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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Spengler:What would James Q Wilson tell Mexico? |
| 2012-03-19 |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #4 From TFA: This war is unfolding within and between gangs of criminals, who commit violent acts that are fueled only by a competitive lust for money. This is strikingly different from the revolutions of 1810 or 1910, which were clashes of ideals." Wow! Nothing of value changed hands! Amazing! Simply amazing! What a difference! |
| Posted by: badanov 2012-03-19 20:54 |
| #3 I wonder what James Q Wilson would say about factions of the government being involved in operations such as Fast and Furious which resulted in the deaths of U.S. law enforcement officers and Mexican nationals? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2012-03-19 18:29 |
| #2 The USA is not actually following Wilson's book either. From today's LA Times (link): Gun-tracking operation caught top suspect, then let him go Federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010. After they questioned [and then released] him, he disappeared back into Mexico, and the program went on to spiral out of control. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2012-03-19 17:15 |
| #1 Last sentence: if it is to break the hold of criminal gangs on many of its cities, Mexico has no choice but to take a page from James Q Wilson's book. To undertake the Herculean labor of suppressing criminality from the bottom will have terrible consequences, as in Enrique Krauze's chilling analogy to the 1910 Revolution. The only thing worse is the alternative. It is not enough to arrest the drug lords; it is also necessary to attrite the ranks of their gunmen. How much will it cost? If you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford to be a country. Then Mexico can't afford it. IIRC, the terrorist Timothy McVeigh was arrested by a state trooper for driving without a license plate, and the trooper did not suspect him of involvement in the OKC bombing 90 minutes earlier. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2012-03-19 17:07 |