1 de Maio: O Presidente Barack Obama, o vice-presidente Joe Biden, Hilary Clinton e outros membros da equipa de segurança da administração americana recebem informações sobre o decorrer da missão contra Osama Bin Laden na Situation Room da Casa Branca (foto: Pete Souza/Official White House Photo).

Marc Lynch escreve sobre o impacto que a morte de Osama Bin Laden tem no mundo árabe e no futuro da al-Qaeda:

[...] The fact is, al-Qaeda had already been effectively marginalized within the mainstream of the Arab world long before bin Laden died. His death removes the only al-Qaeda figure still able to speak effectively to that Arab mainstream, and marks the end of an era of Arab politics which had already largely faded away. Al-Qaeda’s marginalization in Arab politics has been developing for a long time, and will only be further advanced by bin Laden’s death. [...]

The decline in al-Qaeda’s fortunes was also driven by trends inside of Arab politics. Zarqawi’s brutality in Iraq and the wave of terrorist attacks inside Arab and Muslim countries drove a serious backlash. Arab governments began to take al-Qaeda more seriously, with the Saudis and Jordanians and many others launching major campaigns at home and across the region after suffering terrorist attacks at home. [...] In short, while it was able to appeal to and recruit from the small, extreme sub-cultures which developed around jihadist ideology, al-Qaeda has long since lost its attractiveness to mainstream Arabs. [...]

This does not mean, however, that al-Qaeda is forever irrelevant, as some would hope. [...] Indeed, if the revolutions fail, economies don’t improve, and elections produce unattractive political leadership, it is easy enough to imagine frustrated youth a few years from now again finding al-Qaeda’s message attractive.

Bin Laden’s death marks a symbolic point of closure to an historical period which had already faded from view. Al-Qaeda as an organization and ideology will likely adapt and survive, the threat will mutate, and Islamist politics will evolve. It offers another opportunity for the United States to move on from the problems of the past and to establish the new relationship with the people of the Arab world which it so desperately needs. It doesn’t change everything, but it does matter. Beyond that, we will just have to wait and see.

Issandr El Amrani, no The Arabist, tem uma opinião semelhante à de Marc Lynch quanto à perda de relevância da al-Qaeda no mundo árabe.

A Foreign Policy apresenta uma série de testemunhos sobre o mundo pós-Bin Laden. Ezra Klein apresenta a conta do que “custou” Osama Bin Laden; sem as suas acções as guerras do Iraque e Afeganistão não teriam ocorrido.

Quase 10 anos após os ataques de 11 de Setembro, o Presidente Barack Obama anunciou a morte do líder histórico da al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, num discurso proferido para a televisão. Foi feita justiça, afirmaria o Presidente americano ao revelar que forças especiais e operacionais da CIA tinham cercado e morto Bin Laden na cidade de  Abottabad, no Paquistão.

No seu discurso o Presidente afirmou:

[...] The death of Bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat Al Qaeda. Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that Al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must –- and we will — remain vigilant at home and abroad. [...]

Ao mesmo tempo, o Presidente teve o cuidado de afirmar que Osama Bin Laden não era um líder Muçulmano, mas sim um assassino de muçulmanos.

Ao contrário do que sempre se pensou, Bin Laden não estava escondido nas montanhas da fronteira entre o Afeganistão e Paquistão, mas sim num complexo multimilionário a menos de uma hora de carro da capital do Paquistão, Islamabad, com a sua mulher mais nova. A operação começou em Março tendo tido o seu desfecho no dia de ontem. Bin Laden foi morto com um tiro na cabeça, foi identificado por análises de DNA, e o corpo foi sepultado no mar. Glen Levy coloca a questão óbvia:

[...] But the lingering question is, Why at sea? The official said that finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world’s most wanted terrorist would have been difficult, so the decision was made to bury bin Laden at sea. Furthermore, one suspects that the U.S. would not have wanted there to be a grave site for fear of it turning into a place of worship for bin Laden’s followers. There are rumors, however, that the U.S. asked Saudi Arabia to take the body (bin Laden was born there), but it allegedly refused. [...]

Frederick Deligne

Ao deixar a cidade de Ajdabiyah, onde as forças leais a Khadafi e os rebeldes combatem, Ryan Calder decidiu fotografar um camião destruído por um dos muitos bombardeamentos; nele encontrou um gato que não se importou de ser fotografado.

As forças de segurança sírias abriram fogo sobre uma manifestação na praça central de Homs, a terceira cidade do país. Na mesma altura, governo avisou que futuras manifestações poderiam sofrer iguais medidas dentro do estado de emergência que vigora no país. Os activistas reuniram-se para prestar homenagem ao 14 manifestantes que foram mortos no domingo. O funeral rapidamente se transformou numa manifestação política ao longo do dia com oa activistas a ocuparem a praça e a prometerem não a abandonar até que o Presidente Bashar al-Assad abandone o cargo.

A manifestação foi vista como uma rejeição ao discurso do Presidente na televisão onde este prometeu reformas no país incluindo o levantamento do estado de emergência em vigor na Síria desde 1963.

O Governo anunciou, entretanto, a aprovação de um projecto de lei que levanta o estado de emergência. Falta a assinatura do próprio Bashar (o Governo não tem quase poder), uma formalidade, já que o Executivo nunca teria votado estas mudanças sem as suas ordens. Outro projecto de lei votado já esta terça-feira e anunciado igualmente pela agência de notícias oficial Sana prevê a abolição do Tribunal de Segurança do Estado, onde são julgados os presos políticos.

Na Time, Rania Abouzeid interroga-se sobre quem é o verdadeiro Presidente Assad, um homem que sempre cultivou a imagem de um reformista mas cujo comportamento muitas vezes mostra exactamente o contrário:

[...] Assad has largely stayed out of the public eye during the crisis, recalling his father’s distant mien, an image at odds with his public persona as an everyman dining in Damascus’s restaurants with his young family and strolling through its souks. Mahjoub says its because Assad isn’t “a tactical, retail politician. He doesn’t like to talk to impress, he likes to talk to achieve.” Abdel-Nour has a different interpretation. Assad is the public face of the regime, he says, and the less people see of him now, the less likely they are to associate him with the unrest. “If Assad loses this image, the respect people still have for him, the regime is finished,” he says. [...]

São muitas as explicações avançadas para justificar esta ascensão da extrema-direita na Finlândia: a crise na democracia do país, a deceção do eleitorado e a crise económica que também aqui se faz sentir neste país. Durante a campanha o partido de Timo Soini insurgiu-se contra os planos de resgate aos países endividados da Zona Euro. Timo Soini acredita que a UE está a violar as próprias leis e a Constituição porque, segundo ele, esta proíbe operações de resgate. Ao contrário do que acontece em outros países europeus, o Parlamento Finlandês tem o poder de decisão sobre os pedidos de resgate de ajuda financeira da União.

“European Economy”
Michael Kountouris

Mesmo que a Finlândia vote contra o plano de resgate a Portugal este não estará ameaçado; no entanto foi o suficinete para (mais uma vez) desestabilizar os mercados e preocupar mais uma vez os alemães, como escreve a Der Spiegel:

[T]he effect of a Finnish withdrawal would be greater on Germany than it would be on most other euro-zone member states. Germany and Finland, together with France, the Netherlands and Austria, are the only countries in the euro zone that possess the best possible rating, Triple A, from the ratings agencies. If one of these countries with the best credit ratings ceases to participate, the additional burden would likely fall on the other countries with Triple A ratings and not on countries with lesser ratings such as Estonia or Malta. [...]

[T]he Finns could stir up trouble in terms of disbursing financial aid for Portugal. A unanimous decision is required by all euro-zone finance ministers in order to disburse loans under the current EFSF agreement. This is expected to take place in May. In the worst-case scenario, this would provide the Finnish finance minister with an opportunity to strike. He could demand that Finland would only agree to the bailout if Helsinki didn’t have to participate financially.

Given the relatively small, single-digit billion volume of Finland’s share of the bailout, this quasi veto power probably wouldn’t threaten Portugal’s bailout. But economist Gros at Center for European Policy Studies argues that the political symbolism of a pullout would be important, especially if other countries followed suit — particularly countries that have been leaders in a united Europe until now. Gros says it could create huge problems if sentiment like that crossed over into Germany. [...]

O actual diretor-geral da Agência Internacional de Energia Atómica e prémio Nobel da Paz de 2005, Mohamed ElBaradei, pretende concorrer às eleições presidenciais do Egipto, agendadas para o final deste ano. Numa entrevista à Der Spiegel, o Sr. ElBaradei fala da detenção de Hosni Mubarak e da aumento da desconfiança dos egípcios na actual nos militares que governam o país:

[...]

SPIEGEL: The protesters in Tahrir Square have also been calling for the resignation of General Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the chairman of the military council.

ElBaradei: I am on the side of the protesters when it comes to calling for a national dialogue, for participation and transparency. But I think risking a clash with the army …

SPIEGEL: … which intends to take decisive action against further protests …

ElBaradei: … would be the worst thing that could happen to us. Then we will plunge into chaos. The military council is the only institution that still works well in Egypt. That’s why it is all the more important that the military leaders do not gamble away the trust of the people. They must open up and take action. Giving statements on television isn’t enough. That’s not a dialogue.

SPIEGEL: Many are now saying that “Mubarak and Tantawi are the same hand.” The general was a close adviser to the president for more than 20 years.

ElBaradei: Egypt is in a very critical phase. Every change from an autocratic regime to a democracy comes with compromises. I believe Tantawi and the military leaders and assume that they really only want to manage the transition. [...]

Chappatte, «NZZ am Sonntag»

Scott Adams, o autor da série Dilbert, reflecte sobre a educação dos nossos dias e da necessidade da integração da complexidade do mundo actual nos currículos, mesmo que seja em detrimento de matérias mais clássicas:

[...] I’ll begin by stipulating that any field of study is helpful in training a student’s mind to become more of a learning machine.[...]

Today, life is more complicated than school. That means the best way to expand a student’s mind is by teaching more about the practical complexities of the real world and less about, for example, the history of Europe, or trigonometry.

I’ll pause here to acknowledge that both history and trigonometry are useful for students who plan to become historians or rocket scientists. For the other 99.9% of the world, little from those classes will be retained. The only benefit from much of what is taught in school is generic training of the mind, and for that we now have a better and more complicated option: the real world.

Some of you will argue that learning history is important on a number of levels, including creating a shared culture, understanding other countries, and avoiding the mistakes of the past. I agree. And if the question was teaching history versus teaching nothing, history would be the best choice every time. But if you compare teaching history with, for example, teaching a kid how to compare complicated financial alternatives, I’d always choose the skill that has the most practical value. You get all the benefit of generic mental training plus some real world benefits if any of it is retained.

I’d still teach history in school. But I think the world will survive if some of the details are skipped to make room for more relevant coursework.

O que é uma educação voltada para o mundo real será sempre um assunto ambíguo e aqui o Sr. Adams mostra a sua visão que é em muito centrada na sua própria actividade, pessoalmente não concordo com esta visão. Este post de Scott Adams vem na sequência de um artigo que este publicou no The Wall Street Journal e da necessidade de currículos alternativos para alunos que não têm tanto interesse em matérias como Física, Química, Cálculo ou Literatura… outra opinião discutível.

Antes de a H.G. Wells — que em conjunto com Julio Verne é considerado um dos pais da ficção cientifica — e da sua obra “The Time Machine, Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau, em 1887, escreveu “El anacronópete” e foi ele o primeiro a escrever sobre viagens no tempo, como escreve Jerónimo Andreu no El País.

Mais de um século depois, o governo chinês decidiu proibir as viagens no tempo, um género cada vez mais apreciado na televisão chinesa:

Now there’s an interesting trend in China’s film and television industry: more and more time-travel themed dramas are made and aired. In these time-travel based TV plays, usually the protagonist is from the modern time and for some reasons and via some means, travels through time and all the way back to the ancient China where he/she will constantly experience the “culture shock” but gradually get used to it and eventually develop a romance in that era. [...]

[...] Nothing is off limits in this television genre. While some find it hilarious, others think the exaggeration and even ridiculous elements added into the story is a real source of annoyance and is a disrespectful for history.

The authority’s decision was made on the Television Director Committee Meeting on April 1st. – but obviously it’s not a prank to fans of the drama genre. The authority has a good reason to go against the genre. “The time-travel drama is becoming a hot theme for TV and films. But its content and the exaggerated performance style are questionable. Many stories are totally made-up and are made to strain for an effect of novelty. The producers and writers are treating the serious history in a frivolous way, which should by no means be encouraged anymore.” [...]

Richard Brody, na The New Yorker, explica o que incomoda os censores chineses:

[...] What the Chinese time-travel plots, as described above, have in common is the notion of escape: leaving contemporary, Communist-dominated China for the China of another era, one where, despite mores that are, in some ways, odd and outdated, love and happiness can be found. Time travel serves here as a dream of freedom from present-day strictures—or simply as a cry for freedom, from precisely this kind of idiotic and despotic regulation. As I suggested, today and earlier this week, regarding “Meek’s Cutoff,” the narrow representation of material history serves a programmatic view of political art. The free play of imagination—the liberation of the inner life—is itself a higher stage of politics. [...]