Manuel Noriega dies - A nasty puppet

The former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega died on Monday.

He was a notorious, brutal warlord who was as comfortable working with Central America’s drug lords such as Pablo Escobar as he was working with America’s intelligence agency, the CIA.

Indeed, his despotism depended on support — money, arms and manpower — from both extremes of the spectrum. He was so corrupt, so dangerous, that the American ringmasters who supported him before his excesses made their position untenable must wish that the memory of their relationship dies with him. That is unlikely.