BRITAIN

BRITAIN
Daily Telegraph, London, Dec. 14: Orange power continued its advance in Eastern Europe yesterday with Traian Basescu's victory in the Romanian presidential election. Like Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine, his centrist Justice and Truth Alliance had chosen that colour as its emblem.
In both countries, the generation that came to power after the collapse of the Soviet empire is losing ground to those less identified with the past. After 10 years of authoritarian rule under Leonid Kuchma, the Ukrainian opposition has forced a re-run of the second round of the presidential poll, which Mr. Yushchenko is favoured to win. In Romania, Ion Iliescu, former Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, is stepping down after three terms in office. The record of both outgoing presidents has been marred by skulduggery. ...
Powerful force
The comparison between the two countries should not, however, be pushed too far. The choice for voters in Ukraine on Dec. 26 will be much greater than that which was before the Romanian electorate last Sunday. In the first, the contest is between a candidate who would build ties with the West (Mr. Yushchenko) and one who would seek closer links with Russia (Viktor Yanukovich). In Romania, both Mr. Basescu and his defeated Left-wing rival, Adrian Nastase, are agreed on preparing Romania for accession to the European Union in 2007. As in other parts of Eastern Europe, the union has proved a powerful force in drawing applicants for membership away from their Communist heritage.
ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires Herald, Dec. 14: The weather here over the last week has been doing its best to vindicate the message of the international congress on climate change unfolding here with downpours of various intensity causing mild inconvenience here and outright disaster in Chaco. At the time this editorial was written, some 10,000 people there had been displaced with over half a million hectares under floodwaters.
As far as the direct subject of this conference goes -- greenhouse gas emission -- Argentina is neither better nor worse than the next country, emitting about 0.6 percent of the world's greenhouse gases with around 0.6 percent of the global population. But if Argentina is not a prime culprit for climate change, it is especially vulnerable to its effects in the form of rising waters, both coastally and inland.
Skin cancer
The supreme paradox is that with all the extra water from climate change causing so much damage, fresh water will be the 21st century's oil more than ever. The floods of Chaco should not be seen as the only environmental blight facing us -- think of the increasing dangers of skin cancer in a country lying so close to the main hole in the ozone layer.
Environmental problems could use some cost/benefit analysis as much as other dilemmas -- which will cost the world more, the cure or the disease? So far all the evidence is that climate change will cause the world a damage far worse than any terrorism, but let us keep an open mind.