Browsing: Academia

Triads, Snakeheads, and Flying Money: The Underworld of Chinese Criminal Networks in Latin America and the Caribbean

Triads, Snakeheads, and Flying Money: The Underworld of Chinese Criminal Networks in Latin America and the Caribbean

September 27, 2023

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) continue to grapple with some of the highest rates of violence and corruption in the world, particularly due to the corrosive presence of transnational criminal organizations (TCOs). Notorious regional TCOs continue to sell drugs worldwide, kill with impunity, bribe local officials, terrorize communities, and build deadly international partnerships with Italian, Russian, and…

Mexico’s Engagement with China and Choices for Its Future

Mexico’s Engagement with China and Choices for Its Future

August 11, 2023

Introduction As Mexico looks to national elections in June 2024, the expanding engagement that the country is backing into with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will have profound implications for the country’s future, as well as the United States and the rest of the region. Background Mexico’s relationship with China has always been complicated. Although Chinese migrants formed an…

PRC Engagement in The Bahamas

PRC Engagement in The Bahamas

August 02, 2023

Introduction In his March 2023 annual posture statement to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, head of U.S. Northern Command General Glen VanHerck referred to the substantial commercial and other presence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Bahamas as “efforts to gain a foothold only 50 miles from the U.S. East Coast.” Relatively little has been written…

Chinese Private Security Companies in Latin America

Chinese Private Security Companies in Latin America

July 24, 2023

This article was originally published on The Diplomat on July 17, 2023. The enormous expansion of global engagement by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its companies over the past two decades has generated a corresponding need to protect Chinese operations and personnel in the dangerous environments where they sometimes operate. Awareness of such needs for protection among the…

Red Flags Among Golden Passports: An Analysis of Chinese Influence In Five Caribbean Citizenship By Investment Programs

Red Flags Among Golden Passports: An Analysis of Chinese Influence In Five Caribbean Citizenship By Investment Programs

July 14, 2023

This work was first published in March 2023 by the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, part of Florida International University’s Steven J. Green School for International and Public Affairs. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This paper explores the extent wealthy Chinese Citizenship by Investment (CBI) holders in the Caribbean use their economic clout to influence local politics. Five Caribbean countries have…

Russia’s State Media Has A Credibility Problem

Russia’s State Media Has A Credibility Problem

July 07, 2023

This article was originally published on Per Concordiam. Russia’s state-sponsored media is in a difficult position. The increasingly unbelievable narratives coming out of the Russian Federation regarding actions in Ukraine have created a credibility crisis for organizations like Russia Today (RT), Sputnik and the Russian News Agency (TASS), among others. The tendency of these supposed news agencies to openly deceive —…

The Trouble with China’s Global Civilization Initiative

The Trouble with China’s Global Civilization Initiative

June 06, 2023

This article was originally published on The Diplomat on June 1, 2023.   As in other parts of the world, Latin American history is marked by the recurring tragedy of publics rallying around leaders with attractive-sounding rhetoric, from new constitutions to government-led development and social justice, to prosperity through privatization.  Whether on the right or the left, the most consistent…

Race to the Bottom: China and the Self-Defeating Logic of Transactional Diplomacy in the Americas

Race to the Bottom: China and the Self-Defeating Logic of Transactional Diplomacy in the Americas

May 01, 2023

This article was originally published on The Diplomat on April 18, 2023. Having closely followed China’s advance in the Western Hemisphere for more than two decades, I have always felt discomfort with the reasonable sounding, but self-defeating explanation from our Latin American partners: “Well, the U.S. isn’t offering us anything better…” To be clear, I strongly believe that it is…

What China’s Global Security Initiative Tells Us About Its Strategic Engagement with Latin America

What China’s Global Security Initiative Tells Us About Its Strategic Engagement with Latin America

April 24, 2023

This article was originally published on The Diplomat.   Chinese engagement with Latin America may be mostly about commerce, but it is nonetheless strategic in its character. Its new Global Security Initiative (GSI) openly highlights the explicitly military and other strategic dimensions of its approach toward Latin America and other parts of the world. The GSI, introduced in 2022 and…

Sovereignty in Space, No One Can Own It, which Drives Competition, Cooperation

Sovereignty in Space, No One Can Own It, which Drives Competition, Cooperation

April 17, 2023

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) fired off a letter to the United Nations in December 2021 complaining it had been forced to maneuver its newly occupied space station twice in four months to avoid colliding with two Starlink satellites, part of the constellation launched by United States-based SpaceX to bring the internet to underserved areas of the globe. In…

Cyberspace Freedom, Allied and Partner Nations Resist Authoritarian Controls Imposed Under the Guise of Digital Sovereignty

Cyberspace Freedom, Allied and Partner Nations Resist Authoritarian Controls Imposed Under the Guise of Digital Sovereignty

April 12, 2023

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the internet in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) echoed the Chinese government’s noncommittal stance, declining to portray Moscow’s military assault in Europe as an unprovoked attack. Censors commissioned by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were similarly vigilant in early 2022, limiting online exchanges during a COVID-19 lockdown, including information on how…

One Step Ahead: Chile’s NCO Integration Pioneering Efforts

One Step Ahead: Chile’s NCO Integration Pioneering Efforts

March 15, 2023

Effective militaries are those that not only can project power in various places simultaneously but who do so effectively. As technology and innovation continue to advance and yield new weapon systems, modern militaries should not forget the importance of investing in the style and potential of their soldiers, marines, airmen/airwomen, and sailors’ leadership. Archaic leadership styles, such as Top-Down command,…