As LA Goes…?

As the poster-child for the new and improved post-American America, LA is always worth watching – and so the political gyrations regarding redistricting there at both the state and county level are enlightening to observe, especially as the lines begin to be drawn for the 2013 mayoral election.

Untangling all the related manueverings relating to whether or not a second “Latino seat” on the board of supervisors will be created is beyond me and, ultimately, of little interest to non-Angelinos, but the the fundamental lesson is that more than half a century since the civil rights revolution began, the political world remains intractibly racialized.

A majoritarian people can ignore this reality and still survive and prosper, but in our Balkanized, minority-majority world a people intent on denying reality does so at its own peril.

Notes: For more on LA’s redistricting travails, see, for example: Weighing mayor’s race, Yaroslavsky takes risky gambit on Latinos and Ethnic coalition backs Knabe in face of redistricting plan. The LA Weekly has an helpful overview as well: The L.A. County Redistricting Battle Explained — Without Maps!

Finally, if you were wondering about the gay angle, see LA Redistricting Fights Will Be Expensive and Painful for LGBTs

Putting Their Money Where Their Mouth Is

SOLID is a [F]rench non-profit organization. It aims to provide help and support to peoples struggling for their survival, the preservation of their culture and the defense of their identity… [T]he members of SOLID have committed themselves to serve all men, all over the world who want to continue living on the soil of their ancestors according to their laws, customs, rules and traditions. – Solidarite-Identites

One of the consistent accusations against Europe’s nationalist and identitarian movements is that they are guilty of xenophobia and race-hatred. All but the most NS among them, however, reject this accusation and instead assert their commitment to ethnopluralism – to each people’s “right to difference” – in the context of an international struggle against the global monoculture.

Of particular interest in this regard are the humanitarian assistance programs of Solidarite-Identites (SOLID), which, together with CasaPound Italia and Comunità Solidarista Popoli has undertaken relief projects around the world.

The three organizations have worked consistently to support the Karen people of Myanmar/Burma, an ethnic minority which has been involved in a decades-long struggle against that country’s military regime. (Popoli began this relief effort as early as 2001.)

Recently a delegation from CasaPound and SOLID traveled to Kenya, where they started a new project supporting an orphanage – the Imani Childrens Home. According to Gianluca Iannonne of CasaPound,

These days the life of these kids is mainly working in fields and going to school. With our modest help we want to offer them alternatives. Developing the economy of this region is fundamental so people don’t have to chose between dying of starvation in their own country, or becoming desperate invaders of other countries.

Globalization has starved Africa since decolonization. The same politic is destroying Europe, leading millions of people to leave their country. This creates a melting pot of modern slaves. People need to cooperate and remain in their country for their own sake. Casapound and SOLID are on the front line of this fight.

The signal we want to give with this mission is this one: that nations and peoples stand against globalization, against this modern slavery. [This awkward translation is theirs, not mine]

All in all, an excellent example of the “right thing” and the right politics going hand-in-hand.

For more on SOLID, see the organization’s web site, which has some information in English and, if your French is better than mine, this Novopress interview.

There is little available in English on CasaPound, however Casa Pound and the New Radical Right in Italy, while unsympathetic, is informative and well-worth the read.

Mexico – It Actually Gets Worse

Gunmen stormed a crowded casino in northern Mexico on Thursday and ignited a fire that trapped patrons inside, killing at least 53 people in what the nation’s president called an “aberrant act of terror.” – LA Times

Just when you think things in Mexico couldn’t get any bloodier, you find out you’re wrong. The unwinding of the Mexican state is threatening to reach Somali proportions if the trajectory of violence continues.

What makes the chaos in Mexico likely to continue to intensify is the fact that the insurgent cartels, while every bit as violent as their African counterparts, have no interest in actually taking control of the state. Rather, as Max Manwaring points out in his recent regional overview of the area’s “Transnational Criminal Organizations” (TCOs) the “Central American Maras, Guatemalan Kaibiles, Mexican Zetas, and other enforcer gangs, Mexican drug cartels, and the Mexican Mafia” are merely trying to permanantly neuter the state by creating “a high level of violence and criminal anarchy throughout most of Mexico”.

In the article, published by the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College, Manwaring concludes:

As a result, democracy is questionable and the nation-state’s presence and authority (sovereignty) is at best questionable in over more than 980 “Zones of Impunity” (criminal free-states) that exist throughout large geographical portions of Mexico, and 17 of the 22 departments in Guatemala. This is a feudal environment defined by extreme violence, patronage, bribes, kickbacks, cronyism, impunity, ethnic exclusion, and personal whim. That environment of violence and criminal anarchy, in turn, has been known to define the state failure process and/or a narco-criminal state.

Obviously, should the Mexican process continue to develop along its current path, the implications for us are frightening, especially given the fact that we have a political elite – Democrat and Republican – with no commitment to controlling the border.

Note: The SSI web site has some very interesting material – all not only freely downloadable but also freely available in hardcopy. In particular, for those interested in following the Mexican crisis, there is a fascinating monograph La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexican Security which profiles La Familia Michoacana, a major drug cartel which combines the usual ultra-violence with a mystical-populist rhetoric.

For an older post on Somaliazation, see here.

Monsters and Narcotanks

I’ve written a number of times in the past about the growth of irregular warfare, particularly around the 4th Generation Warefare (4GW) concept developed by William Lind and others. For those interested, Small Wars Journal, a free ejournal, is an excellent resource.

While much of SWJ’s focus has been on the developments in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has had some enlightening coverage of the Mexican drug war.

For a military analysis of some recent developments, see John Sullivan and Adam Elkus’s Narco-Armor in Mexico:

Known alternatively as “narco-tanks” (narcotanques), “Rhino trucks,” and “monster trucks”(monstruos), the crude armored vehicles emerging in Mexico’s cartel war are evidence of a changing tactical logic on the ground. ”Narco-tanks” are better characterized as improvised armored fighting vehicles (IAFVs)—portending a shift in the infantry-centric nature of the cartel battlespace….

Cartel tactics in Mexico, which began with assassinations and raiding missions bridging the gap between crime and irregular warfare, are looking more and more like conventional combined-arms and infantry and mechanized infantry missions. IAFVs can not only transport squads but—with armaments for gun turrets—also have the capacity to support them in firefights. –

For an interesting take on the US involvement in the conflict and the Mexican government’s approach, see Robert Haddick’s Outsourcing the Drug War.

Haddick discusses the “civilianization of warfare” in recent years and explains:

The use of unobtrusive civilian contractors is another consequence from the last decade of experience with irregular conflict…. Irregular adversaries have long taken on civilian guise in order to avoid the superior firepower usually wielded by nation-states. U.S. policymakers today find it politically untenable to use conventional military force, especially ground forces, against irregular adversaries. Increasingly more convenient are civilian substitutes such as CIA paramilitaries, contractors, and hired proxies. Mexico has long had severe cultural and legal prohibitions on a foreign military presence, especially from the United States. This will increasingly be the rule elsewhere in the world. But as we can see in Mexico and elsewhere, the U.S. government now has a well-established workaround.

He goes on to suggest that the Mexican government, afraid that any one cartel will become so strong as to actually create a dual power situation, competing with the government for control of the country (something Haddick calls the “Escobar Scenario” after the Columbian experience), is actually pursuing a strategy of keeping the cartels at war with one another and internally by targeting their top leaders, leaving the surviving members to fight for control. This strategy – aimed a dividing precisely because the government does not have the means to conquer – increases the bloodshed, at least in the short term, but allows the government to remain the most powerful player.

Haddick concludes:

Acceptance of more violence and drug traffic may seem little different than surrendering to the problem. But at this point, simply preventing a rival to state authority should be counted as success enough. The U.S. government’s intelligence contractors in Mexico will very likely make a critical contribution to that goal.

For more from Haddick on the civilianization of war, see his article at Foreign Policy The Rise of the Irregulars.

For my previous 4GW posts, see here.

On Second Thought, Maybe I’ll Make Other Vacation Plans…

Acapulco was the scene of another 3 executions today, following the 10 execution style murders this weekend, after a bloody week that suffered more than 20 executions and a harvest of body parts left on 3 bridges on Thursday with banners signed by La Barredora’s Comando del Diablo. – Borderland Beat

With so much to wring my hands about closer to home, including the flash mobs here in the US and the riots in England (and, yes, the UK is closer to home for me than Juarez or Acapulco) I’ve been neglecting the Mexican drug war. Don’t worry though, you haven’t missed anything really new – just the same endless procession of corpses. If you do want to keep up on a daily basis, however, start reading Borderland Beat. It has everything you want to know – and more – about our southern neighbor’s descent in chaos. (But be prepared, if you do visit the site, for some pretty gruesome content.)

Can’t Resist a Good Rant…

(Thanks to Nuevo Europa – Nuevo Eurabia.)

Let me be clear that I’m no fan of Pat Condell and his self-described “Godless Comedy“, but in this case I’ll make an exception.

The UK – Rotten to the Core?

Online retailer Amazon has reported a massive spike in the sales of baseball bats and batons as Britons prepare to protect themselves. – CNN

You might think so after looking at the performance of the political class and the “forces of order” over the last few days. Still, the now well-documented efforts at self-defense made by local communities throughout the country once it became clear that the powers-that-be were unwilling or unable to protect them give me real hope for the Brits.

It is hard to guess what the impact of these events on the country’s political order will be. Unlike, for example, the Rodney King riots or even Hurricane Katrina here in the US, which were mainly perceived as local/regional failures, the English riots are clearly a national crisis. Further, they reflect not just a failure to respond appropriately to a particular event, but in the nature of the violence and the paralysis of the system in the face of it, the most profound political and social decay at the heart of the current order in the UK.

How unfortunate that there is no credible nationalist alternative at the moment. (Sadly, Griffin is no Le Pen.)

Note: While I hate to link to the site because I disagree so deeply with the content and tone of so much of what appears there, Majority Rights has an interesting piece which appeared a few days ago speculating on the possible impact of the disorders.

On the Anarchy in the UK

In Hackney, residents were furious at the ease with which the rioters gained control of the streets. Hannah Lee, 25, a sales executive, said: “It’s disgusting, it’s atrocious. People live around here. I came home from work early because of this. Why aren’t the police stopping it happen?”

Periodically, the lines of riot officers would try to advance, but were repelled by missile-throwing youths…

A shopkeeper could only watch helplessly as three hooded youths wielding a newspaper stand battered down the door of his convenience store…

“Twenty-five years of my life and I’ve never seen this,” the shopkeeper from Hackney said. “I’ve seen my whole life go. I only want to know, where are the police?” – The Australian

The riots which have spread across England in the past several days have been too well-covered in the media and by bloggers of all varieties to need much more from me. in particular, all the obvious comments have been made regarding the now-undeniable utter failure of the police to control the situation and the apparent refusal on the part of the authorities to use the sort of measures required to pacify London and the other affected cities.

Still, I just have to say that if the cops in the video below are typical, the London police look more like they’re just play acting – hiding behind their shields and waving their batons – instead of seriously trying to crack some heads, make some arrests and generally give these lumpen scum a little payback. No wonder things are totally out of control. Pitiful!

(Thanks to F. Desouche for the link.)

A Little More on the Flash Mobs

Alternative Right and View from the Right have been devoting a lot of attention to this, especially given last week’s anti-white rampage in Milwaukee. Richard Spencer at Alternative Right links to what seems to be the definitive Blog – ViolentFlashMobs.com for an impressive summary of this phenomenon which, interestingly, seems much rarer on the West Coast than in the East and Midwest(so far).

Long Hot Summer(s)?

One would like to believe that our relative civil peace relies on more than just the efficiency of the repressive forces of the state – that our descent into the current criminal chaos of our neighbor to the south is deterred more by the orderly habits of our people than by the “thin blue line” of police currently guarding us.

Recent years have indeed shown a steady decline in violent crime overall, with no clear answer as to the reasons. (See Why are violent crime rates falling?, for example.)

Still, this summer has brought a series of ominous stories, well-covered in both the MSM and the blogosphere, regarding outbreaks of predatory mob violence around the country. While it is possible that at least some of this coverage has been spurred by the alleged novelty of the criminal “flash mob” (something which is not nearly as new as many of the articles would have us believe) the brazen and apparently at least semi-organized invasion of the civilized spaces of cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia by gangs of teenagers who brutalize and rob anyone unlucky enough to cross their path is a significant development – especially given the clear racial element involved.*

Whether or not these attacks are isolated events whose importance is being exaggerated by the media, here in the SF Bay Area the year has also seen a dramatic increase in violence, but in this case, it is murder. In Oakland killings have jumped some 40% over the same period last year. According to a San Francisco Chronicle columnist:

After last weekend’s violence, which claimed the lives of three people including a 16-year-old boy, no one can deny that Oakland is in distress.

“We have shootings pretty much every day,” said Sgt. Holly Joshi, a spokeswoman for the Oakland Police Department….

Whatever rules used to apply on the street have apparently been suspended because women and children are now legitimate targets.

Meanwhile, in Richmond the number of murders so far this year has already surpassed the total for all of 2010. The Chronicle reporting on the latest dual murder, in which a couple – Rose McFadden and Antione Williams, Jr – were assassinated outside of McFadden’s home as they returned from an evening out, said:

Detective Nicole Abetkov, a police spokeswoman, said McFadden – who lived at the apartment complex with her children, who are all under 7 – and Williams did not seem to be involved in criminal activity. They may have been targeted at random in a dispute over respect and gang turf, she said.

Abetkov, though, said investigators did not yet know whether the shooting was tied to a recent upsurge of violence between factions in north and central Richmond.

The killings were the 22nd and 23rd in the city this year. There were 21 homicides in Richmond in all of 2010.

Even the generally more middle class city of San Jose has matched Richmond in surpassing its 2010 total of 20 murders, reaching 28 already, half of which are said to be” gang-related.” (See, for example, Homicides surging in San Jose.)

Although the explanations for this surge in lethal violence vary, one common theme is that huge police lay-offs, reflecting California’s massive fiscal crisis, have played a major part in allowing this violence to begin to spiral out of control.

If all that is holding the gang-bangers and disaffected ghetto youth in line is a combination of strong policing and an ever-expanding prison system, then we may be in for dangerous times ahead. With the deep deficits facing California’s cities and counties, the resources to maintain the repressive apparatus necessary to maintain public order may simply no longer be there.

* Notes:

For some of the blog commentary on flash mob violence see View from the Right, the American Thinker and even the normally Franco-centric GalliaWatch.

For events in Philadelphia, which saw renewed attacks over the weekend, see:
City preparing response to random attacks by youths
Center City teen mob victim speaks
Top city officials meet to plan response to teen mobs
Philadelphia Flash Mob 2011: The List Keeps Growing

For Chicago:
‘Flash mobs’ terrorize, beat and rob Chicago tourists
Teen mobs suspected in downtown assaults