Battling the Cartels Requires a Refocus
In the fight to secure our nation from dangerous illicit drugs, the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), based in Key West, Florida, has been waging a successful regional coalition for decades. Despite this effort, victory has been elusive, given few resources and a constrained U.S. focus, allowing the cartels to adapt and survive.
There is urgency to act. The United States is suffering from a pandemic of illicit narcotics, notably fentanyl, which killed over 73,000 Americans last year. Putting an end to this deadly trade will require strangling the narco-cartels by cutting their illicit smuggling networks connecting Latin America, China, and the United States.
~ READ MORE HERE (Heritage) ~
Economic and Financial Impacts of a Taiwan Crisis
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Beijing’s demonstrations of force against Taiwan since 2022, Western governments and corporate boardrooms have increasingly debated the likelihood, timing, and methods of a possible invasion or blockade of Taiwan by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Yet the real economic and financial dimensions of a potential cross-strait conflict remain underemphasized in this policy discourse. All realistic scenarios of PRC aggression will induce fast-moving and unpredictable dynamics, many of which would manifest before the outbreak of hostilities.
~ READ MORE HERE (CSIS)~
How Much Aid Has the U.S. Sent Ukraine?
Every year, the United States sends billions of dollars in aid—and much more than any other country—to beneficiaries around the world in pursuit of its security, economic, and humanitarian interests.
Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has become far and away the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid. This marks the first time that a European country has held the top spot since the Harry S. Truman administration directed vast sums into rebuilding the continent through the Marshall Plan after World War II.
~ READ MORE HERE (CFR) ~ |
