Archivo de la categoría: Análisis y editoriales

Turkey-Kurdish Peace Could Be Victim of Istanbul Showdown

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Taksim_Kurdos Kurdish demonstrators in Taksim. Image: Özgür Gundem (Solidaridad Kurdistán)

Turkey-Kurdish Peace Could Be  Victim of Istanbul Showdown 

On June 11 before noon, as I sat down at my desk to write this article, a few hundred meters away from my residence the police launched an operation to dismantle scores of barricades preventing entry of vehicles to Taksim Square and to remove the banners and placards on the defunct opera building and the Ataturk statute in the square.

Those barricades were put up by Gezi Park protesters after June 1 when the police evacuated Taksim Square.

Police forces, which had been an integral part of Taksim Square until May 31, have returned to Turkey’s social center and are working on restoring the AKP government’s authority over the square.

As police operations continued to disperse the crowds at Taksim and Gezi Park, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was getting ready to call his own crowds into the streets as a response to the mass protests targeting him since June 1. On June 16, Erdogan will stage a giant show of force by hundreds of thousands of his supporters at the seashore Kazlicesme district of Istanbul, just outside the Byzantine city walls.

Whether Turkey will proceed along the road to a widely based democracy or, instead of stability, head toward authoritarianism that will certainly bring about polarization and instability, will in large part depend on Erdogan’s attitude. For the time being, indications are for the latter option to prevail. Erdogan’s choices will also seriously affect the peace process with the Kurds.

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Presidential Election Campaign Starts in Mongolia

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Mongolia_3June 18, 2009, Tsakhiagyn Elbegdorj (left), elected president

Presidential Election Campaign Starts in Mongolia

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Volume: 10 Issue: 109

By Mendee Jargalsaikhany, June 10, 2013

Three Mongolian political parties with seats in the current parliament have nominated their candidates for the country’s sixth presidential election, which is scheduled for June 26, 2013, under the 1992 constitution. After the completion of administrative and legal background checks, the General Election Commission formally recognized the candidates on May 22 (Press Release of the General Election Commission of Mongolia, May 22).

The ruling coalition, led by the Democratic Party (MDP), has rallied behind the incumbent President Tsakhiagyn Elbegdorj, who is vying for his second term, whereas the opposition Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) nominated a well-known national wrestling champion, Badnaanyambuugyn Bat-Erdene. The third candidate, Natsagyn Udval, was nominated by the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP)—a political grouping tied to the currently jailed former President Nambaryn Enkhbayar. The position of Mongolian president has both a symbolic (ceremonial) role and also holds “checks and balances” responsibilities in legislative, executive, and judicial affairs of the state.

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Erdoğan, contra todos

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Erdogan_Econimist

Francisco Veiga, Eurasian Hub, 10 de Junio, 2013

Las protestas que comenzaron hace algo más de una semana en Turquía evolucionan con inusitada rapidez hacia una situación peligrosa y desconcertante en la cual los actores centrales ya no son los manifestantes versus Erdoğan, sino Erdoğan contra su propio partido y/o Erdoğan, quizá, contra molinos de viento.

La película de los hechos ofrece la siguiente evolución: antes de su salida hacia el Magreb, el primer ministro, tras unas primeras manifestaciones duras, decide mostrarse mínimamente conciliador, cuanto menos en el tono empleado hasta el momento. Parece responder, además, a las recomendaciones del presidente Abdullah Gül en ese sentido.  También se han hecho públicas preocupantes advertencias de Washington, Bruselas y Londres para que se limite el recurso a la violencia policial..

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Iran’s presidential election

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Iran_Presidenciales

Iran’s presidential election: Don´t Ignore It

Good riddance to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The election might just bring something better

IN THIS election, more than 700 aspiring candidates have been barred from competing by a council of crusty clerics and lawyers. They are said to have failed to live up to the required standard of revolutionary and religious zeal, leaving just eight runners deemed worthy of the mantle being relinquished by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. That may not seem like much of a choice to citizens of normal democracies. But in Iran it is the best on offer.

The first round of the presidential election takes place on June 14th, with a run-off a week later if no one gets a majority. The candidates, pictured before a television debate, are a glum bunch, with Saeed Jalili the apparent favourite of the hardliners and the most moderate being another former nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rohani. There is the added twist that the final say in the gravest matters of state, including the nuclear programme, is the preserve of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has fallen out badly with Mr Ahmadinejad in the past few years. All the same, the election is a meaningful, even menacing, event—and one whose outcome, on past experience, cannot be predicted (see article).

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El FMI admite “notables fallos” en el plan de rescate a Grecia

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Thomsen_an-egg-for-Pooul-Thomsen

Caricatura alusiva al “ataque” con huevos contra Poul M. Thomsen, jefe de la misión del FMI para Grecia, en septiembre de 2012. Thomsen ha sido una de las personalidades del FMI que ha hecho autocrítica sobre aspectos del plan de rescate al país balcánico.

Para completar información sobre el mea culpa entonado por el FMI, léase:

El Fondo Monetario Internacional admite “notables fallos” en el plan de rescate a Grecia

  • Subestimó los efectos negativos de las políticas de austeridad en el país
  • La economía se enfrentó a una recesión mucho más profunda de lo previsto
  • “La deuda pública superó las proyecciones del programa por largo margen”
  • Por su parte, la Comisión Europea ha defendido su gestión de la crisis

EFE / RTVE, 6 de junio, 2013

El Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) ha admitido “notables fallos” en el diseño del primer plan de rescate a Grecia y ha asegurado que subestimó los efectos negativos de las políticas de austeridad en el país.

“Hubo notables fallos. La confianza de los mercados no se logró restaurar, el sistema bancario perdió el 30% de los depósitos y la economía se enfrentó a una recesión mucho más profunda de lo previsto, con un desempleo excepcionalmente alto”, ha indicado el FMI en un documento de revisión del programa de rescate financiero a Grecia de 2010 que ha sido adelantado en exclusiva por el diario financiero The Wall Street Journal.

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