EDITORIAL : THE NATIONAL POST, CANADA

 

The Libertarian party: Smaller government, more freedom

In the din of an election campaign, it's hard for so-called fringe parties to make their voice heard. This week, the National Post gives smaller parties the chance to tell you what they're all about -and why you might consider giving them your vote.

Most people, most of the time, know best how to manage their own lives. This may be intuitively obvious to many Canadians - and to the Libertarian Party of Canada - but apparently escapes many other political parties. Year after year, especially if there is an election, those other parties enter a bidding war, offering more and larger programs in exchange for your votes, programs that seek to manage your lives, often with unintended consequences and few net benefits.

The Libertarian approach is different. We do not promise to endlessly expand spending and impose new restrictions on personal action. Our goal is to leave Canadians as much responsibility for their lives as possible. Given the challenge of taming the leviathan of big government, we aim to return control to the individual as fast as practicable with the least dislocation to society. We are not anarchists, as some label us, but we do propose that much of what is currently done by government does not -or should not -be done only by government. The Libertarian platform includes:

Ending the war on drugs Current drug enforcement policies have cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars. The Harper government's recent expansion of that war, with the support of the Liberals, will damage the lives of even more people. If drug dependency were treated as a personal medical problem, for those suffering from excessive drug use, there would be far less harm to society. The only role of the government with respect to drug use would be regulating against fraud.

Ending war, in general NATO, as with our military, should be used only for defence from attack. We would limit participation in NATO to our original mandate as written, not as perverted by those who use it to support the invasion of other countries. Aging military equipment would be replaced as needed but only with equipment designed for the defence of Canada, not with fighter jets intended for offensive use in other countries.

Full choice at the ballot box Democracy is the best way to choose representation, but sometimes the ballot offers no real choice. Voter participation declines as the distinctions between the major parties diminish. We would add "None of the Above" to the ballot at all federal elections. NOTA would be listed alongside the names of other candidates on the ballot, so voters would have a real choice even if candidates and their parties failed to meet your standards. NOTA votes would be recorded and reported as a vote so there would be no confusion as to Canadians' intentions, as there is now with a spoiled ballot.

Legal reform It is not possible to move to a more libertarian society without improving the most basic libertarian documents, the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, so they offer true legal protection from excessive government. A Libertarian government would open negotiations with the provinces to add property rights and other limits on the powers of government with the aim of ratifying these changes with a binding referendum of the people by late in the mandate.

10-for-4 Our bottom line spending cuts average 10% annually, for each of the next four years. Last year $57-billion was transferred to other levels of government, an increase of $16-billion in just five years. We would reduce these transfers by 25% each year with the plan to eliminate most transfers in the second mandate. Taxes would decline proportionately after the deficit is eliminated in the first year. We would replace the current maze of complex tax breaks and special favours with a single flat tax. The people who support endless expansion of government may decry this reduction as too rapid, but it would only roll spending levels back to those of 2004, after four years. The second mandate will continue this reduction trend.

It is far too risky to continue down our current path of big spending, big government, and excessive regulation. Canada came through the recession far better than many countries, due to spending reductions that produced a surplus to buffer us against tough times, but that buffer has been squandered by the Harper government and their coalition of big government supporters in the other three major parties. It is time not only to turn the ship of state around, but to shrink it, if we are to ensure the prosperity of future generations. For that and the other reasons listed above, we ask that you please support the Libertarian Party of Canada.

Profits -and people

In the past decade, both Liberal and Conservative federal governments have sharply cut corporate income tax rates. Canada is currently still committed to reducing the federal rate by a further 1.5 points, to 15%. The provinces have taken action as well: Manitoba has completely eliminated taxes on small businesses, while British Colombia has announced that it will follow suit next year. Yet the debate over further reductions has become a centerpiece of the current federal election campaign.

Opponents of corporate tax cuts base their arguments on a biased view of corporate decision making. Politicians and social activists claim that we must choose between "profits or people." That view fails to appreciate that companies make decisions in the same way as their very "human" analogues: individual entrepreneurs. Every shift in the balance of risk and reward subtly changes the investment climate that shapes economic activity.

How would the owner of a local convenience store respond to a sudden reduction in property taxes? She most likely would not immediately increase employee hours, but might reduce prices on certain items to attract new clientele. He might decide to spend money on a family vacation overseas, repave the shop parking lot, or sock additional profits away to finance expansion into the space next door. These very human responses have obvious economic consequences, even on a small scale.

Corporations respond in precisely the same manner. Lower taxes may trigger price reductions if management is anxious to improve competitiveness. If a business boosts dividends, individual and institutional shareholders will experience increased cash flow. Companies could end up "spending" tax savings on acquisitions (possibly abroad-just like our convenience store owner's foreign holiday) but they would do so on the expectation of improved future earnings, flowing back to Canada.

Will reduced corporate taxes result in an immediate increase in investment and jobs? No. When markets are stressed, corporations are not likely to rush into new investments, expand output and hire new employees. But when market opportunities present themselves, lower taxes will spark employment gains -if not immediately, certainly over the longer term.

Important as tax levels are, they remain a relatively minor component of the investment equation. But there is no doubt that a favourable tax environment constitutes a crucial advantage for Canadian business. Rather than attempt to reverse the move towards lower taxation, good policy recommends further reductions-and even the elimination of corporate income taxes entirely.

Politicians who pit the interests of the public against supposedly faceless corporate entities perform a great disservice. Collectively we are all components of the economy-whether as employees, consumers or producers. We all directly or indirectly depend on a profitable private sector. Our private and public pension plans rely heavily on dividend and capital gains incomes generated by corporations and banks. Solid returns on our savings and insurance plans are only possible so long as the corporate sector remains strong. Finally, one of the largest labour pools in the country is employed in the financial sector itself, spending millions of dollars in the local economy, and paying millions more in income taxes.

It is time to give low-tax policies their due, and stop trying to bite the hand that feeds us. In the words of former Prime Minister Paul Martin "Do you want to tie Canada's hands behind its back? Then increase corporate income taxes."

The power of Iron Dome

We are guessing that most Palestinians are not enthusiastic supporters of Israel's world-leading armaments industry. Yet a recent triumph of Israeli engineering may do much to help save Palestinian lives.
Till now, Israel's only means of defending itself against rocket and missile fire from the Gaza Strip was through invasion or air strikes -which, like all forms of combat, inevitably poses risks to local civilians caught in the crossfire.
But the situation suddenly has changed.
This week, terrorists inside the Gaza Strip fired a pair of missiles at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. The missiles never made it. They were intercepted by Israel's new missile-defence system, Iron Dome, which tracked the incoming projectiles and destroyed them both in the air. This is the first successful battlefield use of a system that's been in development for four years, and marks the first occasion in history that a shortrange missile has been successfully negated before reaching its target during actual combat.
Of course, no weapon system -however advanced -can permanently protect Israel. Given its indiscriminate blood-lust, Hamas will find other ways to kill Israeli civilians: The fact that Islamist terrorists recently fired an anti-tank weapon at an Israeli school bus shows that they really don't care who they kill -as long as the victims are Jewish. Moreover, Israel, like every nation on earth, has the right to respond militarily to a neighbour that lobs missiles across the border -even if the missiles are intercepted and do no damage.
But at the very least, Iron Dome lessens the chance that a Palestinian missile will land in a major Israeli population centre and kill a large number of Israelis -which almost certainly would precipitate a quick, and bloody, Israeli incursion into Gaza. Once refined, the technology also presents Israel with a chance to lessen the threat from Hezbollah's more extensive missile inventory on the country's northern border.
Iron Dome will not protect Israel from war. But when war comes, it is more likely to be waged on Israel's terms.

 

Justice for Lawrence Manzer

In June 2010,a young man torched the Royal Canadian Legion Hall in the small New Brunswick town of Oromocto. On March 3, 2011, Wayne Heighton, 18, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of mischief. In exchange, the Crown prosecutor withdrew charges of arson. Mr. Heighton faces sentencing in June of this year.

Mr. Heighton's lenient treatment contrasts sharply with that meted out to another local resident: Lawrence Manzer. A year ago, Mr. Manzer was arrested and charged after assisting a neighbour who had discovered three intruders on his property in the middle of the night. Mr. Manzer helped his neighbour detain the three drunk teenagers who were prowling the neighbourhood (which had suffered a string of vandalism and property crimes that the local police had shown little interest in addressing). When confronting the intruders, Mr. Manzer carried an unloaded shotgun. For that, he also has a date with Crown prosecutor Paul Hawkins, to face charges of possession of a weapon dangerous to public peace.

Together with the man who burned down the Legion Hall, the teenagers caught a lucky break: they were merely ticketed for underage drinking. Meanwhile Mr. Manzer, who served his country in the Canadian Forces for years, is taking donations for his legal bills.

It's a small world in New Brunswick, apparently. The Legion Hall was a place where Mr. Manzer used to spend time with fellow veterans. It was a hub for the community, a place where people could celebrate birthdays, get together for a coffee or have a beer with some military friends. Mr. Manzer volunteered there, investing his own time to keep the place in good repair. With the building totally destroyed and a new one not set to be completed until the fall, Mr. Manzer reports that the veterans, many of them of very advanced age, have continued to meet regularly at the home of one of the men, a 78-yearold who fought in Korea 60 years ago. Losing one of the centres of their social lives, as well as a place of mutual support, has been severely distressing for these men.

It is a travesty that Mr. Manzer faces trial for helping his neighbour while holding an unloaded gun, while the intruders he confronted received a slap on the wrist. And it adds insult to injury that another young criminal could burn down a community hall at the heart of the local military community, and yet have the serious charge against him dropped.

 

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA

 

The Crisis Next Time

The federal government survived the hostage crisis created by House Republicans, but emerged staggering from the deal struck Friday night. The compromises were damaging, the amount of money cut from a sickly economy was severe, and the image of Washington as a back-alley dogfighting garage will not soon fade.

The Republicans set the terms of the debate at every point, and learned that they can push the fumbling and fearful Democrats far to the right. Within hours, they began revving up to create the next crisis.

Although much of the final deal has not yet been made public, it is clear it could have been far worse. The White House refused to accept many of the most radical cuts in the original House bill, including deep reductions to Head Start, AmeriCorps, Pell grants, public broadcasting and competitive education programs. Financial and health care reform will continue but with reduced money. The worst right-wing demands were dropped, including a cutoff of funds to providers of abortion and family planning, and an end to regulation of greenhouse gases. And nearly half the cuts came from a side of the budget that will do less harm to the economy and the most vulnerable.

Nonetheless, the Republicans did far better than they could possibly have imagined when the process began, winning $38.5 billion in cuts, more than even the House leadership had proposed. That’s on top of the $40 billion in additional spending that President Obama had originally proposed for this fiscal year, which was dropped. About $13 billion will be cut from the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. The State Department and foreign assistance will lose $8 billion.

Key investments in roads, rails and other vital public works will again have to wait, and because these cuts will change the spending baseline for future budgets, may never be restored to their proper levels. (Defense spending will go up by only $5 billion over the next six months, not the $7 billion Republicans wanted.)

Democrats also agreed to the ideological demand of House conservatives that the District of Columbia be banned from spending any money for abortions, a cruel blow to the poor and largely African-American women who need those services. The ban was lifted in 2009.

The worst aspect of the deal, however, was the momentum it gave to Republicans who have hoodwinked many Americans into believing that short-term cuts in spending will be good for the economy. After the agreement was reached, President Obama actually patted himself on the back for agreeing to the “largest annual spending cut in our history.”

He should have used the moment to explain to Americans what irresponsible cuts the G.O.P. demanded just to keep the government open. Now, having won the philosophical terms of this debate, the House is eagerly anticipating the next and far more serious showdown: the need to raise the federal debt ceiling by May 16.

If it is not raised, the government will go into default, which could have a disastrous effect on the credit markets and the economy. House Speaker John Boehner said after the budget deal that there was “not a chance” the Republicans, who like to pretend they are the fiscally responsible party, would agree to raise the ceiling “without something really, really big attached to it.” He may be pandering to his Tea Party members, but the threat is real.

Mr. Obama will speak this week about a plan to reduce the long-term deficit, and aides are already making it clear he will finally demand that taxes for the rich must go up. The fight next time will be rougher and the principles need to be stronger. The Democrats’ message must be far more convincing than it has been, and their counterattack against Republican irresponsibility far more powerful.

Who Really Sent That E-Mail?

Americans are right to be concerned about a huge data breach at an online marketing company, Epsilon, which resulted in the theft of names and e-mail addresses for customers and employees of some of the nation’s largest businesses, including Citibank, Disney and Verizon.

Epsilon issued a statement assuring that no other information was compromised. But millions of consumers could still be vulnerable to sophisticated identity-theft ploys — “spear phishing” — in which scammers target e-mails to specific people and make it appear as if they came from a company they trust. Familiarity can lure victims into clicking on links, downloading malware, or responding to requests for account numbers or passwords.

This is not an isolated case. Last month, at RSA, which produces SecurID tokens, an employee received an e-mail entitled “2011 Recruitment Plan” and clicked on its Excel attachment. This released a program that gave hackers access to the company’s network and allowed them to lift information about the tokens.

Two years ago, the Justice Department charged a 28-year-old from Miami and two Russians with stealing 130 million credit card numbers from one of the world’s largest payment processing companies. Last year there were large-scale data breaches at Affinity Health Plan, Lincoln Financial Securities and Ohio State University.

Epsilon has provided few details, saying the breach is subject to an investigation. The public and policy makers need to understand how the hack took place to determine how vulnerable sensitive information really is and figure out what further safeguards are needed to protect it.

The breach at Epsilon underscores the urgent need for a federal standard of data safety that ensures companies follow adequate policies and procedures to protect consumers’ information and determines companies’ legal liability for breaches. As Congress debates new data privacy rules, it should put data security at the forefront.

Possibilities include imposing maximum periods for retaining personal data and rules about how to protect data that is flowing through corporate networks, stored on corporate servers or, increasingly, on the cloud. It certainly seems risky to have one company handle sensitive information about the customers of so many large firms.

Consumers must also be vigilant. For starters, they should be wary about clicking on any e-mail attachment, even if it comes with a seemingly personal greeting from a business they know and trust.

Sensible Rules to Make Bus Travel Safer

Three major bus accidents in the Northeast, including the horrific crash on Interstate 95 in the Bronx that killed 15 passengers and critically injured several others, may finally spur Congress to mandate bus safety improvements.
 

A bipartisan measure to require seat belts, roofs that can withstand a rollover, better windows to prevent passenger ejection in crashes, and other vital safety steps was introduced in the Senate by Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas.  The bill, which covers interstate motor coaches, also has new and more stringent requirements for driver fitness and bus company oversight to root out irresponsible operators. A companion bill is pending in the House.

 A nearly identical bill died at the close of last year when Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, imposed a hold on the legislation. Early Senate approval, with strong bipartisan support, may even embarrass the regulation-hostile House into acting. 

  The Department of Transportation is already preparing rules that will require buses to have seat belts and electronic recorders to replace easily falsified paper records of driver hours. Some companies have begun voluntarily adopting safety enhancements. Yet, having Congress require a reasonable set of changes, with a clear timetable, is the best way to ensure the reforms. 

 Buses carry roughly 750 million passengers a year and no legislation can prevent all accidents.  What Congress can and should do is establish common-sense safety standards designed to make crashes less likely, and decrease the death and injury toll when they occur. 

Bluefin Tuna Catch a (Small) Break

The numbers of endangered bluefin tuna are rapidly dwindling, due to vast overfishing fueled by Japan’s insatiable sushi appetite. The international body set up to conserve these fish has utterly failed to do its job. But a small and clever innovation may slow their decline: special hooks designed to help commercial fishing boats in the Gulf of Mexico avoid catching bluefin accidentally.

The hooks are simply thinner than usual, and bend under the weight of a bluefin, whose average size when caught in the gulf is 485 pounds. The hooks still work for yellowfin tuna and swordfish, which weigh a lot less. Fishing for bluefin in the gulf has been illegal since the 1980s, but longline boats often catch them without meaning to. Whether landed or released, the bluefin die.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will require the 50 longline vessels in the gulf to start using the hooks on May 5. Some fishermen are already using them, because they work so well. The sooner the better, because the gulf is where the bluefin spawn each spring.

Even if the new hook ends bluefin bycatch completely, it will only slow the species’ extinction spiral. The only real hope for survival is for the world to ban international trade in bluefin, as it has for the tiger and blue whale.

The United States supports such a move, and the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species could have done so last year. But its members buckled under ferocious lobbying from Japan. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, responsible for regulating the bluefin catch, has for years ignored the advice of its own scientists and set quotas unsustainably high. Stocks of Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin dropped by more than 60 percent just in the last decade. Time is running out.

EDITORIAL : THE GUARDIAN, UK

 

Libya: Rebels in retreat

The only country where the Arab revolution became a military struggle may be one of the places where the regime stays put

The renewed clashes this weekend between Gaddafi's army and the opposition forces near Ajdabiya in eastern Libya confirm something that western powers should have realised a long time ago: the rebel army is not a fighting force. It expelled Gaddafi's officials from Benghazi and had to fight to do so, but when it comes to actual combat between two armies, all the rebels have ever done is to retreat. Territorial advances have been secured only by western air strikes and only after Gaddafi's forces turned tail. The rebels have yet to capture and hold ground on their own account. If there is a war going on, it is between Nato air power and Gaddafi's ground forces.

Nor should we kid ourselves that on-the-job training by the SAS will make a difference. Providing heavy weapons to a force with little command and control is an even worse idea. Gaddafi's forces have adapted swiftly to the shock of being blown out of the sand in the first wave of air strikes. They have hidden their tanks and turned themselves into a fast-moving force, using pickups that, from the air, are indistinguishable from those they are fighting. The rebels in the meantime have continued to charge up and down a 150km stretch of coastal road, with weapons many of them have little idea how to use. If they tried this with tanks and heavy artillery, they would soon lose them, and the coalition would only be arming the wrong side.

Nato, too, may soon reach the limits of what it can do with air power, after the second time in less than a week that its war planes struck friendly targets. Nato refused to apologise for the latest attack on a rebel convoy of tanks and troops. The British deputy commander of the operation, Rear Admiral Russell Harding, said on Friday that they had not been told that the rebels planned to deploy tanks. Air strikes may have degraded Gaddafi's forces to the point that they no longer threaten Benghazi, but that is a long way from him surrendering control of Tripoli. Libya is the only country where the Arab revolution became a military struggle, and for this very reason it may be one of the places where the regime stays put.

If all this points to a stalemate, and worse, one that partitions the country, the prospect of negotiating a ceasefire may start to look more attractive to both sides. Two elements of the peace plan put forward by the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, could appeal to the rebels: a ceasefire in the cities surrounded by Gaddafi's forces and a humanitarian corridor. Getting their cities back would allow the rebels to return to the business of organising an uprising, which is exactly why Gaddafi might oppose such a move. The third element – negotiations leading to free elections – is more troubling to the rebel leadership in Benghazi because they could be a long, drawn-out process. Determining how the Gaddafi clan will react to this, with its splits and the uncertainties over son Saif's role, is anyone's bet. If Saif is indeed working towards an exit strategy that is not insulting to his father – an interim government and a transition period that leaves him in place but without power – then the Turkish proposal is well aimed. Even if this is yet far from his father's intentions, he will be canny enough not to reject Turkish mediation out of hand. The problem is that we know so little about these court intrigues that it is impossible to make a judgment about how an end game might look. All we know is that the military option is looking less appealing and the regime, despite the defections, is not crumbling.

The air war may have secured parts of Libya, but Gaddafi has shown for the second time in his life that he is still standing on home turf. This could change, but how many in Nato are that confident that it will? All this points to an outcome with Gaddafi and his sons in place. It is messy. It lacks a redemptive conclusion. But it is the way this conflict is going. 

In praise of … maize

One of the world's most successful food crops, maize could also prevent greenhouse emissions from flatulent cows

It has a ring to it, but that is the only sound the world will hope to hear from the latest use for one of the world's most successful staple foods. Research at Reading University has found that increasing maize silage in the diet of cattle reduces the flatulence which accompanies their gentle rumination of the cud. Farming is responsible for 9% of the greenhouse gas emissions; half of this comes from the overworked stomachs of cows, sheep and goats. The Reading experiments, with input from scientists at Aberystwyth, therefore promise a small but not insignificant footnote to the struggle to stem climate change. Alas, the findings do not extend to humanity, via bingeing on corn-on-the-cob or finding some virtue in the popcorn scoopings at cinemas where "small" is the size of a bucket or baby-bath. They also require that some praise be given to higher-sugar grasses and naked oats, the latter stripped of the indigestible husks which would actually increase windiness. Both are part of Reading's recommended diet for cattle and so deserve honour, but in the way of an Olympic runner-up or third place. Maize takes the crown, as a plant first cultivated in prehistoric Mesoamerica and still the most widely grown crop in the United States, yet capable of producing these surprises. Perhaps time will bring it a second Nobel prize, on top of the 1983 award to Barbara McClintock who described her genetic work memorably as "asking the maize plant to solve specific problems and then watching its responses".

Mau Mau abuse case: Time to say sorry

There are some who would like empire to be on trial, but what matters now is that the British government accepts responsibility

Three frail, elderly men and one woman will this morning continue their high court fight for compensation for the pain and suffering they suffered in detention camps during the Mau Mau uprising. They should be allowed to return home before the week is out with the heartfelt apologies of the government ringing in their ears. For the past 60 years Westminster has tried to evade its responsibility for the events of the Kenya emergency. It is time to stop wriggling and come clean.

So much easier said than done, of course. For there is something peculiarly chilling about the way colonial officials behaved, most notoriously but not only in Kenya, within a decade of the liberation of the concentration camps and the return of thousands of emaciated British prisoners of war from the Pacific. One courageous judge in Nairobi explicitly drew the parallel: Kenya's Belsen, he called one camp.

The uprising by a secret sect, the Mau Mau – impoverished Kikuyu demanding the return of their fertile lands – led to the deaths of maybe 20,000 men and women, many after torture and internment. Thousands more died in the violence that tore apart Kikuyu families on opposing sides of the dispute.

With the tacit consent of ministers at Westminster, a British administration in colonial Kenya chose to behave as if Africans had no human rights. Rattled by a handful of murderous attacks on planters, they tried to face down the rebels using the empire's default setting of brutality. Castration, sodomy, rape and beatings were everyday weapons in its unremitting defence of the rights of the white settlers. So much, so sadly familiar. But what is clear from the cursory scrutiny that historians, led by Oxford's David Anderson, have so far made of literally thousands of documents whose existence has only just been revealed, is that there was no doubt in the perpetrators' minds of how their actions would appear to posterity: among the itemised beatings and torture are repeated references to the risk of being caught. They knew their actions were indefensible. The government is not challenging the claims. Rather, it is seeking to find a legal pretext to avoid responsibility.

There are some who would like the empire itself to be on trial. But what matters most now is that the British government accepts responsibility. Without an apology, there is an enduring sense of complicity in the immoral actions of a racist administration that wantonly trashed a fundamental code. It reads across to other wars, in other countries and other continents. It legitimises the actions of other governments. And the longer its lawyers wrangle in the courts, the more shame it brings.

EDITORIAL : THE GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA

 

China's path is storied but unwavering

Some people enthusiastically seek political confrontation in Chinese society and their speech and behavior becomes all the more striking for it. This sensitivity is further intensified due to Western support.

Objectively, such antagonistic feelings are unavoidable in any society. Any community will cause some negative emotions and have certain incurable defects, beyond the emerging problems China faces.

China's mainstream society advocates "constructive criticism," valuing both the origin and the tone of criticism, namely its "attitude." However, with the emergence of the Internet and the media, certain criticisms and antagonistic feelings become intertwined, impacting on China's traditional political culture and bringing confusion about "freedom of speech" to some.

The Western support for this confrontation has increased the difficulty for Chinese society to handle this phenomenon. After being heated up, some weak political elements have become the focus of the tension between the West and China. These individuals thus become "fighters for democracy."

How should we deal with these new problems? We obviously lack experience in doing so. However, since "antagonistic feelings" are inevitable, we should first try to adapt to them. By improving Chinese society's endurance and adaptability to the political confrontation created by the minority, their impact can be reduced as much as possible and these few malcontents really become a "minority."

China should also strengthen the balance between mainstream culture and mainstream values in confronting antagonistic expression. In addition to legal restrictions on aggressive behavior, it is essential for the mainstream society to firmly oppose political radicals. Currently, most people keep silent while a small number of activists are the most active voices on the Internet. If this pattern cannot be changed, the extreme claims that are destructive to the society will not be effectively controlled and balanced.

It is true that China lacks experience in dealing with acts of political confrontation. Since the West is likely to attack China for the long term, China's administrative and judicial authorities should be cautious. Nevertheless, the West is not the appropriate judge for China. It is worth bringing more attention to foreign affairs to allow the Chinese public to really understand this and perceive China's judicial sovereignty and fairness. Only in this way can we squeeze out the loud voices of the West from China's political life.

China unlikely return to the simpler political situations of the past which are not necessarily the ideal means of state. But it is very dangerous for China to have such widening social differences. It is necessary for China to handle all manners of hostile factors appropriately to ensure its rise and its long-term stability.

House churches cannot politicize religion

The police on Sunday stopped an illegal meeting of a group of Christians in Beijing's Zhongguancun area, which is under their remit to maintain social order. However, once again, the move has been seen by Western media as being a major event.

As is widely known, Chinese laws are clear that every religious group in China needs legal registration. However, this "house church" is unregistered. To be exact, it is not a legal group. However, since religious issues are involved in this sensitive matter, the Chinese government has adopted a tolerant attitude toward "house churches." By maintaining a low profile, these "house churches" are clear about their illegal status. 

No matter the rationale, the public gathering of this group inappropriate. The location of their gathering was not a religious site. With the many passers-by around, it had become a public disturbance. Even open churches in China would not behave in this manner.

Chinese society attaches great importance to harmony, and those with religious beliefs should adhere even more strongly to this harmony. They should not cause any public disturbances through their own religious activities, which will put them at odds with society.

The location of this gathering having been at a local Carrefour supermarket, it became an event unseen by  local Beijingers before.

Those house churches that currently have this tendency should thoroughly reflect on the consequences of their gatherings. 

There are many open Christian churches in China, the Chinese government encourages Christians to worship in legal manners. However, the religion's power overseas eagerly hopes to bring Chinese Christians beyond Chinese law, and so attempt to twist Chinese society by politicizing religion. 

All the Christians, as well as those of other faiths, are Chinese citizens first and foremost. It is their obligation to observe discipline and abide by the law. All those related to yesterday's event should reconsider the reasons they attended the gathering.

It is said that many intellectuals were present. These people benefit from a orderly society and should not complain blindly.

The Western media has paid close attention to the development of house churches in China, which is abnormal. Those taking part in yesterday's gathering should reflect why they attend, for their own salvation, or to be the attention of Western media.

The source of this attention is obviously beyond religion itself.

 

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY YOMIURI, JAPAN

 

Save power to avoid blackouts in summer

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government has compiled an outline of plans to cope with the serious electricity shortages expected this summer in the areas serviced by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co. Both suffered damage to their power generation facilities as a result of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.

The plans include compulsory limits on power consumption by large-lot users such as big factories and department stores, and a strong request for small and midsize firms and ordinary households to reduce their electricity use.

If these power-saving plans are unsuccessful, massive unplanned blackouts might occur. Companies and ordinary households must cooperate with the government's plans to overcome this crisis by trying to save as much electricity as possible.

The government expects a power shortage of up to 15 million kilowatts this summer in TEPCO service areas.

There are two ways to cover this shortfall. The first is to boost the utility's power generation capability, and TEPCO will make up 5 million kilowatts through such measures as resuming operations at suspended thermal power stations.

The power shortage could be lessened even more if companies increasingly use in-house power generation facilities. The government should support companies with such facilities by partially subsidizing their fuel expenses.

The remaining shortage will be covered through power saving.

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July-September peak

Power demand will likely rise sharply between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays from July through September because the use of air conditioners is expected to increase. During that period, the government will require large-lot users to reduce their maximum power consumption by about 25 percent from the same period last year.

This will be a legally binding curb based on Article 27 of the Electric Utility Law.

A similar measure was taken in 1974 during the oil crisis, although a 15 percent cut was required at that time. This time, the envisaged reduction rate is higher. All large companies must devote considerable effort and try various steps to achieve this goal.

The goal could be realized through such measures as moving factories' operating hours to nights or weekends, and increasing production at factories in western Japan.

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) is planning to adopt a rotating day-off schedule by industry. Sectors will include the automobile, electrical appliance and steel industries. Some reduction in demand can be expected from this move.

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Rolling outages still possible

Although it is not compulsory, ordinary households will be urged to reduce power consumption by 15 percent to 20 percent. They should try to meet the target by setting higher temperatures for their refrigerators and air conditioners, and by going to bed earlier. We expect the government to provide easy-to-understand explanations on how to save power with concrete examples.

TEPCO on Friday in effect terminated the scheduled area-by-area blackouts that began March 14 after the massive earthquake and tsunami. The government said the rolling blackouts would not be implemented again in principle.

The rolling blackouts were widely criticized because it could not be confirmed until the last moment whether certain areas would lose power, and the blackouts were not implemented evenly in service areas.

However, rolling blackouts might have to be used again if the risk of unplanned massive power outages goes up due to increased power demand as a result of a heat wave. Everyone must be prepared for this possibility.

Japan, U.S. take step toward boosting alliance

The Yomiuri Shimbun

U.S. forces, in tandem with the Self-Defense Forces, have been providing aid on an unprecedented scale to victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. We have nothing but the highest praise for the assistance provided by U.S. personnel, which also will be an important contribution toward strengthening the bilateral alliance.

The United States' "Operation Tomodachi" (friend) mobilized up to 20,000 troops to restore airports, harbors and schools, transport relief goods and do other essential work.

From April 1 to 3, U.S. personnel joined SDF members and rescue teams in a massive search for people missing since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. They combed the Pacific coast of three prefectures in the Tohoku region, recovering 79 bodies.

U.S. forces are stationed across Japan, one of its major allies. However, the bilateral security treaty does not obligate the United States to carry out rescue activities when disaster strikes Japan. The massive relief efforts by the United States reflect the mutual trust both countries have forged over many years.

Japan should maintain close coordination with the United States to weather the multiple disasters that have been simultaneously pounding this country.

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Practice pays off

The United States has provided help after detailed discussions and coordination with high-ranking SDF officers conducted daily at the Defense Ministry; the command of U.S. forces in Japan; and the Ground Self-Defense Force's Northeastern Army Headquarters in Sendai.

Experience built up during numerous joint exercises and activities overseas by the SDF and U.S. forces has helped relief operations proceed smoothly in disaster areas.

To deal with the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Japan and the United States have set up several work teams tasked with blocking radioactive substances, nuclear fuel disposal and other operations. Washington also dispatched to Japan an expert squad of marines in charge of radiation detection and decontaminating people exposed to radiation.

During the early stages of the joint relief activities, the United States expressed dissatisfaction with Japan's failure to provide sufficient information on some key matters.

However, the decision to use freshwater rather than seawater to cool reactors at the Fukushima plant was made at the suggestion of Washington, and the United States provided Japan with a pair of huge barges for shipping the water. These steps have deepened bilateral collaboration.

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Ordeal signals deeper ties

The United States has been pressing hard to have the nuclear crisis resolved, not only to support a key ally, but also because doing so is essential for maintaining the U.S. policy of promoting nuclear power generation. Japan and the United States should do their utmost to make the best possible use of their knowledge, equipment and technological capabilities to cope with the situation as effectively as possible.

Japan has never experienced an ordeal like the Great East Japan Earthquake before.

Some people say the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks transformed the world view of the United States. But the impact and ramifications touched off by Japan's March 11 disaster could be even more profound than those of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The hardships facing Japan, however, could be a significant opportunity for Tokyo and Washington to consolidate the bilateral alliance. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Japan enacted a law to deploy SDF vessels in the Indian Ocean, a step that beefed up the alliance.

It is unclear whether a meeting of the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee, known as the "2-plus-2 conference," will go ahead during the holiday-studded period in late April and early May. We hope both countries will do everything they can to hold the meeting as scheduled.

We hope the meeting participants will discuss how the shared experience of handling the quake and tsunami disaster can boost bilateral cooperation. These discussions will take the alliance to a new level.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY MIRROR, SRILANKA

Regional football

Sri Lanka’s relative and the world’s largest democracy, is gearing up for the elections again with all its complexities and fanfare across the ocean.
It is sad that Indian political leaders have resorted again to include Sri Lanka in their election campaigns.
Just like the political leaders here find it hard to let the LTTE factor go in their struggle for  survival, in India also, particularly in Tamil Nadu, the Sri Lankan (Tamil) Issue has become and had always been a crucial propaganda topic.
A recent statement by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has sent ripples of alarm in this country.
What politicians across the straits should realize is that this kind of acrobatics would never help in anyway soothe either the Tamils or the Sinhalese in this country and could only help further alienate the two groups rather than bringing them together.
Predictably, the Tamil Nadu politicians too have started singing the Sri Lankan Tamil concerns again in an effort to rope in any emotionally weak voters who could not be harnessed by other promises like free TV sets and free sarees.
On the opposite side Jayalalitha Jayaram has also started weeping for the Sri Lankan Tamils.
Many Sri Lankan Tamils would not forget the way how Jayalalitha, a ferocious LTTE critic, treated them when they went to Tamil Nadu during those days.
Unlike other election gundus the Tamil Nadu ‘actors’ can easily getaway with promises related to Sri Lankan Tamils once the elections are over.
It is pathetic that even Sonia Gandhi could not spare the Tamils here.
“In our neighbourhood, there is no issue closer to our hearts than the rights of the Sri Lankan Tamil people,” she has said. She was addressing an election rally along with Dravida Munetra Kazhagam president and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi.
Sri Lanka and all communities of Sri Lanka welcome Indian help in the rehabilitation of the war affected on humanitarian basis.
But Indian political leaders should understand that their Tamilian tantrums only aggravate the problems in a war torn country across the strait.
Last week a parliamentarian here also had urged the Indian political leadership not to use Sri Lanka as a football to create political chaos in the country as they did during the 1984/89 period.
What Sri Lanka has seen since then (Since 1990-2009) was too painful an experience even to remember, let alone go through it.
“We ask the leaders of the Congress Party, the BJP and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam not to use Sri Lanka as a football for their interests,” the MP had said.
It may be true that people are mere statistics when it comes to regional power politics. But it is sad how people’s lives are affected by regional actors.
The policies initiated by J.R. Jayewardene and reactionary policies of the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had seen many Lankan political leaders, including an Indian Premier and innumerable innocent civilians dead and thousands (including the IPKF) maimed.
India should act with more maturity and wisdom befitting its antiquity.

EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

 

Starting early for 2012

A standoff with the legislative branch over the budget would seem hardly the best time for President Barack Obama to declare the start of his re-election campaign. The tussle with the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress over cuts in spending brought the federal government to the brink of a shutdown. But the announcement of his 2012 candidacy in the middle of this was less about finding the right political moment than about garnering finances for re-election — the second quarter of the year marks the beginning of a new fund-raising period under U.S election laws. All the same, it has turned the spotlight on Mr. Obama's leadership even as the White House struggled to bring about a last-minute compromise between the Republicans and Democrats on the budget. This battle may eventually work to President Obama's political advantage if enough Americans see the Republicans as confrontational to the point of stopping the work of government. The harder part for the Democrats is to answer a more fundamental question: where is the change Mr. Obama promised during his inspirational 2008 presidential campaign? Americans are clearly disillusioned because the dynamism and hope Obama, the candidate, represented has been replaced by diffidence and over-caution in Obama, the President. The mood was evident when voters gave Republicans a majority in the House of Representatives and drastically cut back the Democratic majority in the Senate in November 2010.

Mr. Obama's approval rating of 62 per cent when he entered the White House has dropped to 46 per cent. The Libyan misadventure may push this down further. The latest let-down for his supporters is the decision to put Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, on trial by a military tribunal at the Guantanamo prison, instead of in a federal court. Coming just a day after he was declared the first official candidate for the 2012 election, it showed President Obama in poor light: he had promised during the last campaign to close down the camp within a year of taking office. The presidential election is still 20 months away. No credible Republican contenders are in sight. Surprising though this may sound, of the many moving parts at work, the one to the incumbent's advantage is the economy. President Obama inherited an economy in deep crisis, but managed to keep it from sinking. Last month, the claim that the economic recovery was well on its way was buttressed by a fall in the unemployment rate to its lowest in two years. Elections in the U.S. are often about the state of the economy. Mr. Obama's political stock has been visibly degraded but all things considered, he remains the favourite for November 2012. 

Primary market messages

There are some important messages from the recently released data on primary markets. Last year (2010-11) a sum of Rs.46,267 crore was raised through public equity issues. The mobilisation was roughly the same as that of the previous year. According to Prime Database, one of India's oldest and most reliable purveyors of capital market data, the mobilisation last year — incidentally the third highest ever — could have been even more but for the fact that some public sector undertakings (PSUs) deferred their planned large public offerings. One of the reasons for the postponement was the volatility in the secondary markets that had set in during the last quarter of 2010-11. Indeed, continuing volatility poses daunting challenges to primary market issuers, especially in timing the issue and price discovery. When iconic PSUs are involved, the issue price can never remain outside the pale of controversy, no matter what method is used to discover the price.

In 2010-11, a total of 57 public issues entered the market, compared to 44 the previous year. Of these, 52 were initial offerings and the remaining five follow-on offers. The average deal size was Rs.811 crore. Ten issues were for Rs.1,000 crore and above. At the other end, there were six issues of less than Rs.50 crore and none below Rs.10 crore. The important message here is that India's primary market remains tilted towards large companies. The ongoing efforts of the government and the regulator, SEBI, to encourage small and medium enterprises to seek funds from the capital market instead of depending solely on bank finance have not been successful. Dedicated exchanges for small share offerings have not taken off. The OTC exchange, which goes back to the early 1990s, was well conceptualised but it found few takers. Public issue of shares continues to be an expensive affair. The system, derived from regulatory rules as well as deeply ingrained market practices, favours the larger issuers over the small. Irrespective of the issue size, there are certain fixed costs such as advertising and publicity that the issuer has to incur. That, in many cases, raises the bar for the smaller issues. While there is absolutely no doubt that a public listing of shares confers many advantages to a corporate, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will have to weigh the costs involved against the advantages. Many SMEs therefore depend on outside equity support from venture capital, private equity and many categories of institutional investors.

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE DAWN, PAKISTAN

 

An alarming confession

IT is clear that the festering wounds inflicted by militancy and extremism are not going to heal any time soon. The alarming confession made the other day by a teenaged would-be suicide bomber who took part in the recent attack on the Sakhi Sarwar shrine shows that the enemy within is still alive and fatally dangerous. True, the boy in question is only 15 years old and he may not have a precise picture in mind of the real state of affairs. It is also well known that purveyors of hatred continue to go about their deadly business in parts of the tribal belt and elsewhere in the country. But still, what we have before us now is some rare insight from a person who has first-hand knowledge of the indoctrination or brainwashing programmes run by the recruiters, handlers and trainers of suicide bombers. Abhorrent as the idea might be to right-thinking people, 15-year-old Umer was told he would be sent to Afghanistan to kill infidels, or kafirs. Instead, he was dispatched to bomb a Sufi shrine near Dera Ghazi Khan. According to his own testimony, when Umer told his handlers “there are no kafirs here”, he was informed that “these people are worse than kafirs”.

These revelations are an eye-opener and negate the impression created by some religious groups that there is no sectarian element in militancy and acts of terrorism. Muslims at a Sufi shrine are seen as infidels by our home-grown extremists, simply because peaceful devotees do not subscribe to the brand of `Islam` espoused by violent, heavily armed people with hate in their hearts. We have reached the point — indeed did so quite some time ago — where anyone who disagrees with the ideology of the Pakistani Taliban and their ilk can be considered worthy of death. And the truly alarming thought here is that the situation may get a lot worse before it ever improves.

Umer says that at least 400 suicide bombers are currently receiving training in North Waziristan`s Mirali area. Again, given the boy`s age, his assessment may not be entirely accurate. But even so there is no doubt that militant sanctuaries and training centres for suicide bombers are still very much a reality in that part of the tribal belt. The army chief said on Friday that he is satisfied with the progress made in the fight against militancy. That may be so but it is widely believed that militants pushed out of South Waziristan are now operating out of North Waziristan. The mayhem they can create must be checked.

Kashmir killings

THE State Department report about extrajudicial killings in India-held Kashmir must come as a shock to all, for it reports no less than 1,600 unlawful executions by Indian security agencies in one year alone. If we consider the fact that the insurgency in the Kashmir valley has been going on since the late 1980s, the cumulative figure for arbitrary killings for more than two decades must be astounding. The victims of the crimes committed by the security personnel were not necessarily Kashmiri civilians; an Indian army officer was found murdered because he had detected illegal executions of four Kashmiri porters by senior railway officers. Besides illegal executions, the rights violations have ranged from arbitrary detentions and police firing on unarmed protesters to rape and murder. The most well-known case was that of Asiya and Neelofar, whose bodies were found in a stream. A court later ordered the arrest of four police officers for destroying evidence in the case, in which investigations established that Indian security personnel had gang-raped and murdered the two women. Since the `normal` law of the land has failed to deliver, the state legislature has authorised the government to declare any zone a “disturbed area” and armed the security forces with special powers, including the Public Safety Act. This is seen as a licence by the law-enforcement personnel, who can detain anyone against whom “reasonable suspicion exists”. Similarly, the PSA gives the police the right to detain any person without a judicial review for two years. The result was that in one month alone, no less than 3,500 people, mostly youths, were arrested.

Because of this stifling atmosphere, the people of Kashmir seem not to have benefited from the current attempt at détente between Pakistan and India. Even though the two sides have pledged to take up “all issues”, the Mohali spirit doesn`t appear to have made much difference to the lives of the Kashmiri people. New Delhi should realise that a breath of fresh air in the valley will help strengthen the peace process and expedite the normalisation of relations between the two countries.

Permanent solution needed

THE Indus River System Authority has temporarily cut Punjab`s share to help Sindh meet its water requirements for cotton sowing. Punjab did not object to the Irsa decision. While this month is critical for Sindh`s agriculture because of the kharif season, Punjab doesn`t need water for cotton sowing until May. Moreover, according to an Irsa spokesman, the higher releases to Sindh are expected to be adjusted against its share in the run-up to the conclusion of the current season. The water levels in the dams and rivers are also expected to rise over the next several days once temperatures in the northern parts of the country begin to climb.

That the two provinces with a long and bitter history of dispute over the distribution of water shortages are able to find a solution to the sudden drop in the dam and river flows must be welcomed. However, the present `bonhomie` between Punjab and Sindh is unlikely to last for long. The old dispute over sharing water shortages is bound to crop up again. Sindh has already told Irsa that it would not accept a cut in its share to absorb the shortages (during the rest of the season). An Irsa meeting on April 20 to decide the inter-provincial share of the shortages in case of a drop in flows is likely to be a re-enactment of past meetings on the issue. While Sindh will insist on its `full` share according to the 1991 water accord, Punjab will press for distributing shortages on the basis of `historical use`, or the average use of Indus water between 1977 and 1982 as decided by a ministerial committee in 1994. The bitterness of the past is not going to go away unless a permanent, negotiated solution to the water-sharing dispute is found, within or outside the accord.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

 

Poverty reduction

Integrated approach imperative

The most important aspect in fighting poverty is to ensure that once one emerges out of its vicious cycle one is helped to keep out of it on a permanent basis. And that what makes the issue of sustainability of the poverty reduction initiatives the prime concern to those that are seized with the issue of alleviating poverty in the country. And indeed this was the focus of a roundtable discussion at The Daily Star on Saturday on the impediments to ensuring poverty alleviation programmes are seen through in order to deliver.
However, the issue of sustainability of poverty reduction programmes is largely predicated on a number of factors, several of which emerged from the discussions that we feel the policy planners should factor in while formulating strategies in this regard.
It is very important that we do not waste time in grappling with the definition of poverty but instead take it for what it is, that it is a state of deprivation of resources; and it must be acknowledged that poverty is not a singular construct but that there are various strands of it with inequality cutting not only vertically but also horizontally.
One must also take a very critical look at the issue of social safety nets. Admittedly, this arrangement exists in various forms even in affluent countries. But given that there are more than eighty social safety nets programme running in Bangladesh, these being merely a stop gap or holding action programme that simply maintains the status quo. But the effort should really be to help the poor graduate out of poverty. In other words, the programmes must be geared towards their becoming a part of the income generating process by making them a subject of the programme and not its object.
It must also be recognised that no initiative can be successful unless it is dovetailed to the national anti-poverty plan and for which the issue must be shorn of political colour and tackled as a national concern where the ownership of the strategy and the programmes that will help operationalise the strategy is shared by all cutting across party line.

 

Caning students, still!

Prohibition should work

The office assistant of a high school in Sharifpur union of Jamalpur Sadar upazilla has been beating up twelve students of the school. In effect, the individual in question caned the students because they were creating commotion in a classroom next to the one where he was taking a class. Now, of course it is troubling when young people in school create a noisy atmosphere and so disturb the proper working of the school. It is only to be expected that they will be disciplined. What is of grave concern here is that, firstly, the office assistant was in a class where he should not have been and, secondly, that he adopted corporal punishment to bring the recalcitrant students to heel.
Obviously, the office assistant was in the classroom because of a shortfall of teachers. The rules of an educational institution do not permit, even when there are no teachers, an office assistant or any other administrative staff from doing the job of a teacher. One is therefore perplexed as to why the school authorities allowed the individual in question to be in the classroom in the first place. As to the second point, that of the caning of the students, one must ask the school authorities why they still permit such barbaric methods to be applied to students. On a larger scale, we cannot but note that in rural Bangladesh, there are yet teachers who do not balk at employing corporal punishment to students if the latter are inattentive to their studies or create disorder in the classroom. Physical punishment of students goes against all norms of civility and simply undermines the foundations of learning by the young.
We understand that the office assistant in question has been suspended from his job. His behaviour should now impel the education authorities into inquiring into the prevalence of corporal punishment despite a prohibition. The aim of education is the creation of an enlightened citizenry. Caning the young is a simple, sad way of suggesting that the negative is normal.