Sábado, 3 de septiembre de 2016 (Continuación)

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El acuerdo de paz con las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) alcanzado este mes por el gobierno del país recibió muy merecidos elogios. Es un logro histórico, que promete poner fin a más de medio siglo de secuestros, desplazamientos forzados, ataques indiscriminados a poblados y violencia con un saldo de decenas de miles de muertos.

Colombia sabe muy bien cómo cerrar confrontaciones violentas. Tras una década de enfrentamiento entre los dos partidos políticos principales del país a mediados del siglo XX (período que se conoce simplemente como “la violencia”), un acuerdo bipartidario plebiscitado en 1957 puso fin al conflicto.

En 1990, el gobierno colombiano logró arreglos políticos con diversos grupos rebeldes.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa

Uno por uno, el Presidente ruso Vladimir Putin ha ido sacando de sus cargos a sus asesores más cercanos y antiguos. La víctima más reciente (y seguramente no la última) es Sergei Ivanov, ex agente de la KGB (como el mismo Putin) y ministro de defensa, que acaba de ser obligado a dejar sus funciones como jefe de estado mayor del Kremlin.

Ivanov, dirigente relativamente importante, está siendo reemplazado por un administrador más bien ornamental: Anton Vaino, ex jefe del Directorado del Programa de Protocolos. De manera similar, el reformista ministro de educación y ciencias, Dimitri Livanov, fue despedido y reemplazado por la insulsa burócrata Olga Vasilieva, en lo que resulta ser un inusual nombramiento de una mujer conocida por sus opiniones estalinistas (imaginad al presidente francés dando un puesto importante del gabinete a un funcionario medio perteneciente al Frente Nacional de extrema derecha).…  Seguir leyendo »

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Un «Guantánamo à la française». A chaque nouvel attentat, le discours à droite se radicalise un peu plus. Plus de sévérité, plus d’enfermement. Voilà ce qui est inlassablement réclamé pour lutter contre le terrorisme depuis les attentats de novembre 2015. L’idée est simple : placer les fichés S en centre de rétention. Tous ceux que les services de renseignement auraient évalués comme représentant potentiellement une menace. Quant aux condamnés pour terrorisme, ceux-là aussi seraient enfermés, même une fois leur peine purgée. Mais la Constitution interdit la détention administrative : seule une décision de justice peut entraîner la privation de liberté.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Sept. 1 marked Uzbekistan’s 25th year of independence and the first national celebration of it without the president, Islam Karimov, in attendance. A few days earlier, the Uzbek government announced that Mr. Karimov, 78, had suffered a serious brain hemorrhage — an unusual proclamation considering pronouncements about his health were often as glowing as those made by Donald Trump’s doctor.

Though the government has since reported his death, it was clear from the first announcement of his illness that Uzbekistan had changed. Uzbekistan was built largely around the cult of Mr. Karimov. Secretive and suspicious, he never named a successor.

Roughly half of the country’s population is under 25 years old: These Uzbeks have known no other leader than Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ireland’s Long Journey on Abortion

EuropaUnión Europea,

“Not the first or the last bleeding women about to face a long trek home.” This was one of the tweets sent this month to the Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, from a woman who was traveling abroad for an abortion.

The woman and a friend set up a Twitter account, @TwoWomenTravel, to live-tweet her experience as she flew from Ireland to England for an abortion that she could not obtain safely or legally in her own country. By documenting the dreary trip with photographs of bleak-looking places along the way, the women sought to highlight the hypocrisy of lawmakers. These politicians turn a blind eye to the thousands of Irish women who travel abroad for terminations while imposing a 14-year prison sentence on any woman who procures the same service at home.…  Seguir leyendo »

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In early August, Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in a trilateral summit with his Azerbaijani and Iranian counterparts in Baku. Though the meeting was initiated by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, one of Moscow’s main goals was to strengthen relations with Iran, a key partner for Russia in Syria and the Caspian region and in energy. The relationship certainly needed a boost.

Syria is not enough

An obvious sign of trouble between the two is the decline of Russian−Iranian trade. In 2015 trade between the two was worth $1.24 billion – the lowest value in a decade. By mid-2016, long-discussed joint projects in the energy sector were still on the drawing board and the construction of the second and third power units of the Bushehr nuclear power plant had not yet begun.…  Seguir leyendo »

A soldier belonging to the Emergence 4 Unit deployed at Poste de Mabass, Far North, Cameroon. March 2016. CRISIS GROUP/Hans De Marie Heungoup

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In March 2016, Crisis Group Analyst Hans De Marie Heungoup travelled for four weeks into an insecure area only few researchers are given access to: Cameroon’s Far North Region. He was escorted three days by the military between the front-line towns of Ldamang, Mabass, Kolofata, Amchidé and Gansé, before he went on to travel alone across the region: to Maroua, the Minawao refugee camp, Mokolo, Mora, Kousseri and Goulfey. During the four weeks he spoke to a wide range of people, including traditional chiefs, local inhabitants and administration staff, refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), vigilante groups, local NGOs, humanitarian actors, academics, the military, former Boko Haram members, former traffickers, and others, some in presence of the military but the vast majority on his own.…  Seguir leyendo »