Former Honduras President Manuel Zelaya and Former President "W."
Manuel Zelaya will be arrested at the very least and probably for his own safety. There is a chance he would be assassinated. There is strong evidence President Micheletti has a firm grip of the country. If the country was in turmoil and needed leadership, I could understand the attempt to return, however, at this point there are underlying issues of safety that cannot be ignored.
...The poor Central American country's Roman Catholic archbishop and its human right commissioner urged Zelaya to stay away (Click title to entry - thank you), warning that his return could spark bloodshed. The interim government said it would arrest Zelaya and put him on trial despite near-universal international condemnation of the coup that removed him as he campaigned to revise the constitution.
In Washington, the Organization of American States suspended Honduras as a member late Saturday. Micheletti preemptively pulled out of the OAS hours earlier rather than comply with an ultimatum that Zelaya be restored....
The near borders nations to the USA are having trouble with stability. Honduras now has a coup government. It is the policy of the USA to not recognize such changes in authority. I believe the Obama Administration and Defense Department needs to assess the return of the National Guard in Iraq sooner than later. There is instability in the hemisphere. There are power struggles everywhere.
Under Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, China has become a trading partner and Russia an ally to many countries in the Western Hemisphere. There are power players now in countries little conceived to be 'vital' to USA national security, such as the new influence of Taiwan in Belize. China is not happy about the wanderings of the Taiwan government in this hemisphere and that of the East. Taiwan alone is looking for a 'coalition' with Japan and other small nations such as Belize. It reminds me of the Infamous Bush Coalition of nations pledged to Iraq for fiscal supports.
The USA needs to tread lightly with Taiwan's enthusiasm for new alliances. Taiwan could literally build enough of a following for the wealth it deals to these impoverished countries, to consider a stand against the US "One China Policy." I'd hate to think the USA would be sucked into a conflict with China over Taiwan. Taiwan won't win against China.
The coalition between Taiwan and Japan, considering the escalation of tensions with North Korea, is understandable. However, if it is North Korea that Japan and Taiwan are concerned about, then they need to work diligently with China and Russia to assist in containing the North Korean threat. If Taiwan continues to believe they can move into a national status of autonomy, they have to face the dangers of bringing China's influence with North Korea to bear.
In Mexico, the drug wars, no different than in Afghanistan, have provided a financial base for a revolutionary force within Mexican borders. Violence is still continuing there, but, Calderon still exhibits control of the country's infrastructure.
At least 14 bodies found in Mexico mass grave (click here)
By MICHAEL E. MILLER – 3 days ago
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Police said Wednesday that they have uncovered a mass grave in central Mexico with the remains of 14 or 15 people believed to have been executed by the Zetas drug gang.
The remains found in Guanajuato state were so badly burned that officials were not immediately able to identify the number of victims, and it may be difficult to identify the dead.
Guanajuato Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa said the 14 or 15 bodies were piled into a single pit discovered on Saturday, a day after a shootout between police and suspected Zetas hit men in the town of Apaseo el Alto.
In the shootout, 12 gunmen were killed, 12 were captured and one police officer was wounded, officials said. The dead gunmen were not the bodies in the mass grave.
A large cache of weapons, including assault rifles, grenades and bulletproof vests, was also discovered after that clash, Zamarripa said. Investigations into the confrontation led police to the grave site.
There is escalated threat of the H1N1 virus in South America.
Swine flu emergency in Argentina (click here)
Page last updated at 11:30 GMT, Wednesday, 1 July 2009 12:30 UK
The city and province of Buenos Aires have announced a health emergency to fight a swine flu outbreak that has killed at least 26 people in Argentina.
Officials are being given more power and resources to tackle the epidemic, and school holidays for millions of children are being extended.
Argentina has confirmed more than 1,500 cases of swine flu, which is spreading during the southern hemisphere winter.
Meanwhile, an international conference on swine flu is opening in Mexico.
Teams from some 40 countries are attending the three-day event in Cancun. The head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, is also participating.
'Too late'
The health emergency measures in the capital and surrounding Buenos Aires province were unveiled on Tuesday....
Venezuela has recently nationalized its third bank.
Venezuela, China May Sign New Loan-for-Oil Accord, Chavez Says (click here)By Steven Bodzin
July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela and China Development Bank Corp. are discussing a third $4 billion infrastructure loan to be paid in oil, President Hugo Chavez said.
“This bank is the one with the most money in the world,” Chavez said late yesterday on state television. “It has half the money in the world and is allied with Venezuela.”
Chavez is seeking closer ties with developing nations such as China, Russia, India and Brazil to reduce dependence on the U.S., which consumes more than half of Venezuela’s oil exports.
China previously made two $4 billion loans to finance infrastructure projects in Venezuela. Venezuela’s government repays the loan with as much as 230,000 barrels a day of oil provided to China National Petroleum Corp., according to the annual report of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, also known as PDVSA.
China, the world’s second-biggest energy user, has signed loan-for-oil agreements with countries including Russia, Brazil and Kazakhstan this year, tapping its $1.95 trillion foreign- exchange reserves to buy assets after oil’s 55 percent decline from July’s record....
Do to the hostile nature of the USA during the Bush Adminisration there are all kinds of dynamics that have been set in motion. The current USA President was handed not only a poor hand in any international venue, he was handed a world moving into a hemispheric war to end the 'threat' of the USA to any other country.
The way the Obama Administration can neutralize the 'preceived' threat is to remain consistent while rebuilding relationships with near border countries and reopening 'stabilizing' relationships in trade and mutual security interests, including, ending the 'drug cartels' in the Western Hemisphere while ending any source from Afghanistan.
The 'State of International Affairs of the USA' is about as lousy as it gets.
