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The City of the White MenThere isn't much left of the city of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, South America. In the 1500's, the Spanish systematically destroyed the buildings. Later, many of the stone blocks were looted for houses in a nearby village. Most recently more stone was taken to lay a railroad right-of-way. Despite this, what is left is still a sight to see. Tiahuanaco is old. It was already in ruins when the Incas took over the area in 1200 A.D.. It is situated on a mountain at an altitude of 12,500 feet and boasts a pyramid 700 feet long,...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday that South American nations will seek a common currency as part of the region's integration efforts following the creation of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) last week. "We are proceeding so as, in the future, we have a common central bank and a common currency," said Lula in his weekly radio program, noting that this process will "not be fast." The president highlighted the importance of helping the group's more "economically fragile" members, such as Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia. "We have to help them because the stronger the countries...

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A shallow, 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit central Colombia on Saturday, shaking buildings in the capital, Bogota, and sending panicked residents into the streets, witnesses and the U.S. Geological Survey said. Authorities said there were no initial reports of injuries, but Bogota Mayor Samuel Moreno told local radio some buildings in the city were slightly damaged. "The report we have so far is that it was strong and some structures have suffered damage, but there is nothing to lament," Moreno said. One Bogota government building was evacuated after the quake sent a shower of bricks tumbling off one of...

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - Bolivia's largest state voted amid scattered violence Sunday on a measure seeking greater political and economic autonomy from the government of leftist President Evo Morales, who called the vote unconstitutional. As polls closed Sunday, exit surveys showed the autonomy referendum drawing as much as 85 percent support, though they were conducted by local news media sympathetic to the cause. No margin of error was available. Minor clashes across Santa Cruz state injured at least 25 people during the politically charged vote, which sought to separate the state's freewheeling capitalism and mixed-blood heritage from Morales' vision of...

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Hundreds of people fled remote villages in southern Chile on Friday after a snowcapped volcano erupted, sending minor earthquakes rippling through the region. The Chaiten volcano belched fire and ash on Thursday night, causing more than 60 small tremors in Los Lagos, a region about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of the capital of Santiago. More tremors can be expected in the coming days, warned Emergency Bureau Director Carmen Fernandez. The government evacuated as many as 1,500 people from nearby villages and the town of Chaiten, just 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) from the volcano, as ash...

Geopolitics: With the discovery of vast troves of oil south of our border, it's probable that U.S. strategic interests will shift to our hemisphere. For the Middle East, that's a warning. For the Americas, it's an opportunity. By 2020, the places that matter to the U.S. strategically may be entirely different than today. It's not hard to project the possibilities. Oil is being discovered in vast quantities in Brazil. Other gigantic deposits have been located in Mexico, Colombia and Peru. Colombia now shows oil reserves as high as Algeria's. The U.S. imported 4.9 million barrels of oil a day in...

Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, is in political trouble. He is clearly hoping that a new expropriation spree will fire up his supporters, at least long enough to keep his allies from suffering heavy defeats in November’s state and municipal elections. What is certain is that the country’s economy will suffer. Mr. Chavez’s cronies have proved that they don’t have the skill — or the honesty — to run these businesses. Bungled management is responsible for a decline in production at the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, known as Pdvsa. The expropriations, added to exchange controls and price controls, are...

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) - Costa Rica has rejected a political asylum request by a Colombian presidential confidante accused of having ties with right-wing paramilitaries. The Foreign Ministry says that former Sen. Mario Uribe's request is inadmissible based on information shared with them by Colombian prosecutors. Uribe is a second cousin and close ally to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Colombia's chief prosecutor ordered Mario Uribe's arrest on Tuesday -snip-

THE YEAR 2008 may enter history as the time when the Democratic Party lost its way on trade. Already, the party's presidential candidates have engaged in an unseemly contest to adopt the most protectionist posture, suggesting that, if elected, they might pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared her intention to change the procedural rules governing the proposed trade promotion agreement with Colombia. President Bush submitted the pact to Congress on Tuesday for a vote within the next 90 legislative days, as required by the "fast-track" authority under which the U.S. negotiated...

BELGRADE- The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has released a new report that the axis between South American drug cartels and the Albanian mafia have reached "alarming proportions". According to reports by several intelligence agencies, Kosovo is a distribution center on the crossroads of global routes and pathways of drug trafficking. “This represents reason for concern, primarily because of the new pathways of drug trafficking, and inclusion of cocaine in the range of products offered by the groups that are active along the Balkan drug route.... The Albanian mafia has recently begun taking over the control of...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Washington’s favorite Latin American bete noir after Fidel Castro, unsettled Washington again last year by negotiating a $1 billion deal with Moscow to purchase a number of 636-model Varshavianka-class (NATO designation “Kilo”) diesel electric submarines (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostei, April 4). Various Russian and Venezuelan media reports say that the initial delivery will consist of three to four boats with an eventual nine submarines from Russia. President Chavez is reportedly traveling to Moscow next month for the inauguration of Russia’s new president, Dmitry Medvedev, and while there will sign an agreement for the delivery of the first...

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Venezuelan armed forces occupied 32 sugar plantations Thursday, the latest in a wave of takeovers that some say is a bid by President Hugo Chavez to regain political momentum and reverse his recent slide in the polls. The farms in Lara state were taken over by army units at the request of the Chavez government's National Land Institute, or INTI. The institute in recent years has handled the takeover of thousands of acres of farmland and turned them over to worker cooperatives. The government last week said it would seize privately owned cement manufacturers, and Wednesday it...

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — The appearance of a Star of David on new national identity cards has alarmed opponents of President Evo Morales, who recall how the symbol was used to brand Jews in Nazi Germany. Tiny six-pointed stars within a tight circle are printed on the back side of some, but not all, recently issued picture IDs in the Santa Cruz region. The mark was present on three cards seen by The Washington Times. "It raises suspicions that the government is identifying individuals or segments of the population along racial, religious or ideological lines" said Carlos Klinsky, a member...

Contact: Grady Semmens gsemmens@ucalgary.ca 403-220-7722 University of Calgary Corn's roots dig deeper into South AmericaEarliest signs of maize as staple food found after spreading south from Mexican homeland Corn has long been known as the primary food crop in prehistoric North and Central America. Now it appears it may have been an important part of the South American diet for much longer than previously thought, according to new research by University of Calgary archaeologists who are cobbling together the ancient history of plant domestication in the New World. In a paper published in the March 24 advanced online edition of...

An informant who provided German authorities with data from a Liechtenstein bank that sparked a massive tax fraud probe has said his life is threatened, two news magazines are to report Monday. "You are putting my life in danger," Heinrich Kieber wrote to German intelligence services, according to German weekly Focus in an article released in advance of publication over the weekend. The informant has blamed the intelligence services for not keeping his identity secret and asked them to provide him with a new identity so that he can relocate to South America. His request has been refused, Focus reported....

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2008 – Colombia is making solid progress against terrorism, prompting desertions to rise among various subversive armed groups, the commander of U.S. Southern Command told Congress yesterday. Colombia’s main narcoterrorist group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has been reduced to about 9,000 fighters, Navy Adm. James Stavridis said in prepared testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. That’s down from about 17,500 fighters in 2002, he said. Stavridis pointed to the Colombian armed forces’ numerous operational successes against FARC, with the clearing of former strongholds and removal or bringing to justice of numerous...

Venezeuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered tanks and thousands of troops on Sunday to the border with Colombia, accusing it of pushing South America to the brink of war and likening it to Israel for its U.S.-backed attacks on militants. Chavez called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a criminal and branded his government a terrorist state, over the killing of a top rebel leader on Ecuadorean soil. "The Colombian government has become the Israel of Latin America," an agitated Chavez said, reiterating his criticism of the Israel Defense Forces' strikes on Palestinian militants. "We aren't going to permit Colombia to become the...

Venezuela threatened to declare war on neighbouring Colombia last night, raising the prospect of the U.S. being drawn into conflict in South America. Venezuela's Left-wing president Hugo Chavez ordered ten tank battalions to the Colombian border and put war-planes under emergency stand-by. The tension follows Colombia's decision to send its army to strike against anti-government guerrillas hiding in the jungles of Ecuador. The surprise attack - launched without Ecuador's permission - killed Raul Reyes, a top commander in the Left-wing Colombian rebel group Farc, and about 16 of his men. President Chavez yesterday closed the Colombian embassy in Caracas, warning...

By Martin Arostegui - SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — South America was on the brink of war yesterday as Venezuela and Ecuador amassed troops on the Colombian border in response to the killing of a Marxist rebel leader. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to join the rebels in a war to overthrow hard-line Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a key ally of the United States, deploying tanks, fighter jets and thousands of troops along the Colombian border. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa also ordered troops to the border, expelled Colombia's ambassador and recalled its ambassador to Bogota, but left its embassy open. Venezuela...

The juxtaposition of events in Colombia and Venezuela give a compelling indication that Hugo Chavez has allied himself with FARC, the terrorist rebels just across his border. The day after the Columbians managed to kill FARC’s second in command, Chavez moved ten battalions to the border, threatening war against the US-allied government in Bogota, which he called “criminal”: President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered 10 battalions of troops to the border with Colombia after Colombia’s military killed a top rebel leader.Chavez told his defense minister: “move 10 battalions for me to the border with Colombia, immediately.” He also ordered the...

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez ordered tank battalions to the Colombian border on Sunday after Colombian troops struck inside another of its neighbors, Ecuador, in an attack on rebels. He also ordered the shutting of Venezuela's embassy in Colombia and the withdrawal of all diplomatic staff in the dispute, warning Colombia's actions could spark a war in South America. (Reuters)

Milton Friedmanesque reforms helped create South America’s most prosperous nation.There are now two South Americas,” says Chilean economist Rolf Lüders, a former prime minister under Augusto Pinochet. The old South America, which remains mired in populism and Marxist rhetoric, includes Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The new South America is democratic and free-market-oriented, and includes Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Chile is undoubtedly the most prosperous and stable country in the group, with an annual real growth rate averaging 5.5 percent over the last 15 years and a per-capita annual income of $12,000, the highest...

Discovery of vast prehistoric works built by Giants?The Geoglyphs of Teohuanaco Posted: February 24, 2008 1:00 am EasternBy David E. Flynn© 2008 RaidersNewsNetwork The size and scope of David Flynn's Teohuanaco discovery simply surpasses comprehension. Mammoth traces of intelligence carved in stone and covering hundreds of square miles. For those who understand what they are seeing here for the first time, this could indeed be the strongest evidence ever found of prehistoric engineering by those who were known and feared throughout the ancient world as gods. ~ Thomas Horn This satellite image (above) is a portion of the Andean foothills...

Nearly half a million Brazilians were murdered in the past decade but the homicide rate is gradually falling ... In the 10 years from 1996 to 2006, around 465,000 people were murdered, according to a study published by two aid groups and the federal government. The vast majority were shot. Gang-related violence routinely shakes Brazil's major cities, temporarily shutting down neighborhoods and killing innocent bystanders. the number of homicides in 2006 fell for the third consecutive year to 46,660 from a peak of 50,980 in 2003...

One of the most troubling threats in America's backyard is the emerging axis of Cuba's Communist regime and the Iranian government, assisted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Fidel Castro has been cultivating the Islamist regime in Tehran since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.... In an address at Tehran University, Castro said that "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees. The U.S. regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up." He said American "imperialism" would be overthrown...a former counterintelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency said Cuba has established four...

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — “Against narco-communism,” reads one line of graffiti in this city in the lowlands of Bolivia. “To arms, Cruceños,” reads another, calling on residents to fight the government of President Evo Morales, who put the armed forces on alert this week as four eastern provinces move toward greater autonomy.

Ex-wife takes on Chavez's socialist push By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 8, 7:36 AM ET BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela - A new voice has emerged to challenge Hugo Chavez's push to turn Venezuela into a socialist society, someone with rare insight into the president's passions and vulnerabilities: his ex-wife. Marisabel Rodriguez says her return to the public spotlight is not a personal vendetta. "This fight is not against a single person," she said in an interview at her home with The Associated Press. "This struggle is against the danger posed by leaving a person in power for a long...

China poised to take over U.S. base at Ecuador's invitation Ecuador’s president has offered the Chinese government an airbase currently serving as one of the last U.S. military outposts in South America. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said during his recent visit to China that he would offer Beijing a lease on the Manta Airport, the presidential website reported last week. Currently, Manta is used by U.S. military forces for operations. The contract is up in 2009 and Correa will not renew it, a transport and public works ministry communications official told BNamericas. Correa said access to the air base is...

As we've discussed before, everything that happens, anywhere in the world is now being described a "a defeat for George Bush." Two such "defeats for George Bush" came to light this past week - and I'm not even counting West Virginia's loss to Pittsburgh which helped vault LSU and Ohio State into the BCS title game in January. First came the news that John Murtha (D-Pa) who has been mentor to, and ally of, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) had changed his mind on Iraq. For years Murtha has been among the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq. According...

An entire continent is sliding unremarked into dictatorship. That continent is South America, traditionally treated by the British press as a byword for dullness. In a famous competition among sub-editors at The Times to find the most boring headline, the winner, by a comfortable margin, was "Small earthquake in Chile: not many dead". Well, a tremor is now pulsing through the entire region, throwing down parliament after parliament. Please, before your eye skips on to the next article, pause to consider how swiftly, and with what enthusiasm, constitutional government can be overturned. Ten years ago, every country in South America,...

"Water, water every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water every where, Nor a drop to drink." --Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ----------------------------------------------------- Iran isn’t an energy-independent country. I’m well aware that Iran produces more than 4 million barrels of oil per day, the fourth-highest production in the world. And with the near-constant reporting about Iranian crude reserves during the past six months, I find it difficult to believe that anyone could be unaware that Iran has 132 billion barrels in proven reserves--or, at least, they claim to. But what’s often ignored is that...

CARACAS, Venezuela — A diplomatic crisis between Venezuela and Colombia deepened on Tuesday as the government said it has called home its ambassador to Colombia for consultations. The presidents of the two countries have exchanged increasingly sharp words since Colombia's conservative Alvaro Uribe halted efforts by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to mediate a swap of prisoners for hostages held by Colombian rebels...Colombia's foreign minister, Fernando Araujo, however, said that his government will not order its ambassador to return home and said the dispute was with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, rather than Venezuela. "The enemy...

An estimated six million Jews were murdered in the Nazi death camps A "final effort" is under way in South America to track down and prosecute ex-Nazi war criminals before they die.Operation Last Chance - a scheme devised by the Simon Wiesenthal Center - attempts to locate Nazis in hiding. It takes the form of a media campaign and offers financial rewards for any information that results in conviction. The four countries involved are Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil - where large numbers of Nazis are thought to have fled following World War II. 'Important results' The operation -...

Venezuelan President released another attention-catching remark about his long-time foe U.S. President George W. Bush. Chavez also attacked Spanish King Juan Carlos I, with whom he had recently come into conflict in Chile’s capital Santiago. Chavez blasted the U.S. and Spanish leaders visiting Paris and Lisbon, ITAR-TASS reports. The Venezuelan president stated in Paris that George W. Bush should be placed in an asylum for his comments about a possibility to start Third World War if Iran developed nuclear weapons. In Lisbon Chavez said that the Spanish King could not make up with the fact that Latin American countries (former...

LA MATANZA, Argentina — Miguel Mendez's wages as a restaurant cook haven't risen much over the past year, but the price of potatoes where he shops has doubled. Prices also have skyrocketed for tomatoes, apple cider, sweet bread and other foods. "We're feeling it at home," said Mendez, who lives in this middle-class city outside the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. "We spend more money now for less." In South America, the age-old curse of inflation is making a comeback. Prices in Argentina and Venezuela, which have seen robust economic growth over the past four years, have risen by nearly 20...

WEPA40 PHEB 141556 TSUPAC HIZALL-141755- TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 1556Z 14 NOV 2007 THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA... WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. ... A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT ... A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR CHILE / PERU FOR ALL OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS BULLETIN... IT IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME. THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN...

RECIFE (Reuters) - Flanked by bustling cafes in downtown Recife on Brazil's northeastern coast is a little-known treasure of Jewish history in the New World -- the oldest synagogue in the Americas. Sephardic Jews built the two-story Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue before 1641 -- most likely in 1636 -- when they enjoyed religious freedom under the Dutch, who ruled part of the northeast region from 1630 to 1654 to control sugar production. The Mikve Israel Congregation in Curacao, a Dutch Antilles island in the Carribean, was considered by some to have been the first congregation in the Americas. But it...

Brazil is before the discovery of its biggest oil province, comparable to the most important oil provinces in the world. Petrobras announced a new frontier today, ranging through the Espírito Santo, Campos, and Santos Basins, in deeper horizons, and in the so-called pre-salt rocks. The volume that was discovered in the Tupi accumulation alone, which represents but a small part of the new frontier, may boost Brazil’s current 14-billion-barrel oil and gas reserves by more than 50%. The announced oil province is located in a new exploratory frontier, where the pre-salt layer was reached for the first time. To date,...

Brasilia - A large new oil reserve has been found in Brazil. The exact size of the reserves is unknown, but Brasilia is optimistic. Minister for Energy Dilma Roussef believes they could make Brazil just as big an oil producer as Venezuela and some Arabic countries. One of the oil fields off the coast of Sao Paulo is thought to contain 8 billion barrels of oil.

CARACAS - Soldiers used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter tens of thousands who massed Thursday to protest constitutional reforms that would permit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely. Led by university students, protesters chanted "Freedom! Freedom!" and warned that 69 amendments drafted by the Chavista-dominated National Assembly would violate civil liberties and derail democracy. It was the biggest turnout against Chavez in months, and appeared to revive Venezuela's languid opposition at a time when the president seems as strong as ever. Students promised more demonstrations over the weekend, but no opposition-led protests were...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- First lady Cristina Fernandez claimed victory in Argentina's presidential election Sunday, with early results and exit polls suggesting she had avoided a runoff and become the first woman elected to the post. Fernandez's husband, President Nestor Kirchner, is credited with Argentina's rebound from a 2001 economic collapse, and much of her support is due to his popularity. She has been compared to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who like her is a lawyer and senator who soldiered alongside a husband as he rose from small-state governor to his nation's presidency. "We have won amply," she...

BUENOS AIRES-- What would Jesus do? At a theme park in Buenos Aires, he rises to the heavens on the hour, every hour, as the rousing chords of Handel's Messiah blare out of speakers suspended from plaster palm trees. Welcome to Tierra Santa -- Spanish for the "Holy Land" -- where catechism meets adventure park. The park is promoted as the first religious theme park in the world, called "a voyage across time to get to know what ancient Jerusalem was like in the time of Jesus." Located between Argentina's bustling domestic airport and a water park, it offers a...

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Vilified by world leaders wary of his nuclear ambitions, Iran's president is turning to South American leftists who are embracing him as an energy and trade partner and counterweight to U.S. influence. On the heels of a U.N. General Assembly appearance in which he said Iran will ignore demands by "arrogant powers" to curb its nuclear program, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was headed to Bolivia on Thursday to establish first-time diplomatic relations with the Andean nation.

Latin America Warms to Iran Amid Anti-U.S. Sentiment August 29, 2007 Reuters Brian Ellsworth CARACAS -- Iran is gaining influence in Latin America as the region turns away from Washington and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad courts new allies to counter U.S. efforts to isolate his government. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and other leftist leaders from Cuba to Ecuador, many of them sympathetic to Chavez's anti-U.S. rhetoric, have struck energy, trade and investment deals with Iran. The growing ties come despite international criticism of Tehran's nuclear enrichment program and a possible new U.N. sanctions resolution against it. But the United States now...

Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, is leading his country into socialism. Why should Americans care? If that's what the Venezuelans want, it's their choice, and their problem. But one of the steps he's about to take, as he takes his country down this road, is to nationalize the country's largest phone company, currently owned by Compania Anonima Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela (CANTV). Nationalization, for those unfamiliar with it, is actually eminent domain—the seizure of private assets for some perceived public good. About this the United States government does care. You see, the largest minority stockholder in CANTV is Verizon Communications, out...

The Racist Arab Control also in... Haiti Just when you thought you know all about Arab racism, like; against Jews, against Africans such as in Sudan, Chad & in Egypt, against Asians residing in Saudi Arabia, against Kurds, etc. Haiti? nah, you wouldn't think... Well, We spoke lately to Haiti refugees, as you know, Haiti is the poorest country in that region, even poorer than neighbouring Dominican Republic. They explained it bluntly, greedy Arab business owners, mainly from Syria, CONTROL the entire country, and will NOT let any Haitian native have any opportunity in establishing a business. Their words, not...

Source: Penn State Date: June 7, 2007 Caribbean Frogs Started With A Single, Ancient Voyage On A Raft From South America Science Daily — Nearly all of the 162 land-breeding frog species on Caribbean islands, including the coqui frogs of Puerto Rico, originated from a single frog species that rafted on a sea voyage from South America about 30-to-50-million years ago, according to DNA-sequence analyses led by a research group at Penn State, which will be published in the 12 June 2007 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and posted in the journal's online early edition...

Since my arrival in this hospitable country in May 2005, I have been trying to explain to Americans that Lula would never be able — much less willing — to help them to stop Hugo Chavez. I have spread this obvious truth in lectures delivered to audiences of politicians, journalists, strategical analysts and intelligence experts. Though some of them agree with me, the prevalent opinion remains unaltered: Lula is America’s best hope in Latin America. Even now that attorney-general Alberto Gonzales had to swallow an explicit refusal from the Brazilian government to serve as a muzzle for the Venezuelan mad...

Climate Change: A Danish commission looks at the negative effect of biofuels on the environment as a new study shows ethanol use may actually increase pollution. The Kyoto deal is full of unintended consequences. The recently formed Cramer Commission, named after Dutch Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer, who chaired it before entering the cabinet, was formed to develop ways to ensure that crops used to create biofuels as replacements for oil and gas don't do more harm than good. It seems that in the rush to develop these alternative fuels, forests in Asia have been burned to clear land for palm...