Jueves, 7 de noviembre de 2019 (Continuación)

New U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft casts a vote during her first U.N. Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., 12 September 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Security Council diplomats have a chance to engage in some self-criticism this week. On Thursday and Friday, representatives of the Council’s current members will attend a workshop with their counterparts from the five elected members joining it in 2020 (Estonia, Niger, Tunisia, Vietnam, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines). This event, convened by Finland, is one of two annual opportunities for Council insiders to discuss their collective efforts – the other, a retreat with the Secretary-General, took place in May – and their talks can be quite frank.

According to a detailed summary of last year’s workshop, “a participant lamented that there was a prevailing image of the Security Council as an organ that was becoming less effective and less influential over time”.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Hassan Rouhani visits the exhibition of nuclear technology on April 9, 2019. Office of the Iranian President.

Iran announced on 5 November that it is moving ahead with incremental breaches of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). According to President Hassan Rouhani, as of 6 November, Tehran will start “injecting [uranium hexafluoride] gas into the centrifuges in Fordow”, a bunkered enrichment facility that under the deal is meant to be converted “into a nuclear, physics and technology centre”.

This move is the latest in a series of staggered steps toward downgrading Tehran’s adherence to the nuclear agreement. The process began in May 2019, when the Rouhani administration set a 60-day rolling ultimatum for the agreement’s remaining parties (France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China) to deliver the deal’s expected economic dividends in the face of unilateral U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

Cataluña, España, Europa: Mejor Unidos

Europa es ante todo libertad, paz y progreso.  Debemos caminar con esos valores y hacer de Europa el modelo más avanzado de integración y justicia social, que proteja a nuestros ciudadanos.  La Europa a la que aspiramos, la Europa que necesitamos, la Europa que construimos, se basa en la estabilidad democrática de nuestros Estados y no puede aceptar la quiebra unilateral de su integridad.  La Europa que admiramos se ha forjado frente a los nacionalismos excluyentes y los extremismos que superponen identidades al principio de igualdad de todos los ciudadanos.  Por eso, hoy el desafío del separatismo en Cataluña, construido contra nuestro marco constitucional y silenciando a la mayoría de catalanes contrarios a la independencia, es también un desafío a Europa y a los europeos.…  Seguir leyendo »

El brutal asesinato de al menos nueve miembros de una familia mormona en el norte de México el lunes sacudió a un país que aún está procesando un ataque que obligó al gobierno a liberar al hijo de Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán después de ser capturado.

Todo esto ha contribuido a una sensación de desesperación y frustración en México.

Hace unas semanas, el Cártel de Sinaloa reaccionó a un operativo para capturar a Ovidio Guzmán López al sitiar la ciudad de Culiacán. El gobierno mexicano demostró ser tan incapaz de manejar la respuesta violenta que el presidente, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, decidió autorizar la liberación inmediata del joven Guzmán.…  Seguir leyendo »

The fall of 1989

The Berlin Wall crumbled. Regimes toppled. But 30 years later, how much have things changed?

Thirty years ago, the citizens of Soviet-dominated Central Europe achieved something extraordinary: a wave of peaceful revolution that swept away the system that had exerted near-seamless control over their lives for the previous four decades.

The enormous impact of those events was obvious to everyone who witnessed them. Since then, a generation has passed. The Berlin Wall — and everything it symbolized — is just a memory, and it is tempting to view the events of 1989 as mere history.

That would be a mistake. In fact, that remarkable year has left an enduring imprint on Europe — and the rest of the world.…  Seguir leyendo »

Iraq is experiencing a pivotal moment. Protesters, mostly youths, have again taken to the streets in Baghdad and several southern provinces. They initially demanded jobs and an end to corruption. Now they are calling for the resignation of key government figures, the dissolution of parliament and provincial councils, electoral reforms, and a rewrite of the constitution.

In response, the government, including paramilitary groups, has attempted to violently quash the protests. More than 260 protesters have been killed and thousands injured since the start of the protests in early October. These violent reprisals have only inflamed public anger and resulted in the transformation of the protest movement into a self-declared revolution.…  Seguir leyendo »

For several weeks, angry Latin Americans have been protesting in the streets. In Bolivia, citizens are protesting allegedly fraudulent election results. In Chile and Ecuador, they’ve been marching and destroying property over economic inequality. And in Peru, battles over corruption reform led the president to dissolve congress, resulting in demonstrations and cries of a coup.

The eruption of protests suggests that Latin American governments are having difficulties delivering what voters care about: fair elections, honest politicians and economic redistribution. Analysts have suggested that the protests may lead voters to choose leftists and prompt governments to end economic austerity. Our research identifies another possibility: more women elected to office.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Mongolian parliament’s fall legislative agenda includes debate of a proposed draft law on nonprofit legal entities. The draft law shares provisions used in recent laws to restrict civil society in Russia, Poland and Hungary.

The proposed legislation calls for the creation of the Civil Society Development Council, an institution that will have vast power over nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Mongolia, including foreign-funded institutions, and require NGOs to submit annual reports detailing all of their financial contributions and activities for approval. Exactly how the council will use this information to determine the legitimacy of NGO activities remains unclear. This uncertainty could potentially leave Mongolia’s civil society open to arbitrary and restrictive provisions.…  Seguir leyendo »

Plus personne ne remet en doute l’urgence de la question climatique, mais la précipitation dans laquelle l’Espagne va accueillir la COP doit se transformer en une opportunité : celle de faire une COP plus sobre et irréprochable sur le plan environnemental. Plus de 25 000 délégués étaient attendus au Chili, il est encore prématuré de savoir si autant iront à Madrid, mais j’espère que l’Espagne saura leur proposer un sommet sur le climat exemplaire.

En 2016, les organisateurs de la COP21 à Paris, qui s’était tenu à la fin de 2015 et avait abouti à l’Accord de Paris, avaient réalisé le bilan carbone de l’événement qui s’était déroulé au Parc des expositions du Bourget.…  Seguir leyendo »