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Commentary Week In Review
By Guy Taylor
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04 Aug 2007
The Commentary Week in Review
is posted on the blog every Friday. Drawing from more than two dozen
English-language news outlets worldwide, the column highlights a
handful of the week's notable op-eds.
What Bush could learn about the Middle East from Napoleon, Peru's economic inequality, Japan's historic election, Poland's identity crisis and more.
Demands on Peru's Poor
Writing in the July 30 Miami Herald,
Michael Shifter described the "profound social divisions" afflicting Peru
where President Alan García has just completed the first year of his
five-year term.
"García can at least have the
peace of mind that his second term marks a vast improvement over the
first," wrote Shifter, who asserted:
Peru's economy is not only under
control but booming, growing at more than 8 percent annually.
Insurgencies that had wracked the country no longer pose a serious
threat. Even the poverty levels that rose sharply under García's first
government are slowly falling. Yet, just as García's first presidency
illuminated the most extreme of Latin America's problems in the late
1980s, today his administration provides a lens through which to view
the major challenge now confronting the region: economic inequality.
...The demands and expectations of the poor are rising dramatically, and
government institutions are woefully incapable of handling them.
Poland Is "Confused"
Poland these days is "confused," according to Dominique Moisi, who wrote in the August 1 Daily Star
that the country "boasts one of the highest levels of popular
acceptance of the EU among all member countries, yet is the place where
defense of the 'national' interests is practiced most fiercely."
He elaborated:
To understand what went wrong
with Poland, a comparison with Spain might be useful. In the nineteenth
century, Europe's southern and eastern extremities were united by
common decay. Poland had disappeared as an independent nation, the
victim of its powerful neighbors' greed; Spain was a country that no
longer mattered. This dual decline was a subject frequently discussed
by historians across the continent. They generally emphasized the
failure of both countries to adjust their political systems to the
requirements of the times.
Furthermore, according to Moisi, Spain and Poland
today "both appear to be experiencing a renaissance, thanks to the
framework of European unity. Their economies are booming. Democracy has
been restored after half-century of dictatorial disruption. Yet the
buoyant self-confidence of today's Spain is completely absent from
Poland."
Bush Could Learn From Napoleon
Richard Bulliet compared George W. Bush to Napoleon Bonaparte in the August 2 International Herald Tribune,
writing that "both men launched spectacular attacks on Arab countries,
won stunning initial victories, and then became bogged down in a
hopeless military occupations."
"If Bush has
the wisdom to do what Napoleon did, he may yet be remembered as a
leader of historic stature," wrote Bulliet. "All he has to do is cut
and run."
Bulliet explained:
If Napoleon had never
gone on to become the Emperor of France and conquer most of Europe, his
role in Middle Eastern history would still be celebrated. Even today,
most historians date the beginning of the region's "modern" history to
1798. ...If the Napoleonic past has a lesson for Bush's future, it is
that regardless of American planning, the regional struggle following
the American withdrawal will determine the future of the region. But
this does not preclude the realization of some of Bush's dreams of
victory. In fact, it will be surprising if regional responses to
post-withdrawal instability do not include openings toward democracy in
some countries, and toleration of multiple ethnic and religious
interests in others.
According to Bulliet, Napoleon's final
message to Bush would be: "You've already made history. Now get out of
the way and let it happen."
Japan's "Historic" Election Results
The result of Japan's recent parliamentary elections was "historic," according to Daniel Sneider, who noted in the August 1 Christian Science Monitor
how for the first time since the conservative Liberal Democratic Party
was formed in 1955, an opposition party "has become the largest party
in the upper house."
"The powerful message
delivered by Japanese voters has significant implications not only for
Japan but also for the rest of the world, not least for its close ally,
the United States," Sneider wrote. "The election result revives
momentum in Japan toward creation of a viable two-party system,
potentially ending the conservative postwar monopoly on power."
"Japanese
voters expressed deep anxiety about the impact of economic change upon
their treasured social order," he went on. "They embraced the campaign
of the Democratic Party (the main opposition) against growing income
inequality and the failure of the state to take care of an aging
population."
Musharraf's Fight for Survival
Randeep Ramesh argued in the August 2 Guardian
that while it appears Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's days in
power are numbered, the "military dictator remains the best bet for
peace in the region."
"The bloody showdown at
the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), the suicide bombings in the capital
Islamabad, the popular support for the chief justice, and the rising
discontent with the general's writ all point to the end of this phase
of military rule," Ramesh wrote.
But for the moment, he argued, Musharraf still holds the keys to the lock on the Pakistan's regional political strategy. He explained:
What is being worked out now in
Pakistan, sometimes smoothly but mostly chaotically, is an internal
consensus on governance. There's no doubt that a military government in
Pakistan can find political partners from its opponents to legitimise
itself again. Delhi remains silent on this process, knowing its
intervention will only make matters worse.
Furthermore, Ramesh asserted, while "the rugged
ranges of the Afghan border remain in the west's sights, Pakistan's
'core issue' is the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir."
"India
and Musharraf's Pakistan are close enough to do a deal," he wrote. "The
problem is one of trust. Pakistan has not shut down its anti-Indian
militant organisations and the Indian army remains entrenched. The
Indian government concedes that jihadi infiltration from Pakistani
Kashmir has dropped and the Indian state has been noticeably quieter in
the past few months. But there's no rush in New Delhi for conflict
resolution."
The
Commentary Week In Review draws from links aggregated every weekday
morning in WPR's Media Roundup, which you can receive by email for free
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