A new record for the number of arrests in a single day by Merseyside police!

Sean ONeill’s original article makes some cogent points and is obviously well informed by insiders. The main crticism is not necessarily a crticism. To discover that the 130 targets you inherited were not actually the top figures in the dugs trade sounds like a step forward in intelligence to me! Working out the true picture … THE ORIGINAL TIMES ARTICLE

Worth noting that they are recruiting civilian administrators too, if you look on the home page.

This underlines the point made in the previous post. Organised crime, in this case narcotraffickers and narcoterrorists can substitute themselves for the security forces in insurgencies and Military leaders can convince themselves they are “winning” the war as a result. The final line of this Washington Post piece is a reminder that there are different … COLOMBIA SENDS 13 PARAMILITARY LEADERS TO US

Murphy’s Law says they will get to the top just in time to face something totally different. Nevertheless, Col. MacMaster’s comment that the military were preoccupied in the 1990s with technology to the detriment of the political and cultural dimensions of war certainly rings true. Now who is dealing with the organised criminal dimension? I’m … US ARMY’S NEXT CROP OF GENERALS FORGED IN COUNTER-INSURGENCY

Further thoughts from the Moscow Times on the Medvedev and Putin teams. Putin has to stay in a position of power to give Medvedev the clout to break the political clans and criminal businesses around the silovki. having used the silovki to break the oligarchs, they now have to be removed from power in their … A LINEUP AIMING TO TAME SILOVKI

may be an indicator that the iceberg is beginning to melt. Medvedev makes a new appointment as Justice Minister. The silovki are the former police, security and justice personnel who displaced the oligarchs under Putin. May lead to a number of slow changes. Medvedev has stressed the rule of law and this may mean a … USTINOV’S OUSTER MAY BE A LOSS FOR SILOVKI

16% rise in credit card fraud in 2007. HM Inspectors of Constabulary want new fraud unit to investigate and prosecute. Recording of the crime hit and miss.

Good article on the instant experts out there, and the question of how impartial they are when they stand up in court.

The US really does break bad news so well! Postgrad researchers get scary letters from unapologetic bureaucrats.