TTCT – Ngày 3-12, Venezuela mở một cuộc trưng cầu toàn quốc về chủ quyền của Venezuela trên khu vực Essequibo là nơi tranh chấp lãnh thổ với Guyana láng giềng từ 1895.
Đây là một vùng đất mênh mông 160.000km2 (tương đương gần một nửa diện tích Việt Nam) nhưng vắng người, lác đác 125.000 dân cư.
Ảnh: France 24
Kết quả trưng cầu là 95% phiếu thuận, tuy số cử tri tham gia rất thấp. Kết quả này có thể là cơ sở để chính quyền Caracas lấy lại lãnh thổ này bằng võ lực vì ý dân là ý trời – cả nước đã đồng tình.
Tương quan lại rất chênh lệch và thuận lợi cho Venezuela, 28 triệu dân, trong khi Guyana là một tiểu quốc 800.000 người. Hoa Kỳ bèn lên tiếng bênh Guyana. Brazil thì đằng hắng. Nhưng trước hết xin đố bạn đọc là trên thế giới này có bao nhiêu “Guinéa”?
TTCT – Cuộc bầu cử vừa qua ở Argentina đưa một vị tổng thống theo chủ nghĩa tự do cá nhân tuyệt đối lên nắm quyền. Cuộc đảo chiều này liệu có định hình lại đất nước nhiều vấn đề ở Nam Mỹ và ảnh hưởng đến trật tự thế giới?
Ông Javier Milei và chiếc cưa máy thương hiệu. Ảnh: Reuters
Ngày 19-11, Đảng Tự do của Javier Milei giành chiến thắng ở vòng hai cuộc bầu cử tổng thống Argentina. Milei trở thành tổng thống theo chủ nghĩa tự do tuyệt đối đầu tiên trên thế giới.
You are not alone if 2023 has you feeling worn down. It has been a trying year on the world scene, as the forces of disarray grew stronger. Ongoing wars ground on, while new ones erupted. Geopolitical competition increased, to the point where a meeting between rival heads of state became front-page news even though their talks yielded little tangible progress. In all, good news has been in short supply. So here are my top ten world events in 2023. You may want to read what follows closely. Many of these stories will continue into 2024 and beyond.
And if you would like visuals to go along with the list, here is the companion video my colleagues in CFR Digital have created recounting all ten events.
Ten Significant World Events 2023
10. The global democratic recession continues. Optimists are predicting a fourth wave of global democratic expansion. That prediction was a bust in 2023.Freedom House started the year by announcing that 2022 marked the seventeenth straight year in which global freedom and democracy declined.As if to prove the point, Africa’s coup epidemic continued. In July, Niger’s military ousted the country’s democratically-elected president. Neighboring states threatened to intervene if the coup wasn’t reversed, but the military juntas running Mali and Burkina Faso threatened war in response. In August, Gabon’s military took power and made vague promises to eventually hold elections. A new progressive party won the most seats in Thailand’s May election. However, a backroom deal produced a pro-military government that left the election’s biggest winner on the outside looking in. India’s government continued to use the law and intimidation to silence critics, and many other democracies restricted freedom of expression. The trend of candidates claiming they would lose their election only if the vote were rigged continued. Far-right parties fared well across Europe, reviving memories of how European democracies collapsed a century ago. Guatemala’s attorney general tried to keep the country’s president-elect from taking office, while Peru’s attorney general used corruption investigations to pressure lawmakers to help her allies. Donald Trump called his opponents “vermin,” said that if he regained the White House he would not be a dictator “except for Day One,” and suggested he would use the presidency to target his political enemies. All in all, not a good year for democracy.
This Nov. 12, 2018 photo shows The USS Carney in the Mediterranean Sea. The American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023 in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said, potentially marking a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war. “We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon said. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryan U. Kledzik/U.S. Navy via AP)Read More
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FILE – The guided-missile destroyer USS Carney in Souda Bay, Greece. The American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023 in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said, potentially marking a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war. “We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon said. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Bill Dodge/U.S. Navy via AP)
BY LOLITA C. BALDORUpdated 12:07 PM GMT+7, December 7, 2023 APnews
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched missiles and hit three commercial ships in the southern Red Sea last weekend, it triggered an immediate question: Will the U.S. military strike back?
The Houthis have sharply escalated their attacks against ships as they sail toward the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. And U.S. Navy ships have shot down an array of drones headed their way and believed to have been launched by the militant group from territory it controls in Yemen.
But so far, the U.S. has avoided military retaliation — a marked difference from its multiple strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria that have fired rockets, missiles and drones at bases housing American forces in both countries.
No one has been reported hurt in the Houthi incidents, although the commercial ships suffered some damage. And U.S. officials argue that the Houthis haven’t technically targeted U.S. vessels or forces — a subtlety that Navy ship captains watching the incoming drones may question.
By Jared Cohen, the president of global affairs at Goldman Sachs and a New York Times bestselling author of five books, and Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media. He is also the host of the television show GZERO World with Ian Bremmer.
A globe with blocks and chunks missing from it sits atop the shoulders of a person looking into a dystopian horizon.
After decades of relative geopolitical calm, the world has entered its most volatile and dangerous period since the depths of the Cold War. Consider recent events. Despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s high-profile meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco last month, relations between their two countries have deteriorated so sharply that a war between them, though unlikely, is no longer unthinkable. The COVID-19 pandemic, although largely in the rearview mirror, unleashed political and economic shocks that continue to reverberate across the global system. Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine plunged Europe into a destabilizing war with far-reaching consequences for trade and markets worldwide. And on Oct. 7, Hamas’s terror attacks against Israel sparked a new Middle East war that threatens to destroy years of progress toward economic transformation and regional stability.
These global shifts and shocks are often grouped together, and for good reason. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists, they are among the drivers of a “policy-driven reversal of global economic integration” termed “geoeconomic fragmentation.” For some analysts, they are constituents of a so-called polycrisis, in which a series of disparate shocks “interact so that the whole is even more overwhelming than the sum of the parts.” And the White House itself has repeatedly highlighted how it helped crystalize thinking about the links between national security and economic policy to produce a “New Washington Consensus.”
Miss Nicaragua Sheynnis Palacios reacts after being crowned Miss Universe at the 72nd Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
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Miss Nicaragua, Sheynnis Palacios, smiles after being crowned Miss Universe at the 72nd Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
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Miss Nicaragua, Sheynnis Palacios, smiles after being named Miss Universe at the 72nd Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
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Miss Nicaragua Sheynnis Palacios participates in the evening gown category during the 72nd Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
BY GABRIELA SELSERUpdated 8:03 AM GMT+7, November 24, 2023 AP
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s increasingly isolated and repressive government thought it had scored a rare public relations victory last week when Miss Nicaragua Sheynnis Palacios won the Miss Universe competition.
But the “legitimate joy and pride” President Daniel Ortega’s government expressed in a statement Sunday after the win quickly turned to angry condemnation, after it emerged that Palacios graduated from a college that was the center of 2018 protests against the regime — and apparently participated in the marches.
Ashadow looms over the world. In this week’s edition we publish The World Ahead 2024, our 38th annual predictive guide to the coming year, and in all that time no single person has ever eclipsed our analysis as much as Donald Trump eclipses 2024. That a Trump victory next November is a coin-toss probability is beginning to sink in.
Mr Trump dominates the Republican primary. Several polls have him ahead of President Joe Biden in swing states. In one, for the New York Times, 59% of voters trusted him on the economy, compared with just 37% for Mr Biden. In the primaries, at least, civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions have only strengthened Mr Trump. For decades Democrats have relied on support among black and Hispanic voters, but a meaningful number are abandoning the party. In the next 12 months a stumble by either candidate could determine the race—and thus upend the world.
“Món nợ” hàng trăm năm qua mà nhiều thế hệ người châu Phi bị đưa sang châu Mỹ trên những chuyến tàu buôn nô lệ thế kỷ 18 và 19 đang được hậu duệ của những nô lệ năm xưa đòi các cựu thực dân châu Âu phải “thanh toán” một cách sòng phẳng, nhưng xem ra việc này còn cần phải có sự can thiệp của Tòa án công lý của Liên hợp quốc.
Dòng chảy nô lệ châu Phi
“Món nợ” nô lệ thời kỳ thực dân châu Âu đi chiếm đóng những vùng đất mới trên khắp thế giới, đặc biệt là các thuộc địa ở châu Phi và châu Mỹ đang được các hậu duệ của cả hai bên đặt lại trong nhiều tình huống khác nhau. Các cựu thực dân đi chiếm đóng các vùng đất mới mang danh nghĩa “khai phá”, hay “thám hiểm” các vùng đất hoang sơ năm xưa và họ tự hào xưng danh là “nhà thám hiểm”, nhà khai phá vùng đất và lấy tên mình đặt cho các vùng đất ấy, dù người bản xứ đã có cách đặt tên riêng của họ rồi.
Some 70 countries are in or at risk of debt distress – a record number that has the World Bank sounding the alarm. Debt defaults by these emerging and developing countries could lead the world into a global financial crisis perhaps even on par with the Great Depression of 1929. The pattern is clear from three previous debt waves: the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, Asian financial crisis of the 1990s, and the global financial crisis triggered by the 2007 US subprime crisis.
00:00 Intro & three previous debt waves 01:16 The fourth debt wave 02:07 Countries in debt: Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Laos 03:40 Impact on education, healthcare 04:21 How did the debt crisis start? 05:19 China’s Belt & Road Initiative 06:12 Climate change and debt
·It’s been 17 days since Hamas launched its horrific attack against Israel, killing over 1,400 Israeli citizens, including defenseless women, children and the elderly. In the aftermath of such unspeakable brutality, the U.S. government and the American people have shared in the grief of families, prayed for the return of loved ones, and rightly declared solidarity with the Israeli people. Tiếp tục đọc “Barack Obama: Thoughts on Israel and Gaza”→
Israeli security forces inspect a damaged residential building after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers inspect the site of a music festival near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, Friday. Oct. 13, 2023. At least 260 Israeli festival-goers were killed during the attack by Hamas gunmen last Saturday. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)Read More
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Israeli tanks head towards the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel on Friday, Oct.13, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)Read More
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Palestinians evacuate wounded people after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. As Israel escalates its war on Hamas, it will confront many of the same dilemmas it has grappled with over decades of conflict with the Palestinians. It will want to punish Hamas like never before, but without killing so many Palestinian civilians that it loses international support. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)Read More
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike at Al Shati Refugee Camp Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. As Israel escalates its war on Hamas, it will confront many of the same dilemmas it has grappled with over decades of conflict with the Palestinians. It will want to punish Hamas like never before, but without killing so many Palestinian civilians that it loses international support. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)Read More
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The deadly attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians and the devastating Israeli airstrikes and blockade of Gaza have raised accusations among international legal experts that both sides were violating international law.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Desperate Palestinians scrambled for escape from northern Gaza on Saturday or huddled by the thousands at a hospital in the target zone in hopes it would be spared, as Israel intensified warnings of an imminent offensive by air, ground and sea following Hamas militants’ deadly rampage in Israel a week ago.
While workers at an Israeli military base continued efforts through the Jewish Sabbath to identify the more than 1,300 people killed in the Oct. 7 assault, Israel dropped leaflets from the air and redoubled warnings on social media for more than 1 million Gaza residents to move south.
The military says it is trying to clear away civilians ahead of a concentrated campaign against Hamas militants in the north, including in what it said were underground hideouts in Gaza City. Hamas urged people to stay in their homes.
Palestinians evacuate wounded people after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
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Palestinians look for survivors after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike at Al Shati Refugee Camp Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
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Palestinians search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of a residential building leveled in an Israeli airstrike, in Al Shati refugee camp Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
BY JOSEPH KRAUSSUpdated 3:40 AM GMT+7, October 13, 2023
JERUSALEM (AP) — As Israel pounds Gaza with airstrikes, prepares for a possible ground invasion and escalates a war sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented assault, its leaders will confront many of the same dilemmas it has grappled with over decades of conflict with the Palestinians.
Israeli leaders have pledged to annihilate the Hamas militants responsible for the surprise weekend attack but risk drawing international criticism as the Palestinian civilian death toll mounts. They want to kill all the kidnappers but spare the estimated 150 hostages — men, women, children and older adults — that Hamas dragged across the border and has threatend to kill if Israel targets civilians.
In the end, Israel might decide to reluctantly leave Hamas in power in Gaza rather than take its chances on arguably worse alternatives.
CVD 