Morning reading

Since I am leaving on a short trip, I thought that instead of discussing the latest scandal, the alleged corruption of Luis Velazquez Alvaray (the assemblyman that proposed unlimited reelection and that as a prize became one in the new batch of "objective" high court justices) I would leave the blog with a reading list based on what I saw this morning while drinking my tea.

Are Super Power needed?

Well, that article of the WSJ should indeed make more than one think about the need to have a super power, preferably the US, Iraq notwithstanding. "Hobbes in Sudan" is too close for comfort. When Chavez is backing up Iran, how close is he to back up the Khartoum rulers? Does he even know where the Darfur is, by the way?

Looking back to India

Peggy Noonan has je ne sais quoi very irking about her personality. Then again I have had always some problems with the self confident Reaganites, in particular when they tend to be more often right than wrong. Her thoughts about how India became independent and how distanced from reality elites become is worth while reading. note that she is not afraid to write a book review on a 30 year old book, the kind of thing that few can pull out as convincingly as she can. In "what nobody knows", Ms. Noonan rereads "Freedom at Midnight" where she points out how power create elites which lose touch with the common people. Exactly what is going on with Chavez these days as he tells his own supporters to shut up when they become to demanding in his Alo Presidente. A bolivarian elite of power has been created and it is following the road that all elites have followed.

And the small people against the elites

The WSJ now reviews the Glen Reynolds book, An Army of Davids (this blogger has had the honor to be cited more than once by Instapundit). It is certainly not a rousing endorsement, but a very favorable review anyway, by the WSJ (after all, blogs are a competition). Still, it is one of the best assessment of the just range that blogs can achieve. Not a real danger to newspapers (after all bloggers in general will never dispose of the investigative possibilities of a major paper) but rather an interesting complement as both learn to feed from each other.

And yes, I start my day reading the free articles that the WSJ sends to my mail box, being too expensive for me to subscribe too (currency control exchange, you know!), and having broken with the NYT years ago over Forero inane coverage of LatAm. It is also nicer to start the day in Venezuela with eh WSJ than with a Venezuelan newspaper: one needs that slow decompression time from a night of rest.

And while we look at the power of blogs

I have found a very nice article, very well written and very comprehensive on Venezuela. I highly recommend folks to go and visit Slaves of Academe where Oso Raro will regale you with an article even longer than what you find in these pages but much better written: "We don't need another hero".