One Man's Opinion

The business of America has been, is and always will be business. Only the very naive or the utterly uninformed are unaware that war is great for business. In Afghanistan, for example, the Americans have done business in every conceivable way, including legal services by high-powered lawyers who represent Afghans who are or will soon be in trouble with the U.S. government for all kinds of corrupt practices or just plain controversies over contracts or services rendered paid for with U.S funds. As I've said before, it's a familiar scenario: the U.S. destroys a country, uses public funds to rebuild it, and the American private sector gets rich from it. In this case, Afghans have profited by doing some of the work for the U.S. contractors. Thus the legal problems that arise from these business dealings, which end up benefiting American lawyers. It's a win-win situation for the Americans, always looking to make money out of any situation, especially one of their own making.

It's only natural that, after Tony Blair's blunder in Iraq, the British are extremely wary of any more involvements in other countries based on dubious evidence. So, Parliament has voted against the U.K. taking part in another American adventure in Syria. Although it may very well be the case that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people, the American track record on these things is rather dismal. Time and time again, they have lied and made up all sorts of scenarios, in order to justify bombing and invading other countries. So, the British have done the sensible thing, by not committing themselves to military action that, ultimately, may prove to be unwarranted. One more thing, both England and the United States have fought bloody and costly civil wars in their history. I'm sure they would not have taken kindly to other countries intervening to support one side or the other.

As if being bankrupt wasn't enough, Detroit faces a very serious public-safety problem that, ultimately, is a by-product of the economic crisis. Thousands of abandoned dogs roam the streets, hungry and lonely, attacking people. As their owners lose their jobs and struggle mightily to put food on their tables, dogs become expendable. The situation is more complicated, given the fact that most of the dogs are pit bulls or similar breeds, that were used as guard dogs. So, their natural ferocity is made worse by hunger. This whole situation does not bode well for Detroit's future. Who is going to feel comfortable in a city in which a stray and ferocious dog will attack you at any time?

It was a foregone conclusion that the U.S. would attack Syria. As in many other cases throughout its history, it was waiting for something awful to happen, that it would justify it. But, if history teaches us anything, it is that one has to see these justifications with a great deal of skepticism. The Americans have a long and well-documented history of "making things happen" to suit their purposes. From blowing up the Maine at the Havana harbor in 1898 to declare war on Spain, to the weapons of mass destruction that never were, the U.S. will go to any lengths in order to convince the world that what they want to do all along must be done. So, I would reserve judgment on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Time and whistleblowers will tell.

I'm all for freedom of speech and all the rest of it, but there are outrageous uses of civil liberties that can't be tolerated. Political humor and satire are one thing, but portraying Putin in panties and Medvedev in women's underwear is quite another. There is a basic sense of decency that dictates how far you can go in public discourse. Public figures are still human beings who, as such, deserve respect, even if we don't like them personally or their politics. There are many things that can be made fun of about politicians or government officials. But, all should not be fair in public affairs. Civility is a human value that needs to be acknowledged and honored, lest we all descend into savagery.

There are some people who still don't get it. They think that Hitler and Nazi Germany are just cultural icons, to be used or referred to lightly, even humorously. Selling wine with Nazi images on bottle labels is an example of this egregious insensitivity. What's worse is that it sells well, especially those with Hitler on the label. According to the Italian winemaker who has been selling it for 20 years, people buy it as a "joke." Which goes to show how sick both the makers and the buyers really are, and why the world needs to be eternally vigilant of the mindset that produces and consumes something that is in anyway associated with one of the greatest horrors in human history.

Like other countries, the U.S. has a shameful history of how it has treated its indigenous population. Except that the Americans have always claimed to be "exceptional" in every way, contrary to the laws of history in all regards. And yet, the white man killed off the red man, took his land and put the remaining people in a sort of captivity, subject to benign and not-so-benign neglect. The exploitation has gone on. American Indians have fought back claiming recognition as members of tribes and reclaiming their land. The government has reluctantly admitted some of these claims, but the white man worries that they might be inconvenient for the rest of the population. So, communities with vested interests oppose the recognition of more tribes, for fear that they might give rise to more claims. In other words, that the Indians might be right and have the right to those lands that were taken away from their ancestors, either by force or by fraud. The white man is still at war...

The death at 77 of a descendant of Fletcher Christian, of mutiny on the Bounty fame , brings back memories of a very distant past that seems unreal. Living on Pitcairn Island, where Christian settled in 1790 to avoid capture and certain death,   this man led a hard and isolated life, in just two square miles with, at the time of his death, other 51 people. In its own way, his story is as fascinating as his great-great-great-grandfather's.

It was bound to happen. In a country in which guns are of paramount importance -- let's not forget the Second Amendment to its Constitution -- every generation is raised to become gun-toting individuals. Right from the start, like kindergarten . Think I'm exaggerating? A boy in a Tennessee kinder went to school with a gun in his backpack, and the gun went off. Luckily, no one was hurt. We have to ask ourselves, where did this four or five-year-old boy get the gun? Why did he choose to put it in his backpack and take it to school? How is it that no one at home was aware of this? Or were they? It's going to take a very long time for the U.S. to solve the gun problem. If ever.

Black people driving in the U.S. -- men, mostly -- have characterized their being routinely stopped by police as "driving while being black", as a way of pointing out that the real reason for it is the prejudice based on their color. Now, there's a  new twist to this practice; one could call it "in driveway while being black." About a month ago in Florida, an unarmed black man was shot at by two policemen  15 times  in his own driveway, just because a neighbor thought that he was a car thief. Even if one were to accept that the man made some "suspicious" movement, shooting at him 15 times is clearly excessive, and tends to indicate that the policemen were predisposed against him for being black. Incidents such as this one happen time and time again to blacks in the U.S. If the man had been white, the policemen would have proceeded in a different manner. Surely, they would not have opened fire as they did in this case.

Res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself) we lawyers are fond of saying. The last of the Arellano Félix brothers, of Mexican drug-cartel fame, has been sentenced, in the U.S., to 15 years for his crimes. The prosecutor in the Bradley Manning case is asking for a sentence of 60 years , which could go up to 90 years, for, essentially, embarrassing the U.S. in public. Enough said.

As an experienced editor, I'm not at all surprised by what has happened in Mexico with thousands of grade-school textbooks full of errors, grammatical and otherwise. The decline in education standards all over the world has been going on for a long time, so generation after generation has gone on to graduate without proficiency in the basic subjects. People pay very little attention to grammar, regarding it as unimportant. This mindset is responsible for the sloppy way in which people talk and write. So, it's more than just carelessness by those who write and publish these books. It's ignorance. And it's going to take a long time to really do something about it.

A Time magazine   reporter posted a tweet in his account saying that he can't wait to comment on the drone strike that kills Julian Assange. The backlash was so strong that he had to delete it, and Time immediately distanced itself from his view. Still, in reading some of the public's reactions, you get a sense that, although people think that he went too far, there is much animosity and hostility towards Assange in the U.S. Clearly, he doesn't stand a chance of getting a fair trial there. Nor does Edward Snowden. They have embarrassed the Americans too much, exposing them as the hypocrites they have been all along. And that is unforgivable.

People who are found at fault, invariably, admit that they have made a "mistake", as if that, somehow, makes it O.K. or lessens their responsibility. The latest example is the NSA's admission that they have made thousands of mistakes over the last five years, collecting information illegally from communications by American citizens at home. It really is impossible to believe that this has happened unintentionally. One would have to be insanely naive to accept such a thing. The NSA knows exactly what they are doing. The only "mistake" they made was getting caught.

It's rather odd that Alan Gross' family has kept quiet about his medical examination by U.S. doctors, after insisting so much on it. This man was supposedly at death's door in a Cuban dungeon, and although Cuban doctors had reported that his condition wasn't all that bad and he was well taken care of, this was dismissed as lies by the Cuban government. Given this situation, one would have thought that, had Gross' terrible condition been confirmed by "real doctors", his family and the American government would have rushed to say so. Instead, a month has gone by, and there's been no word on the matter. Strange, isn't it? Maybe Gross isn't so sick, after all. Maybe he has had the benefit of Cuban medicine, one of the best in the world. Maybe the family doesn't want to hurt its chances with the $60 million lawsuit against the U.S. Government, now that they have settled with the private contractor he worked for in Cuba. The truth has a nas...

Much is being made of the fact that only 25% of Cubans have access to the Internet. The statistic is taken as a sign of how backward the country is, and how lacking in freedom. People who dwell on this never refer to other Cuban statistics, such as the ones about literacy, education and health. You know, the really important stuff. Nor do they talk about how Cuba has had to endure more than half a century of a blockade by the U.S. The real test of the Cuban revolution's success would have been its development without such an enormous handicap. Still, in spite of that, Cuba has achieved remarkable things in sports and culture, as well as in other truly essential aspects of life. Slowly but surely, Internet access will grow. In the meantime, there are much more important things to tend to in Cuba...and elsewhere.

I said it then, and I will say it again: beware of street protests that topple governments, because they will turn into mob rule. The celebration of supposedly-democratic movements that take to the streets emboldens them, to the point in which they start acting like a power unto themselves. Once they taste the power to get rid of a government, it becomes increasingly difficult to control them. There is no longer any patience with the next government. People refuse to accept authority. Anarchy ensues. Democracy takes time and thoughtfulness. There is neither on streets full of violence.

Fidel has turned 87. We in Latin America call him by his first name. Others -- most of whom hate his guts -- refer to him as Castro. Time was when every year, in January, prognosticators would declare: "This is Castro's last year." Most of them are dead by now. No one dares to venture a prediction anymore. It's clear that Fidel will die when he feels like it. Not one minute before that.

I had always heard that driving in the Dominican Republic was extremely dangerous, and, although I have visited a few times, I was really unaware of how bad the situation really is. Now, it's official: it's the worst country in the world to drive in. The statistics are staggering. Basically, it's chaos on wheels. Four and two wheels, because motorcycles --or what passes for them -- are a big part of the problem. Dominicans have no respect for the traffic laws: driving against traffic and running red lights are just part of everyday life. Most cars are really jalopies, and motorcyclists ride without helmets at insane speeds. Vehicles cross lanes haphazardly, that is, if the lanes are marked at all. In short, driving on the streets and highways there is really hazardous to your health.

CNN, the all-news TV channel and website, has an enormous power and reputation worldwide. So, whatever it puts out in coverage of events and comment carries a lot of weight and is accorded a great deal of credibility. But, sometimes its pundits get sloppy with the facts, and their analyses are somewhat faulty. This is what happened to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, its chief medical correspondent, with regard to the issue of medical marijuana. After having dismissed it as having no scientific value, he has had to apologize and accept that he did not do his homework properly on the subject. He is now of the view that marijuana is, indeed, a valuable -- sometimes, only -- remedy for certain ailments and individuals, and that, except for extreme and rare cases, has no major ill consequences. Gupta's retraction is courageous and should be commended. It should also give pause to other experts, so that they are more thorough in their research before they commit to a professional opinion.

It's so funny! The Americans and their acolytes around the world have no imagination. They use the same script over and over again, not bothering to pretend just a little.  The most recent and best example of how supposedly-independent political movements are really concocted in Washington is the "birther" challenge to Nicolás Maduro. Just as they did with Obama, now there are claims that Maduro is really Colombian or, at best, both Colombian and Venezuelan, therefore unable to serve as President. This is clearly a fabrication, just like the one about Obama. A desperate ploy by those who will not accept the results of the election. With such a strong opposition, didn't someone bother to check this a long time ago when he was just a candidate? What else will they come up with? I guess they'll be standing by, waiting for their American scriptwriters to give them some other half-baked idea.

The statistics are like the ones one usually associates with certain parts of Africa or Asia. But, according to UNICEF, they belong to a next-door neighbor: the Dominican Republic. Half of its children live in poverty, only 30% finish grade school and 18% finish high school. Close to 50% of schools have no drinking water, and nearly 60% have no toilets, which could explain why kids don't stay in school. Definitely, nothing to dance merengue or drink Presidente beer to.

If it weren't tragic, it would be boring. Another disgruntled U.S. citizen has taken up arms against his fellow men and women. Only the quick action of two men prevented him from killing more than the three people he fatally shot. The man had 90 rounds of additional ammunition in his vehicle. He disagreed with a town council decision about his property, so he decided to settle things the old-fashioned way. The American way. Guns blazing. The National Rifle Association must be very proud. Long live the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution!

Americans are so predictable. Just when Bradley Manning is going to be sentenced and Edward Snowden  is being hunted down for spying and treason against the U.S., there is a surge of terrorist plots all around the world against the Americans. Wow, what a convenient coincidence! This way, people focus on the "threats" to national security, and forget about what these two have revealed. Fear will make U.S. citizens much more willing to accept domestic spying and any other transgression on their rights, all in the name of safety. Of course, these threats are top secret, so you just have to take the government's word that they have been made, and that they have been able to stop them by spying at home and abroad, even in allied or friendly countries. As Saturday Night Live's "Church Lady" used to say: "How convenient!"

It serves them right! The Americans, just to spite Fidel, have been giving preferential and privileged immigration treatment to Cubans who leave their country for the U.S. So, as it was bound to happen, other Latin Americans have begun to pretend that they are Cubans, so that they can benefit from that policy. There are people who, for a hefty price, provide them with false documents and coaching as to how to pass for Cubans. Now, the Americans are going back five years -- that's the statute of limitations period-- to double check the information provided by these "Cubans." Once again, Fidel must be laughing his head off at this latest American embarrassment.

The tragedy of Nazi Germany went beyond the Holocaust, involving other countries in illegal or immoral acts of a different nature. The Nazis had plenty of collaboration and help in carrying out their nefarious schemes. We now know, for instance, that the Bank of England was instrumental in selling looted Czech gold after the Germans occupied that country just before World War II. British bankers were aware of what was going on in these transactions, but they went ahead with them anyway. This is similar to all those art collectors, auction houses and museums that, knowingly or pretending to  have no knowledge, engaged in the buying and selling of art stolen by the Nazis all over Europe. Once again, money corrupted many people into helping the Third Reich  do all its evil work.

The Spanish government, desperate for some good news, is celebrating an alleged drop in the registered jobless for the fifth straight month. Let's hope that those numbers are real,but, most of all, that they represent an actual economic recovery. The reason I say this is because of a well-known fact. After a while, the unemployed become so frustrated by not finding a job, that they just quit looking for one because they become convinced that there are no jobs available for them. This is a very common experience all around the world. Spain's economic crisis has lasted approximately six years now. One can imagine how discouraged the jobless are there. Surely, thousands of people have just stopped looking for a work that isn't there anymore.

The killing of five Afghan policemen by a U.S. airstrike is just "collateral damage" in the war against terrorism. Nothing more. It barely gets mentioned in the news. There have been so many of these "accidents", that they have become routine. No one takes responsibility; no one is blamed. These lives are treated as unimportant. Can you imagine if something like this happened in the U.S.? We would never hear the end of it. Afghans and Iraqis are just victims of their "liberators."