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Файл:Speak and Write like The Economist говори и пиши как The Economist
.pdf
Government, politics, democracy, society
or Reagan’s Californians or Clinton’s Arkansans. These mafi as produce
some rum appointments: Jimmy Carter made his one-time campaign driver, Jody Powell, his press secretary; Bill Clinton made his chum from Miss
Marie’s kindergarten in Hope, Thomas McLarty, his chief of staff. Scandals
are endemic. Harry Truman’s Missouri cronies had a weakness for gifts of
mink coats and freezers (anissue in the 1952 election). As for the antics of
Mr. Clinton’s Arkansas buddies, the less said the better.
Englishmen never will be slaves: they are free to do whatever the
government and public opinion allow them to do.
In Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s, as in much of the South, the fi rst
four rows of seats were for whites only. No more than four rows were
needed, since few whites, and those poor ones, took the bus anyway. But
whether they were fi lled or not, no black could sit there. Blacks sat at the
back, in “Coloured”, where they belonged. Between the two worlds was
a middle section. Blacks could sit there, but if a white needed their seat
they were expected to vacate not one seat, but the whole row, in order to
spare the white the embarrassment of sitting by a nigger.
93% of political spots on the Golf Channel are Republican, on
Comedy Central, by contrast, the ads are 86% Democratic.
Rwanda’s two main tribes, the Hutus and the Tutsis, have skirmished
since pre-colonial times, but organised massacres are a modern evil.
There used to be a lot of movement between the groups, but the Belgian
colonists, who ruled from 1916 until 1962, judged that the tall, thin Tutsis were superior to the shorter, fl at-nosed Hutus, and decided to rule
through them. They deposed Hutu chiefs in favour of Tutsis, favoured
Tutsis in admissions to colonial schools, and created a legacy of ethnic resentment. They also issued every Rwandan with an ethnic identity card; these were to prove an invaluable tool for génocidaires who
wanted to know whom to kill.
Neandertals were dim-witted brutes who lived a crude lifestyle.
Wasn’t there at least a dog Hillary once omitted to kick or a child whose
lollipop she didn’t steal? They talked about linking American power with
American ideals: but it turned out, at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, that
power can corrupt those ideals.
To require senators to shuffl e out of the door when they turn
75rather than waiting to be carried out feet fi rst.
81
Часть I
To do the right deed for the wrong reason, T. S. Eliot wrote, is “the greatest treason” — a familiar one in the world of politics.
The people running Iran are not mystical, millenarian illuminati,
but cold-blooded totalitarians.
The real problems start when politics comes into play.
Britishness (as opposed to the more tribal Englishness) has
become an inclusive identity, based more on values than ancestry.
Secret societies run through the tapestry of Italy’s history like a halfhidden thread.
As an Arab sociologist puts it, in a tribal society you do not buy
loyalty, you only rent it.
What does Islamist mean?
Some call them the “six-pack”. Ever since Bosnia’s election in October 2010 the country has been waiting for the leaders of the six
main parties— two Serbs, two Croats and two Bosniaks— to form
a government.
Palestinian obligations were “musts” while Israeli ones “shoulds”.
Ouagadougu, capital of Burkina Faso— “where people get honor
and respect”.
It was Barry Goldwater, a Republican politician, who pointed out that to
serve in the armed forces, you don’t have to be straight. You only have
to shoot straight.
Parisians, the car dealers say, turn out to be the ones who are
keenest to hide their origins— perhaps to protect their cars from
casual vandalism when motoring on holiday, prompted by their
reputation for haughty arrogance.
Adam Smith’s fi rst book, “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”, “turned the
tables” on Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who believed that society enslaved
man to vanity and ambition. Smith argued, instead, that society taught
man to be good. This tuition started from man’s capacity for “sympathy”:
82
Government, politics, democracy, society
his ability to feel what another man feels. It continued with his capacity
for sympathy squared: his ability to sense what other men feel about
him, putting himself in the shoes of other men putting themselves in his
shoes.
Perhaps people feel little need for corporate social responsibility
when the government cares for them from cradle to grave.
Frankin D. Roosevelt did not have much time for Burma or the Burmese.
The sympathy he felt for Indian demands for independence from Britain
did not extend to that other piece of the British Raj now known as Myanmar. In 1942 he wrote to Winston Churchill: “Iwish you could put the
whole bunch of them into a frying pan with a wall around it and let them
stew in their own juice.”
The brass-hats should be answerable to the government.
One of America’s most admirable characteristics is its belief that it has
aduty of moral leadership.
The incumbent Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who is known
for his chaotic charisma, has run the city competently enough.
One popular revival is the notion of tianxia, or “all under heaven”. This
dates back to the golden age of classical Chinese philosophy— of Confucius, Mencius, Laozi and the rest— in the “warring states” period before China’s unifi cation in 221BC under the fi rst Qin emperor. Tianxia is
widely understood as a unifi ed world dominated by one country (call it
the “middle kingdom”, perhaps), to which neighbours and those beyond
look for guidance and pay tribute.
The representative for Long Island has approached this most sensitive of subjects with the delicacy of a steamroller.
The Lebanese would be rich indeed if they had a pound every time their
country had been described as “on the brink” of violent collapse.
Osama bin Laden built the brand and turned it into a global franchise; his face advertised it, even as he disappeared.
Only after Mossadeq’s ejection was the shah able to become a highoctane dictator.
83
Часть I
Mr Bush’s victory shows how much power a president has in
wartime, even a deeply unpopular president fi ghting a deeply
unpopular war.
Once installed in the presidential palace, he may fi nd it much harder to
continue to be all things to all men.
Demography is like a supertanker; it takes decades to turn
around. It will pose some of China’s biggest problems.
If people are bad at recalling their feelings, they are worse at predicting
them.
The government owns 30% of Eni, and seems happy with its strategy. Of Eni’s current board of nine, six are government appointees,
described as independent; three of them are directors of companies in the business empire of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, and a fourth is a politician of the Northern League, a partner
in Italy’s governing coalition. Mr Scaroni, in turn, is a longstanding
shareholder of Mr Berlusconi’s AC Milan football club.
The Greek fi nance minister, George Papaconstantinou, must feel like
aman who fi nds a one-euro coin on the pavement only to discover he
had earlier dropped a fi ve-euro note.
Merkel is a cautious consensus builder.
McCain has legendary volcanic temper who is a serial erupter.
North Korea is unique among communist countries in having
what amounts to a royal family. The current dictator, Kim Jong Il,
inherited power from his father, Kim Il Sung. The personality cult
extends not only to them, but to Kim senior’s mother, Kang Ban
Suk (“mother of Korea”), to his fi rst wife, Kim Chong Suk (“mother
of revolution”), and to his brother, Kim Chol Ju (“the revolutionary
fi ghter”).
He also wants to cut the number of agencies run by the state from 1,000
to around 800 and to consolidate the New York state’s astonishing 10,000
local governments.
Republicans are a party of white-trash pride.
84
Government, politics, democracy, society
It is one thing to be independent of politicians but quite another to have
discussions with them in a crisis.
They have a policy of blaming the previous government. But they
don’t seem to realise that, after 11 years in power, they are the
previous government.
Nowadays, a Republican candidate must believe not just some but all of
the following things: that abortion should be illegal in all cases; that gay
marriage must be banned even in states that want it; that the 12m illegal
immigrants, even those who have lived in America for decades, must all
be sent home; that the 46m people who lack health insurance have only
themselves to blame; that global warming is a conspiracy; that any form
of gun control is unconstitutional; that any form of tax increase must be
vetoed, even if the increase is only the cancelling of an expensive and
market-distorting perk; that Israel can do no wrong and the “so-called
Palestinians”, to use Mr Gingrich’s term, can do no right; that the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Edu cation and others
whose names you do not have to remember should be abolished Both
parties must survive the cannibalistic ritual known as the primaries.
Media is awash with hysterical reports.
It turns out that the only thing that alarms Europeans more than a swaggering American president is one who seems weak.
Asia accounted for more than half of world output for 18 of the
last 20 centuries. Its growing clout in the world economy is,
therefore, a “restoration” not a revolution.
How did as shrewd a politician as Mr Obama fi nd himself stalemated? If
not checkmated, so early in his presidency?
He is a democrat through and through.
His various appearances before congressional committees resembled
nothing so much as the clubbing of a baby seal.
Even Major League Baseball is considering relocating its 2011
All-Star Game, the fi rst ever slated to be played in the state. To
Arizona’s conservative machos, this one hurts— especially since
it recalls the National Football League’s decision in 1991 to move
85
Часть I
the 1993 Super Bowl to punish Arizona for not making the birthday of Martin Luther King a holiday.
For the Democrats, this is a great opportunity. For years, they have enjoyed a consistent advantage over Republicans on “mommy” issues,
such as education and health care. But Republicans have trounced them
on “daddy” issues, such as killing terrorists and defending the homeland.
The Democrats have lost a lot of elections because they are easy to caricature as the party that thinks “there are no enemies, just friends whose
grievances we haven’t yet accommodated”.
Republicans and Democrats differ sharply as to which mighty institutions pose the greatest threat to the little guy. Democrats, by
and large, think big corporations are the problem. Republicans
think big government is.
But the protection offered by a cradle-to-grave welfare system hides
adark underside.
British government has been running, using nursery rhymes: “Jack
and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. There was none as
extreme weather due to climate change had caused adrought.”
But as Messrs Dornbusch and Edwards pointed out, “at the end of every
populist experiment real wages are lower than they were at the beginning”.
Behind a fi g leaf of constructive engagement.
Mr Steinberg, a professor of modern European history at the
University of Pennsylvania, is fascinated by Bismarck’s complex
personality. He started writing about him because he wanted to
understand how his hero led three wars and unifi ed Germany
without commanding a single soldier, without a big political party backing him, without any experience in government before his
nomination as minister-president of Prussia in 1862 and without
great oratorical skills. Bismarck had near-hypnotic powers over
William. He manipulated him with temper tantrums, tears, hysterical outbursts and frequent threats of resignation. “It is hard to
be king under Bismarck,” sighed the sovereign.
What should really worry policymakers is the unknown unknowns.
86
Law, justice, rules
Law, justice, rules
“
I would rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.
Last year America shut down a fake embassy in South Africa,
complete with the Stars and Stripes and a photo of President
Barack Obama, that had been operating in Ghana for a decade.
Ithad been selling fake visas to America for $6,000 each.
The less people know about how laws and sausages are made, the better
they sleep at night (Bismarck).
Arkansas has an unhappy history of multiple executions: in 1923
a man was taken from his coffi n and put back in the electric chair
after he was found still to be breathing.
Imagine a traffi c-light regulation that says: “On green the driver may
cross the road, unless, under the given circumstances, a reasonable person would consider this to be risky, inadequate or reckless. We now need
a lawyer as a co-driver.”
Does a bill that does nothing actually do something?
Perhaps half of America’s private-sector employers ask job applicants to declare their criminal records, and two-thirds routinely run checks before taking people on. They see it as necessary due diligence. Unfortunately, checks that individual fi rms
believe to be prudent are collectively bad for the 7m Americans
who have spent time in prison and the 70m with a criminal
record.
Fish are slippery characters, with little regard for international agreements or borders. The speediest, such as crescent-tailed bluefi n tuna,
can slice through the ocean at 70 kilometres per hour. Their routes take
them beyond areas that come under the jurisdiction of individual coastal
states, and into the high seas.
Oilmen groom the politicians; politicians do their best for the oilmen. Corporations grease the legislators, legislators return the
favors.
87
Часть I
“The moon was in its seventh house and Jupiter lined up with Mars,” said
Mr Chambers after senators overwhelmingly voted for the ban.
The thicker the rule book, the bigger the headache when it drops
on you.
Many talk of being sovereign as if it were like being pregnant: one either
is or is not.
Prison is an expensive way to make bad people worse.
Mathew, an Irish judge at the turn of the 20th century, is said to have
quipped that justice in England is open to all, “like the Ritz Hotel”.
Sophisticated legal services are somewhat like luxury cars and
handbags, in that a high asking-price is taken as a sign of qua lity. No
one wants to have hired the cheaper fi rm in a high-stakes lawsuit.
Parliament was so quiet you may hear a bill drop.
A generation ago Saadallah Wannous, a Syrian playwright, famously lamented that his people were “sentenced to hope”.
Asking the justice system to reform itself was like tying up a dog with
astring of sausages— the legislative sausage machine.
What happens to our digital property after we die?
Every oil spill has a silver lining— if you are a lawyer, that is.
Winston Churchill thought Parliament should meet for no more
than fi ve months a year.
A former kangaroo skinner faced a kangaroo court.
The hangmen job advertisement, published only in the stateowned Sinhala-language newspaper, drew 178 responses. Applicants included a man with one eye, autorickshaw drivers, retired
military men, labourers and a university student whose many
attempts at securing other employment had failed. Ten aspirants
were rejected, mostly because they were too old or too young.
One woman was turned down on the ground that her gender
would make her too emotional. No other qualifi cations were re-
88
Law, justice, rules
quired, beyond a basic school education. Offi cials worried that
a more erudite class of executioner might be tempted to chuck
in this job for another. Two (anonymous) candidates have been
chosen to fi ll the vacancies. But since neither of the two previous
executioners hanged anybody during their tenure, and one has
since died, training the new recruits poses a challenge.
Suppose you want to buy a table. But you care about orang-utans, indigenous peoples and carbon emissions, so you don’t want it made with
illegally harvested logs. Or suppose you run a chain of furniture shops,
and you don’t want to go to jail for buying illegal timber. Either way, you
face a snag: how to tell if a log is legal?
Rape laws also determine whether consensual sexual activity involving young people is legal. The fi rst recorded law on this was
in England in 1275, which made it an offence to have sex (with
or without her consent) with a “maiden within age”. This was interpreted as meaning below the age of marriage, at that time 12
(Shakespeare’s Juliet was 13 at the time of her romance with Romeo). A 17-year-old and a 15-year-old can have legal sex in one
European Union country (Denmark) but commit a crime if they
canoodle in Britain (though in practice the risk of prosecution
would be minimal).
Some prisons in Brazil are so chaotic that inmates are not released once
their sentences are over. Other prisoners, such as Marcos Mariano da Silva, a mechanic arrested for murder in 1976, are victims of mistaken identity. He spent six years in jail in Pernambuco before the real culprit was
arrested and he was released. Three years later he was stopped by traffi c
police who rearrested him as a fugitive. He spent 13 more years in jail,
contracting tuberculosis. He died last year, hours after hearing that the
state government had lost its appeal against paying him compensation.
Mr Zuma himself once faced corruption charges, escaping trial
by the skin of his teeth on a legal technicality.
Was the ball over the goal-line? (Note to German readers: maybe not at
Wembley in 1966, yes in Bloemfontein in 2010.) Was that sending-off deserved, or a gross miscarriage of justice? Was the referee brilliant, blind
or bribed?
International Criminal Court has no gumshoes or handcuffs of its
own— members must help to bring in the accused.
89
Часть I
The lord’s right to make the peasants, after working all day, sit up and
whip the ponds all night with boughs, to prevent the frogs’music from
disturbing my lord’s slumbers.
Instead of fi nding a needle in the haystack, they are making
more.
If not the land of the free, America is certainly the land of the ingenious
lawyer.
Love, marriage, family, sex,
friendship, children
“
According to myth, Eros carried arrows tipped either in gold or in lead:
the gold ones incited extreme desire; the lead ones killed it.
Why are adult men in India so eager to have their wives breastfeed them?
Male prisoners look for bits of wire to make weapons and stab each
other, she says. “Women look for wire to curl their eyelashes.”
When Mr Trump divorced the fi rst of his three wives, Ivana, he let
the New York tabloids know that one reason for the separation
was that her breast implants felt all wrong.
Egypt was once at the forefront of contraception. In ancient times women inserted a paste made with crocodile dung into their vaginas to prevent pregnancy.
Never give money to an online paramour, however charming.
Be nice to your kids— they choose your nursing home.
Some results are both disturbing and perplexing, such as the prevalence of searches on pornographic sites for videos depicting
sexual violence against women, and the fact that women themselves seek out these scenes at least twice as often as men do.
90
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