Andres Oppenheimer
The Republican landslide in Tuesday's mid-term elections is likely to lead to across-the-board budget cuts that will affect U.S. programs in
But on the positive side, it is likely to lead to congressional approval of long-stalled U.S. free-trade agreements with
Let's examine these and other issues:
-- Foreign aid: Judging from what I hear from well-placed congressional sources, the most immediate regional impact of the Republican takeover of the
Rep.
"That makes me nervous," Engel said. "It would be a big mistake because, at a time when countries such as
A Republican congressional source close to the party's leadership conceded that, "We are going to make cuts across the board in domestic and international areas, and I don't think there will be any sacred cows."
The source added, "I would expect some cuts even to Plan Merida."
Another well-placed Republican,
Immigration
The next"I'm not sure that there has been a
About 36 legislators who support an earned path to citizenship for undocumented U.S. residents as part of comprehensive immigration reform have been voted out of
The next
Free trade
The pending trade deals withThe pending trade deals with
My opinion: The Republican legislators who won Tuesday are not homogenous, and some of their most daring proposals face opposition within their own party.
Mack, for instance, favors including
In addition, the Democratic-held
Cooler heads will prevent budget and immigration isolationists from creating a "fortress America."
Available at Amazon.com:
At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes
- Latin American Leaders Could Have Learned From South Korea
- Region Ignoring Venezuela Coup Threats
- To Fight Corruption, Start Cutting Red Tape
- New Congress Won't Lead to 'Fortress America'
- Bachelet Faces Uphill Battle at U.N. Women
- A New Global Player: Brazil's Far-Flung Agenda
- Rise in Tourism to Miami May Signal Danger Ahead
- Peru May Be Next Latin American Success Story
- Nobel Winner Right About Risks of e-Books
- Nestor Kirchner's Death May Mark End of an Era
- Chavez a Pain for Spain
- Chavez Lost Ground but Will Fight Back
- Education Too Important to Be Left in Government Hands
- Latin America In Denial About the Quality of Its Schools
- Millennium Development Goals for Women Largely Unmet
- North Korean Succession Plans Are Shrouded in Mystery
- Rogue BFFs North Korea and Iran Make Quite a Pair
- American Role in Israeli-Palestinian Talks Is a Problem
- Iraq Reluctant to Pay Its Fair Share of Security Costs
- Iran's 'Shaky' Ahmadinejad
- United States Could Be Alone as Europe Turns Inward
- Hugo Chavez May Lose Even if He Wins
- Brazil Needs Dose of Constructive Paranoia
- Latin American Commodity Exporters Need to Diversify
- Stoned on Righteousness
- Our Man in Moscow
- Widening Divide in American-Chinese Commercial Interests
- The New Old World Order
- Global Human-Rights Cause Gets a Shot in the Arm
- Obama's Foreign Policy Performance
- New Russia Takes Root in Saint Petersburg and Moscow
- Dismantling Worst-Case Proliferation Scenarios
- A Numbers Game in the Middle East
- Middle East Peace Talks: Here We Go Again
- Obama and Clinton Revive Middle East Peace Talks
- Guess Who's Coming to the Table
- Iraq: Unanswered Policy Questions on U.S. Troops
- Iraq: Implications of a Pointless War
- Iraq: Book Review
- Iraq: No Drums and No Bugles: None Dare Call It Victory
- Pakistan's Leadership Sustains Flood Damage
- A French Leftist Ritual Takes on Sarkozy
- United States Losing Latin America Market Share
- The Power of Being Multilingual
- Chavez's Obsession With Past Turns Creepy and He's Not Alone
- Obama Could Help Stop Mexico's Bloodshed
- Mexico Needs U.S. Help But Not Troops
- Mexico's Narco Problems Are Our Problems, and Vice Versa
- Pro-Arizona Immigration Rhetoric Will Haunt Republicans
- We Are Playing Fidel Castro's Game
- Has the Time Come to Legalize Drugs?
- Venezuela - Colombia Spat to Pass, Return
- Hugo Chavez Might Keep Congress Despite Vote
- Reform Movement in Cuba
- Cuba's Prisoner Release No Sign of New Era
- 'Maradona Syndrome' Bad for Argentina
- Obama Wasting Opportunities in Latin America
- Obama Immigration Speech All Words -- No Action
- Obama Immigration Reform: Tell It to Us Straight
- Obama's Unclear Path to Immigration Reform
- Obama's Border Talk: Little Action
- Mexico: The New Cocaine Cowboys
- Under Santos Colombia Could Rise to the Next Level
- Autocrats' Latest Weapon: Indirect Censorship
- Latin America's Rich Should Be More Generous
- Castrocare in Crisis
- World Cup Soccer Can Have Political Impact
- Gulf Oil Spill Could Bring U.S. and Cuba Closer
- Colombia Vote Showed Social Media's Limits
- New Political Winds in Latin America
- Colombia: Moving Beyond 'Narco-Democracy'
- Is Colombia's Front-runner Too Romantic? Not Really
- Mexico has its own 'Arizona' problem
- Brazil Diplomacy Needed Closer to Home
- Hugo Chavez Ceding too Much Control to Cuba
- Cuban Cardinal Says Too Little Too Late
- The Starving Armenians
- Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law Will Spark Hispanic Exodus
- Open Season on Latinos in Arizona
- Obama Criticism of Arizona Immigration Law Ignores Federal Incompetence
- Mexico's Big Hope: Get 5 Million U.S. Retirees
- U.S. Latin Policy: Big Gestures and Little Substance
- Latin America Must Diversify Trade With China
- Cuba After Fidel and Raul Castro
- Earthquake May Delay Chile's First World Goal
(C) 2010 Andres Oppenheimer