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Mexican Cartels Build Mad Max Narco Tanks
Hugh Pickens writes "Not content with building their own submarines, using bazookas, rocket-propelled grenades or land mines, drug cartels are now building armored assault vehicles, complete with gun turrets, inch-thick armor plates, firing ports and bulletproof glass. The monsters look like a cross between a handmade assault vehicle used by a Somali warlord and something out of a post-apocalyptic Mad Max movie, and have already appeared in several confrontations with Mexican authorities. A look inside a captured 'monster' truck (YouTube video) reveals that in addition to swiveling turrets to shoot in any direction, they have hatches and peepholes for snipers, their spacious interiors can fit as many as 20 armed men, and they are coated with polyurethane for insulation and to reduce noise. Still Patrick Corcoran writes that the armored vehicles are not a game changer. 'While the "narco-tanks," as the vehicles are often called, make for great blog fodder and provide entertaining videos, seeing their rise as a significant escalation in Mexico's drug war would be wrongheaded,' writes Corcoran. 'In the end, the "tanks" are a sexy narrative, but these mistaken notions about the criminals' "military might" not only inflate the power of Mexico's groups far beyond any reasonable assessment, they also obscure the problem, and its potential solutions.'"
"its potential solutions."
What, you mean like ending the hideous and utterly failed drug 'war'?
the person who wrote the article apparently doesnt know shit about military technology and history.
an armored personnel carrier is an armored personnel carrier. the fact that these are produced, and used means that the party using them has the means to produce them and use them. this shows an escalation of the situation.
Read radical news here
Yep, and handwaving makes the threat go away.
Not to get into the root causes, but having these kinds of weapons is a threat to any government's sovereignty, and only weak governments can't address it.
And a weak and useless Mexican government is not a good thing for anyone except the drug lords.
When alcohol was prohibited, the US saw all kinds of organization and arming of people in the alcohol trade. It got so bad that it was decided that alcohol should no longer be prohibited. Now it is just tightly controlled.
The war on drugs is a different story though isn't it. I guess the main reason why might be that all this stuff isn't quite so visible to the public.
they also obscure the problem, and its potential solutions.
The problem is prohibition and the solution is to stop it. Difficult to grasp?
http://www.anzioironworks.com/20MM-TAKE-DOWN-RIFLE.htm
This rifle would easily take down a vehicle like this, they are not as invincible as they claim to be. I am sure that they are proof against a Kalashnikov or a .223 caliber rifle, but a good sniper rifle like the Anzio would take it out with one shot. Is this the start of the Mexican border war as depicted in the Robocop movie?
liberare massarum ex ignorantia, clausa descendit molestie.
No, but Human Sacrifice is definitely Open-Source... just not free.
Plus, it's been in the current release version for thousands of years, bug-free--none of the issues you see with the more popular OS's.
What's the next step? Reinforcing the border by arming patrol units with Vulcan cannons?
So they seat 20. Well that means that your Hellfire equipped drone can now take out 20 narco-terrorists at a time.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
This was all made possible because Wachovia laundered a sum of money equal to 1/3 of Mexico's GDP for the drug cartels.
Of course as soon as this was discovered the Justice Department sprang into action and initiated a RICO takedown of the entire institution and all its executives (in an alternate universe). What they actually did was politely request that the company pay a fine equal to 2% of their profits which was then refunded to them by the Treasury Department via a $54 billion bailout.
It makes sense because laws don't apply to the aristocracy like they apply to us peasants - they're doing God's work after all.
Didn't you knew, MAD MAX stood for MAD MAXicans?
What do you think it's doing in Afghanistan?? You think they're going to let a bunch of sheepherders strangle the family business?
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
could take it out with an RPG
TOW or Javelin would be overkill,And Predator with Hellfire would be expensive.
Please bear in mind that most of the funding and the weapons for the Drug Cartels come from the US.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576375961350290734.html
No sig for the moment.
But if I were Pres. Calderon, I'd just authorize the use of ordnance on sight when the Mexican Army encounters one of those...
It practically screams "I'm a safe target to destroy on a shoot first, ask questions later" basis.
No, but they look like they would run over a penguin with no problem.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Seriously, we can not win the drug war. All this is doing around the world id funding these kinds of ppl. Taliban and AQ make loads of money from drugs. So do American gangs.
The only real solution is for America to legalize ALL drugs, and then allow NO IMPORTS OR EXPORTS of drugs. In addition, the production and sale of such is also heavily regulated. A whiff of a connection with ANY gang and you can not do anything. Get caught using illegal drugs? Not a problem. The state provides housing for 5 years. Get caught bringing in, or selling drugs? Again, not a problem 20 years.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
If any politician was serious about stopping this, the answer is real simple: take the monetary incentive for the existence of the cartels out of the equation by legalizing marijuana in the United States. Arguably, the cartels would collapse overnight. However by doing this, a politician risks career suicide because she or he will lose campaign dollars as a result of lost support from industries such as: defense, pharmaceutical, paper products, etc. It would take politicians with balls, not those seeking re-election, to effect change. An entire industry has sprung up around this war on drugs that employs people in a shitty economy so another unfortunate consequence would be more people without jobs as a result. However, both Mexicans and Americans would be ultimately safer without the existence of the cartels: maybe even happier because they could smoke or eat pot without interference and not worry about the harmful anti-depressant drugs out on the market. I digress ....
This is what our tax money in the fucking drug war is doing? Awesome. That's just fucking awesome. Civil war in Mexico is such a fantastic fucking American dream.
The drug lords are scum, but there are better ways for dealing with them, such as using harm reduction principles to lessen the demand for their products, and thus hurting their income.
There will always be people using drugs, whether they should or not. Decriminalizing their use does not imply an endorsement of the behavior. It's still valid to tell someone that cocaine use is a stupid fucking idea, and to tell them what it will do to their health, but arresting them as though they were just common criminals--instead of getting them help--most definitely doesn't help.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
Troll? That's rich. I only see one troll here, and he has 'Coward' in his name
Which begs the question of *why* they are trying to find a 'better' route - better than *what*?
If 'normal' routes are working, then there is little to no incentive to get creative and use unusual and expensive routes. If normal routes are working, you don't need to sneak around them ("submarines") or punch through them (armored fighting vehicles/'"tanks"). If normal routes are working, you punch up the volume on those routes.
The existence of these vehicles tells me that for whatever reason, these normal routes aren't working - though the existence of two different types may be answers to different problems... The 'submarine' (actually a semi-submersible) is likely an attempt to perform an end around the guarded and increasingly risky land border. The AFV/'tank' is however likely in response to a different problem - being able to overcome other cartels who are guarding the same stretch of border to protect their own profits.
I know this is not a popular opinion here on Slashdot, but legalizing drugs will not stop the violence in Mexico that is spilling over into the US. If you remove the income from the illicit transfer of drugs, then these cartels will switch to something else, such as human trafficking or kidnapping. And, if you remove this income, they will become even more violent as they fight with each other over the remaining illegal trades. You already hear stories coming out of Mexico, especially southern Mexico, about mass graves filled with killed migrant workers. These people are paying thousands of dollars per person up front. And, assuming they even make it to the US alive, they usually owe thousands more. It's lucrative, and a lot of the preexisting drug smuggling infrastructure (tunnels, fronts, etc) can easily be adapted to smuggling people instead. Legalization is not a panacea.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Two points of failure: this rolling metal brick totally stands out and the tires are not reinforced. Armor or not if you find yourself in an immobile vehicle you're just asking to get gassed. If you can't drive in an area with your loot without turning heads and painting a giant target on your forehead then your mode of transportation is largely ineffective.
Aldo: Here's the bubbly, boss.
Snaps: Aldo, I'm shocked! You know liquor's against the law! Didn't you ever hear of Prohibition?
Aldo: Heard of it? What do you think paid for this house?
Barack Obama has made it American policy to not go after medical marijuana dispenserise though George W Bush (and to be fair Clinton) did attach these legal (at a state level) and illegal (at a fed level) dispenseries.
I wonder what Mitt Romney would do about medical marijuana. I wonder if he would tolerate it as much as gay marriage.
I remember that universal healthcare that W passed. And the financial industry regulation.
Also, I remember how George W Bush, didn't go out of his way to punch the environment in the balls, exempting natural gas fracking from the clean are and clean water acts.
Bad politicians thrive on a population that's too ignorant to tell the difference.
By the way.. guess which party supports unlimited anonymous "campaign contributions"..
I'll give you a hint.. Republicans support it, and installed supreme court judges to legalize unlimeted anonymous bribery, while Democrat appointed judges voted against it (in a 5-4 decision) in the Supreme court.
But.. yeah... it doesn't matter who you vote for. That's the best thing to keep the Sheeple from voting for progress.
A Republican house majority has once again kicked America in the balls, but luckily there are dumbasses like you who can't tell the difference.
Seriously, it is true when they say that "All the money in the world can't buy an ounce of class." If these thugs had any, they'd get a Conquest Vehicle like the Knight XV. It's put together on a Freightliner chassis and fore and aft night vision is standard. This thing makes a hummer look like a toy.
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
Nothing lasts forever. But makeshift armoured vehicles today, and proper military vehicles tomorrow...
Will Mexico become some new kind of military state run by mobsters? Will the people finally stand up en masse and refuse to take further part, despite being murdered en masse as punishment? Others have pointed out that the drug war is funded by the US, but will the US military finally tire and invade Mexico? Will drugs be legalised in the US?
All those options seem pretty far fetched at the moment, but the situation is also unteneble, or at least unacceptable to us with morals. So how is this going to end?
...of living in a country founded by Puritans?
We have the drug war because the religious bunch thinks that fun is a sin and anything that shortcuts ways to fun, like drugs, is a sin, and they have the abominable habit attempting to outlaw anything that is a sin.
The solution is to legalize _ALL_ the D drugs, and put these monsters back in a position of looking for work picking tomatoes. What we're doing is insane. And yes, it _is_ our fault.
Thank you Alex for contributing your perspective. Too many on the northern side of the border here forget that US policy decisions affect far more than just the US -- and that a lot of the international impact is negative. Folks up here would not put up with your situation, and if they were more acutely aware of your situation, they might just get off their duffs and demand that something change for the better.
Here's hoping, anyway.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
If you remove the income from the illicit transfer of drugs, then these cartels will switch to something else, such as human trafficking or kidnapping. ... Legalization is not a panacea.
First of all, no one ever said legalization would cure all ills, including your aunt's gout.
Secondly, if there were all these other productive areas that they could get rich on with violence, why aren't they already doing so? They don't like money? They're keeping those untapped markets in reserve for a rainy day?
You're actually right to a limited extent - if drugs were legalized tomorrow, the crime organizations would *try* to turn their violence and logistics to other markets. The harm of decades of drug criminalization won't disappear like a fart in the wind overnight. It will take years to draw down the power of the cartels. But take their major source of income away, and that draw down can begin.
Crime won't cease to exist. But we can kneecap crime cartels by taking much of their profit from them.
I think that we can concede that for practical purposes they are APC. You are thinking that the drug lords want to take over USA, but they are businessmen that not want to kill customers, they only want to remove some barriers to the free trade of drugs.
That said, the leadership of Zetas cartel were members of mexican special forces trained in Fort Benning, particularly good in urban warfare, that is what is going in this moment, despite all the claims to the contrary by the stupid puppet that we mexicans have for president. I find the power of this things more in the logic of psychological warfare than for massive use in battles, since armoring business are popping everywhere like mushrooms, because not only gang members but the rich and people that appear to be rich demand them because kidnappings are happening everywhere too, so an armored Hummer is such a common sight that can only now raise very few eyebrows. But with these monster trucks, gangs will get easily the submission of the poorly armed police forces of small towns that are only used to intervene in bar fights and hold a better control of territory.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
do something that really would stop the flow of drugs and money, unless you guys are so naive to believe that the great majority of the members of the border patrol and border police forces are not part of the drug and people trade.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
The USA is currently running Trillion dollar deficits. Not spending Billions on the war on drugs sounds like a good idea. Yes there will be people who abuse drugs, but they will do so regardless of the laws so you're not actually killing anyone. Once legal: you eliminate organized crime (less efficient so they lose to big business), you eliminate most drug deaths (they know what they are buying), you cut crime rates (most crime is caused by drug addicts trying to buy illegal drugs, they don't need crime to afford legal stuff like alcohol). I'm not seeing any downside to legalization.
The US constitution explicitly lists the powers of the federal gov, and the rest (right to use drugs) remain with the people./state. I think you need a constitutional amendment to limit the power of the interstate commerce clause.
Northern weather requires people to work together instead of fighting like mad dogs for their little piece of the pie. Canadians tend to get along (and ignore silly laws like prohibition/war on drugs).
I spent a couple of hours today trying to research PERF, and find out their corporate sponsors. Motorola and TASER intl. were the only ones I could find, aside from, of course, our tax dollars.
I tend to want to follow the money when I start seeing Think Tank propaganda being cited in National "News" stories, and I found their website's lack of disclosure rather disconcerting.
Has anyone any leads on them? Funny how they were formed in 1976, about the same time that our government took the gloves off in the war against the people.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
or, arms trade, disguised as a poorly designed sting ...
Read radical news here
It hasn't really been ANYWHERE on the national news, but we are losing more than just the war on drugs here. The cartels control parts of the state of Arizona. Not just as in they create a danger of violence there, as in they're building roads there. Americans are warned not to go there. The local law enforcement doesn't go there because they're out manned and out gunned.
See here and here>.
In other words, they are well on their way to actually occupying (in the sense of an invading army) a chunk of the U.S.
They've had infantry for some time now, It seems that they are now working on a navy and a mechanized unit.
I just can't tell you what a relief it is to hear how we're winning the drug war!
Superior tactics and newer weapons tech wins out
That must be why the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan went so smoothly
a single US submarmine commander, alone and unsupported except for his craft and crew, could quite easily defeat any or all nations south of the Rio Grande clear to the Antarctic in less than a week.
This is truly one of the dumbest statements that I have ever seen on SlashDot, and there has never been a shortage of dumb statements. So how, exactly, is your submarine going to defeat Bolivia? Sail up the Rio Plata and portage around the rapids? Put the sub on the train in Ilo and cart it up to Lake Titicaca? Have you ever seen the terrain in Peru and Ecuador? The phrase "You can't get there from here" has real meaning in the Andes, I've been many places where a trip to a site 10 straight-line miles away entails a 50+ mile trip. The only reason that the Spanish, the super power of the day, was able to occupy the region was because 70 percent of the population was dying of European diseases. Do you have any real idea how large Brazil is?
Lima might roll over and show its belly when your phantasmagorical supersub sails into Callao, but I'll guarantee Arequipa, Cuzco, Iquitos, Puerto Maldonado, and Cajamarca won't feel threatened in the least. The road to Quito could be defended by a teenager with a deer rifle, or taken out entirely by a single miner with some dynamite.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
They're not for drug transportation, they're for operations against rival drug lords. Most of the drugs crossing the border come across in the back of semi tractor-trailer rigs and cargo containers. The submarines, tunnels, etc. are built by rival upstarts trying to horn in on the business of the big importers.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin