Nikolas Kozloff

Though I enjoyed the recent Marvel Avengers film, I nearly slept through a climactic scene in which Midtown Manhattan is, once again, destroyed. I say once again, as the scene is uncannily reminiscent of both the recent Godzilla remake and the Day After Tomorrow. In the latter movie, a tsunami...

As Venezuela counts down to its presidential election in October, many may wonder what will befall the country's special relationship with Cuba if Chávez should falter. In recent years, Venezuela has pursued unprecedented ties to the Communist island nation, and recently Chávez drew international headlines when the ailing president traveled...

I have always been a bit skeptical about some of the more salacious claims made in John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, the story of one man's life working for the secretive National Security Agency or NSA. When he was a young man, NSA interrogators interviewed Perkins and...

As the west tightens sanctions and ratchets up pressure on Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has struck back at the United States in an unusual manner by touring through Latin America. This week, the Iranian leader was in Venezuela where he received political support from Hugo Chávez [for a complete rundown of...

As an undergraduate at University of California, Berkeley in the late 1980s, I did not visit the nearby city of Oakland very frequently. For the most part, I was ensconced in my own student circles and, to the extent that I got involved in politics, it was the local...

After a couple of weeks trying to find their groove, Occupy Wall Street protesters are now on a high and are set to take their movement to the next level. First came the announcement that New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg would not dismantle the encampment at Liberty Plaza, and...

For the past year or so, I've been writing steadily about WikiLeaks and U.S. diplomatic correspondence between various American embassies in Latin America and the State Department in Washington, D.C. For a full inventory of these pieces, you may head to my web site, which complements and further contextualizes my...

For the past year or so, I've been writing steadily about WikiLeaks and U.S. diplomatic correspondence between various American embassies in Latin America and the State Department in Washington, D.C. For a full inventory of these pieces, you may head to my web site, which complements and further...

For the past year or so, I've been writing steadily about WikiLeaks and U.S. diplomatic correspondence between various American embassies in Latin America and the State Department in Washington, D.C. For a full inventory of these pieces, you may head to my web site, which complements and further...

For the past year or so, I've been writing steadily about WikiLeaks and U.S. diplomatic correspondence between various American embassies in Latin America and the State Department in Washington, D.C. For a full inventory of these pieces, you may head to my website, which complements and further contextualizes my two...

As more and more WikiLeaks cables get released, the Brazilian-U.S. diplomatic relationship has become increasingly illuminated. Though somewhat wary of each other, Washington and Brasilia sometimes saw eye to eye on matters of geopolitical importance. Take, for example, both countries' handling of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. Under the helm of Luiz...

This is the third post in a three-part series. Read parts 1 and 2.

The Guardian Controversy

In the wake of Chomsky's visit, Chávez continued to court the MIT linguist. Just earlier this year, in fact, the Venezuelan leader said he'd like Washington to name Chomsky...

This is the second post in a three-part series. Read Part 1.

The Political Role of the Intellectual

In Latin America, there has been a long history of well-known writers developing rapport with leftist leaders. Take, for example, the case of Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez, who established...

In their correspondence with the State Department, U.S. diplomats in South America have been exceptionally paranoid about the activities of Hugo Chávez and the possibility of a leftist regional alignment centered upon Venezuela. That, at least, is the unmistakable impression that one is left with by reading U.S. cables recently...

Over the past few years, the international left has derived much satisfaction from the course of South American political and economic integration. The novelty of such integration is that it has proceeded along progressive lines and has been pushed by regional leaders associated with the so-called "Pink Tide." With so...

This is the first post in a three-part series.

On the U.S. left, there are certain sacred cows that one should never take on directly. For years, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela has been, for the most part, sacrosanct and immune from criticism. The underlying reasons for this kid-glove treatment are...

This past fall, I had the opportunity to observe the first round of Brazil's presidential election. In a logistical feat, the government managed to draw correspondents from all over the world for the occasion while taking care of all travel amenities. Politically and economically, Brazil has been on...

As more and more U.S. diplomatic cables get released by whistle-blowing operation WikiLeaks, researchers are developing a clearer picture of Brazil's rise on the world stage. A South American powerhouse displaying stunning economic growth, Brazil caught many by surprise as former President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva sought a greater...

You've got to hand it to WikiLeaks: the whistle-blowing outfit sure has impeccable timing. Even as forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi fire on protesters in a mounting massacre and human rights calamity, Julian Assange has released U.S. diplomatic cables which should prove acutely embarrassing to Venezuelan President Hugo...

Having endured repression under the 1964-1985 right wing military dictatorship, many Brazilians hold the nation's defense establishment in low regard. Indeed, because of the awful stigma associated with this dark era of Brazilian history, few politicians will admit to being on the right, even if they hold conservative beliefs. Yet,...