February 2008 Archives

William F Buckley, Jr, a former CIA spook who went on to become the unrivaled dean on American conservatism, passed away yesterday at the age of 82. I've posted some thoughts on his legacy over at Backyard Briefing, along with a greatest-hits compilation of his writing about Latin America.

I've posted an article over at Political Climate eying the situation in Gert Town, a run-down New Orleans neighborhood that for decades has been plagued by environmental problems and contamination from a disused chemical plant. Last fall, local officials declared that the plant's former site had finally been cleaned up - but local residents aren't so sure:

While the site itself may now be safe, locals fear that neighboring blocks may have been left dangerously polluted by open-air mixing processes that routinely sent clouds of toxic dust billowing across the neighborhood. “You couldn't set on your porch, you couldn't be outside,” one longtime resident told the Living On Earth radio show. “It’d strangle you.” Recent tests by the Natural Resources Defense Council suggest that Katrina’s floodwaters may have made the situation even worse, swirling toxic slurry from the plant across the neighborhood.

The EPA’s own testing suggests locals are right to be concerned: Soil samples show DDT derivatives at 3.8 times acceptable levels, and Dieldrin at almost 40 times the safe limit. Other chemicals – Endrin, Endosulphan, and the termite killer Chlordane – were also found in dangerously high concentrations. So far, though, officials have refused to clean up anything but the plant itself, arguing that pollution levels on neighboring blocks aren’t high enough to affect residents’ health.

Read more here.

Back in the 1990s, Canada was a model of environmental good behavior; lately, though, that's all gone out the window. I've posted about the country's downward spiral at Plenty's Political Climate blog:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper once promised to make Canada a “green energy superpower." Sadly, he seems to have rethought his position since oil-sand processing became commercially viable; these days, his administration routinely fails to enforce existing environmental laws and regulations. Meanwhile his environmental minister, John Baird, this week dismissed out-of-hand calls for a national carbon tax, and moved to ban government scientists from speaking to journalists in an attempt to stem the flow of embarrassing stories about his agency’s failings.

But ignoring this problem isn’t an option: Alberta’s energy lobby says it will treble tar-sand production over the next decade. The way things are going, Canada’s problems are only going to get worse: Canadians need to hold their leaders accountable, and demand real solutions to their country’s burgeoning environmental crisis.

More here.

Fidel Castro has finally formalized his long drift into retirement -- I've posted some thoughts over at Comment is free:

Castro's drift to the sidelines ... clears the way for tentative social and political reforms. So far, Raúl has struck a relatively conciliatory tone toward the US and has given the appearance of wishing to edge away from his brother's absolute intolerance of political dissidence. The number of political prisoners in Cuba has gradually dwindled since Raúl took the reins, and his administration has even encouraged public criticism of its policies. It's not yet clear whether this is a genuine shift toward greater political freedom, a safety valve intended to obviate the need for more sweeping reforms or merely Havana's Hundred Flowers moment. Either way, these tentative first steps are a sign that Raúl and the party cadres have a plan for the future and won't be crying uncle simply because Fidel has begun cashing his pension checks.

That's a jab in the eye for George Bush, who'd assumed that regime change would be the inevitable consequence of Castro's departure. That certainty bred complacency: rather than reaching out to the next generation of Cuban leaders, Bush stuck to a more-of-the-same Cuba policy, continuing to serve up the economic sanctions and confrontational rhetoric that for decades have only bolstered the Castro regime.

Fidel has seen nine US presidents come and go and made no secret of wanting to add Bush to that list. But while Fidel may not have outlasted Dubya, he certainly outfoxed him. The smoothness of the handover of power in Havana has left the White House's Cuba policies looking dated, clumsy and ineffectual.

Read the whole thing here.

Undercover footage of cattle being mistreated at a California meat-processing plant has led to calls for tougher regulation of the industry. I've posted some details over at Political Climate:

For animal rights activists, the videos were a propaganda coup to make Peter Singer proud, guaranteed to push at least a few queasy carnivores into vegetarianism. But it didn’t stop there: This week, the plant was forced to issue America’s largest-ever beef recall, admitting that over 143 million pounds of meat had been produced in violation of Agriculture Department regulations.

It emerged that for at least two years plant workers had ignored rules intended to prevent the spread of Mad Cow Disease, slaughtering ailing cattle - known in the trade as “downers” - and processing them for human consumption. That’s illegal and dangerous - and the recall doesn’t help much, since the affected beef has probably already been eaten.

More here.

It's been two years since Evo Morales took over as president of Bolivia. He's had a bumpy ride - I've written a piece for Comment is free looking at his successes and failures:

Evo's significance as Bolivia's first indigenous president can't be overstated. He's brought countless marginalised Bolivians back into the political process, giving them a voice they'd been denied by previous governments. But so far he's governed with the same take-no-prisoners attitude that propelled him up the ranks of the cocaleros, Bolivia's mostly-indigenous coca growers.

That made sense when he was leading beleaguered farmers in a struggle to defend their livelihood. But Morales is now leader not of a trade union but of a bitterly divided nation, and he needs to find ways to bring everyone - even his opponents - back into the fold. In the past two years, Evo has shown that he can fight for the poor. Now he needs to prove that he can deliver socialism without sacrificing peace, stability or democracy.

Read more here.

I wrote the Today's Papers column for Slate today; with Super Tuesday looming all eyes are on the primary battle. Check it out here.