Since I spent the greater part of last week down with a very heavy cold, I didn’t have much opportunity to do the research for a good Carnival. Instead, today I have a few articles, and a great podcast.
First, the podcast:
At 11AM Eastern, blog reader and commenter Jose Angel will be calling from Mexico, and will talk about what we need to know about Mexico.
A great must-read on Latin American history:
Mary O’Grady writes about Manuel Ayau: Champion of Liberty
He opened Latin America’s eyes to the true source of prosperity.
The article is by subscription only, but Ayau, founder of the prestigious Francisco Marroquín University (UFM), dedicated his life to learning, promoting free thought, “to study and disseminate the ethical, economic and legal principles of a free society.” At the UFM,
“All students regardless of discipline are taught the causes and origins of the wealth of nations.”
We need that in each and every college and university here in the USA.
Don’t miss also John Bolton’s article on The Chavez Threat
On the world stage, Chavez’s behavior is increasingly ominous. As Fidel Castro has aged and Cuba’srelations with Russia have faded, Chavez has stepped forward. He has engaged in extensive military cooperation with Moscow, including major acquisitions of conventional weapons, from infantry rifles to sophisticated, high-end weapons well beyond any conceivably legitimate requirements of Venezuela’s military. Chavez’s purchases of advanced-model Kalashnikov assault rifles, some Venezuelan businessmen and former diplomats suggest, are meant to arm campesino “militias” that will rally to him if Venezuela’s military ever threatens his regime, or the weapons may be destined for revolutionary or terrorist groups. In either case, the consequences would be profoundly negative.
Beyond enhancing his own swaggering reputation, Chavez’s growing closeness with Russia and Iranon nuclear matters should be our greatest concern. For decades, after military governments fell in Brazil and Argentina, Latin America prided itself on avoiding the dangers of nuclear proliferation. The 1967 Treaty of Tlatelolco symbolized this perceived immunity, but the region’s nuclear-free status is today gravely threatened.
Now, Venezuela is openly helping Iran evade international sanctions imposed because of Tehran’snuclear weapons program. Along with the refined petroleum products it supplies Tehran, Chavez allows Iranian banks and other sanctioned enterprises to use Caracas as a base for conducting business internationally and, reportedly, to facilitate Hezbollah’s activity in the hemisphere.
Even more alarming, Venezuela claims Iran is helping develop its uranium reserves, reportedly among the largest in the world. Indeed, the formal agreement between them signed two years ago for cooperation in the nuclear field could easily result in a uranium-for-nuclear-knowhow trade. In addition, Chavez has a deal with Russia to build a reactor in Venezuela. All of which may signal a dangerous clandestine nuclear weapons effort, perhaps as a surrogate for Iran, as has been true elsewhere, such as in Syria.
Here are a few articles and posts on our hemisphere:
ARGENTINA & CHILE
Your Argentine Meat Team is in Big Trouble …Beef in Argentina Today
Argentina and Chile have frictions diplomats for an extradition request and Bilateral meeting scheduled
Piñera to discuss extradition case with CFK
BERMUDA
Igor Passes Near Bermuda as Category 1 Hurricane
BRAZIL
Storm clouds ahead
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic or Bust
PARAGUAY
El cáncer de Fernando Lugo agudiza la crisis política en Paraguay
VENEZUELA
Former Los Alamos scientist indicted on nuclear charges
A former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear scientist and his wife were indicted on charges of trying to provide nuclear secrets to Venezuela, but U.S. officials stressed the Venezuelan government knew nothing about the plans.
The officials said they have no information from the undercover operation that Hugo Chavez’s government has any plans to try to build a nuclear weapon.
The Venezuela News and Views final 2010 vote prediction (well, maybe)
At the Chiguirre Bipolar, “Estar Cuar”, la batalla galáctica del 26-S (in Spanish) 26-S refers to the upcoming elections on September 26.
Installment 1:
Venezuela’s economy
Disappearing dollars
An oil producer’s strange foreign-exchange squeeze
