The Wall Street Journal-20080122-The Informed Reader - Insights and Items of Interest From Other Sources
Return to: The_Wall_Street_Journal-20080122
The Informed Reader / Insights and Items of Interest From Other Sources
Pakistan:
Shifting Loyalties Obscure Bhutto Murder
The ever-murky links and allegiances between Pakistan's government and Islamist terrorists have shifted during the past few years, making it especially hard to establish where the ultimate responsibility for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto lies, says Steve Coll in the New Yorker.
Attempts to prevent the Pakistan-based Taliban from attacking North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces across the border -- as well as attempts to sever links between the Taliban and the government -- have divided the loyalties of intelligence officers, soldiers and the Islamist terrorists themselves. Intelligence analysts are struggling to tell on which side people fall, or even what the sides are.
For instance, Pakistan's 2006 peace treaty with Pakistani Taliban leaders could simply be military realism -- the Pakistani army is equipped to fight regular infantry, not insurgents. Others have interpreted it as a green light to the tribes to attack NATO in Afghanistan.
Along with such ambiguous actions are growing divisions within the military. When U.S. officers on the Afghan side of the border monitored Pakistan military operations on the other side, they noted some officers attacked the Taliban. Others did so halfheartedly. Others didn't fight at all. It is also possible that Islamist groups have broken away from the Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, as suggested by a November suicide bombing at the ISI's headquarters in Islamabad.
Based partly on her experience as prime minister in the 1990s, Ms. Bhutto intimated the government led by President Pervez Musharraf was quietly supporting violent Islamist groups who wanted to kill her. Mr. Coll says she was right that the government could have given her far better security. But she was wrong to think the top levels of government can still direct Pakistan's Islamist terrorists.
-- The New Yorker -- Jan. 28
Environmentalism:
As People Build Safe Zones
The World Outside Suffers
The environmental movement's success in changing peoples' consumption habits has undermined its broader goal of changing environmental policies, says Andrew Szasz, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Environmentalists might have convinced people that environmental dangers can hurt them. But people have responded by protecting themselves from those dangers by eating organic food, drinking filtered or bottled water and using nontoxic household-cleaning fibers. In effect, they aim to create a safe zone in their households. But many harmful toxins from pollution survive processes such as organic farming or home-water filtration.
Worse, once people believe they have spent enough to keep themselves safe from environmental harm, they're less likely to push for legislation that would ensure such benefits for everyone else. But tougher legislation to improve tap water, clean up agricultural practices and reduce the dumping of hazardous materials is the only way anyone can be sure they are safe, Mr. Szasz says.
-- The Chronicle of Higher Education -- Jan. 25
Foreign Affairs:
Voters Have Built Tolerance
To Political Corruption
Has corruption become so common in the developing world that it has ceased being a political liability? Newsweek's Jonathan Tepperman notes that in the last few months, voters in South Africa, South Korea, Kenya, and Thailand favored candidates who faced charges of corruption. Of course, in each case, other factors were at play. But in all of them, the losing candidate was considered less corrupt.
Those elections coincide with a survey by nonprofit Transparency International that shows bribery and graft rising globally. In Asia, 22% of those polled said they had paid a bribe in the past 12 months, up from 15% in 2006. World-wide, 54% said corruption would become worse, compared to 43% in 2003.
If voters believe all politicians are equally corrupt, that could have economic repercussions, says Mr. Tepperman. In most countries, corruption chokes investment and growth.
-- Newsweek -- Jan. 28
---
See more on our blog, at WSJ.com/InformedReader. Send comments to [email protected].
