EDITORIAL : THE TEHRAN TIMES, IRAN

Persian Press Review
Tehran Times Political Desk

This column features excerpts from the editorials, commentaries, and news articles of the leading Iranian newspapers.

Tuesday’s headlines

JAM-E JAM: Workers’ wage to increase 9 percent

JAM-E JAM: Foreign tours lucrative, domestic tours in doldrums

KHORASAN: Government criticized for inviting Jordan king to Tehran to participate in Noruz (Persian New Year) festivals

KHORASAN: Practical steps to build great Persian Gulf bridge starts at presence of president

HAMSHAHRI: Military assistance of Al-Saud to Al-Khalifa for suppression of Bahraini people JAVAN: Japanese in horror amid probability of third nuclear explosion

JAVAN: Four-year old child the first victim of the last Wednesday of the year (victim of fire festival)

HEMAYAT: Special measures to secure Noruz trips

TEHRAN-E EMROOZ: Reactions to slander against Brigadier General Fazli (an IRGC commander)

KAYHAN: (FM) Salehi says there is no ‘Iranian Islam’

FARHIKHTEGAN: Turkey opposes NATO military attack against Libya

FARHIKHTEGAN: 120 liter gasoline (subsidized gasoline) for Noruz trips

KHABAR: Iran-U.S. relations in year 1390 (New Iranian year which starts on March 21)

Leading articles

MARDOM SALARI in a news analysis says Qasem Ravanbakhsh, editor-in-chief of the Parto publication, in a news report on his weblog has said chief of presidential chief of staff Rahim Mashaei in a meeting with young seminary students has presented them a book and two CDs about his speeches in gatherings of seminary students and Council of Iranians. However, some seminary students contacted the Parto publication calling the move inappropriate which may be a step for the future presidential campaign, something which is being directed by the president office! According to the weblog, Mashaei invited editors of university publications to the meeting of the Council of Iranians by giving air tickets, hotels and other facilities free of charge (the place of meeting is not named) and then delivered a speech for almost 2 hours. The report says it seems Mashaei needs the support of intellectuals for his plans as elites have can influence public opinion. The Parto publication which is under the supervision of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi says reports suggest that since Mashaei has great authority and his letters are effective visitors are urged to visit his office because it is said “if you want your problem is resolved, you must see Mashaei and definitely your problem will be resolved.”
JUMHORI ESLAMI in a commentary asks: “What is the role of Majlis?” The columnist quoting a parliamentarian as having said: “The Oil Ministry in the current year (March 2010-March 2011) has signed oil and gas agreements, but it has refused to inform the Majlis about any of them.” And then the columnist asks: “Now that the oil minister has violated the Constitution and has shown disrespect to Majlis representatives and declared none of oil deals to them and acted spontaneously… will the (Majlis) representatives impeach the oil minister to teach the others a lesson or not? Then JUMHORI ESLAMI ironically says in the view of MPs the signing of several deals which worth tens of billions of dollars does not worth creating tension, and in the current sensitive situation in which foreign and local enemies are seeking to undermine the system the country needs tranquility more than ever and in the light of preserving solidarity and unity the oil minister should not be impeached

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY YOMIURI, JAPAN

TEPCO's poor publicity led to metropolitan mess

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Even allowing for the crisis caused by a power supply shortage, Tokyo Electric Power Co. deserves strong blame for fumbling its explanations to the public.
We refer to the planned power outages that TEPCO originally announced would start Monday morning in areas it serves, including Tokyo and six prefectures in the Kanto region plus Yamanashi Prefecture and parts of Shizuoka Prefecture.
Under a planned power outage, the areas and hours of blackouts are decided in advance to ensure public awareness, thereby preventing chaos from occurring in times of rolling blackouts. The plan basically calls for TEPCO to divide its service areas into five groups and suspend the power supply to each group for three hours a day. The company plans to continue the planned power outages until the end of April.
Given that its power supply capacity has dropped due to the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region along the Pacific coast on Friday, it is understandable for TEPCO to decide on suspension of power supply at an early time out of fear that otherwise an even larger-scale blackout would occur.
Complete blackouts have hit many areas of the Tohoku region. Therefore, some people assert that the users of power supplied by TEPCO should endure inconvenience to a certain degree.
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Outage plans inconsistent
But it is problematic that the company's announcement of areas slated for power outages was delayed until Sunday night, when the outages were meant to be implemented on Monday. But when Monday morning came, the company changed its plans again and again, bringing about confusion and chaos.
One factor behind the confusion could be that the government and TEPCO began the planned power outages without sufficient consultations with the local governments and transportation companies concerned. This falls far from what could be called "planned" power outages.
Some people say the government delayed TEPCO's announcement of rolling blackouts because it wanted to call for the people's cooperation ahead of the company. If this is true, the government must bear a heavy responsibility.
In implementing planned power outages next time, the government and TEPCO should cooperate to promote coordination with the organizations concerned. It is necessary to come up with detailed plans and announce them as quickly as possible.
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Power output below capacity
TEPCO normally has an electricity generation capacity of about 50 million kilowatts during the spring season. But its No.1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture stopped working in the aftermath of the earthquake. Many of its thermal power stations along the Pacific coast also suspended their operations.
The operation of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture has been held at far below full capacity since the 2007 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake.
For this reason, TEPCO's power generation capacity was held to 31 million kilowatts Monday. Demand, on the other hand, was estimated at 41 million kilowatts, causing a shortage of 10 million kilowatts. This forced the company to implement the planned power outages.
The plan was applied without exception to operators of railways, which are a means of transportation for commuters and students, and hospitals with a large number of patients. Couldn't TEPCO treat such organizations as exceptions because their functions are indispensable for people's lives?
TEPCO plans to carry out planned power outages again this summer when the electricity demand will rise sharply. It is vital to establish by that time a system to enable an interchange of electricity between power companies.
Electric power companies in eastern and western Japan use different frequencies. Therefore, exchanges of electricity between the two blocks are not easily accomplished. The power companies must begin studying measures to drastically enhance their capacity for frequency conversion.

EDITORIAL : THE JAPAN TIMES

Orientation of Nagoya politics

In Sunday's Nagoya city assembly election, a local party led by Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura became the No. 1 party. Although his Genzei Nippon (Tax Reduction Japan) failed to gain a majority in the 75-seat assembly, each of the traditional parties lost assembly seats.

Genzei Nippon's strength increased from one seat to 28. The Democratic Party of Japan, which used to be the No. 1 party with 27 seats, garnered only 11 seats and became the No. 4 party. The strength of the Liberal Democratic Party fell from 23 seats to 19 seats; Komeito, from 14 seats to 12 seats; and the Japan Communist Party, from eight to five. The Social Democratic Party lost its only seat.

The election was held after the assembly was recalled in a Feb. 26 referendum. In late August 2010, Mr. Kawamura had started a signature collection movement to hold the referendum. He aimed to change the composition of the assembly so that it would approve his call for making permanent a 10 percent residential tax cut and for halving the number of assembly seats and the amount of assembly-member salaries. In one month, he collected 369,008 signatures from voters, enough to hold the referendum.

The election loss Sunday dealt a serious blow to the DPJ ahead of "unified local elections" in April. Mr. Kawamura is expected to field candidates from his party in various parts of Japan in the elections and deepen cooperation with former DPJ chief Ichiro Ozawa, the rival of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

Mr. Kawamura's maneuvers have had the effect of making traditional city assembly members examine whether they have seriously tried to address citizens' needs and aspirations. But his populist style in favor of tax cuts could lead to the deterioration of city finances and public services for citizens.

Mr. Kawamura's drive has the potential for turning the city assembly into a rubber stamp. While traditional parties must rethink their policies and attitude, voters must carefully think whether his politics is democratic in its basic orientation and will enhance their well-being.

Equities markets struggle

Worries about the economic impact of the devastating earthquake as well as the nuclear power plant crisis in Fukushima cast a cloud over the Tokyo equities market Monday. Before Friday's massive quake, the Nikkei Stock Average at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was trading around the 10,500 level. But it fell more than 6 percent to close at a four-month low of 9,620.49. The 633.94 drop is the largest since Oct. 16, 2008, when the Nikkei index tumbled by 1,089.02 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. At one point Tuesday, the index fell more than 1,000 to below 8,500.

Many factors are causing the worries. The quake has hampered economic activities in large areas of the Tohoku region. Major manufacturing firms, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., have announced temporary production stoppages after some of their facilities were damaged by the quake. The firms are also facing difficulties in procuring parts from Tohoku and other regions because of traffic disruptions.

The trouble at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s No. 1 Fukushima nuclear power plant on the Pacific coast has given rise to power shortages, hampering industrial activities. TEPCO Monday began planning rolling electricity outages — the first in TEPCO's history. They are likely to continue for some time.

In an attempt to alleviate fears that the quake will cause serious problems for banks and other financial institutions, the Bank of Japan injected ¥15 trillion into money markets on Monday, with an additional ¥6.8 trillion injection the following two days.

Despite the Nikkei index's plummet two days in a row, Japan's current account balance recently has been in the black, indicating the ability of Japanese firms to make profits from business activities abroad, especially in emerging economies.

After the quake, the yen grew stronger rather than falling in value. Japan, the largest creditor nation, is regarded as a stable, rich country. But post-quake reconstruction will be extremely costly. The government must act prudently in deciding how it will raise the necessary funds from bond issuance and other sources.