Archivo etiqueta «Reino Unido»
By Colonel Stuart Tootal, former commander of 3 Para (the first UK battle group to enter Helmand) and the author of Danger Close (THE TIMES, 20/03/10):
On June 4, 2006, a young private soldier of mine put himself in clear view of the enemy with a light anti-tank launcher balanced on his shoulder to engage a Taleban position.
Minutes before he had been hit by a bullet that struck and ignited the magazines on his chest, but he ignored the rounds that cracked in the air around him; he wanted to make sure the rocket he was about to fire… Seguir leyendo
By Colonel Richard Kemp, a former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan and author of Attack State Red (THE TIMES, 19/03/10):
The harsh reality of war hit home again this week with two Royal Anglian soldiers killed in Helmand, only hours after one of their regimental comrades, Captain Martin Driver, died in hospital from horrific wounds he had sustained three weeks earlier.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defence was fighting an altogether different type of battle, but one whose outcome could have unwelcome implications for these soldiers’ surviving comrades. MoD lawyers were in the Supreme Court seeking to… Seguir leyendo
By David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party and member of parliament for Witney (THE GUARDIAN, 17/03/10):
In Britain today, too many people are denied the chance to escape poverty and build a better life for themselves and their family. Sadly, this is especially true for people in Britain’s black community. Black pupils are permanently excluded from school at more than twice the rate of white pupils. Some 9,500 black children leave primary school every year unable to read, write and add up properly. And of the 3,000 students who started at Oxford in 2008, only five are black Caribbean… Seguir leyendo
By Hew Strachan, professor of the History of War and Fellow of All Souls, Oxford (THE TIMES, 17/03/10):
Barely a week goes by without a retired general — and sometimes a serving one — hitting the headlines. The trouble is that they do so more often because of who they are, rather than because of what they are saying. In most walks of life professional expertise qualifies its possessor to articulate an opinion, and indeed can create a moral obligation to do so. But in the case of war we deny the serving professionals that right.
Counter-insurgencies are 20 per… Seguir leyendo
Por Jesús Neira, profesor de Derecho Constitucional (EL MUNDO, 11/03/10):
El Reino Unido posee un régimen político que permite que el Gobierno disfrute de una posición estable en la Cámara de los Comunes de la que depende. Basta recordar los últimos 30 años y observar que ha disfrutado de amplias mayorías tanto cuando lo ha liderado el Partido Conservador como cuando lo ha hecho, como ahora, el Laborista. Lo logró Margaret Thatcher en repetidas elecciones y también, años después, Tony Blair. El hecho es que unos y otros han podido enfrentar los diversos problemas del país desde una posición de… Seguir leyendo
By Dr Taj Hargey, the chairman of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford and the imam of the Summertown Islamic Congregation in Oxford (THE TIMES, 10/03/10):
Tonight in the surprising setting of Surrey’s stockbroker belt, Christian and Muslim groups will clash. The cause of the ill-will is whether Surrey Heath Council should grant planning permission for a new mosque.
This mosque will have five domes and two 100ft minarets that will loom over the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Little wonder many people regard it as a provocation — and that’s why I will be at the council meeting opposing… Seguir leyendo
Por Henry Kamen, historiador británico. Su último libro es El enigma del Escorial, Espasa Calpe, 2009 (EL MUNDO, 04/03/10):
Suenan tambores de guerra en el Atlántico Sur. Con una extensión de 12.000 km2 y una población de menos de 3.000 habitantes, siempre pareció impensable que las Malvinas fueran a convertirse en objeto de discordia internacional. En medio del frío Atlántico Sur, lejos de la civilización, habitadas antiguamente sólo por ovejas y unos pocos colonos, las islas no poseían atracción alguna para nadie. Pero, pese a todo, han sido disputadas desde el siglo XVIII.
Los exploradores franceses las denominaron Les Malouines… Seguir leyendo
By Ken Macdonald, QC practises at Matrix Chambers and is a visiting professor of law at the London School of Economics. He was Director of Public Prosecutions, 2003-08 (THE TIMES, 27/02/10):
t seems we are having a national debate about torture. Apparently not all Britons agree that the deliberate application of violence to confined and helpless prisoners is unacceptable. This is a shame, not only because the spectacle itself would be hideous, but also because it’s reasonable to suspect that our very British grandfathers would have taken a strikingly different view.
In their troubled and violent generation, they saw things… Seguir leyendo
Por Timothy Garton Ash, catedrático de Estudios Europeos. Ocupa la cátedra Isaiah Berlin en St. Antony’s College, Oxford, y es profesor titular de la Hoover Institution, Stanford. Traducción de María Luisa Rodríguez Tapia (EL PAÍS, 21/02/10):
Pongamos nombre y avergoncemos a esos peligrosos, endebles, complacientes e hipócritas liberales que ponen en peligro la seguridad nacional del Reino Unido, sus intereses vitales y la seguridad personal de sus ciudadanos. ¿Quiénes son? Lord Igor Judge, juez-presidente del Tribunal de Apelaciones de Inglaterra y Gales; Lord Neuberger, Master of the Rolls, que preside la Sala Civil; Sir Anthony May, presidente de Queen’s Bench,… Seguir leyendo
Por Salvador Giner, presidente del Institut d’Estudis Catalans (EL PERIÓDICO, 21/02/10):
Algo no va cuando los dilemas morales de nuestro tiempo generan una discusión sustancial solo cuando el mundo mediático se ocupa de ellos. La cosa es así. Es lo que hay.
Hace pocos días, un presentador de televisión inglés, el señor Ray Gosling, fue detenido por la policía por haber confesado urbs et orbi –o sea, desde una televisión– haber puesto fin a la vida de su novio, enfermo terminal de sida, que sufría horriblemente, sin otro remedio que el del sueño final. El hecho de que ambos… Seguir leyendo
By John Hughes, British Ambassador in Buenos Aires from 2004 to 2008. He is currently a Fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, School of Advanced Study, London University(THE GUARDIAN, 19/02/10):
The burning question: are we heading back to a military conflict with Argentina? My answer is unequivocal. No. This is a very different Argentina. A democracy for 27 years, it weathered the economic and social meltdown in 2001 and 2002 without a thought being given to a return to a military government. The shadow of military dictatorship, so long overhanging Argentine democracy, has been removed.
In… Seguir leyendo
By Captain Doug Beattie, winner of the Military Cross in 2006 and the author of Task Force Helmand (THE TIMES, 11/02/10):
‘I am no hero, but I served alongside heroes.” It is an age-old military saying, one articulated and echoed by each new generation of soldiers, but it becomes no less true through repetition.
As a captain in the Royal Irish Regiment I completed two tours of Afghanistan, one in 2006, the other in 2008. On each occasion I witnessed people I admired and respected suffer the most hideous of fates. Not killed by the enemy — in a way… Seguir leyendo
By Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society and author of Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (THE TIMES, 08/02/10):
So now we know a little more. We always knew that in 2001 the British company BAE Systems sold Tanzania a £28 million air traffic control system. The World Bank and the International Civil Aviation Organisation said it was unnecessarily sophisticated and overpriced. At the time Clare Short, then Minister for International Development, claimed that bribery was involved. Some calculated that the BAE system that Tanzania bought cost four times more than the system that Tanzania needed. It was a… Seguir leyendo
By Gordon Brown, the British prime minister (THE GUARDIAN, 02/02/10):
There is a paradox at the heart of our politics today. Never has the need for politics to effect change been greater, but never has trust in politicians and the political process been at a lower ebb. People across Britain are still outraged by the expenses crisis, and by what they regard as a betrayal of trust by some of their elected representatives. Many of our citizens either do not vote at all or have been tempted by the fringes and the extremes. That is why I believe that the… Seguir leyendo
By Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College and the author of Blair, the biography (THE TIMES, 29/01/10):
Today is the most important day in Tony Blair’s life since he left No 10 — hence his intense preparation, so desperate is he to clear his name of the accusations against him, and to show that his decision-making over Iraq was flawless in conception and execution. We will know by 5 o’clock today whether he has chosen to conduct himself as his own defence lawyer or as a statesman worthy of the high office he held. At stake is his reputation.
We… Seguir leyendo