My article in US magazine Truthout: President Barack Obama’s drug war legacy is paved with partially good intentions. It differed greatly between his domestic agenda and around the world. The former showed signs of bravery, challenging decades of draconian and counterproductive policy toward drug users and dealers,… reducing… the number of incarcerated men and women across the…
Showing all posts tagged Mexico
Drug cartel wars between Mexico and the US
My essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books: Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known as “El Chapo,” was recaptured by Mexican marines in January. It was the latest in a long history of farcical escapes and imprisonments that have dominated the life of the world’s most infamous drug boss. His legacy is clear. Unmarked graves…
How and why the "war on drugs" kills millions
My following book review appeared in the Weekend Australian on 28 February: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs By Johann Hari Bloomsbury, 390pp, $29.99 The numbers are staggering. More than two million American citizens are in prison, about 25 per cent of the world’s incarcerated population. Many are…
My 2012 PEN Free Voices lecture on free speech and why it matters
The following is published today as the lead piece by ABC’s The Drum: The two-hour drive from Islamabad to Peshawar is along a surprisingly smooth road. Mud-brick homes sit amongst lush, green fields. Police checkpoints are set up routinely to stop unwanted visitors. I am asked why I want to see the troubled Pakistani town…
The deadly risk of being a journalist in 2011
Committee to Protect Journalists offers a grim end of year report: Pakistan remained the deadliest country for the press for a second year, while across the world coverage of political unrest proved unusually dangerous in 2011, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its year-end survey of journalist fatalities. CPJ’s analysis found notable shifts from…
Maybe Anonymous can defeat Mexican drug thugs
Truly a story for the modern age, with web gurus pitted against drug lords: An international group of online hackers is warning a Mexican drug cartel to release one of its members, kidnapped from a street protest, or it will publish the identities and addresses of the syndicate’s associates, from corrupt police to taxi drivers,…
Think before you travel to “paradise”
Ethical tourism is an issue that rarely permeates the mainstream media (hello New York Times). Congrats to Reporters Without Borders for launching “Censorship Paradise” about three nations regularly visited, Thailand, Mexico and Vietnam. More here: Reporters Without Borders is launching a new awareness campaign today, one aimed at drawing the attention of holidaymakers to free…
With or without you?
A popular Mexican radio host asks the question: “If the U.S. didn’t exist, would Mexico be better off, exactly the same, or worse?”