Loretta Napoleoni on the Economics of Terrorism
Interesting TED talk:
Loretta Napoleoni details her rare opportunity to talk to the secretive Italian Red Brigades—an experience that sparked a lifelong interest in terrorism. She gives a behind-the-scenes look at its complex economics, revealing a surprising connection between money laundering and the US Patriot Act.
Russell Coker • January 15, 2010 4:33 PM
One thing to note is that terrorist organisations are driven by economics, if we could reduce their ability to make money then we could reduce the amount of terrorism without doing anything difficult or dangerous. Legalising all drugs would be one way of dramatically reducing the amount of money available to terrorists.
The claim that the Euro increased in value relative to the US dollar due to the PATRIOT act is interesting. It seems that there is a real economic benefit for a country (or economic union) to not take too hard a line against organised crime and terrorism. But I guess that the Swiss worked that out a long time ago. Maybe it would be best if measures to prevent money laundering were devised through the UN so that no country can use lax laws to prop up their own economy.