Paul Ryan and Latin America
Via Jonathan Schwarz: Elliott Abrams is a foreign policy adviser to Paul Ryan.
The few people who pay attention to U.S. foreign policy usually remember Elliot Abrams for pleading guilty to lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra scandal, or for helping to cover up the El Mozote massacre of at least 800 unarmed peasants by the Salvadoran government in 1981. (He collaborated on this with Thomas Enders.)
Vice presidential candidates can be fun to discuss as long as we remember that they matter very little. However, this comes on top of Mitt Romney having very far right advisers on Latin America, such as Ray Walser. With Romney, as with George W. Bush, we would very likely see a push--though, to be fair, also pushback, a la Thomas Shannon--by Cold Warriors to become influential once again, with the goal of returning U.S. policy largely to a 1980s mindset. If Romney is elected, look for some appointment battles.
1 comments:
Riddle : What have these three guys in Common ?? : Richard Nixon, Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, Ernesto Samper, President of Colombia 1994-1998 - Corruption in Politics, Breaking the Law, Money from Mafia
Corrupt Politicians, some of them very prominent Businessmen of "non-Sanctum" activities :
Richard Nixon was very poor and suffered a lot in Youth, but the other two guys were born with silver spoons and were very prominent in Business, before going into politics.
Bewared of these guys that are born very rich and wealthy, that have an easy life in Business as scions of Rich Families, that consider themselves above Morality and rules for Common Men.
You will find many more corrupt presidents in other countries that were elected for being "Very Successful Businessmen". Please inform me and tell me the story, and forgive my ignorance.
Source :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Collor_de_Mello
Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his trial of impeachment by the Brazilian Senate
After his resignation from the presidency, the impeachment trial, on charges of corruption, continued, and Collor was found guilty by the Senate and sentenced to disqualification from holding elected office for eight years (1992–2000).
Source :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Samper
Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 1950) is a Colombian politician. He served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998, representing the Liberal Party. He was involved in the 8000 process scandal, which takes its name from the folio number assigned to it by the chief prosecutor's office. The prosecutor charged that money from the Cali Cartel was funneled into Samper's presidential campaign to gain his success in what would have been a very close race after he failed to win by a majority during the first round (Colombia has 2 rounds of elections, unless the first round yields a majority winner).
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With the campaign financials running in the red, the campaign managers were faced with the need to rally support for an additional three weeks against a strong, well-funded opponent. In what can be described as a desperate attempt to win at all cost, the campaign turned to the Cali cartel, receiving cash donations in excess of $6 million US dollars. These donations were delivered in large colourful paper bags normally used for birthday gifts.
After three weeks of arduous campaigning, Ernesto Samper was elected president, once again by a narrow 2% margin.
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Moral of these Stories :
Beware of Very Rich Businessmen in Politics, specially when there is suspicion of illegal activities or links with Very Bad Guys of "You Know What".
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