"We had always been accused of cowardice because we never let people storm government buildings," said Omurbek Tekebayev, one of those arrested. "But this time, all the opposition leaders were in jail, so there was no one in the streets to stop them."
Without China, the BRICs are just the BRI, a bland, soft cheese that is primarily known for the whine that goes with it.
Heh. I still remain curious as to why Russia is included for any reason other than adding another letter. Population shrinking, corruption increasing, manufacturing flat, and wealth poorly distributed. Without oil and gas, where would they be? All three of the others have expanding manufacturing bases and burgeoning high tech industries.
I was going back through my Instapaper account today and checking out old articles when I came back across this one. When I first read it, what struck me the most was the idea that Mexican drug cartels are expanding aggressively into other areas of the "black economy" - in this case selling illegally procured oil.
On my second read, however, I was more interested in the Zetas and their ability to hire away "highly skilled people who have the technical knowledge to extract oil from the pipelines."
At their formation, the Zetas themselves were "highly skilled people who have the technical knowledge" to conduct complex paramiltary operations.
The money generated from drug smuggling now offers drug cartels the opportunity to push into just about any business and quickly achieve a high level of proficency. Through the combination of intimidation and monetary reward, they can easily pull in skilled technicians from just about any field - and use those newly-acquired skills to push more of the Mexican economy into the black.
And, of course, as they pull in more sophisticated professionals, their ability to generate more revenue increases. This creates a virtuous cycle (for them) that spells trouble for both the Mexican government as well as businesses that attempt to operate within the law:
Widespread oil theft by drug traffickers deals major blow to Mexico's government
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/12/AR2009121202888_pf.html
The Zetas often work with former Pemex employees, according to Ramón Pequeño García, chief of anti-drug operations at Mexico’s Public Security Ministry. The former employees “are highly skilled people who have the technical knowledge to extract oil from the pipelines. They are now under the control of the Zetas,” Pequeño said.
(via Instapaper)
