DENMARK

DENMARK

Politiken, Copenhagen, on Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir attending the Arab summit: Rolling out the red carpet for a wanted war criminal seems quite a demonstration. But that is how Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, who is charged with crimes against humanity, was received when he arrived last Sunday in Qatar for an Arab summit.

The red carpet was rolled out, and the emir showed up in person at the Doha Airport to greet the wanted man with hugs and kisses on both cheeks.

Nearly 300,000 people have died during the crisis in Sudan’s Darfur province, and Bashir has been closely linked with those crimes by the International Criminal Court, ICC.

So why would the Arab summit want to sit together with a man responsible for such violence? Could it be that the Arab world’s rulers wanted to pressure al-Bashir into turning himself in to the court in The Hague?

Nope. The Arab world’s foreign ministers would rather urge the ICC to abandon the case against Omar al-Bashir.

It is a disgrace for the Arab community, which needs better and more righteous leaders than the bunch who met in Qatar.

JAPAN

Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on baseball: Ichiro Suzuki’s game-winning single in the final of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) will probably remain seared in the memories of many people. With a spectacular 5-3 extra-innings victory over South Korea in the hotly contested final of the international baseball tournament, Japan captured the championship again following its win in the first event in 2006.

Droves of American baseball experts, including major league scouts and media commentators, showed up to watch the Japanese and South Koreans in their pre-game practices.

The U.S. team could be likened to the Big Three automakers, which have suffered badly from competition from their Japanese and South Korean rivals and now symbolize the economic woes of the United States. ...

The world baseball landscape is changing rapidly and dramatically.

In the next WBC, the U.S. team will no doubt be much more serious about winning its first title. Flat-out battles between baseball’s native land and the emerging baseball powers will further increase the appeal and potential of the sport.