Relaciones Internacionales – Comunicación Internacional

3 abril, 2024
por Felipe Sahagún
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Nuclear war. A scenario (Annie Jacobsen)

IN THIS EPISODE

My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is the investigative reporter Annie Jacobsen, whose hair-raising new book Nuclear War: A Scenario imagines – minute by minute – what would unfold if the nuclear balloon went up. But rather than a work of fantasy, this is based on meticulously sourced reporting about the effects of nuclear weapons and the structures and policies that govern them. We all knew it would be bad but Jacobsen tells us just how bad, and how fast, and quite how little the people who push the button will actually know about what’s going on.

LINK TO AUDIO
 

1 abril, 2024
por Felipe Sahagún
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More than 520 reporters are locked up around the world (WSJ)

Imagen

By Matthew Dalton and Jack Gillum

From Vladimir Putin in Russia to the theocrats in Iran, authoritarian leaders are increasingly shutting down independent media and locking up reporters, with hundreds of journalists now in jail around the globe. 

The surge in government crackdowns on the press, which accelerated after Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, has left more than 520 journalists imprisoned worldwide, including a few dozen under house arrest, according to the Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. The figure is among the highest the group has ever recorded. 

The crackdowns reverse an expansion of media freedom that began after the end of the Cold War, as many governments turn toward autocracy. Even places that were once bastions of the free press, such as Hong Kong, are tightening restrictions on journalists. And countries such as Russia that once tolerated some dissent are imposing near-totalitarian limits on independent journalism, leaving state media and government propaganda to fill the void.

Many other journalists have been forced into exile under threat of imprisonment or worse, while authorities have banned numerous independent news outlets, forcing them to close or operate from abroad. New censorship laws restrict how journalists can cover topics deemed off-limits, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

…MORE

 

31 marzo, 2024
por Felipe Sahagún
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Spain, España (Michael Reid)

Spain: The Trials and Triumphs of a Modern European Country 
Spain’s transition to democracy after Franco’s long dictatorship was widely hailed as a success, ushering in three decades of unprecedented progress and prosperity. Yet over the past decade its political consensus has been under severe strain. A stable two-party system has splintered, with disruptive new parties on the far left and far right. No government has had a majority since 2015.
 
Michael Reid overturns the stereotypical view of Spain as a country haunted by its Francoist past. From Catalan separatism and the indignados movement to the Spanish economy’s overdependence on tourism and small business, Spain’s challenges can often seem unique. But Reid is careful to emphasize the many pressures it faces in common with its European neighbors―such as austerity, populism, and increasing polarization. The result is a penetrating yet rounded portrait of a vibrant country―one that is more often visited than understood.

 

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31 marzo, 2024
por Felipe Sahagún
Sin comentarios

Guía para no perderse en el Parlamento Europeo (infoLibre)

Pleno del Parlamento europeo el pasado mes de marzo.

Pleno del Parlamento europeo el pasado mes de marzo. Europa Press

Pablo Mortera Franco

 
¿Quién es quién en el Parlamento Europeo? ¿Dónde se encuadran el PP y el PSOE? ¿Cómo hace la UE para integrar en un mismo grupo a diputados de diferentes países? El Parlamento Europeo puede parecer, en ocasiones, un auténtico enigma: 720 asientos, decenas de partidos a nivel nacional, comisiones, grupos parlamentarios, diputados no adscritos… Es fácil que, antes de pararse a entender qué se vota y quiénes votan en Estrasburgo, el europeo medio acabe pensando que sólo un doctor en políticas puede saber qué está pasando en el corazón de la democracia europea. Hasta Mariano Rajoy se sentía un poco perdido cuando iba a Bruselas, y si no, recordemos su mítico “it ‘s very difficult todo esto” en una cumbre presupuestaria en la capital belga.
 
Pero, para contradecir al expresidente del Gobierno, no, en realidad no todo en el Parlamento Europeo es tan difícil. Lo primero que hay que saber es que, en las elecciones europeas, cada país vota a sus representantes, que se presentan en las listas de los diferentes partidos o coaliciones nacionales. Es decir, en España votamos a los integrantes de las listas del PP o del PSOE, en Alemania al CDU o al SPD, o en Portugal a Chega o al PS. Sin embargo, una vez constituido el Parlamento Europeo, los eurodiputados no se agrupan por nacionalidad, sino que lo hacen en grupos políticos en función de su ideología. En cada grupo, así, se encuentran parlamentarios de diferentes partidos y naciones pero que, en mayor o menor medida, comparten sensibilidades o afiliación política.