Not a War

I have a new piece at Este País on the problems that occur when you take the war metaphor for Mexican insecurity too far. Highlights:

Así pues las conclusiones de RAND serían mucho más preocupantes si México de verdad sufriera de una insurgencia. Ante la coyuntura actual, decir que México está en el lado equivocado de 13 de 27 factores insurgentes es igual que decir que Chivas de Guadalajara está bien puesto para competir con los mejores equipos de básquetbol en el mundo; puede ser un dato interesante, pero como Chivas juega fútbol, es completamente irrelevante a su propósito y agrega muy poco al análisis de su capacidad.

I also mention the effort to bring a case against Calderón in the ICC, which frankly I don't think a whole lot of. However, I feel obligated to add that the administration's response, that it will consider legal action against those behind the movement, is utterly indefensible. It smacks of authoritarianism and is politically stupid, in that it makes him rather than his accusers look like the spaz with no sense of proportion. I don't know if the long presidency has sapped Calderón's common sense, but he's a veteran politician, and obviously he should know that virulent, even hysterical, criticism comes with the territory. Somehow, he's forgotten that.