Jueves, 8 de febrero de 2018 (Continuación)

MundoOriente Próximo,

Wednesday was a strange and scary day in Syria, even by Middle East standards:

In the early afternoon, American military commanders, nearly victorious against the Islamic State, were standing at a hilltop observation post here complaining about harassing fire on their Syrian Kurdish partners — from a rebel force that is backed by Turkey, our NATO ally.

And then a few hours later, about 100 hundred miles to the southeast, ground troops supporting the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad struck a headquarters of Syrian Kurdish fighters and their partners from U.S. Special Operations forces, five miles east of the Euphrates and possibly near Syrian oil fields.…  Seguir leyendo »

On Monday, civil rights activists in Nairobi protest the government shutdown of Kenyan television stations. The channels were blocked from broadcasting a “swearing-in” of opposition leader Raila Odinga. (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoÁfrica

Living in Kenya these days often feels like an alternate reality far removed from the year and such alien concepts as the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and democratic freedoms. First, the opposition National Super Alliance (NASA, not to be confused with the space agency) carried out a mock swearing-in of its leader, Raila Odinga, as “the people’s president,” despite protests from the government, foreign envoys and some opinion leaders in the country.

The overreaction from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s embattled administration was swift and relentless, starting with a week-long illegal shutdown of four television stations, including the three largest independent TV stations, NTV, KTN News and Citizen TV, which collectively control 70 percent of total viewership.…  Seguir leyendo »

A refugee girl sings a song for Swiss Federal President Alain Berset at the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Tuesday. (Peter Klaunzer/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

MundoAsia, ,

The international community and the politics of the word “genocide” have a long and complex history. In the wake of the Holocaust, the prevention of mass atrocities was one of the founding aims of the United Nations. Yet ever since the U.N.’s establishment, and the enshrinement into international law of the duty of the international community to intervene in cases of mass slaughter, individual member nations and the U.N. assembly as a whole have systematically resisted characterizing humanitarian crises as “genocides” in order to avoid their moral and legal duty to intervene. In other words, we take the concept of genocide extremely seriously.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

Après un sprint à la conquête de la dissuasion nucléaire, Kim Jong-un avait bien besoin de souffler un peu. Les trois essais nucléaires et les plus de quarante tirs de missiles depuis début 2016 ont eu pour conséquences l’imposition à la Corée du Nord des sanctions internationales les plus sévères de l’ère onusienne ainsi qu’une escalade des tensions en Extrême-Orient. Le prix du pétrole dans le pays a, selon certaines sources, doublé ces trois derniers mois tandis que les rumeurs sur une possible opération militaire américaine se sont multipliées. Il était urgent de desserrer l’étau et de tenter une offensive diplomatique envers les Etats-Unis.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalEconomía

Pour le particulier, depuis presque vingt ans déjà, la pierre est le meilleur moyen d’augmenter sa richesse, l’immobilier progressant trois fois plus vite que les salaires. Après deux années exceptionnelles, le volume des transactions s’est emballé, entraînant dans son sillon une part importante de primo-accédants. Réalité ou illusion ? C’est confirmé, la bulle immobilière n’est pas loin d’éclater, même si les prix continuent de grimper sur certains segments où la confiance des investisseurs n’est pas ébranlée (par exemple Paris, qui bénéficie de l’impact du Brexit, ou Bordeaux, qui profite de l’effet TGV).

Sans mesures incitatives, l’écart entre la valeur des biens et le pouvoir d’achat se creuse, en rallongeant la durée des prêts empruntés.…  Seguir leyendo »