Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Mosul fighting in Iraq plus other national security stories with Barry Jacobsen


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Mosul fighting in Iraq plus other national security stories with Barry Jacobsen 10/25 by Silvio Canto Jr | News Podcasts:

Guest: Barry Jacobsen, military historian and blogger...........we will look at the latest national security issues of the week.......Iraq and Mossul going on.....Russia and Syria..........National guardsmen in California told to reimburse the state government over a reenlistment bonus.......................and other stories of the week.......


Tags: Iraq 2016 and Mosul To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

Voted pro-life on Monday morning!

They are voting in huge numbers, or at least that's what it appears around here.

I voted Monday at 10 am and I stood in line for a while.   Just saw the line at the library and it is heavy.

What does it all mean?  I don't know but no signs of apathy, as reported in The Dallas Morning News:
North Texas voters appeared eager to cast ballots Monday, the first day of a two-week early voting period.Dallas County shattered first-day early voting records. Nearly 58,350 people voted, county officials said on Facebook. That's compared with 32,512 voters in 2012 and 34,415 voters in 2008.Toni Pippins-Poole, county election administrator, said she wants to watch the trend as early voting continues. "Usually the first couple days are real busy, people are really anxious to get their vote cast," she said. "Typically we know the last three days of early voting really will be a record turnout if we are looking at early voting already 10,000 votes past 2012."

Let's see how it goes.  



Tags: Election 2016 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

We remember Jorge Batlle, former President of Uruguay

Latin America has not enjoyed a season of serious leaders.  

Unfortunately, there's been too much populism and just sheer demagoguery, from the Castros in Cuba, to Chavez in Venezuela or the corruption in Brazil.    

It has not been a time of serious leadership in Latin America.

One serious man died yesterday in Uruguay.   I am talking about former President Jorge Batlle who was 88.

This is from The New York Times obituary:
After another unsuccessful run in 1994, Batlle finally won election in 1999 and took office in 2000.
In 2001, Uruguay was hit by an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that forced the country to suspend all exports of meat, a backbone of the economy. Shortly after that, Uruguay was dragged down by an economic crisis in its neighbor and major trading partner, Argentina.
By 2002, Uruguay's foreign reserves had dived and unemployment reached 20 percent.
Batlle used his good relation with U.S. President George W. Bush to help obtain $1.5 billion in credit to stave off default.
Battle broke diplomatic relations with communist-led Cuba in 2002 after a war of words with Fidel Castro following Uruguay's decision to condemn Cuba's human rights record in an annual U.N. vote in Geneva. Relations were restored in 2005.

Naturally, his presidency was overshadowed by the aforementioned economic crisis.  Nevertheless, he dealt with it responsibly and free of scandal.

It's been a tough period for Latin American politics.    Too many demagogues and not enough statesmen.    

RIP Sr. Batlle, a statesman in our time.



Tags: Jorge Batlle, 1927-2016  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

Chile goes right on the anniversary of Allende’s election


Forty-six years ago, my father and a couple of friends from Chile were monitoring election reports from Chile on the Spanish short wave service of Voice of America. As I recall, the election results went late into the evening and the next few days. In the end, Salvador Allende was elected president in a four-way race. Eventually, the Chilean Supreme Court had to decide because the winner was under 40%.  
It did not take long for Mr. Allende to show his true colors. Allende extended diplomatic recognition to North Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba. He also went after U.S. companies like ITT and Kennecott Copper.  
It did not take long before Chile’s very stable political system fell into a political and economic crisis. Mr. Allende was eventually overthrown by General Pinochet in 1973.   
On Sunday, Chile went to the polls again and the right did well in the regional elections as reported by Reuters:
Chile’s right snatched dozens of mayoralties on Sunday from the governing center-left coalition, in a boost to former leader Sebastian Pinera, the front-runner to lead the conservative coalition in next year’s presidential election.
With over 99 percent of results counted on Sunday night in local elections, the right-leaning Chile Vamos pact emerged as the big winner. It won slightly more votes than President Michelle Bachelet’s left-leaning Nueva Mayoria coalition, despite the left going into the vote with a massive incumbent advantage.
Conservative candidates won the majority of key swing cities, including central Santiago, a municipality inside the capital that is considered an electoral bellwether.
“This reflects that residents are tired of incomplete promises,” the conservative mayor-elect of central Santiago, Felipe Alessandri, told Reuters. “Citizens have made their annoyance at the old practices of politicians clear, and they have made clear that they expect to be listened to.”
We’ve told you before about the Latin American middle class electing President Mauricio Macri in Argentina and in total revolt over the corruption in Brazil. Chile’s results are a huge rejection of President Michelle Bachelet’s efforts to move the country a bit to the left, as Bloomberg reported:  
For many voters, Bachelet has gone too far in her attempts to reform the free-market economic model imposed under Pinochet, as the economy posts the slowest sustained growth in more than 30 years. 
For another group, she hasn’t gone far enough, while many others were disenchanted after a series of financing scandals tarnished the reputation of parties across the political spectrum.
Chile has been the jewel of Latin American economies. In other words, the leftist message does not play well in a country like Chile with a prosperous middle class. I am very pleased with these results because they reinstate our faith in the middle class.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Tags: Chile and 2016 elections To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

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