Kosovo´s final status: another chapter of turmoil in the Balkans?

The crude realities of Kosovo´s teetering social cohesion following 8 years of UN rule

Posted by , 30th November 2007

Kosovo’s independence is inevitable, given the failure of multiethnicism in the Balkans, the overwhelming support it has amongst Kosovars, and the fact that Serbia’s grip upon the region is currently only nominal, argues the author. He suggests that the EU should play a more important role in mediating the conflict and attempt to implement the main parts of the Ahtisaari Plan. At the same time, caution must be exercised, so as to avoid a crisis with Serbia or Russia, as well as a repeat of the gruesome violence that gripped the region during the 1990s.

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The Iberian-American Summits: Is the glass half full or half empty?

Social cohesion and inclusion, central topics of the meetings in Santiago

Posted by , 16th November 2007

What are the reasons for holding the Iberian-American summits? And for not holding them. Where does the skepticism come from? What was expected of Summit XVII in Santiago de Chile? Are these Summits justified? The Parallel Summit. The importance of face-to-face meetings. The debate about institutional quality in Latin America. Next, the first part of the analysis.

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Is a Comprehensive Middle Eastern Peace Possible?

A glimpse of hope is arising towards the “solution” of the Israeli Palestinian conflict

Posted by , 16th November 2007

It is an outcry of hope that Annapolis meeting will be an opening for shifting paradigms towards a comprehensive Middle Eastern peace, otherwise the meeting participants will go there in order to loose their time, while any partial solution reached to one or more problem, will dwindle then vanish, in the new strong cycle of vicious violence that will prevail.

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Turkey´s diplomatic coercion with Iraq

When the threat is credible, the threatened reacts

Posted by , 16th November 2007

The crisis between the Turkish army and the Kurdish rebels of the PKK seems to be mitigated thanks to the offers guaranteed to Turkey on behalf of the United States and Iraq, but the chaos that devastated the latter, predicts that the conflict will continue in the short term, and possibly the long term as well. Turkey has emerged victorious from its first incursion but the future is no more flattering for its interests. A large part of the solution the crisis is thanks to the United States.

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Hope for Guatemala?

The challenges for new president Álvaro Colom

Posted by , 16th November 2007

Álvaro Colom is the new president of Guatemala after elections that were clean but marked by absenteeism and an elevated number of intentionally null votes. The principal objectives of the new legislature are to overcome the criminality rate, lack of security, poverty and low levels of production. Right now the key lies in governability.

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Venezuela does not want another Putin

The supporters of the “No” to the constitutional reform achieve a minimal victory

Posted by , 13th November 2007

The hard-fought result of the referendum for the constitutional reform that President Hugo Chávez attempted to push through, evidence for the fact that Venezuela continues to be polarized into two sides without accepting any middle ground, with the social and political consequences that this entails. The triumph of the No is the Venezuelan society’s rejection of another Putin, and apart from that provides the leaderless political opposition, which now has no excuse to not get organized with an opportunity.

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How to Overcome the Mercosur Crisis

The ideological affinities that are not enough for integration

Posted by , 8th November 2007

The rejection of certain models that are not conducive to integration, overcoming the idea that ideological affinities like We can do it, decreasing the democratic deficit and carefully assimilating the potential of Venezuela: the story of the work that should be done to resolve the Mercosur crisis in order to escape stagnation.

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The dispute for African Oil

Energy resources have become a key element of international security and peace

Posted by , 8th November 2007

The discovery of an important oil reserve situated in the Gulf of Guinea between Santo Tomé and Príncipe and Guinea Ecuatorial has piqued American, French and Chinese interest in this African region. By 2010, daily production could surpass the current 3 million barrels and eventually reach 6 million, while the reserves are estimated to contain 24 billion barrels’ worth of oil. Let’s examine why it is so important that control and openness prevail in the exploitation agreements.

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Rafael Correa and the “mother of all battles”

The historical challenge of correctly managing the victory after the Constituent Assembly

Posted by , 8th November 2007

Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, indisputable winner in the elections for the formation of the Constituent Assembly, has initiated his particular reform of all of the pillars of the government. Far from the initial dialog, the imposition defines the leader’s ways, and so we will have to see if Correa is a statesman or another caudillo, says the author.

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