GREAT BRITAIN

GREAT BRITAIN
The Guardian of London, Aug. 2: It was easy to find officials at the Democratic convention last month who were darkly convinced that George Bush was about to spoil John Kerry's Boston party with a well-timed scene-stealer in the war on terror.
So it is hardly surprising that some of the initial reaction to this week's heightened U.S. terror alert reflects the same suspicion. Within hours of the announcement of a new "high risk" threat level in parts of New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia, Kerry's one-time rival Howard Dean went on the airwaves to voice a concern "that every time something happens that's not good for President Bush, he plays this trump card, which is terrorism." It was impossible, Dean went on, to know "how much of this is real and how much of this is politics, and I suspect there's some of both."
Whatever their private thoughts, Kerry and his officials were careful not to be drawn down that road; the warning by Tom Ridge, the U.S. homeland security secretary, was made in good faith, they said. It is, though, a mark of the politicization of the war on terror that an announcement of such a kind should immediately be discounted for ulterior motives and that many will be unshakable in their suspicion about both its timing and content.
CANADA
Vancouver Sun of Canada, Aug. 4: While it now appears the information (on al-Qaida's plans for terrorist attacks) is several years old, and may have been gathered before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Washington and New York, it's still a cause for great concern. ...
... The information discovered contains minute details of the buildings, including the thickness of their windows and the number of security guards present at various times of the day and week.
That should serve as a reminder that we're not facing a ragtag bunch of rebels, but that we are at war with a well-funded and well-organized global group whose sole aim is to destroy our way of life.
... After three years of terror alerts, and after some significant victories in the war on terror, it's easy to grow fatigued or to let our guard down.
... Even now, al-Qaida may be involved in information-gathering operations.
So we must continue the war on terror with renewed vigor.
JORDAN
The Jordan Times of Amman, Aug. 3: The recent attacks on churches in Iraq belonging to Chaldean, Assyrian, Armenian and Catholic denominations ... send the message that no one is being spared in the spiraling chaos that is Iraq today.
... This deliberate attempt to spark yet another sectarian conflict comes at the worst possible time, when religious rivalry and tensions between the Shiite and Sunni Iraqis have reached new heights.
... The Christian community in Iraq has long been active in the society and contributed a great deal to the country's development on all fronts. ... It would be a tragedy if more Christian Iraqis were forced to flee their homeland to secure sanctuary in Western countries.
... Arab governments, including the Iraqi interim government, must condemn the recent wave of violence in the strongest possible terms. All religious communities, especially the Muslims within and outside Iraq, should issue an immediate warning to the attackers to stop the carnage.
It must be remembered that Iraq has been a model of tolerance and peaceful coexistence for its Muslim and Christian communities. The worst thing that could happen now in the Middle East is to spark religious strife between the followers of these faiths. ...
RUSSIA
The Moscow Times, July 30: A groundbreaking experiment in bureaucratic incentives is being conducted this summer by the Putin administration -- though at whose expense and for whose benefit is not immediately clear.
Having launched an ambitious-sounding overhaul of the government and the country's sluggish and corruption-prone bureaucracy back in March, it transpires that a few minor details were overlooked in the rush and the excitement. ... Officials in many of the new ministries, agencies and services created in the spring revamp have not been paid their salaries for a couple months and are unlikely to be before the fall.
... It sounds much more like an open invitation to officials (as if they needed one) to seek out alternative sources of remuneration, exploiting their official positions to line their own pockets.
... If the Putin administration is serious about achieving improvements across the board -- not just stimulating efficiency in a strictly selective fashion -- it must properly remunerate officials, as well as establishing a credible threat of punishment for corruption and incompetence. Few officials are ever held to account, particularly if they are part of Putin's "charmed circle."
JAPAN
Asahi Shimbun of Tokyo, Aug. 2: Rarely in recent history has there been such anxiety before an Olympics. Stories about preparation setbacks and the fear of terror have made headlines around the world. Hostilities continue in Iraq and other parts of the world. And there is no guarantee that the United States and other countries that support the Iraq war will not be targets of terrorist attacks during the Games. It is precisely because these are such dangerous times that it is meaningful to hold a 'festival of peace' at the Games' birthplace.
The International Olympic Committee set up an International Olympic Truce Center in Athens to call for an end to hostilities during the Olympic Games. The city of Athens promoted a peace song calling for laying down arms. At the amphitheater, an ancient ruin in Athens, images of children from many countries calling for a truce were displayed in 11 languages.
Some people may deride such a call as unrealistic in the real world. But are modern people more foolish than the ancients? ... Reminded of the wisdom of the ancients, we, too, hope for peace and an enjoyable Games this summer.