Comments on: Candy, Kalashnikovs, and Cash http://www.financialtaskforce.org/2010/01/22/candy-kalashnikovs-and-cash/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:46:00 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dev Karhttp://www.financialtaskforce.org/2010/01/22/candy-kalashnikovs-and-cash/comment-page-1/#comment-202 Dev Kar Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:42:11 +0000 http://www.financialtaskforce.org/?p=5935#comment-202 Emily:I enjoyed reading your excellent blog post. You are right that the physical movement of goods may be curtailed by building physical barriers but illicit financial flows pay no heed to them. And the figures on smuggling pale in comparison to such flows. As you can imagine, efforts to stop illicit flows and the financing of terrorism has only met with very limited success. That does not mean governments should give up. It just means we have to sharpen and redouble our efforts to curtail the flows and strengthen action against money laundering and terrorist financing. Emily:

I enjoyed reading your excellent blog post. You are right that the physical movement of goods may be curtailed by building physical barriers but illicit financial flows pay no heed to them. And the figures on smuggling pale in comparison to such flows. As you can imagine, efforts to stop illicit flows and the financing of terrorism has only met with very limited success. That does not mean governments should give up. It just means we have to sharpen and redouble our efforts to curtail the flows and strengthen action against money laundering and terrorist financing.

]]> By: Michelle Flashhttp://www.financialtaskforce.org/2010/01/22/candy-kalashnikovs-and-cash/comment-page-1/#comment-198 Michelle Flash Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:23:18 +0000 http://www.financialtaskforce.org/?p=5935#comment-198 A moat... what will they (meaning any government or organization with more money than they know what to do with) think of next. Of course you're right, people will always search for a way to get what they want. Perhaps one way to look at this particular flow is to look at some of the other uses for the tunnels. While the illegal flow of weapons should be stopped, often these tunnels are used as the only access to valuable resources such as medical supplies, food and basic necessities. True, Hamas is the main facilitator, but maybe that's an indicator of why Hamas is able to gain support. Yes, a governments job is to defend its territory, its ideology, its beliefs, but isn't it also to defend its people and provide them with the means to live? If tunneling is the only answer to that, then I say break out the shovels. A moat… what will they (meaning any government or organization with more money than they know what to do with) think of next. Of course you’re right, people will always search for a way to get what they want. Perhaps one way to look at this particular flow is to look at some of the other uses for the tunnels. While the illegal flow of weapons should be stopped, often these tunnels are used as the only access to valuable resources such as medical supplies, food and basic necessities. True, Hamas is the main facilitator, but maybe that’s an indicator of why Hamas is able to gain support. Yes, a governments job is to defend its territory, its ideology, its beliefs, but isn’t it also to defend its people and provide them with the means to live? If tunneling is the only answer to that, then I say break out the shovels.

]]>