Blogging the democratic revolution
In a moment where the forces of dictatorship and tyranny seem to be pushing back against democracy, the common thread that has successfully aligned nations such as Iran, Russia, Venezuela, China, and Sudan have been the supply and demand of energy. While it is encouraging that the relationships forged seem to be more based on…
Deep sea oil rig, Gulf of Mexico Source: National Aeronautics & Space Administration Today, a quiet revolutionary time bomb was presented to Hugo Chavez. He has no idea what it is or what it means. But this gift means it’s all over for the brutal Venezuelan tyrant in the next few years. He won’t be…
How is this for a new idea? States that have more squiggly borders, on the whole, have more stability and cohesion. States that have harsh, arbitrary ruler-drawn line borders have a terrible tendency toward internecine warfare. Any student of African politics knows something about this, but perhaps for the first time, economists have tried to…
Just over three years ago, the United States and Chile signed a free trade agreement, opening up markets and allowing for greater prosperity in both countries. Now, Chile has signed a free trade agreement with China, the first between the Asian giant and a Latin American country, bilaterally opening up markets on both sides. It…
Venezuela has a peculiar economy. For many decades, it’s been known as Saudi Venezuela, in reference to its vast oil reserves, reserves so high, and so profitable, that it brings in huge dollar reserves. Those dollar reserves strengthen the currency to such an extent that it’s very difficult for exporters in other industries to get…
Note to readers – due to technical issues, I couldn’t post the image described in graf one but will do so later -Mora The image above shows a corpulent former Russian President Boris Yeltsin bedecked in toga and driving the ???????young farm girl??????? and ???????young factory fellow??????? from a famous Soviet monument like horses before…
As Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz es-Saud meets with Turkish leaders this week, the Sunni Arab world’s desperation should be kept in mind. Though economic concerns have been paramount in Turko-Arab relations for many years, and have grown since the election of the Turkish PM Erdogan, the Saudi King made a few remarks indicative of…
Today’s El Universal reports an increasingly serious situation with Venezuela’s oil supply, which is sure to have implications for its largest buyer, the U.S. Not only is the country running its oil industry into the ground with fires and accidents, something that’s never occurred until these Chavista years, a result of the firing and blacklisting…
I’m thinking, not much. For decades we have sent nearly $3 trillion dollars in aid around the world that was supposed to be used for development but instead has been funneled into the personal checking accounts of dictators. The GDP per capita of the continent has actually fallen in this time, and the countries that…
Democratic revolution is spreading across the world, in the greatest news and megatrend story of possibly the century. But for those of us who are already in democratic regimes, we sometimes wonder if there is much more we can do except watch and applaud. There is partisan political activism, of course, but that isn’t for…
While the Bush administration has lost its ability to assert itself internationally, the void in cohesive diplomatic power combined with fluctuating energy markets has created the opportunity for problematic relationships to develop outside of the Western spheres. China, a country high on energy demand and human rights abuse, and Russia, supplier of ever more tainted…
Joining its close ally, El Salvador, as well as Nicaragua and Honduras, Guatemala has today fully entered the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Two more countries are yet to ratify their entry, but Guatemala has gotten it together and today is a happy day. Trade, in and of itself, is why the U.S.’ economy has…
Terrific news! Peru’s Congress passed the Free Trade pact with the U.S., after months of contentious debate. They took one look (well, probably several) at the $11 trillion economy they have the opportunity to freely trade with and decided it was worth it. They passed the measure, despite fears that they wouldn’t. They ignored the…
Now that all the media glory for France’s masked shop-trashing thugs is over, something sad and quiet has happened in the wake of their violent “victory.” France’s best and brightest are leaving France. One by one, they are leaving their homeland, in search of work, and a better life. They are heading to the savage…
You might wonder about the mysteries of the stars or you might wonder about why Ecuador is so screwed up, and in either case you’d be touching on the immutable truths of the universe. While we’re on Ecuador, something interesting has happened. After confiscating $6 billion in investment from Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum, and scrapping…
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez calls himself a revolutionary, but his principal achievement has solely been to tear things down. In a technical sense, I suppose that means he’s making a difference but its not quite the difference most people would like to see. Chavez has wrecked the political infrastructure of the country, the civil institutions,…
Remember Dubai Ports International? The first-rate Emirates-based firm that, fair and square, tried to buy the operations of several U.S. ports? They were reviled as terrorists, a public outcry followed and then U.S. Congress stuck its nose into the whole business, baselessly condemning the company for no good reason until they were ignominously forced to…
Oh, to hear how some Americans talk! – the Chinese are a menace, and Latin America is full of different kinds of Mexicans all of whom want something from us before they go communist, same as the Chinese. In fact, probably joining the Chinese! That’s how the world looks to some on the right who…
In his most direct and brazen threat against the private sector yet, Hugo Chavez has warned Venezuelan businesses that unless they repatriate $10 billion in capital flight for his own disposal, he’ll take every last thing they have left in Venezuela. It’s a profoundly menacing statement, and not only because he mentions he’ll act in…
Here’s something exciting: In the days since his spectacular comeback election as president in Peru, Alan Garcia has made some softie statements about wanting to get along with Hugo Chavez and having no intention of leading a regional antichavez movement. However, Garcia’s first actions upon his election this weekend are telling quite a different story….
Why is the International Monetary Fund still around? Formed as a multilateral entity to address “balance of payments” crises, its real purpose has been obfuscated by the ending of the Bretton Woods treaty in the 1970s, which set the gold standard as the benchmark medium of exchange. Without the gold standard with which to measure…
Long overlooked on the world scene, China has been a great destabilizer of several regions of the world by its strategy in seeking to lock up supplies of oil. Sudan. Iran. Venezuela. Ecuador. China is a player in all of these areas and more. China’s efforts to lock up oil may not be as barbaric…
This post refers to events that occured in Algeria last weekend. The Algerian regime, though it has made some reforms, is not pleasant. It is corrupt, gluttonous, and repressive. Life is difficult for many in Algeria, especially for the forgotten ones of Boumerdes who were displaced by an earthquake in 2003 and still have not…
It’s happening in three countries of the Americas, simultaneously at this very moment: Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba. In at least two of the three cases, Venezuela and Bolivia, there’s a rapidly building case for civil war as productive land owners seek to defend their life’s work from the Mugabization of it all into smoking ruins….
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez addressing OPEC this morning Source: Associated Press, via Yahoo! OPEC is holding its quarterly meeting in Caracas right now and sure enough, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and his new best-friends-forever in the Iranian regime have sought hard to cut oil production to drive up prices and stick it to the Americans….