EDITORIAL : THE EL MOUDJAHID, ALGERIA

Ils sont nés après l’indépendance : Ces jeunes assoiffés d’histoire

L’écrasante majorité de la jeunesse algérienne est née bien après l’indépendance. Ceci expliquant cela, elle n’a qu’une vague idée sinon une idée vague de l’indépendance et surtout de tous les sacrifices consentis par leurs aînés pour arracher cette si précieuse liberté, mais faut-il en vouloir à toute cette masse juvénile d’ignorer cette phase cruciale de son histoire ? Assurément non dans la mesure où pendant un bon bout de temps l’histoire est restée un sujet tabou.
D’où toute cette valse hésitation qui ne manquera pas de semer par moments et par endroits le doute dans les esprits. Surtout ceux d’une jeunesse avide de connaissance et de savoir, avide d’information livrées de surcroît par les acteurs mêmes (ceux encore en vie s’entend) d’une guerre de Libération qui a réussi la gageure au regard du déséquilibre flagrant des forces en opposition d’infliger à l’ennemi de lourdes pertes, et, ensuite, au final, arracher une victoire ô combien méritée de par tout ce qu’elle a induit comme esprit d’engagement, bravoure et héroïsme. A telle enseigne d’ailleurs que le monde entier, pratiquement, saluera comme il se doit une telle performance qui mettra du baume au cœur à tous les autres peuples du continent victimes des affres du colonialisme. Pourtant, et, malgré tous ces retentissants exploits des artisans du 1er Novembre et donc de l’Indépendance, la majeure partie de la population juvénile reste encore en mal de repères. En dépit de quelques dérapages sans conséquences directes sur le cours de la Révolution, Dieu merci. Et,  c’est justement ce message qu’attendaient tous ces jeunes soucieux comme de juste de comprendre dans quelles circonstances exactes cette inestimable liberté qui a un coût et un tribut a été arrachée. Sans doute et une fois imprégnés de tous ces moments forts et intenses magistralement structurés par leurs illustres devanciers, se seraient-ils sentis autrement plus impliqués dans cette autre œuvre grandiose d’édification nationale. Car il fallait absolument informer et former les nouvelles générations aux fins qu’elles adhérent au mieux à tout ce qui s’est fait de constructif dans leur pays depuis un certain 5 Juillet 1962. Au demeurant, nombre de spécialistes de par le monde reconnaissent volontiers que la rupture sinon la fracture intergénérationnelle dans un pays donné a pour cause essentielle le plus souvent ce déficit préjudiciable à l’évidence en communication sur une thématique qui concerne tous les citoyens. Quoiqu’il en soit il faut reconnaître que ces dernières années de nombreux ouvrages portant histoire de la Révolution (et qui se vendent plutôt bien signe des temps) ont été publiés et mis sur le marché. Au grand bonheur des jeunes en particulier et des moins jeunes en général, friands d’en connaître un peu plus sur les tenants et aboutissants d’une guerre de Libération qui a redonné sa dignité au peuple algérien. Et s’il ne paraît pas nécessaire de rester prisonnier ad vitam eternam de son passé, mieux le posséder pour mieux négocier l’avenir n’est certainement pas inutile. Dont acte.

EDITORIAL : THE JERUSALEM POST, ISRAEL

 

 

Rethink ties with the Brotherhood!

Faced with the highly unlikely prospect that engagement with the Brotherhood would reap political benefits, the US should reconsider Chabot’s proposal.

Talkbacks (3)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last Thursday that the US would have contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood as part of America’s “dialogue” with the parties competing in Egypt’s September elections.

“We believe, given the changing political landscape in Egypt, that it is in the interest of the US to engage with all parties that are peaceful and committed to nonviolence that intend to compete for the parliament and the presidency,” Clinton said during an official trip to Hungary.

Could the Obama administration’s decision to “engage” with the Muslim Brotherhood be a product of realpolitik? After all, the organization will soon become a major player in Egyptian politics. Though senior members of the organization originally promised not to run candidates for more than a third of the seats in the parliament, in order to quell concerns of an Islamist takeover in the wake of Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, members of Muslim Brotherhood’s new political party, “Freedom and Justice,” have since announced they would vie for as many as half of parliamentary seats, saying they increased the number of nominees to make sure they would win one-third of the seats.

And despite assurances that it would not run a candidate for president, in April Dr. Abdel Moneim Abu al- Fotouh, a veteran Muslim Brotherhood member, announced his intention to be elected Egypt’s next leader.

Under the circumstances, it is only natural that the US would be interested in fostering ties with an up-andcoming force in Egyptian politics. Additionally, the US’s official position is that unlike its Palestinian offshoot, Hamas, the Brotherhood is not a terrorist organization.

As White House official Danielle Borrin, who is a liaison with the Jewish community, pointed out in an email to The Jerusalem Post, “There is no legal bar for such meetings [between the US and the Brotherhood].”

But while there may be no legal obstacles to direct relations with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Obama administration would do well to reconsider its position. Presidential candidate Fotouh, who was portrayed in The Wall Street Journal in May as a man “widely considered the leader of a more moderate group within the movement’s leadership,” has made quite extreme statements in recent months.

Commenting on Osama bin Laden’s demise at the hands of American Navy SEALs, Fotouh had the following to say in an interview on Egypt’s Al-Mehwar TV in May, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI): “Gang-like political assassinations are worse when carried out by a state... This behavior is wrong when done by bin Laden against the Americans – if he really did it [9/11], because after all, I haven’t investigated the matter – and it is wrong when done by America against bin Laden... Since America was able to kill him, it obviously could have captured him and placed him on trial. All this makes us doubt whether there is [such] a thing as al-Qaida or bin Laden to begin with.”

CONSIDERING FOTOUH’S refusal, nearly a decade after the fact, to admit that bin Laden had anything to do with 9/11 or that there is even such a thing as al-Qaida, is there truly common ground for dialogue between the US and the Muslim Brotherhood?

The benefits the Obama administration would derive from ties with the Brotherhood are dubious, while the dangers are many. By recognizing the Brotherhood and fostering diplomatic ties with it, the Obama administration would not only forfeit its chance to influence in some small way internal Egyptian politics, it would actually encourage a radical organization to maintain its radical course.

Why, after all, should the Brotherhood desist from its anti-American, anti-Western positions if it has nothing to lose by keeping them?

Annual US aid to Egypt amounts to over $1 billion. Several members of Congress, such as Ohio Republican Steve Chabot, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’s Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, have recommended – including in an interview with the Post this spring – conditioning any aid to Egypt on the Brotherhood’s exclusion from the government.

Faced with the highly unlikely prospect that engagement with the Brotherhood would reap political benefits, the US should reconsider Chabot’s proposal.

EDITORIAL : THE DIARIO FINANCIERO, CHILE

                       

 

Actividad industrial en franca recuperación

Un positivo comportamiento está mostrando el rubro fabril en el país. De acuerdo a las cifras de la Sofofa como del Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE), la producción de este sector volvió a crecer en mayo para acumular una expansión superior a los dos dígitos en lo que va transcurrido del año.

Y si bien se trata de un resultado potenciado por la baja base de comparación, al mismo tiempo se pueden observar elementos que alientan las expectativas de una recuperación más persistente de esta rama productiva, que deja atrás no sólo las secuelas de la crisis internacional sino que también -y quizás más potente- del shock que representó el terremoto del 27 de febrero de 2010.

Así, hoy estamos frente a una industria que está absorviendo mano de obra y cuyas ventas están siendo lideradas en lo que va del año por los bienes de capital y algunos de carácter intermedio, es decir, aquellos ámbitos que hablan de una mayor inversión en el país.

Dado lo anterior, parece lógico que la Sofofa mantenga su estimación de crecimiento para la actividad sectorial entre 5% y 6%. La duda, como también lo es para el PIB general, es si es factible que persista dicho ritmo de crecimiento durante el próximo año.

Educación y prioridades

En las últimas jornadas los líderes del movimiento estudiantil han esgrimido a favor de un aumento de los fondos estatales para educación superior, que en otras naciones de la OCDE los Estados son importantes financistas, cubriendo en algunos casos la casi totalidad del gasto asociado, de modo que las familias finalmente terminan haciendo una contribución porcentualmente menor. Dichas comparaciones se hacen al tiempo que las consignas abogan por una educación estatal gratuita, la cual debería ser financiada modificando de manera dramática reglas del juego de carácter estructural y que afectan la propiedad de relevantes inversiones en recursos naturales así como la estructura tributaria vigente en el país.

Si bien las cifras aportan una evidencia irrefutable en cuanto a que los Estados sueco o español, por ejemplo, son aportantes que concurren en forma sustantiva al financiamiento de la educación superior, quienes comparan a Chile con esas naciones olvidan las distintas realidades en materia de pobreza, infraestructura y desarrollo. Cuando se ponen sobre la mesa esas consideraciones la aproximación al tema del financiamiento de la educación cambia, de modo que siendo un tema importante, no aparece como tan urgente frente a las necesidades de quienes viven en campamentos, tienen ingresos de indigencia o no alcanzan a cubrir una dieta que les aporte la cuota de calorías necesarias.

Demás está decir que el tránsito al desarrollo es un proceso que toma años y en donde los responsables de la conducción del Estado democráticamente elegidos deben arbitrar entre necesidades múltiples y recursos escasos siempre teniendo a la vista a los más desfavorecidos.

EDITORIAL : THE TAIPEI TIMES, TAIWAN

A mirage of cross-strait peace

Touting his achievements while addressing the Central Advisory Committee of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Sunday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) turned to rhetoric that sounded far more like wishful thinking than statements of fact, which raises questions about his vision for Taiwan’s future.

The first bump occurred when he said that thanks to his policy of rapprochement with China over the past three years, war in the Taiwan Strait “has already become history.”

Not only did this ignore the massive military buildup that is taking place across the Strait, it also purported to read into a future that remains rife with uncertainty. Whether there is war in the Strait will be contingent on a number of variables over which Ma has little control, including political developments in China and the choice of 23 million Taiwanese as to whether they would accept being ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although Ma has vowed not to seek unification, Beijing has repeatedly made it clear that its patience on the matter is not infinite.

Furthermore, the current stability in the Strait — Ma’s only yardstick by which to claim there will be no war — will only hold as long as Taiwan remains hostage to the threat of war. In other words, the so-called peace is the result of intimidation and blackmail, hardly a solid foundation for lasting peace.

Pushing the rhetoric further, Ma told the committee it was “the great fortune of the Chinese race/nation [zhonghua minzu, 中華民族]” that “we can use peaceful methods to resolve conflicts.”

It is hard to tell which period from Chinese history Ma was drawing from, because the use of peaceful methods to resolve conflicts was rarely observed by rapacious emperors from antiquity up to Yuan Shih-kai (袁世凱), an autocratic general who declared himself emperor, the first abortive steps of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) KMT and the CCP that replaced it.

Rather than using peaceful means to resolve conflict, the Chinese nation has been cursed with predatory rulers whose preferred instruments were mass murder, cataclysmic social engineering and systematic repression of their own people. Although autogenocidal campaigns appear to be a thing of the past, it can hardly be said that today’s China is blessed with a leadership that has given up violence to resolve conflict. In fact, China today is embroiled in what is possibly the largest campaign of repression since the student protests in 1989.

The majority of people in Taiwan who are of Chinese descent are here because, over different periods of history, they chose to leave behind a land divided by war and oppression to seek a better life for themselves and their offspring. Even the 2 million or so Chinese who crossed the Taiwan Strait after the KMT’s defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949 were given a new start in Taiwan. Had they stayed behind, most would have been imprisoned, if not purged.

A flippant Ma then quoted from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, saying: “There must be division after long unity and there must be unity after long separation.”

What should be clear to Ma, were he not so locked into his own notions of Chinese nationalism, is that the “separation” is the product of far more than accidents of history or a family feud. It is a choice, one that should be made democratically, without the shadow of coercion that, despite his three years of rapprochement, continues to loom threateningly over Taiwan.

EDITORIAL : NINE O'CLOCK, ROMANIA

A Baccalaureate that accuses

Even before the end of the previous edition of the Baccalaureate exam, Education Ministry officials were jubilant over their initiative of putting the exam halls under electronic monitoring proved to be very useful. Hundreds of high-school graduates from many counties – also from Bucharest – were caught cheating and were expelled from the exam. But, as always when our authorities praise their achievements, there is always a downside to it, which they seem to ignore. The mass defrauding has become a habit in Romania during the last two decades. Pupils and students cheat various exams on a large scale, from Baccalaureate to Bachelor’s degree examinations, from license tests to doctorate examinations and dissertations that allow their holders to occupy an academic position. A recent survey at high-school level revealed that more than 47 pc of boys and 33 pc of girls admitted that they cheat the end-semester exams and other school tests. However, being able to more accurately evaluate this ethic, moral and social disaster, with statistical tools, is no jubilation reason for our rulers, who instead should feel they are responsible for this state of facts.

Noting the disastrous results at the Baccalaureate 2011 (less than 50 per cent passed the exams), dozens of questions and accusations come to my mind. The Romanian education system continues its involution, which goes to a new low each time authorities announce “the end of the crisis.’ The main reason for this collapse, which is more detrimental for Romania’s future than any other result of the current governance, is deeply rooted in the Romanian society, which assimilates capitalism to general corruption.

When people known as interlopers and illiterates become wealthy businessmen overnight, exclusively by illegal means, when they parade their limos at opulent parties, it is unavoidable for teenagers to take them as models in life, especially as the parents of these children sometimes are pushed near suicide by precarious living conditions. Add to this the interference of authorities with school, which forced many teachers to abandon their ideals and turn into mere executants of political orders. The Romanian tradition, the creative vocation consecrated school, army and church as the main pillars the national unitary state was built upon. Today, when all values collapsed, a prestigious teacher is rewarded with a pension that is only one tenth of the retirement benefit received by a high-ranking officer, or even a high prelate.  The increasing number of such examples demonstrates that the stability of the Romanian state is in great peril.

This peril was once again demonstrated by what happened this year, during the Romanian Language and Literature exam of the Baccalaureate. This proved that Romanian pupils no longer read substantial books, which would develop their creative thinking and their ability to express themselves adequately. Rather than the failure to learn the subjects for the exam, the real problem here is their inability to even express themselves in writing as an adult should. In its present structure, whose value was revealed by the dramatic succession of the 12-14 pretended “school reforms,” the target of our Education system has become obtaining a graduation diploma by cheating and bribing, rather than building the creativeness of young generations. A recent – and controversial – proposal in Parliament refers to eliminating paid places from state universities. But the very existence of such places (occupied by students that were unable to qualify for a free place), proves that even prestigious state universities have an acute need for financing, which forces them to operate with lower education standards in the case of paying students.

Such disregard of the fundamental principles of Education is the consequence of a defective system. This kind of attitude is reflected by the explanations of the minister, who sees the recent Baccalaureate as a success mainly by revealing the fraud. Some school inspectors and principals “explain” the poor results by the fact that the decisive tests of the Baccalaureate were the written examinations. But this accuses the ever declining quality of didactic creation. Unfortunately, an increasing part of school lessons relies upon mechanically memorising the information. Synthesis and creativeness, with its inter-disciplinary aspects, are less and less present in our schools, also because in the dialogue between teacher and pupil, the latter is by no means an active element. Pupils are mostly evaluated as the object, rather than the subject of school training. With this reality in mind, it is easy to understand why pupils read… by watching TV, and they are unable to put their ideas into writing the coherent way.

Teachers are the main target of accusations, mainly voiced by the leaders of local administrations that coordinate the activity of schools. But this, too, is wrong. The whole society is responsible for this debacle, and only society may cure the evil. The capacity and prestige of our teachers mainly rely upon their social status, as promoters of a socially crucial activity, and upon the quality of their professional training. With the former aspect deriving from the latter, it is natural and necessary to resume the process of continuously training all those involved in school activities. Instating 5 or 6 didactic grades based on professional skills, also reflected by salary bonuses, would strongly increase the quality of Education.

Another method of supporting the overall quality of the education provided to young generations would be banning the practice of school abandonment. Like any intrinsic reality, a generation that has the vocation of creativeness can be guided, but not divided, split to its basic components. The very existence of illiteracy undermines the creative virtues of a society. Under the pressure of this fact, scientists from all over the world plead for a future “knowledge-based society,” in which the right to education becomes tantamount to the right to life. This is even more important in Romania, where the number of high-school and university graduates barely exceeds one third of the total population of the country, on pair with their proportion in the total number of the jobless population. Then, why should pupils be interested to acquire quality and pass the Baccalaureate, when this will have little impact on their prospects of finding a job?

The debacle of the recent Baccalaureate accuses precisely the serious mistakes of orientation present throughout our whole society.

EDITORIAL : THE NEW POLAND EXPRESS, POLAND

                     

 

Ross Naylor's Column

New Year’s Resolutions Revisited

Given that today is the first of July and we are now into part 2 of 2011, I thought that it was a good time to revisit the list of financial resolutions that I published at the start of the year.

They are all still valid and the good news is that there is still half a year left to take action.

1. Make or update your will/testament. The number one reason people don't do this is that they believe they will never die. If you are, in fact, immortal, go ahead and skip this one. Otherwise, it is something that you should consider.

2. Rebalance your portfolio. Bank some of the gains on your winners from 2010 and reinvest the proceeds in the areas that didn't fare so well and are thus available at more favourable prices.

3. Diversify. There is a lot of uncertainty out there. Don't keep all of your money in one currency. Don't keep all of your money in one asset class e.g. stocks or property. Spread your risk.

4. Look for "absolute return" investments. Most investments only make money in an "up" market. However, there are those that can also profit when markets go down. Look to reduce your overall risk by adding these to your portfolio.

5. If you don't already have an emergency fund, start one today! Your emergency fund should have a minimum of 6 months worth of expenses in it.

Keep these funds in a money market account or other high interest, easily accessible account. If you ever have the misfortune of an unexpected job loss or medical expense, you will be far more prepared to weather the storm if you know you have a little breathing room on your finances.

Ed Wight's Column

Abort this plan

When 28-year-old Magda fell pregnant, the last thing she wanted to do was keep the baby.

Not because she hates children. She already has a lovely 4-year-old daughter. And not because she doesn’t want anymore. She and husband Marek had been thinking about it.

The reason she didn’t want to keep it is because she didn’t want to have a baby by the man who dragged her down an alley, beat her senseless and then raped her, leaving her lying in a pool of her own blood.

So she had an abortion. That, under Poland’s current law, is what she is legally entitled to do. It is also the humane thing to do.

But if legislation now making its way through parliament goes ahead, other women in her situation could be jailed.

At the moment women have a legal right to terminate if the pregnancy endangers their health, if the foetus is terminally damaged, or if the pregnancy is a result of rape.

The plan approved by parliament on Friday with PiS, Poland Comes First, and the Polish Peasants’ Party all giving it the thumbs up will end that. It is a blanket ban.

That is an outrage. First, the black market is already huge with doctors raking in hundreds of thousands of zloties from illegal abortions.

The new law now under consideration by a special committee due to report on September 1st will see that increase exponentially.

Second, this isn’t about the rights of a foetus. It is about the rights of a woman to decide if and when she wants to become pregnant and the circumstances under which that decision is made.

Forcing an unwanted pregnancy benefits no one.

How many women can say in all honesty that if they became pregnant as a result of rape they would want to keep the baby?

Not many and for good reason.

Ross Naylor's Column

New Year’s Resolutions Revisited

Given that today is the first of July and we are now into part 2 of 2011, I thought that it was a good time to revisit the list of financial resolutions that I published at the start of the year.

They are all still valid and the good news is that there is still half a year left to take action.

1. Make or update your will/testament. The number one reason people don't do this is that they believe they will never die. If you are, in fact, immortal, go ahead and skip this one. Otherwise, it is something that you should consider.

2. Rebalance your portfolio. Bank some of the gains on your winners from 2010 and reinvest the proceeds in the areas that didn't fare so well and are thus available at more favourable prices.

3. Diversify. There is a lot of uncertainty out there. Don't keep all of your money in one currency. Don't keep all of your money in one asset class e.g. stocks or property. Spread your risk.

4. Look for "absolute return" investments. Most investments only make money in an "up" market. However, there are those that can also profit when markets go down. Look to reduce your overall risk by adding these to your portfolio.

5. If you don't already have an emergency fund, start one today! Your emergency fund should have a minimum of 6 months worth of expenses in it.

Keep these funds in a money market account or other high interest, easily accessible account. If you ever have the misfortune of an unexpected job loss or medical expense, you will be far more prepared to weather the storm if you know you have a little breathing room on your finances.

Steve Sibbald's Column

Welcoming EU with open arms

So it’s finally come around. After months of speculation, build up and hyperbole, Poland takes the reigns as President of the European Union.

It would take a more cynical man than myself to suggest that this stint in the EU hot seat will merely take attention away from more important matters on home soil. Yes, even I am inclined to agree that the next six months could bring many benefits for Poland.

Some will argue that most European citizens wouldn’t be able to tell you the name of the last EU President (Hungary), but Poland’s heading of the table will be different. This is a country that held its head high during the ‘financial crisis’, is increasingly growing in stature and has the small matter of co-hosting a major football competition next year. Yes, it’s fair to say there will be many pairs of foreign eyes watching how Poland conducts itself in the coming months.

But back within its own borders, this is a chance for the country to instill a bit of home pride in its people. After the recent COVEC motorway debacle, the sham that has been the upgrading and building of its main stadiums for EURO 2012 and this week’s ‘revelations’ contained in Law and Justice’s ‘White Book’, it’s fair to say that Poland could use this opportunity to create a bit of much-needed positive PR.

Ironically enough it was 20 years ago today that the Warsaw Pact ended and as President Komorowski said as part of his speech, “Our unique road has led us from the Warsaw Pact to EU Presidency.”

Lets hope the next six months can help lead the country even further forward.

Craig Turp's Column

Welcome to (the dark side of) Poznan

We’ve been around Poland for over 12 years during which time the changes have been momentous and we feel privileged to have had the opportunity to witness what, by any country’s standards, must be one of the most fascinating decades in its history. It is sometimes hard to remember how different many everyday things were when we first arrived, let alone trying to think back to personal visits prior to In Your Pocket’s launch in 1999.

One of these came to mind last week as we finished updating the latest issue of Poznan In Your Pocket (back from the printers on Monday and available to download free from poznan.inyourpocket.com now). A visit to a series of bars and clubs, one in particular located right in the square, had us thinking of an episode of the Sopranos with a Tony character surrounded by a gang of black t-shirted ‘meatheads’ sat outside. We were naïve enough to think that the days when the local ‘boys’ ran the bars and clubs in a major city had gone to be replaced by young Polish entrepreneurs with great ideas and clean money. Yet in Poznan it appears to be going the other way. The only places in town that seemed to be busy were those with an unsmiling pair of doormen and a cover charge that went straight onto the roll of cash in the man’s pocket thick enough to choke a donkey.

And then there was the mandatory cloakroom charge. And we mean mandatory. When one young lady told the large chap she just wanted to see if her friends were upstairs and didn’t want to leave her coat she was told quite rudely to leave her coat or leave the club. She left her coat. So on the day Poland takes over the rotating presidency of the EU maybe it doesn’t hurt to remember that while change has been incredible, there are still some fairly miserable parts of yesteryear left over.

EDITORIAL : THE BUSINESS DAY, SOUTH AFRICA

All investment is foreign

ULTIMATELY, all investment is foreign investment. What a South African bank lends to a citizen so that she may buy her family a home is obtained in part from foreign capital markets where all the world’s banks finance themselves. The price at which our banks borrow money abroad is a measure of the regard in which those foreign markets hold us. Now, anyone with a reasonable knowledge of the history of the economic polices adopted by the African National Congress (ANC) can see that it is unlikely that the type of nationalisation called for by the ANC Youth League will happen.

But the noisy debate surrounding it is certainly doing damage to the desirability of SA in the eyes of foreign investors.

Let us be clear. The nationalisation called for by ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and his comrades is not of the willing-buyer, willing-seller or market- related, fair-price expropriation sort. It is theft, plain and simple.

If you want to be pompous, you could refer to it as a complete disregard for property rights — one of the fundamental tenets of economics — without which all incentive to grow or invest in a business falls away. It would be mad for foreign investors — or any investors — to place their capital at such risk.

Truth is, if the government really wanted to buy out the mines, they could feasibly go to the market and purchase a controlling interest in them. Once they had ownership they could endeavour to turn a profit from them.

South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande has spoken out against nationalisation as proposed by the youth league, saying it would not address the interests of workers or the poor. He says that putting privately- owned assets in the hands of the state is not "inherently progressive" as it depends on which "class interests" are being advanced.

Mr Malema’s calls for nationalisation have been for reasons of equity: to "restore unto blacks what was stolen from them", yet there is only weak evidence to suggest that the government is capable of broad- based redistribution. Quite the opposite, in fact.

In the 17 years since the ANC came to power, unemployment has risen — especially among black youth — and SA’s Gini coefficient (a measure of inequality) has risen considerably. Redistributive policies such as black economic empowerment have created a new black elite that keeps getting richer while the poor continue to live in poverty.

Government attempts at job creation have also thus far failed to yield much in the way of results and they have been obliged to call on the private sector to step up in their place. Furthermore, while the social grant system is invaluable in alleviating poverty, increasing the size of the grants such that they would have a significant redistributive effect has been heavily criticised by the ruling party on the grounds that widening their scope would deprive people of the "dignity of work".

Whatever the plan may be, nationalisation is certainly not going to undo the wrongs of the past in any material way.

The simple fact is that politicians aren’t business people. There is just not enough competence in the public sector to manage the mines successfully if they were nationalised. It is no surprise that the National Union of Mineworkers doesn’t support it — they fear for their jobs. The mines aside, there is a mountain of evidence to suggest the state can barely run its existing enterprises in a way that generates profits and creates employment now, let alone if it had more of them.

In negotiating this furore, government must tread carefully. Without doubt, the discussion on nationalisation is doing significant damage to SA’s investment risk-profile and must be put down firmly or we will see a reduction in the quantity of foreign direct investment. It is hard to measure — investment not happening leaves no scratch marks — but you can bet it’s happening.

EDITORIAL : THE EL UNIVERSAL, COLOMBIA

          

 

El sangriento anacronismo guerrillero

Con ocasión de cumplirse 47 años de su creación como grupo armado ilegal, el Eln lanzó ayer una proclama que muestra no sólo el injustificable anacronismo argumental que intenta reivindicar su acción armada, sino el absoluto desconocimiento de la realidad actual del país y una sospechosa falta de referencia a su mayor fuente de recursos: el narcotráfico.

Fundado en 1964 por líderes campesinos y estudiantiles en la zona rural del municipio de San Vicente de Chucurí (Santander), el Eln pregonó durante mucho tiempo el razonamiento de la izquierda ortodoxa, disciplinada, moralista y dura, siguiendo la misma estrategia foquista que empezaba a ensayar el guerrillero argentino Ernesto Che Guevara y que terminaría al ser fusilado en Bolivia en 1967.

En el período final de la década de los 60, tanto la guerrilla del Che como el Eln de Fabio Vásquez Castaño se lanzaron a una locura armada, convencidos de tener el respaldo popular porque decían luchar por la justicia social, por la igualdad económica, el respeto a los derechos humanos y la inclusión política.

El fracaso del Che fue estruendoso, a pesar de que en esa época, en Bolivia y otros países de América Latina gobernaban dictaduras militares represivas y violentas.

Pero también el Eln fracasó, al principio por la misma razón del descalabro de Guevara: la confianza en el apoyo del pueblo.

Sólo que el fracaso del Eln tiene un efecto más profundo, porque ya la historia contemporánea demostró que el icono de las revoluciones guerrilleras triunfantes, que es Cuba, no sólo ha sido incapaz de crear igualdad de oportunidades de vivir dignamente para todos, sino que está haciendo lo que tanto condenaban como insurgentes (y sigue todavía condenando el Eln): la  explotación económica, la exclusión política, la pauperización social, la enajenación cultural, la censura de prensa, la  represión militar y la dependencia externa.

Tan obsoletas y esquemáticas motivaciones para justificar la continuación de la “lucha armada” no resisten la menor discusión dialéctica, empezando porque lo que sostiene tanto al Eln como a las Farc es el uso de las más aberrantes estrategias, como el secuestro, la extorsión, la violencia implacable contra indefensos municipios pobres y apartados, y la convivencia con el narcotráfico en calidad de socios.

En su más reciente comunicado, el Eln ni siquiera está interesado de mostrar algo de creatividad, pues se limita a reproducir un párrafo sacado de uno de los primeros manifiestos grandilocuentes del padre Camilo Torres: “La rebelión, la insurgencia y la subversión de todo ese estado catastrófico, no  sólo es una necesidad, sino una obligación”.

Los ataques a mansalva, cobardes y crueles, a soldados humildes de nuestros país, a campesinos indefensos, que son las únicas acciones que pueden ejecutar a estas alturas las Farc y el Eln, amparados por las sombras, sólo corroboran que actualmente no son más que dos bandas terroristas con métodos criminales y muy lejos de los postulados de la moral guerrillera que tanto pregonaron.

El único acto heroico, revolucionario y verdaderamente humano que podrían realizar ambas guerrillas es desmovilizarse, entregar las armas y, desde la legitimidad de la democracia, impulsar los cambios que tanto les gusta pregonar.

EDITORIAL : THE KYIV POST, UKRAIN

 

 

Clubby journalists

The influential TV political talk show who were invited to the president's fabled estate ended up serving as props for public relations than journalists.

It must have been a heady experience getting a special invitation from President Viktor Yanukovych to see a small slice of his multimillion-dollar estate in Mezhyhiria, and have it all filmed by presidential camera crews.

The experience was so intoxicating that the assembled journalists in attendance lost their heads and didn’t even bother to ask Yanukovych any tough questions.

How did he acquire Mezhyhiria from the state? Why was a complicated web of shell companies used to mask the transaction? Where did the money come from for the purchase and elaborate renovation under way in recent years at the 140-hectare luxury compound? Who controls it? How much was paid?

No, TV personalities Savik Shuster and Yevgeny Kiselyov, among the hand-picked stooges in attendance, didn’t think it was polite or relevant to ask questions in the public interest from the state’s top public servant. So they ended up serving more as props for presidential PR than journalists.

Shuster and Kiselyov appear very interested in being part of the insiders’ club and pulling down big salaries as hosts of popular, televised political mud-slinging matches. They appear less interested in doing any real journalism, or using their positions and fame to serve the public interest.

Confronted about their presidential tete-a-tete, they were shameless, unapologetic and even confrontational about their lapses.

“I think that all Ukrainian journalists are divided into two parts: those worried about the problem of Mezhyhiria and those interested in actual politics. I belong to the latter category. That’s why I didn’t remember it,” Kiselyov said. “Honestly, I do not care about it.”

“It is not correct,” Shuster said, acting more like someone invited to tea with the queen rather than a journalist with the president. “The guy is inviting you to his place and you are spitting into his face. This is not how things are done.”

Shuster is right in saying “this is not how things are done” – in Ukraine anyway. Shuster, Kiselyov and others puffed up on their egos think they are the story, not the story itself. And the story here smacks of abuse of government privileges with a strong whiff of private graft. And when it involves the president, it’s a big story.

Mistakes in fact and judgment happen in journalism and we make our share. But, for goodness sakes, not trying at all to get the story or ask the hard question is the biggest sin of all. Approaching its 20th anniversary as a nation, Ukraine’s journalists need to be less supine and servile and remember who they should be serving – the public, not politicians or vested business interests.

Trying democracy

By trying Yuliya Tymoshenko, the government is putting democracy on trial.

The start of the trial of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on charges of abuse of power is also the start of a trial of the authorities’ commitment to democracy. So far, they’re failing miserably.

The charge against the former prime minister is that she abused her power by ordering a subordinate to sign a gas deal with Russia without permission from her Cabinet of Ministers. She is also facing investigations into the procurement of ambulances and the alleged misuse of budget funds that should have been assigned to green projects.

Few from Washington all the way to Brussels and beyond Kyiv doubt that the trial against Tymoshenko and the probes into a dozen or so of her allies amount to selective justice.

Given the rampant, pervasive corruption that everyone sees, it is simply unbelievable that of the charges against leading figures, nearly all are against former members of Tymoshenko’s government. The pretense that Yanukovych and others maintain that this is not a political trial is laughable.

Everything that presidential friend General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka does smacks of political retribution on behalf of Yanukovych and his friends, such as billionaire Dmytro Firtash, whose business interests suffered during Tymoshenko's two terms as prime minister.

It is hard to be sympathetic toward Tymoshenko. She gained great wealth during a time of extreme poverty for most Ukrainians in the 1990s, allegedly benefitting from sweetheart deals from then-Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko. She denies any wrongdoing.

It was only three years ago when she flirted with the idea of forming an alliance with Yanukovych that would have seen both running the country long-term through a power-sharing pact.

Nevertheless, the circus of her trial cannot be taken seriously as an attempt to fight corruption in Ukraine. It is telling that the first accusations against Tymoshenko’s government were detailed in a presidential Party of Regions-friendly report by three U.S. investigative and legal firms.

That was a show document. This is a show trial.

EDITORIAL : THE CITIZEN, TANZANIA

Put more efforts in wildlife protection

For years now, tourism has been the leading foreign exchange earner for Tanzania. Revenue from the sector has increased over the years as indicated by President Jakaya Kikwete in a speech to dissolve Parliament in 2010.

He had noted that tourism gains increased from US$823.5 million (Sh1.2trl) in 2005 to US$1,198.8 million (Sh1.8trl) in 2008, with positive indications that more visitors would be coming to enjoy the many exotic  tourist destinations that abound in Tanzania.

It is obvious that there is a need for more campaigns to promote our country in big tourist markets, such as the United States and Europe. Though expensive, marketing and promotion of tourism will enable Tanzania to reap more benefits.

The government should also continue to encourage investors and push for the construction of more first class hotels, plus sorting out the country’s infrastructure including bettering of roads, railways network,  air and marine transport.

After all is said and done, the bottom line is that tourism should benefit the people. We have in mind, especially, the people who live near tourist attractions, such as national parks.
For instance, it would be wise if some of the takings from tourism attractions were used to construct schools, dispensaries or such other social amenities to cater for the needs of villages that neighbour the parks.

This would make the people feel that they are key stakeholders of the national parks. We think this would also encourage them to protect the parks. That is why we consider very apt, efforts by a non-governmental organisation to train villagers in Longido District of Arusha Region, as part of an anti-poaching drive.

It is our belief this will go a long way towards getting wananchi to consider themselves key stakeholders in wildlife protection. It would also be prudent to lend more support to NGOs that demonstrated a commitment in the area wildlife protection.

Shame on TFF, Cecafa

Tanzania may be struggling to make a mark in continental – and indeed, world football – on the pitch, but no one can ridicule the presence on an ultra-modern stadium. The landmark 60-seater Main National Stadium in Dar es Salaam has attracted attention of giants of world football.

They have either set foot on it – like Chelsea’s scoring machine Didier Drogba, Inter Milan’s Samuel Eto’o and Brazilian superstar Ricaldo Kaka to mention but a few, or they have seen in on TV – thanks to SuperSport live broadcasting of selected local and international matches, including ongoing Cecafa Kagame Castle Cup 2011. There is no doubt the stadium – built by the Mkapa administration – presents, by far, a perfect environment for soccer lovers in the city when compared to Uhuru sitting beside it.

But all these praises seem to fly out of the window the moment one comes to sees how this facility is run.
It all lands on the feet of from fan hooliganism to organisers’ disorganisation. For instance, why is it that hundreds, nay, thousands of fans who are getting out of the stadium through a six-meter wide tunnel have to scramble through a one-metre wide door at the VIP main entrances?

Such a simple thing which, left unattended, can cost lives, besides encouraging pick pocketing. Yes, Tanzania Football Federation (TFF)/ Central and Eastern African Football Association (Cecafa) may argue that they don’t own the stadium, but they are the organisers.  Are the good organisers trying to tell us we need donor assistance to have doors leading fans outside the stadium opened?

It is simply shameful of TFF and Cecafa to allow this situation to remain as it is.

Somali gangs take piracy to industrial scales

Somali gangs are taking piracy to an industrial scales and the number of seafarers killed due to piracy has escalated in the past four years with 62 merchant sailors losing their lives through torture, execution, suicide and malnutrition, campaigners said.Somali gangs, who are making millions of dollars in ransoms, are becoming increasingly violent, and are able to stay out at sea for long periods and in all weather conditions using captured merchant vessels as mother ships.

"Sixty two seafarers have died in the past four years as a direct result of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, through deliberate murder by pirates, suicide during the period of captivity, death from malnutrition and disease, death by drowning, or heart failure just after the hijacking," said SOS SaveOurSeafarers.
SOS said two seamen were killed in 2007 as a result of pirate attacks, adding that piracy had worsened since then.

Overstretched international navies have proved unable to contain the raids in the Indian Ocean due to the vast distances involved in a crisis costing world trade billions of dollars a year."It is government inaction that has allowed piracy to spiral out of control in this area," said SOS, which is backed by the shipping and marine insurance organisations and a major workers' union.

"It's time to stop this outrage. It's time for governments to take action."SOS said during the four-year period, more than 3,500 seafarers had been kidnapped and held hostage by pirate gangs, who have used them as human shields and forced crew members to operate vessels as mother ships.

"Hundreds of these seafarers have been subjected to horrific torture including being hung by the ankles over the side of the ship, being shut in the ship's freezer room, having cable ties tightened round the genitals, being beaten, punched and kicked," said SOS chairman Giles Heimann.

"Many of these seafarers remain traumatised and unable to return to their seafaring careers long after the hijack is over, if at all."Dipendra Rathore, a 22 year-old Indian deck cadet who had been held hostage for eight months on board the Merida Marguerite vessel, said he was determined to return to sea."At my age you can still bear pain -… watching people twice my age being tortured, crying and begging for help is what really measured me," he said.
"I felt so bad for them but I could do nothing about it, except for praying."

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) says the pirates were using hijacked vessels as bases to extend their range of operations against ships in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden.The bureau's piracy reporting centre director Pottengal Mukundan says piracy has surged in recent years off Somalia, a lawless, war-torn country that sits alongside one of the world's most important shipping routes.

The IMB is concerned that some countries, which have deployed naval assets off the Horn of Africa, may cut their anti-piracy surveillance in the area.Mukundan, who is based in London, told AFP that so far this year there were 162 attacks off Somalia with 21 ships captured.

Hijackings off the coast of Somalis accounted for 61 per cent of all attacks on ships, with 362 crewmembers taken hostage, he said.Mukundan said Somali pirates were still holding 21 vessels and 405 hostages for ransom."Since 2007 there has been 62 fatalities as a result of piracy," he said, adding that "the situation is getting very serious."

"We are calling for more naval ships be made available to protect ships off Somalia," he said.Mukundan said this year despite the monsoon period (June to August), Somali pirates had escalated their attacks off the Gulf of Aden."It is an important shipping lane for very large crude carriers which sail from the Arabian Gulf to Asian countries such as Japan, China and Singapore," he said.

In previous years, there was a respite in attacks during the monsoon period due to strong winds and heavy seas.Mukundan said another worrying trend was the increase in violence against seafarers and hostages in the past six months.

In one incident, Mukundan said two senior officers were put in a ship's meat storage refrigerator for 40 minutes and in another case pirates carried out mock executions."The violence and threat used is unprecedented and unacceptable," he said.Mukundan warned that the IMB expects the number of attacks to be higher than last year.

"Pirates are getting more ransom, so they are escalating their attacks," he said.Mukundan urged countries to prosecute pirates captured at sea and not to release them."We want captured pirates to be prosecuted and punished. Now more than 80 percent of the captured pirates are freed. It is sending the wrong signal to the pirates," he said.

The writer filed this analysis from London.

EDITORIAL : THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, NIGERIA

OBJ’S INDICTMENT OF SUCCESSORS

IN a moment of rare lucidity, Nigeria’s former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, had in Switzerland indicted his successors when he declared that the current regime in Nigeria lacked the will to fight corruption because those involved in it are deeply entrenched.

IT was at the 100th session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva, in a debate organised by the Club de Madrid on “Meeting Sustainable Societies and Social Justice.” Other panelists at the debate were former president of Ecuador, Mr Osvaldo Hurtado; ex-President John Kufuor of Ghana; ex-Yemeni Prime Minister, Mr Abdul Karin Al Eryani and former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr Wim Kok. According to media reports, former President Obasanjo had been asked by the moderator of the debate, Ritula Shah of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) if there was a political will to fight corruption in Nigeria.

AFTER a breathtaking delivery on the history of corruption in Nigeria, beginning from Independence in 1960, the former president came up with an analysis that attempted to absolve his tenure of corruption. Said he: “So when I became president, the first thing I did after my election was to establish an independent body to fight corruption. That body was so effective, in fact two bodies; one was a commission against financial crimes and they were both so effective that ministers of government, the head of the police, and the heads of parastatal (agencies) were put in jail...”

IT was an opportunity for Chief Obasanjo to relapse into megalomania which painted a picture that he alone had been able to fight corruption meaningfully in the country’s political history and that his successors have failed in the fight against corruption. He even gave a tutorial on how to fight corruption; “If you are going to fight corruption, it is not a one night or one day war; you have to be consistent and persistent with it.”

FORMER President Obasanjo could lay an exclusive claim to the initiative which produced both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and Other Related Offences (ICPC) if he wanted but to say these initiatives and bodies represented the beginning of official fight against corruption will be to say the least fraudulent. There are laws in Nigeria which, if invoked, could deal decisively with corruption. We recall immediately the trial of Chief Folorunsho Kila in a celebrated National Youth Service Corps case of corruption and how he was found guilty and jailed and many others in the past who were similarly sanctioned before the establishment of the EFCC and ICPC.

AS we have observed in our other editorial comments, corruption is a universal phenomenon but what is done with it may vary from society to society or country to country. In some societies, corruption is repudiated and strongly  sanctioned by summary execution but in other societies, it is celebrated and even encouraged. In Nigeria, corruption is almost always smothered in the head, especially when the high and mighty are involved. We recall that not a few critics of the Obasanjo administration observed that the EFCC was used during his tenure as his official attack organisation against his foes. He even once threatened the present governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko. But that argument could not stand because a majority of those being pursued by the EFCC then may have been Obasanjo’s foes, yet they had a skeleton in the cupboard which made them run for cover except in the specific case of Dr Mimiko who dared the EFCC and who the then Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu, Ribadu publicly exculpated.

BUT it is necessary to enlighten former President Obasanjo that corruption, a rebellious concept does not stop at ill-gotten wealth by people who have the opportunity of dipping their heads into the collective treasury. Sometime, to it could be about the crashing of the ethical base of a people. For example, not a few people see the building and equipping of the Presidential Library in Abeokuta as being unwholesome both in concept and execution. The project handled during the tenure of President Obasanjo was obscene, because it was like armtwisting all those who received one patronage or the other to cough up. Besides, the 2007 elections which brought late President Umaru Yar’Adua  into power had the endorsement of former President Obasanjo. Even the beneficiary, the late President  Yar’Adua, admitted that it was flawed.

NOW to us, nothing exemplifies corruption than a rigged election. Those who pillaged the treasury might have done a damage to the purse of the country, but election riggers steal the people’s future and their hope. It is an interesting phenomenon that the former President Obasanjo happens always to be a strident critic out of power but he should not always presume that those who listen to his broadsides are as dumb as they may look to him.

IF former President Obasanjo’s successors had failed in the fight against corruption, couldn’t he see himself as being vicariously liable? After all, he actively facilitated the ascendancy of these successors and that puts the error of character judgment squarely on his shoulders.

EDITORIAL : ASHARQ ALAWSAT, SAUDI ARABIA, published in LONDON

Nasrallah fears sectarian unrest!

  

Last week, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a long speech of no real value. He admitted that within his party there are spies for Israel and that he is in support of the repression of the Assad regime and supports the Shia of Bahrain. He also expressed that he considers the International Rafik Hariri Tribunal worthless.

On Saturday, one week after his previous speech, Hassan Nasrallah came out once again with another long speech in which he made numerous accusations against everyone in defence of his party after the International Criminal Court called on the government of Najib Mikati to hand over four members of Hezbollah. Despite that Nasrallah himself said last week that the International Tribunal is worthless and that he would not talk about it, Hezbollah's initial reaction to the Tribunal's indictment was that the accused come from low levels among the party's cadres and that they are of no value. This, of course, is not true, as Nasrallah himself, in his last speech, came out in defence of the accused and warned that the goal of the International Tribunal is to create sectarian unrest between the Shia and Sunnis and this is where the story begins!

If Hassan Nasrallah really does fear sectarian unrest then somebody should answer several pressing questions here; firstly, with regards to Lebanon, why did Hezbollah take up arms against the Sunnis in Beirut in 2007? Why is Hassan Nasrallah supporting the Shia in Bahrain against the ruling Sunni regime in spite the call for declaring an Islamic Republic of Bahrain like the Islamic Republic of Iran? Why is Hassan Nasrallah defending the regime of Bashar al Assad, a member of the minority in Syria, despite the large number of Syrians killed not to mention those arrested, displaced and of course missing?

That's not all. If Hassan Nasrallah truly fears sectarian unrest then why isn't he among the most cooperative with the International Tribunal in Lebanon today to prove that his party and his men are innocent of the murder of a Lebanese, not just Sunni, symbol, namely Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister? Why isn't Nasrallah as cooperative in the same manner as he defends the Najib Mikati government and the Hezbollah members who are wanted by the International Tribunal as they are accused of being implicated in the assassination of the late Rafik Hariri?

Of course the story doesn't end here. Why does Hassan Nasrallah consider the investigation into the assassination of the late Rafik Hariri an invitation for sectarian unrest between the Sunnis and the Shia whilst at the same time he does not consider the wish to discover what happened to Musa Sadr an invitation for sectarian unrest between the Sunnis and Shia? If the answer regarding Musa Sadr is that the case relates to Libya and not Lebanon then we reject this because if Hezbollah really did carry out the assassination of Rafik Hariri then this does not only affect Lebanon but everyone who supports Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon and on all levels including the media.

Therefore, what Hassan Nasrallah and those who support him do not want to comprehend is that Nasrallah and his party are one of the main causes of sectarian unrest in our region and this is the truth no matter how it is dressed up.

EDITORIAL : THE OUTLOOK, AFGANISTAN

               

 

Suicide Bombers: Terrorist Groups’ Goods for Sale

The price of a suicide bomber, sold from one terrorist group to another, is $ 70 to 93 thousand. This fact was revealed in a statement issued recently by Afghan intelligence (National Directorate of Security – NDS). According to the statement, the NDS has arrested a suicide bomber from Jaji Maidan district of Paktia province who had on mind to target a tribal leader. The arrested bomber has said, "One of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leaders working under Hakimullah Mehsud, the TTP head sells one suicide bomber to other terrorist groups for $ 70 to 93 thousand." It has been said in the statement that Haqqani group sent the arrested terrorist but he did not belong to this group. It is not clear whether the terrorist has been sold to Haqqani group by TTP or not.

The business of suicide bombers should not be a new thing for terrorists themselves but for the world it is news. Previously, it was conceived that the terror groups are successful to recruit more people because they attract them based on a specific ideology. But that is only half of the fact. Actually poverty in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan compel people to get involved in crimes including terrorism. Because the militant leaders pay significant amount of remuneration to those who carry out terror attacks, more people are thinking to go on their side. The concept for a person suffering from poverty is, "If my death can alter the fate of my family, I am ready for the sacrifice." Even if half or lesser amount of the value of a terrorist's head goes to his family, it is a huge amount for them.

This is a terrible trend that has worse consequences for the world. The price of a suicide bomber set so high would motivate many others who are disappointed from life due to not having any employment.
The capability of terror groups to buy only one suicide bomber for such a high price indicates that there are certain countries that support them financially to continue operating.

Suicide Bombers: Terrorist Groups’ Goods for Sale

The price of a suicide bomber, sold from one terrorist group to another, is $ 70 to 93 thousand. This fact was revealed in a statement issued recently by Afghan intelligence (National Directorate of Security – NDS). According to the statement, the NDS has arrested a suicide bomber from Jaji Maidan district of Paktia province who had on mind to target a tribal leader. The arrested bomber has said, "One of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leaders working under Hakimullah Mehsud, the TTP head sells one suicide bomber to other terrorist groups for $ 70 to 93 thousand." It has been said in the statement that Haqqani group sent the arrested terrorist but he did not belong to this group. It is not clear whether the terrorist has been sold to Haqqani group by TTP or not.

The business of suicide bombers should not be a new thing for terrorists themselves but for the world it is news. Previously, it was conceived that the terror groups are successful to recruit more people because they attract them based on a specific ideology. But that is only half of the fact. Actually poverty in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan compel people to get involved in crimes including terrorism. Because the militant leaders pay significant amount of remuneration to those who carry out terror attacks, more people are thinking to go on their side. The concept for a person suffering from poverty is, "If my death can alter the fate of my family, I am ready for the sacrifice." Even if half or lesser amount of the value of a terrorist's head goes to his family, it is a huge amount for them.

This is a terrible trend that has worse consequences for the world. The price of a suicide bomber set so high would motivate many others who are disappointed from life due to not having any employment.
The capability of terror groups to buy only one suicide bomber for such a high price indicates that there are certain countries that support them financially to continue operating.

Concerns about Our Security Forces

According to reports, the US and coalition allies are reducing funding for increase in the number of Afghanistan security forces. This was discussed in a meeting last week in Kabul. Previously the US and allies had planned to increase 72,000 troops to Afghan security forces, but now the number has been reduced to 46,000 after cuts in funding by the US Congress. The number is 26,000 fewer than the planned figures.

In 2011, the US and allies are spending $11.6 billion for training and salaries of Afghan security forces, and next year it will increase to $12.8 billion, of which 92% will be provided by the US.
After the withdrawal of foreign troops, and cuts of funding by the US and allies, it is obvious that Afghanistan will not be able to maintain its security forces with its financial needs. One reason for the reduction of training new troops is the concerns about maintenance of the army and police with financial support. Currently there are 305,600 troops, and the number is expected to increase to 352,000 by next year.

Afghanistan's estimated GDP for next year is $18.3 billion, and it is predicted that we won't be capable to support our security forces until another decade. It's deeply concerning that the international community is reducing support to build and maintain our security forces. The concerns of European diplomats about eruption of civil war after NATO withdrawal will soon be a reality if the Afghan Government fails to provide salaries of the security forces. Neither Afghanistan can increase the gross domestic production nor, the international financial institutions can lend us any more. And it's all because of the deeds of the current Government and our leaders in power.

The international community is right to completely halt all financial support for Afghan security forces and withdraw their troops from this country, because our President call them "occupiers". We should not forget that after the Soviet withdrawal and civil war, Afghanistan security forces had been fragmented, but it was the current western allies led by the US who not only built a strong army, but also equipped and spent billions of dollars to support it. But our leaders instead of being thankful, has always been harshly, but without any sense, critical of these allies.

President Karzai must stop the irrational criticism of our western allies every other day. Calling them occupiers sounds like a Taliban spokesman, not head of a Afghan state.

EDITORIAL : THE KHALEEJ TIMES, UAE

NATO-Russia duo for Libya

The crisis in North Africa is up for grabs. The NATO-Moscow parleys in the Russian resort of Sochi could prove to be the first step towards attaining a geopolitical solution of the dispute at hand.

Furthermore, the very fact that NATO is lending a listening ear to Russia, an ally of Libya, is a welcome sign, and indicates a rapprochement in the making. Dealing tactfully with the regime in Tripoli is a test case of diplomacy and endurance, and Moscow, which has criticised the military option, is duty-bound to ensure that NATO comes down from its stated position of stopping at nothing less than Gaddafi’s exit. The point is: if the West can get along with Syrian Bashar Al Assad in lecturing him for finding an amicable solution for the discord, why can’t it give the Libyans a chance, as well, to cope with changing realities of real-politicks.

The thaw seems to have already set in on two counts: the Libyan rebels, though with reservations, are willing to enter into a broad-based dialogue with the powers-that-be in Tripoli provided it assured them of an era minus Gaddafi. So is the case with NATO, which has not only over-stretched its mandate from the United Nations, but has also run out of options in coercing the embattled regime. Moscow and, likewise, Beijing have no recourse but to spring back in action and save a nation from the horrors of mass exodus and genocide. The West’s trigger-happy approach as is evident from the Balkans to Afghanistan and from Iraq to Somalia is a telling tale of power arrogance, which has inevitably come to dub the new century as one of aggressions and invasions.

There are a lot of initiatives around that are in need of being reevaluated and choreographed, and one such possibility is that of the African Union. President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, who also attended the Sochi talks, can better assert his continent’s point of view, and compel Paris and London for brokering a political solution for the battle-scared nation. Washington can no more afford to sit idle as military and diplomatic options get exhausted. Without bothering much for a bickering Congress, President Obama has to lead from the front. The way the State Department had made inroads in Tripoli under Secretary Condoleezza Rice can be a good module for re-engaging Gaddafi. It’s time 
to get talking.

Thailand’s political roadmap

Thailand is to have a new government headed by no other but the ousted former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra, heading the Pheu Thai party.

Though Yingluck’s victory is nothing less than sweet revenge for the removal of her brother in a military coup back in 2006, the road ahead is not free from obstacles.  For one, the military are not likely to be pleased about Thaksin’s sister in the saddle, despite having said that they wont be interfering.

Despite the military’s backing of the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, it failed to win enough seats to form the new government.  It is a historic moment for Thaksin who from his self imposed exile in the UAE has stated his wish to not be involved in politics anymore. There is a widely held perception that he will try to return during  his sister’s tenure.

The question is how the new Thai head of state balances filial loyalties in case her brother does return against powerful figures in the country who are clearly going to oppose the move. Maybe Yingluck could persuade her brother to clear his name in the Courts to end the matter 
for once and all.

The usually peaceful country witnessed a bout of severe violence during demonstrations held by pro-Thaksin protesters last year.  Almost 90 people were killed in Bangkok when the army moved in to clear the areas occupied by the pro-Thaksin Red shirts.  Thaksin’s  hasty departure from the country in 2008 before his trial investigating 
corruption ended left a vacuum thereby allowing the opposition to reiterate allegations of corruption. 

Yingluck’s electoral win however proves that millions of Thai people threw their support with her family, since she herself has not been involved in politics till the start of the election campaign. Their votes also affirm their wish to give the Thaksins a chance to prove themselves beyond the allegations. It is no wonder that Yingluck’s election campaign has focused on fighting corruption and achieving reconciliation.

In a clever move, the politically inexperienced but business savvy politician — incidentally also Thailand’s first female prime minister — has announced the formation of a coalition government. By incorporating smaller parties in the government, the chances of achieving the reconciliation of political factions and pushing ahead  the promised reforms are higher. On the flip side, discontentment within the coalition over government portfolios, positions and policy decisions could also act as deterrents in moving forward. But such glitches are natural in any alliance and will require diplomacy and good management to avoid these to unravel the government.

It is hoped that the new setup is able to prove its worth and brings about the much-needed political stability in the country. Only then can it attempt to improve the economic situation and sustain a democratic  process that has been derailed, 
once too often.

Lebanon simmers

The tribunal’s indictment has tensed Lebanon. Fearing a backlash from the Hezbollah and subsequently a proactive movement from the pro-Hariri political forces, people are keeping their fingers crossed. However, a detailed press statement from the Shia political-militia has helped climb down the cliffhanger, and it is hoped that reason and logic will prevail in implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s words were, nonetheless, quite reassuring. In a televised address on Saturday, he told the tense Lebanese to calm down, as there is nothing to fear at least on his organisation’s part. At the same time, he was quite offensive as he commented on the veracity of the tribunal, and squarely dubbed it as an Israeli plot to discredit Lebanon and his party. His challenge that none can dare to arrest and prosecute four of the members of his organisation, allegedly involved in the killing of former premier Rafik Hariri, speaks at length the seriousness of the issue, and indicates the level of political polarisation.

So much so for the defined positions of either parties! But that is neither going to help, nor defuse the volatility in the air. The government in Beirut is virtually obliged to act on the indictment orders and arrest the four wanted Hezbollah men. That, however, is an impossible task to achieve taking into account the fact that the minority government is there in power leaning heavily on the crutches of the militia, and could not rise to the occasion. How Saad Hariri and his political supporters will react once the deadline gets near is difficult to guess, as it will pose as a question of their survival in political terms. Secondly, given to understand the international support for cornering Hezbollah, any brinkmanship approach from Hariri could plunge the war-weary country into renewed civil strife.

This tribunal finding has served no purpose, indeed. It has rather upped the ante. The need of the hour is a tripartite dialogue between the Hezbollah, the Hariris’ and a conglomerate of all stakeholders in Lebanon — to once and for all address the shadow of doubt that is hanging on since 2005. The pro-Iranian militia should also keep in mind that geopolitical connotations are changing and it would be in the larger interest of the nation and the region to unmask the culprits who have sowed a seed of dissent. Nasrallah and Hariri should get down to address the imbroglio on a personal note, and relieve Lebanese of a perpetual stress they are in. There is no harm if the indicted men are made to speak up before the nation.