Loretta Napoleoni is the bestselling author of Maonomics, Rogue Economics, Terror Incorporated and Insurgent Iraq. She is an expert on terrorist financing and money laundering, and advises several governments and international organizations on counter-terrorism and money laundering. As Chairman of the countering terrorism financing group for the Club de Madrid, Napoleoni brought heads of state from around the world together to create a new strategy for combating the financing of terror networks.
Napoleoni is a regular media commentator for CNN, Sky and the BBC. She is among the few economists who predicted the credit crunch and the recession, and advises several banks on strategies to counter the current ongoing crisis. She lectures regularly around the world on economics, terrorism and money laundering.
Loretta is also a columnist and writes about terrorism, money laundering and the economy for several European financial papers including El Pais, The Guardian and Le Monde. In the 1990s she was among the first journalists to interview the Red Brigades, the Italian Marxist armed group. She subsequently spent three years interviewing members of other terrorist organizations. In 2003 she interviewed followers of al Zarqawi in both Europe and in the Middle East. Born and raised in Rome, in the mid 1970s she became an active member of the feminist movement and a political activist. She was a Fulbright scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC and a Rotary Scholar at the London School of Economics. She has a PhD in economics and a Masters of Philosophy in international relations and one in terrorism.
She began her career as an economist, working for several banks and international organizations in Europe and the US. In the early 1980s she spent 2 years in Budapest at the National Bank of Hungary working on a project for the convertibility of the florin that ten years later became the blueprint for the convertibility of the rouble. In he 1980s she worked for a UK registered Russian Bank, Moscow Narodny Bank, which acted as the foreign branch of the Bank of Foreign Trade. This position afforded her a unique insight into the Soviet economy. In 1992 she produced the final documentation for the structure of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD. She teaches a course at Judge Business Schools, Cambridge.
Napoleoni ’s books include Modern Jihad (Pluto Press, London, 2003); Terror Inc. (Penguin, London, 2004); Insurgent Iraq (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2005); Terror Incorporated (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2005); Rogue Economics (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2008); Terror and the Economy (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2010) and Maonomics: Why Chinese Communists Are Better Capitalists Than We Are (Seven Stories Press 2011) . Her latest book is the best seller Islamist Phoenix (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2014). “The IS doesn’t want to destroy. They want to build the 21st century version of the Calliphate and that is what makes them so dangerous”. Her books are translated into 18 languages including Chinese and Arabic. She lives in London and in the US with her husband and their four children.
Napoleoni is currently working at a book linking the post 9/11 Western foreign policy, the kidnapping and refugee crisis. Based upon original interviews with former hostages, negotiators, member of the crisis unit, kidnap owes and refugees, the book will unveil how post 9/11 Western foreign policy is responsible for the birth of a new breed of criminal and terrorist engaged in kidnapping of Westerners and trafficking migrants. Napoleoni defines these people Merchant of Men.
Autoarea cărții evidențiază naivitatea oamenilor în diferite situații și deschide ochii cititorilor pentru ca ei să vadă că lumea întreagă se confruntă cu o mulțime de probleme. Cartea mi-a trezit interesul pentru acest subiect și voi continua să mă documentez.
An illuminating analysis of the complexity of terrorism and its motivations; how bad foreign policy and failed states can spark decades of lucrative illicit trade. But ultimately, book drives home the message that, once again, the love of money drives humanity to commit the darkest evils.
Kniha napsaná jako příběh s množstvím faktů obohacená o autorčiny postřehy a závěry. Takto bych shrnul knihu italské autorky, která na základě návrhu jejího japonského vydavatele vydala knihu o obchodu s únosy, nezapomněla ji ale propojit s ne úplně očividně souvisejícím tématem migrace. Nejenom, že autorka posbírala svědectví a rozhovory s nejrůznějšími osobami spojenými s únosy a obchodem s migranty, ona především pospojovala kousky skládačky a zveřejnila fakta, která nejedna vláda dodnes tají. Ve své knize mimo jiné vysvětluje, co je to zlatá hodina a proč nejsou rukojmí, která se podařilo zachránit, hrdinové, ale často spíše naivními jedinci. Po přečtení knihy pochopíte například, proč a jak džihádisté rukojmí unášejí, jak s tím souvisí migrace do Evropy a proč jsou některá rukojmí vězněna jen několík dní, některá i roky a nemálo z nich zabita.
Nu știu ce să vă spun despre cartea asta decât că e musai să fie citită, aici și acum, în anii aceștia pe care-i trăim, mulți cu indiferență simulată sau cu nepăsare înnăscută. E bine să știm despre lumea care ne înconjoară, e și mai bine să știm despre „băieții răi” care trăiesc laolaltă cu noi, pe o planetă pe care o secătuiesc pentru scopuri greșite (și nu, nu e deloc vorba doar despre teroriști aici!).
Interesting book with a lot of knowledge I didn't know.
However, I read the translation into Swedish, and was horrified at how bad it was. Lots of grammatical mistakes, the Danish shining through - the translator must have used the Danish version a lot, since there were so many "Danish wordings" and straight out incorrect sentences that would have been correct in Danish. This really drew my attention from the topic as such.
The book provided very valuable insight into topics I did not know much about. There were many sources and references cited by the author and I am interested in reading more of her work. A solid introduction to the topics which are more complex than portrayed in the media, should we read about them at all.
Must read book. However not material for a relax evening, but one that might make you loose faith in humanity. The book explains how people are treated as lucrative merchandise. The book seems well researched. It tries to look at the economical reasons at different levels of human trafficking. It also explains how - in the West - we are unwillingly and unknowingly sustaining those practices
Ottima analisi e spiegazione del fenomeno dei sequestri e rapimenti. La comprensione, a volte più difficile, è facilitata dalla presenza di un glossario. Libro consigliato a quanti desiderino capirne di più.
Prea putine relatari bazate efectiv pe experienta oamenilor sau relatari sacadate si scoase din context, fara a povesti cao coada traiectoria unei persoane. Ideile de baza sunt bune, dar nu sunt destul de organizate. Ma asteptam la mai mult.
Per chi vuole saperne di più sulle logiche dei flussi migratori, sui rapimenti di stranieri nel Nord Africa ed in Siria questo è il libro giusto. A tratti ripetitivo ma interessante. Fortemente sconsigliato ai sostenitori di Salvini e della sua retorica.
En redogörelse för hur kidnappningsindustrin fungerar, och vilka samband som finns med organiserade terrorgrupper och människohandel. Klargörande och jobbig läsning.
This whole immigration topic interested be since it became really really hot in 2015/2016. I live in Hungary, where people never really met before with people from Syria or Africa.
But. They heard the news. At least what the government let them heard. They feared these people and rejected them - they feared their houses, their families and their work places. Althought such thing as terrorism never happened in Hungary before.
As I always had an opened-mind for other nations and cultures I was pretty sure something was behind this whole phenomenon. These people must have stories. And God what a deep story lies in here.
It goes back to WW2, to cocaine trafficking and pirates. Now these people, who have almost a fake ideal about Europe, are threatening their own lives and become goods on the market. They risk everything because they are so desperately want to have a better life.
There is something really bad with this world. They should have never left their beloved countries - they should have had the right to live their life to its fullest with the families. We must help these countries and something must be done before ignorance and rassism takes us all down.