Mexico needs schools, rural development, and an independent judiciary, not high-tech weaponry.

Western powers remain imprisoned by the idea that the world is a dangerous place, that it needs to be managed, and that they are called upon to do the managing.

The two largest oil-producing countries in Latin America, Mexico and Venezuela, sold petroleum to Nicaragua at concessional rates for several years beginning in 1980. The program was curtailed because Nicaragua could not make even reduced payments.

American strategic doctrine suggests that Mexico is of second-level importance to the United States. It ranks below Japan and Indonesia, Brazil and India, Egypt and Israel, and European powers including Britain, France, and Germany. This is a grave geopolitical miscalculation.

Whether the investigations are civilian or led by the judiciary, the most important thing is for them to be independent, impartial and transparent.

That's where Rehnquist was at his most vocal, ... He was always willing to fight for an independent judiciary.