PRI's The World » 02/03/2010

Entire program – February 3, 2010

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:25:17 +0000

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A London university studies whether Muslim students are becoming radicalized while going to school there; also, a bombing near a girls school in Pakistan kills three American soldiers; and Vancouver hopes to experience something called the Olympic “halo effect.”

Pakistan blast kills American soldiers

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:20:02 +0000

Three US soldiers were among 10 people killed when a bomb blast hit a convoy near a school in north-west Pakistan. Three schoolgirls were among the dead while 70 people, including another 63 schoolgirls and two US soldiers, were injured in the explosion in Lower Dir. The US embassy said the military personnel had been training Pakistan’s Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency. Marco Werman talks with the BBC’s Mark Dummet in Islamabad. Download MP3

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH/Boston. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad today confirmed what’s believed to be the first killing of American military personnel in Pakistan. Three U.S. servicemen died when Taliban militants detonated a roadside bomb. This attack occurred outside a girls’ school close to the Afghan border. Four girls were among the dead. An American Embassy spokesman says the soldiers had been due to attend the opening of the school. The BBC’s Mark Dummet is in Islamabad. Mark, tell us what happened here.

MARK DUMMET: Well, this bomb went off as a convoy carrying the U.S. personnel, three of whom as you say, were killed. Two others injured and other vehicles carrying journalists and Pakistani security officials were going past this school. The explosion was detonated by remote control. The blast was pretty huge not only hitting the vehicles, but also causing extensive damage to the school, injuring dozens of school girls as well as, as you said, Marco, killing at least four of them.

The Taliban have said that they were behind the bombing that they were indeed targeting the Americans who they claimed were working a private security firm, Blackwater, rather than the Army. As you may know, here in Pakistan there are lots of conspiracy theories that, in fact, it’s Blackwater, which has been behind some of the suicide bombings here. Which, of course, they completely deny and the Embassy here completely denies. And the government here, of course, says that that’s complete nonsense, it’s the Taliban doing these attacks. But this is a case really of the Taliban stirring things up, and their propaganda machine swinging into action.

WERMAN: What is the U.S. Military doing in Pakistan?

DUMMET: Well, they’re doing many things. It’s not widely advertised because the American presence or role in Pakistan is deeply unpopular. But these personnel were involved in training, training the Frontier Corp., which is the Pakistani paramilitary force which is responsible for security along the frontier with Afghanistan. It is open knowledge, if not widely advertised, that the American military is here in a training capacity. There’s a lot of speculation of covert operations as well but, of course, that’s all covert and nobody is going to tell us that that’s happening. That remains just speculation.

WERMAN: You said, Mark, that the Americans were targeted in this incident. But it’s hard to imagine this is a coincidence happening at the opening of a girls’ school. The Taliban’s attitude to women and girl’s education is well known. What’s been happening to women in girls’ schools in these contested areas over the past year?

DUMMET: Clearly this is sort of a double target, as it were. I mean, this is an area where this attack took place, it’s an area called Lower Dir, which is close to the Swat Valley. Which is this part in the north of the country, which the Taliban by about March of last year had basically taken full control of. In so doing, they blew up dozens of girls’ schools. They are completely opposed to any sort of formal or secular girls’ education, and then after March the Pakistani Army moved in and pushed the Taliban right out. Having done so, money has come in from America amongst others to rebuild these schools.

WERMAN: So Mark, you’re in the capital Islamabad where President Asif Ali Zardari is pro American and not very popular. What is the attitude on the street there to this kind of attack on school girls?

DUMMET: Definitely most Pakistanis, the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis are completely horrified and shocked by the Taliban’s campaign, particularly those incidents which end up harming civilians be they the attacks on the schools, suicide bombings in busy markets. These attacks, you know, disgust most Pakistanis. And in a way what that’s done, the effect that these attacks have had is that they have turned Pakistani public opinion which had previously been quite ambivalent towards the Taliban saying this is a problem for the Americans only, a problem in Afghanistan and not really their problem.

WERMAN: The BBC’s Mark Dummet in Islamabad. Thank you very much.

DUMMET: You’re welcome.

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Radicalized at a British university?

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:15:12 +0000

The alleged attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day sent a shock through the security system. Prosecutors say Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (pictured) tried to detonate a bomb sewn into his underwear. Ever since, American authorities have been trying to fix the intelligence gaps that allowed him to board the plane in the first place. Abdulmutallab’s former university in London is launching its own review into whether he became radicalized there. The World’s religion editor Jane Little reports. Download MP3

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. U.S. Intelligence officials have delivered this warning, Al-Qaeda may attempt an attack on the United States in the next three to six months. That testimony before Congress comes about a month after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a U.S. airliner. Ever since then, authorities have been trying to fix the intelligence gaps that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board the plane in the first place. Meanwhile, Abdulmutallab’s former university in London is launching its own review. The World’s Religion Editor, Jane Little, reports.

JANE LITTLE: Lunchtime at University College London and its cafeteria is packed with students of many ethnicities and nationalities. You need top grades to study here. Last year U.C.L. was fourth in a prestigious university ranking behind Harvard, Cambridge, and Yale. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab studied engineering and business finance here from 2005 to 2008. During that time, he served as president of its Islamic Society. Now, an independent enquiry is looking into whether his radicalization began here.

MALCOLM GRANT: The whole process by which a young man is converted from being a mild mannered and devout Muslim into a potential mass murderer is I think of profound importance and a great worry to anybody.

LITTLE: Malcolm Grant is the president of U.C.L. He says the investigation will look at the whole of Abdulmutallab’s time at the university. It will also consider whether academics should keep a tighter rein on students and whom they invite to speak on campus. But, Grant adds, that raises some difficult questions.

GRANT: Should we be forever monitoring and trying to oversee and indeed as some have suggested, spy upon our students? Should we attempt to do as we have been doing already, which is to maintain a freedom of speech on campus, to expose all speech to challenge and not to move in to suppress it?

LITTLE: Those concerns don’t impress one of the U.K.’s top security experts. Anthony Glees heads the Buckingham University Center for Security and Intelligence Studies.

ANTHONY GLEES: Individual tutors have got to engage with their students as individuals, and if they detect signs of political extremism they have to challenge them. Academics cannot turn a deaf ear to the political attitudes of their students.

LITTLE: In 2005, the year of the July 7th London bombings, Glees published a report, “When Students Turn to Terror: Terrorist and Extremist Activity on British Campuses.” In it he warned that universities had become recruiting grounds for Islamic extremism. At the time, he was widely accused of exaggeration. Now, he claims he’s been vindicated with several former students in Britain implicated in terror offences.

GLEES: Universities have been seen as safe sites for recruitment by Al-Qaeda and Al-Qaeda associates. These people who want to destroy our way of life have noticed that students are rarely observed in the modern university.

LITTLE: One Muslim scholar, who warned of the dangers of student radicalization, suggested that universities should not have a separate space for Muslim prayers where the extremists can take over. In fact, U.C.L. doesn’t have one. But it does have an active Islamic Society.

LOTIFA BEGUM: Here we’re raising awareness for Islam and we’re going to have a few events next week. It would be really fantastic if you came along. Thank you.

LITTLE: Lotifa Begum is a politics student here. She wants to explain to non-Muslim students what real Islam is about, which she says is not violent extremism. The annual Islamic Awareness Week has taken on extra resonance in the wake of all the media attention she and fellow Muslim students have been getting. It’s unwelcome attention and most are reluctant to talk, wary of reporters who they say portray them as potential terrorists. Begum is tired of it.

BEGUM: We as a society are carrying on with our activities as usual because we have no affiliation with any such kind of behavior.

LITTLE: Another member of the Islamic Society, Asif Hussein, is in his final year studying law, and like Lotifa he says he’s never met an extremist on campus.

ASIF HUSSEIN: Most people at U.C.L. are quite driven in their field of academic study. It’s really difficult to get into U.C.L., and so people don’t want to waste their time here either just lounging around doing nothing or inciting extremism, whatever. They’re here to get a degree, to get a job and further their careers.

LITTLE: So you have never met an Abdulmutallab type figure?

HUSSEIN: I never have, no, no.

GLEES: I would say that if they deny ever having come across a radical, they have lost all sight of the meaning of the word radical. I would put it the other way that you’re very unlikely to come across a student at an Islamic Society who isn’t a radical.

LITTLE: Anthony Glees’ assertions will likely upset more than a few Muslim students in the U.K., whether or not there is any credence to his claims. Meanwhile, the former U.C.L. student, Abdulmutallab, now awaiting trial in the U.S., has ensured that the students and their academic institutions are under scrutiny as never before. For the World, this is Jane Little in London.

Olympic Buzz

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:10:33 +0000

The Olympics are just nine days away. It took seven years of planning and preparation to get ready for 17 days in February, then the Paralympics to follow. But people involved with the Games are hoping the Olympic glow will last a lot longer than just a few weeks. Their rosiest projection: A flawless Games will bring in an extra 4 million visitors to British Columbia over the span of two decades. Jason Margolis has more. Download MP3 (Photo credit: © VANOC/COVAN)

MARCO WERMAN: The Vancouver Winter Olympics are just nine days away. Opening ceremonies are scheduled for February 12th. Many world leaders will attend. Vice President Joe Biden will head the U.S. Delegation that day. Vancouver’s time in the Olympic spotlight will last 17 days. But organizers hope the Games will help attract tourists to Vancouver and British Columbia for much longer. It’s a hope that’s become a reality, at least for some past Olympic hosts, as The World’s Jason Margolis tells us.

JASON MARGOLIS: Fifty years ago, few people had heard of Squaw Valley. At the time, the infant ski resort near Lake Tahoe, California had just one chairlift. Then, Squaw Valley hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. A half century later, the Olympic rings and Olympic flame still greet visitors at the entrance, says Squaw Valley’s Amelia Richmond.

AMELIA RICHMOND: The 1960 Olympics is deeply engrained in our heritage, in our publicity, in our marketing, and I think in the feeling you get when you come here and you’re part of something bigger. So I think it’s something that we’ll always benefit from and it’s always going to be a big part of us.

MARGOLIS: Hosting the Olympics helped transform the tiny resort into a world renowned ski destination, growing from one chairlift to 33. Squaw Valley benefited from the so-called post-Olympic “halo effects.”

JAMES BRANDER: The halo effects consist of things like increased tourism, increased investments.

MARGOLIS: Economist James Brander at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business says catching that halo is what enticed British Columbia’s leaders to bid for the Olympics in the first place.

BRANDER: You know, we get on the world stage, people are going to see the city, they’re going to see it’s great. At the very minimum we’re going to get a lot of free advertising.

MARGOLIS: But here’s the catch with this Winter Olympics. Vancouver and Whistler, the two main venues, are not Squaw Valley in 1960. Whistler is already considered one of North America’s top ski resorts. And Vancouver regularly tops lists as one of the world’s best cities. When well known places host the Games, there’s a lot of potential downside. Take a moment and think about the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. What’s your lasting memory? Many people remember the bombing or the transportation snarls, not the glory of the Games. Economist Maurice Levi at the University of British Columbia offers this perspective on the upcoming Winter Olympics.

MAURICE LEVI: It’s a bit of a gamble, you know, you’ve got to hope that the Games go better than what people think, that the weather is at least as good as what you’d like, and it’s risky.

MARGOLIS: In the Pacific Northwest, chances of an overcast day with showers during a two-week winter window, 100%.

BRANDER: Of course, you’ve always got other horrible things that can happen like terrorism and so on, but let’s assume that doesn’t happen.

MARGOLIS: The nightmare scenario is Munich 1972. Athletes were killed. Munich didn’t get the halo effect. But on the other side of the coin, there’s the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994. Images of the picture-perfect village were broadcast to the world. Many Olympic buffs consider Lillehammer the greatest Winter Games ever. Ove Gjestdal with the Lillehammer Olympia Park says they recently surveyed Europeans about Lillehammer. Sixteen years after the Games, people not only know about the tiny Norwegian village, most think highly of it, and they visit.

OVE GJESTDAL: The ski jump is the kind of jewel in the city, in the middle of the city and we have about 200,000 visitors there every year.

MARGOLIS: That’s 200,000 people who visit a ski jump. Nearby towns also continue to benefit from tourism. Coming back to British Columbia, Mayor Jordan Sturdy of Pemberton, the village just up the road from Whistler, says hosting the Olympics is a gamble worth taking.

MAYOR STURDY: If Whistler is successful, it’s going to generate more employment, it’s going to generate more media attention. You know we have a tourism business, an economy here as well. There’s some of the greatest mountain biking in the world right here in this Valley. We have access to snow mobiling. I mean, there’s hundreds and hundreds of square kilometers of glacier, right on the other side of that hill there.

MARGOLIS: If the Games go well, research suggests tourism increases for about five years after the Olympics. Amelia Richmond at Squaw Valley and Ove Gjestdal in Lillehammer say they really have no way of measuring how many people have chosen to visit them because of their Olympic past. At minimum, though, hosting the Olympics does provide a degree of credibility. If a mountain was good enough to challenge the world’s best, it’s probably good enough for you and me. And hey, how cool is it to bomb down the same run that the Olympians once did? For the World, I’m Jason Margolis, Vancouver, British Columbia

Sydney’s new water factory

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:05:52 +0000

One of the world’s thirstiest major cities is getting a taste of things to come. Starting this winter, residents of Sydney, Australia are getting some of their drinking water from a brand new desalination plant. The plant was built after years of erratic rainfall. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney. Download MP3

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. Australia is a dry and thirsty land…and Sydney is a dry and thirsty city. But now, Sydney residents are getting some of their drinking water from a new desalination plant. Phil Mercer reports that the plant has opened to mixed reviews

PHIL MERCER: Australia is in the midst of an historic eight-year drought, the worst in a century. Sydney, the country’s largest city, has been particularly hard hit. And there are concerns that it might be undergoing a long-term shift in its climate. Meanwhile, 50,000 new residents a year are pouring into the increasingly thirsty city. That’s the dilemma that Sydney’s new water factory aims to help address.

KRISTINA KENEALLY: It’s a great pleasure to be standing here inside Sydney’s desalination plant.

MERCER: Kristina Keneally is the American-born Premier of the state of New South Wales.

KENEALLY: This is about preparing for Sydney’s expanding population. In the face of climate change, in the face of increasing drought, it is important we are securing Sydney’s water supply.

MERCER: The new plant sucks water from a tunnel laid from the shore out into the Tasman Sea. It’s then pushed through membranes small enough to capture the salt in a process called reverse osmosis. The plant can pump 66 million gallons of water each day, about 15% of the city’s needs. It costs 1.7 billion U.S. dollars, and will push household water bills in Sydney up 40% over the next four years. But Kerry Schott, of the Sydney Water Corporation, says it’s well worth the expense.

KERRY SCHOTT: We have historically had cities run out of water and they have been abandoned. That can happen in inland Australia also, and we certainly don’t want it happening in a major city like Sydney

MERCER: But conservationists argue that the plant is a mistake. They say Sydney has no water crisis because efficiency measures have helped consumers learn to use far less. And they’re concerned about the plant’s impact on the marine environment. John Kaye is a Greens M.P. in the New South State Parliament.

JOHN KAYE: The construction of the tunnel under Botany Bay, gouged through the bottom of a very old bay, stirring up all sorts of heavy metals and all sorts of other materials that is having massive impacts on the ecology of the bay. And also dumping high salinity concentrate out into the ocean at the end.

MERCER: Kay is especially worried about the impact on migratory humpback whales, which pass by Sydney twice a year. The Water Corporation insists that the plant won’t harm marine life, and says its salty waste will be easily absorbed by fast moving sea currents. Plant backers also point to an important environmental innovation. Desalination plants use huge amounts of electricity. In Australia, that generally means burning a lot of coal. But the Water Corporation’s Kerry Schott says this one will be powered by renewable energy.

SCHOTT: A wind farm near Canberra. They provide us power obviously when the wind is blowing and when the wind isn’t blowing we just take power out of the grid and they replace it with more wind power the next time the wind does blow. So, that solved our energy issue.

MERCER: Greens M.P John Kaye isn’t satisfied with that solution.

KAYE: The government says it is all powered by green energy but that green energy could have been used to offset coal generation elsewhere.

MERCER: For their part, these Sydney’s residents at Coogee Beach just up the coast from the desalination plant also have mixed feelings about the new facility.

FEMALE SPEAKER: The water is certainly not going to come from the desert, it has got to come from somewhere. So, yeah, if they can make use of the vast amount of seawater that we’ve got, then, you know, it’s got to be a good thing.

MALE SPEAKER: Well, I think it is a waste of money. It costs over a billion dollars or a couple of billion to make it when you’ve got massive dams that are half full.

FEMALE SPEAKER: I think it’s just a big waste of money. It just provides just what, 17% of Sydney’s water, which is nothing. It’s too costly.

MERCER: However well the new plant is received here in Sydney, it may be just a taste of things to come in Australia. Across the continent, authorities are forging ahead with plans for a second desalination plant near the Western Australian City of Perth. For the World, I’m Phil Mercer, Sydney.

Al Qaeda defectors

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:00:07 +0000

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with former 9/11 Commission counsel Michael Jacobson about his study on people who defect from Al Qaeda. Jacobson is now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

MARCO WERMAN: Academic institutions are under particular scrutiny now given yesterday’s intelligence warning about Al-Qaeda’s intentions. That warning struck Michael Jacobson, who served as counsel for the 9/11 Commission, as worthy of note.

MICHAEL JACOBSON: It’s interesting because there has been so much out there over the past year or so about how Al-Qaeda has really been crippled. But to me it says that despite this and despite the fact that they may be on the run somewhat, the organization is still capable of conducting a real terrorist attack in the United States.

WERMAN: That’s despite the fact that several high profile figures in Al-Qaeda have defected in the past couple of years. Michael Jacobsen recently wrote a study of their reasons for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It’s called “Terrorist Dropouts: Learning from Those Who Have Left.” Jacobsen says there’s a common misunderstanding about the recent departure of those key Al-Qaeda leaders.

JACOBSON: For many people they have thought that this was the first time that Al-Qaeda has been plagued by these kinds of defections. And if you actually look back at Al-Qaeda’s history, they’ve had some people leave the organization including seemingly committed members from the earliest days. They had a few operatives from the 1990s defect from Al-Qaeda during their years in Sudan, and these individuals really provided a lot of what the U.S. government knew about Al-Qaeda prior to the attacks.

WERMAN: Prior to the 9/11 attacks?

JACOBSON: Exactly.

WERMAN: Even in the 9/11 attacks there was a defection there as well.

JACOBSON: Yes, I think most of the focus has been on how Al-Qaeda managed to convince 19 individuals to sign up for an operation that they knew would end up in their certain death. And I think what received a lot less attention was that Al-Qaeda actually had people who had been selected for the plot sent back to Saudi Arabia to get visas for the United States. And then when they were back in their home countries of Saudi Arabia chose at that point not to go through with the plot. And in some cases, this was in spite of pressure from Al-Qaeda to convince them to rejoin.

WERMAN: So from what you’ve researched is there a common thread that motivates people to leave Al-Qaeda?

JACOBSON: I think their reasons can differ somewhat depending on whether or not you’re talking about a leader or a lower level operative. I think if you look at some of the leaders and ideologues who have defected recently, I think they’ve been concerned with Al-Qaeda’s direction at the strategic level. Are they inaccurately interpreting Islam in their view, concerned that Al-Qaeda is really headed in the wrong direction over all and is bringing too much negative attention to the cause. But I think if you look at some of the lower level operatives, there are a lot more petty reasons that you see that result in people leaving.

Some of the people from the 1990s, one of them got very upset because he found out that the Egyptians and Al-Qaeda were being paid far more than he was. He thought they were being treated much better than he was. He started embezzling money from Al-Qaeda. He embezzled about $100,000 from Al-Qaeda. Bin Laden finds out, asks him to repay the money. He repays part of it and then chooses to leave. And so it really sounded like the kind of normal personal stuff that you hear in everyday life of somebody who feels like they didn’t receive the attention that they deserved.

WERMAN: Now, one of the high level defections you highlight is that of Syed Imam Al-Sharif, the former head of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. You say he’s renounced Osama Bin Laden and actually written a book rejecting Al-Qaeda. Why does he reject Al-Qaeda, and what does he now advocate for?

JACOBSON: It’s interesting because Dr. Fadl has not completely renounced Jihad overall. I think his point now is that there’s the right context time for it, and that Al-Qaeda with its idea of global Jihad has gone too far. And what I think is particularly interesting about Dr. Fadl is he wrote this book from an Egyptian prison, which Al-Qaeda leadership has pointed out to say this guy might be doing this voluntarily and is doing this under the thumb of the Egyptian authorities. And I think despite that, it still has had a big impact, and we’ve really seen a lot of defensiveness on the part of Al-Qaeda to Dr. Fadl’s book. So when this big a figure turns against them, I think it’s a big deal.

WERMAN: So what happens to these defectives? I mean, I think of all the stereotypes about people who, you know, become part of the mob and can never leave it. Does the same apply with Al-Qaeda? Will the come back to hunt you down?

JACOBSON: It was pretty surprising to me in the course of the of the reasons for the study to find out that people really can leave Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations without repercussions. The individual, Jamal Al-Fadl, who embezzled $100,000 from Al-Qaeda when Bin Laden found out he just said to him, “Please repay it.” And that was the extent of the punishment before he left. The two individuals who dropped out of the 9/11 plot, Al-Qaeda sent people to Saudi Arabia to try to convince them to rejoin, and when they didn’t they left them alone. And this is pretty surprising particularly in the 9/11 example when somebody who knows some details about a major upcoming operation that they would not regard that as a major security risk, and that they just left them alone.

WERMAN: Michael Jacobson, Senior Fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. I appreciate it. Thank you.

JACOBSON: Thank you.

Rebuilding Haiti’s job market

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:55:03 +0000

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The BBC’s Nick Davis reports from Haiti on efforts to create jobs in the quake-stricken nation. Many say job creation is a key part of Haiti’s recovery from last month’s devastating earthquake.

MARCO WERMAN: Haiti was the poorest country in the Western hemisphere even before last month’s earthquake. That quake killed at least 150,000 people. It also destroyed thousands of businesses. And so a vital goal of reconstruction efforts is to rebuild Haiti’s economy. International donors have pledged more than a billion dollars in aid. But a different kind of support may also be needed, support to create jobs. The BBC’s Nick Davis is in the capital, Port au Prince.

NICK DAVIS: From off the street and into wheelbarrows. The rubble is slowly being removed piece by piece. Hundreds of people that work to support themselves and their families paid by the U.N. to start the clean up. They’re already 31,000 people who’ve been employed to do this, and they get paid less than $5.00 for a six-hour shift. That’s more than the minimum wage and to spread the work around, people can only do a couple of weeks. Dakans Examtuse [PH] is a community leader. He says this is more than just a job.

EXAMTUSE: [Translated] Everyone was in despair. Now, after just a few days hope is beginning to return, and they are starting to find the big duty again because work is freedom, but there are many more people who need this help.

DAVIS: Getting paid was always hard here with 80% of people living below the poverty line before the quake. The future of this country’s already weak economy is now under threat as delays caused by the disaster mean international firms are pulling out of contracts. The clothing industry makes up two-thirds of this country’s exports. MGASA [PH] selling to the U.S. department stores say they may not be able to survive here. Herv Desiere [PH] is the import and export manager.

HERV DESIERE: Okay, it’s good that they’re sending food and water and everything else, but we need to get back all our orders; everybody come back to work. We are ready to increase our productivity. It has risen. But as you can see, we don’t know if we will be able to survive during the next coming month. We don’t know.

DAVIS: Today was the first pay day after the quake. Miriam Joseph [PH] is one of the workers at the factory. She lost friends and family members and like so many others here, [INDISCERNIBLE] is to keep coming from abroad.

MIRIAM JOSEPH: [Translated] The way I see the country, I don’t know how it will be rebuilt. I really don’t know, but I would never say never. Only God knows.

DAVIS: Despite the huge loss of life here, many Haitians see hope in attempt to rebuild their country, to make it better than it was. But they also want a future without being dependent on aid, something that won’t be possible if they can’t get the work.

WERMAN: That’s the BBC’s Nick Davis in Port au Prince, Haiti.

The science of a shootout

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:50:14 +0000

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It’s a standard feature of old Hollywood westerns. A shootout between a good guy and a bad guy. The bad guy reaches for his gun first. And he loses. But why? It certainly makes a good story, but now there’s some science to back it up – kind of. The World’s Alex Gallafent reports.

Tom Feilden: The gunfighter’s dilemma

MARCO WERMAN: It’s a standard feature of old Hollywood westerns. A shootout between the good guy and the bad guy. The bad guy reaches for his gun first, but he loses. You know, you can’t let the good guy die. But actually, there is some science to back that scenario up, kind of. We’ll let The World’s Alex Gallafent explain.

ALEX GALLAFENT: One of the first scientists to be intrigued by the shootout scenario also happened to be one of the greatest scientists of the 20th Century, the Danish quantum physicist, Niels Bohr. His idea was that when we deliberately set out to make a movement, that movement is slower than when we react to someone else moving. To be clear, this isn’t about reaction times, but about the speed at which the subsequent movement is executed. Bohr, a man more used to intellectual battles with the likes of Einstein, tested his theory with the help of some colleagues. They bought a pair of cap guns from a Copenhagen toy store and staged a series of mock gunfights. Physicist and author Graham Farmelo says Bohr always drew second.

GRAHAM FARMELO: And they found that that Bohr was right, that if they tried to shoot first he would always beat them. They should have been doing quantum physics, but in fact they were more interested in testing out Bohr’s theory of cowboy movies.

GALLAFENT: Now that kind of anecdotal evidence has itself been put to the test. British psychologist Andrew Welchman runs virtual shootouts at the University of Birmingham. Two researchers face each other across a bare lab bench. Their fingers hover above electronic pressure pads.

ANDREW WELCHMAN: We’re trying to get people to make the same movement under situations where they’ve decided to make that movement or they’ve decided to react to their opponent. And this task of pressing 3 buttons is just a simplified version of a complex movement sequence that we can study in quite a controlled way in the lab.

GALLAFENT: Welchman says his team found that people were about 20 milliseconds faster in their movements when they were reacting than when they were initiating. Twenty milliseconds isn’t very long, and Welchman agrees that it probably isn’t long enough to help the good guy come out on top in a shootout. In fact, he estimates that the brain takes about 200 milliseconds simply to process the reaction. But still, Welchman says his results shine some light on the different pathways the brain uses to generate movement, whether it’s reactive or intentional. That, he says, speaking later by phone, might be useful for medical research.

WELCHMAN: You know, this is real speculation. It’s not something we’ve tested, but we know in patients with Parkinson’s disease that they can be more impaired when they make intentional movements. So, you know, it would be interesting to see whether this test that we’ve developed shows a deficit in movements at a kind of early point in people that go on to develop Parkinson’s.

GALLAFENT: Welchman adds that the work could eventually help the rehabilitation of people with brain injuries, too. So far, Andrew Welchman and his team have entered into virtual gunfights with other people and with computers. The results are the same. But he says he hasn’t yet tried other stimuli to initiate shootouts like sound.

WELCHMAN: That’s going to be interesting to hear that one come off. Bang, bang.

GALLAFENT: This round goes to the bad guy. For The World, I’m Alex Gallafent.

Iran launches research rocket

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:45:23 +0000

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Iran announced today that it has launched a research rocket into space. What makes this launch unusual is the passenger list. The rocket is carrying a mouse, two turtles, and about a dozen worms. The announcement of the Iranian launch came two days after President Obama made clear his intention to scrap NASA’s back-to-the-moon program. John Pike is Director of GlobalSecurity.org. That’s a defense information website based in Alexandria, Virginia.

MARCO WERMAN: Iran announced today that it has launched a research rocket into space. What makes this launch unusual is the passenger list. The rocket is carrying a mouse, two turtles, and about a dozen worms. The announcement of the Iranian launch came two days after President Obama made clear his intention to scrap NASA’s Back to the Moon Program. John Pike is Director of Global Security dot org. That’s a defense information website based in Alexandria, Virginia. John, it’s been a tumultuous week for those who think about space travel. President Barrack Obama is asking off government support for U.S. manned space flights beyond earth’s orbit, and the Iranian’s are sending worms and a mouse into space. Is this what space travel has come to?

JOHN PIKE: Well, unfortunately in instances [PH] like this, yes. You know, I mean, when I was a kid it was all boldly go where no one has gone before, and we were going to have moon bases and all that other kind of stuff. And, you know, it just seems to be kind of petering out ending with a whimper, not a bang.

WERMAN: Let’s get back to this Iranian passenger manifest as it were. Why turtles, a mouse and worms?

PIKE: Well, I think because number one they actually do have a space program. Number two, these are the types of things that the Americans and Russians did early in their program and I think that the Iranians are just kind of going down the list and checking off. Everything that the Americans have done well, you know, we’re going to do it as well to show that Iran is a big country and can do everything the super powers do. And it achieved exactly what they wanted it to do. With us talking about it, their people noticed that Iran has rockets that can be used both for space flight and as weapons.

WERMAN: Are other nations, you know, picking up the ball that Washington seems to be dropping?

PIKE: Well, it’s hard to say, of course. Certainly when you look at some of the things they Chinese are doing, you always have to worry that we’re only going to find out about a Chinese mission to the moon after the thing has actually been launched.

WERMAN: What about the opening for increased international cooperation on space exploration? Do you see any sign of that being on the up swing?

PIKE: We’ve certainly seen a continuation of international cooperation on the international space station. Whether there are any new opportunities for extending that either adding more partners like China to the space station, or developing an international partnership for deep space flight. No one really seems to be talking about that right now.

WERMAN: So John, people have been on the moon. There’s talk of sending people to Mars maybe although fuel for return would be in short supply. Remind us, though, how far out there has deep travel exploration gone?

PIKE: Well, human space flight has gone to the moon about a quarter of a million miles away, robotic space missions, our flying beyond the orbit of Pluto, billions of miles away. Unfortunately, to get to the nearest star you’re going to have to have an awful lot of zeroes beyond that.

WERMAN: Right and the Hubble went how far?

PIKE: Well, the Hubble has remained in low earth orbit, but it has seen back to the dawn of the universe, which would 01214 billion light years away.

WERMAN: Right, and Voyager, that’s the one that went up past Pluto?

PIKE: That’s currently flying beyond Pluto several billion miles away from the earth.

WERMAN: Wow, that’s a long place to go to. So, John, final question. Apparently, according to press reports from Russia, Russia has no plans to go to the moon. So in your opinion the next man or woman to set foot on the foot where are they going to be from?

PIKE: Well, I hope that the next human being to land on the moon is going to be from planet Earth. I don’t think they’re going to be Russian. And it doesn’t look like they’re going to be American. Maybe they’ll be Chinese. Maybe it will be from a country that doesn’t exist right now.

WERMAN: Are you getting a sense that nobody is interested in going any more?

PIKE: Well, I just don’t have the sense that the moon has the political attraction that it did during the Cold War when there was a space race that was the exciting safe alternative to the Arms Race. Sending people to the moon is expensive, and in the absence of a clear political payoff it just isn’t going to happen. So I think that the footsteps and flags that the Americans put on the moon four decades ago I think they’re going to be lonely for quite some time to come.

WERMAN: John Pike, Director of Global Security dot org. Good of you to join us again. Thanks a lot.

PIKE: Thank you.

Geo Quiz

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:40:46 +0000

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Where will our Geo Quiz take us today?

Geo Answer

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:35:08 +0000

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For our Geo Quiz we wanted the name of a Russian city on the Black Sea that was chosen to host the next Winter Olympics after Vancouver. The answer is Sochi.

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

The World — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:30:57 +0000

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For decades, the writer Ludmilla Petrushevskaya was banned in the Soviet Union. She wrote stories about domestic despair and Soviet censors demanded optimism. Petrushevskaya’s writing was just too dark, but today she’s a living legend in Russia. And she’s always reinventing herself. Her newest endeavor? Cabaret. Recently Petrushevskaya visited New York City and sang for an audience of Russian émigrés. Kiera Feldman reports.

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya performing in New York (Photo: Kiera Feldman)

The Fountain House by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya