TAIWAN: Formosa Betrayed 2009 - The Double 2012-
Portuguese sailors called it Formosa, or Beautiful Island. Since World War II it has gone by the Republic of China. But most Westerners know it as Taiwan. Formosa Betrayed 2009 starring James van der Beek & Wendy Crewson & John Heard & Will Tiao & Tzi Ma & Leslie Hope & Kenneth Tsang & Chelcie Ross, director Adam Kane, caption
In 1983 the FBI sent me to Taiwan to assist in a murder investigation of a United States citizen. ibid.
Every gang member in Taiwan will be in these books. ibid. detective
This island has been controlled by foreigners for a long time. ibid. Taiwanese bloke
I believed that Cassius was hiding in the US. Think about it, what better place for a Soviet spook to retire. The Double 2012 starring Richard Gere & Topher Grace & Martin Sheen & Tamer Hassan & Stephen Moyer & Chris Marquette & Odette Yustman & Stana Katic et al, director Michael Brandt, sidekick
My orders are to kill you and return to Moscow. ibid.
THAILAND: Drugs Inc TV -
Thailand … For some, an elicit playground … An addiction epidemic: a little Meth pill called Yaba. Causes madness and misery. The death penalty hangs over every dealer, but the gangs push on. Drugs Inc s7e19: Bangkok Ice, National Geographic 2015
Yaba: a menacing mix of Methamphetamine and Caffeine. It’s creating a new epidemic. Stacey Dooley Investigates: Thailand’s Drug Craze, BBC 2013
In less than five years Yaba has completely overtaken all other drug use in Thailand. ibid.
Candy-scented pills. ibid.
Children as young as eight are becoming addicted. ibid.
TRANSNISTRIA: Misha Glenny -
Odessa is only sixty miles from the border with the Republic of Moldovan Transnistria, which looks and sounds like the perfect setting for a Tintin adventure. This thin sliver of territory is the quintessential gangster state whither many criminals would scuttle having carried out their missions in Odessa. It has been a problem ever since the Transnistrian authorities proclaimed independence from Moldova in 1990, triggering a bloody, dirty little war that lasted for two years. ibid.
It is a pariah state. Since then, Transnistria’s President, Igor Smirmov, a former ‘red dictator’ of a factory in the capital Tiraspol, has relied for support on a coterie of KGB officers, oligarchs and an uncharacteristically forgiving attitude of Gazprom to the huge debt that Transnistria has run up with the energy giant. ibid.
TURKEY: Misha Glenny -
Turkish syndicates control large parts of the heroin trade’s wholesale distribution and, in countries like Germany and Great Britain, much of the retail end as well. Misha Glenny, McMafia
UKRAINE:
I’m investigating the struggle to keep drugs out of the West, so I’m heading to Ukraine. Stacey Dooley Investigates: Europe’s Dirty Drugs Secret, BBC 2013
Cartels have been smuggling cocaine from South Africa to Western Europe through this port [Odessa]. ibid.
Heroin from Afghanistan in the east has also been trafficked to Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. ibid.
Boltushka is a dangerous chemical cocktail made from prescription drugs and household products. ibid.
‘Krokodil’ is killing users at an alarming rate … Bleach & petrol & chemist’s tablets … A highly toxic cocktail which slowly rots human flesh and bone. ibid.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Misha Glenny -
The global money-laundering industry was a few hundred miles away in ... the United Arab Emirates ... Misha Glenny, McMafia