Whack-a-mole Drug War: US unveils sanctions against global organized crime

Perhaps the most notable statement made by the White House and quoted near the end of this report is the following admission that the U.S. drug market fuels much of this crime.

"The demand for illicit drugs, both in the United States and abroad, fuels the power, impunity and violence of criminal organizations around the globe," the White House's Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime said.

But the Obama administration doesn't draw the logical conclulsion. Make drugs legal with regulated sale, and the U.S. would stop fueling this ¨"power, impunity and violence."

AFP: US unveils sanctions against global organized crime: "The United States Monday unveiled a series of tough sanctions aimed at cracking down on international organized crime, including gangs from Russia, Japan and Mexico, as well as the Italian Mafia.

The Japanese Yakuza, the Camorra from Naples and Mexico's Los Zetas as well as The Brothers' Circle, based mainly in the former Soviet Union, were among those slapped with economic sanctions, the White House said.

US President Barack Obama signed an executive order setting out 56 priority actions aimed at smashing transnational criminal organizations by breaking their economic power and protecting the financial system.

The order froze all property belonging to those groups designated as transnational criminal organizations, and barred American citizens from engaging in any business with them.

'Organized crime is no longer a local or regional problem; it has become a danger to international stability,' Obama wrote in a letter to Congress outlining his new order.

'Significant transnational criminal organizations have become increasingly sophisticated and dangerous to the United States and their activities have reached such scope and gravity that they destabilize the international system.'"