One Man's Opinion

The U.S. keeps killing innocent civilians with drone airstrikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan and "apologizing" for it, somewhat, given that it usually says that it will "investigate" the incident. But, nothing comes of it because the Americans are not going to stop using the drone airplanes, no matter what. The Afghans and the Pakistanis are wasting their time waiting for the U.S. to do it. Much like what the NSA Director said recently, that the Americans will continue to spy whomever, wherever and whenever they feel like it, they will continue to use the drones, and, at best, "apologize" for killing children, as the most recent case shows.

The Dominican Republic keeps making headlines...bad ones, that is. As if the deportation of Dominicans of Haitian ancestry and Haitians in general wasn't enough of a black eye, the homophobic reaction to the U.S. Ambassador's arrival with his spouse is another example of bad press. Casting its intolerance as "cultural differences" and denouncing Obama's decision as an affront to the country, the DR is showing a very ugly face of holier-than-thou religious fanaticism and Dark-Ages mentality. Calling for demonstrations and the wearing of black ribbons on cars is, frankly, exaggerated and childish, as a means to protest against the Ambassador and the country he represents. Just as ludicrous is accusing the Obama administration of trying to "impose" gay marriage and adoption on the DR by this appointment. There's definitely something very disturbing going on in a country whose tourist marketing slogan is "The Dominican Republic has it all."

The Pope really means business. He is well on his way to changing the Catholic Church in big and small ways. You get the feeling that he truly embodies the Christian principles of compassion for the poor, the sick and the weak, not just as abstractions, but as immediate and personal concerns. Turning the traditional office of the Vatican Almoner into a more active and out-reaching one is a sign of how caring the man is. By appointing a younger man and ordering him to go out to not only give money to the needy, but spend time with them and share their misfortunes and problems, the Pope "talks the talk and walks the walk." We should all thank him for that.

Life can be very cruel, especially with children who get sick enough to die. Worse than the incredible sadness that goes along with such a tragedy is the fact that, sometimes, the disease has very painful symptoms, and death is a long time coming. Parents and immediate family are, then, in an indefinite deathwatch that breaks their hearts. All this comes to mind because Belgium is debating whether or not to allow euthanasia for children, just as it's legal for adults. Parents there who have gone through the ordeal of seeing their children die very painfully and slowly are urging lawmakers to include minors in the law that authorizes mercy killing of those who are beyond medical help and suffer from excruciating pain that cannot be alleviated. Let's hope that those lawmakers, and others around the world, are themselves merciful.

As China comes up in the world, the media in the U.S. has begun to concentrate on reporting anything and everything negative about that country. One senses that this is done with the clear intention of badmouthing the Chinese. The not-so-subtle message is: the Chinese are not as great as they now appear to be. Things don't work properly there. Accidents and disasters abound. Their products have poor quality. They will never be as good as those made in the USA. Etc., etc., etc. It's as if China or any other country did not have the right to excel economically or in any other human endeavor. Americans act like other people's success bothers them, because it takes away their preeminence in the world, something that "rightfully" belongs to them by some sort of divine decree. Envy is a terrible thing.

Once again, Puerto Ricans from all walks of life, at home and abroad, have marched in support of Oscar López Rivera, a 70 year-old man who has spent 32 years behind bars for being an advocate of our independence form the U.S. Long after Mandela was freed, Oscar remains convicted of a similar "crime" called seditious conspiracy, used to persecute those who dare oppose a regime. His is one of the longest -- if not the longest -- incarcerations for a non-violent crime anywhere in the world. For the last three years, the Obama administration has been petitioned formally and legally for his release. Evidently, Obama has been too busy playing the role of humanitarian and peacekeeper around the world, to do justice to this man. Meanwhile, Oscar sits in his cell waiting for a freedom that may never come, except in death. May God have mercy on Obama's soul.

Amidst all the brouhaha over the Dominican Republic's "legal" deportation of Dominicans of Haitian descent, now comes an express and illegal deportation done in the name of some sort of border justice. Dominican police and army have taken it upon themselves to retaliate against Haitians -- or those they deem Haitian -- for the murder of an elderly couple by, supposedly, Haitians. Acting like judge and jury, they have rounded up more than 200 of the "usual suspects" and proceeded to expel them from the DR. In the process, families have been broken up, leaving children alone and unattended in the DR, while their parents have been carted off to Haiti. The shameful court ruling, supported by the Congress, has now a sequel of lawlessness by the Executive Branch through the Police and the Armed Forces. Trujillo lives!

I don't get it. Why do Americans insist on going to places where they know they are not welcome? Countries that the U.S. government has badmouthed consistently for decades.  Places where there are no guarantees of due process under the law. For instance, North Korea. So, this 85-year-old Korean War veteran with a bad heart suddenly gets the urge to go there. Now, his family is whining about him being detained by the North Koreans. He assumed the risk of traveling to a dictatorship. He should have stayed home or gone to a safer place. He brought this on himself. If he wanted to experience Korea, he could have gone to South Korea. As 60-odd years ago, once again, he put himself in harm's way.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has stated that it's entirely possible that hunger in Africa can be eradicated by 2025, if the heads of state there put their minds to it. More than that, world hunger could be done away with also in our lifetime, if there is the political will to do so. Improving agricultural practices and reducing the waste of food along the chain from farm to table are key elements to achieve this most worthy of human goals. Both things are doable, and there are countries who have done just that, thereby reducing extreme poverty by 50% in their population. Food is not scarce. There's just too much in its way to people's mouths.

Be it for ideological or economic reasons, there are countries that "go along, to get along" with the U.S.  in anything and everything it chooses to do, including the violation of international law. This is what is beginning to come out in the NSA spying scandal, as regards the U.K.'s role in it. True to its lap-dog behavior towards the U.S., Great Britain allowed the NSA to collect digital records of British citizens not suspected of wrongdoing . Now we know why, unlike other world leaders, David Cameron supported this American way of spying.

Since Obama saw fit to start the 50th anniversary observation of JFK's assassination two days early, I'll follow suit. Kennedy's killing in 1963 has been portrayed as something that shocked the world. But, really, given the American track record of violence against the President and other public officials up to that time, was it so surprising? What was surprising was that it hadn't happened in a rather long time, not that it was an unheard- of event. The U.S. has a long history of violence, political and otherwise, and there haven't been more dead presidents because the would-be assassins have been very poor marksmen and women.

While a country such as the U.S., which prides itself on being so democratic and egalitarian, is still pondering if it should have a female candidate for the presidency, Chile has not only one but two, one of which was president from 2006 to 2010. Bachelet is sure to repeat, come December 15, in a runoff election. Which goes to show that the world is far ahead of the so-called "leader of the free world" and the "world's leading democracy", in recognizing women's talents for governance and political leadership.

Life has a funny way of settling disputes or showing who's right on a host of issues. The jury that acquitted George Zimmerman did so because it had a "reasonable doubt" about his guilt. It was his version of what happened between him and Trayvor Martin that finally prevailed. But, ever since he was acquitted, Zimmerman has been, one way or another, in trouble with the law. Minor things, to be sure, but incidents that point out that he is no model citizen whose word people should rely on. Clearly, there's something wrong with him. Sooner rather than later, he's going to go too far, and, once again, do something really bad. Then, the jury will finally realize how wrong they were in believing him.

There's talk about the Mafia wanting to kill the Pope. Not very likely, given its repercussions. It seems that Francis is serious about putting the Church's finances in order, something that could spell trouble for organized crime and its relations with the Vatican. The Holy See has not been too holy in its dealings with the Italian underworld for a long time. On the other hand, I wouldn't put it past the Roman Curia to do away with a Pope that is rocking St. Peters's boat too hard, and blame it on the Mafia as a perfect cover. Let's hope that God the Father protects him from the Godfather.

I must be missing something. Bill Gates went to Oslo to tell Norwegians to be more generous with their fellow men around the world. Now, this is a rather striking petition, given the fact that Norway is extremely generous with its own people and those of the rest of the world. In fact, in 2012, it allocated 27.8 billion kroner, roughly $4.5 billion for foreign development. Norway allocates more of its gross domestic product to foreign aid than any other country in the world. Sure, one could always do more, but I think the Norwegians are doing more than their fair share in helping other countries.

First, it was the NSA listening to your phone calls and reading your e-mails; now, it's the CIA snooping on your money transfers. The excuse is that all's fair in the war against terrorism. Of course, the U.S. Government insists, as in the case of the NSA spying, that this is done only in very few cases, in which they deem the transfers to be suspicious. But, we've heard all this before. Pretty soon, we'll all be reading that it has been done in millions of cases, both in the U.S. and abroad. The truth is that, once they start doing it, they don't know where to stop. This is why the NSA has tapped millions of communications all over the world, when, evidently, there cannot be millions of terrorists in France, Italy and Spain, for example. Time will tell that this is bigger than what the Americans have admitted so far.

There must be some reason that the rest of the world is not aware of for the fact that the mayor of Toronto is not out of office by now. After playing fast and loose with the truth, for far too long, the man has finally admitted that he has bought and used illegal drugs. Instead of being contrite about it, he has chosen to be defiant, dragging out this whole incident needlessly, embarrassing himself, his city and his country. Surely, he cannot seriously think that he will ultimately prevail in this irrational and self-destructive behavior. The City of Toronto has been extremely tolerant of one of the most outrageous situations in public life in a long time.

It's rather ironic that the British government and media seem to have taken such a cavalier attitude towards American spying on its allies. George Orwell, the man who did more than anyone else to warn the world against "Big Brother", was British. One has to ask: What would he have thought about his government's complacent attitude about the NSA activities?

Much is being made of the recent economic woes in Venezuela, which the media blames squarely on the Maduro government, as it, more or less, continues Chavez's policies. Nothing is said about what the private sector might be doing to make things worse, except quote -- with evident skepticism -- what government officials say about it. One would have to be extremely naive and historically ignorant to believe that businessmen in Venezuela are not in cahoots with the opposition to bring the government down by discrediting it in any way possible. Creating or worsening bad economic conditions by acting in a concerted fashion, in hoarding and price gouging, is the way to demonstrate how "inefficient" the government is. Private enterprise is betting on public desperation to achieve what its candidate has not been able to do at the polls. Driving the government to take extreme measures against them, they present themselves as victims and cry foul to high heaven. This is what they

I wouldn't be too sure that Neruda wasn't poisoned or a victim of another form of foul play. There are too many other suspicious elements surrounding his death, to close the case on it. Where the CIA is involved, one has to take into account its many resources to get things done in a secret way. There are substances that are extremely difficult to trace, so further testing is in order. There's no question that Neruda was dying from cancer. Therefore, he was the perfect candidate to be killed without arousing any suspicion.

The rush to judgment, the willingness to always believe that others are in the wrong, that they are hiding something or outright lying are powerful driving forces behind news organizations, and sometimes, make them make mistakes, like the one just admitted to by CBS in their reporting of the Benghazi attack. The 60 minutes people were so intent on finding fault with the U.S. government handling of the attack, that, even after being aware that there was some question as to their informant's veracity , they went ahead with the story and stood by it. Now, they've had to apologize and admit that they were wrong and made a mistake in relying on the man's account of what happened, given the fact that he wasn't there when it happened. The scoop turned into poop.

The U.S. tantrum at UNESCO's decision to admit the Palestinian government two years ago has resulted in its losing its right to vote in the organization's general assembly. The Americans, mad at UNESCO for not caving in to them and the Israelis, have tried to strangle it financially, withholding its dues, which amount to almost 25% of the total budget. To its credit, UNESCO has stood firm on its decision, in spite of the financial trouble it has been put in by the American extortion. The U.S. continues to discredit itself by behaving like a bully and a spoiled child who doesn't get to do what he wants all the time.

To all those who wish to let bygones be bygones, the news of "blacklists" of Argentine artists and intellectuals by the 1976-1983 dictatorship is an inconvenient truth. Of course, those who hate the Left or anything that resembles liberalism, having people like Aleandro, Cortázar and Sosa blacklisted is no big deal. But, to the rest of the world, it shows how mean-spirited and petty Fascism is. How, in the name of fighting "communism" or "socialism", those who would save the Fatherland end up impoverishing it in all kind of ways, including culturally, by persecuting its great artists and thinkers. They don't realize that "witch hunts" always come back to haunt them.

What were they thinking? In Paraguay, at one of those retreats in which public-school teachers are supposed to be improving their teaching skills, they were instead dancing the night away with male strippers. The news story only mentions this; no reference is made to female strippers, so, either there are very few male teachers in the country, or the stripper gig was "unisex." Significantly, there was about one supervisor for every ten teachers, so you have to wonder about the kind of administrative control and discipline in the Paraguayan school system. I've heard of "letting your hair down", but it seems that these Paraguayan teachers were on their way to letting much more than that down.

The Syrian government can't be all bad. They are looking for young musicians for their police band. Evidently, Assad recognizes that "music has charms to soothe the savage breast."

Evidently, Edward Snowden is a very naive young man. Knowing all that he knows about the dark side of U.S. politics at home and abroad, he still thinks that the American government could forgive him for all this public embarrassment and humiliation. The U.S. won't be satisfied with anything less than his head, literally or figuratively, in the form of life imprisonment. The sooner he comes to terms with the fact that he will never return to the U.S. alive or as a free man, the better. So, he better learn Russian fast.

Really, should Kenyans be allowed to compete in all those Whatever-City Marathons? It's a foregone conclusion that a male and female Kenyan runner is going to win the race, so why bother? It's "unfair"; they are so superior to the rest of the field, that, when there is more than one Kenyan competitor, the only questions are which one is going to win and how fast will he and she run. Once in a while, a runner from another African country manages to win, but that's about it,as far as real competition goes. It's an amazing display of long-term dominance in a sport on venues all over the world.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has rightfully rejected the U.S. "explanation" for not complying with submitting a plan to close the Guantánamo prison. The Americans, ridiculously, justified their non-compliance on the Federal Government's recent lockout. The Commission found this unacceptable, pointing out that it's been nine years, since the U.S was supposed to close the facility, given its history of human-right abuses. This is just another example of American disregard for international law and institutions whenever it suits their purposes. Had it been some other country in this position, the U.S. would have immediately condemned it for not abiding by the decisions of the Commission.

The NSA spying scandal keeps getting bigger and more weird. The latest revelation is that it spied on 46 million phone calls in Italy, including quite a few in the Vatican . Now, what could there be of interest in the Pope's conversations? Not to belittle this one or any of his predecessors, but the Pontiff isn't really a major player in the world scene. That and spying on the Queen of England would be about the same. The Americans have really gone overboard in the spying business. What's next?