Surveillance technology and government discretion

 

Surveillance technology and government discretion

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero 

Some seasons of the year correspond to the increase in violence, crime and other social anomies.

In recent weeks, we have been able to see the social levels that barbarism reaches thanks to cameras and spy devices; unfortunately, the absence of the government is also highlighted, at its different levels: local, state and national.

State governments highlight the tax collection that surveillance cameras have earned them; however, with this information, it is also striking that crime increases exponentially, even though the facts can be verified. That is, society can observe the harsh reality thanks to information technologies; but, the government presence is not noted anywhere.

Lynchings, fights, intentional homicides, femicides, traffic accidents, etc., can be seen in all their dimensions; only that is not governing, it may be a contribution to sensationalism, but it does not generate the feeling that the rulers do their job.

Efficiency and managerial criteria predominate in the governments of the Fourth Transformation, everything is recorded, but little is solved.

The budgets for acquiring video surveillance equipment and observation or espionage technologies increase considerably; however, the government only appears when citizens become double captive taxpayers.

If technology fines and governs, perhaps the option of Artificial Intelligence (Skynet) taking control of everything should begin to be established.

Local governments are conditioned to acquire expensive technologies and implement invisible coercive policies, even to the detriment of true, material social security and, above all, authentic well-being.

Progressive governments begin to fire personnel and reduce the number of officials essential to comply with governability.

Indeed, the flag of the new times seems to be self-government, even if that implies a certain state of nature.

The ruler who declared the decrease in crime due to the increase in lynchings may be a prominent candidate for the Nobel Prize.

Surveillance technology has not represented the social welfare that its champions believe; on the contrary, the bizarre figures of the collection only trigger the rumors of corruption and the deficiency of the party in government.

Although they are considered indispensable, technologies do not replace the government or the human condition of public action.

Governments must grow at the level of social demands, but in human resources, not only in patrimonialism and technological facades.

Johnson. Hawk or Dove?

 Johnson. Hawk or Dove?

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero

Although the presence of an ambassador as the future Trumpist envoy has generated alarm among the analysts of the inner circle and some specialists, the truth is that -with all that risk-, there are also probabilities that Mexico will maintain its sovereignty and capacity to govern to a minimum. The North American military interventions have been multiple, although, with the exception of the loss of half of the national territory in the 19th century; afterwards, there have not been conflicts in the same proportion. It is true that many conservative groups would be delighted with a military intervention by the United States in Mexico; however, this would be unthinkable in the immediate scenarios because, it has been pointed out in the perspective of authors as ambivalent as Pablo González Casanova, George Friedman and Samuel Huntington, the most probable thing is that North America will lose a war against the many Mexicos.

The problem of a conflict between Mexico and the United States poses for the Americans a guerrilla war similar to Vietnam, the fight of an eagle against flocks of turkeys or chickens; surely it will capture some, but it will not be able to take them all. Therefore, the reasons for a total armed intervention and even war are not rational from the American point of view; at least, this is not indicated by the presence of Ronald Johnson.

Although Vietnam constitutes a shameful example of the war history of the United States, in essence, it is its main object of development. The Cold War represented for North America the speculation of war in a permanent and gradualist way; military victory is important, but less than economic victory.

Since the six-year term of Luis Echeverría Álvarez, the United States wants control of Mexico more than military domination and, in fact, there have been American ambassadors more willing to state coups and nothing has happened even though the country is on the border of chaos. Military gradualism serves to develop the US war industry and financial system. The US intervention in Colombia is an example of the significance of the drug trafficking issue; officials like Oliver North are more important than Chris Kyle. US militarism remains trapped in the logic of lions for lambs.

The Mexican Hispanic Right is Strengthening

 The Mexican Hispanic Right  is Strengthening

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero

Geopolitics is increasing its degree of uncertainty and there are various events that support the perspective of such estrangement. However, it is worth reflecting on the strategies of the Mexican right regarding the economic division of blocks that is coming. Although the meetings in Argentina and Spain may promote different right-wing approaches, in reality, geopolitics marks that the pro-American right and the Hispanic right are separating or, at least, have different strategies. For example, it is worth highlighting that the European Union and Mercosur have made an economic agreement that deepens their relations. This should also be interpreted as the tacit recognition of the exclusion of Europeans in North America as Donald Trump has maintained. CPAC and Neos pose severe differences with Anglo-Saxon culture and liberalism.

The pro-Yankee right is stagnating in the political processes of our country, Eduardo Verástegui does not get any support from the actors who should find in his proposal, the logical path to their economic benefits. Salinas Pliego's biographical background and his business circumstances push him towards the Hispanic right, no matter how much libertarianism he sponsors.

The Mexican right is betting on Hispanicism, which only blocks integration with North America and allows the reproduction of elements that Anglo-Saxon culture rejects. If President Donald Trump seems to follow the script of the "Hispanic Challenge" developed by Samuel Huntington to the letter, who would think of deepening relations with Spain to the point of mimesis as Calderonism proposes? If for Hispanic and libertarian conservatives, the Fourth Transformation lacks a compass in the rough sea of ​​Trumpism, where is the Mexican Hispanic right going?

Mexico represents a society that can change its culture, initiate hybridization processes until it fuses with North American elements. A bold strategy like the one implemented by the Philippines fifty years ago, allows us to see that this country is in better conditions than others in Latin America. Apparently, forgetting the Spanish language and approaching the English language, as well as the civilizational change, has good results. Alain Rouquie and Samuel Huntington believe that Mexico could be integrated into North America, at least, in three hundred years; however, the Hispanicists – mainly the abusive Spanish colony – want the process to extend a millennium.

The colonial caste system: blood rights, racism and pigmentocracy; represent the first element of the Hispanic Mexican right that does not want to change. On the contrary, this force represents the real and identity-based power of its perspectives. However, reality disposes of other things; despite Trumpism and Calderonism, Mexican society is mostly integrated into North America and, sooner or later, it will have to assimilate into Anglo-Saxon culture. Mexican migration to North America is translated as American expansionism and will soon be confirmed with returns and deportations.

Calderón and National Action, as occurred with Luis Calderón Vega, Salvador Abascal and Salvador Borrego, the tecos and yunques; They are lost in the competition to find the Spanish grandfather and the racism of purifying Jewish blood. Hispanidad is a useless and dead faith; hopefully one day, Mexicans will be able to abandon the tribulations that only prolong the agony of the Habsburg Model and the minimum payment on the Spanish mortgage.

Trump and the reconstruction of the multipolar balance

 Trump and the reconstruction of the multipolar balance

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero

The appearance of the Russian weapon Oreshnik represents the recognition of the importance of weapons of mass destruction for geopolitical control. The balance that developed during the Cold War can be reestablished by Donald Trump if the coexistence of multiple civilizations is implemented in a mandatory manner. The failure of liberal capitalist democracy and modernity implies that, outside the United States, the values ​​of Western culture do not find fertile ground. There are different and multiple modernities, even evidence that modernity will fail in certain societies. Therefore, globalization must be slowed down, adjusted to the historical speeds of each society.

Oreshnik resurrects the fear of nuclear cataclysm, that is, the extermination of large proportions of humanity. Not only does fear correspond to the type of weapons that Russia can produce but also to the response of its adversaries. In its way, the world of the Cold War represented an unstable balance; With the fall of the Soviet Union, modernity went out of control and neoliberal elites lost their sense of humanity. They are as responsible as Oreshnik for the destruction of human beings.

Liberalism is a path to civilization, but it is frequently lost. Russia has the right to exist and the Western world must recognize its defeat by Vladimir Putin. The future depends on personalities like Donald Trump and a plutocratic environment that rescinds the globalization of the market, technology and democracy.

Apparently, the division of Ukraine and the subjection of other Eastern European countries to Russia represent the step to gain coexistence. It is paradoxical that the French government maintains the perspective of confrontation and suppression of Russia; the change of government in North America can contribute to containing the suicidal attempts of neoliberal aristocracies.

Vladimir Putin represents a conservative government that has autocratically gained political legitimacy in Russia. It is difficult to point out that he sought to recover Russian greatness and generate expansionism when he takes power after Boris Yeltsin. It was the responsibility of the West to create the situation of confronting Russia and the response came: the Oreshnik Monster is there to remind us of human fragility.