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Recent content by Tom Kramer

Civil Society Gaining Ground

Local organisations have adopted different strategies towards the authoritarian government in Burma. Focussing on the dynamics of civil society Tom Kramer looks into the possibilities and risks of growing international interest in engagement with these groups.

Redefining Targets

Afghanistan remains the world’s largest producer of opium and has an under-reported but growing heroin-use problem. Current drug control policies in Afghanistan are unrealistic, reflecting a need for immediate signs of hope rather than a serious analysis of the underlying causes and an effort to achieve long-term solutions.

Corruption: a ‘friend’ you can’t do without in Afghanistan

Corruption is a part of life in Afghanistan

Poppies and poverty in Afghanistan

The opium ban in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province has forced some farmers to move to alternative crops, but many poor farmers have difficulties finding alternative sources of income.

Afghanistan's hidden drug problem

Afghanistan's drug problem is not simply one of opium production - there is a growing number of heroin addicts that the country is ill prepared to deal with.

Corruption in Afghanistan - Blame and shame

If the international community is serious about dealing with corruption in Afghanistan, they need to revise their own dubious practices.

Security in Afghanistan - Business as usual?

The security threat has made the operations of international agencies in Afghanistan more costly, but it is also one of the few booming sectors providing much needed jobs to some and lucrative profits to others. TNI staff report from Afghanistan.

Burma's Cease-fires at Risk

In August the Burma army occupied the Kokang region after several days of fighting, ending two decades of cease-fire with the ethnic minority group. The resumption of fighting in northern Burma raises speculation about the other cease-fires. Tensions are rising and the cease-fire groups have put their armed forces on high alert.

From Golden Triangle to Rubber Belt?

In the Kokang and Wa regions in northern Burma opium bans have ended poppy cultivation, but have caused chronic poverty and food insecurity as a result.

Twenty Years on, the Wa-Burmese Cease-fire looks shakier
The recent tension between the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Burmese military Government has led to speculation about a renewal of the armed conflict. Tom Kramer examines the two decades of cease fire.
Drug report in Southeast Asia

The assumption that reducing opium production would lead to less drug use has been proven wrong. It has instead contributed to a pattern of an increased use of stronger drugs and more harmful patterns of use.

Withdrawal Symptoms Briefing

This TNI briefing aims at contributing to a better understanding of current market dynamics in Southeast Asia, essential for designing more effective and sustainable policy responses consistent with human rights and harm reduction principles.

 

Withdrawal symptoms for Golden Triangle drug trade
Opium production in the Golden Triangle has decreased significantly over the past decade. But the rapid decline has caused major suffering among former poppy-growing communities in Burma and Laos, making it difficult to characterise developments as a "success story".
The United Wa State Party

This monograph argues that although the United Wa State Party (UWSP) has been branded by the international community as a "narco-trafficking army;' the organization has an ethnic nationalist agenda whose aim is to build a Wa state within Burma.

Opium jihad

With Afghanistan now responsible for more than 90 per cent of the world’s opium production, there is massive international pressure for repressive policies. But quick-fix solutions like opium bans and eradication don’t work, write Martin Jelsma and Tom Kramer, who report back from Afghanistan on the rising anger of poor farmers on the front line

Losing Ground

This Drugs & Conflict briefing focuses on opium elimination efforts and the controversy about involving military forces in anti-drugs operations in Afghanistan.

Mailtje uit Afghanistan
Trouble in the Triangle

A collection of ten papers that analyse the relationship between drugs and conflict in Burma and the consequences of the Burmese illicit drugs economy for neighbouring countries.

Downward Spiral

Opium farmers in Afghanistan and Burma are coming under huge pressure as local authorities implement bans on the cultivation of poppy.

Drugs and Conflict in Burma (Myanmar)

This issue of Drugs & Conflict tries to bring nuance to the polarised debate on the Rangoon-focussed political agenda, the demonising of the ceasefire groups and repressive drug policy approaches.