EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

The hunted turns hunter

For an opposition party, the Congress is in a strange situation in Kerala: the party is more on the defensive than on the attack. After five years in power, the Left Democratic Front led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has effectively revived memories of corruption scams and sex scandals of the previous Congress-led United Democratic Front. A former Minister of the UDF, R. Balakrishna Pillai of the Kerala Congress (B), is in jail after being sentenced by the Supreme Court to a year's rigorous imprisonment in the Idamalayar hydel project corruption case. Mr. Pillai was felled by a sustained political campaign and legal battle waged by CPI(M) leader and Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan — who is now using the success in court to great advantage in the electoral arena. Another former Minister of the UDF, P.K. Kunhalikutty, the general secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League, is facing fresh allegations in the ice cream parlour sex scandal. Moreover, the Congress is having a tough time fending off charges of corruption directed at the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. Thus what looked like a one-horse race in October 2010, when the UDF decisively won the local body polls at every tier, is now developing into a keen contest.

However, the LDF faces the challenge of fighting off the anti-incumbency factor and voter fatigue. After 1977, when the Congress was voted back to power, Kerala voters have never given a combine two consecutive terms in office. There is still a substantial gap for the LDF to bridge, and to do this Mr. Achuthanandan and the CPI(M) will need to sustain the newly gained momentum till the very end. The UDF is trying to position itself as pro-development, a euphemism for pro-industry, in an attempt to take up the space provided by the pro-labour policies of the LDF government. But the Cabinet approval for the agreement on the revival of the much-delayed SmartCity Project in Kochi in February this year might blunt criticism on this score. Another concern for the CPI(M) is the factionalism involving State party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and the Chief Minister; the LDF will be hoping the bad blood at the top will not seep down to the cadre level. Mr. Achuthanandan was given the ticket only at the intervention of the party's Polit Bureau. Whether he can work up a groundswell of support, as he did in 2006 when he was similarly nominated after being denied the ticket, remains to be seen. What is likely is that after two one-sided contests in 2001 (when the UDF won 99 of the 140 seats) and 2006 (when the LDF took 99) in a State where ideology and policies matter, 2011 will witness a close finish. 

Liz Taylor: art and allure

Ask young people what they remember of Elizabeth Taylor and the answer is likely to be in the form of a furrowed brow. But there is little doubt they would have heard of her. That is how she left us, more a creature of the public consciousness than a prisoner of the pictures. As the stormy spouse of Richard Burton (and six others), she came to embody the romantic pursuit of lifelong love. As an AIDS activist, at a time few people were fully aware of the disease and fewer still wanted to be tainted with its homosexual associations, she came to represent strength and courage. As an outspoken critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war — in protest, she declined to attend the 75th Annual Academy Awards — she revealed a hitherto unsuspected political side. As gossip fodder, she, with her reckless lifestyle, spilling over with yachts and diamonds, virtually birthed the tabloid frenzy that envelops stars today. And as a world-class beauty, her name came to stand for physical perfection, even to those who had never seen a film of hers. It's a pity that these associations today have overshadowed what she was foremost — a wonderful actress, winner of two Oscars, co-star to giants such as Spencer Tracy, Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

Taylor's cinematic career effectively ended when she won her second Oscar for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, in which she played a blowsy harridan opposite Burton. She was terrifyingly convincing as a wife on the brink of a marriage breakdown and a woman at the edge of sanity. But the public seemed less interested in her interpretation of Edward Albee's scabrous dialogue than in her intimacies with her co-star and real-life husband. Were Liz and Dick simply performing their parts, or were they making thinly disguised art of their real lives? This voyeuristic cloud completely eclipsed what was — and still is — a chillingly splendid portrait of the mysteries of marriage. Thereafter, Taylor's films (many of them with Burton) were mostly much less memorable, and her fame came less from being a star on the screen and more from being a regular in the tabloid press. For her greatest screen roles, we must look much earlier — he luminous child-aspirant of National Velvet; the pampered socialite of A Place in the Sun; the generations-spanning matriarch of Giant; the tempestuous empress in Cleopatra; and the wide-eyed manipulator of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, where she is breathtakingly beautiful, the very embodiment of temptation that Tennessee Williams dangled, like a ripe fruit, in front of his physically crippled hero. Few actresses have combined art and allure with such effortlessness. 

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

Lights dim on a Hollywood era 

ELIZABETH Taylor relished the spotlight for almost 70 years.

As a child star she charmed 1940s moviegoers in Lassie Come Home , National Velvet and Little Women. As an adult she was the first screen actor paid $US1 million when she captivated her co-star Richard Burton and much of the world in Cleopatra in 1967. Away from the movies, but never far from the spotlight, Elizabeth Taylor was a complex character and a woman of faith who converted to Judaism in her 20s. A mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, her generous philanthropy and capacity for friendship more than matched her extravagance, overindulgence and weakness for 30-carat diamonds.

Taylor, whose favourite axioms included "big girls need big diamonds", personified Technicolor Hollywood glamour. As famous for her striking dark hair, deep blue/violet eyes and ruby mouth as for her acting skills, she recognised that she was a more accomplished star than an actress. She was ambivalent about the insular world of filmmaking after being steered into it by her mother. But Taylor's two Oscars were well deserved, especially the second for her portrayal of Martha, the carping, heavy drinking wife of an academic in the Ivy League drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Conscious of her foibles, including that she had more spouses than Henry VIII, Taylor once described herself as ". . . a very committed wife. And I should be committed too -- for being married so many times". Of her seven husbands, the first of whom was hotel heir Conrad Hilton, the actress regarded film producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash in 1958, and Burton, a leading Shakespearean actor whom she married and divorced twice, as her true loves.

It was Taylor's friendship with Rock Hudson, who died of AIDS, that motivated her to devote much of her energy and talents to taking a leading role in fundraising to help combat the disease. In that work, which became almost a full-time career, she was supported by her close friend, controversial singer Michael Jackson, with whom enjoyed watching Walt Disney movies and whose untimely death broke her heart. Taylor's own health problems, including chronic back pain, substance addiction, a brain tumour and congestive heart failure tested her resilience to the limit. Asked once what she would like written on her tombstone, Taylor opted for a simple phrase that in her case meant a great deal: "She lived." And lived large.

NSW must emerge from Labor's heart of darkness

THE horror we predicted four years ago must finally end.

Elections seldom shape up as the lay down misere unfolding in NSW tomorrow but while a Coalition victory seems a foregone conclusion, there is much about this poll that is crucial for voters in NSW and around the nation. Voters have a chance to make a statement about what should happen to governments that turn their back on their commitments, toy with the trappings of power and administer the authority of the state for their own benefit rather than the community's. This is the manifest failing that NSW Labor has descended into over 16 years under Bob Carr, Morris Iemma, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally. It could not be summarised more pithily than through the words uttered by Premier Keneally herself: "We lost our way because we were too focused on ourselves and not enough on what matters to families in this state." Her frankness and apology are to be applauded, but they cannot, in The Australian's view, stave off a reckoning.

It must be said that the first decade of Labor rule, under Mr Carr, was largely successful. From staging the world's best Olympic Games, instigating transport infrastructure such as the Cross City Tunnel and the M7 Westlink, to consolidating the state budget and tackling police corruption, there were achievements to be proud of and much more to strive for when Mr Carr handed over to Mr Iemma in 2005. But if Labor had deliberately decided to fritter away that foundation and betray the public's trust, it could not have made a better fist of it. What was once a serious government has, for the past four years or more, become a pastiche of duplicity, peccadillos and incompetence, with leaders wheeled in and out at the behest of faction leaders, showing a contempt for voters. Along the way botched attempts to privatise electricity assets cost the state billions of dollars. Road and rail transport stagnated, angering commuters, while failed schemes such as the ditched Metro cost millions without moving a single passenger. The NSW hospital system has become the most troubled in the nation, regularly failing patients, and the state's economic growth has trailed national trends for a decade. Once proud Sydneysiders have become defensive about their city, while the regions have cried for help.

All this has been played out against a sordid backdrop of sleaze. A serving minister was convicted of child sex and drug charges, then a series of scandals unfolded with ministers dancing in their underwear, filmed dropping in to a gay sex club, downloading porn at parliament house and playing out their extra-marital affairs in public, while other MPs were caught rorting allowances. Labor mates have been appointed to high-paying jobs and the parliamentary team has danced to the tune of the ALP's Sussex Street headquarters. The people of NSW have seen laid bare the consequences of an unchecked culture of nepotism and patronage. Labor's advertising betrays it long gave up any chance of victory but merely has cautioned against voters handing too much power, in other words, too many seats, to the Coalition. This is a transparent attempt to save the political furniture and reserve the right to claim even a devastating defeat as some consolation. Voters need to see through this and examine the question from the opposite angle. If a government has failed to deliver, presented a long list of scandals and has been self-indulgent to the detriment of the community, what would it say about our democracy if it were not severely punished at the polls?

The only road to the remote chance of redemption for Labor would have been to make an honest attempt at reform and renewal, and this is where Ms Keneally has failed. While she has managed to wave goodbye to more than 20 serving MPs in the lead up to this election, she has done nothing to wrest control of the party from the union and factional powerbrokers who installed her and are largely responsible for the malaise of the past decade. The discredited and directionless NSW Right faction still holds sway through upper house leader Eric Roozendaal and leader-in-waiting and ex-Unions NSW boss John Robertson. In fact a disproportionate campaign effort has been activated over recent weeks to safeguard Mr Robertson's switch to the lower house in Blacktown, probably at the expense of other winnable seats. After the election, the NSW Right again will be left to divvy up what are likely to be the pitiful spoils of opposition. Despite Ms Keneally's talk of renewal, it will be situation normal. That is why The Australian can find nothing encouraging to say about the government's campaign, save for the energy, charm and relentless work ethic of Ms Keneally. If nothing else, she deserves to stay on as leader if she chooses, and if she commits to democratising her party.

The people of NSW deserve a change and will have high expectations for an incoming Coalition government. They rightly expect Barry O'Farrell to realise his promise to make the state No 1 again. This means he needs to ditch his small-target strategy immediately and demonstrate the sort of action and imagination that the public expects. The opposition has not been blameless in NSW's decline, from failing to do enough to win the last election, to colluding with the unions to thwart electricity privatisation. But on the weekend Mr O'Farrell deserves to be given a massive mandate, which he should use wisely. Partnerships can be formed with the private sector to provide new rail lines and roadways; train and ferry operations can be run more efficiently; Sydney can assert itself as the nation's premier city; and more nurses, teachers and police can be employed if union power can be challenged, bloated bureaucracies can be trimmed and private investment encouraged. Although unconvinced by the opposition four years ago, The Australian still urged voters to punish Labor or risk more of the same "horror" but we could not have foreseen the heart of darkness into which the party has descended. This time most voters should see that the horror of returning Labor would be unspeakable.

Mr O'Farrell has been disciplined and sure-footed, leaving Labor to run a scare campaign about his "secret" plan. We've been disappointed he hasn't revealed a transformative agenda and hope he does have a plan.

The Australian has no hesitation endorsing him to form government. We urge Mr O'Farrell to be bold and decisive from Sunday because the people of NSW are eager to see radical change for the better and there is no time to waste.

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA

N.Y.C. vs. N.Y.S., the Pension Battle

Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants New York City to take control of its own business back from Albany, especially pension costs.

The city negotiates wages and health benefits directly with its employees’ unions. But since the 1970s fiscal crisis — when Albany took over the city’s finances — the State Legislature and the governor have dealt with the city’s pension benefits. The way it usually works, the mayor negotiates a pension deal, which state lawmakers approve and then later “sweeten” for their friends in the unions.

Albany is notoriously compliant when it comes to demands from the powerful unions that represent the state’s public employees, which is one of the reasons the state is in such deep fiscal trouble. Legislators have been even more generous to city employees because the city, not the state, pays for their generosity.

Unless New York City gets relief, the spiraling pension burden will cripple the city’s finances for years to come. The city’s contributions to the pension fund — for 293,000 employees and about 235,000 retirees — have risen from $1.5 billion in 2001 to an estimated $8.4 billion next year. Payouts to retirees have nearly doubled from $6.6 billion in 2002 to more than $11 billion this year.

Those breathtaking numbers have several drivers, including Mr. Bloomberg’s own willingness to repeatedly raise city workers’ salaries, especially for teachers, which raises pension costs. The recession also pushed down pension fund earnings, requiring an increase in city contributions. And retirees are living longer.

But city officials estimate that from 1996 to 2009, the Legislature has added $1.7 billion to the city’s annual pension benefits. The costs would be even higher if governors had not vetoed hundreds of other sweeteners.

If Mayor Bloomberg wrestles back control from Albany, the immediate savings for the city’s budget would be relatively small. Under the state’s Constitution, previously approved pension deals cannot be renegotiated.

But with control, Mr. Bloomberg could immediately — without negotiations — cancel year-end bonuses for new retirees at a savings of $200 million in this next fiscal year. He also wants to negotiate new pension tiers for newly hired workers. The mayor’s budget experts estimate their proposal could save $1 billion over the next eight years in pension costs.

The list of Albany’s pension “sweeteners” — and the shabby political deal-making behind them — is long and well documented. In 2000, an election year, the Legislature agreed to annual cost-of-living increases for retirees that currently mean an additional $696 million annual payout. A second law that same year cost $406 million annually. It allowed nonuniformed city workers and teachers to stop contributing to their pensions after the first 10 years of employment. That law also allowed many police officers and firefighters to calculate their pensions based on their final year’s earnings — including sudden, last-minute bursts of overtime — instead of the average of their earnings in their final three years. The law also forced the city to double its share of extra pension contributions for the uniforms from 2.5 percent to 5 percent.

Then there are the “heart bills,” which automatically presume that a serious illness is caused by the job. With disability benefits, a city worker can often retire with 75 percent of pay instead of about 50 percent, a costly difference.

For all of his tough talk, Mr. Bloomberg’s own record on pensions has not always been stellar. In 2009, when Albany introduced a less generous pension plan for new state employees, the mayor, who was running for re-election, did not push hard to get the city’s new workers included. Now safely in his third and last term, Mr. Bloomberg sounds serious. His new tiers for new employees would be tougher than the state’s 2009 pension plan.

He has proposed allowing new teachers and nonuniformed employees to be vested after 10 years instead of the current five. And they would have to wait until after age 65 to receive benefits, not the current 55 to 57. (The state puts retirement at 62 in most cases.) Overtime would not count toward the final salary calculation the way it often does now, and pensions would be based on an average of the last three years of salary, with overtime no longer included.

The mayor is also calling for a similarly tough new tier for new uniformed employees — police, fire and sanitation workers. And he wants to end the “heart bills” and cancel those year-end bonuses — currently worth up to $12,000 — for new retirees.

These are undeniably stricter terms. But given the current fiscal crisis, and the spiraling pension burden, they seem sensible and fair.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has argued for less costly pension terms for new workers, but he has not said anything about returning control to the city. He should push the Legislature to do what Mayor Bloomberg is asking. This would not cost the state an extra dime. And it would put the political responsibility of negotiating with the city’s workers where it belongs: back in New York City.

Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution

While everyone is focusing on the war in Libya, the revolution is still playing out in Egypt — a vital fact that its neighbors and other nations should not forget. The mostly peaceful protests that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak six weeks ago were just the first phase in a transition to what, we hope, will be a democratic future.

Egypt is the most important Arab country and the touchstone for change in the Arab world. Egyptians are going to have to exert maximum commitment — over decades — to get this right. The chances of success are greatly improved if the United States and other major democratic nations stand by ready to help.

On Saturday, Egypt held its first free and fair election. Millions voted and overwhelmingly approved nine constitutional amendments to set the stage for parliamentary and presidential elections that are expected later this year.

The amendments begin to jettison a cruel and repressive system. They limit how long a president can serve (two four-year terms), make it easier for candidates to get on the ballot and restrict a president’s ability to impose a state of emergency. Still, the process was flawed. The amendments were drafted by a panel appointed by the secretive ruling military council and rushed to a vote. They do not go nearly far enough and were not adequately publicized. A full rewrite of the Constitution will have to come later.

We share the unease of young protesters who made the revolution happen and worry their demand for democracy could be hijacked by the highly organized groups who campaigned hardest for the amendments: allies of the old regime and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The military government on Wednesday took another step toward civilian governance by easing rules on forming political parties. But it also laid plans to outlaw demonstrations. The draconian, decades-old state of emergency must be lifted and with it curbs on freedom of speech and assembly. It would be much better if protesters and civil society groups were involved in these decisions, including setting dates for elections.

Egyptians are justly proud of what they accomplished and wary of outsiders, especially the United States, which long backed the old regime. But they need to quickly make political reforms. If they resist American help, there are plenty of newly democratic countries that can advise on political parties and rule of law.

Where the United States and Europe can bring crucial assets to bear is with economic reform. Egypt’s state-run economy — where the military has a huge stake — has failed to create jobs for millions of young Egyptians. A recently announced multimillion-dollar American economic aid package is a good start. The Obama administration also promised to sustain its longstanding aid to Egypt, which runs about $1.5 billion a year, mostly for the military.

But more is needed. The West should pursue bilateral and regional trade agreements with Egypt (this would be a good time for Israel to reach out). Congress needs to expedite approval for an American-Egyptian fund proposed by the Obama administration, Senator John Kerry and others. Modeled after similar funds for post-Communist Eastern Europe, it aims to stimulate desperately needed private-sector investment. The total cost is unclear, but the money initially would be reprogrammed from already approved accounts.

This is a moment of great promise — and great risk — in the Arab world. Success is not assured. Washington and its allies must work creatively and urgently to help Egyptians build their democracy to make it a durable anchor of stability and tolerance in the Middle East.

Let Them Eat Cutbacks

Food stamps are part of the social safety net, but they work more as the ultimate ground-level crutch for Americans staggering against poverty. During the recession, food stamps were an important factor in helping an estimated 4.5 million Americans stave off the official poverty (no more than $21,756 annually for a family of four) that engulfed nearly 16 percent of the nation. The stamps are win-win: $9 in fast economic stimulus for every $5 spent on food for a hungry family.

Sad wonder, then, that cuts in food stamps are the latest proposal heading for the House Republicans’ budgetary chopping block. An attempt to set them back at the levels of 2007 — and cost a family of four $59 out of their $294 monthly allotment — is part of welfare “reform” legislation being proposed by leaders of the powerful Republican Study Committee. This group, embraced by two-thirds of the House majority, is the conservative engine driving much of the deficit-slashing mania to extremes.

Even last year, when the Democrats controlled the House, the political vulnerability of food stamps was clear as sleazy budget deals were attempted to tap the program to protect farm subsidies and other power blocks. Now the threat is worse as Republicans wildly estimate that they could save $1.4 trillion across a decade in cutting the full array of welfare programs — yet still help down-and-out families.

Vicious politics is already in the mix, including a surly provision to deny food stamps to any family that includes a worker on strike.

Surely hard times should find public servants protecting the neediest first, not targeting them for crumbs from a program more vital to society than another tired round of antiwelfare politicking.

 

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE ASHARQ ALAWSAT, published in LONDON

My advice for Friday: Do not kill!

The demonstrations in Egypt began with the slogan "free dignity…social justice", and the regime responded first with confusion, followed by extreme violence. This led to injuries and deaths, and consequently demands intensified, ultimately calling for the downfall of the regime. This is what happened in Egypt, and the same scenario is being repeated in Yemen, where the Sana'a regime is tottering, in Libya, where matters have escalated into war, and now we are witnessing the same mistakes in Syria.
I say this now because tomorrow is Friday, which means that matters may get worse, and therefore my advice to the Syrian regime is: Do not fire bullets, do not kill. Indeed, do not kill, for the more casualties there are, the more complicated matters get, and there has been much evidence of this in our region in the last three months. Yet it is frustrating that few lessons have been learned, it seems that the citizen has no value in many of our nations. Violent oppression and murder complicate matters, and make solutions difficult. Such conditions can cause the situation to erupt with opposition forces breaking their silence, for after death there is nothing.
The fact is that many Arab regimes that are experiencing a state of impasse, not just the states that are being incited against, have forgotten, or do not have the capacity to accommodate, the great variable in both our region and modern history today, namely technology. Now it has become difficult to conceal the truth. Yes you can distort the truth, or call it into question, but now your opponents, rightly or wrongly, are also able to do the same thing. Today, the prestige of the state cannot be imposed through violence, as happened in Hama in the 1980s, and of course this is due to the media and technology. The prestige of the state can only be acquired through laws and genuine institutions. This is what we saw with the rapid breakdown of Mubarak's regime, over 18 days, where the state did not have any prestige whatsoever. I still remember what a former Arab official told me, after Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali had fled from Tunisia, when he said: "Yes Mubarak is now on his way, what hope is there for a regime that spent the last three years searching for [Gilad] Shalit? While remaining silent in the face of all the insults directed at it from Hezbollah, and the manipulation courtesy of Hamas!"
Prestige is not intimidation, of course, but in reality it is a united internal front, achieved through genuine reforms, adequate living standards, and social justice, even in the absence of democracy. After that, and no less importantly, there must be positive international relations based on mutual respect and appreciation, through common interests, rather than through deception and patronizing.
We must remember, and learn, that the ordinary citizen today is not concerned with insulting Israel day and night, for that is the pastime of the educated ideologue. For the ordinary citizen, from Saudi Arabia to Algeria, and through Damascus, all he wants is to live with dignity, and to be able to pay his phone bills, buy bread, and educate his children until his last day, in all simplicity, no matter what the elite claim.
Therefore, there is no point in suggesting that the Damascus protestors are agents of Israel, and so on. When Friday comes, my golden advice to Damascus is: Do not kill, and do not open fire. 

EDITORIAL : THE GUARDIAN, UK

Sex crimes: The cost of failure

Delroy Grant, the so-called night stalker, was convicted yesterday of 29 offences, including a series of rapes of elderly women. The first was carried out in 1991. Eight years later, there was a chance to link him to what was already a pattern of burglary, violence and sex attacks. Ten years after that, in 2009, he was finally arrested. By then he had committed another 146 offences, including 23 further sexual assaults. The Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into the case found that just three Metropolitanpolice officers should face misconduct charges.
This is the third such case in two years – and that is just in London. In March 2009, the taxi driver John Worboys was convicted of 19 charges of drugging and assaulting 12 women. Worboy's attacks spanned a five-year period and probably involved at least 19 other women. This time, the IPCC report led to the disciplining of five officers, and an overhaul of the way the Met investigates sex crimes. Weeks later, another serial sex attacker, a south London chef called Kirk Reid, was found guilty of raping and assaulting 71 women over seven years. Again, he might have been caught earlier. This time, the IPCC report led to five more officers facing disciplinary proceedings.

London might have the mournful title of UK rape capital, but the pattern is familiar across the country. Despite a concerted effort by the last government, the percentage of successful rape convictions as a proportion of complaints remains, campaigners say, in single figures. Progress like the network of sexual assault referral centres where police and medical staff are trained to help the vulnerable women who are most often (but by no means the only) victims have a proven record of success, and the number of cases pursued to prosecution – where the conviction figures are nearly 60% – are rising. Yet the Delroy Grant case is a tough reminder of how much is still to be done. The IPCC's light-touch approach to discipline is not helping.

Nor is the government. The home secretary should be cheered for taking up the recommendations of her predecessor's Stern report into rape complaints, but it seems reckless that, having been stung by the row over anonymity for those on rape charges, Theresa May then abandoned an inquiry into the bungled investigations. The police argue that better systems and smarter technology would prevent a repetition of the mistakes. They point to the rise in the reporting of sex offences. Yet they admit that there is one last victim of Delroy Grant's two decades of violence, and the errors that left him free to terrorise a community, and that is public confidence in their ability to hunt down such people in the future.

EU economy: Cuts, growth, debt and democracy

They thought it was all over. It isn't now. Europe's debt crisis remains toxic and unresolved, even as EU leaders meet in Brussels to back action that is supposed to restore the continent to good financial health. 

Yesterday Moody's, a credit ratings agency, exercised irresponsible omniscience to downgrade 30 Spanish banks and warn Britain that cuts in George Osborne's budget may not be severe enough to sustain Britain's AAA rating, while Ireland reported that last year its economy had shrunk for a third year in a row. Yields on Irish government 10-year bonds peaked at 10.21% – which is market code for the rising risk of a default. To put this in context, Ireland, an independent nation still with a big economy, is now trusted less by investors than John Lewis, the British retailer, whose bond offer, at a much lower rate, was oversubscribed this month.
On Wednesday the Portuguese government collapsed after the country's parliament refused to back a fourth austerity package. In Brussels earlier in the week the police fired water cannon at protesters who feel that austerity is being imposed, without any democratic backing at all, to please the markets. Never before has the EU's political elite been so far apart from its citizens, or so fragmented. The notion of a common European home with common interests is failing as some states, such as Germany and Sweden, return to pre-crash rates of growth while others, Greece, Portugal and Ireland among them, remain broke. Even before the summit began, a draft of its conclusions was leaked. It suggests eurozone leaders have not worked out how to fund the proposed European Stability Mechanism and its €700bn bailout fund, which is supposed to sort out the sovereign debt crisis once and for all.
None of this means the EU is about to fall apart or the euro collapse, but it does pile on the pressure, particularly for Germany where Angela Merkel wants to renegotiate the terms of Berlin's payments into the fund. In the short term even the Portuguese situation is manageable. The markets had already factored in the probability of an EU bailout, along the lines of Greece and Ireland. But without a secure government in Lisbon it will be hard to agree or enforce the terms. Even Ireland, which does have a new government elected on a platform of implementing an austerity budget, is trying to renegotiate the terms of its EU aid: instead a further bailout looks more likely. By taking what was private bank debt on its shoulders the Irish state has made the country's task harder, since any default would be a national not just a commercial one. In Portugal and Greece, it was always the state that was doing the spending.
There seem to be three possible outcomes. The most likely is that the eurozone will somehow muddle through, at the cost of more bailouts to indebted states, and somehow a mix of growth and austerity will ease the crisis, at huge social cost in places such as Greece. Or some states could demand and obtain easier repayment terms – perhaps defaulting altogether and hoping to rebuild as Iceland is managing to do. But if that happens, their ability to borrow from anyone other than the EU will be shot through. Finally, the euro could collapse, its rich members taking one course and leaving the rest to go to hell in handcart. But that would effectively wreck the EU.
Of these the first is the most palatable option and the one EU leaders are sticking to. Even Britain, excluded from the eurozone core meetings, sees the advantages, which is why Eurosceptical David Cameron is saying so little. But what if the debt terms and enforced austerity prove so onerous that more governments fall rather than implement them? Perhaps some economies will never prove strong enough to crawl out from the commitments imposed on them. Britain is not alone in facing a hard choice between cuts, growth, debt and democracy.

In praise of … amateur sleuths

Blay trawled chat logs to unearth the trail of a character who turned out to have morbid fascinations.

Whether it is shrewd spinsters (Miss Marple), curious clergy (Father Brown) or high-schoolers with hunches (Nancy Drew), the world of fiction has its fair share of amateur detectives, outwitting the local plod. In real life we rarely hear about crime-solvers in the community. But the conviction last week of William Melchert-Dinkel in a US court, for aiding the suicides of Mark Drybrough, from Coventry, and a Canadian student, Nadia Kajouji, highlighted dogged digging by a 64-year-old Wiltshire grandmother, Celia Blay. First alerted to Melchert-Dinkel's activities in 2002, after encountering a depressed teenager who had met a "female nurse" online who "advised" them to take pills, Blay trawled chat logs to unearth the trail of a character who turned out to have morbid fascinations. He would befriend vulnerable and often young victims, feign sympathy and then enter into one-sided suicide pacts. Despite rebuffs from both the FBI and British police, Blay persisted for eight years until the Minnesota police took up the case and arrested Melchert-Dinkel on her evidence. Blay's tenacity echoes that of housewife Susan Galbreath, who tracked the perpetrators of a heinous murder in her hometown of Mayfield, Kentucky to justice over seven years, long after official law enforcers had given up. One striking feature of both cases was the police's initial reluctance to grapple with evidence amassed by amateurs. Melchert-Dinkel's conviction proves beyond reasonable doubt that this needs to change.

 

 

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA

Internet supervision a tough challenge

Regulating the Internet has become a tough job for public opinion management in China. The Internet mirrors not only the complexity of Chinese society, but also the interactions between China and the world. It is a hodgepodge of ideas and opinions.

Stemming from Western society, the Internet has a Western cultural pattern that China has copied thoroughly. Friction and maladjustment inevitably take place as China syncs up with the Internet. This is bound to be a process of mutual change and compromise.

Recently, the West has slammed China for its "stern" Internet regulations. They hope China could keep the original Internet background of a Western social environment. They have aimed similar criticisms against other nonWestern countries. Some small countries have given up their efforts to localize the Internet, which actually demonstrates their acceptance of reform to the beat of a Western drum.

A rising China and the emergence of the Internet need to interact with each other. Between the two, neither confrontation nor one overwhelming the other is imaginable. The two have to integrate whatever the hurdles may be.

The Internet has brought so many benefits for China. Its rapid growth here proves that Chinese and Western societies share much more in common than previously imagined.

However, the Internet often calls for instant change in China, to narrow the gap between Chinese and Western societies. This is impractical, and the revision of some Internet rules inevitably take place. This is a natural and nearly instinctive need based on China's social reality. However, this need has often become politicized.

Each country needs to adjust some Internet rules based on its reality. The biggest problem facing China is that many complaints and appeals abruptly converge on the Internet, since the nation previously lacked a smooth channel for public expression.

The Internet has broken China's previous social calm, and forced society to proceed hurriedly in respect of issues like democracy. At the same time, the Internet provides a convenient way to spread rumors and magnify quibbles, which directly impacts upon China's social stability.

The adaptability and flexibility of Chinese society has proven strong over the past years. Some decisive regulation measures over the Internet were largely adopted during special periods or in places that witnessed social unrest.

No one saw these temporary measures as ideal they are more like costs that China has to take on in order to properly connect to the Internet.

In respect of China's social governance, it is an urgent task to seek better regulation measures and replace the existing crude ones.

China needs both the Internet and social stability. The two do not necessarily conflict with each other. They actually see much more fusion than friction, and China must try its best to press home this advantage.

 

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY MIRROR, SRILANKA

EARTH DAY: LET US BE GOOD STEWARDS

In the aftermath of Japan’s worst ever catastrophe where more than 22,000 people died or are reported missing after the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear radiation which contaminated even the tap water supply in greater Tokyo, the world tomorrow will plant a good seed or deed to mark Earth Day.
Western Provincial Minister Udaya Gammanpila, a former Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority said this week the apocalyptic disaster in Japan was largely self-made because its main causes such as global warming were the result of individual and collective self-centeredness. This drove people towards the folly and foolishness of self-destruction through environmental pollution and other misadventures, which upset the delicate balance of the eco system. Mr. Gammanpila who in the past few years has been playing a major role in making people aware that they must turn away and turn away fast from their course towards self-destruction appealed to all Sri Lankans to switch off electric lights from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm on Sunday as their contribution towards the success of Earth Day. In other countries Earth Day will be observed tomorrow but Sri Lanka postponed it for Sunday because of the World Cup cricket tournament quarter final match between Sri Lanka and England at the Premadasa Stadium in Keththarama. Ironically between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm tomorrow floodlights will be blazing all over the Premadasa Stadium and TV sets will be on in millions of houses, meaning the consumption of thousands of units of electricity.
In another significant move President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday declared open the Chinese- funded coal power plant in Norochcholai. The controversial plant when in full operation is expected to supply 30 per cent of Sri Lanka’s electricity needs and almost every area in Sri Lanka will have lights. The President said light or the lack of lights would no longer be an issue at elections. But the more enlightened aspect of this is the need to save electricity. Sri Lanka’s hydro power stations and thermal power plants need fuel, which emit more carbon dioxide into the environment and thus increase global warming. Though China is funding the coal power plant in Norochcholai, such plants are being minimized or scrapped in China itself because coal power also is said to cause environmental pollution.
Ceylon Electricity Board officials have said they are taking all steps to reduce environmental pollution from the coal power plant, but what is happening in Japan needs to be seen as a warning to Sri Lanka. Japan had taken highly modernized and maximum precautions at its nuclear power plants for electricity but these were not sufficient to prevent a breakdown in some of the reactors and cause dangerous levels of radiation after the tsunami.
Whatever the politics of electricity or the political undercurrents of coal power or nuclear power, Sri Lankans need to contribute to Earth Day by switching off lights and sacrificing their TV programmes from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm on Sunday. That alone is not enough. We must continue the good work in reversing the trend towards global warming by using less electricity every day and avoid events or situations where there is heavy use or wastage of electricity. We need to remember that switching off an unnecessary light is like saying a prayer because it does not mean just reducing the electricity bill but contributes towards the saving of Mother Earth from self-destruction.

EDITORIAL : THE DAWN, PAKISTAN

Food insecurity

THE director of the World Food Programme in Pakistan, Wolfgang Herbinger, has drawn attention to an urgent problem: the link between food insecurity and the support-price regime for key food crops. As Mr Herbinger explained: “The crop outlook is not bad, but the food security situation remains difficult because prices remain so high.” The WFP Pakistan director cited wheat in particular as a culprit for increasing food insecurity in the country — the present government has increased the official wheat-procurement price to Rs950 over the course of its term so far, a 50 per cent increase. Mr Herbinger is absolutely correct. A series of myopic, self-serving decisions by the federal cabinet have made it more difficult for poor Pakistanis to obtain basic foodstuffs derived from key crops.

The central issue here is the price-support regime sponsored and implemented by the government. Consider just the case of wheat. The basic logic of the state offering to buy a few million tonnes of the crop each year at a guaranteed price announced before the sowing season is to encourage production. And on wheat, the country is admittedly doing fairly well — with surplus production this year helping to protect against the unprecedented floods of last year. But — and here`s the rub — is there any evidence that the support price actually works in terms of incentivising farmers to produce wheat? The empirical data, according to economists, suggests that it does not. Other than encouraging some production at the margin, by leading some farmers to switch to wheat or to try and produce wheat on less-fertile land, for example, there is little evidence that a state-guaranteed purchase price encourages production. Which means that the cost of the incentive — an inflation tax on consumers, who must pay more for wheat so that the farmers are `encouraged` to produce — is unjustified and unwarranted. Consider that there are far more consumers of wheat than there are producers, and many of those consumers happen to be the poor who Mr Herbinger indicated are growing more vulnerable to food insecurity.

So why does this happen? The short answer: landed interests are either directly in power or have great sway over what the federal cabinet does. With big wheat, sugarcane and rice producers having so much political clout, the interests of the ordinary consumer and the poor are no match. But the State Bank is believed to be pushing for a compromise. Rather than directly financing the support-price regime, the government could opt for a regulatory role. That would reduce the inefficiencies and level of corruption in the support-price regime. But will the Economic Coordination Committee listen?

Release of suspects

THE law must take its due course. As this paper has pointed out repeatedly, we do not agree with the concept of summary `justice`, in which innocent persons can be sentenced to death without getting a fair hearing. It is important here to retain the distinction between speedy and summary justice. That said, it is also vital to note that an overwhelming majority of detainees who have been arrested of late for their ostensible militant activities continue to be released by the country`s anti-terrorism courts for want of evidence. The case against most of them appears to be clear-cut on a circumstantial level but they are set free, to terrorise society all over again, simply because of the shoddy prosecution that is the bane of our legal system. Take the case of the people picked up for their alleged involvement in a number of terrorist attacks in the country, for instance the assault on the Parade Lane mosque in Rawalpindi. Then there are the routine killings in Karachi. How many of the perpetrators of those crimes have been prosecuted?

This criminal negligence must stop for a number of reasons. First and foremost, dangerous criminals bent on murder and mayhem cannot be allowed to operate freely after they are caught. Two, it does no good to overall morale when law-enforcement personnel who put their lives on the line when arresting militants see them released because the state`s lackadaisical prosecutors cannot convincingly press a case in a court of law. Witnesses often do not come forth, even in the case of crimes that are brazen, because they have no confidence in the guarantees offered by the state. Why would anybody expose themselves and their families to the threat of deadly retaliation when witness protection is merely a concept, not a fact? The battle against terrorism cannot be won in this way. Adequate security must be provided to the witnesses who appear in anti-terrorism courts and the judges who preside over the proceedings, and the prosecution needs to do its homework before resorting to legal action. Otherwise, insurgents and terrorists will continue to go scot-free.

Death of an icon

THE death on Wednesday of Elizabeth Taylor has been accompanied by a sense of loss, as the world of movies has been deprived of some of its glitter. She was the last of Hollywood’s golden-era icons, personifying a time when celebrity culture of legendary proportions was the exclusive preserve of the industry. The London-born star lived to see the world survive the Second World War and arrive in the era of Facebook and Twitter. A globally recognised icon but a somewhat overlooked actor, during a career that spanned five decades Ms Taylor may not always have been brilliant in her work, but sometimes was just that. Her best performances came with strong, female-centric roles such as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Even when not at her peak in thespian terms, she was rarely less than arresting. From child actress to the queen of tinsel town, Ms Taylor was, in a sense, Hollywood itself.

Yet Elizabeth Taylor’s legacy stretches beyond her own life, tragic and blessed as it was by turns. She was amongst those celebrities who used their status to turn the world’s attention towards people less fortunate. Ms Taylor upheld the cause of gay rights and AIDS awareness at a time when the world was as yet new, and thus hostile, to the idea. Her advocacy for AIDS awareness earned her a special Oscar in 1993. Her example of supporting causes is followed by celebrities across the world, including in Pakistan. Her words while accepting the special Oscar are pertinent: “I call upon you to draw from the depths of your being to prove that we are a human race, to prove that our love outweighs our need to hate, that compassion is more compelling than our need to blame.”

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

That dark night in 1971

Remembering the martyred

Forty years ago tonight, seventy five million Bengalis were witness to an orgy of killing and pillage and rape by the Pakistan army equalled by few in modern history. At a time when the people of the then East Pakistan as well as West Pakistan looked forward to an honourable, democ-ratic solution to the political crisis caused by the machi-nations of a class of West Pakistani politicians and the military junta led by General Yahya Khan, the regime went for the dishonourable act of subverting the people's aspirations through a resort to force. Under what was eu-phemistically given out as Operation Searchlight, the state of Pakistan launched a genocide that would leave millions dead and the lives of those who survived changed forever.

On the night of March 25, 1971, it was plain deceit the junta resorted to. While on the one hand it gave the im-pression that a way out of the morass was being found, on the other it went busily preparing the army to unleash the calamity that eventually was not only to dash all hopes for democracy but also undermine the very foun-dations of the state of Pakistan. General Yahya Khan flew out of Dhaka secretly in the evening, but not before he had given the order to his officers to go for a military solu-tion to the problem. On that night of terror, thousands were murdered by the soldiers. Among those killed were respected academics, students, policemen, East Pakistan Rifles personnel, rickshaw pullers, indeed citizens from all walks of life. The brutality of the Pakistan army ex-tended to the Central Shaheed Minar and Kalibari at the Race Course (today's Suhrawardy Udyan), which the sol-diers destroyed in unmitigated frenzy.

It was a night of unspeakable horror and unadulter-ated evil the Bengali nation went through on March 25, 1971. We remember those who died on that night and on all the days and nights that followed, right till our achievement of victory. Their sacrifices were to pave the road to our freedom. And those who killed on that night were forever tainted by ignominy. 

No election to Zilla Parishad

The issue needs a rethink

The Zilla Parishads are now set to have government-appointed chairmen. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, while informing the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) of the govern-ment's decision, has, however, assured the nation that the objective of this arrangement is to strengthen the lo-cal government system.

The prime minister's assurances aside, what still baf-fles comprehension is how can a non-elected body strengthen the local government system?

It is worthwhile to note that the article 59 of the Con-stitution has made it quite clear that “Local Government in every administrative unit of the Republic shall be en-trusted to bodies, composed of persons elected in accor-dance with law.” Oddly though, as far as the tradition goes, no election was ever held to form Zilla Parishad bodies. The practice of appointing MPs as Zilla Parishad chairmen were introduced during the rule of Ershad in 1988 under, Zilla Parishad Act. However, in 2000 the then Awami League government by repealing that Act framed another law that required an elected body to constitute Zilla Parishad.

So, the question that naturally arises is what exigency has come about now that the/ government is shifting from its original stance in favour of this new arrange-ment? The 15-member Zilla parishad conceived of in this scheme will be but the same old system of selecting rather than electing a Zilla parishad body, but presented in a new package, though not clearly outlined.

We would like to point out that a non-elected local government body runs the risk of being tinkered by the bureaucracy or the party in power. We also know from previous experience, how these local government bodies became ineffectual as well as a tool to serve the purpose of the executives of the state. Though elected local gov-ernment bodies can also be tampered with as far as its autonomy goes, there is still room for accountability in an elected body.

If the government is earnest about strengthening the Zilla Parishad, as the prime minister has given out at the JS, it would do well to have a rethink of its present stance and thereby live up to the spirit of the constitution.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY YOMIURI, JAPAN

Prepare for lengthy power shortage

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A prolonged energy shortage is unavoidable in areas serviced by Tokyo Electric Power Co., due to the damage caused by the massive earthquake that hit the Tohoku and Kanto regions.

The government must draw up a power supply plan through in-depth discussions with TEPCO and inform the public about it so as not to cause confusion.

Industrial circles and ordinary households will be asked to cooperate in efforts to deal with the power outage and save electricity.

Planned blackouts in areas supplied with power from TEPCO began March 14. There was great confusion at first, partly due to inadequate explanations by TEPCO. Ten days have passed since then and problems remain, but the situation is stabilizing.

TEPCO plans to conclude its planned power outages by the end of April, when supply is expected to meet demand. But a worrisome situation is expected in summer.

The quake severely damaged TEPCO's power plants, including the Fukushima Nos. 1 and 2 nuclear facilities. It can now supply only 37.5 million kilowatts per day, not enough to meet demand.

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TEPCO trying to boost supply

Because of this, TEPCO is working hard to boost its supply capability by resuming operations at its thermal power plant in the Tokyo Bay area, which had been idle. By the end of April, TEPCO is expected to be able to supply about 43 million kilowatts, which should meet demand at least for the time being.

In summer, however, air conditioners will be turned on en masse, increasing the daily demand for power to 60 million kilowatts in an average year.

TEPCO hopes to restore its power plants by then, including another thermal facility that was damaged in the quake. But it is expected to secure only about 50 million kilowatts through restoration work, so the problem remains of how to make up for the shortfall.

The government is studying the possibility of limiting the total amount of power that can be used by businesses, a measure previously implemented during the 1970s oil crises. Reviving the system, designed to regulate how much each company can consume, is inevitable.

This method was effective at the time of the crises because the industrial sector accounted for a high percentage of the total power consumed at that time. Now that the amount of power in general use has increased, however, the benefits of this approach will be limited.

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Interchange insufficient

Surplus electricity could be obtained from western Japan. Because this requires converting the frequency, however, this method of power supply is limited to 1 million kilowatts a day.

Needless to say, TEPCO needs to boost its conversion ability, but as it would take quite some time to do this, TEPCO would not be able to finish in time for the increased demand in summer.

Given these circumstances, another cycle of planned power outages is inevitable. TEPCO must root out problems and make these outages run smoothly.

Apart from the power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, the company needs to examine, in the medium term, restarting nuclear plants whose operations have been suspended.

If enough time is spent on repairs and safety inspections, it would be possible to restart operations at TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, where three reactors have been idle due to the impact of the 2007 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake, and at Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa nuclear power plant, which stopped operating after the March 11 quake.

It will be difficult, but efforts to win the understanding of local residents will be essential.