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Narcotopia : in search of the Asian drug cartel that survived the CIA / Patrick Winn.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : PublicAffairs, 2024Copyright date: ©2024Edition: First editionDescription: xiv, 364 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781541701953
  • 154170195X
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
The nations and peoples of Narcotopia -- Prologue -- Superstar -- First encounter -- Stranger in the peaks -- Guns, drugs, and espionage -- The league of warlords -- Enslaved no more -- Unspeakable -- The prodigy -- Mr. Success -- Nativity -- Confidential informant -- Kick the car -- The burn -- Torpedo -- The summit -- Manifest destiny -- The great migration -- Vanilla speed -- Whiskey alpha -- Mountain fortress China -- The reckoning -- Epilogue.
Summary: "Nestled in the Golden Triangle of China, Burma, and Nepal, the Wa nation has existed and thrived for over five decades. Like mountain peoples from Chechnya to the Ozarks, the Wa like to do things their own way. A tribal authority called the United Wa State Army (or UWSA) controls their native terrain. The UWSA makes laws, defends the motherland, and builds roads and schools. It even issues driver's licenses. In every sense, it is a government. And as a nation, its armed forces command 30,000 troops and 20,000 reservists, more than the militaries of Sweden or Kenya. The Wa possess high-tech weaponry: cannons, drones, and missiles that can knock jets out of the sky. Yet the one difference from their nation and those that surround them is their preferred commodity: drugs. Illegal drugs are indeed one of the UWSA's top revenue sources. Over the years, tons of narcotics produced on Wa soil have hit the black market and traffickers have smuggled them onto American shores. Their ability to have a functioning government, economic system, and freedom from their neighbors derives from their sophisticated, profitable, and illegal trade. Yet, the origin story of this narco-army is smudged with American fingerprints. Not only did the CIA create the conditions for its inception, but one of its foremost leaders was a DEA asset. In Narcotopia, Patrick Winn investigates and uncovers the true story of Wa, untangling the relationship between the DEA, CIA, and Wa people. The result is a saga of an indigenous people who have tapped the power of narcotics to create a nation where there was none before and the covert operations of US intelligence to transform and undermine it for their own agenda. Every empire needs its barbarians"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 364.1336 W776 Available 33111011241508
Total holds: 1

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The gripping true story of an indigenous people running the world's mightiest narco-state--and America's struggle to thwart them.



In Asia's narcotics-producing heartland, the Wa reign supreme. They dominate the Golden Triangle, a mountainous stretch of Burma between Thailand and China. Their 30,000-strong army, wielding missiles and attack drones, makes Mexican cartels look like street gangs.



Wa moguls are unrivaled in the region's $60 billion meth trade and infamous for mass-producing pink, vanilla-scented speed pills. Drugs finance Wa State, a bona fide nation with its own laws, anthems, schools, and electricity grid. Though revered by their people, Wa leaders are scorned by US policymakers as vicious "kingpins" who "poison our society for profit."



In Narcotopia , award-winning journalist Patrick Winn uncovers the truth behind Asia's top drug-trafficking organization, as told by a Wa commander turned DEA informant. This gripping narrative shreds drug war myths and leads to a chilling revelation: the Wa syndicate's origins are smudged with CIA fingerprints.



This is a saga of native people tapping the power of narcotics to create a nation where there was none before -- and covert US intelligence operations gone wrong.



Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-346) and index.

The nations and peoples of Narcotopia -- Prologue -- Superstar -- First encounter -- Stranger in the peaks -- Guns, drugs, and espionage -- The league of warlords -- Enslaved no more -- Unspeakable -- The prodigy -- Mr. Success -- Nativity -- Confidential informant -- Kick the car -- The burn -- Torpedo -- The summit -- Manifest destiny -- The great migration -- Vanilla speed -- Whiskey alpha -- Mountain fortress China -- The reckoning -- Epilogue.

"Nestled in the Golden Triangle of China, Burma, and Nepal, the Wa nation has existed and thrived for over five decades. Like mountain peoples from Chechnya to the Ozarks, the Wa like to do things their own way. A tribal authority called the United Wa State Army (or UWSA) controls their native terrain. The UWSA makes laws, defends the motherland, and builds roads and schools. It even issues driver's licenses. In every sense, it is a government. And as a nation, its armed forces command 30,000 troops and 20,000 reservists, more than the militaries of Sweden or Kenya. The Wa possess high-tech weaponry: cannons, drones, and missiles that can knock jets out of the sky. Yet the one difference from their nation and those that surround them is their preferred commodity: drugs. Illegal drugs are indeed one of the UWSA's top revenue sources. Over the years, tons of narcotics produced on Wa soil have hit the black market and traffickers have smuggled them onto American shores. Their ability to have a functioning government, economic system, and freedom from their neighbors derives from their sophisticated, profitable, and illegal trade. Yet, the origin story of this narco-army is smudged with American fingerprints. Not only did the CIA create the conditions for its inception, but one of its foremost leaders was a DEA asset. In Narcotopia, Patrick Winn investigates and uncovers the true story of Wa, untangling the relationship between the DEA, CIA, and Wa people. The result is a saga of an indigenous people who have tapped the power of narcotics to create a nation where there was none before and the covert operations of US intelligence to transform and undermine it for their own agenda. Every empire needs its barbarians"-- Provided by publisher.

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