Thy (Mer)chants -- The Big Business Pharmakon Power Elite Bankster Class

"Empires don't die, they reinvent themselves,"

Rev 18:23. And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=18&t=KJV#23

Nothing new under the Sun ...

Opium War (disambiguation) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_War_(disambiguation)

A Scanner Darkly (2006) - IMDb

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/

American Gangster (2007) - IMDb

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0765429/

War on drugs revealed as total hoax - US military admits to guarding, assisting lucrative opium trade in Afghanistan

http://m.naturalnews.com/news/034289_Afghanistan_opium_trade.html

U.S. Soldiers Grow Opium/Heroin Poppy in Afganistan - Fox News - YouTube

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=aj-b3pB6M7s&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Daj-b3pB6M7s

U.S. Turns a Blind Eye to Opium in Afghan Town - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/asia/21marja.html?pagewanted=all

It's called drug money.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirms secret US cash 'help' 
BBC News - 11 hours ago 
The Afghan president has admitted his office received secret payments from the US, but says the amounts were small and used legitimately.

More sources

http://news.google.com/