Two days ago @arpiel posted a link to an interesting (and provocative) piece of independent journalism about USAID’s links to Bolivia’s anti-Evo opposition.

Over the weekend, a crowd of MAS supporters attacked the home of Bolivia’s former vice president & indigenous leader, Víctor Hugo Cárdenas. Cárdenas, then leader of MRTK, was vice president under Goni (1993-1997). At the time, MRTKL was the largest of the katarista parties—though it never won more than 2-3% of the national vote in any given election. Still, Cárdenas is often credited w/ putting Goni’s campaign “over the top,” as well as for initiating a new “multicultural” period of Bolivian politics.

A reader sent along this idea: 12 “required” books for science majors (via Pleiotropy). That spurred me to make a quick list of 12 “required” books for political science majors.

I just got back from a short mini conference at American University on various issues involving multiculturalism in democracies.

In the past several weeks, Evo’s government has become more aggressive towards Washington: In short order, the US ambassador, USAID, and the DEA were expelled from the country. The Peace Corps left on its own, but it too was a target of anti-US rhetoric. In response, the White House decertified Bolivia’s anti-narcotics efforts & threatened to end Bolivia’s favorable trade relationship (which threatens thousands of Bolivian jobs). Clearly, US-Bolivian relations are at a low point.

Should a US elected official travel to a foreign country for a self-described “warm” & “friendly” meeting w/ the leader of a state (a military dictator, mind you) who had only a few years earlier orchestrated a September morning terrorist attack on US soil (Washington, DC) that killed American citizens? In the age of the “war on terror,” that’s an interesting question. Especially if the elected official was there to express his support for that leader, not to condemn him.

If you’re interested in how the world sees the US presidential contest, The Economist has a “Global Electoral College projection based on online voters in foreign countries. Not surprisingly, it has Obama up (8,957 to 31). Surprising, however, is that one of the three countries where McCain leads is Cuba (the others are Georgia & Macedonia).

If you’re interested in techpolitics: The recent issue of Wired has a great article on Egypt’s Facebook-based democratization movement. It’s worth a look.

A little thought popped into my head during last night’s presidential debates. And I’ve been unable to let it go. It has to do w/ the question of what is the most pressing issue facing the US as it moves deeper into the 21st century.

In my American Foreign Policy class, I’ve been trying to impress on the students the impermanent (and historically recent) nature of US global hegemony. That’s why rather than starting the course w/ the postwar period (when the US emerged as a superpower), we started w/ the 1898 Spanish American War (arguably when the US emerged as one of the “great powers”). That starting point allows me to challenge the conventional wisdom many undergraduates have about the US & its role in world affairs.

Today’s Washington Post story about Sadato Ogata & the Japan International Cooperation Agency is particularly appropriate. As of today, JICA is the world’s largest bilateral aid organization. After acquiring a government bank, it is now 2½ larger that USAID.

Putin met w/ Chavez to announce that Russia will loan Venezuela $1 billion dollars to purchase arms (Venezuela has already spent $4bn on Russian arms recently).

There are signs that calm & order may be returning to Bolivia after several tumultuous days. In the aftermath of more than a dozen dead, 30+ injured, and as many as 100 missing in Pando, the government is seeking to reestablish control. There are still some blockades throughout parts of the media luna, as well as worrying signs of sporadic confrontations. But the volume of such confrontations has greatly diminished. These are optimistic signs.

After deadly clashes between pro-MAS & opposition forces in the department, Evo has declared a state of siege in Pando. The order bars public meetings of any kind, the carrying of weapons, and imposes a curfew. Meanwhile military forces mobilized to restore order in the media luna departments. In addition, Bolivia’s military issued a statement condemning Chavez for suggesting that Venezuela might intervene militarily. In Santa Cruz, a women’s march in front of the Venezuelan consulate called for the removal of foreign presence (there have long been rumors of Venezuelan troops in Bolivia, including their involvement in the government raid on Viru Viru airport a year ago).

A year ago, friend & fellow Bolivian blogger Eddie Evila (of Barrio Flores) launched a project to help encourage more blogs from Bolivia—specifically in less affluent areas (his project started in El Alto).

Fallout from the capture of a FARC leader’s laptop in Ecuador a few months ago is starting to have some (predictable) fallout in Bolivia. Today’s La Razón has a series of articles on relationships between FARC & Bolivian groups.

A number of discussions about Bolivian politics (or any political discussion, really) often hinge on such vague concepts as “social justice” (there are numerous others, of course). I think a number of people have a very specific idea in mind of what they mean by this, but haven’t stopped to articulate it. Unfortunately, this often leads to assumptions that those who disagree w/ us must, by definition oppose “social justice.”

I’ve been meaning to post a note about my objections to the use of the term “race” when discussing Bolivian social politics (I prefer the term “ethnicity”). A brief report in today’s La Razón provides a great starting point: The Qhara Qhara “nation” was “reborn” yesterday.

If you’re in the Dickinson area, you may want to check out the next installment of our Latin American Studies spring speaker series. Anthropologist Steve Striffler (University of Arkansas) will speak on “Colombia, Coal, and Transnational Labor Solidarity.” The focus is on the effects of coal mining on indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.

Fidel Castro has (finally) stepped down, officially. I’m not sure what that actually means for US policy towards Cuba, Cuba’s policy towards the US, or international relations more generally. After all, unlike Generalissimo Franco, Castro isn’t dead. Castro is instead scheduled to resume writing his political column full time. But I’m hopeful that this will mean a transition to some form of democracy—and w/ it, a more rational US-Cuban relationship.

In an interesting (though not entirely surprising) political turn, Evo has been reigned in by his own supporters (the organizaciones de base). Only days before, Evo had publicly struck out against the Santa Cruz autonomy movement (which is steamrolling forward), claiming that his supporters were willing to use force if necessary, then calling on the military & “social bases” to mobilize.

There’s been some discussion about a recent ABC News report that a Fulbright scholar in Bolivia was asked to “spy” on Venezuelans & Cubans in Bolivia (to be precise: to report if he had seen any, who, and where) during his mandatory security briefing.¹ I’ll refer to the discussion at Gringo Tambo (a group blog of primarily ex-Fulbrighters who study Bolivia).

When did this kind of power-grabbing come back en vogue?

Yes, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez wants to have indefinite reelection for president (but not for governors or mayors) in the new constitution. Seems pretty consistent for that administration. Bolivia’s Evo Morales wants indefinite reelection for presidents (but not for prefects or mayors—why does this sound so familiar?) put in that new constitution as well. So does Ecuador’s Rafael Correa.

Last month, I posted some reflections on 9/11 & the question of “the American idea” (though I didn’t use that exact expression). This month, The Atlantic celebrated 150 years w/ a series of contributions from writers, artists, poets, and other public intellectuals. They were asked to contribute something (either in writing or in art) on “The Future of the American idea.” It’s worth a look.

Reason’s Jesse Walker provides some interesting advice on how to win the Nobel Peace Prize along w/ a roundup of past winners.

That said: Congratulations to Al Gore. The environment sure needs someone to save it, regardless of why or how.

Camilla Toulmin, in an essay in openDemocracy, raises some interesting questions for Al Gore about his position on global climate change. In particular, she raises questions about (and the implications of) Gore’s narrow focus on a US (rather than international) audience. It’s certainly worth a look.

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PS. Camilla Toulmin is director of the London-based International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED).