OT: A repugnant proposal
maff
Michael Yudkin and Denis Noble
May 30, 2007 8:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michael_yudkin_and_denis_noble/2007/05/boycottn.html
Two years ago a special conference of the Association of University
Teachers rejected by a large majority an attempt to impose a boycott
on universities in Israel. Now that the AUT has merged into the
University and College Union the boycotters are back, with a motion at
today's UCU Congress entitled "Boycott of Israeli Academic
Institutions". Their motion discriminates unjustly against Israeli
academics. It also undermines the principle of academic universality,
which is important to scholars and scientists everywhere.
The best-known statement of the principle of universality is found in
the Statutes of the International Council for Science (ICSU), the
authoritative international voice of science. ICSU's Statute 5 forbids
discrimination among scientists "on the basis of such factors as
ethnic origin, religion, citizenship, language, political stance,
gender or age." In other words, scientists should not suffer
discrimination because of features that are irrelevant to their own
practice of science. Country of residence is obviously one such
feature. No wonder that ICSU issued a strongly-worded condemnation in
August 2002 of an earlier attempt to boycott Israeli academics.
In solidarity with Palestinians
John Chalcraft
May 30, 2007 8:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_chalcraft/2007/05/boycotty.html
An international, non-violent movement supporting divestment,
sanctions and boycott of Israel is gathering strength. While progress
has been made in Northern Ireland and South Africa, Israel continues
to settle and occupy Palestinian land in defiance of international
law.
The question for British academics is whether they should join this
international movement, and refuse to do business as usual with
Israeli academic institutions. At stake is not the boycott of
individual Israelis, nor their subjection to some political test, but
the withdrawal of institutional collaboration with Israeli
universities. The boycott implies the refusal to participate in
conferences or research sponsored by Israeli authorities or
universities; withdrawal from institutional level cooperation;
opposition to the award of grants by the EU to Israeli institutions,
and refusal to serve as referees for publications based at Israeli
universities.
Veins of truth
Roddy Morrison
May 30, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/roddy_morrison/2007/05/veins_of_truth.html
The revelations in Friday's Guardian that the Committee on the Safety
of Medicines disregarded known risks of HIV in imported clotting
factors used in the treatment of haemophilia causes anger and
incredulity among the haemophilia community.
This is an issue of life and death, an issue of families being
destroyed and loved ones lost to deadly blood-borne viruses.
Raw dealing
Prem Sikka
May 30, 2007 8:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/prem_sikka_/2007/05/raw_dealing.html
Accountancy firms are the new masters of the universe shaping audits,
accounting, accountability, corporate governance, taxation,
insolvency, consultancy, railways, the NHS, Private Finance Initiative
(PFI), government departments and much more.
The world of accountancy is dominated by just four secretive
accountancy firms: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst &
Young and KPMG, although their might is now being challenged by mid-
tier firms such as Grant Thornton. The Big Four's combined global
income of $80bn is greater than the gross domestic product of many
nation states. They are controlled by secret trusts headquartered in
offshore tax havens (Bermuda and Switzerland), which do not have
multilateral information sharing treaties with other countries.
Despite appealing to codes of ethics, profit-hungry accountancy firms
are engaged in a race to the bottom. A few examples would help to
illustrate the issues.
The scar is getting deeper
Cameron Duodu
May 30, 2007 7:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/cameron_duodu/2007/05/the_scar_is_getting_deeper.html
Next to Harold Macmillan, whose visit to Africa in 1960 affected the
future direction of the continent thanks to his "wind of change"
speech to the racist parliament in South Africa, Tony Blair should
have been the British prime minister best remembered by Africans.
I remember him strutting between cocoa trees on a farm barely 10 miles
from my birthplace in Ghana during his visit to my country in February
2002. I also remember pondering, in March 2005, whether Blair's
Commission for Africa would be of any lasting significance. On each
occasion, something held my enthusiasm back. It was the razzmatazz -
shirt sleeves on a cocoa farm; Bob Geldof adding expletives to Blair's
party conference speech in which he said: "The state of Africa is a
scar on the conscience of the world." All this held great promise. But
what would the delivery be like?
Nasty but trivial
Edward Pearce
May 30, 2007 7:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/edward_pearce/2007/05/online_fuss_some_little_while.html
Some little while ago Big Brother, an outstandingly childish TV
programme, was made a little more childish when a dumpy Essex girl
called Jade Goody uttered some lightly offensive remarks about an
Indian film actress called Shilpa Shetty.
She didn't call for her to be gassed, wave a banana, make monkey
noises or even invite her to go back where she had come from.
(Somebody else, whose name has never made it into national eminence,
did that.) Her words were sullen, envious observations made during the
cooking of a chicken and concerned the differences, clear oddness and
uncertain hygiene belonging to "these people". Unpleasant but
unpleasant in the most trivial fashion.
The Gower Street gunrunners
Richard Wilson
May 29, 2007 11:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_wilson/2007/05/the_gower_street_gunrunners.html
The details of last November's air strike on a religious school in the
tribal Bajaur region of Pakistan are still shrouded in controversy.
The authorities claim that the school was an al-Qaida training camp,
and that all of those killed were terrorists. Survivors insist it was
an ordinary madrasa, and that the 82 victims were students, not
militants. Local residents say that the attack was carried out not by
Pakistani forces, but by US drone aircraft, armed with Hellfire
missiles. The government has denied this - but sought to prevent
journalists from travelling to the scene, and has so far resisted
calls for an independent inquiry.
Bashar Assad: Syria's new strongman?
Dilip Hiro
May 29, 2007 10:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dilip_hiro/2007/05/bashar_assad_syrias_new_strongman.html
The re-election of the incumbent president, Bashar Assad, on Sunday by
referendum will far exceed the minimum 51% of the ballots required by
law. The vote for Bashar will match or even exceed the 97.3% that he
secured seven years ago as the sole candidate.
The only difference is that in 2000, Bashar Assad - a 34-year-old
London-trained ophthalmologist who later passed the general (military)
staff course - was unsure of himself and his grip on power as he
stepped into the shoes of his father, Hafiz Assad, an air force
general, who had ruled Syria for 32 years with an iron hand.
Peel past and present
Martin Kettle
May 29, 2007 10:10 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_kettle/2007/05/peel_past_and_present.html
At Conservative party conferences through the Margaret Thatcher years,
mildly dissident cabinet ministers would make cryptic speeches at
fringe meetings in improbable seaside hotels extolling the legacy of
Tory politicians like Sir Robert Peel and Benjamin Disraeli. The whole
point of references of this kind - I can remember hearing politicians
of the order of Michael Heseltine, Geoffrey Howe, John Biffen and Leon
Brittan making them - was that they were an easy-to-crack code. Peel,
Disraeli and the rest were perceived to be social unifiers - "one
nation" Tories - and thus offered a preferable alternative model to
the rebarbative and divisive Toryism of the Iron Lady.
Two decades on, Douglas Hurd now has enough time on his hands to make
a much more substantial contribution to this Tory conversation. No
biography of Peel will ever be able to compete for colour with any
biography of Disraeli, but the former home secretary's biography of
arguably his most important predecessor may do for the unlovable Peel
this year what William Hague's biography of the equally unlovable Pitt
the Younger has done over the previous two.
Chained reactions
Francis Sedgemore
May 29, 2007 9:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/francis_sedgemore/2007/05/chained_reactions.html
Listening to the Today programme this morning was a deeply depressing
experience.
First we had Peter Tatchell, who in a measured voice explained what
happened to him and other gay activists in Moscow last Sunday.
Tatchell described his attackers as a "...motley collection of neo-
Nazis, extreme rightwing nationalists and Christian fundamentalists
from the Russian Orthodox Church".
Sneering from the sidelines
Conor Foley
May 29, 2007 9:10 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2007/05/sneering_from_the_sidelines.html
"At first glance, it looks outrageous to accuse aid workers of
contributing to the crisis" in Darfur, writes Nick Cohen in the
Observer, before devoting much of the rest of his article to doing
precisely this. "I'm not suggesting for a moment that you shouldn't
contribute" to their emergency appeals he says, which he follows with
one of the most incredible "buts" that I have ever read in a sentence.
According to Cohen, "you will search in vain" on the website of the
Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod) for any condemnation
of the Sudanese government because, 'the worse a regime is the less
the NGOs say about it'.
Back to Barak?
Rory McCarthy
May 29, 2007 8:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rory_mccarthy/2007/05/back_to_barak.html
Are results of yesterday's first round of leadership elections for
Israel's Labour party the beginning of a comeback for Ehud Barak? The
vote, which put him just a few points ahead of his challenger Ami
Ayalon, is his best chance of a return to politics since he lost his
position as prime minister to Ariel Sharon in February 2001.
But there are two long weeks before the second round and there is
every indication that this will be a close race. Before yesterday's
vote - a ballot of the 104,000 eligible party members - polls had put
the two neck-and-neck, with Ayalon perhaps inching ahead. Already
reports today give a taste of the political haggling that will come,
with Amir Peretz, the defeated party leader and soon-to-be-former
defence minister, playing the kingmaker.
Mr Ferrari enters the race
John Hooper
May 29, 2007 8:10 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hooper/2007/05/mr_ferrari_enters_the_race.html
At first glance, there is something all too familiar about Luca
Cordero di Montezemolo and his pitch for a place in Italian politics.
Once again, as when Silvio Berlusconi "came down on to the field" in
1994, a very rich man is putting himself forward as the saviour of a
troubled nation. Once again, an outsider is trying to burst on the
scene at a moment when Italy's powerful northern industrialists - of
whom Mr Montezemolo is one - fear for their wealth.
See you in September
Eric Alterman
May 29, 2007 7:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/eric_alterman/2007/05/see_you_in_september.html
News cycles are unlike real life in any number of ways, but a big one
is that they end and start again every day - or less. Life, on the
other hand, goes on until you die.
I bring this up because the fact that the Democrats were unable to
force George Bush to accept a series of mandated troop withdrawals
looks like one thing on the morning after it happens, and will look
like something completely different a month or a year from now.
To kill a mocking blog
Marcy Wheeler
May 29, 2007 7:10 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/marcy_wheeler/2007/05/to_kill_a_mocking_blog.html
In preparation for the upcoming sentencing of Scooter Libby - the Bush
administration official convicted of perjury in the Valerie Plame
scandal - his defense team solicited his friends and associates to
write letters to the judge arguing that Libby deserves a reduced
sentence. Last Friday, Libby's lawyer Bill Jeffress submitted a filing
[PDF] opposing the release of those letters to the public. In it, he
writes: "Given the extraordinary media scrutiny here, if any case
presents the possibility that these letters, once released, would be
published on the internet and their authors discussed, even mocked, by
bloggers, it is this case."
I must say, as the primary live-blogger from a team of bloggers that
provided pioneering coverage of the Libby case, that I'm flattered
Jeffress considers my mere discussion of the letters to be one of the
most compelling risks to releasing those letters to the public. Who
knew my discussions were so dangerous?
Hostages to fortune
Simon Tisdall
May 29, 2007 6:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_tisdall/2007/05/hostages_to_fortune.html
In the absence of any claim of responsibility for the kidnapping of
five Britons in Baghdad today, suspicion is most likely to fall on
Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army - or hardline elements within it.
That is partly because the Shia militia vowed to exact revenge after
British troops accompanying Iraq security forces were involved in
clashes in Basra last Friday that ended with the killing of a top
Mahdi army commander.
Should I stay or should I go?
Laura Chappell
May 29, 2007 6:20 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/laura_chappell/2007/05/most_of_us_woke_up.html
Most of us woke up to news today that one in four migrants from
Eastern and Central European wants to settle in Britain permanently.
After so many coming over in the last few years and given what
Margaret Hodge said last week, how will we cope? Well actually, if you
read Joseph Rowntree reports and you look at the most recent figures
on migrants to Britain, there's nothing to panic about.
The most important thing the research shows us is that the decision to
'stay' or 'go' is not a one-off decision, but rather one that most
migrants are constantly evaluating. They are weighing up a complex mix
of factors relating to both life in Britain and at home. Can they find
a job? Are they enjoying that job and do they feel valued by their
employer? Could they get a better job back home? Do the miss their
family too much to stay? And have they been able to make friends?
The evolution of daft ideas
Brian Whitaker
May 29, 2007 6:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2007/05/the_evolution_of_daft_ideas.html
In 1633 Galileo Galilei, the Italian scientist, was forced by the
Vatican to recant his "absurd" and "heretical" belief that the Earth
revolves around the sun. This was one of the opening shots in a battle
between science and religion that has raged ever since in some
sections of the Christian church.
Galileo's views were deemed absurd because they conflicted with a
verse in Psalm 93 which says that the Earth "cannot be moved", but he
was not by any means the first to come up with this idea. Muslim
astronomers, such as Ibn al-Haytham, had reached a similar conclusion
centuries earlier without any punishment from their own religious
authorities. Islam, as Inayat Bunglawala observed in an article for
Cif, is fortunate in never having had a "Galileo moment". At least,
not yet.
Not a private matter
Michael Darlow
May 29, 2007 5:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michael_darlow/2007/05/channel_4_not_a_suitable_case.html
Matt Wells in Monday's Media Guardian is right to highlight
(registration required) the way in which Channel 4, in common with
other channels, has in recent years, paid "greater attention to the
potential level of return on their ideas, rather than their intrinsic
editorial and cultural value". However, if Gordon Brown thinks that
the answer to this palpable failure by those who run the channel to
understand their duty to the channel, its remit and the wider public
is privatisation he will demonstrate that he doesn't understand
broadcasting and doesn't care about the wider public, no matter what
his protestations to the contrary.
Stand up for yourself, Rowan
Andrew Brown
May 29, 2007 5:20 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/andrew_brown/2007/05/stand_up_for_yourself_rowan.html
I don't pretend to be an expert on the thoughts of Rowan Williams: the
last time I spoke to him was at a party some years ago, where our
conversation, not very profound to start with, was quickly interrupted
by a mutual friend who lurched up very drunk and started to upbraid
the archbishop for cowardice. It was a ludicrous moment. But it was
also a serious charge. I like Rowan, and I admire his wife, but as he
has struggled with church politics over the last four years I have
wondered if there is any better explanation for his behaviour than
that he is an easily bullied man who won't, when it counts, stand up
for his beliefs.
Now, in the last couple of days, a situation has arisen which may
settle the issue once and for all. He has invited all but a handful of
the 800 or so bishops of the Anglican communion to their regular
conference next year. The three most prominently excluded represent a
variety of sins: there is the openly homosexual American Gene
Robinson; the Zimbabwean Mugabe crony Nolbert Kunonga and the
schismatic Martyn Minns, whose installation last month as a Nigerian
bishop in the US was a formal declaration that the Nigerian Anglican
church no longer recognises the American Episcopal church as proper
Christians since Gene Robinson was elected a bishop there.
In politics as in baseball
Stephen Kinzer
May 29, 2007 5:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/stephen_kinzer/2007/05/in_politics_as_in_baseball.html
A proud and seemingly invulnerable power that overreaches and suddenly
suffers defeats that expose its weakness and threaten its hegemony -
that is the story of the United States as this fifth summer of war
begins. It is also, by a delightful quirk of history, the story of
America's most successful sports team, the long-dominant New York
Yankees.
This summer the Yankees find themselves further behind in the baseball
standings than they have been at this point in the season for more
than a decade. They command unlimited resources and field a fearsome-
looking line-up, but to everyone's amazement, they are losing instead
of winning. Yankee players and fans are stunned and disoriented. They
cannot reverse their fall or even explain it.
Asking the wrong man
Mark Lynas
May 29, 2007 4:20 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mark_lynas/2007/05/it_was_the_sort_of.html
It was the sort of moment every environmentalist dreams of. A captive
government minister in front of a hostile crowd, and two greens -
myself and Jeremy Leggett, chief executive of Solar Century - out to
draw blood. It was just a shame that the government minister in
question was David Miliband - a man who gives you the feeling that
he's on your side, but who seems to himself be fighting a losing
battle - rather than the real climate change Dr Evil, Gordon Brown.
Brown felt to me like the spectre haunting the whole proceedings. Who
could even say whether or not the gentle Mr Miliband will even be
environment secretary in another month's time, once Brown brings down
his iron fist in No 10? And when I raised the question of government
parsimony on the domestic renewables programme - only £18m has been
allocated for getting solar panels and wind turbines on our roofs
(that's 15p per household over three years) and compared it to the
£5.1bn lavished on widening the M1 motorway - I felt like I was
attacking the wrong person. For the last 10 years, the man making
decisions on spending government money has not been David Miliband,
but Gordon Brown.
On a wing and a prayer
Stephen Bates
May 29, 2007 4:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/stephen_bates/2007/05/on_a_wing_and_a_prayer.html
Gerry and Kate McCann, the anguished parents of the missing four year-
old Madeleine, are being flown in Sir Philip Green's private jet from
the Algarve to Rome today, to meet Pope Benedict XVI privately in the
morning following his weekly general audience. They must feel that
they are in some nightmarish everlasting dream, the desperate objects
of worldwide pity, floating in a bubble of luxury and obsequious
attention on a sea of despair and guilt. But perhaps the more
interesting question today concerns the pope and his actions.
The McCanns are known to be devout Catholics, but terrible things
happen daily to devout Catholics as well as many others of all faiths
and none, without the personal intervention of the pontiff - he'd be
doing nothing else all day if he invited them all to come and see him.
Mission impossible
Matt Seaton
May 29, 2007 3:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/matt_seaton/2007/05/mission_impossible.html
Since the world is not exactly overrun with liberal newspapers and
bien-pensant media organisations, I had a natural curiosity, as a
Guardian journalist, to hear (for once) how someone else does it.
David Landau is the editor of a newspaper that is avowedly secular and
progressive, and which has a set of editorial principles that would
not disgrace a human rights organisation, and are certainly
recognisable to an employee of the media group owned by the Scott
Trust.
But there the resemblance begins to diminish, and special
circumstances take over. For Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper edited
(since 2004) by Mr Landau, is constitutionally Zionist, as well as
secular and progressive. You'd think that being secular and
progressive in Israel is the main challenge, and that being Zionist at
least would be uncontroversial. But, as Mr Landau reminded us, this
was Israel - where the demographic reality is that the fastest-growing
political-religious group, because of a spectacularly high birthrate,
is the ultra-Orthodox, who, inter alia, do not recognise the state of
Israel. So, even to be Zionist in Israel, let alone secular and
progressive, can be to go looking for trouble.
Sinn Féin's flop
Mick Fealty
May 29, 2007 3:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mick_fealty/2007/05/sinn_fein_and_the_failure_of_i.html
Gerry Adams now says that the general election in the Irish Republic
was always going to be difficult for his Sinn Féin party. Yet, like
any good boxing pro, he talked a good fight at the time. If he had
doubts during the campaign, he didn't let it show.
In the event, the electorate largely returned to the two large
populist parties of the southern state. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's
Fianna Fáil lost just two seats, and his opponent Enda Kenny's Fine
Gael added 20 - mostly at the expense of independents and the smaller
parties rather than the government.
Rain on the sidelines
AC Grayling
May 29, 2007 2:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ac_grayling/2007/05/rain_on_the_sidelines.html
Audiences at literary festivals are interesting, interested,
responsive and engaged. This is hardly surprising, given that they
consist of readers, and moreover readers of the best kind: those who
think and want to know more. The would-be self-congratulatory view
that the British not merely disclaim but disdain things of the
intellect is flatly refuted by the packed rows of seats at Hay, and by
the fact that one could hear a pin drop as Eric Hobsbawm talked about
the end of empires, and Martin Rees, Steve Jones and Richard Dawkins
debated scientific rationality and its enemies.
The events just mentioned were the highlights of my long weekend at
Hay, though were I capable of being, like an electron, in more than
one place at once there would have been numerous others of the same
kind. Eric Hobsbawm canvassed some of the main themes of his
forthcoming book on the demise of the great empires of recent history,
concluding that the remaining empire, its Rome in DC, is proving
unsustainable on the present plan of military power projection. A
different empire, that of scientific reason, is certain to fare
better, as all three eloquent communicators about science (Rees, Jones
and Dawkins) concertedly showed. Speaking almost ex officio as
President of the Royal Society, Lord Rees took the irenic view that
science should ally itself to moderate religion in order to defeat
extremist religion; Dawkins replied that even the nicest bishops do a
disservice by making faith respectable, which it is not; and Steve
Jones outdid even that by emphatically refusing to grant a place to
falsehood however confected.
The road back to Wigan Pier
Victor Keegan
May 29, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/victor_keegan/2007/05/the_road_back_to_wigan_pier.html
Everyone knows that manufacturing industry has been migrating to China
for years and that no one can do anything about it because of that
country's unassailable combination of cheap labour and rising skills.
But if this is so, how come that, suddenly, there appears to be a
movement from China to Britain?
Today the first of a new generation of MG cars is scheduled to run off
the production lines at Longbridge under the auspices of a state-owned
Chinese company, Nanjing Automobile. Of itself this may not mean much
as there has been a steady rise in Chinese investment in the UK - from
a low base - in recent years.
Fouling the water
Alastair Harper
May 29, 2007 12:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alastair_harper/2007/05/it_has_been_over_ten.html
It is more thant 10 years since Peter Godwin published his account of
growing up in a Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) that collapsed into civil war.
He has now published a follow-up, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun which
he spoke about at the Hay Festival.
Zimbabwe's decline since 2000 has been eerily reflected in the decline
of Godwin's parents; his mother, an experienced and compassionate
doctor, is now frail, and his father, a respected engineer, dead. The
mother begs her son not to allow a blood transfusion to be given her
at the local hospital in which she has herself worked; she knows they
simply do not have the equipment to ensure the procedure can be
carried out safely. She can no longer trust the blood of her adopted
land. A nurse waits for the doctor to leave the room before quietly
agreeing with Godwin's mother.
A storm on the airwaves
David Cox
May 29, 2007 12:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_cox/2007/05/a_storm_on_the_airwaves.html
Politicians create a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA), then try to
exempt themselves from its application, pretending it is for the
benefit of their constituents. How do you beat this? Well, how about a
public institution that fights to hide from the workings of the same
act even though its very purpose is the dissemination of information?
The institution involved, the BBC, claims to be "open and accountable"
and boasts that it has itself taken advantage of FoIA to break scores
of news stories. It justifies its efforts to conceal its own affairs
partly through the claim that an increase in freedom of information
applications might require it to hire more staff at the expense of
licence-payers. Yet it is believed to have spent at least £200,000 of
licence-payers' money so far in pursuing its case in the courts. Now,
it can be expected to add to this figure, as its struggle to protect
its secrets moves into the court of appeal.
What the Butler said
Richard Norton-Taylor
May 29, 2007 11:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_nortontaylor/2007/05/what_the_butler_said.html
Lord Butler, former cabinet secretary and head of the inquiry into the
use of intelligence in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, delivered
a damning critique of the way Tony Blair has run the country.
Papers on critical issues, including, he implied, intelligence reports
on Iraq, were not given to cabinet ministers; and the notionally
important cabinet committee on overseas and defence policy never met,
Lord Butler told an audience of several hundred at the Hay Festival on
Monday night.
The long hard sulk
Ilana Bet-El
May 29, 2007 11:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ilana_betel/2007/05/the_long_hard_sulk.html
Is Gordon Brown a closet American? He may be horrified by the thought,
but facts are facts: both he and America's leaders believe in sulking.
Worse still, both believe in public sulking as a policy.
Gordon Brown has waged the politics of sulking since 1994 - ever since
he apparently made a deal with Tony Blair over the Labour party
leadership, allowing the latter to have an uncontested run at it in
exchange for a turn at the helm after an unspecified time. Blair's
camp denies there ever was a deal, Brown's camp insists there was. Who
knows? Who cares? It is ultimately an internal Labour party issue, but
unfortunately the UK, and in many ways the EU and other parts of the
world, have been held ransom to this piece of party squabbling.
Time for reform
David Faulkner
May 29, 2007 10:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_faulkner/2007/05/time_for_reform.html
Just as political commentators are now looking for a vision which goes
beyond the "third way" in politics, so it may be time to look beyond
the "new public management", which has dominated public services for
the past 25 years.
Both were needed at the time, and both have achievements to their
credit, but their combination provides a precarious foundation for
public service and public administration in the 21st century. They do
not make enough allowance for the complexity of modern government and
modern society. They do not give a coherent sense of direction;
provide a "story" or a "narrative" with which either public servants
or citizens more generally can identify themselves with any conviction
or enthusiasm. A language and pseudo-science of management has
overlaid traditional skills in human relationships and displaced the
wisdom of experience. The government's impatience has not allowed it
to encourage reforms to grow from the ground, to be owned by those who
are most affected by them, or to see the situation from their point of
view or encourage their initiative and imagination.
The internet will revolutionise the very meaning of politics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2090872,00.html
The web could yet bypass government and existing political
communities, and either expand democracy in the process - or stifle
it
Jonathan Freedland
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
So the Washington journalist who warned me 10 years ago that the
internet was doomed, that it would collapse under the weight of all
those pages, was wrong. The internet is here and changing everything,
the way we work, shop, communicate, even fall in love. But what of
society itself? The industrial revolution changed politics completely,
leading to universal suffrage, as well as modern socialism, communism
and fascism. What will the internet revolution do for the politics of
our own age?
Dirty money flows distort our economy and corrupt democracy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2090970,00.html
It's time to confront the tax-haven monster that panders to the rich,
robs the poor, and corrodes public faith in our laws
John Christensen
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Many of us harbour a queasy feeling that something is wrong with the
global economy, but we can't quite put our finger on it. Some think
the problem is globalisation itself. I don't agree. But there is
something wrong. The world's wealthiest citizens have created - and
are extending - a secret, parallel, offshore economy where they can
operate outside democratic structures. As George Bush put it: "Real
rich people figure out how to dodge taxes." Next month, the leaders of
the world's richest nations meet for the annual G8 summit in Germany.
We must ask them difficult questions.
The Iraq war is Brown's war, a war he could have stopped
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2090839,00.html
Brown showed a distinct lack of courage in failing to stand up to
Blair. Now he must quickly summon the courage to withdraw
Simon Jenkins
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
The Iraq inferno refuses to die down. Gordon Brown, Britain's
forthcoming prime minister, is currently promoting his book on
"courage" at various literary and Labour party venues. In both Bristol
and Hay-on-Wye the question was raised: if he were really courageous,
why did he not admit that Iraq was a mistake? It is one thing to
admit, as he has, that "mistakes have been made", but that is hardly
controversial. What of all those leaks and murmurs that he was really
against the war?
Should we vote for a boycott?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2090971,00.html
British academics debate whether to break links with universities and
colleges in Israel
John Chalcraft and Michael Yudkin
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Yes
John Chalcraft: An international, non-violent movement supporting
divestment, sanctions and boycott of Israel is gathering strength. The
question for British academics is whether they too should refuse to do
business as usual with Israeli academic institutions. At stake is not
the boycott of individual Israelis, nor some political test, but the
withdrawal of institutional collaboration - in relation to funding,
visits, conferences, joint publication and the like - with Israeli
universities.
Formula milk is even more deadly in disaster zones
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2090780,00.html
Support for breastfeeding during a humanitarian crisis should be a top
priority, says Marie McGrath
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
The grey area of international code implementation that Joanna
Moorhead highlighted in Bangladesh (Milking it, May 15) becomes all
the murkier when you try to implement the code during humanitarian
emergencies.
Moorhead - in her description of a ward in the "diarrhoea hospital" in
Dhaka, where most patients are babies and "not one is crying: they are
all much too weak for that" - very clearly showed the acute risks that
formula feeding presents to infants where there aren't the resources
to safely support it. Put these infants in the face of a humanitarian
disaster and the risks multiply. This was highlighted most blatantly
in an outbreak of diarrhoea among artificially fed infants in Botswana
in 2006, due to contaminated water supplies. Babies who were not
breastfed were 50 times more likely to be hospitalised with diarrhoea,
and seven times more likely to die, than babies who were breastfed.
Putting Bollywood on the British map
Karina Mantavia
May 29, 2007 5:00 PM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/05/putting_bollywood_on_the_briti.html
A new Bollywood map detailing Indian cinema's most popular British
locations, is being issued by the Visit Britain tourist authority
ahead of the International Indian Film Academy Awards. The awards,
which take place in Sheffield next week, are hugely popular and
extraordinarily lucrative, having visited a Midas-touch effect on many
of their previous hosts (Singapore, Amsterdam, Johannesburg).
But the map, which covers around thirty UK spots, from Tower Bridge to
a Surrey football ground, may be protesting a little too much. It's
one thing to try and grab a bit of the Bollywood buzz, but quite
another to claim that the map will really be used by Indian visitors
to the UK.
Hay festival: Pamuk without the politics
Richard Lea
May 29, 2007 6:45 PM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/05/hay_festival_pamuk_without_the.html
The air in the Guardian tent is hot even before Orhan Pamuk arrives -
maybe it's the sunshine, or maybe it's just the feverish expectation
of a crowd who have come to hear the latest Nobel laureate speak.
Why have they come? Some are interested fans who have made a special
trip just to be here, others are just here because "it's the only
thing that was on when I was free". The lady next to me in the queue
is halfway through Snow, finding it "hard going" and hoping for some
inspiration.
Has the internet killed literate communication?
Jonathon Green
May 30, 2007 8:15 AM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/05/has_the_internet_killed_litera.html
Like the rest of what is no longer exactly new, but is undoubtedly
still evolving technology, emails rank high on the list of those
developments which with nary a backward glance have destroyed the
world as we know it.
They have? So it appears. They promote illiteracy (the adoption of
texting-style abbreviations and acronyms), they undermine proper
thought (no measured consideration when you can fire one off so fast),
they foster rudeness (no topping and tailing of the missive in the
traditional manner, no capital letters for goodness' sake, and what
about poor old granny, who probably still thinks the typewriter is a
girl, not a machine?).
The new French president thought his choice of hero would fire
national patriotism. Big mistake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2090893,00.html
Marcel Berlins
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
His emotion was palpably genuine, not a political trick; the
television close-up confirmed that a real tear had fallen. It was what
he then said that has created the furore. It was Nicolas Sarkozy's
first day as president of France. In between his inauguration and
dinner with Angela Merkel, he stopped off at the Bois de Boulogne for
a memorial ceremony for 35 resistance fighters massacred there by the
Gestapo in 1944. There, a famous letter was read out, written by 17-
year-old Guy Môquet to his parents on the eve of his execution by the
Nazis in 1941, for resistance activities. Sarkozy, confessing that
Môquet's letter always moved him profoundly, promised, as his first
decision as president, that it would be read out to all high-school
pupils in France at the beginning of each school year.
White House turns to veteran diplomat to head World Bank
http://business.guardian.co.uk/wolfowitz/story/0,,2091161,00.html
· Robert Zoellick nominated as Wolfowitz successor
· Choice of respected figure an attempt to mend fences
Richard Adams and Conor Clarke in Washington
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
The White House moved last night to mend fences with the international
community when it indicated it would nominate a respected veteran
diplomat, Robert Zoellick, to replace Paul Wolfowitz as head of the
World Bank.
The Bush administration, bruised by the fallout after the former
Pentagon deputy was forced to step down after granting pay rises to
his girlfriend, turned to Mr Zoellick, an experienced Washington
insider who served as Condoleezza Rice's number two at the state
department and played a key role in the reunification of Germany in
1990.
Sarin still hears India calling
http://business.guardian.co.uk/viewpoint/story/0,,2091089,00.html
Deborah Hargreaves
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Arun Sarin has had a rough ride from the City. Vodafone's chief
executive almost lost his job a year ago in a boardroom row and
investors have been bleating about under-performance for years. But
with the mobile operator's shares at a five-year high yesterday in
spite of lacklustre results, Sarin could be forgiven for savouring a
moment of vindication.
It may not last long. His faith in emerging markets is beginning to
pay off, but the company is still being held back by poor performance
in Europe.
Russian missile test adds to arms race fears
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2091130,00.html
Luke Harding in Moscow
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Russia yesterday threatened a new cold war-style arms race with the
United States by announcing that it had successfully tested a new
intercontinental ballistic missile capable of penetrating American
defences.
Russia's hawkish first deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, said the
country had tested both a new multiple-warhead intercontinental
missile, the RS-24, and an improved version of its short-range
Iskander missile.
He said the missiles were capable of destroying enemy systems and
added: "As of today Russia has new missiles that are capable of
overcoming any existing or future missile defence systems. In terms of
defence and security, Russia can look calmly to the country's future."
Malaysia rejects convert's bid to be recognised as Christian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2091216,00.html
Ian MacKinnon, south-east Asia correspondent
Wednesday May 30, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The highest court in Malaysia today rejected a Muslim convert's appeal
to be recognised as a Christian, ending a six-year legal battle that
will heighten the country's religious minorities' concerns over
discrimination.
Lina Joy, 42, had fought the decisions of Malaysia's lower courts in
an effort to have the word "Islam" removed from her identity card,
arguing that the country's constitution guarantees her religious
freedom.
But in a landmark ruling the three judge panel decided in a majority
verdict that it had no power to intervene in apostasy cases, which
fall under the jurisdiction of Malaysia's Sharia courts.
Flight alert after US quarantines air passenger with rare TB strain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2091151,00.html
Fred Attewill
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
An international operation began last night to track down dozens of
transatlantic passengers who this month flew with a man now
quarantined with a dangerous form of tuberculosis.
The American ignored advice not to travel on commercial airlines and
took a flight from the US to Europe, exposing other flyers to a highly
drug-resistant strain of the potentially fatal illness.
Despite another phone call from a senior US doctor while he was in
Italy telling him not to take any further flights, the man insisted on
returning to north America before seeking medical advice.
Defiant Hamas leader says attacks on Israel will go on despite heavy
human cost in Gaza
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2090917,00.html
· Mashal predicts explosion across Middle East
· Fatah conflict blamed on foreign intervention
Ian Black in Damascus
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Khaled Mashal, the influential political leader of the Palestinian
Islamist movement Hamas, insists attacks on Israel will continue
despite overwhelming Israeli retaliation that has cost scores of lives
in the Gaza Strip in the past two weeks.
Speaking in Damascus yesterday he asserted it was the right of the
Palestinians to resist "Zionist aggression" regardless of whether
their actions were effective.
Everest ice forest melting due to global warming, says Greenpeace
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2091111,00.html
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
One of the world's most spectacular ice formations - the towering
serac forest near Mount Everest's base camp - is rapidly shrinking as
a result of global warming, Greenpeace said today.
Before and after photographs released by the environmental group show
how the past 40 years of climate change are transforming the Himalayan
landscape as ancient glaciers melt and retreat higher up the slopes.
The first photograph, taken in 1968, shows a long valley filled with
white seracs, tilting pinnacles of ice as high as 20 metres, that form
on Rongbuk glacier on the northern slopes of Everest. In the second
photograph, taken this spring, the ice forest has virtually
disappeared. The valley is a grey desert of rocks covering the angular
surface of the glacier. The remaining seracs are barely visible on the
right of the picture, where they have retreated far up the slopes of
Mount Guangming.
'We have no rights and no future'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,2090477,00.html
The standoff between the Lebanese army and Islamic militants has
focused attention on the 400,000 Palestinian refuges in the country
Clancy Chassay in Shatila refugee camp
Duncan Campbell in Beirut
Tuesday May 29, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
In Lebanon's dusty, overcrowded Palestinian refugee camps people live
in abject poverty, with many families surviving on food rations and
handouts from the UN, in what was once temporary housing.
In the teeming streets of Shatilla camp, the scene of a notorious
civil war massacre, malnourished children play in little more than
rags between crumbling bullet riddled buildings and amidst open
sewage.
"We have no rights and no future. We have a lot of problems; We can't
work freely, we cannot own a house, we cannot move around. We are
treated as if we are not human," said 20-year-old Samar, from
Shatilla.
Chávez attacks another private TV channel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,2091017,00.html
· Venezuelan president continues media purge
· Station denies incitement and defends free speech
Rory Carroll in Caracas
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Hugo Chávez condemned Venezuela's last remaining opposition-aligned TV
station yesterday, two days after pulling the plug on another critical
broadcaster. The president called cable news channel Globovisión an
enemy of the state, and accused it of fomenting violence and attempts
to assassinate him.
"Enemies of the homeland, particularly those behind the scenes, I will
give you a name: Globovisión. Greetings gentlemen of Globovisión. You
should watch where you are going," he said, in a speech all stations
were obliged to air. He accused it of distorting reaction to the
closure of RCTV, a network which closed on Sunday after the government
refused to renew its license. "I recommend they take a tranquiliser,
that they slow down, because if not, I'm going to slow them down."
Bush orders Darfur sanctions after grassroots pressure
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,,2091107,00.html
· Move designed to pre-empt G8 summit
· Campaigners claim curbs are too little, too late
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
George Bush yesterday bowed before America's most successful
experiment in grassroots organisation - the coalition of Hollywood,
religious groups and student activists on Darfur - and ordered
economic sanctions against Sudan.
The sanctions announcement and a pledge by Mr Bush to press for
further action from the UN was timed to pre-empt next week's G8 summit
meeting which is expected to discuss Darfur, according to US
officials.
The sanctions came three years after the White House first used the
word "genocide" to describe the situation in Darfur, galvanising
university campus groups, religious organisations and Hollywood A-
listers such as George Clooney.
Paramilitaries to fight school drug abuse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,,2091022,00.html
John Hooper in Rome
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
The paramilitary Carabinieri, a tough force which until recently was
stationed in Iraq, could be sent into schools to search for drugs. The
proposal follows widespread alarm in Italy at what is seen as rapidly
growing drug use among the young.
Livia Turco, the health minister in Romano Prodi's centre-left
government, said the consumption and trafficking of drugs by students
had reached the point at which it was time to begin checks throughout
Italy. Ms Turco, who has control of a Carabinieri detachment, said her
initiative reflected "a sense of responsibility towards parents".
First stop of Blair's farewell Africa tour: Gadafy's tent
http://www.guardian.co.uk/libya/story/0,,2091053,00.html
· PM sees energy and arms sales deals signed
· Leader once shunned by west is 'easy to deal with'
Will Woodward in Sirte
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Tony Blair kicked off his farewell tour of Africa by praising Libya's
leader, Muammar Gadafy, as a man he found "very easy" to deal with and
one who had always kept his word to the prime minister.
Mr Blair beamed as he greeted the former pariah of the west in the
desert near Sirte, about 150 miles south-east of Tripoli. The two men
had met before, in a landmark summit in March 2004 which signalled the
end of Libya's international isolation. Mr Blair said yesterday that
they were on first-name terms and spoke a few times a year. It was "a
relationship of trust", the prime minister said.
Ex-crack dealer defines word on the street
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2090959,00.html
Ed Pilkington in New York
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Are you someone who gives a loose doo-doo (a limp handshake) with a
frozen wrist (covered in diamond jewellery)? Have you ever visited
Chocolate City (Washington DC)? Are you a hog (boss) who likes to game
with Fred, Bob and Isaac (the FBI)?
Everything is made clear in a book on sale in America called Street
Talk. It is a 686-page dictionary of what its author, Randy Kearse,
calls slanguage: the argot of young people - mainly men, and mainly
African American, on the streets from New York to Los Angeles. The
book bristles with phrases such as "hoochie wear" (clothing revealing
excessive cleavage) and "do you kiss your mother with a mouth like
that?" (a reprimand for foul language).
China's food and drug agency chief sentenced to death
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2090884,00.html
· Disgraced boss guilty of accepting bribes
· Harsh penalty seen as bid to reassure consumers
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
The disgraced head of China's food and drug agency was sentenced to
death yesterday amid a wave of consumer safety scandals.
Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, was found guilty of accepting 6.5m yuan (£433,000)
worth of bribes from pharmaceutical companies to expedite the approval
of new drugs.
Underscoring the state's determination to crack down on corruption and
consumer safety violations, he is the most senior official to receive
the death penalty in seven years.
Beijing fears a collapse of consumer confidence after a series of
deadly food and drug scandals, often linked with lax regulation and
bribe taking. With more Chinese products filling shelves overseas,
several cases have had international repercussions.
Tehran officials charge three Americans with spying
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2090886,00.html
Robert Tait in Tehran
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Iran charged three Americans with spying and national security
offences yesterday in a move that intensified suspicion surrounding
intellectuals with US ties.
A day after US and Iranian officials held their first formal talks in
27 years in Baghdad, Iran's judiciary branch announced charges had
been brought against Haleh Esfandiari, Kian Tajbakhsh and Parnaz
Azimi. The three, all joint US-Iranian citizens, are suspected of
fomenting a "velvet revolution" intended to topple Iran's Islamic
government.
Back from the dead and facing life - trial recalls horrors of the Klan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2091104,00.html
· Ex-policeman, 71, accused of 1964 race killings
· Victim's brother traced suspect said to be dead
Ewen MacAskill in Mississippi
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
Thomas Moore is looking forward to finally coming face-to-face with
James Ford Seale, a Ku Klux Klansman who came back from the dead. "I
want to look at him," he said. "I want to tell him about the pain he
caused me and my family."
Mr Moore, 63, a retired sergeant-major, recalled the day he found out
that Mr Seale was still alive. "I was so happy. We thought he was dead
- and so did everyone else."
Caste demands demotion to win state jobs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,2090866,00.html
Randeep Ramesh in Delhi
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
India's army moved to restore order in Rajasthan yesterday, after nine
people died in rioting by 30,000 members of a caste demanding to be
downgraded to put them on a par with untouchables who benefit from
affirmative action to gain government jobs and university places.
Police shot four people dead in battles with Gujjars, traditionally
sheep-rearers, who blocked traffic near Jaipur. Crowds then gathered
in Bundi, three hours' drive from Jaipur, and four more protesters
died, while an officer was said to have been beaten to death; the
crowds were reportedly armed.
Laser fusion - the safe, clean way to produce nuclear energy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,,2091037,00.html
James Randerson, science correspondent
Wednesday May 30, 2007
The Guardian
A multinational project led by British researchers aims to use a high-
power laser to reproduce the physical reaction that occurs at the
heart of the sun and every other star in the universe - nuclear
fusion. If the project succeeds it has the potential to solve the
world energy crisis without destroying the environment.
The scientists admit that a commercial reactor is a long way off, but
they believe the laser approach to producing fusion shows great
promise. The EU is considering a proposal to fund the set-up costs for
a seven-year research project called HiPER - high powered laser energy
research - that would build a working demonstration reactor. Preparing
for the seven-year project alone, which is a collaboration of 11
nations, is expected to cost over €50m (£34m). Actually building the
reactor itself will cost over half a billion euros.
Blair bids farewell to a continent with mixed feelings about his
contribution
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2594155.ece
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
Published: 30 May 2007
On ornate gilded chairs in a desert tent, Tony Blair sat down with
Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi for talks at the start of a week-long
trip through Africa which many are billing as the Prime Minister's
"farewell tour".
But, as Mr Blair landed in Tripoli, his official spokesman was denying
that the tour was nothing more than a photo-opportunity aimed at
raising the Prime Minister's profile for a future American after-
dinner audience before he steps down at the end of June.
Defeated Peretz to be kingmaker for Labour
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2594170.ece
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published: 30 May 2007
An easily defeated but apparently unbowed Amir Peretz cast himself in
the role of kingmaker in the run-off between his two rivals to replace
him as leader of the Israeli Labour Party.
Mr Peretz lost the leadership when he came third with 22 per cent of
the vote - compared with 35.6 per cent for the former prime minister
Ehud Barak, and 30.6 per cent for Ami Ayalon, the former head of the
domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet.
Bush tightens sanctions after Sudan rejects UN troops
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2594173.ece
By Steve Bloomfield in Nairobi
Published: 30 May 2007
The United States has tightened its sanctions against Sudan in attempt
to force Khartoum to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur. The US
targeted 31 companies with close ties to the Sudanese government and
three individuals linked to the violence in Darfur that has forced
millions from their homes and has left at least 200,000 dead.
The American President, George Bush, also announced plans for a fresh
UN resolution to strengthen international pressure against Sudan. But
China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil and holds a veto on the
Security Council, dismissed concerns yesterday about the continuing
humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
After Nazarbayev: The dictator, his daughter, and a dynasty at war
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2594167.ece
He is the omnipotent ruler of Kazakhstan. She is the woman tipped to
succeed him. But a bitter and bizarre power struggle involving
allegations of kidnapping has thrown the family - and the country -
into turmoil. By Anne Penketh
Published: 30 May 2007
The characters in this family feud come straight out of central
casting. Top billing goes to the Soviet-era President of Kazakhstan,
who last week gave himself the right to run for office as many times
as he likes. His eldest daughter, an opera singing mezzo soprano, who
has been tipped to succeed her father in a post-communist dynasty, has
a secondary role.
And then, of course, there is the ineffable Borat, the creation of the
comic Sacha Baron Cohen who put the oil-rich central Asian state on
the map by inventing the oafish, satirical character famed for such
outrageous declarations as "throw the Jew down the well".
Cindy Sheehan quits as 'face' of anti-war campaign
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2594160.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 30 May 2007
The war in Iraq has claimed another victim - leaving the US peace
movement without one of its most inspir-ational voices. The activist
Cindy Sheehan has announced she is standing down from her position as
the "face" of the anti-war movement, citing her frustration with the
apathy of the American public and the failure of the Democratic Party
to do more to bring the troops home.
She said she has been routinely abused by both conservatives and
liberals and accused of being an "attention whore".
Security staff who make up a private army in Iraq
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2594165.ece
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 30 May 2007
There are 44,000 private security contractors in Iraq, forming what
the US Senate dubbed the "largest private army in the world".
About 21,000 of those private guards are British - approximately three
times the total number of British troops in the country.
Labour deputy candidate calls for Iraq pull-out
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2594168.ece
By Colin Brown and Nigel Morris
Published: 30 May 2007
One of the candidates in the race for the Labour deputy leadership has
called for British troops to be pulled out of Iraq, as pressure grows
on Gordon Brown to change direction over the Middle East.
Jon Cruddas, who is gaining ground in the contest after starting as an
outsider, broke ranks by calling for the withdrawal of troops during a
hustings on BBC Newsnight last night. It is the first time that the
issue has been centre stage during the campaign and it could embarrass
Mr Brown, who has loyally stood by Tony Blair's commitment to leave
the troops in place until the "job is done".
Lord Goldsmith refuses to publish advice to Army over use of torture
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2594150.ece
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
Published: 30 May 2007
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, is under growing pressure to
disclose his advice to the Army on whether British soldiers in Iraq
needed to comply with the Human Rights Act.
Human rights groups and lawyers acting for Iraqi victims of abuse
claim Lord Goldsmith's advice meant soldiers were told to ignore the
human rights legislation when detaining civilians after the invasion
in March 2003.
Legal Opinion: Concerns raised over new laws to tackle terror
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2594136.ece
Labour's latest answer to the terror threat is an opt-out from the
European Convention on Human Rights. Robert Verkaik, Law Editor,
considers the measures proposed
Published: 30 May 2007
It has been nearly six years since the twin towers attacks on America
triggered an international war on terror. In that time, Labour has
tried and failed to find a legal solution to combating the threat
posed by those who may represent a danger to national security but
can't be prosecuted because of lack of direct evidence.
Last week, the disappearance of three terror suspects whose movement
had been subject to control orders re-ignited the debate over Labour's
terror conundrum and prompted John Reid, the Home Secretary, to moot
the idea of Britain removing itself from part of the European
Convention on Human Rights.
Germany set for train deal with 'pariah' Iran
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2594162.ece
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Published: 30 May 2007
Iran has launched a bid to develop Germany's Transrapid high-speed
magnetic train in order to ferry up to 15 million Islamic pilgrims a
year along a 480-mile route linking its capital, Tehran, with the
north-eastern city of Maschhad.
If the deal goes ahead, Iran would become the second country, after
China, to have bought Germany's record-breaking train, which "floats"
on a monorail as a result of a magnetic levitation (maglev) system and
can reach speeds of more than 280mph.
'Japanese Schindler' who saved Lithuanian Jews is honoured
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2594166.ece
By David McNeill
Published: 30 May 2007
When Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the monument
of Chiune Sugihara in Lithuania last weekend, many television
programmes back in Japan had to run stories explaining who this
obscure diplomat was.
It's obvious why the Emperor would be in London yesterday to dine with
the Queen but who was Chiune Sugihara?
Catalans are 'persecuting' the language of Cervantes
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2594158.ece
By Graham Keeley in Barcelona
Published: 30 May 2007
The language of Cervantes is being "persecuted" by nationalists in
Catalonia, a director of Spain's leading linguistic body has claimed.
Gregorio Salvador, the deputy director of the Royal Spanish Academy -
Spain's version of the authority which compiles the Oxford English
Dictionary - hit out at the way Spanish was being downgraded in
schools by nationalists running the regional government in the north-
eastern region.
Russia tests missile which 'penetrates any defence'
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2594207.ece
By Steve Gutterman in Moscow
Published: 30 May 2007
Russia tested new strategic and tactical missiles yesterday, flexing
its muscles amid military disputes with the West and bitter opposition
to a US plan for a defensive shield in Europe.
The First Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, said Russia tested an
intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple
independent warheads and a tactical cruise missile with an increased
range, boasting that the weapons can penetrate any missile defence
system
Hamish McRae: The balance of power is shifting
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/hamish_mcrae/article2594134.ece
You could make a strong case that it is not in China's self-interest
to become too close to the G8
Published: 30 May 2007
There is, in case you have not yet noticed, another G8 summit coming
up in Germany. You will notice, if only because substantial protests
are being planned, that "Smash G8" placards have been written, that
wire barricades are being erected and that police are primed. Let's
hope that the protestors do heed Angela Merkel's call to avoid
violence, but put it this way: the swanky Baltic resort of
Heiligendamm, complete with its sumptuous hotels and naturist beach,
would not be a great place to choose for a quiet getaway next week.
The razzmatazz, as so often, obscures the substance - which is that
the world economy is currently experiencing a global boom, and more
than this a boom that is more widely dispersed than any previous one
in human history. It is a boom that is rewriting the world's economic
power book.
Mark Steel: When Iran met the Great Satan...
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/mark_steel/article2594140.ece
Within minutes they were probably flicking through a 'Which Execution'
magazine together
Published: 30 May 2007
It's such a shame the American and Iranian leaders have taken so long
before talking to each other. Because now they've done it, they must
realise they've SO much in common. The small talk before the meeting
probably went, "You're very lucky being able to imprison your
homosexuals the way you do."
"Yes I know, when our God thinks about what they get up to, it makes
him squirm."
Aqqaluk Lynge: Global warming is not just a theory to us
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2594133.ece
Inuit, the people who live farther north than anyone else, are the
canary in the global coal mine
Published: 30 May 2007
What happens in Britain affects us in the north. You may say that the
expansion of London Stansted airport will play only a small part in
increasing climate change, but everyone can say that about almost
everything they do. It is an excuse for doing nothing. The result of
that attitude would be catastrophic.
William Gumede: A message to Gordon Brown: we need African solutions
for Africa's problems
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2594126.ece
It is unlikely that western powers will be able to shape African
policies as they once did
Published: 30 May 2007
The polite smiles that will greet Tony Blair on his final trip as
Prime Minister to Africa this week will mask bitter disappointment in
the record of the man who started so promisingly as the continent's
friend. But perhaps even more importantly, if he looks and listens
carefully, he will notice a different Africa from the one he
encountered when he first entered Downing Street 10 years ago. For
one, the influence of the traditional European powers in Africa,
Britain and France, has steadily declined.
New superpowers are increasingly staking claims in Africa. Topping the
list is China. Since 2000, it has increased its trade with Africa five-
fold to a staggering $50bn last year. China has now overtaken Britain
in its trade with Africa, and is rapidly catching up with France.
African countries warm to the Chinese dragon, because it also provides
generous aid - while aid to Africa from France and Britain has dropped
considerably. In addition, China does not make aid conditional as
France, Britain and the US do.