Feliz Ano Novo de 2011!

Irritação da Turquia sobre o pacto Chipre-Israel

Turkish authorities yesterday warned that a bilateral economic deal between Cyprus and Israel aimed at mutual prospecting for oil in the eastern Mediterranean could strain ongoing United Nations-mediated talks aimed at reunifying the divided island.
According to Turkey’s semiofficial Anatolia news agency, the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s undersecretary, Feridun Sinirlioglu, warned Gaby Levy, Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, that the deal would have a negative impact. Sinirlioglu argued that “such unilateral moves [on behalf of the Greek Cypriots] that ignore the will of the Turkish-Cypriot side will harm ongoing settlement talks on the island.”
Meanwhile, diplomatic sources told Kathimerini that Ankara aims to pressure Israel into breaking its pact with Cyprus. The sources said Ankara may use its ties with Lebanon and militant Shiite movement Hezbollah as a way of exerting pressure on Israel. Nicosia has made similar deals with Lebanon and Egypt, which Turkey also has urged the Arab nations to break.
Israel yesterday defended its decision. “This agreement is an issue between Israel and Cyprus and it in no way affects a third country,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse. “We do not see how a third country would have anything to say about it,” he added. Another unidentified Israeli official accused Turkey of “monstrous chutzpah” for using “as an argument its occupation of the northern part of Cyprus to denounce the deal.”
The agreement defines the sea border between Cyprus and Israel and delineates an exclusive economic zone between the two countries, allowing them to prospect for oil together. Already the discovery of a huge gas deposit off the Israeli port of Haifa, and close to Cyprus, has fueled great interest in the region’s potential.

Ver notícia no Kathimerini

O Japão redefine a sua estratégia militar face à ameaça da China e Coreia do Norte

Japan, which shares a maritime border with China, said Beijing's military build-up was of global concern.
Japan will also strengthen its missile defences against the threat from a nuclear-armed North Korea.
The policy document has been approved by the cabinet and will shape Japan's defence policy for the next 10 years.
Japan is changing its defence policy in response to the shifting balance of power in Asia, analysts say.
Defences will be scaled down in the north, where they have been deployed since the Cold War to counter an invasion from Russia.
The military focus will now be in the far-southern islands of Japan, closer to China.
Japan is concerned by China's growing naval might and increased assertiveness in the East China and South China seas.
"China is rapidly modernising its military force and expanding activities in its neighbouring waters," the new guidelines said.
"Together with the lack of transparency on China's military and security issues, the trend is a concern for the region and the international community."
Relations between Japan and China deteriorated sharply in September, after collisions between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats near a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Ver notícia na BBC [...]

O prémio Nobel da Paz e a cadeira vazia, cartoon de Vador

Ataque suicidida em Estocolmo

At a Sunday morning press conference, Säpo said it had taken over the investigation into the nearly simultaneous bombings from the Stockholm police. The investigation will be overseen by chief prosecutor Tomas Linstrand.

"We are opening an investigation into a terrorist crime under Swedish laws," Anders Thornberg, head of Säpo's security department, told a press conference, a day after the explosions targeted shoppers in the Swedish capital.

Thornberg called the incident “very serious”, although he reiterated that Säpo had no plans to raise the threat level in Sweden as a result of the attack.

“We’re now working to assess whether similar events might take place. We can’t rule it out,” he said.

He added there is “no connection” to between Saturday's attack and a bomb threat investigation Gothenburg from early November, a probe which was subsequently dropped without any charges being filed.

Saturday's attack consisted of two explosions which occurred just minutes apart shortly before 5pm local time.

In the first blast, a car exploded, injuring two passers-by who were sent to hospital with minor injuries. Police say the vehicle was filled with cannisters of liquefied petroleum gas.

A second blast occurred just minutes later about 200 metres away, killing one man. An eye witness who arrived on the scene before police told the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper it appeared something had exploded on the man's abdomen.

Ver notícia no The Local 

Os ‘danos colaterais‘ dos ficheiros WikiLeaks

As recentes revelações do site WikiLeaks têm potencialmente várias implicações significativas para a diplomacia norte-americana e para os seus aliados (naturalmente também para os inimigos dos EUA – veja-se, por exemplo, os casos das revelações sobre os programas nucleares do Irão e da Coreia do Norte e dos receios que estes geram a nível do Médio Oriente e do Sudeste Asiático). Para uma parte significativa da opinião pública internacional provavelmente até reforçam a convicção da perfídia da política externa norte-americana. Esta será delineada nos bastidores, através de  manobras mais ou menos obscuras e de espionagem, sendo largamente amoral, apesar do discurso oficial invocar cinicamente princípios e valores, como a democracia e os direitos humanos. Alguns encontrarão mesmo aí argumentos adicionais para sustentar teorias da conspiração sobre a actuação dos EUA em acontecimentos marcantes da história do século XX e início do século XXI (o ataque japonês a Pearl Harbour, o assassinato de John Kennedy, o 11 de Setembro...). Todavia,  o pior impacto para os EUA nem é tanto o de potenciar essa imagem negativa na opinião publica internacional, o que em si mesmo já não é pouco. Também não decorre de terem vindo a público alguns comentários mais ácidos, ou até jocosos, de diplomatas norte-americanos sobre dirigentes políticos de países aliados europeus e não europeus, os quais se encontram em vários telegramas diplomáticos. Nem resulta da revelação de manobras de bastidores para obter informações, eticamente questionáveis, e que, agora, acabaram por se tornar públicas. Na verdade estas manobras já se imaginam existir nalgum tipo de diplomacia e de "jogos de poder", não sendo a sua revelação  uma surpresa, a não ser para os que não têm qualquer ideia do que é a política internacional. Passado o furor revelações dos ficheiros WikiLeaks nos media, o impacto negativo mais duradouro e difícil de apagar, será, certamente, o que está associado, na percepção de amigos e aliados, a uma enorme falha de segurança. Esta não permitiu manter a confidencialidade sobre as informações recolhidas pelos seus meios diplomáticos e salvaguardar também os "informantes". (Curiosa é a forma relativamente simples como as informações reveladas pelo Wikileaks poderão ter sido obtidas por Julian Assange, o australiano que é o  rosto desta organização e se afirma dedicado à missão da “transparência”. Embora a origem não seja oficialmente conhecida, os mais de 250.000 ficheiros agora revelados poderão ter sido também subtraídos pelo jovem militar, Bradley Manning, já anteriormente detido por suspeita de ter sido responsável pelas revelações de documentos feitas no site WikiLeaks, relativas ao Afeganistão e ao Iraque). Assim, pelo menos nos tempos mais próximos, este ”vazamento de informações” na praça pública irá dificultar muito o trabalho dos seus diplomatas no terreno. Face a esta quebra de confiança na capacidade de sigilo diplomático da principal potência mundial, a recolha de muitas informações fundamentais para o trabalho político-diplomático tornar-se-à particularmente difícil, se não mesmo impossível nalgumas situações. Este é um “dano colateral” que a administração Obama terá  dificuldade em reparar e cujas consequências políticas e estratégicas podem ser grandes nos próximos anos.

Quem tem medo de um Irão nuclear? Os receios árabes sunitas expostos pelas revelações da Wikileaks

A maior divulgação da história de documentos diplomáticos secretos feita Wikileaks

El País, en colaboración con otros diarios de Europa y Estados Unidos, revela el contenido de la mayor filtración de documentos secretos a la que jamás se haya tenido acceso en toda la historia. Se trata de una colección de más de 250.000 mensajes del Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos, obtenidos por la página digital Wikileaks, en los que se descubren episodios inéditos ocurridos en los puntos más conflictivos del mundo, así como otros muchos sucesos y datos de gran relevancia que desnudan por completo la política exterior norteamericana, sacan a la luz sus mecanismos y sus fuentes, dejan en evidencia sus debilidades y obsesiones, y en conjunto facilitan la comprensión por parte de los ciudadanos de las circunstancias en las que se desarrolla el lado oscuro de las relaciones internacionales. [...]

Ver notícia no El País

A UE, o FMI e ‘soberania‘ virtual da Irlanda

O sindroma do Japão

In 1979 Ezra Vogel, a Harvard academic, wrote a book entitled “Japan as Number One: Lessons for America” in which he portrayed Japan, with its strong economy and cohesive society, as the world’s most dynamic industrial nation. Three decades later, Japan holds lessons of a less encouraging sort. Economists in the stricken West have been poring over the data on the deflation that it has suffered since the bursting of the asset-price bubble in 1990. Yet deflation may be just one symptom of an even bigger problem that, as our special report this week argues, is squeezing the life out of the Japanese economy: ageing. Unless Japan takes dramatic steps to re-energise its shrinking, greying workforce, its economy will suffer.

Other countries face this dismal prospect too. Although Japanese society is growing older faster than anywhere else in the world, plenty of others are shuffling along behind it. Parts of Europe are ageing fast, and are unwilling to adapt, as recent protests against rising retirement ages in France and Greece attest. Other Confucian countries such as South Korea, China and Taiwan, have enjoyed a “demographic dividend”—a rapidly expanding workforce and falling birth rate—similar to Japan’s in the 1960s to 1980s. With fewer children and elderly to pay for, such countries could plough savings back into economic expansion. As in Japan, relatively few women work after becoming mothers and even fewer immigrants are let in. Such places will look to Japan for how to cope with the economic and social consequences when their manpower starts to dry up. So far, they will find, it is ducking the issue. [...]

Ver notícia no The Economist

Olhar o Mundo na RTP-N

Um espaço de reflexão sobre os principais assuntos da semana, a nível internacional.

Márcia Rodrigues conduz este programa sobre a actualidade internacional onde os principais assuntos da semana serão abordados num ângulo, em regra, diferente da informação diária, que implica uma lógica mais sintética das notícias.

Ver vídeo

A China à compra compra do mundo

In theory, the ownership of a business in a capitalist economy is irrelevant. In practice, it is often controversial. From Japanese firms’ wave of purchases in America in the 1980s and Vodafone’s takeover of Germany’s Mannesmann in 2000 to the more recent antics of private-equity firms, acquisitions have often prompted bouts of national angst.

Such concerns are likely to intensify over the next few years, for China’s state-owned firms are on a shopping spree. Chinese buyers—mostly opaque, often run by the Communist Party and sometimes driven by politics as well as profit—have accounted for a tenth of cross-border deals by value this year, bidding for everything from American gas and Brazilian electricity grids to a Swedish car company, Volvo.

There is, understandably, rising opposition to this trend. The notion that capitalists should allow communists to buy their companies is, some argue, taking economic liberalism to an absurd extreme. But that is just what they should do, for the spread of Chinese capital should bring benefits to its recipients, and the world as a whole. [...]

Ver notícia no The Economist

Obama sempre à frente.... cartoon de Chappatte

A "Entente Frugale" franco-britânica em matéria de defesa

Britain and France will sign a new entente cordiale today which will put the security of the UK and her overseas territories in the hands of the French for 50 years.
The ground-breaking agreement will even see French generals taking command of the SAS as part of a rapid reaction force.
Nuclear secrets - which have been preserved for five decades – will also be shared under unprecedented plans to merge the testing of warheads.
Senior defence officials claim the historic deal, dubbed the ‘Entente Frugale’, will save millions and boost the fighting power of both countries.

But critics claim  that the pact has been forced on Britain by budget cuts and will leave the Armed Forces dependent on their historical rivals, who opposed conflicts in Iraq and the Falklands.

David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarzoky will sign two treaties designed to end years of mutual suspicion and bind the Armed Forces of both nations together for 50 years.
The historic deal will see Britain and France:

• Share aircraft carriers from 2020, so that at least one is at sea at all times, leaving Britain dependent on French support to defend the Falkland Islands
• Launch a brigade-sized Combined Joint Expeditionary Force - about 6,000 troops – including the SAS, SBS, Marines and Paras, to deploy on civil and military operations together.
• Britain will surrender testing of nuclear warheads which will be done at Valduc, near Dijon, from 2015. The Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston will focus on developing new technology.
• Share more intelligence, air-to-air refuelling and cyber-warfare capabilities
• Work more closely on counter terrorism, particularly with regard to the Channel Tunnel
• Force British and French defence companies to collaborate on future missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles

Ver notícia no Daily Mail

Como Obama perdeu a sua magia

The real story in this election is not that America has no jobs, that the economy continues to falter or that the national debt continues to balloon. While all three are true and, more importantly, Obama has failed to fix them, it is also true that these conditions existed prior to Obama's election. Yet somehow his personal charisma and captivating charm elevated the electorate.
The real story of campaign 2010 is how boring Obama has become.Obama, who had never run anything except a campaign in his entire life, performed an almost unprecedented conjuring act in 2008, getting the electorate to embrace him regardless of the utter absence of managerial skills.
They believed not necessarily in Obama's capacity to fix America's transient problems but in his ability to focus us on more eternal, upbeat themes like hope, faith and the future. Yet, this time his very presence seems irritating. A man whose oratory lifted him to earth's highest office can't seem to deliver a single uplifting speech.
As a connoisseur of great oratory, I used to love hearing Obama's staccato delivery, perfect timing and mesmeric self-confidence -- the mark of any great speaker -- even as I disagreed with him on many of the issues. But Obama's speeches have now become insufferable, devoid of charisma and personal magnetism. [...]

Ver notícia na AOLNews

Como parar uma guerra cambial

In recent weeks the world economy has been on a war footing, at least rhetorically. Ever since Brazil’s finance minister, Guido Mantega, declared on September 27th that an “international currency war” had broken out, the global economic debate has been recast in battlefield terms, not just by excitable headline-writers, but by officials themselves. Gone is the fuzzy rhetoric about co-operation to boost global growth. A more combative tone has taken hold. Countries blame each other for distorting global demand, with weapons that range from quantitative easing (printing money to buy bonds) to currency intervention and capital controls.
Behind all the smoke and fury, there are in fact three battles. The biggest one is over China’s unwillingness to allow the yuan to rise more quickly. American and European officials have sounded tougher about the “damaging dynamic” caused by China’s undervalued currency. Last month the House of Representatives passed a law allowing firms to seek tariff protection against countries with undervalued currencies, with a huge bipartisan majority. China’s “unfair” trade practices have become a hot topic in the mid-term elections.
A second flashpoint is the rich world’s monetary policy, particularly the prospect that central banks may soon restart printing money to buy government bonds. The dollar has fallen as financial markets expect the Federal Reserve to act fastest and most boldly. The euro has soared as officials at the European Central Bank show least enthusiasm for such a shift. In China’s eyes (and, sotto voce, those of many other emerging-market governments), quantitative easing creates a gross distortion in the world economy as investors rush elsewhere, especially into emerging economies, in search of higher yields. [...]

Ver artigo no The Economist

A China oferece apoio financeiro à Grécia

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered Greece a major vote of confidence on a visit to the debt-ridden European nation, saying China will continue to buy Greek bonds and announcing the creation of a $5 billion fund to help Greek shipping companies buy Chinese ships.
The remarks represent some of China's most substantive support for the euro zone amid the region's debt troubles, and reflect the Asian giant's growing willingness to wield its economic clout to obtain wider international influence. Mr. Wen's Athens visit kicks off a week of intensive Chinese-European diplomacy, with the premier heading to Italy and Turkey as well as to summit meetings with European Union leaders in Brussels. "We hope that by intensifying cooperation with you, we can be of some help in your endeavor to tide over difficulties at an early date," Mr. Wen said Sunday in a speech to the Greek parliament. "China will not reduce its euro-bond holdings and China supports a stable euro." China has long had economic interests in Greece, primarily in its shipping industry, and it runs a substantial trade surplus with the European country. China's relations with Greece have come into focus in recent months as Greek officials actively lobbied the Asian nation to support its economy. Athens is desperate for investment as the country claws its way out of a deep recession and a debt crisis that drove it to the brink of bankruptcy in May. [...]

Ver notícia no WSJ

Primeiro esboço do novo conceito estratégico da NATO

O projeto para o “novo conceito estratégico” da NATO, apresentado pelo secretário-geral da organização na segunda-feira, foi bem recebido, havendo “mais pontos de convergência que de divergência”, anunciou hoje em Bruxelas o porta-voz da Aliança.

James Appathurai lembrou que este primeiro esboço é ainda somente "um ponto de partida", começando agora a ser discutido com os embaixadores dos países membros.

Em conferência de imprensa, no quartel-general da NATO, Appathurai acrescentou que o projeto do «novo conceito estratégico» da Aliança Atlântica vai ainda ser debatido pelos ministros da Defesa e dos Negócios Estrangeiros, a 14 de outubro, antes de ser adotado em novembro, na cimeira de Lisboa.

O porta-voz sublinhou que a forma “inclusiva e transparente” no processo de consulta para a elaboração do documento já “está a produzir resultados”, pois as primeiras reações foram positivas, destacando-se «muito mais pontos de convergência do que de divergência».

Escusando-se a avançar pormenores sobre o conteúdo do documento, que a NATO espera manter "privado" até à cimeira de Lisboa, Appathurai adiantou que o texto tem um cariz bastante político, é curto e claro – apenas 10 páginas (às quais se juntarão depois textos mais burocráticos, sobretudo sobre implantação) -, pois o desejo do secretário-geral, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, foi que o texto fosse “legível” também pelos cidadãos. [...]

Ver notícia do jornal i