Síntesis informativa - 4 y 5 de febrero 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Afghans Go to Taliban Talks, but Government Is Still Left Out
KABUL, Afghanistan — Senior Afghan politicians, including former President Hamid Karzai, began a meeting with Taliban representatives in Moscow on Tuesday, weeks after the insurgents and American diplomats announced progress toward an end to the long war.
But the two-day gathering, the insurgents’ most significant contact with Afghan politicians in years, has drawn strong criticism from the government of President Ashraf Ghani, who sees such initiatives — at a time when the Taliban seem ready to meet with anyone but his own government — as undermining the fragile Afghan state.
The talks, which Mr. Karzai and the other politicians say could build trust and clarify how the Taliban see their future political role, come at a delicate time. Mr. Ghani is in an uncomfortable position, at odds not only with his American backers, whom he sees as moving too quickly to reach a deal, but also with others in the country’s political elite, who are rallying around the American-led effort.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-russia-talks-russia.html
Trump’s Plan for U.S. Forces in Iraq Met With Unified Rejection in Baghdad
President Trump’s unexpected announcement that he wanted American troops in Iraq to stay there to “watch Iran” achieved a previously unattainable goal on Monday: unity in the Iraqi political establishment.
The problem for Mr. Trump was that the unity was a collective rejection of his proposal, and added momentum to proposed legislation that could hamper American troops’ ability to operate in Iraq. The measure, which is now being drafted, would limit American troop movements and activities in Iraq.
Mr. Trump’s remarks, made in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” reverberated through Iraq late Sunday and were rejected by all corners of the government, even by some of the United States’ staunchest allies, including President Barham Salih, a Kurd.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/world/middleeast/trump-iraq-iran-reaction.html
Rights Groups Seek U.N. Inquiry Into China’s Mass Detention of Muslims
GENEVA — Human rights groups called on Monday for a United Nations investigation into China’s mass detention of Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang, seeking to galvanize an international response to allegations of widespread abuses.
The rights organizations, presenting the issue as a test of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s credibility, urged it to set up an international fact-finding mission during its session that starts at the end of February.
“The magnitude of abuses allegedly occurring in Xinjiang demand uncompromising scrutiny,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement released at a news conference in Geneva.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/world/asia/un-xinjiang-uighurs-china.html
THE GUARDIAN
4 de febrero
Trump: talk of impeachment is sign Democrats can’t win in 2020
In the interview with CBS Face the Nation, recorded last week and first broadcast on Super Bowl Sunday, Trump said: “The only way they can win, because they can’t win the election, is to bring out the artificial way of impeachment.”
On the eve of a State of the Union address delayed by a historic government shutdown for which most Americans blame the president, Trump’s popularity rating is drastically low. The website fivethirtyeight.computs it at an average of 39.5%.
Last week, 56% of respondents in an ABC News/Washington Post poll said they definitely would not vote for Trump.
Venezuela: Maduro hits back at 'gringo plot to overthrow revolution'
Addressing a military rally in the northern state of Aragua, Maduro said he was the target of a “gringo” plot to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution he had inherited from his political mentor, Hugo Chávez, after his death in 2013.
“I, Nicolás Maduro Moros, the legitimate and constitutional president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, swear … that I will defend with my very own life this homeland of Venezuela,” he vowed.
A third of Himalayan ice cap doomed, finds report
Even if carbon emissions are dramatically and rapidly cut and succeed in limiting global warming to 1.5C, 36% of the glaciers along in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya range will have gone by 2100. If emissions are not cut, the loss soars to two-thirds, the report found.
enlace al reporte: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-92288-1
5 de febrero
State of the Union: Trump to call for unity as he tries to reboot presidency
Donald Trump will attempt to reboot his presidency on Tuesday with a State of the Union address that will tout economic strength and border security – but he faces an audience with an unprecedented number of women and a high degree of scepticism.
The president will command one of the biggest stages in American politics but, unlike last year’s address, Capitol Hill will be something of a hostile environment. Along with Vice-President Mike Pence, the Democratic speaker, Nancy Pelosi – a formidable adversary who has thwarted his border wall at every turn – will sit just over his shoulder on the dais, her facial expressions watched closely by millions of primetime TV viewers.
Seated in front of Trump will be a record number of female House members, most Democrats and some dressed in white, in homage to the suffragist movement. In the gallery overhead there will be two former employees of Trump’s New Jersey golf club, both immigrant women who have gone public about its hiring practices.
And when the speech is over, Stacey Abrams, who ran a close race in the midterms for governor of Georgia, will become the first African American woman to deliver the Democratic rebuttal.
May to meet Juncker on Thursday to seek Brexit concessions
May is expected to formally seek the reopening of the withdrawal agreement on the back of the passing of the so-called Brady amendment last week calling for “alternative arrangements” to replace the contentious Irish backstop.
DEUTSCHE WELLE
INF: Rusia fabricará en menos de dos años nuevos misiles para responder a EE. UU.
Rusia anunció hoy que desarrollará en menos de dos años las variantes terrestres del misil de crucero Kalibr y del misil hipersónico de alcance medio en respuesta a abandono del INF por parte de EE. UU.
"Durante 2019 y 2020 debemos desarrollar una variante terrestre del sistema Kalibr de emplazamiento marítimo con misiles de crucero de largo alcance que tan buen rendimiento dieron en Siria", dijo este martes (5.02.2019) Shoigú durante una reunión en el Ministerio de Defensa.
Además, agregó que "en los mismos plazos habrá que fabricar los sistemas de misiles terrestres con cohetes hipersónicos".
Turquía acusa a la UE de querer derribar el gobierno de Maduro
El presidente turco, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, acusó a la Unión Europea de querer "derribar el gobierno" de Venezuela mediante el reconocimiento al autoproclamado presidente interino de ese país, Juan Guaidó.
Es Venezuela un estado vuestro? ¿Cómo se le puede decir a una persona elegida que debe irse? ¿Cómo pueden decir que no es elegido si es presidente?", dijo Erdogan este martes (5.02.2019) en un encuentro con su partido, el islamista AKP, retransmitido por la emisora CNNTürk.
"¿Tan demócratas son ustedes en la UE? Siempre hablan de democracia, de votos, de procesos electorales y luego derriban a un gobierno", señaló.
https://www.dw.com/es/turqu%C3%ADa-acusa-a-la-ue-de-querer-derribar-el-gobierno-de-maduro/a-47363990
Enviado de EE.UU. viaja a Pyongyang para preparar cumbre
Stephen Biegun llegará este miércoles a la capital de Corea del Norte para afinar la segunda reunión entre Kim Jong-un y Donald Trump.
La segunda cumbre entre el líder de Corea del Norte, Kim Jong-un, y el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, empieza a tomar forma. Este lunes (03.02.2019), el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos confirmó que el enviado especial para Corea del Norte, Stephen Biegun (foto principal), viajará este miércoles 5 de febrero a Pyonyang para preparar la reunión.
En la capital de Corea del Norte, Biegun se encontrará con su homólogo, Kim Hyok-chol, con el fin de "avanzar en el progreso de los compromisos que Trump y Kim pactaron en Singapur: completar la desnuclearización, transformar las relaciones entre EE.UU. y Corea del Norte y construir una paz duradera en la península de Corea", dice el comunicado divulgado por Washington
https://www.dw.com/es/enviado-de-eeuu-viaja-a-pyongyang-para-preparar-cumbre/a-47359858
Caracas-Washington: inminentes maniobras militares de Venezuela
Las inminentes maniobras militares del régimen chavista le servirán para exhibir su capacidad de fuego. Pero, ¿busca Maduro impresionar a sus enemigos en el extranjero o intimidar a sus opositores dentro de Venezuela?
Entre el 10 y el 15 de febrero tendrán lugar “los ejercicios militares más importantes en la historia de Venezuela”. Eso dijo el hombre fuerte de Caracas, Nicolás Maduro, en un acto celebrado el 27 de enero en la ciudad de Valencia. Frente a la 41ª Brigada de Blindados del Batallón Paramacay, el dirigente chavista acusó al Ejecutivo colombiano de pretender dividir a la Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana (FANB), a la Casa Blanca de planear una invasión para derrocarlo y a ambos de apoyar a Juan Guaidó, el diputado opositor que, tras asumir la presidencia del Parlamento local (5.1.2019), se autoproclamó jefe de Estado interino (23.1.2019).
https://www.dw.com/es/caracas-washington-inminentes-maniobras-militares-de-venezuela/a-47347746
XINHUA
Gobierno ruso dice que ofrecerá fondos para desarrollar armas nuevas
MOSCU, 2 feb (Xinhua) -- El gobierno de Rusia ofrecerá los mecanismos necesarios para financiar el desarrollo de armas nuevas.
Así lo declaró hoy el primer ministro ruso, Dmitry Medvedev, en respuesta al anuncio por Washington de su salida del Tratado de Fuerzas Nucleares de Alcance Intermedio (INF, siglas en inglés).
"Debido a la retirada de Estados Unidos del tratado INF y las acciones en respuesta anunciadas por el presidente de Rusia, el gobierno ruso ofrecerá los medios y mecanismos necesarios para financiar el desarrollo de nuevos tipos de armas", dijo Medvedev a través de la red social Twitter.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2019-02/03/c_137797188.htm
Pentágono enviará otros 3.750 soldados a frontera Estados Unidos-México
WASHINGTON, 3 feb (Xinhua) -- El Pentágono anunció hoy que desplegará otros 3.750 soldados en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México en los siguientes tres meses para apoyar a los agentes fronterizos.
El despliegue aumentará a unos 4.350 el total de fuerzas activas de apoyo a los agentes de la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza de Estados Unidos, indicó el Pentágono.
"Las unidades adicionales serán desplegadas durante 90 días y seguiremos evaluando la composición de fuerza requerida para realizar la misión de proteger y asegurar la frontera sur", añadió.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2019-02/04/c_137797913.htm
RT
4 de febrero
Pentagon to send 3,750 troops to border with Mexico
The US is sending nearly 4,000 soldiers to its frontier with Mexico for three months to “provide additional support” to border security and customs agencies, the Department of Defense has said.
The new deployment will bolster the numbers of active duty forces at the border to “approximately” 4,350, it added. The additional forces are said to be deployed for 90 days, yet a “mobile surveillance capability” will be provided until the end of September, according to the Pentagon. The forces are set to construct new barriers at the border, namely some 150 miles (241km) of barbed wire.
Active-duty soldiers were first deployed to the southeastern border last October, as a couple of large migrant caravans tried to move into the US through Mexico. The move came just ahead of the midterm elections and was lambasted by Trump’s critics as a publicity stunt.
https://www.rt.com/usa/450512-troops-border-mexico-pentagon/
Trump did not ask permission to ‘watch Iran’ from bases in Iraq – President Salih
Iraq’s president resoundingly dismissed Trump’s idea of a US vigil on his country’s border, stating he had not asked for permission to “watch Iran.” Barham Salih instead suggested the US stick to its mission fighting terrorism.
Speaking to reporters at a forum in Baghdad on Monday, Salih was responding to a question about remarks made by the US president to television network CBS on Sunday. Expressing his desire to keep a military presence in Iraq, Trump told the Face the Nation program: “All I want to do is be able to watch” neighboring Iran.
https://www.rt.com/news/450600-salih-says-dont-overburden-iraq/
Chorus of EU states, incl UK, Spain, Austria recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim leader
The UK, France, and Spain among a number of countries, have announced their recognition of Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president after Caracas did not cave into an ultimatum calling for snap elections with eight days.
Germany, France, and Spain issued nearly identical warnings in late January, stating that they would recognize Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela unless new elections were held. The date for this to happen expired overnight, from February 3 to February 4. In a tweet announcing Austria’s support for Guaido, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz claimed that President Nicolas Maduro has “so far refused to accept a free and fair presidential election” – leading Vienna to accept Guaido as Venezuela’s “lawful”leader. Sweden has done the same, with Europe’s ‘power house’ Germany, as well as Denmark, the Netherlands and Latvia following suit.
https://www.rt.com/news/450590-uk-spain-france-guaido-president/
Pope Francis, who denounced Yemeni bloodshed, gets red carpet welcome in perpetrator UAE
Pope Francis became the first pontiff to set foot on the Arabian Peninsula on Monday, as he received a pompous welcome in the United Arab Emirates, just after he slammed the bloody Yemen war they help to spearhead.
The Emirates have rolled out the welcome mat for Francis, who was greeted by Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and his entourage on Monday. The pontiff arrived with a delegation of clerics and was presented a bouquet of flowers. The papal visit, a first of its kind to the Islam-dominated Arabian Peninsula, will continue on Tuesday with a much-awaited mess for about 135,000 Catholics. Top UAE officials and Muslim religious leaders are expected to attend it.
The visit is overshadowed by the Yemen war, in which the UAE plays a significant part. The brutal conflict has put the war-ravaged country on the brink of total devastation, with over 60,000 reported killed as result of the hostilities and further 85,000 perished due to famine, epidemics and lack of basic medical care. The kingdom’s role in the almost a four-year-war was highlighted in the recent report that the American military have been training Emirati fighter pilots to be dispatched in Yemen.
https://www.rt.com/news/450586-pope-francis-uae-yemen/
Russian Navy gets new weapon to induce ‘hallucinations’ and ‘blind’ the enemy
A new weapon installed on Russian warships can make enemy soldiers miss targets by blinding them, while also causing hallucinations and making them want to vomit. It creates a strobe-like effect that disrupts eyesight, seriously hampering the soldier’s ability to aim at night, Ruselectronics (which produces the weapon) stated. During testing, volunteers used assault rifles, sniper rifles, and machine guns to shoot targets placed up to 2km away and protected by the device. They all had trouble aiming because they “couldn’t see the target.”
Two Russian frigates were fitted with the new non-lethal dazzler-type weapon, the 5P-42 Filin (eagle-owl), the manufacturer’s representative told RIA Novosti. The weapon is designed to temporarily blind the enemy. The ships equipped with the new high-tech stations are the state-of-the-art frigates Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Kasatonov, both of Russia’s Northern Sea Fleet. Each has two stations. Two more frigates, currently under construction, are also expected to be fitted with the device.
https://www.rt.com/russia/450489-russian-navy-system-hallucinations/
5 de febrero
Maduro: Oil, gold & other riches behind Trump’s Venezuela crusade
Venezuela’s natural reserves, such as oil, gas, and gold, encourage the US to seek regime change there, President Maduro told RT, saying he won’t be remembered as a leader who showed weakness and ignorance to his people.
“What is Donald Trump’s ‘casus belli’ against Venezuela? The ‘casus belli’ is the oil of Venezuela, the riches of Venezuela, its gold, gas, iron, diamonds, other material riches,” Maduro said in an exclusive interview with RT Spanish. The remarks come as Western nations pile overwhelming pressure on the Latin American country.
CIA World Factbook for 2017 says Venezuela has the world’s biggest proven crude oil reserves, surpassing those of Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq. During the crisis, Venezuelan officials suggested that oil is behind US attempt to replace Maduro with someone friendlier to Washington.
https://www.rt.com/news/450670-us-crusade-oil-venezuela/
Pentagon resists US withdrawal from Syria, claims ISIS might rise again
The newest report on US-led operations against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria admits the terrorist group is down to some 2,000 fighters, but argues continued US presence in the region is needed to prevent its resurgence.
Published on Monday, the report authored by the Pentagon and State Department inspectors-general also blamed Turkey for spoiling the US-backed Kurdish militia’s operations against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), and predicts no end to strife in the region, going against President Donald Trump’s order to withdraw US troops from Syria.
The report debunked the widely circulated estimate – from June 2018 – that IS had up to 17,000 fighters in Iraq and up to 14,000 in Syria, calling it questionable even at the time. The US-led coalition, known as the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) had “low confidence” in those estimates as of last July, the report said. As of January, CJTF-OIR estimated only 2,000 IS fighters remaining in the group’s last remaining bastion – known at the Pentagon as the Middle Euphrates River Valley (MERV) and located in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border.
Even as US troops are pulling out of Syria, President Trump has said he wants to keep some forces in the region “to protect Israel” and “watch Iran.” “We have to protect other things that we have,” Trump told CBS on Sunday, but said the troops will be “coming back in a matter of time.”
https://www.rt.com/news/450659-pentagon-syria-iraq-isis-report/
French police talk about shooting Yellow Vest protesters in a leaked tape
Police in the city of Toulouse came under fire after several officers were caught on tape discussing plans to “shoot” the protesters involved in clashes. The comments were made in the police command room, as broadcaster France 3 reported, where the officers were watching an intense standoff between police and the demonstrators unfolding on the streets of Toulouse.
While the officers aren’t seen in the video, the voices are heard saying “What a bunch of bastards!” and “The f***ers!”, when the clashes turned violent. Then a female officer is heard saying, “But you have to shoot!” and the other male officer replying, “When I tell you to, line up two or three rounds.”
https://www.rt.com/news/450698-police-france-conversation-shoot-protesters/
Russia must create land-based hypersonic missiles with 500km+ range by 2020 – MoD
In response to the US suspending the INF treaty, Russia is boosting its land-based missile development. Moscow wants hypersonic missiles of 500km+ range and a land-based version of the Kalibr cruise missile, ready by 2020.
According to a plan earlier greenlighted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, existing missiles will be modified, and new ones created, within two years' time. “Within 2019-2020 we must develop a land-based version of the ship-based Kalibr complex,” Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a ministry briefing. A land-based longer-range hypersonic missile complex is expected to be created within the same time limit.
The steps are being taken as a response to the US suspending its participation in the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) treaty and aiming to withdraw completely in six months. Russia's newest Kalibr cruise missile, with a range of over 1,500km, proved itself in strikes at terrorist targets during the Russian campaign in Syria. It is normally launched from submarines or surface vessels, but now, with the INF's constraints lifted, it can be moved to land.
https://www.rt.com/news/450679-russia-missiles-range-inf/
‘Loony leftwing’ NGOs inflating Yemen’s bombing death toll? UK arms control chair slammed for claims
A Labour MP who heads the group in charge of the UK’s arms control policy has come under fire after suggesting NGO statistics on civilian deaths caused by the Saudi-led coalition bombing of Yemen are exaggerated.The comments come after a damning report by NGO Control Arms UK last week cast light on how the UK’s arms export policy has fueled human rights abuses in countries like Yemen.
Graham Jones, who oversees the Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC), claimed that “a constant stream of stories” provided by British NGOs about coalition airstrikes in Yemen had turned out to be a “gross exaggeration.”
The CAEC comprises of four government select committees including defense, foreign affairs, international development, and business. Part of its remit includes the oversight of arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
