Party of 1

Posted Monday, March 8 at 6:04 AM CST, 7:04 AM EST, 1204 GMT.

Top editorial and op-ed commentaries in the Monday editions of the leading U. S. newspapers:

1) In the Washington Post, Robert Samuelson looks at a new survey that breaks down Americans’ attitudes along generational lines. “The deep slump has hit Millennials hard. According to Pew, almost two-fifths of 18- to 29-year-olds (37 percent) are unemployed or out of the labor force, “the highest share . . . in more than three decades.”… About a third say they’re receiving financial help from their families, and 13 percent of 22- to 29-year-olds have moved in with parents after living on their own…. Millennials could become the chump generation. They could suffer for their elders’ economic sins, particularly the failure to confront the predictable costs of baby boomers’ retirement…. Their ardor for Obama is already cooling. Will higher taxes dim their enthusiasm for government?”

2) In the WP, E. J. Dionne looks at legislation sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) aimed at reining in the Supreme Court’s recent Citizens United decision. “Republicans should also be alarmed that this decision could encourage politicians to extort campaign spending from businesses. Is it really so hard to imagine a congressional leader quietly approaching a business executive and suggesting that unless her company invested heavily in certain key electoral contests, this regulation or that spending program might be changed at the expense of her enterprise?… Many Republicans, above all Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have been at the forefront of trying to clean up the campaign-money system in the past.”

3) In the New York Times, Paul Krugman looks at a recent study that compares the effect of the global recession in Ireland to that in the United States. “Ireland had none of the American right’s favorite villains: there was no Community Reinvestment Act, no Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. More surprising, perhaps, was the unimportance of exotic finance: Ireland’s bust wasn’t a tale of collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps; it was an old-fashioned, plain-vanilla case of excess, in which banks made big loans to questionable borrowers, and taxpayers ended up holding the bag…. But the most striking similarity between Ireland and America was  ‘regulatory imprudence’: the people charged with keeping banks safe didn’t do their jobs.”

Posted Sunday, March 7 at 11:41 PM CST; Monday, March 8 at 12:41 AM EST, 0541 GMT.

Top stories in Monday morning’s London papers:

1) “Bomb blasts and grenade fire failed to deter millions of Iraqis from voting yesterday in an election crucial to the country’s fragile young democracy,” reports Oliver August from Baghdad for the Times. Reports indicate long queues at some polling stations, despite explosions that have killed at least 38 people. A credible outcome is crucial to the Obama administration’s plans to withdraw American troops later this year. Turnout appeared to be running between 50 and 60 percent, compared with 76 percent in 2005. Incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is regarded as the favorite, but he faces stiff competition from a number of candidates, including former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Statements of support for the Iraqi electorate were issued by both Obama and British foreign secretary David Miliband.

2) In the Guardian, political correspondent Andrew Sparrow reports that business secretary Lord Mandelson is keeping up the pressure on Conservative leader David Cameron in the ongoing controversy over the tax status of wealthy Tory donor Lord Ashcroft. In what Sparrow characterizes as “a highly personal attack,” Mandelson asserted that the affair demonstrates the “fundamental weakness” of Cameron, who supposedly is “too weak to pick a fight with his own party.” The controversy revolves around Ashcroft’s recent announcement that he has been a “non-dom,” and therefore has not paid UK tax on his foreign earnings, since being granted a peerage 10 years ago. “While there is little evidence so far that the affair is damaging the party in the polls, the Conservative leadership is desperate for the controversy to abate, anxious it is not being heard on other policies,” Sparrow remarks.

3) In the Telegraph, Andrew Gilligan reports on accusations that the Ministry of Defence is preparing to order a blackout of news from Afghanistan during the general election campaign. “British journalists and TV crews are to be banned from the Afghan front line once a date for the election has been set, while senior officers will be prohibited from making public speeches and talking to reporters,” Gilligan reports. The directive comes during a full-scale combat operation, and Gilligan reports that there is no precedent for such an exclusion, which will apply only to British and not foreign or local journalists. Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox vowed that he would demand an explanation in Commons on Monday.

Posted Sunday, March 7 at 12:19 AM CST, 1:19 AM EST, 0619 GMT.

Top editorial and op-ed commentaries in the Sunday editions of the leading U. S. newspapers:

1) Continuing her visit to Riyadh, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd reports on her interview with the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal. The prince voiced frustration with the Israeli-Palestinian situation: “If the settlements are illegitimate, the least you would expect is that the aid the United States gives to Israel would cut that part that is going to build settlements. Israel is getting away without implementing the Geneva Convention as an occupying authority. Now if it were somewhere else, in Burma or somewhere like that, hell would be raised.” Dowd: “It’s probably a sign of progress that Prince Saud calls it  ‘a border dispute.’ Unless it’s just his understated way. He also refers to  ‘the 9/11 incident’ and alludes to the Holocaust obliquely as  ‘World War II.’” On the possibility of an Israeli military strike on Iran, the prince remarks dryly: “I think this would change lifestyles at once, forcibly.” The prince allows as that the rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “achieves no objective … and just creates tensions.” He insists that an allied military victory in Afghanistan will be difficult if not impossible, “unless you want to bring down the Himalayas.”

2) In the NYT, Frank Rich expresses the fear that the Obama presidency will be short-circuited by the lengthy impasse over health-care reform. “For the sake of argument, let’s say that Obama does eke out his victory…. The 2010 election will instead be fought about the economy, as most elections are, especially in a recession whose fallout remains severe. But that battle may be even tougher for this president and his party — and not just because of the unemployment numbers. The leadership shortfall we’ve witnessed during Obama’s yearlong health care march — typified by the missed deadlines, the foggy identification of his priorities, the sometimes abrupt shifts in political tone and strategy — won’t go away once the bill does. This weakness will remain unless and until the president himself corrects it.”

3) In the Washington Post, ombudsman Andrew Alexander weighs in on columnist David Broder’s criticism of reporting last month in the paper by Dana Milbank and Jason Horowitz concerning White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. “I think Broder is partially right. The Horowitz story deserved to be in The Post. While offering no major revelations, it did flesh out the thesis [of Milbank's earlier column]…. A greater problem, I think, was its heavy reliance on anonymous quotes. At least a dozen people were quoted by name, showing depth of reporting. But there were more than a half dozen others quoted anonymously, comprising more than a quarter of the story’s length. Most supported Emanuel. The story could have stood on its own without them.”

Posted Saturday, March 6 at 11:22 PM CST; Sunday, March 7 at 12:22 AM EST, 0522 GMT.

Top stories in Sunday morning’s London papers:

1) In the Sunday Telegraph, retail editor James Hall reports that civil servants and insiders in the retail industry have raised the possibility of imposing value-added tax (VAT) on groceries to help reduce the UK budget deficit.  “The tax would be controversial as it would disproportionately affect poorer families, Hall notes.  “Any move to impose it would be vehemently opposed by the UK’s large food retailers, who argue that it would be a ‘tax on living’.” As a result, talks on the proposed move are taking place strictly “under the radar.” Nevertheless, policymakers feel compelled to consider any proposal that might raise revenue and decrease borrowing. A supermarket CEO told the paper: “”My view is that it would be totally inappropriate. You are taxing what people have to eat to live..”

2) In the Sunday Times, Michael Smith reports on heavy losses suffered by British special forces in Afghanistan, with 80 members of the forces having been killed or crippled. “Serious injuries have left more than 70 unable to fight, while 12 have been killed. It means the forces have lost about a sixth of their full combat capacity,” Smith reports.”The high casualty rate is a result of both the scale of special forces operations in the past three years and the Taliban’s increasing use of roadside bombs.” The paper has learned that the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Squadron (SBS) have carried out “several hundred” operations against Taliban leaders since 2007, including “snatch” operations for the sake of gathering intelligence and more lethal “offensive actions.” Operations are ongoing, placing pressure on the forces’ reservists to meet manpower requirements. The high casualty rate is the result both of the scale of operations and of the enemy’s use of roadside explosives.

3) “Members of  [former Prime Minister Tony] Blair’s inner circle suggest the former prime minister now feels he has been misled” over the granting of a peerage to wealthy Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft, the Observer reports. The Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Lord Oakeshott, has written to cabinet secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell to insist on the need “to establish whether the Queen conferred a life peerage… under false pretences.” A source close to Blair told the paper  that “[former Tory leader William] Hague told Tony that Ashcroft would pay huge amounts of tax…. That was the deal. That was what we all understood at the time.” Ashcroft has claimed that he agreed only to become a “long-term resident” of the UK rather than a “permanent resident.” Foreign Minister David Miliband asked yesterday: “Did [Hague] know then that change could allow Ashcroft to avoid ‘tens of millions a year in tax’? And if he didn’t know then, then surely he now feels misled by Ashcroft?”

Posted Saturday, March 6 at 12:10 AM CST, 1:10 AM EST, 0610 GMT.

Top editorial and op-ed commentaries in the Saturday editions of the leading U. S. newspapers:

1) The Washington Post grants space to Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who stakes out a position on the use of the budget reconciliation process for health-care reform legislation. “Reconciliation is not being considered for passing comprehensive health-care reform. Major health-care reform legislation passed the Senate without reconciliation on Christmas Eve. If the House now passes that legislation, it can go immediately to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. What the president and others have suggested is that, after the House acts, reconciliation could then be used to pass a much smaller ‘fixer’ bill to allow for modifications to the comprehensive bill that will have passed under regular order…. If the Senate bill can be further improved with changes made through a small ‘fixer’ reconciliation package, we should do so. Those who argue against its use in this context seek only to protect the status quo on health care.”

2) “What a disaster it has been,” writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal of President Obama’s health-care reform efforts. “In terms of policy, his essential mistake was to choose health-care expansion over health-care reform. This at the exact moment voters were growing more anxious about the cost and reach of government. The practical mistake was that he did not include or envelop congressional Republicans from the outset, but handed the bill’s creation over to a Democratic Congress that was becoming a runaway train. This at the exact moment Americans were coming to be concerned that Washington was broken, incapable of progress, frozen in partisanship.” Even moderate Republicans have declined to cooperate on the matter, because “the past decade has taught them what a disaster looks like, and they’ve lost their taste for standing next to one.”

3) In the WSJ’s Weekend Interview, Matthew Kaminski speaks to Mosab Hassan Yousef, who was disowned by his father when he left Palestinian radical group Hamas, converted to Christianity, and became a spy for Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet. He describes his experiences in his new book, Son Of Hamas. “Simply my enemies of yesterday became my friends. And the friends of yesterday became really my enemies…. The problem is not in Muslims … The problem is with their God. They need to be liberated from their God. He is their biggest enemy. It has been 1,400 years they have been lied to.”

Posted Friday, March 5 at 11:20 PM CST; Saturday, March 6 at 12:20 AM EST, 0520 GMT.

Top stories in Saturday morning’s London papers:

1) In the Guardian, political editor Patrick Wintour reports on Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s much-anticipated appearance before the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war. He described the decision to war as “”the right decision for the right reasons … everything that [former Prime Minister Tony] Blair did during this period, he did properly.” During his four hours of testimony, Brown rejected criticisms that his funding decisions had left the armed forces with inadequate equipment. “The one fundamental truth …  [was]that every requirement made to us by military commanders was answered; no request was ever turned down,” he insisted. In comments aimed at former American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Brown offered: “”I never subscribed to what you might call the neo-conservative proposition: that somehow, at the barrel of a gun, overnight liberty or democracy could be conjured up.” Wintour comments: “Brown’s decision to ally himself with Blair’s war, if not the American neo-cons’ conduct, may lose him support from those that believed he privately opposed the war, but his aides reckoned he would be more damaged if he tried to distance himself from a war he funded .”

2) In the Independent, Paul Vallely reports that major charitable organizations have objected to a BBC World Service report that claimed that money raised for Ethiopian famine victims in 1985 was diverted to weapons purchases. A group of agencies including Oxfam, the Red Cross, Unicef, Christian Aid and Save the Children have filed an official complaint against the report by the service’s Africa editor, Martin Plaut, which they claim creates a “false and dangerously misleading impression.” The paper cites a passage from a draft of a letter written by the agencies: “”There is not in fact a shred of credible evidence that this happened. There is overwhelming evidence that tens of thousands and even millions were saved by these efforts, which were in fact spurred by reporting by the BBC.” Antipoverty campaigner Sir Bob Geldof complained that “the BBC has undermined the faith of ordinary people across the world in the effectiveness of giving to people in their hour of need. It is a disgrace.”

3) The Financial Times reports that the FTSE 100 index has reached its highest level since the onset of the financial crisis in September 2008. In Friday trading, the benchmark ended up 1.3% for the day at 5599.76. Blue-chip stock prices have appreciated 60% since the index bottomed out a year ago. Investors appear to have concluded that the falling value of sterling has enhanced the value of UK companies’ overseas operations, despite the uncertain political and economic situation at home. Analyst Adrian Cattley of Citigroup told the paper: “It makes the UK a place to come shopping, from European tourists on Oxford Street all the way to buying into stocks.”

Posted Friday, March 5 at 12:49 AM CST, 1:49 AM EST, 0649 GMT.

Top editorial and op-ed commentaries in the Friday editions of the leading U. S. newspapers:

1) In the Washington Post, Kevin Huffman tees off on a fund-raising presentation prepared for a Republican National Committee gathering which inadvertently fell into the hands of reporters. “What if, instead of labeling your small donors as ‘reactionary,’ you thought of them as ‘passionate’? And for the large donors, instead of ‘ego-driven,’ you could consider them ‘thought leaders.’ You see what I did there? It’s a slight nuance, but if you give your donors a teeny bit more credit, it sets up a different framework to address some of the message and outreach challenges delineated below. Plus, these days, you never know what will wind up on the Internet — it’s probably best to word things in a way that won’t alienate your supporters.”

2) In the WP, Michael Gerson suggests that conservatives ought to support President Obama’s efforts at education reform. “Some conservatives object to any policy that involves a federal role in education, no matter how effective. But education policy points to the limits of federalism. States and localities have often protected and perpetuated systemic educational malpractice. And it is a basic commitment of justice that when local institutions seriously fail, higher-level institutions should intervene. Local authority is the first, best response — but it is not an excuse for Jim Crow laws or for schools that never succeed and never change. In this debate, Obama and  [Education Secretary Arne] Duncan have undertaken the right fight for the right reasons. And credit is due.”

3) In the New York Times, David Brooks compares the “tea party” movement to the New Left of some 40 years ago, suggesting that “the similarities are more striking than the differences. To start with, the Tea Partiers have adopted the tactics of the New Left. They go in for street theater, mass rallies, marches and extreme statements that are designed to shock polite society out of its stupor…. Members of both movements believe in what you might call mass innocence. Both movements are built on the assumption that the people are pure and virtuous and that evil is introduced into society by corrupt elites and rotten authority structures…. The New Left then, like the Tea Partiers now, had a legitimate point about the failure of the ruling class. But they ruined it through their own imprudence, self-righteousness and naïve radicalism. The Tea Partiers will not take over the G.O.P., but it seems as though the ’60s political style will always be with us — first on the left, now the right.”

Posted Thursday, March 4 at 11:41 PM CST; Friday, March 5 at 12:41 AM EST, 0541 GMT.

Top stories in Friday morning’s London papers:

1) The Guardian reports new charges of “systematic tax avoidance” against Tory donor Lord Ashcroft.  The peer arranged a large opinion survey intended to help the Tories in marginal seats. The costs of approximately £250,000 were paid by one of Ashcroft’s companies in Belize, enabling him to avoid paying VAT. Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable remarked: “This is quite serious…. How far were the Conservatives aware that Ashcroft did not pay VAT, as would have been incurred by any normal polling activity?” The paper estimates that up to £40,000 in tax payments may have been avoided.

2) The Independent reports on the results of a YouGov survey commissioned by Channel 4 News, which finds that the Conservatives have lost much of their advantage in marginal constituencies. In 60 such marginals, the Tories’ lead has slipped from seven to two percentage points over the past year. The results will continue to further speculation about the possibility of a hung parliament, as suggested by a recent nationwide survey by the same organization that found the Conservatives with a lead of no more than 2%. The story mentions the results of an investigation conducted by the paper last week which “found the Tories spent £6m over two years in the marginal battlegrounds, in most cases far outspending Labour and the Liberal Democrats.”

3) The Times reports that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on the eve of his appearance before the Chilcot inquiry, has been accused of underfunding the Army during his tenure as Chancellor, thereby contributing to the loss of soldiers’ lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, who served as chief of defence staff from 1997 to 2001, told the paper: “Not fully funding the Army in the way they had asked . . . undoubtedly cost the lives of soldiers. He should be asked why he was so unsympathetic towards defence and so sympathetic to other departments.” The Prime Minister already has come under pressure from families of servicemen lost on the front lines, who attribute the deaths of their loved ones to the use of lightly armored Land Rover vehicles.

Posted Thursday, March 4 at 1:01 AM CST, 2:01 AM EST, 0701 GMT.

Top editorial and op-ed commentaries in the Thursday editions of the leading U. S. newspapers:

1) In the Washington Post, David Broder challenges his own paper’s reporting on White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. “In the space of 10 days, thanks in no small part to my own newspaper, the president of the United States has been portrayed as a weakling and a chronic screw-up who is wrecking his administration despite everything that his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, can do to make things right.” The articles in question carried the bylines of Dana Milbank and Jason Horowitz. Broder suspects that Emanuel “probably vented his frustrations to some of his old pals in Congress. It’s clear that some of them are talking to the press.” He chides Millbank, who “now is urging Obama to emulate Gordon Brown, who is probably just weeks away from being voted out as Britain’s prime minister, and start bullying people himself.”

2) In the WP, E. J. Dionne challenges Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), whose recent op-ed for the paper blasted Democrats for proposing to use the budget reconciliation process to pass health-care reform legislation. Dionne points out that, under the Bush administration, reconciliation was used to pass tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. Dionne: “I’m disappointed in Hatch, co-sponsor of two of my favorite bills in recent years. One created the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The other, signed last year by Obama, broadly expanded service opportunities. Hatch worked on both with his dear friend, the late Edward M. Kennedy, after whom the service bill was named.”

3) In the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof relates the story of Nujood Ali, a 12-year-old Yemeni girl whose book, “I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced,” has become a bestseller in France and has just been published in the United States. Notes Kristof: “Yemen is one of my favorite countries, with glorious architecture and enormously hospitable people. Yet Yemen appears to be a time bomb. It is a hothouse for Al Qaeda…. It’s no coincidence that Yemen is also ranked dead last in the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap index.” After Nujood showed up in a Yemeni courtroom to demand release from an arranged marriage, local journalists took up her cause.  Her book royalties have enabled her to support her family, to which she now has returned. Kristof:  “At first, Nujood’s brothers criticized her for shaming the family. But now that Nujood is the main breadwinner, everybody sees things a bit differently.”

Posted Wednesday, March 3 at 11:49 PM CST; Thursday, March 4 at 12:49 AM EST, 0549 GMT.

Top stories in Thursday morning’s London papers:

1) The Guardian reports on former Tory leader William Hague’s admission in a BBC Radio 4 interview that he has known “for a few months” of billionaire donor Lord Ashcroft’s “non-dom” status, under which the peer paid taxes only on his British income. The admission drew fire from foreign secretary David Miliband: “Lord Ashcroft has failed to come clean with the leaders of the Conservative party…. And now tax has not been paid, and instead it has been given to the Conservative party for the general election fund.” The situation may be contributing to division within the Conservative party. “Members of David Cameron’s circle believe Hague has mishandled the issue,” the paper reports.

2) In the Times, defence editor Deborah Haynes reports that Prime Minister Gordon Brown may face a difficult situation tomorrow when he goes before the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war. Families of troops killed in Iraq want the panel to confront Brown over cuts in funding for British forces. “They want answers because no one in Government has ever explained why the Snatch Land Rover was not replaced in Iraq and Afghanistan once it became clear that it was vulnerable to roadside bombs,” Haynes reports. A lawyer representing the relatives told the paper: “There can be no confidence that lessons will be learnt from the armoured vehicle debacle unless there is a public inquiry.” The Snatch Land Rover has proven to be vulnerable to the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) employed by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq. 36 British servicemen and one servicewoman have been killed in the vehicles.

3) The Financial Times reports that the Greek government is prepared to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if its partners in Europe decline to help extricate the country from financial crisis, now that it has announced further austerity measures. Prime Minister George Papandreou will be visiting Berlin, Paris and Washington in coming days in an attempt to drum up support. His government may face political unrest in the aftermath of its announcement of a pensions freeze, new taxes, and pay cuts for public-sector workers. The austerity package is the country’s third in three months. The ongoing crisis has shaken global financial markets and prompted fears that global economic recovery may be undermined.