Free Republic

The election of a Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress and the inauguration of Felipe Calderon as president of Mexico offer the two countries an opportunity to reinvigorate a deteriorating relationship and, at the same time, build confidence in the idea of a true North American community. To do so, the new leaders must change the agenda from illegal immigration to North American development and resolve to narrow the income gap between Mexico and its two northern neighbors

The Fruits of NAFTA As I write these lines, the big black headline on Drudge reads, “Arizona Governor Orders Troops to Mexican Border.” Both Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and New Mexico’s Bill Richardson have now declared a “state of emergency” on their border. Why? Because our border is descending into a state of anarchy, as 5,000 illegal aliens daily attempt to cross our Mexican frontier and drug traffickers, with renegade Mexican army troops sometimes backing them up, attempt to run narcotics into the United States. It is now a dozen years since NAFTA passed. We can measure its success in...

CITES TRADE CONTROLS TO TAKE EFFECT FOR MAHOGANY GENEVA, 11 November (UN Environment Programme) -- Internationally agreed trade regulations for big-leaf mahogany will enter into force on 15 November. This tropical timber generates over $100 million a year in export sales, making it one of the world's most valuable forest products. The controls were adopted one year ago by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which now has 164 member States. The neotropical populations of big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) will now be listed on CITES Appendix...