EDITORIAL : THE TEHRAN TIMES, IRAN

The tip of the iceberg of rights violations in Saudi Arabia

It was recently announced that a number of Iranian prisoners, after five years of incarceration in Saudi Arabia, were beheaded for alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

It was not possible to certify that these prisoners were in fact drug traffickers. The exact number of Iranians who were executed and the exact date they were decapitated is not clear, although the Saudi news network Al-Tagheer reported that the executions were carried out on April 15 on the orders of the Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry.

The details of the arrests of the Iranian citizens were also not provided. The secrecy and lack of transparency that surround the Saudi system has put everything under question.

In violation of international law, Saudi Arabia did not allow the Iranian citizens to have consular access and did not permit them to have lawyers or interpreters in the court. There is also serious doubt about whether the prisoners were ever given a proper trial.

Ann Harrison, the deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, recently criticized Saudi Arabia, saying that foreign nationals face discrimination in relation to the death penalty.

“So, it came as no surprise to hear that (the) executed Iranians had not been allowed consular access and that the Saudi Arabian authorities did not allow them to (have) lawyers or interpreters in the court -- both violations of the internationally recognized right to a fair trial,” she added.

The execution of the Iranian prisoners was a savage, politically motivated act that was the product of the Wahhabi ideology. In fact, some say that in Saudi Arabia humans are sometimes treated like animals.

And the execution of the Iranian prisoners was just one example of the grave human rights violations occurring in the Saudi kingdom. Indeed, it is just the tip of the iceberg.

About six million foreigners are treated like modern-day slaves in Saudi Arabia. Christians and Jews are denied places of worship. Even Shia Muslims face discrimination, and in the past they have faced heavy persecution. Many Shia Muslims have been arrested for standing up for their rights, and some are still in prison.

In a textbook printed for the 2010-2011 academic year and obtained by the Institute for (Persian) Gulf Affairs in Washington, 10th-grade students are instructed on how to cut off the hands and feet of thieves. Many academics have questioned the wisdom of prioritizing instruction in such matters when there are so many other things the country’s students need to learn.

Some people who have visited Saudi Arabia say they have seen foreign children with missing limbs, and they have speculated that their hands and feet may have been cut off for stealing. However, the sharia (Islamic law) expressly forbids imposing such punishments on children.  

Women’s basic rights are violated on a daily basis in Saudi Arabia. Women are denied access to health, legal, and other public services unless they first obtain permission from a male guardian.

It is unbelievable for most of the people in the world that women are still not allowed to drive in the kingdom. But then, Saudi Arabia’s first elementary schools for girls were only opened in 1961.

Only its vast oil reserves and the fact that the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina are located in the country have given Saudi Arabia a certain status in the Middle East and the rest of the world. Otherwise, it probably would have been recognized as the most backward country in the world and would have been censured by the entire international community.

And what the Wahhabis could not institutionalize in Saudi Arabia was successfully implemented in a short time in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, which the Saudis helped bring to power, with help from some of their allies.

The repercussions of the inhumane attitude prevalent in Saudi Arabia, which is inspired by the Wahhabi ideology, have caused trouble in many other parts of the world in the form of extremism and terrorism. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen are some of the countries that have had to deal with the brunt of the fallout from the ideas coming out of Saudi Arabia.

But there is a glimmer of hope, since time is on the side of justice, and in the very near future the aging elders of the House of Saud will have to hand over power to a younger generation of the royal family, which hopefully is somewhat more enlightened than the older generation.

EDITORIAL : THE TRIPOLI POST, LYBIA

Ignore Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon at Your Own Peril 


- By Ramzy Baroud





When the news reported that Lebanese security killed 18-year-old Ahmad al-Qasim in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp on June 15 - over a dispute concerning a motor bike rider without proper ID - the camp’s Palestinian refugee population erupted in anger and dismay. 


Within a few days, outrage and violence spread, and more refugees were killed. One was Fouad Muhi’edeen Lubany, who was killed on June 18, as a crowd of mourning refugees attempted to bury the first victim of Nahr al-Bared, located near Tripoli in the north. 


Another was Khaled al-Youssef, who was shot in Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp, near Saida, 30 miles or so south of Beirut. More Palestinians were reportedly injured, along with three Lebanese security officers. 


Palestinian refugees in Lebanon exist on the margins of a larger political question concerning the country’s irreconcilable sectarian, factional and familial divides. This makes it somewhat difficult to place the tragedy of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon within one single pertinent political context, for Lebanon’s enduring conflicts, thus political alliances are in a constant state of flux. 


So, when such events concerning Palestinian refugees in Lebanon take place, the issue becomes almost entirely hostage to political analysis and considerations and hyped factional sensitivities. The challenge is hardly how to tackle the underpinnings of such dramas, or to urgently examine the relationship between economic, social and other forms of alienation and political violence. The priority becomes how to, once again, conceal the festering problem. 


The problem however, will not disappear on its own. In Lebanon, there are 450,000 United Nations-registered refugees, who subsist in poverty, in 12 concentration camp-like physical entities, denied basic rights and lack even nominal political horizon. 


They were mostly forced out of Palestine between 1947-48 by Zionists militias, which later formed the Israeli army. It was no accident that Nahr al-Bared was established in 1949. But since then, little, if any substantial efforts have been made to remedy some of the numerous problems created by that violent dispossession. 


Years later, Palestinian refugees become embroiled in Lebanon’s existing conflicts, first by accident - since it happened that the majority of the refugees are Sunni Muslims - and later by design, especially following the PLO’s departure from Jordan in the early 1970’s. Following the Israeli war on Lebanon in 1982 - accompanied by such infamous massacres as Sabra and Shatila, among others - the fate of the refugees worsened, reaching the point of nearly complete neglect. 


In the summer of 2007, the Lebanese army clashed with an extremist grouping, Fatah al-Islam, which had earlier moved to Nahr al-Bared. According to Amnesty International, “The violence caused considerable destruction to the camp, forcibly displaced the camp’s 30,000 residents and led to at least 400 deaths, including 42 civilians and 166 Lebanese soldiers.” 


‘Considerable destruction’, is putting it mildly. The camp was literally “reduced to rubble,” as described in a report in the Lebanese Daily Star, on June 22. Many media outlets reported the story as if just another fight between an Army and al-Qaeda inspired group, without making much fuss about the fact that within the confines of that lethal fight, hundreds of families barely subsisted, mostly unemployed, impoverished, and homeless. 


Five years have passed since Nahr al-Bared was destroyed, yet many of its residents remain stranded between an old refugee status - as Palestinians who were forced out or fled Zionist violence in Palestine in 1948 - and new refugee status, that of fleeing from one refugee camp to another. This condition of old-new destitution is highlighted in but not unique to Nahr al-Bared; it is a shared experience by many Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.


Despite the multiple tragedies that struck the dwellers of Lebanon’s refugee camps throughout the years, (which provide enough insight to the nature of the Palestinian refugee problem in the country – thus offering obvious clues to its remedy) much of the political discussion is devoid of any substance. 


Lebanon-based US writer, Franklin Lamb quoted a statement by Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji that a “through (and) a swift investigation will determine the perpetrators and prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.” Lamb, rightly comments: “Given past experience, few believe the investigation will be serious or even completed.” 


The country’s Interior Minister, for his part conveniently discounted the obvious link between the clashes in Nahr al-Bared and Ein al-Hilweh as mere ‘coincidence.’(Akhbar al-Youm, June 20 as referenced by Lamb.) Palestinian PLO and Fatah official, Azzam al-Ahmad told the Daily Star, during a recent visit to Lebanon that “regional powers are exploiting the hardship of Palestinian refugees .. to push their own Agendas in Lebanon.” He insisted that those powers don't include Syria.


Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees continue to be victimised by a bewildering political landscape and unmistakable discrimination by the state under the pretence that Palestinian refugees are temporary ‘guests’ in Lebanon. 


Now even third generation ‘guests’ of a UN-registered population of nearly 450,000 refugees are denied home ownership, inheritance of land or real estate, and are barred from many professions. That state of near complete economic stagnation has resulted in socioeconomic regression that places Palestinian refugees in Lebanon at a very low standing with little hope for the future.


In its report released on June 20 to coincide with World Refugee Day, American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) resolved that, “The Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are considered the worst of the region’s refugee camps in terms of poverty, health, education and living conditions.” 


ANERA reported that two out of three refugees subsist on less than $6 a day, and that discrimination against them is expressed in multiple areas from health, to education, to housing to other areas.


It is important to note the role that Israel has played in the perpetual suffering of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon - as in everywhere else. But extending that to include the inhumane treatment of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon no longer suffices. 


As in the case of refugees the world over, Palestinians must be repatriated to their homes and compensated for their losses, pain and suffering. Until that goal is achieved, refugees must be treated with dignity and respect regardless of the political calculation of their host countries. 


The Palestinian refugees’ predicament in Lebanon must be handled with decidedness and urgency. It is a responsibility that ought to be shared between the Lebanese government, the Palestinian leadership, the Arab League and the United Nations. Any more neglect and the potential crisis could morph into a full-fledged one.

EDITORIAL : THE BANGKOK POST, THAILAND

A Myanmar I thought I would never see

It is not often that you get the chance to be part of a moment that is genuinely historic. But, after more than 20 years of working on human rights in Myanmar, I truly never believed I would get to sit in Oslo and personally witness Aung San Suu Kyi receiving her Nobel Peace Prize.

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi delivers her Nobel Peace Prize speech during the ceremony at Oslo City Hall in Norway on June 16.

This moment is a true embodiment of the changes that are happening in Myanmar which were hard to imagine when I opened Amnesty International's file on the newly jailed prisoner of conscience, Aung San Suu Kyi, in July 1989.

When I was previously in the country, nine years ago, my time was limited to tacking from prison to government building and back again, talking only to government officials or interviewing 35 political prisoners in three jails.

This was in stark contrast to my return to Myanmar this year where I found a surprisingly new sense of normality.

I was able to meet many more people, including released prisoners who had returned to "civilian" life as journalists, doctors, writers and politicians.

One friend _ a former prisoner of conscience whose case I'd also opened 23 years ago _ and I were able to enjoy the novel experience of conversing freely.

Progress? Yes. But let's not be fooled by the excitement of the moment of seeing Mrs Suu Kyi travelling freely around Europe that the problems and challenges for Myanmar are over.

Some of the more recently released prisoners of conscience are trying to help those who are still behind bars. Others are deploying their skills and experience to work for environmental protection and land rights for farmers.

But at least everyone seemed happy to talk. It was normal; normal people doing normal things.

On the road to Nay Pyi Taw, the new capital, we stopped at a halfway point at one of a string of road houses, in the middle of farmland, with buffalo wandering across the highway and farmers returning from their fields.

As we watched TV in that idle way of travellers, I saw images of Mrs Suu Kyi campaigning alongside the logo of the DVB _ the exiled media group, Democratic Voice of Burma. That is one thing I never thought I would witness.

There was a feeling of optimism for human rights as we saw people increasingly standing up for themselves, whether through farmers' protests, demonstrations against lack of electricity or strikes among factory workers around Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.

But, as one businesswoman told me: "Now comes the hard part." She's right, of course.

Hundreds of political prisoners are still behind bars, the war in ethnic minority Kachin areas is entering its second year, and ceasefires with other ethnic armed groups are in their fragile infancy.

There is much debate about how many political prisoners are still detained and the government has a responsibility to release immediately all who are imprisoned solely for peaceful activities.

The fallout from ethnic conflicts remains _ where ceasefires have been brokered successfully between the army and armed groups, the humanitarian needs of those displaced by fighting must be addressed.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire between the Myanmar army and the armed group Kachin Independence Organisation has broken down.

Fighting resumed in June 2011 with Kachin civilians forced to porter for the army, being killed by indiscriminate shelling and having food and property destroyed. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in the year that this conflict has raged.

Sectarian violence also broke out earlier this month in Rakhine State between the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic minority and the Rohingya Muslim minority. The Rohingya are another group whose rights are not being respected. They have faced widespread repression and discrimination at the hands of the Myanmar authorities for decades, including forced labour, land confiscation and severe restrictions on travel and marriage.

They have also been rendered effectively stateless under the 1982 Citizenship Law. An unknown number of people have been killed in Myanmar's western state and houses and businesses have been burned down.

The reform process is a delicate balance in Myanmar. Amnesty International is encouraging the government to implement what changes can be made immediately: releasing all prisoners of conscience, stopping abuses against Kachin civilians during the ongoing counter-insurgency operation, and protecting both the Rohingya and Rakhine ethnic minorities in Rakhine State.

Other changes will take more time, including legal and judicial reform. The international community should provide assistance in making these reforms, while at the same time continue to speak out against ongoing human rights abuses.

One thing that hasn't changed in Myanmar is the extraordinary courage and resourcefulness of the Myanmar people. There is much to do but equally, as Mrs Suu Kyui's presence in Europe proves, much to be hopeful for.

EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

Carbon tax leads to more industry calls for support

AS part of its push to justify its carbon tax, the Gillard government has consistently sought to denigrate what it calls "the big polluters". In language similarly divisive to its class-warfare rhetoric against the mining magnates, Labor has blamed the nation's carbon emissions on the big polluters and stressed that it is they who will pay.

This is the nub of the government's plan -- as prices increase, low- and middle-income earners will be generously compensated, so the only people who pay are high-income earners and big polluters. Yet the government, we learn time and again, is compensating and even subsidising some of those very same big polluters, while economists warn against such assistance.

This is counterintuitive to the broader climate change debate because the proponents of carbon pricing constantly argue that the aim is to force so-called dirty industries to either clean up or close down, in favour of cleaner industries. When traditional manufacturing industries, such as automotive, steel and aluminium, face difficulties, the government has found money to subsidise them. So the government is talking about inflicting limited pain in order to gain a better future for the environment -- but then it intervenes to ensure there is no pain.

Julia Gillard rightly argues in the latest case -- Alcoa's Point Henry aluminium plant in Victoria -- that it faces many economic challenges such as the high dollar, depressed global markets and ageing capital stock. Similar arguments have applied to the steel and automotive industries. The carbon tax becomes just another impost, and given the compensation measures for these energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries, its impact can be quite marginal or even non-existent. But the fact remains that the carbon tax applies, and the government is seen to be bailing out some of the same big polluters it otherwise demonises.

Part of the problem, of course, is political, with union leaders grudgingly supporting the carbon tax, conditional on protection for jobs. This means that the Prime Minister is on notice from the very people who installed her in the leadership. So while many industries face a range of pressures, most noticeably the high dollar, the government is in a political bind. This is bound to increase the likelihood of unwise expenditure.

As a newspaper committed to market economics and suspicious of direct government intervention, The Australian is concerned by the continued resort to industry assistance. Both major parties have fallen victim to special pleading from various industries at state and federal level for decades. Yesterday, Productivity Commissioner Gary Banks and other leading economists added to these warnings, pointing out that money allocated to assistance packages robs the nation of investment in other areas and shelters recipients from new challenges. Governments need to break the habit but, ominously, the union movement has started to argue for more assistance to protect the manufacturers that sustain its membership base. These political and economic realities, combined with the self-imposed pressure of the mishandled carbon tax, are increasing the potential for wrong-headed interventions. Alcoa and Point Henry are unlikely to be the last to ask for taxpayer-funded assistance.

National shame in The Alice

THE violence and dysfunction that alcohol helps to generate in some indigenous communities is a national disgrace. The shame is often hidden from view in remote communities or isolated towns, but it is difficult to avoid for anyone visiting Alice Springs, where tourists see the barbed wire and barred windows by day that provide a hint of the unruly behaviour they are warned to avoid at night.

We have been given a distressing insight into this reality by the Northern Territory Police Association's submission to a coronial inquiry into the death of Kwementyayre Briscoe, who died in the police watchhouse in January. Any death in custody is a tragedy and warrants careful investigation, and we certainly make no pre-judgment of this case. But the NTPA's submission laid bare the constant struggle on the streets at the heart of our Red Centre.

Indigenous women and children bear the brunt of brutal, alcohol-fuelled behaviour, as too many men drink themselves to an early grave. Each night, police must place themselves between drunken boys and men, and more harm, as they take the inebriated into protective custody. The submission describes the police duties as "such mind-numbing, de-sensitising and soul-destroying work as to be heroic". The abuse of alcohol, and the abuse of people by alcohol-fuelled criminals, are problems that manifest themselves across the country, in all socio-economic and ethnic groups. Indigenous Australians are not alone in that respect, but proportionately the problem is dramatically worse in some indigenous communities. And Alice Springs is the epicentre for the dilemma because it is a magnet for a range of communities and it is where the crisis comes into direct contact with a sizeable population and significant numbers of domestic and international visitors. Perhaps we should be grateful for this, because it means we cannot hide from the problems -- we must fix them in The Alice and in the hidden communities.


The NTPA is forced to tackle the symptoms, hour by hour. It calls for a review of alcohol availability as a medium-term measure. There are many aspects to consider but the ultimate resolution must be found in adequate education and employment for indigenous communities. And we must continue to be confronted by our national shame until we overcome it.

Egypt opts for the Brotherhood

THE success of the Muslim Brotherhood -- for the 84 years, the Arab world's most influential Islamist organisation -- in winning the presidency of Egypt, the Middle East's biggest country, is an event of seminal importance that will have far-reaching consequences for the region and beyond.

For decades, the Brotherhood has been ruthlessly suppressed, especially since the 1981 assassination of president Anwar Sadat, architect of the Camp David Accords and the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. Now it is the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, a religious conservative who discourages dissent and has strongly supported reserving the highest office in the land for male Muslims, who will be Egypt's first president since last year's Arab Spring uprising. There has been rejoicing in places such as Gaza, where Hamas's hardline leadership has close Brotherhood ties. US senator John Kerry is right to counsel against pre-judging Mr Morsi, but it is equally important not to ignore the Brotherhood's long-standing pre-eminence as a hardline organisation that believes Muslim doctrine is the sole reference point for ordering family life and that of the state. This will deeply concern many liberal democrats at the forefront of last year's uprising as well as the 10 per cent of Egyptians who are Coptic Christians. In the election, Mr Morsi tried to present a different face; one of moderation. And the reality he confronts is that as a result of a series of manoeuvres orchestrated by the Mubarak generals through the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Brotherhood-dominated parliament has been dissolved and the presidency shorn of its powers over the budget, foreign affairs, army and drafting of a new constitution. Having won a comfortable victory by 52 to 48 per cent over General Ahmed Shafik, Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, Mr Morsi is now well-placed to confront the generals. He'd be wise to move cautiously. Egypt is now even more polarised. Restoring effective government to a country that has been in chaos for 16 months and has an economy in ruins is not going to be achieved through Islamic sloganeering or the Brotherhood's uncompromising religious dogma. The challenge to Mr Morsi is to govern for all Egyptians, not just the narrow sectional interests of Islamists whose doctrines are alien to the liberal and democratic ideals of Tahrir Square. Unless he does so, there will be no end to Egypt's agony.

EDITORIAL : THE JAKARTA POST, INDONESIA

Stay focused, KPK

Many people seem to have lost patience with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for moving too slowly in its investigation into high-profile cases such as the fraudulent Hambalang sports center in the West Java regency of Bogor.

After questioning about 60 witnesses and five meetings to build the case, KPK investigators have yet to drop any hint that they will soon name a suspect that will convince the public that they are serious about unraveling alleged irregularities in the Rp 1.52 trillion (US$162.64 million) project. Neither has the KPK shown courage to dedicating time, energy and all resources at its disposal to the graft case, which implicates the inner circle of the ruling Democratic Party.

The KPK has attributed the snail-paced probe into the Hambalang scandal to the unfinished examination of witnesses’ accounts and other data and findings related to the case. As if to appease criticism, KPK chief Abraham Samad promised last week that the commission would step up investigation measures in the coming one or two weeks, including announcing one or more suspects.

But the KPK, as far as Abraham’s response is concerned, is stating the obvious and has basically done nothing to disprove doubts over its will to tackle the Hambalang saga. The public has already sensed a fracture within the KPK in connection with investigations into corruption cases implicating Democratic Party politicians, particularly the Hambalang scandal that former party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, who played a role as a whistle blower, said involved party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and patron Andi Mallarangeng, who is also the Youth and Sports Minister.

A split within the anti-graft body had been apparent in the “belated” arrest of another Democratic Party lawmaker, Angelina Sondakh, which came nearly two months following her being named a corruption suspect. The KPK used to detain people as soon as it declared them suspects.

It is reported that Democratic Party elites have insisted that the KPK immediately named Anas a suspect, a move that will pave the way for his ouster as party chairman as it gives ample time to restore its tarnished image. But rival parties would like the KPK to buy time as long as possible until the Hambalang case shoots down the Democrats’ popularity rating to its lowest ebb just ahead of the 2014 elections.

No executives of the parties would apparently buy into such a conspiracy theory, but the fact that the KPK distracted its own focus with a non-priority, if not low key, cases recently indicates it lacks persistence to delve into the Hambalang scandal. The KPK, for example, arrested a US national in connection with an extortion case involving customs officials last week only to hand over the case to the police and summoned Bhakti Investama CEO Hary Tanoesoedibjo, who has joined the National Democratic Party, for questioning related to a bribery scandal allegedly implicating a tax official. The moves won widespread media coverage, but at the expense of any progress the KPK could achieve in its probe into the Hambalang case.

Following the conviction of Nazaruddin in an earlier graft case, the detention of Angelina and most recently the arrest of Nazaruddin’s wife Neneng Sri Wahyuni, should have provided the KPK with more ammunition to capture bigger fish in the Hambalang scandal.

The longer the KPK keeps the public waiting, the sooner it will lose public faith.

Democracy á la Egypt

The win for Mohammad Morsi in the Egyptian presidential runoff election is a victory for all Egyptian people. He may have won by a small margin — 4 percent separated him from his rival Ahmad Shafik — and he may have represented the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party in the campaign, but once installed, he becomes the president of all Egyptians.

Morsi’s victory was the best outcome possible under the circumstances. It put him in charge of the nation in the next important battle, which is to phase out the military from politics and put the nation under an accountable civilian government.

The military decision to dissolve the democratically elected parliament this month reflected its political clout. Morsi will have to rely on all elements in Egypt, and not solely his Muslim Brotherhood faction, in facing off against the military.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which had taken charge after the hasty departure of strongman Hosni Mubarak last year, now has to share power with Morsi. Such power sharing could lead to a standoff or even paralysis in government, but it could also lead to a more responsible government if both sides sincerely work for the interest of the people. We hope the latter prevails.

Morsi has already made the right overtures soon after his electoral victory was confirmed on Sunday. In his speech, he appealed for national unity and pledged to protect every citizen, including women, children and religious minorities. And he formally resigned from the Freedom and Justice Party shortly before the announcement. The next step for Morsi is to form a national unity government.

Egypt is facing similar challenges as most countries that have made the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic system of government. But as the largest Arab country, developments in Egypt have strong implications for the region and the world. There is just so much at stake if the democratization process fails or stalls.

The sooner the new democratic Egypt sorts out its domestic problems, the better it is for the region and the world. For sure, the Middle East peace process cannot proceed without the participation of a stable and democratic Egypt.

EDITORIAL : THE GUARDIAN, UK

Cameron's welfare speech: he cannot be serious

After an omnishambolic few months, Mr Cameron was desperate to demonstrate a sure touch on the home front. He displayed the opposite

Is David Cameron serious? That is the devastating question posed by his set-piece speech on welfare, and the weekend of prime ministerial posturing before it. After an omnishambolic few months, Mr Cameron was desperate to demonstrate a sure touch on the home front. He displayed the opposite. There was a want of any sustained argument, and so little grip on the detail that many wheezes on his wishlist are unlikely to come to pass.

In and among many dodgy assertions, Mr Cameron did communicate the odd important fact. One was that the single biggest slice of the so-called "welfare" budget – some £110bn – is in fact consumed by pension benefits. Any serious fiscal conservative would have linked this observation back to their narrative about containing costs, but after volunteering it the prime minister blithely went on to defend every last winter fuel cheque and free bus pass as jolly good things. He paid no heed to this month's official data which charted a tide of poverty ebbing away from the old and towards young adults, nor to the emerging gulf between the generations which one of his more thoughtful ministers has written a book about. He had nothing to say about the biggest single prospective pressure on social security bills – the move of the demographic bulge of boomers into retirement – and instead drew a ludicrously sharp line between virtuous expenditure on the over-65s and the vice of spending on anyone else. As a rising pension age sees punishing welfare rules imposed on men and women well into their 60s, this division will be revealed as arbitrary and cruel.

Having singled out younger adults for the big stick, Mr Cameron wielded it their way without any suggestion of strategy. In some passages he bemoaned the creep of means-testing for stifling ambition, while in others he demanded new means tests – for example in allocating council homes. If the big picture was confused, there was frightening disdain for the detail. The prime minister howled about the perversity of reducing housing benefit for families whose adult children land a job, apparently blissfully ignorant of how his own government had increased this particular charge by 27% in both 2011 and 2012, with another 27% rise pencilled in for next year.

Then there was the centrepiece of the weekend spinning – the abolition of housing benefit for the under-25s. With the cosy middle-class assumption that mum and dad can always welcome back jobless twentysomethings, this sounded like a suggestion from a gin-soaked colonel in his clubhouse. Does Mr Cameron even know that he recently legislated for cuts to force council tenants to downsize once adult children flee the nest? What about youngsters whose parents are mad, bad or dead? The PM talked about the special circumstances of foster care leavers, but what about those leaving prison? Would it be a good idea to have them roaming the streets? And what about the thousand who get the coach out of dead-end towns and find a job but don't earn enough to put a roof over their heads without some help from the state?

Assuming No 10 was not actively misleading the country about what the PM had wanted to say in advance, some level-headed official must have realised there were no answers to all the questions and replaced the explicit proposal with vague words in the final script. But the thought only got so far as it did because crucial policies are being dreamt up on the basis of focus groups. The political strategy is clear – opening a second front in the class war may just divert enough bile towards the bottom to protect those at the top smarting from Nadine Dorries's "posh boy" charge. Punishing scroungers may be popular in general terms, but support will shatter if the government lacks the competence to sort the "deserving" from the "undeserving". Glitches with the universal credit and a crazy new council tax rebate may soon destroy faith in its ability to run benefits in practice. The theory should be the easy bit, but Monday's speech revealed that Mr Cameron is shaky even on that.

Silvio Berlusconi: please, not again

Another political comeback for the disgraced media tycoon is not as improbable as one would like to imagine

Could it really be? A return for Silvio Berlusconi only a year after he was bundled out of office to the strains of "hallelujah" from the crowd outside the presidential palace? Another political comeback for the disgraced media tycoon is not as improbable as one would like to imagine. There are powerful forces against a Berlusconi comeback: the majority of his people are against it, and in this age of protest votes, the man who had governed Italy for eight of the previous 10 years would be hard put to reinvent himself as the face of change.

But as always, this is not the whole story. The billionaire has seemingly limitless amounts of cash to throw at a campaign. And in recent comments in which he talked up the advantages to Italy's export-led industry of trading again in lire, Berlusconi is on to a potential election winner. Italy is more Eurosceptic than it often appears. While it remains pro-European in the sense that Brussels is seen as a more consistent provider of good governance in Italy than Rome, the euro itself is associated with inflation. Today it has become the icon of stagnation. Mario Monti's popularity, as the technocrat whose sole task is to reduce the budget deficit, has fallen off a cliff. Italy has no cash in the coffers to stimulate growth, as was demonstrated by a long-awaited growth decree. It was approved by cabinet only after it had been bled dry of its more radical provisions by the treasury. And yet without growth, Italy will be unable to repay its ever rising mountain of debt. The euro has acquired something of a bad smell and Berlusconi is far from being the only politician to latch on to the thought that Italy could regain growth through a return to the lira, devaluation and an export-led boom. But he could yet position himself to be its chief beneficiary.

The other path would be to put an end to some of Italy's more baroque restrictive practices. One of them occurred on platform 15 at Rome Ostiense station, when passengers boarding a new high-speed train operated by the private NTV operator were confronted by a two-metre-high steel barrier erected by the Italian rail network. It claimed that NTV's service centre, the station's former air terminal, was still governed by a clause in the contract that required the former air terminal to be separated physically from the station.

Barriers like these are beyond the capacity of a technocratic premier eyeing a future career in Brussels to deal with. Beneath him is a rightwing party whose vote is crumbling and a leftwing party that should win the next election, but for the protest vote that is going to the Five Star Movement, led by comedian and blogger, Beppe Grillo. All political bets are off. Hence the worrying twinkle in Berlusconi's eye.

In praise of … Lonesome George

In his 100 years of life, George survived pirates, whalers and goats, which ate their way through his habitat

In his 100 years of life, George survived pirates, whalers and goats, which ate their way through his habitat. But he could not escape his destiny, which was to be the last of his subspecies, the Pinta Island tortoise. So when George was discovered stretched out in the direction of his watering hole on Sunday, Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni was no more. Attempts to get George to breed produced two bursts of optimism, and headlines like "Lonesome George's eggs are fertile!", except that none of them turned out to be viable and the sobriquet stuck. But George does leave a legacy, an active breeding programme for the Galapagos's giant tortoises. Thanks to the formation of the Galapagos national park and the Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos tortoises have a future. With Lonesome George, they never knew what the problem of mating was. One researcher said he seemed to just run out of steam. That can be said of many a male.

EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

There is a need for an examination into the full effects of methamphetamine abuse

IS drug trafficking on the rise, or is drug enforcement getting more efficient? This month, three foreigners in three  cases have been convicted for trafficking and sentenced to death. One, an Iranian, had brought in 14.65kg of methamphetamines worth millions three years ago. Last month, RM14.9 million worth of drugs were seized in Kapar, Klang, consisting of 736,330 Erimin  5 pills (used to balance out the effects of meth) and 12.3kg of ephedrine, which is the main substance used in the production of methamphetamine pills. Last week, police nabbed six people for possession of RM5.4 million in Erimin 5 pills.
Known by many names -- crystal meth, ice, speed, glass, crank, syabu, yaba and pil kuda -- methamphetamine has been around for a long time for prescription medicinal purposes. As a recreational drug, it has experienced an international resurgence in the last two decades, largely influenced by the ease of home-manufacturing this synthetic drug, which is cheaper to produce than those dependent on opiates. It can be taken orally, smoked, snorted or injected; it is cheaper than heroin or cocaine; it is a powerful stimulant and lasts longer in the body. Best of all, meth does not carry the same stigma as "traditional" drugs. Often euphemistically referred to as a "party drug", it is also used by students and highly-driven white-collar workers to stay alert and focused. In short, it is cheaper, stronger, more popular and easier to access.
However, the very powerful high (skating) is followed by psychotic delusions when coming down (scattering), which can spill over and have drastic and even fatal consequences on those around. Ice users, for instance, are often violent and unhinged at this stage, and impossible to control. Meth is highly addictive and thought to cause brain damage. And because it sexually stimulates and diminishes inhibitions, it puts users at greater risk of contracting sexually-transmitted diseases. The really long-term health effects are yet to be discovered. But how much is known about the effects of methamphetamines on the local drug scene? National narcotic statistics place meth use at 14.19 per cent of all drug use and expected to overtake opiates. Anecdotal evidence from private drug rehabilitation centres show meth users are getting younger. The goal of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which falls today, is to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse. But as with any other commodity, while our enforcement agencies come down hard on the supply side, is enough being done to deal with demand?

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY TRIBUNE, THE PHILIPPINES

Turning yellow

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

06/27/2012

Now is Noynoy’s chance to play hardball with China now that a Filipino fisherman has died after a fishing boat was supposedly rammed by what the Filipino boat crew identified as Chinese in an incident that happened very close to Scarborough Shoal where a standoff ensued between Philippine and Chinese vessels over rival territorial claims.

The incident happened well within Philippine territory, off Bolinao, Pangasinan, where there was no reason for a Chinese vessel to be present in the area, much more for it to ram a Filipino vessel.

It seems that without American imprimatur, Noynoy cannot act on his own in defending the country’s boundaries.

The standoff at Scarborough Shoal happened shortly after Noynoy received the Philippine Navy’s first decent warship for ages, a decommissioned cutter of the US Coast Guard, which was named BRP Gregorio del Pilar. As soon as the cutter arrived in the country, it sailed off to the disputed shoal to supposedly arrest Chinese fishermen who have long been using the shoal along with their Filipino counterparts without any trouble.

The sudden appearance of a Navy warship in the disputed area touched off heated diplomatic exchanges between the Philippines and China, with both sides maintaining the presence of government-owned vessels in the area.

China said the Philippines provoked the standoff but indicated its willingness to negotiate, however, the Philippines was adamant in insisting on a third party mediation and insisted further on the United States playing a role in it.

The US government was obviously in it from the start since the standoff happened while it was trying to drum up support for the Obama administration’s tack to pivot US military presence to the Asia-Pacific, which already had some Asian countries that are not used to hanging on to the coattails of the US to start complaining.

Noynoy was, in contrast, all for the American policy to rotate its forces in the region and the Chinese standoff and the seeming tough talk of Noynoy generated enough noise for other countries in the region to make their positions clear on the increased presence of the Americans in the region.

After a series of meetings between Philippine and American officials and deals were struck to concretize the policy to rotate American forces and commitments were made on American determination to keep “sea lanes open” for global commerce in the South China Sea, Noynoy appeared to have softened up on the standoff and ordered the pullout of Philippine ships in the disputed area citing the safety of the Coast Guard personnel due to a mild typhoon.

The Palace claimed the redeployment of ships in the area was being re-evaluated while insisting that a mutual agreement was reached with China for the withdrawal of ships.

Up to now Chinese government vessels are in the area and China had thanked the Philippines for the withdrawal of its ships and respecting its sovereign claim on the disputed area.

The thank you note appeared to have been carried by the claimed Chinese ship that rammed the Filipino fishing vessel.

Up to now, there is no official demand from the Philippine government on China to explain the incident which is perplexing since just recently Noynoy was very assertive on the territorial claim against China and vowed to defend the country’s stake in it with the scant hardware that the government had.

The Chinese Embassy even issued an insulting note about the incident with a tone that the story was all made up claiming that it had not received any reports or distress calls from any of its vessels during the day of the ramming.

It was the Chinese boat that rammed and sunk the Filipino vessel and the embassy was expecting a distress call from the Chinese vessel. How ridiculous can that be?

Also yesterday Noynoy supposedly told Ambassador to China Sonia Brady to offer the Chinese a hand of peace and end the standoff.

Noynoy should now be giving the Chinese hell for all he’s worth and not a yellow handshake. 

EDITORIAL : THE GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA

Arab world will not accept subcultural status

Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi has won the Egyptian presidential election by a narrow margin, becoming the first non-military president of the country. Morsi, despite emphasizing his secular ideas, was still being labeled as an Islamist president by Western media. The 51 percent vote he won indicated a highly contentious future for Egypt.

Going from a military-ruled state to a publicly elected government is a step forward for Egypt. But no one knows how long the country has to suffer in shifting from an authoritarian country to a stable democracy. We hope Egyptians are lucky in this regard.

It is clear that the West cannot dictate the direction of the revolution in Egypt or the entire Middle East. Fundamental cultural and political factors may be brought out and amplified by the revolution. Whether or not Morsi becomes more secular, his election may bring unpredictable changes to the outcome of the Arab Spring. Nobody now can guess what the future holds for Egypt and the Arab world.

The Middle East has contrasting values to the West. Washington has poured huge financial resources into Iraq, including thousands of soldiers' lives, but can't turn the country into a Western-style democracy.

Egypt was among the most secular of Arab countries before the revolution, but it seems to have hit the ceiling of Westernization. The Arab region may remain a strategic location indefinitely. Neither the US, Russia nor China can completely assimilate the region and turn it into a sub-cultural area.

The process of democratization is releasing the cultural and political character of the Arab world. When Arabs have the choice, it seems the first thing they do is find their own identity. Earlier, Palestine churned out the Hamas regime.

The Egyptian elections will no doubt encourage the Brotherhood in other Arab countries, impacting US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The West doesn't have an exclusive influence over the Arab world.

The idea that a revolution in the Middle East will distance it from China is incorrect. Power is being restructured in the Middle East. All major powers can have their chance to expand their influence there.

China's advantage is its power and more links between China and the Arab world's strategic interests. There are also fewer clashes between the two civilizations.

The Arab Spring is losing its energy to export revolution. The region is unlikely to become an example for other countries to pursue democracy. The world is now reviewing the region beyond ideology.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY YOMIURI, JAPAN

Assist 'disadvantaged shoppers,' revitalize local economies

The Yomiuri Shimbun



Stores in many neighborhoods have closed, but residents do not have the means of transportation to reach distant places to shop. The problem of "disadvantaged shoppers" who face obstacles in buying daily necessities such as food is quite serious.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry has estimated the number of disadvantaged shoppers based on the national census, commerce statistics and other data.

There are as many as 9.1 million people around the country without cars whose homes are 500 meters or more from stores where they can buy fresh food. Ten percent of the populations of Hokkaido and Nagasaki Prefecture are disadvantaged shoppers. The number topped 500,000 in Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture, respectively.

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Problem not only in rural areas

People tend to think disadvantaged shoppers exist only in remote areas where depopulation and aging are steadily progressing and there is little public transportation. However, the ministry's study shows urban areas are no exception to the trend.

Due to the advance of mass market retailers into suburban areas, local shopping arcades are being deserted and small shops are closing. This trend is growing nationwide.

This is a serious situation that shows so-called food deserts--areas where daily food necessities such as fish, meat and vegetables are inaccessible--have been growing.

Both the public and private sectors should cooperate to map out various measures to deal with the respective situations of local communities.

A variety of programs have already started in some areas, including mobile stores operated by local brick-and-mortar stores that visit residential areas, Net supermarkets that deliver commodities ordered online and shopping buses operated by residents.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, mini-mobile convenience stores in the quake-hit areas encouraged the quake-hit victims and contributed greatly to restoration of their daily lives.

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Creative ideas necessary

We expect the distribution industry to produce imaginative and creative ideas. Helping disadvantaged shoppers can also become an opportunity for businesses to uncover demand they previously missed. We hope the industry will look into the matter from a long-term business perspective.

Nevertheless, some places such as underpopulated areas deep in the mountains will remain unprofitable no matter how hard the private sector alone tries. It will be indispensable for local governments to support private companies' efforts.

It may be necessary for local governments to promote the "compact city" initiative--bringing commercial and residential districts physically closer together--while securing public transportation for aged people that will make it easier for them to go shopping. Such community planning is important.

If the problem of disadvantaged shoppers is left untouched, the outflow of population will never stop and local communities will become further devitalized. We hope residents, volunteers, companies and local administrations will combine their wisdom to come up with ways they can work together.

Concerning assistance to disadvantaged shoppers, a wide range of policy problems are interrelated--revitalization of local communities, transport policy and distribution of food are examples. The farm ministry, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry should not carry out research or introduce model cases separately, but reinforce measures to assist the shoppers in a unified manner as the government.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY MIRROR, SRILANKA

It’s a long, long way to real and lasting peace




At a time when we in Sri Lanka speak loudly about peace, democracy, the need to express our views freely and law and order, it is an insightful learning experience to focus on the acceptance speech made by Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi in Norway, more than two decades after she won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Greeted by heartfelt applause from those gathered in Oslo City Hall, she explained how the prize at first did not seem quite real but that her understanding of it changed through her long house arrest.

“What the Nobel Peace Prize did was to draw me once again into the world of other human beings outside the isolated area in which I lived, to restore a sense of reality to me. This did not happen instantly, of course, but as the days and months went by and news of reactions to the award came over the airwaves, I began to understand the significance of the Nobel Prize,” Ms. Suu Kyi said. “And what was more important, it had drawn the attention of the world to the struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. We were not going to be forgotten.”

She said the prize meant extending her concern for democracy and human rights beyond national borders but even years later, much of the world was still seeking peace while negative forces nibbled at its foundations.



“Fires of suffering and strife are raging around the world. In my own country, hostilities have not ceased in the far north; to the west, communal violence resulting in arson and murder were taking place just several days before I started out on the journey that has brought me here today,” Ms. Suu Kyi said. “My attitude to peace is rather based on the Burmese definition of peace -- it really means removing all the negative factors that destroy peace in this world. So peace does not mean just putting an end to violence or to war, but to all other factors that threaten peace, such as discrimination, inequality and poverty.”

We in Sri Lanka too are recovering from a thirty-year war, which bloodied, bruised and battered this nation. Today we have what many describe as peace. But are we stakeholders and shareholders of real and tangible peace where we could like what Ms. Suu Kyi describes as a peace where there is no discrimination, inequality or poverty.

To achieve this kind of peace we have a long way to go with all concerned working sincerely and sacrificially towards reconciliation with understanding not with a mindset of one-upmanship or the victor takes all attitude, but with humility and sincerity keeping in mind the need for all Sri Lankans irrespective of caste, creed or community to be the winners.

EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

Wells of life – and death

“Does it take much to prevent such incidents?” the Supreme Court asked in November 2009 while considering the lethal risks posed by abandoned open borewells that had already taken several young lives. Doing some plain-speaking, it directed State governments to ensure that all abandoned borewells and tubewells were capped. Providing practical tips to cover them with wire mesh or lids, the court also wanted functioning wells fenced off. On the basis of this order, the Union government in February 2010 issued guidelines for the maintenance of borewells. All that was evidently in vain, judging from the number of accidents since then, including many in which children died after remaining traumatically trapped in the innards of the earth for days. The latest such heart-rending tragedy occurred in a Haryana village: the body of little Mahi, who fell into a 70-foot-deep borewell on June 20 while playing with her friends on her fourth birthday, was pulled out after some 80 hours of rescue efforts.

Borewells and tubewells are widely used for irrigation in Punjab and Haryana, mostly in rural areas, because of the falling water table. Where these were once narrow holes, they are now typically 18 to 24 inches in diameter. Rural India has become growingly dependent on groundwater. Almost all the government programmes seek to supply water to villages through tubewells. Poor recharge due to geological reasons and environmental degradation (where creeping urbanisation is a key cause) make many of them defunct. The typical short-cut solution is to dig more borewells. Most of them, illegal and unlicensed, are left uncapped once they fall into disuse. On a larger plane, excessive reliance on groundwater for drinking, irrigation and industrial uses in India represents a massive failure of state policy. A review sponsored by the Central Ministry of Water Resources four years ago estimated that 85 per cent of rural, 50 per cent of urban drinking and industrial needs, and 55 per cent of irrigation needs, were met out of groundwater. This points to a virtual withdrawal of the state from the water sector, despite the formation of the Central Ground Water Authority with a mandate to, among other things, interact with State governments and regulate extraction of sub-soil water. Incidents of borewell deaths will stop only when the government takes its goals seriously — of safety as well as better groundwater management — and starts taking measures in mission mode to ensure consistent water supply wherever needed. The best way to start is to team up with local bodies, starting with village panchayats.

A necessary ban

The recent decision by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to ban the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of serological (blood) test kits for diagnosing active tuberculosis — both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary — is significant. The blood test diagnoses active TB based on antibody response. The decision does not come as a surprise. In fact, the question was not whether the government would act but how soon it would ban it. In July last year, the World Health Organisation had for the first time issued an “explicit negative policy recommendation” against a practice used in TB care. India’s Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme also endorsed WHO’s advice. It is unfortunate that the world health body had to step in to put an end to a test that has become widely available in many developing countries despite not being recommended by any regulatory agency. “A blood test for diagnosing active TB disease is bad practice,” the WHO stated in its July communiqué. The reason it came out strongly against the “diagnostic tool” is that the test produces very unreliable results. According to a 2008 WHO report, none of 19 commercially available rapid serological tests studied “performed well enough to replace [sputum] microscopy.” The organisation found that the tests provide “inconsistent and imprecise” results due to their inferior sensitivity and specificity. Unlike in the case of HIV and other diseases, detecting antibody response in people with active TB is difficult and hence unreliable as many factors can cause the response.

According to an August 2011 paper in PLoS Medicine, the blood test, if used in place of sputum microscopy for a year, will be able to diagnose 14,000 more active TB cases but will end up misdiagnosing more than 121,000 people as suffering from the disease (false positive cases). The antibody test is also prohibitively expensive. Every year in India, about 1.5 million serological tests are done at a cost of $15 million. As a result, a staggering number of people end up being wrongly diagnosed and unnecessarily medicated every year. The direct fallout of unnecessary medication is the increased chances of people developing acquired drug resistance, thus further complicating and compromising TB care. But imposing a ban is just the first step towards rooting out the malaise. Since implementing the ban will be a tall order, there is a need for increasing awareness level among the public. Simultaneously, the government should quickly complete the pilot testing of the WHO recommended Xpert MTB/RIF molecular test and make it widely available. Only the availability of a superior alternative can solve the problem.