Archivo categoría «Próximo-Medio Oriente»
Por Gabriel Albiac, filósofo (ABC, 03/02/12):
«Pon tu bandera a media asta, / recuerdo. / A media asta / el día de hoy y siempre». En la penumbra de la biblioteca y en voz alta, releo el Shibbolethde un Paul Celan siempre acosado por la fuga de muerte y humo que danza sobre la música más alta o la más alta poesía. Y es Israel lo que retorna en la herida enigmática del poeta. Y en la mía, y en la de cualquier hombre de nuestro siglo que no apueste por ser asesino o imbécil. No es política. Es … Seguir leyendo
By Chuck Freilich, a senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School and a deputy national security advisor in Israel during Labor and Likud governments (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 02/02/12):
In the end it will come down to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His senior officials will make their cases, but he alone will have to make one of the most critical decisions inIsrael’s history: whether to attackIran’s nuclear program. I do not envy him.
There has been much media speculation lately about possible Israeli military action, largely from those who have never borne the crushing weight of momentous national decisions. Israel has … Seguir leyendo
By Yagil Beinglass and Daniel Brode, intelligence analysts at Max-Security Solutions, an Israeli geopolitical risk consulting firm (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 31/01/12):
Russia has been steadfast in its diplomatic support for the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even as Assad becomes ever more isolated within the Arab League and the international community.
The Kremlin sent a strong message earlier this month when its aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, anchored off the Syrian port of Tartus. Then last week, Moscow said a draft resolution introduced at the U.N. Security Council by the Arab League calling on Assad to … Seguir leyendo
By Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Mark Hanis, co-founders of the Genocide Intervention Network (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 31/01/12):
Drones are not just for firing missiles in Pakistan. In Iraq, the State Department is using them to watch for threats to Americans. It’s time we used the revolution in military affairs to serve human rights advocacy.
With drones, we could take clear pictures and videos of human rights abuses, and we could start with Syria.
The need there is even more urgent now, because the Arab League’s observers suspended operations last week.
They fled the very violence they … Seguir leyendo
By Sujatha Fernandes, an associate professor of sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the author of Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 30/01/12):
Def Jam will probably never sign them, but Cheikh Oumar Cyrille Touré, from a small town about 100 miles southeast of Dakar, Senegal, and Hamada Ben Amor, a 22-year-old man from a port city 170 miles southeast of Tunis, may be two of the most influential rappers in the history of hip-hop.
Mr. Touré, a k a … Seguir leyendo
By Omar Ashour, visiting scholar at the Brookings Doha Center and Director of Middle East Graduate Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. He is the author of The De-Radicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements (Project Syndicate, 30/01/12):
“Whatever the majority in the People’s Assembly, they are very welcome, because they won’t have the ability to impose anything that the people don’t want.” Thus declared General Mukhtar al-Mulla, a member of Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
Al-Mulla’s message was that the Islamists’ victory in Egypt’s recent election gives them … Seguir leyendo
Por Yossi Beilin, exministro de Justicia israelí, arquitecto del proceso de paz de Oslo (LA VANGUARDIA, 29/01/12):
Aparentemente, la situación política en Israel es tranquila: tres años de gobierno de Beniamin Netanyahu gracias a una coalición de partidos no muy grande pero estable. Al menos, eso demuestra el hecho de que la mitad de sus miembros se siente en los consejos de ministros del mayor gobierno de Israel en toda su historia y no tengan prisa en abandonarlo. Estamos hablando de un gobierno, formado por personas de la derecha conservadora y por religiosos ultraortodoxos, con un elemento en común: … Seguir leyendo
By Frida Ghitis, a world affairs columnist, author and consultant (THE MIAMI HERALD, 29/01/12):
Egyptians are sweeping up in Tahrir Square after celebrations marking the first anniversary of the Jan. 25 launch of their revolution. In a few days, on Feb. 11, they will mark another milestone, one year since hundreds of thousands of protestors toppled President Hosni Mubarak, who had held power for almost 30 years.
One year ago, amid the euphoric suggestions that democracy and freedom lay just around the corner, the journalist Christopher Hitchens sounded a note of caution. Hitchens, who died last December, had witnessed … Seguir leyendo
By David Pollock, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (THE WASHINGTON POST, 27/01/12):
Amid new strains in U.S.-Egypt ties, some in Washington are studying the tensions and results of recent voting for indications that democracy can take hold. Those who say the Muslim Brotherhood is showing new signs of moderation should compare its message to outsiders, in English, with its message to Egyptians and other Arabs, in Arabic.
Take the Brotherhood’s official English and Arabic Web sites, IkhwanWeb and IkhwanOnline, from one day this month. In English, the home page featured no … Seguir leyendo
By Abdul Matin Bek, a tribal leader in Takhar Province who is active in national politics in Kabul (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 27/01/12):
On the afternoon of Dec. 25, 2011, in the northern Takhar Province of Afghanistan, a funeral procession was gathering in a field on the outskirts of my hometown, the city of Taloqan, when a suicide bomber approached Mutalib Bek, a member of Parliament, and detonated his explosive vest. Mutalib Bek, who was my father, was killed instantly, along with 24 others, including a 12-year-old boy.
My father was a former commander of the Mujahedeen, the anti-Soviet … Seguir leyendo
Por Richard N. Haass, ex director de Planificación de Políticas en el Departamento de Estado norteamericano, y actualmente presidente del Consejo sobre Relaciones Exteriores (Project Syndicate, 26/01/12):
Tenemos bastante conocimiento sobre el programa nuclear de Irán, y lo que sabemos no es alentador. Sabemos que Irán está enriqueciendo uranio en dos sitios -en parte a niveles del 20%, mucho más allá de lo que se precisa para fines civiles-. La Agencia Internacional de Energía Atómica también informa que Irán está llevando a cabo investigación para desarrollar diseños de cabezas de guerra nucleares. En resumen, los argumentos de los funcionarios … Seguir leyendo
By Mark A. Heller, principal research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv University (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 26/01/12):
This week, the European Union went to war against Iran. There was no formal declaration, of course, nor even any undeclared use of military force. But the E.U. decision to place an embargo on Iranian oil imports, ban new contracts, and freeze Iranian Central Bank assets is effectively an act of war and may very well result in the military hostilities that sanctions are meant to forestall.
Oil exports account for over 50 percent of Iranian government … Seguir leyendo
By Sarah Chayes, who lived and worked in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2010. She advised the NATO command in Kabul and the U.S. Joint Staff, wrote The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban and is a contributing writer to Opinion (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 26/01/12):
How should we measure success in Afghanistan? It’s a crucial question, but there isn’t much agreement on an answer.
In mid-January, this newspaper ran a story on the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan, a classified assessment drafted by analysts at more than a dozen U.S. intelligence agencies. According to The Times, the … Seguir leyendo
Por Rubén Herrero de Castro, profesor de Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. (EL PERIÓDICO, 26/01/12):
El siniestro régimen de Irán no parece dispuesto a dar tregua a la comunidad internacional a través de su programa nuclear militar y sus amenazas de bloquear el estrecho de Ormuz.
El pasado 9 de enero, la Agencia Internacional de Energía Atómica (AIEA) confirmó que Irán había comenzado a producir uranio enriquecido al 20% en su central nuclear subterránea de Fordo. Un porcentaje que excede en mucho el 3,5% necesario para uso civil. Nada nuevo: desde febrero del 2010 produce ese … Seguir leyendo
By Daniel Williams, a senior researcher in the emergencies division of Human Rights Watch. He was previously a foreign correspondent for the Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and Bloomberg News, and has covered the Middle East for the last decade (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 25/01/12):
As Egypt marks the first anniversary of the Jan. 25 civilian revolt that eventually toppled the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, there’s no agreement — on how to celebrate or even whether rejoicing is in order.
The current military rulers — the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF — want to … Seguir leyendo