Abu Mazen's first 100 days in govt

Abu Mazen has now been Palestinian prime minister for a hundred days and ... it is time to weigh up his actions in government. First of all, it needs to be said that this man, lacking charisma or ambition and free of any trace of demagoguery, has an absolutely clear vision: the intifada will be stopped because in three years it has brought the Palestinians nothing but misfortune.

He is not naive and so does not believe in dreams. But he expects that in the course of the "road map" the mentality of Ariel Sharon and the shortsightedness of the Israeli right will end in political errors and a worsening in Israel's image. This will bring to light the internal contradictions in Israeli society, as well as a more or less apparent contrast between the delaying tactics of Sharon and the interests of the Bush administration.

In some ways, this modest result has already been obtained. But the record of the first 100 days shows ... that between Arafat, Sharon and the uncertainties of American politics the Palestinian prime minister is in an extremely delicate position. He can put his hopes in the negotiation process, without hiding the fact that it is vulnerable to every gust of wind.

-- La Repubblica, Rome

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The Clarksdale Press Register, Clarksdale, Mississippi, on the hanging death of a black man:

The last confirmed lynching of a black man in this country occurred more than two decades ago.

That fact points to marked maturation of a society where, for better than half a century, the barbaric act was commonplace, especially in the Deep South. America's civil-rights leadership apparently refuses to acknowledge this fundamental progress.

Every time a young black man is found hanged, civil-rights leaders are quick to blame a white lynch mob -- even when all evidence points toward suicide. ...

Now comes another national frenzy over the hanging death of 32-year-old Feraris Ray Golden in Belle Glade, Fla., where a judge -- after a rare public inquest -- ruled logically that Golden killed himself.

Civil-rights leaders refused to accept the ruling, demanding an investigation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. ...

America has a long ways to go toward achieving the goal of total racial equality, but King, Jackson and others do the cause a disservice with their wacky conspiracy theories and insistence beyond logic that every hanged black man is a victim of white hatred.

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The Advocate, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on China's missiles:

The United States has both a legal and moral obligation to defend the democratic government of the Republic of China on Taiwan from attack from Chinese communists.

That commitment has kept the peace across the Taiwan Strait for 50 years, blocking aggression from the communist Chinese government on the mainland.

However, the status quo of 50 years might soon be challenged by the communists, if current trends continue. ...

The communist government of mainland China is adding as many as 75 missiles a year to its arsenal of 450 already aimed at Taiwan, the report said. Further, the missiles are more sophisticated and accurate than before, with China's army developing longer-range models capable of reaching as far as Okinawa, Japan, where U.S. Marines are based. China also is spending far more on its defense budget than it has acknowledged.

Chinese belligerence is a grave threat to world peace. The U.S. government should do everything it can to dissuade the Beijing gang from this reckless and destabilizing policy.

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The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi, on Colin Powell:

If the speculation that Secretary of State Colin Powell would resign if President Bush is reelected was meant as a trial balloon, it flopped horribly.

Powell has disputed the rumors, which were trigged by a report in The Washington Post on Monday. The Post reported that Powell's deputy, Richard L. Armitage told National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that he and Powell will leave on Jan. 21, 2005, the day after the inauguration, quoting "sources familiar with the conversation."

The Post said: "Rice and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz are the leading candidates to replace Powell."

The report triggered feverish speculation. ...

The fact remains that Powell is a pillar of credibility in the administration's foreign policy, despite his appearance Feb. 5 at the U.N. Security Council in which he cited the administration's specifics of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that have since not proven to exist.

Even a hint of Powell leaving has negative repercussions, which the administration must note with some gravity. --- Journal Star, Peoria, Illinois, on pedophilia in the Catholic Church:

For the longest time after the pedophile priest scandal erupted in the Catholic Church, we heard that it was an aberration, just isolated incidents here and there. That other denominations had their skeletons, too.

They do, but that doesn't make the recent report from the Massachusetts attorney general any less damning. The result of 16 months of investigation, the report says more than 1,000 people were molested by priests and other church workers over the last six decades in the Boston Archdiocese alone. ...

... In any event, there's nothing anyone can do to erase the past. The future is another matter. As of last week, Boston has a new archbishop, Sean Patrick O'Malley, who is known as a "Mr. Fix-It" and has been meeting with victims.

Given everything the Catholic Church stands for -- the well- being of children near the top of that list -- we would hope its leaders do as they advise their parishioners: confess their sins, and commit themselves wholeheartedly to doing whatever it takes to ensure that this sorry chapter in the church's history does not repeat itself. Never, never again.

GetAP 1.00 -- AUG 8, 2003 00:33:29 ;AP; ANPA ..r.. NA-GEN--Editorial Roundup By The Associated Press= JP/

By The Associated Press=

Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad: --- Business Day, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Liberia's future:

After nearly two decades of bloodshed and mayhem in Liberia, there is now light at the end of the tunnel. The country's embattled president Charles Taylor, is to hand transitional power over to his vice president, Moses Blah, on Monday, a move the brutal dictator confirmed in a telephone conversation with President Thabo Mbeki early this week. ...

Should Taylor leave Liberia on Monday, it would pave the way for the implementation of plans by West African mediators to set up a transitional government headed by a nonpartisan representative of civilian society with a cabinet that includes members of the various rebel groups. Eventually, this would lead to the holding of elections, and hopefully result in lasting peace and stability in the country founded more than 150 years ago by freed American slaves.

With U.S. President George W. Bush having promised financial and other assistance to the countries sending soldiers to enforce Liberia's often-violated June 17 cease-fire accord, the prospects for peace in Liberia have never been better.

But this window of opportunity needs to be consolidated by more pressure being brought to bear on west African leaders to use their influence and leverage to prevent further violence by controlling their borders and not allowing the easy flow of weapons into the country. ---

Tages Anzeiger, Zurich, Switzerland, on the United States and Liberia:

Three U.S. Marine ships wait off the West African coast. As Nigerian soldiers arrive in Liberia, U.S. authorities wait timidly for the "right moment" to land their 4,500 GIs in Liberia. A sign of indecision from President George W. Bush, who cannot bring himself to begin a determined engagement in the disintegrating country.

Nevertheless Liberia offers an excellent opportunity for the United States to repair its damaged relationship with the United Nations and at the same time create stability in a region which has suffered from decades of civil war.

All sides would welcome U.S. participation in the peace mission in Liberia. The country is crying out for U.S. help.

Besides, the United States has a close historical relationship with Liberia, the "Land of liberty." It was established as the first republic in Africa in 1847 by freed American slaves.

With a lot less financial input and fewer personnel than in Iraq, the United States could pursue its aims of stabilization and democratization in Liberia and as well try to improve its relationship with the United Nations. And not only with the United Nations. The turmoil in Liberia is closely interlocked with the civil wars in neighboring Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

The peace processes within the three countries have to be coordinated carefully -- and there the French have a decisive role. The Americans have also to agree with them in West Africa.

In postwar Iraq, the United States wants to have additional partners but has not yet found a way to ask the United Nations for support without losing face.

A U.S. engagement in Liberia could break the ice. It could be an argument for Bush that cooperation with the United Nations in the reconstruction of a war-wrecked country is useful.

The U.S. troops on the three ships of the West African coast should land immediately. They would be welcomed like they wished to be in Iraq: cheered as liberators. --- Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on nuclear talks with North Korea:

Six nations -- North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan -- will begin breakthrough discussions as early as next month on North Korea's nuclear development program.

The important thing now is to provide an open table for negotiations to engage North Korea in dialogue. We welcome the fact such an opportunity has finally been agreed on. ...

Here's the problem: How to conduct six-way talks and attain the final goal of North Korean nuclear disarmament?

The more nations involved, the more difficult it will be to reach an agreement.

Conversely, diverse, multilateral diplomacy may bring North Korea to a compromise. It may, for example, be that all nations involved back U.S. guarantees of North Korean security if Pyongyang drops its nuclear program. The meetings will also temper the Bush administration's tendency toward unilateral action.

Even if it is certain the talks will be six way, the United States remains the play's lead actor.

Washington, however, has complicated matters by failing to specifically explain how it will approach the issue. Japan, South Korea, China and Russia must press the Bush administration to clarify its stance during the talks. --- Straits Times, Singapore, on Hyundai heir's suicide:

The suicide on Monday of a Hyundai heir, Chung Mong Hun, will have repercussions across the two Koreas in ways that may not be apparent for some time. The Hyundai empire will be able to absorb the shock, as any well-oiled conglomerate can.

Politically, it is harder to assess to what degree Chung's death might slow down or stall South Korea's economic cooperation with North Korea. This will bear directly on the South-North engagement, as Hyundai's investments in the North had been meant to smoothen the path to reconciliation.

Chung and his late father, who founded the Hyundai empire, were the very public links between Seoul's policy of encouraging Pyongyang to open up to the world, and Pyongyang's positive response in the early days of detente. Regardless of the charges the younger Chung was facing over illegal fund transfers in pursuit of a nationalist's dream, fair-minded Koreans will regard him as a patriot in that he had worked, and probably died, for the union of their divided fatherland.

Two statements from the South Korean President's office and a senior minister, which came just hours after his death was reported, will calm the situation somewhat. President Roh Moo Hyun said he would proceed with all the joint economic and development projects with the North that Hyundai had been part of. He made a point of saying this had been Chung's wish, as recorded in one of the suicide notes.

Roh's reaffirmation is thus welcome, as there is no saner option than engagement to resolve the 50-year-old Korean impasse. --- Th e Jordan Times, Amman, Jordan, on Parliament's rejection of two bills giving women broader civil rights:

If we knew this was the kind of policy that the new Parliament would have upheld, we would have never called so eagerly for elections. The election of these 110 deputies, including six women, was meant to inaugurate a new era of democratic progress. It looks more like a return to the middle ages.

The lower house ruled that granting women the right to file for divorce ... is 'dangerous.'

The new Parliament also dealt yet another blow to the campaign against the so-called 'honor crimes,' by rejecting -- like its predecessor did in 2000 -- amendments to the Penal Code that would make it harder for those found guilty of such crimes to get away without or with very light prison sentences.

While looking at Parliament's shameful performance, one should not miss the extremely sad irony: The most optimistic and idealistic amongst us had hoped that the new legislature would actually rectify the temporary laws generally accused of hampering democracy and restricting public freedoms.

But this Parliament has already proven that it is much more of a menace to public freedoms than the strictest of government legislation.

Against this backdrop, Jordanians remain helplessly thirsty for reforms.

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The Guardian, London, on Iraqi elections:

The sooner Iraq has its own, democratically elected, sovereign government, the better. But the announcement by Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator, that elections could be held by the middle of next year looks optimistic. Security concerns are the first of many obstacles that must be overcome if such an ambitious target is to be met.

Hardly a day goes by at present without the killing or wounding of Iraqis and of American troops. Crimes like robbery and sabotage remain commonplace as the US-led coalition labors to put the Iraqi police force back together. In many other ways, Iraq remains a deeply destabilized society. It is difficult to envisage a free, fair and safe election campaign taking place in current circumstances. Perhaps matters will have improved by next spring. ...

Summer holidays will afford George Bush but a brief respite from the fierce congressional criticism he incurred last week. If matters go on as they are, Mr. Bush may be facing a political firestorm by October.

Revelations that U.S. troops are dying in Iraq in much larger numbers than previously thought, especially in non-combat incidents, are the tinderbox that could yet ignite this conflagration. Nothing in U.S. politics is more damaging to a president than the apparent squandering of American lives in badly run foreign adventures.

Such worries may help explain Mr. Bremer's burgeoning interest in a swifter handover. Iraqi elections next summer and subsequent troop withdrawals could come just in time to boost (or rescue) Mr. Bush's November re-election bid. It is this U.S. domestic political timetable, rather than any sudden, altruistic urge to push for full democracy, that may be Iraqis' best hope of an early deliverance from their liberators. ---

The Daily Telegraph, London, on bureaucratic battles in Washington:

Large-scale hostilities may be over in Iraq, but the bureaucratic battles rage unabated in Washington, D.C. The latest clash within the American system is being fought on very familiar terrain. The State Department -- the most Arabist of government agencies -- has suggested that the Bush Administration cut loan guarantees to Israel to prevent the Sharon government from constructing a high-tech security fence. The Israelis believe that such a fence would protect them from further suicide attacks; its critics fear that the fence is an attempt to create further "facts on the ground" that would unilaterally pre-empt final-status negotiations on the final borders between the Jewish state and its emerging Palestinian counterpart.

Few seasoned observers would bet much on the State Department winning this battle during a presidential campaign cycle, even though Condoleeza Rice, the president's national security adviser, now appears to have joined the ranks of the doubters. Certainly, Mr. Bush's father did not hesitate to veto the loan guarantees over the Israeli policy during his re-election campaign in 1992, so helping to bring about the defeat of Likud's Yitzhak Shamir by Labor's Yitzhak Rabin.

But these are very different times. The son is rather less complacent about his re-election prospects than was the father. And after Sept. 11, more Americans are sympathetic to such defensive measures as fences than they were before the now- defunct Oslo process began. The real reason for Mr. Bush's relatively gentle response to Mr. Sharon's unyielding advocacy of the security fence during their recent meeting at the White House was that, as a fellow politician, he could see that the Israeli premier has little room for maneuver at home. Few measures command more consensus in the Israeli polity. ... --- MORE[

GetAP 1.00 -- AUG 8, 2003 00:33:03