Thank You, couldn't have said it better myself.

Maybe the mob kidnapped a Costa family member and threatened to whack that person if Tony doesn’t do everything possible to keep drugs illegal. He’s certainly being fanatical in a way that cannot possibly help his cause, whatever that cause might be.

In fact, it’s just way too suspicious. No diplomat is that bad of an actor. He’s trying too hard. And Costa makes it all up as he talks. He says the “Amsterdam administration” acted to move coffee shops “out of the city, out of the red district, and toward the borders”, which is precisely the opposite of an actual Netherlands government effort several years ago to remove coffee shops from Dutch cities near to and bordering Germany, at Germany’s urging.

Antonio Maria Costa has no clue about the drug situation in Amsterdam, nor Germany, apparently, where some German states will not prosecute possession of small quantities of marijuana.

So is Tony ‘the Ant’ Costa clean? Perhaps it would be a wise precaution for Italian authorities and Interpol to investigate Mr. Costa’s UN security clearance to determine what relationship, if any, he has to organized crime.

Giordano

When someone claims that reality is not real, that what they imagine, which is different from reality, is in fact the true reality, we call that person psychotic. By any definition, what Costa says is not reality. It is the rantings of a madman. What he espouses is madness. We know that. It is a proven thing. To follow along with this madness is itself a form of societal madness. We are all doomed when the people follow and believe the madmen. Please post the youtube address for this video, I have a few friends who would love to view it.

Based on his resume below, why is this guy qualified to direct the UN on drug issues?

--holds a degree in political science from the University of Turin (1963),
--a Degree in mathematical economics from the Moscow State University (1967),
--a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley (1971).
--from 1969 to 1983, Mr. Costa served as senior economist in the United Nations Department of International Economics and Social Affairs in New York.
--was subsequently appointed Under-Secretary-General at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris where he served until 1987.
--was a member of the OECD Working Group for financial transactions (later called FATF), a Member of IMF/World Bank Interim Committee and of the G-10 Group for the coordination of economic policy.
--between 1987 and 1992, Mr. Costa served at the Commission of the European Union as Director-General for Economics and Finance. In that capacity he served as EU Sherpa for the G8 meetings. He then joined the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD, in London) as Secretary-General where he oversaw political issues, institutional affairs, corporate governance and questions relating to shareholders.
--easily speaks a number of languages, including Russian.

Costa’s Ph.D. economics thesis at Berkeley is entitled:  “The Structure of development in the Soviet Union: a multi-sector model for consistent pricing and growth.” [Dec., 1973].  The doctoral thesis does not appear to have been published, and Costa himself is not published anywhere that I can find.

Costa’s thesis and career indicates that he was probably a Soviet Union-era cold warrior.  No doubt Costa experienced severe enemy deprivation with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, subsequently choosing a new enemy and a new career by becoming a drug warrior.

What is obviously disturbing is Costa’s behavior.  When he’s challenged and is fielding difficult questions, his response is consistent with that of people who exhibit a psychopathic personality disorder.  In their book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work, by Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare [2006], the authors note the following distinguishing markers:

“When a psychopath is challenged on any detail during an interview [or a question], he or she will simply shift gears, subtly change the topic, and generally weave an altered tale so believable that even an interviewer who knows [emphasis original] the individual is lying might have doubts.” p. 223.

“We also know that psychopaths treat individuals differently depending on their perceived status [emphasis original].  Psychopathic responses to perceived ‘lower status’ interviewers [questioners] may include condescension, flirting, disparaging side-comments, and displays of entitlement, among other things.” p. 229.

Costa’s aloofness, vagueness and evasiveness regarding Polak’s insistent questioning, and the disdain Costa shows toward anti-prohibitionists and reformers whom he claims are ‘lunatics’ and ‘on drugs’, indicates a potentially high score for Costa on the various psychopathy scales.

Giordano

That's really sad he cannot directly answer the question. You would imagine in that position with such a strong view must have an answer... not just avoiding and redirecting.