Topic: Drug Cartels

A book review in Harper's Magazine of "Drug Cartels Do Not Exist" by Oswaldo Zavala challenges the conventional narrative of organized crime in Mexico. Zavala argues that the entities commonly referred to as cartels are actually extensions of the police and political establishment. This perspective suggests that the "war on drugs" is a manufactured framework that masks state-sponsored violence and systemic government corruption.

Journalist Matt Taibbi reported in Rolling Stone on the HSBC banking scandal, where the institution was found to be knowingly laundering money for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. Despite evidence of cartels designing cash boxes specifically to fit bank teller windows, the Department of Justice declined to pursue criminal charges against individuals. The bank received a fine that critics describe as a "slap on the wrist" intended to maintain public confidence in the financial system.

John Rapoport discusses the toxicity of the medical-pharmaceutical cartel, citing a study by Dr. Barbara Starfield published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study estimated that 106,000 Americans are killed annually by FDA-approved pharmaceutical drugs. Rapoport argues that the industry focuses on inventing new disorders to sell drugs rather than curing existing illnesses, resulting in over a million deaths per decade.