Miércoles, 20 de diciembre de 2017 (Continuación)

Palestinians hold national flags

MundoOriente Próximo

Una vez más, el presidente Trump ha optado por la vía unilateral en política exterior. Con su reconocimiento de Jerusalén como capital de Israel, Trump dinamitó nada menos que 70 años de consenso internacional. Y, una vez más, Trump ha aplicado una lógica que malinterpreta y deteriora la realidad de Oriente Próximo, haciendo imprescindible que la UE dé un paso al frente.

La lógica de la administración Trump en Oriente Próximo se apoya en su alianza con Arabia Saudí. Desde los tiempos de John Fitzgerald Kennedy, todos los presidentes estadounidenses habían escogido uno de los tres siguientes destinos para sus primeros viajes al extranjero: México, Canadá o Europa.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaElecciones

Catalonia is about to celebrate its oddest election since the region’s autonomy was restored in 1979, during Spain’s transition to democracy. In October, after the region voted for independence in a referendum that had been declared illegal by Spain’s federal courts, the Catalan parliament declared independence – and Spain’s central government promptly took over the regional administration, and called Thursday’s new regional elections.

As a result of the risis, several of this election’s candidates are either in prison or have moved to Belgium to avoid an order of arrest by a Spanish judge. That includes the leader of the frontrunner party (Oriol Junqueras, from the center-left Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC) and the last regional president (Carles Puigdemont, the candidate of the centrist Junts per Catalunya, JxC).…  Seguir leyendo »

Youth supporters campaign for soccer legend Sen. George Weah, Liberian presidential candidate, during a rally in Monrovia, Liberia in August 2017. Weah and Joseph Boakai will face off in the final election round, now scheduled for Dec. 26. (Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA)

MundoÁfrica,

After a delay of over a month, Liberia will move ahead and hold a runoff presidential election on Dec. 26. The contest pits George Weah, a retired soccer star and junior senator, against Joseph Boakai, septuagenarian vice president. Boakai was outpolled in the first round in October and appears to be the underdog.

Originally slated for Nov. 7, the second round of balloting was delayed following an unsuccessful judicial challenge by the Liberty Party, whose candidate, Charles Brumskine, alleged fraud, and finished a distant third with less than 10 percent of the vote.

An elected president has not transferred power to another in Liberia since 1944.…  Seguir leyendo »

A masked protester stands by a burning barricade in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Monday, Dec. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio)

MundoAmérica,

Honduras’ presidential election Nov. 26 has set off a political crisis. So far, 22 people have been killed during protests; the Organization of American States is calling for a new election.

Even before the vote count began, Honduras’ national elections were controversial. The president, Juan Orlando Hernández of the National Party, was seeking reelection — which had been prohibited by the Honduran constitution until 2015. That year the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a petition by Rafael Callejas, president from 1990-94, that the prohibition on reelection had been a violation of his human rights. Hernández was the first beneficiary of the ruling.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesIslam y Mundo Árabe

«Féminisme musulman ?». L’expression, en France, fait figure d’oxymore. Peut-on revendiquer de suivre le Coran, et parler d’émancipation des femmes ? Choisir de porter le voile et lutter contre le patriarcat ? Si ces termes semblent si contradictoires, c’est parce qu’on ne compte plus, ces dernières années, les virulents débats sur l’islam et le sort qu’il réserverait aux femmes : voile, burkini, agressions sexuelles lors du réveillon de Cologne… C’est presque toujours au nom des femmes que les critiques les plus radicales de l’islam se construisent. Même le phénomène #Balancetonporc a muté, pendant quelques jours, en affrontement «islamogauchiste» versus «laïcards» (ou Plenel versus Charlie Hebdo) après la révélation des viols présumés de l’islamologue Tariq Ramadan.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesDemocracia

Democracy today seems to be in constant crisis. Democratic backsliding has occurred in countries from Venezuela to Poland, and autocratic leaders, including Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, proudly proclaim that the era of liberal democracy is over. Perhaps most worrying, even in the West where it has long been taken for granted, liberal democracy is under attack from populists, and, according to some scholars, it is no longer highly valued by many citizens.

In seeking to explain these troubling trends, most observers focus on the challenges currently facing democracy. They argue that globalization and rising automation have made life more insecure for the working and middle classes, privileged highly educated city dwellers over the less educated who live in rural areas, and made capitalism more of a zero-sum game.…  Seguir leyendo »