Drug Cartels Are Proxy Armies, So Use the Military

Austin Bay on Aug 13, 2025

Sometime after 2002, Communist China began subtly transforming organized Latin American drug trafficking syndicates. The gangs, the biggest with the hired guns, money and political connections to rate as cartels, continued their usual felony and smuggling operations but added an additional line of operation: hybrid warfare entities, shape-shifting cousins to Iranian proxy armies and classic guerrilla cadres.

The goal of this Chinese-induced transformation: waging plausibly deniable disintegrative and chemical and anarchic war against America on America's own soil.

Chemical war? Killer drugs are chemicals.

Disintegrative warfare. The term appears in chapter 13 of a book called "World System History: The Social Science of Long-Term Change." In a disintegrative war, a "unitary belligerent becomes increasingly fragmented by secessions."

Or, instead of classic territorial secession, social and economic fragmentation spawned and accelerated by corrupt local and state political machines, violent crime encouraged by George Soros-backed district attorneys who put murderers and rapists back on the street, and deadly drugs and more violent criminals crossing open borders

The date 2002 is ballpark. "Unrestricted Warfare," written by Chinese strategists Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, mulls weaponizing almost everything human beings do or want to do. But by 2011, China's strategic intent was evident and the cartel connectivity was emerging.

According to several sources, fentanyl's so-called "second wave" hit the U.S. in 2007 -- fentanyl cut with heroin. In 2013, overdoses from synthetic opioids like fentanyl increased dramatically.

Communist China was and remains the world's primary source of fentanyl. Beijing either ships it directly to the U.S. or smuggles it via Mexico. It's a two for one -- making money while destroying America.

In 2017, the National Interest called China's drug strategy vis-a-vis the U.S. the "Reverse Opium War." From 1839-1842, China's Qing dynasty went to war with Britain to stop the Brits from selling opium in China. The drug threatened Chinese social cohesion. China became a failed state.

Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, heavens, Washington, D.C. Flailing U.S. cities are the battlegrounds in China's drug war. Illegal drug use and violent crime kill Americans and destroy social cohesion.

President Donald Trump, however, has formulated policies and operations to address the disintegrative crises.

Washington is a mess -- and Trump has a test case. He has the legal authority to secure D.C. So he's ordered operations. Federal and local law enforcement, backed by a federalized National Guard, will cut D.C.'s murder rate -- one small step toward reintegration. Federal prosecutors will prosecute the lawbreakers.

As for adding the military the so-called civil "drug war"? Military capabilities have played secondary but significant roles in the anti-drug war since President Richard Nixon officially declared a "War on Drugs" in 1971. The Pentagon has provided the DEA, FBI and other civilian law enforcement with electronic intercept, intelligence and logistics.

Defending against Chinese disintegrative warfare absolutely requires military assets and military personnel.

Categorizing drug cartels as terrorist organizations doesn't go far enough. In 2025, they are acting as proxy armies supported by a foreign adversary.

Yes, describing a cartel murder spree as terror blurs the distinction between cartel crime and political violence with overt political objectives. The terrorist wants a failed state so he can take political control. The drug lord wants a weak and flailing state so he can enjoy wealth and power without consequence.

But in North America 2025, it's a distinction without a strategic difference. Both forward China's strategic goals. Beijing benefits both ways, whether the failed state is Mexico or, perhaps, California?

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To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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