TR EMERITUS

By Marc Champion from Wall Street Journal An international report to be released Wednesday on last year's war between Russia and Georgia will place responsibility for the conflict on both countries, according to a person close to the Geneva-based fact-finding mission. While the Cold War-level tensions between Russia and the West that blew up after Moscow's first post-Soviet invasion of a neighboring state have calmed since the August 2008 conflict, the stakes in the detailed findings of the 900-page report remain high for all sides, diplomats and analysts say. The report, the result of more than nine months' investigation, is expected to address major questions of the war. These include: whether Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili started the war on the night of Aug. 7, or in response to a Russian invasion as he has claimed; whether Russia broke international law by intervening militarily or through its widespread invasion of another country that followed; whether Russia's recognition of the independence claims of Georgia's two separatist territories -- Abkhazia and South Ossetia -- was legal; and whether genocide or other atrocities were committed. According to the person close to the mission, both Russia and Georgia cooperated fully with the mission and with the 20 experts -- ex-military officers, law professors and historians among others -- whom it tasked with providing analyses of specific aspects of the conflict, from military dispositions to issues of international law. The mission, formed by the European Union in December, is headed by Heidi Tagliavini, a Swiss diplomat with extensive experience in the Caucasus region. A senior Georgian official said Tbilisi sent fresh documents to Ms. Tagliavini as recently as Friday. The documents, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, consist of court records from a trial in Russia of a soldier caught stealing. The records suggest the soldier was sent to South Ossetia on Aug. 4, three days before the outbreak of hostilities. Georgia believes the records support its case that Russian forces were already assembling in South Ossetia before the war, in preparation for attack. The report's publication was delayed from July and both sides have been active up to the wire. On Sept. 17, Russia finally produced Marat Kulakhmetov, the commander of the Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia when the war took place, for Ms. Tagliavini to question in Geneva. She had long been asking to talk to Gen. Kulakhmetov, who disappeared from public view after the war. Ms. Tagliavini is the sole arbiter of the report's conclusions, with a €1.6 million ($2.3 million) budget. The person close to the mission declined to discuss details of what the report will say. A mission spokesman also declined to discuss the report's contents before its release Wednesday. A finding that both sides were responsible for parts of the Aug. 7-12, 2008, conflict is unlikely to change the conventional wisdom in Western capitals -- that both sides prepared for war, Mr. Saakashvili triggered it, and Moscow reacted disproportionately. Still, the person close to the mission said it is highly concerned that the report's findings and collected statements and documents will be cherry-picked to stir up tensions, rather than be used to calm them as intended. A negative report would undermine Mr. Saakashvili's efforts to rally the West behind Georgia's efforts to reclaim Abkhazia and South Ossetia and carve out a path to Western institutions such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the EU. Russia, for its part, has been struggling to persuade other nations to follow it in recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Moscow has also been trying to ensure the new U.S. administration's "reset" of relations is conducted on its terms. - WSJ  Read More →

作者：谭卫儿 【中国政府全面整顿低俗网站，是维护公认的道德价值，不应以此为由收紧言论自由。】 直到上世纪的九十年代，电视新闻仍以卫星传送新闻画面为主。那些年，到内地采访的香港电视记者都有过类似的痛苦经验﹕采访完一宗新闻，气喘嘘嘘赶到中央电视 台的传送部，赶着在订好的十多分钟时间内(卫星传送价钱不菲，一般电视台只订十至二十分钟)开始传送后，忽然间香港同事在电话另一头气急败坏地大喊﹕「收 不到信号啦，赶快查查！」这时，你发现这边并没有发生技术故障，于是，你会心中暗暗叫苦﹕糟糕，肯定是这宗新闻太敏感，有关方面把传送信号卡掉了！ 时光飞逝，到二十一世纪的今天，以上情景，对于北上采访的香港记者来说，已成天方夜谭。随着科技的发展，卫星传送这四个字已成过去式。如今只要有一部手提电 脑，随便到一家网吧，你都可以实时把拍到的新闻传回香港。这一来省下昂贵的卫星传送费，二来也令记者再无需担心敏感的新闻画面可能被卡掉，因为计算机传送免 却了香港记者的报道内容在传送过程中被相关人士有意无意的「监视」。 这就是互联网的力量，通讯科技的突飞猛进，实现了更大的民主化，也令 新闻自由得到更大保障。然而人们很快也发现，互联网是一把双面刃——互联网令世界变平，却也令世界不安，网络媒体正以其独特的个性，嘲弄着那些压抑任何煽 动言论的各种法律法规，科技的不断创新，更大有把人们面前的既定一切击溃之势。只是，互联网在经历了相当一段时间的自由成长后，遇上应否接受监管的挑战 了。而这挑战，近日因着中国政府整顿「不健康」、「低俗」网站而再次备受外界关注。 中国有超过二亿五千万网民，已取代美国成为全球网民最 多的国家。不可否认的是，对于互联网，中国政府是充满戒心的，这里不但有政治上的考虑，也有文化道德的顾虑。网上监视、防火墙等，在中国内地都不是新鲜 事，以至外界把政府对互联网的开放程度看成是中国新闻自由的一个指标。奥运期间，境外记者关注的焦点之一，就是奥运新闻中心内提供的上网服务有没有「隔 绝」那些被北京视为不友好的网站。不过值得玩味的是，与以往外界强烈批评中国政府出于政治原因，对互联网内容进行监视及审查不同，这次北京七大部门集体采 取行动扫荡「低俗」网站的举措，外间反应不太强烈。美国CNN在其一篇报道中也指出，过滤互联网内容，特别是限制色情内容是全球的大势所趋。想来人们开始 意识到，是时候不要随意把中国对互联网内容的监管泛政治化；而被北京点名存有「低俗」内容和链接的，不乏内地知名网站如新浪、搜狐、QQ、百度等。官方理 据是这些内容「违反社会公德，损害青少年身心健康」。被点名的多家网站纷纷公开道歉，表示会「自觉抵制低俗之风，净化互联网环境」。 无论是互联网，还是新闻媒体，许多人一直以来的观念都是不应轻言立法监管。原因只有一个﹕维护言论及新闻自由宜宁纵毋枉。科技令我们的世界变小，一种创新产生 出另一种创新，没有人能准确预测最终的结果会怎样，但信息的进一步开放，以及因此形成统治阶层与平民间距离的拉近和平等，却是不争的事实。统治者与民众可 以同时平等接收、收看重大新闻。只是当科技改变媒体和新闻运作之际，当新闻工作者被视为那位喊出「快看！那个皇帝」的人的时候，有没有想过，在戳穿了皇帝 的新衣后，在监视皇帝和披着权力外衣的人的同时，有没有把自己排除在批评与监督之外？ 事实上，当权者也好，新闻媒体也罢，其所行使的权力均是以公众之名及公众利益为前提。有时就很可能出现谁真正代表公众利益的吊诡，一如这次中国政府整顿不良网站一般。政府部门义正词严指责某些网站罔顾公共 道德，但另一方面，也有舆论担心这是否中国政府借故收紧对互联网引发的信息自由流通加以管制，如何小心平衡个中的界线，需要足够的政治智慧。 二零零九年对中国而言也是特殊的一年，不但要面对严峻经济挑战，也具有独特政治意义的一年。十年前，北京正式宣布法轮功为邪教；二十年前，天安门见证了中国 历史上一大悲剧。我们常说，温故而知新，如此便意味着国人应反思其中的经验教训。要做到这一点，容许更多公开的讨论，特别是开放网上讨论，才显示出泱泱大 国懂得自省，进而自强的个性。在中国人的传统文化上，做人尚且该「事无不可对人言」，一个政府更应该「事无不可对民说」，一个要求人民莫谈国事的政府，人 民对其自然有保留。人民的眼睛始终是雪亮的，他们会分得清楚﹕为保护我们的下一代，为维护公认的道德价值而整顿不良网站，与以此为由收紧言论自由这两者间的根本区别。 科技的潮流浩浩荡荡，既改变我们的社会，也改变媒体。要紧记对信息提供价值判断的，始终是人不是科技。 亚洲周刊  Read More →

By Ng Kang-Chung from South China Morning Post Hong Kong was in a festive mood yesterday as a host of parades and activities brought tens of thousands of fun-seekers to Hong Kong Island to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic. Festooned with national flags and colourful banners, busy streets in Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Western District were closed for traffic at different times to accommodate events throughout the day. Activities kicked off with an early morning four-kilometre charity walk. Dubbed by some "a mini-long march", 14,000 people from 110 groups walked from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay along the Island Eastern Corridor to Quarry Bay Park. About HK$10 million was raised for the Community Chest. Later Golden Bauhinia Square on the Wan Chai waterfront was transformed into a carnival venue, drawing hundreds of visitors to watch a sea, land and sky parade. The half-hour event included a procession of vessels - among them a fire boat, a Chinese junk, a ferry and yachts - while four helicopters from the Government Flying Service and Heliservices carried out a fly-past. In Western District, a dragon made of crystals stole the show in a massive dragon and lion dance. But the highlight was a large parade in the afternoon, which saw 2,500 participants from 32 local and mainland groups parading from Victoria Park to Southorn Playground in Wan Chai. Executive Councillor Cheng Yiu-tong, who officiated at the opening of the parade, said he was moved to see so many people at the National Day celebrations. "Sixty years is a short period of time from the perspective of history. But in the past 60 years, we have witnessed tremendous developments in our home country." Because of the celebrations, many streets were closed to traffic and more than 70 bus and 15 minibus timetables were changed and routes diverted. The traffic did not resume as normal until the evening. A woman who took her two-year-old daughter to Victoria Park said: "I think it is a good to see people get together and enjoy themselves." But university student Jack Cheung went shopping instead. "I don't really feel strongly about the celebrations. Perhaps some Hong Kong people, like me, are starting to get fed up with marches and parades. We already have a big march on July 1 every year," he said. - SCMP  Read More →