3 ms·

Sorry, maybe I did not get my point clear here. The article about Mexico suggested that it would be irrational for Mexican authorities to really fight the drug

Sorry, maybe I did not get my point clear here. The article about Mexico suggested that it would be irrational for Mexican authorities to really fight the drug trade. My thought was, for such a tiny economy as Estonia, were one fraud alone counted to 200 Billion, how rational would it be to fight this? Maybe I am wrong. Probably. But it is at least worth a thought.

jacquesm 3y ago
It would be very rational for both to fight it. But in the case of Mexico, if not for the DEA and a lot of assistance from the USA the government would be overrun by the narcotics operators, the fact that this isn't the case is the result of decades of work (and not all of it legal or above board). Mexican politicians are very much at risk, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politicians_killed_in_the_Mexican_drug_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politicians_killed_in_... This means that it may be right and rational to fight the drug trade and they are trying but the personal risks and risks to the rest of society are non-zero and may well be fatal to those individuals seen as instrumental to that fight (same in Colombia, perhaps more so). For Estonia the desire to fight these things is definitely there, but the manpower simply isn't. And this is the only thing that I really begrudge the Estonian authorities in particular: they never really sat down to think through the abuse potential and what likely would happen as a result of their e-* programs. They went into it all naive and starry eyed whereas professionals the world over saw it and thought that it was going to attract a very mixed crowd with a very large risk of abuse.
- Beijinger 3y ago
  I would not want to be someone to fight drug trafficking in Mexico. No doubt. I have been in Colombia countless times and it is an amazing place. The cities have parts that look like Florida. The skyscrapers were likely build with drug money (Floridas were not?). It is the Colombian government that says, please, let us legalize Cocaine. https://www.niskanencenter.org/colombias-efforts-to-legalize-cocaine-provides-opportunity-for-u-s-to-rethink-drug-enforcement/ https://www.niskanencenter.org/colombias-efforts-to-legalize... The e-residency might have been a good idea. Or not. I don't know. BTW, you can get the same now in Ukraine: https://visitukraine.today/blog/2186/diia-for-foreigners-how-to-get-an-e-permit-e-residency-and-other-services https://visitukraine.today/blog/2186/diia-for-foreigners-how... But the results are not good. In one article it was written, that basically 2 e-residency companies bring in 90% of the tax revenue.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    The e-residency was a good idea implemented on the cheap and poorly. And yes, the Colombian government is on the side of legislation because that would give them better tools to deal with the fall-out of all of this. The USA is as much the source of the problem as it is the reason anything is done at all, what the longer term solution is I have no idea but these are very complex problems and generalizations do not help. Frustratingly Trump and his policies have turned back the clock in Mexico about a decade or so. Illegal immigration was down substantially and people were even moving back to Mexico because the standard of living was improving. Right up until the 'build the wall' bullshit. I've spent enough time in Colombia to know that the average person is super nice and extremely friendly but at the same time I'm aware that their internal problems and the low key war - right now actually lower key than in many years past - going on there is a massive problem that no single individual or even any particular slice of government is going to solve. There are economic, regional, international and historical components to all this that will require a lot of time and effort to get it all to move to a better place. That said, Medellin today vs Medellin 25 years ago is a completely different affair.

jacquesm 3y ago

It would be very rational for both to fight it. But in the case of Mexico, if not for the DEA and a lot of assistance from the USA the government would be overrun by the narcotics operators, the fact that this isn't the case is the result of decades of work (and not all of it legal or above board). Mexican politicians are very much at risk, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politicians_killed_in_the_Mexican_drug_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politicians_killed_in_... This means that it may be right and rational to fight the drug trade and they are trying but the personal risks and risks to the rest of society are non-zero and may well be fatal to those individuals seen as instrumental to that fight (same in Colombia, perhaps more so). For Estonia the desire to fight these things is definitely there, but the manpower simply isn't. And this is the only thing that I really begrudge the Estonian authorities in particular: they never really sat down to think through the abuse potential and what likely would happen as a result of their e-* programs. They went into it all naive and starry eyed whereas professionals the world over saw it and thought that it was going to attract a very mixed crowd with a very large risk of abuse.

Beijinger 3y ago
I would not want to be someone to fight drug trafficking in Mexico. No doubt. I have been in Colombia countless times and it is an amazing place. The cities have parts that look like Florida. The skyscrapers were likely build with drug money (Floridas were not?). It is the Colombian government that says, please, let us legalize Cocaine. https://www.niskanencenter.org/colombias-efforts-to-legalize-cocaine-provides-opportunity-for-u-s-to-rethink-drug-enforcement/ https://www.niskanencenter.org/colombias-efforts-to-legalize... The e-residency might have been a good idea. Or not. I don't know. BTW, you can get the same now in Ukraine: https://visitukraine.today/blog/2186/diia-for-foreigners-how-to-get-an-e-permit-e-residency-and-other-services https://visitukraine.today/blog/2186/diia-for-foreigners-how... But the results are not good. In one article it was written, that basically 2 e-residency companies bring in 90% of the tax revenue.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  The e-residency was a good idea implemented on the cheap and poorly. And yes, the Colombian government is on the side of legislation because that would give them better tools to deal with the fall-out of all of this. The USA is as much the source of the problem as it is the reason anything is done at all, what the longer term solution is I have no idea but these are very complex problems and generalizations do not help. Frustratingly Trump and his policies have turned back the clock in Mexico about a decade or so. Illegal immigration was down substantially and people were even moving back to Mexico because the standard of living was improving. Right up until the 'build the wall' bullshit. I've spent enough time in Colombia to know that the average person is super nice and extremely friendly but at the same time I'm aware that their internal problems and the low key war - right now actually lower key than in many years past - going on there is a massive problem that no single individual or even any particular slice of government is going to solve. There are economic, regional, international and historical components to all this that will require a lot of time and effort to get it all to move to a better place. That said, Medellin today vs Medellin 25 years ago is a completely different affair.