Does it seem like Mexico's complaining about America has clicked up a notch recently, particularly in relation to the ongoing war against the criminal drug cartels? First it was the accusation that America's Second Amendment was to blame for all the guns in Mexico, and now Presidente Calderon is grousing about corruption... in the United States (!)

The Mexican president has blamed US "corruption" for hampering his nation's efforts to combat violent drug cartels. [...]

Calderon acknowledged some Mexican officials had helped the cartels but said the US should ask itself how many of its own officials were implicated.

"It is not an exclusively Mexican problem, it is a common problem between Mexico and the United States," he said.

"I want to know how many American officials have been prosecuted for this [corruption]." [Mexico condemns US 'corruption', Al Jazeera, March 3, 2009]

What a phony. Everyone knows Mexico is riven with corruption from top to bottom. Bribery is deeply embedded in Mexican culture, beginning with kids who bribe their teachers to get better grades and proceeding throughout the society. A former top drug cop (Noe Ramirez) was arrested last fall for working for a cartel, and he's not been the only the highly placed person working both sides by a long shot (e.g. presidential guard Arturo Gonzalez Rodriguez and officials in the Attorney General's office). Endemic, historic police corruption has made the drug war enormously more difficult and required the use of the army.

Mexican whining about guns is also tomfoolery. Even Mexophile writer Sam Quinones recently reflected in Foreign Policy (State of War), "When I lived in Mexico, its cartels were content with assault rifles and large-caliber pistols, mostly bought at American gun shops. Now, Mexican authorities are finding arsenals that would have been incomprehensible in the Mexico I knew."

Indeed, the report to Mexico prepared by Gen. Barry McCaffrey found materiel not available in your local gun store:

The outgunned Mexican law enforcement authorities face armed criminal attacks from platoon-sized units employing night vision goggles, electronic intercept collection, encrypted communications, fairly sophisticated information operations, sea-going submersibles, helicopters and modern transport aviation, automatic weapons, RPG’s, Anti-Tank 66 mm rockets, mines and booby traps, heavy machine guns, 50 [caliber] sniper rifles, massive use of military hand grenades, and the most modern models of 40mm grenade machine guns.

My opinion: the Mexican shooting war against drug cartels is not going well, and Presidente Calderon is beginning to lay down the spin for his government's future failure.

He says the drug violence is a "shared problem" which is diplomat-ese for "It's America's fault." The $1.4 billion in military aid from the American taxpayer via the Merida Initiative will be deemed too little, too late when Mexico becomes widely recognized as a failed state.

At that time, Mexico City may further insist that America's complicity in creating south-border chaos should obligate us to receive millions of Mexican refugees. And President Obama is unlikely to put the military on the border to keep them out...