The Economist - USA (2020-10-17)

16 The EconomistOctober 17th 2020

Lettersarewelcomeandshouldbe

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Letters

Therulesofthedebate

Lexingtondescribedthe

CommissiononPresidential

Debatesas“non-partisan”

(October3rd).It ismore

accuratelybi-partisan,runby

DemocratsandRepublicans.

Thepresidentialdebatesused

tobeorganisedbya non-parti-

sangroup,theLeagueofWom-

enVoters,whichin1976, 1980

and 1984 chosethedates,loca-

tionsandmoderators.In 1980

theleagueletJohnAnderson,

anindependentcandidate,

participateintheforum.

Butin 1988 Democratsand

Republicanspresenteda listof

demandstotakecontrolofthe

debates.Theleague’strustees

decidedtopullout,because

thepartieswantedtoselectthe

questioners,thecomposition

oftheaudience,accessforthe

pressandotherissues.It

describedtheultimatumas“a

fraudontheAmericanvoter...it

hasbecomecleartousthatthe

candidates’organisationsaim

toadddebatestotheirlistof

campaign-trailcharades

devoidofsubstance,spontane-

ityandhonestanswersto

toughquestions”.Thetwo

partiesthenformedtheCom-

missiononPresidentialDe-

bates,givingthemselvespower

overallaspectsoftheforum

thattheleaguehadrejected.

Thepartiesestablisheda rule

thatnootherpoliticalparty

couldparticipateunlessit

polledatleast5%beforethe

debates,theselectionofpolls

tobedecidedbythecommis-

sion.However,in1992,when

RossPerot’sReformParty,did

pollabove5%andhewas

included,thecommission

increasedthethresholdtothe

current15%.

steveresz

Reston,Virginia

Ireland’s support for Germany

I enjoyed the article on Ger-

many’s growing leadership

role in Europe, but you should

note that Felipe González was

not the only European leader to

support German reunification

(“Waking Europe’s sleeping

giant”, October 3rd). The Irish

presidency of the euunder

Charles Haughey in 1990 was

instrumentalinsecuring

backingforGermanunityby

assuagingFrenchandBritish

concerns.HelmutKohlrecog-

nisedthis,sayingin 1996 that

hewould“neverforgethowin

a dramaticmeetingofthe

EuropeanUnioninDecember

1989,it wasnotleasttheIrish

primeministerwhosupported

usGermansandmyselfina

verydifficultsituation”.

ForIreland,German

unificationwasa geopolitical

Goldlöckchen, neithertoobig

forEurope,nortoosmallfor

theworld,butjustright.

alexanderconway

Groningen,Netherlands

Energy issues

Your leader on the future of

energy did not have much to

say about Africa and Asia

outside China, continents

where the real battle over

fossil-fuel use and carbon

emissions will play out over

the next century (“Power in the

21st century”, September 19th).

The practical big win would be

to get Asian countries to devel-

op natural gas instead of coal

in their next phase of devel-

opment. This will not appeal to

climate-change purists.

Africa will come next.

Goma, in the east of the Demo-

cratic Republic of Congo, relies

almost entirely on wood-

sourced fuel. Environmentally,

for climate change, and for

human health, wood is worse

than coal. Practical progress

here will not start with high-

tech solutions. Instead, it

would be beneficial to encour-

age replacing wood with liquid

propane gas, which has been

happening in India.

As for wind power, the

turbines naturally are at loca-

tions and altitudes frequented

by migratory birds. The threat

to raptors is particularly acute.

r. paul drake

Professor emeritus of climate

and space sciences and

engineering at the University

of Michigan

Gaylord, Michigan

Companies everywhere “need

to step up their action against

climate change”, you say in

your special report on what

businessshoulddototackle

emissions(September19th).

Onewaywouldbetoleave

meatoffthecompanymenu.In

2018,WeWorkdecidedno

longertooffermeatatits

eventsandstoppedreimburs-

ingstaffformealsthatinclud-

edmeat.It estimatedthatthis

willsave202mkilogramsof

carbon-dioxideemissionsby

2023.WeWork’sbantookeffect

overnight.Whatothermeasure

couldshrinka company’s

carbonfootprintsoquickly?

nickbreland

Pensacola,Florida

Another“greenmachine”that

helpstackleclimatechangeis

thepaperbook,a goodreplace-

mentforelectronicbooks.

Paperbooksstorecarbonand

arerecyclable.Unlikee-books

theyrequirenoenergyto

operate.Moreover,theyare

safefromhackingandare

moredifficultforgovernments

tocensor.

stephenborkowski

Pittsburg,Texas

The police in Colombia

The synchronised destruction

of 95 police facilities, vandal-

ism, looting and arson that

took place after the death of a

taxi driver can hardly be cate-

gorised as a natural expression

of citizens’ rage (“Fight crime,

not war”, September 19th).

Legitimate protests that broke

out after the clearly excessive

use of force by the police (sev-

en of whom were immediately

suspended) soon turned to

chaos. The violence was organ-

ised, some by members of the

farcdissident guerrilla group.

The National Police of

Colombia is an institution

dedicated to law and order,

forged in the decades-long

fight against the drug cartels

and the criminal activities of

the insurgents. The reprehen-

sible actions of a few does not

define the professionalism of

its 167,000 men and women.

Last year Colombia had its

lowest homicide rate since 1976

and its lowest kidnapping rate

since 1984. There has been a

steep decrease in crimes like

extortion and burglary.

That said, there is always

room for improvement. Presi-

dent Iván Duque has launched

the Citizen Security Frame-

work Policy, which aims to

improve police performance in

areas such as education and

training, recruitment, transpa-

rency and integrity.

antonio j. ardila g

Ambassador of Colombia

London

A culture strain

Yes, the idea of yogurt as strate-

gic is idiotic, but Charlemagne

missed the point from his lofty

perspective on trade policy

(October 3rd). Business is not

only global; it affects ordinary

life in important ways, which

are often ignored by politicians

and journalists. The French-

ness of Danone is important to

French people, however silly

that might appear to everyone

else. In Britain there are dark

suspicions that Doc Martens

boots are of lower quality since

most of their manufacture was

moved from Northampton to

Asia. Norwich is bereft without

Colman’s mustard. After the

strategic-yogurt imbroglio in

2005, the British were told how

grown-up they were for letting

Cadbury’s be sold to Kraft. But

the American food company

changed all the wrappers on

Roses chocolates, which many

of us thought was a worse

blight on Christmas 2016 than

Brexit plus Donald Trump

combined.

kieron o’hara

The Hague

Scorched earth

It would be quicker to list the

institutions that Boris Johnson

and Dominic Cummings are

not at war with (Bagehot,

September 19th). After

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home

and the National Trust one

tends to run out.

rod tipple

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire