Martes, 7 de noviembre de 2006

EspañaSocial,

Por Enrique Gil Calvo, profesor titular de Sociología de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (EL PAÍS, 07/11/06):

Si siguiéramos el precedente publicitario sentado por una famosa novela publicada hace ya algunos años, a la actual cohorte de jóvenes que se disponen a formar familia entrados en la treintena habría que llamarla generación H o generación hipotecada, como forma gráfica de identificar su programación vital. Y ello tanto en términos estrictos como metafóricos, pues se trata de una generación que no sólo ha contraído hipotecas inmobiliarias casi vitalicias, en la medida en que su plazo de cancelación alcanza ya los 50 años, sino que además ha hipotecado en sentido figurado toda su entera biografía.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaMemoria Histórica,

Por Emilio Silva Barrera, presidente de la Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (EL PAÍS, 07/11/06):

En el documental Las fosas del silencio, de Montserrat Armengou y Ricard Belis, una mujer que asiste a una misa por los muertos franquistas de la guerra de 1936-1939 es preguntada por las actuales exhumaciones de fosas comunes. Responde: «Esto que están haciendo es una campaña orquestada por el diablo. Lo están estropeando todo. ¡Y nosotros, que les habíamos perdonado!».

Lo que esa mujer define como una «campaña orquestada por el diablo» es la labor iniciada por una modesta asociación que nació en El Bierzo leonés y que desde hace seis años, sin apoyo del Estado pero con el de numerosos voluntarios, trabaja para ayudar a los familiares de los republicanos y las republicanas asesinados, generalmente, por pistoleros falangistas.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica del Norte,

Por Felipe González, ex presidente del Gobierno español (EL PAÍS, 07/11/06):

Es posible que la situación de Irak cambie la mayoría del Congreso en las elecciones que hoy se celebran en Estados Unidos, y es probable que el cambio de mayoría no cambie la situación de Irak. Pero no hay que descartar que las cosas sigan electoralmente como están, a pesar de que muchos están vendiendo la piel del oso antes de cazarlo. O bien, que la magnitud del cambio en el sentido del voto, aunque dé mayoría a los demócratas, no sea suficiente para alterar seriamente el rumbo de la estrategia hacia Irak y Oriente Medio.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaModelo de EstadoModelo Territorial,

Por Soledad Becerril, senadora del Partido Popular por Sevilla (EL MUNDO, 07/11/06):

La semana pasada fue aprobado en el Congreso de los Diputados, sin ningún voto en contra y con tan solo dos abstenciones, el Estatuto de Autonomía de Andalucía. Los partidos políticos hacen durante estos días sus valoraciones, con cierta prudencia y sin demasiados triunfalismos en general.

Hacen bien en no exagerar los éxitos de unos o de otros porque todos -excepto el Partido Andalucista que se ha quedado al margen del texto final- han logrado introducir parte de sus pretensiones o enmiendas, pero también se han dejado parte de ellas en el camino.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaElecciones,

Por Miquel Porta Perales, crítico y escritor (ABC, 07/11/06):

DESPUÉS de los desastres sin fin del tripartito, después del accidentado y desgraciado proceso de redacción, aprobación y refrendo de un nuevo Estatuto que tiene menos apoyo que el anteriormente vigente, después de una campaña marcada por la demagogia y la bronca, después de todo eso, el electorado ha suspendido a la clase política catalana con una abstención que supera lo razonable al tiempo que ha propinado un varapalo a socialistas y republicanos, y un correctivo menor a la federación Convergencia i Unió. Algo que no debería sorprender a nadie, porque en política lo que debe suceder tiene muchas posibilidades de acabar efectivamente sucediendo.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaElecciones,

Por Antonio Elorza, catedrático de Pensamiento Político de la Universidad Complutense (EL COREO DIGITAL, 07/11/06):

En las peticiones del fiscal contra los procesados por el atentado del 11-M es aceptada la tesis de que el detonador del mismo fue la política seguida por el Gobierno Aznar en la guerra de Irak. Es muy posible que la llamada que efectuó Bin Laden cinco meses antes desempeñara un papel decisivo en la puesta en marcha del atentado, pero al mismo tiempo no cabe olvidar que el mismo era presentado por esa vía como una acción de justicia, y no como una barbarie gratuita, y en tal sentido lo utilizaron los acusados en el curso de sus declaraciones.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

By Anne Appelbaum (THE WASHINGTON POST, 07/11/06):

Over the coming days and weeks — throughout the appeals process, up to and including the day of the execution itself — you are going to hear a lot about what went wrong with the trial of Saddam Hussein. You will be told, as an Amnesty International director put it , that the trial «has been a shabby affair, marred by serious flaws. . . . Every accused has a right to a fair trial, whatever the magnitude of the charge against him.»

You will hear many denunciations of the verdict itself: The British Guardian newspaper called on Iraq to maintain a «principled opposition to the death penalty, to which there can be no exceptions.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica,

By J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Chester A. Crocker, professor of strategic studies, Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, and former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (THE WASHINGTON POST, 07/11/06):

The demand by American activists for U.S.-led military intervention to halt genocide in Darfur by the Sudan government and its militia proxies is a utopian diversion that has led nowhere. Their verbal attacks on Khartoum and calls on China and Russia to stop blocking possible UN coercive action may express their frustration but do not make good foreign policy.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica del Norte, ,

By Michael Kinsley (THE GUARDIAN, 07/11/06):

What will a Democratic House of Representatives be like? The Republicans have been painting a portrait of Democrats roasting children on a spit in the Capitol Rotunda. Hoping for a more encouraging view, I picked up A New Direction for America – a 31-page manifesto released by House Democrats in June. All I can say is, thank goodness I voted beforehand.The Democrats promise «security, prosperity and opportunity» in «diverse, safe and vibrant communities». They will «protect Americans, secure our borders, and restore our position of international leadership» through «homeland, energy, and diplomatic strategies». And we’re only up to page three.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, ,

By Polly Toynbee (THE GUARDIAN, 07/11/06):

The world is a dangerous place. A heating globe threatens drought, war and mass migration. Terrorists may blow up proliferating nuclear power stations. Ministers are preparing for a 1918-style flu pandemic.So on a scale of threats to Our Way of Life, where would you place CCTV and speed cameras, electronic health records, DNA storage or ID cards that carry the same information as passports? Most people are not in a delirium of alarm about the Big Brother potential of any of these. Mori finds that about 80% of people support the idea of ID cards (though only 39% think the government will introduce them smoothly, which is another matter).…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

By Jeremy Seabrook, the author of ‘Freedom Unfinished: Fundamentalism and Popular Resistance in Bangladesh’ (THE GUARDIAN, 07/11/06):

A country torn by a low-intensity cultural civil war has seen at least 25 people die in this conflict in the last 10 days; its capital city is strewn with overturned cycle rickshaws, rocks and broken glass. A tense and watchful calm has since returned to Dhaka, one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, although sporadic violence continues in some outlying districts.This is Bangladesh, the country of origin of about 300,000 British people, with the fourth-largest Muslim population in the world. The disturbances at the end of October followed the end of the five-year mandate of the Bangladesh National party and its religious-party allies, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalOrden Mundial

By George Monbiot (THE GUARDIAN, 07/11/06):

The central mystery of the modern state is this. The necessary resources, both economic and political, will always be found for the purpose of terminating life. The project of preserving it will always struggle. When did you last see a soldier shaking a tin for a new rifle, or a sponsored marathon raising money for nuclear weapons? But we must beg and cajole each other for funds whenever a hospital wants a new dialysis machine. If the money and determination expended on waging war with Iraq had been used to tackle climate change, our carbon emissions would already be in free fall.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalEconomía,

By Tony Combes, deputy chairman of the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, and director of corporate affairs for Monsanto UK www.abcinformation.org. Response to ‘This crop revolution may succeed when GM failed‘ (THE GUARDIAN, 07/11/06):

I seemed to have heard Jeremy Rifkin’s advocacy of marker assisted selection (MAS) plant breeding – «new», «cutting edge» – somewhere before (This crop revolution may succeed where GM failed, October 26). I had. In 2001, Rifkin extolled MAS in the New York Times: «I think that’s where the future is,» he said.In order to ensure future agricultural sustainability, plant breeders and scientists need access to a toolbox of technologies.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaTerrorismo,

Por Joseba Azkarraga, consejero de Justicia, Empleo y Seguridad Social del gobierno vasco (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 07/11/06):

Se cumplen cinco años desde aquel mal día de 7 de noviembre de 2001, cuando ETA asesinó al magistrado José María Lidon Corbi ante su mujer, Marisa, y su hijo Íñigo. Creo que es un acto de justicia mantener viva su memoria. Primero, porque así expresamos nuestra solidaridad con el dolor de sus allegados y segundo, porque decimos también que nunca será olvidado. El paso de los años mitigará el padecimiento, pero no erosionará nuestra memoria. Su asesinato y el de tantos otros en nuestro pueblo deberán ser tenidos siempre en cuenta para que jamás tanto horror pueda volver a repetirse.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesPensamiento, Cultura y Ciencia

By Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College, is the author of “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less” (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 07/11/06):

ANOTHER national election season has come to an end — the sorriest, sleaziest, most disheartening and embarrassing in memory. The best one can hope for is a candidate who is a complete cipher. How has American electoral politics come to this?

I think we can gain insight from a study published by the psychologist Eldar Shafir 13 years ago. Suppose you are confronted with the following problem:

You’re serving as a juror in a custody case in which each parent is demanding sole custody of an only child.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalEconomía

By Tim Worstall. See also ‘We did it before, we’ll do it again: my call to the champions of world trade‘ (THE TIMES, 07/11/06):

GORDON BROWN favoured us with his thoughts on trade policy in these pages, which is of course very nice of him. But why the Chancellor of the Exchequer should concern himself with such matters is somewhat odd. Trade policy is an exclusive competence of the EU, so our elected politicians can do nothing more than act as cheerleaders for the views they put forward.

What is worse is that while his article contained all the right buzzwords — globalisation, no to protectionism, lower agricultural subsidies and so on — the core of the argument appeared to be missing.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica del Norte, ,

By Bernard-Henry Lévy, the author, most recently, of ‘American Vertigo: On the Road from Newport to Guantanamo’ (THE TIMES, 07/11/06):

THE PARADOX of American democracy and especially of these midterm elections: both are local, even provincial. They rest on the homosexual escapades of Congressman Mark Foley of Florida; on Virginia Senator George Allen’s use of “macaca”, an obscure racial epithet, to refer to a volunteer working for his opponent; on the question of gay marriage in South Dakota, South Carolina and Wisconsin. The Republican majority in the Senate will be lost or maintained according, in part, to how credible the Bush Administration’s promises seem in New Jersey, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

By David Aaronovitch (THE TIMES, 07/11/06):

ON MARCH 10, 1988, or so his diary recalls, Woodrow Wyatt, confidant of Margaret Thatcher, dined with the Iraqi ambassador. Dr Mohamed Sadiq al-Mashat was described by Wyatt as being “very dapper in a beautifully cut suit and blue handkerchief in his breast pocket”, and as speaking in an intense manner on the subject of his country’s never-ending conflict with Iran, which it had invaded a few years earlier. Lord Wyatt was unwilling to arrange a meeting between the ambassador and “Madame”, but “I said I would write an article in The Times, when I could find a convenient moment, about the Iran-Iraq war and probably say that I wanted Iraq to win.”

Had the restaurant in Hertford Street been somehow magically connected to real events in Iraq, then both men might have gagged over their malooga, frothed lightly at the mouth, suffocated and expired into their place-settings.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial, , , ,

By Libby Purves (THE TIMES, 07/11/06):

GAVIN HALL, a responsible health professional of 33, is starting a life sentence after killing his three-year-old daughter, texting his unfaithful wife about it and trying to kill himself. Mohammed Riaz died last week in a fire that he appears to have started in his own home, killing his wife and four children; apparently he thought she was leaving. Last month a former soldier stabbed his baby son and himself to death after his separated wife crossed him. Three years ago another separated man gassed himself and his four sons, cruelly phoning their mother during their last conscious minutes.…  Seguir leyendo »