The news broke in the United States during the lazy summer days of late August: 200 US Marines were stationed in Guatemala as part of the war on drugs. The deployment of US combat troops to Guatemala was part of Operation Martillo, a military plan meant to disrupt cocainetrafficking routes.
There is enough evidence that the US Africa Command has increased resource exploitation and imperial expansion, instigated more violence, intensified regional conflicts and undermined the authority of regional organizations and the African Union.
Source: Pro Publica
Friday’s deadly rampage [3] at a Connecticut elementary school marked the 13th mass shooting in the United States this year [4]. Among the 11 deadliest shootings in U.S. history, more than half took place in the last five years [5]. During the same period, states have often relaxed their gun laws, making it easier for individuals to obtain guns, extending the places where concealed guns are permitted, or giving gun owners more robust protections.
We take a closer look at some of the more striking measures:
Source: Al Jazeera
President Obama’s crass comments about newly-elected Chavez only serve to further alienate himself from Latin America.
President Obama went too far in throwing gratuitous insults at President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela on Friday, in an interview in Miami. By doing so, he not only offended the majority of Venezuelans, who voted to re-elect their president on October 7, but even many who did not. Chavez is fighting for his life, recovering from a difficult cancer operation; in Latin America, as in most of the world, this wholly unnecessary vilification of Chavez by Obama is a breach not only of diplomatic protocol but also of ordinary standards of civility.
Source: TomDispatch.com
[This essay will appear in “Intoxication,” the Winter 2012 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly. This slightly adapted version is posted at TomDispatch.com with the kind permission of that magazine.]
The question that tempts mankind to the use of substances controlled and uncontrolled is next of kin to Hamlet’s: to be, or not to be, someone or somewhere else. Escape from a grievous circumstance or the shambles of an unwanted self, the hope of finding at a higher altitude a new beginning or a better deal. Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars; give me leave to drown my sorrow in a quart of gin; wine, dear boy, and truth.
Peace talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government began last month with a press conference marked by fiery rhetoric from the Marxist guerrillas which was met by blunt responses from the government. The conference was a timely reminder of the scale of the challenge ahead.
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