Anxieties of empire

In the middle of yesterday, the news came through that a coup was taking place against the president of Ecuador. Or -- accounts varied -- maybe Quito police were protesting austerity measures to cut their pay.


Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a gas mask, is rescued from a hospital where he was holed up by protesting police in Quito, Ecuador.

I realized I had just one wish on hearing these rumors -- might I someday live in a country where I don't have to worry, whenever I hear of a government being overturned (especially south of the U.S. border), that my government is at it again? What would it be like to be a citizen of a country that didn't routinely try to impose its choices on its neighbors? I have no idea.***No, I still don't have a handle on what is going on in Ecuador. Time will tell.