Tag: Lampedusa

Loretta Napoleoni talked about her book “Merchants of Men” before screening of the documentary “Fire at Sea”

This Monday I attended a special event in Budapest organized by the Hungarian publisher of Loretta Napoleoni’s latest book “Merchants of Men:  How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking into a Multi-Billion Dollar Business”, that just came out in Hungarian. Loretta Napoleoni talked about the essence of the book which is the evolution of the financing of terrorist organizations. After 9.11 ransom paid by foreign governments for their kidnapped citizens became the most important source of funding for terrorist organizations throughout most the Arab world. It involved kidnapping of tourists, journalists and aid workers in countries like Libya (where…

Continue Reading Loretta Napoleoni talked about her book “Merchants of Men” before screening of the documentary “Fire at Sea”

Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday! And happy Mother’s Day for all the mothers (mine especially! ♥), as we are celebrating it on the first Sunday of May on this side of the pond. Speaking of which, happy May too! That’s a whole lot of happy occasions! 🙂 And these are for your reading pleasure today: What the Failure of the Geneva Talks Means Forcing Assad to step down might be an uneasy task to say the least, but finding a worthy and capable successor proves even more difficult. One Europe, from the Arctic to Lampedusa Why I have only recently come across Federica…

Continue Reading Sunday Smack

Sunday Smack

I hope your weekends are going well. Mine is going too fast, as usual. Here’s some reading for you all… Protecting Europe or Irregular Migrants? The (Mis)use of Force in the Mediterranean It is clear that there is no win-win solution here. But even finding the one that causes the least harm will be difficult. Coup Attempt in Burundi–What’s Next? Another African nation that faces political violence and conflict ahead of an upcoming election. Hersh’s Account of the Bin Laden Raid is Journalistic Malpractice Agreed. And the quote about how fact checking is just nuisance is simply outrageous. It is…

Continue Reading Sunday Smack

Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday! This was an eventful week world affairs-wise with a lot of great posts all around the blogosphere. These are just a few of them. Are Human Rights Hurting Migrants at Sea? This issue rapidly became ever urgent and pressing in the past few weeks, one that needs to be effectively dealt with in the European Union as a whole, but also on individual member state levels. The Economic Roots of Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa Another migration related issue from this week. Xenophobic violence sparks once again in one of the few economically stable African states. Yemen is…

Continue Reading Sunday Smack

Sunday Smack

Happy Bastille Day to everybody reading from France! Just when I announced layoff season last week, things got going again. Which I don’t mind at all since I can’t take off time for a holiday this year anyway. Let’s see what I have found worthy of reading and sharing this week. On world affairs: Laura Dean’s Cairo Diary Please keep following Laura Dean’s Cairo Diary on Lawfare. Yes, I am recommending this for the second time, but it really is that good! How We Are Failing Syrian People Yet another piece on how the international community is failing to do…

Continue Reading Sunday Smack