By David Bellos, the director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 21/03/10):
Everybody has his own tale of terrible translation to tell — an incomprehensible restaurant menu in Croatia, a comically illiterate warning sign on a French beach. “Human-engineered” translation is just as inadequate in more important domains. In our courts and hospitals, in the military and security services, underpaid and overworked translators make muddles out of millions of vital interactions. Machine translation can certainly help in these cases. Its legendary bloopers are often no worse than the errors made by hard-pressed… Seguir leyendo
By Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba, currently president of Gabon (THE GUARDIAN, 21/03/10):
This month Gabon holds the presidency of the UN security council. It has given me cause to reflect on the state of peace and security in the world today. The more I have thought about it, the more prominent I view the position of Africa within the global community.
The continent has been synonymous with armed conflict for more years than I care to remember – seven of the 17 current UN global peace and security missions are in Africa. If we analyse the origins of these conflicts, we… Seguir leyendo
By Jim Hanson, who served 1st Special Forces Group and writes for the military Web site blackfive.net (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 21/03/10):
The United States has brought millions of dollars and many tons of aid to Haiti, but one thing we brought is not welcome: the American flag. For awhile, it flew over the compound where the Joint Task Force Haiti was operating, but no more. Apparently, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive thought it implied a U.S. occupation, and so, in a pitiful example of political correctness, it was lowered. This is even more ironic given that the French contingent proudly… Seguir leyendo
By Colonel Stuart Tootal, former commander of 3 Para (the first UK battle group to enter Helmand) and the author of Danger Close (THE TIMES, 20/03/10):
On June 4, 2006, a young private soldier of mine put himself in clear view of the enemy with a light anti-tank launcher balanced on his shoulder to engage a Taleban position.
Minutes before he had been hit by a bullet that struck and ignited the magazines on his chest, but he ignored the rounds that cracked in the air around him; he wanted to make sure the rocket he was about to fire… Seguir leyendo
By Colonel Richard Kemp, a former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan and author of Attack State Red (THE TIMES, 19/03/10):
The harsh reality of war hit home again this week with two Royal Anglian soldiers killed in Helmand, only hours after one of their regimental comrades, Captain Martin Driver, died in hospital from horrific wounds he had sustained three weeks earlier.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defence was fighting an altogether different type of battle, but one whose outcome could have unwelcome implications for these soldiers’ surviving comrades. MoD lawyers were in the Supreme Court seeking to… Seguir leyendo
By Joel Mowbray, an investigative journalist living in New York City (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 19/03/10):
When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Monday, the setting, overall message and applause lines will be mostly the same as during other recent visits by various high-level U.S. officials to the pro-Israel lobby.
Although it might look normal, it won’t be.
Over the past decade, elected officials of all levels have appeared before AIPAC to receive warm applause for extolling the virtues of the unique bond shared by the U.S. and… Seguir leyendo
By Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow and research director in public law at the Brookings Institution and Jack Goldsmith, who teaches at Harvard Law School and served as an assistant attorney general in the Bush administration. Both are members of the Hoover Institution’s Task Force on National Security and Law (THE WASHINGTON POST, 19/03/10):
The Obama administration and its critics are locked in a standoff over whether to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other alleged Sept. 11 conspirators in a military commission or in federal court. Both sides are busily ignoring the obvious solution: Don’t bother trying them at… Seguir leyendo
By Michael B. Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 18/03/10):
Israel and America enjoy a deep and multi-layered friendship, but even the closest allies can sometimes disagree. Such a disagreement began last week during Vice President Joseph Biden’s visit to Israel, when a mid-level official in the Interior Ministry announced an interim planning phase in the expansion of Ramat Shlomo, a northern Jerusalem neighborhood. While this discord was unfortunate, it was not a historic low point in United States-Israel relations; nor did I ever say that it was, contrary to some reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin… Seguir leyendo
By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, an editor at the Nigerian newspaper NEXT and the author of the novel Do Not Come to You by Chance (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 18/03/10):
I’ve heard it said that we Nigerians are the happiest people on earth. We’re also accused of being passive about issues that would stir up revolutions in other countries. For instance, it’s been just over a week since ethno-religious violence left hundreds dead around Jos, a city in central Nigeria, but the slaughtering of our fellow citizens has already largely faded from our headlines and conversations. The general response to announcements… Seguir leyendo
By Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP who served as Foreign Secretary between 1995-97 (THE TIMES, 18/03/10):
Was it a cock-up? Or was it a conspiracy? In all probability it was a cocked-up conspiracy. By any standards it was an extraordinary diplomatic disaster. The announcement of Israel’s intention to build 1,600 homes in east Jerusalem antagonised the Palestinians and infuriated the international community.
That, by itself, would be unlikely to cause Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, to lose much sleep. But when you manage to humiliate the US Vice-President, who was visiting when the new homes were announced, and cause its Secretary… Seguir leyendo
By Anthony J. Sadar, a certified consulting meteorologist and co-author of Environmental Risk Communication: Principles and Practices for Industry (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 17/03/10):
Diversity is a big deal on college campuses these days. Yet social diversity is what’s promoted primarily, if not exclusively, not diversity of opinion. In a complex field such as climatology, intellectual diversity should be encouraged to help unravel the what, why and how of the globe’s climate.
A careful, dispassionate look at the enormous complexity of the Earth-atmosphere system and what we think we know about it reveals that we know very little. Mountains of data… Seguir leyendo
By Ahmed Rashid,a Pakistani journalist and the author of Taliban and Descent Into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia (THE WASHINGTON POST, 17/03/10):
While the Obama administration is watching the battlefield in Afghanistan, hoping for a quick weakening of the Taliban, regional powers are ratcheting up tensions in and outside that country. Pakistan and Iran in particular want to ensure that by the time the United States is ready to talk to the Taliban, the region’s future will already be shaped by local powers, limiting Washington’s options. Afghanistan’s ethnic and sectarian divisions are being… Seguir leyendo
By Thomas Cahill, the author of How the Irish Saved Civilization (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 17/03/10):
Why should we celebrate the Irish?
No doubt, several reasons could be proffered. But for me one answer stands out. Long, long ago the Irish pulled off a remarkable feat: They saved the books of the Western world and left them as gifts for all humanity.
True enough, the Irish were unlikely candidates for the job. Upon their entrance into Western history in the fifth century, they were the most barbaric of barbarians, practitioners of human sacrifice, cattle rustlers, traders in human beings (the… Seguir leyendo
By David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party and member of parliament for Witney (THE GUARDIAN, 17/03/10):
In Britain today, too many people are denied the chance to escape poverty and build a better life for themselves and their family. Sadly, this is especially true for people in Britain’s black community. Black pupils are permanently excluded from school at more than twice the rate of white pupils. Some 9,500 black children leave primary school every year unable to read, write and add up properly. And of the 3,000 students who started at Oxford in 2008, only five are black Caribbean… Seguir leyendo
By Hew Strachan, professor of the History of War and Fellow of All Souls, Oxford (THE TIMES, 17/03/10):
Barely a week goes by without a retired general — and sometimes a serving one — hitting the headlines. The trouble is that they do so more often because of who they are, rather than because of what they are saying. In most walks of life professional expertise qualifies its possessor to articulate an opinion, and indeed can create a moral obligation to do so. But in the case of war we deny the serving professionals that right.
Counter-insurgencies are 20 per… Seguir leyendo