I have decided to start an ongoing series called Cartel Corner that will seek to educate the everyday citizen on the complex problem that is the drug war as a whole and also study the actual TACTICS and STRATEGIES that both the Drug Cartels, Law Enforcement and Armed Civilians are using in the ongoing Fight.
As I have often said, I believe the Drug War that is currently being waged on the border and in Mexico proper is an outright Criminal Guerilla Insurgency, not just a simple Law Enforcement issue; and for that reason Civilian Operators’s living in the US Border States need to be acutely aware of what is going on and be ready to ACT and DEFEND themselves and their State in a moment’s notice.
A majority of my source material will come from Small Wars Journal and Dr. Robert Bunker, whose articles on SWJ are outstanding. I also am an avid follower of Borderland Beat, which is an excellent source of REAL TIME intel and news on the Cartel Wars, both on the Border and in Mexico.-SF
Mexico: From Cold War to Drug War
By Renata Keller
Earlier this summer, I participated in the Library of Congress’s first everScholarFest. My conversation partner, UVA’s Professor William Hitchcock, and I spent ten minutes discussing whether the Cold War still mattered. I imagine that very few people in the audience were surprised to hear two historians argue for the continuing relevance of the Cold War. They were surprised, however, by some of the reasons we gave.
What I told the audience was this: in the United States, in Latin America, and around the world, the wars that we are fighting today on drugs and terrorism both grew out of and bear a striking resemblance to the Cold War. Not only that, but many of the same people and groups that fought the Cold War are now fighting today’s wars, using the lessons they learned and the power and influence they gained from that earlier struggle.
The Cold War in Mexico
Mexico provides a perfect example: understanding the dynamics of the Cold War in Mexico provides important insights into why Mexico is currently losing its war on drugs. In Mexico, as in much of the rest of the world, the Cold War was a complex geopolitical and local contest over questions of security, ideology, economics, and culture. International events, like the Cuban Revolution, had local repercussions, and at the same time domestic politics shaped the Mexican government’s foreign policy. Mexico’s leaders believed that the greatest threat to the nation was internal opposition. Fearing a repeat of the Cuban experience, they targeted leftist groups and beefed up security capabilities, especially in the areas of surveillance and counterinsurgency.
Read the Remainder at The Bridge
Reblogged this on Brittius.