Salon.com > Matthew Yeomans

Oil, guns and money

Thu, 02 Sep 2004 19:30:00 +0000

When President Bush announced a radical redeployment of some 70,000 active duty U.S. military personnel currently based in Western Europe and Asia in mid-August, he stressed that this new agile military would be focused on combating terrorism and fostering global stability. What he didn't mention is that the newly dispersed Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force will also be busy protecting another key component of U.S. national security -- its energy resources.

The plan, which the Pentagon has been explaining in dribs and drabs over the past year, is to rotate troops through a large number of bases scattered all over the world, with special attention given to the so-called "arc of instability" running through the Caribbean rim, Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, North Korea and the Caucasus. The new formation includes boosting new regional hub bases as well as establishing minimally-staffed forward operating bases that might house just a few dozen troops but could be quickly transformed into action-ready staging bases.

Chaos in Colombia

Fri, 19 Mar 1999 20:00:00 +0000

The murder of three U.S. environmental activists in Colombia -- discovered two weeks ago in a field on the Venezuelan border, their hands bound, eyes blindfolded and bodies filled with bullets -- stunned a Colombian people supposedly immune to horror stories of violence and atrocities. When, four days later, the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia's largest rebel force, admitted it was responsible for the deaths of Terence Freitas, 24, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, the executions took on a new meaning. This single act of murder now became the catalyst to destroy the fragile peace negotiations with FARC begun in January by Colombia's new president, Andres Pastrana, and possibly ruin his presidency in the process.

Among the Colombians

Tue, 30 Jun 1998 19:00:00 +0000

JACKSON HEIGHTS, N.Y. June 26: As you walk down Roosevelt Avenue, the world changes before your eyes. The round lettering of the many Korean restaurants and beauty boutiques that line the sides of this major artery of Queens dissolve around 75th Street into a claustrophobic assortment of cheap clothing stores, long-distance telephone booths and stark Latino restaurants, their windows steaming up from the heat of the empanadas and papas relleno prominently displayed to entice.

Ecuadoreans, Argentines, Bolivians and, most recently, Mexicans have made Jackson Heights their home. But today, only one country matters.

"Co-lom-bi-a, Co-lom-bi-a," is the cry from the cars as they crawl down Roosevelt Avenue; cumbia is the music that pounds from their car stereos, cranked to fever pitch to drown out the rumble of the elevated No. 7 subway train overhead. This afternoon only one country matters, because Colombia is about to play England in its final first-round game of the World Cup. If Colombia wins, it will advance. Anything less and it's going home.