EDITORIAL : THE TEHRAN TIMES, IRAN

Persian Press Review
Tehran Times Political Desk

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

Thursday’s headlines

KHORASAN: Hosni Mubarak is detained

JAME JAM: About 130 billion dollars to be allocated for job creation, president announces

TEHRAN-E EMROOZ: Red alarm in Iran’s sky (as the dust storm from Iraq sweeps large parts of Iran)

GODS: Smallest mistake by Saudis will be their last mistake, Majlis MPs warn in response to anti-Iran remarks by Saudi officials

TAFAHOM: Cash subsidy to be paid monthly

HEMAYAT: Judiciary chief insists on dealing with criminals and smugglers

JAVAN: Clinton says don’t let Iran’s revolution be repeated in Mideast

KAYHAN: Expel Shias, U.S. suggests in its newest order to Al-Khalifa (Bahrain’s ruling family)

IRAN: Issuing new gas bills for protesting subscribers

Leading articles

In an interview with the TEHRAN-E EMROOZ newspaper Hossein Raghfar, an economist, says the brain drain or the immigration of experts is common in countries with low human development indexes. In the interview headlined “Exporting jobs to the United Arab Emirates and Turkey”, Raghfar stated that in the past “physical resources” such as land, mine, and gold were considered as the main capitals, but today it has changed and the more developed a country is, the more priority it gives to human capital or professional workforce. He added the UN every year publishes the human development indexes in countries and measures countries’ progress based on that index, and in the UN human development report in 2010, Iran was ranked the 70th while the year before Iran stood 88th. He added unfortunately many university graduates who can greatly contribute to the national development leave the country as they feel they cannot realize their talent. Raghfar says after migration these experts establish successful business companies in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Canada, and Europe and thereby create jobs and contribute to economic development.

In an interview with JAME JAM newspaper, Javad Karimi Qoddosi of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee stated that the Iraqi government’s decision to set a deadline for the members of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) to leave the country was in fact the Iraqi nation’s decision. He said that the current independent Iraqi government was elected by the people, so the most important mission of the government is to protect national sovereignty. Qoddosi added that the existence of Camp Ashraf in Iraq violates the country’s national sovereignty, and the Iraqi people expect their government to end the presence of the MKO members in the country. The MP also said that although the Baghdad government has set a deadline for the MKO members to find another place to reside, it should be noted that these persons must be handed over to Iran due to the crimes they have committed against the Iranian people. He also predicted that these terrorists will seek refuge in certain European countries, including France since one of their camps is situated near Paris and European countries are the greatest supporters of terrorism. Qoddosi added that the Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly called on the Western countries to drop their double-standard approach toward terrorism and withdraw their support for terrorists.

EDITORIAL : RFI, FRANCE

French press review 16 April 2011

Boiling police anger over a new custody law, the secularism debate and controversial job cuts in the public service dominate the news in Saturday’s French papers.

Le Figaro takes up police anger over an appeals court verdict imposing the presence of lawyers throughout the questioning of suspects.

There was confusion in several police stations around the country as thousands of ongoing investigations faced being scrapped as the law took effect on Friday, according to the conservative tabloid.

One police Union leader tells the newspaper they will abide by the law but warns about a chaotic process that undermines victims rights and the quest for truth.

Le Figaro explains that the French practice of police custody was outdated and exposed France to condemnation by the European Human Rights Court the coming into force of the new law, according to the paper is a blow to the security-minded center-right government which had petitioned the court to repeal the lawmakers’ reform.

In 2009 alone more than 800,000 citizens were taken into custody without proper recourse, as the police struggled to meet the government’s “politics of figures”, according to official statistics

Le Monde welcomes a gesture of appeasement by Interior minister Claude Guéant after the polemics on secularism.

The newspaper quotes the minister as saying that he recognises the need to instill some serenity in the security debate and that he understands the reservations expressed by church leaders opposed to the debate on Islam..

Le Monde reports that as a sign of goodwill, Monsieur Guéant is setting up an interministerial commission that would draft a secularism code of conduct, that enshrines the neutrality of public services, ensure conditions for faith practice, and put in place a mechanism for secular conflict resolution.

Libération headlines on the dangerous dismantling of the public service by the ruling centre-right government The paper recalls president Sarkozy’s campaign pledge in 2007 to replace only half of the 450 thousand civil servants due retirement by 2012.

That will leave the state short of a hundred thousand state workers by 2013, according to the newspaper

Libé also explains that strategic sectors such as justice, higher education, research and elderly health care are badly hit by the government dogma which undermines the basic vocation of the state.

The left-leaning tabloid states that the haemorrhage has provoked a deep malaise in the country and warns of a backlash if President Sarkozy continues his policy.

La Croix marks the 50th anniversay of the Algerian war with a survey of changing opinion especially within the military.

The Catholic newspaper reports that army officers are speaking out more freely now about the brutal 8-year conflict that left long-standing scars in both French and Algerian society.

La Croix collected eye-witness accounts of the complex conflict, characterized by guerrilla warfare, terrorism against civilians, the use of torture on both sides and counter-terrorism operations by the French army.

They include the circumstances surrounding the abortive coup staged by French generals as they tried to keep Algeria under French rule. There are moving witness accounts by some of the veterans who recall sentiments of bitterness and betrayal after risking their lives to uphold the honour of the French army.

Libération worries about the fate of the propaganda chief of ousted Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo. Charles Blé Goudé has gone missing since Gbagbo’s capture by French and UN-backed Ouattara forces.

Libé reports that Ble Goudé who founded the pro-Gbagbo movement of Young Patriots is the most-wanted man in the country right now. He is suspected of distributing thousands of weapons to some 50 thousand estimated members of the militia.

Libération predicts a tough time for pro-Ouattara forces who must find the arms caches dissimulated across the economic capital.

La Croix reflects on the new condition of Laurent Gbagbo detained at a UN-guarded compound in northern Côte d’Ivoire.

The newspaper has a picture of an happy Gbagbo sitting on a bed next to his dishevelled wife at the Golf Hotel.

La Croix notes that the photograph recalls a similar photo of the hirsute Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

State of change

WHEN Sarawak became part of Malaysia in 1963, it was a disadvantaged, undeveloped and marginalised territory. But over the last 48 years, immense economic, social and political changes have altered the landscape and society of the former land of the White Rajahs. Sarawakians today are wealthier -- per capita income increased more than 48 times from RM690 in 1963 to more than RM37,000 last year -- and fewer people are poor -- the number of people living in poverty fell from 31.5 per cent in 1985 to 5.3 per cent in 2009. For decades, agriculture and forestry underpinned the economy. Now, it is less agrarian and more diversified, and more jobs have been created in oil and gas, manufacturing and services, though the timber and plantation industries are still major employers and foreign revenue earners. With its natural wonders, such as the Mulu Caves, the wealth of plants and animals in its jungles not found anywhere else and rich traditional cultures, tourism has become a fast-growing sector of the economy.

While many in the rural community still live in remote areas, they are not as inaccessible as they once were as they are better connected to the outside world. Sarawak now has 21,000km of roads. While some still live in longhouses, these are furnished with modern amenities such television and refrigerators. Almost three-quarters of households receive electricity compared to one-third in 1980. Furthermore, 80 per cent of the people now enjoy clean water supply. In addition to the improvement in their standards of living and earnings, the people of Sarawak have also become better educated and much healthier. The literacy rate has risen and life expectancy is higher. Primary school enrolment doubled from 144,000 to 288,000 in the 30 years since 1970 and the number of students in secondary schools increased six times from just over 35,000 to 207,000 in the same period.

When the economy has expanded, wealth generated, jobs created, incomes risen, poverty reduced and physical and social infrastructure much improved, it would be hard to claim that Sarawak has been forgotten and neglected, unless one is a political polemicist. In fact, to ask the people of Sarawak to vote for change by voting for the opposition is a considerable irony as change is precisely what the government has brought to Sarawak since 1963. And having laid the foundations for change, Barisan Nasional is bent on change of the transformational kind. This is something that the voters of Sarawak should bear in mind when they cast their votes today.

 

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY NEWS EGYPT, EGYPT

Now that's what I call a revolution

CAIRO: Minutes after the confirmation late Tuesday and early Wednesday that ousted president Hosni Mubarak was remanded in custody at the Sharm El-Sheikh International Hospital and his sons Gamal and Alaa were flown to Torah prison, also after being remanded in custody for 15 days pending investigation, someone wrote on twitter, “Now that’s a revolution!”

How simple and true his words were.

But looking at the escalation which began on last Friday’s million man protest, one would never have thought that by mid week, the entire equation would be overturned, literally in the blink of an eye.

This historic week kicked off with the shocking confrontation between the army and Tahrir Square protesters that left one dead and some 71 people injured. The clash happened when military police attempted to disperse a sit-in following protests calling for Mubarak and his family to be put on trial and implying the military’s complicity in shielding its ex-commander-in-chief from the ignominy of a public trial.

And in a move which I, along with the broad majority of activists and civil society groups of all stripes, considered to be completely unacceptable, uniformed military officers joined the protesters. As civilians, naturally they have every right to express their opinions freely, but as military officers at this particular moment in Egypt’s history, their gesture was irresponsible. Despite the reservations and perhaps even suspicions, Egyptians have about the army, Egypt’s military establishment has proven beyond a doubt that it did and continues to protect the revolution from the soiled fingers of the anti-revolutionaries.

The fact that there are a few bad apples in the army that have acted out of ignorance, at times using extreme violence with protesters, does not mean that they were following supreme orders. These incidents must be investigated, but should not taint what is otherwise a respected institution. And yes, we must admit that there have been allegations of possible corruption within the ranks of the military, which must also be investigated, but now is definitely not the right time for such a probe.

One thing is for sure, the army has no intention of risking Egypt’s future for the sake of one allegedly corrupt man, his family and their clique all accused of abusing power and squandering public money when over 40 percent of the population lived under $2 a day. And even if they did, the power of the street and of global players will stop them. Egypt is seeking $3.3 billion debt relief from a belt-tightening US congress. According to a report by Agence France-Presse, a last-minute deal reached Friday to fund the US government to Oct. 1 includes $1.3 billion in military assistance for Egypt and $250 million in aid to help the country build strong, transparent and democratic institutions.

However, final approval of this budget requires US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to report in 45 days on Egypt's progress towards replacing military rule with a democracy. Clearly the timing and swift moves by the army were not a coincidence.

One thing we all learnt about our ousted president this week is that he has been instrumental in creating the conditions of his own undoing. The arrogant, condescending audio recording he aired on the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya channel on Sunday, where he had the audacity to threaten to sue those who have “defamed” him and in which he wished to absolve himself of any wrong-doing, only served to speed up the investigation process and to prove to the public that there are clear rifts between him and the current army leadership.

His underhanded attempt to turn the revolution on its head led to the Prosecutor General’s decision to summon him no more than 20 minutes after airing the doomed audio recording, which one speech analyst described as the speech of a man who still believed that he is the president.

Moving forward, however, it is imperative that the ousted president and his sons receive a fair trial, uninfluenced by the pressure of public opinion. Despite the murder of civilians in peaceful protests and the 30-year corruption of political life, graft and profiteering, the Egyptian judiciary must not descend to the level of a lynch mob, pouncing on its prey to please an understandably angry and indignant public. The last thing this revolution should be remembered for is that it used the same tactics that hundreds of people died to put an end to, against its previous oppressors. What we are building now are the foundations of the rule of law which will inform our entire future. Kangaroo courts have no place in that future, no matter who is in the dock.

While we must vigilantly scrutinize the court proceedings against all ex-officials, businessmen and Mubarak cronies, it is also vital that we look ahead at this stage and prepare for the real battle at the polls in six months: the battle of democracy.

EDITORIAL : THE INDEPENDENT, IRELAND

 

Finally -- property prices we can trust

Yesterday's brisk bidding at the auction of distressed properties held in Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel showed that, despite all of the gloom and doom, there is significant pent-up demand from buyers, but only at the right price. Since prices peaked in early 2007, house and apartment prices have fallen by at least 50pc.

The value of commercial property and development land has fallen even more steeply. Unfortunately, this new reality has been slow to dawn on sellers, many of whom still continue to quote asking prices that hark back to the heady days of 2006 and 2007. With entirely predictable results.

The property websites are chock-full of properties that have been on the market for six, 12 or even 18 months. Matters have been made even worse by the absence of a centralised property registry, which could provide buyers with up-to-date information on the prices at which properties are actually selling rather than estate agents' puff.

The absence of price transparency has made things even worse for the property market than they need to be. Buyers, rightly distrusting the asking prices being quoted by sellers and their agents, are terrified of splashing out. After all, who wants to buy something today only to subsequently find that, if they had waited, they could have got the same property for much less six or 12 months later?

What are urgently required in the property market are credible prices that buyers can trust. This is why auctions such as those which took place yesterday serve such a valuable function. Even those who didn't buy yesterday can use the prices the houses and apartments sold for as a realistic guide when making an offer for comparable properties.

Something similar needs to happen in the commercial and development property market. Ever since the Government announced its plans for NAMA two years ago, the market has been frozen. Banks and property developers have been too scared to mark down selling prices for fear of the possible consequences when the loans secured against those assets were transferred to NAMA.

Now NAMA seems to be forcing the pace of events. This week it appointed a receiver to nine properties owned by Derek Quinlan. This follows the appointment of a receiver to several properties owned by developer Paddy Kelly last month.

This is a long overdue development. The appointment of a receiver means that these properties will quickly come onto the market. It is understood that Finance Minister Michael Noonan is anxious that NAMA starts selling properties owned by insolvent builders and developers soon. By doing so, realistic price levels can be established and buyers, confident that the prices being quoted are genuine, can be coaxed back into the market.

Of course, having to slash your price is never a pleasant experience for any seller, big or small. No-one likes to have to sell at a loss. In an ideal world sellers would prefer to hang on until prices somehow recovered. Unfortunately, that's not how the world works. It is only when properties start to come on to the market at prices that buyers can trust will the market begin to recover.

Lucky 13 for punters

The news from UK bookie Ladbrokes that it had suffered "unprecedented" losses in this country due to the record 13 Irish winners at last month's National Hunt Festival at Cheltenham will have brought a smile to the lips of punters everywhere.
All punters dream of beating the bookie, something which only happens rarely. Last month's Cheltenham Festival was one of those rare occasions. As one Irish winner after another passed the post, patriotic punters took Ladbrokes to the cleaners.
And the word on the street is that Irish punters' Cheltenham winning streak wasn't confined to Ladbrokes. Most of the other bookies operating in this market were also clobbered. Just for once the normal terms of gambling trade were reversed, with punters pocketing the bookie's money rather than vice versa.
Punters should enjoy their good fortune while it lasts. It mightn't be a good idea to bet on this run of good luck continuing indefinitely.
Sooner rather than later the balance of advantage will swing back to the bookies. It always does.

EDITORIAL : THE GULF TODAY, UAE

Better anti-piracy strategy is needed


A report by a a maritime watchdog shows that despite intensified efforts, piracy is on the rise, mainly off the coast of lawless Somalia.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) says in a report that piracy hit an all-time high in the first three months of 2011, with 142 attacks worldwide.
The report says that a total of 97 attacks were recorded off Somalia in the first quarter, up from 35 in the same period last year.
Worldwide, marauding sea bandits’ hijacked 18 vessels and took 344 crew members as hostage, and kidnapped six seafarers from their boats. A further 45 vessels were boarded, and 45 more reported being fired upon.
At the last count, on 31 March, IMB figures showed that Somali pirates were holding captive 596 crew members on 28 ships.
Pirates are also becoming more violent. The IMB report says that at least two crew members were killed in piracy incidents this year.
The increase in attacks came despite an intensification of the international effort to prevent piracy. There are more warships in the region equipped with advanced weapons and surveillance and communication gear than ever and they do respond to distress calls from vessels under pirate attack. As such, the natural assumption was that there would be a decline in pirates’ activities. According to the IMB report, there is also a dramatic increase in the violence and techniques used by pirates in the seas off Somalia.
The increase in the number of attacks could be attributed to an increase in the number of attacks.
Many desparate Somalis are turning to piracy, given the accounts of the riches the pirates are gaining through hijacking ships with crew abroad and holding them for ransom.Tens of millions of dollars have been paid by shipowners in return for the relese of hijacked ships and crew members. The pirates spend part of the ransom money to acquire modern weapons to help them ply their trade.
Effectively, the root reason for Somali piracy is the lawless in that country and the growing strength of gunmen there. There is no indication yet the main insurgent group Al Shabab is involved in piracy, but it is a certain possibility that people associated with it are also linked to pirates.
Experts have sounded the warning bell thal militant groups could hijack ships and use them to carry out attacks.
Another fear is that large tankers carrying oil and other flammable chemicals are vulnerable to armed pirates.
There have been many efforts at coming up with an effective strategy to fight off piracy, but the numbers released by the IMF show the ineffectiveness of the efforts.
The UAE is playing its part in the posh, but other countries in the region and beyond should also step up their efforts. The world needs a better strategy to eliminate the problem of piracy once and for all.

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE JAKARTA POST, INDONESIA

 

Beware invisible police

For those who habitually ignore traffic signals in the absence of police officers, you must immediately cease such bad habits or someone may come knocking at the front door of your house, bringing you an invitation to a court hearing and requiring you to pay a fine for your violation.

The new ticketing system will be possible after the Jakarta Police install monitoring cameras at intersections across the city. The police have installed cameras at the Sarinah intersection on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, and plan soon to install many more cameras in 50 other intersections.

The new system, the Electronic-Traffic Law Enforcement (E-TLE), which is scheduled to be fully-enforced in May, seems to be an effective way to force motorists to abide by the existing traffic regulations, as motorists will always feel monitored by the hidden cameras.

The police have confirmed the effectiveness of this system based on results of a trial period since early this month in which traffic violators were informed that they were being monitored. “The number of violations at Sarinah declined from about 500 to only 23 a day,” said the head of Jakarta Traffic Police’s law enforcement, Sr. Comr. Yakub Dedy Karyawan, early this week.

When the system is fully operational, according to the police, the violators could be fined up to Rp 1.5 million (US$174): Rp 500,000 for violating a traffic signal, Rp 500,000 for crossing a white line and Rp 500,000 for entering a yellow box.

The introduction of the electronic traffic ticketing system is a good step to encouraging motorists to respect the laws, because undisciplined motorists who often ignore traffic signs worsen traffic congestion.

But it is too early to say that the system will be successful immediately. The poor administration of vehicle ownership in the city may hamper the system, as many owners of secondhand vehicles are currently often reluctant to change their vehicle’s documents.

Under these circumstances, many secondhand vehicle owners will not realize they are being ticketed. Therefore, strict vehicle’s documentation requirements for of secondhand vehicle owners could be the way out from this difficulty.

The new traffic ticketing system is only a small step in an effort to address acute, daily traffic congestions in Jakarta. The real problem is that the city can no longer accommodate the increasing number of vehicles, particularly due to people’s heavy dependence on private vehicles.

Installing spy cameras at many intersections, which is expected to encourage people to respect traffic regulations, should be followed by the improvement of public transportation to encourage people to leave their vehicles parked at home and shift to public transportation.

It is hard to call on people to respect the laws while they are trapped in gridlock.

Bad Friday

When a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque inside the Cirebon Police complex in West Java on Friday, terrorists sent yet another message that they would never stop their attack on humanity in Indonesia.

No one expected the explosion just before a Friday prayer, therefore the suspected terrorist found it easy to secure a place close to Cirebon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Heru Koco, who was among the 26 people injured in the incident, which occurred a week ahead of Good Friday.

The Cirebon blast, the previous attacks on Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta and Syuhada Mosque in Yogyakarta in 1999, the simultaneous bombings of churches on New Year’s Eve in 2000, the carnage in Bali in 2002 and 2005, the hotel and embassy attacks in Jakarta in 2003, 2004 and 2009 and other acts of terror plaguing the country only underline the fact that such heinous attacks could take place anywhere.

Only recently, most-wanted 2002 Bali bomber Umar Patek was reportedly captured in Pakistan. But, as seen in the latest bombing and a hatful of attacks preceding it, the terror group has never fallen short of recruits ready to die for their cause, no matter what happened to their leaders.

Countries such as Australia have been on alert for fresh attacks in Indonesia following the arrest of Patek, which has so far remained unconfirmed by the Indonesian police. It comes as no surprise, actually, that terrorists targeted the police as happened in Cirebon on Friday, in the bank heist in Medan and the killing of two police officers in the Central Java town of Purworejo last year. Since the twin hotel bombings in Jakarta in July 2009, the police’s counterterrorism squad has stepped up its efforts to clamp down on terror networks across the country.

Top operator Dulmatin was killed, and big names like Abdullah Sunata and alleged spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba’asyir were arrested during the relentless crackdown on terror suspects.

The tough enforcement of the anti-terror law, including capital punishment and lifetime imprisonment for convicted bombers, however, has not offered enough deterrence against the extraordinary crime. We may have overlooked the most important homework we need to settle to win the war on terror: Our zero-tolerance of radicalism as against our full commitment to moderation.

It goes without saying that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the Cirebon bombing and asked his security officials to thoroughly investigate the attack and those behind it. As the head of state, the President needs to show that the government gives no room for radicalism, the seed of terrorism.

 

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY TRIBUNE, THE PHILIPPINES

 

Interesting times

Click to enlarge

Interesting times are ahead for the nation, if the opposition pushes though with its plan to now take the offensive against the Noynoy administration and go into congressional investigations on allegations of corruption, as well as inefficiency, two of the focus points of Noynoy Aquino in going after his political foes, whom he refers to as his enemies and with whom he says he is at war.

With the political opposition being in the minority, it is pretty certain that any House committee that takes on the probe — and there has to be a probe based on the resolutions, since such is called for by the House rules — will be peppered with the majority members who will then try to kill whatever is to be exposed, since this time around, the allegations, or the exposés will delve directly on the Aquino administration.

Still, given the predicted behavior and moves of the Noynoy allies in the House, the public will at least be given the front seat on just how the allies of Noynoy — all of whom claim to be treading the “straight path” will be handling these probes and ensure that the “crooked road” is covered up.

It will not be suprising if Noynoy’s allies in the House of Representatives will suddenly put a stop to these probes or at least vote down — through sheer numbers — calls for the attendance of any and all Aquino officials who will be placed on the carpet, along with the subpoenas of certain records.

But if such is the way the majority will be handling the probes, its members will have proved that they are hardly walking the “straight path” which will then show up their hypocrisy.

What is just as likely, if such exposés hit Noynoy and his allies and cronies, is that they will be quickly absolved by Noynoy himself.

His track record shows it. Think of the Aug. 23 hostage rescue fiasco. Did he not absolve his target shooting buddy, DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno, of any and all accountability and responsibility for the botched rescue, as well as his allies?

Think Dinky Soliman and Teresita Deles who have been linked to the PeaceBonds scam. Weren’t they also just as quickly absolved by Noynoy, and without as much as a Palace probe?

Think other Noynoy appointees, who have been hounded by corruption allegations, such as the Customs chief who cheated at golf, and has been banned from playing in that golf club. Wasn’t he quickly cleared too, and by Noynoy himself? There were many more of the instances.

It is easy for an administration in power and position to run after Noynoy’s political foes, with Noynoy and his boys justifying their moves against their “enemies” as being the “stumbling blocks” to his fight against corruption and reforms in government. But as Noynoy and his allies portray themselves as the “good” fighting the “evil” since he regards his political foes and critics as such, it may not, however, be that easy for Noynoy and his allies to shake off exposés on corruption in his government, as well as inefficiency, especially as he can no longer hang on to the much too politically exploited yellow wave of sympathy that has waned, apart from his dwindling popularity, owing to his inability and incompetence to even come up with a clear direction for government and the nation, as he and the Palace boys focus merely on how to charge their political foes.

Yet there are so many problems affecting the nation, such as the high prices of oil, shooting up the prices of goods and services, with more and more Filipinos going to the poorhouse. And all he offers are band-aid solutions — including even a hike in wages, less than year from the last hike. This will naturally cause more companies to close down, or retrench their employees, which will mean a higher percentage of joblessness.

Of course, the yellow media are expected to downplay, if not kill such stories against Noynoy. Still stench always smells, and goes past the yellow media.

 

EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

 

Gillard's welfare depends on clear budget strategy

THE Gillard government's first budget is an opportunity to put substance behind Julia Gillard's recent claims about her economic credentials and the direction in which she aspires to lead the nation.

Her task is to ensure her government delivers on her good instincts and puts an uncertain administration back on course. The Prime Minister set out the likely motif of next month's budget in her "Dignity of Work" speech this week. That's not a bad place to start. Our mining boom economy is crying out for workers, yet 1.4 million people remain unemployed or on disability support and there are 250,000 families where no adult has worked for at least one year.

Today's strong demand for skills and labour provides the best possible time to break the curse of long-term welfare dependency, too often handed down from generation to generation. Chronic unemployment and a benefits culture is a breeding ground for social exclusion. As Ms Gillard says, it is simply "not fair" for taxpayers to pay for those who can "support themselves". Next month's budget is her chance to demonstrate that Labor is truly the "party of work not welfare, the party of opportunity not exclusion, the party of responsibility not idleness". These are old Labor values that can be traced to her predecessors such as the Whitlam government's Clyde Cameron. Yet since then, Labor has been ambivalent about the tough love that is needed to break the welfare stranglehold. Ms Gillard must ignore the special pleading of the welfare lobby, which has been on 24-hour rotation on the ABC since her speech.

Welfare-to-work reform will not deliver short-term savings, and to be effective will require parallel reform to our incentive-sapping tax system. That's where the worries start. Under both Kevin Rudd and Ms Gillard, Labor's tax reform record has been weak. Wayne Swan bungled the potentially worthwhile resources rent tax proposed by Ken Henry and ruled out the GST from the "root and branch" tax review because it was politically inconvenient. The Treasurer has dismissed the Henry review's proposal to reform the tax and benefits system by lifting the tax-free threshold to $25,000 because it might put a mild burden on middle-income voters. And he has been dragged into a delayed October tax "forum" as the political price of forming a minority government. Meanwhile, Labor is struggling to sell a carbon tax that appears to be more focused on redistributing income than sharpening incentives. When you add the proposed means-testing of the private health insurance rebate, hitting the wealth generators starts to look like a habit.

Ms Gillard needs to junk her rejection of a "big Australia", recalibrate immigration levels and fix urban infrastructure bottlenecks. Australians will benefit by welcoming more migrants. Fixing the rorts in the student migration program is one thing: restricting the supply of willing foreign workers to a labour market marked by excess demand is counter-productive. Mr Rudd's Infrastructure Australia was a good idea for casting a national focus on our lagging infrastructure, but Labor has too often broken its promise to commit infrastructure spending to proper cost-benefit scrutiny: witness broadband and Ms Gillard's $2bn railway election bribe to western Sydney. The most pressing budget task will be to get the bottom line back into the black in a way that sharpens incentives rather than simply slugs those with the deepest pockets.

While we would not presume to tell the Treasurer how he should spend his leisure moments, his recent essay on John Maynard Keynes for the Australian Fabian Society makes us nervous. The Fabian penchant for comandeering the apparatus of the state for the purposes of democratic socialism is hardly the ideal foundation for the "tough" budget Mr Swan has promised to turn this year's $40 billion-plus deficit into surplus by 2012-13.

Labor must break the habit of frittering away the proceeds of the China boom. A once-in-a-century mining and energy bonanza offers the promise of extending this prosperity over decades. Yet Labor's policy failures in budget stimulus spending, tax, infrastructure and labour market reregulation have compounded the structural adjustment pressures from the multi-speed economy and the strong dollar. True, the Howard government splurged too much of the bounty from the boom's first phase, including on family tax benefits designed to woo the swinging mortgage-belt voters. The then treasurer, Peter Costello, managed to quarantine some of the boom for enterprise-promoting tax cuts, but this late-period Howard government failed to deliver matching spending discipline. Masked by record high commodity boom revenues, the result has been a structural weakening of the budget's underlying position, which has been compounded by Labor's excessive and inefficient stimulus spending. Now Treasury says the post-crisis mining boom is generating less tax revenue than before. That leaves us highly exposed to any significant break in our China luck.

Mr Swan is dealing with this in the oddest of ways, portraying the needed tightening as part of a grand Australian Keynesian tradition. It is true that after splurging on a large-scale stimulus response to the global financial crisis, the budget now must make way for a massive mining development boom. But it is foolish to portray this as a new era of Keynesian policy that will seek to actively manage the business cycle.

Mr Swan's task is to return the budget's underlying structure into balance. When the economy and the terms of trade are booming, such as now, the budget should naturally swing into bigger surpluses than we've been used to running. This money should be quarantined as a reserve for when the economy and the commodity price cycle turn down, when the budget would naturally swing into deficit.

Getting fiscal policy into such a medium-term mining boom framework requires a more disciplined approach to the $320bn (or one-quarter of the economy) that Canberra is budgeted to extract this year and the $360bn it has planned to spend. The Treasurer might think about how being "Keynesian on the upside" to make room for a mining boom squares with $40bn or so of broadband infrastructure that has not been through a proper cost-benefit analysis. The National Broadband Network should be rethought to get value for money and relieve inflationary pressures it will inevitably exacerbate.

No need to rush pokies reform

GAMBLING is often joked about as a national obsession that is capable of seeing us bet on two flies crawling up a wall or turning an official blind eye to Diggers playing two-up on Anzac Day.

While we must not let the wowsers destroy this sense of fun, The Weekend Australian believes the nation cannot ignore the terrible toll that problem gambling exacts.

When the fun turns to addiction and people punt beyond their means, families are torn apart, lives are ruined and sometimes it even ends in suicide. The evidence suggests gaming machines are particularly addictive; they are certainly all-pervasive. The Productivity Commission has found 40 per cent of gaming machine revenue comes from problem gamblers.

Against this background, it makes sense for a federal parliamentary joint select committee to inquire into gambling. But as Chris Kenny writes in today's Inquirer, the difficulty is that the committee is following a pre-ordained path under an artificial 2012 deadline, imposed by independent MP Andrew Wilkie as a pre-condition for supporting the Gillard government.

Mr Wilkie and South Australian senator Nick Xenophon are to be applauded for their dedication to the cause, but the hospitality industry is right to be concerned about the way this agenda is being pursued. And the states, which control gambling, are not surprisingly defending their authority (and their revenue). Rushed, costly and heavy-handed implementation of a compulsory pre-commitment scheme could infringe the individual rights of many Australians. It could also damage the viability of the pubs and clubs that provide extensive social networks, entertainment, employment and services for their communities.

Central to this debate is the comprehensive report delivered by the commission last year. It maps out a range of measures, including trial pre-commitment schemes, initially on a voluntary basis. This newspaper believes proper consultation and trials, conducted over a sensible period, can eventually lead to a national strategy, as the commission suggests, by 2016.

Clearly, when Mr Wilkie found that the government desperately needed his support after the election, he and Senator Xenophon thought they had hit the jackpot. They should now pause, take a step back and pursue their gambling reform agenda at a more sensible pace and in a more consultative manner.

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE NATIONAL POST, CANADA

 

CanCon, the Opera

The professional shakedown artists otherwise known as Canada's cultural industries -telecoms, broadcasters, TV networks, filmmakers -are gearing up for another operatic hit on Canadians. They want the Internet controlled through new rules and new charges that would expand their existing protection racket that now funnels billions into their hands and limits the freedom of Canadians.
It's a successful strategy that has played out over decades. The objective is to maintain and expand the charges, fees and rules that protect their regulated monopoly strangleholds on Hollywood content in Canada. Without such fees, they say, Canada would have no film funds and media subsidies and Canadian culture would suffer great harm -and nobody would make beautiful Canadian cultural content such as Mulroney, the Opera.
CanCon, the Opera has been running since the early 20th century, when Canadian nationalists seized control of the radio airwaves on the grounds that there were rigid spectrum limitations. Only a couple of dozen radio stations were possible, and they should not be allowed to drift into the monopoly hands of foreigners. Today, even though spectrum and wire communication links are essentially unlimited, and entertainment, news, information, data and movies are literally available in limitless quantities, the opera is still running.
Decades ago they said that because there are technical limits to broadcasting, controls are needed. Now they say that because there are no technical limits, controls are needed. Every new technology -the arrival of television, cable, digital, satellite, Internet -has become a battleground of CanCon special interests seeking to lord it over the Canadian consumer.
Remember the Death Stars? That's the ominous name the CanCon crowd invented to portray U.S. satellite services that threatened to beam content down on Canada in competition with Canadian cable, broadcast and satellite services. The shakedown artists more or less won that battle. Every Hollywood television and movie transmission is now skimmed for cash by a long line of telecom firms, networks, broadcasters, media makers, producers and artists who depend on Ottawa.
The new Death Stars of 2011 are called "Over The Top Services," the industry's spooky name for U.S. and other content providers -such as Netflix -that can deliver movies and other content directly to Canadians over the Internet, bypassing the giant graft machine that sits astride Canadian consumption of visual entertainment and information like marketing boards over the supply of milk and cheese.
Following the usual scenario, the beneficiaries of the CanCon con -from Bell to Rogers, to Corus and Astral -have formed a working lobby group under the name "Over-The-Top Services Working Group." Only two years ago, many of the same players argued against regulating the internet (See Great Moments from CanCon, the Opera elsewhere on this page). But this is operatic drama, and frequent costume and ideological changes are the norm.
The group, which now includes unions and other industry beneficiaries, is headed by Alain Gourd, a veteran baritone who has played many roles in endless epics of Canadian media protectionism. In a letter to the CRTC made public this week, Mr. Gourd asked the commission to follow a recommendation from the House of Commons standing committee on heritage calling for "public consultations" to determine "whether and how ... non-Canadian companies should support Canadian cultural programming." That's a euphemism for a tax on Internet content.
The group also wants the CRTC to start investigating the activities of Netflix and other "foreign over-the-top services" that it says are becoming a significant presence in the domestic market:
It is now public knowledge that a foreign over-the-top service operating in Canada has commissioned new exclusive dramatic content, including for the Canadian market. It is buying exclusive rights with studios in the windows of certain linear Canadian programming services. Therefore, the Working Group submits that the commission should initiate the public consultation recommended by the standing committee.
Second, one of the important elements in assessing the status of foreign over-the-top services in Canada would be to obtain sufficient relevant information on their activities in our country.... While the commission's questionnaire would need to be reformulated to be appropriate for foreign over-the-top services, the relevant Exemption Order permits the commission to require such undertakings to provide such information as the commission may request. In due course, the Working Group hopes to propose to the commission what could be an appropriate form of questionnaire and a list of the foreign over-the-top operators that to our collective knowledge have a sufficient presence in Canada to warrant receiving a questionnaire.
Such fishing expeditions into what is essentially the Internet activities of Canadians who may or may not be using Netflix and other content services are designed for one thing: Get data and technical detail to enable the government to regulate and possibly tax Internet services.
Industry Minister Tony Clement provided what seems like a firm response to the Over-The-Top Working Group. In a Tweet, he said: "My POV is that CRTC regulating Netflix would be offside our directive to encourage more choice and competition." Mr. Gourd's Working Group isn't likely to take that operatic stab in the back as a death scene.

Great moments from CanCon, the Opera

The plot so far Endless wrangling over 65 years staged by a rich parade of Canadian corporate and cultural figures as they manage to extract protection, regulatory favours and billions of dollars from taxpayers and consumers.

The setting for Scene 5 The time is 2009. The action takes place in a CRTC hearing room in Ottawa as executives of various big-name Canadian broadcasting enterprises argue that the Internet should be left free of regulation. There would be no need for regulation to protect their industries or Canadian content.

Commentary They would all later contradict themselves in 2011 as they pressed for Internet regulation.

The characters Shaw Communications, Bell Canada, Corus Entertainment, Telus, Astral.

Shaw "There is more Canadian content on the Internet than on television, more Canadian participation and more customer control. The beauty of the Internet is the power of the customer. The customer should be trusted to make their own Canadian content choices. We are a successful company because every day we engage our 3.4 million customers and try to listen to them. We ask the commission to do the same as it listens to all Canadians and to not try to re-regulate or to change the structure of the Internet now."

Bell "The Internet and mobile networks provide new ways for Canadian content to reach Canadians. Traditional broadcasting distribution channels continue to be available and, in fact, have not even declined in the face of new media's growth. Without a doubt, new media allows broadcasters and content producers to reach Canadians more quickly and directly. Under the circumstances, the appropriate course of action is to maintain the new media and mobile exemption orders and continue to monitor the situation to ensure that new media develops on a healthy course without regulatory intervention. The Broadcasting Act does not mandate that anything be done to change those exemption orders and, based on what we have heard, we believe nothing should be done."

Corus "Imposing a regulatory system of conditions, tariffs and quotas on new media participants will not promote a greater Canadian presence in new media. In fact, it is likely to have just the opposite effect. For this reason, Corus is of the view that the existing new media and mobile television exemption orders remain appropriate now and for the foreseeable future. There is no need for new measures or amendments to these exemption orders."

Telus "With all due respect, what is being proposed by some parties in this proceeding is nothing less than the regulation of the Internet, whether via quotas on online Canadian content, non-net-neutral preferences for Canadian content online, or simply the application of a tax. It would be an understatement to say this would be a slippery slope. Broadcast-style regulation is not compatible with an open Internet, no matter how benign the initial intention to regulate."

Astral Our point is no, that they should not be regulated. This is an open platform. I mean, it's hard to imagine that you might regulate a consumer brand like Kraft or Mazda who is producing compelling audio-video content on the Web, which is a space that we also occupy."

These excerpts from actual 2009 CRTC testimony were provided by Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, University of Ottawa. www.michaelgeist.ca

These excerpts from actual 2009 CRTC testimony were provided by Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, University of Ottawa.

 

On May 2, vote for a free Internet

In the din of an election campaign, it's hard for so-called "fringe parties" to make their voices 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.

If you believe in information freedom, civil rights and the importance of allowing technology to fulfill its potential, you should cast your vote for the Pirate Party of Canada. It is essential that as our country enters a new century, we let go of old and harmful ideas and adopt a new standard of information law.

The Pirate Party believes strongly in copyright reform. Currently, copyright is being abused to prevent the internet from acting as an unfettered medium for the exchange of art and information. Non-commercial sharing is not morally wrong, but is under attack by established powers in the same manner as the printing press and the public library were hundreds of years ago. Examples of these attacks abound, the most recent being a $75-trillion lawsuit against Limewire, a file-sharing provider.

In the future, today's debate over file sharing will probably appear quite quaint, as the benefits of an extensive information commons become accepted and obvious. Information is best when accessible. Art is nothing if not a shared experience. The educational power of the world wide web is vast. We must therefore transform copyright law to benefit consumers and artists, not corporations. We could do this by reinforcing fair dealing, and shortening copyright terms to more reasonable lengths than the current "life of author plus 50 years."

Of greater concern are the means employed to enforce these wrongful copyright laws. In order to determine whether or not a person is sharing copyrighted content, the data leaving his or her computer must be directly monitored. This is a major violation of Canadians' privacy: The government watches all of us! E-mail should be protected from invasive search, just like federal mail, but that's not the case. Currently, Canadian internet users are subject to "deep packet inspection," which can tell exactly what a user accesses on the internet. It's scary stuff, and it's happening on your computer right now.

Canadians must choose a better standard of information sharing. Which do you prefer -protecting industry's copyright or having the right to talk in private? The Conservative Party is already promising to push through a new standard for digital law enforcement, Bill C-51, within 100 days if it wins a majority government. This means that every single thing Canadians do online will be monitored. And the cost of this monitoring will be added to our internet bills -which are already among the highest in the world.

The Pirate Party is also the only Canadian political party to voice support of the WikiLeaks organization. We believe in the power and necessity of the fourth estate, and we would like to draft laws to protect whistleblowers and journalists from prosecution. Dissent is the strongest form of patriotism. But on a monitored internet, users may be afraid to voice their real opinions or share critical information with one another. It's already well accepted that the RCMP keeps files on peaceful activists. The chilling effects of freedom of speech on a "wiretapped" web could seriously affect our ability to share ideas with one another and work together for a better future.

Government transparency is essential to a functioning democracy. We should not have to resort to whistleblowers to report the truth about what the government is doing; we should have a transparent, democratic government. On this issue, the Pirate Party tries to lead by example. Logs of our meetings are stored online on our wiki and our members are given the final say in policy. We believe in Canadians' right to govern themselves.

On May 2, I encourage you to cast your vote with the internet. If you are lucky enough to have a Pirate Party candidate in your riding, I recommend you vote for him or her. Pirates currently hold seats in both Sweden and Germany, and we would like Canada to be next. It's not too late to reclaim our democracy from the false left-right paradigm and push for real effective governance. The internet can set us free -if we free it first.

A better way to build a Palestinian state

Since Israel's creation more than six decades ago, militant Arab leaders have imagined that they could create an independent Palestinian homeland by force of arms. But now, finally, the Palestinian administration in the West Bank has embraced an entirely different strategy.
And guess what? It's working. For several years, terrorism has been at a low ebb in Israel. Yes, there are still rocket attacks from Hamas-run Gaza. And in a particularly hideous and despicable crime last month, five Jews -including two children and a baby -were knifed to death in the settlement of Itamar. These unprovoked attacks deserve international condemnation. But the overall death toll is a tiny fraction of what Israelis experienced a decade ago, when Yasser Arafat unleashed waves of suicide bombers.
There are several reasons for this -including Israel's (unfairly) decried security fence and its aggressive use of intelligence sources to flush out terrorist cells before they strike. But it is also the case that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas (shown below) and his Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, have made a conscious decision to pursue statehood through nonviolent means. And this month, they are expected to receive an extraordinary gesture of encouragement from the international community.
At a conference in Belgium next week, the International Monetary Fund will present a report that describes the Palestinian Authority as "able to conduct the sound economic policies expected of a future well-functioning Palestinian state, given its solid track record in reforms and institutionbuilding in the public finance and financial areas." The World Bank, meanwhile, will instruct the same conference that, based on current performance, the Palestinian Authority "is well positioned for the establishment of a state at any point in the near future."
These words, by themselves, do not carry any weight in international law. But they will go a long way toward swaying world opinion. PA leaders already have announced that, absent meaningful negotiations with Israel this year, they will apply for UN membership in September.
A UN-recognized Palestinian declaration of statehood would create all sorts of problems, especially for Israel, which cannot live with the West Bank borders that existed prior to June, 1967. The current presence of Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank would instantly be transformed into the military occupation of one UN state by another. No one knows where this would lead, particularly with neighbouring Arab states now wrapped up in their own political upheavals.
But putting that uncertainty to one side, there is at least one strong element of good news here. For years, Western diplomats and opinion-makers -including those in Israel itself -have insisted that Palestinian claims to statehood would be taken more seriously if Palestinians stopped blowing themselves up and instead began building the trappings of a real, modern state. Influential New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, for instance, lamented in 2008 that "after Israel quit the Gaza Strip in 2005, Palestinians, instead of building Singapore there, built Somalia and focused not on how to make microchips, but on how to make rockets."
Very quietly, Messrs. Abbas and Fayyad have taken Mr. Friedman's advice. Their West Bank economy is now growing at an annual rate of 9%. A decade ago, Palestinians were synonymous in the media with human bombs: Who would want to give the powers of a sovereign government to such extremists? Now, the public face of the PA is two somewhat boring men who put on trade shows and celebrate the merits of direct deposit.
In Hamas-run Gaza meanwhile, the economy is a shambles, and the entire territory is regarded by Westerners (aside from the fringe Israeli-apartheid crowd) as one big terrorist enclave. Indeed, even pro-Palestinian boat-for-Gaza types are going to have to rethink their love affair with Hamasistan after the this week's killing of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni -apparently by a group of dissident jihadists even more radical than Hamas itself.
The combined message emerging from the West Bank and Gaza is that the path to a twostate solution in Israel and the disputed territories lies not through violence, but peaceful nation-building. Supporters of Israel may be concerned by a PA campaign for statehood that endruns Israeli negotiations. But the nature of that campaign at least shows a welcome turn in Palestinian tactics.

 

 

 

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE GUARDIAN, UK

 

International law: Regime unchanged

Another difference between the Bush years and the age of Obama is that the latter has at least some regard for the rule of international law

In a joint newspaper article yesterday, the US president and British prime minister told the world that they would maintain their assault on an Arab country until its regime collapsed. The inclusion of the French president as a third signatory was less familiar, but a sense that the casus belli is being breezily redefined while stalemate takes hold on the ground is eerily reminiscent of 2003.

Libya, however, is not Iraq, as a close reading of the grand triumvirate's words makes plain. Barack Obama has been a reluctant warrior, and his chief purpose in signing the piece was not perverting an avowedly humanitarian campaign, but rather extending a low-cost lifeline to allies in Paris and London, who have been feeling politically isolated. Nato's air power has not yet proved decisive and, despite some confident claims at its Berlin summit, most of its members are reluctant to step into the space created by American reticence. The White House's caution was reflected in an op-ed that proposed transition from dictatorship not to democracy, but to the more fudgeable prospect of "an inclusive constitutional process".

Another difference between the Bush years and the age of Obama is that the latter has at least some regard for the rule of international law, and this was evident in painstaking drafting. It acknowledged that the legal mandate was about protecting civilians, and was explicitly "not to remove Colonel Gaddafi by force". Nonetheless, the trio said, removed he must be, not as the objective of the action but as an inescapable precondition to securing the humanitarian goals. The argument is reminiscent of Catholic teachings about the difference between sought moral consequences and those that are merely foreseen. There was no place for such nuance in the born-again certainties of George Bush. But changing war aims via Jesuitical distinctions is too clever by half.

For one thing it raises expectations that may be impossible to fulfil. All manner of military options are currently being considered which could change things on the ground rapidly, but for the moment the balance of forces appears to be stuck, and the allies ought not to narrow their options. Negotiation or partition would have their problems; but so too would a more full-throated deployment of force. It is too early to say which course will minimise the sum of Libyan misery. Even if Gaddafi does go in the end, as must be hoped, this might be as part of a deal that will never get done if his departure is made a precondition to the brokering.

The deeper anxiety is that the perception of mission creep will retard the greatest struggle of the lot – for international relations governed by the rule of law. Faltering advances have been made over the years since the second world war, as yesterday's conviction of two Croats for war crimes underlined, but progress was greatly set back by Iraq. The three leaders' careful drafting might have satisfied their own lawyers, but if critics at home and abroad feel caught out by the small print that can only undermine the campaign's legitimacy. Three Conservative and two Labour MPs yesterday demanded a recall of parliament, arguing that policy had moved on significantly without the Commons having a say. If similar resentment takes hold in the sceptical capitals which ultimately acquiesced in the unopposed security council vote, then a fragile consensus will shatter.

The current attorney general would do well to remember the damage done during the Iraq affair, when dubious interpretations of resolution 1441 were used to license the course the superpower was already set on. This created the sense that the UN's role was a fraud. Whether it has been right or wrong on Libya, it has proved capable of shared resolve, and shown it can have teeth. The new language of regime change may leave the council descending into accusations of bad faith – and the planet slipping back into a more lawless world.

Glencore: Miner to major

If you haven't yet heard of Glencore, you will – and you certainly should, if only because your pension fund is likely to buy into the company soon

If you haven't yet heard of Glencore, you will – and you certainly should, if only because your pension fund is likely to buy into the company soon. The market value of the privately owned Swiss-based mining and commodities trading group, which is about to float up to 20% of its equity for the first time on the London Stock Exchange, may end up equivalent to something not far short of the whole GDP of Libya, at upwards of $70bn. This is a colossal event, and not just for the stock market. A company of this size cannot help but be a major market player, especially since Glencore has just revealed that it is the world's largest commodities trader, controlling 60% of the zinc market, 50% of the trade in copper, 45% of lead and a third of traded aluminium and thermal coal. Oh, and 3% of the world's oil and 9% of its grain too.

With China's insatiable demand for raw materials apparently ensuring that world commodity prices will remain high for a while to come, it is no surprise that Glencore will now generate the biggest ever flotation on the London market or that it is shortly likely to be the first listed company for 25 years to be catapulted straight into the FTSE 100. But its arrival will further increase the exposure to oil, gas and mining shares in the FTSE, which is fine while world trade routes stay open and as long as Glencore's mining investments in places like Colombia and Kazakhstan steer clear of the kind of environmental and political implosions that almost holed BP below the water line in the Gulf of Mexico a year ago. Still, with the former BP chief Tony Hayward now on the Glencore board, how could that happen?

The Glencore flotation also matters because of the sheer scale of the individual rewards that it will bring for those at the top of the company. Glencore's 485 existing employee shareholders are set to coin $100m each from the listing, of whom 65 elite commodity traders are in line for personal windfalls of more than $500m. Chief executive Ivan Glasenberg will sit at the top of this money mountain with a stake worth a cool $9bn. And you thought bankers had it good.

Glencore has come a long way since its early days under the fugitive oil trader Marc Rich. Nevertheless, its move into the market limelight from the secretive environment of Swiss company law marks a major change of regulatory and transparency obligation. Inevitably, banks, accountants and lawyers are falling over themselves to get a slice of the Glencore action – a slice worth around $275m. Pension funds and index trackers will follow. The public's money will soon be exposed. The Glencore flotation is a massive event. It affects everyone. At the very least, all those involved must do their due diligence inquiries and look before they leap.

Unthinkable? Implement the Easter Act 1928

The act sets down that Easter Sunday must fall on a fixed day – the Sunday following the second Saturday in April

Three years ago, Easter Sunday fell on 23 March. This year, it is more than a month later, on 24 April. The lurching date of Easter – which since the fourth century has been set as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox – has long been a source of mingled charm, irritation and, when (as this year) it falls exceptionally late, downright inconvenience to businesses, schools and the holiday season. There is, however, a remedy to hand. It takes the form of the Easter Act 1928, a prescient piece of legislation which is already on the statute book, ready and waiting for a government brave enough to issue the implementation order. The act sets down that Easter Sunday must fall on a fixed day – the Sunday following the second Saturday in April. The effect would be that Easter Sunday, instead of falling on any date between 22 March and 25 April as now, would fall in the narrower window of 9 to 15 April. This year, if the act had been in force, Easter would have been last Sunday – resulting in a decent working interval between it and the royal wedding. All this could happen if the government chose to do it. It is a myth that the churches have a veto; the act merely requires that "regard shall be had" to their opinion. Churches would rightly still be free to celebrate Easter on the day of their choice rather than over the public holiday – as the Orthodox church already does. The secular majority, however, would at last have an annual spring break that makes a bit more sense.

 

EDITORIAL : THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA

 

One Year Later

Next week marks the first anniversary of an environmental disaster — the explosion at BP’s Macondo oil well that killed 11 workers, sank the drilling rig, sent 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and threw thousands of people out of work. Yet Congress is behaving as if nothing at all happened, as if there were no lessons to draw from the richly documented chain of errors and regulatory shortcomings that contributed to the blowout.

Even worse, Congress is pushing in exactly the wrong direction. The House Natural Resources Committee passed three bills this week that would force the administration to accelerate the granting of drilling permits in the gulf and open huge new offshore areas to oil and gas exploration. The compromise 2011 budget makes major cuts in clean energy programs designed to lessen this country’s dependence on fossil fuels.

What makes this particularly discouraging is that, Congress aside, there has been a surprising amount of progress, thanks largely to the hard work of thousands of people and the extraordinary resilience of nature. More than 99 percent of the gulf has been reopened to fishing, jobs are returning, and the Interior Department has tightened oversight. Yet without Congress’s help progress will slow and many crucial tasks will remain undone.

Here is a one-year report card and a look ahead:

THE GULF After prematurely claiming victory last year, the Obama administration has since done exhaustive sampling across the gulf and concluded — along with many independent scientists — that the oil has now mostly evaporated, been captured or consumed by microbes. One thousand miles of soiled beaches have been reduced to less than 100. Gulf seafood is safe to eat.

Louisiana’s wetlands — vital fish nurseries — are soiled, and the full extent of the damage to the gulf’s ecosystem and its species, especially to fish larvae and the tiny organisms vital to the food chain, may not be known for years. More will be learned when the government issues its preliminary, legally mandated assessment next fall. Until then, and for years after, the watchword is vigilance: the herring population in Prince William Sound did not crash until three years after the Exxon Valdez spill.

RESTORATION The gulf had serious problems before the spill. One-third of Louisiana’s marshes, wetlands and barrier islands disappeared over the last century, victims of industrial development and levee-building along the Mississippi River. The administration correctly saw the spill as a chance to help underwrite a huge restoration effort, drawing on the $5 billion to $20 billion in civil and criminal penalties BP is likely to owe. To jump-start the effort, the White House may ask BP to make an advance payment on these penalties. But none of that can happen without Congress. Under current law, the fines would flow mostly to a fund to clean up future spills.

REGULATION The spill exposed grievous flaws in federal oversight, including a destructively cozy relationship between the oil industry and its regulators in the Interior Department. The department has since been reorganized and tough new standards applied to all aspects of the drilling process.

Industry and local politicians started pushing for new deep-water drilling permits the moment the drilling moratorium was lifted last fall. The Interior Department has been right to move cautiously. It has also insisted that new operators fully prepare for worst-case scenarios and have access to new equipment capable of stopping a runaway well. Such equipment — known as a capping stack — is now available, but has yet to be tested at great depth.

Here again Congress can be helpful. At a minimum, it should codify the Interior Department’s regulatory changes so that future administrations do not rescind them. It could go further by making the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the agency responsible for the health of America’s coastal waters — an equal partner in decisions about where oil companies can and cannot drill. Environmental concerns must play a primary role.

INDUSTRY A presidential commission concluded that the Macondo blowout reflected not just BP’s carelessness but an industrywide “culture of complacency.” Right after the spill, a half-dozen of the biggest companies banded together to develop new systems to contain a blowout. But so far the industry has turned a deaf ear to the commission’s modest but sensible suggestion that it establish an independent safety institute to audit industry operations, much as the nuclear industry did after the disaster at Three Mile Island.

BP will pay a high price for its negligence. But this is a rich and powerful industry long accustomed to getting its way.

If Congress chooses to keep enabling the oil barons, rather than demanding that they change their ways, the lessons of the gulf disaster will be wasted. And America’s waters will remain at risk.

From Pay-to-Play to Jail

New Yorkers, unfortunately, are all too accustomed to seeing state legislators sent off to jail for their misdeeds. When a court officer slipped handcuffs on Alan Hevesi, the former state comptroller, on Friday morning, however, Mr. Hevesi became the highest-ranking elected official in New York’s modern history to go to prison for corruption.

The former sole trustee of the state’s nearly $141 billion pension fund pleaded guilty to accepting more than $1 million in travel expenses, sham consulting fees and campaign contributions from people wanting to invest some of those billions. He was sentenced to one to four years in prison.

His conviction should be an urgent reminder to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature of how much they need to do to clean up Albany. Pay-to-play isn’t just a problem in the comptroller’s office, it is a problem throughout the entire political system. The state needs ethics reform, campaign finance reform and redistricting reform. It must restructure the state comptroller’s office.

No reform can protect against all forms of fraud, but New York is the only large state in the country that still lets one public official control such a huge pool of investments. What the comptroller’s office needs is an independent, financially savvy board of directors to approve the awarding of investment contracts — with the single goal of protecting and increasing state pension assets, invested for more than a million workers and retirees. New York’s lawmakers should also adopt a public financing system for campaigns, starting with the comptroller’s office.

Thomas DiNapoli, who took over as comptroller in 2006, has made important reforms, but the sole trustee still has too much power. As Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says: “Being a sole trustee gives more power than a good comptroller should want and more power than a corrupt comptroller should have.” Exactly.

Breaking Through on Trade

After two years of dithering, it is good to see the Obama administration championing freer trade. Last week, the United States and Colombia announced a deal that will improve, and we hope finally win passage of, a 2006 trade agreement signed during the Bush administration. The amended version will strengthen worker protections in Colombia while boosting American exports.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress must now overcome their parochial interests and approve the entire set of trade initiatives snagged on Capitol Hill. That includes an amended agreement with South Korea, first signed in 2007, and programs to grant preferential access to imports from Andean countries and to help American workers who lose their jobs because of competition with imported goods. Those lapsed in February.

The agreements with Colombia and South Korea would cement relations with key allies and slash tariffs on a range of American agricultural and industrial goods. The Andean preferences would help to combat the cocaine trade by creating jobs in other export industries. These deals (and another with Panama) have languished for years mainly because of Democrats’ — more to the point, their union backers’ — lack of enthusiasm for free trade.

President Obama seemed to have broken through on South Korea in December, after his aides renegotiated the agreement with Seoul to improve the terms for American carmakers. Then Republicans, who claim to champion trade, refused to pass the agreement or extend assistance for workers until the administration moved to gain approval of the Colombia deal.

Democrats have long opposed that agreement, arguing that Colombia’s labor laws are too weak and the government has not done enough to stop attacks against members of labor unions. And they refused to renew the Andean preferences unless the trade adjustment assistance was extended, too.

The new deal with Colombia should cut this Gordian knot. Bogota has committed to restore land to people displaced by conflict, increase state protection of union members and increase prison sentences for those convicted of killing them. It will change its criminal code to penalize with up to five years in prison anybody who interferes with workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively.

The administration also expects that Panama will soon satisfy President Obama’s conditions for moving forward on its 2007 trade agreement. Those include passing new laws to protect labor rights and agreeing to international standards to combat cross-border tax evasion.

Some Democrats may never be persuadable. Representative Sander Levin of Michigan and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio have made clear their opposition to the amended Colombia deal. But these agreements are good for the American economy and good for national security. Congress should waste no more time and approve them.

EDITORIAL : THE GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA

 

West's support of Ai Weiwei abnormal

Since early April, the arrest of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been used by some Western media as a stick with which to bash China's human rights situation.

As a Chinese citizen, Ai undoubtedly enjoys favorable treatment from the West, which constitutes an intrusion of China's legal system. The Western bias toward Ai results from his confrontational attitude to the government.

Outwardly, some Western media insists the arrest is "not lawful in procedure." At heart, it tries to politicize the case, aiming to stir up those who are dissatisfied with the nation. The West lacks the patience to discuss law, but has an interest in playing political games with China.

Since we are not legal experts, it would be more dangerous for us to discuss the issue of "procedural justice" without obtaining the details of Ai's case. With the socialist legal system improving daily in China, no ordinary citizen, let alone a celebrity like Ai, can be detained with an unwarranted charge. Even if there might be some loopholes involved in Ai's custody, as some have speculated, they should be discussed in the framework of the law. Both the West and a small number of people in China are attempting in vain to persuade the whole of society to draw a conclusion that the government is persecuting pro-democracy figures in China.

That is not the real picture in the country.

The fact is that many public intellectuals, including some artists, have become well-known in recent years due to their sharp comments toward the government. Ai is but one recent example. The majority of this group has enjoyed the freedom to criticize almost everything, bringing them both fame and wealth. China has entered an era of unprecedented political tolerance.

Take Ai's case as an example: He has won more media coverage and fame than many of his peers in recent years, mostly thanks to his biting comments and confrontational activities.

The belief that there is political persecution in China is a fallacy.  Instead, the country is witnessing the unfolding of democracy. At the same time, that does not mean the people mentioned above can do whatever they want in the name of democracy, nor does the West have the right to set up a roadmap and timetable for China.

It is abnormal to hype up Ai's case – the West seeks to refute China's basic political system by paralyzing its legal system. The West will undoubtedly oppose any future verdict on Ai Weiwei, as it aims to put down Chinese values.

The West is adept at resorting to cases involving dissidents when conducting political conflicts with China. At this crucial moment, maintaining a solid and clear mindset to resist the tests and temptations of the West remains a long-term task.