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InternacionalSalud Pública

On separate trips to Guatemala and Zambia in the late 1980s and in the early 2000s, we each saw the devastating effect of the water and sanitation crisis firsthand. We saw a world in which basic needs went drastically unmet -- where a lack of safe water and sanitation robbed men, women and children of health, hope and even life.

In the time it takes us to fill a glass of water -- about 21 seconds -- a child in some part of the world has died because of water-related disease.

The disturbing fact is that we've known how to deliver safe water and basic sanitation to people for more than 100 years.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica, ,

African leaders are often asked to look to countries like Singapore and Taiwan for examples of the transformative impact that clean, effective government can have in turning around a nation’s economy. But they might do better to look closer to home.

Those models are certainly valid: The “Asian Tigers” lifted millions of people out of poverty by relying on an efficient public sector based on rigid meritocracy and little tolerance for corruption. But, oddly enough, it was the reverse of these very conditions in Kenya — the realities of corruption, nepotism and sheer inefficiency of the state telecommunications monopoly — that helped inspire a banking and finance revolution that is spreading from sub-Saharan Africa to India, Afghanistan and beyond.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesNaturaleza,

Let’s stipulate up front that there is no great sport in hunting a black rhinoceros, especially not in Namibia’s open countryside. The first morning we went out tracking in the northern desert there, we nosed around in vehicles for several hours until our guides spotted a rhino a half mile off. Then we hiked quietly up into a high valley. There, a rhino mom with two huge horns stood calmly in front of us next to her calf, as if triceratops had come back to life, at a distance of 200 yards. We shot them, relentlessly, with our cameras.

Let’s also accept, nolo contendere, that trophy hunters are “coldhearted, soulless zombies.”…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

As the oldest and strongest advocate for democracy on earth, you would think that we Americans would understand that it doesn’t spring full-grown from the holding of elections, and that to make elections the primary benchmark of progress when advising a fledgling new democracy may do more harm than good — especially in the Middle East. Consider what has happened in Iraq, the Palestinian territories or recently in Egypt; namely, sectarian warfare in Iraq, disunity and violence among Palestinians, and a seriously flawed, now-deposed government in Egypt.

It takes time (e.g., South Sudan today) for tribes to accept that tolerance toward other tribes may serve their self-interest, and more time still before that stage leads to rudimentary pluralism — intertribal political parties espousing differing concepts of the relationship between the state and the individual.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

For Israel, the discovery in 2010 of a vast natural gas field off its coast was like hitting the jackpot. The future energy development offered the country unprecedented economic security.

Now, the business plans for the Leviathan site are advanced enough that Israel and its neighbors must address the toughest question about the project: how to export the gas.

The Leviathan field’s estimated 510 billion cubic meters of gas, coupled with continuing production at the nearby Tamar site, are expected to fuel Israel’s electricity generation, water desalinization and a new generation of energy-intensive industries. Exporting the gas beyond Israel would offer still greater economic benefits.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

The Geneva II conference on Syria, set to begin in Montreux, Switzerland, this week, is unlikely to achieve its goal of forming a transitional governing authority with full executive powers. But what it can do is launch a much-needed political process and, more important, produce a ceasefire agreement between government and opposition forces. Only when the fighting has stopped can Syria make genuine progress toward a political transition.

Of course, al-Qaida-linked jihadist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has become a potent force on the ground, and the Nusra Front will not and should not be represented in Montreux — not least because they will not feel bound by any agreement.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea

Future historians of France may well decide that the Fifth Republic died as it was born: in a traffic incident.

As France and much of the world now know, part of President François Hollande’s morning routine of late has been to zip on his moped between the Élysée Palace and an apartment on the aptly named Rue du Cirque for romantic trysts with the actress Julie Gayet. While his partner, Valérie Trierweiler, and his interior minister, Manuel Valls, were unaware of these jaunts, the paparazzi, cameras trained on the building, shot a helmeted Mr. Hollande entering and leaving by the front door.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesNaturaleza,

The overwhelming consensus among climate scientists is that human-caused climate change is happening. Yet a fringe minority of our populace clings to an irrational rejection of well-established science. This virulent strain of anti-science infects the halls of Congress, the pages of leading newspapers and what we see on TV, leading to the appearance of a debate where none should exist.

In fact, there is broad agreement among climate scientists not only that climate change is real (a survey and a review of the scientific literature published say about 97 percent agree), but that we must respond to the dangers of a warming planet.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

Legalizing marijuana is making people laugh. “Yesterday, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed an amendment that officially legalized marijuana in the state. Stoners took a moment to thank Governor Hickenlooper — then spent a few hours just saying the word ‘Hickenlooper,’ ” joked Jimmy Fallon.

The jokes increase as the drug appears to go mainstream. But should it?

Floridians may see medicinal marijuana on the November ballot. Some studies show that marijuana has been beneficial in the treatment of cancer and AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. Under medical supervision these treatments can help, but given Florida’s experience with pill mills, one wonders how long it would take for its abuse.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

“NAZI” is a short word. It has only two syllables, like “rac-ist” or “kill-er.” “Democracy,” on the other hand, is a long word with lots of syllables that is very tiring to say. It may not be as tiring as saying “freedom of expression” or “social justice,” but still, there is something really exhausting about it.

People in Israel use “Nazi” when they want the most vicious curse possible, and it’s usually directed at someone they perceive as belligerent. It could be a cop, a soldier or an elected official who, in their opinion, is acting like a bully.

Such usage is offensive and infuriating.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

Even as demonstrators were spreading across Bangkok this week, they were losing ground with a constituency whose support they badly need: the urban middle class.

The protesters — themselves mainly from white-collar backgrounds — are intent on bringing down Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. She was elected in 2011 on promises to revive the popular policies of her elder brother, Thaksin, who was prime minister from 2001 until he was ousted in 2006. But her opponents are claiming that the government is corrupt, and those policies ruinous.

Meanwhile, the threat of violence is growing: Dozens of people were wounded on Friday when an explosion hit antigovernment demonstrators marching through the city.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

In this Internet age, all of us are everywhere, whether in person, via telephone, by e-mail or text message, or in pictures online.

Despite our connectedness, one of the world’s most famous people, China’s most prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo, has vanished.

Liu was arrested Dec. 8, 2008, and sentenced to 11 years in prison for his role in the creation of Charter 08 , a human rights and democracy petition modeled on Charter 77, our manifesto for liberty under communist Czechoslovakia.

Charter 08 garnered worldwide attention and thousands of signatures inside China. But even the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was not enough to bring Liu into the light, though his picture was on the front page of newspapers worldwide — save those in China.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Growing up in Tucuman, a city in northern Argentina, I had the opportunity to see peaceful coexistence and collaboration between Arabs and Jews. I was reminded of that experience after reading an article by Uri Avnery, one of the leading peace activists in Israel, on the need for a peace narrative in the Middle East.

Tucuman received numerous immigrants (among them my father) who came to that city at the beginning of the last century.

Notable among them were citizens from Arab countries. The city also had a substantial Jewish population.

In the downtown area, there was a stretch of several blocks called La Maipú after the name of its main street.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

“The Taliban are still here,” a pharmacist who sells medicine to remote villages in the southeast told me last month in this shabby frontier town. “People are anxious about 2014 because the troops are leaving.”

After his customers started to understand recently that the United States and its allies will pull out most of their forces this year, he said, his sales of medication for anxiety, depression and insomnia increased 30-fold. Fear of a Taliban resurgence is so widespread that it is hurting property prices and the value of Afghanistan’s currency, scaring investors away and impelling Afghans to seek foreign asylum.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

On Tuesday, the first day of a two-day referendum on Egypt’s new constitution, voters outside the main polling station in this provincial city didn’t want to talk about the content of the new national charter. Instead, they focused on what this vote has come to signify: support for the army, and abhorrence of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We’re here so the world will know that this is the people’s will, not a military coup,” said Iman Mahmoud, a middle-aged housewife who, like everyone else in line, intended to vote in favor of the new constitution.

“We don’t want the Muslim Brotherhood or Morsi,” said Dalia Abdel Aziz, standing next to her, referring to the Islamist organization and to Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted as president in July.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

China has been conducting a global propaganda campaign against Japan, the most recent example of which was the Jan. 10 Post op-ed by Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the United States. But his op-ed was wrong, and China’s leaders clearly misread global attitudes. It is not Japan that most of Asia and the international community worry about; it is China.

First of all, the Yasukuni Shrine, which was the focus of Beijing’s most recent round of anti-Japan op-eds, is a place where the souls of those who sacrificed their lives for the country since the Meiji Restoration of 1868 have been enshrined.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, ,  

German leader Adolf Hitler and Soviet leader Josef Stalin were ruthless dictators who committed murder on a vast scale. But while it is impossible to imagine a Hitler statue in Berlin, or anywhere else in Germany, statues of Stalin have been restored in towns across Georgia (his birthplace), and another is to be erected in Moscow as part of a commemoration of all Soviet leaders.

The difference in attitude extends beyond the borders of the countries over which these men ruled. In the United States, there is a bust of Stalin at the National D-Day Memorial in Virginia.

In New York, I recently dined at a Russian restaurant that featured Soviet paraphernalia, waitresses in Soviet uniforms, and a painting of Soviet leaders in which Stalin was prominent.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica,

This year’s parliamentary elections in South Africa will be the first in which the first children born after the 1994 transition to democracy become eligible to vote. Glibly dubbed “born-frees,” these children have been dealt vastly different fates in the years since the dismantling of apartheid, calling into question South Africa’s constitutional promise of equality.

Wealth has given some the privilege of a good education. The rest, mostly poor black students, have been corralled into what Steve Biko, the murdered anti-apartheid activist and founder of the country’s black consciousness movement, once described as lives of perpetual servitude.

The country’s two-tiered education system — a functional one for the wealthy and a dysfunctional public system for poor blacks — is to blame.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfricaMundoOriente Próximo, , ,

Six years ago, I fled to Israel from my native Eritrea, fearing for my life at home. Two weeks ago, after waiting for six years for Israel to review my application for refugee status — something it has repeatedly refused to do — I joined thousands of other Africans in a strike to force the government to recognize our basic human rights.

I am not in Israel on a whim. I had no choice but to leave Eritrea, where arrest, forced labor and indefinite military conscription are facts of daily life. In 2008, after four years in the military — which often contracted me out to private companies as an unpaid construction worker — I asked when I would be discharged.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaMundoOriente Próximo,

A great deal of diplomatic attention over the next few months will be focused on whether the temporary nuclear deal with Iran can be transformed into a full-blown accord. President Obama has staked the success of his foreign policy on this bold gamble. But discussion about the nuclear deal has diverted attention from an even riskier bet that Obama has placed: the idea that Iran can become a cooperative partner in regional security.

Although they won’t say so publicly, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry surely dream of a “Nixon to China” masterstroke. They are quietly pursuing a strategic realignment that, they believe, will end decades of semi-open warfare between Iran and the United States and their respective allies.…  Seguir leyendo »