The Washington Post - USA (2022-04-25)

A20 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, APRIL 25 , 2022

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EDITORIALS

T

HE UNITED STATES, Europe

and France itself can breathe eas-

ier: Despite early polls showing

that far-right challenger Marine

Le Pen was in striking distance of beating

him, Emmanuel Macron won Sunday’s

French presidential election runoff by a

projected 59- to 41-percent margin.

Mr. Macron becomes France’s first in-

cumbent president to win reelection

since Jacques Chirac in 2002.

The 44-year-old Mr. Macron can justly

view his victory as partly a reward for a

record that is, on the whole, much better

than his many critics acknowledge. In

particular, his efforts to restart the en-

gines of French economic growth have

paid off with a 13-year low in unemploy-

ment and a boom in new tech start-ups.

Mr. Macron has promoted more vigorous

French leadership in the European

Union.

To an uncomfortable extent, though,

Mr. Macron’s majority reflected not voter

enthusiasm for him but voter rejection of

Ms. Le Pen, a politician burdened by her

party’s long-standing anti-immigrant

bigotry and, more recently, by her

p ro-Russian, anti-NATO tilt in foreign

policy. At a time when Russian President

Vladimir Putin’s aggression against

Ukraine makes Ms. Le Pen’s positions

more dangerous and repugnant than

ever, M r. Macron’s margin of victory was

just about half the one he rolled up

against Ms. Le Pen when they met five

years ago.

Mr. Macron swept to power the first

time because the French were voting

“yes” on him as well as “no” on Ms. Le Pen.

His can-do persona, and his organization

of a new party, En Marche, created a

hopeful mainstream alternative to

France’s traditional socialists and con-

servatives uniquely well positioned to

tame France’s left- and right-wing popu-

lists. In office, Mr. Macron has — perhaps

inevitably — paid a price for his insis-

tence on sometimes painful economic

reforms, which he saw as needed to

promote growth but which many voters

saw as favoring France’s wealthy. The

president’s assertion of French leader-

ship in European diplomacy, energetic

and attention-grabbing as it might be,

has so far yielded limited results.

After five years in office, in short,

Mr. Macron has not managed definitely

to marginalize either left- or right-wing

populism. To the contrary, whereas

28 percent of the electorate chose

Mr. Macron in the election’s first round

April 10, more than 52 percent voted for

populists, either Ms. Le Pen or fellow

right-winger Éric Zemmour or ultra-

leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

These politicians feed off the continu-

ing and growing divide between the sec-

tors of France that feel comfortable in the

diverse, economically modern, society

Mr. Macron offers — and those who feel

left out by the man they deride as “presi-

dent for the rich.” Ms. Le Pen rolled up her

largest vote total ever by moderating her

style and talking about kitchen-table is-

sues such as the inflation that has struck

all of Europe in the wake of the pandemic

and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The latter event, of course, makes it

more vital than ever that the political

center can hold in this key European

country. If Mr. Macron draws the right

lessons from his country’s populist surge,

responds to his critics’ valid concerns and

governs accordingly, France’s center can

continue to hold and, Americans must

hope, expand.

In France, phew!

Mr. Macron’s win is cause for great relief — and modest celebration.

H

OW IS it that a 48-year-old prom-

inent economics researcher can

be taken into detention by

Egypt’s security agencies and dis-

appear for more than two months? How

can the government explain informing

the man’s family that he had died — a

month earlier? These questions are

haunting the friends and family of Ayman

Hadhoud. How did he die and why? The

questions go to the heart of Egypt’s dis-

graceful human rights record, and an-

swers are needed.

Hadhoud was a founder of the liberal

Reform and Development Party and

served as an adviser to Mohamed Anwar

Esmat Sadat, the party’s co-founder, a

nephew of former president Anwar S adat.

Hadhoud’s posts on social media con-

cerned climate change and economic mat-

ters, and he was critical of the government

of President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi. Had-

houd m ay have been suffering some kind

of personal distress; the details are not

clear.

He was last seen by his family on Feb. 5,

according to an account by 16 human

rights groups. By other accounts, police

arrested him on Feb. 6 on charges of theft.

The family was summoned to a police

station on Feb. 8. A brother, Abel, was

interrogated there about Ayman’s job and

life, but not allowed to see him. According

to the rights groups, the brother was told

that Ayman was being held by state

s ecurity.

Next, the family heard he had been

transferred to the Abbasiya Mental

Health Hospital and placed under obser-

vation. But they could not find him or

locate hospital records showing he had

been admitted, the rights groups said.

Doctors later confirmed Hadhoud’s pres-

ence at the hospital and said that he had

been brought in by security officials. At-

tempts to see or visit with him failed.

According to Amnesty International, the

department where he was held “functions

as a detention facility controlled by the

Ministry of Interior, where people are not

allowed to move freely and are at great

risk of torture and other ill-

treatment by security officers.” On

April 10, the family was informed Had-

houd had died in the hospital — back on

March 5. This is an unconscionable delay.

Amnesty International consulted a fo-

rensic pathologist, Derrick Pounder, who

said photos of Hadhoud’s corpse show

marks on his forearms and the left side of

his face that strongly suggest that he suf-

fered repeated injuries before his death.

Amnesty International reported that two

eyewitnesses said they noticed injuries on

Hadhoud’s face and head at the hospital

mortuary on April 10, the day before an

autopsy was carried out. The autopsy, ac-

cording to Amnesty International, gave

cause of death as a heart attack, and the

government prosecutor said the death was

“not suspicious.”

It is very suspicious and must be thor-

oughly investigated. Egypt holds thou-

sands of political prisoners and shows

utter disregard for basic human rights

while accepting more than $1 billion a

year in aid from the United States. Only a

fraction of the aid has been withheld

because of the rights abuses. More aid

should be held back until Egypt ends its

systemic brutality.

Detained in Egypt, never to be seen again

The country has shown an utter disregard for human rights.

F

ACING A European refugee crisis

unprecedented since World War

II, the Biden administration has

unveiled a new program to admit

Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s assault by

allowing U.S. citizens and groups to

financially sponsor them here. The pro-

gram, which would resettle and grant

work permits to the refugees for two

years, is innovative and ambitious. It

may also be inadequate.

It is difficult to overstate the scale of

the exodus from Ukraine. Well over a

quarter of the country’s population of

44 million people has been driven from

their homes — some 6.5 million dis-

placed inside the country during the

war’s first month alone and another

5 million refugees who have fled to

nearby nations.

U.S. allies in Eastern Europe are

buckling under that influx, which has

overwhelmed schools, housing and so-

cial services. President Biden, mindful of

Washington’s burden of leadership, said

a month ago the United States would do

its part by welcoming up to 100,

refugees in this country. In fact, that

number, presented as a ceiling, might

need to be revised upward.

The sponsorship program begins this

week, but already some 15,000 Ukraini-

ans have been admitted, most having

crossed from Mexico into the United

States with a grant of humanitarian

“parole,” meaning permission to stay and

work in the country for a year or two.

Another 18,000 were in a preexisting

refugee pipeline under a U.S. program

that grants expedited resettlement to

religious minorities in former Soviet

republics, including Ukrainians. Those

numbers count toward the ceiling of

100,000, U.S. officials said. That means

just 67,000 slots are left.

They might go quickly. In the United

Kingdom, programs established in the

past weeks to resettle Ukrainian refu-

gees have already received more than

100,000 applicants and are struggling to

keep up. In Canada, which has a large

population of Ukrainian descent, more

than 60,000 refugees applied for reset-

tlement in the war’s first five weeks.

More are sure to seek entry; Canada has

imposed no caps.

Most Ukrainians want to return

home. In fact, it might be years before

many are able to reconstruct lives in a

country whose economy has been deci-

mated and major cities pulverized. U.S.

officials, mindful of those scenarios, say

they are prepared to reassess the 100,

ceiling depending on demand. They

should also be ready to revisit the

program’s two-year limit — the likeli-

hood is that many Ukrainians might

need refuge far longer.

In the meantime, the administration

faces a critical test. In its first 15 months,

it has failed miserably to resettle more

than a relative handful of refugees

through normal channels that were, in

fairness, decimated by the Trump ad-

ministration. It is now preparing to try a

new method, purpose-built for Ukraini-

ans, in the face of a refugee outflow that

has grown by 2 million in the month

since Mr. Biden announced the United

States would open its doors.

For the new program to work, U.S. offi-

cials must quickly screen and vet Ameri-

can sponsors as well as the Ukrainian

refugees they agree to host, and grant

travel authorization without delays. The

United Kingdom, which stumbled in

launching its programs, now says it aims

to cut processing times to 48 hours.

U.S. officials should take note.

Let them in

An innovative U.S. program faces d aunting Ukrainian refugee challenges.

GREGORY BULL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ukrainians arrive at a shelter on Thursday in Tijuana, Mexico.

E.J. Dionne Jr., in his April 18 op-ed,

“Faith’s liberating promise — a reminder

this religious season,” was correct that

religion can be profoundly liberating,

even life-changing. Unfortunately, in re-

cent years, the opposite is occurring, as

people, especially young people, are aban-

doning religion. The transformation of

organized religion and religious ortho-

doxy into a political weapon used to

ostracize and demean rather than com-

fort and support has made faith anath-

ema to the very people it may benefit

most.

It has been more than three decades

since Republican politicians began using

religion to oppose and obstruct popular

initiatives including LGBTQ rights, edu-

cation, racial justice, immigration and

women’s rights. In some ways, the ap-

proach resembles the “Southern strategy,”

the use of racism in the 1960s to attract

White voters in the South in opposition to

civil rights legislation. This recent misuse

of religion to advance a conservative po-

litical agenda is equally appalling.

Steven Rathjen, Gainesville

Driving away people of faith

The April 20 front-page article “ ‘Miss-

ing skills’ among kids of covid lock-

downs” illuminated an important issue:

Children are missing life skills they

would have learned in school under

normal circumstances. But, as a lifelong

educator, I was particularly struck by

the inclusion of “sitting still in their

chairs for hours at a time” on a list of a

“basic tool kit of behaviors, life skills

and strategies” children need.

Research shows that learning increas-

es and discipline problems decrease

when students are actively engaged in

learning — not only intellectually, but

also physically. So why on earth is

“sitting still in their chairs for hours at a

time” on a list of skills children need? Of

course, we know the answer: Sitting still

is a significant part of school as we’ve

known it. But what if school were

different going forward?

This moment in time, with all its

challenges, offers an opportunity. When

was the last time in history that a group

of children got to reach their sixth

birthday without having mastered the

art of “sitting still in their chairs for

hours at a time”? What new kinds of

skills might children develop if they are

encouraged to move in school? How

might a more active body spark a more

active mind for post-pandemic learners?

Let’s use this moment to embrace chil-

dren’s natural energy and allow it to fuel

learning in school. Children and their

teachers will benefit if we do.

Aleta Margolis, Washington

The writer is president of Center for

Inspired Teaching.

Let’s let children move

In his April 20 op-ed, “As the fight

shifts east, a race against time to arm

Ukraine,” David Ignatius wrote that the

Soviet encirclement of German forces at

Stalingrad will be Russia’s model for

defeating Ukrainian forces in Donbas,

Ukraine. More likely, Moscow’s offensive

will replicate Operation Citadel, Ger-

many’s failed attempt to recover the

strategic initiative after the Stalingrad

debacle. The Germans were stopped with

massive losses after less than two weeks.

Germany never recovered.

The Ukrainians have a good apprecia-

tion of likely Russian avenues of attack,

and each day their defenses grow stron-

ger. Donbas’s terrain is suitable for de-

fense. Its wooded ravines are dotted with

villages that can be turned into strong-

points, with several small cities to anchor

the defense, and it has a very limited road

network. The Russians will be largely

road-bound in Donbas because of their

wheeled vehicles, logistics requirements,

extended supply lines and the muddy

ground.

With up to 80 tactical battalion groups

and supporting elements, perhaps total-

ing 120,000 troops, Russian forces are

too weak to successfully encircle Donbas.

Perhaps most important, the Russians

simply lack the quality to successfully

conduct a battle of encirclement on the

scale envisioned. They are poorly

trained, led, motivated, disciplined, sup-

plied and maintained. Their “army” is a

mixed force of mercenaries, conscripts,

separatists, reservists and “contract” sol-

diers wholly unprepared to fight as a

cohesive force. The generals have demon-

strated a basic incompetence at com-

bined arms warfare and stunning tactical

ineptitude. If they attempt to encircle

Donbas, they likely will suffer a defeat of

historic magnitude, just as Germany did

79 years ago.

Edward Grimes, Lexington, Va.

The writer is a retired Defense

Department Russian analyst.

The Russians’ mistake

tion, war, death threats to your family or

authoritarian governments, but rather a

piece of cloth across your face intended to

protect yourself and your neighbor.

To many Americans, that’s the real

oppression, so much so that despite poten-

tial immunocompromised passengers

among them during this moment, they

had to rip off their masks as if it were

crucial to flex their freedom and celebrate.

Ari Neugeboren, Arlington

If we allow judges to make health-care

policy and decisions, shall we allow doc-

tors to make legal and constitutional

decisions?

Marilyn H. Paul, Washington

Ruth Marcus’s April 20 Wednesday

Opinions column, “Another activist

Trump judge strikes,” was a tragic indica-

tion of American culture and our flawed

mind-set of what oppression truly means.

There was something fundamentally

wrong, symptoms of a faulty society,

depicted in the videos of people celebrat-

ing this activist ruling. And what’s most

bothersome to me is that the reaction

also feels fundamentally American.

Where oppression isn’t religious persecu-

The American oppression

Regarding the April 21 Metro article

“Gas tax holiday ends in Maryland as

Virginia debates its own”:

Virginia’s General Assembly will de-

bate Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R)

plan for suspending the common-

wealth’s tax on gasoline. As one who has

consistently voted for Democrats, I

think they would do well to forgo their

understandable temptation to “get

even” with Mr. Youngkin for his prior

vetoes and amendments, which were

themselves political payback for Demo-

crats’ refusal to confirm a nominee. To

do otherwise is to enter a political

slugfest that ignores the common good

in favor of partisan advantage.

The proper purpose of politics is to

advance the common good. Political

parties will differ on which of several

definitions of “the common good” they

favor, and their legislative proposals will

reflect those differences. But when the

law of the jungle prevails in politics, the

common good — we the people — suf-

fers. Congress is a sad and maddening

example of where such politics of “me

and mine” gets us.

The Democrats should take the high-

er road, debating and refining the pro-

posals before them regardless of the

party that offers them. They should vote

no when an acceptable compromise can-

not be reached. With loud and persistent

voices, they should hold the Republicans

accountable when their actions self-

servingly neglect the common good. Let

the voters exact their own revenge.

James M. Truxell, Ashburn

Fight for the common good