Don't turn away migrants; Trump and Giuliani; learning Chinese in South Africa; a new cold war; stock market lessons
A round-up of global commentary for the Sept. 7, 2015 weekly magazine.
In this photo taken on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015 and made available Thursday, Aug. 6, migrants swim while others climbed onto a rescue dinghy as for rescuers rush on the scene of the capsizing and sinking of a fishing boat in the Mediterranean sea off Libya. The Italian coast guard and Irish navy said at least 367 people were saved, although 25 bodies also were found as many other are feared to have died during the capsizing of the fishing boat in the latest human smuggling tragedy.
(Italian Navy VIA AP Photo)
Al Jazeera America / New York
Turning away waves of migrants is not the answer
“Stepped up search-and-rescue efforts [for migrants] in the Mediterranean have made a difference, but the EU should commit to sustaining such initiatives over the long term to avoid future deaths at sea. It also should shift its focus from trying to prevent or discourage people attempting to make the dangerous crossing, and acknowledge the human rights violations driving dangerous migration – particularly after July’s record-breaking 110,000 refugee arrivals...,” writes Judith Sunderland, associate director for Europe at Human Rights Watch. “There are no easy solutions here. But EU leaders should endorse measures to increase safe and legal channels into the EU and ensure decent and fair treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, in every country in the union.”
The Guardian / London
Trump should revisit Giuliani’s 2008 campaign
“For nearly six weeks, in survey after survey, [US presidential candidate Donald Trump] has soared above the rest of the field by a double-digit margin. It’s a dramatic performance.... Except when you overlay it with, for example, the arc of the early frontrunner in the 2008 Republican nominating race, Rudy Giuliani: Next to Giuliani’s lead, Trump’s lead looks like ... a joke," writes Tom McCarthy. "Trump is having trouble cracking 25%, while for months at a stretch in 2007, Giuliani swanned around in the 30s. And yet Giuliani ended up winning not a single primary or caucus.... What happened to Giuliani?... [T]he real explanation ... is that Giuliani’s lead was a phantom lead. He was just ahead in the polls in a race most people were mostly ignoring.”
Mail & Guardian / Johannesburg, South Africa
South African schoolchildren prepare to learn Mandarin
“South Africa’s education minister has announced that Mandarin ... will be phased in as an optional and examinable subject in public schools from January 2016...,” writes Palesa Thinane-Epondo. “Do we have to choose Mandarin over our African languages or vice versa? Not necessarily – the more knowledge we acquire, the more we strengthen our hand globally, allowing us to venture out with the skills and confidence to sell ourselves as even more credible partners to the world.... Learning Chinese language should not necessarily put Africa’s future generations at a disadvantage, as long as we are clear about what’s in it for us.”
Spiegel online International / Hamburg, Germany
The US stands in the way of a nuclear-free world
“We have reached a crossroads in relations between America and Russia. Many are ... talking about a new Cold War,” said former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in an interview conducted by Spiegel International. “Talks between both powers over important global problems have practically been put on ice. That includes the question of nuclear disarmament. Trust, the very capital we worked so hard to build [with President Ronald Reagan], has been destroyed.... No matter how difficult the situation is, we must not fall into resignation or panic. In the mid-1980s, there was no shortage of people who thought the train to atomic hell was unstoppable. But then we achieved a lot in very short space of time.... It should be a lesson for today’s leaders: for [President] Obama, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel.”
China Daily / Beijing
Stock market plunge is a global learning moment
“Given the dire consequences of panic sales that could wreak worse havoc than expected on investors as well as the national economy, it is absolutely necessary for the Chinese authorities to come up with more and stronger supportive measures to arrest the downward spiral of share prices.... [P]olicymakers should try to find a workable middle path after first identifying the real causes behind the plunge of share prices” on the Chinese stock market, writes Zhu Qiwen. “If there is a silver lining in the cloud over stock markets around the world, it should be that it is a wake-up call for global policymakers to recognize the need for joint efforts to address rising uncertainties about global growth as well as global financial stability.”