Tag Archives: crime

Fighting Corruption Hurts Organized Crime

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For a long time, corruption has been condemned for many different reasons. But it has never been condemned for the threat it poses to security. Until now.

The International Anti-corruption Conference, which began November 10 in Bangkok, Thailand, heard calls for decisive and urgent action against corruption to combat the exponential growth of transnational organized crime. Corruption facilitates these crime networks and creates opportunities for terrorists and nuclear weapon proliferators, according to Gareth Evans of the International Crisis Group. The gravest threat may come from post-conflict countries and failed states where mafias often have either found safe havens or created alternative power structures, Bill Hughes of the U.K. Serious Organized Crime Agency said.

But bad news about transnational crime can actually be good news. Because it has grown beyond any single country’s capability to deal with it effectively, nations have no choice but to cooperate. Somali pirates are a good, but not the only, example of this proposition. To effectively respond to the threat, countries must go beyond making grandiose declarations and instead focus on relevant transnational issues, and cooperate and coordinate their actions.

A police officer checks a luxury car during a raid against an international gang in Costa del Sol, Spain on May 25, 2010. Spanish police worked with their counterparts in Britain and Ireland to track the suspects.

World powers must ensure that an effective international financial monitoring system is in place when they provide aid to post-conflict countries. Remedies in other nations should include private-public partnerships to secure global supply chains as well as law enforcement cooperation and customs capacity building. Cameroon was cited as an example of a developing country that has made progress on customs reform.

The United States took action to mobilize the international community against transnational crime when it launched Trans-Pacific Symposium on Dismantling Transnational Illicit Networks in 2009. The second symposium, organized jointly with New Zealand, is taking place later this month in Christchurch, New Zealand. Partnership with European countries is in the works.

USAID's Shah in Pakistan, an American Freed, and Crime Fighters' Need for Speed

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USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah returns from Pakistan and announces a $50 million increase in U.S. aid. An American held in North Korea is freed and faster boats help in fighting crime and terrorism. Read about a new volcano threat to air travel and some new educational breakthroughs. Finally, cap-and-trade to reduce greenhouse gases is alive and well in the western United States and Canada.  

Pakistan Flood Damage “Astronomical”
With 20 million people affected by Pakistan’s floods, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said that an even larger international humanitarian response is needed.  After returning from Pakistan, Shah said “the scale and the scope of this natural disaster is astronomical.”  Shah announced the Obama administration is providing $50 million in new funding.  That funding brings the U.S. humanitarian assistance in response to the flooding to more than $200 million, in addition to in-kind and technical assistance such as the use of U.S. aircraft to rescue flood victims and deliver relief supplies. 

North Korea Releases Imprisoned American
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, following two days of talks in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, secured the pardon of an American who had been imprisoned for seven months by the North Korean regime. Carter and the 31-year-old American, Aijalon Mahli Gomes, boarded a flight August 27 for Boston, which is Gomes’ home. 

Fighting Crime, Terrorism with Faster Boats
The United States donated four police patrol boats to the Philippine maritime police through a program that helps foreign governments develop professional law enforcement capacity to protect human rights and fight corruption, transnational crime and terrorism.  The four boats will also aid in rescues at sea, said U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas Jr. The International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) currently offers training in 38 countries.

Remember That Volcano in Iceland?
Remember the disruption to air traffic caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokul volcano in Iceland?  Volcanic eruptions on Russia’s Kamchatka Penninsula, the Kurile Islands or Alaska could similarly affect air space in Russia, Japan, Canada and the United States. In response to the need to rapidly detect volcanic threats, U.S. and Russian scientists formed the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team in 1993. 

Building a Classroom Across an Ocean
Online collaboration between U.S. and Egyptian architecture students and professors is building real-world skills and friendships. The first student project — a public space and hotel near the Pyramids of Giza – involved 50 third-year architecture students in Cairo.

Islamic College Launched in California
Zaytuna College held its inaugural classes August 24 and aims to become America’s first four-year, accredited, Islamic institution of higher learning. It grew out of the Zaytuna Institute, which was founded in 1996. Zaytuna focuses on renewing Islam’s intellectual tradition while placing it in the context of American society.

Western States Take Aim at Greenhouse Gases
A comprehensive strategy was released last month for the Western Climate Initiative, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions through carbon dioxide emissions trading and various clean energy policies. With 11 states and Canadian provinces signed up, it is poised to become the most comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade market in the U.S. so far. Left, power plants such as this one in New Mexico must cap their emissions when the WCI takes effect in 2012.