I watched the national news on TV last night - not much, not even enough to sit down. Just standing I saw enough in twenty seconds: Trumpets blaring and banners flying about the extradition of Fabio Ochoa. But that's not the news. The news that I expected was simply that this story was big news. After months and months of practically No News from Colombia - as usual, no pictures - suddenly, This is news. Clearly, it's to prepare harried Americans who are busy looking for jobs for the big buildup in Colombia that's to begin after Powells trip next week. Gotta show we're winning, show that it's all worth it.

But the fact is that all the famous and violent cartel bosses from the eighties and early nineties, those who survived, have been retired for five years:

The extradition of reputed drug boss Fabio Ochoa to Miami - seen as a victory for U.S. drug agents - won't put a dent into the world's flourishing cocaine trade, Colombia's top anti-drug lawman said Saturday.
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread10861.shtml

But there's another story, a much bigger one, coming from Colombia that we havn't seen on TV:

Others critics, including a Colombian senator and the head of Pastrana's Conservative Party, have gone even further by calling for the legalization of drugs.
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/10/thread10838.shtml

Last week, Colombian Sen. Viviane Morales even introduced a bill to legalize the production and sale of heroin and cocaine. Though the measure has been given little chance, it sparked a nationwide debate, and several public figures endorsed the idea
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/10/thread10751.shtml

The movement, favoring a reduction or elimination of criminal penalties for people involved in the drug trade, is rapidly gaining support from mainstream opinion-makers
and high-powered Colombian politicians, although few are willing to predict whether it will produce any marked change in the war on drugs.

"The problem is that the law of the marketplace is overtaking the law of the state," former President Ernesto Samper said in an interview. "We have to ask, is legalization a way out of this?
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/10/thread10752.shtml

It's that pesky L-word again, the one you can't say on TV. Because it's bringing down the whole house of cards. And the G needs a big war now before it's too late, before the phony excuse for the whole world's drug war disappears by popular demand and there's nothing left to fight, no more guns for dope, no more money for the CIA launderers, no more Bush cartel.

http://www.drugwar.com/cv15.htm

Please note: this was written in December of 2000. Many of the predictions that were made in this article havealready happened, and many of the predicted behaviors of 'our' elected officials have been seen to occur.

"For President "W" to get his nominees approved there will be a great deal of back room barter. More than one or two cabinet posts will go to the democrats as concessions and to keep up appearances that the government still holds legitimacy. The Republicans will, of a certainty, retain close control of State, Treasury and Justice. Less certain however, is the Department of Defense which may go to a Democrat like retired Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia. The rationale for this is that a massive war in Colombia is an absolute economic necessity for Wall Street corporations backing both sides. Do not expect Bush cronies like Richard Armitage and Ted Shackley to be placed in nomination for key posts because a 50-50 Senate would not confirm them. Also do not expect President "W" to be a bully with Cheney's Senate tie-breaking vote too soon. The real tie-breaker in the Senate will be the Federal Reserve and Wall Street.

This lack of governmental authority will allow major corporations and campaign donors to deal directly with cabinet Secretaries for their "feeding" purposes. It will also permit multi-national corporations pushing for WTO, globalization, and in close alliance with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to operate virtually unfettered as they parade their international efficiencies against the arthritic remains of a once powerful central government. Expect Social Security to be raided before the 2004 elections in response to a massive recession.

Recession
It is important to understand that a recession is not a depression and that major corporations do not always suffer when recession or inflation comes. People suffer. A few day upsurge in the Dow Jones industrials or the beleaguered NASDAQ does not mean that everything is fine. As reported by the conservative Salomon Smith Barney an estimated $4.2 trillion dollars were wiped off of the value of stocks on the various US exchanges from March through mid-November. According to The New Federalist whose political philosophy I disagree with but which has excellent factual economic reports, this amount is, "equivalent to Japan's entire annual Gross Domestic Product. Poof!" This money has gone poof but only after it has gone into the pockets of corporations and brokerage houses where it remains - at least at the levels it was invested at. And, as FTW (the group From The Wilderness at http://www.copvcia.com/) has been telling you for years now, trillions of new dollars are needed to keep the structure from collapsing. I happen to agree that a recession, that may well become a very deep one, is already here and that it will put many people out of work.

(Again, I repeat, this was in December of 2000. Scary how bang on target this is, no? But the 'best' is yet to come...)

In August, two noted Russian economists Oleg Grigoriyev and Mikhail Khazin, writing in Russia's Exspert Magazine (and reported by Eric Baronov in The Washington Insider) predicted a global economic collapse beginning in November, 2000. They have bee right thus far. Using hard numbers they established a precise correlation between the current U.S. economy and that of the late 1920s and then unabashedly observed that the way the US economy avoided a crash in 1998 after the Asian markets tanked was by resorting to the artificial mechanism of blowing up Kosovo. In this way Grigoriyev and Khazin agree with what FTW has been saying for some time - that the imminent war in Colombia is essential to prevent a total meltdown. They also agree with FTW that a lack of South American support for Plan Colombia augurs an increasingly profitable role for the Euro in the soon to be war torn continent.

The Russian economists also predicted two things which we find very interesting in light of current events. First, they predicted that WTO would eventually fail as the world regressed into feudal protectionist economies and they also predicted that the "financial oligarchy" would do everything possible to maintain control over the political parties until after the election. This would be to prevent disclosure of how weak the economy actually is and how large fourth quarter losses are really going to be. Isn't it interesting to note that the results of the election have been delayed until well after the normal reporting period for quarterly earnings?

In August, two noted Russian economists Oleg Grigoriyev and Mikhail Khazin, writing in Russia's Exspert Magazine (and reported by Eric Baronov in The Washington Insider) predicted a global economic collapse beginning in November, 2000. They have been right thus far. Using hard numbers they established a precise correlation between the current U.S. economy and that of the late 1920s and then unabashedly observed that the way the US economy avoided a crash in 1998 after the Asian markets tanked was by resorting to the artificial mechanism of blowing up Kosovo. In this way Grigoriyev and Khazin agree with what FTW has been saying for some time - that the imminent war in Colombia is essential to prevent a total meltdown. They also agree with FTW that a lack of South American support for Plan Colombia augurs an increasingly profitable role for the Euro in the soon to be war torn continent.

If the government had an ounce of decency, it would stop what it is doing in Colombia-RIGHT NOW.

But I thought we've been assured that Latin America is Not Vietnam.

If it's Not Vietnam, then why do we need to be reassured that Saigon is Not Falling?

Eh?

So, ol' Colin is gonna pat the natives on the head, softly speak some kind words to settle their rumps, so that they'll wriggle all over like good little puppies on the Yanqui leash, and the US can go back to the really important work of making the world safe for corporate globalism?

Somehow, I don't believe it will be quite that easy. There's a storm brewing down there. A big one. You think we're hurting because of this global recession? What do you think is happening to the family of the poor shmuck who already had a hard time keeping his kids fed on what little he made...before he lost his job...or was kidnapped...or was killed?

I keep saying this to the point that I can't blame you if you're bored to tears by it...but never mess with people who have nothing left to lose. We just had a tatste of the reason why with the Crosslin Incident. Multiply that by several orders of magnitude, and you'll realize just how dangerous the situation is in South America. People with nothing left to lose are more dangerous than anything you can think of...because they can think.

They can see what the Yanqui DrugWar is doing to them. They see their leaders thinking they can hide behind the skirts of the US and ram US-inspired RAND corporation think-tank bilge down their throats with impunity...and they grow less patient and more angry by the day. That whole region is a fusion bomb waiting to go off.