George Handlery on the week that was. Dutch insensitivity and Swiss cruelty. Rephrase the non-proliferation treaty to fit Iran. Ahmadinedjad finds the enemy lurking in the dark. Some find the courage to ignore the Dalai Lama. Does not voting for Obama make one a racist?
 
1. The Dutch are not exactly noted for their persecutions. A posting reports that now they are introducing a test for immigrants to be applied abroad. It is to assess whether the candidates have the ability to fit into Dutch society. A reader responded with the question why non-developed countries do not administer similar tests. These could be used to determine which foreign experts and specialist willing to relocate might fit local culture. The answer is simple. Those that are carriers of skills are needed where they are invited to become active. The bearers of know-how are asked to enter places that need the societal contribution they can make. Analogously, patients do not ask their surgeons to take a history quiz before they operate.
 
2. An intelligent immigration policy allows those immigrants (not refugees) to settle that bring along locally lacking proficiency. A bad policy is not the one that creates competition between available talent and the skills of newcomers. The great mistake in the area of immigration is when individuals are accepted whose qualifications make them hard-to-employ in the hosting advanced economy. Admittedly, the resulting sub-par incomes might benefit some employers. However, this condition creates welfare cases. The revenue of the unskilled and accordingly underpaid might be below the legally defined poverty level. The difference between the earned income and the poverty level will have to be provided by society. It might be an additional negative that, in this fashion, an underclass is created. Really bad, however, is that those locked into it will resent their hosts for being “discriminated” by them.
 
3. Hear the latest completely serious laughing matter. Apparently, the higher the willingness to “pay”, the more absurd the claims become that is made against society. Official Switzerland is resolute when it can bend backwards to atone for sins not committed. Now a new case is emerging. Illegal or derelict immigrants can be returned to their country of origin. Those about to be reshuffled are kept in detention in a facility (officially it is not a jail) that is located at the airport. Due to appeals and the refusal to reveal the country of origin, the stay in the facility can be prolonged. Naturally, the detainees could immediately go free by submitting to the court ordered expulsion. Some, however, are now suing with the help of attorneys paid by guess whom. The charge is that long detention is inhuman and the time spent over a certain number of months should establish the right to residency. Furthermore, the noise near the airport is a nuisance wile prolonged exposure to the supposedly polluted air is a health hazard. (According to a court’s instructions, measurements will be taken of the emissions.) In this case, too, the proper remedy that will emerge to overcome the inequity might be the release of the inconvenienced detainee.
 
4. Throughout the industrialized West, but also in Eastern Europe, some mutants of immigration are emerging as a problem that the reluctant hosts find to be insoluble under their current laws. In Italy, a provoked reaction to the abuse of the system is taking shape. In part, the justification is that doing something about criminal aliens will prevent further mob action that intends to replace the helpless police. The result is a security package that allows the deportation of foreigners convicted to more than two years in jail. If convicted, illegals get an extra third added to their sentence and, newly, entering the country illegally is in itself a crime. Those renting accommodations to illegals are to be sentenced and can be fined up to €150,000 ($230,000).
 
5. The newest from Mullahdom is that Iran demands the revision of the non-proliferation treaty. The suggestions were turned over to Solana, Ban Ki Moon and Russia, China, and through the good offices of the Swiss, to the USA. Tehran feels that the controversy created by Iran’s nuclear projects can be dissipated by the proposal. It is easy to agree with Iran in this instance. Until now, the problem was that Iran seemed to violate the treaty repeatedly. There are at least two ways to solve this problem. One is for Iran to cease its activities. The other, really much more imaginative solution is to change the terms of the treaty to fit Iran’s doings. This being insane, the chances are good that that the word will comply.
 
6. Accusations are flying in Iran. Ahmadinedjad admitted what he tried to ignore until now. He attributed the 20% inflation that weights down on the people and the theft of the nation’s resources to the activity of the mafia of the enemies. Realists see the cause of the problem in the amateurish economic policy that serves the politics determined by the President. To Ahmadinedjad the “internal enemies” intend to create an inflation of 70% to damage the state. As the “servant of the people” he apologized for his hither errors. These consisted of believing that his directives to mitigate hardship will be properly implemented. Apparently, others – leading public figures, the Ministry of Finance, the banks, the oil industry and the Customs Service – saw to it that the problems continue to exist. As the joke has it, that was the good news. The bad news is that under the guidance of the Mullahs the President promised to “chop off the hands” of those that cause the economy to wither. Knowingly or not, Iran’s economically failing leadership might be preparing a Soviet style purge. Typically, it will attempt to smooth the wrinkles created by dictatorial policy and incompetence, by applying a very hot iron to burn away the creases. Not surprisingly, such actions tend to cause the patient to accelerate on the road towards a full outbreak of the bubonic plague.
 
7. In what way the war in Iraq is to be concluded is a major issue of America’s approaching election. Looking beyond the issue – and leaving the merits of the various proposals uncommented – a related matter appears on the horizon. It’s fitting tag is “Iran”. Iran’s current activities and future political role that will grow in response to the way the US “solves” the Iraq problem, is one of the aspects. Even more critical is the matter of the “nuclearization” of Iran’s power base and, accordingly, of her political assertiveness. In response to it, a confrontation, political or military, will be unavoidable. The Iraq policy of the presidential candidates and their parties will reveal much about this reaction and its efficacy.
 
8. A spokesman of Peking has stated that the critique of its Tibet policy has little to do with the fate of the indigenous. It is the fear of China’s growing power that explains the verbal darts thrown at her. It could be argued that the man had a point. China’s exhibited chauvinism bolstered by her means raise warning signs. Who might be next? The policy of clamping down on autonomists because they are declared ideologically hostile separatists, tells a lot about the style in which Chinese power might be applied. Might has a way to narrow the difference between (dictatorial) internal and foreign policies.
 
9. The Dalai Lama has paid Germany a visit. In those circles that kowtow before China’s might, only the cholera would have gotten a cooler welcome. Foreign Minister Steinmeier, he is a representative of the Social Democrats in Merkel’s coalition cabinet, got special stomach cramps. The public liked the Lama. Causing some consternation, privately even an SPD Minister met the pontiff. Frustration made Steinmeier explode. “Courage” nowadays, he declared, is required NOT to receive the Lama. By this standard even the man’s shadow must have heroic dimensions. The SPD – currently strongly challenged from the left – is easily in doubt about what to do. Moreover, when in doubt, the most convincing argument is on the side of favoring a socialist dictatorship.
 
10. PM Brown is one of those who crumbled. He has received the Lama – but in an unofficial location.
 
11. Some Clinton voters seem to have felt that they needed to present a good excuse not voting for Obama. To prove that they are free of racism, they argued that they merely wanted in the White House a woman to represent the disadvantaged. Once the choice will be between McCain and Obama, it will be in PC-terms difficult to demonstrate why one is not for the latter. For some, voting for the White Guy by marking the ballot for the Republican will be difficult. Not voting Obama exposes one to the charge of racism. This taboo suggests that public opinion surveys will have a higher-than-usual margin of error. Some respondents will feed the statistics with the “proper” answer presumed to be expected by the nice people making the survey.