Frida Ghitis (Continuación)

MundoAsia

Just about now, North Korea's enigmatic ruler was expected to be preparing to emerge from his fortified country for a visit to Moscow to join celebrations next week marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.

The trip was highly anticipated. After all, this was to have been Kim's first official international trip since he came to power in 2011 following his father's death, and it would have provided a fascinating opportunity for the world to get a closer look at a young leader and a regime still largely shrouded in mystery.

But this week, Russia announced that the trip had been canceled, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Thursday that Moscow was informed via diplomatic channels that the trip would not happen.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

You may have heard that Israeli politics is extremely complex. But one of the most important forces at play there is actually rather straightforward: When Israelis feel safe and strong they tend to support moderate parties. When they feel vulnerable they move to the right. Understand that, and you will understand Israel -- and why President Barack Obama may have inadvertently given Benjamin Netanyahu a helping hand.

Israelis know they need American support to survive in a hostile, increasingly unstable and radicalized neighborhood, but they don't believe they can trust Obama to help keep them safe. And the president, despite taking numerous measures to support the Jewish state, has done a dismal job of persuading Israelis that he has their back.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaMundoOriente Próximo,

CNN Opinion asked a range of contributors to assess the impact of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress. The opinions expressed in these commentaries are theirs.

Obama administration fumbled

The Obama administration effectively has had a six-week public tantrum as it tried to stop Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from addressing a joint meeting of Congress. Now we know why. Netanyahu destroyed the administration's argument in favor of signing a nuclear deal with Iran.

We've continuously heard from the Obama administration that no deal is better than a bad deal. Anyone watching Netanyahu's speech with even the slightest objectivity was, at the very least, left questioning whether this is that bad deal.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalTerrorismo Internacional,

Only minutes after the self-described Islamic State released one of its most gruesome videos, the experts reached a consensus about what its impact would be. The horrific murder of Jordanian Air Force Pilot Moaz al Kasasbeh — locked in a cage and set on fire — was a miscalculation by ISIS, they told us.

It is tempting to hope for a decisive shift in the fight, especially after yet another American, this time the aid worker Kayla Mueller, also died because of the terrorist group.

Across social and traditional media, everyone seemed to be of one mind: ISIS went too far in killing Lt.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalTerrorismo Internacional

Just when you think ISIS cannot horrify any more than it has, the group sends us to a new level of disbelief.

The latest news from the Middle East -- the release of a video allegedly showing the Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh deliberately burned alive by his captors -- is the latest example. How can we comprehend human beings behaving in this way?

The highly produced videos of decapitations have continued coming, and now this.

It's tempting to think this is the work of a small number within ISIS, perhaps a core of psychopaths, given free rein by the so-called Islamic State's leaders.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial

It would be dishonest to say that 2014 has been a good year for women. We looked in disbelief as a terrorist group in Syria and Iraq turned women into slaves, and another radical group in Nigeria captured hundreds of female students and disappeared with them.

But 2014 was also a year in which many women fought back and inspired the world with their bravery and savvy. They taught us that the stakes are high and the road to a better future is fraught with difficulties, but with strength and dignity, we can get there.

Here are some of the women who in 2014 stared down the odds, helped change history, or changed our perceptions.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, ,

When plans were announced to build a giant new transoceanic canal across Nicaragua, the young Hong Kong businessman leading the project acknowledged the widespread skepticism. "We don't want it to become an international joke," said Wang Jing, a 40-year-old with no significant engineering experience and a background he described as "very normal."

That was in June 2013, when the Nicaraguan legislature, controlled by President Daniel Ortega, had just allowed Wang to move forward with his five-year project.

It is not certain that the canal, which would be one of the most ambitious and expensive engineering projects on Earth, will ever get built.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

By now, everyone knows who Malala Yousafzai is. But most people had never heard of the heroic and highly effective work of her fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kailash Satyarthi. By awarding the prize jointly to both of them, the Nobel Committee made an inspired choice.

The win by Malala, who has become a global icon and a symbol of courage and of the rights of girls to an education, was expected, even demanded by the public. In contrast, Satyarthi, a children's rights and anti-slavery activist, is known mostly in the world of human rights defenders. It's time his story started inspiring all of us.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente PróximoInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional, , ,

"Mr. Speaker, We are being slaughtered, we are being exterminated," cried out Vian Dakhil in a devastating appeal to the Iraqi parliament that deserves the attention of the entire world.

Everyone should watch.

The Iraqi legislator, a member of the country's Yazidi minority, collapsed at the end of her heartbreaking plea, imploring her country to stop the genocide of her people. "In the name of humanity," she said, "Save us! Save us!"

The Yazidis are caught in the brutal march of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, the extremist Jihadi organization. It is also known as the Islamic State, and has anointed itself the Caliphate and its leader the ruler of all the world's Muslims.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

The current round of fighting between Hamas and Israel will eventually stop. When it does, grieving and exhausted Israelis and Palestinians will still be neighbors. Their differences will remain.

The aftershocks of this war will reverberate not just in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, but also in the streets of Cairo and Riyadh, in the cafes and living rooms of Paris, in the foreign ministries of Arab countries and in the meetings rooms of the U.S. State Department. This war has exposed damaged nerves, deep prejudices and flawed policies.

Here are five places where we will see the impact after the fighting stops.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

It's time for some good news from the Middle East. The region is a tangle of sectarian bloodshed, territorial clashes and ideological disputes. But there is one bright light, an important, positive development that we should pause to appreciate.

A recent poll of 14 Muslim-majority countries by the Pew Research Center has come up with startling, highly encouraging results: Muslims are becoming increasingly opposed to extremism.

Muslims are turning against organizations that support violence and terrorism. Public approval for suicide bombings is way down, and so is support for the likes of al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and Boko Haram.

It's a dramatic change from the days just after 9/11 when any Westerner traveling through the Muslim Middle East and Asia could see troubling signs.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

The people who killed three Israeli teenagers have hurt the Israeli people deeply, there's no doubt about that. But they have also harmed Palestinians, and they have hurt the cause of peace.

Anyone who fails to condemn this horrific act -- the murder of students going home from school -- is contributing to the poison that makes peace so difficult in the Mideast. Anyone who hesitates, who equivocates, is helping to prolong the conflict.

For Palestinians and their supporters around the world, if you remain silent about the killing of Israelis, you are adding to the duration and bitterness of this conflict.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente PróximoInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional, , ,

They want all of us to cringe -- and they have succeeded. The Islamic radicals suddenly barreling across Iraq want to make sure people are horrified at their deeds.

Leaders of the organization that calls itself ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, have launched a sophisticated propaganda campaign that turns the most basic principles of public relations on their head. No PR executive would advise a client to shout to the world details of his most gruesome acts and the extent of his cruelty, but that is precisely what ISIS is doing, and doing so very deliberately.

The images of mass executions, of men digging their own graves before being shot in the back of the head, are splashed on the world's newspapers, television news and social media.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Once again, the news from Afghanistan fills us with sadness and suggests that perhaps we should despair, that maybe it's time to give up hope for the country.

On Thursday morning, an Afghan guard allegedly opened fire at the gates of a hospital in Kabul, killing three Americans, including Chicago pediatrician Jerry Umanos and a father and son, also doctors, visiting the medical facility.

Civilians have suffered the brunt of Afghanistan's decades of turmoil, but when the killers target aid workers, people who have left their lives behind to come and help, their message is loud and painfully clear: "Go away!"…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, ,

The headline shouted, “All citizens of Jewish nationality!” The document ordered all Jews over the age of 16 to register or face deportation, calling them “hostile to the Orthodox Donetsk Republic.”

The words stunned Jewish residents of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on the first night of Passover, when masked men carrying a Russian flag started handing out sheets with the chilling announcement to community members as they left the synagogue. “Evasion of registration,” it warned, “will result in revocation of citizenship and . . . confiscation of property.”

Was the threat real? Was it a hoax? Was it an effort to intimidate Jews, to smear pro-Russian activists?…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians are about to run out of oxygen. The final weeks of a nine-month negotiating window closes at the end of April and the two sides still stand far apart. The talks could end in a matter of days with disturbing consequences.

What to do?

Secretary of State John Kerry has an idea: How about releasing Jonathan Pollard, the convicted American spy who has already spent almost three decades in prison for passing information to Israel?

According to a number of reports, a deal to free Pollard and extend talks through 2015 is in the works.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

Perhaps if the world’s focus were not so intensely concentrated (as it should be) on Ukraine, or on the missing Malaysian plane, we would have paid more attention to an important development in the Middle East just a few days ago and to its grave implications.

On March 5, Israeli forces boarded an Iranian-owned, Panamanian-flagged, ship named the Klos C. It was loaded with an arsenal of weapons from Iran and Syria headed for Gaza.

The weapons, of course, had one, and only one, purpose: to target Israelis. As if to underline that point, rocket fire from Gaza, aimed at Israeli civilians, escalated dangerously in recent days, triggering retaliatory strikes and risking an even worse situation for civilians on both sides of the border.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, , , ,

The spectacle of Russia swallowing pieces of a neighboring country while claiming to defend its people would make George Orwell grimace with recognition. This weekend's charade, a "referendum" in which we're told more than 96% voted to join Russia, fits perfectly with the Orwellian narrative.

In this twilight zone of make-believe, Russian troops invade after removing the insignias from their uniforms and Putin explains, "You can go to a store and buy a uniform", claiming they are local "self-defense forces". Maybe Crimean shops also sell machine guns and armored personnel carriers. In this world of double-speak and misinformation, Moscow is manipulating the message, intimidating, twisting facts and lying -- the more absurd the propaganda the better.…  Seguir leyendo »

Internacional,

Russia looks set to slice off a part of Ukraine and keep it for itself.

With heavily armed Russian-speaking troops patrolling the streets, the Crimean Parliament voted Thursday to join Russia and put its decision to a referendum. The all-but-inevitable annexation of Crimea is moving forward, despite protests, warnings and threats from the U.S. and its allies.

We have entered a new Cold War.

The clash between Vladimir Putin's Russia and the forces arrayed in support of Ukraine's independence-minded leaders has crashed the vaunted "reset", ending hopes that Moscow and the West would smooth relations and work hand-in-hand toward common objectives.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, , ,

On Friday, armed men in military fatigues marched into the principal airport in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine's most contentious region, Crimea. The uniforms did not reveal their identity, but an alarmed Interior Minister in Ukraine's new government declared the move an "armed invasion" by Russia.

The incursion came 24 hours after masked gunmen took over government buildings there, raising the Russian flag over the regional parliament in a defiant sign that the battle for Ukraine is far from over.

In Kiev, the pro-European activists who succeeded in bringing an end to the Russian-backed government of now-former President Viktor Yanukovych are making progress choosing a new government with a well-qualified prime minister.…  Seguir leyendo »