INDIA

INDIA

The Hindu, Tamil Nadu, March 26: If you go by western media reports, the propaganda of the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala and the votaries of the Free Tibet cause, or by the fulminations of Nancy Pelosi and the Hollywood glitterati, Tibet is in the throes of a mass democratic uprising against Han Chinese communist rule.

The reality is that the riot that broke out in Lhasa on March 14 and claimed a confirmed toll of 22 lives involved violent, ransacking mobs, including 300 militant monks from the Drepung Monastery, who marched in tandem with a foiled March to Tibet by groups of monks across the border in India. ... Visual images and independent eyewitness accounts attest to this ugly reality, which even compelled the Dalai Lama to threaten to resign.

Too much latitude

New Delhi has allowed too much latitude to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan discontents for their political activities on Indian soil, which go against the stand that they are not allowed “to engage in anti-China political activities in India,” a principle reaffirmed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Washington on March 24. The time has come for India to use the leverage that comes with hosting the Dalai Lama and his followers since 1959 to persuade or pressure him to get real about the future of Tibet and engage in a sincere dialogue with Beijing to find a reasonable, just, and sustainable political solution within the framework of one China.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Khaleej Times, Dubai, March 26: The Iraq war two important milestones registered this week, the fifth anniversary of the (mis)adventure and U.S. casualties reaching the 4,000 mark.

Yet both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney reconfirmed their combined opinion that the initiative has been a success, just in case the daily news of death and destruction was leading the world to believe otherwise. That a good 97 per cent of the deaths occurred after Bush boasted “mission accomplished” in May ’03 speaks volumes of the lack of preparation as well as the real intentions of the ill fated campaign.

Iraqis’ pain

Lost in all of America’s official argument is the pain coming the Iraqis’ way, with untold numbers having perished, made homeless, destitute and pushed to starvation. No doubt Bush and Cheney will not shift from their ’victory’ slogan till they leave office soon, but there should be a mechanism to check hostilities that will keep the 4,000 number growing long after the neocons have left the House.

BRITAIN

The Observer, London, March 23: It is a brave man who, in seeking to be elected U.S. President, starts a speech with the idea that the nation was founded on the “original sin” of slavery. But that is what Barack Obama did last week.

It would have looked braver had Sen. Obama not been forced into addressing the issue by a controversy over statements made by Jeremiah Wright, his church pastor and friend. Rev Wright lambasted the U.S. for ideological hypocrisy in terms deeply offensive to most Americans.

The fact that Obama’s speech was a reaction to controversy meant that U.S. media focused more on its effectiveness as damage-limitation than on the ideas it contained.

Skin color

The analysis rings horribly true of Britain too. Although public discourse conforms to liberal anti-racist orthodoxy, skin colour, sadly, still matters. ... If they are not tackled overtly, it is because politicians daren’t touch the subject for fear of stoking just the same resentments that Obama described and because none of our political leaders can draw upon the experience that Obama brings to the subject. Westminster, as much as Washington, is largely a club for white men.

It would be a tragedy if Barack Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union,” were remembered only as a tactical bid to smother a controversy in an election campaign. It was the most incisive account of race politics in America — and beyond — for a generation.

JAPAN

Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, March 22: The financial meltdown in the United States is deepening and the turmoil in financial markets continues. A strong uncertainty has developed, with concerns of how long the situation of falling stock prices and a weakening dollar will remain throughout the world and whether a global recession is on the horizon. ...

However, this crisis will not be solved simply by slashing interest rates. The root of the problem is a collapsed housing bubble that has led to capital shortfalls at many banks and securities firms. Unless that is corrected, the financial system will continue to be paralyzed.

Reinforcing capital

Banks’ self-supporting efforts by reinforcing capital will not be enough, and the government will eventually have to inject public funds to solve the problem.

However, if major financial institutions declare bankruptcy, financial markets throughout the world will fall into chaos. Financial authorities have no choice other than to prevent such bankruptcies.

In today’s world, where massive amounts of money move freely across national borders, central bank leaders should be in close contact with each other to quickly deal with disorder in financial markets.

Concerns about worldwide inflation are also rising. It is not necessarily ideal for many countries to ape each other by slashing interest rates. The central banks in each country have to make their own difficult decisions.

In light of the teetering global economy, Japan must appoint the next BOJ governor as soon as possible.

ISRAEL

Jerusalem Post, March 23: U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney is not known for making flamboyant speeches, but sometimes less is more. If the U.S. had limited itself to the gist of what Cheney said in Jerusalem on Saturday night, and to elaborating in this same spirit, it is likely that the prospects for peace and moderation in this region would be substantially greater.

The question, essentially, is whether the conflict is about borders or existence. If it is about borders, then it is a matter of pressing “both sides” to negotiate a deal. But if the heart of the matter is an Arab refusal to accept Israel in any borders, than the focus must be on compelling the Arab world to take that fundamental step.

Simple statements

A peace process designed to produce Arab acceptance of Israel would start with simple statements of the problem. ... The next important step would be to demand that the Arab states lead by example, rather than waiting for the divided and radicalized Palestinians to move first. Indeed, the Arab states are behind, in that Mahmoud Abbas routinely meets Israeli leaders, but the leaders of Saudi Arabia and other Arab states will not.

The U.S. could also start routinely stating that the demand of a “right of return” to Israel, rather than to a future state of Palestine alongside Israel, is tantamount to rejecting Israel’s right to exist. This would help expose the double game of those who claim to accept Israel, yet push for Israel’s demographic destruction with greater fervor in Arabic to their own people. American reticence on this may seem to help Abbas in the short run, but it is harmful to the cause of peace.