Monthly Archives: January 2010

Nehru, the great Indian statesman, said that “the moment has arrived, something that rarely takes place in history, when we take leave of the old and proceed toward the new, when an era ends, and when the cry of a nation, long suppressed, achieves its expression”. If ever there were something that unites Mexicans, it […]

According to Ambrose Bierce, a famous satirical writer of the nineteenth century, alliances are “the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other’s pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third.” Now that we are in electoral-alliances season, Bierce is worth remembering not only for his wry appreciation of […]

Saint Augustine said that time is present in three facets: the present, as we experience it; the past, as present memory, and the future, as present expectation. For President Calderón, time is ever shorter, and what is not already built today cannot be harvested, whether after or during his 6-year term of office. Given the […]

In one of the great battles of history, at Cannae in southern Italy, Hannibal the Carthaginian general almost defeated the most powerful and disciplined army in history, the Roman legion. His army, stationed a few days from Rome, could have easily gone on to conquer the city, but Hannibal hesitated. At that, Maharbal, his best […]

One of the things that impresses me most of the legislative and political processes in all societies is the inevitable contrast between solving problems, finding solutions and the programs or enforceable laws that result from the tortuous process of negotiation. Typically, at the beginning, the proposal or bill tends to be coherent and directly aimed […]