1,148 research outputs found

    To the Girls I Liked in Middle School/To the God I Claim to Love

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    Second Long Eternity

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    Chinese Advances and Setbacks in Colombia

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    In June 2017, the leadership of the Pacific Alliance will pass from Chile to Colombia, ushering in a year in which the later has the opportunity to reshape and inject new dynamism into, the block’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the rest of Asia. As in other parts of Latin America, Colombia’s relationship with the PRC in recent years has advanced in important, but uneven ways, largely beyond the attention of policymakers and scholars in the United States. Among Latin American countries, Colombia’s engagement with the PRC is particularly complex: Colombia enjoys a close security relationship with the United States, which could potentially impact and be impacted by Colombia’s commercial and military cooperation with China. On the other hand, despite important U.S.-Colombia economic ties, Colombia is not economically bound to the United States to the same extent as are geographically closer states such as Mexico and the countries of Central America. Beyond its relationship with the United States, Colombia’s economy includes substantial urban markets such as Bogota, Medellin Cali, Cartagena, and Barranquilla, as well as important primary product industries including petroleum, making the country attractive to Chinese investors. On the other hand, the country also has a well-developed, yet insular, manufacturing sector which often views Chinese companies as a threat, and which (although fragmented), is politically well-connected through a web of familial networks, facilitating resistance to attempts by Chinese companies to enter that market

    The Coming Struggle for the Spine of Latin America

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    This essay analyzes the multiple, simultaneous challenges and electoral processes currently affecting the situation and political-economic orientation of nations comprising the Pacific Rim, or spine, of Latin America. It examines the likely collapse of the trans-pacific partnership, the uncertain future of the Pacific Alliance, upcoming presidential elections in the next two years in Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico, and another phenomenon, to conclude that the combination of these factors produces the possibility for significant change in the political and economic orientation of the region in the coming two years. It argues that such change, in combination with initiatives by the People's Republic of China toward the region, could impact the commercial regime that links Asia and the Western Hemisphere, and indirectly, the security of the United States and the Region. The article recommends that decision makers in the U.S. and the region give more attention to the transformative potential of these dynamics in the short to medium term, and work to preserve the neo-liberal, democratic, pro-US orientation of these countries that are key to the future of the region

    Marigold Tuppence

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    A short story (that is past the maximum wordcount but Katie said I could do it) about a 70-year old man insisting the neighbor\u27s young new babysitter is his girlfriend who he watched die when he was 18

    Scenarios for the future of Venezuela

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    The future of Venezuela depends on a myriad of factors, the nation’s future will be less shaped by the ability of the opposition to negotiate with the regime, but rather, by the unfolding of the current debt default, the associated decision of the military if or when to force a regime change, and the posture of the nation’s two principal financial backers, China and Russia, as the crisis unfolds

    To Those I May Never See Again

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    Five Poems about the poet\u27s relationship with God, people, obscure sci-fi concepts that inspired Halo

    Answering a Question in Class

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    Honduras: A Pariah State, or Innovative Solutions to Organized Crime Deserving U.S. Support?

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    Since his election in 2013, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has made significant changes in the strategy and institutions of the country in combating the interrelated scourges of organized crime and violent gangs, which have prejudiced Honduras as well as its neighbors. Principal among these are the creation of a new inter-agency structure, de la Fuerza de Seguridad Interinstitucional Nacional (the National Inter-Agency Security Force [FUSINA]), integrating the military, police, prosecutors, special judges, and other state resources to combat organized crime and delinquency in the country. More controversially, he has created a new police force within the military, the Policía Militar del Orden Público (Military Police of Public Order [PMOP]), which has been deployed both to provide security to the nation’s principal urban areas, Tegucigalpa, Comayagüela and San Pedro Sula, and to participate in operations against organized crime groups. In the fight against narcotrafficking, he has advanced a concept of three interdependent “shields”: 1). An air shield to better control Honduran airspace, enabled by January 2014 enabling the shoot-down of suspected drug flights and the acquisition of three radars from Israel to support intercepts by the Honduran air force; 2). A maritime shield, with new naval bases on the country’s eastern coast, and new shallow-water and riverine assets for intercepting smugglers; and, 3). A land shield, including enhanced control of the border with Guatemala through the Task Force “Maya Chorti.” Beyond FUSINA, the Hernandez administration has also sought to reform the nation’s national police, albeit with slow progress. It is also reforming the penitentiary system, dominated by the criminal gangs MS-13 and B-18. The new security policies of the Hernandez administration against transnational organized crime and the gang threat, set forth in its Inter-Agency Security Plan and “OPERATION MORAZÁN,” have produced notable successes. With U.S. assistance, FUSINA and the Honduran government dismantled the leadership of the nation’s two principal family-based drug smuggling organizations, the Cachiros and the Los Valles, and significantly reduced the use of the national territory as a drug transit zone, particularly narco flights. Murders in the country have fallen from 86.5 per 100,000 in 2011, to 64 per 100,000 in 2014. This monograph focuses on the evolution of the transnational organized crime and gang challenges in Honduras, the strategy and structures of the Hernandez administration in combating them, associated challenges, and provides recommendations for the U.S. military and policymakers to support the country in such efforts.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1421/thumbnail.jp

    Indian and Chinese Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Comparative Assessment

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    This monograph comparatively examines the content and country focus of high-level diplomacy for each of the two actors, as well as the volume and patterns of trade, the activities of Indian and Chinese companies in the region, and their relationship to their respective governments in eight sectors: (1) petroleum and mining; (2) agriculture; (3) construction; (4) manufacturing and retail; (5) banking and finance; (6) logistics and port operations; (7) technology such as telecommunications, space, and high technology; and, (8) military sales and activities. This monograph finds that Indian engagement with the region is significantly less than that of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and concentrated on a more limited subset of countries and sectors. In the commercial and military sector, it finds that the efforts by the Indian government to support their companies in the region are generally more modest and less coordinated than those of the PRC. Nonetheless, despite such limitations, the nature of Indian companies and their engagement with the region create opportunities for significant advances in the future, in a manner that is relatively well received by Latin American governments and societies.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1415/thumbnail.jp
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