t is a harsh, but probably true, reality. If Mexico is not yet a failed state, it could well be on its way to that end. Arguably, if a country cannot quell violence within its borders, it is on its way to failure; if a country has multiple gangs, in this case drug cartels operating seemingly freely within its borders, it is on its way to failure; if, despite increasing the deployment of troops to combat the drug cartels, the cartels continue to kill, the state is on its way to failure; finally, if thousands of its citizens are murdered by the unceasing drug violence and hundreds of its law enforcement officers are killed in the process, the state is on its way to failure. Yes, it is a harsh reality.
My position on the situation in Mexico has been clear since before I began writing on ThreatsWatch. The unrelenting drug violence south of the border represents a threat to our National Security.
Despite Felipe Calderónâs efforts to take on the drug cartels, he seems to be losing. Since taking office, 4000 people have been killed, with 450 law enforcement officers have died, including 4 of the top anti-drug officers being gunned down last month alone.
#4
The latter because of the former, which feedds back. Nasty little loop - requires political courage and some force to break it. Need to break up the main families that run Mexico, privatize a ton of stuff and open up the governmen while cracking down on the cartels militarily.
#5
Old joke - Why no mexican olympic team? Cause all the mexicans that can run, jump or swim are in America...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/10/2008 20:25 Comments ||
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#6
GUATEMALA CITY, June 7 (Reuters) - Guatemala plans to send hundreds of troops, elite presidential guards and anti-drug police to its border with Mexico to stem growing drug violence, the government said on Saturday.
#7
we had a month-long lull in Tijuana. 10 dead his last weekend. Long-term? Mexico is f*cked without US intervention, and until it gets bad enough, Mexicans will oppose that, out of some anti-yanqui knee-jerk reaction. The drug cartels give members of the authorities and military two choices: accept a large bribe and let things go, or be a hard-ass and die violently in front of (or with) your family. Hard choice, and without security and support? Impossible
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/10/2008 21:16 Comments ||
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#8
this, not his.... :-(
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/10/2008 21:37 Comments ||
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#9
Back in the bad old days, Mexico was a lot like Afghanistan is today. A weak central government, with warlords controlling the rural majority of the country. The president was just the strongest bandito, and as soon as he became the president, all the other banditos sought to overthrow him.
At times, the butchery became so bad that groups of people would be approached by unidentifiable armed men who would ask them who they supported. If they answered wrong, they would be killed on the spot.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/10/2008 12:24 Comments ||
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#3
I do not really understand Chavez. For a general he's pretty dim. You want to look like a hero to the rest of Latin America be the guy that kicked Europeans out. He should be looking at a few of the islands to the North of Venezuela. Will the Europeans fight for Netherlands islands if Chavez makes a claim they were stolen by imperialists? The French would but I'm not so sure about the Dutch.
Indeed he does seem so. Maybe he is one of those "self-appointed generals." Danny Glover and Sean Penn are his new best friends. Maybe they have a streak of socialistic totalitarianism in them like him.
courtesy of Jon at Ex-Urban, btw - I'm a Virgo too...
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/10/2008 15:28 ||
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#1
11. He's actually the child of Barbara Walters and Sen. Edward Brooke.
12. You can't get a birth certificate for a virgin birth.
13. He accidentally dropped it into Kerry's Navy file.
14. He accidentally dropped it into Hillary's thesis.
15. He tore it on a hanging chad.
16. "Democratic National Convention 2004" is not actually a birthplace.
17. It's printed on white, so Michelle doesn't trust it.
18. Leaders are made, not born.
#9
Race: white? His mother is 100% white; his father doesn't appear to be 100% black, so he would be closer to white than black. The records dept should release the ID; he must have used it to start bank accounts so hopefully someone will breach confidentiality and release same.
As is well known, Obama was always referred to in school as: "Barry." He started to use "Barrack" when he embraced the black church agenda. I suspect that he is known only as Barry Obama on his birth certificate, which would be registered in Hawaii.
Note: after the Rodney King incident in LA, it was learned that that hyped up speeder had always used the name "Glen King." His black, race card playing lawyers felt he would have better "hood-creds" (credibility among African-Americans) if he used a "blacker" name. Barry does sound white; Rick Barry was a prominent white basketball star in Barry Obama's pre-militant years. Barry Bonds sullied the name somewhat. Barry White was to dark for BHO's light skin group. Barry Manelow was too...milk-toast. With Barrack Hussein Obama, he could sound both African and Arabic. Both culture groups hate America.
#13
Perhaps his associates in the Daley Political Machine known as the Chicago Mafia and the Chicago City Hall had BO's public records conveniently changed. Barack's public records might only be as "valid" as his ability to pay the Mafias and aligned partisan interests to keep it valid.
Dead people have a long history of voting LeftDemocrat in Chicago, and have never been succesfully prosecuted for their despicable crimes while dead.
#1
What a joke the UN has become. A blood sucking parasite on us. But a wonderful forum for all our enemies to get together and plot against us, all the while stuffing their faces at the buffet and bitching that the offices need to be remodeled.
#3
Perhaps the voting membership of the World Union of Progressive Jews (or whatever they call themselves) will have learnt something useful about the real UN and the real non-aligned nations in comparison to their idealized versions. Certainly it would make several topics of conversation at my synagogue more congenial... for me, at least. ;-)
#1
PAYVAND NEWS > IRAN'S STRATEGY IS TO CONFRONT US UNILATERALISM.
LARIJANI - IRAN IS ON THE VERGE OF A MAJOR/SIGNIFICANT "GEOSTRATEGIC LEAP".
Yep, its called 2008-2012 POTUS Period in America = Amerika, USA = USSA + PAN-ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION = STRATEGIC WEAPONIZATION, aka NUCLEAR IRAN + RADICAL ISLAM, aka NUCLEAR JIHAD, aka NUCLEAR RADICALISM-MILITANTISM-TERRORISM, etc.
*WAFF.com Threads > RUSSIA TO EXPAND OPERATIONAL RADIUS OF ITS NORTHERN FLEET [RusNav to expand NavOps in Arctic, Pacific, + Atlantic, etc.] POSTER - opines that ARCTIC SHELF RUSSIA desires to navally protect extends BEYOND 200 MILES???
Also from WAFF > RUSSIA TO HAVE NEW ICEBREAKERS BY 2015; + TOPIX > RUSSIA WANTS COAST GUARD TO DEFEND ARCTIC SHELF.
*KOMMERSANT > RUSSIAN LEADERS DIVIDE UP LATIN AMERICA [business/investment]
Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Shiite mullahs executing Khomeinis will to export the Islamic revolution remain on their self-assigned mission to slay the Great Satan, the U.S. They were finding their campaign stumbling in all the pertinent places throughout the Sunni-dominated Mideast. This forced the Iranians to concentrate on multi-religious Lebanon in order to compensate for the major grounds lost lately in Iraq. The projection of Iranian power comes mainly in the form of Hezbollah.
Another try at putting a good face on the Hezbully victory.
Hezbollahs most recent pretext to disrupt and dominate the nation was simple decisions of sovereignty by the Lebanese government on May7, including extending control over the Hezbollah communications network. Hezbollah refused. The group launched an armed revolt in Beirut, conquering districts, trashing government buildings, burning TV stations, and looting the city at will.
But six days of violent confrontations between the well-armed and trained Hezbollah fighters and untrained individual Lebanese did not lead to the fall of the government or plunge the country in complete chaos as it was intended. Lebanese citizens improvised strategies to defend their neighborhoods. Hezbollah fighters lacked necessary logistical support in order to remain in the areas they invaded. So Hezbollah had to hand the zones back to the Lebanese army. The Arabs, realizing the gravity of the Iranian assault, started an initiative culminating in a summit in Qatar. Ultimately, the factional and governmental representatives left with the Doha Accord. Pacification returned to the smoldering streets of Beirut.
On May 21, Lebanon's two main rival factions signed the brokered power-sharing agreement ending years of political deadlock and governmental paralysis since the Israeli invasion. The accord creates a national unity government in which the opposition enjoys veto power over decision-making. Hence Hezbollah and its allies can now pre-empt legislation aimed at the group's disarmament and hegemony. A new electoral law is to be hammered out in advance of parliamentary elections.
A few days later, on May 25, consensus candidate Michel Sleiman, a former army chief, was elected to the presidency filling a vacuum created during a half year of political head-butting with Hezbollah.
In retrospect, the May outbreak marked the beginning of a new phase in the execution of Irans plan to control the country. The subtle attempts, thinly veiled as democratic actions, to resolve an alleged political under representation, could not achieve the desired power grab by the Hezbollah-led opposition. So Iran resorted to its armed Lebanese militia in order to forcefully recover the Lebanese card. It was nothing less than Irans desire to turn the tables in Lebanon which brought about the attacks of May 7th.
The Doha accord might appear as a defeat of the forces of freedom in Lebanon and a win for Iran and Syria. In reality, a pragmatic analysis shows that the consequences of the events and the accord carry a lot of opportunities that could be smartly exploited to reinforce Lebanese sovereignty and diminish the Iranian and Syrian threats looming over the whole region.
Before May 7th, Hezbollah basked for years in a shroud of sanctity provided by its alleged Islamic Resistance against a Zionist Enemy. The Zionist Enemy means Israel as well as Jews in the Diaspora. Those Lebanese and Arabs, who suffered from the defeat Israel complex, saw in Hezbollahs arrogance a satisfying illusion of their empowerment. That was the reason why the disarmament stipulation under the original 1990 Taef Accord, to end the civil war, specifically excluded Hezbollah. This exclusion emanated from the pretense that Hezbollah would never use its arms internally.
Since then, not only the weapons but everyone or anything related to Hezbollah became sacred and untouchable. The events of May 2008 shattered this taboo. Despite Doha, the support of Hezbollah has shrunk tremendously in Lebanon and all around the Arab world. Added to the cost of Hezbollahs adventures was the internal isolation that weighed heavily on the Shiite communities in Lebanon.
The May events have clearly resulted in a deconsecrated Hezbollah, a more isolated Syria and an exposed Iran. This should be exploited to stop Irans Islamic Revolution. Internally, Shiite leaders who oppose Hezbollah should be supported. Shiites in Lebanon must be freed from their dependence on Hezbollahs financial support. The West and the Arabs should immediately start planning to substitute the current aid coming from Iran with moneys distributed through the Shiite leaders who are courageously opposing Hezbollah. This will strengthen these leaders and give them an economic leverage with a chance to run in the 2009 elections and win some of the parliamentary seats held by Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
