A working example of the alliance between Left wing causes and Islamism is the relationship between Hugo Chavez and Hezbollah. When the US Treasury Department added two Venezuelans of Middle Eastern origin to the list of specially designated global terrorists, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez immediately denounced it as the opening attempt to bring him before an international court. “Chavez says the United States is using accusations that the Venezuelan government is supporting the Lebanese group Hezbollah to ’see if the world will make a move’ against him.”
The Department of the Treasury named two men, one of whom was actually a Venezuelan diplomat, as being front-men for the Iranian-backed international terrorist organization. The other ran a travel agency, the better to book individuals on visa-less direct flights now shuttling between Caracas and Teheran, with returns via Damascus, Syria. According to a Treasury press release:
Ghazi Nasr al Din is a Venezuela-based Hizballah supporter who has utilized his position as a Venezuelan diplomat and the president of a Caracas-based Shi’a Islamic Center to provide financial support to Hizballah. Nasr al Din served until recently as Charge d’ Affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus, Syria, and was subsequently appointed the Director of Political Aspects at the Venezuelan Embassy in Lebanon. … Ghazi Nasr al Din has met with senior Hizballah officials in Lebanon to discuss operational issues, as well as facilitated the travel of Hizballah members to and from Venezuela.
US officials have reason to suspect that the subject of these “operational issues” meetings was hostile operations by Hezbollah against the US and its allies. It’s no secret that Iran has been trying to establish itself in the Western Hemisphere to attack America. Admiral James Stavridis, head of the US Southern Command expressed the fear in early 2008 that “the connectivity between narcoterrorism and Islamic radical terrorism could be disastrous in this region … Mahmud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, a state that sponsors terrorism … is a very dangerous man and he is in this area of the world … he wants to have an embassy in every country in this region.”
“Narcoterrorism” — with which Hezbollah seeks to ally — in its current form is exemplified by the largest left wing insurgency in the world, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or FARC. The insurgency had traditional Leftist roots and like most of them drifted to drugs. “The FARC was established in the 1960s as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. The FARC originated as a guerrilla movement. The group later became involved with the cocaine trade during the 1980s for the purposes of fundraising, which caused an official separation from the Communist Party and the formation of a political structure it calls the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party.” But to keep up appearances, Marx and Lenin have recently been supplemented by Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian ideology, whose policy of state control over economic activity is explained by appealing to the teachings of Jesus Christ. In a speech Chavez gave while visiting the US he argued that Jesus was the epitome of involvement in class struggle, social justice, and human rights organizations: in short, someone like Hugo himself.
Chavez of course, omitted from his theological discourse all mention of the magic word money, which apparently motivates more armed men than the Sermon on the Mount. After having bought the loyalty of the Venezuelan military by allowing them a free hand in corruption and racketeering, Chavez hoped to cement his domestic and regional political power through oil largesse. Provided the price of oil remains high and enough largesse is distributed, Chavez might well maintain his influence not just upon upon the poor of Venezuela, but also upon the desperados of FARC. In March, 2008, a cross-border raid by the Colombian military against a FARC encampment in Ecuador which resulted in the death of it’s second highest commander provided the first direct proof of social justice in action. The raid netted the FARC commander’s laptop. It contained information suggesting that FARC was not only receiving money from Chavez, but actively planning to traffic in uranium materials to make “dirty bombs” for profit. Chavez’s conception of the teachings of Jesus was very elastic indeed.
communications with other members of the FARC seven-person general secretariat, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, senior Ecuadorian officials, and an outline of the FARC’s political and economic strategy. … it is clear that that FARC received a large sum of money from Chávez in 2007, although it is unclear if the money is a loan or a gift … FARC’s apparent willingness to engage in trafficking of material (uranium) that could be used for a low-grade nuclear bomb. The type and grade of uranium in question indicate the FARC had been the victim of a scam or was planning on perpetrating a scam on an unsuspecting third party.
Certainly the United States has been paying attention to the growing linkages between FARC, Chavez and Hezbollah. Recently, two of the world’s biggest arms dealers, Victor Bout and Monzer al-Kassar were caught in sting operations by the Drug Enforcement Administration for trying to sell weapons to FARC, including surface to air missiles. Both are scheduled to stand trial in New York City. But though some observers, like Gustavo Coronel, see the Treasury ban against the Hezbollah agents working in Chavez’s diplomatic service as the prelude to a serious effort against Hugo, the American efforts may be limited to containment. For one thing, the problem of the narco/Islamic terror alliance is bigger than Chavez alone.
Southcom Commander Admiral James Stavridis’ testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in May (see video part 2/3) described the deep roots of the narcoterrorist challenge in South America; he categorically rated Islamic terror very secondary to the “narcoterrorist” axis itself. While Chavez was the most virulent exponent of Latin American Leftism/Bolivarianism, he was supported by a broad cast of anti-American regional allies. In an earlier press conference, Stavridis used photographs to indicate the enemy coalition.
Stavridis accompanied his comments with a photograph of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad standing alongside Bolivian President Evo Morales. … Stavridis showed another photograph with Morales standing next to presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador…. “Today in Latin America there is a competitive environment for us politically,” Stavridis said, alluding to leftist Venezuela’s growing influence across the region. We need to show why our ideas are better, are sensible (and) will produce good results,” he said, referring to “capitalism, free trade agreements, human rights, democracy and liberty.”
Chavez, Morales and Correa — and in the wings, Cuba — the hemispheric challenge was a large one. Hezbollah has long been aware of South American politics, and has sought to exploit the widespread culture of corruption, racketeering and anti-Americanism to build up its own network. For the moment, the conventional wisdom is that Islamic terrorism will be content to grow in the shadow of Bolivarianism, avoiding direct conflict with the US until it is ready. This assessment is embedded in a recent ABC News report that “intelligence agencies … are warning of mounting signs that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, is poised to mount a terror attack against ‘Jewish targets’ somewhere outside the Middle East” — presumably in Latin America. ABC quoted former CIA intelligence officer Bob Baer as saying “his Hezbollah contacts told him an attack against the US was unlikely because Iran and Hezbollah did not want to give the Bush administration an excuse to attack.” But that emphasized, rather than minimized the long term danger that Hezbollah posed to the Western Hemisphere. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff warned Fox News that Hezbollah was patiently watching and waiting for the right time to strike:
Someone described Hezbollah like the A-team of terrorists in terms of capabilities, in terms of range of weapons they have, in terms of internal discipline. To be honest, they make Al Qaeda look like a minor league team.
Hezbollah was growing, always growing, wherever it could. Even far to the south of Venezuela it was putting down roots among the gangs in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. A US Army Journal noted:
Ambassador Philip Wilcox, former Department of State (DOS) Coordinator for Counterterrorism, testified before the International Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that Hezbollah activities in the TBA have involved narcotics, smuggling, and terrorism. Many believe the TBS’s Arab and Muslim community contains hardcore terrorist sympathizers with direct ties to Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian, Lebanese Shiite terrorist group; Hamas, the Palestinian fundamentalist group; the Egyptian group Islamic Jihad; and even al-Qaeda.
And Hezbollah was establishing roots within Venezuela itself that would outlive the Chavez regime; from business outposts on Venezeuela’s Margarita Island free trade zone to Muslim converts among the Wayuu tribe. While Washington seemingly incapable of strategic patience, Iran through Hezbollah was playing a long and deadly game against America.
Contribute to the Belmont Club.
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
31 Comments
1. Richard Fernandez:One of the quotes from a 1974 movie called the The Marathon Man was “is it safe?” Is it safe to be Jew in New York City, 30 years after the War? According to movie, not if the Nazi Szell is on the loose. But to some extent the more general question is “is it safe” to be a Jew in South America, because having been assured that the world is only against Israel, against Zionism, against the occupation of Palestinian territory — and not against being a Jew in itself — then surely there’s no harm in attending a synagogue in Argenina, now is there?
The interesting thing about Hezbollah’s growth in South America is that it predates 9/11. It comes before Operation Iraqi Freedom. It happened even before GWB — that source of all evil — was elected. So the theory that Iran was somehow recently stung into vengeful action is a little hard to explain.
Maybe the more reasonable explanation is that terrorist organizations, like any other, have an incentive to keep growing. And in their case, to keep killing. It’s what they do after all. And rather than finding excuses to blame ourselves for their murderous activity it might be more useful to conclude that narco-terrorists are motivated by money and nastiness and Islamic terrorists largely driven by the same. Then all that remains is to decide what to do about it.
Jun 25, 2008 - 3:46 am 2. Barry Meislin:So are Chomsky and Finkelstein backing the right horse, finally?
Jun 25, 2008 - 4:07 am 3. Lilith:Apparently, the Bush Administration is content to just put people on no-fly lists when they catch them dealing with the Hezbos, at the same time pursuing an open-border immigration policy so Bush’s good old boys can continue to have cheap migrant labor picking their diseased tomatoes.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control named two well-connected Venezuelans as facilitators of Hezbollah Wednesday. Ghazi Nasr al Din and Fawzi Kan’an, along with two Caracas travel agencies, were put on the [Treasury no-go] list this past week, their assets frozen and businesses prohibited.
Jun 25, 2008 - 4:09 am 4. Richard Fernandez:So are Chomsky and Finkelstein backing the right horse, finally?
No. Simply because none of Chomsky’s heroes are going to deliver the prosperity and freedom that alone can make a winner. On the contrary, their horses are likely to bolt straight to hell, and carry the poor of that continent with them. Cuba didn’t teach them anything and neither will Chavez.
South America has a problem, but it’s root go deeper than the Colossus of the North. They are within its social and cultural structure. The Gringo is chiefly useful for misdirection and as a source of support for anyone who can convince Washington it is the lesser evil.
But like the Soviet Union before it, petroleum-funded radical Islam is likely to make a huge effort in the fertile soil of South America. And just as South American politics was twisted by the Cold War, and everything perceived through its warping prism, there is the danger that the War on Terror will produce a similar distortion. I sometimes wonder whether Islam will put down roots in South America in the same way that Marxist ideas did. It may, if only because apocalyptic ideas are potentially appealing to a certain way of thinking.
Jun 25, 2008 - 4:16 am 5. Richard Fernandez:But the sight of Hezbollah in South America, as with the spectacle of Soviet agents and the Nazis before them, really underscores the folly of imagining that totalitarian ideologies can be contained by ignoring them. If you do not struggle against them on their turf, they will come and struggle against the US in the Western Hemisphere, including Canada. Of course, a great many will continue to believe that apologizing energetically enough and handing out compensation to every extended hand will keep totalitarianism at bay. I am sure it will be tried; perhaps even by the incoming administration.
But it won’t work. In the end militant Islam is a global challenge, like Communism and Nazism before it. You can beat it or be beaten by it, but you can’t ignore it.
Jun 25, 2008 - 4:23 am 6. hdgreene:The most important members of OPEC are the Democrats in Congress. OPEC functions by keeping oil off the market to raise prices. The Democrats in the US Congress have kept far more oil off the Market than any OPEC Nation.
They prefer Tyrant oil to US oil. Even though the money goes into the pockets of anti-American Tyrants — or perhaps because it does. When I hear Democrat members of congress want to nationalize the US oil companies — recreate the amazingly corrupt patronage system of Mexico’s PEMEX in the US, (Peeonus) I really have to wonder.
Jun 25, 2008 - 5:15 am 7. Pseudo-Polymath » Blog Archive » Wednesday Highlights:[...] America and [...]
Jun 25, 2008 - 6:11 am 8. Zenster:Admiral James Stavridis, head of the US Southern Command expressed the fear in early 2008 that “the connectivity between narcoterrorism and Islamic radical terrorism could be disastrous in this region …
As if it weren’t bad enough to have the evil fairy of Spanish colonialism’s looting mentality preside over South America’s birth, the Latin macho mentality just had to go that one better and embrace Marxism. Not to be outdone, this current crop of totalitarian loons is now bedding down with Islam. How many more insanely bad choices are these narcissistic idjits allowed to make before the earth opens up beneath them for an E-ticket ride straight to Hell?
We need to show why our ideas are better, are sensible (and) will produce good results,” he said, referring to “capitalism, free trade agreements, human rights, democracy and liberty.”
And if that doesn’t work, maybe having some of those Venezuelan-bound flights from Tehran getting blown out of the mid-Atlantic sky will help.
South America has a problem, but it’s root go deeper than the Colossus of the North. They are within its social and cultural structure. The Gringo is chiefly useful for misdirection and as a source of support for anyone who can convince Washington it is the lesser evil.
In light of how South America is so ready to embrace Islamic terrorism, it’s pretty safe to say that El Norte Americano will play a similarly misdirecting role as whipping boy that Jews do in the MME (Muslim Middle East).
… a great many will continue to believe that apologizing energetically enough and handing out compensation to every extended hand will keep totalitarianism at bay.
Otherwise known as “feeding the crocodile”.
Jun 25, 2008 - 6:32 am 9. Thrasymachus:Still, a lot of the defeat of Communism occured in Latin America- in the Southern Cone and Central America. Communists there weren’t debated, weren’t opposed, weren’t even fought, no, they were gutted like fish. A few fellow travelers went with them but I can’t muster any tears for them. Rough business but you have to deal with rough people roughly.
Pablo Escobar went from the Saddam Hussein of Colombia to a man completely alone, shot to death on a rooftop in a slum, under an even rougher program. Medellin is now a very pleasant city, with a murder rate lower than Baltimore.
Jun 25, 2008 - 6:35 am 10. Brock:Thrasymachus: aiming for a murder rate “lower than Baltimore” seems a bit like wishing for air quality “better than Los Angeles.” Well, I guess it’s something.
This is sadly very true. They haven’t recovered from the Feudal culture they inherited from Spain, and no doubt elements of pre-Columbian culture are also a part of it. I wonder though if their Catholicism could be their salvation, if someone really took the 10th Commandment seriously at the political level.
A second look at the 6th and 8th would be helpful too.
As a side note, on Blogger I was “Cardozo Bozo.” This is my real name.
Jun 25, 2008 - 8:01 am 11. Juan Paxety:The Iranians are developing missiles with the range to strike Europe. I’m concerned that these same missiles, based in Venezuela, could reach the entire continental U.S., with the exception of the extreme Pacific northwest. plus the major population centers of Canada. It would be much more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis because the Iranians, unlike the Soviets, might not care that we would strike back against them. Or in an Obama administration, return indictments.
Jun 25, 2008 - 8:11 am 12. Alexis:What would happen if there were some kind of reform in the United States with the effect of destroying the American (and perhaps international) market for marijuana, cocaine, heroin, et cetera? The narco-terrorists of South America would be deprived of revenue. The Taliban would be deprived of revenue.
Whether one talks about petroleum or drugs, one of the key problems concerning the fight against the Islamists and their fellow travelers is that they hide within the folds of our own economy. So, beyond any humanitarian motives, it may be necessary to reform our laws and our economy in such a way that our enemies will no longer get funded by the bad habits of North America.
Jun 25, 2008 - 8:50 am 13. Alexis:The Iranian government has a policy of counterfeiting American currency. Given the institutionalized nature of Iran’s counterfeiting activities, it would not seem unreasonable for Congress to issue letters of marque and reprisal for the express purpose of counterfeiting Iranian currency. (Under the Constitution, this is a congressional power, NOT a presidential power.)
Jun 25, 2008 - 8:55 am 14. wretchard:One essential piece of background is Plan Colombia, which was a Clinton-era plan to try and curb drugs and Leftist guerillas. The plan was later extended by GWB. Whether or not the basic approach is sound is an extensive subject in itself.
Jun 25, 2008 - 8:57 am 15. Lilith:Juan: The Iranians are developing missiles with the range to strike Europe. I’m concerned that these same missiles, based in Venezuela, could reach the entire continental U.S., with the exception of the extreme Pacific northwest. plus the major population centers of Canada. It would be much more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis because the Iranians, unlike the Soviets, might not care that we would strike back against them.
It would be less dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis because in 1962 the US and SU were roughly at parity in terms of nuclear weapons, while Iran hasn’t even tested a single warhead, let alone learned to miniaturize them sufficiently to mount on a medium-range ballistic missile.
Jun 25, 2008 - 9:28 am 16. Brock:What would happen if there were some kind of reform in the United States with the effect of destroying the American (and perhaps international) market for marijuana, cocaine, heroin, et cetera?
The same thing that happens to Iran, Hezbollah and Venezuela when bio-diesel hits $20/barrel at scale.
Jun 25, 2008 - 10:19 am 17. Brock:Can we get a “Preview” or “Edit” button?
Jun 25, 2008 - 10:20 am 18. Richard Fernandez:I’m a little bit limited to changes in interface right now. I’ll do what I can as soon as possible.
Jun 25, 2008 - 10:27 am 19. newtland:Is W really going to walk away with the Orks of Islam gathering?
Jun 25, 2008 - 12:30 pm 20. NahnCee:you want to re-elect him for a third term?
wouldn’t *that* cause a few skulls to explode across our country and the rest of the world?
I’m up for it, though, since he’s giving me my fence, and it looks like neither McCain nor Obama have any good ideas about how to bring the price of gas down. One thing Dubya has always been good at is killing terrorists.
Jun 25, 2008 - 12:38 pm 21. Mark:The Tri-border area is home to many Lebanese and other Mideast-folk. They remind me of the Irish in NYC and Boston supporting the IRA (in the past, anyway) or other ethnic groups supporting causes “back home.” You won’t find the locals thinking that their Arab neighbors in Foz or Ciudad are anything other than upright citizens. What goes on behind the scenes, of course, may be support for terrorism. Interesting, though, how little one experiences any semblance of a terrorist network, or whatever it is, when dealing with locals.
Islam in South America? Maybe. But Pentecostal and Evangelical movements in the region are creating a new kind of Christian, with a special attraction to the gospel of prosperity. South American religious experience is taking on something of an ‘American’ characteristic. I’m noting this as a pretty good thing, a corrective to an Iberian, fatalistic, and class-ridden church.
Islam is a handy and supple weapon, as Saddam, numerous Muslim leaders, and now Chavez have discovered or re-discovered.
Jun 25, 2008 - 12:48 pm 22. Al_Batross:An Islamo-Narco technology exchange would be a worrying
thing, as the Narcos have some advanced stuff which we
have not yet seen used in terror attacks, such as semi-
submersibles and surgical implants.
Perhaps the lack of terrorist use of Narco technology is
an indication that the relationship is in fact not very
cordial, the two sides having common vices but different
agendas ?
It is unlikely to be a money problem, as neither side is
short of funds ?
Or maybe Chertoff is right, and it is only a matter of
timing ?
ps Newtland, use the submit button for a preview.
Jun 25, 2008 - 12:48 pm 23. Al_Batross:oooops – “submit” is now “post” ?
Jun 25, 2008 - 12:50 pm 24. Annoy Mouse:“An Islamo-Narco technology exchange would be a worrying
thing”
Let’s look at that for a moment.
Narco-terrorists, what are they trying to achieve? Well they certainly had Marxist roots but it is clear that they need money too, they may well covet money because it can buy things that an ideology can’t offer. The US is a major market for the Narco’s. Who’d want to stir the hive of the US armed forces any more than they already have? I think the FARC are pretty happy with the way things are right now; a vast nether region of Columbia, Equator, and Brazil to practice their brand of separatism and a thriving market in the US for their goods. They need a buffer from their enemies and the tools to maintain it. But they should crave popular support locally more than they need help from abroad to attack the US. And I don’t think the FARC has too much to offer the Islamists. Jungle warfare doesn’t have too much in common with desert warfare and I don’t think Hezbollah has too much to learn from the FARC about IED’s. Purportedly, two IRA operatives were caught trying to train FARC in the use of improvised explosives. It is clear that FARC uses those kinds of attacks to threaten the Columbian government. I have a hard time seeing their aspirations going much further than that.
The Islamo-terrorists on the other hand have a stated desire to attack the US. Every tit-for-tat raises oil prices. The Islamists have the global reach, have financial networks, and have government sponsors. Maybe the grand strategy is to create a network of threats to the US like Iran has successfully arrayed against Israel in the form of a networked terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah and others.
Jun 25, 2008 - 2:12 pm 25. Mark Dobbins:we’ve got to come up with a sensible way to take the profitability out of the drug trade. i don’t know a better way than to create some path towards legalization of this crap. maybe the best of a series of poor alternatives.
Jun 25, 2008 - 2:20 pm 26. j willie:The connection between Islam and Latin America is not that mysterious. The Muslims controlled large parts of Spain before they were eventually “evicted”. That’s a fact. A guess on my part is that they raped religiously and otherwise “embedded” their nomadic cultural practices within those conquered regions. Given that Islam is “the law”, and Arabs have always been notoriously corrupt, the Anglo concepts of jurisprudence never had a hope of making much headway in Spain until after its colonial empire dissipated(if then). As several well-educated and capitalistic-minded Latins (from Venezuela and Argentine) reminded me, the conquistadors did not come to America to build a new way of life; they came merely for “loot”, which they stole from the natives and took back to Spain (or elsewhere). The Spanish, perhaps due to their Moorish lineage, also raped religiously in northern LatAm as a means of controlling the indigenous; in southern LatAm, they simply exterminated ALL the indigenous (no mestizos in Argentina and Chile). In summary, from the very beginning LatAm has been the province of the corrupt and crooked. Wealth was therefore concentrated into the hands of the most ruthless, who remain the gatekeepers for anyone wishing to do business in their “neighborhoods”. For a famous example, see how the Cisneros switched their bottling franchise from Coke to Pepsi over a single weekend in response to Coke unilaterally raising the price of syrup. They did not pay Coke a dime for doing so, and Coke knew better than to think a Venezuelan “court” was going to stand behind Coke’s propery rights. One of the most amazing “fuck you’s” ever and a lesson to be heeded by anyone who thinks they can “own” assets in LatAm countries.
Jun 26, 2008 - 1:33 am 27. Mark:jwillie’s theory would depend on a kind of stealth Islam surviving in Iberia and migrating to South America. A simpler explanation will suffice: colonialists and firms brought indentured workers from Muslim countries. Later, Lebanese and levanters migrated to escape strife in the old countries. These groups are now receiving Islamist bucks. It’s a similar situation in South Africa.
Jun 26, 2008 - 6:52 am 28. someone:“It would be less dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis because in 1962 the US and SU were roughly at parity in terms of nuclear weapons, while Iran hasn’t even tested a single warhead, let alone learned to miniaturize them sufficiently to mount on a medium-range ballistic missile.”
The danger now is that the United States lacks the will, especially if Berry gets elected. 1962 is not 2008. Good for us.
Jun 26, 2008 - 7:32 am 29. Mad Fiddler:Mark, please keep in mind that the Moors ruled the Iberian Peninsula from about 700 A.D. until 1492, the time of El Cíd, Ferdinand & Isabel, etc. Seven Centuries. That’s about SEVEN TIMES LONGER than the mean & oppressive Europeans ruled their colonies in Africa, for comparison.
The Spanish Conquistadors sent to plunder the southern part of the New World had a Seven Hundred Year legacy of struggling with Islamic oppression. Of course we know that Islam in that period allowed Jews and Christians and others to continue living in their society… so long as they paid the Jizzya and submitted to Islamic domination.
Commenter j willie isn’t suggesting the Spanish included Islamic terrorists in their groups, but that their attitudes about their mission and tactics were profoundly pre-figured by their centuries of struggle to reclaim Spain from the Islamic occupation.
Jun 26, 2008 - 11:54 am 30. Steynianism 180 « Free Mark Steyn!:[...] SNUGGLY CUDDLY BADNESS! “A working example of the alliance between Left wing causes and Islamism is the relationship [...]
Jun 26, 2008 - 5:32 pm 31. jwillie:Mark, Mad Fiddler is obviously correct with the facts regarding Moorish rule and also his understanding of the point i intended to make. I did not learn this from any textbook; instead, it was conveyed to me by the general counsel of a large wireless telco in Buenos Aires during a discussion about the reasons Argentine is the only country to go from being a first world country (at the turn of the 20th century, it’s economy was among the world’s 10 largest to a third world country, as well as the differences between it and the northern LatAm countries. He was a fourth generation Argentine of direct Irish descent, with a surname like McGillicuddy (not his real name). He conveyed to me his belief, held by those of a conservative economic bent in Argentina, that the Spanish culture was (and remains) endemically corrupt, and that the Moors are the source of that cultural DNA. As a frequent traveler to LatAm back then, I discussed his notion with others who traveled there from elsewhere, including several who were Australians, as well as local professional from Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, etc. Most had heard that premise and agreed that the Spanish cultural DNA and the lack of immigrants seeking to build a New World (versus looting) lie at the root of the differences in what evolved in North America vs South America.
The same general counsel also pointed out to me that the US, Central America and the northern cone of South America were far kinder to its indigenous popolation than Chile or Argentina when I inquired about the reasons there are so few mestizos there. That’s probably not in the history books anywhere anymore….
Jun 26, 2008 - 10:11 pmSorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.