Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday 5 September 2012


5 September 2012
Le Monde diplomatique

September 2012

...Syria's other war; Mali under extreme threat; China special report: challenge of empire, secretive party games; Venezuela, another term for Chávez? Panama's M-10 protest against Barro Blanco dam; Spain, a failure of leadership; rise and rise of The Economist; museums, return those objects of art! special supplement For democracy; special supplement Liège...and more...

  • Bad, or worse? - Serge Halimi

    The US financial rot spread, causing a global economic crisis with catastrophic results: no jobs, millions of property owners bankrupt, waning social security. That was five years ago. Now it is quite possible that the next incumbent of the White House may be Willard Mitt Romney, who owes his immense fortune to financial speculation, delocalisation of jobs and tax havens in the Cayman Islands.
    His selection of Paul Ryan as Republican vice-presidential running mate offers a glimpse of what (...)
    Translated by Barbara Wilson
  • When sources are impossible to check

    Syria's propaganda war - Antonin Amado and Marc de Miramon

    Both sides in the Syrian conflict - and all the Middle Eastern powers - are manipulating events and rumours for their own purposes. Media access to hard facts is limited where it exists at all, and anyway most media want a simple, sympathetic narrative, and want it now
    Translated by George Miller
  • Political and economic collapse, and the threat from the north

    The Malian model falls apart* - Jacques Delcroze

    Mali has been viewed as an African success story for 20 years. But now everything, including democracy, is under extreme threat
    Translated by Krystyna Horko
  • Candidates with opposing visions for Venezuela's future

    The Chávez election* - Steve Ellner

    He has been in power for 13 years and wants another six as president after the October vote. Despite illness and a determined opponent, Hugo Chávez may get them
    Original text in English
  • Panama complicit over dam that threatens life and culture

    In the valley of the invisible* - Robin Oisín Llewellyn

    LMD English edition exclusive
  • Special report on China

    China's imperial predicament* - Michael Klare

    China is at a crossroads. If it goes on prioritising its acquisition of resources and fails to slow its oil-greedy car industry, it will find itself behaving more and more like the former colonial powers
    Original text in English

  • Party rivals dispute change* - Martine Bulard

    Translated by Charles Goulden
  • Spain's leaders slowed its transition to democracy

    Felipe González's cat* - Luis Sepúlveda

    All stories start in a specific time and place; that's how literature explains the complexity of the world. The crisis affects me directly; many of my Spanish friends are currently experiencing its full devastating force. They feel that the future is full of uncertainty and watch in astonishment as life in a normal European country becomes more out of joint by the day, swept along in the mad two-horse race between the centre-right People's Party (PP) and centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), neither of which is capable of giving the slightest account of what went wrong in the past, what is going wrong today and - worst of all - what could go even more wrong in the future (...)
    Translated by George Miller
  • Victorian magazine flourishes in the 21st century

    The Economist's secret* - Alexander Zevin

    All other publications may be in decline, but the circulation and ad revenues of The Economist, especially in the US, are not just stable but growing. Why is everybody so awed?
    Original text in English

  • Bucking the trend* - Alexander Zevin

    Original text in English
  • Art objects belong where they're found

    Give it back* - Patrick Howlett-Martin

    Are all the ancient works of art currently stored or displayed in the world's museums war booty? Some were 'borrowed' (or stolen), others given or rescued for restoration and preservation. But now some of the countries of origin are pressing harder for restitution, including through the FBI
    Translated by the author
  • Liège supplement

    Renaissance in Liège - Olivier Bailly

    Liège, the 'cité ardente', has undergone considerable change. The disappearance of the mines and decline of the steel industry hit the city hard. But the saying 'Do as they do in Liège, let it rain' may no longer apply. For the economic capital of Wallonia, with a population of 200,000, or 600,000 including suburbs, is being reborn. The steel workers are battling to save its last blast furnaces; an underground system, trams and high-speed train station will transform its centre; and its film industry, starting with the Dardenne brothers, is booming. Now the city dreams of hosting host Expo 2017
    Translated by Charles Goulden

  • Public transport to the fore* - Vincent Doumayrou

    Translated by George Miller

  • Euroregion*

  • Expo 2017, dream or challenge? - Joël Matriche

    Translated by George Miller

  • Eldorado for French language cinema - Hughes Dorzée

    Translated by Stephanie Irvine
  • Supplement : rebuilding democracy

    Why we need the Council of Europe - Fabio Liberti

    Strasbourg, the seat of many European institutions, will host the first World Forum for Democracy from 5 to 11 October. Unlike the EU, the European Council - a co-organiser of the Forum - works exclusively for human rights and freedoms. Democracy is still the mobilising force (for China's opposition, Arab populations) but in the 21st century there is a real need for reform to address social inequalities and the crisis in political representation. In particular, the growing gap between 'elites' and the rest of the population (felt more and more in EU countries) requires building a new role for citizens and a new relationship between voters and those they elect
    Translated by Stephanie Irvine

  • The meaning of civil society* - Raffaele Laudani

    Translated by Stephanie Irvine

  • The meaning of civil society* - Raffaele Laudani

    Translated by Stephanie Irvine

  • The fight goes on* - Thorbjørn Jagland

    Original text in English

  • Citizenship, still a word of hope* - Allan Popelard

    Translated by Stephanie Irvine

  • Participate, but how?* - Giovanni Allegretti

    Translated by Barbara Wilson

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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 12:44