We have posted before on the murder of journalists working on organised crime stories throughout Europe, many of which involved serious fraud and corruption of EU funds. From Veronica Guerin in 1996 to Daphne Caruana Galizia, blown apart by a mafia car bomb in Malta in 2017, dirty EU money attracts the worst and most vile criminal elements in our society. Unused airports and motorways going nowhere in the Mezzogiorno to the fouling of Loch Corrib in Galway with raw sewage from crooked developers snouting the EU grant trough all bear the hand of organised crime. And it's unstoppable by EU-wide security and police action.
Indeed, some professional UK police officers have deep suspicions as to the integrity of many of those working for both Europol and Frontex, and there have been persistent rumours of deep and embedded organised crime representation in both organisations. These suspicions also extend to the EU itself. Despite the most committed efforts of the governments of many member states, and of individual MEPs, the EU has failed over many years to introduce an effective set of measures to counter organised crime in Europe. Both in terms of a concerted pursuit of organised crime, and an agreed framework for confiscation of the proceeds of crime, the EU has failed to act. In a 2017 EU Observer article entitled "Mafia money pollutes the EU economy", the authors conclude
On 7 October 2016, the EU parliament approved the report on the fight against corruption, prepared by an Italian MEP, Laura Ferrara, which partially adopts the work of Alfano's special committee. The report's 35 pages echoes the same wish-list to the EU commission, that the offence of "criminal association regardless of consummation of criminal ends" should be punishable.In the light of the evidence it seems that there is an almost symbiotic relationship between the capos of the EU and Europe's crime bosses. Make no mistake, the UK's fight against crime will be more effective, safer and more secure from criminal infiltration after Brexit than now - and that may also be part of the reason why some Irish factions are exhibiting such sustained opposition to Brexit.
And yet, there has still been very little progress. It's like a broken record.
34 comments:
A political system that has been designed to creep up on society in this way can only have graft at its heart.
Well, just compare the crime rate for the mosts serious of all, between the US and the UK, or any other EU country, notably Ireland:
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Murder-rate
So where would you rather live?
The global map page among these shows it graphically. Note the UK re the rest of the EU:
http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/The-Economic-Cost-of-Violence-Containment.pdf
Anon - you're not really being honest are you? Your mendacity, twisting the truth and fake news is quite typical of the EU though - so thankyou for proving it yet again. Your first reference is for murder, the second for acts of terrorism. They are unrelated.
However, this is useful from your first source;
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Rape-rate
It shows the rape rate. Sweden is 6th in the world, between Surinam and Bermuda. Belgium is 13th, France 27th - both higher than Guyana or Mexico.
Where would your daughter rather live?
Sinn Fein's Remainer stance comes not only from legitimate political concerns -Raed
To be fair, according to a poll out yesterday I believe, some 57% of DUP voters want an "All UK Customs Union" or 'Brino' as many here would call it. No 'remain' option was cited but only about 10% of DUP voters wanted a crash and burn Brexit. SF voters were of course even more in favour of Brino.
As to the Organised Crime (on both sides of the divide) , that was in many ways understood to be part of the 'deal'. The EU Cheque book being mightier than the Armalite. It may stick in the throat of UK and Eire tax payers but what price does one put on peace? Worth a few hundred million not to have a steady stream of Brit Soldiers returning home in body bags or wheelchairs? As someone once said to me "you can get used to not having to check under your car every morning". Call me jaded but a 'Mafia' will, like the Poor, always be there, better a 'home grown' one than a Russian or Italian one.
jack, that's a protection racket. Is that how we want to live?
jack, that's a protection racket. Is that how we want to live? Mongoose
Stress needs to be on the word live. No dead squaddies, no dead PIRA Soldiers, no arms and legs being blown off women and kids. Do you seriously imagine it will be any less of a protection racket in an brexited UK? The 'boyos' of both sides will be claiming hookey grants from both the UK and EU/Eire. How much of the bounty of May's Magic Money tree will really finance new roads, playgroups and jobs?
Jack, your suggestion is tantamount to inciting people to break the law as clearly there is an advantage to be had by encouraging corruption and the financial benefits therein.
Who said 'crime doesn't pay'?
Many in the West criticised Russia after their rejection of Communism and the ensuing 'mafia' involvement in (re)building their new economy. Seems like there are parallels with the EU yet critics of Russia still point to the mafia elements whilst studiously ignoring the exact same policies enacted by the EU.
If this is how the world (EU) is meant to be run......?
But on a similar - albeit lower scale - we have the likes of Selwyn Gummer and his pot of corruption re Green Schemes and I have no problem with believing that many UK politicians and ex-politicians have similar shady deals going on. They are no different than the Mafiosi methods other than, perhaps, the violence. I would expect that attacks on people exposing such corrupt practises would be more along the lines of career-ruination, financial restriction, and reputation slandering than actual murder..... but ask Dr Kellys widow what she thinks about it.
A zero-tolerance approach is required - even if it means the death penalty being re-introduced given the propensity of those who benefit from corruption being so easily inclined to murder any opposition.
I'm almost reluctant to ask (as if anyone really knew...) how deep such corruption goes in our own Government - but you only have to look at the NHS to 'know' there's something amiss.... is this one of those areas that's better left un-inspected?
Got to larf.
The UK is administered by organised crime, except that they, the criminals, have legalised it.
The ex-public schoolboy network excuses itself everything, from lying to the nation on an industrial scale, to indifference in office resulting in countless deaths.
Safety officials warned of the risks of catastrophe at Grenfell Tower two years before it happened.
In France, those responsible for taking action to avert that would have gone to prison for a long time, but not here, never here.
It was the same over the HIV-contaminated blood products disaster. France nailed their culprits, even though there were fewer victims anyway.
Dave_G mentioned Dr Kelly. I'm probably not alone in sharing his suspicions. That got me thinking about John Smith and Robin Cook. Son I had a rummage around the internet, this turned up:
HTTPS://shaphan_typepad.com/2006/05/questions_about.html
I apologise for not being clever enough to do links.
Young lad to father: "I'm considering a career in organised crime".
father to son: "Public or private sector?".
As your cynical mind knows only too well Raed, rape is drastically under-reported, and in the UK even then, only about one-in-three cases secures a conviction., and that would be part of the reason.
In many countries the poor victims would themselves be subject to the most appalling accusations too.
In Sweden, the definition of the offence is far much broader, and victims are treated sympathetically, which results in many more reports.
So overall, Sweden is one of the world's safest countries, as the stats show. Your intemperate outburst shows that I hit a nerve, I'd say.
But why ever let facts stand in the way of yet another preposterous smear campaign?
Jack, your suggestion-Dave G
Was I suggesting anything? I thought I was merely pointing out the realities of the situation-specifically regarding NI, for the benefit of those who still believe there are fairies, Care Bears and cake bearing unicorns. (full disclosure: I was a card carrying SFer).
My personal 'suggestion' or 'solution' to corruption in public office/agency would be not 'zero tolerance' but '100% transparency'. When I can google up the current bank statements of anyone 'in power' then I shall believe whichever 'we must fight corruption' politician. Lead by example. The place for your 'zero tolerance' would be in regard to politicians (et al) being , under pain of 10 years at her Maj's grave displeasure, forbidden to have any undisclosed accounts/straw men/Swiss kontos etc etc .
Ah yes Anon - that wonderful Swedish judicial efficiency, right up there with South Africa, Costa Rica, Surinam and Bermuda - which must also be, by your definition, the safest countries in the world in which to live, with women free to walk the streets safe from the threat of rape ..
Raed, when I saw your title "Europe - Organised crime bosses back the EU" I misread it as 'back the UK' due to the government's pronouncement yesterday , that in the event of a crash and burn Brexit, no customs checks will be performed on HGV coming in from the EU.
So I'm hoping that European organized crime will get itself organised and ship in container load after load of cheap genuine tobacco :) -put the Chinese counterfeit gangs out of business over night. Unfortunately they will probably show their usual lack of business acumen and ship in vast quantities of products with far less profit margin like hash.
Jack - to be frank, the idea of the UK enjoying a bonanza of cheap genuine smuggled fags post-Brexit really appeals to me - it would be some reward for all the poor bastard smokers who have suffered so long under a brutal duty regime
I've been on the snuff for nearly 5 years now but am still a professional smoker at heart - I love the smoky gasthauses here and applaud fags at €4,50 for Austria's dedicated smokers, te Refuseniks of Europe.
If only someone in government could see the potential in terms of Brexit popularity of a tsunami of legit tabs in every pub in Britain ..
Ah, so you're a user, with a reality-twisting addiction, ten times harder to break than heroin, then Raed?
Commiserations old chap.
Uhm, I have no addictions at all. You are, as usual, misinformed.
I chose to smoke and then I chose not to smoke.
You probably can't understand that.
ten times harder to break than heroin-Colleague Announcement
I hope your comment was meant in jest, poking fun at the junk science of the anti-smoker fASHists?
I pray God you don't seriously believe that coming off tobacco is in anyway comparable to heroin withdrawal. As Raed says, I chose to smoke and stopping smoking means a few days of being mildly narked with the rest of the world and his brother (although in the long term it can also mean a year-long cold and IBS). No one who has been through, or witnessed, a heroin addict coming off would believe such nonsense. And yes I speak from some quite considerable experience in terms of 'real' addictions.
Many gangsters are deeply embedded in the deep state and all of its institutions. Banks especially. Facilitated by politicians and a fair few Mandarins. https://bit.ly/2pRxLqG Remember Kinnock's "corruption whitewash" for the EU?
The gross resignation and acceptance of this "modern", gangster run western society is dreadful. Many, here it would seem, argue "that's the way it's done".
In which case, it still isn't right and is exceptionally depressing. As for best laces to live, right now Russia outshines anywhere else in my book. Why? It has a LEADER.
The gross resignation and acceptance of this "modern", gangster run western society is dreadful. Many, here it would seem, argue "that's the way it's done".- Oldrightie
That's the way it's done? Better would be to say "that's the way it has always been done!" Or did I miss the history lesson at school when they told of us an era when 'gangsters' didn't run our society...or any other for that matter? Our own dear Queen is only a few generations from her German Robber Baron ancestors? Mind you the gangsters of yesterday often had better vowels and table manners but, in truth, today's gangsters are tomorrow's elite. They will simply swap the Super Dry for ermine, the Nike for Savile Row ('see my tailor, he's called Simon').
Jack Ketch said: "... a crash and burn Brexit ...". Would that be the same "crash and burn" independence of the EU that New Zealand enjoys?
Can't defend the EU, so invent "crash and burn", and say it quickly as though it is established fact hoping no-one will notice how silly it is.
Getting divorced after forty years and running a business together "just like never having been married in the first place", says Budgie.
I am more even handed over the EU's failings. I suspect that the EU political system provides 'niches' for organisations to profit from, some intentionally and some accidentally.
So... organised crime has found ways of exploiting a niche, large corporations have found ways of exploiting a different niche, and politicians and bureaucrats have found ways of exploiting their niches too. There's very little help for small businesses and ordinary people though.
Arguably Brexit is proving challenging because there are too many exploitable niches providing a good living for those who occupy them. There are perhaps too many niches because the EU has been a political project from the start, rather than one arising out of a history of economic and social changes balancing each other.
We are better off out... but we will still need to tame the local niches being exploited by our own elites. Did somebody say 'drain the swamp'?
You confuse the issue of corruption etc. within the EU institutions, with that within the member states.
Here is the analysis, by the EU, of the latter.
https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/organized-crime-and-human-trafficking/corruption/anti-corruption-report_en
@Raedwald Why do you even respond to some Anons?
This is a blog post about organised crime and Anon immediately derailed with murder rate (not even adjusted per capita by default which is why he didn't notice Ireland is worse than the UK) and cost of "violence containment" (I also doubt he realised the map isn't the actual rate of violence).
So with clear evidence that Anon is an idiot, why did you entertain him with Swedish rape stats instead of trying to shift back to something relevant like corruption perception indexes? Now on a blog post about the misappropriated EU funds you're arguing with someone over feminist issues of rape convictions.
You are letting trolls drive your comment section.
Interesting --- and, of course, one begins to wonder about connections between cultural marxism and the mafia. This is of particular interest in connection with the fiercely independent US of A, whose marxist profs. (including those based in England) are fiecely against Brexit .....
@Anonymous 20:41
I don't think Raedwald is confusing them. Of course the corrupt organisations themselves are in member states but how do they keep getting hold of EU funds?
The first question to ask would be whether they somehow get access to more EU funds than national funds. If it's the same then it's probably not an EU level issue per se but even then why should relatively less corrupt countries like the UK and Germany allow their funds to be stolen in Italy or Spain? At that point either the net contributors should control how their money is spent or you accept corruption is a normal part of the EU.
It should be noted that the EFTA states also contribute to these projects via the EEA and Norway Grants and they get to decide where their money is spent whereas for EU members everything is allocated by the Commission.
Also the CPI graphs in that report are what Raedwald should have posted in response to Anon 08:37.
I have to agree that the trolls are spoiling this blog for me. I like the fact that views such as Jack Ketch's are explored, having recognised him as a contrarian old bugger since the late Anna Raccoon's much missed blog.
However the pointless deflection tactics of the various Anons are effectively hi-jacking the comments sections of this blog.
My view is that the odd comment posted as Anon is ok but repeated anonymity is
the refuge of trolls who should not have a place on a civilised and thought provoking blog such as this one.
fregbert et al -- please be assured that I've posted here as anon 2 for several years. I am not one of the neu-troll types; however, I don't want to change my old moniker.
I would hope you can spot the difference: in both content and style.
K - fair comment.
The troll's sole objective is to disrupt and distort dialogue. So far I've given them warning that I'll delete comments (and I do) that contain just a 'spam' URL link
I'm now extending that to comments that contain irrelevant or misleading links with no clear direct relevance to the post.
If the troll really wants to engage in dialogue, argument and discussion I'll give them a fair go.
Damn those facts eh?
You make out that the EU is awful. It is not, and the stats show that.
So where would you prefer? Latin America? Africa? China? The islamic world? The ex-USSR? The 30,000-gun-deaths-a-year US? That leaves Aus, NZ, and Canada pretty well, about the same population as Italy, oh, and Japan.
You claims are bizarre, and unbalanced.
"The trolls sole objective is to disrupt and distort dialogue". He just can't help making your point can he Radders?
Anonymous (5 February 2019 at 19:07): "Getting divorced after forty years and running a business together "just like never having been married in the first place", says Budgie."
That's a strawman, Anon. Signing the Lisbon treaty is not marriage and not like marriage. The EU is not a husband nor a wife; and neither is the UK. If you cannot think about the EU except by analogy then a better one (no analogy is perfect, obviously) is an LLP - a limited liability partnership. It is perfectly possible for a member to leave an LLP.
(I was away for a few days, so did not spot this initially).
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