The drug war and Mexico
Edward Schumacher-Matos at the Washington Post succinctly makes two important points:
The Mexican state is not failing, but the drug war is.
This does not mean the threats to stability in Mexico should be ignored, but the blanket "failed state" label is not helpful for understanding those threats. And here is the bottom line:
He then argues, albeit tentatively, for legalization. I don't see that gaining traction anytime soon, but it is notable that it is being raised in more prominent places.
The Mexican state is not failing, but the drug war is.
This does not mean the threats to stability in Mexico should be ignored, but the blanket "failed state" label is not helpful for understanding those threats. And here is the bottom line:
And all for nothing. Cocaine is still so readily available that its street price is a quarter of what it was in 1981. Heroin prices, supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan, have fallen as well, while coca leaf and cocaine production in the Andean region are at historic highs. Home producers of marijuana and illicit lab creations are equally thriving. Two of our past three presidents, and now our Olympic hero Michael Phelps, have tried drugs.
He then argues, albeit tentatively, for legalization. I don't see that gaining traction anytime soon, but it is notable that it is being raised in more prominent places.
2 comments:
I have to imagine that anyone who has visited Mexico would find the "failed state" label wrongly applied.
I'm not the first to point out that for a large, poor country, Mexico is relatively safe, its public services are relatively well administered and it has none of the problems -- such as active, armed revolutionaries or foreign invaders -- that typically identify a "failed state."
Mexico's drug violence is truly terrifying and merits the attention it is receiving from the Mexican government and the foreign press. But calling Mexico a "failed state" does a disservice to the development success it has achieved and also cheapens a useful, and damning, designation.
The War on Drugs and an Angry Lady with an Arsenal at Home.
A Lady from the National Rifle Association that wants to discipline me and several countries of Latin America.
I have recieved tons of Hate Mail, because of my blogs and because of the liberal or human rights comments that I sometimes post in friendly sites. I do not go to the Right Wing Websites, or to the Racist Websites, because I consider them a perfect waste of time.
The Hate mail does not diminish when I say that I consider the Two Wars of Iraq and Afghanistan as great Imbecilities and Failures for the American Interests.
At the moment that you receive a hate comment, you get very angry and reject or erase it, so it is not published. But several months later you think that it is funny to live in the same World that many idiots.
The Lady from the National Rifle Association said that the USA should invade all the Latin American Nations that produce drugs, and confiscate their riches, mines, properties and assets. The purpose of that dispossession is that it will pay for the rehabilitation of all Americans that are in drugs, now, or to indemnify those that have been under drugs.
The Lady said that she had the best assault rifles in her House, and the best weaponry to curb Latino Invasions and all that crap.
It is funny to think of more Overextension and Overstretching of Military Resources, at a time when even the Afghanistan Escalation of Mr Obama is not popular.
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Mexico is not going to fall
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It is obvious that Mexico is not going to fall or fail, and that it is a perfect strong and solid state.
Weaker and more backward countries like Colombia, Peru and Bolivia have not become failed states, even if the States fight the Drug Lords.
Look at the case of Colombia and how it defeated the Drug Lords, and now they are atomized and many of them in U. S. prisons or in tombs.
I like and love Mr Obama and his Democratic Party. And I pray for his success in stopping the Economic Slowdown and avoiding a Depression, I wish Good Luck to Obama in economic matters.. I also pray for an end to the slaughter in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the Proliferation of Racists and Jingos in Hate TV and Radio do not help the difficult task of Mr Obama. They are also anti Stimulus Package.
Vicente Duque
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