Peace Off.

Strange reasoning by one of the Guardian's* many enthusiasts for Latin American Marxists, not the former KGB agent Richard Gott this time, but a Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman who argues that Obama could earn his Nobel prize if he does a number of things** including:

And Obama should rethink his approach to continental security (cancelling, for instance, Plan Colombia)

Plan Colombia is the US effort to fund train the Colombian security forces, ostensibly to fight the Drug War, but in reality to deal with all the security issues. I'm not a supporter of the War on Drugs, but I do support funding efforts to help democratic countries defeat terrorists. Anyhow since the launch of Plan Colombia (and the election of Alvaro Uribe as President) Colombia's murder rate has plummeted as peace has broken out throughout much of the country.

So in order to earn his Nobel, Obama should reverse a policy that has actually brought some degree of peace.

* I used to critique Guardian articles a lot because it is the country's most prominent left wing publication. Nowadays it is just because I read it more than other newspapers because their web presence is actually far better than any of their competitors.

** He also urges Obama to leagilise "the situation of millions of undocumented Latino workers, tearing down walls instead of erecting them." IMHO anyone using the euphemism "undocumented workers" is acknowledging that being honest and calling them "illegal immigrants" knows that their argument can't stand on its merits.

Stockholm Syndrome

This could be the next Yvonne Ridley in the making.

Killing Terrorists Is A Surprisingly Good Counter-Terrorism Strategy

In the 1990s the idea took hold that terrorists were just misunderstood and you had to negotiate with them to solve the underlying problems. This approach has proved disastrous in many countries with armed groups being given space to commit more and more terrorism. In the last three or four years a new approach to defeating terrorists has enjoyed immense success in Colombia, Sri Lanka and Iraq. Instead of talking to them you kill them, it turns out that far from breeding more terrorists, the whole 'being killed' thing really puts off potential recruits.

As this excellent WSJ article from bret Stephens puts it:

When military strategies fail – as they did in Vietnam while the U.S. pursued the tactics of attrition, or in Iraq prior to the surge – the idea that there can be no military solution has a way of taking hold with civilians and generals eager to deflect blame. This is how we arrived at the notion that "political reconciliation" is a precondition of military success, not a result of it.

{via Centre Right}

'Protection'

In Richard Gott's latest article the former paid KGB stooge, writes:

Land devoted to growing cannabis, coca and poppies has grown five-fold since the 1960s, and the Farc found new support by offering its protection to rural workers on these plantations.

That's awfully good of FARC, protecting all those poor workers. It seems to be a stock euphemism of his, since in a previous article he wrote:

Land in Colombia devoted to growing cannabis, coca and poppies has grown fivefold since the 1960s, and the Farc has long provided protection to the rural workers on these plantations, as well as exacting tribute from the drug barons.

Using almost the exact same phrase to absurdly misrepresent a situation several months apart is very strange. Writers tend to express similar ideas in different ways in order to keep it fresh, the fact that Gott is repeating himself suggests to me that these are talking points he has agreed to propagate. It wouldn't surprise me if he is back on the payroll of a foreign government.

War What's It Good For?

Whilst I'm on the subject of western leftists who have man crushes on Latin American demagogues, there is this article about US involvement in Latin America particularly Colombia and Ecuador, by someone called Hugh O'Shaugnessy. He asks:

The incident, in which at least 21 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) were killed, has had international repercussions. What use are armies in a region like Latin America?

The answer is in the question, killing marxist terrorists is a pretty good use of an army.

The Joy Of 21st Century Socialism.

Regardless of Wikipedia's many failings it is an invaluable resource when it comes to presenting uncontroversial information in a format that is user friendly and free. Wikipedia's list of countries by homicide rate is a case in point because governments (including our own) often like to release that information in a format that is incomplete and difficult to make use of for casual browsers. I'll come to the British murder rate next week, but have a look at the new world leader for homicide- Venezuela which has overtaken the likes of South Africa, Jamaica and its next door neighbour Colombia.

If you compare the figures for Colombia and Venezuela over the last decade you can see the difference competent and honest leadership makes, bear in mind that the Socialist demagogue Hugo Chavez took office in 1999 and the much demonised Alvaro Uribe in 2002. The murder rate for each county is per 100 000 people.

Year: Colombia Venezuela

1995 66.0 23
1996 67.8 25
1997 63.3 19
1998 56.6 22
1999 58.6 20
2000 62.7 37
2001 64.6 40
2002 65.8 49
2003 51.8 59
2004 44.6 45
2005 39.3 42

It shouldn't really be a surprise by now that when leaders come to power preaching revolution that you should start preparing the body bags.