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WHAT OTHERS SAY: A hollow ring from



Subject: WHAT OTHERS SAY: A hollow ring from Burma's military junta 


Editorial & Opinion 
WHAT OTHERS SAY: A hollow ring from Burma's military junta 
HONG KONG -- The Burmese junta is seeking to shift the blame for the heroin
trade from the producers to the addicts in Europe and the United States whose
lives have been ruined by the drug. The relationship between producers and
consumers of drugs is always a matter for debate. But lectures to other
countries on their social responsibility for combatting the menace of
narcotics
have a hollow ring when they come from a regime which saw a doubling in the
country's own opium production in the first year after it came to power in
1989. 
It is not just Western youths whose lives are ruined by drug abuse. Addiction
is on the increase throughout South Asia -- yet 60 percent of the world's
opium
supplies come from a country which the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
decided to welcome into its ranks 18 months ago. 
That is enough reason for the boycott. 
South China Morning Post 
 .......................... 
Pope joins the Pinochet fray 
SYDNEY, Australia -- To mark World Peace Day on Jan 1 this year, Pope John
Paul
II issued a statement in defence of human rights. These words appear to make
inexplicable the news that the Vatican wrote to the British Foreign Office
late
last year, urging it to block former Chilean dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet's
extradition to Spain to stand trial on human rights abuses. Instead, the
Vatican argued, he should simply be allowed to go home. 
These connections expose a questionable side of the Chilean church's role
during the dictatorship. But there was another side, too. The church was the
only significant institution allowed to function outside the military's
control
after 1973. It used its independence to defend the persecuted and speak out on
their behalf. 
The Chilean church, in other words, was as divided as Chilean society.
Evidently, the Vatican feels that both church and society are still divided in
Chile and that to put Pinochet on trial risks tearing the country apart again.
Maybe so. But many Chileans are now among those who believe greater harm would
be done if Pinochet is allowed to go free. On Jan 1, the Pope appeared to have
joined them. 
Sydney Morning Herald 
 .......................... 
Again, derailing peace process 
AMMAN, Jordan -- Israel has effectively escalated tension on its northern
border with Lebanon when it 'annexed' the village of Arnoun to its
self-declared 'security zone' in South Lebanon. 
We suspect that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has chosen to
heat up
the conflict with Lebanon and Syria in the run-up to the Israeli general
election next May. 
As his predecessor Shimon Peres learned in 1996, encroaching on more Lebanese
territory or being tough on Hezbollah guerrillas will not improve Israeli
security. The opposite is true. Hezbollah forces are not likely to respond to
the latest Israeli move stoically. 
When Netanyahu attended the funeral of King Hussein not quite two weeks
ago, he
promised a new beginning for the peace process. He returned from the
funeral to
his country saying he was determined to conclude peace treaties with Damascus
and Beirut. 
Typical of the Israeli leader, he never delivers on his promises. In fact,
Netanyahu reneged even sooner on his pledge for peace by setting the stage
once
again for another derailment of the peace process on the Syrian and Lebanese
fronts. 
Jordan Times