SOA Watch
Lisa Sullivan
WikiLeaks, the whistle-blower website that has published thousands of classified diplomatic cables, has posted two cables from the U.S. embassy in Costa Rica, that offer insight into the U.S. pressure tactics to keep the SOA/ WHINSEC in business.
Read the cables here:
Cable 1: http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/11/07SANJOSE1999.html
Cable 2: http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/12/07SANJOSE2073.html
New York Times
Cynical Non-Enforcers
Editorial
March 11, 2011
Gridlock is the name of the game at the Federal Election Commission, where all three Republican members routinely block any punishment of even the most blatant violators.
In one recent case, the commission’s professional investigators properly concluded that campaign laws were violated by Kansas Republicans who tapped $100,000 in banned soft money to pay for party members’ travel expenses to the 2008 presidential convention. In another, the staff recommended action against Georgia Democrats who improperly paid almost $500,000 in party salaries from an equally forbidden soft money account.
In the past, these cases would have drawn penalties. And now? Not even a slap on the wrist.
For decades, the US was able to dominate Latin America with trade deals. Now China offers a new model of development
Kevin Gallagher
guardian.co.uk
Monday 7 March 2011 16:38 GMT
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos sent shockwaves through Washington when he told the Financial Times that his nation is holding negotiations with China to build a multibillion dollar “dry canal” that would compete with the Panama Canal. After all, Santos said, China is “the new motor of the world economy”.
This deal is charged with politics. Colombia is trying to get the US to pass a long-stalled trade deal. And let us not forget that the original canal was to be the result of an agreement between the US and Colombia. When the Colombians didn’t like the deal the US had on offer and threatened to squelch it, Washington supported Panamanian separatist movements and got itself a new country to build a canal with.
But that’s all water under the isthmus. Or so we thought.
By Ahmet Dogan
FEB 24, 2011
My son, Furkan, was killed in May by the Israeli military while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid by sea to the Gaza Strip. As he was just 18, he asked his mother and me for our permission to participate. Our decision will be with us for the rest of our lives.
We could not crush his humanitarian impulse and say no to him. Parents the world over wrestle with questions of when to let their children pursue their dreams, and most reluctantly let go as their children enter early adulthood. We did the same and took parental satisfaction in his concern for others. But never did I imagine that the Israeli military would storm his ship, killing Furkan and eight others, and then blame our son and his co-passengers for their own deaths.
It is my responsibility to speak for my son and voice his concern for Palestinians in Gaza. It is my responsibility to stand up to an Israeli propaganda effort that has attempted to paint our beautiful child as a fanatic and not the caring young man we knew him to be.
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