Summary The Bush administration's new national counter-drug advertising campaign tells the U.S. public that consumers of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other illegal drugs are financing international terrorism. What the ads don't say is that most of the professional criminals who increasingly dominate the global narcotics and weapons trade where organized crime and political terrorism cross paths are Russian- or Ukrainian-born citizens of Israel. Analysis Russian and Ukrainian crime syndicates have been deeply involved in drug trafficking and illegal arms deals with militant organizations and insurgent groups around the world for years. However, the U.S. war against al Qaeda in Afghanistan, the escalation of the Colombian conflict, and the recent fall of several top Mexican drug kingpins have combined to create a window of opportunity for these lesser known syndicates to quickly become the dominant players in the global cocaine and heroin trade.