US considers intervention in Mexico

Thanks to organized crime, assassination is a major occupational hazard for local authorities in northern Mexico:

Masked armed men have shot dead the mayor of a small town in northern Mexico in the latest attack believed to be linked to drug gangs.

Prosecutors said four hooded men pulled up outside the office of Alexander Lopez Garcia in El Nranjo in the state of San Luis Potosi on Wednesday, before two of them burst in and shot him to death.

From Al Jazeera. Now this is nothing unique to Mexico, as any Columbian, Italian, or Russian will tell you. However, Mexico is much higher up on a certain country's priority list than those other places. Maybe that's why we're seeing stuff like this quote from Hillary Clinton:

Clinton also suggested that "we need to figure out what are the equivalents" for Mexico and Central America of the US Plan Colombia - in which American special forces teams train Colombian troops and US advisers are attached to Colombian military units.

Mexico has long rejected allowing US troops on its soil.

Well yeah. I'd reject the idea of foreign troops being deployed on my soil to deal with a domestic problem too... but the US can't leave well enough alone. California's proposal seems a far better way to deal with the problem, though.

Another military leader warns of consequences of climate change

This time it's a Canadian naval officer:

A navy planner says the Canadian Forces must be ready to be called to the front lines in the battle against the effects of climate change.

A recently published article by Lt.-Cmdr. Ray Snook of the defence department’s directorate of maritime strategy says the military may have to step in if conflicts flare over dwindling supplies of food and water.

From the Star (h/t pogge). Curiously, no mention is made of the US as a source of trouble we might have to defend ourselves against...