The war between Iran and the United States is entering a phase of high tension once again. After weeks in which indirect contacts have kept a diplomatic path open, Washington has rejected Tehran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran is hardening its military discourse and warning that it is prepared for a new American offensive.

The American political scientist Susan Stokes explores in the book The Regressors: Leaders Who Erode Their Own Democracies (Galaxia Gutenberg) the causes behind the democratic backsliding that the world is experiencing in the 21st century. She points to economic inequalities as one of the key factors and describes the process followed by leaders of different countries and ideologies to dismantle the democratic system from within. We talk about it in a conversation in Barcelona, where she has participated in a debate at the CCCB.

Suddenly, signs appear that give reason to think that the fabrications that led to the regressive phase of the transition from liberal democracies to post-democratic authoritarianism are beginning to decline. It was Milton Friedman who said that "the invisible hand of the market is superior to any other institution that regulates economic life" and that, consequently, the "social responsibility of business is to increase its profits," when the rise of capital was unfolding against the post-war mixed economy. This logic has been imposing itself at the same time that liberals and social democrats were disturbingly blurring.

Behind the warmongering rhetoric at the UN podium, Tehran seems to be moving in another direction. In the corridors of the United Nations General Assembly, the Iranian delegation, which had arrived in New York without showing any interest in dialogue, presented the US with a new proposal for an agreement to reopen the strait. The information was first leaked to the press by people familiar with the talks, and now the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has confirmed it.

On June 27, just three days after a double earthquake devastated Venezuela, causing more than 6,500 deaths, a plane from the United States landed in Caracas. Traveling on it was a businessman with Venezuelan and Italian nationality who had taken off from the luxurious and exclusive island of Palm Beach, in the American state of Florida. The trip was repeated, at least, one more time, on July 22. The country was immersed in the search for the missing and subsequently in the reconstruction after the deadliest earthquake –by far– in its recent history, but the motive for the main passenger's visit had nothing to do with humanitarian efforts.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists were able to re-enter the White House this Thursday, following the clash between the Trump administration and the judge. Early in the morning, Secret Service agents had blocked the reporters' access even though a judge had instructed at dawn that the White House had to "immediately" restore their credentials.The order came after the three media outlets affected by the ban had taken the case to court. The District of Columbia judge, Timothy J. Kelly, had issued a ruling requiring the government to return the accreditations to the journalists for at least 14 days, a period during which the magistrate would reach a final decision.

The harsh criticisms against China, which culminated during the pandemic with constant references to the "Chinese virus," have vanished. The American president, Donald Trump, displayed good rapport this Thursday with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during his visit to the White House, the first in a decade. "Many things have changed since he was last here," the tycoon stated. The previous time Xi visited the presidential residence was in 2015, with Barack Obama as host.

Xi Jinping arrives in Washington with the perception of being an equal. Or at least, with the perspective that every day he is a little closer to being one. After hosting in May, this time the Chinese leader is the guest of the American president, Donald Trump. Only four months have passed since the last time the two leaders met in Beijing, and although China is also struggling with a weakened economy, Xi has more room to maneuver: he is not beholden to his voters.

The Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has taken to the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to defend multilateralism at a time when "different governments, present here, despise or intend to dismantle" the organization that hosts them. Without explicitly mentioning him, the socialist referred to Donald Trump, who had already returned to Washington yesterday. Before Sánchez spoke, the American president had received his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, who preferred the White House to the UN headquarters.

In February, Donald Trump gave the Islamic Republic of Iran no more than four weeks of life after the United States and Israel jointly killed its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Seven months later, the ayatollahs' regime is still standing and its president, who was then hiding from bombs inside a bunker, has appeared from the UN headquarters in New York. Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the General Assembly this Wednesday in a new gesture of defiance: "They have tested the strength and firmness of Iran, and they have learned that Iran cannot be made to surrender".

Donald Trump has reworked the speech he used last year to address the UN General Assembly and has incorporated a long reference to the war in Iran. Beyond attacking the United Nations, the US president has repeated this Tuesday the same version of the conflict that he has been proclaiming for seven months: that the regime is finished and that "it will never be allowed to build a nuclear bomb." He has acknowledged, however, that "the only thing that has not disappeared [in Iran] is inflation, which is destroying the country." Americans, who see the price of gasoline continuing to rise, probably have some comments to add to these words from the president. Last week the Federal Reserve decided to raise interest rates for the first time since 2023 following the latest inflation data in the country, which is already bordering on 3.4%.

New York, the city where, 263 days later, Nicolás Maduro remains detained, is the setting in which Delcy Rodríguez and Donald Trump held a meeting this Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. It is the first encounter between a Venezuelan president and a US president in eleven years, and represents one more step –especially symbolic– in the resumption of relations between the two countries. The parade of leaders and officials from the Trump administration through Caracas has been a constant since Washington's military aggression in January, but it is the first time that the person primarily responsible for that operation has met directly with the person who forcibly opened the doors of Venezuela to him to plunder its natural resources.

The United States, Denmark and Greenland have formalized this Tuesday the security agreement by which is handed overthe defense of the Arctic island to the United States forces. The document has been signed by the US President, Donald Trump; the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, and the Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, within the framework of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The agreement allows the United States to expand defense areas and "strengthen military operations and installations". Within the framework of the pact, Trump has announced the construction of two large military bases in Greenland "immediately".

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, met this Monday with the Mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, at Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence in the city. The tycoon took advantage of the trip to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which begins this Tuesday, to also meet with the socialist leader. This is already the third time the two politicians have met face-to-face, and Mamdani did not want to inconvenience the president and received him despite the veto imposed by Trump on several media outlets, including CNN.

The United Nations looks at the world with the bewilderment that can only be had when one has passed the age of 80. A world that is disconcerting, but not for that reason any newer. The organization that was born with the will to prevent the ravages of the great wars of the 20th century from repeating themselves faces the general debate of the 81st session of the General Assembly marked by the shadow of war. In the last three years, the UN podium has seen how different conflicts have passed a baton that has proven cumulative and inconclusive: Ukraine, Gaza and, now, Iran. The military campaign initiated by Donald Trump will be the great protagonist of a more divided summit where alliances are being restructured and old friends are becoming known hostiles. The speed with which the old international order is unraveling seems to have surpassed that of the Arctic thaw, now seen more as a geopolitical advantage than as a climate emergency.

Donald Trump's White House launched Trump TV this Monday, a video channel that broadcasts 24 hours a day via YouTube. The launch comes amid escalating tension between the United States president and several media outlets, after Trump announced on Friday that he was banning CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from the White House.

Michael Ignatieff (Toronto, 1947), an intellectual specializing in human rights and democracy, was also the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, a country currently in vogue in Europe and threatened by Donald Trump. Winner of the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, he is also the author of an honest book about his failed stint in politics, Fire and Ashes. He has now been in Barcelona for the presentation of the Cidob International Yearbook. Ignatieff speaks clearly, highlighting the grave moment the international landscape is experiencing. And he insists on one idea: we must wake up.

What if women stopped voting? It has been talked about for a few weeks now: in the United States, there is an ultraconservative movement that advocates for it, wanting to replace the individual vote with a family vote—and we already know how that would end. The invention is called household voting and one of its main defenders is Pastor Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist who advocates for a theocratic transformation of the United States. This is not some freak that no one pays attention to: Wilson was invited by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to preach at the Pentagon last February.

United States President Donald Trump has announced a “historic” security pact with Denmark regarding Greenland, the Arctic island over which the leader has repeatedly expressed his annexationist aspirations. the leader has repeatedly expressed his annexationist aspirations. The Republican communicated the agreement via Truth Social. Shortly after, the Danish government confirmed that next week it will sign an agreement with the US and the Greenland executive to "strengthen security" on the Arctic island during the United Nations General Assembly, which will take place in New York starting Monday, September 21. Even NATO has celebrated the pact. Beyond the triumphalist language, many details remain to be specified to adequately analyze the nature of the agreement, as it is also unclear what changes regarding the agreement on the Arctic island that has already existed since 1951 between Washington and Copenhagen.

The UN concludes that the United States committed war crimes in Iran on February 28, the day Washington and Tel Aviv launched the offensive that initiated the war against the ayatollahs. The United Nations mission for the Persian country points to two air strikes to support its accusation: the one that took place against a school in Minab, in the south of the country, in which 120 children died, and a precision missile attack that killed 22 civilians in a sports complex and a residential area in Lamerd, also in the south.