In this mailing:
- Judith Bergman: Europe's Nigerian Mafia
- Stephen Blank and Peter Huessy: Turkey: Turning on Washington to Benefit Moscow
- Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff: The Austrian People's Party and the Greens - A Successful Coalition for the Future?
by Judith Bergman • January 8, 2020 at 5:00 am
Italian intelligence has named the Nigerian mafia "the most structured and dynamic" of any foreign crime entity operating in Italy, according to the Washington Post.... What distinguishes the Nigerian crime networks is their severe brutality... Black Axe has also spread to Canada, where a 2015 report by the Globe and Mail described it as a "death cult"... linked to "decades of murders and rapes.... In the US, the FBI recently linked a series of financial frauds to Black Axe. "...traffickers tell victims of human trafficking to apply for asylum and then get a status to be able to stay here in Germany, but they continue to be exploited in prostitution." — Andrea Tivig, Terre des Femmes, Infomigrants.net, March 15, 2019. "In addition to a common fondness for crime, the culture of immigrant gangs is a cocktail of religion, clan affiliation, honor, shame and brotherhood... The harder and the more brutal [you are], the stronger you are, and then you create awareness of yourself and attract more [people]". — Naser Khader, member of the Danish Parliament for the Conservative Party and co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, Jyllands-Posten, November 22, 2018. In policy debates, the detrimental effects of migration on crime, particularly gang crime, do not receive nearly the attention -- if any -- they deserve. They should.
It is no wonder that the Nigerian mafia has become so prominent in Italy: the country has been one of Europe's front doors for migrants entering Europe. Pictured: An inflatable boat attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy with 47 African migrants on board, as it is being rescued by the Dutch-flagged Sea Watch 3 off Libya's coast on January 19, 2019. (Photo by Federico Scoppa/AFP via Getty Images)
One of the fastest growing criminal networks in Europe is now the Nigerian mafia, which is spreading its criminal activities across the continent. It consists of rival groups such as Black Axe, Vikings and Maphite. Most recently, authorities in Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Malta conducted an international operation directed at two of the major Nigerian mafia groups. Police accused the gangs of human-trafficking, drug trafficking, robbery, extortion, sexual violence and prostitution. According to a June 2019 report by the Washington Post on the Nigerian mafia in Italy: "They hold territory from the north in Turin to the south in Palermo. They smuggle drugs and traffic women, deploying them as prostitutes on Italy's streets. They find new members among the caste of wayward migrants, illicitly recruiting at Italian government-run asylum centers."
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by Stephen Blank and Peter Huessy • January 8, 2020 at 4:30 am
"Turkey and [Libya's] Government of National Accord reached an unusual agreement to essentially carve up much of the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean between them — threatening to cut out Greece and Cyprus from the coming bonanza." — Foreign Policy, Keith Johnson, December 23, 2019. Turkey's confrontations with the US and NATO, of which it is a member, have served Russia well, giving Putin huge returns on a relatively small investment -- returns that are likely to grow in 2020.
Turkey's confrontations with the US and NATO, of which it is a member, have served Russia well, giving Russian President Vladimir Putin huge returns on a relatively small investment -- returns that are likely to grow in 2020. Pictured: Putin (left) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan meet in Moscow on March 10, 2017. (Image source: kremlin.ru/Wikimedia Commons)
Turkey's often seeming contradictory relations with the United States and Russia -- such as, for instance, Ankara's boosting of cooperation with Ukraine, on the one hand, and defending the Libyan government against General Khalifa Haftar's insurgency on the other -- likely stem from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's apparent drive to become a leading regional and global power. To this end, Erdoğan has steadily constructed a repressive authoritarian regime resembling that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, as the March 31, 2019 municipal elections in Istanbul demonstrated, Erdoğan's domestic base, including within his own Justice and Development Party has narrowed in favor of the Turkish nationalist right. To counter his weakened position at home, Erdoğan evidently thinks he needs to demonize America and resist US policies in Syria and the eastern Mediterranean.
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by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff • January 8, 2020 at 4:00 am
They [the Austrian Greens Party] now enjoy unprecedented attention not afforded to other small political parties. Moreover, the European Union has always viewed coalition governments with a Greens participation as "sexy and future-oriented", with German chancellor Angela Merkel having had her eyes on a coalition with the Greens for a long time. European media outlets are hailing the new and "future-oriented" Austrian government as a "model for Germany", "the only chance to combat [right-wing] extremism", and "a model that could be worth copying". Criticism, even in its slightest form, has been virtually non-existent. Whereas the Austrian Greens Party is eco-socialist, capitalizing on the current worldwide trends purportedly to save the planet from extinction due to "climate change", the People's Party champions an eco-social market economy, developed by former Austrian vice-chancellor Josef Riegler. It calls for the balance of a free market economy, social fairness and the protection of natural resources. How these seemingly conflicting views were reconciled in a coalition agreement will be discussed in the near future.
Pictured: Austria's President Alexander van der Bellen (right) stands next to Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (second from right), Greens Party leader Werner Kogler (second from left) and Minister of Justice Alma Zadic during the swearing-in ceremony of their coalition government on January 7, 2020 in Vienna. (Photo by Roland Schlager/APA/AFP via Getty Images)
After the end of a popular coalition government between the Austrian People's Party and the Freedom Party -- as well as snap elections on September 29, 2019, and extensive exploratory talks among all political parties -- coalition negotiations between the allegedly center-right People's Party and the far-left Greens Party reached their conclusion on January 2, 2020. Austrians had to exercise patience for more than 100 days until they would once again be governed by an elected administration. Since the previous government's crash and the following parliamentary no-confidence vote against then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, an unelected, appointed, technocratic caretaker government had been in charge.
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