The trial of a neonazi group set to start today in Munich threatens to turn into a trial of the Chancellor Merkel’s government itself. During a ten years long raid the so-called National Socialist Underground assassinated ten people (mostly Turkish immigrants) without being investigated by the German police in spite of a number of clues […]
April 7, 2013
Maybe a UN treaty will be as ineffective as a Vatican homily to curb arms sales. But, even in a symbolic way it is good news; or is it?
March 19, 2013
So, you wonder what kind of Pope will my fellow countryman Jorge Bergoglio (aka Francis) be? In two words: a very, very political one. Unlike his predecessor Ratzinger, this is not a man of cabinets but a man of the streets. He was the typical regular boy raised in the typical lower-medium class neighborhood […]
November 11, 2012
Obama’s re-election seems to mark a turning point in American politics. A new coalition of empowered minorities (Latinos, blacks, gays and others usually regarded as “liberal-oriented”) defeated the old “white-anglo-man” dominance epitomized by the Tea Party conservatives. “No U.S. presidential candidate in coming years will be able to turn his back on Hispanics” writes […]
November 1, 2012
OK, people. Cast your vote for all of us in the Rest of the World and enjoy the next four years! (We are comfy this way, while you don’t pay too much attention to us, here down south).
October 23, 2012
A specter is haunting Europe -the specter of regional nationalism. Be it in Scotland, Catalonia, the Basque country, Flanders or Padana (north of Italy), regional nationalism aroused with the unending crisis. But unlike the old popular nationalism of the XIX century, when lesser people were oppressed by great empires, kept in poverty and their languages forbidden, […]
June 6, 2012
I was never a fan of Bradbury. But I had to recall his compelling metaphor in Fahrenheit 451 last April, when a turmoil aroused in Argentina following a sudden restriction on imported books and magazines. While the government probably was trying to save some bucks imposing controls on the tons of non-sold magazines regularly shipped […]
May 28, 2012
Illustration for an article (in Spanish) about the latest gimmick of the armies and security forces in the first world: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) better known as” drones “. The article was largely based on others published by The New Yorker (membership needed) and The New York Times. Journalism talked a lot of drones (such […]
March 1, 2012
The new front-runner couple of Republican would-be candidates to the Presidency of the United States proclaimed their support of the “Arizona model” for immigration policy. Which is no other than a police managed policy. As the Oppenheimer article points out, the “model” might be applied beyond its primary target (Latino working-class immigrants) all the way […]
February 1, 2012
This cartoon was intended for the Spanish translation of this article. While the original purpose was to discuss the respective positions on the immigration issue, maybe somebody can find it adequate for the present situation in the Republican party at large.
January 22, 2012
A couple of months ago I quoted Prof. Harold Bloom’s Omens of millennium, from 1996. In the Prologue of the book, Prof. Bloom advanced his vision of what a United States governed by Gingrich could become, and the reaction (much like the OWS movement) that may result. By that time, the then Speaker of the House was the rising star of the Conservatives and seemed unstoppable. As […]
December 18, 2011
The death of Hitchens stirred a handful of pro and con commentaries, which suits well the style of his own interventions in political and cultural matters. Two of his traits seem to gather coincidence: the quality of his English writing (which I’m not able to judge) and the integrity of his adherence to his atheism […]
October 25, 2011
Argentina’s incumbent President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner re-election by a landslide 54,4% sends a message to other politicians: “bail the people instead of the banks; in the end, it pays better on the ballots”. This is a message that the Big Media aren’t eager to spread, but the whisper has started to jump over the […]
October 19, 2011
What would be Steve Jobs’ fate after dropping from college in other time or place? I’m not trying to diminish Jobs’ personality ignoring his strong character, ingenuity, creativity or any other of his virtues abundantly praised after his death. Not even I’m trying to conceal his Darwinian adaptation to the capitalistic wild rules: kill or […]
September 20, 2011
Joseph Nye’s notion of “soft power” as a complement to military “hard power” has brought confidence to American strategists in their ability to attract and influence the best intelligences of the world. Now, after a decade of focusing in the “war on terror” and its disastrous economic and social showing, it’s time to take notice […]
May 6, 2013
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