Old Story, New Place (Before Marcos Fell)

JANUARY 1986: See if you can guess the trouble spot for U.S. foreign policy I am describing: A poor country, struggling to industrialize, richly endowed with natural resources but suffering from decades of retrograde political leadership.

The United States, in whose orbit this nation lies, has lately been making stronger noises about the need for social progress, but with little effect. Standing in the way is a self-serving elite, long opposed to change; it plunders foreign aid project...