Viernes, 10 de agosto de 2007

EspañaCultura y Ciencia

Uno de los perjuicios más grandes que la así llamada clase intelectual de principios del siglo XX hizo a España fue la difusión de la idea de que los españoles son incompetentes en ciencia. Todos conocemos la famosa declaración de Unamuno - «¡que inventen ellos!»- mediante la cual llegó al extremo de afirmar que el resto de las naciones podían quedarse con su ciencia, pues España no la necesitaba al tener algo mejor: su propia filosofía.

No hay la menor duda de que, históricamente, el problema existía. A lo largo de su Historia imperial, España siempre había recurrido a la tecnología de sus aliados, con poca aportación decisiva por su parte.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaAspectos Generales

Estamos en agosto pero no conviene bajar la guardia. Al regreso, empieza el curso electoral. ¿Cómo está el panorama? Hace poco murió Richard Rorty, icono de la teoría posmoderna. El pensador americano acuñó una fórmula brillante para definir la filosofía del siglo XX: «linguistic turn», el giro lingüístico. Con sus propias ínfulas, Zapatero recupera una «nueva vía», como suelen llamar a sus corrientes internas los socialistas de aquí y de fuera. Secreto a voces: el PSOE emprende un giro españolista con manifiesta vocación electoral. Véase Navarra, incluida la puesta en escena. De Juana está donde merece estar. También Otegi, efímero «hombre de paz».…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaModelo de EstadoModelo Territorial

El muy amado Juan García Hortelano nos contó que en algún momento de su agitada juventud tuvo trato con un grupo de bohemios adictos al coñac de garrafón, memoria viva del siglo XIX, los cuales, en una disputa sobre la antigua institución de las casas de lenocinio, alababan sobremanera los refinados centros catalanes, uno de los cuales, en el nacimiento de la calle Tapias de Barcelona, ofrecía tableaux vivants a la manera francesa, pero con desbordada fantasía sureña. Un conocedor afirmaba no haber visto en su vida espectáculo más lúbrico y depravado que el cuadro viviente titulado Manresa a les fosques (Manresa a oscuras), orgullo del local, pero cuando se le preguntaba en qué consistía el tal tablado, enrojecía, farfullaba y no encontraba palabras para describirlo, tanto era el complicado conjunto e interconexión de las diversas mancebas que hasta número de ocho intervenían en el mismo.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica,

Peace and some respite for Darfur's displaced millions seem closer this week than they have for a long time. If forecasting politics were like the weather, one would call the prospects middling to fair. The breakthrough is due not so much to the latest UN resolution to create a larger foreign peacekeeping force as to the success of talks between the rival rebel groups. They seem to have agreed on a common platform to put to the Khartoum government in full-scale negotiations within the next few weeks.

The Darfur crisis has suffered from two problems. One is the exaggerated and sometimes almost hysterical tone in which it tends to be discussed.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Every Pakistani leader, civilian or military, sits on a throne that is placed on a volcano periodically shaken by convulsions. As a crisis-ridden country prepares to commemorate the 60th anniversary of its foundation next week, the government is seriously divided, and its uniformed president was reported to be considering the imposition of a state of emergency, usually the last act of a government about to fall.In most countries the very existence of a military leader symbolises a state of emergency, but not in Pakistan. The military has ruled the country for more than 30 years, survived the hot lava of numerous uprisings and assassinations, and always returned to power, largely unscathed.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Both the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency have found Iran in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The IAEA reports that Iran ignored the Security Council's February deadline to stop enriching uranium and has even expanded its nuclear program.

As Iran's Atomic Energy Organization moves toward its announced goal of operating 50,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges in Natanz, the World Bank is funding nine government projects in Iran totaling $1.35 billion -- one of which operates in Isfahan, where Iran's nuclear program is headquartered.

While the World Bank is part of the U.N. family, the bank's board is disconnected from the policies of key U.N.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

You might have thought that now isn't the most opportune time for the elected leaders of both the United States and Iraq to pack up and head to the beach, ranch or villa for a nice long vacation. Silly you.

You probably reasoned that with 162,000 U.S. troops sweltering in the war zone, with the Iraqi government fracturing along sectarian lines and with what is billed as a make-or-break report from the U.S. commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, due next month, maybe tradition ought to be ignored and the summer heat withstood just this once. You doubtless pointed out that no matter how uncomfortable triple-digit temperatures might be for the grandees of Washington and Baghdad, soldiers burdened with body armor and combat boots -- and the constant threat of getting shot or blown up -- have it a bit worse.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica,

After four years of brutal raids, ethnic cleansing and systematic rape in Darfur, Sudan -- and nearly three years after the Bush administration declared this a genocide-- the U.N. Security Council has finally approved a credible peacekeeping force. For 2 million displaced people in the camps, this is a wisp of hope on the horizon. For the 200,000 dead, it comes too late.

The most disturbing part of the latest U.N. negotiations was the continued leverage exercised by the regime in Khartoum, which has a long history of mass killing. In the polished manners of the United Nations, blood on your hands is not a disqualification for a seat at the diplomatic table.…  Seguir leyendo »

Internacional

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) - the fast developing six-country alliance led by China and Russia that is sometimes called central Asia's answer to Nato - will raise its strategic profile another notch or two in coming days. But Vladimir Putin's belligerent stance towards the US, Britain and the west is beginning to strain ties with fellow members whose main interest is survival, not confrontation.

Military exercises, dubbed Peace Mission 2007 and involving 6,500 troops and 80 aircraft from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, began today in Chelyabinsk, in Russia's Ural region. For the SCO, initiated in 1996 to defuse Sino-Russian territorial disputes, the war games mark its most ambitious attempt yet to build an integrated military security apparatus to complement expanding political and commercial collaboration.…  Seguir leyendo »