Testing times
Jane Goodall
December 13, 2006 08:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jane_goodall/2006/12/post_793.html
In this country, experimentation on apes is banned. But it is still
legal to use chimpanzees in medical research in other countries, and we
in the UK cannot take the moral high ground - British scientists
wishing to work with these apes have often used those in the colony
established by the EU for HIV/Aids research in the Netherlands
(although this lab is now closed).
Chimpanzees are biologically more like us than any other living
creature. It is the striking similarities in the DNA (which differs
from ours by only about 1%), in composition of blood and anatomy of
brain and nervous system that led to hopes that they would help to
unlock the secrets of HIV-Aids. However, despite the close
similarities, and while the retrovirus stayed alive in the chimpanzees'
blood, they did not develop the symptoms of full-blown Aids.
The context of conflict
Brian Brivati
December 13, 2006 09:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_brivati/2006/12/no_fly_zone_darfu=
r=2Ehtml
Tony Blair has backed the idea of a no-fly zone over Darfur. He has
also indicated that the next few months are vital in stopping a
conflict that might destabilise the region.
The history of no-fly zones is mixed. The policy is linked with safe
havens and protecting geographical or ethnic communities. In Yugoslavia
the policy did little to protect people. In Iraq, especially in
Kurdistan, the no-fly policy provided the foundations for the current
stability in Kurdish Iraq. In other words: no-fly zones can work if
they are used in the right context.
Interrogating torture
Conor Foley
December 13, 2006 06:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2006/12/silent_no_more.html
"When the true story emerges of what has been happening in the
interrogation centres, the people in the United Kingdom will receive it
with shock, horror and resentment."
With these words Gerry Fitt MP, the leader of the Social Democratic
Labour Party announced that he was withholding his support from the
last Labour government in a confidence vote on March 28 1979. The
government lost by one vote and was forced to call an election, which
the Conservatives, under Margaret Thatcher, won. Labour remained out of
office for the next 18 years.
Hearing the bark, fearing the bite
Adam Wishart
December 13, 2006 05:58 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/adam_wishart/2006/12/post_790.html
Last week's imprisonment of Donald Currie for a bombing campaign in the
name of animal liberation is probably a good thing for science and
medicine in this country. But Britain is in danger of taking animal
extremists just a little too seriously. In the year that I spent making
my film, Monkeys, Rats and Me I discovered that they are not the
dastardly Lex Luther-like criminal minds that I had once imagined them
to be. Rather, they are a quintessentially English phenomenon - the Mr
Beans of terrorism.
Of course, the hysteria that surrounds the extremists does have some
slim historical basis: there were two bombs against vets, which
exploded in 1990. There was a campaign of letter bombs in the early
1990s including one sent to Colin Blakemore, the most prominent
vivisectionist of the time. And the chief executive of Huntingdon Life
Sciences was attacked by men with baseball clubs five years ago.
The debate that never was
Iain Macwhirter
December 13, 2006 04:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/iain_macwhirter/2006/12/what_debate_on_=
trident.html
Now, this great debate on Trident ... I'm not hearing it. Those
conscientious cabinet ministers - the Hains, Becketts, Benns - who
argued so hard to get a debate on renewal of our "independent
deterrent" seem to have lost their tongues.
Seems they didn't want to debate anything after all. They have all
declared themselves content to allow Tony Blair to conduct it on their
behalf - and conclude that Trident should be renewed.
Time to get tough with Khartoum
David Mepham
December 13, 2006 04:09 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_mepham/2006/12/darfur_can_nofly_f=
ly.html
There has been no shortage of diplomatic activity to try to resolve the
Darfur crisis, particularly over the past year; but as Tony Blair
acknowledged last week, to date these efforts have failed. If the
conflict is not to deteriorate still further, it is time that the UK
and the wider international community got much tougher with Khartoum.
As a first step, there should be international agreement to enforce a
no-fly zone over Darfur. The UN security council resolution 1591,
agreed in 2005, prohibits the use of military flights, but the Sudanese
air force has consistently used Antonovs and helicopter gunships to
attack villages in Darfur. While the enforcement of the no-fly zone
would need to be approved by the UN security council, Nato countries
would then be well placed to carry it out.
Take a bow, Kofi
Ewen MacAskill
December 13, 2006 02:36 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ewen_macaskill/2006/12/post_791.html
I saw Kofi Annan close up in 2001, in the early part of that year,
before the 9/11 attacks. I travelled with him for a week round Asia:
Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh - as well as a meeting with a
Taliban delegation in Islamabad - and came away with a sense of someone
trying to do his best to meet the ridiculously high expectations of his
office, someone fundamentally decent.
I had been promised an interview with him, but it was scheduled for the
end of a day on which the timetable slipped badly, lots of things had
gone wrong, and when he boarded the plane late at night, his press
secretary asked if I minded cancelling. I said I did, and we went
ahead, but only after I promised I would do it within 15 minutes. As I
struggled, rushing through the questions, he put his arm round me:
"Take as long as you want."
Plucking the truth from research
Peter Melchett
December 13, 2006 12:35 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_melchett/2006/12/whos_conning_who=
_over_organic.html
"I've been conned," complained Cristina Odone bitterly in the Daily
Telegraph earlier this month. Not for the first time, some may feel -
but who has abused Cristina's trust now? She says that "according to
research unveiled last week by Strathclyde University, I paid through
the nose for a bird [an organic chicken] that is no better than its
much cheaper (by =A35 at my local Waitrose) regular counterpart. Organic
chicken was shown to contain lower levels of healthy anti-oxidants,
more fat and less flavour." Cristina is furious: "Producers are making
a fortune from our gullibility." To other food cons, "we can now add
the "'organic is best' myth".
Christina got her new facts about organic chicken from two other
newspapers - the Daily Mail (December 3), and the Sunday Times (3
December). There is little evidence in the articles that either Fiona
MacRae of the Daily Mail or Cristina herself read the actual scientific
papers these absurd claims were allegedly based on. Nor, it would seem,
did Eva Langlands of the Sunday Times, as what she originally wrote
bore no relation to what was in the latest scientific paper. The Sunday
Times claimed that "Organic chicken is less nutritious, contains more
fat and tastes worse than free-range or battery-farmed meat, scientists
have discovered. Tests on supermarket chicken breasts found organic
varieties contained fewer omega-3 fatty acids and lower levels of
antioxidants, giving the meat an inferior taste. Some were found to
contain twice as much cholesterol. The study, by food scientists at
Strathclyde University, contradicts the common view that the premium
paid for organic meat guarantees a healthier and tastier product."
The quest for stability
Jean-Roger Kaseki
December 13, 2006 11:37 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeanroger_kaseki/2006/12/rwandan_presid=
ent_accused_of_w.html
A senior French judge has asked for the Rwandan president to face
tribunal in connection with the shooting down of his predecessor's
plane, the event that triggered the 1994 genocide.
Jean-Louis Brugui=E8re also issued international arrest warrants for
nine close associates of President Kagame, including the chief of staff
of the Rwandan military, in connection with the rocket attack which
killed Juv=E9nal Habyarimana, the former Rwandan president, and the then
president of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira. If there is any truth in
these allegations, this would be catastrophic and damaging for Paul
Kagame and his Tutsi-led government.
The dream of a neoliberal nirvana is coming to an end
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1971536,00.html
From the environment to consumerism and housing, the issue is now how
to rein in the market, not extend it
John Harris
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
The other day I caught sight of one of those leaflets that fall out of
magazines. This one featured pictures of a swimming pool and a radiant,
pastel-clad couple, with the offer of "learning the secrets that could
help you become a property millionaire". It was doubtless intended to
whet the same modern appetites as all those TV shows about scaling the
property ladder, though you could also sense the legacy of those dreams
rolled out in the 1980s, when Thatcher and her free-market courtiers
championed the property-owning democracy - as not only the basis of a
new society, but the meritocratic means by which those with the right
instincts could move upwards.
It is sheer snobbery to make teenagers study languages
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1971477,00.html
Forcing secondary school students to learn a foreign tongue will only
backfire. But primaries are another matter entirely
Peter Wilby
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
Estelle Morris's spell as education secretary may have been, in many
ways, undistinguished. But one thing she got absolutely right: a
decision to release secondary school teachers and their teenage pupils
from the torture of compulsory foreign language lessons.
To say that is to go against the consensus of elite opinion. Like any
other attempt to make the curriculum more appealing to bored
adolescents - linking science lessons to contemporary issues such as
global warming, for example - the decision was greeted with round-robin
letters to the press from the heavily titled, and outrage from the
snootier elements among the newspaper commentariat. For example, the
Independent's Philip Hensher, after damning Morris for incorrect
grammar on the Today programme, explained that languages "contribute in
a fundamental way to analytical powers of thought ... and intellectual
development". Try telling that to a class of 15-year-olds on a wet
Friday afternoon in Barnsley.
A way out of the bunker
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1971535,00.html
North Korea and the US will both have to face uncomfortable truths to
end their nuclear standoff
Mark Seddon in Pyongyang
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
The model city that rose from the ashes of the Korean war is eerily
dark at night and strangely quiet during the day. Electricity remains
in short supply, while a lack of fuel leaves the roads largely empty.
The talk is of a hard winter, with reduced food supplies from China and
South Korea plunging some rural areas into desperate hunger.
Next week's resumption of six-way talks in Beijing comes at a critical
time. North Korea is as isolated now as at any time in its relatively
short history. US sanctions aimed at alleged counterfeiting activities
have had the unintended effect of freezing much of the country's
foreign exchange, legal and illegal. Pyongyang walked out of talks to
resolve the nuclear stand-off in November 2005 and exploded a prototype
nuclear bomb in October this year, prompting tightening of the separate
UN sanctions and a threat to intercept North Korean vessels on the high
seas suspected of carrying arms.
Pinochet escaped justice - we must ensure R=EDos Montt does not
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1971390,00.html
The victims of Guatemalan repression have also tried to hold their
former dictator to account, says Patrick Daniels
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
In all your extensive coverage of the death of Augusto Pinochet, there
was one crucial omission (Reports, December 11-13). No one pointed out
any of the obvious parallels between the case of the ex-Chilean
dictator and that of General Efra=EDn R=EDos Montt, former dictator of
Guatemala (1982-83), who is today facing extradition to Spain for human
rights abuses on a grand scale.
The similarities between the legal issues presented by Pinochet and
R=EDos Montt are numerous. Both were military dictators who came to
power in their respective Latin American countries as the result of a
coup d'etat. Both were products of the cold war, enjoying US support in
exchange for ruthlessly repressing any real or perceived threat of
communism. Both have been accused of being the architects of widespread
human rights abuses.
They sweat, you shop
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1971491,00.html
When shops signed up to the Ethical Trading Initiative and promised to
look after their employees, the hope was for guilt-free cheap clothes.
But how much have things really improved, asks Bibi van der Zee
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
There is an odd moment when shopping, with which most readers will
probably be familiar. It's that second when you're standing in
Tesco/Primark/Asda fingering (for example) a =A320 sequinned top, and
into your head pops the image of an exhausted woman, head bent, sewing
on each of those sequins. The glitter of the top dims a little.
You might put it back. Or you might reassure yourself that we are no
longer in the Victorian era of labour sweatshops - don't most companies
these days sign up to some ethical code or other? - and head for the
till.
Breakthrough hailed as study shows circumcision can halve HIV risk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,,1971526,00.html
=B7 Trial outcome could mean huge cut in infection rates
=B7 Aids campaign group says results are a milestone
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
Circumcision can halve the risk of a man picking up the HIV infection
which leads to Aids, scientists in the United States said last night.
Two major trials, in Kenya and Uganda, have confirmed what doctors and
campaigners have suspected and hoped for several years. The results
have major implications for the fight against the Aids pandemic raging
in Africa and Asia.
Yesterday Kevin de *****, head of the World Health Organisation's
HIV/Aids department, said it could cut the numbers of infected men by
"many tens of thousands, many hundreds of thousands and maybe millions
over coming years".
If US leaves Iraq we will arm Sunni militias, Saudis say
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1971581,00.html
=B7 Fears of massacre prompt king's warning to Cheney
=B7 Iranian influence across region adds to concern
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia warned the US vice-president, *****
Cheney, that the kingdom would provide money and arms to Sunni militias
in Iraq if America withdrew its troops from the country, it emerged
yesterday.
The conversation, during a visit by Mr Cheney to Riyadh last month, was
the most serious indication to date of Saudi concerns about a possible
massacre of the minority Sunni community in Iraq in the event of a
withdrawal of US forces, as well as rising Iranian influence in Iraq,
Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories.
Boy who could walk on hot coals offers clues to pain management
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1971784,00.html
=B7 Gene mutation that blocks signs of damage identified
=B7 Scientists hope study may lead to new treatments
Ian Sample, science correspondent
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
The life and death of a young street performer from Pakistan who could
walk on hot coals and drive knives through his arms without flinching
has led scientists to a genetic discovery that could revolutionise the
treatment of pain.
Scientists at Cambridge University began studying the child to
understand why he was unable to feel pain, but was otherwise completely
healthy. He died shortly before his 14th birthday, from injuries
sustained after jumping off a roof while playing with friends.
Bushmen win rights over ancestral lands
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1971439,00.html
David Beresford in Lobatse
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
The Bushmen of Botswana yesterday appeared to have won a famous legal
victory in their long-running battle to hang on to ancestral lands in
the giant Central Kalahari game reserve.
The Botswana high court ruled that the Bushmen, whom the government had
tried to evict by cutting off their water supplies and other services,
lawfully occupied the land. Three judges found that they had been
deprived of possession of the land "forcibly, wrongly and without their
consent".
Christian leader says Lebanese opposition ready for power
http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1971298,00.html
Clancy Chassay in Beirut
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
The leader of the biggest Christian faction in Lebanon, General Michel
Aoun, who has formed an alliance with the militant Shia group
Hizbullah, said their opposition movement was prepared to set up their
own national unity administration if the western-backed government of
Fouad Siniora did not bow to their demands.
Speaking to the Guardian, Gen Aoun said the largely Shia and Christian
coalition, which is headed by Hizbullah, was preparing to ratchet up
the pressure with unspecified acts of civil disobedience.
Children in rural areas to get school fees paid
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1971532,00.html
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Thursday December 14, 2006
The Guardian
China is to waive tuition fees for 150 million children in rural areas
to try to close the gap between rich and poor students. The 15bn yuan
(=A31bn) scheme was hailed by state media as a major element in building
a "new socialist countryside".
Under the plan pupils will attract funding of =A39-=A312 a year. Rural
families have an average annual income of =A3195.
"It may not be a big sum of money for an urban family, but it can be
something important for a rural one," Liu Shangxi, from the finance
ministry, was reported as saying in the state-run China Daily.
Garcia Marquez joins Shakira to launch Latin American 'Live Aid'
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2073041.ece
By Andrew Buncombe
Published: 14 December 2006
A group of Latino entertainers including Shakira, Ruben Blades and
Diego Torres have announced a series of Live Aid-style concerts to
raise money for anti-poverty efforts throughout Latin America.
Joined by business people and intellectuals such as the Nobel
Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the group plans to hold a
series of five benefit concerts in cities ranging from Buenos Aires to
Los Angeles. The concerts are planned to take place in 2007 though no
dates have been fixed.
Adrian Hamilton: It won't help to demonise Iran at this stage
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/adrian_hamilton/article2072=
998.ece
Of course Iran has connections and interests in Iraq. How could it be
otherwise?
Published: 14 December 2006
A week after James Baker and Lee Hamilton recommended getting Iran and
Syria on board for a solution to the Iraqi disaster, both President
Bush and Tony Blair are doing the exact opposite. President Bush has
made it clear that he's only interested in talking to Tehran if they
adopt a position totally supportive of the US. Blair has been even
tougher in his rhetoric, telling Iran it must make up its mind whether
to join the world or be isolated by it and holding up that President
Ahmadinejad's deliberately provocative Holocaust conference as proof of
his extremism.
Why such outright rejection of one of Baker's main conclusions? Partly
it is that the call to bring Iran and Syria into a settlement scratches
away at Bush and Blair's most sensitive spot. Unable to accept that
they were wrong to go into Iraq in the first place, they are condemned
to treat it as if the future of the country was a matter only for the
allied forces and the Iraqi government. On this view, outsiders are
seen as the threats to what would be a perfectly viable and peaceful
democracy if left on its own, their only responsibility to keep out and
let the Western forces and the Baghdad government get on with things.
Johann Hari: Will Gaza, like Iraq, descend into civil war?
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/johann_hari/article2072999.=
ece
The people fear that, like animals trapped in a tiny cage, they will
turn on each other
Published: 14 December 2006
Every time I come to Gaza - this clogged, cramped collection of palm
trees and bomb craters on the Mediterranean - it is crumbling and
collapsing a little more. As I wander the streets, I find rusting old
cars are slowly being replaced by rickety horse-drawn carts, with women
and children clinging to the back like refugees fleeing the 19th
century.
The refugee camps themselves are sagging into the earth, with nobody
bothering to rebuild the bombed-out homes since they expect them to be
blown up again any time. There are open fires on street corners as
people try to dispose of a nine-month build-up of rotting rubbish. This
is just another result of the American and European choking-off of
funds for the Palestinians since they democratically elected Hamas:
there is no money to pay the bin-men. Gaudy and grim, with the sea air
mixing with clouds of dust, Gaza looks oddly like Blackpool after a
nuclear war.
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