Jueves, 12 de abril de 2018 (Continuación)

An Indian social activist holds a placard in February 2017 during a protest against a rape at Hauz Khas village in New Delhi. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoAsia,

Dear India: Where are our candlelight marches, our outrage and our mass protests? Why have we been so muted in our response to the reported gang rapes of two girls, an 8-year-old child and a teenager? And no, our lazy tweets and our commiserating hashtags do not count.

This week, two cases of rape and murder — one of a shepherd girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, the other in Unnao, in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh — have been moments of acute national shame. They have proved how the powerful conspire to enable and protect sexual abusers. Worse, they have exposed the ugliest underbelly of India.…  Seguir leyendo »

Kosovo police block a street last month in the northern, Serb-dominated part of Mitrovica, Kosovo. (Bojan Slavkovic/AP)

Europa

It has been more than two decades since I worked with Richard Holbrooke and our team to negotiate an end to the war in Bosnia. NATO deployed and then acted to halt Serb ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

Today, three Western Balkan states (Croatia, Albania and Slovenia) have become members of NATO. Croatia and Slovenia have joined the European Union. Kosovo is now an independent nation. Most Americans and Europeans have mentally filed away that brutal conflict as a problem solved.

Sadly, this is far from true. Lingering political conflicts over the ethno-religious character of these nations consistently threaten to metastasize into national and regional crises, making the region a prime target for meddling by foreign powers.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

A Bloomberg story this week warned of the threat of North Korea’s “other weapon” — tuberculosis. In February, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria announced that it would suspend grants to combat tuberculosis and malaria in North Korea by June 30.

Global Fund officials stress that they hope to resume funding to the country in the future, and North Korean officials have implored the Global Fund to maintain its funding on humanitarian grounds.

Since 2002, this unique partnership between governments, the private sector and civil society groups has awarded more than $33 billion in grants to treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to save more than 22 million lives in more than 100 countries.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa

On March 19, a student club at Turkey’s prestigious Bogazici University distributed Turkish delight to celebrate the Turkish military’s victory against Syrian Kurdish (YPG) forces in Afrin. Students opposed to the campaign protested, holding up a sign declaring “No delight in occupation and massacre.” A brief struggle between the groups not only upset boxes of the sweets, but would escalate into a political crisis provoking international outcry.

In days following the skirmish, police forces swept through campus to round up more than 20 students suspected of protesting, raids that state media broadcast live as the detaining of “provocateurs.” On March 24, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the group of antiwar demonstrators “terrorists” at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP).…  Seguir leyendo »

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski waves to government workers and supporters outside the House of Pizarro government palace and presidential residence, one day after offering his resignation in the capital, Lima. (Peruvian presidential press office/AP)

MundoAméricaReflexionesDemocracia

In late March, Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned from office, a day before he would have been impeached. Kuczynski was the 10th Latin American president since the 1990s to leave office under the threat of impeachment.

Kuczynski’s downfall highlights some of the pitfalls of impeachment, a term that shows up a lot in the U.S. media these days. Here are some key takeaways:

1) Impeachments can help preserve democracies

Constitutions include impeachment provisions for a good reason, as presidential misconduct can threaten democracy itself. Impeachment is a legal, as well as a political, mechanism for terminating the tenures of misbehaving presidents — and a preferred mode rather than replacement via military coup or insurrection.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial,

« Il faut trouver la limite car la société est ouverte à tous les possibles, mais la manipulation et la fabrication du vivant ne peuvent s’étendre à l’infini sans remettre en cause l’idée même de l’homme et de la vie. » Cette phrase n’est pas tirée de l’encyclique Laudato si’ (« Loué sois-tu ») du pape François, mais du discours du président Macron devant la Conférence des évêques de France. Comment nier en effet que notre puissance technique grandissante bouleverse nos conditions d’existence ?

En novembre 2017, quinze mille scientifiques lançaient un cri d’alarme sur l’état de la planète, pointant huit domaines où les limites de ce que la biosphère est capable de supporter ont déjà été franchies.…  Seguir leyendo »