On air safety
Mid-air collisions are mercifully rare. But with the skies over Western Europe becoming ever more crowded, air traffic control experts must take an urgent new look at all the factors that narrow the margins for safety and appear to have led to the fatal collision over Germany of a Russian charter jet and a cargo plane.
The spate of near misses at Heathrow has highlighted the volumes of traffic, fine margins for error, and dangers of human fatigue and misunderstanding.
Planes are concentrated into narrow bands -- partly because they have to approach and depart from runways in corridors determined by wind, noise and the demands of safety, partly because they cruise at the relatively narrow optimum altitude of around 10,500 meters, and partly because much of Europe's airspace has been commandeered for military use.
One question that must be addressed is the decision in January to halve the minimum separation between European air lanes above 8,700 meters from 600 meters to 300 meters. The change was introduced to squeeze 20 per cent more traffic and relieve overcrowding.
The new slots should make flying safer, but only if planes are assigned different altitudes and carry the necessary upgraded instruments, which are subject to regular inspection. The thoroughness of past crash investigations has contributed to the safety of modern aviation. Regulators should act as quickly as possible to draw lessons from this tragedy.
-- The Times, London
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On a possible U.S. attack on Iraq
Iraq is nervous. It has a good reason to be. The U.S. continues to present Iraq as a serious threat that has to be neutralized in the interest of regional and world security.
Many believe that Iraq was saved from an imminent U.S. attack by the escalation of tension in Palestine. As part of what U.S. President George W. Bush has dubbed as the "axis of evil", Baghdad still pretty much has the attention of the U.S. leader and his hardline associates in the most right wing Washington administration in years.
Many warn that the attack on Iraq is only a matter of time.
But as Washington ponders such an attack, Baghdad can launch a diplomatic campaign that will simply deprive the U.S. of any grounds for starting a new war in the region.
An agreement on the inspectors will prove the viability of dialog with the UN. It will keep channels of communication open for addressing other outstanding issues between Iraq and the international community.
Iraq can, and should, pre-empt a U.S. military attack. The Vienna talks on July 4 offer a golden opportunity too critical for Iraq and for the UN to miss.
-- The Jordan Times, Amman
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On Bush's Mideast statement
In his widely watched address on the American policy in the Middle East, U.S. President George W. Bush has projected a muddled and patronizing view. Many eyebrows were raised in astonishment across the globe when he held the attainment of Palestinian rights hostage to the removal of democratically elected Yasser Arafat. His bizarre demand has virtually shelved all regional peace plans as the Israeli leaders see in it an American blessing to go ahead with their devastating campaign inside the Palestinian self-rule areas.
The furor, sparked over Bush's open call for Arafat's ouster, seems to have masked his imperious demand to Syria to evict "terrorist organizations" from its soil. He threatened Syria and Lebanon that they would be excluded from the long-stalled peace process unless they adopted the American agenda, branding Palestinian resistance groups as terrorists.
The American one-sided view of global woes, particularly in a flash point region such as the Middle East, is a recipe for further trouble. It will not resolve any problems, and at the same time, will earn the U.S. more foes than friends.
-- The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo