Los Angeles Times, Nov. 17

The Sudanese government has a bizarre understanding of what peace means. Hours after leaders signed a cease-fire agreement with rebels in the western territory of Darfur, government troops stormed refugee camps there, beat inhabitants and forced them to move. The death toll in Darfur is now estimated at 50,000 and will keep rising without stronger action from the international community.

The U.N. Security Council meets in Nairobi this week, with Sudan a major topic. Diplomats are expected to encourage an agreement between the government and rebels in southern Sudan who have fought a civil war for two decades. But they also should take tougher action against the Khartoum government, such as an embargo on Sudanese oil, unless it stops beating and killing people in Darfur. …

The U.S. and other countries have helped with peacekeeping logistics, including flying African Union troops to Darfur. But the number of peacekeepers must be increased quickly. The current 500 are overstretched; even reaching the African Union’s target of 3,300 by the end of the year will not guarantee an end to the atrocities. Credible threats of sanctions against the Sudanese government and the rebels, plus additional international soldiers and police, can increase the likelihood of an end to the killings and forced relocations.

Overheated rhetoric continues


Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Nov. 9

Any hope that this year’s brutal political rhetoric would diminish after Nov. 2 has been utterly dashed. If anything, the reaction to George W. Bush’s re-election in some cases has been even more hysterical than warnings incubated in the heat of the campaign. Supposedly serious people have actually begun to worry or at least to say they worry about the rise of theocracy in America.

Yes, that is the incendiary word anguished commentators have used “theocracy” in publications as mainstream as USA Today and The Miami Herald, not to mention more partisan enclaves such as The Village Voice and Salon.com. Writing in The New York Times, Gary Hart joined the hysterical herd, warning of “the disturbing tendency to insert theocratic principles into the vision of America’s role in the world.” Pundits elsewhere lamented the endorsement of “an extremist Christian regime” or predicted the descent into “another dark age.”

Finally, those worried about theocracy should keep in mind that the actual percentage of voters who identified moral values as their top concern was roughly one-fifth. Most voted for Bush, but so did most voters who favor tax relief and who see the war in Iraq as critical for U.S. security. It is nonsense to claim that a horde of religious zealots put Bush over the top. …

U.S. policy won’t change


The Times, London, Nov. 16

… For some, (Colin Powell’s) resignation will be presented as the removal of the last “civilized” figure in the Bush administration with whom Europeans could feel comfortable doing business. Others will contend that Gen. Powell ended an otherwise distinguished public career in failure. He was unable, it will be said, to prevent George W. Bush from embarking on his intervention in Iraq. He then damaged his reputation by an appearance at the United Nations during which he made claims about Iraq’s efforts to conceal weapons of mass destruction that now look somewhat less credible than when he offered them. …

All this is too simplistic. General Powell has proved to be the figure in the Bush administration most fluent with audiences outside America. … That is not, however, to conclude that his private views were the same as those of his French or German counterparts. …

His tenure must also be evaluated in the round and not solely by reference to Iraq. Gen. Powell and Richard Armitage, his tireless deputy, have not received the credit they are due for their efforts to soothe Indo-Pakistani relations. The secretary of state has also helped the U.S. to come to a more coherent view of China and seen off some in the Republican Party who were almost obsessed with the notion that Beijing could be only a rival and a menace, not an ally and a partner, to Washington. He helped the president to frame a new U.S. approach to Africa, and especially AIDS, which it is still unfashionable to recognize. …

His exit will not transform the character of American foreign policy. He himself observed in an interview last week that Mr. Bush’s “aggressive” foreign policy would continue, not least because that was what the times and U.S. interests demanded. …

Free press is essential


La Nacion, Buenos Aires, Nov. 15

“Reporters Without Borders” has just released its third-annual global study, which includes a survey of press freedoms found around the world. The report shows that currently the freedom of the press is particularly threatened in Eastern Asia, where the isolated North Korea earned the lowest ranking of 167. …

Cuba, the only dictatorship in Latin America, figures woefully in the report, ranking 166th. … Cuba is surpassed only by China in the number of journalists in prison. China has 27 men behind bars; Cuba has 26.

The greatest press freedoms are found in Europe, where the top rankings were given to Denmark, Finland and Ireland. …

Freedom of the press is an ideal that is far from being unanimously respected in the world. A great distance remains on the path toward appreciating this essential institution of free societies.