Foot In The Door
September 30, 2011
Yesterday I stepped out to my fourth floor balcony for a cigarette. From there I saw the concierge doing something to the sliding grille gate to the ramp of our underground parking.
My attention was drawn to cloud patterns over the Andes. going back inside, I noticed the concierge hasn’t moved. Back inside, I answered an email, then it was time to go to the bakery for some fresh bread. Out in the street, The concierge was still by the gate.
I approached him and only then noticed, like a bear trap, the gate was closed on the concierge’s foot.
Some people who get their foot in the door need prying out.
To Legalize Drugs Or Not?
September 27, 2011
Visiting Argentina.Vicente Fox, agreed to an interview by La Nacion. Feisty as ever the tall former Mexican President did not shy away from controversial subjects. Still hot in the news was the attack on the Casino Royale in Monterrey where fifty two persons died and the far reaching drug wars which have
killed over thirty thousand in the last three years.
Vicente Fox sees the drug problem this way: Mexico is a
country in the middle. To the north it has the largest drug consumer in the
world and the US is doing nothing do reduce consumption. To the south it has,
Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia who feed this insatiable market of 500
billion dollars a year.
To appreciate what 500 billion is, the official US
defense budget is 600 billion. That means that the drug lords have the financial
power nearly as large as that of the Pentagon. The drug lords can and do buy
practically anyone they want. Go to any US city you are not familiar with and
within ten minutes you will be able to find a drug dealer on the street. Cops
may drive by while you are making your purchase of cocaine, crack or whatever
else you may crave for.
Considering the drug Lords’ financial power, a country
like Mexico doesn´t stand a chance. We hear a lot of complaints in the US about
Mexico allowing the cartels to haul their loads across the border. But where do
the guns come from that the cartels use to shoot their way through? The US is
the largest provider of drug cartel
weaponry
In Mexico, the fighting is beginning to resemble a civil
war. Why is it not the same inside the US? Mainly because the cops don´t
interfere with the drug business. Sure, they take out the odd dealer, who
continues his business inside the jail. The drug lords find this a small cost of
doing business.
The US is also the biggest money laundry in the world.
This industry creates a trickle up flow of narco dollars that reaches
politicians, bankers and the country club set who has never even taken a snort
of cocaine.
Can the War on Drugs be won? Weeell , . . so far, it has
been a consistent failure for only forty years.
What would happen if drugs were legalized?
Let’s assume that it was done right and proper security
measures were taken against the drug lord retaliation. The cartels would react
violently, but they would be severely cut from their former source of income and
would lose power.
If licensed dealers were taxed 20% (taxation must be
reasonable or smuggling will continue) the US government would increase its
revenues by 100 billion a year.
The benefits don’t stop there. The prison population will
decrease, reducing another huge expense, pushers in schools would fade, the
giant costs of drug interdiction would also vanish.
Will this ever happen? Or is the drug business too BIG to
let it fail?
Hello world!
September 26, 2011
Welcome to this blog. I used to write articles for an Ezine that drastically swung off course and left several commentators homeless. Since President Medvedev has a glog, I decided that I would have one also. Blogging is like voting one has to do it early and often. Tomorrow I will post my views on the narco trade.
alexey braguine 