Reading Mexico: Area Specialists Needed

Dallas Morning News carried an interesting analysis of the narcotics violence in Mexico by Andrew Steele of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars. I would love to see an extended conversation with Steele and see him as a talking head more than some half-educated journalist. I think his observations are level-headed, and while I don't feel like I have to agree with everything he said, it at least has some logic behind it and avoids blanket buzz words like "apocalyptic" and "nightmare." Steele is a good example of the kind of commentary we should see the press going to instead of Wall Street Journal reporters or former Iraq correspondents plopped down in the Zona Rosa. Kudos to the Dallas Morning News and Alfredo Corchado for presenting a conversation that was worth reading. And double Kudos for Steele in acknowledging the corruption, criminal partners, and demand in the United States that make high-violence narco-crime in Mexico possible.