On AIDS in Florida and the United States:
New research suggests that after a decade of relative containment, the AIDS epidemic may be growing again in the United States. Worse, public health officials worry that human behavior is to blame. Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s AIDS division, says that the incidence of new HIV infections diagnosed among gay men climbed 14 percent between 1999 and 2001, compared with the 8 percent increase among the overall U.S. population. … Studies have identified two behavioral factors. One is the use of Internet chat rooms that promote high-risk sexual encounters. …
The Bush administration’s commendable proposal to spend billions more than previously budgeted to fight AIDS in Africa and elsewhere would seem to have little chance of success without a significant campaign to influence behavior. Money devoted only to abstinence promotion won’t be any more effective in Nigeria than in New Jersey. The administration should change its emphasis from persistent warnings about the shortcomings of condoms to acknowledgment of the critical role they can play in preventing the spread of disease. Health officials hope the nation’s 1 percent increase last year in diagnosed AIDS cases is a short-term aberration. Unfortunately, reckless behavior seems here to stay. Government never can cure that, but the right kind of education could help.The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post
On NASA cost-cutting:
… It is not yet possible, and may never be possible, to say whether the Columbia disaster can be traced to inadequate safety procedures. This hardly lends credence to NASA’s generally dismissive approach to the warnings over the years. … Shuttle spending was cut by 40 percent in the 1990s, and spending on safety programs fell from half the shuttle budget in 1988 to 19 percent by 1999. At the same time, NASA lost droves of engineers, inspectors and other specialists. The workforce that remained was smaller, older and increasingly troubled. Last year Richard Blomberg, former chairman of NASA’s principal safety panel, told a Senate hearing: “I have never been as concerned for space shuttle safety as I am right now. All of my instincts suggest that the current approach is planting the seeds for future danger.” This was unpersuasive to the Bush administration, which cut the program further – but, since the Columbia’s loss, has decided to propose increases. … Space flight is something that must be done right – as right as is humanly possible – or not done at all. Yes, grievous accidents can always happen. They’re hard enough to bear without the need to consider that preventive steps were available but not taken.
On the EU’s summit on Iraq:
There is no doubt that, after Monday’s EU meeting in Brussels, Gerhard Shroeder has had to face his opponents, who blamed him for his sudden “about-face”, while Jaques Chirac was forced to utter threatening words to Eastern European candidates to the EU.
On the other hand, Blair, Jose Maria Aznar and Silvio Berlusconi have smiled anew after the huge peace rallies that took place in London, Madrid and Rome. The summit has established in writing that “the time given to inspectors can’t be indefinite” and that Europe recognizes the right to use force “as a last resort” to “effectively hinder the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.” The European Union has done its part. Now the US and Great Britain are preparing the text for a second UN resolution and the diplomatic scene appears to be clearer. If Germany, on a possible day of reckoning, insists with its “ohne mich”, without me, and France insists with its veto, their position will be one of legitimate disagreement, but this will not stand as a political-diplomatic alternative and it will certainly not stand as “the” European position.Il Foglio, Rome
On America’s anger at France:
Americans are peeved at France: for its obstinacy on Iraq; for the patronizing incoherence of its foreign minister; for its double-crossing of NATO ally Turkey; for simply being France. House Speaker Dennis Hastert is considering striking back by slapping trade restrictions on imports of French wine and bottled water. As satisfying as it might be to annoy our oldest ally, the speaker should drop the idea. It’s petty, and it won’t do any good. So how should Congress deal with the French? Ignore them. We’re bigger people than these petty reprisals, and if the French think they’re getting to us, they’ll keep it up because France’s claim to great power status lies largely in its nuisance value.The Cincinnati Post
On the Arab position regarding Iraq:
The discussion of the Arab foreign ministers in Cairo about an emergency Arab summit is welcome, although one has to wonder why it is only now, after the storm clouds of a devastating war have been looming over the region for months, that there was realization that an emergency exists.
In order to make a difference, the Arab League must adopt a clear position that war is the wrong answer to the Iraqi situation, whether or not the United Nations, under coercion and influence, passes another resolution authorizing it. To maintain its credibility and effectiveness, the Arab League will have to address those who wonder why countries who are farther away and have less at stake than the Arabs collectively in preventing a war have so far been the most visible and active in trying to stop it, while the Arab nation seems to be sitting on the sidelines. We cannot wait until the danger has struck before taking action. The Arab League summit presents the perfect opportunity that must not be missed.