Reading assignment
Some backgrounders should keep me out of trouble for the next couple of days.
Shannon O’Neil (“LatIntelligence” and the Council on Foreign Relations) has a long article in Foreign Affairs (July/August 2009) “The Real War in Mexico“. This was written, of course, before the election, and I don’t think there is a “war” (real or simulated), but should be a nuanced, intelligent discussion of the narcotics situation from the “inside the beltway” perspective.
Hal Brands (recommended by Maggie’s Madness) argues that the Merida Iniative “may not represent an optimal solution to the current crisis.” “Mexico’s Narco-Insurgency and U.S. Counterdrug Policy”, written for the Stategic Studies Institute of the United States Department of the Army, this too is going to take some time to read through.
And, affecting economic policy… perhaps more here in Latin America than elsewhere… is Caritas in Veritate, which I’ve downloaded from the Vatican Library — ran the ink cartridge dry on my printer.
