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Trump And The World

Circumnavigating In The Age Of Trump

He's off ...
He's off ...

—Analysis—

Back in the 16th century, it took Ferdinand Magellan"s crew more than two years to sail around the world. Yesterday, a new record was set in the prestigious Vendée Globe solo sailing race, as French skipper Armel Le Cléac'h took just 74 days to circumnavigate our planet.

When such records are set, we tend to focus on the technological progress that makes that kind of speed possible. But what may be more remarkable is that the desire to take to the open seas in a vessel powered only by wind still tugs at our imagination. It's a reminder, perhaps, that the forces of nature are ultimately beyond the control of humans, that the world has actually not gotten any smaller.

Much of our planet, nonetheless, will be connected instantaneously today to follow events in Washington D.C., where the new "leader of the free world" will take the presidential oath of office. Donald Trump"s own world appears as small as his voice is loud. The leadership that he has promised is driven by a conviction (perhaps the only fixed political idea he has) that a world moving closer is a threat to the wellbeing of the United States.

From where we sit that looks nothing like progress, neither for the United States nor for the world. Still, popular democracy — a singular mast of human progress that did not exist 500 years ago — has spoken. So hold on, batten down the hatches, and Godspeed to us all.

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Migrant Lives

What's Driving More Venezuelans To Migrate To The U.S.

With dimmed hopes of a transition from the economic crisis and repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, many Venezuelans increasingly see the United States, rather than Latin America, as the place to rebuild a life..

Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum​

Migrants from Venezuela crossed the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum.

Julio Borges

-Analysis-

Migration has too many elements to count. Beyond the matter of leaving your homeland, the process creates a gaping emptiness inside the migrant — and outside, in their lives. If forced upon someone, it can cause psychological and anthropological harm, as it involves the destruction of roots. That's in fact the case of millions of Venezuelans who have left their country without plans for the future or pleasurable intentions.

Their experience is comparable to paddling desperately in shark-infested waters. As many Mexicans will concur, it is one thing to take a plane, and another to pay a coyote to smuggle you to some place 'safe.'

Venezuela's mass emigration of recent years has evolved in time. Initially, it was the middle and upper classes and especially their youth, migrating to escape the socialist regime's socio-political and economic policies. Evidently, they sought countries with better work, study and business opportunities like the United States, Panama or Spain. The process intensified after 2017 when the regime's erosion of democratic structures and unrelenting economic vandalism were harming all Venezuelans.

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