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March 19, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: The Divine is in the details
JWisdom.com Stewards of sacrifice with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama is waging war on Israel
March 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Israel's New Enemy: America?
JWisdom.com Love me not? with Rabbi David Aaron (5 minutes)
Jonathan Rosenblum: Washington Throws a Tantrum
March 17, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Orwell, Santayana, and Me
Jonathan Tobin: How Many Lives Is Biden's Pride Worth?
March 16, 2010
Steven Emerson: Combating Lawfare
JWisdom.com How to perform a miracle with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair (4 minutes)
Anne Bayefsky: Behind Obama's Dangerous Overreaction on Israel
March 15, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Father's obligations toward minor children
JWisdom.com Moody, Grumpy, Irritable Children with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Judith Graham: Get the whole picture before a CT
March 12, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: You CAN have Heaven on Earth
JWisdom.com Manufacturing mediums with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: The march of the Red-Green brigades
March 11, 2010
Glenn Garvin: Conspiracy theories, why people believe them and how they spread
JWisdom.com For Yourself, Not By Yourself with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer : Turn leftovers into tasty New England hash
Paul Richter: Biden promises 'viable Palestine' is in the offing
March 10, 2010
Paul Greenberg: Death Checks In
JWisdom.com How To Get A (Real) Life with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( EXTENDED EPISODE)
Paul Richter: Israel exerts soverign right to its capital as Biden looks on astounded
Richard A. Serrano: 'Jihad Jane' indictment alleges threat from within U.S.
March 9, 2010
Wesley Pruden: Joe's Israeli adventure
JWisdom.com Free To Be (Responsibly) You and Me! with Rabbi Naftali Brawer ( 8 MINUTES)
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier's funeral
March 8, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Make a fuss about those who cuss?
JWisdom.com Finding or Losing Yourself? Here's How! with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Steven Emerson: America must learn from the UK about the future of Islamist subversion
March 5, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: Golden Calf still with us --- except it has multiplied
JWisdom.com The Limits of Eternity with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Biden's lost cause
March 4, 2010
Alan M. Dershowitz: How About A Real Campaign Against Abuses?
JWisdom.com Using Things, Loving People with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff ( 7 MINUTES)
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's Everything's Relative
March 3, 2010
JWisdom.com Grasping The Name of Your Life Game with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( 8 MINUTES)
The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta : A cowboy's recipes for really good grub
March 2, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Someone's there
Diane Toroian Keaggy : Have we misunderstood Michelangelo?
March 1, 2010
JWisdom.com Whole in One with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Michael Muskal: Hillary meets with Israeli official, discusses gefilte fish dispute
Feb. 26, 2010
Rabbi Francis Nataf: The Megilla of Spring
JWisdom.com A Biblical Secret for a More Powerful You with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: When rhetoric rules the roost
Feb. 25, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: When walking away from your mortgage is both economically sound and makes ethical sense
JWisdom.com The Second Most Important Question in Your Life with Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh ( 5 MINUTES)
Seema Mehta : U.S.-Israel relations raised in California's Senate race --- by conservatives
Feb. 24, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: The gift of the ‘prayer bomber’
Steven Emerson: Why Religious Freedom Commission is under attack
Feb. 23, 2010
Dennis Prager: Government, Yes! The Divine and Parents, No!
JWisdom.com The Last Laugh of Enlightenment with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair ( 5 MINUTES)
Anne Applebaum: Prepare for war with Iran --- in case Israel strikes
Feb. 22, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Is it not refreshing Tiger Woods' career has crashed and burned so dramatically?
JWisdom.com Esther and the third Truth with Rabbi David Aaron ( 9 MINUTES)
Kelly Brewington: Going smoke-free may raise diabetes risk
Feb. 19, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: Is the Divine beyond us or within us?
JWisdom.com Olympic Faith with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Israel and the West are perpetrators of a myth that endangers the Jewish State
Feb. 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Who is Rashad Hussain?
JWisdom.com A Wedding Disaster to Remember with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein ( 3 MINUTES)
Feb. 17, 2010
JWisdom.com Think your life is messed up? with Rabbi David Aaron ( 11 MINUTES)
Greg Logan: 'Greatest Jewish sporting event of all time since David versus Goliath' may be postponed because of bar mitzvah
Feb. 16, 2010
Anya Martin : Boy's 'cerebral palsy' fixed with diet
JWisdom.com Feet On The Street Spirituality with Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 8 MINUTES)
Marty Peretz: Let Europe Mind Its Own Business. It Brings Nothing To The Table Save For Mischief
Feb. 15, 2010
Herb Geduld: Lincoln and the Jews
JWisdom.com Are Our Children Really Ours? with Rabbi Mordechai Becher ( 5 MINUTES)
Susan King: 'Wolf Man' reflected writer's wartime Jewish experience

Jewish World Review Feb. 14, 2006 / 16 Shevat, 5766

Want historic trouble? Look south

By Niall Ferguson


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | To judge by the column inches — make that miles — devoted to the furor over the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, we are living through a historic world event.


I don't believe it, and all this noise is a distraction from much more important trends. For instance, while the United States has become fixated on the Muslim world, a region much closer to home has been quietly spinning out of American control.


"Who lost Latin America?" is the question the next Democratic contender for the U.S. presidency may legitimately be able to ask. Since the election of Hugo Chavez as president of Venezuela in 1998, there has been a drastic erosion of U.S. influence south of the Rio Grande. The most recent manifestations are the election victories of the coca-chewing populist Evo Morales in Bolivia and of the socialist Michelle Bachelet in Chile. Some polls point to similar victories for the militant Ollanta Humala in Peru's elections in April and for the anti-U.S. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico's in July.


The question "Who lost Latin America?" might seem to imply that the U.S. once owned or controlled it. That was indeed one of the very earliest aspirations of U.S. foreign policy. In 1823, President James Monroe enunciated his doctrine "that the American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." By 1904, that had mutated into the claim that the United States had the right to invade and "police" Latin American states if their internal politics took a turn unpalatable to Washington.


Repeatedly thereafter, the United States has exercised that supposed right: In Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Panama … how long have you got? In fact, the only Central American state that hasn't found itself on the receiving end of at least one U.S. military intervention is Costa Rica. At first, George W. Bush kept up the tradition of prioritizing the Americas, naming Mexican President Vicente Fox as his main man among foreign leaders.


Yet since 9/11 all that — more than a century of consistent U.S. foreign policy — has gone out the window. This is the really big story of 2006 — and yet no one is paying it any attention. And it's not as if the new populists in Latin America aren't looking for attention. Only last week, Chavez declared: "The imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of the U.S. president has no limits. I think Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W. Bush." Now if Chavez were a Muslim leader, this would be front-page news. But because he says it in Spanish, everyone yawns. Come on folks. It's just over 2,000 miles from Washington to Caracas. It's nearly 7,000 miles to Kabul. And Chavez is sitting on top of 6.5% of the world's proven oil reserves.


The naive explanation for this strange indifference to Latin America is that, since the end of the Cold War, it just doesn't matter. Rubbish. It mattered to Monroe, and it should matter to us. One reason I've already mentioned: Latin America accounts for 8.5% of the world's oil reserves. Then there's democracy; to be precise, the fate of President Bush's project to spread democracy around the world. And there's immigration too.


The new regimes in Latin America are throwbacks to the bad old days of anti-global economics. They may not nationalize oil and gas fields, but the new populists are keen to "renegotiate" (i.e. repudiate) existing contracts with foreign companies — and not just in the energy sector. Such policies are almost certain to be counterproductive, scaring off foreign investors.


The new populists are coming to power in large measure because of the successful mobilization of indigenous peoples against the elites of European/mestizo ancestry who have dominated regional politics since the era of conquest and colonization. What we are seeing is the result of the democratic process, albeit — in the Venezuelan case — a process that is being undermined by those it has brought to power. So you don't need to go to the Middle East to find evidence that democracy doesn't always produce liberal governments.


The kind of policies that these populists are pursuing are a recipe for trouble. Despite the oil bonanza, after five years of Chavez, Venezuela's gross domestic product per capita has collapsed by 23%. Now, what do Latinos do when their home economies tank? Many of them try to emigrate. And where do they head? The United States. In 2004, according to the Department of Homeland Security, 42% of immigrants to the U.S. and 99% of illegal immigrants deported were from Latin America (including the Caribbean).


For the White House, the cartoon crisis has been a godsend, because it seems to justify Bush's prioritization of "the long war" against Islamist terrorism. But will it make it into the history books? Sorry; my money's on the loss of Latin America.

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Niall Ferguson is a professor of history at Harvard University. He is the author of "Empire" (Basic Books, 2003) and "Colossus" (Penguin, 2004). Comment by clicking here.

02/07/06: Greenspan advising Britain? It's housing bubbles, deficits and potential meltdowns all over again
01/31/06: Missing the Cold War
01/24/06: It's a sick, Thick World
01/17/06: Tomorrow's world war today
01/03/06: Scotland, it's over, but keep the accents
12/20/05: History, democracy and Iraq
12/20/05: History, democracy and Iraq
11/22/05: Ghost of Napoleon haunts Tony Blair
11/22/05: Can it happen in Britain too?
11/15/05: Red plus blue equals purple
11/10/05: The fires of disintegration
11/01/05: Triumph of an über-wonk

© 2006, Los Angeles Times Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate

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