Several people whose residences in Manggarai were destroyed by

Several people whose residences in Manggarai were destroyed by
the fire ran amok, attacking police officers and fire engines
which were trying to put out the fires.

They accused the firefighters of being too late to arrive to
combat the fire. Reports saying that the water from the fire
engines contained oil -- which worsened the fire -- apparently
enraged them, so they attacked the officers and destroyed a few
fire trucks.

Johny Pangaribuan, chief of the Jakarta Fire Department,
admitted that the firefighters reached the fire site 15 minutes
after the residents' reports due to several problems. The traffic
was bad, the roads to the fire site were too narrow for the fire
trucks, and the crowds blocking the road was another matter.

The residents wanted the firefighters to prioritize their
homes, and competed with them for the hose. By all means, this
disturbed the firefighters' work.

Rumors saying that the firefighters used water containing oil
are irrational and unacceptable. Could the firefighters possibly
have had the time to mix oil or fuel with water under such a
critical situation?

What happened in Manggarai, South Jakarta, did reflect the
residents' appreciation of the City Fire Department. People are
not aware that the Fire Department cannot be held responsible for
the fires ravaging residential areas. It is the residents who
must prevent the fire from happening in the first place.

They should have been informed that most of the fires in
residential areas are due to human errors, or people's ignorance.

-- Warta Kota, Jakarta

The war and the pope

Can a fast stop the spiral toward war, which quickens more
every day? Can a fast save peace?

To a believer, the purpose of a fast, as of a prayer, is
linked to the promise and mystery of God. But for all of us,
believers or not, this gesture proposed by the pope is a
challenge to logic of interests, of force and of violence.

It is a political act in the highest sense of the term,
because it concerns the most profound reasons of human
coexistence. To fast as a personal choice, when a large part of
the world risks starvation, means committing oneself to a cause
and defining oneself as responsible.

It would be wrong to consider the pope's call anti-American,
or as an answer to Bush's refusal of his overtures for peace. It
is much more. The pope condemns terrorism along with war,
refusing violence from all sides. He denies the pretenses of men
and states to judge over good and bad, condemning all holy wars.

The pope's call for a fast has a strong religious meaning,
coinciding with Ash Wednesday. But it is also a historical,
powerful and tangible contribution to the difficult road of peace
in the Iraq crisis.

-- La Republica, Rome, Italy

Josef Stalin and Russia

50 years ago today, Josef Stalin, one of world history's worst
dictators, died.

That he, in alliance with the United States, Great Britain and
France, led the Soviet Union to victory over Nazi Germany does
not excuse the brutal persecution, which may have claimed the
lives of 20 million-30 million Russians.

Many other peoples have been forced to slow and painful
reckonings with their history. But in Russia, there are still
many who hail Stalin.

Last fall, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin approved the
minting of 500 silver coins with Stalin's portrait. The Russians,
too, should actively come to terms with their past.

He who secretly hails Stalin cannot at the same time become a
democrat with respect for human rights.

-- Huvudstadsbladet, Helsinki, Finland

The formation of Islamic
party in the Netherlands

The Arabic-European League, born in Belgium, has now arrived
here. The movement advertises itself as an 'Islamic, democratic
party.'

Not only has a group of young, educated Moroccans called a
party into existence with a religious basis, but that party holds
a number of conservative values on drugs and prostitution. How
the liberal, secular Dutch society will react is unknown, but
it's exciting.

But if there can be a Christian Democrat party, why not an
Islamic Democrat party, as long as it, like the Christian
Democrats, can abide by the rules of our secular democratic
system?

If so, then the AEL could even play an important part in
emancipating Moroccans in the Netherlands, and the much-needed
rapprochement between Islam and democracy can take place.

-- Volkskrant, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The United Nations and Iraq

The diplomatic tug-of-war over a second U.N. resolution on
Iraq is turning into a charade. Three times in the past five
days, George Bush has made plain his intention to overthrow the
Iraqi regime, whatever the U.N. says. His aim, he said last week,
was "a liberated Iraq. ... America's interest in security and
America's belief in liberty both lead in the same direction." At
the weekend, Mr. Bush again sketched out plans for a bright new
future entirely predicated on Saddam Hussein's downfall. The U.S.
president's candid although still very blurry focus on a post-
Saddam settlement, rather than on disarmament, makes it clear
that nothing less than physical as opposed to behavioral regime
change will now suffice. U.S. determination to impose its will by
force renders the U.N. debate redundant in terms of practical
outcomes. It makes a mockery of the Security Council. ...

-- The Guardian, London

The North Korean challenge

Iraq masks a second emerging crisis, no less dangerous,
perhaps even more: North Korea. The recent interception of an
American spy plane in international airspace by four North Korean
fighter jets over the Sea of Japan, Sunday March 2, ... gives the
impression that the Korean Peninsula is skidding.

Wrong or right, North Korea feels it is the next target of
Washington after Iraq; it intends to show it is not intimidated
by the United States. ...

Washington insists it does not want war with North Korea and
is favorable to negotiating a solution to the crisis started by
the nuclear ambitions of Pyongyang.

But the more the Americans delay restarting dialogue with
Pyongyang, the more the process of reactivating a (nuclear)
reprocessing facility in Yongbyon, capable of producing
plutonium, becomes inescapable.

-- Le Monde, Paris