Apoyo Movimiento Avaaz

EU: Stop the drownings

Petition to the European Commision, global leaders and EU heads of state and Ministers: ”We call on you to urgently lead the world to a humane 21st century refugee policy that saves lives and protects people fleeing war and hunger. This means drastically increasing resettlement and relocation of refugees in a way that reunites families and shares responsibility across Europe, and the world; giving financial and technical support to countries on the frontline of the crisis; and ensuring security actions do not put those seeking sanctuary at risk. The magnitude of this crisis requires united, urgent and massive humanitarian action.”

Esta campaña comenzó cuando un niño sirio de apenas 3 años (Aylan Kurdi) murió ahogado en el mar Mediterraneo como parte de la crisis de refugiados que actualmente se está presentando en Siria como producto del conflicto bélico que se está llevando a cabo en esta zona. El hecho se presentó mientras que la familia Kurdi intentaba llegar a Canadá.

La tía de Aylan Kurdi, Tima, se unió a Avaaz para enviar la petición a los ministros y parlamentarios de la Unión Europea. En este momento Hungría y Eslovaquia están bloqueando la entrada de refugiados mientras que España y Polonia se unieron a la causa para tomar rápidas acciones frente a esta crisis y se cree que la mayoría de los países están listos para actuar. Este movimiento está haciendo un llamado a la Cumbre del Consejo Europeo de Seguridad para que rápidamente un plan de emergencia sea acordado entre todos los miembros de la UE.

Luego de masivos llamados para el recibimiento de refugiados en Europa, el canciller alemán Merkel y el presidente de la comisión de la Unión Europea están uniendo esfuerzos para poner en marcha un nuevo y más fuerte plan por parte de la UE que pueda dar refugio a las personas que le estén huyendo a la guerra y al hambre. Francia está a favor de tomar acciones rápidas pero vergonzosamente UK, Hungría y otros países del oriente europeo han estado bloqueando esta acción de emergencia.

En sí este movimiento está haciendo un llamado urgente a que se lleve a cabo un plan de emergencia rápido frente a esta problemática mundial de refugiados que se está presentando en el mundo por parte de la Unión Europea e invita a que las personas que estén a favor de esto de todo el mundo se unan y demanden intensamente que este plan se lleve a cabo, ahí está la clave según el movimiento, presionar a los líderes mundiales para que tomen decisiones rápidamente acerca de esta problemática.

Razones de Apoyo al movimiento:

Escogimos apoyar este movimiento pues busca dar solución a una de las principales problemáticas mundiales, la crisis de refugiados, que se genera como producto de hambruna y guerras alrededor de todo el mundo. Esto está provocando inestabilidad en la Unión Europea y por ende en el mundo, países están de acuerdo y otros dan la espalda a realizar un plan de emergencia por lo tanto se están generando tensiones entre países de la EU. Además gente inocente está muriendo intentando llegar a sus destinos como refugiados. Es un tema que nos está tocando a todos, por lo tanto decidimos apoyarlo.

Resumen de la película Adiós Lenin

Tomada de www.giphy.com

La película cuenta la historia de un joven llamado Alex que viven en Alemania oriental junto con su madre y su hermana, y su padre según el relato de la madre, huyó y abandono a sus dos hijos y esposa hacia el “otro lado del muro”, mejor conocido como Berlín occidental.

Su hermana es una estudiante de economía y al parecer una madre prematura. Por otro lado su madre es un miembro honoraria del partido socialista y simpatizante del gobierno, el cual se encarga constante mente de influir sobre las personas por medio de “los valores del partido”.

Alex, quien es el protagonista de la película, es un joven trabajador que ama a su madre, pero tiene ideas anti socialistas que van en contra del régimen instaurado en Alemania. En una de las protestas, el joven es arrestado por la policía, su madre ve todo el acontecimiento y se desmaya, lo cual la lleva a un estado de coma por 8 meses.

Durante esos 8 meses, la madre se pierde de la caída del muro de Berlín, la unificación de las Alemanias y la transición a un mundo completamente capitalista. Los médicos le recomiendan a Alex y a Ariane (su hermana) que eviten que su madre pase por emociones muy fuertes pues la posibilidad de una recaída era alta. Por esta razón, Alex decide mantener alejada a su madre del mundo exterior, toda clase de conocimiento, de información, incluso de la televisión para protegerla de otro shock emocional.

Desde que la madre despierta, los cambios en la vida de ambos muchachos cambia por completo, tanto en el ámbito social como personal, y las consecuencias del poder de un partido con unos valores tan “rígidos” se nota inmediatamente, pues en un principio se mostró como el partido invadió la vida personal del pueblo, desde la vestimenta hasta los muebles que usaban en sus casas.

Pero el mundo por fuera de la habitación de la madre de Alex ya era literalmente otro, pues la gente se empezó a ir para Berlín occidental y con ello las casas se empezaron a quedar vacías, empezaron a llegar cantidades de carros que antes eran controlados por el Estado, así como la comercialización de productos comestibles, con lo que el director de la película, de alguna manera u otra creo que quiere mostrarnos también las facetas negativas del capitalismo, como por ejemplo el consumismo desbordado. Por otra parte, el cambio para todo el mundo no fue bueno, miles de personas se quedaron sin empleos que antes eran subsidiados por el Estado, como maestros, doctores, investigadores, y hasta muestra como la hermana pasó de estudiar economía a trabajar en Burger King y la puesta de una valla de Coca Cola, símbolos del capitalismo.

Lo que empieza como una mentira buena se convierte en un problema, pues cada día el capitalismo avanza más en Berlín oriental, y un día la madre de Alex decide pararse de la cama y recorrer su ciudad. Allí ve como todos sus vecinos están cambiando sus muebles, la vestimenta es “exótica” y está a punto de conocer la verdad.

Finalmente la enfermera quien cuidó a la madre de Alex y ahora es su novia, decide revelarle la verdad sobre la situación, y en un viaje ella también decide revelarles a sus hijos que su padre nunca los abandonó y que fue ella quien tuvo miedo de ir a Alemania occidental y escapar, por miedo de perder a sus hijos.

Attack on Turkey means attack on NATO: Erdogan

BRUSSELS: NATO on Tuesday rejected Moscow’s explanation that its warplanes violated the air space of alliance member Turkey at the weekend by mistake and said Russia was sending more ground troops to Syria and building up its naval presence.

With Russia extending its air strikes to include the ancient city of Palmyra, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he was losing patience with Russian violations of his country’s air space.

“An attack on Turkey means an attack on NATO,” Erdogan warned at a Brussels news conference.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had reports of a substantial Russian military build-up in Syria, including ground troops and ships in the eastern Mediterranean.

“I will not speculate on the motives ... but this does not look like an accident and we have seen two of them,” Stoltenberg said of the air incursions over Turkey’s border with Syria. He noted that they “lasted for a long time.”

The incidents, which NATO has described as “extremely dangerous” and “unacceptable,” underscore the risks of a further escalation of the Syrian civil war, as Russian and US warplanes fly combat missions over the same country for the first time since World War Two.

The Russian Defense Ministry had said that an SU-30 warplane had entered Turkish air space along the border with Syria “for a few seconds” on Saturday, a mistake caused by bad weather. NATO says a plane also entered Turkish air space on Sunday, an incident Russia says it is looking into.

Separately, a US official told Reuters the incursions lasted more than a few seconds and described Moscow’s assertion that the incursions were an accident as “far-fetched.”

Stoltenberg said the US-led alliance had not received “any real explanation” from Russia about the incursions.

In a further incident, a MIG-29 fighter of unknown nationality and Syria-based missile systems “interfered” with eight Turkish F-16 jets patrolling along the Syrian border on Monday, the Turkish military said.

According to a statement, the MIG-29 locked its radar onto the Turkish patrol for 4 minutes 30 seconds. The same planes were also harassed by a Syria-based missile system for 4 minutes 15 seconds.

Fuente:http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/news/816686

The NATO-Russia face off in Syria

So a Su-30 enters a few hundred meters into Turkish airspace for only two minutes over Hatay province, and returns to Syrian airspace after being warned by a couple of Turkish F-16s.

Then all hell breaks loose as if this was the ultimate pretext for a NATO-Russia war.

NATO, predictably, went out all rhetorical guns blazing. Russia is causing“extreme danger” and should immediately stop bombing those cute“moderate rebels” the coalition of the dodgy opportunists refuses to bomb.

But wait; NATO is actually too busy to go to war. The priority, until at least November, is the epic Trident Juncture 2015; 36,000 troops from 30 states, more than 60 warships, around 200 aircraft, all are seriously practicing how to defend from the proverbial “The Russians are Coming!”

Still, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu – he of the former “zero problems with our neighbors” doctrine - actually“warned” Moscow that next time Ankara would respond “militarily”.

Until, of course, he backed down; “What we have received from Russia …is that this was a mistake and that they respect Turkey's borders and this will not happen again.”

The incident could have been easily defused – via military to military communication - without the posturing.

But Ankara – NATO’s eastern flank – is under immense pressure from ‘Exceptionalistan’. It’s no accident Pentagon supremo and notorious neocon Ash Carter “conferred” with Ankara about the incident. Carter of course is the most stellar practitioner of the official Beltway diktat; “By taking military action in Syria against moderate groups’ targets, Russia has escalated the civil war.”

‘Sultan’ Erdogan, right on cue, and straight from Strasbourg (no, he was not campaigning for the European Parliament) doubled down: “Assad has committed state terrorism, and unfortunately you find Russia and Iran defending (him).”

And yet ‘Sultan’ Erdogan won’t go down in history as the catalyst for the much-awaited NATO-Russia Hot War 2.0. At least not yet.

Only bomb if we say so

Enter Dr. Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski, growling in a FT Op-Ed that Washington should “retaliate” if Moscow does not stop attacking US assets in Syria. “US assets” means CIA-trained “moderate rebels”. And after all, “American credibility” is at stake.

Dr. Zbig – Obama’s prime foreign policy mentor – insists bombing CIA-trained “rebels” accounts for “Russian military incompetence”. And the American counter-attack should be to “disarm” the “Russian naval and air presence.” Now that’s how you go for a NATO-Russia Hot War 2.0.

Dr. Zbig admitted though that “regional chaos could easily spread northeastward,” and then “both Russia and then China could be adversely affected.” Who cares? What matters is that “American interests and America’s friends…would also suffer.”

This is what passes for prime geopolitical analysis in the ‘Empire of Chaos’.

‘Sultan’ Erdogan, for his part, remains restless. Moscow has already evaporated his so cherished three-year-old dream of a no-fly zone over northern Syria. There is an actual no-fly zone all over Syria now in effect. But it’s managed by Russia.

And that explains why there’s already full spectrum hysteria for more US Congress sanctions on Russia. How can a no-fly zone be imposed over Syria when Russia got there first?

And it was all going so swimmingly for the ‘Sultan’. Ankara – at the insistence of Washington – had finally thrown open its air bases to fight ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, but as long as this was part of a regime change operation in Damascus. And for that, Ankara would get its no-fly zone.

Enter ‘The Sultan’s’ recurrent nightmare; the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its sister organization, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

‘The Sultan’ simply cannot accept the PYD advancing to the western bank of the Euphrates to help in the fight against ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. ‘The Sultan’ wants to “contain” the PYD in Kobani.

The problem is the PYD – supported by the PKK – is the only reliable ‘Empire of Chaos’ ally in Syria. Yet ‘the Sultan’ could not help himself; he got into a war – again – against the PKK. Washington was not exactly amused.

And then there’s the key corridor from the Bab al-Salam border crossing down to Aleppo - controlled by Ankara-supported goon squads. That’s Ankara’s bridge to Aleppo; without it, not the slightest chance of regime change, ever. The fake “Caliphate” was threatening to take over the corridor. So action was imperative.

Russia’s spectacular entry into the war theatre threw all these elaborate plans into disarray. Imagine a complete liberation of northeast Syria as soon as the PYD – with help from PKK fighters - is weaponized enough to smash the ISIS/ISIL/Daesh goons. And imagine the Russian Air Force providing air cover for such an operation, with extra coordination by the Russia-Syria-Iraq-Iran central in Baghdad.

‘The Sultan’, in desperation, would have to maneuver his F-16s against such an offensive. And then we might really have a NATO-Russia five seconds to midnight scenario – with terrifying consequences. ‘The Sultan’ would blink first. And NATO would collapse into the ignominy it never left – back to its elaborate “Russia is invading” drills.

Say hello to my geopolitical jihadi tool

Next steps for the Russian campaign would be to pay close attention to the road linking ISIS/ISIL/Daesh’s capital, Al-Raqqah, around which jihadis are fighting for the control of oil and gas in Sha’ir and Jazal. And then there are pockets east of both Homs and Hama, and in al-Qaryatayn. Moscow – slowly, surely, methodically - is getting there.

What the Russian air campaign has already graphically exposed is the whole rotten core myth of the new Jihad International.

ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, Jabhat al-Nusra and assorted Salafi-jihadi goon squads have been kept up and running by a massive financial/logistical/weaponizing “effort” – which includes all sorts of key nodes, from arms factories in Bulgaria and Croatia to transportation routes via Turkey and Jordan.

As for those Syrian “moderate rebels” – and most of them are not even Syrian, they’re mercenaries – every pebble in the ravaged Sykes-Picot desert sands knows they were trained by the CIA in Jordan. The desert pebbles are also aware that ISIS/ISIL/Daesh goons have been infiltrated into Syria from Turkey – once again, across Hatay province; and vast swathes of ‘the Sultan’s’ Army and police were into the game.

As for who pays the bills for the lavish weaponizing, talk to the proverbial “pious wealthy donors” – incited by their clerics - in the GCC, the petrodollar arm of NATO. None of these goon squads could possibly thrive for so long without full, multidisciplinary “support” from the usual suspects.

So the hysterical/apoplectic/paroxystic rage enveloping the ‘Empire of Chaos’ betrays the utter failure, once again, of the same old “policy” (remember Afghanistan) of using jihadis as geopolitical tools. Fake “Caliphate” or “rebels”, they are all NATO-GCC’s bitches.

To add insult to injury, a frustrated ‘Sultan’ has also been forced to annex himself to a slightly changing Washington position – which now rules that “Assad must go,” yes, but it may take some time, as part of a yet to be defined “transition”.

‘The Sultan’ will remain a pile of nerves. He does not give a damn about ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Washington now does – sort of. He wants to smash the PYD and the PKK. For Washington, the PYD is a helpful ally. As for Moscow, ‘the Sultan’ better watch his neo-Ottoman step.

‘The Sultan’ simply cannot afford to antagonize ‘The Bear’. Gazprom will expand the Blue Stream pipeline into Turkey. It would be by 3 billion cubic meters; instead it will be by 1 billion cubic meters. According to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, it’s due to technical capabilities.

Yet Ankara better get its act together, because even that extension may evaporate if there’s no agreement on the commercial terms of TurkStream, the former Turkish Stream. Ankara is under tremendous pressure from the Obama administration. And ‘the Sultan’ knows very well that without Russia all his elaborate plans to position Turkey as the key energy transit hub from East to West will vanish in Anatolian scrub. In the end, he may even get regime-changed himself.

Fuente:https://www.rt.com/op-edge/317804-isis-turkey-jet-russia/

Hadi loyalists claim capture of key Yemen strait

Houthis yet to confirm loss of Bab al-Mandeb, strategic waterway through which much of Middle East oil exports pass.

Forces loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi backed by the Arab coalition say they have recaptured the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait from Houthi fighters.

There was no confirmation of the loss by the Houthis of the waterway, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the rest of the Indian Ocean.

"In a large-scale military operation launched today, Yemeni government, resistance and coalition forces liberated the Bab al-Mandeb strait and Mayoun island with the goal of safeguarding this key sea route," Rajeh Badi told Reuters by telephone from the southern port city of Aden.

Reuters news agency quoted local residents on Thursday as reporting air strikes and shelling by warships in support of a ground push towards the area.

However, they could not immediately confirm that the strait had fallen.

A Yemeni military official who spoke to DPA news agency on Thursday said there were casualties on both sides in the battle.

Bab al-Mandeb forms part of the world's busiest shipping routes, with much of the Middle East's oil exports passing through the body of water.

More than 3.4 million barrels of oil per day passed through the Bab al-Mandeb in 2013, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Houthi fighters and allied forces loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh, former Yemeni president, seized Bab al-Mandab and Mayoun in southwestern Yemen about six months ago as part of their sweep across the country earlier in the year.

Saudi-Iran tensions

The Houthi advances forced Hadi to flee and prompted military intervention by Yemen's northern neighbour Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim states.

The Arab coalition's initial involvement was limited to air strikes and arms shipments to pro-Hadi forces but has since escalated to include ground troops.

Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of supporting the Houthis, who belong to a form of Shia Islam, known as Zaydism.

The Houthis deny any support from Iran and described their seizure of the capital Sanaa in September last year and the Bab al-Mandeb along with other parts of the country as a nationwide revolution against corrupt officials subservient to the West.

Ground fighting and coalition air strikes have killed more than 5,400 people in Yemen, according to the UN, and exacerbated widespread hunger and suffering.

On Monday, 131 civilians were killed at a wedding party in a purported air strike on a village near the strait.

The Arab coalition has denied it was involved.

Fuente:http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/hadi-loyalists-claim-capture-key-yemen-strait-151001131134976.html

Yemen conflict: Iranian boat 'carrying weapons' seized

The Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi rebels in Yemen says it has seized an Iranian fishing boat loaded with weapons for them in the Arabian Sea.

The vessel, carrying shells and rockets, was intercepted 241km (150 miles) south-east of the Omani port of Salalah on Saturday, a statement said.

Its 14 Iranian crew members were detained, the statement added.

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Iran of providing military support to the Houthis - something it denies.

The weapons found on the fishing boat were listed by the coalition as 18 anti-armour Concourse shells, 54 anti-tank BGM17 shells, 15 shell battery kits, four firing guidance systems, five binocular batteries, three launchers, one launcher holder and three batteries.

Iranian officials have so far not commented on the report.

On Tuesday, Yemen's President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi told the UN General Assembly that Iran "would like to see the destruction of the country".

But a senior Iranian foreign ministry official told the Reuters news agency: "Iran has never interfered in any country's state matters and will never do it. We support peace and stability in the region."

Mr Hadi also thanked Saudi Arabia's King Salman for his "utter determination" in pursuing a military campaign to defeat the rebels and restore his government.

The coalition launched air strikes in Yemen six months ago, after Mr Hadi was forced to flee abroad when the rebels advanced on the second city of Aden.

Last week, the president returned to Aden, where his government has set up a temporary base as southern militiamen and coalition forces press northwards towards the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.

The UN says some 5,000 people, including 2,355 civilians, have been killed in air strikes and fighting on the ground since 26 March.

The coalition's blockade of Yemen's air and seaports has also greatly exacerbated the "extremely dire" humanitarian situation in the country, according to the UN.

Some 21 million people, or 80% of the population, now require some form of humanitarian assistance and almost 1.5 million people are internally displaced.

Fuente: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34401246

Kremlin promises ‘counter-steps’ in reply to US deploying nuclear weapons to Germany

The planned deployment of the latest US nuclear bombs at the Buchel Air Base in Germany would disrupt the strategic balance of forces in Europe and could force a reaction from Russia, President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary has stated.

“It may lead to the destruction of the strategic balance in Europe. Therefore it would definitely cause Russia to take corresponding counter-steps and counter-measures in order to restore the strategic balance and parity,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

“This is another step and unfortunately it is a very serious step towards increase of tensions on the European continent. Such actions cannot be described as a step towards stronger trust and greater stability,” the Russian official added.

READ MORE: US to bring in new advanced nuclear bombs to Germany – report

The statement was prompted by news this week circulated by the German television channel ZDF, which found out from US budget documents about the US Air Force’s plans to bring new B61 nuclear bombs to the Luftwaffe’s Buchel Air Base. It currently hosts Tornado multipurpose aircraft that are capable of carrying atomic weapons. Twenty older bombs are stored at the base under a nuclear sharing deal, while it is the only facility in Germany, which has kept nuclear weapons since 2007.

The newer B61 Mod 12 bombs are more accurate and have smaller yields than modifications 3 and 4, which are currently deployed in Europe.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova earlier told ZDF that Russia was deeply concern about America’s plans to bring new nuclear weapons to Germany. She noted that Russia has reduced the number of tactical nukes it keeps by four times since the 1990s, while Moscow has also called for an international treaty, which would allow nuclear powers to only keep atomic weapons on their own territory.

“The comprehensive analysis of the situation points to the threat posed by the increasing military capability of NATO and its endowment with global functions, which it performs in violation of the international law, as well as the encroachment of the military infrastructure of NATO members on the borders of the Russian Federation,” Zakharova told German reporters.

The head of the State Duma Committee for Defense, MP Vladimir Komoyedov (Communist Party) told TASS that Russia could deploy more weapons to its western exclaves – the Kaliningrad Region and the Crimean Republic – in order to retain a strategic balance of forces in Europe. However, the lawmaker noted that Russia had enough weapons, even on its mainland, to effectively ensure the security of the country.

The Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source, “from military-diplomatic circles,” who said the Russian authorities were studying the details of the US plans to deploy new nuclear bombs to Germany and may decide to bring its newest Iskander-M tactical nuclear weapons to Kaliningrad if the threat is judged as being a valid one.

Fuente: https://www.rt.com/politics/316291-kremlin-promises-counter-steps-in/

Fuente: https://www.rt.com/politics/316291-kremlin-promises-counter-steps-in/

Russia Says Will Respond if US Places New Nukes in Germany

MOSCOW — The Kremlin says Russia will take countermeasures if the U.S. places new nuclear weapons at a base in Germany.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's comments, reported Wednesday by Russian news agencies, came in response to a report by Germany's ZDF television. The report said that preparation is underway by the U.S. to station B61-12 nuclear bombs at Buechel Air Base in Germany.

ZDF said its information was based on examination of U.S.federal budget reports. The claim couldn't immediately be confirmed.

The B61-12 is an upgraded version of weapons that have been in the US arsenal for decades, developed under what is called the Life Extension Program.

The National Nuclear Safety Administration said in July that the upgrade included a new tail-kit assembly and would improve the bomb's reliability and security.

Peskov said "unfortunately, if this step is implemented ... it may disrupt the strategic balance in Europe and therefore will clearly make Russia take corresponding countermeasures to re-establish the balance."

He didn't specify what those measures might be.

The U.S. military responded that the weapons could not be considered as new.

Pentagon spokesman, Army Lt. Colonel Joe Sowers, said "life-extended weapons are not 'new' weapons. LEPs will not provide new capabilities or meet new military requirements."

Fuente: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/09/23/world/europe/ap-eu-russia-germany-nuclear.html?_r=0

Conflicto en Siria

¿Por qué Rusia se está implicando más en la guerra en Siria?

La implicación rusa en el conflicto en Siria no es precisamente nueva: desde su inicio, en la primavera de 2011, Moscú ha sido un leal aliado del gobierno de Bashar al Asad, al que ha apoyado tanto militar como diplomáticamente.

Pero, para preocupación de Occidente, todo indica que Moscú ha decidido asumir un rol cada vez más protagónico.

O eso es, al menos, lo que teme el Pentágono, que recientemente alertó sobre un aumento de la presencia militar rusa en el país, así como sobre supuestos planes para instalar una base aérea en la región noroccidental de Latakia.

La principal razón de ese temor: aunque Moscú y Washington tienen un enemigo común en el autodenominado Estado Islámico, los gobiernos occidentales también ven a al Asad –quien ha sido acusado de haber empleado armas químicas en contra de su pueblo– como parte del problema.

Y Estados Unidos cree que un mayor apoyo ruso a las tropas gubernamentales, justo cuando estas parecen estar perdiendo la batalla en el terreno, puede hacer más difícil la solución políticapretendida por ellos y sus aliados.

Lea también: ¿Por qué es tan difícil lograr la paz en Siria?

Aliado histórico

La solución occidental, sin embargo, pasa por la salida de Bashar al Asad en favor de los opositores más moderados que también lo combaten.

Pero el líder sirio es desde hace tiempo el principal aliado de Moscú en el Medio Oriente.

Y el presidente ruso, Vladimir Putin, ya dejó claro que no está dispuesto a dejarlo sólo en lo que insiste en caracterizar como una batalla por mantener la institucionalidad de Siria y en contra del fundamentalismo islámico.

"Nosotros continuaremos apoyando al gobierno sirio en su lucha contra la agresión terrorista", dijo Putin este martes en referencia a EI.

Lea también: Cómo se mantiene al Asad en el poder pese a la brutal guerra civil en Siria

"Le hemos proporcionado y le vamos a seguir proporcionándole la ayuda técnica militar que sea necesaria", reconoció Putin.

"Llamamos a otros países a sumarse a esta iniciativa", agregó además el mandatario, quien parece creer que el temor por el avance de EI puede usarse para conseguir un respiro para el gobierno de Damasco.

Presencia creciente

Como hace notar el corresponsal para asuntos diplomáticos de la BBC, Jonathan Marcus, en los últimos días varios aviones de transporte militar han llegado al aeropuerto de Latakia, en el noroeste del país, e imágenes satelitales muestran claramente trabajos de ampliación en la pequeña base.La evidencia, sin embargo, indica que Rusia está haciendo mucho más que continuar el apoyo que ya le venía proporcionando a las fuerzas de Al Assad.

Y al mismo tiempo dos barcos cargados de vehículos y otros equipos también atracaron recientemente en la pequeña base naval que desde hace cuatro décadas Rusia mantiene en la vecina Tartus.

Imágenes publicadas en YouTube muestran también vehículos blindados, de un tipo que los rusos nunca antes le habían vendido al gobierno de al Assad, "en acción" dentro del territorio sirio.

"Y más extraño aún, en términos de seguridad operacional, son los 'selfies' de militares rusos en Siria, que confirman no sólo su presencia en el país, sino que dan una indicación de las unidades a las que pertenecen", cuenta Marcus.

"No hay duda de que los rusos se están haciendo sentir cada vez más: Rusia ciertamente está aumentando sus capacidades en Siria", asegura el analista de la BBC.

Pero, ¿con qué propósito?

En términos prácticos, Marcus considera que Rusia se está preparando para establecer un "puente aéreo", estableciendo una base que le permitiría reforzar rápidamente al gobierno de al Assad en caso de necesidad, pero también complementar a su base en Tartus.

Pero, sobre todo, el analista cree que Moscú está invirtiendo para conservar su influencia en un país que considera clave.

Futuro complicado

"El mayor despliegue militar ruso da a entender que Putin no va a dejar caer al gobierno de Asad. Pero eso no significa que Asad va a estar ahí para siempre", explica Marcus.

"La diplomacia rusa está trabajando en tándem con su política militar explorando todos los caminos para llegar a un acuerdo transitorio que le permita a Assad mantenerse en el poder, al menos por el momento", reconoce el analista.

"Pero el horizonte de Rusia en Siria probablemente se extiende mucho más allá de la presencia activa de Assad, lo que es un reflejo de las preocupaciones de Moscú por los militantes islámicos y de su convicción de que los remedios occidentales para la región han sido un verdadero desastre".

Efectivamente, como recuerda Marcus, Rusia no reaccionó a los levantamientos de la llamada "Primavera Árabe" con el mismo entusiasmo de los gobiernos occidentales. Y el estado actual de la región parece reivindicar su análisis.

Lo que no significa que su despliegue militar no plantee una serie de problemas prácticos para Occidente y en particular para EE.UU., que ya tiene aviones operando en territorio sirio.

¿Qué pasará, por ejemplo, si Rusia decide jugar un rol militar directo? ¿Contra quién luchará: contra el autodenominado Estado Islámico o contra todos los enemigos de al Assad, incluyendo aquellos que cuentan con el apoyo de Washington y sus aliados?

"La sombría y compleja guerra civil en Siria se acaba de volver todavía más complicada", es la conclusión de Marcus.

Fuente: http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2015/09/150915_siria_rusia_apoyo_militar_analisis_aw

‘Rusia apoya al Gobierno sirio para evitar una catástrofe total’

Rusia ha asegurado que apoya a las autoridades sirias para luchar contra los grupos terroristas como el EIIL (Daesh, en árabe) e impedir un “catástrofe total” en la región.

“Me gustaría decir a nuestros socios estadounidenses que apoyamos a Siria en su lucha contra Daesh. Tratamos de evitar una catástrofe total”, ha aseverado este jueves María Zajarova, la portavoz de la Cancillería rusa.

En declaraciones citadas por la agencia rusa de noticias Interfax, Zajarova ha precisado que las bandas terroristas en Siria ya suponen una amenaza a la seguridad nacional de Rusia.

Además, ha manifestado la disposición de Moscú para compartir informaciones sobre su apoyo militar a las tropas del Gobierno sirio con Washington a través de "canales pertinentes".

Rusia “está dispuesta a abordar en cualquier momento, si EE.UU. quiere, su cooperación técnico-militar con Siria, no en las sesiones informativas y conferencias de prensa, sino entre los expertos” de ambas partes, ha añadido.

También, ha asegurado que Moscú, al contrario de Estados Unidos y sus aliados no actuará en Siria sin el consentimiento del Gobierno de Damasco.

En este sentido, ha puesto en duda la eficacia de la llamada coalición contra Daesh, liderada por Washington, que a su juicio, solo está llevando a cabo “ataques caóticos que no surten efecto”.

En los últimos días ha habido varios reportes sobre la construcción de una nueva base militar rusa en Siria, y el despliegue de sistemas antiaéreos y tanques en este país árabe.

Por su parte, Moscú también ha confirmado la presencia de sus militares en el territorio sirio para ayudar a los efectivos sirios en emplear armamentos y prepararlos para ese combate antiterrorista.

Fuente:http://www.hispantv.com/newsdetail/Rusia/57418/siria-rusia-maria-zajarova-isil-coalicion

Proceso de producción de armas nucleares

By Josh Keller, Sergio Peçanha and Derek Watkins, tomado de: The new york times

Obama nearing deal with Congress over Iran

US President Barack Obama has almost enough support from senators to block Republican attempts to derail a deal with Iran over its nuclear programme.On Tuesday, two more Democratic senators came out in favor of the deal giving the White House 33 votes in favour of it, one vote shy of what is needed to make any attempts to kill it nearly impossible.
The deal, which was officially reached July 14 in Vienna between Iran and the so-called P5 plus one countries (the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany), would lift decades-old sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran’s promise not to develop nuclear weapons.
The deal still needs to be ratified by the US Congress which is set to debate it when they return from their summer break next week. Congress must vote on the deal by September 17.
Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Chris Coons of Delaware said on Tuesday they believe it is a deal worth supporting in spite of their own scepticism that Iran will hold up its end of the bargain.
"Frankly, this is not the agreement I had hoped for," said Coons. But if the US Congress rejects it, "the path forward is even less clear," he added.
Although the US Congress is currently controlled by the Republican Party, who are overwhelmingly against the agreement, one third of US senators (34 votes) can block any attempts to reject it clearing a path for its approval.
Meanwhile, a new poll shows US citizens are almost evenly divided on the deal with 55 per cent saying they support it.

Resumen/Abstract
El presidente Barack Obama sigue convenciendo mas senadores en el congreso de los estados unidos que lo respalden en apoyar la propuestas del acuerdo nuclear que se realizó el pasado 14 de julio en Viena entre Irán y la sociedad de países llamada P-5 mas uno conformada por Estados Unidos, Rusia, China, Reino Unido, Francia y Alemania la cual podría levantar sanciones que se han venido durante décadas a cambio de la promesa de Tehran de no desarrollar armas nucleares.
El trato con Irán todavía necesita ser ratificado por el congreso de Estados Unidos, el cual se reunirá el 17 de septiembre del presente año para votar la aprobación del trato. Este martes dos senadores mas salieron a favor del trato dándole a la casa blanca 33 votos a favor, quedando faltante 1 solo voto para hacer cualquier intento de cancelar el trato imposible. Mientras tanto el congreso de los Estados Unidos en estos momentos esta controlado por el lado de los republicanos, quienes están en contra del acuerdo.
Ademas se realizó una encuesta a los ciudadanos estadounidenses acerca del acuerdo con Irán y como resultado salió un 55% de la población en acuerdo con esto.

La economía China Tambalea, y el mundo es forzado a adaptarse

China Falters, and the Global Economy Is Forced to Adapt

HONG KONG — The commodities giant BHP Billiton spent heavily for years, mining iron ore across Australia, digging for copper in Chile, and pumping oil off the coast of Trinidad. The company could be confident in its direction as commodities orders surged from its biggest and best customer, China.

Now, BHP is pulling back, faced with a slowing Chinese economy that will no longer be the same dominant force in commodities. Profit is falling and the company is cutting its investment spending budget by more than two-thirds.

China’s rapid growth over the last decade reshaped the world economy, creating a powerful driver of corporate strategies, financial markets and geopolitical decisions. China seemed to have a one-way trajectory, momentum that would provide a steady source of profit and capital.

But deepening economic fears about China, which culminated this week in a global market rout, are now forcing a broad rethinking of the conventional wisdom. Even as markets show signs of stabilizing, the resulting shock waves could be lasting, by exposing a new reality that China is no longer a sure bet.

China, while still a large and pervasive presence in the global economy, is now exporting uncertainty around the world with the potential for choppier growth and volatile swings. The tectonic shift is forcing a gut check in industries that have built their strategies and plotted their profits around China’s rise.

Industrial and commodity multinationals face the most pressing concerns, as they scramble to stem the profit slide from weaker consumption. Caterpillar cut back factory production, with industry sales of construction equipment in China dropping by half in the first six months of the year.

Smartphone makers, automobile manufacturers and retailers wonder about the staying power of Chinese buyers, even if it is not shaking their bottom line at this point. General Motors and Ford factories have been shipping fewer cars to Chinese dealerships this summer.

It is not just companies reassessing their assumptions. Russia had been turning to China to fill the financial gap left by low oil prices and Western sanctions. Venezuela, Nigeria and Ukraine have been heavily dependent on investments and low-cost loans from China.

The pain has been particularly acute for Brazil. The country is already faltering, as weaker Chinese imports of minerals and soybeans have jolted all of Latin America. The uncertainty over China could limit the maneuvering room for officials to address the sluggish Brazilian economy at a time when resentment is festering over proposed austerity measures.

The weakness in China is even compelling officials at the United States Federal Reserve to think more globally, as they consider raising interest rates. William C. Dudley, the president of the New York Fed, said on Wednesday that a September rate increase looked less likely than it did a few weeks ago.

“The entire world is focusing now on China, watching this crisis unfold,” Armando Monteiro Neto, Brazil’s minister of development and foreign trade, told reporters on Tuesday in Brasília. “Brazil is already feeling the effects of China’s deceleration. If the situation gets worse, the impact will get bigger.”

The trouble is, the true strength of the Chinese economy — and the policies the leadership will adopt to address any weaknesses — is becoming more difficult to discern.

China’s growth, which the government puts at 7 percent a year, is widely questioned. Large parts of the Chinese service sector, like restaurants and health care, continue to grow, supporting the broader economy. But the signs in industrial sectors, in which other countries and foreign companies have the greatest stake through trade, paint a bleaker picture.

Adding to the worries are recent events like the deadly explosion of a hazardous chemicals warehouse in Tianjin, which has delayed shipments through one of China’s biggest ports. Labor protests, already rising, jumped sharply across coastal China last week over unpaid wages at struggling export factories.

The leadership, concerned with maintaining social stability, has been quick to act, making aggressive moves to prop up the stock market, inject money into the financial system, and generally stimulate the economy. But President Xi Jinping doesn’t have much experience managing a downturn, and some economists worry that the government is making knee-jerk decisions that will do more harm than good.

Many company executives and global economists say that forecasting China’s growth has become so hard that they are hedging their bets for the time being. “This is a complete black art right now,” said Tim Huxley, the chief executive of Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings, a large Hong Kong shipping company. “I can’t make any long-term decisions based on what is happening today, and so I just keep our fleet running until we get a bit of direction.”

The problems have been building for months in areas like commodities and industrials where just modestly slowing growth in China has been having outsize effects.

For more than a decade, prices surged for iron ore, a main ingredient in making steel, as new skyscrapers, rail lines and other infrastructure were built across China. Last year, BHP Billiton shipped enough iron ore each day to China to fill the Empire State Building.

Now, the industry is retrenching in the face of China’s weaker prospects and diving commodity prices.

Vale, the Brazilian mining giant, is racing to unload assets. In Australia, Vale and its Japanese partner, the Sumitomo Corporation, sold a coal mine in July for just $1, after it had been valued at more than $600 million three years ago. In Argentina, Vale is trying to sell a potash mine in which it invested more than $2 billion.

The fallout in commodities has been especially painful for emerging markets that depend on sales of those resources.

With Brazil’s revenues declining sharply this year, President Dilma Rousseff’s government is coming under criticism over the country’s dependence on China, which surpassed the United States as the top trading partner in 2009. Brazil’s exports to China fell 23.6 percent, to $24.7 billion, in the first seven months of the year from the same period in 2014.

In an editorial on Tuesday, the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo described Brazil’s relationship with China as “semi-colonial,” claiming that the country’s economy “depends in excess on Chinese prosperity.”

Ilan Goldfajn, chief economist at Itaú Unibanco, one of Brazil’s largest banks, said he was already forecasting the economy to contract about 2.3 percent this year, without factoring in the possibility of a hard landing in China. “China is the most important risk factor for Brazil,” Mr. Goldfajn said.

China was supposed to be the financial savior for Russia.

Last year, Russia signed a $400 billion natural gas deal with China. China would help finance a nearly 2,500-mile pipeline to ship fuel from Siberia. Russia trumpeted that it would eventually sell more natural gas to China than Germany, now its biggest customer.

But the prices that China is willing to pay for the gas are dropping so low that it may no longer be worthwhile to build a pipeline. The Russian energy giant Gazprom has cut its planned capital outlays this year for the first leg of the pipeline by half, Dozhd television reported.

“China is an unclear country for us, opaque,” said Aleksandr Abramov, a professor of finance at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. “We don’t know what to expect,” he said, adding, “Clearly, the situation will worsen in Russia.”

Some of the latest pressures reflect a belated recognition by businesses and politicians that China had been slowing down.

Automobile manufacturers cut their shipments of new cars to dealers by 7 percent in July, compared with a year earlier. Retail sales had not suddenly tanked, said Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of China’s Passenger Car Association, which represents manufacturers.

Rather, too many cars had been sent to dealers’ lots in previous months, he said. In other words, manufacturers were slow to see the economy’s deceleration and waited too long to throttle back their factories.

“What manufacturers are doing is adjusting inventory levels to the ‘new normal,’ ” said Bill Russo, a former chief executive of Chrysler China, using a favorite phrase of President Xi Jinping of China in recent months to describe an economy that is expanding at a slower pace.

Similar adjustments are taking place around the globe.

For years, Germany has been well positioned to profit from Chinese growth because it specializes in machine tools and other factory equipment. Most important, China acted as a counterweight to the chronically slow-growing markets in Europe.

Now, major German exporters are seeing signs of pressure.

Trumpf says that sales of its signature product, machines that automakers use to cut sheet metal that sell for about 500,000 euros ($566,000) each, have continued to grow in China. But in May and June, sales of less-expensive cutting machines flattened and began to decline. At the bottom of Trumpf’s product line, sales have fallen sharply since November for machines often purchased by start-up companies.

How industries and economies ultimately fare will depend on how long the slowdown and how deep the economic woes.

Demand remains strong at Boeing for its 777-300ER and 787 jets, models that are capable of flights lasting 10 hours or longer, to Europe or North America. Long-haul international travel from mainland China soared nearly 30 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, Randy Tinseth, the vice president for marketing at Boeing’s commercial aircraft division, said during a visit to Beijing on Tuesday.

So far, it has been mixed for technology players. Timothy D. Cook, the Apple chief executive, said on Monday that business had stayed strong in China in July and August. But Meg Whitman, the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, said in an earnings call last week that China’s consumer market for printers and computers was “pretty soft,” although demand from businesses was holding up better.

In the end, much of the China story will come down to whether the expectations meet the reality. Andrew Mackenzie, the chief executive of BHP, captured a broader corporate view on Tuesday when he spoke glowingly about China’s potential in the decade to come and predicted continued profitability. But he conceded that the country’s steel production would most likely “grow a little more slowly,” citing a forecast that works out to just 1.4 percent annually — a figure that sounds more like Europe than the formerly go-go economy of China.

A similar realization is taking place in various corners. “We had five fabulous years in China, of course, where we grew strong double-digit, and it has been gradually slowing down,” Frans van Houten, chief executive of Royal Philips, the Dutch conglomerate, said on July 27. “I think, going forward, we need to be much more modest on expectations with regard to China growth: That’s just being realistic.”

Resumen/Abstract

La realidad de lo que sucede hoy en el mercado es que China ya no es una apuesta segura, o al menos eso indican los expertos, quienes hablan de empresas que hace años invertían miles de dolares en explotar recursos y ya estas inversiones millonarias ya no son posibles, por mencionar solo uno de los rubros donde se nota el des aceleramiento de la economía china.

Muchas empresas han crecido y trazado sus estrategias, siempre pensando en el gigante Asiático y su gran empuje económico, pero ahora este país genera múltiples incertidumbres y que ya ha generado unos efectos nefastos en la economía global, e incluso Países como Venezuela, Nigeria y Ucrania han accedido a créditos con bajo interés brindados por China dada su imponencia como economía fuerte con un crecimiento constante y se veía como una jugada "segura".

Hablando de países como tal, uno de los mas afectados ha sido Brasil, quien ha visto como sus exportaciones de recursos naturales hacia el gigante asiático han caído notablemente y esta puede ser una de las causas por las cuales los levantamientos en contra del gobierno y las destapadas de los acto de corrupción en los gobiernos brasileros, los cuales han llevado a marchas multitudinarias en el país carioca. Es tal la dependencia económica de brasil con china, que algunos analistas la llama '"semi colonial", pues el crecimiento de los brasileros depende fuertemente( mas de lo deseado) en la prosperidad de los chinos.

Pero los brasileros no son los únicos, puesto que Rusia también tenían muchas de sus apuestas en el gas que le proveería a china, pero el precio que proponen los chinos hace casi impensable que se lleve a cabo la construcción del gasoducto, Alemania, gran exportador de maquinaria en general, con el auge de la producción china tuvo un crecimiento importante, y comparando las cifras de este año con los años anteriores, las ventas han bajado y se ve como lentamente va cayendo la economía de toda Europa. Incluso los fabricantes de vehículos ven con mucho cuidado las ventas, pues no son lo suficientemente buenas como estaban esperando.

Fuente:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/business/international/china-falters-and-the-global-economy-is-forced-to-adapt.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Fuente:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-11/02/content_11487348.htm