Sábado, 15 de abril de 2006

ReflexionesIslam y Mundo Árabe,

By Fawaz Turki, a journalist living in Washington and the author of several books, including "The Disinherited: Journal of a Palestinian Exile." (THE WASHINGTON POST, 15/04/06):

I was unceremoniously fired this month by my Saudi newspaper, a leading English-language daily called Arab News.

It didn't matter that I had been the senior columnist on the op-ed page for nine years or that my work was quoted widely in the European and American media, including this paper. What mattered was that I had committed one of the three cardinal sins an Arab journalist must avoid when working for the Arab press: I criticized the government.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

By Shara Holewinski, the executive director of CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict), a Washington-based organization founded by Marla Ruzicka (THE WASHNGTON POST, 15/04/06):

A year ago tomorrow, in Baghdad, a young woman from California was killed by a suicide bomb. Marla Ruzicka was working to get aid to Iraqi civilians harmed by U.S. military operations when her car and that of her colleague Faiz Ali Salim was destroyed on the now-infamous airport road.

Marla's legacy lives on in the countless people continuing her work and in the families she tried so hard to assist. Her help to victims of war should also be enshrined in our policies if we as a country are to be, as Marla put it, "just a little bit better."…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea,

By Germaine Greer (THE GUARDIAN, 15/04/06):

In February 1954 Queen Elizabeth II and her consort paid their first visit to Australia. We had been waiting for them with bated breath ever since the fairy-tale couple had got as far as Kenya on their way to Australia in 1952, when the death of George VI was announced and Lilibet had to return to England, to be acclaimed, get crowned and all that jazz. I watched the pomp and the panoply from afar, cut out every jewel-encrusted image from the daily newspapers and the Women's Weekly, and pasted them up in a creaking scrapbook.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesNuevas Tecnologías

By James Harkin (THE GUARDIAN, 15/04/06):

The real money to be made out of the world wide web, it turns out, was never in sex or shopping but in the simple act of putting people together. The internet's second coming, it is now universally agreed, is taking its inspiration from the rise of so-called "social networking sites", such as MySpace.com, in which people chat with and open up their lives to perfect strangers.MySpace now boasts 70 million members. If it were a television programme, it would be the most popular and valuable in American history - which is why Rupert Murdoch has just shelled out nearly $600m to buy it.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

By Graham Stewart (THE TIMES, 15/04/06):

IS THE BUSH Administration drawing up plans to invade Iran? Media speculation that this is so has been angrily denied by the White House. But of course invasion plans exist. All that Washington’s hawks need do is dust down those drawn up by the British. After all, that strategy proved remarkably successful.

In mid-1941, British ministers were divided over what to do about Iran. The Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, was uneasy about launching a pre-emptive strike against a neutral country. Even Churchill had some initial doubts but took the precaution of squaring Roosevelt on the issue when the two leaders met to draw up the Atlantic Charter — supposedly guaranteeing the rights of free nations — in August.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

By Rev Canon Andrew White, an Anglican priest in Iraq and the chief executive of the Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle East (THE TIMES, 15/04/06):

MANY have said that my parish of Baghdad is the most dangerous in the world. I get there by military aircraft and helicopter. Since last Easter all of my lay leaders have been killed, a suicide bomber turned up in church, people have been killed at our church entrance, we have endured car bombs and been attacked and our church has been surrounded by concrete barricades. I will not even be allowed to take the services there this Easter, I will officiate instead in the Shia Muslim Prime Minister’s lecture theatre.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesPensamiento, Cultura y Ciencia

Por A. Puig i Tàrrech, profesor de Nuevo Testamento en la Facultat de Teologia de Catalunya (LA VANGUARDIA, 15/04/06):

A principio de los años setenta del pasado siglo, un manuscrito copto del siglo IV (o acaso III), procedente de Egipto, llegó a Europa. Posteriormente, fue depositado en una caja fuerte de Long Island (Nueva York), donde pasó 16 años y sufrió un notable deterioro (de casi una cuarta parte del texto) debido a la climatología atlántica, tan distinta del clima seco del país del Nilo. Finalmente, en el año 2000 volvió a Europa, adquirido por Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos, quien se puso en contacto con la Fundación Maecenas para su publicación.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea

Por Ferran Gallego, profesor de Historia Contemporánea de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (EL PERIÓDICO, 15/04/06):

Con su agilidad de análisis habitual, Ezio Mauro acertaba al empezar su interpretación de los resultados electorales de Italia en el diario La Repubblica con esa pregunta que nos hacemos, aturdidos, para poner calma después de un accidente: "A ver, ¿qué ha pasado?" Los observadores se arrojan sobre la inexactitud de las encuestas para recordarnos que nos andemos con cuidado al considerar lo que la gente proclama acerca de su voto secreto, incluso cuando acaba de ejercerlo. Una especie de superioridad moral ha entumecido la atmósfera y ha segado la capacidad de análisis.…  Seguir leyendo »