Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

3 December 2015

December 2015

... Paris attacks special report: it isn't just the West against ISIS; what next for Syria? Pressure on the Saudis; Arab world caught between bad and worse; COP21 the time is now; Myanmar new hope, new challenge; Africa unstoppable demographic; Brazil state of the art market; how cotton fashioned fashion; COP21 supplement, ocean watch...

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• Paris attacks: terror at home and away

  This is a dumb war - Serge Halimi

  A little-known US senator named Barack Obama said in 2002: "I don't oppose all wars. [...] What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. [...] A war based not on reason but on passion." Americans were angry after 9/11 and President George Bush Jr chose to channel their anger not against Saudi Arabia (most of the Al-Qaida terrorists involved came from there), but against Iraq, which the US invaded six months later. The media wanted the war and most Democratic senators, (...)
  Translated by Charles Goulden

• Is there an Arab third way?* - Hicham Alaoui

  The Arab world, beset by divisions between ruling elites and local populations and between Sunni and Shia, is drawing an ever-widening circle of outside players into its domestic and regional conflicts. Among them is ISIS.
  Original text in English

• Is this really our conflict? - Pierre Conesa

  There isn't one war, the West versus Isis. Not even after last month's terrorist attacks in Paris. There are layers of Middle Eastern conflicts, all linked to international intervention, of which the most intractable are heightened by the Sunni-Shia divide.
  Translated by Charles Goulden

• Assad the powerbroker* - Akram Belkaïd

  The US and its partners now look to the Assad regime and its allies to negotiate a transition to peace and elections. Assad doesn't see his, and Syria's, future the same way.
  Translated by George Miller

• Saudi Arabia's unsure future* - Ibrahim Warde

  Domestically and internationally, Saudi Arabia depends on its oil wealth. Without that money - now daily depleted by deliberate falls in oil prices - its rulers are losing their domestic support.
  Translated by Charles Goulden

• The financing of ISIS* - Ibrahim Warde

  Translated by George Miller
• NLD now needs to find allies in Myanmar

  Aung San Suu Kyi's win is just the start* - Renaud Egreteau

  Despite Aung San Suu Kyi's victory, the army still controls 25% of parliament, and the country has huge economic problems and civil and social conflicts to resolve.
  Translated by George Miller
• COP21: unequal environmental exchange must end

  Balance Earth's budgets now* - Christophe Bonneuil

  The growth that has driven fossil fuel emissions and climate change has not only extracted resources from the poorest nations and people but left them to suffer in places wrecked by that process.
  Translated by Molly Ashby

• How the ozone layer was saved* - Ferdinand Moeck

  Translated by Charles Goulden
• 'Credit just became a way to solve problems'

  Where being poor costs too much* - Maxime Robin

  US banks, and the even more predatory check-cashing and payday loan chains, make most of their money in interest and fees from those who must borrow short-term to get by from day to day.
  Translated by Charles Goulden

• Privileged private property* - Maxime Robin

• Population may quadruple by 22nd century

  Africa still dreams of a big family* - Henri Leridon

  The world is actively restricting population growth; sub-Saharan Africa is not. The future projections threaten all improvement in local living conditions.
  Translated by Krystyna Horko
• 'Our collectors became international players'

  Brazil's art market* - Anne Vigna

  Tax breaks and tax obstacles help and hinder the collection of art in Brazil. The country itself - and its galleries and museums - can't afford to collect Brazilian artists.
  Translated by Krystyna Horko
• 'No one says it's none of my business'

  The twitch of the curtain* - Ignacio Ramonet

  In a surveillance state we're not just the unwillingly watched - we're also the willingly watched, and the watchers.
  Translated by Charles Goulden
• 'White muslin as fine as woven air'

  How cotton created modern fashion - Veronica Horwell

  Global trade brought huge quantities of brightly coloured and patterned Indian cottons to Europe in the 17th century. And that's when fashion as we know it got its start.
  LMD English edition exclusive
• COP21: climate debate overlooks our oceans

  Global warming, actors and victims - Jean-Pierre Gattuso and Alexandre Magnan

  The oceans moderate global warming, which in turn has major effects on their ecosystems. Within the framework of the Oceans 2015 Initiative, some 20 researchers from across the world have analysed the risks of impact on marine and coastal ecosystems. They warn that safeguarding our oceans must be a priority of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris.
  Original text in English

• Five thousand protected areas - Ferdinand Moeck

  Translated by Charles Goulden

• Easter Island's marine reserve - Sébastien Deslandes

  Last September the US established a huge marine reserve in the Pacific Ocean, covering nearly 1.3m sq km.  The Chilean government and the inhabitants of Easter Island are debating the creation of a 'marine park'.
  Translated by Charles Goulden

• Towards a 'blue economy' - Dan Laffoley

  By protecting our marine resources we can help local economies, especially through ecotourism.
  Original text in English

• Time for international rules - Alexandre Magnan, Teresa Ribera and Julien Rochette

  Climate talks too often neglect the world's oceans. One of the key aims of the Paris climate conference (COP 21) is to define precise rules to protect oceans and manage them sustainably.
  Translated by Charles Goulden

• Ocean solutions - Torsten Thiele

  Original text in English