Clinton's Support of Calderon

Last years Wiki leaks sparked contreversy over the U.S. involvement and support of the Mexican War on drugs when a cable written by a U.S. officials in Mexico commented on the massive corruption Mexico saying that it was ridden with "squabbling and mistrust among agencies, intelligence missteps, and less than complete dedication to the rule of law." Clinton, however, has taken steps to openly express the U.S.'s dedication to defeat the dangerous drug cartels in the country and stands by President Felipe Calderon's efforts and vows to continue to offer the country aid even if "it's not easy." She did make reference to the U.S. negative indirect involvement in the war regarding our supply of guns and money to the cartels themselves, calling it "transitional". The article in the New York Times reporting this address said little of Clinton or the United States agenda to help Mexico. According to Robert C. Bonner's Foreign Affairs Article, "The New Cocaine Cowboy", in aiding Mexico, the United States must deemphasize military assistance and instead focus on the developlment and training of Mexican law enforcement officers. Others suggest that the decriminilization of drugs like marijuana in the U.S. would reduce the cartels money flow dramatically. What the United States needs to conquer in hopes to help Mexico from becoming a dangerous neighbor narcostate is itself. We need to stop fueling the criminals that are causing the problems in the first place.

Yet another Mexican police officer has gone missing. Érika Gándara, 28, niece of Mexican Mayor of Guadalupe Distrito Bravos, dissappeared just two days after Christmas last December. She had recently been offered the job as a police officer because, "nobody else would take the job". Though she had been warned of the dangers of this position, she seemed excited and confident about her roll in the community. This did not last long, as she was soon taken from her home by a group of armed men in the middle of the night. Her uncle explains that she had only a little experience with security, and practically no actually crime experience. This is a prime example of Mexico's largest downfall in trying to beat the drug cartel; inequipt officers. The New York Times reports, "the lack of adequately trained police officers, a longstanding crisis that the government has sought to address with little resolution, allows criminal groups to have their way." The issue isn't the number of officers, its the quality. They need police members who are trained properly to handle the issues at hand and who will not succumb to bribery. This can be done by offering them stronger protection from the cartel themselves, as many of these officers are fearful for their everyday lives, and like Erika, are the main targets for the cartel. In his Foreign Affairs article "The New Cocaine Cowboys" Robert C. Bonner explains, "It is more important in the longrun for the United States to concentrate its assistance on the development, training, and professionalization of Mexico's law enforcement officers." He later goes on to suggest, "At the federal level, Mexico desperatley needs to create a Mexican equivilant of the FBI, together with a real anticorruption and interal affairs investigative capacity that can gain credibility through publicized prosecutions. At the state level, Mexico needs new police officers who are paid well enough to make them less susceptible to bribery. the best solution may be to abolish the municipal police departements altogether and have reformed state police agencies." It is in this way that other countries like the United States, and Colombia, who have extensive experience with these sorts of problems, can help Mexico. We need to not rely so much on direct miltary support, since according to Bonner, that is not the correct way to deal with the cartel. What we need is training and protection, for the sake of Mexico, for its future and its people.

Nazario Moreno González

Last December, one of Mexico's most prominent drug lords, a leader of La Familia cartel was allegedly shot and killed, according to a New York Times Article. He was killed in a two day battle in Michoacán along with several other cartel members. Unfortunately, this victory for the municipal police force will do little to stymie growing momentum of the Mexican Cartels. The other leader of La Familia, Felipe Calderon, who is said to the the cartels organizational mastermind is still alive. Despite the cartel's truce request following several leaders arrests regarding several police shootings, according to many experts, "the weakening of one cartel or the death of a major leader has led to more conflict and violence as competitors fight for open territory." This only adds to the relentless difficulty of the Mexican Drug War.

Ignorance is Stupid

America has plenty of things to be proud of. That is undeniable, and it has been taught to me in school since the 5th grade. However, despite our many admirable achievements, I cant help but disappointed by some of our wrongdoings, the Iraq War for example. Maybe it's because I took it upon myself to dub George W. Bush the World's Largest Moron, but thought it pains me to say so, he was not alone in thinking entering Iraq was the right decision at the time. What bother's me the most is that our involvement in Iraq was simply ignorant. It was ignorant to think we have the right to dismantle a governmental system (though it was abusive) and institute our own kind of government, which we assumed would work for anyone else. It was ignorant to do so without considering the brooding rival factions that would fight after we created such a surge of power. I'll admit, my knowledge of today's politics is limited, but according to the three articles we have just read, our ignorance is most present in our confidence that the West is the best, when really, globalization is leading the the "Rise of the Rest." Kishore Mahbubani's "The Case Against the West" explores the idea that while "the west assumes that it is the source to the solutions of the world's key problems...it is also a major source of these problems." He goes on to reference the Iraq War, which violated internation law by the UN Security Council, and the Bush Administration's incompitence in handeling global issues. To Mahbubani, this exhibits a larger issue at hand, a changing era that the West has yet to reckognize. Non western states are gaining the ability to solve their global challenges, without our Western Principles. The West's repuation is deteriorating as we do not meet many of the standards we hold other countries to, like the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and we remain one of the largest resistances in the battle to stop global warming. Similarly Tony Judt, in his article "What Have We Learned, If Anything?", outlines the half-truths of the West: "the trimuph of the West, the end of History, the unipolar American moment, the ineluctable march of globalization, and the free market." He blames these myths on our inefficient and lackluster interest in the past, and what it has to teach us. His advice for us today; "We need to learn again--or perhaps for the first time--how war brutalizes and degreades winners and losers alike and what happens to us when, having heedlessly waged war for no good reason, we are encouraged to inflate and demonize our enemies in order to justify that wars indefinite continuace." These rather disheartening articles gave me a heavy heart for the rest of the day. Yes, they focuses on our flaws and negatives. We can't change what we have done in the past, and maybe we wont change what were doing now anyways. But really what we need to do is abandon our narrow view of the world around us and wake up.