Mundo (Continuación)

MundoAméricaInternacionalIglesia Católica,

At the height of the potato famine, Queen Victoria of England made a state visit to Ireland. Facades were built in Dublin to prevent her from seeing the dire suffering of the people who lived along her route from ship to castle, where she was wined and dined. The wrenching issue of the famine was totally ignored.

As Pope Benedict XVI visits the United States, will he likewise be shielded from a scandal that has brought an unprecedented harvest of shame for the Roman church in America (and elsewhere)? I am speaking, of course, of the plague of clerical sexual abuse.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

I like the Chinese. Maybe I need to qualify the remark by acknowledging that I have never met China's rulers or secret policemen. What is happening in Tibet is repugnant. China is a tyranny, in which personal rights and freedoms are non-existent. Yet, having visited the country several times lately, most recently in January, I feel a goodwill towards its people that makes me unwilling to join the chorus that wants this summer's Olympics to prove a fiasco. China has suffered so much for so long - from nature, western barbarians, the Japanese, Mao Zedong - that it seems overdue for some good fortune.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica

Algunos dicen que las próximas elecciones estadounidenses se centrarán en dos temas: la guerra de Irak y la economía. En los momentos en los que la guerra parece ir mejor de lo que se esperaba y la economía peor, la segunda eclipsa a la primera. Pero ninguna de las dos cosas va bien. En cierto sentido, no hay más que un solo tema, la guerra, que ha exacerbado los problemas económicos de Estados Unidos. Y, cuando la mayor economía del mundo está enferma -y está muy enferma-, todo el mundo sufre.

Antiguamente, se pensaba que las guerras eran buenas para la economía.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

¿Están condenados los tibetanos a sufrir la misma suerte que los indios estadounidenses? ¿Acabarán siendo poco más que una atracción turística, vendiendo recuerdos baratos de una cultura que alguna vez fue grande? Ese triste destino parece cada vez más probable y el año olímpico ya se ha visto opacado por los esfuerzos del Gobierno chino para reprimir la oposición a que llegue.

El destino de Tíbet no es simplemente cuestión de la opresión semicolonial. A menudo se olvida que muchos tibetanos, especialmente las personas educadas de las ciudades grandes, estaban tan ansiosos de modernizar su sociedad a mediados del siglo XX que vieron a los chinos comunistas como sus aliados en la lucha contra el gobierno de los monjes y los terratenientes.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

When Gen. David Petraeus came to The Post on Friday, he had already answered hundreds of questions in two days of hearings before the House and Senate about his assignment as commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

But he had not really responded to the comments that Sen. Richard Lugar made at the start of the Foreign Relations Committee hearings with the general and Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

The Indiana Republican, one of the real wise men of foreign policy and an ally of the Bush administration, had distilled the committee's previous week of testimony from experts on the Middle East into five "premises" that he said should guide discussions on future U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaInternacionalIglesia Católica

Mindless dogmatism is not part of the Catholic intellectual tradition. As stewards of that tradition, Catholic colleges and universities engage in the robust "dialogue of faith and reason" that the church expects of us, exploring the complex mysteries of God, the profound meaning of human life, the social-justice imperatives of the Gospel.

Critics of Catholic higher education, however, seem to expect us to be submissive disciples of some lesser religion, obedient to a doctrinaire laundry list of "Thou Shalt Nots" -- e.g., "Thou Shalt Not" stage a play about women's body parts ("The Vagina Monologues"), allow gay students to form clubs or allow speakers whose political views diverge from church teachings.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

For many Tibetans, the case for the historical independence of their land is unequivocal. They assert that Tibet has always been and by rights now ought to be an independent country. China’s assertions are equally unequivocal: Tibet became a part of China during Mongol rule and its status as a part of China has never changed. Both of these assertions are at odds with Tibet’s history.

The Tibetan view holds that Tibet was never subject to foreign rule after it emerged in the mid-seventh century as a dynamic power holding sway over an Inner Asian empire. These Tibetans say the appearance of subjugation to the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries, and to the Manchu rulers of China’s Qing Dynasty from the 18th century until the 20th century, is due to a modern, largely Western misunderstanding of the personal relations among the Yuan and Qing emperors and the pre-eminent lamas of Tibet.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Many sympathetic Westerners view Chinese society along the lines of what they saw in the waning days of the Soviet Union: a repressive government backed by old hard-liners losing its grip to a new generation of well-educated, liberal-leaning sophisticates. As pleasant as this outlook may be, it’s naïve. Educated young Chinese, far from being embarrassed or upset by their government’s human-rights record, rank among the most patriotic, establishment-supporting people you’ll meet.

As is clear to anyone who lives here, most young ethnic Chinese strongly support their government’s suppression of the recent Tibetan uprising. One Chinese friend who has a degree from a European university described the conflict to me as “a clash between the commercial world and an old aboriginal society.”…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

On March 6, Southwest Airlines is hit with a $10.2 million fine for neglecting to perform fatigue crack inspections on its Boeing 737s. Days later, American and Delta remove dozens of MD-80 jets from service for wiring modifications. United Airlines follows with a two-day grounding of its Boeing 777s. And last week, in the industry’s largest-ever grounding, American Airlines again pulls its MD-80s out of service and cancels some 2,000 flights. The traveling public is confused, frightened and perhaps angry.

While all of this unfolds, the Federal Aviation Administration becomes the target of intense scrutiny. Critics point to the agency’s conflicted role as both a promoter and regulator of commercial aviation.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

The failure of diplomacy to stop Iran’s nuclear program became obvious this week, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed the installation of 6,000 new centrifuges at the country’s main uranium enrichment complex. His announcement was accompanied by the now customary assertion that outsiders can do nothing to stop Iran from fulfilling its nuclear destiny.

Once, not so long ago, this kind of boast would elicit clear American declarations that Iran would never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Everything, President Bush would say ominously, is on the table. This time he has been quiet. I wish I believed that it is the quiet before a storm of laser-guided action.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

There is never any shortage of public relations advisers willing to take on unpromising clients, especially those with deep pockets. Reports that the Chinese government has called for bids from foreign PR companies indicate that Beijing, at some level, understands that its own attempts to mould world opinion have tanked. But if the exercise is to have any success, the client does, occasionally, need to take the advice. It would not be an easy account to manage.

On the day that the Olympic torch - or, as Beijing calls it, "the sacred flame" - went into hiding in a San Francisco warehouse, Beijing's second in command in Tibet, Qiangba Puncog, held a press conference.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica

América Latina está viviendo una etapa peligrosa de confusión. Confusión caracterizada -después de las dictaduras históricas y a la hora de la elevación inusitada de los precios de las materias primas- por la aparición de una serie de lenguajes superpuestos, con un falso análisis, que están generando nuevas oligarquías económicas y políticas desde un populismo soez: el populismo de la chequera.

El más caracterizado de esos lenguajes es del bolivarismo. Se utiliza y usa sin el menor rigor -también como la chequera de la instantaneidad-, es decir, con una grave impunidad. Simón Bolívar es, biográficamente, la historia de una clase dominante.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica

Es muy probable que algunos lectores despistados, al toparse con una de las noticias más extrañas que en los últimos días han recorrido el mundo, hayan pensado que se trataba de un error o incluso que estaban leyendo un periódico viejo.

La confirmación de que los ciudadanos cubanos residentes en Cuba (esto es muy relevante) al fin podrán contratar libre y personalmente sus líneas de teléfonos móviles, adquirir ordenadores, hornos microondas y reproductores de DVD en las tiendas que operan con divisas dentro de la isla, y hasta tener el derecho a alojarse en hoteles de primera categoría y alquilar coches con la única condición de que tengan suficiente moneda dura para pagarse el lujo, ha provocado un justificado asombro entre los menos enterados y una sonrisa irónica a los más conocedores de la realidad, tan difícil de decodificar, de este país del Caribe.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica,

It is one measure of American influence that a meeting at the White House can affect the traffic in Lusaka.

About a year and a half after the 2002 Oval Office policy session in which the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) -- the largest effort in history to fight a single disease -- was outlined in a black briefing book, Dr. Jeffrey Stringer received a call from an American embassy official. Stringer, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, was asked if he could put 1,000 people on AIDS treatment within two months -- a nearly impossible task.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

On Tuesday Iran announced it was installing 6,000 more centrifuges -- they produce enriched uranium, the key ingredient of a nuclear weapon -- in addition to the 3,000 already operating. The world yawned.

It is time to admit the truth: The Bush administration's attempt to halt Iran's nuclear program has failed. Utterly. The latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions, which took a year to achieve, is comically weak. It represents the end of the sanctions road.

At home, the president's efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program were irreparably undermined by November's National Intelligence Estimate, whose "moderate confidence" that Iran has not restarted nuclear weaponization -- the least important of three elements of any nuclear program -- has promoted the illusion that Iran has given up the pursuit of nuclear weapons.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente PróximoEuropaUnión Europea, , ,

When Tony Blair intervened to get the Serious Fraud Office investigation into BAE's alleged corruption in Saudi Arabia stopped on grounds of national security, few people believed a legal challenge could succeed. When it comes to protecting the lives and security of the nation, the courts allow the executive "an especially wide margin of discretion", noted the judges in this case. Yesterday's judgment that the SFO director acted unlawfully in dropping the inquiry is therefore a major blow to the government - and its ability to sweep controversial issues under the carpet.

The ruling has seriously constrained the government's ability to invoke national security without scrutiny.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker reported to Congress this week on the state of affairs in Iraq. Below is an excerpt from Crocker's testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Looking ahead, Mr. Chairman, almost everything about Iraq is hard. It will continue to be hard as Iraqis struggle with the damage and trauma inflicted by 35 years of totalitarian Baathist rule.

But hard does not mean hopeless, and the political and economic progress of the past few months is significant. These gains are fragile, however, and they are reversible.

Americans have invested a great deal in Iraq in blood, as well as treasure, and they have the right to ask whether this is worth it, whether it is now time to walk away and let the Iraqis fend for themselves.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Nepalis will vote today for the first time since a democratic uprising in 2006 that rejected King Gyanendra Shah’s absolute rule and led to a peace deal that ended a 10-year Maoist insurgency. This is not an ordinary election. We will be voting for a 601-member constituent assembly that will draft a new constitution that most likely will abolish the monarchy and will certainly restructure Nepal.

It is compelling, and moving, to live through the remaking of one’s nation.

Still, Katmandu has grown hushed and watchful, and anxious, as Election Day has neared. In previous weeks, the political parties staged rallies, canvassed door to door, and filled the streets with scratchy loudspeaker announcements imploring us to vote.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

The radical tide sweeping Latin America is moving into the obscurer creeks and backwaters of the continent. The isolated and unnoticed country of Paraguay is about to elect a red bishop as president, bringing to an end the rule of the Colorado party and its six decades of dictatorship and corruption. Fernando Lugo, the bishop of the northern town of San Pedro, is well ahead in the opinion polls and should remain so on polling day, April 20. He abandoned the priesthood last year, at 57, to forge a progressive opposition movement - the Patriotic Alliance for Change.

The Colorado party has been in power since a brief civil war in 1948, while the Liberal party and assorted groupings further to the left have been in permanent opposition, active only in prison or in exile.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Cuando el Comité Olímpico Internacional adjudicó a Pekín los Juegos Olímpicos del 2008 en julio del 2001, el anuncio desató celebraciones eufóricas en todo el país. El Partido Comunista Chino esperaba usar los Juegos para exhibir el surgimiento del país como una nación dinámica y moderna. Pero cuando los líderes de China culminen los preparativos finales para los Juegos, el próximo agosto, tal vez se pregunten si ser sede de este acontecimiento fue una idea tan buena después de todo. Tienen razones importantes para albergar dudas.

Los altos líderes de China siempre controlan de cerca las expresiones públicas espontáneas de fervor nacionalista, temerosos de que los vientos cambiantes puedan desatar una tormenta inoportuna en su dirección.…  Seguir leyendo »