Vanda Felbab-Brown

A burning bus, set alight by cartel gunmen to block a road, is pictured during clashes with federal forces following the detention of Ovidio Guzman, son of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico October 17, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

The successes and problems of high-value targeting strategies around the world

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Taliban fighters drive a car on a street following the killing of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a U.S. strike over the weekend, in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara

What Ayman al-Zawahri’s death says about terrorism in Taliban-run Afghanistan

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Smuggled Mexican box turtles were wrapped in duct tape, stuffed into socks and hidden in four coffee cans. Credit: USFWS

Something fishy: Wildlife trafficking from Mexico to China

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

China will add fentanyl-related substances to a supplementary list of controlled narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances with non-medical use since May 1. The decision was announced Monday in a joint statement by the Ministry of Public Security, the National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration. Fentanyl and its analogues that were previously included in the list of controlled narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, as well as the related substances in the supplementary list, will remain to be controlled according to relevant regulations, the statement said. Chang zhongzheng, Oriental Image via Reuters Connect.

China and synthetic drugs: Geopolitics trumps counternarcotics cooperation

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Monday, March 7, 2022

Servicemen of the Ukrainian National Guard take positions in central Kyiv, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Around the halls: Implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Pavel K. Baev, Jessica Brandt, Vanda Felbab-Brown, Jeremy Greenwood, Samantha Gross, Daniel S. Hamilton, Bruce Jones, Marvin Kalb, Patricia M. Kim, Suzanne Maloney, Amy J. Nelson, Thomas Pickering, Bruce Riedel, Natan Sachs, Constanze Stelzenmüller, Caitlin Talmadge, Shibley Telhami, David G. Victor, and Andrew Yeo

Friday, February 25, 2022

FIshing boat near the beach in Celestun. On Thursday, February 03, 2022, in Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto)NO USE FRANCE

Organized crime is taking over Mexican fisheries

Vanda Felbab-Brown

February 21, 2022

Members of the Iraqi predominantly Shia Muslim Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) parade symbolic coffins at Baghdad's Tahrir Square during a rally organized to mark the second anniversary of the United States airstrikes that targeted weapons depots and command centres of the Iran-backed Hezbollah Brigades. The targeted paramilitary group, which constitutes part of the PMF, suffered dozens of casualties in the attacks that took place in Al-Qa'im, an Iraqi town located near the Syrian border. 12/29/2021, Ameer Al Mohammedaw/dpa

New vulnerabilities for Iraq’s resilient Popular Mobilization Forces

Ranj Alaaldin and Vanda Felbab-Brown

Thursday, February 3, 2022

A motorist passes by a wall with a graffiti of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in El Aguaje after the visit of Vatican's ambassador to Mexico Franco Coppola to the area and to the municipality of Aguililla, an area where the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and local drug gangs are fighting to control the territory, in Michoacan state, Mexico April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Alan Ortega

Nonstate armed actors in 2022: Alive and powerful in the new geopolitics

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Women sit in their shelter at a camp for the internally displaced due to the fighting between the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) forces in Dessie town, Amhara region, Ethiopia, October 8, 2021. Picture taken October 8, 2021. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

Still far from peace in Ethiopia

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez presented her report on security for the month of December 2021 to Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at National Palace. On January 20, 2022 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Luis Barron/ Eyepix Group)

Crime and anti-crime policies in Mexico in 2022: A bleak outlook

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Monday, January 24, 2022