Friday, March 13, 2009
Next: US Troops Along and Across Mexican Border
"We've got a very big border with Mexico. I'm not interested in militarizing the border."
- U.S. President Barack Obama
Regardless of the President's lack of interest, militarizing the 2,000-mile-long, U.S.-Mexican border is a matter of when, not if. The security situation in Mexico is spiraling downward; a failed state ruled by drug cartels is possible. Such a state would be a haven for terrorists preparing to launch mega- and swarming-style attacks on the U.S. homeland.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will soon send a large contingent of federal agents to its southern border to step up searches of cars going into Mexico from the U.S.
But the initiative's impact will at best be minimal, according to China Confidential analysts. Armed troops along the border--and actual intervention in Mexico--are probably going to be necessary to stem the recent violence in northern Mexico and prevent it from spilling across the border.
The U.S. military is ready to help Mexico with some of the same counter-insurgency tactics used against militant networks in Iraq and Afghanistan, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said this week. He said the Defense Department was moving quickly to provide the Mexican military with equipment, including helicopters, under a $1.4 billion U.S. aid program.
Drug violence has killed thousands of people in Mexico as the government of President Felipe Calderon wages war against drug cartels that earn some $10 billion a year trafficking narcotics destined for consumers in the United States.
Mexico's bloodiest drug war city is Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, where the Mexican government has sent hundreds of heavily armed soldiers to take over anti-drug efforts from police tainted by corruption and links to drug traffickers.Chinese Premier Calls Dalai Lama 'Political Exile'
China on Friday issued its strongest recent criticism of Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, calling him a political exile who directly heads an illegal theocratic government. The comments came in Premier Wen Jiabao's press conference at the end of the annual session of China's legislature, the National People's Congress.
Wen discussed a host of issues in a news conference that stretched for more than two hours.
These topics ranged from the global economic crisis, to the Central Asia-focused Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to debt relief for developing nations in Africa.
The issue that the Chinese Premier spoke about most forcefully, though, was Tibet, which he stressed was an inalienable part of China's territory. Wen said Tibet-related issues are completely China's internal affairs and that Beijing will accept no foreign interference on the matter.
The Chinese leader also had strongly critical words for Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed (U.S.-backed) uprising against Chinese rule in his homeland.
Wen said Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a political exile, not a religious figure.
'Illegal Theocracy'
Wen pointed to the Tibetan government in exile, which is based in Dharamsala, India. He called that government theocratic and illegal, and said it is under the direct leadership of the Dalai Lama.
This comment preceded his recitation of what has become a standard phrase: Beijing wants to see what the Dalai Lama does, not what he says.
Premier Wen accused the Dalai Lama of misleading political figures around the world, but added that some western leaders are also trying to use him for their own purposes.
The Chinese leader had a much different approach to Taiwan, a separately-governed island Beijing considers a renegade province and has been trying to woo.
Wen called Taiwan a "treasure island" and said he has a long-cherished hope of going to visit it someday.
In the only comments that elicited apparently spontaneous applause, Wen said he is already 67 years old, and even if he could no longer walk, he would crawl to get to the island.
On other issues, Wen said he is "a little bit worried" about China's "huge amount" of U.S debt, which totals about $1 trillion. He urged the United States to continue to be what he called "a credible nation" that can "ensure the safety of Chinese assets."
Meanwhile, he said China is working very hard to cope with the negative effects of the global economic downturn. He said China is aware that no country can overcome these economic difficulties alone. But at the same time, he said, his country's view is that "we would rather dig a well for ourselves than beg for water from others."Imagine Him With Atomic Arms
Saturday, 14 March 2009
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