Latin America

By John Feffer | – (Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Far-right governments in the U.S., UK, and Brazil are laying bare their nihilistic roots and full destructive potential. Doesn’t idiocy ever take a vacation? As August wound down, the populist troika of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Jair Bolsonaro proved once again that the […]

Brazil

Climate Crisis: Panic as 74,000 Amazon Wildfires Plunge Sao Paulo into Darkness, Can be Seen from Space

Juan Cole

Rain forests aren’t supposed to be on fire

Brazil

We all Depend on the Amazon: Can the UN Stop Brazil’s Far-Right Bolsonaro from Completely Destroying It?

The Conversation

By Ash Murphy | – Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is at its highest rate in a decade, according to new satellite data. This comes after president Jair Bolsonaro has loosened environmental regulations, cut enforcement budgets, and supported further development in the region. Tarcisio Schnaider / shutterstock Trees absorb carbon dioxide naturally, and […]

Israel/ Palestine

Resisting the Wall Industry, from Palestine to Mexico

Yes! Magazine

By Chung-Wha Hong | – (Yes! Magazine) – The institutions responsible for harming people operate across borders far more than most people realize, yet many groups are joining forces to gain strength. Embed from Getty ImagesGraffiti art on Seperation wall in West Bank: BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK – NOVEMBER 1 : Graffiti art is seen on […]

Colonialism

Great Powers in Latin America have Tried to Make Walls before: It didn’t End Well

The Conversation

By Alberto P. Marti | – Despite the US administration’s renewed interest in Cuba, including new travel restrictions, few have paid attention to a little-known, but telling, historical episode: the island’s 19th-century military “Trocha”. This massive fortified line was a Spanish attempt to contain the Cuban independence rebellion by splitting the island in half – […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s incessant Talk of Mexico Tariffs is about White Nationalism, not Trade

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Laura Carlsen | – (FPIF) – There’s nothing “uncontrollable” about people applying for asylum. All the U.S. has to do is meet its obligations under international law. Donald Trump has once again torpedoed the U.S. relationship with Mexico — its third-largest trade partner, closest neighbor and, actually, an ally — by announcing his decision […]

Latin America

We are here because you were there: Refugees at the US-Mexican Border

H. Patricia Hynes

(Informed Comment) – Why would so many Guatemalans make the arduous journey to the US-Mexican border seeking refuge, knowing the hatred heaped on them by the Trump Administration? A short list of our long history of corporate exploitation and military aggression in that country might explain. In 1928 the American United Fruit Company (present-day Chiquita […]

Costa Rica

Is Costa Rica’s ambitious Decarbonization Program a Model for the US Green New Deal?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last week, Costa Rica’s president, Carlos Alvarado, announced one of the more ambitious plans for a transition of a country to Net Carbon Zero proposed anywhere in the world. While many countries have made strides toward reducing their carbon dioxide production from electricity generation, Costa Rica is now addressing transportation, […]

Latin America

Venezuela crisis: Trump threats to Maduro evoke bloody history of US intervention in Latin America

The Conversation

Rather than plan yet another coup d’etat, U.S. efforts in Venezuela should support the work of the Lima Group