WASHINGTON AND EU-LATIN AMERICAN RELATIONS

Washington seems rather uninterested or at least unconcerned with what Europe, collectively as the European Union or country by country, could do in its relations with the rest of the Americas. In reality, this attitude is a reflection of a drop in US interest in what lies to its south as a result of the urgency of action in other areas, like the Middle East and China, and terrorism in general.

AN URBAN LEGEND ABOUT INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Economists have long analysed trade, why nations need it to prosper, and what governments do to reap the gains while managing the costs. But if the economics of trade policy are clear, the politics of trade are highly complex. Trade policy, like so many other areas of policy, has ramifications on how resources are distributed, and this inevitably creates competing interest groups within society.

CITIZEN DIPLOMACY AND THE FORGING OF WORLD PEACE

All actors are necessary in the building of peace, and all must develop their particular roles. At the municipal level we are convinced that local governments, which are closest to the citizens, have a key role to play in bringing about peace and understanding among different cultures.

EUROPE: THE SOCIAL QUESTION

With the motto "Stop the misery", the European Union (EU) has declared 2010 "The Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion". In the 27 countries of the EU, there are some 85 million poor [i]. One in six Europeans lives in poverty [ii]. And the situation is getting worse as the effects of the global economic crisis spread. The social question must be put at the centre of the debate.

US, EU, AND CHINA: GLOBAL GOVERNANCE GROWS HARDER AND HARDER

In the few weeks since President Obama succeeded in passing his health reform bill, we have seen numerous developments that clearly indicate the search for global governance is growing more and more difficult. Let's begin with the United States, where the lesson to be learned is that politics, in matters of greatest importance, can simply ignore public opinion. Various Democratic senators whom Obama pressured to support the reform bill now run the risk of losing re-election for doing so.

A FUTURE WORLD OF REGIONS

The US Empire is declining and leaving a power vacuum. China will not fill the gap, nor the European Union (EU) with its recent experience of how colonialism ended. The state system is also fading, with regions gaining in importance.

CUBA NEEDS MORE THAN ASPIRIN

It will soon be three years since Cuban president Raul Castro acknowledged the necessity of introducing structural and conceptual changes in the social and economic model of the country, which is plagued by endemic inefficiency, contradictions, unpredictable factors, and bureaucratic measures and countermeasures that block any movement towards a possible tapping of the creative and productive potential of the island and its people.

WHERE IS THE GLOBAL ECONOMY HEADED?

After a deep and widespread contraction in economic activity and a significant drop in output and employment, policy makers, financial analysts, and media pundits all appear to be heartened by the news from different parts of the world that the worst is over. The main concern now is about the strength and the shape of the recovery.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION

The current financial and economic crisis drew attention away from the food crisis, but the latter still remains a threat to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and sends a warning of the dangers of low investment and poor policies in the agricultural sector.

THE BLOSSOMING OF SINO-IRANIAN RELATIONS AND THE LIMITS OF AMERICAN POWER

Iran continues to defy western pressure and assert its interests in the highly strategic and vital region of the Persian Gulf -which supplies 40 percent of the world's energy resources- as well as the greater Middle East and Central Asia. Sino-Iranian relations, which have grown steadily stronger are entering a critical stage, and the West will have to address the emerging alliance between these two revisionist powers.

TIME FOR A COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONVENTION

History has never provided a better time to act on nuclear disarmament. The desire to free the world of the 23,300 nuclear weapons currently in global stockpiles has come vividly into the spotlight as both global leaders and civil society groups lead the charge toward abolition.

DARFUR PEACE TALKS: WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?

While the normalization of diplomatic relations between Chad and Sudan and the signing of a cease fire and framework for peace negotiations between the Sudan government and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are being heralded as critical steps towards peace in Darfur, there is still a long way to travel to resolving the ongoing crisis in Darfur.

EUROPE. THE CRISIS OF THE LEFT

The victory of the right in January's elections in Chile has stirred reflections on the crisis of the left. Of the 15 countries in Europe that had leftist governments in 1992, only five do today, and of these three -Portugal, Spain, and Greece- presently find themselves in grave financial and social difficulty. For people under fifty, it is hard to grasp how deep the roots of this crisis go. The solution does not seem to be a quick one.

IRAN: THEOCRATIC REGIME SURVIVES THROUGH REPRESSION

The latest report of Hands Off Cain (1) documents no fewer than 346 executions in Iran in 2008, a figure far exceeded by the total for 2009. Iran's theocratic regime is second only to China in its implementation of the death penalty.

COLOMBIA: BODY COUNT OF SLAIN JOURNALISTS

On February 16, while addressing representatives of the the Foundation for the Freedom of the Press of Colombia and the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) of New York, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe cited his own government as the only one that had succeeded in reducing to near zero the number of journalists assassinated per year and concluded that this feat made him one of the leading defenders of the freedom of the press in his nation's history. The premise is less questionable than the conclusion: in the previous year, the "only" killing was of Jose Everardo Aguilar, for doing his job; in 2002, the first year of Uribe's presidency, six colleagues met the same fate.

A WIN-WIN PLAN FOR ICELAND, BRITAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS

Icelanders, on March 6, 2010, rejected by 90% the referendum on paying $5.3 billion (45% of national output in 2009) of odious debt incurred by their privatized bank Icesave. This opens the way for a plan proposed by Dutch businessman/philanthropist Gijs Graafland's Planck Foundation. This ingenious, well-researched Energy for Debt plan invites private and public investors to develop Iceland's boundless geothermal energy and send its electricity to Britain and the Netherlands via a high-voltage DC transmission line. Graafland, an energy and financial expert, points out that Iceland, situated between two of Earth's tectonic plates, has unlimited geothermal energy from the planet's core near the surface –rather than miles deeper as elsewhere. "Iceland can become the Saudi Arabia of the North in geothermal energy", says Graafland.

MOSCOW AND HAVANA: FRIENDS FOREVER?

With books in hand, the Russians have returned to Cuba.

THE DECLINE OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY

Ideas die too. The cemetery of political parties overflows with the remains of organisations that at one time ignited passions and roused multitudes but are now relegated to oblivion. Who in Europe today agrees with Radicalism, though it was one of the most important political forces (centre-left) of the second half of the 19th century? Or Anarchism? Or Stalinist Communism? What happened to these formidable mass movements that in their day could mobilise millions of workers and peasant farmers? Were they just passing fashions?

THE EU MUST ACT NOW ON GLOBAL CRISIS

There is lively debate in the European Union about the global recession and the economic crisis in member countries, but relatively little discussion about the future of the Old Continent.

THE RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH

There is no political formulation of the interests of humanity or mother earth that protects their nature and cultures. For centuries we have lived under the jurisdiction of nation states and their assorted forms of sovereignty and autonomy. But as all problems become increasingly global, this political model is proving incapable of offering the solutions needed by humanity and the planet as a whole.

GLOBL CRISIS: THE EU MUST ACT NOW

There is lively debate in the European Union about the global recession and the economic crisis in member countries, but relatively little discussion about the future of the Old Continent.