Financial markets and their importance cannot be emphasized enough. The world nearly came to its knees in the midst the global financial crisis. The world is still as exposed as it has always been to economic calamities that can spread like wildfire. Finance is an important discipline, field of study, and plays a foundational role in our society and how our economies work. Financial contributions to charities and illegal activities such as the black market play a huge role in fueling terror groups. Show me the money; and you might find the primary terror financiers.
East Asia is to be the focus of strategic geopolitical efforts in the coming century. But, that’s a physical place. It’s cyber warfare and financial markets that could affect the entire world. We learn painstakingly that financial markets are the bedrock of the world. We’ve built our global society and interwoven every nation with ease.: a world financial system. No one place can be pointed out on the map, but a flow of money and resources can do the most damage. Acts of terror and rogue elements that create instability are funded and encouraged by whatever means and laundering mechanisms. Sometimes that money’s ownership can be as difficult to trace as the flow of money.
That financial threat and the financial backing of threatening organizations will be the bane of the future. Bitcoin, online security, encryption, are all quickly becoming more sophisticated. Terrorism is fueling the need to increase the safety of everyone. Because the government is becoming more sophisticated as terrorists and rogue actors, use cyber warfare, and ordinary citizens wish to protect themselves from intrusive and all powerful governments. There’s a strange synergy where both the law-abiding and the criminal will benefit.
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Financial markets and their importance cannot be emphasized enough. The world nearly came to its knees in the midst the global financial crisis. The world is still as exposed as it has always been to economic calamities that can spread like wildfire. Finance is an important discipline, field of study, and plays a foundational role in our society and how our economies work. Financial contributions to charities and illegal activities such as the black market play a huge role in fueling terror groups. Show me the money; and you might find the primary terror financiers.
East Asia is to be the focus of strategic geopolitical efforts in the coming century. But, that’s a physical place. It’s cyber warfare and financial markets that could affect the entire world. We learn painstakingly that financial markets are the bedrock of the world. We’ve built our global society and interwoven every nation with ease.: a world financial system. No one place can be pointed out on the map, but a flow of money and resources can do the most damage. Acts of terror and rogue elements that create instability are funded and encouraged by whatever means and laundering mechanisms. Sometimes that money’s ownership can be as difficult to trace as the flow of money.
That financial threat and the financial backing of threatening organizations will be the bane of the future. Bitcoin, online security, encryption, are all quickly becoming more sophisticated. Terrorism is fueling the need to increase the safety of everyone. Because the government is becoming more sophisticated as terrorists and rogue actors, use cyber warfare, and ordinary citizens wish to protect themselves from intrusive and all powerful governments. There’s a strange synergy where both the law-abiding and the criminal will benefit.
A global financial system exists. But, little is known about it except among insiders and financial professionals. Even among many who work in finance, an enormous industry, they do not necessarily understand the global marketplace and the constructs that connect them all. There’s plenty of alternative assets and investing that sprawls the globe. It’s just the algorithms and derivative calculations that fuel the global economy.
Little is known about terrorism financing either. Most suspect it is done via laundering of assets, the same way crime capers were depicted in older film-noir films. It could be a variety of things from fine art, human trafficking, drugs, rugs, collectibles, to bitcoin and other deep web financial exchanges. It’s a niche mechanism and one that’s obfuscated by design. It would take a monumental effort beyond just that of the FBI. It could be an undercurrent to the recent opening of Counter Terror offices at the UN. Everyone is a target of terrorism, and every nation is undermined by global conspiratorial criminal activity.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations here is where Terrorists receive much of their funding:
Money is the most important commodity and ultimately is the deciding factor for most decisions in most of our lives. The same is true for the upper echelon to the foot soldiers of terror organizations. As soon as we have a better grasp of the role money plays with terror and where it comes from, who benefits, and the long term goals we’ll understand what the Global War on Terror is really fighting.
Featured image courtesy of The Express Tribune.
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