Foreign Policy Blogs

The Americas

Chomsky on Latin America and U.S. Decline

Chomsky on Latin America and U.S. Decline

Noam Chomsky, more prolific as an author of books than op-eds, recently published an essay on HuffPo titled “The Imperial Way.” In it, he argues:
In the past decade, for the first time in 500 years, South America has taken successful steps to free itself from western domination, another …

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How to Win Large Contracts in BRICS Nations: Follow the French

How to Win Large Contracts in BRICS Nations: Follow the French

Dassault Aviation is well known for being the firm that lead France’s military export push since its inception in the late 1940s. The formation of several state aviation companies tasked with rebuilding France’s air force and civil aviation infrastructure after the Second World War re-engaged France’s great tradition in aviation …

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Venezuela After Chavez

Venezuela After Chavez

What will Venezuela look like after Hugo Chávez’s reign? Given the secrecy surrounding Chávez’s cancer status and the growing popularity of Henrique Capriles, Chavez’s rival in the October 7 election, the question is more relevant now than anytime since 2003.
Last week Wikistrat, a geostrategic consulting firm I am associated with, …

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Haitian Carnival Rediscovered its Radiance, Smiles and Colors

Haitian Carnival Rediscovered its Radiance, Smiles and Colors

With the second anniversary of the earthquake in the rearview mirror, Haiti’s grand cultural celebration resurfaced triumphantly through Jacmel’s mesmerizing launch of the 2012 Carnival season, though not without political drama.
Newspaper Le Matin called it a true popular jubilation and an explosion of madness. Radio Kiskeya reporters witnessed “a massive …

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Plotting Out North America’s Shale Boom

Plotting Out North America’s Shale Boom

Two weeks ago Wikistrat launched a simulation on North America’s energy bonanza. In case you’re wondering, Wikistrat is a firm that relies on a six-continent wide arsenal of analysts to stake out geostrategic scenarios, and the scope of its simulations are equally broad, at least at the start. …

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BRICS and Investment: Emerging Markets and Frontier Markets Going for Gold

BRICS and Investment: Emerging Markets and Frontier Markets Going for Gold

Brazil has been affected in recent weeks by suggestions of a slow down in Brazil’s usually hot economy. Inflation in China also has received some attention. The result was that some market studies have been done on the BRICS and emerging economies showing that countries like Mexico, South Africa and …

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Carlos Slim and Telecommunications in Mexico

Carlos Slim and Telecommunications in Mexico

Carlos Slim is well known in Latin America and abroad as one of, if not the wealthiest CEO in the world. He was even mentioned on the Colbert Report this past week introducing him to the American public as someone who’s net worth trumps that of Mitt …

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Haiti: Occupy Haiti (II) – Earthquake Anniversary Series!

Haiti: Occupy Haiti (II) – Earthquake Anniversary Series!

Part two
Please, read part one here first: Occupy Haiti (I)
Armageddon, two years on…
Reconstruction year 2012…
“There was hope that the quake would bring an opportunity to break the country’s fatal cycle of struggle, catastrophe and indifference,” wrote the AP’s Jonathan M. Katz on the …

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Great Decisions 2012 – The U.S. and Mexico

Great Decisions 2012 – The U.S. and Mexico

While the eyes of the American public are often turned toward the Middle East or Asia on foreign policy matters, America’s interaction with Mexico is perhaps the most ingrained foreign policy relationship. The Foreign Policy Association (FPA) emphasizes this partnership in its 2012 Great Decisions Television Series, aired by PBS. …

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Is Latin America Confident for All the Wrong Reasons?

Is Latin America Confident for All the Wrong Reasons?

Latin America’s technocrats spent the second half of 2011 on mushy footing, unsure what effect the euro zone crisis might have on the region and afraid that China might experience a “hard landing.”
Now some of the region’s wonks are expressing more confidence. “Latin America has never been better equipped to …

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Brazil’s Women Leaders on Top of the World

Brazil’s Women Leaders on Top of the World

The way to become a top CEO in Europe or the US has often come from societies that promoted the top achievers in schools and universities into positions of great influence and great wealth. With hard work and luck a person of normal means could often get into high positions, …

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Is Cuba Part of Obama’s “Long Game”?

Is Cuba Part of Obama’s “Long Game”?


For those who have not yet read Andrew Sullivan’s Newsweek piece on Obama, published this past week, take note: it should be required reading for all U.S. voters as the country continues its journey toward the 2012 presidential election. Self-identified as a conservative-minded independent, Sullivan …

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Haiti: Occupy Haiti (I) – Earthquake Anniversary Series

Haiti: Occupy Haiti (I) – Earthquake Anniversary Series

Part one
Armageddon, two years on….
Haiti’s conventional image rarely extends beyond succinct summations of a corrupt, dangerous, impoverished and unstable place plagued by a litany of tragedies: man-made and nature-engineered. Perhaps then, it should surprise no one that the tarnished image prevailed, even two years after the cataclysmic devastation.
The reconfigured political …

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FPA Comments On: “Mexico’s Drug War: Not Another Colombia”

FPA Comments On: “Mexico’s Drug War: Not Another Colombia”

This week COHA.org writer Natalia Cote-Munoz produced a great piece comparing and contrasting Mexico’s current drug war with Colombia’s historical drug conflict in order to differentiate between policies that should be applied to the two countries. Often parallels are depended upon in discussing the two countries and their internal drug …

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Dilma’s Dangerous Idea

Dilma’s Dangerous Idea

In an article for the Economist’s “The World in 2012,” President Dilma Rousseff argues for “the Brazilian model” to be emulated by other developing countries. The essay rightly emphasizes Brazil’s record in poverty alleviation and environmental issues. At times though, Rousseff sounds off cue. For example, she writes:
We should all …

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Senior Blogger

Melissa Lockhart Fortner
Melissa Lockhart Fortner

Melissa Lockhart Fortner is Senior Programs Officer for the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles. From 2007-2009, she held a research position at the University of Southern California (USC) School of International Relations, where she followed developments in Mexico and in Cuba through current events analysis, and analyzed broader Latin American trends. Her research considered the rise and relative successes of Latin American multinationals (multilatinas); economic, social and political changes in Central America since the civil wars in the region; and Wal-Mart’s role in Latin America. Melissa is a graduate of Pomona College, and currently resides in Pasadena, California.

Areas of Focus:
Embargo; Cuban Society; Human Rights