Enero de 2014 (Continuación)

jueves, 2

InternacionalEconomía

Al tocar a su fin 2013, las medidas encaminadas a reavivar el crecimiento en las economías más influyentes del mundo, exceptuada la zona del euro, están surtiendo un efecto benéfico a escala mundial. Todos los problemas que se ciernen sobre la economía mundial son de carácter político.

Después de 25 años de estancamiento, el Japón está intentando reanimar su economía recurriendo a la relajación cuantitativa en una escala sin precedentes. Es un experimento peligroso: un crecimiento más rápido podría hacer subir los tipos de interés, con lo que los costos del servicio de la deuda resultarían insostenibles, pero el Primer Ministro, Shinzo Abe, ha preferido correr ese riesgo a condenar al Japón a una muerte lenta y, a juzgar por el entusiástico apoyo público, lo mismo se podría decir de los japoneses comunes y corrientes.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial

La trágica suerte de varios centenares de africanos que murieron ahogados cerca de la isla italiana de Lampedusa en octubre llegó a los titulares de la prensa internacional y produjo un momento extraordinario de compasión y reflexión sobre los peligros que enfrentan muchos migrantes. Pero el único aspecto excepcional de este desastre fue la cantidad de víctimas. Para los residentes de Lampedusa, los naufragios de barcos con refugiados y migrantes son cosa de todos los días: una semana después, un barco que llevaba a refugiados sirios y palestinos se dio vuelta frente a las costas de la isla, con el resultado de más de 30 personas muertas.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalEconomía

El 7 de diciembre, representantes de los 159 países miembros de la Organización Mundial del Comercio lograron el primer acuerdo multilateral de comercio en los 19 años de historia de la OMC. Si bien el Acuerdo de Facilitación del Comercio –bautizado «Paquete Bali» debido a que la reunión tuvo lugar en esa isla indonesia– no se ocupó de las cuestiones más apremiantes del comercio norte-sur, constituye un importante hito económico y político.

El Paquete Bali compromete a los miembros de la OMC a avanzar en la reducción de barreras no arancelarias al comercio, por ejemplo, estableciendo normativa aduanera más transparente y reduciendo el papeleo relacionado con el comercio exterior.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesTestimonios,

Last week, my friend and colleague, Mikhail Kalashnikov, was laid to rest in Moscow after a long and distinguished career that made his name instantly recognizable the world over. He will be long remembered here in Russia and by his many friends around the world.

Kalashnikov was, of course, the soldier who during World War II invented the AK-47, which since then has been the most widely manufactured and copied “assault rifle” in world history. Guinness World Records estimates that as of a few years ago, more than 100 million AKs had been produced not just in Russia, but in China and virtually everywhere else that one can picture firearms being manufactured and deployed.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfricaEuropaUnión Europea,

For food, fashion and fast trains, few labels are more sought after, and rightly so, than "Made in France." But when it comes to the making and unmaking of empires, not so much. Take the case of the Central African Republic.

Three weeks ago, as bloody mayhem engulfed the CAR, François Hollande did what French presidents do best: He sent in the paratroops. With the blessing, and precious little else, of his European neighbors, Hollande declared his intention to protect 100 or so French nationals in Bangui, the capital, and to disarm both the outlawed Seleka fighters, overwhelmingly Muslim, and the vigilante anti-balaka (or "machete") militias, which are Christian.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial

This New Year’s, a good number of those who struggle to control their drinking will resolve to abstain from alcohol. No halfway measures. Quitting is the only way.

The cold-turkey approach is deeply rooted in the United States, embraced by doctors, the multibillion-dollar treatment industry and popular culture. For nearly 80 years, our approach to drinking problems has been inspired by the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Developed in the 1930s by men who were “chronic inebriates,” the A.A. program offers a single path to recovery: abstinence, surrendering one’s ego and accepting one’s “powerlessness” over alcohol.

But it’s not the only way to change your drinking habits.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate

It may seem bizarre that two far-right, nationalist politicians — Marine Le Pen of France and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands — have reached across borders to form a Pan-European group dedicated to weakening the European Union. Their aim is a transnational political alliance that would compete in the May elections for the European Parliament; once in power, they would cooperate to try to rein in the power of Brussels.

Are these politicians, who share an opposition to immigration and a skepticism about the free flow of labor and capital across the Continent, simply hypocritical opportunists, as many Europeans of the left believe?…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

The public health disaster in Syria has been a long time coming. In three years of violent conflict, 125,000 have been killed and millions displaced. The recent outbreak of polio has focused the world’s attention, and the international response is welcome. Yet this crisis was both predictable and preventable.

The collapse of the health system and a lack of basic sanitation in opposition-held areas have created prime conditions for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Syria eradicated polio 14 years ago; the fact that it has returned represents more than a breakdown of health care during civil war. It is symptomatic of how the international community, in its response to the crisis, has neglected public health.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace will help thwart Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions. Both developments will improve Israel’s security. But Israel’s top officials are not yet convinced.

Most notably, the linkage eludes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has condemned the Iran deal signed in Geneva, and his anger about that agreement had a negative impact on his latest discussions with Secretary of State John Kerry about the Palestinian talks, according to Israeli press reports.

Mr. Netanyahu’s insistence in identifying Iran as a threat and calling for tougher sanctions has had some positive effects. Over time, it eventually helped push Iran back to negotiations, and in a weaker position.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

In a politically contested city such as Beirut, there are public figures who fall to assassins, and others deemed safe by their reasonableness and moderation. The assassination Dec. 27 of former Finance Minister Mohamad Chatah by a car bomb in a swanky part of the city called into question the rules of the sordid political game that has come to dominate Lebanon’s life.

Chatah wasn’t a warlord, or a man of the militias. He was an economist, a technocrat with a Ph.D. from the University of Texas. He had served as his country’s ambassador to Washington, and knew the world of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.…  Seguir leyendo »

miércoles, 1

MundoAsia

In the Harry Potter story, the dark wizard Voldemort dies hard because the seven horcruxes, which contain parts of his soul, have been destroyed. If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation’s soul.

Last week, in flagrant disregard of the feelings of his Asian neighbors, Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, paid homage at the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Class A war criminals – defined as those who committed “crimes against peace” – are enshrined. They were among the 28 Japanese political and military leaders convicted by an international military tribunal after the Second World War.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

The world has devoted a great deal of diplomatic energy to securing Syria's chemical weapons. It has yet to do the same for securing Syria's children.

Their future is as important for international security and stability, even if the consequences of inaction will take far longer to be seen and felt.

The war in Syria between the government of Bashar al-Assad and forces opposed to him has ground on for more than two years and claims new victims each day. More than 100,000 have been killed. Starvation has become a gruesome reality, with a religious leader now saying it is OK to eat cats and dogs given the lack of much of anything else.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

South Korea is one of the few emerging markets to weather the recent storms. This stability is the legacy of 60 years of forced industrialization imposed by authoritarian governments and tightly controlled monetary and fiscal policies.

South Korea’s growth has been fueled by exports, which accounted for 58.7 percent of nominal gross domestic product in 2012. This expansion propelled the economy -- with $22,600 GDP per capita in 2012 -- to its intermediate status position between the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China), where GDP per capita ranges from $1,500 in India to $11,300 in Brazil, and the older industrialized countries, where GDP per capita ranges from $33,000 in Italy to $46,700 in Japan and $50,000 in the U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesPensamiento, Cultura y Ciencia

As if you didn’t already have enough to be nervous about, here’s something creepy to ponder as the new year opens.

This what-if isn’t technological, social, political or even science-fictional. Rather, it’s a bit of wholly unscientific, superstitious pattern-recognition. The last two centuries (and possibly more) didn’t “start” at their official point, the turning of a calendar from 00 to 01. That wasn’t when they began in essence, nor when they first bent the arc of history.

No. Each century effectively began in its 14th year.

Think about it. The first decade of the 20th century was filled with hope and a kind of can-do optimism that was never seen again -- not after the horrific events of 1914 shattered any vision that a new and better age would arrive without pain.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Can Japan and China find a way to reduce the risk of conflict, and prevent continuing hostilities that could last decades? Can they peacefully coexist in the new era when they are both great powers?

The current tensions, greatly heightened by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Dec. 26, cannot be eliminated without confronting the passions stemming from unresolved historical issues that arose beginning late in the 19th century when Japan modernized first.

Many Chinese retain a deep sense of humiliation at being surpassed by a small island nation and a deep sense of anger at their widespread suffering caused by Japan, an anger that helped Mao Zedong unify China in 1949.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate

Every so often one comes across a book, a poem or a work of art that is so original, perfectly crafted, accurate and true that you can’t get it out of your head. You have to read or look at it many times to place it in context and understand what it means.

In the course of two decades as a political reporter my most powerful experience of this kind came when a friend drew my attention to a 20-page article in an obscure academic journal.

Written by the political scientists Richard Katz and Peter Mair, and called “The Emergence of a Cartel Party”, it immediately explained almost everything that had perplexed me as a lobby correspondent: the unhealthy similarity between supposedly rival parties; the corruption and graft that has become endemic in modern politics; the emergence of a political elite filled with scorn and hostility towards ordinary voters.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial

La vida es la gran maestra, enseña más que muchos libros. Píndaro decía: «Atrévete a ser tú mismo». Vivimos tiempos de extravío. Veo mucha gente perdida en lo fundamental, desorientada, flotando sin saber bien hacia donde dirigirse. El mundo está terrible como siempre y apasionante como nunca. Ardiendo y fascinante. La coreografía se mueve en el escenario de la Historia actual como una amalgama de hechos e intenciones, luces y sombras en donde se mezcla lo bello y lo que repudia, hay admiración y desdén. Como en la fábula de Iriarte nos preguntamos: «¿Son galgos o son podencos?». En el parque jurásico de la vida moderna encontramos de todo.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

El 30 de noviembre de 1782 se reunieron en París representantes del Reino Unido y de sus hasta entonces trece colonias norteamericanas para acordar los preliminares de lo que habría de ser el tratado de paz que casi un año después, el 3 de septiembre de 1783, reconocería la independencia de las Colonias Unidas y pondría fin así a una cruenta guerra iniciada en 1775 y que había concluido de hecho en 1781 tras la derrota británica en el sitio de Yorktown.

Francia apoyó pronto a los colonos rebeldes y España envió armas y pertrechos, recordando la cercana Guerra de los Siete Años, que había finalizado en 1763 con la victoria británica y el fin de la presencia francesa en América del Norte, y en la que España, que se incorporó al final, perdió la Florida mientras los ingleses apuntalaban su presencia en Menorca.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaMemoria HistóricaEspañaModelo de EstadoModelo Territorial

La guerra de Sucesión a la corona española, iniciada en 1701, fue el peor negocio de nuestra historia. Mal asunto morir sin heredero en España. Con la guerra de Sucesión primero y tres guerras carlistas un siglo más tarde, nos quedamos definitivamente descolgados de Europa.

El tratado de Utrecht supuso el fin de la supremacía española en el orden mundial. La vieja monarquía hispana perdía la mayor parte de sus posesiones europeas y ponía fin a su valioso monopolio colonial. Carlos II, el último de los Austrias españoles, moría en Madrid en 1700. Las dos coronas con derechos sucesorios: los Borbones de Francia y los Habsburgo de Austria se prepararon para la batalla dinástica.…  Seguir leyendo »