“What You Need to Know, Not What You Want to Hear”
Dr. Robert Bunker testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere on the descent of Mexico into narco-barbarism:
….Something very old historically, and at the same time very new, is thus taking place in Mexico. To use a biological metaphor, we are witnessing ‘cancerous organizational tumors’ forming in Mexico both on its encompassing government and its society at large. These tumors have their roots intertwined throughout that nation and, while initially they were symbiotic in nature (like traditional organized crime organizations), they have mutated to the point that they are slowly killing the host and replacing it with something far different. These criminalized tumors draw their nourishment from an increasingly diverse illicit economy that is growing out of proportion to the limited legitimate revenues sustaining the Mexican state. These tumors do not bode well for the health of Mexico or any of its neighboring states
Hat tip to SWJ Blog.
September 16th, 2011 at 5:32 am
Excellent metaphor for what is going on down there.
September 16th, 2011 at 9:50 am
Perhaps the US could open up an alternative trade route for its drug supply that bypasses Mexico, Like a protected sea route or air corridor, which would deal a devastating blow to the cartels. America could then claim to be truly a friend of Mexico.
September 17th, 2011 at 1:20 am
Dumb question time: what is the source for the photo?
September 17th, 2011 at 3:53 am
Hi Scott,
.
Not dumb. If you google image search "narco tank" it comes up in a dozen or more different sites. Must have been shown off at a press conference
September 17th, 2011 at 3:55 am
More….
September 17th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
John Robb’s " do it yourself"GG innovation at work here.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
"Perhaps the US could open up an alternative trade route for its drug supply that bypasses Mexico, Like a protected sea route or air corridor, which would deal a devastating blow to the cartels. America could then claim to be truly a friend of Mexico."
This is pretty much the approach that led to the current situation. Concentrated law enforcement on smuggling routes from South America to the US drove them inland. South American cartels shifted their air/sea method to a land based mule method using what were then a loose network of Mexican gangs. It didn’t take long for the gangs to figure out getting paid in product rather than cash was a more lucrative approach. Also, this isn’t just a US/Mexico deal anymore. Mexico’s cartels leave their footprints internationally.
September 20th, 2011 at 1:45 am
[…] Excerpt (via Zenpundit ….Something very old historically, and at the same time very new, is thus taking place in Mexico. To use a biological metaphor, we are witnessing ‘cancerous organizational tumors’ forming in Mexico both on its encompassing government and its society at large. These tumors have their roots intertwined throughout that nation and, while initially they were symbiotic in nature (like traditional organized crime organizations), they have mutated to the point that they are slowly killing the host and replacing it with something far different. These criminalized tumors draw their nourishment from an increasingly diverse illicit economy that is growing out of proportion to the limited legitimate revenues sustaining the Mexican state. These tumors do not bode well for the health of Mexico or any of its neighboring states. […]
September 20th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Shortly after reading this I came across the fact that there is now a 3D print model for an AR15 rifle magazine (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11636) and the lower reciever (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11669) for the same. Meaning you can now mail order all the bits of an AR-15, apart from the lower reciever, then print that in a good solid plastic, without those pesky background checks and such (if my reading of law is correct, which it might not be, me being a brit and all).
Its hardly beyond the realms of possibility that cartels could start to take advantage of this, buying large numbers of AR-15s in the US without background checks, and then printing the final components.
Just a thought!