Jon Donnison, "Mexico says US fuels gun crime," BBC, April 12, 2009.

[This comes as a surprise to no one but the gun lobby. Assault rifles, for those who are not especially interested, do not include those .50 cal. sniper rifles the Canadian Forces are so proud of. The AK-47 was one of the first assault rifles and remains probably the most copied; the M-16 is another popular number featured in the photo below. Nice, light, plastic, available in designer colours. Get one for every outfit. Is this one of the benefits of NAFTA? -jlt]

Credit: Armory Airbrush Website

Mexico's ambassador to the US has urged America to stop the flow of guns and cash that pass into his country, fuelling the country's drug wars.

Arturo Sarukhan said US money and weapons provided the drug cartels with the means to "corrupt, bribe and kill".

President Barack Obama is due to visit Mexico later this week.

More than 6,000 people died last year in Mexico in drug-related violence and Mexico believes 90% of the weapons used by drug cartels come from the US.

US gun lobby groups dispute the figure.

"There is a direct correlation between the expiration of the assault weapons ban and our seizures of assault weapons." Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan

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Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani,"Big Powers Moving In on Gaza," IPS, April 3, 2009.

CAIRO, Apr 3 (IPS) - Nine NATO member states agreed last month to utilise naval, intelligence and diplomatic resources to combat the alleged flow of arms into the Gaza Strip. Some Egyptian commentators see the move as a surreptitious means of cementing foreign control over the region.

"These new protocols aren't really about halting arms smuggling," Tarek Fahmi, political science professor at Cairo University and head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS. "Rather, they aim to establish foreign control over the region's strategic border crossings and maritime ports."

On Mar. 13, a major conference was held in London aimed at "coordinating efforts" to stop alleged arms smuggling - by land or sea - into the Gaza Strip, governed by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas. Participants at the conference included high-level representatives from nine member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), including the U.S., Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Norway.

A third, follow-up meeting is expected to be held in Canada in April to "work out details" of the pact, according to diplomats close to the talks.

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