Failures in Russian strategies, along with Western support for Ukraine, have hindered Putin's attempt at conquest. According to Igor Girkin, a former Russian commander, "Defeat in the war will lead Russia to catastrophic consequences." Girkin recently predicted another Ukraine offensive for Russian-occupied territory before summer. The fact is that Ukrainian forces have refused to surrender Bakhmut despite ceding some territory to the limited Russian offensive during the 60th week of the war. Meanwhile, Kyiv continues to gather war materiel for a counteroffensive, and power shifts in the Russian military suggested that President Vladimir Putin was displeased with his army’s performance during a winter offensive.
What to Expect From Ukraine’s Counter-Offensive
April 20.– Predicting the course of a war is never simple—but the leak of U.S. defense documents made forecasting the Ukrainian war even more complicated. The chaos triggered by the leak even led Ukrainian leaders to shake up their battlefield plans, according to CNN.
But spring has sprung, and on the battlefields of Ukraine, that means it may soon be time for a long-awaited counter-offensive. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that his country needs weapons before it can attack, other leaders have suggested it’s nearing time to strike—especially as a weak Russian advance has depleted Russian forces. (...)
In every region of the world, democracy is under attack by populist leaders and groups that reject pluralism and demand unchecked power to advance the particular interests of their supporters. According to studies conducted by Freedom House, "The struggle for democracy may be approaching a turning point. The gap between the number of countries that registered overall improve-ments in political rights and civil liberties and those that registered overall declines for 2022 was the narrowest it has ever been through 17 years of global deterioration." They also found that "infringement on freedom of expression has long been a key driver of global democratic decline."
Case for Democracy Report
According to V-Dem’s 2023 Democracy Report, 72% of the global population now lives in autocracies. This is a historical record, resulting from many populous countries previously set on a democratizing trajectory backsliding into autocracy.
At the same time, countries like China are promoting autocracy as a better governance model to achieve human and economic development and tackle complex issues such as climate change. Using scientific methods and data analysis, V-Dem has compiled evidence that demonstrates that democracies outperform autocracies.
Seongjin Jeong es un catedrático poco conocido en los círculos académicos de Europa y América destacado en el Departamento de Economía de la Universidad Nacional Gyeongsang de Corea del Sur (Gyeongsang National University). Su labor académica se interesa en la filosofía social y política, el marxismo y Gramsci. Describe en este estudio los fundamentos del socialismo utópico de Marx. Lo calificamos de "utópico" porque requiere, para aplicarse, la colaboración voluntaria de todos los ciudadanos en igualdad de condiciones para lograr una "sociedad de productores libres" en un Estado compuesto por una "asociación de individuos libres". Es importante estar bien informados sobre los fundamentos de esta teoría para poder entender y discutir las razones de su fracaso. La teoría Marxista no elabora los pasos ni los medios para lograr ese radical cambio social. En consecuencia, para intentar aplicar esta utopía de Marx se ha desembocado una y otra vez en un estricto control del Estado orientado a establecer una dictadura supuestamente “del proletariado”, que seguidamente se desvía al totalitarismo y que acaba en un sistema mafioso, vertical y corrupto. Por tanto, la utopía nunca ha podido convertirse en realidad.
Democracia Participativa.net
La idea de comunismo desarrollada por Marx es usualmente considerada como la erradicación de la propiedad privada y la creación de una economía planificada o estatización[1][2][3]. Sin embargo, en gran parte de su vida, Marx describió a la sociedad comunista como una asociación de individuos libres (en adelante, AIL). Pese a ello, los discursos que se refieren al comunismo rara vez han puesto atención a los aspectos de esta idea de AIL desarrollada por Marx. En efecto, la edición japonesa de las obras completas de Marx y Engels (Marx-Engels-Werke) traduce el concepto marxiano de asociación en más de veinte diferentes palabras[4]. Estudiando los textos de Marx que se refieren a la futura sociedad y basándome en trabajos recientes realizados en Japón sobre el concepto de AIL en Marx[5], me centraré en tres aspectos del comunismo tal como fueron desarrollados por Marx, a saber, libertad, individualidad y asociación. A su vez, pondré énfasis en la naturaleza concreta y no-utópica de la AIL, mostrando que los brotes de esta idea ya emergen desde el mismo modo de producción capitalista. Finalmente, sostendré que reducir la AIL de Marx a una suerte de modelo planificado del cálculo del tiempo de trabajo (labor-time calculation planning model) contradice la idea original de la AIL en tanto en cuanto un modelo abierto (open-model), uno que avanza hacia la abolición del trabajo en el comunismo desarrollado.
El Comunismo de Marx como una Asociación de Individuos Libres
Libertad
A menudo se cree que la idea de comunismo desarrollada por Marx atenta contra la libertad. No obstante, en la Ideología Alemana, en El Manifiesto del Partido Comunista y en el volumen 1 de El Capital, Marx y Engels escriben: “la sociedad comunista, la única sociedad en la cual el libre desarrollo de los individuos deja de ser una mera frase”[6]; “En lugar de la vieja sociedad burguesa, con sus clases y sus antagonismos de clases, deberíamos tener una asociación, en la cual el libre desarrollo de cada uno es la condición para el libro desarrollo de todos”[7]; “una alta forma de sociedad, una sociedad en la cual el completo y libre desarrollo de todas las formas individuales constituye la regla general.”[8]
Informative note from DP.net: Former president Trump is accused of paying $130,000 to silence Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claims to have had an affair with him. District Attorney Bragg alleges that he may have falsified records about the money, a misdemeanor under New York law. However, the allegations go much further to turn the act into a felony when there is intent to commit or conceal another crime. In this case, the second crime to be proved would be if Trump took an illegal and undeclared campaign contribution in the form of hush money. Here are the facts: In 2016, Stormy Daniels contacted the National Enquirer through a representative to offer the story of her affair with Trump. Days before the 2016 election, Michael Cohen gave the porn actress $130,000 through a shell company after she agreed to keep silent. Trump gave Cohen $420,000 for his effort listing them as legal expenses. Federal prosecutors later charged Cohen for his role in the scheme, and he pleaded guilty to various charges, including violation of campaign finance law. He admitted all of this information in the process, accusing Trump of directing his actions. Years later Bragg has just persuaded a grand jury that the former president, too, likely broke the law in paying off Daniels.
The case is too uncertain and technical to deliver the clarity America needs.
New York, March 30.– After so much speculation that it seemed America’s media might have just been repeating echoes, a grand jury has indeed indicted the 45th president of the United States. This is—to use a term that was worn out by the end of the Trump administration—historic. No president has been indicted before. Nor will this be the last of the indictments Mr. Trump faces.
For another politician, it would signal the end of a political career. In Mr. Trump’s case, the question is to what extent a prosecution will act as fuel for a movement that seemed to be flagging. Mr. Trump has been fundraising for weeks on the back of his impending indictment, which he predicted was coming on social media on March 18th. It turns out to have been one of his more accurate posts.
After so much speculation that it seemed America’s media might have just been repeating echoes, a grand jury has indeed indicted the 45th president of the United States. This is—to use a term that was worn out by the end of the Trump administration—historic. No president has been indicted before. Nor will this be the last of the indictments Mr. Trump faces.
Según un informe del Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) son engañosas las cifras que publica el Department of Homeland Security (DHS) y reporta que este Departamento engañó al público cuando explicó las razones de por qué terminó el programa conocido como "Permanece en México".
Aquí brindamos al lector la traducción del inglés del informe publicado por el CIS, titulado "February Border Numbers Deceptive".
Washington DC, Mar.20, 2023.– Las últimas estadísticas de detención de inmigrantes de la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza / U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) para febrero 2023 revelan que, si bien tales detenciones de la Patrulla Fronteriza en la frontera suroeste disminuyeron en relación a la alta tendencia que hizo historia en el pasado año fiscal 2022, todavía esas estadísticas se encuentran en niveles máximos históricos, ya que decenas de miles de migrantes indocumentados continúan llegando a las fronteras de los Estados Unidos con la intención de entrar al país.
El análisis de esos datos revela que la Administración Biden está tratando de ocultar su creciente desastre fronterizo al canalizar a decenas de miles de otros extranjeros procedentes de Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haití y Cuba, a través de los puertos fronterizos terrestres y de los aeropuertos de la nación, usando un esquema de "libertad condicional" que no está autorizado.