Americas

U.K.-based financial crime expert Maria Nizzero explained to a panel at the Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute on Nov. 21, the much-trumpeted U.K. model has actually been a “Shakespearean tragedy” so far, requiring several key amendments, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more prominently exposed the embedded Russian kleptocrats in London. Nizzero says lessons have been learned since its implementation in 2018, as the so-called “McMafia orders”— dubbed so by British media — have only led to one successful case. Key changes to the U.K. model this year include: expanding the scope of assets that can be targeted, such as beneficial trust; expanding statutory time frames for its use; and properly resourcing applications by government.

Justin Bronk, senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, said the development from JL-2 to JL-3 is “what you’d expect”. “The Chinese have had a wide range of ballistic missiles for a long time, and it isn’t the first time they have put them on nuclear submarines,” he told The Telegraph. The upgrade, he said, “mimics the US strategy during the Cold War of moving from Polaris missiles to Trident, which has a far longer range and so gives ballistic missile submarines much more flexibility to patrol in safer waters while still being capable of hitting targets throughout the Soviet Union".