Is Mexico a failed state? Does the US do more damage by standing aside so completely?

Purely theoretical, it is obviously not a current issue.

Does our respect for Mexico's sovereignty, born out of our historic relations with the nation and our influential urban populations of Mexican and Hispanic sensitive communities, cause us to further compound Mexico's suffering?

Mexico's lack of class mobility, failed legal system, political system of spoils to the winner and most obvious drug war bordering on armed insurrection and guerrilla warfare all seem to argue strongly that Mexico is a failed state.

What is our responsibility to our neighbor? We intervene quite quickly for less in many parts of the world, would the common people benefit from a revolution?

There's quite a bit of suffering there - and it pre-dated drugs and will, under the current sytem, continue to suffer long after drugs are legalized or eradicated.

A drone strike or 2 ?
I think we do enough of those.

I don't thnk intervening in mexico is the best idea.

But by central american standards Mexico is doing ok. They are grown ups and can solve their own problems.

Mexico has natural resources, oil, a hard working population, and a great location.

The government is corrupt at all levels. Now it's the Drug money to a large extent. The PRI has been in power too long.

We need to take the money out of drugs. Legalize all drugs. Give them away free in clincs. Take the money out of drugs, we lose the crime associated with drugs.

It is a first step to ending the culture of corruption.

Funny, I thought the PRI had been out of power for more than a decade - that only in the last couple years did they regain a majority of the congress, and the PAN sill controls the presidency.

But whoever is in power, I agree - if we legalized drugs here, the wars would end there almost over night.

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"Does our respect for Mexico's sovereignty, born out of our historic relations with the nation and our influential urban populations of Mexican and Hispanic sensitive communities, cause us to further compound Mexico's suffering?"

We do not now and never have had an ounce of respect for Mexico's sovreignty.

agreement with Mexico.

Think we should lob a few Nobel Peace Prize missiles in their direction? After all, I've been told it's the "humanitarian" thing to do..

I don't have an answer, and frankly I do not think an armed attack would be the answer (or work for that matter even in the short term).

But it is a festering sore of inequality, poverty and death that will someday, perhaps suddenly and without warning, be on our plates.

Until then it is the Mexican peoples (those who are not rich) to suffer with alone. No doubt the rich will choose the best solution for them. Right now it appears to be killing (or letting them kill each other) their rivals for power, the drug lords.

Also no doubt, the winner in that, the Drug lords or the wealthy from birth to death, will also find support here to live an unfettered existence supported in doing whatever they see fit to do in power.

Sad really, no one left willing to defend workers.

What is it that you propose should be done? My suggestion would be to end the drug war, to start with.

Nothing that I see there in Mexico indicates it will get any better, ever. Without change.

And anyone that says it's NOT a failed state must have a remarkably tight and exclusive definition for what a failed state is.

Does the government protect and positively better the lives of its citizens, and does it have any possibility (or desire) of doing so? Answer no to that question and it's a failed state.

Except the U.S.A. owns the bank and hides the corruption better.

Our military industrial complex is rotten and kills people, Mexico's drug gangs are rotten and kill people.

Politically the U.S.A. has more in common with Mexico than any western style social democracy.

We just don't notice our own stink.

as usual, and, alas, many succumb

Ahead of South Korea, Spain, and Canada.

Mexico is a wealthy country, not in small part due to its policy of exporting poverty to El Norte. Either wittingly or unwittingly, US based "immigration activists" are guilty of enabling the massive consolidation of power in Mexico via policies which take any pressure off the ruling class to equitably share Mexico's wealth (in particular, from the State owned oil monopoly) with the people.


edit: link

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html

Not so much.

http://peoplesworld.org/demand-rises-for-recount-in-mexico/

Our government is a pernicious influence on the Mexican state from helping the oligarchs steal elections from the reformers to inflicting FTAs that kill Mexican industry and displace hundreds of thousands of people. The violent mess there today is directly attributable to BushCo helping to steal the election for Calderon who then turned around and started this drug war.

"Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States."

Publicly yes, secretly....is probably whole another story. The USA has a vested interest in keeping the poverty stricken still coming "Norte"...they provide cheap labor to markets (agriculture) that help keep prices artificially down. Its the way they get around international trade agreements on subsidies.

Also have lax enforcement of exportation of guns to Mexico, it keeps the gun industry happy and booming.

Finally unlike Canada, Mexico has the necessary labor to take advantage of its resources. Only it can't due to a lot of instability, corruption, etc. that all seem to have influence of questionable origin. Thus you have Canada, resource rich but labor poor unable to effectively compete with the US and Mexico which has resources and labor, but market barriers of instability & corruption preventing it from reaching full potential. Why have competition on the North American continent when you could have a virtual monopoly?