Febrero 2010 - N° 11

Editorial

Mientras las desbocadas fuerzas de la naturaleza en Haití, Chile y Francia nos ayudan a ubicarnos con humildad frente a "lo que puede más que el hombre", las tormentas provocadas por la acción humana despreocupada e inconsciente colocan a la sociedad frente a nuevos y poderosos desafíos.

En efecto; los desequilibrios en una economía europea a la que les cuesta converger en un edén común soñado a países de culturas e historias diversas, van mostrando paulatinamente los contornos cada vez mas definidos de una crisis que incluye contabilidades fraudulentas, amenazas de default y un euro con problemas.

A esto se suma una recuperación mundial que tarda en manifestarse plenamente, la acumulación de déficit fiscales y endeudamientos astronómicos, cuestionables resultados de los “estímulos” a fuerza de inyecciones de liquidez, estrategias anti inflacionarias de dudoso éxito, y una fuerte tentación a la supuesta protección de economías planificadas.

Un poco más de tiempo, y “cosas veredes, Sancho, que non crederes”…


Cultura

Crisis de valores, diagnóstico del relativismo Jaime Mayor Oreja

La Historia nos ha enseñado que el mayor error que puedan haber cometido en el pasado y que podamos seguir cometiendo quienes, de una u otra manera, tenemos responsabilidades públicas radica siempre en no saber comprender la realidad del momento histórico en el que se vive. En ese sentido, nuestro mayor adversario es, a menudo, nuestra propia incapacidad de superar la visión del día a día para elevarla a una visión histórica y de conjunto que nos permita profundizar en las raíces de un diagnóstico global de la realidad.

Texto íntegro de la conferencia que el europarlamentario y ex ministro del Interior Jaime Mayor Oreja pronunció el pasado 15 de febrero en Murcia.

http://www.paginasdigital.es/v_portal/informacion/informacionver.asp?cod=1518&te=15&idage=2858&vap=0


Ética

Princípio de Ação para a Solidariedade por Vilmar Vandresen

Con este artículo, el autor pretende iniciar un proceso de reflexión y discusión, acerca de la ética desde una perspectiva fáctica y objetiva, procurando comprenderla como un componente existencial del ser humano.

http://prudentiapoliticacolaboraciones.blogspot.com/2010/02/etica-principio-de-acao-para_21.html


Análisis político



Problemas estructurales para la ética democrática por Rafael Alvira

La ética y el papel de los partidos políticos, y en la estructura sociopolítica de la democracia: Generalmente, ser denominado persona partidista tiene una connotación negativa y una de las confusiones que me parecen más llenas de consecuencias desafortunadas en el planteamiento democrático es la relativa a la distinción entre lo público y lo privado…

http://prudentiapoliticacolaboraciones.blogspot.com/


Leo Strauss y la recuperación de la racionalidad política clásica por Iván Garzón-Vallejo

A partir del pensamiento de Leo Strauss, el artículo se ocupa de argumentar por qué la recuperación de la racionalidad política clásica constituye una respuesta ante la crisis de la razón que define el contexto occidental contemporáneo, la cual conlleva la desconfianza en la capacidad de la razón humana para plantear en forma objetiva y normativa las grandes cuestiones de la convivencia social.

http://dikaion.unisabana.edu.co/index.php/dikaion/article/view/1551/1873

Carlos López Díaz: "Los intelectuales y la izquierda"

Se trata de una cuestión que se ha planteado muchas veces: ¿Por qué dentro de ese heterogéneo grupo que incluye a periodistas, profesores, maestros, novelistas, directores de cine, actores, etc (a los que por mor de la brevedad llamaré “intelectuales”) son tan frecuentes las posiciones de izquierdas?

http://www.semanarioatlantico.com/2010/01/09/opinion/carlos-lopez-diaz-los-intelectuales-y-la-izquierda.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email


Sobre el valor práctico de la Ética filosófica por Ángel Rodríguez Luño

¿Para qué Filosofía Moral hoy? Para hacer más humana la vida del hombre. El filósofo cumplirá esa misión si se esfuerza por entender y enseñar el orden inherente a la constitución apetitiva de nuestra naturaleza, orden que está lleno de sentido sin necesidad de acudir a una razón tipo Kant o a un Estado tipo Hobbes; es más, orden que confiere autoridad moral a la razón y al Estado. Urge rehabilitar el concepto de ley natural, norma del desarrollo individual y social de la persona humana.

http://www.almudi.org/tabid/36/ctl/Detail/mid/386/aid/828/Default.aspx


How has Mexico become a same-sex marriage pioneer? by Francisco García Pimentel Ruiz

On March 4, Mexico City will became the first capital city in Latin America to have legal same-sex marriages and adoptions. So what does explain it? The plot becomes clearer when we review some recent cultural changes, which have found an amazing momentum thanks to the arrival to the power of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), a party with Marxist roots. One of the most effective methods of the Marxism is, and always has been, the destruction of language.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/how_has_mexico_become_a_same-sex_marriage_pioneer/


The Return of the Neocons by David Margolick

Neoconservatism was once deemed dead—'Buried in the sands of Iraq.' But it persists, not just as the de facto foreign-policy plank of the Republican Party but, its proponents assert, in Obama's unapologetic embrace of American military might.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/232053

Tomorrow’s Wars by Victor Davis Hanson

Enormous, massively destructive engagements may again be on the horizon. ”Have we not seen, then, in our lifetime the end of the Western way of war?” Two decades ago, I concluded The Western Way of War with that question. Since Western warfare had become so lethal and included the specter of nuclear escalation, I thought it doubtful that two Western states could any longer wage large head-to-head conventional battles.

http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_1_decisive-battles.html

On War and Apocalypse by René Girard

My work has often been presented as a discussion of archaic religion through comparative anthropology. Its goal is to shed light on the process of hominization: the fascinating passage from animality to humanity that occurred thousands of years ago.

http://textospra.blogspot.com/2009/09/511-rene-girard-achever-klausewitz.html


Economía


The Comparative Economics of Private and Public Government Ownership

In light of elementary economic theory, the conduct of government and the effects of government policy on civil society can be expected to be systematically different, depending on whether the government apparatus is owned privately or publicly.

http://mises.org/daily/4068

Germany’s awful choice

In the not too distant future, Greece will probably default on its national debt. How will the EU's most powerful economy react? At this moment, European Central Bank liquidity efforts are probably the only thing holding back such a default. But these are a stopgap measure that can hold only until more important economies manage to find their feet. And Europe’s problems extend beyond Greece.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/germanys_awful_choice/

Can anyone fix the euro puzzle? by Edmund Conway and Bruno Waterfield

A crisis-strewn week has left the single currency on the edge of a precipice. The summit started as it meant to go on – in chaos, confusion and unintended farce. The big moment – the heads of state meeting which is supposed to be the centrepiece of every European summit – was scheduled to begin at 10am, but as the hour approached, it became clear that nothing was doing. As more time passed, it became clear that something was wrong.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7232369/Can-anyone-fix-the-euro-puzzle.html

The Bailout of Greece and the End of the Euro by Philipp Bagus

"If the interest rate Greece has to pay for its debts keeps rising, the country may have to default on its obligations." The euro has been sliding against the US dollar for weeks. Concerns about the public finances of eurozone countries Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, the so-called "PIGS," have emerged in financial markets. Greece is facing the severest crisis, with its 10-year bond yield approaching 7%. The Greek government estimates its budget deficit at 12.7% of GDP in 2009. Gross government debts amount to 113% of its GDP. If the interest rate Greece has to pay for its debts keeps rising, the country may have to default on its obligations.

http://mises.org/daily/4091

Recovery? Who are you trying to kid? by Jeremy Warner

We are in a deep hole – and it looks like we’ll be down there for quite some time. There was rare cause for celebration in Downing Street on Friday. Revised figures showed that the economic “recovery” of the fourth quarter of last year was a bit better than originally thought. Unfortunately, quarterly growth of 0.3 per cent is neither here nor there after a contraction of nearly 6 per cent. Most of the data continues to look grim to diabolical, and throughout the West there are growing fears of a “double-dip” recession.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/7327274/Recovery-Who-are-you-trying-to-kid.html

National Debt: $12.4 Trillion and Counting by Addison Wiggin

“What we in the Western world are about to learn is that there is no such thing as a Keynesian free lunch.” We have deficits and debts on the brain today. The federal deficit for the first four months of fiscal 2010 just clocked in at $430.7 billion. That’s 8.8% higher than the year-ago figure. We remember that when the annual deficit hit a record high $430 billion under the second Bush administration, we thought the world was going to end and we’d have to “buy guns, ammo, dry goods, go into hiding, cling to God and wait for the country and the rest of world to collapse.”

http://dailyreckoning.com/national-debt-12-4-trillion-and-counting/

The Stimulus Evidence One Year On by Robert J. Barro

Over five years, my research shows an extra $600 billion of public spending at the cost of $900 billion in private expenditure. That's a bad deal. The first anniversary of the Obama stimulus package generated a lot of discussion about whether and how much the package (originally estimated at $787 billion but now priced at $862 billion) moderated the recession. These are complex questions, and their answers require more than merely counting the quantity of goods and services that the government purchased or the number of people that the government hired.

http://www.hoover.org/pubaffairs/dailyreport/archive/85033172.html

Eminent Domain as Central Planning by Nicole Gelinas

Wielding creative definitions of blight, New York runs roughshod over property rights and uproots viable neighborhoods. Free markets are out of vogue. The unfortunate lesson that policymakers have learned over the past two years is that a big, brainy government that supposedly creates jobs is superior to irrational, faceless markets that just create catastrophic errors. So Washington has seized on the financial and economic crises to enlarge its role in managing the economy, and trying to maintain high housing prices through tax credits and “mortgage modification” programs.

http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_1_eminent-domain-abuse.html

Central planning and the parasites it creates by Bill Bonner

One dollar of federal money is not the same as a dollar of private money. Not all economists are charlatans. At Harvard is Robert J. Barro, who just computed the net costs of the government’s 2009 stimulus program. It was originally expected to cost $787 billion and is now estimated to come in with a final price tag of $862 billion.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/The-Daily-Reckoning/2010/0225/Central-planning-and-the-parasites-it-creates


When Deficits Become Dangerous by Michael J. Boskin

Debt-to-GDP ratios over 90% have significant impact on the pace of economic growth. President Barack Obama's 2011 budget lays out a stunningly expensive big-government spending agenda, mostly to be paid for years down the road. He proposes to increase capital gains, dividend, payroll, income and energy taxes. But the enormous deficits and endless accumulation of debt will eventually force growth-inhibiting income tax hikes, a national value-added tax similar to those in Europe, or severe inflation.

http://www.hoover.org/pubaffairs/dailyreport/archive/84216767.html


One Year Later and More Evidence that the Stimulus is Not Working by John Taylor

Friday’s data release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) shows that real GDP growth rebounded to 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter from 2.2 percent in the third quarter of last year. The rebound was sharper when compared with the -6.4 percent decline in the first quarter and -0.7 percent decline in the second quarter. A look at the details in the GDP report of Friday shows that changes in government purchases have had virtually no effect. The turn-around in growth has been mainly due to private investment. Four simple graphs illustrate this.

http://johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-year-later-and-more-evidence-that.html


The Fed's Anti-inflation Exit Strategy Will Fail by Allan H. Meltzer

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's exit strategy to prevent further inflation is likely to fail. This strategy is incomplete because the interest rate required to get banks to hold reserves above the minimum they are legally required to hold is not disclosed. Policymakers need to develop a credible plan for reigning in the inflation that will ensue once borrowing resumes. The exit strategy is incomplete. Proponents are guilty of practicing economics without prices. They never say what the interest rate on reserves must be to get banks to hold the approximately $1 trillion of reserves above the minimum they're legally required to hold. That's the critical question.

http://www.aei.org/article/101583

The Grasping Hand by Peter Sloterdijk

The question that many European observers are asking during the current economic crisis—“Does capitalism have a future?”—is the wrong one. In fact, we do not live in a capitalist system but under a form of semi-socialism that Europeans tactfully refer to as a “social market economy.” The modern democratic state pillages its productive citizens...

http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_1_snd-democratic-state.html

An Exit Rule for Monetary Policy by John B. Taylor

This paper was originally prepared for a hearing at the House Committee on Financial
Services on “Unwinding Emergency Federal Reserve Liquidity Programs and Implications for Economic Recovery".

http://www.stanford.edu/~johntayl/House%20FSC%20Feb%2010%202010.pdf


América


Méjico: Laicismo o laicidad por Monseñor Arizmendi Esquivel

Varios enemigos de la Iglesia Católica se han aglutinado para reforzar el laicismo en la Constitución, llamándole laicidad. Son recurrentes las quejas de que los obispos violamos el laicismo, cuando defendemos la vida y el matrimonio. Siguen machacando que pretendemos imponer el catolicismo a todos los mexicanos, lo cual es falso. Quisieran encerrarnos en las sacristías y en los hogares. Siguen resentidos contra la reforma del año 1992, que aligeró las injusticias religiosas de la Constitución de 1917.

http://www.religionenlibertad.com/articulo.asp?idarticulo=7006


Manuel Ballagas: "La Leccion de Chile"

La riqueza de Chile consiste en algo más que el cobre, el vino y el salmón que esa nación exporta. Su principal tesoro no es otro que su propio pueblo: inteligente, equilibrado y muy afincado en el centro del espectro de las ideas políticas.

http://www.semanarioatlantico.com/2010/01/21/manuel-ballagas/manuel-ballagas-la-leccion-de-chile.html

Una lectura sudamericana sobre el acuerdo Colombia-EEUU por Marcelo E. Lascano (nuevo enlace)

Colombia se encuentra ya en las últimas instancias de su lucha contra una guerrilla desplegada a gran escala territorial. Quizás el significado que esta guerra ha tenido para los colombianos podamos comenzar a entenderlo, nosotros los argentinos, a partir de la amplitud móvil que de a poco la llanura va incorporando en nosotros cuando atravesamos su agotadora inmensidad.

http://www.caei.com.ar/es/programas/anorte/06.pdf

Obama en las Américas: En búsqueda de una estrategia eficaz por Roger Noriega

La política para las Américas del presidente Barack Obama en 2009 parece haber sido más improvisada que diseñada intencionalmente, pero es probable que los retos de 2010 exijan una respuesta estratégica de Estados Unidos. La administración de Obama debe estar preparada para hacer frente a la creciente inestabilidad de Venezuela, mejorar las relaciones con Brasil durante la transición presidencial, fortalecer los vínculos con Colombia y brindar a México una asistencia más sólida en la lucha contra las drogas.

http://www.aei.org/outlook/100937

Hugo Chávez, Desperate and Dangerous by Roger F. Noriega

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez's decision Tuesday to invite one of Fidel Castro's principal henchman, Ramiro Valdes, to Caracas to help salvage his regime is an act of utter desperation. One hopes that the world is paying attention, because there are few things more dangerous than a desperate dictator.

http://www.aei.org/article/101631

How Do Chávez's Challenges Affect His Hold on Power? by Roger F. Noriega

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who took office 11 years ago today, is facing a number of challenges to his popularity as his government prepares for legislative elections in September. Those challenges include a countrywide electricity shortage, high inflation and recent protests over government control of the media. How will these challenges affect Chávez in 2010?

http://www.aei.org/article/101607

What Obama Isn't Saying - The apolitical politics of progressivism by Harvey Mansfield

"I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.” The words are those of President Barack Obama speaking to Congress on health care reform on September 9, 2009. They contain the secret of his appeal—and the cause of his first-year failure.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/what-obama-isnt-saying

America, the fragile empire by Niall Ferguson

- Here today, gone tomorrow , could the United States fall that fast? For centuries, historians, political theorists, anthropologists and the public have tended to think about the political process in seasonal, cyclical terms. From Polybius to Paul Kennedy, from ancient Rome to imperial Britain, we discern a rhythm to history. Great powers, like great men, are born, rise, reign and then gradually wane. No matter whether civilizations decline culturally, economically or ecologically, their downfalls are protracted.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/28/opinion/la-oe-ferguson28-2010feb28

Le budget américain de la défense : colossal mais insuffisant ? par Julien Tourreille

Barack Obama propulse ainsi les dépenses militaires à un niveau historiquement élevé. Elles souffrent cependant de contraintes structurelles majeures qui les font apparaître insuffisantes par rapport aux responsabilité s des États-Unis sur la scène internationale.

http://www.danduran d.uqam.ca/ uploads/files/ publications/ rflexions/ Chronqiue_ USA_tourreille/ JTUSA.230210. pdf


Asia Pacífico


Why Tocqueville on China: An Introductory Essay by James W. Ceaser

What in the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville could conceivably be thought to offer any guidance for the study of contemporary China?

http://www.aei.org/paper/100076


Europa


Las dos crisis de la derecha española por Óscar Elía Mañú

Crisis intelectual y crisis política. Que la crisis económica y financiera esconde una crisis de más envergadura y más amplia, que alcanza principios y valores, es algo comúnmente admitido. El problema principal que afecta a Europa no es ni económico ni institucional, sino cultural, y dentro de cultural, intelectual; el deslizamiento progresivo de la cultura europea hacia el relativismo racional, moral e ideológico, y el rechazo a la posibilidad de encontrar verdades y comportamientos objetivos. Europa tiene un cáncer: el pensamiento débil.

http://www.fundacionburke.org/2010/01/26/las-dos-crisis-de-la-derecha-espanola/

En defensa de Benedicto XVI y Pio XII por Bernard-Henri Lévy

Desde el momento de su elección, el Papa, que ha retomado de forma irrevocable el diálogo judeocatólico, ha sido víctima de un juicio mediático y ha sufrido la continua manipulación de sus textos. Habría que dejarse de tanta mala fe, de tantos prejuicios y, para no callarme nada, de tanta desinformación cuando se habla de Benedicto XVI.

http://www.almudi.org/tabid/36/ctl/Detail/mid/379/nid/4435/pnid/0/Default.aspx

Russie Europe : les risques du « redémarrage » par Françoise Thom

Ce qui frappe l'historien lorsqu'il se penche sur les rapports Russie-Europe c'est la permanence des fantasmes que la Russie engendre dans l'imagination des Occidentaux et la capacité de la Russie à dicter les cadres conceptuels dans lesquels elle veut être pensée – et incomprise - à l'étranger.

http://www.diploweb .com/Russie- Europe-les- risques-du. Html

The Velvet Philosophical Revolution by André Glucksmann

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the battle for political freedom goes on. This revolution has not ended, which is why the Kremlin does not appreciate insurrections in Georgia and Ukraine. Europe’s new frontier is at stake on the uncertain terrain of history, and the alternatives are still these: Havel and Milošević.

http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_1_velvet-revolution.html


Can Medvedev Emulate Gorbachev? by Leon Aron

The security of the United States continues to be tied to decisions in Moscow, as evidenced by President Obama's touting of the pending strategic arms-control agreement with Russia in his State of the Union address. And those decisions, in turn, will hinge on Russian domestic politics.

http://www.aei.org/article/101640

Ukraine’s election and Russian resurgence

Without Ukraine, Russia is a desperately defensive power, lacking any natural defenses aside from sheer distance. Moscow’s plan is simple: entrench its influence while it is in a position of relative strength in preparation for when it must trade that influence for additional time. Ultimately, Russia is indeed going into that good night. But not gently. And not today.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/ukraines_election_and_russian_resurgence/

UK: Sex, values and concessions

It would be foolish to pretend there is no problem: Britain has the highest rate of sexually transmitted disease, abortion for under-21s and teenage pregnancy in Europe. Surveys show that three-quarters of teenagers think the sex education they receive at school is poor. In those circumstances, it is understandable that a government would want to lay down the law, which is what Secretary of State Ed Balls is trying to do in his Children, Schools and Families Bill. Sex education in a fairly prescriptive format will become compulsory in all schools, and the right of parents to withdraw their children will be further restricted.

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/14349

Géopolitique de la Suède et du luthéranisme au XXe siècle par Dominique Fernandez

Le modèle socio-économique et la politique étrangère de la Suède au XXème siècle semblent directement être influencés par le luthéranisme. La social-démocratie qui s'est imposée en Suède puis a gouverné aux destinées du pays durant quarante quatre années constitue le prolongement naturel du luthéranisme. La social-démocratie paraît servir de support et de promotion de la diffusion des valeurs et des principes luthériens, en Suède mais aussi dans le monde.

http://www.diploweb .com/Geopolitiqu e-de-la-Suede- et-du.html


Historia


UN NUEVO MALÓN MAPUCHE por Isidoro Ruiz Moreno

“El reloj de la Historia ha dado un salto atrás: otra vez, como en el pasado, indios mapuches de origen chileno reclaman propiedad en el territorio argentino, apelando incluso a la violencia, al igual que antes, para apoderarse de ella. Para mayor absurdo, se enarbola una falsificada bandera de los Incas.” En este artículo Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, a través de claras e inteligentes precisiones, pone en blanco sobre negro los fundamentos históricos de esta situación problemática de la Argentina del Siglo XXI.

http://prudentiapoliticacolaboraciones.blogspot.com/2010/02/un-nuevo-malon-mapuche.html

EL PROBLEMA MAPUCHE EN EL SUR ARGENTINO - Dr. Roberto Edelmiro Porcel

Un asunto de vital importancia para la República Argentina - por sus connotaciones tanto de soberanía como cultural, económica y geoestratégica – que amenaza seriamente el patrimonio nacional y la propiedad privada. La consideración detallada de esta problemática, constituye un deber patriótico de todos y cada uno de los argentinos. En este artículo, el Dr. Roberto Edelmiro Porcel, nos ilustra sobre sus orígenes, situación actual y posible evolución.

http://prudentiapoliticacolaboraciones.blogspot.com/2010/02/el-problema-mapuche-en-el-sur-argentino.html

EL PATRIOTISMO PANHELÉNICO DE DEMÓSTENES (Cuando un fracaso termina triunfando) por Ricardo Rovira Reich

Cualquier persona sensata que lea el título de este artículo podrá pensar "¿Y este tema a qué viene ahora? Hay que aprovechar bien el tiempo, esto no tiene interés leerlo". Sin embargo, en este año del Bicentenario de la Patria podemos quizás advertir un crecimiento en nuestro interior de sentimientos patrióticos, a pesar de tantas decepciones como también sentimos, y seguramente acudirán a nuestra memoria testimonios de patriotas que supieron encontrar, en distintos momentos de la historia, salidas a la decepción, sirviendo a su patria del modo que las circunstancias les permitieron.

http://prudentiapoliticacolaboraciones.blogspot.com/2010/02/el-patriotismo-panhelenico-de.html

La resistencia alemana antinazi pidió a Pío XII que se pronunciara con cautela sobre Hitler

L´Osservatore Romano publicó un artículo en el que, a través de una serie de documentos históricos, se comprueba que la resistencia alemana antinazi pidió al Papa Pío XII no intervenir directamente contra Hitler. Es una clara respuesta a los detractores del Papa Pacelli que lo acusan falsamente de haberse mantenido en «silencio» ante el holocausto.

http://www.religionenlibertad.com/articulo.asp?idarticulo=7000

Pío XII, Iglesia, memoria y responsabilidad por Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez

En fechas recientes, uno de los debates que ocurren en distintos medios de comunicación en Europa y Estados Unidos, es el de los reparos que algunos grupos dentro de las comunidades judías de Israel, Estados Unidos y Europa han expresado a la posibilidad de que la Iglesia canonice al papa Pío XII.

http://imdosoc.org/plataforma/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=1632

Causa de la decadencia de España por Francisco P. Ramírez (1855)

Artículo publicado el 9 de octubre de 1855 en el diario “El Clamor Público” de Los Ángeles, California. Hay que ubicarlo en el centro mismo del siglo XIX, cuando España había perdido ya todos sus territorios de ultramar, a excepción de Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam y las Filipinas. El fino análisis desde California de Francisco P. Ramírez, resulta revelador. Sin desprecio a España, pero con un razonamiento acertado, Ramírez hace un diagnóstico cabal de la gran causa de la decadencia de España.

http://www.semanarioatlantico.com/2010/01/13/historia/francisco-p-ramirez-causa-de-la-decadencia-de-espana-1855.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

Armando Miguélez: “La utopía anarquista y revolucionaria”

El pensamiento político hispanounidense también está lleno de utopías sociales y políticas durante toda su historia. En la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y primera década del siglo XX predominaron entre nuestros pensadores e intelectuales las mismas ilusiones sociales y políticas que en muchas otras partes del mundo occidental.

http://www.semanarioatlantico.com/2010/01/05/historia/armando-miguelez-la-utopia-anarquista-y-revolucionaria.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email


Libros


Cristianismo y Laicidad por Francisco de Borja Santamaría

La votación suiza que impide construir más minaretes o las intervenciones de los obispos españoles a propósito de la recién aprobada ley del aborto. Son cuestiones complejas, y para valorarlas resulta muy clarificador 'Cristianismo y laicidad', de Martin Rhonheimer. 'Cristianismo y laicidad' se centra concretamente en la relación del cristianismo y de la Iglesia católica con el poder político. (RIALP)

http://arvo.net/noticias-comentarios/integrismo-de-otra-clase/gmx-niv841-con17790.htm

La ética (o mejor la trampa) de la redistribución por Jorge Soley Climent

Empezaron hablando de quitarles a los ricos para dar a los pobres y acabaron creando un Estado gigantesco que quita a todo el mundo… “Mi argumento es que las políticas redistribucionistas han provocado un cambio de mentalidad ante el gasto público, cuyo principal beneficiario no es la clase con una renta más baja frente a la clase de renta superior, sino el Estado frente al ciudadano”. La ética de la redistribución. Bertrand de Jouvenel. Ediciones Encuentro

http://www.fundacionburke.org/2010/02/12/la-etica-o-mejor-la-trampa-de-la-redistribucion/

“Game Change” por Mark Halperin and John Heilemann

La izquierda socialdemócrata norteamericana muestra sus colores racistas … Interesa leerlo porque está lleno de detalles de varios políticos.

http://www.semanarioatlantico.com/2010/01/10/actualidad/la-izquierda-socialdemocrata-norteamericana-muestra-sus-colores-racistas.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

Christine de Pizan, une femme savante au Moyen Age par Philippe de Saint Robert
Grande connaisseuse de Dante, de Pétrarque, de Boccace, Christine n’écrira qu’en français, sans jamais oublier ni sa double nationalité ni sa condition féminine. Le passionnant ouvrage de Françoise Autrand s’inscrit dans la ligne initiée par Régine Pernoud et la publication de son ouvrage la Femme au temps des cathédrales, qui sut nous restituer la grandeur d’une époque si longtemps décriée par des historiens ou conteurs épris d’idéologie.

Christine de Pizan de Françoise Autrand, Fayard

http://www.valeursactuelles.com/histoire/actualités/une-femme-savante-au-moyen-age.html

The future church – possibly - by Martin Barillas

An American journalist exercises his prophetic powers concerning trends in the Catholic Church. In The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church, John L. Allen, lead journalist at the National Catholic Reporter and author of several books, presents a global view of the challenges facing a millennial church as it grapples with changes and puzzles that may present Catholics with stark choices.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/the_future_church_-_possibly/

Policy and Economic Performance in Divided Korea during the Cold War Era: 1945-91 by Nicholas Eberstadt

Eberstadt presents an impressive compilation of hard-to-find comparative data on economic performance for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) over two critical generations.

http://www.aei.org/book/100034

The Last Acceptable Prejudice? by James Martin

How prevalent is anti-Catholicism in American culture? Is it, as some have termed it, "the last acceptable prejudice?" Is it as serious an issue as racism or anti-Semitism or homophobia? In short, is anti-Catholicism a real problem in the United States?

The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice by Philip Jenkins

http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=606

“Globalization and Free Trade" Edited by Philip Booth and Richard Wellings

Philip Booth and Richard Wellings have brought together key papers originally published by the Institute of Economic Affairs. These important papers, which are not widely available, trace the development of the debate on the benefits of free trade during the last 50 years.

http://www.iea.org.uk/record.jsp?type=recommendedBook&ID=413

Taxation in Colonial America by Alvin Rabushka

Book review by W. Elliot Brownlee. After a discussion of the tax privileges bound up in the founding charters of the colonies, Rabushka breaks his narrative into five parts: 1607–1688 (Jamestown to the Glorious Revolution); 1688–1714 (the era of the rule of the House of Orange); 1714–1739 (the years of “salutary neglect” under the House of Hanover and Robert Walpole); 1739–1763 (the period from the beginning of the war with Spain to the Treaty of Paris); and 1763–1775.

http://www.hbs.edu/bhr/83/4/review-essay-taxation.html

From Poverty to Prosperity: Intangible Assets, Hidden Liabilities and the Lasting Triumph over Scarcity

From Poverty to Prosperity, from authors Nick Schulz (AEI) and Arnold Kling (Mercatus Center's Financial Markets Working Group), tells a big-picture story about the huge differences in the standard of living across time and across borders. It is a story that draws on research from the world's most important economists and eschews the conventional wisdom for a new, more inclusive vision of the world and how it works

http://www.aei.org/book/100029

In the den of an Asian dragon by Simon Scott Plummer

Chiang Kai-shek is seen as one of history’s losers, the man who, having become the most powerful figure in China, was finally penned in an island off its south-eastern coast. Yet to be defeated does not mean to fade from public consciousness. Think, closer to home, of Mary, Queen of Scots. The same is true of Chiang.

The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the struggle for modern China by Jay Taylor, Belknap Press

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/review/487

"Chine, La grande séduction. Essai sur le soft power chinois", par B. Courmont , éd. Choiseul.

Géopolitique de la Chine. Voici une analyse attentive et claire des ressorts de l'affirmation chinoise, dans un style simple et agréable. Présentation par Colin GERAGHTY.

http://www.diploweb .com/Chine- La-grande- seduction- Essai.html

Les pays baltes. Un voyage découverte.

Voici un chapitre du livre d'Antoine Jacob, Les pays baltes. Un voyage découverte, publié aux éditions Lignes de repères. Il aborde ici la question énergétique à travers l'arrêt de la centrale nucléaire lituanienne d'Ignalina et la construction du gazoduc Nord Stream entre l'Allemagne et la Russie.

http://www.diploweb .com/Les- pays-baltes- Un-voyage. html


Misceláneas


EL SENTIMIENTO DE CULPA EN NIETZSCHE Y FREUD por LLUÍS PIFARRÉ CLAPÉS

Sin conocer la obra de Nietzsche y la de Freud es difícil comprender la posmodernidad, lo que hoy pasa y lo que quizá nos pasa. El autor de este amplio estudio nos facilita la tarea, de indudable rigor e interés.

http://arvo.net/uploads/file/PIFARRE/NietzscheFreud-version3.pdf

The Moral Witness of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn by Daniel J. Mahoney

With his passing a year ago—on August 3, 2008, at the age of eighty-nine—the world was obliged to come to terms once again with Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn. It was time to sum up and take stock of the Russian Nobel laureate, antitotalitarian writer, and courageous if unnerving moral witness. The response was more abundant and on the whole more respectful than one might have anticipated. With the publication of the restored version of In the First Circle, we have an opportunity to rise to Solzhenitsyn’s challenge and again to take him seriously as an artist and thinker of the first rank.

http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/10/the-moral-witness-of-aleksandr-solzhenitsyn

Defining yourself these days as ‘upper class’ is the kiss of death in every walk of life by Toby Young

Toby Young suffers from Status Anxiety ‘The basic principle of English social life is that everyone thinks he is a gentleman,’ wrote Evelyn Waugh. ‘There is a second principle of almost equal importance: everyone draws the line of demarcation immediately below his own heels’ . That was written 55 years ago and today almost exactly the opposite is true.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/all/5734848/defining-yourself-these-days-as-upper-class-is-the-kiss-of-death-in-every-walk-of-life.thtml

La Declaración de Manhattan: Un Llamado a la Conciencia Cristiana

Los Cristianos son el legado de una tradición de 2000 años de proclamar la Palabra de Dios, buscando justicia en nuestras sociedades, resistiendo a la tiranía y alcanzando con compasión al pobre, oprimido y sufrido. Publicado el 20 de Noviembre de 2009

http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/images/content/Manhattan_Declaration_Spanish.pdf