..irt to the Taliban and Mexican drug cartels.

While the Taliban are currently involved in the Drug trade, it was said that prior to the US invasion, the Taliban actually instituted a ban on opium production, cutting down opium production to record lows. At the same time, some folks argue that prior to the U.S invasion, the Taliban were simply shelving the opium to sell it later at a higher price.

The opium that is produced in Afghanistan makes its way to Iran, Russia, and European nations, last year Iran noted over 2,000,000 opium addicts while Afghanistan had around 1.5 million addicts. Around 2007,2008 Russia lost over 30,000 people due to heroin addiction.

Vice News recently ran an informative piece on the drug trade in Afghanistan.

Is an Illicit Economy Better than no Economy?
But if the opium economy is illicit and fraught with potential for violence and devastating public health implications, it is an economy nonetheless, and a thriving one at that.

Afghanistan produced 75 percent of the world’s heroin supply in 2013, and it’s on its way to produce as much as 90 percent this year. The country is also one of the world's top exporters of cannabis — mostly hashish.

https://news.vice.com/article/afghan...tter-than-ever




As for the Mexican drug cartels, one can note groups such as Los Zetas, of which its members have had million dollar bounties placed on their heads by the USA State dept. Mexican cartel violence has also made its way into the USA, where some USA border police have been shot and killed. According to one source,through the years 2002-2012 , over 600 American civilians were killed in Mexico, and the drug war is certainly playing a role in this.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/new...ntry-in-world/

More Americans have been murdered in Mexico than in any other part of the world in the past decade.

According to an Agence France Press analysis of U.S. State Department figures, at least 648 American citizens were murdered in Mexico between October 2002 and December 2012. This represents more than 40 percent of the almost 1,600 American victims worldwide over the same period.

Three of the top four most murderous countries for Americans are in Latin America. Behind Mexico on the list is the Philippines with 84 homicides, followed by Honduras and the Dominican Republic with 77 each.

To put the number of American murders in Mexico in perspective, more U.S. citizens were murdered in Mexico than were killed in “terrorist action” around the world, according to the AFP. The analysis by the major newswire calculated those deaths at 300 since October 2002.

Like the Taliban, The ruthlessness/terrorism of some of the Mexican Cartels is well known,

http://elnarcotube.com/4-mujeres-inc...los-zetas.html

The video, issued by the Los Zetas (Spanish for “The Zs”) criminal cartel, is designed to strike fear into its opponents, government and other Mexican gangs alike.

It shows four women kneeling in a field, with hands tied behind their backs. They are surrounded by 13 masked and armed men. One of the men asks a woman about their ties to a rival gang, the Gulf Cartel—to which she admits that her brother is a member.

After a few minutes, four men suddenly cut the women’s throats, and after they fall to ground, the helpless victims are decapitated.

Came to light this new video which is very significant because one of the women executed is the infamous "Guera Loca". And as always, the video comes with a nice overhead watermarks from Mundo Narco. La Guera Loca became famous for beheading a captured Zeta and then remove the skin of the face with a cutter ( video here ). Los Zetas had their revenge, it seems.

So,

What is the best approach to defeating Narco terrorism from the likes of Mexican Cartels and the Taliban?

Yell about how all religions are equal?

Anti-drug PSAs featuring the Hulkster and Mr. T are the most powerful weapons against drugs the world has ever seen, brother. No one is going to want to smoke dope after the Hulkster explains what a joke drugs are.

Kid, "kaneh bosm"?

Abolish islam worldwide.

I posted threads about the role of Western multinationals in global drug trade many years ago, and it got the typical baseless dismissal from the "U.S. does no wrong" contingent (liberals and cons alike). Deep denial coupled with baseless "lolJiggs conspiracy" efforts.

Drug money 'saved banks from crisis'

When do we admit the real reason we're in Afghanistan?

Good to see VICE laying bare one of the worst kept global secrets: That modern capitalism requires the quick liquidity provided by illegal international drug trade. To hell with people suffering.

I view this as being similar to the view that all Jews or all Muslims should be eliminated.


Anyway, You're thoughts on drug cartels such as los zetas?

Every religion should be abolished. What a bunch of ignorant toolbags supporting such absurd beliefs.

Crossing the Rubicon, page 60:

Now, if you were a corporate executive needing to borrow money for an LBO or to finance a pipeline, you could go borrow the money legally at 9 percent, or you could borrow drug money laundered once, looking to become legal, at 6 percent. The drug lord is only too happy to own the bonds of, for example, Halliburton or General Electric. But if you really wanted to make a killing, you would launder some drug money onto your bottom line and increase your net profits. You might do it by selling your products “off the books” and accepting cash for them. Then you would just inflate your net profits without any increased costs. Philip Morris has been charged with doing just that.(33) Or, if you made vehicles, you could sell large quantities for a check from an offshore bank, no questions asked, to a guy in South America who wanted to open a Chevy dealership. GM (below) has reportedly done that.

Can you keep the thread on the subject of Narcoterrisom?

???

You do realize that drugs aren't highly liquid in comparison to legitimate assets?

Some people like Heroin, let them indulge in it you narcissist. Perhaps if America/Mexico were more relaxed, all this violence needn't be?

Maybe in times of gumdrops and lollipops...But not when the global financial system is seizing up, and it's obvious those "legitimate" assets are overvalued.

Vienna-based UNODC [United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime] Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in an interview released by Austrian weekly Profil that drug money often became the only available capital when the crisis spiralled out of control last year.

“In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital,” Costa was quoted as saying by Profil. “In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor.”

Well, yeah, it doesn't take a genius to figure out people prefer tangible goods over financial instruments to sell during recessions.

Thing is, this is six years later, the credit markets aren't frozen. Drug money did not keep us afloat during the recession.

I'm not looking to convince a genius. Only reminding that the West enthusiastically supports illegal drug trade.

At first, until monthly QE kicked in, it most certainly did. As Costa confirmed and many others corroborated.

But afloat ever since? Perhaps not. In any case, drug money certainly allows for endless off-the-books funding and accounting tricks to show net profit.

What is the best approach to defeating Narco terrorism?

I blame islam for this.

Cut demand rather than supply, which cannot and will not ever be stopped or even stemmed significantly