Latin America

Cuba’s ranking in EIU’s Democracy Index

December 16, 2011

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) just released its report Democracy Index 2011: Democracy Under Stress. Per the report: “The index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165 independent states and two territories—this covers almost the entire population of the world and the vast majority of the world’s independent states (micro states are [...]

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Chinese navy hospital ship sails into Havana

October 22, 2011

Via Reuters: Military experts and China watchers say the ship is one of the ways in which the Asian giant is increasing its use of “soft power” to burnish its image and achieve other policy goals such as increased trade and access to raw materials. The Peace Ark was launched four years ago but is [...]

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Resurgence of the coup d’état

October 13, 2011

Joshua Kurlantzick, a Fellow for South-East Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, has an piece in The National on the rise of the coup d’état: Across the developing world, from Thailand to Pakistan, militaries have become more politically powerful in recent years. Indeed, in many Middle Eastern nations, armies will be determining the future [...]

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Russia’s destabilizing foreign policy in Latin America

September 20, 2011

Stephen Blank (professor of national security affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College) in an opinion piece entitled “Russia’s Second Wind in Latin America,” which was published last month, assesses Russia’s foreign policy in Latin America focused on profit, influence, destabilization and anti-Americanism: Russian policy is not driven by Latin America’s views, but by [...]

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China-Latin America military engagement

August 25, 2011

The U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute published today a monograph, entitled “China-Latin America Military Engagement: Good Will, Good Business, and Strategic Position,” that examines Chinese military involvement with Latin America. The monograph’s author’s, Dr. Evan Ellis of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, provides a detailed, region-wide analysis of PRC military engagement with Latin America: While [...]

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Congressional report omits Cuba in drug trafficking

August 17, 2011

The U.S. Congressional Research Service’s 41-page report, “Latin America and the Caribbean: Illicit Drug Trafficking and U.S. Counterdrug Programs,” was released in mid-May of this year. Glaringly omitted from this report is the Cuban government’s complicity in drug trafficking. Cuban intelligence assists traffickers with drug routes. Per the report: Drug trafficking is viewed as a primary threat [...]

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