Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Everything you ever wanted to know about Colombia

I just came across a blog, run by Adam Isacson at the Center for International Policy, called Plan Colombia and Beyond. Although he seems to stray less "beyond" his subject matter than does the one you're reading, it's a great resource for understanding U.S. policy toward Colombia. The posts are often quite long and thorough, and Isacson is very good about responding to reader's queries.

He also coordinates CIP's demilitarization program, which, among other things, has published the very useful Just the Facts 2001-2002: A Quick Tour of U.S. Defense and Security Relations With Latin America and the Caribbean.

At Adam's personal website, he also has about twenty music reviews -- but there's obviously a generation (or geographic) gap here, because I've never heard of a single one of them.

6 comments:

M. Simon said...

I am surprised at a blog that claims to take a geat interest in American relations with Latin America that there is no mention of the #1 issue ruining our relations with the Latins.

Drug prohibition.

Snd then when it comes to the economic front DeSoto is also conspicuous by his absence.

I'm going to do some searches of your site to see if I've missed something.

M. Simon said...

No DeSoto.

So here is a link to get you started.

Property.and here are a few drug war links (not specific to Latin America) to get you started:


Addiction or Self Medication?HeroinGenetic DiscriminationCannabinoids - the Key to many Pains?Big Mac - heroin attackCapitalism, Pain and the War on DrugsPTSD Pot Alcohol & Substance Abuse

David said...

Thanks for those links. I should note that I'm neither publicly nor privately funded, thus I pick and choose what I decide to comment upon. I believe that's sort of the reason it's a "personal" blog.

M. Simon said...

Here are the links better formatted:


Addiction or Self Medication?*
*
Heroin*
*
Genetic Discrimination*
*
Cannabinoids - the Key to many Pains?*
*
Big Mac - heroin attack*
*
Capitalism, Pain and the War on Drugs*
*
PTSD Pot Alcohol & Substance Abuse*

M. Simon said...

There is a rhino in your living room (the Drug War).

BTW DeSoto shows why communist regimes are no better than the oligarchs when it comes to land reform.

The oligarchs don't want it and the communists want it as a collective.

Bush gets it. Hence his "ownership society" initiatives. If you want to understand what that is about get down with DeSoto - a Peruvian BTW.

Anonymous said...

David,

Thanks for the link, and for your excellent blog as well. (Had I known before that it existed, I would have chosen a different name. Consider it a tribute.)

As for Hernando de Soto, here's another view of the Peruvian sage in last week's Slate. "On the ground, it turns out that de Soto's ideas are doing very little to solve the actual problems of poor people."

- Adam Isacson