The Washington Post (Continuación)

MundoÁfrica, ,

On Thursday, after about four months of continuous protests, the Sudanese people achieved the seemingly improbable. They brought down one of the world’s most corrupt and inhumane military dictators — peacefully.

This momentous event, which can only be described as a revolution, would not have been possible if Sudan’s youth had not dared to dream of freedom and to persist in that dream. Theirs is a revolution born of great pain and frustration, but also increasingly fueled by witty humor, joy and a stubbornness that insists on the celebration of life and Sudan’s diversity, in conscious and dramatic contrast to the violence and inhumanity of the regime of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

India’s national elections kicked off on April 11 – 900 million voters in the largest election in history are eligible to vote in polls that span the next six weeks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the right-wing, Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the current coalition government, appears the likely winner, according to the polls, though several outcomes remain possible. BJP will have to duplicate its highly efficient geographic concentration of votes in northern India, or succeed in their eastward push.

Indian National Congress (Congress), BJP’s primary opposition, is led by Rahul Gandhi. His family has controlled India’s party of independence for four generations.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate

The endless turmoil of Brexit and its parade of missed deadlines were once again in the news this week, as E.U. leaders granted the U.K. yet another extension, until Oct. 31. Here’s one unexpected and less obvious outcome of the long Brexit saga: The European Union has gotten stronger.

After the jolt of the U.K. vote in June 2016 to leave the European Union, pundits and scholars alike predicted that the Leave vote might be the first wave of potential exits — Frexit, Nexit, Italexit, Grexit — and a likely death knell for the E.U’.s fragile experiment in governance.

Many analysts saw the Leave voters’ pushback against the E.U.’s…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea,

This week, Britain has once again tuned in to the confusion and monotony that characterize the Brexit negotiations — a process that seems to update daily, yet never results in actual change. While it remains unclear how the relentless political stalemate will end, Britain will not crash out of the European Union without a deal on Friday after E.U. leaders offered to extend Brexit until Oct. 31.

A pause, however temporary, to the threat of a no-deal Brexit is good news for the British economy. As we crawl back from the cliff’s edge, business leaders and trade unions will breathe a collective sigh of relief.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea,

The big day was March 29. Then it was April 12. And now Europe’s powers have decreed that Britain has until Oct. 31 to decide how — or indeed whether — it would like to leave the European Union. At this rate, you may be thinking, Britain is never really going to quit. Unfortunately, the odds of a hard-line Brexit are probably increasing.

The immediate consequence of the E.U.’s announcement is that Britain’s Parliament gets more time to decide what sort of Brexit it favors. But the logic that has blocked a deal so far has not been magically altered. On one side, the supposedly governing Conservative Party cannot unite behind an exit formula that would satisfy Europe’s determination to safeguard peace in Ireland.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, ,

There was always a surreal edge to Julian Assange’s long sojourn in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London — a Monty Python-esque oddity to having a figure so strange, so central to so many of the rich world’s most urgent debates, camping out in an embassy belonging to a distant developing country he had never actually set foot in. In the person of Assange, the domestic politics of a distant corner of South America collided with big-time geopolitics and various U.S. neuroses in a way neither side seemed quite prepared to handle.

After he skipped on his bail back in 2012, Assange seemed to be looking for a few different things.…  Seguir leyendo »

Libyan fighters loyal to the government run during clashes with forces loyal to Khalifa Hifter south of Tripoli's suburb of Ain Zara on Wednesday. (Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoÁfrica,

Libya is a week into its third civil war since 2011. The trigger was an attempt by Khalifa Hifter, the warlord who controls eastern Libya, to seize the capital, Tripoli — and power — by force. Since he formed his own army command in the east in 2014, Hifter had grown stronger over the years with the help of foreign support. Now, he apparently believed he was strong enough to break off ongoing negotiations over the formation of an interim government and create new facts on the ground by force.

Hifter’s initial plan was to get a small force into Tripoli before his opponents could react, prompting some local armed groups and security officials to defect to him.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso,

Thirty years ago today, the dying Soviet empire lashed out at the people of Georgia. April 9, 1989, launched our country on its path to independence, freedom and democracy.

I was a teenager attending Public School No. 1, on the central avenue in my hometown of Tbilisi. The school stood just a short distance from the spot from where, on that fateful spring day, Soviet troops assaulted my countrymen in an attempt to crush our thirst for freedom. Thousands of people — some of them on hunger strikes — gathered spontaneously to demand independence from Russian rule. Moscow dispatched Soviet troops under the command of Russian general Igor Rodionov to stop it.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa,

The Turkish opposition had a historic night March 31, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party surprisingly failed to win the mayoral races in Ankara, the capital, and Istanbul, the financial capital. Exactly 25 years ago, Erdogan became Istanbul’s mayor — and the parties he supported hadn’t lost either city since.

But will Erdogan accept the results? It’s unclear. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is still pushing for a ballot recount — even asking for new elections in three months in various districts. However, the election night performance of the opposition candidates in these two major cities was enough to create a huge hope among opposition supporters for the future of Turkish democracy, which collapsed two years ago.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Thailand’s March 24 elections produced a few surprises — including the success of a new party, the Future Forward Party (FFP). FFP is a left-of-center, liberal democratic party, arguably the first in the country’s recent history. The party has a strong commitment to democracy, and promised to reform the military-backed constitution and reduce the budget of the armed forces.

A young and charismatic billionaire named Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit is the FFP leader. But in the wake of the election, Thailand’s ruling military junta charged Thanathorn with sedition and other offenses related to his alleged support of anti-junta activists in 2015. The case dates to a period when military courts heard cases related to civilians, so Thanathorn is likely to face a military tribunal.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica

A tide of demonstrators marched onto the headquarters of the Sudanese military in Khartoum on Saturday, to celebrate the 100th day of the protest movement and demand an end to the regime of President Omar al-Bashir. From a high floor of the ground forces’ building, a soldier filmed a dense crowd of people along the airport road as far as the eye could see. After months of scattered demonstrations, the large turnout marked a sharp escalation of the mobilization.

News that a few soldiers had joined demonstrators enthused activists, while one colonel, Hamid Othman Hamid, chanted, “the people want the downfall of the regime”.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica

On April 2, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned after 20 years in power, becoming the fifth Arab autocrat to fall to a popular uprising since 2011. As in Egypt and Tunisia, Bouteflika’s fall was precipitated by a defection from the military. Hours before his resignation, the army chief of staff, Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah, announced that he was siding with the Algerian people and called for Bouteflika’s immediate removal from office.

At first glance, the Algerian military’s decision to abandon Bouteflika is surprising. The military had been a center of power under Bouteflika’s tenure, “ruling but not governing” day to day, to use Steven Cook’s phrase.…  Seguir leyendo »

Indigenous activist Rosalina Tuyuc leaves photographs of victims of Guatemala's civil war outside the Congress in Guatemala City on March 13. (Esteban Biba/ EPA-EFE)

MundoAmérica,

As a society, we have agreed that some crimes are so horrific that they belong in a separate category. These are acts in which the perpetrators victimize not only their immediate target but all of us — which is why we label them “crimes against humanity.”

And that’s why the effort by hard-right politicians in Guatemala to free war criminals from prison is a matter that concerns everyone.

Not many outsiders realize that a genocide unfolded in Guatemala, less than a thousand miles from U.S. shores. The killing took place during the Cold War and after it, from 1960 until 1996, when the parties signed a peace accord and agreed to the National Reconciliation Law.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa,

We had to wait awhile to be sure, but now it is clear: The ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a defeat in Turkey’s key cities in the local elections that took place this past weekend.

There was a time when Erdogan — whether you liked him or not — represented change. He stood for a forward-looking vision for the country, suggesting that he could navigate the most pressing challenges, from the Kurdish issue to corruption to economic mismanagement, and he did. The people loved him for this reason and supported him at the ballot box.

No longer. Erdogan has lost his magic touch.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica,

Since protests first erupted in Algeria on Feb. 22, a tornado of hope, solidarity and collective mobilization has swept through the country. Words can barely capture the excitement and euphoria felt by many Algerians, from the young protesters who took to the street in droves to the older citizens who hardly dared hope they would see this day. Across the country, millions bravely chose to express their deep discontent toward the “pouvoir,” or the power. The initial demand for the resignation of the aging, ill and absent president Abdelaziz Bouteflika after his 20 years in power was the catalyst for voicing many more legitimate grievances long kept silent.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesDemocracia

Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg welcomed government regulation of content on the Internet in several areas, including “election integrity.” Around the world, there are increasing concerns that “fake news” threatens democracy.

Our recent research supports this view — democracy is less likely to survive in a poor informational environment. Our book shows that when voters are poorly informed, enough voters are more likely to make mistakes at the polls. This leads to the election of incompetent — and perhaps corrupt or self-dealing — governments.

Here’s why this matters: Such outcomes at the polls lower public confidence in democracy and generate support for emergent anti-democratic forces.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea,

At every fateful historical turning point — every time a bad decision is taken or a wrong choice is made — there is always someone who tries to stop it, someone who predicts the consequences, someone who proposes an alternative plan. Cicero tried to halt the fall of the Roman Republic; Churchill opposed appeasement. And there are less mythical, more recent examples, too: Before the invasion of Iraq, the State Department conducted a massive study of the country, foreseeing many of the problems, making many proposals for a post-Saddam Hussein regime — all of which were ignored by the Pentagon after the invasion in 2003.…  Seguir leyendo »

Waves crash against power-generating windmill turbines during a windy day in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

InternacionalEconomía

Where do you get your energy — and where will you get it in the future? This week, the World Economic Forum (WEF) helped answer those strategically urgent questions when it released a study on major transformations in the world’s energy systems. Electric grids are decentralizing; people worldwide are consuming energy differently than in the past; and governments are trying to slow climate change. Which countries are doing the most to deliver an “energy transition,” as this messy revolution is known?

Here’s what the report does, along with its major insights.

The WEF is trying to measure the transition

Since 2013, the WEF has been issuing these reports and measuring, in different ways, the “energy transition index.”…  Seguir leyendo »

A woman walks past flowers and tributes displayed in memory of those who died in a mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, last month. (Sanka Vidanagama/AFP)

InternacionalTerrorismo Internacional

The March 15 terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, triggered a debate about the terrorist threat from the far right in Western democracies. Two competing narratives leave the public with mixed signals.

On the one hand, right-wing terrorism is often portrayed as marginal compared to Islamist terrorism. This is also reflected in terrorism research, which, since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has mainly been preoccupied with Islamist terrorism. This one-sided focus on Islamist terrorism may have kept the public unaware of the fact that in most Western democracies, the number of deadly attacks motivated by far-right beliefs is considerably higher than those motivated by Islamism, including in the United States.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

Last week, the Mongolian parliament stunned pro-democracy advocates when it voted to remove the safeguards protecting the independence of its courts and its anti-corruption agency. In doing so, the parliament helped further President Khaltmaa Battulga’s ongoing attempt to consolidate power. The action follows months of scandal and protests, which facilitated the support Battulga needed for this week’s vote.

Many observers have considered Mongolia an unlikely “oasis of democracy” since it left the Soviet Union’s orbit in 1990. Now it’s the latest nascent democracy to begin sliding toward authoritarian rule. Before last week, Mongolian laws insulated judges from political pressure. Parliament appointed the head of the Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC), and the president appointed the prosecutor general.…  Seguir leyendo »