Colombia’s hard work should not be ignored

A spectacular view of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, from the mountains

I found this report surprising. According to British analysts, Colombia is ranked number 6 on a list of countries that are considered to be the most “at risk” for terrorism:

Colombia ranks 6th on the Terrorism Risk Index, released annually by British risk analyst Maplecroft. According to the company, the Andean nation is one of 16 “extreme risk” countries.

Countries with highest terrorism risk Somalia (4) Pakistan (3) Iraq (1) Afghanistan (2) Palestinian Occupied Territory Colombia (8) Thailand (9) Philippines Yemen Russia

According to Maplecroft, the Terrorism Risk Index (TRI) is developed “to enable organisations to identify and monitor terrorism risks to human security and international assets. The index uses data from June 2009 to June 2010 to assess the frequency of terrorist incidents and the intensity of attacks, which includes the number of victims per attack and the chances of mass casualties occurring. It also includes a historical component assessing the number of attacks between 2007 and 2009 and looks at whether a country is at risk from a long-standing militant group operating there.”

Colombia rose two places compared to last year’s TRI, when the country ranked eighth.

Colombia has had many struggles, but I think this report might be skewed…after all, as many of the commentators point out in the feedback section, most of the people who conduct these reports sit behind a desk and crunch numbers, as opposed to actually visiting the countries they are researching and seeing it for themselves. There’s no question that the epicenter of the drug war has moved north, into Central America and Mexico, yet none of these countries are on the list. Perhaps it is because there are no destabilizing political movements, like the FARC, in these countries. However, the drug cartels have been using a number of tactics that can be found right out of the Al-Qaeda playbook — beheadings and car bombs – and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico’s most wanted man,  has replaced the infamous Pablo Escobar as the world’s most powerful drug lord. Not to put down Mexico’s fight against drug trafficking (President Felipe Calderon has scored some major successes in the last few months, while his country’s economy is looking better than America’s) but if Colombia is considered to be at risk, Mexico and Central America should be as well.

Bogotá and Medellin, Colombia’s two largest cities, have evolved from scenes of running gun battles and bomb blasts to popular tourist destinations with exciting culture. Colombia is a role model in the fight against drug cartels and insurgencies. Its struggles still exist, but its accomplishments are not to be ignored.

How to destroy a democracy

Last month, when John Stewart and Stephen Colbert held the “Rally to Restore Sanity”, I found myself in strong agreement with their message that all of us, regardless of our politics, should find a way to have legitimate disagreements without hatred. The rally attracted a crowd that tilted significantly left of center, at least for the most part. It’s a shame the attendees used the event to promote their ideology, as opposed to actually taking the time to listen to what the organizers were saying.

That ideology is out in full force right now and unfortunately it is engaged in all-out assault on moderation as a rather ghastly and dishonest story about Sarah Palin takes center stage. After Tuesday’s artillery barrage on South Korea by its tortured neighbor to the north, Sarah Palin criticized President Obama’s handling of the crisis, but made a slip-up by stating that the United States should stand with its “North Korean allies”.  She corrected the gaffe shortly after, but this has not stopped a rabid tirade from her enemies, particularly the American far-left, from boiling over. They claim it “calls her foreign policy experience into question” and that it proves she is unfit for command.

Okay…so the former Alaska Governor made a gaffe, so what? Most politicians do. Before I started writing this post I lost a friend on Facebook because he became angry when, after posting a news story about Palin’s statement and laughing it up with other hateful commentators, I pointed out that President Obama once said that there are 57 states in America. He blew a fuse — deleting my comment and subsequently, me. Facts became irrelevent, and I was saddened to see that his ideology meant more to him than the truth. If Palin is unfit for command because she knows nothing about the Korean Peninsula, then how on earth can a man who doesn’t even know how many states are in America be fit to lead it? Let me note that I certainly give President (then candidate) Obama the benefit of the doubt when he made this statement…clearly it was just a misworded slip of the tongue. But Sarah Palin’s enemies do not reciprocate, so they resort to silencing those who point out painful realities — as I found out with my friend.

This story is a distraction from the serious problems we are facing and highlights the hatred that can and will tear America apart one day. In the run-up to the elections earlier this month, those of us who paid attention were forced to bear witness to the hateful, evil words of a New Hampshire Democratic Activist, who joked about how it would have been good if Sarah Palin had been on the plane that crashed and killed former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens recently. Just imagine the outrage if Republicans and Sarah Palin had wished death on President Obama at the hands of a suicide bomber in Indonesia or India…sort of like the so-called “antiwar” types who mocked Dick Cheney when a Taliban Fedyeen blew himself up outside of Bagram Air Base as the VP arrived for a meeting, killing dozens of Pakistani truck drivers instead.

We don’t seem to see that though. Bill Maher has said that in recent years, the left moved to the center and the right moved into a mental institution. Hardly so. There is a lot of anger brewing in America right now, and more often than not it is led by the American far-left, not the right. Don’t get me wrong…there are crazy people on all sides, but it is the far-left that openly fantasizes — all the way up to candidates for elected office — about the deaths of its opponents, including Palin, Cheney, and Bush. This should be scary to everyone, but it should be especially unnerving to those who pride themselves on being liberal.

They might want to go into the basement and change a few fuses, before anger and a fiery hatred of legitimate debate burns our democracy to the ground. Over the years, America will change demographically, economically,  and culturally, in addition to a myriad of others. But the one thing we must never lose is our democracy and our willingness to debate with each other for a better tomorrow.

Israel and Indonesia should have diplomatic relations

I read this in the Wall Street Journal during a slow afternoon in the news studio. Israel should not be beyond criticism of its actions, but Indonesia is just as guilty when it comes to the subject of “occupation”. I say its time for these two countries to develop diplomatic relations and work together in confronting terrorism, while politely looking for ways to improve their images of each other.

In recent weeks, Indonesia has endured a tsunami and volcanic eruption. On the positive side, it has a booming economy, a vibrant democracy and a welcoming investment climate. And because this Muslim-majority country has a long tradition of religious moderation and secularism, it serves as a model, or rebuke, to much of the rest of the Islamic world.

So what did President Obama talk about upon arriving in Jakarta yesterday? Israeli construction projects.

Why Mr. Obama chose to pick this fight from the distance of Southeast Asia is anyone’s guess. Israel’s decision to proceed with the building of some 1,000 housing units in the Har Homa neighborhood of municipal Jerusalem—a “settlement” only in the most jaundiced sense of the term—was made in October. Israeli governments of both the right and left have encouraged similar building projects since Jerusalem was reunified in 1967. And construction of the new housing will not begin for months if not years.

None of that deterred Mr. Obama, who warned the Israeli government that “this kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations.” The State Department also chimed in, saying it was “deeply disappointed,” while Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erekat added that the new construction proves “that Israel chooses settlements, not peace.” This is the same Mr. Erekat who recently wrote an admiring letter to Ahmed Sa’adat, the mastermind of the 2001 assassination of an Israeli cabinet member.

All Israel has done is insist that Jews have a right to live anywhere in their capital city, something that might be controversial in Ramallah but ought not to be in Washington. Mr. Obama’s public endorsement of the Palestinian view of what constitutes a settlement only puts the negotiated peace he seeks further out of reach.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian government forbids Israeli citizens from visiting their country. If Mr. Obama wants to bridge the distance between Jakarta and Jerusalem, maybe he can start with that one.

I also think that President made a mistake in focusing on Israel. He avoided the discussion of Kashmir while in India, but for some reason, he felt the need to dredge up the subject of Israeli settlements in Southeast Asia. Unlike Al-Qaeda and the global Salafist movement, Israel is not a threat to Indonesia and the Muslim world should always remember this. It is, however, good to see that the president was willing to give a speech from one of Jakarta’s great mosques.