Post on Mexico

The Washington Post has a somewhat aimless editorial about violence in Mexico today, telling us that more Mexicans die in drug battles than NATO troops in Afghanistan. (This is a really misleading comparison; you should compare it to how Afghans die violent deaths.) After pointing out that "U.S. money and weapons are fueling this war. Billions of dollars from American drug users flow to the syndicates, along with thousands of weapons smuggled across the border," the piece argues for a greater American commitment. "The new U.S. funding should help, but the next administration in Washington would do well to explore whether more assistance can be provided in training Mexican forces, much as U.S. advisers have helped professionalize the Colombian army. More must be done, too, to curtail the cross-border gun trafficking."