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SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 Adelle Chua, Editor
Opinion
Joyce Pangco Pañares, Issue Editor
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
THE MEANING OF THE ECLIPSE
EDITORIAL
HERODOTUS described it plainly enough: “The sun left his place in the heaven and was invisible, though there was no gathering of clouds and the sky was perfectly clear; and instead of day it became night.” Eclipses have preoccupied the Greeks and Romans, Chinese and Assyrians, Amos and Joel, Gilmour and Waters. They’ve signified different things in different eras: foreboding, good fortune, prefiguration. Across cultures, though, an eclipse has almost always been freighted with meaning—a sight so vivid and unsettling that it must portend something important. Perhaps that’s still true. The total solar eclipse that will ripple across much of the US Monday—in an arc some 70 miles wide, from Oregon to South Carolina—has become a monumental happening. Millions of people are gathering, along with hopes of economic revival and fears of epic traffic jams. “Like Woodstock 200 times over,” says a Nasa official. Why such a frenzy, in these harried times, for a two-minute event? On one level, it’s simply a great show. As the moon passes in front of the sun, the planets and stars will emerge, the solar corona will flicker overhead, temperatures will plummet, animals will freak, people may scream. For an instant, the whole mad clockwork of the universe will reveal itself. As the astronomer Jay Pasachoff once put it, an eclipse is “the perfect alignment, in solemn darkness, of the celestial bodies that mean most to us.” Maybe something more worldly is at work, too. As you’ve no doubt noticed, these are dark days in national life—days of rage and resentment. The worst are full of passionate intensity. A communal act, unburdened by politics, has a forceful appeal amid the turmoil. As Annie Dillard wrote, of an eclipse in 1979: “It looked as though we had all gathered on hilltops to pray for the world on its last day.” An eclipse is just an eclipse, of course. It won’t solve America’s deepening dysfunctions. But perhaps, in drawing so many together, it can offer a reminder of common bonds long forgotten. As millions of Americans look up, if only momentarily, from their phones, maybe they can also look beyond the pettiness of so much of their politics. Among a crowd of strangers gazing at the unnerving splendor above, they might find a brief moment of grace. Bloomberg Editorial Board
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THE ABOMINABLE CABBIE
M
ANY Metro Manila dwellers have an image of the typical taxi driver in their heads.
Sporting a red shirt, he stops reluctantly when you flag him down. If you are lucky, he rolls down his windows so you can hear each other when you negotiate. He makes you feel defensive about your destination, or your decision not to take other forms of transportation instead. Even the weather, sometimes. When you tell him where you are goaing, he just drives away dismissively making you wonder whether you did not just talk to a ghost. That, or he makes it known that going to your part of town is an absolute inconvenience to him. Plus 20, you offer, and he laughs as though you were a child. Plus 100, he says, until you meet halfway at 50. This is on a good day. Again, if you’re lucky, he agrees to let you into his vehicle. Other times he mumbles that the traffic is terrible, or he needs to stop by soon for a meal, or he is going somewhere else, or your destination is not along his way. You wonder when cabs started to have a pre-determined route. Settle into your seat and get a whiff of how ill-maintained the vehicle is. You think twice about resting your back on the curduroy seat cover—it looks like it has not been washed in months. Look around and notice the grimy interiors. While driving, the driver grumbles about the traffic, again and again, and if it’s really bad asks to jack up the tip. When you finally pay, they scold you if you do not have a smaller bill. They never give you back the change you are entitled to, either. You would be embarrassed to ask for it.
SAN FRANCISCO, California—Last Thursday, my sister and two of our cousins trooped to the historic Paramount Theater in Oakland for a milestone event in their lives—their naturalization day. United States immigration law provides that a permanent resident— what we usually call a “green card holder”—may opt to be naturalized as an American citizen after five years
Not all taxi drivers are like this, of course. There are decent, courteous and honest ones—woe to their colleagues who smear their name and their profession. Unfortunately, the deplorable behavior of erring drivers is justified by a representative of a taxi operators’ group. Lawyer Bong Suntay of the Philippine National Taxi Operators Association said cab drivers asking for additional fees is just akin to surges in Grab and Uber. Suntay also said drivers stand to lose money if they bring passengers to places with heavy traffic, because they would be thinking of the high boundary they are supposed to meet. But the burden to earn more should not be passed on to hapless consumers, especially now when they find themselves needing taxis with Uber’s suspension and its effect on the price of Grab rides these days. The legal wrangling will continue but in the meantime, commuters are left with even less choices in going from one placetoanother,giventhesorrystateofpublictransportation— from the MRT and LRT to buses and jeepneys. There is no excuse for greed or arrogance. If Suntay were truly concerned about how taxi drivers feel, then he should lead his organization to lower the onerous boundaries that lead them to forget that their business has a semblance of public service. Then again, if the government were truly concerned about changing the lives of its people, it would seek to actually improve it, not make it stagnant or worse. It would create conditions where drivers are motivated, are behaved, and feel no need to pull one over their customers.
BECOMING FIL-AMERICAN of continuous residence. Actually the immigrant must have been in residence in the US for two and a half of those five years, but five years is what’s best to bear in mind. Some people choose to retain Philippine citizenship for the duration of their residence in the US; this is not
unusual. My two cousins had been living in the Bay Area for close to 20 years before deciding to be naturalized. My sister, ever efficient and by the book, filed for citizenship five years to the day she arrived. Thus it was that the three of them found themselves in Paramount Theater
POP GOES THE WORLD
on the same day raising their hands in an oath to “renounce and abjure” their former nationality, even if they had come into the country years apart. The lavishly-decorated art deco theater, recently restored, gleaming in gold and copper and basking in the warm glow of golden light, was filled
JENNY ORTUOSTE with a throng that packed it to the rafters. There were 1,107 new citizens in the orchestra area, while the balcony and loge were packed with as many Turn to B2
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BECOMING...
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family members and well-wishers. The oath takers came from 90 countries. Some of those states no longer exist or now have different names. Mexico was the most represented, Philippines the fourth. Second and third were India and China. The cheering, hooting, and clapping shook the venerable Paramount. The officials present from the State Department, Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly Immigration and Naturalization Services or INS), Social Security Administration, and other government agencies beamed as they shared in the rejoicing of the new citizens. What was glorious about that experience was the diversity of people in that venue. Everyone had come from all over the world for various reasons. For my cousins, it was to make a fresh start. For my sister, to be with family. All three wanted to explore the opportunities and learn from the challenges that living in a new country poses. Those from other countries, however, came over for reasons that were more tragic or complicated. “Human rights are better here,” said a man from the Middle East. Others were escaping poverty, oppression, genocide, persecution. They found a haven in the US. When the “Star-Spangled Banner” was sung, everyone fervently raised their voices, hand over heart, grateful to officially belong here. For my sister, there was a moment of pain when she said the words “I renounce and abjure.” I pointed out that Philippine laws allow for dual citizenship, and that is always an option down the road. Although her Filipino-ness is inextricably a part of her identity, to take on another nationality was not a step she had taken lightly; our cousins had taken decades to decide to do so. Still, being an American citizen doesn’t mean, my sister says, that she feels less Filipino. She joins the ranks of Filipino-Americans and the greater community of Filipino-X, where many who were born in the motherland joined the diaspora for their various reasons, spreading the gospel of bayanihan and adobo all over the world. After the oathtaking, the new citizens received their certificates of naturalization and listened to a music video of “America the Beautiful.” Some stayed to submit their applications for US passports to officials who had set up a booth. Others hung around to take photos, posing with little US flags and their naturalization certificates. Everyone was dressed for the occasion; men wore suits, women frocks and high heels. I had laughed at my sister for wearing her stilettos, but after seeing everyone else I conceded that she was, after all, appropriately dressed. It was a day of bittersweet joy, but also of gratitude, excitement, a new beginning. As new Fil-Americans, my sister’s and cousins’ journeys through life now take on a different dimension. As I took photos and shared their happiness under the glittering ceiling of the Paramount, I wished them good fortune, brave adventures, and the best of all that their new country has to offer. Dr. Ortuoste is a California-based writer. Follow her on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @jensdecember, @ artuoste
By Brad Taylor
Maria Alexandrova, principal dancer of Russias Bolshoi Ballet ,performs a scene from the contemporary Spanish dancer/choreographer Blanca Li’s twowoman show called Goddesses & Demonesses during a dress rehearsal before opening night at the City Center in New York on March 30. AFP
By Timothy A. Clary NEW YORK CITY—You shoot a lot of pictures when you’re shooting dance. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s ballet, or modern dance, or ballroom dance—every time, you have one frame that’s just perfect. It can be something subtle, like a hand or a foot. But there is always one where everything is just perfect. I suppose that’s why I enjoy shooting it so much—it’s a nice feeling having captured a perfect shot. But there is another one. You see, I’m the worst dancer in the world. When I was little, my Mom put my sister and me into ballroom dancing lessons. It was a total flop. I liked it, I just couldn’t do it. In high school, you had to dance to meet girls and I just couldn’t dance. So to see these people, who are the best in the world... I’m kind of envious of anyone who can do this. I wish I could do it, but I can’t, so I’ll do the next best thing—I’ll take pictures of it. I’ve found that whatever type of dance there is, it all seems to point to ballet. Whether they are dancing modern or tango, they all seem to
have the same ballet training to give them those perfect poses. It just all seems to revolve around ballet. Ballet is my favorite to photograph. I think out of all the dance that you can see, ballet would be the number one. Because it’s just so beautiful. It doesn’t matter what ballet it is, or what company it is. It’s just beautiful to watch. The men and the women. It’s just aesthetically beautiful. Sometimes it’s just a foot. Or the way they arch their back or point their hands. Or just a simple movement. And then you have the shows, the outfits. There is just something that sucks you into watching them. They do stuff that no-one else can do. I mean, who can move like that? Over the years, I’ve witnessed some funny moments. One time I was at the child tryouts for the School of American Ballet. And there was this one little boy who was misbehaving a bit. And the director was there at the time and told him to keep it down, but the kid kept talking. So the director said, “Don’t you want to be a dancer and be in the Nutcracker?” And the kid, without skipping a beat,
said, “No, my Mom is making me do this.” Everyone around just smiled at that one. I have to admit that once I got into it, I decided that maybe my kid would succeed where her old man had failed and put her in ballet class when she was four years old. But I guess she has my genes in that respect because that was as big a flop as me with ballroom dancing. She was having none of it. As I went to more and more of these things, I also got to know a lot of the dancers, which has been a nice benefit. On top of being able to do what they do, they’re also all very interesting people. They all have the same walk, the same medical problems. Dancing, especially the ballet, is very difficult on the body. Some of them have careers that are pretty long and some of them burn out pretty quickly. Funnily enough, I don’t like to go and just watch ballet. I need to have a camera with me. It’s hard to sit and watch something once you’ve shot it. You’re just itching to capture those moments that you’re seeing. It’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do. But I can’t do it, so this is the next best thing. AFP
HOW TO BEAT NORTH KOREA AT NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL
“STRATEGIC PATIENCE” is out as the US approach to North Korea, and “strategic accountability” is the new term of art. That’s according to an op-ed article by Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “The object of our peaceful pressure campaign,” they write, “is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” While I heartedly approve of finally providing clarity beyond President Donald Trump’s bombastic statements, we should be realistic. I understand the reasons for the message—not the least of which is a shot across the bow to China—but let me deliver some tough love: North Korea is not going to give up its nuclear weapons, and any discussion indicating otherwise is wishful thinking. There is only one way the Korean Peninsula will be “denuclearized,” and it’s through war. Not a surgical strike against a single facility, but a bloodbath—as Secretary Mattis knows. Kim wants nuclear weapons for the sole purpose of preventing the fall of his regime to outside forces. The US can officially state that it has no interest in regime change, but Kim knows what happens when a dictator like him acquiesces. President George H.W. Bush went to war with Saddam Hussein, but stopped short of removing him from power. In return, Saddam had to forgo
his programs for weapons of mass destruction and submit to United Nations inspections. This he did, and a little over a decade later, President George W. Bush destroyed Saddam’s regime. That same president also persuaded Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi to give up his nuclear ambitions and rejoin the world of respected nations. Qaddafi complied, even helping the US in the war on terrorism. A decade later, Barack Obama’s secretary of state gleefully bragged of Qaddafi, “We came, we saw, he died.” Kim is only 33 years old and plans to be the Supreme Leader for the rest of his life. He has no interest in what any current administration says, because the next one can change its mind— and likely will. That’s why he will never, ever, succumb to international pressure to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear capability. Sanctions are often held out by the so-called experts as the solution. They point out how the latest set was put in place by a vote of 15-0 at the UN Security Council—evidence that the entire world is behind them. But this is at least the seventh set of UN sanctions against North Korea passed unanimously since 2006—yet the Kim regime is now on the verge of a nuclear-tipped ICBM. I’m sure this time it will be different. Sanctions would only work against Kim if he came home to dinner one day and there was no food. It’s going to take a while for that to occur. Some have pointed to the
apparent success of sanctions against Iran, which led to the international agreement to freeze its nuclear weapons programs. But the comparison is flawed for several reasons. First, Iran was just beginning its nuclear ambitions. North Korea, by the latest estimations, already has 60 fully functional nuclear weapons. Second, while Iran is not a democratic utopia by any stretch of the imagination, it does hold elections and has a middle class that can express a voice, and thus sanctions have bite. North Korea has no such institutions, and Kim does not care about his people, only about the survival of his regime. It’s a simple equation, really: Denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula will require force. The weapons and the Kim regime are permanently intertwined. Deterrence theory isn’t that complicated. In order to alter a state’s behavior, one threatens something that state holds more valuable than the behavior in question. Yet in the case of North Korea, they’re one and the same. Saying we’ll destroy the regime if it continues its nuclear program will not alter the action precisely because Kim believes that losing his nuclear capability will cause the destruction of his regime. Why does Kim feel the need to develop a missile with the capability to strike America? In part because he hears the rhetoric of US officials such as Senator Lindsey Graham, who said, “If there’s going to be a war
… it will be over there. If thousands die, they’re going to die over there. They’re not going to die here.” That’s a signal to Kim that his current capability isn’t enough to ensure his survival—but developing the ability to strike the continental US might be. I’m not saying that we should roll over and let the regime do whatever it wants. We should continue with sanctions and to push all other pressure points that are available, but with a clear understanding of what we can and cannot accomplish. Yes, Americans face great risks associated with North Korea’s nuclear program, but some of them are clearly overblown. For example, I hear a lot of talk about “nuclear blackmail” and how we’ve pretty much had enough of it. But I’m honestly confused by this argument. When, in the entire history of our interaction with North Korea, has the US succumbed to a threat? This year we planned our annual Foal Eagle military exercise with South Korea, and Pyongyang screamed that they’d obliterate the South if we went ahead. We did so. Nothing happened. That occurs every year. Likewise, when Washington started generating support for this latest round of sanctions, Pyongyang stated that if they passed the UN, America would feel the pain a “thousand-fold.” Yet the sanctions passed, and no pain has been felt. And will that change if the North Koreans develop the ability to strike the US? No, for two reasons. First, Kim solely cares about the
survivability of his regime. It makes no sense for North Korea to attack us knowing our response would be its destruction. It’s why all this talk about Kim threatening the US forces on Guam is ridiculous. There is no way the North Koreans would ever actually strike Guam. That would be like getting into a shouting match in a bar, and instead of hitting the belligerent drunk, kicking his dog. You’ve done nothing to alter your opponent’s ability to fight, and given him every reason to take you down. Second, the crisis has reenergized the Strategic Defense Initiative debate from the Reagan years. If we had continued development of that system after the fall of the Berlin Wall, this entire discussion would be moot. Unfortunately, the Cold War ended, and with it most of our desire to develop a competent anti-ballisticmissile defense. Currently, we have a nascent, inconsistent ability to defeat ICBMs; but it will get better because of Kim’s threat, and a hell of a lot faster than North Korea’s ability to develop an ICBM reentry vehicle. That, in my mind, is the way to go. In the end, there are two ways to defeat blackmail: Kill the blackmailer, or make his threat irrelevant. In this case, killing him is inordinately painful, but making the threat irrelevant is not. We will never get Kim to give up his nuclear weapons, but making them worthless is not a bridge too far. Bloomberg
World
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WRITER NABBED FOR MURDERS 22 YEARS AGO BEIJING—Life may be stranger than fiction for an award-winning Chinese crime writer who has been arrested in connection with a quadruple-homicide that took place more than two decades ago. For 22 years, police in eastern Zhejiang province tried to crack the cold case of how a family ended up dead in the guesthouse they ran. They filled stacks upon stacks of notepads with possible suspects and leads, only to learn earlier this month that the answer may have been hiding in plain sight at the local bookstore. According to a police statement, Liu Yongbiao, a 53-year-old author, was arrested last week at his home in neighboring Anhui province along with a villager with the surname Wang. They have been charged with and confessed to the murders. Authorities told The Paper, a Chinese publication, that Liu remarked as he was being handcuffed: “I’ve been waiting for you here all this time.� Liu, who was a member of the prestigious Communist Party-led China Writers Association, worked with one of the country’s largest publishing houses and had a novel turned into a television series. In the preface to his novel “The Guilty Secret,� according to The Paper, the writer revealed that he was working on a sequel starring a wordsmith who commits a series of murders but is never caught. AFP
KOREAN ARRESTED FOR DUPING THAIS INTO SEX TRADE BANGKOK, Thailand—A South Korean man accused of duping over 20 Thai women into forced prostitution in his home country has been arrested in Bangkok, an officer said Saturday. Kim Hyoung Joon, 39, is believed to be part of a transnational gang funneling Thai women into the sex trade in South Korea, and his arrest follows efforts by Bangkok and Seoul to dismantle the group. Thai police said Joon promised women jobs as masseuses in South Korea. But upon their arrival they were instead forced into sex work by pimps who seized their passports and blocked any attempts at escape. “More than 20 women have been lured by this gang over the past two to three years,� said Songsak Raksaksakul, the deputy director of Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations (DSI). “Most of the victims are between 25 and 40 years old,� he added. “Pimps monitored them all the time.� Joon was arrested at his Bangkok apartment on Thursday and charged with human trafficking. AFP
LEBANON ARMY BATTLES ISIS ON SYRIA BORDER BEIRUT, Lebanon—Lebanese troops launched an offensive against the Islamic State group on Saturday close to the Syrian border where the jihadists have been active for several years. The operation follows one by Shiite militant group Hezbollah last month against jihadists in another border area further south. Hezbollah is deeply embroiled in the civil war that has raged in neighboring Syria since 2011, fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The Lebanese army has sought to keep out of the conflict but has been forced to take action since jihadists of IS and then Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front assaulted the border town of Arsal in 2014 and abducted 30 soldiers and police. “In the name of Lebanon, in the name of kidnapped Lebanese soldiers, in the name of martyrs of the army, I announce that operation ‘Dawn of Jurud’ has started,� army chief General Joseph Aoun said Saturday. He was referring to two mountainous border areas -- Jurud Ras Baalbek and Jurud al-Qaa -- where IS has been active. “The army is confronting the Daesh terrorists to chase them out and recover territory,� army spokesman General Ali Kanso said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. “We have no fear of Daesh.� Kanso said the army believed there were around 600 IS fighters in the two areas, controlling some 120 square kilometers (46 square miles) of territory. AFP
IN MEMORIAM. People write messages on the ground of the Las Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona on Saturday, in tribute to the victims of the Barcelona attack, two days after a van ploughed into the crowd, killing 14 persons and injuring over 100. Drivers ran over pedestrians in two separate, quick-succession attacks in Barcelona and another popular Spanish seaside city. AFP
CHINA CRACKS DOWN ON SPENDING SPREES B
EIJING—China is to restrict foreign investments in sports clubs, real estate and entertainment and is banning investment in pornography and “unauthorized� military technology. The new rules were announced Friday by the government, which had previously encouraged overseas spending sprees, but then warned late last year of “irrational� acquisitions amid fears that powerful conglomerates were racking up dangerous debt levels. The announcement came days after British football club Southampton said it had entered into a partnership with Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng, with press reports saying he and his family had paid 200 million ($259.5 million) for an 80 percent stake. “Foreign investments that do not conform to China’s efforts towards peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and to macroeconomic regulation are subject to restriction,� said the government,
adding it wanted to “prevent risks.� Chinese firms will no longer be able to invest in conflict zones and places that do not have diplomatic ties with China. The rules also ban investments that could harm the country’s interests and security. High-profile Chinese deals in recent years have grabbed the limelight including Fosun’s takeover of Club Med, HNA’s stakes in Deutsche Bank and Hilton hotels, Anbang’s purchase of New York’s historic Waldorf Astoria, and Wanda’s control of Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment and 20 percent of the Atletico Madrid football club. But authorities now appear to be concerned about the influence of these conglomerates, their mazes of subsidiaries and debt, and their
capacity to trip up the Chinese economy. There have been indications since July of mounting government pressure. Wanda has announced the sale of 77 of its hotels and 13 tourism projects to Chinese real estate developers Sunac and R&F properties for a whopping $9.3 billion. Beijing has also ordered Anbang to sell all of its overseas assets, according to Bloomberg. The entire private sector has suffered the consequences. The only companies still permitted to make overseas investments are firms “supporting the real economy� or working with new technologies. As a result, Chinese non-financial sector overseas investment plummeted 46 percent in the first half of 2017. Meanwhile, China’s first “cyber court� was launched on Friday to settle online disputes, as the legal system attempts to keep up with the explosion of mobile payment and e-commerce.
Residents of the eastern city of Hangzhou -- home to e-commerce giant Alibaba -- can now register their internet-related civil complaints online and wait to log onto to their trial via videochat. The cyber court will “offer regular people an efficient, low-cost solution to these new kinds of disputes that take place on the internet,� Du Qian, the cyber-court chief justice, told the official Supreme People’s Court news agency. “Not only will this make lawsuits as convenient as online shopping, but it will also give online shopping the same degree of judicial protection as consumption at brick-andmortar stores.� The court will handle cases such as online trade disputes, copyright lawsuits and product liability claims for online purchases. China is home to the world’s largest number of internet users -- 731 million at the end of last year -- and e-commerce is a vital part of the government’s efforts to turn China into a consumer demand-driven economy. AFP
VIDEO SHOWS WIDOW OF NOBEL LAUREATE LIU BEIJING—The widow of late Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo has resurfaced in an online video, weeks after her friends raised concerns about her fate at the hands of the authorities. Liu Xia was last seen in governmentreleased images of her dissident husband’s sea burial on July 15, and China has been under international pressure to free her and let her travel abroad. Liu Xia, 56, has been under de facto house arrest since her husband won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, despite having never been charged with a crime. “I am recovering in a province outside of Beijing. I ask you to give me time to mourn,� said Liu in the minutelong video posted Friday on YouTube, a website blocked in Communistruled China. Dressed in a black t-shirt and black trousers, Liu Xia was sitting on a sofa next to a coffee table while holding a lit cigarette. “I will see you one day in top form. While Xiaobo was sick, he also looked at life and death with some distance, so I also have to readjust. I will be with you again when my situation generally improves,� she said. The name of the film-maker, the place and date of filming, were not specified, but it would be unusual for the video to be released without the
knowledge of the authorities. Plainclothes security agents guard Liu Xia’s Beijing apartment. “It is certain that she was forced by the authorities to make this video,� Hu Jia, a Chinese dissident and friend of the couple, told AFP on Saturday. “How can anyone who does not even enjoy freedom express her will freely?� Ye Du, another dissident close to Liu’s wife added: “She said that to protect her family, because the current situation is that even her family can not get in touch with her.� Liu Xia’s lawyer, who has filed a complaint to the United Nations, has accused the Chinese government of her “enforced disappearance�. But the local authorities have said she is a free citizen who was merely too grief-stricken by her husband’s death to be in touch with any friends or lawyers. Beijing has arrested a string of critics, activists and human rights lawyers as part of a campaign to tighten controls on civil society that began in 2012 when President Xi Jinping took power. This latest incident comes as the ruling Communist Party prepares for a congress later this year that is expected to cement Xi’s position as the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation. AFP
ALIVE. This handout file photo provided by the Shenyang Municipal Information Office shows late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo’s wife Liu Xia (left) and her younger brother Liu Xiaoxuan, holding flowers as they scatter Liu’s ashes at sea off the coast of Dalian, Liaoning Province, on July 15. China has been under international pressure to free the widow and let her travel abroad. AFP
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SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor
World
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
TRUMP FIRES BANNON; ‘GREAT MANIPULATOR’
W
ASHINGTON—When Steve Bannon gave a free-wheeling interview to a small left-wing magazine this week, he spoke as if he—the White House’s ‘great manipulator’—was back on top.
Steve Bannon, US President Donald Trump’s chief political strategist. AFP
By Friday, President Donald Trump had sacked him. However, in a matter of hours Bannon vowed to go to war for the president and keep fighting what he called his enemies in Congress and elsewhere. Some reports suggest that Trump’s strategy chief already knew his days were numbered when he picked up the phone to make a surprise call to the American Prospect. But he gave no hint of it as he regaled editor Robert Kuttner with plans to push aside his rivals within Trump’s administration and start a trade war with China. “To me, the economic war with
China is everything. And we have to be maniacally focused on that,” he declared. This week, however, the national security establishment was focused on North Korea’s nuclear threat—a crisis dismissed as a “sideshow” by Bannon. And much of the media and the US public was focused on a threat much closer to home: white nationalism and the rise of the so-called “alt-right.” In his interview, Bannon was dismissive of the torch-bearing “clowns” in polo shirts and khakis who brought violence to Charlottesville last week. But—for all he would like to be seen as the mastermind behind Trump’s improbable rise to power —Bannon’s image is still linked to those white nationalists. Before joining Trump’s campaign, Bannon the self-described “economic nationalist” was the publisher of Breitbart, the provocative right-wing news outlet which
he rejoined within hours of leaving the White House. This site was and is, in Bannon’s own words, a platform for the altright, a loosely defined movement of mainly young white men espousing far-right and white nationalist ideas. Any temptation to laugh off the alt-right as online poseurs evaporated on Saturday when a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville degenerated into violence. A suspected Nazi sympathizer then drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism demonstrators, leaving one woman dead. When Trump himself drew fire for defending some of the rightwing crowd as “fine people,” eyes also turned to Bannon, as the figurehead of the “nationalist” camp within the White House. In his first comments since his departure was announced, Bannon vowed to keep fighting for the president from outside the White House. AFP
MIAMI—Eclipse-chasers are a dedicated crew of scientists who travel the globe to catch a few moments in eerie darkness, and even after seeing dozens of eclipses, they say they can’t get enough. Also known as “umbraphiles,” these self-described addicts live their lives in pursuit of the intense experience of falling under the Moon’s shadow. “The sudden onset of twilight was so surreal and so electrifying,” recalled Fred Espenak of the first total solar eclipse he saw in the United States back in 1970. “It is such an incredible, sensory-overload kind of event,” he told AFP. Once it was over, he said he “immediately started thinking about future eclipses.” Espenak, now 65, is a retired NASA astrophysicist who goes by the moniker “Mr. Eclipse.” He has been to 27 eclipses, and seen 20 of them -- cloudy weather interfered with the rest. Each one is unique, he says -the way the twilight falls in the middle of the day, casting shadows on the Earth; hearing birds return to their nests; feeling the temperature suddenly drop. The most memorable, he says, was an eclipse he traveled to in India in 1995 with about 35 other people. AFP
6 US COPS SHOT IN SAME NIGHT, 1 DIES IN FLORIDA
ECLIPSE FESTIVAL.
WASHINGTON—Six American police officers were shot in one night in the states of Florida and Pennsylvania, one fatally, prompting President Donald Trump to tweet his support for the slain officer’s department early Saturday. In the central Florida city of Kissimmee—close to the Walt Disney World Resort and other amusement parks—Officer Matthew Baxter was killed and Sergeant Sam Howard was left in “grave critical condition and the prognosis does not look good,” police chief Jeff O’Dell said at a news conference early Saturday. The officers had been checking on suspicious people in an area known for drug activity around 9:30 pm Friday (0130 GMT Saturday). Five minutes later, authorities received a call that officers had been shot. First responders found the officers “gravely wounded” in the road, O’Dell said. AFP
Costumed performers greet children and their parents at the familyfriendly Oregon Eclipse Festival on Friday at Big Summit Prairie ranch in Oregon’s Ochoco National Forest near the city of Mitchell. Oregon Eclipse 2017, produced by Symbiosis, is a seven-day international gathering celebrating the total solar eclipse on Monday. (See story on right). AFP
POLICE: FINLAND STABBING WAS TERROR ATTACK HELSINKI, Finland—Police are now investigating a stabbing spree in Finland that left two people dead as a terrorist attack, police said Saturday, identifying the suspect as an 18-year-old Moroccan citizen. “The incidents were initially investigated as murders, but in light of further information received during the night, the offences include now murders with terrorist intent and their attempts,” police said in a statement. The suspect’s “identity is known to the police. He is an 18-year-old Moroccan citizen,” it said, providing no other details about him. Police shot and wounded the knifewielding suspect on Friday, arresting him minutes after an afternoon stabbing rampage at a busy market square in Turku in southwestern Finland. Police on Saturday raised the number of injured in the attack from six to eight, adding that the injured included an Italian national and two Swedes. The other victims were all Finns. Police also arrested five people in a Turku apartment overnight. “There was a raid and we have now six suspects in custody, the main suspect and five others,” detective super-
ECLIPSE-CHASERS TROT THE GLOBE, ADDICTED TO SHADOW
intendent Markus Laine of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) told AFP. “We are investigating the role of these five other people but we are not sure yet if they had anything to do with (the attack)... We will interrogate them, after that we can tell you more. But they had been in contact with the main suspect,” Laine said. In June, Finland’s intelligence and security agency Supo raised the country’s terror threat level by a notch, from “low” to “elevated”, the second notch on a four-tier scale. It said at the time it saw an increased risk of an attack committed by the the so-called Islamic State (IS) group. Police have said they are collaborating with the Finnish Immigration Service and international authorities in their investigation. “Several national authorities are participating in the investigation. We are also working together with our foreign colleagues to investigate the case,” it said in a tweet. The suspect is being treated in hospital in intensive care for a gunshot wound to the thigh. The motive for the attack was not yet known. AFP
COLORFUL GARB. Three women wearing traditional costumes talk at a park in Yekaterinburg during a folk fest for the celebrations of the 294th anniversary of the city on Saturday. The city of Yekaterinburg will host several games of the FIFA Football World Cup 2018. AFP
SPAIN ATTACKER SHOWED ‘NO SIGN OF RADICALISATION’ MELOUIYA, Morocco—Residents of Melouiya, a village high in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, are in shock at the news two of their sons were implicated in terror attacks in Spain. The twin terror attacks left 14 people dead and some 120 wounded. A traditional tent set up on a rocky patch of ground near the rough stone house of the Oukabir family, originally intended for a wedding reception, has been turned into a funeral tent. “Joy has given way to sadness and pain,” said Abderrahim, in his forties, an uncle of the Oukabir brothers. Driss Oukabir, 27, was arrested in the Spanish town of Ripoll on Thursday just hours after a van sped into crowds on the busy Las Ramblas avenue in central Barcelona, leaving 13 people dead. His brother Moussa, 17, was one of five “suspected terrorists” shot dead after knocking down pedestrians in the Catalan seaside resort of Cambrils in a second attack in the early hours of Friday. AFP