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Africa resents terror NAIROBI, July 3: At 2 AM, Baton-wielding police kick open the doors of a home in Kenya’s Mombasa port, Bludgeon its Muslim inhabitants and . .....more Sri
Lankan ethnic NEW DELHI, July 3: Estimating the cost of LTTE conflict in Sri Lanka at about 16 billion dollars, economists in Sri Lanka have warned that a....more Iraq attacks pose political challenge for Bush WASHINGTON, July 3: With each US death in Iraq, President George W Bush faces the potential of a growing political threat at home as Americans ...more Django may be gone but Gypsy Jazz swings on SAMOIS-SUR-SEINE, FRANCE, July 3 : It originated with a gypsy guitarist with two shrivelled fingers and is an unlikely mix of 1930s American swing, .....more |
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China, India may face SINGAPORE, July 3: China, India and Cambodia could face an AIDS "Catastrophe" as the HIV virus spreads deeper into parts of Asia where . ....more US
no longer asking WASHINGTON, July 3: Favouring a vibrant high-technology trade relationship with India, US is no longer asking New Delhi to sign the..more Needs
clarification WASHINGTON, July 3: Maintaining that UN resolution on Iraq has certain "grey areas", India has said that "unresolved ambiguities" in the document . ......more US
no longer asking WASHINGTON, July 3: Favouring a vibrant high-technology trade relationship with India, US is no longer asking New Delhi to sign the non-proliferation ........more |
Africa resents terror hunt as western bullying NAIROBI, July 3: At 2 AM, Baton-wielding police kick open the doors of a home in Kenya’s Mombasa port, Bludgeon its Muslim inhabitants and seize a terror suspect. Furious Muslim leaders complain of anti-Islamic prejudice. In Malawi, US agents and police grab five foreign Muslims suspected of plotting terror and whisk them overseas without a court appearance, triggering days of protests by local Muslims. If US President George W Bush expects sympathy from ordinary Africans for his global war against Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda group when he visits the continent this month he will be disappointed. Instead, anti-US sentiment is deepening as Governments hunt militants at the behest of Washington and Britain, raising fears for civil liberties, straining ties between Christians and Muslims and hurting old friendships with the west. "Must we sing to their tune, as if we are still a colony?" wrote Kenyan Joseph Mutua in Nairobi’s the people newspaper, referring to former colonial power Britain. "The Overt Coercion used by the Kenyan Government and other Governments such as Malawi’s is highly objectionable. They should use more subtle means," said community leader Mohammed Hydar of Mombasa’s Muslim civic and education trust. "We don’t want people taken to interrogation in unknown places where laws are abrogated. The police are shooting themselves in the foot, because we’ll help (investigators) if the law is being followed and people are treated with dignity." In Nigeria, analysts say a tough campaign against Al-Qaeda suspects could trigger a backlash in the already volatile Islamic north, where hundreds died in sectarian riots in Kano ignited by the start of the US campaign in Afghanistan. Matters have been made worse in east Africa by western terror alerts and travel warnings that have hurt vital tourism. The move has encouraged many across the continent to blame the west more than Muslim militant bombers for exposing Africa to political violence stemming from disputes outside the continent. "We are a target of terrorists mainly because of the global activities of uncle Sam," said Kenyan columnist Mwenda Njoka, referring to Washington’s perceived pro-Israel foreign policy. "Remove the Palestinian problem and no Africans will care about Bin Laden. He’ll be left to fight on his own," said Hydar. As rich countries tighten security after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Africa’s chaos, graft and poverty have made it a more congenial place for militants to operate and hide, analysts say. "Terrorism in Africa by Al-Qaeda would be best categorised as opportunism, because Africa is chaotic and there are easy soft targets like hotels in Mombasa," said Alex Vines of Britain’s Royal Institute for International Affairs. Historical links to the Gulf make east Africa the main region south of the Sahara for West Asia-related terrorism.(AGENCIES) |
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Sri Lankan ethnic conflict cost 16 billion dollars : book NEW DELHI, July 3: Estimating the cost of LTTE conflict in Sri Lanka at about 16 billion dollars, economists in Sri Lanka have warned that a devolution package as a bargain to resolve the protracted issue could stifle the growth potential of the island country’s market and encourage regional protectionism. The devolution package far from ameliorating the ethnic tensions, could exacerbate them because the economy would suffer in general, says a book, adding "it can be empirically proved that politically popular but economically irrational decisions contribute significantly to budget deficit and inflation." The book titled ‘ethnicity versus nationalism.: The devolution discourse in Sri Lanka’, wonders whether the devolution package held the promise of overall and equitable growth of all the ethnic groups given the fact that Sri Lanka was a low income and slow growth economy. The book says a recent study put the cost of the EELAM wars I and II at about 16 billion dollars which is equivalent to 131 per cent of the 1995 GDP of the island country. It says a leading economist Professor Hewavitharana has started with the premise that ‘Tamil separatism’ was not economically inspired but racially motivated. If the Tamil areas or Tamils in general faced hardships it was on account of the overall failure of the economy which affected everyone: Tamils, Sinhalese and all the other communities alike. The economist argues that under its own impact, the Sri Lankan market would get fragmented into small units, which instead of competing with the other countries, would start competing against each other. "Such regional protectionism would replicate the same problems of misallocation of resources found in countries that have adopted inward-looking trade regimes", the book quoted Hewavitharana as saying. The book authored by Partha S Ghosh, Director of the Indian Council of Social Science Research says "many economists hold the view that splitting the economy, particularly, when it is small, leads to increasing budget deficits at the Centre". "Even if the Centre tries to tighten its belt to contain the deficit, the constitutent units keep raising their expenditure which causes inflation", it says adding it has been estimated that in India about one-third of the union budget is consumed irrationally just for political popularity. The book says right from the beginning, it was suspected that the debate on devolution in Sri Lanka would not be anything but an academic exercise given the fact that the LTTE was just not interested to join it. Ghosh says, the history of the Sinhala-Tamil ethnic relations during the past half a century is a history of failed paradigms for which both the communities are responsible. "When a breakthrough (in the conflict) arrives it may be sudden and may even shock us, indeed in the positive sense", he says, adding to think of devolution without managing the military problem posed by the LTTE amounts to "putting the cart before the horse". The book says Sri Lanka has a small economy which has a limited need for skilled and educated manpower. "In this situation, if one has a large section of educated youth who cannot be gainfully employed, frustration amongst them is inevitable". Asserting that the Indian and the Sri Lankan Governments during the IPKF operations got ‘fooled’ by the LTTE militants, the book questions as to who can tame the Tigers? India tried but failed. The Sri Lankan State has been trying for decades. Over the years the LTTE has become an enigma. The book says "no wonder then that during the IPKF experiment each of the three concerned actors the Indian Government, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government thought they were fooling the other two. In hindsight one can say it was the LTTE alone which fooled both the Sri Lankan and Indian Governments". The AU he says there could be debates and discussions on their respective fears, anxieties and grievance without specifically making any recommendations for a solution. Let the State and private media give enough publicity to the views expressed in the Commission. Let riot related sentiments come to the fore. (PTI) |
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Iraq attacks pose political challenge for Bush WASHINGTON, July 3: With each US death in Iraq, President George W Bush faces the potential of a growing political threat at home as Americans become more unsettled by continued violence, analysts say. Bush, whose 2004 re-election strategy relies heavily on casting himself as a strong leader in a time of grave threats, could see that image damaged by the steady death toll or prolonged attacks on US troops. "There is public recognition that things aren’t going well in Iraq," said Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll. He added that public opinion is "moving in a direction that, if it continues, would begin to be very significant for the Bush administration and their re-election strategy." A Gallup Poll this week showed the number of Americans who thought things were going badly in Iraq jumped to 42 per cent from 29 per cent a month ago. Fifty-six percent said the war was worth it, down from 73 per cent when major military action ended in mid-April. A University of Maryland Poll this week found a majority now believes Bush "stretched the truth" on whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and links to Al-Qaeda, although two-thirds still say Bush was right to go to war. The public will accept US casualties if they believe the cause is just, "but eventually there is a tip-over point where the perception changes, and no one knows when that comes," newport said. Democratic Presidential contender Howard Dean, who has strongly criticized the President’s Iraq policy, has jumped to the head of the pack of Bush’s 2004 challengers. Democrats say growing doubts about Bush’s judgment on Iraq open up new avenues to question his leadership and ability to handle foreign policy. "It raises doubts about Bush’s core message — that I make you safer and I won the war," said democratic consultant Jenny Backus. Administration officials say US troops in Iraq are not facing a Vietnam-like Quagmire. The military has launched numerous raids in recent days to halt Iraqi attacks. Bush has ruled out an early exit from Iraq of 150,000 US troops and challenged Iraqi militants yesterday with a defiant call of "bring them on." at least 23 American servicemen have been killed by hostile fire since Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May 1. Bush said there were people in Iraq who wanted to drive out US troops and "create the conditions where we get nervous and decide to leave. We’re not going to get nervous." Republicans say there is plenty of good news for Bush in recent polls. His public approval ratings still linger above 60 per cent, and the Gallup Poll found three-quarters of Americans believe US deaths in Iraq are expected. Seven in 10 believe keeping troops there is worth it. "As much as America would like the war to end quickly, there is a general understanding that this is a long process — it’s a big, complicated job and everybody gets that," said republican Pollster David Winston. Since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, he said, "there is a greater understanding of the long view."(AGENCIES) |
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Django may be gone but Gypsy Jazz swings on SAMOIS-SUR-SEINE, FRANCE, July 3 : It originated with a gypsy guitarist with two shrivelled fingers and is an unlikely mix of 1930s American swing, French dancehall "musette" and the folk strains of east Europe. Yet 50 years after the death of its founding star Django Reinhardt, who overcame a hand injury to achieve spellbinding virtuosity, "Gypsy Jazz" is not only alive but luring new converts with its quirky cadences and driving rhythms. "There’s something special about the temperament of this music," said Jean-Francois Robinet, organiser of the annual Gypsy Jazz festival in the French village of Samois-Sur-Seine where Reinhardt spent his last days. "It has a languid, seductive feel. And all of a sudden it can hit you right in the guts," said ex-journalist Robinet, a fan of Reinhardt who has staged the festival each June for most of the past 35 years. Gypsy Jazz, also known as "Jazz Manouche" after Reinhardt’s French-speaking Gypsy tribe, has seemed to be on its way out more than once since its pioneer died of a heart attack aged 43. But the surge of interest in world music and unamplified performance is giving it a new audience beyond a hardcore of Jazz devotees and the Gypsy families who are still its prime exponents. Some 60 Km upriver from Paris on a neck of the Seine, the village of Samois has become Gypsy Jazz’s spiritual home, pulling in thousands this year for a week of music and drink-fuelled homage to Reinhardt. While the music’s top performers play on stage, Samois’s main attraction is to be found in the patch of woodland behind, as guitarists from around the world huddle in impromptu combos. There, a Manouche guitarist and his seven-year-old grandson can be found launching into standards of the genre with a young Swede or middle-aged Briton in bands of up to six guitarists. Solos pass from one player to another as the other guitars pump out the beat. With often no common language between them, the music becomes their only tool of communication alongside occasional grins, thumbs-up and mutual applause. "This is my first time in Samois. I started playing Gypsy Jazz two years ago — it has this ‘alive’ quality I love," said 24-year-old Andreas Oberg from Stockholm. The normally sleepy village of Samois could not be further in spirit from the tumultuous life led by Reinhardt and from which the music sprang. Born in a Shanty town near the Belgian city of Charleroi in 1910, Reinhardt learned the guitar young before a fire in his caravan deprived him of the use of two fingers on his left hand. Yet the injury prompted the 18-year-old to refine a style which Baffles guitar teachers today, perfecting lightning-fast solo runs and chord changes that became his trademark. Soaked in east European-tinged Gyspy influences and playing French "Musette" dance music in the cafes of Montmartre, he met a French artist who introduced him to the Jazz of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. Something clicked and a new music was born. Teaming up with violinist Stephane Grappelli in 1934, Reinhardt’s Quintette du hot club de France was famous within a year. Up to world war two it produced over 200 sides, including Reinhardt’s own compositions and reworkings of Jazz standards. His own reputation as a musician was sealed, not only among the US Jazz players who came to marvel at the European who had added something new to "their" music, but well beyond. Asked once by Andres Segovia to name the tune he had just played to him, Reinhardt stunned the master of the classical guitar by replying: "I don’t know its name. I just made it up." The war split up the group, with Grappelli staying in London and Reinhardt keeping one step ahead of the Nazis — whose race laws would have condemned him to death — in a caravan anywhere from Switzerland to North Africa. After a US tour with Duke Ellington in 1946, Reinhardt returned to France with an amplified guitar and a determination to update his music with the new Bebop idioms of Saxophonist Charlie Parker and Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. But despite some glimpses of his earlier genius, many felt the edge was missing from his playing. In any case, Jazz had found a new guitar hero in Bepop’s Charlie Christian. Reinhardt retired to Samois to shoot pool in a local bar and fish on the Seine until his sudden death in 1953. While he died disillusioned, his musical legacy is today unquestioned. Modern stars of Gypsy Jazz like Bireli Lagrene can fill a major venue and the music can still be heard in bars such as La Chope Des Puces by the St Ouen Flea market North of Paris. (AGENCIES) |
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China, India may face AIDS ‘Catastrophe’:CDC SINGAPORE, July 3: China, India and Cambodia could face an AIDS "Catastrophe" as the HIV virus spreads deeper into parts of Asia where health controls are weak, the US-based Centers for Disease Control and prevention today said. "In some countries, for example, Cambodia, or in what we believe in China and India, the public health measures have yet to take hold and the epidemic really is in that phase of scaling up very, very quickly," said its Director, Julie Gerberding. "It looks like Africa did a decade or so ago," she told a briefing in Singapore. China, the world’s most populous nation, estimates that around one million of its people suffer from HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, a figure the United Nations says could soar to 10 million by the end of the decade. India, with the world’s second-biggest population, has at least four million sufferers.In Cambodia, an estimated 158,000 people, or 2.6 percent of adults in the war-scarred nation, are HIV positive. "If we don’t intervene in those environments we will have a Catastrophe of a very, very profound increase in the number of cases," said Gerberding of the CDC, a federal health agency overseen by the department of health and human services. The CDC director is meeting Asian Health Officials to discuss technical support in detecting emerging infectious disease in the aftermath of deadly outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. United Nations agency UNAIDS says 42 million people are infected with HIV worldwide — 29.4 million of them in Africa. It has killed 25 million worldwide. The United Nations forecasts that by 2010, 45 million more will be infected if the pandemic continues at its current pace and 70 million will have died by 2020. (AGENCIES) |
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US no longer asking india to sign NPT: Sibal WASHINGTON, July 3: Favouring a vibrant high-technology trade relationship with India, US is no longer asking New Delhi to sign the non-proliferation treaty and is expected to liberalise its exports of dual use goods later this year. "The US is no longer asking India to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty or fullscope safeguards," Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal told reporters here yesterday after the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the Indo-US High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG). "Though they (US) have their laws restricting exports of strategic goods to non-signatories, they have found that there is room for further libralisation without changing the laws, and how far they can go will probably be known by November by the next meeting of the HTCG in New Delhi," Sibal said. He said more liberalisation of US exports of high-technology, dual use goods is expected by the next meeting of the HTCG in New Delhi, probably in November. The two Governments had agreed to form the HTCG in November 2002 to facilitate and promote bilateral high-technology trade, including trade in dual-use goods and technologies, as part of the broad commitment by US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to transform the relationship between the two countries. US Under Secretary of Commerce Kenneth I Juster, who led the American side at the meeting said "creating the conditions for a vibrant high-technology trade relationship is a key component of the administration’s overall agenda for fundamentally transforming US-Indian relations." "Both sides discussed changes in policy and regulation that can facilitate such trade and strengthen controls on the possible diversion of sensitive items," he said adding that the meeting was an important step in this process. The two sides discussed a wide range of issues relevant to creating the conditions for more robust bilateral high-technology trade, including market access, tariff and non-tariff barriers, strategic trade and export controls. "We look forward to working cooperatively with India in the future to build on the progress that we have made today," Juster said. (PTI) |
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Needs clarification on sending troops to Iraq: Sibal WASHINGTON, July 3: Maintaining that UN resolution on Iraq has certain "grey areas", India has said that "unresolved ambiguities" in the document have to be clarified before it can decide on sending its troops to that country. Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, who has held extensive discussions with top US officials, including National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, in the last two days here, said "if it was a straight UN request for troops, India would have had no difficulty at all in responding to the request but the resolution has unresolved ambiguities." He said India has been traditionally a very big player in peacekeeping operations and has the necessary resources to provide large number of troops if a decision is taken. "Normally she has responded to UN mandates. If in this case too it was a clear UN resolution, India would have had no hesitation. But since there are grey areas, it is necessary for India to be very careful in what she does. "The US clearly understands what the issues are and what the difficulties are. The US understands that India is a democratic country and she has public and political opinion. Any decision that is taken in India must have a political consensus behind it." Sibal, who also met Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman, however asserted that "whether India sends troops or not, it will not affect Indo-American relations which are growing closer". He also said that there was no pressure on the issue by the Americans during his talks. "Therefore, whatever decision India takes, I don’t think it will have an adverse effect on our relations, because our relationship is growing in every area and the equities in the relationship are now many. We are on the way to developing an increasingly cooperative relationship and no single issue will determine the quality of our relationship," Sibal told reporters yesterday. "You would also come to the conclusion," said Sibal, "that there are certain areas on which it is not easy to give clarifications because it is a fast-moving, uncertain situation and it is a difficult situation. All this is known to everybody. There is no road map. Unless a road map gets developed, it is difficult. Frankly, there are no deadlines imposed. As I said earlier, there is no pressure." Asked whether the Americans have been able to convince him that India shuld send troops to Iraq, Sibal said "that is not the right approach. They have proposed to India that she contribute to the stabilisation force a division of Indian troops. India is examining this." A decision was taken in Delhi after the American request was received to evaluate the present situation in its entirety. In this connection, it was decided that the Indian Ambassador should return to Iraq and give New Delhi a report on the situation. He is currently in Iraq. A second division that was taken was to have interaction with the coalition authority in order to get an asessment from them about the situation and that Indian officials should also talk to Iraqi leaders for their assessment of the situation. Of course it was decided that India should also interact with the UN. It was decided to interact also with neighbouring countries of Iraq. That process is going on, Sibal said. In legal terms, the Security Council describes the coalition forces as occupation troops. But this is a very complex subject. The Security Council Resolution does talk about countries contributing to the restoration of the political process, reconstruction, stability and security. Another part talks about a stabilization force. But the resolution is worded artfully. "You can read whatever meaning you want to read into it. It does not provide a specific mandate, which is why it becomes necessary to have talks at the UN," Sibal said. Asked whether Indian troops, if sent, would part of the occupation troops, Sibal said: "that is not the way we look at it." There are various elements that have to be considered, said Sibal. One is India’s long-term interests in Iraq; secondly India’s interests in the region as a whole because she has a large number of people there and this is a source of 70 percent of its oil and a large volume of remittances. India has also traditional religious, cultural and other connections with this region. "So, do we want to be present in this region or seen to be a player in terms of having a role to play in the changes the region is undergoing? That is one element. The other is our bilateral relations with the United States. This has to be taken into account. The third is command and control, funding, law and order and security sitution on the ground, terms of the engagment mandate, and then the association of the UN and the views the Iraqi people and those of the neighbouring countries. And what are the political perspectives in terms of political developments in Iraq in the weeks and months ahead? "Political perspectives and the security situation on Iraq have a very close bearing on the stability and security situation in Iraq. All these have to be carefully evealuated and assessed," Sibal added. Sibal said despite her heavy agenda, for she was just back from the Middle East, his talks with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice lasted 45 minutes. He met with Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz for an hour and twenty minutes and his meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Richrd Armitage lasted over an hour. "I think that is a sufficient indication of the quality and depth of our exchanges," said Sibal. The quality of the Indo-US dialogue "has been transformed to such an extent that we can talk to each other candidly, in detail and extensively." On export of sensitive items to India, Sibal said it is only logical that if two countries are to build a strategic relationship, trade in strategic items between them should be liberalized. About Indo-Pakistan relations, he said, are really a subject that one cannot escape. So that figured on the agenda. On the US decision to give a billion and a half dollars worth of arms to Pakistan over the next five years, Sibal said that there is the history of arms supplies by the US to Pakistan and its impact on India. In a general way, this is something for which there is no great enthusiasm in India. The US itself is proceeding very cautiously and deliberately. Judging from the Pakistani reaction, this package seems to be less than what Pakistan had hoped for. F-16s clearly are not in the package and President Bush has said so publicly. Conditionalities have also been laid down, the Foreign Secretary said. "If Pakistan fulfils these conditionalities, India would have no problem. These conditionalities are democracy in Paksitan, elimination of extremism and terrorism in Pakistan and non-proliferation," Sibal added. (PTI) |
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US no longer asking india to sign NPT: Sibal WASHINGTON, July 3: Favouring a vibrant high-technology trade relationship with India, US is no longer asking New Delhi to sign the non-proliferation treaty and is expected to liberalise its exports of dual use goods later this year. "The US is no longer asking India to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty or fullscope safeguards," Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal told reporters here yesterday after the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the Indo-US High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG). "Though they (US) have their laws restricting exports of strategic goods to non-signatories, they have found that there is room for further libralisation without changing the laws, and how far they can go will probably be known by November by the next meeting of the HTCG in New Delhi," Sibal said. He said more liberalisation of US exports of high-technology, dual use goods is expected by the next meeting of the HTCG in New Delhi, probably in November. The two Governments had agreed to form the HTCG in November 2002 to facilitate and promote bilateral high-technology trade, including trade in dual-use goods and technologies, as part of the broad commitment by US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to transform the relationship between the two countries. US Under Secretary of Commerce Kenneth I Juster, who led the American side at the meeting said "creating the conditions for a vibrant high-technology trade relationship is a key component of the administration’s overall agenda for fundamentally transforming US-Indian relations." "Both sides discussed changes in policy and regulation that can facilitate such trade and strengthen controls on the possible diversion of sensitive items," he said adding that the meeting was an important step in this process. The two sides discussed a wide range of issues relevant to creating the conditions for more robust bilateral high-technology trade, including market access, tariff and non-tariff barriers, strategic trade and export controls. "We look forward to working cooperatively with India in the future to build on the progress that we have made today," Juster said. (PTI) Conjoined Iranian twins risk life in Singapore surgery SINGAPORE, July 3: Two conjoined, adult Iranian sisters undergo an unprecedented operation in Singapore on Sunday to separate them at the head, raising the ethical question of high-risk surgery when a life is not at risk. Law Graduates Ladan and Laleh Bijani, 29, will be seated for an operation expected to last at least 48 hours, raffles hospital said on Tuesday. Both have said they are willing to take the slim chance of success for the opportunity to lead separate lives. "We’ve been praying every day for our operation. We are excited about it as we’ve waited 29 years for it," they said in a statement released by the hospital. "Both of us have started on this journey together and we hope that the operation will finally bring us to the end of this difficult path, and we may begin our new and wonderful lives as two separate persons." Twins joined at the head occur only once in every two million live births, and successful separation is even rarer. Singapore doctors performed the operation in 2001 on infant girls from Nepal, but experts say an operation on adults is unprecedented. German doctors turned the Bijanis away in 1996, deeming the operation too dangerous. But experts say the operation is possible because they have anatomically separate brains. Neurosurgeon Keith Goh, who will lead the surgical team, told Reuters he had tried to talk the twins out of the operation by spelling out the risks. But the twins, who have been in Singapore since November undergoing tests and psychological counselling, have not been deterred — Ladan wants to be a lawyer in her home town of Shiraz, while Laleh wants to be a journalist in Tehran. Dr Richard Ashcroft, head of medical ethics at London’s Imperial College, said there would be no controversy if the sisters were at risk of dying without the operation. "It’s a genuine moral dilemma," he said. "And where you have a dilemma, people will make different decisions because there is no obvious answer what the right thing to do is." Others pointed to the possibility that one life could be sacrificed for the other if things go wrong. "The ethical argument here is not only will potential harm come, but what if it comes to a point where one needs to make a judgment call, as to essentially sacrificing one for the other," said Dr Calvin Fones, Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Psychological Medicine. He said the question was whether it was justifiable to risk two lives for potentially only one life. "We also assume that both are like-minded in wanting to express the willingness and both are equal in terms of their willingness, but in real life this is often not the case and sometimes opinions also change. Hence the difficulty." The operation also raises the question of whether those involved might be under pressure from the worldwide curiosity the case has aroused. "Ideally in medicine, medical decision-making both for the patient and the physician is a very independent and private one," fones said. "This is obviously not the case because the whole world, the media is interested." (AGENCIES) |
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