18 April 2009

It's the economy, stupid

Apr 16th 2009
From The Economist print edition

American investors attempt to spur Iraq’s private sector

In 2005 on a dusty road in Tuz, Iraq, an American solder was killed by a roadside bomb. His fellow soldiers soon discovered that the assassin was no hardened terrorist, but an unemployed father of six who had been paid $200 to plant the explosive. Such situations are not uncommon in Iraq, where high unemployment spawned many “economic insurgents”—often unideological Iraqis in need of cash, who became easy recruits. It was, in part, in response to examples like this that a trio of former military officers created the Marshall Fund, a private-equity fund making only non-oil investments in smallish firms in Iraq. “Without thriving businesses and the jobs they create, Iraq will never be stable,” says Dan Rice, who founded the fund along with Wayne Culbreth and Andrew Eberhart. Late last year it closed on its first investment, a tomato-processing plant in the northern region of Harir.

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03 April 2009

Update
U.S. Sen. John Kerry: Mexico is not a failed state
ALICIA A. CALDWELL / Associated Press Writer

EL PASO, Texas - Mexico's government is being tested in its battle with powerful drug cartels but is not on the brink of being a failed state, U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Monday at a Senate field hearing about the brutal drug war that has left thousands dead.

President Felipe Calderon's government, which launched an offensive against the cartels more than a year ago, is getting stretched thin but is strong, the Massachusetts Democrat said in El Paso, just across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez.

"I am troubled by the suggestions from some quarters that Mexico is in imminent danger of becoming a failed state," Kerry said. "Mexico is a functional democracy with a vibrate and open economy."

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Officials: Drug-war spillover exaggerated
By Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso Times

EL PASO -- Sen. John Kerry and two members of his Foreign Relations Committee heard a clear message Monday in El Paso: Sending U.S. soldiers to the Mexico-U.S. border is unnecessary.

Speaking almost with one voice, police officers, politicians and border experts who testified at a Senate field hearing said a military buildup would be of no help as the United States tries to assist Mexico in its war against the drug cartels.

The drug war has claimed more than 6,000 lives in Mexico since January 2008. Blood has been spilled in just about every major Mexican city, including those along the border, leading to worries that the violence could expand to the United States. In recent weeks, law enforcement officials in Denver and Tucson have said drug violence with roots in Mexico had touched their communities.

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