Geopolitics / Géopolitique | www.geopium.org

Drug Trafficking

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2007 / The Encyclopedia of the Cold War.

The Cold War played a direct and prominent role in the production and trafficking of illicit drugs. Indeed, the financing of many anti-Communist covert operations, such as those led by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), resorted to the drug economy of various proxy states in which drug trafficking was often condoned and even encouraged. Specific historical cases illustrate how the anti-Communist agenda of the CIA played a decisive role in spurring the global illicit drug trade. These include the French Connection and the role of the Corsican mafia against Communists both in France and in Southeast Asia (Laos and Vietnam), the propping up of the defeated Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang) in northern Burma, the Islamic Mujahideen resistance in Afghanistan, and the Contras in Nicaragua.

The dangers of opium eradication in Asia

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2005 / Jane's Intelligence Review?

Campaigns to eradicate opium in Afghanistan, Myanmar and Laos risk being counterproductive in the mid-term as prices are driven up and rural poverty is exacerbated, leading to displacement of production rather than eradication. Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy examines the results of recent programmes.

Drogues illicites, territoire et conflits en Afghanistan et en Birmanie

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2004 / Hérodote.

Le Triangle d’Or (Birmanie, Laos, Thaïlande) et le Croissant d’Or (Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan), les deux principaux espaces de production illicite d’opium en Asie et dans le monde, sont marqués par une importante superposition d’ensembles spatiaux qui, à travers des géohistoires complexes, leur ont légués autant de discontinuités, de fronts et de frontières. Dans le contexte des économies de guerre qui sont les leurs, où du nerf de la guerre l’opium en devient l’enjeu, les deux espaces se révèlent être soumis à des processus de territorialisation qui se font par, pour et même contre l’opium. Ils correspondent donc davantage à des mosaïques territoriales aux géométries et limites variables qu’à des territoires bien définis et à part entière.

De la géopolitique des drogues illicites

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy & Laurent Laniel / 2004 / Hérodote.

Introduction du numéro 112 d'Hérodote consacré à la "géopolitique des drogues illicites".

Narco-Terrorism in Afghanistan

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2004 / Terrorism Monitor.

The illicit drug economy in Afghanistan is said to be fuelling terrorism. During a 8-9 February conference held in Kabul, Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), warned of "mounting evidence of drug money being used to finance criminal activities, including terrorism," and declared that "fighting drug trafficking equals fighting terrorism." Even before that, assumptions that “narco-terrorism” would be threatening Afghanistan seem to have been widely taken as fact. For instance, French Defense Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie declared in January 2003 that, "drugs are now the principal source of funding for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network." However, the concept of narco-terrorism is itself vague, and it is unclear exactly how it applies to the current situation in Afghanistan.

Myanmar’s Wa: Likely losers in the opium war

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2003 / Asia Times.

Illicit opium production occurs predominantly in Asia, although opium and heroin are also being increasingly produced in Colombia and Mexico. While post-Taliban Afghanistan has regained its position as the first producer of illicit opium in the world (see The ironies of Afghan opium production, September 17, 2003, Asia Times), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has monitored a decline of production in Myanmar in 2003.