Iran and the Nuke

It is a worrying fact that one more country has the technology to build an atomic bomb.

Some observers say that the fact that other countries have access to this technology brings back the deterrent effect of the atomic bomb, however this is not so simple. The more countries have the bomb the more possibilities there are that they will be used to destructive ends.

If we add to this the affirmation by US and France that they may use "non-conventional" weapons against "terrorists" and we start getting a pretty explosive cocktail.

What should the "five" nuclear powers do to avoid more problems? There's no easy solution to this, but one possibility would be to develop alternative sources of energy that would be as effective as nuclear energy so as to avoid the "temptation" to use energy production as an "excuse" to seek nuclear technology.

Another possibility would be the unilateral declaration that no nuclear weapons would be produced and the existing ones would be disabled -- but this I grant will not happen any time soon.

Evo Morales and South American the arrested development

The election of Evo Morales, which follows those of Lula and Hugo Chavez are the start of the evolution for South America.

Many countries, mostly in Europe, were allowed to evolve from a left-wing heavy country to a more moderate country as the middle classes started to grow. In South America however the interventions by the United States led many countries to a state of Arrested Development.

The US used legal and illegal methods to force the peoples of those South American countries to elect right-wing officials when elsewhere (like Europe) others were choosing left-wing candidates.

By forcing the Right-wing candidates upon the South American peoples the US contributed for the retarded state of development of many of those countries which are rich in natural resources and would have developed to be big powers in the world (noticeably Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina) had they been left to develop in a normal and harmonious way.

The recent election of Left-wing candidates is just the re-start of the development process that the US single-handedly stopped. However, it will still take many years for those countries to reach a state of development that would qualify them as "first-world" countries, and some of them may not even reach that level given the huge impact of corruption (Colombia comes to mind...).

Here's to hoping that the recent wave of left-wing candidates can deliver on their promises and slowly grow the size of the middle-class in those countries which will no doubt lead to more moderate governments, but especially to more social justice!