Browsing All Posts filed under »crisis«

E.U. and Mercosur hardships

March 6, 2016

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Illustration for a leading article (in Spanish) about the present state of the two blocks. While the South American one (Argentina’s Macri and Brazil’s Rousseff in the bottom line) try to overcome falling prices of commodities that are their main exports, they don’t look at their European counterpart as a model. The European Union has […]

Thank you Mr. Carter

August 22, 2015

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The news regarding James Carter’s health seems to show his politeness right to the end, giving the journalists the chance to arrange his obituary in advance. Republicans as well as a good chunk of the press indulge themselves in naming his term in office as the worst they can remember. As usual, they choose to […]

Marx return from the future

July 22, 2015

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Yanis Varoufakis recounts how the “repugnant” european crisis drove him to become an “erratic marxist”. At a time when neoliberals have ensnared the majority in their theoretical tentacles, regurgitating incessantly the ideology of enhancing labour productivity in an effort to enhance competitiveness with a view to creating ‘growth’ etc., Marx’s analysis offers a powerful antidote. […]

Judge Griesa & the Vultures

December 24, 2012

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  No, not a bad-test-named band of the Sixties, but a bad-test reality of the financial way of keeping nations under the yoke. When Judge Thomas Griesa (an octogenarian appointed by Nixon in ’71) decided to block Argentina’s payments of its restructured debt in behalf of the “vulture funds” (demanding full payment of bonds they […]

Romney, Obama “ready to rumble”

November 1, 2012

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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).

Will Spain melt in the air?

October 23, 2012

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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, […]

Rajoy tightens Spain’s belt

July 23, 2012

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This is funny (sort of): Socialist opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba accused the government of acting as a puppet to Brussels with so much belt-tightening at a time when so many people in Spain are out of work. Who would believe that Perez Rubalcaba was the government a few months ago and walked in the […]

The lasting influence of Schopenhauer

July 4, 2012

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In times when life is easy, the economy looks buoyant and the future seems to be rosy, the media use to spread the work of thinkers confident in the power of reason and spiritual values. On the contrary, in times of crisis, when politicians and economists turn to be cynical and show their lack of […]

Bradbury’s nightmare revisited

June 6, 2012

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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 […]

Haarde avoids hanging

April 24, 2012

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Former Icelandic Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, can breathe at last. The court found him guilty of a minor charge while clearing him from others that could have mean up to two years in jail. So, the judges lost the chance to send a strong message to the world: business should be subservient to people and […]

USA, Latin America and the End of Globalization

December 22, 2011

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Two decades ago, when the Soviet Union imploded, the prevalent opinion in the press as well as in the Academy, was that time had arrived for a unified or “globalized” world. In tune with this spirit, a series of “global” forums and institutions turned to become a regular feature. Some of them (like the World […]

Obama heads on to the Pacific exit door

November 25, 2011

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As the events in the East side of the Atlantic show no sign of recovery from the crisis in the short-term, Obama recalls his Hawaiian roots and  a rediscovered Pacific vocation. So, he gathered some of the countries with shores in the great ocean for a conference in his natal island, and then started the usual “good […]

The Hope is gone, but OWS is coming

November 17, 2011

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When I was asked to illustrate an article about the problems faced by Obama that render him overwhelmed I couldn’t help it but remembered the Time magazine’s cover that shocked me out back in 1978: A few days later, as I started reading a longtime procrastinated book by Harold Bloom (Omen of Millennium, translated into […]

#Argentinesuccess concealed by Wall Street

October 25, 2011

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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 […]

Jobs’ jobs without Apple

October 19, 2011

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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 […]