The role of the United States in the organization of the world drug trade
In 1890, Alfred Marshall formulated the law of supply and demand - the consumer has money and he wants to buy something, the manufacturer has the product and he wants to sell it. The price of goods is formed depending on the ratio of supply and demand. Any drug mafia knows this law, which is the material and ideological basis of its existence. “Well,” the drug dealer says, “I’ll give up doing dirty business, I’ll do wholesale supplies of sunflower oil, so what? Clients will go to my competitor, but in fact nothing will change. ”
In short, the green-faced drug addicts with dull eyes are to blame. They create demand. All others simply meet the needs of consumers. No one forces the latter to use any nastiness, does it?
There is one nuance. Neither ecstasy, nor LSD or the same heroin grows freely in nature and does not act as salt deposits in caves. All of them are developed in a completely legal way, in laboratories set up by the money of pharmacological corporations, and even with state funds. Before their appearance as a cure for bad mood and a runny nose, there was no demand for them. Initially there was an offer. Ecstasy went to the masses through night dance clubs along with raves and other cultural elements for intoxicated free personalities. Remember how marijuana and heroin came into fashion. Here also under a musical sly they also entered.
The scheme for the introduction of ecstasy was as follows (no one found anyone, that’s for sure). At first, Dow Chemical employee, biochemist, pharmacologist and “psychoactive substance tester” Alexander Shulgin experienced the effect of MDMA drug invented by Anton Kelish (Merck employee), found the drug excellent and began to advertise it among friends in the scientific community. Obviously, the latter also periodically experienced the action of psychoactive substances. Practicing psychotherapists, with the filing of the scientific community, began to use the drug in practice. They told the patients something like: "Throw all your fears out of my head, I will prescribe you the newest medicine and all your bad mood will go away in five minutes."
Between the case of MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, in the 1950s, it was tested in the US Army, on animals naturally, or on who the American generals appointed as such. Obviously, the test subjects also recognized the drug as excellent. Extensive clinical trials are, you know, without which no medical drug goes on sale, and serious guys work in the Pentagon. At the beginning of 1980, the free press and ecstasy became one of the best friends of the American youth about the properties of the new wonder drug. In 1985, the US Drug Enforcement Agency banned MDMA. In the end, it had to do it once and it did it. But demand has already been created.
If you claim that neither US government organizations, nor pharmaceutical corporations are not involved in the development and promotion of Ecstasy, then you are not interested in anything, or you have been studying the behavior of penguins for the last twenty years without leaving Antarctica.
With pharmaceutical corporations, in principle, everything is clear. These are capitalist predators, ready to profit from anything, including human health. But how can the state of the United States, the bulwark of freedom, humanism and all democracy, engage in drug trafficking? There is a suspicion that it can, and in very wide volumes, i.e. hundreds of tons and billions of dollars.
We will not delve into those heavenly times when the British Empire traded in opium in China. This trade came to an end with the advent of the CCP and personally Comrade Mao Zedong. Poor, miserable England suffered cruelly, watching the torment of Chinese drug addicts in correctional facilities, but, alas, she could not help. Communists have their own ideas about the needs of the working class and cultural workers. It is possible that this part of the communist worldview was the real reason for the invasion of the US army in Vietnam.
Yes, the United States government does not lie when it claims that it tried to stop the spread of communism in Indochina. Those. Private Jones had to take a rifle, go thousands of miles from New Jersey and kill the Vietnamese just because the commies are bad and read Karl Marx’s books.
The question “for what benefits has the United States reached poor Vietnam?” Is still unsolved in modern political studies. Meanwhile, the answer is simple. Communism is indeed an expansionist ideology, and the Vietnamese have established themselves as brave and skillful fighters. The problem at that moment was as follows.
What do you know about the so-called. Golden Triangle?
After Afghanistan reached its design capacity for the production of raw opium and heroin, the Golden Triangle was forgotten. This region has lost its former importance now, though, why would it all of a sudden? So here. The “Golden Triangle” is a geographical area located in the mountains at the junction of the borders of three states of Southeast Asia: Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. Here at one time produced an overwhelming amount of world heroin.
And imagine that in close proximity to this pirate box full of hundreds of billions of dollars, there is a harsh communist regime, hostile not only to the bourgeoisie, but also to the drug trade. What a collision!
The population of the “Golden Triangle” lived as a colony of ciliates in a nutrient solution jar. The collection of opium and the production of heroin were in the hands of local generals, but it was not clear who was behind all this and controlled it. Those. there was a pure free democratic market, until finally, in the immediate vicinity of the plantations, the specter of communism loomed. First, the South Vietnamese government tried on its own, with US technical support, to bury this sign. However, the latter was terribly tenacious. And then the real owner of the flower garden appeared on the scene - the United States. 2 August 1964, the first armed incident between the ships of the American and North Vietnamese Navy took place in the Gulf of Tonkin. The war has begun.
Orders to the US military are given by the president of this country. The presidents of the United States are extremely respectable people, they know nothing about drugs and have never even tried marijuana. They are holy. These are their generals bad and prone to corruption.
How was heroin delivered to the United States from the Golden Triangle? ” You won’t believe it, but everyone who wants to know about it knows about it - military transport aircraft aviation US Air Force. In 2007, Ridley Scott's American Gangster movie was released to the world, detailing the organization of large-scale bulk heroin shipments from American air bases to small-scale dealers and small retailers. The film was shot based on real events.
In Russia, it is customary to quote special studies, and in the US - Hollywood film masterpieces. We will enter as the free American press. According to the film, bales of heroin were transported from Vietnam to the USA by transport aircraft, small wholesale traders from the mafia came for them directly to the territory of the military base, then packed up the goods in small containers in underground enterprises and distributed heroin to those who were thirsty through a retail network.
The film American Gangster received two Oscars, and Ridley Scott was not brought to justice for defamation of the army and the US state.
If the “Golden Triangle” turned out to be the only territory in the whole world suitable for growing opium poppy, the war in Vietnam might have taken a completely different turn. However, the world once again did without a small nuclear bombardment. To the delight of all involved in the sharing of profits from the drug trade, opium poppy grows in many remote parts of the world. These corners are inhabited by the impoverished and therefore not too discriminating population. In addition, opiates are not the only means for drug addicts to escape from the vile reality.
The United States withdrew its troops from Vietnam in the 1973 year, until 1975, the northern communists finished off the Saigon puppet regime, but what could this change in principle? Accidentally or not, it was precisely in the 70-90-s of the last century that the expansion of the activities of the South American cocaine cartels fell. This expansion went under inspirational electric guitar chords (who doesn’t remember Cocaine and Nazareth?) And the loud promises of the United States administration to put an end to all such ugliness. Hollywood, meanwhile, raised the stakes and covered the class struggle of the brutal Muchachos against some incorruptible American policemen in detail. Figures of pop culture began to admit each other to cocaine addiction, and the death of some from an overdose became even a legend of rock music.
Well known epic story birth, struggle and death of the Medellinsky Cartel. In 70-90-ies, he practically monopolized the production of cocaine in Colombia. And here is what is important. Every monopoly brings super profits, which is ensured by high prices, and the latter are growing due to the lack of competition.
Once, the leadership of the drug cartel decided to make a claim for something more than technical control over the collection and packaging of coca raw materials. It began to actively buy statesmen and politicians. The customs of the latter in Latin America, as is known, are simple and unpretentious. If they are given money, they take it, and then they promise to shoot all corrupt officials in the elections. It is clear that Escobar associates, in a certain sense, defended their investments.
The administration of the White House, which in 1984 decided to declare a “crusade” against the evil cocaine empire, did not like this much. The challenge has been thrown.
The ferocious dogs of the Medellín Cartel did not tail their tail in response to strategic initiatives by the US administration and the so-called. The Andean Triangle turned into hell for several years, where human life did not cost anything at all. By the beginning of the 1990's. The “cocaine war” as a whole ended in an unconditional victory for democracy. All the leaders of the Medellín Cartel were either killed or arrested. And what? Should it be understood that the American intelligence services have set a reliable barrier to the cocaine stream, which pours into the United States? Not at all.
According to a study conducted by Yuri Latov (Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation), the dynamics of retail prices for cocaine showed the dubious effectiveness of the cartel war: for 1984-1988. a kilogram of cocaine fell in the United States five times - from 300 thousand dollars per kilogram to 60 thousand. This drug in the United States has become during this time much more affordable than before. How could this happen? Did the disruption in supply and shortages of goods ever led to lower prices? It can not be.
In the expert literature on this issue there is usually one explanation - Washington wanted the best, but it turned out as always, i.e. somewhere they missed out, somewhere else they didn’t get shot or didn’t shoot the one they needed, “but we fought, right?”
Yes, the CIA fought, that's for sure.
As noted above, the monopoly of the Medellinsky cartel in 70-s - the beginning of 80-s of the last century turned to high prices for consumers in the USA, which circumstance held back the spread of the drug and reduced the client base. What did the cartel riot lead to?
Yuri Latov notes that by the end of 1990's. In the Andean triangle, a paradoxical situation developed: almost all of the more or less large drug traffickers were imprisoned or killed, while the cocaine export flow did not decrease, and the crops of this drug culture also did not decrease. Meanwhile, there is nothing paradoxical here. This is how market pricing is introduced in societies prone to junta and monopolies. Bearded bandits replaced clerks with laptops and white shirts. It is a civilization, and by this it differs from criminal lawlessness.
Can someone say that the CIA was ineffective? Not in the least. Obviously, it was precisely this result that was achieved. Quality goods at an affordable price - this is the ideal work of a market economy. If Pablo Escobar practiced shooting less and studied the principles of a market economy, he would radically change his company's strategy and have lived incomparably longer.
The story of the Colombian cartel is just one of the episodes of the great work being done by US government agencies in Latin America.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the CIA employees in Latin American governments are hardly less than in Langley itself. For example, what happened to General Noriega? He was an agent of the CIA, received money from him. France awarded the general the Order of the Legion of Honor, he bought real estate here. Harvey Sickerman, director of the Philadelphia Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, states: “The CIA refused its services, and Noriega began to oppress American citizens in Panama. At the same time, he continued to smuggle drugs and weapons. And President Bush has removed him from power by military force. ”
Like this. Just think about it. The CIA refused the services of a general, and he, a tomboy of a sort, continued to engage in arms and drug trafficking, i.e. what he used to do in the service of Washington. But you can understand it. Bush Sr. not only unfairly dismissed a loyal CIA officer, but also obviously did not pay his severance pay. I had to keep the general earning his usual work.
And how does a retired CIA agent live in prison?
Harvey Sickerman claims that General Noriege was created especially favorable conditions in prison so that he wouldn’t talk too much, because this man really knew a lot. What is interesting? About the activities of Chinese intelligence or what?
That's it.
15 November 1996, the Los Angeles Drug Enforcement Officer (he worked here for 20 years) Michael Ruppert made a public statement before the CIA director John Deutch and accused the organization led by the latter of delivering drugs to the United States. A month later, John Deutsch left his post. No, the CIA director did not treat his friends to cocaine at working meetings in Washington. Some secret access problems were found on his computers.
Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat, a professor at the University of California, writes at La Tribune that CIA involvement and responsibility for global drug traffic is a taboo subject in political circles, election campaigns and the media. Those who tried to break this ban, like journalist Gary Webb, paid for it with a career. A definite move on this issue was a large article by Alfred McCoy, which appeared on TomDispatch 30 March 2010.
The problem is completely clear. Multibillion-dollar drug operations in which the CIA is implicated are becoming increasingly large, and the arrogance of officials of the world's only superpower is increasingly blatant. An example of this is the situation in Afghanistan.
Service in the CIA is difficult and dangerous. One of the tasks of the paladins of the Empire of Good is to systematically search, catch, shoot and hang their former colleagues who have embarked on the path of treason. So do all the special services with their renegades. Meanwhile, the United States foreign policy has one curious feature. For example, as soon as Washington needed to plant “democracy” in Afghanistan, CIA agent Osama bin Laden immediately discovered himself, declaring the fight against the Good Empire as the goal of his life. Mr. Osama was caught, killed, and the US Army Expeditionary Corps, both standing in Afghanistan and standing.
It would seem that the task is completed, the villains are defeated, American warriors can pack personal belongings and say goodbye to Afghan friends. And no. Nothing like this. Yes, the number of the expedition contingent is decreasing, its maintenance costs are decreasing, and these are perfectly reasonable measures, taking into account the unstable financial situation of the USA. However, all this does not mean that the Americans are going to leave Afghanistan. Someday, perhaps, this will happen, but not in the near future.
Why is Washington not eager to remove its troops from Afghanistan? To answer this question, another question should be asked - what is the real reason for the US invasion of this country?
Let's look at some numbers. According to a former employee of the Tajik Drug Control Agency, Aidar Makhmadiyev, 1999 tons of raw opium were produced in 4565 in Afghanistan, in 2000 (the Taliban banned poppy cultivation in July of this year) - 3276 tons were produced; in the 2001 year (the year of the ban) - 185 tons, in 2002 (after the US attack on Afghanistan and the collapse of the Taliban regime) - 2700 tons. In 2003 - 3400 tons, 2004 - 4200 tons, 2005 - 4100 tons, 2007 - 8200 etc.
The most notable date in this series is 2001, the year in which opium production in Afghanistan was virtually curtailed by decision of the Taliban leadership. What happened next?
You all know this story with two skyscrapers blown up on 11 of September of the year, and got acquainted with different versions of who was behind the attack. George Bush Jr. stated that Mr. Osama and Al Qaeda (who is now fighting for democracy in Syria) did this, demanded that they be extradited from the Taliban, but either the Taliban really refused Bush the younger, or simply did not know where All these people, in short, October 2001 7, cruise missiles, strategic bombers and Daisy Cutter super heavy bombs went into action. All this equipment exploded, rumbled, roared, whistled and made other amazing sounds. The Afghan peasants were shocked by the greatness of America.
Naturally, the Taliban cavalry was unable to withstand the shock mega-power of the US Army. They say that the Taliban still had aviation, air defense and Tankson which they liked to be photographed. One way or another, one of the largest operations in the history of the United States to decommission obsolete and test the latest weapons was successful.
The Taliban regime was crushed, then the Campbells came, hooray, hurray! Inspired by democracy, Afghan workers dramatically increased the rate of production of raw opium. The consumption of heroin in Afghanistan itself has naturally increased as well. Today, according to Russia Today’s correspondent Gayane Chichyakyan, 300 thousands of children in Afghanistan take drugs.
The main part of Afghan heroin (over 70%) goes to Europe through Kosovo, more precisely, through the mafia groups of Kosovo Albanians. According to the director of the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia, Viktor Ivanov, about 15 large drug cartels are operating in Kosovo. They provide transit to Europe of both Afghan heroin and Latin American cocaine. Of particular importance in the supply of drugs to Europe is the Balkan route from Afghanistan, for which Kosovo is a key transit hub. Here is the pre-sale preparation and packaging of heroin for subsequent delivery to European countries. In Kosovo, a kilogram of heroin in 2011 was worth about 10 thousand euros, in Western Europe its price reached already 150 thousand euros ($ 1-2 thousand on the Tajik-Afghan border). Kosovo mafiosi have a lot of money on drug trafficking (relatively, of course), their income is estimated at $ 3 billion annually, and in order to save their income, they need to zealously serve their masters and not repeat the mistakes of the Medellin cartel. But who is the real owner of the Albanian “Pistoleros”?
Now let's look at some facts.
In 2008, the Kosovo Albanians unilaterally (naturally, with the support of the US and the EU), declared Kosovo's independence from Serbia. Thus, the Serbian police services were denied admission to conduct operations in the region. But that's not the point. The newly formed drug addict has no military power and no political influence. His so-called "Sovereignty" rests on the direct military support of the United States.
Perhaps this is the style of Washington humor, but Afghanistan was the first state to recognize Kosovo’s independence earlier than Costa Rica, given the difference in time zones. Obviously, the donkeys with bales of heroin were stagnant, it was urgent to unload the poor animals.
The United States maintains two military bases in Kosovo. The first is Camp Bondsteel, one of the largest in Europe, located near the town of Urosevac. It began to build in 1999 year. Camp Bondsteel is the headquarters of the Multinational Operational Group "East" under the command of the United States. The second base is Camp Monteith.
In an interview with 2008, Dmitry Rogozin, who was confirmed at the time as Russia's ambassador to NATO, was asked by the Russian newspaper “why Kosovo turned out to be the most important region for Americans”, answered sincerely and emotionally: “I myself cannot understand. Why not Basques, not Corsica, not Kurds, not Caucasian republics, not Northern Ireland, not Tibet ... why are the Kosovo Albanians ?! ”.
It's very simple, my friends. Whatever the conversation, he is always talking about money.
Think, does the White House have plans or does it operate within the framework of a single-cell being? So, the “Kosovo project” is a project of construction and organization of the drug dispenser, the largest in Europe (not a dispensary!). Kosovo is hundreds of billions of dollars from drug trafficking, and without filling out a tax return. What is difficult here?
Albanians are a poor nation, they do not shun dirty work. Their criminal clans owe Washington everything - power, money, prestige among the scum of Europe and fear among its inhabitants. And most importantly, horror over retribution holds them in obedience. If the White House deprives Kosovo Albanians of military and political support, how will the Serbs react?
Let's summarize some results. According to Professor Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat, the CIA’s efforts to move Afghanistan to lead the world in heroin traffic were a repetition of what happened earlier in Burma, Laos and Thailand from the late 1940 to 1970. These countries also became the largest participants in drug trafficking thanks to support from the CIA.
“The main source of world drug problems is not in Kabul, but in Washington,” says Peter Dale Scott.
So let's ask ourselves again: What is the role of the United States in the organization of the world drug trade?
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