The Economist - UK (2019-06-01)

16 The EconomistJune 1st 2019

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Letters

Africa’sjihadistbelt

Yourarticleonthespreading

jihadistmenaceintheSahel,

andthepoorresponsetoit by

somegovernments,should

ringalarmbells(“TheWest’s

forgottenwars”,May4th).I

servedwithAmericanforcesin

Africain2011.Although

unquestionablycompetent,

theywerebadlyoverstretched

and,giventhechallenge,

heavilyfocusedoncontaining

thechaosemanatingfrom

Somalia.

Perhapsnotunreasonably,

theAmericansalsofeltthat

Europeanscoulddomore;after

all,theconsequencesof

collapsingstatesorthe

uncheckedriseofwestAfrican

jihadistmovementswouldbe

feltmostkeenlyinEurope.

Thatgeopoliticalanalysisstill

holdsgood,butitssalienceis

notfeltkeenlyenough.Formu-

latinga robustenoughre-

sponsewouldbea classicrole

foran“euarmy”.Britain,inor

outoftheeu, shouldbesup-

portiveofthatinitiative.

Inadditiontoa military

response,theWestmustsup-

portandhelptransformthe

governmentsoftheregion.In

africomwehadstrongcivil-

affairscomponentsbutthey

weredesignedastactical

enablers,notstrategic

transformersofa country’s

polity.Moreover,weshouldbe

carefulofcriticisinganover-

relianceonsometimes

ill-trainedandill-disciplined

pro-governmentmilitias.

Theirbehaviourneedsto

improve,certainly,butoften

theyaretheonlyreadily

mobilesourceofsecurity.

Theirusereflectsa state’s

limitedcapacityandcapability,

notanyinbuiltmalevolence.

colonel(ret’d)simon

diggins

CombinedJointTaskForce

HornofAfrica,africom, 2011

Rickmansworth,Hertfordshire

Conservative Liberals

Judging from the tone of your

article previewing the

Australian election (“Heated

debate”, May 18th) you are

probably bemused as to how

the Liberal coalition, with its

“reactionary”viewonclimate

change,wonthepoll.Couldit

bethattheAustralian

deplorablesgrewtiredofbeing

haranguedbyclimateideo-

loguesandcomfortablywell-

offinner-citydwellers?

georgeking

Melbourne

Modimustdobetter

I takeissuewiththesupport

forNarendraModiexpressed

inyourletterspage(May18th).

UnemploymentinIndiaisata

multi-decadehigh,investment

hasfallen,andtheincreased

importoflentils,despite

bumperdomesticcrops,has

resultedina highersuicide

rateamongfarmers.These

factswereoverlookedbyJag-

dishBhagwatiandhis

colleagues.NitinMehta

paperedoverthefailuresofthe

Modiregime;infact,only10%

ofruralelectrificationhasbeen

achievedinrealterms.

Airingdeepdelusional

concernsoftheplightofthe

majorityHindusisa familiar

canard.Asa memberofa

minoritycommunity(I ama

Sikhmarriedtoa Parsi),I have

heardthisallmylife.Blaming

thetroublesofHindus,who

constitute80%ofthepop-

ulation,onhalfa dozenminor-

itiesispathetic.Thiskindof

thinkingisirrational,petty,

irresponsibleandharmfulto

thesanctityofthecountry.

rajindarsingh

ColoradoSprings

Voicing concerns on privacy

I enjoyed your myth-busting

leader on the growth of voice-

assistants on the internet

(“How creepy is your smart

speaker?” May 11th). But the

dichotomy you posited

between convenience and

privacy is a false one and risks

misleading businesses. Allow-

ing Alexa, or any similar smart

device, into our homes does

not entail a tacit forfeiture of

privacy. This is certainly the

regulators’ view. The sweeping

online-privacy rules outlined

in Europe’s gdpr, and Califor-

nia’s ccpa, are intended to

empower consumers against

Big Tech. I predict there will be

both higher fines under the

new laws and even further

regulations as our devices

continue to get smarter. Busi-

nesses must take note: regu-

lators have new powers and

they will flex their muscles to

avoid any sleepwalking into a

surveillance society.

Irrespective of whether

fears are overblown, what

matters is that there has been a

sea change in the laws and

those looking to monetise big

data now have a much heavier

legal burden on their shoul-

ders. Offering convenience will

be no defence of overreach in

the use of personal data.

rafi azim-khan

Head of data privacy, Europe

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw

Pittman

London

Intervening in Venezuela

There seems to be amnesia

about the recent history of

interventions by Western

powers (“How to get rid of

Maduro”, May 4th). Whatever

the faults of Nicolás Maduro

(which are many), whatever

the shortcomings of Venezue-

la’s elections (which are almost

as many), and whatever the

state of Venezuela itself (par-

lous), military coups sup-

ported by hostile foreign pow-

ers are not instruments of

democracy. And they usually

make bad situations worse.

Your newspaper cannot

have forgotten that military

intervention in Afghanistan,

Iraq, Libya and Syria turned

those countries into bloody

quagmires. Nor that Western

support for Abdel-Fattah al-

Sisi’s coup in Egypt has result-

ed in stagnation and repres-

sion. The Economistmust also

be perfectly aware of the low-

lights of American policy in

Latin America: Chile,

Nicaragua, El Salvador,

Guatemala, Panama and, under

the guise of the war on drugs,

Colombia and Mexico.

It is unlikely this time will

be different. Perhaps the fail-

ure of the coup in Caracas has

something to do with Venezue-

lans’ view of that history.

george venning

London

The move from the suburbs

Charlemagne exhorted Euro-

pean politicians to go to the

suburbs, “where the ikeas are”,

to get a real understanding of

where Europe’s political fault-

lines lie (May 11th). But al-

though he, and Renzo Piano,

may be right in thinking there

is more energy in the peripher-

ies than the centres of large

cities, ikeano longer agrees.

With the opening of its

store in central Paris and plans

for many more to come in city

centres, ikeais throwing its lot

in with bearded cyclists and

flat-white drinkers.

andrew gaines

Brussels

Politics is a joke

I laughed at your take on the

comedic aspects of today’s

politicians (“You couldn’t

make it up”, May 18th). Another

politician who should have

made your list is Dilma

Rousseff, a former president of

Brazil. She once stated that “We

are not going to set a goal. We

are going to leave the goal

open, but, when we reach our

goal, we are going to double it.”

But Ms Rousseff’s best one-

liner came during her cam-

paign in 2014: “I don’t think

that whoever might win or

lose, will either win or lose.

Everybody will lose.”

gustavo brugnoli

Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Raul Labrador, a Republican

congressman, told a town-hall

meeting in 2017 that “Nobody

dies because they don’t have

access to health care.”

frank robinson

Albany, New York

Allan Lamport, a mayor of

Toronto in the 1950s, said, “If

I’m going to be pushed off a

cliff, I want to be there.”

cec jennings

Toronto