Use the form on the right to contact us.
You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right.
123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999
(123) 555-6789
email@address.com
You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.
Filtering by Category: El País
Moisés Naím / El País
What was defeated in Afghanistan was not just the most expensive and technologically advanced army in the world, but also two ideas that had deeply influenced the Western world. The first is that democracy can be exported, and the second is that the US military is the best in the world.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
It’s easy to discount what Latin America may have to teach the world about running an economy. After all, what can a region perpetually embroiled in intractable problems possibly teach us? In this part of the world turmoil is the norm. In reality, though, the basic problem in Latin America is not its chronic economic instability, but the inability of its leaders to learn from experience, and their propensity to keep pushing policies that have already proven disastrous. I call it ideological necrophilia – the passionate commitment to dead ideas.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
Scientists never had any doubts that we would get a vaccine against Covid-19. And they were right. Very few, however, predicted that such a vaccine would be available so quickly. History suggested that the vaccine would take years to develop and produce in large quantities. Yet, scientists who began researching Covid-19 in January 2020 were soon ready to begin phase 3 clinical trials to evaluate its effectiveness. Typically, it takes years for any drug or treatment to be ready for phase 3 trials. In this case, it took six months.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
It was once jihadists, now it’s white supremacists. For years, Islamist terrorism was seen as the major threat to Europe and the United States. But not anymore. Now our worries have shifted to Covid-19 and to white extremist violence.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
Economists agree that the devastating economic aftermath of the pandemic calls for a substantial increase in government spending. An injection of public spending will help individuals, families, businesses and other organizations that suddenly lost their incomes. Even the most conservative economic institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and other central banks, as well as top economists, not only recommend increasing public spending, but doing it in a big way. “Act big” was US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s message to her fellow ministers from the world’s biggest economies. Furthermore, leading experts such as Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate in economics, say they are not concerned about the enormous fiscal deficit, the booming debt, the heightened risks of financial instability, or the inflation that could result from an excess in public spending and the printing of money. This is in stark contrast to the financial crisis of 2008, when experts called for spending cuts, “deleveraging” and restraint. Austerity was their mantra. Now, it’s to go big, spend what you have and what you don’t have too – deficits and debt don’t matter.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
“America is back,” declared an excited Joe Biden. He was speaking to a group of mostly European political leaders, via video link, at the Munich Security Conference. The new president emphasized that “the transatlantic alliance is back.” Naturally, the message was well received. Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson all applauded America’s new stance. In his remarks, Biden also renewed America’s commitment to NATO’s Article V, which obliges the military alliance’s member nations to respond collectively to an attack against any one of its members. During Donald Trump’s presidency, he repeatedly refrained from publicly acknowledging that, as a member of NATO, his country would accept that obligation. Naturally, Trump’s reluctance produced a great deal of anxiety in the capitals of Europe... and glee from the Kremlin.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
Despite being home to the Galapagos Islands as well as 32 majestic volcanoes – several of them active – and being the world’s largest producer of bananas, Ecuador rarely attracts international media attention. It is not Brazil, Mexico, or Argentina, the giants of the region. Its political instability is not as problematic as that of neighboring Peru, nor has it been looted top to bottom like Venezuela. In short, it is a normal Latin American country: poor, unequal, unjust, corrupt, and full of decent and hard-working people. Its democracy is flawed but competitive, its institutions are weak, but they are there, and its economy – the eighth largest in the continent – depends on the export of oil, bananas, shrimp, and gold. And, of course, on the money that Ecuadorians abroad send back to their families.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
Susan Bro embodies the dilemma that may very well define Joe Biden’s presidency: can there be peace without justice?
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
January 6 was a very bad day for President Donald Trump and a very good day for American democracy. The dead and wounded will be remembered as a tragic outcome of the president’s violent rhetoric. But what happened that day – and I’m not just referring to the takeover of Congress by Trump’s supporters – could very well mark the beginning of an important period of renewal and strengthening of American democracy.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
The global, decentralized, non-governmental, open and free internet that we all know is vanishing.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
The recent US election had its highest voter turnout in 120 years. More than 80 million people voted for Joe Biden and 74 million for Donald Trump, making them the most-voted-for politicians in the history of the country.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
This election confirmed that the United States is a typical 21st-century democracy. That is to say, a politically torn country.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
In 1986 Hollywood released the comedy The Three Amigos. It’s the story of three traveling comedians (Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short) who, dressed as Mexican cowboys, arrive in the town of Santo Poco to put on a show. Instead, they find a Mexican town besieged by a gang of bearded ruffians on horseback commanded by “El Guapo.” Naturally, the three friends (with the help of the beautiful and long-suffering Carmen) manage to free Santo Poco from El Guapo and his henchmen. The script for The Three Amigos indulges every cliché and stereotype that Americans have of Mexicans. In fact, El Guapo and his gang fit perfectly with Donald Trump’s description of Mexican immigrants: murderers, rapists, bad hombres. And, let’s not forget, animals.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
Covid-19 kills not just people, it also kills ideas. And when it doesn’t kill them, it discredits them. For example, received ideas about office work, hospitals, and universities will not be the same when the dust settles from the pandemic. Nor will some of the more universal ideas about economics and politics. Here are four cases in point:
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
What do cars in a parking lot have to do with online searches for terms like “diarrhea” and “cough”? And what do these data points tell us about the pandemic that is raging across the globe? As it turns out, a great deal.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
The Covid-19 pandemic is clearly the most important threat affecting the world: it can make everything else feel minor by comparison. Yet important things are happening that may soon affect us all.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
“The world has changed forever!”
“A new international order will emerge from this catastrophe.”
These were common refrains after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, but also following just about every security emergency and international economic downturn that has routinely shaken the world. An analysis of the major international crises since the 1980s reveals several recurring factors. The Covid-19 pandemic is different and far more menacing than the crises that preceded it. Still we are now seeing some of the common factors present in past crises. Here are five worth noting.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
To: President Donald J. Trump
From: XXXX
Re: Election strategy
It is a great honor, Mr President, to be called on for advice on how to guarantee your richly deserved reelection. I share your disappointment with your current advisers, who have failed to turn your stellar leadership into an overwhelming electoral advantage. In fact, I feel that the only useful adviser you have is your brilliant son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
“It took the world three months to reach 100,000 confirmed cases of infection. The next 100,000 happened in just 12 days. The third took four days. The fourth, just one and a half.” Those were the words of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, in his recent warning to a group of world leaders.
Read MoreMoisés Naím / El País
Earthquakes destroy much, but they also reveal valuable information about the deepest layers of the earth. Similarly, pandemics cause immense pain and suffering but also teach us a great deal. And not just about biology, epidemiology and medicine. They also reveal who we are, as individuals and as a society. For example, are we, as people, more altruistic or selfish? Is it better to have a country that is open to the world or one that has closed borders? Do we trust our politicians or the experts? And what should guide our behavior: emotions or data?
Read More