I only ask because when POTUS was in Mexico he blasted amnesty opponents as "demagogues." I understood that to mean that he didn't seriously credit the historically verified possibility of a post-amnesty illegal immigrant flood. And if he doesn't credit that possibility then he probably isn't thinking much about the very real potential for a refugee crisis in the aftermath of a Mexican collapse. Which is a problem, because Mexico pretty much looks like it's on the brink of collapse.
Between the routine mass murder and the ambushing of military patrols and the stitching of enemies' faces on soccer balls and the dumping of heads in town squares and the hanging of victims from overpasses and the revenge slayings of dead soldiers' entire families and the savage beheadings of women and disabled men and the murdering of investigative journalists and the dissolving of drug rivals in acid, it kind of seems like Mexican authorities don't really have a handle on their country. Which is what you'd expect given that the entire country runs on drug money:
Mexican cartels, which control most of the cocaine and methamphetamine smuggled into the United States, bring an estimated $25 billion to $40 billion into Mexico from their global operations every year. To put that in perspective: Mexico probably made more money in 2009 moving drugs than it did exporting oil, its single biggest legitimate foreign currency earner... drug cash is everywhere in Mexico. It has even propped up the country's banking system, helping it ride out the financial crisis and aiding the country's economy... narco money finds its way onto the books of restaurants, construction firms and bars as drug lords try to legitimize their cash and prevent police from tracing it."Mexico is saturated with this money," said George Friedman, who heads geopolitical analysis firm Stratfor.Referring to his country's less than innovative agricultural industry, one Cabinet-level Mexican official emphasized that farmers "should follow the example of drug traffickers because they produce what the market demands." Memo to the OED: it's time.
References and related after the jump...
References:
* CNSNews.com Speaking in Mexico, Obama Calls American Opponents of Immigration Amnesty 'Demagogues' [CNS News]
* New INS Report: 1986 Amnesty Increased Illegal Immigration [CIS]
* Video: Er, what if Mexico collapses? [Hot Air]
* 7 bodies found in abandoned cars in south Mexico [AP]
* Shootout in Mexico kills 2 soldiers, 4 gunmen [AP]
* Mexico man's face skinned and stitched onto a soccer ball in Sinaloa in threat to Juarez drug cartel [NY Daily News]
* Man's head found in Mexican town square [AP]
* Murder victims found hanging from Mexico overpass [AP]
* Revenge in Drug War Chills Mexico
* 2 men decapitated, 2 women killed on Mexico border [AP]
* Reporter kidnapped and killed in northern Mexico [AP]
* Alleged chief of violent Mexican cartel captured [AP]
* From spas to banks, Mexico economy rides on drugs [Reuters]
* Mexico farm official: Drug lords have much to teach [Chron]
* Narco-Capitalism [Wiki]
Umm, Does Obama Have Any Plan For When Mexico Collapses? | Mere Rhetoric
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