The New York Times Newspaper - September 04 2012, Literatura, Gazety, Magazyny
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VOL. CLXI . . No. 55,884
NEW YORK, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
© 2012 The New York Times
U.S. IS NEAR PACT
TO CUT $1 BILLION
FROM EGYPT DEBT
DEMOCRATS SAY
U.S. IS BETTER OFF
THAN 4 YEARS AGO
TO BOLSTER DEMOCRACY
REJOINDER TO THE G.O.P.
Washington Also Favors
I.M.F. Loan — Effort
Gains Urgency
A Theme That Romney
Protects Wealthy at
Workers’ Expense
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
WASHINGTON — Nearly 16
months after first pledging to
help Egypt’s failing economy, the
Obama administration is nearing
an agreement with the country’s
new government to relieve $1 bil-
lion of its debt as part of an
American and international as-
sistance package intended to bol-
ster its transition to democracy,
administration officials said.
The administration’s efforts,
delayed by Egypt’s political tur-
moil and by wariness in Washing-
ton about new leaders emerging
from its first free elections,
gained new urgency in recent
weeks, even as the United States
risks losing influence and invest-
ment opportunities to countries
like China. President Mohamed
Morsi chose China for his first of-
ficial visit outside of the Middle
East, although a spokesman said
the crisis in Syria was the main
issue driving the visit.
In addition to the debt assist-
ance, the administration has
thrown its support behind a $4.8
billion loan being negotiated be-
tween Egypt and the Internation-
al Monetary Fund. Last week, it
dispatched the first of two dele-
gations to work out details of the
proposed debt assistance, as well
as $375 million in financing and
loan guarantees for American fi-
nanciers who invest in Egypt and
a $60 million investment fund for
Egyptian businesses.
The assistance underscores
the importance of shoring up
Egypt at a time of turmoil and
change across the Middle East,
By JIM RUTENBERG
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A day af-
ter fumbling a predictable and
straightforward question posed
by Mitt Romney last week — are
Americans better off than they
were four years ago — the Oba-
ma campaign provided a re-
sponse on Monday that it said
would be hammered home dur-
ing the Democratic convention
here this week: “Absolutely.”
The focus on the campaign’s
handling of the question, after
halting and contradictory re-
sponses from Democrats on Sun-
day, complicated the White
House’s effort to begin striking a
set of themes the president in-
tends to highlight here and carry
through the general election.
That effort starts with an argu-
ment that Mr. Romney, the Re-
publican nominee, would raise
taxes on the middle class while
cutting them for the wealthy. It
seeks to pitch forward to the next
four years the case that Mr. Oba-
ma and his allies have made over
the spring and summer — that
Mr. Romney’s business career
showed him intent on profit even
at the expense of workers and
that his wealth has given him tax
advantages not enjoyed by reg-
ular people.
“The problem is everybody’s
already seen his economic play-
book,” Mr. Obama said at a cam-
paign stop in Ohio before a Labor
Day audience largely consisting
of United Auto Workers union
members. “On first down he
hikes taxes by nearly $2,000 on
the average family with kids in
LUKE SHARRETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
MULTITASKING
President Obama went to a campaign rally in Ohio before heading to Louisiana to tour hurricane damage. Page A13.
POLITICAL MEMO
Fears Rising, Spaniards Pull Out
Their Cash and Get Out of Spain
Spirit of ’08 Gone, Democrats
Reunite Against G.O.P. Threat
By LANDON THOMAS Jr.
LONDON — It is, Julio Vildo-
sola concedes, a very big bet.
After working six years as a
senior executive for a multi-
national payroll-processing com-
pany in Barcelona, Spain, Mr. Vil-
dosola is cutting his professional
and financial ties with his trou-
bled homeland. He has moved his
family to a village near Cam-
bridge, England, where he will
take the reins at a small software
company, and he has transferred
his savings from Spanish banks
to British banks.
“The macro situation in Spain
is getting worse and worse,” Mr.
Vildosola, 38, said last week just
hours before boarding a plane to
London with his wife and two
small children. “There is just too
much risk. Spain is going to be
next after Greece, and I just don’t
want to end up holding devalued
pesetas.”
Mr. Vildosola is among many
who worry that Spain’s economic
tailspin could eventually force
the country’s withdrawal from
the euro and a return to its for-
mer currency, the peseta. That
dire outcome is still considered a
long shot, even if Spain might
eventually require a Greek-style
bailout. But there is no doubt that
many of those in a position to do
so are taking their money — and
in some cases themselves — out
of Spain.
In July, Spaniards withdrew a
record 75 billion euros, or $94 bil-
lion, from their banks — an
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Four
years ago, Barack Obama accept-
ed the presidential nomination of
a Democratic Party that was as
unified and energized as at any
moment in its past: Clintons and
Kennedys, labor and Wall Street,
centrists and leftists, old and
young, blacks, whites and His-
panics. It bristled with the excite-
ment of history and the expecta-
tions of a new era.
But Democrats are arriving
here to nominate President Oba-
ma for a second term in an at-
mosphere far removed from the
Denver convention in 2008, driv-
en by a different kind of urgency
and with new questions about
their party’s direction.
Their unity at this point is de-
fined less by faith in Mr. Obama
or a robust vision for what the
party should stand for than by
the prospect that Republicans
could control the White House
and Congress next year and en-
act a conservative agenda that
would unravel much of what
Democrats have stood for since
Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Soci-
ety. Mitt Romney’s selection of
Representative Paul D. Ryan as
his running mate has only inten-
sified the ideological fervor.
“It’s because the Republican
Party has moved completely to
Continued on Page A7
Continued on Page A3
Continued on Page A17
Continued on Page A18
Elephants Dying in Epic Frenzy
As Ivory Fuels Wars and Profits
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
GARAMBA NATIONAL
PARK, Democratic Republic of
Congo — In 30 years of fighting
poachers, Paul Onyango had nev-
er seen anything like this. Twen-
ty-two dead elephants, including
several very young ones,
clumped together on the open sa-
vanna, many killed by a single
bullet to the top of the head.
There were no tracks leading
away, no sign that the poachers
had stalked their prey from the
ground. The tusks had been
hacked away, but none of the
meat — and subsistence poach-
ers almost always carve them-
selves a little meat for the long
walk home.
Several days later, in early
April, the Garamba National
Park guards spotted a Ugandan
military helicopter flying very
low over the park, on an unau-
thorized flight, but they said it
abruptly turned around after be-
ing detected. Park officials, scien-
tists and the Congolese authori-
ties now believe that the Ugan-
dan military — one of the Penta-
gon’s closest partners in Africa —
killed the 22 elephants from a hel-
icopter and spirited away more
than a million dollars’ worth of
ivory.
“They were good shots, very
good shots,” said Mr. Onyango,
Garamba’s chief ranger. “They
even shot the babies. Why? It
THE PRICE OF IVORY
Slaughter in Africa
was like they came here to de-
stroy everything.”
Africa is in the midst of an epic
elephant slaughter. Conservation
groups say poachers are wiping
out tens of thousands of ele-
phants a year, more than at any
time in the previous two decades,
with the underground ivory trade
becoming increasingly milita-
rized.
Like blood diamonds from Si-
erra Leone or plundered miner-
als from Congo, ivory, it seems, is
the latest conflict resource in Af-
rica, dragged out of remote battle
TYLER HICKS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Elephants roam Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thousands of them are being killed for their tusks.
Continued on Page A6
NATIONAL A13-20
Organic Food Benefits Doubted
NEW YORK A21-25
Violence Again Mars Parade
ARTS C1-8
Wright Archive on the Way
Stanford University scientists, examin-
ing years of research, said meat, fruits
and vegetables labeled organic were, on
average, no more nutritious than their
conventional counterparts.
Two men were fatally stabbed after the
annual West Indian American Day Pa-
rade. The festivities, mostly quiet dur-
ing the day, had a heavy police presence
after being marred by fatal shootings
for the past nine years.
Thousands of Frank Lloyd Wright’s ar-
chitectural drawings, models, photo-
graphs and documents are moving to
Columbia and MoMA.
PAGE C1
PAGE A20
PAGE A21
SPORTSTUESDAY B7-12
The Brooklyn Commuters
Harnessing the Power of Waves
Energy developers around the world
are watching as the nation’s first com-
mercially licensed device powered by
the ocean’s waves and connected to the
power grid is tested in Oregon.
PAGE A19
Though the Nets are moving to Brook-
lyn, the players aren’t in a hurry to live
in the borough yet.
PAGE B7
SCIENCE TIMES D1-7
The Royal Society Holds Firm
INTERNATIONAL A4-12
Young Syrians Vow Revenge
The crucible of the scientific revolution
that formed the modern world is, at
times, an embattled institution.
PAGE D1
Young Syrian Sunnis at a refugee camp
in Jordan vowed to kill members of the
Alawite minority, offering a bleak vision
of a post-Assad future in Syria.
PAGE A4
Calm Settles on Brooklyn Pool
McCarren Park Pool had a rocky re-
opening this summer, but as the heat
gave way, tensions eased.
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27
David Brooks
PAGE A24
PAGE A27
BUSINESS DAY B1-6
Outposts in Silicon Valley
Legislator Was Asked to Resign
Huge companies like American Express
and G.M. have opened offices in Silicon
Valley to invest in innovation.
The Assembly speaker said he had asked
Vito J. Lopez to resign amid a harass-
ment scandal but was rebuffed.
PAGE A21
U(D54G1D)y+@!/!$!#!?
PAGE B1
A2
THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
N
Inside The Times
INTERNATIONAL
NEW YORK
SPORTS
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
Son of Chinese Official
Dies in Sports Car Crash
A crashed Ferrari in China might
have been just another example of
the crassly rich elite exercising bad
judgment if not for the driver’s iden-
tity. Party officials said the son of
Ling Jihua, a close ally of the depart-
ing president Hu Jintao, died in a
crash in which two women in the car
were seriously injured. PAGE A4
Syrian Official Speaks Out
The Syrian government’s top
spokesman said the refugees fleeing
its borders were welcome back at
any time, mocked the presidents of
Egypt and Turkey for their condem-
nations and called the armed oppo-
sition unfit for negotiations.
PAGE A8
U.S. Car Bombed in Pakistan
A suicide bomber rammed his explo-
sives-laden vehicle into a car be-
longing to the United States Consul-
ate in Peshawar, Pakistani and
American officials said, but differed
on the number of casualties.
PAGE A10
Summer of Guns and Death
In the Nation’s Safest City
New York City is celebrated as the
safest big city in America, and that
is one reality of this city. As is this:
New York has experienced a sum-
mer of shooting. Shootings through
Aug. 26 were up 5.2 percent com-
pared with the same period in 2011;
the number of shooting victims is on
the rise, up 6.1 percent. PAGE A21
Erosion of Labor Unions
New York City has regained all of
the jobs it lost during the last reces-
sion, but its labor unions have not,
and the steep decline in the last sev-
eral years may signal a lasting ero-
sion of one of the few remaining bas-
tions of union power, according to
the authors of a report to be re-
leased this week.
PAGE A23
Rodriguez Returns,
But Yankees’ Lead Slips
Alex Rodriguez was 1 for 4 in his
first game since he broke his hand
on July 24, but Tampa Bay broke a
3-3 tie in the eighth inning off Dave
Robertson, reducing the Yankees’
division lead to one. PAGE B7
Last Round of Ryder Cup
The final round of the Deutsche
Bank Championship was shaping up
to have at least seven players vying
for the last four United States Ryder
Cup spots — until Rory McIlroy and
Louis Oosthuizen teed off at the TPC
Boston and stole the show. PAGE B10
‘‘
They may not be as
exhilarated as they were
last time, but I think they
are just as committed.
’’
CAROLINE KENNEDY,
on the mood of Democrats as
they head into the Democratic
National Convention and the
final weeks of the presidential
campaign. [A17]
SCIENCE
Farm Use of Antibiotics
In Animals Defies Scrutiny
A dearth of information makes it dif-
ficult to document the precise rela-
tionship between routine antibiotic
use in animals and antibiotic-resist-
ant infections in people, scientists
say. PAGE D1
The Rise of Dinosaurs
Researchers are trying to learn why
dinosaurs took so long to rise to
dominance in North America com-
pared with other parts of the Trias-
sic world. Scientist at Work, Randall
Irmis.
PAGE D3
New Asthma Therapy
A new procedure called bronchial
thermoplasty is the first nondrug
therapy approved by the Food and
Drug Administration for patients
with severe asthma. But the pro-
cedure is expensive, costing around
$20,000, and insurers have been re-
luctant to cover it.
PAGE D6
Study on Autism and Bullies
New research shows that children
with autism spectrum disorders,
who typically have difficulty in com-
municating and forming relation-
ships, are far more likely to be bul-
lied than their non-autistic peers.
PAGE D7
ARTS
Granta Literary Magazine
Begins China Edition
When the first issue of its new Chi-
nese-language edition appears next
month, the London-based literary
journal Granta, will have a presence
in four of the five most widely spo-
ken languages.
PAGE C1
Cinema and Hinted Verité
This year’s lineup at the Telluride
Film Festival featured movies that,
while clearly fictional, have that
bracing feeling of reality.
PAGE C1
Summer Music Festivals
Over the weekend two festivals elec-
trified the New York area, Electric
Zoo on Randalls Island and Rock the
Bells at the PNC Bank Arts Center.
Both are on their way to becoming
summertime institutions, Jon
Pareles writes.
PAGE C1
‘Dreamgirls’ in Chamber
Keith Lee Grant directs an intimate
chamber version of “Dreamgirls,”
Michael Bennett’s 1981 R&B musical
about the rise of a 1960s girl group at
the Harlem Repertory Theater. For
the most part, the effort is a success,
and the audience’s physical close-
ness exposes an extra layer of emo-
tion, writes Anita Gates. PAGE D5
BUSINESS
Foreign Firms Settle Cases
From U.S. Bribery Law
A law intended to prohibit the pay-
ment of bribes to foreign officials by
United States businesses has pro-
duced more than $3 billion in settle-
ments. But a list of the top compa-
nies making these settlements is no-
table in one respect: nine of the top
10 were foreign. PAGE B1
Drought Harries India
With the nourishing downpours of
the annual monsoon season down
an average of 12 percent across In-
dia, and much more than that in
some regions, farmers about 250
miles east of Mumbai are on the
brink of disaster. PAGE B1
Pension Plan Backfires
Financial analysts and actuaries say
that the same bond sale that was in-
tended to alleviate a shortfall in pen-
sion money in Stockton, Calif., was
pitched to thousands of local gov-
ernments all over the country — and
led many to be drawn into deals that
have cost them dearly. PAGE B1
NATIONAL
To Beat Execution Clock,
Justices Prepare Early
The legal scramble for a stay of the
ultimate deadline may suggest that
the Supreme Court does not render
considered justice when it is asked
to halt an execution, but it goes to
great lengths to get ready, and its
point person is a staff lawyer named
Danny Bickell. Sidebar, Adam Lip-
tak. PAGE A19
Trial for Detroit’s Ex-Mayor
When Kwame M. Kilpatrick took of-
fice for his stint as mayor of Detroit,
there was little about him that was
not larger than life. Now four years
after he left office, the criminal
charges he will face when his federal
trial begins, and the penalty, are no
less sizable.
PAGE A19
Corrections
OP-ED
Frank Bruni
PAGE A27
Joe Nocera
PAGE A27
FRONT PAGE
A chart on Sunday with the
continuation of an article about
the importance of Ohio in the
presidential race reversed the la-
bels for Arizona and New Mex-
ico. New Mexico should have
been to the right of Arizona.
A map on Sunday with the con-
tinuation of an article about the
hurricane-battered Plaquemines
Parish on the southeastern tip of
Louisiana located Venice incor-
rectly. The town is on the west
bank of the parish, not on the east
bank.
selves from Representative Paul
D. Ryan’s budget plan misstated
the age at which recipients would
be affected by his Medicare pro-
posal. It is for people currently
under 55, not 55 or younger.
SPORTS
Because of an editing error, a
picture credit in some editions on
Monday with an article about the
success of the British tennis play-
ers Andy Murray and Laura Rob-
son this summer misidentified
the photographer. The picture of
Robson was taken by Barton Sil-
verman of The New York Times,
not by Gary Hershorn of Reuters.
Crossword
C6
Obituaries
A28
TV Listings
C7
Weather
D8
Classified Ads
B6
Commercial Real Estate Market-
place
B5
NEW YORK
Because of an editing error, a
picture caption in some editions
on Friday with an article about
the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority’s expansion of a pro-
gram to reduce trash by remov-
ing trash cans from subway sta-
tions misidentified the location of
the photograph. The picture of a
cup on top of a pay phone was
taken at the Eighth Street and
Broadway station in Greenwich
Village, not at the 57th Street
stop.
Errors and Comments:
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Newspaper Delivery:
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(1-800-698-4637).
NATIONAL
An article on Saturday about
Republican lawmakers and can-
didates who are distancing them-
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THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
N
PHOTOGRAPHS BY WARRICK PAGE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Julio Vildosola at his family’s new home in Buckden, England. “The macro situation in Spain is getting worse and worse,” he said.
Fears Rising, Spaniards Pull Out Cash and Leave
erything,” Mr. Pérez said. “So
yes, everyone in Spain knows
about the corralito.”
Recently, Mr. Pérez, who lives
in the northern city of Bilbao, re-
moved about a third of his euros
from his Spanish savings account
and sent them to Singapore, con-
verting them to Singapore dol-
lars.
Having lost his job at a multi-
national company a few months
ago, Mr. Pérez, 48, is trying to
make ends meet by focusing on
his travel Web site and blog,
which aggregate Spanish-lan-
guage travel videos.
But as the job outlook worsens,
he is contemplating following in
the path of his savings and start-
ing a new life in Singapore with
his wife.
“Two years ago, we never
would have thought of this, but
now I have real fears that there
will be a breakup with the euro,”
he said. “And when you keep
hearing people saying, ‘Don’t
worry, it’s not going to happen’ —
well, that is when you have to
start worrying.”
Analysts said that the record-
high outflow from Spain in July
was probably spurred in part by
July’s being a taxpaying month
for many corporations, which
prompted them to withdraw cash
from deposit accounts.
Also playing a role were in-
vestment funds that moved cash
reserves to foreign banks in light
of the credit downgrades at Span-
ish banks.
Still, as the examples of Mr.
Vildosola and Mr. Pérez show, in-
dividual deposit flight is becom-
ing more pronounced.
Some people are willing to fly
to London for the day just to open
an account there, as most banks
in the city require such trans-
actions to be made in person.
Spanish bankers working for
British financial institutions say
they have been hit with a barrage
of questions about how to open
savings accounts in London.
“It seems as if everyone I
know in Spain is getting on an
easyJet to come to London and
open a bank account,” said one
such banker, who spoke on condi-
tion of anonymity, citing his com-
pany’s policy.
That is what Mr. Vildosola did
before he took the more drastic
step of moving his family to Eng-
land.
“It’s sad,” he said. “But I just
don’t think there is a future for
me in Spain right now.”
From Page A1
amount equal to 7 percent of the
country’s overall economic out-
put — as doubts grew about the
durability of Spain’s financial
system.
The withdrawals accelerated a
trend that began in the middle of
last year, and came despite a Eu-
ropean commitment to pump up
to 100 billion euros into the Span-
ish banking system. Analysts will
be watching to see whether the
August data, when available,
shows an even faster rate of cap-
ital flight.
More disturbing for Spain is
that the flight is starting to in-
clude members of its educated
and entrepreneurial elite who are
fed up with the lack of job oppor-
tunities in a country where the
unemployment rate touches 25
percent.
According to official statistics,
30,000 Spaniards registered to
work in Britain in the last year,
and analysts say that this figure
would be many multiples higher
if workers without documents
were counted. That is a 25 per-
cent increase from a year earlier.
“No doubt there is a little bit of
panic,” said José García Montal-
vo, an economist at Pompeu
Fabra University in Barcelona.
“The wealthy people have al-
ready taken their money out.
Now it’s the professionals and
midrange people who are moving
their money to Germany and
London. The mood is very, very
bad.”
It is possible that the outlook
could improve if the European
Central Bank’s governing coun-
cil, which meets Thursday, sig-
nals a plan to help shore up the fi-
nances of Spain and other euro
zone laggards by intervening in
the bond markets.
But right now, if anything,
Spain’s picture is growing dim-
mer.
On Friday, the government’s
bank rescue fund said it would
need to pump up to 5 billion euros
into the failed mortgage-lending
giant Bankia, which the state
seized in May. And on Monday,
Andalusia became the latest of
Spain’s semiautonomous regions
to ask the central government for
rescue money.
The wider prospects for the
euro zone are also still bleak.
Moody’s Investors Service said
on Monday that it had changed
its outlook on the AAA rating of
the European Union to negative,
Julio and Eva Vildosola and one of their two children. Mr. Vil-
dosola will join a small software company in Cambridge.
and that it might downgrade the
rating if it decides to cut the rat-
ings on the union’s four largest
budget contributors. [Page B6.]
Spain’s gathering gloom comes
despite a gradual return of cap-
ital to banks in Greece and the
relative stability of deposits in
those other euro zone trouble
spots, Italy, Ireland and Portugal.
The continued exodus of
money and people from Spain
ish banks at more of a jog than
anything close to a sprint.
Although retail and corporate
deposits are down 10 percent
compared with those of July 2011,
the country remains relatively
rich in savings, with 2.3 trillion
euros in overall deposits, accord-
ing to data from Morgan Stanley.
But once under way, the flight
of bank deposits can easily over-
whelm rational facts and analy-
sis.
Setting off the flight was the
failure of Bankia, which came as
a shock to Spanish savers who
had been assured by government
officials that the bank was in
good shape.
Instead of calming fears, the
state takeover prompted compar-
isons to Argentina in 2001, when
peso bank accounts denominated
in dollars were frozen in order to
stem the flight of deposits.
The corralito, or corral, as the
Argentine action is known, has
become part of the public con-
versation in Spain. The million-
plus Argentines who have since
immigrated to Spain have pro-
vided ample and gory stories of
desperate
A fleeing educated
elite, fed up with the
lack of opportunity.
could be a warning to European
policy makers that bailing out the
country — a step now widely ex-
pected — may not stem the panic
as long as the Spanish economy
remains in a funk.
It was a lesson learned in
Greece, where despite successive
European bailouts, about a third
of deposits have been withdrawn
from its banks since 2009, as the
public worried that Athens might
have to return to the drachma.
Spain is still a far cry from a
nearly bankrupt Greece: it has a
much larger and more diverse
economy, lower levels of debt and
a bond market that is still func-
tioning.
It might be more accurate to
say that money is leaving Span-
legal
battles
and
wiped-out savings.
Eduardo Pérez, a Spaniard
who was working in Argentina
during that period, remembers
the events all too well. He said he
lost four-fifths of the money he
had kept in an Argentine savings
account, though he declined to
say how much money was in-
volved.
“Some of my friends lost ev-
A4
N
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
China Faces
New Scandal
Over Crash
Of a Ferrari
By IAN JOHNSON
BEIJING — China’s carefully
scripted leadership transition ap-
pears to have suffered another
glitch: a fatal car crash involving
a Ferrari, a privileged son and
two women.
According to several well-con-
nected party officials, the crash,
on Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road
earlier this year, killed the man
on impact and left both women
seriously injured. All were said to
have been in various states of un-
dress, these officials said.
It might have been just another
example of China’s crassly rich
elite exercising bad judgment —
except for the identity of the driv-
er. On Monday, the officials said
he was the son of one of China’s
most powerful men, Ling Jihua,
55, a close ally of the departing
president, Hu Jintao.
The connection had apparently
been able to be suppressed until
this past weekend, when Mr. Ling
suddenly suffered a demotion in-
stead of a promotion when he left
his role as head of the govern-
ment’s nerve center, the General
Office of the party’s Central Com-
mittee. He will now lead the Unit-
ed Front Work Department, a
less powerful post aimed at im-
proving ties with groups in soci-
ety, though some analysts said he
could still reach the Politburo at
some point.
The shift comes in the midst of
major behind-the-scenes jockey-
ing as the once-in-a-decade pow-
er transition unfolds. “The ques-
tion is how this will affect Hu Jin-
tao,” said Joseph Fewsmith, a
Boston University professor. “To
have to drop Ling Jihua is embar-
rassing. He lost a key ally here.”
The most straightforward anal-
ysis is that Mr. Ling’s demise
could help the anointed presi-
dent, Xi Jinping, consolidate pow-
er more quickly by sidelining one
of Mr. Hu’s protégés, through
whom Mr. Hu might have been
able to exercise power even after
retiring. Mr. Ling’s replacement
at the Central Committee is a pro-
vincial official, Li Zhanshu, who
has been friends with Mr. Xi
since the two served in Hebei
Province in the 1980s. He also has
ties to Mr. Hu.
But on another level, Mr.
Ling’s downfall could hurt the
transition. With Mr. Ling now es-
sentially sidelined, Mr. Hu and
his faction may feel slighted, im-
plying that carefully shaped com-
promises intended to ease Mr.
Xi’s rise may be unraveling.
The shift comes just as the
leadership has been dealing with
another shock to the system: the
fall of a senior leader, Bo Xilai.
Mr. Bo lost his prominent party
positions after his wife was de-
tained in the murder of a British
businessman, for which she has
now been convicted. An an-
nouncement regarding Mr. Bo’s
fate is widely expected in coming
weeks, wrapping up the matter
ahead of the 18th Party Congress
this fall.
The circumstances surround-
ing the crash were first posted in
June on overseas Chinese Web
sites but remained unconfirmed
in mainstream English media un-
til reported in The South China
Morning Post on Monday. Reu-
ters then also confirmed most of
the details on Monday, although
one of its sources said Mr. Ling’s
son did not die in the crash.
Party officials reached by The
New York Times confirmed the
son’s death, the make of the car
and the presence of the two wom-
en, as well as their incomplete
dress.
The details, salacious as they
are, are important because Mr.
Bo lost his positions partly for
“family management” failings.
Many party members or their
close family members often vio-
late rules by engaging in busi-
ness or having less-than-exem-
plary personal lives — but are ex-
pected to keep it under wraps.
Evaluating the truthfulness of
these reports is tricky because
various factions — especially
during a transition like the one
between Mr. Hu and Mr. Xi —
often leak information to discred-
it opponents.
This is why the accident be-
came such a hot potato after it oc-
curred. The government-run Glo-
bal Times reported on it in March
without identifying the victims. It
did say, however, that informa-
tion, including photos posted on
microblogging sites, had been de-
leted.
“Whose son was it” who died?
said the historian Zhang Lifan.
“It was a son no one dared to
claim.”
MOISES SAMAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Syrian children at a playground last week at a refugee camp in Zaatari, Jordan. Many speak of exacting revenge on the Alawites when they get back home.
Syrian Children
Offer Glimpse
Of a Future
Of Reprisals
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
ZAATARI, Jordan — Like all the small
children in the desert refugee camp here, Ibti-
sam, 11, is eager to go home to the toys, bicy-
cles, books, cartoons and classmates she left
behind in Syria.
But not if that means living with Alawites,
members of the same minority offshoot of Shi-
ite Islam as Syria’s president, Bashar al-As-
sad. “I hate the Alawites and the Shiites,” Ibti-
sam said as a crowd of children and adults
nodded in agreement. “We are going to kill
them with our knives, just like they killed us.”
If the fighters seeking to oust Mr. Assad
sometimes portray their battle as a struggle
for democracy, the Sunni Muslim children of
the Zaatari camp tell a much uglier story of
sectarian revenge. Asked for their own views
of the grown-up battle that drove them from
their homes, child after child brought up their
hatred of the Alawites and a thirst for revenge.
Children as young as 10 or 11 vowed never to
play with Syrian Alawite children or even
pledged to kill them.
Parroting older relatives — some of whom
openly egged them on — the youngsters of-
fered a disturbing premonition of the road
ahead for Syria.
Their unvarnished hatred helps explain
why so many Alawites, who make up more
than 10 percent of the Syrian population, have
stood by Mr. Assad even as the world has writ-
ten him off. They see him as their best protec-
tion against sectarian annihilation.
The children’s refusal to share a play-
ground or a classroom with Alawites drama-
tizes the challenge of ever putting together a
political solution to the conflict. And the easy
talk of blood and killing from such young chil-
dren illustrates the psychic toll that the revolt
and repression are taking on the next genera-
Sunni Refugees Speak
Of Hatred for Ruling Sect
Continued on Page A9
In Beijing, Clinton Will Push for Talks Over Disputed Islands
reacted quickly to a comment
last week by the State Depart-
ment’s spokeswoman, Victoria
Nuland, that the United States
refers to the islands as the Sen-
kakus, as the Japanese do.
She said the islands were un-
der the administrative control of
the government of Japan since
they were “part of the reversion
of Okinawa” in 1972, and thus fell
under the United States-Japan
defense treaty.
Pressed by a Chinese reporter
on whether Washington regard-
ed the islands as part of Japa-
nese territory, Ms. Nuland said,
“We don’t take a position on the
islands, but we do assert that
they are covered under the trea-
ty.”
A Chinese specialist on Japan
said Ms. Nuland’s comments
were unacceptable. “Previously,
the United States said it holds no
position on sovereignty,” said Hu
Lingyuan, the deputy director of
the Center for Japanese Studies
at Fudan University in Shanghai.
“Now it’s contradicting itself.
The Chinese people cannot ac-
cept this. The U.S. is very visibly
taking sides with Japan.”
Anti-Japanese sentiment has
been stoked by full coverage on
national television of the Japa-
nese landings on the islands. In
small villages and in provincial
newspapers, the Japanese were
the subject of vilification as peo-
ple gathered around television
sets.
Adding to the tensions, the
Japanese flag on the hood of the
official car of the Japanese am-
bassador in China was ripped off
last week as it traveled in Bei-
jing. The Japanese press report-
ed that four suspects had been
questioned by the Beijing au-
thorities but had not been de-
tained. “It is alarming for Japan
that many people praised the at-
tack, calling the suspects he-
roes,” The Daily Yomiuri wrote
in an editorial.
A senior State Department of-
ficial who will be in Beijing with
Mrs. Clinton said the main goal
of the trip was to calm what has
been an inflamed summer across
the region. “It is absolutely es-
sential that cooler heads prevail
in every capital,” the official said.
By JANE PERLEZ
and STEVEN LEE MYERS
BEIJING — As tensions
mount with its neighbors over is-
lands in nearby strategic wa-
terways, China has scored some
subtle victories, making the
United States and its allies in-
creasingly uneasy about the po-
tential for violent confrontations.
China’s dispute with Japan
over potentially energy-rich is-
lands in the East China Sea, and
with the Philippines over an is-
land that China has effectively
blocked to Filipino vessels, will
be central in talks between Sec-
retary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton and Chinese leaders in
Beijing on Tuesday evening and
Wednesday, American and Chi-
nese officials said.
“We will need the nations of
the region to work collaborative-
ly together to resolve disputes —
without coercion, without intimi-
dating, without threats and, cer-
tainly, without the use of force,”
Mrs. Clinton said on Monday
evening after arriving in Indo-
nesia’s capital, Jakarta.
As part of a 10-day, six-nation
swing through Asia that may in-
clude her last visit to China as
secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton
and her senior aides said the
United States would urge China
to enter discussions with its
neighbors over conflicting terri-
torial claims in the South China
Sea.
The Chinese have resisted
holding such talks with the re-
gional bloc, the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, and
since Mrs. Clinton’s last visit to
Beijing in May, the Chinese have
acted more boldly in the mar-
itime disputes. Mrs. Clinton re-
ceived support from Indonesia’s
foreign minister, Marty Natale-
gawa, who has scrambled in re-
cent weeks to forge a unified po-
sition among the association’s
members to create a code of con-
duct intended to avert clashes
over the various claims.
“Absent a code of conduct, ab-
KYODO NEWS, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
A rubber boat on a survey ship chartered by Tokyo officials being lowered near Uotsuri, right,
one of the islands in the East China Sea at the center of a territorial dispute with China.
sent a diplomatic process, we
can be certain of more incidents
around the region,” he said, ap-
pearing with her.
With recent developments,
however, it is not clear that Chi-
na is interested in any such code.
The official news media in China
has adopted an increasingly con-
fident tone in the South China
Sea disputes, asserting that the
United States should accept that
it is in decline.
Editorials have warned the
United States not to try to bene-
fit from territorial disputes there
and in the East China Sea, where
an age-old dispute over islands
near rich oil and gas fields has
flared anew between China and
Japan, a treaty ally with Wash-
ington. These islands are known
in China as the Diaoyu, and in Ja-
pan as the Senkakus.
Speaking on Monday at a reg-
ular Foreign Ministry press
briefing in Beijing, a spokesman,
Hong Lei, said the islands were
“inherent” parts of China since
“ancient times.” Without naming
the United States, he warned
outside parties against med-
dling.
In a move that was interpreted
as a modest victory for China,
Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihi-
ko Noda, sent a letter last week
to China’s president, Hu Jintao,
calling for “calm handling” by
both sides.
The letter was seen as a con-
team. Surveys would be a first
step toward buying the islands.
The dispute with the Philip-
pines involves a cluster of reefs
and rocks, the Scarborough
Shoal, which is called Panatag in
the Philippines and Huangyan in
China. In May, the Obama ad-
ministration quietly negotiated a
deal that called for Filipino and
Chinese vessels to leave the
shoal.
But the Chinese left behind a
rope that still blocks the en-
trance to the lagoon, said two
Asian diplomats familiar with
the situation, who declined to be
named per diplomatic protocol.
The Philippines foreign affairs
undersecretary, Laura del Rosa-
rio, said last Friday that three
Chinese vessels remained just
outside the lagoon, preventing
any Filipino fishing vessels from
entering. China has effectively
established a new status quo at
the shoal and appeared deter-
mined not to back down, the two
diplomats said.
In a public display of displeas-
ure with Washington over the
East China Sea disputes, China
Mounting tensions
over potentially
energy-rich areas.
ciliatory gesture after a group of
10 activists backed by Tokyo
businessmen, who say they want
to buy the islands, organized a
landing on the islands on Aug. 19
without permission from the
central Japanese authorities.
A second group of activists,
from the Tokyo metropolitan
government, went to the waters
near the islands over the week-
end, calling themselves a survey
Jane Perlez reported from Bei-
jing, and Steven Lee Myers from
Jakarta, Indonesia. Bree Feng
contributed research.
Andrew Jacobs and Jonathan
Ansfield contributed reporting,
and Mia Li contributed research.
A5
THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
N
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