For some reason this is not getting a lot of press. But this story pretty much tells it all….

A SHADOWY leftist rebel group claimed responsibility for six explosions that damaged several Mexican gas and oil pipelines today, sending flames towering into the sky and forcing the evacuation of thousands.

Financial markets in the US and Mexico were rattled by the blasts, which officials said cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production. Some local factories were forced to shut after natural gas supplies were cut but there were no immediate reports of injuries directly caused by the explosions and fires.

It was the second time in three months that the so-called People’s Revolutionary Army has claimed to have targeted pipelines as part of what it has labelled its “prolonged people’s war” against “the anti-people government.”

The group, known as the EPR, is an extremely secretive, tiny rebel group that staged several armed attacks on government and police installations in southern Mexico in the 1990s. It was later weakened by internal divisions, leaving it unclear which splinter group carried out the attacks.

The six explosions, which affected several natural gas pipelines and one oil pipeline in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, triggered fires that shot flames and plumes of black smoke high into the sky and could be felt kilometres away.

The rest of the story talks about the likely political and economic effects.

There is town in Germany that is effectively controlled by neo-Nazis. You can read all about it here. But there was a section in the article that I thought demonstrated both why Europe still functions and why Europe is going down the tubes.

It all started in 1992, on April 19 — Easter Sunday. About 120 neo-Nazis raised the Reichskriegsflagge, a symbol used by Hitler’s Nazi party, in front of the old farmhouse at the end of Forststrasse. They wanted to celebrate the 103rd anniversary of Hitler’s birth. “We’ll smoke you out,” the right-wing radicals allegedly told the G. family next door. The family had previously complained about constant neo-Nazi music. And it had paid a steep price for such complaints: break-ins and slashed tires came first. Then one day they found their chickens dead and hanging from the garden fence.

Partying with the Nazis

On Easter Sunday 1992, the family barricaded itself inside the house. The mayor at the time, Fritz Kalf, was there with them, armed with a shotgun. When the police were called, a mere four officers arrived — and they didn’t dare enter the farmhouse where the Nazis were partying. Later, three dozen more cops showed up and put an end to the revelries, but not before the doors and windows of the G. family’s house had been destroyed along with Kalf’s car. The culprits vanished in the darkness. Indeed, the only who received a citation that evening was the mayor — for carrying a gun without a permit.

It is impressive that Germany still has a mayor willing to put himself at risk to defend his people. But it is sadly typical of modern day Europe that he was the only one to receive a ticket.

The most basic function of any state is to insure that it is the only organization that uses force to compel people to do things. Therefore, armed gangs are one of the biggest signs of the failure of the state. The more powerful the gangs are, the weaker the state is.

In America, most white people don’t worry about gangs as long as they limit themselves to killing minorities. Thus, the growing power and sophistication of American gangs has escaped the notice of most Americans.

But for how long will this be the case? One thinks of how the failed state of Afghanistan suddenly came to people’s notice. Pockets of lawlessness have a way of making themselves know even on the wealthy and secure.

That is why I think it is worth listening as Stanley Crouch laments the fact that nobody wants to face the reality of the American killing fields.

PC Bloggs makes fun of those who think that more laws are the answer to crime with devastating British irony.

One of the biggest errors of modern time is a misplaced faith in laws. It is thought that the right laws can do everything from taming the power of the US to improving the status of woman. But the truth is that laws do not create society, society creates laws. The power of a law nessearly stems from the values that make up a society. As a consequence, laws that are not based on values common to a society will only create widespread lawlessness. In other words, without a society based on common values, laws are useless.

This truth is ignored by many people who think that if they can only get the right laws passed, then society will be so much better. Such people would do well to read this essay from the Belmont Club exploring the consequences of trying to make enforce a common law were there is no common society.

This week’s essay of the week is from The Ape Man and it is called Why moderate Muslims don’t matter. It is a bit of a misleading title since Ape Man’s argument really applies to all religions. Nonetheless, it is a point that we don’t feel is given the proper consideration even in conservative circles.

This from the blog Pakistan Uncut (although I think the credit should really go to Dawn News service)…..

Islamabad’s densely populated Sector G-6, where Lal Masjid is located, and the areas in its vicinity were jolted by big bangs of grenades, heavy shelling and other heavy arms used in the battle early in the morning.

The entire federal capital was declared a red zone as there was a complete ban on people’s entry and exit from morning to evening.

Life in Islamabad was paralysed and most residents went on rooftops to see clouds of thick black smoke over Lal Masjid.

The fighting was so horrifying that bullets of heavy guns hit many multi-storeyed buildings located four to five kilometres away from Lal Masjid.

Heavy movement of troops continued around Lal Masjid throughout the day with machinegun-fitted armoured personnel carriers and trucks carrying armed troops.

Some of the parents of the children, who did not come out of the mosque or were shifted to other places without informing them, started weeping when they were told that the operation had almost concluded.

I feel sorry for all the poor parents who had little kids trapped in there. Can you imagine seeing a fight like that go on knowing that your kid was trapped in side?

Unfortunately, I think events like this are only going to become more common.

A writer on a Federation of American Scientist Strategic Security Blog thinks he has found a picture of a new Chinese sub on Google Earth. He speculates that it can carry a more advanced sea-launched ballistic missile then previously known Chinese subs.

If it was anyone else, I would probably dismiss the story out of hand. But the Federation of American Scientist usually err on the side of caution. If they say they think they have found a new sub, they probably have.

(h/t Defense Tech: who also have some observations of their own.)

I don’t know what it is about Spengler and Russia. But every time he gets on the subject he lets off a blistering little rant. Even some people who normally hate every word that comes out of Spengler’s mouth liked this one.