CIA’s flawed torture report, Russia needs a strategic policy to pull up the ruble, US-Togo’s partnership, Canada’s correctional facilities, and Pakistan needs to eliminate terrorism.
THE AUSTRALIAN / Sydney
Questioning the CIA’s flawed torture report
“Torture is abhorrent and unacceptable...,” states an editorial. “Despite that, there are sound reasons to question the US Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on alleged CIA torture after 9/11.... The report overlooks ... the intense pressure on the CIA and other agencies to do whatever was necessary to prevent further mass murder of innocent civilians by terrorists.... [As CIA chiefs] point out, the system of interrogation ... led to the capture of senior al-Qa’ida operatives including 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed ... [and] to the killing of Osama bin Laden. To say this is not to condone the methods that were used; but it does give essential context to the damaging claims in the report. So, too, does the reality that there has been no major terrorist attack on the American homeland in the 14 years since 9/11.”
The Moscow times / Moscow
Russia needs a strategic policy to pull up the ruble
“The objective state of everyday reality in the Russian capital only makes observers smile whenever a senior official – who finds it increasingly difficult to hide his frustration over the falling ruble and oil prices – publicly tries to persuade investors not to cancel their projects in Russia,” writes Ivan Sukhov. “Promising market conditions were the only thing that attracted that venture capital in the first place. When those disappeared, so did [investors’] passing interest in this vast, ethnographically interesting but enormously inconvenient and monstrously inefficient country.”
Daily independent / Lagos, Nigeria
US-Togo’s partnership could aid the fight against Ebola and other threats
“The recent saga of unrest and instability in West and Central Africa is a sobering reminder of the threats to peace and security that we face...,” writes Faure Gnassingbe. “While we [the Togolese Republic] have made great strides over the past decade, our efforts to continue our growth and development could be greatly multiplied with the help of the United States – which we consider our neighbor despite the ocean that separates us.... Our strategic location can be valuable to protect U.S. interests in the region.... Let’s use this trying time to come together and find ways to harness our collective responses into effective proactive strategies.”
National post / Toronto
Canada’s correctional facilities emulate America’s system
“[T]housands of people in many American cities were outraged when a grand jury ... declined to indict any of the officers for ... [Eric Garner’s] obvious manslaughter...,” writes Conrad Black. “This is a legitimate grievance, certainly, but only a small part of the American legal problem.... [The US] ... is not now a very well-functioning democracy. And Canada in some respects, is emulating it.... We have lengthened sentences by legislative usurpation of the discretion of judges, restricted visiting access to inmates by family and friends, reduced rehabilitative facilities, and plod on with the punitive idiocy of prison for non-violent people....”
The Times of India / Mumbai
Pakistan needs a comprehensive approach to fighting terror
“[T]he attack on a school in Peshawar by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan militants has shocked the international community. Over 100 people, mostly students, have been killed by armed jihadis...,” states an editorial. “[T]he immediate trigger for this Peshawar attack appears to be Pakistani military’s ongoing operations in North Waziristan.... This has boomeranged in a terrible manner. Targeting jihadis in North Waziristan while turning a blind eye to the activities of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hafiz Saeed simply won’t do. If Pakistan is to protect itself from descending into complete chaos and protect its children, it must adopt a comprehensive approach to fighting terror.”
