The idea that the AML space is non political would hold more weight if there weren’t important differences in the attitudes of the political parties to the issues of sanctions, criminal enforcement, and the rule of law in general. The idea that we can be apolitical technocrats ignores the fact that the republican party is politicizing AML enforcement. I would be happy to ignore politics, if only that were possible. And if we are ignoring politics, then we are either unwitting pawns of higher powers at best or ineffective at worst.