I'm worried about 'this kind of talk':
Felipe Calderón has called on the new US administration to contribute potentially tens of billons of dollars in additional funds to help Mexico fight its war on drugs.
.....
Mr Calderón, who met Mrs Clinton on Wednesday, welcomed what he described as "a change, not only in the discourse, but also in the attitude of the American government", towards Mexico's war on drugs.
Doesn't Felipe Calderón - and the FT, for that matter - understand that you can't make war on a substance? Think about it - the war on chocolate, the war on cream cheese. Talking about a war on drugs also legitimizes drugs, suggests that drugs are a unity when in fact they are quite various, elevates those who purvey drugs from criminals into heroes, implies the use of purely military means in the... umm... contingency operation against drugs, and suggests that the rule of law can be suspended in the course of that operation. It's a terrible phrase. And just don't get me started on the war on apricot jam.