Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
"Brazil's economic rise forces it to deal with a problem it long regarded as the sole concern of rich countries like the US: The need to secure its borders and slow down a flood of drugs, illegal immigrants and other contraband"
Central and South American leaders are bracing themselves to break with the United States and abandon the "war on drugs". They can't win it. The costs are too great. What follows? Perhaps legalisation for marijuana, at least
Not to say much of its territory—about half of it in the 200 years since independence, owing to a concatenation of ill-judged treaties and small wars embarked upon by "a seemingly interminable procession of tin-pot dictators"
British were right to fight, but wrong not to make some compromise with newly democratic Argentina in the years that followed—for example, by agreeing to share revenues from offshore oil, or to transfer legal sovereignty
If you're a Venezuelan in US major league baseball, you'd better be ready to buy some security at home. Family members get kidnapped for ransom. And so, now, might you. It happened to Wilson Ramos of the Washington Nationals
Story of epic battle between big oil and American lawyer acting for residents of Ecuadoran Amazon. Fascinating on tactics of corporate giant faced with class-action suit, and shades of grey that emerge in plaintiffs' case
New book sheds light on complex CIA plot. Presidential adviser Walt Rostow wrote: It marks the passing of another of the aggressive, romantic revolutionaries and shows the soundness of our "preventive medicine" assistance to Bolivia
In two generations Brazil's fertility rate has plummeted. Families used to be size of football teams. Now, rich or poor, it's two children at most. One reason: Unregulated pharmacies. Another: The influence of TV soap-operas
Essay on early history of Brazil as an independent state. Vast numbers of slaves brought in from Africa for plantation economy. Created combustible mix in society where talk of revolts, conspiracies was never far away
Lovely vignette. He'd now be 82, perhaps with much of the easy charm of a Nelson Mandela, living handsomely on royalties from iconic photographs of his youth. More, please
War-crimes legacy will be Obama's problem, truth commission may be the answer
Image by Chico Ferreira on Flickr
The political scientist tells us what to read if we want to know why Latin American voters elect left-wing leaders, and how those leaders end up governing differently from each other
