Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:32 am Post subject: Re: Mexico collapse watch thread
Mexico's Calderon bogged down in bloody drugs war
By Catherine Bremer
MEXICO CITY, June 16 (Reuters) - President Felipe Calderon has staked his reputation on wiping out Mexico's drug violence but his campaign is in trouble as trafficking gangs murder ever more people, target police and openly recruit hitmen.
Calderon's first move on taking power 18 months ago was to launch a bold $7 billion army-led assault on powerful drug cartels, vowing to wrest back control of violence-scarred northern border states.
His army busts have put a string of senior smugglers behind bars and captured truckloads of cocaine and cash.
But the top drug lords are still free, and disrupting years-old trafficking alliances and protection networks has sparked an explosion in killings between rival gangs who dump hacked-off heads and tortured bodies in public.
The bloodshed has dented Calderon's popularity and left him bogged down in a vicious war with the odds of winning it stacked against him.
Calderon, 45, has defined success as reducing the violence, but drug murders have instead soared to more than 4,000 since his offensive began, and the turf wars intensified this year.
In brazen defiance of Calderon's pledge to gain the upper hand, cartel hitmen are picking off police from grim hit-lists and hanging banner adverts on highways offering fat wages for soldiers to defect and join them.
"They're not scared of him," said Eduardo Valle, a veteran drug expert who was a top advisor to Mexico's attorney general in the mid-1990s and now lives on the Mexico-U.S. border.
Although the army has failed to stop the violence, Calderon can not withdraw the troops without conceding defeat for a policy that the quiet but tough leader himself set as a top priority.
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:37 am Post subject: Re: Mexico collapse watch thread
What's Next for Mexico? Gang Violence, Drugs, Political Corruption Imperil Country
WASHINGTON, June 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- A new book by College of William & Mary Professor George W. Grayson suggests that defeated leftist presidential candidate Lopez Obrador could frustrate the governmental reforms of its newly-elected President Felipe Calderon. Meanwhile, Professor Grayson says, "the state is disintegrating as the government loses control over key sectors of society."
Among the sectors sliding from the state's control are public education, the oil industry, and public safety in the streets of scores of Mexican cities, especially the capital and border towns. Moreover, the government collects less than 12 percent of its GDP in taxes - on par with Haiti, a failed nation - and monopolies and oligopolies compromise Mexico's ability to compete with Indian, China, and the Asian Tigers.
In addition, drug violence has claimed 1,552 lives so far this year, with murders often accomplished by decapitations before the victims are brutally maimed and tortured.
Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:44 am Post subject: Re: Mexico collapse watch thread
This article is a must-read:
Failed States: Mexico & California
[A]n implosion is occurring in Mexico. A failed Mexican state requires protective measures that are very difficult to fully assess. Chaos reigns. Debts fail. Contracts face renege. Federal deficits rise. Labor strife spreads. Corrupt grabs by the powerful are enacted. Poverty widens. A bunker mentality prevails. Money returns home. This is the opposite of the orderly Japanese Repatriation every March. This is disorder gaining momentum.
A failed nation state is the likely outcome south of the US border. Energy network attacks, growing poverty and inequality, inadequate government services, growing power of organized crime, corruption & desertion of police forces, assassination of judges and officials without consequences, and growing farmer bankruptcy are contributing to a failed system in Mexico. The current farm product price changes have resulted in tremendous additional disruption, losses, and disruption to Mexican agriculture businesses. Needs of people, upheld laws, tax structures, allegiance to authority, and sense of urgency all seem to be in breakdown mode, and have been for several months. Remarkably, the US press networks refuse to cover the stories that form long links in an ugly chain.
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:35 pm Post subject: Re: Mexico collapse watch thread
Kaj wrote:
johhnytrash wrote:
vetusfirma wrote:
I don't speak spanish, the language of the oppressor, but I do know a good story in English, the language of the people who defeated the oppressors.
Just going on the dictionary definition of your words, I don't understand how Spanish is the language of the oppressor. Can you clue me in?
The Spanish Empire was very oppressive. Just about every Latin American country have festivals celebrating their independence from Spain.
In Mexico, every city has several streets dedicated to their independence from Spain. Its a big time part of their national consciousness.
The war against the English was a major factor in the Spanish empire's collapse. We have historically congratulated ourselves for this feat. We have historically seen ourselves as superior since we were (at the time) one of the most progressive nations in Europe in limiting the power of the crown, while Spain was firmly ruled from the throne.
Not that the ensuing English Empire was any better, mind.
Notice the man stated that the British Empire wasnt any better,The Spanish Empire was far ,far crueler to its subjects.The British in general were far more advanced in society than Spain,Portugal or even France in the treatment of its subjects OF THE PERIOD.people always assume mexican when someone means spanish, they are the racists,not the poster. Spaniards and English are both of European stock,therefore cannot be racist towards one another,although they can dislike one another,and by the way,"yanks' killing "red indians" is another misnomer,per capita Mexican and Canadian(YES CANADIAN) troops killed just as many in the wars of conquest of the period.
A top US counter-narcotics official has warned that Mexico’s democratic development is at stake in the country’s battle against drugs cartels.
Speaking as the US Congress approved a long-awaited $400m (€253m, £200m) aid package for Mexico’s anti-drug drive, David Johnson, the top counter-narcotics official at the Department of State, also gave a stark depiction of the challenges posed by the drugs industries of Afghanistan, Colombia and Burma.
Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s president, has deployed the country’s army in fighting its powerful cartels, but an upsurge of violence has led to 1,881 drug-related murders this year, according to local media reports.
While official Mexican figures are lower, they indicate a rise of almost 50 per cent from the same period last year. Last week alone, 130 people died, the highest such total for years
_________________ "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
-Friedrich von Schiller
"What I try, may not work. It may be ineffective. It might even turn out in the pages of history to be the exact wrong thing to do, but I'm going to try to do what I c
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:55 pm Post subject: Re: Mexico collapse watch thread
American laxity on immigration created modern Mexico, in my opinion, more than any other factor.
It is the factor America is responsible for, and any weaselment out of this dilemma by pro-migrant legalizers is tantamount to anarchy, at best, and treason, at worst.
What an incredible shot in the arm it would be for Mexico to be forced to receive its lost population.
These immigrants are economic refugees and unreformed cargo cultists, and create cargo cultists in their home country, awaiting the arrival of dollars that were created by stealing from the future.
Mexico should be treated like a tamale. Stuff the peppers back in the tortilla and increase the heat and pressure until the freaking sauce oozes out. Aztec purification.
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:34 am Post subject: Re: Mexico collapse watch thread
BlisteredWhippet wrote:
These immigrants are economic refugees and unreformed cargo cultists, and create cargo cultists in their home country, awaiting the arrival of dollars that were created by stealing from the future.
Mexico should be treated like a tamale. Stuff the peppers back in the tortilla and increase the heat and pressure until the freaking sauce oozes out. Aztec purification.
"Unreformed cargo cultists", and tamales made of people. Although tamales are made of corn and don't involve tortillas, those were very potent images.
All I can say is, I think we're in for trouble in the SW and maybe elsewhere in the US as well in the not-too-distant future.
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:36 am Post subject: Re: Mexico collapse watch thread
Maybe for awhile they will all head North. Then as there is less oil and a cold winter, the hordes will move South. Sort of what the Buffalo did before their die-off.
MEXICO CITY — Officials say a human head and was left near the home of the Oaxaca state attorney general with a note threatening three state officials.
State prosecutors say the head and note were found Saturday inside a plastic bag left a few yards the official's house in Oaxaca city.
The note threatened Attorney General Evencio Martinez as well as organized crime investigator Pedro Guzman and the leader of the state's governing party, Jorge Franco.
The note signed in the name of the Gulf drug cartel said officials must "learn to respect that we are here and we won't leave."
A body matching the head was found outside the city. Officials say they have not yet identified the man.
_________________ "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
-Friedrich von Schiller
"What I try, may not work. It may be ineffective. It might even turn out in the pages of history to be the exact wrong thing to do, but I'm going to try to do what I c
I don't speak spanish, the language of the oppressor, but I do know a good story in English, the language of the people who defeated the oppressors.
Just going on the dictionary definition of your words, I don't understand how Spanish is the language of the oppressor. Can you clue me in?
The Spanish Empire was very oppressive. Just about every Latin American country have festivals celebrating their independence from Spain.
In Mexico, every city has several streets dedicated to their independence from Spain. Its a big time part of their national consciousness.
The war against the English was a major factor in the Spanish empire's collapse. We have historically congratulated ourselves for this feat. We have historically seen ourselves as superior since we were (at the time) one of the most progressive nations in Europe in limiting the power of the crown, while Spain was firmly ruled from the throne.
Not that the ensuing English Empire was any better, mind.
The Spanish empire was a very impressive empire but it can't be compared to the English Empire(especially during the 19th century).
England was basically the super power of the world up until WWII while Spain had its peak of glory when it was colonizing the Americas(or wiping out people like the Aztects.). It is foolish to say the Spanish Empire was nothing, but it is even more foolish to say the English Empire was was at the same level or less.
Maybe for awhile they will all head North. Then as there is less oil and a cold winter, the hordes will move South. Sort of what the Buffalo did before their die-off.
I'm not sure that would be wise for migrant workers.
Up here in the north the line of division between illegals(not mexicans) and citizens(or legal immigrants) has widened greatly.
If I were an 'illegal' migrant worker I would not want to go North.
As open as people are up here(or at the least tolerant) people have lost their sympathy for the poor illegal immigrants and now are thinking 'what about the poor citizens?!'.
It is an ugly mess.
I think that as Mexico collapses many more immigrants are going to head north.
The thing is by that time I don't think Americans will be as tolerant of illegal immigration as they were 5 years ago. As the economy gets worse they will be lucky to get past the border states.
"Pemex is a can of worms. If you do something right, they come after you; if you shut up about some irregularity, they reward you; and if you take part in the corruption, you profit," a Pemex worker told IPS.
"I’m not saying everything is like that -- there are also honest people," added the worker, whose name is withheld for his safety.
The employee said that after he replaced several worn-out parts of a gas valve, a group of internal auditors criticised his work, saying they had found "too many foreign parts," and ordered him to put the originals back in place.
He said that when his boss protested, he was accused of a bias in favour of a private supplier and an investigation against him was launched.
Quote:
Documents from the Auditoria Superior de la Federacion (Federal Audit Office), which were seen by IPS, show that in 2006 alone -- the last year for which information is available -- 157 million dollars were detected in expenses in exploration and the payment of services that had not been duly approved and explained, and which have not yet been clarified.
Lawmakers from the opposition Progressive Broad Front, an alliance of leftwing parties, are calling for the creation of a "truth commission" to carry out an in-depth investigation of causes of corruption and specific cases in Pemex before any reform can be approved.
Quote:
In July 2007, Pemex director Raul Munoz was fined 80 million dollars and banned from holding public office for 10 years, for the misuse of funds and the illegal transfer of more than 170 million dollars to the oil workers union.
Munoz also used12,500 dollars in Pemex funds to pay for two liposuction surgeries for his wife.
There are abundant books and investigative reports showing that trade union leaders, used occasionally as allies by recent governments, obtain special funds that go towards things like building vacation homes or buying first-class airplane tickets.
_________________ Cogito, ergo non satis bibivi
I'm just gonna find a cash machine.
"Pemex is a can of worms. If you do something right, they come after you; if you shut up about some irregularity, they reward you; and if you take part in the corruption, you profit," a Pemex worker told IPS.
"I’m not saying everything is like that -- there are also honest people," added the worker, whose name is withheld for his safety.
The employee said that after he replaced several worn-out parts of a gas valve, a group of internal auditors criticised his work, saying they had found "too many foreign parts," and ordered him to put the originals back in place.
He said that when his boss protested, he was accused of a bias in favour of a private supplier and an investigation against him was launched.
Quote:
Documents from the Auditoria Superior de la Federacion (Federal Audit Office), which were seen by IPS, show that in 2006 alone -- the last year for which information is available -- 157 million dollars were detected in expenses in exploration and the payment of services that had not been duly approved and explained, and which have not yet been clarified.
Lawmakers from the opposition Progressive Broad Front, an alliance of leftwing parties, are calling for the creation of a "truth commission" to carry out an in-depth investigation of causes of corruption and specific cases in Pemex before any reform can be approved.
Quote:
In July 2007, Pemex director Raul Munoz was fined 80 million dollars and banned from holding public office for 10 years, for the misuse of funds and the illegal transfer of more than 170 million dollars to the oil workers union.
Munoz also used12,500 dollars in Pemex funds to pay for two liposuction surgeries for his wife.
There are abundant books and investigative reports showing that trade union leaders, used occasionally as allies by recent governments, obtain special funds that go towards things like building vacation homes or buying first-class airplane tickets.
Is this a surprise? What about that missing 1.5 trillion dollars from the Defense Department? That's alot of gin fizz boys!
Joined: Jun 29, 2008 Posts: 82 Location: San Luis Obispo, CA / San Jose, CA
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:19 am Post subject: Re: Mexico collapse watch thread
Pretorian wrote:
Well may be his salary/income is cut a bit too far thanks to Hispanics? May be he is a construction worker or something.
By the way have anyone wondered how much time nationwide is lost due to "For English, press 1; para Espanol, presione 2"
Per day? Per month? Per year? Per lifetime?
Partially unrelated but your second statement reminded me of something my professor was talking about during a lecture in my Values and Technologies humanities class. We were learning about the telephone and the history of the telephone and he brought up an interesting point about how when you call someone on a cellphone and they dont answer, the phone literally takes 10 seconds to give you options such as "If youd like to fax press 1, if youd like to leave a voice message press 2 or wait for the beep" He claimed that entire system was to add time and pick pennies off of every cellphone call and resulted into billions of dollars for the cellphone companies.
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