Paper trail
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday November 27, 2010
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POSTAS WITH earlier provocations from [North Korea], there have been calls for Beijing to use its influence to rein in its neighbour. China has been reluctant even though it has more economic and political leverage over the North than any other player [but] perhaps it is time for a rethink. The real threat to China's security is full-scale war on the Korean peninsula. Clearly, China is worried that undue pressure on the North would mean it, too, would become the target of shakedown attempts. Or, that backed into a corner, Pyongyang would start a war it could not win.However, nothing supports this conclusion. In fact [the North's] conduct shows it is desperate to survive. With regime change under way, it is time that Beijing leads the international community in insisting all economic assistance be conditional on Pyongyang adopting Chinese-style market reforms.THE NEW YORK TIMESAFTER a year of depressing news about the unbridled influence of big money in political campaigns, a Texas jury stood up for honesty in campaign finance and convicted Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, of money laundering.Texas bans corporations from giving money directly to state candidates, just as federal law does at the national level. But Mr DeLay figured out a way around that ... The prosecution called [it] money laundering and the jury agreed.Mr DeLay will presumably pursue appeals. Whether he wins or loses, his goal of finding ways to get more corporate money into politics has been achieved. Mr DeLay may go to jail for violating the letter of the law, but a new generation of political operatives is still violating the spirit in which that law was written. His conviction should stand as a warning on how society regards that violation.
© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald