News Stories

[Vexx]

It was this line that triggered my "o.O" -- "targeting civilians in such numbers are rare."

The drug cartels in Mexico are essentially "the authorities" in some areas either by eliminating or owning the uniforms and politicians. Civilians who speak out or ask for rule-of-law are butchered (literally). Legitimate economies are collapsing as they're extorted or simply destroyed. Law-abiding citizens work for the cartels or no one. If it were simply the cartels killing each other, oh well... but the 'civilian' deaths have sky-rocketed in the last few years. Lawful assaults on drug cartels require full military operations, drone strikes, or SEAL level of targeted assassinations these days.

[Decagon]

The talk about the cartels reminded me of this article I saw this week:

Mexican drug gangs competing for 'cartel cred'

Masked gunmen dump the bodies of 35 slaying victims during rush hour as terrified motorists watch and tweet friends to avoid the avenue in a Gulf coast city. A couple of weeks later, 32 more corpses are found nearby in three houses.

A woman's decapitated body is left at a border city's monument to Columbus, the head atop a computer keyboard with a sign saying she was killed for blogging about drug traffickers.

The severed heads of five men are dumped outside an elementary school in Acapulco, and two more near a military base in Mexico City days later.

That was just in the last three weeks.

The brutal public killings that began about five years ago have worsened as Mexican drug cartels try to one-up each other in their quest to scare off rivals, authorities and would-be informers - and still stun Mexicans increasingly numbed to the gory spectacles.

....

Since then, drug traffickers have plunged into even more gruesome tactics. They have tied victims to overpasses and shot them to death during rush hour as sickened motorists watched. Some have decapitated people alive and then posted videos of it on the internet.

"In terms of the cruelty, it's the Zetanisation of the country because the Zetas were the first to introduce these ghastly tactics into Mexico," said George W. Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, who has written several books about the rapidly expanding drug cartel. The Zetas are the game-changers.

....

Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna has said Mexican drug traffickers copied the terror tactic from the al-Qaida in Iraq after it posted videos on the internet of the decapitations of Americans. He said the cartels are using al-Qaida's methods to pressure the government to halt its crackdown against drug traffickers, which has fractured many of the gangs.

Authorities have also said that in 2005, the Zetas began enlisting "Kaibiles," former members of an elite Guatemalan counterinsurgency unit, to train newly recruited foot soldiers. The Kaibiles were known for massacres during the Guatemalan civil war that ended in the mid-1990s.

[DonQuigleone]

It's not called the Mexican Drug War for nothing.

[ganbaru]

Egypt Christians vent fury after clashes kill 25
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7981Q220111010

Torture rife in Afghan detention facilities
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...79960H20111010

[Tom Bombadil]

Originally Posted by Vexx

It was this line that triggered my "o.O" -- "targeting civilians in such numbers are rare."

The drug cartels in Mexico are essentially "the authorities" in some areas either by eliminating or owning the uniforms and politicians. Civilians who speak out or ask for rule-of-law are butchered (literally). Legitimate economies are collapsing as they're extorted or simply destroyed. Law-abiding citizens work for the cartels or no one. If it were simply the cartels killing each other, oh well... but the 'civilian' deaths have sky-rocketed in the last few years. Lawful assaults on drug cartels require full military operations, drone strikes, or SEAL level of targeted assassinations these days.

My mistake. Thanks for the info.

@DonQuigleone

It's not called the Mexican Drug War for nothing.

Actually, I might be old fashioned, but I expect the military to get involved in a "war". The fact that I have never heard of anything about the Mexican military combating the drug cartels gives me the idea that the drug cartels are somewhat still "underground".

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

@DonQuigleone


Actually, I might be old fashioned, but I expect the military to get involved in a "war". The fact that I have never heard of anything about the Mexican military combating the drug cartels gives me the idea that the drug cartels are somewhat still "underground".

Actualy if my memory isn't failing me, they used ( and are probably still ) the army to do police works like the street patrol in some towns.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

@DonQuigleone


Actually, I might be old fashioned, but I expect the military to get involved in a "war". The fact that I have never heard of anything about the Mexican military combating the drug cartels gives me the idea that the drug cartels are somewhat still "underground".

That's where you're wrong, it is the mexican military fighting the cartels. Most of the local cops would be too corrupted to be able to do anything. The main combatants on the mexican side are the army and federal police (which are an army in themselves). Just read the wikpedia page!

[Tom Bombadil]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

That's where you're wrong, it is the mexican military fighting the cartels. Most of the local cops would be too corrupted to be able to do anything. The main combatants on the mexican side are the army and federal police (which are an army in themselves). Just read the wikpedia page!

Easy,easy, man. I should have written that part in the past tense.

[ganbaru]

Iranians charged in U.S. over assassination plot
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...79A5E020111011

U.S. authorities broke up a plot by two men linked to the Iranian government to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in the United States, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington

[Haak]

Lol, now how's that for irony...

[SaintessHeart]

Let's see if it involves a cook again....

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Let's see if it involves a cook again....

Why a cook ?

[AnimeFan188]

"The Justice Department unsealed a five-count criminal complaint Tuesday alleging
Iran-backed agents plotted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United
States and possibly bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C."

"The Envoy reported last month that Al-Jubeir personally brought a secret letter
from King Abdullah from Saudi Arabia to President Obama at the White House in
September. He then left almost immediately for Saudi Arabia again. The White
House and Saudi embassy did not disclose what the subject of the correspondence
involved."

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/sa...201032231.html


The plot thickens...........

[flying ^]

oh well... there goes 0bama's 'Jobs Bill'.....

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by flying ^

oh well... there goes 0bama's 'Jobs Bill'.....

Misleading... directly from the article:

Barack Obama’s economic agenda suffered a setback in the Senate on Tuesday, as Republicans blocked the president’s $447 billion jobs bill from advancing, with Democrats were already preparing an alternate strategy to push it through Congress.

We could also point out that the GOP blocked a tax cut in doing this :

The Obama jobs bill would also cut workers’ payroll taxes in half next year, from 6.2% to 3.1%.

[risingstar3110]

Australia passed Carbon tax

And for your information, yes, we do have electricity, and no they are not driven by kangaroo on bike

And just for the laugh:

[GundamFan0083]

How's that going to effect your economy down under?

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by GundamFan0083

How's that going to effect your economy down under?

Every party got their own idea on that... so I probably need to wait few months to answer that

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

And just for the laugh:

All for the oppression of former colonists, you guys have been getting a bit uppity lately, what what!

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Vexx

We could also point out that the GOP blocked a tax cut in doing this :

Doesn't count, since it's not a tax on the "job creators." The GOP is fine with tax on the middle class and poor.