“The Castro generation is slowly handing power over to the next generation of party and military leaders who will determine the pace and scope of the reform process.”

—    “Cuba Expert” Ted Piccone of the Brookings Institution, giving one reason why the United States should unilaterally change U.S. policy towards Cuba.

The Cold War had its “Sovietologists;” today we have the “Cuba expert” — and anyone seeking to understand the true nature of the Castro regime and the reality of events in Cuba is worse off for it.

Sovietologists, those presumed subject matter experts who were relied upon by the media for insight to the opaque politics and motivations of the former Soviet Union, are now pretty much a discredited lot.  Not because they couldn’t predict the collapse of the USSR, but because for years they grossly underestimated the moral bankruptcy of tyranny and the power of individuals who simply wanted ... Read More

BY JOEL D. HIRST

People use many terms to talk about the current threats facing the United States. Some call it terrorism, others asymmetric warfare, while others use the term “fourth generation warfare.” In his book The War of All the People , academic and Latin America-expert Jon Perdue carefully presents the case for why the United States should be worried about terrorism south of the border.

First, Perdue outlines the historical antecedents of terrorism in the hemisphere, linking Iran, the former USSR and some of the most nefarious actors in the region, clearly making the case that, while generally overlooked, there has in point of fact been a long history of subversion and fourth generation warfare close to our shores. Having made his point, Perdue then outlines the steps taken by the proponents of what he calls “The war of all the people” to consolidate power at home and export revolutionary ideas to other ... Read More

BY JAY HALLEN

When the going gets tough, the tough apply the thinnest veneers of window dressing—or so one would assume of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan strongman running for his third six-year presidential term this October.

Venezuela has led the world in inflation for every year since 2007, thanks to the expansionary fiscal policy of his “Bolivarian Revolution,” with consumer price index growth topping 26 percent in January 2012. Last year CPI growth outpaced that of wages by 40 percent, leaving people unable to afford basic goods. Chavez reacted as any good economist, and effectively “banned inflation.” When his Fair Prices and Costs Law took effect in November 2011, the government acquired authority to pre-approve all retail prices in the country. Predictably, this has created shortages of food and other consumer staples, as producers and retailers have no incentive to bring products to market that they cannot profitably sell. The Bolivarian Revolution ... Read More