General

Kobe and the silent revolution

The sudden loss of a modern hero who embodied the grandeur and the flaws of the American people while carrying the flame of hope for new generations sunk half the country into sorrow. Mr Bryant was generous in a consistent and quiet way. From the time he dedicated to fellow team members to help them improve their techniques and achieve better marks for the Lakers to his passionate support to the homeless Mr Bryant kept returning to life the blessings he had received. After 15 years at the Lakers and having already won a place at the Hall of Fame he ripped hi Achilles tendon; had a splinter in his knee bone and dislodged his hip, all this in one year. He came back to the field with new passes and techniques to lead the Lakers into greatest victories. Mr Bryant’s death anticipates a mayor shift in the media landscape. By 2021 broadcast TV rights expire. Probabilities are high that the sports leagues will fall into the streaming attraction and follow the DAZN route. Should this happen TV as we know will virtually disappear and the Millennial Generation will take the TV stage once and for all . This will help to spread a development model that is more environmentally sound; human friendly and development inclusive.

The Journalist and the Accountant

Hugo Machiavelli is an Argentinian investigative reporter who believes political leaders should be held accountable for their performance at public office. He has thus followed most political leaders recording their careers and their management approach to public funds. Throughout his career Machiavelli has seen Argentina rise to the challenges of modernity when for very short time spans takes the global highway only to suddenly retrench into populism. Machiavelli’s latest work is a chronicle of the corruption machinery created by the Kirchner family in Argentina which led to the end of the infrastructure modernization plan that was essential to increasing the country’s competitiveness. And while most followers of Latin American developments seldom are surprised by the presence of corruption, the truth Is that the blatancy and sophistication of the Kirchner scheme comes as a shock. Because it could have never been deployed without the support of the Argentinean society’s leadership. This leads one the believe that Argentina and Latin America are doomed to ruin . Because the triggering factor of development is the belief in rule of law . And a society whose leadership willfully participates in a corrupt organization evidently does not believe in the rule of law. Machiavelli however is optimistic about the future of Argentina By forcing prosecution, the roots of corruption will be destroyed and with it the successful political narrative of Argentinian populism. And once Argentina experiences its  ‘Lava Jato” moment the country will take Brazil’s development route. Both nations would then support each other in their quest for freedom and prosperity. I simply pray that Machiavelli is right.

BOLIVIA CANNOT HAVE DEMOCRACY WITH DICTATORSHIP’S LAWS AND JUDGES

Interim President Jeanine Añez has given definitive proof that “in Bolivia, the dictator fell but not the dictatorship” with her decision to be a presidential candidate in the next elections. Evo Morales’ and his accomplices’ main crime to destroy democracy and the Republic of Bolivia, is the counterfeiting of a new legal system imposing a new constitution through which the President can be reelected continuously. We, Bolivians, are paying with blood, political persecution, imprisonment and exile the defense of democracy and the Republic of Bolivia since 2003 and with civil resistance to the imposition of the Plurinational State’s constitution with which they build the dictatorship. When the Interim President announces her presidential candidacy, she gives Bolivia and the whole world, definitive proof of the existence of the Castrochavist dictatorship in Bolivia. The transition from dictatorship to democracy cannot be accomplished with the dictatorship’s laws and judges.  The interim government, as part of its historic and political obligation to conduct FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS should have pointed the way and advance as much as possible  in the replacement, the return to the previous legal system in existence prior to the disappearance of the rule of law because that is what constitutes the return to democracy.

REALIGN LATIN AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS’ FOREIGN POLICY WITH CUBA’S DICTATORSHIP

The greatest threat to democracies’ stability in the Americas is Cuba’s dictatorship with its control over Venezuela and Nicaragua’s dictatorships, its pretension to regain its regimes in Ecuador and Bolivia, and its strategy of constant sedition with crime as the means to do it. Foreign policy “is that part of the general policy comprised by the set of decisions and doings through which a State’s objectives are defined and means are used to generate, modify, or suspend its relations with other actors from the international community”. the region’s factual reality shows that in this 21st century, there are two Americas divided by the nature of their governments and systems:  The democratic one and the organized crime’s dictatorial other.  One that is legitimate and the other that is de-facto.  The first with the rule of law, and the second with shameful regimes.  The democratic one with freedoms and the dictatorial other with political prisoners and exiles. Organized crime’s dictatorships, under the direction of Cuba, have disguised their criminal undertaking as politics with the worn-out propaganda of the Cuban revolution, to the point that failure can no longer be hidden and its role as producers and exporters of misery and crime is shameful. This summary of criminal acts that in this 21st century was perpetrated by Castrochavism, is only the reoccurrence of similar crimes committed by Cuba’s dictatorship since the decade of the sixties, a time in which it blood-stained the region with guerrillas, terrorism, narcotics’ trafficking.  It is only more of the same and is from Cuba’s 61-year dictatorship. The questions are:  Why do democratic governments still do not openly see Cuba’s dictatorship as an “aggressor state”, as an “enemy regime”, or as “an organized crime system”?  Why do democracies insist in embracing foreign policies of simulation and defenselessness when facing dictatorial aggression?  Why do they continue relating and trading with Cuba instead of adjusting their foreign policies for the protection of their own stability?

Elimination of Soleimani Shows US Has Power of Deterrence

The killing of Quds Force leader Qassim Soleimani and its aftermath turned into a huge, misleading farce. In this farce an important sector of American public officials, media, and others fell into the trap of a public relations campaign orchestrated by the Islamic Republic. First, the elimination of Mr. Soleimani shows that the United States has power of deterrence and determination to fight its enemies; that it is not afraid of revenge, and that it would double down if necessary. In the case of Iran, the perception after the Iranian missile attacks against American bases in Baghdad was that many in the United States considered the attack legitimate in the face of U.S. “bad behavior” or “provocations” to use Pelosi’s own words. The second trap in which America fell was the general belief among key members of Congress and important sectors in the media that the killing of Soleimani rallied and unified the Iranian people around the regime. That is a huge farce. We should not be misled about Iran. Iran is not a legitimate regime and it is very much on the defense, terrified of regime change. Protests happened precisely because the regime is seen as negligent and reckless, which dismisses the argument that Soleimani turned into a catalyzer of national unity. Therefore, the challenge of a nuclear Iran is still a threat whose solution is highly uncertain.

Beyond Impeachment Despair Reigns in America

Beatrice Rangel outlines the hollowing out of the U.S.A.’s industrial base and the depression it causes as jobs flow to Asia and the likely results of that despair. As Ms Pelosi finally sends the articles of impeachment to the Senate and aspirants to the democratic nomination to duel President Trump gather in Iowa every hour there will be 8 Americans dead by drug overdose, 67% of them victims to opioid addiction. And as we examine other health related statistics the future fails to be rosy. And most probably none of these Americans will have a voice in Iowa or anywhere else during the campaign. Let alone in the US Congress that will be taken by the impeachment procedures that will end with President trump’s acquittal. To be sure, this legion of despair does not make it to the CNN-Fox primetime. But will determine the future of their country as they are the spring of political divisiveness while eroding the economy’s competitiveness . As the situation progresses, these left behinds will not deserve serious treatment of their calamity by democrats or even President Trump. Democrats will emphasize President Trump’s numerous shortcomings. And truth be told, this catastrophe precedes President Trump. the Us might well face over the next years violent protests that could make the Gilets Jaunes movement in France and the youngsters’ rebellion in Chile look as summer jamborees.

A new Nash equilibrium for the Middles East?   

What the loss of Iran General Soleimani means for Iran, Iraq and the Middle East. The AI based strike that removed Iranian General Soleimani from the Middle East war theater could herald a return to the Nash equilibrium in geopolitics. In other words, no player has anything to gain by only changing his or her strategy .  Under such circumstances any strategic change would not spell gain for the house shaker unless the rest of the players change their strategy. And these perhaps were the thoughts sliding through the minds of the US policy makers when deciding to wipe General Soleimani out while in Iraq. This would see terrorist activity multiply everywhere in the world with the ancillary impact upon sensitive economic activities such as tourism, trade and sports exchanges. Eventually the player with stronger defense systems will overcome and a new equilibrium will be reached. Let’s pray that the new equilibrium is established through negotiations and not through terror.

2019 A YEAR OF AGONY AND PUSH FORWARD FOR ORGANIZED CRIME’S DICTATORSHIPS IN THE AMERICAS

For Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia’s dictatorships, 2019 has been the year that has identified them as; a group of Transnational Organized Crime that holds power through the daily commission of crime, and as a criminal undertaking and not a political one. 1- Cuba, in a growing economic crisis due to its situation as a parasite state. 2- Venezuela, in a humanitarian crisis and governed by a criminal regime operated by Cuba, a narco-state. 3- Bolivia, with an economy dressed up by data manipulation and a growing political crisis due to Evo Morales’ persistence to be a candidate for the fourth consecutive time. 4- Nicaragua, subjected by the violence of massacres, political prisoners, torture, and tens of thousands of exiled. The Castrochavist offensive is acknowledged and celebrated by; Castro, Maduro, Cabello, Morales, Diaz-Canel, Ortega, and their spokesmen.  They control Argentina’s government with Fernandez/Kirchner and openly manipulate Mexico’s government with Lopez Obrador.  They lost Bolivia, but criminally conspire to recover it with the open complicity of Argentina, Mexico, and Spain. Thus 2019 comes to an end, with a violent and fierce agony of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua’s dictatorships that know they are lost and that the only alternative to extend their dying condition and criminal enterprises is by attacking democracies.

The dangerous syndrome of a collapsing star

Discussion of how the futures of Bolivia and Argentina are related to the Collapsing Star Syndrome of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar. In Latin America the Myanmar syndrome sems to be about to take hold. In Argentina Alberto Fernandez has been elected president but chances that he will govern seem slim. In Bolivia Ms Añez the interim President, could suddenly fall prey to those that would rather find accommodation with the ancient regime than enact and unfold democratic reforms in the country that is South America’s heart. Both Ms Añez and Mr Fernandez could thus become the regional victims of the collapsing star syndrome.

TO CORRECT THE CRITICAL STATE OF THE TRANSITION TOWARDS DEMOCRACY IN BOLIVIA

Ever since Evo Morales’ resignation the past 10th of November, the process to transition to democracy in Bolivia is underway under extremely dangerous and fragile conditions because “the dictator fell but not the dictatorship”.  The Interim President Jeanine Añez has the mandate to conduct free and fair elections as soon as possible but is faced with the dictatorship’s intact forces, the unclear functional opposition, narcotics’ trafficking, foreign intervention and violence.  A critical situation that urges an analysis and correction.