The Economist - USA (2021-02-06)

14 The Economist February 6th 2021
Letters

Ethiopia responds

The government of Ethiopia

condemns in the strongest

terms the accusation that it is

“Wielding hunger as a weap-

on” (January 23rd). Your claim

is based on unknown accounts

and frettings. In fact, the gov-

ernment has mobilised and

delivered more than 31,

tonnes of food, non-food

items and medical supplies to

Tigray in the past month.

There is a delicate balance

between guaranteeing basic

necessities and maintaining

security in the Tigray region.

The defence forces and other

security institutions have

demonstrated exceptional

courage and skill in this re-

gard. Utility companies and

other service providers are

working at full speed to restore

amenities in Tigray. They are

doing so in the wake of acts of

vandalism against infrastruc-

ture carried out by the Tigray

People’s Liberation Front.

Reconstruction will take time.

The people of Ethiopia want

peace and the rule of law. The

tplfhas been the sponsor of

destabilisation, terror and

massacres over the past three

decades. It has not eased its

thirst for power, even after it

was unseated through protests

and the electoral rules it had

itself helped engineer.

The gravest error the article

made was its shortsighted-

ness. The past two years have

been profoundly painful for all

Ethiopians, but the govern-

ment believes we are heading

the right way. Magnifying

troubles and echoing accusa-

tions of past regimes is a dis-

traction. Ethiopia is reforming

and entering a new era. The

law-enforcement operation in

Tigray is a costly but necessary

step in that direction.

In this complicated and

high-stakes operation, human-

itarian, diplomatic and media

agencies will have to endure

the inconvenience of heeding

to the direction of the govern-

ment. The success of this

operation necessitates that, as

Tigray transitions to rebuild-

ing and recovery.

It is regrettable that The

Economistassumes that leaders

inAfricaareeitherevilor

incompetent.

ambassadorredwan

husseinonbehalfofthe

StateofEmergencyMediaTask

Force

AddisAbaba

Twoconceptsofliberty

Vaccinepassports“raiseeth-

icalquestions”,yousay(“A

marathonahead”,January

23rd).Thegeneraladoptionof

vaccinepassportsismeantto

encouragepeoplewhomight

otherwiseresistgettinga jab.

ToabuseSirIsaiahBerlin’s

famousdistinction,the“nega-

tive”libertyofanyindividual

nottobeforciblyvaccinated

willremaininviolate.Butat

thesametime,thesheer

weightoftheincentivesthat

thepassportsystementails

willmakegettingvaccinated

seemliketheonlyrealistic

routetolivinga goodlife,or

being“positively”free,in

Berlin’ssense.Instinctive

vaccine-dodgerswilltherefore

choosetogetit forfearof

missingout.

Inmostcircumstances,

corrallingpeopletowards

particularchoices(especially

choicestodowiththeirbod-

ies)isa dangerousandilliberal

useofstateorsocietalpower.

Butinthisverypeculiarsit-

uation,inwhichthemass

exercisebyindividualsoftheir

negativefreedomnottoget

injectedwouldresultinend-

lessfurtherlockdowns,there

aregoodliberalreasonsfor

nudgingeveryonetowards

optingfora vaccine.

samwilliams

Dubai

Space trash

Trying to clean up space debris

is a problem that has been

festering for decades (“New

brooms needed”, January 16th).

The legal framework in the

context of liability in the event

of collision is vague and large-

ly untested in law. Meanwhile,

insurers who have quietly

supported efforts to tackle the

issue have been distracted by a

series of unrelated and sus-

tained satellite losses coincid-

ing with declining premiums.

Thereis,however,someglim-

merofhope.Movestowards

theseriousfinancialbacking

ofdebris-removaltechnology

areunderwayandeffortsto

developa newtreatytoaddress

thelegalconsequencesof

debrishavestartedamong

legalacademics.

Ultimately,it willtake

regulationandeconomic

measures,suchasperform-

ancebonds,taxesandfees.The

bigquestionishowtoimple-

menttherequirementsona

globalbasis.Asyoupointed

out:everybody’sbusinessis

nobody’sbusiness.Getting

agreementonaninternational

treatyisnoteasy,henceallwe

havearenon-bindingresolu-

tionsandotherinternational

guidelinespromotingdebris-

mitigationmeasures.Tobe

effectivea treatywouldneedto

includeattheveryleastallthe

countrieswithlaunchcapab-

ilityinthehopesthatthey

wouldputpressureontheir

payloadcustomers.

philipchrystal

Ofcounsel

gbfAttorneys-at-Law

Zurich

Checking the facts

Wikipedia’s Utopian ideal is

also a weakness (“Diderot’s

dream”, January 9th). Being

able to make infinite correc-

tions is not the same as being

correct. How does one know,

when reading a particular

article, at what stage of its

evolution one finds it? Wikipe-

dia defends its disclaimer of

accuracy as comparable to that

of authoritative publications,

such as “Encyclopedia Britan-

nica”. But entries in traditional

encyclopedias are signed by

their authors and vetted by

editors. This is by no means a

guarantee of accuracy or lack

of bias, but it is a serious and

transparent attempt at both.

Moreover, readers may judge

from its byline whether a

“Britannica” entry is slanted

towards a particular point of

view; the anonymity of Wiki-

pedia’s contributors makes

such discernment impossible.

Anyone who has ever tried

to correct errors in a Wikipedia

entry, only to find them repeat-

edly reinserted by other con-

tributors with a competing

agenda, will attest to the site's

unreliability. Even counting on

Wikipedia as a repository of

basic information, such as

names, dates and places, is a

crap shoot. Perhaps the vast

majority of its articles are

indeed accurate, but which

ones constitute that majority,

and at what point in time?

Literally no one knows; it has

become so vast that moderat-

ing its millions of entries in

any comprehensive way would

be impossible. This is how the

site is designed to work.

barry edelson

Huntington, New York

Wikipedia may be unique

online because it “sells no

advertising”. However, it does

provide a free platform for

companies to display their

corporate messages, written by

their marketing departments.

Are these true statements

vetted by Wikipedia? No. Wiki-

pedia also has a devil’s bargain

with Google. No matter what

you search for on Google, from

“cats” to “Catullus”, Wikipedia

is positioned first. If you do

enter “cats”, to learn about the

animal, you get what reads like

a Wikipedia advertorial for the

movie “Cats”.

peggy troupin

New York

Yeovil Town Football Club

“toils in obscurity in the fifth

tier of the English league”, you

say. Any article on encyclope-

dias should strive for complete

accuracy, so I must point out

that Yeovil Town plays in the

National League, which is the

fifth tier of the English football

pyramid, but is not part of the

official English Football

League. “Toils in obscurity” is

perfectly correct.

richard baker

Editor

Takeustothegame.com

London

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