Interesting info about Mexico
http://www.economist.com/displaystor...ry_id=13234157
The link from The Economist (On the trail of the traffickers Mar 5th 2009) is interesting. It is the most detailed information I have seen yet about how Mexico is trying to reform its legal system and its police under fire. I realize that this is partially in response to the furry of comments about Mexico as a "failed stated" (or potential failed state) it is interesting information. I'm glad that The Economist carried it, now where is the rest of the media? :wry:
from the article:
The aim, says Eduardo Medina Mora, Mr Calderón’s attorney-general, is not to end drug-trafficking “because that is unachievable.” Rather, it is “to take back from organised criminal groups the economic power and armament they’ve established in the past 20 years, to take away their capacity to undermine institutions and to contest the state’s monopoly of force.”
The official ICE "line" On Mexico
Congressional testimony: http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/testimony/t...397860176.shtm
Rather bland and full of spin. No sign of threat assessment, but then my armchair is a long way away.
davidbfpo
New US Ambassador to Mexico - Very Interesting
I guess "somebody" is paying attention.
From Foreign Policy .com:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/...3/27/was_obama
"The New York Times reports, following the Mexican media, that Hillary Clinton's visit to Mexico is in danger of being upstaged by concerns over Obama's reported pick for ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual. Pascual, who is director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution and former ambassador to Ukraine, has written extensively about failed states and ran the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization under the Bush administration:"
NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/wo...1&ref=americas
"The Mexican daily newspaper El Universal, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that the United States had submitted Mr. Pascual’s name to the Mexican government.
The paper noted that Mr. Pascual’s specialty was in dealing with conflict-ridden states. He served as the coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization in the State Department, a post that involved working with several agencies to develop strategies for broken countries like Afghanistan.
That could raise hackles among some Mexicans, who take umbrage at recent assertions by American analysts that drug-related violence has so destabilized Mexico that it is danger of becoming a failed state"
Diplomacy takes many forms
I can understand how the Ambassdor-designate's past as an expert on failed states might be seen as an affront to Mexicans. In the last couple of years there are ample reports on how Anglo-American diplomacy in Pakistan has been resented. More particularly the USA is a rather powerful neighbour next door. It all depends on how the public aspect of the nomination is presented to Mexicans.
davidbfpo
This is one where you all
are right - and nobody's wrong. Amb Pascual is well qualified. He may well be resented by some or many Mexicans for the reasons noted. What counts, however, is whether he is acceptable to President Calderon. If so, he's in; if not, back to the drawing boards. In the "for what it's worth dept" I think he'll be welcomed with open arms.:wry:
Cheers
JohnT
Fox News on US Guns in Mexican Drug War
Classic convenient use of statistics to push an agenda
Quote:
The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
While 90 percent of the guns traced to the U.S. actually originated in the United States, the percent traced to the U.S. is only about 17 percent of the total number of guns reaching Mexico.
EXCLUSIVE: You've heard this shocking "fact" before -- on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.
-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.
-- CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.
-- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."
-- William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that "there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States."
There's just one problem with the 90 percent "statistic" and it's a big one:
It's just not true.