Thomas Jocelyn analyzes the DIA director’s recent congressional testimony in which LTG Stewart warned about the complexity of the current security crises. Stewart notes the stalemated situation in Afghanistan, the current division between ISIS and al-Qaeda, and the current standing of the air campaign against ISIS.
The Line of Steel blog’s Caleb Weiss posted this explanatory guide earlier this week on the ubiquitous ISIS flag. Weiss notes the historical context of the flag, then analyzes other groups with similar flags. Just because two jihadist groups have the same black flag does not mean that they’re allied.
Money Jihad has a short piece on the recent Treasury action against D-Company assets and individuals, notably Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anis Ibrahim. The sanctions are even more notable this week after Anis’s arrest. Despite the international pressure, Dawood effectively lives openly in Pakistan.
Aki Peritz at Overt Action just posted a piece on how Iraqi civil servants continue to work in ISIS-controlled territory and continue to receive funds from the Iraqi central government. Peritz analyzes why Iraq allows this to continue and how this process diverts funds to ISIS, which especially needs the income while the price of oil remains low.
Published at Ft. Leavenworth and edited by Byron Ramirez and Robert J. Bunker, with support from Small Wars Journal’s El Centro and InSight Crime, a giant pdf covering everything related to the use of submarines by drug cartels. The technology used by the cartels is astounding.
Jamila Trindle at Foreign Policy with an article on the continued closure of accounts related to remittances and money services to Somalia. The fear of funding terrorist groups like al-Shabaab, and the related fear of non-compliance fines, has led banks to avoid the country at all costs. While the fears are understandable, allowing an entire country to go unbanked is not the appropriate response.
A surprising development in the Colombian narcotics market, as reported at InSight Crime by Loren Risenfeld and Elyssa Pachico. Colombian cartels are now exporting their product as an unfinished product. This means that their profit is significantly diminished, but it limits their financial exposure if a shipment is interdicted. The article also notes that Colombian cartels are have a difficult time sourcing the precursor chemicals necessary to finalize their product.
A short take at OCCRP on the extradition of Safet Kalic, a Montenegrin drug trafficker with ties to Darko Saric’s organization. There are complications with the Interpol arrest warrant between Montenegro and Germany, but it seems likely that Montenegro will request his extradition.
Finally, another great podcast episode from the Loopcast, this time on Boko Haram. Chelsea Daymon hosts Hilary Matfess for an in-depth discussion on the insurgency. Like always, it’s a great listen.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the weekend.
For comments, thoughts, concerns, criticism, or article submissions to D&TB, please comment below, email me at conormlarkin@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @ConorMLarkin.
No comments:
Post a Comment