Refuge for Birds and People

.... 2 | THURSDAY,MARCH 13, 2014 INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES page two

IN YOUR WORDS Acts of peace How a court extended spies’reach Refuge for birds and people Everything I read and see these days about the way the American government is and possible behaving indicates to me that Bin Laden won a victory in 2001, because we let him ways to heal win. That single action has allowed us to destroy ourselves from within, something I predicted would happen on the day of the attacks. I said the resulting anger against the terrorists from these insane attacks would cause us to fear and destroy ourselves. RAM, SAMUDRAL Didi Kirsten Isn’t the whole idea of secret courts Tatlow unconstitutional? Wasn’t it the intent of the founding fathers to create a state where this sort of thing didn’t exist, where LETTER FROM CHINA everything was out in the open and the government accountable to the people? REGS264, NEW YORK BEIJING ‘‘Why not let him visit the Holocaust memorial?’’ asked Chan Koonchung, the Beijing-based Hong The principles of democracy and liberty by Kong writer, of President Xi Jinping of which this country supposedly operates China. are given daily lip service in schools, in the Mr. Chan, the author of ‘‘The Fat mainstream media, and in politics —but Years,’’ a novel about an überconfident are nowadays routinely ignored in practice. China, was talking about news reports Whatever the arc that American that the German government didn’t totalitarianism may seek to take, little time want the Chinese leader to make an of- remains for the people of this nation to stop ficial visit to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe during his it, and to actually reassert the principles of visit to Berlin later this month. democracy and liberty we extol. With its intimate experience of the FRED DRUMLEVITCH, TUCSON, ARIZONA difficult intellectual debates and hon- esty needed to work through a national Bangladesh factory inspections trauma of totalitarianism and wartime It is about time that such inspections be aggression, the German government made. There must also be some guarantee feared being dragged into the history wars between China and Japan over that the needed safety improvements are World War II, reported Reuters and actually made. Working with the unions is a Der Spiegel. terrific idea —enabling the workers to For months, senior Chinese and Japa- have some voice in their work conditions. nese officials, including Prime Minister ELEPHANT LOVER, NEW MEXICO Shinzo Abe, had traded veiled and not- so-veiled barbs about Safety has a cost. It is worth it. Frankly, I China’s presi- who was more dan- gerous to peace in would rather wear clothes made by decently dent plans to Asia —arising, un- paid, safe and fairly treated workers and pay visit Berlin, democratic China, or more for them have a clear conscience. but the itiner- a Japan whose prime MARGARET, ATLANTA ary is fraught minister prayed at with politics. the Yasukuni Shrine See what readers are talking about and in Tokyo, where 14 leave your own comments at inyt.com Class A war criminals are honored. Fueling the tensions was a dispute over islands in the East China IN OUR PAGES Sea claimed by both countries. On Jan. 24, Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, appeared to drag Ger- 1914 Opera Singer Wins Court Case many into the quarrel when it posted on Mlle. Lucy Arbell, the operatic singer, Twitter the iconic photograph of Willy was granted 30,000fr. damages in the Brandt in 1970, when he was the chan- Paris Courts yesterday [March 12] cellor of Germany, on his knees in Warsaw in front of a memorial to the against Mme. Massenet, widow of the Jews murdered by Nazi Germany, in a composer, and Mlle. Juliette Massenet, PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROGER BALLEN gesture of humility that stunned and his daughter, in the suit which she impressed the world. brought against the composer’s heirs re- SAFE HOUSE ‘‘Only a correct attitude towards his- specting her claim to the sole right to An asylum can be tory can shape future: Chinese Ambas- create the title-rôles of the operas ‘‘Cléo- either a refuge or a sador,’’ Xinhua said. Japan, implied pâtre’’ and ‘‘Amadis.’’ The plaintiff place of madness. In China, lacked Mr. Brandt’s ‘‘correct attitude.’’ Yet neither Japan nor China claimed that the composer expressed Roger Ballen’s new book, ‘‘Asylum of was ‘‘correct,’’ Mr. Chan said. the dying wish that she alone should the Birds,’’ it is In 2011, appreciating the depth of the play the rôle of Cléopâtre and also of both. His photo- problem, he and other intellectuals Amadis, declaring that he would prefer graphs were taken tried to organize a conference of Japa- to destroy the works if for any reason in Johannesburg in nese and Chinese historians willing to she was unable to create the roles. a dilapidated house talk —honestly, painfully —about the that was inhabited past. It was to take place in 2012, the 1939 Gang Shipping Drugs Is Jailed by hundreds of 75th anniversary of the 1937 Nanjing birds —and dozens Massacre, when Japanese soldiers PARIS An international drug ring, oper- of immigrants, fu- went on a deadly rampage in the city. ating between America and France, was gitives or homeless The Chinese government says at smashed over the week end by the arrest people. lens.blogs. least 300,000 Chinese were killed, while of fifteen men and women, who allegedly nytimes.com other estimates have ranged from distributed narcotics in Montmartre and 30,000 to 200,000. Last month, Beijing Montparnasse. The organization was re- declared two days of national remem- ported to have smuggled hundreds of brance —one on Dec. 13, for the massacre, and one on Sept. 3, to mark the vic- pounds of heroin during recent months. tory over Japan in 1945. The drug ring, officials said, appears to Yet the war is so politicized in China, have no connection with the alleged ac- and dislike of Japan runs so deep in tivities of Isaac Leifer, so called ‘‘grand SCARY AND FUNNY said Mr. Ballen, an some quarters, that it was hard to find Rabbi of Brooklyn,’’ who was arrested in The house, whose American who has Chinese historians willing to challenge Paris last summer when found in posses- walls were covered lived in South Africa the state’s narrative, Mr. Chan said. sion of Jewish Bible stuffed with heroin. in drawings by resi- for over 30 years. ‘‘I Over all, China’s record of truth-telling dents, became his want to transform about its own past was poor. There Find a retrospective of news from 1887 to project. ‘‘It’s a way the physical world were real issues to face, such as collab- 2013 in The International Herald Tribune of transforming into the psychologi- oration during the war. But in the ab- at iht-retrospective.blogs.nytimes.com what I’m seeing,’’ cal world.’’ sence of honest discussion, what was the point of a conference? Mr. Chan gave up. For historical rea- sons, Berlin could have been a good place to hold such an event, he said, but Joe McGinniss, 71; wrote of political powers and true crime ‘‘It never got into the planning stage.’’ Meanwhile, the reports that Germany rejected Mr. Xi’s Holocaust memorial BY BRUCE WEBER with Dr. MacDonald’s defense team was 42 years old the day he was born.’’ None of Mr. McGinniss’s books was visit seem to have alarmed officials in AND EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS during the trial and eventually decided Thebook wasamammoth best seller as controversial as ‘‘Fatal Vision.’’ In Berlin, who need China’s support for a that the jury had decided correctly in and a revelation to many readers, intro- 1979, while working for The Los political solution to the crisis in Joe McGinniss, a journalist whose book- convicting Dr. MacDonald. He sued Mr. ducing them to what is understood as a Angeles Herald-Examiner,Mr. McGin- Ukraine, where Russia has effectively length investigations of political lives McGinniss and remains in prison. tenet of political campaigns today: that niss was asked by Dr. MacDonald to seized Crimea. and horrific crimes often triggered con- More recently,in 2010, Mr.McGinniss they are driven by manipulative intent. write a book about the trial. Dr.Mac- On Sunday, in a call with the German troversy, critical debate and mega- movednext door to Sarah Palin, former TheNew York Times critic Christopher Donald, who contended that his family chancellor, Angela Merkel, Mr. Xi sales, died on Monday in Worcester, governor of Alaska and Republican vice- Lehmann-Haupt described it as ‘‘sting- had been attacked by four intruders, offered his support, and Ms. Merkel told Mass. He was 71. presidential candidate, and her family in ing, bitterly comic, aseries of smartly clearly thought the author would be an Mr. Xi that she was ‘‘very happy’’ over Thecause wascomplications of pros- Wasilla, Alaska, while working on a book turned-out scenes from backstage at the ally and help turn public opinion in his his coming visit, a spokesman said. about her. Thetelevision host Glenn 1968 presidential turkey raffle.’’ favor. So far, no itinerary has been an- OBITUARY Beck suggested that Mr. McGinniss was ‘‘How Mr.McGinniss got to witness In his lawsuit, Dr. MacDonald ac- nounced. On Tuesday, a German For- a peeping Tom who wanted to peer into these scenes I don’t know,’’ Mr. cused Mr.McGinniss of breach of con- eign Ministry spokesman, Konrad Lax, tate cancer, his wife, NancyDoherty, Ms. Palin’s daughters’ bedrooms, and Lehmann-Haupt wrote, adding, ‘‘But CHAD BATKA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES tract, saying the author had agreed to said that was merely because it was said. He lived in Pelham, Mass. Todd Palin, Ms.Palin’s husband, ac- what he sawand heardhe has recorded Joe McGinniss in 2011. He first gained fame write a book that would exonerate him. still too early. ‘‘We were not negative Mr.McGinniss wasjust 26 in 1969 and cused him of stalking the family. artfully enough to simultaneously en- for a book about the 1968 presidential race. Ajury could not reach a verdict in the or laggardly toward the wishes of the acolumnist for The Philadelphia In- The book, ‘‘The Rogue: Searching for tertain us and make us fear for the fu- case, and it was settled out of court. Chinese delegation,’’ Mr. Lax said. quirer when he published ‘‘The Selling the Real Sarah Palin,’’ published in 2011, ture of the Republic.’’ In 1989, the writer Janet Malcolm Another German official, speaking on of the President 1968,’’ about the image- made sensational allegations, including In astatement on Tuesday, Mr.Ailes and Fall of Teddy Kennedy,’’ was replete caused asensation with an essay, pub- the condition of anonymity, said an itin- makers behind Richard M. Nixon’s suc- one that Ms. Palin had taken drugs said: ‘‘Joe McGinnisswill be re- with salacious details of Senator Edward lished in The New Yorker, about the erary would be known probably only on cessful 1968 campaign. Thebook por- when she was young. membered as atalented man. He M. Kennedy’s family history and specu- treacherous moral path walked by jour- March 21. If Mr. Xi wants to visit the me- trayed the Nixon team in an unflatter- ‘‘TheSelling of the President’’ was changed political writing forever in lation about family members’ emotions nalists, taking the McGinness-MacDon- morial, he can do so privately. ‘‘It’s of- ing,cynical light and sent signals to redolent of iconoclasm and the counter- 1968. We differed on many things, but he and motivations, though it wasshort on ald relationship as its case study and ten the case that visiting heads of state’’ candidates of all stripes about the haz- cultural attitude prevalent among Mr. had a good heart.’’ sourcing and, to many critics, credibility. casting Mr. McGinniss in an especially may undertake activities ‘‘that are not ards of granting reporters intimate ac- McGinniss’s generation of reporters. Mr. McGinniss’sdistaste for Nixon And ‘‘The Rogue,’’ written when Ms. harsh light. part of the official program,’’ he said. cess to political decision-making. Mr. McGinniss quoted Roger Ailes, the was evident in the book, and he was nev- Palin wasamong the most scrutinized ‘‘Every journalist who is not too stu- Mr. Chan, for one, hopes Mr. Xi will His 1983 book, ‘‘Fatal Vision,’’ focused creator of Fox News, who was then a er loath to reveal his presence in his politicians in America, broke little new pid or too full of himself to notice what is see the memorial. The president might on the murder trial of JeffreyMacDon- Nixon campaign aide, as saying: ‘‘Let’s work. His other studies in contemporary ground and was takento task over of its going on knows that what he does is learn something about history, about ald, an Army doctor and aGreen Beret face it, a lot of people think Nixon is dull,’’ politicswere equally audacious in that ‘‘caustic, unsubstantiated gossip about morally indefensible,’’ the essay, pub- truth-telling, about reconciliation. accused of killing his pregnant wife and adding, ‘‘They look at him as the kind of way, if lesscritically successful. His 1993 the Palins,’’ as The Times’scritic Janet lished in 1990 as abook, ‘‘The Journalist two daughters. Mr. McGinnisslived kid who always carried a bookbag. Who biography, ‘‘The Last Brother: The Rise Maslin wrote. and the Murderer,’’ began. EMAIL: [email protected]