Global News Journal

Should Europe help Obama out over Guantanamo?

 Barely noticed, the United States sent a top diplomat to  Europe this week to seek help on an important commitment by President Barack Obama — to close the Guantanamo Bay prison.     The trip by veteran envoy Dan Fried to Brussels and Prague is part of efforts to persuade European states to take in some of the 241 remaining detainees at the prison, synonomous for many with rights abuses in the “war on terror” under U.S. President George W. Bush.     Europe has long called for the jail to be shut down, but only a few countries — such as France, Portugal and Albania — have  volunteered to resettle any inmates from third countries such as Afghanistan or China.      Time is steadily running out if Obama is to achieve his goal of clearing and closing the prison by next January.  A perceived  lack of European help could sour the much-vaunted new start in transatlantic ties which both sides say they want.    But many European officials are asking why they should help the United States out of a hole it dug itself into.     The main problem does not involve the small number of  so-called high-value  terror suspects in the camp — they will remain in detention and Washington does not seriously expect anyone to come forward and take them off its hands.     Nor does it involve the 17 detainees who have already been cleared for release. The really hot issue is the fate of  the remaining detainees who are not high risk but have not been given the full all-clear.      European officials fear the affair could turn into a legal and political nightmare. Who will take which detainees? Given that much of Europe is now border-free, how will one country reassure its neighbours if it agrees to resettle inmates? And doesn’t the fact that European states have different national policies on surveillance and detention pose extra problems?     Worse still, the political fall-out could be devastating. If , for example, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner carried out an attack in Germany just before an election this year, how would Chancellor Angela Merkel explain it to voters? 

Washington knows it won’t be easy to get the Europeans on board. But it says it would be hypocritical for Europe now not to help after all its criticism of Guantanamo.

It also points out that some of the Europeans who are now raising concerns over security were not so long ago saying  most of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners were innocent.     Washington hopes to encourage EU justice and home affairs ministers to at least agree a common line on the need to help it with Guantanamo at a regular meeting scheduled for June. Then it will approach individual countries for negotiations on resettling specific cases.     Is it time for Europe tocome forward and help Obama or is this one file on which it is advised to stay clear?

The Bitter End for South Korea’s Leaders

By Jon Herskovitz

There is almost no such thing as a happy retirement for South Korea’s former presidents.

Former President Roh Moo-hyun, who left office a little more than a year ago, joined the club of troubled ex-leaders on Thursday when he appeared before prosecutors to answer questions about their suspicions his family received at least $1 million in bribes from a shoe company CEO.

Roh came to office pledging to clean up the South Korean presidency. Even his critics say one of his biggest achievements was to make the election process far more open and fair.

But he was not able to change what critics see as a fundamental problem with politics in South Korea — overly strict election laws. After decades of seeing bribery as commonplace in political circles, the country set up tough laws on campaign financing and other electoral reforms that have helped South Korea become one of the most vibrant democracies in Asia but have also led politicians to scramble for funds.  

Yun Chang-hyun, a professor of finance at the University of Seoul explains: “In America, lobbyists are legal but it is not legal here. That said, lobbying is still going on in many ways. We do not officially accept that money is needed for politics, but in reality, politicians and statesmen need a lot of money. A small amount is permitted, but they need a lot of money. “ 

Mexicans take flu outbreak with dose of skepticism

Mexicans are taking the swine flu outbreak a bit like they do their tequila – seriously, but with a big pinch of salt.

There’s a real fear of catching the killer virus, which has already claimed up to 159 lives, largely because many Mexicans are skeptical about getting the right treatment from state hospitals.

Nothing sums that up better than the millions of surgical face masks being worn by everyone from businessmen to street kids washing car windshields in the capital’s never-ending sprawl.

It’s a bizarre sight, and the rebellious or foolhardy who shun the masks draw suspicious glances.

But even the mask-wearers tell you the whole thing could well be some big nothing cooked up by the media and reminiscent of the mythical beast Chupacabra — Mexico’s bloodsucking equivalent of the Loch Ness monster.

With a shrug and a smile, a lot of Mexicans tell you from behind a strip of grubby fabric that they’ve heard the masks don’t even work.

Taxi drivers, who often show a terrifying disregard for conventional rules of road safety, seem to be taking the mask regime particularly seriously.

Everything you wanted to know about swine flu

John McConnell, an editor at The Lancet and founding Editor of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, is answering questions about the swine flu:

What is the science behind how new flu strains arise – this one has pig, human and bird components (mainly pig). How has it got this way and how is it able to gain each of these components?

The basic science is explained on Wikipedia’s pandemic page in the epidemic and pandemic spread section.  Quite how the current swine H1N1 acquired its genetic elements might take a while to work out and may never fully be understood

Is there anyone who can talk about the discrepancy in the numbers – why is the testing taking so long? Are they re-testing samples? Someone who could give us a perspective on where we are up to with this

Testing isn’t taking a long time. There are only a limited number of laboratories around the world that have the expertise to do virological typing. In the long term, if the epidemic spread and cases become more numerous, it is likely that only a limited number of suspected cases will be confirmed by typing.

We are interested in how long it will take to come up with a viable vaccine for this particular strain of flu, and how long after that it could be massed produced.

Scandal-plagued Greeks shrug off corruption

Bombarded with revelations of scandals for decades, Greeks have developed a slightly thick skin regarding graft. An opinion poll this week showed corruption was rated fifth among top voter concerns, coming after the global economic crisis, education, crime and health.

Fed up with years of socialist scandals, Greeks elected the conservative New Democracy government by a landslide in 2004, mostly convinced by its pledges to clean up Greek politics.

Five years later, fresh scandals have made headlines, ranging from selling overpriced government bonds to state pension funds to suspect land deals with a wealthy monastery.

The euro zone member is among the EU’s lowest ranking countries on the Transparency International corruption watchdog’s index, actually worsening a few notches in recent years.

New Democracy, clinging to a one-seat majority in parliament after a narrow re-election in Sept 2008, trails the main socialist PASOK opposition by up to 7 percentage points in opinion polls.

Violent riots in December, partly fuelled by the financial crisis, and unpopular economic measures have prompted talk of a snap election – possibly as early as June 7, along with the European Parliament vote.

“Greeks appear fed up but they are more sophisticated than other Westerners when it comes to political corruption – they don’t seem to mind if the amounts are small but they take offence if they are big,” said a western diplomat in Athens.

Post card from Nigeria

This is one in a series of post cards from Reuters correspondents across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“Watch out for watermelons” was the ominous warning long given to visitors arriving by night in Lagos. The Third Mainland Bridge, Africa’s longest, snaking over the lagoon and into town from the airport, was notorious for armed robbery. A watermelon embedded with nails and rolled in front of your car was enough to stop you, allowing gunmen to relieve you of your possessions.

Times seem to have changed. Foreign executives are still swept into town under armed escort, sirens blaring, but the state governor has made fighting crime a priority, with some success. The biggest hassle is now police checkpoints and the notorious “Lagos shake-down” – the long arm of the law (usually waving an AK-47) begging “something for the boys”, a bribe to see you on your way and top up low wages. Security may have improved, but corruption remains endemic.

Glancing down from the bridge as it sweeps towards the skyscrapers of the banking district, the neighbourhoods of Iwaya and Ebute Metta swing in to view. Wooden shacks on stilts stand over the murky water, a reminder that this city of 14 million, one of the fastest growing in the world, is bursting at the seams – and that the gap between rich and poor in Africa’s most populous nation is cavernous.

Imported inflation is the biggest impact of the global crisis here. Despite being the world’s eight biggest crude oil exporter, Nigeria is almost entirely dependent on imports of refined fuel. Cargo ships light up the horizon like a floating city at night, waiting to berth with everything from diesel to rice. A weakening currency means fuel and food prices are rising, but there’s little sign of popular unrest – a decade out of military rule, this is a population used to graft and mismanagement. It expects little from government.

The banks have been suffering, although you wouldn’t know it from the champagne flowing in the upscale bars of Ikoyi and Victoria Island – Nigeria’s elite have a proud reputation for conspicuous consumption to maintain. But newspapers brim with speculation about bank collapses and stock market bailouts. Jobs have been lost and supermarket owners complain imported luxury foods are flying off shelves less quickly than before.

But on the street, the hustle continues unabated. Boys selling phone recharge cards in the notorious traffic jams are cashing in on the huge and rising number of mobile users, while the army of motorcycle taxi riders seems to grow by the day. And foreign exchange controls meant to defend the naira currency thriving business for some in the informal economy: the black market money changers have never been so busy.  

Steinbrueck admits long meetings hurt his rear end

It took only a few disarmingly pointed questions from four 7th grade Berlin students to get German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck to loosen up and deviate from the usual stock answers he – and fellow political leaders – serve up.

In perhaps his most candid public comments since taking office three years ago, Steinbrueck admitted long meetings cause his rear end to get sore and also compared deficit-spending just for consumption purposes to spending money on chocolate bars. He also said he doesn’t forget the names of journalists who write nasty comments about him. Here are a few of the more choice morsels from Steinbrueck’s interview in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper published on Sunday:

Question: Do you get tired in your job? Steinbrueck: Do you mean if I fall asleep at my desk?

Question: No, I mean do you sometimes get sick and tired of your job? Steinbrueck: That’s a dangerous question because some people might draw the wrong conclusion if I said what really brews inside me. But yes, sometimes I get really shirty. There are some meetings that are so incredibly long that at some point your rear end starts to hurt.

Question: Is that the reason you didn’t go to important meeting of G7 finance ministers in Washington? Steinbrueck: You mean the trip in 2007? No, the reason for that is my wife had planned a trip to Namibia for the whole family many months before that and paid for it with an inheritance she got from her mother. And then the date for the Washington meeting came up. I had to make a decision: fly to Washington, where I go three or four times a year anyhow, or leave my family in the lurch. It was an easy decision for me. But some journalists then criticised me as ‘Safari Steinbrueck’. I’ll be honest with you guys. I’ve made a note of their names.”

Question: No, we meant the trip this weekend, another one that you cancelled on. Steinbrueck: Oh that one. That’s because I’m going to an SPD party congress in my state to be nominated for the next parliament. That’s important in a democracy. I wrote a letter to the other finance ministers and they all understood my reasons.

Question: Is it possible that Germany could one day go bankrupt? Steinbrueck: No, you must have heard about that in a horror film! Germany is one of the strongest countries in the world. We’ll master this crisis.

from Africa News blog:

Can Zuma live up to unity pledge?

Pledging to work for national unity is pretty much a formality for any election winner, but in the case of South Africa’s Jacob Zuma it may be more than a platitude. It may need to be.

“The new President of the Republic will be a president for all, and he will work to unite the country around a programme of action that will see an improvement in the delivery of services,” Zuma said after the African National Congress won its sweeping victory.

“We may disagree on how to bring about a better life for all, but what unites us is the fact that this country belongs to all of us, black, white, coloured and Indian equally. We will need to work together on issues that are in the national interest, on which there is no need to compete or permanently bicker.”

Despite the strongest opposition challenge since the end of apartheid, the slick ANC campaign delivered the vote and persuaded a majority of South Africans that the party that has ruled since 1994 could also be the one to deliver change – more action against poverty, crime, AIDS and other concerns.

But unity is always going to be tough in a country with as many divisions as South Africa. The formerly monolithic ANC itself split last year after it ousted former President Thabo Mbeki.

The vote clearly showed up the racial divide 15 years after the end of rule by the white minority.

The vast majority of black Africans had clearly voted for the ANC, whose credentials are still strong for ending apartheid. The voters included those in KwaZulu Natal province, where the Inkatha Freedom Party used to be dominant. Zuma, a son of the soil, definitely helped the party win more votes there.

Post card from Dubai

This is one in a series of post cards by Reuters reporters across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

ENERGY Oil prices determine the pace of prosperity. The oil-price boom 2002-2008 allowed countries to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure and diversification. They also amassed billions in sovereign wealth funds, which has lifted their profile on the international stage. As oil prices recede, so does the pace of growth and wealth accumulation, although most states possess enough stored wealth to cushion the downturn. RISK: Prolonged downturn topples GCC states’ ambitious plans.

TRANSPARENCY Rulers or agendas can shift with little warning by decree overnight. Crises are resolved – or not — behind closed doors, leaving the beneficiaries and the victims uncertain. Who will benefit from Dubai’s rescue plan? Authorities say they will disburse the money in secret. The state’s central role in the economy means that foreign players can be left hanging when times turn tough while local cronies prosper. Major investment policies can shift unannounced. Compliance with reporting regulations is spotty.  RISK: Investors may be badly surprised by moving targets, changing agendas and legal regimes.

FINANCIAL CRISIS Few major risks here, relative to the developed world, with a few exceptions. The economies in Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE will suffer but Saudi will chug along and Qatar will prosper. RISK: Bank-systemic problems may dampen growth.

PURE POLITICS Kuwait saw a parliamentary standoff derail a $17 billion deal with Dow Chemical in December. The potential for a leadership change in Saudi holds uncertain consequences. Will a more conservative ruler continue to open the country’s equity markets to outside participation? Bahrain and Saudi face tensions with minority Shi’ite populations. RISK: Domestic tensions and shifting international power centres may empower reactionary fractions. In Kuwait, the stalemate has already derailed reforms.

((Kitesurfers surf as the Burj Al Arab, Dubai’s 7-star luxury hotel, is seen April 12, 2009. REUTERS/Steve Crisp (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES SOCIETY))

Post card from Russia

This is one in a series of post cards from Reuters reporters across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Who rules the world’s biggest energy producer? That’s the question that is bugging many people in Russia as the country’s two leaders – PM Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev — try to cope with the worst economic crisis since the 1998 domestic debt default.

Many believe Putin, a former KGB spy, is still the boss despite handing over power to Medvedev last year. But boss of what? The economy forecast to contract this year and Moscow is facing tumbling budget revenues as the income from oil, gas and metals exports dries up.

The Kremlin says it is concentrating on avoiding social tensions but the country’s richest men – the oligarchs – also say they need state bailouts. Russia’s richest man has been forced to open restructuring talks with Western creditors and more are likely to follow.

Russian debt and equity markets have rallied this year as bottom feeders snap up what they say are bargains of the decade. Sovereign yield spreads have narrowed. But friends in major companies report tumbling demand across the board – from shampoo to cars. The banking system has stopped giving out credit, job losses are soaring and the property market is paralysed with fear.

The smartest people in Moscow expect this to be a deep, long Russian crisis that will send prices down far further. The question is how the ruling duo of Putin and Medvedev handle the crisis; or rather, what happens if they fail to.