Letters

On Guatemala, Myanmar, Occupy Wall Street, black women, investments, Cyprus, Iran

Robert Gelbard

SIR – I was shocked and profoundly embarrassed by the utterly false statement made against me in your article on the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) (“Parachuting in the prosecutors”, October 15th). Based on two decades of experience in democratic institution-building, law enforcement and counter-narcotics, I have criticised the overall efforts of Francisco Dall'Anese, who heads CICIG, as being not aggressive enough compared with those of Carlos Castresana, his predecessor, and in light of the dire situation facing Guatemala.

That is vastly different from your dismaying allegation of “spread(ing) poison”. In fact, I have publicly and repeatedly agreed with Mr Dall'Anese's position on Carlos Vielmann, a former interior minister.

CICIG is a unique and valuable entity in the absence of a functioning Guatemalan justice sector. But precisely for that reason, as Mr Castresana realised, CICIG must for now occupy itself with the prosecution of cases and work on its institution-building function.

Guatemala is a country rife with disinformation; you have unfortunately bought into such an effort against me. I am both angry at you besmirching my reputation and dismayed that you chose to “spread poison” and perpetuate such disinformation.

Robert Gelbard
Washington, DC

Trying to decipher Myanmar

SIR – Banyan mentioned that a hydroelectric dam project in Myanmar being built by China had been cancelled, and that this “suggested a regime anxious to move away from a dependence on its northern neighbour” (October 15th). Actually, Thein Sein, Myanmar's president, merely suspended the project for the remaining time he has in office. Moreover, the Kachin Development Networking Group, a local environmental organisation, has reported that despite the announcement of the dam's suspension, workers and machinery remain at the project site, and that survey work and construction of a supply road have continued.

It is more probable that the regime's announcement may have been a calculated move to appease growing public opposition to the dam rather than a real move away from dependence on China.

Yuki Akimoto
Director
BurmaInfo
Tokyo

Pros and cons of the protests

SIR – Lexington was right to point out that the Occupy Wall Street protests are not America's Tahrir Square (October 8th). Where he was wrong was thinking that American democracy, with its permanent campaigns, is “exquisitely sensitive” to voters' wants. The opposite is true: protesters have taken to the street out of frustration with both sides of our bitterly divided government. We perceive a downward trajectory for our lives, which is likely to become even steeper for our children.

Face it, American workers were far better off before our economy became globalised and dominated by the financial-services industry. Since these two trends are unlikely to be reversed, the wealth that is generated must mitigate the effect on workers.

Janet Clegg
Riverside, California

SIR – The people camping out in Zuccotti Park are not downtrodden workers or hard-pressed homeowners (who might actually have genuine gripes). Douglas Schoen, a pollster who worked for Bill Clinton, surveyed 200 protesters at the site. He found that half of them are politically active and nearly a third would engage in violence to achieve their aims. A large majority are bound together by a deep opposition to capitalism and want protectionist trade policies. A recent article in Mother Jones on the roots of Occupy Wall Street says “credit” is often given to Adbusters, a “Canadian anti-capitalist magazine”, for calling for America's “Tahrir moment”.

Roger Kimball, in a forthcoming essay, lists the similarities between the Zuccotti Park crowd and the 1960s generation, Jerry Rubin's “permanent adolescents”. Now, as then, we are witness to, “incoherent childlessness and pathetic exhibitionism” from activists.

These are the same old agitators pushing the same old agenda that they can never attain through the ballot box: destroy capitalism.

Jorge Mendez
New York

Not so black and white

SIR – Your article about the rising number of black unmarried women in America illustrates society's prevailing double standard regarding race (“Down or out”, October 15th). It informs us that “fewer than one in ten black women intermarries” with other races because it is their “greatest taboo”. We are told that some black women “find non-black men unattractive” and that others fear the children of such marriages might not be “black enough”, but that the most common reason for not intermarrying is that black women regard it “as tantamount to betraying the race”. One black woman explained that if she were to marry a man from another race it would be akin to turning in her “black heart”.

If The Economist had reported that racial intermarriage was white women's greatest taboo, that some white women find non-white men unattractive, that others fear their children would not be white enough and that it was common for them to view intermarriage as a betrayal of their race, such views would be utterly condemned. If a white woman said that she would have to turn in her white heart to marry out of her race, she would be called a racist. But isn't this double standard itself racist?

Ken Pedersen
Honolulu

SIR – I am a 49-year-old black woman and I love my ebony skin. So does my very handsome white husband. We have three beautiful coffee-coloured children doing well in university (or on the verge of going) and enjoying life to the full. I was left depressed by your article, especially as I read it after watching the BBC's season of programmes celebrating mixed-race Britain and the contribution that people whose parents intermarried have made to this country. The contrast with your article couldn't have been greater.

I have thought for a while now that black people in Britain increasingly have less and less in common with the American experience. According to your story black women in America would limit their chances of finding that special other out of some sort of political loyalty to black men. That is sad. I want to say to my sisters: true love is colour blind; hold on to it wherever you can find it.

Chrissie Keating
London

Shelter in a storm

* SIR – Your analysis of investing during a time of crisis (“Nowhere to hide”, October 15th) oulined the importance of income-producing investments in a portfolio. But it missed one key element of diversified portfolios that has delivered a consistent track record of strong dividend and total return performance: Real Estate Investment Trusts.

REITs are required to distribute most of their taxable income as dividends annually to their shareholders. As of September 30th the dividend yield of the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index was 5.23%, compared with 2.09% for the S&P 500.

To understand the value of REITs' total return performance over time, look at the period between December 31st 2000 and December 31st 2010, a “lost decade” for stock investors with the average annual total return of the S&P 500 at 1.41%.

It was far from a lost decade for REIT investors, who earned an average annual total return of 10.33%, 61.2% of it from the conisistent REIT dividend.

Steven Wechsler
President
National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts
Washington, DC

* SIR – You captured the difficulties facing savers very well. However, you were wrong to conclude that, “It would be better for the global economy if savers piled their cash into equities and corporate bonds now.”

There is no rationale for this statement other than perhaps the wealth effect from a resulting market bubble spurring consumer spending. I am not sure this wishful thinking is what you had in mind.

As you know very well, cash from the buyer goes into cash held by the seller unless it goes into new issues and can be used for new products or services. With interest rates so low and with so many companies sitting on cash, most companies do not feel the need to tap equity markets for cash to spur growth.

Besides, growth isn't possible if people are not spending. Investing instead doesn't help the situation.

Guda Venkatesh
Menlo Park, California

Cyprus and energy: Northern Cyprus responds

* SIR – I would like to dispute some of the points made in last week's letter from the high commissioner for Cyprus (online only). At the outset, I would like to state that the Greek-Cypriot administration has no legal or moral right to represent or act on behalf of the Turkish-Cypriot people or the island as a whole. This includes, among other things, the signing of bilateral agreements with neighbouring countries, particularly those related to sovereignty such as the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction areas and conducting oil and natural-gas exploration activities in the eastern Mediterranean.

In the wake of the unilateral activities by the Greek-Cypriot administration regarding natural resources around the island, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), in co-operation with Turkey, is determined to take the necessary steps to protect the equal rights and interests of the Turkish-Cypriot people.

It is clear that such provocative actions by the Greek-Cypriot side would only help to jeopardize the stability in the region and increase the tension in the eastern Mediterranean, at a time when both sides should direct all their efforts towards solving the Cyprus issue.

Nonetheless, the Turkish-Cypriot side has already taken the initiative towards de-escalating tension. Dervi Eroglu, the president of the TRNC, made a proposal for the settlement of the gas-exploration issue during his meeting with the UN secretary-general in New York on 24th September.

The president proposed that all activities related to the hydrocarbon reserves off the coast of Cyprus be mutually and simultaneously suspended pending a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus. In the event that this was not acceptable, he proposed as an alternative that a tripartite ad-hoc committee, composed of Turkish-Cypriot, Greek-Cypriot and UN representatives, should be established under UN auspices, and the written mutual consent of the two sides be obtained regarding sharing the natural resources of the island.

However, this constructive proposal was dismissed by the Greek-Cypriot side.

As the necessary legal background identifying the relevant shares of both sides in the natural resources around the island is not yet established, it is our firm belief that the statements made by the Greek-Cypriots that the Turkish-Cypriots will benefit from the income to be generated from the extraction of hydrocarbon reserves are nothing more than hollow words.

Kemal Koprulu
Representative of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
London

Bombast and bluster

SIR – The naive notion that Iran fears incurring “the fury of America” over a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington ignores past experience (“An Iranian bomb plot in America?”, October 15th). Apart from the Stuxnet computer worm and symbolic sanctions against a few individuals, the strident threats of the president and the secretary of state have been feckless.

The last sentence of your article, “What…America will do remains to be seen” is aptly envisaged by the headline to your next, unrelated story: “Don't hold your breath.”

Karl Zimmer
Indianapolis

* Letter appears online only

This article appeared in the Letters section of the print edition under the headline "On Guatemala, Myanmar, Occupy Wall Street, black women, investments, Cyprus, Iran"

Europe’s rescue plan

From the October 29th 2011 edition

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Letters to the editor

A selection of correspondence

Letters to the editor

A selection of correspondence


Letters to the editor

A selection of correspondence