Slider. Perceptive & clearly presented.
A very nice example of how to meld personal observation with publicly reported news and flesh out important segments of the bigger picture.
We are burdened with a ruling elite that's become increasingly corrupt, incompetent and self serving. Not a formula for either economic or military success, let alone homeland security - which should be the foundation the other two are built on.
Saw an interview with several intelligence types last week that raised the hackles a bit. In recent years, the smuggling of illegal aliens into the US from Mexico has become so profitable that the drug cartel has elbowed the old operators out of the picture and taken over human AWA drug smuggling along the entire border. And the reason human trade has become so profitable is even more interesting.
Mexicans pay $3,000-5,000 ea. But non-hispanics, particularly from ME nations, are paying $30,000 or more per head for being escorted across the border. And there's been a considerable increase in the flow of non-hispanics, in recent years, as terror cells continue to be positioned across America.
Per the article pasted below, looks like even more good news for the drug cartel, which is shaping up to be the biggest beneficiary - profit wise - from the so called War On Terrorism. (Doubt you'll see this story reported in the highly concentrated and controlled US media.)
news.scotsman.com
HEROIN HARVEST IN AFGHANISTAN SOARS
By DUNCAN ROBERTS
HEROIN production in Afghanistan has soared by up to 1400 per cent since the war on terror and the fall of the Taliban, a drugs conference will hear today.
The United Nations Drug Control Programme estimates the "total likely yield" of this year’s opium poppy crop will be between 1900 and 2700 metric tons, compared with 185 tons last year.
Afghanistan’s vast opium poppy harvest is said to account for 90 per cent of the highly-addictive drug sold on Britain’s streets.
The collapse of the Taliban triggered the massive rise because poppy growing was banned by the regime in July 2000, leading to a fall of 95 per cent in the size of last year’s crop.
DrugScope, the drugs charity which is staging the conference, said the new figure demonstrated opium cultivation was back to "a very significant level".
Chief executive of DrugScope, Roger Howard, said: "The expected large rise in Afghan opium production is a major concern.
"If we are to stop the return to full-scale opium production, the international community must fulfil its commitment to help rebuild Afghan society, giving communities and individuals another option.
"The conference will hear that international efforts at controlling production outside this holistic approach have consistently not delivered. Enforcement on its own is not the solution."
The charity said the rise would come as a blow to the UK government, which in April agreed to take a global lead in helping the Afghan authorities to develop anti-narcotics policies.
In April, the Foreign Office predicted the amount of heroin on Britain’s streets would be cut by a scheme offering Afghan farmers £800 for 2.4 acres of opium destroyed.
Delegates at the Paris conference will also hear that Afghan authorities have poorly trained staff, and inadequate equipment and facilities to deal with the problem, DrugScope said.>>
So much for the War On Drugs. May it RIP.
I'd rather not go any further with this on a public thread. But, I think you can see where I'm going with this.
For the thread, suffice it to say that the ruthless and exploitative axioms of Machiavelli rule international power politics today, just as they always have.
Iso |
