Day: January 10, 2002

Mugabe Exploits Anthrax Attacks

Another example of someone in the developing world taking advantage of publicity over terrorism in the United States to advance his or her agenda. Somebody sent several envelopes containing a white powder to government officials in Zimbabwe. Although tests have confirmed it is not anthrax, they are still supposedly trying to find out exactly what the substance is.

Which did not stop officials in Robert Mugabe’s government — which has become an informal dictatorship — from quickly determining who was behind the letters: white people and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party.

A more likely explanation is that someone in Mugabe’s party sent the letters. For example, last year somebody — probably Zimbabwe security forces — set off a bomb at an MDC headquarters, and Mugabe’s government wasted no time in blaming the act of terrorism on the MDC itself.

This week, Zimbabwe’s legislature will almost certainly pass legislation making it illegal to for opposition parties like the MDC to criticize Mugabe without getting his permission first. Great Britain is on the verge of suspending Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth and the European Union is considering sanctions targeted at Zimbabwe’s ruling elite.

And, as usual, the Americans will probably have to step forward with plenty of food aid to prevent starvation in Zimbabwe for years to come.

Source:

Zimbabwe’s anthrax ‘gimmick’. The BBC, January 10, 2002.

Good Riddance Anthony Lewis, Part II

The last time we saw Anthony Lewis, he was using his last column as a New York Times writer to draw a moral equivalency between fundamentalist Christians and Islamic terrorists. Now, he’s doing a gig for Slate complete with race baiting. Talking about the recent controversy involving Harvard professor Cornel West, Lewis writes that,

What better whipping boy could we have to start this conversation than Harvard? The university that the right loves to hate. The extreme critics, like the Wall Street Journal, really pine for the days when there were few or no blacks at Harvard, when the undergraduates were largely stamped from the same upper-class and middle-class mold.

Ah, what a gifted writer and thinker Lewis is.

European Fisheries on Verge of Collapse — Again

It seems like every year Europe’s fisheries are on the verge of collapse and the various countries in the region get together for another last minute round of quota cuts. Of course, although Europe has been cutting its quotas for years, it never seems to do much to help the fisheries actually recover, though it does give Europeans the impression that the politicians are actually doing something about the problem.

The odd thing is the Europeans never learn. Brendan May, chief executive of the Marine Stewardship Council, sums up the European governments’ attitude toward fisheries quite well,

For as long as it has been profitable to over-exploit, there have been no incentives to fish in a way which allows the environment, and therefore the fishing industry, to prosper. The common fisheries policy is right in one sense: you have to treat common resources with common solutions. Those who argue that it should not be a common policy are several apples short of a picnic. But there’s a total absence of any incentive to behave in an environmentally responsible way, and that’s the heart of this problem.

The reason there are no incentives to fish in a responsible way, however, are precisely because fisheries are manages as commons. A better way to deal with fish stocks would be to convert the commons into private property which would provide the incentives that May wants to see. It is admittedly more difficult to set up a private property regimen in fish — who can swim over a wide territory — than it is for something like cattle, but it can be done.

Of course, the European nations won’t even try, because to them the complete failure of previous regulations to solve the problem simply means that they need more regulations. Next year, they’ll be back at the table proposing even more limits.

Sources:

EU fisheries ‘face collapse’. Alex Kirby, The BBC, December 17, 2001.

Europe slashes fishing quotas. The BBC, December 18, 2001.

Q&A: Europe’s fishing row. The BBC, December 18, 2001.

Fish head fast for oblivion. Alex Kirby, December 18, 2001.

Some Women Get Expanded Rights in Turkey

On January 1, 2002, far reaching revisions to Turkey’s civil code went into effect that go a long way toward recognizing men and women as equals. Unfortunately, many women’s groups in Turkey do not feel the changes go far enough, and in fact there is a serious deficiency in the revision.

On the positive side, the revisions essentially end the supreme position that men enjoyed when it came to domestic matters. All property in marriage is now jointly owned by husband and wife. A woman will no longer need her husband’s permission to work outside the home, and women are now able to sue for divorce if their husband commits adultery, as well as have a right to property and potentially alimony after a divorce.

Unfortunately, the law is not retroactive, meaning that it only applies to newly married couples. The 17 million already-married Turkish women will not have the right, for example, to ask for alimony or half of the property owned by the couple, which makes this a rather bittersweet victory.

Sources:

Turkish women score victory for equality. The BBC, November 24, 2001.

Turkish women get equal rights. The BBC, January 1, 2002.

Utah Judge Upholds Fetal Murder Law

Utah Judge Michael Allphin this week upheld a 1983 state law that allowed people to be charged with murder for killing a fetus, even if the fetus was killed well before the time when it was viable.

The specific case involved 47-year-old Roger MacGuire who is accused of killing his ex-wife, Susan MacGuire. Susan was 13 to 15 weeks pregnant with the child of her fiance. Prosecutors maintain that the pregnancy enraged Roger, who actually aimed directly at the fetus before shooting Susan MacGuire.

Roger’s defense lawyers argued that the law was unconstitutional because the point of viability is usually defined much later in reproductive law cases. Judge Allphin ruled that the standard for viability in reproductive law was irrelevant in the context of criminal law, ruling that, “Reproductive rights cases are simply inapplicable to restrict the state’s interest in protecting unborn life.”

Source:

Utah judge rules on fetal murder. The Associated Press, January 8, 2002.