World’s most corrupt nations? Afghanistan at No. 2
By Ben Arnoldy | 11.17.09
It turns out Afghanistan is not the most corrupt country on earth. That distinction goes to government-free Somalia, according to a new ranking of 180 nations released Tuesday by Transparency International.
But there’s unlikely to be cheers in the palace of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is under heavy international pressure to clean up his government. Afghanistan came in second worst, slipping down two ranks from last year:
Most corrupt countries:
1. Somalia
2. Afghanistan
3. Burma (Myanmar)
4. Sudan
5. Iraq
Close behind are Chad, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Haiti.
The least corrupt are all highly developed nations, and most of the top 10 are liberal democracies, save authoritarian-bent Singapore.
The least corrupt:
1. New Zealand
2. Denmark
3. Singapore and Sweden (tie)
5. Switzerland
The US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, expressed doubts to President Barack Obama about sending additional troops to the Afghan war given the problems of corruption and legitimacy surrounding Mr. Karzai’s regime. In response, Karzai’s government has announced a number of new anticorruption efforts this week, including a special court to try senior officials and a new anticorruption taskforce.
The Monitor spoke with Afghanistan’s anticorruption czar about why the problem has proven so difficult to lick:
Nearly a year into his job, [Mohammad Yusin] Osmani and his Office of Oversight for Anti-Corruption has installed public hotlines and complaints boxes, drafted anticorruption plans with various ministries, and instigated one high-profile takedown of customs agents at the airport. But so far his group has only sent 15 cases to law enforcement agencies, resulting in just a handful of arrests.
The absence of punishment for corrupt officials raises questions about whether the new office will have real teeth either. The problem with the current effort, says Osmani, is that his office lacks the staff and mandate to investigate and prosecute cases. Instead, he must forward what his group finds to the attorney general’s office, which is taking months on some cases.
Mr. Osmani’s office has received training from countries that scored well on the Transparency International list: Singapore (ranked 3 out of 180), United Kingdom (17), and United States (18). They have also received help from Indonesia, which clocked in with the bottom of the pack at 111.
The global nongovernmental organization says it bases its rankings on 13 different expert and business surveys measuring perceptions of public sector fraud.
In Afghanistan, corruption isn’t an abstract perception but something that nearly everyone – from the richest businessmen to the poorest fruit vendors – have experienced personally.
For example:
•Farhad Ghafoor, vice president of business development for the telecommuincations firm Rana, says a university chancellor once threatened to OK his contract bid only if the cost estimate was raised and the surplus passed under the table.
•Noor Agha, a fruit vendor in Kabul, says the police regularly shake him down for bribes so that he can operate his streetside stall.
•Mir Mohammad, an elderly man living on the poor hillsides of the city, says his son must work odd jobs to pay for private classes since the government universities ˆ supposedly free ˆ ask for huge (illegal) “admission fees.”
•Haji Mir Rahman, head of Kabul’s fruit depot, says police corruption is rampant on the roads. Truckers who drive through the Khyber Pass to Kabul, including Farouq Amjed and Alam Gir, say the number of Afghan police checkpoints asking for money has gone up since the summer. Mr. Amjed says the bribes range from 100 to 1,000 Afghanis ($2 to $20) and that there can be as many as 20 checkpoints on that road.
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Egypt: A $10 down payment to find a spouse
By Sarah A. Topol | 11.16.09
• A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
CAIRO – Ahmed and Shereen (whose names have been changed at their request) sip tea across from each other. Shereen giggles as Ahmed anxiously jiggles his leg. In the foyer of Life, a marriage office in downtown Cairo, the young Egyptians are meeting for the first time under the watchful eye of Life’s secretary. Both are looking for a spouse.
Egyptian society venerates marriage and has a long history of khatabas (traditional matchmakers). But as social lives dwindle in the face of a burgeoning workforce, more and more busy Egyptians turn to marriage offices to find their ideal partner. According to the latest census, there are approximately 16 million single Egyptians of marriageable age. And over the past 10 years, dozens of matchmaking businesses have mushroomed across the country.
“Sometimes [options] are very limited. There is no one suitable within relatives…. In university as well, you can’t simply talk to a girl and say, ‘Let’s get married.’ You can’t talk to a girl on the street, she will curse you and say, ‘You’re crazy!’ ” says Ahmed, explaining why he enlisted Life’s services. “It maintains my dignity and pride that I come here for the same goal [as] the girl.”
Clients disclose their background information and then sift through binders of eligible singles. The offices charge between 50 and 500 Egyptian pounds (about US$10 to $95) as a down payment. They arrange the couple’s initial meeting on their premises and follow up if the courtship continues. Some, like Life, collect a commission if the pair marry.
Despite accusations of profit-seeking, Osama al-Gemal, Life’s founder, says, “It’s not a business as much as it is a good idea…. You have a car, and you want to have it serviced – do you do it yourself, or do you go to a professional?” he says, and smiles.
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World Cup: Egypt vs. Algeria, it’s more than soccer
By Ursula Lindsey | 11.15.09
CAIRO – The nexus of politics and soccer is not a new one.
In most nations, the passion for one’s team is unifying force, a nationalistic Super Glue which politicians have long tried to use to their advantage.
In 1969, tensions between El Salvador and Honduras after soccer matches erupted into a real four-day military conflict. It was known as the “Soccer War.”
When Barcelona beat Manchester United in the European Champion’s League in May, it wasn’t just a victory Spain’s second biggest city, it was an affirmation of Catalonia’s autonomy and supremacy.
In that sense, Egypt is no different.
With Egypt’s a 2-0 victory over Algeria on Saturday, the “Pharaohs” revived their chances of participating in the 2010 World Cup.
After their victory, Egyptian fans poured into the streets, playing drums, swinging home-made flamethrowers, and blocking traffic. The public disorder was tolerated by a regime that is more used to seeing strikes for wages and benefits, these days, than outpourings of national pride.
Egyptian authorities “understand that football is the religion of the people. They want to show they care and get some of the credit,” says Egyptian blogger Mahmoud Salem. Through-out the run-up to the game, the authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak made a point of presenting itself as the patron of Egyptian soccer. The president’s encouraging visits to the team prior to Saturday’s match were widely covered by the state media. The authorities also reportedly promised each Egyptian player $300,000 if their team won.
The match on Saturday was part of a long and vicious rivalry. When Egypt beat Algeria in a similar game 20 years ago, fights broke out afterwards and an Algerian player blinded an Egyptian supporter with a bottle.
This time, the hostilities started on the Internet. Insults were traded, team photos doctored, and mocking songs composed; then hackers started crashing and defacing the other country’s websites. Algerian hackers attached a star of David to the Egyptian flag on the Egyptian Football Association’s website—implying (not too subtly) that Egypt has become Israel’s puppet. Egyptian fans retaliated with the message: “Prepare yourself for 11 more martyrs.” Algeria is known, because of its bloody war of independence, as “the land of a million martyrs.”
Egyptian TV talk-show hosts and newspaper columnists reported breathlessly on the upcoming confrontation. “The way it was pumped up in the media was absurd,” says Hani Shukrallah, the editor of the Arabic newspaper Al Shurouq. Cheering on the national soccer team, he say, “is what Egyptian nationalism boils down to now — it’s empty of all real content.”
But if Egyptian nationalism has become ideologically bankrupt, it remains emotionally volatile. When the Algerian team arrived in Cairo, the team bus was attacked by rock-hurling Egyptian fans. Windows were shattered and three Algerian players reportedly injured. Videos of the incident surfaced online, but the Egyptian media insisted that the Algerian team had damaged their own bus, and faked their injuries. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) launched an investigation but allowed the game to continue.
President Mubarak didn’t go to the match itself. The president’s health is reportedly frail, and he tends to avoid prolonged public appearances. But his sons Alaa and Gamal were in attendance. At key moments during the game, the cameras cut to Gamal, who many believe is preparing to take over the presidency from his father. Later, the younger Mubarak told the press that the joy of the street celebrations was evidence of Egyptians’ “sense of belonging to their country.”
Other lamented that the Egyptian public could seemingly so easily forget its grievances against the 28-year-old Mubarak regime. The blogger Zenobia wrote: “It is very sad because it will be much better if I had heard those football fans screaming: ‘We Want better education, We Want better health care system, We Want clean water and clean streets, We Want better salaries and better food, We Want democracy, We want our rights back.’”
The two Arab countries will meet for a deciding World Cup qualifying game in Sudan on Wednesday Nov. 18.
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APEC leaders: no climate change deal at Copenhagen
By Simon Montlake | 11.15.09
President Obama ran as a climate-change candidate who said that the time to act was now.
But at the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, Obama has joined the chorus of doubters that say that a global deal on cutting emissions won’t be reached at a key summit next month in Copenhagen. The 19 leaders agreed that the gap between rich and poor nations over what to do about global warming was too big to bridge in the next three weeks. The December meeting in Denmark would be an interim step to any final agreement.
Those doubts reverberated Sunday at the APEC meeting in Singapore, the second leg of Obama’s Asia tour. He’s now on his way to Shanghai to start his first China visit.
Underscoring the importance of the foundering Copenhagen summit, Denmark’s prime minister flew to Singapore to meet with APEC leaders, including the two biggest polluters: China and the US.
For Obama, Sunday was a whirlwind of multilateral and bilateral meetings – Russia, Indonesia – and included an inaugural US session with Southeast Asian leaders.
For for the first time in decades, Burmese leaders were (Myanmar) at the same table under the new US engagement policy, offering a chance for Obama to press directly for democracy and reconciliation. The US president called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners in Burma.
Obama also met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to push forward a new deal on nuclear arms reduction. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start 1) expires on Dec. 5.
As usual, APEC focused on reviving multilateral trade liberalization, keeping markets open and rebalancing the global economy. Platitudes about “building blocks” towards an Asia-Pacific trade zone were made.
Nobody took aim at China’s controversial currency peg that keeps its exports cheap in dollar terms, compared to countries with floating currencies.
Climate change was on APEC’s agenda. But a proposal to cut greenhouse gases by half by 2050 was dropped from the final statement.
Instead, APEC leaders said they would work towards a political framework at Copenhagen, but not a binding deal on reducing emissions.
The final text was not exactly a ringing endorsement for Denmark and other counties pushing for a successor international treaty to Kyoto. “We… reaffirm our commitment to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen,” it said.
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China bans ‘Obamao’ shirt, fearing offense to Obama
By Peter Ford | 11.13.09
BEIJING – Leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to be gracious hosts to Barack Obama, the Chinese authorities have gone so far as to ban a T-shirt they fear might offend the US President.
Known as the “Obamao” shirt, the design juxtaposes two iconic silk screened images – putting Mr. Obama’s face between a Mao cap and the collar of a Mao jacket.
The item was selling like hot cakes in a Beijing souvenir shop until the government cracked down. “The Industry and Commerce Bureau came round last week and told us that if we sold this T-shirt we’d be closed down” said one hawker on a popular tourist street who preferred not to give his name.
He lamented the loss of business. “People are coming here every day asking for those T-shirts,” he added.
In China, the image comes across as witty and cool. (This was planning to buy a couple for his teenage sons for Christmas, but didn’t act fast enough.) The Chinese government’s ban struck many here as another absurd overreaction. Perhaps Beijing is better attuned to US political sensibilities than one might think, though. The same T-shirt is advertised to US buyers on the web (at $9.99 apiece) as an “anti-Obama” item.
“Huge seller in communist china lol. I’m just bringing them to America. Wear your support and let em know how you really feel” reads the sales pitch on the site.
“The people wearing these T-shirts in the US are the same ones as compare Obama’s health care reform with the Holocaust” says Jeremiah Jenne, who blogs from Beijing on www.granitestudio.org . “They are comparing Obama to Hitler.”
But in China, the T-shirts, while they were available, were popular with young people who admire Obama and who get the Andy Warhol-esque joke about icons.
The fact that it is considered cool speaks to how popular Chairman Mao remains in China, revered as the father of the nation, and also about how popular he remains among foreigners – even those who are aware of the tens of millions of people who died under his rule.
“Mao is kitschy and cool,” says Mr. Jenne. “He gets a pass” in a way that other 20th century dictators don’t.
Politically fashion-conscious Beijing residents are hoping that once Obama has left, the T-shirts will slip back onto the shelves. One thing is sure: They will cost less here than the $9.99 that American right-wingers are being charged.
