Viernes, 2 de abril de 2010

ReflexionesPensamiento, Cultura y Ciencia

El cristianismo, mediante su vinculación con la antigua metafísica, avanzó hasta convertirse en una dogmática única en su género que, pese a toda la vulgar incomprensibilidad de su grado de abstracción, adquiere el rango de una religión sin fronteras y universal» (H. Blumenberg). Los dogmas y las verdades precisas de la nueva religión sólo se podían alcanzar a través de la metafísica que, con el paso de los siglos, ha hecho de la manera europea de ver el mundo el uniforme universal de la inteligencia. El cristianismo se universalizó y se hizo válido para cualquier individuo -sin importar su estatus o su procedencia-, sacando valor a los distintivos de índole espacial y temporal propios de aquí o de allí.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate

Este Sábado de Pascua, Helmut Kohl, el canciller de la unidad alemana, cumplirá 80 años. Para conmemorar la ocasión, la canciller Angela Merkel y muchas otras figuras alemanas pronunciarán bellas palabras de homenaje al viejo rey Kohl; pero la estrategia actual de su país respecto a Europa, sobre todo respecto a la atribulada eurozona, corre peligro de desmantelar su legado. Si nos preguntamos por qué hoy está tambaleándose el proyecto europeo, una de las principales razones es que el motor alemán se ha parado. Y si nos preguntamos por qué ha sucedido eso, la respuesta es: porque Alemania se ha convertido en un país "normal", como Francia y Gran Bretaña.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaJusticia, ,

Alguien escribió en forma aforística que los casos difíciles generan mal Derecho. La causa instruida por Garzón sobre la Guerra Civil y las posteriores querellas presentadas por supuesta prevaricación representan asuntos de cierta dificultad. Sin embargo, no parece que las resoluciones dictadas en ambos procedimientos presenten una mala calidad jurídica. Más bien dichas actuaciones han desencadenado una intensa polémica por la especial naturaleza de las mismas.

Al examinarse la labor de Garzón como instructor, resulta obligatorio entender la elevada complejidad del objeto de la investigación sobre la Guerra Civil.

No nos encontramos ante un pronunciamiento incruento como el que llevó a cabo el general Miguel Primo de Rivera, cuando en 1923 dio un golpe de Estado mediante un simple telegrama que remitió a Alfonso XIII.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

Para quienes teníamos 20 años cuando mataron a Martin Luther King y recordamos al gobernador Wallace en la puerta de la Universidad de Alabama cerrando el paso al estudiante negro que había reivindicado su derecho constitucional a entrar en ella, la llegada de Obama a la presidencia de Estados Unidos supuso ante todo el cumplimiento de un sueño romántico juvenil: algo insólito, porque pocos llegan a realizarse. Entonces admiré al candidato vencedor, desde luego, pero sobre todo la transformación regeneradora del electorado que le votó.

Y me acordé de nuevo de Lindon B. Johnson, el presidente de la posguerra que más hizo por los derechos civiles y acabó con la segregación racial en las escuelas: los niños así educados con menos prejuicios fueron los que votaron 40 años después a Obama...…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalIglesia Católica

«Mirad el árbol de la cruz, en que estuvo clavada la salvación del mundo. Venid a adorarlo». Con esta aclamación, que procede de la liturgia de la Iglesia primitiva, iniciaremos esta tarde la parte central de la acción litúrgica del Viernes Santo, único día del año en el que no se celebra la Eucaristía. En lugar de la consagración, veneraremos la santa Cruz, que ocupa hoy el lugar del sagrario, para que sea el centro de nuestras miradas, el objeto de nuestros afectos y la destinataria de nuestro amor agradecido. Entre las grandes religiones de la humanidad no hay un símbolo más universal, más frecuentemente repetido, pintado, esculpido, venerado y adorado.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaMundoOriente Próximo, ,

Recently, during an off-the-record briefing for reporters, a sen- ior Obama administration official declared: "If there are Predator operations in Pakistan, I would argue that the collateral damage is negligible at most, and that reports of intensified damage are a myth."

After a half-decade and some 125 unmanned U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, it is remarkable that the Obama administration maintains the false notion that such operations remain secret and are therefore beyond public debate. It is past time for the White House to provide some transparency over what CIA Director Leon E. Panetta (without acknowledging their existence) describes as "the only game in town in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al Qaeda leadership."…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucasoEuropa, , , ,

While the U.S. House of Representatives might soon be considering a resolution that would recognize the crimes committed by Turks against Armenians in 1915 as genocide, the Serbian Parliament has just adopted a resolution that provides an apology of sorts for the killing of Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica in July 1995 but eschews any reference to “genocide.”

Intense political pressure has been at play in both cases to prevent the adoption of the resolutions — or at least to get any reference to genocide out of them.

Supporters of these resolutions seem to think that legal accuracy is essential to establishing the truth of what happened, and that genocide is the crime that best describes what was done to the Armenian and Bosnian victims.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Put two warring Palestinian factions in a room together, park the six bodyguards outside, feed and water them all and after two hours you’ll be amazed at what they’ve agreed on. Absolutely nothing.

And yet for one electric moment, it seemed that the tiniest of forward steps was about to be taken. Out of nowhere came the suggestion that the two conflict-weary camps might — just might — once again sit down together sometime, somewhere, and then, like Eeyore and Piglet, sheltering under a tree from the midday sun, would start to figure out what it all meant.

A piece of paper appeared on the dinner table.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, ,

On Tuesday, the Serbian Parliament passed a resolution condemning the massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica in July 1995, soon after Bosnian Serb forces conquered the town.

The reactions to the resolution, however, have been shockingly churlish and cynical. Some, especially but not only Bosnian Muslims, have complained that the resolution was worthless because it talks only of a “crime” and a “tragedy,” not a “genocide.” Others say Serbia’s government pushed this resolution through merely to curry favor with the European Union, which it desperately wants to join.

Such responses, however, fail to account for the deep divisions in the Serbian Parliament and public, between the supporters of the resolution and those who deny any responsibility for the massacre.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

Many Americans may know my country, Azerbaijan, for its oil wealth or for its conflict with Armenia over the territory of Nagorno Karabakh. A March 5 article in The Post portrayed a nation whose ruling family appears to own $75 million worth of luxury villas in Dubai. Few of us in Azerbaijan were surprised by a report that President Ilham Aliyev's family apparently invests assets abroad. What else should be expected from a leader who inherited power from his father through fraudulent elections?

Aliyev's brutal crackdown on the opposition and independent media began with his election in October 2003. Thousands of Azeris protesting the transfer of power -- more succession than an election -- were arrested and beaten.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalOrden Mundial,

The International Criminal Court's member countries will gather in May in Kampala, Uganda, where they will spend most of their conference considering whether to expand the court's jurisdiction to include the "crime of aggression." This is a bad idea on many levels.

The ICC was established to be a standing international mechanism to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Eight trials are underway at the court, all arising out of civil wars in Africa. The court has yet to convict a defendant of any of these offenses.

Nor has the ICC ever prosecuted a case arising out of a conflict between states.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, , ,

The Obama administration sparked an uproar this week when it approved new oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters off the coasts of Virginia, other parts of the mid- and south Atlantic, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska. Drilling remains off-limits near New Jersey and California, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the decision "a new direction" in energy policy.

Indeed, offshore drilling has been seen as taboo for decades. The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill was a galvanizing moment for environmentalists. It helped launch the modern environmental movement and gave us a new symbol of environmental threat -- the offshore oil platform.…  Seguir leyendo »