Archivo etiqueta «G8»
Por Fernando Fernández Méndez de Andés, Rector de la Universidad Antonio de Nebrija (ABC, 10/07/09):
Tiene razón el gobernador del Banco de España cuando afirma: «Hasta el momento, las autoridades públicas de la mayoría de los países han resistido con notable éxito las tendencias intervencionistas y nacionalistas y se han dado pasos determinantes en la búsqueda de soluciones cooperativas en el ámbito financiero». Las lecciones de la crisis del 29 son demasiado evidentes para olvidarlas. Pero no estoy seguro que se haya hecho todo lo posible, ni siquiera que pasado el miedo al derrumbe del sistema financiero los países no… Seguir leyendo
By Larry Elliott, the Guardian’s economics editor (THE GUARDIAN, 08/07/09):
Let’s hear it for Silvio Berlusconi. A bargain basement Benny Hill he may be, but the prime minister fonder of cavorting with young women than keeping promises to the world’s poorest countries has helped expose what a cynical shambles the G8 summit has become.
Officials say that this year’s shindig in L’Aquila will be the most pointless ever – and, believe me, that is saying something. It is up to the host country to set the tone for the meeting, which involves preparing an agenda and chivvying the other, reluctant,… Seguir leyendo
By Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations (THE GUARDIAN, 06/07/09):
All politics are local, goes the old aphorism. Yet today, we can say that all problems are global. As world leaders meet at the G8 summit in Italy, they will have to update their politics to grapple with problems that none of them can solve alone. The last two years have witnessed a cascade of interconnected crises: financial panic, rising food and oil prices, climate shocks, a flu pandemic, and more. Political co-operation to address these problems is not a mere nicety. It has become a global necessity.… Seguir leyendo
By Clarie Melamed, head of policy at ActionAid (THE GUARDIAN, 05/07/09):
Is there any point to the continued existence of G8? As this week’s summit looks increasingly irrelevant, should we care if the power shifts away to the G20?
President Lula of Brazil has declared that G8 “doesn’t have any reason to exist”. Next year’s hosts, Canada, are being urged by their own commentariat to turn their G8 into a G20. Meanwhile this year’s hosts, Italy, are trying to bring more countries into the G8 tent, to reduce the glaring gap between the two. In doing so, they are basically… Seguir leyendo
By Joanne Green, head of policy at the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (THE TIMES, 30/06/09):
Silvio Berlusconi was born in 1936, the same year that Hitler hosted the Summer Olympics. It would be fair to say that the bevy of women now talking of their steamy nights with the Italian leader probably don’t even remember Italia 90, let alone anything pre-Anschluss. And so the Commedia dell’Arte rumbles on, with Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer playing the unlicensed court fool.
All this could just be another seedy tale if it wasn’t for the fact that the Prime Minister of Italy not only… Seguir leyendo
By Kevin Watkins (THE GUARDIAN, 15/06/09):
It’s easy, what with the duck ponds, ministerial hissy fits, and media hysteria in the Westminster village, to see how events in Africa can slip under the political radar – events like a few million people dropping below the poverty line, surging child malnutrition, and parents struggling to keep their kids in school.
We are now just a few weeks from the G8 summit in Italy. With Africa on the brink of a major development reversal caused by global recession, it is vital that the summit acts decisively to support recovery. This is the… Seguir leyendo
By Peter R. Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office (THE WASHINGTON POST, 09/07/08):
President Bush and other leaders of the Group of Eight pledged yesterday to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2050. A key consideration in evaluating climate policies is the economic cost of cutting emissions. That cost could be reduced, perhaps by a lot, depending on two key questions about domestic climate policies: whether flexibility is provided when emissions are reduced and whether allowances to emit carbon are sold or given away.
The most common proposal for reducing carbon emissions involves a cap-and-trade program.… Seguir leyendo
By Max Hastings (THE GUARDIAN, 07/07/08):
The G8 summit, which opens today on Hokkaido, in Japan, conjures images of a political A&E ward on a Saturday night. President Bush, leader of the greatest nation on earth, is discredited and almost time-expired. Gordon Brown leads a government most of whose own members want him to disappear into a hole.
Silvio Berlusconi presides over a gangster culture that renders it impossible for Italy to present a serious face to the world. Nicolas Sarkozy should enjoy the prestige of a French president secure in office until 2012, but he has grievously injured his… Seguir leyendo
By Rosemary Righter (THE TIMES, 07/07/08):
The past decade has been little short of amazing. Storms that might once have driven the world on to the rocks of recession – the Asian and Russian financial meltdowns, 9/11 and the grim and costly business of confronting Islamist terrorism, not to mention a slew of exceptionally destructive natural disasters – have been weathered with surprising ease.
The grim predictions as the last century ended were that an open, increasingly globalised and technology-driven world economy would condemn Western workers to “a race to the bottom”, in a fruitless struggle to compete with China… Seguir leyendo
By Jim Hoagland (THE WASHINGTON POST, 06/07/08):
John McCain would kick Russia out of the Group of Eight economic powers that meet in Japan this week. But this is no time to think small. The G-8 leaders themselves should declare surrender and disband their high-profile huddle on the state of the world.
Think of it as global shock therapy: Using the July 7-9 summit on Hokkaido Island to abandon the bloated, unwieldy G-8 format would be a first step toward acknowledging and rethinking — at the highest level — these important international realities:
· The world that these leaders and… Seguir leyendo
By Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations (THE WASHINGTON POST, 03/07/08):
Global growth is the leitmotif of our era. The great economic expansion, now in its fifth decade, has raised living standards worldwide and lifted billions out of poverty.
Yet today, many wonder how long it can last. The reason: Plenty comes at an increasingly high price. We see it daily in the rising cost of fuel, food and commodities. Consumers in developed countries fear the return of “stagflation” — inflation coupled with slowing growth or outright recession — while the world’s poorest no longer can afford to… Seguir leyendo
By Timothy Garton Ash (THE GUARDIAN, 24/01/08):
Wherever you turn in Davos, you see the World Economic Forum’s modest motto: “Committed to improving the state of the world.” Well, it needs it. So here’s one practical step: the G8 should be expanded to G14, adding China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Indonesia. Arbitrary? To be sure. Tactless? You bet. Deeply offensive to some important countries not on that list? Obviously – and they will cry havoc, foul and blue murder. But sometimes, if you’re committed to improving the state of the world, you have to be a little brutal.… Seguir leyendo
Por Pascal Boniface, director del Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales y Estratégicas de París. Traducción: José María Puig de la Bellacasa (LA VANGUARDIA, 16/06/07):
La cumbre del G-8 que se reunió la semana pasada en la localidad alemana de Heiligendamm ha arrojado ciertos resultados, al menos moderados. De todas formas, ¿no es lo acostumbrado en estos casos? Prevista al inicio como una consulta informal entre jefes de Estado, las reuniones de los representantes del G-8 se han convertido en pesadas y aburridas cumbres diplomáticas anuales. Abordan las cuestiones más variadas y se preparan minuciosamente con meses de antelación. Congregan a miles… Seguir leyendo
By William Gumede, a senior associate and Oppenheimer fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and author of Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC (THE GUARDIAN, 12/06/07):
Post-G8 report cards are for the most part judging that the emphasis in Germany last week was on climate change, with the fight against poverty in Africa and the developing world taking a back seat. In truth, however, the two are so closely intertwined that they cannot be considered separately. Just as skewed global trade and political systems stack the deck against developing countries struggling to escape the poverty… Seguir leyendo
Por Niall Ferguson, profesor de Historia Laurence A. Tisch de la Universidad de Harvard y miembro de la junta de gobierno del Jesus College de Oxford. Traducción: José María Puig de la Bellacasa (LA VANGUARDIA, 11/06/07):
¿Han ofrecido alguna vez una fiesta que se haya echado a perder lastimosamente por culpa de un necio invitado? Siete viejos amigos se reúnen para cenar, pero para completar el grupo se añade otro comensal a la lista de invitados. Los siete amigos se disponen a pasar una tranquila velada charlando sobre cuestiones de interés común (precios de la vivienda, recibos del colegio de… Seguir leyendo