Sole Afghan Woman Gov in a Man's World
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2016 ANALYSIS THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF ESTABLISHED 1961 Founder and Publisher YOUSUF S. AL-ALYAN Editor-in-Chief ABD AL-RAHMAN AL-ALYAN EDITORIAL : 24833199-24833358-24833432 ADVERTISING : 24835616/7 FAX : 24835620/1 CIRCULATION : 24833199 Extn. 163 ACCOUNTS : 24835619 COMMERCIAL : 24835618 P.O.Box 1301 Safat,13014 Kuwait. E MAIL :[email protected] Website: www.kuwaittimes.net Washington Watch Dirty, deadly and no cleaner legacy from Rio Games By Brad Brooks io de Janeiro’s air is dirtier and deadlier than por- trayed by authorities and the Olympics’ prom- Rised legacy of cleaner winds has not remotely been met, an analysis of government data and Reuters’ own testing found. Brazil declared in its official bid for the Olympic Games, which open on Friday, that Rio’s air quality was “within the limits recommended by the World Health Organization.” That was not true when Rio won the right to host the Games in 2009 and it is not true now. Rio for years has surpassed WHO limits for the most dangerous air pollutant - called particulate mat- With Khans, has Trump finally gone too far? ter (PM) - spewed from millions of vehicles clogging the city’s roads. Thousands die annually in Rio’s metro- By Lisa Lerer maintain our dignity,” even as the couple kept up a round father of a Marine, Pence said Sunday that he and Trump politan area of 12 million people because of complica- of TV appearances. Said his wife: “My religion or my family believe Capt Khan is a hero and his family “should be cher- tions related to the air. People exposed to the pollu- n a defensive crouch, Donald Trump complained yes- or my culture never stopped me from saying what I want ished by every American.” Last week, Pence said Russia tion have higher risks of lung cancer, heart attacks, terday about being “viciously attacked” by the father of to say. I have all the rights as a wife, as a mother, as a would face “serious consequences” for meddling in US strokes, asthma and other diseases. “This is definitely Ia decorated Muslim Army captain killed in Iraq, persist- daughter.” At last week’s convention, Khizr Khan criticized elections at roughly the same time Trump appeared to not ‘Olympic air’,” said Paulo Saldiva, a University of Sao ing in an emotionally charged feud that has left him Trump for proposing to freeze the entry of foreign encourage it, telling reporters he would welcome Russia Paulo pathologist and member of the WHO committee increasingly isolated among fellow Republicans. Trump Muslims into the US and accused him of making no sacri- unearthing emails that Democratic nominee Hillary that set tougher global pollution standards in 2006. broke a political and societal taboo over the weekend fices for his country. Clinton deleted from the private servers she used while “A lot of attention has been paid to Rio’s water pol- when he criticized Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved Both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority secretary of state. lution, but far more people die because of air pollution parents of Capt Humayun Khan, who was awarded a Leader Mitch McConnell issued statements over the week- Pence’s statement late Sunday came after an afternoon than the water,” he said. “You are not obligated to drink Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed in Iraq end praising the couple’s son. Though neither mentioned of debate among his aides as to whether he should find a water from Guanabara Bay but you must breathe Rio’s in 2004. Trump stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan Trump, the congressional leaders pointedly denounced his way to dissociate himself subtly from Trump’s comments, air.” Rio’s contaminated Olympic waterways have drawn did not speak while standing alongside her husband at proposed restriction on foreign Muslims, a policy he had according to a person familiar with the internal campaign attention as the city suffers endemic levels of gastroin- last week’s Democratic convention because she is a altered in recent weeks. The episode risked setting back conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity testinal diseases from a lack of sewage collection. Muslim woman. whatever progress Trump made during his convention at because the person was not authorized to discuss them Reuters recently reported that Rio’s Olympic water ven- The outcry has been swift and bipartisan. Yesterday, winning over the independent voters who will probably publicly. At last week’s Democratic convention, the ues and favorite beaches also tested positive for drug- Republican Sen John McCain said in a statement that the be key in the fall election. Pakistan-born Khizr Khan told his son’s story, questioned resistant “super bacteria.” fact Trump won his party’s nomination doesn’t give him Yet he’s repeatedly made inflammatory statements at whether Trump had ever read the constitution and said But there has been no talk of Rio’s air pollution, “unfettered license to defame those who are the best little apparent political cost - and sometimes to his benefit “you have sacrificed nothing.” During the speech, Ghazala three-quarters of which is caused by exhaust fumes among us.” McCain added pointedly: “I’d like to say to Mr - going back to the beginning of the campaign when he Khan stood quietly by his side. from the 2.7 million vehicles on its roads, according to and Mrs Khan: Thank you for immigrating to America. challenged the heroism of McCain, a prisoner of war in Trump responded in an interview with ABC’s “This Rio state’s environmental protection agency, Inea. Its We’re a better country because of you.” Trump tweeted Vietnam, and branded Mexican immigrants rapists and Week,” saying: “If you look at his wife, she was standing data shows that since 2008, Rio’s air has consistently yesterday that “Mr Khan, who does not know me, viciously criminals. Many of his supporters have been drawn to his there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she been two to three times above WHO’s annual limit for attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over tendency to say the politically unthinkable. The question wasn’t allowed to have anything to say.” Ghazala Khan PM 10 - so called because the particulate matter has a TV doing the same.” He said the focus should be on “radi- is whether this, finally, is a step too far. wrote in Sunday’s Washington Post that she did not speak diameter of 10 microns or less, seven times smaller cal Islamic terrorism,” not the parents. For the second time in a week, Trump’s running mate, because talking about her son’s death remains difficult. than that of a human hair. That means Rio has the dirti- Khizr Khan told CNN yesterday that “We want to be out Indiana Gov Mike Pence, issued a statement that appeared “Every day, whenever I pray, I have to pray for him, and I est air of any Olympic host city since scientists began of this controversy. That is not our style. ... We want to designed to put some space between the two men. The cry,” she wrote. — AP consistently tracking PM 10 in the late 1980s, with the exception of Beijing in 2008. Tania Braga, head of sustainability and legacy for the Rio Olympics organizing committee, said, “When Sole Afghan woman gov in a man’s world you talk about air quality, it cannot be judged on PM data alone, and Rio’s other pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide are comfortably within By Anuj Chopra problems too,” he said, setting off a ripple of titters. “We Ebbing international donor funding has exacerbated WHO’s limits.” Though accurate, Saldiva said “the health really are worried about men’s rights.” Muradi’s struggles. “Anyone in that position - man or damages associated with PM pollution are the most urrounded by male advisors and condescending woman - would struggle with dwindling resources,” said severe of all pollutants” and, because of that, Rio’s air is “mansplainers”, Masooma Muradi holds her own Sexist Wisecracks Habibullah Radmanesh, Daikundi’s deputy governor. For of poor quality. The WHO says on its website that “PM Sagainst a deep underswell of sexism in a society “Paying lip service to women’s empowerment is one his part, Ghani has appointed four female ministers since affects more people than any other pollutant,” that out- unaccustomed to women exercising authority. Breaking thing but real empowerment comes with deference to a he came to power in 2014, risking political capital. Last door pollution caused 3.7 million premature deaths new ground as Afghanistan’s only female governor, woman leader’s authority,” the UNDP official later said, year, for the first time in Afghanistan’s history he nominat- worldwide in 2012 and that those deaths were due to Muradi’s ascent to the top post in remote Daikundi referring to Muradi’s struggles. Muradi, who holds a degree ed a woman to the supreme court, but when she was exposure to PM 10. The UN body did not respond to province is a remarkable feat in Afghanistan, where stub- in business administration but lacks political clout, stands rejected by parliament he appointed a man instead. He requests for comment on Rio’s air quality. born patriarchal traditions are at odds with progressive in strong contrast to warlords and strongmen who govern also dismissed the only other woman governor, of central Using the WHO’s methodology on estimating ideas about a woman’s place in the world.