If Putin were President of Mexico: the Reconquista (update)

The Background: Before Putin came to Power in Mexico
Due to the annexation of large portions of Mexican territory in the 19th century and generations of immigration, a significant portion of the population of US border areas was comprised of Mexican-Americans.  At the beginning of the 21st century, there were about six million Mexican-Americans living in the Los Angeles Area, alone.  The vast majority considered themselves “American”, but still treasured their Mexican heritage.  Many spoke both Spanish and English.  

The Information War
When Putin came to power in Mexico, he increased his efforts to reach Mexican-Americans with media programs that were in-line with his goals of regaining control of the Southwest.  He did this through two channels.  First, he had the editors of Mexican news programs, papers, and magazines, focus their attention on stories that showed how poorly the people and authorities of the USA treated Hispanic minorities.  Debates on immigration, economic reform, and foreign policy were always presented in a way that showed politicians and white Americans as being racist and anti-Latino.  Second, he sponsored Spanish language outlets in the USA that would do the same and supported the careers of American journalists, academics, bloggers and politicians who parroted his message.  Fed a diet of this anti-American propaganda, the hatred of Mexicans for America and Americans increased, as did that of Mexican-Americans towards their fellow Americans.

Spycraft: Playing Both Sides
In addition to fostering the careers of sympathetic opinion leaders, Putin developed networks of informants and agitators within the barrios, universities, Spanish parishes and churches, and hispanic gangs in the US border areas and major US metropolitan areas.  He also worked hard to infiltrate the more militant white-supremist groups to further radicalize them and encourage them towards terrorism and other direct action.  By controlling the radicals of both sides, Putin was able to ensure that the issue of Mexico, Mexican-Americans, and even the Reconquista would be foremost on everyone’s minds, and that their opinions would be increasingly firm and polarized. 

Military and Civil Service
Mexican-Americans were a vital part of the U.S. population and were naturally represented in the U.S. military and civil service, to include the Intelligence Community and all America’s many security organizations.  As the population became polarized, this polarization was reflected within these institutions.  Moreover, Mexican intelligence heavily infiltrated these services with agents and worked to build networks of informants, saboteurs, sleepers, and agitators.  Every civil service reform directed against this untenable situation become yet more grist for the information war, as did alleged “witch hunts” against Mexican spies. 

What if Putin – or a man like him – were in control of Mexico? It wouldn’t be good for the USA, but Americans would understand the situation in Ukraine much better.

Economics
For generations, hard-working Mexican-Americans took advantage of the openness of the US economy to grow their own businesses and rise to prominent positions within pre-existing ones.  When the US economy went into deep recession, Putin increased Mexican investment in US businesses through direct and indirect stock purchases and the creation of well-funded front companies.  He also organized Mexican-American labor to increase their control over factories, agriculture, and the service industry.

Religion
The Mexican Church had a long history of working with the Mexican regime.  It created a theology that supported the reconquista, denigrated Americans whose allegiance was not to the Mexican Church as “racist” and “heretical” (i.e. Protestant/evangelical/Pentecostal) and branded the largest Church in the United States as “schismatic.”  In the war, the Mexican Church supported Putin’s claim that the violence was the a religious war against Mexican believers in America.  

Making His Move
Putin hated the USA; it had humiliated his country and his people.  His soft strategy of infiltration, organization, and polarization was only the incipient stage of his overall plan.  Once the situation in American reached a boiling point (with his people controlling the source of the heat), he was ready to make his move.  He had long asserted the legitimacy of his claim to be the protector of Mexicans (and all Latinos) everywhere.  As threats to Mexican-Americans increased, they increasingly turned to him and the Mexican government for help.  He mobilized the militant wings of Mexican-American groups to occupy and protect areas with substantial hispanic populations, achieving defacto rule over large swaths of the American Southwest.  Mexican-American leaders and the people of Mexico demanded referenda on succession.  A full-blown insurgency erupted in the Southwest and the metropolitan areas of the USA.  Thousands were killed in the violence.  Suburbs, barrios, and downtown areas were burned to the ground.  Millions of Americans became refugees within their own country.  The economy collapsed and the rioting spread. 

In the end, the situation became so untenable that the repartitioning of the USA and Mexico became the only possible solution.  Putin had won, and it would take the USA generations to recover.  

SATIRE NOTE:  Putin is not the president of Mexico.  He is the president of Russia.  This essay is not really about Mexico and the United States, it is about Russia and Ukraine; every point I made has an equivalent in Russia’s imperial ambitions toward Ukraine.  The one thing that does not work in this comparison is that Russia’s economy and military dwarfs those of Ukraine.  Putin is a bully with the power to back up his ambition.