SHAME ON YOU!! MR ANDRES OPPEMHEIMER - Part 3

The following is my last comment to the concepts and proposals expressed by Mr. Oppenheimer in his “Memo to Bush” published by the Miami Herald on March 04.
Gentleman:

Following on my second comment to your imaginary memo addressed to Mr. Bush let me further expand my thoughts about the proposals you include in that document.

Proposal # 1: …”The ''Hemispheric Bio-fuels Initiative'' that you are scheduled to announce in Brazil, under which the United States and Brazil will jointly develop ethanol production in Central America and the Caribbean, is a good start. It should help Caribbean Basin countries reduce their oil import bills and start exporting ethanol to the United States”….
The following questions are the first thing that came to my mind when I first read this proposal in your “Memo to Bush”.

Can you seriously believe that a person with long and ever increasing family ties to the oil industry would honestly advocate a policy to substitute oil for bio-fuels?

Do you really expect that the President’s close collaborators, all of whom come from high positions in the oil industry and most likely will return to work for the oil industry at the end of their tenure (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc.) would support such a policy?

You really have to be naïve or an accomplice in a well thought scheme to undermine bio-fuels to believe that the above is even possible and, having said this, I can not help but to wonder which of the two better describes your position Mr. Oppenheimer.

While I will concede that the above mentioned questions raise doubts about Mr. Bush’s bio-fuels initiative based on a biased pre-judgment of his real intentions, the answer to the following question provides an un-avoidable and most objective conclusion.

SHAME ON YOU! MR ANDRES OPPENHEIMER - Part 2

For quite some time I have been following the articles of Mr. Andres Oppenheimer who writes about Latin American politics at the Miami Herald.

While I disagree with many of his concepts and certainly never expected him to be absolutely objective it was a surprise for me to see him come out of the closet in his last article, Memo to Bush, and align himself with the feverish and most conservative forces of our political establishment; The same forces that represent and promote everything that has been wrong with our foreign policy in the region.

I feel compelled therefore to comment and expose the manipulative concepts and proposals expressed in this ill conceived imaginary letter.

The following is my second, out of three, comment to the concepts and proposals expressed in that letter.

Gentleman:

Following on my first comment to your imaginary memo addressed to Mr. Bush and published in the Miami Herald on March 04 let me further expand my thoughts on the proposals you include in that document.

The main problem with all your proposals, over and above the fact that they are not well thought, is the underlying implicit policy in which they are based on.

From the reading of your letter it is clear that you advocate for the continuation of a foreign policy in Latin America based on slogans, false speeches and welfare but no realistic long term solutions to the problems of the region. This, even though it is clear that those problems have already started to affect us and have the potential, God forbid, of causing very real national emergencies in the US.

This, without even considering the Geo-economic challenges in the uncertain years to come that most likely will force us to raise Latin America to the category of vital ally.

You seem to believe that the old speech, “People of this country; I bring a message for you” is good enough for a foreign policy as long as you give away some cash to back it up.

SHAME ON YOU! MR ANDRES OPPEMHEIMER - Part 1

For quite some time I have been following the articles of Mr. Andres Oppenheimer who writes about Latin American politics in the Miami Herald.

While I disagree with many of his concepts and certainly never expected him to be absolutely objective it was a surprise for me to see him come out of the closet in his last article, Memo to Bush, and align himself with the feverish and most conservative forces of our political establishment; The same forces that represent and promote everything that has been wrong with our foreign policy in the region.

I feel compelled therefore to comment and expose the manipulative concepts and proposals expressed in this ill conceived imaginary letter.

The following is my first comment to the concepts and proposals expressed in that letter.
Gentleman:

I am glad that you are not an advisor or even someone who Bush listens to; if he indeed listens to anyone.

I am sad though to find out the limited scope of your strategic vision towards Latin America and certainly in awe at the stereotypes you portray and the ridiculous, to say the least, concepts expressed in your letter.