Hoo boy:
Several weeks ago, the Mexican investigative journal Contralínea posted a map of Mexico prepared by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), showing that 80 percent of the country’s 266 districts recently targeted for enforcement by the Mexican National Guard in a new counter-cartel operation are either controlled (57.5 percent) or disputed (23.3 percent) by the cartels. “Only 53 (19.92 percent) enjoy a low level of violence, which means that control is exercised by the authorities,” reported Contralínea on May 4, citing the data on the color-coded map.
If the drug cartels were insurgents seeking political power rather than profit-making entities content to have the government incapable of exercising control of cities other than Mexico City, we'd be discussing whether American military intervention is necessary.
That difference between insurgents and drug dealer cartels is probably why the crisis hasn't risen to that level given that I wondered if Mexico might be President Obama's first foreign policy crisis.
And it isn't getting better, it seems. "Mexico" is a territorial description rather than a political entity right now.
Even if there was no migrant flood, it would be necessary to beef up our border barriers and increase our ability to find, track, and intercept border crossers from that "enemy-controlled" territory south of the border.
If my Lexington Rule was in effect, we could act.
UPDATE: More on the Westphalian system that has holes in it--the holes my Lexington Rule is a reaction to.
