When Zachary Taylor marched his army into Mexico in 1846 along with finding Mexicans to fight, he also found Mexicans who wanted nothing to do with Mexico. That is, plenty of people in northern Mexico were desperate to be annexed to the USA – anything to get out of Mexico’s clutches. And even among the Mexicans who fought, it wasn’t particularly well. At Buena Vista, Taylor was outnumbered about four to one and he totally crushed the Mexican army – don’t get me wrong, Mexicans are as brave as any and there were some attacks pressed home with determination…but at the end of the day, the Mexican army at Buena Vista – fighting deep inside Mexican territory – was fought to a standstill and then had to be withdrawn because its commanders sensed that the men were about to desert en masse. In other words, it wasn’t a national army of patriots…but a conscript force of peasants who simply would not grit it out in defense of a country – and Ruling Class – they cared nothing about.
I believe this was because Mexico was a mistake. How did Mexico become independent? Well, Augustin de Iturbide – the commander of the Spanish army in Mexico – switched sides. It would be akin to us winning independence by putting Cornwallis in command of the Continental Army. In other words, pure farce. Why did Iturbide switch sides? Because he had been dismissed from command for cruelty and corruption. He got past that via influential friends but once reappointed to command, he looked for his first chance to betray Spain. After independence, he tried to set himself up as Emperor of Mexico but was swiftly overthrown and forced into exile. Returning a few years later, he was arrested by some of his opponents and shot after a bogus trial. But this doesn’t really get down to the nitty gritty – the fact that Mexico wasn’t fighting for independence in the manner the thirteen colonies had.
It wasn’t a matter that not everyone was on board (like here in the USA), but that people were fighting for completely different things…and it boiled down to various factions fighting for personal advantage. It was all just one very big mess and it was a ghastly tragi-comedy which persisted in Mexico until Diaz put down everyone and installed himself as President from 1876 to 1911. And in that period of stability he sort of crafted a story of Mexico and imposed it on the people – nothing like a couple generations of power to convince people that your justification for remaining in power is the actual story of your people. And then even that all fell apart and Mexico was consumed by ten years of civil war until the people who eventually created the PRI won control and set up a system to perpetuate themselves indefinitely in power under the guise of Democracy but with the elections fake and the outcomes predetermined. When the PRI started to fall apart in the late 1990’s there was a brief glimmer of hope that Mexico would finally get a government of consent…but then the rise of the Cartels in the early part of the 21st century nixed that.
And here we are – now there’s apparent Cartel war in Puerto Vallarta with the backdrop of a Mexican “government” which says it won’t use the army to fight the Cartels because that might violate human rights. In other words, the “government” of Mexico is no such thing – just a facade for the various Cartels who now battle it out to control territory and income…with the problem being the massive reduction in Cartel income following Trump’s closure of the border. My bet is that the Cartels, feeling the pinch, are now fighting over domestic income streams – and Puerto Vallarta with its huge influx of tourist dollars is a plum worth plucking…if you have the power to oust the current Cartel owners (don’t worry too much over stories that it was the Mexican military that zapped the Cartel boss…think of the Mexican military as yet another Cartel…it is certainly controlled by Cartels).
Why bring all this up? Well, outside the fact that we might have to intervene in Mexico for our own security needs, I think this needs to be said – and said again and again. That is: stop living in the world of make believe. We’ve maintained this pretense that Mexico has a legitimate government that we can deal with on the square. Never have we had such a thing. Now, this doesn’t mean we can’t be expedient about things, but let us have no illusions about it. We’re dealing with a clique, not a government – there is no legitimacy in it…it was engineered into power via shadowy forces and it will be replaced by the same sort of machinations.
So, too, it goes all around the world. Nigeria isn’t a country – its a colonial leftover encompassing at least five distinct peoples, most of whom hate each other with a passion. It is like jamming together France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Greece and calling it one country. The raids against Christians are carried out by Muslims…with the Muslims and Christians having distinct national identities, neither of which are “Nigerian”…but the fiction is kept alive – mostly by the Muslims – because the Christians hold the most valuable real estate (ie, that which has the oil). South Africa – not a country. Syria – not a country. Algeria – not a country (its borders and national identity are leftovers of French rule). And even some genuine countries – that is real peoples who’s borders roughly coincide with them – don’t have real governments; just like Mexico doesn’t. Iran – not a real government. Zimbabwe – not a real government. Sudan – not a real government. As for the EU – definitely getting deep into “not a real government” there…so much manipulation and fraud that we’re getting to the point where we can’t be certain any government there reflects the will of the people.
The world is not civilized any longer. I’ve seen posts on X from Canadians who went “elbows up” and decided to vacation in Mexico instead of the USA…to teach us Yanks a lesson. Hey, I used to love going to Mexico…but I haven’t been in about twenty years. Why not? Because when they start finding the bodies of dismembered people and nobody is arrested for it, I decide that place isn’t a good vacation destination. You’ve got to think about the people who go to Mexico – they’re betting their lives that the Cartels will keep them safe. To be sure, most of the time it is so…but if the Cartels decide its time for some death, then death is coming and there is no power in Mexico which can protect you from it. So, I’ll just have a taco here at home and keep Mexico as a fond memory of the past. I wouldn’t travel outside the USA these days if you paid me to do so – heck, even here at home barbarism is spreading, but at least here I’m on my own ground…I know the rules and can navigate my way through it. To be a foreigner? Heck no. Not even for a minute. There is no law out there – just power; and if power decides I gotta die, then dead I’ll be.
We need to take a long, hard look at things. These days, only a few foreign nations are in any way reliable – Japan, Argentina, El Salvador, Israel, UAE…maybe a half dozen others among the whole bunch. The rest of the world is a series of corrupt, cruel and increasingly incompetent factions fighting for control over dying societies. We are now faced with a battle to save ourselves – to Make America Great Again – and this will absorb the next twenty years. Our main foreign policy goal is to enforce as much peace as possible – mostly by a mix of force and persuasion. You know: sometimes kidnapping a foreign potentate who got on our nerves, other times offering them a deal which keeps them alive as long as they stop funding Hamas. But the purpose is to keep things as quiet as possible – as cheaply as possible – while we set our house in order and restore civilization here at home.
In light of this, what Trump will do with Mexico must be – and I believe it will be – in line with our needs. We don’t want a chaotic Mexico. But we can’t live with a Cartel Mexico, either. Something has to give…and it can’t be done with worries over offending Mexican national sensibilities which we can’t be sure even exist outside rent-a-mobs waving Mexican flags. So, too, our dealings with all nations comes into focus…and the Trump Doctrine emerges: we want peace. We will make a deal even if you’re just a mafia which took over a country. If you don’t take the deal…things will go badly for you.

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