Thursday Feb 19: ISIS and other national security issues of the week with Barry Jacobsen.............. http://t.co/GAE5NLnX0L
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) February 19, 2015
Wednesday: US-Cuba talks, Argentina and other US-Latin America issues..... http://t.co/myXOa8ePtP
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) February 18, 2015
"The initiative, dubbed the Alliance for Prosperity and included in President Obama’s proposed budget, represents almost three times more funding than what the region typically gets in aid from the United States.It’s an investment worth making.“Compared to what we give globally, to less strategically important places given the fact that migration issues come from these countries, it’s a fantastic step forward,” notes Jason Marczak, a Latin America expert at the Atlantic Council.The plan takes a comprehensive approach and focuses on development assistance with three major objectives: to provide greater economic opportunities to Central Americans, to strengthen public institutions and governance in the region, and to ensure the safety of its citizens.In other words, the aid initiative doesn’t just focus on supporting police and military, like other big Latin American aid packages such as Plan Colombia and the Merida Initiative.This plan intends to tackle conditions on the ground, including issues like community-based violence, the lack of rule of law, and the high levels of inequality and poverty."
"What the West really needs to take on the Islamic State is... a jobs program.That's what a top State Department spokeswoman suggested when asked in a TV interview Monday night about what the U.S.-led coalition is doing to stop the slaughter of civilians by Islamic State militants across the region."We're killing a lot of them, and we're going to keep killing more of them. ... But we cannot win this war by killing them," department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on MSNBC's "Hardball." "We need ... to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it's lack of opportunity for jobs, whether--"At that point, Harf was interrupted by host Chris Matthews, who pointed out, "There's always going to be poor people. There's always going to be poor Muslims."Harf continued to argue that the U.S. should work with other countries to "help improve their governance" and "help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people."She acknowledged there's "no easy solution" and said the U.S. would still take out ISIS leaders. But Harf said: "If we can help countries work at the root causes of this -- what makes these 17-year-old kids pick up an AK-47 instead of trying to start a business?""
Tuesday Feb 17: "No go zones" in European cities plus other issues from Europe http://t.co/tb2bpSPaef
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) February 17, 2015
1) Where were the police?2) Where were the firetrucks?
"The jihadist attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French magazine known for lampooning Islam, has cast a spotlight on so-called no-go zones in France and other European countries.No-go zones are Muslim-dominated neighborhoods that are largely off limits to non-Muslims due to a variety of factors, including the lawlessness and insecurity that pervades a great number of these areas. Host-country authorities have effectively lost control over many no-go zones and are often unable or unwilling to provide even basic public aid, such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services, out of fear of being attacked by Muslim youth.Muslim enclaves in European cities are also breeding grounds for Islamic radicalism and pose a significant threat to Western security.Europe's no-go zones are the by-product of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged Muslim immigrants to create parallel societies and remain segregated from -- rather than become integrated into -- their European host nations.The problem of no-go zones is well documented, but multiculturalists and their politically correct supporters vehemently deny that they exist. Some are now engaged in a concerted campaign to discredit and even silence those who draw attention to the issue.Consider Carol Matlack, an American writer for Bloomberg Businessweek, who recently penned a story -- entitled "Debunking the Myth of Muslim-Only Zones in Major European Cities" -- in which she claims that no-go zones are nothing more than an "urban legend" that is "demonstrably untrue." She then goes on to ridicule those who disagree with her.The American cable television channel Fox News has also issued at least four apologies for referring to Muslim no-go zones in Europe, after one commentator erroneously claimed that the entire city of Birmingham, England, was Muslim. Had he simply said that "parts" of Birmingham are Muslim, he would have been correct.Despite such politically correct denials, Muslim no-go zones are a well-known fact of life in many parts of Europe."
Feb 16: A few thoughts about Cuban history, the 2016 elections and Argentina http://t.co/8AOMMip8Dk
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) February 16, 2015
"Once they had the sly James Carville, fondly known as “serpenthead.”Now they have the slippery David Brock, accurately known as a snake.Brock fits into the Clinton tradition of opportunistic knife-fighters like Dick Morris and Mark Penn."
Sunday Feb 15: The week in review with Bill Katz of Urgent Agenda http://t.co/uYMfxkunQG
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) February 15, 2015