What is ironic is what creates situations like this is the American policy on drugs. The complete, anal retentive focus on law, order and force in America creates the anarchistic atmosphere like in Juarez. Until America gets it's collective head out of it's ass and changes it's drug policy, this will remain common, ordinary news.

I visited my Dad and my Step-Mom three years ago in their little village outside of Guadalajara and it felt ten times safer than where I live. Very mellow. Friendly people.

But their Mexican friends all tell them to avoid the border cities and the capital at all costs. The border zone in particular is pretty much owned by the various mafias.

Although they are not killing cops (yet), the level of cartel related violence is escalating in San Diego and Las Vegas, primarily enforcement within their own ranks -- kids getting greedy and such. I imagine Texas and LA is having similar problems.

Obama is not going to get a pass on this problem. After March 1, he starts taking the blame, even for shit happening in Mexico. No excuses.

Hey cool Ardiril! Can we blame him for the stupidity of the entire American legal system too? Can we blame him for imprisoning a disproportionate amount of blacks versus whites? Can I blame Obama for the fact my father has Parkinson's disease? No excuses now. There's a lot of people starving in the world, can I blame Obama for that too? Hell, why not? He's had a whole month and a half to fix all the stupid shit in this country and in the world. I'm surprised that the Israelis and the Palestinians haven't thrown down their arms and embraced already. I mean hell, Obama is the president, he can wave his magic wand. If they haven't yet, then it's all his fucking fault.

Everyone is talking about marijuana, but tackling this problem effectively requires ending prohibition on cocaine, too. That will be hard after such a long campaign of demonization and fear mongering in the States.

The sad irony is the social conservatives, who've fucked thigns up with the War on Drugs, are then going to point to Obama and scream that the liberal-satan-black-man president has brought ruin on us all by doing what by all sane accounts is the reasonable and logical thing.

Actually, meatbomb, I am talking about crystal meth that is cheaply manufactured in Asia, easily imported into Mexico, and then trafficked into the US; it's way cheaper than our homebrewed variety.. Cocaine is still a big part of the scheme but the prevalence of homegrown pot has dropped its influence on the violence.

Except for your father's Parkinson's, eekacat, the answer is yes, and you forgot Darfur -- that's ok, so does everybody else. Otherwise, we get to blame Clinton for 9/11.

It's Obama's watch now. He has had 6 weeks to acclimatize. At some point, he takes responsibility for a being a world leader, and in my mind, March 1 is as good a date as any. The only exception I will grant him is Iraq, however after his decision last week, Afghanistan is already squarely in his court.

Can we blame him for imprisoning a disproportionate amount of blacks versus whites?

Can you post a comment that's actually relevant to the topic at hand?

The reason why Obama is going to start taking the blame on this, and why he's going to have to start being heavily involved with the Mexican Narco War is because it's starting to spill over the border. The Cartels are smuggling their guns into Mexico via the United States - there's a provision in the stimulus bill to give the ATF ten million dollars to specifically research this problem and try to fight it. In Phoneix and Atlanta, drug related kidnappings are up. The Mexican Army is specifically occupying Mexico's borders town and is such a corrupted force that it's not being able to fill in the power vacuum left by the arrest of several drug cartel leaders two three years ago - leaders that the US asked to be seized. And there's a simple fact that the reason why this Narco War is happening is because us Americans are buying large amounts of drug. We provide the market; the drug cartels are trying to fill the need.

The LA Times is doing a great job covering this. Even with massive layoffs, they're still devoting a lot of resources to cover the fact that there is an actual war occurring on our doorsteps. Mexico is not only fighting heavily armed cartels (when they face them head on, the mexican army usually comes out ahead), they're also fighting internal corruption in the military, government, and police forces. Several anti-corruption leaders, generals, and police chiefs have been executed, along with their entire families. US citizens and nationals, who live in El Paso and work in Ciudad Juarez, have been killed. The US has tried to ignore the Narco War for the last two years but the time for inaction is over.

To be fair, I will also grant Obama exceptions to any Bush fuckups (and other predecessors) that were classified from public knowledge. He has a year to root those all out.

I didn't vote for Obama to be a slacker with a Blackberry whose every answer is 'blame Bush'. He promised change and I expect to see efforts to effect change. Change may come slow and in some cases never occur, but that does not relieve him of responsibility for events occurring in the interim.

Relations between the US and our immediate neighboring countries should among the highest of priorities.

@stynxno That cartel weapons in what is effectively a civil war in Mexico come via the US is the largest of ironies in our foreign relations.

Heheh, I just noticed who in this thread first stated that 'America needs to take its collective head from its ass'.

The Juarez situation is fascinating to me because it is so. incredibly. fucked. It goes back to the 200-400 women murdered and dumped outside of town (figures vary depending on the source). I think I read recently that they were ending the investigation into those murders?

The breadth of the corruption is mind-boggling to me. It must go to the very top levels of the federal government. There must be many, many people involved in the fix. And it's so successful. They're proving impossible to stop. It's just so incomprehensible to me.

mudpuppie, watch Traffic. it's just a sketch but it opens up (or should have opened up) the discussion broader than the US media will allow.

I have to believe that there are ways to craft a saner drug policy without turning to outright legalization (except perhaps for pot). I get so depressed watching my local newspaper's article comments have a political center of "hang 'em high!" for even drunk driving arrests that don't involve injury to anyone. And as I say, that's the political center.

pups please read 2666 about the Juarez slaughter.