Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
North America

War and DIplomacy – Part II: A Way Out of Afghanistan

by | Sep 17, 2010

Afghanistan is a crossroads of civilizations and an almost bewilderingly complicated place.

Over the past few centuries, however, it has more often than not been treated as a pawn in the “great game”. The country has also developed a reputation as the “graveyard of empires”, not least because outsiders’ forces have never succeeded in pacifying the place. Internal stability, such as it has ever existed, has been predicated typically upon de-centralized, and frequently shifting political arrangements between a weak centre and roiling periphery.

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Don’t Celebrate Mexico’s Independence…Yet

Don’t Celebrate Mexico’s Independence…Yet

by | Sep 15, 2010

Contrary to common belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s national holiday. That date is September 16, which this year marks the bicentennial of the independence of Mexico. In 1810 Mexico started its independence struggle against Spain, its formal colonial ruler. One hundred years after that, in 1910, Mexico rose up to free itself from three decades of dictatorship under Porfirio Díaz and leave behind the unjust redistribution of wealth, the concentration of large extensions of land (latifundios) in a few hands, the exploitation of workers by capitalist industrialists, corruption, the denial of democracy in elections, and other historic problems.

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60-Second Expert: Plan Colombia in Mexico?

by | Sep 15, 2010

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.”

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