United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

November 2, 2024 | Cleo Paskal |

Palau is under attack from PRC

There is a spike in activity now because China sees Palau’s 5 November election as an opportunity to put in place representatives that are more in line with its ambitions.

July 26, 2024 | |

Executions in Iran Surge as Presidential Inauguration Nears

Latest Developments Iran’s judiciary has executed a prisoner every eight hours since July 20, the Oslo-based non-profit Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported on July 25. The surge of executions, which...

January 9, 2024 | Elaine K. Dezenski |

Kleptocrats in democracy’s clothing: Beijing and Moscow talk anti-corruption at the UN

Redefining terms like anti-corruption, human rights, democracy, and integrity — even when self-evidently disingenuous — provides China the cover to mimic the mechanisms of good governance while blunting...

July 27, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

Turkey is becoming a major hub for cocaine trafficking to Europe

Ankara’s reputation for smuggling is not new, and its portfolio in facilitating the free flow of illicit goods is growing to include drugs. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Turkey...

February 27, 2020 | Annie Fixler |

The Cyber Threat from Iran after the Death of Soleimani

Excerpt Tensions between the United States and Iran have been escalating since the Trump administration came into office in January 20171 and withdrew from—and in November 2018 began reimposing sanctions...

April 22, 2015 | Juan C. Zarate

How Financial Power Can Be Used To Save Iconic Species From Extinction

On Earth Day 2015, prospects for many of the planet’s most iconic species look bleak. Unless poaching rates decline across Africa, the rhino and elephant ...

February 25, 2013 | Emanuele Ottolenghi |

Iran’s Drug Problem

For years, Iran has marketed itself as a frontline state in the war against the drug lords. Recently the New York Times even described the regime in Tehran as the “West’s sta...

June 15, 2011 | World Defense Review

Criminal Networks in West Africa: An Emerging Security Challenge

On April 30, Sidi Ould Sidna, a.k.a. Abou Jendel, an al-Qaeda-linked militant who was escaped earlier in the month from the courthouse in Nouakchott, Mauritania, where he was being tried for the...

May 23, 2011 | |

Iran’s Profitable War on Drugs

Responding to criticism of Iran’s abysmal record in death sentences (including the highest number of child executions in the world), Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran’s High C...

May 23, 2011 | Emanuele Ottolenghi L'Occidente (Italy)

Con la scusa della lotta alla droga l’Iran compra armi dall’Europa

Criticato per il terribile record di condanne a morte del suo governo (compreso il numero più elevato di esecuzioni di minori nel mondo) il presidente dell’Alto Consiglio per i Dirit...

July 23, 2010 | |

Iran’s Mini-Empire At The U.N.

The United Nations has just created a new "entity" on women's rights, called U.N. Women. Elections to its governing board are now being organized. How long before Iran wins a seat?...

January 28, 2010 | Dr. J. Peter Pham World Defense Review

Emerging West African Terror-Drug Nexus Poses Major Security Threat

Over the course of the last month, the foiled attempt by would-be "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a Detroit-bound passenger flight on Christmas Day has underscored the dan...

July 10, 2007 | Dr. J. Peter Pham World Defense Review

The Security Challenge of West Africa’s New Drug Depots

Last week, gendarmes in the Senegal seaside resort of Nianing seized fifty-one 24-kilogram sacks containing a record 1.25 metric tons of cocaine with a street value of over $100 million....