EEUU, el Mediterráneo y las estrategias transatlánticas

La cooperación en el Mediterráneo puede convertirse en una prueba clave para determinar la calidad de la colaboración entre EEUU y la UE durante los próximos pocos años. En la región mediterránea se concentran multitud de temas que preocupan a Washington y, a ambos lados del Atlántico, existe un interés real por aprovechar el “efecto Obama” y dar un nuevo impulso a la cooperación transatlántica. Las condiciones favorecen que se preste una mayor atención a la región y a los temas mediterráneos como parte de la estrategia de EEUU hacia Europa y Oriente Medio, así como de la relación transatlántica. La convergencia de los intereses estadounidenses y europeos hacia el sur y el hecho de que tanto EEUU como Europa puedan actuar con más o menos el mismo efecto en la región podría convertir la cooperación en materia de seguridad y desarrollo en el Mediterráneo en una prueba fundamental a corto plazo de la calidad de las relaciones transatlánticas renovadas

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

The CSCE as a Model to Transform Western Relations with the Greater Middle East. ZEI Discussion Paper C 137, 2004

[Table of Contents]. Kühnhardt, Ludger. "System-opening and Cooperative Transformation of the Greater Middle East. A New Transatlantic Project and a Joint Euro-Atlantic-Arab Task"; Laschet, Armin. "Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: Beyond the Iraq crisis"; Lothar Rühl, Lothar. "Can the CSCE be a Role-Model to Frame the Political Processes of the Greater Middle East with Europe and the United States?"; Alnawwab, Nabil. "Conflict of Mythologies: The Debate on Reform of the Greater Middle East"; Masala, Carlo. "Is the Model of the Baskets Applicable to the Greater Middle East?"; Fröhlich, Stefan. "How much Regional Differentiation is Necessary to Establish a Successful CSCE-analogous Process?"; Baðci, Hüseyin. "The Greater Middle East Project and Turkey’s Attitude towards it"; Voskanian, Ashot. "South Caucasus within the Perspective of Contemporary Integration Processes"; Magen, Amichai. "Building Democratic Peace in the Eastern Mediterranean: An Inevitably Ambitious Agenda"; Posch, Walter. "What Preconditions for a CSCE-like Approach for the Region?"; Hitti, Nassif. "The Fantasies of a Middle Eastern OSCE"; Lesser, Ian O. "Institutional Issues Surrounding a CSCE-like Approach to the Middle East"

Euro-Mediterranean Co-operation: Enlarging and Widening the Perspective. ZEI Discussion Paper: 2004, C 131

[Table of Contents]. Introduction, by Andreas Jacobs; The Future of Euro-Mediterranean Relations: the Vision of Malta, by H.E. President Guido de Marco; The Euro-Med Partnership Needs a Strong Push, by Stephen Calleya/Eberhard Rhein; European Enlargement and its Impact on the Barcelona Process, by Bechir Chourou; European Enlargement and the Barcelona Process, by Krzysztof Bobinski; Mapping the Impact of Enlargement on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, by Zlatko Šabiè/Sabina Kajnè; Under Full Sail in a Millennium of Migration? Enlargement in the East and “Push and Pull Factors” in the South, by Babak Khalatbari/Marc Lauterfeld; Impact of the Iraq War on Mediterranean Security and Dialogue, by Ian O. Lesser; L’impact de la guerre contre l’Irak sur le processus Méditerranéen, by Abdallah Saaf; From the Mediterranean to a Greater Middle East: Challenges for European Policy Formulation, by Jean-François Daguzan; System-Opening and Cooperative Transformation of the Greater Middle East: Elements of a New Common Transatlantic Project, by Ludger Kühnhardt

Securitization of Greek terrorism and arrest of the `revolutionary organization November 17'

After 27 years of stalemate and inability to make any progress in dealing with domestic terrorism, in 2002 the Greek police finally arrested members of the `Revolutionary Organization November 17', the most lethal terrorist group ever to operate in Greece. The arrest of the terrorists raised several questions that have not yet been satisfactorily answered. Why did Greece take so long before a decisive strike against domestic, left-wing terrorism was recorded? What were the factors that led to the arrest of the terrorists? In answering these questions it is necessary to analyse not just the operational changes in the Greek counter-terrorist strategy that began to materialize at the turn of the millennium, but also the deep-rooted conceptual changes that led to the inclusion of terrorism in the Greek security agenda for the first time. I utilize and extend the theory of `securitization' as developed by the Copenhagen school, and argue that the state's failure to curtail terrorist activity in Greece resulted from the erroneous belief that terrorism was not a direct threat to Greek security. In turn, the belated securitization of terrorism was the key to the arrest of the terrorists that held Greece hostage for almost three decades