Saturday, February 18, 2012

China

John Bellamy Foster on China and the economic crisis.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Afghanistan bases

Nick Turse on military bases construction in Afghanistan.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Syria Arab Spring

Seumas Milne on the Arab Spring in Syria.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Mexico drug war

A few good facts from this article on the war on drugs in Mexico:

A high-ranking Mexican official told The Washington Times that “strategic law enforcement and intelligence collaboration — bilateral, regional and global — between the U.S. and Mexico has advanced at an unprecedented rate since Calderon took office.”

“A lot of policymakers in Washington would be concerned to see that evaporate,” regardless of who wins the upcoming election, the Mexican official said.

The U.S. support, however, represents a fraction of the estimated $45 billion Mexico has spent on the war under Mr. Calderon, whose administration bankrolled a top-secret $100 million underground bunker and has deployed 45,000 army troops across 18 Mexican states since taking office in 2006.

The crackdown appears to have helped stem the flow of U.S.-bound cocaine. Total cocaine seizures in the U.S. dropped from 201 metric tons in 2005 to 109 metric tons in 2009, suggesting that “the availability of cocaine in the United States has stabilized at a reduced level,” according to the United Nations’ 2011 World Drug Report.

While the same period saw violence soar in Mexico, the report cited a drop in Mexican cocaine seizures from 48 metric tons in 2007 to 22 metric tons in 2009.