In response to a recent question about the American government’s actions (or lack thereof) regarding drug-related violence in Mexico, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered the administration’s boldest statement yet on the question of military intervention. Mexico, she said, “is looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago.” Likening Mexican drug violence to a FARC-like “insurgency,” she declared that, “[I]t’s going to take a combination of improved institutional capacity and better law enforcement and, where appropriate, military support for that law enforcement…to prevent this from spreading and beat it back.” Clinton maintained that Plan Colombia “worked” and added, “We need to figure out what are the equivalents for Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.”
Dealing With Iran
It seems to be an open-and-shut case. Nuclear weapons are bad. It’s best for the world if no more countries acquire nuclear weapons. Iran is currently engaged in uranium enrichment that could eventually produce a nuclear weapon. It built a secret facility to advance this program and might now be building another one. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government makes all sorts of threatening statements about Israel, the United States, the West. We should therefore do everything possible to prevent Iran from going nuclear.
Japan’s Three Elections
Prime Minister Kan is on board with the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, but the island’s residents and politicians are considerably less sanguine about it.
Americans Don’t Really Believe There Is Such a Thing as a Moderate Muslim
Media’s failure to cover “boring” moderate Muslims leads Americans to believe that most Muslims hate the United States.
The Worst of Both Worlds: The “Shimano Problem” Underscores Clash of Cultures When Buddhism Spread to West
By sleeping with their students, Eastern and Western Buddhist teachers have trashed not only young souls but their own traditions.
‘Smart Sanctions’ on Iran are Dumb
In the face of the rising hysteria regarding Iran’s development of its nuclear power facilities, there is talk of preemptive military strikes against Iran. Meanwhile, sanctions on Iran — by both the UN Security Council and the United States — have become increasingly harsh. And to the extent they are successful, these sanctions will harm the wrong people and have little impact on the political leadership.
It’s “Groundhog Day” All Over Again in Pyongyang
Even sending Bill Murray to negotiate with North Korea is preferable to Obama’s Bush-like hard line, complete with sanctions.
Et Tu, Buddha? Rationalizing Violence in Buddhism
Despite its pacifistic reputation in the West, Buddhism can be as violent as any religion.
Why Don’t Iraqis and Afghans Embrace Democracy?
There are other reasons besides the bad example we set why states we occupy fail to jump through the U.S. democracy hoop.
War Talk, Peace Talk
It is difficult to avoid bumping into Jeffrey Goldberg these days. The Atlantic commentator’s prediction that there is a good chance Israel will strike Iran by next July to destroy its alleged nuclear weapons program has got everyone talking, and writing, and then talking some more.
