Our southern flank
Our blindness is staggering. We look half way around the world for scoundrels, villains, and tyrants, yet we chose to ignore the tyrants close at hand.
In 1998, Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela. The next year I moved there to work on a South Korean construction project. Chavez was in his glory in those days, for he was adored by most. The mob was his base, and his words stirred their passion for change. Chavez reminded me of others I had read about before.
In December 1999, after 2 days of torrential rain, the hillsides along the northern coastline gave way; dwellings and hamlets were swept away, whole villages were buried, by mudslides.
Days passed before The Washington Post and The New York Times reported this disaster on their online edition. If memory serves, it was about 4 days before the disaster was mentioned by either. Prior to the "story" breaking, each morning before going to work, I'd fire off an email asking their editors why this "news" wasn't being reported.
Americans are blind to what is happening in South America. Case-in-point: a simple Google search of "venezuela flooding" (English only) on the papers' domain, we find 36 hits at the Post and 12 hits at the NY Times -- some of the hits are bogus. An estimated 50,000 people died in that disaster. Americans are like Mr. Sam Magoo jaywalking through world affairs led by a dumb mute.
Chavez bought 100,000 AK-47's assualt rifles. Chavez is buying 15 Russian-built military helicopters. Chavez is buying 24 Russian Sukhoi S-30 military aircraft. Chavez tells the world he is preparing for an "invasion" by American forces. And Chavez is marching Venezuela down a road that has been traveled before, for as he proclaims, to enthusiastic Londoners, "socialism is the way forward."
Hayek looked backward to pre-war Germany and told his countrymen, at a time they were at war with Germany, that they would become like their enemy. As Hayek reasoned, the policies and institutions they put in place to fight that war would exorably carry them down The Road to Serfdom.
Venezuela has a population of 25.7 million people, and Chavez plans to have "one million well-equipped and well-armed men and women." The BBC tells us, our statesmen have concerns about how this will effect "regional stability."
Professor AJP Taylor wrote about Europe's passion for "balance of power" politics and how disastrous that policy was, yet our statesmen are playing the same game, while a quiet invasion of migrant workers moves into our country. Edward Gibbon told us, Goths were fleeing from the westward march of the Huns, so Rome allowed them to move into their terrority; later, the Goths took up arms and helped defeat Rome.
In 1998, Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela. The next year I moved there to work on a South Korean construction project. Chavez was in his glory in those days, for he was adored by most. The mob was his base, and his words stirred their passion for change. Chavez reminded me of others I had read about before.
In December 1999, after 2 days of torrential rain, the hillsides along the northern coastline gave way; dwellings and hamlets were swept away, whole villages were buried, by mudslides.
Days passed before The Washington Post and The New York Times reported this disaster on their online edition. If memory serves, it was about 4 days before the disaster was mentioned by either. Prior to the "story" breaking, each morning before going to work, I'd fire off an email asking their editors why this "news" wasn't being reported.
Americans are blind to what is happening in South America. Case-in-point: a simple Google search of "venezuela flooding" (English only) on the papers' domain, we find 36 hits at the Post and 12 hits at the NY Times -- some of the hits are bogus. An estimated 50,000 people died in that disaster. Americans are like Mr. Sam Magoo jaywalking through world affairs led by a dumb mute.
Chavez bought 100,000 AK-47's assualt rifles. Chavez is buying 15 Russian-built military helicopters. Chavez is buying 24 Russian Sukhoi S-30 military aircraft. Chavez tells the world he is preparing for an "invasion" by American forces. And Chavez is marching Venezuela down a road that has been traveled before, for as he proclaims, to enthusiastic Londoners, "socialism is the way forward."
Hayek looked backward to pre-war Germany and told his countrymen, at a time they were at war with Germany, that they would become like their enemy. As Hayek reasoned, the policies and institutions they put in place to fight that war would exorably carry them down The Road to Serfdom.
Venezuela has a population of 25.7 million people, and Chavez plans to have "one million well-equipped and well-armed men and women." The BBC tells us, our statesmen have concerns about how this will effect "regional stability."
Professor AJP Taylor wrote about Europe's passion for "balance of power" politics and how disastrous that policy was, yet our statesmen are playing the same game, while a quiet invasion of migrant workers moves into our country. Edward Gibbon told us, Goths were fleeing from the westward march of the Huns, so Rome allowed them to move into their terrority; later, the Goths took up arms and helped defeat Rome.
posted by Tony Harrison at 3:22 AM
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