Daily · Dreamtime

Today kids buy three lines of cocaine for 10 reals,” or about $6. For about $1 in Brazil and about $1.50 in Argentina, users can buy enough of the cocaine for a 15-minute high.

Photo: Joao Pina for The New York Times

February 23, 2008
Cheap Cocaine Floods Argentina, Devouring Lives
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

BUENOS AIRES — Bilma Acuña has two drug-addicted sons and roams the streets of the Ciudad Oculta slum here with a purpose: to save others from the same fate.

She and the group of mothers she helps organize have become the only bulwark, it seems, against the irrepressible spread of paco, a highly addictive, smokable cocaine residue that has destroyed thousands of lives in Argentina and caused a cycle of drug-induced street violence never seen before in this country.

The scourge underscores a significant shift in both Argentina and its larger neighbor, Brazil, which in just a few years have become sizable cocaine consumers. Brazil now ranks as the second largest consumer of cocaine in the world after the United States, the State Department says.

Dissolve the Palestinian Authority

By Rami G. Khouri

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=10&article_ID=88913&categ_id=5#

The Annapolis process is moving in slow gear, and on the ground Israelis and Palestinians are back to the routine of daily clashes, the firing of rockets, assassinations and threats of more to come. Few people seem to have any idea about how to break out of this stalemate and move toward a permanent, comprehensive, fair resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

One man who offers some intriguing fresh thinking, though, is Adnan Abu Odeh, a Jordanian-Palestinian who has remained loyal to both sides of his Palestinian and Jordanian identity. Abu Odeh, a former minister, ambassador and chief of the royal court in Jordan, is among the smartest and most insightful analysts in the Arab world. I always make it a point to sound him out when I am in Amman, as I did a few days ago.

 
AFTER MUSHARRAF
And now the deluge

By Graham Allison

Published: February 22, 2008

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/21/opinion/edallison.php

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts:

President Pervez Musharraf's stunning defeat in Monday's elections in Pakistan represents a decisive rejection of what his opponents called his policies of "subservience" to the United States.

An American press that has been virtually unanimous in opposing Musharraf will now predictably call for his resignation in favor of "genuine democracy." Since this outcome is a possibility, it is essential to ask where a government that accurately reflects the views of Pakistani citizens would stand on issues that matter most to America.

It strikes me that in this period of American pre-election gymnastics it is appropriate to recall and to review closely the text of Dwight Eisenhower's farewell address on January 17th 1961, commonly known as the Military-Industrial Complex speech.  This url gives the full text.
 http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm
 
QUOTED EXCERPTS:    In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.    We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. . . . Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.   Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.   Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.    END QUOTE
 
Regards,  John

http://www.youtube.com/user/mariafortiz

Documentary profile of two teens -- Carlitos and Romina --as they struggle to overcome an addiction to paco.

© Maria Fortiz-Morse

Paco is a highly addictive drug made from the toxic refuse of cocaine production. Known as 'the poor man's drug', single dose or 'hit' of paco is USD 30 cents.

Smoked in a pipe, paco's physiological affect on the lungs and brain are immediate. The effects of continual consumption include malnutrition, pulmonary edema and heart attacks. Addicts, especially children, can die from consumption in as little as three months.

Many addicted teens pay for their addiction by engaging in armed robbery and sex work.

Health officials estimate that tens of thousands of teens have already become addicted to paco, and their numbers are steadily increasing.

Hi [info]drugaddict,

[info]naserien sent you a message on LiveJournal: Documentary on drug addiction, paco in Argentina..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4aZ0rEkiK8

http://www.youtube.com/user/mariafortiz

Documentary profile of two teens -- Carlitos and Romina --as they struggle to overcome an addiction to paco.

© Maria Fortiz-Morse