Daily Archives: February 27, 2013

FT podcast: World Weekly with Gideon Rachman

February 27, 2013 10:49 pm by Financial Times

Instability rules in Italy
Italian national elections have ended in chaos and the voters’ message is that they are tired of austerity and the political elite. The country faces a hung parliament after votes were split between a former comedian, an ex-prime minister who faces corruption charges, and the centre-left, who won narrowly in the lower house. Mario Monti, the technocratic prime minister who was appointed 15 months ago, came a distant fourth place. In this podcast, Guy Dinmore, Rome correspondent, Peter Spiegel, Brussels bureau chief, and Ferdinando Giugliano, leader writer, join world news editor Shawn Donnan to discuss the unfolding drama, which could take weeks to resolve. Read more

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Posted in Italy, Italy elections |

John Paul Rathbone What Gordillo’s arrest might mean for Mexico

February 27, 2013 8:12 pm by John Paul Rathbone

Peña Nieto: taking on the old guard (Getty)

Elba Esther Gordillo encapsulates everything that is wrong with the “old Mexico”. The optimistic view of her arrest on Tuesday night, after the 68-year old union leader decamped from a private flight from San Diego, is that it shows what the “new Mexico” might become – a country where nobody is untouchable and the rule of law reigns. The cynical view is that it shows the government of Enrique Peña Nieto pursuing Mexican politics-as-usual: anyone who gets in the president’s way will be metaphorically decapitated and their head stuck on a pike as a warning to others.

Either way, Gordillo, a.k.a. “La Maestra”, is one of the most loathsome figures in Mexican politics. The head of the 1.5m teachers union, the largest in Latin America, has long been a byword for corruption, influence peddling and old-school clientelist politics. Yet although accusations have been brought against her before, no charges have ever been pressed. Now, they have. Read more

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Posted in Latin America, Mexico |

Smart Reads February 27, 2013

February 27, 2013 2:43 pm by Amie Tsang
  • Tony Barber argues that a decontamination of Italian politics must come before economic salvation, and the two issues should never be separated.
  • Clown-turned-politician Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva was elected into the Brazilian congress with a record number of votes in 2010. However, the joy of his campaign has given away to a weariness of the politician’s life: “You pass whole days here doing nothing, just waiting to vote on something while people argue and argue.”
  • “Enemy-initiated attacks” in Afghanistan have stayed constant from 2011 to 2012. The reported 7 per cent drop was actually the result of a clerical error.
  • Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a barrel full of pork that no longer exists. The Washington Post reports on the tiny local airports in the US that attract plenty of federal spending, but very few planes.
  • Tunisians and Egyptians have to fight for their right to do the Harlem Shake.

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Posted in Smart Reads |

James Blitz Iran, Almaty and three reasons to be cautious

February 27, 2013 1:49 pm by James Blitz
Iran's representatives led by their top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili (back 4th L) take part in talks on Iran's nuclear programme in the Kazakh city of Almaty on February 27, 2013 (ILYAS OMAROV/AFP/Getty Images)

Talks in Almaty on February 27 (AFP/Getty Images)

The latest meeting between Iran and world powers to try and resolve the dilemma over the Iranian nuclear programme is over. And once again, a shaft of light has emerged that will lead some to hope that military action over the Iranian programme might be averted.

After two days of talks in the freezing city of Almaty in Kazakhstan, Iran has told the US and five other world powers that it is prepared to hold a couple more meetings in March and April to try to resolve international concerns that it wants a nuclear bomb.

That said, few will want to overplay the significance of this move. Here are three reasons why many western diplomats will be cautious. Read more

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Posted in Iran, nuclear |