Archive for the ‘mexico’ tag
Who Was Behind 9/11? #
World opinion diverges enough to shock Blake Houshnell. While the greatest number of people appear to believe that it was Al Qaeda, Israel and America also won big votes. Israel was most often blamed by Arabs, with Egypt showing 43%, Jordon 31, and Palestine a (mere) 19.
Curiously, Mexicans were the second most likely — at 30% of those polled — to blame the United States. Turkey (36%) was the first, Palestine third at 27, and Germany fourth at 23.
Latin American Leftists Militias #
In light of the Colombia situation, Slate’s Explainer offered a good bit of relevant history that I was somewhat surprised by:
With the exception of two militia movements that successfully seized and retained power—Fidel Castro’s 26th of July movement in Cuba and, 20 years later, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua—most of Latin America’s armed groups were defeated by their nations’ governments years ago. The FARC has endured because the cocaine trade in Colombia has become a huge source of revenue for the group—by some estimates, $250 million to $500 million a year, or at least half of its income. The other major leftist insurgent group that remains active in Latin America today is also Colombian: the National Liberation Army, or the ELN. Drug money helped this smaller group endure as well, though it may make up only one-tenth of ELN’s income; kidnapping and extortion provide the bulk.
The Good of NAFTA #
I don’t know enough about the situation to vouch for Eduardo Porter’s analysis of the free trade deal, but I do think it’s interesting to hear from someone other than knee-jerk protectionists.
Last week, tens of thousands of poor Mexican farmers marched down Mexico City’s fancy Paseo de la Reforma demanding that Nafta be reversed, their cows and donkeys occasionally taking a nibble from the grass along the median strip. Florida’s sugar barons sent their lobbyists to Capitol Hill.
This shared outrage underscores how egalitarian free trade is: undermining inefficient producers who survive behind protective barriers, be they fabulously wealthy sugar producers in Florida or campesinos on tiny plots in Michoacán.