Won’t Get Fooled Again
Latin America and the Rise of Chinese Trade
On the Newsstand:Latin America
Understanding Art and Border Smudging
Raúl Cárdenas Osuna, Torolab, and the art of community intervention in Mexico
Not our backyard but still our neighbors
With the gunshots subsiding and the police force under government censure for its attempted overthrow of Ecuador’s democratic president Rafael Correa, order appears to have been reestablished as quickly as it was placed under seige in Quito. Yet, the attempted coup d’état that left President Correa a hostage in a hospital while the Quito police force revolted reveals some of ... Read More
Hypocritical Mediocrity
Why did Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad get a student visa and U.S. citizenship? Marty Peretz argued yesterday that he shouldn’t have because he was mediocre. But I don’t think that Peretz’ reasoning is much better than mediocre itself. The evidence of Shahzad’s mediocrity begins with a Spring 1998 transcript which, quoting the New York Times, “showed that he earned ... Read More
An Embarrassment to Harvard Conservatives
In case you aren’t sick of the subject, I have written a full-length take-down of the recent Harvard Salient article on Ethnic Studies. It originally appeared in today’s Harvard Independent. Check out my HPR blog post from last week if you want the pithier, more sarcastic version. An Embarrassment to Harvard Conservatives Harvard conservatives, those Aristotle-citing, modernity-bemoaning, Western canon-promoting Young ... Read More
The Most Salienty Salient Article Ever
In the new Harvard Salient, Patrick T. Brennan has achieved the Platonic ideal of a Salient article: equal measures of pure arrogance, submerged racism, and exclusive affection for all things ancient. The only way to appreciate this article is to quote some of the choicest sections. For example: Americans of color have undoubtedly done some things of note, but their ... Read More
An Enlightened Approach to Illegal Immigration
Why the politics of immigration must be reconciled with reality
Reassessing Plan Colombia
Turning from the coca fields to the cocaine market While anti-drug policy rarely makes headlines in American politics today, the issue dominates politics in Colombia. The South American country is a hotbed for cultivation of the coca plant, the key ingredient in cocaine production. As of 2007, the Office of National Drug Policy reported that 167,000 hectares of the country’s ... Read More
Colombia’s War on Terror
Have the FARC finally met their match? A recent string of defeats for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America’s oldest, largest, and most dangerous rebel group, signals perhaps the best chance Colombia has had for peace in 44 years of armed struggle. During much of the 1990s, a drug-fueled civil war between left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitaries, and ... Read More
Closer, but No Cigar
Anticipating a new era of engagement with Cuba When President Obama signed the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill into law on March 11, he took a small step towards what many hope will be a new era in U.S.-Cuban relations. Embedded in the bill were three clauses that loosened sanctions on family travel and remittances, a largely humanitarian adjustment that nonetheless ... Read More
