When small children want something to go away, they close their eyes. Poof! The monster disappears. The spoonful of spinach vanishes. The spilled milk evaporates. Except that they don’t. U.S policymakers indulge in a similar variety of child’s play called collapsism....
Without a doubt, the 68th UN General Assembly will be remembered as a watershed. Nations reached an agreement on control of chemical weapons that could avoid a global war in Syria. The volatile stalemate on the Iran nuclear program came a step closer to diplomacy....
The U.S. government stands alone among major world governments in refusing to recognize the results of the recent Venezuelan presidential election. The petulant position of the Obama administration harms U.S. relations across the entire hemisphere and feeds a scenario of violence in that Caribbean country.
Chavez reminded the Arab public of a bygone era when a defiant Arab world led by Nasser resisted the encroachments of the West.
You could almost hear the sigh of relief coming out of Washington at the news of Hugo Chavez’s death.
Comparing Hugo Chavez’s accomplishments to his U.S. obits was like taking a trip through Alice’s looking glass. Virtually none of the information about poverty and illiteracy was included, and when it was grudgingly admitted that he did have programs for the poor, it was “balanced” with claims of soaring debts, widespread shortages, rampant crime, economic chaos, and “authoritarianism.”
Hugo Chavez put an end to the reign of neoliberal IMF policies that had impoverished the masses of Latin America and inaugurated a new order of resource nationalism and income redistribution that favored the poor and the marginalized.
I had the privilege of traveling to Venezuela and witnessing the country’s presidential Oct. 7 elections and the South American country’s extraordinarily active and engaged citizenry. An impressive 81 percent of the electorate participated in a transparent and secure electoral process that former president Jimmy Carter recently referred to as the best in the world.
Foreign Policy magazine publishes fear-mongering accusations that Venezuela is becoming a narco-state.
In spite of Venezuela’s President Chavez’s illness, the lack of an obvious successor, along with his support among the poor, make him a formidable opponent in 2012.