EDITORIAL : THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD, NEW ZEALAND

Pharmac more important than US deal

The heat is coming on New Zealand in a free trade negotiation with the United States over this country's method of providing subsidised medicines. Decisions about which medicines will be subsidised are made by a specialist Government agency, Pharmac, which also negotiates the rates at which it buys them. US pharmaceutical suppliers have long maintained that this is unfair.

This week their interests were pressed upon President Obama by 28 US senators who sent him a letter of concern saying that in their view, "intellectual property" was not sufficiently protected in a trade agreement between New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and Chile that the partners are now trying to extend to the US.

Intellectual property is the protection of inventors' rights, and most modern trade agreements include common recognition of patents and copyright. The pharmaceutical industry is particularly deserving of this protection. Companies that invest billions in the discovery and development of a safe, effective medicine need a fair return on their investment.

If patent protection is the extent of the US drug companies' concerns about Pharmac, it should not be too hard to reach a compromise in the Trans Pacific Partnership. But if they hope to undermine Pharmac's role as a public purchaser, New Zealand must stand firm.

There is nothing in Pharmac's role that offends any principle of free trade. Pharmac does not decide what medicines may be traded in New Zealand, it decides which ones will be bought at public expense. If the unsubsidised price puts a drug out of most people's reach, that is a matter for the companies that set the price. They cannot expect their products to be subsidised by the New Zealand taxpayer as of right.

Pharmac's job is to shop around, drive hard bargains and get the best value for public money. Public purchasing policy can be a trade barrier when it favours domestic suppliers over foreign competitors, or any nation's suppliers over another's, but Pharmac does neither. It gets the best deal it can for the taxpayer regardless of where it finds it.

And it has done remarkably well. A survey of 14 developed countries last year found New Zealand spent the least on medicines, at US$2510 ($3152) a person, and the United States spent the most, US$7290.

America has the world's most expensive health services and the developed world's poorest coverage. It is struggling to reform its health system while setting its plans firmly against a publicly funded single purchaser of services for those who cannot afford competitive private insurance. Until it solves the conundrum it has set for itself, it is in no position to insist that trade partners abandon a system that works well.

Pharmac's medicine selections do not always please everyone in this country. Its professional decisions are often open to argument, and it was overruled after the last election by the newly elected Prime Minister who decided he was a better judge of the value of Herceptin for a type of breast cancer.

But he has said he will take "a fair bit of convincing" that Pharmac should be altered for the sake of the Trans Pacific Partnership.

His Trade Minister, Tim Groser, who as a negotiating official has heard the American case many times before, remains unmoved. He has described Pharmac as "an outstandingly successful institution" that in five years has saved the taxpayer the equivalent of the cost of the Starship hospital.

If only the whole public health system was as hard-nosed in its purchases. Pharmac must not be a bargaining chip in any trade negotiation. If the US is going to make it a deal-breaker, so be it.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY NATIONAL POST, CANADA

Big Green blocks oil sands

If Americans don't want more oil sands oil, the Chinese would be more than happy to take it. The problem is getting it to them, since green activists are as keen to prevent a new pipeline from going to the West Coast as they are to hold up one heading for the Gulf of Mexico.

The issue of Chinese enthusiasm for Canadian oil was raised on Monday by U.S. Republican Representative Fred Upton, who chairs the House energy and commerce committee. Mr. Upton was speaking at hearings over a new bill to set a November 1 deadline for the State Department's decision on TransCanada Corp.'s proposed US$7-billion Keystone XL line, which would take 700,000 barrels per day of oil sands oil to the Gulf Coast.

"We need to act soon," said Mr. Upton, "as China is very interested in pursuing the same resources."

However, the same well-funded green groups who are trying to bog down Keystone XL in misinformation and legal trench warfare are also staunchly opposed to rival Enbridge's Northern Gateway project to take 525,000 barrels per day to Kitimat, BC. That's because oil sands oil causes more greenhouse gas emissions and is thus claimed to be morally "dirty." Unfortunately for new pipeline proponents, the industry has suffered a number of embarrassing breaks and leaks in the past year, which also saw the BP Gulf oil spill.

The oil sands -which present convenient images of environmental devastation -have become a big fundraiser for environmental NGOs, and a major target for Big Foundation campaigns. Researcher Vivian Krause has pointed out that much of the opposition to the oil sands is funded by U.S. foundations built on the fortunes of American capitalists including, ironically, oil magnate John D. Rockefeller and the Pew family, who pioneered the commercial operation of the oil sands.

The State Department has come under attack for allegedly showing favour to the 2,750-kilometre Keystone XL project, even though it caters to U.S. concerns about energy security, would create 20,000 jobs, and inject an estimated US$20-billion into the U.S. economy. The line has already undergone three years of intensive study, and the Republican move to hurry up the State Department follows a similar call last week from Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert.

Anti-pipeline activists have received a sympathetic hearing within the Obama administration, particularly from the Environmental Protection Agency. When

Prime Minister Harper visited Washington in February, he sought support for Keystone. However, the President stayed mum on the issue. Mr. Obama is conflicted because while he recognizes Keystone's role in providing jobs and security, he is a devout believer in anti-fossil fuel green industrial policy.

Undoubtedly, Canada's long-term bargaining position would be improved, and its vulnerability to offoil policies reduced, if it had alternative outlets for its production. This is one of the arguments being used by Enbridge in support of Northern Gateway. The project is not only attractive to producers as opening up an alternative market. Enbridge projects that it would pay them up to US$3 a barrel more than the U.S. market. The US$5.5-billion line would also be another big generator of construction jobs.

Northern Gateway is being ostensibly opposed by native groups. The question is how far those groups are being manipulated -and paid -by the green movement. Two weeks ago, aboriginal protestors ululated and banged on their drums outside the Enbridge annual meting. They have also appeared at bank meetings, including that a few weeks ago of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh. They are a permanent fixture at UN climate meetings.

Ms. Krause has noted that some of the biggest beneficiaries of foundation money -which is mostly funnelled through the Tides organization -include antipipeline protestors from the B.C. coast.

Outside Enbridge's meeting natives read a statement that confirmed that TransCanada and Enbridge are seen as being in the same bitumen boat. "Enbridge ... as well as other fossil-fuel development projects including Keystone XL, must not proceed without obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of all affected First Nations," read the statement.

Valid sentiments indeed, but the key word is "informed." And just how many informed natives do the protestors represent? One loud group, the Yinka Dene Alliance, has asserted its unyielding opposition to Northern Gateway, no matter how much training, and how many benefits and jobs, are provided to often desperately poor native communities. However, some observers suggest that the alliance represents only 150 people. According to Enbridge, some support the line, although the company is reluctant to identify them because it doesn't want to stir potential conflict. This reflects the usual situation in which project proponents find themselves silenced while opponents are free to conspicuously drum their moral outrage.

On Monday, TransCanada executive Alex Pourbaix told the U.S. House committee that environmental groups' claims about the extraordinary dangers of Keystone XL are "completely false." Last week, Stephen J. Wuori, an Enbridge executive, said that most of what people tended to hear about Northern Gateway too was "alarmist, inaccurate and didn't tell the whole story." Mr. Wuori also noted the bizarre fact that "opposition to business and development is, itself, big business."

Ottawa isn't the oil sands' enemy

There's an old adage in Alberta politics that when all else fails, bash Ottawa. Well, Alberta's Tory government must feel itself at risk of failure, because it has begun making far-fetched claims about how its federal cousins -Stephen Harper's new Tory majority -have suddenly turned into antioil sands hypocrites bent on hobbling the project's development with new environmental regulations just to win favour with central Canadian voters.

"The federal government has sat on the sidelines for years and years and years. Now they see their little golden goose is under attack and they want to be the voice for Canada on the world stage and we respect that," Alberta Finance Minister Lloyd Snelgrove told Postmedia News this week. "We have tried to be team players on this. They're saying Alberta should have been all over the world defending the oil sands, but only as long as they are holding the leash."

These claims are overwrought. The Canadian government has rightly defended the oil patch on the world stage. And to the extent that excessive regulation might hobble the oil sands, it is Ed Stelmach's government in Alberta that poses the greatest risk.

In the past, it is true that Alberta has had every right to be wary of federal intervention. Pierre Trudeau famously imposed his National Energy Program (NEP) on the resource-rich province, and in just over six years drained more than $70-billion out of its economy and sent the province into an economic tailspin that took 10 years to pull out of. At present, Alberta still annually contributes over $5,000 more toward Confederation than its residents receive in return for every man, woman and child in the province.

Even former Tory prime minister Brian Mulroney became unpopular in Alberta for failing to end the NEP for 2½ years after assuming office, for foisting the GST on a province that had previously had no sales tax, and for attempting to amend the Constitution in such a way that would have appeased many of Quebec's concerns, while also giving Quebec a veto over future change requested by other provinces.

But the current Alberta government has nothing similar to gripe about. It's true that after being reappointed federal Environment Minister last week, Toronto MP Peter Kent announced Ottawa would soon introduce en-vironmental regulations that would reduce the oil sands' carbon footprint. But it is unlikely these regulations will devastate Alberta's economy. This is the same federal government that in its first term proposed ignoring the UN's Kyoto accords in favour of more sensible quotas that tied growth in carbon dioxide emission to growth in the economy. Moreover, the same week as he let it be known that oil sands regulations are pending, Mr. Kent also announced that a cap-and-trade scheme to cut carbon emissions was "off the table," a very pro-oil sands move.

Indeed, in the past five years, the Alberta government under Premier Stelmach has done more to discourage oil sands development than anything done or proposed by the Harper Tories.

In 2009, Mr. Stelmach's government announced a 50% rise in oil royalties -a policy it had to renege on when the move noticeably reduced investment in the province's energy sector. It also implemented its own in-province cap-and-trade scheme and took oil sands companies by surprise when it announced last month that it would abrogate hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oillease contracts, so it could take back privately operated lands and include them in hundreds of thousands of acres set aside for nature preserves.

The federal Tories have proven themselves so oil sands-friendly that their opponents in the recent national election frequently used their alleged coziness with oil sands firms to harangue them at every turn. It's unlikely that Mr. Harper and his ministers have, since the May 2 election, become attracted to some new, bright, "green" light that will cause them to cast aside reason and economic pragmatism. What is more likely is that the Alberta Tories, seeing the threat from the new, right-of-centre Wildrose Alliance, are looking to scapegoat Ottawa in hopes of preserving their dwindling support base. They aren't truly fearful of new federal regulations. Instead they are attempting to whip up animus against an Ottawa bogeyman in order to distract Alberta voters from their own poor record.

It won't work. On the oil sands file, Albertans have seen that the Harper Tories are more faithful to Alberta's best interests than is their own provincial government.

EDITORIAL : THE KOREA HERALD, SOUTH KOREA

A two-bladed sword

The National Pension Service is a big institutional investor in the domestic stock market. As of February this year, it had about 40.2 trillion won invested in local stocks, accounting for 3.8 percent of the market capitalization of the Korea Exchange’s main board or KOSPI.

But the NPS has thus far limited its role as an institutional investor to proxy voting. It has never attempted to invoke such rights as submitting shareholder proposals, examining accounting books and records or recommending outside directors.

This passive use of shareholder rights, however, is likely to end soon as the government is seeking to make the NPS a more active shareholder. Kwak Seung-jun, chairman of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision, said Tuesday the NPS would start exercising its shareholder rights more actively in September at the earliest.

For this, Kwak said, the government will set up a shareholder rights committee at the NPS by August. It plans to invite 10 or so private sector experts in finance, asset management and corporate governance.

Why is the government hurrying to turn the NPS into an active shareholder? Kwak, a close aide to President Lee Myung-bak, recently said the move is intended to improve the performance of the companies in which the NPS has a stake, which will help make the national pension scheme more sustainable.

Kwak said corporations tend to focus on short-term profits at the expense of long-term benefits. This hurts the interests of the NPS whose investment horizon is 10 to 20 years. To ensure that companies make business plans from a longer-term perspective, he said, it is necessary for the NPS to monitor their management closely.

According to Kwak, a 1 percent increase in the NPS’s overall rate of return on investment would extend the operation of the partially-funded pension program by 10 years, while a 1.5 percent increase would free the NPS from concerns about asset depletion.

But this is not the only reason for pushing the NPS toward shareholder activism. In a speech last month, Kwak revealed what could be seen as the government’s real motives.

The presidential aide said big businesses have become too powerful in Korea. Then he stressed the need to counterbalance their political as well as economic power. In a capitalist society, he said, the most legitimate and effective way to do this is to have public pension funds exercise their shareholder rights.

Kwak’s remarks came against the backdrop of the government’s futile efforts since August last year to promote shared growth between large corporations and small parts suppliers. Despite the government’s increasing pressure, big businesses have taken few substantial measures toward this end.

Hence business organizations interpreted his plan as reflecting the government’s intention to use the NPS as a means of pushing corporations toward President Lee’s vision of shared growth. They also viewed it as part of the ruling camp’s move to tame business groups before the general and presidential elections slated for next year.

But big businesses refrained from vociferously blasting Kwak’s push because it is perfectly legal for the NPS to exercise its shareholder rights.

Making the NPS an active shareholder is a sword with two blades. On the plus side, it can help improve corporate governance of large firms affiliated with chaebol groups. The NPS could provide a counterweight to the emperor-like tycoons who control them.

On the flip-side, it could be a channel for the government to exert influence on private companies. To address this problem, Kwak said the government would ensure that the planned NPS shareholder right committee remains independent.

But as long as the NPS is under the control of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, it would be impossible to wall the committee off from the government’s clout. Therefore, it is necessary to reform the governance structure of the NPS before pushing it toward shareholder activism.

 

 

Lessons for automakers

 

In auto production, it only takes a shortage of one small part to bring the whole assembly line to a screeching halt. This was well demonstrated by the week-long strike at Yoosung Enterprise Co., a manufacturer of key engine parts.

The company is the larger of the two piston ring producers in Korea. It meets 70 percent of the demand of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors and 20 to 50 percent of the demand from three other automakers ― GM Korea, Renault-Samsung Motors and Ssangyong Motor.

As such, Yoosung’s strike, which started on May 18, threatened to paralyze the entire automotive industry in Korea. Had the walkout continued until the end of May, the five automakers would have suffered a combined output loss of 50,000 vehicles worth 850 billion won.

So it was inevitable that the government would mobilize riot police Tuesday to break up the illegal occupation of the company’s plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, by some 600 striking workers. They staged a sit-in demanding improved working conditions and wage hikes.

It was fortunate that the strike was brought to an end early and without damage to the plant. A prompt resumption of the plant’s operation not only saves Yoosung from bankruptcy but helps the five automakers and some 5,000 other auto parts suppliers avert a prolonged stoppage of production lines.

But the incident exposed serious weaknesses in the supply chain of domestic automakers, especially Hyundai and Kia. By relying too heavily on a single supplier for an important part, the two firms have made themselves vulnerable.

But procuring a part from multiple vendors is not an easy option to take because it increases costs and makes quality control difficult. Hyundai and Kia will have to think about ways to address this problem.

They also need to provide more breathing room to their suppliers by improving the terms of the contract. This will go a long way toward preventing operational disruptions at their subcontractors. They need to take better care of their vendors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDITORIAL : RFI english, FRANCE

 

 

French press review

 

 

Both sides are to blame for atrocities in Côte d'Ivoire, human rights campaigners say. Sarkozy wants morality on the web and government to enforce it. Will the government's bonus proposal drive businesses to the wall? And why are French women paid less than French men?

Côte d'Ivoire makes the front page of today's Communist L'Humanité. The headline reads "Ouattara and the United Nations stand accused".

The story is based on an Amnesty International report which says both sides in the recent struggle for the presidency, that is, supporters of Laurent Gbagbo and partisans of Alassane Ouattara, committed crimes while UN peacekeepers and French soldiers stood by and did nothing.

L'Humanité interviews Stephan Oberreit, the head of Amnesty in France, who accepts that the position of the UN peacekeepers was a difficult one, but that questions have to be asked about the failure of a 10,000-strong force to protect civilians.

Amnesty says that members of Charles Blé Goudé's Young Patriots militia murdered people in front of regular army troops.

The report alleges that pro-Ouattara members of the FRCI, or Republican Forces of Cote d'Ivoire, murdered members of the Guéré community, traditionally seen as supporters of Laurent Gbagbo.

Amnesty International says presidernt Ouattara's silence on what happened in the Carrefour district of Duékoué in March, where at least 800 Gbagbo supporters were massacred, is a sure guarantee of future violence in Côte d'Ivoire.

There will have to be justice, with both sides answering for their crimes, if the country is to move forward.

Dossier: Eurozone in crisis

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is on the front page of right-wing Le Figaro.

He was speaking to the movers and shakers in the world of the internet yesterday, and he wants the world wide web to become a more moral place, with more respect for the rights of those who create copyright material and, wait for it, more government control.

 

The 1,500 delegates at the Paris forum on new communications must have wondered if they were in China, or the Stone Age.

 

Eric Schmidt, the boss of Google, wasn't long about bringing the French leader up to date.

 

Yes, there are problems, admitted the Googling guru, but they can be solved by technology.

 

That's the trouble with technocrats.They create the problems, then devise solutions, which generate more problems, more solutions, and so on, ad infinitum, like George Bernard Shaw's fleas.

 

Business daily Les Echos looks at what French businesses are doing about paying their workers the bonus related to company profits.

 

Women's rights in France - given or taken?

Understandably enough, the big wheels on the Paris Stock Exchange, up to the tops of their silk socks in surplus cash, have no problem about letting a few crumbs fall in the direction of the lower orders.

But small and medium operations, many of them already struggling to keep afloat, view the proposed legislation with scepticism. An opinion poll suggests that 62 per cent of the French think that the bonuses are a good idea.

Catholic La Croix tries to explain why women continue to be less well paid than men. Equality has been promised since 1946, but French women continue to earn an average of 25  per cent less than men.

New laws currently being considered by the French legal watchdog, the State Council, have disappointed activists as lacking in real sanctions and having more holes than my hiking socks. Real equality remains a long way off.

EDITORIAL : THE AZZAMAN, IRAQ

Iraq says Syrian refugees are welcome

The Iraqi Ministry of Immigration and Immigrants says it is ready to receive Syrian refugees fleeing unrest in their own country.

The ministry’s inspector, Kamal al-Ukaili, said the government has take “all necessary measures” in case there is an influx of Syrian refugees heading towards Iraq.

“The ministry has declared its preparedness to welcome Syrian citizens willing to leave their country as a result of the events taking place there,” Ukaili said.

There are no reports of any Syrians fleeing their country and taking Iraq as a refuge.

Newspaper reports have spoken of hundreds of Iraqi families leaving Syria and returning home in the aftermath of anti-government demonstration there.

There are more than 1 million Iraqi refugees in Syria.

EDITORIAL : THE TEHRAN TIMES, IRAN

Persian Press Review

Tehran Times Political Desk

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

Tuesday’s headlines

IRAN: The trade between Iran, China surpasses $30 billion

KAYHAN: The deviant current’s wrongdoings go beyond economic corruption, says Mohseni-Ejei (prosecutor general)

TEHRAN-E EMROOZ: Assembly of Experts chairman warns the ‘deviant current’

HAMSHAHRI: Care about the Oil Ministry

JAME JAM: 80 economic corruption cases on prosecutor’s table

KHORASAN: 8 to 8.5 percent increase in civil servants’ salary being studied by government

KHORASAN: Government studying 8 to 8.5 percent increase in civil servants’ salary

TAFAHOM: No power outages in summer, energy minister says

QODS: Develop the ‘liberated’ city of Khorramshahr

MELLATEMA: MPs are concerned over administration officials’ influence on (upcoming) parliamentary elections

SHARQ: Nasser Hejazi passes away; he will remain a hero

Leading articles

MELLATEMA in a news report says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not attend the next OPEC meeting and will send one of his cabinet members instead. Earlier the vice president for parliamentary affairs had said either the president or his representative will attend the OPEC meeting. The VP had also said the attendance of the president in the meeting will raise Iran’s status within the OPEC. That who will represent Iran at the meeting came under scrutiny as Iran currently holds the rotating presidency of the OPEC and Ahmadinejad himself has taken over the leadership of the Oil Ministry after dismissing Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi as part of a plan to merge eight ministries, including oil and energy.

IRAN in a news report quotes Assembly of Experts Chairman Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani as calling on principlists to close their ranks in the run-up for the next parliamentary elections. “My view is that principlists be with each other in Majlis elections and enter the race with unity,” the top cleric noted. He also said election campaigns by the Combatant Clergy Association (CCA) are different from those of political parties.

TEHRAN-E EMROOZ in an article says 29 years ago in such a day (May 24) when Iranian forces succeeded to liberate the city of Khorramshahr from the occupation of the Saddam regime, Imam Khomeini said “God Liberated Khorramshahr”. Since that date this statement by Imam Khomeini and the liberation of the city have been the source of pride and honor by the Iranians. However, the writer says though many years have passed since that date Khorramshahr is not as developed as it deserves. The writer makes an analogy and says a big project like the Towhid tunnel, which is the biggest of its kind in the metropolis of Tehran, is completed within 30 months, but a city like Khorramshahr has not been fully reconstructed after 30 years. The writer says this is ‘management’ that differs

EDITORIAL : THE TRIPOLI POST, LIBYA

Welcome to Gaza: Revolution and Change at the Rafah Border

The Palestinian security officer at the Rafah border was overly polite. He wore a black uniform and walked around self-assuredly, as he instructed weary travelers on their next moves before being allowed back into Gaza. On the other side of the border, in Egypt, there was much anxiety, fear and anticipation.

‘Things will get better,’ said a Palestinian engineer from Gaza, who once studied and now works in a Swedish town south of Stockholm. What he meant was that things will get better at the border crossing, in terms of the relationship between Gaza and Egypt.

Without a decisive Egyptian decision to reopen the crossing - completely - Gaza will continue to reel under the Israeli siege. Others agree, but Gazans have learned not to become too confident about political statements promising positive changes.

However, the Egypt of today belongs to an entirely different political category to the Egypt of Hosni Mubarak’s leadership. Palestinians, especially those trapped behind the shut borders in Gaza, are well aware of this. Still they are cautious. ‘Inshallah’ – God willing, they say, ‘May Allah bring good things.’

For now, things remain difficult at the border. When Egyptian border officials collect passports for examination, and return a few hours later to read aloud the names of those allowed in, a large crowd gathers around them. Tensions soon escalate to yelling, and occasional tears.

‘Go back or I will not give any his passport back,’ shouted a large Egyptian officer with some disdain. The veins on the side of his face suddenly bulked up. The crowd disbanded, only to return seconds later. The officer looked exhausted and clearly fed up. The Gaza travelers had already moved beyond the point of humiliation. They simply wanted to get from here to there, and back.

A young woman with a contorted back trotted behind her mother. Her pain was apparent on her face. ‘Yallah yamma,’ - hurry, daughter - urged the mother. ‘They might close the gate any minute.’ The girl, in her twenties, paused, closed her eyes tight, as if summoning whatever strength remained in her frail body to carry on for a few seconds longer.

The gate of the Egyptian border point was very wide, but only a small gap of a few feet was open. When it opened, early Thursday, May 19, hundreds tried to rush in at once. Large bags were tossed over people’s heads, children cried in panic, officers yelled, and a few dared to yell back. ‘Just open the gate, the big one,’ someone said.

A white-haired little man, in an oversize, ancient suit, stood back and shock his head. ‘It’s a tragedy,’ he said. Soon, he too was forced to lose his civility and push against the mass of desperate humanity. Later, I saw him inside the border point, circling around nervously and intently puffing on a cigarette.

Here at the border, everyone is nervous, even those who have no reason to be. The Egyptian officers are edgy, as if their fate too is being determined somehow. Both sides know that the Gaza-Egypt border is undergoing an important transition.

Egypt’s new foreign minister, Nabil al-Arabi, had already promised a breakup with the past, thus an opening of the border between his country and Gaza. There is much trust among Palestinians that the new Egypt is genuine, but also a fear that a politically vulnerable Egypt might be forced to compromise on its early stances.

But the Egyptian people seem determined to keep their government in check. Palestine is a major theme now in large protests. Hundreds of Egyptian activists were arrested, and many were wounded as they rallied near the Israeli embassy in Cairo, which was closed for few days before re-opening again.

An Egyptian call to march to Gaza, in commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948 – the Day of Catastrophe - was aborted after the Egyptian army sealed much of Sinai. Tanks still dot the highway leading from Cairo to Gaza via the Sinai desert. The soldiers are very polite, though.

The Egyptian driver who took me to Rafah in a very late hour seemed happiest with the revolution in his country, simply because he is now treated with respect by men in uniform. ‘Officers used to treat us with so much disrespect,’ he said with a retrospective sense of grief. ‘Now, we are like brothers.’ The driver extended his hand for an unnecessary handshake with a noticeably short solider, wearing a pair of slippers.

The sense of joy, however, hasn’t made it to the Gaza border yet. The hope and anticipation that Gazans feel towards the changes underway in Egypt can only be understood after a degree of investigation.

The distance between Cairo and Rafah is long and arduous. It will be no easy task to translate political will in the former into meaningful policy in the latter. Still, the Egyptian people are keeping up the pressure, and Palestinians in Gaza remain hopeful.

At the end, no one was turned back. Everyone made it into Gaza. The man with the very old suit was still smoking and cursing for no apparent reason. The girl with the hurt back was still in terrible pain, but also happy to be home.

The Gaza-Swedish engineer had a crowd of young cousins waiting for him. In Rafah, I found myself invited to a lunch followed by Arabic coffee with many men I didn’t know, most of whom were called Mohammed. They all seemed happy.

‘So, Egypt has changed, right?’ asked one Mohammed with a knowing smile and a nod. Everyone seemed to agree, although they didn’t pinpoint exactly how that change has affected Gaza so far.

Palestinians in Gaza survive largely because of the 500 or so tunnels that connect the impoverished, besieged Strip to Egypt. Now, they feed on hope and cheap cigarettes, much of it also coming from Egypt.

‘Ramzy Baroud,’ called out an older officer loudly. ‘Welcome home, son,’ he said, as he handed me my passport and waved me in. No words could possibly have been sweeter at that moment.

After seventeen years of constant attempts to visit Gaza again, I am finally here.

I am in Gaza. I am home.

 

EDITORIAL : THE BANGKOK POST, THAILAND

 

 

Polls must be free and fair

Barely 10 days into a seven-week election campaign and there is already the danger that extremists aim to torpedo the polls or skew the July 3 election results. Groups of red shirts have already attempted to intimidate Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Yet another offshoot of the yellow shirts has targeted all candidates who are friendly to the red shirts. These unfair and disruptive tactics come after two political shootings, one fatal, and police warnings that hitmen are likely to strike again.

A small round of applause, then, for Natthawut Saikua. The controversial red shirt core leader is hardly famous for his temperate and careful approach to politics. He is one of the more outspoken of all the top leaders of the group. He has been charged with terrorism for his actions during the 2010 violence in Bangkok, and with lese majeste during last month's speeches at a rally by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

He raised a few eyebrows last week with an appeal to the entire red shirt movement. Stop stalking the prime minister, he told his allies. Everyone should be calm and obey the law - the actual law, and laws of common decency. Mr Natthawut deserves support for this appeal. But he deserves only small thanks - for doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons. He told UDD chairwoman Thida Thavornseth that she should urge supporters to stay away from Mr Abhisit in case they might be arrested and accused of obstructing the election.

The reason the red shirts should stop shadowing Mr Abhisit is the same reason that all groups should stop harassing politicians campaigning around the country. That is because it is indefensible. The place for the red shirts to oppose Mr Abhisit is on their own campaign platforms. The prime minister and every candidate for office has a right - even a duty - to campaign around the country to provide voters with the information they need to vote properly.

It is probably a vain hope that a prominent yellow shirt leader will make a similar appeal to the rather unpleasant "anonymous warriors" who are stalking Pheu Thai candidates. A former army captain who once trained the security guards of the People's Alliance for Democracy, says he hopes to be able to challenge every elected Pheu Thai MP after the July 3 election.

By shadowing their movements on the campaign trail, Capt Songklod Chuenchuphol claims he will have enough political ammunition to disqualify the elected MPs with scads of claimed election law violations.

Just like the red shirts attempting to shout down Mr Abhisit, the self-styled warriors hope to turn the campaign into an unfair election that favours their own desired outcome. This is no way to run an election campaign.

Shouting down candidates or tying them up with niggling or nonsensical legal charges flies in the face of democracy.

In the United States, such tactics are known as political "dirty tricks". As former premier Anand Panyarachun said, "You have to have fairness" for democracy to flourish. Harassing the prime minister and shouting down candidates making election speeches is not the road to a peaceful future. It is the opposite of a free, fair and democratic election.

EDITORIAL : THE INDEPENDENT, IRELAND

Some good friends for hard road ahead

OVER the past 10 days Ireland put on a happy face. The frown frozen in place disappeared as we welcomed two of the most esteemed visitors ever to visit our shores.

Queen Elizabeth and President Obama reminded us that we have powerful and enduring friends with shared interests. To their credit, both left in their wake a feeling of optimism. We should not look upon the last few transformative days as a rare respite from the significant challenges we face, but as a reminder of our strengths.

President McAleese's total assurance played a significant part in ensuring that Ireland showcased so well to the world in its hosting of our distinguished guests. The President made bridge building the mantra for her terms of office. The past few days represent a spectacular vindication of her vision.

The markets seem determined to ensure that the mood of hope that gripped the country is temporary. There is, as Taoiseach Enda Kenny reminded us yesterday, a more grounded and infinitely more effective way to meeting the challenges we face. Mr Kenny spoke of our resources as a people, a sense of Irishness and character, that has prevailed and inspired through other testing times.

We have accepted austerity as an inevitability, and even the IMF has been respectful of our efforts. The markets remain unimpressed. They see the debt burden as part of a contagion that impacts the EU as a whole. They point to wobbles in Greece, Spain, Italy and to our woes with disdain. And the omens are not good. Yesterday Greek bonds had a yield of just over 17pc, the highest since the eurozone crisis began.

Ratings agency Fitch said any adjustment to the terms of borrowings by the Greek state would be treated as a default. Moody's has echoed this view. It argues that a Greek default would have negative implications for Portuguese and Irish ratings.

But nobody is mentioning burning bond holders any more, the talk instead is of "reprofiling" or even of "a light dusting".

Moodys says the longer the current state of uncertainty affecting Greece persists, the greater the temptation to undertake some form of debt restructuring.

That may well be the case -- ultimately the debt issue must be confronted en bloc. In the interim we must do all in our power to protect and create jobs.

That is why initiatives like the "Springboard" re-engagement with employment mooted by the Higher Education Authority and highlighted in today's paper are to be welcomed. It is reassuring to have such firm allies but ultimately we must help ourselves.

Making a twit of the law

IN one corner you had a celebrated footballer and his intimate relations with a TV star, in the other the courts, media, the Houses of Parliament, and thousands of internet users. It was always going to be an unequal contest, but exactly who wins in the tawdry super-injunction saga between Ryan Giggs and the rest of the world is hard to tell.

There has been a growing unease at a system that allows the wealthy to retreat behind writs while the less well-off are thrown to the wolves because they cannot afford judicial armour.

Might is seldom always right, but when 35,000 internet users saw fit to unmask the Manchester United hero as the married lover of Imogen Thomas all the courts could do was fume.

Mr Giggs had gone to considerable expense to protect his privacy, seemingly to no avail. As things stand, traditional media are at an enormous disadvantage; at a more personal level so too are the rights of the individual. It would appear that technology has changed at too fast a pace for our learned friends.

The gagging orders had been reduced to absurdity because they appeared unable to restrain tens of thousands of "tweeters". This case will have far-reaching significance. Traditionally, newspapers have been obedient. However, their position is being undermined because the information is so readily available on the internet.

Last week, Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice of England, expressed surprise that "someone who has a true claim for protection" should be "at the mercy of modern technology".

Whether dealing with" twits" or "tweets" all are supposed to be equal before the law, we may not have heard the end of this.

EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

Playing straight on and off field

SUSPICIOUS betting plunges on AFL games revealed in The Australian yesterday should prompt some hard thinking about modern gambling trends.

Punting on the winning team is one thing, but by allowing exotic bets on individual performance rather than team effort, the AFL is gambling with the integrity of the code. Sports fans are willing to forgive their heroes a lot -- excessive high spirits, philandering and making occasional fools of themselves after a big night. But fans rightly treat cheating and corruption with disdain.

There is no suggestion that AFL players were involved in recent wagers on who would kick the first goals for Brisbane and Hawthorn. Correctly, officials are investigating whether clubs leaked information about match strategies and team selections, including switching defence players to the front line.

The alleged NRL betting sting when the North Queensland Cowboys were backed heavily to score the first points with a penalty goal against Canterbury in August was equally problematic. Authorities must recognise that betting on the unpredictable minutiae of the game leaves teams, coaches and managers open to claims of corruption.

Recent scandals in cricket on the sub-continent show how quickly faith in a game can be eroded once bookmakers, rather than players, gain the upper hand. Venal wagers are routinely placed on outcomes that are easily manipulated, such as no-balls and maiden overs at particular stages of the game.

Test cricket fans know that despite the game's noble traditions of sportsmanship, the conduct of former Pakistani players Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and former captain Salman Butt in arranging and bowling no-balls during the Lords Test against England last year was the tip of a filthy iceberg. Rightly, they were banned from the game for long periods.

Australian fans, who were on the edge of their seats as Ricky Ponting's men snatched an unexpected victory against Pakistan in Sydney in January last year still feel affronted by match-fixer Mazhar Majeed's shameful boast that he earned pound stg. 1.3 million because Pakistan threw the match.

If public interest in popular sports is to be maintained, authorities should embrace the same approach as the racing industry's tough stand on doping and work with law enforcement agencies to minimise the potential for corruption. 

Spare us the lecture again

AUSTRALIA has some of the ugliest cigarette packets in the world.

The images of diseased eyeballs, bloodied lungs and blackened feet mean that those who decide to smoke know the risks they are taking. But it's debatable whether making the pictures larger and replacing brand packaging with dull, olive-green will prevent teenagers from experimenting or prompt hardened nicotine addicts to give up the habit.

If Health Minister Nicola Roxon and the Gillard government were determined to cut Australia's already-low smoking rate of 16 per cent rapidly, they would make cigarettes illegal or price them out of reach with excise, although those who would suffer are poorer families among whom smoking is most prevalent.

In a society in which many of our most disadvantaged children suffer because their parents are addicted to illegal substances such as heroin or crystal meth and spend their waking hours trying to obtain and pay for them, Ms Roxon, curiously, says little about how such a serious problem needs to be tackled. She is more inclined to moral posturing over cigarettes, teenagers supposedly "binge drinking" alcopops and even cartoon characters on yoghurt packets. And she was back on her soap box recently supporting "getting your hands dirty in a community garden" projects to help overcome obesity in South Australia. What's next -- sunbathing police?

Perhaps Labor's senior ranks have embraced some new age morality that compels them to tell the rest of us how to live our lives. Human Services Minister Tanya Plibersek wants Australians to behave "ethically" by giving up bottled water to help the planet and has urged illicit drug users to stop because of the deadly violence of the Mexican drug wars.

Smoking causes heart disease, cancer, emphysema and other illnesses. This is why the proportion of Australians over 14 smoking has almost halved since 1988, and why it is so much lower than in 1945 when 75 per cent of Australian men smoked. But as with other harmful but legal behaviour, responsibility rests with individuals. It is beside the point whether market research supports or contradicts the possibility that the world's first plain packaging would cut smoking further. In a market economy, the only goods and services that should not be marketed are those.

Focus on spin threatens the Malaysian solution

IT feels like groundhog day in Canberra as the government tries to finalise its asylum-seeker swap with Malaysia.

The proposal to trade 800 asylum-seekers for 4000 humanitarian refugees is a belated recognition by Labor that it must address pull factors if it is to stop the boats. The motivation for the deal is similar to that behind John Howard's Pacific Solution -- to shatter the perception that anyone who makes it here will be settled here. Yet the clumsy way the deal was announced before it was finalised has left Malaysia with far too much bargaining power. After the debacle of the East Timor detention centre, Labor cannot allow this initiative to collapse -- and Kuala Lumpur knows it. By going public early, Julia Gillard handed Malaysia most of the cards. There is plenty of room for embarrassment and the potential for a reprise of East Timor in the Malaysian "solution".

The wrinkles are apparent, with the astounding admission by Immigration Department secretary Andrew Metcalfe on Monday that the swap could be a one-way deal -- we will resettle 4000 humanitarian refugees even if we don't send any asylum-seekers there. Run that past us again.

On May 8, when the government announced the trade, it also announced it would provide free set-top boxes for pensioners. The proposals are unrelated but are linked by a culture of media management rather than serious policy. This was identified by former finance minister Lindsay Tanner in his book Sideshow: Dumbing down democracy. Noting Canberra's obsession with spin, he writes that "the creation of appearances is now far more important for leading politicians than is the generation of outcomes." It beggars belief that a government that suffered the fallout from taxpayer-subsidised programs such as pink batts would decide to hand out television equipment; or one that announced a half-baked East Timor plan would risk it again with Malaysia. Both decisions demonstrate the government's focus on managing the media cycle at the expense of good judgment.

The Prime Minister's stubborn search for anything other than reopening Nauru leaves her badly exposed, with attacks coming from every direction, including from UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay, who argues that the Malaysian plan breaches international law because Malaysia has not ratified the UN torture conventions on refugees. That is a ludicrous argument. This deal is not perfect but the way ahead lies in forging regional agreements that will involve negotiations with countries that have not signed up to UN conventions.

Labor is more realistic than the high commissioner, the Greens and the refugee lobby. The Malaysian solution recognises that while our policies must be fair and compassionate, the tragic deaths at sea demand Australia ensure desperate people are not encouraged to make these perilous journeys. The perception Australia is an easy mark has helped people-smugglers sell passages. It has taken Labor a long time to accept it must minimise pull factors. The Malaysian solution may be less effective than Mr Howard's use of Nauru but Labor's fear of following him by reopening the detention centre there leaves it with no option than to make this plan work.   

EDITORIAL : THE JAKARTA POST, INDONESIA

You’ll never work alone

The fans of English soccer giant Liverpool FC always chant the club’s hymn, “You’ll never walk alone”, in a show of their confidence in their beloved club either in victory or agony.

So does the Democratic Party, which announced the dismissal of its treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin, on Monday after weeks of mounting pressure on the ruling party. The young businessman, known as a close confidante of party leader Anas Urbaningrum, however, will keep his post as a House of Representatives lawmaker, pending a legal process he may face.

There was no explanation as to why Nazaruddin was discharged from his party post, except for the fact that the move was decided by the party’s council of ethics to save the party from embarrassment.

While the measure was foreseeable after Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD alleged that Nazaruddin had attempted to give a gratuity worth S$120,000 (US$96,100) to court secretary-general Janedjri M Gaffar in September 2010, the Democratic Party’s half-hearted action against Nazaruddin comes as no big surprise.

Under its chief patron, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the party has built an image as an anticorruption force and worked hard to prove it. The efforts have also been translated in the Yudhoyono administration’s fight against graft.

During his term in office, Indonesia has seen dozens of state officials, including politicians, sent to jail for corruption. This has given an impression that everybody is equal before the law under Yudhoyono, which was one of the reasons why the public kept their faith in him in the 2009 presidential election.

But the case of Nazaruddin will prove otherwise if Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party fail to facilitate an investigation into the lawmaker in connection with the gratuity offer and another case related to a tender to build an athletes’ dormitory for the Southeast Asian Games in Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra.

Mahfud disclosed the gratuity offer only after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had tried in vain to implicate Nazaruddin in the dormitory case, in which the KPK has arrested Youth and Sports Ministry secretary general Wafid Muharram and two businesspeople. One of the businesspeople caught in the act, Mindo Rosalina Manulang, claimed that her boss, Nazaruddin, had received Rp 25 billion (US$2.93 million) in fees from the construction project, which cost Rp 191 billion. Later on, Mindo retracted her account and replaced her lawyer, Kamaruddin Simanjuntak, who said he possessed recordings of her former client’s statements that could drag Nazaruddin into the bribery case.

That the Democratic Party failed to suspend if not dismiss Nazaruddin as a lawmaker in order to allow him to focus on the legal process has sent the wrong signal that the party, at least its elites, reluctantly supported the war on corruption.

It was not the first time that the party raised many eyebrows when it came to commitment to the fight against graft. In 2008, the party let its politician, As’ad Syam, former Muaro Jambi regent, serve his term as a House lawmaker, although the Supreme Court had convicted him of graft. He then escaped justice until the police arrested him after a year of hiding.

Unless tougher measures are handed down to him, Nazaruddin will think his party will never let him walk alone in the wake of the graft allegations. Then suspicion will be rife that he may not work alone.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY TRIBUNE, THE PHILIPPINES

 

 

Meaningless diplomatese

 

With Noynoy in the presidential seat in Malacañang, we can all say goodbye to our claim of the Spratlys and have China and even other countries walk all over us.

Noynoy does not seem to have any spine at all when it comes to issues of sovereignty, especially when it comes to China, as he always refuses to even protest the many incursions of China into our territory, always saying that he prefers dialog to tension and confrontation.

That’s fine, except that China does what it wants in the disputed islands, even when it says that it will pursue more talks on the disputed islands.

As things stand, China has been setting up military garrisons and outposts in the country’s claimed Spratlys. The photographs show all these, yet these are also being kept hidden by the Noynoy government, even when it certainly knows that the Chinese keep on adding their garrisons in the disputed islands.

Worse, there was already that Chinese incursion into Reed Bank in Palawan, and certainly, this is part of the Philippine archipelago but nary a protest was filed against China by the Philippine government.

There was that meeting between Noynoy and the Chinese defense minister and one of his communications chiefs, Ricky Carandang, claimed that during the meeting, both sides affirmed “the strong and growing relations between the two countries — both on the economic, political and military fronts.”

That is diplomatese which rarely means anything. That won’t be the end of Chinese incursions nor for that matter, will China stop erecting military garrisons, and Noynoy will allow this to go on, because he has no backbone in defending our sovereignty.

The thing is, while Noynoy keeps on saying that he wants dialogs instead of confrontations, and not even lodging a diplomatic protest on these Chinese build-ups, he also knows that nothing will come out of these so-called dialogs, mainly because China knows it can ride roughshod over Noynoy since he allows China to do its thing in the disputed islands.

The Palace mouthpieces said that China and the Philippines have agreed that dialog is the best way to move forward for the peaceful resolution of the disputed islands.

But this was already the stand for over a decade, yet China keeps up with erecting more and more garrisons and outposts.

But Carandang said about the meeting, that “The Chinese government said it was happy that the Philippines had responded, not in a provocative manner, but had handled (it) in a very cool way.”

And Carandang thinks that was a compliment from the Chinese government?

He appears to have forgotten that it was China that started the provocation through its planes flying over and its building of garrisons and outposts in the disputed islands and he says the Chinese are pleased with Noynoy’s reaction which was deemed cool.

Cool? Is that what is cool, to allow China or any other country to just do as they please and then be praised for not protesting or reacting to such incursions?

But perhaps Noynoy knows he can’t do anything because the country just doesn’t have enough military power to keep China at bay.

Still, it is one thing not to have the military power, but another thing altogether when a country does not even protest the Chinese incursions, which is probably why the country under Noynoy is being treated as a doormat.

That the Philippines under Noynoy is not even being given too much importance among Asean leaders already shows just how low they look at the Philippines and its president.

Even during Asean meetings where leaders in the region are present, there is hardly anything of importance that Noynoy addresses and is listened to. Nothing by way of his “achievements” in Asean meetings appeared to have merited column inches in the region’s media.

 

EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

Befitting the crime

HEFTY fines for traffic offences are no deterrence when unaccompanied by effective enforcement. It is well and good to threaten offenders by, in theory, striking hard at their wallets. But when the threat is not followed by action, few would pay any mind. Even in developed-country legal systems, contempt for the penalties against such misdemeanour can run deep. In late April, for example, it was reported that a Manchester City footballer, in utter disregard for the consequences, had chalked up parking and other fines amounting to tens of thousands of pounds -- despite being able to afford paying them easily. However, road users dependent on their vehicles and without money to burn are shown to be more mindful of the outcome of their transgressions. Even then the road to payment must be accompanied by a big stick. For example, when summonses come from the police, people are more likely to cough up because retribution is immediate: vehicle road tax is not renewable until all outstanding fines are paid.

So the incentives and general argument in favour of payment have to be compelling. Being given a parking ticket is often viewed as a needless inconvenience imposed by petty dictators or just another way to fill the public coffers. These types of offenders do not see themselves as being a public nuisance, hence the bad attitude. But they are a pain. Congestion has become a major problem in many urban areas, particularly when there is no more space for road widening or street parking. There is also an economic rationale for getting tough. Ironically, as car use becomes more pervasive and thus problematic, government policy has to switch to encouraging public transport. This means that parking fines and their collection, among others, have to be stringent.

Streamlining such fines upwards, as announced by the Housing and Local Government Ministry will bring the gravity of traffic offences home. Making payment easier will minimise excuses for non-payment. Many fines are already payable through the post office and even online. Penalties should be uniform, no matter whether the summonses are issued by the police or local authority. Bear in mind, too, that non-payment of these fines is in itself an offence. Amnesties and discounts reinforce the perception that these offences are trivial. But traffic offences are what they are because of what they cause: this spans the spectrum, from public nuisance to endangerment. A maximum fine of RM300 appears appropriate for the severity of these infractions. There is then no need to make it any easier if the fines are truly intended to deter.

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA

As Housing Goes, So Goes the Economy

The Great Recession began with the bursting of the housing bubble. Today, nearly two years after the recession officially ended, the housing market is still in trouble.

At times, it has looked as if things were improving, like last year’s jump in sales because of a temporary homebuyer’s tax credit or the recent rise in new-home sales from near-record lows. But, over all, sales and construction have been flat for two years, while prices, driven down by foreclosures, are plumbing new depths.

Even a recent drop in foreclosure filings isn’t a reason for optimism. April was the seventh straight decline in monthly filings — which include notices of default, auction and bank repossessions — according to RealtyTrac, a real estate data provider. But the decline appears to be largely the result of banks slowing the foreclosure process in order to keep properties off the market until prices recover. The catch is that prices are unlikely to recover as long as millions of foreclosures are imminent.

This isn’t just bad news for homeowners. Selling and building of houses are one of the economy’s most powerful engines. Until the market recovers, the entire recovery is imperiled. Falling home equity dents consumer confidence, making things even worse.

Since the problems in housing are not self-curing, a government fix is in order. But the Obama administration’s main antiforeclosure effort has fallen far short of its goal to modify three million to four million troubled loans.

Its basic flaw is that participation by the banks is voluntary. Most have joined the program but face no real pressure to meet its goals. Another big problem is that banks often do not own the troubled loans; rather, they service the loans for investors who own them. As servicers — in charge of collecting payments and managing defaults — banks can make more from fees and charges on defaulted loans than on modifications. Not surprisingly, defaults proceed and modifications lag. Banks win. Homeowners and investors lose. The economy suffers.

That does not have to be the end of the story. In a recent hearing in a Senate banking subcommittee, witnesses proposed new laws and regulations to change loan-servicing standards in ways that would prevent banks from putting their interests above those of everyone else.

For starters, various government guidelines on loan servicing would be replaced with tough national standards. Among the new rules, homeowners would be evaluated for loan modifications before any foreclosure — or foreclosure-related fee — is initiated. The bank analysis used to approve or reject modifications would be standardized and public, and failure by the bank to offer a modification when the analysis indicates one is warranted would be grounds for blocking any attempt to foreclose.

National servicing standards could succeed where antiforeclosure programs have failed, namely, in compelling banks to help clean up the mess they did so much to create.

In the Senate, Democrats Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Sherrod Brown of Ohio have introduced bills to establish standards. The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can also impose servicing rules. The Obama administration should champion national standards, and Congress and regulators should act — soon.

Standing Up to Unwarranted Police Power

What’s wrong with the police kicking in the door of an apartment after they smell marijuana drifting from it, if they knock hard, announce who they are and then hear what sounds like evidence being destroyed?

Some lower courts have said the answer is pretty much everything, because the police themselves created the pretext for barging in. But the Supreme Court ruled last week that such a warrantless search does not necessarily violate the Fourth Amendment, according to a vague new standard for determining whether the police violated the protection against unreasonable search, or threatened to do so.

They sent the case back to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which is going to have a hard time understanding the new standard — and in any case never resolved whether any evidence was, in fact, destroyed.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the lone dissenter in this strange decision, wisely warned that the new rule gave the police “a way routinely to dishonor” the constitutional requirement that they obtain a warrant, by manufacturing an exception to it. There are already exceptions for “exigent circumstances,” emergencies like an imminent risk of death or a danger evidence will be destroyed. But the urgency usually exists when the police arrive at the scene. In this case, the police caused the exigent circumstances themselves.

The new rule undermines the rule of law by shifting the power to approve a forced entry from a magistrate to the police. It empowers the police to decide whether circumstances allow them to kick in the door.

The majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito Jr. says that the “exigent circumstances” rule applies even though the police triggered the danger that evidence would be destroyed. Apartment-dwellers with nothing to hide, the justice said, are at fault if they don’t take advantage of their right to refuse entry when the police knock. (As if this would be realistic even in Justice Alito’s neighborhood.)

Justice Ginsburg asks, “How ‘secure’ do our homes remain if police, armed with no warrant, can pound on doors at will and, on hearing sounds indicative of things moving, forcibly enter and search for evidence of unlawful activity?”

Her dissent is a reminder of the enduring value of privacy, as well as of her value to American law. It is unsettling that she is the only justice to insist that the law hold the line on its definition of exigent circumstances so that our “officers are under the law,” as Justice Robert Jackson once put it. But it is reassuring to have her stand up for the Fourth Amendment and to police power that is literally and constitutionally unwarranted.

The G-8’s Self-Serving Math

The final communiqués haven’t been written. But the word on the street is that when leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized countries meet in France this week, they will claim that wealthy countries have come close to fulfilling their 2005 promise to boost annual development aid by $50 billion by 2010. They are not even in the ballpark.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which keeps track of aid flows, said aid from rich nations in 2010 was $19 billion short of the promises made at the G-8 summit meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, six years ago. Aid to Africa came in $14.5 billion short.

Yet the G-8 seems determined to fudge the numbers rather than admit to a broken promise. The accountability report published on the G-8 Web site last week inflates the aid figure by not accounting for the fact that a dollar today is worth much less than it was when the promise was made. By this accounting, annual aid from wealthy countries came about $1 billion short.

According to the OECD, most European donors have also failed to hit their pledge to increase aid to 0.51 percent of gross national income. Italy delivered only 0.15 percent; Germany only 0.38 percent. The United States looks better mainly because it didn’t make such a commitment. Last year, American aid amounted to only 0.21 percent of G.N.I. It was, however, one of very few countries that made good on its promise to double aid to Africa.

It is disheartening to know how low a priority the wealthy countries still put on development in the poor world. What’s more, the sleight of hand by the G-8 is unlikely to inspire much confidence in future promises. The only good news, we suppose, is that the impulse to fudge the numbers suggests the leaders of the rich world do have some shame. It would be better if they told the truth and then made good on their commitments.

Protecting High-Risk Students in New Jersey

The New Jersey Supreme Court stood up for the state’s children and strongly rebuked Gov. Chris Christie when it ruled on Tuesday that his draconian school budget cuts violated the State Constitution by depriving impoverished children of an effective education.

In 2009, the state promised the court that it would adequately educate these children through a financing formula that guaranteed districts enough money to provide tutoring, counseling and services that high-risk students need to succeed at school. Mr. Christie sabotaged the plan last year when he vetoed a bill that would have raised revenue by taxing New Jersey’s wealthiest citizens. He then used the shortfall as an excuse to shortchange fair financing by about $1.6 billion, a cut of nearly 20 percent.

The cuts were disproportionately destructive for poorer districts that have weak tax bases and depend most heavily on state aid. Earlier this spring, a state court found that the cuts had already harmed disadvantaged children, placing them at an even greater risk of not meeting state standards.

In this latest, strongly worded ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court admonished the state to put its house in order and reminded the governor and the Legislature that they were “not free to walk away from judicial orders enforcing Constitutional obligations.” Citing limited authority under the law, the court ordered the state to restore about $500 million to the 31 poorest districts covered in the long-running school financing case. The state is also required to ensure that adequate financing continues to flow as intended to these districts in future years.

Governor Christie, who suggested at one time that he would simply ignore this ruling, has apparently remembered his oath of office and says he will obey. That’s not enough. He and state lawmakers have a moral and legal obligation to do better, not just by the very poorest districts, but by the more than 200 districts being starved of the aid that they are legally entitled to and desperately need to educate their high-risk children.