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23/09/2023 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Latin America remains a playground for Russian intelligence. The region is a good spot to nurture spies
Over the past 18 months suspected Russian spies have been unearthed in Europe, from the Netherlands to Norway and Sweden to Slovenia. Many have something in common: a link to the Americas. The arrests show that Latin America remains, as it was in the cold war, a springboard for Russian spies who go on to snoop around the United States and Europe.
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06/09/2022 | Frente Externo
Argentina - Who is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner?
Argentina’s divisive vice-president is embroiled in a corruption trial and an assassination attempt.
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17/09/2020 | Frente Externo
US - The boomers’ last stand: Younger Americans feel their voting weight
After years of elder-power, a new generation may well decide the election.
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15/09/2020 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
US - Another whistle blown: An ex-Homeland Security official alleges politics shaped intelligence
He says he was told to play down threats from Russia and white supremacists.
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18/08/2020 | Sociedad
Opinion - The absent student: Covid-19 will be painful for universities, but also bring change
They need to rethink how and what they teach.
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05/07/2020 | Economia y Finanzas
Schumpeter - How Chesapeake Energy changed the world
In times like these, business needs a bit of hubris.
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01/06/2020 | Frente Externo
China and Hong Kong - Rule by fear: China’s national-security bill for Hong Kong is an attempt to terrify
It could turn the territory into a Sino-American battleground.
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30/05/2020 | Frente Externo
Dragon strike - China has launched rule by fear in Hong Kong. The rest of the world should worry, too
The people of Hong Kong want two things: to choose how they are governed, and to be subject to the rule of law. The Chinese Communist Party finds both ideas so frightening that many expected it to send troops to crush last year’s vast protests in Hong Kong. Instead, it bided its time.
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15/05/2020 | Frente Externo
Europe - Northern fights: NATO is facing up to Russia in the Arctic Circle
An exercise in the Barents Sea signals that big-power rivalry covers every ocean.
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26/04/2020 | Economia y Finanzas
How deep will downturns in rich countries be?
Those in central and southern Europe seem most vulnerable
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14/04/2020 | Economia y Finanzas
How sick might banks get?
They have entered this crisis in better health than the previous one
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04/04/2020 | En Profundidad
The hard choices covid policymakers face
Epidemiological models are among their only guides
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24/03/2020 | Economia y Finanzas
Closed by covid-19 -Paying to stop the pandemic
The struggle to save lives and the economy is likely to present agonising choices
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19/01/2020 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina’s new government gets to grips with the economy
The Peronists are fuzzy about their long-term plans.
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23/08/2019 | Frente Externo
Argentina’s crisis shows the limits of technocracy
What went wrong for Mauricio Macri.
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22/08/2019 | Transparencia
A dam mess - A secret hydropower deal with Brazil causes a political crisis in Paraguay
Brazil - Sao Paulo: The stage is set for a new Itaipu dam agreement between the two countries.
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20/08/2019 | High Tech
Fooling Big Brother - As face-recognition technology spreads, so do ideas for subverting it
They work because machine vision and human vision are different.
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21/07/2019 | En Parrilla
Opinion - The global crisis in conservatism
Today’s right is not an evolution of conservatism, but a repudiation of it.
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04/02/2019 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
A deal to end the insurgency in Afghanistan would be wonderful
As long as it is not a figleaf to cover an American retreat
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13/01/2019 | Frente Externo
Belarus’s leader upsets Vladimir Putin by cosying up to the West
Russia is hinting at a political takeover
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26/12/2018 | Frente Externo
The inner workings of Vladimir Putin’s state
A set of illicit recordings reveal the fall of Alexander Shestun
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24/12/2018 | Frente Externo
It will be a turbulent year for the EU
The contest between an old establishment and new challengers will define European politics in 2019
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04/10/2018 | Economia y Finanzas
China has designs on Europe. Here is how Europe should respond
As Chinese investment pours into the European Union, the Europeans are beginning to worry.
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13/08/2018 | Frente Externo
USA- Many American states are making voting harder
It should be easy
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12/08/2018 | Medio Ambiente
Why oil firms should worry more about climate change
Many are using an overly high oil price and possibly overvaluing assets
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07/08/2018 | En Profundidad
If China made the rules : Xi’s world order: July 2024
As America defies and dismantles the international rules-based order, a report from the future imagines what might replace it
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03/08/2018 | Frente Externo
Donald Trump versus Charles Koch
The president lays into one of the Republican Party’s biggest donors
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28/07/2018 | En Parrilla
How badly are sanctions hurting North Korea’s Kim Jong Un?
Not as much as people think
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25/07/2018 | En Parrilla
The idea of Eurasia is once again the subject of geopolitics
The emerging order is one that Marco Polo would recognise.
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23/07/2018 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Security in Africa - To Sahel and back: Jihad’s new base
There has been no “mission accomplished” moment celebrating the defeat of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.But the American and other allied troops who helped crush Islamic State are quietly heading home, and their generals are packing away their counter-insurgency field manuals.
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23/07/2018 | En Profundidad
Capitalism needs a welfare state to survive
But welfare must be reformed to cope with ageing and immigration.
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21/07/2018 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Republicans’ defensiveness about Russian hacking is revealing
It is impossible to know whether the GRU swung the 2016 election, and therefore impossible to say categorically that it did not
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01/07/2018 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
How a victorious Bashar al-Assad is changing Syria
Sunnis have been pushed out by the war. The new Syria is smaller, in ruins and more sectarian
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12/06/2018 | Frente Externo
Donald Trump lobs a grenade from afar into the G7
The risks of a trade war were already high. This will not help
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26/04/2018 | Economia y Finanzas
The humbling of India’s tycoons
The nature of Indian capitalism is changing. Long may it last
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22/04/2018 | En Profundidad
The West’s bombing of Syria meets some approval from Muslims
ON THE streets of west European cities, secular leftists, politically active Muslims and radically minded Christians (a rarefied constituency, but they do exist) have often found themselves marching and chanting together.
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10/04/2018 | Economia y Finanzas
A trade war between America and China takes shape
The two countries threaten to descend into a sequence of tit-for-tat retaliations
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24/03/2018 | Frente Externo
Gorbachev’s grandchildren - A new generation is rising in Russia
Vladimir Putin’s election victory does not mean that there is no hope
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20/03/2018 | Frente Externo
A fourth term for Russia’s perpetual president
Not so hard when the main opponent is barred
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04/03/2018 | En Profundidad
How the West got China wrong
It bet that China would head towards democracy and the market economy. The gamble has failed
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03/02/2018 | Frente Externo
Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno tries to bury the legacy of his predecessor
A referendum is designed to stop Rafael Correa from making a comeback
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11/12/2017 | Frente Externo
India’s elections still revolve around caste
But a vote in the state of Gujarat is undermining the ruling party’s reputation as the master of caste politics
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11/12/2017 | Transparencia
The West is letting Ukraine lose its battle against corruption
Local graft and foreign indifference are betraying the promise of the Maidan revolution
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11/12/2017 | Transparencia
The choice that could save South Africa, or wreck it
To avoid a dire, two-decade dynasty of dysfunction, South Africa’s ruling ANC should ditch the Zumas
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02/12/2017 | En Parrilla
Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to the FBI over Russia contacts
And he says he is co-operating with investigators
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17/11/2017 | Medio Ambiente
What they don’t tell you about climate change
Stopping the flow of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is not enough. It has to be sucked out, too
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16/11/2017 | Frente Externo
The army sidelines Robert Mugabe, Africa’s great dictator
The world should learn from his misrule, and help Zimbabwe recover from it
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07/11/2017 | Economia y Finanzas
As the global economy picks up, inflation is oddly quiescent
But central banks are beginning to raise interest rates anyway
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01/11/2017 | En Parrilla
Why hasn’t Bosnia and Herzegovina collapsed?
Rumours of its demise are greatly exaggerated
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28/10/2017 | Frente Externo
Russia under Vladimir Putin -A tsar is born
As the world marks the centenary of the October Revolution, Russia is once again under the rule of the tsar.
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26/10/2017 | En Parrilla
The half-million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh will not leave soon
In fact, more keep arriving
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05/10/2017 | Frente Externo
If Britain Became Singapore-On-Thames- The battle beyond Brexit
After crashing out of the European Union, Britain tries an alternative economic model. The experiment is proving painful
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26/09/2017 | Frente Externo
Why the referendum on Catalan independence is illegal
The decision over the future of Catalonia will ultimately be little more than an unofficial consultation
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09/09/2017 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
North Korea’s nuclear test has left the South wanting nukes too
It may settle for more powerful conventional arms instead
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20/08/2017 | Frente Externo
Donald Trump blusters, Latin America shrugs
Vice-President Mike Pence discovers that an “America First” foreign policy has costs
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19/08/2017 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Islamist terrorism in Catalonia leaves the Spanish wondering why
Two attacks kill 14 and wound over 100, but the reasons are murky
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14/08/2017 | Frente Externo
How Germany responds to ''blood and soil'' politics
What zero tolerance of neo-Nazi ideology looks like
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01/08/2017 | Economia y Finanzas
Making Bitcoin work better
A compromise over the currency’s future may not last
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22/07/2017 | Frente Externo
Seventy years of Indo-Pakistani enmity
Unhappy together, unhappy apart
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20/07/2017 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
A new drug of choice in the Gulf
A dangerous arrival in a dangerous region
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15/07/2017 | Transparencia
The conviction of Lula and the future of Brazil’s political purge
Why the Lava Jato corruption investigations must continue
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09/07/2017 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Enemies wanted -The Brazilian army is turning into a de facto police force
Its plodding infantry are ill-suited to repel threats to natural resources
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07/07/2017 | Economia y Finanzas
Why Germany’s current-account surplus is bad for the world economy
The country saves too much and spends too little
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12/06/2017 | Frente Externo
British voters defy the polls in a dreadful night for the Tories
The fallout could include the end of Theresa May, a new election and even the reopening of the Brexit decision.
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10/06/2017 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Terror and the internet - Tech firms could do more to help stop the jihadists
But legal restrictions must be proportionate and thought through
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13/05/2017 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Drug war policies - Jeff Sessions orders tougher drug crime charges
The Trump administration is taking a harder line on drugs. Research shows that is the wrong approach.
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13/05/2017 | Frente Externo
Why Trumponomics won’t make America great again
The impulsiveness and shallowness of America’s president threaten the economy as well as the rule of law
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30/04/2017 | Frente Externo
The declining quality of Venezuela’s propaganda
The president tries to come across as cuddly. It isn’t working
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19/04/2017 | Frente Externo
Theresa May seeks a snap election
Britons will go to the polls on June 8th, as the government aims to extend its slim majority
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18/04/2017 | En Parrilla
Who’s in charge? America and Iran are jostling for influence over Iraq
But no one knows what Donald Trump wants
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04/04/2017 | Economia y Finanzas
Averting a Chinese-American trade war
The world’s most important bilateral economic relationship is flourishing—and in deep trouble
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28/03/2017 | Frente Externo
Cutting aid and diplomacy will make America weaker
Donald Trump’s foreign policy will deliver the opposite of what it promises.
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28/03/2017 | Transparencia
Russian rumbling - Anti-corruption demonstrations sweep across Russia
The protests show opposition leader Alexei Navalny remains a force
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17/03/2017 | En Profundidad
Argentina- The pros and cons of Mauricio Macri’s gradualism
The new Argentina prepares for an electoral test.
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12/03/2017 | Enlaces
Turkey’s president calls the Netherlands “Nazi” after it denies entry to his foreign minister
The minister had planned a rally in Rotterdam for a referendum to give Recep Tayyip Erdogan more power.
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05/03/2017 | Frente Externo
The mysterious illness of Muhammadu Buhari - Who’s running Nigeria?
The president has been ill for six weeks, but the country still needs governing
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05/03/2017 | Frente Externo
Dazed and recused - Donald Trump’s latest Russia scandal
Jeff Sessions met the Russian ambassador, then said he hadn’t
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24/02/2017 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The costs of Latin American crime
Many governments are failing in their most basic task
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24/02/2017 | Economia y Finanzas
Wind and solar power are disrupting electricity systems
But that’s no reason for governments to stop supporting them.
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22/02/2017 | High Tech
Why China wants to go to Mars
The space race moves to Asia
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22/02/2017 | En Parrilla
Russian state media is falling out of love with Donald Trump
A whirlwind of favourable coverage seems to be over
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20/02/2017 | En Profundidad
US - A Peronist on the Potomac
Donald Trump through Latin American eyes.
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01/02/2017 | Economia y Finanzas
America, China and the risk of a trade war
Trade tensions will mount, but a destructive trade war can still be averted
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16/01/2017 | Frente Externo
Northern Ireland is pitched into crisis by the resignation of Martin McGuinness
The deputy first minister’s departure comes as the region faces simmering frustration with the political settlement, and a looming shock from Brexit
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16/01/2017 | Frente Externo
Thailand’s new king rejects the army’s proposed constitution
But for all the wrong reasons
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15/01/2017 | Frente Externo
The Netanyahu tapes - A new scandal rocks Israel’s prime minister
But he insists there is nothing to explain.
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10/01/2017 | Frente Externo
The death of a former president tilts the balance of power in Iran
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani suffered heart failure on 8th January
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01/01/2017 | Economia y Finanzas
Markets : What not to expect in 2017
How the markets may take investors by surprise
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24/11/2016 | En Profundidad
League of nationalists
All around the world, nationalists are gaining ground. Why?
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20/11/2016 | Frente Externo
Trump’s world - The new nationalism
With his call to put “America First”, Donald Trump is the latest recruit to a dangerous nationalism
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11/11/2016 | Frente Externo
Donald Trump, Brexit and the transatlantic echo
British and American politics often march in lockstep. Now they do so again
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24/10/2016 | Frente Externo
Russia- Inside the bear
When the Soviet Union collapsed 25 years ago, Russia looked set to become a free-market democracy. Arkady Ostrovsky explains why that did not happen, and how much of it is Mr Putin’s fault
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17/10/2016 | Medio Ambiente
Why world leaders are meeting to discuss hydrofluorocarbons
IN 1985 a gaping hole was found in the ozone layer above Antarctica. Two years later leaders from around the world signed the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to phase out the substances causing it, known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were used in refrigeration and as propellants in products such as hairsprays and deodorants.
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15/10/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
Will the Fed greet the next president with a recession?
IT WAS just a few months into the presidency of Barack Obama that America crept out of the Great Recession and into the current expansion. With just three months to go in his second term, Mr Obama seems likely to pass that expansion on to his successor.
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14/10/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
Sterling - Taking a pounding
The fall in sterling hints at how painful a “hard” Brexit would be
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14/10/2016 | Frente Externo
The death of the Thai king throws the country into turmoil
Thailand’s turbulent politics just became more complicated.
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13/10/2016 | Frente Externo
The debasing of American politics
Healthy democracies depend on unwritten rules. The Republican nominee has trampled all over them
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10/10/2016 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Russia v America -Going nuclear
Angry over sanctions, Russia suspends an arms-control deal
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01/10/2016 | Frente Externo
No happy ending
Hillary Clinton goaded Donald Trump into rash admissions, but America remains divided
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14/09/2016 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
What are the Minsk agreements?
THE first deal to end the crisis in Ukraine was signed in early September 2014. Two years later, with more than 9,500 people killed, the conflict is still festering.
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09/09/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
What causes financial crises?
IN A narrow sense, the global financial crisis of 2008 was unprecedented. It was the result of a range of problems that had built up over time: light regulation of banks, overly complex credit products, tighter cross-border linkages and irrational exuberance in the housing market.
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04/09/2016 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The real ''Narcos'' - Fact and fiction in the war on drugs
THE swaggering anti-hero of “Narcos”, a television drug-trafficking drama whose second series begins on September 2nd, is Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, the billionaire cocaine king of Colombia. But the story of his rise, reign of terror and eventual death in 1993 on a Medellín rooftop is told as seen through the eyes of two Americans.
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04/09/2016 | Frente Externo
Brazil- Time for Temer
The new president takes over a country in crisis
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17/08/2016 | Frente Externo
Trump’s foreign policy speech offers more insights into the man than the plan
A HEAVILY trailed speech by Donald Trump on counter-terrorism, delivered in Ohio on August 15th, included little that made sense as a plan for keeping America safe, but offered some fresh insights into the self-obsessed, fact-scorning temperament of the businessman who wants to hold the world’s most powerful job.
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14/08/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
The problematic proposal
Shifts in global-trade patterns are fuelling a new anti-trade fervour.
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14/08/2016 | Frente Externo
The leaders of Turkey and Russia appear to be making up
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s first trip abroad since the failed coup is to meet Vladimir Putin
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16/06/2016 | Frente Externo
Britain’s EU referendum - Divided we fall
A vote to leave the European Union would diminish both Britain and Europe
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11/06/2016 | Frente Externo
Hillary Clinton -Madam presumptive nominee
The former First Lady takes a big step towards getting her old house back
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06/06/2016 | En Parrilla
Zika and the Olympics - Should I stay or should I go?
A call to stop or move the Olympics because of Zika is mistaken
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06/06/2016 | Frente Externo
Clinton says that Trump is unfit to be commander-in-chief
TYPICALLY, when politicians attack rivals in campaign speeches, they must distort their opponents’ words for maximum effect, or at least wrench them out of context. When Hillary Clinton used a foreign-policy address on June 2nd to savage Donald Trump as a man unfit to be commander-in-chief, her speech gained much of its power by quoting the businessman’s boorish inanities more or less verbatim.
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27/05/2016 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
A nuclear nightmare
It is past time for the world to get serious about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions
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07/05/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
Dealing with murky moguls
How to disentangle business from government
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14/04/2016 | Dossier Francisco I
Party and pontiff - Two articles examine China’s often troubled relationship with Christianity. The first looks at signs of a rapprochement with the Vatican
IN LATE September Pope Francis and President Xi Jinping happened to visit America at the same time. The coincidence was unremarkable. Both men were there for the annual session of the UN General Assembly in New York. But it afforded Chinese officials a glimpse into something they may not have fully understood: the international stature and popular appeal of the pope. American media covered his every move—each appearance before an adoring crowd, and each ride he took in his humble little Fiat—while paying much less attention to Mr Xi (whose crowds included far fewer supporters and many more protesters than the pope’s).
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14/04/2016 | Sociedad
Despite harassment by police, China’s house-church movement is growing
FOR the past couple of years, China’s tens of millions of Christians, most of whom are Protestants, have been watching events in the coastal province of Zhejiang with anxiety. The authorities there have been waging a relentless campaign to remove the large crosses that adorn the roofs of many churches; hundreds have been taken down, to the horror of their congregations. In January this took a turn for the worse with the arrest of Gu Yuese, the outspoken pastor of the country’s largest church, a colossal edifice in the provincial capital, Hangzhou, that seats 5,000 people—about 50% more than St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Many feared that the detention of Mr Gu, who had been criticising the removal of crosses, might signal the start of a fiercer, nationwide, crackdown.
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11/04/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazilian banks - Defying gravity
Brazil’s banks have shrugged off the country’s recession—for now
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11/04/2016 | Transparencia
Leak of the century - The lesson of the Panama papers
More should be done to make offshore tax havens less murky.
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25/03/2016 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The narcotics business - Five former presidents demand an end to the war on drugs
But don’t hold your breath—a UN summit on drugs next month looks likely to be a flop
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18/03/2016 | Frente Externo
Russian foreign policy - A hollow superpower
Don’t be fooled by Syria. Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy is born of weakness and made for television
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18/03/2016 | En Parrilla
How Latin Americans see the United States -Dugout diplomacy
Where yanquis are popular, where they are not and why
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18/03/2016 | Enlaces
The United States and Latin America - Harmony now, discord later
After Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba, regional relations may deteriorate.
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15/03/2016 | Frente Externo
Trade with North Korea - What sanctions?
On the border between China and North Korea it is business as usual
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15/03/2016 | Frente Externo
The carnival is over - Brazil sees the biggest protests since the end of its military dictatorship
Protesters call for Dilma Rousseff’s head as markets and political allies waver in their support
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13/03/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
African agriculture -A green evolution
The farms of Africa are prospering at last thanks to persistence, technology and decent government
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08/02/2016 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
North Korean missiles -Satellite of Kim
North Korea prepares another provocation
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07/02/2016 | Frente Externo
The last GOP debate - The Republican primary contenders have a big televised dust-up
SUCCESSFUL in Iowa and surging in New Hampshire, Marco Rubio went into the last televised Republican debate on February 6th knowing two things. He was due a pasting—especially from the three governors, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Jeb Bush, who are vying with him for the mainstream conservative vote.
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24/01/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
Oil and the economy - The oil conundrum
Plunging prices have neither halted oil production nor stimulated a surge in global growth
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05/01/2016 | En Profundidad
Argentina’s new president - A fast start
Mauricio Macri’s early decisions are bringing benefits and making waves
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04/01/2016 | Economia y Finanzas
Global inflation - Low for longer
Inklings of inflation in the rich world are outweighed by downward pressure on prices elsewhere
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31/12/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
High-yield bonds -Canary or canard?
The suspension of several speculative bond funds carries only faint echoes of the onset of the credit crunch.
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16/12/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
The case for and against an interest-rate hike
Your cut-out-and-keep guide
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16/12/2015 | Frente Externo
The fifth Republican debate - A Vegas line-up that puts Ted Cruz in the middle
IN THE fifth televised Republican primary debate, held in Las Vegas on December 15th, Jeb Bush at last launched the serious assault on Donald Trump that no serious contender for the party’s presidential nomination yet had. The man who is still the Republicans’ front-runner is a “chaos candidate and he’d be a chaos president,” said Mr Bush, even as Mr Trump obligingly illustrated why he might think that.
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11/12/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Mergers and antitrust in America - Pushing the limits
A frenzy of deals is awakening America’s antitrust regulators
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28/11/2015 | En Profundidad
Mauricio Macri’s victory marks a shift away from populism for Argentina—and South America
The next president must fix the sagging economy bequeathed to him by his Peronist predecessor
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21/11/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Paris - How to fight back
The battle against Islamic State must be waged on every front
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10/11/2015 | Frente Externo
The politician as thinker
Fernando Henrique Cardoso dissects Brazil’s problems
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07/11/2015 | Frente Externo
Russia’s Sergei Shoigu - Master of emergencies
The trusty defence minister is the only person to serve in every government since the fall of the Soviet Union. He could be the next president.
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03/11/2015 | Medio Ambiente
Less green and pleasant
Some cuts to green-power subsidies are sensible. But mixed messages risk deterring much-needed investment.
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31/10/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Monetary policy in Japan -The Bank of Japan keeps printing money at speed
INACTION may at first glance seem more timid than pulling out the monetary bazooka—but it took nerve for Haruhiko Kuroda to hold fire at the Bank of Japan’s monetary-policy meeting on October 30th. The central bank’s policy board, which Mr Kuroda effectively controls, voted 8-1 to maintain the existing programme of quantitative easing (QE, or printing money to buy bonds) at its current level of ¥80 trillion ($660 billion) a year. Given that Japan is officially back in mild deflation for the first time since 2013, when the BoJ began QE, it was a bold decision not to act. The BoJ’s mandate, after all, is to produce sustained inflation of 2%.
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19/10/2015 | Frente Externo
Why America does not take in more Syrian refugees
MORE THAN 12m Syrians have been forced from their homes by the civil war, according to the United Nations. Of those, more than 7.5m have been displaced within Syria, often to parts of the country that aid organisations cannot reach. More than 4m have fled abroad, mostly to neighbouring countries.
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19/10/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Official data say China’s economy is barely slowing. Are they believable?
FOR most countries, delivering resilient growth when investors had expected an abrupt slowdown would be impressive. China is different.
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15/10/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Sea power - Who rules the waves?
China no longer accepts that America should be Asia-Pacific’s dominant naval power
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28/09/2015 | Transparencia
Rule of law in Ukraine - Mr Saakashvili goes to Odessa
A Georgian reformer tackles Ukraine’s real public enemy number one: corruption
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20/09/2015 | Dossier Francisco I
Pope Francis and America -Who owns the pope?
A papal visit provides fresh opportunity for conservatives and liberals to scrap.
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18/09/2015 | Frente Externo
Regicidal Republicans
The party faithful are keen to decapitate politicians with experience of politics
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03/09/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Why China is lending $5 billion to struggling Venezuela
The cash, to be invested in oil, will deliver dubious benefits to both parties
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31/08/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
The dangerous politics of central banks
THE sudden burst of stockmarket volatility last week follows a period of relative calm, as noted in the last post. Much of that calmness must be down to central banks and their willingness to interfere in the markets to suppress long bond yields as well as short rates. The low level of the Vix reflected the confidence of investors that the authorities were in charge.
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28/08/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
The Great Fall of China
Fear about China’s economy can be overdone. But investors are right to be nervous.
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21/08/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
The sell-off in commodities -Goodbye to all that
A decade of bingeing on raw materials may leave an even longer hangover.
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16/08/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Protests in Honduras and Guatemala - A Central American spring?
Fury at corruption sparks mass demonstrations
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08/08/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Asian currencies -Plunging like it’s 1998
The rupiah and ringgit plumb depths unseen since the Asian financial crisis
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08/08/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Renewable energy -Puffs of hope
Wind and solar energy are increasingly competitive. But a lot has to change before they can make a real impact
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30/07/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
On the economics of the end of the world as we know it
In December talks in Paris involving more than 200 countries may result in a new agreement aimed at reducing carbon emissions. In the months leading up to the conference, The Economist will be publishing guest columns by experts on the economic issues involved. Here, Christoph Rheinberger (pictured right) and Nicolas Treich (at left) of the Toulouse School of Economics explain why quantifying the cost of global climate change is so difficult.
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30/07/2015 | Frente Externo
Brazilian politics - The power behind the throne
A junior partner in government is running the country
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22/07/2015 | En Parrilla
The South China Sea -See U in court
A tribunal ponders China’s claims
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27/06/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
The neverending story
Greece and its creditors are halfway to reaching a deal. It sometimes seems they always will be
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27/06/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
France and America - I spy, you spy
The French are “shocked, shocked” by American spying—but not their own
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17/06/2015 | Frente Externo
Hillary Clinton and 2016 - Fight! Fight! Fight!
HILLARY CLINTON is a fighter. In a very long speech at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in New York City, where she officially re-launched her presidential campaign this weekend, she declared that she is here to fight.
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09/06/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
A special report on cyber-security - Defending the digital frontier
Companies, markets and countries are increasingly under attack from cyber-criminals, hacktivists and spies. They need to get much better at protecting themselves, says Martin Giles
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06/06/2015 | Frente Externo
Turkey’s election - How big will the protest vote be?
THE Justice and Development (AK) party has won three general elections in a row, most recently in 2011. Yet although it seems certain to win over 40% of the vote and remain the largest party after the election on June 7th, it is losing ground. Many things that helped AK are being reversed. The economy, its strongest suit, has run out of steam. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, AK’s charismatic former prime minister, who became Turkey’s first directly elected president in August, has become increasingly despotic and out of touch. And some opposition parties now look more appealing.
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03/06/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Colombia’s peace process - Bullet proof
Despite an escalation of violence, the talks continue
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30/05/2015 | Frente Externo
Why the United States and Cuba are cosying up
ON MAY 29th America took a further step in healing the wounds of the cold war. The Obama administration officially removed Cuba from a list of rogue regimes that it designates as state-sponsors of terrorism (a list that now includes only Iran, Sudan and Syria). The move, which President Barack Obama initiated on April 14th after a historic meeting with his Cuban counterpart, Raúl Castro, in Panama City, required a 45-day Congressional notification period. Though the State Department said it still had “significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions”, these did not prevent it from removing Cuba from the list.
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30/05/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Greece and its creditors - When the talking has to stop
Despite the foreboding, a deal still appears the most likely outcome.
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22/05/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Reviewing the surveillance state
America argues anew over how much snooping the NSA can do.
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21/05/2015 | Frente Externo
The new Saudis
Chaos in the Middle East casts Saudi Arabia as the Arab world’s leader. But it must reform faster
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19/05/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
How America's police became so well armed
ON MAY 18th Barack Obama will bar the federal government from providing some military equipment to American police departments.
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06/05/2015 | Frente Externo
The South China Sea - Making waves
China tries to strengthen its hand in a dangerous dispute.
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02/05/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil's economy -A tight squeeze
Faced with weak growth and soaring inflation, the central bank hikes interest rates
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03/04/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Iran's nuclear deal -The view from Tehran
The young and hopeful in Iran are cautiously optimistic.
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31/03/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Africa - Mercenaries in Africa: Leash the dogs of war
South Africa struggles in vain to ban soldiers of fortune.
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29/03/2015 | En Parrilla
Nuclear talks with Iran -Distrust and verify
Unless Iran will accept rigorous inspections, negotiators will find it hard to convince sceptics a good deal is possible
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09/03/2015 | Frente Externo
Brazilian politics -Gone to pot
A sprawling corruption case poses a threat to badly needed economic reforms.
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04/03/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Islam and extremism -Looking within
There is a heated debate about the role of Islam in jihadism. Will it make a difference?
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25/02/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
OPEC and the oil glut -An oily mess
Nigeria wants OPEC to cut oil production. Its pleas are unlikely to be heard.
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19/02/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
The poverty alert - Latin America’s social progress has stopped. What is to be done?
FOR many Latin Americans the 21st century has been a time of unprecedented progress. Between 2002 and 2013, 60m people in the region moved out of poverty. The poverty rate—the share of people living on less that $4 a day—fell steadily. Now the progress has stopped (see chart). For the past three years, the poverty rate has stayed stubbornly at around 28% of the population, according to household surveys collated by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The proportion that is extremely poor (with a daily income of less than $2.50) has edged up, to 12%.
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16/02/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Ukraine's ceasefire - Pseudo-peace
Pro-Russian rebels are still fighting for a key town, and Ukrainians are waiting for the ceasefire to fail.
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16/02/2015 | Frente Externo
The view from the Kremlin - Putin’s war on the West
As Ukraine suffers, it is time to recognise the gravity of the Russian threat—and to counter it
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01/02/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Public debt in Africa - Not contagious
The Gambia’s financial woes do not portend an African public-debt crisis
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01/02/2015 | Sociedad
Volcanic islands -From the depths
Offshore eruptions can create new islands—and new territorial rights
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27/01/2015 | High Tech
Congo and Rwanda -Ever again
A long-awaited push to destroy some of Africa’s most notorious killers.
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27/01/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
The South China Sea -Oil on troubled waters
Two case studies in a disputed sea
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27/01/2015 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
War in Ukraine - No exit
At some point the fighting in Donbas became a war. Now there is no going back
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23/01/2015 | Frente Externo
Private equity in Africa - Unblocking the pipes
Africa needs a lot of capital. Private equity offers lessons on how to get it there
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22/01/2015 | Frente Externo
Your money or your data
Dick Turpin rides again—as a digital highwayman
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13/01/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
Anti-poverty programmes - Helping the poorest of the poor
Developing countries have started to weave social safety nets. Here’s how they should do it
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13/01/2015 | Frente Externo
Libya - The next failed state
Another font of global mayhem is emerging—not helped by regional meddling and Western indifference
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02/01/2015 | Transparencia
Corruption in Brazil - The big oily
The Petrobras scandal explained.
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02/01/2015 | Economia y Finanzas
The on-demand economy - Workers on tap
The rise of the on-demand economy poses difficult questions for workers, companies and politicians
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22/12/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Colombia - The FARC’s ceasefire gambit
A good sign, though one that poses a dilemma for the government.
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21/12/2014 | Frente Externo
Nicaragua’s canal - Digging for truth
Chinese construction is due to start—but of what?
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21/12/2014 | Dossier Francisco I
Chronicle of a papacy foretold
The ideological roots of Latin America’s Jesuit pontiff, Pope Francis
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18/12/2014 | Frente Externo
Jeb Bush and 2016
JEB BUSH, a former governor of Florida, son and brother of presidents, once said that he would mount his own White House bid only if he could do it “joyfully”. After months of speculation, on December 16th Mr Bush announced his decision to “actively explore the possibility” of running for president in 2016. That half-entry into the race will trigger a torrent of analysis about what sort of Republican Mr Bush is. Those who remember his time running Florida from 1999 to 2007 recall a stern fiscal and social conservative, who cut billions of dollars from state tax receipts and passed a welter of pro-gun laws.
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14/12/2014 | En Profundidad
Foreign firms in Argentina Waiting for Cristina to go
Targeted by the president, foreign companies are leaving or scaling back
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04/12/2014 | Sociedad
Diplomacy and religion -When foreign policy was closer to heaven, and hell
IF YOU only skim-read the headlines of last weekend's newspapers, you might have got the impression that Pope Francis made a remarkable breakthrough in inter-religious relations in Turkey last week, by praying with his Muslim hosts in a mosque and jointly celebrating a communion service with the senior bishop of the Orthodox Christian church. In fact, it was nothing like that simple.
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01/12/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Investing in government debt - Where others fear to tread
The controversial strategy of a bargain-hunting bond trader.
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01/12/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
The falling yen - Low-calibre munitions
Fears of a currency war in Asia are overblown
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28/11/2014 | Frente Externo
Race in America -The fury of Ferguson
Race is America’s deepest problem, but multiple small changes can mitigate it
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20/11/2014 | Frente Externo
Germany and Russia -Merkel toughens up
Frustrated with Putin, Germany and its chancellor may be tiring of Ostpolitik
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20/11/2014 | En Profundidad
The Pacific Age
Under American leadership the Pacific has become the engine room of world trade. But the balance of power is shifting, writes Henry Tricks
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12/11/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Emerging-market corporate debt - Invisible bonds
Foreign borrowing by emerging-market firms is higher than it seems
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01/11/2014 | Frente Externo
America’s mid-term elections - The silent centre
If moderates don’t vote next week, extremists will thrive
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21/10/2014 | En Parrilla
The travails of ALBA
The more successful of Latin America’s populists have become more pragmatic
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19/10/2014 | Frente Externo
Why Brazil needs change
Voters should ditch Dilma Rousseff and elect Aécio Neves
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18/10/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Bears, but no picnic
Fears of deflation may lie behind recent weakness
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14/10/2014 | En Parrilla
Palestine and Britain -A state of things to come
THE Israeli government might try to take solace in the low turnout—only half of British MPs showed up to debate a motion proposing to recognise Palestine as a state on October 13th. Yet their verdict was overwhelming: the motion was carried by 274 to 12.
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12/10/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Middle East fragments -The rule of the gunman
Why post-colonial Arab states are breaking down.
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12/10/2014 | Frente Externo
Banyan -The spoiled brats of democracy
Hong Kong’s students take their place in a long and noble Chinese line
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12/10/2014 | Frente Externo
Bolivia’s election -Happily Evo after
A third term for a “non-stick” leader
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10/10/2014 | Frente Externo
The Koreas -Till Kimdom come
An unusual visit to South Korea by a powerful Northern trio raises plenty of questions.
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06/10/2014 | Frente Externo
Brazil's first-round finish - The wave has passed
IF YOU had asked a pundit three months ago to predict the first round of Brazil’s presidential election on October 5th, the response would more or less have resembled what has turned into the polling-day reality.
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06/10/2014 | Frente Externo
Gaza after the war - A sea of despair
Desperate Palestinians become boat people
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01/10/2014 | Frente Externo
The battle for Brazil
With days to go before the first round, the race is too close to call
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29/09/2014 | Frente Externo
Mission relaunched
The fight against Islamic State will help define America’s role in the world
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29/09/2014 | Frente Externo
China - Grand new canals
Vast new waterways will not solve China’s desperate water shortages.
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19/09/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Paraguay - Counter-insurgency unit kills two in bungled raid
Members of the counter-insurgency unit, Fuerzas de Tarea Conjunta (FTC), killed two civilians in a raid on a house in the department of Concepción, in the heartland of territory controlled by the Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (EPP) a leftist guerrilla group. This has placed renewed focus on the government's unsuccessful efforts to rein in EPP activity.
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15/09/2014 | Transparencia
Business corruption in Chile - Nitrate nightmare
Chile’s stockmarket regulator dishes out huge fines over a series of illegal share trades
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09/09/2014 | Frente Externo
Brazil’s presidential election - The measure of Marina
Marina Silva could well be Brazil’s next president. She has to do more to prove she deserves that
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01/09/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
NATO’s summit - Mr Putin’s wake-up call
The Western alliance is responding better to Russian aggression in Ukraine. But there is more to do.
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26/08/2014 | Frente Externo
Scotland's independence debate- You and whose army?
LAST night the leaders of Scotland’s anti- and pro-independence campaigns drew swords in a second televised debate in Glasgow. Alistair Darling, the Labour former chancellor, seemed to win the first one, so bookies—knowing how much press and public like a comeback story—had chalked up Alex Salmond, Scotland’s nationalist leader, to win.
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26/08/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Iraq, Syria and the Islamic State - A war that crosses national boundaries
Iraq and America have pushed back the Islamic State, but it will take much more to quash the threat of it across the wider region
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19/08/2014 | Frente Externo
Israel, Gaza and the media - Propaganda war
BY ITS nature, war is polarising. Six out of seven Israelis oppose a ceasefire in Gaza that would include easing the blockade of the enclave, for example. Nor are Palestinians very interested in making necessary concessions.
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19/08/2014 | Frente Externo
India and China - Strangers by choice
FEW subjects can matter more in the long term than how India and China, with nearly 40% of the world’s population between them, manage to get along. In the years before they fought a short border war, in 1962, relations had been rosy.
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08/08/2014 | Frente Externo
Russia and the West - How to lose friends
Vladimir Putin pretends that he can make Russia self-sufficient and strong
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29/07/2014 | Frente Externo
Alone at the top
Germany has done much to atone for the past. Now it faces leadership, a greater burden
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29/07/2014 | En Parrilla
The legal puzzle of MH17
AFTER the chaos comes a flurry of legal procedures. On July 21st Frans Timmermans, the Dutch foreign minister, vowed that his country will not rest until justice is served for the 298 civilians (over half of them Dutch) killed on board flight MH17, the Malaysia Airlines flight which was shot down over eastern Ukraine. But this will not be easy.
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27/07/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Russia, MH17 and the West - A web of lies
Vladimir Putin’s epic deceits have grave consequences for his people and the outside world
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27/07/2014 | Frente Externo
Arabs in Israel -Do we belong?
The war in Gaza fuels tensions between Israeli Arabs and Jews
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21/07/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Venezuela’s oil diaspora - Brain haemorrhage
Venezuela’s loss of thousands of oil workers has been other countries’ gain
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21/07/2014 | Frente Externo
The Dutch and MH17 - National heartbreak
LESS than two weeks ago, when they were contenders to win the World Cup, the Dutch dressed up in orange, painted their faces red-white-blue and euphorically waved their flags. On July 17th, as details of the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight 17 that killed all 298 aboard, including 80 children, began to emerge, flags dropped to half-mast and the football-induced euphoria gave way to national heartbreak. In a country of 16.8m, the crash, which killed 193 Dutch citizens, had (proportionally) 1.5 times the impact on the Dutch population of that of the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 on the American population. “Everyone knew of someone” was heard throughout the weekend as the Dutch gathered in schools, churches and sports clubs to come to terms with the shock.
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21/07/2014 | En Parrilla
Asian fears of China’s rise - Jittery neighbours
Worries about China’s ascent
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03/07/2014 | Sociedad
The World Cup in Brazil - The half-time verdict
Expectations were low. They have been exceeded.
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01/07/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina's economy -Shrinking
AMID the adulation of Lionel Messi and the angst over the country’s ongoing battle with its holdout creditors, it was easy to miss another piece of news from Argentina this week. On June 23rd the country’s statistics agency announced that Argentina’s economy had officially entered recession, shrinking by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2014 after a 0.5% contraction in the final quarter of 2013. Many economists are expecting the first calendar-year recession since Argentina’s devastating 2001-2002 financial crisis.
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23/06/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Iraq - How did it come to this?
The crisis in Iraq has roots going far back in history. But recently the folly of interfering outsiders and sectarian leaders within has made matters a lot worse
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21/06/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Oil and Iraq - Burning at both ends
War in Iraq has lifted the oil price a little. Its long-term impact will be bigger
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18/06/2014 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Boudou hoodoo
A vice-president in trouble
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18/06/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina and the hold-outs - Crunch time approaches
ARGENTINA has tried hard in the past few months to show it is ready to make its peace with international capital markets.
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18/06/2014 | Frente Externo
Colombia's election - Santos wins
ON JUNE 15th Colombian voters handed President Juan Manuel Santos a mandate to continue his efforts to negotiate a peace deal with leftist guerrillas and end more than a half-century of internal conflict.
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29/05/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Drugs trafficking in the Caribbean - Full circle
An old route regains popularity with drugs gangs
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21/05/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
The Argentine peso - End of the pax cambiaria?
ASK an Argentine economist to sum up their government’s economic strategy in one word and parchando, or “patching things up”, is likely to be their answer. Instead of attacking its most formidable problems, the Argentine government focuses on banishing their symptoms.
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17/05/2014 | Frente Externo
Colombia’s presidential election -Ballots and bullets
The slow pace of peace talks has complicated Juan Manuel Santos’s campaign
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09/05/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Shadow banking -The lure of shadow banking
Shadow banks helped cause the financial crisis. Better regulated, they could help avert the next one.
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09/05/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Russia and Ukraine - Putin’s Ukrainian U-turn
How to treat signs that Russia at last wants to lower tensions
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09/05/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Kidnappings in Nigeria - A clueless government
The incompetence of Nigeria’s president and government is hurting the country’s reputation at home and abroad
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05/05/2014 | Frente Externo
A new leader for Panama - Business is over
AS HAS happened every five years since the end of the Noriega dictatorship in 1989, Panamanians have voted to kick out their ruling party. In elections on May 4th, they gave a resounding victory to Juan Carlos Varela, a vice-president turned opposition candidate who is a personal nemesis of President Ricardo Martinelli.
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27/04/2014 | Sociedad
Canonising two popes - Big and small differences
TWO titans of religious life in the late 20th century are being canonised—recognised as saints—at a grand ceremony in Rome this weekend. Popes John XXIII (1958-63) and John Paul II (1978-2005) were both charismatic figures who, in multiple ways, transformed the world's largest spiritual institution.
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20/04/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Chinese lending to Latin America - Flexible friends
China lends disproportionately to countries that lack other options
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20/04/2014 | Frente Externo
China -Building the dream
By 2030 Chinese cities will be home to about 1 billion people. Getting urban China to work properly is vital to the country’s economic and political future, says James Miles
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20/04/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Business in Russia - From bad to worse
Domestic and foreign firms wonder how serious things might get
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11/04/2014 | En Profundidad
Argentina- The CFK psychodrama
Argentina’s president is weakened and isolated, but still powerful
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07/04/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Investment in Cuba -Strait talk
As Cuba eases investment rules, many Cuban-Americans turn against the embargo
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31/03/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
On cloud nine trillion
Our Asia economics editor takes his leave, less worried than many of his peers about the frailties and paradoxes of China’s economy -
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31/03/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Latin America’s economies -Life after the commodity boom
Instead of the crises of the past, mediocre growth is the big risk—unless productivity rises
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25/03/2014 | Frente Externo
Reliance and BP in India - Deep controversy
India's biggest energy project has produced more squabbles than gas
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04/03/2014 | En Parrilla
Ukraine -The February revolution
Can Ukraine find any leaders who will live up to the aspirations of its battered, victorious but sceptical protesters?
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27/02/2014 | Frente Externo
Ukraine's crisis -A tale of two countries
A REVOLUTION has taken place in Ukraine. It still lacks a name, but the events and their traces are unmistakable: the burnt buildings on the Maidan (Kiev’s central square), more than 80 dead, barricades that had withstood government forces for months, the lingering acrid smell of burnt rubber, and in anger, hatred and tears for the dead. As befits a revolution, events unfold with neck-breaking pace.
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21/02/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
How to make the world $600 billion poorer
Barack Obama’s unwillingness to fight for free trade is an expensive mistake
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17/02/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
The economics of shale oil -Saudi America
The benefits of shale oil are bigger than many Americans realise. Policy has yet to catch up
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14/02/2014 | En Profundidad
The parable of Argentina
There are lessons for many governments from one country’s 100 years of decline
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04/02/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Organised crime - Earning with the fishes
As globalised gangs profit from new regulations and markets, governments are struggling to keep up
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31/01/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Venezuela and Argentina - The party is over
Latin America’s weakest economies are reaching breaking-point.
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31/01/2014 | Frente Externo
Russia and the world - The triumph of Vladimir Putin
Successes abroad and the winter Olympics make Russia look strong; but where it matters, it is weak
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25/01/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
Currency controls in Argentina - Relaxation therapy
IT HAD already been a startling week in Argentina, thanks to a 15% slump in the value of the peso on January 22nd and 23rd. But the biggest surprise came this morning, when the government announced that Argentine individuals will be permitted to buy dollars for saving purposes, a privilege in effect denied to them since 2011.
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16/01/2014 | Economia y Finanzas
The bugbear of Brazil
THE year did not begin well for Dilma Rousseff. The real ended 2013 one-third weaker against the dollar than when she took office as Brazil’s president three years ago. Car sales were down for the first time in a decade. More dollars flowed out of the country than at any time since 2002.
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15/01/2014 | Frente Externo
Immigration - Yearning for briefs and fees
SERGIO GARCÍA was just ten years old when he decided to become a lawyer. On a visit to the mayor’s office in the Mexican town of Panindicuaro, he met the relatives of some inmates in the jail next door, who told him that prisoners were freed only if they paid a bribe. “I thought, ‘This isn’t right,’” he says. “'People should get the justice they deserve, not the justice they can afford. I’m going to defend these people one day’.”
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15/01/2014 | Frente Externo
Brazil’s big year - Kick-off approaches
Latin America’s largest economy enters an unpredictable election year
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14/01/2014 | En Profundidad
Tensions in Argentina - Holding the ring
The government is struggling to stay on its feet
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02/01/2014 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Trust and the NSA - Who can you trust?
FIRSTLY, apologies for the somewhat late post—blame the Christmas holidays. But a couple of days ago, the German newspaper Der Spiegel ran a long story that detailed some of the ways in which America's National Security Agency (NSA) tries to subvert the computers of its targets.
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25/12/2013 | Transparencia
Argentina’s socioeconomic statistics - Still lying after all these years
Official figures paint a rosy picture. So why are Argentines rioting?
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19/12/2013 | Frente Externo
Earth’s got talent
Resilient Ireland, booming South Sudan, tumultuous Turkey: our country of the year is…
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11/12/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Colombia's conflict - War and peace
ABROAD they negotiate. At home the casualties mount. An attack by Colombia’s FARC guerrillas on a police station on December 7th left nine people dead. Five soldiers, a policeman and three civilians were killed when members of the FARC's Sixth Front launched mortars from a vegetable truck at the police station in the town of Inzá in southern Cauca province.
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11/12/2013 | Frente Externo
Venezuela's local elections - A country divided
NO ONE can really feel satisfied after Venezuela's municipal elections on December 8th. Urban Venezuela is turning its back on the ‘socialist revolution’ of the late Hugo Chávez and his successor, President Nicolás Maduro (pictured). But polls that the opposition Democratic Unity (MUD) alliance had sought to turn into a plebiscite against the eight-month-old Maduro government have, in the short term at least, consolidated his grip on political power.
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06/12/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil’s economy - The deterioration
Slow growth, stubborn inflation and mounting deficits.
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03/12/2013 | Sociedad
How harmful is crack cocaine?
HOLLYWOOD seldom depicts junkies in suits and ties. But in recent weeks several public figures have admitted taking hard drugs while working in high-powered jobs. Toronto’s serially scandalous mayor, Rob Ford, has admitted that he smoked crack cocaine two years ago, while in office.
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03/12/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Smart weapons - Kill switches and safety catches
Arms control: New technologies make it easier to track small arms and stop them working under certain circumstances. To what extent can they prevent the unintended or undesirable use of weapons?
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27/11/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Central African Republic - A catastrophe in the making?
Rebels are on the rampage and their foes are fighting back.
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25/11/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Curbing Iran's nuclear programme - Modest, but still historic
CARPING is easy. The interim deal between Iran and six world powers hammered out in the small hours of November 24th to curb the former’s nuclear programme is a long way from perfect, but it meets two key tests.
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20/11/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
NATO’s future - Back to basics
The Atlantic alliance wants a new role after Afghanistan. For the time being, it is looking to an old one
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17/11/2013 | Transparencia
Political corruption in Brazil - Fruits of a long process
JABUTICABA: a grape-like fruit (pictured) that grows only in Brazil, whose name is commonly used to refer to other oddities seen nowhere else in the world.
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11/11/2013 | Frente Externo
The Communist Party plenum - Behind closed doors
ON NOVEMBER 9th 370-odd of the Chinese Communist Party’s most powerful politicians will gather in Beijing for a four-day meeting that is being portrayed by state-controlled media as a launchpad for wide-ranging economic and social reforms. But the 3rd plenum of the 18th Central Committee, as the event is officially known, will not signal any change in the party’s time-honoured practice of cloaking such gatherings in bizarre mantles of secrecy.
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08/11/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Internet security - Besieged
Stung by revelations of ubiquitous surveillance and compromised software, the internet’s engineers and programmers ponder how to fight back
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06/11/2013 | Frente Externo
Egypt - Muhammad Morsi on trial
From president to prisoner
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05/11/2013 | En Profundidad
Argentina's mid-term election - Cristina’s come-uppance
Fernández should build bridges to her opponents—or risk leaving office early
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28/10/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Finance in America - Subterranean capitalist blues
In response to red tape and high taxes, corporate America is mutating
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28/10/2013 | Frente Externo
Indian foreign affairs -Eastern promise
Manmohan Singh’s foreign policy is undercut by domestic weakness
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28/10/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
The new American capitalism - Rise of the distorporation
A mutation in the way companies are financed and managed will change the distribution of the wealth they create.
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27/10/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Europe and American spooks - Controlled anger
THEY huffed and they puffed, but did not dare blow down the house. European leaders expressed outrage and dismay at news that America may have been eavesdropping on the mobile telephone conversations of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor and Europe’s most powerful leader.
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21/10/2013 | Frente Externo
Maduro seeks to rule by decree -Will the power grab solve his woes?
VENEZUELA'S president faces an economic crisis and an increasingly powerful opposition. This month he asked the National Assembly for extended powers. Our correspondents explain why
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21/10/2013 | En Parrilla
Saudi Arabia and the UN -Why the snub?
SPEED is not something normally associated with the quiet, subtle style of traditional Saudi diplomacy, yet the abruptness of the flip-flop performed by the kingdom on October 18th was stunning by any standard. In the morning, Saudi diplomats in New York were trumpeting their country’s election to a coveted two-year stint as a rotating temporary member of the UN Security Council.
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21/10/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil’s development banks - A ripple begets a flood
A politically inspired surge in lending is weakening state-owned banks in Latin America’s biggest economy
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16/10/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
The debt ceiling - A most dangerous game?
WHY haven't financial markets been more perturbed by the dangerous game being played in Washington? There are plenty of explanations circulating, but we shouldn't ignore the most straightforward one, however unlikely it seems: because the game isn't that dangerous.
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10/10/2013 | Frente Externo
Argentina - Cristina Fernández's health: A political headache
Last weekend’s goings-on are no less bizarre. On October 5th the president, Cristina Fernández was rushed to hospital on account of an irregular heartbeat. On arrival the 60-year-old complained of a severe headache. Neurological tests revealed that Ms Fernández was suffering from a subdural hematoma, an accumulation of blood between the tissues surrounding the brain.
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09/10/2013 | Frente Externo
and the Trans-Pacific Partnership - Sacred cows, rice and the rest of them
FARMING types are fond of earthy metaphors, and Toshio Yamada, a Japanese lawmaker who champions the agriculture industry in parliament, does not disappoint. That Japan would consider lowering or eliminating import tariffs on some of the five “sacred” farm products, he said this week, was unacceptable. It was as if the country were dropping its knickers, he added, before it was even asked.
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09/10/2013 | Frente Externo
USA - Cruz missile
If only Ted Cruz were the fearless truth-teller that he claims to be
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29/09/2013 | Frente Externo
Brazil’s future -Has Brazil blown it?
A stagnant economy, a bloated state and mass protests mean Dilma Rousseff must change course
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21/09/2013 | Frente Externo
Syria’s war - An unlikely band of brothers
A deal struck by America and its allies with Russia envisages the removal of Syrian chemical weapons amid a civil war
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17/09/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The NSA and cryptography - Cracked credibility
To be safe, the internet needs reliable encryption. But the standards, software and hardware it uses are vulnerable
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17/09/2013 | Frente Externo
Rising China, sinking Russia
In a vast region, China’s economic clout is more than a match for Russia’s
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15/09/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Syria deal - Russian reading
AMERICA and Russia have an agreement on removing or destroying Syria’s extensive collection of chemical weapons.
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15/09/2013 | Frente Externo
Policing and politics in Brazil - From hero to villain in Rio
A sensible security programme in Brazil’s Olympic city is no longer enough to satisfy voters, as its governor has found.
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14/09/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Syria’s chemical weapons - Distrust and verify
Russia’s plan to disarm Syria’s chemical weapons makes sense only if it is backed by the threat of force
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03/09/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Britain and Syria - The vote of shame
FOR those who like to believe that Britain is largely a force for good in the world—a vigorous upholder of the rules-based international order, a country with a proud record of being willing to use its resources (whether economic or military) in defence of universal humanitarian values and a stalwart ally—the result of last night’s House of Commons vote on the principle of military action against Syria was both shocking and shaming.
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27/08/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Latin America’s largest economies - Different kettles of fish
Although neither is in good odour with the markets, Brazil and Mexico are on different growth trajectories
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27/08/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Free exchange: A new toolkit
Central banks must get used to pulling a new set of policy levers
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17/08/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Energy reform in Mexico: Giving it both barrels
The government has made a promising start, but it may struggle to bring an historic reform to fruition.
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12/08/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Mexico’s oil industry -Unfixable Pemex
Even if the government plucks up the courage to reform it, Pemex will be hard to fix.
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12/08/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Israel Defence Forces - Taking wing
Israel’s armed forces are shifting emphasis from mechanised warfare toward air and cyber power
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12/08/2013 | Transparencia
Corruption in Venezuela - The billion-dollar fraud
Evidence of huge rip-offs at the heart of the “Bolivarian revolution” has unleashed political infighting.
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07/08/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Al-Qaeda Still dangerous after all these years
IT IS still far from clear exactly what it was that so alarmed Barack Obama and his intelligence advisers that the decision was taken on August 2nd to close down temporarily nearly two dozen diplomatic missions in the Middle East and North Africa and issue a worldwide travel alert.
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29/07/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Detroit’s bankruptcy - Can Motown be mended?
America’s biggest-ever city bankruptcy starts to roll
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18/07/2013 | Frente Externo
Mexico - Political horse-trading
Why are opposition parties going along with a pact that benefits their arch-enemy?
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18/07/2013 | Frente Externo
Cuba - Money starts to talk
And eventually, perhaps, in one currency, as the tempo of reform accelerates
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12/07/2013 | Sociedad
A villain’s guide to football - Welcome to the beautiful game
Football clubs can easily be used as stealing machines. Here is an instruction manual. The stories are real, but most details are concealed.
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12/07/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Drone warfare -Alone with a joystick
The stressful lives of drone pilots.
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11/07/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Egypt after the coup - It isn’t over yet
A week after the military coup that overthrew Egypt’s elected Islamist president, the country remains dangerously divided.
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07/07/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Transit countries -The lives of others
European governments should not kick up a fuss about American spying. They have too much to lose.
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06/07/2013 | Frente Externo
Infrastructure in Colombia - Taking the slow road
An ambitious plan struggles to get off the drawing board.
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29/06/2013 | Frente Externo
Immigration reform -Clearing the first hurdle
IN THE end, it wasn’t even close. Immigration reform cleared the Senate by 68 votes to 32. Fourteen Republicans cast ayes along with all the members of the Democratic caucus.
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21/06/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Can Iran be stopped?
The West should intervene in Syria for many reasons. One is to stem the rise of Persian power.
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21/06/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Why is the yuan so strong?
EARLIER this month eight American senators proposed a law to punish China and other countries for keeping their currencies artificially cheap.
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16/06/2013 | En Parrilla
America and Syria - A change of tack?
WILL America get more involved in Syria? On June 13th the White House announced it would give “military aid” to Syrian rebels for the first time in their 27-month battle against President Bashar Assad.
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16/06/2013 | Frente Externo
What is the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims?
CLASHES between Islam's two big sects, the Sunni and the Shia, take place across the Muslim world.
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16/06/2013 | Frente Externo
The United Nations in Congo - Art of darkness
Almost unnoticed, the UN is about to fight its first war. That is a gamble worth taking
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12/06/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Surveillance -Should the government know less than Google?
LET'S get the most contentious point out of the way first: Edward Snowden made the right call to make public the extent of the National Security Administration's surveillance of electronic communications.
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03/06/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Colombia and the FARC - Digging in for peace
A deal on land marks a welcome breakthrough in peace talks. But there is still much to do, and not much time to do it in.
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03/06/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Killer drones -Out of the shadows
Barack Obama’s rules for drones could shape the new global laws of war.
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30/05/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The defence industry - Guns and sugar
More governments are insisting that weapons-sellers invest in side deals to help them develop their industries. This is a bad idea.
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30/05/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The defence industry - Guns and sugar
More governments are insisting that weapons-sellers invest in side deals to help them develop their industries. This is a bad idea.
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28/05/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Natural Gas - Difference Engine: Fuel for the future?
AMERICA’S unexpected, and most welcome, bonanza of natural gas from its vast shale deposits seems to be doing as much to reduce pollution as many of the efforts introduced over the years to restrict emissions from vehicles, power stations and other sources.
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28/05/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
India's Maoists - A new terror
LATE in the afternoon, a long convoy of vehicles, lightly guarded, trailed along a narrow road in the bush.
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28/05/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil’s oilfields - Back in business
Strong bidding for exploration rights ends the industry’s long dry spell.
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23/05/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Return to old-style terror
A shocking killing is a reminder that disorganised jihadists are harder to stop than organised ones.
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23/05/2013 | Transparencia
Corruption in China - Checked and balanced?
Officials try to rein in corruption without undertaking political reform.
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20/05/2013 | En Profundidad
Argentina and the Pope -The awkward couple
A discomfited government puts a brave face on the election of Pope Francis, while its propagandists use history as a political weapon.
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20/05/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
A continental divide
The region is falling in behind two alternative blocks: the market-led Pacific Alliance and the more statist Mercosur.
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16/05/2013 | Frente Externo
Pakistan - Hope in a fractured land
Building a normal relationship with India should be Nawaz Sharif’s priority
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16/05/2013 | Frente Externo
Mexico - The PRI’s long tail
A battle is brewing between Enrique Peña Nieto and the dinosaurs in his party.
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10/05/2013 | Frente Externo
Immigration reform - Not so fast
The bill now faces a long, gruelling fight in committee
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10/05/2013 | Frente Externo
Pakistan’s election - The other campaigner
The Pakistani Taliban is setting the election agenda as much as anyone.
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06/05/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Syria and Israel - Cutting loose
THE civil war in Syria has gone on for so long that it has lost some of its power to shock. A mass grave here, long lines for bread there, a hospital without medicine somewhere else. The past few days have been different.
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04/05/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Hydropower in Guyana - Shrouded in secrecy
Small dam, big argument.
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23/04/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Chechnya and the bombs in Boston
THE Tsarnaev family, like many families from Chechnya, were part of a diaspora that had scattered all over the globe: Turkey, Syria, Poland, and Austria, and, apparently, suburban Massachusetts.
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21/04/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Boston bombings - Still searching for answers
OVER the next few days, a clearer picture is likely to emerge of the motivations and possible connections of the two Tsarnaev brothers.
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21/04/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
China - Climbing, stretching and stumbling
China’s disappointing new growth figures are not the end of the world.
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19/04/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Boston bombings - Manhunt
WHEN Barack Obama declared on the day of the Boston bombings that the perpetrators would “feel the full weight of justice”, few had imagined that justice would be so swift. But on April 18th, just three days after the attack, police released pictures of two suspects.
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14/04/2013 | En Profundidad
Turning-points in history -When the world changed
Why 1979 was about so much more than Margaret Thatcher’s election victory
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11/04/2013 | Frente Externo
Investing in Africa - The hottest frontier
Strategies for putting money to work in a fast-growing continent
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08/04/2013 | High Tech
China's internet - A giant cage
The internet was expected to help democratise China. Instead, it has enabled the authoritarian state to get a firmer grip, says Gady Epstein. But for how long?
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03/04/2013 | High Tech
America's neuroscience initiative - Mind expanding
AFTER much trailing, the reality is out. On April 2nd Barack Obama announced that America’s government will back a project intended to unlock the mysteries of the human brain.
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31/03/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Cyber-attacks - Booting up
IN JAPANESE monster movies, battling behemoths squish towns and villages as they wrestle. European internet users who this week suffered delays and dropped connections were victims of an equally eccentric duel.
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22/03/2013 | Frente Externo
Uruguay - Justice or democracy?
An argument over past crimes - The dark days of the dictators.
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21/03/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The euro-zone crisis - Just when you thought it was safe…
Bailing out Cyprus was always going to be tricky. But it didn’t have to be like this.
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14/03/2013 | Sociedad
The Vatican turns south - A modest opportunity
IN AN old monastic joke, one robed brother says to another: "You know, being humble has always been one of my strong points..." In his first few minutes as pontiff, Pope Francis gave the impression of unfeigned humility: by his homely manner, his visible amazement at his elevation, and his choice of a name that is synonymous with self-denial and poverty.
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14/03/2013 | Sociedad
The Roman Catholic church - Flocks and shepherds
As a conclave gathers to elect a pope, many in the Catholic church want change.
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11/03/2013 | Frente Externo
Tibet’s future - The limits of despair
Five years after an explosion of unrest on the Tibetan plateau, the region is again in crisis. This time the world is looking away.
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11/03/2013 | High Tech
Peer-to-peer rental - The rise of the sharing economy
On the internet, everything is for hire
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11/03/2013 | Frente Externo
Venezuela - Hugo Chávez’s rotten legacy
The appeal of populist autocracy has been weakened but not extinguished.
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03/03/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Social spending in Brazil - The end of poverty?
LAST week Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, made an audacious claim: extreme poverty in Brazil will soon become extinct. Brasil Sem Miséria (Brazil without destitution), a federal programme, has already added 2.8m extremely poor people to a new, single list of potential welfare recipients since its launch in June 2011.
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03/03/2013 | En Parrilla
Power in Mexico - ''The Teacher'' in detention
Enrique Peña Nieto’s government has arrested a powerful union leader. Is this the start of something?
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03/03/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Colombia’s economy - The black stuff
OIL may now be Colombia’s biggest export, but coal comes second and coffee, no longer paramount as it long was, is still the fifth-biggest foreign-exchange earner. In February both the coal and the coffee industry were crippled by protests and strikes, threatening to put a temporary dent in the economy’s otherwise reasonably healthy growth. They are doing nothing to buoy President Juan Manuel Santos’s dipping popularity.
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03/03/2013 | En Parrilla
Japan and America - Spin and substance
Should the United States be impressed by Shinzo Abe—or worried by him?
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03/03/2013 | En Parrilla
Japan and America - Spin and substance
Should the United States be impressed by Shinzo Abe—or worried by him?
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25/02/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Winding down the war on drugs - Towards a ceasefire
Experiments in legalisation are showing what a post-war approach to drug control could look like.
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25/02/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Energy storage - Difference Engine: Air apparent
DESPITE their excellent fuel economy, squeaky-clean exhausts and generous government subsidies, electric vehicles have failed to catch on with the motoring public. Fewer than 10,000 pure electrics (less than 0.1% of new-car sales) trickled onto the roads of America in 2012. And that was their best year ever.
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18/02/2013 | Frente Externo
China, Government reform - Super-size me
Officials say fewer, bigger ministries can mean smaller government. Not everyone agrees
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18/02/2013 | Transparencia
Corruption in Brazil - Unstoppable?
Despite serial corruption allegations, the old guard just keeps coming back.
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18/02/2013 | En Profundidad
Pensions in Argentina - Now or never
The government drags its feet over compensating pensioners for inflation.
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14/02/2013 | Frente Externo
The state-of-the-union address - Obama asks for more
“THERE is much progress to report,” Barack Obama stated with satisfaction at the beginning of his state-of-the-union address. He was referring to the improving health of the economy and the diminishing number of American soldiers in harm’s way abroad. But he might just as well have been speaking of his strategy for facing down Republican opposition in a time of divided government.
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14/02/2013 | Frente Externo
China - Costly drops
Removing salt from seawater might help slake some of northern China’s thirst, but it comes at a high price.
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11/02/2013 | Frente Externo
Ecuador- The man with the mighty microphone
Having mixed the good, the bad and the ugly during six years in power, Rafael Correa is heading for another term.
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11/02/2013 | Transparencia
The IMF and Argentina - Motion of censure
The fund blows the whistle
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11/02/2013 | Frente Externo
Venezuela’s economy - Out of stock
The cost of postponing an inevitable devaluation
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27/01/2013 | Sociedad
China - Child trafficking. A cruel trade
To curb widespread trafficking of abducted children, officials and parents are turning to social media.
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25/01/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Colombia - Fear of missing out
The second-biggest guerrilla group tries to muscle in on peace talks.
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22/01/2013 | Frente Externo
Barack Obama's second inauguration - Barack Obama is from the government, and he is here to help
WHAT Barack Obama wants to do with four more years in office is not so very mysterious. He wants to complete the Great Society project of such progressive forefathers as both Roosevelts and Lyndon Johnson, and make it sustainable in an America that faces unprecedented global competition. How he plans to do that, when he must share power with fiercely hostile Republicans in Congress for the foreseeable future, is a more interesting question.
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22/01/2013 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Violence in Guatemala - Got to admit it’s getting better
MURDER is an everyday tragedy in Guatemala, one of the world’s most violent countries. With around 15 killings a day, most violent deaths merit only a couple of paragraphs in the papers. But the slaying last week of two girls, aged six and 12, has shocked the country and been widely reported outside Latin America.
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15/01/2013 | Frente Externo
Venezuela’s presidency - Brotherly love in the Bolivarian Republic
With the president ill, who is really running the country?
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13/01/2013 | Frente Externo
Reform in China - Great expectations
Reform of the labour-camp system would be welcome, but more change must come soon.
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10/01/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Mammon’s new monarchs -The emerging-world consumer is king
INTELLIGENCE agencies seldom take a sunny view of the world. Yet the latest report from America’s National Intelligence Council (“Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds”) is rather cheerful. The council frets about threats ranging from cyber-sabotage to nuclear holocaust (in a brilliant piece of understatement it warns that “Russia could become a very troublesome country”). But it argues that the most important trend in the coming decades will be the growth of the global middle class.
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10/01/2013 | Frente Externo
Venezuela - In limbo
Since Hugo Chávez is too ill to be inaugurated, somebody else should take over.
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10/01/2013 | Sociedad
China - Street politics
RARELY since the heady days of the Tiananmen Square unrest of 1989 have people in China gathered so openly, and so free of police interference, in support of wide-ranging political freedoms as they have in the past two days in the southern city of Guangzhou.
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09/01/2013 | High Tech
The new politics of the internet - Everything is connected
Can internet activism turn into a real political movement?
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09/01/2013 | Economia y Finanzas
Coal in the rich world - The mixed fortunes of a fuel
Why is the world’s most harmful fossil fuel being burned less in America and more in Europe? The first of two stories looks at America’s cheap gas and new rules.
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30/12/2012 | Transparencia
Corruption in Brazil: A healthier menu
As the historic trial of those guilty of a legislative votes-for-cash scheme draws to a close, Brazilians digest the verdict.
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25/12/2012 | Frente Externo
US - The view from Vandalia
A half century on, a much-studied small city has lessons to teach.
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25/12/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
The rich world's economy - The gift that goes on giving
A seasonal offering for rich-world governments to give their people—and everybody else
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24/12/2012 | En Profundidad
Argentina's courts - Imbalance of powers
The holidays seem to inspire belligerence instead of cheer in Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s president. She has spent most of the southern-hemisphere spring battling with her country’s foreign creditors, media companies and trade unions. Now, in a worrying sign for the health of Argentina’s democratic institutions, she has picked a fight with the judiciary as well.
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24/12/2012 | Transparencia
Corruption in Brazil - A healthier menu
As the historic trial of those guilty of a legislative votes-for-cash scheme draws to a close, Brazilians digest the verdict.
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19/12/2012 | Frente Externo
Venezuela - Preparing to pass the torch
Seriously ill, Hugo Chávez names Nicolás Maduro as his successor on the eve of an election for state governors.
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18/12/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The gun control that works: no guns
I HESITATE to offer thoughts about the school shooting in Connecticut that has seen 20 children and seven adults murdered and the gunman also dead. Your correspondent has been in the rural Midwest researching a column and heard the news on the car radio.
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18/12/2012 | Medio Ambiente
The anthropocene - Atmospheric governance
BACK in July a California businessman dumped 100 tonnes of an iron-containing chemical into the Pacific Ocean as an experiment in geoengineering. The aim of the project, which seems to have succeeded, was to generate a massive algae bloom.
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12/12/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Labour in the Midwest - The latest salvo
IN THE last year or so a number of legislative salvos have been fired against unions in the Midwest—a labour stronghold in America.
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08/12/2012 | Frente Externo
Russia and Turkey -Cool pragmatism
They may disagree about Syria but Russia and Turkey keep close business relations
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06/12/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Israel and Palestine - Barriers to peace
Even by the miserable standards of the peace process, Israel’s proposed new settlements are a disaster
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05/12/2012 | High Tech
Russia’s president - Alone at the top
Vladimir Putin has initiated some high-profile battles against corruption. But to many he seems increasingly isolated and out of touch.
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04/12/2012 | Frente Externo
Policy choices after the congress - The dust settles
China’s new leaders cheer some with hints of reform. The country’s neighbours see less encouraging signals.
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04/12/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentine bonds -Argy-bargy
EVER since Argentina defaulted on $81 billion of debt in 2001, it has been thumbing its nose at its creditors. Those who rejected its offers in 2005 and 2010 to swap non-performing securities for new bonds worth much less have won a series of judgments in American courts ordering the country to pay. But Argentina had few assets in America that these “hold-outs” could seize.
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27/11/2012 | Frente Externo
Angry Panama - The earthbound bite back
Why is Latin America’s fastest-growing country so furious?
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26/11/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico and the United States - The rise of Mexico
America needs to look again at its increasingly important neighbour.
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24/11/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Will the ceasefire lead to peace?
After a week-long war between Israel and the Palestinians, a temporary cessation of violence has been agreed. But can a more durable settlement be found?
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24/11/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Missiles v rockets - Dome warfare
The Israelis can fend off most of the missiles but some will still get through.
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24/11/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina's debt default - The noose tightens
ON OCTOBER 26th an appeals court in New York sent shock waves through the sovereign debt markets, when it upheld a ruling that Argentina could not service the bonds it issued in its 2005 and 2010 debt restructurings unless it also paid the investors who rejected its offer in those exchanges.
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19/11/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Oil in Brazil - The perils of Petrobras
How Graça Foster plans to get Brazil’s oil giant back on track.
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18/11/2012 | Frente Externo
Myanmar and America -Goodbye clenched fist, hello sweaty palm
President Barack Obama makes an unprecedented visit to a former pariah.
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18/11/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Israel and Gaza - Storm after the calm
WITH the five-day aerial battle between Israel and Hamas poised to escalate into all-out ground war, the unlikely figure of Egypt's Islamist president, Muhammad Morsi, is emerging in Israeli minds as the one regional leader who can bring about a credible ceasefire.
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18/11/2012 | Frente Externo
France and the euro -The time-bomb at the heart of Europe
Why France could become the biggest danger to Europe’s single currency.
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10/11/2012 | En Parrilla
Spain and the Americas -¡Ya me voy!
Latinos and locals alike are leaving for the new continent.
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09/11/2012 | Frente Externo
US Congress - Much ado about nothing
The new Congress looks almost exactly like the last.
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09/11/2012 | Frente Externo
Russia’s president -Vladimir the victor
The Russian president is firmly in charge, and he is not inclined to pursue any big political or economic reforms.
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09/11/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Peru -Mayor and mafias
IN 1994 Peru’s Congress approved a law allowing recall referendums against mayors. Its proponents no doubt thought this would be a way to curb corruption. Yet this instrument is now being used by a murky coalition to try to eject Susana Villarán, the mayor of Lima, seemingly because she has tried to apply the law and crack down on corruption.
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07/11/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
The rise of the yuan - Turning from green to red
The yuan is displacing the dollar as a key currency.
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07/11/2012 | Frente Externo
The economy and the election - The macroeconomics mandate
HAD Barack Obama lost to Mitt Romney yesterday, the explanation would have barely taken up a sentence: the economy defeated him. Mr Romney’s mission from day one was simple. Pound home the message that Mr Obama took a bad economy and made it worse, and leave the facts to do the rest: unemployment stuck at around 8% and four straight years of trillion-dollar deficits.
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07/11/2012 | Frente Externo
Barack Obama's re-election - A country divided
AFTER a panel discussion on the US elections hosted by a Dutch radio station the other night, I got to talking to a fellow American who's looking for work stateside. His Dutch government-funded job had been eliminated by austerity measures, so he was trying to convince his wife of the virtues of moving back to America.
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07/11/2012 | Frente Externo
Reform in Mexico - Labour pains
The travails of a bill to modernise labour markets and unions highlight the difficulties facing Enrique Peña Nieto’s plans for reform.
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07/11/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina - Sovereign debt - Hold-outs upheld
A court ruling against Argentina has implications for other governments.
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07/11/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Legalising marijuana - The view from Mexico
AMERICAN elections are watched closely in Mexico, which sends most of its exports and about a tenth of its citizens north of the border. But Tuesday’s presidential contest is not the only poll that’s sparking interest south of the Rio Grande. On the same day, voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington will vote on whether to legalise marijuana—not just for medical use, but for fun and profit. Polls suggest that the initiatives have a decent chance of passing in Washington and Colorado (Oregon is a longer shot).
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05/11/2012 | Frente Externo
Endgame: Florida - Let's stay together
IT TURNS out you really can get tired of an Al Green song. I thought the Reverend was one of those rare singers (Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Willie Nelson) to transcend saturation points: an automatic stop to the radio shuffle while driving. But listening repeatedly to "Let's Stay Together" while baking under the midday Florida sun started to feel like a Clockwork Orange-esque experiment in behaviour modification.
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02/11/2012 | Frente Externo
China’s ruling families -Riches exposed
Communist Party leaders struggle to manage a tense transition.
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02/11/2012 | Frente Externo
Israeli politics - Eyes on America
THE result of the American presidential election on November 6th could determine the shape of Israel's election in January. A win for the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, may make Binyamin Netanyahu, his old friend and Israel’s current prime minister, seem pretty invincible. Invincible enough, anyway, to deter Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister and Mr Netanyahu’s nemesis, from running against him.
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01/11/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Ethnic cleansing in Myanmar - A bloody road to apartheid
MYANMAR’S government has reported that 82 people have died in the past week’s ethnic violence in the western state of Rakhine, and 2,800 houses been razed by fire. Both figures are almost certainly underestimates.
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31/10/2012 | En Parrilla
Hurricane Sandy - Devastating
IN SOME ways Hurricane Sandy has been a mercurial storm, with mild mists followed by violent gusts of wind and sheets of rain. Its devastation is rather more lasting. On Tuesday millions of people on America's east coast woke up to darkened homes, downed trees, flooded streets and news of over 30 dead.
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31/10/2012 | Frente Externo
Banyan - Embarrassed meritocrats
Westerners who laud a Chinese meritocracy continue to miss the point.
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30/10/2012 | En Parrilla
Chile: The lure of Chilecon Valley
As America shuts out immigrant entrepreneurs, Chile welcomes them.
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30/10/2012 | Frente Externo
US Election 2012 -The politics of Hurricane Sandy
IS HURRICANE SANDY capable of altering the election result? The presidential candidates are hunkering down and trying to avoid looking partisan as this big, wet storm heads for the eastern seaboard. But any number of calculations are being made by the campaigns. Plausible arguments are flying, explaining why this storm is bad news, or is it good news, for both sides.
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26/10/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Don’t say ''green shoots''
Britain emerges from its second recession in four years.
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26/10/2012 | En Profundidad
Russia's president: ''I am doing fine''
VLADIMIR PUTIN seemed a fit, relaxed and happy 60-year-old as he addressed this year's meeting of the Valdai club of mostly foreign economic experts over dinner at the Novo-Ogaryovo presidential villa outside Moscow on October 25th. He had the air of a man with few worries either about his own position as president of Russia or about his country's future.
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26/10/2012 | Frente Externo
India and China - Unsettled for a long time yet
Fifty years after a nasty high-altitude war, a border dispute remains unresolved.
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26/10/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Lebanon and Syria - Peering into the abyss
The assassination of a security chief drags Lebanon closer to Syria’s civil war.
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19/10/2012 | Frente Externo
The second presidential debate - An aggressive rematch
AS MUCH a verbal brawl as a discussion of policy, the second presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ended in a draw—at least if points were being awarded to candidates for appealing to their respective bases.
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19/10/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
The EU summit - The red-eyed walk to banking union
“TONIGHT I have confirmation that the worst is over.” President François Hollande’s bullish assessment came at the end of yet another long night of debate at a European summit. His lectern was marked "Jeudi 18 Octobre", though it was well into vendredi 19.
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19/10/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Syria’s civil war - The killing fields
Despite the huge risks involved, the time has come for the West and the Arabs to intervene in Syria.
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19/10/2012 | High Tech
Nitrogen cycle - Difference Engine: End of the electric car?
A COUPLE of dozen electric cars with fuel cells under the bonnet (in place of the more usual flat-pack of batteries beneath the floor) have been zipping around your correspondent’s neighbourhood for the past few years. Most are FCX Clarity models from Honda, all in the same rich crimson colour.
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19/10/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Will Brazil remain the country of the future?
THE question of whether the Mexican economy might one day regain the top spot in the Latin American league tables has once again become an interesting one. In 2010, many thought it had been settled.
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29/09/2012 | En Profundidad
Argentina - The president and the potbangers
Times are getting tougher for Cristina Fernández, but she is not beaten yet.
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10/09/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Asian welfare states - New cradles to graves
The welfare state is flowering in Asia. Will it free the continent from squalor? Or sink it in debt?
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10/09/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
War and diplomacy in Syria - No letting up
As the violence worsens, the UN’s new peace envoy has no plan to proffer yet.
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10/09/2012 | Transparencia
Political ads and media firms - Of mud and money
The only sure winners of November’s elections are media firms.
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10/09/2012 | Frente Externo
Strained relations between Japan and South Korea - Lame ducks and flying feathers
Domestic political upheaval in both countries makes a damaging row worse
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10/09/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina’s dubious poverty line - The six-peso diet
Rumbling stomachs, grumbling citizens.
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09/09/2012 | Frente Externo
US - Elections 2012: Barack Obama's pitch to the centre
PERHAPS because there are so few of them, campaign strategists for both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can describe the undecided voters who will help determine the outcome of this year's election with remarkable precision. On Thursday evening in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the last night of the Democratic convention, Mr Obama made his case for re-election directly to those elusive swing voters.
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01/09/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Ben Bernanke in Jackson Hole - The road to QE3
IF THE Federal Reserve eases monetary policy again at its meeting on September 13th, as I expect, it will be its most meticulously debated, planned and scrutinised move in recent memory.
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01/09/2012 | Frente Externo
Africa, oil and the West - Show us the money
Africans need more transparency to benefit from their resource wealth.
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01/09/2012 | Frente Externo
Barack Obama’s economic record - End-of-term report
The president’s record is better than the woes of America’s economy suggests
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30/08/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
America and China - Working partners
Unexpected co-operation, and investment, beside the Maumee river.
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24/08/2012 | Frente Externo
US Election 2012- Mitt Romney’s chances. The changing man
He has many factors in his favour. But to win the presidency Mitt Romney will have to reinvent himself once again—this time as a likeable, sympathetic guy.
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22/08/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Electricity taxes in Brazil - Untangling the custo Brasil
"I PAY so many different taxes: registration fees, union fees, social contributions, payroll taxes and taxes on profits," says Angela Sardelli, the boss of Vox, a Brazilian company that trains telemarketers for other businesses.
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22/08/2012 | Transparencia
Corruption in India - Digging deeper into the pit
IT IS sometimes said that corruption is the purpose of Indian politics. Increasingly, it can be said with confidence, graft is the subject of politics. We recently ran an interview with India’s unlikely graft-buster, the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG), whose investigations are as explosive as his title is turgid.
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22/08/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
German economy - Europe’s tired engine
As the euro zone goes into another recession, Germany is slowing down.
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21/08/2012 | En Parrilla
Asylum for Assange
ON AUGUST 17th Ecuador announced its decision to grant diplomatic asylum to Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, the organisation which has published reams of classified documents to the consternation of governments around the world.
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15/08/2012 | En Parrilla
Pussy Riot's final statements
LAST Wednesday, in the culminating day of their rather rushed, nine-day trial, the three defendants from the punk-art collective “Pussy Riot” had a chance to read out their final statements to the court.
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15/08/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
The euro - Tempted, Angela?
A controlled break-up of the euro would be hugely risky and expensive. So is waiting for a solution to turn up.
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15/08/2012 | Frente Externo
Venezuela’s army - The vote that counts
Would the generals accept a presidential handover?
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13/08/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Telecommunications in Brazil - The next big blackout?
A swamped mobile-phone network could choke Latin America’s biggest economy.
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13/08/2012 | Frente Externo
US Election 2012 - Why Paul Ryan?
PUNDITS have been madly speculating all weekend about Mitt Romney's reasons for choosing Paul Ryan, a member of Wisconsin's House delegation, for his running-mate.
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10/08/2012 | Frente Externo
A trip into Idleb (part one)
FIGHTERS and women weighed down by bags and young children emerge out of the night at the Syrian border with Turkey. They merrily greet the guides from a rebel group who are about to take us down to their base in Jebel Zawiya, a rebel-held region in the northwestern Syrian province of Idleb.
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09/08/2012 | Frente Externo
India's parties - Hazards of playing politics
INDIA’S national political parties do not look like members of a club anyone would want to join. Every decade or so, the ruling Congress party sees its share of the vote slip further. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is little better off.
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09/08/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The South China Sea -Troubled waters
LONG a zone of contention among a number of littoral states, the South China Sea is fast becoming the focus of one of the most serious bilateral disputes between America and China. Over the weekend China’s foreign ministry summoned an American diplomat to express “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to a statement issued by the state department on August 3rd.
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07/08/2012 | Frente Externo
Victor Yanukovych and the media - Walking the tightrope
IT is election season in Ukraine. Parliamentary polls are scheduled for October 28th, and last week marked the official start of campaigning. It also brought a respite for the country's only remaining independent TV channel, TVi: tax evasion charges were formally dropped against Mykola Kniazhytsky, its director.
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06/08/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Japan and the atom - Nuclearphobia
THIS IS a ghostly time of year in Japan. Not only is it the annual Obon season, when the spirits of the dead return home. August 6th is also the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, when the Japanese are reminded of the invisible horrors of radiation.
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06/08/2012 | Frente Externo
US Elections 2012 : Mitt Romney abroad - Gaffes and choices
The Republican contender’s foray did not go smoothly; but it offered Americans a genuine alternative.
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06/08/2012 | En Parrilla
The expansion of Mercosur - In by the back door
ON JULY 31st Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, made his first foreign trip since his cancer treatment in Cuba last year. He joined Cristina Fernández, Dilma Rousseff and José Mujica, the presidents of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, in Brasília to celebrate his country’s formal accession to Mercosur, a regional trade block.
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06/08/2012 | Frente Externo
Mining in Colombia - Digging deeper
The government stands by its new regulatory scheme
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31/07/2012 | Transparencia
Corruption in Brazil - Justice delayed
The politicians accused of involvement in a vast vote-buying scheme, along with their associates, will face trial at last.
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31/07/2012 | Sociedad
Indigenous rights in South America - Cowboys and Indians
A ruling on an oil project reasserts the indigenous’ right to consultation.
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31/07/2012 | Transparencia
Corruption in Brazil - Justice delayed
The politicians accused of involvement in a vast vote-buying scheme, along with their associates, will face trial at last.
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31/07/2012 | Sociedad
Indigenous rights in South America - Cowboys and Indians
A ruling on an oil project reasserts the indigenous’ right to consultation.
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28/07/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Europe - Spain and the markets.The Spanish patient
A full bail-out of the euro area’s fourth-largest economy is looming.
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28/07/2012 | En Profundidad
US - Gun control: Too late
PEOPLE'S ideas often don't make any sense when you try to hold them together in your head simultaneously, as Richard Rorty, Daniel Kahneman or Desiderius Erasmus will be happy to tell you. One of the areas in which people tend to have ideas that don't make sense, when you hold them together in your head simultaneously, is that of rights.
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28/07/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Europe - Spain and the markets.The Spanish patient
A full bail-out of the euro area’s fourth-largest economy is looming.
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28/07/2012 | En Profundidad
US - Gun control: Too late
PEOPLE'S ideas often don't make any sense when you try to hold them together in your head simultaneously, as Richard Rorty, Daniel Kahneman or Desiderius Erasmus will be happy to tell you. One of the areas in which people tend to have ideas that don't make sense, when you hold them together in your head simultaneously, is that of rights.
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28/07/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Europe - Spain and the markets.The Spanish patient
A full bail-out of the euro area’s fourth-largest economy is looming.
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28/07/2012 | En Profundidad
US - Gun control: Too late
PEOPLE'S ideas often don't make any sense when you try to hold them together in your head simultaneously, as Richard Rorty, Daniel Kahneman or Desiderius Erasmus will be happy to tell you. One of the areas in which people tend to have ideas that don't make sense, when you hold them together in your head simultaneously, is that of rights.
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28/07/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Europe - Spain and the markets.The Spanish patient
A full bail-out of the euro area’s fourth-largest economy is looming.
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28/07/2012 | En Profundidad
US - Gun control: Too late
PEOPLE'S ideas often don't make any sense when you try to hold them together in your head simultaneously, as Richard Rorty, Daniel Kahneman or Desiderius Erasmus will be happy to tell you. One of the areas in which people tend to have ideas that don't make sense, when you hold them together in your head simultaneously, is that of rights.
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25/07/2012 | Frente Externo
Russia - The empty Kremlin
Vladimir Putin’s regime has run out of ideas, but not of nasty tactics.
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25/07/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Investing in Myanmar - Triplicating success
LAST month Thein Sein shared with an audience an “aspired goal” for his country’s economy: to triple per-capita GDP by 2016. With the current population that would entail inducing output to grow by more than 25% year on year—no mean feat by any standard. Even gas-rich Qatar, home to one of the world’s fastest-expanding economies last year, grew by a mere 14%.
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15/07/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
America’s economy - Points of light
Amid the gloom there are unexpected signs of boom, especially in energy.
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15/07/2012 | Frente Externo
Latin America - Cuba: Cuban health care. Under observation
An outbreak of cholera tests a much-praised health system.
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14/07/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
South American integration: Mercosur RIP?
Mounting protectionism and the rule-breaking admission of Venezuela have fatally undermined a once-promising trade block.
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10/07/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
China’s capital controls - The more special economic zone
The landscape of capital-account liberalisation.
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10/07/2012 | Frente Externo
Egypt's politics - A storm brews in Cairo
Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, has been in office for just ten days but is already facing a stand-off with the army over the fate of the Islamist-dominated parliament, which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) dissolved last month. This is the first major test for Egypt’s civilian presidency, whose powers the Mubarak-appointed military council is determined to limit.
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09/07/2012 | En Profundidad
The Vatican’s woes -God’s bankers
A beleaguered papacy is embroiled in intrigue. Some scent a succession struggle
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14/06/2012 | Medio Ambiente
Global warming - The vanishing north
There are benefits in the melting of the Arctic, but the risks are much greater
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14/06/2012 | Frente Externo
Venezuela’s presidential election - Hugo’s last hurrah
In an election campaign like no other, Hugo Chávez must vanquish his own illness as well as an invigorated opposition.
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09/06/2012 | Frente Externo
Brazilian politics - What Lula did next
WHEN Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx late last year, the presumption was that he would have to cut down on the politicking, at least for a while. And indeed radiotherapy and chemotherapy weakened Brazil’s ex-president, and took away his voice—giving his handpicked successor, Dilma Rousseff, a useful chance to build an independent identity.
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09/06/2012 | Frente Externo
Mexico - How important is the tactical vote really?
LEAVING aside the tiny New Alliance party, which is polling only about 3%, there are three serious candidates in Mexico’s presidential race. Most polls suggest that whereas Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party enjoys a fairly comfortable lead, the battle for second place is close.
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09/06/2012 | Frente Externo
Russian politics - Not such a strongman
The hidden weaknesses of Putin’s Russia.
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08/06/2012 | En Parrilla
Human rights in the Americas - Chipping at the foundations
The regional justice system comes under attack from the countries whose citizens need it most.
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04/06/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina’s economy - The blue dollar
Another step towards a siege economy.
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04/06/2012 | Medio Ambiente
Environmental law in Brazil - Compromise or deadlock?
The president’s effort to balance the claims of forests and farms has satisfied few. An opportunity to promote sustainable farming may be missed.
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03/06/2012 | Frente Externo
The war over class war
Economic misunderstanding, not overblown rhetoric, is the real problem with the president.
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03/06/2012 | Frente Externo
The Square Kilometre Array - The world’s biggest astronomy project is split between Africa and Australasia. That gives South Africa, in particular, a chance to show its scientific mettle
THE reputation of physics as the queen of sciences is reflected in the amount of money that governments are willing to spend on it. The Large Hadron Collider, Europe’s latest particle smasher, cost around $9 billion and took a decade to build. But, just occasionally, other fields get to play with some big, taxpayer-funded kit of their own, too.
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21/05/2012 | Frente Externo
Elections in El Salvador and Belize
. TWO Central American countries have just completed legislative elections, with very different results for their respective governments. In Belize, which went to the polls on March 7th, the fate of the prime minister depends on how many seats his party manages to win in the country’s British-style parliament.
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20/05/2012 | En Parrilla
Russia and NATO - Rethink the reset
NATO should not give in to Russian aggression
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20/05/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
The endangered public company - The big engine that couldn’t
Public companies have had a difficult decade, battered by scandals, tied up by regulations and challenged by alternative corporate forms
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06/05/2012 | Transparencia
Corruption in Nigeria - Hard graft
JAMES IBORI, shop worker turned governor of Nigeria's oil-rich Delta state, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in a court in London on April 17th. His conviction for corruption has delighted the west African country. Graft is common in Nigerian politics but few go down for the crime.
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27/04/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Colombian-Venezuelan border: Pick your poison
Drug gangs now dominate where guerrillas once reigned.
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13/04/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Syrian ceasefire - Assad indigestion
A peace plan comes into wobbly effect
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13/04/2012 | Sociedad
Social status and health - Misery index
Low social status is bad for your health. Biologists are starting to understand why.
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13/04/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
China’s military rise - The dragon’s new teeth
A rare look inside the world’s biggest military expansion.
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12/04/2012 | Frente Externo
America’s presidential election 2012- Game on
The campaign looks likely to sharpen America’s divisions
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12/04/2012 | Frente Externo
Chile - Lessons from the students
How to stop a middle-class revolt from derailing a successful development model
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07/04/2012 | Frente Externo
China - Reimposing order
The authorities clamp down on rumours of political turbulence.
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07/04/2012 | Frente Externo
Currency disunion
Why Europe’s leaders should think the unthinkable
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06/04/2012 | Frente Externo
By-elections in Myanmar - The Lady of all landslides
Aung San Suu Kyi’s win is a humiliation for the army. Will it now turn nasty?
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06/04/2012 | Frente Externo
Politics in South Korea - Chalk up one more scandal, but not only for the ruling party
Chalk up one more scandal, but not only for the ruling party.
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04/04/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
China’s military rise
There are ways to reduce the threat to stability that an emerging superpower poses.
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01/04/2012 | Frente Externo
Mexico - The man to beat
As the presidential campaign officially begins, time is running out to catch up with Enrique Peña Nieto
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01/04/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Canada's economy - A two-speed north
JUST as sovereign-debt worries have exposed the economic cleavages between north and south in a “two-speed Europe”, a pair of public budgets released this week highlighted the imbalances between east and west in a two-speed Canada.
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01/04/2012 | Frente Externo
São Paulo’s metro - Not yet fit for a metropolis
Traversing Brazil’s biggest city gets a bit easier
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19/03/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
The world economy - Can it be…the recovery?
The outlook for the world economy is better than it was, but there are still big risks out there.
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19/03/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
The world economy - Can it be…the recovery?
The outlook for the world economy is better than it was, but there are still big risks out there.
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18/03/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Drug war shifts in Latin America
As violence levels soar in nations like Honduras, officials seek new answers, even decriminalization.Latin America is rich in sought-after commodities, including narcotics.The coca leaf, from which cocaine is refined, is grown only in the foothills of the Andes.
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18/03/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Drug war shifts in Latin America
As violence levels soar in nations like Honduras, officials seek new answers, even decriminalization.Latin America is rich in sought-after commodities, including narcotics.The coca leaf, from which cocaine is refined, is grown only in the foothills of the Andes.
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12/03/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Innovation in China: From brawn to brain
If China is to excel at innovation, the state must give entrepreneurs more freedom.
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12/03/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
Innovation in China: From brawn to brain
If China is to excel at innovation, the state must give entrepreneurs more freedom.
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04/03/2012 | Frente Externo
Putin’s Russia - Call back yesterday
Twelve years after his first election, Vladimir Putin is becoming president of Russia again. The country is a lot harder to control now.
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04/03/2012 | En Parrilla
Ecuador - The media and the mouth
Rafael Correa has backed down in his attempt to bankrupt a newspaper. But his assault on media freedom continues to set a worrying example.
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04/03/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Colombia’s FARC - Deliverance?
A pledge to end kidnapping
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04/03/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
China and the World Bank - 2030 vision
CHINA’S economic reforms have seen few breakthroughs in the past few years, or so the analysts tend to think. As the country prepares for big changes due in its top leadership after a Communist Party congress late this year, senior officials are becoming even less inclined than usual to take risks that might damage their careers. And with the economy still growing rapidly, despite the rest of the world’s problems, many of them see no urgent need for change.
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04/03/2012 | Frente Externo
Putin’s Russia - Call back yesterday
Twelve years after his first election, Vladimir Putin is becoming president of Russia again. The country is a lot harder to control now.
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04/03/2012 | En Parrilla
Ecuador - The media and the mouth
Rafael Correa has backed down in his attempt to bankrupt a newspaper. But his assault on media freedom continues to set a worrying example.
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04/03/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Colombia’s FARC - Deliverance?
A pledge to end kidnapping
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04/03/2012 | Economia y Finanzas
China and the World Bank - 2030 vision
CHINA’S economic reforms have seen few breakthroughs in the past few years, or so the analysts tend to think. As the country prepares for big changes due in its top leadership after a Communist Party congress late this year, senior officials are becoming even less inclined than usual to take risks that might damage their careers. And with the economy still growing rapidly, despite the rest of the world’s problems, many of them see no urgent need for change.
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02/03/2012 | Transparencia
US - Crime and politics: The Chicago way. Capital of corruption
ON MARCH 15th the former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, will start to serve a 14-year sentence for corruption in a federal low-security prison. In this part of America, he is treading a well-worn path. Over four decades, four governors (out of seven) have been convicted of corruption.
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02/03/2012 | Transparencia
US - Crime and politics: The Chicago way. Capital of corruption
ON MARCH 15th the former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, will start to serve a 14-year sentence for corruption in a federal low-security prison. In this part of America, he is treading a well-worn path. Over four decades, four governors (out of seven) have been convicted of corruption.
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02/03/2012 | Transparencia
US - Crime and politics: The Chicago way. Capital of corruption
ON MARCH 15th the former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, will start to serve a 14-year sentence for corruption in a federal low-security prison. In this part of America, he is treading a well-worn path. Over four decades, four governors (out of seven) have been convicted of corruption.
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25/02/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Nuclear proliferation: Bombing Iran
Nobody should welcome the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran. But bombing the place is not the answer.
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25/02/2012 | Frente Externo
India and its near-abroad - The elephant in the region
Competition with China is making it nicer, but India could do still more to sweeten relations with its neighbours.
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25/02/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Nuclear proliferation: Bombing Iran
Nobody should welcome the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran. But bombing the place is not the answer.
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25/02/2012 | Frente Externo
India and its near-abroad - The elephant in the region
Competition with China is making it nicer, but India could do still more to sweeten relations with its neighbours.
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25/02/2012 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Nuclear proliferation: Bombing Iran
Nobody should welcome the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran. But bombing the place is not the answer.
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25/02/2012 | Frente Externo
India and its near-abroad - The elephant in the region
Competition with China is making it nicer, but India could do still more to sweeten relations with its neighbours.
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05/11/2011 | Frente Externo
Japan’s nuclear conundrum: The $64 billion question
Once the Fukushima nuclear plant is stable, the government should temporarily nationalise its operator.
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30/10/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Big Oil’s bigger brothers
A high oil price is great for oil companies, but it also attracts competitors.
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30/10/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
China to the rescue?
IT WAS only a matter of time before China was heralded as Europe’s escape route from its debt crisis. News that Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, called Hu Jintao, his opposite number in China, after the crisis summit on October 27th sparked speculation that China might put substantial amounts of money into the debt of troubled euro-zone borrowers. The chatter grew louder when Klaus Regling, the head of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the euro area’s bail-out fund, visited Beijing a day later. And a poor post-summit Italian bond auction has made the need for a deus ex machina seem even greater.
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29/10/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Economic crisis: Europe’s rescue plan
This week’s summit was supposed to put an end to the euro crisis. It hasn’t.
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21/10/2011 | Frente Externo
Argentina - Argentina’s presidential election: Flying solo
Cristina Fernández has so far proved the naysayers wrong. How long can she stick to the policies that are about to win her a second term?.
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11/10/2011 | High Tech
Social media and the Wall Street protests - #Occupytheweb
The picture below is from We Are The 99 Percent, a Tumblr blog where people post stories of economic hardship. The chart below shows the frequency of posts on the blog since it got going in early September. I've posted this because my hunch is that out of all the online manifestations of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests, it is the closest thing to a barometer of how much traction the movement is getting
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11/10/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
America and China - Is China a currency manipulator?
The yuan/dollar exchange rate and America's trade deficit with China.
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08/10/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Drugs in Venezuela - By the planeload
Hugo Chávez seems unperturbed by claims of official complicity in crime
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04/10/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
The subprime continent
ANOTHER sea of red numbers on the markets today, with financial institutions taking their familiar pounding. Two banks in particular, Dexia and Morgan Stanley, have grabbed attention on either side of the Atlantic, though given the breadth of the decline, their prominence may be no more deserving, and perhaps even less, than some of their competitors.
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03/10/2011 | En Parrilla
Internet governance - In praise of chaos
Governments’ attempts to control the internet should be resisted
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03/10/2011 | En Parrilla
Internet governance - In praise of chaos
Governments’ attempts to control the internet should be resisted
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03/10/2011 | En Parrilla
Internet governance - In praise of chaos
Governments’ attempts to control the internet should be resisted
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01/10/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Haqqani network - Snake country
The Pakistani army’s complex relationship with jihadists
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01/10/2011 | Frente Externo
Russia’s presidency - Guess who!
The news that Vladimir Putin will return to the Kremlin ends a four-year charade. The real question is how he can stay in power.
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25/09/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
The world economy - Catching up is so very hard to do
The emerging economies have had a great decade. That was the easy part
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24/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Russia's presidency - The return of the man who never left
SOME would have you believe it was the biggest question in Russian politics. Would Vladimir Putin, prime minister in 1999-2000, president to 2008 and since then prime minister, come back next year as Russia's president? If so, the constitution (changed while he was away from the Kremlin) would allow him two consecutive six-year terms, keeping him in power until 2024, by when he will be 71.
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23/09/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Strife in Yemen - No easy way out of a bloody mess
The Arab world’s poorest country is suffering another bout of violence—with no end to the turmoil in sight.
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23/09/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Israel, Palestine and the United Nations - Yes to Palestinian statehood
Efforts to stop the Palestinians from winning statehood at the UN are misguided and self-defeating.
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23/09/2011 | En Profundidad
Protectionism in Argentina - Keep out
South America’s two biggest economies are imposing heavy-handed trade restrictions. Our first article looks at Argentina, our second at Brazil
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23/09/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico’s drug war and the internet - The spider and the web
The fog of war descends on cyberspace
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23/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Canning’s ghost: The government is newly enamoured of Latin America
AS IT slips down the league table of world power, it has become customary in recent years for Britain to close diplomatic outposts. So it bucks the trend that next spring the British embassy in El Salvador will reopen after an interval of nine years. Around the same time, a new consulate will open in Recife, serving Brazil’s fast developing north-east.
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20/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Brazil - Brazilian politics: A packed chessboard
TO THE outside world, Brazil’s last elections seem like yesterday. But the country is already gearing up for the next round in October 2012. That is when city mayors and councillors will be elected—and nowhere is more closely watched than São Paulo, a municipality bigger than many countries (with 11m inhabitants). Its mayoral race has national implications.
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17/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Egypt and Israel
Egyptians relish Israel’s growing discomfiture in the region. But they do not want another war
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17/09/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Energy in Japan - Bright ideas needed
Japan’s power monopolies raise costs and stifle innovation
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16/09/2011 | Transparencia
The French rumour-mill - French favours
Scandals left, right and centre—it’s just like the old days
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15/09/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
US - The jobs plan. From deficits to jobs, and back
Republicans and the deficit stand in the way of a new stimulus package.
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11/09/2011 | Frente Externo
September 11th 2001 - Ten years on
America has made mistakes over the past decade, but it cannot afford to drop its guard against al-Qaeda
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11/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Guatemala’s presidential election - The return of the iron fist
A former general promises a crackdown on violence
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07/09/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil’s economy - Changing direction
ON AUGUST 31st Brazil’s monetary-policy committee decided to cut the Central Bank’s benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, to 12%. It was the committee’s most unpredictable meeting for many months. Just a week earlier, analysts were split between those who pointed to inflation at 7.1%, above the 6.5% ceiling of the bank’s target, as reason to expect another rise—the year’s sixth—and those who felt that turmoil abroad and a cooling economy at home were reason to expect the committee to stay its hand
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07/09/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil’s economy - Changing direction
ON AUGUST 31st Brazil’s monetary-policy committee decided to cut the Central Bank’s benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, to 12%. It was the committee’s most unpredictable meeting for many months. Just a week earlier, analysts were split between those who pointed to inflation at 7.1%, above the 6.5% ceiling of the bank’s target, as reason to expect another rise—the year’s sixth—and those who felt that turmoil abroad and a cooling economy at home were reason to expect the committee to stay its hand
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04/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Venezuela: Brothel creepers
In the dozen years since Hugo Chávez came to power, Venezuela’s government has closed down three television channels and 32 radio stations it didn’t like by revoking their licences. This week, for the first time, a court ordered the closure of a newspaper, 6 to Poder (“Sixth Power”), a weekly scandal-sheet, and the arrest of its editors. Their offences: “insulting public officials”, “instigating hatred” and “offending women”.
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04/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Bolivia: Backlash
When Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, took office in 2006, he promised to govern on behalf of the country’s long-downtrodden ethnic groups. “The 500 years of Indian resistance have not been in vain,” he proclaimed in his inaugural address. “From 500 years of resistance we pass to another 500 years of power…We are here and we say that we have achieved power to end the injustice, the inequality and oppression that we have lived under.”
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04/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Venezuela: Brothel creepers
In the dozen years since Hugo Chávez came to power, Venezuela’s government has closed down three television channels and 32 radio stations it didn’t like by revoking their licences. This week, for the first time, a court ordered the closure of a newspaper, 6 to Poder (“Sixth Power”), a weekly scandal-sheet, and the arrest of its editors. Their offences: “insulting public officials”, “instigating hatred” and “offending women”.
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04/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Bolivia: Backlash
When Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, took office in 2006, he promised to govern on behalf of the country’s long-downtrodden ethnic groups. “The 500 years of Indian resistance have not been in vain,” he proclaimed in his inaugural address. “From 500 years of resistance we pass to another 500 years of power…We are here and we say that we have achieved power to end the injustice, the inequality and oppression that we have lived under.”
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02/09/2011 | Frente Externo
The United States and Latin America: Partnership, and its obstacles
Barack Obama’s fitful attempts to strike a new tone in relations with Latin America face new obstacles from Republicans in Congress.
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02/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Peru’s new government - Mining and the man: A calm start for Humala
AFTER narrowly winning a divisive presidential election, Ollanta Humala has got off to an unexpectedly calm start as Peru’s president.
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02/09/2011 | Frente Externo
The United States and Latin America: Partnership, and its obstacles
Barack Obama’s fitful attempts to strike a new tone in relations with Latin America face new obstacles from Republicans in Congress.
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02/09/2011 | Frente Externo
Peru’s new government - Mining and the man: A calm start for Humala
AFTER narrowly winning a divisive presidential election, Ollanta Humala has got off to an unexpectedly calm start as Peru’s president.
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27/08/2011 | Frente Externo
Chile - The dam breaks. Pent-up frustration at the flaws of a successful democracy
AFTER two decades of strong economic growth, social progress and enviable political stability, Chile has suddenly started behaving in a manner more akin to some of its neighbours.
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27/08/2011 | Frente Externo
Nicaragua’s presidential election. Ortega goes capitalist
Looking for alternatives to Venezuela
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27/08/2011 | Frente Externo
Chile - The dam breaks. Pent-up frustration at the flaws of a successful democracy
AFTER two decades of strong economic growth, social progress and enviable political stability, Chile has suddenly started behaving in a manner more akin to some of its neighbours.
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27/08/2011 | Frente Externo
Nicaragua’s presidential election. Ortega goes capitalist
Looking for alternatives to Venezuela
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26/08/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Crime in Trinidad - Taking on the gangs. Emergency treatment
STREET life in St James, a suburb of Port of Spain, Trinidad’s capital, that likes to call itself the “city that never sleeps”, normally blasts on until the early hours. But now all is deathly quiet. Customers and staff scuttle home early to beat a 9pm curfew that started on August 21st in Port of Spain and three other towns as part of a nationwide state of emergency imposed by Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
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26/08/2011 | Frente Externo
The media in Venezuela - Brothel creepers. No Voltaires in Venezuela
IN THE dozen years since Hugo Chávez came to power, Venezuela’s government has closed down three television channels and 32 radio stations it didn’t like by revoking their licences. This week, for the first time, a court ordered the closure of a newspaper, 6 to Poder (“Sixth Power”), a weekly scandal-sheet, and the arrest of its editors. Their offences: “insulting public officials”, “instigating hatred” and “offending women”.
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26/08/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Crime in Trinidad - Taking on the gangs. Emergency treatment
STREET life in St James, a suburb of Port of Spain, Trinidad’s capital, that likes to call itself the “city that never sleeps”, normally blasts on until the early hours. But now all is deathly quiet. Customers and staff scuttle home early to beat a 9pm curfew that started on August 21st in Port of Spain and three other towns as part of a nationwide state of emergency imposed by Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
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26/08/2011 | Frente Externo
The media in Venezuela - Brothel creepers. No Voltaires in Venezuela
IN THE dozen years since Hugo Chávez came to power, Venezuela’s government has closed down three television channels and 32 radio stations it didn’t like by revoking their licences. This week, for the first time, a court ordered the closure of a newspaper, 6 to Poder (“Sixth Power”), a weekly scandal-sheet, and the arrest of its editors. Their offences: “insulting public officials”, “instigating hatred” and “offending women”.
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25/08/2011 | Frente Externo
Bolivian politics -Backlash
WHEN Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, took office in 2006, he promised to govern on behalf of the country’s long-downtrodden ethnic groups. “The 500 years of Indian resistance have not been in vain,” he proclaimed in his inaugural address. “From 500 years of resistance we pass to another 500 years of power…We are here and we say that we have achieved power to end the injustice, the inequality and oppression that we have lived under.”
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25/08/2011 | Frente Externo
Bolivian politics -Backlash
WHEN Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, took office in 2006, he promised to govern on behalf of the country’s long-downtrodden ethnic groups. “The 500 years of Indian resistance have not been in vain,” he proclaimed in his inaugural address. “From 500 years of resistance we pass to another 500 years of power…We are here and we say that we have achieved power to end the injustice, the inequality and oppression that we have lived under.”
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23/08/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The fall of Tripoli - With a rebel yell
THE noose tightened and tightened and on Saturday night it cinched fast. Through Sunday, August 21st and into early Monday morning, the world watched through scratchy video feeds as Libya’s rebels—now in the heart of Tripoli and with the run of the country—searched for the trap door through which to drop their sworn enemy, Muammar Qaddafi
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23/08/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The fall of Tripoli - With a rebel yell
THE noose tightened and tightened and on Saturday night it cinched fast. Through Sunday, August 21st and into early Monday morning, the world watched through scratchy video feeds as Libya’s rebels—now in the heart of Tripoli and with the run of the country—searched for the trap door through which to drop their sworn enemy, Muammar Qaddafi
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16/08/2011 | Frente Externo
China’s aircraft-carrier - Name and purpose to be determined
The Chinese navy takes a much-heralded step forward but its intentions are vague.
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16/08/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina's economy - Lies and Argentine statistics
Stalinist practices in Buenos Aires
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16/08/2011 | Frente Externo
American idiocracy - The civil war in Washington, DC, is damaging American business
THE great Calvin Coolidge reputedly said that “the business of America is business.” These days the business of America is carpet-chewing rage. American politicians are intent, not on improving their country’s competitiveness, but on gouging each other’s eyes out.
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16/08/2011 | Frente Externo
Syria and the region - Unfriended
TIME is running out, but for whom? Since a popular uprising against his rule erupted five months ago, Syria’s President Bashar Assad has fought back with a mix of promised reforms and brutal repression. During Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which started at the beginning of August, he has veered towards even starker repression.
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11/08/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Bank withdrawals
AS STOCKMARKETS tanked again on Monday and investors flocked to the relative safety of Treasury debt despite Friday’s downgrade of America’s credit rating by S&P, punch-drunk moneymen were left asking if it was 2008 all over again. One ominous echo of those dark days was the stomach-churning performance of financial firms, which reportedly prompted the agencies that make up the Financial Stability Oversight Council, America’s systemic-risk regulator, to hold an emergency call.
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11/08/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil’s industrial policy - Dealing with the real
The government feels the manufacturers’ pain
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11/08/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Dissent in China - Of development and dictators
When the story of Chinese democracy is written, a train crash in Wenzhou will deserve a special mention
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07/08/2011 | Medio Ambiente
Natural gas - Cleaner, not cooler
Ever more growth in the use of natural gas is welcome for many reasons. But it is not a cure for global warming.
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04/08/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
America's economy - Time for a double dip?
A lousy debt deal, rising fears of a recession, the danger of longer-term stagnation: America’s outlook is grim.
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29/07/2011 | En Profundidad
Censorship in Ecuador: Lèse-presidente. Rafael Correa seeks to bankrupt his media foes
FOR a man who calls his country’s legal system dysfunctional and corrupt, Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president, has fared remarkably well in the courts. In 2008 he won $600,000 when he sued Banco Pichincha, Ecuador’s biggest bank, because it had mistakenly included him in a list of delinquent credit-card holders. On July 20th a judge ordered Emilio Palacio, a former columnist for El Universo, one of Ecuador’s main newspapers, and three of the paper’s directors, to pay Mr Correa the colossal total of $40m in damages, and sentenced all of the four men to three years in jail.
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28/07/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Offshoring the boat people
EVER since a conservative government under John Howard launched Australia’s so-called Pacific Solution to repel boat people ten years ago, the country’s political leaders have been vying to stop asylum-seekers landing by sea.
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24/07/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Norway attacks - Manifesto of a murderer
EVER since Anders Behring Breivik fired the opening volley of the shooting spree that took the lives of at least 85 youngsters on the small Norwegian island of Utøya on Friday, every few hours has brought some new shock.
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24/07/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
India's economy - The half-finished revolution
India’s liberalisation began with a bang in 1991, but two decades on the unreformed parts of the economy are becoming a drag on growth. Time for another bang.
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23/07/2011 | Frente Externo
Peru's new president: Promises and premonitions
Ollanta Humala has given strong signals that he will keep Peru’s successful economic policies. But the politics may be bumpy.
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23/07/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Italy and the euro: On the edge
By engulfing Italy, the euro crisis has entered a perilous new phase—with the single currency itself now at risk.
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22/07/2011 | En Parrilla
The euro-zone crisis summit - Russian or Belgian roulette?
“We have shown we are up to the challenge. We are capable of acting.” Such were the bullish words of Angela Merkel tonight, after a nine-hour summit of euro zone leaders agreed a new €109 billion bail-out for Greece, and approved the creation of new tools to fight market contagion around the euro zone (the communique is here PDF).
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21/07/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Wall Street and the debt ceiling - Unthinkable? Contingency planning, sort of
BEN BERNANKE reckons it would be “a huge financial calamity”. Bond markets remain sanguine about a possible failure to raise America’s debt ceiling by August 2nd, and the subsequent potential for a technical default. But it pays to plan ahead, just in case the politicians lose the last of their marbles.
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21/07/2011 | En Parrilla
Tibet, China and America. Toward the light?
ON THE topic of Tibet, Xi Jinping, the man widely expected to be the next leader of the Chinese Communist Party, sounds much like his predecessors. Speaking on July 19th in the capital, Lhasa, in front of the Potala Palace, former residence of the Dalai Lamas, Tibet’s spiritual leaders, he celebrated the way Chinese rule had led Tibet “from the dark toward the light”.
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17/07/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Arab awakening - Revolution spinning in the wind
What is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, which have toppled their leaders, and in Libya and Syria, fighting to topple theirs
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17/07/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Arab awakening - Revolution spinning in the wind
What is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, which have toppled their leaders, and in Libya and Syria, fighting to topple theirs
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15/07/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Panama's economy: A Singapore for Central America?
Latin America’s fastest-growing country has set its sights high. First it needs a government as impressive as its economy.
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15/07/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Security in Colombia - Never-ending: The FARC is not finished yet
AS DEFENCE minister for almost three years under President Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos led the crackdown on the guerrillas of the FARC. Their numbers fell from around 18,000 in 2002 to 8,000, and they were driven from areas in central Colombia that they had held for decades. Soon after Mr Santos took over as president last August, the security forces killed the FARC’s top military commander, Jorge Briceño (nom de guerre,“el Mono Jojoy”) in a ground and air operation that destroyed his headquarters.
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15/07/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Panama's economy: A Singapore for Central America?
Latin America’s fastest-growing country has set its sights high. First it needs a government as impressive as its economy.
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15/07/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Security in Colombia - Never-ending: The FARC is not finished yet
AS DEFENCE minister for almost three years under President Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos led the crackdown on the guerrillas of the FARC. Their numbers fell from around 18,000 in 2002 to 8,000, and they were driven from areas in central Colombia that they had held for decades. Soon after Mr Santos took over as president last August, the security forces killed the FARC’s top military commander, Jorge Briceño (nom de guerre,“el Mono Jojoy”) in a ground and air operation that destroyed his headquarters.
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13/07/2011 | Frente Externo
Cuba and Venezuela: If Hugo goes. Raúl Castro searches for other lifelines
JUST when they were beginning to get used to the daunting prospect of life without Fidel Castro, Cubans are now being forced to consider another, even more daunting, possibility: life without Hugo Chávez.
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13/07/2011 | Frente Externo
The Bolivarian patient
Venezuela’s president returns, but his illness raises many questions about the country’s political future
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13/07/2011 | Frente Externo
Cuba and Venezuela: If Hugo goes. Raúl Castro searches for other lifelines
JUST when they were beginning to get used to the daunting prospect of life without Fidel Castro, Cubans are now being forced to consider another, even more daunting, possibility: life without Hugo Chávez.
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13/07/2011 | Frente Externo
The Bolivarian patient
Venezuela’s president returns, but his illness raises many questions about the country’s political future
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29/06/2011 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Just in time
SHE had delayed for so long that some people had begun to doubt her. But when the announcement came, it was with an air of inevitability. Yesterday, just four days before an official deadline, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's president, said that she would run for a second term in office in October.
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29/06/2011 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Just in time
SHE had delayed for so long that some people had begun to doubt her. But when the announcement came, it was with an air of inevitability. Yesterday, just four days before an official deadline, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's president, said that she would run for a second term in office in October.
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19/06/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
American economic policy - Running out of road
Although America’s recovery from recession is disappointingly slow, policymakers doubt the merits of another monetary or budgetary push.
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19/06/2011 | Frente Externo
Syria - Family matters
ON THURSDAY night Rami Makhlouf, a tycoon who is also a cousin of president Bashar Assad and a member of his inner circle, announced he would be stepping back from business to focus on charity work. Since protests began in March he and his businesses, particularly Syriatel, a mobile network, have been targets of protesters' rage. He has grown ever more ostentatiously wealthy since the government has made small steps to liberalise the economy, amassing interests in oil, transport and real estate among others.
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19/06/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
American economic policy - Running out of road
Although America’s recovery from recession is disappointingly slow, policymakers doubt the merits of another monetary or budgetary push.
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19/06/2011 | Frente Externo
Syria - Family matters
ON THURSDAY night Rami Makhlouf, a tycoon who is also a cousin of president Bashar Assad and a member of his inner circle, announced he would be stepping back from business to focus on charity work. Since protests began in March he and his businesses, particularly Syriatel, a mobile network, have been targets of protesters' rage. He has grown ever more ostentatiously wealthy since the government has made small steps to liberalise the economy, amassing interests in oil, transport and real estate among others.
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18/06/2011 | En Parrilla
Sticky patch or meltdown?
How politicians could carelessly turn a temporary softening of the global recovery into something worse.
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18/06/2011 | Frente Externo
Greece's political crisis - A long day in Greece
FOR aspiring Socialist cabinet ministers, anxiously clutching their mobile phones in anticipation of a call from the prime minister’s office, it was an interminable day. George Papandreou had promised to announce a sweeping reshuffle of his government on Thursday in an attempt to reinvigorate Greece’s battle to stave off default. But the timetable has now slipped by 24 hours, at least.
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18/06/2011 | En Parrilla
Sticky patch or meltdown?
How politicians could carelessly turn a temporary softening of the global recovery into something worse.
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18/06/2011 | Frente Externo
Greece's political crisis - A long day in Greece
FOR aspiring Socialist cabinet ministers, anxiously clutching their mobile phones in anticipation of a call from the prime minister’s office, it was an interminable day. George Papandreou had promised to announce a sweeping reshuffle of his government on Thursday in an attempt to reinvigorate Greece’s battle to stave off default. But the timetable has now slipped by 24 hours, at least.
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17/06/2011 | Frente Externo
Venezuelan politics: Troubles on two fronts
The president will need to overcome his own health problems and a vigorous opposition to win re-election.
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17/06/2011 | Frente Externo
Venezuelan politics: Troubles on two fronts
The president will need to overcome his own health problems and a vigorous opposition to win re-election.
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14/06/2011 | Frente Externo
Italy's referendums -Another blow for Berlusconi
IT WAS bad enough for the nuclear industry. But it was an overwhelming personal defeat for Italy's embattled prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
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14/06/2011 | Frente Externo
Italy's referendums -Another blow for Berlusconi
IT WAS bad enough for the nuclear industry. But it was an overwhelming personal defeat for Italy's embattled prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
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13/06/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Indian banks - The pendulum swings again
China’s banking system is not a good model for India.
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13/06/2011 | Frente Externo
The Syrian uprising - The balance of power is shifting
The tide may slowly be turning against President Bashar Assad
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13/06/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Indian banks - The pendulum swings again
China’s banking system is not a good model for India.
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13/06/2011 | Frente Externo
The Syrian uprising - The balance of power is shifting
The tide may slowly be turning against President Bashar Assad
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05/06/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The death of Ilyas Kashmiri - Droning on
AMERICA’S persistent, and increasing, use of drone attacks against suspected terrorists in remote parts of Pakistan remains immensely unpopular in that country. More so than the raid by American special forces, which killed Osama bin Laden last month in Abbottabad, the drone strikes incite fury: Pakistanis see their national sovereignty violated repeatedly and unlucky civilians killed in the process.
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05/06/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The death of Ilyas Kashmiri - Droning on
AMERICA’S persistent, and increasing, use of drone attacks against suspected terrorists in remote parts of Pakistan remains immensely unpopular in that country. More so than the raid by American special forces, which killed Osama bin Laden last month in Abbottabad, the drone strikes incite fury: Pakistanis see their national sovereignty violated repeatedly and unlucky civilians killed in the process.
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03/06/2011 | Medio Ambiente
Environmentalism under fire - Soaring emissions
The rhetoric about environmental controls killing jobs is getting louder and louder.
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03/06/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The battle for Yemen - Tribes at war
Yemen is threatening to descend into tribal chaos.
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03/06/2011 | Medio Ambiente
Environmentalism under fire - Soaring emissions
The rhetoric about environmental controls killing jobs is getting louder and louder.
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03/06/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The battle for Yemen - Tribes at war
Yemen is threatening to descend into tribal chaos.
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01/06/2011 | Sociedad
Privacy and the law - Keeping secrets in the age of tweets
Britain’s privacy law is a mess—and increasingly unsustainable
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01/06/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
China in Laos - Busted flush
How a Sino-Lao special economic zone hit the skids
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01/06/2011 | En Parrilla
Nigeria - A troubled start
"WE WILL not allow anyone to exploit differences in creed or tongue to set us one against another," said Goodluck Jonathan in his inauguration speech on Sunday. A few hours after Nigeria's new president was sworn in, a bomb blast near an army barracks in Bauchi province, in the country's north-east, killed ten people and injured at least 25 more. That does not undermine the president's message but it makes clear how hard he will have to work to achieve it.
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01/06/2011 | En Profundidad
Argentina's presidential race - Will she, won't she?
The unusual coyness of Cristina Fernández
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01/06/2011 | Sociedad
Privacy and the law - Keeping secrets in the age of tweets
Britain’s privacy law is a mess—and increasingly unsustainable
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01/06/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
China in Laos - Busted flush
How a Sino-Lao special economic zone hit the skids
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01/06/2011 | En Parrilla
Nigeria - A troubled start
"WE WILL not allow anyone to exploit differences in creed or tongue to set us one against another," said Goodluck Jonathan in his inauguration speech on Sunday. A few hours after Nigeria's new president was sworn in, a bomb blast near an army barracks in Bauchi province, in the country's north-east, killed ten people and injured at least 25 more. That does not undermine the president's message but it makes clear how hard he will have to work to achieve it.
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01/06/2011 | En Profundidad
Argentina's presidential race - Will she, won't she?
The unusual coyness of Cristina Fernández
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29/05/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
China and the world economy - Crosstown traffic
The global economy is slowing. For one of its biggest members, that is good news.
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29/05/2011 | Frente Externo
The United States, Israel and the Arabs - You can't make everyone happy
Barack Obama mildly pleased some Arabs, annoyed a lot of Israelis and has yet to bring the prospect of Middle East peace any closer.
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29/05/2011 | Frente Externo
Mexico's presidential election - Campaigning against crime
Each governed by a presidential hopeful, Mexico City and Mexico State seem safer than the rest of the country. What lessons do they offer?
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29/05/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
China and the world economy - Crosstown traffic
The global economy is slowing. For one of its biggest members, that is good news.
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29/05/2011 | Frente Externo
The United States, Israel and the Arabs - You can't make everyone happy
Barack Obama mildly pleased some Arabs, annoyed a lot of Israelis and has yet to bring the prospect of Middle East peace any closer.
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29/05/2011 | Frente Externo
Mexico's presidential election - Campaigning against crime
Each governed by a presidential hopeful, Mexico City and Mexico State seem safer than the rest of the country. What lessons do they offer?
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23/05/2011 | Frente Externo
Brazil's north-east: Catching up in a hurry
The country’s poorest region is narrowing the gap with the prosperous south.
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23/05/2011 | Frente Externo
Brazil's north-east: Catching up in a hurry
The country’s poorest region is narrowing the gap with the prosperous south.
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22/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The lessons of Libya
Outsiders had good reason to intervene in Libya. But their cause may suffer from it.
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22/05/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil's north-east - Catching up in a hurry
The country’s poorest region is narrowing the gap with the prosperous south.
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22/05/2011 | Transparencia
Bribery in Mexico - A state-by-state guide to graft
“I AM confiscating your driving licence. You can collect it at the police station on Monday, but you will have to wait all day, maybe longer. Shall we settle the matter here?” Your correspondent is by no means the only person to have been approached for a bribe in Mexico (he declined).
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22/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The lessons of Libya
Outsiders had good reason to intervene in Libya. But their cause may suffer from it.
................................................................................................................................
22/05/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil's north-east - Catching up in a hurry
The country’s poorest region is narrowing the gap with the prosperous south.
................................................................................................................................
22/05/2011 | Transparencia
Bribery in Mexico - A state-by-state guide to graft
“I AM confiscating your driving licence. You can collect it at the police station on Monday, but you will have to wait all day, maybe longer. Shall we settle the matter here?” Your correspondent is by no means the only person to have been approached for a bribe in Mexico (he declined).
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21/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Pakistan and India: A rivalry that threatens the world
Pakistan’s dangerous fondness for jihadis, the Taliban and nuclear weapons is rooted in its fears of India.
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21/05/2011 | Frente Externo
India's state politics: Red dusk
A landmark in the politics of West Bengal. Nationally, some confusing signals.
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21/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Pakistan and India: A rivalry that threatens the world
Pakistan’s dangerous fondness for jihadis, the Taliban and nuclear weapons is rooted in its fears of India.
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21/05/2011 | Frente Externo
India's state politics: Red dusk
A landmark in the politics of West Bengal. Nationally, some confusing signals.
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16/05/2011 | High Tech
Another digital gold rush
Internet companies are booming again. Does that mean it is time to buy or to sell?
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16/05/2011 | High Tech
Another digital gold rush
Internet companies are booming again. Does that mean it is time to buy or to sell?
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13/05/2011 | Sociedad
China's population - The most surprising demographic crisis
A new census raises questions about the future of China’s one-child policy.
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13/05/2011 | Sociedad
China's population - The most surprising demographic crisis
A new census raises questions about the future of China’s one-child policy.
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06/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Osama bin Laden - Now, kill his dream
Osama bin Laden’s brand of brutal jihad is losing its appeal in the Arab world
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06/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Osama bin Laden - Now, kill his dream
Osama bin Laden’s brand of brutal jihad is losing its appeal in the Arab world
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04/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Al-Qaeda in Pakistan - Bin Laden's front yard
STANDING at Osama bin Laden's green front gate, on Tuesday May 3rd, three bemused policemen faced a horde of the world's journalists. Having been, until Sunday morning, the most secret hideaway for the world's most-wanted man, number 25 in this otherwise sleepy neighbourhood has sprung to the centre of global attention.
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04/05/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Carbon flows - The emissions omitted
The usual figures ignore the role of trade in the world’s carbon economy.
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04/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Al-Qaeda in Pakistan - Bin Laden's front yard
STANDING at Osama bin Laden's green front gate, on Tuesday May 3rd, three bemused policemen faced a horde of the world's journalists. Having been, until Sunday morning, the most secret hideaway for the world's most-wanted man, number 25 in this otherwise sleepy neighbourhood has sprung to the centre of global attention.
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04/05/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Carbon flows - The emissions omitted
The usual figures ignore the role of trade in the world’s carbon economy.
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02/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Osama bin Laden The leader of al-Qaeda is dead
"JUSTICE has been done." Thus Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, putting an end to a decade-long manhunt that had bedeviled America's intelligence agencies. Though the terrorist leader's operational capabilities were substantially diminished as a result of America's war on terror, his elusiveness had been an open wound in the years following the attacks of September 11th.
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02/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Security in Colombia - New names, old games
Criminal gangs led by former paramilitaries have become the biggest threat facing the new government.
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02/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Osama bin Laden The leader of al-Qaeda is dead
"JUSTICE has been done." Thus Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, putting an end to a decade-long manhunt that had bedeviled America's intelligence agencies. Though the terrorist leader's operational capabilities were substantially diminished as a result of America's war on terror, his elusiveness had been an open wound in the years following the attacks of September 11th.
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02/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Security in Colombia - New names, old games
Criminal gangs led by former paramilitaries have become the biggest threat facing the new government.
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01/05/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
EEUU - Decline of the working man
Why ever fewer low-skilled American men have jobs.
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01/05/2011 | Frente Externo
China's census - Older and wiser?
THE publication of preliminary data from China’s census last year shows that an extraordinary demographic transition is under way. The population is still massive, and larger than any other country’s, at 1.34 billion. But the population is growing slower than when it was last counted, in 2000, and ageing faster. China is still likely to be the first country to grow old before it gets rich.
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01/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico's drug war - Shallow graves, deepening alarm
Still no end to the horrors.
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01/05/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
EEUU - Decline of the working man
Why ever fewer low-skilled American men have jobs.
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01/05/2011 | Frente Externo
China's census - Older and wiser?
THE publication of preliminary data from China’s census last year shows that an extraordinary demographic transition is under way. The population is still massive, and larger than any other country’s, at 1.34 billion. But the population is growing slower than when it was last counted, in 2000, and ageing faster. China is still likely to be the first country to grow old before it gets rich.
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01/05/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico's drug war - Shallow graves, deepening alarm
Still no end to the horrors.
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26/04/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
The euro area's debt crisis - Latin lessons
There is a model for how to restructure Greece’s debts .
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26/04/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Piracy - Brigands seeking harbours
Why pirates like a little law and order.
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26/04/2011 | Sociedad
China's Tibetan problem - More turbulent monks
THE open wound that is Tibetan resentment of Chinese rule refuses to heal. According to accounts seeping out of China, it has been bleeding profusely for some six weeks now at Kirti, a Tibetan monastery in Sichuan province. Kirti is in Aba prefecture, which Tibetans regard as Amdo, a part of historic Tibet.
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26/04/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
The euro area's debt crisis - Latin lessons
There is a model for how to restructure Greece’s debts .
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26/04/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Piracy - Brigands seeking harbours
Why pirates like a little law and order.
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26/04/2011 | Sociedad
China's Tibetan problem - More turbulent monks
THE open wound that is Tibetan resentment of Chinese rule refuses to heal. According to accounts seeping out of China, it has been bleeding profusely for some six weeks now at Kirti, a Tibetan monastery in Sichuan province. Kirti is in Aba prefecture, which Tibetans regard as Amdo, a part of historic Tibet.
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21/04/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Removing the Qaddafis - Crunch time in Libya
The allies are sending out dangerous signs of confusion just when resolution is most needed
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21/04/2011 | Transparencia
Corruption in eastern Europe - From Bolshevism to backhanders
Corruption has replaced communism as the scourge of eastern Europe.
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21/04/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Removing the Qaddafis - Crunch time in Libya
The allies are sending out dangerous signs of confusion just when resolution is most needed
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21/04/2011 | Transparencia
Corruption in eastern Europe - From Bolshevism to backhanders
Corruption has replaced communism as the scourge of eastern Europe.
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20/04/2011 | En Parrilla
Lessons from California - The perils of extreme democracy
California offers a warning to voters all over the world.
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20/04/2011 | Frente Externo
The Chinese in Africa - Trying to pull together
Africans are asking whether China is making their lunch or eating it
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20/04/2011 | Frente Externo
The start of a long, slow goodbye
Age has at last caught up with the Castros and their revolution. New ideas are emerging slightly faster than new leaders.
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20/04/2011 | En Parrilla
Lessons from California - The perils of extreme democracy
California offers a warning to voters all over the world.
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20/04/2011 | Frente Externo
The Chinese in Africa - Trying to pull together
Africans are asking whether China is making their lunch or eating it
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20/04/2011 | Frente Externo
The start of a long, slow goodbye
Age has at last caught up with the Castros and their revolution. New ideas are emerging slightly faster than new leaders.
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15/04/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Central America - The tormented isthmus
Big-time drug trafficking has arrived in Central America. Its poor, politically polarised countries must now try to cope.
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11/04/2011 | Frente Externo
Banyan -- On the defensive
A bad attack of the jitters among Chinese leaders, and dissidents pay the price
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11/04/2011 | Frente Externo
Ecuadorean-American relations - A new scalp
ALTHOUGH the American diplomatic cables obtained by Wikileaks contain damaging accusations about public officials all over the world, no country formally expelled its United States ambassador in response to the documents for five months after they were first released. That streak ended on April 5th, when Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, had Heather Hodges named persona non grata for her “malicious and reckless” comments and demanded she leave the country.
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08/04/2011 | Frente Externo
America's Budget - Praising Congressman Ryan
At long last somebody is trying to grapple with America’s fiscal troubles
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03/04/2011 | En Profundidad
The uprisings: Islam and the Arab revolutions
Religion is a growing force in the Arab awakening. Westerners should hold their nerve and trust democracy.
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27/03/2011 | Frente Externo
Road to Damascus
AS RECENTLY as Thursday, few were willing to predict whether protests in Deraa would spread across the rest of Syria. Security forces have killed at least 37 people in the city, which is at the heart of a farming region in the south, about an hour's drive from the capital, since people there took to the street a week ago.
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27/03/2011 | Frente Externo
Guatemala's ruling couple -Divide and rule
The president and first lady split up—leaving her free to run for office .
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26/03/2011 | En Parrilla
Nuclear power - When the steam clears
The Fukushima crisis will slow the growth of nuclear power. Might it reverse it?
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26/03/2011 | Frente Externo
Portugal's government collapses: The next domino
The resignation of José Sócrates as prime minister is likely to lead not only to an early election but also to the next euro-zone bail-out.
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20/03/2011 | Frente Externo
The courage factor. Has Barack Obama ever been brave? Perhaps more pertinently, will he ever be?
IT IS hard to see risk-free options for outside intervention in Libya. And as Colonel Muammar Qaddafi closes in on the pro-democracy rebels, Barack Obama, as is his wont, is erring on the side of caution; carefully considering, as he has for weeks, what, if anything, he ought to do. But this prompts a question about the president. Has he, at any point in his presidency so far, demonstrated real political courage? It is surprisingly hard, more than two years in, to think of an unambiguous example.
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20/03/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Violence in Yemen - A bloody crackdown
THE crackdown on Yemen's growing opposition movement is getting much nastier. On Friday snipers hidden on rooftops opened fire on the crowds gathered for prayers outside Sana'a University. At least 39 were killed and around 200 injured, according to doctors talking to the BBC. Scenes of chaos were reported at the makeshift hospital that the demonstrators have set up within their camp.
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19/03/2011 | Frente Externo
Japan and the uses of adversity
The rest of Asia watches with horror, pity and admiration .
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19/03/2011 | Frente Externo
Rebuilding Haiti -The long, hard haul
Can a presidential election change the hopelessness of the Haitian state?
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19/03/2011 | High Tech
Unorthodox links to the internet - Signalling dissent
Savvy techies are finding ways to circumvent politically motivated shutdowns of the internet.
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13/03/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
After the earthquake - The tension mounts
THE risk of a nuclear accident at a huge power plant in disaster-strewn north-eastern.
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13/03/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Arab uprisings - Democracy's hard spring
Once the protests are over, institutions need building up—often from scratch .
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12/03/2011 | Frente Externo
Bogotá's rise and fall
Can Enrique Peñalosa restore a tarnished municipal model?
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11/03/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Bamboo capitalism
China’s success owes more to its entrepreneurs than its bureaucrats. Time to bring them out of the shadows.
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11/03/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Brazil's labour laws - Employer, beware
An archaic labour code penalises businesses and workers alike.
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09/03/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
The price of fear
A complex chain of cause and effect links the Arab world’s turmoil to the health of the world economy .
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07/03/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Libya and the Iraq syndrome
Does their caution in Libya show that Americans will make war no more?
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07/03/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Can China avoid a bubble?
THE property market illustrates the growing divergence between rich-world and emerging economies. In most developed countries (with a few exceptions, such as Australia and Canada) governments are trying to breathe life into property. In developing ones they are trying to cool things down. In the West the question is when prices will stop falling. In the East it is whether they will stop rising.
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05/03/2011 | Frente Externo
Libya - A civil war beckons. As Muammar Qaddafi fights back, fissures in the opposition start to emerge
WHAT began as a more or less peaceful uprising is set to degenerate into a full-scale civil war. After losing a string of cities on all sides of Tripoli, his capital, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi is fighting back. The coastal strip on Libya’s east side remains firmly under control of the rebels, with their headquarters at Benghazi. The rebels beat off the colonel’s forces in their attempt to recapture Brega, an oil town west of Benghazi (see map). But the Libyan leader seems determined to retake some of the towns closer to his capital and has sent his aircraft to bomb targets in a swathe of rebel-held areas.
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04/03/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
The 2011 oil shock - More of a threat to the world economy than investors seem to think
THE price of oil has had an unnerving ability to blow up the world economy, and the Middle East has often provided the spark. The Arab oil embargo of 1973, the Iranian revolution in 1978-79 and Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 are all painful reminders of how the region’s combustible mix of geopolitics and geology can wreak havoc. With protests cascading across Arabia, is the world in for another oil shock?
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04/03/2011 | Frente Externo
Bolivia - The calle gets restive
Inflation, shortages and scandals have caught up with Latin America’s hitherto most popular leftist leader .
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04/03/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Oil leak - Could one of the world’s top petroleum producers really go bankrupt?
EVER since Greece plunged into a sovereign-debt crisis in 2009, investors have focused on which European country might be next. According to Capital Economics, a research firm in London, however, the next trouble spot could be Venezuela.
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18/02/2011 | Frente Externo
Demonstrations in Iran: Bouncing back?.The opposition has shown it is still alive; how strongly is less clear
THE tens of thousands of supporters of Iran’s Green Movement who agitated for democracy in the centre of their capital, Tehran, on February 14th were supposed to have been brought to heel long ago.
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21/01/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The costs of drug prohibition: Let them chew coca .Beware talk of victory in Latin America’s drug wars
LOOKED at in one way, Mexico’s drug warriors have cause for satisfaction. Over the past year or so its security forces have captured or killed 20 of the three dozen leaders of the cartels which dominate the business of supplying cocaine to the many Americans who like to consume it.
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21/01/2011 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Organised crime in Central America: The rot spreads
Drug-trafficking gangs find a promising new home in some of the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the Americas.
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16/01/2011 | Frente Externo
Tunis - Watching and waiting
THE mood on the streets of Tunis remains uncertain. A day after the president, Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali, fled the country (he is now said to be in Saudi Arabia), Tunisia’s future hangs in the balance. With a sense that the revolution is far from over, people have been stocking up on food and any other available supplies.
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16/01/2011 | Economia y Finanzas
Latin America's economies - Waging the currency war
Strong economies, soaring currencies and rising inflation have brought a dilemma for policymakers. Some are reaching for unorthodox tools.
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11/01/2011 | En Profundidad
Politics in Argentina - Down among the underclass. A prelude to a dirty campaign
SINCE the sudden death ten weeks ago of her husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner, Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández, has been the beneficiary of a wave of public sympathy that her supporters hope will take her to a second term in an election due in October. But events are no respecters of private grief. And problems that arose last month suggest that not everything will go the president’s way.
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08/01/2011 | En Parrilla
Brazil- Hoping for the best; preparing for the worst
WILL Rio de Janeiro be ready to host the Olympics in 2016? The scale of the challenge is phenomenal. On top of the usual demands on transport and accommodation posed by big sporting events, this one is being held in a city where much housing is perched precariously, without foundations, on the sides of steep hills, and where crime rates are astronomical. The example of the Pan American Games, which Rio hosted in 2007, hardly reassures: the preparations went wildly over budget even though planned miles of new roads, as well as metro and train lines never materialised. Nor was the stinking Guanabara Bay cleaned up as promised.
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02/01/2011 | Frente Externo
The Khodorkovsky verdict - Doing things the Putin way
The system, constructed by Vladimir Putin, that put Mikhail Khodorkovsky in prison keeps him there .
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02/01/2011 | Frente Externo
America and the Middle East - Great sacrifices, small rewards
Has America’s obsession with this region been worth it?
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29/12/2010 | Frente Externo
Hugo Chávez's Venezuela -A coup against the constitution
Rather than share power with the opposition, Hugo Chávez castrates the newly elected legislature
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29/12/2010 | En Parrilla
Latin America changes its guard - Democracy is happily becoming routine
Having quickly shaken off recession, many Latin American countries will continue their recent progress in 2011. The pace of expansion may slow slightly. But unless the world descends into a double-dip downturn—or China, Latin America’s big new market, sneezes—the region will achieve economic growth of between 4% and 5%.
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28/12/2010 | En Parrilla
A scramble in Africa
COAL mines are ugly, dirty places but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Rio Tinto, one of the world’s biggest mining companies, has certainly seen something it fancies in Riversdale, an Australia-based firm that operates mines in Mozambique which produce both coking and thermal coal. Two days before Christmas Rio bumped up its offer for the firm to $3.9 billion. The bid says much about Rio’s ambitions and the battle that giant mining firms will face in getting their hands on the world’s mineral resources.
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26/12/2010 | Medio Ambiente
Seeing the world for the trees
An international deal on deforestation makes it ever more important to measure the Earth’s woodlands .
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13/12/2010 | Frente Externo
Colombia's foreign policy - Seeking new friends
THERE was nothing diplomatic about Álvaro Uribe, Colombia’s president for eight years until August. His friendship with George Bush’s administration in the United States and his tendency to speak his mind about threats to his country’s security led to frequent rows with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and to Colombia being relatively isolated among the mainly left-wing governments of South America.
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13/12/2010 | Frente Externo
Italy’s tottering government - Finished by Fini?
The machinations of Gianfranco Fini before next week’s confidence votes
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08/12/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Brazil - Organised crime in Brazil - Conquering Complexo do Alemão
A big step towards reclaiming Rio de Janeiro from the drug dealers
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02/12/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
The Fed's "WikiLeaks" moment
A POWERFUL government agency has just had a trove of its most sensitive interactions with key counterparties around the world thrown open to the public. I'm not talking about the State Department but the publication today of who got help from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending programmes during the crisis.
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30/11/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
WikiLeaks degenerates into gossip
SO WE have another WikiLeaks release, and this time it's secret diplomatic cables. So far the interesting material is on Arab states' and America's relationships with Iran. It seems all those fervid background-only reports of Arab states urging America to bomb Iran, which I mistrusted at the time, were true.
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30/11/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Ecuador- If it ain't broke...
FOR four years Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s populist president, has sought to renegotiate the country’s contracts with foreign energy companies, who he says have been earning far too much for the oil they extract from beneath its Amazon forests. Once his officials reached new terms with the firms this year, however, Mr Correa skipped the signing ceremony, held on November 23rd. He had good reason not to draw attention to the new agreement: Ecuador would have fared far better if it had simply kept the previous scheme in place.
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28/11/2010 | Frente Externo
Graft in India -Rotten to the crore?
SONIA GANDHI, the head of the ruling Congress party, laments that India’s “moral universe” is shrinking, as newspapers fill with ever more galling cases of political corruption. Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, says he feels like a schoolboy facing a series of agonising tests as scandals break one after another. Ratan Tata, head of the Tata Group, hints that the scourge is hurting the economy; officials’ expectations of bribes, he said, put him off launching a domestic airline.
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26/11/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Bernanke in the crosshairs - The Fed’s latest foray into quantitative easing prompts a Republican backlash
REPUBLICANS have trumpeted their victory in the mid-term elections as a revolt against big government, from bail-outs to fiscal stimulus. Having made short work of the Democratic Congress, it was inevitable that they would next turn their sights on the Federal Reserve, a perennial target of the wilder-eyed.
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26/11/2010 | En Parrilla
How do you solve a problem like Korea?
Only by persuading China that it’s in its own interest to rein in the Kims.
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24/11/2010 | Frente Externo
An outbreak of hostility on a dangerous peninsula- Smoke with fire
SEOUL is on a high state of alert following the shelling of a South Korean island by North Korean forces at 2.34pm local time this afternoon. Yeonpyeong, whose administration is disputed by the North, is inhabited, and there are unconfirmed reports of civilian injuries. Scores of houses are on fire. Two South Korean soldiers were killed.
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16/11/2010 | Frente Externo
US- Israel. Re-frozen?
WITH the wisdom of a man who has spent nearly two fruitless and frustrating years trying to make peace in the Middle East, Barack Obama praised Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday November 14th for agreeing to a new deal on settlement-building even before Mr Netanyahu had got the deal past his own government.
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16/11/2010 | High Tech
Economic indicators from the web - Dotconomy
Internet firms are becoming a valuable source of economic insights .
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16/11/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico - The drug war's first displaced-persons camp
WHEN Hurricane Karl struck south-eastern Mexico in September, around 3,500 people left their homes to escape flooding. Last week, it was the north-east of the country that saw a displaced-persons camp sprout up.
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09/11/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Yemen's local and global terrorism - No quick fixes
Fighting terrorism in Yemen requires patience and partners .
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07/11/2010 | Medio Ambiente
Geoengineering - Lift-off
Research into the possibility of engineering a better climate is progressing at an impressive rate—and meeting strong opposition
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31/10/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
The indispensable economy? China may not matter quite as much as you think
THE town of Alpha in Queensland, Australia, has only 400 residents, including one part-time ambulance driver and a lone policeman, according to Mark Imber of Waratah Coal, an exploration firm.
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31/10/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
America's economy - Not by monetary policy alone
Another dose of “quantitative easing” is necessary; but it will not, by itself, revive America’s economy
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31/10/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Mexico's economy - Bringing NAFTA back home
Despite Chinese competition, Mexico’s exports are growing. But the country is still not taking full advantage of its trade agreement with the United States.
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26/10/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Data dumping - WikiLeaks documents deaths in the Iraq war
WIKILEAKS has once again made itself unpopular with the Pentagon, by publishing nearly 400,000 classified military documents on the Iraq war. The Guardian, the New York Times, Der Spiegel and Le Monde were all given early sights of the documents, but nobody has been through the whole lot. This is one way in which WikiLeaks's Iraq and Afghanistan document dumps differ from celebrated leaks such as the Pentagon Papers, which revealed double-dealing over Vietnam. Another is that the documents, though shocking in places, have not revealed anything very surprising. The leak does, however, provide another source of data on civilian casualties in Iraq (until now, most newspapers have relied on Iraq Body Count which tends to give higher numbers). It is likely that both sources underestimate the true number of civilian casualties.
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25/10/2010 | En Parrilla
Brazil votes
BRAZILIANS choose a new president on Sunday 31st October. In a battle of the technocrats, Dilma Rousseff, who until recently was the outgoing president’s chief-of-staff, is likely to beat José Serra, the former governor of Brazil’s largest state (though the polls have narrowed somewhat). The Economist thinks Mr Serra would make a better president.
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22/10/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Media freedom in Latin America - Shooting the messenger. Threats from criminals and governments
REPORTERS are notorious for shrugging off danger to get a good story. So when El Diario, a newspaper in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez, ran a front-page editorial last month asking for guidelines from drug gangs as to what it should censor, journalists around the world were shocked. Calling the city’s mobs “the de facto authorities in this city”, the article pleaded: “Gentlemen…please explain to us…what you would like us to publish or stop publishing…because the last thing we want is for another one of our colleagues to fall victim to your gunshots.” Three days earlier, a trainee photographer at the paper had been murdered.
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18/10/2010 | Frente Externo
China - Next in line
CHINESE state media today announced the appointment of Xi Jinping, the country’s vice-president, to an important military post. His promotion cements Mr Xi’s status as the man who is expected to take over as China’s top leader in two years' time, when the current president, Hu Jintao, is due to step aside.
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16/10/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Organised crime in Mexico - Under the volcano
The drugs trade has spread corruption and violence across Mexico. Can the police ever catch up with them?
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16/10/2010 | En Profundidad
Italy's Northern League. Not so grim up north
One party is doing rather well out of Italy’s political chaos.
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11/10/2010 | Frente Externo
Brazil- A miss, but not by a mile
Three more weeks of campaigning lie ahead but, despite a surprising last-minute stumble, Dilma Rousseff is still likely to become the next president
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10/10/2010 | Frente Externo
The best Congress money can buy?
For all the money sloshing around in American politics, you still cannot buy the results of elections
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10/10/2010 | Frente Externo
Can Robert Mugabe ever be persuaded to give up?
A fearful stalemate looks unbreakable for the moment. But a sensible solution may yet be found
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09/10/2010 | Frente Externo
Chile's Mapuches- Trying violence: A change in the terrorism law
AS A presidential candidate in 2009, Sebastián Piñera called Mapuche Indian activists accused of burning farms and lorries “criminals”. He criticised the president, Michelle Bachelet, for not using the country’s harsh terrorism law to quell their protests for control of their ancestral land. Ms Bachelet later had them charged with terrorism. But on October 1st, Mr Piñera, her successor, got the charges withdrawn.
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05/10/2010 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Do as I say
ARGENTINA’s ruling couple have made prosecuting the political violence of the past their signature issue. Néstor Kirchner, the president from 2003 to 2007, and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, his wife and successor, regularly call for “memory” and “justice” for the victims of the country’s 1976-83 military dictatorship. During their time in office, hundreds of ex-soldiers accused of kidnapping, torture and murder have been taken into custody.
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28/09/2010 | Frente Externo
A Pyrrhic victory
SELDOM has an election victory tasted so bitterly of defeat. Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s leftist president, had defined the legislative elections held yesterday as a plebiscite on his rule, spoken of the need to “demolish” the opposition and said that nothing less than a two-thirds super-majority in the 165-seat National Assembly would do. But with six races still to be defined, the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) had won just 96 seats, with the opposition taking 63.
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28/09/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico - State of nature
A FRIEND passed along a horrifying tale yesterday from Ascensión, a small farming town in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, which for years has been ground zero in the turf war among the country's drug traffickers. In recent months, the town has suffered a wave of kidnappings, and residents have been pooling their savings to pay ransom after ransom. Local authorities have not been able to stop the crimes.
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24/09/2010 | Frente Externo
Colombia- A prize scalp
FRESH off a bruising strike on a camp belonging to the FARC guerrillas earlier this week, Colombia’s army announced an even bigger success today: the killing in a bombing raid of Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas, nicknamed “Mono Jojoy”. Mr Suárez was the group’s military-operations chief, a member of its seven-man ruling secretariat, and the commander of its Eastern Bloc, the strongest unit, with an estimated 4,000-5,000 fighters. Also known as Jorge Briceño, he is believed to have been behind the FARC’s direct offensives against army posts in the early 1990s, a wave of kidnappings of politicians and many of the organisation’s cocaine-trafficking operations.
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24/09/2010 | Frente Externo
China - Japan. Out but not over
IN THE end, it came down to economic ties versus national pride. Business concerns prevailed—and so did China, in a sense. A bitter feud with Japan had been escalating since September 7th, when a Chinese fishing boat ran into a Japanese patrol in waters which both countries claim as sovereign territory.
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22/09/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Africa's banking boom - Scrambled in Africa
Chinese and Western banks are flocking to Africa but finding a strategy that works isn’t easy
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22/09/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Colombia - Striking back
IN RESPONSE to a series of attacks by the FARC guerrillas that killed 40 Colombian police and soldiers, Juan Manuel Santos, the country’s new president, vowed to “intensify the offensive” against the group. He did not wait long before fulfilling his promise. Yesterday, fighter planes staged a pre-dawn air raid on a camp of the FARC’s 48th Front, the same unit blamed for a deadly attack near the Ecuadorean border on September 10th.
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15/09/2010 | En Parrilla
The next tiny step
THE talks go on. After a long and anxious morning of meetings that was the message, wrapped in deliberately vague and intentionally uninformative prose, that the American peace envoy, George Mitchell, delivered to the media at Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday.
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15/09/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The guerrillas return to guerrilla tactics
FOR a former defence minister, Juan Manuel Santos spent precious little time discussing security during his successful presidential campaign this year. The “democratic security” policies of his predecessor, Álvaro Uribe—implemented by Mr Santos from 2006-09—had proved so successful against the FARC guerrillas that he was able to focus on a “democratic prosperity” agenda of economic and social reforms.
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15/09/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico - A Grande catch
MEXICO is on a roll in its pursuit of its powerful drug lords. Late on Sunday, the government announced that another one of the country’s most wanted bandits had been captured at lunchtime in the city of Puebla, not far from Mexico City. Sergio Villareal Barragán, a hulking figure who was variously known as “King Kong” and “El Grande”, is thought to have been a senior lieutenant in the Beltrán Leyva organization, one of Mexico’s seven main drug-trafficking groups.
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12/09/2010 | Frente Externo
9/11 plus nine. Barack Obama’s expected advantages are turning into handicaps in the war on terrorism
EVERY September 11th America mourns the people al-Qaeda murdered in the atrocities of 2001. And every year the anniversary compels an assessment of how the “war on terror” is faring. After a year that saw a successful terrorist attack and two near-misses on American soil, it is hard to be upbeat. In November Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an American, killed 13 comrades in Fort Hood, Texas. On Christmas Day Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, failed to set off his bomb properly on a Detroit-bound passenger jet. And in May Faisal Shahzad, a naturalised American, left a car bomb in Times Square in New York.
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12/09/2010 | En Profundidad
Latin America- So near and yet so far
A richer, fairer Latin America is within reach, but a lot of things have to be put right first, says Michael Reid.
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12/09/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
What is Brazil's army for?
SPEND any time in Brazil and you will get used to hearing the impending football World Cup (in 2014) and Olympics (in 2016) used as justification for all manner of boondoggles. Depending on who is speaking, these events will fix Brazil's infrastructure deficit, solve Rio de Janeiro's gang problems and mark the country's arrival on the world stage (we might not have a seat on the Security Council, but check out our velodrome!).
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12/09/2010 | Frente Externo
The battle for Japan
JAPAN ‘s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) picks a new leader on Tuesday September 14th. Naoto Kan, the prime minister, is in a tight race with Ichiro Ozawa, a party powerbroker. Mr Ozawa's detractors accuse him of being a throwback to the bad old days of “money-power” politics. A victory for Mr Kan will cheer those hoping for some reform in Japan; a win for Mr Ozawa will not.
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06/09/2010 | Frente Externo
Afloat on a Chinese tide
China’s economic rise has brought the rest of emerging Asia huge benefits. But the region still needs the West
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06/09/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Ethanol's mid-life crisis
The sugar industry produces food, fuel and environmental benefits. How fast it grows may depend on an argument about how it should be regulated
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05/09/2010 | High Tech
The future of the internet - A virtual counter-revolution
The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it
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05/09/2010 | High Tech
The future of the internet - A virtual counter-revolution
The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it
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29/08/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Clearing the air
A LITTLE while ago Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, called the economic outlook “unusually uncertain”. The Fed has lately been a source of a lot of that uncertainty. Its officials maintained an upbeat outlook for the economy as the news in recent months went from bad to worse, then on August 10 they seemed to abruptly embrace the opposite view by announcing new steps to stimulate the economy. Matters have not been helped by the public airing of divergent views from officials.
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29/08/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina - Pressed
EVER since Néstor Kirchner became Argentina’s president in 2003, he and Cristina Fernández, his wife and successor, have ruthlessly divided and conquered their political rivals. Their biggest remaining adversary is the Clarín Group, the country’s dominant media conglomerate. The Kirchners have tried to cripple the firm after its television stations and Clarín newspaper gave sympathetic coverage to farmers striking over a tax increase in 2008.
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29/08/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Clearing the air
A LITTLE while ago Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, called the economic outlook “unusually uncertain”. The Fed has lately been a source of a lot of that uncertainty. Its officials maintained an upbeat outlook for the economy as the news in recent months went from bad to worse, then on August 10 they seemed to abruptly embrace the opposite view by announcing new steps to stimulate the economy. Matters have not been helped by the public airing of divergent views from officials.
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29/08/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina - Pressed
EVER since Néstor Kirchner became Argentina’s president in 2003, he and Cristina Fernández, his wife and successor, have ruthlessly divided and conquered their political rivals. Their biggest remaining adversary is the Clarín Group, the country’s dominant media conglomerate. The Kirchners have tried to cripple the firm after its television stations and Clarín newspaper gave sympathetic coverage to farmers striking over a tax increase in 2008.
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22/08/2010 | Frente Externo
China and India - Contest of the century
As China and India rise in tandem, their relationship will shape world politics. Shame they do not get on better
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22/08/2010 | Frente Externo
China and India - Contest of the century
As China and India rise in tandem, their relationship will shape world politics. Shame they do not get on better
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21/08/2010 | En Profundidad
Argentina- Happy-go-lucky Cristina - Who cares about austerity? That may come, but not until the day after tomorrow
EARLIER this year, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s president, proffered some advice to European governments facing recession and market panic. Its essence was “stuff the IMF and carry on spending.”
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21/08/2010 | Frente Externo
American brothers
OTHER Latin Americans think of Brazilians a bit like the rest of the world thinks of Americans: loud, flashy and rich. This is as it should be, because a strong argument can be made that Brazil is actually is the United States—just disguised beneath a Carmen-Miranda-style fruit hat.
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21/08/2010 | En Parrilla
Venezuela: Shooting gallery
The chance of being shot in Caracas may be higher than just about anywhere else in the world, outside war zones. Cheuk Woon Yee Sinne, a baseball player from Hong Kong, found that out on August 13th. As she took the field for a match in the Women’s Baseball World Cup, at an army stadium in Venezuela’s capital, a stray bullet hit her in the leg. Her team promptly pulled out of the tournament.
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21/08/2010 | En Profundidad
Argentina- Happy-go-lucky Cristina - Who cares about austerity? That may come, but not until the day after tomorrow
EARLIER this year, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s president, proffered some advice to European governments facing recession and market panic. Its essence was “stuff the IMF and carry on spending.”
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21/08/2010 | Frente Externo
American brothers
OTHER Latin Americans think of Brazilians a bit like the rest of the world thinks of Americans: loud, flashy and rich. This is as it should be, because a strong argument can be made that Brazil is actually is the United States—just disguised beneath a Carmen-Miranda-style fruit hat.
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21/08/2010 | En Parrilla
Venezuela: Shooting gallery
The chance of being shot in Caracas may be higher than just about anywhere else in the world, outside war zones. Cheuk Woon Yee Sinne, a baseball player from Hong Kong, found that out on August 13th. As she took the field for a match in the Women’s Baseball World Cup, at an army stadium in Venezuela’s capital, a stray bullet hit her in the leg. Her team promptly pulled out of the tournament.
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14/08/2010 | Frente Externo
US- The Democratic left - Disappointed, down, despondent (And not about to rush to the polls in November, either )
WHY, asks a Democrat leading a training session for fellow activists, doesn’t “Yes we can” work as a slogan any more? “Because we haven’t,” a jaded participant responds. Progressives, as bedrock Democrats like to call themselves, are despondent. The election euphoria of 2008, when their party secured heavy majorities in both chambers of Congress and Barack Obama won the presidency with ease, has deflated so rapidly that analysts are now diagnosing on the left an affliction they ascribed to the Republicans back then: an “enthusiasm gap”.
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13/08/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico and drugs - Thinking the unthinkable
THE nota roja, a section reporting the previous day’s murders and car crashes in all their bloodstained detail, is an established feature of Mexican newspapers.
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13/08/2010 | Frente Externo
Cuba's Fidel Castro - A ghost reappears. Fidel’s return is a mixed blessing for his brother
“IT WAS a surprise. A month ago I had assumed he was dead,” said Hector, an art student in Havana. He had just watched Fidel Castro speak at Cuba’s National Assembly on August 7th. It was the first appearance by the former president on live television since he underwent intestinal surgery in 2006.
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07/08/2010 | Medio Ambiente
Greenview: The unsolid Earth
THE Earth is a recycling scheme that has been running for a third of the age of the universe. Microbes and plants endlessly pull carbon, nitrogen and oxygen from the atmosphere and pump them back out in different forms.
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07/08/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
NATO and Russia - Trust, but make military plans
The allies reach out to the Kremlin, and start to think about the unthinkable.
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12/07/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Cyberwar: It is time for countries to start talking about arms control on the internet
THROUGHOUT history new technologies have revolutionised warfare, sometimes abruptly, sometimes only gradually: think of the chariot, gunpowder, aircraft, radar and nuclear fission. So it has been with information technology. Computers and the internet have transformed economies and given Western armies great advantages, such as the ability to send remotely piloted aircraft across the world to gather intelligence and attack targets. But the spread of digital technology comes at a cost: it exposes armies and societies to digital attack.
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12/06/2010 | Frente Externo
A gambling man
Barack Obama will be judged on the success of his own big bets, not on somebody else’s oil spill.
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12/06/2010 | Frente Externo
Iran a year after the election - Still sitting pretty
On June 9th the Security Council voted for sanctions against Iran. But its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, remains cocky and confident at home and abroad
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12/06/2010 | En Parrilla
Facing a freeze
Governments are reviewing plans to open Arctic waters to oilmen.
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24/05/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
The euro-zone crisis - Europe's three great delusions
The continent’s leaders have still not grasped how much they need to do to save the euro
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24/05/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Iran's nuclear programme - The Tehran tango
The Turkish-Brazilian deal leaves Iran enriching uranium and is unlikely to satisfy the West
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11/05/2010 | Frente Externo
The China model - The Beijing consensus is to keep quiet
In the West people worry that developing countries want to copy “the China model”. Such talk makes people in China uncomfortable
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10/05/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The Italian mafia - Crooked in Calabria
WITH a more easily pronounceable name, the ’Ndrangheta, the mafia of Calabria, Italy’s toe, might have achieved greater notoriety. Police and prosecutors began warning as far back as the 1990s that it had become the country’s richest, most dangerous organised-crime syndicate, ahead of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra. Yet although a third group, the Camorra in and around Naples, has become infamous thanks to Roberto Saviano’s best-selling book “Gomorrah”, the ’Ndrangheta remains almost unknown beyond Italy.
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09/05/2010 | Frente Externo
German politics - State of shock?
Why North Rhine-Westphalia matters
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09/05/2010 | Frente Externo
India's warring Ambani brothers - Fuelling the feud
Mukesh Ambani wins a court battle over a huge Indian gas contract against his estranged brother
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09/05/2010 | En Parrilla
Costa Rica's new president - After Arias
Tax increases, trade deals and antidisestablishmentarianism.
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01/04/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
America, Russia and arms control - It takes two
Arms cuts get you only so far; a safer world needs tighter anti-proliferation rules too
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01/04/2010 | Frente Externo
China and Rio Tinto- Steel trap
The Rio trial leaves unresolved questions about China’s rule of law
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31/03/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
America's biofuel muddle- Coming up empty
America will have trouble meeting its ambitious goals for biofuels
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31/03/2010 | Frente Externo
Ethiopia's elections - Forget about democracy
The chances of a fair vote in the coming election are fast receding.
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31/03/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Terror in Moscow
Fearing the wider consequences of a bomb attack on the Moscow metro
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28/03/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Mexico, the United States and drug gangs. Turning to the gringos for help
As drug-related violence continues to rise, Mexican and American officials unveil plans for unprecedented security co-operation. But will they work?
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28/03/2010 | Frente Externo
France's beleaguered president. Sarko under the cosh
An erratic president needs a credible challenger: time to import a heavyweight bruiser from Washington.
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28/03/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
Carbon markets - The wrong sort of recycling
Hungary’s sale of used carbon credits damages investor confidence.
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20/03/2010 | Medio Ambiente
The science of climate change - The clouds of unknowing
There are lots of uncertainties in climate science. But that does not mean it is fundamentally wrong.
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12/03/2010 | Frente Externo
Cuba & US: Honeymoon cancelled
The Cubans who hawk second-hand books from makeshift stalls in Havana’s Plaza de Armas were thrilled when Barack Obama was elected. Could millions of American tourists be far behind, they wondered. Word went out that the vendors were in the market for pre-revolutionary American paraphernalia such as Life magazines and Coca-Cola signs or newspapers from the Spanish-American War. But hopes that Mr Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raúl Castro, would end a 50-year freeze in relations between their countries have proved wildly premature.
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12/03/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Guatemala and organised crime. Reaching the untouchables
Attempts to stop drugs money corrupting public life in Guatemala are making some progress. In Jamaica (see article) the worries are growing.
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12/03/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Corruption on the border - Assets on the other side
Mexico’s drugs gangs are getting ever more clever
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08/03/2010 | High Tech
The many voices of the web
The internet: New combinations of human and computer translation are making web pages available in foreign languages
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07/03/2010 | Sociedad
Gendercide - The worldwide war on baby girls
Technology, declining fertility and ancient prejudice are combining to unbalance societies
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06/03/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Spain and ETA - Gone fishing
ANOTHER big fish from the violent Basque separatist group, ETA, was caught this week. On February 28th Ibon Gogeaskoetxea, ETA’s military boss, was arrested at a country cottage in Normandy, in north-west France. Two of ETA’s experienced assassins, José Ayestaran and Beinat Aginagalde, were taken with him.
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05/03/2010 | Frente Externo
Colombia - After Uribe: Suddenly, a wide-open race among half-a-dozen would-be successors
FOR months Colombian politics has come down to just one question: would Álvaro Uribe, the country’s tough and popular president, succeed in his effort to change the constitution to allow him to run for a third term at a presidential election in May? Such has been Mr Uribe’s sway over his country’s institutions that many pundits assumed the answer was yes. But when it finally came on February 26th the ruling by the Constitutional Court was a rejection sufficiently emphatic as to seem inevitable in retrospect. And with that Colombia finds itself suddenly contemplating a wide-open election.
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03/03/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
India - Ending the red terror
It is time India got serious about the Maoist insurgency in its eastern states.
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03/03/2010 | En Parrilla
The politics of repression in China - What are they afraid of?
The economy is booming and politics stable. Yet China’s leaders seem edgy
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28/02/2010 | En Profundidad
Argentina under the Kirchners - Socialism for foes, capitalism for friends
While some private businesses in Argentina have faced harassment or even nationalisation, others have flourished thanks to political contacts
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21/02/2010 | Frente Externo
''Venecuba'', a single nation
In a small fishing village on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela stands a plinth. Unveiled by government officials in 2006, it pays homage to the Cuban guerrillas sent by Fidel Castro in the 1960s to help subvert Venezuela’s then recently restored democracy. Almost entirely bereft of popular support, the guerrilla campaign flopped. But four decades later, and after a decade of rule by Hugo Chávez, Cuba’s communist regime seems finally to have achieved its goal of invading oil-rich Venezuela—this time without firing a shot.
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19/02/2010 | Frente Externo
Argentina and the Falklands - Oil and troubled waters
Plans to drill for oil in the Falklands provoke angry words from Argentina.
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14/02/2010 | Frente Externo
The tea-party convention - Scenes from a counter-revolution
The growing power of the tea-party movement will make it hard for Republican politicians to compromise with the president.
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11/02/2010 | Frente Externo
Sri Lankan politics - Arrest the opposition
Sri Lanka’s president cracks down on opponents once more
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11/02/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
New dangers for the world economy
When the crisis started, governments helped save the world economy. Now they are the problem
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10/02/2010 | En Profundidad
Argentina's reserves and its debts - The president gets her way, again, but at a price
CRITICS of Argentina’s government have two main explanations for the behaviour of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s administration: cunning conspiracy or bumbling incompetence. Two bits of evidence suggest the truth lies somewhere in between.
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08/02/2010 | En Parrilla
Iran and Israel in Africa - A search for allies in a hostile world
Iran’s proclaimed ambitions in Africa are particularly worrying for Israel, which once had a lot of friends on the continent and wants to keep the few that remain.
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08/02/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
China's financial system - Red mist
Who matters in the world’s second-largest financial system is barely understood.
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08/02/2010 | Medio Ambiente
Rajendra Pachauri and the IPCC - A time for introspection
Increasing scrutiny of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, in particular, its chairman, should lead to reforms
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28/01/2010 | Frente Externo
Five years on in Kiev
The presidential election shows that the orange revolution is out of puff, no matter who eventually wins.
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25/01/2010 | Frente Externo
Choppy waters - East and south, China makes a splash
“SEA of peace” is the title China has bestowed on its adjacent oceans. But sovereignty disputes between China and its neighbours still roil the waters. In recent weeks, Japan and Vietnam have complained about what they allege to be Chinese encroachments. Attaching blame is difficult.
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20/01/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
The economy - The trap
THE 2000s—the Noughts, some call them—turned out to be jobless. Only about 400,000 more Americans were employed in December 2009 than in December 1999, while the population grew by nearly 30m. This dismal rate of job creation raises the distinct possibility that America’s recovery from the latest recession may also be jobless. The economy almost certainly expanded during the second half of 2009, but 800,000 additional jobs were lost all the same.
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20/01/2010 | Frente Externo
After Haiti's earthquake - Growing deadlier
The death toll mounts in Haiti, as aid and rescuers fail to reach earthquake victims
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16/01/2010 | High Tech
Google and China -Flowers for a funeral
Censorship and hacker attacks provide the epitaph for Google in China.
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16/01/2010 | Frente Externo
France's ban on the burqa.The war of French dressing
A plan to ban the wearing of the burqa in public stokes new controversy.
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15/01/2010 | Frente Externo
Ecuador's president: Smile turns to frown
In the three years since he came to office, Rafael Correa has promised that his �Christian socialism� will provide Ecuadoreans with the good life where �neoliberalism� failed. A big increase in social spending, paid for at first by a high oil price and then by defaulting on debt, brought Mr Correa popular acclaim. He steered through a new constitution and last year had himself re-elected under it. He seemed to be defying his country�s recent history, in which the previous three elected presidents had failed to complete their terms.
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15/01/2010 | Frente Externo
The Obama presidency, one year on - Time to get tough
HOW far away it seems, that bitingly cold, crystal-clear morning when almost 2m people filled the Mall from Capitol Hill to the Washington Monument to hear the new president talk of the victory of hope over fear, of unity of purpose over conflict and discord. Recalling the dark days of the war of independence, he pledged, like George Washington, that in the face of common danger Americans under his leadership would come forth to meet it. One year on, how well has he done?
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11/01/2010 | Economia y Finanzas
China’s export prospects - Fear of the dragon
China’s share of world markets increased during the recession. It will keep rising.
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11/01/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
American intelligence - Spooked
The troubles of American intelligence
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10/01/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Organised crime in Mexico - Outsmarted by Sinaloa. Why the biggest drug gang has been least hit
IT MIGHT seem incongruous to see Felipe Calderón, who has bet his presidency on fighting organised crime, accused of sheltering Mexico’s top drug lord. Yet across the country banners hanging from highway overpasses suggest he is in cahoots with Joaquín El Chapo (“Shorty”) Guzmán—the leader of the Sinaloa “cartel” and, according to Forbes magazine, the world’s 701st richest man. “Mr Narco-President,” began one seen in Veracruz state in 2008. “If you want to end crime, stop protecting drug traffickers like El Chapo.”
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07/01/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Afghanistan - Deeper in the mire
A worsening political crisis in Afghanistan.This was supposed to be the month when Afghanistan would put an end to nearly eight months of political crisis and get on with beating back the Taliban insurgency. Western diplomats had talked optimistically of Hamid Karzai moving past his fraudulent re-election as president, with the appointment of a government of talented technocrats.
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03/01/2010 | En Parrilla
Calendar for 2010
Our selection of events around the world
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03/01/2010 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Yemen's multiple wars - A growing worry for the West
A tribal rebellion in the north and al-Qaeda elsewhere are jangling nerves
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03/01/2010 | Frente Externo
Iran's increasing turmoil - Growing desperation
Increasingly fierce repression in Iran suggests that the regime has begun to fear for its future
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17/12/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Terrorism in Northern Ireland - Resurgent: A political impasse means violence can flourish
Though their bailiwick is supposed to be at peace, Northern Ireland’s security forces are becoming increasingly concerned that republican terrorism is mutating into a new and even more dangerous form, more expert and with a wider range of tactics. Some of the dissidents who refused to accept the 1998 peace agreement are now behind bars, but others have taken their place and are proving so menacing that the threat they pose is at its highest official rating in over five years.
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15/12/2009 | Frente Externo
Turkmenistan's plight.Burning sands and pipe-dreams
A rich country with poor people and an heroic dentist for a dictator.
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15/12/2009 | Frente Externo
Turkmenistan's plight.Burning sands and pipe-dreams
A rich country with poor people and an heroic dentist for a dictator.
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13/12/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
An Iranian nuclear bomb, or the bombing of Iran?
After years of fruitless diplomacy, Iran is on the threshold of becoming a nuclear power. The options are grim
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13/12/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
An Iranian nuclear bomb, or the bombing of Iran?
After years of fruitless diplomacy, Iran is on the threshold of becoming a nuclear power. The options are grim
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28/11/2009 | Medio Ambiente
Climate change - A heated debate. Why political orthodoxy must not silence scientific argument
“WHAT is truth?” That was Pontius Pilate’s answer to Jesus’s assertion that “Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.” It sounds suspiciously like the modern argument over climate change.
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28/11/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Fighting poverty in emerging markets - The gloves go on. Lessons from Brazil, China and India
AT THE recent food summit in Rome, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva donned a pair of bright-red boxing gloves labelled “Hunger Free” and waved to the cameras. They were his prize—if that is the right term—for Brazil’s success in topping a league table drawn up by ActionAid, a British charity, of countries that have done most to reduce hunger*. The occasion was a stunt, of course, but had a serious purpose: to show that even the poorest places can mitigate poverty and hunger. (Brazil is not in that category, but Ghana, Vietnam and Malawi—which came third, fourth and fifth—are.)
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28/11/2009 | Medio Ambiente
Climate change - A heated debate. Why political orthodoxy must not silence scientific argument
“WHAT is truth?” That was Pontius Pilate’s answer to Jesus’s assertion that “Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.” It sounds suspiciously like the modern argument over climate change.
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28/11/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Fighting poverty in emerging markets - The gloves go on. Lessons from Brazil, China and India
AT THE recent food summit in Rome, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva donned a pair of bright-red boxing gloves labelled “Hunger Free” and waved to the cameras. They were his prize—if that is the right term—for Brazil’s success in topping a league table drawn up by ActionAid, a British charity, of countries that have done most to reduce hunger*. The occasion was a stunt, of course, but had a serious purpose: to show that even the poorest places can mitigate poverty and hunger. (Brazil is not in that category, but Ghana, Vietnam and Malawi—which came third, fourth and fifth—are.)
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27/11/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Iran and Latin America - Ayatollahs in the backyard
President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Brazil this week vindicates Iran’s strategy of cosying up with Latin America.
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27/11/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Spain's economic troubles - Unsustainable
The government may still be too optimistic over the country’s prospects
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27/11/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Dubai's debt - Standing still but still standing
Dubai seeks a reprieve on its debts.
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27/11/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Iran and Latin America - Ayatollahs in the backyard
President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Brazil this week vindicates Iran’s strategy of cosying up with Latin America.
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27/11/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Spain's economic troubles - Unsustainable
The government may still be too optimistic over the country’s prospects
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27/11/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Dubai's debt - Standing still but still standing
Dubai seeks a reprieve on its debts.
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21/11/2009 | Medio Ambiente
Nuclear contamination
The giant French utility’s ambition to lead a global revival in nuclear energy is running into difficulties as a controversial new boss takes over.
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21/11/2009 | Medio Ambiente
Nuclear contamination
The giant French utility’s ambition to lead a global revival in nuclear energy is running into difficulties as a controversial new boss takes over.
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18/11/2009 | Frente Externo
Coconut dictator- A coup leader who is tough on the outside, softer underneath
FIJI’S military strongman, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has thumped down his fist. He will restore relations with Australia and New Zealand only in 2014, he says, having booted out their High Commissioners on November 4th. He justified the expulsions by saying the countries were interfering in his efforts to replace judges he sacked when he abrogated the constitution in April.
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18/11/2009 | Frente Externo
Coconut dictator- A coup leader who is tough on the outside, softer underneath
FIJI’S military strongman, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has thumped down his fist. He will restore relations with Australia and New Zealand only in 2014, he says, having booted out their High Commissioners on November 4th. He justified the expulsions by saying the countries were interfering in his efforts to replace judges he sacked when he abrogated the constitution in April.
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16/11/2009 | Frente Externo
Brazil takes off
WHEN, back in 2003, economists at Goldman Sachs bracketed Brazil with Russia, India and China as the economies that would come to dominate the world, there was much sniping about the B in the BRIC acronym. Brazil? A country with a growth rate as skimpy as its swimsuits, prey to any financial crisis that was around, a place of chronic political instability, whose infinite capacity to squander its obvious potential was as legendary as its talent for football and carnivals, did not seem to belong with those emerging titans.
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16/11/2009 | Frente Externo
Brazil takes off
WHEN, back in 2003, economists at Goldman Sachs bracketed Brazil with Russia, India and China as the economies that would come to dominate the world, there was much sniping about the B in the BRIC acronym. Brazil? A country with a growth rate as skimpy as its swimsuits, prey to any financial crisis that was around, a place of chronic political instability, whose infinite capacity to squander its obvious potential was as legendary as its talent for football and carnivals, did not seem to belong with those emerging titans.
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30/10/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
A world apart - India is caught in two minds about financial globalisation
THE world is divided into two, according to Shachindra Nath, chief operating officer of Religare Enterprises, an Indian financial firm. On one side of the divide is a world with “cash but no opportunities”; on the other, a world with “no money, just opportunities.” In October Religare announced its ambition to shepherd money across this divide, by creating an “emerging-market investment bank”. The bank will be run from London by Martin Newson, a former head of global equities at Dresdner Kleinwort.
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30/10/2009 | Transparencia
France- Liberty, equality—not impunity
Jacques Chirac, a former president of France, faces trial for corruption
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11/10/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
China, North Korea and its nukes - Smile, please
After calculated tantrums come the Dear Leader’s calculated charms.
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10/10/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Gold - Bullion bulls
A weak dollar explains the rising price of gold. Gold fascinates investors more than any other metal. The latest surge in bullion—nominal prices topped $1,050 an ounce during Wednesday October 7th, a record—has generated headlines that would not have been seen if a less glossy metal such as nickel had reached a new peak.
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10/10/2009 | Sociedad
Islam: A shifting locus
WHEN Barack Obama made his appeal, back in June, for a new understanding between America and Islam, the venue he chose was Egypt—for some obvious reasons. It is the most populous of the Arab nations adjoining the Middle Eastern conflict zone, with an ancient tradition of Islamic scholarship, and a citizenry that is tempted by fundamentalism but also admires some things about the West.
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07/10/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
How many Mexicans does it take to drill an oil well?
More than 140,000, and even then they’re not very good at it. For this, now acute, problem, blame the politicians.
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07/10/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Money, votes and politics
Battles over money and power at the World Bank and IMF. “We are into the world of politics”, said the World Bank’s president, Robert Zoellick, at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, held on October 6th and 7th in Istanbul. Mr Zoellick was referring to the disagreements between richer and poorer countries over his institution’s pleas for more funding to cope with the aftermath of the financial crisis. But his statement held true for much of what went on at this year’s meetings.
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04/10/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Foiling terrorist attacks - Home-grown bombers
The latest plots involve malcontents who have lived for some time in America. WITHIN a week, at least five men have been charged with plotting terror attacks in America. On September 29th Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Afghan immigrant, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in New York.
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30/09/2009 | Medio Ambiente
East Africa's drought - A catastrophe is looming
Governments are at their wits’ end to keep their hungry people alive. This year’s drought is the worst in east Africa since 2000, and possibly since 1991. Famine stalks the land.
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30/09/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Drugs and the border - El Paso's small step
Reform advocates want an honest and open debate on drug policy. In January the city council in El Paso, Texas, decided to pass a resolution expressing support for its neighbour on the Mexican side of the border.
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27/09/2009 | Frente Externo
Germany’s election- Coalitions of the willing (What to watch for in Germany's federal election)
POLITICIANS are said to campaign in poetry and govern in prose but the candidates contesting Germany’s federal election uttered barely anything of interest. The two main contenders, Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), have spent the past four years together in a “grand coalition”. Since they may have to do so again they could not afford to savage each other.
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27/09/2009 | High Tech
Telecoms- The power of mobile money
Mobile phones have transformed lives in the poor world. Mobile money could have just as big an impact.
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27/09/2009 | Sociedad
A place in society
You might suppose that financial innovation had done enough damage. But bankers, investors and philanthropists believe it can help the world’s poor.
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22/09/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Lessons for the G20
The city of bridges has built a bridge from its steel past to a diverse 21st-century economy. The summiteers arriving on September 24th can take note
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20/09/2009 | Frente Externo
Thailand's political army - Where power lies
Coups are such an old-fashioned way of running things. Autumn in Thailand is coup season. Three years ago the prime minister at the time, Thaksin Shinawatra, flew to New York for the United Nations General Assembly as rumours circulated in Bangkok of a plot against him.
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18/09/2009 | En Parrilla
Gaza - Crimes of war
A UN mission concludes that war crimes were committed in Gaza
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18/09/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Barack Obama and free trade - Economic vandalism
A protectionist move that is bad politics, bad economics, bad diplomacy and hurts America. Did we miss anything?
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18/09/2009 | Frente Externo
Germany's election - A change of partners?
Angela Merkel would like to head a new coalition. That would be just the start to answering Germany’s long-term problems
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16/09/2009 | Frente Externo
Venezuela's foreign policy - Friends in low places
Hugo Chávez dreams of forging a new world order. The mountains and jungles of South America are not ideal terrain for tank warfare.
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16/09/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
A year after Lehman Brothers collapsed - The promised bland
Barack Obama marks a year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers with a speech to Wall Street.
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16/09/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
America, China and protectionism - Wearing thin
How strong is Barack Obama's belief in free trade?
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08/09/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Decoding money-supply data- Narrow success, broad concerns
Unorthodox monetary policies have mixed effects on the money supply. “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon,” said Milton Friedman. So when central banks started pursuing unorthodox monetary policies, including the purchase by central banks of government debt, to boost their economies, some commentators started muttering about the possibility of a descent into Weimar-style hyperinflation.
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07/09/2009 | Frente Externo
Germany's elections- Not yet in Angela Merkel's bag
Three state elections suggest that the outcome of the federal election on September 27th may be less certain than it once seemed.
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06/09/2009 | Frente Externo
The crisis in Darfur- Neither all-out war nor a proper peace
New mediators are trying to resolve the conflict in Sudan’s ravaged western region. When General Martin Agwai, the outgoing commander of the United Nations and African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, said that the war in Sudan’s western region had all but dried up, he stirred controversy.
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06/09/2009 | Frente Externo
The vote that changed Japan
JAPAN is a decent, consensual and egalitarian country. Much of it is still prosperous, despite a dismal period for the economy. The beliefs of its two main political parties are often hard to tell apart. Both their leaders are grandsons of (rival) prime ministers. There were no loud celebrations when the results of the general election were announced on August 30th. It is tempting therefore to write it off as no earth-shattering event.
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05/09/2009 | En Profundidad
Globalisation - The value of history
THE reflections of Harold James, an economic historian at Princeton University and a long-time student of what makes globalisation happen, would be of interest even in times more tranquil than these. But at a moment when the march of global integration has been stalled by a financial crisis unparalleled since the 1930s, Mr James is a particularly fitting guide. His previous book about globalisation, in 2001, was about the fragility and reversibility of a process that many at the time believed to be inexorable.
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05/09/2009 | Medio Ambiente
Africa and climate change: A green ransom
Make the rich world feel guilty about global warming.RICH countries should compensate Africa for all their belching chimneys and exhausts. In a rare fit of African unity, it was decided at a recent flurry of leaders’ meetings that the United States, the European Union, Japan and others should pay the continent the tidy sum of $67 billion a year, though it was unclear for how long. Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, is likely to lead a delegation of 53 countries (all of Africa minus Morocco) to the climate-change summit in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, in December, where he will presumably lodge this demand.
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26/08/2009 | Sociedad
Venezuela's education “reforms” - Hugo Chávez seeks to catch them young
A hastily passed education law is part of the president’s plan to take control of all aspects of Venezuelan society.
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21/08/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Blackwater's dark heart - New revelations about an American private-security contractor
The “war on terror” has left many blots on America’s reputation—weapons of mass destruction, Abu Ghraib prison, Guantánamo Bay—and one stain continues to darken with time. This week the New York Times reported that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had once hired Blackwater, a private-security contractor, to plot assassinations of al-Qaeda operatives. It was the latest in a string of controversial news. This month Erik Prince, Blackwater’s founder and chairman, was accused of facilitating or committing murder; he denies the allegations.
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19/08/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Taiwan and China: Reunification by trade?
A plethora of free-trade deals is driving Taiwan closer to China. FREE-TRADE agreements (FTAs) are often contentious but rarely would one have as much strategic significance as that proposed between China and Taiwan.
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19/08/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Rebalancing the world economy: Japan
Stuck in neutral. Japan’s long-standing inability to rebalance its economy is bad for the world and even worse for its own people. The last in our series.
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15/08/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Idea: Globalisation
Globalisation is the more or less simultaneous marketing and sale of identical goods and services around the world. So widespread has the phenomenon become over the past two decades that no one is surprised any more to find Coca-Cola in rural Vietnam, Accenture in Tashkent and Nike shoes in Nigeria.
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15/08/2009 | Frente Externo
The dragon in the backyard
Latin America is tilting towards China, Iran and the global “south”—and away from the United States.If all goes to plan, by 2012 the first shipments of copper from Toromocho, a mine in the Peruvian Andes, will be sent by train and truck to a new $70m wharf in the port of Callao. From there, they will be shipped across the Pacific to China.
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15/08/2009 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Football and politics: Hand of gold
Another government bail-out: BETWEEN them, Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández, and her husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner, have nationalised their country’s post office, its airline and the private pension system. Now, it seems, it is the turn of football to come under the state’s aegis. This week the Argentine Football Association was poised to accept an offer of $154m from the state television channel for the rights to transmit this season’s matches.
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11/08/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
China and Rio Tinto: A souring relationship. Behind China’s accusations of spying against Rio Tinto
EACH year the world’s big steelmakers and the big suppliers of iron ore get together to fix a benchmark price for the commodity. For decades the annual negotiations generated barely a murmur of interest from outsiders. In recent years some attention was paid to talks between the big three of the seaborne iron-ore trade—BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale—and the steelmakers because of rapid price rises for iron ore on the back of rocketing Chinese demand. However this year they have been beset with uncustomary intrigue.
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11/08/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Spain - Basque terrorism: Dying spasms.The latest attacks by ETA only show its weakness.
IT WAS a macabre, if predictable, way of celebrating ETA’s 50th anniversary. Last month the violent Basque separatist group planted two bombs, killing two Spanish policemen and ripping out several floors of a Civil Guard barracks.
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11/08/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
China and Rio Tinto: A souring relationship. Behind China’s accusations of spying against Rio Tinto
EACH year the world’s big steelmakers and the big suppliers of iron ore get together to fix a benchmark price for the commodity. For decades the annual negotiations generated barely a murmur of interest from outsiders. In recent years some attention was paid to talks between the big three of the seaborne iron-ore trade—BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale—and the steelmakers because of rapid price rises for iron ore on the back of rocketing Chinese demand. However this year they have been beset with uncustomary intrigue.
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11/08/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Spain - Basque terrorism: Dying spasms.The latest attacks by ETA only show its weakness.
IT WAS a macabre, if predictable, way of celebrating ETA’s 50th anniversary. Last month the violent Basque separatist group planted two bombs, killing two Spanish policemen and ripping out several floors of a Civil Guard barracks.
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19/07/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Energy- He who pays for the pipelines calls the tune
Nabucco and other new gas pipelines may make Europe’s energy more secure, but market liberalisation matters too.
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19/07/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Energy- He who pays for the pipelines calls the tune
Nabucco and other new gas pipelines may make Europe’s energy more secure, but market liberalisation matters too.
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18/07/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
What went wrong with economics. And how the discipline should change to avoid the mistakes of the past
OF ALL the economic bubbles that have been pricked, few have burst more spectacularly than the reputation of economics itself. A few years ago, the dismal science was being acclaimed as a way of explaining ever more forms of human behaviour, from drug-dealing to sumo-wrestling. Wall Street ransacked the best universities for game theorists and options modellers. And on the public stage, economists were seen as far more trustworthy than politicians. John McCain joked that Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve, was so indispensable that if he died, the president should “prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him.”
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18/07/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
What went wrong with economics. And how the discipline should change to avoid the mistakes of the past
OF ALL the economic bubbles that have been pricked, few have burst more spectacularly than the reputation of economics itself. A few years ago, the dismal science was being acclaimed as a way of explaining ever more forms of human behaviour, from drug-dealing to sumo-wrestling. Wall Street ransacked the best universities for game theorists and options modellers. And on the public stage, economists were seen as far more trustworthy than politicians. John McCain joked that Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve, was so indispensable that if he died, the president should “prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him.”
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27/03/2009 | En Profundidad
Argentina - The Kirchners make a dash for it
AS ARGENTINA’S president in 2004, Néstor Kirchner pushed a bill through Congress that pinned all future federal elections on the fourth Sunday of October. The intention was that incumbents should not benefit from holding them at their political convenience.
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22/03/2009 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Defence companies - In the line of fire
Why America’s defence industry is in for some lean years.
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22/03/2009 | Medio Ambiente
Biofuels: Fuelled by coffee
A novel form of biodiesel is derived from an unusual feedstock that is more commonly used to fuel mental activities: coffee.
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27/01/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Japan - Early in, early out
An economy not hit directly by the financial storm is shrinking much faster than any other developed one. No event is seared upon Japan’s recent memory like the bursting of the country’s credit-inflated bubble in land and share prices after 1990.
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27/01/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
Spain's new unemployed - And worse to come
The worrying social fallout from sharply rising unemployment.
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27/01/2009 | En Parrilla
Iceland's boiling point
Considering the devastating effects they experienced, the people of Iceland reacted to the economic crisis with relative calm in the weeks following the collapse of the krona and the failure of the country’s three major banks.
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17/01/2009 | Frente Externo
The transition - Ready for Day One
Preparations for the handover have gone rather well
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17/01/2009 | Frente Externo
George Bush's legacy. The frat boy ships out
Few people will mourn the departure of the 43rd president
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17/01/2009 | Frente Externo
Renewing America
George Bush has left a dismal legacy, but Barack Obama can do much to repair the damage
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17/01/2009 | En Parrilla
Huddled masses .
SINCE November 5th Washington has been bracing for an invasion of zealous Obamaites eager to see their man take the oath of office. Congressmen with only a couple of hundred tickets to hand out have been swamped with thousands of requests each.
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17/01/2009 | En Parrilla
Hillary Clinton at State. Not necessarily a team of rivals
Barack Obama might actually get on well with his new chief diplomat.
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17/01/2009 | Economia y Finanzas
China's trade. Surplus to requirements
Why is China’s trade surplus growing when its exports have collapsed?
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11/01/2009 | Frente Externo
The hundred years' war
How growing rejectionism, the rise of religion, a new military doctrine and a new cold war keep peace at bay. With luck, the destructive two-week battle between Israel and Hamas may soon draw to an end. But how long before the century-long war between Arabs and Jews in Palestine follows suit?
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06/12/2008 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Dealing with Pakistan After Mumbai
Even though the terrorists probably came from Pakistan, India should continue to keep its cool
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06/12/2008 | En Profundidad
The world in 2009. The year of unsustainability
For business, the buzzword of 2008 was “sustainability”. Never properly defined, it meant different things to different people, which of course added to its charm. In part it was a new way of packaging the clumsy old “corporate social responsibility” (CSR).
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06/12/2008 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Dealing with Pakistan After Mumbai
Even though the terrorists probably came from Pakistan, India should continue to keep its cool
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06/12/2008 | En Profundidad
The world in 2009. The year of unsustainability
For business, the buzzword of 2008 was “sustainability”. Never properly defined, it meant different things to different people, which of course added to its charm. In part it was a new way of packaging the clumsy old “corporate social responsibility” (CSR).
................................................................................................................................
23/11/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Modern management - All you need is cash
The increasingly desperate search for the stuff is changing modern management—not always for the better.
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23/11/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Modern management - All you need is cash
The increasingly desperate search for the stuff is changing modern management—not always for the better.
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16/11/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Redesigning global finance
Government leaders cannot rewrite the rules this weekend. But they can still do some useful things
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16/11/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Redesigning global finance
Government leaders cannot rewrite the rules this weekend. But they can still do some useful things
................................................................................................................................
04/11/2008 | Frente Externo
Obama's historic victory
Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States.
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04/11/2008 | Frente Externo
Obama's historic victory
Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States.
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03/11/2008 | Frente Externo
USA- It's time
America should take a chance and make Barack Obama the next leader of the free world
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03/11/2008 | Frente Externo
USA- It's time
America should take a chance and make Barack Obama the next leader of the free world
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24/10/2008 | En Profundidad
Cristina's looking-glass world
A plan to nationalise private-pension funds looks like a cunning but short-sighted government effort to stave off another debt default.
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24/10/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Who's next?
The economies of eastern Europe face stormy times, even if Western banks hold their nerve. The political fallout may be even worse.
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24/10/2008 | En Profundidad
Cristina's looking-glass world
A plan to nationalise private-pension funds looks like a cunning but short-sighted government effort to stave off another debt default.
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24/10/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Who's next?
The economies of eastern Europe face stormy times, even if Western banks hold their nerve. The political fallout may be even worse.
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15/09/2008 | Frente Externo
Half the nation, a hundred million citizens strong
What the middle class plans to do with its money—and its votes. Ever since it was first spotted amid the factory smoke of western Europe’s industrialising nations, the middle class has borne the hopes for progress of politicians, economists and shopkeepers alike.
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15/09/2008 | Frente Externo
Peru and Brazil Connecting to the world
A president goes to market.
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15/09/2008 | Frente Externo
Angola - The people have their say
Despite its shortcomings, Angola’s election marked a hopeful step forward
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15/09/2008 | Frente Externo
Half the nation, a hundred million citizens strong
What the middle class plans to do with its money—and its votes. Ever since it was first spotted amid the factory smoke of western Europe’s industrialising nations, the middle class has borne the hopes for progress of politicians, economists and shopkeepers alike.
................................................................................................................................
15/09/2008 | Frente Externo
Peru and Brazil Connecting to the world
A president goes to market.
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15/09/2008 | Frente Externo
Angola - The people have their say
Despite its shortcomings, Angola’s election marked a hopeful step forward
................................................................................................................................
06/09/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
BP in Russia - Back to business
BP and its Russian partners appear to make up and vow to move on.
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06/09/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
BP in Russia - Back to business
BP and its Russian partners appear to make up and vow to move on.
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05/09/2008 | Frente Externo
Palin to significance
John McCain makes the surprise choice of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as a running mate
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05/09/2008 | High Tech
The meek shall inherit the web
Computing: In future, most new internet users will be in developing countries and will use mobile phones. Expect a wave of innovation
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05/09/2008 | Frente Externo
Palin to significance
John McCain makes the surprise choice of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as a running mate
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05/09/2008 | High Tech
The meek shall inherit the web
Computing: In future, most new internet users will be in developing countries and will use mobile phones. Expect a wave of innovation
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01/09/2008 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
America’s nuclear deal with India- Time to decide
There should be no exemption for India from the world’s nuclear rules.
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01/09/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Oil and forgiveness
NO, it's not Russia this time. Italy signed an agreement with Libya over the weekend that is being touted as a win-win for both countries. Silvio Berlusconi's government agreed to compensate the Libyans in a deal worth about $5 billion (including construction projects, student grants and other elements) for Italy's three-decades' long occupation, which ended in 1943.
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01/09/2008 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
America’s nuclear deal with India- Time to decide
There should be no exemption for India from the world’s nuclear rules.
................................................................................................................................
01/09/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Oil and forgiveness
NO, it's not Russia this time. Italy signed an agreement with Libya over the weekend that is being touted as a win-win for both countries. Silvio Berlusconi's government agreed to compensate the Libyans in a deal worth about $5 billion (including construction projects, student grants and other elements) for Italy's three-decades' long occupation, which ended in 1943.
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22/08/2008 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Clouds gather again over the Pampas
After six years of rapid growth, Argentina’s economy is at a familiar turning-point, in which the president’s refusal to change course threatens to make it poorer.
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22/08/2008 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Clouds gather again over the Pampas
After six years of rapid growth, Argentina’s economy is at a familiar turning-point, in which the president’s refusal to change course threatens to make it poorer.
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17/08/2008 | Frente Externo
Bolivia- Evo’s big win
A recall referendum strengthens the socialist president, but fails to knock out his opponents in a still-divided country.
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17/08/2008 | Frente Externo
Bolivia- Evo’s big win
A recall referendum strengthens the socialist president, but fails to knock out his opponents in a still-divided country.
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16/08/2008 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Counter-terrorism -Taking on terrorists
Is military force the best means to defeat terrorist groups? Many studies have asked how terrorist groups are born; relatively few have described how such groups are best put out of business.
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16/08/2008 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Counter-terrorism -Taking on terrorists
Is military force the best means to defeat terrorist groups? Many studies have asked how terrorist groups are born; relatively few have described how such groups are best put out of business.
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28/07/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Inflation or deflation?
The markets have become incredibly volatile as investors vacillate between these outcomes.
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28/07/2008 | Frente Externo
It’s the economy again, stupid
John McCain and Barack Obama are offering profoundly different prescriptions, though economic and political realities will limit their ambitions.
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28/07/2008 | En Parrilla
Unhappy America
If America can learn from its problems, instead of blaming others, it will come back stronger.
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28/07/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
Inflation or deflation?
The markets have become incredibly volatile as investors vacillate between these outcomes.
................................................................................................................................
28/07/2008 | Frente Externo
It’s the economy again, stupid
John McCain and Barack Obama are offering profoundly different prescriptions, though economic and political realities will limit their ambitions.
................................................................................................................................
28/07/2008 | En Parrilla
Unhappy America
If America can learn from its problems, instead of blaming others, it will come back stronger.
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19/07/2008 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Losing friends fast
When Cristina Fernández de Kirchner selected a turncoat member of the opposition Radical party as her running mate in her successful campaign for Argentina’s presidency last year, the choice looked like a canny ploy to win voters outside her Peronist party’s working-class base.
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19/07/2008 | En Profundidad
Argentina - Losing friends fast
When Cristina Fernández de Kirchner selected a turncoat member of the opposition Radical party as her running mate in her successful campaign for Argentina’s presidency last year, the choice looked like a canny ploy to win voters outside her Peronist party’s working-class base.
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24/05/2008 | Frente Externo
Still unresolved
Is Hillary Clinton still campaigning to be the presidential nominee, or for something else?
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24/05/2008 | Frente Externo
Still unresolved
Is Hillary Clinton still campaigning to be the presidential nominee, or for something else?
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03/05/2008 | En Profundidad
Cristina in the land of make-believe
Dashing hopes of change, Argentina's new president is leading her country into economic peril and social conflict.
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03/05/2008 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
A curious case of nuclear intrigue
Did North Korea help Syria? WHAT did Israel bomb in Syria last year? What did the Israelis know, and how did they know it?
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29/04/2008 | En Profundidad
Argentina - A ministerial shake-up
Argentina's troubled government loses its economy minister
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11/02/2008 | Economia y Finanzas
The people versus the powerful
Economic populism still has some life left in it.
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05/01/2008 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Argentina, Venezuela and America: Slush and Garbage
The imbroglio over a cash-stuffed suitcase
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09/12/2007 | Frente Externo
Brazilian politics - Sex, sleaze and taxes
What the loss of a key ally means for the Lula government
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18/11/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
Recession in America - America's vulnerable economy
Recession in America looks increasingly likely. Can booming emerging markets save the world economy?
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10/11/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
North Korea's nuclear programmes - Getting technical
The devil in the nuclear detail. AFTER 15 years of trying, the effort to prise North Korea out of the bomb-making business has just got encouragingly technical.
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10/11/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
The dollar - Ready for a rout?
The dollar’s decline accelerates
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06/11/2007 | En Profundidad
Argentina - The coronation of Queen Cristina
WAS it a gallant gesture from a doting husband? Was it a pre-arranged dynastic compact, enabling him to return in 2011? Or was it that Néstor Kirchner knew that Argentina requires policies different from those he has adopted for the past four years?
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06/11/2007 | En Profundidad
Argentina - The penguins' onward march
The shift from Néstor to Cristina Kirchner offers a chance for change—even if this may prove to be largely cosmetic.
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06/09/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
Ecuador: A wannabe Chávez short of oil
Nelson Zapata has been shining shoes in the shadow of the Carondelet palace, the elegant colonial seat of Ecuador's presidency, for 25 years. In the past decade, he has seen no fewer than eight heads of state come and go, three of them ousted by an irate populace, political intrigue or both. He has greater faith in the current incumbent, Rafael Correa.
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26/08/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
The making of a neo-KGB state
Political power in Russia now lies with the FSB, the KGB's successor.
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25/08/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
Does America need a recession? An intriguing, if unpopular, thought
The late Rudi Dornbusch, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, once remarked: “None of the post-war expansions died of old age.
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11/07/2007 | Transparencia
Corruption in Argentina - More brouhaha for the government
Following a string of recent corruption allegations, the administration of President Néstor Kirchner is being hit with a new brouhaha surrounding his economy minister, Felisa Miceli. The case could damage Mr Kirchner’s image by adding to a growing perception that corruption runs deep in his government.
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16/06/2007 | Frente Externo
Barack Obama - The campaign's brightest s
But can the charismatic youngster lead?
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16/06/2007 | Frente Externo
Barack Obama - The campaign's brightest s
But can the charismatic youngster lead?
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10/06/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
New model police
Why crime continues to fall in America's biggest cities even as it rises elsewhere.
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10/06/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
New model police
Why crime continues to fall in America's biggest cities even as it rises elsewhere.
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19/05/2007 | Transparencia
Gas and graft
A corruption scandal laps around the government.
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19/05/2007 | En Parrilla
The first lady steps out
An official announcement is not expected until next month, and may come even later. But all the signs—including leaks from senior ministers—are that the Kirchner family candidate in a presidential election due in October will not be Néstor, the incumbent, but Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the first lady.
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19/05/2007 | Transparencia
Gas and graft
A corruption scandal laps around the government.
................................................................................................................................
19/05/2007 | En Parrilla
The first lady steps out
An official announcement is not expected until next month, and may come even later. But all the signs—including leaks from senior ministers—are that the Kirchner family candidate in a presidential election due in October will not be Néstor, the incumbent, but Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the first lady.
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24/04/2007 | Frente Externo
Venezuela: Scarcity amid abundance
On the last Saturday in March the broad Avenida Bolívar in the heart of Venezuela's capital was transformed into an open-air, government-run "mega-market". Shoppers, mainly from poorer parts of the city, formed orderly queues to buy food at officially regulated prices—something that is often impossible in ordinary shops.
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24/04/2007 | Frente Externo
Venezuela: Scarcity amid abundance
On the last Saturday in March the broad Avenida Bolívar in the heart of Venezuela's capital was transformed into an open-air, government-run "mega-market". Shoppers, mainly from poorer parts of the city, formed orderly queues to buy food at officially regulated prices—something that is often impossible in ordinary shops.
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14/04/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
Growing energy nexus - Energy-hungry China looks to Latin America
China's fast-paced economic growth—averaging 9.1% per year in the last decade—can only be sustained by high energy consumption, an increasing amount of which will need to be imported. Given global competition for energy resources, China's energy policy is now focused on securing a steady supply in the medium to long term.
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14/04/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
Growing energy nexus - Energy-hungry China looks to Latin America
China's fast-paced economic growth—averaging 9.1% per year in the last decade—can only be sustained by high energy consumption, an increasing amount of which will need to be imported. Given global competition for energy resources, China's energy policy is now focused on securing a steady supply in the medium to long term.
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05/04/2007 | Frente Externo
The money primary - The presidential candidates are shattering fund-raising records
The Clinton campaign's announcement, on April 1st, that it had raised $26m in the first quarter of this year confirmed two things that were already known: that Hillary Clinton is the Democratic front-runner and that the 2008 primary is going to be the most expensive in history.
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05/04/2007 | Medio Ambiente
Air pressure - The Supreme Court breathes down the government's neck
Throughout George Bush's presidency, the federal government has refused to countenance any regulation of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
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05/04/2007 | En Profundidad
Politics this week
Tortuous diplomacy continued in an effort to free 15 British sailors and marines captured recently by Iran, which said they had trespassed into Iranian waters at the top of the Persian Gulf. Britain, which denied the charge, said it has proposed direct talks with Iran.
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28/02/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Europe's space wars
Europe should not let Russia's threats deter it from deploying a defence against rogue states with rockets
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28/02/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
Carry on speculating - How traders have been triumphing over economic theory
No comment on the financial markets these days is complete without mention of the “carry trade”, the borrowing or selling of currencies with low interest rates and the purchase of currencies with high rates.
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05/02/2007 | Frente Externo
The Next Chile - Uruguay
Uruguay, a half-hearted jaguar . If only it allowed itself to be .
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05/02/2007 | Frente Externo
The Next Chile - Uruguay
Uruguay, a half-hearted jaguar . If only it allowed itself to be .
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04/02/2007 | Frente Externo
China and Africa - A cautious welcome
Already a seasoned visitor to Africa, Hu Jintao is back again. China’s president is on a 12-day tour of the continent taking in eight countries that began on Tuesday January 30th. This follows quickly (given the glacial pace of most diplomacy) after the first ever Sino-African summit in Beijing last November.
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04/02/2007 | Frente Externo
US politics - Remember Pat Buchanan
Why so many candidates, with so little reason to believe they could win, are running for president in 2008.
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04/02/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Nuclear trafficking - A radioactive subject
A chance, you might think, for Russia to show the co-operation that its president, Vladimir Putin, regularly promises in clamping down on the global traffic in dangerous nuclear materials.
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04/02/2007 | Frente Externo
China and Africa - A cautious welcome
Already a seasoned visitor to Africa, Hu Jintao is back again. China’s president is on a 12-day tour of the continent taking in eight countries that began on Tuesday January 30th. This follows quickly (given the glacial pace of most diplomacy) after the first ever Sino-African summit in Beijing last November.
................................................................................................................................
04/02/2007 | Frente Externo
US politics - Remember Pat Buchanan
Why so many candidates, with so little reason to believe they could win, are running for president in 2008.
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04/02/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Nuclear trafficking - A radioactive subject
A chance, you might think, for Russia to show the co-operation that its president, Vladimir Putin, regularly promises in clamping down on the global traffic in dangerous nuclear materials.
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29/01/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Crime in Mexico
The new president has sent the army after the drug mobs. More importantly, he has started to reform the police.
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29/01/2007 | Medio Ambiente
The business of climate change - Why some firms want caps on emissions
FOR a country that is often cast as evil incarnate when it comes to the environment, America has amassed an impressive array of green credentials of late. Even the National Football League plans to offset the greenhouse gases generated by this year’s Super Bowl in February.
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29/01/2007 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Crime in Mexico
The new president has sent the army after the drug mobs. More importantly, he has started to reform the police.
................................................................................................................................
29/01/2007 | Medio Ambiente
The business of climate change - Why some firms want caps on emissions
FOR a country that is often cast as evil incarnate when it comes to the environment, America has amassed an impressive array of green credentials of late. Even the National Football League plans to offset the greenhouse gases generated by this year’s Super Bowl in February.
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11/01/2007 | Frente Externo
Condi for vice-president . A rumour worth repeating?
Condi for 08? THE things we have to read these days. Comedy Central's blog, CC Insider, alleges that Dick Cheney will step down next month, to be replaced by Condi Rice.
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11/01/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
Seeking an energy holy trinity
Europe needs cleaner, cheaper and more reliable sources of energy. That will only happen if there is real competition across the continent.
................................................................................................................................
11/01/2007 | Frente Externo
Condi for vice-president . A rumour worth repeating?
Condi for 08? THE things we have to read these days. Comedy Central's blog, CC Insider, alleges that Dick Cheney will step down next month, to be replaced by Condi Rice.
................................................................................................................................
11/01/2007 | Economia y Finanzas
Seeking an energy holy trinity
Europe needs cleaner, cheaper and more reliable sources of energy. That will only happen if there is real competition across the continent.
................................................................................................................................
27/12/2006 | Frente Externo
Democracy defiled. The coup makes a comeback
It has been a busy year for the men in uniform. In February military officers made a botched bid for power in the Philippines. In September Thailand’s military chiefs seized power bloodlessly while Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, was abroad. In December Fiji’s army chief, Frank Bainimarama, took control of his country.
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27/12/2006 | Frente Externo
Happy Birthday to EU
Some of Europe’s leaders will celebrate the EU's 50th anniversary by drawing up a mini-constitution.
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27/12/2006 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Think before you shoot
A new field manual teaches American forces how to fight elusive insurgents.
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27/12/2006 | Frente Externo
Democracy defiled. The coup makes a comeback
It has been a busy year for the men in uniform. In February military officers made a botched bid for power in the Philippines. In September Thailand’s military chiefs seized power bloodlessly while Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, was abroad. In December Fiji’s army chief, Frank Bainimarama, took control of his country.
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27/12/2006 | Frente Externo
Happy Birthday to EU
Some of Europe’s leaders will celebrate the EU's 50th anniversary by drawing up a mini-constitution.
................................................................................................................................
27/12/2006 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Think before you shoot
A new field manual teaches American forces how to fight elusive insurgents.
................................................................................................................................
20/12/2006 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina's booming economy
The durability of economic recovery has surprised many. But is the government mortgaging the country's future?
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20/12/2006 | Economia y Finanzas
Argentina's booming economy
The durability of economic recovery has surprised many. But is the government mortgaging the country's future?
................................................................................................................................
17/11/2006 | Frente Externo
La vuelta de Daniel Ortega
Puede que sea un pequeño país tropical, pero Ronald Reagan vio antaño a Nicaragua como una "amenaza mortal" para Estados Unidos. La revolución sandinista, liderada por Daniel Ortega, estaba, en palabras del citado presidente, "a sólo dos días de viaje en coche de Harlingen, Texas".
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30/09/2006 | Economia y Finanzas
Oil slides down
Cheaper oil is welcome but it is unclear whether lower prices will last. Worse, the uncertainty may reflect worries that America's economy is weakening too.
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28/07/2006 | Economia y Finanzas
Downhill From Here - Mercosur's Summit
Mercosur's disappointing summit
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12/04/2006 | Frente Externo
SOUTH AFRICA: Chasing the rainbow
Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has moved closer to becoming the “rainbow nation” of Nelson Mandela's vision. But not nearly close enough yet, says Richard Cockett.
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12/04/2006 | Frente Externo
France: A tale of two prime ministers
As the government waters down its labour reform, the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, loses authority to rivals, such as Nicolas Sarkozy.
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12/04/2006 | Economia y Finanzas
Myths and migration
Do immigrants really hurt American workers' wages?
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06/03/2006 | Frente Externo
Could Mexico be heading for a coalition government without the PRI?
Mexican politics have long been characterised by a lack of ideology. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) managed to rule the country for 72 successive years by adopting a single guiding principle: stay in power.
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21/02/2006 | Medio Ambiente
Peru's Water Industry: Quenching Thirst
Their country has lots of fresh water. But fewer people in Peru have access to piped water and sewerage than anywhere else in South America except Bolivia.
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17/02/2006 | Economia y Finanzas
Energy in South America: The explosive nature of gas
Glance at our map of natural gas supply and demand in South America, and at first sight the “Great Pipeline of the South” promoted by Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, seems to make perfect sense.
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31/01/2006 | Frente Externo
Bolivia: Evo Ready or Not?
Evo Morales, who took office on January 22nd as Bolivia's first elected president of indigenous descent, is still trying to be all things to all men.
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10/01/2006 | Inteligencia y Seguridad
Criminal gangs in the Americas: Out of the underworld
In the back courtyard of a deserted wreck of a house on the outskirts of San Salvador, El Salvador's capital, a group of young men is gathered. One sleeps on a couch without cushions, under a bare light bulb, as his friends talk.
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28/12/2005 | En Profundidad
Kirchner and Lula: different ways to give the Fund the kiss off
Whatever the economics involved, wriggling free from the tutelage of the IMF is always good politics, in Latin America in particular. That is why Brazil's finance ministry announced on December 13th that it would repay early its entire debt of $15.5 billion falling due to the IMF over the next two years.
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31/10/2005 | En Profundidad
Argentina: After Kirchner's Victory
Following a successful electoral gamble, some hard decisions for the president
................................................................................................................................
26/09/2005 | Economia y Finanzas
Reluctant party-poopers
Despite the economic impact of Katrina, which dealt a stiff blow to America’s oil markets, the Federal Reserve has once again raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. With high fuel prices threatening to bring on both inflation and recession, being a central banker is harder than it used to be.
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29/08/2005 | Frente Externo
Ecuador: Palacio gets a taste of his own medicine
Upset the rule of law and you risk a free-for-all. That is what is happening in Ecuador. It began with Lucio Gutiérrez, the president elected in 2002 who last year dissolved the supreme court. In April, Mr Gutiérrez was replaced in a congressional coup by Alfredo Palacio, his estranged vice-president.
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11/08/2005 | Economia y Finanzas
Oil: Perils at the pump
Oil prices hit yet another record this week, on fears of political instability in the Middle East and refining problems in America. So far, the world economy has managed to chug along without much ill effect. But how long can consumers go on paying ever more at the pump without cutting back elsewhere? And why aren’t high prices bringing new supplies to market?
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08/08/2005 | Frente Externo
Brazil and China Falling out of love
Brazil's affair with China is going off the boil.
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24/06/2005 | Economia y Finanzas
Hotting up again - Can anything cool the oil market?
The verdict of experts at the Centre for Global Energy Studies, a London think-tank, is pretty damning. “OPEC”, it declares, “has lost credibility as a guarantor of stable oil prices.” Back in the spring, the influence of OPEC—the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries—looked plain, as Saudi Arabia, the cartel's kingpin, said that OECD countries' stocks should be allowed to build up.
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24/06/2005 | Frente Externo
Brazil's bribery scandal - Jeffersonian democracy, tropical style
True or not, bribery allegations made by Roberto Jefferson have left Lula's government reeling.
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24/06/2005 | Economia y Finanzas
The way of the dragon
The state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Corporation has bid $18.5 billion for Unocal, an American energy company, in the latest sign that China is looking overseas for natural resources and brands. Controversially, acquisitive Chinese firms are getting a lot of help from their government.
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03/04/2005 | Frente Externo
Mostly peaceful, but hardly fair
Robert Mugabe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, has won a two-thirds majority in Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections, allowing the president to fiddle with the constitution. With Mr Mugabe's lot tightening their grip on power, there is no end in sight to the hunger and disease gripping the country.
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03/04/2005 | Dossier Juan Pablo II
The legacy of a pope who changed history
John Paul II, spiritual leader to the world's one billion or so Catholics, has died. He will be remembered as a pope who resisted pressures to “modernise” the church's values—and a man who changed history by precipitating the fall of Soviet communism
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03/04/2005 | Frente Externo
Mostly peaceful, but hardly fair
Robert Mugabe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, has won a two-thirds majority in Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections, allowing the president to fiddle with the constitution. With Mr Mugabe's lot tightening their grip on power, there is no end in sight to the hunger and disease gripping the country.
................................................................................................................................
03/04/2005 | Dossier Juan Pablo II
The legacy of a pope who changed history
John Paul II, spiritual leader to the world's one billion or so Catholics, has died. He will be remembered as a pope who resisted pressures to “modernise” the church's values—and a man who changed history by precipitating the fall of Soviet communism
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