Maybe it's just me, but this story should be a screaming front page headline in every newspaper in the country that isn't so broke that it has had to already stop putting out a print version on Thursdays,

Mexico is one of two countries that "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse," according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.

The command's "Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)" report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. "In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.

"The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."

Mexico, a nation of a hundred million people on our Southern border that is one of our biggest oil suppliers and our 2nd largest destination for exports, could suddenly collapse in an orgy of violence.

That could cause a major disruption in our oil supply, send tens of millions of Mexicans flooding illegally over the border, and it's even possible that it might get so bad -- God forbid -- we'd have to send troops into that country to help calm things down.

At a minimum, we should be securing a backup supply of oil, building that wall as fast as possible to keep a potential flood of humanity from pouring across the border illegally, and preparing contingency plans for a collapse.

PS: Having Pakistan blow apart would be a major disaster as well, but that assessment is at least a little less of a surprise.