"The U.S. Strategy on IS in Iraq Has It Backwards"

Uma visão muito diferente do habitual:

U.S. war policy against the Islamic State (IS) has it backwards. Roughly speaking, the goal of the United States is trying to eradicate the jihadist group in Iraq with ground support from the Iraqi army, while merely seeking to contain it in Syria with pinprick bombing missions.

"The Scream"

Eu caminhava com dois amigos ao pôr do sol... eu tremia de ansiedade... e senti um grito infinito passando através da natureza - Edvard Munch, 1893

"Nkurunziza’s slippery slope"

Pierre Nkurunziza wants to remain president of Burundi. His opponents don’t want him to. Nkurinziza says the constitution allows him another term in office. His opponents say the Arusha Accords, which formed the basis of the constitution, do not. The Constitutional Court of Burundi ruled in favour of Nkurunziza. His opponents reacted by organising mass demonstrations on the streets of the capital, Bujumbura, and beyond. This seemed to take the country to the precipice. Seeing vulnerability, some army officers staged a coup, which Nkurunziza’s spokesperson called a “joke.” He was right! The coup makers lacked sufficient support in the military and police. That sealed their fate.

Omar Sharif - 1932/2015

Omar Sharif

"The new Eastern Bloc: China, Russia and India are joining forces"

This month, as Newsweek goes to print, an international organisation all but unknown inthe West is set to announce that its membership will soon include countries representing halfthe world's population. If the hopes of its leading backers – particularly Russia – are realised, the 15th annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Russian city of Ufa will mark the moment when this previously obscure body starts to demand much closer attention from the West.

"Lives on Hold for the Dominican Republic’s Haitian Minority"

A crisis in the Dominican Republic is coming to a boil, as tens of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent are in danger of being expelled to Haiti or of facing lives of effective second-class citizenship in the Dominican Republic, without the documents they need for their daily lives.The issue began in 2013, when these Dominicans were stripped of their citizenship based on a retroactive reinterpretation of provisions in the Dominican constitution concerning nationality law. Although the government passed a law in 2014 to resolve the problem, bureaucratic inefficiency and a lack of political will have left this category of Dominican citizens unable to secure the necessary documentation to enroll in school or college, get jobs in the formal economy, register children at birth, or travel around the country without risk of expulsion. Many have already been swept up by police and troops based on racial profiling and forced over the border to Haiti, according to a new Human Rights Watch report, We Are Dominican: Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality in the Dominican Republic. Others live in daily fear of being rounded up and pushed out. A Human Rights Watch fellow, Celso Perez, talks to Kathy Rose, a Human Rights Watch editor, about what’s happening to Dominicans of Haitian descent, and their charged relationship with other Dominicans.

"The Boat and the Bomb"

On the night of July 10,1985, the blasts of two limpet mines placed by French secret agents sank a ship protesting against nuclear testing in the Pacific and took the life of onboard photographer Fernando Pereira.

"Documents on 2012 Drone Strike Detail How Terrorists Are Targeted"

Early in 2012, worried that suicide bombers might pass through airline security undetected, American counterterrorism officials ordered a drone strike in Yemen to kill a doctor they believed was working with Al Qaeda to surgically implant explosives in operatives, according to British intelligence documents.

"The Greek Revolt Against Bad Economics Threatens European Elites"

A look behind the scenes of the Greek referendum and what could happen next:

James K. Galbraith, author of "The End of Normal" and professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, has an inside view of the crisis leading to the recent referendum in Greece. Galbraith has worked for the past several years with recently departed Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis as both a colleague and co-author, and he has just returned from Greece, where he looked down over the rooftops of Syntagma Square as citizens made history in a strong vote against austerity. He discusses the dramatic turn of events and what is at stake going forward as the austerity doctrine — and the entire neoliberal project — come under threat.

"Europe’s Greek Failure"

Narratives matter, especially when they are intertwined with hard interests. As Greece and its creditors court catastrophe, we are getting a clear picture of how conflicting narratives can lead to a lose-lose result.

"Yánis Varoufákis, Jon Elster. Grèce, faites vos jeux… Rien ne va plus ?"

Face à la crise de la dette, Athènes et l’Europe balancent entre deux options, la coopération ou la défection. Cette alternative est aussi au cœur de la théorie des jeux, spécialité de Yánis Varoufákis, ministre grec des Finances. Il a accepté de converser avec le philosophe Jon Elster, qu’il lit et admire depuis longtemps. Au-delà de la raison économique, ils mesurent ensemble le poids des émotions et de l’Histoire.

Maria Barroso - 1925/2015

Maria Barroso

"Piketty : «l'Allemagne est LE pays qui n'a jamais remboursé ses dettes»"

Exemplaire, l'Allemagne ? Un modèle de rigueur budgétaire et de remboursement des dettes ? Non, répond l'économiste Thomas Piketty (photo AFP) dans une interview au journal allemand Die Zeit, dont Slate propose une traduction française des principaux arguments.

Dans cet entretien, donc, l'auteur du Capital au XXIe siècle rappelle, comme cela a déjà été dit, que l'Allemagne a bénéficié d'une restructuration de sa dette en 1953, au sortir de la guerre, ce qui lui a permis de remettre son économie sur les rails et d'aboutir au résultat que l'on connaît. Mais il va plus loin :

«Ce qui m'a frappé pendant que j'écrivais, c'est que l'Allemagne est vraiment le meilleur exemple d'un pays qui, au cours de l'histoire, n'a jamais remboursé sa dette extérieure, ni après la Première, ni après la Seconde Guerre mondiale. [...] L'Allemagne est LE pays qui n'a jamais remboursé ses dettes. Elle n'est pas légitime pour faire la leçon aux autres nations.»

Cette thèse, Thomas Piketty, chroniqueur à Libé, l'a plusieurs fois exposée,décrivant par le menu comment l'Allemagne, et aussi la France, ont fait jouer la planche à billets au sortir de 1945, obtenu des effacements d'ardoise et imposer les hauts patrimoines. D'après les accords européens de 2012, la Grèce se retrouve dans l'obligation «de dégager un énorme excédent de 4% du PIB pendant des décennies afin de rembourser ses dettes», rappelait-ildans notre journal. Une stratégie absurde, «que la France et l'Allemagne n'ont fort heureusement jamais appliqué à elles-mêmes».

On caresse l'espoir que les responsables du tabloïd Bild, qui redoublent chaque jour de violence envers la Grèce, auront lu cet entretien (aujourd'hui, le quotidien demande à Angela Merkel d'être une «chancelière de fer»).

Daqui

Entrevista completa em alemão

"More People Power: 14 Human Rights Successes So Far in 2015"

Time to celebrate another 14 global human rights successes in 2015.

Obrigada Grécia!

Os resultados do referendo na Grécia, independentemente do que vier a seguir, representam uma viragem histórica na União Europeia. Nada será como dantes. Os gregos provaram que é possível dizer não à ditadura financeira que é hoje a UE. Apesar, e por causa, da chantagem vergonhosa feita pelos dirigentes europeus (e, é bom dizer, de todos os quadrantes políticos) os gregos responderam que NA GRÉCIA MANDAM OS GREGOS.

A Democracia venceu!

Esta resposta do povo grego abre caminho à transformação da relação entre os estados na União e obriga todos a repensarem os caminhos que é forçoso mudar.

Obrigada Grécia!

"What does gun violence really cost?"

It was a mild, crystal clear desert evening on November 15, 2004, when Jennifer Longdon and her fiance, David Rueckert, closed up his martial-arts studio and headed out to grab some carnitas tortas from a nearby taqueria. They were joking and chatting about wedding plans—the local Japanese garden seemed perfect—as Rueckert turned their pickup into the parking lot of a strip mall in suburban north Phoenix. A red truck with oversize tires and tinted windows sideswiped theirs, and as they stopped to get out, Rueckert's window exploded. He told Longdon to get down and reached for the handgun he had inside a cooler on the cab floor. As he threw the truck into gear, there were two more shots. His words turned to gibberish and he slumped forward, his foot on the gas. A bullet hit Longdon's back like a bolt of lightning, her whole body a live wire as they accelerated toward the row of palm trees in the concrete divider.

"WHY THE OPINION POLLS GOT IT SO WRONG"

In an era of ‘You can’t say that’, people aren’t always honest with pollsters.

Portugal na imprensa estrangeira - "Azorean Diaspora Can’t Resist the Powerful Pull of Home"

Before a recent religious procession here, a wooden statue of the Holy Christ of Miracles was draped in a new cape, but with a distinctly non-Portuguese twist: Images of Canadian maple leaves were woven into its silk and velvet embroidery.

Wikileaks - "Trade in Services Agreement - Press release"

Today, Wednesday July 2, 2015 at 1500 CEST, WikiLeaks continues publishing documents from the secret ongoing TiSA (Trade in Services Agremeent) negotiations, with four Chapters in key areas ahead of the next negotiating round on Monday: Electronic Commerce, Telecommunications Services, Financial Services and Maritime Transport Services. All four texts include the confidential negotiating positions for each of the TiSA participating countries. Today WikiLeaks is also publishing detailed analyses on each of these Chapters, totalling 26 pages, explaining how they have changed since previous rounds, also published by WikiLeaks.The Annexes show a concerted attempt to place restrictions on the ability of participating governments to regulate services sectors, even where regulations are necessary to protect the privacy of domestic populations, the natural environment or the integrity of public services. Today's TiSA documents follow WikiLeaks publication yesterday of five TiSA negotiating texts including the Core Text, and brings WikiLeaks' overall total ofpublished secret TiSA texts to 28.

"QUE NOTRE « NON » RÉSONNE DANS TOUTE L’EUROPE"

Malgré la terreur exercée par les médias et les Institutions, pour le peuple grec, le dilemme est clair. Soit nous votons pour l’abolition des mémorandums et l’ouverture d’une nouvelle voie porteuse d’espoir, soit nous votons pour la continuation de l’austérité, de la pauvreté et de la misère pour les 50 années à venir.