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February 13, 2012
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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February 8, 2012
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Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
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January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Sept. 13, 2006
/ 20 Elul 5766
End the Mexican Standoff
By
Mort Zuckerman
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Americans typically don't take much note of what happens in Mexico. Yet Mexico remains our closest and most important neighbor, a big customer, and a major supplier of oil and gas-and people. It matters very much that Mexican democracy not be hijacked by demagogic ambition, and that is the threat now posed by the conduct of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leader of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
López Obrador is behaving less like a democrat than like the Mexican caudillos, the strongmen from one party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who ruled Mexico for 71 years. They were arbitrary supreme bosses among bosses, ruling over a group of regional bosses until 1987, when Carlos Salinas de Gortari, a Ph.D. from Harvard, became president. He brought in a group of young, free-market, highly educated técnicos, who banished the bosses.
I met all of these reformers in a series of interviews in the early 1990s. The most impressive was Ernesto Zedillo, the minister of planning, who succeeded Salinas as president. Zedillo introduced an independent federal election authority with autonomy for conducting, monitoring, and verifying every federal election, an independent electoral court to review any violations, media access for all parties to conduct their campaigns, and independent financing to protect the elections from undisclosed sources of funds, especially from drug traffickers looking for political protection. Critically, Zedillo declared the end of dedazo, the pointing of the big finger, which enabled one president to personally select his successor, thus ending a system of serial despotism. Zedillo decided that the PRI presidential candidates would henceforth be determined by a national primary, rather than being arbitrarily selected by the president alone.
Revolt. Ever since then, elections in Mexico have been seen as fair and credible and the results astonishing. In 1997, the PRI lost its majority in the Chamber of Deputies, then it lost control of the mayoralty of Mexico City. In 2000, the PRI lost the presidency to Vicente Fox, the leader of the center-right opposition PAN party, ending decades of oligarchic rule.
Democracy, however, is defined not by the voluntary abdication of power once, but twice. The big test came with the election of July 2. On that day, the votes of almost 42 million Mexicans were monitored by 25,000 national observers and more than 600 international observers. López Obrador campaigned on a radical vision to help the poor and dispossessed through an economic revolution that he believes Mexico needs. But he failed to convince quite enough voters of the wisdom of his vision. The leader of PAN, Felipe Calderón, beat López Obrador by a narrow majority of 240,000, whereupon López Obrador declared himself the winner. He claimed a massive fraud and orchestrated civil uprisings to protest the election-but said nothing about the fact that voters had made his leftist coalition the second-largest party in the legislature and awarded it the mayoralty of Mexico City. In response, the Federal Electoral Tribunal ordered a recount of 9 percent of the total vote from polls weighted in López Obrador's favor. The charges of fraud were not validated, and the tribunal has now confirmed the election results.
López Obrador, however, refuses to accept those results, even though his civil revolt since the election had caused his support to drop to 30 percent, compared with Calderón's 54 percent, and now says he will convene his own National Assembly and set up a parallel government.
Such behavior threatens to undermine the ability of elected authorities at all levels in Mexico to govern effectively, while potentially encouraging extremists to take violent actions on López Obrador's behalf. This is tantamount to kidnapping Mexican democracy, much like the actions of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, who obeys the law only when it suits him.
López Obrador must fail. He must be limited by the constitutional separation of powers, the press, the respected Federal Electoral Institute, the powers of the governors, the individual Mexican states, the church (which already opposes López Obrador's power grab,) and the Army.
Truly, Mexican democracy is not perfect. Losers often cry foul and try to destroy the legitimacy of the victor in an atmosphere suffused with political and drug-related violence; Mexico's major cities are overwhelmed by crime, especially by kidnapping. Still, there remains genuine cause for optimism as Mexico enters the 21st century. Fiscal responsibility has become the norm, vast expanses of the economy have been privatized, and the North American Free Trade Agreement is generating nearly $200 billion in trade-all in the context of creating more equitable economic policies to combat poverty and inequality.
Forceful American support for the legitimacy of the election of Felipe Calderón will be a critical step in continuing the progress of our important southern neighbor, of whom it has long been said, "So far from G-d, so close to the U.S."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Mort Zuckerman is editor-in-chief and publisher of U.S. News and World Report. Send your comments to him by clicking here.
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