Merkel: The Shadow of a Giant

Antonio Navalón Yesterday, Germany held general elections. For the first time in 16 years, an election in which a particular name did not appear on the ballot. In terms of conditions and term of office, Angela Merkel, the woman who can only be compared to …

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The Day of Bitterness

Antonio Navalón Some days mark the milestones of historic events. In the twentieth century, there were several attempts to show that human evolution had reached a point of no return. The first of September of 1939 was proof of this. The 20th century was a …

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The World and Mexico

Image: Romolo Tavani on iStock Luis Rubio In New Zealand, the Maoris engage in a ritual at the start of rugby games called “haka,” which consists of a series of grimaces, exaggerated gestures, and movements –ranging from sticking out the tongue to jumping and making all kinds of menacing noises- with the object of scaring …

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The Revenge of the Prophet.

Antonio Navalón On a day like today, but twenty years ago, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad – considered the “architect” of the attack – was in contact with the Egyptian Mohamed Atta, and him, in turn, with Osama bin Laden. The preparations to carry out the plan …

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USA: Apocalypse Now

Antonio Navalón When you visit Saigon or Ho Chi Minh – which is what it is called today in tribute to the first precursor of the Indochinese peninsula’s independence and later the Vietnam War winner against the Americans – one realizes that this site represents …

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The Strategic Lessons Unlearned From Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan: Why the Afghan National Security Forces Will Not Hold, and the Implications for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan

M. Chris Mason The wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were lost before they began, not on the battlefields where the United States won every tactical engagement but at the strategic level of war. In each case, the U.S. Government attempted to create a western-style …

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Turmoil

Image: zimmytws om iStock Luis Rubio An ancient Chinese proverb argues that “when there is turmoil under the heavens, little problems become big problems, and big problems are not dealt with at all. When there is order under the heavens, big problems are reduced to small problems, and small problems should not obsess us.” Judging …

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The Outbreak of America

Antonio Navalón From 1850 to 1990, the history of Latin America was conditioned entirely by what was convenient, allowed, understood, and wanted by the United States of America. The Monroe Doctrine or -later the “Big Stick” policy promoted by Theodore Roosevelt – was an example …

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Broken Spain

Antonio Navalón Spain, and everything that a country with such strong roots and consequences in the European Union means, has entered an uncertainty stage. From the beginning, from the adventure that was the political transition from the Franco dictatorship to Juancardista democracy, there was a …

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