Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaking at a ceremony in Tehran, Iran, August 2023. Iran's Presidency / West Asia News Agency / Reuters

Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the proliferation and use of ballistic and cruise missiles. Much of this increase stems from Tehran and its large network of proxies. The Houthis, for example, have carried out missile campaigns against Saudi Arabia and shipping near the Horn of Africa. Iran lobbed missiles at the Al Asad Air Base in Iraq in January 2020. And Iran-backed militias hit the same facility with rockets in January 2024. The war in Ukraine also contributes to this trend, with the Russian military launching large-scale missile attacks against military and civilian targets. And although it is not engaged in active conflict, North Korea continues to remind the world that has an active missile development program by conducting extensive and persistent testing.…  Seguir leyendo »

A woman walking in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 2022. Ali Khara / Reuters

A human rights calamity is unfolding in Afghanistan. Since retaking power in mid-2021, the Taliban have implemented more extreme policies against women than any other regime in the world. Taliban leaders have issued over 90 edicts limiting women’s rights: they have banned women and girls from attending university or school beyond the sixth grade, restricted their access to health care, prohibited them from leaving home without a male guardian, and revoked many of their social and legal protections. Every new restriction on Afghan women strengthens the Taliban’s dictatorial grip on the entire Afghan population and feeds extremism in a society already occupied by dozens of terrorist groups.…  Seguir leyendo »

Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, and William, then Duke of Cambridge, at Buckingham Palace on their wedding day, London, April 29, 2011. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

“Is the monarchy a suitable institution for a grown-up nation?” asked Hilary Mantel in “Royal Bodies”, an incendiary 2013 essay for the London Review of Books. “We are happy to allow monarchy to be an entertainment, in the same way that we licence strip joints and lap-dancing clubs”. The royal family are like pandas, Mantel wrote, “expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment”.

“A royal lady is a royal vagina”, she added. Witness the six sacrificial brides of “King Bluebeard”, and the exhausted Windsor women. Monarchy means gynecology: the reproductive capacities of the wives of Henry VIII are as familiar to students of English history as the Battle of Hastings and its aftermath.…  Seguir leyendo »

The world’s broken market for medicines

Part way through her 23-year-old son’s chemotherapy, Kristin Caparra was told that one of the drugs key to his treatment — methotrexate — was running out.Used at high doses in cancer care, the drug is part of common chemotherapy to treat paediatric cancers. There is often no good alternative to the treatment.

The shortage led Caparra’s son to miss a dose of methotrexate for treatment of a rare, malignant bone cancer at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. Caparra immediately contacted elected officials and cancer organisations, one of which helped arrange an alternative source. For other patients, shortages can mean switching to less effective drugs and facing worse outcomes.…  Seguir leyendo »

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rewriting the disinformation playbook. There is no better place to study this than Taiwan, which, the Swedish Varieties of Democracy Project finds, is subject to more disinformation from abroad than any other democracy. China has greatly increased the scope and sophistication of its influence operations on the island using cutting-edge AI. We conducted fieldwork during the elections in Taiwan in January, meeting organisations on disinformation’s front lines. We saw in their experience the signs of how AI could disrupt this global year of elections.

One such sign is the rise of AI-powered video, in particular deepfakes—content created to convince people of events that did not occur.…  Seguir leyendo »

Biden Loves Ireland. It Doesn’t Love Him Back.

If there’s one thing Irish people know about President Biden, it’s that he’s one of us. He says so all the time. “Remember”, he recalls his grandfather saying, “the best drop of blood in you is Irish”. He has a habit of quoting the poet Seamus Heaney and never lets an opportunity to recall his origins go to waste. His Secret Service code name, tellingly, is Celtic.

So when he visited Ireland last year, it felt like a homecoming. “Today you are amongst friends because you are one of us”, the speaker of Parliament announced before Mr. Biden addressed Irish lawmakers.…  Seguir leyendo »

Los 100 días de Milei

El nuevo presidente de Argentina, Javier Milei, lleva poco más de 100 días en el cargo. Desde su toma de posesión el pasado 10 de diciembre, Milei, libertario de extrema derecha, se ha propuesto acabar con lo que ha calificado de “orgía de gasto público” por parte de las gestiones anteriores, que le han dejado “la peor herencia” de cualquier gobierno en la historia de Argentina.

El programa libertario que Milei considera que hará a Argentina grande otra vez —junto con su cabello, tan revoltoso como su lengua— han suscitado innumerables comparaciones con Donald Trump y lo han hecho merecedor de grandes elogios de este y otros poderosos admiradores.…  Seguir leyendo »

Por favor, no más soluciones creativas

Hace unos años, Fernando Savater, a cuenta de reuniones entre periodistas, recordaba que «se le daban muchas e inteligentes vueltas a la cuestión, a veces hasta llegar a lo que parecía un callejón sin salida». Entonces mi añorado amigo Javier Pradera carraspeaba: «Bueno, a ver qué se nos ocurre, pero nada de decir que debe buscarse una solución imaginativa». Por lo que parece, nada ha cambiado, solo la recalificación: «Soluciones creativas». En el fondo, lo mismo: mampostería para orillar la dureza de los problemas reales.

Como en tantos otros asuntos, Zapatero, a quien algún día la RAE deberá honrar por su marabunta de «soluciones imaginativas», abrió camino con sus memorables soluciones habitacionales, crecimientos negativos y otras perlas.…  Seguir leyendo »

Un terremoto electoral anunciado en Portugal

El pasado 10 de marzo se produjo un terremoto electoral en Portugal. El Partido Socialista (PS), en el poder desde hacía ocho años, sufrió una dura derrota, al igual que la izquierda parlamentaria. El desgaste que sufrió el PS en las urnas fue muy relevante, pues pasó del 42% al 28% de los votos. Con todo, la coalición de derechas, Aliança Democrática (AD), que incluye al principal partido de la oposición, el PSD, liderado por Luís Montenegro, no mejoró significativamente sus resultados, al obtener el 29% de los votos, prácticamente los mismos que en 2022. En cambio, el partido que más réditos electorales obtuvo fue Chega, que pasó del 8% al 18%, superó el millón de votos y consiguió 50 diputados (de un total de 230), en el año en que se cumple el 50 aniversario de la Revolución de los claveles del 25 de abril.…  Seguir leyendo »

Vivimos tiempos difíciles. Hay quienes piensan que sobran motivos para la preocupación, sobre todo con respecto a la situación política y al Derecho: la reciente despenalización del delito de sedición, la reforma del delito de malversación de caudales públicos, la politización de las instituciones, la falta de independencia judicial (que explica la incapacidad para acordar la renovación del Consejo General del Poder Judicial por los dos grandes partidos políticos), así como el actual proceso de aprobación de la ley de amnistía, ponen de manifiesto la crisis de dos grandes pilares de todo sistema constitucional, a saber, la separación de poderes y el Estado de Derecho (que incluye el sometimiento del poder político al Derecho).…  Seguir leyendo »

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, este viernes en un acto en Bilbao. H. Bilbao Europa Press

Puesto que una de las manifestaciones más claras de la libertad es la capacidad de soñar en voz alta, he decidido escribirle una carta a Alberto Núñez Feijóo pensando que la leerá y, lo que todavía es más atrevido, que se parará a pensar lo que le digo.

Empezaré por sugerirle que no haga el menor caso a los que le aseguran que la presidencia del PP le llevará en volandas a la Moncloa. Me parece que puede ser una advertencia innecesaria puesto que ya ha visto cómo tener más votos que nadie en julio de 2023 no ha servido para gran cosa.…  Seguir leyendo »

Muchos políticos, diplomáticos y otros comentaristas internacionales datan, inadvertida o deliberadamente, el inicio de la actual guerra rusoucraniana en febrero de 2022, en lugar de febrero de 2014. Tres narrativas (formadas por la desinformación mundial de Moscú sobre su anexión ilegal de Crimea y su intervención encubierta en Dombás) explican este malentendido que lleva ya diez años autoperpetuándose.

Una primera narración afirma que la secesión de Crimea de Ucrania, así como el estallido de los combates en Dombás poco después, estuvieron determinados por la dinámica local y no por la injerencia extranjera.

Una segunda, que la toma de Crimea por Rusia fue un traspaso pacífico y no un acto violento.…  Seguir leyendo »

Los profesores hemos empezado a jugar a policías y ladrones. Si me incluyo en el bando de los defensores de la Ley es porque desde hace veinte años me dedico, entre otras cosas, a contagiar el amor por la literatura creativa entre los adolescentes. Y me enorgullece poder mostrar los frutos, condensados en la página web de Excelencia Literaria, la actividad que diseñé y dirijo, con la que he conseguido dar cuerpo a la carrera literaria de muchos chicos y chicas, que demuestran en sus obras la fuerza del compromiso con la Verdad. Son autores de miles de relatos, novelas, poemas, artículos de prensa, traducciones, guiones de cine y televisión… que brindan una imagen trascendente del lector y su destino.…  Seguir leyendo »

La momia que fosiliza

Cuando el pastor se va, las ovejas se dispersan, pero una revolución nacional antiimperialista (en cuyos prolegómenos estamos más o menos desde hace medio siglo) requiere el mantenimiento del rebaño. En la teoría rupturista, las masas liberan la nación. Por eso la izquierda abertzale mantiene la ficción de una ETA omnipresente y sempiterna, invulnerable, que no mata porque hábilmente ha decidido cambiar de táctica, no por derrotada, y que mantiene al rebaño unido. Constituye un error suponer que en los homenajes a presos subyace el cultivo a una organización histórica, que forma parte del pasado. Esta especie queda para la credulidad progre que quiere blanquearla.…  Seguir leyendo »

At the National People’s Congress in Beijing, March 2024. Florence Lo / Reuters

China’s economy has barely grown in the past two years. The immediate causes, including a decline in property construction and ham-fisted “zero COVID” policies that tanked private-sector investment, are well known. But the roots of the stagnation are systemic, and firms and analysts inside China, as well as governments and businesses around the world, have waited with anticipation for Beijing to clarify its plans to put the country’s economy on a more stable track. Between 2010 and 2019—not long ago—China’s annual GDP growth averaged 7.7 percent, but today the basic policy reforms necessary to support even three or four percent growth are proving difficult for Beijing to achieve.…  Seguir leyendo »

Pro-Palestinian protesters outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, January 2024. Piroschka van de Wouw / Reuters

In its December 2023 filing to the International Court of Justice, South Africa accused Israel of violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in a case that prompted strong reactions. Some touted the investigation as a significant step toward the fair application of international law. Others deemed it a cynical exercise, infused with double standards and political bias.

Amid the controversy, it was easy to lose sight of the fact that any ruling from the International Court of Justice is effectively unenforceable. The ICJ has no independent mechanism to ensure compliance. Israel could easily ignore any decision it dislikes, and the United States would almost certainly veto any attempt to coerce Israel through the UN Security Council.…  Seguir leyendo »

Chinese People's Liberation Army personnel attending the opening ceremony of China's new military base in Djibouti on 1 August 2017. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images).

For over three decades, every Chinese foreign minister’s first overseas trip of the year has been to Africa. This year continued the tradition with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, visiting Egypt, Tunisia, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire. Notably, every one of these countries is coastal. And yet, at a time of continued speculation over China’s next military installation in Africa, none of these countries has featured prominently as potential locations in previous analyses.

We might, therefore, reasonably ask what China’s current considerations are around basing in Africa. Faced with an increasingly multipolar and assertive Africa at a time of domestic economic challenge, however, China’s long-term strategy remains unclear.…  Seguir leyendo »

HMS Diamond is pulled along the River Thames by tugboats on May 2, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

In January 2024 the head of the British Army, General Sir Patrick Sanders, queried whether the world is at a 1938 moment.

He is not alone in making such linkages to the past or raising questions about the state of Britain’s armed forces today. Grant Shapps, Britain’s Defence Secretary, echoed his sentiments in a speech shortly afterwards. A month later, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of the Defence Staff, appeared to play down the issue.

Both Sanders and Shapps called for a significant increase in defence spending. Others have called on the British government to bring forward its commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP immediately.…  Seguir leyendo »

An employee views trading screens in London in October 2014. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images).

The UK has played a key role in the design and deployment of economic and financial sanctions over many years, linked in part to its role as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 led to a major escalation in the use of sanctions by G7 countries. While the G7 has been at pains to emphasise that sanctions are part of a broader strategy to support Ukraine in its struggle for survival, they are nonetheless one of the most significant instruments deployed.

The scale and scope of the measures taken have been unprecedented, including freezing at least $300 billion of foreign exchange reserves of Russia’s central bank, excluding Russian commercial banks from the SWIFT payments system, and steps to cap the price at which Russia is able to export oil so that the product itself reaches the world market, but Russia’s revenues are restricted.…  Seguir leyendo »

Hong Kongers Are Purging the Evidence of Their Lost Freedom

“What should I do with those copies of Apple Daily?”

Someone in Hong Kong I was chatting with on the phone recently had suddenly dropped her voice to ask that question, referring to the pro-democracy newspaper that the government forced to shut down in 2021.

“Should I toss them or send them to you?”

My conversations with Hong Kong friends are peppered with such whispers these days. Last week, the city enacted a draconian security law — its second serious legislative assault on Hong Kong’s freedoms since 2020. Known as Article 23, the new law expands the National Security Law and criminalizes such vague behavior as the possession of information that is “directly or indirectly useful to an external force”.…  Seguir leyendo »