Cannot help wondering whether any other US President of the latest 100 years, even the hapless Jimmy Carter, would have allowed Mexico to get away with its mistreatment of the US Marine veteran, Andrew Tahmooressi, who now sits and suffers in a Mexican jail – where he has been confined for nearly two months and where he might remain for additional months or years, while Mexico lectures America about the complexities and nuances of the Mexican legal system.  Yes, the esteemed Mexican legal system, the one that can take years to investigate and process even the simplest of cases, such as this one, but that is not even close to being up to the task of dealing with the rampant violence, lawlessness, and corruption in Mexico that make its legal pretensions in this case so ludicrous. 

Yes, Mexico thinks it has a grievance with the US for our ignoring the rulings of the “International Court of Justice” in administering the death penalty to Mexican nationals who commit capital crimes in the US (the quotes denote my view of the legitimacy of the ICJ), and for playing fast and loose – or Fast and Furious – with money-laundering stings and gun-running schemes at the expense of Mexican citizens.  And yes, I have read the lectures about how serious a crime this is, how complicated the Mexican laws and procedures are, how this is not a simple case, yadda yadda yadda. 

Nonsense.  Sgt. Tahmooressi would have been released in a week had this occurred during the term of any previous US administration.  There is only one reason why Sgt. Tahmooressi, PTSD diagnosis and all, is still being restrained and abused in a Mexican jail, and everyone knows it:  Mexico is doing this because it can.  The whole world has taken the measure of President Obama and of both of his hapless Secretaries of State, and Mexico’s leaders, like Russian President Putin and virtually every other world leader, now know that, when it comes to dealing with the US, they can get away with anything.  “No man left behind?” – consider Benghazi.  International respect? – consider Ukraine, consider the South China Sea, consider the various outcomes of the Arab Spring, consider what is now happening in Iraq and Afghanistan as a result of Mr. Obama’s decision to forfeit our hard-won gains.  The “war on drugs?” – consider Colombia, or for that matter, consider Mexico and the rest of Latin America.  Iran? – ask our few remaining friends in the Middle East and our lone ally in the area, Israel.  And if you think this is the last time America is going to be internationally defied while Mr. Obama is in office, I have an Aztec pyramid I want to sell you.