EDITORIAL : THE RFI english, FRANCE

 

 

French press review

 

What impact will the crisis in Greece have on other European economies? This is the question asked by several of the French newspapers as Prime Minister Papandreou faces a vote of confidence on Tuesday.

The great minds at Le Monde have come up with a main headline which reads "Greek debt: ten days to save Europe from the dominio effect".
And at Libération, you have those very dominos, made of neat bundles of 50 euro notes, tumbling merrily along under the menacing question "What happens if Greece goes bankrupt?"

Dossier: Eurozone in crisis

The ten days are what remain for the Athens government to push through the legislation necessary to convince the European Central Bank that the Greeks are serious about getting their financial house in order.
They aren't, of course, but political correctness demands that they go through the motions. And that the rest of us pretend to believe the whole crummy scenario.
The problem, according to an analyst writing inside Le Monde, is that Europe can well afford to have Greece go bankrupt. The private European banks were never in a stronger position, they have cash coming out of their fourth-floor windows, they are rolling in the readies.
And a soverign state, even a badly managed, corrupt and stoney-broke sovereign state, is not a bad place to stick your surplus cash.
The problem is that, if Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain all start slipping in the same direction . . . and the Moody's rating agency has been howling about all four for some time now . . . then there is simply not enough money on the planet to bail everybody out.
The alternatives are stark, according to Libération: Europe either goes bankrupt, or moves towards some form of federalism, with a real economic government, an overall Finance Minister with real powers, a central authority capable of speaking FOR and TO everybody.
In other words, the Eurozone is well on the way to bankruptcy.
The rest of the papers seem to be stuck in various time-warps . . .

Dossier: The Strauss-Kahn affair rocks France, IMF

Le Figaro's front page is dominated by a picture of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and a headline which I'm fairly sure they used about three weeks ago, word for word.
It reads "How the DSK affair changes the presidential race".
The right-wing paper's analysis, which I'm also sure they used about three weeks ago, word for word, is that the withdrawal of the former director of the International Monetary Fund, the Socialist front-runner, has thrown the Left into such disarray that a huge space has opened up in the centre of the French political scene.
And this centrist vacuum will profit none other than the current, little-loved head boy, Nicolas Sarkozy. Le Figaro admits that Nick is currently at the bottom of the popularity ratings, but the right-wing paper says most French voters believe he'll still be re-elected in 2012.
That's right-wing mathematics for you. And right-wing political analysis. As the Americans say when faced with an imponderable, go figure.
Libération reports that Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of the assassinated Rwandan president, has taken legal action to oblige France Televison to let her pre-view a documentary on the 1994 genocide, due to be broadcast later this month.
Mrs Habyarimana believes material included in the programme could be prejudicial to the memory of her husband.
Communist L'Humanité has been doing some figuring itself. Women outnumber men in the French civil service. But the higher up the promotional ladder you get, the fewer women you find.
There's an average of 15 per cent in the difference between public service salaries for men and women here in France. L'Humanité wonders if there's a need for a law to bring something like equality to the state employment scene.
Catholic La Croix gives the front-page honours to the mid-summer free music festival which happens tonight, despite bad weather and a transport strike. It's thirty years since the first gig, and it's generally agreed to be a very good thing.
All types of music, by both professionals and amateurs, are represented, with the place of honour going, this year, to the sounds of the French Caribbean.
Le Figaro gives front-page space to the departure of the Canadian military contingent from Afghanistan. After nine years, the 2,000-strong group is due to leave on 1st July.
They'll be taking their guns and bombs and tanks and helicopters with them, but are selling everything else off in a huge military garage sale to take place at the Canadian base in Kandahar.
Computers, video games and even ice-hockey sticks are up for grabs, all going to the highest bidder. There are pop-corn machines, a set of bag pipes, a single bra, and a whole collection of womens clothing.
The Canadians expect most of the goodies to be snapped up by other foreign military contingents serving in Afghanistan. I'm fairly sure the womens clothing will attract some of the bearded boyohs from the Taliban. As for those bag pipes . . .

EDITORIAL : THE AZZAMAN, IRAQ

There are 300,000 squatters in Baghdad

The Baghdad Municipality or Amanat al-Asima says there are more than 300,000 squatters in the Iraqi capital and at least 300,000 new housing units are needed to house them.

Abdulhakim Abdulzahra, the municipality’s spokesperson, said the construction of 300,000 housing units for Baghdad squatters should be completed in five years.

Iraqi faces a severe housing crisis and needs are estimated at 3 million units.

Abdulzahra said large-scale housing projects were to start in Baghdad soon. He cited Sadr City project which calls for the building of a modern city to change the face of the current run-down township.

He said Baghdad Municipality was one of several authorities working to solve the housing crisis in the capital.

Other ministries, like housing and reconstruction, are also engaged in housing projects, he said.

“The government is determined to rid Iraqi cities of squatters by building more than 2.5 million housing units in the next five years,” he said.

EDITORIAL : THE BANGKOK POST, THAILAND

 

 

Rallying at Ratchaprasong

It is either clever or insidious to hold a big election rally at Ratchaprasong intersection in Bangkok. Which means there are possible benefits but also likely drawbacks to the Democrat Party's decision to stage its first-ever rally that will block city streets, on Thursday.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who will of course be the main speaker, said he will lay out the party's plan for national reconciliation at the dramatic location.

The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship sees the rally as a provocation, a cheap political trick to try to rouse sentiment against the red shirts for last year's deadly street violence.

It is inevitable that in a political context, even the very name of Ratchaprasong drags up mostly unpleasant thoughts. In 2006, it was the centre of several marches by the yellow shirts of the People's Alliance for Democracy. But it was last year that is mostly remembered, when the Ratchaprasong area was simply occupied and shut down by the red shirts.

The economic damage of the April-May 2010 shutdown of Ratchaprasong business was staggering. But even that cost was dwarfed by the terrible killings that accompanied the government's decision to clear the UDD demonstrations.

Nearly a hundred people died, most of them civilians. Plush shopping malls were burnt, most notably the prominent CentralWorld. The rebuilt store will form the main background prop for Mr Abhisit when he speaks at the rally on Thursday.

There is little doubt that Mr Abhisit wants to have his campaign cake and eat it too. He and other prominent Democrats have hit hard at why voters should not reward the red shirts, as personified by the Pheu Thai Party. The message is clear: Don't vote for those who burned the city. But the prime minister also has carried his message of reconciliation. No doubt the country will be listening on Thursday to see just what tone he takes.

One of the main and valid criticisms of Mr Abhisit's approach to national reconciliation is that he has expressed no regret or apology for the deaths of scores of red shirts last year. That in turn has caused some bitterness among UDD supporters, who claim there has been no justice for the killings.

There seems little reason for optimism. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has vowed to take the stage on Thursday and "tell the truth about what really happened" to spark last year's violence.

Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit has complained that using Ratchaprasong as the venue of a campaign rally is "inappropriate".

One hopes, then, for a surprise on Thursday. Perhaps the prime minister can detail some new, start-from-scratch approach to reconciliation. So far, nothing has worked. Mr Abhisit and others have given little if any support to the "truth and justice" committees set up by the government.

Trying red shirt activists as terrorists is embarrassing - and in any case no trials have taken place. The stonewalling by security forces on giving information about the killings is a direct slap to the government and justice.

The Democrats on Thursday will be the third important group to use Ratchaprasong for political reasons. For that reason alone, it is necessary that they come up with important new policies.

If Mr Abhisit and his fellow politicians merely use the rally to attack Pheu Thai through the red shirts, it would be a major opportunity wasted.

EDITORIAL : THE INDENDENT, IRELAND

         

 

Pushed to the limits of austerity

Yesterday's two-week ultimatum to Greece from European finance ministers almost certainly represents the EU's last throw of the dice as it seeks to avert what is beginning to look like an inevitable Greek debt default.

While threatening to withhold the latest €12bn of bailout cash from the Greeks if they don't comply with the terms of ultimatum might seem like a draconian threat, just how credible is it if it leads to the very default that both the EU and the ECB are so anxious to avoid?

In reality, not very credible at all. No matter what threats may come from Brussels and Frankfurt it is increasingly obvious that both the EU and the ECB are now no more than interested bystanders in the unfolding Greek drama.

With the ruling PASOK party of Prime Minister George Papandreou split down the middle and the opposition New Democracy party seemingly determined to oppose them tooth and nail, the chances of the Greek parliament approving a new set of austerity measures next week must be considered very uncertain. Even if it does, will the Greek government be able to impose such harsh measures on its population in the teeth of fierce popular opposition or will it be swept from office by violent protests as the Argentinian government was in December 2001?

While much has been made of the apparent stoicism with which the Irish and Portuguese peoples have taken their medicine by comparison with the supposedly anarchic Greeks, the differences between the countries may be more apparent than real. Despite indications to the contrary, the truth is that the Greeks have done all that was asked of them under the terms of the original May 2010 EU/IMF bailout.

Unfortunately, the austerity measures that came as part of the May 2010 bailout have deepened the Greek economic downturn with the unemployment rate up to 16pc and the economy set to contract by at least a further 3pc this year. This makes it impossible for Greece to meet the budget deficit targets agreed in May 2010. In other words, the austerity measures are making things worse rather than better.

Unlike that of Greece, the Irish economy with its strong export sector, isn't a complete basket case. However, there are also clear indications that the EU/IMF-prescribed austerity isn't delivering the expected economic results in this country either, with no appreciable growth expected this year.

That is why yesterday's ray of hope of being in a position to potentially return to the markets to borrow money for ourselves at reasonable rates is such an important development. There is a long way to go -- and doubtless more pain to come. But there is, for once, a recognition that we are doing our best.

Well done Rory

Just when things seem to be going from bad to worse, golfer Rory McIlroy's fairytale victory in the US Open provided a much needed lift to all of our spirits. After his final day meltdown at the Masters in Atlanta in April the 22-year old from Holywood, Co Down, was under enormous pressure to show that he wasn't a "choker" and that he had what it takes to win one of golf's coveted Majors.

Even for those of us who have little interest in golf the Majors are special. The winners of these events, the US Open, the British Open, the US Masters and the US PGA, occupy a special place in the pantheon of sporting heroes. Golf writer John Feinstein captured it well in his book on the Majors when he wrote that: "On four Sundays a year the world's greatest golfers go out to play for ever."

Yesterday, McIlroy joined the ranks of golf's immortals. In one of the greatest performance ever witnessed at a Major, he didn't so much beat the rest of the field, which included most of the world's best golfers, as blow it away. While his winning margin of eight shots was mightily impressive it merely hinted at his utter dominance of the event.

McIlroy's victory provides a welcome and long-overdue diversion from stories of financial crises and economic meltdown. Well done Rory and best of luck at the British Open in just over three weeks' time.

EDITORIAL : THE JAKARTA POST, INDONESIA

Hope on KPK looms large

Surprising developments on the first working day of the week have overturned the gloomy prospect of the anticorruption campaign in the past weeks into positive progress — despite still in a gloomy mood.

The arrival of reputable candidates, including lawyer Bambang Widjojanto and outgoing chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) Yunus Husein, to file their application with the selection committee for the leadership posts of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on the closing registration day on Monday has wiped out doubts over the future commission’s technical capacity and independency.

Although there will still be administrative screening by the committee, a “political nod” by the President on the eligible candidates and a so-called fit-and-proper test by the House of Representatives, the prominent candidates’ bid for the KPK leadership posts has blown fresh air into the country’s anticorruption campaign. Such high expectations are not without grounds while learning of the country’s poor track record in combating the crime.

High-profile cases, such as the Bank Century corruption scandal which has ended up nowhere but a stalemate, the prolonged prosecution of 25 active and former House politicians implicated in alleged bribery that marred the election of Bank Indonesia (BI) senior deputy governor Miranda Swaray Goeltom in 2004 and the latest graft cases implicating former Democratic Party treasurer and House legislator Muhammad Nazaruddin, have been considered a litmus test for the country’s, particularly the KPK’s, antigraft commitment.

It is therefore understandable if the general public puts much hope on figures such as Bambang and Yunus. Still, there is no guarantee that the Constitutional Court’s verdict that upheld the four-year term of Busyro Muqoddas as KPK chairman until 2014 on Monday will bring no consequences on both Bambang and Yunus candidacy. The Court’s ruling negated the decrees of the President and the House last year, which stipulated that Busyro, like his four deputies, would complete his term by the end of this year.

The Court’s decision will therefore set the term of a KPK chairman different from the other four KPK deputies as the ongoing selection process will therefore elect four deputies of the KPK chief and their terms will end in 2015. And it remains to be seen whether Bambang and Yunus would still be willing to run for the posts of KPK deputies. Such a precaution is not without precedent as a popular and favorite candidate for the post of KPK chairmanship last year withdrew from the race unless he was sure of his chance of securing the chief post at the anticorruption commission. The future anticorruption campaign is however under serious threat as a plan by the House to revise Law No. 30/2002 on the KPK is widely seen as the latest foray intended to weaken the anticorruption drive. Among the crucial amendments sought by the politicians are curbs on KPK authorities that they say overlap those of other state institutions, including the right to wiretap people and officials thought to be involved in corruption. Major graft cases have been unveiled after KPK investigators tapped the mobile phones of certain people.

The revision also focuses on the KPK’s zero tolerance on halting investigations, which has been key to the commission’s firmness in its battle against corruption. Other law enforcement institutions — the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police — have often dropped investigations due to lack of evidence, which in fact has given room for deals that helped breed corruption and transactional politics.

The selection of the KPK leadership is indeed important. But it is much less important than the commitment of all stakeholders of the nation to have the current KPK authorities maintained so as to ensure the war on corruption is won.

EDITORIAL : THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA

Wal-Mart Wins. Workers Lose

Wal-Mart Stores asked the Supreme Court to make a million or more of the company’s current and former female employees fend for themselves in individual lawsuits instead of seeking billions of dollars for discrimination in a class-action lawsuit. Wal-Mart got what it wanted from the court — unanimous dismissal of the suit as the plaintiffs presented it — and more from the five conservative justices, who went further in restricting class actions in general.

The majority opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia will make it substantially more difficult for class-action suits in all manner of cases to move forward. For 45 years, since Congress approved the criteria for class actions, the threshold for certification of a class has been low, with good reason because certification is merely the first step in a suit. Members of a potential class have had to show that they were numerous, had questions of law or fact in common and had representatives with typical claims who would protect the interests of the class.

Justice Scalia significantly raised the threshold of certification, writing that there must be “glue” holding together the claims of a would-be class. Now, without saying what the actual standard of proof is, the majority requires that potential members of a class show that they are likely to prevail at trial when they seek initial certification. In this change, the court has made fact-finding a major part of certification, increasing the cost and the stakes of starting a class action.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the four moderates on the court, dissented from Justice Scalia’s broader analysis and sought a much narrower holding. The minority found that the plaintiffs had cleared the bar for certification with evidence suggesting that “gender bias suffused Wal-Mart’s company culture” but would have sent the case back to the trial court to consider whether the class action should have gone forward in a different form.

The plaintiffs in this case sought three forms of relief: to stop Wal-Mart’s employment practices that allegedly discriminated against women, to have the company adopt equitable ones and to recover wages lost as a result of unfair practices. The justices have all but ended this mix of remedies under one part of the main class-action rule — even though Congress and most courts of appeals have allowed it for decades.

Without a class action, it will be very difficult for most of the women potentially affected to pursue individual claims. The average wages lost per year for a member of the rejected Wal-Mart class are around $1,100 — too little to give lawyers an incentive to represent such an individual. For the plaintiffs, for groups seeking back pay in class actions, and for class actions in general, it was a bad day in court.

Doing Right by the Poorest Countries

Ten years ago in Doha, Qatar, the world’s leading trading nations began the so-called development round of trade negotiations, billed as an effort to open markets in rich countries to the exports of the world’s poorest nations to help them rise out of destitution.

The promise was empty. The talks imploded in April when big trading nations failed to agree on a deal to reduce tariffs. While hope remained that a narrow package of benefits for the least-developed countries could be rescued from the process, that hope collapsed this month when the leading traders refused to see beyond their interests and failed, again, to reach a deal.

Much of the blame for this disaster rightly falls on the United States. But all big trading nations should give more.

Fearing Congressional opposition — and especially the power of the cotton lobby — the Obama administration rejected a plan that would have granted duty-free and quota-free access for most exports from the poorest countries and frozen cotton subsidies at the current low level to give cotton farmers in poor countries a shot at competing.

The European Union already grants duty-free and quota-free access to most exports from all the least developed countries. The United States offers this access to most exports from Africa, but preferences granted to some poor Asian countries, like Bangladesh, are not so comprehensive. Washington said it would not offer more concessions unless others made concessions, too.

China, for example, is probably the world’s biggest subsidizer of cotton. It imposes a 40 percent tariff on imported cotton, but, because it is deemed a developing country, China isn’t obliged to make any concessions as part of the offer for the poorest countries.

The United States is right to call for a cut in the huge fishing subsidies by China, the European Union and some other countries like Japan and South Korea. American calls for a trade facilitation deal — essentially streamlining customs procedures — are also sensible. The competitiveness of the poorest countries is too often hampered by such regulations entangled in corrupt bureaucracies.

There is still time to cobble together a narrow trade agreement to help the poorest nations on earth before the World Trade Organization’s ministerial meeting in December. After that, the opportunity for a deal would evaporate. Progress now will require the big trading nations to overcome their narrow self interest.

Hypocrisy, Locked and Loaded

If Congressional Republicans are really intent on getting to the bottom of an ill-conceived sting operation along the border by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, they should call President Felipe Calderón of Mexico as an expert witness.

Mr. Calderón has the data showing that the tens of thousands of weapons seized from the Mexican drug cartels in the last four years mostly came from the United States. Three out of five of those guns were battlefield weapons that were outlawed here until the assault weapons ban was allowed to lapse in 2004. To help him stop the bloody mayhem, he is pleading with Washington to re-enact the ban and impose other needed controls.

That is the last thing Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, wants to hear. He and Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, issued a report last week castigating the A.T.F. for an operation in which federal agents, hoping to track guns to Mexican cartels, monitored but did not stop gun sales to people suspected of obtaining weapons for those criminal groups. Two of the American-sold guns showed up at the scene of a fatal shooting of an American border patrol agent in Arizona last year.

The Justice Department has ordered an investigation, and it must be candid in assessing what happened.

Congress needs to be candid about how loophole-ridden laws have created a huge market for assault weapons, which end up in Mexico. At a hearing, Mr. Issa insisted, “We’re not here to talk about proposed gun legislation.” Federal officials in February sought authority to require gun dealers to report bulk sales of assault rifles only to have it blocked by a provision in the Republican budget. A responsible Congress would re-enact the assault weapons ban, outlaw uncontrolled gun-show sales and reform regulations that allow corrupt dealers to stay in business.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY TRIBUNE, THE PHILIPPINES

                                 

 

Rated

Defiant Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief, Virginia Torres, a Noynoy-coddled shooting buddy, yesterday said she would resign — on condition that critics prove their charges that she is guilty of wrongdoing.

But didn’t the Department of Justice (DoJ) panel that investigated her and her acts in relation to the raid at Stradcom, where she was caught on video, to force a takeover by the other faction, enough proof that she is guilty of wrongdoing, with even the recommendation of her being dismissed from her post?

And wasn’t the memo — two in fact — enough evidence that her superior at that time, Department of Transportation and Communication Secretary Ping de Jesus, sufficient evidence that (a) De Jesus already shown the benefits government enjoys though the IT provider, Stradcom and (b) Didn’t the April 6 memo of the DoTC chief also call for the sacking of Torres, due to her gross insubordination, such as her refusal to obey legitimate orders from her superiors, as well as gross negligence, provide substantial evidence?

But Torres, knowing that she has won her battle with Ping de Jesus, as it was he who left while she gets reinstated by her protector, Noynoy, she now blasts her so-called critics and demanding that they prove their allegations.

Neat, but that doesn’t fly with the public, in view of the substantial evidence that has already been bared.

Of course Torres can expect protection — and from Noynoy himsef. Already, when the contoversy over the resignation of Ping was red-hot, Noynoy had already announced to the media that Torres would be back at her post, as she already had served her “penalty” which to him was the 60-day suspension.

But clearly that wasn’t the penalty recommended by either the DoJ chiefs or the DoTC head, as both called for her dismissal, which in turn, means that Noynoy was clearly protecting his shooting buddy, Torres.

Noynoy even went to the extent of covering up for her, and ensuring that she would be cleared by his Commission on Audit (CoA) and even by his Soliciitor-General, Anselmo Cadiz, who absolved Torres, saying that she was right to withhold payment to Stradcom due to the intra-corporate fight it had.

Interestingly, however, not a single mention was made about Torres’ act — caught on video — of raiding the offices of Stradcom inside the LTO compound in Quezon City last Dec. 9, 2010, and behind her, with the group of Bonifacio Sumbilla, the Stardcom faction at war with th Quiambo group.

If, as claimed by Torres, that this was an intra-corporate fight, why then did she show partiality to the group of Sumbilla and had gone into a raid of the Stradcom facility?

That’s pretty difficult for Torres or even Noynoy and his Palace aides to disprove, as the video exists.

But Torres can always rely on her shooting buddy, Noynoy, to protect her all the way.

As things stand, Noynoy and his Palace boys are already into a cover-up job for her.

A memo from De Jesus to Noynoy, recommending the continued use of the IT provider for the automated LTO as against the manual system which was bared by the Tribune, was quickly spun by the Palace mouthpieces who could hardly deny the existence of the Memo, as Tribune showed the memo itself in the photo. What they did instead was to claim that it was not a recommendation, but merely a study of some sort.

But there went Noynoy, even claiming that there was a study made showing that the services of Stradcom were of no benefit to the government, which was a clear contradiction of De Jesus’ recommendation.

In the case of the second memo dated April 6 and reported by another newspaper, the Palace boys quickly denied its existence. If that is not a cover-up, what is?

And this is what Noynoy calls the straight path, and transparency?

EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

When the cat's away

THE airport coupon taxi system was supposed to ensure that, upon exiting the arrival hall, travellers would not be bombarded and harassed by dubious traders of transport, charging exorbitant rates, and probably lacking the required passenger insurance. Not surprisingly, though, having a coupon system is not really a guarantee of warding off touts. The problem, airport taxi drivers claim, is that there is no one to catch the culprits. Road Transport Department officers used to do the job quite well, apparently, but they stopped when the Land Public Transport Act 2010 came into operation on Jan 31, after which it was thought that Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) officers would take over. They did not.
SPAD's enforcement division head says this is because they do not have enough officers, do not have prosecutorial powers and cannot even issue summonses. These are just excuses. Lack of sufficient numbers of enforcement personnel is, sadly, a perennial problem faced by all enforcement bodies in this country. And, because the Federal Constitution confers prosecutorial powers only on the attorney-general, no one is likely to get that anytime soon either. And, although they might not have the power to issue summons, land transport officers do have powers of arrest.

The real problem here is not that there are not enough laws or not enough enforcement officers; it is that the enforcement authorities do not seem to understand the law or how to use it to help, rather than hinder, each other. For instance, even though the SPAD Act 2010 says it is the commission's responsibility to implement and enforce land public transport laws, the Land Public Transport Act (LPTA) did not obliterate the powers of the police or road transport officers from enforcing laws related to land public transport vehicles. What it did do was to add provisions for there to also be land transport officers, to add to the capacity of enforcement officers, not subtract from it. In fact, the LPTA specifically includes road transport officers and the police in its enforcement provisions.

If road transport officers are shy to step into SPAD territory, Section 56(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 says that a person cannot drive a public service vehicle (as defined by the Land Transport Act 2010) unless that person holds a vocational licence. So, road transport officers could stop touts and at least check whether they have vocational licences. And the police, being enforcers of law in general, could do all of this, too. There are ways. There just needs to be a will.

EDITORIAL : THE GUARDIAN, ENGLAND

            

 

In praise of… Andrei Sakharov and Yelena Bonner

Together they endured exile, arrest, hunger strike, harassment, humiliation, ill health and enormous personal loss – but their memory will surely endure

 
As a couple, Andrei Sakharov and Yelena Bonner achieved more for human rights in their country than any other. He, one of the greatest Soviet physicists and the youngest member of its Academy of Sciences, became the politburo's most implacable opponent. Introducing him to the wider dissident movement, she became his ferocious gatekeeper. Together they endured exile, arrest, hunger strike, harassment, humiliation, ill health and enormous personal loss – but their memory will surely endure Bonner's death last week. Brought back from Gorky by Mikhail Gorbachev, courted by Boris Yeltsin, she retained an instinctive distrust of opportunists who conscripted the memory of her husband for their cause. Post-communism was to rob the final decades of Bonner's life of a redemptive ending. By 1996, she had fallen out with Yeltsin so badly over Chechnya and the grand theft of the oligarchs that she said democracy had turned into "dermocratia" (shitocracy). Under Putin, she spent more and more of her time with her family in Boston, but lacerated him for human rights violations. In a letter read out to a rally against racism and ethnic violence in Moscow last year, Bonner described herself as a Moscovite, Jew and Caucasus national. "Consider that I have come, again to save my homeland, although my legs cannot carry me." She had cried once for her father, who was shot in 1937, cried again for her mother, who spent 17 years in the labour camps, but had never, it seemed, stopped crying for her country.

 

British politics: Raspberries all round

A generally negative mood may now be reasserting itself as early optimism surrounding the coalition drains away and the media becomes bored

In Wonderland all could have prizes. In polling land all just get raspberries. Today's Guardian-ICM opinion poll is tough reading for each political party. Labour, narrowly in the lead on 39%, are nevertheless badly adrift from the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition on the key issue of the economy, while Ed Miliband's personal ratings continue to slide. The Conservatives, though holding on to 37% support, now head a coalition that is slipping deep into negative ratings after an early honeymoon, while David Cameron is unpopular overall for the first time since the election. The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, now plumb their lowest recent level of support, 12%, at a time when Nick Clegg also has the worst negative rating of all the leaders. Across this whole land of lost political content only one party has currently got much to cheer – Alex Salmond's rampant Scottish Nationalists.

It is possible that this generally negative mood, except in Scotland, is part of a continuing plague-on-all-your-houses sentiment of the kind that swept through politics during the expenses scandal, and that may now be reasserting itself as early optimism surrounding the coalition drains away and the media becomes bored. This anti-political mood undoubtedly exists and should not be dismissed.

The poll suggests, however, that the woes of each of the parties are particular, rather than general. Labour, for example, has bounced back from its 2010 general election low under Gordon Brown, largely at Lib Dem expense, but its wider support level is still fragile, as the local elections showed. Part of the evidence for this is in Mr Miliband's low ratings, in this as in other polls. As Mr Salmond proved positively and Mr Brown negatively, a leader's ratings can be crucial in an election contest. By that yardstick, Mr Miliband, running 11 points behind his party, risks holding back any Labour recovery. But it is Labour's poor showing on the economy that ought to alarm not just Mr Miliband but his whole party. The stalled economy, the rise in inflation and the cuts in public services ought to be Labour's great opportunity. Instead Labour is stalled. Until it can make a more persuasive case on the economy, Labour will lack election-winning credibility, whoever its leader.

This is some comfort for the government parties. But not much. Though the coalition continues to run ahead of Labour on economic policy, slow growth and high prices mean it is no longer master of the economic argument in the way it once was. Levels of economic confidence are low. George Osborne's reputation as chancellor has lurched downwards, at the same time as Labour continues to struggle. A slide in coalition ratings from –5 to –15 in three months marks a real hardening of public scepticism, with large numbers of both Conservative and Lib Dem voters now saying the coalition is doing a bad job. It is hard to see this changing significantly any time soon.

It would be far too crude to say that the country wants to see Labour values alongside coalition policies. But it is increasingly clear that, having rejected Labour a year ago, the country is now in turn losing confidence in the coalition parties – but not yet to Labour's advantage. The polls suggest that this is a country that accepts the case for tough choices on fiscal and economic policy – including on public sector pensions, ICM finds today – but one that recoils from much of the peremptory toughness of the coalition's solutions. In this sense the Archbishop of Canterbury was right. There is a mismatch between what the parties are offering and what the country wants. The U-turn on health, widely popular, is one sort of response. But it would be far better to have a government which from the start could combine truthful diagnosis, strategic credibility, pragmatic solutions and a reflexive sensitivity about inequality. Unfortunately, this is not currently on offer anywhere – even in Scotland.

Syria: the national monologue

Bashar al-Assad presented himself as the fulcrum of change, but in reality the ironwork is firmly jammed

President Bashar al-Assad yesterday addressed the nation for the third time since the uprising began three months ago, promising what would have been, 98 days ago, an ambitious and far-reaching programme of reform. He continued to call the demonstrations a conspiracy fomented by foreign enemies. To the growing list of epithets he has used in the past to describe the people being shot at – vandals, saboteurs, Muslim extremists, wanted criminals – he added another one: "germs".

But yesterday he acknowledged the regime's inherent weakness, and the legitimacy of some demands. He promised to set up a national dialogue and a law which would see the emergence of a multi-party democracy. He even appeared to promise accountability, saying he held those who had shed Syrian blood responsible for their actions. As the first person to appear on that charge sheet would be his brother, Maher, who commands the fourth division and the presidential guards – responsible for the worst atrocities – no one took this seriously.

If his audience inside the hall of Damascus university, where he made his speech, erupted in ecstatic applause, Assad's audience outside took to the streets in 19 different cities around the country. People said they were infuriated by his patronising tone, and of the dreamworld he inhabited. He was a man in denial, not someone capable of seizing Syria's defining moment. Hailed in advance as groundbreaking, this speech broke no new ground. If the main demand was that he order troops back to their barracks, his response was to fluff it. He merely said he would like to see them go back to their bases.

For some weeks, the Syrian opposition has been saying that a point of no return has been reached. The fury the speech generated among Syrians at home and abroad appears to confirm the view that the uprising is indeed unstoppable. Assad can inflame passions, but no longer has the ability to quench them. On the day he called for a national dialogue, the idea of dialogue is dead. Nor can Assad persuade some of the 10,500 refugees in Turkey to return home. After the fighting at Jisr al-Shughour, where streets were raked with indiscriminate machine-gun fire, the idea that security forces exist to protect residents, rather than mow them down, is treated with derision.

Senior army commanders will eventually decide Assad's fate. But they are not there yet, and Assad will continue to think all he has to do is to dangle vague promises of a brighter future. Yesterday, he presented himself as the fulcrum of change in his country. The reality is the ironwork is firmly jammed, and will not move again until he goes.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY YOMIURI, JAPAN

        

 

Shared concerns bolster Japan-Indonesia ties

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Japan should properly respond to rapid changes in the Asian security environment as a result of China's conspicuous increase in maritime activities.

On Friday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan held talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Tokyo. The two leaders agreed their countries would boost bilateral cooperation in fighting piracy in the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea and neighboring waters, and in addressing Asian security issues.

These waters, which include sea lanes linking the Middle East with Northeast Asia, are extremely important for Japan as a trading nation.

During Friday's meeting, Kan and Yudhoyono agreed to promote cooperation in preparing for tsunami and other natural disasters and combating global warming. They also decided that ministerial talks between the two nations, including meetings of their foreign, defense, economy, trade and industry ministers, would take place at regular intervals.

It would have great significance if Japan and Indonesia, a key member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, could cooperate in securing regional stability through future dialogue.

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China a common interest

The two leaders' agreement to increase bilateral strategic relations reflects their decision that Japan and Indonesia need to jointly deal with China as it seeks to become a maritime power.

China has had constant disputes with such countries as Vietnam and the Philippines over territorial claims and maritime interests in the South China Sea. ASEAN nations are increasingly alarmed by China's apparent readiness to use military threats to get its own way.

In fact, ASEAN is seeking to upgrade the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC)--a document signed in 2002 by the ASEAN nations and China to resolve disputes in that sea through dialogue--to a legally binding "code of conduct." China should agree to join talks aimed at transforming the DOC declaration into such a mandatory code.

It is disconcerting to note that the Chinese Navy has been increasing its activities in waters around Japan in recent years.

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Sailing too close for comfort

In early June, 11 Chinese Navy ships, including destroyers, sailed between Okinawa Island and the Sakishima islands--after which these vessels conducted drills in the western Pacific, off the eastern Philippines. The move comes as the Chinese Navy has been expanding its oceangoing exercises--both in scale and substance--year by year.

Japan cannot turn a blind eye to China's increasing naval buildup, given its disputes with that country over the Senkaku Islands and gas field development projects in the East China Sea.

The Japanese government must build a multitiered and broad-based framework for dialogue not only with Indonesia but with other Asian nations that are growingly apprehensive about China's maritime advance. We believe deepening Japan's alliance with the United States will also serve to restrain China in this respect.

To achieve this aim, the government should actively use such occasions as ASEAN Regional Forum talks in July and an East Asia Summit meeting in autumn. Each participating nation needs to exercise wisdom in encouraging China to restrain itself from further maritime advances.

Shared concerns bolster Japan-Indonesia ties

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Japan should properly respond to rapid changes in the Asian security environment as a result of China's conspicuous increase in maritime activities.

On Friday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan held talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Tokyo. The two leaders agreed their countries would boost bilateral cooperation in fighting piracy in the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea and neighboring waters, and in addressing Asian security issues.

These waters, which include sea lanes linking the Middle East with Northeast Asia, are extremely important for Japan as a trading nation.

During Friday's meeting, Kan and Yudhoyono agreed to promote cooperation in preparing for tsunami and other natural disasters and combating global warming. They also decided that ministerial talks between the two nations, including meetings of their foreign, defense, economy, trade and industry ministers, would take place at regular intervals.

It would have great significance if Japan and Indonesia, a key member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, could cooperate in securing regional stability through future dialogue.

===

China a common interest

The two leaders' agreement to increase bilateral strategic relations reflects their decision that Japan and Indonesia need to jointly deal with China as it seeks to become a maritime power.

China has had constant disputes with such countries as Vietnam and the Philippines over territorial claims and maritime interests in the South China Sea. ASEAN nations are increasingly alarmed by China's apparent readiness to use military threats to get its own way.

In fact, ASEAN is seeking to upgrade the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC)--a document signed in 2002 by the ASEAN nations and China to resolve disputes in that sea through dialogue--to a legally binding "code of conduct." China should agree to join talks aimed at transforming the DOC declaration into such a mandatory code.

It is disconcerting to note that the Chinese Navy has been increasing its activities in waters around Japan in recent years.

===

Sailing too close for comfort

In early June, 11 Chinese Navy ships, including destroyers, sailed between Okinawa Island and the Sakishima islands--after which these vessels conducted drills in the western Pacific, off the eastern Philippines. The move comes as the Chinese Navy has been expanding its oceangoing exercises--both in scale and substance--year by year.

Japan cannot turn a blind eye to China's increasing naval buildup, given its disputes with that country over the Senkaku Islands and gas field development projects in the East China Sea.

The Japanese government must build a multitiered and broad-based framework for dialogue not only with Indonesia but with other Asian nations that are growingly apprehensive about China's maritime advance. We believe deepening Japan's alliance with the United States will also serve to restrain China in this respect.

To achieve this aim, the government should actively use such occasions as ASEAN Regional Forum talks in July and an East Asia Summit meeting in autumn. Each participating nation needs to exercise wisdom in encouraging China to restrain itself from further maritime advances.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY MIRROR, SRILANKA

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Instead of PSC, we need statesmanship Tuesday, 21 June 2011 01:44 None of the myriad of problems the Sri Lankan government and its people are faced with can be whisked or wished away by ignoring them. It makes matters more complicated when government spokesmen make confusing and contradictory statements at different times. Amid this cacophony and the Babel of voices the government’s official stance is rarely clear. One of the main issues that need to be resolved is the national question. This must be done on a priority basis without allowing it to end up as a festering wound not responsive to treatment. Strangely, coinciding with the visit of a top level Indian delegation, the Eelam People’s Democratic Party leader (EPDP) and Minister Douglas Devananda issued a statement calling for the setting up of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) as the best way to find a solution to the grievances and aspirations of the Tamil-speaking people.  According to Mr. Devananda who is a close ally of the Rajapaksa regime, all political parties in parliament should take part in the process so that no party could object when a final settlement is reached. He said it could be reached within three to six months. This suggestion has been endorsed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He said the Rajapaksa regime would back the appointment of a PSC to formulate a new package that would address Tamil grievances. He said such a package would be placed before parliament for approval and implemented within a specified time frame. We have seen what happened to most committees appointed earlier and had to bite the dust for one reason or the other. The former Indian Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati-led International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to investigate 16 incidents of alleged serious violation of human rights in Sri Lanka just before it quit said most of its suggestions with regard to the functioning of the government’s Commission of Inquiry (COI) had been ignored or rejected. Then came the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) to evolve a political solution to the national question. Its much hyped final report too has been confined to the archives and now forgotten. With that kind of track record attached to commissions and committees. What will happen to the PSC if it does come out with proposals to resolve the simmering national question? Like the others will this too go down the road to nowhere? In resolving this vital question, the government must win the trust of the people by being consistent and credible in what it says and does, matching its words with action and display a genuine and sincere desire to resolve this vital question once and for all. The need of the hour for such a step is a high level of statesmanship and President Rajapaksa is quite capable of doing the job with the same political will he displayed in eradicating terrorism and uniting all Sri Lanka.

EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

You go girls

As an ‘Arab spring' sweeps through West Asia, one country has managed to remain insulated from the unrest. Early on, the Saudi monarch, King Abdullah, bought peace with a hefty $137 billion largesse for his subjects in unemployment, housing, and other benefits. It included a $200 million package for the religious establishment that had obligingly decreed that street protests were forbidden in Islam. The move paid off. Still, a slight whiff of jasmine over the kingdom was unmistakable when a handful of Saudi women took the wheels of their cars on June 17 in protest against an official ban on women driving. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world with such a ban. Driving was prohibited after a similar protest in 1990 by a group of women who decided it was time to challenge the unofficial ban that had existed until then. The prohibition was based on the dubious ground that it led to ikhtilat or ‘gender mixing,' ruled by Saudi clerics as not permitted in Islam. Paradoxically, women can own cars. In some rural areas, and inside compounds such as a university or an office layout, they drive them too. But the ban is strictly followed in most places, with women dependent on men to chauffeur them around. Manal al-Sharif was doubtless emboldened by the democracy movements in the neighbourhood when she used social media networks to launch Women2Drive, a campaign urging Saudi women to break the ban, starting from the third Friday of June. The call evidently rattled the Saudi government, as seen from its swift moves to snuff out the campaign by arresting the 32-year-old Aramco engineer for over a week and taking her pages off the Internet. But the idea had already found resonance.

Mobility empowers women, and Saudi women see driving as the first step to win more freedoms from a brazenly anti-women regime. But Saudi women want to drive for some practical reasons also: it makes more economic sense than employing a driver and allows better time management. Many even argue it means less ‘gender-mixing,' as it reduces dependence on non-family male drivers. That the Saudi authorities decided, after the initial reaction, not to use a heavy hand against the women who participated in the protest is a sign of its caution in the present regional environment. Two decades ago, it sacked the protesting women from their jobs, and penalised their male relatives. The regime's maximum response this time — a traffic ticket to one woman for driving without a Saudi licence — may mean one of two things: hope that ignoring the protest will make it go away; or a possibility of relaxation of the ban in the belief that such limited ‘reform' will act as a safety valve, keeping the lid on demands for more far-reaching political reform. Either way, it is a small step forward for women.

Will Tiger roar again?

Thanks to a lingering knee injury, Tiger Woods was absent — for the first time since 1995 — from last weekend's U.S. Open. But has his game been wounded in a much more debilitating and lasting way? Ever since the sex scandal destroyed his marriage and family life in late 2009, Woods has not won even one tournament; he has lost the last 22 in which he played. Notwithstanding his promises to return to his earlier form, rivals such as Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, and Martin Kaymer have climbed to the top of the rankings ladder as he has slipped to a lowly 13th. Before the stories about his infidelities broke in rapid succession, it seemed only a matter of time before Woods, with 14 titles in golf's four major tournaments — the U.S. Open, the U.S. PGA, the British Open and the Masters — would surpass Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 victories. Now the chances of his doing so, and establishing his place as the greatest golfer ever beyond a smidgeon of doubt, have virtually vanished. He seemed to have it for the asking and he blew it. This is what makes the Tiger Woods story so painful for the legion of fans, who marvelled at his genius, celebrated his victories, and believed they were witnessing history in the making.

Of course, it is too early to write Tiger off. At 35, he may no longer be young, but golf is a sport where champions often blossom in their thirties (the current number one Luke Donald is 33) and, on occasion, remain in bloom until much later (Jack Nicklaus won his last major when he was 46). Recently, he has made radical alterations to his golf swing. While these have been fiercely criticised by some experts, the new swing probably needs more time to settle in and more time before a proper assessment is made of its merits. Golf is very much a mental game and it is possible that Woods may return to form with the return of some focus and equanimity in his personal life. But one thing seems certain. It will be impossible for Woods to recapture those glory days in the early 2000s when he routinely won tournaments by huge margins, when he rewrote golfing record after golfing record, when he alone was on Mount Olympus while the others seemed to merely labour in the foothills. In fact, Tiger had lost that kind of supremacy well before he was scandal-scarred; to hope to regain it now is simply unfeasible. What he can do, however, is to show he has the talent and the appetite to win tournaments again and re-establish himself as one of the world's top-ranking golfers. It would be a personal triumph and an emotional catharsis if he does this. For his many fans, it would be a fitting end to a shining, if chequered, golfing career.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

           

 

Water-logged capital

System overhaul necessary

Hardly has the monsoon begun, city dwellers are already suffering the consequences. Rainwater leads to severe water-logging in most areas of the capital including Shantinagar, Mouchak, Maghbazar, Rampura, Badda, Jatrabari and even posh residential areas such as Gulshan. Following heavy or even not so heavy rains, water rises knee high, preventing many modes of transport from plying the roads, and clogging up in water and severe traffic, those that do. Water-logging damages infrastructure, destroys vegetation and aquatic habitats and gives rise to waterborne diseases from the overflow of sewerage polluting the water. And driven by sheer necessity, people wade through the contaminated water, but it is a hygienic nightmare.

Inadequate drainage sections and outlets, a dated drainage system with low capacity and gravity and lack of proper maintenance, natural siltation, absence of inlets and outlets, and, perhaps most importantly, the disposal of solid waste into the drains and drainage paths are the prime causes of water-logging in the capital. Canals and wetlands have been filled up at will on the pretext of real estate development, depriving the rainwater of its natural outlets. The drainage system as it now stands lacks proper maintenance and needs renovation, if not a complete overhaul. While measures are sometimes taken to clear the sewerage, it is often left on the roadside, only to flow back into the drains and back onto the roads during heavy rain, thus carrying on the vicious cycle.

Dhaka City is in dire need of proper planning and coordination, not least, of proper inlets and outlets for its water flow. Collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing the urban drainage system may be in order. So far, the Detailed Area Plan (DAP), which was approved to deal with the city's physical and environmental issues, is still on paper. We urge the authorities to implement it with a firm hand as a first step towards easing the woes of the city dwellers and making life in the capital a little more bearable.

Pavements under siege!

Restore them to pedestrians

If pictures speak a thousand words, than the one carried in the Metropolitan page of this newspaper, last Monday, speaks many more than that. It was a picture of Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, a so-called VIP road, where the pavement has been commandeered by parked cars, and one can also see that it is also being used to repair cars, among other things.

In other words, the footpath is being used for everything except for the purpose that is built, which is, for use by the pedestrians. And the helpless pedestrians are forced to use the main road instead, being left with no other alternative.

The consequence of this is that vehicle movements are being hampered by pedestrians who are forced to use the road that is impeding normal flow of traffic, apart from the fact that they are also putting their lives at risk.

We find it hard to believe that of all the roads in Dhaka City a major thoroughfare like the VIP road would be plagued by a problem that is pervasive all over the capital. Frankly, one hardly gets to see a stretch of footpath of any definition here. They are either occupied by hawkers and vendors, or they are covered under pile of sand or bricks or other construction materials, or have been occupied by police box or by offices of appendages of political parties.

We are surprised that a public service facility is being misused with impunity and the authorities concerned are least bothered to do anything about it. Or perhaps they are turning a blind eye for whatever reasons. The sorry state cannot be endured any longer. Is it asking too much of the relevant authorities and the police for the footpaths to be retrieved completely and restored to the public for their use?