Mexico’s Struggle for Public Security: Organized Crime and State Responses, George Philip, Susana Berruecos, eds.
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 204 pages.
The Money Laundry: Regulating Criminal Finance in the Global Economy, J.C. Sharman
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 224 pages.
Much has been written about the global drug trade, the international cartels, and the men at the top, creating an illusion that women are not a part of this illicit business. In Strange Trade, author Asale Angel-Ajani shatters this stereotype with an intimate account of two African women involved in drug trafficking, who were brought together in Italy’s Rebibbia prison. Angel-Ajani’s retelling of their narratives, as well as her own experiences, makes this book not only a story of the drug trade, but also one of the author’s adventures researching this dangerous subject.
Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective, Louise Shelley
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 356 pages.
Dark Logic: Transnational Criminal Tactics and Global Security, Robert Mandel
(Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2011), 255 pages.
Transnational Crime and the 21st Century: Criminal Enterprise, Corruption, and Opportunity, Jay S. Albanese
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 158 pages.
Conspicuously missing from the cacophony surrounding the debate on the U.S. confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program is any serious consideration of China’s perspective on the issue. Instead of ignoring China, any decision of continuing or escalating the confrontation with Iran should be framed with the following question: Does confrontation with Iran benefit China and undermine the central objective of the U.S. pivot to Asia? The uncomfortable answer is that China would benefit at the expense of the United States.