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YOU ASKED: ORGANIZED CRIME VS TERRORISM: WHICH ONE IS THE BIGGER THREAT? ARE THEY CONVERGING?

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TERRORISM VS ORGANIZED CRIME It is no secret that after the fall of the “Iron Curtain”,  the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent opening of the borders, radical changes were brought about in all aspects of social life. It was around that time that the boundaries between terrorism and organized crime became problematically indiscernible. Years before terrorism had its “golden age”, organized crime was on a pedestal, flourishing and expanding at an unprecedented pace. It was the most profitable business thanks to its transnationality, manifold nature and globalized marketplace. Organized crime includes -but is not limited to- drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, counterfeit goods etc. While Europol’s 2007 Organized Crime Threat Assessment stresses that organized crime does not pose a substantial security threat to EU Member-States, when it is linked to transnational terrorist groups, the threat assessment changes dramatically, si