iHaveNet.com
Obama's U.N. Omission: The War Next Door | Latin American Current Events
Online Breaking News Headlines Single Source to Headlines Breaking News Current Events Top Stories. Find out what is happening in News & the World. Check out iHaveNet.com for the latest news & current events articles plus Movie Reviews, Wolfgang Puck Recipes, NFL Previews Analysis and Politics. Your Single Source to News Articles, Current Events & Reviews.
  • HOME
  • WORLD
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Balkans
    • Caucasas
    • Central Asia
    • Eastern Europe
    • Europe
    • Indian Subcontinent
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • North Africa
    • Scandinavia
    • Southeast Asia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States
    • Argentina
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Benelux
    • Brazil
    • Canada
    • China
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Hungary
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Ireland
    • Israel
    • Italy
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Mexico
    • New Zealand
    • Pakistan
    • Philippines
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • South Africa
    • Spain
    • Taiwan
    • Turkey
    • United States
  • USA
    • ECONOMICS
    • EDUCATION
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • FOREIGN POLICY
    • POLITICS
    • OPINION
    • TRADE
    • Atlanta
    • Baltimore
    • Bay Area
    • Boston
    • Chicago
    • Cleveland
    • DC Area
    • Dallas
    • Denver
    • Detroit
    • Houston
    • Los Angeles
    • Miami
    • New York
    • Philadelphia
    • Phoenix
    • Pittsburgh
    • Portland
    • San Diego
    • Seattle
    • Silicon Valley
    • Saint Louis
    • Tampa
    • Twin Cities
  • BUSINESS
    • FEATURES
    • eBUSINESS
    • HUMAN RESOURCES
    • MANAGEMENT
    • MARKETING
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • STOCK MARKETS
    • Agriculture
    • Airline
    • Auto
    • Beverage
    • Biotech
    • Book
    • Broadcast
    • Cable
    • Chemical
    • Clothing
    • Construction
    • Defense
    • Durable
    • Engineering
    • Electronics
    • Firearms
    • Food
    • Gaming
    • Healthcare
    • Hospitality
    • Leisure
    • Logistics
    • Metals
    • Mining
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Newspaper
    • Nondurable
    • Oil & Gas
    • Packaging
    • Pharmaceutic
    • Plastics
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Shipping
    • Sports
    • Steelmaking
    • Textiles
    • Tobacco
    • Transportation
    • Travel
    • Utilities
  • WEALTH
    • CAREERS
    • INVESTING
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • REAL ESTATE
    • MARKETS
    • BUSINESS
  • STOCKS
    • ECONOMY
    • EMERGING MARKETS
    • STOCKS
    • FED WATCH
    • TECH STOCKS
    • BIOTECHS
    • COMMODITIES
    • MUTUAL FUNDS / ETFs
    • MERGERS / ACQUISITIONS
    • IPOs
    • 3M (MMM)
    • AT&T (T)
    • AIG (AIG)
    • Alcoa (AA)
    • Altria (MO)
    • American Express (AXP)
    • Apple (AAPL)
    • Bank of America (BAC)
    • Boeing (BA)
    • Caterpillar (CAT)
    • Chevron (CVX)
    • Cisco (CSCO)
    • Citigroup (C)
    • Coca Cola (KO)
    • Dell (DELL)
    • DuPont (DD)
    • Eastman Kodak (EK)
    • ExxonMobil (XOM)
    • FedEx (FDX)
    • General Electric (GE)
    • General Motors (GM)
    • Google (GOOG)
    • Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
    • Home Depot (HD)
    • Honeywell (HON)
    • IBM (IBM)
    • Intel (INTC)
    • Int'l Paper (IP)
    • JP Morgan Chase (JPM)
    • J & J (JNJ)
    • McDonalds (MCD)
    • Merck (MRK)
    • Microsoft (MSFT)
    • P & G (PG)
    • United Tech (UTX)
    • Wal-Mart (WMT)
    • Walt Disney (DIS)
  • TECH
    • ADVANCED
    • FEATURES
    • INTERNET
    • INTERNET FEATURES
    • CYBERCULTURE
    • eCOMMERCE
    • mp3
    • SECURITY
    • GAMES
    • HANDHELD
    • SOFTWARE
    • PERSONAL
    • WIRELESS
  • HEALTH
    • AGING
    • ALTERNATIVE
    • AILMENTS
    • DRUGS
    • FITNESS
    • GENETICS
    • CHILDREN'S
    • MEN'S
    • WOMEN'S
  • LIFESTYLE
    • AUTOS
    • HOBBIES
    • EDUCATION
    • FAMILY
    • FASHION
    • FOOD
    • HOME DECOR
    • RELATIONSHIPS
    • PARENTING
    • PETS
    • TRAVEL
    • WOMEN
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • BOOKS
    • TELEVISION
    • MUSIC
    • THE ARTS
    • MOVIES
    • CULTURE
  • SPORTS
    • BASEBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • COLLEGES
    • FOOTBALL
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • OLYMPICS
    • SOCCER
    • TENNIS
  • Subscribe to RSS Feeds EMAIL ALERT Subscriptions from iHaveNet.com RSS
    • RSS | Politics
    • RSS | Recipes
    • RSS | NFL Football
    • RSS | Movie Reviews
Obama's U.N. Omission: The War Next Door
Andres Oppenheimer

HOME > WORLD

 

While virtually all headlines from the United Nations General Assembly in New York focused on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, there is another conflict that is going almost unnoticed despite the fact that it is causing many more deaths: the drug-related wars in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.

To my surprise, in his speech at the General Assembly's opening session, President Obama talked at length about Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Cote D'Ivorie -- about almost every major conflict, except the one right next to the United States.

I happen to like what Obama said about most of these issues, including his reminder to the world that Israel's security concerns, as a country surrounded by neighbors that have invaded it repeatedly and that still allow terrorists to throw rockets at its cities, are legitimate.

But it felt odd that Obama didn't mention the words drugs, cartels, organized crime, or Mexico even once in his U.N. speech, ignoring a war that has caused nearly 40,000 deaths in Mexico alone over the past five years -- much more than all recent Middle Eastern uprisings -- and that is becoming one of the biggest hurdles to economic growth in the region.

According to United Nations Development Program estimates, Latin America is one of the most violent regions in the world, with an annual average of 25 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Last year, 18,000 people in Central America were murdered, forcing governments to spend $4 billion on security issues, a 60 percent increase over what they had spent four years earlier, the UNDP said.

Predictably, one of the few presidents who raised the issue was Mexico's Felipe Calderon.

Minutes after Obama's references to the tyrants who are repressing civilians in Iran, Libya, Syria and other countries, Calderon said that "we have to be aware that organized crime is killing more people than all dictatorial regimes together right now: tens of thousands of people in Latin America are dying because of these criminals."

Calderon said that the drug cartels are becoming more powerful than many governments thanks to their fabulous profits from drug sales, and because they are getting easy access to heavy weapons from across the U.S. border.

What is the solution? First, the United States and other big arms-producing countries should set up stronger controls to keep powerful weapons from ending up in the hands of the drug cartels, Calderon said. Second, drug-consuming countries should reduce the demand for drugs, he said.

Stopping very short of endorsing drug legalization, Calderon suggested that if efforts to reduce U.S. and European drug consumption fail, drug-consuming nations should "seek other options, including market alternatives, to stop drug traffickers from continuing to be the source of violence and death."

Rafael Fernandez de Castro, a professor at Mexico's ITAM university who until recently served as a top adviser to Calderon and is conducting a UNDP study on violence in Latin America, told me that despite the Obama administration's 2009 public recognition that the United States shares responsibility for Mexico's drug violence, not much has changed.

"The U.S. strategy hasn't changed: it continues largely based on interdiction in Mexico and Central America, which means waging the war south of its border," he said. "Unless we do something fast, this is a cancer that will destroy our democracies."

My opinion: Obama had good reasons to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Iraq and Afghanistan, but he made a big mistake by omitting the war next door. It is a bloody conflict that, in addition to leaving a huge death toll, is becoming the biggest obstacle to economic growth in the region by draining government resources away from education and health, scaring away investments, and killing tourism.

There are many things Washington can do, including cracking down on U.S. semi-automatic weapons sales, starting a serious discussion on whether legalization of marijuana would help free up resources for reducing consumption of harder drugs, and -- as suggested in a Foreign Affairs magazine article by Mark Kleiman -- refocusing anti-drug efforts to crack down on violent drug traffickers, rather than fighting indiscriminately against all drug traffickers.

Instead of ignoring reality, Obama should place Latin America's drug wars among the top issues on the world agenda and come up with a more meaningful, multination strategy.

 

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

 

Twitter: @ihavenet

 

  • Hard Facts: The World Is Getting Better
  • United Nations Can't Save the Oppressed, But It Can Give Them a Voice
  • Obama's International Outsourcing
  • Radical Islamist Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki Killed in Yemen
  • Anwar Al-Awlaki's Death Major Victory For Counter-Terrorism
  • United States Gaze Turns to Uzbeks
  • Fiscal Union for the Euro: Some Lessons from History
  • German Parliament Approves Hike in EU Loan Guarantees
  • Preparing for Greece's Failure
  • Despite Austerity Measures Greece Will Still Miss EU Budget Cut Targets
  • Greece Working to Convince EU it Can Meet Austerity Demands
  • Greek Parliament Approves New Property Tax
  • Greeks to Face Further Tough Measures
  • Albania's Unsettled Past
  • Balkans Summit Extols Regional Co-Operation
  • Erdogan Pushes for Common Future with Balkan States
  • Turkey's Sinking Lira Defies Soaring Economy
  • Kukan: Dialogue Not Barricades
  • Arab Spring Turkish Harvest
  • Iran at a Crossroads
  • Iran's Support of Syria Is Backfiring
  • The Mottled Relationship: Iran and Latin America
  • Is It a Mistake to Draw Solace From Iran's Long Bomb Gestation Period?
  • Arab Spring Added Pressures to Middle East Peace Process
  • Israel Accepts Quartet Proposal to Resume Peace Talks
  • Blocking Palestinian Statehood
  • The Occupation That Time Forgot
  • Israeli Parliamentarians Call for Annexation of West Bank
  • U.S. Congress: Standard Bearer for Israeli Expansion
  • Michele Bachmann 'Blames' Obama for Arab Spring
  • Saudis Tussle Over Textbook
  • Saudi Arabia Grants Women Limited Right to Vote
  • Egypt Eyes New Arms Suppliers
  • Saleh Return Deepens Crisis In Yemen
  • Other Leaders Should Copy Brazil's Anti-graft Measures
  • Obama's U.N. Omission: The War Next Door
  • The Drug War Spreads the Bloodbath South
  • Mexican Cartels and Pan American Games: A Threat Assessment
  • Mexico: Death by Social Media
  • Big Agriculture's Latin American Exploits
  • Is Free Trade Good for Colombia
  • China in Search of Energy Security
  • Cuba's Domestic Reforms Surge Past Immobilized United States
  • Fears Over Environmental Affects Prompt Court To Halt Mega-Dam Project
  • Bolivian Workers Strike to Protest Controversial Highway
  • Afghanistan is Obama's Gordian Knot
  • Why Are Pakistan's Militant Groups Splintering?
  • Questions Raised About Haqqani Network Ties with Pakistan
  • Russia Strives to Clarify Vision for Central Asian Alliance
  • Azerbaijan Faces Difficult Choice Between Turkey and Israel
  • Azerbaijan Wrestles with Iranian Predicament
  • In Post-Soviet Central Asia Russian Takes Back Seat
  • Stabilizing Congo
  • The Balkanization of Somalia
  • Refugees Still Vulnerable in Southern Kordofan
  • Al Shabaab Attacks Kill 16 at Key Somali Border Town
  • Is Africa New Breeding Place for Terrorism?
  • Somali Media Press on with Work Despite Deadly Challenges
  • China-Indian Trade: Smoothening the Rough Edges
  • The Survival of North Korea
  • The 'Orchid Revolution' in Singapore
  • Counterinsurgency and 'Op Sadhbhavana' in Jammu and Kashmir
  • Indian Foreign Policy in Search of a Balance
  • Philippines Struggles After Two Typhoons
  • Typhoon Nesat Death Toll Rises to 20
  • Obama's Dilemma: Foreign Policy and Electoral Realities
  • The Theology of Armageddon
  • Why Al-Qaeda Won
  • Anti-Globalization Movement Endures
  • WikiLeaks: The Game Changer
  • Israel's Truths and Omissions on Vote for Palestine State
  • How to Save Israel and the United States from Themselves
  • Obama's Middle East Dilemma
  • Palestinian Leader: Obama Wrong to Take Israel's Side
  • Israeli Settlers: Never Shy About Taking Law Into Own Hands
  • Israel: The Cost of Arrogance
  • For Israeli Tycoons: New Strings Attached
  • Israeli Innovation on Display
  • Saudis to United States: You're Sleeping on the Couch Tonight
  • Over 5,000 Killings In Syria Since March
  • Iran Arrests Six for Supplying Information to BBC
  • Iran: Naval-Gazing More Political Than Military
  • Oman Assisting United States to Release Hikers in Iran
  • Al-Jazeera: You're Not Alone
  • Controversial Comeback For Egypt's Emergency Laws
  • Turkish PM Erdogan Encounters Two Egypts on Historic Visit
  • Turkey: Violence Casts Pall Over Constitutional Reform Efforts
  • Turkey: How Much of a Safe Haven for Political Dissidents?
  • Turkey's Neo-Ottoman Foreign Policy
  • Libya to Have a New Government within 7-10 Days
  • Libya Could Break Up Like Somalia
  • Libya and the Bully Problem
  • The Difficult Bit: The Arab Spring After Libya
  • Middle East and North Africa Face Shortfall of Affordable Homes
  • Lean Season Awaits Migrants Escaping Libya
  • Kenya: NCDs and HIV Fight for Limited Resources
  • Kenya: Thousands of Children to be Immunized Amid Polio Outbreak
  • Horn of Africa Migrants Beaten, Deported, Imprisoned
  • Rights Groups Report on Somalia Downplayed
  • Congo Refugees Unwilling to Return Home
  • The New Scramble for Africa
  • Japan's PM Must Quell China's Fears About His Nationalism
  • Fukushima Evacuees Slam Compensation Requirements
  • Nuclear Data Feared Stolen in Hacks of Japanese Sites
  • Second Lovers' Shooting Hits Largest Philippine Mall Operator
  • Aquino Off to U.S. for Open Government Partnership Launch
  • Aquino Orders Imprisonment of Former Philippine Military Comptroller
  • Timeline of Australian Asylum-Seeker Debate
  • Australia's Military Capabilities Up in the Air
  • Islamist Rampage Blamed in Bangladesh Riots
  • United States to Help Bangladesh Combat Bird Flu
  • Indian Earthquake Prompts 'Wake-Up Call'
  • Germany and the US: Toward a 'Special Relationship'?
  • Britain - Russia: Beyond Politics
  • Central Banks Lend Dollars to European Banks
  • Eurozone Pushes Greece to Speed Up Economic Reforms

 

Copyright 2011, Tribune Media Services, Inc.

 

Share / Recommend

Search Powered By Google

Google Search   

ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT

Job & Career Search

career & job search                    job title, keywords, company, location
  • HOME
  • WORLD
  • USA
  • BUSINESS
  • WEALTH
  • STOCKS
  • TECH
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • SPORTS

World - Obama's U.N. Omission: The War Next Door | Global Viewpoint

  • Services:
  • RSS Feeds
  • Shopping
  • Email Alerts
  • Site Map
  • Privacy