The post-Second World War order began to crumble in the first half of the 1980s. Its dissolution followed no obvious pattern, occurring instead as a series of seemingly disparate events: the spectacular rise of the Japanese car industry; communist Hungary’s clandestine approach to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to explore a possible application for membership; the stagnation of India’s economy; President F.W. de Klerk’s first discreet contacts with the imprisoned Nelson Mandela; the advent of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in China; Margaret Thatcher’s decisive confrontation with Britain’s trade-union movement. Individually, these and other events seemed to reflect the everyday ups and downs of politics; at most they were adjustments to the world order. In fact, powerful currents below the surface had provoked a number of economic crises and opportunities, especially outside the great citadels of power in Western Europe and the United States, that were to have profound consequences for the emergence of what we now call globalisation.
Above quote from book ‘McMafia: seriously organised crime’ by Misha Glenny, the author continues:
There was one development, however, that had its roots firmly in America and in its primary European ally, Britain. The world was taking its first steps towards the liberalisation of international financial and commodity markets. American and European corporations and banks had begun to prise open markets that had hitherto maintained strict controls on foreign investment and currency exchange. Then came the fall of communism in 1989, first in Eastern Europe and then in the mighty Soviet Union itself. Out of ideas, short of money and beaten in the race for technological superiority, communism fizzled out in days rather than years. This was a monumental event, which fused with the processes of globalisation to trigger an exponential rise in the shadow economy. These huge economic and political shifts affected every part of the planet. Overall there was a significant worldwide upsurge in trade, investment and the creation of wealth. That wealth was, however, distributed very unevenly. Countless states found themselves cast into the purgatory that became known as ‘transition’, a territory with ever-shifting borders. In these badlands, economic survival frequently involved grabbing a gun and snatching what you could to survive.
One infamous Bratva international organized crime gangboss, born 1946 in Kyiv, Ukraine, still survives in Moscow, well known around the world – Semion Mogilevich. Plenty to read on him on the Internet, for example:
This man has moved in the highest political circles, using his leverage to get rival gangs caught and jailed in European countries. This man honed his skills and psychopathic tendencies to spare no compassion for his chosen victims. The emergence of global trade ensured he spread his tentacles and influence worldwide. It is people like him who have understood how to retain power over their lifetime.
He earned a bachelor degree in economics which helped him understand the world economy. He paired that with a fondness for violence.
Born on June 30 or July 6, 1946, in Kiev in the Ukrainian Soviet Union, Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich was raised in the Podol neighborhood by Jewish parents. The ambitious young criminal launched his career in the 1980s by scamming fellow Russian Jews who simply sought to emigrate to Israel or America. Mogilevich promised Jewish families that he would purchase their assets, sell them legally for a fair market value, and then graciously return the proceeds, but as one might expect, he simply pocketed the money. He served two prison terms for this stunt. Meanwhile, many of those Soviet Jews he defrauded settled in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn, New York, and established their own mob. Donald Trump would become embroiled with these characters, as they bailed him out of a series of bankruptcies..
Charlie Sykes covers reactions to the attack on the American economy, using tariffs as a weapon, and also lists some of Trump’s bankruptcies and failures:
Even as the markets plunged, businesses reeled, and our former allies girded their loins for a global trade war, analysts struggled to make sense of the president’s decision to wreak havoc on the economy.
“It’s hard to know which is more unsettling,” wrote the editors of the Economist, “that the leader of the free world could spout complete drivel about its most successful and admired economy. Or the fact that on April 2nd, spurred on by his delusions, Donald Trump announced the biggest break in America’s trade policy in over a century—and committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era.”
The Financial Times calls Trump’s tariffs, “one of the greatest acts of self-harm in American history. They will wreak untold damage on households, businesses and financial markets across the world, upending a global economic order that America benefited from and helped to create.”
Trump is a true-believer who’s had a fetish for tariffs for decades — and his ignorance of global trade is profoundly 19th century. But the bizarre tariffs still came as a shock, especially to those in the business community who told themselves that surely Trump was merely bluffing; surely this pro-business president would not trash the economy; surely, he would listen to reason.
But Trump is not governing as a conservative; he is not pursuing incremental or coherent change. By now it should be obvious that on one issue after another — race, gender, deportations, DOGE, universities, law firms, pardons, foreign policy — his agenda is profoundly radical, driven more by his id than any ideology or plan.
So once again, he turned the world upside down. This Republican president — the same one who switched sides in the Russia-Ukraine war last month — unilaterally imposed $6 trillion in new taxes — the largest tax increase in American history. As CNN notes: “Even when adjusting for inflation, that amount would be triple the tax increase put in place in 1942 to pay the cost of fighting World War II.”
This is to economics what creationism is to biology, astrology is to astronomy, or RFK thought is to vaccine science. The Trump tariff policy makes little sense EVEN if you believe in protectionist mercantilist economics.
Trump’s tariffs targeted two islands populated by pengiuns, but somehow exempted Russia, Belarus and North Korea.
But, insists Howard Lutnick: Let Donald Trump run the global economy. What could possibly go wrong?
Here again, let’s connect the dots: Trump’s radicalism burns with Trumpian arrogance. Trump is not just smashing and burning his way through the federal government, but through the culture, and the world order. It’s symbolized by a billionaire with a chainsaw; the tattooed swagger of idiots; the cruelty porn of his cabinet members.
And the endless threats of presidential retribution, using the massive cudgel of federal power to cow his critics and his enemies.
His culture of fear worked with the supine GOP. It’s worked with the billionaire tech bros and big media companies. It’s worked with the universities. It’s worked with the quislings in Big Law.
But that was merely prologue.
Each victory, each surrender, each grovel fuels the arrogance. Trump and his claque are emboldened to seize even more power.
Now the massive and arbitrary tariffs mean that the whole world — both nations and industries alike — will have to beg Trump himself for exemptions and relief. He has replaced free markets with the fear and favor of Donald Trump.
“Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive,” notes Senator Chris Murphy. “No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.”
Murphy gets it:
“This week you will read many confused economists and political pundits who won’t understand how the tariffs make economic sense. That’s because they don’t. They aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool…
What could Trump demand as part of a quiet loyalty pledge? Public shows of support from executives for all his economic policy. Contributions to his political efforts. Promises to police employees’ support for his political opposition.
The tariffs are DESIGNED to create economic hardship. Why? So that Trump has a straight face rationale for releasing them, business by business or industry by industry. As he adjusts or grants relief, it’s a win-win: the economy improves and dissent disappears.
This might be a good time to remind ourselves that this is the same Donald Trump who went bankrupt six times. Including casinos.
Let’s start with Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City:
“The Trump Taj Mahal, which was built and owned by President Trump, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991. The Trump Plaza, the Trump Castle, and the Plaza Hotel, all owned by President Trump at the time, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992. THCR, which was founded by President Trump in 1995, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004. Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., the new name given to Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts after its 2004 bankruptcy, declared bankruptcy in 2009.”
Then there’s the list of “companies that had license agreements with President Trump [that] have failed”:
“Trump Shuttle Inc., launched by President Trump in 1989, defaulted on its loans in 1990 and ceased to exist by 1992. Trump University, founded by President Trump in 2005, ceased operations in 2011 amid lawsuits and investigations regarding the company’s business practices. Trump Vodka, a brand of vodka produced by Drinks Americas under license from the Trump Organization, was introduced in 2005 and discontinued in 2011.”
Also, “Trump Mortgage, LLC, a financial services company founded by President Trump in 2006, ceased operations in 2007. GoTrump.com, a travel site founded by President Trump in 2006, ceased operations in 2007. Trump Steaks, a brand of steak and other meats founded by President Trump in 2007, discontinued sales two months after its launch.”
Etc. etc. etc.
And now back to some history in Misha Glenny’s book:
One group of people, however, saw real opportunity in this dazzling mixture of upheaval, hope and uncertainty. These men (and occasionally women) understood instinctively that rising living standards in the West, increased trade and migration flows, and the greatly reduced ability of many governments to police their countries combined to form a goldmine. They were criminals, organised and disorganised, but they were also good capitalists and entrepreneurs, intent on obeying the laws of supply and demand. As such, they valued economies of scale, just as multinational corporations did, and so they sought out overseas partners and markets to develop industries that were every bit as cosmopolitan as Shell, Nike or McDonald’s. They first became visible in Russia and Eastern Europe, but they were also exerting an influence on countries as far away from one another as India, Colombia and Japan. I spotted them in the early 1990s when I was covering the wars in the former Yugoslavia as the BBC’s Central Europe correspondent. The booty that paramilitary units brought home with them after destroying towns and villages in Croatia and Bosnia was used as capital to establish large criminal empires. The bosses of these syndicates became rich very quickly. Soon, they established smuggling franchises that conveyed illicit goods and services from all over the world into the consumer paradise of the European Union. As a writer on the Balkans, I was invited to many conferences to discuss the political issues behind the disastrous wars in the region. It was not long before I received invitations to gatherings discussing security issues. Politicians, policemen and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were all hoping to learn what lay behind the immense power of organised crime in the Balkans and beyond. However, most knowledge of the new wave of global crime was anecdotal at best. Nobody had joined up the dots.
Well, maybe some people had found themselves joining the dots but did not publicise the fact, due to fear of repercussions they could not handle.
There are many books by learned researchers which explain the growth, rise, fall and rise again of criminal activity which has become part of global political parties, corporate industries and ‘respectable’ social positions. In the current climate of aggression in trade and battle for resources, it is enlightening to read the following:
This decentralization makes it incredibly difficult to take down, and the Russian government’s implicit support of the vast array of organized crime means that the surge of activity across the European Union won’t be going away any time soon. As demonstrated by its handling of political dissidents and freedom fighters, Russia and Vladimir Putin have little care for the opposition voices to their harsh tactics, whether such opposition comes domestically or from the international community.
It is likely the stress on nations suffering tariffs might well assist those involved in organized crime, see:
And you can read of historical roots of Soviet Russia hardline Stalin days of the Vory (“thieves”) as they rose out of brutal times, in ‘Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia’ by Mark Galeotti. He says:
Do the gangsters run Russia? No, of course not, and I have met many determined, dedicated Russian police officers and judges committed to the struggle against them. However, businesses and politicians alike use many methods that owe more to the vorovskoi mir than legal practice, the state hires hackers and arms gangsters to fight its wars, and you can hear vor songs and vor slang on the streets. Even President Putin uses it from time to time to reassert his streetwise credentials. Perhaps the real question, with which this book ends, is not so much how far the state has managed to tame the gangsters, but how far the values and practices of the vory have come to shape modern Russia.
And Trump pardons an admitted guilty money laundering act, using crypto currency, of a corporate:
What Happened: In a highly unusual move, Trump issued a full pardon to HDR Global Trading, the parent company of crypto exchange BitMEX, which had pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws and was fined $100 million. The pardon came just before the payment deadline and included three of the company’s co-founders.
Why It Matters: Legal experts say this could be the first-ever full presidential pardon granted to a corporation, raising alarm over the precedent it sets. This further blurs the line between corporate accountability and political favoritism, especially as Trump rolls back enforcement actions across the crypto sector and he and his family enrich themselves with crypto.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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