North America

Changing World

Luis Rubio The way the Morena-party government functions, especially with President López Obrador’s early-morning press conferences, reminds me of an old Russian joke. It was about a peasant farmer whose neighbor saves enough to purchase a goat. The peasant asks God to put right this injustice and God answers, asking the peasant what he wants …

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Consequences

Luis Rubio For every action (force) in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Newton’s Third Law of Motion is similarly applicable to physics and politics. Governments define their objectives and means to achieve them, and the population has to deal with the consequences: …

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False Dilemmas.

Image: Daniels Joffe on Unsplash Luis Rubio Alexander Pope, a XIX-century English poet, penned the phrase “fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Mexico’s relationship with the United States is, was, and will be complex and variegated as long as Mexicans do not resolve the fundamental problems of their own development, which would presumably …

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Mexico’s Economy, Second Semester 2021

Image: Arie Wubben on Unsplash In a civilized country, campaign slogans translate into objectives, public policies, and government programs composed of specific projects duly budgeted and scheduled with clearly defined targets. Their results are measurable to evaluate if the particular objectives were accomplished. It does not happen in Mexico. One of AMLO’s main slogans was …

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Whither Thou Goest?

Photo: Dave Meckler on Pexels Luis Rubio Three years into a government with clarity of purpose but without more of a project than that of imposing it dogmatically, flatly, and without looking back. The circumstances are changing, but the president sticks to his path without concern for the consequences. Wasn’t that what the president himself …

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Development

Image: Eti Ammos on iStock Luis Rubio The objective, as the president tells Mexicans once and again, is regime change. However, his true mission is, to judge by his actions, to concentrate power and eliminate any opposition or counterweight source. Perhaps this would be a new regime as the president promised, but that is certainly …

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The Strategic Lessons Unlearned From Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan: Why the Afghan National Security Forces Will Not Hold, and the Implications for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan

M. Chris Mason The wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were lost before they began, not on the battlefields where the United States won every tactical engagement but at the strategic level of war. In each case, the U.S. Government attempted to create a western-style …

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The Umpire

Photo: Nathan Shively on Unsplash Luis Rubio The function of the umpire in constitutional matters is that of breaking the ties among the other branches of government. In recent years, with the legislature in control of the executive, the sole guarantee of political and institutional stability has resided on the Supreme Court of Justice; but …

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Inequalities

Image: Wildpixel on iStock Luis Rubio Inequality is one of the most powerful grievances and complaints that President López Obrador has raised, which enlivens many in his base. There are good reasons for that, which does not mean that the president is advancing toward their diminution: rather, everything he does has seemed to be oriented …

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