Today 25 october 2006 it was published (see http://www.lanacion.cl/) that more than a hundred million dollars in GOLD were discovered under the name of AUGUSTO PINOCHET in a bank in Hong Kong.

Any comments?

Excuse me, where did this “extremist/extremism”
reference come from?

I live in a city of thousands of coffee shops,
and not one Starbucks. There may be perhaps
100 iPods. But it’s a city heavily effected by
globalization, and primarily for the better.
I can guarantee you that globalization brings
a lot more choice to people around the world -
it’s certainly not a clone of the U.S. If you
travel to Istanbul, Taipei, Bangkok, Prague,
Delhi, Kiev, Kathmandu, Marrakesh - you won’t
confuse any of these places with the US, even
though they’re all heavily influenced by
globalization. But people everywhere do like
being able to buy nicer clothes for less
money, and I’m amazed by what the average
person can afford to buy now in poorer countries,
versus 15 years ago. If that’s exploitation,
bring it on.

Thank you for writing your comments here, Eleanore Kjellberg!

Mashrout—Regarding Martin Wolf and his theory of globalization—Do you honestly think globalization will act as a defense against extremism—do you also believe that Alice in Wonderland is a true story?  Can I sell you the Brooklyn Bridge or would you care to purchase Manhattan Island for twenty four dollars worth of Indian beads.

Isn’t it obvious that intervention into third world countries only alienates the U.S. and incites ever greater threats of terrorism.  As I mentioned in a previous comment these acts of terrorism are really “modern day slave rebellions.” Have you not heard of self-determination?

Is it necessary for every country in the world to have a Shopping Mall and a Starbucks? Can one young adult on this planet not have an iPod?  Why must every country’s economic system become a clone of the U.S.?

Why is someone considered an “extremist” if they are NOT in favor of the exploitation of people and resources?

It’s interesting that you had no comment about
the one author I noted, nor most of the points
I made.

C ya.

Mashrout or Mashroot--what’s in a name? 

John Perkins memoir is not about his personal redemption from drug abuse; so to make an analogy that his book is as bogus as James Frey’s “A Million little Pieces” or “A Million little Lies,” is a facile attempt at dismissing a compelling political/economic analysis—one which I’m sure will never appear on Oprah Winfrey’s Show.

It’s interesting that you had no comment about the other two authors Dobbs and Hanson. 

Granted there are some who have benefited by globalization; but there are many millions more that did not.  In the United States there are close to 40 million living in poverty—this is a disgrace; if globalization was a strategy to help the poor that strategy should have been implemented to help U.S. Citizens who lack jobs and health insurance.

But of course, globalization is really not a scheme to aid people but to dominate sovereign countries—any benefit would be ancillary at best.  Businesses and other mainstream media give the false impression that globalization is a benign activity.  However, its real purpose is to expand and perpetuate U.S. dominance throughout the world by the exploitation of natural resources, cheap labor and government payoffs.

Once you get a taste of a yacht, private planes and palaces it’s difficult for that one percent of that third world population to return to a more modest lifestyle.  Perhaps, their addiction to material things can be overcome, similar to the way Frey overcame his addiction to drugs—-but probably AVARICE is a much more difficult weakness to defeat.

Not having read him, I suspect Perkins could be
the “Million Little Pieces” of foreign policy.
Incorrigible yet here to redeem us, is Oprah
in the house?

Martin Wolf is Asst. Editor at the Financial Times,
worked for the World Bank, and he analyzes
globalization in a very even handed way. He
looks at different contradictory issues and
complaints about globalization (we want to help
the Third World help itself but we don’t want any
negative effects on our own economy like job loss
in certain sectors). His comments on Mauritius as
a success story are important. He has quite a bit
of criticism for the Bretton Woods structures.
He’s worth a good read.

Now it’s hard to imagine how US puppets such as
Taiwan, Japan and South Korea have done so well,
while other US puppets have done so poorly. India
of course was vociferously unaligned for so many
years, so either we’re now rewarding it for
joining us or punishing it by exporting slave
labor jobs or perhaps doing both at the same
time. Anyway, that’s enough, peace, outta here.

Rgds.

PS, it’s “Mashrout” - you could at least get my
pseudonym right. I spent at least 12 seconds
coming up with it.

Mashroot—it is useless getting into an “Orwellian discussion” about international economics with you—I hold up two fingers and you only see one. 

May I also suggest some readings for you from authors who are each totally different in their political ideologies—John Perkins’ book is entitled Confessions of An Economic Hitman, he formerly covertly worked for NSA and helped to implement economic U.S. policy throughout Latin America and the Middle East; Lou Dobbs’ book entitled Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed is Shipping American Jobs Overseas; he speaks about the exportation of American jobs to CHEAP foreign labor markets and finally Professor Victor Davis Hanson’s book entitled Mexifornia:  A State of Becoming, examines the immigration quagmire—how conservative corporations, contractors and agribusinesses demand CHEAP labor from Mexico.

You stated that international economics has nothing to do with Pinochet, I disagree economics and U.S. policy has everything to with Pinochet and all other puppet governments that the U.S.  supports and do business with—Economic 101.

I recommend “Why Globalization Works” by
Martin Wolf for more answers than I can
write here. To summarize a couple of items,
we lost manufacturing jobs because manufacturing
increased productivity greater than demand
increased, even though manufacturing output
soared during this period. But overall, the
economy has created more jobs than it has lost,
and IT has gained more good jobs than it has
lost.  US IT employment increased by 108,000 from
1999 to 2002, which includes a good part of the
recession.  If you focus on
2000 to 2003, you will only see the recession,
bad sampling data. Fifteen years ago I worked
a $12/hour computer job in the US with a
Master’s. $24K a year, not bad money for India.
Switching between apparel, manufacturing and IT
is less than illuminating; Saipan has nothing to
do with Indian or US IT. (and none of this has
anything to do with Pinochet). Again, Martin Wolf
discussed these issues much better than I can.

Mashroot-- It warms my heart to know than the urban yuppies in India are thankful to, Michael Dell and others of the same ilk, that are paying twelve dollars an hour to software engineers.

I guess it doesn’t make a bit of difference that this policy of globalization caused the termination of thousands of “techie” positions in the U.S.—positions where the actual employee was told to train the “cheaper” replacement.  These CEOS have shown such loyalty and patriotism for their own country—what could be more patriotic then not paying taxes in your own country, and not paying taxes in the country where the work is outsourced.  And to add insult to injury; the U.S. citizens who were terminated will spend an indefinite period of time looking for comparable employment all for the purpose of strengthening the economies of the third world and ultimately turning the U.S. into another third world country—-high unemployment and low skilled positions.

Employment statistics are not reliable, after the loss of a job and the subsequent termination of unemployment insurance; workers are dropped from the “unemployed” statistics.

Because of NAFTA, the manufacturing sector lost 2.85 million jobs during the period of 2000 to 2003 and from 2000 to 2003, payroll employment in manufacturing fell by 16.2%--this is the largest decline since the end of World War II.  And the following is a description of the SO-CALLED GOOD JOBS that you are so proud of.

Working in sweatshops in Saipan is like working in SERVITUDE.  Sweatshop owners violate US labor and safety laws, coercing workers to work up to 84 hours per week without overtime pay.  Workers live and work in equally deplorable conditions.

The factory owners know that they can exploit workers because they are very vulnerable.  If a worker is fired for protesting working conditions, union organizing, or EVEN PREGNANCY, they must find another job within 90 days or they are deported.  And yes, if a woman gets pregnant she is told that she must get an abortion or she will lose her job. 

The typical wage in these factories is $3.05 per hour, anyone fired from a job is likely to be shipped home without enough money to pay off their debts. Therefore, management has total power over workers, who live in fear of being sent home. Management can enforce arbitrary rules that they wish in order to control workers--even telling them to get an abortion. 
Foreign workers are only allowed to obtain a one-year limited work permit; but the uniqueness of Saipan laws allow for loopholes which inevitably open a Pandora’s Box for scamming and exploitation.  We all know that good union manufacturing jobs have steadily been eliminated in the U.S. and are being out- sourced to third world countries.  Well how is it done?  The work is sent to SUBCONTRACTORS in Saipan; El Salvador; Indonesia; Vietnam and China where the sewing is actually done.  The garment factories in Saipan are mostly owned by Hong Kong companies, such Divora Knitters.

Tan Holdings is a major subcontractor for U.S. clothing companies.  Tan then hires recruiting agencies in China to find workers.  These agencies are sort of like a “pimp” looking for an easy “mark.” The agency promises anything they think a possible prospect wants to hear—you’ll work in the US; you’ll earn tons of money and live the American dream—the streets are paved with gold. All the usual crap, so that the innocent and naïve become entrapped.
As a result, the supply of workers are limitless, applicants exceed job demands.  And to add insult to injury, recruiters force workers to pay a recruiting fee ranging from $2,000 to $8,000.

Chinese workers then need to borrow heavily in order to pay the fee which forces them to become indentured servants. Some Chinese workers, after a few years of slave labor on Saipan, may only have enough to pay back their recruitment debts, and leave the island in destitution.

One of the worst subcontractors is Hong Kong’s business tycoon Willie Tan; he is a subcontractor for Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Liz Claiborne. Tan’s garment factories in Saipan have been repeatedly cited for labor and safety violations, by the US Labor Department for systematically underpaying workers. Tan was fined $9 million in restitution to 1,200 workers on 1992, the largest fine ever imposed.
Ironically, Saipan and Guam, is an island paradise for Japanese and Korean tourists.  However, hidden in this island paradise are tens of thousands of foreign laborers, who are never seen or heard. Their hard work is not something that the Saipan government, business bureaus or tourist web sites want to advertise. But these Saipan garment industry workers, produce $2 billion worth of clothes annually for American companies like The Gap, Inc., who also owns the Banana Republic and Old Navy chains; Dayton-Hudson Corp., the owner of Target, Mervyn’s, and Marshall Fields; The May Department Stores Company; J. Crew Group, Inc.; Nordstrom, Inc.; Sears Roebuck & Company; The Limited, Inc; Tommy Hilfiger USA, Inc.; Wal-Mart Stores; etc…
And you thought that we were no longer in the Middle Ages?  Well it might be 2006 but feudalism still prevails in the third world.  Could exploitative economic policies by US companies in places like Saipan, explain why hostility and hatred is expressed through terrorist activities by insurgents in third world countries?  What we might be seeing is not terrorism but a modern day slave rebellion.  We want what these countries have.  We need the cheap labor and their natural resources so in essence it is a form of GLOBAL EMMINENT DOMAIN.  I’m stronger and more powerful so I’m taking your resources because I can!  ARE WE EXPORTING DEMOCRACY OR HYPOCRICY?

I would hazard that the vast majority interested
in “justice” for Pinochet care nothing about the
people who actually died or were tortured, but are
interested in the interruption of some illusioned
Worker’s Paradise by the US “economic terrorists”,
as well as giving the CIA a good come-uppance.
Yes, events in the past can affect the future.
Now, it’s hard to track the trillions of events
so figure out say a few hundred super important
events worth carrying forward. 300,000 people in
the Indian Ocean got wiped out in a matter of a
few hours just a year ago - perhaps a more
significant event than 3000 on one day. 4 million
have died in the Congo from war since 1998, and
according to the
Red Cross, about 31,000 are still dying per month.
Now, I must confess that I can’t wrap my brain
around that much dying, and that someone dying
next to me would probably have more effect than
a report about 31,000 or 4 million somewhere
else. But I still think the war in the Congo is
more pertinent in 2006 than Cuba 1972.

Here’s a good page to start with:
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstats.htm
Note the links on the right - you have to get
to page 6 to encounter the smaller 20th century
atrocities like Chile and Cuba. Numbers alone
don’t portend significance, but they help.

Regarding taking “jobs away from millions of
Americans” and “cheap slave-like labor”, the
US job market creates about 40 million jobs
a year, and offshoring is about 0.1% of this.
Nor are these slave-like labor positions -
they’re urban professional positions, which
create a growing tech center environment in
India with rising wages and yuppie lifestyles.
While the wages may be low for the US, in India
they don’t pay US health premiums, $2 a bus ride,
$10/day parking, $40/day childcare and other
costs. (okay, I don’t know US childcare costs).
Some of these expenses could be handled by
“offshoring” from the Bay Area to Kansas as
well. Anyway, it’s not heinous, it’s business.
You save through lower phone costs, computer and
software costs, being able to use Skype on your
computer, etc., etc. And you take those savings
and funnel them back into the economy, which grows.
There are more IT jobs created than destroyed,
except in a small period called a recession.
Check the US Bureau of Statistics, it’s all
public record.

“Giving jobs to people always exploits their labor…It’s easy for me to be cavalier about 3000 dead, just like I don’t know any of the 3 million who died in the Congo recently or the others in Sudan, or any in Katrina or whatever. Lots of tragedies in the world, a large number of them greater than 3000 people, and a lot of them have happened more recently than 34 years
ago. I think that was kind of my point originally. Get over it, there’s more important stuff going on right now.”

Mashroot, your statements cited above, indicates a cold, heartless and cynical view of world events.  There is nothing to GET OVER—one needs to maintain an historical perspective; events that occurred in the past frequently effect our future, and as you know history tends to repeat itself. 

It is heinous to consciously take jobs away from millions of Americans for the sole purpose of seeking cheap slave-like labor in third world countries.  Yes, there are some who benefit from this practice--CEOS and 1 percent of the ruling class population in those third world countries.

As far your concern about “stupid reasons and/or stupid planning” regarding the Middle East—STUPID is the key word.

In the spirit of sharing, below I copied today’s Yahoo News article on the brutal US CIA-sponsored dictator. I shivered as I thought about the terrorism of the Caravan of Death. May some justice come to Pinochet during his current life.
...................................

Pinochet Stripped of Legal Immunity

By EDUARDO GALLARDO, Associated Press Writer, 11 January 1006

SANTIAGO, Chile - An appeals court stripped Gen.
Augusto Pinochet of his legal immunity Wednesday, a ruling that paved the way for the former dictator to stand trial on charges of responsibility for killing two bodyguards of the Marxist president he toppled in a bloody 1973 coup.

The ruling allows the judge handling the case, Victor Montiglio, to indict the 90-year-old retired general for allegedly killing two bodyguards of Salvador Allende.

Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, enjoys immunity from prosecution as a former president. But he faces a host of charges of human rights abuses, tax evasion and corruption.

Wednesday’s ruling reopened one of the most notorious human rights cases involving Pinochet’s dictatorship — the so-called Caravan of Death, in which 75 jailed dissidents were killed by a military party that toured the country in a helicopter in the weeks immediately after the coup.

The president of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Juan Escobar, said the justices voted 17-6 to remove Pinochet’s immunity. But the same court on Monday upheld another panel’s ruling that Pinochet could be freed on bail from the house arrest he has been under since Nov. 24 in a previous indictment in the killing or disappearance of nine dissidents.

The courts have repeatedly lifted Pinochet’s legal immunity in the past, has the law require people protected by such immunity to be stripped of it separately in each case before they can be charged.

Wednesday’s ruling can be appealed before the Supreme Court.

The Caravan of Death case had been closed and all charges against Pinochet dropped on health grounds. But a prosecution lawyer, Juan Gutierrez, discovered that two of the victims had not been included in the original process, and filed a new complaint.

The two victims at the center of the new complaint were Wagner Salinas and Francisco Lara, members of Allende’s security detail. Allende committed suicide in his presidential palace while it was under air and ground attack.

According to an official report by the civilian government that succeeded Pinochet, Salinas and Lara were arrested the same day of the coup, Sept. 11, 1973, and executed three weeks later by a military firing squad.

In all, 46 Allende bodyguards were killed, some of them in combat with the soldiers that took the presidential palace.

The Caravan of Death prompted the first attempt to try Pinochet. He was indicted by now-retired Judge Juan Guzman, but all charges were dropped after the Supreme Court ruled that his health prevented him from standing trial.

Pinochet has been diagnosed mild dementia resulting from several strokes, diabetes and arthritis and he has a pacemaker. Nevertheless, the last tests by court appointed doctors indicated he is fit to stand trial.

Pinochet has escaped trial four times due to health issues. His lawyer, Pablo Rodriguez, is using the same argument in appeals to block the still-pending cases — two of them on human rights violations.

Pinochet faces tax evasion charges related to secret overseas bank accounts. He has also been indicted for allegedly diverting $2 million in public fund to his private accounts while in power.

Giving jobs to people always exploits their labor. Trade between countries generally benefits both countries, including labor employment. Lower costs
for what’s produced over there means other products produced here are cheaper and more competitive.
Even if not, lower costs here save us money and
give us more choice. Trade is most always good.
If you’re personally affected by job loss, you
might not like the reality that on the whole
it’s good, but the fact is it’s good. Trade
would be the best thing for Africa.

3000 or 3 million or 30 that died 9/11 does not
matter regards to Iraq. Even with no deaths, there
may have been a recognition that we could not just
let the situation in the Middle East stay that
way forever, whether connected with Bin Laden or
not, whether supported by WMD’s or not. Whether
the subsequent action was carried out well does
not alter the analysis of the Middle East on 9/12.
Sometimes we make a mess. I’m frankly more
concerned about whether we made the mess for
stupid reasons and/or stupid planning, not that we
made a mess at all.

It’s easy for me to be cavalier about 3000 dead,
just like I don’t know any of the 3 million
who died in the Congo recently or the others
in Sudan, or any in Katrina or whatever. Lots
of tragedies in the world, a large number of
them greater than 3000 people, and a lot of
them have happened more recently than 34 years
ago. I think that was kind of my point originally.
Get over it, there’s more important stuff going
on right now.

Rgds.

Mashroot--please keep your identity anonymous—and be reassured that “personally” e-mailing you, would not even be a consideration.

The number of 3000 dead on 9/11, was cited because of your cavalier attitude towards the 3000 that died in Chile under Pinochet.

My point was that 3000 dead is a SIGNIFICANT STATISTIC because it ultimately justified our invasion of Iraq. There is no real accurate information as to how many Iraqi civilians have died, however Bush, as stated when asked about the number of Iraqi civilians dead: “37,000 dead more or less.” And many have said that it is far more than 37,000 civilians who have died.  And if 37,000 dead is the only correct statistic; along with 5000 American soldiers dead (the soldiers that die in route to German hospitals are not included in the death statistics) and 20,000 wounded--I would say we made a “hell-uv” mess.

It is not necessary for me to give you an example of a utopian government—but I can say U.S. foreign policy to remake the Middle East is a disaster. We have spent billions of dollars on nation building with very little in return except for inciting more insurgency and creating greater hostility towards the U.S. 

And is your example of a utopian government one that through globalization out-sources millions of good U.S. jobs to third world countries with the intent of exploiting their cheap labor?

Marc, I’m sure the direct families would
disagree with me, and I’m sure if I had
been personally affected I would be 99.9%
likely to disagree with me. That doesn’t
change an objective historical analysis,
which states that it’s better to have
only 3000 dead than a million. And it’s
better to have the President steal $27 million
than $1 billion. And it’s better to have
a small amount of oppression than a huge
amount. Real-politik perhaps - I would
still rather have the Shah of Iran than
the Khomenei revolution. In an ideal universe,
I’d rather have a 3rd choice, but our
world doesn’t usually give the ideal 3rd choice,
and we often don’t have the facts at hand to
fail-safe predict the future.

Regarding assassinations of police, I only
know what I was reading in Chilean newspapers
about 7 years ago - that rebels had been
knocking off police. Whether these assassinations
were in the leadup to getting Allende elected
or after his election, I would guess at least
the former. This is not to say Allende was
a bully, far from it. However, I know from
Czechoslovakia that post-WWII naivete allowed the
election of 36% communists in 1946, who formed
a ruling coalition and two years later staged
a coup. After that, Russia was able to then force
in all of its puppets who destroyed any semblance
of democracy. If a Pinochet-like general had
set up a military government instead in 1947,
it could have preserved a modest democracy and
we would be debating how awful he was 60
years later. Not to say we’re 100% sure that
Allende’s government would have been transformed
into a Cold War Czechoslovakia. We don’t know,
and I don’t know precisely what Pinochet et al.
envisioned at the time. (Perhaps Allende had
WMD’s

Eleanore, I go by Mashrout simply because
I never ever ever want to get in a private
e-mail exchange with you.

But your comment about 3000 people is exactly
right - it’s a paltry amount, and the US
shouldn’t seize on that as some horrific
unprecedented event. Nor should it ignore it.
(By the way, why do you say “white” - there
were people of many ethnic groups killed in WTC -
you’re race baiting, aren’t you?)
Of course your “killed over 100,000 civilian
Iraqis” is nonsense, and it would be better
for liberals to find realistic figures to
argue with if they want to be taken seriously.
(On Chile, the number of dead is sometimes
grandly inflated, but I believe 3000 killed
is a relatively accepted figure as accurate).

Regarding your “corporatocracy” and “economic
terrorism”, it is improving conditions in India
and China and East Europe; sorry Africa isn’t on
that boat.

Regarding “a system that provides for the dignity
of all people is less stupid than one that
creates death and destruction in its wake.”
Bravo, good is better than evil, light is
better than darkness. Now, do you
have some historical example of a Marxist
system that provides for dignity of all people
(including those that disagree with it)? And
is it possible for you to imagine that the
US might have done something besides spread
death and destruction during its existence?
And do you think it might be a non-sequitor to
jump to the number of HIV deaths in Africa when
discussing South American dictatorships?

Thank you for your article Mr. Cooper.  While Chileans suffered almost incomprehensible losses during the coup and in the following years of Pinochet’s reign, American lives were lost as well.  Frank Tarugi (not sure on the correct spelling of his last name), was a childhood friend of my father’s and was murdered during the coup.  He was an American citizen and was killed by forces supported by our very own government.  There is mention of him as well as his death in Missing, as I am sure you are aware.  My father learned of his death when he came across a Time magazine article about the coup that had taken place.

It seems generally understood now that our very own American Government had a hand in making Allende’s overthrow and Pinochet’s dictatorship possible.  From what we know now, the last thing we “helped” bring the Chilean people was democracy.  This is regrettable in a very serious way and is a very dark mark on our country’s record.  The Chilean people will not forget our involvement, but it seems that we have. 

It is as if 35 years from now Saddam was finally arrested for his human rights violations and the American media gave the event little coverage.  Thank you for taking the time to write this article for the good people of the United States that do, in the rawest sense, believe in justice.  If that process brings out skeletons from our own closet, so be it.  We helped make the bed, the Chilean people were forced to sleep in it and when the morning of justice arrives, the American media hits the snooze button.  Something about that embarrasses me as an American citizen.  Thank you for making this an issue, Mr. Cooper.

Yes maybe at long last the people of Chile will not only see justice, but see it be done. I imagine there are few big names who tremble at the thought of serious disclosures, among them his great British friend Margaret Thatcher.

RE Miguel Checa on 1/03.
It is equally sad that George W. Bush, Dick Chaney and Donald Rumsfeld have so far eluded justice for sending over 2,000 american soldiers to their deaths, plus countless more iraqis.  1 death is one life too many lost. Be it 1, 3,000, or 100,000 lives that are lost, it is still wrong to kill and torture.
I was born and raised in Chile, and never got the chance to vote there.  I left in 1972 at the age of 19.  At the time I thought what was going on with the UP government was terrible, but what came afterward with the military government was probably worse.  Age has a way of opening some people’s eyes.  It has with me.  I see what is occurring today in this country as equally reprehensible as what occurred in Chile in the 70s and 80s.

Mashrout—is your first name Mash or do you just go by one name “Mashrout” similar to Madonna; or do you just lack the courage to type your real name.  In response to your statement: “Compared to typical civil wars of the 1970’s,killing 3000 people as a price for 20 years of stability ain’t that bad.” Well If I I’m not mistaken, was it not the MAGIC number of 3,000 dead on 9/11 that ultimately rationalized the invasion and subsequent debacle in Iraq.  A war that has killed over 100,000 civilian Iraqis and over 2200 American Soldiers (not counting the 2000 soldiers that died on route to German hospitals and are not counted in the death statistics for Iraq) what a travesty!  So are you saying that 3,000 white American lives have value but 3000 Latin American lives mean nothing.  I guess your cavalier attitude towards death gives you comfort in rationalizing genocide.

You also state: “Look, communists lost, capitalists/rightists won. That doesn’t mean capitalists are all good, but get over stupid 30-year-old causes.” Your simplified analysis of two divergent political ideologies needs to be corrected—it was not capitalists/rightist who are dominating but a “corporatocracy of gangsters;” Who in name of imperial sovereignty exploit and ravage third world countries in the cause of economic globalization which is nothing more than political domination.

How many millions of Africans have died from HIV for lack of medical treatment; how many thousands starve to death each day; and even in this country more than 37 million live in poverty.  So this is not just a question of capitalism but blatant economic terrorism wrapped in an American flag.  And the response to economic terrorism is rampant terrorist attacks.  We have created our own Hell!  You say “Marxism was a necessary but a stupid stage” I say a system that provides for the dignity of all people is less stupid than one that creates death and destruction in its wake.

Re Sally Lambert: YES--it is sad and shameful that Kissinger has so far eluded justice”.

This is great news! I wonder if he will end up in an unmarked grave like many of his victims?

“All other kings of the nations, yes, all of them, have lain down in glory, each one in his own house. But as for you, you have been thrown away without a burial place for you, like a detested sprout, clothed with killed men stabbed with the sword that are going down to the stones of a pit, like a carcass trodden down. You will not become united with them in a grave, because you brought your own land to ruin, you killed your own people. To time indefinite the offspring of evildoers will not be named.” Isaiah 14:18-20

While I’m probably much more a liberal than
conservative, the Pinochet issue seems like
a real waste of energy.

Compared to typical civil wars of the 1970’s,
killing 3000 people as a price for 20 years
of stability ain’t that bad. How many millions
died in Vietnam, Cambodia, Uganda, Afghanistan,
El Salvador and Nicaragua during this period?
(By the way, how many policemen and others did
the Marxists kill in Chile leading up to the
coup?)

A flash of liberalization in East Europe turned
into another 20 years back in the cave. Is this
what was awaiting Chile as well? Hard to say,
even with 20-20 hindsight. Would it have been
20 years of the enlightened leadership of the
Shining Path, Che Guevera, Pedro Escobar or only
a Spanish Lionel Jospin? Hard to say, but watching
Peru and Boliva over the same time period, I’d
choose Chile.

Can you compare Pinochet with the repression of
Castro, East Europe, Russia, Iran under the
mullahs, South Africa for blacks under apartheid,
North Korea, or the scenes of hacked off arms in
Sierra Leone, ethnic cleansing in Sudan and Rwanda
and Burundi, the millions dead in the Congo?

Oh, Pinochet amassed a “fortune” of $27 million
for all his family. Guys, Suharto stuffed away
billions, as did Mubutu and probably Mugabe.
What did the Shah of Iran leave with? Somoza
had close to $1 billion in Nicaragua. What
nit-picking nonsense.

Look, communists lost, capitalists/rightists won.
That doesn’t mean capitalists are all good, but
get over stupid 30-year-old causes. Take a
lesson from Gusmao in East Timor, who accepts
that Marxism was a necessary but stupid stage
for his rebellion to go through, and naturally
put countries like the US in opposition to him.

Thank you, Marc, for keeping us up-to-date on the the old buzzard.  As a writer finishing up a stage piece about Kissinger, I spent many hours learning the horrid truth about Pinochet, and subsequently his connection to Nixon’s gang.  I’ve been watching with dismay for the past few years, as P managed to slither out of all traps.  But it looks as though justice as arrived.  May the same fate await Kissinger....

Good history review of Pinochet’s horrible power.  I can email the article to my college-age daughter.  Her close friend is the child of an exiled Chilean, and while she knows the basic story, this is the ‘nut shell’ version.

I’ll be looking forward to news of a Pinochet trial.  When more evidence surfaces, I expect, one day, to learn more about George Bush the First’s role in the overthrow of Allende.

Andrew
No one is stating that Castro’s regime is not repressive; but we were not
discussing Castro we were talking about Pinochet.  It is unfortunate that whenever a conservative makes a political analysis, they tend to extrapolate facts and form illogical analogies.  It would be useful if you reviewed the history of Cuba; perhaps, it would become clear how and why Castro assumed power. Batista dominated Cuba politically twenty-five years. His rule started out with high hopes for democracy and justice, but gradually decayed into government by gangsterism. Murders of his political enemies became commonplace and military leaders ran protection rackets, raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a month from Havana’s legitimate and illegitimate businesses. With help from the Mafia, Havana became a center of prostitution and gambling casinos. By the early 1950s, only unwavering support of the army high command and certain well- protected big business interests kept Batista in power; the Cuban people were firmly anti-Batista.

If you recall, after Castro assumed power, he was considered quite a celebrity in this country.

“The New York Times had been singing Castro’s praises since the first interview with him as a rebel in February 1957. By now most of the international press had joined the cheerleading. Jack Paar never treated a guest on his Tonight Show as deferentially as he treated honored guest Fidel Castro. Ed Sullivan hailed Castro as “Cuba’s George Washington.” Retired president Harry Truman called Castro a “good young man trying to do what’s best for Cuba. We should extend him a hand."[1] The U.S. actually accorded diplomatic recognition to Castro’s government more quickly than it had recognized Batista’s in 1952. In fact, the promptness of this U.S. recognition set a record for recognition of a Latin American government. Usually the process took weeks; for Castro, it took mere days.”

If are searching for efficiency in government; it is said that Mussolini made the trains run on time.

Marc,
Wasn’t the supposed Chilean economic miracle attained at a high social and environmental cost? In the following recent NewsWeek article,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10510029/site/newsweek/?rf -nwnewsletter
(Dec. 26, 2005 - Jan 2, 2006 issue),
Chile’s income disparities are regarded as among the 10 worst in the world.

A bigger shame is the reporter’s neglecting the other half of the story. About the food lines, Allende’s internal power grab and desire for a Cuban like state. The Chilean Supreme Court’s acknowledgement that Pinochet saved them from the Castro-like desires of Allende.

Of course if you have a love-fest with Cuba’s repressive murderous dictator, who has completely destroyed its economy (unlike Pinochet) and has people dying while trying to escape his lifetime dictatorship(again unlike Pinochet), than you might not want to mention that.

Very informative—Riggs Bank was controlled by the CIA, and money laundering was considered a mundane transaction.  How odd it is that the laundering of twenty-seven million dollars, a gangster crime, is the final coup de grace that does Pinochet in.  Politics is a miserable business that doesn’t leave much room for dreams and aspirations.

Hello, Marc.

Thank you for pursuing the shameful story of the brutal Pinochet. Please follow it to the end. May we finally see in 2006 much more assertive action against Pinochet.

Best wishes on the new year and second half of this decade.

Thank your for this good review and the good news.  Alas, Missing seemed to be Missing from my text and I couldn’t get to what seemed to be more pages????