Terror for Profit, Part 4: Stagnation
STAGNATION
not flowing or running
stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water
characterized by lack of development, advancement of progressive movement
Part 4 of Terror for Profit illustrates how many conflicts the world believes are over—such as in Northern Ireland and Colombia—actually continue to bubble below the surface. This continuation isn’t genuinely to keep the cause alive. As I explain in this part of the book, it is instead an endeavor aimed at keeping illicit cash flowing to those who have become used to a lifestyle they could not afford through legitimate means while keeping a perverse veneer of respectability amongst communities who are tied to the original cause through culture and history.
No one has been keener to exploit this criminal continuance of terror than established international organized criminals such as the Kinahan Cartel, who use these supposed terrorists from both sides of the Northern Irish conflict as enforcers and dealers while also engaging with rogue states and linking up all manner of bad actors for criminal activity.
I explain in the book how reputation is a two-way street benefiting these erstwhile terrorists and the organized criminals they work with.
As the Kinahan’s continue to run their criminal organization from the United Arab Emirates, Radha Stirling, a lawyer who founded Detained in Dubai, told the Sunday Times this week:
“Daniel Kinahan has become part of UAE life. He has no doubt run businesses and has influence, especially given his entrance in the boxing and sporting industry which would have bought him a lot of influence…People with influence have more favourable outcomes in the judicial system there. Someone without it might be extradited in five minutes.”
Reputation brings influence and influence brings profit—and that doesn’t just mean money. It means a lifestyle and kudos that those involved in the crime-terror nexus could not achieve any other way.