Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong Globalization’s unreported wars Thomas Abraham

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong

Globalization’s unreported wars

Thomas Abraham






Mexican president Calderon: “The principle thing we have in common with Colombia is that we suffer from the consumption of drugs of the United States — we’re both victims of the enormous consumption of drugs by America and now the sale of arms by the American industry.”


http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/05/30/us/1194840597846/war-without-borders.html?scp=1&sq=Drug%20wars&st=cse


Wars, coups and earthquakes

In our global age, international reporting has to deal with far more than these traditional areas.


The dark side of globalization Open borders, the free movement of goods,

capital and people, decentralization and deregulation- all essential features of our globalized economy, have brought great benefits. But they have also created a new range of international issues. Here are some:

Terrorism International drug trafficking Arms trafficking People smuggling


Drug Trafficking The global drug trade is estimated to be

worth around US$ 300-400 billion( nearly double the GDP of Hong Kong)

The drug trade is a classic example of trade between rich and poor nations: the raw material is produced in poor countries, and sold in rich countries

International drug dealers are the middle men- processing, distributing and selling the drugs at an enormous profit




“Wide-scale cocaine or heroin production is only possible in countries where there are stretches of rural area that the state is struggling to fully service and control.”

(UN Drug Report)


Global heroin market is estimated at US$ 60-70 billion/year

90% of supply originates in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s GDP? US $ 14-15 Billion



Drug money is used to Finance armed conflicts. In Colombia, anti

government rebels arm and finance themselves through drug trade.

Finance terrorism-Al Qaeda, Hizbollah, and other groups use drug trafficking to finance their operations


The geography of drugs Heroin and heroin based opiates grown

mainly in Afghanistan, but also in the “Golden Triangle” of Burma and Laos. Europe the main destination

Cocaine and cocaine based drugs: Colombia is the world’s largest producer- United States and Europe the world’s largest user

Cannabis ( can be grown anywhere) Laboratory produced amphetamines such as

speed and ecstasy ( can be produced anywhere)


Heroin: roughly 16-17 million users worldwide

Derived from the sap of the opium poppy plant. Historically, opium has been used for centuries as a narcotic.

Heroin is a refined form of opium.

Main markets Europe, the Russia and increasingly China.



Cocaine: roughly 16-17 million users world wide Derived from the cocoa

plant. Used traditionally in the Andean region.

Colombia, Peru and Bolivia are the main sources of the world’s cocaine, with Colombia the biggest producer

Main markets: the US and Western Europe



Synthetic drugs: amphetamines( ice, ecstasy, etc) 35 mill users

Laboratory made drugs, production not confined to any region

In Asia, China a major source of chemicals to produce these drugs. Japan a major user

In the west, Netherlands, Belgium, and recently Poland are major production centres


Some thoughts

Western drug control policy, particularly in the US is more focused on destroying the supply, rather containing the demand

The growers of opium and cocaine are peasant farmers.Destroying their crops without providing them any other means of livelihood is not a long term solution.

If demand is reduced, supply will dry up


Drugs are big business because they are illegal. If more drugs were decriminalized, what would happen?


The small arms trade Today, technology has led to small arms that

are cheap, durable, easily obtainable and lethal

In 46 of the 49 conflicts that occurred in the 1990s, small arms were the only weapons used.

In Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, 10- 14 year old children have been equipped with weapons that can fire 600-700 rounds a minute. Warlords and thugs can now put together private armies with little difficulty.



Who supplies the weapons?

Small arms and light weapons trade is estimated to be around $ 10 billion a year. Major weapons manufacturers are in the US, Russia, the UK, France.

International arms dealers play a major role in supplying these weapons to groups in conflict.

About half a dozen arms dealers are responsible for most illegal arms supplies.

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong KongLets look at Victor Bout, one of the best known illegal arms dealers

A 42 year old former Russian military officer who was in jail in Thailand, and has now being extradited to US.

Named in a UN report as selling arms to Angolan rebels, possibly in exchange for diamonds.

Used a fleet of nearly 50 aircraft to ship arms from the former Soviet republics to Africa


A small example of Bout’s activities

UN investigators found that from July 1997 to October 1988, his planes flew 37 flights from Bulgaria to Togo with weapons for rebels in Angola: 20,000 82 mm mortars, 6,3000 anti tank rockets, 790 AK-47s, 1,000 rocket launchers, 15 million rounds of ammunition. Total value: US$ 14 million.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GqgaMhdKyI&feature=related

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/11/17/todd.viktor.bout.profile.cnn?iref=allsearch

http://edition.cnn.com/video/

http://edition.cnn.com/video/


On 13 August 2004, more than 150 people, around half of whom were children, were massacred at a refugee camp at Gatumba, Burundi..


Campaigners traced

four of the cartridges found at the site

-one came from Bulgaria (1995)

-two from China (1998)

-one from Yugoslavia (1999)

( source: IANSA)


Efforts to regulate the trade In 2001, the United Nations organized a

conference to discuss the problems of small arms exports, where a “program of action” was adopted.

The program of action was not as strict as campaigners wanted it to be: Many governments were reluctant to impose restrictions on arms sales that they considered to be legitimate.

Main focus of action at the UN is to get member countries to agree to a system of tracing and marking weapons


Governments play their part in the arms trade The CIA helped to arm Afghan groups when

they were fighting the Soviet backed government in Kabul.

The Iran- Contra scandal: During the Reagan administration, the US secretly sold weapons to Iran, even though this was banned by US law. The money from these sales were used to fund rebels in Nicaragua fighting a government that was not pro US.

The US government, however, has a tight regulatory system for private arms exports


The illegal movement of people Believed to be the fastest growing section of

organized crime. According to an estimate by the International

Labour Organization, it’s a $30 billion/year business

Involves moving people form poorer environments to richer ones

Two kinds:- those who go voluntarily, such as illegal

immigrants from China, (people smuggling)- and those who are bought and sold like

slaves (human trafficking)



Human trafficking: modern day slavery In Romania and poorer parts of Eastern

Europe, women can be bought for between US$ 50 and US$ 200 and resold in western Europe.

In western Africa, the UN estimates that 200,000 children a year are sold in slavery. Globally, 1.2 million children are trafficked every year.

Girls as young and 13 from Asia and Eastern Europe are sold as “mail order brides”

Workers from Vietnam and China, work in sweatshops in American Samoa


From Fujian to Europe: US$ 35,000

Source:BBC


We live in an unequal world

More than 1 billion lack access to clean water

3 million people a year die due to water related disease

6 million children die every year due to hunger

“Poverty, infectious disease, environmental degradation and war feed one another in a deadly cycle”. UN Report


Conflicts over natural resources

“Fierce conflict over fresh water may well become a source of conflict and wars in the future.”Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General.


Water shortages

While world population has grown from 2.5 billion to over 6 billion over the last five decades, the fresh water available to sustain this huge population growth has not increased.

Today, 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe water, and 2.6 billion do not have access to sanitation.

According to one expert, by 2015, nearly 3 billion people are expected to live in countries where water is scarce


“Unlike wars and natural disasters, the global crisis in water does not make media headlines. Nor does it galvanize concerted international action. Like hunger, deprivation in access to water is a silent crisis experienced by the poor…United Nations Human Development Report 2006(http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/)


Asia is expected to be particularly badly affected. Asia is home to roughly 60 percent of the world’s population, but only 36 percent of the world’s renewable fresh water.

China, India, Pakistan and Iran all face a situation where water for agriculture is becoming scarce

The Middle East is another flash point: two thirds of the water consumed by Israel comes from the occupied territories in the West Bank and Golan Heights


How are these disputes going to be resolved? A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers

identified other potential conflicts: Turkey wants to build dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Syria and Iraq oppose this.

In central Asia: “high risk of conflict: between Uzbekistan, Kazhakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan over Amur Daria and Syr rivers


Climate change

Since the industrial revolution, our civilization has been based on the burning of carbon to produce energy

As we have grown wealthier the carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere have grown rapidly

Leading to warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, heat waves and extreme weather conditions


Projected regional impact

Asia: By 2020, freshwater availability in Central, South, East and South East Asia will decrease

-Coastal areas, particularly megadeltas will be at greatest risk due to flooding from rivers

Australia and New Zealand- Water security problems expected to intensify southern and eastern Australia

North America- More winter flooding, reduced summer flows


What’s the story here?

For the first time in human history, we are confronted with a catastrophe which we have prior warning of, and can do something about.

How will the governments and people respond to this?

What solutions will they come up with to ensure our survival?


From the UNDP’s Human Development report 2007/2008

“During the 20th century, failures of political leadership led to two world wars….Dangerous climate change is the avoidable catastrophe of the 21st century and beyond”


The range of issues that an international reporter can specialize in has expanded greatly over the last three or four decades.

What should aspiring international reporters do? Try and develop expertise in one of these areas, which are going to become increasingly important in the decades ahead.


1. Arab spring2. Afghanistan3. China and the world4. North Korea/Burma5. Food, water, resource shortages,

environment6. Poisoned fruits of globalisation: people

smuggling , arms smuggling, drug trafficking, refugees


3 stories during the course ( one a month) 300-500 wds long Tells readers what has happened, why it

happened, and why it is important http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/g20-ey

es-increased-support-for-farm-research/ http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/nigeria

-condemns-attacks-on-black-migrants-in-libya-papers

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/g20-eyes-increased-support-for-farm-research/

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/g20-eyes-increased-support-for-farm-research/

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/nigeria-condemns-attacks-on-black-migrants-in-libya-papers




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Documents

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong Globalization’s unreported wars Thomas Abraham