Essay/Term paper: The black market

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Papers

The Black Market is defined as people who engage in illicit trade. Smuggling of Nuclear weapons plays a role in this. The Russians, U.S., and other countries are involved. Russia has been one the move since the Cold War ended. The Russians position threat to many lives with nuclear sales. Many Russian affiliations and events are to blame including Russian Mafia, military intelligence, Trading Air, collapse in economy, and disgruntled Nuclear employees.

Russian Crime organizations have grown to a high number since the end of the Cold War. The Nuclear Black market is no stranger to the Russian Mafia. Russia may be poised to sell nuclear weapons to the highest bidder as organized crime expands its influence in Russian society (Phinney). Some of the 200 Russian organized crime groups now operate worldwide, including in the United states and gaining the ability to manipulate its banking system and financial markets (Phinney). Roughly two-thirds of Russia"s economy is under sway of crime syndicates, and protection rackets have been the norm since the collapse of communism(Phinney). The Russian Mafia and the antifada

becoming nuclear powers or the likelihood that some of this dangerous material being transferred to rogue states like Iran, Iraq, or North Korea. Even if the uranium and plutonium are not used to build nuclear technology, these materials are radioactive and therefore intrinsically dangerous to any one who comes in contact with them, particularly the smugglers themselves. In March 1995, U.S. Customs agents in Miami launched a two-year undercover investigation reaching into high-level official circles in Russian, Bulgaria, and Lithuania. It would become the first credible case of a scenario to smuggle tactical nuclear weapons into the U.S. (Frontline). According to Russia"s Ministry of Internal Affairs, the government agency in charge of combating organized crime, 40 percent of private business, 60 percent of state-owned enterprises and between 50 percent and 85 percent of banks are controlled by organized crime. According to Russia"s Ministry of Internal Affairs, the government agency in charge of combating organized crime, 40 percent of private business, 60 percent of state-owned enterprises and between 50 percent and 85 percent of banks are controlled by organized crime.

Russia crime organizations are not even the source when it comes to smuggling Nuclear Weapons. Warheads come from one place, the military. There is major corruption in the Russian Military. Although, you can make your own type of Nuclear weapons, but this is a different case. Some 6,000 crimes were committed by the military in 1996 and over 100 generals and admirals and the three top officials from the Ministry of Defense are under investigation of corruption and embezzlement (Phinney). According to a Western European intelligence report, the principal suspects in many of the smuggling cases are "renegade military officers and civilian nuclear technicians from Russia, Ukraine, and Romania. . ."(Lee). The nuclear weapons black

market has grown so large that the number of cases of actual or

attempted nuclear smuggling from former communist countries in 1994

increased to 124 -- more than double the amount reported in 1993. The military"s plight provide sample economic incentive for raising cash by selling arms to the highest bidder. The instability and unrest in the Russian military, whose soldiers receive paychecks on an irregular basis at best, bolsters cause for alarm. The military"s plight provides ample economic incentive for raising cash by selling arms to the highest bidder, according to Arnaud de Borchgrave, CSIS organized crime expert who helped author the report.

There"s always a system for something. It"s not like a franchise, every organization has their own system. That system is the way they can trade. There are men called "Ventilators" because they trade air. Trading air as a commercial activity arose in Russia only recently. It quickly became popular in the growing circles of Russian dealers. A middle man finds a consumer who wants to buy several kilograms of an item (e. g. plutonium). He offers a sample for analysis and receives a deposit. All the transactions in these circles are conducted in U.S. dollars. After receiving a deposit, the middleman disappears for a week (Beyaninov). While the disheartened buyer searches high and low for his broker, waving the empty container and the fake certificate in the air, his money is earning money. It's being used as capital for black market retailers, private lenders, or exploiters of dollar-ruble exchange rates. The profit isn't high; if the middleman receives a deposit of $2,000­3,000, he makes $200­300 at most. But he suffers absolutely no losses. The middleman finally meets with his client, apologizes profusely for the mistake, and returns the entire sum to his buyer. It seems as though three journalists broke in and did some analyzing of their own. The journalists were undercover and Russian. They found out how the process of transactions and deposits were made through the smuggling (Beyaninov).

When there"s a collapse in economy in a country, they usually become desperate. This reminds me after World War I when German had to pay for the war and their economy came crashing. Then Hitler brought them out of the depression. Now the Russian"s economy is collapsing and they are smuggling Nuclear weapons throughout the world making a turn for the worse. The sharp reduction in budgets for research and development of strategic weapons has forced some in the elite communities of military and technology specialists to sell materials and expertise in order to support their livelihoods (Nuclear).

The economic collapse in Russia raises the risk of nuclear smuggling to the international black market. A U.S. admiral, quoted by Reuters, warns that many of Russia"s nuclear storage facilities no longer have any real protection whatsoever (Nuclear). Reports show increase in attempts to smuggle radioactive materials out of Russia. Since the end of the Cold War, a new nuclear weapons black market has sprung up in Moscow, Germany, and many other European countries. A multi-million black market in materials has grown at a frightening rate in the past several years (Lee). Russia inherited from the Soviet Union vast holdings of nuclear weapons and of the fissile materials necessary to build them. These nuclear assets have been in the possession of a Russia in the midst of an extraordinarily difficult and turbulent political, social, and economic transformation. Never before have such enormous inventories of nuclear weapons and fissile materials existed in such circumstances of political instability and uncertainty and economic distress. The economic struggles and financial crisis experienced by Russia since it emerged as an independent state in 1991 have placed enormous stress on its society. The Russian military and the Russian nuclear complex have not been exempt from these pressures. This reality has led to concerns that the Russian state is not in a position to provide adequately for the safety and security of its nuclear assets.

When the military and crime organizations can"t get the job done, they make the insiders do the dirty work. Employees in the nuclear industry have been told in recent weeks that their salaries will not be paid on time.

These workers control considerable amounts of radioactive materials.

Late salaries could tempt more of the several thousand unpaid employees to steal radioactive substances and smuggle them abroad for hard currency (Nuclear).

In conclusion, this shows how the collapse of the economy led to crime and smuggling. It clearly shows that when the fall of Russian economy came, the rise of sales of nuclear weapons became of that. It effects our economy as well as Russia"s. We are involved because the trading is also going on through parts of the U.S. The biggest effect on our economy is Russia"s threat with nuclear warheads. One nuke and it could ruin our economic system.