The Economist - USA (2022-03-12)

12 The Economist March 12th 2022
Letters

CambodiaandMyanmar

Youtrivialisedserious

attemptsbythegovernmentof

Cambodiatoimprovematters

inMyanmar(“Thechastened

cowboy”,February26th).Hun

Sen,theCambodianprime

minister,visitedNaypyidaw,

Myanmar’scapital,inJanuary.

Heconveyedtheimportant

messagetomilitaryleaders

thatMyanmarwouldbewel­

comedbackintoaseanonlyif

it madesubstantialprogress

implementingthefive­point

consensus,namely:theimme­

diatecessationofviolence;

holdingconstructivedialogue

withallstakeholders;letting

aseanhelpmediatethat

dialogue;allowingsafeaccess

forhumanitarianassistance;

andenablingregularvisitsby

asean’s specialenvoy.

Thesediplomaticeffortsdo

notlendlegitimacyto

Myanmar’smilitarygovern­

ment.Rather,theyarepartof

anongoingprocessthat,inthe

shortterm,pushesforthe

deliveryofhumanitarian

assistanceandthat,onehopes,

willultimatelyleadtopeace

anda returntoanaseanof

tenmembers.

Contrarytoyourarticle,

Cambodia,anindependent,

sovereigncountrywitha long,

proudhistory,isnostrangerto

internationaldiplomacy.Our

unpeacekeepersparticipatein

programmesaroundtheworld

toclearlandmines,administer

medicalassistanceand

providecivil­engineering

expertise.Wetakeseriously

ourchairmanshipofasean,

pursuingpeace,stabilityand

prosperityintheregion.

kaokimhourn

Ministerdelegateattachedto

theprimeministerinchargeof

foreignaffairsandasean

PhnomPenh

Subsidies to fossil fuels

I read your leader about com­

panies’ environmental, social

and governance (esg) rules,

and in particular oil­related

investments (“A dirty secret”,

February 12th). The shift from

publicly listed investment to

the private sphere in order to

avoid the scrutiny of the mar­

kets should be called out, and

thank you for doing so. But the

biggest issue in this debate

strikes me as being the one

relating to public investments.

The imf, in a report

published in September 2021,

found that fossil fuels are still

receiving subsidies of $5.9trn,

or $11m a minute. So the same

governments signing pledges

to reduce carbon­dioxide

emissions in the framework of

the Paris agreement, as

witnessed at the cop26sum­

mit in Glasgow, are, in the

same breath, actively promot­

ing the use of carbon to sup­

port the unsustainable growth

of our economies.

Calling out inconsistencies

in the investment world

should not be limited to the

private sector. Maybe the first

really disruptive public­priv­

ate partnership could be the

promotion of transparency

across the whole system.

andre hoffmann

Vice­chairman

Roche

Basel, Switzerland

Apopular cultural export

It was interesting to read “Why

do people love ‘Peaky Blind­

ers?’” (digital editions, Febru­

ary 21st) and about the themed

bars that have sprung up in

British cities, such as Liverpool

and Manchester. In downtown

Toulouse there is a Peaky

Barbers hairdressing saloon,

complete with period decor

from the television series and

door handles that resemble

handguns. Such is the authen­

ticity that I find myself unable

to resist popping my head

around the corner occasionally

and shouting, “Don’t mess

with the Peaky Blinders” (I

know, it’s a misquote). And one

day I overheard one of the

apple ladies at our traditional

Saint Aubin Market say of a

blue­eyed customer Oh, il a les

mêmes yeux que Thomas Shelby!

(Oh, he has the same eyes as

Thomas Shelby).

Whatever chord Les Peakies

has struck in popular culture it

seems that it is not just a

British one.

nicola scicluna

Toulouse

Onehundredyearslater

ZacharyCarter’sbookonJohn

MaynardKeynesquotessome

correspondencefrom1922.

Keyneswrote,

“Therealstruggleoftoday...is

betweenthatviewoftheworld,

termedliberalismorradical­

ism,forwhichtheprimary

objectofgovernmentandof

foreignpolicyispeace,

freedomoftradeand

intercourse,andeconomic

wealth,andthatotherview,

militarist,or,rather,dip­

lomatic,whichthinksinterms

of power,prestige,nationalor

personalglory,andhereditary

or racialprejudice.”

A reviewofrecentevents

andthebehaviourofpowerful

peoplesuggeststhatwe

haven’tcomefarinthepast

century(“Wherewillhestop?”,

February26th).

derrindavis

RichmondHill,Australia

Nota waste

I wassurprisedtoseeyou

criticiseColorado’seffortsto

establisha universalpreschool

programme(“Wastinga wind­

fall”,February26th).Lessthan

a monthearlierTheEconomist

notedthat,despitethemixed

recordofsuchprogrammesin

termsofeducationalout­

comes,“theeconomicbenefits

ofchild­careorpre­kpro­

grammesvastlyoutweighthe

costs”(“Wonderingwhat’sbest

forthekids”,February5th).

Surelytheeffortstoestablish

theinfrastructureforsucha

programmeshouldnotbe

equatedwiththespending

whiteelephantsidentified

elsewhereinthearticle?

alkelly

Denver

Automaton for the people

You said that in 1920 Karel

Capek coined the word “robot”

in his play “R.U.R.”, or

Rossum’s Universal Robots

(“Rise of the robots”, February

26th). Actually, Capek simply

dropped the final “a” from the

Czech word robota, which

means “forced labour”

imposed on ordinary citizens,

much like the obligations of

peasants throughout the

feudal system. 

Capek’s word gained much

publicity and entered into

common usage, but its etymo­

logical history gives it a more

complex and rich meaning;

that of a machine bound to do

the will of its creator, just as

modern robots do, or are sup­

posed to do, and which the

forced workers actually did.

henry ploegstra

Holland, Michigan

I read with a chuckle your

assertion that checkout staff

who have been booted out of

their jobs by machines may

find deeper “reward” in help­

ing customers pick items from

shelves instead of sitting on

their proverbial all day. May I

suggest that whatever your

writers believe is to be found

after eight hours of being

ordered around a shop by

often­disgruntled customers,

it is rarely a sense of reward. 

daniel sherwood­clarke

Edinburgh

The camera always lies

Bartleby’s meaningful take on

body language in the post­

pandemic workplace (February

5th) overlooked an emerging

trend about video meetings:

switching off one’s camera.

Being the only person on a

video call with a camera on is

gruelling. The body language

employed to look nonchalant

tells us more about that person

than anything the behavioural

scientists can. 

One usually stares at blank

circles in place of people, their

initials appended in bold. A

few proudly display a photoge­

nic picture of themselves

taken years before, airbrushed

to look like what they think

they still look like. Photos of

others seem to have been lifted

from the police archives.

zubin aibara

Bülach, Switzerland

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