Reviews
Third World Warrior Reviewed "Huntington WV Dispatch":
Kris gets political on new LP,...At the reflective age of 53, Kristofferson's worries over Latin American politics have reached the boiling point. In fact, he's so hopping mad at the United States for sticking its nose where he feels it doesn't belong that he's devoted a whole album to the subject. "Third World Warrior" is Kristofferson's 19th album and the title alone gives you a pretty good clue as to what's beneath it's cover. From "The Eagle and the Bear" to "Third World War" this album is chock-full of rock'n'roll politiking. Its message? The US should keep its guns out of countries like Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador. 
Third World Warrior", but now he's taking a few months off to tour with the Highwaymen...."The thing is when you write songs, you have an obligation--a duty-- to bring information to people and to express your feelings about these things" he says. "But pointing all of this out is to be attacked as unpatriotic. Patriotism has always been the last refuge of the scoundrel, but Christ--I love my children and I'm going to point it out to them when they do something wrong"..."I had a military background on both sides of my family--And I was an officer in the military myself; I grew up in an era when god was on our side and you had a duty to your country," he says "I still feel that way. The same reason's I volunteered to go to Viet Nam-- although I never went- are the same reasons I do what I'm doing now, like going to Nicaragua. I believe in the principles this country stands for." 
I just write what I passionately feel" he says" I think protest songs are easy to attack because they usually come right out and say what they mean, but I also think there's a bigger audience for them than the (record) company thinks there is. 

"Country Music Magazine"
After three years time time, Kris Kristofferson surprises with an album that cannot at all be compared with his former one called "Repossessed". As was already obvious at his appearance at the Country-Open-Air in Berne in Autumn 1987, he documents again his political engagement with "Third World Warrior". In his songs he unmistakably condemns the military interference of the USA in Nicaragua (Aguila Del Norte) and gives a voice to the sympathy he has for the struggle of freedom of the people in El Salvador and Nicaragua with the deeply moving songs "Mal Sacate" and "Sandanista"....Kristofferson is still accompanied by his band, The Borderlords. As far as the style of the music is concerned, Kris Kristofferson is farther from his country roots than ever before. It is also characteristic that the album was recorded at Los Angeles and not Nashville. This is not at all a simple album, adjusted to commercial success, but a very honest and courageous one. 

Houston Post
His latest album for Polygram and his first in more than 2 years is "Third World Warrior"...."I was brought up to believe in the principles of freedom and self-determination" Kristofferson said "Most Americans believe in what our country stands for. Unfortunately most Americans don't know what's going on." Kristofferson's interest in Latin-American affair has been a constant in his life....What Kristofferson believes and what he wants his audience to believe is quite simple. "The main one message that I would hope people would come out with is that each of us does matter".

Entertainment Weekly, 16 Mar 1990.
Once concerned only with finding somebody to help him make it through the night, Kris Kristofferson now turns his attention to a more important universal need-that of human freedoms. In a concept album that addresses the conflicts in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and South Africa, the singer-songwriter balances American country music stylings with Latin and African beats, and childlike calls to bravery ("The Hero") with fervent and brooding assaults on American foreign policies ("Aguila Del Norte"). However well-intentioned this is (including a valentine titled "Jesse Jackson," sung with the ubiquitous Willie Nelson), the language and images are so vague-and the music so gutless- that the songs rarely hit the head and the heart at the same time. In the end, Kristofferson would do well to listen to Holly Near's songs on the same subject. This is neither a rallying cry nor an emotional spur, merely a bore. C-