US-Greece Relations Good- Crime / Env / Terror

US-Greece Relations Good- Crime / Env / Terror

U.S. Greece Relations Solve Crime, Drug Trafficking, Environmental Collapse, and Terror

[Nicolas Burns, Former Ambassador to Greece, “Greece-U.S. Relations: The Generation Ahead” 10/13/00

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event&event_id=121578&doc_id=121581)
The second challenge concerns transnational issues, such as international crime, narcotics, environmental damage, and terrorism. These issues are coming to the fore as significant threats to the national securities of all countries around the world. These issues know no borders and boundaries, and cannot be combated on a national level. They have to be combated on an international level. There are major international crime rings in the United States and in Greece. Sometimes they emanate from the same source, such as the former Soviet Union. We cannot hope to combat these crime rings in the United States without the help of countries like Greece, and Greece cannot hope to combat them without the help of countries like the United States. The effort against narcotics trafficking is an area where the United States and Greece have enjoyed substantial cooperation with great success. Greece is a transit country for cocaine and other illicit narcotics coming from the East and going to the rich markets in Western Europe. In the last year, the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States and the Greek narcotics police have twice made major cocaine hauls. That's a good record of cooperation. Terrorism is a neuralgic, sensitive issue in this relationship. If you read the press and watch recent television news broadcasts in the United States, you will see how terrorism issues are handled, or not handled, in a proper way and will realize that terrorism is perhaps the most sensitive issue in this relationship. I'm looking forward to the panel discussion on transnational issues and terrorism. It is important for Americans to communicate to Greeks that terrorism is a phenomenon that truly cannot be combated on a national level. Terrorism is, by definition, international in its roots and in its operation. The only way it can be defeated in the United States is to have the cooperation of 100 countries around the world. As the U.S. looks toward the Salt Lake City Olympics, it is building an international consortium of security experts to help combat the potential for terrorism in Salt Lake City. Sydney did the same thing. The U.S. is offering Greece its help. Australia has also offered its help, and other countries will help the Greek people prepare for these challenges. The position of the U.S. government is that it believes Greece will meet the challenge of protecting the athletes and spectators at Athens Olympics in 2004. The U.S. believes Greece has the self-interest, the political will, and the capability to do so. It has to be an international effort, just as Salt Lake City has to embark on an international effort to combat terrorism. I would hope that Washington and Athens could lower the emotions on both sides concerning the issue of terrorism, particularly on the American side, and have a more productive discussion on the issue.

Environmental destruction risks extinction

US-Greece Relations good – Env/ crime / terror

Preventing Crime and Drug Trafficking Solves every war

UNDOC 09

[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “Preventing organized crime from spoiling peace” 2/26/09, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/preventing-organized-crime-from-spoiling-peace.html]

Look at almost any conflict zone in the world, and you'll find spoilers with links to criminal groups. Conflict creates cover for illicit enrichment - whether it be drugs, natural resources, or the trafficking of weapons and people. It also creates profitable new markets for smuggled goods. In the absence of the rule of law and licit competition, criminal groups fill a lucrative vacuum. Since they profit from instability they have few incentives for peace. Organized crime is therefore a major threat to keeping and building peace, and - because of its transnational nature - has an impact on regional security. As a result, conflicts which may seem tractable drag on for years. "Peacekeepers, peacemakers, and peace-builders are starting to wake up to the impact of crime on conflict, and UNODC has a unique skill set that can address this urgent problem", says UNODC Spokesman Walter Kemp, "The establishment of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, an ever-expanding number of peacekeeping operations that include a rule of law component, an increased emphasis on conflict prevention, and greater attention to the political economy of conflict all demonstrate the need for expertise in dealing with organized crime in fragile situations", says Mark Shaw, Chief of UNODC's Integrated Programming Unit. Yet expertise is relatively limited. As the Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa has pointed out, "we need more specialists to fight organized crime. Under the UN flag, there are more than 130,000 soldiers and 10,000 police. Yet, the UN has less than a dozen experts on organized crime. How can we answer the calls for help when we have few people to send?" UNODC is taking steps to rectify this problem, both within the UN system and among Member States. "UNODC is well-positioned to play a key role in this area since we are the guardian of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the developer of a number of key tools to strengthen criminal justice in post-conflict settings", says UNODC Director of Operations Francis Maertens. One such tool was launched in New York on 11 February - Model Codes for Post-Conflict Criminal Justicewhich was produced in partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the US Institute for Peace, and the Irish Centre for Human  Rights. "Blue helmets get most of the attention when people think about building peace and security", said Mr. Costa at the launch, "but long-term security depends first and foremost on the creation or restoration of the rule of law, and that is what this Model Code is for". UNODC has developed other tools, like online training for the police, and a Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit. There is also a handbook on Strengthening and Reform of Criminal Justice with Post-Conflict and Transition States and the United Nations Criminal Justice Standards for Peacekeeping Police. This manual, developed with the Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), addresses such issues as integrity, sexual misconduct and assistance to child victims and witnesses. In addition to a growing box of precision tools to assess and deal with crime in post-conflict situations, the Office conducts research on illicit trafficking and organized crime as key factors undermining peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery.  It provides assistance in legal reform, law enforcement, and criminal justice and anti-corruption efforts. It also advises post-conflict countries on the formulation of national strategies for reforming their criminal justice systems. As such, UNODC experts can form an integral part of rule of law teams in peacekeeping operations. "We have value to add to UNDP and DPKO", says Shaw. Concretely, UNODC has provided rule of law assistance to UN operations and national governments in Afghanistan, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan, Burundi, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Haiti, Iraq, East Timor and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (amongst others). Most of this work has been carried out in the past two years, and demand is growing. West Africa is a good example of a "one UN" approach to tackling organized crime. Last year, UNODC sounded the alarm about drug trafficking as a threat to security in the region (substantiated in an evidence-based report). The issue was taken up in the Security Council, a donors conference pledged assistance, ECOWAS Ministers met to agree on a regional response, and UNODC has provided on-the-spot technical assistance in cooperation with the Secretary-General's Special Representative for West Africa, and the UN Peace-building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau. Further analytical and operational work is planned. UNODC is currently in the process of finalizing a threat assessment guide to assist practitioners in the field to identify groups involved in organized crime. "Peacekeepers often sense that organized crime is a threat, but they are not sure what to do about it. We want to demystify organized crime, assess its impact and mitigate its risk factors in order to remove crime as an impediment to peace", says Maertens.
Terror Causes Nuclear War

SID – AHMED 04 Political Analyst [Mohamed, http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/705/op5.htm]

A nuclear attack by terrorists will be much more critical than Hiroshima and Nagazaki, even if -- and this is far from certain – the weapons used are less harmful than those used then, Japan, at the time, with no knowledge of nuclear technology, had no choice but to capitulate. Today, the technology is a secret for nobody. So far, except for the two bombs dropped on Japan, nuclear weapons have been used only to threaten. Now we are at a stage where they can be detonated. This completely changes the rules of the game. We have reached a point where anticipatory measures can determine the course of events. Allegations of a terrorist connection can be used to justify anticipatory measures, including the invasion of a sovereign state like Iraq. As it turned out, these allegations, as well as the allegation that Saddam was harbouring WMD, proved to be unfounded. What would be the consequences of a nuclear attack by terrorists? Even if it fails, it would further exacerbate the negative features of the new and frightening world in which we are now living. Societies would close in on themselves, police measures would be stepped up at the expense of human rights, tensions between civilisations and religions would rise and ethnic conflicts would proliferate. It would also speed up the arms race and develop the awareness that a different type of world order is imperative if humankind is to survive. But the still more critical scenario is if the attack succeeds. This could lead to a third world war, from which no one will emerge victorious. Unlike a conventional war which ends when one side triumphs over another, this war will be without winners and losers. When nuclear pollution infects the whole planet, we will all be losers.

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