What Caught My Eye Today

Portugal - An offer by Portugal to take in detainees released from Guantanamo Bay will bring the U.S. closer to its goal of closing the offshore military prison. That's awfully neighborly of the Portuguese. As many as 50 of the roughly 250 inmates remaining at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba would risk mistreatment if sent back to countries such as China, Algeria and Syria, according to human rights groups. The U.S. has described a lack of resettlement options for them as an obstacle to emptying the prison. Portugal's gesture marks a breakthrough in efforts to find new homes for detainees who would risk persecution or torture in their native countries. I hate to sound like a skeptic, but one wonders if Portugal's motives are completely altruistic. Seriously, these are not model citizens we're talking about in Cuba.Thus far, Albania is the only country that has accepted Guantanamo detainees on humanitarian grounds. If I was a detainee, I'm not sure that I would view Albania as much of an improvement over Guantanamo Bay. Still, I applaud any efforts that will lead to the closure of this prison camp.

Nigeria - Tell me if this sounds familiar. Nigeria's Supreme Court will decide whether the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua was legitimate, a ruling that could bolster his power or mean political chaos in Africa's most populous nation. Of course there are one or two minor differences between this contest and a certain presidential race back in 2000. The court is widely expected to uphold Yar'Adua's landslide victory in the April 2007 general election, despite widespread allegations from foreign and local observers that the vote was flawed. Like I said, there are a few subtle differences. Back in 2000, the vote was certainly flawed, especially in Florida, but the overall result was much closer. Come to think of it, there's another difference. Back in 2000, the dude with fewer votes won. The judgment, against which there can be no appeal, should put an end to nearly two years of legal wrangling that has limited Yar'Adua's authority and unnerved foreign investors in sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy. If the court upholds Yar'Adua's victory, the president will face growing pressure to speed up reforms such as fixing the country's shoddy power sector and improving security in the oil-rich Niger Delta. I'm not sure I follow the logic here. Assuming the voting was flawed--yeah, that would be a stretch--what makes anyone think that by ratifying the victory of the guy who was probably responsible for said flaws that he'll feel motivated to fix the woes of the nation. Oh sure, I hope he will, but I fail to see how sanctioning a stolen election will make that any more likely to happen.

Climate Change (Part I) - European Union leaders closed in on agreements for a 200 billion euro plan to combat the recession and a climate change package. The EU's climate-energy package, the "20-20-20" deal, seeks to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, make 20% energy savings and bring renewable energy sources up to 20% of total energy use. This "20" seems to be a rather prominent figure. I wonder if there is anything to it. I did some checking on the numerological significance of 20 and here's what I came up with. If you add up the digits 2 and 0, you get 2 which suggests "balance, union and receptiveness." And if you happen to be Chinese, 2 is considered a good number as well--as in "good things come in pairs". Then again, maybe 20 was just a nice round number that everyone could agree to.

Climate Change (Part II) - Economic downturn and $40 billion deficit be damned. California is going green. California adopted the nation's most sweeping plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions despite warnings that the plan will put costly new burdens on businesses at a time when the economy is in extreme crisis, with California forecasting a staggering budget gap of $41.8 billion through mid-2010. One major piece of the plan is contingent on the federal government giving California the go-ahead to force automakers to build cleaner cars and trucks. The Bush administration has blocked that law from taking effect, but California officials hope the Obama administration will reverse course. California, the nation's most populous state, has long been in the vanguard of the environmental movement, adopting the nation's toughest restrictions on auto pollution decades ago. Because of its size and market clout, its decisions can have effects far beyond the state, with manufacturers around the country often adapting their products to meet California's stricter standards. Being from California, you'll have to forgive my bias--I say, screw the rest of the country. If we're going to take it on the chin and do what's right for the environment, I say the rest of the country should suffer just as much as we will. So what if they get bent out of shape over the fact that we're affecting their lives without them having any say in the matter. This is the environment we're talking about.