Category: Articles
The New Stigma of Colorism
The New Stigma of Colorism Written by Alfonso Elizondo The discrimination that occurs due to the color of one’s skin is a phenomenon that affects not dark-skinned communities, but also all ethnicities worldwide with different skin colors. Every day there is growing discrimination in the world based on skin color that became popularly known…
On Human Cruelty
On Human Cruelty Written by Alfonso Elizondo Human cruelty is an action that causes pain and suffering. It may be committed by people of all ages and harm any type of creature. It is also considered cruelty when heavy carts are attached to a horse for it to pull, spraying poison on a public…
Nationalists and Populists (III)
Nationalists and Populists (III) Written by Alfonso Elizondo The most important political debate at present is about the extent to which far-right parties are democratic. Although they use the rules of the democratic game and are legal representatives of democracy, most of them seek to dissociate themselves from violent, fascist or radical right-wing…
Nationalists and Populists (II)
Nationalists and Populists (II) Written by Alfonso Elizondo The far right knows how to pick up the discontent of the common citizen and respond with simple solutions to underlying problems that were hidden by traditional parties. So these new parties use populist tactics to oppose the elites who are associated with the old…
Nationalists and Populists (I)
Nationalists and Populists (I) Written by Alfonso Elizondo The political map of Europe and of the world in general is changing right now after many years of moderate bipartisanship. Now new parties are appearing in the political arena with increasingly polarized models and discourses. Above all, far-right populist parties have emerged with the…
Ethical Consciousness in Business (II)
Ethical Consciousness in Business (II) Written by Alfonso Elizondo The corruption of businessmen globally is manifested in different ways and the most common instances occur when private entrepreneurs do business with the State. Foremost among them is the payment of bribes to the public sector, although this also occurs in negotiations between private entrepreneurs. There…
Ethical Consciousness in Business (I)
Ethical Consciousness in Business (I) Written by Alfonso Elizondo In a survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, businessmen were asked to rate the level of transparency of their companies in different countries. The ten countries with the most ethical businessmen were: 1.- New Zealand 2.- Finland 3.- Singapore 4.- Denmark 5.- Switzerland…
Brain Changes in Today’s Children
Brain Changes in Today’s Children Written by Alfonso Elizondo According to a preliminary report from America’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), children who spend more than two hours a day in front of digital devices have terrible scores on linguistic intelligence tests. The study on the Cognitive Development of the Brain in…
The New Geopolitical Essay
The New Geopolitical Essay Written by Alfonso Elizondo In the current era, the essay as a genre has returned to almost all subjects of interest in human society, since readers today lack the ability to assimilate big stories that contain more than a thousand words. The subject of this essay is geopolitics in today’s world…
Origins of Human Cruelty
Origins of Human Cruelty Written by Alfonso Elizondo In his book entitled The Betters Angels of Our Nature, the famous experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker shocks and intrigues us with the amazing idea that history’s march towards progress on the Planet has led to a reduction in violence. Pinker says…
White Supremacy in the US
White Supremacy in the US Written by Alfonso Elizondo The actions taken against Muslims, Blacks, Latinos, Jews and members of the LGBT community (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals) are underpinned by nationalism, white supremacy, racism and xenophobia. This is apparent in the introductory text of the largest white supremacist forum called Stormfront, which…
Nationalism and Patriotism
Nationalism and Patriotism Written by Alfonso Elizondo At the celebration of the Centennial of the First Great World War in Paris on November 13, two political visions of Europe that have existed for the last two hundred years confronted each other: nationalism and patriotism. Macron, the current president of France, who has…
Old and New Paradigms (II)
Old and New Paradigms (II) Written by Alfonso Elizondo In the old paradigm decisions are taken at the top and that is where they draft the rules and regulations that approve laws, collect taxes and where parliaments, courts of justice, public administration and the huge headquarters of banks and companies…
Old and New Paradigms (I)
Old and New Paradigms (I) Written by Alfonso Elizondo The old paradigm of the economy is a linear formula for taking, using and wasting. In the new paradigm, the economy will be cyclical, like the paradigm of nature that takes with gratitude, uses with moderation, replenishes what it has taken and returns…
Towards a Fragmented World
Towards a Fragmented World Written by Alfonso Elizondo According to Karin Von Hippel, Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, we are now living in a world threatened by specific problems, such as the collapse of the United States, tensions over a possible nuclear war, conflicts in the…
Current Global Risks
Current Global Risks Written by Alfonso Elizondo According to the Global Risks Report 2018, the global challenges of 2017 have increased and the experts’ expectation for the future is pessimistic. There are four areas of global risk where urgent action is required. 1.- Inequality and injustice.- Although they have decreased on the global level,…
Towards a New Middle Ages (II)
Towards a New Middle Ages (II) Written by Alfonso Elizondo Some Silicon Valley giants, such as Tim Cook, Serguey Brin, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Deter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg, are the ones who are currently promoting and financing the most innovative projects worldwide. These projects range from research on a cure for cancer,…
Towards a New Middle Ages (I)
Towards a New Middle Ages (I) Written by Alfonso Elizondo Since 1648 the ‘nation-state’ has been the protagonist of world politics. That was when the Peace of Westphalia was signed, bringing to an end the Thirty Years War and the era of fragmentation of political power. However, since the 1970s several scholars have been…
In Defense of the Enlightenment (II)
In Defense of the Enlightenment (II) Written by Alfonso Elizondo Steven Pinker says that the Enlightenment’s belief in progress should not be confused with the nineteenth-century belief in mystic forces, laws, dialectics, struggles, destinies, the ages of man and the evolutionary forces that drive humanity towards utopia. If existing laws and…
Steven Pinker defends The Enlightenment (I)
Steven Pinker defends The Enlightenment (I) Written by Alfonso Elizondo In an essay written in 1784, Immanuel Kant said that the Enlightenment marked the emergence of humankind from its self-blaming immaturity and its lazy, cowardly submission to the dogmas and formulas of religious or political authority. Kant said that the motto of the Enlightenment…
Populism in the West
Populism in the West Written by Alfonso Elizondo The rise of populism today is undoubtedly Europe’s most serious problem. Many political analysts link it to the decline of social democracy and the center-left, with many of their traditional voters now voting for populist parties. The xenophobic use of the welfare state and the…
The New Mexico-US-Canada Agreement
The New Mexico-US-Canada Agreement Written by Alfonso Elizondo The new North American trade agreement, formerly called NAFTA, changed its name to USMCA, (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) at the trilateral meeting on Monday. Very important adjustments were reported in several key areas of the trade relationship of the three North American countries. It establishes new rules for…
China Responds to the United States
China Responds to the United States Written by Alfonso Elizondo According to the brilliant BBC News correspondent, Karishma Vaswari, on Monday, September 24, the US started to apply new import tariffs of 10% on about 6,000 new Chinese goods, amounting to some 200 billion US dollars. On this list are textiles and handbags that represent…
Collapse of the Middle Class in the West
Collapse of the Middle Class in the West Written by Alfonso Elizondo According to experts of the independent think tank, The Economy Journal.com, the rapid disappearance of the American middle class began in 1930 with the policies of Roosevelt’s New Deal to address the great economic depression of 1929. Until then, American…
China, the New World Banker (II)
China, the New World Banker (II) Written by Alfonso Elizondo In July 2014 the NBD (New Development Bank) was created by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as an alternative to the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and they are now a group of heavyweight countries…
China, the New World Banker
China, the New World Banker Written by Alfonso Elizondo Just after the end of World War II, the United States became the great power of the West as the fight against the Axis Powers and their closeness to Germany greatly undermined France and Great Britain which until then had been dominant in terms of the…
Psychology and Minds
Psychology and Minds Written by Alfonso Elizondo Several decades ago the eminent American psychologist, Paul Eckman, came up with the idea that there are six basic human emotions. These are sadness, happiness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust. However, a recent scientific study published in Current Biology and conducted by researchers at Glasgow University…
The New Chinese Dictatorship
The New Chinese Dictatorship Written by Alfonso Elizondo Just a few days ago, China went from democracy to dictatorship when its maximum political leader, Xi Jinping, announced that he is going to change China’s constitution so that he can govern as president for as long as he wants. This major change means that the bet…
The Business of War (I)
The Business of War (I) Written by Alfonso Elizondo According to the vast majority of experts and war scholars, more is spent on weapons industry lobbies globally than was spent during the most tense years of the Cold War. Governments around the world have not stopped investing in this industry since the end of World…
The Business of War (II)
The Business of War (II) Written by Alfonso Elizondo Although since 2012 global military spending has declined as a result of the economic and financial crisis that is affecting the entire world today, it has not been in the purchase of weapons, but in staff cuts and reductions in pensions and salaries. In fact, the…