Organised crime

Dark Banking: the global impact of illicit underground banking systems

Global underground banking networks like China’s Fei Ch’ien, and the Middle East and Africa’s Hawala, form an extensive and intricate network of financial channels that trade outside the recognised global banking system. They facilitate the movements of billions of dollars’ worth of transfers each year across borders, to serve both legitimate and illicit requirements. In [...]

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‘Silent Partners’ Part 2 – organised crime’s black market activities

A troubling and complex issue has emerged in response to the US-led sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Organised crime groups (OCGs), driven by their relentless pursuit of profit, have found fertile ground in evading these sanctions, resulting in a cascade of effects felt across the globe. This is Part 2 of an

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‘Silent Partners’ – organised crime’s profitable collaboration with sanctioned regimes

Three decades after the conclusion of Cold War 1.0, the global stage is witnessing an unsettling revival of Cold War dynamics and tensions. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 was supposed to mark the start of a new era. However, relations between the United States of America, Russia, China, Ukraine, Iran, North Korea,

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Cryptocurrency: Step right up for a miracle?

As the pioneers and settlers spread out across the Wild West, a new type of person sprang up in the saloons and squares of the new world: the snake oil salesmen. These charmers would offer tonics promised to cure absolutely any ailment, for an unbelievable price, in a deal that the good townsfolk would be

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Why are Russian Oligarchs falling?

Has the recent spate of oligarchical deaths been a co-ordinated attack orchestrated by Putin who fears their growing power turning against him, or is it Ukrainian/Western special forces taking out allies of the Russian government as revenge for its aggression in Ukraine, or is it just the nature of the beast? Firstly, it should be

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The luxuries of avoiding sanctions

Global sanctions on Russia continue apace, and there are rare admissions from within the country that these are working. Transport Minister, Vitaly Savelyev, has indicated that current trade logistics have been ‘virtually wrecked’, and the news that McDonalds and Starbucks are to permanently leave the country is, to the ordinary Russian, just as disappointing as

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