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2November 2019 THE WEEK

When disaster

strikes, blame

it on the people

ElPaís

(Madrid)

PresidentBolsonaroattractednearuniversalscornforfailingtotackletheAmazonforestfires,

saysJuanArias.Inrecentweeks,hehascompoundedthisnegligencebyfailingtoactoverBrazil’s

worst-everoilspill.InSeptember,hugequantitiesofoilstartedwashingashoreinthenortheast,

contaminating“crystalline”beachesanddestroyingmarinelife.Thesourcehasn’tbeenestablished

–thoughBolsonaro,withoutashredofevidence,hasvariouslyblamedVenezuela,foreign-owned

tankersandcriminalsbentonsabotage.Hestillhasn’tvisitedtheregion(thecountry’spoorest)and

onlynow,inthefaceoffuriouscriticism,hashedispatched5,0 00 troopstotacklethespill.Inthe

meantime,theclean-upefforthadlargelybeenlefttolocalvolunteers,manyusingtheirbarehands.

Thespillisdevastatingfortheregion’sfragileeconom y,whichisheavilydependentonfishingand

tourism.Butit’salsoemblematicofBrazil’s“politicalandsocialdecay”.Thecountry’sleadershave

longsoughttoblamethenortheast’sproblemsonthe“laziness”ofitspeople.Yetwhentheregion

needsrescuingfromadisasternotofitsmaking,thosesamepoliticiansarenowheretobeseen.

Making afool

of the world’s

doping agency

Kommersant
(Moscow)

Russia’sjoy atseeingits athletes returnto internationalcompetitionhasbeen marredbyanother

dopingscandal,saysVladimir Osipov. Afteranextensivestate-sponsored dopingprogrammewas

uncoveredin2015,Russianteams were bannedfromtheFebruary 2018 WinterOlympics andother

international events(someathletes participated asindividuals). Last September,the World Anti-

DopingAgency (Wada)revokedthe banonRussia’scomplianceagency,justifyingits decision onthe

groundsthatRussia hadfinallyhandedoveradatabasecontainingtheresultsofseveralyears’worth

of dr ug tests. Butithas since transpired thatthedatabasewas probably tamperedwith, perhaps to

protect ex-athletes now in publicoffice. When Wada officialscomparedthe results withaseparate

data se tsuppl ied by awhistle-blower, theyfound th eresults didn’tcorrespond. Doubtless, Russian

official sand mediawillaccuse Wada of fiddling the data themselves–as part of the“universal war”

against our“pure unsul lied” sport–but t hey’veliedsoo ften no onewill believe them.Havingbeen

made t olookfoolish ,Wada won’tbeinclined t oshowmercyagain .It could turn Russiainto a

sportspariah, barrednotjustfromnextsummer’s Olympics, but fromthe 2022 football WorldCup.

The rotin Nigerian universitiesisa menace to the nation, saystheNigerian Tribune.Anunderco ver

BBC investigation into WestAfrican universities caug ht Nigerian professors “undertakingprurient

negotiations that werequite unbecoming of universityteachers” –namely, of fering good grades for

sexualfavours .Repor ters infiltratedthefaculty club andfoun dthe “coldroom”, where girls were

plied with drinksast heirteachers dancedwiththem, gropedthemand hadsex with them .Not

even teenagersattendin guniver sityinter views were safe from “lecherous” faculty members. Clearly

it is completely unacceptable to havestudent sbeing harassedint his wayin wha tshould be asafe

environment,butthis sort of misconductalsocorrupt sthe whole universitysystem: it deprives

Nigeria of properly educated graduates. If “unfit” students qualifyasengineers or doctors,the wh ole

country willsuffer .Bribing teacherssurelyhappe ns allround t he world,tosome extent,but while

“developedcountries might beable to ge tbyw iththe menace”,adeveloping country like Nigeria

cannotafford to be seen as corrupt.The educationauthoritiesmustexpel al lthose “whoare

involved in the shameful deeds”.

Professors who

trade good

grades for sex

Nigerian Tribune
(Ibadan)

BRAZIL

RUSSIA

NIGERIA

EmmanuelMacronincreasinglyseems

toseehimselfas“Europe’sleader”,

saidSylvieKauffmanninLeMonde

(Paris).WithAngelaMerkelsoon

steppingdown,andBritain

“disappearingintotheBrexitabyss”,

France’spresidenthastakento

launchingsurpriseinitiativesthatrisk

provokingthe“acrimony”ofEU

members.Thisyear,hehasattempted

tomeddlewithotherstates’choicesof

EUcommissioners;invitedtheIranian

foreignministertotheG7summitin

Biarritz;andattemptedarapproche-

mentwithRussia’sVladimirPutin–

thelattertwowithoutconsulting

BritainorGermany.Andnow,hehasvetoedlong-planned

EUaccessiontalkswithNorthMacedoniaandAlbania.

MacronisconvincedthattheEUhasbeen“profoundlywrong”

topursueapolicyofenlargementatanycost,saidCristian

UnteanuinAdevarul(Bucharest).Heisfearfulofarepeat of

2007 ,whenagainsttheadviceoftheBrusselscommission,EU

governmentsadmittedRomaniaandBulgariaintothebloc,

eventhoughthetwostates weren’tready. Macronisespecially

concernedbyAlbania’srecord oncorruption –aview shared

byDenmark andtheNetherlands, whoalsorejectedthe

country’s bid. Hehastakena“revolutionary”position:insisting

notjustthatEUinstitutionsshouldbe

strengthenedbeforeothernewnations

areallowedtojoin,butthatmember-

shipshouldbe“reversible”(i.e.

conditionalongoodbehaviour).It’s

anapproachthatisplacingthewhole

enlargementprocessindoubt,with

otherhopefuls,includingSerbiaand

Bosnia-Herzegovina,anxiousthatthey

toomightbeturnedaway.

EnglargementhasbeenoneoftheEU’s

greatsuccessstories,helpingtospread

peaceandprosperity,saidCzech

foreignministerTomášPetrícekon

Politico(Brussels).WesternBalkan

countriesdevastatedbytheethnicwarsofthe 1990 swere

motivatedtorebuildanddemocratisebytheprospectofEU

membership.Tensionswillquicklyreturniftheiraccession

hopesaredashed.Macron’svetomayberememberedasa

“historicmistake”,saidtheFT.BothNorthMacedoniaand

Albaniawereledtobelievethey’dgetthegreenlight;inpartic-

ular,NorthMacedonia’sprimeminister,ZoranZaev,showed

greatcourageinpursuingreformsdemanded byBrussels–such

asabandoningthenameMacedonia,at Greece’sbehest.He

maynow bereplacedbyahard-linenationalist whocould

inflamethe region. Thanksto anactof“neo-Gaullistintra nsi-

gence”, theBalkans “could beheadingfordark daysagain”.

Macron: standing in the way of EU enlargement?

The lordly intransigence of France’s president