Síntesis informativa - 13 de agosto 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Hong Kong Airport Suspends Check-Ins in 2nd Day of Disruptive Protests
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s airport suspended check-ins for a second straight day on Tuesday as protesters again disrupted its operations, hours after the city’s embattled leader pleaded for order amid escalating chaos.
Thousands of antigovernment demonstrators occupied parts of Hong Kong International Airport’s departures and arrivals halls on Tuesday afternoon, with some using luggage trolleys to block travelers from reaching their departure gates. The Hong Kong Airport Authority later closed check-in services and advised all passengers to leave as soon as possible.
It was the second day in a row that demonstrators had seriously disrupted operations at the airport, one of the world’s busiest, and another sign that the two-month-old protest movement is turning to increasingly desperate measures, amid threats from Beijing and the refusal of Hong Kong’s unpopular chief executive, Carrie Lam, to meet their demands.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/world/asia/hong-kong-airport-protest-carrie-lam.html
Pakistan’s Envoy Suggests Kashmir Crisis Could Affect Afghan Peace Talks
Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States raised the possibility Monday that his country might redeploy troops from the Afghanistan border to the Kashmir frontier, a shift that could complicate American peace talks with the Taliban.
Such a possibility, coming just as Pakistan’s longstanding Kashmir crisis with India has escalated, could add a new element to the peace negotiations, which are said to be in the final stages and would end nearly two decades of American military entanglement in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s ambassador, Asad Majeed Khan, emphasized in an interview with The New York Times editorial board that the Kashmir and Afghanistan issues were separate and that he was not attempting to link them. On the contrary, he said, Pakistan hoped the American talks with the Taliban would succeed and that his country was actively supporting them.
Nonetheless, Mr. Khan said, India’s crackdown on the disputed region of Kashmir, on Pakistan’s eastern border with India, “could not have come at a worse time for us,” because the Pakistanis have sought to strengthen military control along the western border with Afghanistan, an area long infiltrated by Taliban militants, as part of the effort to help end the Afghanistan conflict by denying the group a safe haven.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/world/asia/pakistan-afghanistan-taliban-kashmir.html
Iran Says Tanker Seized at Gibraltar Will Be Released Soon
LONDON — The British and Gibraltar authorities will soon release an Iranian oil tanker that has been held for more than a month, an Iranian official said on Tuesday, signaling a possible step toward de-escalating tensions between Tehran and the West that threaten world energy supplies.
Officials in Gibraltar and London would not confirm or deny the Iranian claim about the impending release of the tanker, the Grace 1, which wasseized on July 4 off the coast of Gibraltar.
Jalil Eslami, the deputy head of Iran’s maritime agency, predicted the release at a news conference, and his remarks were reported by several Iranian news organizations with ties to the government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/world/europe/iran-tanker-gibraltar.html
F.B.I. Wants to Interrogate Egyptian Man in Brazil, Citing Qaeda Links
RIO DE JANEIRO — The F.B.I. on Monday said it was seeking to interrogate an Egyptian man who arrived in Brazil last year, calling him a suspected operative for Al Qaeda who has been involved in planning attacks against the United States.
Hours after the bureau issued a notice seeking information about the man, Mohamed Ahmed Elsayed Ahmed Ibrahim, the Brazilian government said in a statement that it “stands ready to cooperate with authorities in the United States” in this case.
The statement also said Mr. Ibrahim, 42, had arrived in Brazil in 2018 and was living there lawfully. Neither government said where in the country Mr. Ibrahim had settled.
Brazil’s Justice Ministry in late July issued a new regulation giving the government greater authority to expel foreigners who were deemed dangerous. It was not immediately clear whether that measure was related to the F.B.I.’s interest in Mr. Ibrahim.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/world/americas/brazil-fbi-al-qaeda.html
As U.S. Nears a Pullout Deal, Afghan Army Is on the Defensive
KABUL, Afghanistan — As the United States appears to be nearing a deal with the Taliban on pulling its troops from Afghanistan, the country’s security forces are in their worst state in years — almost completely on the defensive in much of the country, according to local military commanders and civilian officials.
Afghan commanders vowed last year to take the offensive, rather than go on fighting a static “checkpoint war.” But in most major battlegrounds, the bulk of the regular Afghan forces are still holed up in fortified bases and outposts. Most offensive operations have been left to small numbers of Afghan and American Special Operations soldiers, backed by both countries’ air forces.
The woeful state of the regular Afghan forces has been widely seen as giving the Taliban a valuable edge in its negotiations with the United States, which have gone on for eight rounds in Doha, Qatar, and are believed to be near a conclusion. An announcement could come as early as Tuesday but also may be delayed, perhaps for weeks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/world/asia/afghanistan-army-taliban.html
THE GUARDIAN
Why Trump’s 'maximum pressure' foreign policy yields minimum results
Donald Trump is heading into the 2020 elections with no clear-cut foreign policy successes, some dramatic failures and a string of looming crises around the world that could undermine his bid for re-election.
Trump has pulled out of nuclear agreements with Iran and Russia but the better deals he predicted seem more remote than ever, and in their absence nuclear weapons proliferation looks likely to accelerate.
An effort to oust Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela in April was a fiasco, and subsequent efforts to strangle the economy have so far showed no sign of achieving their political objective.
Similarly, Trump’s most significant military win, completing the eradication of the Islamic State caliphate in Syria and Iraq, has been tarnished by a Pentagon inspector general report this week saying that Isis had “solidified its insurgent capabilities in Iraq and was resurging in Syria”.
Heat-trapping gases broke records in 2018, climate crisis report finds
Greenhouse gas levels topped 60 years of modern measurements and 800,000 years of ice core data, the study found. The data used in the 325-page report is collected from more than 470 scientists in 60 countries.
The report finds 2018 was the fourth-warmest on record since the mid-to-late- 1800s. Temperatures were .3C to .4C higher than the average between 1981 and 2010.
Arctic wildfires spew soot and smoke cloud bigger than EU
A cloud of smoke and soot bigger than the European Union is billowing across Siberia as wildfires in the Arctic Circle rage into an unprecedented third month.
The normally frozen region, which is a crucial part of the planet’s cooling system, is spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and worsening the manmade climate disruption that created the tinderbox conditions.
A spate of huge fires in northern Russia, Alaska, Greenland and Canada discharged 50 megatonnes of CO2 in June and 79 megatonnes in July, far exceeding the previous record for the Arctic.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/12/arctic-wildfires-smoke-cloud
Argentinian peso plunges as centre-left win election primary
A stronger than expected victory for Alberto Fernández, whose running mate is the former populist leader, triggered a 30% fall in the value of the peso, which hit a fresh record low against the US dollar on the global money markets.
Macri, the son of a self-made construction tycoon, had made “zero inflation” a campaign pledge before he came to power in 2015. In reality it has soared to more than 50% as the peso has weakened.
Fernández said the market reactions were in response to Macri’s failure running the economy. “Markets react badly when they realise they were scammed. We are living a fictitious economy and the government is not giving answers,” Reuters reported him as saying.
AL JAZEERA
Russian nuclear engineers buried after 'Skyfall nuclear' blast
Experts link the explosion to the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile touted by President Putin in March 2018.
Thousands of people have attended the funerals of five Russian nuclear engineers killed by an explosion as they tested a new rocket engine, a tragedy that caused a large increase of radiation and raised questions about a secretive weapons programme.
Flags flew at half-staff in the city 370km east of capital Moscow that has been a base for Russia's nuclear weapons programme since the late 1940s. The coffins were displayed at Sarov's main square before being driven to a cemetery.
"In six of the eight points in Severodvinsk, an excess gamma radiation dose rate at 4 to 16 times the background values was detected," federal environment watchdog Roshydromet said in a statement, referring to the incident last Thursday.
Local authorities in Severodvinsk, a city of 183,000, had already reported a brief spike in radiation levels after the explosion, but said it did not pose any health hazards.
Experts have also linked the blast to the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, known by NATO as SSC-X-9 Skyfall.
Iran says Britain might release seized Grace 1 oil tanker soon
British forces seized the Iranian vessel on July 4 off the coast of Gibraltar on suspicion of violating EU sanctions.
Iran has announced that the United Kingdom might free its seized oil tanker after some documents were exchanged that would help secure its release.
The current detention order on the vessel expires on Saturday night, after which a court is to decide on its fate.
Iraq says Israeli role in Gulf flotilla unacceptable
Baghdad's top diplomat says presence of Western forces raises tensions in the region adding Gulf states can secure it.
Iraq "rejects any participation of forces of the Zionist entity in any military force to secure passage of ships in the Arabian Gulf", Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim wrote on social media on Monday.
Israel has made no official announcement on the operation, although Israeli media have reported a possible role for it.
Flights suspended at Hong Kong airport as protest continues
Authorities forced to suspend departing flights for second day as protesters gather at the airport.
Tuesday's suspension comes a day after a pro-democracy protest brought the air transport hub to a standstill.
The airport protest was a rare case of the movement having a direct impact on business travel and tourism - mainstays of Hong Kong's economy.
Many protesters said on Monday that they were angered by Sunday's police crackdown, which injured several people and at least one female medic was blinded in one eye.
Hong Kong has witnessed 10 weeks of mass anti-government protests that were sparked by a now-shelved extradition bill which would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China.
AL MAYADEEN
Irán presenta nuevo vehículo táctico y blindado de fabricación nacional
Irán presentó en una ceremonia militar un nuevo tipo de vehículo táctico y blindado, llamado ‘Aras-2’, resistente a las minas y protegido contra emboscadas.
En el acto, también se presentó el vehículo blindado de transporte antiminas personales, llamado Ra’ad.
En los últimos años, Irán ha logrado amplios avances en el sector de la defensa, pese a las sanciones, y ha conseguido la autosuficiencia en la producción de equipos y sistemas militares esenciales para su sistema defensivo.
Netanyahu pide a Trump reconocer la anexión de Cisjordania
Likud, partido del premier, aprobó en diciembre de 2017 por unanimidad una resolución no vinculante para ampliar la soberanía israelí a los asentamientos ilegales de ciertos sectores de Cisjordania, pese a las críticas, la rotunda oposición de los palestinos y la flagrante violación del derecho internacional.
Según el rotativo, la oficina de Netanyahu está en la actualidad presionando para obtener el apoyo oficial de Trump a la extensión del control de (Israel) sobre Cisjordania, en busca de asegurar un sólido apoyo de los votantes de derecha con vistas a las elecciones generales del próximo 17 de septiembre.
Si EE.UU. cumple con ese deseo de (Israel), esto marcaría el tercer apoyo de este tipo de la Administración estadounidense al régimen de Tel Aviv en menos de dos años, después de que EE.UU. reconociera unilateralmente la ciudad palestina de Jerusalén como la capital de (Israel) en 2017.
Turquía tiene planes alternativos si no funciona zona segura con EE.UU. en Siria
Explicó que ambas partes tienen que implementar dentro de los próximos días una serie de medidas para reforzar la prevista zona segura en la región norteña del país árabe. “El control del espacio aéreo y la coordinación son muy importantes”, subrayó.
