Safe Democracy Foundation - Safe Democracy

The failed meetings between Warsaw and Moscow are numerous and complex. Poland continues to view Russia as a threat, but Donald Tusk’s brand new cabinet intends to confront its great neighbor with a new strategy: to promote negotiation in view of the conflict. The objective of Warsaw is two-fold: to win allies that reinforce their position with respect to Moscow and to promote a more united stance within the heart of the European Union, one critical of the Russian excesses.

• Poland Wagers for Change
  por Mercedes Herrero de la Fuente
• The United States, Russia, and the "new" missile crisis
  por Zidane Zeraoui

Today Brazil receives an important flow of capital in the form of direct, as well as financial, investments, partly induced by the differential between the American and domestic interest rates. What would happen if the United States were to effectively slip into a recession and the Federal Reserve were to decide to continue lowering the rates? What would the consequences for the local economy be?

• Brazil is looking to accelerate its growth
  por Marcelo Luchino
• The Globalization of Brazil
  por Marcelo Luchino

In a few weeks, Italy will elect a new government without resorting to the habitual scores of acronyms. The left and right are presenting new, more integrated and centered formulas, which (they hope) will signify an important step towards the bipartisanship that they yearn for. Italian politics are being Americanized, but the small parties on both sides of the political spectrum and in the disputed center will fight for their survival.

Hugo Chavez’s flight forward is unprecedented in Venezuela’s history, states the author. Meanwhile, the social disorganization, the failure of the educational system, underemployment, shortages of supplies, uncontrollable inflation, police and judicial administrative inefficiency, steady poverty and political polarization (stronger than ever) completely discredit a revolution that announced better times for Venezuela, but has ended up being a true fiasco.

• Venezuela does not want another Putin
  por Iraxis Bello
• There is a lack of dialog and a surplus of barriers in Venezuela
  por Luis Méndez Asensio

The Philippine education system is marked by high dropout and repetition rates and low overall performance. Under a new definition of functional literacy, the rate could drop to as low as 6 percent. The author contends that the sector is afflicted with a myriad of problems, and although many government programs look promising, he points to governance as being the key.

• Philippine land reform has failed to live up to its promise
  por Joel Adriano

While some proclaim that the Internet has brought knowledge to within everyone’s reach, there are others who believe that technology has amplified the distance between the rich and the poor, between the digitally literate and the citizens without access to the knowledge that the Internet makes available. Be that as it may, the author believes that social networks like Facebook allow for interaction and the spread of knowledge and access to more information, and they constitute a valuable opportunity to bridge the digital gaps.