América

Protesters march for the release of Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by immigration officers, New York, 10 March 2025. Photograph: John Angelillo/UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

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In six weeks, the Trump administration’s “rapid scheduled disassembly” of American science has been as sharp and deep as its trashing of the US’s alliances and goodwill; Earth science, weather forecasting and early warning systems, medical research (including cancer research), Nasa. Academic grants more broadly have been cut, paused and subject to review for a long list of banned words (including such contentious terms as “political” and “women”).

This has caused universities across the country to reduce their intake of PhD students, medical students and other graduate students, introduce hiring freezes and even rescind some offers of admission. More than 12,500 US citizens currently in other countries on Fulbright research grants recently had their funding paused, along with 7,400 foreign scholars currently hosted in the US, leaving them financially stranded.…  Seguir leyendo »

In Canada, I saw how Trump is ripping North America apart – and how hard its bond will be to repair

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As wealthy but lightly defended countries have often learned, being close to a much more powerful state – geographically or diplomatically – can be a precarious existence. All it takes is an aggressive new government in the stronger state and a relatively equal relationship of economic and military cooperation can suddenly turn exploitative, even threatening.

Since Donald Trump’s second inauguration, this realisation has been dawning across the west, but nowhere more disconcertingly than in Canada. Its border with the US is the longest in the world: 5,525 miles of often empty and hard to defend land, lakes and rivers. Canada’s two biggest cities, Toronto and Montreal, are only a few hours to the north, were you to approach them in a US army tank.…  Seguir leyendo »

A beagle puppy sits in a crate in Milwaukee. The dog was rescued along with thousands of others from a breeding and research facility in Virginia. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)

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Every year, more than 40,000 dogs, mostly beagles, are used in research in the United States. They are often used in painful and deadly tests, and laws to protect them are minimal. We should end this betrayal of man’s best friend.

It’s important to understand what dogs can go through even before they reach a lab. On Jan. 9, a judge in Dane County, Wisconsin, ordered the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of criminal animal cruelty at Ridglan Farms, which sits just outside Madison. Ridglan is one of only two large U.S. “purpose breeders” of beagles for experimentation.…  Seguir leyendo »

Preparing antiretroviral drugs in Nairobi, Kenya, February 2025 Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

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Critics of the Trump administration’s early actions on global health—withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO) and paralyzing U.S.-funded international health programs—fear that those moves will cede Washington’s long-standing leadership role to Beijing. American power and prestige, they charge, will wane, and China’s will grow.

The reality is worse. A U.S. retreat on global health, if sustained, will indeed open the door for China to exploit the abrupt, chaotic withdrawal of U.S. programs in some strategic regions. China is already providing replacement funding in Southeast Asia, and it may do the same in Latin America. But in most of the places that U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ukrainian forces in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, March 2025 Stringer / Reuters

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Relations between the United States and its European allies have proved tempestuous during the first two months of the second Trump administration. From his first days back in office, President Donald Trump has emphasized significant disagreements with the European Union, characterizing the bloc as inimical to U.S. interests, while Vice President JD Vance argued at the Munich Security Conference in February that the values of the United States and Europe are diverging. Between the stated ambition of the administration to annex Greenland and the imposition of wide-ranging tariffs, European leaders are bracing for a challenging transatlantic relationship.

The tenor of European concerns, however, changed markedly as the Trump administration began to make its opening forays into an attempt to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.…  Seguir leyendo »

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La cumbre parió un ratón. Nada de alto el fuego inmediato e incondicional de 30 días. Zelenski lo había aceptado, pero Putin se las sabe todas y hace con Trump lo que Trump no le permite a Zelenski: dilatar la decisión y exigir unas condiciones que significarían la derrota de Ucrania. A Trump y a Putin les importa poco la tregua. Los dos presidentes imperiales están en cosas más trascendentes. La guerra es lo más parecido a un pretexto, porque lo sustancial es el carácter histórico de la reanudación de relaciones entre Washington y Moscú y el encuentro personal que seguirá, quizás en Riad, con las correspondientes fotos para la posteridad.…  Seguir leyendo »

Canadians Know Americans. They Don’t Want to Be One.

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When Canadians say they don’t want to be part of America, they really mean it. And they know what they are talking about. Canada, where I was born and raised, has always had a peculiarly intimate knowledge of the United States, and not only because many Canadians spent winter breaks in the back seat headed south on I-95.

But if Canadians are at all times aware of their southern neighbor, the reverse isn't true. I’ve lived in New York City for more than half my life, and I’ve learned that Americans generally refer to Canada only when it’s an election year and they’re threatening to move there.…  Seguir leyendo »

Trump ante Ucrania: ¿anomalía histórica o lo de siempre?

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¿Donald Trump es una anomalía en la historia de Estados Unidos, o es una versión corregida y aumentada de rasgos que ya existían? La pregunta lleva planteándose desde 2016, cuando el magnate alcanzó por primera vez la Casa Blanca. Por un lado, estaba claro que el nuevo presidente se desviaba tanto del estilo habitual de la política estadounidense como de la tradición del Partido Republicano -por ejemplo, en su apuesta por el proteccionismo-. Por otro lado, muchos quisieron identificar precedentes de Trump en distintos momentos de la historia de Estados Unidos: desde Andrew Jackson hasta George Wallace, y desde los robber barons de la segunda mitad del XIX hasta las guerras culturales de los años 80.…  Seguir leyendo »

El presidente de Vox, Santiago Abascal, y el hoy presidente de EE UU, Donald Trump, en una imagen del 24 de febrero de 2024

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España tiene la Giralda de Sevilla, pero Estados Unidos tiene o ha tenido Giraldas en Cleveland y en Chicago, en Kansas City, en Minneapolis y —por supuesto— en Nueva York. Ocurrió a inicios del siglo XX. Para entonces, Estados Unidos había generado una hispanofilia propia, más tardía que la generada en Francia o Reino Unido, pero también más sofisticada: tanto, que fue la única en proyectarse —como acabamos de ver— en una arquitectura. Por eso en Poitiers no hay Giraldas y sí las hay en Misuri. Otra seña de aquel embrujo de España tiene una especial hondura: al contrario que Francia o Reino Unido, cuando Estados Unidos descubre lo hispánico, no está explorando una historia foránea, sino reencontrándose con un pasado muy suyo.…  Seguir leyendo »

What is a trans woman, really?

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Thanks in part to “Wayne’s World”, most everyone knows what a “Scooby-Doo” ending is: One of the gang — usually Fred — says something like, “Let’s see who the monster really is!” and removes the villain’s mask. As his true identity is revealed, the other members of the gang — Velma, or Daphne, or Shaggy — says something like, “Why it’s old man Withers, the guy who runs the haunted amusement park!”

The key word in this revelation is “really”, the adverb that means “what something is in actual fact, as opposed to what it might have been appearing, or pretending, to be”.…  Seguir leyendo »

Alienar a México sería contraproducente para EE. UU.

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Al crecer en México durante la década de 1980, me enseñaron que Estados Unidos era un enemigo al que había que temer, una potencia imperialista que se había robado la mejor mitad de nuestro país. Durante décadas, a generaciones de mexicanos como yo nos alimentaron posturas antiestadounidenses en la escuela.

Esa mentalidad empezó a cambiar lentamente tras la entrada en vigor del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte en 1994. Esto condujo a altos niveles de cooperación económica y aprecio cultural. México se convirtió en un destino turístico de primer orden para sus amigos del norte. Las visitas de Estado de los presidentes estadounidenses se convirtieron en motivo de celebración en lugar de desasosiego, y para muchos mexicanos, el estadounidense feo se convirtió en un socio indispensable.…  Seguir leyendo »

Inmates sit in a cell at the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Jan. 27. Marvin RECINOS/AFP via Getty Images

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When U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Central America in February on his first official trip abroad, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele made him an unusual offer: El Salvador would receive and detain people deported from the United States, as well as U.S. citizens convicted of crimes. Rubio described Bukele’s proposal as an “extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country” and said on X that it would make the United States safer.

Last weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump took Bukele up on his offer. The White House used an oblique 18th-century law written during wartime to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, violating a federal judge’s ruling to halt the expulsions.…  Seguir leyendo »

La influencia de Musk no se limita al DOGE y debería ser motivo de alarma

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Elon Musk ha concentrado sus esfuerzos, y ha gastado decenas de millones de dólares, en participar en elecciones y en la política nacional e internacional. Ahora se ha enfocado en las elecciones de un estado del país: la contienda para cubrir un puesto crucial que determinará el control de la Corte Suprema de Wisconsin.

Esas elecciones están previstas para el 1 de abril (la votación anticipada comienza el martes), y Musk apoya al candidato conservador Brad Schimel frente a la candidata liberal Susan Crawford. Una victoria del juez Schimel haría que el tribunal pasara del control liberal al conservador, con implicaciones potencialmente enormes para el acceso al voto, los distritos legislativos, el aborto y otras cuestiones.…  Seguir leyendo »

El Séptimo de Caballería

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Decía san Ignacio de Loyola que en tiempos de tribulaciones no era conveniente hacer mudanzas, pero en realidad sucede lo contrario; suele ser la necesidad el origen de las mudanzas, de los cambios. Es la mudanza de las circunstancias la que nos obliga a modificar nuestros comportamientos, a sustituir amistades, a probar otros trabajos, a alterar los fines iniciales y en política exterior esos cambios deben ser sustanciales, de raíz, para variar el camino, los objetivos y los aliados. El presidente Trump inició desde el principio de su segundo mandato una política zafia, de aplastamiento, primero con los adversarios, posteriormente con sus aliados, porque nadie escapa a su arbitrariedad.…  Seguir leyendo »

A protest in New York City. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

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The 1960s and 1970s saw a significant shift in the academic landscape, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. This period marked the emergence of a counter-western narrative, where third-world literatures gained prominence, and the master narratives of the West were challenged. As a result, the idea of independence, rewriting histories, and promoting democracy and freedom became increasingly important, as is evident in the student uprisings in the volatile 1960s. Students sought freedom in the classroom and university, leading to massive demonstrations against the establishment as well as against the Vietnam War. Aimé Césaire’s Discourse on Colonialism, Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, and Edward Said’s Orientalism became the seminal works introduced in the humanities curriculum.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 Summit in Hamburg in July 2017. (Evan Vucci/AP)

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President Donald Trump appears far more eager for a peace deal in Ukraine than does Russian President Vladimir Putin. That’s the obvious takeaway from Tuesday’s two-hour call between the two leaders.

Trump comes across as an avid suitor in his brief, upbeat readout of the conversation, describing the talks as “very good and productive”. Putin is more guarded in the longer Kremlin version, friendly but unyielding on his basic demands. He agreed to a 30-day pause in “attacks on energy infrastructure facilities”. Ukraine had endorsed Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire on all fronts for that period.

This wasn’t a telephonic version of Yalta, in short, despite the ballyhoo that preceded the call.…  Seguir leyendo »

Mark Carney arrives in Paris, ahead of a visit to the UK, 17 March 2025. Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock

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David Lammy thought he was reassuring Canadians. During his visit to Canada – for a meeting of G7 foreign ministers– he was asked about Donald Trump’s claims that the country should become the 51st state of the US. The UK foreign secretary stressed that Canada is a “proud [and] sovereign nation”, and – in his view – would remain so. When pressed further, he invoked Canada’s shared history and monarch with the UK, and our work together during the second world war.

Canadians are already well aware of that shared history, and how Britain has long benefited from its Commonwealth. My 96-year-old father just missed the age of enlistment in support of Britain in the 1940s but his two brothers, young boys from the Canadian prairies, lost their lives as RAF bombers.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Desde 1959 hay dictadura en la isla caribeña, desde 1979 en un país centroamericano, y desde 1999 en otro rico en petróleo, muy conocido por la colosal catarata de Canaima. En los tres casos, los regímenes actuales se han consolidado gracias a la implacable represión. Cuando tienen que enfrentar la oposición en la calle, la respuesta es inmisericorde a base de tiros, y en general, con la espada de Damocles, en el mejor de los casos, de largas penas de prisión a los manifestantes.

Los tres países han hecho de la revolución un mito redundante que hay que preservar a toda costa.…  Seguir leyendo »

NATO troops taking part in a military exercise near Galati, Romania, February 2025 Eduard Vinatoru / Reuters

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The transatlantic alliance has weathered many crises over the past 80 years, some of which seemed existential at the time. But the one now roiling the alliance feels different and much more treacherous. Unlike previous episodes of transatlantic discord, which mostly revolved around how the alliance should respond to an external threat of one kind or another, the challenge today comes from within. European leaders are asking themselves whether the United States—the alliance’s founder and steadfast champion for eight decades—is still committed to the security of Europe and the West more generally. Recent statements by U.S. President Donald Trump and his senior advisers suggest that the answer is no.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Visitting The Oval Office on March 12th, Micheal Martin, Ireland’s prime minister, was not about to risk the kind of mauling inflicted there a couple of weeks earlier by Donald Trump and his vice-president, J. D. Vance, on Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president. Rather than publicly challenging Mr Trump’s broadsides against the European Union or questioning his plan to seize Gaza and expel its Palestinian inhabitants, Mr Martin ducked or fawned. There couldn’t have been much more substance in their private meeting, which lasted just ten minutes.

It is hard to think of a time when there was a wider gulf between what Western officials really think about the American president and his policies and what they are willing to say.…  Seguir leyendo »