[{"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The US trade deficit widened to $ 50.2 bn ( # 31.7 bn ) in May , the highest level for 31 months , as oil imports surged .", "The trade gap rose from a downwardly revised $ 43.6 bn in April , according to Commerce Department figures .", "Oil prices helped push imports to the second highest level on record , while exports fell slightly from April 's record high .", "The unexpected 2.6 % rise in imports to $ 225.1 bn may prompt economists to revise US domestic growth figures .", "The data shows that the trade gap with China jumped more than 15 % to $ 25bn .", "US companies imported $ 32.8 bn of goods and services from China and exported $ 7.8 bn to the country .", "The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites", "Police are treating an incident at RAF Marham , Norfolk , involving a serviceman as attempted abduction .", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess", "A 15cm-high wall is put around Trump 's Hollywood star", "Should we take supplements as experts suggest ?", "The anti-jihad activist whose sibling killed seven people", "The man hired to have sex with children", "How tragedy inspired US rocker to teach guitar in Kabul", "Where in Japan might Pokemon be hiding ?", "Black man 's unique response to being told ` go home '", "The country where it pays to buy protection"], "_citing_sentence": "The trade deficit was $50.2billion in May 2011 with China alone making up $25 billion of this.", "_claim_name": "Pursuing an isolationist foreign policy will increase the United States' economic security.", "_doc_title": "US trade deficit widens to more than $50bn in May - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 4]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["By Warren E. Buffett , FORTUNE I 'm about to deliver a warning regarding the U.S. trade deficit and also suggest a remedy for the problem .", "But first I need to mention two reasons you might want to be skeptical about what I say .", "To begin , my forecasting record with respect to macroeconomics is far from inspiring .", "For example , over the past two decades I was excessively fearful of inflation .", "More to the point at hand , I started way back in 1987 to publicly worry about our mounting trade deficits -- and , as you know , we 've not only survived but also thrived .", "So on the trade front , score at least one `` wolf '' for me .", "Nevertheless , I am crying wolf again and this time backing it with Berkshire Hathaway 's money .", "Through the spring of 2002 , I had lived nearly 72 years without purchasing a foreign currency .", "Since then Berkshire has made significant investments in -- and today holds -- several currencies .", "I wo n't give you particulars ; in fact , it is largely irrelevant which currencies they are .", "What does matter is the underlying point : To hold other currencies is to believe that the dollar will decline .", "Both as an American and as an investor , I actually hope these commitments prove to be a mistake .", "Any profits Berkshire might make from currency trading would pale against the losses the company and our shareholders , in other aspects of their lives , would incur from a plunging dollar .", "But as head of Berkshire Hathaway , I am in charge of investing its money in ways that make sense .", "And my reason for finally putting my money where my mouth has been so long is that our trade deficit has greatly worsened , to the point that our country 's `` net worth , '' so to speak , is now being transferred abroad at an alarming rate .", "A perpetuation of this transfer will lead to major trouble .", "To understand why , take a wildly fanciful trip with me to two isolated , side-by-side islands of equal size , Squanderville and Thriftville .", "Land is the only capital asset on these islands , and their communities are primitive , needing only food and producing only food .", "Working eight hours a day , in fact , each inhabitant can produce enough food to sustain himself or herself .", "And for a long time that 's how things go along .", "On each island everybody works the prescribed eight hours a day , which means that each society is self-sufficient .", "Eventually , though , the industrious citizens of Thriftville decide to do some serious saving and investing , and they start to work 16 hours a day .", "In this mode they continue to live off the food they produce in eight hours of work but begin exporting an equal amount to their one and only trading outlet , Squanderville .", "The citizens of Squanderville are ecstatic about this turn of events , since they can now live their lives free from toil but eat as well as ever .", "Oh , yes , there 's a quid pro quo -- but to the Squanders , it seems harmless : All that the Thrifts want in exchange for their food is Squanderbonds ( which are denominated , naturally , in Squanderbucks ) .", "Over time Thriftville accumulates an enormous amount of these bonds , which at their core represent claim checks on the future output of Squanderville .", "A few pundits in Squanderville smell trouble coming .", "They foresee that for the Squanders both to eat and to pay off -- or simply service -- the debt they 're piling up will eventually require them to work more than eight hours a day .", "But the residents of Squanderville are in no mood to listen to such doomsaying .", "Meanwhile , the citizens of Thriftville begin to get nervous .", "Just how good , they ask , are the IOUs of a shiftless island ?", "So the Thrifts change strategy : Though they continue to hold some bonds , they sell most of them to Squanderville residents for Squanderbucks and use the proceeds to buy Squanderville land .", "And eventually the Thrifts own all of Squanderville .", "At that point , the Squanders are forced to deal with an ugly equation : They must now not only return to working eight hours a day in order to eat -- they have nothing left to trade -- but must also work additional hours to service their debt and pay Thriftville rent on the land so imprudently sold .", "In effect , Squanderville has been colonized by purchase rather than conquest .", "It can be argued , of course , that the present value of the future production that Squanderville must forever ship to Thriftville only equates to the production Thriftville initially gave up and that therefore both have received a fair deal .", "But since one generation of Squanders gets the free ride and future generations pay in perpetuity for it , there are -- in economist talk -- some pretty dramatic `` intergenerational inequities . ''", "Let 's think of it in terms of a family : Imagine that I , Warren Buffett , can get the suppliers of all that I consume in my lifetime to take Buffett family IOUs that are payable , in goods and services and with interest added , by my descendants .", "This scenario may be viewed as effecting an even trade between the Buffett family unit and its creditors .", "But the generations of Buffetts following me are not likely to applaud the deal ( and , heaven forbid , may even attempt to welsh on it ) .", "Think again about those islands : Sooner or later the Squanderville government , facing ever greater payments to service debt , would decide to embrace highly inflationary policies -- that is , issue more Squanderbucks to dilute the value of each .", "After all , the government would reason , those irritating Squanderbonds are simply claims on specific numbers of Squanderbucks , not on bucks of specific value .", "In short , making Squanderbucks less valuable would ease the island 's fiscal pain .", "That prospect is why I , were I a resident of Thriftville , would opt for direct ownership of Squanderville land rather than bonds of the island 's government .", "Most governments find it much harder morally to seize foreign-owned property than they do to dilute the purchasing power of claim checks foreigners hold .", "Theft by stealth is preferred to theft by force .", "So what does all this island hopping have to do with the U.S. ?", "Simply put , after World War II and up until the early 1970s we operated in the industrious Thriftville style , regularly selling more abroad than we purchased .", "We concurrently invested our surplus abroad , with the result that our net investment -- that is , our holdings of foreign assets less foreign holdings of U.S. assets -- increased ( under methodology , since revised , that the government was then using ) from $ 37 billion in 1950 to $ 68 billion in 1970 .", "In those days , to sum up , our country 's `` net worth , '' viewed in totality , consisted of all the wealth within our borders plus a modest portion of the wealth in the rest of the world .", "Additionally , because the U.S. was in a net ownership position with respect to the rest of the world , we realized net investment income that , piled on top of our trade surplus , became a second source of investable funds .", "Our fiscal situation was thus similar to that of an individual who was both saving some of his salary and reinvesting the dividends from his existing nest egg .", "In the late 1970s the trade situation reversed , producing deficits that initially ran about 1 percent of GDP .", "That was hardly serious , particularly because net investment income remained positive .", "Indeed , with the power of compound interest working for us , our net ownership balance hit its high in 1980 at $ 360 billion .", "Since then , however , it 's been all downhill , with the pace of decline rapidly accelerating in the past five years .", "Our annual trade deficit now exceeds 4 percent of GDP .", "Equally ominous , the rest of the world owns a staggering $ 2.5 trillion more of the U.S. than we own of other countries .", "Some of this $ 2.5 trillion is invested in claim checks -- U.S. bonds , both governmental and private -- and some in such assets as property and equity securities .", "In effect , our country has been behaving like an extraordinarily rich family that possesses an immense farm .", "In order to consume 4 percent more than we produce -- that 's the trade deficit -- we have , day by day , been both selling pieces of the farm and increasing the mortgage on what we still own .", "To put the $ 2.5 trillion of net foreign ownership in perspective , contrast it with the $ 12 trillion value of publicly owned U.S. stocks or the equal amount of U.S. residential real estate or what I would estimate as a grand total of $ 50 trillion in national wealth .", "Those comparisons show that what 's already been transferred abroad is meaningful -- in the area , for example , of 5 percent of our national wealth .", "More important , however , is that foreign ownership of our assets will grow at about $ 500 billion per year at the present trade-deficit level , which means that the deficit will be adding about one percentage point annually to foreigners ' net ownership of our national wealth .", "As that ownership grows , so will the annual net investment income flowing out of this country .", "That will leave us paying ever-increasing dividends and interest to the world rather than being a net receiver of them , as in the past .", "We have entered the world of negative compounding -- goodbye pleasure , hello pain .", "We were taught in Economics 101 that countries could not for long sustain large , ever-growing trade deficits .", "At a point , so it was claimed , the spree of the consumption-happy nation would be braked by currency-rate adjustments and by the unwillingness of creditor countries to accept an endless flow of IOUs from the big spenders .", "And that 's the way it has indeed worked for the rest of the world , as we can see by the abrupt shutoffs of credit that many profligate nations have suffered in recent decades .", "The U.S. , however , enjoys special status .", "In effect , we can behave today as we wish because our past financial behavior was so exemplary -- and because we are so rich .", "Neither our capacity nor our intention to pay is questioned , and we continue to have a mountain of desirable assets to trade for consumables .", "In other words , our national credit card allows us to charge truly breathtaking amounts .", "But that card 's credit line is not limitless .", "The time to halt this trading of assets for consumables is now , and I have a plan to suggest for getting it done .", "My remedy may sound gimmicky , and in truth it is a tariff called by another name .", "But this is a tariff that retains most free-market virtues , neither protecting specific industries nor punishing specific countries nor encouraging trade wars .", "This plan would increase our exports and might well lead to increased overall world trade .", "And it would balance our books without there being a significant decline in the value of the dollar , which I believe is otherwise almost certain to occur .", "We would achieve this balance by issuing what I will call Import Certificates ( ICs ) to all U.S. exporters in an amount equal to the dollar value of their exports .", "Each exporter would , in turn , sell the ICs to parties -- either exporters abroad or importers here -- wanting to get goods into the U.S. To import $ 1 million of goods , for example , an importer would need ICs that were the byproduct of $ 1 million of exports .", "The inevitable result : trade balance .", "Because our exports total about $ 80 billion a month , ICs would be issued in huge , equivalent quantities -- that is , 80 billion certificates a month -- and would surely trade in an exceptionally liquid market .", "Competition would then determine who among those parties wanting to sell to us would buy the certificates and how much they would pay .", "( I visualize that the certificates would be issued with a short life , possibly of six months , so that speculators would be discouraged from accumulating them . )", "For illustrative purposes , let 's postulate that each IC would sell for 10 cents -- that is , 10 cents per dollar of exports behind them .", "Other things being equal , this amount would mean a U.S. producer could realize 10 percent more by selling his goods in the export market than by selling them domestically , with the extra 10 percent coming from his sales of ICs .", "In my opinion , many exporters would view this as a reduction in cost , one that would let them cut the prices of their products in international markets .", "Commodity-type products would particularly encourage this kind of behavior .", "If aluminum , for example , was selling for 66 cents per pound domestically and ICs were worth 10 percent , domestic aluminum producers could sell for about 60 cents per pound ( plus transportation costs ) in foreign markets and still earn normal margins .", "In this scenario , the output of the U.S. would become significantly more competitive and exports would expand .", "Along the way , the number of jobs would grow .", "Foreigners selling to us , of course , would face tougher economics .", "But that 's a problem they 're up against no matter what trade `` solution '' is adopted -- and make no mistake , a solution must come .", "( As Herb Stein said , `` If something can not go on forever , it will stop . '' )", "In one way the IC approach would give countries selling to us great flexibility , since the plan does not penalize any specific industry or product .", "In the end , the free market would determine what would be sold in the U.S. and who would sell it .", "The ICs would determine only the aggregate dollar volume of what was sold .", "To see what would happen to imports , let 's look at a car now entering the U.S. at a cost to the importer of $ 20,000 .", "Under the new plan and the assumption that ICs sell for 10 percent , the importer 's cost would rise to $ 22,000 .", "If demand for the car was exceptionally strong , the importer might manage to pass all of this on to the American consumer .", "In the usual case , however , competitive forces would take hold , requiring the foreign manufacturer to absorb some , if not all , of the $ 2,000 IC cost .", "There is no free lunch in the IC plan : It would have certain serious negative consequences for U.S. citizens .", "Prices of most imported products would increase , and so would the prices of certain competitive products manufactured domestically .", "The cost of the ICs , either in whole or in part , would therefore typically act as a tax on consumers .", "That is a serious drawback .", "But there would be drawbacks also to the dollar continuing to lose value or to our increasing tariffs on specific products or instituting quotas on them -- courses of action that in my opinion offer a smaller chance of success .", "Above all , the pain of higher prices on goods imported today dims beside the pain we will eventually suffer if we drift along and trade away ever larger portions of our country 's net worth .", "I believe that ICs would produce , rather promptly , a U.S. trade equilibrium well above present export levels but below present import levels .", "The certificates would moderately aid all our industries in world competition , even as the free market determined which of them ultimately met the test of `` comparative advantage . ''", "This plan would not be copied by nations that are net exporters , because their ICs would be valueless .", "Would major exporting countries retaliate in other ways ?", "Would this start another Smoot-Hawley tariff war ?", "At the time of Smoot-Hawley we ran an unreasonable trade surplus that we wished to maintain .", "We now run a damaging deficit that the whole world knows we must correct .", "For decades the world has struggled with a shifting maze of punitive tariffs , export subsidies , quotas , dollar-locked currencies , and the like .", "Many of these import-inhibiting and export-encouraging devices have long been employed by major exporting countries trying to amass ever larger surpluses -- yet significant trade wars have not erupted .", "Surely one will not be precipitated by a proposal that simply aims at balancing the books of the world 's largest trade debtor .", "Major exporting countries have behaved quite rationally in the past and they will continue to do so -- though , as always , it may be in their interest to attempt to convince us that they will behave otherwise .", "The likely outcome of an IC plan is that the exporting nations -- after some initial posturing -- will turn their ingenuity to encouraging imports from us .", "Take the position of China , which today sells us about $ 140 billion of goods and services annually while purchasing only $ 25 billion .", "Were ICs to exist , one course for China would be simply to fill the gap by buying 115 billion certificates annually .", "But it could alternatively reduce its need for ICs by cutting its exports to the U.S. or by increasing its purchases from us .", "This last choice would probably be the most palatable for China , and we should wish it to be so .", "If our exports were to increase and the supply of ICs were therefore to be enlarged , their market price would be driven down .", "Indeed , if our exports expanded sufficiently , ICs would be rendered valueless and the entire plan made moot .", "Presented with the power to make this happen , important exporting countries might quickly eliminate the mechanisms they now use to inhibit exports from us .", "Were we to install an IC plan , we might opt for some transition years in which we deliberately ran a relatively small deficit , a step that would enable the world to adjust as we gradually got where we need to be .", "Carrying this plan out , our government could either auction `` bonus '' ICs every month or simply give them , say , to less-developed countries needing to increase their exports .", "The latter course would deliver a form of foreign aid likely to be particularly effective and appreciated .", "I will close by reminding you again that I cried wolf once before .", "In general , the batting average of doomsayers in the U.S. is terrible .", "Our country has consistently made fools of those who were skeptical about either our economic potential or our resiliency .", "Many pessimistic seers simply underestimated the dynamism that has allowed us to overcome problems that once seemed ominous .", "We still have a truly remarkable country and economy .", "But I believe that in the trade deficit we also have a problem that is going to test all of our abilities to find a solution .", "A gently declining dollar will not provide the answer .", "True , it would reduce our trade deficit to a degree , but not by enough to halt the outflow of our country 's net worth and the resulting growth in our investment-income deficit .", "Perhaps there are other solutions that make more sense than mine .", "However , wishful thinking -- and its usual companion , thumb sucking -- is not among them .", "From what I now see , action to halt the rapid outflow of our national wealth is called for , and ICs seem the least painful and most certain way to get the job done .", "Just keep remembering that this is not a small problem : For example , at the rate at which the rest of the world is now making net investments in the U.S. , it could annually buy and sock away nearly 4 percent of our publicly traded stocks .", "In evaluating business options at Berkshire , my partner , Charles Munger , suggests that we pay close attention to his jocular wish : `` All I want to know is where I 'm going to die , so I 'll never go there . ''", "Framers of our trade policy should heed this caution -- and steer clear of Squanderville .", "FORTUNE editor at large Carol Loomis , who is a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder , worked with Warren Buffett on this article .", "TOPICS : Culture/Society ; Foreign Affairs", "KEYWORDS : trade ; warrenbuffet ; warrenbuffett 1 posted on 01/07/2004 8:35:03 PM PST by dennisw -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies -RSB-", "To : Willie Green btttttttt 2 posted on 01/07/2004 8:35:27 PM PST by dennisw ( `` We 'll put a boot in your ass , it 's the American way . ''", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies -RSB-", "Do these guys look happy at the possibility SHE might someday be their Commander in Chief ?", "Do n't Let This Happen !!!", "Support Free Republic !", "Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO , CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com", "SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC", "Help Keep `` Wonder Vermin '' out of the White House !", "3 posted on 01/07/2004 8:37:15 PM PST by Support Free Republic ( Hi Mom !", "To : Support Free Republic", "Warren , go tax yourself .", "( can I say that ? )", "Its called free trade , we give them worthless pieces of paper and they give us stuff .", "They are happy with the paper and we are happy with the stuff .", "When you trade one thing for another thing of equal value - THEIR IS NO DEFICIT !!!! 4 posted on 01/07/2004 8:41:37 PM PST by keithtoo ( DEAN - He 's Dukaki-riffic !!!! - He 's McGovern-ous !!!", "He 's Mondale-agorical !!! )", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies -RSB-", "Warren Buffet is George Soros lite ... both billionaires ... both Bush haters ... both currency manipulators ... both lefties ... both zero populationers.....pro-abortioners .", "5 posted on 01/07/2004 8:43:21 PM PST by Ann Archy -LSB-", "In other words : written by Carol Loomis , a Democrat that wrote nearly every word .", "The real reason they think bonds are bad is because it is n't possible to grow Socialism with a large debt load .", "6 posted on 01/07/2004 8:53:26 PM PST by Reeses -LSB-", "bump ping 7 posted on 01/07/2004 8:56:56 PM PST by applemac_g4 -LSB-", "To : dennisw I 'm about to deliver a warning regarding the U.S. trade deficit and also suggest a remedy for the problem .", "Everything after this is just chatter and worth little or nothing .", "Buffet is a great long term investor , but he -- like many other successful people -- are often given `` gravitas '' they do n't deserve in other fields .", "The Oracle of Omaha is not an economic sage .", "I 've followed him for years and he has MANY more misses than hits ... repeat , MANY more !", "However , his ability to maximize his hits ( and cut his losses quickly on the misses ) -- without leverage -- makes him a great investor ( but NOT an expert on world economics ) .", "8 posted on 01/07/2004 9:03:20 PM PST by Jackson Brown -LSB-", "You are the first poster who must live in thriftville .", "9 posted on 01/07/2004 9:03:58 PM PST by dennisw ( `` We 'll put a boot in your ass , it 's the American way . ''", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies -RSB-", "The problem with Buffett 's proposal is that it would create trade equilibrium .", "This is not necessarily desirable given the requirements of the time .", "10 posted on 01/07/2004 9:07:27 PM PST by Praxeologue -LSB-", "To : dennisw applemac_g4 : You are the first poster who must live in thriftville .", "Clue : Apple Mac G4 lowest price : $ 3099.00 11 posted on 01/07/2004 9:11:20 PM PST by Reeses -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies -RSB-", "We still have a truly remarkable country and economy.Right up until Atlas Shrugged .", "Then , what 's to buffet the Warrens ?", "/ john 12 posted on 01/07/2004 9:14:03 PM PST by JRandomFreeper ( I 'm just a cook .", "And a unix sys-admin .", "Call for my contract rate . )", "To : dennisw btttttttt 13 posted on 01/07/2004 10:22:32 PM PST by jokar ( Beware of the White European Male Christian theological complex !! )", "14 posted on 01/07/2004 11:00:10 PM PST by boycott -LSB-", "This article needs a new bump .", "Read it and heed it , oh ye purveyors of free trade !", "15 posted on 03/12/2004 6:28:28 PM PST by neutrino ( Oderint dum metuant : Let them hate us , so long as they fear us . )", "To : Ann Archy", "Another Nebraskan ... lost in lefty the bog of looniness .", "16 posted on 03/12/2004 6:56:39 PM PST by pointsal -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies -RSB-", "To : neutrino bttttttttt 17 posted on 04/02/2004 1:45:30 AM PST by dennisw ( `` We 'll put a boot in your ass , it 's the American way . ''", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies -RSB-", "That 's a lot of words .", "I 'll read the comments but I do n't care what Buffet has to say anymore .", "18 posted on 04/02/2004 1:51:07 AM PST by leadpenny -LSB-", "To : dennisw bttt 19 posted on 04/02/2004 2:12:06 AM PST by sarcasm ( Tancredo 2004 ) -LSB-", "Buffet -- > We were taught in Economics 101 that countries could not for long sustain large , ever-growing trade deficits .", "20 posted on 04/02/2004 2:23:12 AM PST by dennisw ( `` We 'll put a boot in your ass , it 's the American way . ''", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies -RSB-", "To : dennisw btttttttttttttttttt 21 posted on 05/21/2004 9:29:54 PM PDT by dennisw ( Koran teaches : `` Cut off their heads , and cut off the tips of their fingers . ''", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies -RSB-", "What bothers me are the number of freepers who whistle past the graveyard .", "You may not like Buffet 's politics , or Soros 's either , but I think they both have somewhat a better trackrecord of figuring out which way things are going than the average person around here does .", "22 posted on 05/21/2004 9:46:51 PM PDT by AndyJackson -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies -RSB-", "To : AndyJackson It 's a great and truthful essay .", "Too bad more have not read it .", "23 posted on 05/22/2004 3:52:25 AM PDT by dennisw ( Koran teaches : `` Cut off their heads , and cut off the tips of their fingers . ''", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies -RSB-", "Give me an eye of a neut ( newt ) for the recipe .", "Fillet of a fenny snake , In the cauldron boil and bake ; Eye of newt and toe of frog , Wool of bat , and tongue of dog , Adder 's fork and blind-worm 's sting , Lizard 's leg and howlet 's wing , For a charm of powerful trouble , Like a hell-broth boil and bubble .", "William Shakespeare ( 1564 - 1616 ) , Macbeth 24 posted on 05/22/2004 3:57:22 AM PDT by dennisw ( Koran teaches : `` Cut off their heads , and cut off the tips of their fingers . ''", "To : dennisw btt 25 posted on 12/27/2004 5:13:29 PM PST by dennisw ( G_D : Against Amelek for all generations . )", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies -RSB-", "To : dennisw bttt 26 posted on 03/07/2005 7:09:06 PM PST by dennisw ( Seeing as how this is a .44 magnum , the most powerful handgun in the world ... ) -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies -RSB-", "There is a fine rebuttal to Buffet 's article appearing in the Capital Flow Watch web log , under the title `` Warren Buffet Fears Foreign Ownership '' .", "This web log also has several other articles debunking panic attacks about the `` trade deficit '' .", "27 posted on 03/11/2005 6:22:53 AM PST by loyal_follower ( Buffet Debunker ) -LSB-", "To : loyal_follower I 'm not smart enough to agree or disagree with Buffet , but lets look at what 's happened to the dollar vs the Yen and Euro since he wrote this article ( Oct. 2003 ) .", "28 posted on 03/11/2005 7:01:06 AM PST by Your Nightmare -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies -RSB-", "To : Your Nightmare", "Certainly the dollar has declined against the Euro , but most of America 's foreign trade is with Latin America and the rest of Asia in which the foreign exchange picture is quite different .", "Euroland , as a whole , has a trade surplus with the rest of the world .", "This means that there is a shortage of euros relative to dollars in the hands of foreigners .", "By elementary supply and demand , the euro must appreciate relative to the dollar .", "But , so what ?", "If the cost of European vacations and French wine increases for Americans , that hurts Europeans more than Americans .", "Americans can buy Chilean or Australian wine and vacation in Hong Kong or Singapore .", "The `` fallacy '' in Buffet 's article is not that the dollar is not declining against the Euro , but his blaming this on America 's `` spendthrift '' habits .", "The trade deficit , as the Capital Flow Watch article points out , is the result of foreigners willingness to accept dollars as payment for goods and services , not the result of American 's savings habits .", "The criticism aimed at Mr. Buffet is not that he is not a smart investor , which he obviously is , but rather that he is using a phony argument to justify massive government intervention in commerce .", "29 posted on 03/11/2005 7:38:50 AM PST by loyal_follower ( Buffet Debunker ) -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies -RSB-", "To : Your Nightmare It 's Oct 2007 .", "Got a chart update ?", "30 posted on 10/04/2007 3:23:54 PM PDT by dennisw ( France needs a new kind of immigrant -- one who is `` selected , not endured '' - Nicholas Sarkozy ) -LSB-", "Will common sense win out in the end , or can we actually build a upsidedown pyramid to the stars ?", "31 posted on 10/20/2007 5:31:57 PM PDT by winodog ( Coming Attractions : They cant legislate morality but can legislate hate ) -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies -RSB-", "You can not borrow your way to prosperity 32 posted on 10/20/2007 11:44:40 PM PDT by dennisw ( France needs a new kind of immigrant -- one who is `` selected , not endured '' - Nicholas Sarkozy ) -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies -RSB-", "To : Travis McGee", "An article I missed at the time .", "Interesting to see how Buffet 's prediction for the dollar turned out .", "33 posted on 04/14/2008 7:30:31 PM PDT by Pelham ( Press 1 for English ) -LSB-", "Foreigners ' willingness to accept dollars as payment for goods and services has indeed been remarkable .", "And the vast inflow of foreign savings has helped drive U.S. savings down .", "But the costs for the US are also remarkably high .", "In my recent book , my coauthors and I explore the costs of the trade deficit , and possible solutions , including the Import Credits idea .", "The publisher 's website www.idealtaxes.com has two or three sample chapters available for viewing .", "Just because foreigners ( and foreign governments in particular ) have seen it to be in their interests to manipulate the terms of trade does n't mean that this is a good thing for the U.S. economy .", "34 posted on 05/23/2008 10:06:48 AM PDT by JesseRichman -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies -RSB-", "A prescient blast from the past 35 posted on 06/24/2009 4:58:51 PM PDT by dennisw ( `` stealth tribal warfare '' is what the Sotomayor nomination is about ) -LSB-", "Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies -RSB-", "To : dennisw Indeed .", "Even if some on our side dismiss him because they can only see his politics .", "36 posted on 06/24/2009 9:40:35 PM PDT by Pelham ( California , formerly part of the USA ) -LSB-"], "_citing_sentence": "It is through such policies that it can restore itself to the position of a net exporter and escape the economic invasion of foreign powers.", "_claim_name": "Pursuing an isolationist foreign policy will increase the United States' economic security.", "_doc_title": "Squanderville versus Thriftville (Warren Buffet)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [63]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By ADAM LIPTAKMARCH 13 , 2010", "WASHINGTON -- Brash and young though it is , the Tea Party movement has already added something distinctive to contemporary political discourse .", "It has made the Constitution central to the national conversation .", "The content of the movement 's understanding of the Constitution is not always easy to nail down , and it is almost always arguable .", "But it certainly includes particular attention to the Constitution 's constraints on federal power ( as reflected in the limited list of powers granted to Congress in Article I and reserved to the states and the people the 10th Amendment ) and on government power generally ( the Second Amendment 's protection of gun rights , the Fifth Amendment 's limits on the government 's taking of private property ) .", "Not a few constitutional scholars say that it is possible to quarrel with the particulars while welcoming the discussion .", "And not just because it is nice to know that people read and care about the nation 's sacred text .", "The larger point , these scholars say , is that the Supreme Court should have no more monopoly on the meaning of the Constitution than the pope has on the meaning of the Bible .", "`` It really is open to interpretation by anybody , in what I sometimes call the lawyerhood of all citizens , '' said Sanford Levinson , a law professor at the University of Texas .", "`` Anybody in a bar can get into a shouting argument over what equal protection means , or the right to free speech . ''", "Those arguments can and should have consequences , according to scholars who endorse what they call `` popular constitutionalism . ''", "`` Basically , it 's the idea that final authority to control the interpretation and implementation of constitutional law resides at all times in the community in an active sense , '' Larry D. Kramer , the dean of Stanford Law School , wrote in The Valparaiso University Law Review in 2006 .", "Popular movements have often appealed to the Constitution in making their cases , and from time to time their views have altered the conventional understanding of the meaning of the constitutional text .", "Abolitionists and secessionists both invoked the Constitution before the Civil War ; a century later , civil rights leaders appealed to principles of equal protection , and their opponents to states ' rights .", "Supporters and opponents of the New Deal pointed , respectively , to the reach of the Constitution 's commerce clause or to the Constitution 's protection of private contracts .", "The Supreme Court 's 2008 ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns , as opposed to one tied to militias , is another example of a transformation of a conventional understanding , Professor Levinson said , this one based on a view of the Constitution pressed by the National Rifle Association and its politically engaged supporters .", "But the best example of the force of a shifting popular understanding of the Constitution can probably be found in the arguments for and against President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 's efforts to expand federal power in reaction to the Great Depression .", "`` What determined the New Deal shift was a dramatic change in the popular understanding of the constitutional role of the federal government , '' said Barry Friedman , a law professor at New York University and the author of `` The Will of the People : How Public Opinion Has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution ''", "A government lawyer of that era , Charles Wyzanski Jr. , demurred when offered congratulations on a big Supreme Court victory .", "`` It was not really Mr. Wyzanski who won , '' he said , `` but Mr. Zeitgeist . ''", "Judging by the rhetoric at many political rallies these days , the spirit of the current moment may be heading in the opposite direction on the question of federal power .", "`` The Tea Party movement is interesting in that there is a combination of localism , nativism and populism that we 've seen at various points in America , '' said Nathaniel Persily , a law professor at Columbia and an editor of `` Public Opinion and Constitutional Controversy . ''", "`` It 's coalescing at a time when the government is growing to an unprecedented size . ''", "It is , of course , hard to say anything definitive about the Tea Party movement , a loose confederation of groups with no central leadership .", "But if there is a central theme to its understanding of the Constitution , it is that the nation 's founders knew what they were doing and that their work must be protected .", "`` I think it 's some loose , ill-informed version of originalism , but it 's plausible , '' said Professor Kramer , the author of `` The People Themselves : Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review . ''", "Advertisement `` Originalism '' has many flavors and levels of specificity , but in essence it says the constitutional text should be applied as it was understood at the time it was adopted .", "Surveys conducted by Quinnipiac University indicate that some 40 percent of Americans say the Supreme Court should employ originalism in interpreting the Constitution ; slightly more say the court should take account of changing conditions .", "`` You might think that questions about constitutional theory are an elite-driven idea , '' Professor Persily said , `` but people have opinions about this . ''", "A new study from Professor Persily and two colleagues , Jamal Greene and Stephen Ansolabehere , explored the political and cultural values of those who identified themselves as originalists .", "Such people `` appear more likely than non-originalists to be white , male , older , less educated , Southern and religious , '' the study found .", "`` They are less likely to favor abortion rights , affirmative action and marriage rights for same-sex couples , and more likely to favor torture and military detention of terrorism suspects and the death penalty .", "They are more likely to express morally traditionalist , hierarchical and libertarian cultural values . ''", "The mechanisms for translating such popular understanding into actual constitutional law are varied .", "Over time , the Supreme Court 's personnel shifts with new appointments , and so may its thinking .", "Public opinion , many scholars say , can not help but affect which cases the court accepts and how it decides them .", "The other two branches of government have independent constitutional responsibilities and are built to respond to the popular will .", "And some court decisions are simply circumvented given a strongly held popular view of what the Constitution allows or requires .", "One example , legal scholars said , is school prayer .", "Some liberals say there is a lesson to be learned from conservative engagement with constitutional interpretation .", "`` There is an imbalance between the left and right in the claims we are making on the Constitution , '' said Doug Kendall , president of the Constitutional Accountability Center , a law firm and advocacy group that says it is `` dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of our Constitution 's text and history . ''", "`` Progressives do need a more simple and compelling constitutional narrative , '' Mr. Kendall said , `` to answer the right 's constitutional narrative . ''", "A version of this article appears in print on March 14 , 2010 , on page WK1 of the New York edition with the headline : Tea-ing Up the Constitution ."], "_citing_sentence": "This is amply demonstrated in the rise of the Tea Party movement and its success in the 2010 congressional election.", "_claim_name": "Current popular sentiment in the United States supports a move toward greater isolationism.", "_doc_title": "The Tea Party and the Constitution - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [21]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 0, "_topic_name": "This house believes that the United States should be isolationist"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The UN 's rights office has voiced concern over rising tensions in Uganda following the arrest of opposition leaders and intimidation .", "More sun than clouds .", "Dakar - The president of west African bloc Ecowas urged member states and other countries on Wednesday to send troops to bolster the", "United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali following a surge in Islamist attacks .", "Kadre Desire Ouedraogo , speaking two days ahead of a summit in Dakar on the region 's economy and recent political crises , called for a positive response to a UN appeal in New York last week for troop reinforcements and much-needed equipment .", "He recognised that troops from Ecowas nations and Chad had already been in Mali for nine months , as part of the AFISMA African force fighting an Islamist insurgency and then as members of the peacekeeping mission which absorbed it .", "But he told a news conference : `` We know we have to get from 6 000 -LSB- peacekeepers -RSB- currently to 12 600 by the end of the year . ''", "French troops entered Mali in January to halt an advance on the capital Bamako by al-Qaeda-linked groups and allied Tuareg rebels .", "It plans to reduce its presence from 3 000 troops today to 1 000 by the end of January 2014 .", "Meanwhile militants have remained active in the vast desert north , carrying out deadly attacks in Timbuktu and Gao in recent weeks and sparking alarm ahead of legislative elections planned for 24 November .", "The UN special representative to Mali Bert Koenders said last week recent attacks in the north of the country had been `` an important wake-up call '' over security .", "Koenders told the UN Security Council that the international force needed helicopters and troops as it builds up to replace the French force .", "`` Troop generation will have to accelerate , ''", "Koenders said in a report on the work of the UN 's Multidimensional Integrated", "Stabilisation Mission in Mali ( MINUSMA ) .", "The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States has said the economy will top the agenda for Friday 's summit but leaders will also call for calm in Guinea , where the opposition has said it will take claims of election fraud to the country 's Supreme Court .", "Guinea-Bissau , where Ecowas also has troops , is another source of concern for the west African leaders .", "After a military coup in 2012 , a caretaker regime is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 24 November .", "`` The transition in Guinea-Bissau must be completed by", "December 31 of this year at the latest , '' Ouedraogo said , adding that Ecowas was planning to contribute $ 18m to the country 's election fund .", "com encourages commentary submitted via MyNews24 .", "Contributions of 200 words or more will be considered for publication .", "com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy .", "Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review , please do so by clicking the ` Report Comment ' button to the right of each comment .", "We hang out with the boys of Fokofpolisiekar .", "Clothing retailer in the midst of plagiarism accusations .", "Another failed attempt by a young driver to ` catch 'em all '", "Lookout for a trio of harmful health conditions in young female athletes", "Master the basics of this traditional French dessert .", "This is an important message .", "WATCH : Kruger mega pride run down a Porcupine .", "Four more stars leave 7de Laan !"], "_citing_sentence": "The African Union is not the only organisation engaged in peacekeeping; the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has also been actively engaged in peacekeeping, having been deployed in numerous conflicts since the 1990s, most recently in Mali where they took part alongside French forces in defeating an Islamist insurgency.", "_claim_name": "The increasing effectiveness of the African Union", "_doc_title": "Ecowas urges members to send troops to Mali | News24", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3, 5]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Peace and Security Council ( PSC ) is the African Union 's ( AU 's ) standing decision-making body responsible for the maintenance of continental peace and security .", "It has 15 members , elected by the AU Executive Council on regional basis ( three from Central Africa ; three from East Africa ; two from North Africa ; three from Southern Africa ; and four from West Africa ) .", "Members are elected for three-year ( five members ) or two-year ( ten members ) terms and can be re-elected immediately for another term .", "There are no permanent members and no veto .", "PSC chairmanship rotates on a monthly basis , in alphabetical order of the English-language names of member states .", "At the AU inaugural meeting in Durban , the African leaders signed the `` Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the AU '' which came into force on 26 December 2003 .", "The Protocol defines the PSC as `` a standing decision-making organ for the prevention , management and resolution of conflicts .", "The PSC shall be a collective security and early-warning arrangement to facilitate timely and efficient response to conflict and crisis situations in Africa '' .", "The Protocol also stipulates that `` The Peace and Security Council shall be supported by the Commission , a Panel of the Wise ( PoW ) , a Continental Early Warning System ( CEWS ) , an African Standby Force ( ASF ) and a Special Fund . ''", "In March 2004 , the PSC adopted its Rules of Procedure and sat for its inaugural meeting one day later , thereby marking the beginning of the operation of the PSC .", "Indeed , two months later , the PSC was solemnly launched at the level of Heads of State and Government on 25 May 2004 .", "Objectives - promote peace , security and stability in Africa ; - anticipate and prevent conflicts ; - and where conflicts have occurred , undertake peace-making and peace-building functions for the resolution of these conflicts ; - promote and implement peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction activities to consolidate peace and prevent the resurgence of violence ; - co-ordinate and harmonise continental efforts in the prevention and combating of international terrorism in all its aspects ; - develop a common defence policy for the Union ; and , - promote and encourage democratic practices , good governance and the rule of law , protect human rights and fundamental freedoms , respect for the sanctity of human life and international humanitarian law , as part of efforts for preventing conflicts .", "The PSC is required to meet a minimum of two times a month at ambassadorial level .", "The agenda is based on the assessment of ongoing conflict and crisis situations , and the assessment can be initiated by any member or by the Commissioner for Peace and Security , in consultations with the Chair .", "According to the PSC Rule of Procedure , `` The inclusion of any item in the provisional agenda may not be opposed by a Member State '' .", "The rules foresee the following types of meetings and their respective participants :", "Closed meetings ; Open meetings ; to which the PSC may invite to participate , `` without a right to vote , in the discussion under its consideration : ( a ) any member State of the AU , which is not a member of the Council , when the interests of that Member States are specifically affected , or when a Member State brings to the attention of the Council a matter that threatens national or regional peace and security ; and ( b ) any Regional Mechanism , international organization or civil society organization , which is involved and / or interested in a conflict or situation related to the discussion under consideration by the Council . ''", "Any AU member state invited to participate in the discussions of the Council may submit , through a member of the Council , proposals and propose draft decisions for consideration .", "The rules also say that the Council may invite the media to attend its open meetings .", "Most PSC meetings are held at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa , but the PSC has the option of choosing other venues .", "Closed meetings ; Open meetings ; to which the PSC may invite to participate , `` without a right to vote , in the discussion under its consideration :"], "_citing_sentence": "This body has authorised AU interventions in Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, and the Central African Republic.", "_claim_name": "The increasing effectiveness of the African Union", "_doc_title": "Peace and Security Council (PSC) - African Union - Peace and Security Department", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 1, "_topic_name": "This House believes the African Union can meet its pledge to end all war on the continent by 2020"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Editor 's Note : Javier Solana , formerly the European Union 's High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy , and a former Secretary General of NATO , is a Distinguished Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution .", "You can read more from Javier Solana at Project Syndicate and be sure to check it out", "By Javier Solana", "MADRID -- Just five months ago , Osama bin Laden was alive , Hosni Mubarak was firmly in control in Egypt , and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali ruled Tunisia with an iron hand .", "Today , popular rebellion and political change have spread throughout the region .", "We have witnessed brutal repression of protests in Syria and Yemen , Saudi troops crossing into Bahrain , and an ongoing battle for Libya .", "For Europe , the `` Arab Spring '' should refocus attention on an issue largely ignored in recent months : the benefits of Turkey 's full membership in the European Union .", "Given the tremendous opportunities present in the current circumstances , the advantages for Europe of Turkey 's accession should be obvious .", "With Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan now elected to another term as Turkey 's prime minister , and with Poland , a country well acquainted with the importance of Europe 's strategic position in the world , assuming the EU presidency at the end of the month , now is a time for the Union and Turkey to `` reset '' their negotiations over Turkish membership .", "The good that Turkey can bring to Europe was visible even before the `` Arab Spring . ''", "Europe is , by definition , culturally diverse , so diversity is the EU 's destiny .", "And , if Europe is to become an active global player , rather than a museum , it needs the fresh perspective and energy of the people of Turkey .", "Europe today is both larger and different compared to the Europe of 1999 , when Turkey was invited to begin the accession process .", "It is also experiencing a profound economic crisis , which erupted around the same time that the Lisbon Treaty -- aimed at accommodating EU enlargement -- was finally approved .", "Had the treaty been approved in 2005 as intended , it would have been in place for six years , and the strain placed by the crisis on EU economic governance -- so visible in the eurozone 's recent problems -- would have been much more manageable .", "But the EU always faces problems , resolves them and moves on .", "Today , we do n't have a treasury , but we are about to have something similar .", "Similarly , the European Central Bank has capacities today that no one imagined in , say , 1997 .", "A major challenge that Europe must still face is migration , which will only become a bigger problem over time .", "Between now and 2050 , Europe 's workforce will decrease by 70 million .", "Maintaining our economy requires migration and open EU borders -- and facing down the populist movements in Europe that would shun `` outsiders . ''", "Today 's Turkey has also changed dramatically since 1999 , both politically and economically , and this has much to do with the EU accession process .", "Indeed , without the attraction of the EU -- its `` soft '' power -- such changes would not have occurred .", "Economically , Turkey is now in the G-20 -- and playing an effective role there .", "And , politically , Turkey has emerged as a regional leader , a role that it takes extremely seriously .", "With just-concluded parliamentary elections , and a new constitution to be approved , Turkey is approaching an epochal moment .", "I was a member of the Spanish Constitutional Commission that wrote the Spanish constitution in 1975 and 1976 , following the death of Franco , so I know what it is to move from dictatorship to democracy -- and how important it is that a constitution be framed by consensus .", "The EU-Turkey relationship began with an association agreement signed in 1963 .", "Now the accession negotiations have started , and 35 `` chapters '' -- covering everything from agriculture to energy , competition , environment , employment , social policy , and beyond -- must be opened .", "We have already opened 19 chapters -- fewer than we would like .", "But the real problem is that we have closed only one , and , worse , the pace of negotiations has slowed .", "In fact , in the second half of 2010 , nothing happened .", "I hope that meaningful progress comes in 2011 .", "Turkey and the EU need each other .", "The EU now accounts for 75 % of foreign investment in Turkey and roughly half its exports and inward tourism .", "Likewise , Europe 's energy security depends on cooperation with Turkey on transit of oil and natural gas from Central Asia and the Middle East .", "We need each other politically as well .", "Turkey 's neighborhood is our neighborhood ; its problems are our problems .", "The security benefits and strategic advantages for the EU with Turkey as a member would be many , starting with the relationship between the EU and NATO , of which Turkey has long been a member .", "Likewise , the EU 's involvement in today 's problems in the Mediterranean region would be much easier in concert with Turkey .", "In Bosnia-Herzegovina , EU-Turkey cooperation is fundamental to achieving a durable solution .", "In 1999 , Turkey did not want to become an accession candidate , because its leaders thought that the conditions would be too tough .", "I was there ; I talked to Prime Minister B\u00fclent Ecevit at midnight , then to President S\u00fcleyman Demirel .", "And , two days later , Ecevit was in Helsinki to declare formally Turkey 's wish to become an EU member .", "And we said : Turkey will be an EU member .", "I supported the signature of that document ; I would do the same today .", "In these times , difficult and unpredictable but full of hope , the world needs Turkey and the EU to work together .", "That does not mean meeting every now and then to decide how to handle a certain problem .", "It means something much deeper and well defined .", "It means Turkey 's admission to the EU .", "That is my dream , and I will continue to fight to make it a reality .", "The views expressed in this article are solely those of Javier Solana .", "Copyright : Project Syndicate , 2011 .", "You can read more from Javier Solana at Project Syndicate .", "The multiculturalism and ultra-liberal agenda has failed .", "Turks are not European and do not belong in the EU !", "Long lasing peace between the Greeks and Turks should be a priority .", "Constantinople ( along with Turkish occupied Europe ) should be Greek again in exchange for Cyprus .", "The article of mr. Solana is roughly at the level of a ( not so good ) college-level student .", "It insults the basic logic and knowledge of the readers .", "Just a few examples : - `` Europe is , by definition , culturally diverse , so diversity is the EU 's destiny . ''", "Which implies that any non-EU country is as good as Turkey , so then , why Turkey and not , say , Trinidad and Tobago ?", "This is a fallacy .", "'' if Europe is to become an active global player , rather than a museum , it needs the fresh perspective and energy of the people of Turkey . ''", "This is first an insult to the Europeans , they 're compared with museum pieces .", "Secondly , which is that fresh perspective exactly ?", "Of course , he does n't explain .", "This is an argument ad hominem .", "`` Economically , Turkey is now in the G-20 -- and playing an effective role there '' So what ?", "Does this mean that all non-EU G20 countries should be part of the EU ?", "`` Turkey and the EU need each other .", "The EU now accounts for 75 % of foreign investment in Turkey and roughly half its exports and inward tourism '' Huh ?", "So if the EU would account for , say , 90 % of investment in , again , Trinidad , would that mean that Trinidad should be made part of the EU ?", "This is stupid .", "`` Turkey 's neighborhood is our neighborhood '' .", "Well , luckily not .", "And if so , then how do you prevent the statement to be recursively applied e.g. Turkey 's neighborhood neighborhood -LSB- ... neighborhood -RSB- is our neighborhood ?", "`` Likewise , the EU 's involvement in today 's problems in the Mediterranean region would be much easier in concert with Turkey .", "In Bosnia-Herzegovina , EU-Turkey cooperation is fundamental to achieving a durable solution . ''", "Has that something to do with Islam ?", "If not , please explain .", "If so , then I am scared that Islam is `` fundamental to achieving a durable solution '' - `` the world needs Turkey and the EU to work together . ''", "You are ` the world ' ?", "I am the world too BTW and , given lack of arguments , my word is as good as yours .", "`` It means something much deeper and well defined . ''", "You make me smile .", "If you had something indeed well DEFINED , you 'd express it as such , not just by hand-waving .", "What is so well defined , please , define ?", "This article is an astounding example of how we , citizens of various countries , are treated like fools and made to swallow totally undefined , vague , metaphysical nonsense from some idiocrats who in one way or another arrived at the power levels .", "Well , if we do swallow it , we do deserve it .", "Why Turkey must join the European Union ... ?", "To ensure : a ) RAPID ISLAMIZATION OF EUROPE & AMERICA .", "b ) BRING EUROPE & AMERICA TO ITS KNEES .", "c ) LAY THE DEATH KNELL OF GREAT JUDO-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATIONS OF EUROPE & AMERICA .", "d ) REDUCE EUROPE ( & AMERICA ) TO MIDDLE INCOME NATIONS ... uch like S.Korea , Taiwan , Singapore , Turkey etc. .", "GOD ... WHEN WILL WE STOP THIS SUICIDE ?", "Check these out :", "MUSLIM MAJORITY IN EUROPE -- Interview of leading ISLAMIC BROTHERHOOD PREACHER IN Egyptian TV -LSB- youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSWLLc6uikE&w=640&h=390]", "How even MUSLIMS ACCUSED OF TERROR are ( mis ) using Europe 's lax Immigration laws into gaining citizenship !", "YouTube-MOST SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS of MUSLIM DEMOGRAPHICS -- by NewAmerica Foundation-GREATEST -LSB- youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w3meSupCME&w=640&h=390] Income & Educational achievements of AMERICAN MUSLIMS ( the most progressive Muslim community ) .", "They lag behind Hindus , Jes by a ratio of 5 to 1 .", "And ethnic whites by a factor 2 to 1 ... ... .", "PEW Research : http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf#page=61 ISLAM ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE WELFARE STATE http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/magazine/05muslims.html", "Turkey was a civilization before majority of the European countries became civilized ?", "Like Greece for instance ?", "Hm let me see , science , philosophy , arts , literature , technology , what else ?", "Ah yes living by the sward Mr. Solana , really do you want to import young and virile turks ?", "When i see following posted comments right down here , I understood that how important to stay away from Eu . .", "They still couldnt get rid of their facist sides .", "Lots of them has a crusader soul inside .", "I am really happy in my own Country without any union .", "With a multi cultural history .", "With 36 different nation under one flag .", "I am happy to live in a city which has all religion in different corners .", "I am talking about istanbul .", "The city which you keep your mouths open when you see it . .", "This mentality which you has in your genetics coming from your past .", "You have to get rid of them firstly .", "We are happy to live together With Turks Kurds Greeks Armenians Laz Cerkez Georgians together .", "AHHH I ALMOST FORGOT . .", "YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WERE TRYING TO MAKE TROUBLE BETWEEN THOOSE PPL right .", "Armenian Genocide AND Kurdistan maps bla bla ... Turkey is not a country what you have in your brains .", "Turkey woke up .", "Turkey stood up .", "You just keep rolling troubles against Turkey .", "Like armenian genocide or kurdish rebels ( We call them TERORIST PKK ) maybe one day in your dreams you will get a line with that .", "I have been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or weblog posts on this kind of space .", "Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this site .", "Studying this information So i am satisfied to show that I 've a very just right uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed .", "I so much undoubtedly will make sure to do not fail to remember this web site and give it a look regularly .", "Howdy very nice website !!", "I will bookmark your website and take the feeds additionally?I am satisfied to find so many useful info here in the post , we want work out more strategies in this regard , thanks for sharing ...", "Magnificent post , very informative .", "I ponder why the opposite specialists of this sector do n't notice this .", "You must proceed your writing .", "I am sure , you 've a huge readers ' base already !", "| What 's Going down i 'm new to this , I stumbled upon this I have found It absolutely helpful and it has helped me out loads .", "I am hoping to contribute & aid other customers like its helped me .", "funniest part in here people say Turkey cant be in eu because of the `` so called armenian genocide '' ,", "WHY germany is in eu ?", "adolf hitler was a peace bringer ?", "Eu says : Turkey must solve the cyrprus problem before enter Eu it looks cyprus has a problem with Turkey right ?", "why eu U took Cyprus as a member without solve this problem ?", "they give condition to cyprus for solve this problem and later we will accept you .", "it is double standart to making to Turks all eu contries work for Germany , France and UK , thesee countries rising up but others falls down.that is eu strategy for example looks greece.UK is unconfortable to french and german brotherhood and they want to end it .", "Also new members of Eu countries have better conditions than Turkey ?", ", their GDP , economy , rights , wages better than Turkey ?", "Estonia , Lithuania , Letonia , Romania , Crotia , Bulgaria ,", "Also \u0130stanbul is the capital city of East Rome Empire , it shows us Turkey is totaly a European and Asian country .", "What Turkey Need to Do ?", "Turkey must withdraw the custom union agreement rapidly against the eu , this double standard must be end.Or turkey should member of Shanghai Five with Russia , China", "CNN welcomes a lively and courteous discussion as long as you follow the Rules of Conduct set forth in our Terms of Service .", "Comments are not pre-screened before they post .", "You agree that anything you post may be used , along with your name and profile picture , in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the license you have granted pursuant to our Terms of Service .", "The Global Public Square is where you can make sense of the world every day with insights and explanations from CNN 's Fareed Zakaria , leading journalists at CNN , and other international thinkers .", "Join GPS editor Jason Miks and get informed about global issues , exposed to unique stories , and engaged with diverse and original perspectives .", "Every week we bring you in-depth interviews with world leaders , newsmakers and analysts who break down the world 's toughest problems ."], "_citing_sentence": "Turkey is already a important regional power with a lot of influence in the Middle East and Central Asia and it is already a member of NATO, which most members of the EU are also a part of.", "_claim_name": "Strategic position and energy benefits", "_doc_title": "Why Turkey must join the European Union \u2013 Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs", "_labeled_lineIDs": [38]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 2, "_topic_name": "This house supports the admission of Turkey to the EU"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Donald MacLeod and agencies", "Thursday 25 October 2007 11.54 EDT", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 19.21 EDT", "The government 's decision not to ban smacking in England was criticised by the Children 's Commissioner for England , Sir Al Aynsley-Green , today .", "Ministers rejected calls for a complete ban after a government review found opposition to such a move , the Department for Children , Schools and Families said .", "But Sir Al said the government had missed an opportunity to protect children from violence in the home .", "`` Children and young people should have the same right to protection under the law on common assault as that afforded to adults , '' he said .", "He added : `` There is no good reason why children are the only people in the UK who can still be lawfully hit .", "They are protected from assault in most other settings .", "`` By not changing the legislation , we continue to send out confusing messages to parents about the acceptable use of violence across society .", "`` Children themselves told the government that there were more effective methods such as restricting access to toys and television , '' said the commissioner , who said he would continue to press for a change in the law .", "`` From the government 's own research , we 're beginning to see a sea change in attitude from younger parents and children away from smacking towards positive parenting techniques , '' Sir Al said .", "The children 's minister , Kevin Brennan , said the evidence was that fewer parents now use smacking to discipline their children .", "In a statement to MPs , he said : `` Whilst many parents say they will not smack , a majority of parents say that smacking should not be banned outright .", "`` The government will retain the law in its current form , in the absence of evidence it is not working satisfactorily . ''", "A complete ban was hotly debated in Scotland , but the Scottish executive stopped short of an outright ban on smacking in 2003 , settling for prohibiting punishment with implements like belts or slippers .", "In England and Wales adults who smack children so hard it leaves a mark face up to five years in jail under the 2004 Children 's Act .", "At the time , ministers promised to review the law to assess whether it was working .", "Section 58 of the Act removed the defence of reasonable punishment from parents and adults acting `` in loco parentis '' who are charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm , wounding or grievous bodily harm , or cruelty to a child .", "Mr Brennan said : `` The review found that smacking is becoming a less commonly used form of discipline as more parents recognise that there are more effective and acceptable methods of disciplining children . ''", "The minister said many organisations supported legislation to ban smacking , but insisted that section 58 had improved protection for children .", "`` The police have discretion to deal with cases as they consider appropriate , taking into account factors including the evidence available , the public interest and the best interests of the child .", "`` But there appears to be a lack of awareness across different audiences about the scope and application of the law , '' added Mr Brennan .", "The Conservative children 's spokesman , Tim Loughton , called the decision a `` clear victory for common sense '' .", "`` Clearly , if any adult is responsible for abuse and violence towards a child they need to face the full rigour of the law .", "But there is a world of difference between that and criminalising loving parents that use chastisement as they see fit in the interest of their child , '' he said .", "But Dame Mary Marsh , chief executive of children 's charity NSPCC , said there was `` no place for physical punishment of children '' .", "She went on : `` We do not agree with the government 's view that the law is working effectively .", "Section 58 has not improved protection for children .", "`` We will continue to campaign for legal reform that will give children equal legal protection from assault as adults .", "The NSPCC is committed to helping parents find alternatives to physical punishment , '' she said ."], "_citing_sentence": "As Sir Al Aynsley-Green, Children's Commissioner in England, has noted, 'we continue to send out confusing messages to parents about the acceptable use of violence across society.", "_claim_name": "Permitting smacking sends message to society that violence is acceptable", "_doc_title": "Smacking ban retreat condemned | UK news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Afua Hirsch , legal affairs corespondent", "Sunday 25 April 2010 11.29 EDT", "Last modified on Monday 26 April 2010 06.11 EDT", "The UK will come under increasing pressure to ban all smacking and corporal punishment of children as the European human rights body steps up pressure for a change in the law .", "The Council of Europe -- which monitors compliance with the European convention on human rights -- will criticise the UK because it has not banned smacking more than 10 years after a ruling in 1998 that the practice could violate children 's rights against inhuman and degrading treatment .", "`` The campaign to abolish corporal punishment across the Council of Europe is gathering momentum ; 20 countries have formally abolished laws allowing it in the past three years , '' said Maud de Boer-Buquicchio , deputy secretary general of the Council of Europe .", "`` The UK is one of the countries that has not yet implemented a full ban .", "In part , this is because the traditional parent-child relationship in the UK is one of authority -LSB- and -RSB- state intervention into family affairs is still not welcome , '' she added .", "We are talking about fundamental human rights , '' she said .", "`` Not only do children have the same human rights as adults , but they are more vulnerable than adults .", "They need more protection and not less . ''", "Current law prohibits the use of force against children , but gives adults in the home and in some part-time schools and religious institutions a defence to the charge of assault in cases of mild force where they can show the punishment was reasonable .", "The first ban on smacking was not introduced in the UK until 1987 , then extended to independent schools in 1999 .", "Further laws passed in the past decade have prohibited the use of corporal punishment in children 's homes and state care .", "Since 2004 , the law has changed further to make it harder for parents , or adults `` in loco parentis '' , to use the defence of reasonable punishment when they could otherwise be charged with assault .", "Concerns remain about smacking at home and in part-time educational institutions such as weekend faith schools , where adults using `` reasonable force '' can avoid prosecutions .", "Last month , Sir Roger Singleton , the government 's independent adviser on child safety , published a report that recommended smacking should be banned in all places outside the home , citing particular concern about part-time schools and places of worship .", "`` Protection against physical punishment should be extended to all forms of care , education and instruction outside the family , '' Singleton said .", "However , the report stopped short of recommending a change in the law that allows parents to use corporal punishment within the home .", "`` I have concluded that any attempt to define those family categories or circumstances to which the availability of the defence ought or ought not to apply would be cumbersome , bureaucratic , largely impractical and very difficult to communicate , '' Singleton said .", "None of the three main parties have any specific policy on corporal punishment in their election manifestos .", "Earlier this year , two Liberal Democrat MPs attempted to introduce a clause in the children , schools and families bill which would have limited the lawful use of corporal punishment to parents and those with parental responsibility .", "Ed Balls , the children 's secretary , has indicated that the government would support a ban on smacking outside the family , but not a full ban .", "`` Sir Roger 's report makes it absolutely clear that a child should not be smacked by anyone outside their family .", "I believe this is a sensible and proportionate approach , '' Balls said .", "But the Council of Europe is increasingly critical of the UK 's approach , likening the campaign to the move towards the abolition of the death penalty .", "`` Specific places can not be exempt from rights , '' said De Boer-Buquicchio .", "`` Rights pertain to human beings wherever they are and in whatever circumstances and whatever the setting . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "The Council of Europe - which monitors compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights - ruled in 1998 that smacking violated children's rights against cruel and degrading treatment .", "_claim_name": "Children should receive the same legal protection from violence as adults", "_doc_title": "Europe presses UK to introduce total ban on smacking children | Law | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["She 's not the first American to argue that legislation is the answer .", "The town of Brookline , Mass. , successfully passed a resolution against spanking in 2005 , although similar statewide efforts have failed .", "Last year in Massachusetts and 15 years ago in Wisconsin proposed anti-spanking bills did not get much support in the legislature ; critics feared that it would be impossible to enforce a ban against such a common practice .", "According to the American Demographics ' 2004 data , nearly half of parent-age Americans think it is an appropriate mode of discipline for children 12 and younger .", "Even more surprising , only 27 states have actually banned corporal punishment from their public school systems .", "For critics of the ban , the current law -- which states that parents , guardians and relatives can use any form of physical discipline that is necessary as long as it is not unjustifiable -- is enough .", "But for Lieber , who hears criticism daily from prosecutors , judges and pediatricians that children are being beaten and their parents are getting off on a technicality , the law does n't even come close to being enough .", "`` By law you would have a hard time differentiating between a responsible parent who thinks about parenting and then hits and one that does not , '' Lieber said .", "`` Responsible parents have to give up the privilege to physically discipline their children for the sake of protecting children that are n't being hit once in a blue moon or in a light way , but are really being hit day after day , many times a day . ''", "But new California bill may have a better chance of success .", "Unlike previous attempts , the age restrictions will make the bill more palatable to many .", "`` We are talking about babies , '' said Nadine Block , executive director of the Center for Effective Discipline .", "`` People know that babies do n't understand right and wrong .", "Hitting them is ineffective and can lead to injury . ''", "Another plus is that Gov. Schwarzenegger has already noted that he is receptive to the bill .", "Although the Governor recalled being hit by his father , he said that he and his wife , Maria Shriver , did not practice spanking and preferred other methods of discipline , like threatening to take away playtime .", "`` I think any time we try to pass laws that say you 've got to protect the kids , it 's , in general , always good , '' Schwarzenegger said in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News .", "`` I just want to find out from her exactly the way she envisions it and to enforce it and what the whole thing is about . ''", "While the assemblywoman has outlined a proposed punishment , she has yet to address how the bill would be enforced .", "In Europe , most countries consider the ban on spanking an educational law , which means that on the first couple of offenses parents receive a fine and attend mandatory parenting classes on discipline .", "`` I do n't know how the European laws would really translate in the U.S. , '' Block said .", "`` But I do think an educational law is a good way to go . ''", "Like child abuse , unless the child reports it or the spanking leaves a mark and is reported by a relative or teacher , it will be very difficult to detect when parents are violating the law .", "`` A hundred years ago it was considered a novel idea for the law to say you could n't hit your wife , '' said Block .", "`` Today , we ca n't hit slaves , wives or military personnel .", "Children are the only class that is unprotected . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Today...children are the only class that is unprotected'.", "_claim_name": "Children should receive the same legal protection from violence as adults", "_doc_title": "Should Spanking Be Banned? - TIME", "_labeled_lineIDs": [25]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["She 's not the first American to argue that legislation is the answer .", "The town of Brookline , Mass. , successfully passed a resolution against spanking in 2005 , although similar statewide efforts have failed .", "Last year in Massachusetts and 15 years ago in Wisconsin proposed anti-spanking bills did not get much support in the legislature ; critics feared that it would be impossible to enforce a ban against such a common practice .", "According to the American Demographics ' 2004 data , nearly half of parent-age Americans think it is an appropriate mode of discipline for children 12 and younger .", "Even more surprising , only 27 states have actually banned corporal punishment from their public school systems .", "For critics of the ban , the current law -- which states that parents , guardians and relatives can use any form of physical discipline that is necessary as long as it is not unjustifiable -- is enough .", "But for Lieber , who hears criticism daily from prosecutors , judges and pediatricians that children are being beaten and their parents are getting off on a technicality , the law does n't even come close to being enough .", "`` By law you would have a hard time differentiating between a responsible parent who thinks about parenting and then hits and one that does not , '' Lieber said .", "`` Responsible parents have to give up the privilege to physically discipline their children for the sake of protecting children that are n't being hit once in a blue moon or in a light way , but are really being hit day after day , many times a day . ''", "But new California bill may have a better chance of success .", "Unlike previous attempts , the age restrictions will make the bill more palatable to many .", "`` We are talking about babies , '' said Nadine Block , executive director of the Center for Effective Discipline .", "`` People know that babies do n't understand right and wrong .", "Hitting them is ineffective and can lead to injury . ''", "Another plus is that Gov. Schwarzenegger has already noted that he is receptive to the bill .", "Although the Governor recalled being hit by his father , he said that he and his wife , Maria Shriver , did not practice spanking and preferred other methods of discipline , like threatening to take away playtime .", "`` I think any time we try to pass laws that say you 've got to protect the kids , it 's , in general , always good , '' Schwarzenegger said in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News .", "`` I just want to find out from her exactly the way she envisions it and to enforce it and what the whole thing is about . ''", "While the assemblywoman has outlined a proposed punishment , she has yet to address how the bill would be enforced .", "In Europe , most countries consider the ban on spanking an educational law , which means that on the first couple of offenses parents receive a fine and attend mandatory parenting classes on discipline .", "`` I do n't know how the European laws would really translate in the U.S. , '' Block said .", "`` But I do think an educational law is a good way to go . ''", "Like child abuse , unless the child reports it or the spanking leaves a mark and is reported by a relative or teacher , it will be very difficult to detect when parents are violating the law .", "`` A hundred years ago it was considered a novel idea for the law to say you could n't hit your wife , '' said Block .", "`` Today , we ca n't hit slaves , wives or military personnel .", "Children are the only class that is unprotected . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Parents who feel that smacking is an appropriate tool of discipline 'have to give up the privilege to physically discipline their children for the sake of protecting children that aren't being hit once in a blue moon or in a light way, but are really being hit day after day, many times a day'.", "_claim_name": "Parents caught smacking their children would be punished by fines or, if repeated, jail", "_doc_title": "Should Spanking Be Banned? - TIME", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 3, "_topic_name": "This House would ban smacking"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["East Midlands MP campaigns for GB team", "How qualification works :", "The Olympic football tournament a complicated beast .", "While the Olympics welcomes women 's senior national sides , countries must submit a men 's team comprised of an under-23 side in which three older players may be included .", "The qualification system varies by continent and world governing body Fifa has yet to publish full qualifying documentation , but the broad outline is in place .", "Taking the more complex men 's tournament first , the European qualifier for 2012 will be the U-21 European Championships of 2011 , to be staged in Denmark in June .", "Similarly , the 2011 Sudamericano Sub-20 - a competition for U-20 sides , held in Peru in January and February - decides qualifiers from South America .", "Three European sides ( plus hosts Britain , see below ) and two South American teams qualify in this fashion .", "The process elsewhere will involve bespoke tournaments , expected to be held in early 2012 , to determine who goes through to the Olympic Games .", "Asia and Africa will both supply three teams , plus an extra team from a play-off between the fourth-ranked teams of each .", "Oceania provides one team , and two teams from North and Central America complete the 16-team tournament .", "Women 's qualification does not rely on youth tournaments , so the senior 2011 Women 's World Cup will be used by Uefa to assign European qualification places for the 12-team women 's event .", "The top two European sides from the World Cup , being held in Germany in July , go through to the Olympic competition .", "Other continents are not expected to rely on the World Cup for qualification , with South America earmarking the 2010 South American Women 's Championships ( Sudamericano Femenino ) to supply its two Olympic contenders : Brazil and Colombia .", "Once more , the remaining continental associations are set to organise one-off tournaments to decide their Olympic qualifiers , with specific details yet to be announced .", "Asia and Africa each have two berths at the Games to fill , North and Central America will send two teams from a qualifying event planned for Canada in 2012 , and Oceania supplies a final team alongside hosts Britain .", "Fifa 's outline regulations for the 2012 Olympic tournaments ( PDF )", "Fifa world rankings - men", "Fifa world rankings - women", "How are British competitors doing ?", "British entry into the Olympic football competition has long been a source of confusion and rancour .", "The UK 's four constituent footballing nations - England , Northern Ireland , Scotland and Wales - compete as separate entities in every other tournament , with clearly ( sometimes fiercely ) defined national footballing identities .", "Aside from administrative obstacles ( such as Great Britain not being a recognised member of Fifa ) , proposals to combine the four into a British Olympic football team have , consequently , met considerable hurdles .", "There has been no British football team at the Olympics since 1960 , where GB were knocked out at the group stage , behind Brazil and Italy .", "However , the prospect of allowing a home Olympic Games in the 21st Century to come and go without a British team taking part has seen renewed efforts to bring a squad together for 2012 , particularly with host berths in the offing .", "Not that fans may necessarily be content with the current plan , which is to field an England team rebadged as Great Britain in both the men 's and women 's competitions .", "At the last London Games in 1948 , an amateur men 's team managed by Sir Matt Busby narrowly missed out on a bronze medal .", "They were defeated 5-3 by Denmark in the third-place play-off .", "January 2011 : Stuart Pearce lined up to coach Team GB", "May 2009 : Fifa approves Team GB compromise"], "_citing_sentence": "Due to the rules around Olympic Football in regards to qualifying, which make it impossible for the United Kingdom to qualify, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for footballers of the UK to play Olympic Football.To enter the event there is a qualification round, in Europe the UEFA Under-21 Championship event is not only a stand-alone competition it is also used for Olympic qualification; as UK nations enter this competition as separate teams it means that the UK cannot normally enter the Olympic event as they would technically have four chances to qualify whereas each other country has only one.However, as the UK is the host nation of the 2012 Olympics it gains automatic qualification for all the events at the games, including football, which it would usually be illegible to enter.", "_claim_name": "The United Kingdom should field a team in each Olympic competition", "_doc_title": "BBC Sport - Football - London 2012 Olympics qualifying: Football", "_labeled_lineIDs": [20, 21, 22]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Watch coverage of the Beijing football tournaments on the BBC Sport website ( UK users only ) and the Red Button from 0945 BST Wednesday 6 August .", "Four into one - will the home nations play together in 2012 ?", "By Phil Harlow", "The 16-team Olympic men 's football tournament kicks off on Thursday , with some of the world 's leading names , like Brazil 's Ronaldinho , lining up as additions to Under-23 squads .", "But , as with every Games since 1964 , there is no side from Great Britain - Olympic champions in 1908 and 1912 - involved .", "Lord Moynihan , the chairman of the British Olympic Authority , is one of those who wants to see a Great Britain team competing again .", "`` We must have a team at the 2012 Games , and we will have a team , '' he says .", "Not everybody sees things quite the same way though .", "So what are the ramifications of a Great Britain Olympic football team ?", "And why is the very idea of one proving so divisive ?", "WHY ARE OLYMPIC OFFICIALS KEEN FOR A GB FOOTBALL TEAM ?", "With football dominating the sporting landscape in Britain , the BOA believes it is one way of helping to increase the level of support for the London 2012 Games .", "We would expect a Great Britain team to be strong medal contenders and generate tremendous excitement throughout the country", "BOA chairman Lord Moynihan", "What better way to convince sceptical Welsh , Scottish or Northern Irish sports fans that they should take an interest in the Olympics than to provide them with a football team to get behind ?", "`` The impact of a British team on the public and their support of the Games will be enormous , '' said Lord Moynihan .", "Additionally , there is the not insignificant fact that the BOA - committed to a target of finishing at least fourth in the table in 2012 - sees football as capable of delivering a medal .", "`` We would also expect a British team to be strong medal contenders and thereby generate tremendous excitement throughout the country , '' added Moynihan .", "And the British government - which will spend billions of pounds of taxpayers ' money to stage the Games - is very much in favour of the idea .", "Andy Burnham , the secretary of state for culture , media and sport , said : `` The idea of seeing a British football team is something I feel very excited about .", "`` It would be a great thing and , while we are proud of our individual traditions as home nations , coming together for this one-off event to play together as Great Britain is something I believe the public would enjoy .", "606 : DEBATE Is a Team GB football side a good or bad idea - and will it happen ?", "Dan W - BBC Sport `` I just hope we can overcome any differences and bring a strong British football team to the London Olympics . ''", "And the International Olympic Committee , which gave the Games to London ahead of the likes of Paris and Madrid , would also like to see the host nation taking part in as many sports as possible .", "`` The IOC would be delighted to see a British football team participating in the Olympic Games , '' a spokeswoman told BBC Sport .", "`` We are hopeful that a solution will be worked out between the national associations , the BOA and Fifa for London 2012 . ''", "WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES ?", "The football governing bodies of Northern Ireland , Scotland and Wales are all opposed to the notion of a Great Britain team , fearing the implications for their own futures as separate entities .", "They fear that participating as Great Britain - even for a one-off at the Olympics - would see them coming under pressure to allow their individual identities to be subsumed for all international football .", "Officials at their respective football associations are adamant that they will not allow that to happen , and mixed messages from Sepp Blatter - president of world football 's governing body Fifa - have only added to their disquiet .", "Asked by BBC Sport to confirm and clarify its position , Fifa issued a curt statement .", "Lord Moynihan can huff and puff as much as he likes IFA chief executive Howard Wells `` As the Fifa president has stated on several occasions , a British Olympic football team would not affect at all the privileges of the four British associations as members of Fifa , '' it read .", "But Blatter had a somewhat different message back in March .", "`` If you start to put together a combined team for the Olympics , the question will automatically come up that there are four different associations so how can they play in one team , '' he said .", "`` If this is the case then why the hell do they have four associations and four votes and their own vice-presidency ?", "`` This will put into question all the privileges that the British associations have been given by the Congress in 1946 . ''", "Hardly the reassuring words that might help to placate officials in Northern Ireland , Scotland and Wales .", "`` We always said we had an open mind about it , on the proviso that there would be some kind of meaningful statement from Fifa , '' Northern Ireland Football Association ( IFA ) chief executive Howard Wells told BBC Sport .", "`` That has n't happened , so Lord Moynihan can huff and puff as much as he likes .", "The home nations have a long history of intense rivalry `` I had assumed the BOA would respect our position , but that does n't seem to be the case .", "What 's the point of cobbling together a team for a one-off event ?", "`` And it 's fair to say that I do n't think it 's very helpful for us to hear all this through the media . ''", "Scotland Football Association ( SFA ) chief executive Gordon Smith is similarly sceptical about the need for a Great Britain team .", "`` We have a board who have looked at it , and the vote was that we do n't want to take part , '' Smith told BBC Radio 5 Live .", "`` Football is autonomous for the home nations .", "We have our own leagues and our own international teams .", "`` The Olympics is not a major football event , but people might use it to tell us we have to compete as Great Britain in other tournaments . ''", "And the Football Association of Wales ( FAW ) president Peter Rees added : `` We remain totally opposed to any Welsh involvement in a Great Britain side at the Olympics .", "`` Imagine the next Fifa meeting after London .", "You 'd get people saying : ` They have always said they are four separate nations , but they were Great Britain for the Olympics - why should it not be the same for the World Cup ? ' ''", "WHAT ABOUT ENGLAND THEN ?", "With London hosting the 2012 Games , the English Football Association ( FA ) has been markedly more enthusiastic in its support for a British team .", "`` The FA is in favour of a GB football team for the London Olympics in 2012 , '' an FA spokesman told BBC Sport .", "`` As hosts , a GB team would automatically qualify for the competition and we feel it is very important to take part when the Games are in our own country .", "Ideally , we 'd like to be part of a team represented by all four home nations . ''", "SO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT ?", "British Olympic officials have their hands full for the next few weeks but talks will kick off again soon after Beijing is out of the way .", "`` We will talk with all the stakeholders , '' said a BOA spokeswoman . ''", "LSB- BOA chief -RSB- Simon Clegg is in Beijing but he will treat this as one of his priorities when he returns . ''", "If we look back to when Vivian Woodward - an architect by trade but a Tottenham centre-forward in his spare time - led `` Great Britain '' to the Olympic football title back in 1908 , they were simpler times .", "`` Great Britain '' and `` England '' seemed to be almost interchangeable terms .", "`` This match was played on the grass in the middle of the stadium , the English team being amateurs being chosen by the Football Association , '' reads a casual reference to the composition of the side in the official write-up of the 1908 Games .", "And with the SFA and the FAW remaining hostile , and the IFA - while still willing to talk - becoming increasingly disgruntled , the possibility of a nominal `` Team GB '' once again being made up solely of English players is very much on the cards ."], "_citing_sentence": "Sepp Blatter, the FIFA President, has personally stated 'a British Olympic football team would not affect at all the privileges of the four British associations as members of FIFA'.", "_claim_name": "With the 2012 Olympics being held in London the practical hurdles for creating a UK team are lower than ever.", "_doc_title": "BBC SPORT | Olympics | Football | Why is there no GB Olympic football team?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [31]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The chancellor used his first major speech of 2006 to urge Labour supporters to `` embrace the Union flag '' .", "In an address to the Fabian Society in London , he said it is important the flag is recaptured from the far right .", "Mr Brown said promoting integration had become even more important since the London bombings .", "`` We have to face uncomfortable facts that while the British response to July 7th was remarkable , they were British citizens , British born apparently integrated into our communities , who were prepared to maim and kill fellow British citizens irrespective of their religion .", "`` We have to be clearer now about how diverse cultures which inevitably contain differences can find the essential common purpose also without which no society can flourish . ''", "He said society should not apply a narrow `` cricket test '' to ethnic minorities but needed a `` united shared sense of purpose '' .", "` Modern expression ' In the wide-ranging speech , Mr Brown said it is time for the modern Labour party and its supporters to be unashamedly patriotic as , for too long , such feelings have been caricatured as being tied up with right-wing beliefs , when in fact they encompass `` progressive '' ideas of liberty , fairness and responsibility .", "`` Instead of the BNP using it as a symbol of racial division , the flag should be a symbol of unity and part of a modern expression of patriotism too , '' Mr Brown said .", "We should assert that the Union flag by definition is a flag for tolerance and inclusion", "Gordon BrownChancellor `` All the United Kingdom should honour it , not ignore it .", "We should assert that the Union flag by definition is a flag for tolerance and inclusion . ''", "The speech to the left-of-centre think-tank included references to the July 4th celebrations in the US and the common practice of many citizens having a flag in their gardens .", "`` What is our equivalent for a national celebration of who we are and what we stand for ? ''", "Mr Brown said .", "`` And what is our equivalent of the national symbolism of a flag in the United States in every garden ? ''", "Labour MP Michael Wills , who has been working on the idea with Mr Brown , told BBC Radio 4 's Today programme the chancellor wanted there to be a day to `` focus on the things that bring us together ... whatever our backgrounds '' .", "`` The French have it with Bastille Day , the Americans have it , most countries actually have a national day and I think it 's probably time that we do too , '' he said .", "The Commission for Racial Equality welcomed Mr Brown 's comments .", "`` It is important to talk about and identify our shared common values and discuss ideas and find ways to celebrate being British , '' a spokesman said .", "Singer Billy Bragg told the BBC it was right to have a national debate about what it means to be British .", "`` I do think we need to talk about the issue of identity , about who we are , '' he said .", "The thing that binds us together is our civic identity which is Britishness", "Send us your comments `` We live in a very multi-cultural society , perhaps the most multi-cultural society in Europe .", "What actually binds us together ?", "Well , interestingly the thing that binds us together is our civic identity which is Britishness '' .", "Former Prime Minister Sir John Major told the Today programme the chancellor was `` absolutely right '' to promote the concept of Britishness .", "But he added : `` He seems not to mention that many of the actions of the present Government have ruptured Britishness by their own legislation . ''", "Mr Brown also described his drive to encourage volunteering .", "The government has already allocated # 50m for volunteering , but Mr Brown wants businesses to match this as part of a plan is modelled on the US 's successful GI Bill from the 1940s .", "The chancellor unveiled his National Community Service scheme a year ago to encourage one million young people into volunteering .", "Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said the volunteering scheme was a `` pale imitation of -LSB- Tory leader -RSB- David Cameron 's National School Leaver Programme announced in August .", "`` David Cameron is meeting 15 leading youth and community organisations to discuss taking this idea forward on January 24 , and perhaps Gordon Brown would like to attend to learn more , '' he added .", "In the wide-ranging speech , Mr Brown said it is time for the modern Labour party and its supporters to be unashamedly patriotic as , for too long , such feelings have been caricatured as being tied up with right-wing beliefs , when in fact they encompass `` progressive '' ideas of liberty , fairness and responsibility .", "`` All the United Kingdom should honour it , not ignore it .", "`` We live in a very multi-cultural society , perhaps the most multi-cultural society in Europe ."], "_citing_sentence": "This is good but there is a danger that we lose sight of our common British identity and the government is keen to find ways of promoting Britishness, including a British football team.", "_claim_name": "Having a UK football team at the Olympics will be good for national unity and demonstrates the Olympic spirit", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Brown speech promotes Britishness", "_labeled_lineIDs": [18, 24, 25]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 4, "_topic_name": "This house would enter a united football team for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the Olympics"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["NEWS JUNKIE POST", "TransCanada Corporation announced an agreement with American labor unions supporting the Keystone Gulf Coast Expansion Pipeline Project ( Keystone XL ) .", "The Project Labor Agreement is with the AFL-CIO , the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , the Laborers International Union of North America , the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada , the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Pipeline Contractors Association .", "Just as parameters for a working relationship between the mutually independent Occupation Movement and the labor Unions is being worked out to reflect their ability to work as allies on certain issues , and mere days after certain Unions threatened to torpedo the relationship by publicly endorsing President Obama before he or his administration have even begun to address the issues and concerns motivating the movement , the Unions have once again thrown up a barrier to a productive , working alliance .", "While the Occupation Movement has realized that Unions and the Labor movement should be their natural allies on certain issues , the realization that many unions have become as willing to work against the best interest of the health , welfare and continued sustainability of their rank-and-file has made it very difficult to establish a healthy working relationship .", "There seems to be a presumption by the unions that if they keep chanting the 99 % mantra they 've adopted from the Occupy Movement , and keep tossing the movement little bits of money and a few resources , all will be simpatico .", "This may be true with other groups like Moveon.org and Van Jones ' ` Rebuilding the Dream ' who are trying to pose as the Occupy Movement , but it is far from the truth with the actual Occupy Movement .", "While the resources that have been provided have been received with deep grattitude , the violation of a core principle of the movement , and yet another alliance with a powerful adversary of the Movement , may cause the occupation movement to actively distance itself from the labor movement and the unions .", "In addition to this distancing there are early considerations and discussions about mounting protests against the unions that continue to define themselves as part of the problem rather than as part of the solution .", "The Occupation Movement started in the United States with a few young people showing the intestinal fortitude to take to the streets , literally , and has grown to be a global phenomenon with numbers of active participants rivaling unions , and levels of populous support that dwarfs the dwindling political capital of American organized labor .", "The hubris demonstrated by the unions who expect that tarps and toilets can be offered as trinkets and baubles to the Occupation Movement while support and resources of exponentially greater value and portent are showered on the Movements adversaries , is insulting and inexcusable .", "As Occupy DC nears the completion of a statement by their Labor Relations Committee to address the nature and parameters of their incidental , issue based cooperation with the unions , their action committee , and multiple , autonomous , affinity groups and action teams , will be considering various proposals for actions against some of the very unions that are actively seeking to capitalize on the movement 's momentum and and popular support ."], "_citing_sentence": "Labor Unions have accepted this line and are aggressively lobbying for the Pipeline,  even though it means siding with Republicans and against their own party.", "_claim_name": "Job creation", "_doc_title": "Unions Back Keystone XL Pipeline Threatens Clash With Occupy Movement | NEWS JUNKIE POST", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 5, "_topic_name": "This House would build the Keystone XL pipeline"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Fact sheet Updated March 2014", "Avian influenza ( AI ) is an infectious viral disease of birds ( especially wild water fowl such as ducks and geese ) , often causing no apparent signs of illness .", "AI viruses can sometimes spread to domestic poultry and cause large-scale outbreaks of serious disease .", "Some of these AI viruses have also been reported to cross the species barrier and cause disease or subclinical infections in humans and other mammals .", "AI viruses are divided into 2 groups based on their ability to cause disease in poultry : high pathogenicity or low pathogenicity .", "Highly pathogenic viruses result in high death rates ( up to 100 % mortality within 48 hours ) in some poultry species .", "Low pathogenicity viruses also cause outbreaks in poultry but are not generally associated with severe disease .", "The A ( H5N1 ) virus subtype , a highly pathogenic AI virus , first infected humans in 1997 during a poultry outbreak in Hong Kong SAR , China .", "Since its widespread re-emergence in 2003 and 2004 , this avian virus has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa and has become entrenched in poultry in some countries , resulting in millions of poultry infections , several hundred human cases , and many human deaths .", "Outbreaks in poultry have seriously impacted livelihoods , the economy and international trade in affected countries .", "The A ( H7N9 ) virus subtype , a low pathogenic AI virus , first infected 3 humans -- 2 residents of the city of Shanghai and 1 resident of Anhui province - in March 2013 .", "No cases of A ( H7N9 ) outside of China have been reported .", "Containment measures , including the closure of live bird markets for several months , have impacted the agriculture sectors of affected countries and international trade .", "Continued surveillance for A ( H7N9 ) will be necessary to detect and control the spread of the virus .", "Ongoing circulation of A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) viruses in poultry , especially where endemic , continues to pose threats to public health , as these viruses have both the potential to cause serious disease in people and may have the potential to change into a form that is more transmissible among humans .", "Other influenza virus subtypes also circulate in poultry and other animals , and may also pose potential threats to public health .", "The case fatality rate for A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) virus infections in people is much higher compared to that of seasonal influenza infections .", "The A ( H7N9 ) virus particularly affects people with underlying medical conditions .", "In many patients , the disease caused by the A ( H5N1 ) virus follows an unusually aggressive clinical course , with rapid deterioration and high fatality .", "Like most emerging disease , A ( H5N1 ) influenza in humans is not well understood .", "The incubation period for A ( H5N1 ) avian influenza may be longer than that for normal seasonal influenza , which is around 2 to 3 days .", "Current data for A ( H5N1 ) infection indicate an incubation period ranging from 2 to 8 days and possibly as long as 17 days .", "Current data for A ( H7N9 ) infection indicate an incubation period ranging from 2 to 8 days , with an average of five days .1 WHO currently recommends that an incubation period of 7 days be used for field investigations and the monitoring of patient contacts .", "Initial symptoms include high fever , usually with a temperature higher than 38 \u00b0 C , and other influenza-like symptoms ( cough or sore throat ) .", "Diarrhea , vomiting , abdominal pain , chest pain , and bleeding from the nose and gums have also been reported as early symptoms in some patients .", "One feature seen in many patients is the development of lower respiratory tract early in the illness .", "Respiratory distress , a hoarse voice , and a crackling sound when inhaling are commonly seen .", "Sputum production is variable and sometimes bloody .2 Complications of A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) infection include hypoxemia , multiple organ dysfunction , and secondary bacterial and fungal infections .3", "Evidence suggests that some antiviral drugs , notably oseltamivir , can reduce the duration of viral replication and improve prospects of survival .", "In suspected cases , oseltamivir should be prescribed as soon as possible ( ideally , within 48 hours following symptom onset ) to maximize its therapeutic benefits .", "However , given the significant mortality currently associated with A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) infection and evidence of prolonged viral replication in this disease , administration of the drug should also be considered in patients presenting later in the course of illness .", "The use of corticosteroids is not recommended .", "In cases of severe infection with the A ( H5N1 ) or A ( H7N9 ) virus , clinicians may need to consider increasing the recommended daily dose or/and the duration of treatment .", "In severely ill A ( H5N1 ) or A ( H7N9 ) patients or in patients with severe gastrointestinal symptoms , drug absorption may be impaired .", "This possibility should be considered when managing these patients .4 Moreover , most A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) viruses are predicated to be resistant to adamantine antiviral drugs , which are therefore not recommended for use .", "The primary risk factor for human infection appears to be direct or indirect exposure to infected live or dead poultry or contaminated environments , such as live bird markets .", "Controlling circulation of the A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) viruses in poultry is essential to reducing the risk of human infection .", "Given the persistence of the A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) viruses in some poultry populations , control will require long-term commitments from countries and strong coordination between animal and public health authorities .", "There is no evidence to suggest that the A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) viruses can be transmitted to humans through properly prepared poultry or eggs .", "A few A ( H5N1 ) human cases have been linked to consumption of dishes made of raw , contaminated poultry blood .", "However , slaughter , defeathering , handling carcasses of infected poultry , and preparing poultry for consumption , especially in household settings , are likely to be risk factors .", "Influenza pandemics ( outbreaks that affect a large proportion of the world due to a novel virus ) are unpredictable but recurring events that can have health , economic and social consequences worldwide .", "An influenza pandemic occurs when key factors converge : an influenza virus emerges with the ability to cause sustained human-to-human transmission , and the human population has little to no immunity against the virus .", "With the growth of global trade and travel , a localized epidemic can transform into a pandemic rapidly , with little time to prepare a public health response .", "The A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) AI viruses remain two of the influenza viruses with pandemic potential , because they continue to circulate widely in some poultry populations , most humans likely have no immunity to them , and they can cause severe disease and death in humans .", "However , whether the influenza A ( H7N9 ) virus could actually cause a pandemic is unknown .", "Experience has shown that some animal influenza viruses that have been found to occasionally infect people have not gone on to cause a pandemic while others have done so .", "Surveillance and the investigations now underway will provide some of the information needed to make this determination .", "In addition to A ( H5N1 ) and A ( H7N9 ) , other animal influenza virus subtypes reported to have infected people include avian H9 , and swine H1 and H3 viruses .", "H2 viruses may also pose a pandemic threat .", "Therefore , pandemic planning should consider risks of emergence of a variety of influenza subtypes from a variety of sources .", "WHO , in its capacity for providing leadership on global health matters , is monitoring avian influenza very closely , developing and adjusting appropriate interventions in collaboration with its partners .", "Such partners include animal health agencies and national veterinary authorities responsible for the control and prevention of animal diseases , including influenza .", "Specifically , WHO , the World Organisation for Animal Health ( OIE ) , and the Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ) collaborate through a variety of mechanisms to track and assess the risk from animal influenza viruses of public health concern , and to address these risks at the human animal interface wherever in the world they might occur .", "In short , WHO is monitoring the situation as it evolves , and as more information becomes available , will revise its guidance and actions accordingly ."], "_citing_sentence": "Diseases that can be transferred between animals and humans are called \"zoonoses\".", "_claim_name": "As well as the risk to health of the animals, keeping pets can be damaging to human health.", "_doc_title": "WHO | Avian influenza", "_labeled_lineIDs": [14]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By Monica Engebretson", "What if you went over to your neighbor 's house and noticed that they had a cat sitting in a cage in their living room ?", "You 'd probably ask if the cat was sick or recovering from an injury .", "What if they told you that they keep her in there most of the time because the house stays cleaner that way ?", "Now imagine that they open the cage door and bring the cat out , but before setting her down they wrap some yarn around her front legs tying them together in a hobble .", "This , they say , keeps her from running outside where she might get hurt , plus it keeps her from jumping up on the counter .", "If you 're like most humane-minded people you 'd be appalled and would consider this treatment cruel .", "Your state 's anti-cruelty laws would likely agree .", "So why do n't people question the practice of keeping birds as pets ?", "A parrot is just as active and inquisitive as a cat .", "In fact , parrots have greater cognitive abilities than cats -- parrots have been compared to human toddlers in terms of their intelligence and emotional needs .", "Anyone who has ever had , or taken care of , a bird can attest that it is extremely difficult to care for a bird without using a cage or controlling their flight .", "However , whether or not cages or flight control are necessary for caring for captive birds may be irrelevant to the question of whether the birds make suitable pets .", "Perhaps a more relevant question is whether or not it is acceptable to keep a particular animal as a companion if ensuring his or her safety or compatibility in the home requires that he or she be constantly caged and/or physically disabled .", "Birds are routinely denied two of their most fundamental natural behaviors -- flying and socialization .", "Denial of these activities can cause physical and behavioral abnormalities including incessant screaming , pacing , head-bobbing , feather-plucking , and self-mutilation .", "Captive birds may also exhibit extremely low behavior , appearing to be catatonic .", "This is not the sign of a well-adjusted bird , it 's a sign of a bird who has given up .", "Denial of natural behavior is n't the only factor that calls to question the suitability of birds as companion animals .", "The vast majority of birds kept as pets are also fed inadequate seed-only diets and most are never taken to a veterinarian -- only 11.7 % of bird-owning households currently seek veterinary advice for their birds .", "It has been estimated that malnutrition is responsible for up to 90 % of all clinical conditions seen by avian practitioners .", "While changes in the captive environment ( cage size , enrichment , socialization ) can improve the welfare of captive parrots , such changes require that the owner has sufficient knowledge , resources , and motivation to fulfill these requisites , and that the motivation to provide such complex care regimes is sustained throughout the life of the parrot -- which may be 20 to 50 years or more depending on species .", "Indeed , many parrots outlive their caretakers and even more outlive their caretakers ' interest in them .", "In addition , evidence suggests that as long as the private ownership of parrots remains socially acceptable and commercial profits persist , the smuggling of parrots for the pet trade will likely continue despite trade restrictions and availability of captive-bred birds .", "In fact , because captive-bred birds are physically identical to their wild-caught counterparts , the presence of captive-bred birds in the trade actually helps facilitate the wild trade by providing cover for smuggled birds .", "When one considers the considerable restrictions captive birds endure , the inadequate diets most are fed , and impact the trade in birds as pets has had on species in the wild , it is easy to conclude that , like other non-domesticated animals , birds are not suitable companion animals .", "Disclaimer : As expressed in this article birds are non-domesticated animals that belong in the wild where they can fly freely and express their natural behaviors .", "However , due to the large number of birds living in captivity which can not be returned to the wild and the limited space available in avian sanctuaries , optimizing care of birds held in private hands can go far in reducing suffering and improving the welfare of captive birds ."], "_citing_sentence": "Denial of these activities can cause physical and behavioral abnormalities including incessant screaming, pacing, head-bobbing, feather-plucking, and self-mutilation\"From a basic animal welfare point of view then, many animals which are currently kept as pets are not suited to that lifestyle, and the fact that they are often suffering for no other reason than human gratification is reason enough to stop this from happening.", "_claim_name": "Keeping pets, especially those of a more exotic species, is unnatural and detrimental to the welfare of the animals.", "_doc_title": "Should Birds be Kept as Pets?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15, 19]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 6, "_topic_name": "This house Believes People Should Not Keep Pets"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Yoani Sanchez 's blog gets more than 14 million hits a month.EFE", "Havana -- Famed Cuban blogger Yoani S\u00e1nchez , who for years has asked for permission to temporarily leave Cuba , was finally granted her wish .", "But it was a tale of mixed results .", "While S\u00e1nchez -- who excitedly tweeted a photo of her brand new , bright blue travel document -- was granted a passport to travel abroad , another high-profile blogger-dissident was turned down .", "`` The called me at home to say my passport was ready !", "They just delivered it ! ''", "S\u00e1nchez excitedly tweeted .", "`` Here it is , now the only thing left is to get on that plane . ''", "By her own account , S\u00e1nchez has on some 20 occasions been rejected for the much-detested exit visa that for decades was required of all islanders seeking to go abroad .", "Analysts have called such controls arbitrary and humiliating , though authorities long insisted they were necessary to prevent brain drain .", "That requirement ended Jan. 14 when a new law took effect scrapping the permit known as the `` white card , '' which Cuba routinely denied to those it considers `` counterrevolutionaries '' working for foreign interests and bent on undermining the communist government .", "But the case of Angel Moya , who was locked up for years in connection with his political activities , indicates that Cuba intends to exercise a legal clause by which it retains the right to restrict some citizens ' right to travel .", "Moya , one of 75 other anti-government activists imprisoned in a 2003 crackdown on dissent , said he went to file paperwork and the $ 50 application fee to request a passport , but a clerk turned him down .", "`` She told me , after consulting a database , that I was restricted and it could n't be processed for reasons of public interest , '' Moya told The Associated Press .", "That requirement ended Jan. 14 when a new law took effect scrapping the permit known as the `` white card , '' which Cuba routinely denied to those it considers `` counterrevolutionaries '' in the pay of foreign interests and bent on undermining the communist government .", "Moya said the office clerk showed him her computer screen and the file did not contain a specific reason why he was not allowed to apply for the travel document .", "But the travel law contains language reserving the right to withhold passports for reasons of national interest and for people with pending legal cases , and he 's sure that 's affecting his situation .", "Moya 's release from prison was conditional and technically he 's still serving a 20-year sentence for treason that expires in 2023 .", "The rest of the former prisoners from the 2003 crackdown , like a number of other dissidents with legal issues , presumably could be in the same boat .", "`` Their release is very precarious , '' said Elizardo S\u00e1nchez , who monitors and reports on human rights on the island .", "Other government opponents including frequent hunger striker Guillermo Farinas have explicitly been told they will be allowed to get passports and come and go freely .", "Moya 's wife , Berta Soler , a leader of the Ladies in White protest group , said as far as she knows she 's still scheduled to pick up hers on Feb. 8 .", "`` I 'm happy and sad : On one hand I have my document to travel , but several friends like ( Angel Moya ) will not be allowed , '' Yoani S\u00e1nchez wrote .", "Government officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment .", "Havana usually avoids mentioning the dissidents at all except to accuse them of being traitorous `` mercenaries . ''", "Also Wednesday , human rights group Amnesty International formally designated a second prisoner of conscience on the island and urged authorities to free him immediately .", "In a statement , Amnesty said Calixto Martinez was detained for his work reporting for the non-governmental news agency Hablemos Press and has been held without charge since Sept. 16 , 2012 .", "The rights group said Martinez was arrested at an airport while looking into whether anti-cholera medicine provided by the World Health Organization was being held there .", "He supposedly took photographs and interviewed people there .", "Cuban airports are highly sensitive , well-guarded facilities , and journalists generally are barred from reporting there without special permission .", "Last summer 's cholera outbreak in eastern Cuba was also a sensitive subject for the island , which relies on tourism as one of its main sources of foreign income .", "Authorities say that it was contained , and that another outbreak this month in Havana is under control .", "Amnesty said Martinez was accused of `` disrespect '' for authorities , which is a crime in Cuba .", "The relevant legal statute has commonly been used as justification for the detention of dissidents .", "Cuba contends that it does not hold any political prisoners .", "When the last of the 75 arrested in 2003 walked free under a deal brokered by the Catholic Church , Amnesty said at the time that there were no more inmates it recognized as prisoners of conscience , though rights monitors complain that authorities have adopted a tactic of more short-term detentions to harass dissidents and impede their activities .", "Cuba has long maintained nearly complete control over the island 's media , and Hablemos Press has occupied a murky legal gray area .", "`` The imprisonment of Calixto Martinez goes to show that authorities in Cuba are far from accepting that journalists have a role to play in society , including by investigating possible wrongdoings , '' said Guadalupe Marengo , deputy Americas director at Amnesty International .", "In a recently released press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders , Cuba dropped four spots this year to 171st out of 179 countries -- ahead of only Vietnam , China , Iran , Somalia , Syria , Turkmenistan , North Korea and Eritrea .", "There have been some signs of opening , however .", "In 2011 , President Raul Castro urged state media to be bolder with more `` objective , constant and critical '' reporting .", "The Catholic Church is allowed to publish its own independent magazine , Palabra Nueva , bloggers are openly critical of the government and state TV recently began carrying programming from Venezuela-based Telesur news channel .", "Amnesty has strict criteria for how it designates prisoners of conscience .", "One requirement is that the person not have a history of violence .", "In an email to the AP , Amnesty noted the difficulty of accessing independent information in a tightly guarded society such as Cuba .", "It acknowledged talking to government opponents and other rights groups , but said it conducted its own investigation into the facts of Martinez 's case .", "He is one of two Cubans who Amnesty considers to be prisoners of conscience , along with Marcos Maiquel Lima Cruz , behind bars since December 2010 .", "Based on reporting by the Associated Press .", "Best Pix of the Year", "Cuba 's Skateboarding Revolution", "Cuba 's Revolution Turns 59"], "_citing_sentence": "The guarantee of amnesty also removes the perceived randomness of such offerings that currently occur, as in the recent case of Cuba in which two bloggers of similar pedigree asked for asylum in the US, but only one received it.", "_claim_name": "Democracies have an obligation to shield these people and to encourage further dissent", "_doc_title": "Cuba: Prominent Blogger-Dissidents Receive Contradictory Results on Visa Petitions | Fox News Latino", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2, 3]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Not so fast .", "The Internet can take some credit for toppling Tunisia 's government , but not all of it .", "Friday evening , Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali boarded a jet for Malta , leaving his prime minister to face streets filled with protesters demanding a change of government in the North African country .", "The protests began weeks earlier in the central city of Sidi Bouzid , sparked by the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi , an unemployed university graduate whose informal vegetable stall was shuttered by the police .", "His despair exemplified the frustration that many Tunisians felt with their contracting economy , high levels of unemployment and inequality , censored media and Internet , and widespread corruption .", "Protests spread from city to city , with trade unions , lawyers , and countless unemployed Tunisian youth demanding a change to an economic system that appeared to benefit a small number of families close to power and leave ordinary citizens behind .", "As the protests intensified , Ben Ali offered concessions to his people : 23 years into his reign , he agreed to step down in 2014 .", "He ordered the security police to stop using live ammunition on protesters after nearly 70 had been killed , cut the price of basic foodstuffs , and promised to allow a freer media and end Internet censorship .", "This morning , as pressures increased , he offered new elections within six months .", "But all that failed to placate the crowds , who finally got what they wanted later in the day : a Tunisia sans Ben Ali .", "While the future of Tunisia 's governance is extremely uncertain at present , it seems we 've witnessed the rarest of phenomena , a popular revolt toppling an Arab dictator .", "Audiences in the Arab world have been glued to Al Jazeera , which has covered the protests closely .", "Many states in the region suffer from the same problems -- unemployment , slow growth , corrupt government , aging dictators -- that brought Tunisians into the streets .", "Protesters have taken to the streets in Algeria and Jordan , demanding jobs and affordable food .", "Whether these protests erupt into the revolution Tunisia is experiencing is impossible to know .", "What 's clear is that the actions taken by Tunisians are reverberating around the region .", "Outside the Middle East and the Francophone media sphere , the events in Tunisia have gotten little attention , certainly not the breathless , 24-hour coverage devoted to 2009 's Iranian election protests .", "When the protests began in Sidi Bouzid , much of the English-speaking world was focused on the Christmas and New Year 's holidays .", "As protests in Tunis heated up , U.S. eyeballs were focused on the tragic shooting in Tucson , Arizona .", "Had the Tunisian protests hit during a slow news month , it 's still unlikely they would have been followed as closely as events in Iran , which is larger , of greater international security concern , and has a large , media-savvy diaspora who helped promote the 2009 protests to an international audience .", "Iran 's diaspora was especially effective at promoting the Green Movement to an online audience that followed tweets , Facebook posts , and web videos avidly , hungry for news from the front lines of the struggle .", "Tens of thousands of Twitter users turned their profile pictures green in solidarity with the activists , and hundreds set up proxy servers to help Iranians evade Internet filters .", "For users of social media , the protests in Iran were an inescapable , global story .", "Tunisia , by contrast , has n't seen nearly the attention or support from the online community .", "The irony is that social media likely played a significant role in the events that have unfolded in the past month in Tunisia , and that the revolution appears far more likely to lead to lasting political change .", "Ben Ali 's government tightly controlled all forms of media , on and offline .", "Reporters were prevented from traveling to cover protests in Sidi Bouzid , and the reports from official media characterized events as either vandalism or terrorism .", "Tunisians got an alternative picture from Facebook , which remained uncensored through the protests , and they communicated events to the rest of the world by posting videos to YouTube and Dailymotion .", "As unrest spread from Sidi Bouzid to Sfax , from Hammamet and ultimately to Tunis , Tunisians documented events on Facebook .", "As others followed their updates , it 's likely that news of demonstrations in other parts of the country disseminated online helped others conclude that it was time to take to the streets .", "And the videos and accounts published to social media sites offered an ongoing picture of the protests to those around the world savvy enough to be paying attention .", "One way to understand the significance of social media in Tunisia is to examine the government 's attempts to control and silence it .", "Tunisia has aggressively censored the Internet since 2005 , blocking not just explicitly political sites , but social media sites like video-sharing service Dailymotion .", "Video-sharing sites were a special target of government censors because Tunisian activists are extremely tech-savvy and had released provocative videos online , including one that documented the first lady 's frequent shopping trips to Europe using the presidential jet .", "Not content just to filter content , last summer Tunisian authorities began `` phishing '' attacks on activists ' Gmail and Facebook accounts .", "By injecting malicious computer code into the login page of those services through the government-controlled Internet service provider , Ben Ali 's monitors were able to obtain passwords to these accounts , locking out the activists and harvesting email lists of presumed activists .", "When the riots intensified last week , the government began arresting prominent Internet activists , including my Global Voices colleague Slim Amamou , who had broken the story of the government 's password phishing .", "( Amamou was released , apparently unharmed , Thursday night . )", "But if the web was such a threat to the government 's authority , why did the regime not block Facebook or shut down the Internet entirely ?", "It 's critical to understand that Ben Ali was , first and foremost , a pragmatist .", "As late as Friday morning , he was looking for a solution that would allow him to remain in power , offering concessions in the hope of placating protesters .", "Internet censorship was already one of the grievances protesters had aired -- when Ben Ali offered concessions to protesters Thursday , loosening the reins was one of the promises that were warmly , if skeptically received .", "Pundits will likely start celebrating a `` Twitter revolution '' in Tunisia , even if they missed watching it unfold ; the Atlantic ` s Andrew Sullivan already revived the dreaded phrase Thursday .", "Others are seeking connections between unfolding events and a WikiLeaks cable that showed U.S. diplomats ' frustration with Ben Ali , and with denial-of-service attacks by online activist group Anonymous , which has been targeting entities that have tried to stop the dissemination of WikiLeaks cables , like the Tunisian government .", "But any attempt to credit a massive political shift to a single factor -- technological , economic , or otherwise -- is simply untrue .", "Tunisians took to the streets due to decades of frustration , not in reaction to a WikiLeaks cable , a denial-of-service attack , or a Facebook update .", "But as we learn more about the events of the past few weeks , we 'll discover that online media did play a role in helping Tunisians learn about the actions their fellow citizens were taking and in making the decision to mobilize .", "How powerful and significant this influence was will be something that academics will study and argue over for years to come .", "Scholars are n't the only ones who want to know whether social media played a role in the end of Ben Ali 's reign -- it 's likely to be a hot topic of conversation in Amman , Algiers , and Cairo , as other autocratic leaders wonder whether the bubbling cauldron of unemployment , street protests , and digital media could burn them next ."], "_citing_sentence": "The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, for example, wherein people mobilized to overthrow their dictator has even been dubbed the Twitter Revolution.", "_claim_name": "These people are under serious threat for their pursuit of justice", "_doc_title": "The First Twitter Revolution? | Foreign Policy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [24]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Preamble Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three : Section I Section II Section III Section IV Section V Section VI Section VII Chapter Four Amendments", "CHAPTER TWO - THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENS", "Article 33All persons holding the nationality of the People 's Republic of China are citizens of the People 's Republic of China.", "All citizens of the People 's Republic of China are equal before the law.", "Every citizen is entitled to the rights and at the same time must perform the duties prescribed by the Constitution and the law.", "Article 34All citizens of the People 's Republic of China who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote and stand for election , regardless of ethnic status , race , sex , occupation , family background , religious belief , education , property status or length of residence , except persons deprived of political rights according to law.", "Article 35Citizens of the People 's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech , of the press , of assembly , of association , of procession and of demonstration.", "Article 36Citizens of the People 's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief.", "No state organ , public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in , or not believe in , any religion ; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in , or do not believe in , any religion.The state protects normal religious activities .", "No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order , impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state.", "Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.Article 37Freedom of the person of citizens of the People 's Republic of China is inviolable.", "No citizens may be arrested except with the approval or by decision of a people 's procuratorate or by decision of a people 's court , and arrests must be made by a public security organ.", "Unlawful detention or deprivation or restriction of citizens ' freedom of the person by other means is prohibited , and unlawful search of the person of citizens is prohibited.", "Article 38The personal dignity of citizens of the People 's Republic of China is inviolable .", "Insult , libel , false accusation or false incrimination directed against citizens by any means is prohibited.Article 39The residences of citizens of the People 's Republic of China are inviolable .", "Unlawful search of , or intrusion into , a citizen 's residence is prohibited.Article 40Freedom and privacy of correspondence of citizens of the People 's Republic of China are protected by law .", "No organization or individual may , on any ground , infringe on citizens ' freedom of privacy of correspondence , except in cases where to meet the needs of state security or of criminal investigation , public security or procuratorial organs are permitted to censor correspondence in accordance with procedures prescribed by law.", "Article 41Citizens of the People 's Republic of China have the right to criticize and make suggestions regarding any state organ or functionary .", "Citizens have the right to make to relevant state organs complaints or charges against , or exposures of , any state organ or functionary for violation of the law or dereliction of duty , but fabrication or distortion of facts for purposes of libel or false incrimination is prohibited.", "The state organ concerned must deal with complaints , charges or exposures made by citizens in a responsible manner after ascertaining the facts .", "No one may suppress such complaints , charges and exposures or retaliate against the citizens making them.Citizens who have suffered losses as a result of infringement of their civic rights by any state organ or functionary have the right to compensation in accordance with the law.", "Article 42Citizens of the People 's Republic of China have the right as well as the duty to work.Through various channels , the state creates conditions for employment , enhances occupational safety and health , improves working conditions and , on the basis of expanded production , increases remuneration for work and welfare benefits.", "Work is a matter of honor for every citizen who is able to work .", "All working people in state enterprises and in urban and rural economic collectives , should approach their work as the masters of the country that they are .", "The state promotes socialist labor emulation , and commends and rewards model and advanced workers .", "The state encourages citizens to take part in voluntary labor.The state provides necessary vocational training for citizens before they are employed.Article 43 Working people in the People 's Republic of China have the right to rest.The state expands facilities for the rest and recuperation of the working people and prescribes working hours and vacations for workers and staff.Article 44 The state applies the system of retirement for workers and staff of enterprises and institutions and for functionaries of organs of state according to law .", "The livelihood of retried personnel is ensured by the state and society.Article 45Citizens of the People 's Republic of China have the right to material assistance from the state and society when they are old , ill or disabled .", "The state develops social insurance , social relief and medical and health services that are required for citizens to enjoy this right.", "The state and society ensure the livelihood of disabled members of the armed forces , provides pensions to the families of martyrs and gives preferential treatment to the families of military personnel.", "The state and society help make arrangements for the work , livelihood and education of the blind , deaf-mutes and other handicapped citizens.", "Article 46Citizens of the People 's Republic of China have the right as well as the duty to receive education.", "The state promotes the all-round development of children and young people , morally , intellectually and physically.", "Article 47Citizens of the People 's Republic of China have freedom to engage in scientific research , literary and artistic creation and other cultural pursuits .", "The state encourages and assists creative endeavors conducive to the interests of the people that are made by citizens engaged in education , science , technology , literature , art and other cultural work.", "Article 48Women in the People 's Republic of China enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of life , in political , economic , cultural , social and family life.", "The state protects the rights and interests of women , applies the principle of equal pay for equal work to men and women alike and trains and selects cadres from among women.", "Article 49Marriage , the family and mother and child are protected by the state.Both husband and wife have the duty to practice family planning.Parents have the duty to rear and educate their children who are minors , and children who have come of age have the duty to support and assist their parents.Violation of the freedom of marriage is prohibited .", "Maltreatment of old people , women and children is prohibited.", "Article 50The People 's Republic of China protects the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals residing abroad and protects the lawful rights and interests of returned overseas Chinese and of the family members of Chinese nationals residing abroad .", "Article 51Citizens of the People 's Republic of China , in exercising their freedoms and rights , may not infringe upon the interests of the state , of society or of the collective , or upon the lawful freedoms and rights of other citizens.", "Article 52It is the duty of citizens of the People 's Republic of China to safeguard the unification of the country and the unity of all its nationalities.", "Article 53Citizens of the People 's Republic of China must abide by the Constitution and the law , keep state secrets , protect public property , observe labor discipline and public order and respect social ethics.", "Article 54In is the duty of citizens of the People 's Republic of China to safeguard the security , honor and interests of the motherland ; they must not commit acts detrimental to the security , honor and interests of the motherland.Article 55It is the sacred duty of every citizen of the People 's Republic of China to defend the motherland and resist aggression."], "_citing_sentence": "Authoritarian regimes often claim to value freedom of the press, for example article 35 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees it, and this policy challenges them to make their practice more like what they preach.", "_claim_name": "This offer of amnesty serves as a powerful public statement in favour of free speech and rule of law", "_doc_title": "CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 7, "_topic_name": "This House would offer amnesty to bloggers currently prosecuted by their native states"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The original position is a central feature of John Rawls 's social contract account of justice , `` justice as fairness , '' set forth in A Theory of Justice ( TJ ) .", "It is designed to be a fair and impartial point of view that is to be adopted in our reasoning about fundamental principles of justice .", "In taking up this point of view , we are to imagine ourselves in the position of free and equal persons who jointly agree upon and commit themselves to principles of social and political justice .", "The main distinguishing feature of the original position is `` the veil of ignorance '' : to insure impartiality of judgment , the parties are deprived of all knowledge of their personal characteristics and social and historical circumstances .", "They do know of certain fundamental interests they all have , plus general facts about psychology , economics , biology , and other social and natural sciences .", "The parties in the original position are presented with a list of the main conceptions of justice drawn from the tradition of social and political philosophy , and are assigned the task of choosing from among these alternatives the conception of justice that best advances their interests in establishing conditions that enable them to effectively pursue their final ends and fundamental interests .", "Rawls contends that the most rational choice for the parties in the original position are two principles of justice : The first guarantees the equal basic rights and liberties needed to secure the fundamental interests of free and equal citizens and to pursue a wide range of conceptions of the good .", "The second principle provides fair equality of educational and employment opportunities enabling all to fairly compete for powers and positions of office ; and it secures for all a guaranteed minimum of all-purpose means ( including income and wealth ) individuals need to pursue their interests and to maintain their self-respect as free and equal persons .", "The idea of a moral point of view can be traced back to David", "Hume 's account of the `` judicious spectator . ''", "Hume sought to explain how moral judgments of approval and disapproval are possible given that people normally are focused on achieving their particular interests .", "He conjectured that in making moral judgments individuals abstract in imagination from their own particular interests and adopt an impartial point of view from which they assess the effects of others ' actions on the interests of everyone .", "Since , according to Hume , we all can adopt this impartial perspective in imagination , it accounts for our agreement in moral judgments .", "( See Hume , 1739/1978 , 581 ; Rawls , LHMP 84 -- 93 , LHPP 184 -- 187 . )", "Subsequently , philosophers posited similar perspectives for moral reasoning designed to yield impartial judgments once individuals abstract from their particular aims and interests and assess situations from an impartial point of view .", "But rather than being mainly explanatory of moral judgments like Hume 's `` judicious spectator , '' the role of these impartial perspectives is to serve as a basis from which to assess and justify moral rules or principles .", "Kant 's categorical imperative procedure ,", "Adam Smith 's `` impartial spectator , '' Rousseau 's general will , and Sidgwick 's `` point of view of the universe '' are all different versions of such a moral point of view .", "An important feature of the moral point of view is that it is designed to represent something essential to the activity of moral reasoning .", "For example , Kant 's categorical imperative is envisioned as a point of view any reasonable person can adopt in deliberating about what he/she ought morally to do ( Rawls , CP 498ff ) .", "When joined with the common assumption that the totality of moral reasons is final and override non-moral reasons , the moral point of view might be regarded as the most fundamental perspective that we can adopt in practical reasoning about what we ought to do .", "Rawls 's idea of the original position , as initially conceived , is his account of the moral point of view with regard to matters of justice .", "The original position is a hypothetical perspective that we can adopt in our moral reasoning about the most basic principles of social and political justice .", "What primarily distinguishes", "Rawls 's impartial perspective from its antecedents ( in Hume ,", "Smith , Kant , etc. ) is that , rather than representing the judgment of one person , it is conceived socially , as a general agreement by ( representatives of all adult ) members of an ongoing society .", "The point of view of justice is then represented as a general social `` contract '' or agreement , similar to Rousseau 's social contract .", "Historically the idea of a social contract had a more limited role than Rawls assigns to it .", "In Hobbes and Locke the social contract serves as an argument for the legitimacy of political authority .", "Hobbes argues that in a pre-social state of nature it would be rational for all to agree to authorize one person to exercise the absolute political power needed to enforce norms necessary for social cooperation .", "By contrast , Locke argued against absolute monarchy by contending that no existing political constitution is legitimate or just unless it could be contracted into starting from a position of equal right within a ( relatively peaceful ) state of nature , and without violating any natural rights or duties .", "For Rousseau and perhaps", "Kant too , the idea of a social contract played a different role : as part of their accounts of the General Will , the social contract is a point of view that lawmakers and citizens should adopt for assessing existing laws deciding on measures that achieve justice and citizens ' common good .", "Rawls generalizes on Locke 's ,", "Rousseau 's and Kant 's natural right theories of the social contract ( TJ vii/xviii ) : the purpose of his original position is to yield principles to determine and assess the justice of political constitutions and of economic and social arrangements .", "To do so , he seeks in the original position `` to combine into one conception the totality of conditions which we are ready upon due reflection to recognize as reasonable in our conduct towards one another '' ( TJ 587/514 ) .", "Why does Rawls represent principles of justice as originating in a kind of social contract ?", "( Later we 'll consider the objection that the original position is not really social , but is the rational choice of one representative person . )", "Rawls says that `` justice as fairness assigns a certain primacy to the social '' ( CP 339 ) .", "Unlike Kant 's categorical imperative procedure , the original position is designed to represent the predominantly social bases of justice .", "To say that justice is predominantly social does not mean that people do not have `` natural '' moral rights and duties outside society or in non-cooperative circumstances -- Rawls clearly thinks there are certain human rights ( see LP sect .10 ) and natural duties ( TJ sects .", "19 , 51 ) that apply to all human beings as such .", "But whatever our natural or human rights and duties may be , they do not provide an adequate basis for ascertaining the rights and duties of justice that we owe one another as members of the same ongoing political society .", "It is in large part due to `` the profoundly social nature of human relationships '' ( PL 259 ) that Rawls sees political and economic justice as grounded in social cooperation and its reciprocity .", "For this reason Rawls eschews the idea of a state of nature wherein pre-social but fully rational individuals agree to cooperative norms ( as in Hobbesian views ) , or where pre-political persons with antecedent natural rights agree on the form of a political constitution ( as in Locke ) .", "We are social beings in the sense that in the absence of society and social development we have but inchoate and unrealized capacities , including our capacities for rationality , morality , even language itself .", "As Rousseau says , outside society we are but `` stupid and shortsighted animals '' ( Rousseau , bk.I , ch .8 , par .", "This undermines the main point of the idea of a state of nature in many views , which is to distinguish the rights , claims , duties , powers and competencies we have prior to membership in society from those we acquire as members of society .", "Not being members of some society is not an option for us .", "In so far as we are rational and reasonable beings at all , we have developed as members of a society , within its social framework and institutions .", "The traditional idea of pre-social or even pre-political rational moral agents thus plays no role in Rawls 's account of justice and the social contract ; for him the state of nature is an idea without moral significance ( PL 278 -- 280 ) .", "The original position is set forth largely as an alternative to the state of nature and is regarded by Rawls as the appropriate initial situation for a social contract .", "( Below we consider a further reason behind Rawls 's rejection of the state of nature : it does not adequately allow for impartial judgment and the equality of persons . )", "Another way in which Rawls represents the `` profoundly social '' bases of principles of justice is by focusing on `` the basic structure of society . ''", "The `` first subject of justice , '' Rawls says , is principles that regulate the basic social institutions that constitute the `` basic structure of society '' ( TJ sect .2 ) .", "These basic institutions include the political constitution , which specifies procedures for legislating and enforcing laws and the system of trials for adjudicating disputes ; the bases of the economic system , including the norms of property , its transfer and distribution , contractual relations , etc. which are all necessary for economic production , exchange , and consumption ; and finally norms that define and regulate permissible forms of the family , which is needed to perpetuate society .", "It is the role of principles of justice to specify and assess the system of rules that constitute these basic institutions , and determine the fair distribution of rights , duties , opportunities , powers and positions of office to be realized within them .", "What makes these institutions and their arrangement the first subject for principles of social justice is that they are all necessary to social cooperation and have such profound influences on our circumstances , aims , characters , and future prospects .", "No society could exist without certain rules of property , contract , and transfer of goods and resources , for they make economic production , trade , and consumption possible .", "Nor could a society long endure without some political mechanism for resolving disputes and making , revising , interpreting , and enforcing its economic and other cooperative norms ; or without some form of the family , to reproduce , sustain , and nurture members of its future generations .", "This is what distinguishes the social institutions constituting the basic structure from other profoundly influential social institutions , such as religion ; religion and other social institutions are not basic in Rawls 's sense because they are not generally necessary to social cooperation among members of society .", "( Even if they are ideologically necessary to sustain particular societies , many societies can and do exist without the support of religious institutions ) .", "Another reason Rawls regards the original position as the appropriate setting for a social contract is implicit in his stated aim in A Theory of Justice : it is to discover the most appropriate moral conception of justice for a democratic society wherein persons regard themselves as free and equal citizens ( TJ viii/xviii ) .", "Here he assumes an ideal of citizens as `` moral persons '' who regard themselves as free and equal , have a conception of their rational good , and also have a `` sense of justice . ''", "`` Moral persons '' ( an 18th century term ) are not necessarily morally good persons , but instead are capable of being rational in that they have the capacities to form , revise and pursue a conception of the good ; and also they are capable of being reasonable since they have a moral capacity for a sense of justice -- to cooperate with others on terms that are fair and to understand , apply , and act upon principles of justice and their requirements .", "Because people have these capacities , or `` moral powers , '' we hold them responsible for their actions , and they are regarded as capable of pursuing their interests and engaging in social cooperation .", "Rawls 's idea is that , being reasonable and rational , persons ( like us ) who regard ourselves as free and equal should be in a position to accept and endorse as morally justifiable the principles of justice regulating our basic social institutions and individual conduct .", "Otherwise our conduct is coerced for reasons we can not ( reasonably or rationally ) accept and we are not fundamentally free persons .", "Starting from these assumptions , Rawls construes the moral point of view from which to decide moral principles of justice as a social contract in which ( representatives of ) free and equal persons are given the task of coming to an agreement on principles of justice that are to regulate their social and political relations in perpetuity .", "How otherwise , Rawls contends , should we represent the justification of principles of justice for free and equal persons who have different conceptions of their good , as well as different religious , philosophical , and moral views ?", "There is no commonly accepted moral or religious authority or doctrine to which they could appeal in order to discover principles of justice that all could agree to and accept .", "Rawls contends that , since his aim is to discover a conception of justice appropriate for a democratic society that is justifiable to its free and equal citizens and which all can endorse and accept , the appropriate way to justify this conception is by ( imagining ) an agreement among free and equal moral persons themselves .", "How is this social contract to be conceived ?", "It is not an historical event that must actually take place at some point in time ( TJ 120/104 ) .", "It is rather a hypothetical situation , a kind of thought experiment , that is designed to uncover the most reasonable principles of justice .", "Rawls maintains ( in LHPP , cf. p. 15 ) that the major advocates of social contract doctrine -- Hobbes , Locke , Rousseau , and Kant -- all regarded the social contract , as a hypothetical event .", "Hobbes and Locke thus posited a hypothetical state of nature in which there is no political authority , and where people are regarded as rational and ( for Locke ) also reasonable .", "The purpose of this hypothetical social contract is to demonstrate what types of governments are politically legitimate , and determine the nature of individuals ' political obligations ( ibid .", "The presumption is that if a government could or would be agreed to by all rational persons subject to it in an appropriately described pre-political situation , then it is acceptable to rational persons generally , including you and me , and hence is legitimate and is the source of our political obligations .", "Thus Hobbes argues that all rational persons in a state of nature would agree to authorize an absolute sovereign , while Locke comes to the opposite conclusion , contending that absolutism would be rejected in favor of constitutional monarchy .", "Similarly , in Rousseau and Kant , the social contract is a way to reason about the General Will , or the laws that hypothetical moral agents would all agree to in order to promote the common good and realize the freedom and equality of citizens .", "Rawls employs the idea of a hypothetical social contract for more general purposes than his predecessors .", "He aims to provide principles of justice that can be applied to determine not only the justice of political constitutions and the laws , but also the justice of social and economic arrangements in the distribution of income and wealth , as well as educational and work opportunities , powers and positions of office and responsibility .", "Some have objected that hypothetical agreements can not bind or obligate people ; only actual contracts or agreements can impose obligations and commitments ( Dworkin , 1977 , 150ff ) .", "Rawls says that the OP is not intended to impose new obligations on us , but is to be used `` to help us work out what we now think '' ( CP 402 ) ; it incorporates `` conditions ... we do in fact accept '' ( TJ 587/514 ) and is a kind of `` thought experiment for the purpose of public - and self-clarification '' ( JF , p. 17 ) .", "Hypothetical agreement in the original position does not then bind anyone to duties or commitments he/she does not already have .", "Its point rather is to explicate the requirements of our moral concepts of justice and enable us to draw the consequences of considered moral convictions of justice that we all presumably share .", "Whether we in turn consciously accept or agree to these consequences and the principles and duties they implicate once brought to our awareness is irrelevant to their justification .", "The point rather of conjecturing the outcome of a hypothetical agreement is that , assuming that the premises underlying the original position correctly represent our most deeply held considered moral convictions and concepts of justice , then we are committed to endorsing the resulting principles and duties whether or not we actually accept or agree to them .", "Not to do so implies a failure to live up to the consequences of our own moral convictions about justice .", "Rawls calls his conception `` justice as fairness . ''", "His aim in designing the original position is to describe an agreement situation that is fair among all the parties to the hypothetical social contract .", "He assumes that if the parties to the social contract are fairly situated and take all relevant information into account , then the principles they would agree to are also fair .", "The fairness of the original agreement situation transfers to the principles everyone agrees to , and further that whatever laws or institutions are required by the principles of justice are also fair .", "The principles of justice chosen in the original position are in this way the result of a choice procedure designed to `` incorporate pure procedural justice at the highest level '' ( CP , 310 , cf. TJ 120/104 ) .", "There are different ways to define a fair agreement situation depending on the purpose of the agreement and the description of the parties to it .", "For example , certain facts are relevant to entering into a fair employment contract -- a prospective employee 's talents , skills , experience and motivation for example -- that may not be relevant to other fair agreements .", "What is a fair agreement situation among free and equal persons when the purpose of the agreement is fundamental principles of justice for the basic structure of society ?", "Here it is helpful to compare Rawls 's and Locke 's social contracts .", "A feature of Locke 's social contract is that it transpires in a state of nature among free and equal persons who know everything about themselves that you and I know about ourselves and each other .", "Thus Locke 's parties know their natural talents and other personal characteristics ; their racial and ethnic group , social class and occupations ; their level of wealth and income , their religious and moral beliefs , an so on .", "Given this knowledge , Locke assumes that , while starting from a position of equal political right , the great majority of free and equal persons in a state of nature ( all women and all men who do not meet a rigid property qualification ) could and most likely would rationally agree to alienate their natural rights of equal political jurisdiction in order to gain the benefits of political society .", "Thus Locke envisions as legitimate a constitutional monarchy that is in effect a class state , a state wherein a small class of amply propertied males exercise political rights to vote , hold office , exercise political and social influence , and enjoy other important benefits and responsibilities to the exclusion of everyone else .", "( See Rawls , LHPP , 138 -- 139 . )", "The problem with this arrangement , of course , is that gender and lack of wealth are , like absence of religious belief , not good reasons for depriving people of their equal political rights or opportunities to occupy social and political positions .", "These reasons are not morally relevant for deciding who qualifies to vote , hold office , and actively participate in governing and administering society .", "Rawls suggests that the reason Locke 's social contract results in this unacceptable outcome is that it transpires ( hypothetically ) under unfair conditions of a state of nature , where the parties have complete knowledge of their characteristics and situations -- their gender , wealth , social class , talents and skills , religious convictions , etc. .", "Socially powerful and wealthy parties then can rely on knowledge of their `` threat advantage '' to extract favorable terms from those in less favorable positions ( JF 16 ) .", "Consequently the parties ' judgments are biased by their knowledge of their circumstances and are insufficiently impartial .", "The remedy for such biases of judgment is to redefine the initial situation .", "Rather than a state of nature Rawls situates the parties to his social contract so that they do not have access to factual knowledge that can distort their judgments and result in unfair principles .", "Rawls 's original position is an initial situation wherein the parties are without information that enables them to tailor principles of justice favorable to their personal circumstances .", "`` Among the essential features of this situation is that no one knows his place in society , his class position or social status , nor does any one know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities , his intelligence , strength and the like .", "We shall even assume that the parties do not know their conceptions of the good or their special psychological propensities .", "The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance '' ( TJ 12/11 ) .", "This veil of ignorance deprives the parties of all knowledge of particular facts about themselves , about one another , and even about their society and its history .", "The parties are not however completely ignorant of facts .", "They know all kinds of general facts about persons and societies , including knowledge of the relatively uncontroversial laws and generalizations derivable from economics , psychology , political science , and biology and other natural sciences .", "They know then about the general tendencies of human behavior and psychological development , about biological evolution , and about how economic markets work , including neo-classical price theory of supply and demand .", "As discussed below , they also know about the circumstances of justice -- moderate scarcity and limited altruism -- as well as the desirability of the `` primary social goods '' that are needed by anyone to live a good life and to develop their `` moral powers '' and other capacities .", "What the parties lack however is knowledge of any particular facts about their own and other persons ' lives , as well as knowledge of any historical facts about their society and its population , its level of wealth and resources , religious institutions , etc. .", "Rawls thinks that since the parties are required to come to an agreement on objective principles that supply universal standards of justice applying across all societies , knowledge of particular and historical facts about any person or society is morally irrelevant and potentially prejudicial to their decision .", "Another reason Rawls gives for such a `` thick '' veil of ignorance is that it is designed to be a strict `` position of equality '' ( TJ 12/11 ) that represents persons purely in their capacity as free and equal moral persons .", "The parties in the original position do not know any particular facts about themselves or society ; they all have the same general information made available to them .", "They are then situated equally in a very strong way , `` symmetrically '' ( JF 18 ) and purely as free and equal moral persons .", "They know only characteristics and interests they have in their capacity as moral persons -- their `` higher-order interests '' in developing the moral powers of justice and rationality , their need for the primary social goods , and so on .", "The moral powers , Rawls contends , are the `` basis of equality , the features of human beings in virtue of which they are to be treated in accordance with the principles of justice '' ( TJ , 504/441 ) .", "Knowledge of the moral powers and their essential role in social cooperation , along with knowledge of other general facts , is all that is morally relevant , Rawls believes , to a decision on principles of justice that are to reflect people 's status as free and equal moral persons .", "A thick veil of ignorance thus is designed to represent the equality of persons purely as moral persons , and not in any other contingent capacity or social role .", "In this regard the veil interprets the Kantian idea of equality as equal respect for moral persons ( cf. CP 255 ) .", "Many criticisms have been leveled against Rawls 's veil of ignorance .", "Among the most frequent is that choice in the original position is indeterminate ( Sen , 2009 , 11 -- 12 , 56 -- 58 ) .", "Among other reasons for this , it is said that the parties are deprived of so much information about themselves that they are psychologically incapable of making a choice , or they are incapable of making a rational choice .", "For how can we make any rational choice without knowing our primary ends , or fundamental values and commitments ?", "The answer is that we do not need to know everything about ourselves to make rational decisions about the background conditions needed to pursue our primary purposes .", "For example , whatever our ends , we know that personal security and an absence of social chaos are conditions of most anyone 's living a good life ( as Hobbes contends ) .", "Similarly , though Rawls 's parties do not know their particular values and commitments , they do know that they require an adequate share of primary social goods ( rights and liberties , powers and opportunities , and income and wealth ) to effectively pursue their purposes , whatever they may be .", "They also know they have a higher-order interest in adequately developing their moral powers , the conditions of responsible agency and social cooperation .", "Rawls contends that knowledge of these basic social needs ( he also calls them `` essential goods '' ) is sufficient for a rational choice by the parties in the original position .", "For critics to argue that they are not sufficient requires that they point to specific problems with Rawls 's detailed arguments for his principles from the original position .", "To the objection that choice behind the veil of ignorance is psychologically impossible , Rawls says that it is important not to get too caught up in the theoretical fiction of the original position , as if it were some historical event among real people who are being asked to do something impossible .", "The original position is not supposed to be realistic , but is a `` device of representation '' ( PL 27 ) , or a `` thought experiment , '' ( JF , 83 ) , that is designed to organize our considered convictions of justice and clarify their implications .", "The parties in it are not real but are `` artificial persons '' who have a role to play in this thought experiment .", "They represent an ideal of free and equal rational moral persons that Rawls assumes is implicit in our reasoning about justice .", "The veil of ignorance is a representation of the kinds of reasons and information that are relevant to a decision on principles of justice for the basic structure of a society of free and equal moral persons ( TJ 17/16 ) .", "Many different kinds of reasons and facts are not morally relevant to that kind of decision ( e.g. , information about people 's race , gender , religious affiliation , wealth , and even ,", "Rawls says more controversially , their conceptions of their good ) , just as many different kinds of reasons and facts are irrelevant to mathematicians ' ability to work out the formal proof of a theorem .", "As a mathematician , scientist , or musician exercise their expertise by ignoring their knowledge of particular facts about themselves , we can do so too in reasoning about principles of justice .", "Rawls says we can `` enter the original position at any time simply by reasoning in accordance with the enumerated restrictions on information , '' PL 27 ) and taking into account general facts about persons , their needs , and social and economic cooperation that are provided to the parties .", "A related criticism of Rawls 's `` thick '' veil of ignorance is that even if the parties can make certain rational decisions in their interest without knowledge of their final ends , still they can not come to a decision about principles of justice .", "For justice consists , allegedly , of the measures that effectively promote good consequences .", "Without knowledge what is ultimately good ( however that is to be defined ) the parties can not discover the principles of justice that best promote it .", "This criticism is mirrored in utilitarian versions of the moral point of view , which incorporate a `` thin '' veil of ignorance that represents a different idea of impartiality .", "The impartial sympathetic observer found in David Hume and Adam Smith , or the self-interested rational chooser in John Harsanyi 's utilitarian account , all have complete knowledge of everyone 's desires , interests and purposes as well as knowledge of particular facts about people and their historical situations .", "Impartiality is achieved by depriving the impartial observer or rational chooser of any knowledge of its own identity .", "This leads it to give equal consideration to everyone 's desires and interests , and impartially takes everyone 's desires and interests into account .", "Since rationality is presumed to involve maximizing something , the impartial observer/chooser rationally chooses the rule or actions that maximizes the satisfaction of desires , or utility ( aggregate or average ) , summed across all persons . .", "Rawls 's original position with its `` thick '' veil of ignorance represents a different conception of impartiality than the utilitarian requirement that equal consideration be given to everyone 's desires .", "The original position abstracts from all information about current circumstances and the status quo , including everyone 's desires and particular interests .", "Utilitarians take peoples ' desires and interests as given and seek to maximize their satisfaction ; in so doing utilitarians suspend judgment regarding the moral permissibility of peoples ' desires and preferences and of the social circumstances and institutions within which desires and preferences are formed .", "For Rawls , a primary reason for a thick veil of ignorance is to enable an unbiased assessment of the justice of existing social and political institutions and of existing desires , preferences and conceptions of the good .", "If the parties to Rawls 's original position had knowledge of peoples ' beliefs and desires , as well as knowledge of the laws , institutions and circumstances of their society , then this knowledge would influence their decisions on principles of justice .", "The principles agreed to would then not be sufficiently detached from the very desires , circumstances , and institutions these principles are to be used to critically assess .", "Since utilitarians take peoples ' desires and interests as given under existing circumstances , any principles , laws or institutions chosen behind their thin veil of ignorance will reflect and be biased by the status quo .", "To take an obvious counterexample , there is little if any justice in laws approved from a utilitarian impartial perspective when these laws take into account racially prejudiced preferences which are cultivated by grossly unequal , racially discriminatory and segregated social conditions .", "To impartially give equal consideration to everyone 's desires formed under such under unjust conditions is hardly sufficient to meet requirements of justice .", "This illustrates some of the reasons for a `` thick '' as opposed to a `` thin '' veil of ignorance .", "Rawls says that in the original position , `` the Reasonable frames the Rational '' ( CP 319 ) .", "He means the OP is a situation where rational choice of the parties is made subject to reasonable ( i.e. moral ) constraints .", "In what sense are the parties and their choice rational ?", "Philosophers have different understandings of practical rationality .", "Rawls seeks to incorporate a relatively uncontroversial account of rationality into the original position , one that he thinks most any account of practical rationality would endorse as at least necessary for rational decision .", "The parties are then described as rational in a formal or `` thin '' sense that is characteristic of the theories of rational and social choice .", "They are resourceful , take effective means to their ends , and seek to make their preferences consistent .", "They also take the course of action that is more likely to achieve their ends ( other things being equal ) .", "And they choose courses of action that satisfy more rather than fewer of their purposes .", "Rawls calls these principles of rational choice the `` counting principles '' ( TJ sect .", "More generally , for Rawls rational persons upon reflection can formulate a conception of their good , or of their primary values and purposes and the best way of life for themselves to live given their purposes .", "This conception incorporates their primary aims , ambitions , and commitments to others , and is informed by the conscientious moral , religious , and philosophical convictions that give meaning for them to their lives .", "Ideally , rational persons have carefully thought about these things and their relative importance , and they can coherently order their purposes and commitments into a `` rational plan of life , '' which extends over their lifetimes ( TJ sect .", "For Rawls , rational persons regard life as a whole , and do not give preference to any particular period of it .", "Rather in drawing up their rational plans , they are equally concerned with their good at each part of their lives .", "In this regard , rational persons are prudent -- they care for their future good , and while they may discount the importance of future purposes based on probability assessments , they do not discount the achievement of their future purposes simply because they are in the future ( TJ , sect .", "These primary aims , convictions , ambitions , and commitments are among the primary motivations of the parties in the original position .", "The parties want to provide favorable conditions for the pursuit of the various elements of the rational plan of life that defines a good life for them .", "This is ultimately what the parties are trying to accomplish in their choice of principles of justice .", "In this sense they are rational .", "Rawls says the parties in the original position are `` mutually disinterested , '' in the sense that they take no interest in one another 's interests .", "This does not mean that they are generally self-interested or selfish persons , indifferent to the welfare of others .", "Most people are concerned , not just with their own happiness or welfare , but with that of others as well , and have all kinds of commitments to others , including other-regarding and beneficent purposes , that are part of their conception of the good .", "But in the original position itself the parties are not altruistically motivated to benefit each other , in their capacity as contracting parties .", "They try to do as best as they can for themselves and for those persons and causes that they care for .", "Their situation is comparable , Rawls says , to that of trustees acting to promote the interests of the beneficiaries they represent .", "Trustees can not sacrifice the well-being of their beneficiaries to benefit other trustees .", "If they did , they would be derelict in their duties .", "It is perhaps to address the common criticism that the parties to the original position are self-interested that Rawls in his later writings increasingly says that we should imagine that the parties are representatives or trustees of other individuals ' interests , and seek to do as best as they can for the particular individuals that each trustee represents .", "In either case , Rawls believes this account of the parties ' motivations promotes greater clarity , and that to attribute to the parties moral motivations or benevolence towards each other would not result in definite choice of a conception of justice ( TJ , 148 -- 9/128 -- 9 ; 584/512 ) .", "( For example , how much benevolence should they have towards one another ?", "Surely not impartial benevolence towards everyone , for then we might as well dispense with the social contract and rely on an impartial spectator point of view .", "But if not equal concern for all parties , then how much ? )", "Mutual disinterest of the parties also means they are not moved by envy or rancor towards each other or others generally .", "This implies that the parties do not strive to be wealthier or better off than others for its own sake , and thus do not sacrifice advantages to prevent others from having more than they do .", "Instead , each party in the original position is motivated to do as well as he/she can in absolute terms in promoting the optimal achievement of the many purposes that make up a conception of the good , without regard to how much or how little others may have .", "For this reason they strive to guarantee themselves a share of primary social goods sufficient to enable them to pursue their ( unknown ) conception of the good .", "Though the parties are not motivated by beneficence or even a concern for justice , still they have a capacity for reasonableness and a sense of justice ( TJ , 145/125 rev. ) .", "Rawls distinguishes between the requirements of rationality and reasonableness ; both are part of practical reasoning about what we ought to do ( JF 6 -- 7 ; 81 -- 2 ) .", "The concept of `` the Rational '' concerns a person 's good -- hence Rawls refers to his account of the good as `` goodness as rationality . ''", "A person 's good for Rawls is the rational plan of life he/she would choose under hypothetical conditions of `` deliberative rationality , '' where there is full knowledge of one 's circumstances , capacities , and interests , as well as knowledge of the likelihoods of succeeding at alternative life plans one may be attracted to ( TJ , sect .", "Reasonable '' on the other hand has to do with the concept of right , which includes individual moral duties and moral requirements of right and justice applying to institutions and society .", "Both rationality and reasonableness are independent aspects of practical reason for Rawls .", "They are independent in that Rawls , unlike Hobbes , does not regard justice and the reasonable as simply the principles of prudence that are beneficial for a person to comply with in order to successfully pursue his or her purposes in social contexts .", "Unlike Hobbes , Rawls does not claim that an immoral person is irrational , or that morality is necessarily required by rationality .", "However , a rational person who violates reasonable demands of justice is unreasonable in that he or she infringes upon moral requirements of practical reasoning .", "Being reasonable , even if not required by rationality , is still an independent aspect of practical reason .", "Rawls resembles Kant in this regard ( PL 25n ) ; his distinction between the reasonable and rational parallels Kant 's distinction between categorical and hypothetical imperatives .", "Essential to being reasonable is having a sense of justice .", "The sense of justice is a normally effective desire to comply with duties and obligations required by justice ; it includes a willingness to cooperate with others on terms that are fair and that reasonable persons can accept and endorse .", "Rawls sees a sense of justice as an attribute people normally have ; it `` would appear to be a condition for human sociability '' ( TJ , 495/433 rev. ) .", "He rejects the idea that people are motivated only by self-interest in all that they do ; he also rejects the Hobbesian assumption that a willingness to do justice must be grounded in self-interest .", "It is essential to Rawls 's argument for the feasibility and stability of justice as fairness that the parties upon entering society have an effective sense of justice , and that , as members of society , they are capable of doing what justice requires of them , either for its own sake , or because the believe this is what morality requires of them .", "An amoralist , Rawls believes , is largely a philosophical construct ; the amoralists who actually exist Rawls sees as sociopaths .", "Subsequent to A Theory of Justice , in Kantian and Political", "Constructivism , Rawls says that the parties to the original position have a `` higher-order interest '' in the exercise and development of their capacity for a sense of justice ( as well as in their capacity to be rational ) , and that fulfilling this interest is one of the main aims behind their agreement on principles of justice .", "The parties ' interest in developing these two `` moral powers '' is a substantive feature of Rawls 's account of the rationality of free and equal persons .", "( In this regard , his account of goodness as rationality is not as `` thin '' as in social theory ; cf. TJ 143/124 . )", "Here is it is important to see that", "Rawls is still not attributing specifically moral motives -- a desire to be reasonable and do what is right and just for their own sake -- to the parties in the original position .", "The idea behind the parties ' rationality in cultivating their sense of justice is that , since reasonableness is a condition of human sociability and social cooperation , then it is in people 's rational interest -- part of their good -- that they normally develop their capacities for justice under social conditions .", "Otherwise they will not be in a position to cooperate with others and benefit from social life .", "A person who is without a sense of justice is wholly unreasonable and as a result is normally eschewed by others , for he or she is not trustworthy or reliable or even safe to interact with .", "Since having a sense of justice is a condition of taking part in social cooperation , the parties have a `` higher-order interest '' in establishing conditions for the full development and effective exercise of their sense of justice .", "The parties ' interest in developing their sense of justice is then a rational interest in being reasonable ; justice is then regarded by the parties as instrumental to their realizing their conception of the good .", "( Here again , it is important to distinguish the purely rational motivation of the parties or their trustees in the original position from that of free and equal citizens in a well-ordered society , who may well be morally motivated by their sense of justice to do what is right and just for its own sake . )", "Three factors then play a role in motivating the parties in the original position : ( 1 ) First , they aim to advance their determinate conception of the good , or rational plan of life , even though they do not know what that conception is .", "Moreover , they also seek conditions that enable them to exercise and develop their `` moral powers , '' namely ( 2 ) their rational capacities to form , revise and pursue a conception of their good , and ( 3 ) their capacity to be reasonable and to have a sense of justice .", "These are the three `` higher-order interests '' the parties to Rawls 's original position aim to promote in their agreement on principles of justice .", "The three higher-order interests provide the basis for Rawls 's account of primary social goods .", "The primary goods are the all-purpose social means that are necessary to the exercise and development of the moral powers and to pursue a wide variety of conceptions of the good .", "Rawls describes them initially in", "Theory as goods that any rational person should want , whatever his or her rational plan of life .", "The primary social goods are : rights and liberties , powers and opportunities , income and wealth , and the social bases of self-respect .", "` Powers ' refer not simply to a capacity to effect outcomes or influence others ' behavior .", "Rawls rather uses the term to refer to the legal and institutional abilities and prerogatives that attend offices and social positions .", "Hence , he sometimes refers to the primary goods of `` powers and prerogatives of offices and positions of authority and responsibility '' ( JF 58 ) .", "Members of various professions and trades have institutional powers and prerogatives that are characteristic of their position and which are necessary if they are to carry out their respective roles and responsibilities .", "By income and wealth Rawls says he intends `` all-purpose means '' having an exchange value , which are generally needed to achieve a wide range of ends ( JF 58 -- 59 ) .", "Finally , `` the social bases of self-respect '' are features of institutions that are needed to enable people to have the confidence that they and their position in society are respected and that their conception of the good is worth pursuing and achievable .", "These features depend upon history and culture .", "Primary among these social bases in a democratic society are the conditions needed for equal citizenship , including equality of political rights and fair equal opportunity , as well as personal independence and adequate material means for achieving it .", "The social bases of self-respect are crucial to Rawls 's argument for equal basic liberties , especially political equality and equal rights of political participation .", "The parties to the original position are motivated to achieve a fully adequate share of primary goods so they can achieve their higher-order interests in pursuing their rational plans of life and exercising their moral powers .", "`` They assume that they normally prefer more primary social goods rather than less '' ( TJ , 142/123 rev. ) .", "This too is part of being rational .", "Because they are not envious , their concern is with the absolute level of primary goods , not their share relative to other persons .", "To sum up , the parties in the original position are formally rational in that they are assumed to have and to effectively pursue a rational plan of life with a schedule of coherent purposes and commitments that give their life meaning .", "As part of their rational plans , they have a substantive interest in the development and exercise of their capacities to be rational and to be reasonable .", "These `` higher-order interests '' provide them with reason to procure for themselves in their choice of principles of justice an adequate share of the primary social goods that enable them to achieve these higher-order ends and effectively pursue their life plans .", "A final feature of Rawls 's account of rationality is a normal human tendency he calls `` the Aristotelian principle '' ( TJ sect .65 ) .", "This `` deep psychological fact '' says that , other things equal , people normally find activities that call upon the exercise of their developed capacities to be more interesting and preferable to engaging in simpler tasks , and their enjoyment increases the more the capacity is developed and realized or the greater its complexity ( TJ , 426/374 ) .", "Moreover Rawls believes that development of our `` higher capacities '' ( J.S. Mill 's term ) is important to our sense of self-respect .", "These general facts imply that rational people should incorporate into their life plans activities that call upon the exercise and development of their talents and skills and distinctly human capacities ( TJ 432/379 ) .", "This motivation is especially relevant to Rawls 's argument for the stability of justice as fairness and the good of justice .", "( See below , Section 5.3 . )", "The important point here is that the Aristotelian principle is taken into account by the parties in their decision on principles of justice .", "They want to choose principles that maintain their self-respect and enable them to freely develop their human capacities and pursue a wide range of activities , as well as engage their capacities for a sense of justice .", "The veil of ignorance is the primary condition that constrains the rational choice of the parties in the original position .", "There are several other conditions imposed on their agreement", "Among the general facts the parties know are `` the circumstances of justice . ''", "Rawls says these are `` conditions under which human cooperation is both possible and necessary '' ( TJ 126/109 rev. ) .", "Following Hume , Rawls distinguishes two general kinds : the objective and subjective circumstances of justice .", "The former include physical facts about human beings , such as their rough similarity in mental and physical faculties , and vulnerability to the united force of others .", "Objective circumstances also include conditions of moderate scarcity of resources : there are not enough resources to satisfy everyone 's demands , but there are enough to provide all with adequate satisfaction of their basic needs ; unlike conditions of extreme scarcity ( e.g. famine ) cooperation then seems productive and worthwhile for people .", "Among the subjective circumstances of justice is the parties ' mutual disinterestedness , which reflects the `` limited altruism '' ( TJ 146/127 ) of persons in society . .", "Free and equal persons have their own plans of life and special commitments to others , as well as different philosophical and religious beliefs and moral doctrines ( TJ 127/110 ) .", "Hume says that if humans were impartially benevolent , equally concerned with everyone 's welfare , then justice would be unnecessary .", "People then would willingly sacrifice their interests for the greater advantage of other .", "They would not be concerned about their personal rights or possessions , and property would be unnecessary ( Hume , 1777 , 185 -- 186 ) .", "But we are more concerned with our own aims and interests -- which include our interests in the interests of those nearer and dearer to us -- than we are with the interests of strangers with whom we have few if any interactions .", "This implies a potential conflict of human interests .", "Rawls adds that concern for our interests and plans of life does not mean we are selfish or have interests only in ourselves -- interests of a self should not be confused with interests in onself ; we have interests in others and in all kinds of causes and ends ( TJ 127/110 ) .", "But , as history shows , our benevolent interests in others and in religious and philosophical doctrines are as often the cause of conflict as is self-interest .", "The subjective circumstances of justice also include limitations on human knowledge , thought , and judgment , as well as emotional influences and great diversity of experiences .", "These lead to biases and inevitable disagreements in factual and other judgments , as well as to differences in religious , philosophical , and moral convictions .", "In Political Liberalism , Rawls highlights these subjective circumstances , calling them `` the burdens of judgment . ''", "They imply , significantly , that regardless how impartial and altruistic people are , they still will disagree in their factual judgments and in religious , philosophical and moral doctrines .", "Disagreements in these matters are inevitable even among rational and reasonable people .", "This is `` the fact of reasonable pluralism , '' which is another general fact known to the parties in the original position .", "Reasonable pluralism of doctrines lends significant support to Rawls 's arguments for the first principle of justice , especially to equal basic liberties of conscience , expression , and association .", "There are five `` formal constraints '' associated with the concept of right that Rawls says the parties must take into account in coming to agreement .", "The more a conception of justice satisfies these formal constraints of right , the more reason the parties have to choose that conception .", "The formal constraints of right are : generality , universality in application , ordering of conflicting claims , publicity , and finality .", "The ordering condition says that a conception of justice should aspire to completeness : it should be able to resolve conflicting claims and order their priority .", "Ordering implies a systematicity requirement : principles of justice should provide a determinate resolution to problems of justice that arise under them ; and in so far as a conception of justice is not able to order conflicting claims and resolve problems of justice , that is a reason against choosing it in the original position .", "The ordering condition is important in Rawls 's argument against pluralist moral doctrines he calls `` Intuitionism . ''", "The publicity condition says that the parties are to assume that the principles of justice they choose will be publicly known and recognized as the basis for social cooperation among the people whose relations they organize and regulate .", "This implies that people will not be uninformed or have false beliefs about the bases of their social and political relations .", "There are to be no `` noble lies '' or false ideologies obscuring a society 's principles of justice .", "Publicity of principles of justice is required to respect persons as free and equal citizens .", "Rawls believes that people should know the bases of their social and political relations , and not have to be deceived about them in order to cooperate and live together on fair terms .", "This condition plays an important role in Rawls 's arguments against utilitarianism and other consequentialist conceptions .", "Related to publicity is that principles should be universal in application .", "This implies not simply that `` they hold for everyone in virtue of their being moral persons '' ( TJ 132/114 rev. ) .", "It also means that everyone can understand the principles of justice and use them in their deliberations .", "Universality in application then imposes a limit on how complex principles of justice can be -- they must be understandable to common moral sense , and not so complicated that only experts can apply them in deliberations .", "For among other things , these principles are to guide democratic citizens in their judgments and shared deliberations about just laws and policies .", "Both publicity and universality in application ( as Rawls defines it ) are controversial conditions .", "Utilitarians , for example , have argued that the truth about morality and justice is so complicated and controversial that it might be necessary to keep it hidden from most individuals ' awareness .", "For morality often requires much that is contrary to their personal interests .", "Also sometimes it 's just too complicated for people to understand why their moral duties require of them what they do .", "So long as they understand their individual duties , it may be better if they do not understand the principles and reasons behind them .", "So Sidgwick argues that the aims of utilitarianism might better be achieved if it remains an `` esoteric morality , '' knowledge of which is confined to `` an enlightened few '' ( Sidgwick , 489 -- 90 ) .", "Rawls sees publicity and universality as necessary relates to the conception of the person implicit in justice as fairness .", "If we conceive of persons as free and equal moral persons capable of rational and moral autonomy , then they should not be under any illusions about the bases of their social relations , but should be able to understand and apply these principles in their deliberations about justice .", "These are important conditions of the freedom and autonomy ( moral and political ) of democratic citizens .", "Rawls says , `` An important feature of a conception of justice is that it should generate its own support .", "Its principles should be such that when they are embodied in the basic structure of society , people tend to acquire the corresponding sense of justice and develop a desire to act in accordance with its principles .", "In this case a conception of justice is stable '' ( TJ , 138/119 ) .", "The parties in the original position are to take into account the `` relative stability '' of a conception of justice and the society that institutes it .", "The stability of a just society does not mean that it must be unchanging .", "It means rather that in the face of inevitable change members of a society should be able to maintain their allegiance to principles of justice and the institutions they support .", "When disruptions to society do occur ( via economic crises , war , natural catastrophes , etc. ) and/or society departs from justice , citizens ' commitments to principles of justice are sufficiently robust that just institutions are eventually restored .", "The role of the stability requirement for Rawls is twofold : first , to test whether potential principles of justice are compatible with human natural propensities , or our moral psychology and general facts about social and economic institutions ; and second , to determine whether principles are conducive to realizing the human good .", "To be stable principles of justice should be realizable in a feasible and enduring social world .", "They need to be practicably possible given the limitations of the human condition .", "Moreover , this feasible social world must be one that can endure over time , not by just any means , but by gaining the willing support of people who live in it .", "People should knowingly want to uphold and maintain society 's just institutions not just because they benefit from them , but on grounds of their sense of justice .", "In choosing principles of justice , the parties in the original position must take into account their `` relative stability . ''", "They have to consider the degree to which a conception ( in comparison with other conceptions ) describes an achievable and sustainable system of social cooperation , and whether the institutions and demands of such a society will attract people 's willing compliance and generally engage their sense of justice .", "For example , suppose principles of justice were to impose a duty to practice impartial benevolence towards all people , and thus a duty to show no greater concern for the welfare of ourselves and loved ones than we do towards millions if not billions of others .", "This principle demands too much of human nature and would not be feasible -- people simply would reject its onerous demands .", "Rawls 's stability requirement implies more than just ` ought implies can . '", "It says that principles of justice and the scheme of social cooperation they describe should evince `` stablility for the right reasons '' ( PL xliii , CP 589 ) .", "Recall here the higher-order interests of the parties in development and exercise of their capacities for justice .", "A just society should be able to endure not simply as a modus vivendi , by coercive enforcement of its provisions and its promoting the majority of peoples ' interests .", "Stability `` for the right reasons '' requires that people support society for moral reasons of justice ; society 's basic principles must respond to reasonable persons ' capacities for justice and engage their sense of justice .", "Rawls regards our moral capacities for justice as an integral part of our nature as sociable beings .", "He believes that one role of a conception of justice is to accommodate human capacities for sociability , the capacities for justice that enable us to be cooperative social beings .", "So not only should a conception of justice advance human interests , but it should also answer to our moral psychology by enabling us to knowingly and willingly exercise our moral capacities and sensibilities , which are among the moral powers to be reasonable .", "This is one way that Rawls 's conception of justice is `` ideal-based '' ( CP 400-401 n. ) : it is based in an ideal of human beings as free and equal moral persons and an ideal of their social relations as acceptable and justifiable to them ( the ideal of a well-ordered society ) .", "This relates to the second ground for the stability condition , which can only be mentioned here : it is that principles of justice should be compatible with , and even conducive to , the human good .", "It speaks strongly in favor of a conception of justice that it is compatible with and promotes the human good .", "First , if a conception of justice requires of many reasonable people that they change their conscientious philosophical or religious convictions for the sake of satisfying a majority 's beliefs , or abandon their pursuit of the important interests that constitute their plan of life , this conception could not gain their support and would not be stable over sustained periods of time .", "Moreover , Rawls assumes that a conception of justice should enable citizens to adequately exercise and fully develop their moral powers .", "It must then engage their sense of justice ; ideally , they should not regard justice as a burden but should come to experience that acting on and from principles of justice is worth doing for its own sake .", "For Rawls , it speaks strongly in favor of a conception of justice that acting for the sake of its principles is experienced as an activity that is good in itself .", "For then justice and exercise of the sense of justice are for those persons intrinsic goods and a precondition for their living a good life .", "Now turn to the arguments for the principles of justice in the original position .", "The original position is not a bargaining situation where the parties make proposals and counterproposals and negotiate over different principles of justice .", "Nor is it a wide ranging discussion where the parties deliberate and design their own conception of justice ( unlike , for example , Habermas ' discourse ethics ; see Habermas , 1995 ) .", "Instead , the parties ' deliberations are much more constrained .", "They are presented with a list of conceptions of justice taken from the tradition of western political philosophy .", "These include different versions of utilitarianism , perfectionism , and intuitionism ( or pluralist views ) , rational egoism , justice as fairness , and a group of `` mixed conceptions '' that combine elements of these ( For", "Rawls 's initial list see TJ 124/107 ) ( Rawls later says libertarianism should also be added to the list , and the principles of justice would still be agreed to. , JF 83 ;", "Nozick ,198 ff. , agrees and says the OP is incapable of yielding entitlement principles due to the self-interest of the parties . ) .", "The parties ' deliberations are confined to discussing and agreeing upon the conception that each finds most rational , given their specified interests .", "In a series of pairwise comparisons , they consider all the conceptions of justice made available to them and ultimately agree unanimously to accept the conception that survives this winnowing process .", "In this regard , the original position is best seen as a kind of selection process wherein the parties ' deliberations are constrained by the background conditions imposed by the original position as well as the list of conceptions of justice provided to them .", "They are assigned the task of agreeing on principles for designing the basic structure of a self-contained society under the circumstances of justice .", "In making their decision , the parties are motivated only by their own rational interests .", "They do not take moral considerations of justice into account except in so far as these considerations bear on their achieving their interests .", "Their interests again are defined in terms of their each acquiring an adequate share of primary social goods ( rights and liberties , powers and opportunities , income and wealth , etc. ) and achieving the background social conditions enabling them to effectively pursue their conception of the good and realize their higher-order interests in developing and exercising their moral powers .", "Since the parties are ignorant of their particular conceptions of the good and of all other particular facts about their society , they are not in a position to engage in bargaining .", "In effect they all have the same general information and are motivated by the same interests .", "Rawls makes four arguments in Theory , Part I for the principles of justice .", "The main argument for the difference principle is made later in section 49 , and is substantially amended and clarified in Justice as Fairness : A Restatement .", "The common theme throughout the original position arguments is that it is more rational for the parties to choose the principles of justice over any other alternative .", "Rawls devotes most of his attention to the comparison of justice as fairness with classical and average utilitarianism , with briefer discussions of perfectionism ( TJ , sect .", "Here I 'll focus discussion on Rawls 's comparison between justice as fairness and utilitarianism .", "Describing the parties ' choice as a rational choice subject to the reasonable constraints imposed by the original position allows", "Rawls to invoke the theory of rational choice and decision under conditions of uncertainty .", "In rational choice theory there are a number of potential `` strategies '' or rules of choice that are more or less reliably used depending on the circumstances .", "One rule of choice -- called `` maximin '' -- directs that we play it as safe as possible by choosing the alternative whose worst outcome leaves us better off than the worst outcome of all other alternatives .", "The aim is to `` maximize the minimum '' regret or loss to well-being .", "To follow this strategy , Rawls says you should choose as if your enemy were to assign your social position in whatever kind of society you end up in .", "By contrast another strategy leads us to focus on the most advantaged position and says we should `` maximize the maximum '' potential gain -- `` maximax '' -- and choose the alternative whose best outcome leaves us better off than all other alternatives .", "Which , if either , of these strategies is more sensible to use depends on the circumstances and many other factors .", "A third strategy advocated by orthodox Bayesian decision theory , says we should always choose to directly maximize expected utility .", "To do so under conditions of uncertainty of outcomes , the degree of uncertainty should be factored into one 's utility function , with probability estimates assigned to alternatives based on the limited knowledge that one has .", "Given these subjective estimates of probability incorporated into one 's utility function , one can always choose the alternative that maximizes expected utility .", "Since it simplifies matters to apply the same rule of choice to all decisions this is a highly attractive idea , so long as one can accept that it is always safe to assume that that the maximization of expected utility leads over time to maximizing actual utility .", "What about those extremely rare instances where there is absolutely no basis upon which to make probability estimates ?", "Suppose you do n't even have a hunch regarding the greater likelihood of one alternative over another .", "According to orthodox Bayesian decision theory , the `` principle of insufficient reason '' then should be observed ; it says that when there is no reason to assign a greater likelihood to one alternative rather than another , then an equal probability is to be assigned to each potential outcome .", "This makes sense on the assumption that if you have no more premonition of the likelihood of one option rather than another , they are for all you know equally likely to occur .", "By observing this rule of choice consistently over time , a rational chooser presumably should maximize his or her individual expected utility , and hopefully actual utility as well .", "What now is the appropriate decision rule to be used to choose principles of justice under conditions of complete uncertainty of probabilities in Rawls 's original position ?", "Rawls argues that , given the enormous gravity of choice in the original position , plus the fact that the choice is not repeatable , it is rational for the parties to follow the maximin strategy when choosing between the principles of justice and principles of average or aggregate utility ( or most any other purely consequentialist principle ) .", "Not surprisingly , following the maximin rule of choice results in choice of the principles of justice over the principles of utility ( average or aggregate ) ; for unlike utilitarianism , justice as fairness guarantees equal basic liberties , fair equal opportunities , and an adequate social minimum for all citizens .", "Why does Rawls think maximin is the rational choice rule ?", "Recall what is at stake in choice from the original position .", "The decision is not an ordinary choice .", "It is rather a unique and irrevocable choice where the parties decide the basic structure of their society , or the kind of social world they should live in and the background conditions against which they will develop and pursue their aims .", "It is a kind of superchoice -- an inimitable choice of the background conditions for all one 's future choices .", "Rawls argues that because of the unique importance of the choice in the original position -- including the gravity of the choice , the fact that it is not renegotiable or repeatable , and the fact that it determines all one 's future prospects -- it is rational to follow the maximin rule and choose the principles of justice .", "For should even the worst transpire , the principles of justice provide an adequate share of primary goods enabling one to maintain one 's conscientious convictions and sincerest affections and pursue a wide range of permissible ends by protecting equal basic liberties and fair equal opportunities and guaranteeing a social minimum of income and wealth .", "The principles of utility , by contrast , provide no guarantee of any of these goods .", "Rawls says that in general there are three conditions that must be met in order to make it rational to follow the maximin rule ( TJ 154 -- 55/134 ) .", "First , there should be no basis or at most a very insecure basis upon which to make estimates of probabilities .", "Second , the choice singled out by observing the maximin rule is an acceptable alternative we can live with , so that one cares relatively little by comparison for what is to be gained above the minimum conditions secured by the maximin choice .", "When this condition is satisfied , then no matter what position one eventually ends up in , it is at least acceptable .", "The third condition for applying the maximin rule is that all the other alternatives have ( worse ) outcomes that we could not accept and live with .", "Of these three conditions Rawls later says that the first plays a minor role , and that it is the second and third conditions that are crucial to the maximin argument for justice as fairness ( JF 99 ) .", "This seems to suggest that , even if the veil of ignorance were not as thick and parties did have some degree of knowledge of the likelihood of ending up in one social position rather than another , still it would be more rational to choose the principles of justice over the principle of utility .", "Rawls contends all three conditions for the maximin strategy are satisfied in the original position when choice is made between the principles of justice and the principle of utility ( average and aggregate ) .", "Because all one 's values , commitments , and future prospects are at stake in the original position , and there is no hope of renegotiating the outcome , a rational person would agree to the principles of justice instead of the principle of utility .", "For the principles of justice imply that no matter what position you occupy in society , you will have the rights and resources needed to maintain your valued commitments and purposes , to effectively exercise your capacities for rational and moral deliberation and action , and to maintain your sense of self-respect as an equal citizen .", "With the principle of utility there is no such guarantee ; everything is `` up for grabs '' ( so to speak ) and subject to loss if required by the greater sum of utilities .", "Conditions ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) for applying maximin are then satisfied in the comparison of justice as fairness with the principle of ( average or aggregate ) utility .", "It is often claimed that Rawls 's parties are `` risk-averse ; '' otherwise they would never follow the maximin rule but would take a chance on riskier but more rewarding outcomes provided by the principle of utility .", "Thus , John Harsanyi contends that it is more rational under conditions of complete uncertainty always to choose according to the principle of insufficient reason and assume an equal probability of occupying any position in society .", "When the equiprobability assumption is made , the parties in the original position would choose the principle of average utility instead of the principles of justice ( Harsanyi 1975 ) .", "Rawls denies that the parties have a psychological disposition to risk-aversion .", "He argues however that it is rational to choose as if one were risk averse under the highly exceptional circumstances of the original position .", "His point is that , while there is nothing rational about a fixed disposition to risk aversion , it is nonetheless rational in some circumstances to choose conservatively to protect certain fundamental interests against loss or compromise .", "It does not make one a risk averse person , but instead normally it is entirely rational to purchase auto liability , health , home , and life insurance against accident or calamity .", "The original position is such a situation writ large .", "Even if one knew in the original position that the citizen one represents enjoys taking risks , this would still not be a reason to gamble with his or her rights , liberties and starting position in society .", "For if the risktaker were born into a traditional , repressive , or fundamentalist society , she might well have little opportunity for taking the kinds of risks , such as gambling , that she normally enjoys .", "It is rational then even for risktakers to choose conservatively in the original position and guarantee their future opportunities to gamble or otherwise take risks .", "Harsanyi and other orthodox Bayesians contend that maximin is an irrational decision rule , and provide ample examples .", "But examples do not suffice here ; simply because maximin is under many circumstances irrational does not mean that it is never rational .", "No doubt maximin is an irrational strategy under most circumstances of choice uncertainty , particularly under circumstances where we will have future opportunities to recoup our potential losses and choose again .", "But these are not the circumstances of the original position ; once the rules of justice are decided , they apply in perpetuity , and there is no opportunity to renegotiate or escape the situation .", "One who relies on the equiprobability assumption in choosing principles of justice in the original position is being foolishly reckless given the gravity of choice at stake .", "It is not being risk-averse , but rather entirely rational to be unwilling to gamble with one 's basic liberties , fair opportunities and adequate resources needed to pursue one 's most cherished ends and commitments , simply for the sake of gaining the marginally greater social powers , income and wealth that might be available to some in a society governed entirely by the principle of utility .", "Rawls exhibits the force of the maximin argument in discussing liberty of conscience .", "He says ( TJ , sect .", "33 ) that a person who is willing to jeopardize the right to hold and practice his or her conscientious religious , philosophical and moral convictions , all for the sake of gaining uncertain added benefits via the principle of utility , does not know what it means to have conscientious beliefs , or at least does not take such beliefs seriously ( TJ 207 -- 08/181 -- 82 ) .", "A rational person with convictions about what gives life meaning is not willing to negotiate with and gamble away the right to hold and express those convictions and the freedom to act on them .", "After all what could be the basis for negotiation , for what could matter more ?", "Some people ( e.g. some nihilists ) may not have any conscientious convictions , and are simply willing to act on impulse or on whatever thoughts and desires they happen to have at the moment .", "But behind the veil of ignorance no one knows whether he or she is such a person , and there are no grounds for making this assumption .", "The parties must take into account that they might have convictions and values they are unwilling to compromise .", "( Besides , the nihilist should want to protect his freedom to be the person he is ; what if he chose the principle of utility and ended up in a religiously fundamentalist society governed by Puritans ? )", "Thus it remains irrational to jeopardize basic liberties by choosing the principle of utility instead of the principles of justice .", "None of this is to say that maximin is normally a rational choice strategy .", "Rawls himself says it `` is not , in general , a suitable guide for choices under uncertainty '' ( TJ 153 ) .", "As we see below in Section 6.4 , it is not even a rational strategy in the original position when the alternatives for choice , unlike the principle of utility , guarantee basic liberties and a social minimum .", "Rawls relies upon the maximin argument mainly to argue for the first principle of justice and a guaranteed social minimum .", "Other arguments are needed to justify the difference principle .", "There are three additional arguments Rawls makes to support justice as fairness ( all in TJ , sect .", "Each of these depends on the concept of a `` well-ordered society . ''", "There are two sides to Rawls 's social contract .", "The parties in the original position have the task of agreeing to principles that all rationally can accept under the circumstances of the original position .", "But their rational choice is partially determined by the principles that free and equal moral persons reasonably can accept and agree to in a well-ordered society .", "The ideal of a well-ordered society is Rawls 's development of social contract doctrine .", "It is a society in which ( 1 ) everyone willingly accepts and agrees to the same principles of justice ; ( 2 ) these principles are successfully realized in basic social institutions and generally are complied with ; and ( 3 ) reasonable persons are morally motivated to comply by their sense of justice ( TJ 4 -- 5 , \u00a7 69 ) .", "The first of Rawls 's three arguments highlights the idea that choice in the original position is an agreement , and involves certain `` strains of commitment , '' assumed by all to comply with the principles they agree to ( TJ 176f .", "Knowing that they are required to choose principles for a well-ordered society , the parties must choose principles that they sincerely believe they will be able to accept , endorse and willingly comply with under conditions where these principles are generally enforced .", "For reasons to be discussed shortly , Rawls says this condition favors agreement on the principles of justice over utilitarianism and other alternatives .", "But first , consider the frequent objection that there is no genuine agreement at all in the original position , for the thick veil of ignorance deprives the parties of all bases for bargaining ( cf.", "In the absence of bargaining , it is said , there can be no contract .", "For contracts must involve a quid pro quo -- something given for something received ( called ` consideration ' at common law ) .", "The parties in the OP can not bargain without knowing what they have to offer or to gain in exchange .", "So ( the objection continues )", "Rawls 's original position does not involve a real contract ; rather , since the parties are all `` described in the same way , '' it is simply the rational choice of one person .", "Hampton , 1980 , 334 ; see also Gauthier , 1985 , 203 . )", "In response , not all contracts involve bargaining or are of the nature of economic transactions .", "Some involve a mutual pledge and commitment to shared purposes and principles .", "Marriage contracts , or agreements among friends or the members of a religious , benevolent , or political association are often of this nature .", "For example , the", "Mayflower Compact was a `` covenant '' to `` combine ourselves together into a civil body politic '' charged with making and administering `` just and equal laws ... for the general good . ''", "The agreement in Rawls 's original position is more of this nature .", "Even though ignorant of particular facts about themselves , the parties in fact do give something in exchange for something received : they all exchange their mutual commitment to accept and abide by the principles of justice and to uphold just institutions once they enter their well-ordered society .", "Each agrees only on condition others do too , and all tie themselves into social and political relations in perpetuity .", "Their agreement is final , and they will not permit its renegotiation should circumstances turn out to be different than some hoped for .", "Their mutual commitment to justice is reflected by the fact that once these principles become embodied in institutions there are no legal means that permit anyone to depart from the terms of their agreemant .", "As a result , the parties have to take seriously the legal obligations and social sanctions they will incur as a result of their agreement , for there is no going back to the initial situation .", "So if they do not sincerely believe that they can accept the requirements of a conception of justice and conform their actions and life plans accordingly , then these are strong reasons to avoid choosing those principles .", "It would not be rational for a party to take risks , falsely assuming that if he ends up badly , he can violate at will the terms of agreement or later regain his initial situation and renegotiate terms of cooperation .", "Rawls gives special poignancy to this mutual commitment of the parties by making it a condition that the parties can not choose and agree to principles in bad faith ; they have to be able , not simply to live with and grudgingly accept , but instead to willingly endorse the principles of justice as members of society .", "Essential to Rawls 's argument for stability is the assumption of everyone 's willing compliance with requirements of justice .", "This is a feature of a well-ordered society .", "The parties are assumed to have a sense of justice ; indeed the development and exercise of it is one of their fundamental interests .", "Hence they must choose principles that that they can not only accept and live with , but which are responsive to their sense of justice and they can unreservedly endorse .", "Given these conditions on choice , a party can not take risks with principles he knows he will have difficulty complying with voluntarily .", "He would be making an agreement in bad faith , and this is ruled out by the conditions of the original position .", "Rawls contends that these `` strains of commitment '' created by the parties ' agreement strongly favor the principles of justice over the principles of utility and other teleological views .", "For everyone 's freedom and basic needs are met by the principles of justice because of their egalitarian nature .", "Given the lack of these guarantees under the principle of utility , it is much more difficult for those who end up worse off in a utilitarian society to willingly accept their situation and commit themselves to the utility principle .", "It is a rare person indeed who can freely and without resentment sacrifice his or her life prospects so that those who are better off can have even greater comforts , privileges , and powers .", "This is too much to demand of our capacities for human benevolence .", "It requires a kind of commitment that people can not make in good faith , for who could willingly support laws that are so detrimental to oneself and the people one cares about most that they must sacrifice their fundamental interests for the sake of those more advantaged ?", "Besides , why should we encourage such subservient dispositions and the accompanying lack of self-respect ?", "The principles of justice , by contrast , conform better with everyone 's interests , their desire for self-respect and their natural moral capabilities to reciprocally recognize and respect others ' legitimate interests while freely promoting their own good .", "The strains of commitment incurred by agreement in the original position provide strong reasons for the parties to choose the principles of justice and reject the risks involved in choosing the principles of average or aggregate utility .", "Rawls 's strains-of-commitment argument explicitly relies upon a rarely noted feature of his argument : it involves in effect two social contracts .", "First , hypothetical agents situated equally in the original position unanimously agree to principles of justice .", "This agreement has attracted the most attention from Rawls 's critics .", "But the parties ' hypothetical agreement in the original position is patterned on the general acceptability of a conception of justice by free and equal persons in a well-ordered society .", "Rawls says , `` The reason for invoking the concept of a contract in the original position lies in its correspondence with the features of a well-ordered society -LSB- which -RSB- require ... that everyone accepts , and knows that the others accept , the same principles of justice '' ( CP 250 ) .", "In order for the hypothetical parties in the original position to agree on principles of justice , there must be a high likelihood that real persons , given human nature and general facts about social and economic cooperation , can also agree and act on the same principles , and that a society structured by these principles is feasible and can endure .", "This is the stability requirement referred to earlier .", "One conception of justice is relatively more stable than another the more willing people are to observe its requirements under conditions of a well-ordered society .", "Assuming that each conception of justice has a corresponding society that is as well-ordered as can be according to its terms , the stability question raised in Theory is : Which conception of justice is more likely to engage the moral sensibilities and sense of justice of free and equal persons as well as affirm their good ?", "This requires an inquiry into moral psychology and the human good , which takes up most of Part III of A Theory of Justice .", "Rawls makes two arguments from the original position that invoke the stability requirement. , the arguments ( 1 ) from publicity and ( 2 ) from self-respect .", "( 1 ) The argument from publicity : Rawls contends that utilitarianism , perfectionism , and other `` teleological '' conceptions are not likely to be freely acceptable to many citizens when made fully public under the conditions of a well-ordered society .", "Recall the publicity condition discussed earlier : A feature of a well-ordered society is that its regulative principles of justice are publicly known and appealed to as a basis for deciding laws and justifying basic institutions .", "A conception of justice that can not satisfy this condition is to be rejected by the parties .", "Rawls contends that under the publicity condition justice as fairness generally engages citizens ' sense of justice and remains more stable than utilitarianism ( TJ 177f .", "For public knowledge that reasons of maximum average ( or aggregate ) utility determine the distribution of benefits and burdens would lead those worse-off to object to and resent their situation .", "After all , their well-being and interests , perhaps even their basic liberties , are being sacrificed for the greater happiness of those who are already more fortunate and have a greater share of primary social goods .", "It is too much to expect of human nature that people should freely acquiesce in and embrace such terms of cooperation .", "By contrast , the principles of justice are designed to advance reciprocally everyone 's position ; those who are better off do not achieve their gains at the expense of the less advantaged .", "`` Since everyone 's good is affirmed , all acquire inclinations to uphold the scheme '' ( TJ , 177/155 ) .", "It is a feature of our moral psychology , Rawls contends , that we normally come to form attachments to people and institutions that are concerned with our good ; moreover we tend to resent those persons and institutions that act contrary to our good .", "Rawls argues at length in chapter 8 of Theory , \u00a7 \u00a7 70 -- 75 , that justice as fairness accords with the reciprocity principles of moral psychology that are characteristic of human beings ' moral development .", "( 2 ) The argument from the social bases of self-respect : The publicity condition is also crucial to Rawls ' fourth argument for the principles of justice , from the social bases of self-respect ( TJ , 178 -- 82/155 -- 59 rev. ) .", "These principles , when publicly known , give greater support to citizens ' sense of self-respect than do utilitarian and perfectionist principles .", "Rawls says self-respect is `` perhaps the most important primary good , '' ( TJ , 440/386 rev. ) since few things seem worth doing if a person has little sense of his or her own worth or no confidence in his or her abilities to execute a worthwhile life plan .", "The parties in the original position will then aim to choose principles that best secure the sense of self-respect .", "Now being regarded by others as a free and independent person of equal status with others is crucial to the self-respect of persons who regard themselves as free and equal .", "Justice as fairness , by affording and protecting the priority of equal basic liberties and fair equal opportunities for all , secures the status of each as free and equal citizens .", "For example , because of equal political liberties , there are no `` passive citizens '' who must depend on others to politically protect their rights and interests ; and with fair equal opportunities no one has grounds to experience the resentment that inevitably arises in societies where social positions are effectively closed to those less advantaged or less powerful .", "Moreover , the second principle secures adequate social powers and resources for all to make everyone 's equal basic liberties worthwhile .", "It has the effect of making citizens socially and economically independent , so that no one need be subservient to the will of another .", "Citizens then can regard and respect one another as equals , and not as masters or subordinates .", "( `` Non-domination , '' an idea central to contemporary Republicanism , is then essential to citizens ' sense of self-respect in Rawls 's sense .", "Equal basic liberties , fair equal opportunities , and political and economic independence are primary among the social bases of self-respect in a democratic society .", "The parties in the original position should then choose the principles of justice over utilitarianism and other teleological views both to secure their sense of self-respect , and to procure the same for others , thereby guaranteeing greater overall stability .", "Rawls substantially relies on the publicity condition to argue against utilitarianism and perfectionism .", "He says publicity `` arises naturally from a contractarian standpoint '' ( TJ , 133/115 rev. ) .", "In Theory he puts great weight on publicity ultimately because he thinks that giving people knowledge of the moral bases of coercive laws is a condition of fully acknowledging and respecting them as free and responsible rational moral agents .", "With publicity of first principles , people have knowledge of the real reasons for their social and political relations and the formative influences of the basic structure on their characters , plans and prospects .", "In a well-ordered society with a public conception of justice , there is no need for an `` esoteric morality '' that must be confined `` to an enlightened few '' ( as Sidgwick says of utilitarianism , Sidgwick , 490 ) .", "Moreover , public principles of justice can serve agents in their practical reasoning and provide democratic citizens a common basis for political argument and justification .", "These considerations underlie Rawls 's later contention that having knowledge of the principles that determine the bases of social relations is a precondition of individuals ' freedom .", "Rawls means that publicity of society 's fundamental principles is a condition of citizens ' exercise of the powers and abilities that enable them to take full responsibility for their lives .", "Full publicity is then a condition of the political , rational , and moral autonomy of persons , which are all significant values according to justice as fairness .", "Rawls 's second principle of justice says :", "The difference principle ( the first part of the second principle , through ( a ) ) , addresses differences or inequalities in the distribution of the primary goods of income and wealth and powers and positions of office and responsibility .", "It basically requires that a society is to institute the economic system that would make the least advantaged class better off than they would be in any other feasible economic system , compatible with maintaining citizens equal basic liberties and fair equality of opportunity .", "Rawls defines `` least advantaged '' as those with the least share of the primary goods of income and wealth , and powers and positions of office .", "He also assumes the least advantaged are `` fully cooperating '' ( JF 179 ) , and `` full and active participants in society '' ( CP , 259 ) who do their fair share in contributing to economic activity and the social product .", "Rawls thus regards `` distributive shares '' under the difference principle as the benefits that accrue to persons for doing their part in socially productive cooperation .", "The class of unskilled workers receiving minimum income satisfies his definition of least advantaged ( TJ 98/84 rev. ) .", "Those who are able but unwilling to work `` must somehow support themselves '' ( JF 179 ; cf. PL 182n . ) .", "Disability payments to meet the needs of severely handicapped citizens who are permanently unable to work are not ascertained by reference to the difference principle for Rawls , but instead are to be determined by principles of assistance , which he leaves unspecified ( PL 272n . ) .", "As a principle for structuring basic economic institutions on grounds of reciprocity , the difference principle itself is not an appropriate principle for compensating handicaps and other disabilities .", "Rawls contends it is an empirical question which economic system satisfies the difference principle .", "He claims however that under ideal conditions of a well-ordered society , where the principles of justice are generally accepted , either a `` property-owning democracy '' or liberal ( market ) socialism are most likely to satisfy the difference principle , to the exclusion of laissez-faire capitalism , command economy communism , and even the modern capitalist welfare state .", "Property-owning democracy ( POD ) differs from the capitalist welfare state mainly in that it is not marked by such broad discrepancies in income and wealth , but instead provides for widespread ownership and control of productive wealth and means of production , including opportunities for greater freedom and control in the workplace .", "Thus , akin to market socialism , POD is not marked by sharp divisions between capital and labor but manifests broad distribution of economic powers and positions , as well as a more equal distribution of income and wealth .", "For these reasons , and since a property-owning democracy also secures the fair value of equal political liberties and fair equality of opportunities , a property-owning democracy provides a more secure basis for citizens ' sense of self-respect ( the remaining primary social good covered by the difference principle in part ) than does welfare-state capitalism .", "Rawls relies on the maximin rule of choice to argue against the principle of utility .", "Since the maximin rule and the difference principle both require maximizing the minimum position , it seems natural to assume that the maximin choice rule leads directly to choice of the difference principle in the original position .", "Though Rawls might have conveyed this impression in Theory ( \u00a7 26 ) , he later says that in fact the maximin rule alone can not be used to justify the difference principle ( JF , 43n ) .", "For when the difference principle is compared with those `` mixed conceptions '' of economic justice that provide some form of equal opportunities and a social minimum , then the third condition for applying maximin is not satisfied ( see above , sect .", "The third condition for the maximin rule implies that there can only be one acceptable alternative for choice .", "If there is a second alternative whose least advantaged position is one that rational persons can live with and accept if they end up in the least advantaged position , then the maximin rule is not a rational rule of decision .", "For then there is no likelihood of grave risks to one 's future prospects .", "`` Mixed conceptions '' of justice ( see TJ \u00a7 49 ) protect the basic liberties , and in most cases provide equal opportunities and guarantee a social minimum of income and wealth sufficient to meet basic needs .", "But they determine the social minimum in some way other than the difference principle .", "For example , the social minimum may be determined by balancing citizens ' moral intuitions regarding a decent minimum ; or according the rule that the adequate social minimum is one-third of the median market income in society ; or that it is whatever amount that is needed to maintain social stability and avoid disruption by the less advantaged .", "Once the social minimum is satisfied mixed conceptions might then rely upon the principle of average utility ( or some alternative ) to decide economic policies and distributions .", "Rawls calls this the `` principle of restricted utility , '' ( JF 120 , 126 ) since the pursuit of social utility is restricted by the basic liberties , fair opportunities , and a fixed social minimum .", "This is one of several possible mixed conceptions that combine the first principle of justice with a principle of distributive justice with a social minimum other than the difference principle ( TJ , 124/107 rev. ) .", "Rawls apparently regards the capitalist welfare state as based in mixed conceptions that incorporate such a principle of restricted utility ( JF 120 -- 130 , 139 -- 140 ) .", "Rawls concedes that `` mixed conceptions are much more difficult to argue against than the principle of utility , '' since `` the strong arguments from liberty can not be used as before '' ( TJ , 316/278 rev. ) .", "He discusses mixed conceptions in", "Theory , \u00a7 49 , and devotes more attention to them later in", "Justice as Fairness : A Restatement ( \u00a7 \u00a7 34 -- 38 . ) .", "Rawls makes one main argument in favor of the difference principle and several more specific arguments against the principle of restricted utility .", "The main argument in favor of the difference principle depends on a strong idea of reciprocity ( JF \u00a7 36 ) .", "In a society structured by the difference principle gains to those more advantaged are never made at the expense of those less advantaged ; instead , any gains to the more advantaged always benefit also the least advantaged , and do so more than any other alternative measure .", "By contrast restricted utility , even if it provides a social minimum , still permits disadvantages and losses to the worst off so that those better off may prosper ; any degree of inequality is allowed in the name of maximizing utility so long as it does not violate the social minimum .", "Such a situation , Rawls contends , would be morally unacceptable to free and equal persons in a well-ordered society , and is rationally unacceptable to the parties in the original position .", "There are different ways to conceive of an economic system based in reciprocity .", "Even a laissez-faire entitlement system of free transfer and exchange that satisfies Pareto efficiency satisfies reciprocity in a weak sense ( assuming the absence of negative externalities ) since each transfer makes some people better off and no one worse off .", "But the Pareto principle and laissez-faire entitlement principles are compatible with enormous gains to the more advantaged while the least advantaged gain only minimally , if at all .", "This is `` trickle-down , '' where the poor in effect can not advance unless the rich maximally benefit , and where benefits to the rich need not benefit the poor at all .", "The kind of reciprocity provided by the principle of restricted utility is more robust than laissez-faire and the Pareto principle since it guarantees a social minimum .", "Everyone has a stake in the economic system at least to the degree that it meets the basic economic needs of all .", "But , beyond this point wealth and income are generated and distributed so as to maximize overall wealth and therewith ( presumably ) overall utility .", "Further gains to those better off need not advance the position of the least advantaged , and indeed sometimes may come at their expense so long as the social minimum is maintained .", "The `` deeper idea of reciprocity '' ( JF 124 ) implicit in the difference principle has just the opposite tendencies : the more advantaged may not gain at any point unless their gains benefit the least advantaged and benefit them maximally , better than any alternative arrangement of institutions .", "The best way to understand the idea of strict reciprocity Rawls incorporates into the difference principle is by referring to figure 6 in Theory ( sect .", "13 ) and figure 1 in Justice as Fairness ( p. 62 ) .", "The difference principle requires the distribution of powers , prerogatives , and economic resources that put the least advantage on the highest point on the efficient production curve , D , which is the point that is closest to an equal distribution .", "At D and all prior points on the curve , improvements to the most advantaged are always accompanied by improvements to the least advantaged and vice versa .", "Hence with all increments to social output , no one gains at any point at the expense of the other .", "This relationship of reciprocity does not hold at points to the right of D , where further gains to the more advantaged may increase aggregate wealth and utility , but come at the expense of the less advantaged .", "What bearing does this have on choice in the original position ?", "Even if the deeper reciprocity achieved by the difference principle seems morally appealing to us , the parties are not similarly motivated by moral intuitions of fairness .", "They must be moved to agree on the difference principle for rational considerations alone .", "So why should the parties in the original position care about the deeper reciprocity achieved by the difference principle ?", "Why would n't it be rational for them to agree to a more superficial reciprocity , as allowed by restricted utility , thereby taking a chance that they might be among the affluent in the capitalist welfare state ?", "After all , if they end up among the least advantaged , they may only be moderately worse off than they would have been under the difference principle", "The reasons that speak in favor of the parties ' rational choice of the difference principle are their higher-order interest in developing their capacities for justice , their concern for their self-respect , their concern for stability , and the strains of commitment .", "Compare the difference principle with the principle of restricted utility :", "Once the social minimum is met , restricted utility does not guarantee that the worse off will benefit in any way from further gains to those better off .", "Quite the contrary , further gains to more advantaged may even disadvantage the less advantaged -- for example , a falling minimal wage rate in the face of an increased supply of labor results in a greater share going to capital , which may benefit owners and middle class consumers but not the less advantaged workers .", "With restricted utility there is no consistent and continuing tendency toward reciprocity of benefits , for once the social minimum is satisfied the less advantaged are as likely to gain nothing as to benefit from further gains to those better off .", "Rawls 's conjecture is that in the capitalist welfare state structured by restricted utility , the less advantaged are likely to become dispirited , resentful , and frustrated with their situation , for they know that their well-being is neglected and often intentionally sacrificed so that the majority of citizens may prosper .", "While stability is maintained among the less advantaged as a modus vivendi , still they are likely to withdraw from active participation in politics and public life ; for they justifiably feel left behind by society and no longer see themselves as having a stake in increasing social prosperity or as enjoying a respected position in public life .", "This all-too-familiar phenomenon in the modern capitalist welfare-state is evident from the striking lack of political participation by the poorest members of our society .", "It may be that welfare-state capitalism is stable , but it is the stability of indifference or hopelessness among the less advantaged , not stability for the right reasons , which is grounded in equal citizens ' affirmation of social institutions out of their sense of justice ( PL xlii , 391 ) .", "Due to their lack of self-respect , and the excessive demands the capitalist welfare-state places on their moral sensibilities and capacities for justice , the least advantaged are unable to willingly affirm the organizing principles of society on grounds of their sense of justice .", "The principle of restricted utility then places excessive strains of commitment on the worse off , and undermines their sense of self-respect , causing them to be resentful of their situation .", "Finally , their higher-order interest in the full development and effective exercise of their capacities for a sense of justice are not well served by restricted utility .", "Because of their interests in fully exercising their moral capacities , their sense of self-respect , and their concern for stability , the parties in the original position can not in good faith rationally affirm restricted utility and the capitalist welfare state when they have the alternative of choosing the difference principle ( cf. JF , 128 -- 129 ) .", "This seems to be", "Rawls 's main argument for the difference principle from the original position .", "Rawls 's assumption that the capitalist welfare state is supported by the principle of restricted utility seems to be based on arguments from welfare economics in the last century .", "In response to Rawls 's arguments restricted utilitarians further to the left might reply that the enormous inequalities allowed by capitalism and the capitalist welfare state would not be allowed under a well-ordered society that observes the restricted utility principle .", "For , other things being equal , the decreasing marginal utility to individuals of money and goods of all kinds favors a more equal distribution of income and wealth .", "Hence Rawls 's assumption that restricted utility favors a capitalist welfare state that sanctions gross inequalities is mistaken .", "The ceterus paribis clause above is all-important here .", "Even if we grant the controversial assumption that individuals similarly situated gain roughly equal utility from marginal increments of income and wealth , the deterrent effects of equal distributions on ( among other things ) incentives to work and take risks with productive resources have long been emphasized by economists and more conservative utilitarians in the classical liberal tradition ( Hume , Adam Smith , J.S.", "Mill , Sidgwick , Edgeworth , etc. ) These and other questions regarding the kinds of economic systems supported by variants of the principle of utility are empirical questions which can not be resolved by philosophy .", "Now that the arguments for the principles of justice have been outlined , this is a good place to consider the objection that the original position is not necessary or even morally relevant .", "There are at least two notable versions of this argument ; the more common one that was initially set forth by Hume will be discussed in the final section .", "Here I outline a more sympathetic version of the objection by a fellow contractualist , T.M. Scanlon .", "As discussed earlier , Rawls depicts two social contracts : rational agreement among interested parties in the original position corresponds to reasonable agreement among members of a well-ordered society motivated by their sense of justice .", "This correspondence suggests , T.M. Scanlon says , that , rather than the original position , `` the point of view which the theory takes as fundamental is actually that of a person in society '' ( Scanlon , 1975 , 177 ) .", "Scanlon contends that since the arguments in the original position except maximin depend upon agreement among reasonable persons in a well-ordered society , the original position is not necessary .", "Moreover , the idea of self-interested agreement behind the veil of ignorance distracts from the real justification for the principles of justice -- that they are reasonably acceptable and could be justified to persons with a sense of justice in a well-ordered society ( Scanlon , 1982 , 127 ) .", "Scanlon 's own contractualism relies upon a similar idea of morally motivated persons ' agreement on a system of rules for the regulation of behavior that no one could reasonably reject ( 1982 , 110 ) .", "He abjures the idea of rational choice and agreement by interested parties from an original position or other impartial perspective .", "Rawls says that one reason for denying the parties information about themselves and imposing the veil of ignorance is that for a contract theory to rely only on an informal idea of reasonable acceptability and agreement among persons situated in society is less precise and its results less definite .", "If full information of particular facts were allowed the parties , `` only a few rather obvious cases could be decided .", "A conception of justice based on unanimity in these circumstances would indeed be weak and trivial '' ( TJ 141 ) .", "Here one might reply that Rawls is shortchanging the force of his own arguments , from the strains of commitment , publicity , self-respect , and reciprocity , all of which depend on the point of view of reasonable persons in a well-ordered society .", "Perhaps Rawls thought the maximin argument was needed to complement these arguments .", "In any case the main objection Scanlon raises seems to be that purely rational choice and agreement based in individuals ' interests is not representative of or relevant to moral justification of principles .", "The ( self - ) interested choice of rational individuals , even if behind the veil of ignorance , bears little resemblance or relationship to moral judgment and justification among reasonable persons in society .", "Joshua Cohen has raised similar objections .", "The answer to this objection ( if there is one ) is too complex to deal with here .", "It might begin with Rawls 's assumption of the circumstances of justice , his assumption that questions of social justice arise due to the conflict of individuals ' legitimate pursuit of their individual interests .", "Since justice for Rawls concerns the fair terms of social cooperation among persons with different interests and conceptions of their good , he evidently thinks their `` essential interests , '' -- those essential to the rational pursuit of their good , including the moral powers and primary social goods -- should be represented in the agreement on principles of justice that structure their social relations .", "These interests are especially relevant to agreement on principles of justice for the basic structure , for the primary goods are what these principles distribute .", "Second , like Kant , Rawls regards moral principles as the imposition of reasonable constraints on individuals ' rational deliberations and choices in pursuit of their interests .", "This is the `` priority of right '' over the good ( TJ 31f .", "Rawls represents the structure of practical reasoning of moral persons .", "As Kant ( according to Rawls , LHMP and CP 497ff . )", "seeks to model the structure of practical reasoning in the categorical imperative procedure , so Rawls seeks to model the priority of right over the good in the original position by the reasonable constraints imposed on rational individuals ' choice of principles that promote their good .", "Third , Rawls is deeply concerned ( again like Kant ) with demonstrating that the Right and the Good are `` congruent . ''", "Congruence in Theory means , first , that , assuming the most reasonable principles are established , justice and the corresponding sense of justice are compatible with our rational pursuit of our individual interests .", "Moreover , justice and the exercise of their capacities for justice can be a fundamental good for moral persons , worth pursuing and incorporating into their life plans for their own sake ( TJ 398/350 rev. ; 567 -- 75/496 -- 505 rev. ) .", "( See also , Freeman , 2003 , 277 -- 315 . )", "These considerations are all relevant to Rawls 's reasons for `` modeling '' reasonable agreement on principles among members of a well-ordered society by the original position and the parties ' rational agreement behind the veil of ignorance .", "In The Law of Peoples , his essay on international justice ,", "Rawls appeals to the original position a second time , to argue for principles of justice that hold among different political societies , or `` peoples . ''", "Rawls contends that a theory of social and political justice requires principles of justice to regulate the foreign relations of well-ordered societies with one another .", "He calls these principles `` the Law of Peoples . ''", "Since he conceives of the Law of Peoples as regulating relationships between political societies , he imagines an agreement , not among all the individuals in the world 's population , but , first , among the representatives of liberal democratic well-ordered societies .", "In this agreement among ( liberal ) peoples , each political society is to be regarded as equal , with equal rights of participation in this agreement ; they each have the same number of representatives , no matter the size of their population .", "To represent the equality of peoples and guarantee fairness of the agreement , Rawls once again utilizes the original position as a hypothetical situation from which representatives of well-ordered liberal peoples decide principles of international justice .", "The parties to this agreement are once again to be regarded as ignorant of particular facts about their societies , including the size of their population , their natural resources and level of produced wealth , their social and ethnic cultures , and other particular facts , knowledge of which might result in unfair bargaining advantages and lead to an unfair agreement .", "The representatives of each society are motivated by their fundamental interest in maintaining the justice of their own societies , as this is defined by justice as fairness or some other liberal conception .", "Rawls contends that the Law of Peoples that would be agreed to among representatives of `` free and democratic peoples '' from the original position consists of ( at least ) eight principles ( LP 38 ) .", "These principles , except for the last requiring a duty of assistance owed to `` burdened peoples , '' are familiar : They require respect for peoples ' freedom and independence ; the obligation to observe treaties and undertakings ; the equality of peoples ; a duty of non-intervention ; a right of self-defense and no right to instigate war except in self-defense ; a duty to honor human rights ; a duty to observe restrictions on the conduct of wars ; and finally the duty to assist people living under unfavorable conditions that prevent their having a just or decent political and social regime .", "Rawls further maintains that since non-liberal but `` decent '' peoples would also agree to these same principles , liberal peoples have a duty to observe the Law of Peoples in relations with them , even though decent peoples are not wholly just in their internal organization .", "But the Law of Peoples , including the duty of non-intervention , do not entirely apply in interactions with `` outlaw regimes , '' those which do not respect the human rights or good of their own people .", "Liberal and decent societies may intervene in their internal affairs in order to protect the human rights of their members .", "Rawls 's Law of Peoples has been widely criticized since it does not allow for an original position agreement among all the world 's members but only among their national representatives .", "Nor ( a related criticism ) does Rawls envision agreement upon a global principle of distributive justice , or even a global tax on more advantaged societies ' wealth or natural resources , to be redistributed to less advantaged societies .", "These are complicated issues that can not be addressed here .", "( For a defense of", "Rawls , see Freeman 2007a , ch .", "Rawls 's positions on these issues are grounded on an assumption of the political and institutional bases of distributive justice , and the fundamental role of society and its basic social institutions in the development of our natural and moral capacities and in determining our characters , aims , and future prospects .", "In A Theory of Justice Rawls provides a `` Kantian Interpretation '' of the original position and the principles of justice ( TJ \u00a7 \u00a7 40 , 78 ) .", "The Kantian interpretation is the first step towards Rawls 's Kantian constructivism ( CP , ch .", "16 ) , and his later political constructivism ( PL , ch .3 ) .", "Rawls says that for Kant , `` a person is acting autonomously when the principles of his action are chosen by him as the most adequate possible expression of his nature as a free and equal rational being '' ( TJ 252/222 ) .", "What is missing from Kant , Rawls says , is an attempt to show how moral principles express our nature .", "`` This defect is made good -LSB- by -RSB- the original position '' ( TJ 255 / 224 ) .", "The original position can be interpreted as a `` procedural interpretation '' of our nature as free and equal rational beings , and therewith of Kant 's conception of autonomy and the categorical imperative ( TJ 256 / 226 ) .", "For in the original position , because of the veil of ignorance and other moral constraints , the parties ' choice is made `` independent of natural contingencies and accidental social circumstances '' ( TJ 515/451 ) ; thus the principles of justice are not chosen `` heteronomously , '' on the basis of our social position , natural endowments , particular wants , or the particular kind of society we live in ( TJ 252/222 ) .", "Instead , the parties are all represented in the same way , as free and equal rational persons who choose principles of justice subject to all relevant moral conditions .", "Rawls says that the original position might thus be regarded as incorporating `` conditions that best express their nature as free and equal rational beings . ''", "On a Kantian view , our moral nature is defined by our capacities for practical reasoning .", "These are our capacities to be rational and reasonable .", "The moral powers are the relevant capacities of practical reasoning in so far as they bear on justice .", "`` Acting autonomously is acting from principles that we would consent to as free and equal rational beings '' ( TJ 516/453 ) .", "The description of the original position expresses `` what it means to be a free and equal rational being , '' and even `` resembles the point of view of noumenal selves '' ( TJ 255 -- 256/225 ) .", "In addition to expressing our autonomy , the original position is also objective ( TJ 587/514 ) .", "For it requires that the parties adopt a common impartial standpoint and make a considered rational choice under conditions that require them to abstract from their particular interests and circumstances .", "Moreover , all are motivated by higher-order interests in their moral powers , which represent their `` nature as free and equal rational beings . ''", "Finally , the OP is designed to incorporate all the relevant reasons and restrictions on arguments for principles of social and political justice ( TJ 18/16 ) .", "In so far as the OP is an appropriately defined objective point of view incorporating all relevant moral reasons and conditions on rational choice of principles of justice , and the parties therein come to a unanimous agreement , then the principles agreed to are also objective ( TJ 516 -- 517/453 ) .", "Together with the universality requirement , we can infer from the objectivity of the principles of justice that they apply to and are binding on persons in all societies .", "As Rawls says of the original position in concluding TJ , `` to see our place in society from the perspective of this position is to see it sub specie aeternitatis : it is to regard the human situation not only from all social but also all temporal points of view '' ( TJ 587/514 ) .", "Rawls affirms the objectivity and `` correctness '' of the principles of justice , and he says they are the `` most reasonable '' principles .", "But he does not say at any point that the principles of justice are `` true . ''", "He does however say that judgments based upon the principles of justice are true , and this applies to both particular judgments and to the moral rules of justice that are required by the principles of justice ( CP 355 ) .", "These claims are implicit in Rawls 's", "( It is noteworthy that Kant himself did not say that the categorical imperative is true ; instead he said it is `` universally valid . '' )", "In general , constructivism in moral philosophy is a view about the possibility of the correctness of moral principles and judgment .", "`` Realism '' says that the correctness of moral judgments resides in their truth , and that truth of most fundamental moral principles consists in their corresponding to a moral order ( of moral facts or objects ) that is antecedent to reason and to principles of practical reasoning .", "Objectivity of moral judgment is then defined by realists as judgment made from a perspective of reasoning that is likely to lead to discernment of these antecedent objects of truth .", "In `` Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory '' ( Lecture III ,", ", Rawls discusses a version of realism found in Henry", "Sidgwick and G.E. Moore , `` rational intuitionism , '' which he contrasts with moral constructivism .", "Kantian constructivism inverts the relationship realists see holding between objectivity and truth ; rather than objective judgments being grounded in the discernment of antecedent objects of truth , objectivity ( of judgment ) precedes the object ( of truth ) .", "This means that at the level of fundamental moral principles the correctness of these principles depends , not on their correspondence to a prior moral order , but on their following from ( or being among ) the fundamental principles of practical reasoning .", "The objectivity of judgment that is involved in reasoning from an objective perspective according to relevant principles of practical reasoning results in objective moral principles that are the bases for judgments of moral truth .", "The moral facts that are the objects of these moral truths are not then prior to , but are the facts that are singled out as relevant by moral principles and principles of practical reasoning ( CP 516 ) .", "Among other advantages , moral constructivism relieves moral theory of the burden of having to account for the correctness of moral judgments in terms of their correspondence to a mysterious domain of moral facts ( natural or non-natural ) that must exist prior to practical reasoning .", "Constructivism also enables Rawls to provide an account of the objectivity of moral judgment and correctness of moral principles that is consistent with a Kantian idea of autonomy , In setting forth in detail the manner in which the principles of justice are justified on the basis of certain conceptions and principles that originate in practical reasoning itself , Rawls sees himself as having carried through with the Kantian aspiration of showing how moral principles of justice are the result of `` reason giving principles to itself , out of its own resources . ''", "The original position plays a crucial role in Kantian constructivism .", "Rawls says the original position is a `` procedure of construction '' that specifies an objective point of view from which to derive principles of justice .", "Principles of justice are `` constructed '' on the basis of ideal conceptions of the person and of society ( Ideas of reason , in Kant 's sense ) .", "Kantian constructivism ( CP ch .16 ) , Rawls alters the Kantian interpretation 's idea of `` our nature as free and equal rational beings , '' into an ideal `` conception of the person , '' regarded as a `` free and equal moral person , '' with the two moral powers of practical reasoning .", "It is this conception of the person , along with the ideal of social cooperation represented by a well-ordered society , that is `` modeled '' or `` mirrored '' by the original position .", "In `` Kantian Constructivism , ''", "Lecture II , Rawls explains how each of the relevant features of the original position ( including the veil of ignorance and the description of the parties as `` rational agents of construction '' ) `` represent '' in some fashion the ideal conception of the person and of society that underwrite Kantian constructivism .", "Since the original position presumably represents all the relevant ideas and principles of practical reason , Rawls contends that whatever principles chosen therein are objectively correct , as a matter of `` pure procedural justice at the highest level '' of practical reasoning .", "( See below on role of original position in reflective equilibrium . )", "Subsequently , in Political Liberalism , Rawls `` brackets '' ( he neither affirms nor denies ) claims about the nature and possibility of moral truth and universal objectivity of moral judgments .", "Still , Rawls affirms `` for political purposes '' the objectivity of the original position and therewith of the principles of justice .", "Once again , the original position is set up to represent and model an ideal of persons and society .", "But Rawls detaches the ideal of free and equal moral persons from the Kantian Interpretation , and now regards it as a purely `` political ideal '' of citizens that is implicit in the political culture of a democratic society .", "The political ideals of citizens and of society as well-ordered provide the basis for `` political constructivism '' where the original position again plays its role as a procedure of construction for political principles of justice .", "Rawls contends that the original position bestows `` political objectivity '' on principles of justice .", "Political objectivity is a kind of objectivity that presumably even the moral skeptic can accept , so long as he/she is `` reasonable '' with an effective sense of justice .", "It does not imply that the principles of justice apply universally across all social and temporal conditions .", "Instead , principles of justice are objective in so far as they apply to all reasonable and rational persons who conceive of themselves as free and equal citizens , have a sense of justice , and want to cooperate with others on terms that reasonable persons call all accept .", "If we see the original position as a procedure of construction , then perhaps we can gain a clearer idea of the role of the idea a social contract in Rawls 's and other arguments for principles of justice .", "A frequent criticism of social contract doctrines , dating back to David Hume , is that the idea of agreement ( hypothetical or actual ) does no real work in justifying principles of justice .", "The justification of principles is said rather to reside in the reasons for the parties ' agreement ; the social contract itself does not add to but only obscures the force of these reasons .", "Thus Hume argued that Locke 's social contract argument is an unnecessary shuffle , and that political obligations and the duty of allegiance can not be based simply on a promise or agreement .", "For why should we honor our promises and agreements ?", "It can only be because of their public utility , Hume says .", "But political obligation is also grounded in the public utility of people respecting political authority and obeying its laws .", "Hence there is no need to refer to any social contract to ground political obligations , since all have their justification in public utility ( Hume , 1748 ; Rawls , LHPP , 169 -- 173 ) .", "To respond : It is certainly true that the reasons motivating the parties in the original position ( their freedom to pursue their good , their higher-order interests in developing the moral powers , acquiring an adequate share of primary goods , etc. ) as well as the reasons and ideals modeled by the original position itself ( the freedom and equality of moral persons , fairness , publicity , the ideal of a well-ordered society , and so on ) are fundamental to the justification of the principles of justice agreed to .", "But this does not mean that the agreement from the original position plays no essential role in the justification of these principles .", "For the original position itself is designed to be a representation and summary of all the moral reasons and rational interests relevant to justifying principles of justice .", "Even if it be conceded that rational choice and agreement in the original position , or reasonable agreement in a well-ordered society , do not provide independent reasons for principles of justice , still they serve the crucial , perhaps necessary role of organizing the reasons that the original position incorporates and authorizing inference to the principles of justice .", "Consider a parallel argument to the contention that agreement in the original position provides no reasons for and plays no role in justifying principles of justice .", "We would surely think it peculiar if someone said of a formal proof : `` The reasons for the proven theorem are provided by the axioms it presupposes and not by the rules of inference enabling proof . ''", "For rules of inference are indispensable for proof of any deductive conclusion .", "Agreement in the original position stands in a similar relationship to the principles of justice .", "Agreement in the original position is not itself a proof from prior premises according to rules of deductive inference .", "But like rules of deductive inference , agreement in the original position establishes the justifying connection between relevant moral and practical reasons ( incorporated into the original position itself ) and principles of justice .", "Rawls conjectures in Theory that the argument in the OP `` aims eventually to be strictly deductive ... .", "a kind of moral geometry '' ( TJ 121/104 -- 5 ; see also JF 17 , 83 ) .", "This is not a concession to Hume 's argument , since", "Rawls envisions the parties ' selection of the principles of justice as part of this conjectured deduction ( JF 133 ) .", "Moreover , even assuming there is a very complicated deductive proof ( not what Hume envisioned ) of the principles of justice that does not rely on a hypothetical contract .", "Rawls 's attitude would be that the original position argument still serves as a useful heuristic for public reason that enables citizens to understand the enormous complexities of this conjectured proof .", "Finally , Rawls later qualifies his claim of deductive proof and says that in fact the argument from the original position can not `` fully attain '' an ideal of rigorous deductive reasoning ; for there are indefinitely many considerations to be appealed to in the original position , and deciding the balance of reasons in favor of the principles of justice depends , not on deduction , but `` on judgment informed and guided by reasoning '' ( JF 133 -- 4 ) .", "Finally , what is the relationship between the original position and", "Rawls 's non-foundationalist method of justification , `` reflective equilibrium '' ?", "Rawls distinguishes three points of view ; that of the artificial parties in the original position ; of the idealized members of a well-ordered society ; and `` that of you and me '' ( PL 28 ) , which is the position from which any conception of justice is to be assessed in reflective equilibrium .", "Reflective equilibrium begins with our shared `` considered convictions '' of justice at all levels of generality , from particular to our most general judgments .", "It then seeks to discover the principles of justice that best `` fit '' with these considered convictions in a `` wide reflective equilibrium , '' after considering all the reasonable alternative conceptions of justice .", "Rawls said at one point that `` reflective equilibrium works through the original position . ''", "The suggestion is that the original position itself supplies , in large part , the relevant sense of `` best fit '' of considered moral convictions with principles of justice .", "The principles of justice that best fit with our considered convictions of justice are those that would be chosen by rational persons within this hypothetical-choice `` procedure of construction , '' which itself `` represents '' our considered convictions regarding all the relevant reasons for arguments about principles of social justice .", "Rawls says in concluding", "A Theory of Justice , `` Each aspect of the original position can be given a supporting explanation .", "Thus what we are doing is to combine into one conception the totality of conditions which we are ready upon due reflection to recognize as reasonable in our conduct towards one another '' ( TJ 587/514 ) .", "Thus , in response to the Humean argument that social contract doctrine is superfluous : Until opponents of Rawls 's contract doctrine present an an alternative argument for the principles of justice that is more persuasive and inclusive of all the relevant reasons bearing on justice , Rawls 's original position argument should be regarded as essential to justification of the principles of justice ( in so far as they are justifiable ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "This comes from a \"veil of ignorance\" where all people, unknowing of whom they will be or where they will be born, would morally choose to have their rights protected by external forces if their state was incapable or unwilling to do this.", "_claim_name": "There is a moral obligation to protect fellow human beings.", "_doc_title": "Original Position (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Accessibility links In 2002 , Sierra Leone emerged from a decade-long civil war and as Allan Little discovers , much of it was thanks to a little-known British brigadier .", "It was an astonishing thing to witness : the fortunes of a whole country transformed in the space of a few days by a single , decisive intervention .", "Eight hundred British paratroopers landed at Freetown airport just as the city was about to slip into the terrifying chaos of a rebel invasion and suddenly , unexpectedly , the shape of Sierra Leone 's decade-long civil war was altered .", "Or so it seemed to me at the time .", "It was , in fact , a little more haphazard than that .", "And , I 've subsequently learned , the British reporters on the ground in West Africa - myself included - seem , unwittingly , to have played a small part in it all .", "The British Government sent paratroopers to the capital Freetown as a precautionary measure and to carry out a very limited operation .", "Their task was to secure the airport and evacuate a few hundred British and other foreigners who were living in the city .", "The operation would take seven to 10 days , after which time the British troops would get out and leave Sierra Leone to its fate .", "Freetown , we reported , was in a state of terror .", "Its citizens knew what a rebel assault would mean .", "The rebel force , the Revolutionary United Front , or RUF , was known for its brutality .", "Its soldiers , often children , sometimes fuelled by drugs and drink , were merciless .", "The hacking off of limbs was their signature atrocity .", "When the British arrived , the people saw them as saviours , and in the end that is what they turned out to be .", "For the force commander , a little-known brigadier called David Richards , had other ideas .", "He saw a chance , took a risk , and changed the fate of the country .", "David Richards is now General Sir David Richards and head of the British Army .", "I went to see him this week in London and this is his story .", "`` I could see , '' he told me , `` that with a little robustness , we could make a difference . ''", "He went to see the president , Ahmed Tejan Kabbah , who was preparing to flee the country .", "`` There was a helicopter parked beside his house , '' General Richards told me .", "`` I told him , you wo n't be needing that I promise you . ''", "At that meeting , held within hours of the British landing in Sierra Leone , Richards promised the president that Britain would supply arms and ammunition to the government forces .", "British helicopters would be made available to move men and material around the battlefield .", "And he , General Richards , would , with a small team of British staff officers , take personal command of the war and seek to end it by defeating the rebel forces .", "In other words , Richards was committing Britain to taking sides in Sierra Leone 's civil war .", "However , there was one important difficulty .", "The general 's political bosses in London had sent him to carry out a quick evacuation and then leave .", "`` So , '' I asked him 10 years on , `` you were promising the president all this before you had the political authority from London to do so ? ''", "`` Er , yes , '' he said , `` I 'm afraid I was , yes . ''", "For several days , the political leaders in London stuck with the evacuation narrative , while their man on the ground got on with fighting a war .", "`` Fortunately , '' he told me , `` the military activities and equipment we needed for an evacuation were remarkably similar to what I needed to push back the rebel forces .", "So in terms of constructing a tale for London , that was useful . ''", "`` So wait a minute , '' I said , `` London was kitting you up for a quick evacuation operation , and you decided to use that kit to intervene in the war ? ''", "`` Yes , '' he said .", "For a few days he came under pressure from the Ministry of Defence to carry out his evacuation and then get out .", "The problem was now that the British were there , Freetown felt safe and most foreigners did not want to be evacuated .", "Blair 's backing `` I needed , '' he told me , `` to get a message up beyond the Ministry of Defence .", "I needed to get to the next level up .", "I needed to get to Prime Minister Tony Blair .", "And I did that through you reporters on the ground , including you . ''", "I look now at some of my reports from the time .", "`` There is no longer any pretence , '' I say in one , `` that this operation is about evacuation .", "It is about much much more than that . ''", "Very quickly , it became clear that the intervention would be successful .", "The British government backed the brigadier 's bold change of plan .", "`` If it had gone wrong , '' he said , `` they 'd have cut me off at the knees . ''", "It became , after Kosovo , the second of what would come to be known as `` Blair 's wars '' , an early example of the kind of liberal interventionism that would later take Britain to war in Iraq and Afghanistan .", "`` Did it , '' I ask , `` embolden British politicians , and lead them to think of war not as a last resort but as just another policy option ? ''", "`` There might , '' he said , `` be something in that . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "However it may also have emboldened Blair to help with intervention in Iraq.", "_claim_name": "Interventions can be small and successful.", "_doc_title": "BBC News - The brigadier who saved Sierra Leone", "_labeled_lineIDs": [48]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 8, "_topic_name": "This house would use force to protect human rights abroad"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Delegates at a conference in Swansea working on a new action plan to tackle the issues were told many crimes went unreported or families hushed them up .", "About 300 people , many from the legal system and social services , attended .", "It came a day after a west London woman who ordered the `` honour killing '' of her daughter-in-law was jailed for life .", "Bachan Athwal , 70 , and her son Sukhdave , 43 , both of Hayes , west London , arranged the murder of Surjit Athwal , 27 , who vanished during a trip to India in 1998 , and were jailed by a judge at the Old Bailey .", "The case was one of many discussed at Thursday 's conference , organised by the Safer Swansea Partnership .", "Official figures for the Swansea , Neath and Port Talbot area show last year there were 37 reported incidents of black and minority ethnic women fleeing or suffering domestic abuse .", "Fourteen were victims of forced marriage and seven of `` honour '' based abuse .", "But Jasvinder Sanghera , who ran away from home at the age of 16 to avoid an arranged marriage and founded the Karma Nirvana refuge for Asian women , said the problem was likely to be on a far bigger scale .", "The challenge you face is to give them the confidence to come forward", "Jasvinder Sanghera `` Your biggest challenge will be getting to the victims , '' she said .", "`` There is certainly evidence of underreporting - the challenge you face is to give them the confidence to come forward . ''", "She said in her case her family , and her mother in particular , made her feel immense guilt as if she had brought shame upon them all for not agreeing to go ahead with a pre-arranged marriage .", "`` She told me she could n't walk the streets - people spat at her .", "It 's happening in Swansea - it 's happening in Wales . ''", "Dr Aisha Gill , a senior lecturer in criminology who specialises in violence against women in black and ethnic minority communities , said cultural norms related to honour codes meant women could be at risk of violence .", "During her address she said that this could happen because women had relationships their families disapproved of or because they had refused an arranged marriage .", "She said a family 's honour could be dependent on the behaviour of a daughter .", "`` What masquerades as ` honour ' is really men 's need to control women 's sexuality and their freedom . ''", "Violence against women included forced marriages and child marriages - girls as young as 11 were involved in arranged marriages , she told the conference .", "Dr Gill said that family `` honour '' killings cut across ethnic , class , and religious lines , though it was important to say that they occurred despite religion , rather than because of it .", "Victims were usually women but sometimes men .", "She said there were no reliable statistics about these killings , as often women were simply reported missing or abducted to a foreign country before being murdered .", "But the UK government acknowledged there were at least 12 deaths a year .", "The conference heard that family `` honour '' killings were most commonly a premeditated murder of a woman by a family member or members , in the name of restoring the family 's social reputation .", "`` Your biggest challenge will be getting to the victims , '' she said ."], "_citing_sentence": "This makes it easier for domestic abuses to go undetected which is simply compounding problems of underreporting.", "_claim_name": "Women in arranged marriages in Europe are disproportionately likely to suffer abuse", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | South West Wales | Ethnic domestic violence 'hidden'", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9, 10]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["This essay has been submitted by a student .", "This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers .", "The superior topics of up to designated day feminist political idea are anti-essentialism and anti-foundationalism .", "Anti-essentialism engages the deconstruction of assumptions and assertions that persona has some intrinsic essence and the comprehending that persona are habitually communally assembled , framework and inevitably constituted through exclusion .", "( Donnelly 77 ) ` Its drafters were addressing a particular situation , which they had experienced and did not want to see repeated .", "( Second world war ) p75 .", "Anti-foundationalism , as I am utilising the period here , engages reflexive concern of the supreme surrounds of reality assertions or lesson universals with \u0430 outlook to comprehending how they have been contingently established in specific texts or historic specific customs of thought .", "Such an comprehending is presumed to assist to the contestation of their unquestioned rank as bases and so to the democratization of considered ( though not to the elimination of bases as such , which are vital to thought ) .", "The idea of fundamental Human Rights", "Get your grade or your money backusing our Essay Writing Service !", "Essay Writing Service", "The idea of fundamental Human Rights is a concept that has gained increasing significance in modern society .", "The view that all people are born equal central to the theory of ` human rights ' and has particularly been advocated in western societies who have arguably been the self elected police of the development of global human rights .", "Human Rights have become a buzzword and trophy for western societies to exhibit civilisation and consequently supremacy .", "Human rights have been used to justify wars .", "For example in the ` War on Terror ' human rights have become a justification to correct the barbarism of mainly Muslim extremists ' societies .", "Although it can be argued that human rights are primarily beneficial relatively to western cultures , upon closer examination it becomes apparent that human rights are essentially more beneficial to the cultures to which they originate from and can consequently be regarded as ethnocentric .", "Ethnocentrism is the concept of seeing the world from a particular cultural perspective .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- `` Ethnocentrism '' is the tendency to believe that one 's own race or ethnic group is the most important and that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups .", "Since within this ideology , individuals will judge other groups in relation to their own particular ethnic group or culture , especially with concern to language , behaviour , customs , and religion .", "These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity 's unique cultural identity .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- In this essay I will explore human rights as an ethnocentric product of western society with a comparative look at women 's human rights Asian human right theories and culture .", "I will present arguments for and against human rights as an ethnocentric product with specific reference to women 's rights .", "I will than summarise my own opinion .", "In Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 states it states that ` all human beings are born with equal rights ' .", "Similarly The Vienna Declaration 1993 states that all humans ' rights are universal , indivisible and interdependent .", "Similarly , Globalization and Human Rights ( G&HR ) , as a whole , is concerned about understanding the `` phenomenon '' of globalization and its impact on human rights -- whether it establishes a threat to human rights or creates opportunities for the advancement of human rights .", "Since globalization is treated as the key independent variable , Editor Alison Brysk reviews various definitions of globalization in her introductory essay , and chapter authors introduce their own understanding of the term .", "While some refer to globalization as a process that started with history , others , who are impressed by the rapid integration of markets and the revolutionary changes in communication technologies within the last two or three decades , tend to define it as a more recent phenomenon .", "They also differ in their treatment of the phenomenon in qualitative and quantitative terms .", "For example , Wesley T. Milner focuses on `` economic globalization '' and defines it as the integration of economies in institutional , commercial and financial terms .", "Milner emphasizes economic globalization 's quantitative aspect ( without denying the qualitative one ) and characterizes globalization .", "Plagiarism-free Always on Time Marked to Standard", "Human rights has come to mean to a basic standard in which we all should live by , a set of rules concluded by middle class men in high authorities in governments , it is outlined by a standard which is culturally specific to their societies and cultural norms and when their standard revolutionize it is then imposed globally .", "This is particularly evident when one contrasts women 's human rights from both western and Asian cultures .", "Women 's human rights are clearly culturally specific and are questioned vastly .", "Ethnocentrism has allowed human rights to be seen as rational but only from a western concept .", "Both antiessentialism and anti-foundationalism are considered to be particularly significant in \u0430 post-colonial context because they endow rethinking of the way in which the essential partiality of cause has been mapped on to the ethnocentric exclusion of ` Others ' as inferior .", "Feminists hardworking in the human privileges arena are worried with the way in which universal privileges omit women as women .", "However , they are less involved in the critique of universal privileges in abstract periods and more in extending androcentric definitions of privileges to try to encompass women 's anxieties inside the structure that they provide .", "This is only in part because human privileges are , in standard at smallest , supported by the force of states , worldwide and supranational institutions .", "In detail , human privileges regulation and organisations are cumbersome an somewhat ineffective .", "Even where specific conferences have been ratified by states there often continues \u0430 parting between household and worldwide law .", "States may signal conferences but go incorrect to overtake applicable legislation and rulings are made at the discretion of referees who may be ignorant of , or reluctant to enforce , regulations even where they have been passed .", "Nevertheless , the lawful standing of human privileges is sensed to assist to people 's enthusiasm to take up privileges matters , while , symbolically , privileges discourse presents \u0430 mighty language for demanding wrongs .", "( Donnelly 123-56 ) The foreign minister of Singapore warned that `` universal recognition of the ideal of human rights can be harmful if universalism is used to deny or mask the reality of diversity . ''", "Feminist activists thus support the elongation of human privileges , regardless of their restricted effectiveness , because of the way they assist to \u0430 heritage in which fairness is furthered as an perfect .", "It is accepted in the publications on human privileges to split up them into three ` generations ' as asserted by their chronicled development .", "This is in itself awkward for feminist understandings of human privileges development insofar as it proposes inescapable progress .", "It is helpful , although , insofar as the distinct generations were consolidated at distinct chronicled instants and through distinct ideological projects .", "Human Rights on the face of it appear to be a universal ideal but it is not culturally impartial , the values it upholds which is necessary to the ideology of human rights only become accustomed to modern institutions , however culturally influenced .", "Other western cultures are not familiarised with these ideals and are excluded from the human rights institution .", "It is suggested that westerners presume that other cultures are backwards and socially inferior and therefore need these ethnocentric human rights to be introduced .", "Human rights can be considered ethnocentric as it was developed because of Western cultural norms , which therefore make it relevant only to the western culture .", "Western ideals have become the yardstick for humanity , believing their beliefs are the paramount principles needed for this world , this form of ethnocentrism can be considered a form of social slavery as countries and cultures aspire to be comparable to these western societies and are socially forced to adapt these incompatible ethics to be accepted in the social global sphere .", "This Essay is a Student 's Work", "Examples of our work In relation to women human rights are again deemed ethnocentric .", "Throughout history in western cultures women have been exclude from the human rights process and development .", "They fought for years to get rights , for instance the right to vote .", "Nevertheless today under the new outlook of human rights the idea that women could n't vote or are treated differently would shock disgust and be a social outrage , in a Western country .", "This demonstrates that human rights are furthermore ethnocentric as it reflects the frame of mind of the culture that produces it .", "However it is still apparent that women are not enjoying the same rights as men illustrated in jobs and wages .", "It would be unrealistic to imagine that women endorse the notion of the ` fair wage ' free of the historical and cultural baggage that notion carries .", "Categorically human rights are gendered .", "Feminist have challenged dominant interpretations of human rights arguing that they are biased against women .", "Women in the human rights system are near enough invisible , they are systematically confined to the household sphere so they can not conflict with male patriarchy .", "All around the world women have been tortured systematically ; women will never be scheduled to enlist in human rights .", "The mass unpaid work women do in their homes and if they work goes un-paid and unnoticed .", "It is not even considered work .", "If human rights are to apply universally , why has there been a persistent and continuing need to qualify them with respect to race , religion and gender .", "Marx condemned the capitalist system for what many would now call gross violations of fundamental human rights , the miserable living conditions of the workers , their subjection to capitalist tyranny in the factory , and brutal state suppression of working class protests .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- Contrary to what many would contend , I argue that it does not make sense from the Marxian perspective to try to construct an international standard of human rights , a standard that can be used to evaluate all societies , and thus societies of very different types .", "Cultures and human rights", "The anti imperialist arguments against the universalism of human rights stand on two main arguments that everyone is equally entitled to respect and in order to respect a person includes their culture part of a person 's identity .", "LSB- 6 -RSB- However cultural relativist believe that it is inconsistent to support human rights and respect cultures that violate human rights -LSB- 7 -RSB- But by imposing an ethnocentric form of human rights can be considered as oppression .", "The ` western concept of human rights alien to and incompatible with the core values embedded in Asian culture and tradition and that the west 's attempt to impose it 's own concept of human rights on Asia constitutes cultural imperialism .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- Asian values debate implies that human rights are intrinsically Western as it does not apply to them or their culture .", "In addition historically in Asian customs duties are regarded as more important than rights ; for examples in many Asian communities ' people are connected to one another by different localities , plus younger people have a cultural obligation to obey to older people .", "From a western human rights standpoint old and young people should not be discriminated against and are treated differently on the account of age .", "Similarities can be drawn in African cultures as well , where cultural customs are highly valued and the right for each nation and tribe to practice their beliefs and traditional customs are paramount .", "The unwritten system continues to exist without legislation due to cultural understandings and social discipline .", "This demonstrates that each culture has comprehensible differences and own beliefs of naturally subjective views of human rights .", "An illustration in African cultures where female circumcision holds prestige and cultural favour the western belief is that it is against the women 's human rights , and therefore should be deemed unlawful .", "In the direction of western societies they are outraged , but in majority of women born in these societies it is what makes a woman a woman , ` all the justifications ( of circumcision ) do not stand up to western rationality and sensibility which see these operations as maintaining the subordination of women to men in an appalling an damaging way . '", "LSB- 9 -RSB- This portrays the human rights clash .", "Many Africans can not enjoy the rights and freedom guaranteed by the African Charter of Human and Peoples ' Rights .", "Most African countries , which have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , ratified the main human rights instruments and incorporated their principles into their constitutions , have not fully implemented them in practice .", "It is quite clear that progress can not be made until the cause of disunity is re-examined and the vision of an identity that embraces and encompasses all groups is renegotiated .", "The cause of conflicts is often attributed to `` historical experience '' .", "The scramble and partition of African States are said not to bean outcome of free negotiation among nationalities and principalities at that time .", "However , the prolonged and varied nature of these conflicts goes to show that the problem stretches beyond colonialism , which may be a major factor in apartheid but not of ethnocentrism .", "Non western cultures not just African and Asian but other small minorities have similar divergence within human rights .", "Traditions such as arranged marriages in western culture is depicted as oppressive , but on the other hand to these minorities groups worldwide it is seen as positive social liberty to get married and has a high success rate .", "Conversely , historically arranged marriages had a part to play in both eastern and western cultures .", "But today more prominent in eastern cultures and particularly Asian however western human rights arranged marriage would contradict human rights .", "Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( UDHR ) under Article 16 states that ; 1 .", "Men and Women of full age , without any limitation due to race , nationality or religion , have the right to marry and to found a family .", "They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage , during marriage and at its dissolution .", "Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses .", "This idea is ethnocentric because the west changed their view on arranged marriages and requests and imagines that the rest of the world should implement these views also , this is ethnocentric , although the western world previously participated in arranged marriages .", "In every context this demand for freedom will mean something different , and it will not necessarily mean what is meant in the West .", "The legitimacy of human rights is not so much its authoritative universalism , so much as its capacity to become a moral vernacular for the demand for freedom within local cultures .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- In 1945 , women , blacks and homosexuals in Western societies were denied many of the basic protections of the United Declaration .", "LSB- 11 -RSB- which contravenes modern human rights conventions but because that was the western social stance it was regarded as unacceptable approach to human rights in those days .", "Controversially ethnocentric western cultures are able to opt out of the rights as it suits them this illustrates the ethnocentric western superiority , the fact that western cultures are exempt from some of the most imperative human rights today shows it is shaped ethnocentrically seeing that they can contravene as they desire .", "The paradigm of capital punishment in the United States of America clearly supports this notion as capital punishment was condemned as unlawful through the legislations of human rights , but is still in much effect in major states in America .", "Human rights are not culturally neutral ; there is great diversity within cultures which portrays this .", "The rationale for why western ideas of human rights have dominated and prevailed because of globalisation ( quote article globalisation and human rights ) because the west has been the front runner in commerce and export of culture It can be argued that they are not ethnocentric but universal which is why so many countries have subscribed to the popular views of human rights .", "The first set is the most privileged and the most classically liberal : the municipal and political privileges codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( UDHR ) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights .", "Feminists have contended that this set of privileges is androcentric in its building of the opponents between the public sphere of privileges and the personal sphere of family , familiarity and house relatives out-of-doors the scope of privileges discourse .", "( Donnelly 119 ) For demonstration , the UDHR defines the family as deserving to ` protection from humanity and the state ' .", "This means that aggression against women in the personal sphere is not glimpsed in human privileges periods as \u0430 contravention of municipal rights : ` Everyone ... deserving to all the privileges and freedoms set ahead in this Declaration ' is \u0430 man .", "The feminist crusade for the definition of rape , enforced prostitution and indecent assault to be treated gravely as conflict misdeeds has undoubtedly conveyed public vigilance to the topic and has furthermore produced in thriving prosecutions at the Hague Tribunal .", "( The universal declaration of human rights states in art1 all ` human beings are born with equal rights ' ( Human rights p101 ) Feminists are furthermore contemplating how the mighty worldwide prohibition on torture , now defined as activity by or at the instigation of \u0430 public authorized , might be expanded to encompass torture by persons in the personal sphere .", "The use of human privileges to dispute organisations and incidences of aggression against women over the world has been the most thriving way of expanding human privileges to women , doubtless because of the prestige municipal privileges currently relish and because it has verified somewhat unproblematic to re-describe taken-for-granted aggression against women as illegitimate .", "The concept of ` deconstructive equality ' is well showed by difficulties of the submission of human privileges for women .", "( Gilroy 11 ) If my contention is correct , the poststructuralist form of gender equality is nearly associated to the scheme of ` degendering ' implicit in human privileges as they are actually being developed .", "However , the difficulty of androcentrism in the submission of human privileges remains .", "( Dunne , T. and Wheeler 35-43 ) The adversity is that verifying discrimination in court has usually been taken to need \u0430 male standard of equality .", "` -LSB- W -RSB- omen are compelled to contend either that they are the identical as men and should be treated the identical , or that they are distinct but should be treated as if they were the identical , or that they are distinct and should be accorded exceptional treatment ' .", "The couple of situations that have been conveyed to court under CEDAW have effectively utilized the ` male comparator ' check against discrimination , but it is restricted in its potential .", "The ` male comparator ' benchmark of equality disregards the biological and functional dissimilarities between the sexes and makes methodical inequality invisible .", "To deal with this adversity , feminists suggest \u0430 distinct check , actually being utilised in Canada : that of disadvantage .", "This check needs that \u0430 individual display that as the constituent of \u0430 assembly they bear handicap where some distinction is made that places that assembly at \u0430 proceeded or worsening handicap in relative to others .", "( Okin 29-37 ) If they can do so , as they have effectively finished in the Canadian enclosures , there is \u0430 case of discrimination to answer .", "This check is preferable because it needs that judgement be made in relative to women as they are actually positioned , possibly endowing far-reaching trials to sexy hierarchy .", "The most conspicuous objection to this formulation of human privileges as founded on one-by-one autonomy is that it is ethnocentric and , really , this is an significant theme in composing on human rights .", "Although there have been endeavours to ground human privileges in cross-cultural universals , it is broadly acquiesced that the content of human privileges charters as they stand has been evolved out of , and is very powerfully reliant on , liberal individualism drawn from the natural regulation custom of Europe .", "With consider to up to designated day feminist idea , ethnocentrism in relative to human privileges has three major aspects .", "( Fester 2000 ) First , there is the assumption that women are all basically the identical , pain from the identical oppressions at the hands of men over the world such that investigates and programmes evolved in one context can be validly directed to another .", "This place is affiliated with the foundationalist idea of ` sisterhood ' on which fundamental feminism in specific was premised .", "It is ethnocentric insofar as investigates , lesson judgements and political recommendations are made on the cornerstone of the specific context in which Western feminism was evolved without consider to the distinct positions in which women find themselves and through which their concepts and convictions are formed .", "( Lind 187-89 ) `` It is inconsistent to support human rights and respect cultures that violate human rights '' .", "( Human rights freeman 109 )", "Second , \u0430 associated contention is that which sees the human privileges discourse as individualistic and thus incapable to address functional matters , like the worldwide partition of work , that are of more anxiety to women in evolving nations than Western feminists accept , realise or apprehend .", "( Gilroy 121-45 ) Finally , the accusation of ethnocentrism is connected to the way in which white Anglo feminists have despised other heritage as creative of specific characteristics of women 's oppression or need of opposition to oppression in \u0430 way that replicates colonialist representations of ` backwardness ' and advancement .", "In specific , there has been \u0430 malfunction to realise distinct kinds of opposition , not directly recognizable as such from inside Western norms .", "For poststructuralist feminists the topic of ethnocentrism raises tough inquiries in relative to human rights .", "( Keck and Sikkink 31-34 )", "Women and cultural diversity", "The very concept of ` women ' as an currently living constituency to be comprised is problematic .", "The deconstruction of essences and bases to which poststructuralist feminists have directed themselves is in part an try to bypass the ethnocentrism inferred in making general investigates or universal normative assertions from specific , privileged places as white , middle-class women .", "( Gilroy 22 ) Poststructuralist feminists have supported \u0430 comprehensive approach to investigates of gender as it is assembled in specific racialized and sexualized contexts that are not inevitably generalizable .", "In this way it is wanted that dissimilarities can be highly regarded and the imposition of periods and classes that are unsuitable to specific positions can be bypassed .", "Furthermore , normative judgements are furthermore bypassed for this cause , except insofar as boosting subversion and disturbance to foundational classes and fixed persona may be considered to convey \u0430 normative charge .", "Judith Butler contends that we will not do away with the class of universality , but that ` Within the political context of up to designated day post-coloniality usually , it is possibly particularly pressing to highlight the very class of the `` universal '' as \u0430 location of insistent challenge and re-signification ' .", "The normative timidity of such \u0430 place , the reluctance to give any content to the ( contestable ) universal is , although , tough to blend with \u0430 robust firm promise to sexy equality .", "Poststructuralist feminists are correctly perceptive to the adversities of ethnocentrism because it might be presumed that ethnocentrism is really \u0430 direct outcome of \u0430 firm promise to anti-foundationalism .", "Richard Rorty has put this outlook most forcefully .", "He contends that worth judgements and norms are inevitably ethnocentric because they are ` grounded ' only in the ` beliefs and yearns and emotions ' with which the lesson self identifies ; there is no reasonable , extra-community issue from which judgement can be workout .", "Under this recount , ethnocentrism is inescapable for postmodernists since judgements will habitually be made on the cornerstone of heritage convictions that disagree between communities .", "Furthermore , Rorty furthermore contends that ` we ' in the West should not be embarrassed of our ethnocentrism .", "Specifically in relative to human privileges , he contends that ` we ' relish \u0430 ` human privileges culture ' into which we have been taught through ` sentimental education ' .", "Although human privileges have been restricted in that historic those out-of-doors our community have not habitually been considered as human , as long as they are expanded to every individual on the planet , encompassing all women , ethnocentrism is somewhat harmless .", "( Donnelly 19 ) It is absolutely , he contends , \u0430 good deal less hurtful than giving up judgements on the cornerstone of human privileges for worry of conceiving our heritage ethically better to other ones .", "It is with esteem to sentiments about the ` moral superiority ' of the West and the ` condescension ' with which he admits other heritage should then be treated that Rorty 's ethnocentrism appears to be nearly joined to the colonialist stance to which poststructuralist and other up to designated day feminists are so opposed .", "While poststructuralist feminists would acquiesce with Rorty 's assertion that it is not likely to get away \u0430 historic assembled subject place , his concept of heritage is peculiarly un-postmodern .", "As Uma Narayan has contended , an comprehending of heritage as monolithic and unified duplicates the comprehending of ` Western culture ' and ` indigenous culture ' as idealized totalities made in the ` colonial encounter ' .", "Rorty 's type of benevolent ethnocentrism should then be glimpsed as duplicating the colonial representation of the West as the location of advancement and the Other as the location of unchanging made-to-order and custom that supplied justification for the colonial task and extends to supply it for financial and infantry intervention today .", "Feminist have challenged dominant interpretations of human rights arguing that they are biased against women '' .", "( Human rights freeman 128 ) Narayan contends that an comprehending of heritage as \u0430 unified totality is especially awkward in relative to insubordinate assemblies ` within \u0430 culture ' .", "( Robertson 128 ) The demonstration with which she is specifically worried in her publication Dislocating Cultures is Indian women , who are suspect of ` cultural inauthenticity ' and ` being Westernized ' when they oppose practices that are coded as ` traditional ' , especially under the growing influence of Hindu nationalism .", "` Culture ' is to be appreciated in Narayan 's periods as \u0430 mighty signifier of the Indian contestation of colonial direct that is now being utilised to quiet and override Indian feminists .", "( Bhatt , C. and Mukta 12-15 )", "There are abstract rights that all humans have ; rights based on universal human needs , the notion of human rights have been debated immeasurably but generally is seen as ethnocentric and biased to non - Westerners countries , also to minorities , and to the feeble , such as women .", "Human rights policies can not adapt to all peoples in the world as difference is apparent and always will be .", "In fighting ethnocentrism , it is important to build on solidarity ; a value firmly rooted in African philosophy , and should be instilled in every individual .", "Pope John Paul II has stated that we lead to the recognition of diversity and open the mind to mutual acceptance and genuine collaboration demanded by individuals .", "As such , dialogue is a privileged means for building the civilization of love and peace.According to this comprehending , then , Rorty 's idea of human privileges heritage as Western is far from benevolent : ethnocentrism assists to the hardening of authoritarian colonialist logics on both edges of the ` West vs. the Rest ' split up , consolidating persona that are resistant to contestation from below .", "However , whereas Rorty 's protection of poststructuralist human privileges heritage as ethnocentric is improper , not smallest to feminists worried not to neglect dissimilarities and conflicts inside the persona assembly ` women ' , it is regardless worth consideration .", "Despite its limitations and hazards it does start with an insight that is significant to an comprehending of poststructuralist feminist firm promises to human rights : that there is no likely reasonable viewpoint from which the ` rightness ' of human privileges can be judged .", "Thus those of us for who universal human privileges are actually convincing can only find the contentions , positions and political past notes through which we have arrive to this position ; we will be adept to find no supreme justification for our convictions and feelings .", "In this esteem Rorty and poststructuralist feminists are in agreement : any judgement is inevitably located and perspectival .", "Moreover , Rorty is right , I believe , to assert that this should not signify that we stop on making normative judgements .", "Feminists should be , as I have contended , pledged to the equality of women and this needs making painful judgements which , although perceptive we are to their partiality and to the adversities of contending for their universal applicability , will not count on universal agreement .", "Ackerly , B. ( 2000 ) Political Theory and Feminist Criticism , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .", "Benhabib , S. ( 1996 ) ` The democratic moment and the problem of difference ' in", "S. Benhabib ( ed . )", "Democracy and Difference : Contesting the Boundaries of the", "Political , Princeton , NJ : Princeton University Press .", "Bhatt , C. and Mukta , P. ( 2000 ) ` Hindutva in the West : mapping the antimonies of diaspora nationalism ' , Ethnic and Racial Studies 23 ( 3 ) : 407-41 .", "Gilroy , P. ( 2000 ) Between Camps : Natures , Cultures and the Allure of Race , Harmondsworth : Allen Lane .", "Cornell , D. ( 1998 ) At the Heart of Freedom : Feminism , Sex , and Equality ,", "Princeton , NJ : Princeton University Press .", "Donnelly , J. ( 1999 ) ` The social construction of international human rights ' , in T. Dunne and N. Wheeler ( eds ) Human Rights in Global Politics ,", "Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .", "Dunne , T. and Wheeler , N. ( eds ) ( 1999 ) Human Rights in Global Politics , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .", "Fester , G. ( 2000 ) ` Despite diversity : women 's unity in Western Cape , South Africa ( 1980-94 ) ' , in S. Ali , K. Coate and W. wa Goro ( eds ) Global Feminist Politics , London : Routledge .", "Keck , M. and Sikkink , K. ( 1998 ) Activists beyond Borders : Transnational Advocacy Networks in International Politics , Ithaca , NY : Cornell University Press .", "Okin , S. ( 1999 ) ` Is multiculturalism bad for women ? '", ", in J. Cohen , M. Howard and M. Nussbaum ( eds ) Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women ?", ", Princeton , NJ : Princeton University Press .", "Lind , A. ( 2000 ) ` Negotiating boundaries : women 's organizations and the politics of restructuring in Ecuador ' , in M. Marchand and A. Runyan ( eds ) Gender and Global Restructuring : Sightings , Sites and Resistances , London : Routledge .", "Robertson , G. ( 2000 ) Crimes against Humanity : The Struggle for Global Justice , Harmondsworth : Penguin .", "An-Na \u06da im , Abdullah Ahmed , Human Rights in Cross Cultural Perspectives ' A Quest for Consensus .", "Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press , 1992 .", "In relation to women human rights are again deemed ethnocentric ."], "_citing_sentence": "This does not fit in with the type of egalitarianism many European countries seek to practice, and thus does not conform to Western notions of individual rights.", "_claim_name": "Integration and the acceptance of Western values are important", "_doc_title": "Human rights with reference to women", "_labeled_lineIDs": [98]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Family policy is usually thought of and discussed as if it were separate from sexual issues , but the two are very much interconnected .", "In the Green Paper Supporting Families : A Consultative Document ( 1998 ) the Labour government set out the principles that have shaped their family policy .", "In this they stated that ' -LSB- M -RSB- arriage does provide a strong foundation for stability for the care of children .", "It also sets out rights and responsibilities for all concerned .", "It remains the choice of the majority of people in Britain .", "For all these reasons it makes sense for the Government to do what it can to strengthen marriage . '", "If marriage is so central to people 's lives why is the institution so embattled as to require government help ?", "And if it is so weakened is it not time to ask what it was about marriage that created stability for children and to consider why it does not do so today ?", "In fact marriage as an institution has changed so much as to be unrecognisable by the standards of the 1950s .", "Then marriage was for life and sexual expression was legitimate only within marriage .", "Sixty per cent of people had sexual intercourse before marriage but only with their intended spouse , and the vast majority married when pregnancy occurred .", "Most young people moved from living with their parents to living with their spouse and children .", "If the marriage was unhappy there was little real choice but to endure this .", "Divorce was deeply stigmatised and like other sexual misconduct it was often concealed if possible by those involved .", "By the early 1990s , the sexual boundary between marriage and non-marriage had disappeared .", "Less than 1 % of first intercourse occurred within marriage and there was a gap of several years between the average age at first intercourse and the average age at marriage .", "There was practically universal acceptance of the possibility of a number of partner changes through the life course .", "By 1999 the rate of divorce was 12.9 couples per thousand compared to only 2.8 per thousand in 1950 .", "More importantly couples routinely cohabited before marriage and after divorce .", "Today even those who marry rarely follow the orderly and contained sexual careers that were the norm in the mid-20th century .", "Along with the collapse of sexual boundaries , reproductive boundaries have disappeared .", "Women keep their babies , or marry when pregnant , if they and their partner so choose , not because they feel they must .", "By the year 2000 almost two fifths of births occurred outside marriage compared to only 5.6 per cent in 1950 .", "There is considerable confusion about why this transformation has taken place and how to respond to it .", "The Labour government has shown a willingness to support other forms of sexual expression where this does not cost the government money , for example by equalising the gay and heterosexual age of consent ; or where it may save money , for example by allowing school nurses to dispense the morning-after pill in order to reduce Britain 's high rate of teenage pregnancy .", "The acceptance of new sexual mores implicit in these reforms sits ill with the refusal to extend legal protections to cohabiting couples or to permit gay marriage .", "Thus there is a sense of confusion about the direction of government policy .", "Much public discussion rests on an assumption that there is a choice between a traditional and a new approach to sexual morality and family formation .", "A better understanding of the historical relationship between sexuality , reproduction and economics suggests this is not the case and offers insights into the sources of change .", "For centuries marriage or cohabiting partnerships have been shaped largely by the need to control the economic and social costs of reproduction .", "Adult status , heterosexual sexual activity , coupledom , parenthood and household formation came as a package .", "It was very difficult for people , particularly women , to enjoy any one of these statuses or experiences on its own .", "Those who did not marry were usually unable to form their own households and therefore remained under the control of the head of the household in which they lived , with few opportunities for sexual activity .", "Single mothers were stigmatised and reduced to dire poverty .", "The path into the package began with courting : both men and women were usually able to choose their own partners , the age difference between them tended to be relatively small , women were not rigidly chaperoned by their family members or by employers , and pre-marital sex was accepted as a stage of courting .", "But once individuals passed this stage they had few choices .", "If the couple did not marry before pregnancy occurred , they were placed under considerable pressure by their family and the community to do so once it had .", "Legitimate and illegitimate first babies were born to mothers of similar ages suggesting that little sexual activity took place before the age at which marriage was possible , that is other than as part of courting .", "Communities expected new couples , whether cohabiting or married , to take responsibility for their costs , usually by setting up a new separate household .", "It was probably awareness of the risk of pregnancy that led most couples to defer courting , and hence sexual activity , until they had sufficient savings to form a household .", "Once they did so , further babies followed .", "In the absence of safe , effective birth control , for most people sexual activity led inexorably to marriage or cohabitation , establishing a household and childrearing .", "However , average wages were so low that many men and women had to defer marriage until they had sufficient savings or were unable to afford to marry .", "This resulted in a high average age at marriage and a high proportion of people who never married at all .", "In England the average age at marriage tended to be around 26-27 or older for men , and 23-24 for women , and 10-15 % of the population never married at all .", "For most of the period from the sixteenth century this combination of a late age at marriage and a high proportion not marrying decreased the time women spent childbearing and thus reduced the number of children they had .", "Hence economic conditions shaped marriage and family formation .", "By contrast , in most other societies newly-wed couples have not been expected to set up a separate household : as a result nearly 100 per cent of women and men have married , and women especially have tended to do so at a younger age .", "Traditionally British people 's lives were shaped by the financial commitment involved in having children .", "Pregnancy is one of the great desirable outcomes of sexual behaviour , but prior to the introduction of effective birth control it was also an uncontrollable economic risk .", "It was not until the 1960s that acceptable , effective and reasonably safe contraception became widely available for the first time .", "British women and men tended to dislike the diaphragm and early condoms so withdrawal , an ineffective method which reduced sexual pleasure , remained the most widely used method until the 1960s .", "Fertility began to fall from the peak of a 2.94 total fertility rate in 1964 , at which time there were 480,000 women taking the Pill which had been introduced in 1961 .", "But from 1975 birth control was made available free from the National Health Service to all women and men regardless of marital status .", "By then newly available technologies also included legal abortion , the Intra-Uterine Device and sterilisation .", "It is estimated that the total fertility rate had fallen to 1.64 by 2001 , the lowest point in recorded history .", "The result of the vast improvement in birth control was that physical sexual events between men and women no longer carried uncontrollable and incalculable risks of major economic consequences .", "The decision to offer contraception free was made by a Conservative government and it effectively marked the end of attempts to control the cost of reproduction by controlling female sexuality .", "Implicit in the decision was recognition of the fact that in the absence of community and individual support for sexual denial it was not possible for government to impose it .", "It is no coincidence that the ` traditional ' family and sexual morality began to alter in the second half of the 1960s at the same time as the system of prudential marriage finally ceased to operate .", "The proportion of women who remained unmarried in the age group 45-49 fell below 10 % for the first time in 1971 census .", "The average age at marriage reached its lowest point of 21.29 in 1966-70 .", "These changes in marriage reflected a rejection of sexual restraint and were part of the permissive society .", "They also followed a lengthy rise in incomes and in purchasing power relative to the retail price index .", "By the 1950s male working-class manual employees and managers were already earning over three times more than had been the case in the mid-1930s and most other occupational groups were earning over two and half times as much .", "Thus couples could also afford to set up their own homes and the traditional constraints on sexual behaviour had largely ceased to operate .", "However , a detailed look at young women from the 1950s to the 1970s shows that the existing institution of marriage was also dissolving from within .", "A survey undertaken in 1976 ( Dunnell 1979 ) found that there were there were two main trends in young women 's sexual behaviour in this period .", "Rates of pre-marital sexual intercourse were rising among all classes of young women by the 1950s but young manual-class women were still courting with men whom they intended to marry , then marrying young and having families larger than those achieved using the sexual self-control of the interwar period .", "The harbingers of change were the tiny proportion of young , mainly middle-class , women who began in the late 1950s to have sexual affairs with men whom they did not intend to marry , using contraception ( diaphragms ) and illegal abortion to control the consequences .", "The advent of the pill dramatically increased their numbers , severing the chain that had led women from the start of sexual activity to marriage and from there to childbearing .", "Historically marriage had marked the start of childbearing for women but increasingly many women used contraception to extend this childless but sexually active period into marriage , further blurring the boundaries between sexual activity within marriage and outside of it .", "Women marrying between the ages of 20 and 24 in 1961-1965 had had their first baby even faster than those who married between 1956-1960 .", "But this was followed by a sharp fall in the pace at which those married from 1966-1970 produced their first child .", "This lengthening of the interval between marriage and the first birth continued in the 1970s .", "Thus , the boundary between married and single women was further blurred .", "Single women could continue to be sexually active and married women could remain voluntarily childless .", "There had already been a shift in the 1950s from women giving up paid work on marriage to giving it up at first pregnancy .", "From 1955 to 1965 , the demand for female labour grew because of the tight male labour supply , hence women were more easily able to continue in paid employment should they decide to defer childbirth .", "The greatest increase in the percentage of married women working was from 1961 to 1971 .", "By the 1970s , young working-class women were also starting to follow a similar path as a growing proportion of them began using the pill .", "Women who began sexual careers that had previously led almost inexorably to marriage because they got pregnant , did not become pregnant .", "They were faced with making decisions about their lives in a way that had never been possible before .", "Cumulatively , from the 1970s on , these small shifts enabled many young women to start leading a life that was without historical precedent .", "It is true that new contraceptive technology did not create the desire for the changes that have taken place .", "For women 's aspirations had been rising since the 1890s as their access to education and employment improved .", "The pace of change in male attitudes varied by class , but men also wanted to control fertility .", "However , the continuing extent of uncertainty and absence of control over fertility has been greatly underestimated by historians and sociologists .", "It is this new arena of choice above all that has produced the reshaping of familial and sexual culture .", "In the 1960s women and men emerged from a long period in which sexual control and repression had been central to English culture .", "The emergence of a restrictive Victorian sexual morality in the nineteenth century was probably shaped most decisively by the rise in fertility that peaked in 1816 .", "Fertility rates were slowly brought down by the increasing control of sexuality .", "It has been shown that low frequencies of sexual intercourse within marriage played a major role in the decline from the 1870s , when aggregate fertility began to fall , until the 1930s , when a low point was reached .", "In this period intolerance of all forms of sexual activity grew : inhibitions regarding masturbation , revulsion at homosexuality , rejection of varied positions of sexual intercourse as unnatural and nakedness during sex as licentious , regarding open sexual affection or sexual badinage as disgusting , all such attitudes intensified .", "Evidence suggests that oral and anal sex had never been usual among the majority of the British population but in this period even stimulation of the partner 's genitals by hand came to be seen as a form of masturbation and hence unacceptable .", "Considerable effort was put into shielding the young , especially girls and young women , from sexual information or experience .", "Contraceptive knowledge existed but it did not become widespread until the 1920s .", "Couples required discipline , attention to detail and a good income ( privacy and running water ) to prevent pregnancy using the available condoms or other appliance methods .", "The main methods of birth control used were probably withdrawal and abortion .", "Neither was reliable .", "All forms of fertility control demanded sexual control and the repression of desire .", "But as contraceptive technology and knowledge improved , progressive women and men began to relax and to promote the belief that sexuality was a source of pleasure and joy .", "Nonetheless unease and inhibitions remain a major feature of sexual attitudes and a substantial impact on policy .", "The changes in family forms and sexual mores have been produced by an underlying and unique change , the move to controlled fertility .", "This shift was accompanied by an unprecedented increase in average incomes and the creation of a welfare safety net during the middle third of the twentieth century .", "It is probable that in turn these changes had a great deal to do with the decrease in the authority over personal life exercised by the family and the community .", "The complex and profound nature of the causes of sexual change means that they are highly unlikely to be reversed .", "We are now living through a period of flux as people explore and adjust to the new possibilities that have become available .", "Families are currently evolving into something new .", "The kin-based groups described by sociologists in the 1950s and 60s are no longer the only model .", "The wider family has been transformed into an extended grouping that is fluid and shifting over time .", "An individual may now include in their wider family grouping unmarried couples , several ex-partners to whom they may or may not have been legally married , divorced parents with new partners or actively sexual teenagers .", "They may be gay parents , choose not to have children at all , or within a family unit there may be children with differing legal statuses and parents .", "More positive and constructive approaches are also evolving .", "Experiences common in the 1970s such as extreme bitterness after divorce , or cutting off a child forever because they are gay , are no longer widely supported .", "Policy can contribute positively to the ongoing formation of new families and life courses .", "Though people are voting with their feet and adopting new family forms this is accompanied by widespread anxiety about the impact of family change on vulnerable groups and the lack of obvious remedies .", "There is a gap in government thinking in the area of the Work-Life Balance .", "The admirable policy commitment to draw women into the work force and enable them to remain there needs to be matched by a similar commitment to the needs of personal life .", "There needs to be active acknowledgement of , and support for , parenting and caring in the home by both men and women .", "For example , parenting is still not included as an achievement on job applications and no allowance is made for apparent slow-downs in career achievement or for periods out of the work force .", "This can and should be done , and in addition pension credits should be provided for time spent in full-time care of children ( and the chronically ill ) .", "Research shows that those people with varied and frequent contacts with others enjoy better physical health and that people with a varied circle of friends and family are more able to call on support and hence less likely to become dependent on the state .", "Current policies on work-life balance can contribute to positive change by helping to ensure that people have adequate time for all their relationships .", "The minimum wage , the Working Time Regulations and increased parental leave provisions are among government efforts to address the long-hours culture and low incomes .", "There was an increase in the average numbers of hours worked during the 1990s which reflected a rise in the numbers of hours of paid and unpaid overtime .", "However , it appears that very little progress has been made on lowering working hours since the introduction of the government policy on this in 2000 .", "The minimum wage is due to rise but the fact that it has already raised the wages of a very substantial proportion of female part-time workers highlights how little women receive in return for the anxiety and effort involved in juggling work and family .", "Government could act to strengthen these measures and to increase the rights of part-time employees and insist that employers provide training and career structures .", "All maternity , parental and caring leave provisions should apply to part-time and casual workers .", "The female working-age employment rate is now at a historic high of almost 70 % , though women 's share of hours worked is only 38 % reflecting a high proportion of low-paid part-time work .", "Flexibility in this area tends to be for the benefit of the employer not the employee .", "There is no longer a dip in women 's workforce participation during childbearing years and there is certainly no move toward a dip in fathers ' participation in the workforce .", "Men with children work the longest hours of any group in Britain .", "Employers have little interest in men enlarging their involvement in parenting or caring and men themselves have proved reluctant to take on an equitable share of domestic labour , caring or parenting .", "The resulting pressure on women makes a substantial contribution to low British fertility rates .", "European Union surveys show many British women are having fewer children than they say they want .", "Some women do change their minds and voluntary childlessness is also growing but many more feel constrained by circumstances .", "Those on low incomes do not have the money to provide for the children they would like to have .", "Those with high incomes do not have the time .", "In a society in which people have insufficient time for caring or for the children they want to have , they are also unlikely to have time to create and sustain enduring relationships .", "It has been argued that the low fertility rate will result in a crisis as growing numbers of people living past the conventional retirement age impose too great a burden of costs on a decreasing population of workers .", "On the other hand , in a recent paper on this website Pat Thane has argued that the supposed upcoming crisis in pension provision due to low fertility could be overcome by the retention of older people in the work force .", "Older people are becoming healthier and living longer ; with more flexible work-patterns and more effective life-long learning , use of their skills could be maximised .", "This would enable parents of young children to reduce their working hours .", "Younger people of both sexes should be able to slacken off on their careers or paid work when their children are under five .", "This would also enable fathers to contribute to the mundane effort of caring and help to sustain enduring relationships with their children and partners .", "It is the voluntary acceptance of responsibilities based on ties of affection which creates enduring relationships not the rights and responsibilities that come with legal marriage .", "Meanwhile , the changes in sexual behaviour taking place deserve to be celebrated not denounced .", "A small proportion of the population meet partners for life in their late teens but most people do not wish to return to the confines of life-long monogamous marriage .", "They are still looking for love and enduring relationships , but they also want to engage in other partnerships and more varied forms of sexual behaviour at different stages in their lives .", "In particular , early sexual activity and experimentation with relationships is a source of excitement and pleasure and an important learning experience in many people 's lives .", "New approaches are needed .", "For example , attempting to persuade young people that sexual intercourse should be confined to permanent relationships lends support to inappropriately serious youthful relationships which have been shown for decades to be more likely to break down .", "So long as Government views sexuality solely in terms of negative outcomes ( sexually transmitted diseases , unwanted pregnancy ) then much sexual behaviour ( not just that of the young ) will appear irrational and risky .", "But at key moments in people 's lives the health risks involved in sexual activity often appear relatively minor when compared to the importance of desire and/or romantic love .", "Government policy should aim to foster confidence , caring and honest communication in the context of sexual activity .", "People with such attitudes are more able and likely to insist on safe sexual practices .", "There are numerous choices available to the government that would provide genuine support to people in their personal lives .", "The collapse of the traditional system of sexual morality has created growing areas of inequity and inconsistency .", "The 1998 Green Paper Supporting Marriage appeared to suggest people should marry to obtain legal rights , and five years later government continues to deny these legal rights to cohabitees and gay couples .", "Thus , for example , cohabiting couples who are treated as married couples by the benefits system in order to deny them money are not treated as married in contexts ( legal rights , pensions ) where it would be to their gain .", "This is unfair and inconsistent .", "Government can not stumble on trying to reconcile the old and the new , supporting one and undermining the other .", "There will be no return to the sexual morality and the family of the 1950s .", "Government should respect and support the development of new relationships , new families and new communities at work and at home .", "Linda Hantrais and Peter Ackers , Women 's Choices : Striking the Work-Life Balance .", "The Gender Pay and Productivity Gap Workshop Session 5 , November 2002 .", "Balancing Work and Family Life : Enhancing Choice and Support for Parents .", "Paul Doyle and Craig Lindsay , Experimental Consistent Time Series of Historical Labour Force Survey Data , September 2003 .", "Hera Cook , The Long Sexual Revolution : English Women , Sex and Contraception , 1800-1975 , Oxford : Oxford University Press , forthcoming February 2004 .", "Anne Barlow , Simon Duncan , and Grace James , ` New Labour , the Rationality Mistake and Family Policy in Britain ' in Analysing Families : Morality and Rationality in Policy and Practice , edited by Alan Carling , Simon Duncan , and Rosalind Edwards , London : Routledge , 2002 .", "John C. Caldwell , Pat Caldwell , and Peter McDonald , ` Policy Responses to Low Fertility and Its Consequences : A Global Survey ' , Journal of Population Research ( Australia ) , 19.1:1 , 2002 .", "Hera Cook , The Long Sexual Revolution : English Women , Sex and Contraception , 1800-1975 , Oxford : Oxford University Press , Forthcoming February 2004 .", "Karen Dunnell , Family Formation , 1976 , HMSO , 1979 .", "J. Hajnal , ` European Marriage Patterns in Perspective ' in Population in History , edited by David Victor Glass and D. E. Eversley , London : Edward Arnold , 1965 , p. 101-143 .", "Shireen Jejeebhoy , Women 's Education , Autonomy , and Reproductive Behaviour : Experience from Developing Countries , Oxford : Clarendon Press , 1995 .", "Carol D. Ryff and Burton H. Singer ( eds . )", ", Emotion , Social Relationships and Health , Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2001 ,", "Simon Szreter , Fertility , Class and Gender in Britain , 1860-1940 , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 1996 .", "Kaye Wellings , J. Field , A. M. Johnson , J. Wadsworth , and Sally Bradshaw , Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles , London : Blackwell , 1994 .", "Hera Cook is an Australian Research Council Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Sydney .", "Her book The Long Sexual Revolution : English Women , Sex and Contraception , 1800-1975 , is due to be published by Oxford University Press in February 2004 .", "Her current research is into the management of emotion in England from 1930-1980 .", "H&P ; is a unique collaboration between the Institute of Contemporary British History at King 's College London and the University of Cambridge .", "We are the only project in the UK providing access to an international network of more than 500 historians with a broad range of expertise .", "H&P ; offers a range of resources for historians , policy makers and journalists ."], "_citing_sentence": "This was even the case during the socially conservative era of the 1950s, when it was generally accepted in countries like Britain that people would court and meet their partners independently of their parents.", "_claim_name": "Integration and the acceptance of Western values are important", "_doc_title": "No turning back: family forms and sexual mores in modern Britain | History and Policy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [68]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["At dusk in the northern English city of Bradford , a woman dressed in typical Muslim dress and trousers and made unrecognisable by a scarf pulled over her face scurries along the road , looking nervously over her shoulder .", "She hurries into one of the small , terraced houses to attend a meeting of Our Voice , a self-help group set up to help women in the area campaign against abusive husbands and the increasing number of forced marriages among the Muslim community .", "Not against Islam `` We are not against arranged marriages , you must understand , '' says one .", "Another says : `` You must write that we are not against Islam . ''", "Sue Lloyd-Roberts reports from Islamabad and BradfordAs the group gains in confidence , another explains : `` It 's just that we have all tried and we have got nowhere fighting our individual battles at home and so we are now getting together . ''", "`` It 's the new immigration laws in this country '' , blurts out a third with her back to me to ensure her anonymity .", "`` They were written by men for the benefit of men .", "No-one asks what we want . ''", "The queue for visas is always long at the British High Commission in IslamabadAn official at the British High Commission in Islamabad , who also asked to remain anonymous , said : `` There is no doubt that a lot of the girls are being forced to bring husbands into Britain against their will but we are powerless to do anything about it .", "`` Someone back in London must face up to this problem . ''", "The `` problem '' is that the present Labour government scrapped the hated , `` primary purpose '' rule in one of its first initiatives after coming to power in 1997 .", "Labour wanted to appease the sensitivities of Britain 's ethnic communities .", "Under the old system , officials at the High Commission could ask couples intimate questions about each other ranging from favourite toothpaste brands to preferred sleeping positions to determine whether the `` primary purpose '' of the visa application was a marriage of convenience or based on true love .", "The change in rules had an immediate effect .", "In 1996 , there were 1,960 applications for entry from Pakistan to Britain from would-be husbands .", "In I998 , after the law was changed , there were 5,080 .", "A personal story", "Razia Sodagar went to Islamabad to warn the authoritiesRazia Sodagar , 27 , says hers was an arranged marriage and she had been happy to fall in with her parents ' plans for her .", "But after she failed to get pregnant , she says her husband took her back to Pakistan allegedly for fertility treatment .", "When they got there he left her and married another girl and she had to make her way back to Bradford alone .", "When confronted , her husband , Mohammad Sodagar , was noncholant .", "`` I am a Muslim , I can marry two , three , four times .", "I gave Razia so much love but she still did n't know what I wanted .", "`` She would abuse me and she used to go out at night .", "She did not respect me .", "I did not like that and so I have the right to divorce her . ''", "But according to Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui , leader of the Muslim Parliament in the UK , a husband may not take a second wife without the permission of the first .", "And what about the right to control their wives ' behaviour ?", "`` They do it because they see their fathers do it and then there are the imams who come to Britain from rural Pakistan , chosen for their piety rather than their scholarship , and they encourage this kind of attitude , bred in the culture of the subcontinent and not by the Koran . ''", "Police to the rescue", "The police in Bradford , where the Asian community add up to 19 % of local people , are overwhelmed by appeals from Asian women for help .", "Philip Balmforth : A knight in shining armourTheir knight in shining armour is Philip Balmforth , a retired police officer who is employed by the West Yorkshire police Race Relations Department .", "`` We had 300 calls for help last year , mostly from women who were trying to avoid a forced marriage or who were trying to escape a husband who was foisted on them .", "I have dealt with over a thousand cases in three years and the number is increasing . ''", "Bounty hunters If the girls escape without police protection , they risk being traced by the local bounty hunters who are employed by families to track down wayward daughters and wives .", "One of these , a man who calls himself Ahmed , said : `` I use shopkeepers and taxi hunters to help find the girls .", "They usually know where they are and what they 're up to . ''", "He prefers to call himself a `` community mediator '' .", "`` For example , I once found a girl and her father told me that he would kill her when she got home .", "I told him I would tell the police if he dared and I kept the girl hidden .", "`` I have met many parents who are prepared to kill their daughters if they go astray and , although I do my best , many of the cases I have been involved in have ended tragically . ''", "His mobile phone goes off constantly .", "He fields calls from clients but refuses to say how much he is paid - rumour has it that he earns up to # 5,000 for the recovery of a girl .", "Fear and desperation", "The girls themselves are terrified of the bounty hunters .", "And so the women remain cooped up in their refuges , with little hope of escape and with only their appalling memories for company .", "`` My husband beat , starved and raped me and so when I got back to England I refused to get him over .", "My family here then started beating me and they threw me out of the house .", "Even when it was snowing , they would leave me crying on the doorstep , '' said one woman at Our Voice .", "Changing the law", "Anne Cryer MP wants to stop this `` cruel practice `` The local MP for Keighley , Anne Cryer , has been warned that she risks losing her seat at the next election because of her robust defence of the women in her Keighley constituency .", "No-one wants to bring back the primary purpose rule , it was too offensive to too many , but Cryer believes protective measures must be brought in if the mainly Moslem community in West Yorkshire do not stop the `` cruel practice of making their girls go back to Pakistan to marry first cousins or those to whom their family owe a favour '' .", "Cryer warns of social and even civil urest if the present situation continues .", "`` God forbid that we should have a repeat of the Mannigham riots we saw here five years ago , but it could happen and I blame it all on these forced marriages . ''", "`` We are not against arranged marriages , you must understand , '' says one .", "If the girls escape without police protection , they risk being traced by the local bounty hunters who are employed by families to track down wayward daughters and wives ."], "_citing_sentence": "This is shown even amongst women who still consented to arranged marriages but faced abuse from their husbands - such as with the case of Razia Sodagar, whose husband abandoned her for another woman after she failed to fall pregnant.", "_claim_name": "Women in arranged marriages in Europe are disproportionately likely to suffer abuse", "_doc_title": "BBC News | UK | Fighting arranged marriage abuse", "_labeled_lineIDs": [17, 18, 19]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Posted by wnn in * India , MDG Stories \u2248 Comments Off on India domestic abuse more common in ` arranged ' marriages", "Tags abuse , alcohol and abuse , arranged marriage , child brides , child brides india , domestic violence , dr. ramani sundaresan , forced marriage , gender based crimes , gender based violence , gender equality , homeless women , human rights , India , India women , married woman india , metered , new delhi , poverty , societal norms , vgw , violence against women , wnn , WNN MDG Stories , women advocacy , women and children , women and conflict , Women and Education , women and violence , women in development , women without a professions , women 's rights , Women 's rights India", "Jennifer Gotrik -- WNN MDG Stories", "Manjali Bhagwandas has been struggling with domestic abuse in her marriage for nearly 14 years .", "She is now taking a stand against it for herself and her children .", "Image : Bethany Trueblood ( WNN ) NEW DELHI : Manjali Bhagwandas did n't know what to expect on her wedding day 14 years ago .", "She had been shown one photograph of the man with whom she was destined to spend the rest of her life .", "Prior to the wedding , all she knew about him was that he worked for an oil mill .", "When she was 18 , Manjali 's parents selected a 21-year-old man named Rakesh to be her husband .", "As part of the wedding ceremony , the groom 's parents were given a dowry of a black-and-white television , jewelry , a cabinet , and utensils .", "Two months after her wedding , Manjali was preparing dinner and relaxing in her home .", "Rakesh arrived home in the late afternoon , showered and took a walk by himself .", "When he returned , he approached Manjali and began hitting her repeatedly .", "He did not speak a single word .", "This day marked the beginning of physical abuse throughout the marriage .", "Dr. Ramani Sundaresan , a New Delhi psychotherapist , says she finds more abuse in arranged marriages than in love marriages .", "`` Nobody tells the wife that the man has a bad temper or abusive parents , '' she said .", "Manjali was scared and confused .", "She continued to be hit , by her husband 's hand or a wooden stick , without understanding why .", "Then her in-laws gave her an answer .", "Rakesh 's sister soon approached her with a rumor that someone had seen Manjali walking in the street hand-in-hand with another man without a headscarf on , which is a symbol of a married woman .", "`` Before marriage , everyone is really nice , really sweet ... After the marriage , the way you really are is what comes out , '' Manjali said .", "Manjali 's brother-in-law arrived in her home one day , immediately after her husband had just slapped her .", "Out of fear , she ran to him in search of comfort and relief , which he returned with a strong embrace .", "This only made Rakesh more jealous , insecure and angry .", "His suspicions of Manjali 's supposed affairs were multiplying , and so were her bruises .", "She says alcohol intensified his rage .", "In the beginning , Manjali lacked the means to make a move to a safer place .", "`` I could n't run away because it would be an insult to the family , '' she said .", "The beating and abuse never eased .", "Because of family ties and societal norms , running away would have put many more pressures on her .", "`` Women without a profession , without stability , will stay in bad marriages because they simply do n't see any other options , '' said Sundaresan , who works with many arranged marriage couples .", "Manjali gained strength as time went on and she began moving into her sister Veena 's slum in Delhi for months at a time .", "Rakesh would eventually apologize and they would move back in together as a family , although the issues with alcohol and abuse continued to resurface .", "During the course of the marriage , Manjali gave birth to three children who are now ages 13 , 11 and 7 .", "She wishes for them to have a good education .", "She has not yet thought about marrying off her kids .", "In recent months , Manjali was given the advice to never allow Rakesh inside the home when he has been drinking .", "She took the advice from her friend and , about six months ago , did not let her husband inside the house for one full month .", "He claimed to have quit drinking during this time .", "Her three children hoped their parents would work out their problems , and after expressing this , Manjali allowed Rakesh back in the home .", "For the following 10 weeks , Manjali did n't speak a word to Rakesh .", "The children took care of the communication between the two .", "Manjali began speaking to Rakesh at a family wedding so as to not create rumors or draw attention .", "They are currently on speaking terms and living together as a family .", "She now works as a sweeper in Delhi , while he works as a cleaner .", "Now , she keeps the family together for her kids .", "She would love if she had never gotten married and been given the chance to help the poor .", "`` There is a lot more to life than marriage , '' she said .", "`` Marriage is the worst part of my life ... It is the worst decision one could make . ''", "Manjali believes in destiny .", "She does n't resent her parents for arranging her marriage to an abusive man .", "She was destined , she says , to have an unhappy marriage .", "Jennifer Gotrik is a news-editorial student journalist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications ( U.S. ) who recently traveled to Delhi , India to get this story ."], "_citing_sentence": "It is therefore likely that there is more domestic violence within arranged marriages.", "_claim_name": "Women in arranged marriages in Europe are disproportionately likely to suffer abuse", "_doc_title": "India domestic abuse more common in \u2018arranged\u2019 marriages | wnn interviews global", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Monday 21 May 2012 09.42 EDT", "Last modified on Monday 21 May 2012 14.20 EDT", "The parents of a teenager murdered her because she failed to conform to their wishes for an arranged marriage and she allegedly `` brought shame '' on the family , a court has heard .", "Shafilea Ahmed , who was 17 when she died in September 2003 , was described as a westernised British girl of Pakistani origin at the start of her parents ' murder trial at Chester crown court .", "Her parents , Iftikhar Ahmed , 52 , a taxi driver , from Warrington , Cheshire , and his wife , Farzana , 49 , a housewife , are accused of murder .", "Shafilea 's badly decomposed remains were discovered by workmen in Sedgwick , Cumbria , five months after she disappeared in February 2004 , the jury was told .", "Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC told the jury on Monday morning that her parents had standards that she was `` reluctant to follow '' .", "In particular , like most 16 - or 17-year-old girls , she wanted boyfriends , Edis said , which caused intense pressure on the family .", "Her parents controlled her so she did n't have freedom of movement , the court heard .", "She ran away from home in 2002 and early 2003 , but always returned .", "In the year before she died , the prosecution said , her parents `` embarked on a campaign of domestic violence and abuse directed at her and designed to force her to conform so that she behaved in a way that was expected '' .", "`` The defendants had spent the best part of 12 months trying to crush her will , realised they were not going to succeed and finally killed her because she had dishonoured the family and brought shame on them . ''", "He said that when she went missing on 11 September she was n't reported missing until a week later , `` not by a member of her family '' , Edis said , `` but by a teacher '' .", "Edis said the prosecution alleges she was murdered by her parents at the family home on the night of 11-12 September 2003 .", "He told the court that Shafilea 's younger sister , Alesha , had witnessed the murder of her sister by her parents `` acting together '' , and later told police what she saw after she was arrested in 2010 for her part in a robbery at the family home .", "It was the final piece of the jigsaw for the police investigation , the prosecution said , as `` until that moment -LSB- it -RSB- had no direct evidence of murder '' .", "Edis said it was an extraordinary thing to accuse your parents of murder , to say that you were there and watched your parents murder your sister .", "He said for the last `` almost nine years , Alesha had lived under the most extraordinary of circumstances '' .", "After telling her friends in 2003 what had happened , Alesha soon retracted her comments and returned to the family unit , where she was brought back into `` silence and denial '' .", "It must have been a great strain because of her divided loyalties , the court heard .", "The court heard that Shafilea was `` recaptured or abducted '' by her father outside her school in February 2003 after she had run away from home .", "Edis said arranged marriages were perfectly acceptable in many communities , but said forced marriage was a completely different thing .", "He said the two defendants wanted an arranged marriage for their daughter but `` in the end it was going to require compulsion because she did n't want to do it '' .", "Shafilea , he said , was taken to Pakistan later in February 2003 and was `` appalled '' by the prospect of an arranged marriage to a man in rural Pakistan .", "She swallowed bleach at her grandparents ' house in Pakistan as an act of self-harm or out of desperation .", "When she returned to the UK , she was taken to hospital as an emergency case and needed regular treatment on a stricture of her oesophagus .", "He said no one else had caused Shafilea distress `` apart from her parents '' .", "The prosecution alleges that her parents also withdrew money from her bank account that she 'd saved from a part-time job .", "The Ahmeds deny murder and the trial continues ."], "_citing_sentence": "The stigma may also be the other way with the family feeling shame when their children reject their arrangements this in turn can lead to attempts at compulsion and even some cases like that of Shafilea Ahmed murder for the rejection of the marriage.", "_claim_name": "Individual Freedom", "_doc_title": "Shafilea Ahmed killed by parents for bringing shame on family, court hears | UK news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 9, "_topic_name": "This House would ban arranged marriages in EU countries"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Whether this satirical inscription on a Dutch innkeeper 's sign upon which a burial ground was painted had for its object mankind in general , or the rulers of states in particular , who are insatiable of war , or merely the philosophers who dream this sweet dream , it is not for us to decide .", "But one condition the author of this essay wishes to lay down .", "The practical politician assumes the attitude of looking down with great self-satisfaction on the political theorist as a pedant whose empty ideas in no way threaten the security of the state , inasmuch as the state must proceed on empirical principles ; so the theorist is allowed to play his game without interference from the worldly-wise statesman .", "Such being his attitude , the practical politician -- and this is the condition I make -- should at least act consistently in the case of a conflict and not suspect some danger to the state in the political theorist 's opinions which are ventured and publicly expressed without any ulterior purpose .", "By this clausula salvatoria the author desires formally and emphatically to deprecate herewith any malevolent interpretation which might be placed on his words .", "CONTAINING THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES", "FOR PERPETUAL PEACE AMONG STATES 1 .", "`` No Treaty of Peace Shall Be Held Valid in Which There Is", "Tacitly Reserved Matter for a Future War ''", "Otherwise a treaty would be only a truce , a suspension of hostilities but not peace , which means the end of all hostilities -- so much so that even to attach the word `` perpetual '' to it is a dubious pleonasm .", "The causes for making future wars ( which are perhaps unknown to the contracting parties ) are without exception annihilated by the treaty of peace , even if they should be dug out of dusty documents by acute sleuthing .", "When one or both parties to a treaty of peace , being too exhausted to continue warring with each other , make a tacit reservation ( reservatio mentalis ) in regard to old claims to be elaborated only at some more favorable opportunity in the future , the treaty is made in bad faith , and we have an artifice worthy of the casuistry of a Jesuit .", "Considered by itself , it is beneath the dignity of a sovereign , just as the readiness to indulge in this kind of reasoning is unworthy of the dignity of his minister .", "But if , in consequence of enlightened concepts of statecraft , the glory of the state is placed in its continual aggrandizement by whatever means , my conclusion will appear merely academic and pedantic .", "`` No Independent States , Large or Small , Shall Come under the", "Dominion of Another State by Inheritance , Exchange ,", "Purchase , or Donation ''", "A state is not , like the ground which it occupies , a piece of property ( patrimonium ) .", "It is a society of men whom no one else has any right to command or to dispose except the state itself .", "It is a trunk with its own roots .", "But to incorporate it into another state , like a graft , is to destroy its existence as a moral person , reducing it to a thing ; such incorporation thus contradicts the idea of the original contract without which no right over a people can be conceived .1", "Everyone knows to what dangers Europe , the only part of the world where this manner of acquisition is known , has been brought , even down to the most recent times , by the presumption that states could espouse one another ; it is in part a new kind of industry for gaining ascendancy by means of family alliances and without expenditure of forces , and in part a way of extending one 's domain .", "Also the hiring-out of troops by one state to another , so that they can be used against an enemy not common to both , is to be counted under this principle ; for in this manner the subjects , as though they were things to be manipulated at pleasure , are used and also used up .", "`` Standing Armies ( miles perpetuus ) Shall in Time Be Totally Abolished ''", "For they incessantly menace other states by their readiness to appear at all times prepared for war ; they incite them to compete with each other in the number of armed men , and there is no limit to this .", "For this reason , the cost of peace finally becomes more oppressive than that of a short war , and consequently a standing army is itself a cause of offensive war waged in order to relieve the state of this burden .", "Add to this that to pay men to kill or to be killed seems to entail using them as mere machines and tools in the hand of another ( the state ) , and this is hardly compatible with the rights of mankind in our own person .", "But the periodic and voluntary military exercises of citizens who thereby secure themselves and their country against foreign aggression are entirely different .", "The accumulation of treasure would have the same effect , for , of the three powers -- the power of armies , of alliances , and of money -- the third is perhaps the most dependable weapon .", "Such accumulation of treasure is regarded by other states as a threat of war , and if it were not for the difficulties in learning the amount , it would force the other state to make an early attack .", "`` National Debts Shall Not Be Contracted with a View to the", "External Friction of States ''", "This expedient of seeking aid within or without the state is above suspicion when the purpose is domestic economy ( e.g. , the improvement of roads , new settlements , establishment of stores against unfruitful years , etc. ) .", "But as an opposing machine in the antagonism of powers , a credit system which grows beyond sight and which is yet a safe debt for the present requirements -- because all the creditors do not require payment at one time -- constitutes a dangerous money power .", "This ingenious invention of a commercial people -LSB- England -RSB- in this century is dangerous because it is a war treasure which exceeds the treasures of all other states ; it can not be exhausted except by default of taxes ( which is inevitable ) , though it can be long delayed by the stimulus to trade which occurs through the reaction of credit on industry and commerce .", "This facility in making war , together with the inclination to do so on the part of rulers -- an inclination which seems inborn in human nature -- is thus a great hindrance to perpetual peace .", "Therefore , to forbid this credit system must be a preliminary article of perpetual peace all the more because it must eventually entangle many innocent states in the inevitable bankruptcy and openly harm them .", "They are therefore justified in allying themselves against such a state and its measures .", "`` No State Shall by Force Interfere with the Constitution or", "Government of Another State ''", "For what is there to authorize it to do so ?", "The offense , perhaps , which a state gives to the subjects of another state ?", "Rather the example of the evil into which a state has fallen because of its lawlessness should serve as a warning .", "Moreover , the bad example which one free person affords another as a scandalum acceptum is not an infringement of his rights .", "But it would be quite different if a state , by internal rebellion , should fall into two parts , each of which pretended to be a separate state making claim to the whole .", "To lend assistance to one of these can not be considered an interference in the constitution of the other state ( for it is then in a state of anarchy ) .", "But so long as the internal dissension has not come to this critical point , such interference by foreign powers would infringe on the rights of an independent people struggling with its internal disease ; hence it would itself be an offense and would render the autonomy of all states insecure .", "`` No State Shall , during War , Permit Such Acts of", "Hostility Which Would Make Mutual Confidence in the Subsequent Peace Impossible : Such Are the Employment of Assassins ( percussores ) , Poisoners ( venefici ) ,", "Breach of Capitulation , and Incitement to Treason ( perduellio ) in the Opposing State ''", "These are dishonorable stratagems .", "For some confidence in the character of the enemy must remain even in the midst of war , as otherwise no peace could be concluded and the hostilities would degenerate into a war of extermination ( bellum internecinum ) .", "War , however , is only the sad recourse in the state of nature ( where there is no tribunal which could judge with the force of law ) by which each state asserts its right by violence and in which neither party can be adjudged unjust ( for that would presuppose a juridical decision ) ; in lieu of such a decision , the issue of the conflict ( as if given by a so-called `` judgment of God '' ) decides on which side justice lies .", "But between states no punitive war ( bellum punitivum ) is conceivable , because there is no relation between them of master and servant .", "It follows that a war of extermination , in which the destruction of both parties and of all justice can result , would permit perpetual peace only in the vast burial ground of the human race .", "Therefore , such a war and the use of all means leading to it must be absolutely forbidden .", "But that the means cited do inevitably lead to it is clear from the fact that these infernal arts , vile in themselves , when once used would not long be confined to the sphere of war .", "Take , for instance , the use of spies ( uti exploratoribus ) .", "In this , one employs the infamy of others ( which can never be entirely eradicated ) only to encourage its persistence even into the state of peace , to the undoing of the very spirit of peace .", "Although the laws stated are objectively , i.e. , in so far as they express the intention of rulers , mere prohibitions ( leges prohibitivae ) , some of them are of that strict kind which hold regardless of circumstances ( leges strictae ) and which demand prompt execution .", "Others , like Nos. 2 , 3 , and 4 , while not exceptions from the rule of law , nevertheless are sub - jectively broader ( leges latae ) in respect to their observation , containing permission to delay their execution without , however , losing sight of the end .", "This permission does not authorize , under No. 2 , for example , delaying until doomsday ( or , as Augustus used to say , ad calendas Graecas ) the re-establishment of the freedom of states which have been deprived of it -- i.e. , it does not permit us to fail to do it , but it allows a delay to prevent precipitation which might injure the goal striven for .", "For the prohibition concerns only the manner of acquisition which is no longer permitted , but not the possession , which , though not bearing a requisite title of right , has nevertheless been held lawful in all states by the public opinion of the time ( the time of the putative acquisition ) .2 .", "CONTAINING THE DEFINITIVE ARTICLES", "FOR PERPETUAL PEACE AMONG STATES", "The state of peace among men living side by side is not the natural state ( status naturalis ) ; the natural state is one of war .", "This does not always mean open hostilities , but at least an unceasing threat of war .", "A state of peace , therefore , must be established , for in order to be secured against hostility it is not sufficient that hostilities simply be not committed ; and , unless this security is pledged to each by his neighbor ( a thing that can occur only in a civil state ) , each may treat his neighbor , from whom he demands this security , as an enemy .3", "FIRST DEFINITIVE ARTICLE FOR", "PERPETUAL PEACE `` The Civil Constitution of Every State Should Be Republican ''", "The only constitution which derives from the idea of the original compact , and on which all juridical legislation of a people must be based , is the republican .", "4 This constitution is established , firstly , by principles of the freedom of the members of a society ( as men ) ; secondly , by principles of dependence of all upon a single common legislation ( as subjects ) ; and , thirdly , by the law of their equality ( as citizens ) .", "The republican constitution , therefore , is , with respect to law , the one which is the original basis of every form of civil constitution .", "The only question now is : Is it also the one which can lead to perpetual peace ?", "The republican constitution , besides the purity of its origin ( having sprung from the pure source of the concept of law ) , also gives a favorable prospect for the desired consequence , i.e. , perpetual peace .", "The reason is this : if the consent of the citizens is required in order to decide that war should be declared ( and in this constitution it can not but be the case ) , nothing is more natural than that they would be very cautious in commencing such a poor game , decreeing for themselves all the calamities of war .", "Among the latter would be : having to fight , having to pay the costs of war from their own resources , having painfully to repair the devastation war leaves behind , and , to fill up the measure of evils , load themselves with a heavy national debt that would embitter peace itself and that can never be liquidated on account of constant wars in the future .", "But , on the other hand , in a constitution which is not republican , and under which the subjects are not citizens , a declaration of war is the easiest thing in the world to decide upon , because war does not require of the ruler , who is the proprietor and not a member of the state , the least sacrifice of the pleasures of his table , the chase , his country houses , his court functions , and the like .", "He may , therefore , resolve on war as on a pleasure party for the most trivial reasons , and with perfect indifference leave the justification which decency requires to the diplomatic corps who are ever ready to provide it .", "In order not to confuse the republican constitution with the democratic ( as is commonly done ) , the following should be noted .", "The forms of a state ( civitas ) can be divided either according to the persons who possess the sovereign power or according to the mode of administration exercised over the people by the chief , whoever he may be .", "The first is properly called the form of sovereignty ( forma imperii ) , and there are only three possible forms of it : autocracy , in which one , aristocracy , in which some associated together , or democracy , in which all those who constitute society , possess sovereign power .", "They may be characterized , respectively , as the power of a monarch , of the nobility , or of the people .", "The second division is that by the form of government ( forma regiminis ) and is based on the way in which the state makes use of its power ; this way is based on the constitution , which is the act of the general will through which the many persons become one nation .", "In this respect government is either republican or despotic .", "Republicanism is the political principle of the separation of the executive power ( the administration ) from the legislative ; despotism is that of the autonomous execution by the state of laws which it has itself decreed .", "Thus in a despotism the public will is administered by the ruler as his own will .", "Of the three forms of the state , that of democracy is , properly speaking , necessarily a despotism , because it establishes an executive power in which `` all '' decide for or even against one who does not agree ; that is , `` all , '' who are not quite all , decide , and this is a contradiction of the general will with itself and with freedom .", "Every form of government which is not representative is , properly speaking , without form .", "The legislator can unite in one and the same person his function as legislative and as executor of his will just as little as the universal of the major premise in a syllogism can also be the subsumption of the particular under the universal in the minor .", "And even though the other two constitutions are always defective to the extent that they do leave room for this mode of administration , it is at least possible for them to assume a mode of government conforming to the spirit of a representative system ( as when", "Frederick II at least said he was merely the first servant of the state ) .5 On the other hand , the democratic mode of government makes this impossible , since everyone wishes to be master .", "Therefore , we can say : the smaller the personnel of the government ( the smaller the number of rulers ) , the greater is their representation and the more nearly the constitution approaches to the possibility of republicanism ; thus the constitution may be expected by gradual reform finally to raise itself to republicanism .", "For these reasons it is more difficult for an aristocracy than for a monarchy to achieve the one completely juridical constitution , and it is impossible for a democracy to do so except by violent revolution .", "The mode of governments , 6 however , is incomparably more important to the people than the form of sovereignty , although much depends on the greater or lesser suitability of the latter to the end of -LSB- good -RSB- government .", "To conform to the concept of law , however , government must have a representative form , and in this system only a republican mode of government is possible ; without it , government is despotic and arbitrary , whatever the constitution may be .", "None of the ancient so-called `` republics '' knew this system , and they all finally and inevitably degenerated into despotism under the sovereignty of one , which is the most bearable of all forms of despotism .", "DEFINITIVE ARTICLE FOR A PERPETUAL PEACE `` The", "Law of Nations Shall be Founded on a", "Federation of Free States ''", "Peoples , as states , like individuals , may be judged to injure one another merely by their coexistence in the state of nature ( i.e. , while independent of external laws ) .", "Each of then , may and should for the sake of its own security demand that the others enter with it into a constitution similar to the civil constitution , for under such a constitution each can be secure in his right .", "This would be a league of nations , but it would not have to be a state consisting of nations .", "That would be contradictory , since a state implies the relation of a superior ( legislating ) to an inferior ( obeying ) , i.e. , the people , and many nations in one state would then constitute only one nation .", "This contradicts the presupposition , for here we have to weigh the rights of nations against each other so far as they are distinct states and not amalgamated into one .", "When we see the attachment of savages to their lawless freedom , preferring ceaseless combat to subjection to a lawful constraint which they might establish , and thus preferring senseless freedom to rational freedom , we regard it with deep contempt as barbarity , rudeness , and a brutish degradation of humanity .", "Accordingly , one would think that civilized people ( each united in a state ) would hasten all the more to escape , the sooner the better , from such a depraved condition .", "But , instead , each state places its majesty ( for it is absurd to speak of the majesty of the people ) in being subject to no external juridical restraint , and the splendor of its sovereign consists in the fact that many thousands stand at his command to sacrifice themselves for something that does not concern them and without his needing to place himself in the least danger .7 The chief difference between European and", "American savages lies in the fact that many tribes of the latter have been eaten by their enemies , while the former know how to make better use of their conquered enemies than to dine off them ; they know better how to use them to increase the number of their subjects and thus the quantity of instruments for even more extensive wars .", "When we consider the perverseness of human nature which is nakedly revealed in the uncontrolled relations between nations ( this perverseness being veiled in the state of civil law by the constraint exercised by government ) , we may well be astonished that the word `` law '' has not yet been banished from war politics as pedantic , and that no state has yet been bold enough to advocate this point of view .", "Up to the present , Hugo Grotius , Pufendorf , Vattel , and many other irritating comforters have been cited in justification of war , though their code , philosophically or diplomatically formulated , has not and can not have the least legal force , because states as such do not stand under a common external power .", "There is no instance on record that a state has ever been moved to desist from its purpose because of arguments backed up by the testimony of such great men .", "But the homage which each state pays ( at least in words ) to the concept of law proves that there is slumbering in man an even greater moral disposition to become master of the evil principle in himself ( which he can not disclaim ) and to hope for the same from others .", "Otherwise the word `` law '' would never be pronounced by states which wish to war upon one another ; it would be used only ironically , as a Gallic prince interpreted it when he said , `` It is the prerogative which nature has given the stronger that the weaker should obey him . ''", "States do not plead their cause before a tribunal ; war alone is their way of bringing suit .", "But by war and its favorable issue , in victory , right is not decided , and though by a treaty of peace this particular war is brought to an end , the state of war , of always finding a new pretext to hostilities , is not terminated .", "Nor can this be declared wrong , considering the fact that in this state each is the judge of his own case .", "Notwithstanding , the obligation which men in a lawless condition have under the natural law , and which requires them to abandon the state of nature , does not quite apply to states under the law of nations , for as states they already have an internal juridical constitution and have thus outgrown compulsion from others to submit to a more extended lawful constitution according to their ideas of right .", "This is true in spite of the fact that reason , from its throne of supreme moral legislating authority , absolutely condemns war as a legal recourse and makes a state of peace a direct duty , even though peace can not be established or secured except by a compact among nations .", "For these reasons there must be a league of a particular kind , which can be called a league of peace ( foedus pacificum ) , and which would be distinguished from a treaty of peace ( pactum pacis ) by the fact that the latter terminates only one war , while the former seeks to make an end of all wars forever .", "This league does not tend to any dominion over the power of the state but only to the maintenance and security of the freedom of the state itself and of other states in league with it , without there being any need for them to submit to civil laws and their compulsion , as men in a state of nature must submit .", "The practicability ( objective reality ) of this idea of federation , which should gradually spread to all states and thus lead to perpetual peace , can be proved .", "For if fortune directs that a powerful and enlightened people can make itself a republic , which by its nature must be inclined to perpetual peace , this gives a fulcrum to the federation with other states so that they may adhere to it and thus secure freedom under the idea of the law of nations .", "By more and more such associations , the federation may be gradually extended .", "We may readily conceive that a people should say , `` There ought to be no war among us , for we want to make ourselves into a state ; that is , we want to establish a supreme legislative , executive , and judiciary power which will reconcile our differences peaceably . ''", "But when this state says , `` There ought to be no war between myself and other states , even though I acknowledge no supreme legislative power by which our rights are mutually guaranteed , '' it is not at all clear on what I can base my confidence in my own rights unless it is the free federation , the surrogate of the civil social order , which reason necessarily associates with the concept of the law of nations -- assuming that something is really meant by the latter .", "The concept of a law of nations as a right to make war does not really mean anything , because it is then a law of deciding what is right by unilateral maxims through force and not by universally valid public laws which restrict the freedom of each one .", "The only conceivable meaning of such a law of nations might be that it serves men right who are so inclined that they should destroy each other and thus find perpetual peace in the vast grave that swallows both the atrocities and their perpetrators .", "For states in their relation to each other , there can not be any reasonable way out of the lawless condition which entails only war except that they , like individual men , should give up their savage ( lawless ) freedom , adjust themselves to the constraints of public law , and thus establish a continuously growing state consisting of various nations ( civitas gentium ) , which will ultimately include all the nations of the world .", "But under the idea of the law of nations they do not wish this , and reject in practice what is correct in theory .", "If all is not to be lost , there can be , then , in place of the positive idea of a world republic , only the negative surrogate of an alliance which averts war , endures , spreads , and holds back the stream of those hostile passions which fear the law , though such an alliance is in constant peril of their breaking loose again .8 Furor impius intus ... fremit horridus ore cruento ( Virgil ) .", "THIRD DEFINITIVE ARTICLE FOR A", "PERPETUAL PEACE `` The Law of World", "Citizenship Shall Be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality ''", "Here , as in the preceding articles , it is not a question of philanthropy but of right .", "Hospitality means the right of a stranger not to be treated as an enemy when he arrives in the land of another .", "One may refuse to receive him when this can be done without causing his destruction ; but , so long as he peacefully occupies his place , one may not treat him with hostility .", "It is not the right to be a permanent visitor that one may demand .", "A special beneficent agreement would be needed in order to give an outsider a right to become a fellow inhabitant for a certain length of time .", "It is only a right of temporary sojourn , a right to associate , which all men have .", "They have it by virtue of their common possession of the surface of the earth , where , as a globe , they can not infinitely disperse and hence must finally tolerate the presence of each other .", "Originally , no one had more right than another to a particular part of the earth .", "Uninhabitable parts of the earth -- the sea and the deserts -- divide this community of all men , but the ship and the camel ( the desert ship ) enable them to approach each other across these unruled regions and to establish communication by using the common right to the face of the earth , which belongs to human beings generally .", "The inhospitality of the inhabitants of coasts ( for instance , of the Barbary Coast ) in robbing ships in neighboring seas or enslaving stranded travelers , or the inhospitality of the inhabitants of the deserts ( for instance , the Bedouin Arabs ) who view contact with nomadic tribes as conferring the right to plunder them , is thus opposed to natural law , even though it extends the right of hospitality , i.e. , the privilege of foreign arrivals , no further than to conditions of the possibility of seeking to communicate with the prior inhabitants .", "In this way distant parts of the world can come into peaceable relations with each other , and these are finally publicly established by law .", "Thus the human race can gradually be brought closer and closer to a constitution establishing world citizenship .", "But to this perfection compare the inhospitable actions of the civilized and especially of the commercial states of our part of the world .", "The injustice which they show to lands and peoples they visit ( which is equivalent to conquering them ) is carried by them to terrifying lengths .", "America , the lands inhabited by the Negro , the Spice Islands , the Cape , etc. , were at the time of their discovery considered by these civilized intruders as lands without owners , for they counted the inhabitants as nothing .", "In East India ( Hindustan ) , under the pretense of establishing economic undertakings , they brought in foreign soldiers and used them to oppress the natives , excited widespread wars among the various states , spread famine , rebellion , perfidy , and the whole litany of evils which afflict mankind .", "China 9 and Japan ( Nippon ) , who have had experience with such guests , have wisely refused them entry , the former permitting their approach to their shores but not their entry , while the latter permit this approach to only one European people , the", "Dutch , but treat them like prisoners , not allowing them any communication with the inhabitants .", "The worst of this ( or , to speak with the moralist , the best ) is that all these outrages profit them nothing , since all these commercial ventures stand on the verge of collapse , and the Sugar Islands , that place of the most refined and cruel slavery , produces no real revenue except indirectly , only serving a not very praiseworthy purpose of furnishing sailors for war fleets and thus for the conduct of war in Europe .", "This service is rendered to powers which make a great show of their piety , and , while they drink injustice like water , they regard themselves as the elect in point of orthodoxy .", "Since the narrower or wider community of the peoples of the earth has developed so far that a violation of rights in one place is felt throughout the world , the idea of a law of world citizenship is no high-flown or exaggerated notion .", "It is a supplement to the unwritten code of the civil and international law , indispensable for the maintenance of the public human rights and hence also of perpetual peace .", "One can not flatter oneself into believing one can approach this peace except under the condition outlined here .", "Go to the", "First Supplement , `` Of the Guarantee for Perpetual Peace ''", "Go the the Second Supplement , `` Secret Article for Perpetual", "Appendix I , `` On the Opposition Between Morality and Politics With Respect to Perpetual Peace ''", "Go to Appendix II , `` Of the Harmony Which the Transcendental Concept of Public Right", "Established Between Morality and Politics '' 1 .", "A hereditary kingdom is not a state which can be inherited by another state , but the right to govern it can be inherited by another physical person .", "The state thereby acquires a ruler , but he , as a ruler ( i.e. , as one already possessing another realm ) , does not acquire the state .", "It has not without cause hitherto been doubted whether besides the commands ( leges praeceptivae ) and prohibitions ( leges prohibitivae ) there could also be permissive laws ( leges permissivae ) of pure reason .", "For laws as such contain a principle of objective practical necessity , while permission implies a principle of the practical contingency of certain actions .", "Hence a law of permission would imply constraint to an action to do that to which no one can be constrained .", "If the object of the law has the same meaning in both cases , this is a contradiction .", "But in permissive law , which is in question here , the prohibition refers only to the future mode of acquisition of a right ( e.g. , by succession ) , while the permission annuls this prohibition only with reference to the present possession .", "This possession , though only putative , may be held to be just ( possessio putative ) in the transition from the state of nature to a civil state , by virtue of a permissive law included under natural law , even though it is -LSB- strictly -RSB- illegal .", "But , as soon as it is recognized as illegal in the state of nature , a similar mode of acquisition in the subsequent civil state ( after this transition has occurred ) is forbidden , and this right to continuing possession would not hold if such a presumptive acquisition had taken place in the civil state .", "For in this case it would be an infringement which would have to cease as soon as its illegality was discovered .", "I have wished only to call the attention of the teachers of natural law to the concept of a lex permissive , which systematic reason affords , particularly since in civil ( statute ) law use is often made of it .", "But in the ordinary use of it , there is this difference : prohibitive law stands alone , while permission is not introduced into it as a limiting condition ( as it should be ) but counted among the exceptions to it .", "Then it is said , `` This or that is forbidden , except Nos. 1 , 2 , 3 , '' and so on indefinitely .", "These exceptions are added to the law only as an afterthought required by our groping around among cases as they arise , and not by any principle .", "Otherwise the conditions would have had to be introduced into the formula of the prohibition , and in this way it would itself have become a permissive law .", "It is , therefore , unfortunate that the subtle question proposed by the wise and acute Count von Windischgr\u00e4tz was never answered and soon consigned to oblivion , because it insisted on the point here discussed .", "For the possibility of a formula similar to those of mathematics is the only legitimate criterion of a consistent legislation , and without it the so-called ius certum must always remain a pious wish .", "Otherwise we shall have merely general laws ( which apply to a great number of cases ) , but no universal laws ( which apply to all cases ) as the concept of law seems to requires .", "We ordinarily assume that no one may act inimically toward another except when he has been actively injured by the other .", "This is quite correct if both are under civil law , for , by entering into such a state , they afford each other the requisite security through the sovereign which has power over both .", "Man ( or the people ) in the state of nature deprives me of this security and injures me , if he is near me , by this mere status of his , even though he does not injure me actively ( facto ) ; he does so by the lawlessness of his condition ( statu iniusto ) which constantly threatens me .", "Therefore , I can compel him either to enter with me into a state of civil law or to remove himself from my neighborhood .", "The postulate which is basic to all the following articles is : All men who can reciprocally influence each other must stand under some civil constitution .", "Every juridical constitution which concerns the person who stands under it is one of the following : ( 1 ) The constitution conforming to the civil law of men in a nation ( ius civitatis ) .", "( 2 ) The constitution conforming to the law of nations in their relation to one another ( ius gentium ) .", "( 3 ) The constitution conforming to the law of world citizenship , so far as men and states are considered as citizens of a universal state of men , in their external mutual relationships ( ius cosmopoliticum ) .", "This division is not arbitrary , being necessary in relation to the idea of perpetual peace .", "For if only one state were related to another by physical influence and were yet in a state of nature , war would necessarily follow , and our purpose here is precisely to free ourselves of war .", "Juridical ( and hence ) external freedom can not be defined , as is usual , by the privilege of doing anything one wills so long as he does not injure another .", "For what is a privilege ?", "It is the possibility of an action so far as one does not injure anyone by it .", "Then the definition would read :", "Freedom is the possibility of those actions by which one does no one an injury .", "One does another no injury ( he may do as he pleases ) only if he does another no injury -- an empty tautology .", "Rather , my external ( juridical ) freedom is to be defined as follows : It is the privilege to lend obedience to no external laws except those to which I could have given consent .", "Similarly , external ( juridical ) equality in a state is that relationship among the citizens in which no one can lawfully bind another without at the same time subjecting himself to the law by which he also can be bound .", "No definition of juridical dependence is needed , as this already lies in the concept of a state 's constitution as such .", "The validity of these inborn rights , which are inalienable and belong necessarily to humanity , is raised to an even higher level by the principle of the juridical relation of man to higher beings , for , if he believes in them , he regards himself by the same principles as a citizen of a supersensuous world .", "For in what concerns my freedom , I have no obligation with respect to divine law , which can be acknowledged by my reason alone , except in so far as I could have given my consent to it .", "Indeed , it is only through the law of freedom of my own reason that I frame a concept of the divine will .", "With regard to the most sublime reason in the world that I can think of , with the exception of God -- say , the great Aeon -- when I do my duty in my post as he does in his , there is no reason under the law of equality why obedience to duty should fall only to me and the right to command only to him .", "The reason why this principle of equality does not pertain to our relation to God ( as the principle of freedom does ) is that this Being is the only one to which the concept of duty does not apply .", "But with respect to the right of equality of all citizens as subjects , the question of whether a hereditary nobility may be tolerated turns upon the answer to the question as to whether the pre-eminent rank granted by the state to one citizen over another ought to precede merit or follow it .", "Now it is obvious that , if rank is associated with birth , it is uncertain whether merit ( political skill and integrity ) will also follow ; hence it would be as if a favorite without any merit were given command .", "The general will of the people would never agree to this in the original contract , which is the principle of all law , for a nobleman is not necessarily a noble man .", "With regard to the nobility of office ( as we might call the rank of the higher magistracy ) which one must earn by merit , this rank does not belong to the person as his property ; it belongs to his post , and equality is not thereby infringed , because when a man quits his office he renounces the rank it confers and re-enters into the class of his fellows .", "The lofty epithets of `` the Lord 's anointed ... .", "the executor of the divine will on earth , '' and `` the vicar of God , '' which have been lavished on sovereigns , have been frequently censured as crude and intoxicating flatteries .", "But this seems to me without good reason .", "Far from inspiring a monarch with pride , they should rather render him humble , providing he possesses some intelligence ( which we must assume ) .", "They should make him reflect that he has taken an office too great for man , an office which is the holiest God has ordained on earth , to be the trustee of the rights of men , and that he must always stand in dread of having in some way injured this `` apple of God 's eye . ''", "Mallet du Pan , in his pompous but empty and hollow language , pretends to have become convinced , after long experience , of the truth of Pope 's well-known saying : `` For forms of government let fools contest :", "Whate'er is best administered , is best . ''", "If that means that the best-administered state is the state that is best administered , he has , to make use of Swift 's expression , `` cracked a nut to come at a maggot . ''", "But if it means that the best-administered state also has the best mode of government , i.e. , the best constitution , then it is thoroughly wrong , for examples of good governments prove nothing about the form of government .", "Whoever reigned better than a Titus and a Marcus Aurelius ?", "Yet one was succeeded by a Domitian and the other by a Commodus .", "This could never have happened under a good constitution , for their unworthiness for this post was known early enough and also the power of the ruler was sufficient to have excluded them .", "A Bulgarian prince gave the following answer to the Greek emperor who good-naturedly suggested that they settle their difference by a duel : `` A smith who has tongs wo n't pluck the glowing iron from the fire with his bare hands . ''", "It would not ill become a people that has just terminated a war to decree , besides a day of thanksgiving , a day of fasting in order to ask heaven , in the name of the state , for forgiveness for the great iniquity which the human race still goes on to perpetuate in refusing to submit to a lawful constitution in their relation to other peoples , preferring , from pride in their independence , to make use of the barbarous means of war even though they are not able to attain what is sought , namely , the rights of a single state .", "The thanksgiving for victory won during the war , the hymns which are sung to the God of Hosts ( in good Israelitic manner ) , stand in equally sharp contrast to the moral idea of the Father of Men .", "For they not only show a sad enough indifference to the way in which nations seek their rights , but in addition express a joy in having annihilated a multitude of men or their happiness .", "To call this great empire by the name it gives itself , namely `` China '' and not `` Sina '' or anything like that , we have only to refer to -LSB- A. -RSB- Georgi , Alphabetum Tibetanum , pp. 651-54 , especially note b .", "According to the note of Professor -LSB- Johann", "Eberhard -RSB- Fischer of Petersburg , there is no definite word used in that country as its name ; the most usual word is `` Kin , '' i.e. , gold ( which the", "Tibetans call `` Ser '' ) .", "Accordingly , the emperor is called `` the king of gold , '' that is , king of the most splendid country in the world .", "In the empire itself , this word may be pronounced Chin , while because of the ` guttural sound the Italian missionaries may have called it Kin .", "It is clear that what the Romans called the `` Land of Seres '' was China ; the silk , however , was sent to Europe across Greater Tibet ( through Lesser Tibet ,", "Bukhara , Persia , and then on ) .", "This suggests many reflections concerning the antiquity of this wonderful state , in comparison with that of Hindustan at the time of its union with Tibet and thence with Japan .", "We see , on the contrary , that the name `` Sina '' or `` Tshina , '' said to have been used by the neighbors of the country , suggests nothing .", "Perhaps we can also explain the very ancient but never well-known intercourse of Europe with Tibet by considering the shout , ( ` Konx Ompax ' ) , of the hierophants in the Eleusinian mysteries , as we learn from Hysichius ( cf. Travels of the Young Anacharsis ,", "Part V , p. 447 ff . ) .", "For , according to Georgi , op .", "cit. , the word Concoia means God , which has a striking resemblance to Konx .", "Pah-cio ( ibid. , 520 ) , which the Greeks may well have pronounced pax , means the promulgator legis , divinity pervading the whole of nature ( also called Cencresi , p. 177 ) .", "Om , however , which La Croze translates as benedictus ( `` blessed '' ) , when applied to divinity perhaps means `` the beatified '' ( p. 507 ) .", "P. Franz Orazio often asked the Lamas of Tibet what they understood by `` God '' ( Concoia ) and always got the answer , `` It is the assembly of saints '' ( i.e. , the assembly of the blessed ones who , according to the doctrine of rebirth , finally , after many wanderings through bodies of all kinds , have returned to", "God , or Burchane ; that is to say , they are transmigrated souls , beings to be worshiped , p. 223 ) .", "That mysterious expression Konx Ompax may well mean `` the holy '' ( Konx ) , the blessed ( Om ) , the wise ( Pax ) , the supreme being pervading the world ( nature personified ) .", "Its use in the", "Greek mysteries may indicate monotheism among the epopts in contrast to the polytheism of the people ( though Orazio scented atheism there ) .", "How that mysterious word came to the Greeks via Tibet can perhaps be explained in this way ; and the early traffic of Europe with", "China , also through Tibet , and perhaps earlier than communication with", "Hindustan , is made probable ."], "_citing_sentence": "The theory of the democratic peace goes back to Immanuel Kant's essay 'Perpetual Peace', which he published in 1795; perpetual peace refers to a state of affairs where peace is permanently established over a certain area, as the Roman and British Empires attempted to do during their respective periods of dominance in history.", "_claim_name": "Democracies are more peaceful countries, both domestically and internationally, and so it is in our interests to promote it worldwide", "_doc_title": "Immanuel Kant, \"Perpetual Peace\"", "_labeled_lineIDs": [67]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["`` hardliners '' `` moderates '' student leaders intellectuals", "The Tiananmen Square protests , commonly known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident ( \u516d\u56db\u4e8b\u4ef6 ) -LSB- a -RSB- were student-led demonstrations in Beijing in 1989 .", "More broadly , it refers to the popular national movement inspired by the Beijing protests during that period , sometimes referred to as the '89 Democracy Movement ( \u516b\u4e5d\u6c11\u8fd0 ) .", "The protests were forcibly suppressed after the government declared martial law .", "In what became widely known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre , troops with assault rifles and tanks killed at least several hundreds of student demonstrators trying to block the military 's advance towards Tiananmen Square .", "The number of civilian deaths has been estimated at anywhere between hundreds and thousands .", "Set against a backdrop of rapid economic and social changes in post Mao-era China , the protests reflected anxieties about the country 's future in the popular consciousness and among the political elite .", "The reforms of the 1980s had led a nascent market economy which benefited some groups but seriously disaffected others ; the one-party political system also faced a challenge of legitimacy .", "Common grievances at the time included inflation , limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy , and restrictions on political participation .", "The students drew upon Western-inspired ideals and called for democracy , greater accountability , freedom of the press , and freedom of speech , though they were loosely organized and their goals varied .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- -LSB- 3 -RSB- At the height of the protests , about a million people assembled in the Square .", "As the protests developed , the authorities veered back and forth between conciliatory and hardline tactics , exposing deep divisions within the party leadership .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- By May , a student-led hunger strike galvanized support for the demonstrators around the country and the protests spread to some 400 cities .", "LSB- 6 -RSB- Ultimately , China 's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and other party elders believed the protests to be a political threat , and resolved to use force .", "LSB- 7 -RSB- Party authorities declared martial law on May 20 , and mobilized as many as 300,000 troops to Beijing .", "The Chinese government was widely condemned internationally for the use of force .", "Western countries imposed economic sanctions and arms embargoes .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- The Chinese government initially condemned the protests as a counter-revolutionary riot .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- -LSB- 10 -RSB- In the aftermath of the crackdown , the government conducted widespread arrests of protesters and their supporters , suppressed other protests around China , expelled foreign journalists and strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic press .", "The police and internal security forces were strengthened .", "Officials deemed sympathetic to the protests were demoted or purged .", "LSB- 11 -RSB- More broadly , the suppression temporarily halted the policies of liberalization in the 1980s .", "Considered a watershed event , the protests also set the limits on political expression in China well into the 21st century .", "Its memory is widely associated with questioning the legitimacy of Communist Party rule , and remains one of the most sensitive and most widely censored political topics on mainland China .", "Ly\u00f2u-Sz \u0300 Shr\u0300jy\u00e0n In the Chinese language , the incident is most commonly known as the June Fourth Incident. , -LSB- 14 -RSB- or colloquially as June Fourth ( Chinese : \u516d\u56db ; pinyin : Li\u00f9-S\u00ec ) .", "The nomenclature of the former is consistent with the customary names of the other two great protests that occurred in Tiananmen Square : the May Fourth Movement of 1919 , and the April Fifth Movement of 1976 .", "`` June Fourth '' refers to the day on which the People 's Liberation Army cleared Tiananmen Square of protesters , although actual operations began on the evening of June 3 .", "Some use the `` June Fourth '' designation solely to refer to the killings carried out by the Army , while others use it to refer to the entire movement .", "Names such as June Fourth Movement ( Chinese : \u516d\u56db\u8fd0\u52a8 ; pinyin : Li\u00f9-S\u00ec Y\u00f9nd\u00f2ng ) and '89 Democracy Movement ( Chinese : \u516b\u4e5d\u6c11\u8fd0 ; pinyin : B\u0101-Ji\u01d4 M\u00edny\u00f9n ) are used to describe the event in its entirety .", "Outside mainland China , and among circles critical of the crackdown within mainland China , it is commonly referred to in Chinese as June Fourth Massacre ( Chinese : \u516d\u56db\u5c60\u6740 ; pinyin : Li\u00f9-S\u00ec T\u00fash\u0101 ) and June Fourth Crackdown ( Chinese : \u516d\u56db\u9547\u538b ; pinyin : Li\u00f9-S\u00ec Zh\u00e8ny\u0101 ) .", "To bypass internet censorship in China , which uniformly considers all the above-mentioned names too ` Sensitive ' for search engines and public forums , alternative names have sprung up to describe the events on the Internet , such as May 35th , VIIV ( Roman numerals for 6 and 4 ) and `` Eight Squared '' ( i.e. , 82 = 64 ) .", "The government of the People 's Republic of China have used numerous names for the event since 1989 , gradually reducing the intensity of terminology applied .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- As the events were unfolding , it was labelled a `` counterrevolutionary riot '' , which was later changed to simply `` riot '' , followed by `` political storm '' , and finally the leadership settled on the more neutralized phrase `` political turmoil between the Spring and Summer of 1989 '' , which it uses to this day .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- -LSB- 15 -RSB- In English , the terms Tiananmen Square Massacre , Tiananmen Square Protests or Tiananmen Square Crackdown are often used to describe the series of events .", "However , much of the violence did not actually happen in Tiananmen , but outside the square in the city of Beijing near the Muxidi area .", "LSB- 7 -RSB- The term also gives a misleading impression that demonstrations only happened in Beijing , when in fact they occurred in many cities throughout China .", "LSB- 7 -RSB- ( Examples include Chengdu from the account of Louisa Lim 's People 's Republic of Amnesia ) .", "The Cultural Revolution ended with chairman Mao Zedong 's death in 1976 .", "The movement , spearheaded by Mao , caused severe damage to the country 's economic and social fabric .", "The country was mired in poverty as economic production slowed or stopped .", "Political ideology was paramount in the lives of ordinary people as well as the inner workings of the Communist Party itself .", "At the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee in December 1978 , Deng Xiaoping emerged as China 's leader .", "Deng launched a comprehensive program to reform the Chinese economy .", "Within the span of several years , the direction of the country had shifted in its entirety .", "The focus on ideological purity was gone , replaced by a full-on drive to achieve material prosperity .", "To run his reform agenda , Deng promoted his allies to top government and party posts .", "Hu Yaobang was appointed the General Secretary of the CPC in February 1980 , and Zhao Ziyang was named as Premier of the State Council in September .", "The reforms aimed to decrease the role of the state in the economy and gradually introduced private forms of production in agriculture and industry .", "By 1981 , 73 % of rural farms had de-collectivized and 80 % of state owned enterprises were permitted to retain profits .", "Within a few years , production increased by leaps and bounds , and poverty was reduced dramatically .", "While the reforms were generally well received by the public , concerns grew over a series of social problems that the changes brought about , including corruption and nepotism by elite party bureaucrats .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- The state-mandated pricing system , in place since the 1950s , had long kept prices stable at low levels .", "The initial reforms created a two-tier system where some prices were fixed while others were allowed to fluctuate .", "In a market with chronic shortages , this allowed people with powerful connections to buy goods at low prices and sell at market prices .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- In addition , the money supply had expanded too fast .", "At least a third of factories were unprofitable .", "The government tightened the money supply in 1988 , leaving much of the economy without loans .", "Following the 1988 Beidaihe meeting , the party leadership under Deng agreed to a transition to a market-based pricing system .", "LSB- 19 -RSB- -LSB- 20 -RSB- News of the relaxation of price controls triggered waves of cash withdrawals , buying and hoarding all over China .", "LSB- 21 -RSB- The government panicked and rescinded the price reforms in less than two weeks , but its impact was pronounced for a much longer period of time .", "Official indices report a Consumer Price Index increase of 30 % in Beijing between 1987 -- 88 , leading to panic among salaried workers that they could no longer afford staple goods .", "LSB- 22 -RSB- Moreover , in the new market economy , unprofitable state-owned enterprises were pressured to cut costs .", "The `` iron rice bowl '' , i.e. , job security and a host of social benefits that come with it , ranging from medical care to subsidized housing , were at risk for a vast segment of the population .", "Reformist leaders envisioned in 1978 that intellectuals would play a leading role in guiding the country through reforms , but this did not happen as planned .", "LSB- 24 -RSB- Despite the opening of new universities and increased enrollment , -LSB- 25 -RSB- the state-directed education system did not produce enough graduates to meet increased market demand in the areas of agriculture , light industry , services , and foreign investment .", "LSB- 26 -RSB- The job market was especially limited for students specializing in social sciences and the humanities .", "LSB- 27 -RSB- Moreover , private companies no longer needed to accept students assigned to them by the state , and many high-paying jobs were offered on the basis of nepotism and favoritism .", "LSB- 28 -RSB- Gaining a good state-assigned placement meant navigating a highly inefficient bureaucracy that gave power to officials who had little expertise in their area of jurisdiction .", "LSB- 22 -RSB- Facing a dismal job market and limited chances of going abroad , intellectuals and students had a greater vested interest in political issues .", "Small study groups , such as the `` Democracy Salon '' and the `` Lawn Salon '' ( Caodi Shalong ) , began appearing on Beijing university campuses .", "LSB- 29 -RSB- These organizations motivated the students to get involved politically .", "At the same time , the party 's nominally socialist ideology faced a legitimacy crisis as it gradually adopted capitalist practices .", "LSB- 30 -RSB- Private enterprise gave rise to profiteers who took advantage of lax regulations , and who often flaunted their wealth in front of the ` have-nots ' of society .", "LSB- 22 -RSB- Popular discontent was brewing over unfair wealth distribution .", "Greed , not skill , appeared to be the most crucial factor of success .", "There was widespread public disillusionment over the country 's future .", "People wanted change , yet the power to define ` the correct path ' continued to rest solely in the hands of the unelected government .", "The comprehensive and wide-ranging reforms created political differences over the pace of marketization and the control over the ideology that came with it , opening a deep chasm within the central leadership .", "The reformers ( `` the right '' , led by Hu Yaobang ) favoured political liberalization and a plurality of ideas as a channel to voice popular discontent , and pressed for further reforms .", "The conservatives ( `` the left '' , led by Chen Yun ) said that the reforms had gone too far , and advocated for a return to greater state control to ensure social stability and to better align with the party 's socialist ideology .", "Both sides needed the backing of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to carry out important policy decisions .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- In mid-1986 , astrophysics professor Fang Lizhi , who had returned from a tenure at Princeton University , began a personal tour around universities in China , speaking about liberty , human rights , and separation of powers .", "Fang was part of a wider undercurrent within the elite intellectual community that China 's poverty and underdevelopment as well as the disaster of the Cultural Revolution was the direct result of an authoritarian political system and the rigid planned economy that came with it .", "LSB- 32 -RSB- The view that political reform was the only answer to China 's on-going problems gained widespread appeal amongst students , as Fang 's recorded speeches became widely circulated all over the country .", "LSB- 33 -RSB- In response , Deng Xiaoping warned that Fang was blindly worshipping Western lifestyles , capitalism , and multi-party systems , while undermining China 's socialist ideology , traditional values , and the party 's leadership .", "LSB- 33 -RSB- Inspired by Fang and other ` people-power ' movements around the world , in December 1986 , student demonstrators staged protests against the slow pace of reform .", "The issues were wide-ranging , and included demands for economic liberalization , democracy , and rule of law .", "LSB- 34 -RSB- While the protests were initially contained in Hefei , where Fang lived , it quickly spread to Shanghai , Beijing and other major cities .", "The central leadership was alarmed by the protests , and accused the students of instigating Cultural Revolution-style turmoil .", "General secretary Hu Yaobang was blamed for taking a soft attitude and mishandling the protests , thus undermining social stability .", "He was denounced thoroughly by conservatives .", "Hu was forced to resign as general secretary on January 16 , 1987 .", "Following his resignation , the party began the `` Anti-bourgeois liberalization Campaign '' , taking aim at Hu , political liberalization and Western-inspired ideas in general .", "LSB- 35 -RSB- The Campaign put a stop to student protests and tightened the political environment , but Hu remained popular with progressives within the party , intellectuals , and students .", "When Hu Yaobang suddenly died of a heart attack on April 15 , 1989 , students reacted strongly .", "Hu 's death provided the initial impetus for students to gather in large numbers .", "LSB- 37 -RSB- In university campuses , many posters appeared eulogizing Hu , calling for a revival of Hu 's legacy .", "Within days , most posters were writing about broader political issues , such as freedom of the press , democracy , and corruption .", "LSB- 38 -RSB- Small spontaneous gatherings to mourn Hu began on April 15 around Monument to the People 's Heroes at Tiananmen Square .", "On the same day , many students at Peking University ( PKU ) and Tsinghua University erected shrines , and joined the gathering in Tiananmen Square in a piecemeal fashion .", "Organized student gatherings also began on a small scale in Xi'an and Shanghai on April 16 .", "On April 17 , students at the China University of Political Science and Law ( CUPL ) made a large wreath to commemorate Hu Yaobang .", "Its laying-party was on April 17 and a larger-than-expected crowd assembled .", "LSB- 39 -RSB- At five p.m. , 500 CUPL students reached the eastern gate of the Great Hall of the People , near Tiananmen Square , to mourn Hu .", "The gathering featured speakers from various backgrounds giving public orations commemorating Hu and discussing social problems .", "However , it was soon deemed obstructive to the operation of the Great Hall , so police intervened and attempted to disperse the students by persuasion .", "Starting on the night of April 17 , three thousand PKU students marched from the campus towards Tiananmen Square , and soon nearly a thousand students from Tsinghua joined .", "Upon arrival , they soon joined forces with those already gathered at the Square .", "As its size grew , the gathering gradually evolved into a protest , as students began to draft a list of pleas and suggestions ( Seven Demands ) for the government :", "On the morning of April 18 , students remained in the Square .", "Some gathered around the Monument to the People 's Heroes singing patriotic songs and listening to impromptu speeches by student organizers , others gathered at the Great Hall .", "Meanwhile , a few thousand students gathered at Xinhua Gate , the entrance to Zhongnanhai , the seat of the party leadership , where they demanded dialogue with the leadership .", "Police restrained the students from entering the compound .", "Students then staged a sit-in .", "On April 20 , most students had been persuaded to leave Xinhua Gate .", "To disperse about 200 students that remained , police employed batons ; minor clashes were reported .", "Many students felt they were abused by the police , and rumours about police brutality spread quickly .", "The Xinhua Gate incident angered students on campus , where those who were not politically active decided to join the protests .", "LSB- 42 -RSB- Also on this date , a group of workers calling themselves the `` Beijing Workers ' Autonomous Federation '' issued two handbills challenging the central leadership .", "Hu 's state funeral took place on April 22 .", "On the evening of April 21 , some 100,000 students marched on Tiananmen Square , ignoring orders from Beijing municipal authorities that the Square was to be closed off for the funeral .", "The funeral , which took place inside the Great Hall and attended by the leadership , was broadcast live to the students .", "General secretary Zhao Ziyang delivered the eulogy .", "The funeral seemed rushed , and only lasted 40 minutes , as emotions ran high in the Square .", "Security cordoned off the east entrance to the Great Hall , but several students pressed forward .", "Three of these students knelt on the steps of the Great Hall to present a petition and demanded to see Premier Li Peng .", "LSB- 46 -RSB- However , no leaders emerged from the Great Hall , leaving the students disappointed and angry ; some called for a class boycott .", "From April 21 to 23 , students began organizing under the banners of formal organizations .", "On April 23 , the `` Beijing Students ' Autonomous Federation '' ( also known as `` the Union '' ) was formed .", "It elected CUPL student Zhou Yongjun as chair ; Wang Dan and Wu'erkaixi also emerged as leaders .", "From this vantage point , the Union called for a general class boycott at all Beijing universities .", "Such an independent organization operating outside of party jurisdiction alarmed the leadership .", "On April 22 , near dusk , serious rioting broke out in Changsha and Xi'an .", "In Xi'an , arson from rioters destroyed cars and houses , and looting occurred in shops near the city 's Xihua Gate .", "In Changsha , 38 stores were ransacked by looters .", "Over 350 people were arrested in both cities .", "In Wuhan , university students organized protests against the provincial government .", "As the situation became more volatile nationally , Zhao Ziyang called numerous meetings of the Politburo Standing Committee ( PSC ) .", "Zhao stressed three points : discourage students from further protests and ask them to go back to class , use all measures necessary to combat rioting , and open forms of dialogue with students at different levels of government .", "LSB- 48 -RSB- Premier Li Peng called upon Zhao to condemn protestors and recognize the need to take more serious action .", "Zhao dismissed Li 's views .", "Despite calls for him to remain in Beijing , Zhao left for a scheduled state visit to North Korea on April 23 .", "Zhao 's departure to North Korea left Li Peng as the acting executive authority in Beijing .", "On April 24 , Li Peng and the PSC met with Beijing Party Secretary Li Ximing and mayor Chen Xitong to gauge the situation at the Square .", "The municipal officials wanted a quick resolution to the crisis , and framed the protests as a conspiracy to overthrow China 's political system and major party leaders , including Deng Xiaoping .", "In Zhao 's absence , the PSC agreed that firm action against protesters must be taken .", "LSB- 49 -RSB- On the morning of April 25 , President Yang Shangkun and Premier Li Peng met with Deng at the latter 's residence .", "Deng endorsed a hardline stance and said an appropriate ` warning ' must be disseminated via mass media to curb further demonstrations .", "LSB- 50 -RSB- The meeting firmly established the first official evaluation of the protests from the leadership , and highlighted Deng 's having ` final say ' on important issues .", "Li Peng subsequently ordered Deng 's views to be drafted as a communique and issued to all high-level Communist Party officials in an effort to mobilize the party apparatus against protesters .", "On April 26 , the party 's official newspaper People 's Daily issued a front-page editorial titled `` It is necessary to take a clear-cut stand against disturbances . ''", "The language in the editorial effectively branded the student movement to be an anti-party , anti-government revolt .", "LSB- 51 -RSB- The article enraged students , who interpreted it as a direct indictment on the protests and its cause .", "The editorial backfired .", "Instead of scaring students into submission , it squarely antagonized the students against the government .", "LSB- 52 -RSB- The polarizing nature of the editorial made it a major sticking point for the remainder of the protests .", "LSB- 50 -RSB- The editorial evoked memories of the Cultural Revolution , employing similar rhetoric as that used during the 1976 Tiananmen Incident -- an event that was initially branded an anti-government conspiracy but was later rehabilitated as `` patriotic '' under Deng 's leadership .", "Organized by the Union , on April 27 some 50,000 -- 100,000 students from all Beijing universities marched through the streets of the capital to Tiananmen Square , breaking through lines set up by police , and receiving widespread public support along the way , particularly from factory workers .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- The student leaders , eager to show the patriotic nature of the movement , also toned down anti-Communist slogans , choosing to present a message of `` anti-corruption , anti-cronyism '' but `` pro-party '' .", "LSB- 52 -RSB- In a twist of irony , student factions who genuinely called for the overthrow of the Communist Party gained traction as a result of April 26 Editorial .", "The stunning success of the March forced the government into making concessions and meeting with student representatives .", "On April 29 , State Council spokesman Yuan Mu ( \u8881\u6728 ) met with appointed representatives of government-sanctioned student associations .", "While the talks discussed a wide range of issues , including the editorial , the Xinhua Gate incident , and freedom of the press , they achieved few substantive results .", "Independent student leaders such as Wuer Kaixi refused to attend .", "The government 's tone grew increasingly conciliatory as Zhao Ziyang returned from Pyongyang on April 30 and resumed his executive authority .", "In Zhao 's view , the hardliner approach was not working , and concession was the only alternative .", "LSB- 54 -RSB- Zhao asked that the press be opened to report the movement positively , and delivered two sympathetic speeches on 3 -- 4 May .", "In the speeches , Zhao said that the student 's concerns about corruption were legitimate , and that the student movement was patriotic in nature .", "LSB- 55 -RSB- The speeches essentially negated the message presented by April 26 Editorial .", "While some 100,000 students marched on the streets of Beijing on 4 May to commemorate the May Fourth Movement and repeat demands from earlier marches , many students were satisfied with the government 's concessions .", "LSB- 56 -RSB- On 4 May , all Beijing universities except PKU and BNU announced the end of the class boycott .", "Subsequently , the majority of students began to lose interest in the movement .", "The leadership was divided on how to respond to the movement as early as mid-April .", "After Zhao Ziyang 's return from North Korea , the divisions intensified .", "Those who supported continued dialogue and a soft approach with students rallied behind Zhao Ziyang , while hardliner conservatives who opposed the movement rallied behind Premier Li Peng .", "Zhao and Li clashed at a PSC meeting on 1 May .", "Li maintained that the need for stability overrides all else , while Zhao said that the party should show support for increased democracy and transparency .", "Zhao pushed the case for further dialogue .", "LSB- 55 -RSB- In preparation for dialogue , the Autonomous Student Union elected representatives to a formal Dialogue Delegation .", "However , the Union leaders were reluctant to let the Delegation unilaterally take control of the movement .", "LSB- 57 -RSB- Facing internal discord and declining engagement from the student body at large , a group of charismatic leaders , including Wang Dan and Wu'erkaixi , called for more radical measures to regain momentum .", "They believed that the government 's ` dialogue ' was merely a way to trick the students into submission .", "They began mobilizing students for a hunger strike on 11 May .", "Students began the hunger strike on 13 May , two days prior to the highly publicized state visit by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev .", "Knowing that the welcoming ceremony for Gorbachev was scheduled to be held on the Square , student leaders wanted to use the hunger strike there as a bargaining chip to force the government into meeting their demands .", "Moreover , the hunger strike gained widespread sympathy from the population at large and earned the student movement the moral high ground that it sought .", "LSB- 58 -RSB- By the afternoon of 13 May , some 300,000 were gathered at the Square .", "LSB- 59 -RSB- Inspired by the course of events in Beijing , protests and strikes began at universities in other cities , with many students traveling to Beijing to join the demonstration .", "Generally , the demonstration at Tiananmen Square was well-ordered , with daily marches of students from various Beijing-area colleges displaying their solidarity with the class boycott and with the demands of the protest .", "The students sang The Internationale , the world socialist anthem , on their way to , and within , the square .", "Afraid that the movement would now spin out of control , Deng Xiaoping asked that the Square be cleared for the Gorbachev visit .", "Executing Deng 's request , Zhao used a soft approach , and directed his subordinates to coordinate negotiations with students immediately .", "LSB- 58 -RSB- Zhao believed he could appeal to the students ' patriotism , and that the students understood signs of internal turmoil during the Sino-Soviet summit would embarrass the nation ( not just the government ) .", "On the morning of 13 May , Yan Mingfu , head of the Party 's United Front , called an emergency meeting , gathering prominent student leaders and intellectuals , including Liu Xiaobo , Chen Ziming and Wang Juntao .", "LSB- 61 -RSB- Yan said the government was prepared to hold immediate dialogue with student representatives , but that the Tiananmen welcoming ceremony for Gorbachev would be cancelled whether the students withdraw or not -- in effect removing the bargaining power the students thought they possessed .", "The announcement sent the student leadership into disarray .", "Press restrictions were loosened significantly during early to mid May .", "State media began broadcasting footage sympathetic to protesters and the movement , including the hunger strikers .", "On 14 May , intellectuals led by Dai Qing gained permission from Hu Qili to bypass government censorship and air the progressive views of the nation 's intellectuals on Guangming Daily .", "The intellectuals then issued an urgent appeal for the students to leave the Square in an attempt to deescalate the conflict .", "LSB- 59 -RSB- Many students , however , believed that the intellectuals were speaking for the government , and refused to budge .", "That evening , formal negotiations took place between government representatives led by Yan Mingfu and student representatives led by Shen Tong and Xiang Xiaoji .", "Yan affirmed the patriotic nature of the student movement and pleaded for the students to withdraw from the Square .", "LSB- 62 -RSB- While Yan 's apparent sincerity for compromise satisfied some students , the meeting grew increasingly chaotic as competing student factions relayed uncoordinated and incoherent demands to the leadership .", "Shortly after student leaders learned that the event had not been broadcast nationally as initially promised by the government , the meeting fell apart .", "LSB- 63 -RSB- Yan then personally went to the Square to appeal to the students , even offering himself to be held hostage .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- Yan also took the student 's pleas to Li Peng the next day , asking Li to consider formally retracting the April 26 editorial and re-branding the movement as `` patriotic and democratic '' ; Li refused .", "The students remained in the Square during the Gorbachev visit ; his welcoming ceremony was held at the airport .", "The Sino-Soviet summit , the first of its kind in some thirty years , marked the normalization of Sino-Soviet relations , and was seen as a breakthrough of tremendous historical significance for China 's leaders .", "That the smooth proceedings of this event had been derailed by the student movement embarrassed the leadership on the global stage , and drove many moderates in government onto a more ` hardliner ' path .", "LSB- 65 -RSB- The summit between Deng and Gorbachev took place at the Great Hall of the People amidst the backdrop of commotion and protest in the Square .", "LSB- 58 -RSB- When Gorbachev met with Zhao on 16 May , Zhao told the Soviet leader , and by extension the international press , that Deng was still the ` paramount authority ' in China .", "Deng felt that this remark was Zhao 's attempt to shift blame for mishandling the movement to him .", "The statement marked a decisive split between the country 's two most senior leaders .", "The hunger strike galvanized support for the students and aroused sympathy across the country .", "Around a million Beijing residents from all walks of life demonstrated in solidarity on 17 -- 18 May .", "These included PLA personnel , police officers , and lower party officials .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- Many grassroots Party and Youth League organizations , as well as government-sponsored labour unions , encouraged their membership to demonstrate .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- In addition , several of China 's non-Communist parties sent a letter to Li Peng in support of students .", "The Chinese Red Cross issued a special notice and sent in a large number of personnel to provide medical services to the hunger strikers on the Square .", "After the departure of Mikhail Gorbachev , many foreign journalists remained in the Chinese capital to cover the protests , giving the movement international spotlight .", "Western governments urged Beijing to exercise restraint .", "The movement , on the wane at the end of April , now regained significant momentum .", "By 17 May , as students from across the country poured into the capital to join the movement , protests of varying sizes were occurring in some 400 Chinese cities .", "LSB- 6 -RSB- Students demonstrated at provincial party headquarters in Fujian , Hubei , and Xinjiang .", "Without a clearly articulated official position from the Beijing leadership , local authorities did not know how to respond .", "Since the demonstrations now incorporated a wide array of social groups , each carrying its own set of grievances , it became increasingly unclear with whom the government should negotiate , and what exactly the demands were .", "The government , continuing to be split on how to deal with the movement , saw its authority and legitimacy gradually erode as the hunger strikers took the limelight and gained widespread sympathy .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- These combined circumstances put immense pressure on the authorities to act , and martial law was discussed as a viable response .", "Since the situation seemed intractable , the weight of taking decisive action fell on paramount leader Deng Xiaoping .", "On 17 May , a PSC meeting was called at Deng 's residence .", "LSB- 67 -RSB- At the meeting , Zhao Ziyang 's concessions-based strategy , which called for the retraction of the April 26 Editorial , was thoroughly criticized .", "LSB- 68 -RSB- Li Peng and Deng asserted that by making a conciliatory speech on 4 May , Zhao exposed divisions within the top leadership and emboldened the students .", "LSB- 68 -RSB- -LSB- 69 -RSB- Deng warned that if Beijing was not pacified quickly , the country risked civil war and another Cultural Revolution ; his views were echoed by the party elders .", "LSB- 70 -RSB- Deng then moved to declare martial law as a show of the government 's no-tolerance stance .", "LSB- 71 -RSB- To justify martial law , the demonstrators were described as tools of `` bourgeois liberalism '' advocates who were pulling the strings behind the scenes , as well as tools of elements within the party who wished to further their personal ambitions .", "On the evening of 17 May , the PSC met at Zhongnanhai to finalize plans for martial law .", "At the meeting , Zhao announced that he was ready to `` take leave '' , citing he could not bring himself to carry out martial law .", "LSB- 73 -RSB- The elders in attendance at the meeting , Bo Yibo and Yang Shangkun , urged the PSC to follow Deng 's orders .", "LSB- 73 -RSB- Zhao did not consider the inconclusive PSC vote to have legally binding implications on martial law ; -LSB- 74 -RSB- Yang Shangkun , in his capacity as Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission , went on to mobilize the military to move into the capital .", "Students , we came too late .", "We are sorry .", "You talk about us , criticize us , it is all necessary .", "The reason that I came here is not to ask you to forgive us .", "All I want to say is that students are getting very weak , it is the 7th day since you went on hunger strike , you ca n't continue like this .", "LSB- ... -RSB- You are still young , there are still many days yet to come , you must live healthy , and see the day when China accomplishes the four modernizations .", "You are not like us , we are already old , it does n't matter to us any more .", "Li Peng met with students for the first time on 18 May in an attempt to placate public concern over the hunger strike .", "LSB- 66 -RSB- During the talks , student leaders once again demanded that the government rescind the April 26 editorial and affirm the student movement as `` patriotic '' .", "Li Peng said the government 's main concern was sending hunger strikers to hospital .", "The discussions yielded little substantive results , but gained student leaders prominent airtime on national television .", "LSB- 75 -RSB- In the early morning of 19 May , Zhao Ziyang went to Tiananmen in what became his political swan song .", "He was accompanied by Wen Jiabao .", "Li Peng also went to the Square , but left shortly thereafter .", "At 4:50 am Zhao made a speech with a bullhorn to a crowd of students , urging the students to end the hunger strike .", "LSB- 76 -RSB- He told the students that they were still young and urged them to stay healthy and not to sacrifice themselves without due concern for their futures .", "Zhao 's emotional speech was applauded by some students .", "It would be his last public appearance .", "On 19 May , the PSC met with military leaders and party elders .", "Deng presided over the meeting and said that martial law was the only option .", "At the meeting Deng declared that he was ` mistaken ' in choosing Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang as his successors , and resolved to remove Zhao from his position as general secretary .", "Deng also vowed to deal resolutely with Zhao 's supporters and begin propaganda work .", "University students in Shanghai also took to the streets to commemorate the death of Hu Yaobang and protest against certain policies of the government .", "In many cases , these were supported by the universities ' Party committees .", "Jiang Zemin , then-Municipal Party Secretary , addressed the student protesters in a bandage and ` expressed his understanding ' , as he was a former student agitator before 1949 .", "At the same time , he moved swiftly to send in police forces to control the streets and to purge Communist Party leaders who had supported the students .", "On April 19 , the editors of the World Economic Herald , a magazine close to reformists , decided to publish a commemorative section on Hu .", "Inside was an article by Yan Jiaqi , which commented favourably on the Beijing student protests , and called for a reassessment of Hu 's 1987 purge .", "Sensing the conservative political trends in Beijing , Jiang Zemin demanded that the article be censored .", "Many newspapers were printed with a blank page .", "LSB- 77 -RSB- Jiang then suspended Qin Benli .", "His decisive action earned accolades from party elders , who praised Jiang 's loyalty .", "In Hong Kong , on 27 May , over 300,000 people gathered at Happy Valley Racecourse for a gathering called `` Democratic songs dedicated for China '' ( \u6c11\u4e3b\u6b4c\u8072\u737b\u4e2d\u83ef ) .", "Many Hong Kong celebrities sang songs and expressed their support for the students in Beijing .", "LSB- 78 -RSB- The following day , a procession of 1.5 million people , one fourth of Hong Kong 's population , led by Martin Lee , Szeto Wah and other organization leaders , paraded through Hong Kong Island .", "Across the world , especially where ethnic-Chinese lived , people gathered and protested .", "Many governments , including those of the United States and Japan , issued travel warnings to China .", "The Chinese government declared martial law on 20 May , and mobilized at least 30 divisions from five of the country 's seven military regions .", "LSB- 79 -RSB- At least 14 of PLA 's 24 army corps contributed troops .", "LSB- 80 -RSB- As many as 250,000 troops were eventually sent to the capital , some arriving by air and others by rail .", "LSB- 81 -RSB- Guangzhou 's civil aviation authorities put regular airline tickets on hold to prepare for transporting military units .", "The Army 's entry into the city was blocked at its suburbs by throngs of protesters .", "Tens of thousands of demonstrators surrounded military vehicles , preventing them from either advancing or retreating .", "Protesters lectured soldiers and appealed to them to join their cause ; they also provided soldiers with food , water , and shelter .", "Seeing no way forward , the authorities ordered the army to withdraw on 24 May .", "All government forces retreated to bases outside the city .", "LSB- 6 -RSB- -LSB- 83 -RSB- While the Army 's retreat was initially seen as ` turning the tide ' in favour of protesters , in reality mobilization took place across the country for a final assault .", "At the same time , internal divisions intensified within the student movement itself .", "By late May , the students became increasingly disorganized with no clear leadership or unified course of action .", "Moreover , Tiananmen Square was overcrowded and facing serious hygiene problems .", "Hou Dejian suggested an open election of the student leadership to speak for the movement , but was met with opposition .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- Meanwhile , Wang Dan moderated his position , ostensibly sensing the impending military action and consequences , and advocated for a temporary withdrawal from Tiananmen Square to re-group on campus , but this was opposed by ` hardliner ' student factions who wanted to hold the Square .", "The increasing internal friction would lead to struggles for control of the loudspeakers in the middle of the square in a series of ` mini-coups ' : whoever controlled the loudspeakers was ` in charge ' of the movement .", "Some students would wait at the train station to greet arrivals of students from other parts of the country in an attempt to enlist factional support .", "LSB- 84 -RSB- Student groups began accusing each other of ulterior motives such as collusion with the government and attempting to gain personal fame from the movement .", "Some students even attempted to oust Chai Ling and Feng Congde from their leadership positions in an attempted kidnapping , an action Chai called a `` well-organized and pre-meditated plot . ''", "On June 1 , Li Peng issued a report titled `` On the True Nature of the Turmoil '' , which was circulated to every member of the Politburo .", "LSB- 85 -RSB- The report aimed to persuade the Politburo of the necessity and legality of clearing Tiananmen Square by referring to the protestors as terrorists and counterrevolutionaries .", "LSB- 85 -RSB- The report stated that turmoil was continuing to grow , the students had no plans to leave , and they were gaining popular support .", "LSB- 86 -RSB- Further justification for martial law came in the form of a report submitted by the Ministry of State Security ( MSS ) to the party leadership , which emphasized the infiltration of bourgeois liberalism into China and the negative effect that the West -- particularly the United States -- had on the students .", "LSB- 87 -RSB- The MSS expressed its belief that American forces had intervened in the student movement in hopes of overthrowing the Communist Party .", "LSB- 88 -RSB- The report created a sense of urgency within the party , and provided justification for military action .", "LSB- 87 -RSB- In conjunction with the plan to clear the Square by force , the Politburo received word from the martial law troops headquarters stating that the troops were ready to help stabilize the capital , and that they understood the necessity and legality of martial law to overcome the turmoil .", "On June 2 , the movement saw an increase in action and protest , solidifying the CPC 's decision that it was time to act .", "Protests broke out as newspapers published articles that called for the students to leave Tiananmen Square and end the movement .", "Many of the students in the Square were not willing to leave and were outraged by the articles .", "LSB- 90 -RSB- They were also outraged by Beijing Daily 's June 1 article `` Tiananmen , I Cry for You '' , written by a fellow student who had become disillusioned with the movement , as he thought it was chaotic and disorganized .", "LSB- 90 -RSB- In response to the articles , thousands of students lined the streets of Beijing to protest against leaving the Square .", "Three intellectuals , Liu Xiaobo , Zhou Duo , Gao Xin , and a Taiwanese singer Hou Dejian declared a second hunger strike because they wanted to revive the pro-democracy movement .", "LSB- 92 -RSB- After weeks of occupying the Square , the students were tired , and internal rifts opened between moderate and hardliner student groups .", "LSB- 93 -RSB- In their declaration speech , the hunger strikers openly criticized the government 's suppression of the movement to remind the students that their cause was worth fighting for , and pushed them to continue their occupation of the Square .", "On June 2 , Deng Xiaoping and several party elders met with the three remaining politburo standing committee members , Li Peng , Qiao Shi and Yao Yilin , Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili having been ousted , and they agreed to clear the Square so `` the riot can be halted and order be restored to the Capital . ''", "LSB- 95 -RSB- -LSB- 96 -RSB- They also agreed that the Square needed to be cleared as peacefully as possible , but if protesters did not cooperate , the troops were authorized to use force to complete the job .", "LSB- 91 -RSB- That day , state-run newspapers reported that troops were positioned in ten key areas in the city .", "LSB- 91 -RSB- -LSB- 93 -RSB- Units of the 27th , 65th and the 24th Armies were secretly moved into the Great Hall of the People on the west side of the Square and the Ministry of Public Security compound east of the Square .", "On the evening of June 2 , reports that an army trencher ran into four civilians , killing three sparked fear that the army and the police were trying to advance into Tiananmen Square .", "LSB- 98 -RSB- Student leaders issued emergency orders to set up roadblocks at major intersections to prevent the entry of troops into the center of the city .", "On the morning of June 3 , students and residents discovered troops dressed in plainclothes trying to smuggle weapons into the city .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- The students seized and handed the weapons to Beijing Police .", "LSB- 99 -RSB- The students protested outside the Xinhua Gate of the Zhongnanhai leadership compound and the police fired tear gas .", "LSB- 100 -RSB- Unarmed troops emerged from the Great Hall of the People and were quickly met with crowds of protesters .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- Several protesters attempted to injure the troops as they collided outside the Great Hall of the People .", "Forcing soldiers to retreat , but , only for a short while .", "At 4:30 pm on June 3 , the three politburo standing committee members met with military leaders , Beijing Party Secretary Li Ximing , mayor Chen Xitong , and State Council secretariat Luo Gan , and finalized the order for the enforcement of martial law : -LSB- 95 -RSB-", "The order did not explicitly contain a shoot-to-kill directive but permission to `` use any means '' was understood by some units as authorization to use lethal force .", "That evening , the leaders monitored the operation from the Great Hall of the People and Zhongnanhai .", "On the evening of June 3 , state-run television warned residents to stay indoors but crowds of people took to the streets , as they had two weeks before , to block the incoming army .", "PLA units advanced on Beijing from every direction -- the 38th , 63rd and 28th Armies from the west , the 15th Airborne Corps , 20th , 26th and 54th Armies from the south , the 39th Army and the 1st Armored Division from the east and the 40th and 64th Armies from the north .", "At about 10:00 pm , the 38th Army opened fire on protesters at the Wukesong intersection on Chang ` an Avenue , about 10 km west of Square .", "LSB- 99 -RSB- -LSB- 103 -RSB- The crowds were stunned that the army was using live ammunition and reacted by hurling insults and projectiles .", "LSB- 99 -RSB- Song Xiaoming , a 32-year-old aerospace technician , killed at Wukesong , was the first confirmed fatality of the night .", "LSB- 99 -RSB- The troops used expanding bullets , which expand upon entering the body and create larger wounds .", "At about 10:30 pm , the advance of the army was briefly halted at Muxidi , about 5 km west of the Square , where articulated trolleybuses were placed across a bridge and set on fire .", "LSB- 104 -RSB- Crowds of residents from nearby apartment blocks tried to surround the military convoy and halt its advance .", "The 38th Army again opened fire , inflicting heavy casualties .", "LSB- 102 -RSB- -LSB- 104 -RSB- According to the tabulation of victims by Tiananmen Mothers , 36 people died at Muxidi , including Wang Weiping , a doctor tending to the wounded .", "LSB- 103 -RSB- Several were killed in the apartments of high-ranking party officials overlooking the boulevard .", "LSB- 102 -RSB- -LSB- 6 -RSB- Soldiers raked the apartment buildings with gunfire , and some people inside or on their balconies were shot .", "LSB- 83 -RSB- -LSB- 102 -RSB- -LSB- 105 -RSB- The 38th Army also used armored personnel carriers ( APCs ) to ram through the buses .", "They continued to fight off demonstrators , who hastily erected barricades and tried to form human chains .", "LSB- 102 -RSB- As the army advanced , fatalities were recorded all along Chang ` an Avenue , at Nanlishilu , Fuxingmen , Xidan , Liubukou and Tiananmen .", "Among those killed was Duan Changlong , a Tsinghua University graduate student , who was shot in the chest as he tried to negotiate with soldiers at Xidan .", "LSB- 99 -RSB- -LSB- 106 -RSB- To the south , paratroopers of the 15th Airborne Corps also used live ammunition , and civilians deaths were recorded at Hufangqiao , Zhushikou , Tianqiao , and Qianmen .", "The killings infuriated city residents , some of whom attacked soldiers with sticks , rocks and molotov cocktails , setting fire to military vehicles .", "The Chinese government and its supporters have attempted to argue that the troops acted in self-defense and seized upon troop casualties to justify the use of force .", "Lethal attacks on troops occurred after the military had opened fire at 10:00 pm on June 3 and the number of military fatalities caused by protesters is relatively few -- seven , according to Wu Renhua 's study , -LSB- 107 -RSB- -LSB- 108 -RSB- compared to hundreds of civilian deaths .", "There were numerous instances of students and residents protecting soldiers from the angry mob as well as military units refusing to carry out orders against civilians .", "At 8:30 pm , army helicopters appeared above the Square and students called for campuses to send reinforcements .", "At 10:00 pm , the founding ceremony of the Tiananmen Democracy University was held as scheduled at the base of the Goddess of Democracy .", "At 10:16 pm , the loudspeakers controlled by the government warned that troops may take `` any measures '' to enforce martial law .", "By 10:30 pm , news of bloodshed to the west and south of the city began trickling into the Square , often told by witnesses drenched in blood .", "At midnight , the students ' loudspeaker announced news that a student had been killed on West Chang ` an Avenue , near the Military Museum and a somber mood settled on the Square .", "Li Lu , the deputy commander of the student headquarters , urged students to remain united in defending the Square through non-violent means .", "At 12:30 am , Wu'erkaixi fainted after learning that a female student at Beijing Normal University , who had left campus with him earlier in the evening , had just been killed .", "Wuerkaixi was taken away by ambulance .", "By then , there were still 70,000 -- 80,000 people in the Square .", "At about 12:15 am , illumination rounds lit up the sky and the first armored personnel vehicle appeared on the Square from the west .", "At 12:30 am , two more APCs arrived from the South .", "The students threw chunks of cement at the vehicles .", "One APC stalled , perhaps by metal poles jammed into its wheels , and the demonstrators covered it with gasoline-doused blankets and set it on fire .", "The intense heat forced out the three occupants , who were swarmed by demonstrators .", "The APCs had reportedly run over tents and many in the crowd wanted to beat the soldiers .", "But students formed a protective cordon and escorted the three men to the medic station by the History Museum on the east side of the Square .", "Pressure mounted on the student leadership to abandon non-violence and retaliate against the killings .", "At one point , Chai Ling picked up the megaphone and called on fellow students to prepare to `` defend themselves '' against the `` shameless government . ''", "But she and Li Lu agreed to adhere to peaceful means and had the students ' sticks , rocks and glass bottles confiscated .", "At about 1:30 am , the vanguard of the 38th Army and paratroopers from the 15th Airborne Corps arrived at the north and south ends of the Square , respectively .", "LSB- 111 -RSB- They began to seal off the Square from reinforcements of students and residents , killing more demonstrators who were attempting to enter the Square .", "LSB- 112 -RSB- Meanwhile , the 27th and 65th Armies poured out of the Great Hall of the People to the west and the 24th Army emerged from behind the History Museum to the east .", "LSB- 110 -RSB- The remaining students , numbering several thousand , were completely surrounded at the Monument of the People 's Heroes in the center of the Square .", "At 2 am , the troops fired shots over the heads of the students at the Monument .", "The students broadcast pleadings back toward the troops : `` We entreat you in peace , for democracy and freedom of the motherland , for strength and prosperity of the Chinese nation , please comply with the will of the people and refrain from using force against peaceful student demonstrators . ''", "At about 2:30 am , several workers near the Monument emerged with a machine gun they had captured from the troops and vowed to take revenge .", "They were persuaded to give up the weapon by Hou Dejian .", "The workers also handed over an assault rifle without ammunition , which Liu Xiaobo smashed against the marble railings of the Monument .", "LSB- 113 -RSB- Shao Jiang , a student who had witnessed the killings at Muxidi , pleaded with the older intellectuals to retreat , saying too many lives had been lost .", "Initially , Liu Xiaobo was reluctant , but eventually joined Zhou Tuo , Gao Xin and Hou Dejian in making the case to the student leaders for a withdrawal .", "Chai Ling , Li Lu and Feng Congde initially rejected the idea of withdrawal .", "LSB- 111 -RSB- At 3:30 am , at the suggestion of two doctors in the Red Cross camp , Hou Dejian and Zhuo Tuo agreed to attempt to negotiate with the soldiers .", "They rode in an ambulance to the northeast corner of the Square and spoke with Ji Xinguo , the political commissar of the 38th Army 's 336th Regiment , who relayed the request to command headquarters , which agreed to grant safe passage for the students to the southeast .", "The commissar told Hou , `` it would be a tremendous accomplishment , if you can persuade the students to leave the Square .", "At 4:00 am , the lights on the Square suddenly turned off , and the government 's loudspeaker announced : `` Clearance of the Square begins now .", "We agree with the students ' request to clear the Square . ''", "LSB- 111 -RSB- The students sang The Internationale and braced for a last stand .", "LSB- 113 -RSB- Hou returned and informed student leaders of his agreement with the troops .", "At 4:30 am , the lights relit and the troops began to advance on the Monument from all sides .", "At about 4:32 am , Hou Dejian took the student 's loudspeaker and recounted his meeting with the military .", "Many students , who learned of the talks for the first time , reacted angrily and accused him of cowardice .", "The soldiers initially stopped about 10 meters from the students .", "The first row of troops took aim with machine guns in the prone position .", "Behind them soldiers squatted and stood with assault rifles .", "Mixed among them were anti-riot police with clubs .", "Further back were tanks and APCs .", "LSB- 114 -RSB- Feng Congde took to the loudspeaker and explained that there was no time left to hold a meeting .", "Instead , a voice vote would decide the collective action of the group .", "Although the `` stays '' were louder than `` gos '' , Feng said the `` gos '' had prevailed .", "LSB- 104 -RSB- Just at that time , at about 4:40 am , a squad of soldiers in camouflaged uniform charged up the Monument and shot out the students ' loudspeaker .", "LSB- 114 -RSB- -LSB- 115 -RSB- Other troops beat and kicked dozens of students at the Monument , seizing and smashing their cameras and recording equipment .", "An officer with a loudspeaker called out `` you better leave or this wo n't end well . ''", "Some of the students and professors persuaded others still sitting on the lower tiers of the Monument to get up and leave , while soldiers beat them with clubs and gunbutts and prodded them with bayonets .", "Witnesses heard bursts of gunfire .", "LSB- 114 -RSB- At about 5:10 am , the students began to leave the Monument .", "They linked hands and marched through a corridor to the southeast , -LSB- 104 -RSB- -LSB- 114 -RSB- though some departed through the north .", "LSB- 114 -RSB- Those who refused to leave were beaten by soldiers and ordered to join the departing procession .", "Having removed the students from the square , soldiers were ordered to relinquish their ammunition , after which they were allowed a short reprieve from 7:00 am to 9:00 am .", "LSB- 116 -RSB- The soldiers were then ordered to clear the square of all debris left over from the student occupation .", "The debris was either piled and burnt on the square , or placed in large plastic bags that were then airlifted away by military helicopters .", "LSB- 117 -RSB- -LSB- 118 -RSB- After the cleanup of the square was completed the troops stationed at The Great Hall of the People remained confined within for the next nine days .", "During this time the soldiers were left to sleep on the floors and fed a single packet of instant noodles split between three men daily .", "Officers apparently suffered no such deprivation , and were served regular meals apart from their troops .", "Just past 6:00 am on June 4 , as a convoy of students who had vacated the Square were walking westward in the bicycle lane along Chang ` an Avenue back to campus , three tanks pursued them from the Square , firing tear gas and one drove through the crowd , killing 11 students , injuring scores .", "Later in the morning , thousands of civilians tried to re-enter the Square from the northeast on East Chang ` an Avenue , which was blocked by rows of infantry .", "Many in the crowd were parents of the demonstrators who had been in the Square .", "As the crowd approached the troops , an officer sounded a warning , and the troops opened fire .", "The crowd scurried back down the avenue in view of journalists in the Beijing Hotel .", "Dozens of civilians were shot in the back as they fled .", "LSB- 122 -RSB- Later , the crowds surged back toward the troops , who opened fire again .", "The people fled in panic .", "LSB- 122 -RSB- -LSB- 123 -RSB- An ambulance that was arriving was also caught in the gunfire .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- -LSB- 124 -RSB- The crowd attempted several more times but could not enter the Square , which remained closed to the public for two weeks .", "On June 5 , suppression of the protest was immortalized in Western media by the famous video footage and photographs of a lone man standing in front of a column of tanks driving out of Tiananmen Square .", "The iconic photo that would eventually make its way around the world was taken on June 5 on Chang ` an Avenue .", "As the tank driver attempted to go around him , the `` Tank Man '' moved into the tank 's path .", "He continued to stand defiantly in front of the tanks for some time , then climbed up onto the turret of the lead tank to speak to the soldiers inside .", "After returning to his position in front of the tanks , the man was pulled aside by a group of people .", "A stopped convoy of 37 APCs on Changan Boulevard at Muxidi was forced to abandon their vehicles after becoming stuck among an assortment of burned out buses and military vehicles .", "LSB- 127 -RSB- In addition to occasional incidents of soldiers opening fire on civilians in Beijing , Western news outlets reported clashes between Units of the PLA .", "LSB- 128 -RSB- Late in the afternoon 26 tanks , three armored personnel carriers and supporting infantry took up defensive positions facing East at Jinaguomen and Fuxingmen overpasses .", "LSB- 127 -RSB- Shellfire was heard throughout the night and the next morning a U.S. Marine in the Eastern part of the city reported spotting a damaged armored vehicle that had been disabled by an armor-piercing shell .", "LSB- 129 -RSB- The ongoing turmoil in the capital disrupted the flow of everyday life .", "No editions of the People 's Daily were available in Beijing on June 5 despite assurances that they had been printed .", "LSB- 130 -RSB- Many shops , offices , and factories were not able to open as workers remained in their homes , and public transit services were limited to Subway and suburban bus routes .", "By and large , the government regained control in the week following the military 's seizure of the Square .", "A political purge followed in which officials responsible for organizing or condoning the protests were removed , and protest leaders jailed .", "After order was restored in Beijing on June 4 , protests of varying scales continued in some 80 other Chinese cities , outside of the spotlight of the international press .", "LSB- 132 -RSB- In the then-British colony of Hong Kong , people again took to wearing black in solidarity with the demonstrators in Beijing .", "There were also protests in other countries , many adopting the use of black armbands as well .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- In Shanghai , students marched on the streets on June 5 , and erected roadblocks on major thoroughfares .", "Factory workers went on a general strike and took to the streets as well ; railway traffic was also blocked .", "LSB- 133 -RSB- Public transport was also suspended and prevented people from getting to work .", "LSB- 134 -RSB- On June 6 , the municipal government attempted clearing the rail blockade , but was met with fierce resistance from the crowds .", "Several people died from having been run over by a train .", "LSB- 135 -RSB- On June 7 , students from major Shanghai universities stormed various campus facilities to erect biers in commemoration of the dead in Beijing .", "LSB- 136 -RSB- The situation gradually came under control without resorting to deadly force .", "The municipal government gained recognition from the top leadership in Beijing for averting a major upheaval .", "In the interior cities of Xi'an , Wuhan , Nanjing , and Chengdu , many students continued protests after June 4 , often erecting roadblocks .", "In Xi'an , students stopped workers from entering factories .", "LSB- 137 -RSB- In Wuhan , students blocked the Yangtze River Railway bridge , and another 4,000 gathered at the railway station .", "LSB- 138 -RSB- About one thousand students staged a railroad ` sit-in ' .", "Rail traffic on the Beijing-Guangzhou and Wuhan-Dalian lines was interrupted .", "The students also urged employees of major state-owned enterprises to go on strike .", "LSB- 139 -RSB- In Wuhan the situation was so tense that residents reportedly began a bank run and resorted to panic-buying .", "Similar scenes unfolded in Nanjing .", "On June 7 , hundreds of students staged a blockade at the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge as well as the Zhongyangmen Railway Bridge ; they were persuaded to evacuate without incident later that day , though returned the next day to occupy the main railway station and the bridges .", "The atmosphere in Chengdu was more violent .", "On the morning of June 4 , police forcibly broke up the student demonstration taking place in Chengdu 's main square .", "The resulting violence killed eight people , and injured hundreds more .", "The most brutal attacks occurred on June 5 and 6 .", "Witnesses estimate that 30 to 100 bodies were thrown onto a truck after a crowd broke into the Jinjiang Hotel .", "LSB- 142 -RSB- According to Amnesty International , at least 300 people were killed in Chengdu on June 5 .", "Troops in Chengdu used concussion grenades , truncheons , knives and electric cattle prods against civilians .", "Hospitals were ordered to not accept students and on the second night the ambulance service was stopped by police .", "At a news conference on June 6 , State Council spokesperson Yuan Mu announced that based on `` preliminary statistics '' , `` nearly 300 people died ... includ -LSB- ing -RSB- soldiers '' , 23 students , `` bad elements who deserve -LSB- d -RSB- this because of their crimes , and people who were killed by mistake . ''", "LSB- 144 -RSB- The wounded , he said , included `` 5,000 -LSB- police -RSB- officers and -LSB- soldiers -RSB- '' and over `` 2,000 civilians , including the handful of lawless ruffians and the onlooking masses who do understand the stituation . ''", "LSB- 144 -RSB- Military spokesperson Zhang Gong stated that no one was killed in Tiananmen Square and no one was run over by tanks in the Square .", "On June 9 , Deng Xiaoping , appearing in public for the first time since the protests began , delivered a speech praising the `` martyrs '' ( PLA soldiers who had died ) .", "LSB- 146 -RSB- -LSB- 147 -RSB- Deng stated that the goal of the movement was to overthrow the Party and the state .", "LSB- 148 -RSB- `` Their goal is to establish a totally Western-dependent bourgeois republic '' , Deng said of the protesters .", "Deng argued that protesters had complained about corruption to cover their real motive , which was to replace the socialist system .", "LSB- 149 -RSB- He said that `` the entire imperialist Western world plans to make all socialist countries discard the socialist road and then bring them under the monopoly of international capital and onto the capitalist road '' .", "The civilians killed in the city of Beijing , according to the city police , `` included university professors , technical people , officials , workers , owners of small private enterprises , retired workers , high school students and grade school students , of whom the youngest was nine years old . ''", "LSB- 151 -RSB- The number of deaths and the extent of bloodshed in the Square itself have been in dispute since the events .", "As the Chinese authorities actively suppress discussion of the events as well as research of the subject , it is difficult to verify exact figures .", "As a result , large discrepancies exist among various casualty estimates .", "Official figures of the dead range from 200 to 300 .", "At the State Council press conference on June 6 , spokesman Yuan Mu said that `` preliminary tallies '' by the government showed that about 300 civilians and soldiers died , including 23 students from universities in Beijing , along with a number of people he described as `` ruffians '' .", "LSB- 144 -RSB- Yuan also said some 5,000 soldiers and police along with 2,000 civilians were wounded .", "On June 19 , Beijing Party Secretary Li Ximing reported to the Politburo that the government 's confirmed death toll was 241 , including 218 civilians ( of which 36 were students ) , 10 PLA soldiers and 13 People 's Armed Police , along with 7,000 wounded .", "Unofficial estimates of the death toll have usually been higher than government figures , and go as high as several thousand .", "Nicholas D. Kristof of The New York Times wrote on June 21 that `` it seems plausible that about fifty soldiers and policemen were killed , along with 400 to 800 civilians . ''", "LSB- 154 -RSB- Then-U.S. ambassador James Lilley said that based on visits to hospitals around Beijing , a minimum of several hundred had been killed .", "LSB- 155 -RSB- In a 1990 article addressing the question , Time magazine asserted that the Chinese Red Cross had given a figure of 2,600 deaths on the morning of June 4 , though later this figure was retracted .", "LSB- 156 -RSB- A declassified NSA cable filed on the same day estimated 180 -- 500 deaths up to the morning of June 4 .", "LSB- 157 -RSB- Amnesty International 's estimates puts the number of deaths at several hundred to close to 1,000 , -LSB- 156 -RSB- -LSB- 158 -RSB- while a Western diplomat that compiled estimates put the number at 300 to 1,000 .", "The Tiananmen Mothers , a victims ' advocacy group co-founded by Ding Zilin and Zhang Xianling , whose children were killed during the crackdown , have identified 202 victims as of August 2011 .", "The group has worked painstakingly , in the face of government interference , to locate victims ' families and collect information about the victims .", "Their tally has grown from 155 in 1999 to 202 in 2011 .", "The list includes four individuals who committed suicide on or after June 4 , for reasons that related to their involvement in the demonstrations .", "Wu Renhua of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy , an overseas group agitating for democratic reform in China , said that he was only able to verify and identify 15 military deaths .", "Wu asserts that if deaths from events unrelated to demonstrators were removed from the count , only seven deaths among military personnel may be counted as those `` killed in action '' fighting protestors .", "Chinese government officials have long asserted that no one died in the Square itself in the early morning hours of June 4 , during the ` hold-out ' of the last batch of students in the south of the Square .", "Initially foreign media reports of a `` massacre '' on the Square were prevalent , though subsequently journalists have acknowledged that most of the deaths occurred outside of the Square in western Beijing .", "Several people who were situated around the square that night , including Jay Mathews , -LSB- b -RSB- former Beijing bureau chief of the Washington Post , and Richard Roth , CBS correspondent , -LSB- c -RSB- reported that while they had heard sporadic gunfire , they could not find enough evidence to suggest that a massacre took place on the Square itself .", "Records by the Tiananmen Mothers suggest that three students died in the Square the night of the Army 's push into the Square .", "LSB- 161 -RSB- Democracy activist Wu Renhua asserted that the government 's discussion of the issue was a red herring intended to absolve itself of responsibility and showcase its benevolence .", "Wu said that it was irrelevant whether the shooting occurred inside or outside of the Square itself , as it was still a reprehensible massacre of unarmed civilians .", "The authorities carried out mass arrests .", "Many workers were summarily tried and executed .", "In contrast , the students -- many of whom came from relatively affluent backgrounds and were well-connected -- received much lighter sentences .", "Wang Dan , the student leader who topped the most wanted list , spent seven years in prison .", "Many of the students and university staff implicated were permanently politically stigmatized , some never to be employed again .", "Some student leaders such as Chai Ling and Wuer Kaixi were able to escape to the United States , the United Kingdom , France , and other Western nations under Operation Yellowbird that was organized from Hong Kong , a British territory at the time .", "Smaller protest actions continued in other cities for a few days .", "Some university staff and students who had witnessed the killings in Beijing organized or spurred commemorative events upon their return to school .", "At Shanghai 's prestigious Jiaotong University , for example , the party secretary organized a public commemoration event , with engineering students producing a large metal wreath .", "According to the Dui Hua Foundation , citing a provincial government , 1,602 individuals were imprisoned for protest-related activities in the early 1989 .", "As of May 2012 , at least two remain incarcerated in Beijing and five others remain unaccounted for .", "LSB- 164 -RSB- In June 2014 it was reported that Miao Deshun was believed to be the last known prisoner incarcerated for their participation in the protests ; he was last heard from a decade ago .", "LSB- 165 -RSB- All are reported to be suffering from mental illness .", "The Party leadership expelled Zhao Ziyang from the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China ( PSC ) .", "Hu Qili , another PSC member who opposed the martial law but abstained from voting , was also removed from the committee .", "He was , however , able to retain his party membership , and after `` changing his opinion '' , was reassigned as deputy minister in the Ministry for Machinery and Electronics Industry .", "Another reform-minded Chinese leader , Wan Li , was also put under house arrest immediately after he stepped out of his plane at Beijing Capital Airport upon returning from his shortened trip abroad ; the authorities declared his detention to be on health grounds .", "When Wan Li was released from his house arrest after he finally `` changed his opinion '' he , like Qiao Shi , was transferred to a different position with equal rank but a mostly ceremonial role .", "Several Chinese ambassadors abroad claimed political asylum .", "Jiang Zemin , then Party Secretary of Shanghai , was promoted to CPC general secretary .", "Jiang 's decisive actions in Shanghai involving the World Economic Herald and his having prevented deadly violence in the city won him support from party elders in Beijing .", "Having put the new leadership team in place and recognising his weakened position , Deng Xiaoping himself also bowed out of the party leadership -- at least officially -- by resigning his last leadership position as Chairman of the Central Military Commission later that year .", "He kept a low profile until 1992 .", "According to diplomatic cables de-classified by Canada , the then Swiss ambassador informed Canadian diplomats in confidence that over several months following the massacre , `` every member of the Politburo Standing Committee has approached him about transferring very significant amounts of money to Swiss bank accounts '' .", "Bao Tong , Zhao Ziyang 's aide , was the highest-ranking official to be formally charged with a crime in connection with 1989 demonstrations .", "He was convicted in 1992 of `` revealing state secrets and counter-revolutionary propagandizing '' and served seven years in prison .", "To purge sympathizers of Tiananmen demonstrators among the party 's rank-and-file , the party leadership initiated a one-and-a-half-year-long rectification program to `` deal strictly with those inside the party with serious tendencies toward bourgeois liberalization '' .", "Four million people were reportedly investigated for their role in the protests .", "More than 30,000 communist officers were deployed to assess ` political reliability ' of more than one million government officials .", "LSB- 169 -RSB- The authorities arrested tens if not hundreds of thousands of people across the country .", "Some were seized in broad daylight while they walked in the street ; others were arrested at night .", "Many were jailed or sent to labor camps .", "They were often denied access to see their families and often put in cells so crowded that not everyone had space to sleep .", "Dissidents shared cells with murderers and rapists , and torture was not uncommon .", "An article that compiles all the important editorials released by the People 's Daily can be found at the following page , People 's Daily during the 1989 Student Protest .", "The suppression on June 4 marked the end of a period of relative press freedom in China , and media workers -- both foreign and domestic -- faced heightened restrictions and punishment in the aftermath of the crackdown .", "State media reports in the immediate aftermath were sympathetic to the students .", "As a result , those responsible were all later removed from their posts .", "Two news anchors Xue Fei and Du Xian , who reported this event on June 4 in the daily Xinwen Lianbo broadcast on China Central Television were fired because they displayed sad emotions .", "Wu Xiaoyong , the son of former foreign minister Wu Xueqian was removed from the English Program Department of Chinese Radio International , ostensibly for his sympathies towards protesters .", "Editors and other staff at People 's Daily , including director Qian Liren and Editor-in-Chief Tan Wenrui , were also sacked because of reports in the paper which were sympathetic towards the protesters .", "Several editors were arrested .", "With the imposition of martial law , the Chinese government cut off the satellite transmissions of foreign broadcasters such as CNN and CBS .", "LSB- 171 -RSB- Broadcasters attempted to defy these orders by reporting via telephone .", "Footage was quickly smuggled out of the country .", "The only network which was able to record shots during the night of June 4 was Televisi\u00f3n Espa\u00f1ola of Spain ( TVE ) .", "LSB- 172 -RSB- -LSB- 173 -RSB- During the military action , some foreign journalists faced harassment from authorities .", "CBS correspondent Richard Roth and his cameraman were taken into custody while filing a report from the Square via mobile phone .", "Several foreign journalists who had covered the crackdown were expelled in the weeks that followed , while others were harassed by authorities or blacklisted from reentering the country .", "LSB- 175 -RSB- -LSB- 176 -RSB- In Shanghai , foreign consulates were told that the safety of journalists who failed to heed newly enacted reporting guidelines could not be guaranteed .", "The USC U.S.-China Institute 's Assignment : China series includes a segment on American media coverage of the protests and their suppression .", "Tiananmen Square features interviews with correspondents for the Associated Press and United Press International , the New York Times , the Washington Post , the Wall Street Journal , Time Magazine , the Voice of America , ABC , CBS , and CNN .", "The Chinese government 's response was widely denounced , particularly by Western governments and media .", "LSB- 179 -RSB- Criticism came from both Western and Eastern Europe , North America , Australia and some west Asian and Latin American countries .", "Notably , many Asian countries remained silent throughout the protests ; the government of India responded to the massacre by ordering the state television to pare down the coverage to the barest minimum , so as not to jeopardize a thawing in relations with China , and to offer political empathy for the events .", "LSB- 180 -RSB- Cuba , Czechoslovakia , and East Germany , among others , supported the Chinese government and denounced the protests .", "LSB- 179 -RSB- Overseas Chinese students demonstrated in many cities in Europe , America , the Middle East and Asia .", "There was a significant impact on the Chinese economy after the incident .", "Foreign loans to China were suspended by the World Bank , Asian Development Bank , and foreign governments ; -LSB- 182 -RSB- tourism revenue decreased from US$ 2.2 billion to US$ 1.8 billion ; foreign direct investment commitments were cancelled and there was a rise in defense spending from 8.6 % in 1986 , to 15.5 % in 1990 , reversing a previous 10 year decline .", "LSB- 183 -RSB- Chinese Premier Li Peng visited the United Nations Security Council on January 31 , 1992 , and argued that the economic and arms embargoes on China were a violation of national sovereignty .", "Among the student leaders , Wang Dan and Zhao Changqing were arrested .", "As a lesser figure in the demonstrations , Zhao was released after six months in prison .", "However , he was once again incarcerated for continuing to petition for political reform in China .", "Wang Dan was sent to prison , then allowed to emigrate to the United States in 1998 on the grounds of medical parole .", "He eventually received a PhD from Harvard University and went on to teach modern Chinese history at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu , Taiwan .", "Wu'erkaixi fled to Taiwan and has since become a political commentator on Taiwanese national radio .", "LSB- 185 -RSB- Chai Ling fled to France , and then went on to the United States to study at Princeton and Harvard .", "She then founded an IT start-up company and a non-profit organization called `` All Girls Allowed '' , which addresses issues such as women 's rights and female infanticide in China .", "Li Lu became an investment banker and venture capitalist on Wall Street , started his own hedge fund and became a business partner to Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway , partly through human rights contacts was acquainted with as a result of his involvement at Tiananmen Square .", "Chen Ziming and Wang Juntao were arrested in late 1989 for their involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests .", "Chinese authorities alleged they were the `` black hands '' behind the movement .", "Both Chen and Wang rejected the allegations made against them .", "They were put on trial in 1990 and sentenced to 13 years in prison .", "The protests led to a strengthened role for the state .", "In its aftermath , many of the freedoms introduced during the 1980s were rescinded , as the party returned to a conventional Leninist mold and re-established firm control over the press , publishing , and mass media .", "The protests were also a blow to the ` separation of powers ' model established by the 1982 Constitution and by convention , whereby the President was a symbolic position ( figurehead ) , and the real centres of power of the General Secretary of the Communist Party , the Premier of the State Council and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission were intended to be different people , to prevent the excesses of Mao-style personal rule .", "However , when President Yang Shangkun asserted his reserve powers with his post of Vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and openly split with general secretary Zhao Ziyang over the use of force to side with Premier Li Peng and Central Military Commission chairman Deng Xiaoping , official policy became inconsistent and incoherent , significantly impeding the exercise of power .", "For diplomacy needs , the roles of general secretary , Central Military Commission chairman and president were all consolidated into the same person since 1993 .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- In 1989 , neither the Chinese military nor the Beijing police had sufficient anti-riot gear , such as rubber bullets and tear gas .", "LSB- 187 -RSB- After the Tiananmen Square protests , riot police in Chinese cities were equipped with non-lethal equipment for riot control .", "The protests led to increased spending on internal security and expanded the role of the People 's Armed Police in suppressing urban protests .", "The aftermath of the protests saw the resurgence of conservative attitudes towards reform among policymakers , intended to slow the rapid changes that were said to have contributed to the causes of the protest .", "LSB- 13 -RSB- Deng Xiaoping , the `` architect '' of the reform policy , saw his influence significantly reduced following the protests , forcing him into making concessions with socialist hardliners .", "LSB- 188 -RSB- In dismissing Zhao Ziyang , who shared Deng 's vision for economic reform but disagreed with him over politics , Deng had lost the foremost champion of his own economic vision .", "Facing pressure from the conservative camp , Deng distanced himself from the affairs of state .", "This slow pace of reform was met with stiff resistance from provincial governors and broke down completely in the early 1990s as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Deng 's Southern Tour of 1992 , designed by the ailing but influential leader as a means to reinstate his economic reform agenda .", "LSB- 13 -RSB- On the tour , Deng criticized the leftist hardliners that had gained power following the protests , and praised entrepreneurship and other market-driven policies .", "Initially ignored by Beijing , the Chinese Politburo eventually sided with Deng and economic reforms again gained prominence .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- In Hong Kong , the Tiananmen square protests led to fears that the PRC would renege on its commitments under one country , two systems following the impending handover in 1997 .", "In response , Governor Chris Patten attempted to expand the franchise for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong , which led to friction with Beijing .", "For many Hong Kongers , Tiananmen served as a turning point for when they lost trust in the Beijing government .", "The event , coupled with general uncertainty over the status of Hong Kong after the transfer of sovereignty , led to a sizeable exodus of Hong Kong people to Western countries such as Canada and Australia prior to 1997 .", "The British government 's attempt to stem the exodus led to the instigation of the British Nationality Selection Scheme to grant full British citizenship to some Hong Kongers .", "There have been large candlelight vigils attended by tens of thousands in Hong Kong every year since 1989 and these vigils have continued following the transfer of power to the PRC in 1997 .", "Many Hong Kongers see the continued protests as a symbol of the territory 's autonomy and freedom from the interference from Beijing on political issues .", "The June 4th Museum operated in various temporary premises until opening a permanent location in Tsim Sha Tsui , Kowloon in 2014 .", "The Chinese government drew widespread condemnation for its suppression of the protests .", "In its immediate aftermath , China seemed well on its way to becoming a pariah state , increasingly isolated on the international stage .", "This was a significant setback for the leadership , who had courted international investment for much of the 1980s as the country emerged from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution .", "Deng Xiaoping and the core leadership , however , vowed to continue economic liberalization policies after 1989 .", "LSB- 189 -RSB- From there on , China would work domestically as well as internationally to reshape its national image from that of a repressive regime to a benign global economic and military partner .", "During the early 1990s , officials such as Yang Shangkun , Li Peng and others sought to return to a planned economy .", "Deng Xiaoping largely stayed out of politics until his groundbreaking 1992 `` southern tour '' , which was intended to re-instate policies of economic liberalization .", "LSB- 191 -RSB- Along with the liberalization came the loosening of state control in many areas of daily life .", "Privately run print media flourished .", "Private newspapers increased from 250 in the 1980s to over 7,000 by 2003 .", "Provincially run satellite TV stations sprung up all over the country and challenged the market share of state-run CCTV .", "LSB- 192 -RSB- The leadership also stepped away from promoting communism as an all-encompassing belief system .", "State-approved religious organizations increased their membership significantly , as traditional beliefs suppressed during the Mao era also re-appeared .", "LSB- 193 -RSB- This state-sanctioned plurality also created the environment for unsanctioned forms of spirituality and worship to grow .", "LSB- 194 -RSB- In order to reduce the need for controversial methods of state control , while Protestants , Buddhists , and Taoists were largely left alone , the state often employed these ` approved ' denominations to `` fight against cults '' such as Falun Gong -- playing sects off each other .", "As the party departed from the orthodox communism it was founded upon , much of its attention was focused on the cultivation of nationalism as an alternative ideology .", "LSB- 195 -RSB- This policy largely succeeded in tying the party 's legitimacy to China 's `` national pride '' , turning public opinions in its favour .", "LSB- 196 -RSB- This is perhaps most prominently seen in May 1999 , when NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade .", "LSB- 197 -RSB- The bombings saw an outpouring of nationalist sentiment and increased support for the party as the foremost advocate of China 's national interest .", "Facing global condemnation for their handling of the protests in 1989 , China has endeavored to demonstrate its willingness to participate in international economic and defense institutions in order to secure investment for continued economic reforms .", "LSB- 198 -RSB- Before the end of 1991 , China normalized ties with the Russian government 's newly elected president , Boris Yeltsin .", "LSB- 199 -RSB- The PRC also welcomed Taiwanese business as a replacement for Western investment .", "LSB- 199 -RSB- Further , China expedited negotiations with the World Trade Organization as well as established relations with Indonesia , Israel , South Korea , and others in 1992 .", "LSB- 195 -RSB- Regarding defense alignments , the government signed The Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992 , The Convention on Chemical Weapons in 1993 , and The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996 .", "LSB- 195 -RSB- Whereas China had been a member of just 30 international organizations in 1986 , this membership increased to over 50 by 1997 .", "LSB- 200 -RSB- Finally , while China was a net recipient of aid throughout the 1980s , its growing economic and military role transformed it into a provider of aid , with $ 100 million given to Thailand in 1997 alone .", "Furthermore , the government has successfully promoted China as an attractive destination for investment by emphasizing the country 's skilled workers , comparatively lower wages , established infrastructure , and sizeable consumer base .", "LSB- 202 -RSB- Increased foreign investment in the country led many world leaders to believe that by constructively engaging China in the global marketplace , political reforms would inevitably follow .", "LSB- 197 -RSB- At the same time , the explosion of commercial interest in the country opened the way for multinational corporations to turn a blind eye to politics and human rights in favour of `` doing business . ''", "Since then , Western leaders who were previously critical of China have generally paid lip service to the legacy of Tiananmen , but the substance of bilateral relationships focus on business and trade interests .", "LSB- 201 -RSB- In Hong Kong , the events of Tiananmen in 1989 -- perhaps to a greater degree than anywhere else outside of mainland China -- have become permanently etched in the public consciousness .", "The events continue to have a strong impact on perceptions of China , its government , attitudes towards democracy , and the extent to which Hong Kong ` ers should identify as `` Chinese '' .", "The events of June 4 are seen as emblematic of the Chinese ` brand ' of authoritarianism and is prominently discussed in Hong Kong 's political circles , often in relation to democratic reform in Hong Kong and the territory 's relationship with Beijing .", "Academic studies indicate that those who supported the rehabilitation of the Tiananmen Square movement had a tendency to support democratization in the territory -LSB- 203 -RSB- as well as the election of pro-democracy parties .", "The European Union and United States embargo on armament sales to the PRC , put in place as a result of the violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests , remains in place today .", "The PRC has been calling for a lift of the ban for years and has had a varying amount of support from EU members .", "Since 2004 , China has portrayed the ban as `` outdated '' , and damaging to China-EU relations .", "In early 2004 , French President Jacques Chirac spearheaded a movement within the EU to lift the ban , which was supported by German Chancellor Gerhard Schr\u00f6der .", "However , the passing of the Anti-Secession Law of the People 's Republic of China in March 2005 increased tensions between mainland China and Taiwan , damaging attempts to lift the ban , and several EU Council members retracted their support for a lift of the ban .", "Moreover , Schr\u00f6der 's successor Angela Merkel opposed lifting the ban .", "Members of the U.S. Congress had also proposed restrictions on the transfer of military technology to the EU if the latter lifted the ban .", "The UK also opposed the lifting of the embargo when it took charge of the EU presidency in July 2005 .", "The election of Jos\u00e9 Manuel Barroso as European Commission President also made a lifting of the ban more difficult , because Barroso is a critic of China 's human rights record .", "LSB- 205 -RSB- In addition , the European Parliament has consistently opposed the lifting of the arms embargo to the PRC .", "Though its agreement is not necessary for lifting the ban , many argue it reflects the will of the European people better as it is the only directly elected European body .", "The arms embargo has limited China 's options from where it may seek military hardware .", "Among the sources that were sought included the former Soviet bloc that it had a strained relationship with as a result of the Sino-Soviet split .", "Other willing suppliers have previously included Israel and South Africa , but American pressure has restricted this co-operation .", "The Communist Party of China ( CPC ) forbids discussion of the Tiananmen Square protests , -LSB- 207 -RSB- and has taken measures to block or censor related information .", "Textbooks have little , if any , information related to the protests .", "LSB- 208 -RSB- Following the protests , officials banned controversial films and books , and shut down a large number of newspapers .", "Within a year , 12 percent of all newspapers , 8 percent of publishing companies , 13 percent of social science periodicals and more than 150 films were banned or shut down .", "In addition , the government also announced it had seized 32 million contraband books and 2.4 million video and audio cassettes .", "LSB- 209 -RSB- Access to media and internet resources on the subject are restricted or blocked by censors .", "LSB- 210 -RSB- Banned literature and films include Summer Palace , -LSB- 211 -RSB- Forbidden City , Collection of June Fourth Poems , -LSB- 212 -RSB- The Critical Moment : Li Peng diaries , and any writings of Zhao Ziyang or his aide Bao Tong , including Zhao 's memoirs .", "However , contraband and internet copies of these publications can be found .", "The party 's official stance towards the incident is that the use of force was necessary in order to control a ` political disturbance ' -LSB- 214 -RSB- and that it ensured the stability necessary for economic prosperity .", "LSB- 215 -RSB- Chinese leaders , including former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao , reiterate this line when asked about the question by foreign press .", "Public memory of the Tiananmen Square protests has been suppressed by the authorities since 1989 .", "Print media containing reference to the protests must be consistent with the government 's version of events .", "LSB- 214 -RSB- Currently , many Chinese citizens are reluctant to speak about the protests because of potential repercussions .", "LSB- 217 -RSB- Many young people born after 1980 are completely unfamiliar with the events and are apathetic about politics while older intellectuals no longer aspire for political change and instead focus on economic issues .", "LSB- 218 -RSB- Youth in China are generally unaware of the events that took place , of the symbols such as tank man , -LSB- 219 -RSB- or of the significance of the date June 4 itself .", "LSB- 220 -RSB- The entire surface of Tiananmen Square was later resurfaced , to remove evidence of blood stains left there after the crackdown .", "The mood in the square today is muted and solemn , with visitors required to pass through an underground security checkpoint to enter the square , although this is an easier process than in the average airport security station .", "There are a few Revolutionary Peoples Army soldiers standing watch near the southern end of the square , some apparently in their teens , but they do not interact with passersby .", "While public discussion of the events have become a social taboo , private discussions continue to take place despite frequent interference and harassment from the authorities .", "Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo remained in China to speak out about Tiananmen in the 1990s despite offers of asylum ; he faced constant surveillance .", "Zhang Xianling and Ding Zilin , mothers of victims who lost their lives in 1989 , founded the Tiananmen Mothers organization and were particularly outspoken on the humanitarian aspects of the subject .", "LSB- 221 -RSB- The authorities mobilize security forces , including members of the People 's Armed Police , every year on June 4 to prevent public displays of remembrance , with especially ` beefed up ' security forces for major anniversaries such as the 20th anniversary in 2009 and the 25th anniversary in 2014 .", "LSB- 222 -RSB- Journalists have been frequently denied entry to the Square on anniversaries .", "LSB- 222 -RSB- In addition , the authorities are known to have detained foreign journalists and increase surveillance on prominent human rights activists during this time of year .", "LSB- 223 -RSB- Being the latest victim , Citizen Du Yanlin arrested in Tiananmen Square on June 4 , 2015 , facing secret sentencing .", "Internet searches of ` June 4 ' or ` Tiananmen Square ' return censored results or result in temporarily severed server connections .", "LSB- 221 -RSB- Specific web pages with select keywords are censored , while other websites , such as those of overseas Chinese democracy movements , are blocked wholesale .", "LSB- 208 -RSB- -LSB- 221 -RSB- The censorship , however , has been inconsistent -- with many sites being blocked , unblocked , and re-blocked over the years , including YouTube , Wikipedia , and Flickr .", "LSB- 224 -RSB- In addition , the policy is much more stringent with Chinese-language sites than foreign-language ones .", "Social media censorship is more stringent during anniversaries ; even oblique references to the protests are usually deleted within hours .", "LSB- 225 -RSB- In January 2006 , Google agreed to censor their mainland China site to remove information about Tiananmen and other subjects considered ` sensitive ' by the authorities .", "LSB- 226 -RSB- Google withdrew its cooperation on censorship in January 2010 .", "Over the years some Chinese citizens have called for a reassessment of the protests and compensation from the government to victims ' families .", "One group in particular , Tiananmen Mothers , seeks compensation , vindication for victims and the right to receive donations from within the mainland and abroad .", "LSB- 215 -RSB- Zhang Shijun , a former soldier who was involved in the military crackdown , had published an open letter to President Hu Jintao seeking to have the government reevaluate its position on the protests .", "He was subsequently arrested and taken from his home .", "Although the Chinese government never officially acknowledged wrongdoing when it came to the incident , in April 2006 a payment was made to the mother of one of the victims , the first publicized case of the government offering redress to a Tiananmen-related victim 's family .", "The payment was termed a `` hardship assistance '' , given to Tang Deying ( \u5510\u5fb7\u82f1 ) whose son , Zhou Guocong ( simplified Chinese : \u5468\u56fd\u806a ; traditional Chinese : \u5468\u570b\u8070 ) died at the age of 15 while in police custody in Chengdu on June 6 , 1989 , two days after the Chinese Army dispersed the Tiananmen protesters .", "She was reportedly paid CNY70 ,000 ( approximately US$ 10,250 ) .", "This has been welcomed by various Chinese activists , but was regarded by some as a measure to maintain social stability and not believed to herald a changing of the Party 's official position .", "Before his death in 1998 , Yang Shangkun told army doctor Jiang Yanyong that `` June 4 '' was the most serious mistake committed by the Communist Party in its history , a mistake that Yang himself could not correct but one that certainly will eventually be corrected .", "LSB- 230 -RSB- Zhao Ziyang remained under house arrest until his death in 2005 .", "Zhao 's aide Bao Tong has repeatedly called on the government to reverse the verdict for the demonstrations .", "Chen Xitong , the mayor of Beijing , who read the martial law order and was later disgraced by a political scandal , expressed regret for the death of innocent civilians in 2012 , a year before his death .", "LSB- 231 -RSB- Premier Wen Jiabao reportedly suggested reversing the government 's position on Tiananmen in party meetings prior to his departure from politics in 2013 , only to be rebuffed by his colleagues .", "The Committee Against Torture met for its forty-first session from November 3 -- 21 , 2008 to consider reports submitted by member states under article 19 of the Convention .", "The Committee found that China 's response to the 1989 Democracy movement was worrying .", "The Committee was concerned that despite the multiple requests by relatives of people `` killed , arrested or disappeared on or following the 4 June 1989 Beijing suppression '' , there was a lack of investigations into these matters .", "It was also concerned with the failure of the Chinese Government to inform families of the fate of relatives involved , and it regretted that those responsible for the use of excessive force have not `` faced any sanction , administrative or criminal . ''", "LSB- 233 -RSB- The Committee recommended that :", "The State party should conduct a full and impartial investigation into the suppression of the Democracy Movement in Beijing in June 1989 , provide information on the persons who are still detained from that period , inform the family members of their findings , offer apologies and reparation as appropriate and prosecute those found responsible for excessive use of force , torture and other illtreatment .", "LSB- 233 -RSB- In December 2009 the Chinese Government responded to the Committee 's recommendations .", "It stated that the government had closed the case concerning the `` political turmoil in the spring and summer of 1989 . ''", "LSB- 234 -RSB- It also stated that the `` practice of the past 20 years has made it clear that the timely and decisive measures taken by the Chinese Government at the time were necessary and correct . ''", "It claimed that the labelling of the `` incident as ` the Democracy Movement ' '' is a `` distortion in the nature of the incident . ''", "According to the Chinese Government these observations were `` inconsistent with the Committee 's responsibilities . ''", "LSB- 234 -RSB- In 1995 , Richard Gordon and Carma Hinton produced The Gate of Heavenly Peace an award-winning three-hour documentary film about the Tiananmen Square protests .", "The film contains interviews with Liu Xiaobo , Wang Dan , Wu'erkaixi , Han Dongfang , Ding Zilin , Chai Ling , Dai Qing , Feng Congde , and Hou Dejian .", "The same year saw the release of Moving the Mountain a feature documentary directed by Michael Apted and produced by Trudie Styler , with cinematography by Maryse Alberti .", "The film takes its title from the memoir by Li Lu , one of the student leaders of the Tiananmen Square protests .", "Though Li Lu is a central figure in the finished film , the project set out to provide a comprehensive understanding of the events leading up to and following the protests , and features many other interviews .", "A primetime special hosted by Tom Brokaw honored both the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing and the fall of the Berlin Wall in that momentous year for human rights around the world , 1989 .", "In April 2006 , the PBS series Frontline produced an episode titled The Tank Man , which examined his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests and the change that has overtaken the PRC economically and politically since .", "On June 3 , 2009 the BBC aired the documentary Kate Adie returns to Tiananmen , in which documented reporter Kate Adie 's return to China , where she recalls the events she witnessed in 1989 .", "LSB- 235 -RSB- In May 1998 , an Indonesian general threatened a `` Tiananmen Square massacre '' in Jakarta to suppress student-led demonstrations against President Suharto .", "CNN news anchor Kyra Phillips drew criticism in March 2006 when she compared the 2006 youth protests in France , in which it was later determined that no one was killed , to the Tiananmen Square protests , saying `` Sort of brings back memories of Tiananmen Square , when you saw these activists in front of tanks . ''", "LSB- 237 -RSB- In February 2011 , Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi , in response to an uprising in Benghazi against his rule , held up China 's 1989 military assault on Tiananmen Square as an example of how to deal with popular unrest .", "LSB- 238 -RSB- Chinese media censored Gaddafi 's reference to Tiananmen Square .", "Since Tiananmen , the iconic `` tank man '' image has become a worldwide symbol for civil disobedience .", "What happened to the `` Tank Man '' following the demonstration is not known .", "Some say he was pulled away and went into hiding , others say he was executed by the authorities .", "LSB- 239 -RSB- Time Magazine dubbed him The Unknown Rebel and later named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century .", "In an interview with U.S. media , then Chinese President Jiang Zemin said he did not think the man was killed .", "LSB- 240 -RSB- In the Star Trek franchise , the Starfleet Federation starship U.S.S. Tian An Men , named `` in honor of those who died in the cause of Chinese freedom '' , -LSB- 243 -RSB- is referenced in three episodes :", "The MacGyver episode `` Children of the Light '' , aired on November 9 , 1989 , references the events as a backstory to the plot in the episode .", "Coordinates : 39 \u00b0 54 \u2032 12 \u2033 N 116 \u00b0 23 \u2032 30 \u2033 E / 39.90333 \u00b0 N 116.39167 \u00b0 E / 39.90333 ; 116.39167"], "_citing_sentence": "For these reasons, democracies tend not to suppress their people using violence, as in the case of the Tiananmen Square incident in Communist China or with the \"Tulip Revolution\" in authoritarian Kyrgystan.", "_claim_name": "People are safer and happier under democracy, and countries who benefit from this have a duty to ensure the human rights of everyone in world", "_doc_title": "Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 3]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Editorial Policy International Viewpoint is published under the responsibility of the Bureau of the Fourth International .", "Signed articles do not necessarily reflect editorial policy .", "Articles can be reprinted with acknowledgement , and a live link if possible .", "We want to improve International Viewpoint - to do this we need your feedback .", "Help us by spending a few minutes responding to our reader survey .", "Thursday 18 December 2003 , by G Buster", "The 20th People 's National Assembly met in Beijing in March 2003 to approve changes in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP ) and the executive bodies of the People 's Republic of China ( PRC ) which had been decided on four months earlier by the nomenclature of the party at its 16th Congress .", "The promotion of the `` fifth generation '' of leaders , with Hu Jintao at their head , has been accompanied by the dissolution of the State Commission for Planning and Development , responsible for the five year plans .", "The last symbol of a planned economy has thus disappeared with the definitive installation of the market as regulatory mechanism .", "But when and how did China become capitalist ?", "`` In the final analysis , the question of training successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat is one of whether or not there will be people who can carry on the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary cause started by the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries , whether or not the leadership of our Party and state will remain in the hands of proletarian revolutionaries , whether or not our descendants will continue to march along the correct road laid down by Marxism-Leninism , or , in other words , whether or not we can successfully prevent the emergence of Khrushchev 's revisionism in China .", "In short , it is an extremely important question , a matter of life and death for our Party and our country .", "It is a question of fundamental importance to the proletarian revolutionary cause for a hundred , a thousand , nay ten thousand years .", "Basing themselves on the changes in the Soviet Union , the imperialist prophets are pinning their hopes of `` peaceful evolution '' on the third or fourth generation of the Chinese Party .", "We must shatter these imperialist prophecies .", "From our highest organizations down to the grass-roots , we must everywhere give constant attention to the training and upbringing of successors to the revolutionary cause . ''", "Mao Zedong , July 14 , 1964 -LSB- 1 -RSB-", "Rehabilitated in 1976 , Deng Xiaoping announced in 1978 the policy of the `` four modernizations '' : the establishment of a state controlled agricultural market and the dissolution of the people 's Communes , the creation of special economic zones orientated towards exports with foreign investment in mixed enterprises , and a partial liberalization of foreign trade .", "After the resignation of Hua Guofeng - Mao 's designated heir - in 1980 , this policy was generalized , and allowed a significant consolidation of the bureaucracy ( which grew from 1.5 % to 4.4 % of the population in less than ten years ) and the appearance of a reformist wing inside it .", "In 1985 the 3rd Plenum of the 12th central committee extended the reforms to the urban industrial sector , generalizing the autonomy of management of the enterprises , recourse to market mechanisms , horizontal relations between enterprises , the strengthening of the financial and banking system as coordinating axes of the Plan as well as the combination of all forms of ownership in a `` market socialism '' combining elements of the reforms which had been experimented with in eastern Europe .", "In 1987 nonetheless the reforms entered a significant triple supply crisis - a growth of aggregate consumption higher than economic growth and high inflation ; a `` scissors crisis '' stemming from the insufficiency of the industrial products produced by the public sector to satisfy the demands of the peasants in the new agricultural market ; a crisis of food security brought about by the insufficiency of basic food products ( rice , corn ) despite an excellent harvest in that year .", "This economic crisis was transformed into a political crisis after a year and a half of deep factional struggles inside the CCP and the reforming general secretary , Hu Yaobang , was dismissed .", "The 13th Congress , meeting in October of that year , adopted the theoretical framework of `` market socialism '' reforms , together with a tough plan of adjustment under the leadership of the new secretary general , Zhao Ziyang , also originating from the reform-minded sector .", "The political and economic crisis remained uncontrollable .", "It culminated in June 1989 in the revolt of Tienanmen Square , a split in the CCP and the detention of Zhao Ziyang .", "The massacre at Tienanmen square marked the final crisis of the `` market socialist '' reforms and the defeat of the reform-minded sector of the CCP bureaucracy .", "However , the conservative fraction had no economic alternative , even if it put an immediate end , with the reaffirmation of the `` Four Principles '' , to any possibility of political reform that would put in question the dictatorship of the CCP .", "At the same time there was the fall of the Berlin wall , the defeat of the Soviet coup in September 1990 and the final break-up of the USSR in 1991 , the introduction of `` shock therapy '' policies and the restoration of capitalism in the former `` socialist bloc '' .", "In January 1992 an old and half-paralysed Deng Xiaoping visited the special economic zone of Shenzen , presenting it as the example of the economic reforms that should be undertaken and launching the slogan of `` Enrich yourselves ! ''", "In October 1992 the 14th Congress of the CCP met .", "While a very tough adjustment programme dreamed up with the help of the IMF and the World Bank was applied , the market economy and the law of value were generalized , as were the special economic zones .", "The central authorities and the Plan lost influence to the provincial authorities that developed their markets in competition with those of the other provinces .", "Equilibrium between the CCP 's factions was preserved , but the final decision rested with Jiang Zemin and favoured the predominance of the reform-minded faction .", "The reference was no longer to `` market socialism '' but a `` socialist market economy '' and this change marked the beginning of the transformation in the class nature of the state , while the public sector began to plunge in the waters of the commodity economy .", "The phase of negotiations on China 's membership of the World Trade Organisation - initially applied for in 1988 - began .", "The state sector of the economy accounted for 73 % of industrial production in 1988 - by 1992 it was 35 % .", "Between 1992 and 1997 - when the 15th Congress of the CCP met , shortly after the death of Deng Xiaoping - the public sector was besieged by the dizzying growth of the rural industrial sector , special economic zones and new urban private enterprises .", "It was also consciously pillaged by the provincial bureaucracies who , in a climate of rampant corruption , helped themselves to social funds and the assets of the public enterprises dependent on the central budget to maintain investments in the private sector in their provinces .", "The provincial bureaucracies could only tax their private sectors to support their budgets , whereas the needs of the provincial governments grew as central transfers fell .", "The central bureaucracy saw its capacity for extraction of the social surplus product of the public sector fall , and had to negotiate with the local bureaucracies over their contributions to the central budget .", "The regional disequilibrium was enormous , social inequality exploded , the privatization of agriculture led to unemployment for 250 million peasants and emigration to the cities for 100 million others - the so-called `` floating population '' .", "If poverty fell in the countryside , in the towns 117 million new poor appeared , 80 % of them in the central and western regions .", "The health and education system , which had become private , progressively disintegrated .", "Following the international recession of 1990-1991 , China became the second-largest recipient of foreign capital investment ( behind the United States ) , its share of foreign investment in Asia rapidly passing from 20 % to some 80 % - hoovering up thus 52 % of all foreign investment in developing countries .", "During this period the average growth of the Chinese economy reached 9.7 % per year ( against 7.5 % for the `` Asian tigers '' ) and exports grew by 19 % per year .", "Foreign investment accounted for more than 22 % of all investment .", "60 % of workers in the export-oriented free trade zones in the world are Chinese , or 18 million people .", "According to an IMF study , if the accumulation of capital was the most significant factor in growth up until 1994 , from this date onwards it was growth in productivity ( with an average per year of 4 % as against 2 % for the `` Asian tigers '' ) .", "It is not surprising that the 15th congress of the CCP attempted to adapt the ideology to the facts and to the new social interests .", "A bourgeoisie developed - some 5 % , that is 60 million people , declaring incomes higher than 12,000 dollars per head - and new urban middle layers appeared .", "This bourgeoisie is intimately linked by family ties to the bureaucracy , to the Chinese capitalists in the \u00e9migr\u00e9 circles and to foreign investors .", "Wu Jinglian , adviser to Prime Minister Zhu Rongji , proposed a new definition of socialism in the statutes of the CCP : `` social justice and the market economy '' .", "Meanwhile , the vice-president of the Academy of Social Sciences Liu Ji summed up Marxism in two principles : `` The interest of the people are what is most important and the party must serve the people with all its heart '' .", "In the initial drafts the reference to the proletariat as `` the vanguard of the revolution '' gave way to the `` waged employees '' although finally the option adopted was more scientific , mentioning `` labour as commodity '' .", "The CCP said its farewell to the working class in October 1997 when it announced the privatisation of public sector enterprises , with the dismissal of 200 million workers in five years .", "Capitalist restoration was already an irreversible fact .", "Despite this , the heritage of the management apparatuses of the old bureaucratically-deformed workers ' state of the People 's Republic rendered a substantial service to the Chinese nomenclature .", "It allowed them to emerge almost unscathed from the Asian crisis of 1997-1998 , with the exception of the bankruptcy of the International Trade Company and some investments in Guangdong .", "The big national banks were supported by the state , which guaranteed company debts ; state controls prevented the penetration of speculative short term capital , limiting foreign credits - although the foreign debt rose from 5.2 % of GDP in 1985 to 13.8 % in 1998 - and speculative operations on the national currency , the renminbi , which was not convertible .", "The impact of the crisis led to an appreciation in the value of the renminbi of 60 % in relation to the currencies of South-east Asia and a 20 % fall in relation to the Japanese yen , leading to a fall in relative competitiveness which reduced the growth of exports - it was only 0.5 % in 1998 and 6.1 % in 1999 .", "Foreign investment fell by 11 % in the course of the same year .", "The Chinese government applied a typically neo-Keynesian policy to support demand , concentrated especially in the central and western regions , whose bureaucracies had demanded a change in policy during the 15th Congress because of their inability to reap the benefits of the market .", "Public expenditure rose from 12 % of GDP in 1997 to 16 % in 1999 , while the budget deficit increased from 1.8 % to 3.1 % over the same period .", "The wages of civil servants rose by 20 % and treasury bonds were issued for a total of 160,000 million renminbi .", "Nonetheless these measures proved insufficient and the crisis of overproduction continued , leading to deflation .", "Interprovincial customs barriers were lifted and the internal market became unified .", "In 1999 the index of consumer prices fell by 1.4 % .", "Unused productive capacity rose to 40 % of GDP .", "China experienced fully , for the first time , the consequences of a capitalist economic cycle .", "In this crisis scenario the Chinese government decided to launch the final phase of the restructuring of the public sector and the privatizations decided on at the 15th Congress of the CCP .", "The Chinese authorities continued their policy of Keynesian stimulants in the course of the years 2000 , 2001 and 2002 , without ending deflation .", "The international recession reduced exports to the US and Japan to the level of 7.5 % of GDP , which made macro-economic management more complex .", "Although the public debt never was higher than 15 % of GDP , it had multiplied by 80 since 1981 , going from 870 million to 40,000 million renminbi .", "The basic reason for this growth was a fiscal crisis of the central authorities - while in 1978 they levied 29.5 % of GDP in taxes , it was only 13.3 % in 1999 , which reduced their capacity for pseudo-Keynesian regulation , maintained thanks to the continual issuing of treasury bonds in growing quantity , in a vicious circle which it will be difficult to emerge from .", "In December 2001 the People 's Republic of China officially became a member of the World Trade Organization .", "Five final years of negotiations ended with significant concessions from China , which threaten 60 % of the country 's car industry and 50 % of its food industry .", "The reason for these concessions relates to the change in the social nature of the state .", "The submerged bureaucracy , the chaos of private interests and generalized corruption can count on no other force than the world capitalist market to contain the explosion of regional inequalities and provincial protectionism .", "Only the discipline of an imposed restructuring from outside by international capitalism appears able to contain the autonomization of the provincial authorities .", "The gigantic Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze has become the symbol of this process ; conceived as a `` socialist '' solution to China 's eternal evils , its construction ending in a climate of dizzying corruption .", "In October 2002 the Chinese economy began to slightly recover its tendency to growth .", "Profits in the private sector grew by 10 % , although those in the state sector continued to fall ( - 4.1 % ) .", "More slowly , private consumption and investment have according to the IMF , begun to overtake public expenditure as motor of growth , which at the end of 2002 reached 9 % , or one point better than the 8 % necessary to absorb demographic growth and contain the growth of unemployment .", "With a certain irony , when the 16th Congress of the CCP was held in Beijing on November 8 , 2002 , it seemed to realise Mao 's prophecy as to the danger of a restoration of capitalism in China .", "In the course of this Congress the third generation , represented by Jiang Zemin , has given direct executive power to the fourth generation of Hu Jintao , while conserving its influence in the shadows .", "The main ideological contribution of the third generation of the CCP was the `` theory '' of the `` three representations '' , according to which the CCP represented not the workers and peasants of China , nor even the `` cadres '' of its nomenclature , but the `` advanced productive forces , innovatory culture and the interests of the broad masses '' .", "The Congress launched an appeal for the recruitment of capitalists to the CCP , envisaging for the latter a special membership rate of 1 % of their annual salary .", "Xiang Shaoling , owner of the Baopu Garments Company , complained publicly : `` To be in the party is a glory , but the membership rate is very high '' .", "From the human , social , economic and ecological point of view , the cost of capitalist restoration in China has been gigantic .", "Yet it is today the most shining example of a `` transitional economy '' that the World Bank proposes to developing countries , This quarter century of reforms , in particular since 1992 , has been crowned with success only thanks to the conjuncture of several factors : the terrible repression of the democratic movement in 1979 and 1989 , the modification of the international relationship of forces created by the collapse of post-Stalinism in eastern Europe and the USSR , neoliberal globalization through the WTO , IMF and World Bank and the cruel crushing of any attempt to demand more humane living conditions for the working class , who are subjected to Dantesque primitive capitalist accumulation , possible only under the protection of the CCP 's bureaucratic dictatorship .", "The CCP has managed to survive all its internal crises , in particular the serious splits and purges of 1976 , 1980 and 1988-1989 , thanks to an internal pact nourished by the `` Cultural Revolution syndrome '' .", "It has sold its political soul first to Deng Xiaoping , then to Jiang Zemin , guarantors of the social and economic stability of the bureaucracy .", "Fearing above all the autonomous activity of the masses ; the CCP hopes to guarantee stability through the dictatorship of the single party and the discipline of the capitalist market .", "References to Marxism have given way to a chauvinist and conservative nationalism , if not to the superstitions of the Falun Gong and other sects .", "The worst effects of this capitalist restoration are still to come .", "Following the most classic models of the crises of the `` mandate of heaven '' , they will take the form of a crisis in food - given the weakness of agricultural productivity and the necessity of massive food imports - and an ecological crisis brought about by deforestation and floodings .", "The crisis of overproduction can not be contained by the growth of exports founded on a constant reduction of production costs .", "Despite the total absence of workers ' rights and the pitiless competition for the sale of labour power between the `` floating population '' expelled from the countryside and the new unemployed produced by the restructuring of the public sector , industrial conflicts and local social explosions have multiplied by 14 in the course of the 1990s according to the official figures , leading to an accumulation of experiences - slow , unequal , but continuous - for the working class .", "China is a weak link of capitalism and as Mao put it , `` it is right to revolt '' .", "BIBLIOGRAPHY Liu Yufan , `` A Preliminary Report on China 's Capitalist Restoration '' , Links number 21 , August 2002 .", "Liu Yufan , `` Will China Shake the World ? ''", ", International Viewpoint , March & April 2002 .", "Willy Wo-Lap Lam , The Era of Jiang Zemin , Prentice Hall 1999 .", "Andrew J Nathan and Bruce Gilley , China 's New Rulers : The Secret Files , Granta Books , 2002 .", "Ruan Ming , Deng Xiaoping , Chronicle of an Empire , Westview Press , 1992 David S. G. Goodman , Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese Revolution , Routledge , 1994 .", "Minxin Pei , `` China 's Governance Crises '' , Foreign Affairs , October 2002 .", "Roland Lew , `` Rebellion in the Rustbelt '' , International Viewpoint , 343 , September 2002 .", "Roland Lew , `` Taking the Capitalist Road '' , International Viewpoint , 348 , March 2003 .", "Jeffrey Sachs and Wing Thye Woo , `` China 's Transition Experience , Reexamined '' , Transition Newsletter , World Bank .", "Livio Maitan , `` Odyssey 2001 '' , International Viewpoint , February 2001 .", "World Bank , China Update , March 2001 , Washington DC Chen , S. Y Yang , Y , `` China 's Growth and Poverty Reduction : Trends Between 1990 and 1999 '' , Policy Research Working Paper , number 2651 , World Bank , 2001 .", "Ianchovichina , E y Martin , W `` Trade Liberalization in China 's Accession to the WTO '' , Policy Research Working Paper number 2623 , World Bank , 2001 .", "DSP ( Australia ) , The Class Nature of the Chinese State , Report Adopted by the Congress of the DSP , January 1999 .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- `` On Kruschev 's Phoney Communism and its Historical Lessons for the World '' , in Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung , Foreign Language Editions , Peking , pp 276-277 ( also known as The Little Red Book ) .", "G. Buster is a member of the editorial board of the Madrid review `` Viento Sur '' , and a member of Espacio alternativo and the Fourth International ."], "_citing_sentence": "Integration into the world economy (for example, joining the WTO) has led to greater transparency.", "_claim_name": "Democracy is good for economy as the ability to trade freely and openly with all countries promotes growth and wealth worldwide", "_doc_title": "The transition to capitalism  - International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine", "_labeled_lineIDs": [89]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 10, "_topic_name": "This house would promote democratization"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["In the 1950s , most legislation that targeted Indigenous Australians was firmly in state hands .", "The Australian Constitution stated in section 51 ( xxvi ) that ` the Parliament shall , subject to this Constitution , have power to make laws for the people of any race , other than the aboriginal race in any State , for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws ' .", "All states , except Tasmania , used the power given to them by this exclusion to make laws that applied only to Aboriginal people .", "Until mid-century these state so-called ` protection acts ' proscribed and controlled Aboriginal people 's lives .", "In a number of cases laws passed to protect Aboriginal people from predatory whites were applied in a controlling , inhuman way .", "For example , the consorting provisions of the South Australian Police Act may have been designed to protect Aboriginal women from white sexual predators , but they could also be invoked to prevent ordinary socialising , as Ephraim Tripp found out .", "He regularly gave a lift to work to his Aboriginal work mate until he was told by a police constable that he was breaking the law by doing so !", "The right to choose a marriage partner , to be legally responsible for one 's own children , to move about the state and to socialise with non-Aboriginal Australians , were just some of the rights which Aboriginal people did not have .", "In Queensland the protector or superintendent of a mission even had the right to open the letters of people living on reserves .", "When Ted Penny , a Western Australian school teacher , travelled to Canberra to be a part of a deputation to Prime Minister Menzies in 1963 , he crossed four state borders .", "He was subject to different laws in each state he travelled through .", "In some places he was Aboriginal and in other places he was n't .", "Some state laws defined aboriginality in terms of how much ` Aboriginal blood ' people had .", "In a number of legislatures if a person was able to gain exemption from these Aboriginal Acts and have the same rights as other citizens s/he was considered , by law , to be no longer an ` Aborigine ' .", "A change of legal status , however , did not necessarily mean social acceptance in the white community .", "For more information on the various laws affecting Aboriginal Australians , see State legislation ( LINK ) in the Resources section of this website .", "In 1962 Shirley Andrews , campaign organiser for the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement , researched these restrictions and put them together in table form .", "This made accessible for the first time to interested people the enormous variations across the continent with regard to how aboriginality was defined and what people so defined were prevented from doing .", "` The Australian Aborigines : a summary of their situation in all states in 1962 '", "Box 3/4 , Council for Aboriginal Rights ( Vic . )", ", Papers , MS 12913 , State Library of Victoria"], "_citing_sentence": "Failure to defend the principle of self-determination now will effectively close off the choices of future generations.For example, Australian government policy for many decades was to ignore Aboriginal rights, denying them full citizenship and removing children from their homes and relocating them with white families (the so-called \"stolen generation\").", "_claim_name": "Self-determination is necessary to protect minority cultures.", "_doc_title": "Collaborating for Indigenous Rights 1957-1973", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2, 3, 4]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 11, "_topic_name": "This house believes self-determination of peoples is a human right"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Russian and NATO flags ( source : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_NATO_flags.jpg )", "The election of Jeremy Corbyn to lead the Labour Party has not so much unlocked the door to popular debate on UK foreign and defence policy as blown it off .", "Explicit and consistent in his opposition to renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system , Corbyn has also raised the possibility of a UK exit from NATO and is lukewarm on the UK 's continued membership of the European Union and its Common Foreign and Security Policy ( CFSP ) .", "His views may not be mainstream within his party or parliament , but they have stimulated debate on the nature and impact of military alliances and postures widely regarded as immutable .", "This briefing poses some questions about the UK 's existing security alignments , particularly the role of NATO , and considers how these might be brought back into public discourse in the context of intra-Labour Party and national policy debates during the current parliament .", "It finds that the character of NATO and European-US relations is already in flux and a more public discussion of the alliance is overdue .", "At the outset , two things need to be restated .", "The first is that Corbyn has just taken his place as the Leader of the Opposition .", "That is , he leads the party in Westminster that has just lost a general election .", "With fixed-term parliaments and a Conservative majority in the Commons , the next general election is unlikely to arrive before May 2020 .", "Thus , beyond asking awkward questions , neither Corbyn nor his party are likely to have much impact on defence policy , such as this autumn 's Strategic Defence and Security Review ( SDSR ) , for at least five years .", "The second is that it is the Labour Party rather than its leader that sets party policies .", "Corbyn ought thus to preside over a party that , at least in the short term , remains committed to Trident renewal and an increase in UK arms exports , as per its doomed 2015 election manifesto .", "For now , the forum for the fiercest debate on British foreign and defence policy is likely to be within the Labour Party .", "The parliamentary party 's position towards the renewal of Trident , which aligns Corbyn more with the Scottish National Party ( SNP ) and Liberal Democrats than with many of his own MPs , may be particularly divisive ahead of the ` Main Gate ' vote which would seek parliamentary approval to replace Trident , expected in early 2016 .", "More to the point , there does not seem to be any appetite within the Parliamentary Labour Party or the wider party for the UK to leave NATO .", "An August 2014 opinion poll by Chatham House found that 60 % of Labour voters ( and 61 % of all respondents ) thought that NATO was ` vital ' or ` important ' to the UK 's security .", "Labour Party policy in the early 1980s ( when Corbyn was first elected to the Commons ) was to leave NATO but for the last three decades it has been squarely behind the alliance that the iconic Labour government of Clement Attlee co-founded in 1949 .", "All this means that Corbyn is highly unlikely to make UK withdrawal from NATO any sort of priority .", "However , he is known to ask difficult questions and some of these may include : What is NATO 's current purpose as a security alliance ?", "Does NATO 's recent focus on ` out of area ' operations contribute to European security ?", "Would its further expansion enhance or undermine European and British security ?", "What role must nuclear weapons play in the alliance 's deterrence strategy ?", "What drives NATO 's commitment to its members spending a minimum 2 % of GDP on their militaries ?", "NATO has championed itself as `` the most successful defensive alliance in history '' ( London Declaration , 1990 ) , having precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact alliance through its sustained superior technological development , mass communications and economic growth .", "At least in its early years , Stalin 's USSR was in expansionary mood and the alliance may well have safeguarded the fragile democracies of Western Europe 's frontline states , albeit neutrality or non-alignment seemed to achieve similar ends for such peers as Finland , Austria and Yugoslavia .", "After 1990 , when Corbyn has said that NATO should have been phased out , the ongoing legitimacy of the organisation has been bolstered by the clear desire of the majority of former Soviet satellites to join it .", "Since 1999 , twelve formerly Communist states , including three former constituents of the USSR , have acceded to the alliance , with another three or four progressing towards membership .", "Post-2014 crises in relations with Russia have even prompted such stalwarts of democratic neutrality as Sweden and Finland to consider joining NATO .", "For its part , NATO has repeatedly reaffirmed its ` open door ' to all European democracies and its aim to unify Europe under a single security regime .", "The most significant success of the NATO alliance may well be to have created and enforced this security regime under which the economic and political structures of the European Union were nurtured and flourished .", "Tellingly , while the EU and European NATO are not coterminous , all but one ( Serbia ) of the EU 's 16 new and negotiating members in Central and Southeast Europe are current or aspiring members of NATO .", "The view from Central and Southeast Europe is now at least as important to NATO as the perspective of Brussels , London or Washington .", "While Western Europe feels more irritated than threatened by the Russian paper bear , and the US is far more concerned by the emergence of China as a genuine superpower , few in Central Europe have ever doubted that Russia would rise again as a major player in Eurasian geopolitics .", "Even more important is the view from Moscow , which shares its former satellites ' zero sum evaluation of European security and sees NATO as an inherently anti-Russian alliance whose ceaseless expansion is part of an ongoing strategy to contain , encircle and neutralise it .", "Thus has Putin sought to rebuild both Russia 's economic and security alliances in its ` near abroad ' through the Eurasian Economic Union and Collective Security Treaty Organisation .", "Georgia , Ukraine , Moldova and perhaps Serbia are the last torn states in Europe where Moscow and NATO vie for influence .", "Where Corbyn is likely to challenge NATO is on its open door to admitting these former Soviet states , which he sees as unnecessarily antagonistic to Moscow .", "In this he may find that his views coincide with those of many of NATO 's military leaders .", "They worry about the alliance 's expansion as a political project despite its inability to defend new and ill-equipped territories to the east as well as entrenched anti-western attitudes among some post-Soviet security elites .", "In any case , Russian occupation , annexation or recognition of separatist regions claimed by Georgia , Moldova and Ukraine will stymie their ambitions to join NATO for the foreseeable future .", "Another sphere in which Corbyn is likely to question NATO orthodoxies is in relation to its post-1990s identity not just as a defensive alliance but as a proactive ` Crisis Management ' organisation that mounts expeditionary , and sometimes offensive , operations well beyond its own borders .", "Ironically , NATO made its first use of force only after the threat to Europe from its original adversary , the Soviet Union , appeared to have vanished .", "Since 1993 , it has deployed and commanded armed forces in Bosnia , Kosovo , Afghanistan , Iraq , the Gulf of Aden and Libya on missions ranging from military training to counter-piracy to peacekeeping and civilian protection to regime change and territorial occupation .", "While the Bosnia mission and the ongoing anti-piracy Operation Ocean Shield off Somalia have met with some success , interventions in Kosovo , Afghanistan and Libya have flouted or tarnished international law without obviously enhancing Euro-Atlantic security .", "At best , as in Kosovo , NATO has been left with an open-ended peacekeeping dilemma .", "At worst , as in Afghanistan , it has been sucked into a major war ( even the meta ` War on Terror ' ) without clear strategic objectives .", "In all three cases , but most acutely in Libya , the easy tactical victory of NATO 's superior military technologies has been belied by the strategic disaster of its attempts at ( or aversion to ) post-conflict state-building .", "While NATO is expected to persist with the Strategic Concept it signed up to in Lisbon in 2010 until its 2020 summit , the alliance already appears to have moved away from that document 's focus on capacity to mount ` crisis management ' operations ` at strategic distance ' .", "This reflects a number of issues .", "One is the strategic focus of the Obama administration on the Pacific and China , where other NATO powers have much more limited interests and capabilities .", "Another is the chastening experience of strategic failure in Afghanistan and Libya .", "More pressing since 2014 is the crisis in relations with Russia , which has focused minds on the original task of territorial defence , and the return to combat operations against Islamic State of the US , UK and at least six other NATO allies .", "This mission is commanded by the US outside of NATO structures , perhaps reflecting a concern that NATO is seen as a Western , Christian , even ` Crusader ' alliance in the Middle East .", "Few of these conditions seems likely to change much over the course of the current parliament .", "The post-Obama US presidency ( from January 2017 ) is likely to have the largest influence over NATO 's next strategic concept but further US drift from European security appears likely .", "Of the three regions ( Europe , Middle East , East Asia ) of which the US has positioned itself as external security guarantor since 1945 , Europe is still by far the most stable and best resourced and coordinated .", "Europe will therefore be expected to do more at home ; if defence budgets are not to rise , that probably means less focus on expeditionary capabilities .", "Violent conflict in the Middle East is likely to be a major feature of Mediterranean security for the generation to come and several NATO members will be involved in military activities along its frontiers , from Libya to Iraq .", "Invoking Article 5 ( on collective defence ) can not be ruled out if Turkey , Greece , Italy or another member state were attacked , but the appetite to use NATO for more proactive military interventions in the Greater Middle East seems to have waned in favour of US and EU efforts to bolster Arab or African capabilities .", "It is difficult to predict the future course of US foreign policy let alone the nature of NATO-Russian relations or the Islamic State in 2020 .", "However , European NATO members ' perceptions of their security environment and threats have been transformed since 2014 such that their military resources will be directed much more within NATO 's original area of responsibility : Europe and the Mediterranean .", "The drifting debate on NATO 's raison d'\u00eatre , identity and strategic concept has thus already begun to focus away from out-of-area operations and back towards its collective defence origins .", "Much of the discussion on British defence policy around the 2015 general election and SDSR has focussed on whether or not the UK would commit to the highly symbolic spending level of 2 % of GDP ( a measure of national production ) on its military .", "Chancellor George Osborne made this commitment publicly in July , although there is still much discussion about how this spending level will be met .", "The 2 % target is an entirely arbitrary figure without serious reference to the threats or responses that Europe considers realistic or the effectiveness with which such sums are spent .", "NATO has been promoting it for some time , largely in an attempt to encourage low-spending European members ( current average : 1.4 % of GDP ) to close the spending gap with the high-spending US ( about 3.5 % of GDP ) .", "This has singularly failed .", "As Figure 1 shows , average spending has fallen almost every year since the end of the Cold War and three-quarters of all members now fail to meet the 2 % threshold .", "Despite loud commitments to meeting this target at the NATO Summit in Wales a year ago , the post-2014 trend has been to stabilise military spending rather than to increase it .", "Figure 1 : NATO Military Spending as % of GDP , 1988-2015", "As Malcolm Chalmers of the establishment defence think tank RUSI puts it , `` The Atlantic Alliance has done itself serious reputational damage by giving so much emphasis to a target that so few of its member states have managed to meet . ''", "The 2 % target thus undermines confidence between the US and its European allies .", "Whether or not the leading actors in NATO are yet willing to recognise it , the NATO 2 % target is already a lost cause and ripe for re-evaluation against the actual capabilities that European states need to deter or defend against likely threats .", "One of the strongest arguments for NATO is that it offers the genuine possibility of burden-sharing , including costs , through collective defence .", "Lest we forget , the size of the European economy ( whether defined as the EU or European NATO ) is slightly larger than that of the US , nearly double that of China , and ten times the size of Russia 's .", "While it spends a low proportion of its income on defence , European NATO still spends almost $ 300 billion per year on its combined military , much more than China and well over three times what Russia spends .", "As Table 1 shows , that spending translates into a very significant quantitative advantage in virtually every field of conventional military strength even without the addition of US forces .", "Combat Aircraft ( 4th Gen + )", "Active Main Battle Tanks ( 3rd Gen + )", "Note : Figures are estimates from several sources and include active personnel and equipment only .", "Most states have larger numbers of long-term stored main battle tanks of modern and older design .", "Table 1 : Personnel and Equipment Strengths of Major Militaries and Blocs", "The UK is the largest single military spender within European NATO , with an annual defence budget of about $ 60 billion ( # 39 billion ) or 20 % of total .", "However , this does not go very far in European terms .", "British forces generally have a qualitative edge in equipment , training and deployability but , with the exception of the Naval Service , they constitute barely a tenth of European strength .", "Alone , the UK would still be a significant regional military power , with or without its nuclear weapons , but its capabilities would be miniscule compared to NATO or even Russia .", "There is therefore a strong efficiency argument to be made for NATO membership : UK defence is potentially cheaper and more effective through coalition burden-sharing .", "However , without a focused idea of what NATO is defending against and a realistic assessment of what potential adversaries ' capabilities and strategic ambitions are , it is impossible for NATO to have a meaningful conversation about what that burden is and how it can fairly be shared .", "Focusing the debate on an arbitrary spending target and symbolic spending increases is a major distraction from such a conversation .", "If NATO did not exist , would the UK and its neighbours be forced to invent it ?", "In the current context of European Union , probably not , since the CFSP covers much of the same ground and without NATO would probably be compelled to be a much stronger component of EU policy .", "Indeed , the messy overlap of EU and NATO security structures and policy means that there is a lot less certainty about the UK 's commitment to the defence of non-NATO EU member states like Sweden , Finland and Malta than there would be without NATO .", "Yet this ignores two factors .", "The first is perhaps historical , that the EU would not have coalesced or expanded in the way it has without the security guarantees and common purpose that NATO has provided .", "The second is both historic and ongoing and refers to the trans-Atlantic alliance with the Unites States .", "NATO 's security guarantee during at least the Cold War was dependent on the massive overt and implicit US commitment to European defence at a time when European powers lacked both the resources and confidence to work together effectively .", "That is no longer the glue that binds European security cooperation .", "It certainly makes the ongoing alliance far more potent , for better and worse : most European states feel more secure ; Russia feels more threatened .", "Things look different from Washington , necessitating the question : does the United States need to talk about NATO ?", "Only about 63,000 US military personnel , or less than 5 % of total , are now based in Europe but the continent 's security and the sabre-rattling with Moscow is an increasing distraction from the Middle East and Western Pacific .", "If NATO did not exist , would the United States be forced to invent it ?", "It seems unlikely that it would in its current form , although it would be anomalous if Washington did not have some sort of alliance with the cluster of European democracies that is its biggest market .", "Apart from NATO , the United States has mutual defence agreements with virtually every democracy in the world , from the hemispheric commitments of the Rio Treaty to the Australia-New Zealand-US ( ANZUS ) Treaty to bilateral agreements with Japan , South Korea and the Philippines .", "True , most of these treaties were not made in the name of democracy , and there are many autocracies in the US sphere , but in Washington 's current web of military alliances post-ISAF NATO is but one among many .", "What of the vaunted Special Relationship between the United States and the UK ?", "While US generals have talked up the UK 's unique position of being able to deploy division-sized ground forces as well as ships and aircraft in US-led operations , this is more of a nice-to-have than a must-have for the US .", "The greater value of the relationship is likely to lie in privileged intelligence arrangements of which we know little .", "This includes the sharing of facilities in and intelligence from such outposts of the empire as Cyprus , Ascension Island and Diego Garcia , as well as the UK mainland .", "Given the controversies surrounding Anglo-American mass surveillance operations in the current decade , such arrangements might be a more obvious target of future Labour policy , rather than NATO per se , and potentially more damaging to trans-Atlantic relations .", "It seems unlikely that either the United States or Europe would have forged an alliance as strong as NATO if it did not already exist in 1990 .", "But it seems even less likely that the intimately linked societies of Europe and North American would not have some form of security relationship .", "It is less inevitable that NATO should expand to incorporate all of Eastern Europe , play a role in military operations outside of Europe or fund military forces disproportionate in size to those of neighbouring states .", "These are some of the questions that should be asked over the current term of the UK parliament .", "Whether there is the political courage or vision to try to answer those questions remains to be seen .", "Richard Reeve is Director of the Sustainable Security Programme at Oxford Research Group ( ORG ) .", "These briefings are circulated free of charge for non-profit use , but please consider making a donation to ORG , if you are able to do so ."], "_citing_sentence": "NATO is \"the most successful defensive alliance in history\", it saw off the USSR and Warsaw pact without a fight and has created a single security regime throughout most of Europe.", "_claim_name": "British security is dependent upon NATO not the EU", "_doc_title": "We Need to Talk About NATO | Oxford Research Group", "_labeled_lineIDs": [24]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["David Cameron says Brexit could lead to continental war .", "Former Nato secretaries general suggest the EU is a `` key partner '' for the defence organisation .", "But in the future , the opposite will be true , for this simple reason .", "A vote to Remain would embolden Brussels in the goal of ever-closer union .", "This will include a European army , enshrined in the EU project through the Maastricht and Lisbon treaties .", "And an EU army would undermine deterrence and cripple Nato , weakening European defences when we face increasing threats from Russia , the Middle East and radical Islam .", "A German defence white paper , leaked last week but supposed to be kept under wraps until after the referendum , leaves no doubt of Germany 's intention to drive through the merger of Europe 's armed forces `` and embark on permanent cooperation under common structures '' .", "Germany has begun to combine substantial elements of the Dutch forces with their own .", "A centralised army is an indispensable component of the superstate to which the EU is openly committed .", "It would also provide an excuse for struggling economies to slash defence budgets .", "Few nations take defence seriously enough to spend even the 2 per cent of GDP required by Nato , a shortcoming criticised by President Obama in Germany last month .", "An EU army will see these nations cut back even further , cynically pretending that defences are strengthened even as forces and capabilities are merged and downsized .", "Funds will be diverted from Nato combat forces as the EU army lavishes cash on costly new command structures , including a surfeit of generals with expensive headquarters .", "Indeed , reducing the influence of Nato and the US is the aim for several EU members , especially France and Germany .", "And if we undercut Nato , that aim will succeed , leading to US retrenchment .", "Obama 's pivot to Asia has shifted American foreign policy focus from Europe and the Middle East , tempered only by recent developments in Ukraine .", "The next president , especially if it is Hillary Clinton , is unlikely to pivot back .", "Donald Trump makes no secret of his impatience with Nato and concern about the extent of America 's budgetary contributions set against Europe 's failure to pull its weight -- a widely held US position .", "As well as depleted strength and capability , the aggregated European forces will be emasculated by a lack of political will .", "After Iraq and Afghanistan the West is paralysed , with governments terrified of committing ground forces to any conflict .", "An EU command structure , fraught with divergent and opposing policy agendas , will turn paralysis into rigor mortis .", "Look at the EU 's long track record of vacillation , timidity and inaction on the Balkans , Ukraine , Syria , Libya , the immigration crisis and the Islamic State .", "None of our enemies is going to take an EU army seriously .", "Its creation would undermine one of the most critical virtues of a strong and credible defence : deterring an aggressor from action they might be forced to regret .", "Those who argue that the UK could veto an EU army , or that the UK would simply not participate , are naive or disingenuous .", "The Machiavellian EU bureaucracy knows better than to take this project forward under a mechanism that could be derailed .", "No matter what politicians say now , it is certain that British Armed Forces would become part of an EU army .", "Mr Cameron 's dire warnings of war if we leave reinforce that .", "It is increasingly clear that the leaders of all main parties believe staying inside the EU is the only way for Britain to prosper .", "If the benefits of economic , political and legal union are so great , then it must follow , to politicians who argue that Britain can never again fight alone , that military union has the same advantages .", "It will be denied that our forces will be handed over to the Brussels high command .", "But remember it was never explained to the British people that our Parliament would be subordinated to a union that today hands down over half our laws , regulates our day-to-day activities , and can override the highest courts in the land ."], "_citing_sentence": "The creation of an EU army on the other hand will undermine NATO and is something that will be pushed through after the referendum.", "_claim_name": "British security is dependent upon NATO not the EU", "_doc_title": "It is an EU army that could bring about war", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["BBC News", "Peace in Europe could be at risk if Britain votes to leave the European Union , David Cameron has warned .", "The UK has regretted `` turning its back '' on Europe in the past , the PM said , arguing the EU had `` helped reconcile '' countries and maintain peace .", "Was leaving the union a `` risk worth taking '' , Mr Cameron asked .", "But ex-London mayor Boris Johnson hit back , saying the EU 's `` anti-democratic tendencies '' were `` a force for instability and alienation '' .", "Mr Johnson also sparked criticism when he suggested the conflict in Ukraine was an example of `` EU foreign policy-making on the hoof '' .", "Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt , as well as the official Remain campaign , branded him an `` apologist for Putin '' .", "Mr Johnson called for an apology , saying the comments were `` absolutely contemptible '' and that he had repeatedly condemned Russia 's actions in Ukraine .", "Later on Monday , Mr Cameron 's security warning was bolstered by five former secretaries general of the West 's military alliance Nato - Lord Peter Carrington , Javier Solana , Lord George Robertson , Jaap De Hoop Scheffer and Anders Fogh Rasmussen .", "In an open letter to the Daily Telegraph , they said it would be `` very troubling '' if the UK ended its membership of the EU .", "`` While the decision is one for the British people , Brexit would undoubtedly lead to a loss of British influence , undermine Nato and give succour to the West 's enemies just when we need to stand shoulder to shoulder across the Euro-Atlantic community against common threats , including on our doorstep , '' they said .", "This issue covers defence and the extent of Britain 's influence in the world", "There are just over six weeks to go until the 23 June referendum which will decide whether Britain remains in or leaves the EU .", "Despite his warning of the consequences of a vote to leave , Mr Cameron defended his decision to call the referendum , telling the BBC : `` You should n't try to hold an independent sovereign nation in an organisation against its will . ''", "His comments - and a rival speech from Mr Johnson - came as the referendum campaign intensifies , following last week 's elections .", "The PM , who was introduced by former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband , argued the EU - with Britain in it - had helped bring together countries that had been `` at each others ' throats for decades '' .", "He warned the peace and stability Europe has enjoyed in recent years could not be guaranteed , saying leaving risked `` the clock being turned back to an age of competing nationalism in Europe '' .", "While Europe has largely been at peace since 1945 , Mr Cameron said it was barely two decades since the Bosnian war while , more recently , Russia has been at war with Georgia and Ukraine .", "`` Can we be so sure that peace and stability on our continent are assured beyond any shadow of doubt ?", "Is that a risk worth taking ?", "I would never be so rash as to make that assumption , '' he said .", "Mr Cameron argued `` isolationism has never served this country well '' .", "During the course of political campaigns the claims being made on different sides become more and more well , shall we say , stretchy .", "It is certainly true that many security experts have gone on the record warning against what might happen .", "And nearly all of our international allies think that staying in the European Union is a safer option .", "The number of diplomatic cars clogging up the narrow streets around the British Museum this morning in London 's Bloomsbury was a sure sign of that .", "But the prime minister 's klaxon this morning ?", "Remember less than three months ago he was still saying that he would be ready to lead us out of the EU if he did n't reform our relationship .", "Unless you believe he would knowingly have risked plunging the country into a conflict , you 'd be forgiven for at least sprinkling a little salt on his arguments this morning .", "Read Laura 's full analysis", "Mr Cameron ranked 2016 alongside other major events in European history , including the Spanish Armada in 1588 , the battles of Blenheim and Waterloo in 1704 and 1815 respectively , the two world wars , as well as the fall of the Berlin Wall .", "`` The truth is this : what happens in our neighbourhood matters to Britain , '' the PM added .", "`` That was true in 1914 , in 1940 and in 1989 .", "Or , you could add 1588 , 1704 and 1815 ... And if things go wrong in Europe , let 's not pretend we can be immune from the consequences . ''", "Vote Leave said Nato , not the EU , kept the UK safe and accused Downing Street of `` losing the plot '' .", "It said : `` During the renegotiation the PM said he ` ruled nothing out ' .", "Now he thinks leaving the EU would lead to war .", "It pointed to analysis by the Historians for Britain group , which described the suggestion the EU had prevented wars as `` groundless '' and `` historically illiterate '' .", "In his own speech on Europe , Mr Johnson said the PM 's argument `` grossly underestimates the way Europe has changed '' as well as the role of Nato .", "He said the EU itself and its `` anti-democratic tendencies '' were in fact `` a force for instability and alienation '' .", "It comes after former MI6 boss Sir John Sawers warned leaving the EU would make the UK `` less safe '' .", "He said the UK would be shut out of decisions on the `` crucial '' issue of data sharing .", "However , Justice Secretary Michael Gove - who backs the campaign for the UK to leave the EU - said Sir John was `` flat wrong '' .", "Police are treating an incident at RAF Marham , Norfolk , involving a serviceman as attempted abduction .", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess", "A 15cm-high wall is put around Trump 's Hollywood star", "Should we take supplements as experts suggest ?", "The anti-jihad activist whose sibling killed seven people", "The man hired to have sex with children", "How tragedy inspired US rocker to teach guitar in Kabul", "Where in Japan might Pokemon be hiding ?", "Black man 's unique response to being told ` go home '", "The country where it pays to buy protection"], "_citing_sentence": "According to Boris Johnson the European Union is \"a force for instability and alienation\" that increasingly causes security problems such as the migration crisis.", "_claim_name": "The EU causes instability", "_doc_title": "EU referendum: Cameron says UK exit could put peace at risk - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 39]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["BBC News", "Staying in the EU will make the UK more vulnerable to Paris-style terrorist attacks , Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has told the BBC .", "Mr Duncan Smith , who is campaigning for an EU exit , also questioned the effectiveness of curbs to migrants ' benefits on immigration to the UK .", "The senior minister 's comments directly contradict David Cameron , who says the UK is `` safer and stronger '' in the EU .", "The PM told the BBC that leaving the EU would be `` a leap in the dark '' .", "Appearing on the BBC 's Andrew Marr Show , he also warned that leaving would give the UK an `` illusion of sovereignty '' but not full control .", "And Mr Cameron appealed to senior Conservative MP and London mayor Boris Johnson , who is expected to announce later that he will vote to leave the EU , to back the campaign to stay .", "His pitch came as Tory London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith said he would campaign for exit in the 23 June referendum .", "Meanwhile , UKIP leader Nigel Farage said a vote to leave would mean the UK was `` in charge of our own country '' .", "This is the new , if temporary reality : cabinet ministers disagreeing totally with each other on the record , and in public .", "Traditionally unthinkable , certainly risky , and difficult to control .", "Plenty of disagreements are spilling out into the public domain now .", "But while Boris Johnson keeps his counsel , not for very much longer , there is of course huge speculation not just about what he is going to do , but about what his motivations are .", "Read more from Laura", "Speaking to BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg , Mr Duncan Smith said that being a member of the EU `` leaves the door open '' to attacks such as those in Paris last year .", "He suggested migrants arriving in the EU could eventually end up in the UK without proper consideration of their motivations .", "`` This open border does not allow us to check and control people that may come and spend time , '' he said .", "`` We 've seen what happened in Paris where they spent ages planning and plotting so who 's to say it 's not beyond the wit of man that those might already be thinking about that . ''", "Asked directly whether he believed EU membership made the UK more vulnerable to Paris-style attacks , he replied : `` I think the present status of the open border we have right now many of us feel does actually leave that door open and we need to see that resolved . ''", "Mr Duncan Smith also questioned whether proposals for an `` emergency brake '' on migrants ' benefits - part of the deal negotiated by Mr Cameron - would do much to curb the number of people coming to the UK .", "Benefit payments were a `` small '' pull factor but control of the UK 's borders was more significant and a `` glaring area '' that needed addressing .", "He noted that the initial plan was for an emergency brake on migration but the EU `` point blank refused to even discuss it '' .", "Earlier , on the BBC 's Andrew Marr Show , Mr Cameron defended his renegotiation of Britain 's terms of EU membership , reached after two days of intense wrangling with EU leaders in Brussels this week .", "He said he had secured reforms `` people said were n't achievable '' , including curbs to migrants ' benefits and exempting Britain from `` ever closer union '' .", "The offer on the table was a `` better '' deal for the UK and would be `` legally binding '' , he said .", "Making his case for why Britain should stay in a `` reformed '' EU , Mr Cameron said it would safeguard the UK position in the single market and help in the fight against terrorism and crime .", "`` Safety in numbers in a dangerous world , '' he said .", "Proponents of Britain leaving the EU have argued it would give Britain back control of itself .", "But Mr Cameron warned : `` If we leave the EU that might give you a feeling of sovereignty - but is it real ?", "`` Would you have power to help businesses not be discriminated against in Europe ?", "No , you would n't .", "Would you have the power to insist European countries share with us their border information so we know what terrorists and criminals are doing in Europe ?", "`` So you have an illusion of sovereignty but you do n't have power , do n't have control , you ca n't get things done . ''", "He said he would be bringing forward proposals `` in the coming days '' to underpin the power of the UK Parliament .", "Mr Cameron also appealed to Mr Johnson not to join six ministers who attend cabinet in campaigning to leave the EU .", "`` I 'd say to Boris as I say to everyone else - we will be safer , stronger , better off inside the EU .", "`` I think the prospect of linking arms with Nigel Farage and George Galloway and taking a leap into the dark is the wrong step for our country .", "`` And if Boris and others really care about getting things done in our world , the EU is one of the ways in which we get things done , '' he said .", "Also on the Marr Show , Mr Farage criticised the scope of the PM 's reform deal , and said it could be vetoed by the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice .", "`` There is one absolute certainty if we vote to leave ... and that is that we will be in charge of our own country , we will make our own laws , we will run our own ministerial departments , '' he said .", "Employment minister Priti Patel , who is campaigning for an EU exit , told the BBC 's Pienaar 's Politics that the referendum was a chance for the UK to `` take back control '' .", "By remaining a member of the EU , key decisions made in the UK risked `` being ridden over roughshod '' by EU institutions , she said .", "Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that if the UK voted to leave the EU but Scotland did not , it would `` almost certainly '' trigger demands for another referendum on Scottish independence .", "Meanwhile , Hilary Benn , Labour 's shadow foreign secretary , told the BBC 's Sunday Politics that EU membership was `` good for jobs , investment and growth '' .", "He said `` the whole Labour movement '' would be campaigning to stay in , but he ruled out sharing a platform with Mr Cameron .", "`` We make our own arguments in our way to try and win the case and the prime minister can do the same in his way with his party and the people that he is seeking to persuade , '' he said .", "Splits in the cabinet over the referendum have been laid bare by interviews and articles in Sunday 's newspapers .", "Writing in the Observer , Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond said `` leaving the EU would be a threat to our economic security and our national security '' .", "In an article for the Mail on Sunday , Business Secretary Sajid Javid said he would be voting for the UK to remain in the EU with a `` heavy heart '' and no `` enthusiasm '' .", "He said leaving the EU could add to `` economic turbulence '' .", "However , Justice Secretary Michael Gove - a close friend and ally of Mr Cameron - wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that the EU was `` mired in the past '' .", "He said choosing to join the leave campaign had been `` the most difficult decision of my political life '' .", "Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers told the BBC leaving the EU was a safer option than staying in it .", "She said there had been a sense of history at the cabinet meeting to discuss the vote - the first to be called on a Saturday since the Falklands War .", "Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson , who is leading Labour 's campaign to stay in the EU , said people should not be distracted by Conservative divisions over Europe , saying the referendum was about `` much more important issues '' .", "Referring to the cabinet members who are campaigning for an EU exit , he said `` they 're not the six most astute politicians that I 've ever met in the cabinet '' .", "Labour , the SNP , Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems have said they are in favour of staying in the EU .", "The DUP said it will recommend voting to leave the bloc .", "Police are treating an incident at RAF Marham , Norfolk , involving a serviceman as attempted abduction .", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess", "A 15cm-high wall is put around Trump 's Hollywood star", "Should we take supplements as experts suggest ?", "The anti-jihad activist whose sibling killed seven people", "The man hired to have sex with children", "How tragedy inspired US rocker to teach guitar in Kabul", "Where in Japan might Pokemon be hiding ?", "Black man 's unique response to being told ` go home '", "The country where it pays to buy protection"], "_citing_sentence": "Ian Duncan Smith has argued that being in the EU \"exposes UK to terror risk\" because an \"open border does not allow us to check and control people\".", "_claim_name": "Strong control of borders is needed to keep the country secure", "_doc_title": "Staying in EU 'exposes UK to terror risk', says Iain Duncan Smith - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 16]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Numbers , Facts and Trends Shaping Your World", "By Bruce Stokes and Sara Kehaulani Goo19 comments", "The people of Greece spoke decisively on Sunday , voting 61 % to 39 % to reject financial bailout terms called for by its creditors , but the country 's fraught relationship with the European Union faces critical hurdles in the coming days .", "While Greece deals with a major debt crisis and uncertain future in the eurozone , public opinion in Greece and elsewhere in Europe had shown clear signs of tension leading up to this point .", "Many European nations were hit hard by the recession , but Greece has been slower to recover , and its people have felt frustrated by persistently high unemployment and steep austerity measures imposed on them .", "Most Greeks polled in 2014 did n't express particularly warm views of the EU .", "And public sentiment showed that many in other European nations harbor negative stereotypes of Greeks .", "Here are five facts , based on public opinion in recent years , to understand the relationship between Greece and the EU : 1Greeks have had little regard for the EU .", "Only about a third of Greeks have a positive view of the EU , according to a spring 2014 Pew Research Center survey .", "At that time , just 17 % agreed that European economic integration had been good for their country .", "2Despite their frustrations with the EU , and in the face of speculation that the current financial crisis could lead Greece to abandon the common European currency , 69 % of Greeks want to keep the euro and not return to the drachma , our survey last year found .", "3Greeks felt abandoned by their EU partners well before the current crisis .", "An overwhelming majority of Greeks ( 85 % ) said in 2014 that the EU does not understand the needs of its citizens .", "And 74 % judged as inadequate the financial assistance the EU has provided to member countries , such as Greece , that are experiencing major financial problems .", "4Greeks oppose the EU 's meddling in Greek affairs .", "More than eight-in-ten Greeks ( 86 % ) said the EU is intruding in their country 's business , and two-thirds ( 67 % ) felt the union is inefficient .", "There 's little wonder , then , that 71 % of Greeks last year opposed giving more decision-making power to the EU to deal with Europe 's economic problems .", "5Greeks see themselves differently than others see them .", "Contradictory stereotypes may complicate any resolution of the new Greek crisis .", "Greeks see themselves as the most hardworking Europeans , according to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey .", "The British , the Germans , the Spanish , the Poles and the Czechs all see the Greeks as the least hardworking .", "And the Greeks see themselves as the most trustworthy of Europeans , while the French , the Germans and the Czechs voice the view that Greeks are the least trustworthy , according to a 2013 Pew Research survey .", "This is an update of a post originally published on Jan. 27 , 2015 .", "Topics : Economic Recession , Europe , International Governments and Institutions , World Economies", "Bruce Stokes is director of global economic attitudes at Pew Research Center .", "Sara Kehaulani Goo is a senior digital editor at Pew Research Center .", "peter \u2022 1 year ago", "Perhaps the crisis in Greece has its roots in the economic trashing of the American financial system by Wall St interlopers whose only interest is in their control of the world money markets .", "Wall St did have dealings with the Greek Government financially", "Many countries in EU and in world has gone through economic crisis during some time in the past history .", "But the economic crisis in Greece is hiting the EU and the world economy several time in recent time .", "It may due to lack of investment from other rich EU nations in Greece creating more jobs and reducing the increasing unemployment in Greece .", "Instead of lending huge money to balance economy in Greece , direct investment of leading EU manufacturing companies in Greece creating more jobs may help Greece to come out of the present difficulties .", "Mike \u2022 1 year ago If companies are not investing in a country , there is probably a reason why .", "Perhaps part of it is the perception that Greeks are the least hard working in the EU ?", "I 'm sure there are other reasons , not the least of which is Greece seems unable to get their financial house in order and clean up corruption .", "Alexandros Apostolidis \u2022 1 year ago", "According to data from EuroStat and OSCE , Greeks are the most hardworking people in Europe .", "I expect businesses to control the official data and not be based upon faulty stereotypes .", "Also , our corruption is 90 % imported by Germany , who also protects the corruptors from Greek courts -- Siemens , military equipment , Deutshce Bank and Goldman Sachs , privatizations at prices lower that the annual income of the enterprise etc. .", "The real reason why foreign investors dont come to Greece is the huge taxation that the troika has imposed and the constant instability that the foreign technocrats have brought about .", "Additional reasons are the lack of innovation and R&D and the complex bureaucracy .", "The country needed better infrastructure and modern administration , not less public spending and more taxes , this is the real reason of the crisis , alongside the absence of an efficient system of redistribution of resources that would balance the decrease of competitiveness that the adoption of the euro resulted to .", "Aggressor Viper-Driver \u2022 1 year ago", "The key word is `` infrastructure '' .", "Forget , all the other garbage .", "Compared to `` infrastructure '' it is meaningless .", "`` Infrastructure '' provides income .", "`` Infrastructure '' employs people .", "`` Infrastructure '' creates a GDP .", "Varoufakis the clown , says this bail-out loan will fail , as well as the Greek economy .", "He 's correct , though he has no idea what he 's doing , and he 's an incompetent idiot .", "It will fail , but not for the reasons Varoufakis claims .", "It will fail because Greece has no infrastructure .", "It 's banks are 60 years behind modern banking technology .", "It 's business practices are 100 years behind modern business practices .", "No investor , or business , will invest in Greece .", "I 'm a retired owner , and CEO of several U.S. international corporations .", "Two of which are well known internationally .", "I still own a manufacturing plant in China .", "I attempted to bring a pharmaceutical manufacturing business to Greece .", "We are FDA certified , and it should have been a breeze .", "Forget it , after one year of useless paperwork I trashed the project .", "I was dealing with nothing but gross stupidity in the Greek regulating agencies .", "If Bill Gates , of MicroSoft , or Steve Jobs , of Apple , had attempted to start either of those businesses in Greece ... ... ... ... ... ... . .", "it would have never happened .", "Greece operates on an extinct business marketing strategy , which is a national marketing strategy , instead of a global marketing strategy .", "Massive reforms in Greece 's business laws are required , or Greece is doomed .", "JAMES BYRNE \u2022 1 year ago", "Surely it can not be that the Italians view themselves as the `` least trustworthy '' !", "I suppose it could be the legacy of the Mafia and its penetration of the institutions of the state .", "pik \u2022 1 year ago as italian I see it as possible if we consider a nation being trustworthy or not because of the actions and sayings of its politicians .", "Corruption is very high and disillusion for the politics is also very high , especially in the young .", "Ironically , mafia is probably considered more trustworthy than the state and its representatives .", "Thiomas Grzymala \u2022 1 year ago", "This article is most informative and reflects how citizens of the world view our current economic debacle .", "The table at # 5 .", "No one in the world is ready to help Greece salvage itself .", "This situation and the broadcast news that the China yuan will be adopted by the IMF as a world currency , perhaps seriously damaging America 's place in the world market .", "American MUST demand more from our elected disinterested officials.They can begin by reading their job responsibilities and carrying them out .", "As a retired Navy officer I fear for my country .", "Mr. Jefferson is probably rolling over in his Monticello grave , Look what we 've done to the land of the free and the home of the brave since this century dawned .", "Steven T \u2022 1 year ago", "So in other words , the Greeks who have received hundreds of millions in bailout funding now are biting the very hands that feed them ?", "Why should the rest of the EU keep throwing good money after bad ?", "James L \u2022 1 year ago", "What bailout , oh you mean the EU Bank Bailout that was imposed on Greeks which prevented contagion to the other financial markets .", "It 's a well known fact that only 10 % of the Bailout went to the Greek State .", "Paul \u2022 1 year ago", "The Greek people received virtually none of the billions lent ; it has all gone to pay private French and German banks .", "Meanwhile 6 years of imposed austerity has shrunk the Greek economy by 25 percent and created unemployment of over 27 percent -- and over 50 percent for youth , who are now leaving Greece for work and creating a serious brain drain .", "And still Germany wants more austerity in exchange for more loans which will primarily go to service the debt ... now do you see how Greece is in a no -- win situation ?", "How can it grow it 's economy in these circumstances ?", "This is why they have been fighting for debt restructuring and less austerity , to get their economy moving again , but their arguments have been falling on deaf European ears .", "Even the IMF has finally admitted that austerity does not work .", "Jesusaurus Rex \u2022 1 year ago", "One has to realized that BOTH the leading parties of Greece has been part in destroying the economy , they BOTH spent the last 30 years buying votes with unfinanced entitlement reforms , and they BOTH have a vested interest in shifting the blame elsewhere .", "Imagine what the US or UK population would think about an issue where both conservatives and liberals and all their beholden media wanted to shift the blame elsewhere .", "Except Britons do n't have to imagine , as it is exactly what 's happened there too , and the reason the UK will vote for exit from the EU .", "The one way the EU now could prevent other populist countries from exiting the EU , is to make an example of Greece .", "No more loans , instead kick it out and close the borders .", "Let it crash and burn , and make it perfectly clear that the same policy will be applied to the UK and any other country which leaves the union .", "Your point is moot since the US and GB both have their own sovereign currency , so they can devalue when they need to ... if Greece had this option , it would n't be in the terrible situation it is in right now , but it is locked into the euro .", "DerMazi \u2022 1 year ago", "Paul , I do n't think you have really any idea about the system or what has happened within EU .", "Greece can leave Euro , but they ca n't be kicked out .", "They would need to leave it and the other member would need to agree .", "Also your upper post is showing a strange opinion about what has happened here in the last few months .", "The problem of Greece is and always was that they do n't want to change their system .", "Even many Greek people living outside Greece say that the problems are self made .", "The money had to be given because Greece had spent much more than they could afford and they still do even after the ( in many places truly silly ) austerities .", "BUT no one forced Greece how to spend the money or not collecting long overdue tax , etc. .", "And in the last weeks before the completely distructive voting all that was demanded was a primary plus which would not even be enough if you go to a bank for a loan as a private person .", "I would have understood Tsipras and Varovakis if they had made ANY changes in their laws or ways of spending the billions given to them .", "But they did nothing but moneylender bashing , making the situation worse in their own country .", "There are 73 billion Euro of debts in tax within Greece .", "They could have collected that and wo n't have needed anything .", "They could have changed savings in pensions by increasing the really low ones and decreasing only the really high ones .", "This would have been a `` socialistic '' way but none of those big leaders did .", "But the big problem Greece now faces is that all other countries in EU who had or have problems accepted austerities ( again , many silly and short sighted , no doubt ) and changed , but Greece refused for 5 years and even turned back some of the few changes now with the actual government .", "None of those countries will agree to anything like a special help for Greece as they would feel cheated .", "Debt restructuring only makes sense if you can see there is a mental and structural change that makes one trust that the money will be paid back at some time .", "And Varovakis never argumented , you should read his lectures fred sanford \u2022 1 year ago", "America should watch closely .", "This is what happens when your debtors come to collect .", "Imagine a $ 4 trillion federal budget cut in half but with taxes remaining the same , and the largest employer in the nation cutting its workforce in half : the federal government .", "Imagine not Congress but foreigners demanding it and controlling it , and your reaction to that .", "It would take decades and a cataclysmic social paradigm shift to fix , if it could be fixed .", "Olivier \u2022 1 year ago", "How can germany be both most and least trustworthy according to poland .", "What kind of chart is this ???", "David \u2022 1 year ago", "The British , the Germans , the Spanish , the Poles and the Czechs all see the Greeks as the least hardworking", "So , someone screwed up the copy pasta .", "Sara Kehaulani Goo \u2022 1 year ago", "Yes , many people have pointed that out .", "Each question was asked separately .", "The country shown is the country that had the highest share , as named by the respondents polled in each country .", "In this case , the largest share of people in Poland named Germany when asked which EU nation is most likely to be named most trustworthy .", "And when asked about which EU nation is most likely to be named least trustworthy , the largest share of people in Poland also named Germany .", "Dave Thomas \u2022 1 year ago I propose revising the chart as follows .", "Please note the additional column", "Views in : Most Confused", "Germany : Greece Italy : Poland", "Real-time analysis and news about data from Pew Research writers and social scientists .", "1615 L Street , NW , Suite 800 Washington , DC 20036 202.419.4300 | Main 202.419.4349 | Fax 202.419.4372 | Media Inquiries", "About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues , attitudes and trends shaping America and the world .", "It conducts public opinion polling , demographic research , media content analysis and other empirical social science research .", "Pew Research Center does not take policy positions .", "It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts ."], "_citing_sentence": "In Greece for example only a third of Greeks have a positive view of the EU and only 17% believe integration has been good for Greece.", "_claim_name": "The EU causes instability", "_doc_title": "5 facts about Greece and the EU | Pew Research Center", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8, 9]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 12, "_topic_name": "This House believes that leaving the EU would increase British security"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Welcome to the United Nations .", "It 's your world .", "Sixty-fifth General Assembly", "Plenary 50th Meeting ( AM )", "On Second Day of Discussion , Small , Medium-Sized Developing States", "Weigh Value of Swift , Decisive Action over Cautious , Inclusive Restructuring", "The General Assembly wrapped up its annual debate on achieving equitable representation in the Security Council today amid competing calls from diplomats for pressing ahead swiftly with drafting a new negotiating text that genuinely analyzed proposals already on the table , on the one hand , and cautioning that any immediate solution which excluded major voices from decision-making would only deepen entrenched divisions , on the other .", "Among those leading the charge to seize momentum gained in the last five rounds of intergovernmental negotiations on restructuring the 15-member Council was Peru 's delegate , who said States must act or they otherwise ran the risk of `` getting stuck in the compilation of various positions expressed '' .", "He urged moving to an informal drafting exercise that would lead to a new negotiation text that identified - and processed - options on the table .", "Commitment also should be made to assess limits on veto use , especially in cases of `` genocide '' , crimes against humanity and excessive , flagrant human rights violations .", "Other speakers , however , cautioned that Council reform was not a problem to be solved in a broad stroke .", "Qatar 's delegate said it was not surprising that there were varying positions on the issue given that the United Nations was made up of 192 countries .", "It was important not to overlook any views , as the role of the Assembly President was to constructively create the appropriate conditions for consensus .", "Moreover , it was fair to recognize that the situation had indeed advanced since the start of the reform process in the mid-nineties , he said , especially as the exercise had moved from `` a closed and informal path to an intergovernmental one '' at the Assembly 's sixty-third session .", "Whatever the pace , San Marino 's delegate , one of many small countries to take the floor in the half-day debate , cautioned that reform squeezed `` from a fractured Assembly would be doomed from its inception '' .", "The only solution was a compromise one that could generate the greatest common denominator of States ' aspirations .", "To reach that goal , he supported an interim approach that would provide a `` reasonable '' enlargement .", "Small - and medium-sized States would gain more representation , as would those nations that were greatly contributing to world pace with financial aid , democratic leadership , growing economies and peacekeeping forces .", "`` We must reengage in the intergovernmental negotiations , whose outcome , to be successful , must be reached by consensus or quasi-consensus '' , he said .", "LSB- An interim measure would create a new category of seats with a mandate for more than the current two years .", "When that phase ended , following discussions by Member States a decision could be made to convert the seats to permanent status . -RSB-", "To counter a `` widely held '' view that the Security Council 's decisions evolved `` behind the scenes '' or were crafted by a few major players , other speakers supported a newly revived `` Uniting for Consensus '' proposal .", "Pakistan 's delegate said that Group had shown the needed flexibility in moving from its 2005 position to a more recent model put forward by Italy and Colombia that allowed for variable arrangements and options , and representation for regions and small States alike .", "The formula reflected the complex global political calculus , he said , which implied the presence of a few large States , several medium-sized States , a majority of small States and the emergence of regional organizations that were playing important roles in global and regional peace and security .", "It also took into account the concept of equitable geographic distribution , which itself would make little sense if a seat allocated to a region were to be occupied permanently by one country .", "Malta 's delegate also backed that approach as the only proposal that would fulfil the aspirations of small States , which would be allowed to contest a regular non-permanent seat .", "He hoped that other Groups and countries would work in a spirit of flexibility and come forward with positions that could bridge differing views .", "`` It is indeed high time that -LSB- the Council 's -RSB- membership be increased -LSB- and -RSB- its methods of work improved , '' stressed Sudan 's delegate .", "Instead of being exploited by some powerful Member States , the Council should be transformed to aid the equitable representation of all Member States .", "He backed the African Group 's common position of allocating two new permanent seats and five non-permanent seats to Africa .", "The selection should include Member States whose situations were under consideration by the Council .", "Indeed , the Council also must recognize the growing role of large countries , alongside the permanent five members , as well as small and medium-sized countries , particularly in Africa , said Montenegro 's delegate , representing the youngest member of the United Nations .", "The Eastern European Group had grown from 11 to 23 members today and thus required another non-permanent seat on the Council .", "In other business , the Assembly agreed to extend the work of its Fourth Committee ( Special Political and Decolonization ) until 16 November .", "Also speaking today were the representatives of Tunisia , Malaysia , Zimbabwe , Jordan , Singapore , Republic of Korea , Slovenia , Slovakia , Gambia , Chile , Ethiopia , Algeria , Nigeria , Democratic People 's Republic of Korea , Iran , Portugal and Morocco .", "Speaking in exercise of the right of reply were the representatives of Japan and the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea .", "The General Assembly will reconvene at 10 a.m. Monday , 22 November to consider the follow up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit .", "The General Assembly met today to continue and conclude its joint debate on the annual report of the work of the Security Council , as well as the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Council and related matters .", "( For more information , please see Press Release GA/11022 ) .", "SAHBI KHALFALLAH ( Tunisia ) aligned his delegation 's statement with those made yesterday on behalf of the African Group and the Non-Aligned Movement .", "He was of the view that there were indeed improvements to be made in the Council 's working methods , as well as in its reporting process .", "It was `` high time '' , to forego the report 's recitation of facts and figures and move instead towards a more analytical accounting of the Councils activities .", "However , the General Assembly should still expect to see periodic thematic reports from the Council .", "He went on to take note of the Council 's important work throughout the period under review , in Africa and elsewhere , as well as several country visits carried out be Council members .", "While the Council had acted `` with determination '' to address on-the-ground issues and to maintain peace and security , its efforts nonetheless continued to fall short , especially in the Middle East .", "In particular , Tunisia was disappointed that the Council had refused to get further involved in resolving the Palestinian issue .", "Additionally there remained a `` long way to go '' toward making the Council more transparent , he continued .", "The aim of the Council 's reform was to create a wider inclusion of Member States .", "Therefore , Tunisia believed that the Council must reflect the political and economic reality of today 's world , and needed legitimacy to act on the behalf of the international community as a whole .", "The final aim of reform should be to improve the Council 's credibility and efficiency .", "Tunisia firmly supported the African Union 's common position as set out in the Ezulwini Consensus , in particular with regard to the inclusion of an African representative in the Council 's permanent membership .", "Africa had long been denied a permanent seat , and he added that Tunisia supported any reform measures that supported increased representation of developing counties , in particular those in Africa .", "CHEAH CHOONG KIT ( Malaysia ) noted that over the past reporting period the Security Council held more closed meeting than it had in the previous year .", "Open debate allowed Member States not on the Council to air their views and hopefully be taken into account in the decision-making process .", "Thus more public meetings should be held , he said .", "To further disseminate information , transcripts of closed door briefings by Special Representatives of the Secretary-General to the Council should be made available to Member States .", "`` After all , Article 24 empowers the Council to act on Member States ' behalf , and it follows by argument therefore , that the principal actor for whom the agent acts must also be kept within the information loop , '' he said .", "Malaysia also suggested reinstating the Secretariat 's daily morning briefings on peace and security , and the discussion that used to follow them , to draw attention of the Council to potential hotspots .", "Two years of intergovernmental negotiations on Council reform seemed to have reached an impasse , he said .", "This past year , Member States have been discussing the composite text , compiling all the various viewpoints regarding Council enlargement .", "`` This is the United Nations , where resolutions are negotiated over time .", "Why should the reform of the Security Council be any different from the normal negotiation process , where elimination and compromise is key , '' he said .", "`` Enough is enough .", "We need to stop this rhetoric game we have been drawn into -LSB- ... -RSB- the United Nations was meant to correct injustice , not propagate it .", "If this is so , then the steps towards ensuring justice must begin at home , here at the United Nations Headquarters , by enlarging the Security Council to reflect the realities of the day , rather than the glory of history . ''", "C. CHIPAZIWA ( Zimbabwe ) said that regional organizations , including the African Union , were increasingly becoming essential building blocks in the global security system , and therefore , should be supported -- not undermined - in their efforts to deal with their own peace and security issues .", "The Council must ensure that its decisions largely reflected the concerns and aspirations of the general United Nations membership .", "In that regard , he called for democratization of the existing order ; increased transparency in the Council 's work ; and acknowledgement by the body 's members of a broader scope of ideas , interests and sensitivities .", "Further , he urged the Council to widen its membership , allow for more open debates , and increase its transparency and communication .", "Expansion of both the permanent and non-permanent members would allow fresh perspectives and was essential to maintaining a balance in the Council 's membership .", "He underscored the need for the Security Council to reflect the current political realities , particularly by enhancing the presence of the African continent , whose representation was long-overdue .", "In that regard , he reiterated his country 's support for Africa 's unwavering demand for two permanent seats with the same powers and prerogatives as the current Members , and five non-permanent seats in the expanded Council .", "Africa 's membership would go some way in redressing the historic abuse to which the continent had been subjected , he said .", "In closing , he pledged Zimbabwe 's support and cooperation in achieving reform of the Council .", "RASHA SHOMAN ( Jordan ) , associating her delegation 's statement with those made yesterday on behalf of the Small Five ( `` S-5 '' ) Group and the Non-Aligned Movement , reaffirmed the importance of interactive dialogue between the Security Council and the General Assembly , and hoped that it would pave the way for fruitful discussions that would promote the mandate of the Security Council reform , particularly a wider membership of the Council .", "Jordan stated that a comprehensive , transparent , all-inclusive balanced mechanism could ensure and reflect the needs of the United Nations members , especially developing countries , and would reveal an important part of the international architecture .", "Jordan supported transparent and complete interactive discussions between the Security Council and troop-contributing countries during the preparations of the Council 's Annual Report , and stressed the importance of intergovernmental negotiations .", "It called upon the Council to prioritize and further strengthen consultations and dialogue with troop-contributing countries as part of its endeavour to achieve peace , stability and security .", "DANIELE D. BODINI ( San Marino ) said the time had come to reconcile differences and , under the leadership of the General Assembly President and Ambassador Zahir Tanin , `` we must reengage in the intergovernmental negotiations , whose outcome , to be successful , must be reached by consensus or quasi-consensus '' .", "Council reform obtained from a fractured Assembly would be doomed from inception and would not carry the legitimacy that countries sought .", "To reach that goal , an interim solution must be agreed upon , as that would provide a reasonable enlargement : half of the new seats should be allocated to the two years category and half to a new one of longer term .", "In doing so , small - and medium-sized States would gain more representation , he said , as would those nations that were greatly contributing to world pace with financial aid , democratic leadership , growing economies and peacekeeping forces .", "Those countries would be elected by the Assembly and could present themselves for re-election at the end of their terms .", "States wishing to run for the longer term , if elected , could enhance the Council 's work and he had no doubt that countries that had contributed effectively to peace processes would be re-elected .", "Such reform would allow for a substantial enlargement and a Council with more transparency , a stronger relationship with the Assembly and more equitable representation .", "SAVIOUR F. BORG ( Malta ) said this year , the Council 's report revealed that the Council had held fewer formal meetings , public meetings and consultations , and had adopted fewer Presidential Statements than last year .", "The Council also had adopted fewer resolutions .", "Whether all such actions reflected the real urgency employed by the Council to deal effectively with unresolved situations in Africa , the Middle East , Asia and Europe and Central America , they perhaps should raise concern among States and would require more analysis .", "On the Middle East , he believed the Council had a `` primordial '' role in the Middle East peace process .", "Indeed , it should contribute to resolving that question and bring peace to a region that had been a theatre of conflict for over 60 years .", "The Council , backed by the Assembly , must work to resume peace talks leading to an independent , democratic and viable Palestinian State living side by side with Israel .", "Endorsing the holding of sessions to address thematic and other issues , he said participation of States in such open debates enhanced transparency .", "He noted with satisfaction the briefing by the European Union 's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to the Council , adding that the Treaty of Lisbon had enhanced the European Union 's collaboration with the Council .", "He encouraged Council members to continue exploring how to improve working methods .", "On Council reform , he said that throughout the negotiation process , Malta had provided the views and aspirations of a small State and believed that all five key issues identified in Decision 62/557 ( 2008 ) must be considered as part of one package for sound reform .", "He also reiterated Malta 's strong support for the `` Uniting for Consensus '' approach , providing for regular non-permanent seats , including for small and medium sized States , as well as longer-term seats .", "It represented a major compromise from the original 2005 position of the Group .", "It was the only proposal that would fulfil the aspirations of small States .", "MUSTAFA ELHOSSEIN ELSHAREF ( Sudan ) stated that it had carefully considered the Security Council 's report , as well as the topic of reform and the question of that body 's equitable membership .", "Sudan aligned itself with the statements made yesterday by the African Group and Non-Aligned Movement .", "He reiterated the African Group 's common position supporting the allocation of two new permanent seats and five non-permanent seats to the African continent , which contained a total of 53 Member States .", "Regarding the Council 's working methods and its decision-making processes , Sudan joined with the Non-Aligned Movement , which had called for more transparency and efficiency , and had also called for the further inclusion of a wider selection of Member States , including those whose situations were under consideration by the Council .", "Sudan supported the abolition of the right of the veto on the Security Council , which the representative said ran contrary to the `` noble '' pillars of the United Nations - especially the concept of respecting the sovereignty of States .", "More cooperation between the Council and the General Assembly was needed , in particular because the Assembly represented all Member States .", "The Council should therefore work closely with the 192-member body and consult with it on important issues .", "Additionally , the Council should refrain from adopting resolutions on topics that did not pose threats to international peace and security under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter .", "`` It is indeed high time that -LSB- the Council 's -RSB- membership be increased -LSB- and -RSB- its methods of work improved , '' he said , adding that , instead of being exploited by some powerful Member States , the Council should be transformed to aid the equitable representation of all Member States .", "KOK LI PENG ( Singapore ) said her delegation was encouraged by the Security Council 's latest annual report , which provided a good overview of the scope and issues tackled , most notably , the addition of the section on working methods under thematic considerations .", "She lauded the evolving practice of the Council to consult Member States before drafting its report , noting it was first introduced by Viet Nam , followed by Uganda and Nigeria .", "Such best practices inspired confidence in the Council and built trust between the Council and the Assembly .", "As a next step , she called for the author of the annual report to hold an informal session with Member States to discuss the issues , challenges and questions that had arisen during its preparation .", "Further , she reiterated Singapore 's belief that the intent was not to find fault , but to let Member States gain a deeper understanding of how the Council worked and engender buy-in for its actions .", "She went on to commend the United Kingdom for promoting forward-looking and interactive discussion in the Council .", "In that regard , it was important to remain mindful of the Council 's `` crisis-plagued '' work and strict deadlines , and therefore , set aside the ritual of prepared speeches in favour of spontaneity and interactivity , which could enrich its deliberations and outcomes .", "Regarding the Council 's broader working methods , she said Singapore praised the revised Presidential Note 507 , but remained concerned over the lack of a follow-up implementation mechanism .", "The election of India , Germany and South Africa had generated great anticipation of the Council 's performance in the coming year , regarding efficiency , interactions with Member States and adhering to its responsibilities under the UN Charter .", "Echoing the words of Mahatma Gandhi , she said , `` We should be the change that we want to see in the world . ''", "PARK IN-KOOK ( Republic of Korea ) praised the Council for its report but emphasized that any attempts to modify the current text should be thoroughly debated and fully agreed upon by all parties concerned .", "Moreover , the single most important guidelines should be the principle of `` general agreement '' as referred to in the 1993 resolution 48/26 .", "Efforts to reform the Council should not lead to divisiveness among its Members ; rather , it must make a contribution to a more cohesive and cooperative organizational body for all .", "The five rounds of intergovernmental negotiations held thus far had allowed the Member States to collectively identify key elements and issues to be duly incorporated in Council reform , he said .", "Regarding reform of the Council , he reiterated the Republic of Korea 's position on five key issues , including the need for more equitable representation through more transparent periodic elections of Council Members .", "The rigid fixture of permanent membership undermined the agility that would be required for the Council to meet future challenges .", "Further , he said the veto must be exercised with the utmost restraint and timely explanation , and called for regional representation in the Council of African , Asian and Latin American countries .", "While Korea called for wider membership , it could not be specific on the number .", "Finally , with regard to its working methods , the Council should improve its transparency , effectiveness and inclusiveness .", "In closing , he echoed the remarks made by other colleagues in requesting the Presidency to provide Member States with a roadmap on the future course of action .", "His delegation believed the `` Intermediary approach '' with the establishment of longer-term seats would help break the `` deadlock '' .", "SANJA \u0160TIGLIC ( Slovenia ) said the Council 's report again showed that the variety and complexity of its workload continued to grow .", "However , she encouraged Council members to continue to strive for more analytical reports and engage more with United Nations members in an interactive exchange of views on the report 's preparation .", "Welcoming improvements to the Council 's working methods , she said recent years had seen more decisions that carried notable security , legal and financial implications for each Member State .", "Implementation without participation in decision-making required more transparency and engagement with non-Member States .", "She also supported more systematic consultations among the Council , troop and police contributors and the Secretariat on peacekeeping mandates .", "On the reform process , she said it must address enlarged membership and improved working methods .", "In presiding over the Council as an elected member in 1998/1999 , Slovenia had decided to make the provisional monthly programme of work available on the Internet for the first time .", "She was pleased that inviting all newly elected members to observe informal consultations during the month before their term had become a reality .", "The Council should be expanded in both permanent and non-permanent members , with special attention paid to African countries as well as small - and medium-sized States , which accounted for the vast majority of Member States .", "With the compilation text , many models for the Council 's expansion had been suggested , including one by Slovenia .", "She urged consolidating that text and moving forward negotiations on the question of equitable representation in the Security Council .", "GONZALO GUTI\u00c9RREZ ( Peru ) said the Council 's report had room for improvement .", "It should include more substantive content about decisions taken and compliance with those decisions , as well as information on its working methods .", "Such input would allow the report to become more than a description of activities .", "The Council 's self-assessment could not be postponed .", "It was of greatest importance to reform working methods , with the addition of more open meetings , as well as timely and substantive meetings that updated members about issues under its discussion .", "Open consultations on the Council 's reports prior to its issuance had been beneficial , especially for the Council .", "Turning to Council reform , he said the last five negotiation rounds had seen progress , thanks to the participation of the entire United Nations membership .", "Momentum gained should be seized to make the Council a more democratic and efficient body .", "Otherwise , `` we run the risk of getting stuck in the compilation of various positions expressed , '' he cautioned .", "`` We need new impetus . ''", "He urged moving to an informal drafting exercise that would lead to a negotiation text , and reiterated the request to provide a new text that identified - and processed - options on the table .", "To adapt the Council to a new reality , permanent and non-permanent members must be added .", "Peru also believed a commitment should be made to assess limits on veto use , a concept that existed in article 27 of the Charter .", "The veto should not be used in cases of `` genocide '' , crimes against humanity and excessive , flagrant human rights violations .", "In a point of order , Venezuela 's delegate said the interpretation for Venezuela 's position as expressed yesterday did not match what had been said .", "As such , he wished to make a complaint that would be entered into the records .", "AMJAD HUSSAIN B. SIAL ( Pakistan ) said the Council 's report , which compiled its meetings , correspondence and decisions , could be reinforced by analytical explanation of its work and decision-making .", "In reviewing the Council 's work , he focused first on its effectiveness , acknowledging its role in addressing violent conflicts , laying down peacekeeping mandates and ensuring their back up with logistic support , and noting that such work had been facilitated by troop-contributing countries .", "However , the Council must recalibrate its efforts to prevent conflict and take more recourse to settle disputes peacefully under Chapter VI of the Charter , especially important in cases of inter-State conflict .", "Unresolved issues , including that of Jammu and Kashmir , had been on the agenda for some time and awaited settlement .", "Assessing the Council 's transparency , he said the report provided little information or analysis .", "It was a widely held view that decisions evolved mainly behind closed doors , `` if not behind the scenes by a few major players '' .", "Pakistan was committed to comprehensive Council reform .", "Today , Pakistan 's Prime Minister had made a statement in Parliament , underscoring that an effective , feasible reform could only be achieved through consensus decisions that were endorsed by the wider United Nations membership .", "Pakistan remained constructively engaged in ongoing negotiations , and its position was structured around four pillars : that reform should be comprehensive ; based on principle of sovereign equality ; should enhance the Council 's accountability to the general membership , and result in a more united , strengthened United Nations .", "The document compiled by the Chair of the intergovernmental negotiations enjoyed State ownership , he said , pressing States to converge on the principles of the reform process , decided by consensus in Assembly decision 62/557 .", "On 21 October , States had set out ideas on the way forward , and he believed real progress could be achieved through flexibility and compromise .", "The `` Uniting for Consensus '' Group had shown such flexibility by moving from its 2005 position to the endorsement of the Italy/Colombia paper .", "Its proposals allowed for variable arrangements and different options , providing relevance to representation for regions , as well as for small States .", "The proposal also took into account the concept of equitable geographic distribution , as envisaged in article 23 of the Charter .", "That concept would make little sense if a seat allocated to a region were to be occupied permanently by one country , which was why he respected Africa 's position as reflected in the Ezulwini Consensus .", "MILO\u0160 KOTEREC ( Slovakia ) stated that , having the hands-on experience of serving at the Security Council recently , his delegation understood that it was not feasible for the Council to compile a thorough political analysis of its proceedings .", "At the same time , while Slovakia did not wish to see the Council 's independence threatened , there were a few areas where improvements could be made , including a more comprehensive elaboration on cross-cutting issues , and the linking of specific country situations , especially those in areas where the Security Council encountered the greatest hardship .", "It would also be helpful to the wider membership to have a better understanding of , for example , the rationale behind the Council 's decisions or see in the report the Council 's own assessment of its successes and shortcomings .", "Regarding reform of the Council , he said Member States had reached a `` new stage of text-based negotiations . ''", "Further , there had been recent movement in the positions of some countries .", "Slovakia believed that it was time to break the stalemate and to `` start showing the world some tangible results '' .", "To achieve that , he appealed to all delegations to show further flexibility and political will and to start narrowing down the wide pool of proposals on the table .", "`` We need to let go of those proposals that enjoy the least support and concentrate on those that stand a solid chance of garnering the widest possible agreement , '' said the representative .", "As for Slovakia 's opinion , he said the Government was focused on five main points and believed : that States capable of assuming global responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security should become eligible for filling the posts of new permanent members provided that the veto right was not extended ; that an intermediate solution merited serious consideration , and that calls for a Review Conference to that end should be addressed ; that new permanent members to the Council should carry out their responsibilities for at least 10 to 15 years ; that equitable regional representation was ensured through the fair geographic distribution of posts within the non-permanent membership of the Council , with regional group -- including the Group of Eastern European States -- allocated at least one additional non-permanent seat ; and that the Council not become `` ineffectively large '' for the sake of broader representation .", "SUSAN WAFFA-OGOO ( Gambia ) said the continuing engagement of the Council in Africa had been a tremendous help in solving many of the conflicts across the continent .", "Much of that success was attributable to the increasing engagement of African leaders and institutions with international partners in search of lasting peace , and therefore , she encouraged the Council to continue to nurture such partnerships .", "The increasing involvement of the United Nations Office of West Africa ( UNOWA ) and Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS ) had helped tackle much conflict and potential conflicts in that subregion .", "Further , UNOWA 's involvement in Guinea , Guinea-Bissau and Niger were examples of successful conflict resolution and mediation .", "Preventative diplomacy should remain a core tool of the Council , regional organizations and other international partners , she said .", "In assessing threats to international peace and security , she said the twin threats of organized crime and illegal drug trafficking across West Africa should receive the Council 's constant attention .", "The West Africa subregion needed the support of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ) and INTERPOL in assessing those threats , in addition to new tools to combat them .", "Turning to reform of the Council , she called for a more open dialogue , greater transparency , progressive working methods and increased visits to countries on its agenda .", "She went on to note that the report was a good starting point for intergovernmental negotiations , and she hoped the intergovernmental negotiations would soon begin in earnest .", "In closing , she called for fair representation of African in the Council .", "Gambia agreed with the Ezulwini consensus and would relentlessly pursue fair representation in the Council in the next round of negotiations .", "It was crucial for Africa to be a part of the decision-making process , she said , and Gambia could not continue to embark every year on `` endless half-hearted negotiations '' and expect reform without a timeline .", "OCTAVIO ERR\u00c1ZURIZ ( Chile ) stated that his delegation supported an integral reform of the United Nations that , reaffirming the principles of values of the Charter , would increase the Organization 's capacity and legitimacy .", "Chile believed the core issue was the development of an `` inclusive multilateralism '' able to address today 's multiple challenges and that recognized that development , international security , democracy , and human rights were interdependent and mutually reinforcing .", "The Council , as the body responsible for international peace and security , must be representative and democratic in order to adequately reflect the international reality of the twenty-first century .", "In order to achieve that , he continued , there was a need to move forward with the Council 's enlargement , seeking a balance that considered an adequate participation of the developing world , including , for example , regional representation from under-represented nations in Latin America and the Caribbean .", "Improvements should also be made to the Council 's working methods so they became more transparent and inclusive .", "Chile supported the expansion of the Council in both the permanent and non-permanent membership categories , recognizing that there were countries that should contribute as permanent members to the tasks the Council was called to undertake .", "He also reaffirmed Chile 's historic position against the veto .", "The Chilean Government had held that view since the creation of the United Nations ; it was a consequence of the fundamental value that Chile attached to the principle of equality of States and the democratization of international organizations .", "GRUM ABAY ( Ethiopia ) said his country had always accorded great importance to the reform of the Security Council , which required the political commitment of all Member States .", "As for the Council 's annual report , he said that a streamlined and shorter text would allow Member States to engage in negotiations with a sense of responsibility , fairness and genuine commitment .", "Africa 's common position on Council reform was unambiguous and remained unchanged .", "The Ezulwini Consensus had clearly stated that the Council have wider representation of both permanent and non-permanent members .", "Despite Africa 's opposition to the right of veto , as long as it existed , `` as a matter of justice , '' it should be extended to the new permanent members .", "He reiterated that in such a scheme , the African Union would be responsible for the setting the criteria for and agreeing on the selection of Africa 's representatives .", "The reform of the Council was of paramount importance to the African countries .", "Since the adoption of the Assembly 's resolution 62/557 , Africa had engaged in intergovernmental negotiations .", "He stressed that due consideration should be given to the aspirations of Africa as no African State had ever been represented in the permanent membership of the Council .", "That call was not merely rhetoric , he said , but rather a well-reasoned and pragmatic argument to be considered from the historical view , as well as due to the nature of the Council 's agenda items , which focused a great deal on situations on the African continent .", "He stressed that enlargement of the Council only in the category of non-permanent seats and the creation of a new cluster of non-permanent membership would help progress and maintain international peace .", "Hence , improving the working methods of the Council should be given due consideration by all Member States .", "MOURAD BENMEHIDI ( Algeria ) said his delegation aligned itself with the statement made yesterday on behalf on the African Group , and highlighted that the relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly as essential in defining global governance .", "Issues concerning peace and security in Africa continued to dominate the Council 's agenda , and therefore improvements were needed in the relationship between the United Nations and the African Union .", "Algeria welcomed measures taken by the Council during the reporting period , especially the adoption of resolution 1904 ( 2009 ) , which set rules against the financing of terrorism .", "It further commended the creation of a mediation office by the same resolution , which strengthened the principle of the rule of law within the United Nations .", "He went on to back Africa 's aspirations to gain no fewer than two permanent seats on the Council , with veto power , and at least two non-permanent seats .", "The two categories of membership should be respected , and third category created unless the Member States decided as such .", "He confirmed Algeria 's support for Security Council reform overall , especially comprehensive changes and a broad focus on the various themes and topical matters involved .", "Relevant Assembly resolutions should be kept in mind during the process .", "At the same time , all must work to protect the Council 's guiding principles , which , among other things , stated that any changes could only be made with the full support of Member States .", "RAFF BUKUN-OLU WOLE ONEMOLA ( Nigeria ) said his delegation expected substantial progress would be achieved on Security Council reform during the course of this session , since the time had come for concrete results on elements over which consensus had emerged during negotiations .", "A shorter text encompassing positions and proposals of Member States was needed to give clarity to the issues , as well as direction and guidance .", "The current under-representation of Africa was a clear demonstration of lack of equity that existed in the current Council and `` we call for this historic injustice to be redressed , '' he said .", "Of the some 26 Council seats proposed by the majority of Members , Africa should be given at least two permanent and five non-permanent seats .", "Other regions such as the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Counties , Asia and Small Island Developing States currently under-represented should also be given their fair dues .", "Nigeria believed the current text-based negotiation held a lot of promise for achieving reform , he continued , and said stakeholders needed to strive to bridge apparent gaps on differing views through an open and flexible negotiating process to reach a compromise solution .", "`` Our preference is for total abolition of the veto .", "However if it continues to exist , it should be extended to all permanent members of the Council , '' he said .", "Nigeria would use its presence in the Council as an elected member to promote and maintain international peace and security , and believed through determination it could muster the desired political will to achieve a reformed Council in due course .", "NASSIR ABDULAZIZ AL-NASSER ( Qatar ) said it was essential that the General Assembly stressed the need to upgrade the annual report on the Security Council from a procedural review of activities and decisions to an analysis and assessment of its work , as well as the obstacles it faced carrying out its mandate .", "On the other hand , he said , the report showed symbolically , regardless of political and practical changes , that the Assembly remained the highest and most inclusive body of the Organization .", "One of the most important factors to strengthen cooperation and coordination between the Assembly and the Council was permanent and periodic meetings between the Presidents of the two bodies , which must be maintained and stimulated and made to include discussion of practical issues .", "The majority of Member States hoped for an update of the Council , and their varying positions on reform was logical and unsurprising given there were 192 countries .", "It remained important not to overlook any views , as the role of the President of the Assembly was to constructively create the appropriate conditions for consensus .", "`` We appreciate how difficult this endeavour could be , but it is fair to recognize that there has been development since the beginning of the reform process in the mid-nineties , especially since -LSB- the exercise -RSB- moved from a closed and informal path to an intergovernmental one at the sixty-third session of the United Nations General Assembly , '' he said .", "It would be useful to build on achievements while maintaining consensus , and Council reform needed to be a priority in the Assembly .", "SIN SON HO ( Democratic People 's Republic of Korea ) said that in spite of strenuous efforts by Member States to reform the Security Council in line with the world 's changed situation , debate on the issue continued without any tangible result .", "In particular , there was no progress on the issue of ensuring full representation of the developing countries on the Council .", "Additionally , the Council continued to be misused by specific countries pursuing their own political purposes , and continued to handle issues that went beyond its mandate , thus losing the credibility of Member States .", "What was imperative in the reform process was to put an end to the misuse of the Council by specific countries and to end unjust practices , including creating `` coercive measures such as sanctions '' .", "It was therefore necessary to establish a mechanism to enable resolutions of the Council to be effective only when they were endorsed by the General Assembly , which had a wider and more representational membership .", "The Security Council should also make public all its meetings and end its tendency towards informal consultations .", "It should also ensure impartiality in its discussions by inviting all interested countries including concerned parties , to all of its consultations .", "With regard to the enlargement of the Council , it was important to ensure the full representation of the Member States of the Non-Aligned Movement and other developing countries which constituted an overwhelming majority of the United Nations Membership , and to enlarge non-permanent membership first , which was easily agreeable .", "When permanent membership was to be enlarged , said the representative , countries -- like Japan -- which continued to `` avoid admitting , apologizing and liquidating of past crimes '' and resorted to `` distorting and beautifying its past history of aggression '' , should never be allowed to be a permanent member of the Security Council .", "SEYED MOHAMMAD ALI MOTTAGHI NEJAD ( Iran ) associated his statement with that delivered by the representative of Egypt yesterday on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement , but wished to offer a few additional points as well .", "Noting that the matters of the Council 's report and reform of that body 's structure and working methods were being addressed jointly by the General Assembly , he said Iran believed that the links between the issues comprised the `` basic objective '' of a comprehensive reform towards a Council that was more democratic , inclusive , equitably representative , transparent , effective and accountable .", "However , the pace of progress in such reform was rather `` sluggish '' , he said , and action was needed .", "In the history of United Nations reform , there had been only three amendments made to the Organization 's Charter , and all had dealt with `` seat numbers '' .", "In planning for the realization of another such historic reform , he said , a few points should be explored .", "First , it was important to take a comprehensive approach , and it was therefore reasonable to have a comprehensive study of the old as well , as the new possible elements that could better reflect the realities of the day .", "Second , the elimination of the veto power was needed .", "Member States , including those with permanent seats on the Council , had increasingly been distancing themselves from the veto .", "There was a strong sense that the veto - and above all the fear of its use - was an unjust and unconstructive instrument in the hands of a few Member States which in many ways undermined the Council 's ability to take meaningful decisions .", "Third , he said a pattern of cooperation between the General Assembly and the Council was needed in order to avoid the old but continuing problem of the Council 's encroachment on the duties of the other main United Nations organs .", "Norm-setting and law-making by the Security Council ran counter to the letter and spirit of the Charter .", "That problem might be assessed according to an analytical assessment by the Secretariat to help appropriate the labours between the Assembly and the Council .", "Finally , to enhance the Council 's working methods , several actions were needed : permitting non-Council members to participate in discussions on matters affecting them and their interests ; allowing concerned countries the right to brief the Council on their positions on issues having a direct effect on their national interests ; providing non-selective notifications of meetings of the Council , and convening regular daily briefings ; and considering the right of reply to countries against whom allegations were raised during certain formats of the Council 's meetings .", "MILORAD \u0160\u0106EPANOVI\u0106 ( Montenegro ) said his country , as the youngest member of the United Nations , attached meaningful importance to the issue of reform , while fully respecting the importance of the process for all Member States .", "Security Council reform was a basic element of overall reform of the Organization so it could attain wider representation , legitimacy , responsibility , transparency and efficiency .", "In that regard , Montenegro called for multilateralism to remain a high priority .", "He went on to say that Montenegro supported expansion of the Council with the aim of securing equitable representation of all regional groups as an authentic reflection of new global circumstances .", "Aiming to achieve consensus , the Council must recognize the growing role of large countries , alongside the `` P-5 '' -LSB- permanent five -RSB- members , as well as small and medium-sized countries , particularly in Africa .", "The Eastern European Group , he noted , had grown from 11 to 23 members and therefore , required another non-permanent seat on the Council .", "Montenegro stood ready to support and contribute to the reform process , in light of its own candidature for Council term 2026 to 2027 , he said .", "In closing , he said intergovernmental negotiations provided an opportunity for small countries to voice their opinions , however , he stressed it was time to take decisive action and find suitable modalities for conducting negotiations .", "Montenegro would certainly be a constructive and reliable partner along that path .", "SUSANA VAZ PATTO ( Portugal ) commended the Security Council for its annual report , which served as a formal expression of accountability .", "Despite great progress made during the reporting period , most notably , the documentation of the Working Group , the Council 's work was far from being completed .", "The level of interest by the Membership clearly reflected the importance of the Council 's work , however , Portugal , did not share the view that the working methods were solely the Council 's responsibility , he said .", "In that regard , both the General Assembly and the Council could -- and should -- work together toward achieving their common goals .", "Further , accountability should be a constant concern and not one confined to a once-a-year , formal exercise , as it now was .", "In that regard , the President should be given more leeway to allow the report to reflect more of the substance of the Council 's work on a monthly , not annual , basis .", "Portugal was ready to assume responsibility of work in the Assembly and the Council to give more concrete meaning to accountability .", "Finally , she lauded the designation of intergovernmental negotiations and stressed Portugal 's full commitment to the `` long-overdue '' reform of the Security Council .", "MOHAMMED LOULICHKI ( Morocco ) said that his delegation supported the statements made earlier by the Non-Aligned Movement and the Africa Group .", "Security Council reform was dictated by changes in the international community , he said , as well as by the need for the body to better discharge its duty to maintain international peace and security .", "It was imperative that more regions , and in particular States from the Arab and African regions , were better represented .", "That would enhance both the Council 's overall credibility and its moral authority .", "In addition to better geographical representation , reform should be based on the potential of States to build peace , maintain security , and achieve other United Nations goals .", "Furthermore , transparency and efficiency was needed in the Council 's methods .", "Morocco commended the Japanese delegation for its work serving as the Chair of the informal working group on that matter .", "Regarding the report of the Security Council , Morocco said that the Council must continue to search for responses to new kinds of threats now facing the international community .", "In the area of peace and security , current peacekeeping missions continued to require clear workable mandates , the deployment of civil resources , and adequate financing .", "During the reporting period , the Council continued to address the question of Middle East , and in particular the Palestinian question .", "Morocco had closely followed the work of the United States Government , which led to talks between the Israeli and Palestinian sides in Washington D.C. However , the persistence of Israel 's continued construction of settlements in the region - including over 1,300 new units in east Al-Quds -- was of serious concern .", "Morocco believed that only the establishment of an Arab State , with Al-Quds as it capital , would bring a solution to the problems in the Middle East .", "African issues continued to dominate the Council 's agenda , he continued .", "Many African States had made great progress in drawing themselves out of conflict .", "In that regard , Morocco encouraged the Council to continue to support and encourage States in such efforts and to seek politically acceptable situations to all conflicts .", "It was undeniable that the contributions of neighbouring countries were essential to finding lasting solutions to disputes , particularly across entire regions in Africa .", "That was particularly relevant in the face of threats including in Western Sahara , where an inclusive approach must be taken , and efforts must be made to address terrorist groups still threatening that region .", "Morocco had never spared any effort in supporting peace and security in its home region , and would continue to remain steadfast in its support of the Council 's work there and elsewhere around the world .", "Right of reply", "Taking the floor in exercise of the right of reply , the representative of Japan said his delegation was compelled to state that it could not accept the allegations made by the representative of the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea regarding its history and current standing .", "Membership in the Council should be made based on a country 's ability to contribute to international peace and security , he said , noting that Japan had made continuous contributions in that regard .", "Regarding the `` unfortunate '' comments about Japan 's past , his delegation could not accept such statements as those made by the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea during today 's debate .", "Japan had devoted itself for more than 65 years to the principles of democracy and human rights , among others .", "Responding , the representative of the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea stated that Japan was the only county in the world that had not apologized for its past crimes against humanity .", "During wartime , it had killed one million Koreans , forced many into hard labour , and committed various other crimes .", "Moreover , facts about Japan 's history continued to be `` widely distorted '' .", "Again taking the floor , Japan 's representative said his country should be considered for Security Council membership based on its ability to contribute to the protection of international peace and security , and not on `` false allegations '' such as the ones made by the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea .", "The representative of the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea the declared that countries that committed such heinous crimes `` would once again commit those crimes '' , and therefore Japan should not be considered for a permanent seat on the Security Council .", "Responding , the representative of Japan said his delegation could not accept the baseless statements made by the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea , using `` unseemly expressions and vulgar language . ''", "It was unfortunate that the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea had chosen to use the current debate as an opportunity to attack Japan in such a way .", "Taking the floor for a last time , the representative of the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea reiterated that crimes committed by countries did not `` disappear '' until they were fully settled .", "The Secretary-General issued a statement earlier today that detailed how Security Council resolution 2231 ( 2015 ) heralded a fundamental shift in Iran 's relationship with the 15-member body .", "He commended the country for implementing its nuclear-related commitments , as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency ."], "_citing_sentence": "Expansion would increase the transparency and therefore the accountability of the Council - something that even countries sometimes considered to be against democracy believe is necessary \"he (Seyed Mohammad Ali Mottaghi Nejad) said Iran believed that the links between the issues comprised the \"basic objective\" of a comprehensive reform towards a Council that was more democratic, inclusive, equitably representative, transparent, effective and accountable. \"", "_claim_name": "The Security council needs to be more democratic.", "_doc_title": "Concluding Annual Debate on Security Council Reform, General Assembly Delegations Express Competing Views on Best Way Forward | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases", "_labeled_lineIDs": [246]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 13, "_topic_name": "This House would expand the United Nations Security Council"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Peter Walker and agencies", "Monday 11 January 2010 03.33 EST", "Last modified on Monday 11 January 2010 03.53 EST", "North Korea today called for a formal peace treaty with the US as a precondition for its return to international talks about the country 's nuclear programme .", "However , in an apparent signal of Washington 's scepticism about closer ties with the reclusive dictatorship , the US 's new envoy on North Korea 's human rights described Pyongyang 's record on the issue as `` appalling '' .", "North Korea 's foreign ministry said it wanted peace talks with Washington to work towards a more formal accord to replace the truce which ended the 1950-53 Korean war , bringing about Korea 's separation .", "This would be a means for the North to re-enter six-party nuclear discussions involving the two Koreas , the US , China , Japan and Russia .", "`` If confidence is to be built between -LSB- North Korea -RSB- and the US , it is essential to conclude a peace treaty for terminating the state of war , a root cause of the hostile relations , to begin with , '' the official Korean Central News Agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying .", "`` The removal of the barrier of such discrimination and distrust as sanctions may soon lead to the opening of the six-party talks . ''", "North Korea has boycotted the talks since April last year , shortly before it prompted grave international concern by announcing it had carried out a nuclear test .", "Before this , Pyongyang had begun to disable nuclear facilities in return for overseas aid .", "There will be widespread mistrust in the US and elsewhere about North Korea 's motives for making this offer .", "In October the country said it might be willing to go back to the six-party talks , but this was seen as a sop to the Chinese premier , Wen Jiabao , who was then visiting the country .", "Washington has said it will discuss a peace treaty -- North and South Korea remain technically at war -- only after the North gets rid of its nuclear capabilities .", "The US special envoy , Stephen Bosworth , held inconclusive talks with Pyongyang in December to try to get the six-party talks restarted .", "Barack Obama 's new envoy on human rights in North Korea , Robert King , signalled today that the US was not willing to be quiet about abuses in the country , described by Amnesty International and similar groups as including routine forced labour and torture for political dissidents and their families , and arbitrary execution and imprisonment .", "`` It is one of the worst places in terms of the lack of human rights .", "The situation is appalling , '' Robert King told reporters in Seoul on his first trip to the region since taking up the post about six weeks ago , Reuters reported .", "`` A relationship with the US and North Korea will have to involve human rights , '' he said .", "Obama 's secretary of state , Hillary Clinton , was today setting off on a tour of Australasia and the Pacific during which she will meet Japan 's foreign minister on a stopover in Hawaii .", "Clinton 's 10-day trip will include Australia , New Zealand and Papua New Guinea ."], "_citing_sentence": "In 2010 the North Korean foreign ministry proposed that \"If confidence is to be built between [North Korea] and the US, it is essential to conclude a peace treaty for terminating the state of war, a root cause of the hostile relations, to begin with\".", "_claim_name": "Rounds of sanctions and engagement does not bring a solution any closer", "_doc_title": "North Korea calls for peace treaty with US | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The time to topple the criminal government in Pyongyang is now .", "Here 's how to do it .", "Yuri Irsenovich Kim , known to most as Kim Jong Il , died on Saturday , reportedly of a heart attack , ending a 15-year reign over the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea .", "Kim 's 27-year-old son , Kim Jong Un , was declared the `` great successor '' by state media , in a choreographed and rehearsed move three years in the making , since the elder Kim 's 2008 stroke first raised the need for a proper succession plan .", "With the elder Kim 's death , the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea enters a critical phase , with a unique , once-in-a-generation vulnerability .", "With a formidable state apparatus , North Korea has watched the revolutions of the past few decades closely , each time learning from the weaknesses of other dictatorships and avoiding their mistakes .", "Corrupt leaders like Nicolai Ceausescu , Saddam Hussein , Muammar al-Qaddafi , Hosni Mubarak , and others rose and fell while the Kim dynasty seemed to only grow stronger .", "North Korea would not have announced the death of Kim Jong Il publicly had they not been supremely self-confident that they were prepared for any resulting instability .", "Amidst the spread of the Arab Spring , North Korea reportedly moved tanks , barricades , and military units to pre-positioned locations in Pyongyang , just in case .", "Veteran North Korea watchers have resigned themselves to the cyclical , predictable nature of North Korea 's allegedly unpredictable behavior .", "Here 's what will likely happen : The regime will launch an aggressive provocation of some sort , calling attention to itself .", "Then it will express a willingness to engage , whether bilaterally or multilaterally , in exchange for sweeteners , usually in the form of released sanctions , humanitarian aid , fuel , or other resources .", "The regime will negotiate dismantling or removal of whatever the key problem was -- missiles , nuclear facilities , etc -- and claim to have done so , before revealing months later yet another provocation .", "It goes on and on .", "The short-range missiles test on the morning North Korea announced the death of Kim Jong-Il fit this pattern well .", "But there is a critical opportunity here .", "In recent years , cracks have begun to show in North Korea 's previously flawless presentation .", "A famine in the mid-1990s took the lives of over one million North Koreans , while economists proved the nation had enough food and resources to provide for its own people .", "Botched currency reform efforts and poor harvests coupled with international aid shortages led to increasing dissatisfaction among the masses .", "As South Korea 's government switched parties to a less appeasement-minded President Lee Myung Bak , North Korea launched a missile test ( April 2009 ) , an underground nuclear test ( May 2009 ) , sunk a South Korean warship ( March 2010 ) , and shelled a South Korean island and debuted a secret , previously unknown uranium enrichment facility ( Nov. 2010 ) .", "The resulting slew of sanctions and international pressure raised a level of unprecedented pressure on the regime , including aggressive American , European , and U.N. sanctions on key figures and off-shore accounts .", "But most of this key progress has been abandoned as the world 's attention focused on the U.S. recession , the Euro debt crisis , and the Arab Awakening .", "For the past few years , North Korea has been making big plans for 2012 .", "The regime claims that the suffering and hardship of the North Korean people will be rewarded with a `` year of prosperity '' in 2012 -- the 100th anniversary of birthday of the founder of North Korea , Kim Il Sung ( Jong Un 's grandfather ) .", "Accordingly , North Korea began hoarding food and resources , and asking close allies , namely China , to help provide significant aid and assistance for the occasion .", "It is thus likely that Jong Un will consolidate power and begin gifting these resources to the people , claiming that his leadership brought newfound prosperity .", "North Korea will not likely launch international provocations in the next critical phase -- Jong Un knows very well that South Korea is not likely to take a third provocation in just over a year sitting down , particularly with Lee in office .", "Pyongyang thus will embark on false attempts at engagement and dialogue , while taking bought time to consolidate Jong Un 's rule , before entering again in North Korea 's tried-and-true cycle of provocation , conciliation , and provocation again .", "But this is not merely some geopolitical game ; North Korea is more than a nuisance in international policy .", "It is home to some of the most widespread human rights violations in the world today .", "Nearly every freedom enshrined in the free world -- speech , religion , assembly , movement , dissent , and more -- does not exist north of the 38th parallel .", "Those perceived as disloyal are sent to a network of concentration camps claiming more than a quarter million prisoners .", "Public executions serve as a chilling effect for dissent and misbehavior , and tens of thousands of North Koreans fleeing to China and Russia face torture if captured and repatriated .", "Simply put , North Korea represents the very worst of humanity -- a nation ruled with impunity , where several thousand key leaders live at the great expense of 24 million or so others .", "It represents atrocities and human suffering on a staggering scale .", "The international community is thus presented with a rare opportunity .", "The next year , beginning now , is likely to bring a carefully coordinated show -- a show of paternal generosity and domestic strength , while Kim Jong Un showers his people with gifts and begins to consolidate more completely his authority -- and perhaps a show of friendliness and hints at reform internationally , \u00e0 la Saif al-Islam Qaddafi .", "The international community can not be fooled again .", "Before Jong Un is able to solidify his rule ; before the people of North Korea lose the glimmer of hope sparked by rumors of revolutions in Tunisia , Egypt , Libya , and Syria ; before they resign themselves to another generation of yet another Kim enslaving them ; the world must act quickly , deliberately , together .", "A coordinated effort can open North Korea , weaken the regime , and lead it to a soft landing that benefits all of its regional neighbors , while helping the North Korean people to rise up and take ownership of their nation .", "If Qaddafi 's assault on Benghazi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 's attack on his own people precipitated international sanctions , diplomatic isolation , and condemnation , why should North Korea not receive the same or more many times over ?", "A collaborative slate of full sanctions , particularly targeting luxury goods , technology , weapons proliferation , offshore bank accounts , and key regime figureheads would cause critical damage to North Korea at the precise moment when it most needs financial stability .", "Key to this effort are two pieces : first , finding and freezing the labyrinthine network of offshore bank accounts the regime has developed throughout decades ( at least $ 4 billion dollars are reportedly in Luxembourg alone ) .", "Second , full compliance and sanctions by China and Russia are necessary to ensure North Korea does not have a backdoor undermining the rest of the world 's efforts .", "The United States , European Union , South Korea , and Japan should lead a diplomatic offensive seeking global isolation of Pyongyang -- beginning with breaking bilateral ties across the board for those that have them .", "The United States should stop pursuing a reboot of the repeatedly failed Six Party Talks -- a useless effort of talk for only the appearance of progress .", "It 's clear that North Korea will never , ever give up its nuclear capacity -- its leaders have seen what happened to Hussein and Qaddafi and will not make the same mistake .", "That said , pressure is still the key .", "Western nations , in conjunction with China and Russia , should overtly offer senior DPRK leadership asylum in exchange for defection , while pursuing action at the International Criminal Court against senior leadership implicated in crimes against humanity .", "Although distasteful , efforts should be made to pledge immunity from prosecution for key leaders in exchange for going into exile .", "Parallel to this effort is shining a light on the country 's heinous record .", "Governments should release better-than-commercial grade satellite imagery of North Korea 's vast network of death camps , and support efforts to obtain footage of the same .", "Such potent evidence will go a long way towards helping public sentiment understand the gravity of what is happening in North Korea , and help strengthen thousands of eyewitness and personal testimonies by defectors , including former prison guards .", "A central piece to the puzzle , and to any future destiny of North Korea , is China , its patron state and lone , true ally .", "China is not married to North Korea 's leadership or political system .", "It is simply looking out for its own interest and leveraging North Korea 's misbehavior for increased political capital .", "The solution here is straightforward : cut a deal with China .", "Beijing is hedging , in characteristic fashion , much like the Imperial court did centuries before .", "Whenever China 's dynasties invaded a neighboring kingdom , they would simply extract fealty and annual tribute , and largely leave the neighbor alone to its own affairs -- with the collateral of bringing heirs to the throne back to China to intermarry and remain under Chinese protection or control .", "China today has adopted the same approach with Tibet and North Korea -- kidnapping the Panchen Lama and sheltering Kim Jong Nam , oldest son of Jong Il , in Macau .", "Such behavior is an implicit threat -- misbehave too much , and we will install our own puppet king .", "Yet China can be reasoned with .", "With the right inputs , a North Korea free of the Kim regime would bring about increased stability in the region and opportunities for economic development , investment , and trade .", "United Nations Development Program studies have for years noted the economic benefits that developed North Korean ports , pipelines , and rail could have on the entire region .", "Guaranteeing that Chinese investments and real estate contracts made there would be honored is critical .", "In addition , a pledge by the United States to either leave the Korean peninsula entirely -- or to keep U.S. soldiers no higher than the 38th parallel -- would help .", "Leaked U.S. government cables confirmed suspicions that China would accept a reunified Korea under Seoul 's governance , so long as it was not hostile to Beijing or Chinese interests , even in a `` benign alliance '' with the United States .", "Mass defections are always a precursor to revolution and regime collapse .", "To help promote change within the country and refugee outflows , funding for radio broadcasts and other communications into North Korea must be improved from the current tragic lows .", "Beefing up efforts to support external communication to , from , and among the North Koreans would be a critical blow to Pyongyang 's control , enabling citizens to organize amongst themselves .", "Moreover , there are tens of thousands of North Koreans living in exile , many of whom now have advanced degrees and skills that can translate into leadership abilities .", "Many of them are already engaged in dissident activity within North Korea , including efforts to smuggle in radios and printed material with outside news , or smuggle out refugees and key defectors .", "Still others have been able to bring out surreptitiously obtained footage from within , or even bribe guards at concentration camps to win release of family members .", "Neighboring nations can be induced to offer safe haven to North Korean refugees and pledge not to repatriate -- Mongolia , for example , years ago entertained the idea of a semi-permanent refugee station for North Korean refugees .", "In exile , the North Koreans can begin to organize properly , build democratic institutions , and support internal efforts by dissidents to change the system .", "They will need training , shelter , and protection .", "Thankfully , just south of the Demilitarized Zone lies the world 's 10th largest economy and a highly developed , fully functioning democracy .", "South Korea happens to have one of the largest standing armies in the world ( useful for stabilizing North Korea post-Kim ) , and also happens to be currently debating collection of a `` reunification tax '' to help underwrite expenses involved in absorbing a free North Korea into a Unified Korea .", "The importance of this good southern twin can not be overstated -- South Korea 's economy is an order of magnitude larger than that of the North , with double the population .", "It can handle , with international support , the absorption of North Korea , and provide reassurances to China and Russia that instability will not prove to be a problem .", "The concern with refugee outflows can also be mitigated with immediate and adequate deliveries of food , safety , and medical care into the country .", "There 's no doubt that this will be difficult , but it would be nearly impossible without South Korean leadership .", "But what of the most important question : Is revolution from within possible ?", "Despite a lack of civil society organizations , North Korea 's history is dotted with uprisings , including large armed clashes in the 1980s in Chongjin , Hamhung , Musan , and Sinuiju .", "In 1987 , North Korea 's Concentration Camp Number 12 in Onson reportedly saw a mass prisoner uprising -- with 5,000 inmates slaughtered by a military battalion in response .", "Since then , Pyongyang has witnessed uprisings and coup attempts almost every other year , to varying degrees .", "In 2005 , during a World Cup qualifying match in Pyongyang between North Korea and Iran , a crowd of 50,000 began to riot , throwing bottles , chairs , and punches at police and soldiers .", "Displeased with their team 's loss , the North Korean fans continued facing off with authorities for over two hours , resulting in stunning , inconceivable photos captured by international media there to cover the sporting event .", "More recently , a disastrous currency reform effort in Dec. 2009 resulted in destruction of the personal savings of thousands of North Koreans , sparking widespread riots -- an act of open defiance that is perhaps , increasingly thinkable in the Hermit Kingdom .", "Stunningly , government backed off and made concessions , and even executed the official who had conceived of ( or been blamed for ) the idea .", "This much is clear : North Korea will fall .", "It is simply a question of when and how .", "But it is far better to have a coordinated , controlled landing , at the time of one 's choosing , instead of waiting for the worst to happen at any moment .", "And a reunified , free Korea can be a powerful force for good in the world , and a potent economic engine .", "But missing this opportunity to bring Pyongyang into the international community would be a grievous error .", "North Korea 's crimes do not end at its own borders .", "Beyond state-sponsored acts of terror , kidnappings , and assassination attempts of foreign government officials , human rights activists , and defectors , it has also sold weapons , missiles , technology , and nuclear materials to a who 's who of unfriendly countries , including Egypt , Iran , Libya , Myanmar , Sudan , Syria , and Yemen .", "It has engaged in the counterfeiting of U.S. currency , mass government-sanctioned insurance fraud , and the exportation of North Korean slaves all over the world .", "North Korea is not a modern nation-state .", "It does not exist for the welfare of its populace , nor to safeguard the rights of it 's citizens .", "It exists for the sole benefit of the king and his barons -- a ridiculously-scaled Mafia criminal state -- and must be treated as such .", "The very progress of our global civilization is for naught if we continue to let the very idea of North Korea exist .", "North Korea is not a failed state , with warlords fighting for land and treasure .", "Its atrocities do not stem from factional fighting , crimes of passion , or mob violence .", "It is on another level entirely -- a staggering system entirely built and mastered for the express purpose of propagating human suffering and ensuring the continued exploitation of the people so that the very few can benefit .", "It is a moral obligation of the highest order that the international community intervene .", "What can be done , we must do -- and now is the time ."], "_citing_sentence": "Of course whatever concession it gives is easily reversible so setting up another round.", "_claim_name": "Providing attention simply encourages the regime", "_doc_title": "How to Free North Korea | Foreign Policy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [10, 11, 12, 13]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 14, "_topic_name": "This House would ignore North Korean provocations"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The French parliament voted on June 30 to ban the controversial technique for extracting natural gas from shale rock deposits known as hydraulic fracturing , or fracking , the web sites of Le Monde and other French media reported .", "The bill had already passed the National Assembly , the country 's lower chamber , on June 21 , and on June 30 a Senate vote of 176 to 151 made France the first country to enact such a ban , just as New York State is preparing to lift a moratorium on the same method .", "The vote was divided along party lines , with the majority conservative party voting in favor and the opposition voting against the bill , according to Le Monde .", "The Socialist Party , in particular , opposed the bill because it did not go far enough .", "The bill 's critics said that it left open possible loopholes and that in particular it does not prevent the exploitation of oil shale deposits by techniques other than fracking .", "An earlier version of the bill , which the Socialists had supported , would have banned any kind of development of the deposits , Le Monde reported .", "Companies that currently own permits for drilling in oil shale deposits on French land will have two months to notify the state what extraction technique they use .", "If they declare to be using fracking , or if they fail to respond , their permits will be automatically revoked .", "Fracking requires the injection of vast quantities of water and potentially hazardous chemicals into the ground to force the release of natural gas .", "The U.S. government is investigating the environmental impact of the technique , which critics say produces toxic waste and pollutes water wells .", "Davide Castelvecchi is a senior reporter at Nature in London covering physics , astronomy , mathematics and computer science .", "11 hours ago -- Sara Chodosh 12 hours ago -- Christopher Intagliata 13 hours ago -- Ari Berkowitz 14 hours ago -- Amber Dance and Nature magazine 14 hours ago -- Greg Uyeno and LiveScience 15 hours ago -- Nature Video"], "_citing_sentence": "This allows dictatorships to create a pro-investment legal, economic and institutional framework such as low taxes, exchange rate manipulations and import tariffs, without facing political opposition.For example, fracking, a technique used to extract hard to obtain gas, has generated widespread opposition in the West, leading to it being banned in France.", "_claim_name": "Dictatorships are more effective than democracies at mobilizing resources for investment.", "_doc_title": "France becomes first country to ban extraction of natural gas by fracking - Scientific American Blog Network", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The rally was called by losing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador .", "He says he will go to the country 's election tribunal and to court to overturn an election he alleges was `` plagued with irregularities '' .", "Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party won 35.88 % of the vote , against 35.31 % for Mr Lopez Obrador .", "Tightly-packed crowds in the capital 's vast main square cheered wildly as the populist Mr Lopez Obrador appeared on the giant television screen over a stage .", "Huge banners denounced Mr Calderon and accused him of electoral fraud .", "Mr Lopez Obrador demanded a full recount by hand of all 41 million ballots cast in what was only the second election in this deeply divided country since the end of one-party rule .", "`` We are going to ask that they clean up the elections , '' he told his supporters , many of them from Mexico 's poor and working classes .", "`` We are going to ask that they count all the votes , vote-by-vote , poll-by-poll . ''", "He has said he will ask the country 's Federal Electoral Tribunal and the Supreme Court to look into the allegations of fraud and vote-rigging .", "The practices we saw in this electoral process were sophisticated but they represent the same defrauding we have always seen", "Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador", "Mr Lopez Obrador , the candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution ( PRD ) , said ahead of the rally : `` The votes were counted but were badly counted .", "They were counted to favour the right-wing candidate . ''", "He said Saturday 's rally would be the first of several but vowed all would be peaceful .", "He added that he intended to call for a march from electoral districts all over the country to the capital if his demand for a manual recount was not carried out .", "The vote will not be declared complete until the electoral tribunal certifies the count .", "Parties must file complaints by Monday and the tribunal must certify the winner by 6 September .", "It has the power to alter results and even call new polls .", "Election monitors from the European Union said on Friday they found no irregularities in last Sunday 's election .", "A number of international leaders , including US President George W Bush , have congratulated Mr Calderon on his victory .", "However , supporters of Mr Lopez Obrador are highly sceptical of the vote result .", "Some fear they are witnessing a repeat of the 1988 elections , when a substantial lead by the leftist candidate , Cuauhtemoc Cardenas , disappeared during what was described as a `` computer crash '' by election authorities .", "The candidate of the PRI - the Institutional Revolutionary party that dominated Mexican politics from 1929 until 2000 - won by a narrow margin .", "But this year 's election was held under newly designed rules to eliminate the vote rigging and fraud of the past .", "They allow for challenges to the result until September , and a president must be sworn-in in early December .", "Most Popular Now | 75,686 people are reading stories on the site right now . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "The president elect had to deal with a large legislative faction that did not recognise him, and his opponent refused to concede defeat.", "_claim_name": "Dictatorships assure low cost political stability", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Americas | Mass protest over Mexico election", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 4, 5]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The estimated price tag for the US elections in November is almost $ 6bn ( # 3.8 bn ) .", "Why so much ?", "`` The sky is the limit here , '' says Michael Toner , former chair of the US Federal Election Commission .", "`` I do n't think you can spend too much . ''", "In a time of general belt-tightening , it may sound like a surprising argument , but Toner believes there should be more - not less - spending on US elections .", "Anything that engages voters , and makes them more likely to turn out is , he says , a good thing .", "`` It 's very healthy in terms of American politics ... it 's a symptom of a very vigorous election season , there 's a lot at stake here . ''", "On 6 November , Mitt Romney , the presumptive Republican nominee , is set to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency , and polls suggest the margin between them could be wafer thin .", "New figures just released by the Center for Responsive Politics , an independent research group which tracks money in politics , estimate the total cost of November 's elections ( for the presidency , House of Representatives and Senate ) will come in at $ 5.8 bn ( # 3.7 bn ) - more than the entire annual GDP of Malawi , and up 7 % on 2008 .", "Projected spending estimates for 2012 US elections :", "Source : Center for Responsive Politics It makes UK election spending look microscopic by comparison .", "A total of # 31m ( $ 49m ) was spent by all parties in the last general election in the UK two years ago - making US spending 120 times as much , and 23 times as much per person .", "`` You could say we 've gotten into a crazy world , where the cost of elections has sky-rocketed , and that we are in a wacko world of crazy spending , '' says Michael Franz , co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project , which tracks political ads .", "But , he says , `` it all depends what apples and oranges you want to compare '' .", "Franz argues that US elections are `` relatively cheap '' when compared with spending on , for example , the US military operation in Afghanistan .", "Michael Toner has his own favourite analogy : `` Americans last year spent over $ 7bn -LSB- # 4.5 bn -RSB- on potato chips - is n't the leader of the free world worth at least that ? ''", "Online campaigning is the biggest area of growth , but it still accounts for a relatively modest amount of money spent .", "TV campaign ads reign supreme in the battle for votes ( at least in terms of costs ) , eating up , it is estimated , over half of all campaign spending .", "`` People are carpet bombed , '' says Philip Davies , director of the Eccles Centre for American Studies in London .", "For some in the battleground states , where ads are most densely targeted , it can get a bit much .", "`` It 's extremely annoying , '' says Katie Loiselle , a 26-year-old teacher living in Virginia , which used to be a safe win for the Republicans , but is now a crucial swing state .", "Loiselle is one of the much-coveted undecided voters .", "She voted for Obama in 2008 , but this time she is not sure .", "In theory , she should be a plum candidate for persuasion .", "In practice , she does all she can to avoid what , over three months before election day , is already starting to feel like an onslaught .", "`` I 'll change my channel when they come on ... I might start flipping through a magazine or talking to someone .", "`` It 's not like what they are going to say is going to rouse my intelligence .", "It just seems they are spending a whole lot of money bashing each other .", "`` I 'm kind of dreading these upcoming months . ''", "It is the presidential debates in October , not the campaign ads , that will help inform her choice , she says .", "But for voters like Katie Loiselle , it could be a case of nowhere to run , nowhere to hide .", "Some experts believe that this year the amount of airspace in key target areas , could - quite literally - run out .", "And it is not just the number of ads that is up , the tone has been raised too .", "`` The negativity is off the charts - 2008 is quaint by comparison .", "It 's approaching two-thirds of all the ads so far , '' says Michael Franz .", "It could hardly be more different in the UK where airtime for campaign ads is free - indeed you not allowed to buy it - and tightly limited .", "In the last general election , the two main parties were allowed four or five party political broadcasts each in England , and six between Scotland and Wales - compared to hundreds of thousands of ads in the US .", "It is nothing new for a US election to be `` the most expensive ever '' - there has been a clear and sharp upwards trend for decades .", "Fred Wertheimer , president of the advocacy group Democracy 21 .", "Wertheimer has campaigned for over four decades for electoral finance laws reform It 's an extraordinary amount of money .", "There is an old saying in politics , `` half the money spent on campaigns is wasted , '' the problem is you do n't know which half it is .", "At some point , the spending is only serving the financial interests of the TV stations , who are making a fortune from ads , and the campaign consultants - not the interests of the American people .", "Spending money in a campaign in the abstract is not a problem .", "But there are problems where it floods the system , where the candidates have to put themselves on the auction block to get money , and where a small handful of millionaires , billionaires and influence-seekers can exercise an undue influence on the results .", "This money is not innocent money .", "Fundraising in Washington , DC is 24/7 365 days a year - it never stops .", "It 's a terrible situation we have right now - it 's not serving the country .", "I think there is a high level of disgust with what is going on .", "This time the increase is driven by the Congressional elections .", "The presidential race itself will cost an estimated $ 2.5 bn ( # 1.6 bn ) , which is actually slightly down on the 2008 figure of $ 2.9 bn ( # 1.9 bn ) - but this time only one party has held primaries to choose their candidate .", "And one key factor likely to push spending up is the rise of the relatively new - but already infamous - Super Pacs , which are making their presidential election debut , and can spend as much as they like on political advertising , as long as they do not co-ordinate directly with the campaigns .", "They are the `` wild cards '' in this election ( in the words of the Center for Responsive Politics ) and predicting how much they will end up spending is next to impossible .", "Super Pacs are unpopular with voters , but there seems little chance of getting the rules changed - political spending by corporations and unions was classed as a form of free speech by the Supreme Court in 2010 , and is therefore protected under the US Constitution .", "Any effort to restrict such spending would , says Michael Toner , probably need a constitutional amendment , and - he says - this would be both `` very difficult '' and `` highly ill-advised '' .", "The US does have a government-run public finance system designed to keep a lid on campaign spending .", "But both candidates have opted out of it this year , giving them free rein to spend as much as they like .", "Obama was the first-ever presidential contender to opt out in 2008 , and many experts say the extra money he spent in the final weeks was a significant factor in his victory over John McCain .", "But they have to raise it to spend it , and in practice , this means an unrelenting schedule of fundraiser after fundraiser for both Obama and Romney .", "Critics say this takes away from the time that candidates spend with the average ( not so wealthy ) voter , and in the case of a president , risks detracting attention from his day job of running the country .", "The media tends to focus on fundraising figures , seeing this as one sign of the overall health of a campaign ( Romney outraised Obama by $ 35m , # 22m , in June for example ) .", "But there is a school of thought which says that both money and campaigning matter less than we imagine .", "It is the big picture that counts , not the nitty-gritty day-to-day stuff , argues James Campbell , chair of the political science department at the University at Buffalo .", "`` Every wheeze , misstep or gaffe , every little twist and turn , is heightened for the next day 's headlines , '' he says .", "He jokes : `` It 's like reading a cardiogram and the lines spike up and down , and it 's like ` Oh my God , is the patient still alive ? '", "... We are trying to get a bit more perspective . ''", "Campbell , like a number of other political scientists , specialises in predicting election results , and says voters make their choice not so much on campaign ads or electioneering , but based on a few key `` fundamentals '' - the economy being the most important one .", "It is very rare , he says , for a person to change their party affiliation , so the pool of persuadable voters is small , perhaps as little as around 2 % or 3 % he argues , once you exclude people who will not vote .", "But in a close race , tiny margins can be the difference between winning and losing .", "`` The ads are n't just trying to change the undecided , '' says Kathleen Hall Jamieson , director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and author Packaging the Presidency .", "`` Most of the time , they 're trying to mobilise their base . ''", "`` Money matters , '' she says starkly .", "`` You would be giving up the election if you decided to stop advertising . ''", "The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites", "Donald Trump says his presidency would usher in a new era of security and prosperity , as he accepts the Republican presidential nomination .", "` My daughter was born and died on the same day '", "The man with no-one to mourn him", "What links Pippa Middleton 's fiance to the world of reality TV ?", "Is Syrian city of Aleppo about to take its last gasp ?", "Groundhog Day moves from screen to stage", "How online publishers grab your attention", "Taken from home at 10 to do a dangerous job", "What is behind Nigeria 's resurgent oil militancy ?", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess"], "_citing_sentence": "Additionally the resources needed to operate a democratic society and run elections are a large expense for the state and society as a whole; the US presidential election costs $6bn, money which would be much better spent investing in building infrastructure or businesses.", "_claim_name": "Dictatorships assure low cost political stability", "_doc_title": "US election: How can it cost $6bn? - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Places : Latin America", "Steve Brouwer is the author of Robbing Us Blind : The Return of the Bush Gang ( Common Courage Press , 2003 ) ; Sharing the Pie : A Citizen 's Guide to Wealth and Power in the United States ( Holt Paperbacks , 1998 ) , The Export of the American Gospel : Global Christian Fundamentalism ( Routledge , 1996 ) , and Conquest and Capitalism , 1492 -- 1992 ( Big Picture Books , 1992 ) .", "From September 2007 to May 2008 he lived in the mountains of western Venezuela and wrote about the participation of rural Venezuelans in the Bolivarian Revolution .", "Four of his articles about the students and doctors in Medicina Integral Comunitaria can be found on his blog .", "His book on Revolutionary Doctors will be published by Monthly Review Press in 2009 .", "On August 19 , 1960 , Che Guevara gave a talk to the Cuban Militia `` On Revolutionary Medicine '' :", "A few months ago , here in Havana , it happened that a group of newly graduated doctors did not want to go into the country 's rural areas and demanded remuneration before they would agree to go ...", "But what would have happened if instead of these boys , whose families generally were able to pay for their years of study , others of less fortunate means had just finished their schooling and were beginning the exercise of their profession ?", "What would have occurred if two or three hundred campesinos had emerged , let us say by magic , from the university halls ?", "What would have happened , simply , is that the campesinos would have run , immediately and with unreserved enthusiasm , to help their brothers ... What would have happened is what will happen in six or seven years , when the new students , children of workers and campesinos , receive professional degrees of all kinds ... If we medical workers -- and permit me to use once again a title which I had forgotten some time ago -- are successful , if we use this new weapon of solidarity ...", "Today , the vision of Che , who as a young Argentine medical graduate had ventured to Guatemala because he hoped to contribute to revolutionary change , has finally been realized .", "Cuba and its doctors have made a tremendous commitment to `` solidarity '' on the international level , and the `` new weapon '' is being successfully deployed .", "In fact , I can testify , from my own experience living in a village in the mountains of Venezuela last year , that Che was not exaggerating the revolutionary outcome : the campesinos are already running , `` immediately and with unreserved enthusiasm , to help their brothers . ''", "In the community I lived in , a settlement of about 125 campesino families where no one spoke English , most residents had never attended high school and almost no one had been near a traditional university .", "Yet there are eleven young women and men from these families enrolled in a demanding six-year medical program that will graduate them as full-fledged doctors in medicina integral comunitaria ( comprehensive community medicine ) .", "Some of the students are nineteen and just out of high school , others are closer to thirty and raising young children , but all are very enthusiastic about integrating good health and good medical care into the fabric of their community .", "Some of them have told me that they dream of a day in the future when they , like Che , can take their revolutionary knowledge and spirit to other countries and serve as internationalist physicians themselves .", "Their experience is the newest reflection of how Cuba , in concert with the people of many nations in Africa , Latin America , and the Caribbean , is transforming the training of doctors , nurses , and other health professionals while also delivering medical care to poor populations that in the past seldom received any attention at all .", "This dynamic notion , planted by Che and others at the beginning of the Revolution , has taken decades finally to develop , and now has come to fruition : thousands of doctors have been created who are capable of practicing and teaching revolutionary medicine , and they are putting this `` weapon '' to good use .", "In 2003 , this positive force was deployed on a massive scale in order to aid the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela in delivering health care to its long-neglected population .", "The process began when a strike by the Venezuelan Medical Federation created such a total breakdown in medical service that the mayor of the Libertador section of Caracas , Fredy Bernal , sought to directly hire Venezuelan doctors to form a new community medical network .", "But only fifty Venezuelans applied for the positions , and just twenty of those doctors were willing to work in Libertador 's impoverished neighborhoods .", "The frustrated mayor then asked the Cuban Embassy for help , and Cuba responded by dispatching a small group of highly trained physicians who had extensive experience working with medical brigades in other nations .", "Within a few months , hundreds more Cuban doctors arrived in Caracas to add their skills to the new network of family care .", "The experiment was so successful that the Venezuelan government decided the pilot program , called Barrio Adentro ( inside the barrio ) , should be duplicated nationwide .", "In scarcely more than a year , by mid-2004 , there were more than ten thousand Cuban doctors working in Barrio Adentro and meeting the needs of urban and rural residents all over the country .", "This massive deployment of medical force did not go unnoticed by antirevolutionary forces in the hemisphere .", "`` We are concerned that Cuba is developing a limited biological weapons effort , '' said John Bolton , U.S. undersecretary of state for George W. Bush , on March 30 , 2004 , repeating an allegation he made in May 2002 .", "It was clear to most observers , even within the Bush administration , that Bolton 's accusations that Cuba was developing `` Weapons of Mass Destruction '' in the form of deadly biological materials concocted in the laboratory , were unfounded .", "It was also clear from Bolton 's rhetoric , however , that the U.S. government was escalating its longstanding hostility toward Cuba because its attempts to isolate and impoverish Cuba were failing .", "So were its efforts to undermine the Bolivarian Revolution .", "It was ironic that the most prominent of all the cooperative ventures being pursued by the Cuban and Venezuelan government involved a very different kind of biological warfare , a benign and energetic campaign by medical professionals to defeat germs and disease and bring quality health care to the majority of the Venezuelan people .", "The United States , the world 's only military superpower and , until very recently , the master of global financial capital , rightly feared that Cuba 's example of international solidarity would be admired by many nations around the world , at a time when the U.S. image was more tarnished than ever before .", "It could do little to frustrate the capacity of Cuba , a small and poor nation , to deploy its human capital in such a useful and impressive manner .", "Ever since 1959 , Cuba , despite its limited economic resources , has been building a very effective health system that is the envy of all developing countries and many developed nations as well .", "Its performance , measured by global statistical standards such as infant mortality rates and adult longevity , bears this out , as does an educational system that has been able to produce more physicians per capita than any other nation on earth .", "In 2007 Cuba had one doctor for every 155 citizens , compared to 1 for every 330 in Western Europe , and one for every 417 in the United States .1 In 1958 , before the Cuban Revolution , there was one doctor for every 1,051 people , a ratio that deteriorated when many physicians , about half of the total number , decided that they did not want to practice medicine in revolutionary Cuba and left to seek their fortunes in the United States and other countries .", "By 1967 , there were only about 3,000 physicians practicing , less than one for every 2,000 Cubans , and the process of rebuilding their ranks was by necessity slow .", "When the University of Havana Medical School had reopened after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959 ( the former dictator , Batista , had closed the university in 1956 ) , only 23 of its 161 medical professors had come back to teach .2 By 1975 , the country finally regained its prerevolutionary ratio of doctors to citizens , a figure that was not particularly low by third world standards , but far from first world levels .", "What made the Cuban health delivery system exceptional in those years was its commitment to the egalitarian provision of medical service , the emphasis on various preventive measures in health programs that reached almost all citizens , and the high awareness of health issues among the public because of government education campaigns .", "Cuba did not rest on its laurels , however .", "In 1984 -- 85 , the nation decided to keep improving its health system by adopting the program called Medicina General Integral ( Comprehensive General Medicine ) , which created family medicine teams , comprised of one doctor and one nurse , that were designated to serve every neighborhood in the country .", "By 2004 , the teams served more than 99 percent of all Cubans , with each team having a small neighborhood of 120 -- 150 families under its care .", "The doctor and nurse were able to have regular office or home visits with each family , thus becoming aware of the most pressing medical issues for each individual and the neighborhood as a whole .", "The practice of gathering vital statistics on everyone and the emphasis on preventive care and health education meant that citizens were more conscious of maintaining good health , thus leading to a marked reduction in hospitalization rates .", "With time , diagnostic centers or `` polyclinics '' were constructed and staffed by a variety of medical specialists who had modern laboratories and imaging equipment at their disposal .", "Each polyclinic was built to serve a sizable cluster of small neighborhoods and usually served a total of 20,000 to 40,000 people .", "This emerging program managed to survive despite the harsh experiences of the `` Special Period , '' the decade of the 1990s , when the Cuban economy sank into a severe depression due to the collapse of its major trading partners in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe .", "There was a severe shortage of medicines and medical equipment , exacerbated , of course , by the U.S. economic blockade , that presented real challenges to those trying to offer treatment and led to the overall deterioration of facilities and equipment in consulting offices , polyclinics , and hospitals .", "During this time of hardship , there were two especially remarkable achievements by the Cuban medical system and Cuban society in general .", "First , the strict rationing and sharing of very scarce food supplies allowed all Cuban children to maintain a healthy diet even though the average calorie intake for adults was just barely adequate .", "Second , the education of Cuban doctors was not only continued , but accelerated .", "Making use of its greatest asset , human capital , the Cuban medical universities managed to graduate 38,000 physicians during the 1990s , four times the number produced during the 1970s .", "By the beginning of the twenty-first century , Cuba was gradually rebuilding its economy , but still was considered relatively poor in terms of per capita income .", "In 2002 , the nation decided it should use its modest economic gains to promote a `` revolution within the revolution , '' a process of restoring socialist values that had been under such duress during the Special Period .", "The renovation of facilities that served all citizens was given priority , particularly community medical offices , the neglected polyclinics and hospitals , and public schools .", "By 2007 , Cuba was boasting health statistics , such as an infant mortality rate of 5.3 for every 1,000 live births and an average adult lifespan of 77 years , that placed it in the top ranks in the world alongside rich , industrialized first world nations .3 One of primary reasons that this was possible was that Cuba , by 1998 , had 5.8 physicians for every 1,000 citizens , a number unmatched anywhere in the world .", "Whatever limitations it faced in matching the high-tech medicine practiced by first world countries , including the United States , had been overcome by the degree of community interaction and preventive care provided by the vast army of family medical personnel practicing medicina general integral .", "This numerical advantage has simply kept growing , so that in 2007 there were 6.5 doctors for every 1,000 citizens , compared to 3.1 per 1,000 in Western Europe , and 2.4 per 1,000 in the United States ( OECD figures 2007 ) .", "This advantage is even greater when it comes to comparing those who can deliver direct general care to families and individuals .", "In Cuba , family doctors , most of them specialists in comprehensive community care , number about 3 for every 1,000 citizens .", "In the United States , all those who provide similar care to patients in their offices -- family practice doctors , general practitioners , and general internists -- amount to just 0.7 doctors per 1,000 citizens .", "The extraordinary number of physicians in this small nation , 72,417 as of 2007 , has allowed Cuba to mobilize thousands of medical professionals ( including nurses , dentists , and medical technicians ) who are willing to go anywhere in the world to provide disaster relief and treat poor populations who do not have access to adequate health care .4 Revolutionary Cuba has always been willing to do this in the spirit of international solidarity , even when they had a shortage of personnel to treat their own citizens .", "In 1963 , the first Cuban doctors traveled to Africa to help deliver health care in the newly independent Algeria , which suffered a dearth of medical professionals when the French colonialists departed .", "Later , Cuban physicians volunteered to go to sub-Saharan Africa , including those who accompanied Che Guevara on clandestine missions in the Congo in the 1960s .", "They also accompanied Cuban troops fighting alongside soldiers of the revolutionary Angolan government in its bitter wars against apartheid South Africa and rebel forces backed by the United States .5", "These early experiences abroad were followed by larger commitments of Cuban medical aid when the increase in numbers of available personnel made it possible to offer humanitarian service to many countries at once .", "The Cuban presence abroad accelerated with the beginning of Programa de Salud Integral ( Comprehensive Health Program ) in 1998 .", "This program originated with the Cuban response to two natural disasters , Hurricane George , which devastated large areas in Haiti , and Hurricane Mitch , which inundated both Honduras and Guatemala .", "Cuba immediately sent brigades of doctors and other medical professionals to help victims , especially in the most remote areas .", "In these three countries , their presence became semi-permanent , for the first volunteers were replaced by other Cubans who were able to offer primary health care in areas that had no public health services whatsoever .", "Consequently , for the past ten years , the Cuban commitment has been so indispensable to these three nations that , even when they were governed by conservative regimes friendly to the United States and hostile to the Castro government , the Cuban doctors were not sent home .", "There was , however , considerable opposition from right-wing elements .", "In Guatemala in 2000 , the Secret Anti-Communist Army ( ESA ) sent letters that threatened the lives of 459 Cuban doctors working in the country .", "The ESA letters , published in the daily newspaper Siglo XXI , accused the Cubans of being `` mercenaries cloaked in the noble medical profession '' who were spreading `` totalitarian communist ideas . ''", "And they warned : `` If they do not immediately abandon the country , the executions will begin . ''", "The Guatemalan government never reacted to the threat , and the Cubans never budged .", "In Haiti in 2004 , after the Bush administration overthrew the government of democratically elected President Aristide , it looked as if the interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue would cave in to U.S. pressure and ask 525 Cuban health workers to go home .", "But the Haitian government never did so , because it had no other medical alternative ; the ranks of Haitian doctors were mostly huddled around the capital competing for the business of well-off clients .", "Burnet Cherisol , director of Child Care Haiti and a former priest , said , `` In many areas the only care available is from the Cuban doctors , even though the current Haitian government does n't support them .", "Few Haitian physicians are willing to venture out this far , where there 's no electricity , no hotel .", "For them , the good life stops down the road . ''", "6 In Honduras in 2005 , President Maduro , prodded by the U.S. embassy and the Honduran Medical Association , announced that the brigade of Cuban doctors was going to be expelled because their presence was too disruptive .", "The medical association claimed that the Cubans were putting local doctors out of work ( when in reality , as in other countries , few Honduran doctors were interested in caring for poor people in isolated areas of the country ) .", "However , there was so much protest in favor of the Cuban presence by labor unions and community organizations throughout Honduras that the president had to rescind the order .7", "The medical brigades have stayed in these countries because fresh Cuban volunteers keep replacing those who finish their tours of duty .", "Furthermore , the political climate has proved more favorable , not just toward the Cubans but also toward the young people from each of these nations who have been educated in Cuba .", "Ever since 2005 , the Escuela Latinamericana de Medicina ( Latin American School of Medicine ) or ELAM , in Havana has been graduating 1,500 to 1,800 foreign students per year from its six-year program .", "Medical students come from Guatemala , Haiti , and Honduras , as well as forty other countries in Latin America , the Caribbean , and Africa .", "In Guatemala , when center-left President Colom took office in January 2008 , he immediately dispatched his newly elected vice president , Rafael Espada , on an official trip to Cuba to study the Cuban health system .", "Espada , an experienced cardiologist who once worked in Houston , visited the nine hundred Guatemalan medical students who are studying at ELAM and praised the quality of their education .8", "Currently , medical students are receiving a warmer welcome when they return to their home countries after graduating from ELAM .", "Some are accompanied by Cuban doctors who guide them through the newest stage of international cooperation .", "For example , when indigenous ELAM graduates from Honduras return to their native Garifuna region on the Mosquitia Coast , they are slated to get post-graduate residency training from Cuban specialists and a handful of Honduran doctors who have decided to participate with them .", "This enables the graduates to serve their own people in new hospital facilities like the one in the isolated town of Ciriboya .", "In 2008 the new buildings there were dedicated by Honduran President Jos\u00e9 Manuel Zelaya Rosales in a ceremony attended by the Cuban health representatives and engineers who helped design and equip the facility .", "In a startling change of heart , representatives from the Honduran Medical Association , which three years earlier was trying to chase the Cuban doctors out of the country , joined the celebration .9", "Various small countries of the Western Hemisphere , long under the yoke of wealthy conservative minorities or military authoritarians and dependent on capital and political instruction from the North , are no longer willing to listen to the United States when it tells them to shun Cuba .", "The U.S. State Department , in its desperation to exert some kind of leverage against the growing Cuban influence , has tried to get the Cuban personnel to betray their mission by luring them to the United States .", "To this end , in August 2006 the Bush administration instituted the Cuban Medical Professional Parole program , which specifically targets only Cuban medical personnel and encourages them to defect when they are working in a country outside of Cuba .", "New Department of Homeland Security rules declare that doctors , physical therapists , lab technicians , nurses , sports trainers , and others will be afforded special treatment and fast access to entry into the United States .10 Out of almost 40,000 Cuban medical workers abroad , there are a few who have taken the bait ; perhaps one or two hundred have actually gone to the United States .", "The motives of most of those defectors , at least the ones who talked to the press , are only ideological to the extent that they are choosing a more comfortable life in a rich capitalist society .", "They were tired of the demanding circumstances in which they had to work and are hoping for more money .", "The small yield from this defection program does not seem worth it , since the United States risks being perceived as a cash-wielding bully that is willing to sabotage humanitarian efforts that have proved so beneficial in so many different countries .", "Clearly the United States has run out of options in the ideological battle when it has to stoop so low .", "The creation of the ELAM medical school in 1999 and the formation of new international medical brigades under Programa de Salud Integral in 1998 were closely tied to other ideological and educational efforts that were emerging at more or less the same time .", "The direction that the Cuban government wanted to pursue became clear in Fidel Castro 's May Day speech of 2000 .", "Fidel told the Cuban people that the ability of their nation to survive and maintain its revolutionary independence depended on being willing to fight and win `` a Battle of Ideas . ''", "He emphasized that `` Our consciousness and the ideas sown by the Revolution throughout more than four decades have been our weapons .", "Revolution means ... being treated and treating others like human beings . ''", "The impetus for the `` Battle of Ideas '' had been generated in 1999 by the successful efforts to repatriate a little boy held in Miami , Elian Gonzales , with his father in Cuba .", "Mass demonstrations all over the island on Elian 's behalf had mobilized millions of average Cubans , and constituted an important expression of pride by the whole nation .", "Cuba had managed to emerge from the desperate economic times of the 1990s with its revolution still intact , though a bit tattered and in need of renovation .", "The `` Battle of Ideas '' allowed Cubans to reassert the importance of socialist , humanistic values that had been undermined to some extent by the temporary concessions made to capitalist , unequal economic relations during the `` Special Period . ''", "Abel Prieto , Cuban minister of culture , explained in 2004 why this renewal process was so important , not just for Cuba , but for a world that for too long had been hearing from the likes of Ronald Reagan , George H. W. Bush , and Margaret Thatcher that `` there was no alternative '' to their kind of capitalist development .", "He insisted there was an alternative : `` ... in contrast to the stupidity , barbarity and the law of the strongest that today intends to impose itself worldwide , we try to defend the idea that another world is possible . ''", "`` We believe , '' said Prieto , `` that what should be globalized , are not bombs or hatred but peace , solidarity , health , education for all , culture , etc. .", "That is why , when our physicians go to help in other countries , although their mission is to work for medical attention , they are also bearers of our values and our ideas of solidarity .", "This is the essence of the Battle of Ideas . ''", "11 In this sense , the brigades of Cuban doctors working abroad represented the front lines in a struggle to assert that alternatives to profit-centered human interactions were viable .", "The concerted effort just kept growing in the first decade of the twenty-first century , to the extent that the Cuban press could report in November 2008 that there were 38,544 Cuban health professionals serving in seventy-five different countries , 17,697 of them doctors .12 The key battleground was Venezuela , where about half of all Cuban medical personnel were working .", "They served as the catalyst that allowed Venezuela 's new health delivery system , Barrio Adentro , to grow by leaps and bounds .", "In 1999 , when President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez assumed power in Venezuela , only 4,000 of the approximately 35,000 doctors in the nation were practicing anything resembling family medicine or general practice .", "When the first small contingent of Cuban doctors arrived , they were faced with the task of replacing a neglected public health system that had deteriorated for almost three decades and was not serving most of the nation 's twenty-five million people .13 Only about 1,500 Venezuelan doctors , some working only part-time , were providing primary care in a dilapidated network of small ambulatory clinics and consulting offices .", "Over the five years between 2003 and 2008 , thousands of Cubans arrived for two-year tours of service in Barrio Adentro , and many of them signed up again for additional duty .", "At its peak in 2006 , the Cuban presence numbered about 14,000 physicians plus thousands of other medical personnel .", "By 2008 , the number of Cuban doctors had declined as some moved on to work in Bolivia and other countries or returned home .", "Still , the primary care system established by Barrio Adentro boasted some impressive statistics : care was delivered by 7,878 family medicine specialists ( about 7,000 Cubans and over 800 Venezuelan doctors ) assisted by 1,499 post-graduate doctors in the same specialty ; there were 10,991 new or refurbished consultorios populares ( Barrio Adentro outpatient offices ) ; 3,019 Cuban dentists worked alongside 2,024 Venezuelans in Barrio Adentro dentistry offices .", "Other Cuban physician specialists , such as ophthalmologists and emergency care doctors , were working in diagnostic centers and hospitals .", "Previously there had been 1 public primary care doctor per 17,300 inhabitants of the country , now there was 1 per 3,400 inhabitants .", "There are other impressive numbers that indicate the rapid development and construction of diagnostic clinics ( Barrio Adentro II ) and new hospital and medical facilities ( Barrio Adentro III ) ; and there are statistical indicators , such as an infant mortality rate that fell from 21.4 per thousand to 13.9 , that demonstrate how fast , skillful delivery of primary care can quickly change things for the better .", "But perhaps the most outstanding changes are in the attitudes of the majority of the citizens .", "Although long marginalized and largely ignored by the private health care system ( which still serves the upper strata of society ) , 70 percent of Venezuelans now assume that they have the right to free medical care and healthy living conditions .", "The new sense of dignity that Venezuelans gained in their interactions with Cuban medical practitioners was developed from the very beginning in the neighborhood health committees .", "Before any patients were seen in 2003 and 2004 , and before a single consulting office was opened , neighborhoods had to form health committees that found rooms in local homes for the newly arriving doctors and arranged for the preparation of their meals .", "They also began , with the new physician 's help , to examine the social and physical environment around them .", "In 2004 , I first visited one of the newly built consultorios in a poor Caracas barrio .", "It was one of the little red brick , two-story octagonal structures that is immediately recognizable as a Barrio Adentro building all over the country .", "Once inside I admired the way the tiny office and examining room were neatly squeezed into the first floor space , but it was a large sheet of paper , taped to the wall behind the reception desk , divided into neat boxes and covered with handwritten notations , that really caught my attention .", "This was a community data sheet compiled by the neighborhood health committee and the Cuban resident doctors who lived in two tiny rooms upstairs .", "It was based on a thorough survey of all members of the community and showed some baseline figures concerning the state of neighborhood health : How many kids have asthma ?", "How many elderly people are undernourished and need free meals at the community kitchen ?", "How many people have hypertension ?", "This kind of data , displayed in every Barrio Adentro consulting office in the country , reveals that communities are learning from the start to take charge of their own medical system .", "The sudden comprehensive expansion of primary health care in Venezuela required extraordinary contributions from a country that is less than half as big in population .", "The fact that Venezuela could pay for the Cuban services with its significant oil revenues helped the Cuban economy , but the social fabric of Cuba began feeling the strain .", "So many doctors were being exported to Venezuela that primary care doctors were not as prevalent as they once were in Cuban neighborhoods .", "Cuban doctors in Havana tried to point out that there were still far more doctors per capita available than elsewhere in the world ( after deducting for those who were working abroad , there are 4.8 physicians per 1,000 residents , or twice the number of practicing physicians as in the United States ) , but this did not necessarily satisfy some residents , who complained to a Boston Globe reporter in 2005 that it was getting more difficult to see the neighborhood doctor who had once been immediately available .14", "Cuba realized that it needed to replenish its pool of doctors if it was going to keep expanding its programs of international solidarity in health care ( by December 2007 there were already about 2,200 Cuban health care workers , including 1,553 physicians , stationed in Bolivia to support revolutionary change under President Evo Morales ) .", "Venezuela , for its part , did not want to be dependent on Cuban medical personnel forever ; it was anxious to replace them with its own family practitioners and wished to send its own volunteers on international aid efforts .", "The two countries were ready to institute new physician training programs that could not only produce thousands of new doctors , but could also produce people better equipped to deal with the myriad social and scientific challenges of promoting good health for all citizens .", "In 2004 , Cuba began a new kind of medical training , the University Polyclinic Medical Training Program , that differs from the traditional medical school model that has been used in Cuban universities and every other country of the world for centuries .", "In 2005 Venezuela followed suit with a very similar national training program called Medicina Integral Comunitaria .", "Each of the these new university programs dispenses with the traditional university campus and creates a `` medical university without walls . ''", "In the new system , there is regular classroom instruction at community polyclinics and diagnostic clinics , and this is supplemented by a great deal of participation and observation with family medicine specialists as they attend to patients in nearby Barrio Adentro offices .", "The university comes to the students , not vice versa , which allows poor and working-class students in urban barrios and rural towns to live at home and learn the practice of medicine within their own communities .", "In the various sites in Venezuela that I have visited , a small group of students typically works four hours each morning with an individual Cuban physician/teacher at a Barrio Adentro or diagnostic clinic office , then they converge with other small groups at a classroom building in a central location for afternoon classes .", "The highly organized classroom material involves a sophisticated new approach prepared by sixty medical professors in Cuba who are specialists in a broad range of biomedical and sociomedical sciences .", "They have taken traditional subject matter such as anatomy , physiology , and genetics and combined them into new interdisciplinary courses in morphophysiology .", "All classroom instruction is delivered in a lively combination of video material and lectures by the various physicians/teachers .", "Outside of class the students can review a DVD of each lesson at home or with their fellow students during their evening or weekend study times .", "During their morning work hour at the consulting offices , the students are encouraged to ask as many questions as possible that are pertinent to both the treatment of patients and the course content they are currently studying .", "The doctors think of their teaching as tutoring and they say their close relationships with the students allow them to notice which students assimilate knowledge in different ways or are lagging in particular areas .", "The students dedicate themselves to this rigorous course of study for six days a week for six years .", "Their courses include all the subject matter and material covered in traditional universities , plus they are exposed to a much deeper experience of the human elements of caring for actual patients and understanding the dynamics and problems of real communities .", "When I asked one Cuban physician/teacher if she thought the daily work component was too much of a distraction from the business of regular study for her students , she laughed and answered , `` On the contrary .", "Their excitement about their academic learning , combined with their enthusiasm for interacting with and understanding our patients , makes them ask questions all the time , so that they are much more dynamic students than those I 've known in conventional universities in Cuba and this accelerates the learning process .", "I think by the time they get into their third year , they are at least a year further advanced than traditional Cuban students .", "They seem more like trusted medical colleagues than students . ''", "As for the students , the educational structure allows them to form strong bonds with the doctors , who are , in effect , tutors sharing their knowledge , as well as master craftsmen patiently pointing out details and necessary skills to their apprentices .", "They also serve as models of revolutionary dedication .", "The doctor quoted above completed other tours of duty in Yemen , Ethiopia , and Haiti before coming to Venezuela , and her students say that she is inspiring them in the same direction .", "The Medicina Integral Comunitaria educational program is being replicated at so many locations around Venezuela that it is producing large numbers of new doctors .", "There are slightly over 20,000 students enrolled in the first three years of Medicina Integral Comunitaria , with another 4 -- 5,000 who will form the fourth year in early 2009 after they successfully complete their six-month premedical course .", "In Cuba , the introduction of the similar University Polyclinic Medical Training Program is also producing a great expansion in the number of family medicine students , with over 12,000 Cuban students enrolled .", "This is in addition to the nearly 17,000 Cubans who are studying at the traditional medical universities .", "As if that 's not enough , Cuban institutions such as the Latin American Medical School , ELAM , and other university programs are offering free medical education to 24,000 foreign students , including about 100 from the United States .", "ELAM has also opened a program in Venezuela , so that about 800 foreign students are studying with the MIC students in various communities around the country .", "Cubans , with the help of Venezuela , are currently educating more doctors , about 70,000 in all , than all the medical schools in the United States , which typically have somewhere between 64,000 to 68,000 students enrolled in their programs .", "The U.S. students emerge from their four years of study burdened with an average of $ 140,000 of debt .", "So it 's not surprising that they have a desire to earn high salaries , either to pay that debt or simply enjoy the upper-middle-class lifestyle to which most first world physicians are accustomed .", "Consequently , very few U.S. medical school graduates go into residencies in family practice , the lowest paying specialty .", "In an era of severe worldwide economic downturn , the U.S. system of training doctors and delivering medical care is more financially and morally bankrupt than ever .", "In many parts of the world , people realize that following the U.S. model is impossible as well as immoral , and so they are eagerly watching the Cuban and Venezuelan developments in medical care , especially the new kinds of instruction and service in community medicine .", "If the new twenty-first century socialist model is successful , and if the first students graduating in a few years are as eager to travel as their Cuban mentors , a bigger wave of revolutionary doctors , filled with concern for humanity , will start spilling over the rest of the world .", "And the spirit of Che will be happy to say once again : `` At the risk of seeming ridiculous , let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by feelings of great love . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Cuba has one of the best healthcare systems in the world, with more doctors per capita than much of the Western world, and in 2009 Shanghai came first in the PISA test.", "_claim_name": "Dictatorships are more effective than democracies at mobilizing resources for investment.", "_doc_title": "The Cuban Revolutionary Doctor: The Ultimate Weapon of Solidarity", "_labeled_lineIDs": [36]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 15, "_topic_name": "This House believes dictatorship is the best path to development"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By Matthew Sanderson - 01/06/10 03:51 PM EST I share these commentators ' preference for limited regulation .", "And I agree that government 's reach extends too far in many areas of American life .", "The feds ' red tape-filled excursions into labor relations , corporate governance and now healthcare are problematic .", "But those misadventures have nothing to do with what 's happening in college football reform .", "We should n't reflexively mislabel", "Mr. Barton 's worthwhile endeavor simply because it offers a convenient occasion to throw stones at President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaClinton super-PAC revives 3 a.m. phone call ad for Trump FULL SPEECH : Ted Cruz addresses Republican convention delegates Growing opposition to carbon taxes in Washington MORE 's ambitions in unrelated areas .", "Rep. Barton 's push for college football reform is in line with conservative principles because conservatism is more than rote rejection of any government involvement .", "Conservatism means limiting government to constitutionally authorized action that serves an important purpose , requires minimal public-sector involvement and bolsters private competition and self-reliance .", "College football reform fits squarely within conservatism 's framework .", "COLLEGE FOOTBALL REFORM IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND IMPORTANT", "Congress does n't need to even approach the boundaries of the expansive", "Commerce Clause to look for constitutional authorization to address college football 's problems .", "Like it or not , the main point of college football these days is `` Commerce among the several States . ''", "Of course , just because Congress has clear authority to act does not mean that it should .", "Limited taxpayer resources must be reserved for tackling meaningful problems .", "Critics often assert that `` Congress has more important matters to tend to than college football . ''", "Fighting our nation 's wars and digging America out of debt are undoubtedly weightier issues .", "But addressing these problems and hastening the BCS ' demise are not mutually exclusive activities .", "Frankly , in the time it takes to watch a college football game , these issues could be resolved .", "Congressman Barton was n't any less an opponent of card check or `` ObamaCare '' because he spent a few moments on college football reform this year .", "Those who trivialize college football as `` just a game '' ignore its significant off-the-field consequences .", "The BCS is not merely denying fans bragging rights when it imposes a `` glass ceiling '' on non-BCS conference teams or arbitrarily excludes undefeated BCS conference teams from championship opportunities , as it has this year .", "It is robbing schools of institutional benefits those playing opportunities would bring .", "Considerable scholarship connects football success with schools ' ability to earn national publicity , strengthen alumni networks , and boost admission applications .", "That 's why it matters that , in 12 years of existence , the BCS has only permitted 12 teams the chance to play for its championship .", "From 2005 to 2009 , the BCS doled out $ 430.6 million more to the six BCS conferences than to the five non-BCS conferences .", "This revenue distribution scheme is fixed .", "It does n't matter what actually happens on the field or in the marketplace .", "Some call that an anti-trust violation .", "Others call it a moral travesty .", "Regardless , it impacts colleges and universities because football 's revenues can fund athletic budgets , scholarship programs , and capital projects .", "This funding is n't trivial just because it 's derived from a game .", "It is wholly consistent with conservatism to believe that schools should compete for these substantial institutional benefits .", "COLLEGE FOOTBALL REFORM REQUIRES MINIMAL GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT", "Conservatives believe that even where government can and should act , its footprint should be light .", "Unlike the morass of healthcare , college football reform is straightforward and would require minimal government involvement .", "Detractors frequently try to muddy these waters , so let me be clear : no pending legislation would result in federal bureaucrats running college football 's post-season .", "This is not Congress legislating narrower uprights or calling for a `` fifth '' down .", "Congressman Barton 's two-page bill contains no affirmative mandates and would allow college football 's leaders full autonomy in establishing a post-season playoff .", "Conservatives must realize that legislation was proposed only after years of the BCS ignoring fans ' demands .", "This is a last-resort method to knock down an anti-competitive status quo and restore merit-based rewards to college football .", "COLLEGE FOOTBALL REFORM BOLSTERS SELF-RELIANCE AND COMPETITION", "Finally , conservatives believe government action should improve self-reliance and competition .", "College football reform fits that bill .", "The BCS 's playoff obstructionism keeps schools from tapping a large pool of private funding .", "Even BCS spokesman Ari Fleischer conceded : `` There is more money to be made if we had a playoff . ''", "Schools are leaving vast amounts of private money on the table -- private money that could replace government subsidies .", "In a time of large public deficits at every level , conservatives should support a viable opportunity to shift universities ' reliance from public to private funding .", "College football 's status quo is also anti-competitive .", "As George Will admitted , `` The BCS virtually guarantees that the rich get richer -- and get the television exposure that attracts blue-chip recruits . ''", "College football 's considerable institutional benefits discussed above -- improved funding , publicity , alumni networks , and admissions applications -- are not awarded through merit - or market-based methods .", "They 're largely distributed on the basis of legacy entitlements and backroom deals .", "By reforming college football , government would not play Robin Hood and give disadvantaged parties a `` fair share '' of the trophy or the revenues .", "Reform 's only aim is for schools to have a `` fair shake '' at earning these benefits through competition .", "Conservatives should favor this modest effort to eliminate stacked decks and instill competition .", "In the end , this debate over college football reform offers no evidence of `` government takeover '' and casts no doubt on Congressman Barton 's adherence to conservative principles .", "Instead , it exposes the need for fewer knee-jerk reactions and more thoughtful analysis to prevent conservatism from becoming simply a `` philosophy of no '' in a time of truly heinous government intrusions .", "Matthew Sanderson is the co-founder of Playoff PAC ."], "_citing_sentence": "Finally, should an upset happen, the amount of interest generated in the subsequent match is incredibly great and generates significantly more exposure for both teams participating.", "_claim_name": "Playoffs Lead To More Exposure", "_doc_title": "The conservative case for college football reform | TheHill", "_labeled_lineIDs": [49]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["For years there has been a need for a playoff system in Division I-A ( Football Bowl Subdivision ) football .", "The creation of the BCS in 1999 was supposed to cure this ill , but it has only compounded the problem .", "An undefeated Auburn was shunned in 2004 , Boise State 's undefeated 2006 season which included a win over heavily-favored Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl was not worthy of a chance at a National Championship and this season will see at least one one-loss team in the BCS Championship with other qualified one-loss conference champions on the outside looking in .", "In the past few months the idea of a college football playoff has a renewed fire .", "When interviewed the night before his election win over John McCain , President-elect Barack Obama said that an 8-team playoff was a must .", "A few short weeks later , Obama told 60 Minutes that he would `` throw his weight around '' to see what he can do to get an 8-team college football playoff started .", "While I love Obama 's enthusiasm on the topic there is a lot more that needs to be ironed out .", "Below you will find my plan for a 16-team college football playoff .", "I am certain that many will disagree with me on this topic and I expect it .", "If you have a better plan email it to me at admin@collegesports-fans.com and we 'll add it in our alternate plans & comments section ( see college football playoff fan comments below ) .", "Before getting into the details , the regular season needs to be cut back to 11 games for every team .", "Since Conference Championship Games are basically a must in today 's game , we need to require every conference to have a Championship Game .", "Also , no more 13th game of the season @ Hawaii to end the regular season for BCS Conference teams .", "Last season it was Washington , this year Cincinnati travels to face the Warriors despite having 12 games under their belts already and just a week ago Washington State fell to 2-11 with a loss @ Hawaii .", "I have chosen the 16-team format for one reason and one reason alone .", "FAIRNESS , something that has long been neglected by the NCAA for Division I-A Football Bowl Subdivision football .", "You see , the whole idea of the BCS basically limits any real chance at any kind of a fair chance for 45 of the 120 Division I-A college football programs in 2009 .", "With 65 teams in BCS Conferences and over 90 % of the BCS Bowl Game bids ( and the $ 17 million payout for playing in those games , win or lose ) , the deck is stacked against the non-BCS teams in the WAC , Mountain West , MAC , Conference USA & Sun Belt .", "Add in the whole Notre Dame special name recognition and money clause and the deal is even more corrupt .", "So we start with 16 teams -- 11 conference champions and 5 at-large bids .", "The BCS computers , the same computers that somehow placed Oklahoma over Texas for the 5th tie-breaker in the Big 12 South this season despite Texas ' win over the Sooners in the regular season , can be put to a new use under my plan .", "The BCS formula can now be used to help determine seeding for our new playoff system for college football .", "Seeds 1-6 can remain with the 6 BCS Automatic Qualifier conferences ( unless a new conference were to emerge as a BCS member ) , assuming these conference champions are ranked above non-BCS AQ conference champions .", "The rest of the seeds can be determined by a selection committee ( much like the NCAA Tournament ) and the BCS numbers , which are the equivalent of college basketball 's RPI rankings .", "For example , based on the 2007 BCS rankings , our playoff would include these 16 teams in the following order :", "How this playoff would have ended none of us will ever know , but what would likely have avoided is highly-hyped BCS Championship Game blowouts like the past two seasons where Ohio State could not matchup with Florida and LSU of the SEC .", "2008 is even more interesting .", "Normally , a non-BCS conference team needs to finish in the Top 12 of the final BCS rankings to be BCS bowl-eligible , or in the Top 16 with at least one other BCS conference champion ranked below them .", "This season , we have 3 non-BCS conference teams in the BCS Top 12 with Utah being guaranteed a BCS Bowl berth .", "However , while an undefeated Boise State has more BCS wins in the past two years in half as many games , it seems likely that the `` sexier '' Ohio State will instead be cashing in on another $ 17 million while a higher-ranked and more deserving Boise State gets left out of the BCS .", "Remember when I mention fairness above ?", "So what do we do with the bowls ?", "I love bowl games as much as anyone , and I do not want them to go away nor do they need to be eliminated .", "A 16-game tournament means 15 games will be played , 15 games that can be hosted by the Top 7 bowls , matched up regionally as best as possible , with the four big-money ( current ) BCS bowl games , the Rose , Orange , Fiesta & Sugar hosting the College Football Final Eight through the National Championship .", "The 16-team format eliminates the need for 8 traditional bowl games because those 16 teams are now in the playoffs .", "Thus , the current 34 bowl games will be reduced to 26 bowls .", "Some overlap will likely be needed with the 3 non-BCS bowls involved in the first round of our playoff format , but this could allow some cities to double-dip and actually get two bowl-caliber games ( one bowl , one playoff game ) .", "This overlap could even be rotated to allow for a greater economic impact to ensure the same cities do not get the tourism dollars year in and year out .", "> Gear up for the holidays with great NCAA merchandise as well as college Fatheads & college apparel .", "The 26 bowl games would be handled the same as today ; conference affiliations & agreements .", "Of course a 6 win season will still be required for bowl eligibility .", "So there you have it , a 16-team playoff format .", "Critics will begin with arguments like `` that 's too many games for these student athletes '' or a focus on the academics and the hardships these college students would be under if they advance to the 16-team playoff and keep playing .", "My counter to that is that academics did not decide the 12th game that was recently added to everyone 's schedule in the Football Bowl Subdivision , and academics do n't seem to matter in breaking the Texas-Oklahoma-Texas Tech debate for the Big 12 South title and Big 12 Championship debate , so quit saying you care about anything other than money .", "Some may wonder how to handle the dollars in a playoff system .", "Much like the professional sports , teams are rewarded with additional revenue the farther they advance in the playoffs .", "The traditional bowls can remain the same while the playoff system will be based on a predetermined amount , much like today 's $ 17 million payout in each BCS Bowl Game .", "At the end of the season all teams below .500 will end with 11 football games , those who play in traditional bowl games will play 12 games , conference championship participants a minimum of 13 games ( unless a conference championship loser finished with a 5-7 record , a very rare result ) , and playoff participants would play a minimum of 13 and a maximum of 16 games .", "Look , there is obviously no exact solution that everyone will like .", "An 8-team playoff is a nice idea , but this once again likely keeps all non-BCS conference champions on the outside looking in .", "The thrill of the NCAA Basketball Tournament is when a heavy favorite collides with an underdog , and this plan allows for underdogs to have a fair chance .", "While I understand that the University Presidents who make these decisions are looking for more revenue wherever it can be found , this system opens the doors for that revenue based on the teams that deserve it the most by earning it for their school 's athletics department and their conference on the field .", "December 8th Update : With all of the bowl games having been announced , here is how the seeding for our 16-team playoff would work in 2008 : * Typically , a BCS Automatic Qualifier Conference team would be seeded higher , but due to higher computer rankings , Utah & Boise State jump ahead of Cincinnati & Virginia Tech despite their being BCS AQ conference champions .", "With these two non-BCS AQ conference champions bouncing the ACC & Big East Champions down , the at-large teams are also bumped down in terms of seeding .", "Now that would be a playoff !", "Does Texas still get the shaft ?", "Yes , but at least they have a chance to prove it on the field !", "How about Texas Tech - is this better than no BCS game at all ?", "Would Boise State now have a fair shot instead of being overlooked in favor of a lower-ranked Ohio State team for the Fiesta Bowl ?", "Once again , this is a better system !", "Too bad we will not see it happen ...", "By Michael Shull", "com Director of Content", "From Scott Shaw on February 8 , 2009 :", "Priority , determine a national champion properly and keep the bowls intact and important .", "The answer ... an 8-team playoff .", "CRITERIA TO MAKE THE PLAYOFF 1 .", "4 automatic qualifiers = the top 4 out of the 6 BCS conference champions 2 .", "top non-BCS conference champion ( must finish with BCS ranking of 10 or better ) 3 .", "One guaranteed At-large team ( highest-ranked team not already in ) 4 .", "Notre Dame if they finish in the top 8 5 .", "5th best BCS conference champion provided they finish in the top 10 6 .", "6th best BCS conference champion provided they finish in the top 10 7 .", "next best non-BCS conference champion if they finish in the top 10 8 .", "next best non-BCS conference champion if they finish in the top 10 9 .", "There should be no complaining by teams if they do n't make it in because they knew the criteria before the season , so play hard and schedule non-conference accordingly .", "Finish the season on the last Saturday in November with Conference Championship games .", "Place teams teams in bowls , except for the BCS bowls .", "First Saturday in December = Heisman trophy is awarded 2nd Friday/Saturday in December = BCS Quarterfinal games ... high seed hosts 3rd Friday/Saturday in December = BCS semi-final games , high seed hosts again keepin regular season important ... after second game have the BCS bowl selection show .", "After this , BEGIN BOWLS", "Continue with bowls until early January", "On approxiately January 8th = BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME *** The 6 teams from the playoff that did not make the championship game and 2 other teams that were determined at the end of the season are placed in the 4 major BCS bowl games ( Rose , Fiesta , Sugar , Orange ) .", "The key here is for the media to still stress the tradition and validity of the bowls and to pump the heck out of them .", "For example , make `` Pick 'em sheets for playoff/bowls '' that list the playoff teams and all of the bowls and the teams in those bowls ... then people have pools where they pick the winner of all of those games .", "From Jim Rodriguez on January 5 , 2009 : I 've watched some of the bowl games , and the present bowl system shafts a lot of teams , particularly Utah , which is now undefeated , but not a champion .", "I agree 100 % with the teams you 've selected , although I might differ a bit on the placement .", "I would foresee some sort of `` Selection Sunday '' type of process , and not the BCS determining the `` sweet 16 '' .", "The conference that a team comes from should n't automatically count against the team ( like Utah ) , but strength of schedule is definitely something that needs to be considered .", "If you pick the conference champions , then you start with 11 teams .", "To that , you add the top 5 teams , that are n't champions .", "That gives you the 16 .", "The Obama 8 team format means you 're going to leave a conference champion out of the tournament .", "The schedule that I would have for this year would be :", "Saturday December 6 : Championship Week for Big 12 , ACC , Conference USA , and SEC .", "Next week is rest week and allows teams to finish their final exams .", "Week # 1 of playoff with 8 games & 16 teams playing .", "I think you 'd need to spread the games out over at least 3 days .", "\u00b7 The bowl games started on December 20 this year .", "\u00b7 The `` best '' of the lower rated bowl games could be in this category .", "Week # 2 of playoff with 4 games & 8 teams playing ; quarterfinals .", "Week # 3 of playoff with 2 games & 4 teams playing ; semi-finals .", "Week # 4 of playoff with 1 game & 2 teams playing ; championship .", "Overall , you 've got a total of 15 games for this system , which would be 15 bowl games .", "There 's nothing keeping other lower category bowl games from taking place , the same as they do today .", "This would be similar to the post season NIT tournament in college basketball .", "Also , for those that say that the Bowl System is the best , then let them also propose that the NCAA Basketball Tournament system be abolished and go to a `` Bowl Basketball System '' .", "Then the # 1 and # 2 ranked teams can just play a 3 game tournament to determine the NCAA winner .", "See how that one would go over !", "From Chad on December 7 , 2008 : I am for your idea and have been for a playoff system for the past 10 years .", "This year , we again have 2 teams ( FL and OU ) who do n't have any business being in the NC game Jan. 8th .", "The real beef I have is when there are a lot of 1 loss teams out there , like with this year , and we leave it up to a computer system and biased coach voting to determine team rankings .", "Florida losing to weak Ole Miss team and at home , but still to get to go to the big game ?", "Hummm , something is n't right there .", "Only because OU beats TTU , also 11-1 , at home when obviously they were simply asleep that game , they get to pass them up , as well at UT ?", "We all know the round robin who beat who with those three , but other important questions are : If TTU is just a spoiler team as many label them , then why would beating them be such a big deal ?", "Both TTU and UT beat a no. 1 team this season .", "OU never beat a no. 1 team ... which leads me to another question , why was n't TTU given the no. 1 spot after beating a no. 1 team , UT , in November ?", "UT went to no. 1 after beating OU in Oct. and even jumped 5 spots .", "Both of those teams , OU and UT getting `` special treatment '' I call it need to go .", "Getting to play each other on a neutral field is disadvantageous to the other teams in the Big 12 who have to either be the host or visitor .", "The Dallas game is not quite a road game .", "We all know that if either had to go to Norman or Austin , they would both have more losses at home .", "If they are going to continue to play in Dallas , those wins they come up with in Dallas then should n't have as much weight as a true away/road game in the computer system if it still going to exist .", "Why have the North and South conferences go at in the Big 12 as well ?", "We all know Mizzou would lose and lose big last night .", "The real competition should have been between OU and UT or TTU or TTU and UT , but not Mizzou .", "Please , no competition for any top 3 Big 12 South team .", "That conference championship itself is messed up ; why have the North and South face off when it 's clearly a David and Goliath type of match up ?", "Another interesting note , had OU lost to OSU , TTU would have gone straight to the Big 12 Championship game ?", "And what about UT ?", "But if OU wins , then too bad for TTU and UT altogether ?", "That for sure does n't make sense that there was such an extreme alternative/direction TTU and UT could go depending on the result of just that one game .", "OU clearly struggled to beat OSU , which TTU did n't , so that OU win really was n't that convincing and for sure was n't good enough to permanently shut out UT and TTU for the season .", "Lots of biased commentating out there as well .", "That Brent Musberger especially .", "We can all tell who he favors when he speaks .", "One commentator in the FL / AL game , said , '' If AL gets into the NC game , I am not watching it . ''", "com is the home of the Dash Fans Network of independent college sports fan sites .", "If you are interested in having a link to your site from College Sports Fans or in joining the Dash Fans Network , or if you are interested in advertising on the Dash Fans Network , please visit our Contact Info page .", "CSF Home | Sports Writing Positions | College Sports Fan Sites | College Sports Featured Articles | Sitemap", "Directory of College Sports Message Boards & Forums by Conference", "com and the Dash Fans Network of Independent Sports Fan Sites ."], "_citing_sentence": "As such this system ensures that those who do get selected just get richer and better and thus become more likely to be picked by the computer system in the future.", "_claim_name": "Banning Playoffs Offer Greater Fairness", "_doc_title": "College Football Playoffs: BCS Controvesy - College Playoffs", "_labeled_lineIDs": [20]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 16, "_topic_name": "This House would implement playoffs in collegiate level american football"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["A bold new program may show the world the way .", "Is the solution to poverty as simple as giving a little bit of money to a large number of people ?", "We may be about to find out .", "On New Year 's Day , India , the world 's largest democracy , launched what may become the most ambitious anti-poverty program in history .", "Called the Direct Benefit Transfer ( DBT ) , the initiative will directly provide cash to poor families -- at first more than 200,000 people , then potentially hundreds of millions -- via the banking system .", "India 's finance minister has described it as `` nothing less than magical . ''", "While there is no `` magic '' solution to development , DBT could revolutionize assistance to India 's roughly 350 million people living on less than 56 cents a day , the country 's official poverty line .", "The move to cash transfers comes after decades of hand-wringing about India 's huge and wasteful system of in-kind subsidies .", "The government spends roughly $ 14 billion a year , or nearly 1 percent of its GDP , to buy food , fertilizer , and petroleum and distribute them to stores , where the eligible poor can purchase them at discounts , or to government offices , where products are handed out .", "This outdated and inefficient system has been used for decades , largely because most of India 's poor lacked proper identification or bank accounts .", "But confusing rules on eligibility , poor administration , and corruption have made it a failure .", "A 2010 Asian Development Bank study found that not only did the subsidies bring little reduction in poverty , but shockingly , 70 percent of the beneficiaries were not even poor .", "A 2008 study by the University of Pennsylvania 's Devesh Kapur found that if the money spent on in-kind transfers in India were transferred directly India 's poor , it would lift them all out of poverty for that year .", "And India 's poor really do need the leg up .", "In 2001 , 54 percent of all Indian children were stunted ; despite a decade of rapid economic growth that saw per capita income expand from $ 460 to $ 1,489 , this number has only dropped to 48 percent .", "Twelve percent of children work .", "Roughly a fifth of girls are married by age 15 .", "India 's long-term economic growth can not be sustained without improving living standards for the poor .", "Opposition politicians , however , are complaining that the government is moving too quickly .", "Sharad Pawar , the minister of agriculture and president of the opposition Nationalist Congress Party , mentioned problems with eligibility regarding outdated poverty lists ; his party allies have said that because the documents are `` based on old lists , half the poor will be written off . ''", "Others accused the government of enrolling beneficiaries only in districts that support the ruling party .", "The government has very slowly started phasing out parts of the in-kind subsidies program , but the current scale of the DBT might be too small to generate the bureaucratic momentum and visibility necessary for lasting policy change .", "The new system will nonetheless be a huge improvement over the old .", "The simplest reason : Direct cash transfers work .", "In diverse settings , poverty-targeted cash transfers have been proven to reduce poverty , improve child nutrition , increase school attendance , and increase the purchase of productive assets such as fertilizer and tools .", "Evaluations of large cash-transfer programs in Ethiopia , Kenya , and Malawi show that the programs can be effective in increasing consumption , schooling , and nutrition , regardless of whether they are tied to such conditions as mothers keeping children in school .", "And a soon to be published study by Tufts University professor Jenny Aker shows that cash transfers in the near anarchic Democratic Republic of the Congo are both cheaper and better spent by the poor than in-kind subsidies .", "Cash-transfer programs have been around since the mid-1990s ; while not perfect , innovations introduced around the world have boosted their success rates .", "To prevent corruption and electoral politicking , the cash-transfer program in Mexico is prohibited from holding public events , enrolling new beneficiaries , or changing program designs during the six months prior to national and state elections .", "In Brazil , an overseeing body regularly cross-checks databases and randomly audits administrators and beneficiaries to remove ineligible and `` ghost '' beneficiaries from the rolls .", "India 's new biometrics-based ID system makes a cash-based transfer program especially promising .", "The system assigns a unique number to Indian residents based on physical traits .", "Unlike many national identification projects , India 's does not require proof of citizenship or an application fee -- barriers to entry that can exclude the poor .", "As of December 2012 , 240 million Indians have received an ID number that allows cash-transfer payments through the banking system .", "It 's unknown what percentage of that group qualifies for assistance ( and only 21 percent of Indian poor currently have bank accounts ) , but as expansion continues it will reach more and more of the country 's poor .", "India already has successful conditional cash-transfer programs operating nationwide , the biggest of which is Janani Suraksha Yojana , which means `` Women Protection Initiative . ''", "The program provides cash to pregnant women who deliver their babies in health-care facilities .", "A 2010 study found that the program , which reached 9.5 million women and had a budget of $ 342 million in 2009-2010 , increased antenatal care by 11 percent and in-facility births by 44 percent -- another system that shows that the best way to let poor people have more money is to give it to them ."], "_citing_sentence": "In India the proposal is that the payments will be linked to the new biometrics based ID system that assigns a unique number to everyone based upon physical traits (although this is not yet fully implemented) this will reach the whole population including those who currently have no identity papers.", "_claim_name": "Government money can go directly to bank accounts", "_doc_title": "Can India Defeat Poverty? | Foreign Policy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [30, 31]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 17, "_topic_name": "This House would give cash to the poor to reduce poverty"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["reasoning"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["The Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union passed the decree to hand over the Crimean region from the structure of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic ( SSR ) to the Ukrainian SSR within the Soviet Union .", "Then-Soviet leader , Nikita Khrushchev , virtually gave Crimea away to Ukraine .", "The delivery of the region from the Russian SSR to the Ukrainian SSR was just a formality during the years of the `` indestructible '' Soviet Union .", "Ukraine received such a gift on the occasion of the 300th anniversary since its unification with Russia .", "It could never occur to anyone back in those days that the USSR would collapse , and that Ukraine would no longer be a part of it .", "Historians have a very simple explanation to Nikita Khrushchev 's generosity .", "He came to power after the death of Joseph Stalin , unmasked his cult and condemned repressions .", "However , Khrushchev was involved in a number of repression-related affairs before .", "He was conducting a struggle against `` people 's enemies '' when he served as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party from 1938 to 1947 to win the support of the Ukrainian leadership .", "That is why he gave the resort peninsula on the Black Sea coast to the republic .", "Khrushchev informed his comrades of the decision to deliver Crimea to Ukraine incidentally , on the way to lunch .", "`` Yes , comrades , there is an opinion to deliver Crimea to Ukraine , '' he said casually .", "No one dared to express any protests , because a word of the first face of the Communist Party was law .", "The agenda of the session of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , which took place January 25 , 1954 , contained a question about the delivery of the Crimean region to the structure of the Ukrainian SSR .", "The discussion of the question took only 15 minutes .", "The participants of the meeting approved the decree , and the region was given away to Ukraine for free .", "Not a single protest was made ; no one had any doubts about the decision .", "No one wondered how the population ( presumably the Russian-speaking population ) of Crimea would treat the decision .", "It turned out that such important issues as the territorial movement of regions could be solved without any difficulties at all .", "The question should have been submitted to the open discussion of the Supreme Council of the Russian SSR .", "Moreover , a referendum should have been conducted to find out the opinion of the residents of the two republics .", "Nothing of that happened .", "The Presidium of the Supreme Council gathered for a session on February 19 , 1954 - only 13 of 27 members were present .", "There was no quorum , but the decision was adopted unanimously .", "The Supreme Council of Russia ruled in 1992 that the Crimean region had been delivered to Ukraine illegitimately .", "Now the region is called the Autonomous Republic of Crimea ."], "_citing_sentence": "Russia has a strong claim to the Crimea; The territory was only handed over in 1954 by Nikita Krushchev for political reasons.", "_claim_name": "Crimea should be Russian", "_doc_title": "USSR's Nikita Khrushchev gave Russia\u2019s Crimea away to Ukraine in only 15 minutes - PravdaReport", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 5, 6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["More about Interfax-Ukraine The proposed referendum on the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has been moved from March 30 to March 16 .", "The Crimean Supreme Council passed a resolution on the holding of the Crimean referendum , including in Sevastopol , on Thursday , the press centre of the Crimean parliament reported .", "According to the document , the referendum ballot paper will contain two questions : 1 .", "Do you support Crimea 's reunification with Russia ?", "Do you support the restoration of the Constitution of the Crimean Republic dated 1992 and Crimea 's status as a part of Ukraine ?", "The question which gets most votes will be seen as a direct expression of the will of the population of Crimea , the document reads .", "The Crimean parliament also addressed President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Federal Assembly of the State Duma of the Russian Federation with a proposal to initiate the procedure of Crimea 's joining Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation .", "The Kyiv Post is hosting comments to foster lively public debate through the Disqus system .", "Criticism is fine , but stick to the issues .", "Comments that include profanity or personal attacks will be removed from the site .", "The Kyiv Post will ban flagrant violators .", "If you think that a comment or commentator should be banned , please flag the offending material .", "Web links to Kyiv Post material are allowed provided that they contain a hyperlink to the stories and only a brief extract ( not more than 10 percent ) of the text .", "All materials , including photographs , contained on this site are protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced without the prior written permission of Public Media at news@kyivpost.com .", "All Interfax-Ukraine news agency stories can not be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission of Interfax-Ukraine ."], "_citing_sentence": "Do you support the restoration of the Constitution of the Crimean Republic dated 1992 and Crimea's status as a part of Ukraine?", "_claim_name": "Need to protect Russian civilians", "_doc_title": "Crimean parliament speeds up referendum, introduces question about joining Russia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["BBC News", "Crimea 's parliament has formally declared independence from Ukraine and asked to join the Russian Federation .", "It follows Sunday 's controversial referendum which officials say overwhelmingly backed leaving Ukraine .", "The government in Kiev has said it will not recognise the results .", "The US and EU say the vote was illegal and have vowed to impose sanctions on Moscow .", "The Crimean peninsula has been under the control of pro-Russia forces since late February .", "Moscow says the troops are pro-Russian self-defence forces and not under its direct control .", "By Gavin HewittEurope editor", "The EU going forward will have to review whether it is too dependent on Russia for energy .", "Whether EU officials realised it or not they have got drawn into a much bigger and more dangerous game than pressing for enlargement .", "So , this week the challenge for the EU must be to show resolve and unity .", "Any divisions will be exploited by Russia .", "Resolve will be to deliver on consequences warned about .", "Dangerous game for EU in Crimea", "The crisis follows the ousting of Ukraine 's pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February .", "His decision to reject a long-awaited trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Moscow sparked months of street protests , culminating in deadly clashes .", "Ukraine 's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has called the vote `` a circus performance '' backed up by `` 21,000 Russian troops , who with their guns are trying to prove the legality of the referendum '' .", "The vote was boycotted by many among Crimea 's minority Ukrainians and Tatars - who constitute about a third of the population - and the election process has been widely criticised .", "According to the declaration approved by Crimean MPs , the region :", "Meanwhile , the parliament in Kiev has formally approved the partial mobilisation of 40,000 reservists .", "Andriy Parubiy , secretary of the National Security and Defence Council , said what had taken place in Crimea was `` blatant aggression '' and that the mobilisation would prevent similar action in south-eastern Ukraine , which has seen pro-Moscow rallies in recent weeks .", "According to the vote in Crimea 's parliament on Monday , Ukrainian laws now no longer apply in the region , and all Ukrainian state property belongs to an independent Crimea .", "The peninsula will adopt the Russian currency , the rouble , and clocks will move two hours forward to Moscow time by the end of March .", "The document approved by MPs also appealed to `` all countries of the world '' to recognise Crimean independence .", "Crimea 's pro-Russia leader Sergei Aksyonov tweeted that in the wake of the vote , Moscow had given Crimea financial assistance amounting to 15bn roubles ( $ 410m : # 246m ) , which he said doubled the region 's budget .", "He said he was travelling immediately to Moscow to discuss the next steps .", "Tweeting from a lunch in #Crimea", "Russia is now expected to fast-track the legislation enabling it to absorb Crimea .", "President Vladimir Putin is to address both houses of parliament on Tuesday .", "Crimea has been under the control of pro-Russian armed forces since late February .", "The referendum was called by the Crimean parliament in early March , with voters asked to choose between joining Russia or having greater autonomy within Ukraine .", "There was no option for those who wanted the constitutional arrangements to remain unchanged .", "Crimea 's chief electoral official , Mikhail Malyshev , said the vote was nearly 97 % in favour of joining the Russian Federation , with a turnout of 83 % .", "But Crimea 's Tatars - about 12 % of the population - expressed fears their lives would be worse under the Kremlin .", "The Tatars were deported to Central Asia by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1944 .", "They were only able to return with the fall of the Soviet Union and many want to remain under Ukrainian rule .", "Many ethnic Ukrainians - who make up 24 % of Crimea 's population - also said declined to vote .", "Ukraine crisis timeline", "Wording of ballot paper", "Law and order breakdown Is Russian intervention legal ?", "The EU - which has already suspended talks on an economic pact with Russia and an easing of visa restrictions - is discussing its response .", "Speaking in Brussels , EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the `` so-called referendum '' was illegal under Ukrainian international law , and called on Russia to begin a dialogue with Kiev to `` try to move to de-escalation as quickly as possible '' .", "The EU `` ca n't simply sit back and say this situation can be allowed to happen '' , she added .", "The bloc hoped to send `` the strongest possible signals to Russia , a signal trying to ensure that they understand the seriousness of the situation '' .", "EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss a possible visa ban and an asset freeze against a number of Russian officials .", "The White House has described Russia 's actions in Crimea as `` dangerous and destabilising '' , and said the international community would not recognise the results of a poll `` administered under threats of violence '' ."], "_citing_sentence": "The 97% vote for joining Russia and 83% turnout conclusively show that this is the will of the Crimean people.", "_claim_name": "Need to protect Russian civilians", "_doc_title": "Crimean parliament formally applies to join Russia - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [32]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["MOSCOW/KIEV Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded and won his parliament 's approval on Saturday to invade Ukraine , where the new government warned of war , put its troops on high alert and appealed to NATO for help .", "Putin 's open assertion of the right to send troops to a country of 46 million people on the ramparts of central Europe creates the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War .", "Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk , leading a government that took power after Moscow 's ally Viktor Yanukovich fled a week ago , said Russian military action `` would be the beginning of war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia '' .", "Acting President Oleksander Turchinov ordered troops to be placed on high combat alert .", "Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said he had met European and U.S. officials and sent a request to NATO to `` examine all possibilities to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine '' .", "Putin 's move was a direct rebuff to Western leaders who had repeatedly urged Russia not to intervene , including U.S. President Barack Obama , who just a day before had held a televised address to warn Moscow of `` costs '' if it acted .", "Troops with no insignia on their uniforms but clearly Russian - some in vehicles with Russian number plates - have already seized Crimea , an isolated peninsula in the Black Sea where Moscow has a large military presence in the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet .", "Kiev 's new authorities have been powerless to stop them .", "The Russian forces solidified their control of Crimea and unrest spread to other parts of Ukraine on Saturday .", "Pro-Russian demonstrators clashed , sometimes violently , with supporters of Ukraine 's new authorities and raised the Russian flag over government buildings in several cities .", "`` This is probably the most dangerous situation in Europe since the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 , '' said a Western official on condition of anonymity .", "`` Realistically , we have to assume the Crimea is in Russian hands .", "The challenge now is to deter Russia from taking over the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine . ''", "Putin asked parliament to approve force `` in connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine , the threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation , our compatriots '' and to protect the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea .", "The upper house swiftly delivered a unanimous `` yes '' vote , shown live on television .", "Western capitals scrambled for a response , but it was limited to words .", "A U.S. official said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu .", "The official said there had been no change in U.S. military posture .", "EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton urged Moscow not to send troops .", "Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said this would be `` clearly against international law '' .", "Czech President Milos Zeman likened the crisis to the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia .", "`` Urgent need for de-escalation in Crimea , '' tweeted NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen .", "`` NATO allies continue to coordinate closely . ''", "Putin said his request for authorization to use force in Ukraine would last `` until the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country '' .", "His justification - the need to protect Russian citizens - was the same as he used to launch a 2008 invasion of Georgia , where Russian forces seized two breakaway regions and recognized them as independent .", "FLAGS TORN DOWN", "So far there has been no sign of Russian military action in Ukraine outside Crimea , the only part of the country with a Russian ethnic majority , which has often voiced separatist aims .", "A potentially bigger risk would be conflict spreading to the rest of Ukraine , where the sides could not be easily kept apart .", "As tension built on Saturday , demonstrations occasionally turned violent in eastern cities , where most people , though ethnically Ukrainian , are Russian speakers and many support Moscow and Yanukovich .", "Demonstrators flew Russian flags on government buildings in the cities of Kharkiv , Donetsk , Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk .", "In Kharkiv , scores of people were wounded in clashes when thousands of pro-Russian activists stormed the regional government headquarters , and fought pitched battles with a smaller number of supporters of Ukraine 's new authorities .", "Pro-Russian demonstrators wielded axe handles and chains against those defending the building with plastic shields .", "In Donetsk , Yanukovich 's home region , lawmakers declared they were seeking a referendum on the region 's status .", "`` We do not recognize the authorities in Kiev , they are not legitimate , '' protest leader Pavel Guberev thundered from a podium in Donetsk .", "Thousands of followers , holding a giant Russian flag and chanting `` Russia , Russia '' marched to the government headquarters and replaced the Ukrainian flag with Russia 's .", "Coal miner Gennady Pavlov said he backed Putin 's declaration of the right to intervene .", "`` It is time to put an end to this lawlessness .", "Russians are our brothers .", "I support the forces . ''", "`` WAR HAS ARRIVED ''", "On Kiev 's central Independence Square , where protesters camped out for months against Yanukovich , a World War Two film about Crimea was being shown on a giant screen , when Yuri Lutsenko , a former interior minister , interrupted it to announce Putin 's decree .", "`` War has arrived , '' Lutsenko said .", "Hundreds of Ukrainians descended on the square chanting `` Glory to the heroes .", "Death to the occupiers . ''", "Although there was little doubt that the troops without insignia that have already seized Crimea are Russian , the Kremlin has not yet openly confirmed it .", "It described Saturday 's authorization as a threat for future action rather than confirmation that its soldiers are already involved .", "A Kremlin spokesman said Putin had not yet decided to use force , and still hoped to avoid further escalation .", "In Crimea itself , the arrival of troops was cheered by the Russian majority .", "In the coastal town of Balaclava , where Russian-speaking troops in armored vehicles with black Russian number plates had encircled a small garrison of Ukrainian border guards , families posed for pictures with the soldiers .", "A wedding party honked its car horns .", "`` I want to live with Russia .", "I want to join Russia , '' said Alla Batura , a petite 71-year-old pensioner who has lived in Sevastopol for 50 years .", "`` They are good lads ... They are protecting us , so we feel safe . ''", "But not everyone was reassured .", "Inna , 21 , a clerk in a nearby shop who came out to stare at the APCs , said : `` I am in shock .", "I do n't understand what the hell this is ... People say they came here to protect us .", "... All of our ( Ukrainian ) military are probably out at sea by now . ''", "The rapid pace of events has rattled the new leaders of Ukraine , who took power in a nation on the verge of bankruptcy when Yanukovich fled Kiev last week after his police killed scores of anti-Russian protesters in Kiev .", "Ukraine 's crisis began in November when Yanukovich , at Moscow 's behest , abandoned a free trade pact with the EU for closer ties with Russia .", "For many in Ukraine , the prospect of a military conflict chilled the blood .", "`` When a Slav fights another Slav , the result is devastating , '' said Natalia Kuharchuk , a Kiev accountant .", "`` God save us . ''", "( Additional reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel in Balaclava , Ukraine , Timothy Heritage , Stephen Grey and Peter Graff in Kiev , Lina Kushch in Donetsk and Peter Apps in London ; Writing by Peter Graff ; Editing by Alistair Lyon )", "The key to understanding what 's going on lies not with personalities , campaign strategies or party rules but rather with the voter .", "Measuring and evaluating academic innovation", "Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters .", "Thomson Reuters is the world 's largest international multimedia news agency , providing investing news , world news , business news , technology news , headline news , small business news , news alerts , personal finance , stock market , and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com , video , mobile , and interactive television platforms ."], "_citing_sentence": "The Russian parliament has agreed to approve force \"in connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, the threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots\" The Russian Federal Council approved the move unanimously so allowing Russian troops to be used.", "_claim_name": "Approval of the Parliament", "_doc_title": "Putin ready to invade Ukraine; Kiev warns of war | Reuters", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13, 14]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["`` Under the influence of Western countries , there are open acts of terror and violence , '' Churkin quoted the letter from Yanukovich to Putin in the third emergency meeting of the UN", "`` People are being persecuted for language and political reasons , '' Churkin read . ''", "So in this regard I would call on the President of Russia , Mr. Putin , asking him to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to establish legitimacy , peace , law and order , stability and defending the people of Russia 's UN envoy shows #Yanukovich 's letter in which he asks Putin for use of Russian military force in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/DPgDZqtlU4 -- RT ( @RT_com ) March 3 , 2014", "After reading the letter , Churkin held up a copy of the original letter from Yanukovich to Putin for council members to look at .", "Churkin also told the UN Security Council that it is about protecting the rights of the Russian-speaking population there .", "Russia considers it necessary to ensure that the agreement between Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition on the crisis in", "Ukraine is fulfilled , Churkin told the UNSC .", "Watch Vitaly Churkin speaking at the UNSC meeting :", "Churkin said it is essential that the obligations set forth in the agreement on February 21 be fulfilled , such as beginning the process of constitutional reform with full participation and contributions from all regions of Ukraine for subsequent approval in a national referendum , and the formation of a legitimate government of national unity in the interests of all political forces and regions .", "Churkin clarified at the UNSC meeting that Russia 's goal is not to return ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich to power , but acknowledged that he is still the legitimate president of Ukraine and that his fate should be decided by the people of Ukraine .", "He stressed the need to `` rein in the radicals '' operating in Ukraine and asked Ukrainian opposition leaders to dissociate themselves from them .", "Churkin added that new information is emerging about more provocations in the works against the Russian Black Sea Fleet in People 's self-defense units were formed in a situation where threats and forceful actions of ultra-nationalists puts at risk the lives of Russian citizens and the Russian-speaking population .", "The units already managed to prevent the capture of administrative buildings and the smuggling of large amounts of firearms and explosives by radicals , Churkin explained .", "US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power followed Churkin 's comments in front of the UN Security Council , saying that Russia 's actions regarding Ukraine are a `` violation of international law . '' .", "@AmbassadorPower : `` Russian military action is not a human rights protection mission .", "It is a violation of international law . ''", "US Mission to the UN ( @USUN ) March 3 , 2014 `` It is a fact that today Russian jets entered Ukrainian airspace , '' Power said .", "`` Russia military action is a violation of international law .", "Russian military bases in Ukraine are secure .", "Russian mobilization is a response to an imaginary threat .", "Military action can not be justified on the basis of threats that have n't been made or are n't being carried out .", "Russia needs to engage directly with the government of Powers appealed for human rights monitors to be sent to Ukraine , while calling on Russia to `` immediately pull back '' deployed forces .", "`` Russia has every right to wish events had turned out differently .", "It does n't have the right to express that using military force , '' Power said .", "Ukraine Ambassador to the United Nations Yuriy Sergeyev said his country has `` not received a compelling answer '' on Russia 's stated reasons for moves into Crimea .", "`` You call it a coup d'etat .", "We call it a revolution of dignity , '' Sergeyev said , speaking in the direction of Russia 's Churkin .", "`` We -LSB- Ukraine -RSB- have a different understanding of human rights than you -LSB- Russia -RSB- , '' Sergeyev added .", "Liu Jieyi , China 's permanent representative to the United Nations , said China condemns the recent extremist violence in", "`` We urge all sides to resolve differences through legal framework '' and to protect rights of all people , Jieyi said .", "The Ukrainian parliament in Kiev in its first days disturbed eastern and southern regions of Ukraine , where many Russian speakers live , by voting to repeal a law which gave regional status to the Russian language .", "Seeing this as part of an anti-Russian discriminatory stance of the government , some of the regions denounced Kiev and said they would not be taking orders from the new regime .", "Authorities in Crimea requested Moscow 's assistance after parliament voted to repeal the law .", "More than half of the Crimean population are Russian and use only the Russian language for their communication .", "The residents have announced they will hold a referendum on March 30 to determine the fate of the Ukrainian autonomous region .", "Facts you need to know about Crimea and why it is in turmoil", "Crimean authorities denounced the self-proclaimed government in Kiev and declared that all Ukrainian law enforcement and military deployed in the peninsula must take orders from them .", "The majority of troops in Crimea switched sides in favor of local authorities .", "In the wake of the escalation , the self-imposed president of Ukraine , Aleksandr Turchinov , spoke out against the language vote , stating on Monday evening that he will not sign the decision to repeal the language law .", "Instead , he will wait until a working group drafts a new law that will allow the use of all languages in Ukraine .", "In the 1990s , the status of Sevastopol became the subject of endless debates between Russia and Ukraine .", "Following negotiations , the city and surrounding territories were granted a special `` state significance '' status within the Ukrainian state , and some of the naval facilities were leased to Russia for its Black Sea Fleet until at least 2047 .", "According to the agreement , Russia can have up to 25,000 personnel in Crimea , according to Feeling a threat from the self-appointed government , a number of regions have stood up against it .", "Thousands of people across eastern and southern Ukraine are flooding the streets of major cities , urging local authorities to disobey Kiev 's orders .", "The local population has deemed the government in Kiev illegitimate , demanding that their local governments refuse to take orders from it ."], "_citing_sentence": "Yanukovych in a letter to Putin called \"on the President of Russia, Mr. Putin, asking him to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine.\"", "_claim_name": "Invited by the legitimate government", "_doc_title": "Yanukovich sent letter to Putin asking for Russian military presence in Ukraine \u2014 RT News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["reasoning", "opinion"], ["factual", "opinion"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Washington And The World", "By BEN JUDAH", "The Kremlin sees its evidence in the former leaders of Britain , France and Germany .", "Tony Blair now advises the dictatorship in Kazakhstan on how to improve its image in the West .", "Nicholas Sarkozy was contemplating setting up a hedge fund with money from absolutist Qatar .", "And Gerhard Schroder is the chairman of the Nord Stream consortium -- a majority Gazprom-owned pipeline that connects Russia directly to Germany through the Baltic Sea .", "Top Stories , Videos & Photos", "Russia is confident there will be no Western economic counterattack .", "They believe the Europeans will not sanction the Russian oligarch money .", "They believe Americans will not punish the Russian oligarchs by blocking their access to banks .", "Russia is certain a military counterattack is out of the question .", "They expect America to only posture .", "Because Putin has no fear of the West , he can concentrate on what matters back in Russia : holding onto power .", "When Putin announced he would return to the presidency in late 2011 , the main growling question was : why ?", "The regime had no story to sell .", "What did Putin want to achieve by never stepping down ?", "The puppet president he shunted aside , Dmitry Medvedev , had at least sold a story of modernization .", "What , other than hunger for power , had made Putin return to the presidency ?", "The Kremlin spin-doctors had nothing to spin .", "Moscow was rocked by mass protests in December 2011 .", "More than 100,000 gathered within sight of the Kremlin demanding Russia be ruled in a different way .", "The protesters were scared off the streets , but the problem the regime had in justifying itself remained .", "Putin had sold himself to the Russian people as the man who would stabilize the state and deliver rising incomes after the chaos of the 1990s .", "But with Russians no longer fearing chaos , but rather stagnation as the economy slowed -- it was unclear what this `` stability '' was for .", "This is where the grand propaganda campaign called the Eurasian Union has come into its own .", "This is the name of the vague new entity that Putin wants to create out of former Soviet states -- the first steps toward which Putin has taken by building a Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan , and he had hoped with a Ukraine run by Viktor Yanuvokych .", "This is not just about empire ; it is about using empire to cover up the grotesque scale of Russian corruption and justify the regime .", "Russia would rather have swallowed Ukraine whole , but the show must go on .", "Russian TV needs glories for Putin every night on the evening news .", "Russian politics is about spin , not substance .", "The real substance of Russian politics is the extraction of billions of dollars from the nation and shuttling them into tropical Western tax havens , which is why Russian politics needs perpetual PR and perpetual Putinist drama to keep all this hidden from the Russian people .", "Outraged Putin has built up a Kremlin fleet of luxury aircraft worth $ 1 billion ?", "Angry that a third of the $ 51 billion budget of the Sochi games vanished into kickbacks ?", "Forget about it .", "Russia is on the march again .", "This is why Crimea is perfect Putin .", "Crimea is no South Ossetia .", "This is not some remote , mountainous Georgian village inhabited by some dubious ethnicity that Russians have never heard of .", "Crimea is the heart of Russian romanticism .", "The peninsula is the only part of the classical world that Russia ever conquered .", "And this is why the Tsarist aristocracy fell in love with it .", "Crimea symbolized Russia 's 18th and 19th-century fantasy to conquer Constantinople and liberate Greek Orthodox Christians from Muslim rule .", "Crimea became the imperial playground : In poetry and palaces , it was extolled as the jewel in the Russian crown .", "Crimea is the only lost land that Russians really mourn .", "The reason is tourism .", "The Soviet Union built on the Tsarist myth and turned the peninsula into a giant holiday camp full of workers sanitariums and pioneer camps .", "Unlike the Russian cities of say northern Kazakhstan , Crimea is a place Russians have actually been .", "Even today over one million Russians holiday in Crimea every year .", "It is not just a peninsula ; this is Russia 's Club Med and imperial romanticism rolled into one .", "Vladimir Putin knows this .", "He knows that millions of Russians will cheer him as a hero if he returns them Crimea .", "He knows that European bureaucrats will issue shrill statements and then get back to business helping Russian elites buy London town houses and French chateaux .", "He knows full well that the United States can no longer force Europe to trade in a different way .", "He knows full well that the United States can do nothing beyond theatrical military maneuvers at most .", "This is why Vladimir Putin just invaded Crimea .", "He thinks he has nothing to lose .", "Ben Judah is author of Fragile Empire : How Russia Fell In And Out Of Love With Vladimir Putin ."], "_citing_sentence": "Culturally Crimea is important to Russia too, it was the main Russian tourism destination during the Soviet Union and Symbolised Russia's gains in the 18th and 19th Centuries.", "_claim_name": "Crimea should be Russian", "_doc_title": "Why Russia No Longer Fears the West - Ben Judah - POLITICO Magazine", "_labeled_lineIDs": [43, 44, 45, 46, 47]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Friday 21 February 2014 10.17 EST", "Concerned with the tragic loss of life in Ukraine , seeking an immediate end of bloodshed and determined to pave the way for a political resolution of the crisis , We , the signing parties , have agreed upon the following : 1 .", "Within 48 hours of the signing of this agreement , a special law will be adopted , signed and promulgated , which will restore the Constitution of 2004 including amendments passed until now .", "Signatories declare their intention to create a coalition and form a national unity government within 10 days thereafter .", "Constitutional reform , balancing the powers of the President , the government and parliament , will start immediately and be completed in September 2014 .", "Presidential elections will be held as soon as the new Constitution is adopted but no later than December 2014 .", "New electoral laws will be passed and a new Central Election Commission will be formed on the basis of proportionality and in accordance with the OSCE & Venice commission rules .", "Investigation into recent acts of violence will be conducted under joint monitoring from the authorities , the opposition and the Council of Europe .", "The authorities will not impose a state of emergency .", "The authorities and the opposition will refrain from the use of violence .", "The Parliament will adopt the 3rd amnesty , covering the same range of illegal actions as the 17th February 2014 law .", "Both parties will undertake serious efforts for the normalisation of life in the cities and villages by withdrawing from administrative and public buildings and unblocking streets , city parks and squares .", "Illegal weapons should be handed over to the Ministry of Interior bodies within 24 hours of the special law , referred to in point 1 hereof , coming into force .", "After the aforementioned period , all cases of illegal carrying and storage of weapons will fall under the law of Ukraine .", "The forces of authorities and of the opposition will step back from confrontational posture .", "The Government will use law enforcement forces exclusively for the physical protection of public buildings .", "The Foreign Ministers of France , Germany , Poland and the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation call for an immediate end to all violence and confrontation .", "Viktor Yanukovych , president of Ukraine", "For the Opposition", "Vitaliy Klichko , UDAR", "Oleh Tyahnibok , Svoboda", "Arsenij Yatseniuk , Batkivshchyna", "For the EU", "Radoslaw Sikorski , Polish foreign minister", "Frank-Walter Steinmeier , German foreign minister", "Laurent Fabius , French foreign minister", "For the Russian Federation", "Vladimir Lukin , Russian special envoy"], "_citing_sentence": "Thus Yanukovych was to remain President until the next elections.", "_claim_name": "Necessary response to an illegal coup", "_doc_title": "Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine - full text | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The upper house of the Russian parliament has voted in favor of sending troops to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , which would ensure peace and order in the region `` until the socio-political situation in the country is stabilized . ''", "DETAILS : Russia 's Federation Council unanimously approves sending Russian troops to Ukraine http://t.co/7Cb2xX8MiXpic.twitter.com/bnoiti15Ik -- RT ( @RT_com ) March 1 , 2014", "The debate in the Federation Council has revealed that Russian", "MPs are united on the issue , with many of them sharing concerns on the recent events in Ukraine .", "The common notion was that since the power was seized in Kiev , the situation has only been deteriorating with radical nationalists rapidly coming to power and threatening the lives of those opposing their actions , most notably the Russian citizens living in Ukraine .", "The developments follow an appeal by the Prime Minister of the", "Autonomous Republic of Crimea , Sergey Aksyonov , who requested that Russia to help cope with the crisis and ensure `` peace and calm '' in the region .", "Crimeans began protesting after the new self-proclaimed government in Kiev introduced a law abolishing the use of other languages in official circumstances in Ukraine .", "More than half the Crimean population are Russian and use only this language in their everyday life .", "The residents have announced they are going to hold a referendum on March 30 to determine the fate of the Ukrainian autonomous region .", "Facts you need to know about Crimea and why it is in turmoil", "Putin on Saturday requested the Federation Council to use the Army for normalizing the socio-political situation in Ukraine in connection with the `` extraordinary situation '' there .", "The events in Ukraine indicate there is a `` threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation ... and the personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory , '' the Russian president said .", "According to Putin 's spokesman , Dmitry Peskov , the president has not yet made a decision on sending the troops to Ukraine .", "Moreover , taking the decision to use the Armed Forces in Ukraine does not mean that it will be carried out immediately , Grigory Karasin , Putin 's official representative in the Federation Council , has said .", "`` The approval , which the president will receive , does not literally mean that this right will be used promptly , ''", "Russian citizens are among the victims of the turmoil gripping Ukraine , the speaker of the Federation Council , Valentina Matvienko , has said .", "In Crimea , there were Russian casualties during the storming of the local Interior Ministry building by gunmen overnight , she added .", "`` During the attempts to seize the building of the Interior Ministry in Crimea some were injured , there were victims also , the people are being threatened , and in this situation they are naturally voicing concerns for the security of their lives and families .", "This compelled the government of Crimea to ask Russia for help , '' Matvienko said .", "The speaker 's words coincided with the statement issued by Russian Federal Migration Service noting that some 143,000 Ukrainians have sought asylum in Russia .", "The number represents a sharp rise in such requests , the authority said .", "The new Ukrainian authorities have been formed `` under the dictate of Maidan '' and `` continue to use force in the forming of the decision-making structures , '' Karasin said .", "`` We are particularly concerned with the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , where , in accordance with the international treaty , the Black Sea Fleet is stationed ; where 1.5 million Russian people live , '' Putin 's representative stressed .", "The Crimean population `` resents '' the attempts to seize local administration buildings and the threats thrown at regional authorities , and demands stability , he said .", "At the same time , Karasin said he believes the international community and those states that backed the February 21 agreement between the opposition and the legitimate Ukrainian government `` have the power '' to influence the self-proclaimed Kiev authorities to bring the situation back to `` constitutional ways . ''", "The Russian Foreign Ministry also said that Moscow is expecting that the international community will influence the self-proclaimed Kiev regime to normalize the situation in the country ."], "_citing_sentence": "Putin told the Federation Council that Russia is responding to a \"threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation... and the personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory\".", "_claim_name": "Need to protect Russian civilians", "_doc_title": "Russian senators vote to use stabilizing military forces on Ukrainian territory \u2014 RT News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [12]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["\u0391nalysts for Change", "Putin answering questions on Russian TV", "Pro-Russians fire warning shots as Ukrainians approach", "Threaten to shoot Ukrainians advancing towards seized base", "Putin orders troops near border to return to base", "Russian financial markets rally", "Kerry due to hold meetings in Kiev", "Vladimir Putin speaks at a press conference on the Ukraine crisis .", "Putin denies Russia 's intervention will violate the Budapest Agreement :", "When we show that this is anti-constitutional coup , they say : ` No ... it 's a revolution . '", "... If it 's a revolution , what does that mean ?", "It 's hard not to agree that a new government is appearing in this country , just like in Russia after 1917 ... .", "We did n't sign any documents with this government .", "Putin says Russia is ready to provide financial aid to Ukraine , but Western requests and late gas payments are preventing it from doing so :", "We are ready to look at providing additional tranches ... But our Western partners are asking us not to do this , they are asking us to work within the framework of the IMF to force economic reforms in Ukraine ... But since Ukraine is currently not paying for gas , we are considering different options If Ukraine holds elections under current conditions of `` terror '' , Russia will not recognise the results , says Putin .", "He compares the chaotic situation in Ukraine to that in Germany before the rise of the Nazis : I agree with Maidan 's demand for cardinal change in power ... but there is the danger that a fascist element will come to the fore , and some anti-semite will come to power", "He talks of seeing pictures of people wearing swastikas .", "Putin implies that the West stands behind regime-change in Ukraine : I think that this was all well-prepared , of course there are military units and they are there to this day , they are well-prepared and in this the Western instructors did well ...", "Change in regime is probably necessary , but only in a legitimate manner according to the current constitution .", "He says Russia has good relations with a number of figures within Ukraine but there could be `` serious consequences '' if some `` unknown '' person comes to power .", "Yulia Tymoshenko is welcome to come to Moscow but she is not part of the government .", "He is asked , somewhat bizarrely , whether Yanukovych is dead ( the ousted president gave a press conference on Friday ) .", "Putin says : `` He is very alive . ''", "Asked whether he sympathises with Yanukovych , Putin says : `` No . ''", "Asked about the safety of Russian-speakers in the largely Ukrainian-speaking west of Ukraine , Putin stops short of saying what concrete actions", "Russia might take to protect them :", "We are working on the basis that the actions of the current government should ensure the safety of citizens in all parts of the country , and we are going to look after that .", "And that is all .", "The press conference has ended .", "Putin says Gazprom could cut off gas to Ukraine but it would not be due to political factors but because Ukraine has n't paid off its debt and is n't paying for current deliveries :", "The government of Russia gave the first tranche of credit , at first stage $ 3 billion .", "The Ukraine side promises to pay off debt that accumulated over the past year-and-a-half and to pay the current fees for gas .", "The debt has not been paid off , and the current fees for gas are not being paid ... If they do n't pay for February it will be almost $ 2 billion that they have n't paid ... It 's just the commercial activity of Gazprom ... If they do n't get money on time from Ukrainian partners , then they act according to their own programme , it 's a big problem ... It 's not related to political events ... .", "Of course Gazprom will tell them : ` Guys , this wo n't work . '", "Putin says Ukraine should `` draft a new constitution and put it up for a referendum ... But it 's not our business '' .", "Putin defends Yanukovych 's decision not to sign the EU association agreement , arguing the conditions would have been disastrous for the", "He looked at the tough conditions and said he could n't agree to them , because the population is already in a tough place ... About $ 5 billion Ukraine production , machinery production , goes to Russia , none of it goes to the west .", "To interrupt this ... .", "is not realistic .", "Enterprises will shut down , unemployment will skyrocket .", "He said he ca n't do this so suddenly .", "Let 's discuss this .", "The decision Putin not to sign the EU association agreement was used an `` excuse '' to seize power : It was just an excuse to support opposition forces against him in the struggle for power ...", "The political life of Ukraine has turned into a farce , they are not following the constitution ... that 's how chaos starts ... .", "We need to raise our population to respect the law first and foremost .", "Putin says he told Yanukovych he has `` no political future '' and helped him for `` humanitarian reasons '' .", "They would kill him there .", "Putin warns that sanctions will hurt both sides and says Russia is still ready to host the G8 :", "Those considering sanctions should think about the consequences ... In this tightly connected world we can of course harm each other but it will be mutual harm , and they need to think about that ... As far as the G8 , we are preparing for the summit , we are ready to host our colleagues if they come , but they do n't have to .", "Putin denies that the men guarding Ukrainian military installations around the Crimea are", "Russian soldiers , despite the uniforms without insignia that resemble", "Russian military uniforms :", "The post-Soviet space is full of such uniforms ... These were local self-defence forces .", "Putin raises doubts that the snipers who killed protestors in Kiev were ordered to do so by the Yanukovych government .", "He says that he warned", "Yanukovych against ordering police out of Kiev but the president did n't listen :", "There is the opinion that -LSB- sniper shooting -RSB- was provocation of one of opposition parties It 's very hard to tell , but we did see how Berkut fighters stood with shields and people were shooting at them not with traumatic , but with military weapons .", "Yanukovich called me , and I warned him not to do -LSB- pull police out -RSB- , but he did it anyway , and as soon as he did they seized his office and the chaos started", "He is asked whether he is concerned that a war may break out .", "No , because we will not go to war with the Ukrainian people .", "How can Russia help the families of the Berkut ( the disbanded secret police ) ?", "They did not violate any rules .", "They just did their duty .", "Putin says he would be willing to receive those injured for treatment in Russia .", "Colonel Yuli Mamchor ( right ) , commander of the Ukrainian military garrison at Belbek airbase , speaks to occupying troops under Russian command .", "Photograph : Sean Gallup/Getty Images", "Putin says Russia 's economic troubles are not all due to Ukraine crisis , and that any negative effects from them are only temporary :", "Markets had a certain neurosis even before the events in Ukraine , even before the situation got more tense ... From developing markets , investors started to invest in USA and it was n't connected at all with the events in Ukraine ... As far as the events in Ukraine -LSB- are concerned -RSB- , power always affects the markets , money loves silence and stability , but I think it 's only temporary .", "Putin defends the legitimacy of Russian military action , calling it a `` humanitarian mission '' :", "They often accuse us of illegitimate actions , but when I ask them if they are always legitimate , they say yes .", "But I have to remind everyone of Iraq , Afghanistan , Libya , where they acted without the approval of the", "Putin says that the west `` distorted UN security council resolutions '' on Libya , where a no-fly zone was imposed but sorties were carried out against Libyan military targets .", "Our partners , especially in the US , they always concretely form their geopolitical interests , strive for them , and then say that anyone who is n't coming along with us is against us ... We are acting on a different basis , always legitimately .", "And we think that if we ever make a decision to use force , it will be legitimate .", "This is legitimate and corresponds with our interests of protecting people who are historically tied to us , who have cultural ties to us , who have economic ties ... This is a humanitarian mission .", "We wo n't dictate anything to anyone but of course we wo n't stand aside if people are threatened .", "Ukraine is not -LSB- only -RSB- our closest neighbour , it is our fraternal nation .", "Putin says that Ukrainian citizens have understandably been upset by such `` lawlessness '' as torturing protestors , and warns Russia may intervene in", "They are upset by such lawlessness , and if we see that such lawlessness in Eastern regions , and people ask for our assistance , we allow ourselves all measures necessary to protect these citizens .", "He also says that `` nationalist rebels '' have been traveling to the Crimea .", "There were threats to armed facilities in Crimea from `` radical nationalists '' so we acted swiftly without force , says Putin .", "We do n't want to interfere .", "Vladimir Putin talks to the press about the crisis in Ukraine .", "The interim president is not legitimate .", "From the legal perspective it is Mr Yanukovych who is president .", "Putin says there are only three ways a sitting president can leave power in Ukraine : death , resignation , or impeachment .", "He says the dissolution of the constitutional court is `` illegal '' .", "He goes on `` Is that justice ? ''", "Russian president promises financial assistance for Crimea but declines to say how much .", "He also maintains that Russian military deployment is not needed now but the `` possibility '' remains :", "The military exercises were not related to what is happening in Ukraine .", "We did not announce them before because they were surprise exercises ... They were planned for months .", "Yanukovych urged Russia to use military action to defend the health of", "Ukrainians but says military force would only be used in `` extreme '' cases .", "Putin once more refers to `` radical extremists '' in Kiev .", "Alec Luhn is watching the press conference for the Guardian in Moscow .", "Why was this done ?", "President Yanukovych , before Poland Germany and France , and before my representative , ombudsmen Lukin , signed an agreement with the opposition , by which , I want to note , Yanukovych basically gave up his power , he aggreed to all demands of opposition , early elections , to return to the constitution of 2004 , ... he did n't give one illegal command to shoot unfortunate protestors .", "They immediately seized his residence rather than giving him a chance to fulfil the agreement . . .", "He did n't have any chance of being reelected .", "... Why did they need to take unconstitutional steps and bring the country into the chaos that now reigns there ?", "... It was a stupid act .", "The Russian president says there are `` radical extremists masked and armed on the streets of Kiev '' .", "Putin calls the Ukrainian government `` crooks '' : I sympathise with the people on Maidan even though I do n't recognise the change in regime ... People are not demanding renovations of the facade of power , they want cardinal changes , because they are used to crooks taking over from other crooks ...", "Of course people wanted change .", "But it can not impose illegal change ... you need to use only constitutional means .", "President Putin says that what happened in Ukraine was `` an unconstitutional overthrow and armed seizure of power '' that went unchallenged ."], "_citing_sentence": "Russia therefore has a right to act to protect those who there has been an \"armed seizure of power\".", "_claim_name": "Necessary response to an illegal coup", "_doc_title": "Putin: Yanukovych ousting was 'unconstitutional overthrow' -", "_labeled_lineIDs": [106]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Facts you need to know about", "Fifty-five out of 64 MPs voted for the government 's dissolution .", "The decision was announced by parliament official Olga Sulnikova .", "The decision to dismiss Crimea 's Council of Ministers was supported by 55 out of 64 Crimean MPs .", "The no-confidence motion came as a result of `` unsatisfactory '' work by the regional government in 2013 , Interfax-Ukraine reported .", "The Chairman of the Council of Ministers , Anatoly Mogilyov , was also dismissed .", "The leader of Crimea 's Russian Unity party , Sergey Aksyonov , has been voted in as the new chairman , RIA The pro-Russian politician was supported by a majority of 53 MPs of the Crimean parliament , with 64 MPs taking part in the vote out of 100 .", "The new council of ministers is to be formed Friday .", "The regional parliament then voted in favor of holding an All-Crimean referendum on the status of the Autonomous Republic , with 61 out of 64 MPs supporting the poll .", "On May 25 , Crimeans will vote `` yes '' or `` no '' on whether the `` Autonomous Republic of Crimea has state sovereignty and is a part of Ukraine , in accordance with treaties and agreements . ''", "Earlier the presidium of the Crimean parliament have announced that they are confident `` that only by holding an All-Crimean referendum on the issue of improving the status of the Autonomy and expanding its powers Crimeans will be able to determine the future of the", "Autonomy on their own and without any external pressure . ''", "As a result of `` the unconstitutional seizure of power in Ukraine by radical nationalists supported by armed gangs , ''", "Crimea 's peace and order is `` under threat , '' said Oksana Korniychuk , the press secretary of the head of the parliament .", "Korniychuk spoke hours after an unknown group of people barricaded themselves inside the building of the Crimean parliament and installed Russian flags there .", "The group , however , allowed MPs inside , including the speaker of the parliament , Vladimir", "The MPs then held their sessions as planned .", "Later on Thursday , some 400 demonstrators announced an open-ended protest in front of the parliament building , demanding that a referendum on the status of Crimea be held .", "The referendum on May 25 will coincide with the early Ukrainian presidential and city mayoral elections ."], "_citing_sentence": "Russia needs to protect both the Russian citizens who are in Crimea and the ethnic Russians who look to Moscow not Kiev.The Crimean parliament has agreed to hold a referendum on 25th May on \"Autonomous Republic of Crimea has state sovereignty and is a part of Ukraine, in accordance with treaties and agreements.\"", "_claim_name": "Need to protect Russian civilians", "_doc_title": "Crimean parliament sacks regional government, approves referendum \u2014 RT News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 18, "_topic_name": "This House believes Russia has the right to send troops into Crimea"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Nature Reports Climate Change Published online : 20 November 2008 | doi :10.1038 / climate .2008.122", "Carbon dioxide emissions and their associated warming could linger for millennia , according to some climate scientists .", "Mason Inman looks at why the fallout from burning fossil fuels could last far longer than expected .", "Distant future : our continued use of fossil fuels could leave a CO2legacy that lasts millennia , says climatologist David Archer 123RF .", "After our fossil fuel blow-out , how long will the CO2 hangover last ?", "And what about the global fever that comes along with it ?", "These sound like simple questions , but the answers are complex -- and not well understood or appreciated outside a small group of climate scientists .", "Popular books on climate change -- even those written by scientists -- if they mention the lifetime of CO2 at all , typically say it lasts `` a century or more `` 1 or `` more than a hundred years '' .", "`` That 's complete nonsense , '' says Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford , California .", "It does n't help that the summaries in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reports have confused the issue , allege Caldeira and colleagues in an upcoming paper in Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences2 .", "Now he and a few other climate scientists are trying to spread the word that human-generated CO2 , and the warming it brings , will linger far into the future -- unless we take heroic measures to pull the gas out of the air .", "University of Chicago oceanographer David Archer , who led the study with Caldeira and others , is credited with doing more than anyone to show how long CO2 from fossil fuels will last in the atmosphere .", "As he puts it in his new book The Long Thaw , `` The lifetime of fossil fuel CO2 in the atmosphere is a few centuries , plus 25 percent that lasts essentially forever .", "The next time you fill your tank , reflect upon this `` 3 .", "`` The climatic impacts of releasing fossil fuel CO2 to the atmosphere will last longer than Stonehenge , '' Archer writes .", "`` Longer than time capsules , longer than nuclear waste , far longer than the age of human civilization so far . ''", "The effects of carbon dioxide on the atmosphere drop off so slowly that unless we kick our `` fossil fuel addiction '' , to use George W. Bush 's phrase , we could force Earth out of its regular pattern of freezes and thaws that has lasted for more than a million years .", "`` If the entire coal reserves were used , '' Archer writes , `` then glaciation could be delayed for half a million years . ''", "`` The longevity of CO2 in the atmosphere is probably the least well understood part of the global warming issue , '' says paleoclimatologist Peter Fawcett of the University of New Mexico .", "`` And it 's not because it is n't well documented in the IPCC report .", "It is , but it is buried under a lot of other material . ''", "It does n't help , though , that past reports from the UN panel of climate experts have made misleading statements about the lifetime of CO2 , argue Archer , Caldeira and colleagues .", "The first assessment report , in 1990 , said that CO2 's lifetime is 50 to 200 years .", "The reports in 1995 and 2001 revised this down to 5 to 200 years .", "Because the oceans suck up huge amounts of the gas each year , the average CO2 molecule does spend about 5 years in the atmosphere .", "But the oceans also release much of that CO2 back to the air , such that man-made emissions keep the atmosphere 's CO2 levels elevated for millennia .", "Even as CO2 levels drop , temperatures take longer to fall , according to recent studies .", "`` The climatic impacts of releasing fossil fuel CO2 to the atmosphere will last longer than Stonehenge , longer than time capsules , longer than nuclear waste , far longer than the age of human civilization so far . ''", "Earlier reports from the panel did include caveats such as `` No single lifetime can be defined for CO2 because of the different rates of uptake by different removal processes . ''", "The IPCC 's latest assessment , however , avoids the problems of earlier reports by including similar caveats while simply refusing to give a numeric estimate of the lifetime for carbon dioxide .", "Contributing author Richard Betts of the UK Met Office Hadley Centre says the panel made this change in recognition of the fact that `` the lifetime estimates cited in previous reports had been potentially misleading , or at least open to misinterpretation . ''", "Instead of pinning an absolute value on the atmospheric lifetime of CO2 , the 2007 report describes its gradual dissipation over time , saying , `` About 50 % of a CO2 increase will be removed from the atmosphere within 30 years , and a further 30 % will be removed within a few centuries .", "The remaining 20 % may stay in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . ''", "But if cumulative emissions are high , the portion remaining in the atmosphere could be higher than this , models suggest .", "Overall , Caldeira argues , `` the whole issue of our long-term commitment to climate change has not really ever been adequately addressed by the IPCC . ''", "The lasting effects of CO2 also have big implications for energy policies , argues James Hansen , director of NASA 's Goddard Institute of Space Studies .", "`` Because of this long CO2 lifetime , we can not solve the climate problem by slowing down emissions by 20 % or 50 % or even 80 % .", "It does not matter much whether the CO2 is emitted this year , next year , or several years from now , '' he wrote in a letter this August .", "`` Instead ... we must identify a portion of the fossil fuels that will be left in the ground , or captured upon emission and put back into the ground . ''", "Unlike other human-generated greenhouse gases , CO2 gets taken up by a variety of different processes , some fast and some slow .", "This is what makes it so hard to pin a single number , or even a range , on CO2 's lifetime .", "The majority of the CO2 we emit will be soaked up by the ocean over a few hundred years , first being absorbed into the surface waters , and eventually into deeper waters , according to a long-term climate model run by Archer .", "Though the ocean is vast , the surface waters can absorb only so much CO2 , and currents have to bring up fresh water from the deep before the ocean can swallow more .", "Then , on a much longer timescale of several thousand years , most of the remaining CO2 gets taken up as the gas dissolves into the ocean and reacts with chalk in ocean sediments .", "But this process would never soak up enough CO2 to return atmospheric levels to what they were before industrialization , shows oceanographer Toby Tyrrell of the UK 's National Oceanography Centre , Southampton , in a recent paper4 .", "Finally , the slowest process of all is rock weathering , during which atmospheric CO2 reacts with water to form a weak acid that dissolves rocks .", "It 's thought that this creates minerals such as magnesium carbonate that lock away the greenhouse gas .", "But according to simulations by Archer and others , it would take hundreds of thousands of years for these processes to bring CO2 levels back to pre-industrial values ( Fig. 1 ) .", "Model simulation of atmospheric CO2 concentration for 40,000 years following after a large CO2 release from combustion of fossil fuels .", "Different fractions of the released gas recover on different timescales .", "Reproduced from The Long Thaw3 .", "Full figure and legend ( 18 KB )", "Several long-term climate models , though their details differ , all agree that anthropogenic CO2 takes an enormously long time to dissipate .", "If all recoverable fossil fuels were burnt up using today 's technologies , after 1,000 years the air would still hold around a third to a half of the CO2 emissions .", "`` For practical purposes , 500 to 1000 years is ` forever , ' '' as Hansen and colleagues put it .", "In this time , civilizations can rise and fall , and the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets could melt substantially , raising sea levels enough to transform the face of the planet .", "The warming from our CO2 emissions would last effectively forever , too .", "A recent study by Caldeira and Damon Matthews of Concordia University in Montreal found that regardless of how much fossil fuel we burn , once we stop , within a few decades the planet will settle at a new , higher temperature5 .", "As Caldeira explains , `` It just increases for a few decades and then stays there '' for at least 500 years -- the length of time they ran their model .", "`` That was not at all the result I was expecting , '' he says .", "But this was not some peculiarity of their model , as the same behaviour shows up in an extremely simplified model of the climate6 -- the only difference between the models being the final temperature of the planet .", "Archer and Victor Brovkin of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany found much the same result from much longer-term simulations6 .", "Their model shows that whether we emit a lot or a little bit of CO2 , temperatures will quickly rise and plateau , dropping by only about 1 \u00b0 C over 12,000 years .", "`` The longevity of CO2 in the atmosphere is probably the least well understood part of the global warming issue . ''", "Because of changes in the Earth 's orbit , ice sheets might start to grow from the poles in a few thousand years -- but there 's a good chance our greenhouse gas emissions already may prevent that , Archer argues .", "Even with the amount of CO2 emitted so far , another ice age will almost certainly start in about 50,000 years .", "But if we burn all remaining fossil fuels , it could be more than half a million years before the Earth has another ice age , Archer says .", "The long-term effects of our emissions might seem far removed .", "But as Tyrrell says , `` It is a little bit scary , if you think about all the concerns we have about radioactive wastes produced by nuclear power .", "The potential impacts from emitting CO2 to the atmosphere are even longer than that . ''", "But there 's still hope for avoiding these long-term effects if technologies that are now on the drawing board can be scaled up affordably .", "`` If civilization was able to develop ways of scrubbing CO2 out of the atmosphere , '' Tyrrell says , `` it 's possible you could reverse this CO2 hangover . ''", "Mason Inman is a freelance science writer currently based in Pakistan ."], "_citing_sentence": "As CO2 can remain in the atmosphere for a long time, about 50% will be removed within 30 years, but 20% or more may remain for thousands of years, the history of emissions is as relevant as current emissions.", "_claim_name": "The developed world is mostly to blame for climate change", "_doc_title": "Carbon is forever : article : Nature Reports Climate Change", "_labeled_lineIDs": [31, 32]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The United States has made great progress since 1970 in cleaning the air , but the job is far from complete .", "November 15 , 1990 marks a milestone in Clean Air Act history , the signing of the 1990 Amendments .", "These amendments set the stage for protecting the ozone layer , reducing acid rain and toxic pollutants , and improving air quality and visibility .", "Actions to implement the Clean Air Act have achieved dramatic reductions in air pollution , preventing hundreds of thousands of cases of serious health effects each year .", "Accomplishments under the Clean Air Act", "Aggregate emissions of six common pollutants dropped 69 % between 1970 and 2014 .", "The Act calls for states and EPA to solve multiple air pollution problems through programs based on the latest science and technology information .", "Congress designed the Clean Air Act to combat a variety of air pollution problems , and to tackle emerging pollution threats .", "Under the Clean Air Act , health-based air quality standards are based on the latest science .", "Emissions standards for sources are based on information about available technologies .", "The Clean Air Act calls for state , local , tribal and federal governments to work in partnership to clean the air .", "Stakeholders and the public play critical roles in developing standards and implementation of the Clean Air Act .", "Under the Act , EPA seeks to provide industry with flexibility on ways to control emissions while maintaining accountability for achieving reductions .", "Over forty years of experience with the Clean Air Act shows that clean air and a healthy economy can go hand in hand .", "Despite the dramatic progress to date , air pollution continues to threaten Americans ' health and welfare .", "Contact Us to ask a question , provide feedback , or report a problem .", "Last updated on July 12 , 2016", "More social media at EPA ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Despite having been polluting the atmosphere as a result of industrialization since the early 19th Century developed nations only began comprehensively limiting pollution after World War II in order to reduce smog through regulation such as the 1955 Air Pollution Control act and 1963 Clean Air Act in the United States and many developed countries have yet to regulate their CO2 emissions.Having had free reign to develop for 200 years the developed nations need to take responsibility for those 200 years of irresponsibility while giving the developing world longer to clean up its act.", "_claim_name": "Developed countries must combat climate change while developing countries have more pressing concerns", "_doc_title": "Overview of the Clean Air Act and Air Pollution | US EPA", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1, 10]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Scanning through the amount of carbon dioxide that countries put into the atmosphere over the past century might seem even irrelevant to modern climate change debates .", "But historical emissions , like per capita emissions , are a bone of contention in haggling between countries trying to reach a climate deal in Copenhagen this December .", "Developing countries argue that any CO2 cuts agreed by developed countries at Copenhagen should incorporate the principle of historical responsibility .", "In other words , the rich should pay in the near future for its considerable past contributions to global warming .", "Data from 1900-2004 supports such an argument , when you keep in mind the size of countries ' populations .", "The US has the biggest historical share ( 314,772 m metric tonnes of carbon dioxide ) , while European countries such as Germany ( 73,625 ) and the UK ( 55,163 ) cast a shadow over developing nations such as India ( 25,054 ) , Brazil ( 9,136 ) and Indonesia ( 6,167 ) .", "China is on 89,243 .", "It 's also worth bearing in mind that many developed countries ' share of emissions go back before this data begins .", "As the leader of the industrial revolution , the UK in particular was responsible for significant carbon emissions in the 19th century .", "To get a sense of how such emission debts are influencing the Copenhagen negotiations , consider the rationale given by Yu Qingtai , China 's climate change ambassador , when explaining that China would not drop its demands for tough CO2 cuts from developed countries : `` We have all along believed that due to the historical responsibility of the developed nations , they must continue to take the lead with large reductions beyond 2012 . ''", "Some commentators say that if social justice is to be achieved at Copenhagen , it 's impossible to argue against rich countries paying for their historic responsibility .", "\u2022 DATA : Historical total CO2 emissions \u2022 Can you do something with this data ?", "Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group or mail us at datastore@guardian.co.uk \u2022 Get the A-Z of data \u2022 More environment data \u2022 More at the Datastore directory \u2022 Follow us on Twitter", "Units : Million metric tons of carbon dioxide"], "_citing_sentence": "From 1900 to 2004 the United States produced 314,772 million metric tonnes of CO2 compared to China's 89,243 million metric tonnes and while India now produces more CO2 Germany over the same period emitted three times as much.", "_claim_name": "The developed world is mostly to blame for climate change", "_doc_title": "A history of CO2 emissions | Environment | theguardian.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 5, 6]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 19, "_topic_name": "This house believes that developed countries have a higher obligation to combat climate change than developing countries"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["David Smith , Africa correspondent", "Monday 5 December 2011 13.30 EST", "His shirt was pressed white , his tie straight , his suit sharp and his demeanour calm yet defiant .", "It was quite a makeover from the sweaty white vest and bewildered expression that spoke of a man stripped of power and dignity when the eyes of the world were last upon him .", "Laurent Gbagbo , the former president of Ivory Coast , seemed intent on playing the global statesman rather than the fugitive from justice when he appeared at the international criminal court at The Hague on Monday .", "The ICC has previously tried and failed to bring the might of international law down on Sudan 's president , Omar al-Bashir , and Libya 's late leader Muammar Gaddafi .", "The latter would have been unrivalled as legal theatre , but it was Gbagbo who faced the dishonour of becoming the first former head of state to stand trial at the world 's premier war crimes court .", "Evidently unmoved by this piece of geopolitical history , the 66-year-old quibbled over how his name had been set down by the court and complained about the manner of his extradition .", "Gbagbo was transferred to the Netherlands last week to face four charges of crimes against humanity .", "His supporters are alleged to have committed murder and rape as he rejected Ivory Coast 's election result and tried to cling to his decade-long rule .", "Prosecutors say about 3,000 people died in four months of violence perpetrated by both sides after Gbagbo refused to concede .", "President Alassane Ouattara took power in April , with the help of French and UN forces , after a dishevelled Gbagbo was plucked from his bunker .", "Looking healthier and more rested than on that occasion , Gbagbo smiled at supporters in the public gallery as the 25-minute hearing opened .", "`` Good afternoon madame president , thank you for letting me speak , '' he said , `` I am Laurent Gbagbo . ''", "He told three-judge panel he did not need them to read the charges .", "Speaking in French , Gbagbo said he wanted to see the evidence against him : `` I will challenge that evidence and then you hand down your judgment . ''", "He blamed France , the former colonial power in Ivory Coast , for his arrest by pro-Ouattara forces : `` I was arrested under French bombs .", "It was the French army that did the job . ''", "He said he saw his son beaten and his interior minister killed in the fighting .", "`` I was the president of the republic and the residence of the president of the republic was shelled . ''", "He also complained about his transfer to The Hague last week from northern Ivory Coast where he was under house arrest .", "`` We were deceived , '' he said , adding that the official in charge of his transfer `` did not have the courage to tell me I was going to The Hague '' until after he was at the airport .", "Monday 's brief hearing was to confirm Gbagbo 's identity and ensure he understood his rights and the charges .", "According to court papers , he is charged as an `` indirect perpetrator '' in a carefully orchestrated campaign of violence against Ouattara supporters .", "The presiding judge , Silvia Fern\u00e1ndez de Gurmendi , of Argentina , scheduled a hearing for 18 June when prosecutors will present a summary of evidence and judges will decide whether it is strong enough to merit bringing Gbagbo 's case to trial .", "Before that , judges will schedule conferences to discuss progress in the case , during which Gbagbo can challenge his detention .", "and seek release pending further hearings .", "He said conditions at the detention centre where he has been held are `` fine '' .", "Inmates have single cells of about 10 square metres where they can watch TV , read or work on their cases using computers but can not access email or the internet .", "Each cell contains a bed , desk , bookshelves , a cupboard , toilet , hand basin and a telephone , although calls are placed by the centre 's staff .", "Gbagbo 's lawyers have condemned his arrest and transfer to the court .", "`` It 's a neocolonialist trial , '' his adviser Toussaint Alain told reporters in The Hague .", "`` The -LSB- ICC -RSB- has become an instrument of France ... to empower friends and punish the ones who do n't follow along .", "`` The presence of president Laurent Gbagbo in the dock is clearly a judicial error , a swindle , a move to liquidate him politically , socially and physically . ''", "Gbagbo 's lawyer Habiba Toure also challenged the legitimacy of his detention last week on an ICC warrant while he was under house arrest .", "`` In principle , an arrest warrant is delivered to a free individual or a person on the run , which was not the case for Mr Gbagbo because he was already in the hands of Ivory Coast officials , '' Toure said .", "A handful of supporters outside court condemned France 's role in removing him from power .", "Abel Naki , who travelled from Paris to be at the court , told the Associated Press : `` This is a masquerade by the French president , Nicolas Sarkozy .", "Sarkozy orchestrated this coup d'etat . ''", "But Charles Ble Goude , leader of the youth wing of Gbagbo 's party , said the ICC was the ideal stage to undermine Ouattara 's credibility .", "`` The truth comes out now , with Laurent Gbagbo holding the floor Monday and for the coming months , '' he said in an open letter released on Sunday .", "The protesters ' anger hinted at lingering tensions between Gbagbo and Ouattara supporters in Ivory Coast that the ICC will not necessarily heal .", "Human rights groups say grave abuses , including executions and rapes , were also were committed by forces loyal to Ouattara , who enlisted the help of a former rebel group to sweep south and force Gbagbo from office .", "The ICC 's chief prosecutor , Luis Moreno-Ocampo , said last week that both sides of the political divide in Ivory Coast committed crimes in the post-election chaos and that his investigation was continuing .", "Gbagbo is the sixth suspect taken into custody by the court , which has launched seven investigations , all of them in Africa .", "A further 12 suspects remain at large and the court has no police force to arrest them ."], "_citing_sentence": "This has worked in Ivory coast where the former leader was brought to face charges committed at home and also helped stabilize the situation in the country .", "_claim_name": "International prosecution encourages domestic justice", "_doc_title": "Laurent Gbagbo appears before international criminal court | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 20, "_topic_name": "This House believes prosecutions help the healing process"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["With over 30 % of U.S. adults obese , the significant adverse health effects of obesity ( including heart disease and diabetes ) are widespread throughout the country .", "Two published studies shed light on behaviors regarding food choices and good nutrition and report on how nutritional labeling and point-of-purchase signs are influencing healthy food choices ... .", "For one study , `` Food Label Use and Its Relation to Dietary Intake among U.S. Adults , '' they examined to what extent people used the nutritional label on food products and whether that use affected their nutrient intake .", "Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults who participated in the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ( NHANES ) , the authors found that 61.6 % of participants reported using the nutrition facts panel , 51.6 % used the list of ingredients , 47.2 % read the serving size , and 43.8 % reviewed health claims at least sometimes when deciding to purchase a food product .", "Significant differences in mean nutrient intake of total calories , total fat , saturated fat , cholesterol , sodium , dietary fiber , and sugars were observed between food label users and non-users with label users reporting healthier nutrient consumption .", "The greatest differences observed were for total calories and fat and for use of specific nutrient information on the food label .", "Professor Nicholas J. Ollberding commented that , `` If the food label is to have a greater public health impact , rates of use will likely need to be increased among U.S. adults ... Low rates of label use also suggest that national campaigns or modification of the food label may be needed to reduce the proportion of the population not using this information .", "Possible changes to the current label that have been suggested include bolding calorie information , reporting the total nutrient intake for foods likely to be consumed in a single sitting , and using more intuitive labeling that requires less cognitive processing such as a red , yellow , and green ` traffic light ' signs on the front of the label .", "The food label alone is not expected to be sufficient in modifying behavior ultimately leading to improved health outcomes , but may be used by individuals and nutrition professionals as a valuable and motivating tool in our efforts to combat obesity and diet-related chronic disease . ''", "A pilot study of a Point-of-Purchase ( POP ) program was shown to influence the purchasing behaviors of a multi-ethnic college population shopping at an on-campus convenience store .", "The results are reported in `` Point-of-Purchase Nutrition Information Influences Food-Purchasing Behaviors of College Students : A Pilot Study , '' by Marjorie R. Freedman , PhD , and Rachel A. Connors , MS , from the Department of Nutrition , Food Science & Packaging , San Jose State University , CA .", "This 11-week study collected baseline sales data for 6 weeks during the middle of the fall 2008 semester .", "After students returned from winter break , `` Eat Smart '' program materials featuring the `` Fuel Your Life '' logo were placed in the on-campus convenience store .", "Sales data were collected during the middle of the spring 2009 semester for 5 weeks , ending just before students left for spring break .", "Healthful items in seven food categories ( cereal , bread , soup , cracker , canned vegetable , granola/energy bar , and salad dressing ) were tagged throughout the market .", "There was no difference in price between the tagged and untagged items .", "While no significant difference in sales of any particular food item was observed between baseline and intervention , overall sales of tagged items , as a percentage of total sales in the cereal , soup , and cracker categories , increased as a result of the intervention , while sales of tagged bread items decreased .", "Though not statistically significant , the intervention resulted in a 3.6 % increase in the percentage of sales from tagged items .", "Writing in the article , Freedman and Connor state , `` This pilot project was the first to use computerized sales data to examine the effect of a POP nutrition information program on the food-buying habits of multi-ethnic college students .", "Promising ( albeit , not statistically significant ) results imply that students were influenced by ` Fuel Your Life ' shelf tags and related materials .", "Despite several study limitations , the program was successful in increasing the percentage of tagged food items sold relative to other non-tagged items in the same category .", "Keeping all items in the same category at the same price meant that consumer choice was based on perceived nutritional benefit , not economics . ''", "`` This research indicates that a simple logo helped students identify healthful food choices , and positively influenced food choice , '' commented Professor Freedman .", "`` It would be interesting to determine if a combination of point-of-purchase nutrition information , coupled with economic incentives ( e.g. , lower prices for healthier foods ) would further drive consumers to choose these healthier food items .", "We must aggressively test such options in light of the increasing threat of obesity to the health of our society . ''", "Both studies appear in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association , Volume 110 , Issue 8 ( August 2010 ) published by Elsevier ."], "_citing_sentence": "Another study points out that there were \"significant differences in mean nutrient intake of total calories, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, dietary fiber, and sugars\" when people could go ahead and use the information about the food they were considering buying.", "_claim_name": "Food labeling helps people make better choices regarding their food", "_doc_title": "Nutritional Labeling and Point-of-Purchase Signs Work to Make Better Choices", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By MELANIE WARNERDEC .", "For years , food companies have responded to criticism about the nutritional quality of their products by maintaining that all food can fit into a balanced diet .", "There are no bad foods , they argue , just bad diets .", "That is starting to change .", "As major food producers face scrutiny over their role in contributing to increasing childhood obesity rates , they are under pressure to make fundamental shifts in the way they sell their products to American children .", "Kraft and PepsiCo have created rating systems to designate healthier foods .", "McDonald 's said it would begin printing detailed nutrition information on its packaging in February .", "Entertainment companies are also feeling pressure .", "Walt Disney said that beginning in the next few months , it would remove characters like Winnie the Pooh , Mickey Mouse and Chicken Little from candy and food products it determined to be unhealthy for children .", "And in partnership with a major supermarket chain , which Disney would not identify , the company will put Mickey Mouse thumbs-up seals on items like bananas and on store-brand products like pasta and juices .", "A Disney spokesman , Gary Foster , said , `` We wanted to give parents healthier alternatives and help in reversing obesity trends . ''", "None of these changes go as far as the Institute of Medicine , a leading scientific advisory group , urges .", "In a report last week , an institute committee of 16 nutrition and marketing experts called for sweeping changes in the way the food industry markets its products to children .", "It added that 80 percent to 97 percent of the food products now aimed at children and teenagers are of `` poor nutritional quality . ''", "The food industry is divided over how it should respond .", "General Mills and Kellogg , which derive a large part of their revenue from products aimed at children , are resisting changing many of their practices .", "Kraft and PepsiCo , whose products are aimed at a broader section of consumers , seem more willing to adapt .", "The Grocery Manufacturers Association , a large lobbying group , is resisting the development of an industrywide rating system for healthier foods -- one of the leading recommendations in the institute 's report .", "And Disney 's efforts only go so far .", "Although it dropped an exclusive deal with McDonald 's , some movies may continue to use tie-ins to McDonald 's and other fast-food chains .", "Today , characters from `` The Chronicles of Narnia : The Lion , the Witch and the Wardrobe '' start appearing in boxes of the chain 's Happy Meals .", "So far , just one company , Kraft Foods , has significantly curtailed the amount of unhealthy food it markets to children under 12 .", "The rest of the food and restaurant industry has yet to take any major steps in line with the report 's major recommendations .", "While companies have made some efforts to reformulate products and introduce healthier offerings ( removing trans fatty acids , for instance ) , consumer advocates and nutrition experts say that many of these attempts fall woefully short .", "For instance , General Mills , the company that spends the most money marketing packaged food to children , promotes the addition of whole grains to its lines of cereal , even though many of these are 40 percent sugar and aggressively advertised to children .", "Earlier this year , General Mills tried to provide more nutrition information by displaying icons in a product 's `` Goodness Corner . ''", "But a consumer watchdog criticized the move because there are 26 different icons , rather than a clear-cut rating system .", "`` I work in this area and I do n't even know what some of those things are referring to , '' said Margo Wootan , director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest , a nutrition advocacy group .", "A spokeswoman for General Mills , Marybeth Thorsgard , declined to comment on the Institute of Medicine 's report , saying that the company had not had a chance to read through the 600-page document .", "But in a presentation this year , General Mills vigorously defended its cereal .", "`` We strongly think that products like cereal can be advertised responsibly to children , '' said Kendall J. Powell , the company 's chief operating officer , at an Institute of Medicine workshop in January .", "`` Cereal eaters , including kids who eat presweetened cereals , are getting a good start to their day . ''", "Kellogg , the second-largest packaged-food marketer to children , also said it did not want to comment on the Institute of Medicine 's recommendations .", "In a statement , a spokeswoman , Jill Saletta , said the company offered a `` wide variety of products '' and `` remains a committed partner in the fight against obesity . ''", "ConAgra Foods and Mars said they were focusing on developing healthier foods rather than restricting marketing or rating their products .", "McDonald 's , Burger King , Wendy 's and Nestl\u00e9 had no comment on the report .", "Kraft and PepsiCo also appear to be alone in supporting the idea of an industrywide rating system for healthier foods .", "Advertisement `` I think there may be an antitrust issue , '' said Stephanie Childs , a spokeswoman for the Grocery Manufacturers Association .", "`` Whenever people talk about the industry getting together and deciding which products to sell , it sounds to me like something we could get sued for . ''", "Some legal experts said , though , that food companies were more likely to face lawsuits if they did not think proactively and listen to criticism .", "N. Louise Ellingsworth , a partner in the law firm of Bryan Cave , which has worked in the past with food companies , said : `` Sometimes , companies think that by making changes you risk calling attention to yourself and focusing on the problem .", "But for companies who do n't act , their mistakes will become obvious years later .", "The plaintiffs ' bar is watching very closely , and everyone 's got a target on their back right now . ''", "PepsiCo insists that its `` Smart Spot '' program for identifying healthier products is more a shrewd business decision than a form of legal insurance .", "The company said that sales from the Smart Spot products grew by 13 percent in the first three quarters of the year , three times as fast as the rest of its business .", "`` We believe this is a huge business opportunity , '' said Brock Leach , the chief innovation officer .", "Although many nutrition and public health advocates have applauded Kraft and PepsiCo for breaking with the rest of the food industry , they say that both companies have yet to go the distance .", "Some of their children 's products , for instance , are hardly carrots and broccoli -- sugar-free Kool-Aid with artificial sweeteners , Kraft macaroni and cheese with processed cheese , baked Cheetos and peanut butter Cap'n Crunch cereal .", "And Pepsi has not stopped marketing its non-Smart Spot products like regular Cheetos and Gatorade to children .", "It said that by early in 2006 , half of all its spending on advertising aimed at children would be for Smart Spot products , an increase from 38 percent this year .", "But Susan Linn , associate director of Judge Baker Children 's Center , a nonprofit group in Boston , asked : `` What 's the point of doing 50 percent ?", "If they were really concerned about children , they would stop completely . ''", "Licensing of favorite characters also continues to be an enormously popular and effective marketing tactic that not even Kraft is certain it wants to abandon .", "The company , which features Dora the Explorer on its Nabisco Teddy Grahams and Fairly OddParents on Cheese Nips crackers , said that its licensing policy `` is being discussed . ''", "The question is not even on the table at PepsiCo .", "Mr. Leach called the focus on marketing methods like character licensing `` misplaced energy . ''", "`` Our point of view , '' he said , `` is let 's focuson making healthier products , and that will eventually move the whole marketing mix . ''", "While the members of the Institute of Medicine committee said they were willing to trust the industry to make voluntary changes , they have warned that if there is not significant improvement in the types of products marketed to children after two years , they will press Congress to take action .", "J. Michael McGinnis , a senior scholar at the institute and chairman of the committee , called for the creation of a division in the federal Department of Health and Human Services to assess the food industry 's progress .", "Not surprisingly , food companies say that they , too , think self-regulation can work and cite the Children 's Advertising Review Unit , a group financed by food , toy and media companies to monitor children 's advertising .", "But Elizabeth Lascoutx , director of the Children 's Advertising Review Unit , said the group did not concern itself with junk-food marketing .", "Its job , she said , was to make sure that ads aimed at children were fair and accurate , not to see if they featured healthful or low-calorie products .", "`` We do n't set standards or get involved in good food , bad food issues , '' Ms. Lascoutx said .", "`` We 're lawyers , not nutritionists . ''", "Mr. McGinnis said he thought that the scope of the Children 's Advertising Review Unit should be expanded to include the nutritional quality of children 's food , though that recommendation is not part of the report .", "Correction : December 21 , 2005 , Wednesday An article in Business Day on Friday about efforts of food companies to sell healthier products to children referred imprecisely to the work of the Children 's Advertising Review Unit .", "The group monitors the marketing and advertising of all products to children 12 and under -- including junk food -- for fairness and accuracy , but it does not concern itself with the nutritional content of the products ."], "_citing_sentence": "What is more, the strategy proved very profitable for the company, with the smart spot products sales increasing 13 percent or three times as fast as the rest of the business.", "_claim_name": "Food labeling encourages food companies to provide food more in tune with consumer values", "_doc_title": "Under Pressure, Food ProducersShift to Healthier Products - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [44]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Awareness also grows", "Now it 's time to pay for the fun", "Ted Cruz 's risky strategy", "The number of obese Americans is steadily climbing , with obesity rates rising in 28 states in the past year .", "According to a report released Tuesday titled `` F as in Fat : How Obesity Threatens America 's Future 2010 , '' 38 states have obesity rates of more than 25 percent , and almost one-third of American children are considered obese .", "These results highlight growing awareness of obesity as a national problem .", "In 1991 , no state in the country had obesity rates higher than 20 percent .", "Now , only one state -- Colorado -- has an adult obesity rate of less than 20 percent , barely sliding under the mark at 19.1 percent .", "Mississippi had the highest obesity rate , weighing in at 33.8 percent .", "Campaigns to increase awareness have included first lady Michelle Obama 's `` Let 's Move '' initiative to reduce obesity within a generation , but no impact has been registered .", "Mrs. Obama 's spokesman did not return a request for comment .", "Obesity is defined by body mass index ( BMI ) , a measurement that relates a person 's weight to height .", "For adults , a BMI of 30 or above is considered obese .", "The definition varies for children according to age and sex , but a child is considered obese in the 95th percentile on the BMI chart .", "Part of that problem is perception , according to a separate poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and American Viewpoint .", "Although 80 percent of Americans realized that childhood obesity is a growing issue and more than 12 million American children and adolescents are obese -- that 's one-third of American children -- 84 percent of parents said they thought their own children were at a healthy weight .", "That kind of disparity creates an even bigger challenge .", "`` It tells us the degree to which we still have a problem , '' said Jeffrey Levi , executive director of the Trust for America 's Health , which writes the annual report with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation .", "`` This report shows that the country has taken bold steps to address the obesity crisis in recent years , but the nation 's response has yet to fully match the magnitude of the problem , '' Mr. Levi said .", "`` Millions of Americans still face barriers -- like the high cost of healthy foods and lack of access to safe places to be physically active -- that make healthy choices challenging . ''", "Only one area -- the District of Columbia -- reported a lower obesity rate in the annual report .", "The adult obesity rate in the District fell from 22.3 percent in 2009 to 21.5 percent this year , which puts it 49th among the 51 jurisdictions in the country in terms of percentage of people who are obese .", "Mr. Levi said the change could be partly attributed to new recreation centers and pools , as well as increased opportunity for public transportation .", "Increased opportunity for safe physical activity is essential for fighting obesity , he said .", "`` We have to make healthy choices easy choices , '' he explained , adding that concerns over safety also may make people hesitant to hit the trails or send their children out to play .", "There are also racial and class gaps in obesity rates , with more blacks and Hispanics being obese in 40 states and the District of Columbia .", "More than one-third of adults who earned less than $ 15,000 per year were obese .", "Among those who made $ 50,000 or more , 24 percent were obese .", "Those figures indicate that low weight is more a function in the U.S. of better diet choices than of poverty preventing people from having enough to eat .", "It 's important to change people 's behavior , said David Zvenyach , chief of staff of D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh , Ward 3 Democrat , who co-authored the Healthy Schools Act of 2009 .", "`` The gap between blacks and whites is the highest in the country , '' Mr. Zvenyach said of his city .", "`` If we continue at the same rate , this generation -LSB- of youths -RSB- would have a shorter life span than the previous generation . ''", "Part of the obesity problem is the so-called grocery gap -- lack of availability of fresh produce and food in areas of major cities such as the District , Mr. Zvenyach said , pointing out that in the city 's poorer 7th and 8th wards , there is just one grocery store for every 35,000 residents , compared with 14 grocery stores per 35,000 residents in Ward 3 , the wealthiest ward in the District .", "\u2022 Deborah Simmons contributed to this report ."], "_citing_sentence": "Given that there is a global trend of increasing numbers of overweight and obese people, food that is fattening and therefore contributes to this problem needs to be clearly labeled so people can avoid them.Research shows that having this nutritional information helps people make better choices.", "_claim_name": "Food labeling helps people make better choices regarding their food", "_doc_title": "Obesity numbers rise in 28 states - Washington Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 4]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["By ELISABETH ROSENTHALSEPT .", "Common food additives and colorings can increase hyperactive behavior in a broad range of children , a study being released today found .", "It was the first time researchers conclusively and scientifically confirmed a link that had long been suspected by many parents .", "Numerous support groups for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have for years recommended removing such ingredients from diets , although experts have continued to debate the evidence .", "But the new , carefully controlled study shows that some artificial additives increase hyperactivity and decrease attention span in a wide range of children , not just those for whom overactivity has been diagnosed as a learning problem .", "The new research , which was financed by Britain 's Food Standards Agency and published online by the British medical journal The Lancet , presents regulators with a number of issues : Should foods containing preservatives and artificial colors carry warning labels ?", "Should some additives be prohibited entirely ?", "Should school cafeterias remove foods with additives ?", "After all , the researchers note that overactivity makes learning more difficult for children .", "`` A mix of additives commonly found in children 's foods increases the mean level of hyperactivity , '' wrote the researchers , led by Jim Stevenson , a professor of psychology at the University of Southampton .", "`` The finding lends strong support for the case that food additives exacerbate hyperactive behaviors ( inattention , impulsivity and overactivity ) at least into middle childhood . ''", "Advertisement In response to the study , the Food Standards Agency advised parents to monitor their children 's activity and , if they noted a marked change with food containing additives , to adjust their diets accordingly , eliminating artificial colors and preservatives .", "But Professor Stevenson said it was premature to go further .", "`` We 've set up an issue that needs more exploration , '' he said in a telephone interview .", "In response to the study , some pediatricians cautioned that a diet without artificial colors and preservatives might cause other problems for children .", "`` Even if it shows some increase in hyperactivity , is it clinically significant and does it impact the child 's life ? ''", "said Dr. Thomas Spencer , a specialist in Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital .", "`` Is it powerful enough that you want to ostracize your kid ?", "It is very socially impacting if children ca n't eat the things that their friends do . ''", "Still , Dr. Spencer called the advice of the British food agency `` sensible , '' noting that some children may be `` supersensitive to additives '' just as some people are more sensitive to caffeine .", "The Lancet study focused on a variety of food colorings and on sodium benzoate , a common preservative .", "The researchers note that removing this preservative from food could cause problems in itself by increasing spoilage .", "In the six-week trial , researchers gave a randomly selected group of several hundred 3-year-olds and of 8 - and 9-year-olds drinks with additives -- colors and sodium benzoate -- that mimicked the mix in children 's drinks that are commercially available .", "The dose of additives consumed was equivalent to that in one or two servings of candy a day , the researchers said .", "Their diet was otherwise controlled to avoid other sources of the additives .", "A control group was given an additive-free placebo drink that looked and tasted the same .", "All of the children were evaluated for inattention and hyperactivity by parents , teachers ( for school-age children ) and through a computer test .", "Neither the researchers nor the subject knew which drink any of the children had consumed .", "The researchers discovered that children in both age groups were significantly more hyperactive and that they had shorter attention spans if they had consumed the drink containing the additives .", "The study did not try to link specific consumption with specific behaviors .", "The study 's authors noted that other research suggested that the hyperactivity could increase in as little as an hour after artificial additives were consumed .", "The Lancet study could not determine which of the additives caused the poor performances because all the children received a mix .", "`` This was a very complicated study , and it will take an even more complicated study to figure out which components caused the effect , '' Professor Stevenson said .", "A version of this article appears in print on , on page A3 of the New York edition with the headline : Some Food Additives Raise Hyperactivity , Study Finds ."], "_citing_sentence": "It is a basic right for us as consumers to know what it is we eat.Today more and more foods that we buy are processed, they include many harmful additives, causing conditions such as hyperactivity in children, or are advertised as health food, but are in reality loaded with sugar or salt.", "_claim_name": "Food labeling is an important form of consumer protection", "_doc_title": "Some Food Additives Raise Hyperactivity, Study Finds - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 4]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Current estimates of obesity in the United States indicate that 68 % of adults ( Flegel et al. 2010 ) and 32 % of children ( Ogden et al. 2010 ) are overweight or obese .", "The incidence of obesity has risen dramatically over the past two decades .", "Obesity in an individual is the result of an energy imbalance in intake and output , but the cause of this imbalance on a population level is not fully understood .", "Changes in the food environment , including the proliferation of convenience and fast foods high in energy and fat content , have paralleled the obesity epidemic .", "One approach to combating obesity is to educate the public about nutrition and the nutritional components of the food they purchase .", "Nutrition labeling of foods sold in stores and in restaurants , when available , is designed to provide the public with information to make informed choices about food purchases .", "The presumption for an obesity impact is that knowledge about the calorie content of foods will motivate and/or guide individuals to consume the appropriate amount of calories for proper weight management .", "The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act ( NLEA ) of 1990 , implemented in 1994 , provided the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) with the authority to require nutrition labeling on packaged foods and require that certain nutrient-related claims be consistent with agency regulations .", "The objectives of the NLEA were to clear up confusion about label information , help consumers make healthful food choices , and encourage manufacturers to produce healthier food products .", "Specific nutrients were required to be listed , including calories , calories from fat , saturated fat , and sugars ; and the nutrient information per serving had to be placed in the context of a daily diet .", "In 2003 , regulation for labeling of trans fat was added .", "An FDA Obesity Working Group was formed in 2003 and directed by the FDA commissioner to improve the food label and thereby assist consumers in preventing weight gain and reducing obesity .", "The group recommended giving calories more prominence on the food label .", "FDA is currently looking into ` front-of-package ' nutrition labeling that consists of brief nutrient-specific information such as calorie content in a serving or a summary symbol representing overall quality .", "The intent is that front of package labeling is simpler and easier to understand than the Nutrition Facts Panel on the side or back of the product .", "The NLEA only applies to packaged foods sold in stores , but food consumed away from home , such as in restaurants , has increased substantially during the past few decades , from 18 % to 32 % of total daily calorie intake ( Guthrie , Lin , and Frazao , 2002 ) .", "The new health care legislation , the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 , mandates calorie labeling of foods sold in restaurant chains with more than 20 outlets and vending machines .", "The legislation pertains to calories , but contains a clause to include other nutrients , and stipulates that a statement must be posted regarding suggested daily caloric intake so consumers can put the information in the context of a daily diet .", "A timeline of nutrition labeling activities is shown in Table 1 .", "For food labeling to impact consumers ' health and weight status , consumers must use the information .", "They must first read the label , understand the information and how to use it , and then make decisions about their food consumption based on the information .", "According to the 2008 Health and Diet Survey conducted by FDA , 54 % of consumers reported often using the food label when purchasing a food item for the first time .", "There are indications of increased use of food label information in the years immediately after the implementation of NLEA .", "In the 1990 Health and Diet Survey , 30 % of consumers said they changed their minds about buying a food product because they read the nutrition label .", "By the end of 1995 , approximately one year after the food labeling legislation went into effect , 48 % had done so ( Levy and Derby , 1996 ) .", "That figure has remained stable , with 49 % of respondents in the 2008 survey reporting changing their minds about purchasing a product based on reading the nutrition label .", "Information on nutrient content of foods alone does not necessarily affect dietary behavior .", "Food choices are influenced by many factors , and consumers must be motivated to use the information for their health .", "Awareness of diet and health relationships is an important motivational factor for dietary behavior .", "A USDA food intake survey conducted in the 1990 's asked participants about both food intake and nutrition knowledge and found that those who were aware of health problems associated with saturated fat and cholesterol consumed less of those nutrients ( Variyam , 1999 ) .", "Some studies have shown that people who are aware of diet-disease relationships use food labels to guide their food choices , and that food label use is associated with better dietary intake choices .", "A survey in Washington State found that belief in the importance of a low-fat diet and knowledge of the association between diet and cancer strongly predicted food label use , and that food label use was significantly associated with lower fat intake ( Neuhouser , Kristal , and Patterson , 1999 ) .", "In a nationally representative survey conducted in 1994-1996 , food label use was associated with higher overall dietary quality as measured by the USDA 's Healthy Eating Index ( P\u00e9rez-Escamilla and Haldeman , 2001 ) .", "More recently , individuals in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ( NHANES ) , 2005-2006 , who had a chronic condition such as diabetes , hypertension , or hyperlipidemia reported reading food labels more than those without any of these conditions -- 71 % versus 60 % for the sample ( Post et al. 2010 ) .", "Among individuals with one or more of these conditions , those who read food labels consumed more fiber and less sugar than those who did not read labels .", "Another study using the same NHANES dataset reported that overweight individuals were more likely to use food labels ( Lewis et al. 2009 ) .", "One objective of the NLEA was to encourage manufacturers to produce healthier food products .", "The NLEA allowed for nutrition content claims on products , such as `` low-fat '' or `` reduced-fat , '' if the product met specific criteria .", "Considerable increases in the number and sales of fat-modified foods were documented within the year after the NLEA went into effect ( Levy and Derby , 1996 ) .", "However , these products are not necessarily lower in calories than similar foods with higher fat content because the fat is often replaced with sugar .", "Therefore , consumption of these products does not necessarily lead to lower overall energy intake .", "Impacts of nutrition labeling on health outcomes is more difficult to assess directly .", "When the NLEA was enacted , an FDA economic impact analysis estimated that the food label could save up to $ 26 billion in health care costs over the next 20 years based on estimated reductions in heart disease and cancer due to dietary improvements ( FDA , 1993 ) .", "Only one study to date has since estimated an impact of NLEA on obesity and health-associated cost savings ( Variyam and Cawley , 2006 ) .", "The study examined data before and after NLEA from an annual national health survey , the National Health Interview Survey , which asks about food label use and body weight .", "Body mass index ( BMI ) increased over the time period and label use remained steady .", "However , label users gained less BMI than nonusers , although the difference was only significant among non-Hispanic white females .", "It is unclear why the effect was only significant among that segment of the population .", "The study also estimated the potential economic impact of NLEA , based on estimated benefits from reduced BMI .", "The estimated value of benefits of NLEA among non-Hispanic white women was $ 166 billion over a 20-year period due to lower mortality risk , reduced medical expenditures , lower absenteeism , and increased productivity .", "Some estimates of impacts on obesity have also been made with regard to nutrition labeling of restaurant menus .", "A recent study of pre and post calorie labeling of Starbucks ' menu items estimated a 6 % reduction in calories per sales transaction , and further projected a decrease in long-term body weight of less than 1 % ( Bollinger , Leslie , and Sorensen , 2010 ) .", "An impact assessment in Los Angeles County estimated that restaurant menu labeling could decrease the annual weight gain of residents by 41 % , based on estimates from other reports that 10 % of restaurant patrons select reduced-calorie meals as a result of menu labeling with an average calorie reduction per meal of 100 kcal ( Kuo et al. 2009 ) .", "Studies assessing the impact of nutrition labeling on obesity should be viewed with some caution .", "First , they are too few in number to make any definitive conclusions .", "Moreover , they are based on many assumptions often obtained from one study and extrapolated to a larger population .", "The optimal scientific study design would be a randomized trial where one group is exposed to nutrition labeling and a control group is not exposed , and both groups are followed over a long-term period to determine use of labeling , dietary intake , and body weight .", "Therefore , other factors affecting food intake and obesity would be evenly distributed among the two groups and differences in the outcomes could be attributed to labeling .", "It is likely that individuals with specific characteristics use labels to guide their daily food consumption , and these could be identified and accounted for in further extrapolations to predict impacts on a national population level .", "In reality , this type of study would not be feasible in a real world setting ; therefore , observational studies of label users and nonusers in various populations that control for other factors related to label use and health outcomes should be considered .", "New options for labeling , such as front-of-package and restaurant menu item calorie information , should increase consumers ' awareness of their calorie consumption .", "Menu labeling may result in reductions in fat and calorie content of menu items through recipe modification or reduction of portion sizes served .", "It is hard to imagine that a consumer would not be affected to some degree by knowledge that a selected entr\u00e9e contains their entire recommended calorie intake for the day .", "However , the effect of menu labeling on consumers remains to be seen .", "One could argue that the entire U.S. population has been exposed to nutrition labeling of foods for almost two decades and obesity is rising .", "Likewise , if obesity starts to decrease after mandatory menu labeling goes into effect , this does not infer causality .", "There are many other factors influencing obesity and a wide variety of efforts are being undertaken to tackle the obesity problem .", "Nevertheless , nutrition labeling of foods and menu items is important because the consumer has a right to know what they are purchasing and consuming .", "Some motivated consumers will use information on the label or menu to guide their food choices .", "At the population level , nutrition labeling is just one of many efforts that will be needed to combat the obesity epidemic ."], "_citing_sentence": "Up to 30% of consumers reconsider buying a food item after reading the food label and finding out what's inside.", "_claim_name": "Food labeling helps people make better choices regarding their food", "_doc_title": "Home | Choices Magazine Online", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 21, "_topic_name": "This House would introduce labels on food to encourage people to eat better"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Police outside the former bank chief 's home", "The Edinburgh home of former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin has been attacked by vandals .", "Windows were smashed and a Mercedes S600 car parked in the driveway was vandalised .", "A group angry at bank executives ' pay contacted a newspaper claiming to be behind the early morning attack .", "Police said they were investigating these claims as part of their inquiry , adding that they took planned attacks `` very seriously '' .", "There has been widespread public and political anger over a pension payout worth about # 700,000 a year to the 50-year-old former chief executive .", "Sir Fred took early retirement from RBS last year after the bank needed a # 20bn bailout from the government .", "Last month , RBS reported that it made a loss of # 24.1 bn in 2008 - the largest annual loss in UK corporate history .", "Windows of the stone villa have been smashed", "Brian Taylor on the vandalism", "Robert Peston on Sir Fred 's pension", "When Sir Fred stepped down from the post in October , he rejected government pressure to accept a reduction in his package , insisting that changes to the early retirement deal he had negotiated were `` not warranted '' .", "The payout was described as `` obscene '' and `` grotesque '' by MPs and `` unjustifiable and unacceptable '' by Prime Minister Gordon Brown .", "It emerged on Wednesday that Treasury Minister Lord Myners has written to the Treasury select committee stating that he did know the value of Sir Fred 's pension in October .", "He also pointed out that he had told the committee this in evidence to MPs earlier this month .", "It is not known if anyone was in Sir Fred 's house at the time of the attack or who reported the vandalism .", "A spokesman for the Royal Bank of Scotland said short-term security arrangements had been put in place at Sir Fred 's Edinburgh home , and that these were still operational during the time of the attack .", "The bank would not confirm what these security measures entailed .", "However , earlier this month it emerged that the bank was paying about # 290 per month for security , which included CCTV monitoring of the house and security staff for Sir Fred .", "A police car is now guarding the entrance to Sir Fred 's home , in the Grange area of the city .", "Three smashed ground-floor windows of the stone villa were clearly visible .", "A Mercedes S600 car parked in the driveway was damaged In the driveway , the rear window of a dark-coloured Mercedes saloon was smashed , as well as the nearside rear passenger window .", "There were no obvious signs of activity inside the house .", "A statement was issued to Edinburgh 's Evening News newspaper on Wednesday morning by a group which claimed it was behind the attack .", "It said : `` We are angry that rich people , like him , are paying themselves a huge amount of money , and living in luxury , while ordinary people are made unemployed , destitute and homeless .", "`` This is a crime .", "Bank bosses should be jailed .", "This is just the beginning . ''", "A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said officers were called out at 0435 GMT .", "`` Our inquiries are at an early stage and we are appealing for anyone with information about this incident to contact us , '' he said .", "The police should treat this case as they would any other crime", "Local MSP `` We are aware that an organisation claiming to be responsible for the vandalism had made contact with media outlets and this also forms part of our inquiry .", "`` The force takes very seriously any planned attack on any individual or their property .", "`` We have been in contact with the owner of the property , who was not in the house at the time , and can confirm no one was injured . ''", "Sir Fred 's local MSP condemned the attack , and said the former banking boss and his family had the right to live without fear of violence .", "Liberal Democrat Mike Pringle said : `` It is right that we have a debate over the unjustified and unacceptable pension gifted to Mr Goodwin .", "It is , however , wrong that his home should be targeted for attack .", "`` The police should treat this case as they would any other crime . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Firstly, it limits social tension that may arise due to public dissatisfaction with high wages; see the attacks on the famous banker Sir Fred Goodwin in the UK.", "_claim_name": "Equality is in and of itself a good thing", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | Sir Fred Goodwin's home attacked", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2, 3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 22, "_topic_name": "This house would introduce mandatory salary capping"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The discrimination between civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism is common in writings on nationalism and nations , whether it be as the civic-ethnic division , the political-cultural , or the Western-Eastern division .", "Writers , both modernists and ethnicists working within the paradigm of modernity , such as Hans Kohn , Liah Greenfeld , John Plamenatz , John Hutchinson , Ernest Gellner and Anthony Smith have all included this distinction in their writings .", "The historical differences in the development of the nation-state between the West and the East in Europe have enforced these theoretical-cum-practical divisions .", "In fact the East-West divide is less a geographic divide than an historic one .", "I am not disputing this historic divide , but my argument is that this divide does not justify the theoretical schism in writings on nationalism , nor does this divide extend to perpetuating the notion of two types of nationalism in practice .", "A `` definitional antithesis '' does exist but this should not lead , as it has done in literature , to the `` set of analytical cliches '' of which it does1 denying ` civic ' nations of ethnic virtues and denying those nations categorised as ` ethnic ' of ` civic ' virtues .2", "According to modernists ( with the exception of Benedict Anderson ) , Britain and France , as the first examples of modern nation-states in Europe , developed the rational , civic , political units of modernity and followed later with the development of a unique national consciousness housed within this .3 The nation-states of the East however , such as Germany and Russia , began as more fluid apolitical units whose national consciousness developed first , only later to seek to enclose it within a political form , in aspiration of the progress achieved by the West .4 These two separate routes to the nation-state are apparently the original examples of the exercise of the two separate types of nationalism .", "The argument behind this discrimination poses that though the end result for both sides was the modern nation-state the routes they took differed , which would terminally ordain the manner in which these nation-states expressed themselves as a unit of modernity .", "That is , the formation of a nation would determine the national expression of a community .", "Therefore the basis of the nationalism is determined by whether the national feeling among the population emerged before or after the development of a nation-state .", "And since every nation-state is inherently nationalistic5 the timing of this development will in turn determine the motivations of continuity of the nation-state , thus its nationalism .", "This chapter will initially present the principles of civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism separately and then provide suggestions of how the interplay of the principles of each is necessary to certify the success of the practice of nationalism .", "I shall conclude by examining culture ( high culture and popular culture ) as the common ground forming the foundation for both the categories .", "The first thing we need to do is briefly examine the relationship between civic and ethnic nationalism and the connection to cultural homogeneity .", "The proposal by those whom I will term the dichotomists ( those who divide nationalism into two types ) is that both civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism pursue mutually exclusive forms of cultural homogeneity .", "Within civic nationalism cultural standardisation is achieved via a particular level of communication and education , what Gellner labelled the ` high culture ' and which we will use here .", "In communities where these tools are unsuccessful or unavailable the elite draw elements from the people developing a populist movement driven by the seduction of myths and symbols deliberately forming a shared memory and shared destiny with which to unite the people .", "The minimal appearance of high culture is compensated with an over-zealous popular culture .", "They manufacture a social glue from the Volk in the absence of other instruments .", "Cultural standardisation is then achieved through the ethnie and so the theoretical aim of ethnic nationalism is ethnic homogeneity .", "In this modernist view , the ` true ' exercise of nationalism within modernity is a social condition where political practice is married with a cultural phenomenon .", "Culture `` introduces a mode of transmission of traits or activities from generation to generation which is no longer dependent on being inscribed into the genetic constitution of the members of the group .", "`` 6 This means the association of culture with geneticism is completely removed in modernity .", "The removal of this dependency indicates the cultural break that modernity heralded and which modernists argue is crucial to the understanding of the functioning of nationalism .", "Ethnicity is perceived as linked to this genetic constitution of culture , or at least the perennial component of it .", "This explains why ( as a consequence of this cultural break ) modernists such as Gellner rule out the necessity and relevance of ethnicity in determining nationalism .", "The problems is that ethnicity is not just an example of a continuum in culture from premodern times .", "It is both a part of culture and a part of politics within modernity .", "Gellner removes it from the core of nationalism , whilst still acknowledging that it may influence the nature of nationalism .7 But if ethnicity influences nationalism then will it not in some way determine the nature and character of nationalism , and thus the exercise of nationalism ?", "Gellner tells us that '' -LSB- n -RSB- ationalism is a political principle which maintains that similarity of culture is the basic social bond .", "`` 8 Ethnicity is an element that can provide this required similarity of culture , though not to the extent of crowding out the civic elements of nationalism in order to possess one of its own .", "The proposal by some more extreme ethnicists9 is that ethnicity possesses its own form of nationalism absent of any civic elements .", "This would mean a nationalism that is unsuccessful and unfulfilled .", "By contrast , it is the argument of this thesis that nationalism is a political and cultural phenomenon , and embedded in this is the influences of ethnicity .", "The ethnic rationale is as much a component of nationalism as the civic .", "Both demonstrate methods by which culture is unifying .", "One particular practical example is the Basque lands of Spain whose nationalism may be categorised as ethnic nationalism , but also possesses representations of civic nationalism .", "Membership of the Basque society is based on descent but the nationalism would not exist were it not for the strength of some of the principal features of civic nationalism .", "The nationalism is most virulent in regions where economic development and prosperity is greatest -- a decidedly civic feature .", "In fact the epicentre of Basque nationalism has shifted this century , and particularly since the 1970s , in an eastward direction following the movement of economic wealth .", "This is a direct reflection of the importance of heavy industry and the generation of wealth .10 It is the significance of the components of civic nationalism and the existence of a civil society that is vital for this nationalism to have survived and to continue .", "The institutions that are integral components to the development and functioning of a civil society are also necessary components of Basque nationalism in Spain .", "Hence the more potent regions of Basque nationalism are not necessarily those that carry particular historical significance , or are the cradle of its inception according to myth , as ethnic nationalism would suggest .", "The argument can be generalised .", "Nationalism in Europe , particularly that exercised in the second half of this century , is proving not to be compatible with the civic-ethnic dichotomy .", "The dichotomy itself is far too normative .", "The ethnic rationale in nationalism is becoming more and more prominent , however it still does not solely define nationalism , but it is certainly demonstrating that it is not just a method of classification nor an apolitical component .", "Not only has culture , and with it ethnicity , been politicised in modernity , ethnicity itself has become a form of politics , not unto itself , but in conjunction with the civic elements of the politics of nationalism .", "The Difference -- Civic Nationalism", "Civic nationalism in its classical modern form represents the pursuit towards attaining a unified culturally homogenous group housed within already existent specific political boundaries .", "The starting point for civic nationalism is the state , and nationalism is the pursuit by this state of its own nation congruent with its territorial borders .", "Until this is achieved nationalism will remain a noisy component of society .", "In pursuing the establishment of a nation the role of the state is elevated , for it is no longer just a territorial region but a unit whose function is to house and protect its culturally homogeneous inhabitants .", "The political nation-state then is the starting point for civic nationalism and pivotal to its definition .", "The nation-state , as the nucleus of civic nationalism and the focus of the modernist camp , is defined by Gellner as : the protector , not of a faith , but of a culture , and the maintainer of the inescapably homogeneous and standardizing educational system , which alone can turn out the kind of personnel capable of switching from one job to another within a growing economy and a mobile society , and indeed of performing jobs which involve manipulating meanings and people rather than things .", "The principles of civic nationalism -- the state-to-nation route -- were those that provided the first modern notion of the nation-state and the first experience of nationalism .", "The focal point of civic nationalism is the nation-state promoting the belief in a society united by the concept and importance of territoriality , citizenship , civic rights and legal codes transmitted to all members of the group .", "Significantly , all the members are now equal citizens and equal before the law .", "No longer are the mass a part of the ` low ' culture and the elite a part of the ` high ' culture , rather modernity has eliminated these cultural cleavages and formed a new ` high culture ' .", "What the onset of modernity signified was a cultural break with the past , which subsequently meant an end to these cleavages .", "Public culture of this type is one that is a product of the modern world -- the culture that emerges from factors such as advanced communication and education , rather than the vernacular characteristics of the people , or an ethnic group .", "This means that nationalism is `` about entry to , participation in , identification with , a literate high culture which is co-extensive with an entire political unit , and its total population .", "`` 13 The social glue is provided by a commonality based upon shared traits not of the genealogical type but a fraternity of shared language , experiences , rules , law , food , education , etc. .", "The fraternity requires no common paternity but a bond formed out of exposure to these same elements .", "In practice , however , this civic model of nationalism can not succeed without more substantial elements of the above principles .", "Citizenship for example is more than just a legal identity and a matter of common rights and codes within a society .", "It is about allegiance , participation and residence within the territory , and a feeling of solidarity and affiliation towards the community .", "As Smith points out , the will to participate in this community could only be found among those who were themselves residents and , just as importantly , whose parents were residents also .14 This is an important point , as nationalism in this form -- where the emphasis is on an historical community based not only on an individual 's residence but their own ancestry , and hence their own genealogy - moves beyond the structure of civic nationalism in its pure form and towards that of the principles and characteristics carried by the theory of ethnic nationalism .", "Within civic nationalism , citizenship can be elected and is what determines one 's nationality .", "But this does not rule out nationality determined by other elements and it is difficult to locate an example of where it might actually do so .", "Britain and France , historically , are the main contenders for where citizenship determines nationality , but more contemporary examples demonstrate just how much their nationalism can deviate from the confines of civic nationalism as they place importance on the ethnic rationale .", "In Britain , for example , in order to obtain a British passport by someone who is not born in Britain nor is a citizen one need only to prove that one 's grandparent is/was a British citizen , which lays weight to the importance of ancestry .", "But the true importance of genealogical descent is pushed even further .", "Recently a young woman seeking a British passport in the above mentioned manner was refused because she was adopted and so her grandparents were not her biological grandparents , thus she had no real genealogical ties to Britain and hence no claim to a passport .15 Of course there are numerous such examples throughout Europe , but they have been generally attributed to the more central and eastern nation-states .", "The point here of course is that though a nation-state may have taken one particular route towards their formation and development they are not confined to these principles .", "In fact in order to survive , in order to practice nationalism successfully , they must move beyond the boundaries of civic nationalism set up by theorists .", "The components of civic nationalism are not new .", "Notions of citizenship and territoriality existed in many cases in premodern times as with the existence of the state and notions of patriotic consciousness .", "The pursuit of uniting these components into one entity , the territorial association of citizens that share one public culture ,16 is what differentiates it with past examples .", "Citizenship is the foundation of civic nationalism that `` conveyed the sense of solidarity and fraternity through active social and political participation .", "`` 17 It is perceived as the political definition of nationality .18 However , the exercise of civic nationalism where the emphasis is on territory , and the actual practice of citizenship , indicates a shift away from the authority and sovereignty of citizenship based solely on social and political participation .", "The exercise of nationalism requires a communal attachment that transcends the sovereignty of the citizen for nationalism requires more than just social and political participation , it necessitates social and political attachment also .", "An attachment to a specific land and to a specific community is necessary for there to be a will to participate socially and politically .", "But the particular attachment by a community is usually not one randomly chosen ( though an individual may choose their nationality , their attachment or feeling is not often a rational choice ) ; it is the feeling of nationality by a whole community ( rather than just focusing on an individual ) from which the attachment must derive from and is something that must develop over time .", "So where an individual may choose their nationality and be embraced by their new nation-state as one of their own ( a citizen ) , the exercise of nationalism by the whole community is not one selected , but one developed .", "This means that this affiliation by a whole people , this sense of kinship , is something inherited and was felt in some form by the parents and grandparents of the current generation .19 This suggests that citizenship , as nationality in practice , does not exist in its pure definitional form as it possesses concepts that move beyond the rational notion of choice .", "The principles of civic nationalism represented the first experience of the nature of nationalism as a movement , it is the principles of ethnic nationalism , however , that have become the more powerful and vigorous elements of nationalism this century .", "Ethnic nationalism lends popular appeal to the nationalist movement drawing its ideological bonds from the people and their native history .", "Subsequently , in its ideal state this second route to nationhood is undertaken under the power of popular mobilisation .", "Appealing to elements ` naturally ' unique to a group gives the movement an emotional allure .", "The elements that are at the core of ethnicity and ethnic nationalism - memory , value , myth and symbolism20 - draw from blood ties , bonds to the land and native traditions inferring that ethnic nationalism represents that which is subjective within nationalism .", "Nationality is embodied in the individual whereas in civic nationalism the individual `` can move in and out of pre-existing national space .", "This path towards nationhood possesses a different grounding than civic nationalism and thus occupies a different perspective of the nation , and a different structure of national identity .", "This is due to the different core conceptions of each ideal .", "Ethnic nationalism is presented as a nationalism that perceives the nation as a community bounded by genealogical descent .", "The national identity in turn draws its characteristics from the ethnic identity , myths and memories make up national identities imprisoned in the community 's ancestry .", "Thus national identity is defined as a perennial feature within the theory of ethnic nationalism , and is a reflection of the populist nature of ethnic nationalism .", "In explaining populism , Anthony Smith claims that he approaches the definition in the same manner that Tom Nairn does by describing it as a coalition between the masses and the elite .22 It is a product of their interaction and contingency upon one another , i.e. they are dependent upon one another to progress .", "In the birth of ethnic nationalism the mass is left out of the high culture - it is only the elite who can participate , manipulating the masses rather than managing them , in order to mobilise them .", "But this mobilisation must take place in response to the demands of the mass - the demands for progress .", "Hence the contingency .", "Mobilisation could only take place with the tools available or via methods that would compensate for the tools unavailable such as the necessary economic and political institutions .", "The use of compensatory tools often meant the use of the uniqueness of the people themselves - characteristics that they regarded as distinguishing themselves from others .", "`` The peripheric elites had no option but to try and satisfy such demands by taking things into their own hands .", "`` 23 Elite manipulation then serves to crystallise mass discontent .", "However , this mobilisation towards progress and as a process of development was a reactionary measure against the dominance ( and nationalism ) of the ` Western ' or civic nations , as proposed by the theory of ethnic nationalism .", "The foreign element of the ` West ' was made attractive by the dignity it lent to the people and became a necessity for the preservation of communities .", "Reacting against this foreign element meant that it was also reacting against the progress it was aspiring towards .24 Therefore this drive towards progress , the motivation of nationalism , was consequently then a reaction to other dominant forces ( perhaps even other civic nationalisms ) , particularly as the concept of the nation for these type of nationalisms is predominantly an imported idea .", "The presentation of ethnic nationalism , or similar nationalisms , as reactionary is one promoted by writers such as Greenfeld and Nairn , though the nature of the reaction varies amongst writers .", "Greenfeld labels this importation as ressentiment -- a reaction to external elements as a result of repressed existential envy .25 Thus it is not just the importation of ideas but a reaction to the mere implantation of foreign ideas .", "And as Nairn identifies , this meant that nationalisms which were born out of reaction are marked by profound ambiguity and ambivalence .26 Hutchinson is another writer who has occasionally suggested ethnic nationalism to be a reactionary nationalism , construed as negative .", "This borrowing of ideas however meant that these groups had to fit their social character into the desired foreign social form .", "This necessitated a level of invention in order to create a history that made their aspirations appear natural and legitimate and intrinsic in their inherent development .", "This required mobilising the masses not just in response to their demands , but to meet their demands by issuing a history to them .", "Just as they needed a shortcut towards a high culture they also needed a short-cut to a history which would lend the necessary legitimacy to this nationalism .", "`` The new middle-class intelligentsia of nationalism had to invite the masses into history ; and the invitation card had to be written in a language they understood .", "`` 27 Forcing this process of development and creating a high culture and history due to necessity suggests that the role of the elite in more ethnic-flavoured nationalisms was more conscious and manipulatory .", "This further suggests a requirement to rise above the law , which is why ethnic nationalism is seen to sometimes act as a bulwark to liberal democracy and lend itself more easily to authoritarian rule .", "Being vulnerable to these influences also impacts on the character of nationalism and the psychology of the group .", "Nationalism has a great psychological depth .", "It appears to individuals of all types who are members of a nation and evokes emotion beyond that which may be considered just patriotic .", "The psychology of nationalism is important for the group as a unit for what it inspires and motivates from the group .", "Exploring the psychology of nationalism is important for the group as a unit for what it inspires and motivates from the group .", "Exploring the psychology of nationalism and what it may or may not promote exposes those nationalisms classified as ethnic to be regarded as potentially or actually pathological .28 It is a careless assumption that it is a ` natural ' part of human behaviour to fight and resort to violence in order to defend territory and family , and that ethnic sentiments are intrinsic in the human psyche .", "Scholarly theories do steer away from such assumptions , unfortunately to such as extent that psychological understanding of nationalism is little explored .29 One still has to account for the emotion provoked by nationalism , the will of people to partake in nationalistic behaviour and the loyalty it demands .", "This , complementing the structural components of the theory of nationalism , helps to explain its perpetuation , and more importantly the national character and national consciousness of each group which distinguishes it from the next .", "Perhaps then we may understand better the national consciousness of areas such as the Balkans , rather than reducing it to a consequence of ` ancient ethnic hatreds ' ; or the passion behind the Irish Republican movement without declaring it as simply religious xenophobia .", "National consciousness in Eastern Europe formed prior to the politicisation of the community ( including both the elite and the mass ) .", "Due to this different point of inception the focal point of nationalism has meant a greater emphasis is placed on the components of the prepolitical time -- namely the ethnie .", "Under the theories that dichotomise the practice and ideology of nationalism they are sentenced to practise ethnic nationalism .", "What this means is the recognition and `` demand that the natural divisions within the nation -- sexual , occupational , religious and regional -- be respected , for the impulse to differentiation is the dynamo of national creativity '' .30 This is paramount in the exercise of nationalism by those nation-states whose political formation was preceded by its national formation .", "But does this condemnation mean that the ` Eastern ' nation-states will always practice only ethnic nationalism , with no access to the civic components of nationalism merely because of their conception ?", "Hutchinson believes so when he states that cultural nationalists reject `` the ideal of universal citizenship rights of political nationalism `` 31 for the nation is a living whole and continuous .", "Politics can not give justification or legitimisation to this .", "It was not that the nationalists of the East `` rejected '' these ideals , but that these ideals developed at a different time , at a different pace , and consequently took on a slightly different form to that of the West .", "To Hutchinson the nation in Eastern Europe , and thus the nation-state , was not a political fact but an ethnocultural one .32 It was an ethnocultural fact in search of political legitimacy .", "If we are to succumb to distinctions this was the nationalism of the East .", "The emphasis on the ethnie and the belief in its continuity from agrarian to modern times is the main distinction between the two ideals of civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism .", "The ethnic rationale has little weight in theories of civic nationalism and is also not supported by the modernists ( to be explored in the next chapter ) .", "Whereas the primordialists and perennialists see no break between the agrarian and the modern age and see nations as built upon the pre-existing structures of ethnic identities .", "By recognising continuity with the past greater importance is attached to history .", "Ethnicists working within the modernist framework acknowledge a change in culture with the onset of modernity but rather than regarding it as a cultural break perceive it as the politicisation of culture , therefore still acknowledging the importance of history and of the ethnic rationale .", "The principles promoted by civic nationalism , principles born out of modernity , demonstrate a definite cultural break with the pre-modern age .", "Within the ideal of civic nationalism the national identity stems from the concept of an ideology based on the imagined political community united by their public culture , and not by native history .", "Though the starting point for various nationalisms is varied civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism became overlaying dominant ideologies such classifications exclusively applied are false .", "In practice it would mean that the actual exercise of nationalism would ultimately fail in attaining and reaffirming the goal of a nation-state .", "The ` pure forms ' of civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism stem from different reference points and different concepts of the nation .", "For example , observing ethnic nationalism in this scenario and using the position of the primordialists ( and temporarily stepping out of the modernist framework ) , the theory suggests that the ethnic groups of the past would naturally evolve into nations as a part of the ` natural ' process of a community , or an extension of kinship ties .", "The process of nationalism however lends a twist in the conception for it implies the desire to detain a nation within a state .", "The nation-state having a civic quality in order to achieve this civic quality would mean adopting characteristics of civic nationalism .", "In this way ethnic nationalism -- in practice as a mongrelised form of its theoretically pure self -- accommodates to the concept of abstract territoriality in order to satisfy its goals .", "An interplay is necessary for the nationalism to be successful .", "Similarly , as mentioned above , civic nationalism must draw from the characteristics of ethnic nationalism to confer popular appeal , drawing upon myths and symbols , and recognising the importance of heritage in the will to belong and participate both socially and politically in a group .", "So in order to be accomplished and fulfilled each nationalism in practice must borrow from one another .", "Thus in various combinations the first route of nationalism , civic nationalism , `` joined hands `` 33 with the second route of nationalism , ethnic nationalism .", "These borrowed elements are not just elements of influence but are essential components necessary to make the nationalism work .", "Civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism as demonstrated may be analytically different but in practice they are intermeshing .", "Every individual nationalism is a hybrid construct , a synthesis of the civic and the ethnic .", "This means that each nationalism is civic and ethnic to some extent in that they carry different elements and characteristics of civic nationalism and different elements and characteristics of ethnic nationalism .", "Using France and Germany again as representations of the classical division , France representing civic nationalism and Germany ethnic nationalism , they are each perceived as archetypal examples of each respective category of nationalism .", "Though decidedly civic in principle or ethnic in flavour they are not purely such .", "The sophisticated dichotomists do not dispute this dilution , but they rarely follow through the consequences of the interplay .", "Brubaker himself acknowledges that each nation-state does not represent a purely political or purely apolitical understanding of nationhood .", "In Germany for example political authority was so limited that it could not enter into the understanding of nationhood , this responsibility was thus carried by ethnicity .34 But this was only at the period of nation formation .", "As Germany developed to form one united national unit its political authority also developed .", "Initially in Germany identification with the instruments and institutions of the state were absent , as modernity progressed they developed and were integrated in the overall understanding of nationhood , even if led by the ethnocultural conception .", "Nationhood in Germany was then perhaps predominantly an ethnocultural concept at its inception , but the understanding , and more importantly the exercise of nationalism in Germany was never purely ethnocultural or just a dilution of it , but an interplay of the dominant ethnocultural feature of nationalism with its civic components .", "Likewise in France , the inception of nationhood was never purely political , though its foundations were based on political understanding .", "For France as a nation-state to progress and for its members to practice its nationalism -- for the members to possess the will to partake in it -- the emotive features possessed by ethnicity as a form of culture were necessary .", "France and Germany perhaps exercise different variations of nationalism , but the fact remains that they both do exercise and partake in nationalism .", "They both partake in this ideological movement in order to progress in modernity , thus rather than examining what differentiates the two nation-states , there is something that both France and Germany possess that makes their nationalism successful .", "This similarity is the successful interplay of the pressures on nationalism , which include the civic components and the ethnic components .", "The degree of concentration of each category of nationalism varies widely .", "It is these variations in the make-up of each nationalism that distinguishes them from one another , and consequently sentences the ideology of nationalism to no clear-cut theory .", "Thus the ideological movement of nationalism is a hybrid of the civic character and the ethnic character of nationalism , meaning a hybrid of history and culture , the territorial and the genealogical , the engineered and the discovered .", "Writers who dichotomise nationalism use various European examples to demonstrate the schism , in much the way that Brubaker does with France and Germany .", "But by over-focusing on the differences in nationalisms within Europe , and attempting to categorise them , often the similarities are overlooked .", "It is the similarities that make nationalism successful and why , contrary to literary opinion ,35 has still failed to fade away .", "The more fervent type of nationalism experienced in the latter half of the twentieth century in Europe has been categorised as ethnic nationalism .", "Modernity has meant that culture has been politicised .", "Claiming that one nationalism is cultural and another political ( or ethnic and civic , or Eastern or Western ) refutes this unmistakable link .", "I am not disputing that the nation-states we know today formed in different ways -- this is not the thesis -- different routes do and did exist unique to each community .", "What I am stressing is that nationalism is the same sport on both sides of the fence -- the civic and the ethnic , the political and the cultural , are all components of this game and not exclusive to any particular side , regardless of how the game originally emerged .", "Certainly , as we are witnessing towards the end of this century , some nationalisms concentrate more heavily on some components than others -- but without all the components together there would not be a nationalism .", "Perhaps the most challenging nationalism with which this may be difficult to reconcile is the case of the Balkans today , particularly the former Yugoslavia .", "Serb nationalism has infiltrated destruction in Bosnia and now in Kosovo ( though Croat nationalism , Bosnian nationalism and Kosovar/Albanian nationalism has been just as potent at times ) .", "These nationalisms and their violent consequences are attributed to perennial conflicts in the region based on ethnic divisions .", "However , these conflicts were never perennial .", "Past prejudices were not motivated by ethnic or religious difference but were `` largely a socio-political one , involving the exercise and abuse of local political power for the sake of political gain .", "`` 36 Ethnic divisions did not become issues of tension and conflict until they were politicised and in the Balkans this did not occur until the nineteenth century .", "Therefore the nationalisms in the Balkans were not the consequence of perennial ethnic tensions .", "The conflict-ridden nature is attributed to the manipulation and exploitation of ethnic divisions and history and the creation of myths and cults for ideological purposes .", "Nationalism in this case is not the ideology itself but acts as a vehicle by which the ideology can survive .", "The nationalism then is a modern phenomenon in the Balkan region and without elements of the civic components of nationalism it would not survive nor would this nationalism have been so successful .", "As I will argue later in more detail , the exercise of nationalism would not exist in the Balkans , and in other regions of Europe were it not for the interplay of both the civic and ethnic components of nationalism .", "The interplay of the ethnic and civic components of nationalism is centred on the need for cultural homogeneity .", "A community enclosed in a political space must be united by uniformity in culture and this is what the intermeshing of the ethnic and civic components strive towards in order for a successful exercise of nationalism .", "The ground linking modern civic and ethnic nationalism is culture : not ` culture ' understood as a perennial unchanging base , but culture as emphasising a changing form of social relations .", "A common culture is a necessary feature of nationalism ( both civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism ) , and is also the link between the modernists and the ethnicists .", "It is the concept of what this common unifying culture represents and what it is comprised of that differentiates the two camps and leaves them unable to reconcile their respective perspectives .", "Adopting Ernest Gellner 's definition of culture it is `` a shared style of expression in words , facial expression , body language , style of clothing , preparation and consumption of food , and so forth .", "`` 37 According to him there are two types of culture , those that are `` patterns of conduct transmitted through emulation '' and those that are the `` interaction of genetic endowment with the environment '' .38 This second type of culture is disregarded by most modernists for it is not one from which a ` high ' culture can emerge , an essential component of nationalism in the modernist framework .", "Therefore the two types of culture exist on different planes and only one is politically and socially relevant in modernity .", "There certainly is a clear distinction between cultural transmission and genetic transmission , and it is cultural transmission that makes nationalism possible .", "It is this , and not genetic ethnicity , that perpetuates the phenomenon .39 But can this cultural transmission be organic ?", "40 Perhaps not , but surely if culture is transmitted then some of its characteristics can be reproduced from pre-modern times with remnants of its ` genetic ' base .", "Existing remnants may not have been eliminated with the onset of modernity , but they have certainly been politicised .", "A `` specific genetic base is required before culture is possible : once it is possible , it permits developments unconstrained by the usual rules of governing genetic change .", "What Gellner recognised as linking a people together was not some genetic , biological or ethnic trait that make a people physically similar , but rather culture , or more specifically , a ` high ' culture that made people socially alike and was capable of creating and maintaining a political bond .", "What differentiates high cultures from each other is decided by the development of a group and their specific response to the introduction of modernity .", "In particular , this may be a consequence of whether the population is at the core of industrialisation or a peripheral society .", "Their historical development and experiences act as a precursor to how nationalism will be exercised .", "The method of elevation of both the elite and the mass to a high culture , that is the elected educational process , is what inevitably distinguishes one high culture from the next .", "Societies are different due to the different circumstances of a political/cultural nature experienced by them .", "Therefore , societies are not ` essentially ' different but their reactions to `` questions forced upon '' them generate differences .42", "The politicisation of culture has meant that what were once purely cultural concerns in the past have in the modern age become social and political concerns , involving territory , economy and society .", "And if we align ourselves momentarily with the primordialists and agree that the nation is a ` natural ' formation , then modernisation has meant that the nation is not just a community of people sharing the same culture but now a population that are bounded in political space as well .", "This belief however does not require the primordial conviction that nations are ` natural ' formations .", "Whether what existed before modernity is a nation or not is debatable , what is more important is what carried through into modernity and how these inherited elements do or do not effect the way in which a nationalism is exercised .", "The politicisation of culture is the abdication of `` the realm of culture '' in preference to politics .", "Politics is now no longer just the domain of the elite and intelligentsia but open to all members of a society .43 Former `` objects of history '' are now `` subjects of history '' , and the passive are now participants .44 They now all form a ` high culture ' .", "The politicisation of culture has meant a collective change of attitude in each population sharing the same culture .", "The change in attitude that represented the `` conjunction of culture with politics '' is demonstrative of the core of nationalism and a key element in the process of nationalism itself .45 These changes may be produced either via substantive changes in the economic , political and religious atmosphere of society , or more covertly by the manipulation of the elites , and most likely as a combination of these factors .46", "Those components of a people that are reproduced in modernity will undoubtedly be elements unique to a people , namely their ethnic elements .", "This also bonds a people by their shared features of an ethnie embedded in a culture within modernity .", "The ethnie is a feature of culture that may or may not serve to be the unifying homogeneous component .", "At the times when the ethnie is a dominant feature of culture it may sometimes be confused as overriding culture and being the unifying feature of a community of people .", "This is when a nationalism is considered ethnic , and when other components of a culture , particularly if there are signs of a ` high culture ' , are overlooked .", "In the latter half of this century this classification of nationalism has been mainly attributed to the nation-states of Eastern Europe .", "In Eastern Europe , particularly since the end of the Cold War , changes occurred in a variety of ways and found vents through a variety of outlets , whilst `` simultaneously exciting tensions along latent axes such as those of an ethnic nature '' .47", "The Balkans in particular has leant itself as an example of the virulent nature attributed to ethnic nationalism .", "Certainly the battles and wars fought since 1989 , the movement of peoples under the term of ethnic cleansing , and the fragmentation of the former Yugoslavia itself has provided ample evidence .", "However , were it not for the civic components of nationalism the nationalisms exercised in the former Yugoslavia would not have been successful .", "And by success I mean success in the establishment of political units as a motivation and consequence of the action of the nationalisms .", "Croatian nationalism would not have achieved a Croatian nation-state if it did not consider also the importance of democratic development and an economy independent of the Yugoslav regime .", "The nation-state of Bosnia-Herzegovina , though propped up by the international arena , would not have been imagined two decades ago but is a civic and ethnic response to the nationalism encountered by both the Croats and the Serbs on either side of it .", "As a consequence of the nationalisms exercised in this region , some only emerging as a response to the hostile and imposing nature of other nationalisms , we now have the establishment of individual nation-states , fulfilling the goals of most of the nationalisms exercised in this region .", "The absence of a specifically ` Yugoslav ' culture -- ethnic or other -- despite a whole generation growing out of it , meant it was vulnerable to the other nationalisms that existed within it , and ultimately overcame the state of Yugoslavia .", "Yugoslavia , as the name itself suggests ( ` land of the South Slavs ' ) was never one nation in one state , but many nations and potential nations sharing the one state-space .", "The violence during its break-up can be attributed not to the classification of ethnic nationalism but directly to the clash of nationalisms as they competed for state space and asserted their own cultural homogeneity ( along ethnic lines ) which often conflicted with that of their neighbours .", "By allowing culture to possess such elements as ethnie introduces matter that may extend beyond the definitions of reason and rationality -- in extreme cases giving its mystique quality .", "As a representative of the modernists Gellner reconciles the issue of nationalism as a `` spell '' by housing it in his definition of culture ( i.e. a high culture ) .", "He sees nationalism embedded in the social life of the modern age , and the `` raw material '' of this social life is culture and organisation .48 Culture is found universally and perennially , which can not be said about nations , states or nationalisms .49 Therefore not only is culture a raw material of nationalism , it was present prior to modernity .", "But it is a ` high ' culture that Gellner 's theory asserts is the necessary condition of nationalism .", "High culture is achieved only via advanced communication and literacy attained through education .", "This ` high ' culture must be homogeneous and it is from here that the political bond is formed and a nation born .", "Nationalism is the homogeneity of one high culture ( which encompasses public and popular culture ) , or the act of creating a high culture by a population that does not yet have one .50", "The nature of the culture prior to the onset of this change will influence the nature of the nationalism should it emerge .", "For this reason it becomes important to locate the `` state of the cultural identity '' of the population prior to their politicisation .", "That is , in order to identify a unique national identity , and thus locate the character of a nationalism , the key is the group 's cultural identity prior to being politicised .", "And the key to discovering this is by using what cultural remnants remain , which is most probably the population 's ethnic component .", "As Smith states :", "Hence it becomes important to enquire into the ` state of cultural identity ' of a given community on the eve of its exposure to the new revolutionary forces , in order to locate the bases of its subsequent evolution into a fully-fledged ` nation ' .", "Modernity meant that equivalent identities were necessary in order to elevate or catch up to meet other advanced populations at the level they were at .", "This was to be done collectively and these identities were to be decided `` along whatever fault-lines were available .", "`` 52 This would include cultural fault-lines that may be ethnic .", "The identity of a community would be determined by the unifying feature of their culture , which would define their national identity representing the nationalism they exercised .", "National identity is the dominant and operative identity under modernisation .", "The interplay of the characteristics of civic and ethnic nationalism can be viewed through either civic or ethnic spectacles .", "For example , ` citizenship ' is the unifying force under civic nationalism and once possessed it is assumed there is a sense of solidarity among the people .", "In practice however possession of the rights that citizenship pertains and participation in the community is attached to a greater menagerie of elements .", "Core elements of ethnic nationalism are used to build on the foundations of civic nationalism in order to fulfil its goals .", "The main goal is the formation of a nation within an already existing state .", "To achieve the cultural homogeneity sought after by civic nationalism requires shared values and the use of myths and symbols , particularly if the state lacks a dominant ethnie from which they can establish a political community .", "Similarly delivering ethnic ties to the form of a nation is accomplished by the establishment of a state .", "That is , by seeking to encompass a particular national group within a demarcated territory , thereby practising nationalism on an ethnic base using some civic ingredients .", "Therefore , all nationalisms are in some way a combination of both engineering and discovery -- an intermeshing of the classifications of civic and ethnic nationalism .", "Alone they are unsuccessful .", "Due to the disparity of the nationalisms practised throughout the world , especially in Europe , and the difficulty in providing a comprehensive theory on the exercise of nationalism has led to the acquiescence to this misleading division .", "Let us now identify the arguments presented by the modernists and the ethnicists in the next two chapters in observing the ideology and practice of nationalism .", "This may bring to light the reason why this division is perpetuated in the writings on nationalism , even though it does not represent its contradicting nature .", "GO TO CHAPTER II ( Table of Contents )"], "_citing_sentence": "It focuses on citizenship, civic rights and legal codes where all citizens are equal.", "_claim_name": "Not all nationalism is exclusive", "_doc_title": "The Nationalism Project: False Opposites in Nationalism Chapter I", "_labeled_lineIDs": [56, 57]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Table of Contents - 2010 - Volume 43 , Issue 02 ( Diversity and Democratic Politics ) a1 University of British Columbiaa2 Queen 's Universitya3 McGill University a1 University of British Columbia a2 Queen 's University a3 McGill University", "This paper examines the role of national identity in sustaining public support for the welfare state .", "Liberal nationalist theorists argue that social justice will always be easier to achieve in states with strong national identities , which , they contend , can both mitigate opposition to redistribution among high-income earners and reduce any corroding effects of ethnic diversity resulting from immigration .", "We test these propositions with Canadian data from the Equality , Security and Community survey .", "We conclude that national identity does increase support for the welfare state among the affluent majority of Canadians and that it helps to protect the welfare state from toxic effects of cultural suspicion .", "However , we also find that identity plays a narrower role than existing theories of liberal nationalism suggest and that the mechanisms through which it works are different .", "This leads us to suggest an alternative theory of the relationship between national identity and the welfare state , one that suggests that the relationship is highly contingent , reflecting distinctive features of the history and national narratives of each country .", "National identity may not have any general tendency to strengthen support for redistribution , but it may do so for those aspects of the welfare state seen as having played a particularly important role in building the nation or in enabling it to overcome particular challenges or crises.R\u00e9sum\u00e9 .", "Cet article examine le r\u00f4le de l'identit\u00e9 nationale en mati\u00e8re d'appui populaire \u00e0 l'\u00c9tat-providence .", "Les th\u00e9oriciens du nationalisme lib\u00e9ral soutiennent que la justice sociale sera toujours plus facile \u00e0 r\u00e9aliser dans les \u00c9tats ayant une forte identit\u00e9 nationale , laquelle , selon eux , peut \u00e0 la fois att\u00e9nuer l'opposition \u00e0 la redistribution chez les personnes \u00e0 revenu \u00e9lev\u00e9 et r\u00e9duire les effets corrosifs de la diversit\u00e9 ethnique engendr\u00e9e par l'immigration .", "Nous \u00e9valuons ces propositions \u00e0 la lumi\u00e8re des donn\u00e9es canadiennes de l'\u00c9tude sur l'\u00e9galit\u00e9 , la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 et la communaut\u00e9 .", "Nous concluons que l'identit\u00e9 nationale augmente effectivement l'appui envers l'\u00c9tat-providence parmi les Canadiens fortun\u00e9s de la majorit\u00e9 , et qu'elle aide \u00e0 prot\u00e9ger l'\u00c9tat-providence contre les effets toxiques de la suspicion culturelle .", "Cependant , nous constatons \u00e9galement que l'identit\u00e9 joue un r\u00f4le plus restreint que ne le sugg\u00e8rent les th\u00e9ories existantes du nationalisme lib\u00e9ral et que ses m\u00e9canismes de fonctionnement sont diff\u00e9rents .", "Cela nous am\u00e8ne \u00e0 proposer une autre th\u00e9orie de la relation entre l'identit\u00e9 nationale et l'\u00c9tat-providence , une th\u00e9orie selon laquelle cette relation est fortement contingente et refl\u00e8te les caract\u00e9ristiques propres de l'histoire et de la tradition nationale de chaque pays .", "L'identit\u00e9 nationale n ' a peut-\u00eatre , en soi , aucune tendance g\u00e9n\u00e9rale \u00e0 renforcer l'appui \u00e0 la redistribution , mais elle peut le faire pour les aspects de l'\u00c9tat-providence consid\u00e9r\u00e9s comme ayant jou\u00e9 un r\u00f4le particuli\u00e8rement important dans l'\u00e9dification de la nation , ou lui ayant permis de surmonter des crises ou des d\u00e9fis particuliers .", "National identity may not have any general tendency to strengthen support for redistribution , but it may do so for those aspects of the welfare state seen as having played a particularly important role in building the nation or in enabling it to overcome particular challenges or crises .", "Correspondence : c1 Richard Johnston , University of British Columbia , Department of Political Science , University of British Columbia , C425-1866 Main Mall , Vancouver , BC V6T 1Z1 .", "c2 Keith Banting , School of Policy Studies , Queen 's University , 138 Union Street , Room 217 , Kingston , Ontario K7L 3N6 .", "c3 Will Kymlicka , Department of Philosophy , Queen 's University , Kingston , Ontario K7L 3N6 .", "c4 Stuart Soroka , Department of Political Science , McGill University , 855 Sherbrooke St West , Montreal , Quebec H3A 2T7 ."], "_citing_sentence": "In Canada for example those who strongly identify with Canada are much more likely to support redistribution and healthcare than those with low identification with Canada.", "_claim_name": "Nationalism promotes cooperation and social cohesion", "_doc_title": "Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique - National Identity and Support for the Welfare State - Cambridge Journals Online", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The term `` nationalism '' is generally used to describe two phenomena : ( 1 ) the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity , and ( 2 ) the actions that the members of a nation take when seeking to achieve ( or sustain ) self-determination .", "( 1 ) raises questions about the concept of a nation ( or national identity ) , which is often defined in terms of common origin , ethnicity , or cultural ties , and while an individual 's membership in a nation is often regarded as involuntary , it is sometimes regarded as voluntary .", "( 2 ) raises questions about whether self-determination must be understood as involving having full statehood with complete authority over domestic and international affairs , or whether something less is required .", "It is traditional , therefore , to distinguish nations from states -- whereas a nation often consists of an ethnic or cultural community , a state is a political entity with a high degree of sovereignty .", "While many states are nations in some sense , there are many nations which are not fully sovereign states .", "As an example , the Native American Iroquois constitute a nation but not a state , since they do not possess the requisite political authority over their internal or external affairs .", "If the members of the Iroquois nation were to strive to form a sovereign state in the effort to preserve their identity as a people , they would be exhibiting a state-focused nationalism .", "Nationalism has long been ignored as a topic in political philosophy , written off as a relic from bygone times .", "It came into the focus of philosophical debate two decades ago , in the nineties , partly in consequence of rather spectacular and troubling nationalist clashes , such as those in Rwanda , the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet republics .", "The surge of nationalism usually presents a morally ambivalent , and for this reason often fascinating , picture .", "`` National awakening '' and struggles for political independence are often both heroic and inhumanly cruel ; the formation of a recognizably national state often responds to deep popular sentiment , but can and does sometimes bring in its wake inhuman consequences , including violent expulsion and `` cleansing '' of non-nationals , all the way to organized mass murder .", "The moral debate on nationalism reflects a deep moral tension between solidarity with oppressed national groups on the one hand and the repulsion people feel in the face of crimes perpetrated in the name of nationalism on the other .", "Moreover , the issue of nationalism points to the wider domain of problems , having to do with the treatment of ethnic and cultural differences within democratic polity , which are arguably among the most pressing problems of contemporary political theory .", "In recent years the focus of the debate about nationalism has shifted towards issues in international justice , probably in response to changes on the international scene : bloody nationalist wars such as those in the former Yugoslavia have become less conspicuous , whereas the issues of terrorism , of the `` clash of civilizations '' and of hegemony in the international order have come to occupy public attention .", "One important link with earlier debates is provided by the contrast between views of international justice based on the predominance of sovereign nation-states and more cosmopolitan views that either insist upon limiting national sovereignty , or even envisage its disappearance .", "Another new focus for philosophers is provided by issues of territory and territorial rights , which connect the topic of nation-states ( or , `` the nation state '' ) with questions like boundaries , migrations , resource rights and vital ecological matters .", "In this entry we shall first present conceptual issues of definition and classification ( Sections 1 and 2 ) , and then the arguments put forward in the debate ( Section 3 ) , dedicating more space to the arguments in favor of nationalism than to those against it , in order to give the philosophical nationalist a proper hearing .", "Although the term `` nationalism '' has a variety of meanings , it centrally encompasses the two phenomena noted at the outset : ( 1 ) the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their identity as members of that nation and ( 2 ) the actions that the members of a nation take in seeking to achieve ( or sustain ) some form of political sovereignty ( see for example , Nielsen 1998 -- 9 , 9 ) .", "Each of these aspects requires elaboration .", "( 1 ) raises questions about the concept of a nation or national identity , about what it is to belong to a nation , and about how much one ought to care about one 's nation .", "Nations and national identity may be defined in terms of common origin , ethnicity , or cultural ties , and while an individual 's membership in the nation is often regarded as involuntary , it is sometimes regarded as voluntary .", "The degree of care for one 's nation that is required by nationalists is often , but not always , taken to be very high : according to such views , the claims of one 's nation take precedence over rival contenders for authority and loyalty ( see Berlin 1979 , Smith 1991 , Levy 2000 , and the discussion in", "Gans 2003 ; for a more extreme characterization see the opening pages of Crosby 2005 ) .", "( 2 ) raises questions about whether sovereignty entails the acquisition of full statehood with complete authority for domestic and international affairs , or whether something less than statehood would suffice .", "Although sovereignty is often taken to mean full statehood ( Gellner 1983 , ch .", "1 ) , more recently possible exceptions have been recognized ( Miller 1992 , 87 and Miller , 2000 ) .", "Some authors defend even an anarchist version of patriotism-moderate nationalism , foreshadowed by Bakunin ( see Robert Sparrow , `` For the Union Makes Us Strong :", "Anarchism and Patriotism '' , in Primoratz and Pavkovic 2007 ) .", "Despite these definitional worries , there is a fair amount of agreement about what is historically the most typical , paradigmatic form of nationalism .", "It is the one which features the supremacy of the nation 's claims over other claims to individual allegiance , and which features full sovereignty as the persistent aim of its political program .", "Territorial sovereignty has traditionally been seen as a defining element of state power , and essential for nationhood .", "It was extolled in classic modern works by Hobbes , Locke , and Rousseau , and is coming back to the center stage of the debate , though philosophers are now more questioning and skeptical ( see below ) .", "It is the control of the movement of money and people ( in particular immigration ) and the resource rights implied in territorial sovereignty that make the topic into a politically central one in the age of globalization , and philosophically interesting for nationalists and anti-nationalists alike .", "The territorial state as political unit is seen by nationalists as centrally ` belonging ' to one ethnic-cultural group , and actively charged with protecting and promulgating its traditions .", "This form is exemplified by the classical , `` revivalist '' nationalism , that was most prominent in the 19th century in Europe and", "This classical nationalism later spread across the world , and in present days still marks many contemporary nationalisms .", "In its general form the issue of nationalism concerns the mapping between the ethno-cultural domain ( featuring etho-cultural groups or `` nations '' ) and the domain of political organization .", "In breaking the issue into its components , we have mentioned the importance of the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity .", "This point raises two sorts of questions .", "First , the descriptive ones :", "Second , the normative ones : In this section the descriptive questions are to be discussed , starting with ( 1a ) and ( 1b ) .", "( The normative questions are addressed in", "Section 3 on the moral debate . )", "If one wants to enjoin people to struggle for their national interests , one must have some idea about what a nation is and what it is to belong to a nation .", "So , in order to formulate and ground their evaluations , claims , and directives for action , pro-nationalist thinkers have been elaborating theories of ethnicity , culture , nation and state .", "Their opponents have in their turn challenged these elaborations .", "Now , some presuppositions about ethnic groups and nations are essential for the nationalist , while others are theoretical elaborations designed to support the essential ones .", "The former concern the definition and status of the target or social group , the beneficiary of the nationalist program , variously called `` nation '' , `` ethno-nation '' or `` ethnic group '' .", "Since nationalism is particularly prominent with groups that do not yet have a state , a definition of nation and nationalism purely in terms of belonging to a state is a non-starter .", "Indeed , purely `` civic '' loyalties are often put into a separate category under the title `` patriotism '' , or `` constitutional patriotism '' ( Habermas 1996 ; see the discussion in Markell 2000 ; for a wider understanding of patriotism see Primoratz and Pavkovic 2007 ) .", "This leaves two extreme options , and a lot of intermediate positions .", "The first extreme option has been put forward by a small but distinguished band of theorists , including", "Renan ( 1882 ) and Weber ( 1970 ) ; for a recent defense see Brubaker 2004 ) .", "According to their purely voluntaristic definition , a nation is any group of people aspiring to a common political state-like organization .", "If such a group of people succeeds in forming a state , the loyalties of the group members would be `` civic '' ( as opposed to `` ethnic '' ) in nature .", "At the other extreme , and more typically , nationalist claims are focused upon the non-voluntary community of common origin , language , tradition and culture , so that in the classical view an ethno-nation is a community of origin and culture , including prominently a language and customs .", "The distinction is related ( although not identical ) to that drawn by older schools of social and political science between `` civic '' and `` ethnic '' nationalism , the former being allegedly Western", "European and the latter more Central and Eastern European originating in Germany ( a very prominent proponent of the distinction is Hans Kohn 1965 ) .", "Philosophical discussions centered around nationalism tend to concern the ethnic-cultural variants only and this habit will be followed here .", "A group aspiring to nationhood on this basis will be called here an ` ethno-nation ' in order to underscore its ethno-cultural rather than purely civic underpinnings .", "For the ethno - ( cultural ) nationalist it is one 's ethnic-cultural background which determines one 's membership in the community .", "One can not chose to be a member ; instead , membership depends on the accident of origin and early socialization .", "However , commonality of origin has turned out to be mythical for most contemporary candidate groups : ethnic groups have been mixing for millennia .", "Therefore , sophisticated pro-nationalists tend to stress cultural membership only , and speak of `` nationality '' , omitting the `` ethno - '' part ( Miller 1992 , 2000 ; Tamir 1993 ; Gans 2003 ) .", "Michel Seymour in his proposal of a `` socio-cultural definition '' adds a political dimension to the purely cultural one .", "A nation is a cultural group , possibly but not necessarily united by a common descent , endowed with civic ties ( Seymour 2000 ) .", "This is the kind of definition that would be accepted by most parties in the debate today .", "So defined , nation is a somewhat mixed category , both ethno-cultural and civic , but still closer to the purely ethno-cultural than to the purely civic extreme .", "The wider descriptive underpinning of nationalist claims has varied over the last two centuries .", "The early German elaborations talk about `` the spirit of a people '' , while somewhat later ones , mainly of French extraction , talk about `` collective mentality '' , ascribing to it specific and significant causal powers .", "A later descendent of this notion is the idea of a `` national character '' peculiar to each nation , which partly survives today under the guise of national `` forms of life '' and of feeling ( Margalit 1997 , see below ) .", "For almost a century , up to the end of the Second World War , it was customary to link nationalist views to organic metaphors of society .", "Isaiah Berlin , writing as late as the early seventies , proposed as a part of his definition of nationalism that it consists of the conviction that people belong to a particular human group , and that `` ... the characters of the individuals who compose the group are shaped by , and can not be understood apart from , those of the group ... '' ( first published in 1972 , reprinted in Berlin , 1979 : 341 ) .", "The nationalist claims , according to Berlin , that `` the pattern of life in a society is similar to that of a biological organism '' ( ibid . )", ", and that the needs of this ` organism ' determine the supreme goal for all of its members .", "Most contemporary defenders of nationalism , especially philosophers , avoid such language .", "The organic metaphor and talk about character have been replaced by one master metaphor : that of national identity .", "It is centered upon cultural membership , and used both for the identity of a group and for the socially based identity of its members , e.g. , the national identity of George in so far as he is English or", "Various authors unpack the metaphor in various ways : some stress involuntary membership in the community , others the strength with which one identifies with the community , and yet others link it to the personal identity of each member of the community .", "Addressing these issues , the nationally-minded philosophers , such as Alisdair", "MacIntyre ( 1994 ) , Charles Taylor ( 1989 ) , and M. Seymour , have significantly contributed to introducing and maintaining important topics such as community , membership , tradition and social identity into contemporary philosophical debate .", "Let us now turn to the issue of the origin and `` authenticity '' of ethno-cultural groups or ethno-nations .", "In social and political science one usually distinguishes two kinds of views .", "The first can be called `` primordialist '' views .", "According to them , actual ethno-cultural nations have either existed `` since time immemorial '' ( an extreme , somewhat caricatured version , corresponding to nineteenth century nationalist rhetoric ) , or at least for a long time during the pre-modern period ( Hastings 1997 , see the discussion of his views in Nations and Nationalism , Volume 9 , 2003 ) .", "There is a very popular moderate version of this view championed by Anthony Smith ( 1991 , 2001 and in the most recent version in 2008 ) under the name `` ethnosymbolism . ''", "For a fine development of this line see also the works of John Hutchinson , ( most recently his 2005 book ) , and that of Roshwald ( 2006 ) , debated in Nations and Nationalism 2008 , Volumes 1 and 4 respectively ) .", "According to this approach , nations are like artichokes , in that they have a lot of `` unimportant leaves '' that can be chewed up one by one , but also have a heart , which remains after the leaves have been eaten ( the metaphor stems from Stanley Hoffmann ; for details and sources see the debate between", "Smith ( 2003 ) and \u00d6zkirimli ( 2003 ) .", "For interesting historical details see a recent collection by Derks & Roymans 2009 ) .", "The second are the modernist views , placing the origin of nations in modern times .", "They can be further classified according to their answer to a further question : how real is the ethno-cultural nation ?", "The modernist realist view is that nations are real but distinctly modern creations , instrumental in the genesis of capitalism ( Gellner 1983 ,", "Hobsbawn 1990 , and Breuilly 2001 ) .", "On the same side of the fence but more in a radical direction one finds anti-realist views .", "According to one such view nations are merely `` imagined '' but somehow still powerful entities ; what is meant is that belief in them holds sway over the believers ( Anderson 1965 ) .", "The extreme anti-realist view claims that they are pure `` constructions '' ( see Walker 2001 , for an overview and literature ) These divergent views seem to support rather divergent moral claims about nation .", "For an overview of nationalism in political theory see Vincent 2001 .", "Indeed , older authors -- from great thinkers like Herder and Otto", "Bauer , to the propagandists who followed their footsteps -- have been at great pains to ground normative claims upon firm ontological realism about nations : nations are real , bona fide entities .", "However , the contemporary moral debate has tried to diminish the importance of the imagined/real divide .", "Prominent contemporary philosophers have claimed that normative-evaluative nationalist claims are compatible with the `` imagined '' nature of a nation .", "( See , for instance , MacCormick 1982 ; Miller 1992 , 2000 ; Tamir 1993 ; and Gans 2003 . )", "They point out that common imaginings can tie people together , and that actual interaction resulting from togetherness can engender important moral obligations .", "Let us now turn to question ( 1c ) , the nature of pro-national attitudes .", "The explanatory issue that has interested political and social scientists concerns ethno-nationalist sentiment , the paradigm case of a pro-national attitude .", "Is it as irrational , romantic and indifferent to self-interest as it might seem on the surface ?", "The issue has divided authors who see nationalism as basically irrational and those who try to explain it as being at least in some sense rational .", "Authors in the first camp , who see it as irrational , propose various explanations of why people assent to irrational views .", "Some say , critically , that nationalism is based on `` false consciousness '' .", "But where does such false consciousness come from ?", "The most simplistic view is that it is a result of direct manipulation of `` masses '' by `` elites '' .", "On the opposite side , the famous critic of nationalism , Elie Kedourie ( 1960 ) sees this irrationality as being spontaneous .", "Liah Greenfeld has recently gone as far as linking nationalism to mental illness in her provocative ( 2005 ) article .", "On the opposite side , Michael Walzer has offered a sympathetic account of nationalist passion in his ( 2002 ) .", "Authors relying upon the Marxist tradition offer various deeper explanations .", "To mention one , the French structuralist \u00c9tienne", "Balibar sees it as a result of `` production '' of ideology effectuated by mechanisms which have nothing to do with spontaneous credulity of individuals , but with impersonal , structural social factors ( Balibar and Wallerstein , 1992 ) .", "( For an overview of Marxist approaches see Glenn 1997 ) .", "Consider now the other camp , those who see nationalist sentiments as being rational , at least in a very wide sense .", "Some authors claim that it is often rational for individuals to become nationalists ( Hardin 1985 ) .", "Consider the two sides of the nationalist coin .", "First , identification and cohesion within the ethno-national group has to do with inter-group cooperation , and cooperation is easier for those who are part of the same ethno-national group .", "To take an example of ethnic ties in a multiethnic state , a Vietnamese newcomer to the States will do well to rely on his co-nationals : common language , customs and expectations might help him a lot in finding his way in new surroundings .", "Once the ties are established and he has become part of a network , it is rational to go on cooperating , and ethnic sentiment does secure the trust and the firm bond needed for smooth cooperation .", "A further issue is when it is rational to switch sides ; to stay with our example , when does it become profitable for our Vietnamese to develop an all-American patriotism .", "This has received a detailed elaboration in", "David Laitin ( 1998 , summarized in 2001 ; applied to language rights in", "Laitin and Reich 2004 ; see also Laitin 2007 ) , who uses material from the former Soviet Union .", "The other side of the nationalist coin has to do with conflict between various ethno-nations .", "It concerns non-cooperation with the outsiders , which can go very far indeed .", "Can one rationally explain the extremes of ethno-national conflict ?", "Authors like Russell Hardin propose to do it in terms of a general view of when hostile behavior is rational : most typically , if you have no reason to trust someone , it is reasonable to take precautions against him .", "If both sides take precautions , however , each will tend to see the other as being seriously inimical .", "It then becomes rational to start treating the other as an enemy .", "Mere suspicion can thus lead by small , individually rational steps , to a situation of conflict .", "( Such negative development is often presented as a variant of the so-called Prisoner 's Dilemma . )", "Now , it is relatively easy to spot the circumstances in which this general pattern applies to national solidarities and conflicts .", "The line of thought just sketched is often called the `` rational choice approach '' .", "It has enabled the application of conceptual tools from game-theoretic and economic theories of cooperative and non-cooperative behavior to the explanation of ethno-nationalism .", "It is worth mentioning , however , that the individualist rational-choice approach , centered upon personal rationality , has serious competitors .", "A tradition in social psychology , initiated by", "Henri Tajfel ( 1981 ) , shows that individuals may identify with a randomly selected group , even when membership in the group brings no tangible rewards .", "Does rationality of any kind underlie this tendency to identification ?", "Some authors ( Sober & Wilson 1998 ) answer in the affirmative .", "They propose that it is a non-personal , evolutionary rationality : individuals who develop a sentiment of identification and sense of belonging end up better off in the evolutionary race ; hence we have inherited such propensities .", "The initial sentiments were reserved for one 's own kin , thus supporting the spreading of one 's own genes .", "Cultural evolution has taken over the mechanisms of identification that initially developed within biological evolution .", "As a result , we project the sentiment originally reserved for kinship to our cultural group .", "Further , detailed explanations from such socio-biological perspective differ greatly among themselves , and constitute a wide and rather promising research program ( see an overview in Goetze 2001 ) .", "Finally , as for question ( 1d ) , the nation is typically seen as essentially a non-voluntary community to which one belongs by birth and early nurture , whereby the belonging is somehow enhanced and perhaps taken to a higher level , becoming more conscious and more complete by one 's additional endorsement .", "Avishai Margalit and Joseph", "Raz express the common view when they write about belonging to a nation : `` Qualification for membership is usually determined by non-voluntary criteria .", "One can not choose to belong .", "One belongs because of who one is '' ( Margalit and Raz , 1990 , 447 ) .", "And of course , this belonging brings crucial benefits : `` Belonging to a national form of life means being within a frame that offers meaning to people 's choice between alternatives , thus enabling them to acquire an identity '' ( Margalit 1997 , 83 ) .", "Why is national belonging taken to be involuntary ?", "Very often it is described starting from linguistic belonging : a child does not decide which language will become her or his mother tongue , and it is the often pointed out that one 's mother tongue is the most important depository of concepts , knowledge , social and cultural significance .", "All these are embedded in the language , and do not exist without it .", "Early socialization is seen as socialization into a specific culture , and very often the culture is just assumed to be a national one .", "There are people who express themselves ` Frenchly ' , while others have forms of life that are expressed ` Koreanly ' or ` Icelandicly ' , writes Margalit ( 1997 , 80 ) .", "The resulting belonging is then to a large extent non-voluntary .", "( There are exceptions to this basically non-voluntaristic view , for instance , theoretical nationalists who accept voluntary changes of nationality .", "( See also Ernst Renan 's 1882 ( 19 ) famous definition of a nation as constituted by ` everyday plebiscite ' . )", "We have pointed out at the very beginning of the entry that nationalism focuses upon ( 1 ) the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity , and ( 2 ) the actions that the members of a nation take when seeking to achieve ( or sustain ) some form of political sovereignty .", "The politically central point is ( 2 ) , the actions enjoined by the nationalist .", "To these we now turn , beginning with sovereignty and territory , the usual foci of a national struggle for independence .", "They raise an important issue :", "The classical answer is that a state is required .", "A more liberal answer is that some form of political autonomy suffices .", "Once this has been discussed , we can turn to the related normative issues :", "Consider first the classical nationalist answer to ( 2a ) .", "Political sovereignty requires a state `` rightfully owned '' by the ethno-nation ( Oldenquist 1997 , who credits the expression to the writer Czeslaw Milosz ) .", "In developing this line of thought they often state or imply specific answers to ( 2b ) , and ( 2c ) , i.e. , that in a national independence struggle the use of force against the threatening central power is almost always a legitimate means for bringing about sovereignty .", "However , classical nationalism is not only concerned with creation of a state but also with its maintenance and strengthening .", "So , once the state is there , further options are opened for nationalists .", "They sometimes promote claims for its expansion ( even at the cost of wars ) and sometimes opt for isolationist policies .", "The expansion is often justified by appeal to the unfinished business of bringing literally all members of the nation under one state , sometimes by the interest of the nation in gaining more territory and resources .", "As for maintenance of sovereignty by peaceful and merely ideological means , political nationalism is closely tied to nationalism in culture .", "The latter insists upon the preservation and transmission of a given culture , or more accurately , of recognizably ethno-national traits of the culture in its pure form , dedicating artistic creation , education and research to this goal .", "Of course , the ethno-national traits can be actual or invented , partly or fully so .", "Again , in the classical variant the relevant norm claims that one has both a right and an obligation ( `` a sacred duty '' ) to promote such a tradition .", "Its force is that of a trump that wins over other interests and even over rights ( a trump which is often needed in order to carry on national the independence struggle ) .", "In consequence , classical nationalism has something to say about the level of attitudes as well : as for ( 1e ) it sees caring for one 's nation a fundamental duty of each of its members , and is prone to give to it , in its answer to ( 1f ) , i.e. the question of scope , an unlimited scope .", "Let me list its most important features for future reference :", "Classical nationalism is the political program that sees the creation and maintenance of a fully sovereign state owned by a given ethno-national group ( `` people '' or `` nation '' ) as a primary duty of each member of the group .", "Starting from the assumption that the appropriate ( or `` natural '' ) unit of culture is an ethno-nation it claims that a primary duty of each member is to abide in cultural matters by one 's recognizably ethno-national culture .", "Classical nationalists are usually vigilant about the kind of culture they protect and promote , and about the kind of attitude people have to their nation-state .", "This watchful attitude carries some potential dangers : many elements of a given culture that are universalist or simply not recognizably national might , and will sometimes , fall prey to such nationalist enthusiasms .", "Classical nationalism in everyday life puts various additional demands on individuals , from buying more expensive home-produced goods in preference to the cheaper imported ones , to procreating as many future members of the nation as one can manage .", "Besides classical nationalism ( and its more radical extremist cousins ) , various moderate views are also nowadays classified as nationalist .", "Indeed , the philosophical discussion has shifted to these moderate or even ultra-moderate forms , and most philosophers who describe themselves as nationalists propose very moderate nationalist programs .", "Let me characterize these briefly :", "Nationalism in a wider sense is any complex of attitudes , claims and directives for action ascribing a fundamental political , moral and cultural value to nation and nationality and deriving obligations ( for individual members of the nation , and for any involved third parties , individual or collective ) from this ascribed value .", "Nationalisms , in this larger sense , can vary somewhat in their conceptions of nation ( which are often left implicit in their discourse ) , with respect to the ground and degree of its value , and in the scope of claims and of prescribed obligations .", "( The term can also be applied to other cases not covered by classical nationalism , for instance , the hypothetical pre-state political forms that an ethnic identity might take ) .", "Moderate nationalism is a universalizing nationalism in the wider sense which is less demanding than classical nationalism .", "It sometimes goes under the name of `` patriotism . ''", "( A different usage , again , reserves `` patriotism '' for valuing of civic community and loyalty to state , in contrast to nationalism , centered around ethnic-cultural communities ) .", "The variations of nationalism most relevant for philosophy are those that influence the moral standing of claims and of recommended nationalist practices .", "The elaborate philosophical views put forward in favor of nationalism will be referred to here to as `` theoretical nationalism '' , the adjective serving to distinguish such views from the less sophisticated and more practical nationalist discourse .", "The central theoretical nationalist evaluative claims can usefully be put on the map of possible positions within political theory in the following somewhat simplified and schematic way .", "Nationalist claims featuring the centrality of the nation for political action provide an answer to two crucial general questions .", "First , is there one kind of large social group ( smaller than the whole of mankind ) that is morally of central importance or not ?", "The nationalist answer is that there is just one , namely , the nation .", "When an ultimate choice is to be made , nation has priority .", "( This answer is implied by rather standard definitions of nationalism offered by Berlin , discussed in Section 1. , and Smith in his 2001 . )", "Second , what is the ground of obligation that the individual has to the morally central group ?", "Is it voluntary or involuntary membership in the group ?", "The typical contemporary nationalist thinker opts for the latter , while admitting that voluntary endorsement of one 's national identity is a morally important achievement .", "On the philosophical map , the pro-nationalist normative tastes fit nicely with the communitarian stance in general : most pro-nationalist philosophers are communitarians who choose the nation as the preferred community ( in contrast to those of their fellow-communitarians who prefer more far-ranging communities , such as those defined by global religious traditions ) .", "However , some recent writers , e.g. , Will Kymlicka ( 2001 ) , who describe themselves as liberal nationalists , reject the communitarian underpinning .", "Before proceeding to moral claims , let me briefly sketch the issues and viewpoints , connected to territory and territorial rights , essential for nationalist political programs .", "( I am adapting the excellent taxonomy of A. Kollers ( 2009 , Ch .", "1 ) to the topic at hand . )", "Why is territory important for ethno-national groups , and what is the extent , and what the grounds , of territorial rights ?", "The primary importance resides in sovereignty , and all the possibilities of internal control and external exclusion that it brings in its wake .", "Add to it the Rousseauian view that political attachments are essentially bounded and that love for one group -- or , to put it more mildly , republican civil friendship -- requires exclusion of some `` other '' , and the importance becomes quite obvious .", "What about the grounds of territorial rights demanded ?", "Nationalist and pro-nationalist views mostly revert to the attachment that members of a nation have to its territory and to the formative value of territory for a nation as justifiers for territorial claims ( Miller 2000 , Meissels 2009 ( with some refinements discussed below ) ) .", "This is in some respects similar to the rationale of proponents of indigenous peoples rights ( Tully 2004 , but see also", "Hendrix 2008 ) , and in some respect Kollers 's ( 2009 ) ethno-geographical non-nationalist theory ) , but differs in preferring ethno-national groups as the sole carriers of the right .", "These attachment views stand in stark contrast to more pragmatic views about territorial rights as means for conflict resolution ( e.g. Levy 2000 ) .", "A further , and quite popular alternative is the family of individualistic views grounding territorial rights in rights of interests of individuals , for instance in their human rights ( Buchanan 2004 ) , pre-political", "Lockean property rights ( Simmons 2001 ) , their individual rights in resources Steiner 1999 ) or in political association rights ( Wellman 2005 ) .", "On the extreme end of anti-nationalist views stands the idea of", "Pogge ( if he can be interpreted this way ) that there are no specific territorial problems for political philosophy -- the `` dissolution approach '' , as Koller calls it .", "Some of the authors mentioned are cosmopolitan critics of nationalism , most prominently Buchanan and Pogge .", "We now pass to the normative dimension of nationalism .", "We shall first describe the very heart of the nationalist program , i.e. , sketch and classify the typical normative and evaluative nationalist claims .", "These claims can be seen as answers to the normative subset of our initial questions about ( 1 ) pro-national attitudes and ( 2 ) actions .", "The claims thus recommend various courses of action , centrally those meant to secure and sustain the political organization -- preferably a state -- for the given ethno-cultural national community ( thereby making more specific the answers to our normative questions ( 1e ) , ( 1f ) , ( 2b ) , and ( 2c ) ) .", "Further , they enjoin the members of the community to promulgate recognizable ethno-cultural contents as central features of the cultural life within such a state .", "Finally , we shall discuss various lines of pro-nationalist thought that have been put forward in defense of these claims .", "For starters , let us return to the claims concerning the furthering of the national state and culture .", "These are proposed by the nationalist as a guide and a norm of conduct .", "Philosophically the most important variations concern three aspects of such normative claims : ( i ) The normative nature and strength of the claim : does it promote merely a right ( say , to have and maintain a form of political self-government , preferably and typically a state , or have cultural life centered upon a recognizably ethno-national culture ) , or a moral obligation ( to get and maintain one ) , or a moral , legal and political obligation ?", "The strongest claim is typical of classical nationalism : its typical norms are both moral and , once the nation-state is in place , legally enforceable obligations in regard to all parties concerned , including the individual members of the ethno-nation .", "A weaker , but still quite demanding version speaks only of moral obligation ( `` sacred duty '' ) .", "A more liberal version is satisfied with a claim-right to having a state that would be `` rightfully owned '' by the ethno-nation .", "( ii ) The strength of the nationalist claim in relation to various external interests and rights : to give a real example , is the use of the domestic language so important that even international conferences should be held in it , at the cost of losing the most interesting participants from abroad ?", "The force of the nationalist claim is here being weighed against the force of other claims , those of individual or group interests , or rights .", "Variations in comparative strength of the claims take place on a continuum between two extremes .", "At one rather unpalatable extreme the nation-focused claims are seen as trumps that take precedence over any other claims , even over human rights .", "Further towards the center is the classical nationalism that gives nation-centered claims precedence over individual interest and many needs ( including pragmatic collective utility ) , but not necessarily over general human rights .", "( See , for example , McIntyre 1994 ,", "On the opposite end , which is mild , humane and liberal , the central nationalist claims are accorded prima facie status only ( see Tamir 1993 , Gans 2003 ) .", "( iii ) For which groups are the nationalist claims meant to be valid ?", "What is their scope ?", "First , they can be valid for every ethno-nation and thereby universal .", "An example would be the claim `` every ethno-nation should have its own state '' .", "To put it more officially", "Alternatively , a claim may be particularistic , such as the claim `` Group X ought to have a state '' , where this implies nothing about any other group :", "The most difficult and indeed chauvinistic sub-case of particularism , i.e. ( B ) , has been called `` invidious '' since it explicitly denies the privilege of having a state to some peoples .", "T. Pogge ( 1997 ) proposes a further division of ( B ) into the `` high '' stance , which denies it to some types of groups , and the `` low '' one which denies it to some particular groups .", "Serious theoretical nationalists usually defend only the universalist variety , whereas the nationalist-in-the-street most often defends the egoistic indeterminate one ( `` Some nations should have a state , above all mine ! '' ) .", "Classical nationalism comes in both particularistic and universalistic varieties .", "Although the three dimensions of variation -- internal strength , comparative strength , and scope -- are logically independent , they are psychologically and politically intertwined .", "People who are radical in one respect on the nationality issue tend also to be radical in other respects .", "In other words , attitudes tend to cluster together in stable clusters , so that extreme ( or moderate ) attitudes on one dimension psychologically and politically belong with extreme ( or moderate ) ones on others .", "The hybrids of extreme attitude on one dimension with moderate on the others are psychologically and socially unstable .", "The nationalist picture of morality has been traditionally quite close to the dominant view in theory of international relations , called `` realism '' .", "To put the point of classical realism starkly , morality ends at the boundaries of the nation-state ; beyond the boundaries there is nothing but anarchy .", "The view is explicit in", "Friederich Meinecke ( 1965 , Introduction ) and Raymond Aron ( 1962 ) , and very close to the surface in Hans Morgenthau ( 1946 ) ; for interesting links with contemporary nationalisms , see the paper by Michael", "C. Williams ( 2007 ) and the book edited by Duncan Bell ( 2008 ) .", "It nicely complements the main classical nationalist claim about nation-state , i.e. that each ethno-nation or people should have a state of its own and suggests what happens next : nation-states enter in competition in the name of their constitutive peoples .", "Let us return to our initial normative question , centered around ( 1 ) attitudes and ( 2 ) actions .", "Is national partiality justified and to what extent ?", "What actions are appropriate to bringing sovereignty about ?", "In particular , are ethno-national states and institutionally protected ( ethno - ) national cultures goods independent from the individual will of the members , and how far may one go in protecting them ?", "The philosophical debate for and against nationalism is a debate about the moral validity of its central claims .", "In particular the ultimate moral issue is the following : is any form of nationalism morally permissible or justified , and , if not , how bad are particular forms of it ?", "( For a recent debate on partiality in general , see", "Chatterjee and Smith 2003 . )", "Why do nationalist claims require a defense ?", "In some situations they seem plausible : for instance the plight of some stateless national groups -- the history of Jews and Armenians , the misfortunes of", "Kurds -- makes one spontaneously endorse the idea that having their own state would have solved the worst problems .", "Still , there are good reasons to examine the nationalist claims more carefully .", "The most general reason is that it should first be shown that the political form of nation state has some value as such , that a national community has a particular , or even central , moral and political value , and that claims in its favor have normative validity .", "Once this is established , a further defense is needed .", "Some classical nationalist claims appear to clash -- at least under normal circumstances of contemporary life -- with various values that people tend to accept .", "Some of these values are considered essential to liberal-democratic societies , while others are important specifically for the flourishing of culture and creativity .", "The main values in the first set are individual autonomy and benevolent impartiality ( most prominently towards members of groups culturally different from one 's own ) .", "The alleged special duties towards one 's ethno-national culture can interfere , and often do interfere , with individuals ' right to autonomy .", "Also , if these duties are construed very strictly they can interfere with other individual rights , e.g. , the right to privacy .", "Many feminist authors have noted that a suggestion typically offered by the nationalist , namely that women have a moral obligation to give birth to new members of the nation and to nurture them for the sake of the nation , clashes with both the autonomy and the privacy of these women ( Yuval-Davis 1997 , Moller-Okin 1999 , 2002 and 2005 ) .", "Another endangered value is diversity within the ethno-national community , which can also be thwarted by the homogeneity of a central national culture .", "The nation-oriented duties also interfere with the value of unconstrained creativity , e.g. , telling writers or musicians or philosophers that they have a special duty to promote national heritage does interfere with the freedom of creation .", "The question here is not whether these individuals have the right to promote their national heritage , but whether they have a duty to do so .", "In between these two sets of endangered values , the autonomy-centered and creativity-centered ones , are the values that seem to arise from ordinary needs of people living under ordinary circumstances ( Barry 2001 ) .", "In many modern states , citizens of different ethnic background live together , and very often value this kind of life .", "This very fact of cohabitation seems to be a good that should be upheld .", "Nationalism does not tend to foster this kind of multiculturalism and pluralism , judging from both theory ( especially the classical nationalist one ) and experience .", "But the problems get worse .", "In practice , a widespread variant of nationalism is the invidious particularistic form claiming rights for one 's own people and denying them to others , for reasons that seem to be far from accidental .", "The source of the problem is the competition for scarce resources : as Ernst Gellner ( 1983 ) has famously pointed out , there is too little territory for all candidate ethnic groups to have a state and the same goes for other goods demanded by nationalists for the exclusive use of their co-nationals .", "According to some authors ( McCabe 1997 ) the invidious variant is more coherent than any other form of nationalism : if one values one 's own ethnic group highly the simplest way is to value it tout court .", "If one definitely prefers one 's own culture in all respects to any foreign one , it is a waste of time and attention to bother about others .", "The universalist , non-invidious variant introduces enormous psychological and political complications .", "These arise from a tension between spontaneous attachment to one 's own community and the demand to regard all communities with an equal eye .", "This tension might make the humane , non-invidious position psychologically unstable , and difficult to uphold in situations of conflict and crisis .", "This psychological weakness renders it politically less efficient .", "The philosophical authors sympathetic to nationalism are aware of the evils that historical nationalism has produced , and usually distance themselves from these .", "They usually speak of `` various accretions that have given nationalism a bad name , '' and they are eager to `` separate the idea of nationality itself from these excesses '' ( Miller 1992 , 87 and Miller , 2000 ) .", "Such thoughtful pro-nationalist writers have participated in an ongoing philosophical dialogue between the proponents and the opponents of the claim ( see the anthologies McKim & McMahan 1997 , Couture , Nielsen , &", "Seymour 1998 , Miscevic 2000 and Primoratz and Pavkovic 2007 ) .", "In order to help the reader find his or her way through the involved debate , we shall briefly summarize the considerations which are open to the ethno-nationalist to defend his or her case .", "( Compare the useful overview in Lichtenberg 1997 . )", "The considerations and lines of thought built upon them can be used to defend very different varieties of nationalism , from radical to very moderate ones .", "It is important to offer a warning concerning the key assumptions and premises which figure within each of the lines of thought summarized below , namely , that the assumptions often live an independent life in the philosophical literature .", "Some of them figure in the proposed defenses of various traditional views which have little to do with the concept of a nation in particular .", "For brevity , I shall reduce each line of thought to a brief argument ; the actual debate is , however , more involved than one can represent in a sketch .", "I shall indicate , in brackets , some prominent lines of criticism that have been put forward in the debate .", "( These are discussed in greater detail in Miscevic 2001 . )", "The main arguments in favor of nationalism , which purport to establish its fundamental claims about state and culture , will be divided into two sets .", "The first set of arguments defends the claim that national communities have a high value , often seen as non-instrumental and independent of the wishes and choices of their individual members , and argues that they should therefore be protected by means of state and official statist policies .", "The second set is less deeply ` philosophical ' ( or ` comprehensive ' ) , and encompasses arguments from the requirements of justice , rather independent from substantial assumptions about culture and cultural values .", "The first set will be presented here in more detail , since it has formed the center of the debate .", "It depicts the community as the deep source of value or as the unique transmission device that connects the members to some important values .", "In this sense , the arguments from this set are communitarian in a particularly `` deep '' sense , since they are grounded in basic features of the human condition .", "Here is a characterization .", "The general form of deep communitarian arguments is the following .", "First , the communitarian premise : there is some uncontroversial good ( e.g. a person 's identity ) , and some kind of community is essential for acquisition and preservation of it .", "Then comes the claim that the ethno-cultural nation is the kind of community ideally suited for this task .", "Unfortunately , this crucial claim is rarely defended in detail in the literature .", "But here is a sample from Margalit , whose last sentence has been already quoted above :", "Then follows the statist conclusion : in order that such a community should preserve its own identity and support the identity of its members , it has to assume ( always or at least normally ) the political form of a state .", "The conclusion of this type of argument is that the ethno-national community has the right , in respect to any third party and to its own members , to have an ethno-national state , and the citizens of the state have the right and obligation to favor their own ethnic culture in relation to any other .", "Although the deeper philosophical assumptions in the arguments stem from the communitarian tradition , weakened forms have also been proposed by more liberally minded philosophers .", "The original communitarian lines of thought in favor of nationalism suggest that there is some value in preserving ethno-national cultural traditions , in feelings of belonging to a common nation and in solidarity between a nation 's members .", "A liberal nationalist might accept that these may not be the central values of political life , but claim that they are values nevertheless .", "Moreover , the diametrically opposite views , pure individualism and cosmopolitanism , do seem arid and abstract , and seem unmotivated by comparison .", "By cosmopolitanism I shall understand a moral and political doctrine of the following sort :", "The critics of cosmopolitanism sometimes argue that these two claims are incoherent since human beings generally strive best under some global institutional arrangement ( like ours ) that concentrates power and authority at the level of states .", "Confronted with opposing forces of nationalism and cosmopolitanism , many philosophers opt for a mixture of liberalism-cosmopolitanism and patriotism-nationalism .", "In his writings B. Barber glorifies `` a remarkable mixture of cosmopolitanism and parochialism '' which , in his view characterizes American national identity ( in Cohen 1996 , 31 ) .", "Charles Taylor claims that `` we have no choice but to be cosmopolitan and patriots '' ( ibid , 121 ) .", "Hilary Putnam proposes loyalty to what is best in the multiple traditions that each of us participates in ; apparently a middle way between a narrow-minded patriotism and a too abstract cosmopolitanism ( ibid , 114 ) .", "The compromise has been foreshadowed by Berlin ( 1979 ) , and", "Taylor ( 1989 , 1993 ) , and its various versions worked out in considerable detail by authors such as Yael Tamir ( 1993 ) , David Miller ( 1995 , 2000 ) , Kai Nielsen ( 1998 ) , Michel Seymour ( 2000 ) and Chaim Gans ( 2003 ) .", "In recent years it has occupied the center stage of the debate , and even provoked re-readings of historical nationalism in its light , for instance in Miller ( 2005 ) , Sung Ho Kim ( 2002 ) or Brian Vick ( 2007 ) .", "Most liberal nationalist authors accept various weakened versions of the arguments we list below , taking them to support moderate or ultra-moderate nationalist claims .", "Here are the main weakenings of classical ethno-nationalism that the liberal , limited-liberal and cosmopolitan nationalists propose .", "First , ethno-national claims have only prima facie strength , and can not trump individual rights .", "Second , legitimate ethno-national claims do not in themselves and automatically amount to the right to a state , but rather to the right to a certain level of cultural autonomy .", "The main models of autonomy are the territorial and the non-territorial one : the first involves territorial devolution , the second cultural autonomy granted to individuals regardless of their domicile within the state ( for a very stimulating discussion of comparative advantages and disadvantages of each see the papers by Reiner Baub\u00f6ck and Will Kymlicka in", "Dieckoff ( 2004 ) ; the former defends the non-territorial , and the latter the territorial option ) .", "Third , ethno-nationalism is subordinate to civic patriotism , and this has little or nothing to do with ethnic criteria .", "Fourth , ethno-national mythologies and similar `` important falsehoods '' are to be tolerated only if benign and inoffensive , in which case they are morally permissible in spite of their falsity .", "Finally , any legitimacy that ethno-national claims may have is to be derived from the choices the concerned individuals should be free to make .", "Consider now the particular arguments from the first set .", "The first argument depends on assumptions that also appear in the subsequent ones , but it ascribes to the community an intrinsic value , while the following ones point more towards an instrumental value of nation derived from the value of individual flourishing , moral understanding , firm identity and the like .", "( 1 ) The Argument From Intrinsic Value .", "Each ethno-national community is valuable in and of itself since it is only within the natural encompassing framework of various cultural traditions that important meanings and values are produced and transmitted .", "The members of such communities share a special cultural proximity to each other .", "By speaking the same language and sharing customs and traditions , the members of these communities are typically closer to one another in various ways than they are to those who do n't share the culture .", "The community thereby becomes a network of morally connected agents , i.e. , a moral community , with special , very strong ties of obligation .", "A prominent obligation of each individual concerns the underlying traits of the ethnic community , above all language and customs : they ought to be cherished , protected , preserved and reinforced .", "The general assumption that moral obligations increase with cultural proximity is often criticized as problematic .", "Moreover , even if we grant this general assumption in theory , it breaks down in practice .", "Nationalist activism is most often turned against close ( and substantially similar ) neighbors rather than against distant strangers , so that in many important contexts the appeal to proximity will not work .", "It might however retain its potential force against culturally distant groups .", "( 2 ) The Argument from Flourishing .", "The ethno-national community is essential for each of its members to flourish .", "In particular , it is only within such a community that an individual can acquire concepts and values crucial for understanding the community 's cultural life in general and the individual 's own life in particular .", "There has been much debate on the pro-nationalist side about whether divergence of values is essential for separateness of national groups .", "The Canadian liberal nationalists , Seymour ( 1999 ) ,", "Taylor , and Kymlicka , pointed out that the ` divergences of value between different regions of Canada ' that aspire to separate nationhood are ` minimal ' .", "Taylor ( 1993 , 155 ) concluded that it is not separateness of value that matters .", "This result is still compatible with the argument from flourishing , if ` concepts and values ' are not taken to be specifically national , as communitarian nationalists ( MacIntyre 1994 , Margalit 1997 ) have claimed .", "( 3 ) The Argument from Identity .", "Communitarian philosophers emphasize nurture over nature as the principal force determining our identity as persons -- we come to be the persons we are because of the social settings and contexts in which we mature .", "The claim certainly has some plausibility .", "The very identity of each person depends upon his/her participation in communal life ( see MacIntyre 1994 , Nielsen , 1998 , and Lagerspetz 2000 ) .", "For example , Nielsen writes :", "We are , to put it crudely , lost if we can not identify ourselves with some part of an objective social reality : a nation , though not necessarily a state , with its distinctive traditions .", "What we find in people -- and as deeply embedded as the need to develop their talents -- is the need not only to be able to say what they can do but to say who they are .", "This is found , not created , and is found in the identification with others in a shared culture based on nationality or race or religion or some slice or amalgam thereof ... .", "Under modern conditions , this securing and nourishing of a national consciousness can only be achieved with a nation-state that corresponds to that national consciousness ( 1993 , 32 ) .", "Given that an individual 's morality depends upon their having a mature and stable personal identity , the communal conditions which foster the development of such personal identity have to be preserved and encouraged .", "The philosophical nationalists claim that the national format is the right format for preserving and encouraging such identity-providing communities .", "Therefore , communal life should be organized around particular national cultures .", "The classical nationalist proposes that cultures should be given their states , while the liberal nationalist proposes that cultures should get at least some form of political protection .", "( For a discussion of linguistic issues , often tied to identity , see Kymlicka and Patten 2003 and Patten 2003 . )", "( 4 ) The Argument from Moral Understanding .", "A particularly important variety of value is moral value .", "Some values are universal , e.g. freedom and equality , but these are too abstract and `` thin '' .", "The rich , `` thick '' moral values are discernible only within particular traditions , to those who have wholeheartedly endorsed the norms and standards of the given tradition .", "As Charles Taylor puts it , `` the language we have come to accept articulates the issues of the good for us '' ( 1989 , 35 ) .", "The nation offers a natural framework for moral traditions , and thereby for moral understanding ; it is the primary school of morals .", "( I note in fairness that Taylor himself is ambivalent about the national format of morality . )", "An often-noticed problem with this line of thought is that particular nations do not each have a special morality of their own .", "Also , the detailed , `` thick '' morality may vary more across other divisions , such as class or gender divisions , than across ethno-national groups .", "( For a sophisticated and intriguing recent discussion of some surprising consequences of the claim that there are `` national values '' and of what happens when classical liberal values are counted as `` national values '' see Laegard ( 2007 ) . )", "( 5 ) The Argument from Diversity .", "Each national culture contributes in a unique way to the diversity of human cultures .", "The most famous twentieth century proponent of the idea , Isaiah Berlin ( interpreting Herder , who first saw this idea as significant ) writes :", "The ` physiognomies ' of cultures are unique : each presents a wonderful exfoliation of human potentialities in its own time and place and environment .", "We are forbidden to make judgments of comparative value , for that is measuring the incommensurable .", "The carrier of basic value is thus the totality of cultures , from which each national culture and style of life that contributes to the totality derives its own value .", "The argument from diversity is therefore pluralistic : it ascribes value to each particular culture from the viewpoint of the totality of cultures available .", "Assuming that the ( ethno - ) nation is the natural unit of culture , the preservation of cultural diversity amounts to institutionally protecting the purity of ( ethno - ) national culture .", "The plurality of styles can be preserved and enhanced by tying the styles to ethno-national `` forms of life '' .", "A pragmatic inconsistency might threaten this argument .", "The issue is who can legitimately propose ethno-national diversity as ideal : the nationalist is much too tied to his or her own culture to do it , while the cosmopolitan is too eager to preserve intercultural links that go beyond the idea of having a single nation-state .", "Moreover , is diversity a value such that it deserves to be protected whenever it exists ?", "Should the protection of diversity be restricted to certain aspects of culture ( s ) of proposed in full generality ?", "( For a more restricted moderate version of the argument from diversity , appealing to the analogy with bio-diversity , but focusing exclusively upon linguistic diversity see", "Fran\u00e7ois Grin in Kymlicka and Patten ( 2003 ) ) .", "The line of thought ( 1 ) is not individualistic .", "And ( 5 ) can be presented without reference to individuals : Diversity may be good in its own right , or may be good for nations .", "But other lines of thought in the set just presented are all linked to the importance of community life in relation to the individual .", "They emerged from the perspective of `` deep '' communitarian thought , and a recurrent theme is the importance of the fact that membership in the community is not chosen but rather involuntary .", "In each argument , there is a general communitarian premise ( a community , to which one has no choice whether or not to belong , is crucial for one 's identity , or for flourishing or for some other important good ) .", "This premise is coupled with the more narrow nation-centered descriptive claim that the ethno-nation is precisely the kind of community ideally suited for the task .", "However , liberal nationalists do not find these arguments completely persuasive .", "In their view , the premises of the arguments may not support the full package of nationalist ambitions , and may not be unconditionally valid .", "Still , there is a lot to these arguments , and they might support liberal nationalism and a more modest stance in favor of national cultures .", "The arguments in the second set concern political justice and do not rely on metaphysical claims about identity , flourishing and cultural values .", "They appeal to ( actual or alleged ) circumstances which would make nationalist policies reasonable ( or permissible or even mandatory ) , such as ( a ) the fact that a large part of the world is organized into nation states ( so that each new group aspiring to create a nation-state just follows an established pattern ) , or ( b ) the circumstances of group self-defense or of redress of past injustice that might justify nationalist policies ( to take a special case ) .", "Some of the arguments also present nationhood as conducive to important political goods , such as equality .", "( 1 ) The Argument From the Right to Collective", "A group of people of a sufficient size has a prima facie right to govern itself and decide its future membership , if the members of the group so wish .", "It is fundamentally the democratic will of the members themselves that grounds the right to an ethno-national state and to ethno-centric cultural institutions and practices .", "This argument presents the justification of ( ethno - ) national claims as deriving from the will of the members of the nation .", "It is therefore highly suitable for liberal nationalism but not appealing to a deep communitarian , who sees the demands of the nation as being independent from , and prior to , the choices of particular individuals .", "( For extended discussion of this argument , see", "Buchanan 1991 , which has become a contemporary classic , Moore 1998 , and Gans 2003 .", "For recent exchanges , see J. Levy in Dieckoff 2004 , and the volume on secession by Pavkovi\u0107 and Radan 2007 ) .", "( 2 ) The Argument From the Right to Self-defense and to", "Redress Past Injustices .", "Oppression and injustice give the victim group a just cause and the right to secede .", "If a minority group is oppressed by the majority , so that almost every minority member is worse off than most majority ones , simply in virtue of belonging to the minority , then the nationalist minority claims are morally plausible , and may even be compelling .", "The argument implies a restrictive answer to our questions ( 2b ) and ( 2c ) : the use of force in order to achieve sovereignty is legitimate only in the cases of self-defense and redress .", "Of course , there is a whole lot of work to be done specifying whom force may legitimately be used against , and how much damage may be done to how many .", "It establishes a typical remedial right , which is acceptable from a liberal standpoint .", "( See the discussion in Kukathas and Poole 2000 , also Buchanan 1991 .", "For past injustices see Waldron 1992 ) .", "( 3 ) The Argument From Equality .", "Members of minority group are often disadvantaged in relation to a dominant culture because they have to rely on those with the same language and culture to conduct the affairs of daily life .", "Since freedom to conduct one 's daily life is a primary good , and it is difficult to change or give up reliance on one 's minority culture to attain that good , this reliance can lead to certain inequalities if special measures are not taken .", "Spontaneous nation-building by the majority has to be moderated .", "Therefore , liberal neutrality itself requires that the majority provide certain basic cultural goods , i.e. , granting differential rights .", "Institutional protections and the right to the minority group 's own institutional structure are remedies that restore equality and turn the resulting nation-state into a more moderate multicultural one .", "( We note an interesting recent proposal by Robert E. Goodin ( 2006 ) , who distinguishes two motivations for multiculturalism and two possible resultant kinds , polyglot multiculturalism and protective multiculturalism .", "The latter is of Kymlicka 's cast , focused upon protecting the interest of minority from majority ; the former is inspired by ideals of diversity and the value of variety , the availabity of which in a given country `` expands the choice set of autonomous agents '' ( 2006 , 290 ) . )", "( 4 ) The Argument From Success .", "The nation-state has been successful in the past , promoting equality and democracy .", "Calhoun writes , in his recent book , `` ( ... ) imagining democracy requires thinking of '' the people `` as active and coherent and oneself as both a member and an agent .", "Liberalism informs the notion of individual agency , but provides weak purchase at best on membership and on the collective cohesion and capacity of the demos .", "In the modern era , the discursive formation that has most influentially underwritten these dimensions of democracy is nationalism '' ( 2007 , 147 ) .", "Ethno-national solidarity is a powerful motive for a more egalitarian distribution of goods ( Miller 1995 , Canovan 1996 , 2000 ) .", "The nation-state also seems to be essential to safeguard the moral life of communities in the future since it is the only form of political institution capable of protecting communities from the threats of globalization and assimilationism .", "( For a detailed critical discussion of this argument see Mason 1999 . )", "Calhoun himself is acutely aware of the limitations of his praise of nationalism , mentioning them literally on the same page as that from which our quotation is taken .", "A much more deflating diagnosis of the success has been recently offered by A. Roshwald in his ( 2006 ) book , where it is ascribed to paradoxical and contradictory nation of nationalist claims .", "To quote a fine summary given by A. Smith :", "An even more problematic kind of appeal to success is the one that a pro-capitalists might derive from the recent theory of Liah Greenfeld , according to which `` the factor responsible for the reorientation of economic activity toward growth is nationalism '' , and `` the unprecedented position of the economic sphere in the modern consciousness is a product of the dynamics of American society , in turn shaped by the singular characteristics of American nationalism '' ( 2001 , 1 ) .", "Greenfeld herself is very critical of nationalism , but someone might contemplate incorporating her theory ( cleaned of her critical attitude ) into a defense of nationalism .", "These political arguments can be combined with deep communitarian ones .", "However , taken in isolation , they offer the more interesting perspective of a `` liberal culturalism '' that is more suitable for ethno-culturally plural societies .", "It is more remote from classical nationalism than the liberal nationalism of Tamir and", "Nielsen , since it eschews any communitarian philosophical underpinning ( see the detailed presentation and defense in Kymlicka 2001 , and his recent truly encyclopedic work which still occasionally calls such culturalism ` nationalist ' , and a short summary in", "Kymlicka 2003 , and Gans 2003 ) .", "The idea of moderate nation-building points to an open multi-culturalism , in which every group receives its share of remedial rights , but instead of walling itself up against others , participates in a common , overlapping civic culture and in open communication with other sub-communities .", "Given the variety of pluralistic societies , and intense trans-national interactions , such openness seems to many to be the only guarantee of stable social and political life ( see the debate in Shapiro and Kymlicka 1997 ) .", "The openness is important to avoid the trap called by Margaret Canovan `` the paradox of the prowling cats '' ( 2001 ) .", "She warns that `` new nationalist theories inadvertently contain perverse incentives to nationalists to do the exact opposite of what the theorist intends to authorize '' .", "The only solution seems to be extreme moderation .", "The dialectics of moderating nationalist claims in the context of pluralistic societies might thus lead to a stance that is respectful of cultural differences , but liberal and potentially cosmopolitan in its ultimate goals .", "The liberal nationalist stance is mild and civil , and there is much to be said in favor of it .", "It trives to reconcile our intuitions in favor of some sort of political protection of cultural communities , with a liberal political morality .", "Of course , this raises issues of compatibility between liberal universal principles and the particular attachments to one 's ethno-cultural nation .", "Very liberal nationalists such as Tamir divorce ethno-cultural nationhood from statehood .", "Also , the kind of love for country they suggest is tempered by all kinds of universalist considerations , which in the last instance trump national interest ( Tamir 1993 , 115 ; see also Moore 2001 and Gans 2003 ) .", "There is an ongoing debate among philosophical nationalists about how much weakening and compromising is still compatible with a stance 's being nationalist at all .", "( For example , Canovan 1996 ( ch .", "10 ) presents Tamir as having abandoned the ideal of ` nation-state ' , and thereby nationhood as such ; Seymour ( 1999 ) criticizes Taylor and", "Kymlicka for turning their backs on genuine nationalist programs , and proposing multiculturalism instead of nationalism . )", "There is also a streak of cosmopolitan interest present in the work of some liberal nationalists ( Nielsen 1998/9 ) .", "In recent years the issues of nationalism have also been increasingly integrated into the debate on international order ( see the entries on globalization and cosmopolitanism ) .", "The main conceptual link is the claim that nation-states are natural , stable and suitable units of international order .", "It is underpinned by the assumption that to each nation-state corresponds its `` people '' , a culturally homogenous population whose members are prone to solidarity with their compatriots .", "The center stage of the recent debate is John Rawls ' view set out in his `` Law of", "Peoples '' ( 1999 ) , which ascribes a great deal of political promise and a high moral value to the international system composed of liberal and decent nation-states .", "More cosmopolitan critics of Rawls argue against such a high status for nation-states , and the assumption of homogenous `` peoples '' ( Pogge 2001 , 2002 ; O'Neil 2000 ;", "Nussbaum 2002 ( Other Internet Resources ) , Barry , 1999 ) .", "A related debate concerns the role of minorities in the processes of globalization ( see Kaldor , 2004 ) .", "The interest of philosophers in the morality of international order has generated interesting proposals about alternative sub-national and supra-national units , which could play a role besides nation-states , and might even come to supplement them ( for a fine summary see Held 2003 , for an interesting recent overview of alternatives see Walzer 2004 , chapter 12 ) .", "Moreover , the two approaches might ultimately converge : a multiculturalist liberal nationalism and a moderate , difference-respecting cosmopolitanism have a lot in common .", "One investigation in this direction has been undertaken by Kok-Chor Tan ( 2004 , see in particular ch .", "Let me illustrate the same point by briefly reverting to the recent debates on territory and nation .", "Liberal nationalists ( Miller 2000 , 2007 ; Gans 2003 ; Meissels 2009 ) try to preserve the traditional nationalist link between the ethnic `` ownership '' of the state , sovereignty and territorial control , but in a much more flexible and sophisticated setting .", "Tamar Meissels thus argues in favor of `` taking existing national settlements into account as a central factor in demarcating territorial boundaries '' since this line `` has both liberal foundations '' ( i.e. in the work of", "John Locke ) and liberal-national appeal ( 2009 , 159 ) on the ground of its affinity with the liberal doctrine of national self-determination .", "She combines it with Chaim Gans ' interpretation of ` historical right ' claims as ` the right to formative territories ' ( Gans 2003 , Ch .", "She thus combines `` historical arguments , understood as claims to formative territories '' with her argument from settlement and insists on their interplay and mutual reinforcement presenting them as being `` most closely related to , and based on , liberal nationalist assumptions and underlying ideas '' ( Meissels 2009 , 160 ) .", "However , she stresses that more than one ethnic group can have formative ties to a given territory , and that there might be competing claims based on settlement .", "But , given the experiences of the twentieth century ethno-national conflicts , one can safely assume that culturally plural states divided into isolated and closed sub-communities glued together only by arrangements of mere modus vivendi are inherently unstable .", "Stability might therefore require that the plural society envisioned by liberal culturalists promote quite intense within-state interaction between cultural groups in order to forestall mistrust , reduce prejudice and create a solid basis for cohabitation .", "On the opposite end of the spectrum , the more cosmopolitan authors ( Buchanan 2003 , Waldron 2005 ( Other Internet Resources ) also point to the fact of multiple settlements in roughly the same territory and the importance of the vicinity of various ethno-cultural groups .", "They stress internal cultural pluralism : for reasons of peace and security borders should bring together distinct cultural groups ( typically ethno-national ones ) , and they actually most often do so .", "One can then combine the two motivations , the one of culture suggesting open multiculturalism and the one of security supporting the Waldronian line according to which the point of the state is to resolve conflicts and establish justice , so that forming a state is a duty we owe to anyone with whom we are likely to come into endemic conflict .", "( Waldron 2005 , Other Internet Resources ) .", "But where should one stop ?", "The question arises since there are a lot of geographically and interactionally open territories of various sizes .", "First , geographical openness of big continental planes , then openness for interaction ( `` No island is an island any more '' , one could say ) and finally and dramatically , the massive eco-openness concerning ground and climate .", "So , if we follow the cosmopolitan logic of the interests of peace and security , this would suggest joining together bigger and bigger units in a kind of recursive scheme .", "For instance , EU was created to secure lasting peace , and other supra-statal and macro-regional might follow its lead .", "Ultimately , the combination of ethno-cultural and security focused considerations might thus point in a clearly cosmopolitan direction in formulating and solving dilemmas about the matters of territory .", "The philosophy of nationalism nowadays does not concern itself much with the aggressive and dangerous form of invidious nationalism that often occupies center stage in the news and in sociological research .", "Although this pernicious form can be of significant instrumental value mobilizing oppressed people and giving them a sense of dignity , its moral costs are usually taken by philosophers to outweigh its benefits .", "Nationalist-minded philosophers distance themselves from such aggressive nationalism , and mainly seek to construct and defend very moderate versions ; these have therefore come to be the main focus of recent philosophical debate .", "In presenting the claims that nationalists defend , we have started from more radical ones and have moved towards liberal nationalist alternatives .", "In examining the argument for these claims , we have first presented metaphysically demanding communitarian arguments , resting upon deep communitarian assumptions about culture , such as the premise that the ethno-cultural nation is universally the central and most important community for each human individual .", "This is an interesting and respectable claim , but its plausibility has not yet been established .", "The moral debate about nationalism has resulted in various weakenings of the cultural arguments , proposed by liberal nationalists , which render the arguments less ambitious but much more plausible .", "Having abandoned the old nationalist ideal of a state owned by its ethno-cultural dominant group , liberal nationalists have become receptive to the idea that identification with a plurality of cultures and communities is important for a person 's social identity .", "They have equally become sensitive to trans-national issues , and more willing to embrace a partly cosmopolitan perspective .", "Liberal nationalism has also brought to the fore more modest , less philosophically or metaphysically charged arguments grounded in the concerns of justice .", "These stress the practical importance of ethno-cultural membership , various rights to redress injustice , democratic rights of political association , and the role that ethno-cultural ties and associations can play in promoting just social arrangements .", "Liberal culturalists such as Kymlicka have proposed minimal and pluralistic versions of nationalism built around such arguments .", "In these minimal versions , the project of building classical nation-states is moderated or abandoned , and replaced by a more sensitive form of national identity which can thrive in a multicultural society .", "This new project , however , might demand a further widening of moral perspectives .", "Given the experiences of the twentieth century , one can safely assume that culturally-plural states divided into isolated and closed sub-communities glued together only by arrangements of mere modus vivendi are inherently unstable .", "Stability might therefore require that the plural society envisioned by liberal culturalists promote quite intense interaction between cultural groups in order to forestall mistrust , reduce prejudice and create a solid basis for cohabitation .", "On the other hand , as we noted above in connection with issues of territorial justice , once membership in multiple cultures and communities is admitted as legitimate , social groups will spread beyond the borders of a single state ( e.g. groups bound by religious or racial ties ) as well as within them , thus creating an opening for at least a minimal cosmopolitan perspective .", "The internal dialectic of the concern for ethno-cultural identity might thus lead to pluralistic and potentially cosmopolitan political arrangements that are rather distant from what was classically understood as nationalism .", "This is a short list of books on nationalism that are readable and useful as introductions to the literature .", "First , the two opposing social science contemporary classics :", "The two best recent anthologies of high-quality philosophical papers on the morality of nationalism , are :", "The debate continues in :", "A good brief sociological introduction to nationalism in general is", "Crosby , S.E. , 2005 , Nationalism : A Very Short Introduction ,", "Oxford : Oxford University Press .", "and to the gender-inspired criticism of nationalism is : and more recently the chapter on", "The best general introduction to the communitarian-individualist debate is still :", "For a non-nationalist defense of culturalist claims see", "Three very readable philosophical defenses of very moderate nationalism are :", "A polemical , witty and thoughtful criticism is offered in", "An influential critical analysis of group solidarity in general and nationalism in particular , written in the tradition of rational choice theory is :", "There is a wide offer of interesting sociological and political science work on nationalism , which is beginning to be summarized in"], "_citing_sentence": "We are forbidden to make judgments of comparative value, for that is measuring the incommensurable.\"", "_claim_name": "Nationalism creates diversity", "_doc_title": "Nationalism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Summer 2010 Edition)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [399]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 23, "_topic_name": "This House believes that nationalism can be a force for good"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Aid and Growth 23 .", "Evidence of the effect of development aid on economic growth is not clear cut .", "Professor Wood said `` There are no really clear and uncontested conclusions on the effects of aid on economic growth . ''", "Dr Evans agreed : `` The broad global relationship between aid and growth will probably remain forever inconclusive . ''", "Uncertainty reflects in part the innately complex relationship between aid and growth and in part the challenges of drawing lessons from `` a period of history in which the political , social and economic context -LSB- for aid -RSB- has changed markedly '' as the global political context has shifted and attitudes to development have changed .", "The challenges of assessing the impact of aid 24 .", "The question about the effectiveness of aid should perhaps be : `` how best , if at all , can aid transfers be designed to finance and support growth-promoting activities ? ''", "The period over which the impact of aid is measured also matters : aid for critical infrastructure is likely to have an immediate impact on incomes and growth , whereas the impact of aid for health and education is longer-term .", "The statistical evidence , which is inconclusive , relates to the average impact of aid , across countries and across donors .", "It does not tell policymakers the marginal effect of different forms of additional aid from a specific donor to a specific set of recipient countries .", "There are '' ... numerous possible determinants of growth , many of which are highly correlated with each other . ''", "Disentangling the effects on growth of aid and identifying the right counterfactual -- what would have happened if a country had not received any aid or had received more aid -- is very challenging .", "Since aid tends to be allocated to low-growth countries comparisons between countries receiving aid and others are difficult .", "Finally , there is a question of scale .", "Globally , aid accounts for a relatively small share of total financial flows to developing countries ( see Table 1 ) .", "Thus , even if every dollar of aid was as effective as private investment in generating economic growth , the measurable impact would be modest .", "Calculations suggest that at its most efficient , aid flows at their historical average level of 3.5 % of recipients ' GDP might contribute no more than an additional 0.5 % to recipients ' overall per capita growth rates .", "LSB- 41 -RSB- This would represent a not insignificant contribution to growth but impacts of this size ( or smaller ) are nonetheless difficult to discern from the economic data .", "As Mr Owen Barder , Director for Europe ,", "Center for Global Development , put it `` Given the modest volumes of aid , we should not expect an impact on growth which is bright enough to shine through the statistical fog . ''", "What does the evidence say ?", "There is an enormous amount of research seeking to peer through this fog using a variety of techniques and looking at different sets of countries and over different historical episodes .", "Results necessarily vary but a large majority of studies suggest a statistically significant but relatively weak positive effect of aid on growth in the short-run and the long-run .", "A smaller number of studies suggest no statistically significant measurable impact .", "All agree , however , that there is no robust evidence that aid has a significantly negative effect on economic growth on average .", "Delving behind the aggregate numbers , the research paints a picture that is broadly consistent with expectations .", "Aid tends to be more effective in well-governed countries with sound institutions and good macroeconomic management so that aid is effectively channelled into investment in infrastructure ; and when there is a clear alignment of objectives between donors and recipients .", "LSB- 46 -RSB- In countries where political institutions are weak or corrupt , and where economic policymaking is inimical to private sector investment , aid transfers are more vulnerable to expropriation and may lead to capital flight and undermine growth .", "Aid can also serve to strengthen the hand of the political elite against the people and help perpetuate autocratic rule .", "These results reinforce the well-known paradox that aid tends to be most effective where it is needed least .", "But the paradox may not always apply in post-conflict countries .", "Ms Sue Wardell , Director , Conflict , Humanitarian , Security and", "Middle East , DFID , cites recent research by Professor Collier and by the World Bank ( 2011 ) indicating that aid can be effective in stabilising post-conflict environments .", "LSB- 48 -RSB- In his book The Bottom Billion , and in oral evidence , Professor", "Collier suggests that aid may have added `` around 1 % to these countries ' annual growth rate '' , admittedly against a counterfactual of very poor economic performance .", "He claims that aid helped stop such countries from falling apart and thus gave them a chance to re-establish a measure of economic order .", "Most witnesses discount aid as a serious cause of Dutch disease -LSB- 51 -RSB- -- where a foreign exchange windfall leads to a strengthening of the exchange rate , damaging export competitiveness and underpinning an excessive reliance on ( relatively cheap ) imports , and so damages growth .", "Mr Riddell notes '' ... -LSB- the Dutch Disease -RSB- is a problem but two things seem to be critical .", "The first is for recipients to be aware of the potential problem , understand how it could occur and take steps to mitigate those effects .", "The second is a message for donors ... They have a key role to play by providing aid in a predictable manner , as short-term volatile inflows can be potentially the most disruptive . ''", "The difficulties of accurate measurement and attribution , and of assessing what would have happened if no aid had been given , are so formidable that the evidence that aid makes a contribution to growth in recipient countries is inconclusive .", "Aid and accountability 33 .", "Even if aid helps promote growth , it may still have harmful side-effects , for example by undermining the recipient governments ' accountability to their own people .", "Wood said `` I think there is a serious concern there .", "It is one of my biggest single worries about aid .", "If you give a country too much aid for too long you damage its basic governance structure because the politicians pay more attention to the donors than they do to their citizens . ''", "Ms Wrong put it more graphically , describing a slum resident in", "Nairobi during an outbreak of cholera '' ... looking at the television cameras and saying ` where are the donors ? '", ", and I thought why was n't he saying ` where is the mayor ' ... ` where are the MPs ? '", "... ` where is the government ? '", ", ... for me it really exemplifies what seems to be a massive problem with aid ... it whittle -LSB- s -RSB- away the accountability of African governments . ''", "We also heard compelling evidence , to which we return later in this Chapter , that aid can frequently finance corruption .", "Aid , particularly budget support , can also undermine recipient governments ' incentive to invest in effective domestic tax collection , although the evidence is mixed .", "Witnesses expressed concern that ill effects of aid could be magnified in fragile states whose institutions of governance and systems of political accountability are already weak , especially if fragile states are to receive a greater share of aid resources in future .", "Large and prolonged aid programmes can have a corrosive effect on local political systems when the priority becomes to attract aid rather than to solve problems .", "DFID should pay close attention to the scale and composition of aid programmes to ensure that resource flows do not overwhelm local ability to manage them and undermine systems of governance in recipient countries .", "They should also support recipient governments ' systems of audit and public financial management and have a credible exit strategy .", "Aid can be diverted from its intended use to other uses .", "This `` fungibility '' can happen directly , if aid given for one programme is spent on another programme , or indirectly , if aid given to support one programme frees other revenues for other purposes .", "Aid is said to be fungible if it does not add dollar-for-dollar to existing expenditures on the activity for which the aid was earmarked by the donor .", "Notorious examples are cited where money provided by donors is used to support purposes not approved by donors , for example military expenditure for internal repression .", "Some forms of aid are less fungible than others .", "Technical assistance tends to be the least fungible , simply because it is tied to specific projects that might otherwise not take place .", "Budget support is the most fungible .", "It is not necessarily true that all cases of fungibility are a bad thing .", "Sometimes circumstances change and money given for one purpose will produce a larger development return if used for another .", "However , fungibility is too often abused .", "It makes the evaluation of the effectiveness of aid harder ; it reduces confidence in donor countries in their aid programmes ; and in some cases it may cause side-effects which outweigh any beneficial effects of the donation .", "We believe that the closest possible audit of aid flows is necessary to minimise any risk of unjustified use of fungibility by recipient countries .", "Graduation from aid dependency 40 .", "Between 1961 and 2011 , 36 countries worldwide graduated from eligibility for the most concessional aid from", "DAC donors to middle-income status .", "But eight of these subsequently reversed and are now eligible again for the most concessional form of aid .", "LSB- 56 -RSB- Perhaps the most celebrated graduate is South Korea .", "As recently as 1960 it was receiving 10 % of GDP in aid ( not counting an even larger share of non-aid military support from the US ) .", "By the mid-1970s aid accounted for less than 1 % .", "In 2010 , South Korea completed the transition from recipient to donor and became a member of the DAC group of donors .", "Vietnam , Bangladesh and Ghana are examples of long aid-dependent very poor countries where recent growth has been driven by a dynamic private sector and where DFID is developing its exit strategy .", "The Secretary of State for International Development wrote `` Ghana shows that well-targeted long-term development , matched by political and economic stability , does work .", "British support has played a vital role in this ... our relationship , already focused on wealth creation , will soon move to an exit strategy as the private sector and economic growth replace the need for international aid . ''", "Recipient countries too wish to graduate from aid dependency .", "Professor Benno Ndulu , Governor of the Bank of Tanzania stated : `` I think a very clear sense and commitment is there to reduce aid dependency over time .", "In the medium-term plan that was recently approved by Parliament , there is a target that the country has set to reduce significantly the extent of dependency through increasing domestic revenue to a very large extent and finding other forms of financing that draw on the involvement of the private sector . ''", "Table 2 below shows how aid dependence , measured as aid as a share of GDP , has fallen very sharply in 11 fast-growing countries , often over a relatively short period .", "Fast-growing aid graduates", "Maximum aid as % of GDP", "Minimum aid as % of GDP", "Growth of GDP per capita p.a. 1990-2010", "Source : World Bank , Global Development Finance .", "Note : Korea , China and India now also donor nations .", "DFID cite the finding of the report of 2006 of the Commission on Growth and Development -LSB- 60 -RSB- -- a group of government officials , business people and academics backed by Western governments and the World Bank which examined the policies that fostered rapid and sustained economic growth and poverty reduction -- that a key driver of success was a strong `` future orientation '' that delivered high levels of private saving and investment .", "In the Commission 's view , while foreign savings ( i.e. aid and private FDI and capital flows ) play an important role in the early stages of a growth take-off , sustained growth depended on domestic saving and investment .", "We turn in Chapter 6 to the role of foreign aid in catalysing the take off in private sector growth .", "We welcome evidence of graduation from aid , or progress towards it , by a range of countries in Asia and", "We recognise that any contribution by aid to the economic growth which enables graduation may not have been great .", "We do not subscribe to the fallacy that because graduation took place after aid , it was even in part because of aid , since many factors such as governance , trade and investment affect growth .", "It seems likely that all contributed , and that aid 's impact was greater where , as in Botswana , Ghana or Kenya , it was a higher proportion of GNP in the early days of development and was delivered in support of a clear strategy for growth .", "We welcome the Secretary of State for International Development 's readiness to move with the times and prepare exit strategies in countries where graduation is near .", "Aid and corruption 46 .", "Transparency International defines corruption as `` the abuse of entrusted power for private gain . ''", "Mr Laurence Cockcroft , of its UK Board of Trustees , suggested that corruption damaged societies `` first , at the level of individuals ; second , at the level of the macroeconomy ; and , thirdly , at the level of the environment .", "In each case , I think that one can see that corruption is very devastating . ''", "He added that corruption is hugely regressive : the poor suffer today , especially in their ability to access public services , while future generations will suffer from the legacy of the low investment , slow growth and the depletion of natural and financial resources that a corrupt environment generates .", "The association between aid and corruption seems strong but precise causal links between aid and corruption are hard to identify , not least because , unsurprisingly , no reliable statistics on the scale of corruption exist .", "Ms Wrong was nevertheless categorical that '' ... -LSB- aid -RSB- and corruption always go hand-in-hand , because aid is essentially seen by those entrusted with it as `` free money '' , whose loss will go unnoticed by the giver and whose appropriation is nothing like as morally reprehensible as appropriating local tax revenue , for example . ''", "Certain types of aid are particularly vulnerable to corruption .", "Large and complex donor-funded projects can provide scope for bribery and fraud .", "Fungible aid transfers such as budget support which may be less easy to trace are also susceptible to corruption .", "The risks of corruption are greater in weak , unstable or failed states .", "It is important for donors to ensure that opportunities for corruption are as limited as possible by setting in place systems of audit and control as rigorous as local conditions permit and to withhold development aid altogether where corruption is rife and therefore endangers the effectiveness of aid .", "In the battle against corruption , to which we return later , accountants are more important than economists .", "Capital flight occurs when owners of liquid assets move them to other countries perceived as safe havens or as offering better returns .", "It can be legal or illegal .", "When legal it stays on the books of the entity or individual making the outward transfer .", "When illegal it disappears from records and is often associated with corruption .", "Transparency International UK cited a report -LSB- 65 -RSB- which estimated the developing world lost US$ 8.44 trillion over the decade to 2009 in illicit financial flows .", "They also observed that `` Leakages ... as a result of the illicit transfer of the proceeds of bribery , theft , kickbacks and tax evasion have been increasing relative to trade mispricing '' -LSB- 66 -RSB- -- when imports are corruptly over-priced and exports under-priced on customs documents as a means to transfer money overseas .", "Capital flight also reduces tax revenue .", "Christian Aid research estimated that developing countries lose $ 160 billion a year from transfer mis-pricing and false invoicing , around 1.5 times the global aid budget .", "Transparency International recommended that the Government should work with the G20 `` to curb illicit financial outflows from developing countries as well as ensure that the UK and other major financial centres do not absorb and benefit from these illicit outflows . ''", "Developing country economies can also suffer from legal capital flight when domestic economic conditions and investment opportunities are poor .", "Donors can help governments halt and reverse capital flight both by supporting government efforts to achieve macroeconomic stability and through measures aimed at improving the investment climate including infrastructure investment , the reduction of red tape and bureaucratic barriers to investment and so forth , what Professor Collier has referred to as `` investing in investing . ''", "We recommend that DFID should monitor and report on flows of capital from recipient countries , with a view to reducing aid where there are excessive outflows .", "We agree with Transparency International that the Government should explore with other G20 countries the scope to discourage illicit capital flight from developing countries .", "Aid and poverty 56 .", "Sustainable poverty reduction is the main aim of development assistance .", "Aid can reduce poverty in three main ways : direct support to the poor and vulnerable in the form of food aid , cash or in-kind transfers , usually in response to a pressing humanitarian imperative ; budgetary contributions to government -- or NGO-run programmes designed to improve social and welfare services to the poor , often in pursuit of Millennium Development Goals ; and development assistance that helps create the conditions for sustained economic growth .", "Local effects of aid to reduce poverty can often be seen .", "But assessing the role of aid in long-term sustainable global poverty reduction is much harder , in part because progress is so gradual and in part because of familiar difficulties of measurement , attribution and unknown counterfactuals .", "Researchers at the World Bank have tried to estimate the cost of lifting an individual permanently out of poverty through the so-called ` growth elasticity of poverty reduction ' which seeks to measure the amount of poverty reduction achieved for a given increase in average per capita incomes .", "Their estimates range widely -- reflecting a host of characteristics including how unequal the country is and how labour-intensive the growth -- but tend to reinforce the importance of economic growth to poverty reduction .", "Growth seems the most effective remedy for global poverty .", "We are surprised that the role of growth is not more fully acknowledged in the international community 's collective approach to poverty reduction .", "We recognise that trade , investment and remittances are all much more substantial than aid and more important in driving growth .", "We accept that accurate measurement of whether or how much aid helps promote growth is not available .", "But similar difficulties arise over measurement of the contribution to growth of trade , investment and remittances , though their indispensability to growth is undeniable .", "It is uncertain that aid makes a proportionate contribution .", "Carter and Temple , para 5 Back 38", "Roger Riddell `` Is aid working ?", "Is this the right question to be asking ?", "Open Democracy ( November 2009 ) ( http://www.opendemocracy.net/roger-c-riddell/is-aid-working-is-this-the-right-question-to-be-asking ) Back 39", "Barder , para 6 Back 40", "Carter and Temple , para 3 Back 41", "Tarp , para 11 Back 42", "Arndt , Channing ; Jones , Sam ; and Tarp , Finn ( 2010 ) `` Aid , Growth , and Development : Have We Come Full Circle ?", "Journal of Globalization and Development : Vol .", "Clemens , Michael , Steve Radelet , Rikhil Bhavnani and Samuel Bazzi ( 2004 ) `` Counting Chickens when they hatch : timing and the effects of aid on growth '' Centre for Global Development", "Working Paper 44 Back 44", "Raghuram G. Rajan & Arvind Subramanian , 2008 .", "`` Aid and Growth : What Does the Cross-Country Evidence Really", "Review of Economics and Statistics : Vol .", "Adrian Wood , Q 2 .", "`` The one thing we can be clear about is the evidence that almost certainly aid does not reduce growth '' .", "And Tarp , para 12 , `` Put differently , there is no systematic evidence that perverse economic effects from aid overshadow its benefits '' Back 46", "Morrissey , para 2-3 ; Barder , para 5 .", "Riddell , Q 2 Back 47", "Booth , para 4 Back 48", "Wardell , Q 179 Back 49", "Collier , Q 317 `` I do not think that I would even claim that it -LSB- aid -RSB- is necessary , but it can certainly be useful .", "Historically , it might have been necessary to reduce the number of countries that fell apart and to pull back those that did .", "We see from Somalia the enormous costs of what happens when a country really falls apart .", "The lesson of Somalia is basically that whatever it costs to avoid that situation is money well spent . ''", "Wardell , Q 179 , quotes Collier 's research on conflict prevention suggesting that that raising average per capita incomes `` from $ 250 per head to $ 500 per head , you can reduce the chance of conflict occurring by 50 % over a five-year period . ''", "Wood , Q 4 , Sachs , Q 466 '' ... if your aid policy is sensible , it will promote productivity on the supply side through the provision of infrastructure or a healthier labour force or a better educated labour force ... '' ; Ndulu , Q 41 , Picciotto , Q 41 Back 52", "Riddell , Q4 Back 53", "As with aid-growth evidence , results are contested .", "B. Clements , A. Pivovarsky and E. Tiongson ( 2004 ) `` Foreign", "Aid and Revenue Responses '' in S. Gupta , B. Clements and G. Inchauste ( eds ) Helping Countries Develop : The Role of Fiscal", "Policy find that development grants have a mild negative effect on tax effort , although loans had a contrary effect .", "Subsequent work , including Morrissey and Clist ( 2011 ) `` Aid and Tax Revenue :", "Signs of a Positive Effect since the 1980s '' Journal of International Development vol 23 , pp 165-80 , tends to overturn this result , particularly when the focus is on the last 15-20 years .", "The 36 graduates are : Albania , Azerbaijan , Botswana , Cameroon ,", "Chile , China , Colombia , Congo , Costa Rica , Cote d'Ivoire , Dominican", "Republic , Ecuador , Equatorial Guinea , Egypt , El Salvador , Honduras , Indonesia , Jordan , South Korea , Mauritius , Macedonia , Montenegro ,", "Morocco , Nicaragua , Nigeria , Papua New Guinea , Paraguay , Philippines ,", "Serbia , St. Kitts , Swaziland , Syria , Thailand , Tunisia , Turkey ,", "Zimbabwe.Eight of these have reversed and are again eligible for concessional aid : Cameroon , Congo , Cote d'Ivoire , Honduras , Nicaragua ,", "Nigeria , Papua New Guinea , Zimbabwe.Sources : DFID 1 , para 20 , and The World Bank International Development Association Graduates available at http://go.worldbank.org/PSTVR12110 Back 57", "DFID 1 , para 21 on Vietnam ; Manning , Q 287 on Bangladesh Back 58", "The Observer , ` Ghana 's boom proves aid really can work ' , 15 January 2012 Back 59", "Ndulu , Q 32 Back 60", "Secretary of State for International Development , ( SoS 2 ) , para 10 Back 61", "Transparency International-available at http://www.transparency.org/news_room/faq/corruption_faq Back 62", "Global Financial Integrity , Illicit Financial Flows from Africa :", "Hidden Resource for Development , page 7 Back 65", "Global Financial Integrity , Illicit Financial Flows from Developing", "Countries Over the Decade Ending 2009 Back 66", "Transparency International Back 67", "Christian Aid , para 6.4 Back 68", "Transparency International Back 69", "Q 323 Back 70 International Development Act ( 2002 ) Back 71", "Martin Ravallion ( 2004 ) `` Pro-Poor Growth : A Primer ''", "World Bank Policy Research Paper 3242 .", "Washington DC , World", "Those countries that have made most rapid progress towards the first of the MDGs-to halve those living in extreme poverty by 2015-have been the fast growing countries of East Asia , most notably India , China and Vietnam ."], "_citing_sentence": "The Lords Economic Affairs select committee explained why this is the case; \"aid is essentially seen by those entrusted with it as \"free money\", whose loss will go unnoticed by the giver and whose appropriation is nothing like as morally reprehensible as appropriating local tax revenue\".", "_claim_name": "The west does not know best", "_doc_title": "House of Lords - The Economic Impact and Effectiveness of Development Aid - Economic Affairs Committee", "_labeled_lineIDs": [104]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Andrew Gilligan 9:00 PM GMT 04 Feb 2012", "Pranab Mukherjee and other Indian ministers tried to terminate Britain 's aid to their booming country last year - but relented after the British begged them to keep taking the money , The Sunday Telegraph can reveal .", "The disclosure will fuel the rising controversy over Britain 's aid to India .", "The country is the world 's top recipient of British bilateral aid , even though its economy has been growing at up to 10 per cent a year and is projected to become bigger than Britain 's within a decade .", "Last week India rejected the British-built Typhoon jet as preferred candidate for a # 6.3 billion warplane deal , despite the Development Secretary , Andrew Mitchell , saying that Britain 's aid to Delhi was partly `` about seeking to sell Typhoon . ''", "Mr Mukherjee 's remarks , previously unreported outside India , were made during question time in the Rajya Sabha , the upper house of parliament .", "Pakistan politicians accused of squandering money on school laptops as British aid rolls in", "British aid money is funding corruption overseas , damning new report finds", "Trouble ahead with Indian jet deal", "Gap-year holidays that reveal the madness of overseas aid", "New overseas aid logo carries Union Flag", "Government to replaced Indian aid with small business loans `` We do not require the aid , '' he said , according to the official transcript of the session .", "`` It is a peanut in our total development exercises -LSB- expenditure -RSB- . ''", "He said the Indian government wanted to `` voluntarily '' give it up .", "According to a leaked memo , the foreign minister , Nirumpama Rao , proposed `` not to avail -LSB- of -RSB- any further DFID -LSB- British -RSB- assistance with effect from 1st April 2011 , '' because of the `` negative publicity of Indian poverty promoted by DFID '' .", "But officials at DFID , Britain 's Department for International Development , told the Indians that cancelling the programme would cause `` grave political embarrassment '' to Britain , according to sources in Delhi .", "DFID has sent more than # 1 billion of UK taxpayers ' money to India in the last five years and is planning to spend a further # 600 million on Indian aid by 2015 .", "`` They said that British ministers had spent political capital justifying the aid to their electorate , '' one source told The Sunday Telegraph .", "`` They said it would be highly embarrassing if the Centre -LSB- the government of India -RSB- then pulled the plug . ''", "Amid steep reductions in most British government spending , the NHS and aid have been the only two budgets protected from cuts .", "Britain currently pays India around # 280 million a year , six times the amount given by the second-largest bilateral donor , the United States .", "Almost three-quarters of all foreign bilateral aid going to India comes from Britain .", "France , chosen as favourite to land the warplane deal , gives around # 19 million a year .", "Controversial British projects have included giving the city of Bhopal # 118,000 to help fit its municipal buses and dustcarts with GPS satellite tracking systems .", "Bhopal 's buses got satellite tracking before most of Britain 's did .", "In India , meanwhile , government audit reports found # 70 million had disappeared from one DFID-funded project alone .", "Around # 44,000 of British aid was allegedly siphoned off by one project official to finance a movie directed by her son .", "Most aid donors to India have wound down their programmes as it has become officially a `` middle-income country , '' according to the World Bank .", "However , Britain has reallocated its aid spending to focus on India at the expense of some far poorer countries , including the African state of Burundi , which is having its British bilateral aid stopped altogether from next year .", "The decision comes even though India has a # 6 billion space programme , nuclear weapons and has started a substantial foreign aid programme of its own .", "It now gives out only slightly less in bilateral aid to other countries than it receives from Western donors .", "Supporters of British aid say that India still contains about a third of the world 's poor , with 450 million people living on less than 80p a day .", "DFID says its programmes -- which are now focused on the country 's three poorest states - save at least 17,000 lives a year and have lifted 2.3 million people out of poverty since 2005 .", "The junior development minister , Alan Duncan , said last week that cutting off British aid to India `` would mean that hundreds of thousands , if not millions , of people , will die who otherwise could live . ''", "However , Mr Mukherjee told the parliament last August that foreign aid from all sources amounted to only 0.4 per cent of India 's gross domestic product .", "From its own resources , the Indian government has more than doubled spending on health and education since 2003 .", "Last year , it announced a 17 per cent rise in spending on anti-poverty programmes .", "Though massive inequalities remain , India has achieved substantial reductions in poverty , from 60 per cent to 42 per cent of the population in the last thirty years .", "Emma Boon , campaign director of the TaxPayers ' Alliance , said : `` It is incredible that ministers have defended the aid we send to India , insisting it is vital , when now we learn that even the Indian government does n't want it . ''", "As long ago as 2005 , MPs on the international development select committee found that India `` seems to have become increasingly tired of being cast in the role of aid recipient . ''", "In their most recent report on the programme , last year , they said that British aid to the country should `` change fundamentally , '' with different sources of funding .", "The report praised a number of DFID projects , but questioned others .", "As well as the Indian government , many other Indians are sceptical about British aid .", "Malini Mehra , director of an Indian anti-poverty pressure group , the Centre for Social Markets , said aid was `` entirely irrelevant '' to the country 's real problems , which she said were the selfishness of India 's rich and the unresponsiveness of its institutions .", "`` DFID are not able to translate the investments they make on the ground into actual changes in the kind of structures that hold back progress , '' Ms Mehra said .", "`` Unless we arouse that level of indignation and intolerance of the situation , aid will make no difference whatsoever . ''", "Mr Mitchell last night defended British aid , saying : `` Our completely revamped programme is in India 's and Britain 's national interest and is a small part of a much wider relationship between our two countries .", "`` We are changing our approach in India .", "We will target aid at three of India 's poorest states , rather than central Government .", "`` We will invest more in the private sector , with our programme having some of the characteristics of a sovereign wealth fund .", "We will not be in India forever , but now is not the time to quit . ''", "DFID declined to comment on why it had asked the Indian government to continue with a programme it wanted to end .", "The best way to transfer money overseas In India"], "_citing_sentence": "India is a booming economy with GDP growth of 7% over most of the last twenty years, and it is likely to overtake the UK economy within a decade.", "_claim_name": "Too many strings", "_doc_title": "India tells Britain: We don't want your aid - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["NEW DELHI , June 27 --", "Facing a grave economic crisis , the newly elected Indian Government has begun urgent talks with the International Monetary Fund seeking emergency aid of several billion dollars .", "Yet the conditions for such assistance are stirring anxiety in this nation , which historically prides itself on self-reliance .", "At issue is not only the economy but also India 's sensitivity to Western involvement .", "What makes the nation 's plight especially delicate is the realization that , without bowing to Western conditions for economic change , India could slide into collapse .", "The immediate issue is India 's struggle to avoid defaulting on loans .", "It has never defaulted since independence 44 years ago .", "India 's foreign debt has climbed to about $ 72 billion , making it the world 's third largest debtor after Brazil and Mexico .", "In 1980 , its foreign debt was $ 20.5 billion .", "At the moment , Western officials say , India has only $ 1.1 billion in its hard-currency reserves , enough for two weeks of imports .", "Policy Changes Required", "Government officials and Western diplomats say that , to meet the emergency , India will seek anywhere from $ 5 billion to $ 7 billion from the International Monetary Fund .", "The I.M.F. pulls together packages of loans disbursed under conditions that often include altering policies viewed by the fund as mistaken or counterproductive .", "The loan plan has been front-page news for several days , and the political opposition has responded with confusion .", "Essentially , parties on the right and left have expressed anxiety about India 's perilous economic condition , but ask if there are other options besides going to an international agency that would attach firm strings to a huge loan .", "The Government says there are not .", "Officials said that it would be the biggest loan the I.M.F. has ever made to India , and that it would hinge on a set of conditions demanding that India reduce its budget deficit , open its markets to foreign competition , diminish its maze of licensing requirements , cut subsidies , and liberalize investment .", "India , which still views itself as a socialist nonaligned leader , views the potential arrangement with pain , even embarrassment .", "`` We are very uneasy about conditions imposed on us , '' said Ashis Nandy , a political scientist at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi .", "`` This will be seen as a kind of interference with India 's autonomy . ''", "` Most Serious Economic Crisis '", "T. N. Ninan , editor of the Economic Times , an influential daily , said : `` This is the most serious economic crisis we have faced .", "We have never had this kind of debt problem .", "The Government fiscal position has never been as bad as it is today .", "There will be some demurring from critics about a loan .", "There 'll be some opposition .", "The left will oppose this arrangement .", "But most of us know that the alternative will be much worse than accepting an I.M.F. loan . ''", "The economic crisis came about because of an overlap of political and economic problems , including India 's revolving-door Governments in the last two years , with four Prime Ministers and four finance ministers , which led to virtual economic paralysis .", "Other factors included the absence of a coherent budget in recent years , a spiraling deficit , rising inflation and India 's panicky purchase of oil at $ 30 a barrel , about $ 10 higher than today 's price , during the Persian Gulf war .", "`` India is currently passing through its most difficult economic situation in a decade , '' according to an unclassified United States Embassy document .", "With the Soviet Union , once a major patron and supporter of India , facing its own economic and political crisis , India , essentially , has nowhere else to go now but the West .", "Recently , India was forced to sell 20 tons of gold in order to pay off creditors .", "No ` Soft Options '", "Mr. Rao , who was sworn in as Prime Minister last week , has already sent a signal to the nation -- as well as the I.M.F. -- that India faced no `` soft options '' and must open the door to foreign investment , reduce red tape that often cripples initiative and streamline industrial policy .", "Mr. Rao made his comments in a speech to the nation Saturday night .", "On Tuesday , the new Finance Minister , Manmohan Singh , said that India must face the `` harsh realities '' of a changed world , that excessive bureaucracy and controls had damaged the nation 's economy , that foreign investment would be sought and that India must face the realities of failed policies .", "In remarks that would have been unthinkable by a Cabinet official in recent years , Mr. Singh demanded `` no ideological hang-ups '' and contrasted India to South Korea .", "The two nations had the same per capita income in 1956 .", "`` But we have fallen way behind while South Korea has emerged as an economic giant , '' he said .", "Such comments -- coupled with the I.M.F. loan negotiations -- have resulted in some angry , if muted , political criticisms , on the left and right .", "The I.M.F. has indicated , according to officials , that it wants to see the Government 's budget , to be issued next month , as well as how India deals immediately with its problems , before agreeing to a major loan .", "A $ 1.8 billion emergency loan from the I.M.F. , approved in January , has already been depleted .", "A wing of the Communist Party has already described as `` unacceptable , '' a potential condition of the I.M.F. loan that would seek reductions of food and fertilizer subsidies .", "Indrajit Gupta , general secretary of another group , the Communist Party of India , said : `` The controversy we face is not so much over the loan , but the conditions .", "That 's what concerns us .", "Is the I.M.F. imposing its economic sovereignty over India , that 's what we want to know .", "The economic situation is serious .", "Something must be done .", "But when they want us to cut subsidies , who will actually be affected , the rich or the poor ? ''", "Room for Debate asks whether shorefront homeowners should have to open their land to all comers .", "New York City 's top public schools must become more diverse ."], "_citing_sentence": "This similarity is made even closer when western aid has strings and institutions like the IMF impose 'liberalisation' of markets as it did for India at the end of the 1980s.", "_claim_name": "\"White Man's Burden\"", "_doc_title": "Economic Crisis Forcing Once Self-Reliant India to Seek Aid - NYTimes.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [16]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Feb. 29 , 2012 -- The number of people in extreme poverty and the poverty rate declined in every region of the developing world during 2005-2008 , the first time it ever happened over a three-year monitoring cycle since the World Bank started tracking extreme poverty .", "The data released today by the World Bank 's Development Research Group show that 22 % of the developing world 's population -- or 1.29 billion people -- lived on $ 1.25 or less a day in 2008 , down from 43 % in 1990 and 52 % in 1981 .", "The update draws on 850 household surveys conducted by nearly 130 countries , representing 90 % of the developing world 's population .", "It covers 1981 to 2008 , mainly because newer data from low-income countries are either scarce or not comparable with previous estimates , though more recent statistics are available for middle-income countries and a handful of poorer countries to allow preliminary estimates for 2010 .", "Those preliminary estimates , which are based on a smaller sample size than in the global update , indicate that by 2010 the $ 1.25-a-day poverty rate fell to less than half of the 1990 rate .", "That means the developing world has achieved , ahead of time , the United Nation 's first Millennium Development Goal of cutting the 1990 extreme-poverty rate in half by 2015 .", "It also means most countries recovered quickly from the recent food , fuel and financial crises .", "`` The developing world has made remarkable progress in fighting extreme poverty , and it has proved resilient to recent economic shocks and rising food and oil prices , '' says Martin Ravallion , director of the Development Research Group and leader of the team that produced the numbers .", "`` But even with the current rate of progress , about one billion people would still live in extreme poverty in 2015 .", "And the bunching up we see just above the $ 1.25-a-day line points to the continuing vulnerability of poor people across the world . ''", "Some regions have seen greater progress than others .", "East Asia cut the proportion of people living on less than $ 1.25 a day to 14 % in 2008 from 77 % in 1981 .", "China , in particular , had 663 million fewer people living on less than $ 1.25 a day in 2008 than 1981 , around the time the country 's reform period began .", "But the developing world without China tells a more mixed story : The total poverty count in all other developing countries was around 1.1 billion people in 2008 , roughly the same as in 1981 , though the number had risen and then fallen since 1999 .", "Sub-Saharan Africa has reduced the $ 1.25-a-day poverty rate to 47 % in 2008 , the first time it has dipped below 50 % .", "And the region has seen falling numbers of the extreme poor since 2005 , reversing the long-run increase since 1981 .", "video platform video management video solutions video player", "Over the period as a whole , there was only a small drop in the number of people living on less than $ 2 per day , to 2.47 billion in 2008 from 2.59 billion in 1981 , although the number rose then fell within the period , and has fallen substantially since 1999 , when 2.94 billion lived below $ 2 a day .", "The estimates , which are updated every few years by the Bank 's Development Research Group , are widely used in international development .", "The Bank 's official international line is set at $ 1.25 a day , the average of the poverty lines in the world 's poorest 10 to 20 countries .", "Each country has its own poverty line and ( naturally ) richer countries tend to have higher lines .", "The Bank also looks at other lines , such as $ 2 , which is the median poverty line for all developing countries .", "The poverty line is designed to compare spending power across different countries .", "That is done using the purchasing-power parity exchange rates , which are derived from the results of the price surveys conducted for the 2005 International Comparison Program .", "The researchers first convert those numbers to local currency units using the purchasing-power parity rate , and then convert the line to the prices prevailing at the time of each household survey , using the best available Consumer Price Index .", "The poverty lines are applied to data on household consumption of commodities , or income if consumption is not available .", "However , it is recognized that consumption does not allow for non-market goods , such as access to health care and schooling .", "Nor does it allow for inequality within the household .", "To get a full picture of the welfare of low-income people , the Bank also analyzes other indicators of well-being , like schooling attainments and health status .", "The public can access all statistics underlying the new international estimates via the online tool , PovcalNet , which allows users to calculate poverty rates using global , regional and national numbers .", "Many data , especially those from middle-income countries and regions , are more recent than 2008 .", "`` PovcalNet is the Bank 's interactive , open-data tool for poverty and inequality measurement , '' says Shaohua Chen , senior statistician in the Bank 's Research Group who manages PovcalNet .", "`` With our newly-revamped site , users can easily duplicate our results , or conduct their own research using any line or country grouping to their liking . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Indeed China has been the country most successful at reducing poverty and it has done it through economic growth not large amounts of development aid.", "_claim_name": "Too many strings", "_doc_title": "Data & Research - New Estimates Reveal Drop In Extreme Poverty 2005-2010", "_labeled_lineIDs": [12]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation", "Mark Tran and", "Friday 16 November 2012 11.56 EST", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 12.54 EDT", "Britain has suspended all direct aid to the Ugandan government with immediate effect , the international development secretary , Justine Greening , announced on Friday .", "Aid to the Ugandan prime minister 's office was frozen in August , following allegations of fraud , while an independent forensic audit was ordered .", "Greening has now suspended other bilateral aid , which is spent through Uganda 's financial systems , known as direct financial aid .", "In the 1990s the Ugandan president , Yoweri Museveni , was considered an aid darling among donors for his swift response to the Aids crisis and his efforts to stabilise the country after decades of political turmoil and repression under Milton Obote and Idi Amin .", "But his reputation has dimmed in recent years because of his heavy-handed tactics in dealing with political opposition and following accusations that he has been arming troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .", "He changed Uganda 's constitution to allow him to run for office after more than two terms .", "In 2005 , the UK diverted # 15m of aid meant for the Ugandan government to be channelled through the UN over alleged rights abuse , and withheld an additional # 5m until fair , multiparty elections were held .", "Total direct financial aid to Uganda planned for this financial year was # 26.9 m .", "The UK has frozen the remaining # 11.1 m due to be paid before the end of March .", "This includes general budget support and other projects .", "The forensic audit has raised questions about a small proportion of this .", "The Department for International Development ( DfID ) said there has been no confirmed loss to UK taxpayers at this stage as the investigation continues .", "`` Britain has frozen all UK aid spent through the Ugandan government .", "This is a result of initial evidence emerging from our ongoing forensic audit of the office of the prime minister , which indicates aid money may have been misused , '' said DfID .", "`` We are extremely concerned by these preliminary findings and we will assess the decision further when we have considered the full findings of the report .", "Unless the government of Uganda can show that UK taxpayers ' money is going towards helping the poorest people lift themselves out of poverty , this aid will remain frozen and we will expect repayment and administrative and criminal sanctions . ''", "Total planned bilateral aid from Britain to Uganda this financial year is # 98.9 m. Bilateral aid to the east African country is delivered through channels including the Ugandan government , the private sector , multilateral bodies and NGOs .", "In August , DfID froze money to the Ugandan prime minister 's office amid reports that funds from several European countries had been funnelled into the private bank accounts of officials in prime minister Patrick Amama Mbabazi 's office .", "No British money was taken .", "According to the Daily Mail , questions were raised when the Irish government was told by Ugandan auditors that its joint funding of $ 12m ( # 10m ) with Norway , Denmark and Sweden had ended up in accounts belonging to the prime minister 's aides instead of going to pay for a peace recovery and development programme in northern Uganda .", "The UK 's coalition government has come under strong pressure from Tory backbenchers to reduce foreign aid at a time of deep budget cuts at home .", "David Cameron , the prime minister , has pledged that Britain will meet the UN target of spending 0.7 % of gross national income on development assistance .", "\u2022 This article was amended on 30 July 2013 to remove a link to a Daily Mail article that has been taken down ."], "_citing_sentence": "Development can also be misspent as a result of corruption and a lack of oversight, for example the UK suspended its aid to Uganda as a result of indications it was being misused by the Ugandan government and not \"going towards helping the poorest people lift themselves out of poverty\".", "_claim_name": "The west does not know best", "_doc_title": "UK suspends aid to Uganda as concern grows over misuse of funds | Global development | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [19]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 24, "_topic_name": "This House would stop sending development aid to India"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Objective To systematically review the evidence that smoking cessation after diagnosis of a primary lung tumour affects prognosis .", "Design Systematic review with meta-analysis .", "Data sources CINAHL ( from 1981 ) , Embase ( from 1980 ) , Medline ( from 1966 ) , Web of Science ( from 1966 ) , CENTRAL ( from 1977 ) to December 2008 , and reference lists of included studies .", "Study selection Randomised controlled trials or observational longitudinal studies that measured the effect of quitting smoking after diagnosis of lung cancer on prognostic outcomes , regardless of stage at presentation or tumour histology , were included .", "Data extraction Two researchers independently identified studies for inclusion and extracted data .", "Estimates were combined by using a random effects model , and the I2 statistic was used to examine heterogeneity .", "Life tables were used to model five year survival for early stage non-small cell lung cancer and limited stage small cell lung cancer , using death rates for continuing smokers and quitters obtained from this review .", "Results In 9/10 included studies , most patients studied were diagnosed as having an early stage lung tumour .", "Continued smoking was associated with a significantly increased risk of all cause mortality ( hazard ratio 2.94 , 95 % confidence interval 1.15 to 7.54 ) and recurrence ( 1.86 , 1.01 to 3.41 ) in early stage non-small cell lung cancer and of all cause mortality ( 1.86 , 1.33 to 2.59 ) , development of a second primary tumour ( 4.31 , 1.09 to 16.98 ) , and recurrence ( 1.26 , 1.06 to 1.50 ) in limited stage small cell lung cancer .", "No study contained data on the effect of quitting smoking on cancer specific mortality or on development of a second primary tumour in non-small cell lung cancer .", "Life table modelling on the basis of these data estimated 33 % five year survival in 65 year old patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer who continued to smoke compared with 70 % in those who quit smoking .", "In limited stage small cell lung cancer , an estimated 29 % of continuing smokers would survive for five years compared with 63 % of quitters on the basis of the data from this review .", "Conclusions This review provides preliminary evidence that smoking cessation after diagnosis of early stage lung cancer improves prognostic outcomes .", "From life table modelling , the estimated number of deaths prevented is larger than would be expected from reduction of cardiorespiratory deaths after smoking cessation , so most of the mortality gain is likely to be due to reduced cancer progression .", "These findings indicate that offering smoking cessation treatment to patients presenting with early stage lung cancer may be beneficial .", "Worldwide , lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer .1 In the United Kingdom , its annual incidence is second only to that of breast cancer , accounting for around 39 000 new cancer diagnoses annually .2 In countries that have seen a high prevalence of smoking , around 90 % of diagnoses of lung cancer are attributable to cigarette smoking .3 The increased incidence from smoking is proportional to the length and intensity of smoking history .4 On average , a lifetime smoker has a 20-fold increase in the risk of developing lung cancer compared with a lifetime non-smoker .1 Lung cancer is more common in men than in women , closely following past patterns of smoking prevalence , and 80 % of cases are diagnosed in people aged over 60.2", "Smoking cessation before diagnosis reduces the risk of developing a primary tumour of all major histological types of lung carcinoma ; the greatest reduction is seen in small cell and squamous cell tumours .5 However , whether smoking cessation after diagnosis of a lung tumour can improve survival rates is less clear .", "The biological mechanisms by which toxins in tobacco smoke cause lung cancer are complex and still not completely understood , but carcinogens in tobacco smoke may not only act as genetic inducers but also act to promote progression of the disease .6 7 As well as potentially reducing the risk of cancer related morbidity and mortality , quitting smoking at diagnosis could reduce overall mortality , as smoking cessation reduces mortality from other diseases such as heart disease , stroke , and chronic obstructive airways disease .8 9", "Prognosis of lung cancer is poor ; around 7 % of patients survive for five years , and most patients are treated palliatively from diagnosis .", "The difficulty and discomfort of smoking cessation may mean that many patients with advanced disease choose to continue smoking .", "However , around 20 % of patients present early enough to be treated with curative intent ( stage I-IIIa non-small cell lung cancer , limited stage small cell lung cancer ) and have a relatively good prognosis .2 With improvements in treatment and screening and the ageing population , this group of patients is likely to grow .10 The UK cancer reform strategy has called for improved services and support for survivors of cancer generally ,11 and interventions to support smoking cessation after diagnosis tailored to the needs of lung cancer patients could be part of these .12 Such an intervention should be based on robust evidence that quitting smoking actually improves outcomes .", "We systematically reviewed the literature to summarise the evidence for the effect of quitting smoking after diagnosis of a primary lung tumour on prognostic outcomes .", "We searched for randomised controlled trials or longitudinal observational studies in patients with lung cancer , regardless of histology or stage at presentation , that measured the effect of quitting smoking after diagnosis on the risk of all cause mortality , cancer specific mortality , development of a second primary tumour , or recurrence .", "We searched CINAHL ( from 1981 ) , Embase ( from 1980 ) , Medline ( from 1966 ) , Web of Science ( from 1966 ) , and CENTRAL ( from 1977 ) to December 2008 , using search strategies developed with the support of an information specialist that included exploded MeSH terms and also text words relating to smoking and lung cancer .", "Because of the large volume of studies identified from the search , we separately used two types of filter for study design in databases that returned a high number of studies .", "Firstly , we filtered search returns for randomised controlled trials in Medline and Web of Science by using database specific filters .", "Secondly , we separately filtered search returns for longitudinal observational studies in Embase and Medline by using `` prognosis-specificity '' database specific filters and in Web of Science by using text words relating to the study design .", "All searches were combined in a reference manager database and duplicates removed .", "We also searched the reference lists of included studies .", "Two independent reviewers read titles , abstracts , and full text papers and applied the inclusion criteria .", "Two reviewers independently extracted data from included full text papers .", "For each study , we extracted data on baseline characteristics ( age , sex , histology , stage , grade , and smoking history ) of the study population that could potentially confound the link between smoking and the outcome .", "We also extracted the number of continuing smokers , the number of quitters , and the length of follow-up .", "We extracted survival outcomes as hazard ratios with 95 % confidence intervals .", "If these were not presented , we followed methods described by Parmar to extract them from Kaplan-Meier curves , P values , or percentage survival ( for example , five year survival ) .13 We contacted authors if data were not presented in a useable form .", "In some studies , observed risk was presented as a proportion of expected risk calculated by Poisson regression modelling with general population data .", "In these cases , we calculated the hazard ratio by indirect comparison .14 We combined extracted hazard ratios by using a random effects inverse variance model in Stata .", "We compared adjusted and unadjusted estimates separately for each outcome in both non-small cell and small cell lung cancer , and we tested for statistical heterogeneity by using the I2 test .", "Papers in languages other than English were translated .", "We assessed the quality of studies on the basis of a framework proposed by Altman for the assessment of prognostic studies .15 Two points were available for each of clarity of the inclusion criteria , controlling for comorbidities , method of obtaining smoking data ( with an extra point for biochemical validation ) , clarity of definition of smoking category , and length of follow-up , with a maximum score of 11 .", "Assuming that the findings of the review reflected a causal relation between smoking cessation and risk of all cause mortality , we further investigated the data by constructing life tables for a hypothetical group of 100 patients aged 65 years with early stage lung cancer to estimate how many deaths would be prevented by smoking cessation within the non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer populations during five years .", "We applied the average risk of death for continued smoking estimated from studies included in this review that reported survival curves to estimate the number of patients surviving after five years .16 17 We estimated five year survival in quitters at diagnosis by applying the death rate of continuing smokers multiplied by the reciprocal of the multivariate hazard ratio for all cause mortality presented in this review .", "One possible explanation for any improvements seen in the survival of patients who stop smoking might be a reduction in mortality from cardiorespiratory causes , as the risk of death from these diseases reduces after cessation .9 18 Consequently , we estimated the expected contribution of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases by using life tables as above to find the number of cardiorespiratory deaths prevented by smoking cessation in the general population .", "We estimated the risk of death due to cardiorespiratory causes in the general population of 65-69 year olds from data from the Office for National Statistics .19 We assumed that this death rate was approximately that of the non-smoking population , because around 12 % of this age group smoke .20 We multiplied this rate by the relative risk of death from cardiorespiratory causes in lifelong smokers to estimate the number of deaths that would be expected over five years from cardiorespiratory causes in the general population of 65 year olds who smoke .", "We then applied the risk reduction from cessation to estimate the number of deaths that would be prevented and compared this with those prevented in non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer populations as estimated in this review .9", "We did not identify any randomised controlled trials testing the effect of smoking cessation on prognostic outcomes in lung cancer .", "Also , in all studies identified except one ,21 most of the patients presented with early stage lung cancer and so the results reflect the possible effect of smoking cessation in early stage lung cancer only rather than in advanced disease .", "We obtained full text articles for 268 papers , from which we included 10 individual cohort studies in the review ( fig 1 \u21d3 ) .", "Fig 1 Flow of studies through trial", "A small proportion ( 10/268 ) of retrieved studies compared the risk of developing outcomes of interest in participants who continued smoking with that in people who quit smoking around the time of diagnosis .16 17 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Of these , five studies estimated the impact of continued smoking on all cause mortality ( four non-small cell lung cancer , two small cell lung cancer ) , four studies looked at the development of second primaries ( one non-small cell lung cancer , three small cell lung cancer ) , and two studies looked at recurrence of the primary tumour ( one non-small cell lung cancer , one small cell lung cancer ) .", "No studies reported the impact of continued smoking on cancer specific mortality .", "In eight studies that reported sex , most participants were male , ranging from 55 % to 86 % .", "All studies reported stage of disease ; nine of the studies used a sample of patients of whom more than 75 % presented in potential curable early stages -- that is , stage 1-3a non-small cell lung cancer or limited stage small cell lung cancer .", "Only one study reported tumour grade ( table 1 \u21d3 ) .25 Characteristics of participants in included studies", "Overall , scores for quality of studies ranged from 5 to 9 points out of a maximum of 11 points .", "Most studies measured exposure to smoking retrospectively on the basis of self report , and definitions of smoking status were often not clear .", "Quality points were also lost owing to lack of adequate control for comorbidities .", "Patients were followed up for smoking status at six months or longer in five studies ,16 22 23 26 28 but smoking was only measured at the time of diagnosis or treatment in four studies ,17 21 24 27 and follow-up was not defined in one study .25 Two studies defined quitting as continuous abstinence from within six months of starting treatment to longest follow-up ,22 23 and one study defined quitting as continuous abstinence during and after treatment .21 The remaining studies did not give a definition of quitting .", "In three studies ,23 26 28 patients were included in the analysis if they had survived two years disease free , and one study included only patients who had been disease free for three years ( table 2 \u21d3 ) .22 Methodological characteristics of included studies and quality score", "Four studies reported estimates of the association between continued smoking and all cause mortality , one study reported the association with occurrence of a second primary tumour , and one study with recurrence in non-small cell lung cancer ( fig 2 \u21d3 ) .", "Estimates were derived from samples in which at least 80 % of patients were diagnosed with a stage 1-3a tumour .", "Unadjusted estimates suggested that continued smoking was associated with an increased risk of all cause mortality of 19 % compared with quitters , although this was not significant .", "One of the four studies reported the association of baseline prognostic indicators with smoking status and showed no significant difference in distribution , suggesting limited confounding .17 However , adjustment for key prognostic variables resulted in an almost threefold increase in risk of all cause mortality for continuing smokers ( hazard ratio 2.94 , 95 % confidence interval 1.15 to 7.54 ) .", "After adjustment , we found no significant increase in the occurrence of second primaries ( hazard ratio 2.29 , 0.50 to 10.58 ) ; however , one study reported an almost twofold increase in risk of recurrence for continuing smokers ( 1.86 , 1.01 to 3.41 ) .", "Fig 2 Effect of continued smoking on all cause mortality and recurrence in non-small cell lung cancer .", "Weights are from random effects analysis .", "* Adjusted for age , sex , type of operation , histology , postoperative radiotherapy , N status , T status , and previous malignancies .", "\u2020 Adjusted for sex , histology , and cumulative smoking", "All cause mortality in continued smokers with small cell lung cancer was significantly increased before and after adjustment , and adjustment strengthened the association ( unadjusted hazard ratio 1.18 , 1.03 to 1.36 ; adjusted hazard ratio 1.86 , 1.33 to 2.59 ) ( fig 3 \u21d3 ) .", "Estimates were derived from populations in which at least 79 % of patients were diagnosed with limited stage disease , apart from one study in which 29 % of patients presented with limited stage disease .", "We found no heterogeneity between unadjusted scores despite a marked difference between the populations in terms of stage at presentation ( table 1 \u21d1 ) .", "Unadjusted estimates suggested an 86 % increase in risk of developing a second primary tumour , which was strengthened after adjustment to a fourfold increase in risk for continuing smokers over those who quit at diagnosis ( hazard ratio 4.31 , 1.09 to 16.98 ) , although confidence intervals were wide .", "One study reported an unadjusted estimate for the association between continued smoking on recurrence that was statistically significant ( hazard ratio 1.26 , 1.06 to 1.50 ) .", "Baseline characteristics for this study were presented by smoking group and were distributed equally apart from a significantly higher proportion of women in the group that continued smoking .", "Fig 3 Effect of continued smoking on all cause mortality , development of a second primary , or recurrence in small cell lung cancer .", "* Adjusted for sex , age , and volume of limited disease .", "\u2020 Adjusted for sex , age , performance status , etoposide , radiotherapy , and cumulative smoking", "The life table analysis was based on a notional cohort of 65 year old smokers diagnosed with early stage non-small cell lung cancer or limited stage small cell lung cancer .", "Assuming a causal relation between smoking cessation and all cause mortality , the estimated five year survival rates were 33 % in continuing smokers and 70 % in quitters for non-small cell lung cancer and 29 % in continuing smokers and 63 % in quitters for small cell lung cancer .", "In life table analyses based on data for the general population , five year survival from cardiorespiratory deaths was estimated at 93 % in smokers and 95 % in quitters .", "We reviewed 10 observational studies , all of which showed some evidence that people who continue to smoke after a diagnosis of early stage lung cancer have an associated higher risk of recurrence , second primary tumour , or all cause mortality compared with those who stop smoking at that time .", "Although unadjusted estimates suggest that the associated increase in risk of continuing ( or the benefit of cessation ) is modest at around 20 % , the adjusted estimates suggest a more than doubling of the risk of death from continued smoking .", "In both early stage non-small cell lung cancer and limited stage small cell lung cancer , we found evidence of a significant association between continued smoking and recurrence of the primary tumour ; in limited stage small cell lung cancer , we found also evidence of a substantial elevation in the incidence of a second primary tumour .", "These elevated risks were apparent within seven years of diagnosis .", "In a life table model , assuming that these observations arose from a causal relation , we estimated the benefits of cessation to be substantial ; the benefits on all cause mortality seem likely to be mainly due to reduced progression of cancer rather than prevention of cardiorespiratory disease , but no studies reported cancer specific death rates to confirm this .", "An important strength of this study is the exhaustive search for relevant studies .", "Five of the 10 studies were ostensibly about the relation of other potential prognostic variables to outcomes but happened to present data on smoking status as a potential confounder of those relations .", "Such a strategy mitigates concern about publication bias because the decision to publish was unrelated to the findings on smoking status and cancer outcome .", "We did this review to find evidence that smoking cessation improves prognostic outcomes in patients with lung cancer , but in the absence of data from randomised controlled trials no causal inferences can be made .", "This is the most important limitation of the study .", "Also , only one study reported on the association of smoking cessation and prognosis in a sample of patients presenting in mainly advanced disease , so the implication of these findings that smoking cessation is beneficial applies only to patients with early disease .", "A major challenge with systematic reviews of observational studies is the possibility of uncontrolled confounding .", "Four of the 10 included studies presented data on the baseline distribution of potential confounders split by quitting status .16 17 21 27 Two studies found an uneven distribution of baseline factors16 17 ; the group that stopped smoking contained a higher proportion of male patients in both studies and more patients with a history of cancer in one study .", "If , in general , potential confounding variables were not associated with quitting status , the ratio of unadjusted to adjusted hazard ratios within studies should be randomly distributed about one .", "For those studies that presented unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios , these ratios were lower than one , and multivariate analysis showed a strengthened effect .17 23 27 This suggests that smokers with unfavourable prognostic factors were the most likely to give up smoking , so that unadjusted estimates underestimated the benefits of quitting .", "We assessed quality on the basis of criteria proposed by Altman ,15 and we found studies to be of moderate quality with between 44 % and 67 % of the total available score .", "Definitions of smoking abstinence were generally poor , and only five of the 10 studies assigned patients to smoking categories on the basis of smoking status recorded at six months or more after diagnosis .", "Future studies in this area need to use accepted standards for measurement of smoking abstinence .29", "No previously published systematic reviews have estimated the effect of smoking cessation on prognosis after a diagnosis of lung cancer .", "However , this question has been investigated for other cancers .", "A systematic review of observational studies suggested that smoking cessation after bladder cancer is beneficial , but owing to confounding and methodological concerns of included studies no firm conclusions could be drawn .30 Some observational studies have also shown an association between smoking cessation in patients with head and neck cancer and reduced risk of disease progression and mortality , but the absence of a systematic review and meta-analysis means that the strength of this association is uncertain .31 32 33", "Our review also collected data on rates of post-diagnosis smoking cessation .", "Reports in the literature of the proportion of patients with lung cancer who continue to smoke after diagnosis are conflicting , with estimates ranging from 13 % to 60 % .34 35 36 Variation in reported rates may be due to differences in the clinical characteristics of study populations , course of treatment , and methods of measuring smoking abstinence .37 In studies included in this review , the proportion of current smokers at diagnosis who continued to smoke ranged from 6 % to 83 % .", "Reasons for this heterogeneity may be that some studies collected data on smoking status retrospectively , that no studies used biochemical confirmation , and that some studies measured only change in smoking status at the time of diagnosis or treatment without follow-up measurements .", "This may have mixed the true exposure status , which is likely to have underestimated the benefits of cessation as quitters are more likely to relapse .38", "Assuming that the association between smoking cessation and risk of all cause mortality represents a causal relation and is not due to bias or confounding , at least two possible explanations exist .", "Firstly , smoking cessation may decrease the risk of death due to other smoking related causes such as cardiorespiratory diseases .", "Secondly , smoking cessation might decrease the risk of disease progression and death .", "Life table modelling showed that the reduction in cardiorespiratory deaths that might be expected in the general population from smoking cessation increased five year survival by 2 % in absolute terms , whereas smoking cessation after the diagnosis of early stage non-small cell lung cancer and limited stage small cell lung cancer increased five year survival by 37 % and 34 % .", "This exercise was based on assumptions that are likely to underestimate the possible mortality benefit from smoking cessation .", "For the 65-69 year old general population , the baseline estimate of cardiorespiratory death rate was based on an assumption that the population were non-smokers ; however , although the prevalence of smoking is only around 12 % , many will be ex-smokers , conferring a baseline risk greater than that of a completely non-smoking population , which would overestimate the reduction from cardiorespiratory causes .", "On the other hand , the higher prevalence of pre-existing cardiorespiratory disease in patients with lung cancer means that the absolute mortality gains seen in a general population are probably lower than those in lung cancer patients .39 Neither assumption seems sufficiently inaccurate to challenge the data suggesting that the major benefit from smoking cessation would be conferred by a reduction in cancer specific risk , if the reduced risk seen in this review was caused by smoking cessation .", "The risk of cardiovascular related illness and death is known to decrease after smoking cessation in patients with coronary heart disease ,40 reducing dramatically over the first three years ,41 but reducing the risk of developing lung cancer after smoking cessation generally takes longer .9 41 This review has found evidence that after lung cancer has been diagnosed , reductions in risk of developing a second primary or recurrence were associated with quitting within seven years , suggesting that , even at this stage , the prognostic outlook can be improved by smoking cessation .", "Whether components of tobacco smoke affect the progression of lung cancer is currently not known , although a recent review suggests that tobacco derived carcinogens such as aromatic hydrocarbon compounds may induce cellular changes that progress the disease .7 Another possibility is that nicotine might have a role in angiogenesis and therefore promote tumour growth .42 43 The findings of our review support the hypothesis that continued smoking affects the behaviour of a lung tumour .", "Establishing the role of cigarette smoke in progression of cancer will not only produce the necessary evidence for implementing smoking cessation interventions but may also help to identify cellular mechanisms for therapeutic targeting .", "The UK cancer reform strategy has underlined the need for rehabilitative care of survivors of cancer to reduce the risk of disease progression and improve quality of life .11 These data provide a strong case that smoking cessation treatment for early stage lung cancer patients who have been unable to quit may have an important role in secondary prevention .", "Such a programme should be based on evidence that quitting smoking is causally related to improved outcomes and that smoking cessation interventions in this group are cost effective .", "This review provides sufficient evidence to support a randomised trial to examine these questions .", "Smoking increases the risk of developing a primary lung cancer ; lifelong smokers have a 20-fold increased risk compared with non-smokers", "Whether stopping smoking after a diagnosis of lung cancer improves outcomes is not known", "For early stage lung cancers , smoking cessation is associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of death", "Life table modelling indicates that most of the benefit from smoking cessation is due to a reduced likelihood of cancer progression rather than a reduction in cardiorespiratory deaths", "Cite this as : BMJ 2010 ; 340 : b5569", "We thank Anne Fry-Smith , senior information specialist for the West Midlands Health Technology Appraisal Collaboration ( WMHTAC ) and the Aggressive Research Intelligence Facility ( ARIF ) at the University of Birmingham , for support in developing the search strategies , and Jon Deeks , professor of health statistics , and Roger Holder , senior lecturer in statistics , at the University of Birmingham for statistical support .", "Contributors : All authors identified studies for inclusion and extracted data .", "AP did the analysis and drafted the paper , which was edited by AD , RB , and PA. .", "AP is the guarantor .", "Funding : The work was undertaken by the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies , a UKCRC Public Health Research centre of excellence .", "Funding came from the British Heart Foundation , Cancer Research UK , Economic and Social Research Council , Medical Research Council , and National Institute for Health Research , under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration .", "PA and AD are supported by National Institute for Health Research career scientist fellowship awards .", "The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and have not been influenced by the funding bodies .", "Competing interests : PA has done consultancy work for the manufacturers of smoking cessation drugs .", "AP has been reimbursed by Pfizer for attending a conference .", "Ethical approval : Not needed .", "Data sharing : Technical appendix including the search strategies , Stata commands , and life table calculations available from the corresponding author .", "This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License , which permits use , distribution , and reproduction in any medium , provided the original work is properly cited , the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license ."], "_citing_sentence": "This can only be a good thing, since giving up smoking decreases the risk of death, even for those suffering from early stage lung cancer.", "_claim_name": "This ban would encourage smokers to smoke less or give up smoking altogether.", "_doc_title": "Influence of smoking cessation after diagnosis of early stage lung cancer on prognosis: systematic review of observational studies with meta-analysis | The BMJ", "_labeled_lineIDs": [120]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Daily Mail Reporter", "Updated : 10:23 EST , 4 July 2008", "Stubbed out : A study claims more than 400,000 people in England have quit smoking since the ban on lighting up in public was introduced last year", "At least 400,000 people in England have quit smoking as a result of the ban on lighting up in public places that was introduced last July , a study suggested today .", "The smokefree legislation could prevent 40,000 people dying over the next decade , it added .", "The Smoking Toolkit Study , which is being presented at the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference in Birmingham tomorrow , involved interviews with more than 32,000 smokers and ex-smokers over the nine months before the ban and the nine months afterwards .", "In the nine months before the ban , there was a 1.6 per cent fall in the prevalence of smoking across England .", "But in the nine months after the ban , this fall was the much higher 5.5 per cent .", "This is the first study in the world to examine in detail the impact on smoking rates solely from smokefree legislation , without the influence of any other measures to tackle smoking .", "Another study , by the Department of Health , will also highlight tomorrow the success of the smoking ban in encouraging people to quit the habit .", "The report will show that a total of 234,060 people have stopped smoking with the help of the NHS Quit Smoking Service since the ban was brought in on July 1 , 2007 .", "That is 22 per cent more people than in the previous 12 months .", "Professor Robert West , Cancer Research UK 's director of tobacco studies , who carried out the Smoking Toolkit Study , said : ` These figures show the largest fall in the number of smokers on record .", "` The effect has been as large in all social groups , poor as well as rich smokers . '", "I never expected such a dramatic impact and of course there are no guarantees that smoking rates will not climb back up again .", "` But if the Department of Health can keep up the momentum this has created , there is a realistic prospect of achieving a target of less than 15 % of the population smoking within the next 10 years . '", "Jean King , Cancer Research UK 's director of tobacco control , said : ` The smokefree law was introduced to protect the health of workers from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke .", "` These results show it has also encouraged smokers to quit .", "These laws are saving lives and we must n't forget that half of all smokers die from tobacco related illness . '", "A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said : ` We are pleased that this research has showed such encouraging results .", "` While the aim of smokefree legislation was to provide protection from the harm of second-hand smoke , it is good news that it has motivated smokers to kick their habit . '", "The study was funded by Cancer Research UK , McNeil , Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline .", "The health charity Action on Smoking and Health ( Ash ) also revealed results of a survey with more than 3,000 people .", "It found that 63 per cent strongly supported the ban on smoking in public places.More than eight in 10 ( 85 per cent ) adults also wanted retailers convicted of selling tobacco illegally to children to be banned from selling them in the future .", "A total of 59 per cent supported banning tobacco being on display in shops .", "Deborah Arnott , director of Ash , said : ` The smokefree legislation has been a fantastic success and is hugely popular .", "` But what it also shows is a hunger for more action : the smokefree law is not an end in itself but has proven to be a catalyst for further controls on tobacco .", "` There is still a lot more that needs to be done .", "In particular the Government should focus on measures to shield children from tobacco industry marketing while parents and carers can do much more to protect children from exposure to second-hand smoke in the home and car . '"], "_citing_sentence": "For example, a study in England found that in the nine months after the smoking ban was introduced, there was a 5.5% fall in the number of smokers in the country, compared to the much lower fall of 1.6 % in the nine months before the ban.", "_claim_name": "This ban would encourage smokers to smoke less or give up smoking altogether.", "_doc_title": "Smoking ban spurs 400,000 people to quit the habit | Daily Mail Online", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6, 7]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Read transcripts of debates in both Houses", "Produced by Commons Library , Lords Library and Parliamentary Office Science and Technology", "Search for Members by name , postcode , constituency and party", "Learn about their experience , knowledge and interests", "Celebrating people who have made Parliament a positive , inclusive working environment", "Four staff networks for people to discuss and consider issues .", "Contact your MP or a Member of the House of Lords about an issue that matters to you", "Find and register for Parliament 's free events and training sessions", "Take a tour of Parliament and enjoy a delicious afternoon tea by the River Thames", "See some of the sights you 'll encounter on a tour of Parliament", "Book a school visit , classroom workshop or teacher-training session", "Access videos , worksheets , lesson plans and games", "House of Commons Library", "This note outlines the provisions of the smoking ban in England that came into effect on 1 July 2007 in a practical context .", "It also includes recent developments such as the introduction of new regulations in 2015 regarding smoking in private vehicles .", "New regulations brought a smoking ban into force in England at 6am on 1 July 2007 .", "Almost all enclosed and substantially enclosed public places and workplaces are included , as are public transport and most work vehicles and company cars .", "Following the introduction of new regulations in 2015 , it is now also against the law to smoke in a private vehicle when children are present .", "There are a few limited exemptions to the ban where smoking may take place in designated rooms providing certain requirements are met , including : overnight sleeping accommodation in hotels , hostels and private members ' clubs ; prison cells ; hospices ; long stay care settings ; specialist tobacconist shops and tobacco research facilities .", "Whilst the places where tobacco and other substances can be smoked is heavily restricted , smoking itself it not banned , and may still take place outdoors ( subject to other restrictions or local by-laws ) and in the home , provided the area is not used as a workplace by more than one person .", "All common parts of flats and communal accommodation must be smoke-free .", "Where smoking shelters are provided , these must comply with the requirements to be less than fifty per cent enclosed otherwise they will be deemed substantially enclosed under the regulations .", "The Regulations reflect the minimum requirements to comply with the ban .", "Some employers and premises owners may choose to go further and impose a smoking ban in all areas under their control , including outside grounds and car parks .", "Guidance on the Regulations can be found on the Smokefreeengland website : Everything you need to prepare for the new smokefree law on 1 July 2007 .", "Commons Briefing papers SN04414", "Authors : Cecilia Barbry ; Sarah Hartwell-Naguib ; Sarah Barber", "Topics : Roads , Smoking", "The House of Commons Library provides research , analysis and information services for MPs and their staff .", "EU referendum 2016 and Brexit"], "_citing_sentence": "As long as people are given plenty of notice of changes, as was done in airports in Saudi Arabia, and the rules are made clear and readily available there should be few difficulties in introducing this ban.", "_claim_name": "This ban would be easy to introduce.", "_doc_title": "Smoking in public places - Commons Library briefing - UK Parliament", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Hospital Admissions for Acute Myocardial Infarction, Angina, Stroke, and Asthma After Implementation of Arizona's Comprehensive Statewide Smoking Ban", "Voted One of the 100 Most Influential Journals in Biology & Medicine over the last 100 Years by the Special Libraries Association", "Selected as a core journal by the Medical Library Association ( Public Health )", "Patricia M. Herman and Michele E. Walsh are with the Evaluation , Research and Development Unit , Department of Psychology , University of Arizona , Tucson .", "P. M. Herman originated the study and performed the analyses .", "M. E. Walsh supervised and contributed conceptually to all aspects of the study .", "Both authors were involved in article preparation .", "We examined the impact of Arizona 's May 2007 comprehensive statewide smoking ban on hospital admissions for diagnoses for which there is evidence of a causal relationship with secondhand smoke ( SHS ) exposure ( acute myocardial infarction -LSB- AMI -RSB- , angina , stroke , and asthma ) .", "We compared monthly hospital admissions from January 2004 through May 2008 for these primary diagnoses and 4 diagnoses not associated with SHS ( appendicitis , kidney stones , acute cholecystitis , and ulcers ) for Arizona counties with preexisting county or municipal smoking bans and counties with no previous bans .", "We attributed reductions in admissions to the statewide ban if they occurred only in diagnoses associated with SHS and if they were larger in counties with no previous bans .", "We analyzed the data with Poisson regressions , controlling for seasonality and admissions trends .", "We also estimated cost savings .", "Statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions were seen for AMI , angina , stroke , and asthma in counties with no previous bans over what was seen in counties with previous bans .", "No ban variable coefficients were statistically significant for diagnoses not associated with SHS .", "Arizona 's statewide smoking ban decreased hospital admissions for AMI , stroke , asthma , and angina ."], "_citing_sentence": "This has been reported - for example - in Arizona, where a study found that hospital admissions due to diagnoses for which there is evidence for a cause by smoking have decreased since the statewide smoking ban, and that costs have thus decreased.", "_claim_name": "This ban would lower healthcare costs.", "_doc_title": "American Public Health Association", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 12, 14]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 25, "_topic_name": "This house would ban smoking in public spaces"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Backgrounder # 1533 on Sex Education and Abstinence", "April 8 , 2002 | Backgrounder on Sex Education and Abstinence", "By Robert Rector", "DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society", "Teenage sexual activity is a major problem confronting the nation and has led to a rising incidence of sexually transmitted diseases ( STDs ) , emotional and psychological injuries , and out-of-wedlock childbearing .", "Abstinence education programs for youth have been proven to be effective in reducing early sexual activity .", "Abstinence programs also can provide the foundation for personal responsibility and enduring marital commitment .", "Therefore , they are vitally important to efforts aimed at reducing out-of-wedlock childbearing among young adult women , improving child well-being , and increasing adult happiness over the long term .", "Washington policymakers should be aware of the consequences of early sexual activity , the undesirable contents of conventional `` safe sex '' education programs , and the findings of the professional literature concerning the effectiveness of genuine abstinence programs .", "In particular , policymakers should understand that :", "Young people who become sexually active enter an arena of high-risk behavior that leads to physical and emotional damage .", "Each year , influenced by a combination of a youthful assumption of invincibility and a lack of guidance ( or misguidance and misleading information ) , millions of teens ignore those risks and suffer the consequences .", "The nation is experiencing an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases that is steadily expanding .", "In the 1960s , the beginning of the `` sexual revolution , '' the dominant diseases related to sexual activity were syphilis and gonorrhea .", "Today , there are more than 20 widespread STDs , infecting an average of more than 15 million individuals each year .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- Two-thirds of all STDs occur in people who are 25 years of age or younger .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- Each year , 3 million teens contract an STD ; overall , one-fourth of sexually active teens have been afflicted .", "There is no cure for sexually transmitted viral diseases such as the human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV ) and herpes , which take their toll on people throughout life .", "Other common viral STDs are the Human Papillomavirus ( HPV ) -- the leading viral STD , with 5.5 million cases reported each year , -LSB- 4 -RSB- and the cause of nearly all cases of cervical cancer that kill approximately 4,800 women per year -LSB- 5 -RSB- -- and Chlamydia trachomatis , which is associated with pelvic inflammatory disease that scars the fallopian tubes and is the fastest growing cause of infertility .", "Significantly , research shows that condom use offers relatively little protection ( from `` zero '' to `` some '' ) for herpes and no protection from the deadly HPV .", "A review of the scientific literature reveals that , on average , condoms failed to prevent the transmission of the HIV virus -- which causes the immune deficiency syndrome known as AIDS -- between 15 percent and 31 percent of the time .", "LSB- 6 -RSB- It should not be surprising , therefore , that while condom use has increased over the past 25 years , the spread of STDs has likewise continued to rise .", "Young people who become sexually active are vulnerable to emotional and psychological injury as well as to physical diseases .", "Many young girls report experiencing regret or guilt after their initial sexual experience .", "In the words of one psychiatrist who recalls the effects of her own sexual experimentation in her teens , `` The longest-standing , deepest wound I gave myself was heartfelt ; that sick , used feeling of having given a precious part of myself -- my soul -- to so many and for nothing , still aches .", "I never imagined I 'd pay so dearly and for so long . ''", "Sexually active youth often live with anxiety about the possibility of an unwanted pregnancy or contracting a devastating STD .", "Those who do become infected with a disease suffer emotional as well as physical effects .", "Fears regarding the course the disease are coupled with a loss of self-esteem and self-confidence .", "In a survey by the Medical Institute for Sexual Health , 80 percent of those who had herpes said that they felt `` less confident '' and `` less desirable sexually . ''", "LSB- 9 -RSB- In addition , early sexual activity can negatively affect the ability of young people to form stable and healthy relationships in a later marriage .", "Sexual relationships among teenagers are fleeting and unstable , and broken intimate relationships can have serious long-term developmental effects .", "A series of broken intimate relationships can undermine an individual 's capacity to enter into a committed , loving marital relationship .", "In general , individuals who engage in premarital sexual activity are 50 percent more likely to divorce later in life than those who do not .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- Divorce , in turn , leads to sharp reductions in adult happiness and child well-being .", "Marital relationships that follow early sexual activity can also suffer from the emotional impact of infertility resulting from an STD infection , ranging from a sense of guilt to depression .", "In the words of one gynecologist and fertility specialist , `` Infertility is so devastating , it often disorients my patients to life itself .", "This is more than shock or even depression .", "It impacts every level of their lives , including their marriage . ''", "Research from a variety of sources indicates a correlation between sexual activity among adolescents and teens and the likelihood of engaging in other high-risk behaviors , such as tobacco , alcohol , and illicit drug use .", "A study reported in Pediatrics magazine found that sexually active boys aged 12 through 16 are four times more likely to smoke and six times more likely to use alcohol than are those who describe themselves as virgins .", "Among girls in this same age cohort , those who are sexually active are seven times more likely to smoke and 10 times more likely to use marijuana than are those who are virgins .", "LSB- 12 -RSB- The report describes sexual activity as a `` significant associate of other health-endangering behaviors '' and notes an increasing recognition of the interrelation of risk behaviors .", "Research by the Alan Guttmacher Institute likewise finds a correlation between risk behaviors among adolescents and sexual activity ; for example , teenagers who use alcohol , tobacco , and/or marijuana regularly are more likely to be sexually active .", "Today , one child in three is born out of wedlock .", "Only 14 percent of these births occur to women under the age of 18 .", "Most occur to women in their early twenties .", "LSB- 14 -RSB- Thus , giving birth control to teens in high school through safe-sex programs will have little effect on out-of-wedlock childbearing .", "Nearly half of the mothers who give birth outside marriage are cohabiting with the child 's father at the time of birth .", "LSB- 15 -RSB- These fathers , like the mothers , are typically in their early twenties .", "Out-of-wedlock childbearing is , thus , not the result of teenagers ' lack of knowledge about birth control or a lack of availability of birth control .", "Rather , it is part of a crisis in the relationships of young adult men and women .", "Out-of-wedlock childbearing , in most cases , occurs because young adult men and women are unable to develop committed , loving marital relationships .", "Abstinence programs , therefore , which focus on developing loving and enduring relationships and preparation for successful marriages , are an essential first step in reducing future levels of out-of-wedlock births .", "With millions of dollars in sex-education programs at stake , it is not surprising that the groups that have previously dominated the arena have taken action to block the growing movement to abstinence-only education .", "Such organizations , including the Sexuality Information and education Council of the United States ( SEICUS ) , Planned Parenthood , and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League ( NARAL ) , have been prime supporters of `` safe-sex '' programs for youth , which entail guidance on the use of condoms and other means of contraception while giving a condescending nod to abstinence .", "Clearly , the caveat that says `` and if you do engage in sex , this is how you should do it '' substantially weakens an admonition against early non-marital sexual activity .", "Not only do such programs , by their very nature , minimize the abstinence component of sex education , but many of these programs also implicitly encourage sexual activity among the youths they teach .", "Guidelines developed by SEICUS , for example , include teaching children aged five through eight about masturbation and teaching youths aged 9 through 12 about alternative sexual activities such as mutual masturbation , `` outercourse , '' and oral sex .", "LSB- 16 -RSB- In addition , the SEICUS guidelines suggest informing youths aged 16 through 18 that sexual activity can include bathing or showering together as well as oral , vaginal , or anal intercourse , and that they can use erotic photographs , movies , or literature to enhance their sexual fantasies when alone or with a partner .", "Not only do such activities carry their own risks for youth , but they are also likely to increase the incidence of sexual intercourse .", "In recent years , parental support for real abstinence education has grown .", "Because of this , many traditional safe-sex programs now take to calling themselves `` abstinence plus '' or `` abstinence-based '' education .", "In reality , there is little abstinence training in `` abstinence-based '' education .", "Instead , these programs are thinly disguised efforts to promote condom use .", "The actual content of most `` abstinence plus '' curricula would be alarming to most parents .", "For example , such programs typically have condom use exercises in which middle school students practice unrolling condoms on cucumbers or dildoes .", "Critics of abstinence education often assert that while abstinence education that exclusively promotes abstaining from premarital sex is a good idea in theory , there is no evidence that such education can actually reduce sexual activity among young people .", "Such criticism is erroneous .", "There are currently 10 scientific evaluations ( described below ) that demonstrate the effectiveness of abstinence programs in altering sexual behavior .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- Each of the programs evaluated is a real abstinence ( or what is conventionally termed an `` abstinence only '' ) program ; that is , the program does not provide contraceptives or encourage their use .", "The abstinence programs and their evaluations are as follows : In fact , the study found that participating in an abstinence program and taking a formal pledge of virginity were by far the most significant factors in a youth 's delaying early sexual activity .", "The study compared students who had taken a formal pledge of virginity with students who had not taken a pledge but were otherwise identical in terms of race , income , school performance , degree of religiousness , and other social and demographic factors .", "Based on this analysis , the authors discovered that the level of sexual activity among students who had taken a formal pledge of virginity was one-fourth the level of that of their counterparts who had not taken a pledge .", "Overall , nearly 16 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys were found to have taken a virginity pledge .", "Not Me , Not Now was effective in reaching early teen listeners , with some 95 percent of the target audience within the county reporting that they had seen a Not Me , Not Now ad .", "During the intervention period , the program achieved a statistically significant positive shift in attitudes among pre-teens and early teens in the county .", "The sexual activity rate of 15-year-olds across the county ( as reported in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey -LSB- 21 -RSB- ) dropped by a statistically significant amount from 46.6 percent to 31.6 percent during the intervention period .", "Finally , the pregnancy rate for girls aged 15 through 17 in Monroe County fell by a statistically significant amount , from 63.4 pregnancies per 1,000 girls to 49.5 pregnancies per 1,000 .", "The teen pregnancy rate fell more rapidly in Monroe County than in comparison counties and in upstate New York in general , and the difference in the rate of decrease was statistically significant .", "Real abstinence education is essential to reducing out-of-wedlock childbearing , preventing sexually transmitted diseases , and improving emotional and physical well-being among the nation 's youth .", "True abstinence education programs help young people to develop an understanding of commitment , fidelity , and intimacy that will serve them well as the foundations of healthy marital life in the future .", "abstinence education programs have repeatedly been shown to be effective in reducing sexual activity among their participants .", "However , funding for the evaluation of abstinence education programs until very recently has ranged from meager to nonexistent .", "Currently , the number of adequately funded evaluations of abstinence education is increasing .", "At present , there are several promising new evaluations nearing completion .", "As each year passes , it can be expected that the number of evaluations showing that abstinence education does significantly reduce sexual activity will grow steadily .", "abstinence education is a nascent and developing field .", "Substantial funding for abstinence education became available only within the past few years .", "As abstinence programs develop and become more broadly available , future evaluations will enable the programs to hone and increase their effectiveness .", "Robert Rector is Senior Research Fellow in Domestic and Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation ."], "_citing_sentence": "Abstinence programs teach teenagers how to have meaningful, age-appropriate relationships, and help young people fight the pressure of having sex before they are ready.We live in a highly sexualized culture, and yet many girls report feeling guilty or regret after their first sexual experience.", "_claim_name": "Abstinence-only education teaches young people that they do not need to have sex to fit in.", "_doc_title": "The Effectiveness of Abstinence Education Programs in Reducing Sexual Activity Among Youth", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5, 23, 53]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Author Affiliations : School of Medicine and Annenberg School for Communication ( Dr J. B. Jemmott ) , and School of Nursing Science ( Dr L. S. Jemmott ) , University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia ; and Department of Psychology , University of Waterloo , and Ontario Institute for Cancer Research , Waterloo , Ontario , Canada ( Dr Fong ) .", "To evaluate the efficacy of an abstinence-only intervention in preventing sexual involvement in young adolescents .", "Randomized controlled trial .", "Urban public schools .", "A total of 662 African American students in grades 6 and 7 .", "An 8-hour abstinence-only intervention targeted reduced sexual intercourse ; an 8-hour safer sex -- only intervention targeted increased condom use ; 8-hour and 12-hour comprehensive interventions targeted sexual intercourse and condom use ; and an 8-hour health-promotion control intervention targeted health issues unrelated to sexual behavior .", "Participants also were randomized to receive or not receive an intervention maintenance program to extend intervention efficacy .", "The primary outcome was self-report of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up .", "Secondary outcomes were other sexual behaviors .", "The participants ' mean age was 12.2 years ; 53.5 % were girls ; and 84.4 % were still enrolled at 24 months .", "Abstinence-only intervention reduced sexual initiation ( risk ratio -LSB- RR -RSB- , 0.67 ; 95 % confidence interval -LSB- CI -RSB- , 0.48-0 .96 ) .", "The model-estimated probability of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up was 33.5 % in the abstinence-only intervention and 48.5 % in the control group .", "Fewer abstinence-only intervention participants ( 20.6 % ) than control participants ( 29.0 % ) reported having coitus in the previous 3 months during the follow-up period ( RR , 0.94 ; 95 % CI , 0.90-0 .99 ) .", "Abstinence-only intervention did not affect condom use .", "The 8-hour ( RR , 0.96 ; 95 % CI , 0.92-1 .00 ) and 12-hour comprehensive ( RR , 0.95 ; 95 % CI , 0.91-0 .99 ) interventions reduced reports of having multiple partners compared with the control group .", "No other differences between interventions and controls were significant .", "Theory-based abstinence-only interventions may have an important role in preventing adolescent sexual involvement .", "Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier : NCT00640653", "Adolescents risk the deleterious consequences of early sexual involvement including human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV ) , other sexually transmitted infections ( STIs ) , and unintended pregnancies .", "In the United States , these risks are especially great among African American adolescents .", "In 2005 , 17 % of adolescents in the United States were African American but 69 % of adolescents with HIV/AIDS were African American .", "Rates of STI are the highest among African American individuals and adolescents , particularly adolescent girls .", "Pregnancy rates have been higher among African American adolescents than among their Hispanic and white counterparts .", "Adolescents who initiate sexual intercourse at younger ages have a greater risk of STI8 and pregnancy9 and report more sexual risk behaviors including multiple sexual partners .", "Although considerable research suggests that behavioral interventions can reduce sexual behaviors related to risk of STI among adolescents , including younger adolescents aged 11 to 15 years , a public policy debate has revolved around the appropriateness and efficacy of different sexual risk -- reduction interventions .", "Some have advocated abstinence interventions ; others have advocated comprehensive interventions -- abstinence and , for sexually active adolescents , condom use .", "Abstinence interventions have been criticized for containing inaccurate information , portraying sex in a negative light , using a moralistic tone , and risking unintended adverse consequences .", "This debate notwithstanding , the United States has primarily funded and promoted abstinence education both in the United States and abroad , and many states have mandated that HIV/STI education for children stress abstinence .", "Despite the widespread implementation of abstinence interventions and the controversy regarding their appropriateness , few randomized controlled trials have tested their efficacy .", "This has led to calls for more rigorous abstinence intervention research .", "The ideal abstinence intervention would incorporate principles of efficacious HIV/STI risk reduction behavioral interventions .", "It would draw on formative research on the population and behavior change theory to address motivation and build skills to practice abstinence ; it would not be moralistic , and it would not stress the `` inadequacies '' of condoms .", "Here we report the results of a trial regarding the efficacy of such a theory-based abstinence-only intervention .", "African American students in grades 6 and 7 were randomly assigned to an 8-hour abstinence-only intervention , an 8-hour safer sex -- only intervention , an 8 - or 12-hour combined abstinence and safer-sex intervention , or an 8-hour health-promotion control group .", "We hypothesized that fewer participants in the abstinence-only intervention than in the control group would report ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up .", "A common shortcoming of behavior-change interventions is that efficacy is demonstrated in the short term but disappears at longer-term follow-up .", "This may particularly be a problem for abstinence interventions .", "Unlike many risk behaviors ( eg , cigarette smoking , drug use ) , sexual intercourse is an age-graded behavior ; the expectation is that people will eventually have sexual intercourse .", "We designed a multifaceted intervention-maintenance program tailored to each intervention to extend the efficacy of the interventions .", "A secondary hypothesis , then , was that the intervention-maintenance program would enhance intervention efficacy .", "The participants were 662 African American students in grades 6 and 7 who were recruited from 4 public middle schools that serve low-income African American communities in a city in the northeastern United States ; they were recruited between September 2001 and March 2002 via announcements by project staff in assemblies , classrooms , and lunchrooms , and letters to parents or guardians for the Promoting Health Among Teens ( PHAT ) Project , which was designed to reduce the chances of adolescents developing devastating health problems including cardiovascular diseases , cancers , and STIs , including HIV .", "The Institutional Review Board of the University of Pennsylvania ( approval No. 387200 ) and the Research Ethics Board of the University of Waterloo approved the study .", "African American students in grades 6 and 7 at the 4 participating schools who had written parent or guardian consent were eligible to participate .", "In this randomized controlled trial , students were stratified by age and sex and , using a computer-generated random number sequence , randomly allocated to an 8-hour abstinence-only intervention , an 8-hour safer sex -- only intervention , an 8-hour comprehensive intervention , a 12-hour comprehensive intervention , or an 8-hour health-promotion control intervention .", "They were also randomly assigned to intervention maintenance or no intervention maintenance and to a group of 6 to 8 participants .", "One researcher conducted the computer-generated random assignments and distributed the information to other researchers who executed the assignments .", "Adolescents were enrolled in the study in 4 cycles or replications , 1 at each of 4 schools .", "The Figure shows the number of adolescents randomized to each condition .", "The intervention and data collection sessions were implemented on Saturdays in classrooms at the participating schools .", "Progress of participating African American students in grades 6 and 7 through the trial .", "Students who were not followed up were absent at the time of the follow-up session and failed to attend the make-up sessions for unknown reasons .", "The interventions were based on social cognitive theory , the theory of reasoned action , and its extension , the theory of planned behavior .", "They were highly structured , and facilitators implemented them following intervention manuals .", "Each intervention involved a series of brief group discussions , videos , games , brainstorming , experiential exercises , and skill-building activities .", "Four of the interventions consisted of 8 1-hour modules implemented during 2 sessions , and 1 consisted of 12 1-hour modules implemented over 3 sessions .", "All 5 were pilot tested .", "The 8-hour abstinence-only intervention encouraged abstinence to eliminate the risk of pregnancy and STIs including HIV .", "It was designed to ( 1 ) increase HIV/STI knowledge , ( 2 ) strengthen behavioral beliefs supporting abstinence including the belief that abstinence can prevent pregnancy , STIs , and HIV , and that abstinence can foster attainment of future goals , and ( 3 ) increase skills to negotiate abstinence and resist pressure to have sex .", "It was not designed to meet federal criteria for abstinence-only programs .", "For instance , the target behavior was abstaining from vaginal , anal , and oral intercourse until a time later in life when the adolescent is more prepared to handle the consequences of sex .", "The intervention did not contain inaccurate information , portray sex in a negative light , or use a moralistic tone .", "The training and curriculum manual explicitly instructed the facilitators not to disparage the efficacy of condoms or allow the view that condoms are ineffective to go uncorrected .", "The 8-hour safer sex -- only intervention encouraged condom use to reduce the risk of pregnancy and STIs , including HIV , if adolescents had sex .", "It was designed to ( 1 ) increase HIV/STI knowledge , ( 2 ) enhance behavioral beliefs that support condom use , and ( 3 ) increase skills to use condoms and negotiate condom use .", "It was not designed to influence abstinence .", "Two comprehensive interventions combined the abstinence and safer-sex , HIV risk -- reduction interventions .", "One was 12 hours , and the other was 8 hours and contained similar content .", "Both targeted beliefs and skills to encourage abstinence and condom use .", "Both were designed to ( 1 ) increase HIV/STI knowledge , ( 2 ) strengthen behavioral beliefs supporting abstinence , ( 3 ) strengthen behavioral beliefs supporting condom use , ( 4 ) increase skills to negotiate abstinence , and ( 5 ) increase skills to use condoms and negotiate condom use .", "The 12-hour version contained the safer-sex content ( 4 hours ) , the abstinence content ( 4 hours ) , and the general content common to both single-component interventions ( 4 hours ) .", "If the 12-hour version had a larger effect than the single-component interventions , it would not have been possible to distinguish the beneficial effects of greater intervention length from the benefits of combining the two components .", "To control for this , the 8-hour version was the same length as the single-component interventions .", "The 8-hour health-promotion intervention , which served as the control , focused on behaviors associated with risk of heart disease , hypertension , stroke , diabetes , and certain cancers .", "It was designed to increase knowledge and motivation regarding healthful dietary practices , aerobic exercise , and breast and testicular self-examination , and to discourage cigarette smoking .", "It controls for Hawthorne effects to reduce the likelihood that effects of the HIV interventions could be attributed to nonspecific features including group interaction and special attention .", "Participants were also randomly assigned to receive or not receive an intervention-maintenance program tailored to their intervention .", "It consisted of two 3-hour booster intervention sessions ( 6 weeks and 3 months after initial intervention sessions ) , 6 issues of a newsletter , and six 20-minute 1-on-1 counseling sessions during a 21-month period with their original facilitator .", "The facilitators were 16 men and 51 women ( mean age , 43.1 years ) ; 61.2 % had a master 's degree ; and 38.8 % had a bachelor 's degree .", "All were African American except for 1 Puerto Rican individual .", "We hired facilitators with the skills to implement any of the interventions , stratified them for sex and age , and randomly assigned them to receive 2.5 days of training to implement 1 of the 5 interventions .", "In this way , we randomized facilitators ' characteristics across interventions , reducing the plausibility of attributing intervention effects to the facilitators ' preexisting characteristics .", "Participants completed preintervention , immediate postintervention , and 3 - , 6 - , 12 - , 18 - , and 24-month follow-up questionnaires .", "Follow-up data were collected between January 2002 and August 2004 .", "All questions had been pilot tested to ensure that they were clear and that the phrasing was appropriate for the population .", "Preintervention and follow-up questionnaires assessed sexual behavior , demographic variables , and mediator variables .", "The postintervention questionnaire assessed mediator variables and evaluative ratings of the interventions .", "The primary outcome for the abstinence-only intervention was report of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up .", "Secondary outcomes were other self-reported sexual behaviors in the previous 3 months such as sexual intercourse , multiple partners ( having sexual intercourse with 2 or more partners ) , unprotected intercourse ( 1 or more sexual intercourse acts without using a condom ) , and consistent condom use ( condom use during every sexual intercourse act ) .", "Data collectors received 8 hours of training and were blind to the participants ' intervention condition .", "We took several steps to increase the validity of self-reported sexual behavior .", "To facilitate participants ' recall , we asked them to report their behaviors during a brief period ( ie , past 3 months ) , wrote the dates comprising the period on a chalkboard , and gave them calendars highlighting the period .", "To reduce the likelihood that participants would minimize or exaggerate , we stressed the importance of responding honestly , informing them that their responses would be used to create programs for other African American adolescents like themselves and that we could do so only if they answered the questions honestly .", "We assured the participants that their responses would be kept confidential and that code numbers rather than names would be used on the questionnaires .", "Participants signed an agreement pledging to answer the questions honestly , a procedure that has been shown to yield more valid self-reports on sensitive issues .", "The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale34 included in the preintervention questionnaire assessed the tendency of participants to describe themselves in favorable , socially desirable terms .", "With \u03b1 = .05 , 2-tailed , and 37.4 % of the control group initiating sexual intercourse by 24-month follow-up , a total sample size of 563 participants who completed the trial was projected to provide power of 80 % to detect a difference of 16.8 % in self-reported sexual intercourse between an HIV intervention condition and the control condition .", "We performed \u03c72 and t tests to analyze attrition .", "To test intervention effects , we used an intention-to-treat approach in which participants ' data were analyzed regardless of the number of intervention or data collection sessions they attended .", "The efficacy of the HIV interventions on report of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up was tested using generalized linear regression with a log link , and the exponentiated coefficients , risk ratios ( RR ) , and 95 % confidence intervals ( CI ) are reported .", "We used either of 2 error distributions ( either Bernoulli or Poisson with robust variance estimator ) depending on whether predicted probabilities violated the 0,1 range of probability .", "Effects of the HIV/STI interventions on recent sexual intercourse , multiple partners , unprotected intercourse , and consistent condom use during the 24-month follow-up period were tested using Poisson generalized estimating equations with a log link .", "An unstructured working correlation matrix was specified in the generalized estimating equations analyses .", "Analyses of recent sexual intercourse , multiple partners , and unprotected intercourse controlled for the baseline measures of the criterion , time , intervention-maintenance condition , sex , and age .", "Analyses of ever having sexual intercourse excluded participants who reported ever having sexual intercourse at baseline and controlled for intervention-maintenance condition , sex , and age .", "Analyses of consistent condom use excluded participants who did not report sexual intercourse in the past 3 months and controlled for time , intervention-maintenance condition , sex , and age .", "The latter did not control for baseline measures because the small number of participants reporting recent sexual intercourse at both baseline and follow-up would have severely limited the sample size .", "The significance criterion was set at \u03b1 = .05 except for post hoc analyses comparing the abstinence-only and 8-hour comprehensive interventions in which a type 1 error -- adjusted \u03b1 of .05 / 2 = .025 was used .", "Table 1 summarizes select participant characteristics at baseline .", "About 53.5 % of participants were girls and 46.5 % were boys .", "Age ranged from 10 to 15 years , with a mean ( SD ) of 12.2 ( 0.81 ) ; 44.7 % were in grade 6 and 55.3 % were in grade 7 .", "About 33.7 % lived with both of their parents .", "About 23.4 % reported having experienced coitus at least once , 12.0 % reported having coitus in the previous 3 months ; 6.4 % , multiple partners in the previous 3 months , and 2.9 % , unprotected intercourse in the previous 3 months .", "Of those who reported intercourse in the previous 3 months , 67.1 % reported consistent condom use .", "Only 2 respondents ( 0.3 % ) reported sexual relations with someone of their own sex .", "The Figure shows the flow of participants through the trial .", "Of the 762 eligible students , 662 ( 86.9 % ) participated .", "We do not have information regarding the characteristics of the eligible students who did not participate .", "Attendance at intervention and data-collection sessions was excellent .", "All participants attended intervention session 1 , and 642 or 97.0 % attended session 2 .", "Attendance at session 2 ranged from 95.5 % to 98.5 % , with no significant difference among interventions .", "Only the 12-hour comprehensive intervention had a session 3 , and all participants attended it .", "Of the trial participants , 649 ( 98.0 % ) attended at least 1 of the follow-ups : 633 ( 95.6 % ) attended the 3-month , 636 ( 96.1 % ) attended the 6-month , 598 ( 90.3 % ) attended the 12-month , 577 ( 87.2 % ) attended the 18-month , and 559 ( 84.4 % ) attended the 24-month follow-up .", "The interventions did not differ significantly in retention at follow-up .", "Attending a follow-up session was unrelated to sex , age , living with both parents , or sexual behavior outcomes .", "Table 2 presents sexual behavior outcomes by intervention condition and time .", "Table 3 presents RRs and 95 % CIs for intervention efficacy regarding sexual behavior outcomes .", "The abstinence-only intervention reduced sexual initiation ( P = .03 ) .", "The model-estimated probability of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up was 33.5 % in the abstinence-only intervention and 48.5 % in the health-promotion control group .", "The safer sex and comprehensive interventions did not differ from the control group in sexual initiation .", "The abstinence intervention also significantly reduced recent sexual intercourse .", "The model-estimated probability of reporting intercourse in the past 3 months averaged over the 3 - , 6 - , 12 - , 18 - , and 24-month follow-ups was 20.6 % in the abstinence-only intervention compared with 29.0 % in the control group ( P = .02 ) .", "The model-estimated probability was 20.6 % in the 12-hour comprehensive intervention , a marginally significant difference ( P = .06 ) from the control group .", "The safer sex and 8-hour comprehensive interventions did not have significant effects on recent intercourse compared with the control group .", "Abstinence-only intervention participants did not differ from the control group in reports of multiple partners ( P = .13 ) .", "Participants in the 8-hour ( P = .03 ; model-estimated probability , 8.8 % ) and 12-hour comprehensive intervention groups ( P = .02 ; model-estimated probability , 8.7 % ) were significantly less likely to report having multiple partners than were those in the control group ( model-estimated probability , 14.1 % ) .", "No other differences were statistically significant .", "None of the interventions had significant effects on consistent condom use or unprotected intercourse .", "In the subgroup of participants who had their sexual debut during the trial , there was no difference between the abstinence-only intervention and the control group regarding consistent condom use .", "Post hoc analyses revealed no significant differences between the abstinence intervention and the 8-hour comprehensive intervention on any sexual behavior outcome .", "Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale scores were unrelated to self-reported sexual behavior , including abstinence , at baseline and did not interact with the intervention condition to influence sexual behavior during the follow-up period .", "Tests of intervention maintenance \u00d7 intervention condition interactions revealed no evidence that the intervention-maintenance program moderated the efficacy of the interventions in reducing sexual initiation , recent sexual intercourse , or unprotected sexual intercourse .", "However , the intervention maintenance \u00d7 abstinence-only intervention ( P = .03 ) and intervention maintenance \u00d7 12-hour comprehensive intervention ( P = .04 ) interactions on multiple partners were statistically significant .", "The abstinence-only intervention was more efficacious in reducing multiple partners than was the control group for those who received intervention maintenance ( RR , 0.93 ; 95 % CI , 0.88-0 .98 ; P = .006 ) compared with those who did not ( RR , 1.02 ; 95 % CI , 0.96-1 .08 ; P = .57 ) .", "The 12-hour comprehensive intervention was more efficacious in reducing multiple partners than was the control group among those who received intervention maintenance ( RR , 0.91 ; 95 % CI , 0.86-0 .96 ; P = .004 ) compared with those who did not ( RR , 0.99 ; 95 % CI , 0.93-1 .06 ; P = .83 ) .", "No adverse events occurred during the study .", "The results indicate that a theory-based abstinence-only intervention reduced self-reported sexual involvement among African American students in grades 6 and 7 , a population at high risk of pregnancy and STIs , including HIV .", "The abstinence-only intervention compared with the health-promotion control intervention reduced by about 33 % the percentage of students who ever reported having sexual intercourse by the time of the 24-month follow-up , controlling for grade , age , and intervention-maintenance condition .", "Although other studies have reported intervention-induced reductions in sexual intercourse among adolescents , this is the first randomized controlled trial to demonstrate that an abstinence-only intervention reduced the percentage of adolescents who reported any sexual intercourse for a long period following the intervention , in this case , 24 months after intervention .", "We also found significant effects of the 8 - and 12-hour comprehensive interventions on important HIV/STD risk -- related behavior .", "Both comprehensive interventions significantly reduced the incidence of multiple sexual partners compared with the health control group .", "In addition , the 12-hour comprehensive intervention marginally significantly ( P = .06 ) reduced the incidence of recent sexual intercourse compared with the health control group .", "A common shortcoming of health-behavior interventions is that behavior change is often short-lived , disappearing on longer-term follow-up .", "We used a multifaceted , tailored intervention-maintenance program to address this shortcoming .", "Although many trials have used booster intervention sessions , this is one of few trials to test the efficacy of a randomly allocated strategy to extend interventions ' efficacy .", "We found only modest effects of the intervention-maintenance program in enhancing efficacy .", "It enhanced the efficacy of the abstinence-only and comprehensive interventions in reducing multiple partners compared with the control group but did not enhance efficacy on sexual initiation , recent intercourse , or unprotected intercourse .", "Therefore , although the effects of our intervention maintenance component are promising , we encourage additional research to identify ways to extend the efficacy of HIV/STD risk reduction interventions .", "A common concern about abstinence-only interventions is that they have the unintended effect of reducing condom use , ie , that children exposed to such interventions are subsequently less likely to use condoms if they have sexual intercourse .20,21,36 However , a randomized controlled trial37 and a literature review38 found no effects of abstinence interventions on condom use .", "Similarly , in this trial the abstinence-only intervention participants did not differ in self-reported consistent condom use compared with the control group .", "The results of this trial should not be taken to mean that all abstinence-only interventions are efficacious .", "This trial tested a theory-based abstinence-only intervention that would not meet federal criteria for abstinence programs and that is not vulnerable to many criticisms that have been leveled against interventions that meet federal criteria .19,20,36 It was not moralistic and did not criticize the use of condoms .", "Moreover , it had several characteristics associated with effective sexual risk-reduction interventions .", "It was theory-based and tailored to the target population based on qualitative data and included skill-building activities .", "It addressed the context of sexual activity and beliefs about the consequences of sexual involvement derived from the target population .", "The limitations of this trial should also be considered .", "The data were based on self reports , which can be inaccurate because of the failure of memory or socially desirable responding .", "As noted in the Methods , we used several procedures to increase the validity of self reports .", "In addition , analyses were inconsistent with the view that social desirability response bias accounted for the results .", "The relatively small number of sexually active adolescents limited the statistical power to test the effects of the safer sex and comprehensive interventions on condom use .", "Therefore , effects of these interventions on condom use were likely underestimated in this trial .", "The generalizability of the results may be limited to African American students in grades 6 and 7 who are willing to take part in a health promotion project on weekends .", "Whether the results would be similar with older adolescents or those of other races or in other countries is unclear .", "Despite these limitations , the results of this randomized controlled trial are promising .", "They suggest that theory-based abstinence-only interventions can have positive effects on adolescents ' sexual involvement .", "This is important because abstinence is the only approach that is acceptable in some communities and settings in both the United States and other countries .", "This trial showed that having had a theory-based abstinence-only intervention would not necessarily reduce adolescents ' condom use .", "Nevertheless , the results do not mean that abstinence-only intervention is the best approach or that other approaches should be abandoned .", "Theory-based abstinence-only interventions might be effective with young adolescents but ineffective with older youth or people in committed relationships .", "For the latter , other approaches that emphasize limiting the number of sexual partners and using condoms , including the comprehensive interventions used in this trial , might be more effective .", "Tackling the problem of STIs among young people requires an array of approaches implemented in a variety of venues .", "What the present results suggest is that theory-based abstinence-only interventions can be part of this mix .", "Using theory-based abstinence-only interventions selectively might contribute to the overall goal of curbing the spread of STIs in both the United States and other countries .", "Correspondence : John B. Jemmott III , PhD , Department of Psychiatry , Center for Health Behavior and Communication Research , University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine , 3535 Market St , Ste 520 , Philadelphia , PA 19104-3309 ( jjemmott@asc.upenn.edu ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "And, abstinence-only education did not affect condom usage ) (confirming what the Mathematica Policy Research study cited by the Opposition also found!", "_claim_name": "Abstinence-only education deters people from having sex at a young age.", "_doc_title": "Efficacy of a Theory-Based Abstinence-Only Intervention Over 24 Months:\u00a0\u00a0A Randomized Controlled Trial With Young Adolescents | Feb 01, 2010 | JAMA Pediatrics | JAMA Network", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13, 175]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can persuade a significant proportion to delay sexual activity , researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for U.S. efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases .", "Only about a third of sixth - and seventh-graders who completed an abstinence-focused program started having sex within the next two years , researchers found .", "Nearly half of the students who attended other classes , including ones that combined information about abstinence and contraception , became sexually active .", "The findings are the first clear evidence that an abstinence program could work .", "`` I think we 've written off abstinence-only education without looking closely at the nature of the evidence , '' said John B. Jemmott III , a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who led the federally funded study .", "`` Our study shows this could be one approach that could be used . ''", "The research , published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine , comes amid intense debate over how to reduce sexual activity , pregnancies , births and sexually transmitted diseases among children and teenagers .", "After falling for more than a decade , the numbers of births , pregnancies and STDs among U.S. teens have begun increasing .", "The Obama administration eliminated more than $ 170 million in annual federal funding targeted at abstinence programs after a series of reports concluded that the approach was ineffective .", "Instead , the White House is launching a $ 114 million pregnancy prevention initiative that will fund only programs that have been shown scientifically to work -- a program the administration on Monday proposed expanding to $ 183 million .", "`` This new study is game-changing , '' said Sarah Brown , who leads the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy .", "`` For the first time , there is strong evidence that an abstinence-only intervention can help very young teens delay sex . ''", "The study is the first to evaluate an abstinence program using a carefully designed approach comparing it with several alternative strategies and following subjects for an extended period of time , considered the kind of study that produces the highest level of scientific evidence .", "`` This takes away the main pillar of opposition to abstinence education , '' said Robert Rector , a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation who wrote the criteria for federal funding of abstinence programs .", "`` I 've always known that abstinence programs have gotten a bad rap . ''", "Longtime critics of the approach praised the study , saying it provides strong evidence that such programs can work and might merit taxpayer support .", "`` One of the things that 's exciting about this study is that it says we have a new tool to add to our repertoire , '' said Monica Rodriguez , vice president for education and training at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States .", "Based on the findings , Obama administration officials said programs like the one evaluated in the study could be eligible for federal funding .", "`` No one study determines funding decisions , but the findings from the research paper suggest that this kind of project could be competitive for grants if there 's promise that it achieves the goal of teen pregnancy prevention , '' said Nicholas Papas , a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services .", "Several critics of an abstinence-only approach said that the curriculum tested did not represent most abstinence programs .", "It did not take a moralistic tone , as many abstinence programs do .", "Most notably , the sessions encouraged children to delay sex until they are ready , not necessarily until married ; did not portray sex outside marriage as never appropriate ; and did not disparage condoms .", "`` There is no data in this study to support the ` abstain until marriage ' programs , which research proved ineffective during the Bush administration , '' said James Wagoner , president of Advocates for Youth .", "But abstinence supporters disputed that , saying that the new program is equivalent to many other well-designed abstinence curricula that are thorough , tailor their messages to students ' ages and provide detailed information .", "`` For our critics to use marriage as the thing that sets the program in this study apart from federally funded programs is an exaggeration and smacks of an effort to dismiss abstinence education rather than understanding what it is , '' said Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association .", "The study released Monday involved 662 African American students from four public middle schools in a city in the Northeastern United States .", "It was conducted between 2001 and 2004 .", "Students were randomly assigned to go through one of the following : an eight-hour curriculum that encouraged them to delay having sex ; an eight-hour program focused on teaching safe sex ; an eight - or 12-hour program that did both ; or an eight-hour program focused on teaching them other ways to be healthy , such as eating well and exercising .", "The abstinence-only portion involved a series of sessions in which instructors talked to students in small groups about their views about abstinence and their knowledge of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases .", "They also conducted role-playing exercises and brainstorming sessions designed to correct misconceptions about sex and sexually transmitted diseases , encourage abstinence and offer ways to resist pressure to have sex .", "Over the next two years , about 33 percent of the students who went through the abstinence program started having sex , compared with about 52 percent who were taught only safe sex .", "About 42 percent of the students who went through the comprehensive program started having sex , and about 47 percent of those who learned about other ways to be healthy did .", "The abstinence program had no negative effects on condom use , which has been a major criticism of the abstinence approach .", "`` The take-home message is that we need a variety of interventions to address an epidemic like HIV , sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy , '' said Jemmott , adding that he thinks the program would be equally effective among other age and racial or ethnic groups .", "`` There are populations that really want an abstinence intervention .", "They are against telling children about condoms , '' he said .", "`` This study suggests abstinence programs can be part of the mix of programs that we offer . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "The federally funded study found that only about a third of 6th and 7th graders receiving abstinence-only education had sex over the following two years, whereas nearly half of 6th and 7th graders attending other classes became sexually active.", "_claim_name": "Abstinence-only education deters people from having sex at a young age.", "_doc_title": "Abstinence-only programs might work, study says", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Rosenberg , Melanie D. BA ; Gurvey , Jill E. MPH ; Adler , Nancy PhD ; Dunlop , Miranda B. V. BA ; Ellen , Jonathan M. MD", "Background/Objectives : : A large percentage of sexually active adolescents have multiple sex partners and are at high risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases ( STDs ) .", "Little is known about adolescents ' patterns of sexual partnerships ( e.g. , concurrent versus serial ) and how these patterns influence STD risk .", "Goal of the Study : : To determine the frequency with which adolescents have concurrent partners during a main relationship and the association between having concurrent partners and STD risk .", "Study Design : : Adolescents seeking care at a public STD clinic were recruited from March , 1996 , to May , 1998 .", "Demographic and behavioral data were obtained during an interviewer\u2010administered questionnaire .", "Sexually transmitted disease testing and physical exams were performed by clinicians .", "Results : : Of those adolescents who reported having at least one main partner during the previous 6 months ( n = 245 ) , 110 ( 44.9 % ) had multiple partners , and 76 ( 31 % ) had at least one concurrent partner during a main relationship .", "Greater number of concurrent partners was associated with STD diagnosis/exposure after controlling for number of sex partners ( OR = 1.6 ; 95 % CI , 1.1 2.4 ) .", "Conclusions : : A significant percentage of adolescents have concurrent partners during a main relationship , and having concurrent partners increases STD risk ."], "_citing_sentence": "Numerous studies have shown that this is the case; having more partners increases the STD risk.", "_claim_name": "Abstinence-only education rightly teaches saving sex for marriage (or at least a long term, exclusive relationship).", "_doc_title": "Concurrent Sex Partners and Risk for Sexually Transmitted Di... : Sexually Transmitted Diseases", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 9]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 26, "_topic_name": "This House would only teach abstinence for sex education in schools"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Law Shop is now closed .", "Many couples in modern society choose to live together without getting married or entering into a civil partnership .", "It should be noted , however , that living together in this manner leaves them with fewer rights than they would have if they were married .", "This affects the entitlement of one party to the other 's estate upon death , to a share of the property upon separation , and to parental responsibility of any children .", "Cohabiting couples will have no automatic right to each other 's assets upon death , which is why it is vital to make Wills if you live together unmarried with your partner .", "Intestacy rules , which come into play when somebody dies without making a Will , dictate that , when no Will has been made , assets will be passed on to the next of kin , or even the Crown when no family member can be found .", "Mirror Wills may be suitable for couples who have similar or identical wishes .", "For guidance on making Wills , please see our making a Will section .", "Mothers automatically have parental responsibility for any children they have and can not lose it , except through adoption .", "However , an unmarried father does not have automatic parental responsibility for his child .", "Though as of 1 December 2003 , he will have it if he registers the birth with the mother .", "If you are an unmarried father and do not have parental responsibility through jointly registering the birth , the easiest way to get it is to make a parental responsibility agreement with the mother ( this can also be done through a court order in scenarios where the mother does n't agree ) .", "A form for setting up a parental responsibility agreement can be downloaded from the government 's website .", "Once you have filled it in you should take it to your local County Court or family proceedings court to sign it in the presence of witnesses .", "You should take the child 's birth certificate and proof of your identity to the court .", "Two copies of the form , once completed , should be sent to :", "Principal Registry of the Family Division", "First Avenue House 42-49 High Holborn", "For information on what happens with regard to children when a cohabiting relationship ends , please see our page on ending a relationship when you are living together .", "If you buy property as an unmarried couple , then it is advisable to purchase it jointly .", "Should a cohabiting couple split , if the property in which they lived is only in the name of one of the partners , the other will have no automatic right to any share of it .", "So if as a cohabiting couple you have been effectively sharing the property but it is placed in only one of your names , the other party could seriously lose out .", "However , even if you do not have joint ownership of your property , you may be able to demonstrate that you are entitled to a share of it through ` common intention ' , which means there was an agreement between the couple that the property was shared .", "You could achieve this if you contributed financially to the purchase of the property or helped with mortgage payments , for example .", "If this is contested by your ex-partner , however , you may have to go to court .", "A cohabiting couple can have their relationship legally recognised by drafting a cohabitation ( or living together ) agreement .", "Such a document can formalise the couple 's rights and responsibilities towards each other , and make things more clear cut in the event of the relationship coming to an end .", "A cohabitation agreement can cover such things as :", "These agreements can be enforced legally if they are written in the correct manner and signed by both parties , as they constitute a contract between the couple .", "Therefore , as the parties will be obliged to act as set out in the agreement , it is advisable to have your agreement checked by a solicitor .", "Everything Legal Ltd is an appointed representative of DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company Limited which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority ( 202106 ) .", "Everything Legal Ltd is regulated by the Claims Management Regulator in respect of regulated claims management activities ; its registration is recorded on the website www.justice.gov.uk/claims-regulation ."], "_citing_sentence": "In UK law, \"their relationship with one another is not recognised as having any legal standing, and they have no special status in the eyes of the English legal system\" Individuals are usually more able to pursue their own ambitions when they have the support of another.", "_claim_name": "The status quo discourages interdependence", "_doc_title": "Common Law Rights For Cohabitating Couples | Law on the Web", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 27, "_topic_name": "This House would allow cohabiting couples who wish to end their relationships to request that the courts supervise the division of their property"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["WASHINGTON -- North Korea may be able to overcome technical difficulties and assemble a missile capable of hitting West Coast cities within three years , a top Defense Department official said Tuesday , but it is unlikely to be able to deliver a nuclear warhead in that time frame .", "The U.S. assessment came as North Korea 's rulers show signs of preparing for additional weapons tests in the face of international condemnation and new United Nations sanctions .", "The estimate of three to five years was provided in congressional testimony by Marine Gen. James Cartwright , vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , who previously oversaw America 's nuclear forces as head of Strategic Command .", "It follows North Korea 's most recent tests , including a nuclear detonation last month and a multistage missile launch in April that indicated progress but also highlighted flaws in the country 's technology .", "At the White House , President Obama met Tuesday with South Korea 's president , saying he would end the cycle in which the North Korean government provokes international crises to obtain aid .", "North Korea in the past has promised to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for energy and economic aid .", "`` This is a pattern they 've come to expect , '' Obama said .", "`` We are going to break that pattern . ''", "At a news conference with President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea , Obama called North Korea a `` grave threat . ''", "He emphasized that a chief U.S. concern is that North Korea may spread nuclear technology to other countries or extremist groups .", "But he also stressed the importance of negotiations .", "Cartwright outlined the potential threat posed by North Korean missiles in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee .", "North Korea 's Taepodong 2 missile is designed to reach the West Coast of the U.S. , but test launches to date have been partial failures .", "Analysts believe the Taepodong 2 is inaccurate and so far has failed to reach a third stage , a critical leap to be able to hit the United States .", "Cartwright said that in three to five years , the government in Pyongyang might be able to overcome its technical problems .", "But he said that time frame did not include development of a warhead .", "He did not estimate how long it might take the communist regime to develop a warhead small enough to put on a long-range missile .", "Cartwright also stressed that his assessment represented an estimate .", "`` My crystal ball 's not going to be any better than anyone else 's , '' he said .", "Under questioning from Sen. Evan Bayh ( D-Ind . )", ", Cartwright said he was `` 90 % - plus '' confident that the U.S. could shoot down a missile launched at the United States from North Korea .", "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has proposed trimming the overall U.S. missile defense budget , but has requested $ 900 million to maintain and improve interceptor missiles now based in California and Alaska .", "North Korea detonated a nuclear device last month , its second test in three years .", "Some U.S. officials have said North Korea may be making preparations for a third nuclear test .", "William J. Lynn , the No. 2 Pentagon official , said that although North Korea 's future behavior was unpredictable , Pyongyang had accelerated its missile and nuclear tests , justifying additional U.S. investment in defensive systems .", "`` It could present a threat to the U.S. homeland , and we think that 's a strong reason to maintain a ground-based interceptor system and to upgrade it , '' Lynn said .", "Lynn is a former lobbyist for Raytheon Corp. , a major missile defense contractor ."], "_citing_sentence": "The regime has tested missiles at least capable of reaching Tokyo and Seoul and has indicated a desire to be able to reach Washington, James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is worried that they will be able to hit the west coast within a few years.", "_claim_name": "North Korea represents a clear danger to its neighbours and their allies and that is unlikely to change", "_doc_title": "U.S. may be within N. Korea missile range in 3 years, official warns - latimes", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By Fareed Zakaria , CNN", "I noticed a strange item in the news this week .", "An estimated 200 North Koreans are stranded in Libya right now , among them doctors and nurses whose services are much needed back home .", "Why are they there ?", "Why ca n't they go back ?", "Well , it turns out that they were sent to Libya to earn desperately needed hard currency for North Korea 's tyrant , Kim Jong-Il .", "But now , despite Gadhafi 's death and the changing circumstances , he 'd rather these essential workers stay away .", "The same goes for hundreds of other doctors , nurses , technicians and other workers in Tunisia and Egypt .", "The Arab spring .", "The Dear Leader does n't want these people , who have seen street protests succeed and dictatorships fall , to return and talk about it .", "In fact , editorials in South Korean newspapers say that only 1 % of North Koreans have even heard of the Arab spring .", "But how you would have such an exact figure beats me .", "What we can say for sure is that the North Korean press has simply not reported on any of the popular uprisings of 2011 , obviously for fear of sparking protests within North Korea .", "In fact , Pyongyang issued a statement in March simply saying Libya 's dismantling of its nuclear weapons program made it more vulnerable to western intervention .", "In other words , ` We , the North Koreans , will keep our nukes as our insurance policy against regime change . '", "So do n't expect Pyongyang to disarm anytime soon .", "The regime interprets the fall of Gadhafi as a cautionary tale .", "Do n't disarm ; do n't try to talk to the west ; do n't open up .", "Meanwhile , the suffering of the North Korean people continues .", "Just last week , UNICEF reported that millions of children there are at risk of being severely malnourished .", "These children will be more vulnerable to disease and stunted growth .", "And there 's little hope that the government has the ability to help even if it wanted to .", "There 's been a major shortage of food for years now compounded by adverse weather conditions and a suspension of food aid programs from the U.S. and South Korea .", "Even China , Pyongyang 's only ally , has cut food aid .", "So what happens next ?", "No one predicted the Arab Spring , but can one predict a North Korean Fall ?", "Most of the tools of popular revolt these days are unavailable in North Korea .", "Only 400,000 people have mobile phones .", "That 's 1.5 % of a population of 24 million .", "Getting a phone requires connections to the regime .", "Internet penetration rates are n't available but they 're estimated to be just as low .", "There 's no Twitter , no Facebook , no YouTube , no Al Jazeera to coalesce the masses .", "So bottom-up change does not look like it 's going to happen any time soon .", "So perhaps change could come when there 's change at the top .", "Kim Jong-Il is 70 years old .", "It 's been reported he 's had a stroke and has had cancer .", "And he 's picked his successor in a rushed manner .", "But the army , intelligence apparatus and the police appear to be solidly behind him and his family .", "We 'll probably never know what 's really going on in North Korea , and there is little appetite in China , the one country with influence in North Korea , to force change in Pyongyang .", "But it is worth remembering that in a time of mass global unrest and popular uprisings , North Korea remains a highly secretive , brutal dictatorship enslaving its people - arguably the world 's worst regime .", "For more of my thoughts throughout the week , I invite you to follow me on Facebook and Twitter to visit the Global Public Square every day .", "Also , for more What in the World ?", "pieces , click here .", "I think a revolt is possible if the global community rallies behind one .", "Censored again by CNN in violation of my freedom of speech .", "One would think they would defend this freedom above all others .", "Sadly , freedom of speech is now commonly trumped by political correctness .", "Why dont the North Koreans pick a leader by drawing names because they all have the same mentality and character .", "Are you implying that North Koreans are soulless drones who behave more like insects than human beings ?", "That 's what I believe .", "Hoss , If they were insects , they would be dung beetles .", "Oh , you are so mean to fearress reader !", "Fearress reader rove us rong time !", "They say that all good things must end , fortunately all bad things do also .", "As a troll , I must protest this spate of silly trolling .", "When I was a lad , we took pride in learning to troll .", "We would spend hours creating complex , highly nuanced personas and , at just the right moment , spring our trap !", "Nowadays anything goes .", "Trolling has become little more than a debased hobby , a cheap thrill for the loner-crank .", "Now , if you 'll excuse me , I must return to being fisted by my gay lover .", "Well ... Kim Jun IL is dead !", "His son UN is going to take over and he may or may not have strong ties to the military .", "Hmm ... Million man army ?!", "lol , so did iraq .", "If you want NK to fall then stop buying junk made in China !", "I dont care if it is a part in a US company or another allie of ours .", "Dont buy it !", "If the Chineese do not have extra cash to spend on anyone then they cant .", "Cause noone else has the cash to give them either .", "I think it 's time the rest of the world started calling it `` Kingdom of North Korea '' .", "Thank you , Mr. Dumphuque .", "I dated a Karen Dumphuque in high school ... eh , it 's probably a pretty common name .", "I spy a brown eye .", "`` arguably the world 's worst regime '' ?"], "_citing_sentence": "The only alternative future for the North is of a failed state going economically and socially in the opposite direction from the rest of Eastern Asia but now armed with nuclear weapons.The security threat this poses to the region is terrifying.However, it seems unlikely that the regime has any intention of surrendering their absolute power and the people are unlikely to remove him however bad things get, North Koreans do not have access to the tools such as mobile phones and the internet that made the Arab Spring possible.", "_claim_name": "Despite the tyranny of Kim Jong-Un, the control he exercises over his people has eliminated the possibility of revolution", "_doc_title": "Zakaria: Will the North Koreans rise up? \u2013 Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs", "_labeled_lineIDs": [26, 27, 28]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 28, "_topic_name": "This House would invade and forcibly reunify the Korean peninsula"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["A law has come into force in Belgium banning women from wearing the full Islamic veil in public .", "The country is the second European Union nation after France to enforce such a ban .", "Offenders face a fine of 137.5 euros ( # 121 ; $ 197 ) and up to seven days in jail .", "Two women who wear full veils launched an immediate court challenge , saying the law is discriminatory .", "France , home to Europe 's biggest Muslim population , enforced its ban in April .", "Belgium 's law bans any clothing that obscures the identity of the wearer in places like parks and on the street .", "It was passed almost unanimously by the lower house of parliament in April 2010 .", "MPs voted with only two abstentions to back the legislation on the grounds of security , to allow police to identify people .", "Other MPs said that full face veils such as the burka or the niqab were a symbol of the oppression of women .", "But critics of the law say it could end up excluding women , leaving those who do wear the full veil trapped in their homes .", "And they say the measures are over the top - estimates suggest only a few dozen women wear this kind of veil in Belgium , out of a Muslim population of about half a million .", "`` We consider the law a disproportionate intrusion into fundamental rights such as the freedom of religion and expression , '' Ines Wouters , the lawyer representing the two women challenging the ban , told the newspaper La Libre .", "She has taken their case to Belgium 's constitutional court , where she will request a suspension of the law , AFP news agency reported ."], "_citing_sentence": "For this reason Belgium has recently banned the wearing of the full Muslim veil, much like France in 2010.", "_claim_name": "Many symbols are seen as a symbol of oppression on women.", "_doc_title": "Belgian ban on full veils comes into force - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Religious symbols in classrooms could be banned across Europe if a human rights ruling is upheld on appeal tomorrow .", "The Italian government is trying to overturn a verdict that displaying crucifixes in state schools breaches religious freedoms enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights .", "The decision by the European Court of Human Rights in 2009 was a victory for Soile Lautsi , a non-Catholic mother who complained that her children , aged 11 and 13 , were exposed to crucifixes in classrooms at their school in Northern Italy .", "The Strasbourg judges agreed the presence of religious symbols violated the children 's `` right to education '' and their `` right to freedom of thought , conscience and religion '' , safeguarded by the Human Rights Convention .", "The judges rejected Italian government arguments that the crucifix was a national symbol of culture , history and identity , tolerance and secularism , saying the crucifix in the classroom was against the principle of secularism by which Ms Lautsi wished to raise her children .", "The judgment said : `` The presence of the crucifix - which it was impossible not to notice in the classrooms - could easily be interpreted by pupils of all ages as a religious sign and they would feel that they were being educated in a school environment bearing the stamp of a given religion . ''", "It went on : `` This could be encouraging for religious pupils , but also disturbing for pupils who practised other religions or were atheists , particularly if they belonged to religious minorities . ''", "The judges said the freedom not to believe in any religion - enshrined in the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Human Rights Convention - was not limited to the absence of religious services or religious education .", "It extended to practices and symbols which expressed `` a belief , a religion or atheism '' .", "The ruling concluded : `` The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities , and especially in classrooms , thus restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions , and the right of children to believe or not to believe . ''", "Italy was ordered to pay the mother # 4,500 in damages , but Rome decided to appeal to the Court 's 17-judge Grand Chamber in a bid to overturn the verdict .", "Today 's final decision , if it upholds the original verdict , would only directly affect Italian schools where religious icons are in all classrooms .", "But a breach of the Human Rights Convention identified in one of the Council of Europe member states - 47 including the 27 EU countries - applies in all .", "One human rights expert commented : `` Another parent who feels similarly affected by similar circumstances in a state school in another Council of Europe country could launch a similar case , but all the governments would already be aware of the state of play if the judges do uphold the original verdict in the case of Italy . ''", "Malta had joined Italy in the appeal ."], "_citing_sentence": "Authorities in Italy have followed through with the ban saying that such a Christian symbol segregates those who are not Christian.", "_claim_name": "Religious symbols cause problems in schools.", "_doc_title": "Decision due in crucifix ban case - timesofmalta.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["So far , most pupils have been observing the law by removing the headscarf or other symbols before entering school .", "The lives of two French reporters , held by Iraqi militants who want the ban scrapped , still hang in the balance .", "The French government has refused to give in to the militants , who have threatened to kill the two .", "But Paris is continuing a diplomatic effort to secure their release .", "Ban proposed in December 2003 and backed by parliament in March", "Came into effect at start of new school year on 2 September", "Lays down that `` conspicuous '' religious items may not be worn in schools", "Forbidden items will include Muslim headscarf , Sikh turbans , Jewish skullcap and large Christian crucifixes", "Viewpoints : Headscarf ban", "French education authorities with a large Arab population were on high alert on Thursday .", "Teams of mediators were on hand to intervene in any dispute .", "Schools have been told not to automatically exclude pupils who arrive wearing headscarves , but to try and avert a showdown through dialogue .", "The law , which affects 12 million children , calls for a period of dialogue , although Education Minister Francois Fillon has stressed that there is no room for negotiations .", "`` There is no question today of excluding .", "It is a question of convincing , '' he said .", "As classes opened , one Muslim girl in the working-class", "Paris suburb of Aubervilliers said she had left her headscarf at home .", "Hostages ` alive and well ' `` I was always treated badly and I felt uncomfortable , so I decided to take it off , '' Nadia Arabi , 16 , told the Associated Press before heading through the gates of Henri Wallon school .", "The ban is not only affecting Muslims .", "Sikhs argue that their turbans are not religious symbols .", "Young Sikh Ranjit , 15 , went to the Jean-Rostand school in the Parisian suburb of Villepinte on Thursday morning to get his new timetable , wearing a thin strip of material on his hair rather than his customary turban , AFP news agency reports .", "The ban is designed to maintain France 's tradition of strictly separating state and religion .", "HAVE YOUR SAY", "This is opportunism at its height , it is just posturing and flexing of muscles on the part of the kidnappers", "Send us your comments It forbids state school students from wearing `` conspicuous '' religious apparel .", "Jewish skullcaps , Sikh turbans and large Christian crosses are also banned .", "The BBC 's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says the hostage-takers ' demands have had one unintended consequence - to unite France against them , making it much harder for radical Muslims to protest against the ban .", "Nobody in France wants to be seen siding with the kidnappers , our correspondent says .", "It forbids state school students from wearing `` conspicuous '' religious apparel ."], "_citing_sentence": "In France the ban is made even easier to enforce by restricting it to 'conspicuous' religious apparel.", "_claim_name": "A ban would be simple to enforce.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Europe | French scarf ban comes into force", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 29, "_topic_name": "This House would ban religious symbols in public buildings"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The UN-Arab League joint special envoy to Syria , Kofi Annan has announced he is leaving his post .", "In a news conference , he said the Syrian people `` desperately need action '' but criticised the UN Security Council for `` finger-pointing and name-calling '' .", "Mr Annan authored a six-point peace plan for Syria which was intended to bring an end to the fighting .", "But the plan was never fully adhered to by either side and the violence has continued to escalate .", "UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was `` with deep regret '' that he announced Mr Annan would not renew his mandate when it expires at the end of August .", "The Syrian foreign ministry also expressed regret at the announcement , state TV reported .", "Speaking in Geneva , Mr Annan said the increasing militarisation of the Syrian conflict and the `` clear lack of unity '' in the Security Council had `` fundamentally changed the circumstances for the effective exercise of my role '' .", "By Barbara PlettBBC UN correspondent", "Kofi Annan made clear from the beginning that he needed sustained and united international pressure on the Syrian government but also on the opposition .", "Yet despite unanimous support for his plan in the Security Council , the main powers failed to overcome fundamental divisions .", "Western states never stopped talking about the need for regime change while trying to win support for the threat of sanctions .", "Russia never stopped talking about the illegitimacy of outside interference , be it sanctions or demands that the Syrian president step down .", "It continued to supply weapons to the regime , while regional countries quietly armed and financed the opposition .", "In the end , Mr Annan said he could n't want peace more than the protagonists or the international community .", "His successor may have more luck if the evolving situation requires other approaches , but for now his resignation signals an end to a diplomatic solution , and a failure by the Security Council to implement its own policy .", "He said the problems were `` compounded by the disunity of the international community '' .", "Russia and China have vetoed resolutions on the crisis three times , citing opposition to any action which might be seen as regime change imposed from outside .", "`` When the Syrian people desperately need action , there continues to be finger-pointing and name-calling in the Security Council , '' he said .", "`` It is impossible for me or anyone to compel the Syrian government , and also the opposition , to take the steps to bring about the political process .", "`` Syria can still be saved from the worst calamity - if the international community can show the courage and leadership necessary to compromise on their partial interests for the sake of the Syrian people - for the men , women and children who have already suffered far too much . ''", "Mr Annan said he did not rule out someone taking over the mediator 's role from him , but said a successor might choose another path .", "He said the focus remained on political transition , as President Bashar al-Assad `` will have to leave sooner or later '' .", "In his statement , Mr Ban said he was in discussion with the Arab League to find a successor to `` carry on this crucial peacemaking effort '' .", "He said Mr Annan deserved `` profound admiration '' for the way he had tackled `` this most difficult and potentially thankless of assignments '' and that he remained convinced bloodshed would only bring `` deeper suffering to the country and greater peril to the region '' .", "Mr Ban said the Annan plan remained the `` best hope for the people of Syria '' but that the `` persistent divisions '' in the UN Security Council `` have themselves become an obstacle to diplomacy , making the work of any mediator vastly more difficult '' .", "Syrian-led political process to address the aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people 2 .", "End to violence by all sides ; army troops to stop using heavy weapons and withdraw to barracks 3 .", "Parties to allow humanitarian aid 4 .", "Authorities to free political detainees 5 .", "Authorities to ensure freedom of movement for journalists 6 .", "Authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations", "Syria : Guide to the conflict", "Speaking in London , Russian President Vladimir Putin said Mr Annan was `` a man of great merit , a brilliant diplomat and a very honest person , so it is a great shame '' .", "Russia 's UN ambassador , Vitaly Churkin , said Moscow had always supported Mr Annan 's work and that it hoped Mr Annan 's final month in the role `` is going to be used as effectively as possible under these very difficult circumstances '' .", "Writing on Twitter , the US ambassador to the UN , Susan Rice , thanked Mr Annan for his `` dedication , service and determined efforts '' , but said those who had blocked UN resolutions had `` made his mission impossible '' .", "White House spokesman Jay Carney blamed Russia and China for the resignation , saying it highlighted their failure at the UN to `` support meaningful resolutions against Assad that would have held Assad accountable '' .", "The BBC 's Jim Muir , who is monitoring events in Syria from neighbouring Lebanon , said Mr Annan 's decision to step down is clear recognition that the political process has failed , and that Syria 's fate will be decided by events on the ground .", "It is hard to imagine a figure with anything approaching the stature and profile of Mr Annan taking over the task , when the prospects for success are currently negligible , our correspondent adds .", "Mr Annan took up his post in February .", "His internationally backed peace plan called for an end to the use of heavy weaponry , the free passage of aid , freedom of media and demonstration and for a Syrian-led political process to address the aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people .", "In pictures : Aleppo fighting It was supposed to come into effect in mid-April , but government forces continued to shell opposition strongholds and the opposition forces never fully committed to it .", "Activists estimate some 20,000 people have died since anti-government protests erupted against President Assad in March last year .", "Tens of thousands of people have also fled the country .", "On Thursday , rebel fighters in Syria 's second city , Aleppo , attacked an army base using a tank they had seized from the military .", "In the capital , Damascus , government forces launched two operations to root out rebel activists on Wednesday , killing at least 70 , the opposition said .", "Police are treating an incident at RAF Marham , Norfolk , involving a serviceman as attempted abduction .", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess", "A 15cm-high wall is put around Trump 's Hollywood star", "Should we take supplements as experts suggest ?", "The anti-jihad activist whose sibling killed seven people", "The man hired to have sex with children", "How tragedy inspired US rocker to teach guitar in Kabul", "Where in Japan might Pokemon be hiding ?", "Black man 's unique response to being told ` go home '", "The country where it pays to buy protection"], "_citing_sentence": "The United Nations peace effort under Kofi Annan failed in the middle of last year and there has been no progress since.", "_claim_name": "Diplomacy is not going anywhere", "_doc_title": "Syria crisis: Kofi Annan quits as UN-Arab League envoy - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 14]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Obama 's cabinet had a plan to take down Bashar al-Assad .", "What went wrong ?", "Until recently , among President Barack Obama 's most senior advisors on national security , an ironclad consensus reigned : Arm the Syrian rebels .", "In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 7 , Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , affirmed that they both supported the call by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus , former director of the CIA , to provide lethal support to the Syrian opposition .", "What were the arguments that convinced Obama to overrule his advisors ?", "We may never know , but one thing is clear : They were not based on a sober reading of the situation on the ground in Syria , where U.S. policy is caught in a contradiction between word and deed .", "Though the president has repeatedly called for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad 's ouster , he has proposed no credible plan for achieving that goal .", "Last week , for instance , Obama stressed that the United States had `` joined with nations around the world in calling for an end to the Assad regime . ''", "No sooner had he made this statement , however , than he dispatched Vice President Joseph Biden to attempt -- once again -- to engage Russia on a solution to the conflict .", "But reliance on mediation from Moscow -- with its emphasis on an Assad-led transition -- has proved to be fundamentally flawed .", "Assad will never preside over his own removal .", "The diplomatic back-and-forth has come at the expense of decisive steps toward regime change .", "Obama has been right , after a decade of war , to ask hard questions about whether greater U.S. involvement can really work in the interests of either Syria or the United States .", "But his hands-off policy has now proved to be self-defeating .", "In the absence of American assistance , the rebels ' momentum has stalled , and the battles for Damascus , Aleppo , and Syria 's other strategic centers have devolved into a grim stalemate .", "Meanwhile , Syrian society is fragmenting , and sectarianism is on the rise .", "While Jabhat al-Nusra , the local al Qaeda affiliate , is growing ever stronger , the Iranians and Hezbollah have doubled down on their support for the regime .", "Both have , for example , sent forces to fight alongside the Syrian army .", "In addition , they are training and equipping the Jaysh al-Shabi , a Syrian government-controlled force that , according to at least one Iranian source , is modeled on the Basij militia of the Islamic Republic .", "Iran is also providing economic aid and propaganda support .", "The polarizing influence of Iran and al Qaeda portends a further escalation of sectarian violence , which will inevitably spill over into surrounding countries .", "To prevent the worst , the United States must assume a greater leadership role , which , as the president 's advisors have made clear , means building the capacity of the Free Syrian Army ( FSA ) , a network of nationalist and secular-leaning rebel brigades .", "This would not necessarily require direct and sustained American military intervention , but it would entail arming the FSA and helping it to develop a countrywide military strategy .", "From a purely military point of view , the rebels need help neutralizing the weapons that give the Syrian state its greatest advantages -- namely , armor and fixed-wing aircraft .", "The provision of light anti-tank weapons would go a long way toward stopping Assad 's tanks .", "However , eliminating the regime 's air superiority , which rebels and civilians fear the most , is a thornier challenge .", "Here the United States and the international community have a crucial role to play in projecting a credible threat of force to stop Assad from indiscriminate bombing .", "While it may not be necessary to impose a Libya-style no-fly zone ( NFZ ) , it is imperative to keep the threat on the table and to be willing , if required , to carry it out .", "An obvious alternative to an NFZ is to provide man-portable air-defense systems ( MANPADs ) .", "But the legal and prudential restrictions are considerable .", "The use of these systems would require a stronger partnership between the FSA and key regional allies than currently exists .", "In addition to weaponry , the FSA needs training , resources , and intelligence support .", "It currently lacks a sound military strategy .", "Only the Americans , working together with Arab partner nations , have the requisite diplomatic and military resources to help the FSA develop this capacity .", "It is often said that the United States has no successful track record of providing this kind of assistance .", "But that is simply false .", "In fact , in recent months it has enjoyed a number of quiet successes in Yemen .", "With a very light footprint , the Pentagon has helped train and equip the Yemeni army , giving it the wherewithal to retake territory that it previously ceded to al Qaeda .", "While the American drone campaign has grabbed the headlines , the effort to build partnership capacity holds out the greatest long-term promise .", "The partnership being developed in Yemen is precisely the model that is needed in Syria .", "It is important to remember that arming the FSA is a political act .", "The most important decision of all is simply to provide lethal assistance .", "The goal of the operation is to build a force on the ground that is more likely to respect American interests and that is committed to building a nonsectarian , stable Syria .", "Even the provision of light weaponry would be a good start to this project .", "This policy does entail the risk of unintended consequences .", "Some arms may flow to al Qaeda .", "Some groups may take American aid and then turn against the United States .", "But inaction also carries risks .", "The current hands-off policy has hardly succeeded in preventing extremists from acquiring arms .", "It has simply given them time and incentive to develop their own independent sources of external support .", "By establishing itself as the most important international player shaping the conflict inside Syria , the United States will lay the groundwork for helping the Syrian people forge a genuine national dialogue on the nature of their transition .", "This should include the creation of a national platform that brings together Syria 's diverse ethnic and religious communities -- including Sunnis , Shiites , Alawis , Christians , and Kurds , as well as tribal and religious figures -- to discuss the future of the country .", "In particular , it should include Alawis who enjoy wide legitimacy within their community , but who are also willing to talk about a post-Assad Syrian regime .", "At the same time , the United States should bring together key international and regional powers to create an international steering group .", "This group -- including China , Russia , Turkey , and key Arab and European states -- should agree on a number of basic goals for the transition and set benchmarks for their effective implementation .", "The immediate focus should be on protecting civilians , minorities , and vulnerable groups through the creation of an international stabilization force ; addressing humanitarian issues ; safeguarding chemical and other unauthorized weapons ; and supporting Syrian-led transitional governance and transitional justice efforts .", "For this to succeed , Obama must first persuade Russia to abandon its demand that Assad play a role in the transition .", "If Moscow remains defiant , however , the president must be willing to pursue an independent policy -- while still keeping the door open for Russian President Vladimir Putin to eventually join the international consensus .", "The Syria challenge is difficult .", "Its intractability is what initially made nonintervention attractive .", "But developments on the ground have since made it an increasingly dangerous option for American interests .", "It 's time Obama listened to his foreign-policy and national security advisors ."], "_citing_sentence": "Far from just providing weapons, both Iran and Hezbollah from Lebanon have been sending fighters to support the Syrian government.", "_claim_name": "Would balance the support for Syrian government", "_doc_title": "Arm the Syrian Rebels. Now. | Foreign Policy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [16, 17, 18, 19]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Marc Lynch is associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University , where he is the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and of the Project on Middle East Political Science .", "He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security .", "He is the author of The Arab Uprising ( March 2012 , PublicAffairs ) .", "He publishes frequently on the politics of the Middle East , with a particular focus on the Arab media and information technology , Iraq , Jordan , Egypt , and Islamist movements .", "My FP column last week argued that the Obama administration was correct to reject plans to arm the Syrian opposition .", "The objections to arming have become weaker as the conflict has become fully militarized , I argued , but the upside to arming has not become substantially higher .", "My column tomorrow will feature the second half of my current take on Syria , with a set of alternative policy recommendations drawn from my forthcoming CNAS Policy Brief .", "Stay tuned for that tomorrow !", "Today I am happy to be able to feature three interesting and important responses to my column .", "This is part of my ongoing effort to promote serious , critical debate and discussion on these issues ( for previous episodes , see the Egypt policy challenge responses and the Twitter Devolutions responses ) .", "Today 's roundtable features Daniel Byman ( Georgetown and Brookings ) , Emile Hokayem ( International Institute for Strategic Studies ) , and Mona Yacoubian ( Stimson Center ) .", "I am also going to quote from a piece by Karl Sharro that touched on similar themes .", "I regret that several others whom I invited did n't have time to contribute to the roundtable , but I look forward to hearing their thoughts in other venues .", "Daniel Byman ( Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and research director of the Saban Center at Brookings ) .", "I 've long championed aiding the Syrian opposition and warned that Assad might not fall unless pushed .", "Yet as Marc Lynch has contended in his columns ( and many other skeptics in and out of government would agree ) aiding the opposition is risky .", "Even if done well it could easily fail , and the United States might feel obliged to further escalate and deploy its own troops , which would be a mistake .", "Although the Obama administration appeared to consider and reject supporting the opposition last year , again the option is bruited about as U.S. policy toward Syria continues to flounder .", "With a large and sustained program to arm ( and particularly train ) the opposition , the United States can shape it , enabling more moderate forces to gain strength vis-\u00e0-vis radical rivals and prove themselves on the battlefield .", "A more effective and moderate opposition increases the chance that Assad will fall and , just as important , that a post-Assad Syria will avoid being a failed state .", "Coordinating U.S. efforts with those of Turkey , Saudi Arabia , and other regional allies would increase our chances of success .", "However , a sense of realism is necessary .", "We are years late to the game , and the opposition is painfully fractious -- while radicals are more and more entrenched .", "Iran has gone all-in to support Assad , and he shows no sign of giving in .", "In the past , some of the insurgents backed by the United States remained inept and , even more jarring , ungrateful for U.S. support after the conflict ended .", "Yet the other possible policies are off the table or even more risky .", "The United States is not about to intervene with its own troops , and diplomatic solutions have failed again and again .", "Beyond the increasingly horrific body count and refugee flows , ignoring the conflict is also risky , as violence from Syria is spilling over into neighboring states and risks destabilizing the region as a whole .", "So aiding the opposition ends up being the best -- or really the least worst -- option .", "Emile Hokayem , International Institute for Strategic Studies", "Thanks for the opportunity to engage in the debate .", "You make an articulate but ultimately unconvincing argument in favor of withholding any kind of military help to the Syrian rebels .", "First , let 's dispense with a few matters .", "I do n't argue my case from the perspective of U.S. interests -- I am not an American citizen , so I factor U.S. interests only as part of a broader mix of considerations .", "Very few people who support the arming of the rebels make the case for a direct military intervention .", "Intervention has become a catch-all word to dismiss advocates for more limited action as unreformed hawks ( many among us opposed the Iraq war and agree that intervention should be the rarest of exceptions ) .", "I too question the wisdom and merits of a direct intervention ( including a no-fly zone and a safe zone ) in current circumstances .", "Given the very complex Syrian terrain , the risks and costs are likely to be enormous .", "A direct intervention may be needed in the extreme cases of WMD use or if genocide , contingencies that military planners would do well to consider .", "Second , I accept that some types of weaponry , including anti-aircraft missiles are too sensitive to be introduced .", "I actually find it unfair that the U.S. is singled out for its opposition to the delivery of such weapons to the rebels when other countries , including Turkey , have done so for fear they would reach jihadi or Turkish separatist groups .", "The case against arming the rebels is often followed by a plea for renewed , creative diplomacy , which often would somehow be undermined by supplying weapons .", "First , diplomacy is in a comatose state and , as I argued in Foreign Policy , Assad will have none of it beyond theatrics .", "Second , why should diplomacy and strengthening the rebels be mutually exclusive and decoupled ?", "History is rife of examples of both strategies being deployed in parallel .", "After all , NATO had to help the Croats and the Bosnians ahead of the Dayton talks , which often cited as a possible template for Syria .", "With a death toll on par with the worst months of the Iraq war , the argument that `` more guns will lead to more violence '' is the weakest one in the debate .", "And the question is not the quantity of weapons but its distribution among the various groups .", "Assad not only has better weapons in greater quantity , he also has access to re-supply from Iran and Russia and a local defense industry .", "Also , one does n't have to be a scholar of just war theory to know that not all violence is the same .", "The case for arming the rebels has evolved over time .", "At first , arming ( with or without a no-fly zone ) was supposed to convey a sense of Western commitment to the downfall of Assad that would send a decisive message to key players in the military and the regime , thus encouraging defections .", "Then , it became about giving the rebels a military edge , but I think the military rationale is overstated .", "It is simply too late to organize and equip the rebels in a manner that would quickly bring down the regime while preserving the state for a smooth transition ( I also accept that this goal was probably unrealistic , but perhaps less so than the U.S. administration 's continued attachment to a peaceful transition that would follow a political solution ) .", "That initial goal has crumbled : The regime is holding on while the state is essentially gone .", "Forget those ridiculous headlines about Assad and his lieutenants being in a state of panic -- the regime can still allocate military resources in a rational manner and can put up a fight where it needs to .", "The Syrian rebels have never been given a reason to coalesce and the dithering has made things worse .", "Some analysts will argue , based on historical precedent , that they would never have , but this has to be tried .", "Analysts will say the U.S. has constantly failed at picking winners , but that 's the wrong expectation .", "Many of those who argue against arming pretend that their opponents in that debate are promising the moon in return for weapons .", "I am not .", "The U.S. will in no case pick the winning party in Syria ; the question is whether whoever fights now or wins later will even care to listen to the U.S. or any other Western state .", "In the very unlikely event Russia and the U.S. agree on Syria , both will likely have zero leverage to translate this into a regional and Syrian political solution .", "The political leaders the U.S. supports today will be powerless to negotiate , let alone enforce anything because they could n't deliver in time of need .", "It may well be impossible to contain the worst instincts of warlords and military leaders who , having seized power through blood and force , will be reluctant to abide by the rules of politics .", "In the not-so-distant future , jihadi groups may well roam on the borders with Israel , Jordan , Lebanon or Turkey , and do nasty things .", "The U.S. may then feel compelled to send its drones to take them out because it will not have local partners to turn to for help .", "The narrative that day will be that the U.S. could n't be bothered to meaningfully help the revolutionaries against Assad but does n't bother to go after those who did .", "It will be an imperfect and unfair narrative , but it will resonate across the region .", "By waiting for so long before engaging the Syrian rebels in a meaningful manner , the Western states ( now that the EU has renewed its arms embargo ) have made themselves at best marginal to the dynamics of a conflict that has already overtaken Iraq 's in regional and strategic terms and will shape the future of the Levant .", "Every other state is developing proxies and allies .", "Let me end with this : Let 's assume that you are indeed right that the course chosen by the Obama administration is the best .", "I hope you will agree that even this policy is under resourced , badly implemented , and awfully communicated , and that it likely wo n't have any significant , let alone decisive impact inside Syria .", "Mona Yacoubian , Stimson Center", "Arming the Syrian opposition remains a bad idea .", "If anything , Syria 's chaotic evolution toward sectarian civil war vindicates the Obama administration 's caution on the question .", "The potential is great for unintended consequences : Arms may fall into the wrong hands , and the United States could get sucked into a long , nasty proxy war that foments spillover across the region .", "Lessons not only from Afghanistan , but also Libya ( from Benghazi to Mali ) , highlight the deadly pitfalls of funneling arms into conflict .", "That such an inherently volatile and complicated process can be successfully `` managed '' requires a significant leap of faith .", "Beyond that , the negative repercussions would be significant should the United States essentially become a partisan in an evolving sectarian civil war .", "In the region , the United States is already perceived as favoring Sunni ( and in some cases Islamist ) interests as in Bahrain or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt .", "Rather than an `` above the fray '' superpower seeking a negotiated outcome that ushers in a post-Assad Syria , the United States would be viewed by many as simply a partisan player in a Sunni-Alawite civil war .", "Its ability to help promote the emergence of a multi-sectarian , democratic Syria would diminish significantly .", "Indeed , U.S. interests in a post-Assad Syria must rise above sectarian agendas .", "Moreover , greater U.S. involvement in Syria 's civil war would also open the United States up to greater security threats in the region and beyond ( remember Lebanon ) .", "US arming of Sunni armed groups in Syria could provoke Hezbollah , Iran , or others to launch attacks on U.S. targets .", "The United States should avoid being implicated more directly in the destabilizing Sunni-Shiite conflict that is expanding across the region .", "Three critical factors have remained constant since the beginning of Syria 's uprising and are responsible for its downward spiral from peaceful protests to sectarian civil war : 1 ) The regime 's perception of any protest ( peaceful or otherwise ) as an existential threat and therefore its unwillingness to reform or negotiate .", "Instead , Assad and those around him are engaged in a fight to the death ; there is no `` Yemen solution '' to Syria .", "2 ) The opposition 's inability to overcome ethno-sectarian divisions and unite around a vision of post-Assad Syria which would provide solid guarantees ( not just assurances ) to Syria 's minority communities , especially Alawites , Christians , and Kurds .", "3 ) The international community 's enduring stalemate , marked by an inability to forge a consensus on Syria that has rendered the UN ineffective and dramatically minimized the prospects for successful diplomacy .", "The only way to cease Syria 's continuing downward spiral would be to reverse at least two of these three factors .", "U.S. arming of the opposition would have the opposite effect .", "It would further polarize the international community , pushing Russia ( and of course Iran ) further into the regime 's corner .", "Moreover , U.S. arming of the opposition would do nothing to alleviate minorities ' deepening concerns that there is no place for them in a post-Assad Syria .", "In short , U.S. arming ( direct or indirect ) can do greater damage than good -- distancing the prospects the Syrian conflict 's resolution and embedding the United States into a dangerous sectarian dynamic that is spreading across the Middle East .", "Karl Sharro , `` The Myth of Constructive Meddling '' -LSB- This is excerpted from a blog post , which you should be sure to read in its entirety . -RSB-", "... The underlying assumption among analysts is that the U.S. , and the West more broadly , should adopt a `` sticks and carrots '' approach to encourage the armed rebel groups to fall in line with the political opposition and isolate the more radical elements thus weakening their influence .", "Those calls are voiced by analysts that have demonstrated that they really understand the dynamics of the conflict in Syria , particularly in terms of the military , geo-strategic and logistical aspects .", "The option appears seductive because it appears as a logical extension of this body of knowledge and the analysis built on top it .", "It is nevertheless a delusion .", "At the heart of this is characteristic arrogance that assumes that favourable outcomes could be orchestrated through a calibrated policy of political , financial and military support .", "the emerging policy option suggests arming and supporting the more moderate elements .", "The mistake here is assuming that weapons and financial support can compensate for lack of or weak popular support .", "Furthermore , it totally ignores the way in which Jabhat al-Nusra and the multitude of Islamist brigades and groups will be able to use that to galvanise further support , as Hezbollah has done successfully in the past by seizing on evidence of external support for its opponents .", "The ` arming the moderates ' option is an exercise in abstract political logic that is entirely oblivious to the fast-changing social and political dynamics in Syria .", "The military and strategic snapshot it relies on provides only half of the picture ... ."], "_citing_sentence": "We don't want to find ourselves having to root out terrorists from the air using UAVs.", "_claim_name": "It is in the national interest for democracies to support those seeking to oust dictators", "_doc_title": "Roundtable: arming the Syrian rebels | Foreign Policy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [66]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Smoke drifts into the sky from buildings and houses hit by shelling in Homs , Syria ( June 2012 ) .", "UN Photo/David Manyua ( file )", "Print 2 January 2013 -- Data analysis suggests that the death toll in the ongoing conflict in Syria has surpassed 60,000 , the United Nations human rights office said today .", "Preliminary analysis carried out by data specialists on behalf of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR ) has led to the compilation of a list of 59,648 individuals reported killed in Syria between 15 March 2011 and 30 November 2012 .", "`` Given there has been no let-up in the conflict since the end of November , we can assume that more than 60,000 people have been killed by the beginning of 2013 , '' said High Commissioner Navi Pillay said .", "`` The number of casualties is much higher than we expected , and is truly shocking , '' she added .", "According to a news release issued by OHCHR , the preliminary analysis , which took five months to complete , was conducted using a combined list of 147,349 reported killings , fully identified by the first and last name of the victims , as well as the date and location of the deaths .", "Any reported killing that did not include at least these four elements was excluded from the list , which was compiled using datasets from seven different sources , including the Syrian Government .", "The analysts noted that 60,000 is likely to be an underestimate of the actual number of deaths , given that reports containing insufficient information were excluded from the list , and that a significant number of killings may not have been documented at all by any of the seven sources .", "`` Although this is the most detailed and wide-ranging analysis of casualty figures so far , this is by no means a definitive figure , '' Ms. Pillay noted .", "`` We have not been able to verify the circumstances of each and every death , partly because of the nature of the conflict and partly because we have not been allowed inside Syria since the unrest began in March 2011 .", "`` Once there is peace in Syria , further investigations will be necessary to discover precisely how many people have died , and in what circumstances , and who was responsible for all the crimes that have been committed .", "This analysis provides a very useful basis upon which future investigations can be built to enhance accountability and provide justice and reparations to victims ' families .", "`` This massive loss of life could have been avoided if the Syrian Government had chosen to take a different path than one of ruthless suppression of what were initially peaceful and legitimate protests by unarmed civilians , '' said the High Commissioner .", "Recent months have witnessed an escalation in the conflict , which began as an uprising against President al-Assad and is now in its 22nd month .", "The crisis has left four million people inside the country in need of humanitarian assistance , and it is estimated that up to a million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries will need help during the first half of this year .", "`` As the situation has continued to degenerate , increasing numbers have also been killed by anti-government armed groups , and there has been a proliferation of serious crimes including war crimes , and -- most probably -- crimes against humanity , by both sides .", "Cities , towns and villages have been , and are continuing to be , devastated by aerial attacks , shelling , tank fire , bomb attacks and street-to-street fighting , '' said Ms. Pillay .", "She noted that the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict , highlighted in a recent update by the UN-mandated independent international Commission of Inquiry on Syria , means a swift end to the conflict will be `` all the more difficult to accomplish . ''", "`` While many details remain unclear , there can be no justification for the massive scale of the killing highlighted by this analysis , '' Ms. Pillay stated .", "`` Unless there is a quick resolution to the conflict , I fear thousands more will die or suffer terrible injuries as a result of those who harbour the obstinate belief that something can be achieved by more bloodshed , more torture and more mindless destruction . ''", "The failure of the international community , in particular the Security Council , to take concrete actions to stop the blood-letting , `` shames us all , '' the UN official said .", "`` For almost two years now , my staff and the staff of the independent Commission of Inquiry have been interviewing Syrians inside and outside the country , listening to their stories and gathering evidence .", "`` We have been repeatedly asked : ` Where is the international community ?", "Why are n't you acting to stop this slaughter ? '", "We have no satisfactory answer to those questions .", "Collectively , we have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns . ''", "News Tracker : past stories on this issue", "Syria : UN-Arab League envoy warns of limited options , dangers of fragmentation", "UN chief launches first report to track Sustainable Development Goals", "Syria : Food convoy reaches Serghaya , as UN agencies urge protection of aid workers and sites", "UN : Strong donor support for Lebanon positively impacts food , children and infrastructure", "Some 1,400 stuck at Hungarian-Serbian border amid dire conditions , UN refugee agency warns", "UN rights chief warns at least 200,000 civilians surrounded ; calls Syria ` gigantic , devastated graveyard '"], "_citing_sentence": "The February estimate of 70000 killed is up from an estimate of 60000 only a month before, so clearly the violence is escalating.", "_claim_name": "Syria clearly meets the standards for intervention", "_doc_title": "United Nations News Centre - Data suggests Syria death toll could be more than 60,000, says UN human rights office", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 30, "_topic_name": "This House would arm the Syrian rebels"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation", "Tuesday 25 February 2014 13.21 EST", "Last modified on Tuesday 25 February 2014 13.53 EST", "Once regarded as an example of enlightened African leadership , Uganda 's president , Yoweri Museveni , is currently something of an international pariah .", "His decision to sign a bill into law that imposes harsh penalties for homosexuality has resulted in cuts to the country 's generous aid budget .", "The US described the adoption of the law as a tragic day for Uganda , and the secretary of state , John Kerry , announced that `` all dimensions '' of US engagement with the country would be reviewed , including the aid budget .", "Britain is not following suit .", "The Department for International Development said all direct support to the Ugandan government had been cut in November after a corruption scandal , but a spokesman said the # 97.9 m in this year 's budget would not be withheld .", "`` The UK remains committed to supporting the people of Uganda , '' he said .", "The money will now be channelled through alternative routes , including international aid agencies that met the UK 's human rights principles .", "Other European donors have taken a tougher line .", "Norway said it would be withholding $ 8m in development aid , and Denmark will divert $ 9m away from the government .", "`` We can not distance ourselves too strongly from the law and the signal that the Ugandan government now sends to not only persecuted minority groups , but to the whole world , '' the Danish trade and development minister , Mogens Jensen , said .", "Austria said it was reviewing its assistance .", "Uganda has traditionally been one of the largest recipients of international aid .", "According to the Overseas Development Institute , the country received $ 1.6 bn ( # 960m ) in 2011 , making it the world 's 20th largest aid recipient .", "Between 2006 and 2010 the US was the biggest donor , providing $ 1.7 bn , followed by Britain with $ 694m .", "Uganda 's recent growth has reduced its aid dependence and the country hopes its newly found oil reserves will bear fruit in 2016 .", "With aid a decreasing share of government revenues , the hold donor countries have over Museveni has weakened .", "Uganda is also an important strategic ally , providing troops to Somalia in their fight against al-Shabaab .", "While Western donors have been scrambling to react to the passing of the bill there has been almost no response from other African leaders , many of whom have similar legislation .", "South Africa , one of the few African countries to protect the rights of gay men and women and allow gay marriage , has issued a statement calling for clarification from various countries about their laws on sexual orientation , a government official said on Tuesday .", "International relations department spokesperson Clayson Monyela said in a statement : `` South Africa believes that no persons should be subjected to discrimination or violence on any ground , including on the basis of sexual orientation . ''", "The African Union offices in Addis Ababa have been similarly silent .", "The UN secretary general , Ban Ki-moon , called on African leaders to respect gay rights when he addressed their summit in January 2012 , but they have been reluctant to tackle the issue .", "`` Let me mention one form of discrimination that has been ignored , or even sanctioned , by many states for far too long ... discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity , '' Ban said .", "`` This has prompted some governments to treat people as second-class citizens , or even criminals . ''", "Ban 's call for action was met with silence .", "Activists have attempted to raise the issue with the African Commission on Human and People 's Rights , but this , too , has met with little success .", "Homophobia is entrenched in Africa .", "The Uganda daily Red Pepper plastered its front page with a single headline : Exposed !", "Uganda 's Top Homos Named .", "Photographs of some allegedly gay men ran alongside the text .", "There has , however , been one small ray of hope .", "A Zambian court has cleared a prominent rights activist , Paul Kasonkomona , of encouraging homosexuality after he called for gay rights to be recognised .", "He was arrested in April 2013 and charged with soliciting .", "`` This is a great victory for freedom of expression , '' his lawyer , Anneke Meerkotter , said .", "`` The mood in the court was one of great relief . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Aid has been cut on other human rights issues for example donor countries have recently acted to cut aid to Uganda as a result of their criminalisation of homosexuality.", "_claim_name": "International concern", "_doc_title": "Uganda donors cut aid after president passes anti-gay law | Global development | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Guest Blogger for Isobel Coleman", "Emerging Voices features contributions from scholars and practitioners highlighting new research , thinking , and approaches to development challenges .", "This article is from Julie Fisher , a current associate and retired program officer of the Kettering Foundation whose book , Importing Democracy : The Role of NGOs in South Africa , Tajikstan and Argentina , will be released by the end of March .", "Here , she discusses how democratization NGOs can bolster civil society and government accountability by strengthening a country 's loyal opposition .", "In a classic study written over forty years ago , Ghita Ionescu , a political scientist , and Isabel de Madariaga , a historian , described loyal opposition as `` the most advanced and institutionalized form of political conflict . ''", "Loyal opposition unites support for a democratic constitution and political system with opposition to a particular political regime .", "Most scholars tie loyal opposition to political parties .", "In many developing countries , however , democratization NGOs promote new and different forms of opposition .", "Because democratization NGOs are afraid of losing their nonpartisan image , these forms are not tied to political parties .", "Indeed , democratization NGOs sometimes become a part of the opposition themselves .", "Although this may not build loyal opposition in the traditional sense , it does contribute to policy dialogue and push governments to become more accountable to their citizens .", "On the other hand , political parties are too often the orphans of the democratization movement .", "Building deeper democracies will ultimately require this to change .", "One way that democratization NGOs become part of a loyal opposition is to join or organize a coalition on socioeconomic issues of interest to other NGOs .", "In South Africa , democratization NGOs were leaders in a civil society coalition called the Treatment Action Campaign that successfully sued the government over its failure to prevent mother-child transmission of HIV through antiretroviral drugs .", "Since the South African legal system is strong and independent of the executive , this decision also reinforced government accountability , conformity to the constitution , the right of judicial review , and children 's rights .", "Another example comes from Tajikistan , where the League of Women Lawyers provided a draft law and space for public discussions about human trafficking to Dubai .", "The league organized a wide coalition of NGOs that successfully promoted an anti-trafficking law .", "Advocacy related to political and legal processes is often even more visible at the provincial or municipal level .", "With support from national democratization NGOs and forty citizen monitors of the city council in Rosario , Argentina , an NGO called Ejercicio Ciudadano ( Citizen Practice ) cooperated with the city in creating a transparency agreement that NGOs in six other provinces subsequently adopted .", "In Tajikistan , a democratization NGO called Jahan teaches local police about human rights .", "When I asked how they were able to do this given Tajikistan 's authoritarian government , Shahlo Juraeva , the director of Jahan , explained that the regime `` does n't want trouble at the municipal level . ''", "Democratization NGOs also strengthen local civil society through their support for political dialogue .", "In Argentina , Fundacion Ciudad ( City Foundation ) uses public deliberation to build ties between NGOs and community organizations .", "In a poor neighborhood in Buenos Aires province , a series of eight deliberative forums co-sponsored by Fundacion Ciudad and a local community library led to a program employing local teenagers to pick up garbage on a daily basis .", "Once citizens decided to launch the effort , the provincial government cleaned up a huge backlog of garbage and provided financial support .", "The garbage company provided the teens with gloves and uniforms .", "The success of Fundacion Ciudad suggests that democratization NGOs could help create a stronger loyal opposition by enlisting ordinary citizens who belong to community organizations .", "Democratization NGOs that join coalitions could also do more to educate their NGO partners about the political process and invite them to join political networks .", "While a loyal opposition based on civil society is clearly a step forward from autocratic rule , further democratic progress may depend on political parties .", "Parties are a vital part of the democratic process , but many struggle with small constituencies or leadership based on individual personalities .", "This privileges narrow ideologies and personal loyalties over policy proposals that address the concerns of citizens .", "To deal with these pitfalls , democratization NGOs need to overcome their fear of being labeled partisan .", "NGOs could strengthen their existing efforts to build a loyal opposition by , for example , hosting multiparty workshops with a focus on constituency building .", "Strategic networking among NGOs would help build this missing piece of the democratization puzzle : stronger political parties .", "I could not agree more with the notion of loyal opposition as an `` ... institutionalised form of political conflict '' .", "With regard to sub-saharan Africa opposition political parties the assumption is that structures , instituions and processes exit .", "Unfortunately this assumption is far from accurate for reasons already outlined in the article : leadership based on individual personalities .", "Democratization NGO 's can most definately focus on consitutency and capacity building .", "Yes it is true that most NGO do not want to be viewed as partisan when the different political party 's are taken into account .", "But , within political party 's themselves , fierce loyalties to personalities that do not agua well with a democratic practice become barriers to the participation of Democratization NGO 's who are afraid to be accused of medelling in the internal politics of political parties .", "Great and inspirational insights for real civil society activism !", "Thanks for this insightful article , I like the suggestions : - `` NGOs could strengthen their existing efforts to build a loyal opposition by , for example , hosting multiparty workshops with a focus on constituency building .", "Strategic networking among NGOs would help build this missing piece of the democratization puzzle : stronger political parties . ''", "Another example of a `` democratization NGO '' is GetUp.org in Australia .", "Well done Mrs. Fisher I strongly agree that this is the most vital role being carried out by democrarization NGOS to strenghthen the processes of democracy to bring it to a higher level of maturity .", "CFR seeks to foster civil and informed discussion of foreign policy issues .", "Opinions expressed on CFR blogs are solely those of the author or commenter , not of CFR , which takes no institutional positions .", "All comments must abide by CFR 's guidelines and will be moderated prior to posting .", "The Development Channel highlights big debates , promising approaches , and new research and thinkers addressing opportunity and exclusion in the global economy .", "For more on what the United States and others can do to foster open , prosperous , and stable societies , visit", "Mexico 's New Anticorruption Tools President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto signed into law long-awaited rules to step up Mexico 's fight against corruption ... .", "Commerce has fundamentally changed over the past thirty years .", "Intermediate goods -- or parts of products traded through global supply chains -- now account ...", "Chinese Companies lag on Transparency Chinese companies filled the bottom twenty-five spots in a recent Transparency International report ranking one-hundred emerging ...", "Now You Can Find out What Happens to U.S. Aid In a bipartisan vote , Congress passed legislation to require U.S ... .", "Supreme Court Rules on Corruption The U.S. Supreme Court overturned former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell 's bribery conviction for accepting over ... In The Hacked World Order , CFR Senior Fellow Adam Segal shows how governments use the web to wage war and spy on , coerce , and damage each other .", "Red Team provides an in-depth investigation into the work of red teams , revealing the best practices , most common pitfalls , and most effective applications of these modern-day devil 's advocates .", "Through insightful analysis and engaging graphics , How America Stacks Up explores how the United States can keep pace with global economic competition .", "View Complete List India now matters to U.S. interests in virtually every dimension .", "This Independent Task Force report assesses the current situation in India and the U.S.-India relationship , and suggests a new model for partnership with a rising India .", "Rates of heart disease , cancer , diabetes , and other noncommunicable diseases ( NCDs ) in low - and middle-income countries are increasing faster than in wealthier countries .", "The report outlines a plan for collective action on this growing epidemic .", "This report asserts that elevating and prioritizing the U.S.-Canada-Mexico relationship offers the best opportunity for strengthening the United States and its place in the world .", "Williams argues that the status quo for peace operations in untenable and that greater U.S. involvement is necessary to enhance the quality and success of peacekeeping missions .", "The authors argue that the United States has responded inadequately to the rise of Chinese power and recommend placing less strategic emphasis on the goal of integrating China into the international system and more on balancing China 's rise .", "Campbell evaluates the implications of the Boko Haram insurgency and recommends that the United States support Nigerian efforts to address the drivers of Boko Haram , such as poverty and corruption , and to foster stronger ties with Nigerian civil society ."], "_citing_sentence": "For democracy in Rwanda to progress  the country needs to accept the idea of freedom of speech and a 'loyal opposition'.", "_claim_name": "Authoritarian leadership", "_doc_title": "Development Channel  \u00bb Emerging Voices: Julie Fisher on Democratization NGOs and Loyal Opposition", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 5]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The UK has suspended aid to Rwanda amid concerns about its role in the conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo .", "The International Development Secretary Justine Greening said a payment worth # 21m would not now be released .", "An aid payment of # 16m was paid to Rwanda in September despite questions over the country 's alleged support for the M23 militia in DR Congo .", "Her predecessor , Andrew Mitchell , controversially authorised the payment on his last day in the job .", "Ms Greening said the money , which was due to be paid next month , would not be released because President Paul Kagame 's government had breached agreements .", "She pointed to fresh evidence presented by UN experts earlier this month about Rwanda 's role in the conflict , describing it as `` credible and compelling '' .", "`` We are committed to finding lasting solutions to the conflict in this region and will work with the governments of Rwanda and DRC to secure a peaceful resolution to the situation in eastern DRC , '' she said .", "She said the government would give a further # 18m for immediate humanitarian needs in the DR Congo .", "Mr Mitchell , who had previously frozen aid to the country , had cited progress at international talks as the reason for reinstating the payment .", "Half of the aid package was paid as `` general budget support '' and half directly to the education and agriculture sectors .", "By Mark DoyleBBC International Development Correspondent", "The rebel advance in recent weeks has made tens of thousands of Congolese homeless .", "Britain is increasing its aid to Congo by # 18m to help them .", "Although these moves will annoy the Rwandan government and please the authorities in Congo , they are unlikely to change the fundamentals of the war .", "Rwanda backs one set of rebels because the weak Congolese government allows another armed group , which is opposed to the government in Rwanda , to operate from Congolese soil .", "Adjusting British aid flows is unlikely to change that situation anytime soon .", "In a report , the international development select committee said it `` did not understand '' how he had concluded the state was no longer backing the M23 .", "`` Mr Mitchell has assured us that he carried out extensive consultations within the UK government and with the government of Rwanda before making his decision .", "The new secretary of state agreed that the decision-making process had been robust , '' the report said .", "Downing Street denied this had been a mistake , saying the government `` stands by the decision '' .", "Mr Mitchell said it was made by the government , not just his department .", "`` It was the right decision when we made it in September just as today the Secretary of State has made the right decision because of the change in the DRC , '' he told BBC Radio 4 's PM programme .", "President Kagame has been praised for improving the economic and social conditions in the east African country since he came to power at the end of the 1994 genocide , in which some 800,000 people died .", "But a UN report claims Rwanda 's defence minister is effectively commanding the rebellion group in the east of the DR Congo ( DRC ) .", "The BBC has uncovered evidence that Rwandan support for the rebels may be more widespread than previously believed .", "Rwanda 's Foreign Minister , Louise Mushikiwabo , claimed the decision had been made on the basis of `` false , politically-motivated allegations '' in the UN report .", "Shadow international development secretary Ivan Lewis welcomed the `` belated '' decision to suspend aid , and accused Mr Mitchell of a `` serious misjudgement '' .", "He said : `` It is now important that aid continues to reach the poorest and most vulnerable in Rwanda and the DRC .", "`` We never accused Andrew Mitchell of being a rogue minister .", "However , recent developments have demonstrated his decision to unilaterally reinstate budget support to the government of Rwanda was a serious misjudgement . ''", "Pressure group the TaxPayers ' Alliance said it was `` appalling '' that any taxpayers ' money had gone `` directly to a government involved in a proxy war '' .", "Campaign manager Robert Oxley added : `` This announcement leaves a huge question mark over why Dfid , and specifically Andrew Mitchell , reinstated the aid programme to the Rwandan government which was fanning the flames of conflict in DRC . ''", "The Munich shootings which left nine dead at a shopping centre were carried out by one gunman who then killed himself , police say ."], "_citing_sentence": "This has been evident when some countries cut aid to Rwanda recently following allegations of the government supporting insecurity in Congo .", "_claim_name": "International concern", "_doc_title": "UK stops \u00a321m aid payment to Rwanda - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Most Searched 02 Jan 2014 23:48 GMT | Africa , Rwanda , South Africa", "A former head of Rwanda 's external intelligence service was found strangled in a hotel in South Africa , where he has lived in exile for several years , his opposition party said .", "`` The Rwandan opposition is deeply saddened to announce the assassination of Colonel Patrick Karegeya in Johannesburg , '' the Rwanda National Congress ( RNC ) said in a statement on Thursday .", "`` His body was found in a hotel where he went for a meeting . ''", "`` It is true , '' Frank Ntwali , the party 's chairman for Africa told AFP news agency .", "`` He was strangled by agents of -LSB- Rwandan President Paul -RSB- Kagame . ''", "Ntwali said Karegeya was killed at the Michelangelo Towers , an upmarket hotel in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton .", "It was not immediately clear if he was killed on Tuesday night or on Wednesday .", "Karegeya , in his early fifties , was for a long time very close to Kagame .", "He served as head of external intelligence for around a decade before being demoted to army spokesman and was later arrested and jailed .", "He was stripped of his rank of colonel in 2006 and fled into exile the following year .", "Another prominent Rwandan dissident in South Africa , Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa , survived two assassination attempts in June 2010 .", "Rwanda accused Nyamwasa of terrorism and trying to destabilise the country .", "The RNC statement said investigations had found `` overwhelming evidence of the involvement of Rwandan intelligence operatives in those attempts '' .", "Rwanda has vehemently denied involvement in the attacks .", "Karegeya and Nyamwasa are both prominent figures in the opposition party , despite not holding specific posts .", "Karegeya leaves behind his wife Leah and three children .", "Source : Al Jazeera And AFP", "Lone gunman attacks critic of President Kagame in South African city of Johannesburg .", "A French court agrees to extradite French-Rwandan national accused of genocide and crimes against humanity .", "Africa , US & Canada , France , Rwanda , Tanzania", "Content on this website is for general information purposes only .", "Your comments are provided by your own free will and you take sole responsibility for any direct or indirect liability .", "You hereby provide us with an irrevocable , unlimited , and global license for no consideration to use , reuse , delete or publish comments , in accordance with Community Rules & Guidelines and Terms and Conditions .", "In a country where court cases often last 10 years and many suspects languish in jails , could mediation be a solution ?", "Africa , Nigeria , Crime", "We investigate a secret order that allowed Israel 's army to kill Palestinian civilians to stop the capture of a soldier .", "Israel , Hamas , Gaza", "The story of women coping with consequences and stigmas of ongoing violence and rape in Democratic Republic of Congo .", "Democratic Republic of Congo , Rape , War & Conflict", "Refugee influx , economic pressures and ever-present ISIL threat have reshaped the Turkish border city in recent years .", "Middle East , Turkey-Syria border , Turkey", "At least 14 people killed and more than two dozen wounded at Kabul shrine ahead of the holy day of Ashoura .", "Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says air strikes on hospitals in besieged Aleppo city are deliberate .", "Syria 's Civil War , United Kingdom , Russia , War & Conflict , Middle East", "As US police increase the use of tasers , we find out how the `` less lethal '' weapons have been linked to injury and death .", "United States , Black Lives Matter , Gun violence", "We ask Kenyan FM Amina Mohamed , and speak to Ingrid Betancourt , a former FARC captive , about the derailed peace deal .", "Al-Shabab , Kenya , War & Conflict", "Tensions between India and Pakistan are matched by heated rhetoric on the news .", "Plus , radio silence in Burundi .", "Media , India , Pakistan \u00a9 2016 Al Jazeera Media Network \u00a9 2016 Al Jazeera Media Network"], "_citing_sentence": "This sparked misunderstandings within the government forcing 4 four high rank officials in exile, one, an ex-intelligence chief was recently murdered in South Africa.", "_claim_name": "Authoritarian leadership", "_doc_title": "Rwandan ex-spy chief found dead in S Africa - Al Jazeera English", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 27 January 2011 14.30 EST", "When President Paul Kagame of Rwanda won re-election in August , he could look back with pride on his accomplishments .", "Rwanda has emerged from the devastation of genocide and become more secure and prosperous than anyone had a right to expect .", "The central task of his second seven-year term , which by law must be his last , is to add broader democracy to this security and prosperity .", "Since his inauguration , however , Kagame has given no sign that he is eager to face this challenge .", "On the contrary , he has continued to scorn his critics .", "This month , a Rwandan court issued harsh sentences against four of his former comrades who denounced his rule and urged a change in course for their homeland .", "All four of those sentenced are safely outside Rwanda , but the severity of the sentences , which range from 20 to 24 years , was startling .", "The defendants were Kagame 's former chief of staff and ambassador to Washington , Theogene Rudasingwa ; Gerald Gahima , Rwanda 's former prosecutor general and vice president of the supreme court ; Col Patrick Karegeya , former director of Rwanda 's external security services ; and Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa , a former army chief of staff who survived an assassination attempt in South Africa last year .", "The four were found guilty of forming a terrorist group , threatening state security , undermining public order , promoting ethnic divisions and insulting the president .", "Evidence was taken in part from a `` Rwanda Briefing '' they issued as their former boss began his second term , describing him as `` a callous and reckless leader '' shaped by `` greed for absolute power '' .", "They asserted that there is `` more to Rwanda and Paul Kagame than new buildings , clean streets , and efficient government ... Rwanda is essentially a hard-line , one-party , secretive police state with a fa\u00e7ade of democracy . ''", "To avoid future conflict , they urged Kagame to convene a `` genuine , inclusive , unconditional and comprehensive national dialogue '' with the aim of creating a new `` national partnership government '' .", "In one passage , which the court cited as a criminal attempt to stir communal hatred , they warned of another ethnic explosion in Rwanda .", "`` The Tutsi minority can not hope to impose their will on the Hutu majority forever , '' they warned .", "`` The military victory of Hutu insurgency could , in turn , conceivably lead to the genocide of the remaining Tutsi population of Rwanda . ''", "Adding to the fear of new instability were this week 's reports that regional leaders meeting in Kigali , the Rwandan capital , concluded that a new armed force is emerging on the turbulent eastern Congo , which borders on Rwanda and which has , in the past , been a staging ground for anti-Kagame forces .", "There was ominous speculation that the force might be collaborating with one or more of the newly-sentenced signers of `` Rwanda Briefing '' .", "Kagame 's repression of opposition during his first term may have been unwise , but it was at least defensible .", "Some of his most outspoken critics were allies of the defeated genocide army , which still dreams of returning to power .", "The four men convicted this month , however , became prominent because Kagame himself elevated them to high office .", "He trusted them once -- and should listen to them now .", "No authoritarian leader cedes power easily , or turns it over to bodies he can not control .", "This is especially true of leaders who come to power by guerrilla war , as Kagame did .", "Guerrilla leaders win wars by being paranoid and ruthless .", "Once they take power , they are expected to abandon those qualities and embrace opposite ones : tolerance , compromise and humility .", "Almost none manages to do so .", "Kagame has proven himself to be a visionary figure in some ways , so there seemed hope that he would be an exception .", "Events of recent weeks suggest otherwise .", "Kagame and his allies argue that opening too much political space in Rwanda now would unleash ethnic hatreds and possibly lead to another genocide .", "His critics , including the four who were sentenced this month , argue the opposite : that opening political space is the best way to prevent another genocide .", "Both arguments are plausible , and both should be openly discussed .", "Instead of having a court sentence his four ex-comrades to prison terms , Kagame should invite them and others to join him in planning a sustainable path toward Rwandan democracy .", "By rejecting their counsel , he is increasing his pool of enemies and perhaps even contributing to the destabilisation of the country he has done so much to settle on a better course .", "It may or may not be true , as the four men convicted this month have asserted , that Rwanda is `` again on the brink of an abyss '' .", "The stakes , however , are enormous .", "President Kagame should accept the possibility that his judgment may not always be correct , and listen earnestly to Rwandans with different ideas .", "He still has the chance to enter history as one of the greatest modern African leaders .", "There is also the chance , however , that he will be remembered as another failed African big-man , a tragic figure who built the foundations of a spectacular future for his country , but saw his achievements collapse because he could not take his country from one-man rule toward democracy .", "In Kagame 's early years in power , he made enemies of many he might have turned into allies , including former president Pasteur Bizimungu , former prime minister Faustin Twagiramungu , former speaker of parliament Joseph Sebarenzi , and Paul Rusesabagina , the hotel manager whose story was the basis for the film Hotel Rwanda .", "He could plausibly argue that in those days he felt under siege , with the former genocide army waging war against him and the country still in upheaval .", "Today , the country is secure , and Kagame has attracted foreign supporters ranging from Bill Clinton and Tony Blair to Rev Rick Warren and high-powered American business tycoons .", "Yet , his contempt for critics seems as intense as ever .", "Around the same time his four ex-comrades were given long , if symbolic , prison terms , prosecutors asked a Kigali court to impose sentences of 12 and 33 years on two opposition journalists charged with genocide denial , inciting public disorder , insulting the president and spreading false rumours .", "`` The challenge that Rwanda and her partners have is to engineer peaceful transition to inclusive , democratic governance in time to avoid renewed widespread violence and sectarian bloodshed , '' Kagame 's four former aides wrote in their `` Rwanda Briefing '' .", "He should heed their warning and seek their counsel ."], "_citing_sentence": "Rwanda is essentially a hard-line, one-party, secretive police state with a facade of democracy.", "_claim_name": "Authoritarian leadership", "_doc_title": "Kagame's authoritarian turn risks Rwanda's future | Stephen Kinzer | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 31, "_topic_name": "This House believes limited press and speech freedom will hinder progress in Rwanda"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["BY UHURU KENYATTA", "Chair of the African Union , Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn , Chair of the Commission of the African Union , Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma , Colleagues Head of State and Government , Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen , It gives me special pleasure to join your Excellencies at this Special Summit , where we have assembled to reflect on very significant matters relating to the welfare and destiny of our nations and peoples .", "I thank you for the honour of addressing you today , because as it happens , I crave my brother and sister Excellencies ' views on some issues .", "We are privileged to lead the nations of a continent on the rise .", "Africa rests at the centre of global focus as the continent of the future .", "Although we have been relentlessly exploited in the past , we remain with sufficient resources to invest in a prosperous future .", "Whilst we have been divided and incited against one another before , we are now united and more peaceful .", "Even as we grapple with a few regional conflicts , as Africans , we are taking proactive measures to ensure that all our people move together in the journey to prosperity in a peaceful home .", "Even though we were dominated and controlled by imperialists and colonial interests in years gone by , we are now proud , independent and sovereign nations and people .", "We are looking to the future with hope , marching towards the horizon with confidence and working in unity .", "This is the self evident promise that Africa holds for its people today .", "As leaders , we are the heirs of freedom fighters , and our founding fathers .", "These liberation heroes founded the Organisation of African Unity , which was dedicated to the eradication of ALL FORMS OF COLONIALSM .", "Towards this end , the OAU defended the interests of independent nations and helped the cause of those that were still colonised .", "It sought to prevent member states from being controlled once again by outsider powers .", "The founding fathers of African Unity were conscious that structural colonialism takes many forms , some blatant and extreme , like apartheid , while others are subtler and deceptively innocuous , like some forms of development assistance .", "It has been necessary , therefore , for African leaders to constantly watch out against threats to our peoples 's overeignty and unity .", "In our generation , we have honoured our fathers ' legacies by guaranteeing that through the African Union , our countries and our people shall achieve greater unity , and that the sovereignty , territorial integrity and independence of our States shall not be trifled with .", "More than ever , our destiny is in our hands .", "Yet at the same time , more than ever , it is imperative for us to be vigilant against the persistent machinations of outsiders who desire to control that destiny .", "We know what this does to our nations and people : subjugation and suffering .", "The philosophies , ideologies , structures and institutions that visited misery upon millions for centuries ultimately harm their perpetrators .", "Thus the imperial exploiter crashes into the pits of penury .", "The arrogant world police is crippled by shambolic domestic dysfunction .", "These are the spectacles of Western decline we are witnessing today .", "At the same time , other nations and continents rise and prosper .", "Africa and Asia continue to thrive , with their promise growing every passing day .", "As our strength multiplies , and our unity gets deeper , those who want to control and exploit us become more desperate .", "Therefore , they abuse whatever power remains in their control .", "The Swahili people say that one ascending a ladder can not hold hands with one descending .", "The force of gravity will be compounded and the one going up only loses .", "The International Criminal Court was mandated to accomplish these objectives by bringing to justice those criminal perpetrators who bear greatest responsibility for crimes .", "Looking at the world in the past , at that time and even now , it was clear that there have always been instances of unconscionable impunity and atrocity that demand a concerted international response , and that there are vulnerable , helpless victims of these crimes who require justice as a matter of right .", "This is the understanding , and the expectation of most signatories to the Rome Statute .", "The most active global powers of the time declined to ratify the Treaty , or withdrew somewhere along the way , citing several compelling grounds .", "The British foreign secretary Robin Cook said at the time , that the International Criminal Court was not set up to bring to book Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom or Presidents of the United States .", "Had someone other than a Western leader said those fateful words , the word ` impunity ' would have been thrown at them with an emphatic alacrity .", "An American senator serving on the foreign relations committee echoed the British sentiments and said , `` Our concern is that this is a court that is irreparably flawed , that is created with an independent prosecutor , with no checks and balances on his power , answerable to no state institution , and that this court is going to be used for politicized prosecutions . ''", "The understanding of the States which subscribed to the Treaty in good faith was two-fold .", "First , that world powers were hesitant to a process that might make them accountable for such spectacularly criminal international adventures as the wars in Iraq , Syria , Libya , Afghanistan and other places , and such hideous enterprises as renditions and torture .", "Such states did not , therefore , consider such warnings as applicable to pacific and friendly parties .", "Secondly , it was the understanding of good-faith subscribers that the ICC would administer and secure justice in a fair , impartial and independent manner and , as an international court , bring accountability to situations and perpetrators everywhere in the world .", "As well , it was hoped that the ICC would set the highest standards of justice and judicial processes .", "Please do n't be vague , kindly go to Hague !", "The presence of a group of African sell-outs is part of the definition of underdevelopment .", "Any diagnosis of underdevelopment in Africa will reveal not just low per capita income and protein deficiencies , but also the gentlemen who dance in Abidjan , Accra and", "Kinshasa when music is played in Paris , London and New York .", "Walter Rodney-How Europe Underdeveloped Africa ,", "No need for philosophical statements , we all know the root cause of the African Problem , it leaders/politicians .", "I mean the African himself/the big man syndrome .", "And if thats true to you then there is no better sellout !", "tough and touching speed , Congrats Mr President", "Good speech Mr. President !!", "The people of Ethiopia warn against the deplorable presumption of chopping up meat for a lion at least the people of ethopia do n't have a criminal for a resident spoken like a King .", "Who did Uhuru rape , loot or pillage ?", "Did you see him ?", "And then you call the President of your country a dog ?", "What does that make you ?", "Obviously you are good with insults and curse words .", "THAT says more about your thinking and personal situation than it says about the ICC or Kenyan situation .", "Take it easy on the alcohol by the way .", "A Driving While Intoxicated ( DWI ) ticket will only make what you are going through worse .", "Only God Can Judge .", "Did not seem like it when you said `` wafungwe '' and called the", "President of your country a dog !", "You seem to have judged .", "leave this uncle toms alone.They 'll die ignorant if you let them .", "I feel you .", "Thing is , Kush , they are still our brothers and part of the oppressed .", "We have to try and save as many as possible .", "Ca n't you tell this guy is in great pain and is only trying to vent ?", "Sorry , but that nonsense was not my level even in primary school let alone now .", "Kush , I agree with you .", "Tried my best but this type is beyond me .", "At least us uncle tom 's know our grammar .", "Try and learn kidogo , it 's not a sin .", "illiteracy is not a sin , but ignorance is !!", "Is n't it obvious ?", "I AM GOD .", "OR NGAI TO YOU .", "`` For numerous reasons , the United States decided that the ICC had unacceptable consequences for our national sovereignty .", "Specifically , the ICC is an organization that runs contrary to fundamental American precepts and basic constitutional principles of popular sovereignty , checks and balances and national independence . ''", "John R. Bolton , US Ambassador to the United Nations", "Who asked us to join ?", "and why did we join ?", "Impunity forces wanted to prove to international community that our democracy was maturing .", "But they never let go their brutal ways of assaulting citizens .", "I guess , thats why ICC , which just charged three individuals , is turning out to be a major problem for the country .", "Impunity forces were only pretentious .", "They never intented to fulfill their obligations if that court landed on one of their own .", "Pretence has eventually brought pain and huge waste of time for the country .", "Impunity is ruthlessly fighting back hard !!!! `` The British foreign secretary Robin Cook said at the time , that the International Criminal Court was not set up to bring to book Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom or Presidents of the United States .", "Had someone other than a Western leader said those fateful words , the word ` impunity ' would have been thrown at them with an emphatic alacrity . ''", "Am not sure whether late Robin Cook said those words .", "What I might believe is that he said Suprior judicial systems are not subject to ICC .", "ICC is correctly for states very close to failure , or completely failed states .", "Its also for ruthless blood thirsty dictators most of whom dot the African continent .", "If thats race hunt so be it !", "Impunity runs awash where courts are toothless as it has been our case .", "Had our courts shown their teeth , we wont be talking about ICC having invaded our sovereinty .", "However , am at loss what you are trying to mean .", "Nevertheless , I do know impunity doesnt run riot in US , UK and quite a number of other western countries .", "Thats why you CANT get a suspected criminal running for office in those countries , let alone being crowned emperor suspect !!!!", "Here I was thinking Bush was elected twice .", "As for Robin Cooke , you have internet access and , I hope , a library card .", "It is not my job to convince you -- always verify .", "Hidding behind `` always verify '' or something ?", "I guess , you are coming out fighting for yourself not facts !", "I agree we joined of our own volition .", "The concept behind the Statute is noble , indeed necessary .", "However , when abuse of any sort enters the equation , it is the responsibility of those affected to make determinations as to whether to continue with or exit the relationship .", "The Statute itself anticipates this possibility which is why Article 127 is titled `` Withdrawal '' .", "United States has the best judicial system on earth .", "Thats why they refused to be party to ICC .", "However , they fully remained behind the court .", "They infact arrested fugutives from former Yogoslavia on behalf of ICC .", "On the other hand , our judiciary bents under the weight of impunity forces .", "Thats why Uhuru and Ruto were not stopped from vying for offices .", "That escapist attitude from the truth is what the country is now paying for .", "Presidency has remained the most crippling organ since this country became a Republic in 1964 .", "It NEVER respects the law or anything else for that matter !", "If late President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta , Moi and Kibaki strictly followed the law , the country wont be so underdeveloped and fighting unyielding impunity 50 years on .", "Needless to say , these three guys were essentially ruthless tribal leaders .", "In his book - How Europe Underdeveloped Africa , Walter Rodney wrote ... ... ... ... .", "Any diagnosis of underdevelopment in Africa will reveal not just low per capita income and protein deficiencies , but also the gentlemen who dance in Abidjan , Accra and Kinshasa when music is played in Paris , London and New York .", "Kate , Please engage your on mind into thinking , not copy pasting what you cant comprehend into every comment", "And you entirely believed that deliberate insult to all Africans ?", "Whats illogical and cheap ?", "`` United States has the best judicial system on earth . ''", "And jails full of African Americans , and the State of Texas where they 're hanged as frequently as they are beheaded in Saudi Arabia after Friday afternoon prayers .", "It has for sure !", "But some isolated incidents here and there are everywhere .", "Actually what I meant was that judiciary in US can interrogate any situation without politicians giving orders as is the case in many African countries .", "And good lot of African Americans in Taxes have been reduced to juviniles by poverty .", "Thats why their crime rate is rather high .", "No further comment .", "The US choose NOT to join the ICC , our wise future looking leaders choose ICC ; So whom do you blame ?", "When 2 people marry , it is with the intention to remain together `` till death do us part '' .", "However , the woman soon discovers that the man is physically abusive or the man discovers that the woman is unfaithful .", "When either of them decides to file for divorce , friends who did not marry for their own reasons tell them that they made a choice so they should live with the consequences .", "They also promise to severe the relationship should they go ahead with the divorce .", "First of all , are these real friends ?", "Second , what right do these friends have in forcing the couple to stay together and live with the abuse or the unfaithfulness ?", "Should 'n t the friends be happy for the couple that they now know what the friends knew all along about marriage ?", "`` the International Criminal Court was not set up to bring to book Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom or Presidents of the United States . ''", "Robin Cook , Foreign Secretary , United Kingdom `` Our concern is that this is a court that is irreparably flawed , that is created with an independent prosecutor , with no checks and balances on his power , answerable to no state institution , and that this court is going to be used for politicized prosecutions . ''", "MARC THIESSEN , SPOKESMAN , U.S. SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE. :", "Aired on CNN", "Unless you know what we do n't know -- just cooperate -- its not a big deal .", "FROM threat of withdrawal to a kick of a dying horse called ultimatum", "Did we not say that the threat of withdrawal from ICC was a mere grandstanding and useless intimidation to ICC by frogs and lame donkeys who are known as butchers and murderers of their own citizens for political power .", "The African dictators led by Kaguta Museveni of Uganda and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe met on Saturday , October 12 , 2013 at the African Union ( AU ) headquarters in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia and instead of withdrawing en-mass as they had threatened before the meeting , the cowards backed-off abandoning and throwing Uhuru Kenyatta under the bus like they did before to the late Muamar Gadhafi of Libya .", "After cheating and beating the drums of war to Uhuru Kenyatta that he should defy the ICC , the dictators have now abandoned Uhuru at the last minute by asking him to carry his own cross .", "Uhuru was asked to write a letter to the UN Security Council seeking deferral as provided for in Article 15 of the Rome Statute .", "Sources inside the closed-door deliberations of the Council of Ministers disclosed that Kenya had placed two requests for consideration -- that the ICC cases be deferred and that the ICC be substantially reformed .", "Members agreed on the first request but were apprehensive on the latter noting that ICC was an independent institution and besides Africa lacked the necessary numbers to push for such changes .", "It was resolved , among other agreements , that a five-member committee of the executive council , including one Kenyan , be formed to deliver the AU resolution and ultimatum to the UN next month .", "And to ensure this , the AU has given the United Nations Security Council an ultimatum of up to November 12 -- the same day Uhuru trial is scheduled to begin -- to defer the Kenyatta case .", "If by November 30 the African leaders would not have received any communication from the UN , the AU will reconvene yet again to deliberate on the way forward .", "It is presumed that the plan of action may involve mass withdrawal by African nations from the Rome Statute.The decision , arrived at by the African Heads of State during a special session in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa , is also meant to benefit Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir who is an earlier ICC indictee .", "And as if to make sure other similar Kenyatta and Al-Bashir cases do not come up , it was also resolved that any African country wishing to refer any cases to ICC must first refer to the AU for guidance and possible approval .", "While to those with heads in the sand who think that Uhuru secured a breather , the fate of his William Ruto was swept under the carpet , as AU 's proposed privileges are did not cover deputy or vice presidents .", "Once again , the african dictators pledged to embark on their own mechanism of trying their own cases of crimes against humanity , mass murder and rape by strengthen the African Court of Justice and Human Rights as the first step .", "African dictators are children of the west that they purport to `` hate . ''", "A good lot of them received calls from western capitals urging them `` NOT TO TRY ISOLATING THEIR COUNTRIES FROM INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY -- read pulling out of ICC !", "Others like the children that they are , were caution against emerging `` spoling model democracy '' in their respective countries .", "French speaking countries , who have never delinked themselves from France , were the first to be hit hard .", "The pretenders of democracy were quickly made to sit well after receiving calls from Washington DC and London .", "After those calls , they all looked like bruished men !", "Their bravado had suddenly evaporated .", "When a child is left in a basin full of water , it can only start crying atfer tiring of playing with water .", "Otherwise , its totally helpless to a point of drowning .", "Thats the situation African dictators find themselves in , despites pretences to the contrary .", "On the other end , international community knows that leading a country cant be back-dated .", "So , propaganda aside , these cries of dictators recently assembled in Addis Ababa are likely to be ignored .", "If Uhuru wants his case to be deferred by the UN security council then this speech will never help him at all .", "He is increasingly shows that he fears the ICC case and he has a case to answer .", "The election to presidency is being used to shield him from facing the victims .", "The victims are also human beings .", "Only diplomacy shall help not defiance or rebuke .", "Ruto has shown the way to d \u00b4 Hague .", "Follow the suit .", "The president is proceeding diligently in this case.Since it 's a fabricated one , he has to be careful not to fall into the trap of the schemers and at the same time vindicate himself .", "He 's got the best lawyers money can buy ; and best intelligence the Kibaki administration had ; the innocence of Gandhi ; the bitterness of some of the victims of Kiambaa church ; and knowledge of the fact that he can not intimidate ICC .", "So , what options does he have ?", "And yet the prosecutor 's office wanted Ruto replaced by an interim deputy president .", "On the contrary , Uhuru 's speech may just as well signal the end of African docility , where countries bend in whichever direction they are told .", "The conduct of Ruto 's trial totally justifies defiance !", "Those trying to gain leadership in this country through the back door should know we are watching .", "Those killing Kenyans and plundering the country to gain leadership should also know that we are watching .", "Kenya is democratic society .", "No one can gain leadership thru the back door .", "It is not Egypt of Mali , so dont deceive yourself .", "Kenya is a country awash with impunity and somehow , wants to infect other African nations with that vile bug .", "But the idea failed to fly in Addis Ababa .", "We walked with suspects straight to arms of ICC and declared the court our savior .", "But as is always with impunity , we never meant it .", "We imagined trial of suspects would never happen in our life time .", "However , when it became clear things were moving too fast , we had to seek alternative ways of holding the court at bay .", "First , schemes were run through courts to clear suspects to run for highest ofiices in the land .", "Needless to say , that was in total breach of country 's constitution !", "The aim here was to make sure suspects were shielded using those very offices .", "Indeed , these screams to effect that ICC should not try sitting presidents , including those who gained the presidencies while facing serious charges , stem from that .", "Impunity is NOT a respector of laws indeed !", "Thus , giving run arounds for selfish purposes is no big deal .", "Secondly , Kenya 's judicial reforms were made to abort by these same same merchants of impunity .", "As rulings in election petitions are demonstrating , the opposition has to be reduced to nothing .", "Thats clearly to advance claims of vacuumness whenever the top two leaders are not in the country .", "Need I add that our constitution has strucured chain of command that doesnt leave any shred of vacuum even in extreme eventualities !", "These are new irrelevant catch phrases purely for running away from justice , if not to subvert it .", "That only opposition is losing in these so many petitions speaks volumes .", "Declaration of results in March 4 presidential election took this same same questionable direction .", "Infact , Supreme Court CAN NOT be said to have interrogated the petition filed by supposed losing candidate .", "But rather went quickly and shamelessly to endorse the `` win '' of the anointed candidate .", "Their reasons for that remained sketchy up to this very day !", "Did Supreme Court endorse monumental fraud ?", "Our judicial system is pretty weak when weighed against lords of impunity .", "Kenya needs to be free from impunity merchants by following the constitution .", "Had we done that in run up to last elections , the country wont be spending all her time fighting for individuals .", "In proper legal situation , suspects are supposed to leave their offices for the country to move forward .", "Amazingly , they are now using same same arguments used against their candidacies !", "However , those who engineered their success , wanted us to remain hostages of a situation that hardly concerns us .", "The country is spending her tlittle energy to hold the sky from dropping on us !", "May be civil society groups should now take the cue ?", "50 Years on we are still mourning having been exploited , US , Japan , Korea , Singapore some of these were colonies too ... ... 50 years of incompetent leadership 50 years of unproductive tribal leadership is just too long .", "Cant we do something about it ?", "How about rotational leadership ?", "Uhuru : ICC is a toy of declining imperial powers ... .", "who bought the toy ?", "`` ... The USA and other nations abstained out of fear .", "Our misgivings are born of bitter experience . ''", "Perhaps that is why the Western Imperial Powers inscribed in the Kenyan National Anthem : `` Justice be our shield and defender '' .", "Our = 1,300 murdered , countless number of women raped , men circumcised , displaced , property destroyed .", "Teeheee President Uhuru can just join the camp of dictators and be like Bashir of Sudan .", "Too bad he can not be Prez for life like Mugabe , Museveni , or Bashir ; and he wo n't be hiding in the statehouse after 5 or 10 years .", "When Kenya was burning , who knew that one day Mwai and Lucy would n't be snoozing at Statehouse ?", "Shambolic domestic dysfunction '' -- Uhuru Kenyatta inadvertently perfectly describes the Kenyan government in reference to the U.S. It 's very well prepared and timely speech .", "One should not under estimate the African Leaders and Nations capabilities .", "I think Mr. Kenyata must implement some 7 subtle measures '' deceptively innocuous '' as he said to make these Red Necks understand basic theories of Humanity .", "It is a known fact these atrocities took place in 2007 but an organization such as ICC can not bring only African Leaders to books that is what matters here .", "Africans must unite .", "Visa regime for all travelers .", "( No more visa upon arrival for USA , GB , EU ) .", "Award major contracts to Asia , China , Russia and South America .", "Stringent controls to their export such as quality controls , Document Legalization via respective Kenyan Embassies , Import duties and rigid implementation of Laws .", "Educating Kenyans not to feel inferior in front of Red Necks .", "Give opportunities to all Kenyans to achieve in life .", "Ban tribalism in public life .", "Distribution of wealth equally and fairly .", "I wish him all the best .", "Article well done .", "Uhuru and the African Union has at last labelled the ICC what it is .", "A `` KANGAROO COURT ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya, who has been indicted by the court, has referred to it as a \"toy of declining imperialist powers\".", "_claim_name": "Tool for external interference.", "_doc_title": "Uhuru: ICC is a toy of declining imperial powers - Capital Blog", "_labeled_lineIDs": [227]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["ICC Suspect Involved In Attacks Remains At-Large", "Protesters hold posters of Sudan 's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Janjaweed leader Ali Kosheib ( right ) outside the European Union Council in Brussels on July 14 , 2008 .", "( Nairobi ) -- Satellite images confirm the wholesale destruction of villages in Central Darfur in an attack in April 2013 by a militia leader sought by the International Criminal Court , Human Rights Watch said today .", "The images show the town of Abu Jeradil and surrounding villages in Central Darfur state almost completely burned down , Human Rights Watch said .", "Villagers who fled the area told Human Rights Watch in May that Sudanese government forces , including the militia leader Ali Kosheib , had attacked the area .", "More than 42 villagers are believed to have been killed and 2,800 buildings destroyed .", "`` Satellite images show the total destruction of villages during the April attacks in Central Darfur , '' said Daniel Bekele , Africa director at Human Rights Watch .", "`` How can the Sudanese authorities claim there 's nothing they can do when their own security forces were involved and the war crimes suspect Ali Kosheib is on the loose ? ''", "Human Rights Watch analysis of satellite imagery found that more than 2,800 buildings were probably burned down in Abu Jeradil and four neighboring villages , which is 88 percent of all buildings in the area .", "Abu Jeradil ( Focus Area 1 ) Move the slider to compare images from before and after the violence .", "Abu Jeradil ( Focus Area 2 ) Move the slider to compare images from before and after the violence .", "The deliberate destruction of civilian property as well as structures and goods indispensible to the survival of the civilian population are war crimes , Human Rights Watch said .", "Community leaders from the Salamat Arab ethnic group who had fled to eastern Chad told Human Rights Watch that more than 42 civilians were killed and scores injured in Abu Jeradil , 30 kilometers south of Um Dukhun , on April 8 .", "More than 100 civilians were killed in what appear to have been coordinated attacks on dozens of Salamat-populated towns and villages in the area that began on April 5 and lasted for several days .", "Multiple witnesses said that large numbers of heavily armed men fired weapons indiscriminately , burned homes and shops , and stole livestock and other goods including food , clothes , beds , and water pumps .", "The villagers said the attackers included members of the government 's Central Reserve Police and Border Guards -- auxiliary forces that absorbed former pro-government militia .", "Salamat community leaders identified the attackers as ethnic Misseriya , Taisha , and Rizeigat Arabs , who arrived in dozens of government land cruisers .", "They said they fought back with rifles but were far outnumbered and outgunned .", "They said the attackers were armed with 106mm recoilless rifles , anti-aircraft weapons , heavy machine guns , rocket-propelled grenades , and other weapons .", "Human Rights Watch could not independently verify these descriptions .", "The attacks and fighting between the groups has since spread to South Darfur state , Human Rights Watch said .", "The Sudanese government has dismissed the fighting and other recent inter-ethnic violence as beyond its control , despite the evidence that government authorities were involved in the attacks .", "Violence has driven some 300,000 people in Darfur from their homes so far in 2013 , according to United Nations estimates , of which inter-ethnic fighting accounts for close to 200,000 .", "Human Rights Watch reiterated its call to the Sudanese government to ensure a full and impartial investigation of the attacks and prosecute those responsible for abuses , and to surrender Kosheib immediately to the International Criminal Court in The Hague .", "On June 4 , authorities in Central Darfur told Sudan Radio Service they were conducting an investigation into the attacks and Kosheib 's role , but findings have yet to be announced .", "Ali Kosheib , a nom de guerre for the militia leader Ali Mohammed Ali , was spotted at the scene of attacks on Abu Jeradil .", "Kosheib faces a 2007 arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes in West Darfur in 2003 and 2004 .", "Though briefly arrested in 2007 and 2008 , he was released and currently holds a high-ranking position in the Central Reserve Police , an abusive force widely known as `` Abu Tira . ''", "The April attacks caused widespread destruction of civilian property and the mass displacement of more than 30,000 people to Chad , where they are awaiting humanitarian assistance amid the onset of the rainy season .", "The border area remains under threat from armed men in the area , making any attempt by the villagers to return home very dangerous .", "Sudan 's regular armed forces did not intervene to stop the fighting or protect civilians around Abu Jeradil , Human Rights Watch said .", "Sudanese authorities have on several occasions prevented the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur ( UNAMID ) , which has a mandate to protect civilians , from accessing the area .", "`` Sudanese authorities should immediately rein in pro-government forces and hold those responsible for serious abuses to account , '' Bekele said .", "`` A crucial first step would be to surrender Ali Kosheib to the International Criminal Court ''", "New Findings of Arbitrary Detention , Ill-Treatment in `` Transit Centers ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Similarly, the situation in Darfur has not been helped by ICC involvement, with mass destruction of villages by people already indicted by the International Criminal Court.", "_claim_name": "Detriment to peace process", "_doc_title": "Sudan: Satellite Images Confirm Villages Destroyed | Human Rights Watch", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The inside story on emergencies", "The long-running spat between the African Union ( AU ) and International Criminal Court ( ICC ) over perceived bias has prompted the AU to push ahead with plans to form its own Africa-wide criminal court , but analysts believe the move could complicate , rather than enhance , international justice .", "`` Africa wants regional ownership of its crimes and its leaders , '' Alan Wallis , an international justice lawyer at the Johannesburg-based Southern African Litigation Centre ( SALC ) , told IRIN , but pointed out : `` There is a misbelief -LSB- by the AU -RSB- that Africa is being targeted , as all cases before the ICC concern African situations , but this ignores the fact that of those six -LSB- cases -RSB- , three were referred to the ICC by the countries concerned . ''", "AU commission chairperson Jean Ping has accused ICC of `` bullying '' Africa , with a key bone of contention being the 2009 indictment of Sudan 's President Omar al-Bashir for alleged atrocities committed in Darfur .", "Plans for an African criminal court moved into an advanced stage with a final draft protocol drawn up in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on 15 May .", "It is widely expected to be adopted at an AU summit meeting of heads of state in July .", "The venue for the summit was originally intended to be Malawi , but the host president , Joyce Banda , said it would honour its ICC obligations and arrest Sudan 's president should he attend .", "The meeting was subsequently switched to Addis Ababa .", "Adoption of the new court , according to analysts , requires formalizing the crime of `` unconstitutional change of government '' , and it would require ratification by 15 AU member states - a process which could take a few years .", "The jurisdiction envisaged by the new AU court replicates that of the ICC , covering such things as the major international crimes of genocide , war crimes and crimes against humanity - and adds others such as piracy , terrorism , mercenary activity , corruption , money-laundering , human and narcotics trafficking and the illegal exploitation of natural resources .", "Calls by the AU `` in the interests of peace and security '' on the UN Security Council to defer or postpone legal proceedings against Bashir - and against the alleged instigators of Kenya 's post-electoral violence in 2008 - have fallen on deaf ears .", "Stephen Arthur Lamony , Africa outreach liaison and situations adviser for the Coalition for the ICC , an umbrella organization of 2,500 civil society organizations in 150 countries , told IRIN : `` The AU feels ignored '' .", "He said AU requests to defer legal proceedings in the two cases would remain `` a sticking point '' between the AU and the ICC .", "He added that the ICC had been attempting to establish an AU-ICC liaison office for `` quite a while '' , but had not met with success .", "The African Court of Justice and Human Rights is supposed to be formed through a merger of the African Court on Human and People 's Rights and the AU Court of Justice , and is envisaged to comprise three sections : general affairs , human rights and international criminal law .", "According to the court 's draft protocol , the AU Peace and Security Council and the office of the prosecutor will be eligible to submit cases ; the court 's jurisdiction for international crimes will commence after its inception .", "This means that the court would not trump current cases being considered by the ICC regarding the Central African Republic , C\u00f4te d'Ivoire , the Democratic Republic of Congo , Libya , Kenya and Sudan .", "Wallis said the court 's composition , combining a human rights function and criminal prosecutorial powers was `` unprecedented '' under international law , and the process appeared to be rushed .", "`` Here is a completely new creature - a regional criminal court , with identical jurisdiction to the ICC , but with no bridges between the two and it is difficult to anticipate the potential implications and challenges . ''", "Where the ICC will fit in , if at all , was unclear .", "Lamony said the ICC has agreements with national courts but not with regional courts .", "Wallis foresees confusion should the AU court materialize .", "`` In this regard guidance to African ICC states parties on balancing the relationship between obligations assumed through their ratification of the Rome Statute and the anticipated obligations imposed by the proposed expansion , and the legal implications , should be properly canvassed through further state engagement .", "A wait-and-see approach may do more harm than good . ''", "Jonathan O'Donohue , Amnesty International 's legal adviser for international justice , told IRIN : `` The ICC already exists , but it does not seem clear and it is not set out if there is any relationship between the ICC and the -LSB- proposed -RSB- regional criminal court .", "There is a danger of duplication -LSB- between the two international criminal courts -RSB- and also the potential for conflict over jurisdiction .", "This needs to be resolved before it goes any further . ''", "Weapon of the West ?", "In 2009 , the AU adopted the Sirte Resolution calling for non-cooperation by African ICC member states in the arrest of Bashir .", "Malawi ( during the presidency of the late Bingu wa Mutharika ) , Chad , Kenya and Djibouti - all ICC state parties - have hosted Bashir since the arrest warrant was issued and did not apprehend him .", "Established as an international court of `` last resort '' , it was designed to pick up the slack should domestic laws or local criminal justice systems be unable to proceed against the major international crimes of genocide , war crimes and crimes against humanity .", "In August 2002 South Africa became the first African state to enact the Rome Statute 's provisions into its domestic law , and is only one of four African states to have complied so far .", "In a 2010 Institute for Security Studies monograph entitled The International Criminal Court that Africa Wants , the author , Max du Plessis , a practising advocate and associate professor of law at South Africa 's University of KwaZulu-Natal , cites Bashir 's arrest warrant as the `` flashpoint '' that spawned a raft of allegations by the AU against the ICC , with the AU accusing the ICC of being `` a hegemonic tool of Western powers '' and of having double standards .", "Don Deya , an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and CEO of Pan African Lawyers Union which was tasked with drawing-up the legal foundations of the AU 's regional court , said in a March 2012 article for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa entitled ; Is the African Court Worth the Wait ?", "that there was no reason an African court and the ICC could not work `` harmoniously '' to end impunity for international crimes , `` despite the current bitter divide between Africa and the ICC '' .", "Deya said in the article that the genesis for the African criminal court was not the `` furore '' surrounding Bashir , but three other pertinent issues - universal jurisdiction , Senegal 's impending prosecution of former Chadian President Hissene Habr\u00e9 , and formulation of the international crime of `` unconstitutional change of government '' .", "A French court 's November 2006 arrest warrant for , and subsequent arrest of , Rose Kabuye , the post-genocide Rwandan chief of protocol , in Germany in 2008 was `` a turning point '' , Deya said : The AU determined that `` African states ... try international crimes on African soil . ''", "Is it affordable ?", "An AU report following a two-day meeting of justice ministers and attorney-generals in May 2012 , attended by 29 African states as well as representatives of the African Court on Human and People 's Rights , the Pan African Parliament and the Africa Prosecutors Association , highlighted the cost implications of establishing an international criminal court .", "`` Technically it is not a bad idea on paper .", "Any forum that seeks to punish perpetrators of international crime is a good idea .", "But the concern is that you create this institution which may take years to formally get off the ground , but technically could nonetheless allow for ` forum shopping ' by providing a choice between the African criminal court and the ICC , and could delay prosecutions and frustrate efforts at accountability , '' Wallis said .", "Lamony said many AU member states do not pay their fees , which handicaps the continental body 's operations .", "`` I do not know where they will get the money from -LSB- for the court -RSB- .", "In the past -LSB- former Libyan president -RSB- Muammar Gaddafi would have probably contributed . ''", "O'Donohue said there were also concerns that the proposed combined AU court could see the criminal functions of the court drain resources from the already under-resourced human rights court and there `` needs to be clarity on the budgetary system '' .", "The estimated average cost of an ICC trial is about US$ 20 million or 14 percent of the AU 's overall annual budget .", "The ICC trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor cost about $ 50 million .", "The 2011 costs for the Special Court of Sierra Leone ( SCSL ) were $ 16 million , while the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ( ICTR ) had a budget of $ 130 million in 2010 , with 800 staff involved in simultaneous trials .", "The cost of individual criminal trials far outweighs those of civil and human rights cases , Wallis said , adding : `` The nature of international criminal proceedings makes them extremely resource intensive .", "Insufficient funding has the potential to prevent the proper dispensation of justice and could raise questions about the integrity and credibility of the court 's future proceedings ... `` There is no excuse in this day and age to make anything less than a perfect criminal court ... The experience of international criminal tribunals demonstrates that states ' broad support is essential to arrests and assistance in investigations .", "The conceptualization of a regional criminal tribunal must take into consideration the experiences and shortcomings of other international criminal tribunals such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone , the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and ICTR and the ICC , so as to avoid problems down the line . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "An ACC could not only bring justice home to Africa, by creating a court which will not appear to African nations as being imposed by outsiders, but also be able to have additional remits to address other issues in Africa that the ICC does not have powers to deal with, such as coups, corruption and drug trafficking.", "_claim_name": "An African Criminal Court would be better", "_doc_title": "IRIN | How close is an African criminal court?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 32, "_topic_name": "This House believes African states should withdraw from the ICC"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["British Tornado jets fired precision-guided missiles at a large bunker in Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi 's hometown of Sirte , officials have said .", "The aircraft took off from RAF Marham in Norfolk on a long-range strike mission on Thursday night .", "The Libyan rebels are building up their forces east of Sirte , in preparation for a major assault .", "They continue to face unexpectedly stiff resistance .", "Rebel leaders are meanwhile calling on other states to unfreeze Libyan assets .", "The UN has already agreed to release $ 1.5 bn ( # 1bn ) in funds , which had been frozen under Security Council sanctions at the beginning of the uprising in February , to help with immediate humanitarian needs .", "But South African President Jacob Zuma said the African Union ( AU ) would not yet recognise the rebel National Transitional Council ( NTC ) as the sole representative of the Libyan people until hostilities ended .", "`` If there is fighting , there is fighting .", "So we ca n't stand here and say this is the legitimate -LSB- government -RSB- now .", "The process is fluid .", "That 's part of what we inform countries - whether there is an authority to recognise , '' he said .", "Later , the AU called for an inclusive transitional government to be formed .", "In a statement issued on Friday , the UK Ministry of Defence said `` a formation of Tornado GR4s ... fired a salvo of Storm Shadow precision-guided missiles against a large headquarters bunker '' in Sirte .", "The bunker housed a command and control centre .", "There is no indication that Col Gaddafi was in Sirte , which is 250 miles ( 400km ) east of Tripoli , or in the bunker itself at the time of the attack .", "`` It 's not a question of finding Gaddafi , it 's ensuring the regime does not have the capability to continue waging war against its own people , '' UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC .", "`` The attack that we launched on the bunker in Sirte last night was to make sure that there was no alternative command and control should the regime try to leave Tripoli . ''", "Nato warplanes also targeted 29 vehicles mounted with weapons near Sirte and bombed surface-to-air missile facilities near Tripoli , the alliance said at a daily briefing in Brussels .", "Meanwhile , the rebels are building up their forces around the oil port town of Ras Lanuf , preparing for an assault on Sirte , about 250km ( 155 miles ) along the coast to the west .", "They had to withdraw from positions nearer Sirte to put themselves out of the range of Grad rockets being fired by Gaddafi loyalists .", "The BBC 's Paul Wood , who is with the rebels , says their mood is still buoyant , despite running into unexpectedly stiff resistance .", "Rebel commanders think the fighting on the road to Sirte could last another three or four days , our correspondent says .", "By Clive MyrieBBC News , Ras Lanuf", "We are only about a 1km or so outside the range of the rockets which the pro-Gaddafi forces have been firing .", "Further down the road is the front-line and that is where there is intense fighting going on .", "The pro-Gaddafi forces are trying to prevent the rebel advance on the town of Sirte .", "There are a number of smaller towns in between here and Sirte , where there is a fairly large civilian population .", "The rebel commanders on the ground here are saying they need to be careful .", "As a result , they are taking a twin-track approach of building up their forces on the ground and trying to talk to elders in Sirte itself to try and negotiate the peaceful surrender of the town .", "The National Transitional Council has begun moving to Tripoli , although many senior figures remain in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi .", "Spokesman Ali Tarhouni said the NTC 's chairman , Mustafa Abdul Jalil , would arrive as soon as the security situation permitted .", "He called on forces still loyal to Col Gaddafi to surrender .", "`` Put your weapons down and go home .", "We will not take revenge .", "Between us and you is the law .", "I promise you will be safe , '' he said .", "Speaking in Istanbul , the head of the NTC 's cabinet , Mahmoud Jibril , said the uprising could fall apart if funds were not forthcoming quickly .", "`` The biggest destabilising element would be the failure ... to deliver the necessary services and pay the salaries of the people who have not been paid for months , '' he said .", "`` Our priorities can not be carried out by the government without having the necessary money immediately . ''", "In Tripoli , there was continued fighting near the international airport .", "Several aircraft were reportedly destroyed by rocket fire .", "A rebel commander told the Associated Press the airport was largely under rebel control , but loyalists were shelling it from a nearby military base once controlled by Col Gaddafi 's son , Khamis .", "There was also fighting on Friday in the capital 's southern Abu Salim district , one of the last areas loyal to Col Gaddafi .", "A Scottish nurse working at the hospital in Abu Salim , Karen Graham , told the BBC they were `` overwhelmed '' with casualties .", "`` All the staff were just doing the best we can , but we were literally inundated , '' she said .", "`` We 'd just clear one lot of casualties and the next lot would be getting brought in .", "Our theatre just could n't cope ... This is the first time we 've had such a vast number of people in . ''", "Dozens of decomposing bodies were piled up at one hospital in the area , AP reported .", "One room had 21 lying on stretchers , while 20 more were left in a courtyard .", "It was not clear who killed the men , or when they died .", "Human rights group Amnesty International says it has evidence that both pro-Gaddafi forces and rebels abused detainees in their care .", "Guards loyal to Col Gaddafi raped child detainees at Abu Salim prison , Amnesty said .", "It also accused rebels of beating prisoners , including a boy conscripted by Gaddafi forces who surrendered to the rebels at Bir Tirfas .", "The UN is to investigate reports of summary killings and torture through its existing commission of inquiry on Libya .", "`` We urge all those in positions of authority in Libya , including field commanders , to take active steps to ensure that no crimes , or acts of revenge , are committed , '' UN spokesman Rupert Colville told Reuters .", "The UN has previously said some military action in Libya could amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity .", "The BBC 's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes visited a hospital in the Mitiga district of Tripoli which had received the bodies of 17 rebel fighters .", "Doctors said the group had been prisoners of Gaddafi troops in Tripoli and were tortured and killed as the rebels seized the capital earlier this week .", "Dr Hoez Zaitan , a British medic working at the hospital , said about half the bodies had bullet wounds to the back of the head while others had disfiguring injuries to their limbs and hands .", "He said the bodies had been examined for possible evidence to be used at a war crimes tribunal ."], "_citing_sentence": "The recent NATO deployment in Libya is an example of its regional influence and military flexibility.", "_claim_name": "NATO has established a precedent for multilateral military action", "_doc_title": "Libya conflict: Nato jets hit Gaddafi Sirte bunker - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [17]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By Robert Parsons 6:14 PM BST 08 Aug 2008", "While the world watched China 's pyrotechnical tour de force at the opening of the Beijing Olympics , President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia was making a plaintive appeal for Western help against Russian military aggression .", "One fact is clear : the Kremlin 's troops would not be in South Ossetia today if Georgia were a loyal ally .", "Instead , Mr Saakashvili is paying the price for his pro-Western foreign policy and , in particular , his ambition to join Nato .", "Two key events well beyond Georgia 's borders have triggered Russia 's fury .", "The first was Kosovo 's declaration of independence in February and the new country 's subsequent recognition by many Western states .", "This brought a public warning from Moscow that Kosovo 's move to independence could set a precedent for Georgia 's two breakaway regions , Abkhazia and South Ossetia .", "The second was Nato 's pledge at the Bucharest summit in April that membership of the Atlantic Alliance for both Georgia and Ukraine was not a matter of `` if '' but `` when '' , although in deference to Russian objections , no timetable for entry was granted .", "This provoked Vladimir Putin , then still Russia 's president , to promise more support for Georgia 's breakaway regions .", "Despite the Cold War 's demise , Russia regards the successor states of the old Soviet Union as its sphere of influence .", "This intervention is about sending a message from Moscow to Washington to `` keep your nose out '' of an area that the Kremlin has always seen as being inside its domain .", "Western diplomats fly to Georgia as conflict rages", "Russia ` invades ' Georgia over South Ossetia", "Georgia : Russia fighting a ` war ' in South Ossetia", "But as Mr Saakashvili warned yesterday , this is no longer about a tiny country way off most people 's radar .", "Georgia 's fate is about the future world order , Europe 's place in it and persuading Moscow to desist from the brutish behaviour that has marked its recent foreign policy .", "Georgia 's crime , as seen from the Kremlin , is to have espoused the values preached by the West and to have dared say that it wants to choose its own friends .", "To be sure , Mr Saakashvili damaged his own reputation by his suppression of opposition dissent last November , but in the post-Soviet world of authoritarianism and rampant state corruption , Georgia remains one of the few pinpricks of light .", "If the West cringes now in the face of Moscow 's bicep-flexing , the message to any other aspiring members of the democratic club will be patently clear : take that risk if you like but do not count on us to help if things turn nasty .", "Georgia now stands on the very brink of a grotesquely uneven conflict with a resurgent Russia itching to flex its muscles and burning with post-imperial hubris .", "The chosen causus belli is South Ossetia , which fought a separatist war with Georgia in 1992 and has enjoyed the support of Russia ever since .", "So much so , that Russia has spent the intervening years handing out Russian passports to any South Ossetian who cares to have one .", "These are the people who Dmitry Medvedev had in mind on Thursday when he said that as president of the Russian Federation , he was obliged to defend the lives of Russian citizens wherever they were .", "Russian forces form part of a self-styled `` peacekeeping force '' in South Ossetia - but are seen by the Georgians as anything but neutral or interested in peace .", "As far as Georgia is concerned , the Russian troops are not mediators but an active party to the conflict .", "The Russian presence has been a protracted exercise in cynicism - while its armed forces crushed the life out of separatism in Chechnya , its `` peacekeepers '' have propped up separatist regimes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia .", "Moscow 's diplomacy has been no less dishonest .", "All efforts to achieve a lasting peace in South Ossetia , by offering a degree of automony and a federal relationship with Georgia 's central government , have been conducted under the auspices of the Joint Control Commission ( JCC ) .", "This body , estabilished in the 1990s , includes representatives from Russia and its two proxies , North and South Ossetia , as well as Georgia .", "It has long been clear that the JCC , which is dominated by Russia , is never going to agree to a peace agreement remotely acceptable to Georgia .", "But matters like peace , self-determination or territorial integrity have never been the real issue for Russia in the southern Caucasus .", "Robert Parsons is the international affairs editor of France24 TV ."], "_citing_sentence": "This was best proven during the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia, when Georgia's impending accession to NATO was seen as part of the incentive for Russian support to the 'break-away' regions in Georgia.", "_claim_name": "The EU needs a dedicated defence force", "_doc_title": "Georgia pays price for its Nato ambitions - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7, 8]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Six more boatloads of migrants , mostly Libyans , arrived at the Italian island of Lampedusa yesterday , exacerbating a refugee crisis that already appears to have ended the long-standing Schengen arrangement for passport-free movement around Europe .", "In Italy , which has born the brunt of waves of migrants fleeing turmoil first in Tunisia and now Libya , key members of the government were again warning about the repercussions of Nato 's bombing campaign across the Mediterranean .", "`` For this reason we have continually pressed for a strong diplomatic response to the situation in Libya , '' said Italy 's interior minister Roberto Maroni , of the anti-immigration Northern League party , who has repeatedly called for an end to Italy 's role in Nato air raids .", "`` Otherwise there is no way to stop the boats . ''", "Ignazio Accomando , from the National Institute for the Health of Migrants , told the Ansa news agency : `` About 2,000 migrants are expected to arrive on the island .", "They are tired , worn out , dehydrated and with some bruises , but overall there are no particularly grave health cases . ''", "The UN warned yesterday that one in 10 migrants fleeing Libya by sea is likely to die during the crossing .", "The arrival of tens of thousands of North Africans has caused political fall-out across Europe with the EU preparing to reintroduce passport checks among Schengen-zone countries , after pressure from France and Italy .", "The cracks in the Schengen zone appeared to widen this week when Denmark decided to reinstate controls on its borders with Germany and Sweden to clamp down , it said , on drug and weapons smuggling .", "In Libya , at least 16 civilians were said to have died during Nato raids on the eastern city of Brega yesterday .", "Libyan state television reported the news , which had not been verified independently .", "* Egyptian authorities have detained Suzanne Mubarak , wife of deposed President Hosni Mubarak .", "Mr Mubarak has been questioned several times , but this is the first time his wife has faced interrogation .", "` You ca n't get me ' , taunts Gaddafi after strikes", "The voice of Muammar Gaddafi has been broadcast on Libyan radio to scotch rumours he was killed in a Nato air strike on a compound in Tripoli earlier this week .", "`` I live in a place where you ca n't get to me , '' he said .", "It followed suggestions by the Italian Foreign Minister , Franco Frattini , that Colonel Gaddafi had `` probably '' been injured and had left Tripoli .", "The Libyan government denied either had happened .", "It was reported on Monday that the International Criminal Court prosecutor will apply for arrest warrants for Col Gaddafi , his son Saif al Islam and spy chief Abdullah al Senussi for crimes against humanity ."], "_citing_sentence": "The revolutions in Northern Africa also call for a stabilising force in the region, particularly in Italy where a 'refugee crisis' has coincided with the attempts of anti-Gaddafi Libyans to flee the country.", "_claim_name": "Regional instability in certain areas of continental europe necessitates the creation of an EU defence force", "_doc_title": "Flood of North African refugees to Italy ends EU passport-free travel | Europe | News | The Independent", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 2]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 33, "_topic_name": "This House would create a single European Union army"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Post-Fukushima tests identify hundreds of problems in reactors , leaked report reveals Inspecting the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Okuma , Fukushima , Japan", "Nuclear `` stress tests '' carried out at the European Union 's 143 atomic reactors have exposed `` hundreds '' of problems which could need up to $ 25bn of investment in order to restore proper plant safety levels , a report reveals today .", "The disturbing safety shortcomings were disclosed in a leaked draft of a report on the state of Europe 's atomic power industry , which is due to be published by the European Commission in Brussels today .", "It was commissioned in the aftermath of last year 's nuclear disaster in Japan , when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami led to a meltdown at three of the Fukushima nuclear plant 's reactors .", "The draft , which could differ from the final version of the report , concluded that `` on the basis of the stress test results , practically all nuclear plants need to undergo safety improvements '' .", "`` Hundreds of technical upgrade measures have already been identified , '' it added .", "With Europe struggling to shake off its economic woes , the draft report warned that safety precautions differed greatly and that the amount needed to upgrade them ranged from $ 30m to $ 200m per reactor unit -- or a total of up to $ 25bn across the EU .", "It also pointed out that 47 of the EU 's plants contained a total of 111 reactors which were surrounded by more than 100,000 inhabitants living within 30km .", "Although the stress tests were conducted to minimise the risk of a Fukushima-style disaster happening in Europe , the report came to the alarming conclusion that in some cases safety recommendations made in the aftermath of much earlier nuclear disasters had not been enforced .", "`` Following the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl , urgent measures to protect nuclear plants were agreed .", "The stress tests demonstrated that even today , decades later , their implementation is still pending in some member states , '' it warned .", "According to the leak , the stress tests had shown that four reactors in two unnamed countries would have less than an hour to restore safety functions if electrical power was lost .", "However , the draft failed to specifically identify any of the reactors which suffered problems , or , in most cases , reveal the exact nature of the safety defects .", "Fears about causing alarm to residents living in the vicinity of reactors was underlined by a statement issued by the regulatory body for European nuclear safety , which urged the report 's authors not to use language that could undermine public confidence .", "The stress tests also found deficiencies at Britain 's nuclear plants .", "It said most of them lacked an alternative emergency control room which could be used as a back-up if the main control room became contaminated by radiation .", "However , the UK Department of Energy insisted to the BBC that there was no evidence that British nuclear facilities were unsafe .", "The leaked details of the report prompted criticism from anti-nuclear groups which argued that its warnings did not go nearly far enough .", "They said the draft failed to address risks in crucial areas , such as ageing technology , human error or inability to withstand terrorist attacks .", "`` If this exercise were serious , the Commission would be recommending the closure of unsafe or ageing reactors , '' Rebecca Harms , a veteran German Green party member and co-president of the Green/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament , told the BBC .", "Without being specific , the draft report singled out France , which relies on nuclear power for 80 per cent of its electricity and is Europe 's biggest atomic energy producer .", "It has a total of 58 nuclear reactors and the report found failings at all of them .", "The problems appear to have been unearthed even though France carried out its own stress tests on its 19 nuclear plants and 58 reactors last year in the wake of the Fukushima disaster .", "France boosted its investment in nuclear power after Fukushima but in neighbouring Germany , widespread public alarm prompted Chancellor Angela Merkel 's conservative-led government to perform a policy U-turn and commit itself to abandoning nuclear power by 2022 .", "In the aftermath of the French stress tests , France 's ASN nuclear safety agency said they showed that `` sufficient '' safety levels were being maintained but recommended additional facilities to cope with accidents and ensure that plants could resist extreme situations such as flooding or earthquakes .", "Yesterday 's leaked document also said that next year the EU Commission intended to propose new insurance and liability legislation which would `` improve the situation of potential victims in the event of a nuclear accident '' ."], "_citing_sentence": "However, these investments would require approximately EUR25 bn.", "_claim_name": "Nuclear energy in Europe is currently considered to be dangerous", "_doc_title": "Europe's 'dangerous' nuclear plants need \u20ac25bn safety refit | Europe | News | The Independent", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Moving towards a low carbon economy", "The Renewable Energy Directive sets rules for the EU to achieve its 20 % renewables target by 2020 .", "EU countries ' plans for meeting their 2020 renewable energy obligations .", "EU countries publish progress reports every two years to show how they are moving towards the EU 's 2020 renewables ' goals .", "Guidance for EU countries when designing and reforming support schemes for renewables .", "Using biomass as an energy source can lower the EU 's external energy dependence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions .", "The use of biofuels made from biomass provides a renewable alternative to fossil fuels in the EU 's transport sector .", "Renewable energy can be produced from a wide variety of sources including wind , solar , hydro , tidal , geothermal , and biomass .", "By using more renewables to meet its energy needs , the EU lowers its dependence on imported fossil fuels and makes its energy production more sustainable .", "The renewable energy industry also drives technological innovation and employment across Europe .", "The EU 's Renewable energy directive sets a binding target of 20 % final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020 .", "To achieve this , EU countries have committed to reaching their own national renewables targets ranging from 10 % in Malta to 49 % in Sweden .", "They are also each required to have at least 10 % of their transport fuels come from renewable sources by 2020 .", "All EU countries have adopted national renewable energy action plans showing what actions they intend to take to meet their renewables targets .", "These plans include sectorial targets for electricity , heating and cooling , and transport ; planned policy measures ; the different mix of renewables technologies they expect to employ ; and the planned use of cooperation mechanisms .", "Renewables will continue to play a key role in helping the EU meet its energy needs beyond 2020 .", "EU countries have already agreed on a new renewable energy target of at least 27 % of final energy consumption in the EU as a whole by 2030 .", "This target is part of the EU 's energy and climate goals for 2030 .", "Public interventions such as support schemes remain necessary to make certain renewable energy technologies competitive .", "To avoid distorting energy prices and the market however , these schemes should be time-limited and carefully designed .", "The EU has issued guidance on support schemes to help governments when they design or revise support schemes .", "Every two years , the EU publishes a renewable energy progress report .", "The latest report from 2015 states that 25 EU countries are expected to meet their 2013/2014 interim renewable energy targets .", "In 2014 , the projected share of renewable energy in the gross final energy consumption is 15.3 % .", "According to data from Eurostat , the total share of renewable energy in the EU in 2012 was 14.1 % , up from 8.7 % in 2005 .", "List of Renewable Energy Associations", "Under the EU 's Renewable Energy Directive , the European Commission must keep a ` transparency platform ' .", "This allows public access to national and Commission documents relating to renewable energy", "Press releases and speechesNewsletters Subscribe to newsletter", "Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises ( EASME )", "Euratom Supply Agency ( ESA )", "Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators ( ACER ) Innovation and Networks Executive Agency ( INEA )"], "_citing_sentence": "Is it one of the aims of the EU to become less dependent on imported material needed for energy production.", "_claim_name": "Nuclear energy is non-renewable source", "_doc_title": "Renewable energy - European Commission", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Energy columnist Chris Nelder explains why baseload power generation from nuclear and coal plants will be phased out in favor of renewables .", "By Chris Nelder | March 28 , 2012 -- 05:00 GMT ( 22:00 PDT ) | Topic : Innovation", "A persistent myth about the challenges of integrating renewable power into the grid is that because solar and wind are intermittent , grid operators need to maintain full generation capacity from `` baseload '' plants powered by coal and nuclear .", "Recent real-world data and research shows that not only is this not true , but that baseload capacity is fundamentally incompatible with renewables , and that as renewables provide a greater portion of the grid 's power , baseload generation will need to be phased out .", "But before we get into the details , some background information is in order .", "`` Baseload '' power generators are typically large units that operate more or less continuously at 70 to 90 percent of their rated capacity , and do not shut down except for maintenance .", "These include nuclear , coal , and combined-cycle natural gas plants which capture and recycle the exhaust heat of traditional gas turbines .", "Coal and nuclear plants can take from one to three days to start up , and take a long time to shut down .", "`` Load-following '' power generators can increase or reduce their output based upon demand , and typically run at 30 to 50 percent of capacity .", "They are typically traditional gas turbine units , and may be shut down on a daily or weekly basis as needed .", "Older coal plants , combined-cycle natural gas plants , and some nuclear plants can operate in a load-following mode , but their ability to do so is limited .", "For example , newer nuclear plants can cut output by as much as 20 percent in an hour , but need as much as eight hours to ramp back up to full capacity .", "`` Peaking units '' typically run for a few hours at a time at low capacity factors when demand reaches unusually high peak levels , like in the middle of a hot summer day .", "These units are typically simple gas turbines .", "In the U.S. , there are three main grids : one in the east , one in the west , and one in Texas .", "Some utilities are regulated while others are not , some are publicly owned while others are private , and although they are interconnected within the three main grids , they operate with a certain amount of autonomy .", "Grid power comes from about 5,800 utility-scale power plants , comprising some 18,000 generating units .", "A patchwork quilt of agencies with overlapping jurisdictions regulate the grid , including Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ( FERC ) and the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation ( NERC ) at the federal level , a range of Regional Transmission Operators ( RTO ) and Independent System Operators ( ISO ) at the regional level , and Public Utility Commissions ( PUC ) at the state level .", "Ten major RTOs and ISOs serve about two-thirds of consumers in the U.S. and more than half in Canada , with the remainder served by smaller regional operators .", "The grid 's architecture developed in a fairly ad-hoc way .", "As the country was built up , more generation capacity was added , and the grid was extended .", "Technologically speaking , most of the grid is old and `` dumb '' : Power gets generated somewhere , and transmitted somewhere else , but there is very little in the way of sensors , storage buffers , switches , or security mechanisms along the way .", "It 's more like plumbing than an iPhone .", "This is why it was possible for one overloaded transmission line in Ohio take down much of the grid in Ontario , the Northeast and the Midwest in the blackout of August 14 , 2003 .", "Grid operators have one overriding , fearsome task : They must maintain enough supply from this very complex system , within a narrow range of frequencies and voltages , to meet constantly fluctuating demand at all times .", "Therefore they tend to be risk-averse , preferring to stick with what they know to be reliable , and avoiding innovation .", "Before the advent of renewables , generating power was a pretty straightforward task : When demand increased , you just added more fuel to an engine .", "With renewables , the task is reversed : The engines ( wind turbines and solar collectors ) ramp up and down of their own accord , and grid operators must adjust to accommodate their output .", "The growth of renewables in the U.S. has been driven primarily by state Renewable Portfolio Standards ( RPS ) requiring a certain percentage of power to be generated from renewables by a certain date .", "According to an April 2011 MIT report just released this month , 29 states have RPS mandates which typically require 15 to 25 percent renewables by 2015 to 2025 .", "Many of these states mandate that grid operators give the renewably-generated power priority , so when wind generation spikes , for example , they must ramp down other generating units .", "In other areas of the U.S. and in parts of Europe , operators may instead curtail peak production from renewables to accommodate their baseload generation -- for example , forcing a wind farm operator to furl their blades or apply brakes to their turbines .", "The notion that renewables can not provide baseload power is really an artifact of the way the grid and its regulators have evolved .", "If all generators were able to ramp up and down on demand , and if grid operators were able to predict reliably when and where the sun would be shining and the wind would be blowing , accommodating any amount of power from renewables would be no problem .", "A 2010 study called `` The Base Load Fallacy '' by Australian researcher Dr. Mark Diesendorf , an expert on integrating wind into power grids , fingers the `` operational inflexibility of base-load power stations '' as the main obstacle to further integration of renewables .", "`` The renewable electricity system could be just as reliable as the dirty , fossil-fuelled system that it replaces , '' he observes , if demand were more efficient and intelligent , and supply were made up of a wide variety of renewable sources plus a small amount of gas-fired capacity to cover the peaks .", "The perpetrators of the baseload fallacy , he argues , are mainly the industries who benefit from the status quo : coal , oil and gas companies , the nuclear industry , power generators , and industries who depend on them like aluminum and cement manufacturers .", "Claims that renewables could never generate more than a few percent of grid power without taking down the grid have been given the lie by the real-world experience of areas that deliberately adapted their grids .", "The best example in the U.S. is Texas .", "By virtue of having its own grid ( technically , an `` interconnection '' ) , it is generally outside the purview of federal regulation by FERC .", "The entire grid is operated by a single ISO , ERCOT , so it has a lot of control over its generation mix and grid planning .", "Texas decided long ago to pursue its wind potential vigorously , and now has the largest installed wind capacity in the States at over 10 gigawatts ( GW ) .", "On March 7 , ERCOT used a record 7,599 MW of wind power , constituting 22 percent of the load and representing over 77 percent of its nameplate wind capacity .", "The previous day it had met 24 percent of the load with wind .", "Baseload proponents had said that such levels of integration were flatly impossible .", "But ERCOT had made it possible with the help of a new modeling tool that analyzes real-time conditions every half-hour , giving grid technicians greater ability to match generation with demand and control transmission more discretely .", "The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has found that if other grid operators adopted similar tools , over one third of U.S. power could be generated from renewables .", "All that ERCOT needed to accommodate more wind power was some sensors , a better flow of information , and better modeling tools .", "As the MIT report notes , the hardware to provide better grid information already exists , but few operators have employed it in their control and dispatch operations .", "The obstacle is not technology , but `` the industry 's culture of resistance to new and experimental projects . ''", "That 's not a problem for China , however .", "The MIT report mentions that China is piloting a program that will allow it to monitor the national grid in real-time and control it automatically .", "The system eventually could allow China 's grid to uptake a far greater percentage of renewably-generated power than the antiquated and obsolete U.S. grid can , although the former is still the world 's top consumer of coal for power generation .", "Another 2010 study by the German Renewable Energies Agency turned conventional baseload logic on its head , finding that due to their relatively inflexible ability to adjust to changing demand , `` nuclear power plants are incompatible with renewable energies . ''", "To meet forecasted wind production in Germany , conventional baseload operation would be cut in half by 2020 , assuming renewable generation continues to enjoy priority dispatch .", "As renewables gradually replace conventional baseload capacity , only more flexible gas generators that can operate at under 50 percent of their capacity will still have a role to play .", "Europe serves as another model of why good grid planning and management are key to integrating renewables into the grid .", "If baseload proponents were correct , then we would expect the countries with the highest levels of renewable penetration to have the most trouble in managing their grids , but the reality is quite the opposite .", "A comprehensive new report on renewables integration by European consultancy eclareon GmbH surveyed the policies and grid functions of the 27 member states of the European Union , and found that `` large quantities -LSB- of renewable generation -RSB- can be effectively managed on the grid . ''", "Countries that planned for adequate grid capacity generally did n't have a problem with accommodating renewables , and unsurprisingly , those are the same countries that have pushed for more renewable generation .", "Solar and wind generation as a percentage of electricity consumption in 27 European Union countries in 2010 ( first bar ) and 2020 ( second bar ) .", "Grid integration designated by color : green = positive , yellow = neutral , red = negative .", "Source : RES Integration Final Report , eclareon GmbH .", "Countries where the share of renewable power is greatest -- Germany , Denmark , Spain , Ireland , and Portugal -- offer `` positive conditions for grid operations , '' although some barriers to integration were identified , including the potential for curtailment in Germany , challenges to priority dispatching in Ireland , and strict distribution parameters in Portugal .", "Identified barriers for grid development in those countries revolve around public policy issues , permitting , regulatory regimes , cost distribution , and the obligation ( or lack thereof ) of grid operators to beef up their grids to accommodate more renewable power .", "The real issues around the integration of renewables into the grid have to do with human arrangements , not technology .", "As the MIT report concluded , `` There is a clear need for a statement on national goals for the electricity sector to streamline the US regulatory structure , which currently is complex and fragmented . ''", "We need smart policy , and an intelligent approach to planning the grid of the future that is not simply beholden to the vested interests of the status quo .", "This will run directly at odds with the free-market ideologies that have brought us this far .", "As the EU project THINK observed , `` the main shortcomings of the conventional regulatory framework are that grid companies have disincentives to innovate . ''", "A firm regulatory hand , like that in the most renewably-powered countries of Europe , will be necessary to integrate more power from solar and wind onto the grid .", "Renewables should be able to meet at least 20 percent of electricity demand without disrupting the grid just about anywhere in the world with good grid planning and management .", "As geothermal and marine power technologies mature , they will become a much less intermittent , natural substitute for the baseload technologies of the past .", "A host of other technologies will even out the bumps in renewable generation by adding storage ( batteries for distributed storage , and pumped hydro and solar thermal for utility scale ) ; increasing the connections between grids ( allowing better transmission between sunny and cloudy , or windy and still areas ) ; and transitioning to on-demand natural gas-fired peaking generators .", "Over the next decade , the current assumptions about the need for traditional baseload capacity will begin to fade as new storage , interconnection , and smart grid management strategies come into play , and ultimately , a combination of these technologies might raise the limit on renewables to 100 percent .", "The attachment to our antiquated architecture of power generation and grid management is simply a failure of imagination and innovation .", "Those who benefit from its arrangement today hold it up in too-precious reverence , not unlike the those who , one hundred years ago , protested the banning of the ancient Chinese practice of foot-binding depicted in the photo at top .", "It may be beautiful to them , but to those with modern sensibilities , it 's an ugly , even grotesque fetish that should be consigned to the dust bin of history , and one that one hundred years from now will seem unbearably dumb , quaint , and cruel .", "The problem is not that the feet are too big ; it 's that the shoes are too small .", "Photo : Feet of Chinese woman , bound , compared with tea cup and American woman 's shoe , World War 1 era .", "This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com"], "_citing_sentence": "If we want to move towards Green World - nuclear energy does not help us to do so.", "_claim_name": "Nuclear energy goes against Green World", "_doc_title": "Why baseload power is doomed | ZDNet", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 7]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["One of the few pros of nuclear power is the relatively low emission of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , one of the major causes of global warming .", "For this reason , nuclear power has been proposed as `` the '' method to mitigate the effects of climate change .", "Some of the nuclear lobbyists even claim that the production of electricity by atomic energy does not emit any CO2 .", "But this is nonsense .", "Whenever a plant is built to produce electricity , CO2 is emitted .", "So even the production of electricity by renewable resources like solar power , water , wind , or biomass does release some CO2 .", "To calculate the amount of CO2 being released , the whole life cycle of a plant as well as the production of the raw energy has to be looked at .", "For a nuclear power plant , this includes construction , operation , maintenance and refurbishments , decommissioning and dismantling of the reactor .", "Of the same importance is the nuclear fuel : Recovery of uranium from the earth 's crust , extraction of uranium from ores , enrichment and chemical treatment , transportation as well as disposing of used fuel .", "A life cycle analyses ( LCA ) carried out by Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith came to the following result :", "The relatively high range of uncertainty is due to the different grade of ores used .", "It depends on how rich the ores are that are used to obtain the Uranium .", "For poor ores , the higher value does apply and for rich ores , the lower value does apply .", "This leads to an interesting issue : The world-wide reserves for Uranium are a very limited resource .", "It is estimated to last for about 50 to 70 years with the current demand .", "If additional nuclear reactors are built , the supply will last correspondingly shorter .", "The higher the demand for Uranium , the more and more poor ores will have to be processed .", "This however will lead to a CO2 balance for atomic power , which gets worse and worse over time .", "Storm and Smith in the above mentioned life cycle analysis came to the conclusion , that between the years 2050 ( if additional nuclear power stations are built ) and 2075 ( no additional nuclear reactors ) the CO2 emissions of electricity from atomic energy will be higher as the same electricity produced by a gas burning plant !", "So nuclear energy can definitely not be the solution to mitigate the effects of global warming !", "Let 's compare the CO2 emissions to produce 1 kWh of electricity by different technologies :", "For whom enough is too little - nothing is ever enough ."], "_citing_sentence": "And as mining becomes more difficult it is estimated that this could double making nuclear no better for reducing CO2 than gas power.", "_claim_name": "Nuclear energy goes against Green World", "_doc_title": "CO2 emission of electricity from nuclear power stations | Time for change", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"], ["reasoning"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Steve Fetter , dean of the University of Maryland 's School of Public Policy , supplies an answer", "How long will global uranium deposits fuel the world 's nuclear reactors at present consumption rates ?", "Steve Fetter , dean of the University of Maryland 's School of Public Policy , supplies an answer : If the Nuclear Energy Agency ( NEA ) has accurately estimated the planet 's economically accessible uranium resources , reactors could run more than 200 years at current rates of consumption .", "Most of the 2.8 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity generated worldwide from nuclear power every year is produced in light-water reactors ( LWRs ) using low-enriched uranium ( LEU ) fuel .", "About 10 metric tons of natural uranium go into producing a metric ton of LEU , which can then be used to generate about 400 million kilowatt-hours of electricity , so present-day reactors require about 70,000 metric tons of natural uranium a year .", "According to the NEA , identified uranium resources total 5.5 million metric tons , and an additional 10.5 million metric tons remain undiscovered -- a roughly 230-year supply at today 's consumption rate in total .", "Further exploration and improvements in extraction technology are likely to at least double this estimate over time .", "Using more enrichment work could reduce the uranium needs of LWRs by as much as 30 percent per metric ton of LEU .", "And separating plutonium and uranium from spent LEU and using them to make fresh fuel could reduce requirements by another 30 percent .", "Taking both steps would cut the uranium requirements of an LWR in half .", "Two technologies could greatly extend the uranium supply itself .", "Neither is economical now , but both could be in the future if the price of uranium increases substantially .", "First , the extraction of uranium from seawater would make available 4.5 billion metric tons of uranium -- a 60,000-year supply at present rates .", "Second , fuel-recycling fast-breeder reactors , which generate more fuel than they consume , would use less than 1 percent of the uranium needed for current LWRs .", "Breeder reactors could match today 's nuclear output for 30,000 years using only the NEA-estimated supplies .", "Editor 's Note : This question was submitted by G. Peck of Seward , Alaska and will be printed in the March 2009 issue of Scientific American ."], "_citing_sentence": "If the price gets high enough then there are other options for production, including from seawater, but this would clearly mean a big increase in cost and concerns that producers will try to keep cheaper uranium to themselves and export for much higher prices.", "_claim_name": "Nuclear energy is non-renewable source", "_doc_title": "How long will the world's uranium supplies last? - Scientific American", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 12, 13, 14]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 34, "_topic_name": "This House believes that the EU should abandon nuclear energy"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 14 April 2011 03.17 EDT", "Last modified on Wednesday 15 June 2016 03.57 EDT", "Where does the UK spend its aid budget ?", "And how has the geography of UK aid spending changed over time ?", "In March , the UK launched the most extensive shake-up of aid in recent history , and controversially cut aid funding to some of the world 's least developed countries , including Niger and Burundi .", "The much-anticipated bilateral ( country-to-country ) aid review significantly reduced the geographical scope of DfID 's ambition , cutting the number of countries which receive UK aid by a third -- from 43 to 27 .", "It maintained the UK aid budget for India and increased spending in countries like Somalia and Nigeria .", "Under the review , Pakistan is set to become the biggest beneficiary of UK aid by 2014 .", "Decisions on which country programs to cut were reportedly made in part by the UK Strategic Defence and Security Review 's stipulation that 30 percent of DfID funding goes to fragile and conflict-affected states .", "Over the next two months , DfID will publish detailed country plans for how UK aid will be spent in each of the 27 `` winners '' of the March aid review .", "In the meantime , thanks to Spanish design house Bestiaro who have put together a short animated history of UK aid spending for us , inspired by a similar project in the US .", "The data comes from the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ) , and follows the money trail from 1960 to 2009 .", "( We 'll have to wait until December to get the figures for 2010 ) .", "The OECD , which marks its 50th anniversary this year , monitors and catalogues levels of Official Development Assistance ( ODA ) , what the rest of us call `` aid . ''", "Note that ODA figures include both grants and concessional loans .", "Here we 've pulled out gross -- rather than net -- flows , to look at where the UK spends its money .", "Press play to watch the geography of UK aid shift over time .", "You can also click on individual countries , and see a running total of its UK aid receipts over the decades .", "A few highlights : \u2022 In 1960 the top recipients of UK aid are Cyprus and Malta , followed by Nigeria and Malaysia .", "\u2022 But by 1961 this geography has already shifted dramatically , with Kenya and India emerging as the top recipients .", "\u2022 For most of the 1960s and 1970s , India gets the biggest chunk of UK aid .", "\u2022 With the new millennium , the sheer number of UK aid recipients seems to explode .", "In 2002 , Serbia emerges as the top recipient , outpacing India .", "By 2005 Nigeria has taken the top spot , followed by post-invasion Iraq .", "Which year saw a spike in UK aid to Malaysia ?", "When did UK aid spending in Zambia start to drop ?", "Which countries were the biggest beneficiaries of UK aid in the 1980s ?", "Take a look .", "We 've also included the full data below .", "Let us know what you can do with it .", "\u2022 DATA : download the full spreadsheet", "Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian \u2022 Search the world 's government data with our gateway \u2022 Search the world 's global development data with our gateway \u2022 Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group \u2022 Contact us at data@theguardian.com \u2022 Get the A-Z of data \u2022 More at the Datastore directory \u2022 Follow us on Twitter \u2022 Like us on Facebook", "Which year do you think tells the biggest story about UK aid ?"], "_citing_sentence": "It is not surprising therefore that countries with shared colonial histories tend to dominate aid flows, thus Britain has historically given most aid to countries that were its colonies; in 1960 Malta and Cyprus received most, while India was the biggest recipient for much of the rest of the 20th Century.", "_claim_name": "Historically the donor of Foreign Aid has always set down pre-requisites", "_doc_title": "UK aid: where does it go to and how has it changed since 1960? | Data | Vizualisation | Global development | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [18, 19, 20]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["While international trade has the potential to create decent jobs and alleviate poverty , too often U.S. trade agreements reflect only the interests of powerful multinational corporations and investors at the expense of workers and the environment .", "Put simply , for globalization to work its benefits must be widely shared and that can not happen unless workers ' are free to exercise their fundamental rights to organize and bargain collectively for better wages and conditions at work .", "Without strong and enforceable labor standards , globalization benefits only the economic elite while driving a `` race to the bottom '' in wages and working conditions .", "Since its founding in 1986 , the International Labor Rights Forum ( ILRF ) has been at the forefront of the effort to establish a strong link between trade and respect for workers ' fundamental labor rights .", "In 1984 , ILRF 's founders were responsible for creating the labor rights conditionality clause of the Generalized System of Preferences ( GSP ) , the first time a major piece of U.S. trade legislation formally conditioned access to U.S. markets on a trade partner 's ability to demonstrate genuine efforts to enforce the core labor rights established by the International Labor Organization .", "In the three decades since this victory , ILRF has been a leader in the strategic use of non-judicial complaint mechanisms to challenge labor rights abuses committed by both governments and corporations .", "For example , we have used the complaint mechanisms contained in the GSP , OECD , U.S. free trade agreements to challenge state-sponsored forced labor in Uzbekistan 's cotton industry , caste-based slavery in Niger , and the use of short-term contracts to deny workers their right to organize in Peru 's export garment industry .", "In evaluating potential complaints , ILRF prioritizes cases that involve systematic abuses of core labor rights and have the clear support of worker organizations and civil society in the affected countries .", "To learn more about ILRFs experience with utilizing specific non-judicial complaint mechanisms , click on the GSP , FTA , or Tariff Act tabs above .", "The Generalized System of Preferences ( GSP ) provides qualifying developing countries with duty-free access to U.S. markets for a specific list of products .", "Eligibility for GSP benefits is predicated on a country fulfilling several requirements , including a clear showing that the government is `` making progress '' towards compliance with internationally recognized labor standards .", "The GSP complaint mechanism allows any group or individual to file petitions with the U.S. Trade Representative ( USTR ) to initiate a review into the labor practices of any participating country .", "A committee composed of U.S. government officials reviews the petition and decides whether to hold public hearings where GSP recipient country and petitioner are allowed to testify .", "By filing GSP petitions , ILRF seeks to pressure the U.S. government to use its considerable economic leverage to ensure that GSP beneficiary countries fulfill their obligations to take concrete steps to respect workers ' fundamental labor rights .", "Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 ( 19 U.S.C. \u00a7 1307 ) prohibits the importation into the United States of products made with forced , indentured , or convict labor .", "Under the applicable regulations ( 19 CFR \u00a7 12.42 ) , U.S. Customs and Border Protection ( CBP ) is obligated to detain merchandise at the port of entry that it reasonably believes is the product of forced labor .", "Written in 1930 , the Tariff Act contains many loopholes and is badly in need of reform to make it a more effective tool in the fight against the trade in goods made with forced labor .", "By filing Tariff Act petitions , ILRF seeks to challenge the importation of goods into the U.S. market that are made with forced labor and other forms of modern day slavery .", "When enforced by U.S. Customs , the Tariff Act can be a powerful incentive for corporations at home and abroad to clean up their supply chains and end the use of forced labor .", "To date , ILRF has filed Tariff Act petitions on the following products :", "Since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ) in 1994 , all free trade agreements signed by the United States have included workers ' rights provisions .", "While NAFTA 's labor standards were contained in a largely symbolic , unenforceable `` side agreement , '' more recent FTAs include enforceable labor standards in the main text of the agreement .", "The latest FTAs require both the U.S. and our trade partners to `` adopt and enforce '' labor laws consistent with the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles at Work .", "Despite these advances , higher standards on paper have yet to translate into meaningful results for workers denied their fundamental labor rights .", "To date , none of the complaints filed under the labor chapters of U.S. FTAs have resulted in fines , withdrawal of benefits , or any other meaningful sanctions .", "The failure of current FTA to deliver for workers owes mainly to the weakness of the dispute settlement mechanism , which gives the U.S. government far too much discretion on how and when to respond to even the most egregious violations of the labor standards contained in a trade agreement .", "Despite these challenges , ILRF remains committed to utilizing the FTA complaint mechanisms to both highlight their weaknesses and spotlight the failure of some of our trade partners to provide workers with their fundamental labor rights .", "Challenging the abuse of short-term contracts in Peru : In July of 2015 , the ILRF and seven Peruvian unions filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor alleging that the Government of Peru is failing to comply with the labor standards contained in the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement ( PTPA ) .", "The complaint alleges that the Government of Peru is failing to enforce basic labor laws in its garment , textile , and agricultural export sectors , which together employ hundreds of thousands of workers who produce billions of dollars of goods for the U.S. market .", "The complaint breaks new ground by testing a key provision of the `` May 10th Agreement , '' arguing that Peru 's Non-Traditional Export Promotion Law fails to comply with minimum standards on freedom of association adopted by the International Labor Organization ( ILO ) .", "The special export law exempts employers from key parts of the general labor code by allowing them to hire virtually their entire workforce for an unlimited duration on a series of renewable , temporary contracts , some as short as 15 days .", "Garment and textile employers have taken advantage of the special law by systematically declining to renew the contracts of thousands of workers who joined unions in an effort to improve wages and working conditions .", "The complaint also presents a number of emblematic case studies which show how the Government of Peru is failing to enforce its own labor laws in both the textile & garment and agro-export sectors .", "Major Peruvian companies in these export sectors violate Peruvian labor laws with virtual impunity , dismissing workers for union activity , employing workers on fraudulent contracts , and failing to pay legally mandated bonuses .", "Even in cases where labor inspectors have found violations , fines are too low to deter employer misconduct and often go unpaid .", "In order to come into compliance with its obligations under the PTPA , the Government of Peru must repeal several key articles of the Non-Traditional Export Promotion Law , repeal or modify the Agricultural Sector Promotion Law , and strengthen oversight of employer use of temporary contracts .", "Contact 1634 I St NW , Suite 1001Washington , DC 20006", "Tel : (202)\u00a0347-4100 ( Staff Directory ) Fax : (202)\u00a0347-4885"], "_citing_sentence": "This creates a race to the bottom effect and would create \"poor conditions and loss of freedom in the global South, and causes workers in the global North to lose their jobs to cheap outsourced labour\".", "_claim_name": "When developing countries employ poor labour standards, other countries follow the example in order to be competitive", "_doc_title": "Trade Justice | International Labor Rights Forum", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["A majority of countries have adopted legislation to prohibit or place severe restrictions on the employment and work of children , much of it stimulated and guided by standards adopted by the International Labour Organization ( ILO ) .", "In spite of these efforts , child labour continues to exist on a massive scale , sometimes in appalling conditions , particularly in the developing world .", "If progress has been slow or apparently nonexistent , this is because child labour is an immensely complex issue .", "It can not be made to disappear simply by the stroke of a pen .", "Nevertheless , the basis of determined and concerted action must be legislation , which sets the total elimination of child labour as the ultimate goal of policy , and puts measures into place for this purpose , and which explicitly identifies and prohibits the worst forms of child labour to be eliminated as a matter of priority .", "Child labour , as the statistics clearly demonstrate , is a problem of immense global proportions .", "Following its comprehensive research into the issue , the ILO concluded that it was necessary to strengthen existing Conventions on child labour .", "Convention No. 182 helped to focus the international spotlight on the urgency of action to eliminate as a priority , the worst forms of child labour without losing the long term goal of the effective elimination of all child labour .", "One of the most effective methods of ensuring that children do not start working too young is to set the age at which children can legally be employed or otherwise work .", "The main principles of the ILO 's Convention concerning the minimum age of admission to employment and work are in the table below .", "The minimum age at which children can start work .", "Possible exceptions for developing countries", "Any work which is likely to jeopardize children 's physical , mental or moral heath , safety or morals should not be done by anyone under the age of 18 .", "18 ( 16 under strict conditions ) 18 ( 16 under strict conditions )", "Basic Minimum Age", "The minimum age for work should not be below the age for finishing compulsory schooling , and in any case not less than 15 .", "Children between the ages of 13 and 15 years old may do light work , as long as it does not threaten their health and safety , or hinder their education or vocational orientation and training .", "13-15 12-14 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work", "Both Conventions Nos. 138 and 182 are fundamental Conventions .", "Under the ILO Declaration , even the member States that have not yet ratified these Conventions should respect , promote and realize the principles ."], "_citing_sentence": "These include Conventions Against Forced Labour, Discrimination and Child Labour.", "_claim_name": "International labour and business standards go hand in hand with development standards and will de facto increase implementation levels", "_doc_title": "ILO Conventions and Recommendations on child labour (IPEC)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The Labor Movement , Life News , Politics News If you 're lucky enough to have a job right now , you 're probably doing everything possible to hold onto it .", "If the boss asks you to work 50 hours , you work 55 .", "If she asks for 60 , you give up weeknights and Saturdays , and work 65 .", "Odds are that you 've been doing this for months , if not years , probably at the expense of your family life , your exercise routine , your diet , your stress levels and your sanity .", "You 're burned out , tired , achy and utterly forgotten by your spouse , kids and dog .", "But you push on anyway , because everybody knows that working crazy hours is what it takes to prove that you 're `` passionate '' and `` productive '' and `` a team player '' -- the kind of person who might just have a chance to survive the next round of layoffs .", "This is what work looks like now .", "It 's been this way for so long that most American workers do n't realize that for most of the 20th century , the broad consensus among American business leaders was that working people more than 40 hours a week was stupid , wasteful , dangerous and expensive -- and the most telling sign of dangerously incompetent management to boot .", "It 's a heresy now ( good luck convincing your boss of what I 'm about to say ) , but every hour you work over 40 hours a week is making you less effective and productive over both the short and the long haul .", "And it may sound weird , but it 's true : the single easiest , fastest thing your company can do to boost its output and profits -- starting right now , today -- is to get everybody off the 55-hour-a-week treadmill , and back onto a 40-hour footing .", "Yes , this flies in the face of everything modern management thinks it knows about work .", "So we need to understand more .", "How did we get to the 40-hour week in the first place ?", "How did we lose it ?", "And are there compelling bottom-line business reasons that we should bring it back ?", "The Making of the 40-Hour Week", "The most essential thing to know about the 40-hour work-week is that , while it was the unions that pushed it , business leaders ultimately went along with it because their own data convinced them this was a solid , hard-nosed business decision .", "Unions started fighting for the short week in both the UK and US in the early 19th century .", "By the latter part of the century , it was becoming the norm in an increasing number of industries .", "And a weird thing happened : over and over -- across many business sectors in many countries -- business owners discovered that when they gave into the union and cut the hours , their businesses became significantly more productive and profitable .", "As Tom Walker of the Work Less Institute puts it in his Prosperity Covenant :", "That output does not rise or fall in direct proportion to the number of hours worked is a lesson that seemingly has to be relearned each generation .", "In 1848 , the English parliament passed the ten-hours law and total output per-worker , per-day increased .", "In the 1890s employers experimented widely with the eight hour day and repeatedly found that total output per-worker increased .", "In the first decades of the 20th century , Frederick W. Taylor , the originator of `` scientific management '' prescribed reduced work times and attained remarkable increases in per-worker output .", "By 1914 , emboldened by a dozen years of in-house research , Henry Ford famously took the radical step of doubling his workers ' pay , and cut shifts in Ford plants from nine hours to eight .", "The National Association of Manufacturers criticized him bitterly for this -- though many of his competitors climbed on board in the next few years when they saw how Ford 's business boomed as a result .", "In 1937 , the 40-hour week was enshrined nationwide as part of the New Deal .", "By that point , there were a solid five decades of industrial research that proved , beyond a doubt , that if you wanted to keep your workers bright , healthy , productive , safe and efficient over a sustained stretch of time , you kept them to no more than 40 hours a week and eight hours a day .", "Evan Robinson , a software engineer with a long interest in programmer productivity ( full disclosure : our shared last name is not a coincidence ) summarized this history in a white paper he wrote for the International Game Developers ' Association in 2005 .", "The original paper contains a wealth of links to studies conducted by businesses , universities , industry associations and the military that supported early-20th-century leaders as they embraced the short week .", "`` Throughout the '30s , '40s and '50s , these studies were apparently conducted by the hundreds , '' writes Robinson ; `` and by the 1960s , the benefits of the 40-hour week were accepted almost beyond question in corporate America .", "In 1962 , the Chamber of Commerce even published a pamphlet extolling the productivity gains of reduced hours . ''", "What these studies showed , over and over , was that industrial workers have eight good , reliable hours a day in them .", "On average , you get no more widgets out of a 10-hour day than you do out of an eight-hour day .", "Likewise , the overall output for the work week will be exactly the same at the end of six days as it would be after five days .", "So paying hourly workers to stick around once they 've put in their weekly 40 is basically nothing more than a stupid and abusive way to burn up profits .", "Let ` em go home , rest up and come back on Monday .", "It 's better for everybody .", "As time went on and the unions made disability compensation and workplace safety into bigger and bigger issues , another set of concerns further buttressed the wisdom of the short week .", "A growing mountain of data was showing that catastrophic accidents -- the kind that disable workers , damage capital equipment , shut down the lines , open the company to lawsuits , and upset shareholders -- were far more likely to occur when workers were working overtime and overtired .", "That sealed the deal : for most businesses , the potential human , capital , legal and financial risks of going over 40 hours a week simply were n't worth taking .", "By World War II , the consensus was clear and widespread : even ( or especially ! )", "under the extreme demands of wartime , overworking employees is counterproductive and dangerous , and no competent workplace should ever attempt to push its people beyond that limit .", "The Overtime Exception", "There was one exception to this rule .", "Research by the Business Roundtable in the 1980s found that you could get short-term gains by going to 60 - or 70-hour weeks very briefly -- for example , pushing extra hard for a few weeks to meet a critical production deadline .", "However , there were a few serious caveats attached to this which used to be well-known , but have mostly been forgotten .", "One is that increasing a team 's hours in the office by 50 percent ( from 40 to 60 hours ) does not result in 50 percent more output ( as Henry Ford could have told them ) .", "Most modern-day managers assume there will be a direct one-to-one correlation between extra hours and extra output , but they 're almost always wrong about this .", "In fact , the numbers may typically be something closer to 25-30 percent more work in 50 percent more time .", "Here 's why .", "By the eighth hour of the day , people 's best work is usually already behind them ( typically turned in between hours 2 and 6 ) .", "In Hour 9 , as fatigue sets in , they 're only going to deliver a fraction of their usual capacity .", "And with every extra hour beyond that , the workers ' productivity level continues to drop , until at around 10 or 12 hours they hit full exhaustion .", "Another is that overtime is only effective over very short sprints .", "This is because ( as Sidney Chapman showed in 1909 ) daily productivity starts falling off in the second week , and declines rapidly with every successive week as burnout sets in .", "Without adequate rest , recreation , nutrition and time off to just be , people get dull and stupid .", "They ca n't focus .", "They spend more time answering e-mail and goofing off than they do working .", "They make mistakes that they 'd never make if they were rested ; and fixing those mistakes takes longer because they 're fried .", "Robinson writes that he 's seen overworked software teams descend into a negative-progress mode , where they are actually losing ground week over week because they 're so mentally exhausted that they 're making more errors than they can fix .", "The Business Roundtable study found that after just eight 60-hour weeks , the fall-off in productivity is so marked that the average team would have actually gotten just as much done and been better off if they 'd just stuck to a 40-hour week all along .", "And at 70 - or 80-hour weeks , the fall-off happens even faster : at 80 hours , the break-even point is reached in just three weeks .", "And finally : these death marches take a longer-term productivity toll as well .", "Once the crisis has passed and that 60-hour-a-week team gets to go back to its regular 40 , it can take several more weeks before the burnout begins to lift enough for them to resume their typical productivity level .", "So , for a while , you 'll get significantly less than a full 40 out of them .", "Wise managers who understand this will a ) avoid requiring overtime crunches , because they 're acutely aware of the serious longer-term productivity hit that inevitably follows ; b ) keep the crunches as short as possible when they are necessary ; and c ) give their teams a few days off -- one to two comp days per overtime week worked is about right -- at the end of a hard sprint .", "This downtime enables them recuperate more quickly and completely .", "It 's much more productive to have them gone for the next week -- and then back on the job , rested and ready to work -- than have them at their workstations but too fried to get anything useful done for the next month .", "So , to summarize : Adding more hours to the workday does not correlate one-to-one with higher productivity .", "Working overtime is unsustainable in anything but the very short term .", "And working a lot of overtime creates a level of burnout that sets in far sooner , is far more acute , and requires much more to fix than most bosses or workers think it does .", "The research proves that anything more than a very few weeks of this does more harm than good .", "Enter the Knowledge Worker", "After WWII , as the GI Bill sent more workers into white-collar jobs , employers at first assumed that the limits that applied to industrial workers probably did n't apply to knowledge workers .", "Everybody knew that eight hours a day was pretty much the limit for a guy swinging a hammer or a shovel ; but those grey-flannel guys are just sitting at desks .", "We 're paying them more ; should n't we be able to ask more of them ?", "The short answer is : no .", "In fact , research shows that knowledge workers actually have fewer good hours in a day than manual laborers do -- on average , about six hours , as opposed to eight .", "It sounds strange , but if you 're a knowledge worker , the truth of this may become clear if you think about your own typical work day .", "Odds are good that you probably turn out five or six good , productive hours of hard mental work ; and then spend the other two or three hours on the job in meetings , answering e-mail , making phone calls and so on .", "You can stay longer if your boss asks ; but after six hours , all he 's really got left is a butt in a chair .", "Your brain has already clocked out and gone home .", "The other thing about knowledge workers is that they 're exquisitely sensitive to even minor sleep loss .", "Research by the US military has shown that losing just one hour of sleep per night for a week will cause a level of cognitive degradation equivalent to a .10 blood alcohol level .", "Worse : most people who 've fallen into this state typically have no idea of just how impaired they are .", "It 's only when you look at the dramatically lower quality of their output that it shows up .", "Robinson writes : `` If they came to work that drunk , we 'd fire them -- we 'd rightly see them as a manifest risk to our enterprise , our data , our capital equipment , us and themselves .", "But we do n't think twice about making an equivalent level of sleep deprivation a condition of continued employment . ''", "And the potential for catastrophic failure can be every bit as high for knowledge workers as it is for laborers .", "Robinson cites the follow-up investigations on the Exxon Valdez disaster and the Challenger explosion .", "Both sets of investigators found that severely overworked , overtired decision-makers played significant roles in bringing about these disasters .", "There 's also a huge body of research on life-threatening errors made by exhausted medical residents , as well as research by the US military on the catastrophic effects of fatigue on the target discrimination abilities of artillery operators .", "( As Robinson dryly notes : `` It 's a good thing knowledge workers rarely have to worry about friendly fire . '' )", "`` Passion , '' De-Unionization , and the End of the 40-Hour Week", "How did this knowledge , which was so deeply embedded in three generations of American business management that it was utterly taken for granted , come to be so lost to us now ?", "There are probably several answers to that , but there are three factors in particular that stand out .", "The first is the emergence of Silicon Valley as an economic powerhouse in the late 1970s .", "Since WWII , the valley had attracted a unique breed of worker -- scientists and technologists who carried with them a singular passion for research and innovation .", "Asperger 's Syndrome was n't named and identified until 1994 , but by the 1950s , the defense industries in California 's Santa Clara Valley were already drawing in brilliant young men and women who fit the profile : single-minded , socially awkward , emotionally detached and blessed ( or cursed ) with a singular , unique , laser-like focus on some particular area of obsessive interest .", "For these people , work was n't just work ; it was their life 's passion , and they devoted every waking hour to it , usually to the exclusion of non-work relationships , exercise , sleep , food and sometimes even personal care .", "The popular stereotype of the geek was born in some real truths about the specific kinds of people who were drawn to tech in those early years .", "The culture that grew up in the valley over the next few decades reflected and valorized the peculiarities of what Lockheed 's company psychologists were calling by the late '50s `` the sci-tech personality . ''", "Companies broadened their working hours , so programmers who came in at noon and worked through till midnight could make their own schedules .", "Dress codes were loosened ; personal eccentricities were celebrated .", "HP famously brought in breakfast every morning so its engineers would remember to eat .", "The local 24-hour supermarket carried microchips alongside the potato chips , so techies working in their garages could stop in at 2am for snacks and parts .", "And then , in the early ` 80s , Tom Peters came along , and promoted the Silicon Valley work ethic to the rest of the country in the name of `` excellence . ''", "He extolled tech giants like HP and Apple for the `` passion '' of their workers , and told old-industry employers that they could move into the new age by seeking out and rewarding that kind of passion in their employees , too .", "Though Peters did n't advocate this explicitly , it was implicitly understood that to `` passionate '' people , 40-hour weeks were old-fashioned and boring .", "In the new workplace , people would find their ultimate meaning and happiness in the sheer unrivaled joy of work .", "They would n't want to be anywhere else .", "There were two problems with this .", "The first is that this `` passion '' ideal did n't recognize that the vast majority of people have legitimate physical , emotional and psychological needs -- things like sleep , exercise , relaxation and the maintenance of strong family and social support bonds -- that these engineers did n't have to nearly the same degree .", "The second was that most managers , lacking windows into their workers ' souls , decided to cut corners and measure passion with one easy-to-chart metric : `` willingness to spend your entire life at the office . ''", "( It was about this time , with gourmet company cafeterias and in-house fitness centers and on-site child care sprouting up in high-tech campuses all over town , that I realized if a company is working that hard to make the workplace feel like home , it 's a strong suggestion that their employees risk sanction if they ever attempt to visit their actual homes again . )", "These were the early morning-in-America Reagan years .", "The unions -- for 150 years , the guardians of the 40-hour week -- were falling under a conservative onslaught ; and in their place , the new cult of the entrepreneur was ascendant .", "All the old paternalistic contracts between employers and employees were torn up .", "Where companies once hoped to hire people young and nurture their careers through to a pensioned retirement -- a lifelong relationship that required managers to take the long view about how to keep their workforces sustainably healthy and happy -- young Gen Xers were being given a 401k and told to expect to change jobs every three to five years .", "Even while employers were demanding new levels of `` passion '' and commitment , they were also abdicating their old obligation to look after the long-term well-being of their employees .", "The rapacious new corporate ethic was summarized by two phrases : `` churn ` em and burn ` em '' ( a term that described Microsoft 's habit of hiring young programmers fresh out of school and working them 70 hours a week until they dropped , and then firing them and hiring more ) , and `` working 90 hours a week and loving it ! ''", "( an actual T-shirt worn with pride by the original Macintosh team .", "( Productivity experts estimate that we 'd have probably had the Mac a year sooner if they 'd worked half as many hours per week instead . )", "And this mentality soon spread from the technology sector to every industry in every corner of the country .", "The new ideal was to unleash `` internal entrepreneurs '' -- Randian \u00fcbermenschen who would devote all their energies to the corporation 's success , in expectation of great reward -- and who were willing to assume all the risks themselves .", "In this brave new world , the real go-getters were the ones who were willing to put in weekends and Saturdays , who put their families on hold , who ate at their desks and slept in their cubicles .", "Forty-hour weeks were for losers and slackers , who began to vanish from America 's business landscape .", "And with their passing , we all but forgot all the very good reasons that we used to have those limits .", "Within 15 years , everything America 's managers used to know about sustaining worker productivity was forgotten .", "Now , 30 years and a few economic meltdowns on , the cafeterias and child-care centers and gyms are mostly gone , along with the stock options and bonuses that were once held out as the potential reward for the long hours .", "All that remains of those heady , optimistic days is the mandatory 60-hour work-week .", "And , unless you 're an hourly worker -- still entitled to time and a half by law -- the only inducement employers currently offer in exchange for submitting yourself to this abuse is that you get to keep your job .", "Can We Bring It Back ?", "Bringing back the 40-hour work-week is going to require a wholesale change of attitude on the part of both employees and employers .", "For employees , the fundamental realization is that an employer who asks for more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week is stealing something vital and precious from you .", "Every extra hour at work is going to cost you , big time , in some other critical area of your life .", "How will you make up the lost time ?", "Will you ditch dinner and grab some fast food ?", "Skip the workout ?", "Miss the kids ' game this week ?", "What 's that ? )", "And how many consecutive days can you keep making that trade-off before you are weakened in some permanent and substantial way ?", "( Probably not as many as you think . )", "Changing this situation starts with the knowledge that an hour of overtime is a very real , material taking from our long-term well-being -- and salaried workers are n't even compensated for it .", "There are now whole industries and entire branches of medicine devoted to handling workplace stress , but the bottom line is that people who have enough time to eat , sleep , play a little , exercise and maintain their relationships do n't have much need of their help .", "The original short-work movement in 19th-century Britain demanded `` eight for work , eight for sleep and eight for what we will . ''", "It 's still a formula that works .", "For employers , the shift will be much harder , because it will require a wholesale change in some of the most basic assumptions of our business culture .", "Two generations of managers have now come of age believing that a `` good manager '' is one who can keep those butts in those chairs for as many hours as possible .", "This assumption is implicit in how important words like `` productivity '' and `` motivation '' are defined in today 's workplaces .", "A manager who can get the same amount of work out of people in fewer hours is n't rewarded for her manifest skill at bringing out the best in people .", "Rather , she 's assumed to be underworking her team , who could clearly do even more if she 'd simply demand more hours from them .", "If the crew is working 40 hours a week , she 'll be told to up it to 50 .", "If they 're already at 50 , management will want to get them in on nights and weekends , and turn it into 60 .", "And if she balks -- knowing that actual productivity will suffer if she complies -- she wo n't get promoted .", "Of course , hiring new people is out of the question -- again , especially when the workers are salaried .", "Squeezing extra time out of an employee when you 're not going to have to pay extra for it is seen as a total freebie by managers who cling to the delusion that they 're getting 50 percent more work in 50 percent more time .", "This belief also drives the fallacy that you can fire one person and divide their job between two other people , who will work an extra 20 hours per week for free -- and that there is no possible downside to the company for doing this .", "And of , course , that 's wrong .", "And it hurts the country , too .", "For every four Americans working a 50-hour week , every week , there 's one American who should have a full-time job , but does n't .", "Our rampant unemployment problem would vanish overnight if we simply worked the way we 're supposed to by law .", "We will not turn this situation around until we do what our 19th-century ancestors did : confront our bosses , present them with the data , and make them understand that what they are doing amounts to employee abuse -- and that abuse is based on assumptions that are directly costing them untold potential profits .", "We may have to appeal to the shareholders , whose investments are at serious risk when employees are overworked .", "( At least one shareholder suit has already been filed against a computer game company that was notorious for working its people 80 hours a week for years on end .", "It was settled out of court on terms favorable to the plaintiffs . )", "We may have to get harder-nosed in negotiating with our bosses when we first take the jobs , and get our hours in writing up front -- and then demanding that they stick with the contract down the line .", "And we also need to lean on our legislators to start enforcing the labor laws on the books .", "But the bottom line is : For the good of our bodies , our families , our communities , the profitability of American companies , and the future of the country , this insanity has to stop .", "Working long days and weeks has been incontrovertibly proven to be the stupidest , most expensive way there is to get work done .", "Our bosses are depleting resources from of the human capital pool without replenishing them .", "They are taking time , energy and resources that rightfully belong to us , and are part of our national common wealth .", "If we 're going to talk about creating a more sustainable world , let 's start by talking about how to live low-stress , balanced work lives that leave us refreshed , strong and able to carry on as economic contributors for a full four or five decades , instead of burned out and broken by a too-early middle age .", "A full , productive 40-year career starts with full , productive 40-hour weeks .", "And nobody should be able to take that away from us , not even for the sake of a paycheck .", "Brandon , 28 , `` Hipster `` This self-proclaimed `` hipster '' by trade -- that 's right , not an artisanal chocolatier or re-claimed wood whittler but a generic `` hipster '' -- does n't even have any tattoos .", "( He does list one of his best attributes as `` humble , '' though ) .", "Evan , Erectile Dysfunction Expert , 33Believe it or not , the worst thing about Evan is n't his career .", "His biggest deal-breaker is : `` Girls with chipped nail polish , girls who talk too much , narcissists , clingers , girls who have serious food allergies . ''", "Jabbing yourself in the leg with an Epi pen actually sounds preferable to a date with him .", "Daniel , Male Model , 31", "A `` male model '' who refers to his body as a `` lambo '' not once , but twice , in a biography that he presumably had time to mull over .", "( Example : `` Are you comfortable wearing swimwear in public ? ''", "Why have a lambo if you park it in the garage ? '' )", "Nick S. , Software Salesman , 26", "Not only does Nick S. take neckerchief fashion cues from Fred of `` Scooby-Doo , '' but he lists the food he dislikes most as `` scary cheeses . ''", "Bad-mouthing cheese is like bad-mouthing our best friend .", "Deal-breaker , Nick S. Deal-breaker .", "On the one hand , Grant is the sexy firefighter of our dreams .", "On the other hand , his worst date memory is `` Getting lunch with a girl and listening to her talk about Harry Potter for 20 minutes '' -- which actually does n't sound like enough time spent talking about the British national treasure .", "Vinny , who somehow lives the paradoxical life of being a professional barber and existing with this haircut .", "Will , Civil Engineer , 26 If Will could switch bodies with anyone for a day it would be serial womanizer and self-proclaimed `` recovered ego addict '' John Mayer so ... um ... yeah , enough said ."], "_citing_sentence": "It should be remembered that there has been general acceptance of international labour standards not just for human rights reasons but also because having minimum standards is beneficial economically - for example a 40 hour working week is more productive per hour than a 60 hour week.", "_claim_name": "Labour standards are necessary to protect basic human rights", "_doc_title": "Bring back the 40-hour work week - Salon.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["International labour standards are primarily tools for governments which , in consultation with employers and workers , are seeking to draft and implement labour law and social policy in conformity with internationally accepted standards .", "For many states this process begins with a decision to consider ratifying an ILO convention .", "Countries often go through a period of examining and , if necessary , revising their legislation and policies in order to achieve compliance with the instrument they wish to ratify .", "International labour standards thus serve as targets for harmonizing national law and practice in a particular field ; the actual ratification might come further along the path of implementing the standard .", "Some countries decide not to ratify a convention but bring their legislation into line with it anyway ; such countries use ILO standards as models for drafting their law and policy .", "Still others ratify ILO conventions fairly quickly and then work to bring their national law and practice into line ; the comments of the ILO 's supervisory bodies and technical assistance can guide them in this process .", "For such countries , ratification is the first step on the path to implementing a standard .", "In numerous countries ratified international treaties apply automatically at the national level .", "Their courts are thus able to use international labour standards to decide cases on which national law is inadequate or silent , or to draw on definitions set out in the standards , such as `` forced labour '' or `` discrimination '' .", "In addition to shaping law , international labour standards can provide guidance for developing national and local policies , such as employment and work and family policies .", "They can also be used to improve various administrative structures such as labour administration , labour inspection , social security administration , employment services , and so on .", "Standards can also serve as a source of good industrial relations applied by labour dispute resolution bodies , and as models for collective agreements .", "While the main users of international labour standards are the ILO 's constituents , other actors have found them to be useful tools as well .", "Increasing consumer interest in the ethical dimensions of products has led multinational enterprises to adopt to govern labour conditions in their production sites and those in their supply chains .", "The majority of top 500 companies in the United States and the United Kingdom have adopted some sort of code of conduct , many of them referring to ILO standards .", "One British department store , for example , has developed a supplier code of conduct based on 15 ILO conventions and recommendations .", "While these codes are no substitute for binding international instruments , they play an important role in spreading the principles contained in international labour standards .", "Similarly , international labour standards have been used in various international collective agreements , for instance in the garment and textile industries .", "( Note 1 ) International labour standards also have a direct impact on such globalized industries as the maritime shipping sector .", "They are used not only to shape the national maritime legislation of member States , but are taken as the basis for port state ship inspections and have a direct impact on the regulations and codes of other international organizations , such as the International Maritime Organization .", "Other international institutions regularly use international labour standards in their activities .", "Reports on the application of international labour standards are regularly submitted to the United Nations human rights bodies and other international entities .", "International financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have integrated certain aspects of labour standards into some of their activities , including the World Bank 's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper process .", "Advocacy groups and non-governmental organizations draw on international labour standards to call for changes in policy , law or practice .", "Finally , a number of countries and regional organizations have incorporated respect for international labour standards into their bilateral , multilateral and regional trade agreements , such as the Common Market for the South ( MERCOSUR ) and the Caribbean Community ( CARICOM ) .", "Representative employers ' and workers ' organizations play an essential role in the international labour standards system : they participate in choosing subjects for new ILO standards and in drafting the texts ; their votes can determine whether or not the International Labour Conference adopts a newly drafted standard .", "If a convention is adopted , employers and workers can encourage a government to ratify it .", "As discussed later in this booklet , if the convention is ratified , governments are required to periodically report to the ILO on how they are applying it in law and practice .", "Government reports must also be submitted to employers ' and workers ' organizations , which may comment on them .", "Employers ' and workers ' organizations can also supply relevant information directly to the ILO .", "They can initiate representations for violations of ILO conventions in accordance with procedures under article 24 of the ILO Constitution .", "Employer and worker delegates to the International Labour Conference can also file complaints against member states under article 26 of the Constitution .", "If a member state has ratified the Tripartite Consultation ( International Labour Standards ) Convention , 1976 ( No. 144 ) , as more than 110 countries have done to date , it is obliged to hold national tripartite consultations on proposed new instruments to be discussed at the Conference , on submissions of instruments to the competent authorities , on reports concerning ratified conventions , on measures related to unratified conventions and recommendations , and on proposals regarding the denunciation of conventions .", "Note 1 - ILO : Multi Enterprises and Social Policy ( MULTI ) :", "Note 2 - A. C. Reynaud : Labour Standards and the Integration Process in the Americas ( Geneva , ILO , 2001 ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "Employing higher standards would be a way to tackle the problems with distribution of aid at the grassroots and increase efficiency within the system organically.", "_claim_name": "International labour and business standards go hand in hand with development standards and will de facto increase implementation levels", "_doc_title": "How International Labour Standards are used", "_labeled_lineIDs": [25]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Whereas the ILO was founded in the conviction that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace ;", "Whereas economic growth is essential but not sufficient to ensure equity , social progress and the eradication of poverty , confirming the need for the ILO to promote strong social policies , justice and democratic institutions ;", "Whereas the ILO should , now more than ever , draw upon all its standard-setting , technical cooperation and research resources in all its areas of competence , in particular employment , vocational training and working conditions , to ensure that , in the context of a global strategy for economic and social development , economic and social policies are mutually reinforcing components in order to create broad-based sustainable development ;", "Whereas the ILO should give special attention to the problems of persons with special social needs , particularly the unemployed and migrant workers , and mobilize and encourage international , regional and national efforts aimed at resolving their problems , and promote effective policies aimed at job creation ;", "Whereas , in seeking to maintain the link between social progress and economic growth , the guarantee of fundamental principles and rights at work is of particular significance in that it enables the persons concerned , to claim freely and on the basis of equality of opportunity , their fair share of the wealth which they have helped to generate , and to achieve fully their human potential ;", "Whereas the ILO is the constitutionally mandated international organization and the competent body to set and deal with international labour standards , and enjoys universal support and acknowledgement in promoting Fundamental Rights at Work as the expression of its constitutional principles ;", "Whereas it is urgent , in a situation of growing economic interdependence , to reaffirm the immutable nature of the fundamental principles and rights embodied in the Constitution of the Organization and to promote their universal application ;", "THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE 1 .", "Recalls : ( a ) that in freely joining the ILO , all Members have endorsed the principles and rights set out in its Constitution and in the Declaration of Philadelphia , and have undertaken to work towards attaining the overall objectives of the Organization to the best of their resources and fully in line with their specific circumstances ; ( b ) that these principles and rights have been expressed and developed in the form of specific rights and obligations in Conventions recognized as fundamental both inside and outside the Organization .", "Declares that all Members , even if they have not ratified the Conventions in question , have an obligation arising from the very fact of membership in the Organization to respect , to promote and to realize , in good faith and in accordance with the Constitution , the principles concerning the fundamental rights which are the subject of those Conventions , namely : ( a ) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining ; ( b ) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour ; ( c ) the effective abolition of child labour ; and ( d ) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation .", "Recognizes the obligation on the Organization to assist its Members , in response to their established and expressed needs , in order to attain these objectives by making full use of its constitutional , operational and budgetary resources , including , by the mobilization of external resources and support , as well as by encouraging other international organizations with which the ILO has established relations , pursuant to article 12 of its Constitution , to support these efforts : ( a ) by offering technical cooperation and advisory services to promote the ratification and implementation of the fundamental Conventions ; ( b ) by assisting those Members not yet in a position to ratify some or all of these Conventions in their efforts to respect , to promote and to realize the principles concerning fundamental rights which are the subject of these Conventions ; and ( c ) by helping the Members in their efforts to create a climate for economic and social development .", "Decides that , to give full effect to this Declaration , a promotional follow-up , which is meaningful and effective , shall be implemented in accordance with the measures specified in the annex hereto , which shall be considered as an integral part of this Declaration .", "Stresses that labour standards should not be used for protectionist trade purposes , and that nothing in this Declaration and its follow-up shall be invoked or otherwise used for such purposes ; in addition , the comparative advantage of any country should in no way be called into question by this Declaration and its follow-up .", "I. OVERALL PURPOSE 1 .", "The aim of the follow-up described below is to encourage the efforts made by the Members of the Organization to promote the fundamental principles and rights enshrined in the Constitution of the ILO and the Declaration of Philadelphia and reaffirmed in this Declaration .", "In line with this objective , which is of a strictly promotional nature , this follow up will allow the identification of areas in which the assistance of the Organization through its technical cooperation activities may prove useful to its Members to help them implement these fundamental principles and rights .", "It is not a substitute for the established supervisory mechanisms , nor shall it impede their functioning ; consequently , specific situations within the purview of those mechanisms shall not be examined or re-examined within the framework of this follow-up .", "The two aspects of this follow-up , described below , are based on existing procedures : the annual follow-up concerning non-ratified fundamental Conventions will entail merely some adaptation of the present modalities of application of article 19 , paragraph 5 ( e ) , of the Constitution ; and the Global Report on the effect given to the promotion of the fundamental principles and rights at work that will serve to inform the recurrent discussion at the Conference on the needs of the Members , the ILO action undertaken , and the results achieved in the promotion of the fundamental principles and rights at work .", "ANNUAL FOLLOW-UP CONCERNING NON-RATIFIED FUNDAMENTAL CONVENTIONS", "A. Purpose and scope 1 .", "The purpose is to provide an opportunity to review each year , by means of simplified procedures , the efforts made in accordance with the Declaration by Members which have not yet ratified all the fundamental Conventions .", "The follow-up will cover the four categories of fundamental principles and rights specified in the Declaration .", "The follow-up will be based on reports requested from Members under article 19 , paragraph 5 ( e ) , of the Constitution .", "The report forms will be drawn up so as to obtain information from governments which have not ratified one or more of the fundamental Conventions , on any changes which may have taken place in their law and practice , taking due account of article 23 of the Constitution and established practice .", "These reports , as compiled by the Office , will be reviewed by the Governing Body .", "Adjustments to the Governing Body 's existing procedures should be examined to allow Members which are not represented on the Governing Body to provide , in the most appropriate way , clarifications which might prove necessary or useful during Governing Body discussions to supplement the information contained in their reports .", "GLOBAL REPORT ON FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES AND RIGHTS AT WORK", "The purpose of the Global Report is to provide a dynamic global picture relating to the four categories of fundamental principles and rights at work noted during the preceding period , and to serve as a basis for assessing the effectiveness of the assistance provided by the Organization , and for determining priorities for the following period , including in the form of action plans for technical cooperation designed in particular to mobilize the internal and external resources necessary to carry them out .", "The report will be drawn up under the responsibility of the Director-General on the basis of official information , or information gathered and assessed in accordance with established procedures .", "In the case of States which have not ratified the fundamental Conventions , it will be based in particular on the findings of the aforementioned annual follow-up .", "In the case of Members which have ratified the Conventions concerned , the report will be based in particular on reports as dealt with pursuant to article 22 of the Constitution .", "It will also refer to the experience gained from technical cooperation and other relevant activities of the ILO .", "This report will be submitted to the Conference for a recurrent discussion on the strategic objective of fundamental principles and rights at work based on the modalities agreed by the Governing Body .", "It will then be for the Conference to draw conclusions from this discussion on all available ILO means of action , including the priorities and plans of action for technical cooperation to be implemented for the following period , and to guide the Governing Body and the Office in their responsibilities .", "IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT : 1 .", "The Conference shall , in due course , review the operation of this follow-up in the light of the experience acquired to assess whether it has adequately fulfilled the overall purpose articulated in Part I. adopted by the International Labour Conference at its Eighty-sixth Session , Geneva , 18 June 1998 ( Annex revised 15 June 2010 )"], "_citing_sentence": "The business and labour regulations protect the basic worker rights and improve job security through demanding the elimination of discrimination and empower workers through the recognition of \"freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining\" like in those in developed western countries.", "_claim_name": "Labour standards are necessary to protect basic human rights", "_doc_title": "The text of the Declaration and its follow-up (DECLARATION)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["National Legislation on Labour and Social Rights", "Global database on occupational safety and health legislation", "Employment protection legislation database", "The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation ,", "Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office , and having met in its Fourteenth Session on 10 June 1930 , and", "Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to forced or compulsory labour , which is included in the first item on the agenda of the Session , and", "Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention , adopts this twenty-eighth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty the following Convention , which may be cited as the Forced Labour Convention , 1930 , for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation :", "For the purposes of this Convention the term competent authority shall mean either an authority of the metropolitan country or the highest central authority in the territory concerned .", "Officials of the administration , even when they have the duty of encouraging the populations under their charge to engage in some form of labour , shall not put constraint upon the said populations or upon any individual members thereof to work for private individuals , companies or associations .", "Except as otherwise provided for in Article 10 of this Convention , any authority competent to exact forced or compulsory labour shall , before deciding to have recourse to such labour , satisfy itself --", "Before permitting recourse to forced or compulsory labour for works of construction or maintenance which entail the workers remaining at the workplaces for considerable periods , the competent authority shall satisfy itself --", "Collective punishment laws under which a community may be punished for crimes committed by any of its members shall not contain provisions for forced or compulsory labour by the community as one of the methods of punishment .", "Forced or compulsory labour shall not be used for work underground in mines .", "The annual reports that Members which ratify this Convention agree to make to the International Labour Office , pursuant to the provisions of Article 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation , on the measures they have taken to give effect to the provisions of this Convention , shall contain as full information as possible , in respect of each territory concerned , regarding the extent to which recourse has been had to forced or compulsory labour in that territory , the purposes for which it has been employed , the sickness and death rates , hours of work , methods of payment of wages and rates of wages , and any other relevant information .", "Adequate measures shall in all cases be taken to ensure that the regulations governing the employment of forced or compulsory labour are strictly applied , either by extending the duties of any existing labour inspectorate which has been established for the inspection of voluntary labour to cover the inspection of forced or compulsory labour or in some other appropriate manner .", "Measures shall also be taken to ensure that the regulations are brought to the knowledge of persons from whom such labour is exacted .", "The illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour shall be punishable as a penal offence , and it shall be an obligation on any Member ratifying this Convention to ensure that the penalties imposed by law are really adequate and are strictly enforced .", "The formal ratifications of this Convention under the conditions set forth in the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration .", "As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the International Labour Office , the Director-General of the International Labour Office shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation .", "He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation .", "At such times as it may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part .", "The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic ."], "_citing_sentence": "These include Conventions Against Forced Labour, Discrimination and Child Labour.", "_claim_name": "International labour and business standards go hand in hand with development standards and will de facto increase implementation levels", "_doc_title": "Convention C029 - Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.\u00a029)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6, 11]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 35, "_topic_name": "This House would make the raising of business and labour standards a prerequisite for developmental aid"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["ROME - When the bills started piling up and the banks would n't lend , the white-haired art dealer in the elegant tweed jacket said he drove to the outskirts of Rome and knocked on the rusty steel door of a shipping container .", "A beefy man named Mauro answered .", "He wore blue overalls with two big pockets , one stuffed with checks and the other with cash .", "The wad of bills he handed over , the art dealer recalled , reeked of the man 's cologne and came at 120 percent annual interest .", "As banks stop lending amid the global financial crisis , the likes of Mauro are increasingly becoming the face of Italian finance .", "The Mafia and its loansharks , nearly everyone agrees , smell blood in the troubled waters .", "`` It 's a fantastic time for the Mafia .", "They have the cash , '' said Antonio Roccuzzo , the author of several books on organized crime .", "`` The Mafia has enormous liquidity .", "It may be the only Italian ` company ' without any cash problem . ''", "At a time when businesses most need loans as they struggle with falling sales , rising debt , and impending bankruptcy , banks have tightened their lending to them .", "Italian banks , which for years had been widely criticized for lending sparingly to small and medium-size businesses , now have `` absolutely closed the purse strings , '' said Gian Maria Fara , the president of Eurispes , a private research institute .", "That is great news for loan sharks .", "Confesercenti , the national shopkeepers association , estimates that 180,000 businesses recently have turned to them in desperation .", "Although some shady lenders are freelancers turning profits on others ' hard luck , very often the neighborhood tough offering fat rolls of cash is connected to the Mafia , the group said .", "`` Office workers , middle-class people , owners of fruit stands , flower stalls are all becoming their victims ... .", "We have never seen this happen , '' said Lino Busa , a top Confesercenti official .", "`` It is as common as it is hidden . ''", "Many analysts say organized crime is already the biggest business in Italy .", "Now , Fara said , the untaxed underground economy is growing even larger .", "`` Certainly I am worried , '' he said .", "`` The banking system does n't work , and the private one that is operating is often managed by organized crime . ''", "The consequences for Italy and its 58 million people are huge , Fara said .", "`` Stronger organized crime means a weaker state . ''", "Nino Miceli , an adviser to Confesercenti , said the Mafia 's goal is to take over the struggling businesses .", "When the loans , typically at interest rates in triple digits , are not repaid , the threats of violence begin , and restaurants , grocery stores , and bars become the property of criminal gangs .", "`` As we sit here in this cafe , '' he said over an espresso near the Colosseum , `` do we really know who owns it ? ''", "With a burgeoning portfolio of properties and businesses , the Mafia becomes more entrenched in the economy and has more outlets to `` clean their money , '' Miceli said .", "Confesercenti estimates in a new report that organized crime syndicates - including Camorra in Naples , Cosa Nostra in Sicily , and ` Ndrangheta in Calabria - collect about 250 million euros , or $ 315 million , from retailers every day .", "Some of that money is the classic `` pizzo , '' or protection money demanded of business owners .", "Miceli said his auto dealership was burned down when he refused to pay .", "But the mob 's booming business , he and others agreed , is loan-sharking .", "In Vigevano , a northern city of 60,000 near Milan , a group called Free Vigevano has helped nearly 100 people who had become entangled with the mob .", "One of them , a 40-year-old salesman , said he got his desperately needed $ 15,000 - but at 30 percent monthly interest .", "The salesman said he blames banks for pushing people like him into the arms of the Mafia .", "`` If they would be a bit more open with their credit , many people would n't fall into this trap , '' he said .", "`` They only give money to those who already have it . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "These loan sharks themselves usually have links to organized crime, in some cases are actually run by organized crime, and use brutal methods to reclaim their money.", "_claim_name": "Casinos are often used to mask criminal activity", "_doc_title": "Mafia loan sharks making a killing - The Boston Globe", "_labeled_lineIDs": [21, 25]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 36, "_topic_name": "This House would ban gambling"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Russia does not consider the Netherlands has finished dealing with the aftermath of the arrest of its diplomat Dmitri Borodin and still wants the ` guilty parties ' to be punished , according to Dutch media reports on Thursday afternoon .", "` The apologies offered by the Netherlands can not be regarded as the end of the matter , ' a spokesman for the Russian media is reported as saying .", "The spokesman repeated demands that the ` attackers ' be punished and said Borodin and his family should be paid compensation for moral and material damage.Borodin was arrested 10 days ago after neighbours said he was abusing his children .", "The Netherlands apologised for the arrest on Wednesday , saying it had broken rules on diplomatic immunity.TensionTensions between the Netherlands and Russia further increased this week when the Dutch number two at its embassy in Moscow was attacked at home.However , the Russian foreign ministry spokesman said he hoped the recent incidents would not damage the relationship between the two countries .", "` The Netherlands is one of the biggest investors , not just in Europe but in the world , and we are very keen to keep our far-reaching alliance , ' he is quoted as saying.Related StoriesRussian diplomat , at centre of arrest row , leaves the Netherlands Russia wants detailed explanation of diplomat arrest Putin sets deadline for Dutch apology over diplomat arrest The Netherlands will ` look into ' Russian diplomat arrest", "The spokesman repeated demands that the ` attackers ' be punished and said Borodin and his family should be paid compensation for moral and material damage .", "Borodin was arrested 10 days ago after neighbours said he was abusing his children .", "The Netherlands apologised for the arrest on Wednesday , saying it had broken rules on diplomatic immunity .", "Tensions between the Netherlands and Russia further increased this week when the Dutch number two at its embassy in Moscow was attacked at home .", "However , the Russian foreign ministry spokesman said he hoped the recent incidents would not damage the relationship between the two countries .", "` The Netherlands is one of the biggest investors , not just in Europe but in the world , and we are very keen to keep our far-reaching alliance , ' he is quoted as saying ."], "_citing_sentence": "The diplomat was quickly released but Russia still demanded the 'guilty parties' be punished.", "_claim_name": "Necessity for diplomatic relations", "_doc_title": "Moscow not satisfied with 'sorry' after diplomat arrest - DutchNews.nl", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["An attempt to arrest the Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni for alleged war crimes was blocked by the Director of Public Prosecutions in the first test of a law limiting citizens ' rights to seek the arrest of foreign politicians in the UK .", "Ms Livni , who was Foreign Minister during Israel 's three-week assault on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 , is the first senior Israeli figure to visit Britain since the Government changed a war crimes law which had kept her and other Israeli officials away for fear of arrest .", "She was invited to London by the Foreign Secretary , William Hague .", "On Tuesday , an unidentified person applied to the Director of Public Prosecutions , Keir Starmer , for permission to seek a court arrest warrant against Ms Livni for alleged war crimes linked to the 2008 Gaza offensive , the Crown Prosecution Service said .", "But the DPP ruled that she was on a `` special mission '' , which courts have said gives immunity from prosecution , and the application was therefore turned down ."], "_citing_sentence": "At the time of the attempted arrest Livni was no longer in office but the action was clearly a stunt.Livni was not arrested in the end, because she cancelled her trip to the UK, and the warrant was dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kier Starmer.", "_claim_name": "Helps avoid political stunt trials", "_doc_title": "DPP blocks bid to arrest Tzipi Livni for war crimes | Home News | News | The Independent", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 4]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Sunday 26 March 2006 18.02 EST", "Last modified on Wednesday 15 June 2016 04.37 EDT", "Three interesting facts nevertheless help shape a sense of the possibilities .", "One is that the US forces insist that they use precision techniques to minimise `` collateral damage '' .", "The second is that the coalition recently and controversially admitted using phosphorus weapons in its attack on Falluja .", "The third is that one of the US marine air wings operating in Iraq announced in a press release in November 2005 that since the invasion began it had dropped more than half a million tons of explosives on Iraq .", "The felt inconsistency between the first fact and the other two reminds one that ever since the deliberate mass bombing of civilians in the second world war , and as a direct response to it , the international community has outlawed the practice .", "It first tried to do so in the fourth Geneva convention of 1949 , but the UK and the US would not agree , since to do so would have been an admission of guilt for their systematic `` area bombing '' of German and Japanese civilians .", "But in 1977 a protocol was added to that convention at last outlawing civilian bombing , and the UK signed it .", "The US still has not done so .", "Because enough nations are signatories the protocol is now part of customary international law , putting the US out on a limb .", "Looking at area bombing through the lens of the 1977 protocol explains why it has always been controversial .", "Even during the second world war there was a vigorous campaign opposing area bombing , most strongly supported in places such as London and Coventry which had themselves been `` blitzed '' .", "One of the campaign 's leaders was Vera Brittain , whose pamphlet Seed of Chaos caused an outcry in the US ; not having been bombed , it was enthusiastic about flattening enemy cities and their occupants .", "The second world war bombing story is clouded by misunderstandings , largely because the victor nations , rightly condemning the far greater crimes committed by nazism , have yet to inquire properly into aspects of their own behaviour .", "Confessing to a tactic which for decades before 1939 had been universally condemned as immoral , and which from early in the war was recognised as having little military value ( and indeed perhaps the opposite ) , would have invited awkward questions about why it was done , and seemed unfair to the airmen whose extraordinary courage and sacrifice was called upon to carry it out .", "Defenders of the area-bombing campaigns point out that losing the war against such wicked , dangerous enemies would have been the biggest immorality of all .", "They are right .", "But stooping to tactics as barbarous as those of the axis powers could only have been justified if there were no other arguably better ways of using the bombing weapon .", "It has been hypothesised that if allied bombing had been relentlessly focused on fuel and transport in Nazi-controlled Europe , the war would have been shorter by two years .", "To their credit , the Americans understood this and in Europe did not join the RAF in indiscriminate area bombing , but concentrated on these crucial assets .", "As a result they share with the Russian army the largest single credit for victory over nazism .", "But when the US got within bombing range of Japan it adopted the RAF tactic with a vengeance , and in less than a year killed as many Japanese civilians as were killed in Germany in the entire war .", "Details are more eloquent than statistics .", "Night after night , for years , the RAF rained upon Germany 's cities a mixture of high-explosive and incendiary bombs , the latter outnumbering the former by four to one .", "The high explosives blew out windows , doors and roofs , allowing fires to spread .", "The incendiaries variously contained petroleum jelly , phosphorus and oil-soaked rags .", "When phosphorus splashed on to a human being , burning ferociously , it could not be dislodged .", "Victims leapt into canals , but the flames would spontaneously reignite when they clambered out .", "Among the bombs were time-delay devices , set to explode at intervals in the hours and days after a raid to disrupt ambulance , firefighting and rescue services .", "Compared to the weight and ferocity of RAF and US bombing , the Nazi `` blitz '' and its V-rocket attacks of 1944 were small beer .", "Yet it was not allied civilian bombing that won the second world war , any more than did `` shock and awe '' in Iraq in 2003 .", "What both show is that bombing civilians is not only immoral , but ineffective .", "It takes nuclear weapons , delivering absolutely massive civilian extermination , to have the desired effect of reducing a people to submission ; but employing such a tactic today would be self-defeating , for all it offers is victory over a radioactive wasteland .", "The main lesson of second world war area bombing for the international community has been to define it as a war crime .", "Its main lesson for today 's militaries , by contrast , appears to be : `` Do n't do body counts . ''", "\u00b7 AC Grayling 's latest book is Among the Dead Cities : Was the Allied Bombing of Civilians in WWII a Necessity or a Crime ?", "Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion .", "This discussion is closed for comments .", "We 're doing some maintenance right now .", "You can still read comments , but please come back later to add your own .", "Commenting has been disabled for this account ( why ? )"], "_citing_sentence": "Instead the idea was to terrorise the civilian population.", "_claim_name": "Greater good - fear of prosecution problematic", "_doc_title": "AC Grayling: Bombing civilians is not only immoral, it's ineffective | Opinion | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 37, "_topic_name": "This House supports head of state immunity"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Kamal Ahmed , London and Conal Urquhart , Jerusalem", "Saturday 26 April 2003 20.34 EDT In a series of parliamentary answers released in the House of Commons , Mike O'Brien , the Foreign Office Minister with responsibility for the region , said the building of the fence and the possible displacement of thousands of Palestinians from their homes was a serious and damaging issue .", "` Our view is that the building of the fence and the adverse impact it will have on Palestinians living in the West Bank is unacceptable , ' O'Brien said .", "` We have made our position clear to the Israeli government . '", "The fence , which Israel says is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks and the arrival of ` illegal aliens ' , is around six metres high , topped with barbed wire and lined with guard towers .", "Palestinian leaders have condemned its construction as a way of Israel leaving any new Palestinian state as little more than a reservation .", "The move comes as officials in the Middle East suggested that the road map to peace , put together by the United States , Russia , the United Nations and the European Union , could be published in the next fortnight .", "It envisages Israel pulling out of the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank in return for assurances on security and an end to terrorist attacks on its land .", "A ` viable ' Palestinian state would then be created by 2005 .", "This weekend President George Bush said that he planned to invite the new Prime Minister-designate of Palestine , Mahmoud Abbas , to the White House for an official visit .", "Such an invitation was never extended to Yasser Arafat , the Palestinian President , whom the Americans have made clear they will not deal with .", "Last week Abbas , who is better known as Abu Mazen and is seen as a key reformer , succeeded in an internal power struggle with Arafat to have his allies appointed to key Interior Ministry posts in a new Palestinian Authority .", "His new Cabinet is expected to be rubber-stamped by the Palestinian Legislative Council within the next few days .", "The US has said that , once that had been achieved , the road map , one of the most significant developments in the Middle East since the Oslo peace accords of the early 1990s , would be published .", "` The road map will be issued as soon as Abu Mazen is confirmed .", "It could be just a matter of days , ' said one US Middle East official .", "Palestinian Ministers expect the document to be released by Wednesday .", "` This will be an important step towards reviving the peace process , ' said Nabil Shaath , the Minister for planning and international co-operation .", "Despite the Israeli Prime Minister 's admission on the need for ` painful concessions ' on Jewish settlements in the occupied territories , Sharon is known to be more sceptical about the chances for peace .", "` Let 's just see if Abu Mazen really gets in before talking about peace moves , ' said one official in Sharon 's office .", "Critics on the Israeli Left say that , although Sharon has said that Israel must be willing to give ground on new settlements such as Shiloh and Bet El , the government is still allowing building work to go ahead .", "The construction of the fence is likely to be one of the main stumbling blocks in the negotiations between Palestinian leaders and Israel .", "O'Brien said that more than 100 buildings had been destroyed to build the fence and that , once complete , it would be more than 225 miles long , cutting in to the West Bank and leaving many Palestinians on the ` wrong side ' of the green line separating Palestine from Israel .", "Officials from the British Embassy in Tel Aviv said the fence corridor was 40 metres wide in places .", "` Approximately 10 per cent of the entire West Bank would lie to the west of the fence , ' O'Brien said .", "` Palestinian land is being seized for fence construction , cultivated farmland is being destroyed and some towns will be separated from surrounding farmland .", "` Current estimates indicate the northern and Jerusalem sections of the fence will leave 290,000 Palestinians on the Israeli side of the fence . '"], "_citing_sentence": "Most western governments have criticised the barrier because part of its route departs from the so-called Green Line, Israel's pre-1967 boundary and the internationally recognised border.", "_claim_name": "Israel's security wall annexes Palestinian territory that is needed for a viable state.", "_doc_title": "UK censures Sharon over fence around West Bank | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [22]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Sensing that the terror-fighting strategy of military occupation and reoccupation of Palestinian areas could not continue indefinitely for both political and strategic reasons , Labor members of the previous national unity government proposed the building of a security fence in June 2002 .", "Since then , the fence has gained the backing of Likud members of the government , most notably Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , creating a strong political force for its construction .", "It has also become a lightning rod for criticism from the international community with Palestinian leaders and critics around the world calling the proposed fence a `` racist separation wall '' 1 and an `` apartheid wall . ''", "2 However , the details of the proposal illustrate clearly that the potential benefit and true intention of the plan : effectively keeping terrorists out of Israel while minimizing intrusion into the daily lives of Palestinians .", "In the three years of intifada , Israeli Defense Forces ( IDF ) have adopted a number offensive measures to stop terrorists from infiltrating Israeli cities and towns .", "While these offensive methods have proven effective at reducing the number of attacks , they can not ensure Israeli security indefinitely , demonstrating the urgent need for the security fence .", "As a student who spent the summer in Israel during 2002 -- the peak of Palestinian terror -- I witnessed these limitations firsthand .", "Two weeks into my trip , Palestinian terrorists struck Israeli civilian targets on three consecutive days .", "On Tuesday , June 18 , nineteen people were killed in a suicide bus bombing ; six of the victims were students on their way to high school .", "On Wednesday , June 19 , another seven people were murdered when a terrorist detonated himself next to a Jerusalem bus stop .", "On Thursday , June 20 , yet a third terrorist infiltrated a home in the West Bank Jewish town of Itamar , killing a wife and three children as the father watched in agony .", "Eating dinner on Ben Yehuda Street -- an outdoor mall in Jerusalem -- on the Wednesday night , I witnessed Israel in despair .", "Israeli police officers and army personnel outnumbered civilians significantly .", "Trained dogs were being led up and down the streets , sniffing every inanimate object for explosive material .", "Israel remained on high alert , and proceeded with its second West Bank offensive in three months .", "Within the week , the IDF had reoccupied seven of eight major West Bank Palestinian cities , imposing 24-hour curfews and strengthening checkpoints along the Green Line .", "These offensive tactics , however , can have only limited success .", "When the IDF loosened the curfews nearly a month later , Palestinian terrorists again succeeded in infiltrating Israel and killing innocent Israelis .", "The proposed security fence is clearly not an ideal solution to the conflict .", "A negotiated solution in which both Israelis and Palestinians agree on how to live together side by side would be more effective at achieving peace and more acceptable to both sides .", "However , with the failure of the Oslo process and absence of a responsible Palestinian leadership willing to assume control of Palestinian terror groups , Israel has rightly begun to consider what Sharon calls `` the unilateral security step of disengagement . ''", "3 The security fence is an effective way of achieving this goal , providing a clear physical barrier that will allow Israeli security personnel to monitor who comes into Israel and thereby achieve greater security .", "Moreover , there is important evidence that the fence will work .", "A similar fence encompassing the Gaza Strip under the 1994 Jericho-Gaza Agreement has significantly thwarted Gazan terror against Israel .", "Indeed , no suicide bomber during the Intifada has attacked pre-1967 Israel from the Gaza Strip .", "Moreover , according the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Israel , with the completion of the fence running along the border with the northern half of the West Bank , the number of suicide bombers infiltrating Israel from there dropped from 17 in 2002 to 5 in 2003 .", "During the same period , the number of suicide bombers reaching Israel from the southern portion of the West Bank , which still has no fence , remained nearly constant .4 The evidence clearly shows that the fence is an effective tool for combating terrorism .", "Perhaps what is most curious about the intense criticism Israel faces over the current proposal is the fact that the fence is one of the least intrusive and most defensive methods Israel has adopted in its two year struggle to combat Palestinian terror .", "The fence is meant to keep terrorists out of Israel and does not require large scale military raids into Palestinian towns to do so .", "The fence will allow Israel to ease the other burdens it has imposed on Palestinians by scaling back curfews and roadblocks and allowing for more freedom of movement .", "Critics of the fence argue that the fence is Israel 's attempt to unilaterally create a border between Israel and the Palestinians and to steal land that is rightfully the Palestinians in the process .", "Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat claimed that Isarel is `` burying the two-state solution by building the wall in the West Bank and confining us to towns that are prisons . ''", "However , this claim is not borne out by the facts .", "The way in which Israel is constructing the fence indicates clearly that the fence is a temporary solution to Israel 's immediate security problems , which stem from the unwillingness of Palestinian leaders to make a good faith effort to stop terrorists .", "The fence is largely constructed of easily removable materials -- indeed , 94 % of the fence is chain-links -- signaling that Israel hopes that the fence is only necessary as a temporary solution to terrorism .", "While many images of the fence on television and in newspapers display large concrete barriers and refer to the fence as a `` wall , '' the concrete barriers ultimately make up only 5 % of the wall and are in places where Palestinian snipers have shot at Israeli cars in the past .5 Also , the hardships imposed on Palestinian civilians with regard to travel and freedom of movement , while unfortunate , is far outweighed by the need to save innocent Israeli lives from Palestinian terrorists .", "Other critics , like coordinator of the Palestinian Environmental NGOs network Jamal Juma , compare the security fence to the `` Berlin Wall . ''", "6 His organization helped coordinate worldwide protests of the security fence on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall , November , 9 2003 .", "Other Palestinians leaders , like PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei , call the fence an `` apartheid wall . ''", "7 These analogies , however , are quite misleading .", "The Berlin Wall was constructed to keep East Germans from joining the free world in West Germany .", "It separated Germans from Germans .", "The Palestinian terrorists the security fence blocks do not wish to join citizens of Israel but rather to kill them .", "Also , the fence in no way creates an apartheid system .", "Palestinians are not subjugated by Israelis nor are they separated from the Israelis by the fence .", "More than a million Arab citizens of Israel will continue to live to the West of the fence .", "The fence is simply meant to be a temporary measure to keep Palestinian terrorists from infiltrating Israeli towns and villages .", "Until the PA assumes the responsibility for fighting Palestinian terror , Israel has no choice but to take every precaution it can to protect the lives of its citizens .", "The security fence , as a passive defense against terrorism , provides Israel with the best means of ensuring security in a way that will have minimal impact on ordinary Palestinians .", "Opponents who declare the fence an apartheid wall are simply ignoring Israel 's need for security .", "Indeed , tranquility can only come to the region when Israelis believe that they will not be sacrificing their security in giving the PA land on which to build a state .", "The security fence will be the first step towards reassuring Israelis that such a vision is possible .", "Eric Trager , Harvard Class of 2005 , is from Hollis Hills , New York .", "Toameh , Khaled Abu .", "`` Qurei slams ` racist separation wall .", "''' Jerusalem Post ( January 12 , 2004 ) .", "`` PA declares new intifada against ` apartheid wall .", "''' Jerusalem Post ( February 24 , 2004 ) .", "`` PM details disengagement plan . ''", "Jerusalem Post ( December , 19 2003 ) .", "The Anti-Terrorist Fence , an Overview .", "Published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , ( http://securityfence.mfa.gov.il/mfm/Data/48152.doc ) 5 .", "`` World anti-fence campaign kicks off , '' The Jerusalem Post .", "Compiled by the editors", "What Many Liberals Ca n't See", "The Costs of U.S. Aid to Israel", "Reviving Religious Zionism", "Hudna-winked : How Hamas Fooled the Media", "HIR Book Review - Illegal Construction : a Legal Deconstruction", "Security Fences Make Good Neighbors", "The State of the Jewish State", "An Interview with Efraim Karsh"], "_citing_sentence": "Israel will rightly be able to claim that if only Israelis live within the barrier why should they give that land back as a majority of the population would be against it?The Israeli government may say that the wall is only a temporary measure, but in the Occupied Territories earlier \"temporary measures\", such as Israeli settlements and military seizure of Palestinian land, have usually proved to be permanent.", "_claim_name": "The security wall will affect peace negotiations.", "_doc_title": "Harvard Israel Review (HIR)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [34, 46]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 38, "_topic_name": "This House Would Remove the Israeli Security Wall"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Dangerous toys - Photo EC ( BRUSSELS ) - EU nations issued more safety alerts on consumer products than ever last year , with Chinese products again accounting for most of the potentially dangerous items , a European Commission report showed Thursday .", "The biggest problems posed were from dangerous chemicals , injuries , choking , electric shocks and strangulation , in that order , with children 's toys at the top of the danger list .", "The number of dangerous consumer products notified through the EU 's rapid alert system ( RAPEX ) rose by seven percent in 2009 , extending an upward trend which has continued unabated since statistics were first collected from member states in 2004 .", "China increased its record as the country where most of those notified products originated last year , alone accounting for 60 percent of the 1993 cases in question , up slightly from 59 percent in 2008 .", "Toys , clothing , textiles and motor vehicles topped the danger list , between them accounting for 60 percent of the alerts issued last year .", "Electrical appliances were fourth on the list .", "A separate EU market surveillance exercise , covering 13 countries , showed that 20 percent of toys on the European market did not comply with safety requirements .", "The annual report by the EU 's directorate-general for health and consumers stressed that the high level of reports on Chinese , including Hong Kong , manufactured goods was in part due to `` the significant market penetration of Chinese-manufactured consumer products in European markets . ''", "In addition increased European contacts with Chinese authorities and businesses `` is yielding significant returns in terms of improved product identification and traceability , '' the report 's authors said .", "Nevertheless EU Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli said he would visit China in June to stress the message that `` dangerous products must be blocked at source . ''", "`` We think the Chinese have made progress , '' as European countries put more pressure on their importers , '' Dalli added .", "`` We ca n't order the closure of factories in China .", "We are going to continue to explain that we want them to intensify their vigilance , '' he explained .", "After China , the second-biggest batch of reports of faulty goods were marked `` unknown , '' demonstrating that work still needs to be done on tracing manufacturers of dubious consumer items .", "Next , with a fraction of China 's cases , were Germany and Italy , followed by Turkey and Taiwan .", "Of the nearly 2000 different items notified to RAPEX , the vast majority were found to pose a serious risk requiring preventative or restrictive measures .", "The European consumers ' association BEUC , said the EU report shows that there are still far too many dangerous products that are slipping through the net and making it onto the market place .", "`` We must aim for a situation where dangerous products are virtually non-existent in the marketplace .", "This will only be done when national authorities are given more resources for market surveillance .", "The EU is only as strong as its weakest member , '' said the group 's director general Monique Goyens .", "Weekly summary of the past week 's EU business news"], "_citing_sentence": "Such is the case in China, where consumer protection regulations are inefficient.", "_claim_name": "Technology should not circumvent consumer protection laws", "_doc_title": "China again heads EU's dangerous products list \u2014 EUbusiness.com | EU news, business and politics", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["In the new al-Qaida , offices and training camps are a thing of the past .", "All a would-be recruit needs is an Internet connection .", "Al-Qaida 's virtual university will take care of the rest .", "The cover of Mu'Askar al-Battar , an online military magazine published the Saudi branch of al-Qaida .", "The magazine is based in parts on the `` Encyclopedia of Jihad . ''", "The following text is an excerpt from the just-published book `` The New Al-Qaida , '' by SPIEGEL ONLINE editor Yassin Musharbash .", "With the smoke still rising from the ruins of the al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan , intelligence agents and journalists from all over the world were already combing through the rubble in an attempt to uncover information on the nature and quality of the training the camps ' roughly 20,000 graduates had received .", "One of the targets of their search was the legendary `` Encyclopedia of Jihad , '' a collection of textbooks the terrorist network had used to instruct its recruits .", "The search did n't take long to bear fruit .", "In March 2002 , the New York Times proudly reported that it had unearthed parts of the terrorist training manual in four different camps .", "Bit by bit , descriptions of the `` Encyclopedia '' were compiled .", "Depending on the classification method , the volume contained ten or eleven chapters , altogether encompassing several thousand pages .", "The Associated Press published a summary in which it listed the key topics in each of the sections it had acquired -- they included making explosives ; first aid ; use of pistols , grenades and mines ; espionage ; security precautions ; acts of sabotage ; secure communication ; brainwashing ; reconnaissance ; infiltration ; how to attack ; the history and design of tanks ; physical fitness ; use of compasses ; how to read maps ; use of artillery guns , machine guns and armor-piercing weapons , etc. .", "There are said have been only 30 complete copies of the `` Encyclopedia , '' and the trainees were apparently required to copy down the text as it was dictated to them , much like `` a monk in a monastery in the Middle Ages . ''", "The individual volumes bore the following inscription : `` In the name of God , the merciful , the compassionate , this is the property of the guesthouse .", "Please do not remove without permission ! ''", "Whether these instructions were an attempt to avert theft or preserve secrecy is unclear .", "In any event , al-Qaida did n't exactly peddle the encyclopedia .", "But that stance would eventually change .", "After losing its training camps , al-Qaida went on the offensive .", "By 2003 , the entire `` Encyclopedia '' was suddenly available on the Internet .", "Thousands of illustrated pages containing bomb-building instructions , in-depth rules on how to encode information and extensive details on organizing terrorist cells were suddenly available -- in Arabic -- for anyone who knew what to look for .", "Indeed , as al-Qaida 's fighters made their way around the world , their instruction manuals followed suit .", "Al-Qaida 's Afghanistan veterans were apparently the first to publish the `` Encyclopedia '' on the Internet .", "This can be seen by one of the early Web-based editions .", "Just underneath the title `` Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan -- Office of Services -- Leadership for Military Camps and Fronts , '' it is noted that this is only the `` Second Electronic Version '' of the `` encyclopedia . ''", "The preface also clearly indicates that the authors of this published version were intimately familiar with the original edition :", "This is the `` Encyclopedia '' that the Arab mujahedeen wrote in the days of their struggle against the Soviets in Afghanistan , and in it they have written about what they learned through their attempts and many years of experience .", "... We have divided it into two parts , which is not true to the original , but we have done this for reasons of simplicity .", "... We have copied the `` Encyclopedia '' just as it is , except in a few places .", "This applies , for example , to the correction of errors ... or the insertion of subheads .", "We have also removed the dedication , which was directed to the Pakistani government in the days of the struggle against the Russians .", "This is because it was the government of General Dia ' al-Haq , whereas today no Muslim will question that the current government ( of General Pervez Musharraf ) is not a believer in God and the Prophet .", "The introduction is signed `` Your brothers , the supporters of jihad . ''", "Over the years , volunteers repeatedly revised and updated this original encyclopedia .", "After the `` Second Electronic Version '' appeared , it became almost impossible to determine who exactly was responsible for these ongoing revisions .", "Experts agree , however , that parts of similar terrorist manuals written by the Palestinian Hamas and Algerian Islamists were inserted into the al-Qaida encyclopedia or incorporated into its text .", "Various encyclopedias are now available on hundreds of Web sites , that sometimes include parts of the original collection but also completely new manuals .", "Formerly top-secret instructions on producing biological and chemical weapons are also readily available today .", "In April 2005 , an Islamist Web site offered `` updated versions of the encyclopedia , '' as well as a video on `` the making of explosive belts . ''", "But none of this is particularly out of the ordinary today .", "It 's even become relatively easy to find instructions for making dirty bombs , that is , explosive devices containing radioactive waste , on the Internet .", "In October 2005 , an eleven-part manual on nuclear terrorism even made the rounds on the Islamist segment of the Internet .", "By making its manuals accessible and relinquishing control over who was reading and acting on the basis of its materials , al-Qaida gave the green light to sympathizers who wanted to become active on their own .", "In doing so , al-Qaida transformed itself from a clandestine organization of caders into an interactive , and in part virtual , participatory network .", "Appeals from al-Qaida leaders made it clear what the organization wanted its supporters to do : `` With the help of God , it will now be possible for you , on your own and in your own home , or together with your brothers and sisters ( in faith ) , to begin with the implementation of this program , '' wrote Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin , head of al-Qaida 's Saudi wing .", "The program he was referring to was a terrorism course he had written based on the `` Encyclopedia , '' and in which al-Muqrin offered his readers advice on matters such as how to organize a cell .", "The program makes it all the more clear how al-Qaida planned to offset the loss of its Afghan training camps by gradually bringing thousands of sympathizers from the Arab and Islamic world into the fold and turning vague supporters into self-made terrorists .", "In May 2004 , al-Muqrin , in a message to all those who `` wish to participate in jihad , '' wrote that `` al-Qaida is based on a system of cells and is not principally interested in promoting conventional organizational involvement . ''", "According to al-Muqrin , `` permission '' to become active was no longer necessary .", "Although his primary audience consisted of the next generation of Saudi Arabian jihadists , the model was essentially transferable worldwide .", "There is mounting evidence that this strategic decision has been paying off for some time .", "The Madrid train bombers , for example , downloaded the plans they used to make their bombs from the Internet .", "And the presumed terrorists who were arrested in Australia in November 2005 before they were able to launch their attacks also found their bomb-making instructions somewhere on the Worldwide Web .", "These descriptions are by no means complex , as a tragic incident in Norway in August 2005 demonstrated .", "Two brothers of Syrian descent , 17 and 19 years old , used instructions from the Internet to build a bomb with which they probably intended to blow up an ATM .", "But the device exploded prematurely , killing the younger and seriously injuring the older brother .", "In 2005 , a person calling himself `` Ahmad , who trusts in God , '' gloated , in an essay published on the Internet , `` Al-Qaida is a university for students of jihad . ''", "He was referring to the omnipresence of information for would-be terrorists .", "Do you remember how al-Qaida got its start in the days of the Afghan jihad ?", "It all began with the `` Office of Services , '' the guesthouse ( that housed Arab fighters ) and the al-Faruq military camp -- and today al-Qaida has reached this blessed juncture !", "Al-Qaida ... is a university that is decentralized , respects no geographic boundaries and does not exist in any one location .", "And anyone who loves his religion can register .", "... Praise be to God that the Al-Qaida University graduates ( so many ) heroes with various specializations .", "... This university even has various departments : one for electronic jihad , one for jihad against oneself ( in other words , to overcome one 's own inner resistance ) , one for the technology of explosives and others .", "... This university is still open , and it is saying to you : Oh you sons of Islam ... learn the art of jihad and its sciences !", "A student of jihad today and a mujahid on the path of God tomorrow !", "`` And a mujahid on the path of God tomorrow '' -- these words map out the road from sympathizer to terrorist .", "Unfortunately , no one knows who is hiding behind the pseudonym `` Ahmad , who trusts in God . ''", "But the author 's enthusiastic language and the content of his writings suggest that he is probably one of the young men al-Qaida is trying to attract with its strategic choice to open up to the world .", "Encyclopedia of Jihad : Instructions for using a weapon", "The phenomenon of this new al-Qaida also means that we can expect to see new types of attackers in the future .", "One of their characteristics is that they take action quickly and without lengthy preparation .", "In an `` old '' partial edition of the `` Encyclopedia of Jihad , '' the following statement was made in the chapter on recruitment : `` The process must take place gradually ! ''", "In the document , recruiters were instructed to only show recruits films about jihad or similar material after they were convinced of the steadfastness of the budding terrorists ' faith -- and then only in half-lit rooms and never without supervision .", "Only months later could a recruiter , under the old system , inform recruits that he could indeed help them find the path to jihad .", "The Hamburg cell that was involved in the attacks of Sept. 11 , 2001 was probably led to its task in a similar way .", "There was initially talk about sending the men to fight in Chechnya and then to training in Afghanistan .", "In the end , however , they were used to commit the biggest terrorist attack the world has ever seen .", "But the more recent al-Qaida attacks show that those who plant the bombs or blow themselves up are less and less likely to have a classic al-Qaida career behind them .", "In fact , many had only brief contact with Islamist groups before becoming terrorists .", "That was the case , for example , with the four London bombers .", "So far investigators are convinced that only two of the four men spent time in a madrasa , or religious school , in Pakistan .", "In February 2005 , Jane 's Defence Weekly wrote with concern about what it called `` significant developments '' in the composition of jihadist terror cells , including `` an increase in the number of members who have ` joined ' and were no longer ` recruited . ' ''", "An Arabic pamphlet circulating on Islamist Web sites at about the same time , titled `` How can I become a member of al-Qaida ? ''", "seems to confirm that the path to al-Qaida & Co. is growing ever shorter .", "The pamphlet 's response to its own question , according to a translation provided by the Washington based institute SITE , is as follows :", "Al-Qaida is no longer merely an organization fighting Jews and crusaders alone .", "Today al-Qaida is an ` invitation ' that asks all Muslims to rise up in support of God 's religion .", "... Whoever answers this call is seen as part of al-Qaida , whether or not you wish this to happen .", "But if you are a true Muslim , you have no other choice but to heed this call .", "With this approach , al-Qaida is attracting instant mujahedeen who , like the London bus and subway bombers , essentially recruit themselves within a breathtakingly short amount of time .", "As a result , they are far more unpredictable and difficult to recognize than Afghanistan veterans ."], "_citing_sentence": "By banning printers before blueprints spread, we could avoid disasters such as the 2004 bombings in Madrid, in which the bombs were produced from instructions on the internet.", "_claim_name": "Private 3D printers make it impossible to regulate illegal products", "_doc_title": "Al-Qaida's Online University: Jihad 101 for Would-Be Terrorists - SPIEGEL ONLINE", "_labeled_lineIDs": [52]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Add this article to your reading list by clicking this button INDIA 'S services revolution has dazzled businesses in the rich world , turning Indian companies into global competitors and backwater cities such as Hyderabad into affluent , sophisticated technology centres .", "Yet economists have been less star-struck , clinging to the received wisdom that has prevailed since the industrial revolution : modernisation runs from agriculture through manufacturing and only later to services .", "Now some have broken ranks .", "The logic supporting the conventional path towards an advanced economy is straightforward .", "Development typically involves moving workers from low-productivity activities such as subsistence farming to high-productivity sectors .", "That points to a shift into manufacturing because it lends itself to specialisation and economies of scale , both essential for rising output per worker .", "As first Japan , then Taiwan and South Korea , and now China have demonstrated , manufacturing can also accelerate development because its output can be exported to rich countries .", "Services , in contrast , appear to be a graveyard for productivity .", "Because a haircut or a restaurant meal has to be delivered in person , there is almost no potential to exploit economies of scale and to export .", "People consume more services not when technological advance lowers their price but when they have reached a level of affluence that satisfies most of their other needs .", "Indeed William Baumol famously argued in the 1960s that as countries grew richer and their citizens became keener on buying services , their productivity growth would inevitably slow .", "That conventional wisdom is now under fire , in a book edited by Ejaz Ghani of the World Bank and a related article he wrote with Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution and Arti Grover also of the World Bank on the VoxEU website .", "The authors argue that technology and outsourcing are enabling services to overcome their former handicaps .", "Traditional services such as trade , hotels , restaurants and public administration remain largely bound by the old constraints .", "But modern services , such as software development , call centres and outsourced business processes ( from insurance claims to transcribing medical records ) , use skilled workers , exploit economies of scale and can be exported .", "In other words , they are just like manufacturing .", "If that is the case , then poor countries should be able to go straight from agriculture to services , leapfrogging manufacturing .", "And that is precisely what seems to be happening .", "India may be the most prominent example but it is far from being the only pathfinder .", "Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Nepal have imitated India , albeit less spectacularly .", "In poor countries as a whole , services have contributed more to growth since 1980 than has industry .", "Productivity growth in services has also outpaced that of industry in India , Pakistan and Sri Lanka .", "In all three , the level of productivity ( measured at purchasing-power parities ) is higher in services than in industry .", "In Nepal , productivity is three times higher in services .", "The opposite pattern prevails in East Asia .", "As Mr Ghani writes , `` South Asia resembles the growth patterns of Ireland and Norway , rather than that of China and Malaysia . ''", "Underlining their role as an engine for , rather than product of , development , exports have swelled from roughly 6 % of services output in poor countries in 1985 to almost 10 % in 2005 .", "Burundi , Swaziland and Rwanda have all recorded growth of more than 25 % a year in services exports between 1995 and 2008 .", "Kenya exports professional services such as accounting to its neighbours .", "Services offer several advantages over manufacturing .", "They can more readily employ women and are less likely to despoil the environment .", "Located in big cities , they accelerate urbanisation .", "Modern services are arguably less vulnerable to protectionism than either traditional services , such as lawyers , or goods , both of which require physical entry to the foreign market .", "Services , however , may not be the answer for all countries .", "South Asia benefited from a good deal of luck .", "India 's leading software exporters were founded by engineers educated in America who had returned home .", "The prevalence of English speakers helps to sell services in America .", "Many other developing countries lack these advantages .", "Do n't skip on jobs", "Most problematic of all , modern services require skilled workers , not the unskilled type that poor countries have in abundance .", "In South Asia , service workers typically have one to three more years of education than industry workers .", "In modern services , school grades or a university degree are often necessary .", "The flip side of their high productivity is that modern services employ relatively few people .", "Just 2m of India 's population of 1.2 billion work in information technology ; in the rest of South Asia , only 100,000 do .", "That is one reason why India is still keen to promote manufacturing , which is also booming .", "Indeed , for many countries , the success of services is an indictment of their failure in manufacturing .", "In India and Sri Lanka , restrictive labour laws have hamstrung the emergence of a more competitive manufacturing base .", "In contrast India helped its information-technology sector by declaring it an essential industry and lifting the prohibition on operating around the clock in some states .", "In South Asia services have benefited from investment in telecoms infrastructure , as measured by the number of phone lines and personal computers per 100 people , whereas manufacturing is held back by a shortage of paved roads .", "This suggests that for countries that avoid those problems the conventional wisdom is still right : manufacturing holds the most promise for millions of reasonably well-paying jobs .", "For those not so lucky , at least there 's an alternative ."], "_citing_sentence": "Transitioning without of manufacturing is therefore not an option for the majority of developing nations, and the exceptions that have succeeded in creating economic growth without large scale manufacturing, such as India and Sri Lanka, relied on spectacular luck.", "_claim_name": "Household 3D printing can, in the short term, destroy developing economies", "_doc_title": "The service elevator | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [18, 19, 20, 21, 34, 35, 36]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Defense Distributed , maker of the 3D printed gun design , sees its mission as liberating weapons technology for everyone to access .", "EXCLUSIVE : A new Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin warns it could be `` impossible '' to stop 3D-printed guns from being made , not to mention getting past security checkpoints .", "A May 21 bulletin distributed to numerous state and federal law enforcement agencies and obtained by FoxNews.com states that the guns , which can be made by downloading blueprints into cutting edge computers that mold three-dimensional items from melted plastic , `` poses public safety risks '' and are likely beyond the current reach of regulators .", "The guns threaten to render 3D gun control efforts useless if their manufacture becomes more widespread .", "`` Significant advances in three-dimensional ( 3D ) printing capabilities , availability of free digital 3D printer files for firearms components , and difficulty regulating file sharing may present public safety risks from unqualified gun seekers who obtain or manufacture 3D printed guns , '' warns the bulletin compiled by the Joint Regional Intelligence Center .", "The bulletin refers specifically to Defense Distributed , a nonprofit company started by a University of Texas law student , which has successfully made and fired a 3D gun whose only metal parts are the bullets and a small firing pin .", "Some 100,000 plans for a gun called `` The Liberator '' were downloaded in just a few days before May 3 , when a branch of the U.S. State Department told it to stop sharing the file .", "But the government bulletin seems to acknowledge that the genie is out of the bottle .", "`` Limiting access may be impossible , '' concludes the three-page bulletin .", "A source tells FoxNews.com the potential problems faced by government authorities involve securing large , high-profile events or those attended by the President , where magnetometers used to screen for weapons would not pick up a 3D printed gun .", "`` This is a serious threat , '' the law enforcement source said .", "`` These could defeat magnetometers .", "The only security procedure to catch -LSB- the 3D firearms -RSB- is a pat down .", "Is America ready for pat-downs at every event ? ''", "In a section called `` Liberator design poses Public Safety Risks , '' the bulletin explains : `` Magnetometers may fail to detect the Liberator , depending on device sensitivity .", "Though it is prohibited by federal law , manufacturers may deliberately omit the unnecessary metal insert , leaving only a small nail and ammunition as the sole metal component .", "Future designs could further reduce or eliminate metal entirely .", "`` Unqualified gun seekers may be able to acquire or manufacture their own Liberators with no background checks . ''", "Other concerns mentioned in the bulletin include : that 3D-printed firearms can be made without serial numbers or unique identifiers , hindering ballistics testing .", "And improvements in technology and decreasing 3D printer costs are likely to mean even more sophisticated printed guns will become easier to acquire .", "`` Proposed legislation to ban 3D printing of weapons may deter , but can not completely prevent their production , '' the memo says .", "`` Even if the practice is prohibited by new legislation , online distribution of these digital files will be as difficult to control as any other illegally traded music , movie or software files . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "While the US succeeded in promptly removing the blueprints, removing blueprints from the internet will quickly prove impossible as the phenomenon inevitably becomes more widespread.", "_claim_name": "Private 3D printers make it impossible to regulate illegal products", "_doc_title": "Homeland Security bulletin warns 3D-printed guns may be 'impossible' to stop | Fox News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 39, "_topic_name": "This House would ban the sale of 3D printers to households"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["When the United Nations Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species -- or CITES -- temporarily lifted a ban on sales of ivory last year , the aim was to feed voracious markets in Asia with ivory from existing stockpiles ( or from elephants that had died naturally ) , generating much-needed income for Africa .", "Supporters of the move pointed out that a similar relaxation of the rules in the late 1990s did not lead to an increase in poaching , and that proceeds from such sales were at least partly used to improve conservation efforts .", "Some 50 tons of ivory were sold to Japan at the time , generating $ 5 million for Botswana , Namibia and Zimbabwe .", "It 's not working out quite so well this time around .", "The recent lifting of the ban was designed to allow Botswana , Namibia , and South Africa to market existing ivory stores .", "But DNA evidence has found that some tusks seized in Asia originate from African countries not taking part in the CITES sales -- including Kenya -- suggesting that the commodity is being shipped across borders before being exported to Asia .", "According to data from the Kenya Wildlife Service , the number of elephants illegally poached in 2008 jumped to 98 from 47 in 2007 .", "This year , 73 poachings have already been recorded .", "Some advocates blame the lifting of the ban .", "`` The correlation between this rise in elephant poaching and ivory seizures and the one-off sale of stockpiles by CITES can no longer be ignored , '' said James Isiche from the International Fund for Animal Welfare .", "Charles Kariuki of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust -- an organization set up in Kenya to rescue injured elephants -- agrees .", "`` From conditions on the ground we can tell if elephants are victims of ivory poaching or if they have been involved in land conflicts with man , '' he said .", "`` Currently the number of elephants in our care resulting from poaching is very , very high . ''", "A wildlife trade monitoring organizaiton , Traffic , found tusks on sale in Vietnam for more than $ 1,800 per kilo , and has identified Bangkok as home to Asia 's largest market in illegal ivory .", "Seizures , though , indicate that most raw African ivory is ultimately destined for China , where owning ivory is associated with prosperity , and is traditionally viewed as a status symbol .", "Richard Leakey , the former chairman of the Kenyan Wildlife Service , said he believed that China 's growing economy and the lifting of the ban on ivory sales have combined to drive increased poaching .", "Meanwhile , one ivory trader , who said he only markets tusks obtained before the CITES moratorium and who did not want to give his name for fear of reprisal , believes the ban on ivory sales was not working , and that opening up the market is the answer .", "`` There are large elephant populations across Africa and many issues with land , '' he said .", "`` I do n't condone the killing of elephants , but I think ivory obtained from natural deaths should be made available . ''", "Tourism is the third largest contributor to Kenya 's economy , and 70 percent of this is derived from its wildlife .", "Comments are no longer being accepted .", "How anybody could engage in the selling & buying of ivory these days is beyond me .", "Releasing confiscated ivory stocks to temporarily fill the market demand is obviously resulting in the renewed slaughter of elephants .", "Existing ivory stocks should be be publicly destroyed .", "Since it could then be ascertained that buyers of ivory tusks were buying recently murdered animals , a useful deterrent would be for buyers to have their own ` tusks ' removed .", "As a person of this Earth , I am begging the CITES officials to please place the ban back in place ?", "The elephants are being slaughtered at alarming rates .", "All of this killing for trinkets made of ivory .", "I will never , never understand why humans think they `` need '' this material .", "An elephant must DIE for the tiniest trinket .", "Families are left decimated .", "Please , people , add your voices to protect the elephants before there are no more ?", "So , let 's flood the market with counterfeit ivory .", "We can save elephants and make a nice profit on it .", "As corrupt and foolish as ever .", "These Kenyan officials are simply stupid in there train on thought .", "I would instead embark on PR campaign to embarrass China into growing some moral conscience .", "I am a Kenyan and I have seem how corrupt Chinese nationals have flooded Kenya in the recent years .", "It sickens me to the bone each summer when I travel home .", "Yes , elephant poaching is for sure on increase .", "When all is said and done , and the earth 's most magnificent creature is gone , we will have one person to blame ... .", "It is time we should seriously think whether we are doing enough to safe the jumbos", "As always , there are only a few dedicated people trying to protect these elephants , and usually without adequate resources , or the help from governments in the countries concerned.I live in Africa , and i work among elephants .", "They are being poached at an alarming rate , we need to act now before its too late .", "In real terms , it is not that expensive to help to protect areas that support these majestic giants.We just need to partner with the right corporations / people .", "There are people willing to sacrifice their lives to help save the elephant , they just need the funding.Not throwing funds at government departments and organisations , who ultimately gobble up these funds before they get a chance to make a difference .", "honestly I belive that the people trying to save the ivory tusks and the elephants themselves are doing a good deed to elephants and the law .", "How are climate change , scarcer resources , population growth and other challenges reshaping society ?"], "_citing_sentence": "In Kenya, tourism is the third largest contributor to their economy, and 70% of this is derived from wildlife, but it is still not enough.", "_claim_name": "Permitting the sale of stockpiled ivory provides an incentive to clamp down on poachers", "_doc_title": "Amid Legal Ivory Trade, Illegal Sales Grow - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [19]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By CATHERINE KARONGO , NAIROBI , Kenya , Jul 19 -- Officials have raised concerns over widespread illegal poaching in Africa despite the existence of laws prohibiting it .", "The Lusaka Agreement Taskforce which is charged with helping African law enforcement agencies tackle wildlife smuggling said on Monday that illegal ivory trade remained a major challenge for the taskforce .", "Speaking during the inauguration of African Elephant Law enforcement day , Director Bonaventure Ebayi revealed that in the last five years , more than 50 tonnes of elephant ivory had been seized originating from the region .", "`` Elephant poaching and illegal trade in ivory is exacerbated by inadequate funding and most countries especially the Lusaka Agreement member states are grappling with the challenge of mobilising adequate financial resources to combat illegal wildlife trade , '' he noted .", "Forestry and Wildlife Minister Noah Wekesa said they were in the process of reviewing the law on wildlife to have stringent penalties for poachers .", "`` Illegal poachers are getting away very easily .", "The law that has existed has been very lenient to these fellows .", "In the current draft Bill , we have strengthened the punishment , '' Dr Wekesa said .", "On Wednesday , Kenya is expected to burn nearly five tonnes of elephant tusks seized in Singapore in 2002 and brought to Kenya by the Lusaka Agreement Taskforce -- which is headquartered in Kenya - in 2004 for investigation purposes .", "President Mwai Kibaki is expected to lead the exercise that will take place at the Kenya Wildlife field training school in Manyani , Tsavo West National Park .", "Kenya Wildlife Service Director Julius Kipng ' etich termed the event as a major statement by the Lusaka Agreement member states that poaching would not be condoned .", "`` It also sends a message that nobody should benefit from criminal activities , '' he stated .", "`` There is pressure for consumption either legally or illegally of wildlife products in the world and the human population is increasing rapidly and the consequences will be incredible , '' the KWS boss noted .", "The Lusaka Agreement on Cooperative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora was adopted in September 1994 and currently there are seven parties to the agreement .", "These are the Republics of Congo Brazzaville , Kenya , Tanzania , Uganda , Zambia , Liberia and Lesotho .", "South Africa , Ethiopia and Swaziland are signatories .", "HARARE , Zimbabwe , Jul 22 - Zimbabwe 's main opposition on Friday praised war veterans for `` finally seeing ...", "NAIROBI , Kenya , Jul 22 - `` We 're going to play Mzungu ( Caucasian ) in the middle , '' the US Deputy Chief ...", "WASHINGTON , United States , Jul 22 - Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton could ...", "JERUSALEM , Israel , Jul 22 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Palestinian president Mahmud ...", "BEIRUT , Lebanon , Jul 22 - A sad-eyed Pikachu Pokemon Go character sits amidst the rubble on a Syrian ..."], "_citing_sentence": "The Director of the association in Kenya charged with elephant protection, the Lusaka Agreement Taskforce, has admitted mobilizing adequate resources to combat the illegal wildlife trade is a challenge.", "_claim_name": "Permitting the sale of stockpiled ivory provides an incentive to clamp down on poachers", "_doc_title": "Laws fail to deter poachers - Capital News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 40, "_topic_name": "This house Would Lift the Ban on Ivory Trading"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Strategic Intelligence for IT Partners", "Says national broadband plan will create jobs , spur economic growth , prompt innovation .", "Google To Jump Into Ultra Fast Broadband Market", "Government 's $ 4B Broadband Package Buoys Channel Partners", "Milestone Moment for The Web", "Channel Should Prepare for A Wireless Broadband Boom", "VAR Interest Growing in Wireless Broadband Security", "FCC Chairman Says ` Balance ' is Key to Net Neutrality", "The Federal Communications Commission 's national broadband plan includes an initiative to equip 100 million U.S. households with 100 megabits-per-second service by the year 2020 , FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told attendees at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners ( NARUC ) conference held in Washington , D.C. this week .", "The FCC is slated to deliver its national broadband plan , a directive of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ( ARRA ) , to Congress in March .", "In a speech entitled , `` Broadband : Our Enduring Engine for Prosperity and Opportunity , '' Genachowski outlined the so-called `` 100 Squared '' project , set a 90 percent broadband adoption target by 2020 , and , in pitching for `` broadband testbeds , '' praised Google Inc. 's recently announced plan to experiment in a select number of communities with fiber-to-the-home service at speeds up to 1 gigabit per second .", "He said that a wide ranging broadband initiative was critical to `` unleash American ingenuity and ensure that businesses , large and small , are created here , move here , and stay here . ''", "Genachowski called the implementation of ultra high speed broadband throughout the country an `` imperative , '' tying it to an array of priorities , including job creation , economic growth , innovation , investment , education , health care , energy efficiency , public safety and the `` vibrancy of our democracy . ''", "Outlook for improved broadband adoption", "The chief telecom regulator bemoaned the nation 's lagging rate of broadband adoption , pointing to research that places the U.S. as far back as 16th in the world , pegging access in this country at `` roughly 65 percent '' of households , a significant departure from Singapore 's 88 percent and South Korea 's 95 percent adoption rate .", "`` No one can argue that we are leading the world in broadband , or are even as close as we should be , '' Genachowski said , noting that `` more than 20 countries already have broadband plans and are pushing to capture the jobs and economic advantages that broadband enables . ''", "In making his case for broadband 's economic impact , Genachowski said that limited Internet access in the U.S. among low-income , minority , tribal communities , rural households and the unemployed has resulted in `` leaving millions behind . ''", "Genachowski said that the FCC 's plan will include other recommendations for broadband , such as improving the already successful E-Rate program for Internet connections in classrooms and libraries ; modernization of the FCC 's rural telemedicine program ; deployment to accelerate smart grid technology ; development of public and private partnerships to increase Internet adoption ; freeing up a significant amount of spectrum for licensed and unlicensed use ; methods to lower the cost of build outs ; and , creating an interoperable public safety network .", "FCC , broadband , network , ARRA , high speed"], "_citing_sentence": "The US government has since committed to creating its own new grid, one that would increase efficiency, supply and management, and lower costs of energy provision to its citizens.", "_claim_name": "Universal broadband is a necessary prerequisite to developing more efficient and effective power-grids", "_doc_title": "FCC Chairman Wants Ultra High Speed Broadband In 100 Million U.S. Households by 2020-www.itchannelplanet.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8, 17]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The United States Constitution requires the federal government to `` establish Post Offices and post Roads '' -- in other words , to own and run the U.S. Postal Service .", "I think we should consider a Constitutional amendment that privatizes the Postal Service and nationalizes the wireless carriers .", "No , I 'm not a Chavez-hugging , Maoist commie .", "Quite the opposite : I believe in free markets and strongly oppose the nationalization of industries , as a general rule .", "But I also believe that any rational person who agrees with the reasoning behind the Constitution 's Postal Clause should support the nationalization of the wireless carriers , simply because the wireless Internet plays the same role today that the post office played in 18th-century America .", "Why Does the U.S. Postal Service Exist ?", "Constitutionally mandated government ownership and control of a service for delivering envelopes and boxes seems strange .", "But the drafters of the Constitution had some very good reasons .", "First and foremost , they wanted to put `` united '' into the United States .", "By controlling the mail system , they could make sure that every state , every business and every individual could interact and communicate with every other at the same cost and at high speed ( by 18th-century standards ) .", "The cost of delivering mail to remote locations was far more expensive than the price paid for postage .", "The founders deliberately decided to lose money on remote mail service for the greater good of unity , fairness and national prosperity .", "Without the U.S. Postal Service , of course , private companies would have delivered mail .", "But the founding fathers wisely understood that allowing private control of the nation 's information circulatory system would have held the United States back when it needed to excel .", "The reason is that private companies would have ignored expensive routes -- they would n't have built thousands of miles of roads just to connect remote farms to the information system .", "Furthermore , private companies would have sprung up locally , rather than nationally .", "These private companies would have varied in their infrastructure modernization , standards , fees and more .", "Shipping from one state to another would have involved the transfer of parcels from one organization to another .", "They may have disagreed on standards for fees , package sizes , delivery times and more .", "Shipping a package from New York to Florida would have been like shipping from New York to the Philippines -- expensive , un-trackable and sometimes unreliable .", "So the drafters of the Constitution avoided all these problems by mandating centralized government control of the postal system .", "Why Nationalizing the Carriers Is a Good Idea", "Obviously , the Internet -- and increasingly the wireless Internet -- have replaced hand-written letters as the information circulatory system of the nation and the world .", "The Internet plays the central political , social , cultural and economic role that the U.S. Postal Service once did .", "And all the nation-damaging effects that the drafters of the Constitution feared would happen with private post offices is in fact happening because of private wireless carriers .", "The major carriers -- Verizon Wireless , AT&T Mobility , Sprint Nextel , T-Mobile USA -- have reliable wireless data service in all those places where it 's convenient and profitable for them to do so .", "Everywhere else , not so much .", "Because they serve the needs of their shareholders , not the needs of public .", "People in rural areas are generally at a huge disadvantage -- some 19 million people in the United States still , after all these years , do n't have access of any kind to broadband Internet , let alone world-class mobile broadband .", "In contrast , some areas have relatively fast services -- individuals , business and organizations in those areas have an unfair advantage over area where speeds are slow or coverage is non-existent .", "In the United States , all men are created equal , but all wireless coverage is not .", "The United States , which invented both the Internet and the mobile phone , is now an international basket case and laggard in mobile broadband distribution and performance .", "The US is below the top ten for mobile broadband penetration , download speeds andevery other metric you could come up with .", "Mediocre and unevenly distributed mobile broadband service in the United States acts as a brake on the wheels of economic progress .", "In recent years , the wireless carriers have all but eliminated unlimited data plans .", "They 're throttling peak-hour bandwidth , and nickle-and-diming their customers to death .", "All this increasingly makes the United States less competitive , as more and more business relies on wireless data communication .", "And the carriers have turned the provisioning of wireless broadband into a shell game .", "You get a huge subsidy on your phone , and they just fold the rest of the price into your required two-year contract .", "But what price ?", "How much did they really charge you for the phone ?", "There 's no way to know .", "How much is the value of the service you 're really getting ?", "Again , no way to know .", "Wireless carriers gouge the public by hiding costs inside a cloud of ignorance .", "A recent UCLA study found that carriers routinely overcharge customers for services they did n't actually receive .", "And mobile broadband done right would also do something about the fixed-broadband ripoff .", "Many U.S. customers have little to no choice in fixed broadband service providers .", "It 's usually a forced marriage with the cable TV company , which gouges customers with insanely high rates for mediocre service .", "A super high-bandwidth , nationally provisioned mobile broadband system would offer home and business Internet connectivity to take place via mobile broadband , and thus offer a competitive alternative to local cable monopolies .", "Why Nationalizing the Carriers Is a Bad Idea", "Of course , the nationalization of wireless carriers is very , very unlikely .", "For starters , the carriers are extremely `` generous '' when it comes to contributing to political campaigns .", "AT&T , for example , is one of the largest private industry contributor in the country .", "The carriers ' golf buddies in Congress are unlikely to vote against their friends .", "Second , the polarized political climate would make it nearly impossible to gain widespread public support .", "`` Nationalization '' is a dirty word -- and should be -- but the reflexive , dogmatic political thinking that dominates politics now would prevent any significant number of politicians from even considering this idea out loud .", "( It 's worth pointing out that the same thing would happen if we were to try and start a national space program today -- it would never happen . )", "Third , the privacy watchdogs would oppose it , believing that if the government controlled the wireless Internet , they would be able to snoop on citizens .", "( The reality is that they do so already , and hide behind the cover of the private companies -- the Freedom of Information Act does n't apply to AT&T . )", "And fourth , even rational , open-minded people might rightly observe that government is incapable of keeping up with technology or running organizations efficiently .", "Here 's How to Do It", "One way for this nationalization to take place would be for Congress to pass a law that simultaneously privatizes the Postal Service and nationalizes wireless carriers .", "An alternative would be to keep the post office : Congress could pass a law that defines all electronic traffic conveyed over the public airwaves as `` mail . ''", "That would make the Constitutional mandate apply to wireless .", "( Hey , if a tattoo can be ruled Constitutionally protected `` speech , '' then wireless data packets can be ruled `` mail . '' )", "Internationally competitive mobile broadband should be mandated by law .", "Phone contracts should be banned , and all wireless service should be paid for monthly at national rates .", "All mobile handsets should be sold unlocked , so they can compete with each other on actual price , rather than on the financial might of the handset maker ( cough ) Apple !", "Net neutrality should be part of the Constitutional amendment , or `` Wireless Nationalization Act of 2012 '' or whatever they would call it .", "Customers paying for unlimited data would actually get unlimited data regardless of whether they want to use it during peak hours , and regardless of whether they want to use it for things like FaceTime .", "Nationalizing the wireless carriers is obviously a bad idea .", "But sometimes I wonder whether the current situation is even worse ."], "_citing_sentence": "Thus for example, in the United States 19 million people in the United States still have no broadband access.", "_claim_name": "It would provide an efficient service for everyone", "_doc_title": "Should Wireless Carriers Be Nationalized?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [28]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["reasoning"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Public utility , enterprise that provides certain classes of services to the public , including common carrier transportation ( buses , airlines , railroads , motor freight carriers , pipelines , etc. ) ; telephone and telegraph ; power , heat , and light ; and community facilities for water , sanitation , and similar services .", "In most countries such enterprises are state-owned and state-operated , but in the United States they are mainly privately owned and are operated under close governmental regulation .", "The classic explanation for the need to regulate public utilities is that they are enterprises in which the technology of production , transmission , and distribution almost inevitably leads to complete or partial monopoly -- that they are , in a phrase , natural monopolies .", "The monopolistic tendency arises from economies of scale in the particular industry , from the large capital costs typical of such enterprises , from the inelasticity of demand among consumers of the service , from considerations of the excess capacity necessary to meet demand peaks , and other considerations .", "It is often also the case that the existence of competing parallel systems -- of local telephones or natural gas , for example -- would be inordinately expensive , wasteful , and inconvenient .", "Given the tendency to monopoly and the potential therefore of monopolistic pricing practices , public regulation has for more than a century been applied to certain classes of business .", "In practice , regulation aims to ensure that the utility serves all who apply for and are willing and able to pay for its services , that it operates in a safe and adequate manner , that it serves all customers on equal terms , and that its rates are just and reasonable .", "All states have regulatory commissions , and the federal government has several , including the Interstate Commerce Commission , the Civil Aeronautics Board , the Federal Power Commission , the Federal Communications Commission , and the Securities and Exchange Commission .", "Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students .", "To supply power , heat , electricity , and telephone and telegraph services , there is usually a single company of each kind in a community .", "Such companies , called public utilities , are required to serve each person within the community as long as the customer complies with the rules and pays the charges of the utilities .", "If you have any suggestions for improving this article , we 'd like to hear from you .", "If you would like us to be able to contact you , or to credit you as a contributor for any suggestions that our editors choose to implement , please register or login .", "( Unfortunately , we may not be able to provide credit in all cases . )", "Our editors will review what you 've submitted , and if it meets our criteria , we 'll add it to the article ."], "_citing_sentence": "Much like electrical and water utilities, a single provider can create the most efficient outcome for consumers, and when that provider is the state it can guarantee affordable prices and commit to not price-gouging as private firms are wont to do.", "_claim_name": "It would provide an efficient service for everyone", "_doc_title": "public utility | Britannica.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 5, 6]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 41, "_topic_name": "This House believes the state should provide broadband internet through nationalized companies"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Wednesday 14 March 2012 07.58 EDT", "Last modified on Wednesday 14 March 2012 17.42 EDT", "The recent escalation between Israel and Gaza began after Israeli forces assassinated Zuhair al-Qaissi , a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees ( PRC ) , a militant group composed of members of various Palestinian parties .", "Haaretz noted that the PRC was `` the organisation that captured Gilad Shalit '' , the Israeli soldier who was freed in October 2011 .", "The army says that al-Qaissi was behind the August 2011 attack that took place on the Israeli-Egyptian border -- even though the PRC denied involvement and it was later revealed that the militants came from Sinai , not Gaza .", "While army sources took care to point out al-Qaissi 's alleged involvement in the August 2011 incident , his assassination was n't just an act of punishment .", "No , Israel killed him on the basis of secret evidence -- evidence that is not subject to legal or judicial review -- that supposedly proves that al-Qaissi was planning a terror attack .", "Never mind that the Israeli supreme court 's December 2006 ruling placed numerous restrictions on such assassinations .", "Fatmeh el-Ajou , an attorney with Adalah , the legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel , explains that while the judgment did not place a blanket prohibition on targeted killings , it stated that the decision to carry out an assassination must be made on a case-by-case basis , `` depending on the evidence that -LSB- security forces -RSB- have '' .", "But , without seeing the security forces ' secret evidence , it 's impossible to know if al-Qaissi was indeed planning an attack , and if the army was in line with the 2006 ruling .", "There 's no transparency in this so-called democracy and , without transparency , there is no accountability to the state 's highest court .", "`` From the perspective of human rights law , '' el-Ajou adds , `` assassinations are not legitimate ... They should only be carried out if there is a ` ticking bomb . '", "LSB- Suspects -RSB- should be brought to trial . ''", "To some extent , the 2006 ruling dovetails with this , stating that , whenever possible , the person in question must be arrested and tried -- which is exactly what did n't happen in 2007 , when the army violated the supreme court 's restrictions on targeted killings and assassinated two men they had the power to detain instead .", "And then there 's the laundry list of less dramatic examples , instances when state bodies quietly ignore the court , revealing Israel to be the weak democracy it is .", "Such cases have spurred former deputy attorney general Yehudit Karp to send not one but two letters of complaint to the current attorney General Yehuda Weinstein .", "Here 's a partial sampling of rulings that Israel ca n't be bothered to fully implement : \u2022 In 2002 , the supreme court ordered the municipalities of Tel Aviv-Jaffa , Lod , Ramle and Nazareth Illit to `` add Arabic to all municipal signs '' , Adalah writes .", "Last April , the supreme court chastised the municipality of Nazareth Illit ( upper Nazareth , a predominately Jewish area ) for its lack of compliance with the nine-year-old ruling .", "\u2022 In 2006 , the supreme court struck down the binding arrangement , a policy that binds migrant workers to one employer , essentially making his or her visa contingent on his employer 's whim .", "Last year , the Knesset circumvented this ruling , passing legislation so severe that human rights groups referred to it as the `` slavery law '' .", "\u2022 In 2007 , the Israeli supreme court ruled that the separation barrier in the West Bank Palestinian village of Bilin served no security purpose in its location and ordered the state to move the fence .", "While Israel did move it in 2011 , more than four years after the court 's decision , villagers are still separated from some of their land .", "\u2022 During the December 2008 to January 2009 Israeli military operation known as Cast Lead , Israel barred media from the Gaza Strip .", "Even though the supreme court ruled against the ban , the press was not admitted to Gaza .", "\u2022 In April 2011 , the supreme court overturned the policy that stripped migrant workers who had children in Israel of their legal status , calling it a violation of the state 's own labour laws .", "Almost a year later , Israel is still deporting some of these women and their children , despite the fact that the very mechanism that made them `` illegal '' has been nullified .", "In his 2006 ruling on targeted killings , former supreme court president Aharon Barak quoted an earlier judgment in which he 'd stated : `` At times democracy fights with one hand behind her back . ''", "But in its war on Palestinians -- and anyone that Israel deems an `` other '' -- not only does the state use both hands , it fights with the proverbial gloves off ."], "_citing_sentence": "This was despite a supreme court ruling in 2006 that militants must be detained.", "_claim_name": "It is right that illegal acts by the state be exposed", "_doc_title": "The killing of Zuhair al-Qaissi exposes Israel's attitude to its supreme court | Mya Guarnieri | Opinion | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The Anat Kamm/Uri Blau affair has raised an old ghost in the shape of the controversy over the IDF policy of targeted assassinations , which was the subject of an article by Blau in November 2008 based on the documents illegally obtained by Kamm.The article , which was approved by the censor , so angered Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen .", "Gabi Ashkenazi that he ordered an investigation into how Blau had received the material .", "Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page .", "On Monday , the Justice Ministry spokesman released a letter by former Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz .", "It was written 15 months ago in response to a demand by attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfard to investigate allegations in the article that the IDF was continuing to carry out targeted assassinations in violation of conditions set down in a High Court of Justice ruling .", "Three cases were referred to , including the killing of key Islamic Jihad terrorist Ziad Malaisha .", "Related : She is no EllsbergIsrael 's Pentagon PapersKamm admits losing disk with IDF filesThe article , entitled `` Secret IDF Documents : The Chief of Staff and the Top Echelon of the IDF Authorized Killing Fugitives and Innocent People , '' was based on documents summarizing meetings of operational plans to strike at the Palestinian fugitives .", "Haaretz also displayed a photocopy of one of the summaries from a meeting held on March 28 , 2007 .", "The words `` top secret '' appeared at the top of the document.This particular document referred to a military operation coined `` Two Towers , '' aimed at Islamic Jihad leaders in Jenin , including Malaisha .", "It contained the operational guidelines issued by then-OC Central Command , Maj.-Gen .", "`` This is an arrest operation , '' the document said , attributing the quote to Naveh .", "`` But in case -LSB- the soldiers -RSB- identify one of the senior leaders of the Islamic Jihad , Walid Obeid , Ziad Malaisha , Adham Yunis , they have permission to open fire in accordance with their appraisal of the situation during the operation . ''", "Blau charged that the description of the mission as an arrest operation was just a cover-up for the real intent , which was to assassinate Malaisha and the others.He also wrote that he showed the document to experts in international and criminal law including Hebrew University Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer and retired Hebrew University Prof. David Kretzmer , and both said the operation was in clear violation of the High Court ruling.The Justice Ministry spokesman 's office said Monday that several reporters had asked whether Mazuz had ordered an investigation into the allegations raised in the article after it was published.This is what Feldman and Sfard had demanded of Mazuz 15 months earlier .", "The two attorneys had represented The Public Committee against Torture in Israel in its petition to the High Court against targeted assassinations .", "It was in its ruling on that petition that the court set down the conditions which , if met , could justify using this tactic .", "In their letter to Mazuz , the attorneys charged that Blau 's article indicated that the state had violated the ruling in connection with several killings of terrorists including Malaisha.Mazuz wrote back on January 7 , 2009 , and turned down the attorneys ' request for an investigation.Regarding the killing of Malaisha , Mazuz wrote , `` The IDF operation met all the conditions laid down in the Bagatz ruling regarding ` targeted assassinations . '", "The attack took place after the possibility of arresting the fugitives was ruled out as being impossible to achieve under the circumstances and after it was made clear to the soldiers that arrest was the first preference .", "`` The attack was aimed at senior and extremely dangerous terrorists , who were involved in preparations to carry out dangerous terror attacks , and regarding whom the security system had reliable and precise information ... It was carried out in awareness of the duty to avoid harming innocents and reduce the danger to them , and after implementing the principle of proportionality . ''", "Mazuz added that `` the legal aspects of the operation were examined at each one of the planning stages and there is no basis to the charge that the IDF ` ignored ' the", "High Court 's instructions regarding targeted assassination operations .", "On the contrary , the operational officers in the general staff , who had close legal consultation , were aware of the High Court instructions and stressed and carried them out in all stages of the planning and the approval of the operation . ''", "Sign up for our newsletter", "Please insert a valid email address", "By signing up to The Jpost mailing list , I hereby", "On iphone , ipad and android", "Copyright \u00a9 2016 Jpost Inc. .", "All rights reserved \u2022 Terms of Use \u2022 Privacy Policy"], "_citing_sentence": "Yair Naveh was documented as saying \"This is an arrest operation... But in case [the soldiers] identify one of the senior leaders of the Islamic Jihad, Walid Obeid, Ziad Malaisha, Adham Yunis, they have permission to open fire in accordance with their appraisal of the situation during the operation.\"", "_claim_name": "It is right that illegal acts by the state be exposed", "_doc_title": "Stamp of approval from attorney-general - Israel - Jerusalem Post", "_labeled_lineIDs": [10, 11]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["A Haaretz Magazine investigation reveals operational discussions in which the fate of wanted men and innocent people was decided .", "The announcement made by the Israel Defense Forces ' spokesman on June 20 , 2007 was standard : `` Two armed terrorists belonging to the Islamic Jihad terror organization were killed last night during the course of a joint activity of the IDF and a special force of the Border Police in Kafr Dan , northwest of Jenin .", "The two terrorists , Ziad Subahi Mahmad Malaisha and Ibrahim Ahmed Abd al-Latif Abed , opened fire at the force during its activity .", "In response the force fired at them , killing the terrorists .", "On their bodies two M-16 rifles , a pistol and ammunition were found .", "It was also discovered that the terrorists were involved in planning suicide attacks against the Israeli home front , including the attempt in Rishon Letzion last February . ''", "The laconic announcement ignores one important detail : Malaisha was a target for assassination .", "His fate had been decided several months earlier , in the office of then head of Central Command , Yair Naveh .", "As far as the public was concerned , on the other hand , the last declared assassination carried out by the IDF in the West Bank took place in August 2006 ; at the end of that year the High Court of Justice set strict criteria regarding the policy of assassinations in the territories .", "A Haaretz Magazine investigation reveals for the first time operational discussions in which the fate of wanted men and innocent people was decided , in apparent disregard of the High Court decision .", "Thus it was revealed that the IDF approved assassination plans in the West Bank even when it would probably have been possible to arrest the wanted men - in contradiction to the State 's statement to the High Court - and that in cold military terminology the most senior IDF echelons approve , in advance and in writing , the harming of innocent Palestinians during the course of assassination operations .", "Moreover , it turns out that the assassination of a target the defense establishment called part of a `` ticking infrastructure '' was postponed , because it had been scheduled to take place during the visit of a senior U.S. official .", "Leading legal experts who were asked to react to the documents say that the IDF is operating in contradiction to a High Court ruling .", "`` Morality is a very difficult issue , '' Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer of Hebrew Univeristy said .", "`` The thought that there are people who sit behind a desk and determine that someone is fated to die is a frightening thought . ''", "Another two killings ( at most )", "The IDF spokesman refuses to provide precise figures about the number of targeted assassinations carried out since the start of the intifada in 2000 : `` The subject of preventive strikes is concentrated in the hands of the Shin Bet -LSB- security service -RSB- . ''", "A spokesman for the Shin Bet stated that the organization `` does not publish data of this kind . ''", "According to the human-rights organization B'Tselem , the IDF assassinated 232 Palestinians between the start of the intifada and the end of October 2008 , in operations that also killed 154 non-targeted civilians .", "The most common code names for assassination operations are the acronyms Pa'amon ( peula mona'at - preventive action ) and Sakum ( sikul mimukad - targeted assassination ) .", "During the past two and a half years the IDF has not announced the carrying out of assassinations in the West Bank , and when wanted men were killed there , the official reports stated that these were `` arrest operations '' or `` exchanges of fire . ''", "This was also reported in regard to the killing of Abed and Malaisha - who has now been revealed as a previous target for assassination .", "On March 28 , 2007 a representative of the Shin Bet , a representative of the Special Police Unit Yamam and several officers from Central Command convened in Naveh 's office .", "On the agenda was the Two Towers operation ( the strike at Malaisha ) .", "`` The mission '' said the head of the command , `` is arrest , '' but `` in case identification is made of one of the leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad : Walid Obeidi , Ziad Malaisha , Adham Yunis , there is permission for the force to intercept them , and that is according to the situation assessment in the course of carrying out the mission . ''", "Naveh did not allow an assassination if there were women or children near the wanted man , and explained that , `` in the event that there are women and children in the vehicle , the method is arrest . ''", "On April 12 Naveh convened another meeting about Malaisha .", "This time he decided that permission would be granted to carry out the assassination of the target and `` another two people at most . ''", "On the day of the meeting in Naveh 's office another discussion took place , chaired by the head of the Operations Directorate , Brig. Gen. Sami Turjeman .", "At the meeting , the plans for a preventive operation against Malaisha were presented , and the head of the Operations Directorate explained that `` a preventive strike in Ayush -LSB- Judea and Samaria -RSB- is an exceptional sight ... It could be seen as an attempt to damage the attempts to stabilize , which means that it requires sensitivity to causing a minimum of collateral damage .", "Everything possible must be done to prevent harm to those who are uninvolved . ''", "The target of the operation , he added `` leads a ` ticking ' infrastructure and meets the required criteria for a preventive strike . ''", "At this point Turjeman spelled out the conditions of Malaisha 's incrimination , and ruled that only if they existed would the targeted assassination get a green light .", "He added that no more than five people ( including the driver ) should be assassinated in the operation .", "Turjeman approved the operation even if there should be one unidentified person in the car .", "Regarding the matter of timing , he said that `` in light of the anticipated diplomatic events , the prime minister 's meeting with Abu Mazen -LSB- Mahmoud Abbas -RSB- and the visit of the U.S. Secretary of Defense , I recommend ... implementation afterward . ''", "In the discussion Turjeman also referred to the High Court ruling about appointing a committee whose job would be to examine targeted assassinations after the fact , and said that in light of the High Court instructions on the matter , the operation should be documented .", "The next day the operation was brought up for the approval of Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi .", "A limited number of senior officers convened in his office , including his deputy , the head of the Operations Directorate , the head of the Operations Brigade , the chief military prosecutor , a representative of Central Command and a representative of the Shin Bet .", "The paper summing up the meeting says that Ashkenazi `` emphasized that due to the High Court orders regarding the establishment of a professional committee on targeted assassinations , the composition of the committee should be agreed on with the Shin Bet as soon as possible . ''", "Although Malaisha was defined as part of a `` ticking infrastructure , '' Ashkenazi too was disturbed by the timing of the action and said that `` in light of the diplomatic meetings anticipated during the course of the week , the date of implementation should be reconsidered . ''", "Ashkenazi prohibited attacking the vehicle in which Malaisha was traveling if it was discovered that there was `` more than one unidentified passenger '' in it .", "Two months after the Two Towers plan was approved , and long after the diplomatic visits and meetings that took place in the second week of April 2007 , came the operation in which Malaisha was killed in the Jenin area .", "At the beginning of 2002 , attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfard petitioned the High Court of Justice against the policy of targeted assassinations on behalf of the Public Committee against Torture in Israel and the Al-Haq organization .", "Almost five years later , on December 14 , 2006 , the president of the Supreme Court at the time , Justice Aharon Barak , issued his decision .", "Barak , with the concurrence of Justices Dorit Beinisch ( now the president of the Supreme Court ) and Eliezer Rivlin , rejected the petition and did not rule out the legality of targeted assassinations in the territories .", "`` We can not determine that every targeted preemption strike is forbidden under international law , just as we can not determine that every targeted preemption is permissible under international law , '' Barak wrote in the last judgment he published in his 28 years on the Supreme Court .", "According to the High Court ruling , well-founded and convincing information is necessary in order to classify a civilian as being part of a group of civilians who are carrying out hostile acts ; a person should not be assassinated if it is possible to use less damaging methods against him ; and he should not be harmed more than necessary for security needs .", "In other words , a person should not be assassinated if it is possible to arrest him , interrogate him and indict him .", "However , if the arrest involves serious danger to the lives of the soldiers , there is no need to use this means ; after every assassination a thorough and independent examination must be conducted regarding the degree of precision , the identity of the man as a terror activist , and in the case of mistaken identity , the payment of compensation should be considered ; harm to innocent civilians should be avoided as much as possible during an assassination , and `` harm to innocent civilians will be legal only if it meets the demands of proportionality , '' ruled Barak .", "In this context , Barak gave an example according to which `` it is possible to fire at a terrorist who is firing from the balcony of his home at soldiers or civilians , even if as a result an innocent bystander is liable to be hit .", "Such a strike at an innocent civilian will meet the demands of proportionality .", "That is not the case if the house is bombed from the air and dozens of its residents and bystanders are hit . ''", "Barak stated that , `` The struggle against terror has turned our democracy into a ` defensive democracy ' or a ` fighting democracy . '", "However , this struggle must not overturn the democratic nature of our regime . ''", "According to B'Tselem , since the ruling regarding targeted assassinations was handed down , 19 Palestinians who were targets of assassination have been killed in the territories , and 36 Palestinians who were close to the targets were hit in the course of IDF operations , all of them in the Gaza Strip .", "`` It turns out that in total contradiction to the High Court ruling , there are cases in which there is an order to assassinate someone when it is possible to arrest him , '' says David Kretchmer , a professor of international law .", "`` Advance approval to kill civilians who do not take part in hostile activities makes things even worse .", "The principle of proportionality , to the effect that if one strikes at a military target an accompanying strike against civilians will not be illegal , does not apply in a case when the attack itself is illegal - for example , in a case where there is an obligation , according to the High Court ruling , to arrest the suspect . ''", "Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer : `` According to the High Court ruling it is clear that where it is possible to carry out an arrest , we must carry out an arrest and avoid what is called a ` targeted assassination ' and which I call ` preventive killing . '", "A substantial part of Judea and Samaria is under the effective rule of the IDF , and in my opinion , in such an area preventive killing must be ruled out .", "The limited interpretation that I am suggesting for the international law is that an attack must take place in the course of that person 's participation in a dangerous action , because then you are in effect acting in self-defense based on the situation taking place . ''", "Legal commentator Moshe Negbi : '' ` Unidentified people ' can also be totally innocent and you are ostensibly giving a license to kill here .", "The problem is previous knowledge , because usually when we refer to collateral damage we are referring to ` after the fact , ' but here this is almost certain foreknowledge .", "It is very problematic that permission is given to execute an innocent man deliberately .", "The question is whether it is proportional .", "I think that the High Court was referring to a situation where perhaps among a mass of people there is one who is innocent , but here it is one on one .", "It is very grave to grant permission when you know ahead of time that 50 percent of those you are hitting are innocent .", "Such a thing must certainly be discussed at the level of the attorney general and it certainly must be known to the public and undergo public criticism , if only so that anyone who thinks it is patently illegal can turn to the High Court . ''", "Regarding the fact that assassinations can wait until the conclusion of diplomatic meetings , Kretchmer says : `` Postponing an operation for diplomatic reasons is unequivocal proof of the fact that this is not a ` ticking bomb ' situation . ''", "Kremnitzer adds : `` According to my legal understanding , these cases -LSB- targeted assassinations -RSB- must be cases in which you must act immediately , and if it is not a matter of an immediate need , in my opinion it is against the law . ''", "Although almost two years have passed since the High Court ruling , a committee to examine the assassinations after the fact has yet to be appointed .", "Last week Aviad Glickman published on Ynet ( the website of the mass circulation paper Yedioth Ahronoth ) that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz had turned to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert demanding the establishment of such a committee as soon as possible .", "`` This step must be completed without further delay , '' wrote Mazuz , `` for fear that a continued delay is liable to constitute contempt of court . ''", "The bad guys", "Yair Naveh , who served as head of Central Command from 2005 to 2007 , confirms that occasionally , there is no genuine attempt to arrest wanted men .", "`` If the guy does n't put his hands up we do n't get into stories , we immediately establish contact .", "I do n't want to have people hurt for no reason .", "If I know that the guy is armed and is a ticking bomb , then I want him to be hit immediately without fooling around .", "It 's not the preventive action procedure , it 's an entirely different story .", "`` In my time there were no targeted assassinations .", "Not a single one , as far as I recall .", "In principle , there were no targeted assassinations in Central Command and none were approved .", "What I did have was an ability to reach all of -LSB- the wanted men -RSB- ; therefore there is no reason for a targeted assassination .", "It is relevant only when you ca n't reach someone , but if you can reach him and arrest him at night or have an exchange of fire with him , then it is not a targeted assassination . ''", "Is it possible that programs were approved and in the end were not carried out ?", "In principle there was no such thing during my time , because in every operation there were special forces that had to arrive and arrest the guy .", "To tell the truth , in some places we knew a priori that there would be firing .", "If you know that you are operating against Islamic Jihad or against Hamasniks or even against some of the jokers who were in the Casbah , then it was clear to me that there would be engagement . ''", "In the approval of the March 2007 plan regarding Ziad Malaisha you said the mission was arrest , but if one of the leaders of Islamic Jihad was identified , the force had permission to carry out interception .", "What is that if not targeted assassination ?", "`` Those are guys for whom we received basic confirmation that they are ticking bombs .", "Those are guys that if we had contact with them , because we knew in advance that they were armed , the default choice was not to start calling on them to halt and then to see whether or not they fled , but right from the start , if they did n't put up their hands and throw away their weapons , then we engaged with them .", "That 's not because they had to be killed .", "It 's also because they are both ticking bombs and armed .", "That 's the assumption . ''", "That is semantics .", "You gave permission to fire at them from the moment they were identified .", "`` If they do n't put up their hands right at the start .", "You arrive , shout ` IDF , hands up ! '", "You surround them .", "If the guys do n't put up their hands , then you do n't wait to close in on them , to make a declaration .", "If you receive confirmation that the guys have received all the relevant approvals , then we say , ` Friends , I do n't want you to get into a pressure cooker here ' -LSB- methods used by the IDF to make someone give himself up -RSB- .", "If they do n't surrender immediately then you immediately engage them , so that you wo n't be hurt .", "That 's the story .", "It 's not a targeted assassination , where you are approving their execution even if they put up their hands . ''", "The approval you gave the forces states that if there are women and children , there is to be an arrest .", "In other words , it would have been possible to arrest them .", "`` That means that if there are women and children we assume another risk and tell the guys that if they fire at you and begin to flee you do n't begin to exchange fire , but you try to stop the vehicle by shooting at the tires . ''", "The Operations Directorate approval in the case of Malaisha states that this is a preventive action operation .", "`` If it was approved as preventive action , that is , as a target for assassination , it 's a different story . ''", "But then it contradicts the High Court orders to the effect that Israel controls the area and approval of the plan includes the option of arrest .", "`` Do n't bother me with the High Court orders , I do n't know when there were High Court orders and when there were n't .", "I know that a targeted assassination is approved and there is a preventive action procedure and I receive instructions from the Operations Directorate . ''", "What is the difference between the preventive action procedure and people that you give permission to fire at if they are identified ?", "`` The difference is language .", "You say ` Hands up .", "If not , I 'm opening fire , ' and here I do n't say anything and drop a bomb from a plane . ''", "In the instructions there is no mention of the arrest option , and permission is given to fire if there is identification of a wanted man .", "`` I 'm not familiar with such a document . ''", "Why in the approvals for targeted assassination is permission given in advance to harm unidentified people ?", "`` Were n't there people in the Shahadeh case ?", "LSB- Fatah leader Mohammed Shahadeh was assassinated by Hamas in October 2006 -RSB- .", "But those are n't questions that you should ask me .", "What is approved as preventive action goes through approvals all the way to the prime minister , and what is decided is decided .", "Usually these guys hung around with bad guys , not good guys . ''", "Linguistic innovations In the State 's reply to the High Court , prior to its ruling , it was claimed that carrying out a targeted assassination is `` an exceptional step '' that is taken `` only when there is no other , less severe way of implementing it ... In the context of these strict instructions it was decided that when there are realistic alternatives to the action , such as arrest , these alternatives should be used . ''", "But the most noticeable thing the High Court ruling changed regarding the assassinations is the language used by the IDF in planning them .", "On December 13 , 2006 , a day before the High Court ruling was handed down , wanted man Muhammed Ramaha was killed in the Ein Beit Ilma refugee camp in the Nablus area .", "According to the IDF spokesman 's report to the media at the time , Ramaha was killed in the course of a joint `` arrest operation '' of the IDF , the Shin Bet and the Yamam police unit .", "Now it turns out that Ramaha 's fate had been sealed a month earlier , when the Central Command conducted a discussion on an operation planned by the IDF 's Maglan special operations unit in the Nablus area .", "Those in attendance were presented with orders from Maj. Gen. Naveh , who ruled that the armed men walking around the area were connected to Mohammed Ramaha 's unit and `` should be attacked . ''", "There was no option offered of trying to arrest the members of the squad , and conditions for opening fire were the identification of two armed men , `` conspiratorial '' activity involving at least one armed man , or `` when an indication is given '' of the presence of Ramaha in the squad .", "As mentioned , a month after the discussion Ramaha was killed .", "The Maglan soldiers were also the ones who carried out an operation on November 8 , 2006 that ended in the killing of five Palestinians , two of them unarmed .", "The IDF , as usual , did not present it as an assassination mission , but it turns out that the force 's assignment was `` to sneak into the center of the village , up to the observation point overlooking the killing area that had been designated in advance , to lie in ambush for armed terrorists and to hit them at short range . ''", "Another example : At the end of September 2006 the then head of the Operations Directorate , Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot ( today GOC Northern Command ) , conducted a discussion in which approval was given to assassinate a Fatah member - an expert on the production of explosives belts - in the Nablus area .", "`` The Time For Chaos Has Arrived '' was the name of this operation , in which the major general approved attacking the man `` in the context of the procedure of targeted assassination of important figures in light of the fact that he is a ` ticking bomb . ' ''", "As opposed to operations planned after the High Court ruling , where there are specific instructions regarding conditions in which the action should not be carried out , in this case the only instructions were `` to try to refrain insofar as possible from harming innocent people . ''", "`` Apparently what happened in the wake of the High Court ruling is mainly ` word laundering , ' '' says Kretchmer .", "`` In other words , the use of words referring to arrest when in fact there is no real intention of carrying out an arrest , but the reference is to assassination . ''", "Sfard says that , `` whoever gave the IDF a permit to execute civilians without trial should not be surprised when the death squads it has created do not adhere to the few restrictions imposed on this policy .", "It 's a natural , logical and inevitable process of moral deterioration involved in assassinations . ''", "A military source said that the first years of the intifada were `` a period lacking order .", "They fired at just about anything that moved . ''", "He says that in recent years , especially after the High Court ruling , the procedure in Central Command and the Operations Directorate is somewhat different , one reason being that representatives of the Military Prosecutor 's Office `` are breathing down their necks . ''", "As for the importance attributed by the army to the country 's image and to the timing of its activity , the source said , not without a degree of cynicism , that `` the criteria for a ` ticking bomb ' change if Condoleezza Rice is in the country . ''", "An investigation by Haaretz indicates that IDF operations that are defined in advance as arrest operations rather than assassination operations do for the most part end in arrest .", "However , there is something disturbing about the fact that when it comes to the plan to arrest a Palestinian , the commander in charge of the operation sometimes feels a need to explain that this is not an assassination assignment and that the wanted man should be brought back alive .", "For example , in an operation planned last May for the arrest of a Fatah activist in Bethlehem , the GOC Central Command explained to the commander of the Duvdevan undercover commando unit that `` the mission is arrest rather than killing . ''", "And in fact , that activist was arrested alive .", "In the same operation , incidentally , it was explained to the forces that `` there is no permission to behave aggressively toward foreign media crews . ''", "When Naveh was asked why he occasionally told the forces that the wanted men be brought back alive , which should ostensibly be obvious , he explained : `` That means that I am exposing our forces to additional risk , and even if he opens fire , they do not kill him immediately but try nevertheless to arrest him . ''", "It also turns out that the presence of children is not always an excuse to cancel military operations .", "At the end of March 2007 , the chief of staff allowed Duvdevan to carry out the arrest of a wanted man during the birthday party of one of his children .", "The name chosen by the IDF for this action was Kindergarten Party .", "Want to enjoy ` Zen ' reading - with no ads and just the article ?"], "_citing_sentence": "As attorney Michael Sfard states \"In other words, the use of words referring to arrest when in fact there is no real intention of carrying out an arrest, but the reference is to assassination.\"", "_claim_name": "It is right that illegal acts by the state be exposed", "_doc_title": "License to Kill - Haaretz - Israel News Haaretz.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [140]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The end of the world is what happens when Israel 's enemies get hold of military secrets .", "The classification `` Secret '' is not a recommendation ; it is , in effect , an order .", "Israelis , even soldiers , do n't like taking orders , as we all know.They do like taking things home with them .", "In 2002 , I wrote about one of the IDF 's periodic campaigns encouraging people to return `` borrowed '' IDF property.The IDF stuck by its promise that no questions would be asked .", "Much of the equipment that had gone AWOL ( more than NIS 1 million worth , actually ) comprised clothing , boots and everyday items like water bottles and flashlights .", "The returned loot also included 14 tents and a mattress.Among the returned equipment , however , was a fully functional missile launcher that , judging from the telltale signs of soil and leaves , had been used as a plant holder , and an old lady gave back -- carefully -- two hand grenades .", "Someone had taken a pair of handcuffs .", "( Do n't ask what for . )", "And a reformed , would-be one-man army returned RPGs , mortars , machine guns , anti-aircraft weapons and grenades , accumulated over several years.Why do I mention this ?", "Because obviously it shows that the IDF is interested , above all , in getting most of this materiel out of people 's houses.Some of this equipment had ended up in the homes of normative citizens due to either an oversight ( an extra pair of uniform pants or so ) during IDF regular or reserve duty , or because of the chaotic conditions in war.Nonetheless , it was clear that in many of the cases people set their sights on the guns and stole them on purpose.I know the IDF promised no questions , but I ca n't resist asking why would any normal law-abiding person take home a machine gun in the first place ?", "And the same question applies in the", "Anat Kamm Affair.She did n't accidentally come across the documents , copy them , and take them home ( although she did accidentally lose some , worryingly enough ) .", "Kamm did n't see the files and think : `` These would look good on my PC . ''", "She stole them on purpose.She did n't do it because she was young , naive or stupid , as her defense attorney would later have us believe .", "She did it , as she reportedly told Shin Bet ( Israel Security", "Agency ) investigators , because : `` There were aspects of IDF operations which I thought should be brought to the attention of the public . ''", "Why the public first and not to the attention of her commander or the Military Police is another question that begs to be asked.This was a calculated risk on her part .", "But she was taking a risk at the expense of all of us.She might not have been able to give the documents back without facing a lot of questions but she could have destroyed the copies .", "Instead , she sought a journalist who would unquestioningly accept them -- a sort of publish-and-be-damned philosophy that has become dangerously fashionable.When the courts last week handed out a 12-year sentence to a hit-and-run driver , there were some who queried the severity of the punishment .", "Tal Mor had been driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he ploughed into cyclist Shneor Cheshin , without bothering to stop and help.Kamm coldly and soberly stole the documents with her eyes wide open .", "Four and a half years , under the circumstances , does not seem to be an overly harsh sentence .", "True , she did n't kill anybody -- as far as we know .", "The problem is , even she does n't know what became of the material she stole.LAST MONTH , the Justice Ministry announced that it had cracked a massive information theft case , in which a former employee of the", "Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry stole and copied the personal details of millions of Israelis and sold the data to a private buyer .", "The investigation also reportedly turned up data related to national security , as well as voter-registration lists.Both the Kamm case and the Social", "Affairs Ministry incident should raise serious questions concerning the Interior", "Ministry 's plans to pilot a biometric database.Being better at responding to emergencies than preventing them is , unfortunately , one of Israel 's national characteristics : But do n't say you were n't warned .", "Apparently , the country that pioneered PC anti-virus software is also leaving its most sensitive material there for the taking.The Kamm case , and the light sentence , reminded me of the Liora Glatt - Berkovich affair in 2003 .", "Berkovich , who worked in the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor 's Office , leaked the story to Haaretz that then-prime minister Ariel Sharon was being investigated for corruption .", "She claimed she did it because her son was about to go into the army , and she was worried the country might go to war if Sharon was reelected .", "Under a plea bargain , she received a suspended eight-month jail sentence and a", "NIS 10,000 fine , and she still occasionally turns up in TV studios as a legal expert .", "Chutzpah , too , is something of an Israeli specialty.Perhaps I 'm also guilty of it -- chutzpah , that is , not leaking national secrets .", "As a journalist I can appreciate the value of leaks , but the hunger for a scoop should never let a reporter avoid the questions of who is behind the leak , and why they are leaking it.I do n't think , for example , we have really uncovered what lies behind Julian Assange 's WikiLeaks.Above all , the media also need to take into account the results of publication.The revelation of classified material can indeed encourage officers and soldiers in the field to act with extra care and avoid civilian casualties .", "It can bolster democracy .", "It can also put those soldiers in the field at ever greater risk .", "Ditto the general public .", "And it can be used to destroy democratic principles -- something Glatt - Berkovitch might never publicly admit to being guilty of , but nonetheless an obvious conclusion in her case.The public has a right to know , but not everything , at any price.I sleep better knowing some things are secret.The writer is editor of The International"], "_citing_sentence": "\"There were aspects of IDF operations which I thought should be brought to the attention of the public.\"", "_claim_name": "The public have a right to know what is committed in their name", "_doc_title": "My Word: Questions and secrets - Opinion - Jerusalem Post", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 42, "_topic_name": "This House believes that the leaking of military documents by Anat Kamm was justified"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["reasoning", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Rosa Prince , Political Correspondent 4:32 PM GMT 18 Feb 2010", "The Conservative leader said that too many local associations saw choosing a potential local MP as like seeking `` the perfect son-in-law rather the perfect candidate '' .", "Women-only selections have been fiercely resisted by many local Conservative associations , who are angry at what they see as attempts by central office to impose politically-correct candidates on them .", "But Mr Cameron said that while he sympathised with the view that progress within political parties should ideally take place on merit , the pace of change was so slow within the Conservative Party that radical steps were necessary .", "Speaking on BBC Radio 4 's Woman 's Hour , he said that he had already tried everything short of all-women shortlists but still found that female candidates were forced to `` jump barriers far higher than the men '' .", "Asked why the system should not be left as a `` meritocracy , '' he said : `` It does n't work .", "David Cameron to film behind the scenes interview with Sir Trevor McDonald", "Four women battle for Brighton Pavillion", "Samantha Cameron in line for windfall after Smythson sale", "Joanne Cash will stay as Tory candidate after 24 hours of confusion", "Elizabeth Truss wins her deselection battle", "Conservatives to impose all-women shortlists for MPs `` I have a lot of sympathy with that view but , and it 's a really big but , we tried that for years and rate of change was too slow .", "`` If you just open the door and say ` you 're welcome , come in , ' and all they see is a wave of white -LSB- male -RSB- faces , it 's not very welcoming .", "`` Changing a political party and getting things done is never easy .", "I had had to change the way we select and promote women .", "I have given the party a big shock on this issue .", "`` We have to recognise that the rate of change was n't fast enough .", "We were n't going to be representative enough as a party , so I took the view that we had to give things a big shift and a big shake-up .", "`` The end result at this coming election is a party that is much more balanced . ''", "A series of rows between high-profile female candidates and party activists in recent months has led traditional Tories in some local associations to be dismissed by Michael Gove , the senior shadow cabinet minister who is close to Mr Cameron , as `` backwoodsmen . ''", "Norfolk party members who tried to sack Liz Truss as their candidate after learning that she had engaged in an affair with a Tory MP , were described as `` the turnip Taliban '' .", "And Joanne Cash , a mother-to-be who is friendly with the Tory leader and has been described as a `` Cameron cutie , '' dramatically resigned as the candidate for Westminster North after clashing with members she described as `` dinosaurs '' who were said to be unhappy at her pregnancy , before changing her mind .", "Mr Cameron said that as the general election , which must be held by June , was so close , the party was already taking advantage of rules which allowed Central Office to impose shortlists on constituency parties .", "This had happened twice already , and the Tory leader confirmed that if any more Conservative MPs stood down in winnable seats in coming weeks , he would consider making the short-lists women only .", "There were mutterings among some local activists in Surrey East last week after the shortlist drawn up by CCO in the contest to replace retiring MP Peter Ainsworth was made up of three women , a homosexual , and two ethnic minority men .", "The successful candidate , Sam Gyimah , a black entrepreneur , was hailed by Mr Cameron as a sign of how much the Conservative party had changed .", "But he described as `` unacceptable '' the fact that there were currently only 18 female Tory MPs out of a total of 193 , and predicted that there would be at least 60 after the general election .", "Mr Cameron said : `` If there are other resignations or retirements from Parliament , I would n't rule out using all-women shortlists .", "`` Sixty women MPs is a big breakthrough .", "Is it enough ?", "It will be 60 out of , hopefully , 350 . ''", "Mr Cameron said that his wife Samantha had been alarmed to see how few women were sitting on the Tory benches the first time she attended the Commons to watch him deliver a major speech .", "He said : `` Afterwards , she said to me ` When you look down , you do realise that you have got a long way to go to get the party to be more representative ' . ''", "Mrs Cameron will continue to work if he is elected Prime Minister , the Tory leader said , adding that she was `` incredibly successful '' as the creative director of Smythsons , an up-market stationery firm , and would want to continue with her career .", "Unlike Gordon Brown , Mr Cameron said that he would not be interviewed by Piers Morgan for his ITV interview show , because he felt that the format was not `` substantial '' enough .", "But he defended his custom of sharing personal information about his family , saying : `` I do believe in doing interviews where I answer questions .", "I think if you want to be prime minister you should open up .", "`` I am just not a great fan of the Piers Morgan format .", "I would rather do something a bit more substantial rather than that .", "But let 's see what comes up . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "If you just open the door and say 'you're welcome, come in,' and all they see is a wave of white [male] faces, it's not very welcoming\".", "_claim_name": "Parliament must be representative of our society and that requires a substantial increase in the number of women which only positive discrimination can achieve", "_doc_title": "David Cameron: I will impose all-women shortlists - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [12]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["As a man of colour , this only makes sense : if you did the same study with black and white people instead of men and women , I think you would find the same thing .", "Any group that is not part of the dominant power group would feel the same way about positive images of their group .", "This is something I 've been thinking about a lot .", "I believe that there is so much truth in it but that unfortunately it is incredibly hard for young , driven women to find such role models .", "The main obstacles are identifying suitable women mentors / role models , having access ( in one way or another ) to them and lastly , them wanting to be perceived as such .", "Personally , I think it is a real shame that most women are not naturally inclined to build strong networks and acts as mentors to each other .", "I 'm convinced that all of us would profit so much from strong female support networks ( in a learning / business contexts ) .", "Fortunately , with the rise of the Internet , there are now at least a few such networks and I 'm looking forward to these communities gaining even more momentum over the next few years .", "This is a strong message that taking simple actions as a woman ... or person of color etc. can have significant impacts .", "Very much the `` think global act local '' aphorism .", "and to findingada.com for leading me here .", "I guess that 's one of the things which we can label under the glass ceiling predicament of women 's rights .", "it 's not that we are n't naturally wired to seek networks and mentors , it is just that we are socialized to be docile and that 's it .", "Note : only a member of this blog may post a comment ."], "_citing_sentence": "It has been proven by a study at the University of Toronto, Canada, that women need inspirational female role models more than men; they need it to be demonstrated that it is possible to overcome barrier .", "_claim_name": "Female role models are needed urgently to raise aspirations among young women and change parliamentary practices", "_doc_title": "BPS Research Digest: Women need female role models", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Political parties could be set mandatory quotas for the number of women they put forward as parliamentary candidates .", "A cross-party review today urged that the move must be considered if there is not a `` significant '' increase in the number of female MPs in the forthcoming general election .", "Such a reform would be highly controversial - even voluntary all-women shortlists have only ever been used by the Labour Party .", "But the Speaker 's Conference suggested compulsion might be necessary to increase diversity in the House of Commons .", "It also called for the introduction of candidate lists that exclude white people , although they would not be mandatory and it is unclear whether any parties would adopt them .", "Chaired by Commons Speaker John Bercow , the Speaker 's Conference was commissioned by Gordon Brown to investigate the under-representation in the House of women , ethnic minorities and the disabled .", "In its report today , it said : `` If the political parties fail to make significant progress on women 's representation at the 2010 general election , Parliament should give serious consideration to the introduction of prescriptive quotas , ensuring that all political parties adopt some form of equality guarantee in time for the following general election . ''", "It added : `` We recognise that equality guarantees do not sit easily within some political party cultures .", "`` Yet , to date , the all-women shortlist has been the only mechanism to have produced a significant step-change in representation in the House of Commons in a relatively short period of time . ''", "The committee also called for the equivalent of all-women shortlists to be introduced for black and ethnic minority candidates .", "It acknowledged that the idea of all-BME ( black and minority ethnic ) shortlists was `` controversial '' .", "There were concerns that people might think certain communities could only by represented effectively by one of its own members , or that BME candidates should not stand in majority-white areas .", "`` Such beliefs would undermine the fundamental principle that an MP represents all his or her constituents regardless of their identity , background or political allegiance , '' the committee said .", "`` Nonetheless we note that all-women shortlists were , and to an extent remain , controversial yet have had positive effects overall .", "`` We believe that similar enabling legislation could be created to allow all-BME shortlists to be used , if and when political parties judge that their use would be reasonable , in order to achieve greater parity of representation for BME communities in the House of Commons . ''", "The committee called for another review of the Commons ' late sittings to make MPs ' work more family friendly , potentially with the introduction of `` normal business hours '' .", "While the Commons seldom sits into the early hours any more - following reforms introduced last decade - debates continue until about 10.30 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays .", "The Speaker 's Conference said : `` Ideally , sitting time for the main chamber should be brought in line with what is considered to be normal business hours . ''", "Failing that , it said , deferred voting should be dramatically extended so that MPs did not have to be within the vicinity of the chamber whenever there was an important vote imminent .", "The committee also called for `` modern methods of voting '' to be considered .", "Other recommendations by the Speaker 's Conference included : : : Limits on the amount of money would-be candidates could incur during the selection process : : Bursaries to support people who would not otherwise be able to afford the costs of becoming a candidate : : Legislation to allow prospective parliamentary candidates to take unpaid leave from work : : The opportunity for gay and lesbian MPs to have civil partnerships within the Palace of Westminster .", "Anne Begg , vice chair of the Speaker 's Conference , said : `` The case for equality of representation has not yet been won .", "`` We welcome the progress which each of the main parties has made over recent years towards ensuring that its selection procedures are more professional and objective then they have been in the past .", "`` Yet the fact is that , in most cases , it remains more difficult for a candidate who does not fit the ` white , male , middle class ' norm to be selected , particularly if the seat is considered winnable .", "`` Our recommendations are aimed at putting that right , and I urge the Government , political parties and Parliament itself to implement them without delay . ''", "Harriet Harman , the Labour 's deputy leader and the Minister for Women and Equality , said : `` Society has changed and the House needs to change too .", "`` We should take all the steps we can to increase diversity in Parliament , which must reflect the country in which we live and the public we serve .", "`` We agree that there is a real need to build on the desire for greater representation in our democratic structures .", "`` This is a democratic deficit - the missing faces on the green benches are the missing voices in the chamber . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Compulsion is necessary to begin to achieve parity of representation.", "_claim_name": "Parliament must be representative of our society and that requires a substantial increase in the number of women which only positive discrimination can achieve", "_doc_title": "Call for all-women shortlists | UK Politics | News | The Independent", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Oliver King , political editor", "Tuesday 15 November 2005 13.19 EST", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 20.49 EDT", "The Hansard Society study examining the role and representation of women in public life concludes that the number of women in the House of Commons could actually fall if action is not taken by all the political parties at Westminster .", "Sarah Childs , the joint author of the report , argues that positive discrimination to ensure equal representation of women is vital for the reason of justice and fairness .", "Launching the report , she said : `` Unless all political parties select women in their vacant held and most winnable seats at the next general election , we are likely to witness a fall in the number of women MPs in 2009 ; unless all parties use equality guarantees , such as all-women shortlists , it is most unlikely that they will select women in those vacant seats . ''", "At the last general election , only the Labour party used all-female shortlists and , despite losing seats , it sent three more women MPs to Westminster .", "At the 2005 general election , 98 Labour women were returned , compared with 17 Conservative women MPs , 10 from the Liberal Democrats and three from the Northern Ireland parties .", "The 128 women in the House of Commons constitute 20 % of all MPs .", "In a global ranking of parliaments based on the proportion of female members , Westminster is placed 47th , way behind the Welsh assembly , where 50 % of members are women , and the Scottish parliament where the figure is 40 % .", "The report , called Women at the Top 2005 , congratulates the Conservative Women 's Organisation ( CWO ) for its recent Damascene conversion to all-women shortlists after standing opposed to the idea for a long time .", "Both candidates for the Conservative leadership angered the CWO last week on their appearance on BBC Radio 4 's Women 's Hour .", "Both David Cameron and David Davis rejected the idea of imposing all-women shortlists on Conservative associations .", "Mr Cameron said : `` I believe in positive action , not positive discrimination .", "There are three things the party needs to address : the issue of women candidates ; particular policies which affect women , such as pay and childcare ; and the way we conduct politics .", "Women are particularly put off by the Punch and Judy show . ''", "Mr Davis agreed , saying : `` I do not believe in positive discrimination .", "So I would invest the full authority of my leadership in persuasion , not in imposition .", "We have to pass the decency test , which is particularly important to women . ''", "The Hansard Society report compares Labour , which supported all-women shortlists with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who did n't .", "It concludes that change will be limited and incremental in the absence of measures that guarantee parity of representation .", "The report also calls on the government to support the extension of the Sex Discrimination ( Election Candidates ) Act , as it only guarantees the legality of all-women shortlists until 2015 ."], "_citing_sentence": "Indeed, a recent report by the Hansard Society said that the numbers of women in UK Parliament could fall unless positive action is taken.", "_claim_name": "Parliament must be representative of our society and that requires a substantial increase in the number of women which only positive discrimination can achieve", "_doc_title": "All-women shortlists a must, says report | Politics | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Harriet Harman sets out plans to MPs", "Equality minister Harriet Harman has set out plans to allow firms to discriminate in favour of female and ethnic minority job candidates .", "She said firms should be able to choose a woman over a man of equal ability if they wanted to - or vice versa .", "The new Equalities Bill will also force public sector employers to disclose the gender pay gap in their organisation .", "The plans , which will be adopted in England , Wales and Scotland , will also ban all age discrimination .", "Setting out the plans in a Commons statement , Ms Harman said the proposed bill - due later this year - would `` address the serious inequalities that still exist '' in the UK .", "` Old boy network '", "They would increase fairness and diversity and help Britain compete in the global economy by being more open , she told MPs .", "`` A society which is equal and fair is one which is more at ease with itself , '' she added .", "This bill should seek to unite not divide - it has good intentions but its lack of detail and clarity is disappointing", "Theresa MayShadow Commons leader", "Mark Easton on the gender gapQ & A ; : Equalities Bill", "The plans would also bring together all previous discrimination law into a single piece of legislation which she said would cut red tape for business .", "Allowing `` positive action '' would help organisations such as the police better reflect the communities they serve by recruiting more female and ethnic minority officers , said Ms Harman .", "But if , for example , a headmistress wanted to discriminate in favour of a male teacher to balance an all female team that would be allowed too .", "Asked how she could justify discrimination in the name of equality , she said she wanted tackle `` patterns of discrimination '' in the workforce and ensure firms were `` not just ` entrenched in the old boy network ' '' .", "Age discrimination in the workplace has been illegal since 2006 , but the new legislation will tackle more widespread forms of age-related prejudice .", "FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME", "More from Today programme It also aims to close the gender pay gap by forcing firms to publish pay rates .", "Female part-time workers still earned 40 % less per hour than their full-time male counterparts , Ms Harman told Today BBC Radio 4 's Today programme .", "`` Do we think she is 40 % less intelligent , less committed , less hard-working , less qualified ?", "It 's not the case .", "It 's entrenched discrimination .", "It 's allowed to persist because it 's all swept under the carpet . ''", "The bill will also seek to stop pensioners being denied NHS treatment because of their age , although doctors will still be able to refuse treatment if they believe there are sound clinical reason for doing so .", "HAVE YOUR SAY It 's a very artificial way to fix the problem", "Johnny , East London"], "_citing_sentence": "For example, Harriet Harman is the first MP to seriously confront the gaps in the treatment of women and other minorities in the workplace.", "_claim_name": "Women must gain positions in Parliament quickly as they would raise awareness about 'less important' issues such as family and employment rights", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Harman pushes discrimination plan", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 43, "_topic_name": "This House would introduce positive discrimination to put more women in parliament"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Try two trial issues of The Atlantic with our compliments .", "For us to continue writing great stories , we need to display ads .", "Please select the extension that is blocking ads .", "Please follow the steps below", "Europe 's arbitrary post-colonial borders left Africans bunched into countries that do n't represent their heritage , a contradiction that still troubles them today .", "When the nations of Nigeria and Cameroon went to settle a border dispute in 2002 , in which both countries claimed an oil-rich peninsula about the size of El Paso , they did n't cite ancient cultural claims to the land , nor the preferences of its inhabitants , nor even their own national interests .", "Rather , in taking their case to the International Court of Justice , they cited a pile of century-old European paperwork .", "A short film about a team of scientists and their mission to build a powerful telescope to explore exoplanets .", "Fulfilling what might be the Russian autocrat 's dearest wish , Trump has openly questioned whether the U.S. should keep its commitments to NATO .", "The Republican nominee for president , Donald J. Trump , has chosen this week to unmask himself as a de facto agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin , a KGB-trained dictator who seeks to rebuild the Soviet empire by undermining the free nations of Europe , marginalizing NATO , and ending America 's reign as the world 's sole superpower .", "I am not suggesting that Donald Trump is employed by Putin -- though his campaign manager , Paul Manafort , was for many years on the payroll of the Putin-backed former president of Ukraine , Viktor Yanukovych .", "I am arguing that Trump 's understanding of America 's role in the world aligns with Russia 's geostrategic interests ; that his critique of American democracy is in accord with the Kremlin 's critique of American democracy ; and that he shares numerous ideological and dispositional proclivities with Putin -- for one thing , an obsession with the sort of `` strength '' often associated with dictators .", "Trump is making it clear that , as president , he would allow Russia to advance its hegemonic interests across Europe and the Middle East .", "His election would immediately trigger a wave of global instability -- much worse than anything we are seeing today -- because America 's allies understand that Trump would likely dismantle the post-World War II U.S.-created international order .", "Many of these countries , feeling abandoned , would likely pursue nuclear weapons programs on their own , leading to a nightmare of proliferation .", "Why did n't the most talented , most influential Republican politicians -- men like Chris Christie , Tom Cotton , and Paul Ryan -- do more to stop Donald Trump ?", "The neediness of politicians has always fascinated me ; the pathological desire for relevance ; the plasticity of belief in the service of self-aggrandizement ; the depths plumbed in order to stave off insignificance , which can be as frightening as non-existence itself .", "One of my favorite politicians , Chris Christie , the governor of New Jersey , is almost morbidly needy .", "His desire for attention made him into a brilliant retailer , mainly of himself , but also of his ideas , and intermittently , of his state .", "His neediness made him greatly entertaining .", "But it also caused him to betray his own principles .", "I recognize that it took millions of Republican primary voters to bring America to this frightening moment , a moment in which a preposterous grifter of authoritarian bent whose mental health is the subject of pervasive and anxious speculation , has become a major-party nominee for president .", "But it was men like Christie who were indispensable in the creation of this moment .", "Donald J. Trump could have been stopped .", "I believe he could have been stopped early , by a concerted effort to unify the party behind a single , viable , non-fraudulent candidate ; and he could have been stopped late , if Republicans like Christie had not crumpled before Trump .", "A handful of honorable men did , in fact , try to stop him .", "But they were too few in number , and too marginal to make a difference .", "Collectively , the most influential and smartest Republican elected officials -- people who fall into the general category of Them That Knew Better -- just might have been able to devise a way to prevent what is happening from happening .", "But abdication of responsibility and self-debasement in the pursuit of power were the order of the day .", "In a week full of political propaganda , here 's messaging done delightfully .", "In a segment for James Corden 's `` Carpool Karaoke '' series that aired last night , Michelle Obama told the late-night host that this was one of the only times she 's been near the steering wheel of an automobile since arriving at the White House : `` I 've been in a car maybe months ago with my daughter who learned to drive , and we rocked out with her .", "But that was the only time in seven and a half years that I 've been in the passenger seat , listening to music , rocking out like this . ''", "It 's one little anecdote that does so much : remind of how long we 've all lived with this first family , of the isolating conditions they exist in , and also of their relatability as parents , as teenagers , and as people who love belting Beyonc\u00e9 on their commute .", "The exchange also provides a near metaphor for what Michelle Obama has done with this instantly viral Late Late Show segment .", "She 's technically in the passenger seat , but really , she 's driving the car .", "Taking his biographer 's claim seriously", "This week , the co-author of Donald Trump 's autobiography said in The New Yorker that if he were writing The Art of the Deal today , it would be a very different book with a very different title : The Sociopath .", "To title a person 's life story with that label is a serious accusation , and one worth considering .", "The stakes are high .", "Tony Schwartz , the writer of the best-selling book , said that he `` genuinely believe -LSB- s -RSB- that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes , there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization . ''", "In that light , Schwartz said he feels `` deep remorse '' at having `` put lipstick on a pig . ''", "That seemed to me to be something of a contradiction to the charge of sociopathy , as pigs have been found to show signs of empathy .", "If you call a pig by name , it will come and play with you , reciprocating affection like a dog .", "So which is it , pig or sociopath ?", "The Republican nominee 's comments to The New York Times are likely to be received very differently by his base than by Washington 's elites .", "Imagine that President Obama summoned the New York Times to the Oval Office and demeaned the United States , declared his support for an authoritarian leader , threatened to expose U.S. allies to Russian control , and offered a one-word solution to a globe afire : `` Meetings . ''", "Donald Trump 's head would explode .", "Obama hates America !", "He 's leading from behind !", "And yet these are the positions the Republican presidential candidate presented in an extraordinary interview on the eve of accepting his party 's presidential nomination .", "Setting aside his hypocrisy and reckless rhetoric , the interview offers a chance to understand Trump .", "These comments are consistent with his populism -- they appeal to his base and , more importantly , could find appeal beyond his nominating coalition .", "On the final night in Cleveland , Donald Trump will finally take the podium as the official GOP nominee .", "Why lime juice and sunlight do n't mix", "Last month , on a hot Saturday afternoon , Justin Fehntrich showed up to bartend at a swanky Fire Island Pines estate .", "The event he was working , a fundraiser for an LGBT-advocacy nonprofit , had about 100 guests and two other bartenders .", "He got the bar with the best view : the one in the sun , wedged between the sprawling , sparkling pool and the breezy ocean shore .", "Just as he and the other bartenders were about to prep their stations , a representative from the event 's official liquor sponsor asked if they would n't mind squeezing four bags of limes .", "Justin offered to drive to the supermarket and buy a bottle of juice , but the rep insisted on fresh , so Justin and another bartender sliced and squeezed about 100 limes into pitchers for cocktails .", "Donald Trump 's apparent rejection of the cornerstone of global security after World War II has stunned U.S. partners in the alliance .", "Updated at 10:21 a.m. ET", "America 's NATO allies may be on their own after November if Russia attacks them .", "Donald Trump , the GOP presidential nominee , appeared to make U.S. military support for NATO member states conditional on whether those states have met their financial obligations to the bloc , which has served as the cornerstone of global security after World War II .", "The comments , in an interview with The New York Times , represent a marked departure from the security policy of every presidential nominee from either of the two major parties since NATO 's founding in 1949 .", "The Times asked Trump : `` If Russia came over the border into Estonia or Latvia , Lithuania , places that Americans do n't think about all that often , would you come to their immediate military aid ? ''", "The full exchange is worth reading : It was n't so long ago that the Turkish leader was seen as a model democrat in the Islamic world .", "It was n't supposed to be like this .", "In October 2004 , the European Commission offered Turkey a formal invitation to begin negotiations for membership in that exclusive club of democracies , the European Union .", "The Justice and Development Party ( AKP ) , which had been in power for just two years at the time , hailed the commission 's offer as validation of its self-described Muslim Democrat worldview .", "Yet only a few years after that triumphant moment , Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who was prime minister for 11 years before becoming president in 2014 -- began to veer away from the political reforms that were a condition of the EU 's offer , and away from the promise of a democratic transition in Turkey .", "The authoritarian approach to politics that Erdogan has pursued for the better part of the last decade seems destined to accelerate after last week 's failed coup d'\u00e9tat , as the president directs a widespread crackdown against his enemies , both real and perceived .", "Turkey today looks less like a liberal European democracy and more like the kind of one-man autocracy commonly found in the Middle East .", "How did this country , which so many journalists , government officials , and analysts had once believed to be a model for the Arab world , become a case study in `` re-authoritarianization '' ?", "It was supposed to be Indiana Governor Mike Pence 's big night -- but all eyes were on the unrepentant Texas senator , instead .", "CLEVELAND -- Senator Ted Cruz strode out on stage at the Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday to thunderous , extended applause .", "He left , smiling tightly , to equally thunderous , equally extended boos .", "The applause was Cruz 's reward for appearing at the Republican National Convention hosted by Donald Trump .", "The boos were his penalty for refusing to endorse Trump during the speech .", "It was the latest stunning turn at a convention that remains stubbornly fractured , despite pleas to paper over differences on three straight nights .", "The GOP simply is n't ready to unify .", "The rapturous reception when Cruz came out was striking but not so strange .", "After all , even though the feud between Cruz and Trump grew increasingly bitter as the primary campaign went on , polls showed substantial overlap between their two voter bases .", "But it became clear from the start of the speech that Cruz , like a trio of other famous Texans , was n't ready to make nice .", "A short documentary profiles the difficult lives of senior citizens who have lived in the city for decades .", "Welcome to Inishturk , where they really do n't like Donald Trump .", "It takes three words ."], "_citing_sentence": "Clearly the people would surely much prefer to have their destiny in their own hands than letting the borders be settled by an international court pouring over 19th century maps.", "_claim_name": "Redrawing could be democratic", "_doc_title": "The Dividing of a Continent: Africa's Separatist Problem - The Atlantic", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 5, 6]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual", "opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Amid furore over the declaration of autonomy by the people of Ogoni and Bakassi , many still believe those are only indicative of the restless desire for change among several groups in the country .", "Even though the Nigerian government and the media seemed to downplay it , the August 2 declaration of autonomy by the people of Ogoniland just screamed out at the whole country .", "The images of the crowds of men , women , and children celebrating the insignias of independence rekindled memories of the people 's past struggle for local self-government .", "Mr. Goodluck Diigbo , who led the August 2 declaration , said it was a proclamation of local autonomy within Nigeria and in line with the Ogoni Bill of Rights .", "In August 1990 , the Ogoni Bill of Rights was signed by Ogoni elders and presented to the then military government .", "It called for `` political control of Ogoni affairs by Ogoni people , control and use of Ogoni economic resources for Ogoni development , adequate and direct representation as of right for Ogoni people in all Nigerian national institutions , and the right to protect the Ogoni environment and ecology from further degradation . ''", "The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People was formed that year to engage in a non-violent pursuit of the special rights of the people within Nigeria .", "MOSOP was led by playwright , environmentalist and author , Mr. Ken Saro-Wiwa , who was slain on November 10 , 1995 by the military dictator Sani Abacha in an outrageous judicial decision that was condemned worldwide as `` judicial murder . ''", "Diigbo , who is described as a factional president of MOSOP , in his statement declaring `` Ogoni autonomy '' , cited , among other things , the degradation of Ogoni environment and failure of the Federal Government to implement the United Nations Environment Programme report on Ogoni as motivation for the move .", "He explained in a press statement published in MOSOP Media , `` The urgency behind the declaration is that self-government for Ogoni was overdue in view of many important issues bordering on indigenous rights of the Ogoni people being tampered with now .", "The UNEP Ogoni Report is one out of many . ''", "According to Diigbo , `` The Ogoni declaration of self-government now guarantees the Ogoni people the right to participate in decision-making in all matters which would affect their rights , through representatives chosen by Ogonis in accordance with own procedures , as well as to maintain and develop all our own indigenous decision-making institutions , which we started to set up since 2011 .", "`` It is my hope that this self-government will help to provide just and fair redress to decades of deprivation of our indigenous rights . ''", "Diigbo was addressing jubilant crowds at Bane , hometown of Saro-Wiwa , on August 4 , two days after the independence declaration .", "`` Importantly , Ogoni can no longer accept dictation , any institution , government and corporation , interested in investment in Ogoni will enjoy transparent partnership , because we will end corruption and irresponsive governance in Ogoni .", "This means partnership will be based on free , prior and informed consent before any of our partners adopt and implement any project , and before the national government adopt any legislative or administrative measures that may affect Ogoni people , '' Diigbo maintained .", "However , Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State , where Ogoniland is currently located , accused Diigbo of engaging in treasonable felony .", "Amaechi said , `` On Ogoni autonomy , I wish them well .", "Ogoni autonomy is not achievable .", "The man ( Diigbo ) who declared Ogoni autonomy will run into the bush tomorrow morning .", "What Diigbo is doing is treasonable felony .", "You do not declare autonomy on the pages of newspapers and magazines or on radio and television . ''", "But Diigbo issued another statement two days later , clarifying that he meant autonomy within the Nigerian state , quoting United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Ethnic Nationalities .", "Amaechi questioned Diigbo 's claims of acting on behalf of the generality of Ogoni people .", "Though , the Ogoni autonomy declaration is condemned in government circles , many believe Federal Government 's continued neglect of the people provided the push to undertake the course of self-government .", "Despite promises of healing and rebuilding of Ogoniland since the dawn of the Fourth Republic , there has been very little effort to meet the economic , political , and environmental aspirations of the people .", "On August 4 last year , the UN released its report outlining remediation measures needed to reclaim Ogoni lands despoiled by decades of oil exploration and exploitation .", "The UNEP report said clean of the soil will take 30 years .", "But the government of President Goodluck Jonathan , himself an indigene of the Niger Delta and under whom the UNEP report was released , has yet to seriously commit to its implementation .", "Different Strategies , One Destiny", "Even if within Ogoniland criticism rang out against the autonomy declaration by Diigbo , not a few , including the critics themselves , acknowledged that the Federal Government has not been honest and open regarding its commitments to Ogoni .", "The statement signed by chairman of the Provisional Council of MOSOP , Professor Ben Naanen , and the secretary , Dr. Meshach Karanwi , said the declaration of autonomy went against the spirit and letter of the Ogoni Bill of Rights .", "But it acknowledged , `` Ogoni people are dissatisfied with their condition in our country , Nigeria .", "But they do not believe the sovereign option is the answer .", "They are convinced that their non-violent struggle and the support of the international community will eventually make the Nigerian government respond positively to Ogoni 's legitimate demands . ''", "However , president of Ogoni Youth Council , Comrade Marvin Yobana , told THISDAY in an interview , `` Although political autonomy was mentioned in the Ogoni Bill of Rights , that does not mean secession , they did not ask for their own country .", "They only asked for more constituency , more representation because of the geographical nature of Ogoniland . ''", "There is a growing impression within the oil-rich Niger Delta that the Federal Government is displaying bias in favour of groups that chose armed struggle against peaceful agitation .", "Ogonis have since the time of Saro-Wiwa chosen non-violent struggle , and has made many feel they are not speaking the language that the Nigerian government understands .", "Enter Bakassi Freedom Fighters", "The people of Bakassi , too , have been peaceful in their agitation for a fairer deal within Nigeria .", "Perhaps , encouraged by the Ogoni and prompted by feelings of frustration about alleged neglect of peaceful agitators , the people of Bakassi in Cross River State declared their own local independence on August 6 - a few days after the `` Ogoni Autonomy Day '' declaration of August 2 .", "Natives of Bakassi have been uncomfortable with the Nigerian government 's perceived indifference to their socio-economic and political plight since the ceding of the oil-rich peninsular to Cameroun .", "The French Revolution , which pioneered a large part of the political events of the modern world , unleashed forces that shaped the path taken by Europe and the rest of the world for over two centuries running .", "The revolution that provoked a clash between the monarchy and nobility over the latter 's refusal to compromise its immunity from tax payment has since become instructive as a vital impetus for revolts by the oppressed .", "The problems that produce revolution are many and vary from country to country .", "They include marginalisation , oppression , injustice , annexation , religious differences and its associated sectarian violence .", "Nigeria has its fair share of some of these tendencies .", "From the estuary of Cross River State , off the Gulf of Guinea , a revolution is brewing .", "The simmering crisis has its roots in the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroun following the judgement of the International Court of Justice on October 10 , 2002 .", "Leading this revolution is Bakassi Freedom Fighters , a group of militants opposed to the ceding of their ancestral home to a foreign country .", "Led by Ekpe Ekpenyong Oku , the self styled Commander General of BFF , Bakassi people on August 6 made good their threat of hoisting the Bakassi national flag at Dayspring Island in declaration of the sovereign state of Bakassi .", "It also established a radio station , which broadcasts on shortwave to nationals of the new nation .", "Its flag of blue , white and red colours is festooned with stars - signifying the promise of a rising nation .", "Bakassi radio broadcasts on 4 .", "2MHz and 5.2 MHz bands .", "In his maiden broadcast to the new nation , Oku declared , `` Please , for the umpteenth time , we plead with our people to leave Abana now .", "The fight is going to be the thickest and fiercest now that our brothers from the northern and eastern borders have arrived .", "Bakassi we hail thee . ''", "Oku called on `` men of goodwill , human rights organisations and the indigenous people of Bakassi to join hands in resisting and fighting the present international conspiracy .", "Ours will be a classical story of the elephant and the ant .", "The elephant will soon be driven frantic with ants all over its enormous bulk .", "The elephant will be so harassed and will find no respite and dash itself against a tree trunk .", "`` Throughout history , injured people have had to resort to arms in their self-defence where peaceful negotiations fail .", "Bakassi people are no exception .", "Our right to self-determination is imminent .", "Some will die , but some will live to reap from our labour . ''", "The broadcast took both the natives and residents of nearby Calabar unawares , as they never anticipated such a bold action .", "The hoisting of the flag and broadcast gave substance to the march towards self-determination and has become their spring board .", "Road to Self-rule", "The search for self-rule for Bakassi began in 2006 when the Green Tree Agreement was signed .", "A nascent group , Bakassi Solidarity Front , soon emerged on the scene to sensitise the aborigines on the implications of the agreement ceding their territory to Cameroun .", "The group soon became a rallying point for the freedom of Bakassi people .", "Led by Tony Ene , BSF wielded so much influence among the natives that the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo became uncomfortable .", "Security operatives were unleashed on him .", "They trailed him everywhere he went .", "He was later killed on the Calabar-Itu Road in what many suspected to be an orchestrated motor accident .", "Unlike the case of Ogoni , the declaration of Bakassi independence seems to have the blessing of most of the natives of the oil-rich island .", "Their support is not without reason .", "Torn between a hostile supposedly new compatriots , Cameroun , and an unsympathetic Nigerian neighbours , the people appear left with no other option that turn to God and take their destiny in their own hands .", "Since August 14 , 2008 when Nigeria 's sovereignty over Bakassi became history , the displaced people of the island have known no peace .", "With limited access to water to ply their traditional occupation of fishing , virtually no roof over their heads , and threatened livelihood , the people have become like refugees seething with anger .", "A combination of these frustrations has pushed the people to the wall , prompting the current reaction in the form of a quest for self-rule .", "The declaration of independence is the climax of a long term aspiration , given that the Nigerian government , which willingly gave out Bakassi , has in the last 10 years shown a rather nonchalant attitude to the plight of Bakassi .", "The people of Bakassi allege that neither the Nigerian government nor the United Nations has kept faith with the Green Tree Agreement signed in 2006 , despite the fast approach of the October 10 , 2012 deadline for the proposition of any reviews to the agreement by the two affected countries .", "Unenthusiastic About Appeal", "Abuja has made no concrete efforts to appeal the ICJ ruling within the 10 years allowed .", "The nonchalant attitude of the Federal Government of Nigeria , according to BFF , is enough evidence that Nigeria has concluded the Bakassi question .", "Their conviction is further accentuated by the silence of President Goodluck Jonathan to calls to appeal the ICJ judgement before the expiration of the October 10 , 2012 deadline .", "Yet Jonathan knows so much about the ceding of Bakassi , as that responsibility fell under his office when he was the vice president of the country under late President Umaru Musa Yar ` Adua .", "The president also has ample understanding of the Akwa Ibom/Cross River oil wells imbroglio .", "Third Term Connection", "The people of Bakassi have not failed to blame the Obasanjo government for giving them out to Cameroun , allegedly , in pursuance of his failed third term bid .", "They say he did everything to curry favour with the Western powers in support of the scheme .", "Bakassi Natives Assembly , the pan-Bakassi liberation group , alleges that Obasanjo 's implementation of the ICJ verdict , which they believe was merely advisory , was too hasty .", "Many countries have failed to implement such judgements without such nations suffering any sanctions .", "To the group , Bakassi was easily ceded because it fell within the minority part of the country .", "Though , there were robust resettlement plans for the people of Bakassi who elected to remain with Nigeria after the ceding of the territory to Cameroun , most of the promises came to naught .", "Many of the natives were abandoned to the elements .", "Houses at the Bakassi Resettlement Camp at Akwa Obutong are grossly inadequate to accommodate the army of returnees from Abana and other creek communities of the peninsula .", "Those in charge of the operation said the N1 billion , which the federal government made available for the construction of the camp , was not enough , even with the amount added by the Cross River State government .", "But most of the people preferred to be resettled at Dayspring Island , which suited their aquatic lifestyle .", "Dayspring Island is part of the peninsula not ceded to Cameroun .", "Considering the unfriendly nature of the aborigines of the three council wards of Ikang that formed the nucleus of New Bakassi Local Government Area , it is difficult for the settlers not to suffer political marginalisation .", "The people want to be rehabilitated in a virgin land for the preservation of their identity rather than the current merger .", "But the fund for such rehabilitation is the problem .", "The Cross River State government is opposed to the action of BFF .", "Governor Liyel Imoke said the declaration was not necessary because the issues raised by the people were being addressed by government .", "The governor added that his administration will not tolerate a further balkanisation of the state .", "Imoke who went to Abuja soon after the Bakassi independence declaration to brief the presidency on the development did not disclose the Federal Government 's response .", "But the paramount ruler of Bakassi Local Government Area , Etinyin Etim Okn Edet , in his reaction , confirmed that his people were ready to become an independent sovereignty if the Nigerian government was not ready to guarantee their welfare and safety .", "He said the declaration of independence had the support of all well meaning people of Bakassi , who had become unsure of their citizenship in Nigeria given the Federal Government 's silence over all their requests for proper accommodation within the country .", "Edet told the visiting House of Representatives Committee on Treaties and Agreement that his people never really had problems with Nigeria , but Cameroun , which according to him , was trying to force loyalty and patriotism among the people .", "`` But if Nigeria is not ready or willing to care for us and guarantee our peace , we can take our destiny in our own hands .", "Our national flag , coat of arm , national anthem are ready , even our radio station is now broadcasting .", "We can go our own way if Nigeria does not want us anymore , '' said the monarch , who is also the chairman of Cross River State Traditional Rulers Council .", "`` The bombs thrown about by the Boko Haram people in some parts of the country are relatively small compared with the ones my people will unleash if President Goodluck Jonathan is still docile over the plight and petitions of my people .", "Many ethnic groups in Nigeria are looking for how to dismember this country .", "Bakassi would be one of them if care is not taken .", "If that happens , Nigerians would bear us witness for having been patient enough . ''", "He said Bakassi people have no affinity with Cameroun and wondered how they would fit into the government of that country .", "To Edet , the search for self-rule was a last resort in the face of the problems confronting Bakassi people .", "Chairman of the House committee , Hon. Yacoob Bush Alebiosu , had earlier informed the royal father that the committee was in the state to get firsthand information on the issue of Bakassi independence .", "Alebiosu said , `` My committee is newly set up to look into all the treaties and agreements entered into by our country , including the vexed Bakassi issue .", "I want to let you know that no treaties shall have the force of law in this country if they had not been domesticated .", "Therefore , since the ICJ verdict on Bakassi has not been domesticated by the National Assembly , you have nothing to fear as my committee will go down to ensure that we shall not lose Bakassi .", "We are going to push the presidency into action , including appealing the October 10 , 2002 judgement . ''", "Members of the committee visited Bakassi including Ikang the border community .", "Common Complaints , Different Methods", "But a group , Bakassi Peoples General Assembly , has dissociated itself from the declaration of the sovereign state of Bakassi .", "It sued for the acceleration of their resettlement in the location of their choice , instead of a declaration of independence .", "At a press conference in Lagos on August 17 , the group , led by former Special Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo , Senator Florence Ita-Giwa , said the people of Bakassi had no intention of seceding from the Federal Republic of Nigeria .", "A statement read by Ita-Giwa and signed by 21 Bakassi leaders advised against violence with regard to the Bakassi issue , saying , `` This will further exacerbate the already delicate security issues confronting the nation .", "We are Nigerians and descendants of the Efik Kingdom of Calabar in Cross River State .", "`` Our concern primarily is to ensure that our people are given a permanent abode ; not to delve into controversial issues that would hardly yield any positive impact towards that goal .", "This mindset defines our reaction to the motion at the House of Representatives seeking a review of the International Court of Justice ruling that ceded Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun .", "`` Of course , it would be a pleasant surprise if any campaign returns us to our ancestral homes .", "Yet we do not think that such effort should overshadow the need to permanently resettle our people .", "The need is of immediate nature whereas the possibility of a reversal of the ICJ verdict is more or less a remote hope that lies in the distant future even though it has all its merits . ''", "Bakassi Peoples General Assembly demanded urgent and expeditious development of the unceded parts of Bakassi known as Day Spring Island 1 and 2 as well as Kwa Island for the comprehensive resettlement of Bakassi indigenes whom it said had since 2006 been roaming hopelessly .", "`` It is our contention that this responsibility be carried out forthwith by the Federal Government and the United Nations as well as all countries that were signatories to the Green Tree Agreement .", "We make a legitimate demand on the Federal Government to initiate a programme of ` Accelerated Human Capacity Development ' of the people of Bakassi , especially the youth , in the same way the Federal Government has treated ex-militants in the amnesty programme , '' the statement added .", "The group also condemned what it termed the `` systematic marginalisation of Bakassi people with regard to top federal and state government appointments . ''", "Hard Road to Freedom", "The Government of Cameroun is said to have positioned a security mast at Abana , the former headquarters of Bakassi Local Government Area , for round-the-clock 24 hours monitoring of movements in and out of Camerounian territory .", "Given this scenario , and the opposition from the Nigerian government , it is certain that BFF faces a tough long road ahead in its quest for sovereignty .", "But Ogoniland and Bakassi are only symptomatic of the growing pressure for local autonomy among Nigeria 's diverse nationalities .", "The full import of the declarations of autonomy by the people of Ogoni and Bakassi are yet to unfold .", "But analysts say the roots of the regional emotions lie in growing discontent over the general direction of things in the polity .", "The calls for true federalism , state police , and fiscal federalism as well the insurgency in parts of northern Nigeria and the recent armed struggle by groups in the Niger Delta have been described as manifestations of the burgeoning pressure for local self-government .", "Many experts have suggested a national discourse by major groups in the country to reach a state of agreement on the various issues threatening unity and peaceful coexistence in the world 's most populous black country .", "`` We can not be dealing with problems piecemeal .", "We can not run away from a national conference , '' says Colonel Anthony Nyiam ( rtd ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "For example much of the Bakassi homeland was ceded by Nigeria to Cameroon as a result of an International Court of Justice ruling on the colonial border and many people are asking Nigeria to resettle them as they don't share Cameroon's culture.", "_claim_name": "Redrawing could be democratic", "_doc_title": "Nigeria: Bakassi, Ogoni and the Gathering Storm of Autonomy - allAfrica.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [49, 97, 99]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 44, "_topic_name": "This House would redefine African borders to reflect ethnic groups"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Statistics continue to be released showing a slump in both US military recruitment and the rate of re-enlistment by personnel whose contract has expired .", "The worst affected branch is the active , or full-time Army , followed by the part-time Army Reserve and National Guard .", "Major General Michael Rochelle , the US Army 's recruiting commander , told a May 20 press conference : `` Today 's conditions represent the most challenging conditions we have seen in recruiting in my 33 years in this uniform ... We now have very , very low propensity to enlist , both on the part of young Americans and likewise on the part of influencers ... to recommend Army service . ''", "According to Rochelle , polling among `` influencers '' -- the parents , sports coaches and other adult role models of 17-to-24-year old Americans -- shows a sharp decline in the number who are prepared to encourage youth to enlist .", "Before September 11 , 2001 , the rate was 22 percent .", "It has now fallen to 14 percent .", "In April , the active Army missed its recruitment target by 42 percent , while the Army Reserve fell short 37 percent .", "On an annual basis , the Army is 16 percent behind schedule to recruit the 80,000 new soldiers it requires by September 1 .", "From October 2003 to September 2004 , the Army National Guard missed its target of 56,000 new recruits by close to 7,000 .", "In the final months of 2004 , only two thirds of the required number of recruits joined up .", "Unprecedented financial incentives are now being offered to people prepared to enlist in the National Guard .", "Former military personnel are being offered a $ 15,000 bonus , as are serving National Guard soldiers who re-enlist for six years .", "People who have never served in the military are being offered a $ 10,000 bonus .", "The recruitment slump has continued , however .", "The Marine Corp , which was used extensively last year to fight some of the worst combat in Iraq , is also being affected .", "This year , it missed its recruitment target for four consecutive months for the first time in 10 years .", "Alongside the recruitment slump , the rate at which the military retained existing personnel through re-enlistment fell in 2004 to 63.2 percent , compared with 75.1 percent in 2003 .", "The re-enlistment rate in one Indiana National Guard infantry battalion sent to Iraq fell from 85 percent in 2003 to just 35 percent in 2004 .", "Of particular concern to the Pentagon , the number of junior officers leaving the Army at the end of their initial enlistment has jumped .", "A total of 8.7 percent of Army lieutenants and captains left in 2004 for example -- the highest rate since 2001 .", "There is no doubt as to what the major factor is behind the recruitment and re-enlistment crisis : the continuing quagmire in Iraq .", "American military personnel sent to Iraq can reasonably anticipate suffering some form of harm .", "The 22,000-strong First Infantry Division , for example , which recently returned to Germany after a tour in northern Iraq around the city of Tikrit , suffered 193 dead and 845 wounded .", "Marine units hurled into the bloody fighting in Fallujah and the surrounding Anbar province last year suffered far higher casualty rates .", "Since the March 2003 invasion , 1,661 US soldiers and marines have lost their lives in Iraq and over 12,000 have been wounded-in-action .", "As well , at least 18,000 Army personnel have been flown out of Iraq for non-combat medical reasons such as non-battle injuries and disease , according to the Army Medical Department .", "Anyone enlisting in the Army , Marine Corp or even the National Guard can reasonably expect to be sent for at least one and possibly more tours in the occupied country .", "Some of the active Army units in Iraq at present , such as the Third Infantry Division , are on their second deployment in 26 months .", "The Fourth Infantry and 101st Airborne Divisions will deploy for their second tour by the end of the year .", "A sergeant about to resign , 23-year-old Nate Benco , told Stars & Stripes : `` That 's not going to change .", "Anyone coming in now has to know they 're going to be gone most of the time . ''", "Reservists or National Guardsmen make up 40 percent of the 140,000 American personnel in Iraq and have suffered one third of all Army casualties .", "The part-time National Guard , which historically been rarely deployed overseas in combat roles , is being used by the Bush administration to supply a large proportion of the front-line infantry force in Iraq .", "Five National Guard infantry brigades -- from New York , Hawaii , Louisiana , Idaho and Tennessee -- are currently in the country on a 12-month tour .", "In effect that means they will be mobilised for a period as long as 18 months , including preliminary training and demobilisation .", "The suspicion that the war in Iraq is tainted and that something sinister lies behind the Bush administration 's foreign policy emerges from interviews with military personnel leaving the armed forces .", "An Army captain , Dave Fulton , who is planning to resign in the coming months , told the Los Angeles Times : `` The undefined goals of the ` war on terror ' are making it really hard for the Army to keep people right now . ''", "Another young officer , Captain Vincent Touhey , said : `` What 's the end point ?", "When do you declare victory ? ''", "There are ample signs that the state of affairs is triggering anxiety and even desperation in American ruling circles .", "The political establishment as a whole is committed to continuing the occupation of Iraq and the assertion of US dominance over the Middle East .", "At the same time , other strategic targets for US military aggression are being discussed , from Iran , to Syria , to North Korea .", "Troops will be needed .", "After the experience during the Vietnam War , however , when the conscript Army began to disintegrate in response to mass antiwar sentiment , there is reluctance to support the reinstatement of the draft .", "Opposition to Iraq is already pervasive among the American people and the conscription of thousands of youth to fight and die enforcing the occupation could rapidly become the political focus for a revival of the mass antiwar movement that developed in 2003 .", "The New York Times ' editorial on May 29 , `` The Death Spiral of the Volunteer Army '' , pointed to the concerns in the political establishment .", "After bewailing the crisis of the military and the debacle in Iraq , it declared a return to the draft as `` militarily foolish and politically explosive '' .", "It recommended instead `` expanding the potential recruiting pool '' by allowing women into more combat roles , allowing gays to openly serve in the armed forces , and signing up `` immigrants with promises of citizenship '' , and changing how the US government `` treats its ground troops '' .", "Why women , gays and immigrants should find the idea of an Iraq deployment appealing , the Times did not bother to answer .", "The reality is that under conditions where there is little ideological commitment among military personnel or the American people to the occupation of Iraq , any significant turn around in the recruitment crisis is unlikely .", "Compulsion is increasingly becoming the only method available to the American ruling class to find the human material needed to assert its imperialist interests internationally .", "In order to keep up numbers , the past two years have already seen the pervasive use of `` stop loss '' orders , which block individual soldiers from leaving at the end of their term of enlistment if their unit has been mobilised or is scheduled for deployment .", "Some 40,000 Army , Reserve and National Guard troops have been served with `` stop-loss '' orders since 2003 .", "In some cases , individual soldiers have been forced to serve more than 12 months past the end of their contract .", "The military is also using other forms of de-facto drafting .", "To bring Guard and Reserve units up to full strength , the military has begun a broader call-up of the `` Individual Ready Reserve '' ( IRR ) -- some 114,000 people who have left the military but are still on the books for potential mobilisation , ostensibly due to their specialised skills .", "Soldiers for The Truth ( www.sftt.org ) reported on May 17 that now , as well as specialists , hundreds of IRR infantry are being called up .", "SFTT spoke with one of them , 37-year-old Chris Bray , who had joined the Army in 1999 to get money for college .", "He left in late 2001 , describing his most important responsibility as being the designated driver to transport drunken officers back to their quarters at Fort Benning , Georgia .", "He has been slated for likely deployment to Iraq as part of an infantry unit .", "Only 305 IRR infantry have been mobilised thus far , but thousands more are on the military 's rolls .", "A military spokesman told SFTT that `` to date there are no plans '' for a larger call-up .", "As the Iraq occupation drags on , however , broader forms of compulsory service , including conscription , will have to be entertained by the White House and Pentagon ."], "_citing_sentence": "Volunteer military forces face low recruitment and retention rates as a result of it being a tough and stressful job where workers cannot work for as long as they do in many civilian jobs.", "_claim_name": "Allowing women to serve in combat increases the pool for recruits", "_doc_title": "US military recruitment crisis deepens - World Socialist Web Site", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["This article was reported by JAMES GLANZ , JOHN F. BURNS , ERIC SCHMITT , WRITTEN BY MR. GLANZ and MR. BURNS.JUNE 25 , 2005", "BAGHDAD , Iraq , June 24 - At least four women serving in the American military , including three marines , are among the six known dead in a suicide car bombing in Falluja on Thursday , military officials in Baghdad and Washington said Friday .", "It was the largest number of women in the armed services killed in a single attack during the Iraq war .", "Eleven women were also among the 13 marines wounded in the strike , which began when the car approached a military convoy carrying about 20 marines and sailors to checkpoint duties on the edge of Falluja .", "Most if not all of the personnel riding in the back of the truck when it was hit were American women assigned to search Iraqi women who pass through the checkpoint .", "Of about 37 women in the military killed in Iraq as of Wednesday -- among at least 1,728 service members killed over all -- nearly all had died within units made up largely of men .", "On Thursday , for the first time in the war , a large number of women suffered and died together after a strike that military officials suspect was carefully planned and might have been aimed at the women .", "The attack came in the middle of a debate over the proper role of women in the United States military .", "Although women are not supposed to be used in combat roles , the Iraq war is a conflict without a defined front line , where attacks can come from any direction , at any time .", "Women who drive in logistics convoys or serve as engineers are every day at risk of ambush , suicide bombings and remotely detonated explosives .", "Given those realities , commanders have quietly relaxed the rules to allow women to be deployed as turret gunners in Humvees and in a wide array of other assignments that put them in the line of fire .", "Advertisement `` Among marines in the field , the gender lines have already been erased , '' a male senior officer said .", "`` You ca n't go to Iraq and not be at risk in some way , and that 's what all of us who put on a uniform here understand . ''", "This month , Congress voted down a proposal that would have put into law a set of prohibitions on the assignment of women to units that can involve them in combat .", "But as recently as Thursday , Gen. George W. Casey Jr. , the supreme American commander in Iraq , argued before the House Armed Services Committee that the official military policy not to have women serve in infantry units should remain in place .", "Women serving in Iraq widely support relaxing those prohibitions , but after Thursday 's attack , one marine officer predicted that the deaths would add further momentum to the debate in Congress , among women 's groups and elsewhere .", "Before Friday , there appeared to have been only one case in which more than one woman was killed in a single hostile incident , a helicopter crash near Falluja in early November 2003 that killed two women , Pfc. Karina S. Lau and Specialist Frances M. Vega , both of the Army , out of an overall death toll of 16 .", "The names of those killed in the attack on Thursday were being withheld until families could be notified .", "The horrific power of the blast , sending metal shards and body parts in all directions , and a huge cloud of black smoke and swirling dust climbing into the evening sky , led to some uncertainty about the final toll .", "The American command issued a preliminary statement on Friday saying that two members of the Second Marine Expeditionary Force were killed and 13 were wounded .", "But the statement added that three marines and a sailor were still officially classified as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown -- in essence , missing and unaccounted for in the carnage until forensic tests can firmly establish their identities .", "The military officials in Baghdad and Washington , who said the missing were presumed dead , cautioned that the casualty toll could still change owing to the chaotic nature of the scene .", "Among the men killed was Cpl. Chad Powell , 22 , of Ouachita Parish , La. , according to his father , Jerry Powell .", "Corporal Powell was a member of a marine motor transport unit .", "`` They said the suicide bomber hit the vehicle and it exploded on impact , and that he was probably killed instantly , '' his father said .", "Corporal Powell , who was married with a 3-year-old son , planned to leave the Marine Corps in three months , when his four-year enlistment expired , and return to Louisiana , his father said .", "`` He was genuine .", "He was honest , and he was a godly man , '' Mr. Powell said .", "`` As far as I know , he did n't have any enemies . ''", "The attack came on top of a series of devastating bomb attacks on marines in Anbar Province , west of Baghdad in recent weeks , including two in the past month in which five or more marines died in each .", "At least 17 marines have been killed in the province in the past 10 days alone , and several hundred since the American-led invasion two years ago .", "But the gloom that settled on the American command Friday as details of the latest attack became known took on a special edge because of the predominance of women among the victims , a rare event not only in this war but in any other American war .", "The attack is also likely to be seen as a significant setback for a city that American-led forces invaded in November to drive out the insurgents who had taken control .", "Months earlier , Falluja had become the focus of American ire when four Americans working for a private security company were ambushed and killed , their mutilated bodies strung up on a bridge on the western end of town .", "Under a heavy security lockdown since the November campaign , Falluja had been relatively quiet until about a week ago , when a car bomb exploded outside a building where a political meeting was taking place .", "American commanders believe that insurgents are trying to work their way back into Falluja .", "The latest attack was on the main east-west road through town , known as Highway 10 , near the main checkpoint on the city 's eastern edge .", "On Friday morning , tires from the truck and pieces of metal from the car used in the attack still littered the cracked asphalt of the road .", "A witness to the bombing , Muhammad Anwar , said that the car approached an American military convoy from the side and swerved toward the truck , which was visibly packed with military personnel .", "The women had an important role in Falluja , because in Iraq the American practice has been to assign only women to pat down women and girls passing in and out of the city .", "The girls going through the checkpoints often appear afraid , so the American women requested donations of teddy bears to give them .", "They recently arrived from the United States .", "James Glanz and John F. Burns reported from Baghdad for this article , and Eric Schmitt from Washington ."], "_citing_sentence": "Attacks on soldiers are as likely to occur on the military's bases themselves as they are when the soldiers are out on patrol.For example, in late June of 2005 in Iraq, two women marines were killed and about a dozen injured in a pair of suicide attacks.", "_claim_name": "All modern military roles are combatant anyway", "_doc_title": "Iraq Bombing Kills 4 U.S. Women, a Record Toll - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Love and Sex , U.S. Military , Life News", "Despite restrictions on women fighting on the front lines , female soldiers are now fully sharing `` the risks of their male counterparts , '' according to a top military official .", "In a speech Thursday , Adm. Mike Mullen , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , said that the reality of war in Afghanistan and Iraq is that `` there is no longer a clear delineation between the front lines ... and the sidelines , '' CNN reports .", "`` The war can grab you anywhere , this will be the first generation of veterans where large segments of women returning will have been exposed to some form of combat , '' he said .", "This raises an obvious question : If women are already fighting on the front lines -- or rather , if there is no longer a difference between the front lines and the sidelines -- why not officially allow them to take combat roles ?", "Current U.S. policy bans women from units engaged in direct combat missions .", "In 2005 , the House Armed Services Committee tried , and failed , to push forward a plan to further restrict women 's service by banning them from units that offer even support to front-line combat troops .", "There are physical concerns , namely that women are n't as physically powerful and will weaken the military .", "Much of the resistance to allowing women on the so-called front line is transparently paternalistic , though .", "A 2007 RAND report gives a sampling of such commentary :", "Advocacy groups and pundits have inquired , `` Do we really want America 's mothers on the frontlines of the War on Terror ? ''", "`` Why were the -LSB- American -RSB- women so vulnerable to capture and likely abuse as prisoners ? ''", "and `` Engaging the enemy in this uncivilized thing we call war is a job for men , not women . ''", "There is a pervasive cultural belief that women are meant to be protected , not to do the protecting themselves , the report notes .", "There is also the argument that women 's presence could distract male soldiers and undermine the brotherhood of a unit -- which sounds a lot like the arguments made in favor of `` do n't ask , do n't tell . ''", "Then there 's the potential for sexual assault , humiliation and torture .", "Right , because 1 ) male captives are immune to such threats , and 2 ) women do n't already face the threat of sexual assault from their fellow soldiers ?", "It is n't just that the policy against women on the front lines seems outdated ( both in terms of sexual politics and the nature of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ) .", "As the National Defense Authorization Act explained , `` The committee is aware that service women ... have encountered difficulties in gaining proper recognition for their service , both within the services and when they leave active duty and seek assistance '' -- in the way of healthcare and benefits -- `` from the Department of Veterans Affairs . ''", "Which is to say : Female soldiers are cheated of acknowledgment for roles they are already filling .", "Brandon , 28 , `` Hipster `` This self-proclaimed `` hipster '' by trade -- that 's right , not an artisanal chocolatier or re-claimed wood whittler but a generic `` hipster '' -- does n't even have any tattoos .", "( He does list one of his best attributes as `` humble , '' though ) .", "Evan , Erectile Dysfunction Expert , 33Believe it or not , the worst thing about Evan is n't his career .", "His biggest deal-breaker is : `` Girls with chipped nail polish , girls who talk too much , narcissists , clingers , girls who have serious food allergies . ''", "Jabbing yourself in the leg with an Epi pen actually sounds preferable to a date with him .", "Daniel , Male Model , 31", "A `` male model '' who refers to his body as a `` lambo '' not once , but twice , in a biography that he presumably had time to mull over .", "( Example : `` Are you comfortable wearing swimwear in public ? ''", "Why have a lambo if you park it in the garage ? '' )", "Nick S. , Software Salesman , 26", "Not only does Nick S. take neckerchief fashion cues from Fred of `` Scooby-Doo , '' but he lists the food he dislikes most as `` scary cheeses . ''", "Bad-mouthing cheese is like bad-mouthing our best friend .", "Deal-breaker , Nick S. Deal-breaker .", "On the one hand , Grant is the sexy firefighter of our dreams .", "On the other hand , his worst date memory is `` Getting lunch with a girl and listening to her talk about Harry Potter for 20 minutes '' -- which actually does n't sound like enough time spent talking about the British national treasure .", "Vinny , who somehow lives the paradoxical life of being a professional barber and existing with this haircut .", "Will , Civil Engineer , 26 If Will could switch bodies with anyone for a day it would be serial womanizer and self-proclaimed `` recovered ego addict '' John Mayer so ... um ... yeah , enough said ."], "_citing_sentence": "All women serving in the military are exposed to \"front-line risks\".", "_claim_name": "All modern military roles are combatant anyway", "_doc_title": "Should women fight on the front lines? - Salon.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["US commanders believe that the female troops may have been specifically targeted .", "The co-ordinated attack struck a lorry returning them from duty in the western Iraqi city which was seized from rebels last year .", "Two male marines also died in the ambush Thursday night , when a suicide car bomber struck a convoy and gunmen hiding nearby opened fire on survivors .", "The attack came as US polls showed sliding support for the continued military presence in Iraq .", "President George W Bush hopes to counter this with a televised speech from Fort Bragg military base tomorrow , the first anniversary of the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty .", "He plans to highlight progress in large parts of Iraq where there is no insurgency , but he will reject recent calls from some Democrat and Republican lawmakers for a timetable for US withdrawal .", "The Fallujah ambush has underscored the dilemma facing military chiefs in the deployment of female soldiers .", "Military rules bar women from frontline operations , but in Iraq there are no regular frontlines .", "Although women are not assigned as members of ground combat units , they fly helicopters , drive lorries , join raids on suspected insurgent hideouts , serve in bomb disposal squads and treat the injured on battlefields - all activities that expose them to lethal risk .", "The checkpoint duties that Thursday 's victims had been conducting are also crucial because the marines use females to search Iraqi women to avoid upsetting Islamic cultural sensitivities .", "This has been particularly important as US forces try to encourage civilians to return to Fallujah after the December offensive against insurgents .", "Female troops recently appealed for teddy bears to be donated from the United States so that they can hand them over as a goodwill gesture to Iraqi women and children .", "The latest deaths bring to 39 the number of female troops killed since the war began in March 2003 .", "The first ambush victim named was Lance-Corporal Holly Charette , 21 , whose job was to deliver mail .", "Eight women were killed in the attack on the Pentagon September 11 , 2001 , but the biggest previous death toll for servicewomen in a battle zone was in 1945 when six army nurses were killed in a kamikaze attack on their vessel by a Japanese pilot in the Pacific .", "About 11,000 women are serving in Iraq alongside 127,000 men .", "The Fallujah attack brought the death toll for US military personnel to 1,734 since Iraq was invaded .", "Separately , three suicide bomb attacks in the northern city of Mosul killed more than two dozen people Sunday , many of them from the Iraqi security forces , as insurgents kept up pressure on the government , which is backed by the United States .", "Within hours a suicide car bomber wrecked a police headquarters , an attack on an Iraqi army base killed up to 16 people and four police were killed when a bomber walked into Mosul 's general hospital and blew himself up .", "The third attack , on a police post inside the hospital , damaged the emergency ward where casualties had been brought from the previous incidents .", "Sixpolicemen and nine civilians were wounded ."], "_citing_sentence": "In addition, they would be better placed to deal with women in the local population.For example, the job of many of the female U.S. marines killed and injured in June 2005 in Iraq was to search women for explosives at checkpoints to avoid the near-universal sense of humiliation engendered by a member of the opposite sex conducting an intimate bodily search.", "_claim_name": "Some combat roles are better suited to women than men", "_doc_title": "Highest number of American female soldiers killed in Iraq (2005)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["opinion"], ["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Women in the Russian and Soviet military , as in other nations , have played many roles in their country 's military history .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Women of Russia and the Soviet Union played an important role in World Wars , -LSB- citation needed -RSB- especially during World War II ; arguably a greater role than in other combatant nations .", "Women served in the Russian armed forces in small numbers in the early stages of the war , but their numbers increased after heavy Russian losses such as at the Battle of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes and a need for increased manpower .", "One such recruit was Maria Bochkareva who served with the 25th Reserve Battalion of the Russian Army .", "After the abdication of Nicholas II of Russia in March 1917 , she convinced interim prime minister Alexander Kerensky to let her form a women 's battalion .", "The Women 's Battalion of Death recruited women between the ages of 13 and 25 and appealed for support in a series of public meetings , enlisting approximately 2,000 soldiers .", "The Battalion fought during the June Offensive against German forces in 1917 .", "Three months of fighting reduced their numbers to around two-hundred and fifty .", "The Women 's Battalion was disbanded after a failed military coup known as the Kornilov Affair .", "Its leader , General Lavr Kornilov , had been strongly supported by Bachkarova , and the Women 's Battalion were identified as potential sympathizers .", "The majority of the battalion 's members were reformed as the First Petrograd Women 's Battalion .", "This group was at the Winter Palace on the night of the Bolshevik Revolution , along with an untrained cadet detachment and a bicycle regiment .", "They mounted a resistance but ultimately fell , although there were only 5 deaths in the storming of the Winter Palace .", "The triumphant Bolsheviks officially disbanded the group .", "Several women pilots are known from the First World War .", "Princess Eugenie Shakovskaya was assigned duty as an artillery and reconnaissance pilot , having volunteered for the Imperial Russian Air Service in 1914 ( one of the world 's first female military aviators ) and flew missions with the 26th Corps Air Squadron in 1917 for nine months .", "Because of her connections to the Imperial family she was demobilized after the October Revolution .", "Lyubov A. Golanchikova was a test pilot who contributed her airplane to the Czarist armies ; Helen P. Samsonova was assigned to the 5th Corps Air Squadron as a reconnaissance pilot .", "And in 1915 , Nedeshda Degtereva had the distinction of being the first woman pilot to be wounded in combat while on a reconnaissance mission over the Austrian front in Galicia .", "Women played a part in most of the armed forces of the Second World War .", "In most countries though , women tended to serve mostly in administrative , medical and in auxiliary roles .", "But in the Soviet Union women fought also in front line roles .", "Over 800,000 women served in the Soviet armed forces in World War II ; mostly as medics and nurses ; which is over 3 percent of total personnel ; nearly 200,000 of them were decorated .", "89 of them eventually received the Soviet Union 's highest award , the Hero of the Soviet Union , they served as pilots , snipers , machine gunners , tank crew members and partisans , as well as in auxiliary roles .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- Few of these women , however , were promoted to officers .", "For Soviet women aviators , instrumental to this change was Marina Raskova , a famous Russian aviator , often referred to -LSB- by whom ? -RSB-", "as the `` Russian Amelia Earhart '' .", "Raskova became a famous aviator as both a pilot and a navigator in the 1930s .", "She was the first woman to become a navigator in the Soviet Air Force in 1933 .", "Raskova is credited with using her personal connections with Joseph Stalin to convince the military to form three combat regiments for women .", "The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions .", "These regiments with strength of almost hundred airwomen , flew a combined total of more than 30,000 combat sorties , produced over twenty Heroes of the Soviet Union , and included two fighter aces .", "This military unit was initially called Aviation Group 122 while the three regiments received training .", "After their training , the three regiments received their formal designations as the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment , the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment and the 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment .", "The Soviet Union also used women for sniping duties , and to good effect , including Nina Alexeyevna Lobkovskaya and Ukrainian Lyudmila Pavlichenko ( who killed over 300 enemy soldiers ) .", "The Soviets found that sniper duties fit women well , since good snipers are patient , careful , deliberate , can avoid hand-to-hand combat .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Women served particularly as medics , nurses , communication personnel , political officers , as well - in small numbers - as machine gunners , tank drivers .", "Manshuk Mametova was a machine gunner from Kazakhstan and was the first Soviet Asian woman to receive the Hero of the Soviet Union for acts of bravery .", "Women constituted significant numbers of the Soviet partisans .", "One of the most famous was Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya , who earned the Hero of the Soviet Union award ( February 16 , 1942 ) .", "The youngest woman to become a Hero of the Soviet Union was also a resistance fighter , Zinaida Portnova .", "After the war , most women left the armed forces .", "Those that stayed to make a career in the post-war armed forces saw old attitudes return and promotion and opportunities more difficult .", "Also , some military academies closed their doors to women despite the supposed official policy of equality .", "In 1967 , the Russian Universal Military Duty Laws concluded that women offered the greater source of available soldiers during periods of large scale mobilisation .", "Thus , several programs during the height of the Cold War were set up to encourage women to enlist .", "Participation in military orientated youth programs and forced participation in the reserves for ex-servicewomen up to the age of 40 are some examples .", "Universities contained reservist officer training which accompanied a place in the reserves themselves , especially for doctors .", "But some roles open to women during the war were later barred .", "Women have had the legal right to serve in the Russian Armed Forces throughout the post Cold War period .", "In 2002 , 10 % of the Russian armed forces ( 100,000 of a total active strength of 988,100 ) were women ."], "_citing_sentence": "For example, several Soviet women have distinguished themselves as snipers and combat aviators.", "_claim_name": "Differences in physical strength can be overcome", "_doc_title": "Women in the Russian and Soviet military - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By Rod Powers", "Each branch of the U.S. armed forces has its own promotion system for its enlisted members .", "There are nine enlisted pay grades in the military , from E-1 to E-9 .", "The rank or rating varies by branch of service , but the pay grade level is the same .", "So a private first class in the Army is the Marine Corps equivalent of a lance corporal , both E-3 .", "For the Army , Marines , and Air Force , promotions up to the grade of E-4 are pretty much automatic ( assuming one does n't get into trouble ) , based upon time-in-service and/or time-in-grade .", "The same is true for the Navy and Coast Guard up to the grade of E-3 .", "The Army revamped its promotion requirements in 2015 , to allow points toward promotion for combat zone deployments , and implements some mandatory education requirements .", "And soldiers who are not up to the Army 's physical fitness standards now may not be considered promotable .", "The basic requirements for the `` automatic '' promotions vary slightly across the different branches .", "continue reading below our video", "What You Need to Consider Before Changing Jobs In the Army and Air Force , promotion to E-2 status requires six months of active duty and approval by a commander are needed ; in the Navy it 's , nine months of active duty and commander approval .", "In the Marine Corps , new enlisted members are promoted to E-2 after six months of active duty , and in the Coast Guard , anyone otherwise eligible who has completed boot camp is E-2 eligible .", "For promotion to E-3 , the Army requires 12 months of active duty service , four months as an E-2 and a commander 's recommendation .", "The Air Force requires 10 months as an E-2 and a commander 's approval , the Navy requires nine months as an E-2 , demonstrated military and professional qualifications , and commander 's approval .", "To achieve E-3 in the Marine Corps nine months of active duty are required , as well as eight months as an E-2 .", "And the Coast Guard requires six months as an E-2 , demonstration of military and professional qualifications , and a commander 's approval in order to be promoted to E-3 .", "The next step up is E-4 , and this is the last level of pay grade promotion that 's considered virtually automatic based on time served .", "In the Army , 24 months active duty , six months as an E-3 , and a commander 's recommendation are required ; in the Air Force , 36 months active duty , with 20 months as an E-3 , or 28 months as an E-3 , whichever comes first , are acceptable .", "The Marine Corps requires 24 months active duty , and 12 months as an E-3 for an E-4 promotion .", "The Navy and Coast Guard vary from the other branches when it comes to E-4 promotions .", "Both are based on vacancies within the member 's given career field , with an average of about 36 months of active duty .", "As the Navy and Coast Guard do at pay grade E-4 , the other branches become more selective at the E-5 level .", "Promotions to the grades of E-5 and above are competitive in the Army , Air Force and Marine Corps , since there are always more people eligible for promotion then there are available positions ( Congress sets the number of enlisted personnel who can serve in each grade ) .", "Promotion rates change each year , based upon several factors ( including reenlistment rates ) which determine how many slots in each rank will be available .", "The services each have their own methods to for selecting candidates for promotion , based on points for specific achievements , to promotion boards , to combinations of both .", "With the exception of the Air Force , which gives the same promotion percentages within each rank to each Air Force job , promotions ( in the other branches ) can depend greatly upon the current manning-level of your specific job .", "For example , if you 're an E-5 in a Navy rating ( job ) that is overmanned in E-6 , you may be unable to get promoted , no matter how well you do on the tests or other promotion factors .", "On the other hand , if you 're in a rating that is undermanned in your next rank , the opposite may be true .", "In the Air Force , it 's a different story .", "The Air Force gives the same promotion percentages to all their jobs ( exception , some extremely critical jobs get an extra five percent promotion advantage ) .", "In other words , if the Air Force decides that their overall promotion rate to E-5 is going to be 25 percent , then 25 percent of the eligible E-4s in each Air Force Specialty will be promoted .", "This system has a major disadvantage , however -- it can easily result in one job being overmanned in personnel of a certain rank , and other jobs ( or the same job ) being undermanned in certain ranks .", "The Air Force handles this by identifying those in overmanned ranks/jobs and asking them to re-train .", "If they do n't get enough volunteers , the Air Force will mandatorily re-train enough folks to balance out the rank structure within their jobs ."], "_citing_sentence": "Combat duty is necessary or highly beneficial for promotion to senior officer positions in many armies.", "_claim_name": "There should be equality between men and women.", "_doc_title": "Military Enlisted Promotions", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 45, "_topic_name": "This House would allow women to take part in combat"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Add this article to your reading list by clicking this button", "THE new year blew in , as the old year blew out , in a gale of Israeli-Palestinian blood .", "On December 31st , Palestinian guerrillas killed a settler leader and his wife , and the Israeli army killed a prominent official of Yasser Arafat 's Fatah movement .", "Mourners at the funeral for the Jews threatened a pogrom ; Fatah said that Israel 's prime minister had `` opened the gates of hell '' .", "The gates were prised further apart over the next days : Israelis killed five more Palestinians , and a car bomb ripped through the Israeli town of Netanya , wounding 54 Israelis .", "Amid all this , Mr Arafat went to Washington on January 2nd to seek clarification from Bill Clinton of proposals that America 's president had submitted for the general terms of a `` framework agreement '' that he hopes can be reached before his watch ends on January 20th .", "Ehud Barak has accepted these proposals as a basis for negotiations , so long as Mr Arafat does the same .", "The Palestinian leader 's own qualified acceptance was hedged with reservations .", "He raised no fewer than 25 questions .", "In particular , he was worried about the division of a new Palestinian state into three separate cantons , and about the exact splitting of sovereignty in East Jerusalem .", "But , above all , he was concerned about Mr Clinton 's proposals for the 3.5 m Palestinian refugees who claim the right of return to their homes and lands in what is now Israel .", "Mr Clinton 's proposals endorse the refugees ' right of return , not to Israel , but to a `` Palestinian homeland '' -- which means the future state in the West Bank and Gaza .", "Those not wishing to take up this right would be compensated and resettled either in their present host countries ( mainly Jordan , Syria and Lebanon ) or in any third country willing to absorb them .", "Israel would be expected to take in some refugees but only `` consistent with its sovereign decision '' and in a way that would not `` threaten the Jewish character of the state '' .", "If this was the final deal , said an Israeli commentator , `` Israelis can relax . ''", "But Mr Arafat would not be able to relax .", "There is a deep consensus , among refugees in the occupied territories and in the diaspora , that the right of return is an individual right , enshrined in international law , which no national leadership can sign away .", "`` If Yasser Arafat or any other Palestinian leader were to relinquish the right of return , I would lead the revolt against him , '' said Hussam Khader , a Fatah leader who lives in Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the West Bank .", "As with the Muslim sites in Jerusalem , a decision on the right of return is not one that the Palestinian leaders can take on their own .", "Mr Arafat was expected to give his definitive response to the American proposals after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on January 4th .", "Jordan , Syria and Lebanon , which between them are host to 2.3 m refugees , will be at this meeting .", "Mr Arafat knows that it will be hard to sell them a deal that requires them to accept the permanent resettlement of Palestinians -- unless Israel accepts the principle of return as endorsed by the UN General Assembly in Resolution 194 , passed in December 1948 .", "If Israel were to accept that principle , say refugee leaders , their negotiators could be `` flexible '' on where , how , over what period and in what numbers the right of return would be exercised .", "`` There is a world of difference between an agreement where Israel refuses to recognise the right of return , and an agreement where Israel recognises the right but insists on a mechanism to implement it , '' said another Palestinian leader .", "But nowhere in the American proposals , say the Palestinians , is there any recognition that Israel might be even partially responsible for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem .", "For the Palestinians this is simply one more denial among a litany of others : they quote old myths like Israel 's former insistence that there was no such thing as a Palestinian people , or that the Palestinians were instructed by Arab leaders to leave their villages in 1948 .", "If they are to accept a state on about 20 % of historic Palestine , and recognise the rest as `` the homeland of the Jewish people '' , then , say the Palestinians , the time has come for Israeli denials to end and the truth to be admitted .", "`` I am willing forgo any implementation of the right of return , '' says one refugee from Balata .", "`` But I will not accept an agreement that gives up my right of return .", "Israel was responsible for my exile .", "And it must recognise that responsibility . ''", "But Israel sees it differently", "Mr Barak 's negotiators express surprise at this insistence on the right of return .", "They had assumed , encouraged , they say , by explicit assurances from Mr Arafat himself , that the Palestinian leaders were prepared to accept words of vague contrition from Israel , and generous allocations of international aid , in place of the right of every refugee and his descendants to go back to his old home inside Israel .", "This , the Israelis hold , was the ineluctable meaning of the Oslo accords , and of the Palestine Liberation Organisation 's `` strategic decision '' to recognise Israel and adopt the two-state solution .", "Now , they say , they find their Palestinian interlocutors lining up with the grassroots refugee leaders , in the territories and in the diaspora , who have never abandoned the literal interpretation of the dream of return .", "An open letter `` to the Palestinian leadership '' published this week by Amos Oz , A.B. Yehoshua and other Israeli intellectuals and peace activists dramatically demonstrated the peace camp 's backing for Mr Barak 's position on the refugees .", "`` We shall never be able to agree '' , they wrote , `` to the return of the refugees to within the borders of Israel .", "The meaning of such a return would be the elimination of the state of Israel . ''", "Yossi Sarid , chairman of the Meretz Party , stated baldly that `` Israel can survive without sovereignty over Temple Mount , but it can not survive with the right of return .", "If the Palestinians insist on it , there will be no agreement . ''", "But if there is no agreement , says Mr Barak , the incidence of Palestinian attacks in the territories and inside Israel itself will probably increase , as will the risk of a broader regional confrontation .", "Israel 's peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan would come under pressure , he predicts .", "As minister of defence , he has instructed the army to step up training and preparations for the contingency of full-scale war .", "Barak facing defeat", "Mr Barak used to argue that his peace policy was a political winner , whatever happened .", "He proposed to go farther than any previous Israeli leader had in his quest for an agreement with the Palestinians .", "If he got a deal , the voters would back it , and him , by a landslide .", "If the Palestinians spurned his offer , the country would rally behind him , united in the knowledge that there were no more concessions he could have made .", "But it does not seem to be working out that way .", "Mr Barak has indeed reached bedrock : not a single voice in mainstream politics has urged him to go beyond his acceptance last week of Mr Clinton 's latest peace proposals .", "If there is a last-minute breakthrough , Mr Barak would doubtless fly to Washington to try once again for a deal ; his envoy is already there .", "But at the moment , if the polls are right , the Israeli public is poised to dump him at the prime-ministerial election on February 6th , and elect the hardline Likud leader , Ariel Sharon .", "Mr Barak , even his perennial smile beginning to look wan , is reminding people that it was Mr Sharon 's settlement-building on the West Bank , as a Likud minister during the 1970s and 1980s , which helped along the present violence .", "Mr Sharon 's invasion of Lebanon , as minister of defence in 1982 , plunged Israel into a costly and pointless occupation that dragged on for two decades .", "His coat-trailing visit to Temple Mount on September 28th heightened the tensions that exploded into the intifada .", "Surely , Mr Barak said to his dejected ministers , the electorate , like Little Red Riding Hood , would realise who was hiding behind Mr Sharon 's carefully cultivated new image of kindly grandfather-cum-moderate elder statesman .", "Mr Barak 's putative rivals for the leadership of the peace camp , Shimon Peres , a former prime minister , and Avraham Burg , the Knesset speaker , have dutifully protested their loyalty to the beleaguered leader .", "But beneath the surface there are mutterings about a provision in the election law that enables a candidate to resign from the race , and be replaced by a party colleague , up to 96 hours before the polling stations open ."], "_citing_sentence": "Israel's own laws recognise the importance of the 'right of return' to a people in general through the fact that Jews are allowed to emigrate to Israel under Israel's Law of Return, even if their immediate ancestors have not lived in the area in recent years.", "_claim_name": "Palestinians have a right to return under international law", "_doc_title": "The Palestinian right of return | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Right To Return , a Basic Right Still", "Denied * \u2022 Palestinian refugees represent the longest suffering and largest refugee population in the world today .", "\u2022 In 2005 , there were approximately 7.2 million Palestinian refugees , equivalent to about 70 % of the entire Palestinian population which is estimated at 10.7 million worldwide .", "\u2022 The breakdown of the refugee population is as follows : \u2022 The Right to Return has a solid legal basis :", "Moreover , the Principle of Self Determination guarantees , inter alia , the right of ownership and domicile in one 's own country .", "The UN adopted this principle in 1947 .", "In 1969 and thereafter , it was explicitly applied to the Palestinian People , including `` the legality of the Peoples ' struggle for Self-Determination and Liberation '' , ( GAOR 2535 ( xxiv ) , 2628 ( xxv ) , 2672 ( xxv ) , 2792 ( xxvi ) ) .", "International law demands that neither occupation nor sovereignty diminish the rights of ownership .", "When the Ottomans surrendered in 1920 , Palestinian ownership of the land was maintained .", "The land and property of the refugees remains their own and they are entitled to return to it .", "\u2022 In 1948 , the international community felt a deep sense of responsibility for the mass dispossession , ethnic cleansing and the Zionist transfer policy that began then .", "United Nations Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte , who was later assassinated by a Zionist terrorist hit squad , stated : `` It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes , while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine '' ( UN", "This remains true today as any Jew , regardless of national origin , can gain automatic citizenship while Palestinian Arabs are denied their right to return to their own homeland .", "\u2022 Consistent with International Law , The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 194 on December 11 , 1948 .", "Paragraph 11 states : `` the -LSB- Palestinian -RSB- refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date , and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which , under principles of international law or in equity , should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible . ''", "\u2022 UN General Assembly Resolution 194 has been affirmed by the UN over 110 times since its introduction in 1948 with universal consensus except for Israel and the U.S. .", "This resolution was further clarified by UN", "General Assembly Resolution 3236 which reaffirms in Subsection 2 : `` the inalienable right of Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted , and calls for their return . ''", "\u2022 Israel 's admission to the UN was conditional on its acceptance of UN resolutions including 194 .", "Denying the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands is a war crime and an act of aggression which deserves action by the international community .", "The international community can apply sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law .", "\u2022 The right of refugees to return is not only sacred and legal but also possible .", "Demographic studies show that 80 % of Israelis live in 15 percent of the land and that the remaining 20 % live on 85 % of the land that belongs to the refugees .", "Further , of the 20 % , 18 % live in Palestinian cities while the remaining 2 % live in kibbutzim and moshavs .", "By contrast , more than 6,000 refugees live per square kilometer in the Gaza Strip , while over the barbed wire their lands are practically empty .", "Ninety seven percent of the entire refugee population currently lives within 100 km of their homes .", "Fifty percent live within 40 km .", "While many live within sight of their homes .", "\u2022 The inalienable rights of refugees are not negotiable .", "International law considers agreements between an occupier and the occupied to be null and void if they deprive civilians of recognized human rights including the rights to repatriation and restitution .", "\u2022 The US is bound by its laws not to fund regimes that violate human rights and basic freedoms .", "There is no more elemental right than one 's right to his/her home and to live in his/her land .", "The US could use the leverage of the massive financial support it gives to the State of Israel to press for this right .", "Dr. Salman Abu Sitta", "Palestine Land Society", "Badil Resource Center for Refugee Rights", "United Nations Relief and Works Agency", "Download fact sheet ( need acrobat ?", "See also : FAQs on Refugees and Al Awda 's Points of Unity", "Encyclopedia of the Palestine ProblemFrom Refugees To Citizens At HomeThe", "Question of Palestine and the United Nations", "History of the Palestine Problem"], "_citing_sentence": "Israel itself accepted Resolution 194 when it was allowed to join the UN on the condition that it accepted this resolution.", "_claim_name": "Palestinians have a right to return under international law", "_doc_title": "Al-Awda - PRRC: Fact Sheet", "_labeled_lineIDs": [18]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Dispossession and Ethnic Cleansing", "By Nizar Sakhnini , 12 July 2004", "Dispossession and Ethnic Cleansing were an Integral Part of Herzl 's Colonial Project .", "His real intentions and full extent and scope of the colonial settlement that Herzl was after were reflected in the draft-agreement of The Jewish-Ottoman Land Company ( JOLC ) `` for the purpose of settling Palestine and Syria with Jews '' that Herzl lobbied for approval from Sultan Abdulhameed in Istanbul in 1901 .", "According to article I of the draft , the JOLC would be granted `` A special right to purchase large estates and small farms and to use them for agriculture , horticulture , forestry , and mining .", "On these areas ( the JOLC ) may build all installations , roads , bridges , buildings and houses , industrial and other facilities , which it considers appropriate .", "The JOLC is further entitled `` to drain and utilize swamps ( if there are any ) by planting or in any other way , to establish small and large settlements , and to settle Jews in them . ''", "Article III gives the JOLC the right to deport the native populations , an act aiming at legitimizing ethnic cleansing , by granting `` The right to exchange economic enclaves of its territory , with the exception of the holy places or places already designated for worship .", "The owners shall receive plots of equal size and quality procured by it ( the JOLC ) in other provinces and territories of the Ottoman Empire . ''", "( The full text of the draft-agreement is available as an appendix to an article by Walid Khalidi , The Jewish-Ottoman Land Company : Herzl 's Blueprint for the Colonization of Palestine , Journal of Palestine Studies , Volume XXII , Number 2 , Winter 1993 , pp. 30-47 )", "Herzl did not succeed in getting his Charter approved by Turkey .", "However , in that same year , 1901 , the 5th ZC founded the Jewish National Fund ( JNF ) .", "According to the by-laws of the JNF , acquired land would be considered as `` redeemed '' land that became inalienable Jewish property and could no longer be sold or leased to non-Jews .", "Consequently , systematic dispossession of the Palestinians had officially started as early as 1901 , long before the British enhanced and facilitated the process through the Balfour Declaration of 1917 .", "On the other hand , plans for ethnic cleansing were discussed and formulated as early as the late 1930 's and were put into action in 1948 .", "Encouraged by the possibility of establishing a Jewish State as a result of the partition plan proposed by the British Peel Commission in 1937 , a `` Population Transfer Committee '' was appointed by the Jewish Agency to come up with plans to rid the Jewish State of its Palestinian Arabs .", "Joseph Weitz , director of the JNF , who served on the Population Transfer Committee , developed a plan for this purpose .", "In his report , Weitz wrote that the transfer of the Arab population from the Jewish areas `` does not serve only one aim - to diminish the Arab population .", "It also serves a second purpose by no means less important , which is to evacuate land now cultivated by Arabs and thus release it for Jewish settlement . ''", "The Peel Commission 's partition plan was discussed in a meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive held on 12 June 1938 .", "Partition as proposed by the Peel Commission would leave over 200,000 Arabs in the proposed `` Jewish State '' .", "The J.A.Exec was discussing the problem of how best to get rid of these Arabs .", "The seventy-five year old Zionist leader , Menahem Ussishkin , stated that `` There is no hope that this new Jewish State will survive , to say nothing of develop , if the Arabs are as numerous as they are today . ''", "For Ussishkin the solution to the problem of the large Arab population in the proposed Jewish State was for their removal by the British army before the state was established .", "Like most other Zionists at the time , Ussishkin believed that the Palestinians could be coerced into leaving their homes and settling on land that would be purchased for them in Trans-Jordan , Iraq or Saudi Arabia .", "He made it clear that he did not favor sending the excess Palestinians to the Arab State that the British planned to create on the West Bank .", "`` If you wish ever to expand you must not increase the number of Arabs west of the Jordan , '' Ussishkin reminded his colleagues .", "All the other speakers at the Executive Committee meeting voiced similar sentiments .", "Berl Katznelson of Ben-Gurion 's Mapai party saw only disaster in a Jewish State with a large Arab minority .", "As a `` liberal '' Zionist , Katznelson had a relatively tolerant attitude toward the Palestinians .", "`` I am willing to give the Arabs equal rights , '' he said , `` if I know that only a small minority stays in the land . ''", "He proposed for the new state a development plan that would include a provision to eliminate thousands of Palestinians .", "He made the position clear : `` A development plan means evictions . ''", "The Mapai party official urged negotiations , with neighboring Arab States that might be persuaded to receive the expellees .", "( Michael Palumbo , The Palestinian Catastrophe , pp. 1-2 , citing CZA , Executive Proceedings , 12 June 1938 and p. 4 , citing CZA , Minutes of the Population Transfer Committee , 22 Nov. , 1937 )", "Most Zionists were determined to implement the `` transfer '' of the Arabs .", "David Ben-Gurion believed that the Zionists had to exert pressure to force the British to act .", "But if necessary , he wrote in his diary , `` We must ourselves prepare to carry out the removal of the Palestinians '' .", "( Ibid , p. 4 , citing Ben-Gurion 's Diary - published in Hebrew - vol .", "IV , p. 299 ) In a report to the Jewish Agency Executive on 12 June 1938 , Ben-Gurion stated `` I am for a compulsory transfer ; I do n't see anything immoral in it ... '' ( Simha Flapan , Zionism and the Palestinians , London : Croom Helm , 1979 , p. 263 )", "Other `` Transfer Committees '' were appointed during the 1948 war .", "An unofficial `` self-appointed '' committee , headed by Joseph Weitz , director of the JNF who participated in the discussions related with ethnic cleansing in the 1930 's , started its activities as of the end of March 1948 in tandem with the military offensive that was launched according to Plan Dalet in early April .", "After the creation of the `` State of Israel '' the Provisional Government appointed an official committee .", "Recommendations of this committee were submitted to Ben-Gurion in due course and were being implemented under the cover of war .", "For full details see : Benny Morris , The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem , 1947-1949 .", "For more elaboration on ethnic cleansing , see Nur Masalha , A Land Without a People : Israel , Transfer and the Palestinians 1949 - 96 .", "London : Faber and Faber ltd. , 1997 )"], "_citing_sentence": "The owners shall receive plots of equal size and quality procured by it (the JOLC) in other provinces and territories of the Ottoman Empire.\"", "_claim_name": "A Palestinians were forced to leave and so have a right to return", "_doc_title": "Al-Awda - PRRC: Dispossession and Ethnic Cleansing", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["OF HUMAN RIGHTS", "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom , justice and peace in the world ,", "Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind , and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people ,", "Whereas it is essential , if man is not to be compelled to have recourse , as a last resort , to rebellion against tyranny and oppression , that human rights should be protected by the rule of law ,", "Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations ,", "Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights , in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom ,", "Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve , in co-operation with the United Nations , the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms ,", "Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge ,", "The General Assembly", "Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations , to the end that every individual and every organ of society , keeping this Declaration constantly in mind , shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures , national and international , to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance , both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction .", "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights .", "They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood .", "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration , without distinction of any kind , such as race , colour , sex , language , religion , political or other opinion , national or social origin , property , birth or other status .", "Furthermore , no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political , jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs , whether it be independent , trust , non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty .", "Everyone has the right to life , liberty and the security of person .", "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude ; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms .", "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel , inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment .", "Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law .", "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law .", "All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination .", "Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law .", "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest , detention or exile .", "Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal , in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him .", "Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence .", "No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence , under national or international law , at the time when it was committed .", "Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed .", "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy , family , home or correspondence , nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation .", "Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks .", "Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State .", "Everyone has the right to leave any country , including his own , and to return to his country .", "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution .", "This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations .", "Everyone has the right to a nationality .", "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality .", "Men and women of full age , without any limitation due to race , nationality or religion , have the right to marry and to found a family .", "They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage , during marriage and at its dissolution .", "Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses .", "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State .", "Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others .", "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property .", "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought , conscience and religion ; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief , and freedom , either alone or in community with others and in public or private , to manifest his religion or belief in teaching , practice , worship and observance .", "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression ; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek , receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers .", "Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association .", "No one may be compelled to belong to an association .", "Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country , directly or through freely chosen representatives .", "Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country .", "The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government ; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures .", "Everyone , as a member of society , has the right to social security and is entitled to realization , through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State , of the economic , social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality .", "Everyone has the right to work , to free choice of employment , to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment .", "Everyone , without any discrimination , has the right to equal pay for equal work .", "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity , and supplemented , if necessary , by other means of social protection .", "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests .", "Everyone has the right to rest and leisure , including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay .", "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family , including food , clothing , housing and medical care and necessary social services , and the right to security in the event of unemployment , sickness , disability , widowhood , old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control .", "Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance .", "All children , whether born in or out of wedlock , shall enjoy the same social protection .", "Everyone has the right to education .", "Education shall be free , at least in the elementary and fundamental stages .", "Elementary education shall be compulsory .", "Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit .", "Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms .", "It shall promote understanding , tolerance and friendship among all nations , racial or religious groups , and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace .", "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children .", "Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community , to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits .", "Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific , literary or artistic production of which he is the author .", "Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized .", "Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible .", "In the exercise of his rights and freedoms , everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality , public order and the general welfare in a democratic society .", "These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations .", "Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State , group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein .", "Hundred and eighty-third plenary meeting .", "This work is excerpted from an official document of the United Nations .", "The policy of this organisation is to keep most of its documents in the public domain in order to disseminate `` as widely as possible the ideas ( contained ) in the United Nations Publications '' .", "Pursuant to UN Administrative Instruction ST/AI/189 / Add .9 / Rev. 2 available in English only , these documents are in the public domain worldwide :"], "_citing_sentence": "Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  states that \"Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.\"", "_claim_name": "Palestinians have a right to return under international law", "_doc_title": "Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Wikisource, the free online library", "_labeled_lineIDs": [29]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 46, "_topic_name": "This House believes that Israel should recognise the Palestinian right of return"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["No Book has Divine Authority", "The Church of England 's Thirty Nine Articles of Religion", "The Rise and Fall of the Spiritualist Movement", "A History of Christianity - A Criticism of the Book by Paul Johnson", "Discoveries in Subatomic Physics Completely Vindicate the Bishop of Durham", "Christ will not return , says Dr Jenkins", "The Church of England and Spiritualism ( 1939 )", "Rupert Hughes : Why I Quit Going To Church", "Bertrand Russell Why I am not a Christian Is There a God ?", "What is the Soul ?", "\u00a9 The Campaign for Philosophical Freedom by Bertrand Russell ( commissioned-but not published-by Illustrated Magazine in 1952 )", "The question whether there is a God is one which is decided on very different grounds by different communities and different individuals .", "The immense majority of mankind accept the prevailing opinion of their own community .", "In the earliest times of which we have definite history everybody believed in many gods .", "It was the Jews who first believed in only one .", "The first commandment , when it was new , was very difficult to obey because the Jews had believed that Baal and Ashtaroth and Dagon and Moloch and the rest were real gods but were wicked because they helped the enemies of the Jews .", "The step from a belief that these gods were wicked to the belief that they did not exist was a difficult one .", "There was a time , namely that of Antiochus IV , when a vigorous attempt was made to Hellenize the Jews .", "Antiochus decreed that they should eat pork , abandon circumcision , and take baths .", "Most of the Jews in Jerusalem submitted , but in country places resistance was more stubborn and under the leadership of the Maccabees the Jews at last established their right to their peculiar tenets and customs .", "Monotheism , which at the beginning of the Antiochan persecution had been the creed of only part of one very small nation , was adopted by Christianity and later by Islam , and so became dominant throughout the whole of the world west of India .", "From India eastward , it had no success : Hinduism had many gods ; Buddhism in its primitive form had none ; and Confucianism had none from the eleventh century onward .", "But , if the truth of a religion is to be judged by its worldly success , the argument in favor of monotheism is a very strong one , since it possessed the largest armies , the largest navies , and the greatest accumulation of wealth .", "In our own day this argument is growing less decisive .", "It is true that the un-Christian menace of Japan was defeated .", "But the Christian is now faced with the menace of atheistic Muscovite hordes , and it is not so certain as one could wish that atomic bombs will provide a conclusive argument on the side of theism .", "But let us abandon this political and geographical way of considering religions , which has been increasingly rejected by thinking people ever since the time of the ancient Greeks .", "Ever since that time there have been men who were not content to accept passively the religious opinions of their neighbors , but endeavoured to consider what reason and philosophy might have to say about the matter .", "In the commercial cities of Ionia , where philosophy was invented , there were free-thinkers in the sixth century B.C. Compared to modern free-thinkers they had an easy task , because the Olympian gods , however charming to poetic fancy , were hardly such as could be defended by the metaphysical use of the unaided reason .", "They were met popularly by Orphism ( to which Christianity owes much ) and , philosophically , by Plato , from whom the Greeks derived a philosophical monotheism very different from the political and nationalistic monotheism of the Jews .", "When the Greek world became converted to Christianity it combined the new creed with Platonic metaphysics and so gave birth to theology .", "Catholic theologians , from the time of Saint Augustine to the present day , have believed that the existence of one God could be proved by the unaided reason .", "Their arguments were put into final form by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century .", "When modern philosophy began in the seventeenth century , Descartes and Leibniz took over the old arguments somewhat polished up , and , owing largely to their efforts , piety remained intellectually respectable .", "But Locke , although himself a completely convinced Christian , undermined the theoretical basis of the old arguments , and many of his followers , especially in France , became Atheists .", "I will not attempt to set forth in all their subtlety the philosophical arguments for the existence of God .", "There is , I think , only one of them which still has weight with philosophers , that is the argument of the First Cause .", "This argument maintains that , since everything that happens has a cause , there must be a First Cause from which the whole series starts .", "The argument suffers , however , from the same defect as that of the elephant and the tortoise .", "It is said ( I do not know with what truth ) that a certain Hindu thinker believed the earth to rest upon an elephant .", "When asked what the elephant rested upon , he replied that it rested upon a tortoise .", "When asked what the tortoise rested upon , he said , `` I am tired of this .", "Suppose we change the subject . ''", "This illustrates the unsatisfactory character of the First-Cause argument .", "Nevertheless , you will find it in some ultra-modern treatises on physics , which contend that physical processes , traced backward in time , show that there must have been a sudden beginning and infer that this was due to divine Creation .", "They carefully abstain from attempts to show that this hypothesis makes matters more intelligible .", "The scholastic arguments for the existence of a Supreme Being are now rejected by most Protestant theologians in favor of new arguments which to my mind are by no means an improvement .", "The scholastic arguments were genuine efforts of thought and , if their reasoning had been sound , they would have demonstrated the truth of their conclusion .", "The new arguments , which Modernists prefer , are vague , and the Modernists reject with contempt every effort to make them precise .", "There is an appeal to the heart as opposed to the intellect .", "It is not maintained that those who reject the new arguments are illogical , but that they are destitute of deep feeling or of moral sense .", "Let us nevertheless examine the modern arguments and see whether there is anything that they really prove .", "One of the favourite arguments is from evolution .", "The world was once lifeless , and when life began it was a poor sort of life consisting of green slime and other uninteresting things .", "Gradually by the course of evolution , it developed into animals and plants and at last into MAN .", "Man , so the theologians assure us , is so splendid a Being that he may well be regarded as the culmination to which the long ages of nebula and slime were a prelude .", "I think the theologians must have been fortunate in their human contacts .", "They do not seem to me to have given due weight to Hitler or the Beast of Belsen .", "If Omnipotence , with all time at its disposal , thought it worth while to lead up to these men through the many millions of years of evolution , I can only say that the moral and aesthetic taste involved is peculiar .", "However , the theologians no doubt hope that the future course of evolution will produce more men like themselves and fewer men like Hitler .", "Let us hope so .", "But , in cherishing this hope , we are abandoning the ground of experience and taking refuge in an optimism which history so far does not support .", "There are other objections to this evolutionary optimism .", "There is every reason to believe that life on our planet will not continue forever so that any optimism based upon the course of terrestrial history must be temporary and limited in its purview .", "There may , of course , be life elsewhere but , if there is , we know nothing about it and have no reason to suppose that it bears more resemblance to the virtuous theologians than to Hitler .", "The earth is a very tiny corner of the universe .", "It is a little fragment of the solar system .", "The solar system is a little fragment of the Milky Way .", "And the Milky Way is a little fragment of the many millions of galaxies revealed by modern telescopes .", "In this little insignificant corner of the cosmos there is a brief interlude between two long lifeless epochs .", "In this brief interlude , there is a much briefer one containing man .", "If really man is the purpose of the universe the preface seems a little long .", "One is reminded of some prosy old gentleman who tells an interminable anecdote all quite uninteresting until the rather small point in which it ends .", "I do not think theologians show a suitable piety in making such a comparison possible .", "It has been one of the defects of theologians at all times to over-esti-mate the importance of our planet .", "No doubt this was natural enough in the days before Copernicus when it was thought that the heavens revolve about the earth .", "But since Copernicus and still more since the modern exploration of distant regions , this pre-occupation with the earth has become rather parochial .", "If the universe had a Creator , it is hardly reasonable to suppose that He was specially interested in our little corner .", "And , if He was not , His values must have been different from ours , since in the immense majority of regions life is impossible .", "There is a moralistic argument for belief in God , which was popularized by William James .", "According to this argument , we ought to believe in God because , if we do not , we shall not behave well .", "The first and greatest objection to this argument is that , at its best , it can not prove that there is a God but only that politicians and educators ought to try to make people think there is one .", "Whether this ought to be done or not is not a theological question but a political one .", "The arguments are of the same sort as those which urge that children should be taught respect for the flag .", "A man with any genuine religious feeling will not be content with the view that the belief in God is useful , because he will wish to know whether , in fact , there is a God .", "It is absurd to contend that the two questions are the same .", "In the nursery , belief in Father Christmas is useful , but grown-up people do not think that this proves Father Christmas to be real .", "Since we are not concerned with politics we might consider this sufficient refutation of the moralistic argument , but it is perhaps worthwhile to pursue this a little further .", "It is , in the first place , very doubtful whether belief in God has all the beneficial moral effects that are attributed to it .", "Many of the best men known to history have been unbelievers .", "John Stuart Mill may serve as an instance .", "And many of the worst men known to history have been believers .", "Of this there are innumerable instances .", "Perhaps Henry VIII may serve as typical .", "However that may be , it is always disastrous when governments set to work to uphold opinions for their utility rather than for their truth .", "As soon as this is done it becomes necessary to have a censorship to suppress adverse arguments , and it is thought wise to discourage thinking among the young for fear of encouraging `` dangerous thoughts . ''", "When such mal-practices are employed against religion as they are in Soviet Russia , the theologians can see that they are bad , but they are still bad when employed in defence of what the theologians think good .", "Freedom of thought and the habit of giving weight to evidence are matters of far greater moral import than the belief in this or that theological dogma .", "On all these grounds it can not be maintained that theological beliefs should be upheld for their usefulness without regard to their truth .", "There is a simpler and more naive form of the same argument , which appeals to many individuals .", "People will tell us that without the consolations of religion they would be intolerably unhappy .", "So far as this is true , it is a coward 's argument .", "Nobody but a coward would consciously choose to live in a fool 's paradise .", "When a man suspects his wife of infidelity , he is not thought the better of for shutting his eyes to the evidence .", "And I can not see why ignoring evidence should be contemptible in one case and admirable in the other .", "Apart from this argument the importance of religion in contributing to individual happiness is very much exaggerated .", "Whether you are happy or unhappy depends upon a number of factors .", "Most people need good health and enough to eat .", "They need the good opinion of their social milieu and the affection of their intimates .", "They need not only physical health but mental health .", "Given all these things , most people will be happy whatever their theology .", "Without them , most people will be unhappy , whatever their theology .", "In thinking over the people I have known , I do not find that on the average those who had religious beliefs were happier than those who had not .", "When I come to my own beliefs , I find myself quite unable to discern any purpose in the universe , and still more unable to wish to discern one .", "Those who imagine that the course of cosmic evolution is slowly leading up to some consummation pleasing to the Creator , are logically committed ( though they usually fail to realize this ) to the view that the Creator is not omnipotent or , if He were omnipotent , He could decree the end without troubling about means .", "I do not myself perceive any consummation toward which the universe is tending .", "According to the physicists , energy will be gradually more evenly distributed and as it becomes more evenly distributed it will become more useless .", "Gradually everything that we find interesting or pleasant , such as life and light , will disappear -- so , at least , they assure us .", "The cosmos is like a theatre in which just once a play is performed , but , after the curtain falls , the theatre is left cold and empty until it sinks in ruins .", "I do not mean to assert with any positiveness that this is the case .", "That would be to assume more knowledge than we possess .", "I say only that it is what is probable on present evidence .", "I will not assert dogmatically that there is no cosmic purpose , but I will say that there is no shred of evidence in favor of there being one .", "I will say further that , if there be a purpose and if this purpose is that of an Omnipotent Creator , then that Creator , so far from being loving and kind , as we are told , must be of a degree of wickedness scarcely conceivable .", "A man who commits a murder is considered to be a bad man .", "An Omnipotent Deity , if there be one , murders everybody .", "A man who willingly afflicted another with cancer would be considered a fiend .", "But the Creator , if He exists , afflicts many thousands every year with this dreadful disease .", "A man who , having the knowledge and power required to make his children good , chose instead to make them bad , would be viewed with execration .", "But God , if He exists , makes this choice in the case of very many of His children .", "The whole conception of an omnipotent God whom it is impious to criticize , could only have arisen under oriental despotisms where sovereigns , in spite of capricious cruelties , continued to enjoy the adulation of their slaves .", "It is the psychology appropriate to this outmoded political system which belatedly survives in orthodox theology .", "There is , it is true , a Modernist form of theism , according to which God is not omnipotent , but is doing His best , in spite of great difficulties .", "This view , although it is new among Christians , is not new in the history of thought .", "It is , in fact , to be found in Plato .", "I do not think this view can be proved to be false .", "I think all that can be said is that there is no positive reason in its favour .", "Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them .", "This is , of course , a mistake .", "If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit , nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes .", "But if I were to go on to say that , since my assertion can not be disproved , it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it , I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense .", "If , however , the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books , taught as the sacred truth every Sunday , and instilled into the minds of children at school , hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time .", "It is customary to suppose that , if a belief is widespread , there must be something reasonable about it .", "I do not think this view can be held by anyone who has studied history .", "Practically all the beliefs of savages are absurd .", "In early civilizations there may be as much as one percent for which there is something to be said .", "In our own day ... .", "But at this point I must be careful .", "We all know that there are absurd beliefs in Soviet Russia .", "If we are Protestants , we know that there are absurd beliefs among Catholics .", "If we are Catholics , we know that there are absurd beliefs among Protestants .", "If we are Conservatives , we are amazed by the superstitions to be found in the Labour Party .", "If we are Socialists , we are aghast at the credulity of Conservatives .", "I do not know , dear reader , what your beliefs may be , but whatever they may be , you must concede that nine-tenths of the beliefs of nine-tenths of mankind are totally irrational .", "The beliefs in question are , of course , those which you do not hold .", "I can not , therefore , think it presumptuous to doubt something which has long been held to be true , especially when this opinion has only prevailed in certain geographical regions , as is the case with all theological opinions .", "My conclusion is that there is no reason to believe any of the dogmas of traditional theology and , further , that there is no reason to wish that they were true .", "Man , in so far as he is not subject to natural forces , is free to work out his own destiny .", "The responsibility is his , and so is the opportunity .", "The Suppression of Knowledge - A pamphlet by Michael Roll", "No Book Has Divine Authority - by Michael Roll", "Christian Faith - Letter from Dr George Carey to Michael Roll , July 13 , 1984 ( GIF file , 20KB )"], "_citing_sentence": "In a debate over the existence of God, it is up to the believer to provide evidence for that belief.", "_claim_name": "Entirely natural theories can adequately explain the existence and development of the Universe and all it contains, making God irrelevant to the discussion of reality:", "_doc_title": "The Campaign for Philosophical Freedom", "_labeled_lineIDs": [104]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning"], ["reasoning"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["The epistemic question posed by evil is whether the world contains undesirable states of affairs that provide the basis for an argument that makes it unreasonable to believe in the existence of", "This discussion is divided into eight sections .", "The first is concerned with some preliminary distinctions ; the second , with the choice between deductive versions of the argument from evil , and evidential versions ; the third , with alternative evidential formulations of the argument from evil ; the fourth , with the distinction between three very different types of responses to the argument from evil : attempted total refutations , defenses , and theodicies .", "The fifth section then focuses upon attempted total refutations , while the sixth is concerned with defenses , and the seventh with some traditional theodicies .", "The possibility of more modest variants on defenses and theodicies , based on the idea of global properties , is then considered in section eight .", "The term `` God '' is used with a wide variety of different meanings .", "These tend to fall , however , into two main groups .", "On the one hand , there are metaphysical interpretations of the term : God is a prime mover , or a first cause , or a necessary being that has its necessity of itself , or the ground of being , or a being whose essence is identical with its existence .", "Or God is not one being among other beings -- even a supremely great being -- but , instead , being itself .", "Or God is an ultimate reality to which no concepts truly apply .", "On the other hand , there are interpretations that connect the term `` God '' in a clear and relatively straightforward way with religious attitudes , such as those of worship , and with very important human desires , such as the desires that good will triumph , that justice be done , and that the world not be one where death marks the end of the individual 's existence .", "What properties must something have if it is to be an appropriate object of worship , and if it is to provide reason for thinking that there is a reasonable chance that the fundamental human desires just mentioned will be fulfilled ?", "A natural answer is that God must be a person who , at the very least , is very powerful , very knowledgeable , and morally very good .", "But if such a being exists , then it seems initially puzzling why various evils exist .", "For many of the very undesirable states of affairs that the world contains are such as could be eliminated , or prevented , by a being who was only moderately powerful , while , given that humans are aware of such evils , a being only as knowledgeable as humans would be aware of their existence .", "Finally , even a moderately good human being , given the power to do so , would eliminate those evils .", "Why , then , do such undesirable states of affairs exist , if there is a being who is very powerful , very knowledgeable , and very good ?", "What one has here , however , is not just a puzzle , since the question can , of course , be recast as an argument for the non-existence of", "Thus if , for simplicity , we focus on a conception of God as all-powerful , all-knowing , and perfectly good , one very concise way of formulating such an argument is as follows :", "That this argument is valid is perhaps most easily seen by a reductio argument , in which one assumes that the conclusion -- ( 7 ) -- is false , and then shows that the denial of ( 7 ) , along with premises ( 1 ) through ( 6 ) , leads to a contradiction .", "Thus if , contrary to ( 7 ) , God exists , it follows from ( 1 ) that God is omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect .", "This , together with ( 2 ) , ( 3 ) , and ( 4 ) then entails that God has the power to eliminate all evil , that God knows when evil exists , and that God has the desire to eliminate all evil .", "But when ( 5 ) is conjoined with the reductio assumption that God exists , it then follows via modus ponens from ( 6 ) that either God does n't have the power to eliminate all evil , or does n't know when evil exists , or does n't have the desire to eliminate all evil .", "Thus we have a contradiction , and so premises ( 1 ) through ( 6 ) do validly imply ( 7 ) .", "The point here , however , is simply that when one conceives of God as unlimited with respect to power , knowledge , and moral goodness , the existence of evil quickly gives rise to potentially serious arguments against the existence of God .", "Is the situation different if one shifts to a deity who is not omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect ?", "The answer depends on the details .", "Thus , if one considers a deity who is omniscient and morally perfect , but not omnipotent , then evil presumably would not pose a problem if such a deity were conceived of as too remote from", "Earth to prevent the evils we find here .", "But given a deity who falls considerably short of omnipotence , omniscience , and moral perfection , but who could intervene in our world to prevent many evils , and who knows of those evils , it would seem that an argument rather similar to the above could be formulated by focusing not on the mere existence of evil , but upon the existence of evils that such a deity could have prevented .", "But what if God , rather than being characterized in terms of knowledge , power , and goodness , is defined in some more metaphysical way -- for example , as the ground of being , or as being itself ?", "The answer will depend on whether , having defined God in such purely metaphysical terms , one can go on to argue that such an entity will also possess at least very great power , knowledge , and moral goodness .", "If so , evil is once again a problem .", "By contrast , if God is conceived of in a purely metaphysical way , and if no connection can be forged between the relevant metaphysical properties and the possession of significant power , knowledge , and goodness , then the problem of evil is irrelevant .", "But when that is the case , it would seem that God thereby ceases to be a being who is either an appropriate object of religious attitudes , or a ground for believing that fundamental human hopes are not in vain .", "The argument from evil focuses upon the fact that the world appears to contain states of affairs that are bad , or undesirable , or that should have been prevented by any being that could have done so , and it asks how the existence of such states of affairs is to be squared with the existence of God .", "But the argument can be formulated in two very different ways .", "First , it can be formulated as a purely deductive argument that attempts to show that there are certain facts about the evil in the world that are logically incompatible with the existence of God .", "One especially ambitious form of this first sort of argument attempts to establish the very strong claim that it is logically impossible for it to be the case both that there is any evil at all , and that God exists .", "The argument set out in the preceding section is just such an argument .", "Alternatively , rather than being formulated as a deductive argument for the very strong claim that it is logically impossible for both", "God and evil to exist , ( or for God and certain types , or instances , or a certain amount of evil to exist ) , the argument from evil can instead be formulated as an evidential ( or inductive/probabilistic ) argument for the more modest claim that there are evils that actually exist in the world that make it unlikely -- or perhaps very unlikely -- that God exists .", "The choice between incompatibility formulations and evidential formulations is discussed below , in section 2 .", "Any version of the argument from evil claims that there is some fact concerning the evil in the world such that the existence of", "God -- understood as at least a very powerful , very knowledgeable , and morally very good person , and , ideally , as an omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect person -- is either logically precluded , or rendered unlikely , by that fact .", "But versions of the argument often differ quite significantly with respect to what the relevant fact is .", "Sometimes , as in premise ( 5 ) in the argument set out above , the appeal is to the mere existence of any evil whatever .", "Sometimes , on the other hand , it is to the existence of a certain amount of evil .", "And sometimes it is to the existence of evils of a certain specified sort .", "To formulate the argument from evil in terms of the mere existence of any evil at all is to abstract to the greatest extent possible from detailed information about the evils that are found in the world , and so one is assuming , in effect , that such information can not be crucial for the argument .", "But is it clear that this is right ?", "For might one not feel that while the world would be better off without the vast majority of evils , this is not so for absolutely all evils ?", "Thus some would argue , for example , that the frustration that one experiences in trying to solve a difficult problem is outweighed by the satisfaction of arriving at a solution , and therefore that the world is a better place because it contains such evils .", "Alternatively , it has been argued that the world is a better place if people develop desirable traits of character -- such as patience , and courage -- by struggling against obstacles , including suffering .", "But if either of these things is the case , then the prevention of all evil might well make the world a worse place .", "It seems possible , then , that there might be evils that are logically necessary for goods that outweigh them , and this possibility provides a reason , accordingly , for questioning one of the premises in the argument set out earlier -- namely , premise ( 4 ) , where it is claimed that if God is morally perfect , then God has the desire to eliminate all evil .", "But there is also another reason why that claim is problematic , which arises out of a particular conception of free will -- namely , a libertarian conception .", "According to this view of free will , and in contrast with what are known as compatibilist approaches , free will is incompatible with determinism , and so it is impossible even for an omnipotent being to make it the case that someone freely chooses to do what is right .", "Many people claim , however , that the world is a better place if it contains individuals who possess libertarian free will , rather than individuals who are free only in a sense that is compatible with one 's actions being completely determined .", "If this claim can be made plausible , one can argue , first , that God would have a good reason for creating a world with individuals who possessed libertarian free will , but secondly , that if he did choose to create such a world , even he could not ensure that no one would ever choose to do something morally wrong .", "The good of libertarian free will requires , in short , the possibility of moral evil .", "Neither of these lines of argument is immune from challenge .", "As regards the former , one can argue that the examples that are typically advanced of cases where some evil is logically necessary for a greater good that outweighs the evil are not really , upon close examination , convincing , while , as regards the latter , there is a serious problem of making sense of libertarian free will , for although there is no difficulty about the idea of actions that are not causally determined , libertarian free will requires more than the mere absence of determinism , and the difficulty arises when one attempts to say what that something more is .", "But although these challenges are important , and may very well turn out to be right , it is fair to say , first , that it has not yet been established that there is no coherent conception of libertarian free will , and , secondly , that it is , at least , very doubtful that one can establish that there can not be cases where some evil is logically necessary for a greater good that outweighs it without appealing to some substantive , and probably controversial , moral theory .", "The upshot is that the idea that either the actuality of certain undesirable states of affairs , or at least the possibility , may be logically necessary for goods that outweigh them , is not without some initial plausibility , and if some such claim can be sustained , it will follow immediately that the mere existence of evil can not be incompatible with the existence of an omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect being .", "How does this bear upon evidential formulations of the argument from evil ?", "The answer would seem to be that if there can be evils that are logically necessary for goods that outweigh them , then it is hard to see how the mere existence of evil -- in the absence of further information -- can provide much in the way of evidence against the existence of God .", "What if one shifts to a slightly less abstract formulation of the argument from evil that is based upon the premise that the world contains a certain amount of evil , or upon the premise that the world contains at least some natural evil ?", "Then one is including marginally more information .", "But one is still assuming , in effect , that most of the detailed information about the evils found in the world is completely irrelevant to the argument from evil , and a little reflection brings out how very implausible this assumption is .", "So , for example , consider a world that contains a billion units of natural evil .", "Is this a good starting point for an argument from evil ?", "The answer is that , if either a deontological approach to ethics is correct , or a form of consequentialism that takes the distribution of goods and evils into account , rather than , say , simply the total amount of goods and evils , whether this fact is an impressive reason for questioning the existence of God surely depends on further details about the world .", "If those billion units are uniformly distributed over trillions of people whose lives are otherwise extremely satisfying and ecstatically happy , it is not easy to see a serious problem of evil .", "But if , on the other hand , the billion units of natural evil fell upon a single innocent person , and produced a life that was , throughout , one of extraordinarily intense pain , then surely there would be a very serious problem of evil .", "Details concerning such things as how suffering and other evils are distributed over individuals , and the nature of those who undergo the evils , are , then , of crucial importance .", "Thus it is relevant , for example , that many innocent children suffer agonizing deaths .", "It is relevant that animals suffer , and that they did so before there were any persons to observe their suffering , and to feel sympathy for them .", "It is also relevant that , on the one hand , the suffering that people undergo apparently bears no relation to the moral quality of their lives , and , on the other , that it bears a very clear relation to the wealth and medical knowledge of the societies in which they live .", "The prospects for a successful abstract version of the argument from evil would seem , therefore , rather problematic .", "It is conceivable , of course , that the correct moral principles entail that there can not be any evils whose actuality or possibility makes for a better world .", "But to attempt to set out a version of the argument from evil that requires a defense of that thesis is certainly to swim upstream .", "A much more promising approach , surely , is to focus , instead , simply upon those evils that are thought , by the vast majority of people , to pose at least a prima facie problem for the rationality of belief in an omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect person .", "Given that the preceding observations are rather obvious ones , one might have expected that discussions of the argument from evil would have centered mainly upon concrete formulations of the argument .", "Rather surprisingly , that has not been so .", "Indeed , some authors seem to focus almost exclusively upon very abstract versions of the argument .", "One of the more striking illustrations of this phenomenon is provided by Alvin Plantinga 's discussions of the problem of evil .", "God and Other Minds , in The Nature of Necessity , and in God , Freedom , and Evil , for example , Plantinga , starting out from an examination of John L. Mackie 's essay `` Evil and Omnipotence '' ( 1955 ) , in which Mackie had defended an incompatibility version of the argument from evil , focuses mainly on the question of whether the existence of God is compatible with the existence of evil , although there are also short discussions of whether the existence of God is compatible with the existence of a given quantity of evil , and of whether the existence of a certain amount of evil renders the existence of God unlikely .", "( The latter topic is then the total focus of attention in his long article , `` The Probabilistic Argument from Evil '' . )", "That Plantinga initially focused upon abstract formulations of the argument from evil was not , perhaps , surprising , given that a number of writers -- including Mackie , H. J. McCloskey ( 1960 ) , and", "H. D. Aiken ( 1957 -- 58 ) -- had defended incompatibility versions of the argument from evil , and it is natural to formulate such arguments in an abstract way , since although one may wish to distinguish , for example , between natural evils and moral evils , reference to concrete cases of evil would not seem to add anything .", "But once one shifts to probabilistic formulations of the argument from evil , the situation is very different : details about concrete cases of evil may be evidentially crucial .", "The problem , then , is that Plantinga not only started out by focusing on very abstract versions of the argument from evil , but also maintained this focus throughout .", "The explanation of this may lie in the fact that Plantinga seems to have believed that if it can be shown that the existence of God is neither incompatible with , nor rendered improbable by , either ( 1 ) the mere existence of evil , or ( 2 ) the existence of a specified amount of evil , then no philosophical problem remains .", "People may find , of course , that they are still troubled by the existence of specific evils , but this , Plantinga seems to be believe , is a religious problem , and what is called for , he suggests , is not philosophical argument , but `` pastoral care '' ( 1974a , 63 -- 4 ) .", "Plantinga 's view here , however , is very implausible .", "For not only can the argument from evil be formulated in terms of specific evils , but that is the natural way to do so , given that it is only certain types of evils that are generally viewed as raising a serious problem with respect to the rationality of belief in God .", "To concentrate exclusively on abstract versions of the argument from evil is therefore to ignore the most plausible and challenging versions of the argument .", "Consider , now , the following formulation of the argument from evil , which , in contrast to the abstract version of the argument from evil set out in section 1.1 , focuses on quite concrete types of evil :", "Therefore , from ( 1 ) , ( 2 ) , and ( 3 ) :", "As it stands , this argument is deductively valid .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- ( Here is a proof . )", "However it is likely to be challenged in various ways .", "In particular , one vulnerable point is the claim , made in the last part of statement ( 1 ) , that an omnipotent and omniscient person could have prevented those states of affairs without thereby either allowing an equal or greater evil , or preventing an equal or greater good , and when this is challenged , an inductive step will presumably be introduced , one that moves from what we know about the undesirable states of affairs in question to a conclusion about the overall value of those states of affairs , all things considered -- including things that may well lie outside our ken .", "But the above argument is subject to a very different sort of criticism , one that is connected with a feature of the above argument which seems to me important , but which is not often commented upon -- the fact , namely , that the above argument is formulated in terms of axiological concepts , that is , in terms of the goodness or badness , the desirability or undesirability , of states of affairs .", "The criticism that arises from this feature centers on statement ( 3 ) , which asserts that an omniscient and morally perfect being would prevent the existence of any states of affairs that are intrinsically bad or undesirable , and whose prevention he could achieve without either allowing an equal or greater evil , or preventing an equal or greater good .", "For one can ask how this claim is to be justified .", "One answer that might be offered would be that some form of consequentialism is true -- such as , for example , the view that an action that fails to maximize the balance of good states of affairs over bad states of affairs is morally wrong .", "But the difficulty then is that any such assumption is likely to be a deeply controversial assumption that many theists would certainly reject .", "The problem , in short , is that any axiological formulation of the argument from evil , as it stands , is incomplete in a crucial respect , since it fails to make explicit how a failure to bring about good states of affairs , or a failure to prevent bad states of affairs , entails that one is acting in a morally wrong way .", "Moreover , the natural way of removing this incompleteness is by appealing to what are in fact controversial ethical claims , such as the claim that the right action is the one that maximizes expected value .", "The result , in turn , is that discussions may very well become sidetracked on issues that are , in fact , not really crucial -- such as , for example , the question of whether God would be morally blameworthy if he failed to create the best world that he could .", "The alternative to an axiological formulation is a deontological formulation .", "Here the idea is that rather than employing concepts that focus upon the value or disvalue of states of affairs , one instead uses concepts that focus upon the rightness and wrongness of actions , and upon the properties -- rightmaking properties and wrongmaking properties -- that determine whether an action is one that ought to be performed , or ought not to be performed , other things being equal .", "When the argument is thus formulated , there is no problematic bridge that needs to be introduced connecting the goodness and badness of states of affairs with the rightness and wrongness of actions .", "How is the argument from evil best formulated ?", "As an incompatibility argument , or as an evidential argument ?", "In section 1.1 , an incompatibility formulation of a very abstract sort was set out , which appealed to the mere fact that the world contains at least some evil .", "That formulation involved the following crucial premise :", "The problem with that premise , as we saw , is that it can be argued that some evils are such that their actuality , or at least their possibility , is logically necessary for goods that outweigh them , in which case it is not true that a perfectly good being would want to eliminate such evils .", "In section 1.4 , a much more concrete version of an incompatibility argument was set out , which , rather than appealing to the mere existence of some evil or other , appealed to specific types of evil -- in particular , situations where animals die agonizing deaths in forest fires , or where children undergo lingering suffering and eventual death due to cancer .", "The thrust of the argument was then that , first of all , an omniscient and omnipotent person could have prevented the existence of such evils without thereby either allowing equal or greater evils , or preventing equal or greater goods , and , secondly , that any omniscient and morally perfect person will prevent the existence of such evils if that can be done without either allowing equal or greater evils , or preventing equal or greater goods .", "The second of these claims avoids the objections that can be directed against the stronger claim that was involved in the argument set out in section 1.1 -- that is , the claim that if God is morally perfect , then God has the desire to eliminate all evil .", "But the shift to the more modest claim requires that one move from the very modest claim that evil exists to the stronger claim that there are certain evils that an omniscient and omnipotent person could have prevented the existence of such evils without thereby either allowing equal or greater evils , or preventing equal or greater goods , and the question arises as to how that claim can be supported .", "In particular , can it be established by means of a purely deductive argument ?", "Consider , in particular , the relevant premise in the more concrete version of the argument from evil set out in section 1.4 , namely :", "How would one go about establishing via a purely deductive argument that a deer 's suffering a slow and painful death because of a forest fire , or a child 's undergo lingering suffering and eventual death due to cancer , is not logically necessary either to achieve a greater good or to avoid a greater evil ?", "If one had knowledge of the totality of morally relevant properties , then it might well be possible to show both that there are no greater evils that can be avoided only at the cost of the evil in question , and that there are no greater goods that are possible only given that evil .", "Do we have such knowledge ?", "Some moral theorists would claim that we do , and that it is possible to set out a complete and correct moral theory .", "But this is certainly a highly controversial metaethical claim , and , as a consequence , the prospects for establishing a premise such as ( 1 ) via a deductive argument do not appear promising , at least given the present state of moral theory .", "But if one can not establish ( 1 ) via a deductive argument from one 's moral theory , can not it be argued that that will lead to skepticism about whether one can know what human actions are morally right and morally wrong ?", "This is a serious question , and it may well be that such knowledge is ruled out .", "But as will become clear when we consider evidential versions of the argument from evil , it may well be that one can have justified beliefs about the rightness and wrongness of actions .", "If a premise such as ( 1 ) can not , at least at present , be established deductively , then the only possibility , it would seem , is to offer some sort of inductive argument in support of the relevant premise .", "But if this is right , then it is surely best to get that crucial inductive step out into the open , and thus to formulate the argument from evil not as a deductive argument for the very strong claim that it is logically impossible for both God and evil to exist , ( or for", "God and certain types , or instances , of evil to exist ) , but as an evidential ( inductive/probabilistic ) argument for the more modest claim that there are evils that actually exist in the world that make it unlikely that God exists .", "If the argument from evil is given an evidential formulation , what form should that take ?", "There appear to be four main possibilities that have been suggested in recent discussions .", "The first , which might be called the direct inductive approach , involves the idea that one can show that theism is unlikely to be true without comparing theism with any alternative hypothesis , other than the mere denial of theism .", "At the heart of this first approach , which was set out by", "William Rowe , is the idea that one sound type of inductive inference is what might be referred to as instantial generalization , where this is a matter of projecting a generalization that has been found to hold in all cases that have been so far examined to all cases whatever .", "The second , which can be labeled the indirect inductive approach , argues instead that theism can be shown to be unlikely to be true by establishing that there is some alternative hypothesis -- other than the mere negation of theism -- that is logically incompatible with theism , and more probable than theism .", "This approach , which was originally used by David Hume in one of his arguments in his Dialogues Concerning Natural", "Religion , and which has been set out and defended in a detailed way by Paul Draper , can be viewed as involving an inference to the best explanation , a type of inductive inference that was discovered by", "C. S. Pierce , and which is now very widely accepted .", "The third approach , which has been advanced by William Rowe , involves what might be referred to as a Bayesian approach , and it differs from the first two approaches in that it does not involve either instantial generalization or inference to the best explanation , or , indeed , any sort of inductive inference .", "The idea , instead , is to start out from premises that are themselves substantive probabilistic claims , and then to show that it follows deductively from those premises , via axioms of probability theory , that it is unlikely that God exists .", "The fourth and final approach , which has been set out by Michael", "Tooley , involves the idea of bringing a substantive theory of inductive logic , or logical probability , to bear upon the argument from evil , and then to argue that when this is done , one can derive a formula giving the probability that God does not exist relative to information about the number of apparent evils to be found in the world .", "These four approaches will be set out and considered in the sections that follow .", "The basic idea behind a direct inductive formulation of the argument from evil is that the argument involves a crucial inductive step that takes the form of an inductive projection or generalization in which one moves from a premise concerning the known moral properties of some state of affairs to a conclusion about the likely overall moral worth of that state of affairs , given all its moral properties , both known and unknown .", "Such a direct inductive argument might , for example , take the following form :", "Therefore it is likely that :", "Therefore , from ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) :", "Therefore , from ( 4 ) and ( 5 ) :", "Therefore , from ( 6 ) and ( 7 ) :", "Therefore , from ( 8 ) and ( 9 ) :", "When the argument from evil is formulated in this way , it involves five premises , set out at steps ( 1 ) , ( 3 ) , ( 5 ) , ( 7 ) and ( 9 ) .", "Statement ( 1 ) involves both empirical claims , and moral claims , but the empirical claims are surely true , and , setting aside the question of the existence of objective rightmaking and wrongmaking properties , the moral claims are surely also very plausible .", "The other four premises , set out at steps ( 3 ) , ( 5 ) , ( 7 ) and ( 9 ) , are plausibly viewed as analytic truths .", "As regards the logic of the argument , all of the steps in the argument , other than the inference from ( 1 ) to ( 2 ) , are deductive , and are either clearly valid as they stand , or could be made so by trivial expansions of the argument at the relevant points .", "The upshot , accordingly , is that the above argument appears to stand or fall with the defensibility of the inductive inference from ( 1 ) to ( 2 ) .", "The crucial questions , accordingly , are , first , exactly what the form of that inductive inference is , and , secondly , whether it is sound .", "A familiar and very common sort of inductive inference involves moving from information to the effect that all observed things of a certain type have a certain property to the conclusion that absolutely all things of the type in question have the relevant property .", "Could the inductive step in the evidential argument from evil perhaps be of that form ?", "One philosopher who has suggested that this is the case is William", "Rowe , in his 1991 article , `` Ruminations about Evil '' .", "Let us consider , then , whether that view can be sustained .", "In that article , Rowe formulates the premise of the crucial inference as follows : ( Here `` E1 '' refers to a case of a fawn who dies in lingering and terrible fashion as a result of a forest fire , and `` E2 '' to the case of a young girl who is brutally raped , beaten , and murdered . )", "Commenting on P , Rowe emphasizes that what proposition", "P says is not simply that we can not see how various goods would justify an omnipotent , omniscient being 's permitting", "E1 or E2 , but rather ,", "Rowe then goes on to say that :", "Rowe uses the letter ` J' `` to stand for the property a good has just in case obtaining that good would justify an omnipotent , omniscient being in permitting E1 or", "When this is done , the above inference can be compactly represented as follows :", "Rowe next refers to Plantinga 's criticism of this inference , and he argues that Plantinga 's criticism now amounts to the claim that", "Rowe 's response is then as follows :", "Finally , Rowe points out that :", "Plantinga 's criticism is of type ( A ) .", "For the reason given , it is not a cogent criticism .", "But a criticism of type ( B ) is entirely proper to advance against any inductive inference of the sort we are considering .", "( 1991 , 73 -- 4 ) In view of the last point , Rowe concludes that `` one important route for the theist to explore is whether there is some reason to think that were a good to have J it either would not be a good within our ken or would be such that although we apprehend this good we are incapable of determining that it has J , '' ( 1991 , 74 ) .", "First , Rowe is right that a criticism of type ( A ) does involve `` radical skepticism of inductive reasoning in general '' .", "But , secondly , having granted that point , how satisfactory is Rowe 's account of the reasoning involved ?", "To answer that question , what one needs to notice is that Rowe 's claim that `` if we observe many \\ ( A \\ ) s and note that all of them are \\ ( B \\ ) s we are justified in believing that the \\ ( A \\ ) s we have n't observed are also \\ ( B \\ ) s '' is somewhat ambiguous , since while the claim that `` we are justified in believing that the \\ ( A \\ ) s we have n't observed are also \\ ( B \\ ) s '' might naturally be interpreted as saying it is possible to construe it as making , instead , the following , much weaker claim", "Let us consider , then , the relevance of this distinction .", "On the one hand , Rowe is certainly right that any criticism that claims that one is not justified in inferring ( 2 ) unless one has additional information to the effect that unobserved \\ ( A \\ ) s are not likely to differ from observed \\ ( A \\ ) s with respect to the possession of property \\ ( B \\ ) entails inductive skepticism .", "But , by contrast , it is not true that this is so if one rejects , instead , the inference to ( 1 ) .", "For one might reject the latter inference on the ground that while , given any particular \\ ( A \\ ) , it is likely that that \\ ( A \\ ) is a \\ ( B \\ ) , it is not likely that all \\ ( A \\ ) s are \\ ( B \\ ) s. ( Compare the situation with a very long conjunction : given any particular conjunct , it may be likely that that conjunct is true , while being very unlikely that every conjunct , and hence the conjunction as a whole , is true . )", "This is important , moreover , because it is ( 1 ) that Rowe needs , since the conclusion that he is drawing does not concern simply the next morally relevant property that someone might consider : conclusion Q asserts , rather , that all further morally relevant properties will lack property J .", "Such a conclusion about all further cases is much stronger than a conclusion about the next case , and one might well think that in some circumstances a conclusion of the latter sort is justified , but that a conclusion of the former sort is not .", "One way of supporting the latter claim is by introducing the idea of logical probability , where logical probability is a measure of the extent to which one proposition supports another ( Carnap , 1962 , 19 -- 51 , esp .", "43 -- 7 ) , and then arguing ( Tooley , 1977 , 690 -- 3 , and 1987 , 129 -- 37 ) that when one is dealing with an accidental generalization , the probability that the regularity in question will obtain gets closer and closer to zero , without limit , as the number of potential instances gets larger and larger , and that this is so regardless of how large one 's evidence base is .", "Is it impossible , then , to justify universal generalizations ?", "The answer is that if laws are more than mere regularities -- and , in particular , if they are second-order relations between universals -- then the obtaining of a law , and thus of the corresponding regularity , may have a very high probability upon even quite a small body of evidence .", "So universal generalizations can be justified , if they obtain in virtue of underlying , governing laws of nature .", "The question then becomes whether Q expresses a law -- or a consequence of a law .", "If -- as seems plausible -- it does not , then , although it is true that one in justified in holding , of any given , not yet observed morally relevant property , that it is unlikely to have property J , it may not be the case that it is probable that no goodmaking ( or rightmaking ) property has property", "It may , on the contrary , be probable that there is some morally relevant property that does have property", "This objection could be overcome if one could argue that it is unlikely that there are many unknown goodmaking properties .", "For if the number is small , then the probability of Q may still be high even if Q does not express a law , or a consequence of a law .", "Moreover , I am inclined to think that it may well be possible to argue that it is unlikely that there are many unknown , morally relevant properties .", "But I also think that it is very likely that any attempt to establish this conclusion would involve some very controversial metaethical claims .", "As a consequence , I think that one is justified in concluding that such a line of argument is not especially promising .", "In his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion , Hume contended that it was not possible to arrive at the conclusion that the world had a perfectly good cause -- or a perfectly evil one -- starting out simply from a world that consists of a mixture of good and bad states of affairs :", "But if this is right , and the hypothesis that the first cause ( or causes ) of the universe is neither good nor evil is more probable than the hypothesis that the first cause is perfectly good , then the probability of the latter must be less than one half .", "Hume advanced , then , an evidential argument from evil that has a distinctly different logical form from that involved in direct inductive arguments , for the idea is to point to some proposition that is logically incompatible with theism , and then to argue that , given facts about undesirable states of affairs to be found in the world , that hypothesis is more probable than theism , and , therefore , that theism is more likely to be false than to be true .", "More than two centuries later , Paul Draper , inspired by Hume , set out and defended this type of indirect inductive argument in a very detailed way .", "In doing so , Draper focused upon two alternative hypotheses , the first of which he referred to as `` the Hypothesis of Indifference , '' and which was as follows ( 1989 , 13 ) -LSB- 4 -RSB- :", "Draper then focused upon three sets of propositions about occurrences of pleasure and pain , dealing , respectively , with ( a ) the experience of pleasure and pain , by moral agents , which is known to be biologically useful , ( b ) the experience of pleasure and pain , by sentient beings that are not moral agents , which is known to be biologically useful , and ( c ) the experience of pleasure and pain , by sentient beings , which is not known to be biologically useful , and", "Draper then argued that , where ` O ' expresses the conjunction of all those propositions , and ` T ' expresses the proposition that God exists , the probability that", "O is the case given HI is greater than the probability of O given T .", "It then follows , provided that the initial probability of T is no greater than that of", "HI , that T is more likely to be false than to be true .", "To set out Draper 's argument in a little more detail , let us use ` \\ ( \\ Pr ( P \\ mid Q ) \\ ) ' to stand for either the logical probability , or , as Draper ( 1996 , 27 ) himself does , the epistemic probability , that \\ ( P \\ ) is true , given that \\ ( Q \\ ) is true , and then use the following instance of what is known as Bayes '", "This instance of Bayes ' Theorem deals with the simple case where one has two hypotheses H and J that are mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive , and where one is interested in \\ ( \\ Pr ( H \\ mid E ) \\ ) , that is , the probability that H is true given evidence E .", "What this instance of", "Bayes ' Theorem does is provide one with a way of calculating that probability , provided that one knows , first of all , \\ ( \\ Pr ( H ) \\ ) and \\ ( \\ Pr ( J ) \\ ) -- that is , the a priori logical probabilities of \\ ( H \\ ) and \\ ( J \\ ) -- and also , second , \\ ( \\ Pr ( E \\ mid H ) \\ ) and \\ ( \\ Pr ( E \\ mid J ) \\ ) -- that is , the logical probability of \\ ( E \\ ) given , respectively , only \\ ( H \\ ) and only \\ ( J \\ ) .", "By substitution in ( 1 ) , we have :", "Similarly , by interchanging ` HI ' and ` T ' , we also have : If we then divide ( 2 ) by ( 3 ) we arrive at the following very useful equation :", "So far , this is simply a matter of probability theory .", "But now Draper introduces two substantive claims .", "The first is that the a priori probability of the hypothesis of indifference is not less than the a priori probability of theism , so that we have", "Draper 's second substantive claim is that the conjunction of propositions about pleasure and pain to which Draper refers , and which is represented by ` \\ ( O \\ ) ' is more likely to be true if the hypothesis of indifference is true than if theism is true .", "So we have", "But provided that \\ ( \\ Pr ( T ) \\ ) and \\ ( \\ Pr ( O \\ mid T ) \\ ) are not equal to zero -- which is surely very reasonable -- ( 5 ) and ( 6 ) can be rewritten as and It then follows , by multiplying ( 7 ) and ( 8 ) , that", "This , together with ( 4 ) , then entails :", "Finally , Draper assumes ( as a substantive premise ) that the hypothesis of indifference is logically incompatible with theism : It then follows from ( 10 ) and ( 11 ) that", "So we have the result that , given the facts about pleasure and pain summarized by ` \\ ( O \\ ) ' , theism is more likely to be false than to be true .", "There are various points at which one might respond to this argument .", "First , it might be argued that the assumption that the hypothesis of indifference is logically incompatible with theism is not obviously true .", "For might it not be logically possible that there was an omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect being who created a neutral environment in which evolution could take place in a chancy way , and who afterwards did not intervene in any way ?", "But , if so , then while \\ ( T \\ ) would be true , \\ ( HI \\ ) might also be true -- as it would be if there were no other nonhuman persons .", "So , at the very least , it is not clear that \\ ( HI \\ ) entails \\ ( \\ negt T \\ ) .", "Secondly , it might also be argued that the substantive premise introduced at ( 5 ) -- that is , \\ ( \\ Pr ( HI ) \\ ge \\ Pr ( T ) \\ ) -- is open to question .", "Draper supports it by arguing that whereas the hypothesis of theism involves some ontological commitment , the Hypothesis of Indifference does not .", "But , on the other hand , the latter involves a completely universal generalization about the absence of any action upon the earth by any nonhuman persons , of either a benevolent or malevolent sort , and it is far from clear why the prior probability of this being so should be greater than the prior probability of theism .", "Both of these objections can be avoided , however , by simply shifting from \\ ( HI \\ ) to a different alternative hypothesis that Draper also mentions , namely , `` The Indifferent Deity Hypothesis '' :", "Thirdly , it can be objected that the argument does not really move far beyond two of its three crucial assumptions -- the assumptions set out , namely , at steps ( 5 ) and ( 11 ) , to the effect that \\ ( \\ Pr ( HI ) \\ ge \\ Pr ( T ) \\ ) , and \\ ( HI \\ ) entails \\ ( \\ negt T \\ ) .", "For given those assumptions , it follows immediately that \\ ( \\ Pr ( T ) \\ le 0.5 \\ ) , and so the rest of the argument merely moves from that conclusion to the conclusion that \\ ( \\ Pr ( T ) \\ lt 0.5 \\ ) .", "One response to this objection is that the move from \\ ( \\ Pr ( T ) \\ le 0.5 \\ ) to \\ ( \\ Pr ( T ) \\ lt 0.5 \\ ) is not insignificant , since it is a move from a situation in which acceptance of theism may not be irrational to one where it is certainly is .", "Nevertheless , the objection does bring out an important point , namely , that the argument as it stands says nothing at all about how much below 0.5 the probability of theism is .", "Fourthly , objections can be directed at the arguments that Draper offers in support of a third substantive premise -- namely , that introduced at ( 6 ) .", "Some of the objections directed against this premise are less than impressive -- and some seem very implausible indeed , as in the case , for example , of Peter van Inwagen , who has to appeal to quite an extraordinary claim about the conditions that one must satisfy in order to claim that a world is logically possible :", "Such objections tend to suggest that any flaws in Draper 's argument in support of the crucial premise are less than obvious .", "Nevertheless , given that the argument that Draper offers in support of the premise at ( 6 ) involves a number of detailed considerations , very careful scrutiny of those arguments would be needed before one could conclude that the premise is justified .", "Finally , rather than attacking the argument itself , one might instead argue that , while it is sound , the conclusion is not really a significant one .", "For what matters is not whether there is some evidence relative to which it is unlikely that theism is true .", "What matters is whether theism is improbable relative to our total evidence .", "But , then , suppose that we introduce some different observations -- \\ ( O ^ * \\ ) -- such that it seems plausible that \\ ( O ^ * \\ ) is more likely to be the case if theism is true that if the Hypothesis of Indifference is true .", "For example , \\ ( O ^ * \\ ) might be some proposition about the occurrences of experiences that seem to be experiences of a loving deity .", "The question then is whether the appropriate revision of the first substantive premise is plausible .", "That is , do we have good reason for thinking that the following statement is true :", "At the very least , it would seem that \\ ( ( 6 ^ -LCB- \\ & -RCB- ) \\ ) is much more problematic than \\ ( ( 6 ) \\ ) .", "But if that is right , then the above ,", "Draper-style argument , even if all of its premises are true , is not as significant as it may initially appear , since if \\ ( ( 6 ^ -LCB- \\ & -RCB- ) \\ ) is not true , the conclusion that theism is more likely to be false than to be true can be undercut by introducing additional evidence of a pro-theist sort .", "A Draper-style argument is one type of indirect inductive argument from evil .", "It is important to notice , however , that in formulating an indirect inductive argument from evil , one need not proceed along the route that Draper chooses .", "This is clear if one focuses upon Hume 's formulation , and then thinks in terms of the idea of an inference to the best explanation of the `` mixed phenomena '' that one finds .", "If one explains the fact that the world contains an impressive mixture of desirable and undesirable states of affairs by the hypothesis that the creator of the world was an omnipotent , omniscient , and indifferent deity , then nothing more needs to be added .", "By contrast , if one wants to explain the mixed state of the world by the hypothesis that the creator of the world was an omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect deity , one needs to postulate the existence of additional , morally significant properties that lie beyond our ken , and ones , moreover , that are so distributed that the mixed appearance does not correspond to what is really the case .", "A theistic explanation is , accordingly , less simple than an indifferent deity explanation , and therefore , provided that one can argue that the a priori probability of the latter hypothesis is not less than that of the former , one can appeal to the greater simplicity of the latter in order to conclude that it has a higher posterior probability than the theistic hypothesis .", "It then follows , given that the two hypotheses are logically incompatible , that the probability of the theistic hypothesis must be less than one half .", "We have just considered the Bayesian-style argument offered by Paul", "Let us now turn to another .", "In his 1996 paper , `` The Evidential Argument from Evil : A Second", "Look '' , Rowe set aside the problem of attempting to find a satisfactory account of the inductive step involved in direct , inductive formulations of the argument from evil in favor of a very different , Bayesian formulation of the argument from evil .", "The latter argument has been vigorously criticized by Plantinga ( 1998 ) , but Rowe ( 1998 ) has remained confident that the new argument is sound .", "Rowe 's new argument can be summarized as follows .", "First , its formulation involves only three propositions , one of which is proposition \\ ( k \\ ) , which expresses , roughly , the totality of our background knowledge , while the other two propositions are as follows :", "Secondly , the object of the argument as a whole is to start out from some probabilistic assumptions , and then to move deductively , using only axioms of probability theory , to the following two conclusions :", "The first conclusion , then , is that the probability that God exists is lower given the combination of \\ ( P \\ ) together with our background knowledge than it is given our background knowledge alone .", "Thus \\ ( P \\ ) disconfirms \\ ( G \\ ) in the sense of lowering the probability of \\ ( G \\ ) .", "The second conclusion is that \\ ( P \\ ) disconfirms \\ ( G \\ ) in a different sense -- namely , it , together with our background knowledge , makes it more likely than not that \\ ( G \\ ) is false .", "Thirdly , in order to establish the first conclusion , Rowe needs only the following three assumptions :", "Fourthly , all three assumptions , interpreted as Rowe does , are surely eminently reasonable .", "As regards ( 1 ) , it follows from the fact that for any two propositions \\ ( q \\ ) and \\ ( r \\ ) , if \\ ( q \\ ) entails \\ ( r \\ ) then \\ ( \\ Pr ( r \\ mid q ) = 1 \\ ) , together with the fact that Rowe interprets \\ ( P \\ ) in such a way that \\ ( \\ negt G \\ ) entails \\ ( P \\ ) , since he interprets \\ ( P \\ ) as saying that it is not the case that there is an omnipotent , omniscient , and perfectly good being together with some known good that justifies that being in allowing \\ ( E_1 \\ ) and \\ ( E_2 \\ ) .", "Then , as regards ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) , it certainly seems plausible , first of all , assuming that the existence of God is not logically necessary , that there is at least some non-zero probability that God does not exist , given our background knowledge , and also that there is some non-zero probability that no good that we know of justifies an omnipotent , omniscient , perfectly good being in permitting \\ ( E_1 \\ ) and \\ ( E_2 \\ ) .", "Secondly , if the existence of God is neither a logically necessary truth nor entailed by our background knowledge , and if the existence of God together with our background knowledge does not logically entail that no good that we know of justifies an omnipotent , omniscient , perfectly good being in permitting \\ ( E_1 \\ ) and \\ ( E_2 \\ ) , then one can support ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) by appealing to the very plausible principle that the probability of \\ ( r \\ ) given \\ ( q \\ ) is equal to one if and only if \\ ( q \\ ) entails \\ ( r \\ ) .", "Finally , to establish the second conclusion -- that is , that relative to our background knowledge together with proposition \\ ( P \\ ) it is more likely than not that God does not exist -- Rowe needs only one additional assumption :", "Given assumptions ( 1 ) , ( 2 ) , and ( 3 ) , how does the argument for the first conclusion go ?", "In outline , one first uses ( 1 ) , ( 2 ) , and ( 3 ) to prove that It then follows very quickly that", "Assumption ( 4 ) then allows one to conclude that", "Here are the details .", "The key starting point is with the following theorem of probability theory ( Compare Draper , 1996 , 268 ) :", "Substituting into ( 5 ) using assumption ( 1 ) then gives one :", "Next , it is a truth of probability theory that", "Using ( 7 ) to substitute into ( 6 ) one has", "Subtracting \\ ( \\ Pr ( P \\ mid G \\ amp k ) \\ ) from each side of ( 8 ) then gives one :", "But then in view of assumption ( 2 ) we have that \\ ( \\ Pr ( \\ negt G \\ mid k ) \\ gt 0 \\ ) , while in view of assumption ( 3 ) we have that \\ ( \\ Pr ( P \\ mid G \\ amp k ) \\ lt 1 \\ ) , and thus that \\ ( -LSB- 1 - \\ Pr ( P \\ mid G \\ amp k ) -RSB- \\ gt 0 \\ ) , so that it then follows from ( 9 ) that", "So one has", "The next stage involve showing that it follows from ( 11 ) that", "This is done as follows .", "First , it follows from the definition of conditional probability one has and", "Dividing both sides of ( 13 ) by \\ ( \\ Pr ( G \\ mid k ) \\ times \\ Pr ( P \\ mid k ) \\ ) then gives one : It then follows from ( 15 ) together with ( 11 ) that", "Finally , it then follows from ( 16 ) together with ( 4 ) that", "Given the plausibility of assumptions ( 1 ) , ( 2 ) , and ( 3 ) , together with the impeccable logic , the prospects of faulting Rowe 's argument for his first conclusion may not seem at all promising .", "Nor does the situation seem significantly different in the case of", "Rowe 's second conclusion , since assumption ( 4 ) also seems very plausible , in view of the fact that the property of being an omnipotent , omniscient , and perfectly good being belongs to a family of properties , including the property of being an omnipotent , omniscient , and perfectly evil being , and the property of being an omnipotent , omniscient , and perfectly morally indifferent being , and , on the face of it , neither of the latter properties seems less likely to be instantiated in the actual world than the property of being an omnipotent , omniscient , and perfectly good being .", "In fact , however , Rowe 's argument is unsound .", "The reason is connected with the point that while inductive arguments can fail , just as deductive arguments can , either because their logic is faulty , or their premises false , inductive arguments can also fail in a way that deductive arguments can not , in that they may violate a principle -- namely , the Total Evidence Requirement -- which I shall be setting out below , and Rowe 's argument is defective in precisely that way .", "A good way of approaching the objection that I have in mind is by considering the following , preliminary objection to Rowe 's argument for the conclusion that", "The objection is based on upon the observation that Rowe 's argument involves , as we saw above , only the following four premises :", "Notice now , first , that the proposition \\ ( P \\ ) enters only into the first and the third of these premises , and secondly , that the truth of both of these premises is easily secured .", "Thus , for the first premise to be true , all that is needed is that \\ ( \\ negt G \\ ) entails \\ ( P \\ ) , while for the third premise to be true , all that is needed , according to most systems of inductive logic , is that \\ ( P \\ ) is not entailed by \\ ( G \\ amp k \\ ) , since according to most systems of inductive logic , \\ ( \\ Pr ( P \\ mid G \\ amp k ) \\ lt 1 \\ ) is only false if \\ ( P \\ ) is entailed by \\ ( G \\ amp k \\ ) .", "Consider , now , what happens if , for example , Rowe 's \\ ( P \\ ) is replaced by :", "Statements ( 1 ) and ( 3 ) will both be true given that replacement , while statements ( 2 ) and ( 4 ) are unaffected , and one will be able to derive the same conclusions as in Rowe 's Bayesian argument .", "But if this is so , then the theist can surely claim , it would seem , that the fact that Rowe 's ` \\ ( P \\ ) ' refers to evil in the world turns out to play no crucial role in Rowe 's new argument !", "This objection , however , is open to the following reply .", "The reason that I am justified in believing the proposition that either God does not exist or there is a pen in my pocket is that I am justified in believing that there is a pen in my pocket .", "The proposition that either God does not exist or there is a pen in my pocket therefore does not represent the total evidence that I have .", "But the argument in question can not be set out in terms of the proposition that , we can suppose , does in this case represent one 's total evidence -- namely , the proposition that there is a pen in my pocket -- since that proposition is not entailed by \\ ( \\ negt G \\ ) .", "The conclusion , in short , is that the above parody of Rowe 's argument does n't work , since the parody violates the following requirement :", "But this response to the above objection to the argument for the conclusion that now makes it clear that there a decisive objection to the argument as a whole .", "For notice that if \\ ( P \\ ) -- the statement that -- is interpreted in such a way that \\ ( \\ negt G \\ ) entails \\ ( P \\ ) , it is then logically equivalent to the following disjunctive statement : where \\ ( P ^ * \\ ) is the proposition that Rowe sets out in footnote 8 of his article , namely :", "Once this is noticed , it is clear that Rowe 's argument is open to precisely the same response as that used against the objection to the parody argument just considered , since the justification that one can offer for \\ ( \\ negt G \\ ) or \\ ( P ^ * \\ ) is in fact just a justification of the second disjunct -- that is , \\ ( P ^ * \\ ) .", "This means that in appealing to \\ ( P \\ ) ( i.e. , to \\ ( ( \\ negt G ) \\ ) or \\ ( P ^ * \\ ) ) one is not making use of one 's total evidence .", "So Rowe 's argument , if it is to be sound , must instead be formulated in terms of \\ ( P ^ * \\ ) .", "But while \\ ( \\ negt G \\ ) entails \\ ( P \\ ) , it does not entail \\ ( P ^ * \\ ) .", "So the result of replacing ` P ' by ` P * ' in statement ( 1 ) -- that is -- will not be true , and so an argument of the form that Rowe offers will not go through .", "Rowe 's Bayesian argument is , therefore , unsound .", "In section 3.2.1 , a concrete , deontological , and direct inductive formulation of the argument from evil was set out .", "All of the steps in that argument were deductive , except for the following crucial inference :", "The question , accordingly , is whether this inductive step is correct .", "Essentially , there are three ways in which one might attempt to defend this inference .", "One is by treating it as a case of instantial generalization .", "But as we saw in effect in section 3.2.3 , when we considered a formulation of the evidential argument from evil advanced by William Rowe , it appears that the inductive step in the argument from evil can not be defended by appealing to instantial generalization .", "A second approach is to view that inductive step as a matter of inference to the best explanation , and this is a more promising possibility .", "That approach would lead to an argument of the general form advanced by David Hume and Paul Draper , considered in section .", "There is , however , a third possibility , which is the focus of the present section .", "Underlying this approach are two general ideas : the first is that both induction via instantial generalization and inference to the best explanation ( abduction , the method of hypothesis , hypothetico-deductive method ) stand in need of justification ; the second idea is that at the heart of such a justification will be the defense of an account of logical probability .", "The fundamental idea , accordingly , is that the way to determine whether the inductive step that lies at the heart of the evidential argument from evil is sound is by bringing serious inductive logic -- understood as a theory of logical probability -- to bear upon the question .", "What is the appropriate theory of logical probability ?", "Tooley ( 2008 and 2012 ) employs a Carnapian theory in which the basic equiprobability assumption is formulated in terms of what are called ` structure descriptions ' , and the fundamental postulate is that all structure descriptions are equally likely .", "But if one holds , as Tooley ( 1977 and 1987 ) does , that governing laws are logically possible , then it is clear that the fundamental equiprobability assumption needs to be formulated in terms of governing laws of nature .", "At present , however , no detailed formulation of such an approach to logical probability is available .", "To establish that the inductive step in the version of the evidential argument from evil set out above is sound requires a rather technical argument in inductive logic .", "But one can gain an intuitive understanding of the underlying idea in the following way .", "Suppose that there is a rightmaking property of which we have no knowledge .", "If an action of allowing a child to be brutally killed possessed that property , then it might not be wrong to allow that action , depending upon the weightiness of that unknown rightmaking property .", "But the existence of unknown rightmaking properties is no more likely , a priori , than of unknown wrongmaking properties .", "So let us suppose , then , for this illustration , that there are two morally significant properties of which we humans have no knowledge -- a rightmaking property \\ ( R \\ ) , and a wrongmaking property \\ ( W \\ ) .", "Let us suppose , further , that these two properties are equally weighty , since , a priori , there is no reason for supposing that one is more significant than the other .", "Finally , let \\ ( A \\ ) be an action of knowingly allowing a child to be brutally killed , and let us suppose that the unknown morally significant rightmaking property \\ ( R \\ ) is weightier than the wrongmaking property of knowingly allowing a child to be brutally killed .", "One can then see that there are the following four possibilities :", "The upshot is that in this simplified example , at least three of the four possibilities that we have considered are such that action \\ ( A \\ ) turns out to be morally wrong , all things considered .", "The intuitive idea , then , is that if one has an action that , given only its known rightmaking and wrongmaking properties , is an action that it would be morally wrong to perform , then it is more likely than not it is also an action that it would be morally wrong to perform , given the totality of its morally significant properties , both known and unknown .", "But what underlies this intuitive idea ?", "The answer is a certain very fundamental and very plausible equiprobability principle , to the effect that if one has a family of mutually exclusive properties , and if \\ ( P \\ ) and \\ ( Q \\ ) are any two members of that family , then the a priori probability that something has property \\ ( P \\ ) is equal to the a priori probability that that thing has property \\ ( Q \\ ) .", "For then given that principle , one can consider the family of second order properties that contains the second-order property of being a rightmaking property and the second-order property of being a wrongmaking property , and then the equiprobability principle in question entails that the a priori probability that a given property \\ ( P \\ ) has the second-order property of being a rightmaking property is equal to the a priori probability that property \\ ( P \\ ) has the second-order property of being a wrongmaking property .", "Similarly , if one considers instead the family of properties that contains , for example , the second-order property of being a rightmaking property of weight \\ ( W \\ ) and the second-order property of being a wrongmaking property of weight \\ ( W \\ ) , the a priori probability that a given property \\ ( P \\ ) has the first of those second-order properties is equal to the a priori probability that property \\ ( P \\ ) has the second of those properties .", "The upshot is that given an action that would be morally wrong if judged only by its known morally significant properties , every possibility of a combination of unknown rightmaking and wrongmaking properties that would make that action morally right all things considered would be precisely counterbalanced by a combination of unknown rightmaking and wrongmaking properties that would make that action morally even more wrong , all things considered .", "But , in addition , there can be combinations of unknown rightmaking and wrongmaking properties that would move an action in the direction of being morally right all things considered , but not sufficiently far to make it morally right all things considered .", "Finally , there is the possibility that the action has no unknown morally significant properties .", "Consequently , if an action is one that it would be morally wrong to perform , if judged only by its known morally significant properties , then it is more likely than not that it is one that it is morally wrong to perform given the totality of its morally significant properties , both known and unknown .", "Then , the probability that , judged in the light of all rightmaking and wrongmaking properties , known and unknown , it would not be morally wrong to allow the event in question must be less than \\ ( \\ frac -LCB- 1 -RCB- -LCB- 2 -RCB- \\ ) .", "The upshot is that the probabilistic inference that is involved in the move from statement ( 1 ) to statement ( 2 ) in the argument set out above in section 3.2.1 is inductively sound .", "How is the formal calculation carried out ?", "The answer is somewhat complicated , and there are slightly different ways of doing it , as in ( Tooley 2008 and 2012b ) , with the method used in the latter case being perhaps slightly more perspicuous , but with both methods generating the same result .", "The key in both cases , moreover , is to make assumptions that increase the probability that an action that is morally wrong as judged only by its known rightmaking and wrongmaking properties is morally right relative to the totality of its morally significant properties , both known and unknown .", "In the absence of those ` probability-increasing ' assumptions , it is not at all clear how the calculation could be carried out .", "In the case where one focuses only upon a single action whose known wrongmaking properties outweigh its known rightmaking properties , the result is as one would expect , namely , that the probability that the action in question is not morally wrong relative to the totality of its morally significant properties , both known and unknown , must be less than one half .", "But what is the general result ?", "Suppose , for example , that there are \\ ( n \\ ) events , each of which is such that , judged simply by known rightmaking and wrongmaking properties , it would be morally wrong to allow that event .", "What is the probability that none of those \\ ( n \\ ) events is such that it would be morally wrong to allow that event , judged in the light of all rightmaking and wrongmaking properties , both known and unknown ?", "The answer is arrived at by proving the following theorem dealing with the case where there are precisely \\ ( k \\ ) unknown morally significant properties :", "As one can see , this upper bound on the probability that it is not morally wrong to allow any of the \\ ( n \\ ) events increases as \\ ( k \\ ) , the number of unknown morally significant properties , increases , and as \\ ( k \\ ) increases without limit , it will tend to the limit of \\ ( \\ frac -LCB- 1 -RCB- -LCB- n +1 -RCB- \\ ) .", "One therefore has the following theorem :", "This approach arguably has two advantages over alternative accounts of the inductive step that lies at the heart of the argument from evil .", "One is that in bringing in an equiprobability principle , one is approaching the issue at a more fundamental level than any approach that appeals either to instantial generalization or inference to the best explanation .", "The other is that this approach generates a result that enables one not just to conclude that it is more likely than not that God does not exist , but also to assign an upper bound to the probability that", "The upper bound , moreover , is surely very low indeed , for of the billions of people and sentient non-persons who have existed , the proportion who have had the good fortune never to have suffered in ways such that the known wrongmaking properties of allowing such suffering outweighed the known rightmaking properties must be small .", "Accordingly , \\ ( n \\ ) must be extremely large , and thus the probability that there is an omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect person must be very low indeed .", "Given an evidential formulation of the evidential argument from evil , what sorts of responses are possible ?", "A natural way of dividing up possible responses is into what may be referred to as total refutations , theodicies , and defenses .", "So let us begin by considering what is involved in these three different , general types of responses .", "This threefold classification can be arrived at by the following line of thought .", "An advocate of the argument from evil is claiming , in the first place , that there are facts about the evils in the world that make it prima facie unreasonable to believe in the existence of God , and , in the second place , that the situation is not altered when those facts are conjoined with all the other things that one is justified in believing , both inferentially and non-inferentially , so that belief in the existence of God is also unreasonable relative to the total evidence available , together with all relevant basis states .", "In responding to the argument from evil , then , one might challenge either of these claims .", "That is to say , one might grant , at least for the sake of argument , that there are facts about evil that , other things being equal , render belief in God unreasonable , but then argue that when those considerations are embedded within one 's total epistemic situation , belief in the existence of God can be seen to be reasonable , all things considered .", "Alternatively , one might defend the more radical thesis that there are no facts about evil in the world that make it even prima facie unreasonable to believe in the existence of God .", "If the latter thesis is correct , the argument from evil does not even get started .", "Such responses to the argument from evil are naturally classified , therefore , as attempted , total refutations of the argument .", "The proposition that relevant facts about evil do not make it even prima facie unreasonable to believe in the existence of God probably strikes most philosophers , of course , as rather implausible .", "We shall see , however , that a number of philosophical theists have attempted to defend this type of response to the argument from evil .", "The alternative course is to grant that there are facts about intrinsically undesirable states of the world that make it prima facie unreasonable to believe that God exists , but then to argue that belief in the existence of God is not unreasonable , all things considered .", "This response may take , however , two slightly different forms .", "One possibility is the offering of a complete theodicy .", "As I shall use that term , this involves the thesis that , for every actual evil found in the world , one can describe some state of affairs that it is reasonable to believe exists , and which is such that , if it exists , will provide an omnipotent and omniscient being with a morally sufficient reason for allowing the evil in question .", "It should be noted here that the term `` theodicy '' is sometimes used in a stronger sense , according to which a person who offers a theodicy is attempting to show not only that such morally sufficient reasons exist , but that the reasons cited are in fact", "God 's reasons .", "Alvin Plantinga ( 1974a , 10 ; 1985a , 35 ) and", "Robert Adams ( 1985 , 242 ) use the term in that way , but , as has been pointed out by a number of writers , including Richard Swinburne ( 1988 , 298 ) , and William Hasker ( 1988 , 5 ) , that is to saddle the theodicist with an unnecessarily ambitious program .", "The other possibility is that of offering a defense .", "But what is a defense ?", "In the context of abstract , incompatibility versions of the argument from evil , this term is generally used to refer to attempts to show that there is no logical incompatibility between the existence of evil and the existence of God .", "Such attempts involve setting out a story that entails the existence of both God and evil , and that is logically consistent .", "But as soon as one focuses upon evidential formulations of the argument from evil , a different interpretation is needed if the term is to remain a useful one , since the production of a logically consistent story that involves the existence of both God and evil will do nothing to show that evil does not render the existence of God unlikely , or even very unlikely .", "So what more is required beyond a logically consistent story of a certain sort ?", "One answer that is suggested by some discussions is that the story needs to be one that is true for all we know .", "Peter van Inwagen , throughout his book The Problem of Evil , frequently claims that various propositions are `` true for all we know , '' and in the `` Detailed Contents '' section at the beginning of his book , he offers the following characterization of the idea of a defense : It seems very unlikely , however , that its merely being the case that one does not know that the story is false can suffice , since it may very well be the case that , though one does not know that p is false , one does have very strong evidence that it is .", "But if one has strong evidence that a story is false , it is hard to see how the story on its own could possibly counter an evidential argument from evil .", "It seems , accordingly , that some claim about the probability of the story 's being true is needed .", "One possibility , suggested by some discussions , is that one might claim that rather than the story 's being a remote possibility that has only a miniscule chance of being true , the story represents `` a real possibility '' , and so has a substantial chance of being true .", "Thus , while Peter van Inwagen usually talks about his stories ' being true for all anyone knows , he also introduces the distinction between remote possibilities , and real possibilities ( 2006 , Lecture 4 , esp .", "It is also hard to see , however , how this can be sufficient either .", "Suppose , for example , that one tells a story about God and the", "Holocaust , which is such that if it were true , an omnipotent being would have been morally justified in not preventing the Holocaust .", "Suppose , further , that one claims that there is a twenty percent chance that the story is true .", "A twenty percent chance is certainly a real possibility , but how would that twenty percent chance undermine a version of the argument from evil whose conclusion was that the probability that an omnipotent being would be justified in allowing the Holocaust was very low ?", "Given the apparent failure of the previous two suggestions , a natural conclusion is that the story that is involved in a defense must be one that is likely to be true .", "But if this is right , how does a defense differ from a theodicy ?", "The answer is that while a theodicy must specify reasons that would suffice to justify an omnipotent and omniscient being in allowing all of the evils found in the world , a defense need merely show that it is likely that there are reasons which would justify an omnipotent and omniscient being in not preventing the evils that one finds in the world , even if one does not know what those reasons are .", "A defense differs from a theodicy , then , in that a defense attempts to show only that some", "God-justifying reasons probably exist ; it does not attempt to specify what they are .", "There is , however , one final possibility that needs to be considered .", "This is the idea that what is needed in a defense is not a story that can be shown to be likely to be true , but , rather , a story that , for all we know , is not unlikely .", "The thought here is that , even if there is some probability that the story has relative to our evidential base , we may not be able to determine what that probability is , or even any reasonably delimited range in which that probability falls .", "If so , it can not be shown that the story is likely to be true , but neither can it be shown that the story is unlikely to be true .", "The question that immediately arises is whether a proposition that would undercut an inductive argument from evil if one knew it were true can undercut the argument if one is unable to assign any probability to the proposition 's being true , and if so , how .", "One thought might be that if one can assign no probability to a proposition , one should treat it as equally likely to be true as to be false .", "But propositions vary dramatically in logical form : some are such as might naturally be viewed as atomic , others are sweeping generalizations , others are complex conjunctions , and so on .", "If one treated any proposition to which one could not assign a probability as equally likely to be true as to be false , the result would be an incoherent assignment of probabilities .", "On the other hand , if one adopts this idea only in the case of atomic propositions , then given that stories that are advanced in defenses and theodicies are typically quite complex , those stories will wind up getting assigned low probabilities , and it is then unclear how they could undercut an inductive argument from evil .", "There are at least three main ways in which one might attempt to show that the argument from evil does not succeed in establishing that evil is even prima facie evidence against the existence of", "God , let alone that the existence of God is improbable relative to our total evidence .", "The first appeals to human epistemological limitations ; the second , to the claim that there is no best of all possible worlds ; and the third , to the ontological argument .", "The most popular attempt at a total refutation of the argument from evil claims that , because of human cognitive limitations , there is no sound inductive argument that can enable one to move from the premise that there are states of affairs that , taking into account only what we know , it would be morally very wrong for an omnipotent and omniscient person to allow to exist , to the conclusion that there are states of affairs such that it is likely that , all things considered , it would be morally very wrong for an omnipotent and omniscient person to allow those states of affairs to exist .", "The appeal to human cognitive limitations does raise a very important issue , and we have seen that one very natural account of the logical form of the inductive step in the case of a direct inductive argument is not satisfactory .", "But , as we have seen in sections 3.3 and 3.4 , there are other accounts of the type of reasoning involved in the crucial inductive step in evidential forms of the argument from evil .", "First of all , the appeal to human cognitive limitations does not itself show that there is anything wrong either with the reasoning that Draper offers in support of the crucial premise in his indirect inductive version of the argument from evil , or with the inference to the best explanation type of reasoning employed in the updated version of Hume 's indirect inductive formulation of the argument from evil .", "Secondly , the appeal to human cognitive limitations provides no reason at all for rejecting the version of the argument from evil that appeals to fundamental equiprobability principles of inductive logic , principles that arguably must obtain if any sort of induction is ever justified .", "Short of embracing compete inductive skepticism , then , it would seem that an appeal to human cognitive limitations can not provide an answer to evidential versions of the argument from evil .", "A second way of attempting to show that the argument from evil does not even get started is by appealing to the proposition that there is no best of all possible worlds .", "Here the basic idea is that if for every possible world , however good , there is a better one , then the fact that this world could be improved upon does not give one any reason for concluding that , if there is an omnipotent and omniscient being , that being can not be morally perfect .", "This response to the argument from evil has been around for quite a while .", "In recent years , however , it has been strongly advocated by", "George Schlesinger ( 1964 , 1977 ) , and , more recently , by Peter Forrest ( 1981 ) -- though Forrest , curiously , describes the defense as one that has been `` neglected '' , and refers neither to", "Schlesinger 's well-known discussions , nor to the very strong objections that have been directed against this response to the argument from evil .", "The natural response to this attempt to refute the argument from evil was set out very clearly some years ago by Nicholas La Para ( 1965 ) and Haig Khatchadourian ( 1966 ) among others , and it has been developed in an especially forceful and detailed way in an article by", "The basic thrust of this response is that the argument from evil , when properly formulated in a deontological fashion , does not turn upon the claim that this world could be improved upon , or upon the claim that it is not the best of all possible worlds : it turns instead upon the claim that there are good reasons for holding that the world contains evils , including instances of suffering , that it would be morally wrong , all things considered , for an omnipotent and omniscient being to allow .", "As a consequence , the proposition that there might be better and better worlds without limit is simply irrelevant to the argument from evil , properly formulated .", "If one accepts a deontological approach to ethics , this response seems decisive .", "Many contemporary philosophers , however , are consequentialists , and so one needs to consider how the ` no best of all possible worlds ' response looks if one adopts a consequentialist approach .", "Initially , it might seem that by combining the ` no best of all possible worlds ' response with consequentialism , one can construct a successful , total refutation .", "For assume that the following things are true :", "Then it follows that it is impossible for an omnipotent and omniscient being to perform a morally wrong action , and therefore that the failure of such a being to prevent various evils in this world can not be morally wrong .", "Consider an omnipotent and omniscient being that creates a world with zillions of innocent persons , all of whom endure extraordinarily intense suffering forever .", "If ( 1 ) , ( 2 ) , and ( 3 ) are right , then such a being does not do anything morally wrong .", "But this conclusion , surely , is unacceptable , and so if a given version of consequentialism entails this conclusion , then that form of consequentialism must be rejected .", "Can consequentialism avoid this conclusion ?", "Can it be formulated in such a way that it entails the conclusion that allowing very great , undeserved suffering is morally very different , and much more serious , than merely refraining from creating as many happy individuals as possible , or merely refraining from creating individuals who are not as ecstatically happy as they might be ?", "If it can not , then it would seem that the correct conclusion to draw is that consequentialism is unsound .", "On the other hand , if consequentialism can be so formulated that this distinction is captured , then an appeal to consequentialism , thus formulated in a sound way , will not enable one to avoid the crucial objection to the ` no best of all possible worlds ' response to the argument from evil .", "A final way in which one could attempt to show that facts about evil can not constitute even prima facie evidence against the existence of God is by appealing to the ontological argument .", "Relatively few philosophers have held , of course , that the ontological argument is sound .", "But there have certainly been notable exceptions -- such as Anselm and Descartes , and , in the last century , Charles Hartshorne ( 1962 ) , Norman Malcolm ( 1960 ) , and Alvin", "Plantinga ( 1974a , 1974b ) If the ontological argument were sound , it would provide a rather decisive refutation of the argument from evil .", "For in showing not merely that there is an omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect being , but also that it is necessary that such a being exists , it would entail that the proposition that God does not exist must have probability zero on any body of evidence whatever .", "The only question , accordingly , is whether the ontological argument is sound .", "The vast majority of present-day philosophers believe that it is not , and one way of arguing for that view is by appealing to strengthened Gaunilo-type objections -- where the idea behind a strengthened Gaunilo-type objection is that , rather than merely paralleling the ontological argument , as Gaunilo did in responding to", "Anselm , in order to show that there is an overpopulation problem for reality in the form of perfect islands , perfect unicorns , and so on , one can instead construct versions that lead to mutually incompatible conclusions , such as the conclusion that there is a perfect solvent , together with the conclusion that there is a perfectly insoluble substance ( Tooley , 1981 ) .", "But if the logical form of the ontological argument is such that arguments of precisely the same form generate contradictions , then the ontological argument must be unsound .", "A more satisfying response to the ontological argument would , of course , show not merely that the ontological argument is unsound , but also precisely why it is unsound .", "Such a response , however , requires a satisfactory account of the truth conditions of modal statements -- something that lies outside the scope of this article In this section , we shall consider three attempts to show that it is reasonable to believe that every evil is such that an omnipotent and omniscient person would have a morally sufficient reason for not preventing its existence , even if one is not able to say , in every case , what that morally sufficient reason might be .", "If a given , concrete formulation of the argument from evil appeals to cases of intrinsically undesirable states of affairs that give rise only to evidential considerations , rather than to an incompatibility conclusion , then , although the existence of God may be improbable relative to that evidence , it may not be improbable relative to one 's total evidence .", "Theists , however , have often contended that there are a variety of arguments that , even if they do not prove that God exists , provide positive evidence .", "May not this positive evidence outweigh , then , the negative evidence of apparently unjustified evils ?", "Starting out from this line of thought , a number of philosophers have gone on to claim that in order to be justified in asserting that there are evils in the world that establish that it is unlikely that", "God exists , one would first have to examine all of the traditional arguments for the existence of God , and show that none of them is sound .", "Alvin Plantinga , for example , says that in order for the atheologian to show that the existence of God is improbable relative to one 's total evidence , `` he would be obliged to consider all the sorts of reasons natural theologians have invoked in favor of theistic belief -- the traditional cosmological , teleological and ontological arguments , for example . ''", "( 1979 , 3 ) And in a similar vein , Bruce Reichenbach remarks :", "Now it is certainly true that if one is defending a version of the argument from evil that supports only a probabilistic conclusion , one needs to consider what sorts of positive reasons might be offered in support of the existence of God .", "But Plantinga and", "Reichenbach are advancing a rather stronger claim here , for they are saying that one needs to look at all of the traditional theistic arguments , such as the cosmological and the teleological .", "They are claiming , in short , that if one of those arguments turned out to be defensible , then it might well serve to undercut the argument from evil .", "But this view seems mistaken .", "Consider the cosmological argument .", "In some versions , the conclusion is that there is an unmoved mover .", "In others , that there is a first cause .", "In others , that there is a necessary being , having its necessity of itself .", "None of these conclusions involves any claims about the moral character of the entity in question , let alone the claim that it is a morally perfect person .", "But in the absence of such a claim , how could such arguments , even if they turned out to be sound , serve to undercut the argument from evil ?", "The situation is not essentially different in the case of the argument from order , or in the case of the fine-tuning argument .", "For while those arguments , if they were sound , would provide grounds for drawing some tentative conclusion concerning the moral character of the designer or creator of the universe , the conclusion in question would not be one that could be used to overthrow the argument from evil .", "For given the mixture of good and evil that one finds in the world , the argument from order can hardly provide support even for the existence of a designer or creator who is very good , let alone one who is morally perfect .", "So it is very hard to see how any teleological argument , any more than any cosmological , could overturn the argument from evil .", "A similar conclusion can be defended with respect to other arguments , such as those that appeal to purported miracles , or religious experiences .", "For while in the case of religious experiences it might be argued that personal contact with a being may provide additional evidence concerning the person 's character , it is clear that the primary evidence concerning a person 's character must consist of information concerning what the person does and does not do .", "So , contrary to the claim advanced by Robert Adams ( 1985 , 245 ) , even if there were veridical religious experiences , they would not provide one with a satisfactory defense against the argument from evil .", "A good way of underlining the basic point here is by setting out an alternative formulation of the argument from evil in which it is granted , for the sake of argument , that there is an omnipotent and omniscient person .", "The result of doing this is that the conclusion at which one initially arrives is not that there is no omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect person , but rather that , although there is an omnipotent and omniscient person , that person is not morally perfect , from which it then follows that that there is no omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect person .", "When the argument from evil is reformulated in that way , it becomes clear that the vast majority of considerations that have been offered as reasons for believing in God can be of little assistance to the person who is trying to resist the argument from evil .", "For most of them provide , at best , very tenuous grounds for any conclusion concerning the moral character of any omnipotent and omniscient being who may happen to exist , and almost none of them provides any support for the hypothesis that there is an omnipotent and omniscient being who is also morally perfect .", "The ontological argument is , of course , a notable exception , and , consequently , the advocate of the argument from evil certainly needs to be able to show that it is unsound .", "But almost all of the other standard arguments are simply not to the point .", "What if , rather than holding that there is positive evidence that lends support to the existence of God , one holds instead that the belief that God exists is non-inferentially justified ?", "The claim in question is an interesting one , and a thorough evaluation of it would involve consideration of some deep issues in epistemology .", "Fortunately , it does not seem to make any real difference in the present context whether or not the claim is true .", "The reason emerges if one considers the epistemology of perception .", "Some philosophers hold that some beliefs about physical objects are non-inferentially justified , while others hold that this is never so , and that justified beliefs about physical states of affairs are always justified via an inference to the best explanation that starts out from beliefs about one 's experiences .", "But direct realists as much as indirect realists admit that there can be cases where a person would be justified in believing that a certain physical state of affairs obtained were it not for the fact that he has good evidence that he is hallucinating , or else subject to perceptual illusion .", "Moreover , given evidence of the relevant sort , it makes no difference whether direct realism is true , or indirect realism : the belief in question is undermined to precisely the same extent in either case .", "The situation is the same in the case of religious experience .", "If , as was argued in the previous section , the primary evidence concerning a person 's character consists of what the person does or fails to do in various circumstances , and if , as a consequence , conclusions concerning the character of a deity based upon religious experience can be undercut by the argument from evil , then nothing is changed if one holds that the having of religious experiences , rather than providing one with evidence for the existence of God , makes it the case that one is non-inferentially justified in believing in the existence of God .", "The non-inferential justification is merely a prima facie justification , and one that is undercut by evidence bearing upon a person 's character that deals with what the person does and does not do .", "Swinburne ( 1988 , 297 -- 8 ) argued in support of the conclusion that theism does need a theodicy .", "In doing so , however , he noted one minor qualification -- namely , that if one could show , for a sufficiently impressive range of evils that initially seemed problematic , that it was likely that an omnipotent and omniscient person would be morally justified in not having prevented them , then one might very well be justified in believing that the same would be true of other evils , even if one could not specify , in those other cases , what the morally sufficient reason for allowing them might be .", "What Swinburne says here is surely very reasonable , and I can see no objection in principle to a defense of this sort .", "The problem with it is that no theodicy that has ever been proposed has been successful in the relevant way -- that is , there is no impressive range of undesirable states of affairs where people initially think that the wrongmaking properties of allowing such states of affairs to exist greatly outweigh any rightmaking properties associated with doing so , but where , confronted with some proposed theodicy , people come to believe that it would be morally permissible to allow such states of affairs to exist .", "Indeed , it is hard to find any such cases , let alone an impressive range .", "What are the prospects for a complete , or nearly complete theodicy ?", "Some philosophers , such as Swinburne , are optimistic , and believe that `` the required theodicy can be provided '' ( 1988 , 311 ) .", "Others , including many theists , are much less hopeful .", "Plantinga , for example remarks :", "What types of theodicies that have been proposed ?", "An exhaustive survey is not possible here , but among the most important are theodicies that appeal , first , to the value of acquiring desirable traits of character in the face of suffering ; secondly , to the value of libertarian free will ; thirdly , to the value of the freedom to inflict horrendous evils upon others ; and fourthly , to the value of a world that is governed by natural laws .", "One very important type of theodicy , championed especially by John", "Hick , involves the idea that the evils that the world contains can be seen to be justified if one views the world as designed by God to be an environment in which people , through their free choices , can undergo spiritual growth that will ultimately fit them for communion with", "Hick 's basic suggestion , then , is that soul-making is a great good , that God would therefore be justified in designing a world with that purpose in mind , that our world is very well designed in that regard , and thus that , if one views evil as a problem , it is because one mistakenly thinks that the world ought , instead , to be a hedonistic paradise .", "Is this theodicy satisfactory ?", "There are a number of reasons for holding that it is not .", "First , what about the horrendous suffering that people undergo , either at the hands of others -- as in the", "Holocaust -- or because of terminal illnesses such as cancer ?", "One writer -- Eleonore Stump -- has suggested that the terrible suffering that many people undergo at the ends of their lives , in cases where it can not be alleviated , is to be viewed as suffering that has been ordained by God for the spiritual health of the individual in question ( 1993b , 349 ) .", "But given that it does not seem to be true that terrible terminal illnesses more commonly fall upon those in bad spiritual health than upon those of good character , let alone that they fall only upon the former , this ` spiritual chemotherapy ' view seems quite hopeless .", "More generally , there seems to be no reason at all why a world must contain horrendous suffering if it is to provide a good environment for the development of character in response to challenges and temptations .", "Secondly , and is illustrated by the weakness of Hick 's own discussion ( 1977 , 309 -- 17 ) , a soul-making theodicy provides no justification for the existence of any animal pain , let alone for a world where predation is not only present but a major feature of non-human animal life , and has been so for millions of years .", "The world could perfectly well have contained only human persons , or only human persons plus herbivores .", "Thirdly , the soul-making theodicy also provides no account of the suffering that young , innocent children endure , either because of terrible diseases , or at the hands of adults .", "For here , as in the case of animals , there is no soul-making purpose that is served .", "Finally , if one 's purpose were to create a world that would be a good place for soul-making , would our earth count as a job well done ?", "It is very hard to see that it would .", "Some people die young , before they have had any chance at all to master temptations , to respond to challenges , and to develop morally .", "Others endure suffering so great that it is virtually impossible for them to develop those moral traits that involve relationships with others .", "Still others enjoy lives of ease and luxury where there is virtually nothing that challenges them to undergo moral growth .", "A second important approach to theodicy involves the following ideas : first , that libertarian free will is of great value ; secondly , that because it is part of the definition of libertarian free will that an action that is free in that sense can not be caused by anything outside of the agent , not even God can cause a person to freely do what is right ; and thirdly , that because of the great value of libertarian free will , it is better that God create a world in which agents possess libertarian free will , even though they may misuse it , and do what is wrong , than that God create a world where agents lack libertarian free will .", "One problem with an appeal to libertarian free will is that no satisfactory account of the concept of libertarian free will is yet available .", "Thus , while the requirement that , in order to be free in the libertarian sense , an action not have any cause that lies outside the agent is unproblematic , this is obviously not a sufficient condition , since this condition would be satisfied if the behavior in question were caused by random events within the agent .", "So one needs to add that the agent is , in some sense , the cause of the action .", "But how is the causation in question to be understood ?", "Present accounts of the metaphysics of causation typically treat causes as states of affairs .", "If , however , one adopts such an approach , then it seems that all that one has when an action is freely done , in the libertarian sense , is that there is some uncaused mental state of the agent that causally gives rise to the relevant behavior , and why freedom , thus understood , should be thought valuable , is far from clear .", "The alternative is to shift from event-causation to what is referred to as ` agent-causation ' .", "But then the question is whether there is any satisfactory account of causation where causation is not a relation between states of affairs .", "Some philosophers , such as Timothy O'Connor ( 1995 , 1996 , 2000a , 2000b , and 2002 ) and Randolph", "Clarke ( 1993 , 1996 , and 2003 ) have claimed that such an account can be given , but their suggestions have not been widely accepted .", "But even if the difficulty concerning the nature of libertarian free will is set aside , there are still very strong objections to the free-will approach .", "First , and most important , the fact that libertarian free will is valuable does not entail that one should never intervene in the exercise of libertarian free will .", "Indeed , very few people think that one should not intervene to prevent someone from committing rape or murder .", "On the contrary , almost everyone would hold that a failure to prevent heinously evil actions when one can do so would be seriously wrong .", "Secondly , the proposition that libertarian free will is valuable does not entail that it is a good thing for people to have the power to inflict great harm upon others .", "So individuals could , for example , have libertarian free will , but not have the power to torture and murder others .", "Thirdly , many evils are caused by natural processes , such as earthquakes , hurricanes , and other weather conditions , and by a wide variety of diseases .", "Such evils certainly do not appear to result from morally wrong actions .", "If that is right , then an appeal to free will provides no answer to an argument from evil that focuses upon such evils .", "Some writers , such as C. S. Lewis and Alvin Plantinga , have suggested that such evils may ultimately be due to the immoral actions of supernatural beings ( Lewis , 1957 , 122 -- 3 ; Plantinga , 1974a , 58 ) .", "If that were so , then the first two objections mentioned above would apply : one would have many more cases where individuals were being given the power -- much greater than the power that any human has -- to inflict great harm on others , and then were being allowed by God to use that power to perform horrendously evil actions leading to enormous suffering and many deaths .", "In addition , however , it can plausibly be argued that , though it is possible that earthquakes , hurricanes , cancer , and the predation of animals are all caused by malevolent supernatural beings , the probability that this is so is extremely low .", "The fact that agents could be free in a libertarian sense even if they did not have the power to inflict great harm upon others has led at least one philosopher -- namely , Richard Swinburne -- to argue that , while free will is valuable , precisely how valuable it is depends upon the range of actions open to one .", "Swinburne 's idea is that if the possible actions that are open to one vary enormously in moral worth , then libertarian free will is very valuable indeed , whereas if the variation in the moral status of what one can do is very limited , then libertarian free will adds much less to the world : one has what has been characterized as a ` toy world ' , where one has very little responsibility for the well-being of others .", "This variant on the appeal to libertarian free will is also open to a number of objections .", "First , as with free will theodicies in general , this line of thought provides no justification for the existence of occurrences that not only appear , upon cursory inspection , to be natural evils , uncaused by any agents , but where , in addition , the very closest scientific examination supports the conclusion that there are no grounds for postulating anything beyond purely physical events as the causes of the occurrences in question .", "Secondly , if what matters is simply the existence of alternative actions that differ greatly in moral value , this can be the case even in a world where one lacks the power to inflict great harm on others , since there can be actions that , rather than inflicting great suffering on others , would instead benefit others enormously , and which one could either perform or intentionally refrain from performing .", "Thirdly , what exactly is the underlying line of thought here ?", "In the case of human actions , Swinburne surely holds that one should prevent someone from doing something that would be morally horrendous , if one can do so .", "Is the idea , then , that while occasional prevention of such evils does not significantly reduce the extent of the moral responsibility of others , if one 's power were to increase , a point would be reached where one should sometimes refrain from preventing people from performing morally horrendous actions ?", "But why should this be so ?", "One answer might be that if one intervened too frequently , people would come to believe that they did not have the ability to perform such actions .", "But , in the first place , it is not clear why that would be undesirable .", "People could still , for example , be thoroughly evil , for they could still very much wish that they had the power to perform such terrible actions , and be disposed to perform such actions if they ever came to have the power .", "In the second place , prevention of deeply evil actions could take quite different forms .", "People could , for example , be given a conscience that led them , when they had decided to cause great injury to others , and were about to do so , to feel that what they were about to do was too terrible a thing , so that they would not carry through on the action .", "In such a world , people could surely still feel that they themselves were capable of performing heinously evil actions , and they would contemplate performing such actions , but in the end their sense of the great wrongness of the actions would triumph over their selfish reasons for wanting to perform the actions in question .", "A final important theodicy involves the following ideas : first , it is important that events in the world take place in a regular way , since otherwise effective action would be impossible ; secondly , events will exhibit regular patterns only if they are governed by natural laws ; thirdly , if events are governed by natural laws , the operation of those laws will give rise to events that harm individuals ; so , fourthly , God 's allowing natural evils is justified because the existence of natural evils is entailed by natural laws , and a world without natural laws would be a much worse world .", "This type of theodicy is also exposed to serious objections .", "First of all , the occasional occurrence of miraculous intervention , including events that clearly appeared contrary to natural laws , would not render effective human action impossible , since humans would see that such miraculous occurrences were extremely rare .", "Secondly , and relatedly , consider a world where the laws of physics , rather than being laws that admit of no exceptions , are instead probabilistic laws .", "Effective human action would still be possible in such a world , provided that the relevant probabilities were sufficiently high .", "But if so , then effective human action would be no less possible in a world with non-statistical laws where there were occasional miraculous interventions .", "Thirdly , many of the greatest evils could have been prevented by miraculous interventions that would not have been detected .", "Consider , for example , interventions to prevent natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions , or earthquakes , including the earthquake in China in 1556 that killed around 800,000 people , or tsunamis , such as the one in 2004 that hit 12 Asian countries , and killed over 200,000 people .", "Or consider the interventions that would be needed to prevent pandemics , such as the Black Death in the Middle Ages , which is estimated to have killed between 75 million and 200 million people , or the 1918 flu pandemic , which killed between 50 million and 100 million people .", "Similarly , consider great moral evils , such as the", "A small intervention by an omnipotent , omniscient , and perfectly good being could have allowed one of the many failed attempts to assassinate Hitler to succeed , or a small mental nudge could have resulted in Hitler 's realizing the error in his virulent anti-Semitism .", "Fourthly , what natural evils a world contains depends not just on the laws , but also on the initial , or boundary conditions .", "Thus , for example , an omnipotent being could create ex nihilo a world which had the same laws of nature as our world , and which contained human beings , but which was devoid of non-human carnivores .", "Or the world could be such that there was unlimited room for populations to expand , and ample natural resources to support such populations .", "Fifthly , many evils depend upon precisely what laws the world contains .", "An omnipotent being could , for example , easily create a world with the same laws of physics as our world , but with slightly different laws linking neurophysiological states with qualities of experiences , so that extremely intense pains either did not arise , or could be turned off by the sufferer when they served no purpose .", "Or additional physical laws of a rather specialized sort could be introduced that would either cause very harmful viruses to self-destruct , or prevent a virus such as the avian flu virus from evolving into an air-born form that has the capacity to kill hundreds of million people .", "Finally , this theodicy provides no account of moral evil .", "If other theodicies could provide a justification for God 's allowing moral evil , then , of course , moral evil would not be a problem .", "But , as we have seen , no satisfactory justification appears to be available .", "The four types of theodicies considered so far all appeal to beliefs and evaluative claims that the theodicist thinks should be acceptable , upon careful reflection , to anyone , including those who are not religious .", "But if one thinks that one 's religious beliefs are ones that it is reasonable to accept , what is wrong with a theodicy that appeals to some of one 's religious beliefs ?", "Of course , if the religious beliefs to which one appeals , taken together , entail the existence of an omnipotent , omniscient , and morally perfect person , such a theodicy would be question-begging .", "But one can choose a subset that , even if it entails the existence of a very powerful and knowledgeable creator -- or even an omnipotent and omniscient one -- does not entail the existence of God .", "There are many religions , and even within a given religion , very significant differences in the religious beliefs of people , and very different beliefs to which one might appeal , so there are many different religious theodicies that can be constructed .", "Here I shall focus only on one general type .", "I think , however , that it will illustrate the kinds of objections that arise .", "The religious theodicy in question is as follows .", "First , human beings , rather than having arisen through a process of natural evolution , were brought into existence by the creator of the universe .", "He placed the first two human beings in a perfect world , free of suffering and death .", "Those human beings , however , freely chose to disobey a command of the creator , and the result was the Fall of mankind , which meant not only that the first two humans became subject to suffering and death , but that all of their descendants did so as well .", "The creator , however , lovingly engaged , several generations later , in a rescue operation , in which he , in the person of his son , became incarnated as a human being , and by undergoing a sacrificial death , made it possible for the creator to forgive every human who accepted this sacrifice , and who would then enjoy eternal beatitude living in the presence of the creator .", "This type of religious theodicy has been advanced by a number of", "Christians , with a variant of it being found , for example , in Peter van Inwagen 's book , The Problem of Evil ( 2006 , 85ff . ) .", "It is not , of course , a full theodicy , since it does not account for the suffering of non-human animals , at least before the Fall .", "So let us focus on it simply as offering an account of God 's justification for allowing human suffering .", "Thus viewed , how successful is it ?", "To be successful , a theodicy must appeal only to beliefs that it is reasonable to accept .", "Do the beliefs involved in the above story qualify ?", "It would seem not .", "First of all , among the crucial beliefs is the belief that human beings , rather than coming into being via a natural process of evolution , were specially created .", "In setting out the story , I have not specified how that was done .", "Christians believed , either that Adam and Eve were created ex nihilo , as the story of creation in Genesis 1 seems to say , or else , as the creation story in Genesis 2 says , that Adam was created out of the dust of the earth , and then Eve was formed , sometime later , out of one of Adam 's ribs .", "There are very good reasons for rejecting both of these accounts , since the evidence that humans are descended from earlier primates is extremely strong indeed .", "Especially impressive is the evidence provided by DNA studies , described by Daniel J. Fairbanks his book", "Relics of Eden , and which includes such as things as the evidence that human chromosome number two resulted by fusion from two primate chromosomes , together with facts about ( 1 ) transposable elements , including retroelements , ( 2 ) pseudogenes , and ( 3 ) mitochondrial DNA .", "In the light of such evidence , it is not surprising that many", "Christian philosophers have accepted the hypothesis of common descent , and have adopted some form of theistic evolution , in which the creator intervened at some point to transform some earlier primates into members of a new species , Homo sapiens .", "But while this version of special creation is an improvement , given the very close relations between human and chimpanzee DNA , and the fact that known mechanisms of chromosome rearrangement render the transition from some non-human species to Homo sapiens not at all improbable , the postulation of divine intervention at that particular point does not seem plausible .", "It would be a different matter , of course , if humans had immaterial minds , but there is very strong empirical evidence against that view , including such things as the effects of a blow to the head and brain damage of different sorts , the effects of diseases such as", "Alzheimer 's , the decline of mental capacities with aging , the relations between the mental development of children and the growth of neural circuitry , the inheritance of personality traits , the different correlations in the case of identical twins versus fraternal twins with regard to such traits as intelligence , the effects of psychotropic drugs , such as Prozac , and so on ( Tooley , 2012 , 42 -- 4 ) .", "Secondly , the story postulates not just a special creation , but also a special creation in which humans , initially , were not subject to suffering or death .", "Given , among other things , that that period was a very short one , one can not offer positive historical evidence again the existence of such a short period that involved only two humans .", "But the belief is surely a remarkable one that can be viewed as likely only if it is supported by evidence .", "The evidence that can be offered , however , consists entirely of the creation story in", "Genesis , so that question is , how reliable is such evidence ?", "To answer that question , one can see what other stories one finds in", "One striking story is that of Noah -- who apparently lived around 4500 years ago -- according to which there was a worldwide flood that killed all animals on Earth , except for those that were on the ark .", "But there are excellent reasons for believing that such a story is very unlikely to be true , both in the light of the number of animal species that currently exist , and in the light of the evidence -- attempts by authors such as Whitcomb and Morris in their book The Genesis Flood : The Biblical Record and its", "Scientific Implications ( 1966 ) to argue otherwise notwithstanding -- that there has not been any world-wide flood in the past 5000 years .", "In addition , those who view Genesis as a source of important truths do so because it is part of the Bible .", "So one can also ask about the reliability of the Bible when it testifies to remarkable events .", "In many cases , of course , there is no way of checking whether those remarkable events actually took place , but when there is , one finds that there is good reason to believe that the event in question did not take place .", "Thus , for example , there is the story of the sun 's standing still for about a day during Joshua 's battle at", "Jericho , the story of the slaughter of all of the Egyptian first-born children , and the story of the graves being opened and the dead walking around the city at the time of Jesus 's death ( Matthew 27 : 52 -- 53 ) .", "One would surely expect non-Biblical records of such events if they had really taken place , but there are none .", "Finally , the religious theodicy that we are considering also involves a number of very problematic moral claims .", "First , we are asked to believe that there is nothing morally problematic about a morally good deity making it the case that if one of the first two humans disobeys some command , all of the many billions of descendants of that human will , as a consequence , be subject to suffering and death to which they would not otherwise be exposed .", "Secondly , we are also asked to believe that a morally good deity is unable to forgive people their misdeeds unless he becomes incarnate in the form of his son and suffers a sacrificial death .", "Thirdly , while , according to this story , those who accept the sacrifice made on their behalf have all their tears wiped away and enjoy eternal happiness in the presence of God , those who do not accept the sacrifice fare considerably less well , and suffer eternal torment in hell .", "So we are being asked to believe that such eternal punishment is not morally problematic .", "In short , the religious theodicy that we have been considering in this section is very implausible , not only on scientific and historical grounds , but on moral grounds as well .", "The question , accordingly , is whether there is some religious theodicy that is not exposed to scientific , or historical , or moral objections .", "In section 1.3 , it was argued that concrete formulations of the argument from evil , which focus upon specific evils , or else upon narrowly defined types of evils , are superior to abstract formulations of the argument from evil , which start out from very general statements concerning evil -- such as that there is evil in the world , or that there are natural evils , or that there is an enormous amount of evil , and so on .", "Consider , then , an evidential argument from evil that focuses upon Rowe 's famous case of Sue -- a young girl who was brutally beaten , raped , and murdered .", "Confronted with such a case , it is natural to think that a satisfactory response will involve arguing that it is plausible that the terrible occurrence in question itself has some hidden property that makes it the case that allowing it to happen is not morally wrong all things considered .", "But as Peter van Inwagen has argued -- most recently in The", "Problem of Evil -- there is a very different possibility , and one that he thinks is much more promising .", "The basic idea is as follows .", "First of all , one begins by focusing upon abstract formulations of the argument from evil , and one attempts to put forward a story that makes it plausible that the existence of , say , a great amount of horrendous suffering in the world , is actually desirable because there is some great good that outweighs that suffering , and that can only be achieved if that amount of suffering is present , or some greater evil that can only be avoided if that amount of suffering is present .", "( This story might either be a theodicy-style story that specifies the great good in question , or a defense-style story , which does not do so . )", "Secondly , if that story provides a satisfactory answer to an abstract version of the argument from evil that focuses upon the existence of horrendous suffering , one can then turn to concrete versions of the argument from evil , and there the idea will be that God had good reason to allow a certain amount of horrendous suffering , and the terrible case of Sue is simply one of the cases that he allowed .", "It is not that Sue 's suffering itself had some property that made its occurrence good all things considered .", "God could very well have prevented it , and had he done so , he would have eliminated an occurrence that was bad in itself , all things considered .", "But had he done so , he would have had to have allowed some other horrendous evil that , as things stand , he prevented , and the reason that he would have had to do that would be to ensure that the global property of there being a certain amount of horrendous evil in the world was instantiated -- something that was necessary to achieve a greater good , or to avoid a greater evil .", "In short , defenses and theodicies that are based upon this idea , rather than appealing to the idea that apparent evils are not evils in themselves , all things considered , once all local properties -- all properties that those events themselves have -- are taken into account , appeal , instead , to the idea that there are global properties whose instantiation is important , and that can only be instantiated if there are events that are evil in themselves .", "Does this shift from local properties to global properties help ?", "It would seem that it can not .", "Consider against the case of Sue .", "An advocate of the evidential argument from evil claims that no matter how carefully one examines the case , and thinks about it , considering , as one does , all of the rightmaking and wrongmaking properties of which one has any knowledge , the conclusion is that the wrongmaking properties of allowing what happened to Sue clearly outweigh any rightmaking properties of allowing that event .", "The advocate of a global property approach then suggests the possibility that there is some global rightmaking property that involves the world 's having a certain amount of evil , or a certain amount of a certain kind of evil , and that if someone had intervened to prevent the rape and murder of", "Sue , this would have changed the world from one that did have the desired amount of evil , or evil of the type in question , to one that does not , and that when this property is taken into account , it turns out that it would have been wrong to prevent Sue 's being raped and murdered -- unless one was going to allow some compensating evil elsewhere .", "But what exactly is the global wrongmaking property in question ?", "Does one know , or even have any reason at all for believing , that bringing it about that the amount of evil of kind \\ ( K \\ ) is less than some specific amount \\ ( T \\ ) is a wrongmaking property of actions ?", "The answer , surely , is that no one has knowledge of any such wrongmaking property .", "Moreover , anyone who claimed to have such knowledge would also have to claim also to know that if an omnipotent and omniscient being had prevented the rape and murder of Sue , without also allowing some other , compensating evil action , that would have caused the amount of evil of type \\ ( K \\ ) to dip below level \\ ( T \\ ) .", "One need not , of course , advance a principle involving some specific value of \\ ( T \\ ) .", "One could , instead , make the existential claim that there is some level \\ ( T \\ ) such that , first , it is a wrongmaking property of an action to cause the amount of evil of type \\ ( K \\ ) to dip below level \\ ( T \\ ) , and , second , that if an omnipotent and omniscient being had intervened to prevent the rape and murder of Sue , that would , in the absence of some compensating action , have caused the amount of evil of type \\ ( K \\ ) to dip below level \\ ( T \\ ) .", "But surely no one knows , or even has any reason for believing , that this is the case .", "The situation as regards an appeal to global properties is , in short , as follows .", "An advocate of the argument from evil points to various events , such as the rape and murder of Sue , and claims that no matter how carefully one considers the case , one 's conclusion is that the known wrongmaking properties of not preventing that occurrence outweigh any rightmaking properties that not preventing the occurrence is known to have had .", "In response , the possibility of a relevant , morally significant global property is introduced .", "But this is a mere possibility , since there is no relevant morally significant global property of which one has knowledge , let alone which one has good reason to believe is present in the case in question .", "So the possibility of a relevant global property is simply that : a mere possibility , and as such it gets dealt with in the way that all unknown morally significant properties , both rightmaking and wrongmaking , and both local and global , are dealt with in , for example , the logical probability version of the evidential argument from evil set out above in section 3.5 ."], "_citing_sentence": "No loving God would make a world so imperfect and troubled.", "_claim_name": "If there is a benevolent deity, then there should not be the kinds of evil observable in the world and He would likely show more interest in His creation than He appears to have done so far:", "_doc_title": "The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [16, 24, 27]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 47, "_topic_name": "This House believes atheism is the only way"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["This article explains speciesism , an attitude that is common among both humans and non-human animals .", "Not everyone thinks there is anything wrong with speciesism .", "` Speciesism ' is the idea that being human is a good enough reason for human animals to have greater moral rights than non-human animals .", "... a prejudice or bias in favour of the interests of members of one 's own species and against those of members of other species .", "Peter Singer , Animal Liberation , 1975", "Speciesism is often condemned as the same sort of bigotry as racism or sexism .", "People who oppose speciesiesm say that giving human beings greater rights than non-human animals is as arbitrary ( and as morally wrong ) as giving white people greater rights than non-white people .", "NB : Those working for racial or sexual equality often find this comparison insulting - they say that their struggle for equality has a moral and social importance that animal rights can never have .", "Most people , faced with a difficult choice between a human and an animal , would probably react in a speciesist ( or ` homocentric ' ) way .", "Consider this example :", "A child and a dog are trapped in a fire .", "You can only save one of them .", "Which will you save ?", "Pure speciesism carries the idea of human superiority to the extreme of saying that the most trivial human wish is more important that the vital needs of other species ... for example a pure speciesist would argue that it 's ok for animals to be cruelly treated and killed to provide fur decorations for human beings to wear .", "Few people take speciesism to this length .", "More commonly , they say that all other things being more or less equal , it 's morally correct to take the human side when considering an ethical issue .", "People who object to speciesism say that a difference of species is not a morally relevant difference - in the same way that a difference of race is not a morally relevant difference between human beings .", "They say that speciesism amounts to treating morally similar individuals in morally different ways for an irrelevant reason .", "Supporters of speciesism say that there is a clear difference between humans and other species , and that this difference affects their moral status .", "They argue that human beings are more self-aware , and more able to choose their own course of action than other animals .", "This , they say , enables them to think and act morally , and so entitles them to a higher moral status .", "But the argument that there are morally relevant differences between human animals and non-human animals is not a speciesist argument , since the argument is about the particular characteristics that are being put forward to justify the different moral status of human and non-human animals .", "One argument in favour of speciesism is that it is biologically natural to treat one 's own species favourably .", "Virtually all non-human animals treat members of their own species better than those of other species ."], "_citing_sentence": "To treat animals as property simply because they are not human is specieism and no different to discrimination on race or gender.", "_claim_name": "Treating animals as property prevents them from being perceived as part of the moral community", "_doc_title": "BBC - Ethics - Animal ethics: The ethics of speciesism", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13, 16]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Suicide Race , also promoted as the World Famous Suicide Race , is a horse race held every year , during the second week of August , in Omak , Washington as a part of the Omak Stampede , a rodeo .", "Held for more than 70 years , the race is known for the portion of the race where horses and riders run down Suicide Hill , a 62-degree slope that runs for 225 feet ( 69 m ) to the Okanogan River .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- Though the race was inspired by Indian endurance races , the actual Omak race was the 1935 brainchild of a local Omak business owner .", "The race has provoked serious concerns among animal welfare and animals rights groups .", "The course starts at the top of Suicide Hill , where riders have 50 feet ( 15 m ) to get their horses up to full speed before charging down the hill and into the river where they swim across to the other side , then sprint a last 500 yards ( 460 m ) to the rodeo arena where the crowd waits .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- In August the river is often low enough for the horses to run across .", "Most riders wear helmets , and all are required to wear life jackets .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- Horses and riders have to pass three tests to demonstrate their ability to run in the race and navigate the river : there is an initial veterinarian exam to make sure the horse is physically healthy , a swim test to ensure horses can cross the river , and the hill test where riders ride their horses off the hill at a controlled speed to prove that the animals wo n't give way to fear at the brink , which can cause a dangerous pile-up .", "The riders consist of both cowboys and Indians .", "In particular , members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation , whose reservation includes East Omak and the rodeo grounds , view the race as remniscent of their traditions as horse warriors .", "Many Tribal participants view the race as spiritual and a cultural-preservation administrator for the tribes has stated that it is the `` ultimate demonstration of the rider 's ability to become one with the horse . ''", "LSB- 1 -RSB- Riders who embrace the spiritual elements of the race pray in sweat lodges and place sacred eagle feathers on their horses .", "The suicide race was created in 1935 by Claire Pentz , the white publicity director of the Omak rodeo , in an effort to promote the rodeo .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- The race is rooted in nineteenth century Native American endurance races , which were held in on the Colville Indian Reservation in a valley near Keller , Washington which was flooded when the Grand Coulee Dam was built in 1933 .", "The event is opposed by several animal rights groups , including the Progressive Animal Welfare Society ( PAWS ) , -LSB- 3 -RSB- In Defense of Animals , -LSB- 4 -RSB- and Humane Society of the United States , -LSB- 5 -RSB- who are against the high level of danger posed to the horses .", "In the previous 25 years , for example , at least 21 horses have died , including three in 2004 -LSB- 1 -RSB- -LSB- 6 -RSB- and one in 2012 ."], "_citing_sentence": "Or the Riverside (Washington)Suicide Race, where horse often die from the nearly 400 foot steep grade of the suicide hill, the riders trying to make it down and through a river.", "_claim_name": "Animals are harmed when used as objects of entertainment, no matter how innocent that entertainment is", "_doc_title": "Suicide Race - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 4]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 48, "_topic_name": "This House would ban the use of animals as objects of sport and entertainment"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["A family consultant and life coach for Istanbul municipalities has suggested legalizing polygamy , citing both secular and religious arguments in support of her position .", "A family consultant and life coach who conducts seminars on inter-family communication for Istanbul municipalities has suggested legalizing polygamy , citing both secular and religious arguments in support of her position .", "`` A man looks for friendship , sexuality , motherhood and good housekeeping qualities in a woman .", "Unless you possess these attributes , you ought to be ready for being cheated upon .", "This is a righteous search for a man , '' said 35-year-old Sibel \u00dcresin , who has worked for the largely conservative municipalities of Fatih , \u00dcmraniye , Bah\u00e7elievler and Ey\u00fcp , among others .", "`` A healthy woman who analyzes what she will have to go through in the case of a divorce should , in my opinion , consider polygamy as a form of salvation . ''", "Polygamy is already a fact of life because 85 percent of men already cheat anyway , according to \u00dcresin .", "In conservative sections of Turkish society , this is referred to as an `` imam-wed wife '' and is called a mistress by other parts of society , \u00dcresin said .", "`` Rich men with solid careers and lots of sexual power can sometimes choose polygamy .", "No woman would ever become the second wife of a poor man .", "Men go after women who are more flirtatious , laugh more and who can satisfy them sexually .", "If I were a man , I would have been polygamous , '' said \u00dcresin , arguing that legalizing polygamy would empower women who are already engaged in polygamous marriages .", "Men can have up to four wives according to many interpretations of Islam , yet these wives have no legal rights in Turkey , according to \u00dcresin , who added that legalizing polygamy would entitle such wives to their husband 's property .", "`` Polygamy exists in our religion .", "Not everyone can do it , but you can not ask someone why they did it ; that amounts to polytheism .", "It is written in the Quran , '' \u00dcresin said ."], "_citing_sentence": "Sibel Uresin suggests that people look for a lot of qualities in a spouse, and that it is unlikely that any one person can possess them all, which is why there is so much adultery in monogamous relationships.", "_claim_name": "Creating stable, long-lasting relationships", "_doc_title": "TURKEY - Istanbul family consultant suggests allowing polygamy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3, 4]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 49, "_topic_name": "This house would legalize polygamy"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information , people and ideas , Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information , news and insight around the world .", "Europe , Middle East , & Africa +44\u00a020\u00a07330\u00a07500", "A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday would stop the sale of surveillance technologies to repressive regimes by American companies .", "Sponsored by Representative Chris Smith , a Republican from New Jersey , the measure would prohibit the export of hardware and software that can be used to block and track communications sent over the Internet .", "In addition , it would require companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges to report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission how they conduct due diligence on human rights issues , as well as how customer information is shared with repressive countries .", "The export of surveillance gear to such countries as Iran and Syria has come under increasing scrutiny by human rights groups and government officials .", "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on technology companies in a Dec. 8 speech to make `` good decisions '' about how and whether to do business involving nations that may use the equipment or software against their citizens .", "`` In recent months , we 've seen cases where companies , products , and services were used as tools of oppression , '' Clinton said at the Freedom Online Conference in The Hague , Netherlands .", "`` When companies sell surveillance equipment to the security agency of Syria or Iran or , in past times , Qaddafi , there can be no doubt it will be used to violate rights . ''", "Bloomberg News has reported this year on Western companies ' sales of surveillance systems to repressive governments , including Iran , Syria and Bahrain .", "Crackdowns on pro-democracy protests in the Middle East underscored how technology by companies such as Stockholm-based Ericsson AB , NetApp Inc. of Sunnyvale , California , and Munich-based Siemens AG has been used by governments to monitor and arrest dissidents .", "`` The Internet in many countries has been transformed from a freedom plaza to Big Brother 's best friend , '' Smith said during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Africa , Global Health and Human Rights .", "`` Many of these technologies are being made in the U.S.A. , '' he said .", "`` Sadly , many of them are also being exported , every day , to some of the most unsavory governments in the world , whose use of them is far from legitimate . ''", "Smith introduced his bill , called the Global Online Freedom Act of 2011 , after the European Union on Dec. 2 adopted new sanctions on Syria , restricting the supply of technology that the EU measure said was `` primarily for use in the monitoring or interception '' of Internet or phone communications .", "The U.K. is examining whether to ban the sale of mobile-phone surveillance software to Iran and Syria , Business Minister Judith Wilcox said Nov. 28 .", "`` Stronger action is needed , '' Daniel Calingaert , vice president for policy at Freedom House in Washington , D.C. , said at the hearing in Washington .", "`` The abysmal human rights records of the governments that have received Western censorship and surveillance technology is cause for serious concern . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Even if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations' right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely.", "_claim_name": "Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad", "_doc_title": "House Bill Would Ban Surveillance Gear Sales by American Firms - Bloomberg", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues , clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com .", "A U.S. company that makes Internet-blocking gear acknowledges that Syria has been using at least 13 of its devices to censor Web activity there -- an admission that comes as the Syrian government cracks down on its citizens and silences their online activities .", "Blue Coat Systems Inc. of Sunnyvale , Calif. , says it shipped the Internet `` filtering '' devices to Dubai late last year , believing they were destined for a department of the Iraqi government .", "However , the devices -- which can block websites or record when people visit them -- made their way to Syria , a country subject to strict U.S. trade embargoes .", "Blue Coat told The Wall Street Journal the appliances were transmitting automatic status messages back to the company as the devices censored the Syrian Web .", "Blue Coat says it does n't monitor where such `` heartbeat '' messages originate from .", "Computer code reviewed by the Journal indicates that Syrians were also using other Blue Coat products , raising questions about how the tools came to be used this way and whether Blue Coat has violated the trade embargo .", "As Arab Spring political uprisings have swept the region this year , Bashar al-Assad , whose family has ruled Syria for more than four decades , has overseen some of the bloodiest crackdowns on protesters .", "On Friday , Syrian troops opened fire on protesters , leading to fresh reports of deaths .", "According to the U.N. , more than 3,000 civilians have been killed in Syria since the start of protests .", "Blue Coat executives say they do n't know how the devices got to Syria .", "The company says it alerted U.S. authorities in recent days to the `` improper transfer '' and is cooperating with government inquiries .", "`` We do n't want our products to be used by the government of Syria or any other country embargoed by the United States , '' Steve Daheb , Blue Coat senior vice president , said , in the company 's first detailed explanation of the matter .", "He said the company is `` saddened by the human suffering and loss of human life '' in Syria .", "The discovery of the devices in Syria shows the difficulty of controlling U.S. tech exports and demonstrates how regimes manage to use Western technology to censor speech and stifle dissent even when they are subject to trade sanctions .", "As the Arab Spring uprisings swept the region this year , security forces used Western technology in their often brutal fight to retain political control .", "See how many times Syrian computer users attempted to access information on a selection of sites and Facebook pages known to be related to opposition efforts in the region , and the number of times they were blocked .", "Egypt 's secret services used technology from a British company to eavesdrop on dissidents over Skype .", "Col. Moammar Gadhafi 's regime snooped on the emails and Internet chats of Libyan dissidents using invasive technology from a French firm .", "And across the Gulf , Internet-service providers have been relying on tools from Blue Coat , Intel Corp. 's INTC 1.14 %", "McAfee and the Canadian firm Netsweeper Inc. to snuff out opposition websites .", "Since 2004 , the U.S. has prohibited the export , without a special license , of most U.S. goods and services to Syria .", "According to the Commerce Department , applications for licenses to do business with Syria since then have been `` subject to a general policy of denial . ''", "Many companies do n't track where their technology goes after an initial , legal sale .", "Though the U.S. government requires re-export licenses for controlled devices , the rules can be difficult to enforce .", "A State Department official said , `` We are reviewing the information that we have and monitoring the facts as they come in '' and `` are looking into '' the Blue Coat matter .", "The authority to investigate potential embargo violations involving technology in Syria falls to the Department of Commerce .", "A spokesman there said the department does n't comment on `` ongoing investigations . ''", "The devices ' road to Syria is still partly unclear .", "The company says it shipped 14 of its ProxySG 9000 Internet-filtering appliances from Rotterdam to Dubai in late 2010 , an order valued at an estimated $ 700,000 .", "It believes 13 are being used to censor parts of the Syrian Internet .", "What happened to the 14th is unclear .", "Blue Coat says it received a two-part order from a Dubai distributor in 2010 that identified the end customer as Iraq 's Ministry of Communications .", "Blue Coat approved the order and delivered the devices to the distributor in the U.A.E. .", "The company says it did n't follow up on where the devices went from there .", "The Iraqi Ministry of Communications could n't be reached to comment Thursday .", "Blue Coat declined to name the Dubai distributor .", "`` At the present time , the company can not confirm how the appliances were transferred from the point of shipment or from Iraq to Syria , '' Blue Coat 's Mr. Daheb said .", "The company is `` continuing its own internal review . ''", "Some of Syria 's largest Internet-service providers have been using Blue Coat devices since as early as 2005 , according to a person familiar with the matter .", "The order of 14 devices was the largest in recent memory , but as many as 25 appliances have made their way into Syria since the mid-2000s , with most sold through Dubai-based middlemen , this person said .", "Blue Coat says it is investigating other possible unauthorized transfers .", "Blue Coat began life in 1996 as CacheFlow Inc. , which sold appliances to businesses that quicken Web-page delivery , among other things .", "In 2002 , it changed its name to Blue Coat and reinvented itself as a security company .", "The idea : Sell appliances that filter the Internet to protect big corporate networks .", "Today , that is Blue Coat 's primary business .", "The company has no corporate policy against selling to governments or Internet service providers engaged in censorship .", "Its devices block websites in the U.A.E. , Bahrain and Qatar , a Journal investigation earlier this year determined .", "Mr. Daheb says that `` it is the government 's role to set appropriate social policy and identify governments and entities that U.S. companies should not do business with . ''", "Blue Coat 's export-auditing system is focused on screening potential buyers before devices are sold , rather than on keeping track of devices once they are deployed , according to people familiar with the company .", "Information about Blue Coat in Syria began to trickle out in August , after a `` hacktivist '' group called Telecomix managed to gain access to unsecured servers on Syria 's Internet systems and found evidence of Blue Coat filtering .", "The group found computer records , or logs , detailing what Web pages the Blue Coat devices were censoring in Syria .", "Earlier this month the group released those logs , but with all the Internet Protocol , or IP , addresses redacted for privacy reasons .", "IP addresses are unique numbers assigned to devices that connect to the Internet , often identifying location .", "The Journal , however , has reviewed unredacted portions of the logs .", "The logs show the Blue Coat devices were filtering the Internet activity of individuals who were accessing the Web via Syrian IP addresses .", "The logs also include the serial numbers of the Blue Coat devices .", "The logs offer a rare insight into what the Assad regime does n't want Syrians to see online .", "Blocked sites include that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria , an opposition group banned in the country since it led an uprising against Mr. Assad 's father in the 1980s , and the-syrian .", "com , a website dedicated to news about the uprising .", "The devices blocked about 6 % of the more than 750 million requests they filtered from July 22 to Aug. 6 , according to a Journal analysis of the data .", "They blocked or monitored at least 26,700 attempts to connect to websites run by opposition figures or devoted to covering the Syrian uprising , such as all4syria.info and welati.net .", "Visits to sensitive areas of social-networking sites were also recorded , but not necessarily blocked .", "Of more than 2,500 attempts to connect to facebook.com/syrian.revolution , for example , about 1,575 were blocked and 934 others were kept in the logs , according to the Journal 's analysis .", "Mr. Daheb said the devices censoring the Syrian Web do n't have access to Blue Coat 's main filtering database , which regularly categorizes new websites to be blocked by its software , such as pornography , gambling or religious sites .", "Blue Coat says it ca n't turn off the devices remotely .", "The appliances do have Blue Coat service and support contracts .", "The company says it has now cut off contracts for the devices .", "Also in the logs were indications that another Blue Coat product , PacketShaper , is being used in Syria .", "Blue Coat says it does n't market or sell PacketShaper devices or software -- which help companies keep computer networks running smoothly -- in Syria due to the embargo .", "The Blue Coat logs show that some people within Syria are also using a Blue Coat filtering product for personal computers , known as K9 Web Protection , which periodically interacts with the company 's database of filtered websites .", "The K9 software works like this : When a person uses a computer with K9 to visit a certain website , the tool contacts Blue Coat to get information about the nature of the site and decides whether to block it .", "It is possible , trade-law experts say , that such services could violate the U.S. embargo on Syria .", "`` The executive orders this summer appear to be comprehensive , '' said Ronald Oleynik , head of the trade regulatory practice at the law firm Holland & Knight LLP .", "Other software and service companies regularly prevent access from IP addresses in countries such as Syria .", "Google Inc. , for example , does so for some of its software .", "Blue Coat says its K9 software `` may be eligible for export to Syria under exemptions that govern publicly available free software and informational materials incident to communications services . ''", "A person familiar with the matter said the company is n't sure and is awaiting word from U.S. authorities .", "In the meantime , Blue Coat 's Mr. Daheb says the company has now revoked the licenses of K9 software to prevent access from Syria , `` in an abundance of caution . ''", "Margaret Coker contributed to this article .", "Data analysis by Rob Barry and Ashkan Soltani ."], "_citing_sentence": "Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011).", "_claim_name": "Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom", "_doc_title": "Blue Coat Acknowledges Syria Used Its Gear for Internet Censorship Amid Arab Spring - WSJ", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Escalating Restrictions on Media and Travel in Tibetan Areas ( New York ) -- Restrictions on news , media , and communications in Tibet have been stepped up by Chinese authorities in the lead-up to the 18th Party Congress , due to take place in late 2012 .", "The measures appear to be an effort to cut off Tibetans in China from news not subjected to the government 's domestic monopoly on information .", "They are presented officially as an attempt to prevent the views of the exiled Dalai Lama and his followers from reaching Tibetans inside China , particularly those living in rural areas .", "The new restrictions , described in the official Renmin Wang media outlet on May 31 , 2012 , as key to maintaining stability and national security , aim to `` ensure the absolute security of Tibet 's ideological and cultural realm , '' according to Tibet Autonomous Region ( TAR ) Party Secretary Chen Quanguo in a June 27 interview .", "The measures involve significantly increased controls , particularly in the TAR , on internet use , text messages , phone ownership , music publishing , and photocopying , as well as intensified government propaganda through new TV channels , village education sessions , film showings , distribution of books , and the provision of satellite television receivers with fixed reception to government channels .", "As a result , Tibetans have virtually no access to independent news , are being subject to intensifying political education and propaganda in villages , schools , and monasteries , and face increasing limitations on travel into the TAR from other provinces .", "`` Under the guise of combating ` separatism ' the Chinese government is blatantly violating Tibetans ' rights to the freedom of expression , religion , culture , and movement , '' said Sophie Richardson , China director .", "`` The authorities have a responsibility to uphold public order , but that can not be used as a blanket justification for the kinds of measures to limit communications that the Chinese authorities are imposing in Tibet . ''", "According to a Xizang Ribao Online article on November 18 , 2011 , the measures follow an instruction by Party Secretary Chen to `` promote full coverage by radio , television , publications , and networks to ... enable the voice of the Party and government to cover the whole of this vast territory '' of the TAR and to exert strict control over the media `` to effectively purify the public opinion environment ... and strike hard at separatist elements entering Tibet to carry out reactionary propaganda . ''", "In June 2012 , Chen urged officials to `` make sure that the Central Party 's voices and images can be heard across 120 thousand square kilometers , '' and that `` no voices and images of enemy forces and Dalai clique can be heard and seen . ''", "The scope of the new restrictions reflect a sharp change in official views about Tibetan unrest , which officials previously stated was caused by `` a small number '' or `` a handful '' of Tibetans , mostly monks and nuns plus a few urban laypeople , who were considered to have been influenced by the Dalai Lama or by exile groups .", "But following protests across the Tibetan plateau in 2008 , leaders there have now acknowledged , at least in the domestic press , that the influence of the Dalai Lama is widespread among Tibetans , including in rural areas , where some 85 percent of Tibetans live .", "These new measures are part of a Tibet-specific policy called `` the Four Stabilities '' that was announced by China 's leader Hu Jintao in an internal speech in early March 2012 .", "They are being carried out in the name of the slogan `` stability overrides all '' ( wending yadao yiqie ) in order to `` keep a tight hand on the struggle against separatism . ''", "The goals include achieving `` the overall coverage of internet management in towns and in the rural areas '' ( Xizang Ribao , March 19 , 2012 ) and `` strengthening the management of new media '' ( Xizang Ribao , March 18 , 2012 ) .", "On May 30 , 2012 , Hao Peng , a deputy party secretary of the TAR , told officials that , because of `` the Dalai clique 's sabotage activity , '' they must `` strengthen the work of guiding the media , '' `` strengthen the supervision and management of new media such as the Internet , '' and `` firmly strike against the criminal activity of creating and spreading rumors by using internet and mobile phone text messaging '' ( Xizang Ribao , May 31 , 2012 ) .", "Controls on travel from inland provinces into the TAR have also been tightened significantly since March 2012 , with new limitations on travel into the TAR by monks , nuns , and lay Tibetans from outside the TAR .", "Additional restrictions on travel by foreigners to the TAR were introduced in May 2012 and again in early June .", "These restrictions on movement into the TAR by Tibetans from outside the region appear to be designed to prevent protests taking place in the Tibetan capital , Lhasa , particularly following the almost 40 self-immolations that have occurred in the Tibetan areas of Qinghai , Gansu , and Sichuan provinces since March 2011 .", "These protests appear to have been in response to increasing limits on basic freedoms , increasingly punitive security measures , and other concerns .", "Since two Tibetans from Sichuan and Gansu set themselves on fire in Lhasa on May 27 , 2012 , Tibetans from those provinces or from Qinghai who do not have permanent residence in Lhasa , including many with valid business permits and valid temporary registration permits , are reported to have been forced to leave the TAR .", "In 2009 , United Nations High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay urged that Chinese authorities `` reflect on the underlying causes '' of disturbances in the TAR and surrounding areas , `` which include discrimination and the failure to protect minority rights . ''", "`` The Chinese government refuses to even acknowledge the serious grievances of Tibetans , '' said Richardson .", "`` Trying to seal the region off will only lead to further frustration and greater international concern . ''", "Government Efforts to Counter the Dalai Lama 's Influence", "Before 2008 , Chinese officials in Tibetan areas stated repeatedly that that there was minimal support for the Dalai Lama among Tibetans in China .", "In 2004 the deputy governor of the TAR , Wu Jilie , told foreign journalists that `` the Dalai Lama has aroused the distrust and resolute opposition of the vast majority of people here '' ( Reuters , August 20 , 2004 ) , and in 2001 an official survey in Lhasa claimed that 86 percent of respondents regarded the `` Dalai as a separatist or a politician '' ( Renmin Wang , May 13 , 2001 ) .", "In 2007 , the chairman of the regional government of the TAR said `` the majority of Tibetan people do not want the Dalai Lama to return to the region '' and that `` his influence is very limited '' ( Xinhua , June 20 , 2007 ) .", "The TAR Party Secretary , Zhang Qingli , said `` the Tibetans whole-heartedly uphold the Communist Party of China ( CPC ) , and the will of the people is quite clear '' ( Xinhua , October 16 , 2007 ) , and the region 's vice-governor Nyima Tsering said that `` the overwhelming majority of the people of different ethnic groups in Tibet now support the leadership of the Communist Party '' ( Xinhua , July 28 , 2007 ) .", "There have been frequent campaigns against the Dalai Lama , especially after 2005 when Zhang Qingli assumed leadership as the party secretary of the TAR .", "Those campaigns were mostly aimed at `` reeducating '' officials and government workers , as well as monks and nuns , with little direct involvement of the Tibetans who live in the countryside .", "But in 2010 , officials in Tibet began to acknowledge the impact of the Dalai Lama within Tibet , when TAR governor Padma Thrinley ( Baima Chiling ) said that `` to say that the Dalai has no influence at all in Tibet is impossible ... The Dalai Lama has some influence , for sure '' ( Ifeng News , November 6 , 2010 ) .", "In March 2012 the TAR governor said , `` Let 's face reality : the Dalai Lama and his followers do try to attract young Tibetans , but what we need to do is not to compete with them ... Instead , the key is to improve people 's livelihood ... the popularity of the government will depend on its work '' ( Xinhua , March 7 , 2012 ) .", "He told a Chinese reporter that `` right now , the Dalai is indeed competing with us for the younger generations '' , while the former TAR governor Champa Phuntsok ( Xiangba Pingcuo ) told journalists that the influence of the Dalai Lama must be prevented ( Nanfang Zhoumo , March 30 , 2012 ) .", "Government statements published in Beijing and intended for Chinese audiences outside Tibetan areas or for audiences abroad still refer to the widespread support of Tibetans for China 's policies , but articles in local publications in Tibetan areas increasingly describe the Dalai Lama as having widespread influence , and focus to an extent not seen before on countering that influence among `` the masses , '' especially in rural areas .", "Official speeches throughout Tibetan areas since late 2011 have referred repeatedly to campaigns directed at `` the masses '' or `` the foundations , '' rather than primarily at monks and nuns , indicating an attempt to change the thinking of rural Tibetans on a scale not seen since the beginning of the reform era in the 1980s .", "In December 2011 a national-level official , Zhu Weiqun , then a leader in the United Front Work Department , the Party agency in charge of nationality and religious affairs , issued definitive instructions to officials in Tibetan areas to `` consolidate the mass foundation in anti-separatism . ''", "He also instructed them to `` carry out mass education on anti-separatism . ''", "He described the purpose of this work as being to `` increase the number of people on our side and reduce the number of people on the enemy 's side '' ( Xizang Ribao , December 7 , 2011 ) .", "In February 2012 , the party secretary of the Ganzi ( Tib. : Kardze ) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ( TAP ) in Sichuan province , Liu Daoping , in an article entitled `` the Struggle against Dalai Clique is a Struggle between Ourselves and the Enemy , and Winning over the Masses is the Primary Focus , '' stated that , in this `` intense political struggle , winning over the masses is the core of the struggle '' ( Ganzi Ribao , February 28 , 2012 ) .", "A senior party official in Sichuan province , Li Changping , said that the current drives in Tibetan areas are `` essentially to reinforce the mass foundation of the party and its rules '' ( Legal.net , March 8 , 2012 ) .", "In his May 30 , 2012 speech in Lhasa , Hao Peng stated that the work of the media was necessary to `` make the mass foundation in the fight against separatism and upholding social stability more concrete '' ( China Tibet News , May 31 , 2012 ) .", "The speeches indicate a coordinated approach across the Tibetan plateau to counter support among ordinary Tibetans for the exiled Dalai Lama , or ideas represented by him .", "Restricting Access to Information", "The drive to change the thinking of ordinary Tibetans by controlling access to information can be seen throughout Tibetan areas but is most evident in the TAR , where Party Secretary Chen Quanguo said in November 2011 that the objective of media work was to `` build a strong wall of steel in the ideological sphere '' as part of `` the struggle for public opinion on Tibet '' by `` resolutely cleaning up ` Tibetan independence ' reactionary publications and propaganda materials '' ( Xizang RibaoOnline , November 18 , 2011 ) .", "In January 2012 Chen told media workers that they must guarantee `` the absolute security of Tibet 's ideological realm and cultural realm '' by ensuring that `` the voice and image of the Dalai clique are not heard and not seen , '' and by making certain that `` the Party and central government 's voice and image are heard and seen '' ( China Tibet News , January 31 , 2012 ) .", "Chen , in his latest speech , delivered during a plenary session of the TAR Party on June 27 , 2012 , reiterated this focus on cultural security , calling for the `` occupation ofthe city and rural area cultural ground '' ( China Tibet News , June 27 , 2012 ) .", "In March , Chen said that the `` stability overrides all '' policy must include not only control over internet usage , but also over all forms of new media .", "During the anniversaries of recent protests in March 2012 , several popular and independently run Tibetan websites and blogs were closed down , and some public internet facilities were closed in some Tibetan areas .", "In October 2011 , a senior TAR propaganda official said that `` a civilized and healthy internet environment '' must be created by `` curbing the spread of decayed and backward ideology and culture , '' and by `` resolutely resisting ideological and cultural infiltration and sabotage activities by the Dalai clique and hostile Western forces '' ( Xizang Ribao Online , October 24 , 2011 ) .", "Control over the internet and new media was listed as a priority in a meeting on `` maintenance of social stability work '' in Lhasa in December 2011 , and in 2012 , control over new technology was described as necessary to ensure `` that firm preventive control can be instituted to combat infiltration from the sky , on land and via the Internet '' ( China Tibet News , February 15 , 2012 ) .", "In his May 30 speech , Hao Peng similarly called for a `` firm strike '' against the use of the internet and text messaging as a means of `` spreading rumors . ''", "Exile media have reported that text messaging and cellphone services in some areas of Sichuan are blocked following immolation protests or during periods marking the anniversary of earlier unrest .", "These efforts appear to be localized and the scope of blockages is therefore difficult to test .", "On March 22 , 2012 , regulations implementing `` Real ID '' measures for internet access were adopted in the TAR at the same time as similar regulations were adopted throughout China .", "In the TAR , however , similar regulations have applied since May 2010 to any individual making a photocopy or printing a document : each customer has to provide his or her name , ID number , and address , while the owners of all photocopy and print facilities are required to be registered with the police and to keep copies of every document that has been copied together with the ID number of each individual who makes a copy .", "In 2012 , these measures were described as necessary for `` national sovereignty and ethnic unity '' and to `` strengthen and innovate social management '' ( China Tibet News , March 19 , 2012 ) .", "Foreign radio and television broadcasts in the Tibetan language are routinely jammed in China , and individuals have been harassed or detained as a result of listening to broadcasts .", "Several Tibetans have received long prison sentences for sending news , photographs , or images for use in foreign news broadcasts .", "These include Rongye Adrak Lopoe and Jamyang Kunkhyen , given 10 - and 9-year sentences , respectively , in November 2007 for sending photographs to a foreign news agency of a one-person protest in Litang , Sichuan ; Tenchum , a monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba , Sichuan , given a 10-year sentence in August 2011 for having `` sent photos to a monk living overseas via internet '' of a fellow monk who had immolated himself the previous March ; and another Kirti monk , Dorje , who was given an undisclosed sentence for the same offense in 2011 .", "As part of what officials describe as `` unconventional methods '' introduced in 2012 in the TAR for `` social stability maintenance , '' special restrictions have been imposed on travelinto the TAR .", "These include requiring that , beginning on March 1 , 2012 , four identity cards be shown by ordinary citizens wanting to enter the TAR .", "The purpose of the measures is to `` further establish a comprehensive stability maintenance mechanism , '' and to control Lhasa 's `` Eastern Gate , '' according to state media published shortly before the measures were adopted ( Tengxun News , February 1 , 2012 ) .", "Additional restrictions were introduced in March 2012 to `` consolidate the collective management of mobile monks and nuns , '' referring to any monks or nuns who travel or are not permanent , registered members of a specific monastery ( Xinwen Zhongxin , March 6 , 2012 ) .", "Regulations imposed in 2006 already require all monks and nuns to have permission from their local county government to travel outside their own area of residence and to report to the administration of each county they visit .", "The new rules require them to present additional documents to enter the TAR , including their certificate of registration as a monk or nun .", "Travel restrictions for foreigners have also been intensified .", "This year , during the period surrounding the anniversary of the March 2008 protests , the TAR was closed to foreign tourists , and on April 21 , 2012 , the Sichuan government announced that some Tibetan counties in Aba prefecture and all of Ganzi prefecture were closed to foreigners .", "New travel restrictions limiting foreign tour groups in the TAR to a minimum of five people of the same nationality were reportedly circulated to travel agents on or shortly after May 14 , 2012 .", "After a double immolation in Lhasa on May 27 , travel agents reported being notified that no foreign tourists would be accepted in the TAR .", "On June 19 , several agencies reported that foreign groups of five or more people would be allowed into the TAR , but can not include tourists from Britain , Austria , Korea , countries whose leaders have recently received the Dalai Lama or exile leaders , and from Norway , where a Nobel Prize was awarded last year to Liu Xiaobo , a Chinese writer and government critic .", "Although China promised in advance of the 2008 Olympics to allow travel by foreign journalists to report freely through the country , foreign journalists have never been permitted to enter the TAR except in tightly managed groups .", "From February 2012 , in advance of the anniversary of the 2008 protests , foreign journalists were blocked from traveling in most Tibetan areas of Sichuan as well , and only one foreign journalist , traveling as a tourist , is known to have been allowed to visit the TAR this year .", "Information Censored : Songs and Publications", "The many restrictions on communications and information flow that have been intensified in recent months build on earlier efforts on the part of officials to control the views of Tibetans and curtail the spread of ideas and references that depart from the government 's viewpoint .", "Numerous measures were implemented after the 2008 protests that aimed to ban not only explicitly political documents but also to guarantee `` security in the cultural sphere . ''", "This entailed banning `` cultural products '' that are deemed to have political implications .", "In 2009 , state media reported that over 100,000 videosand 1,000 copies of various illegal publicationswere burned ( Xizang Ribao , April 24 , 2009 ) as part of a campaign described by TAR Propaganda Bureau chief , Cui Yuying , in late 2008 as necessary to `` struggle against infiltration by the Dalai Clique in the ideological sphere by eliminating and cracking down on nationality cultural products with the nature of politically separatist reactionary views which mislead the public '' ( Xizang TV , November 3 , 2008 ) .", "In December 2008 state media reported that 59 arrests had been made in Lhasa to combat `` rumor-mongering , '' and that five arrests had been carried out in connection with the commercial distribution of `` reactionary songs . ''", "In 2010 , authorities banned ringtones characterized as `` separatist , '' according to reports , and in early 2011 , a number of Tibetan songs were banned and some Tibetans found with those songs on computer drives or on their phones were detained , according to the US-based broadcaster , Radio Free Asia .", "These bans have also been applied to songs and music videos that have no obvious political content .", "In 2011 , for example , authorities banned a video of a rap song by a Tibetan exile in Switzerland called the `` Shapaley Song , '' named after a Tibetan meat pastry , which features exiles saying `` do n't worry , please take care '' to Tibetans in Tibet .", "Saturating Media , Schools , and Monasteries With State Content", "At the same time as access to alternative information has been increasingly limited , TAR authorities have stepped up efforts to ensure that all Tibetans receive the government 's viewpoint on all matters .", "In November 2011 , Chen defined the objective of media work in print , online , TV , and radio as `` enabl -LSB- ing -RSB- the voice of the Party and government to cover the whole of this vast territory -LSB- of the TAR -RSB- '' by `` promoting full coverage by radio , television , publications , and networks '' of `` the Party 's line , principles , and policies '' ( Xizang Ribao Online , November 18 , 2011 ) .", "In February 2012 , efforts to expand media coverage in the TAR of official views were declared necessary in order to `` vigorously organize public provision of culture so that the Party 's position , activities , and policies reach thousands and tens of thousands of households ... and reach the minds of the masses of all nationalities and of patriotic monks and nuns '' ( Xinwen Zhongxin , February 15 , 2012 ) .", "To broaden the reach of official media to the masses , programming in Tibetan areas , especially in rural areas , has been expanded .", "Only state media can be legally accessed and any attempt to access other sources can be treated as a criminal offense .", "For example , satellite receivers , restricted to domestic reception , were distributed free to Tibetans in some rural areas of Gansu and Qinghai provinces in 2009 , while other types of receivers were confiscated or disabled .", "In Sichuan , 20,000 farmers and nomads in rural Tibetan areas were given solar-powered TV sets , according to theXinhua news agency on May 1 , 2011 .", "Programming on the TAR 's satellite Chinese-language TV channel was expanded to 24 hours a day in 2009 , and in July 2010 , after nine months of trial programming , a new television service broadcasting in Kham Tibetan dialect was officially launched , reaching 2.4 million Tibetans in the region , according to official reports .", "An FM radioservice in Tibetan and Chinese was launched in May 2010 , broadcasting in Lhasa for 14 hours a day .", "All content on these stations is heavily restricted and includes only government-approved material .", "Besides expanding the impact of broadcast media , Chinese authorities in the TAR have launched an unprecedented drive to deliver official ideas to ordinary Tibetans face-to-face by sending 21,000 cadres to spend up to three years in 5,451 villages across the TAR , a program due to have completed its initial phase by October 2011 , according to official media .", "The cadres are carrying out education sessions with villagers to make sure `` every villager is a soldier '' and `` every village is a fortress '' in the fight to maintain social stability and reject `` separatist '' ideas and oppose the `` Dalai clique '' and other `` hostile forces '' ( China Tibet News , April 6 , 2012 ) .", "The village education sessions by cadre teams are held across the TAR on various themes , including `` feeling the Party 's kindness . ''", "Events include group-singing sessions at which patriotic songs are recited and film screenings at which patriotic filmsare shown to the villagers .", "The films include Serfs , a 1963 film showing downtrodden Tibetans being liberated by the PLA from brutal abuse by Tibetan aristocrats , and Red River Valley , a 1997 blockbuster about Tibetans fighting British invaders in the early 20th century .", "The teams have also been distributing `` patriotic books '' and DVDs with titles such as `` Promotional Materials to Expose the Dalai Clique '' and `` Follow the Party and Create a Happy Life . ''", "Officials involved in the effort are encouraged to identify individuals not yet exposed to `` reeducation , '' such as traders and nomads who are still mobile .", "A pilot project has been started to test the effect of broadcasting the official messages via loudspeakers , with 40 used in several villages in southern Tibet , `` to actively carry out promotion of party 's policy , scientific knowledge , legal education , and cultural shows '' ( China Tibet News , February 13 , 2012 ) , a return to a practice that is rare in most areas of China today .", "Patriotic education sessions with children in schools have also continued in Tibetan areas .", "In 2012 the education drive is titled `` keeping history firmly in mind , cherish the current way of life , '' and focuses on the `` anti-splittist struggle '' and teaching `` loyalty to country , loyalty to hometown , loyalty to school '' ( China Tibet News , May 6 , 2012 ) .", "In April 2012 , state media announced that over 10,000 `` live broadcasting receivers '' and at least 8,000 television sets had been installed in monasteries in and around Lhasa , according to Zhang Chongyin , director-general of Tibet Radio and TV Broadcasting Bureau , although monks and nuns are not usually expected to watch entertainment .", "This drive , which began in December 2011 under the name of the `` nine must-haves '' for monasteries , requires every monastery and nunnery in the TAR to have portraits of national leaders and the national flag , to hold screenings of `` patrioticfilms , '' and to have daily editions of official newspapers .", "`` Kneecapping '' and Maiming of Detainees by Bangladesh Security Forces", "Police Abuse and Reform in Pakistan", "Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in 90 countries worldwide , spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice \u00a9 2016 Human Rights Watch"], "_citing_sentence": "It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside.", "_claim_name": "Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom", "_doc_title": "China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information | Human Rights Watch", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1, 2, 11]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The 1997 Ottawa Convention banned the use and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- One hundred and thirty-three nations have signed the convention -- the USA has not -LSB- 2 -RSB- although in 2009 the Obama Administration announced a review of US policy that might lead to it signing up to the Ottawa Convention .", "LSB- 3 -RSB- The Convention 's aims became official United Nations policy with General Assembly Resolution 53/77 .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- The Ottawa Convention requires those that do so to abandon the use of landmines within ten years , and also requires the destruction of the signatory 's stockpile of landmines .", "The main reason the US gives for its refusal to sign the Ottawa Convention is that it feels there should be a unique exception for the landmines in the Korean Demilitarized Zone to recognise the military necessity of preventing movement across that border .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- States Parties , ` Convention on the Prohibition of the Use , Stockpiling , Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction ' , 18 September 1997 , http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/580?OpenDocument -LSB- 2 -RSB- United Nations Treaty Collection , ` 5 .", "Convention on the Prohibition of the Use , Stockpiling , Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction ' STATUS AS AT : 29-11-2011 07:04:42 EDT , http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-5&chapter=26&lang=en -LSB- 3 -RSB- Arms Control Association ` Mine Ban Treaty : Time for a Positive U.S. Decision ' , Col 2 , Issue 2 , 28 February 2011 , http://www.armscontrol.org/issuebriefs/MineBanTreatyUSDecison -LSB- 4 -RSB- United Nations General Assembly , Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly ' Fifty-third session , 12 January 1999 , http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N99/760/45/PDF/N9976045.pdf?OpenElement", "Landmines are a terrible and immoral tool of war .", "America should neither practise nor condone this kind of warfare .", "Unlike other weaponry , landmines remain hidden in the ground long after conflicts have ended , killing and maiming civilians in some of the world 's poorest countries years , even decades later .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- In Afghanistan 17 % of victims are children .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- Even if other weaponry has similar effects , it does n't mean landmines are acceptable -- it means they are bad , too .", "But we must start somewhere -- we can make a difference by capitalising on the global movement against landmines , and we should .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- Mine Clearance Planning Agency , Landmine Impact Survey Islamic Republic of Afghanistan , August 2005 , http://www.sac-na.org/pdf_text/afghanistan/AFG_ExecSummary_Engl.pdf", "Landmines do great harm to people that trigger them -- but so do all weapons of war .", "They are not uniquely unpleasant and the debate about them has distorted the public perception of landmines -- in truth , they are little different to a hundred other types of weaponry that remain legal under the Ottawa ban .", "In particular , landmines are an entirely defensive weapon .", "They can render large areas un-enterable until cleared but in this they are analogous to the long term harm of a chemical spill -- the harm can largely be mitigated by simply avoiding the area until it can be cleared .", "The usefulness of landmines is significantly over-represented .", "They are easily removed by quite low-technology military equipment -- which means that they are not very dangerous to armed forces whose mobility is not significantly restricted , this is after-all the purpose of the mines , but are incredibly harmful to civilians .", "A significant problem is that many minefields have been left unmarked and that they can remain active for more than 50 years .", "Removing a landmine can be fairly easy , but detecting them is not .", "Landmines are an excellent way of defending a wide area for very little money .", "They permit the defence of an area without requiring large numbers of personnel .", "This is a legitimate aim both in warfare , when military personnel are spread too thinly to protect all civilians and in poor countries during peacetime , who would rather invest in their infrastructure than funding the military capacity that would otherwise be required to defend the same ground .", "They can be easily removed , but not quickly , which is what provides their military utility .", "The fact that landmines can be easily removed ( if someone actually goes about that process ) highlights the real root of the suffering caused by landmines -- it is the on-going military conflicts which prevent removal and cause more mines to be planted which are the true cause of civilian suffering .", "If those conflicts ended then the harm to civilians would dissipate anyway .", "Landmines provide a false sense of security .", "They are often purchased and placed by nations that are fearful of their surrounding neighbours , rather than entering into diplomatic arena to improve relations .", "They are the symbol of exactly the wrong approach to international affairs .", "Small , underdeveloped countries should channel their efforts into improving their economies -- they should not be encouraged ( or frightened by scaremongering ) by the USA into buying the USA 's military equipment .", "Banning landmines disproportionately punishes small , underdeveloped countries unable to develop the higher-technology military capacity that has made mines less useful to richer nations .", "Because of this , banning landmines harms precisely the kind of nation most likely to need them for defensive purposes .", "It is absurd to suggest that landmines are the prime protector of US forces , or even an important one .", "It is well known that the principal benefit the USA 's troops ( as opposed to those of other nations ) have in peacekeeping is the threat of the deployment of overwhelming force if they are defied .", "Landmines are nothing to do with it .", "US troops have not been pinned down in the way the opposition suggests since World War Two , except in Iraq : and there , as elsewhere , the damage done to relations with the civilian community would far outweigh any narrow military benefit garnered from landmine deployment .", "Indeed the use of landmines by the US has slowly been changing , since 2004 the US has only allowed the use of landmines with deactivation mechanisms however it has not actually used landmines in more than 20 years .", "These mines , used in peacekeeping initiatives , protect US troops and present little danger to civilians .", "Stopping their use would endanger the lives of peacekeepers and make the USA less likely to enter into such operations -- part of the reason the USA refused to sign the Ottawa treaty in 1997 , and has declined to do so since .", "In the future , landmines may not be needed .", "However , whilst armies still depend on conventional weapons and movement -- moving tanks and large infantry groups -- and borders are weak , the defensive tactic of landmines is highly appropriate : it is cheap , affordable , and maintains borders .", "Their existence can slow or stop an advance by breaking up an attack and forcing attackers to go certain routes , -LSB- 1 -RSB- delaying or even halting conflict ; they can deter invasion in the first place .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- By guarding wide areas from swift armed advance -LSB- 2 -RSB- Marin , Albert and Litzelman , Michael , ` Peacemakers Along the DMZ : Non-Self Destruct Landmines in the Republic of Korea ' , Journal of Mine Action , Issue 6.1 , April 2002 , http://maic.jmu.edu/journal/6.1/notes/marin/marin.htm", "Chemical weapons are also cheap and highly effective .", "The use of chemical agents was widespread in the First World War and domestic terrorists groups have been able to manufacture and use Sarin gas in attacks .", "These weapons are banned despite being cheap and effective because of the unnecessary suffering they cause and because of their indiscriminate nature .", "Mines and gas are both ` area denial ' weapons whose effects can linger long after the conflict in which they were employed has faded into history .", "Landmines are merely a convenient way of providing what can be rigged in many ways -- an explosion triggered when movement occurs in a particular area .", "Without landmines being legally available , troops will improvise landmines -- they will wire up pressure plates and hand grenades and trip wires and high explosive charges , with much the same result .", "These will then be much more difficult to disarm as they will not have a standard design and they may also have much more explosive power .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- This behaviour was widespread in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts .", "The only differences are that these weapons are less efficient , and more dangerous to the user that prepares them .", "That is true if we are discussing a single tripwire or booby trap .", "But the argument avoids the real point of landmines -- blanket deployment over very wide areas , making them impassable for military units in the short term , and deadly for the indigenous population in the long term .", "Nobody rigs up a few thousand pressure plates at a time .", "Removing landmines from the available military options would mean that this kind of deployment would become impossible -- it would mean the end of the mine field .", "The ban fails to distinguish between different kinds of mines .", "The Americans have mines that can deactivate themselves and can self-destruct .", "America only manufactures smart mines , and since 1976 the USA has tested 32,000 mines with a successful self-destruction rate of 99.996 per cent .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- The ban also fails to distinguish between responsible and irresponsible users .", "Under American deployment , only smart mines are used , and they are used responsibly , being set and removed in a methodical manner .", "Faith in these so called ` smart ' mines is hugely misplaced .", "Conditions under testing will always vary from those in the field , where all is confusion and areas of deployment are often not properly recorded or marked .", "Even if they work as claimed , there is no guarantee that regimes that use them will wish to deactivate them upon ceasefire , if left in the territory of a neighbour or enemy with whom a dispute still smoulders .", "The equipment required for deactivation may be lost or destroyed .", "The best way to ensure that these weapons are n't left in the soil is never to put them there in the first place .", "That some users might be responsible is not good enough , since if anyone has landmines everyone will .", "Even that assumes that it is possible to be a ` responsible ' user of landmines -- once they are in the ground the user has lost all practical control over them .", "The only way to take back control is to disarm them .", "The defence of South Korea from Communist aggression depends upon the thick belt of landmines that lines the demilitarized zone .", "Without it , North Korea 's million man army could easily cross into South Korea and take Seoul before defences could be organised .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- South Korea is a key ally of the USA and to join in the ban on landmines would be to betray that ally .", "The failure of the Ottawa Convention to grant an exception for the Korean peninsula was the key reason for USA non-participation .", "With regards to the tunnel network : North Korea would never be able to perform an invasion through a dozen half-finished tunnels just big enough for a man to pass though .", "Troops passing under the DMZ without any heavy equipment or armour would have to assemble in the open with no protection from RoK and US firepower and air support .", "The main force of any invasion would have to travel over ground .", "North Korea has an extensive tunnel network under the DMZ that will facilitate the circumvention of the largest minefield on Earth , if the North Koreans were ever stupid enough to attempt invasion ( and there is nothing to suggest that they are going to ) .", "This fact demonstrates the uselessness of landmines -- the world 's biggest minefield is militarily redundant , a danger only to those that will live in this area in future years .", "The USA knows this -- the defence of South Korea is a hollow , false excuse offered in defence of landmines -- the real reason is the unwillingness on the part of the military machine to relinquish the capability of any weapon , no matter how horrible .", "Of course , there is a healthy profit to be made in their distribution , too .", "Arms Control Association ` Mine Ban Treaty : Time for a Positive U.S. Decision ' , Col 2 , Issue 2 , 28 February 2011 , http://www.armscontrol.org/issuebriefs/MineBanTreatyUSDecison", "Good , Rachel , ` Yes We Should : Why the U.S. Should Change Its Policy Toward the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty ' , Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights , Vol .", "Hillen , John and Spring , Baker , ` Why A Global Ban On Land Mines Wo n't Work ' , Heritage.org , 17 January 1997 , http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1997/01/why-a-global-ban-on-land-mines ICRC , ` Anti-personnel mines : not an indispensable weapon of high military value ' , 28 March 1996 , http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jmud.htm ICRC , Anti-personnel Landmines .", "Friend of foe ?", "A study of the military use and effectiveness of anti-personnel mines , 1996 , pp.14-15 http://www.scribd.com/doc/21699394/Anti-personnel-Landmines-Friend-or-foe-A-study-of-the-military-use-and-effectiveness-of-anti-personnel-mines#outer_page_16", "Marin , Albert and Litzelman , Michael , ` Peacemakers Along the DMZ : Non-Self Destruct Landmines in the Republic of Korea ' , Journal of Mine Action , Issue 6.1 , April 2002 , http://maic.jmu.edu/journal/6.1/notes/marin/marin.htm", "Maresca , Louis , Maslen , Stuart , The Banning of Anti-Personnel Landmines , International Committee of the Red Cross , 2004 , p. 316 , http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R_CjjO8-4-wC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+banning+of+anti-personnel+landmines&hl=en&ei=IyLWTq6PDIak8QPiqNSSAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false", "Mine Clearance Planning Agency , Landmine Impact Survey Islamic Republic of Afghanistan , August 2005 , http://www.sac-na.org/pdf_text/afghanistan/AFG_ExecSummary_Engl.pdf", "States Parties , ` Convention on the Prohibition of the Use , Stockpiling , Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction ' , 18 September 1997 , http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/580?OpenDocument", "United Nations cyberschoolbus , http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/banmines/units/unit1a.asp", "United Nations General Assembly , Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly ' Fifty-third session , 12 January 1999 , http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N99/760/45/PDF/N9976045.pdf?OpenElement", "United Nations Treaty Collection , ` 5 .", "Convention on the Prohibition of the Use , Stockpiling , Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction ' STATUS AS AT : 29-11-2011 07:04:42 EDT , http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-5&chapter=26&lang=en", "Wikipedia , Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway If you are an academic or highly knowledgeable about a particular debate could you give an hour or two a month to curate a debate ?"], "_citing_sentence": "Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit.", "_claim_name": "This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government", "_doc_title": "This House (as the USA) Would Sign the Ottawa Convention banning landmines | idebate.org", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 50, "_topic_name": "This House would ban the sale of surveillance technology to non-democratic countries"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By NEIL MacFARQUHAROCT .", "Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi , the erratic , provocative dictator who ruled Libya for 42 years , crushing opponents at home while cultivating the wardrobe and looks befitting an aging rock star , met a violent and vengeful death on Thursday in the hands of the Libyan forces that drove him from power .", "In death , as in life , his circumstances proved startling , with jerky video images showing him captured , bloody and disheveled , but alive .", "A separate clip showed his half-naked torso , with eyes staring vacantly and what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head , as jubilant fighters fired into the air .", "In a third video , posted on YouTube , excited fighters hovered around his lifeless-looking body , posing for photographs and yanking his limp head up and down by the hair .", "Throughout his rule , Colonel Qaddafi , 69 , sanctioned spasms of grisly violence and frequent bedlam , even as he sought to leverage his nation 's oil wealth into an outsize role on the world stage .", "He embraced a string of titles : `` the brother leader , '' `` the guide to the era of the masses , '' `` the king of kings of Africa '' and -- his most preferred -- `` the leader of the revolution . ''", "But the labels pinned on him by others tended to stick the most .", "President Ronald Reagan called him `` the mad dog of the Middle East . ''", "President Anwar el-Sadat of neighboring Egypt pronounced him `` the crazy Libyan . ''", "As his dominion over Libya crumbled with surprising speed , Colonel Qaddafi refused to countenance the fact that most Libyans despised him .", "He placed blame for the uprising on foreign intervention -- a United Nations Security Council resolution intended to defend civilians became the contentious basis for NATO airstrikes on his troops .", "`` I tell the coward crusaders : I live in a place where you ca n't get me , '' he taunted defiantly after the uprising against his rule started in February .", "`` I live in the hearts of millions . ''", "That attitude endured to the end .", "In one of his last speeches , made weeks after Tripoli fell and he was a fugitive , he exhorted Libyans to defeat the uprising .", "`` The people of Libya , the true Libyans , will never accept invasion and colonization , '' he said in remarks broadcast by a Syrian television station because he had lost control of Libya 's airwaves .", "`` We will fight for our freedom , and we are ready to sacrifice ourselves . ''", "Colonel Qaddafi was a 27-year-old junior officer when he led the bloodless coup that deposed Libya 's monarch in 1969 .", "Soon afterward , he began styling himself a desert nomad philosopher .", "He received dignitaries in his signature sprawling white tent , which he erected wherever he went : Rome , Paris and , after much controversy , New York , on a Westchester estate in 2009 .", "Inside , its quilted walls might be printed with motifs like palm trees and camels , or embroidered with his sayings .", "Colonel Qaddafi declared that his political system of permanent revolution would sweep away capitalism and socialism .", "But he hedged his bets by financing and arming a cornucopia of violent organizations , including the Irish Republican Army and African guerrilla groups , and he became an international pariah after his government was linked to terrorist attacks , particularly the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie , Scotland , which killed 270 people .", "After the American-led invasion of Iraq , Colonel Qaddafi announced that Libya was abandoning its pursuit of unconventional weapons , including a covert nascent nuclear program , ushering in a new era of relations with the West .", "But in Libya , he ruled through an ever smaller circle of advisers , including his sons , destroying any institution that might challenge him .", "By the time he was done , Libya had no parliament , no unified military command , no political parties , no unions , no civil society and no nongovernmental organizations .", "His ministries were hollow , with the notable exception of the state oil company .", "A Tight Grip on Power", "Eight years into his rule , he renamed the country the Great Socialist People 's Libyan Jamahiriya .", "( Jamahiriya was his Arabic translation for a state of the masses . )", "`` In the era of the masses , power is in the hands of the people themselves and leaders disappear forever , '' he wrote in The Green Book , a three-volume political tract that was required reading in every school .", "For decades , Libyans noted dryly that he did not seem to be disappearing any time soon ; he became the longest-serving Arab or African leader .", "Yet he always presented himself as beloved guide and chief clairvoyant , rather than ruler .", "Indeed , he seethed when a popular uprising inspired by similar revolutions next door in Tunisia and Egypt first sought to drive him from power .", "`` I am a glory that Libya can not forgo and the Libyan people can not forgo , nor the Arab nation , nor the Islamic nation , nor Africa , nor Latin America , nor all the nations that desire freedom and human dignity and resist tyranny ! ''", "Colonel Qaddafi shouted in February .", "`` Muammar Qaddafi is history , resistance , liberty , glory , revolution ! ''", "It was a typically belligerent and random harangue .", "He vowed to fight to his last drop of blood .", "`` This is my country ! ''", "he roared as he shook his fist and pounded the lectern .", "`` Muammar is not a president to quit his post .", "Muammar is the leader of the revolution until the end of time ! ''", "He blamed all manner of bogeymen -- including the United States , operatives of Al Qaeda and youths `` fueled by milk and Nescaf\u00e9 spiked with hallucinogenic drugs . ''", "But he also made it clear that he was ready to hunt all the `` rats '' to eliminate anyone who participated .", "`` Everything will burn , '' he vowed .", "At least once a decade , Colonel Qaddafi fomented shocking violence that terrorized Libyans .", "In the late 1970s and early '80s , he eliminated even mild critics through public trials and executions .", "Kangaroo courts were staged on soccer fields or basketball courts , where the accused were interrogated , often urinating in fear as they begged for their lives .", "The events were televised to make sure that no Libyan missed the point .", "The bodies of one group of students hanged in downtown Tripoli 's main square were left there to rot for a week , opposition figures said , and traffic was rerouted to force cars to pass by .", "In the 1990s , faced with growing Islamist opposition , Colonel Qaddafi bombed towns in eastern Libya , and his henchmen were widely believed to have opened fire on prisoners in Tripoli 's Abu Salim prison , killing about 1,200 .", "Advertisement `` Qaddafi 's ability to have survived so long rests on his convenient position in not being committed to a single ideology and his use of violence in such a theatrical way , '' said Hisham Matar , the author of `` In the Country of Men , '' a novel depicting the devastation of life under Colonel Qaddafi .", "`` He deliberately tried to create a campaign that would terrorize the population , that would traumatize them to such an extent that they would never think of expressing their thoughts politically or socially . ''", "Colonel Qaddafi survived countless coup and assassination attempts and cracked down harshly afterward , alienating important Libyan tribes .", "He imported soldiers from his misadventures in places like Sudan , Chad and Liberia , transforming Libya 's ragtag militias into what he styled as his African or Islamic legions .", "Muammar el-Qaddafi was born to illiterate Bedouin parents in a tent just inland from the coastal town of Surt in 1942 .", "( Some sources give the date as June 7 . )", "His father herded camels and sheep .", "One grandfather was killed in the 1911 Italian invasion to colonize Libya .", "His parents scrimped for his education , first with a local cleric and then secondary school .", "He began to idolize President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt , who preached Arab unity and socialism after deposing the king in a 1952 coup .", "He showed enough promise to enter the Royal Military Academy at Benghazi , in eastern Libya , and in 1966 was sent to England for a course on military communications .", "He learned English .", "On Sept. 1 , 1969 , he led young officers in seizing the government in just a few hours while King Idris was abroad .", "They dissolved Parliament and set up a 12-member Revolutionary Command Council to rule Libya , mirroring Mr. Nasser 's Egypt .", "He was promoted to colonel and armed forces commander .", "Egypt was his blueprint , and he proclaimed that the newly named Libyan Arab Republic would advance under the Arab nationalist slogan `` Socialism , unity and freedom . ''", "Yet in a country where the deposed king , Idris , had come from a long line of religious figures , Colonel Qaddafi felt compelled to shore up his Islamic credentials .", "He banned alcohol and closed bars , nightclubs and casinos .", "He outlawed teaching English in public schools .", "Traffic signs and advertisements not in Arabic were painted over .", "Decades later , only one nightclub had opened in Tripoli , in a nondescript building plastered with revolutionary slogans and displaying the mandatory picture of the leader , who seemed to stare down from every wall in Libya .", "Colonel Qaddafi claimed that Mr. Nasser had declared him his son , and in the early years of his rule , he set about trying to win his idol 's approval by modernizing Libya and trying , in vain , to unite it with other Arab countries .", "He expelled American and British military bases , then nationalized the property of Italian settlers and a small Jewish community .", "He railed against Israel .", "He also vowed to eliminate Libya 's tribes , worried that they were too powerful , even though Libya 's urbanizing population had been moving away from them for some time .", "Libya had been desperately poor until oil was discovered in 1959 .", "A decade later , Libyans had touched little of their wealth .", "The 1969 coup changed that .", "The new Libyan government forced the major oil companies to cede majority stakes in exchange for continued access to the country 's oil fields , and it demanded a greater share of the profits .", "The pattern was emulated across the oil-producing states , profoundly changing their relationship with the oil giants .", "With the increased revenue , Colonel Qaddafi set about building roads , hospitals , schools and housing .", "And Libyans , who had suffered during the Italian occupation before World War II , were allowed to celebrate an anticolonial , Arab-nationalist sentiment that had been bottled up under the monarchy , said Prof. Ali Ahmida , an expert at the University of New England .", "Life expectancy , which averaged 51 years in 1969 , is now over 74 .", "Literacy leapt to 88 percent .", "Per capita annual income grew to above $ 12,000 in recent years , though the figure is markedly lower than that found in many oil-rich countries .", "Yet Colonel Qaddafi warned his people that the oil would not last .", "`` Petroleum societies are lazy everywhere , '' he observed .", "`` People are used to having more money and want everything available .", "This revolution wants to change this life and to promote production and work , to produce everything by our hands .", "But the people are lazy . ''", "The Guiding Philosophy", "The mercurial changes in policy and personality that kept Libyans off balance began in earnest with the three volumes of his Green Book , published from 1976 to 1979 .", "( Green , he explained , was for both Islam and agriculture . )", "The book offered his `` third universal theory '' to improve on capitalism and socialism , and elevated the mundane to the allegedly profound , condemning sports like boxing as barbarism and pointing out that men and women are different because women menstruate .", "Colonel Qaddafi also introduced Orwellian revolutionary committees in every neighborhood to purge the country of the ideologically unsound , calling it `` people power . ''", "He began foisting social experiments on Libyans .", "Once he demanded that all Libyans raise chickens to promote self-sufficiency , even deducting the costs of cages from their wages .", "`` It made no sense to raise chickens in apartments , '' said Mansour O. El-Kikhia , a Qaddafi biographer at the University of Texas and a member of an opposition family .", "`` People slaughtered the chickens , ate them and used the cages as dish racks . ''", "Colonel Qaddafi said women were not equal to men , but he exhibited them as a symbol of the success of the Libyan revolution .", "None had a higher profile than his phalanx of female bodyguards , in camouflage fatigues , red nail polish and high-heeled sandals , and carrying submachine guns .", "To consolidate his power , Colonel Qaddafi tried to eliminate or isolate all of the 11 other members of the original Revolutionary Command Council .", "Strikes or unauthorized news reports resulted in prison sentences , and illegal political activity was punishable by death .", "Western books were burned , and private enterprise was banned .", "Libyan intelligence agents engaged in all manner of skulduggery , reaching overseas to kidnap and assassinate opponents .", "He vowed to turn Libya into an agriculture powerhouse through the Great Man-Made River , a grandiose $ 20 billion project to pump water from aquifers underneath the Sahara and send it over 1,200 miles to the coast through a gargantuan pipeline .", "Meanwhile he was cementing Libya 's rogue-state status by bankrolling terrorist and guerrilla organizations , including Abu Nidal , the radical Palestinian organization , and the violent Red Army Faction in Europe .", "At least a dozen coups or coup attempts in Africa were traced to his backing .", "That set him on a collision course with the West .", "In the early 1980s , President Reagan closed the Libyan Embassy in Washington , suspended oil imports and shot down two Libyan fighters after Colonel Qaddafi tried to extend Libya 's territorial waters across the Gulf of Sidra .", "In London in 1984 , gunshots from the Libyan Embassy killed a police officer and wounded 11 demonstrators .", "In 1986 , Libyan agents were linked to the bombing of a disco in West Berlin , killing two American service members and a Turkish woman and wounding 200 people .", "President Reagan retaliated 10 days later by bombing targets in Libya , including Colonel Qaddafi 's residence in his compound at the Bab al-Aziziya barracks in Tripoli .", "He preserved the wreckage of the house as a symbol of American treachery and , in front of it , installed a sculpture of a giant fist crushing an American jet fighter .", "It became his preferred stage for major events ; his major speech during the 2011 uprising was delivered from the first floor .", "During the '80s , Colonel Qaddafi also invaded Chad after encroaching on its border for years .", "Chad finally defeated the effort in 1987 with French and American military aid .", "The Lockerbie Bombing In 1988 , in the deadliest terrorist act linked to Libya , 259 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 died when the plane exploded in midair over Lockerbie .", "The falling wreckage killed 11 people on the ground .", "Libyan agents were also believed to have been behind the explosion of a French passenger jet over Niger in 1989 , killing 170 people .", "Nearly a decade of international isolation started in 1992 , after Libya refused to hand over two suspects indicted by the United States and Britain in the Lockerbie bombing .", "France also sought four suspects in the Niger bombing , among them Abdullah Senussi , a brother-in-law of Colonel Qaddafi 's and the head of external intelligence .", "He was convicted in absentia .", "The United Nations imposed economic sanctions , and when his fellow Arabs enforced them , Colonel Qaddafi turned away from the Arab world .", "He began his quest to become leader of Africa , coming closest in title , at least , in 2009 , when he was named the chairman of the African Union for a year .", "In 1999 , Libya finally handed over two Lockerbie suspects for trial in The Hague under Scottish law and reached a financial settlement with the French .", "One suspect was acquitted but another , Abdel Basset al-Megrahi , was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in a Scottish jail .", "When the government released him in 2009 , on the grounds that he was terminally ill , the outcry was swift .", "The British were accused of trying to curry favor with Tripoli for oil and arms deals .", "The international sanctions against Libya were lifted in 2003 after it accepted responsibility for the bombing and agreed to pay $ 2.7 billion to the families of victims in the Lockerbie bombing and in other attacks .", "The Libyans did not admit guilt , however .", "They made it clear that they were simply taking a practical step toward restoring ties with the West .", "But when Judge Mustafa Abdel-Jalil , the justice minister , defected during the uprising in February 2011 , he told a Swedish newspaper that he had proof that Colonel Qaddafi had ordered the operation .", "Tripoli truly began to emerge from the cold after the September 2001 attacks against the United States .", "Colonel Qaddafi condemned them and shared Libya 's intelligence on Al Qaeda with Washington .", "Libya had been the first country to demand an international arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden .", "Colonel Qaddafi also said he would destroy his weapons stockpile .", "President George W. Bush said Libya 's decision demonstrated the success of the invasion of Iraq , in that it had persuaded a rogue state to abandon its menacing ways , although Libya had made a similar overture years before and many experts did not consider its programs threatening .", "October 20 , 2011 -- Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was killed on Thursday as fighters battling vestiges of his fallen regime seized his hometown of Surt , the interim government said .", "Nevertheless , Britain and the United States re-established diplomatic relations .", "Prime Minister Tony Blair and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice led a parade of world leaders to Colonel Qaddafi 's tent seeking trade deals .", "Ms. Rice was the first American secretary of state to visit since 1953 .", "Before the visit , Colonel Qaddafi was effusive about Ms. Rice .", "`` I support my darling black African woman , '' he said on the network Al Jazeera , adding : `` I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders .", "Yes , Leezza , Leezza , Leezza -- I love her very much . ''", "State Department cables released by WikiLeaks suggested that there was another woman who had won Colonel Qaddafi 's affection , and confidence -- a `` voluptuous blonde '' Ukrainian nurse , described as the senior member of a posse of nurses around him .", "The cables described him as a hypochondriac who feared flying over water and who often fasted twice a week .", "He followed horse racing , loved flamenco dancing and added `` king of culture '' to his myriad titles , the cables said .", "Around 1995 he published a collection of short stories and essays called `` The Village , the City , the Suicide of the Astronaut and Other Stories . ''", "It later came out in Britain as `` Escape to Hell and Other Stories . ''", "As a reviewer in the British newspaper The Guardian put it : `` There are no characters , no twists , no subtle illuminations ; indeed , there is precious little narrative .", "Instead , you get surreal rants and bizarre streams of consciousness obviously unmolested by the hand of any editor . ''", "Colonel Qaddafi married at least twice .", "His oldest son , Mohammed , from his first marriage , became a businessman and the agent for foreign companies working in Libya .", "Seven other children -- six sons and a daughter -- came from his marriage to Safia Farkash , a former nurse .", "Seif al-Islam , the oldest son , had been the face of modern Libya , establishing an international charity and forever pledging that political reform was just around the corner .", "His moderate reputation evaporated with the uprising after he vowed that Libya would flow with blood .", "He was later indicted by the International Criminal Court , accused of crimes against humanity during the uprising .", "Among Seif 's brothers , Muatassim , Hannibal and Khamis were military officers who commanded their own brigades .", "Muatassim headed the National Security Council but was also known for carousing in hot spots like the Caribbean island of St. Bart 's , where he was reported to have paid singers , including Mariah Carey , $ 1 million each for appearing at his holiday parties .", "Libyan television showed what it called his lifeless body on a gurney Thursday .", "Hannibal gained notoriety for beating his wife and servants in luxurious European hotels .", "After he was arrested in Switzerland in 2008 , Colonel Qaddafi broke off diplomatic relations and held two Swiss businessmen hostage .", "The anti-Qaddafi forces said they killed Khamis , once head of the feared Khamis Brigade guarding Tripoli , in August as he and his bodyguards tried to break through a rebel checkpoint .", "Another son , Saadi , a military officer , had been a professional soccer player who was allowed onto Italian teams more for the publicity than for his skills .", "The seventh son , Seif al-Arab , was believed killed in an air raid , with his brothers acting as pall bearers .", "The daughter , Aisha , gained attention as a lawyer after she offered to join Saddam Hussein 's legal defense team .", "Colonel Qaddafi was also believed to have adopted two children : Hanna and Milad , a nephew .", "Mohammed , Hannibal and Aisha all fled to neighboring Algeria , while Saadi was given refuge in Niger to the south .", "There were conflicting reports Thursday over whether Seif al-Islam had been captured or killed .", "As the circle around Colonel Qaddafi shrank , his sons increasingly became his advisers , but it was never clear if he had anointed any of them as his successor .", "He was believed to play one off against the other , granting and then withholding favor .", "As Colonel Qaddafi grew older , the trim , handsome officer with short black hair gave way to someone more flamboyant .", "Brocade and medals festooned his military uniforms , as if he were some Gilbert & Sullivan admiral , while his black curls grew long and unruly .", "After he adopted Africa as his cause , he favored African robes in a riot of colors .", "His long effort to eliminate the government left Libya in a shambles , its sagging infrastructure belying its oil wealth .", "That fact never seemed to bother Colonel Qaddafi .", "`` Once he was in a position to sustain himself , the fact that nothing improved in Libya was something he did not notice , '' said Lisa Anderson , the president of the American University in Cairo .", "He was `` notoriously mercurial , '' a cable obtained through WikiLeaks said , a man who `` avoids making eye contact '' during meetings and thinks nothing of `` long , uncomfortable periods of silence . ''", "He would sometimes show up hours late for a state banquet honoring an African head of state , then sit in a far corner before bolting away .", "African leaders accepted this behavior in exchange for a check for a million dollars or two , diplomats said .", "After he put his worst years of sponsoring terrorism behind him , the West and the rest of the Arab world tended to treat him as comic opera , though he could still outrage , as he did in 2009 , when , appearing for the first time before the United Nations General Assembly , he spoke for some 90 minutes instead of his allotted 15 and seemed to tear a copy of the charter , condemning the Security Council as a feudal organization .", "When scores of children in a Benghazi hospital developed AIDS , most likely because of unsanitary conditions , Colonel Qaddafi accused the C.I.A. of developing the virus that caused it and of sending a group of Bulgarian nurses to spread it in Libya .", "The nurses were arrested , tortured , tried and sentenced to death before eventually being freed .", "He never tired of pushing his idea for an Israeli-Palestinian solution , a unified country called `` Isratine '' in which both Jews and Arabs would enjoy equal rights as soon as all Palestinian refugees were allowed to return .", "The proposal elicited derision from other Arab leaders or senior officials .", "At home , though , Libyans suffered under his dictates .", "He switched from the standard Muslim calendar to one marking the years since the Prophet Muhammad 's death , only to decide later that the birth year was a more auspicious place to start .", "Event organizers threw up their hands and reverted to the Western calendar .", "He also decided to rename the months .", "February was Lights .", "August was Hannibal .", "Given the conceit that `` popular committees '' -- and not Colonel Qaddafi himself -- ran the country , everyone was required to attend committee sessions called at random once or twice a year to discuss an agenda `` suggested '' by the grand guide .", "Every single office -- schools , government ministries , airlines , shops -- had to shut for days , sometimes weeks .", "Scofflaws risked fines .", "Colonel Qaddafi once declared that any money over $ 3,000 in anyone 's bank account was excessive and should revert to the state .", "Another time he lifted a ban on sport utility vehicles , then changed his mind a few months later , forcing everyone who had bought one to hide it .", "Libyans grumbled that they had no idea what had happened to their oil money ; the official news agency said the country earned $ 32 billion in 2010 alone .", "When prices were low or Libya was under sanctions during most of the 1980s and '90s , the nearly one million people on the public payroll never got a pay raise ; experts calculated that most lived on $ 300 to $ 400 per month .", "The general disarray was another way of ensuring that no one developed the confidence and connections to try to overthrow him .", "Libyans lived constantly on edge .", "`` It is an awful feeling when you do n't know what tomorrow is going to bring , '' said Dr. Kikhia , the biographer .", "`` People do n't work -- they can not make a decision at any level . ''", "Colonel Qaddafi saw his rule as a never-ending quest , without ever defining the objective .", "`` The state of Libya was a state of constant revolution , which suggests there was no goal , '' said Mr. Matar , the novelist .", "`` It was all false ; it was a way to keep them all occupied . ''", "When revolutions succeeded in two Arab neighbors , deposing the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt , Colonel Qaddafi was among the only leaders in the region to speak out publicly .", "The people had been swayed by foreign plots , he maintained .", "He tried to warn his people that Tunisians now lived in fear of being killed at home or on the streets .", "But few Tunisians died .", "His first speech after the Libyan uprising erupted proved a classic Qaddafi moment , mocked by the outside world while accompanying a grueling civil war at home .", "He vowed to hunt down the insurgents `` house by house and alley by alley . ''", "The unusual Libyan word for alley -- `` zenga zenga '' -- was turned into a jingle , with various young women belly dancing to it in YouTube videos .", "Even as Libyans died , Colonel Qaddafi demanded recognition that he alone had made them relevant .", "`` In the past , Libyans lacked an identity , '' Colonel Qaddafi roared in the February speech .", "`` When you said Libyan , they would tell you Libya , Liberia , Lebanon -- they did n't know Libya !", "But today you say Libya , they say Libya -- Qaddafi , Libya -- the revolution ! ''"], "_citing_sentence": "The country had no Parliament, political parties, or NGO's and no civil society .", "_claim_name": "A long ruling and ruthless dictator was toppled.", "_doc_title": "Muammar el-Qaddafi, Libyan Dictator, Is Dead at 69 - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [26]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Results from Libya 's first elections since the overthrow of Col Gaddafi have shown gains for an alliance of parties seen as broadly secular .", "The National Forces Alliance , led by ex-interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril , has won 39 out of 80 seats reserved for political parties .", "The Muslim Brotherhood 's party has gained 17 .", "The 200-member General National Assembly will also include dozens of independent candidates .", "The overall orientation that the assembly will have is so far unclear .", "What remains to be seen is who , if anyone , will lead the assembly by majority , the BBC 's Rana Jawad in Tripoli reports .", "That will depend on the allegiances - largely unknown - of 120 independent candidates , she adds .", "While congratulating other parties , the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Justice and Construction Party said it had made gains in seats reserved for independent members .", "They may now be banking on a shift in their favour from the non-party lists , our correspondent adds .", "By Rana JawadBBC News , Tripoli It was , for many , the act of voting that mattered most .", "Nevertheless , this landslide victory for the centrist National Forces Alliance in the party-list was largely expected since the preliminary results started trickling out over the past week .", "Talking to Libyans , you find that many of the youth - who make up the majority of eligible voters - cast their ballots against anyone running on a religious platform .", "They opted for policy-makers rather than ideologies .", "You often also hear about lessons being drawn from election results in Tunisia and Egypt , where it was viewed that Islamists hijacked the Arab Spring .", "The recent sporadic attacks against foreign missions in Libya , believed to be carried out by some hardline Islamists , also seemed to spook people here and probably played some role in swaying the vote .", "The current interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib said the announcement of the results was `` a time of celebration '' .", "`` Everybody in Libya is happy .", "And we are thankful to those partners and friends who have helped us to get to this point , '' Mr Keib said .", "There will now be a two-week window for any appeals against the tally .", "More than 100 parties competed in the poll , many of them formed only in recent months .", "The assembly will have legislative powers , though it is unclear what role it will play in drawing up the country 's new constitution .", "The assembly is expected to be in place for at least a year .", "It will choose the first elected government since Col Muammar Gaddafi came to power in 1969 .", "He was ousted in August 2011 and killed two months later .", "The last fully free parliamentary election was held soon after independence in 1952 .", "The last national vote was held in 1965 , when no political parties were allowed .", "EU election observers said the voting process on 7 July was largely `` peaceful and smooth '' , although technical delays and violence disrupted polling in several locations .", "One person was killed in a shooting near a polling station in Ajdabiya .", "The election commission put turnout at 62 % of registered voters .", "In an interview with the BBC last week , Mr Jibril called on parties to form a coalition government , something which rival politicians tentatively welcomed ."], "_citing_sentence": "This could not happen by people power alone; Gaddafi was willing to crack down to prevent it like Assad in Syria did.Western intervention in the civil war helped the citizens gain power and force to fight for their rights, by providing them with training, intelligence and logistics among others hence ejecting the oppressive leadership a symbol for liberation.After the civil war, people were able to participate in an election of the national assembly considered free and fair for the first time in Libya.", "_claim_name": "Ushered in the liberation of Libya.", "_doc_title": "Libya election success for secularist Jibril's bloc - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Libya 's former justice minister has told a Swedish newspaper that Colonel Gaddafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing .", "Mustafa Abdel-Jalil told Expressen he had proof the Libyan leader was behind the bombing of Pan AM flight 103 , which killed 270 people in 1988 .", "Following the disclosure the Crown Office said it would `` pursue such lines of inquiry that become available '' .", "Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed in 2001 for the attack .", "However , the Libyan was released on compassionate grounds in August 2009 by the Scottish government after being diagnosed with prostate cancer .", "Dumfries and Galloway Police are reportedly monitoring events in Libya in the hope of new leads in the case .", "Expressen quoted Mustafa Abdel-Jalil as telling their correspondent in Libya : `` I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order about Lockerbie '' .", "However , he did not describe the evidence .", "Abdel-Jalil stepped down as justice minister in protest of the violence used during against anti-government demonstrations .", "He told Expressen that Gaddafi gave the order to bomb the plane to Abdelbaset al-Megrahi , the only man convicted of the attack .", "He said : `` To hide it , he -LSB- Gaddafi -RSB- did everything in his power to get al-Megrahi back from Scotland . ''", "Expressen spokeswoman Alexandra Forslund said its reporter , Kassem Hamade , interviewed the ex-justice minister at `` a local parliament in a large city in Libya '' .", "However , the spokeswoman said she did not want to name the city because of security concerns .", "Expressen taped the interview , which was conducted in Arabic and translated into Swedish , Ms Forslund said .", "Colonel Gaddafi accepted Libya 's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the victims ' families in 2003 .", "However , he has never admitted personally giving the order for the attack .", "Scottish Conservative Deputy Leader , Murdo Fraser MSP said , given recent events , many would find the claim `` disturbing but believable '' .", "He added : `` If true , it makes all the more questionable the role of the last Labour government 's drive to do all it could to send al-Megrahi back to Tripoli . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "The same man was responsible for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people  and he supported the leadership of Iddi Amin a dictator who killed masses in Uganda.His leadership posed a threat not only to Libya but to countries around the world.", "_claim_name": "A long ruling and ruthless dictator was toppled.", "_doc_title": "Colonel Gaddafi 'ordered Lockerbie bombing' - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["National Defense University Washington , D.C. , March 28 , 2011", "Tonight , I 'd like to update the American people on the international effort that we have led in Libya -- - what we have done , what we plan to do , and why this matters to us .", "I want to begin by paying tribute to our men and women in uniform who , once again , have acted with courage , professionalism and patriotism .", "They have moved with incredible speed and strength .", "Because of them and our dedicated diplomats , a coalition has been forged and countless lives have been saved .", "Meanwhile , as we speak , our troops are supporting our ally Japan , leaving Iraq to its people , stopping the Taliban 's momentum in Afghanistan , and going after al Qaeda around the globe .", "As Commander-in-Chief , I am grateful to our Soldiers , Sailors , Airmen , Marines , Coast Guardsmen , and their families , as are all Americans .", "For generations , the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and advocate for human freedom .", "Mindful of the risks and costs of military action , we are naturally reluctant to use force to solve the world 's many challenges .", "But when our interests and values are at stake , we have a responsibility to act .", "That is what happened in Libya over the course of these last six weeks .", "Libya sits directly between Tunisia and Egypt -- two nations that inspired the world when their people rose up to take control of their own destiny .", "For more than four decades , the Libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant -- Moammar Gaddafi .", "He has denied his people freedom , exploited their wealth , murdered opponents at home and abroad , and terrorized innocent people around the world -- including Americans who were killed by Libyan agents .", "Last month , Gaddafi 's grip of fear appeared to give way to the promise of freedom .", "In cities and towns across the country , Libyans took to the streets to claim their basic human rights .", "As one Libyan said , `` For the first time we finally have hope that our nightmare of 40 years will soon be over . ''", "Faced with this opposition , Gaddafi began attacking his people .", "As President , my immediate concern was the safety of our citizens , so we evacuated our Embassy and ... ... all Americans who sought our assistance .", "We then took a series of swift steps in a matter of days to answer Gaddafi 's aggression .", "We froze more than $ 33 billion of the Gaddafi regime 's assets .", "Joining with other nations at the United Nations Security Council , we broadened our sanctions , imposed an arms embargo , and enabled Gaddafi and those around him to be held accountable for their crimes .", "I made it clear that Gaddafi had lost the confidence of his people and the legitimacy to lead , and I said that he needed to step down from power .", "In the face of the world 's condemnation , Gaddafi chose to escalate his attacks , launching a military campaign against the Libyan people .", "Innocent people were targeted for killing .", "Hospitals and ambulances were attacked .", "Journalists were arrested , sexually assaulted , and killed .", "Supplies of food and fuel were choked off .", "The water for hundreds of thousands of people in Misratah was shut off .", "Cities and towns were shelled , mosques destroyed , and apartment buildings reduced to rubble .", "Military jets and helicopter gunships were unleashed upon people who had no means to defend themselves against assault from the air .", "Confronted by this brutal repression and a looming humanitarian crisis , I ordered warships into the Mediterranean .", "European allies declared their willingness to commit resources to stop the killing .", "The Libyan opposition , and the Arab League , appealed to the world to save lives in Libya .", "At my direction , America led an effort with our allies at the United Nations Security Council to pass an historic Resolution that authorized a No Fly Zone to stop the regime 's attacks from the air , and further authorized all necessary measures to protect the Libyan people .", "Ten days ago , having tried to end the violence without using force , the international community offered Gaddafi a final chance to stop his campaign of killing , or face the consequences .", "Rather than stand down , his forces continued their advance , bearing down on the city of Benghazi , home to nearly 700,000 men , women and children who sought their freedom from fear .", "At this point , the United States and the world faced a choice .", "Gaddafi declared that he would show `` no mercy '' to his own people .", "He compared them to rats , and threatened to go door to door to inflict punishment .", "In the past , we had seen him hang civilians in the streets , and kill over a thousand people in a single day .", "Now , we saw regime forces on the outskirts of the city .", "We knew that if we waited one more day , Benghazi -- a city nearly the size of Charlotte -- could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world .", "It was not in our national interest to let that happen .", "I refused to let that happen .", "And so nine days ago , after consulting the bipartisan leadership of Congress , I authorized military action to stop the killing and enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973 .", "We struck regime forces approaching Benghazi to save that city and the people within it .", "We hit Gaddafi 's troops in neighboring Ajdabiya , allowing the opposition to drive them out .", "We hit his air defenses , which paved the way for a No Fly Zone .", "We targeted tanks and military assets that had been choking off towns and cities and we cut off much of their source of supply .", "And tonight , I can report that we have stopped Gaddafi 's deadly advance .", "In this effort , the United States has not acted alone .", "Instead , we have been joined by a strong and growing coalition .", "This includes our closest allies -- nations like the United Kingdom , France , Canada , Denmark , Norway , Italy , Spain , Greece , and Turkey -- all of whom have fought by our side for decades .", "And it includes Arab partners like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates , who have chosen to meet their responsibility to defend the Libyan people .", "To summarize , then : in just one month , the United States has worked with our international partners to mobilize a broad coalition , secure an international mandate to protect civilians , stop an advancing army , prevent a massacre , and establish a No Fly Zone with our allies and partners .", "To lend some perspective on how rapidly this military and diplomatic response came together , when people were being brutalized in Bosnia in the 1990s , it took the international community more than a year to intervene with air power to protect civilians .", "Moreover , we have accomplished these objectives consistent with the pledge that I made to the American people at the outset of our military operations .", "I said that America 's role would be limited ; that we would not put ground troops into Libya ; that we would focus our unique capabilities on the front end of the operation , and that we would transfer responsibility to our allies and partners .", "Tonight , we are fulfilling that pledge .", "Our most effective alliance , NATO , has taken command of the enforcement of the arms embargo and No Fly Zone .", "Last night , NATO decided to take on the additional responsibility of protecting Libyan civilians .", "This transfer from the United States to NATO will take place on Wednesday .", "Going forward , the lead in enforcing the No Fly Zone and protecting civilians on the ground will transition to our allies and partners , and I am fully confident that our coalition will keep the pressure on Gaddafi 's remaining forces .", "In that effort , the United States will play a supporting role -- including intelligence , logistical support , search and rescue assistance , and capabilities to jam regime communications .", "Because of this transition to a broader , NATO-based coalition , the risk and cost of this operation -- to our military , and to American taxpayers -- will be reduced significantly .", "So for those who doubted our capacity to carry out this operation , I want to be clear : the United States of America has done what we said we would do .", "That is not to say that our work is complete .", "In addition to our NATO responsibilities , we will work with the international community to provide assistance to the people of Libya , who need food for the hungry and medical care for the wounded .", "We will safeguard the more than $ 33 billion that was frozen from the Gaddafi regime so that it is available to rebuild Libya .", "After all , this money does not belong to Gaddafi or to us -- it belongs to the Libyan people , and we will make sure they receive it .", "Tomorrow , Secretary Clinton will go to London , where she will meet with the Libyan opposition and consult with more than thirty nations .", "These discussions will focus on what kind of political effort is necessary to pressure Gaddafi , while also supporting a transition to the future that the Libyan people deserve .", "Because while our military mission is narrowly focused on saving lives , we continue to pursue the broader goal of a Libya that belongs not to a dictator , but to its people .", "Despite the success of our efforts over the past week , I know that some Americans continue to have questions about our efforts in Libya .", "Gaddafi has not yet stepped down from power , and until he does , Libya will remain dangerous .", "Moreover , even after Gaddafi does leave power , forty years of tyranny has left Libya fractured and without strong civil institutions .", "The transition to a legitimate government that is responsive to the Libyan people will be a difficult task .", "And while the United States will do our part to help , it will be a task for the international community , and -- more importantly -- a task for the Libyan people themselves .", "In fact , much of the debate in Washington has put forward a false choice when it comes to Libya .", "On the one hand , some question why America should intervene at all -- even in limited ways -- in this distant land .", "They argue that there are many places in the world where innocent civilians face brutal violence at the hands of their government , and America should not be expected to police the world , particularly when we have so many pressing concerns here at home .", "It is true that America can not use our military wherever repression occurs .", "And given the costs and risks of intervention , we must always measure our interests against the need for action .", "But that can not be an argument for never acting on behalf of what 's right .", "In this particular country -- Libya ; at this particular moment , we were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale .", "We had a unique ability to stop that violence : an international mandate for action , a broad coalition prepared to join us , the support of Arab countries , and a plea for help from the Libyan people themselves .", "We also had the ability to stop Gaddafi 's forces in their tracks without putting American troops on the ground .", "To brush aside America 's responsibility as a leader and -- more profoundly -- our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are .", "Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries .", "The United States of America is different .", "And as President , I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action .", "Moreover , America has an important strategic interest in preventing Gaddafi from overrunning those who oppose him .", "A massacre would have driven thousands of additional refugees across Libya 's borders , putting enormous strains on the peaceful -- yet fragile -- transitions in Egypt and Tunisia .", "The democratic impulses that are dawning across the region would be eclipsed by the darkest form of dictatorship , as repressive leaders concluded that violence is the best strategy to cling to power .", "The writ of the UN Security Council would have been shown to be little more than empty words , crippling its future credibility to uphold global peace and security .", "So while I will never minimize the costs involved in military action , I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America .", "Now , just as there are those who have argued against intervention in Libya , there are others who have suggested that we broaden our military mission beyond the task of protecting the Libyan people , and do whatever it takes to bring down Gaddafi and usher in a new government .", "Of course , there is no question that Libya -- and the world -- will be better off with Gaddafi out of power .", "I , along with many other world leaders , have embraced that goal , and will actively pursue it through non-military means .", "But broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake .", "The task that I assigned our forces -- to protect the Libyan people from immediate danger , and to establish a No Fly Zone -- carries with it a UN mandate and international support .", "It is also what the Libyan opposition asked us to do .", "If we tried to overthrow Gaddafi by force , our coalition would splinter .", "We would likely have to put U.S. troops on the ground , or risk killing many civilians from the air .", "The dangers faced by our men and women in uniform would be far greater .", "So would the costs , and our share of the responsibility for what comes next .", "To be blunt , we went down that road in Iraq .", "Thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our troops and the determination of our diplomats , we are hopeful about Iraq 's future .", "But regime change there took eight years , thousands of American and Iraqi lives , and nearly a trillion dollars .", "That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya .", "As the bulk of our military effort ratchets down , what we can do -- and will do -- is support the aspirations of the Libyan people .", "We have intervened to stop a massacre , and we will work with our allies and partners as they 're in the lead to maintain the safety of civilians .", "We will deny the regime arms , cut off its supply of cash , assist the opposition , and work with other nations to hasten the day when Gaddafi leaves power .", "It may not happen overnight , as a badly weakened Gaddafi tries desperately to hang on to power .", "But it should be clear to those around Gadaffi , and to every Libyan , that history is not on his side .", "With the time and space that we have provided for the Libyan people , they will be able to determine their own destiny , and that is how it should be .", "Let me close by addressing what this action says about the use of America 's military power , and America 's broader leadership in the world , under my presidency .", "As Commander-in-Chief , I have no greater responsibility than keeping this country safe .", "And no decision weighs on me more than when to deploy our men and women in uniform .", "I have made it clear that I will never hesitate to use our military swiftly , decisively , and unilaterally when necessary to defend our people , our homeland , our allies , and our core interests .", "That is why we are going after al Qaeda wherever they seek a foothold .", "That is why we continue to fight in Afghanistan , even as we have ended our combat mission in Iraq and removed more than 100,000 troops from that country .", "There will be times , though , when our safety is not directly threatened , but our interests and values are .", "Sometimes , the course of history poses challenges that threaten our common humanity and common security -- responding to natural disasters , for example ; or preventing genocide and keeping the peace ; ensuring regional security , and maintaining the flow of commerce .", "These may not be America 's problems alone , but they are important to us , and they are problems worth solving .", "And in these circumstances , we know that the United States , as the world 's most powerful nation , will often be called upon to help .", "In such cases , we should not be afraid to act -- but the burden of action should not be America 's alone .", "As we have in Libya , our task is instead to mobilize the international community for collective action .", "Because contrary to the claims of some , American leadership is not simply a matter of going it alone and bearing all of the burden ourselves .", "Real leadership creates the conditions and coalitions for others to step up as well ; to work with allies and partners so that they bear their share of the burden and pay their share of the costs ; and to see that the principles of justice and human dignity are upheld by all .", "That 's the kind of leadership we have shown in Libya .", "Of course , even when we act as part of a coalition , the risks of any military action will be high .", "Those risks were realized when one of our planes malfunctioned over Libya .", "Yet when one of our airmen parachuted to the ground , in a country whose leader has so often demonized the United States -- in a region that has such a difficult history with our country -- this American did not find enemies .", "Instead , he was met by people who embraced him .", "One young Libyan who came to his aid said , `` We are your friends .", "We are so grateful to these men who are protecting the skies . ''", "This voice is just one of many in a region where a new generation is refusing to be denied their rights and opportunities any longer .", "Yes , this change will make the world more complicated for a time .", "Progress will be uneven , and change will come differently in different countries .", "There are places , like Egypt , where this change will inspire us and raise our hopes .", "And there will be places , like Iran , where change is fiercely suppressed .", "The dark forces of civil conflict and sectarian war will have to be averted , and difficult political and economic concerns addressed .", "The United States will not be able to dictate the pace and scope of this change .", "Only the people of the region can do that .", "But we can make a difference .", "I believe that this movement of change can not be turned back , and that we must stand alongside those who believe in the same core principles that have guided us through many storms : our opposition to violence directed against one 's own citizens ; our support for a set of universal rights , including the freedom for people to express themselves and choose their leaders ; our support for governments that are ultimately responsive to the aspirations of the people .", "Born , as we are , out of a revolution by those who longed to be free , we welcome the fact that history is on the move in the Middle East and North Africa , and that young people are leading the way .", "Because wherever people long to be free , they will find a friend in the United States .", "Ultimately , it is that faith -- those ideals -- that are the true measure of American leadership .", "My fellow Americans , I know that at a time of upheaval overseas -- when the news is filled with conflict and change -- it can be tempting to turn away from the world .", "And as I have said before , our strength abroad is anchored in our strength at home .", "That must always be our North Star -- the ability of our people to reach their potential , to make wise choices with our resources , to enlarge the prosperity that serves as a wellspring of our power , and to live the values that we hold so dear .", "But let us also remember that for generations , we have done the hard work of protecting our own people , as well as millions around the globe .", "We have done so because we know that our own future is safer and brighter if more of mankind can live with the bright light of freedom and dignity .", "Tonight , let us give thanks for the Americans who are serving through these trying times , and the coalition that is carrying our effort forward ; and let us look to the future with confidence and hope not only for our own country , but for all those yearning for freedom around the world .", "Thank you , God Bless you , and may God Bless the United States of America ."], "_citing_sentence": "The resolution of a no fly zone passed by the security council weakened and prevented government forces from killing people and destroying cities using air strikes.", "_claim_name": "Intervention prevented an impending bloodbath in Benghazi.", "_doc_title": "The President 's Address to the Nation on Libya -LRB- As prepared by the White House -RRB-", "_labeled_lineIDs": [34]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["After decades of living under oppressive dictatorships , the people of the Arab world are rising up to stake their claim to democracy .", "Inside the historic popular upheaval that began in Tunisia and is spreading to Egypt and across the vital region 2 of 1", "Saif al-Islam Gaddafi , son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi , pictured during a visit to Moscow on June 28 , 2010", "After the bloodiest few days in Libya 's modern history -- in which over 200 people are estimated to have been killed in clashes with security forces -- the son of the country 's leader Muammar Gaddafi told Libyans on state-run television that `` rivers of blood '' would flow with `` thousands '' of deaths if the uprising does not stop .", "At the same time , he promised a dialogue on new political freedoms and even a new constitution -- the most drastic reforms Libya would undertake since Gaddafi seized power 41 years ago .", "`` There is a plot against Libya , '' said the maverick leader 's second son , Saif al-Islam , long regarded as Gaddafi 's heir apparent , speaking after midnight , against a white backdrop showing an abstract map of the region .", "`` The story is very dangerous , '' he said , wearing a suit and tie -- a conscious break from his father 's iconic tribal robes .", "`` It is bigger than the Libyans and the young people in the streets , who are trying to imitate Tunisia and Egypt . ''", "Despite a rambling speech of about 40 minutes , Saif did not explain the most urgent question gripping Libyans late on Sunday night : Where is Gaddafi himself ?", "Rumors swirled around Tripoli late Sunday that Gaddafi -- whose titles are Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution -- might have fled the capital , if not the country , as eastern Libya descended into chaos and massacres .", "Gaddafi was last seen riding atop a truck in Tripoli on Friday during rallies to support him , in which crowds appeared to celebrate his leadership with posters and chants .", "( See how the bloodshed proves Gaddafi 's strong hand . )", "Appearing alone , Saif seemed to be speaking on behalf of Libya 's government , although he himself has no official role in it .", "The second son of the autocratic colonel who has ruled the country for more than four decades , Saif has been seen as the reformist hope of the country , in contrast to his brother Mutassim , Libya 's national security adviser .", "But the speech he gave indicated that he was defending the dynasty 's claim as the only guarantor of Libya 's future and prosperity , hardly the fount of democracy he seemed to embody in an interview with TIME a year ago .", "Meanwhile , the cracks in the regime are mounting .", "Libya 's permanent representative to the Arab League as well as its ambassador to New Delhi both quit yesterday , according to news reports .", "While Saif 's talk was tough , his speech was unscripted and unfocused , which some might interpret as a sign of great strain .", "The diplomatic-corps defections as well as the speech may also represent Saif 's attempt to win a far more intimate battle -- the struggle for succession of his father 's rule , against his brother Mutassim , a key player in the security crackdown against the protests .", "`` Saif al-Islam is likely seizing the opportunity to leverage himself in this power struggle , '' said the private intelligence company Stratfor in a written analysis after the late-night speech .", "With an almost total news blackout , and cell-phone and Internet connections severely disrupted , video uploads and text messages over the weekend reported spectacular clashes in Libya 's second biggest city Benghazi and several other cities in eastern Libya , including large-scale massacres in Benghazi and al-Baida on Sunday , some during funeral processions for those shot by snipers and regular security forces .", "Human-rights groups , battling to patch together the gruesome details from shaky telephone connections to hospital doctors and eyewitnesses , estimated the death toll at 233 as of Monday morning .", "And while the streets were reportedly quiet on Monday , protesters were celebrating in the streets of Benghazi , as they claimed control of Libya 's second biggest city .", "As for Tripoli , schools , government offices and most shops were closed .", "( See photos of Muammar Gaddafi 's rise to power . )", "Until now , the violence has been largely contained to an area about 600 miles east of Tripoli .", "But late on Sunday night , the turmoil seemed to touch the heart of the capital itself -- a gracious Mediterranean city where the InterContinental , Starwood Four Points and Marriott chains have all recently built large seaside hotels .", "After midnight on Sunday , a resident in one of Tripoli 's upscale neighborhoods scribbled a message online saying that `` thousand -LSB- people -RSB- with machetes and guns '' were on his street , `` looting , storming houses .", "We have barracked -LSB- sic -RSB- ourselves in our house . ''", "Shortly after , he signed off , saying `` ca n't talk , not safe outside . ''", "Others reported hearing gunfire in Tripoli overnight to outside news organizations by phone .", "Saif 's speech mentioned no turmoil in the capital .", "Instead , he conceded that the heavy casualties in Benghazi and elsewhere were partly owed to `` mistakes from the army '' -- presumably referring to units opening fire on unarmed demonstrators when the protests began last Tuesday .", "That remark was about the only concession he made , however .", "Instead , he warned that soldiers would have no reluctance to fire on demonstrators -- a fact clearly demonstrated during the past few days -- in contrast to the militaries ' behavior in Tunisia and Egypt during the uprisings there during the past six weeks .", "`` The army now will have a fundamental role in imposing security and bringing normality into the country , '' he said .", "`` We will destroy all these elements of sedition .", "We will not give up any inch of the Libyan territory . ''", "Last night 's speech was not only a critical point in trying to stanch a nascent revolt against Libya 's repressive regime .", "It was a turning point for Saif himself .", "( See how Saif could help reform Libya . )", "Ever since the U.S. reached a d\u00e9tente with Libya in 2003 and lifted sanctions in 2005 , Saif has acted as an assurance for the future , for oil companies who have plowed billions of dollars into the country during the past six years , even though he officially has no political title .", "In interviews with oil executives , all say that Saif is the person whom they would most like to see running Libya .", "He has made occasional appearances at the World Economic Forum .", "And during two visits to Libya , I 've seen countless corporate executives from the U.S. and Europe line up for appointments with Saif .", "For his part , Saif has stressed for years the need to end Libya 's state-run institutions and open up its closed economy to foreign investment .", "He oversaw the creation of a new National Economic Development Board , whose head is Mahmud Gebril , an economist with a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh .", "Another close Saif ally is the oil chief Shokri Ghanem , a former Prime Minister who lived for years in Vienna as an OPEC official and speaks flawless English .", "When government hard-liners tried to unseat the reformist Ghanem in 2009 , Saif simply reinstalled him -- no questions asked .", "It was , said one oil executive , a huge relief .", "Urbane and cosmopolitan -- he lives much of the time in London -- Saif is also wily and ambitious .", "In 2009 and 2010 he pushed to have the country 's so-called General People 's Congress -- an unelected body that meets to pass laws -- discuss a new constitution , but finally retreated on the issue , apparently having lost out to hard-liners in the government .", "( See why Gaddafi feels secure despite the uprising . )", "When I interviewed Saif in February last year at his home , set amid an orange grove in Tripoli , he said he firmly believed that almost all Libyans wanted total political freedoms , and he displayed open impatience with those who were blocking change , while stopping short of questioning his father 's rule .", "When I asked what level of freedom he would like to see in Libya , he said , `` I 'm talking about the level of freedom like in Holland .", "We want those changes now , not in 10 or 15 years ' time . ''", "He added , `` In black Africa we see real democracy , real elections , real parliaments , real constitutions .", "Why do n't we have the same as them ? ''", "Many protesters in Libya say they too want democracy and open elections , and , indeed , Saif last night promised a General People 's Congress discussion on forging a constitution for Libya .", "Yet he showed no readiness to tolerate political dissent -- and insisted that the current turmoil was the work of foreign instigators and Islamic separatists .", "In an interview in Tripoli last February , Ghanem , the oil chief , said there `` can not be real economic reform without political reform . ''", "Saif made it clear on Sunday night that neither reform would occur without bloodshed .", "See TIME 's special report `` The Middle East in Revolt . ''", "See TIME 's top 10 everything of 2010 ."], "_citing_sentence": "Gaddafi asserted that he will chase down the protesters and cleanse house by house while his son said that rivers of blood would flow with thousands of deaths, if the uprising didn't stop .", "_claim_name": "Intervention prevented an impending bloodbath in Benghazi.", "_doc_title": "Libya: Gaddafi's Son Warns Against Protests in TV Speech - Middle East in Revolt - Political Unrest in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Lebanon and Tunisia - TIME", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 51, "_topic_name": "This House believes western intervention in Libya has been a success"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 21 July 2016 | UK News feed", "By Christopher Hope , Home Affairs Correspondent 10:49 AM GMT 24 Jan 2008", "The spiralling problem with gun culture was highlighted by figures that show 28 firearms crimes are committed in England and Wales every day .", "Crime in England and Wales : Full report -LSB- pdf -RSB-", "Have your say : Does your area feel safer ?", "Home Office figures showed gun crimes rose by four per cent last year , the largest increase for three years .", "It follows a crackdown unveiled by Jacqui Smith , the Home Secretary , after the shooting of 11-year-old Rhys Jones by another boy in Liverpool last August .", "Jacqui Smith : Scared to walk alone at night", "Police march to pressure Jacqui Smith over pay", "Police chiefs said the figures were concerning , while Tories said they showed Labour was `` failing to combat violent crime and its causes '' .", "The Liberal Democrats said the data was `` alarming '' .", "There were 10,182 firearms offences in the year to the end of September compared with 9,755 in the previous 12 months - an increase of more than 400 crimes , or more than eight every week .", "The rise is the biggest percentage increase since September 2004 , when figures showed a five per cent increase in gun crimes .", "While gun-related deaths were down , from 55 to 49 , the number of slight injuries , threats and non-injury incidents linked to guns increased .", "Victims ' groups were appalled by the figures in the quarterly crime statistics released by the Home Office .", "Norman Brennan , a policeman who is spokesman for the Victims of Crime Trust , said Government initiatives to tackle gun crime seemed to make no difference .", "`` Children as young as 11 or 12 are carrying guns , '' he said .", "`` The sad reality is that it is becoming so routinely reported by the press that a child has been shot that the shock value has been eliminated . ''", "Police chiefs said they were `` concerned '' about the rise .", "Bob Jones , the chairman of the Association of Police Authorities , said : `` This is an area police authorities will want to monitor carefully . ''", "David Davis , the Conservatives ' shadow home secretary , said : `` These latest official figures show that Labour is failing to combat both violent crime and its causes . ''", "Mr Davis said the gun figures were linked to a steep rise in drug offences - up 21 per cent in the third quarter of last year .", "The number of drug crimes was 55,700 , against 9,500 in the same period in 2006 .", "He said : `` Violent crime is fuelled by drugs and Labour 's chaotic and confused policy on drugs .", "Drugs wreck lives , destroy communities and are a major symptom of our broken society . ''", "Chris Huhne , the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman , said : `` Violent crime - including , most alarmingly , gun crime - is still far higher than 10 years ago and has to be tackled much more vigorously . ''", "Overall recorded crime fell by nine per cent to 1.24 million offences in the third quarter .", "The British Crime Survey , a separate set of figures based on interviews with members of the public , showed there had been little change in people 's perceptions of crime .", "The Home Secretary said she was pleased the risk of being a victim of crime was `` at a historically low level '' .", "She said : `` Enforcement is a key part of our approach to tackling drug harm .", "`` In 2008 we will tighten our grip on violence and anti-social behaviour , working with police and local partners . ''", "In UK News", "Top news galleries", "Martin Chilton selects 30 great one-liners from the comedian and film star Woody Allen", "A hilarious history of political insults and putdowns , from Churchill to", "We celebrate and remember the culture stars who have passed away in 2016", "Great quotes from White House incumbents : will Donald Trump be joining them ?", "One hundred whip-smart wisecracks", "From global warming to 9/11 , Shakespeare to Elvis , Diana to JFK , peak oil to", "Roswell , conspiracy theories abound .", "In pics : Stunning aerial shots of London 's football stadia by photographer Jason Hawkes In pics : The crumbling remains of the Soviet Union 's space programme", "Ambitious Chinese inventors take on crazy do-it-yourself projects In pics : Sinkholes , craters and collapsed roads around the world"], "_citing_sentence": "In the UK 28 gun crimes are committed every day.", "_claim_name": "Arming the police makes communities feel safer", "_doc_title": "28 gun crimes committed in UK every day - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["BBC News", "Gunman Derrick Bird pointed a gun at two police officers during his rampage through Cumbria which left 12 people dead , it has emerged .", "The county 's Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said the unarmed officers tried to pursue Bird but could do nothing to stop the killings .", "The incident has raised questions as to whether officers should be routinely armed on patrol .", "With the exception of the Police Service of Northern Ireland , where officers have historically been routinely armed , most UK police do not carry guns .", "Officers must undergo special training in handling a variety of weapons before being given authorisation to join firearms teams .", "There were 6,868 authorised firearms officers in England and Wales as of 31 March 2009 , according to government figures .", "Armed Response Vehicle units patrol around-the-clock in marked cars , carrying pistols and Taser stun guns .", "Their duty is to deal with spontaneous incidents .", "Their cars carry safes containing weaponry , usually including a shotgun , a `` baton round '' launcher - firing `` less lethal '' plastic projectiles - and a carbine gun , which is similar to a rifle .", "There were 16,564 such incidents in the year to April 2009 , according to government figures .", "Specialist firearms officers have additional skills in areas such as `` close protection '' duties - providing security for royal visits or senior politicians .", "Some forces operate pro-active armed patrols with officers in plain clothes , using unmarked cars , to provide back-up to the standard armed units .", "Firearms officers are trained in communicating with suspects and guidance says they should only shoot `` to prevent an immediate threat to life '' .", "They are generally trained to shoot the largest part of a suspect they can see - usually the torso - with the aim of immediate incapacitation .", "In the past , the Metropolitan and Nottinghamshire forces have stepped up armed patrols in areas , in response to increased gun crime , for limited periods .", "Some Metropolitan Police Authority members criticised the Greater London force 's senior officers for taking the step last year , in Tottenham , Brixton and Haringey , without its approval .", "However , these patrols are not routine .", "Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has insisted there is no plan for them and that they would only be used in exceptional circumstances .", "The number of authorised firearms officers varies between forces , depending on the level of threat as perceived by chief constables .", "Because of the sensitivity of many targets in London , more than 2,700 Metropolitan Police officers are authorised to use guns .", "Constabularies covering large counties with densely-populated cities within their borders , such as West Midlands , Nottinghamshire and Merseyside , tend to have between 130 and 150 .", "More rural areas , such as Derbyshire , Cambridgeshire , North Wales and Durham , have between 50 and 100 .", "This is a matter that is debated periodically .", "The last push for increased use of weapons came after Pc Sharon Beshenivsky was shot dead in Bradford in 2005 .", "The Police Federation , which represents rank-and-file officers , called for a 5 % increase in the number authorised to use guns .", "However , when it surveyed 47,328 members , 82 % said they did not want officers to be routinely armed on duty .", "This was despite almost half stating they felt their lives had been `` in serious jeopardy '' in the previous three years .", "The Federation 's Paul Davis said this reflected members ' desire to maintain the British tradition of `` policing by consent '' - as opposed to force .", "`` Our view has always been to have the right amount of officers on duty on any day to meet the assessed threat level , '' he said , adding that any decision to arm more police would need rigorous public debate .", "The Police Superintendents ' Association is also against the routine arming of police , arguing for the current policy of using a limited number of highly-trained specialists .", "`` Arming all officers would damage the traditional image of the British Police Service which is held in such high esteem the world over , primarily because of the difficult and dangerous job officers undertake unarmed , '' it says .", "Likewise , Association of Chief Police Officers spokesman Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes , said an unarmed police service remained `` central to the British model '' .", "Reactions to individual cases `` rarely make a good basis for changing the law '' , he said , adding that the current arrangements allowed for flexible use of firearms teams .", "Politicians have tended to agree , while occasional public polls have received mixed responses .", "In April 2004 , an ICM poll found 47 % of the public supporting arming all police , with 48 % against .", "Three years ago , think-tank Policy Exchange found 72 % of 2,156 adults wanted to see more armed police patrols .", "Tasers - devices that administer an electric shock - are being increasingly used to `` stun '' suspects .", "When they were first introduced in England and Wales , only firearms-qualified officers could use Tasers .", "However , after a successful trial in 10 force areas , thousands more of the devices are being issued to new police teams with specialist training .", "Mr Davis said the Police Federation supports extending the use of Tasers because they can help unarmed officers tackling offenders armed with some weapons .", "However , he said they are never a substitute for firearms officers when dealing with someone wielding a gun - such as Bird .", "They are also being trialled in Scotland .", "However , their use has been criticised by groups including Amnesty International , which calls them `` dangerous weapons '' .", "Police are treating an incident at RAF Marham , Norfolk , involving a serviceman as attempted abduction .", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess", "A 15cm-high wall is put around Trump 's Hollywood star", "Should we take supplements as experts suggest ?", "The anti-jihad activist whose sibling killed seven people", "The man hired to have sex with children", "How tragedy inspired US rocker to teach guitar in Kabul", "Where in Japan might Pokemon be hiding ?", "Black man 's unique response to being told ` go home '", "The country where it pays to buy protection"], "_citing_sentence": "This is shown by the fact that most routinely armed police never fire their weapon on active duty in their whole career.", "_claim_name": "Policing is a dangerous job. Police officers should be allowed to arm themselves", "_doc_title": "Q&A;: Armed police in the UK - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Tom Whitehead , Home Affairs Editor 7:00 AM GMT 27 Oct 2009", "Offences involving firearms have increased in all but four police areas in England and Wales since 1998 , figures obtained by the Tories reveal .", "One part of the country has seen the problem increase almost seven fold as the availability of guns , and criminals ' williness to use them rises .", "The number of people injured or killed by a gun has also doubled under Labour .", "It emerged last week that armed police are to carry out regular street patrols for the first time to help combat gun crime in London .", "Chris Grayling , the shadow home secretary , said : `` These figures are all the more alarming given that it is only a week since the Metropolitan Police said it was increasing regular armed patrols in some areas of the capital .", "Rural crime wave exposed", "Tory crime figures ` misleading '", "Shotguns and rifles handed in during gun surrender", "Armed officers on routine foot patrol for first time", "Criminals ` under supervision ' : Murderer Dano Sonnex `` In areas dominated by gang culture , we 're now seeing guns used to settle scores between rivals as well as turf wars between rival drug dealers .", "We need to redouble our efforts to deal with the challenge . ''", "There were 9,865 firearm offences in 2007/08 , a rise of 89 per cent on the 5,209 recorded in 1998/99 .", "Lancashire Police saw a 598 per cent increase from just 50 to 349 over the period while Staffordshire , Warwickshire and Essex all saw five fold increases .", "In total , 21 forces saw offences at least double over the decade while just four , Cleveland , Humberside , Cambridgeshire and Sussex , saw the number fall .", "While provisional figures for 2008/09 suggest overall firearm offences may be down on the previous year , they point to a doubling of the number of people injured or killed .", "Some 1,760 gun related injuries or deaths were provisionally recorded for 2008/09 , compared with 864 in 1998/99 .", "Last week , the Metropolitan Police announced officers armed with submachine guns are to patrol the streets for the first time .", "A hand-picked team from CO19 , the Met 's elite firearms unit , will walk the beat in gun crime hot spots in London where armed gangs have turned estates into `` no-go zones '' .", "The officers will carry Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns , capable of firing 800 rounds a minute , and Glock semi-automatic pistols .", "It is the first time that armed officers will be sent on routine foot patrol anywhere in the country outside Northern Ireland .", "There is also a growing trend of young women being involved in gun crime .", "Figures from the Met earlier this month showed the number caught hiding weapons for criminals and boyfriends increase from two in 2007 to 12 so far this year .", "A Home Office spokeswoman said : `` It is misleading to compare figures for 2007 / 08 with those from 2002 and before , due to changes in recording practices .", "`` There has been an 11 per cent fall in gun crime since 2005 and provisional figures for firearm offences recorded by the police show they account for 0.2 per cent of all recorded crime .", "`` We remain absolutely committed to tackling gun crime through targeted policing and tough policing . ''", "In Law and Order", "Top news galleries", "Martin Chilton selects 30 great one-liners from the comedian and film star Woody Allen", "A hilarious history of political insults and putdowns , from Churchill to", "We celebrate and remember the culture stars who have passed away in 2016", "Great quotes from White House incumbents : will Donald Trump be joining them ?", "One hundred whip-smart wisecracks", "From global warming to 9/11 , Shakespeare to Elvis , Diana to JFK , peak oil to", "Roswell , conspiracy theories abound .", "In pics : Stunning aerial shots of London 's football stadia by photographer Jason Hawkes In pics : The crumbling remains of the Soviet Union 's space programme", "Ambitious Chinese inventors take on crazy do-it-yourself projects In pics : Sinkholes , craters and collapsed roads around the world"], "_citing_sentence": "In the UK, for example, gun crime almost doubled in the decade to 2008, while the rise in London gun crime has tripled, the police need to be able to respond to this.", "_claim_name": "The police should be equipped to react to contemporary social problems", "_doc_title": "Gun crime doubles in a decade - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 52, "_topic_name": "This House would arm the police"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Schools Secretary Ed Balls and faith group leaders have formed a partnership - endorsing faith schools as a force to improve social cohesion in England .", "Mr Balls says faith groups could raise standards in poorer areas , which may be through multi-faith academies .", "But a teachers ' union warns that faith schools can separate communities .", "At a conference in London , Mr Balls presented a joint policy statement with Church of England , Roman Catholic , Jewish , Muslim , Hindu , Greek Orthodox and Sikh representatives .", "Show of unity", "Mr Balls committed the government to opening more faith schools where there was parental demand and the faith groups pledged their support for social cohesion and the principle of fair admissions .", "FAITH SCHOOLS 6,850 out of a total of 21,000 schools , large majority either Church of England or Roman Catholic 37 Jewish , 7 Muslim , 2 Sikh , 1 Greek Orthodox , 1 Seventh Day Adventist 1.7 million pupils 21 % of faith school secondary pupils from ethnic minorities - 17 % in non faith schools", "The schools secretary rejected claims that this show of unity was an attempt to repair the damage from a short-lived attempt by the government to require faith schools to admit a quota of pupils from outside this faith group .", "Instead he said it was a reflection of the importance of working in partnership with such a large , successful part of the school system .", "`` I fully recognise that faith schools are popular with many parents , '' he said .", "`` One thing we 've learnt as a government is that having a distinct ethos , strong leadership , a commitment to promoting opportunity for all , those are the kind of schools where parents want to send their children .", "`` And there are many faith schools which pass that test with flying colours , '' said Mr Balls .", "He told the conference that faith schools were a longstanding partner in the drive to raise standards , particularly in more deprived areas .", "`` Faith schools take very seriously their historic mission to reach out to support children from lower income or disadvantaged backgrounds , '' said Mr Balls .", "As an example , he said that in Oldham there were plans for a joint Church of England and Muslim academy .", "There could be new faith academies - in addition to those replacing existing schools - in which half of the places would be for children from faith groups and the remainder from the wider community .", "Mr Balls also stressed that faith schools must not use any form of covert selection - such as expensive uniforms , complicated admissions forms or expensive school trips .", "HAVE YOUR SAY", "All schools should be based on the model of a faith school !", "Gavin T , Edinburgh", "Send us your comments In support of the Faith in the System joint statement , the Archbishop of Birmingham , Vincent Nichols , said it was a myth that faith schools had fewer children from ethnic minorities or from less well off backgrounds .", "The schools secretary said any expansion in the faith school sector would depend on demand from the local community - but that the school building programme could help to meet the demand for more Muslim schools .", "While there were 376,000 Muslim children aged between five and 15 at the last census , there are only 1,770 pupils in the seven state-funded Muslim schools in England .", "However Dr Mohamed Mukadam of the Association of Muslim Schools said that public suspicion about extremism remained a barrier to the setting up of more Muslim schools .", "There are over 100 independent Muslim schools which could transfer into the state sector .", "Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb said that faith schools played an admirable role in providing choice for parents within the state education system .", "`` Their position needs to be strengthened and modernised in our increasingly multicultural society . ''", "But the support was challenged by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers .", "General secretary Mary Bousted asked `` why schools , in which the majority of funding comes from the state , should , as the government proposes , nurture young people in a particular faith ? ''", "Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society said it was `` a sure-fire recipe for separation , and future conflict to encourage children to think of themselves primarily as being of a particular religion , rather than encouraging them to concentrate on what we all have in common '' .", "In support of the Faith in the System joint statement , the Archbishop of Birmingham , Vincent Nichols , said it was a myth that faith schools had fewer children from ethnic minorities or from less well off backgrounds ."], "_citing_sentence": "Britain has introduced support for a number of non-Christian faith schools that both respect and encourage the faiths and cultures of its students, many of whom are first or second-generation immigrants.", "_claim_name": "People should not have to sacrifice their culture because of an accident of birth.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Faith schools set for expansion", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 5, 6]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The following essay is for general information only .", "Do not use it to make any personal decisions without first consulting a lawyer knowledgeable about family law in your country or state .", "U.S. laws concerning polygamy :", "Gregory Brower , the Arizona U.S.", "Attorney , said during a Senate hearing in 2008-JUL that there is no federal law against polygamy .", "He commented that the federal government has a number of traditional resources at its disposal to investigate polygamists , including FBI ,", "Alcohol , Tobacco and Firearms , IRS , and other inspectors .", "However , polygamy is illegal in all 50 states under state laws .", "Utah and Colorado have a history of largely condoning polygyny , as long as the spouses are not too public about it .", "Although there are tens of thousand members of various Mormon denominations currently engaged in the practice in these two states , only two persons have been charged there in recent decades .", "Both actively promoted polygyny in Utah , and were an major embarrassment to the state government .", "In 2008 , Texas took action against a fundamentalist Mormon church near Eldorado .", "However , that action involved mainly suspicion of under aged girls being forced into polygamous marriages with older men .", "State laws banning polygamy may be unconstitutional , since they are based primarily on moral grounds .", "In 2003 , the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in", "Lawrence v. Texas which might have some bearing on polygamy .", "The case involved two homosexual males who had been convicted of same-sex behavior in private .", "At the time , this was a criminal act in Texas .", "Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority stating : `` The case does involve two adults who , with full and mutual consent from each other , engaged in sexual practices common to a homosexual lifestyle .", "Their right to liberty under ( the Constitution ) gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government ... -LSB- They -RSB- are entitled to respect for their private lives ... The state can not demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime ... In our tradition the State is not omnipresent in our home ... Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought , belief , expression , and certain intimate conduct . ''", "Justice Scalia wrote that the majority Justices pretended that they have left enough freedom : '' ... so that we need not fear judicial imposition of homosexual marriage , as has recently occurred in Canada ... Do not believe it ... -LSB- The majority opinion -RSB- dismantles the structure of constitutional law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions , insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned . ''", "He also wrote that laws against bigamy , adultery , prostitution , bestiality and obscenity were susceptible to challenges .", "4 One possible addition to his list might have been public nudity .", "The immediate effect of this ruling was to overturn anti-sodomy laws in 13 states .", "But the long range effects of the decision may well extend far beyond the activities of gays , bisexuals and lesbians .", "Justice Scalia and many other constitutional authorities have suggested that this decision makes it impossible for states to make or enforce laws criminalizing behavior , if the only basis for the law is that the activity is considered immoral by most of its citizens .", "In short , states can no longer legislate morality .", "Justice Kennedy 's statement might be interpreted as implying that American citizens have the right to engage in various behaviors `` without intervention of the government '' even including the choice of more than one spouse .", "States may no longer be able to criminalize polygyny and polyandry -- one woman marrying more than one man .", "This conjecture has yet to be tested in a court .", "Recycling Justice Kennedy 's ruling with the substitution of `` polygamous '' for `` homosexual '' might decriminalize polygamy across the U.S. However , with the recent confirmation of two new strict constructionists as Justices in the U.S. Supreme Court , a decision similar to Lawrence v. Texas which would decriminalize polygamous family structures is unlikely .", "In fact , it is quite possible that Lawrence v.", "Texas itself may be reversed during this decade .", "U.S. Senate hearings into polygamy : 1995 : The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings in", "Arizona on the `` polygamist community impact on children . ''", "It was part of a multi-year examination of causes of juvenile delinquency .", "Other hearings focused on comic books and television programs .", "Representatives of the Fundamentalist", "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ( FLDS ) were distressed because they were required to testify .", "According to historian Ken Driggs , members of the FLDS who testified were `` unwilling participants '' who suffered from a `` massive loss of memory . ''", "5 2008 : There were no congressional hearings for 53 years until the topic was revisited on 2008-JUL-24 by the Senate Judiciary Committee .", "The title of the hearing was : `` Crimes Associated with Polygamy : The Need for a Coordinated", "State and Federal Response . ''", "This time , the FLDS was allegedly distressed because it was not asked to testify .", "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid testified on JUL-24 .", "He drew parallels between organized crime and modern polygamists : `` I felt that this was essential that I be here .", "The lawless conduct of polygamist communities in the United States deserves national attention and federal action .", "This hearing is an important milestone in the ongoing effort to curtail their pervasive criminal behavior . ''", "He said the polygamist groups are : '' A form of organized crime .", "... I 'm not saying they 're the same thing as the crime syndicates that were in Las Vegas , but they engage in an ongoing pattern of serious crime that we ignore at our peril .", "He listed some crimes that he believes polygamous groups are guilty of : bigamy , and child abuse -- including the forced marriage of teens and pre-teens to older men -- welfare fraud , tax evasion and other `` strong-arm tactics , '' such as witness intimidation .", "He said that : `` These crimes are systematic , sophisticated and are frequently carried out across state lines .", "... These lawless organizations must be stopped . ''", "He believes that polygamous groups have formed a : `` sophisticated , wealthy and vast criminal organization .", "... The lawless conduct of polygamous communities in the", "United States deserves national attention and federal action . ''", "Hearing testimony : `` Irregular Times '' lists some highlights from the testimony :", "Carolyn Jessop , former FLDS member : `` I am here today to inform this panel about my firsthand experiences of systematic abuse and disregard for the law within the FLDS , which leads to the isolation of the most vulnerable individuals within any community , the women and children who live without protection of laws that most Americans take for granted .", "The rural , small town lifestyle and the old fashioned looking clothing worn by the group should not lead anyone to overlook the fact that they have vast resources .", "They are experts at disregarding laws which they do not like and are equally quick to invoke laws which favor them . ''", "`` When the FLDS enters an area it moves decisively to assume political and legal control of that community .", "Members vote as they are told by their leadership .", "Their religious leaders ' goal is to place individuals in public office who will follow the dictates of the FLDS rather than the law . ''", "`` If a woman who was beaten by her husband called the police , she was typically told by the police officer that she was ` married to a good man and if she was obedient , there would not be any problems . '", "The police would not interfere with the religious teaching that gave a man the right to discipline his household . ''", "Dan Fischer , former FLDS member `` The truth is much stranger and problematic than just the `` novelty '' of polygamy .", "Indeed , were several women and only one man decide to set up housekeeping in this day and age , one would think that it should hardly be worth comment , when lifestyles previously considered unusual , exotic or even deviant , are finding their place in a more open and tolerant America .", "However , the polygamy I 'm here to talk about is for more than just unusual housekeeping arrangements .", "Reality : The problems caused by the FLDS leadership are unacceptable whether they were polygamous or monogamous .", "Too often wrongful actions occur under the smoke screen of polygamy or `` religious freedom '' .", "Unfortunately , FDLS -LSB- sic -RSB- polygamy has degenerated to a cult that is far from benign .", "Today , it is a society with absolute rule over the lives and thought of individuals and families ; a society at odds with the laws that govern outsiders including `` apostates '' like myself and - `` gentiles '' such as all of you . ''", "Terry Goddard , Arizona Attorney General `` The work being done by my Office in Colorado City is not about religion , culture or lifestyle .", "Rather , it is about protecting women and children from domestic abuse and sexual violence ; combating fraud and public corruption ; enforcing civil rights laws ; upholding peace officer standards , and ensuring that the rule of law is applied equally and comprehensively throughout our land . ''", "Concerns bout the hearing :", "Unfortunately , the hearing appears to have only discussed polygamy as seen in fundamentalist Mormon denominations -- primarily the FLDS .", "Members of those groups were not allowed to testify .", "Also , voluntary polygamist groups were not involved in the hearing .", "A petition was circulated to correct these injustices .", "It said in part : `` We , as signers of this petition , are not seeking support of the polygamist lifestyle .", "We are not seeking to legalize polygamy .", "We are not all sympathetic to the people of FLDS Church or any of its practices .", "We are not all sympathetic to their position over those who have been invited to the hearing .", "What we are sympathetic to is the First Amendment to the", "Constitution of the United Sates .", "Indeed , we believe that the very foundation of this country , the Constitution and Bill of Rights , was created to protect all of her citizens from religious discrimination and persecution , even those we do not agree with . ''", "`` What we are asking for is that all Americans , even members of the", "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , be afforded their Civil and Constitutional Rights -- rights that the state of Texas conspicuously disregarded in the raid and subsequent events surrounding the", "YFZ ranch in Eldorado , but which are guaranteed to all citizens of the", "United States by our Constitution .", "In the impending hearing , the Senate", "Judiciary Committee has a moral and ethical obligation to hear the FLDS people , who are , after all , the DIRECT TARGET of the hearing . ''", "`` A legitimate investigation into the activities of the FLDS Church , or any other organized group , would include representation from those favorable to that group , and even from members of the group itself .", "Please help us make our country free from religious discrimination by listening to us and affording these people their rights . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "In the United States for example, polygamy is illegal in all 50 states despite states like Utah and Colorado having large populations of Mormons that believe in the practice.", "_claim_name": "There is no one best way to live life: differences should be enabled as long as others are not harmed.", "_doc_title": "Laws in the U.S. governing polygamy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7, 8]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 53, "_topic_name": "This House would embrace multiculturalism"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Rosie Cowan , crime correspondent", "Friday 4 March 2005 20.31 EST", "Police and children 's charities yesterday called on the government to set up a national centre to investigate computer child porn as it was revealed that the number of internet paedophiles arrested had quadrupled in two years .", "Latest statistics from the Home Office showed that 2,234 people were cautioned or charged with such offences in England and Wales in 2003 , compared with 549 in 2001 .", "John Carr , internet safety adviser for NCH , the charity formerly known as National Children 's Homes , said he feared the figures were not exceptional .", "`` Child pornography on the internet is a modern curse , '' said Mr Carr .", "`` These astonishing figures reflect the arrests made during Operation Ore. .", "But , given ongoing police activity , the worry is they represent not a blip but a new normality .", "`` Many police admit they are only touching the tip of a very ugly iceberg .", "The internet provides a path for people to go down , a route they may never have taken before . ''", "Operation Ore was set up when FBI agents passed on to police forces worldwide the credit card details of 250,000 people suspected of using a Texas-based web portal to access child abuse sites .", "Of the 7,250 people traced to the UK , British police have arrested more than 3,500 and charged almost 2,000 .", "British Telecom records 60,000 attempts a day to access child porn websites , while detectives catch 300 paedophiles a month by logging their details when they try to access a fake website .", "The National Crime Squad is part of a global virtual taskforce which also includes the FBI , Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Interpol .", "Its members patrol internet chatrooms to try to protect children from paedophiles .", "Jim Gamble , the National Crime Squad deputy director , said : `` We are raising awareness that we are out there and that the internet is not a lawless place . ''", "But a constabulary inspectorate report this week found police forces in England and Wales were spending a lot of time investigating internet child porn while lacking training and resources .", "Mr Carr also urged internet service providers to do more to protect children .", "`` BT alone is blocking 60,000 hits a day and that 's just one ISP .", "There are a couple of hundred ISPs out there , nine or 10 of them very big ones .", "`` Getting them on board is really important because if people can not access the websites in the first place they can not download the images and therefore the gangsters making these images will have to stop , because there will be no one to buy them . ''", "Stuart Hyde , of the Association of Chief Police Officers , backed the call for a national centre , which he thought could be funded by the Home Office `` moving budgets around '' ."], "_citing_sentence": "Various reports have linked a sharp rise in paedophilia with the growth of the Internet as it is an easy and often anonymous way to share such material with the world.", "_claim_name": "The Internet has allowed a large amount of criminal, offensive and discriminatory information to be easily accessed.", "_doc_title": "Arrests of internet paedophiles quadruple over two years | Technology | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 5, 9]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Andrew Hough 7:30 AM GMT 19 Feb 2010", "The Dutch website , launched this week , provides minute-by-minute updates on people who have just left their house .", "Privacy campaigners have expressed outrage at the website , which publishes a regular updated stream of `` opportunities '' by detailing the names of Twitter users , when they left home and where they were currently located .", "The three founders of the website denied they were providing a tool for burglars but instead were highlighting the dangers of the newest social networking craze .", "They say they were pointing out that users of Foursquare exchange details of their precise location and were putting themselves at danger of becoming robbery victims .", "The data it provides on people 's movements is searchable by city or by their Twitter username .", "New website ' a burglars ' charter '", "Google Buzz prompts legal action by US woman", "Burglar identified by Florida tattoo", "Google Buzz reported to US federal investigators", "Family told to remove trampoline ` because it could be used by burglars '", "Google Street View cleared", "A search for `` 4sq - @four - square London '' on the micro-blogging site regularly details information posted by Londoners who have left their houses .", "But the website , which also takes the feed , has outraged campaigners .", "Simon Davies , director of the Privacy International campaign group , said the website 's creators had `` failed in their duty of care '' .", "`` It is completely and totally irresponsible , '' he told The Daily Telegraph .", "`` They have raised a poignant and important issue about what people disclose on the internet but they could have done this so much better .", "They could have left out the details of people 's addresses .", "`` What they have actually achieved is providing a one-stop-shop for burglars rather than achieve their goals , which are to raise awareness . ''", "He added : `` They make a legitimate point on the sort of information people put online about themselves .", "However there are ways of making those points .", "`` But they have created a portal for people to check whether people 's homes in their area are empty . ''", "Foursquare is a Twitter-type application which turns city maps into game boards , helps pals meet up , and awards `` prizes '' to the most active of its 150,000 followers .", "They `` check in '' on their mobile phone to record their position on a map , indicating where they are .", "More importantly , it also details where someone is not currently staying , such as their home , which is based on geolocation technology .", "Those details are fed to Twitter , but are also copied to Please Rob Me , which presents them as a `` burglars ' wish-list '' .", "Criminals monitoring their movements can , with a little extra investigation , pin down their exact address , and simply wait for the tweet that says `` nobody 's home '' .", "In some cases users `` check in '' giving the exact address of a friend 's home , which makes life even easier for the criminal .", "Some people caught on the site have also reacted with fury .", "Raz Chorev , a freelance marketing consultant in Sydney , was listed on the site after he posted a message on Twitter saying he was at a caf\u00e9 in", "Mr Chorev was surprised to learn he had been listed as a potential target but he was not concerned enough to change his online habits .", "`` If someone really wants to rob me they 'll do it without Twitter , '' he told Ninemsn , an Australian news site .", "On their site the founders state : `` Our intention is not , and never has been , to have people burglarised . ''", "It added : `` Hi there , all we can say is wow .", "The amount of attention we 're getting is amazing . ''", "But it also lists `` all those empty homes out there '' and provides a running total of `` new opportunities '' .", "Co-founder Frank Groeneveld , 22 said : `` We 're leaving the lights on when we 're going on a holiday , but we 're telling everybody on the internet we 're not home .", "`` The danger is publicly telling people where you are .", "This is because it leaves one place you 're definitely not -- home .", "`` We 're not trying to get people robbed , but helping them not to get robbed .", "We 're just presenting this information in a more obvious way .", "And that 's our point : Everyone can see this on Twitter . ''", "He added : `` At first we thought about it as a prank , but while developing the site we started to realise it really is a big risk ( and problem ) , so it became a cultural statement . ''", "Another co-founder Boy Von Amstel added : `` We saw people ` checking in ' at their home addresses , or even worse , those of their friends and family , which we just thought was very wrong . ''", "The website comes days after Google was forced to redesigned its new social networking site , Buzz , after numerous privacy complaints .", "Charity Crimestoppers advises people to think carefully about the information they choose to share on the internet .", "`` We urge users of Twitter , Facebook or other social networks to stop and think before posting personal details online that could leave them vulnerable to crimes including burglary and identity theft , '' a spokesman told the BBC .", "`` Details posted online are available for the world to see ; you would n't hang a sign on your door saying you 're out , so why would you post it online ? ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Take for example the posting of our locations online via geotagging, this for many is an action which doesn't take much consideration, however, to demonstrate the danger of this designer Barry Borsoom setup the website PleaseRobMe.com which would grab geocaching data and tell people when a person's house was potentially empty.", "_claim_name": "The Internet is a threat to privacy", "_doc_title": "Please Rob Me website 'tells burglars when Twitter users are not home' - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 24, 25]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By The Hill Staff - 03/11/10 04:02 PM EST", "The Internet allowed extremists to contact , recruit , train and equip the suspect responsible for the attempted Flight 253 bombing on Christmas Day `` within weeks , '' a top Pentagon official told lawmakers Wednesday .", "That relatively brief timeframe only speaks to how quickly extremist groups have `` optimized '' the Web and developed a `` highly evolved '' process by which to develop terrorist networks , added Garry Reid , deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism .", "`` By contrast , the 9/11 operation took about two and a half years to develop from the time Osama bin Laden approved it in April 1999 , '' he said .", "Wednesday 's hearing before the Senate Armed Services ' Emerging Threats subcommittee arrives as federal prosecutors investigate how suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab evaded airport security and almost detonated a bomb aboard Flight 253 over Detroit last year .", "But it is not the only recent terrorist act or plot with roots traceable to the Web , according to federal officials .", "A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Pennsylvania woman Colleen Renee LaRose -- known in reports as `` Jihad Jane '' -- for conspiring to commit terrorism abroad .", "LaRose was arrested last year for allegedly passing information to known terrorist groups , which she first contacted online .", "Last year , federal investigators also discovered that Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan e-mailed an allegedly radical cleric in Yemen prior to killing 13 officers at the Fort Hood military base .", "However , intelligence officers reportedly knew about those exchanges before the attack .", "Consequently , those testifying at Wednesday 's hearing agreed that U.S. intelligence needed to pay more attention to those emerging threats online , identifying extremist networks and responding to those who pose an imminent risk to U.S. interests .", "`` If we can stop them upstream when they are becoming radicalized , then obviously we have an easier job of it than when they are downstream and they are getting into all kinds of dangerous activities , '' said Ambassador Daniel Benjamin during prepared testimony ."], "_citing_sentence": "Garry Reid, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism in the USA states that \"Enabled by 21st-century technology, extremists have optimized the use of Internet chat rooms, Web sites and e-mail chains to spread their virulent messages and reach a global audience of potential recruits\".", "_claim_name": "The Internet has allowed a large amount of criminal, offensive and discriminatory information to be easily accessed.", "_doc_title": "Internet helped Flight 253 suspect radicalize, attack plane 'within weeks' | TheHill", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 54, "_topic_name": "This House believes the internet brings more harm than good"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and their desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments .", "They are determined to safeguard the freedom , common heritage and civilisation of their peoples , founded on the principles of democracy , individual liberty and the rule of law .", "They seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area .", "They are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security .", "They therefore agree to this North Atlantic Treaty :", "The Parties undertake , as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations , to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered , and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations .", "The Parties will contribute toward the further development of peaceful and friendly international relations by strengthening their free institutions , by bringing about a better understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded , and by promoting conditions of stability and well-being .", "They will seek to eliminate conflict in their international economic policies and will encourage economic collaboration between any or all of them .", "In order more effectively to achieve the objectives of this Treaty , the Parties , separately and jointly , by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid , will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack .", "The Parties will consult together whenever , in the opinion of any of them , the territorial integrity , political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened .", "The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that , if such an armed attack occurs , each of them , in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations , will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith , individually and in concert with the other Parties , such action as it deems necessary , including the use of armed force , to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area .", "Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council .", "Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security .", "For the purpose of Article 5 , an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack :", "This Treaty does not affect , and shall not be interpreted as affecting in any way the rights and obligations under the Charter of the Parties which are members of the United Nations , or the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security .", "Each Party declares that none of the international engagements now in force between it and any other of the Parties or any third State is in conflict with the provisions of this Treaty , and undertakes not to enter into any international engagement in conflict with this Treaty .", "The Parties hereby establish a Council , on which each of them shall be represented , to consider matters concerning the implementation of this Treaty .", "The Council shall be so organised as to be able to meet promptly at any time .", "The Council shall set up such subsidiary bodies as may be necessary ; in particular it shall establish immediately a defence committee which shall recommend measures for the implementation of Articles 3 and 5 .", "The Parties may , by unanimous agreement , invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty .", "Any State so invited may become a Party to the Treaty by depositing its instrument of accession with the Government of the United States of America .", "The Government of the United States of America will inform each of the Parties of the deposit of each such instrument of accession .", "This Treaty shall be ratified and its provisions carried out by the Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional processes .", "The instruments of ratification shall be deposited as soon as possible with the Government of the United States of America , which will notify all the other signatories of each deposit .", "The Treaty shall enter into force between the States which have ratified it as soon as the ratifications of the majority of the signatories , including the ratifications of Belgium , Canada , France , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , the United Kingdom and the United States , have been deposited and shall come into effect with respect to other States on the date of the deposit of their ratifications .", "After the Treaty has been in force for ten years , or at any time thereafter , the Parties shall , if any of them so requests , consult together for the purpose of reviewing the Treaty , having regard for the factors then affecting peace and security in the North Atlantic area , including the development of universal as well as regional arrangements under the Charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security .", "After the Treaty has been in force for twenty years , any Party may cease to be a Party one year after its notice of denunciation has been given to the Government of the United States of America , which will inform the Governments of the other Parties of the deposit of each notice of denunciation .", "This Treaty , of which the English and French texts are equally authentic , shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America .", "Duly certified copies will be transmitted by that Government to the Governments of other signatories ."], "_citing_sentence": "Article 5 of the NATO Treaty specifically states: \"The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.\"", "_claim_name": "NATO's European member states will continue to be safe because other members -principally the United States - will come to their defense if they are attacked.", "_doc_title": "NATO - Official text: The North Atlantic Treaty, 04-Apr.-1949", "_labeled_lineIDs": [10]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Saturday 27 June 2009 19.01 EDT", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 17.23 EDT", "The following correction was printed in the Observer 's For the Record column , Sunday 5 July 2009 In the article below we described HMS Resolute as a `` British gun-brig '' but it was not .", "Three Royal Navy ships have had that name and the oak used to make the White House desk was salvaged from an Arctic discovery vessel commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1850 .", "It was abandoned in ice during a search for the explorer , Sir John Franklin , discovered by an American whaler , restored and presented to Queen Victoria as a gift .", "As a memento of this goodwill gesture , its timber was used to build a desk which the Queen presented to the US president in 1880 .", "When Barack Obama sits down to work in the Oval Office each day , at his fingertips lies a reminder of how closely American and British military might are intertwined .", "The oak desk used by generations of US presidents was built of timbers salvaged from the British gun-brig HMS Resolute , by craftsmen at Chatham dockyards in Kent - for centuries the cradle of a seafaring nation , launching many of the ships that ruled Britannia 's waves .", "It is a proud history on which Gordon Brown will no doubt have reflected yesterday when he celebrated Britain 's first Armed Forces Day in the port .", "But they no longer build ships in Chatham : the shipyards that once employed thousands of skilled workers live on only in a museum .", "The question for Britain 's next prime minister is whether its remaining defence manufacturing base will head the same way .", "As this week 's report by the Institute for Public Policy Research reveals , the recession , combined with changing global threats , means `` big ticket '' defence projects - from Britain 's two new planned aircraft carriers to the F-35 joint strike fighters that go with them , from the Astute hunter-killer subs , the largest and deadliest ever built , to the Type 45 destroyer - are now being challenged at the heart of the military and political establishment .", "Such questions are sensitive because they are about Britain 's idea of itself .", "Are we still a front-rank military power ?", "Or is it time to accept that we are a small island which can not afford big dreams , and seek less conventional routes to influence ?", "`` If you talk to senior people in the Royal Navy , they are worried that they are going to be seen as the people in charge when it ceased to be a serious navy in global terms , '' said Dr Ian Kearns , deputy chair of the National Security Commission , convened by the IPPR .", "`` Well , why is n't our aspiration to be a global leader in cyber warfare capacity , offensive and defensive ?", "National prestige needs to be thought about in different terms . ''", "But the fear within the armed forces is that the unspoken promise built into the Resolute desk - that Britain will always have the clout to stand shoulder to shoulder with the US , and the US will always want it to - now risks being broken .", "Lord Robertson , the former Nato secretary general and commission member , argues that Obama is no longer interested in a military special relationship with the UK alone , but with a broader European alliance .", "`` There 's no doubt that the Obama administration wants Europe to be acting as a whole .", "It 's not going to have a sweetheart relationship with any individual country . ''", "Worse still , senior American military sources told the commission privately that they regard British forces as neither as reliable nor as good as they once were , after years of underfunding .", "Tensions became clear during the British withdrawal from Basra , when US marines were sent into the city to restore order while British troops stayed in their barracks .", "`` What happened in Basra at the end did a lot of damage and that was a political decision - to run our forces down too early , '' said Julian Brazier , the Conservative chair of the all-party reserve forces group .", "`` I know from a number of American colleagues that did damage our image , very unfairly to our armed forces . ''", "There are whispers in Whitehall that Brown 's refusal to send more troops to Afghanistan , despite pleas from the chief of defence staff , also annoyed Washington - which was last week forced to send US troops to Helmand to reinforce the British instead .", "Lord Guthrie , the former chief of defence staff and a commission member , said the fear was that `` the US are beginning to wonder whether we have the stomach for it '' .", "Or , indeed , the money for it .", "As a result of the costs of borrowing through a recession , in five years ' time the national debt is forecast to reach # 1.3 trillion : the interest on that alone would outstrip the entire current defence budget .", "While Brown still refuses to discuss cuts in public services , few parts of Whitehall are likely to be spared and senior Labour figures are now starting to think the unthinkable about programmes like Trident .", "For the Conservatives , such pressures are even more difficult to resolve .", "`` Defence is a sacred cow for this party .", "We could never go into an election without promising to provide our troops with all the kit they 're lacking , '' says a senior frontbencher .", "And that is an argument that wears an all too human face .", "Maureen Shearer 's life changed for ever nearly four years ago , when her son , Richard , was killed in a roadside bomb near Basra .", "The loss , she said , opened her eyes to the human cost of miserly defence spending .", "`` My son had to keep repairing what equipment he had .", "They were tired and they were being attacked relentlessly and were having to mend their equipment . ''", "Now he is gone and , like many bereaved relatives of those lost in Iraq and Afghanistan she says her life `` will never be the same '' .", "Nor does she believe her son 's experience is unique .", "`` It 's not just the army , it 's the navy and the air force who are also struggling .", "We should not fight in other countries unless we equip our forces .", "Of course there is no bottomless pit , but obviously we need the basics to be supplied .", "They have to have new vehicles and equipment before we do anything . ''", "Snatch Land Rovers like the one Shearer 's patrol was travelling in - offering pitifully flimsy defences against roadside bombs - are now being replaced by more heavily armoured vehicles , but other concerns remain , particularly over a shortage of helicopters .", "`` One thing we should really have requested -LSB- for Afghanistan -RSB- was more support helicopters along with the training of pilots , which is also an expensive business , '' said Guthrie .", "It is not just equipment that is suffering .", "The commission argues that diverting resources to the frontline has come at the expense of training : the gaps between operational tours have shrunk , meaning longer periods of separation for service people from their families .", "The Ministry of Defence 's latest continuous attitudes survey , a snapshot of morale in the armed forces , found that 21 % of officers plan leave before the end of their current commission .", "Nearly half cited overstretch and scale of commitments as a reason to leave the forces : a third felt operational tours were now coming around too often .", "Yet , as Guthrie admits , `` no government wants to spend more on defence than it has to '' .", "The uncomfortable question is whether taxpayers , squeezed by the recession , feel the same .", "Cases like that of Sergeant Steven Roberts , shot dead in Iraq days after being asked to give up his flak jacket because there were not enough to go round , raise difficult questions .", "His widow Samantha 's campaign for better body armour aroused deep public sympathy , but also triggers difficult questions .", "What risks are justifiable in warfare ?", "And how much are we prepared to pay to prevent them ?", "While the shadow defence secretary , Liam Fox , has tirelessly highlighted the human costs of overstretch , the Tories have not explained in detail how a more generously equipped armed forces could be funded .", "Labour , meanwhile , shies away from scrapping big defence contracts that cost jobs in its heartlands , including Scotland where the Rosyth dockyards employ some of Brown 's constituents .", "Guthrie believes that while ministers have avoided a real debate , `` so too have the opposition '' .", "The commission argues that only a fresh strategic defence review , examining security budgets across Whitehall can rise above such political considerations and answer the big questions .", "Kearns said he was struck by how much spending was dictated by fierce inter-service rivalry and not long-term strategic thinking : `` They get into a position of saying , ` Well , if the air force is getting a Typhoon then it 's the navy 's turn next ' , so they go for the aircraft carriers ... There is a case for knocking heads together . ''", "Professor Paul Cornish , head of the international security programme at the Chatham House thinktank , argues such rivalries have also weakened the MoD 's ability to plead its case inside government .", "`` You can see the Treasury chiefs thinking , ` They ca n't decide anything because they are all at each other 's throats , so let 's decide ourselves ' . ''", "Yet the debate , he argues , should be `` at the level of ideas and not at the level of the invoice '' .", "While the Liberal Democrat leader , Nick Clegg , has called for Trident to be scrapped to save money , for now Labour and the Tories will admit only to seeking creative ways to do more with less .", "`` Everyone knows they 're broke .", "It 's about where the money is spent and what operations we get involved in , '' said Brazier .", "Fox is looking at options , including redeploying service personnel currently `` flying desks '' in civilian jobs at the MoD to the frontline .", "Labour seeks efficiency savings but also privately looking to Europe , where Robertson argues that immense theoretical firepower - 2.5 million troops , more fast jets than the Americans - too rarely makes it out of the barracks .", "`` You have got countries like Germany with 320,000 in their armed forces of whom they can deploy probably 9,000 - the deployment rate in European armies is a scandalous waste , '' he said .", "But what also prevents Europe playing a bigger role is that - not for the first time - some of its governments are still fighting the wrong war .", "It is a lesson drummed into every fledgling military historian : how Hitler 's tanks overran the cavalries at the beginning of the second world war .", "Seventy years later , Kearns argues that we face another pivotal moment , with the MoD buying weapons devised in another era for another foe .", "`` We have got to make sure we are not spending all of our resources recruiting the cavalry and then discovering that the opposition have got a whole new load of kit and are fighting in a whole new way , '' he says .", "What use is an aircraft carrier against a cyber attack that can cripple a government overnight by crashing the computers controlling its banks , vital utilities , hospitals and other critical state systems - the electronic equivalent of a nuclear bomb ?", "Wars of the future , the report argues , are likely to be fought among civilians in highly populated cities , rendering weapons designed for the big battlefield useless .", "The major threat will not be from domineering powers , like Nazi Germany or Soviet-era Russia , but from failing states whose implosion is exploited by others , like modern Pakistan and from non-state actors like terrorists .", "And if enemies change , so will allies .", "Demographic shifts in the US , including an expanding Hispanic population , may cause it to look increasingly south to Latin America , and east , to the emerging powers of China and India , rather than across the Atlantic .", "So where does that leave Britain 's Trident independent nuclear deterrent ?", "The ageing Vanguard submarines that carry it need replacing , at an estimated cost of up to # 25bn - although , as Robertson points out , scrapping it would also lead to `` massive upfront costs '' as a result of the difficulty of decommissioning a nuclear weapons system and its associated bases .", "But Labour MPs are preparing for a fight ahead of initial procurement decisions to be made in September , arguing the recession has changed the terms on which parliament backed its replacement .", "Brown has already signalled Britain will reduce the number of Trident warheads as a gesture towards next year 's critical international talks on decommissioning .", "Ministers argue privately that even if Britain was minded to scrap on the programme , it would wreck our negotiating hand to say so ; better to keep it as a bargaining chip to draw concessions from others .", "Nonetheless , opposition to Trident extends beyond the far left .", "Even Des Browne - who as defence secretary pushed it through parliament - hints there may be new room for manoeuvre , citing recent research at Bradford university which has identified possible alternatives .", "`` I was persuaded at the time that it had to be Trident .", "But I never was a person with a closed mind about this issue , '' he says .", "Browne defends the purchase of the two aircraft carriers questioned by the commission as `` essential '' , however , and argues a new defence review could simply be used to kick difficult decisions into the long grass .", "The Obama administration , he points out , has already started stripping back its defence budget and scrapping expensive contracts .", "But the main obstacle to axing any major defence programmes , particularly Trident , is fear .", "No prime minster wants to be remembered as the one who left the nation defenceless .", "James Arbuthnot , chair of the Commons defence select committee and the man tipped by some as a future Conservative defence secretary , warns against complacency in assuming conventional warfare is a thing of the past .", "He believes the risks from Pakistan in particular - which is a nuclear power - can not be underestimated .", "`` In Afghanistan and Pakistan we have the most unstable region in the world , which has because of the Pakistani community in this country a direct link -LSB- to Britain -RSB- and it also has nuclear weapons - all of that adds up to the most important issue this country is facing today , '' he says .", "`` Yet we are still devoting only 2 % of GDP to defending ourselves .", "I think that 's something the country needs to think about . ''", "It may not be a debate either of the two major parties seems anxious to have before the election .", "But when the Iraq war inquiry begins , and the families of dead soldiers tell their stories , a debate about the true cost of defending Britain may no longer be contained .", "Sue Smith 's son , Philip Hewitt , was 21 when he was killed near Basra in July 2005 .", "His mother believes that no armed forces should be asked to fight wars if recruits do not have the necessary equipment and protection .", "You ca n't do a job without the tools .", "There has to be better investment or the decision has to be made not to go to other conflicts , '' she says .", "`` There will always be other conflicts going on somewhere , and the government might have to resist sending troops in the future . ''", "Smith , from Tamworth , Staffordshire , believes her son 's death could have been avoided had British troops been better equipped .", "She has threatened to take legal action against the government for sending troops to Iraq without the right equipment .", "The inquest into Hewitt 's death revealed the bomb that killed her son entered his Snatch Land Rover through a window covered only with steel mesh .", "More than 35 soldiers have been killed in Snatches in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003 .", "`` I am very disappointed .", "Our soldiers are too quickly forgotten .", "Boys have died who might be alive if they had better funding .", "The attitude remains that a soldier is just a soldier .", "Action men might look the part , but simply looking good is not nearly enough .", "\u2022 Britain spends just over 2 % of its GDP on defence , down from over 4 % in the mid-1980s , following the Falklands war .", "America spends just over 3 % .", "\u2022 In 2007-08 , defence spending totalled over # 37.4 bn .", "\u2022 The MoD 's most infamous big-ticket project was probably the Eurofighter jet .", "Delivered 10 years late and # 5.4 bn over budget , it was outdated by 2006 .", "\u2022 Troop numbers fell from 101,360 full time personnel in 1997 to 99,460 in 2007 : the Navy has lost eight destroyers and six frigates .", "\u2022 Trident alone swallows up to 5.5 % of the defence budget .", "\u2022 Since Labour came to power the British armed forces have served in Iraq , Afghanistan , Kosovo , plus peacekeeping duties in Northern Ireland and anti-piracy operations in Somalia ."], "_citing_sentence": "In the UK, for example, Gaby Hinsliff noted, \"As a result of the costs of borrowing through a recession, in five years' time the national debt is forecast to reach PS1.3 trillion\" - clearly, NATO members have more pressing concerns than keeping up superfluous armies.", "_claim_name": "Given the economic situation, NATO's European member states need to cut costs. Cutting defense spending is an obvious way to save money", "_doc_title": "Are we getting ready for the wrong war? | UK news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [29]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Presentation by Gareth Evans , President , International Crisis Group , to Shadow NATO Summit , Options for NATO : Presssing the Re-Set Button on the Strategic Concept , Session on NATO 'S Role and Relevance in the 21st Century ( BASIC , Bertelmans Stiftung , ISIS Europe , NATO Watch ) , Brussels , 31 March 2009", "The North Atlantic Treaty Organization , in terms of conventional military capability , is by far the best resourced and most sophisticated regional or multilateral organization in the world .", "Its 26 countries -- which will become 28 following the Strasbourg-Kehl NATO summit later this week - together have a formidable war-fighting and peace enforcement capacity , in terms not only of the raw numbers of both personnel ( some 2.5 million in uniform ) and equipment ( over 5,000 helicopters for a start ) but also their interoperability , highly professional and integrated military command structure , and ability draw on the contributions of non-EU countries like Turkey and Norway .", "Moreover , while never having had to fire a shot during the Cold War , it has demonstrated in more recent years considerable competence in the actual conduct of military operations , whether those missions have been highly controversial , as with Operation Allied Force in Kosovo from March to June 1999 ( because of the absence of Security Council authority ) , or much more accepted , as in the cases of the Implementation Force ( IFOR ) and Stabilization Force ( SFOR ) in Bosnia from 1995 to 2004 ( NATO 'S first ever out-of-area deployments ) , the Kosovo Force ( KFOR ) from June 1999 , and the International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF ) in Afghanistan since 2001 .", "It is true that some significant institutional problems have become apparent in the course of these operations , particularly in Afghanistan , and remain to be resolved : notably serious differences in the willingness of its member states to contribute troops and resources , to make them available for hard-end fighting tasks when they are contributed , and to agree on common rules of engagement when they are so deployed .", "But any way one looks at it , NATO is a formidable fighting force .", "And it 's one that has shown at least some signs of being willing to spread its wings beyond its traditional roles of defending its members from attack , from within or without , and in a way that is basically confined to the Euro-Atlantic area .", "In 1999 NATO updated its Strategic Concept to provide for members of the alliance to defend not just other members but to conduct a full range of `` non-Article 5 Crisis Response Operations '' to ensure peace and stability in its region and periphery ; then at its Prague conference in 2002 , it agreed even more specifically that its forces could be sent `` wherever they are needed , '' abandoning the restriction of acting in defense of the treaty area alone .", "This has been followed by some significant reorganization of NATO 's military structure to meet evolving demands of this kind , with there being at least notionally fully operational since 2006 a NATO Response Force ( NRF ) of 25,000 troops -- with land , air , and sea components that train together and become available for six months before being replaced .", "Its role is to act as a stand-alone military force available for rapid deployment as a collective defense , crisis management , or stabilization force , although so far NRF members have so far performed only relatively minor and uncontroversial tasks , like providing humanitarian relief after Hurricane Katrina and the Pakistan earthquake in 2005 .", "The question arises as to what all this capacity is for , and whether it can or should be used for a wider range of global peace and security tasks .", "And in particular the question arises as to what role NATO can and should play in helping implement the international responsibility to protect vulnerable populations against mass atrocity crimes -- genocide , ethnic cleansing , other crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in internal conflicts .", "As most of this audience will know , the responsibility to protect norm was adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly in 2005 by over 150 heads of state and government meeting as a World Summit on the UN 's 60th anniversary , against a background of long failure to reach any kind of consensus on how to react to these atrocities , which dates back centuries but came to a head in the series of catastrophes in Rwanda and the Balkans through the 1990s .", "The core elements of the new responsibility to protect norm can be very simply stated .", "First , sovereign states have the responsibility to protect their own people against mass atrocity crimes .", "Second , where they need assistance in doing do , others have a responsibility to help them ( including where necessary by providing , at the request of the government in question , military forces for human protection purposes ) .", "And third , where they are manifestly failing to protect their people -- perhaps because of ill-will rather than incapacity -- then the wider international community has the responsibility to take appropriate collective action , in a timely and decisive manner ( including in extreme cases , if the Security Council agrees , the use of coercive military force ) .", "The responsibility to protect -- unlike the doctrine of the right of humanitarian intervention , which it was expressly designed to supersede -- of course involves much more than just the use of military force , but it is that small part of the total picture which is relevant to the present discussion about NATO 's role .", "As efforts have continued since 2005 to consolidate and effectively implement the new norm , one of the many issues that arises is where -- in those cases that need it -- is the relevant military capacity to come from , not only in peacekeeping operations accepted more or less voluntarily by the governments concerned ( which may have a significant ongoing peace enforcement dimension , as for example is the case with the UN 's MONUC operation in the Congo , or the combined UN-AU UNAMID operation in Darfur ) , but more particularly , for present purposes , in straight-out fire-brigade type coercive peace enforcement operations ( of the kind mounted briefly by the EU 's Operation Artemis in the Congo in 2003 , or -- going back further - the UK in Sierra Leone in 1997 or the West African regional organization ECOWAS in Liberia in 1992 , and which should have been mounted , but was n't , in Rwanda in 1994 ) .", "Finding that sharp-end capacity has been a recurring source of immense frustration for policymakers .", "The idea of a standing UN volunteer army is endlessly debated but no closer to acceptance than it has ever been .", "Even just a UN rapid reaction force , built of national components on standby but almost immediately deployable , has proved impossible to construct .", "On the face of it , NATO 's NRF -- assuming it could be made in practice to work as well as it does on paper -- is exactly the kind of `` highly mobile , self-sustaining rapid reaction force ... uniquely prepared to respond to a fast moving genocide , such as occurred in Rwanda in 1994 . ''", "There are practical issues to be resolved if NATO is to play this role , in addition to some of the institutional problems already mentioned .", "Given the other demands on NATO members in Afghanistan , Iraq , and elsewhere , it can not be assumed that the necessary troops , even if formally committed to the Response Force , will be readily available .", "Force configurations in most NATO countries are still very much those of the Cold War , and the percentage of uniformed military personnel that are actually deployable on international peace operations at any given time is very small -- most informed estimates suggest the figure is only 3 -- 4 per cent .", "It certainly can not be assumed , given the requirement for consensus in any decisions of this kind by NATO 's governing body , the North Atlantic Council , that agreement will be reached , quickly or at all , to send them .", "And it certainly can not be assumed that any military enterprise by NATO , even if mandated or endorsed by the Security Council , will be greeted without suspicion or hostility elsewhere .", "But the more fundamental problem is that NATO has still not worked out , in the post -- Cold War world , what kind of organization it wants to be , and there is bound to remain a degree of both external hostility and internal division until it does .", "There seem to me to be three broad options among which the organization , sooner or later , has to choose .", "One is for it to retreat into Cold War nostalgia and remain essentially the organization it was in the past , a transatlantic regional defense alliance concerned above all about threats from the east , willing to embrace as new members any Euro-Atlantic countries committed to democratic , market-oriented values but nervous about Russia -- incapable of even conceptualizing it as a member of the organization itself -- and prepared to deploy out-of-area only in situations , like Afghanistan after September 11 , where the security interests of alliance members are seen as directly and immediately at risk .", "A second option , advanced in 2007 by five retired NATO generals ( Naumman , Shalikashvili , Inge , Lanxade and van den Breemen ) , is one certainly rooted in Cold war nostalgia but with some nuanced and sophisticated additions : there would continue to be an inner ring of transatlantic members wholly committed to existing standards of democracy , human rights , and good governance , and to mutual defense ( including by nuclear first strikes if that 's what it took ) ; a second circle of partners -- including Russia , and possibly China and India -- with whom the inner ring could work on conflict and crisis prevention ; and an outer ring of more distant partners and allies who shared inner-ring values and convictions -- presumably including countries like Japan and my own Australia -- with whom the inner group could promote general stability and possibly join in coalition-of-the-willing interventions and stabilization operations , not necessarily feeling constrained by the need to seek prior approval from the UN Security Council for any use of coercive force .", "A third option , and one that I very much prefer , would be for NATO to quite fundamentally recast its role and become a global military resource , potentially available to prevent and resolve security problems worldwide in partnership with others as circumstances required or allowed , but deploying anywhere only with UN authority .", "Such a NATO would not just defend its members against attack from within or without but be prepared to contribute when asked to human protection missions , and above all to play the role of emergency force provider in response to conscience-shocking mass atrocity crimes -- the responsibility to protect situations I have been describing .", "Gendarmes du monde -- `` policemen of the world '' -- is a phrase that already causes much concern both for nervous NATO members themselves and for others concerned by the organization 's perceived liking for throwing its weight around , and this badge would no doubt be applied to any enterprise of the kind described .", "But there is a large difference between an organization operating within constraints set by the UN Security Council and one working freelance , and it is not inconceivable that in this context the badge could become one of honor .", "That said , a fundamental reshaping of NATO 's role in this way is not likely to be possible any time soon and certainly will not be achieved in a single leap .", "Perhaps the best starting point for rethinking the kind of contribution NATO could most usefully make to global peace and security in the twenty-first century is the `` three circles '' approach in the second ( ` five generals ' ) option I described above , but to put aside its Cold War flavor once and for all and make it more universally attractive .", "This would probably involve NATO being prepared over time to relax the wholly Euro-Atlantic geographic character of the inner ring ; and certainly would involve it being prepared , in a way the five generals were not , to accept the constraint of Security Council approval for any use of force not involving self-defense in response to actual or genuinely imminent attack .", "But above all , it would seem to require that NATO be overtly willing to welcome Russia itself into the `` inner ring '' , at least if it satisfies the kind of democracy and human rights conditions being demanded of other former Soviet bloc countries .", "With the tensions and feelings generated by Russia 's invasion of Georgia still running high , not least among the Central and Eastern Europe members of NATO , it is not easy to contemplate such a membership offer being made any time soon .", "But the apparent failure of a general ability to even conceptualise , let alone offer , Russian membership of the organization , seems to my outsider 's eyes , to have been wholly counterproductive .", "The problem with NATO 's expansion was never that it extended to Russia 's borders : it was that it stopped there .", "To so obviously continue to regard Russia as the beast from the east , whose aggressive resurgence would be only a matter of time , was from the outset manifestly a very self-fulfilling enterprise , and so it has proved to be .", "An expanded and open-minded NATO , no longer focused on collective defence but collective security in the broadest sense , -LSB- iv -RSB- still able and willing to protect its own members from threats both without and within but also focused on a wider global role , and willing to use its resources , working with the United Nations , to advance and protect our common humanity , would be an exciting new player on the global stage , and one that over time would generate far less global suspicion and antagonism than it would global support .", "LSB- i -RSB- For a full discussion of the evolution , scope , and implementation of R2P , see Gareth Evans , The Responsibility to Protect : Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All ( Washington DC : Brookings Institution Press , 2008 , xvi +349 pp ) .", "The present paper draws largely on the discussion of NATO 's role on pp 190-193 .", "LSB- ii -RSB- Victoria K. Holt and Tobias C. Berkman , The Impossible Mandate : Military Preparedness , the Responsibility to Protect and Modern Peace Operations ( Washington , D.C. : Henry L. Stimson Center , 2006 , x +240 pp ) , p. 65 -LSB- iii -RSB- .", "Klaus Naumann , John Shalikashvili , Lord Inge , Jacques Lanxade and Henk van den Breemen , Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World : Renewing Transatlantic Partnership ( Lunteren , Netherlands : Noaber Foundation , 2007 ) , pp. 94 ( on nuclear first strikes ) , 122 ( on Security Council approval ) , 132 -- 36 ( on the three circles ) .", "LSB- iv -RSB- See the 2005 speech of General James Jones , now US National Security Advisor , ` NATO Moving from Collective Defense to Collective Security ' , American Forces Press Service , 20 October 2005", "LSB- iv -RSB- See the 2005 speech of General James Jones , now US National Security Advisor , ` NATO Moving from Collective Defense to Collective Security ' , American Forces Press Service , 20 October 2005 It is true that some significant institutional problems have become apparent in the course of these operations , particularly in Afghanistan , and remain to be resolved : notably serious differences in the willingness of its member states to contribute troops and resources , to make them available for hard-end fighting tasks when they are contributed , and to agree on common rules of engagement when they are so deployed .", "LSB- iv -RSB- See the 2005 speech of General James Jones , now US National Security Advisor , ` NATO Moving from Collective Defense to Collective Security ' , American Forces Press Service , 20 October 2005 In 1999 NATO updated its Strategic Concept to provide for members of the alliance to defend not just other members but to conduct a full range of `` non-Article 5 Crisis Response Operations '' to ensure peace and stability in its region and periphery ; then at its Prague conference in 2002 , it agreed even more specifically that its forces could be sent `` wherever they are needed , '' abandoning the restriction of acting in defense of the treaty area alone .", "LSB- iv -RSB- See the 2005 speech of General James Jones , now US National Security Advisor , ` NATO Moving from Collective Defense to Collective Security ' , American Forces Press Service , 20 October 2005 -LSB- i -RSB- For a full discussion of the evolution , scope , and implementation of R2P , see Gareth Evans , The Responsibility to Protect : Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All ( Washington DC : Brookings Institution Press , 2008 , xvi +349 pp ) .", "LSB- iv -RSB- See the 2005 speech of General James Jones , now US National Security Advisor , ` NATO Moving from Collective Defense to Collective Security ' , American Forces Press Service , 20 October 2005 -LSB- ii -RSB- Victoria K. Holt and Tobias C. Berkman , The Impossible Mandate : Military Preparedness , the Responsibility to Protect and Modern Peace Operations ( Washington , D.C. : Henry L. Stimson Center , 2006 , x +240 pp ) , p. 65 -LSB- iii -RSB- .", "LSB- iv -RSB- See the 2005 speech of General James Jones , now US National Security Advisor , ` NATO Moving from Collective Defense to Collective Security ' , American Forces Press Service , 20 October 2005 -LSB- iii -RSB- .", "LSB- iv -RSB- See the 2005 speech of General James Jones , now US National Security Advisor , ` NATO Moving from Collective Defense to Collective Security ' , American Forces Press Service , 20 October 2005 -LSB- iv -RSB- See the 2005 speech of General James Jones , now US National Security Advisor , ` NATO Moving from Collective Defense to Collective Security ' , American Forces Press Service , 20 October 2005"], "_citing_sentence": "According to Gareth Evans, Chancellor of the Australian National University, NATO has \"a formidable war-fighting and peace enforcement capacity, in terms not only of the raw numbers of both personnel (some 2.5 million in uniform) and equipment (over 5,000 helicopters for a start) but also their interoperability, highly professional and integrated military command structure.\"", "_claim_name": "NATO can already call on substantial armed forces - easily enough to deal with any contingency it may face, including territorial defense in Europe.", "_doc_title": "NATO and the Responsibility to Protect", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["An extensive directory of disarmament related subjects with links to Acronym publications , news and official documentation on each subject .", "View Directory by SubjectView Directory by Document Type", "Back to the main page on NATO", "Though the cold war ended nearly two decades ago , the North Atlantic", "Treaty Alliance ( NATO ) retains policies that promote the role of nuclear weapons and undermine the NPT .", "According to NATO 's current Strategic Concept - up for review by 2009 - nuclear weapons provide the `` supreme guarantee '' of Alliance security .", "Three NATO members - the United States , Britain and France - between them deploy more than 10,000 nuclear weapons .", "Six NATO members that are non-nuclear weapon states ( NNWS ) parties to the NPT - Belgium , Germany , Italy , The Netherlands , Turkey and Greece - maintain `` nuclear sharing '' arrangements under which they could be given wartime use of some of the 480 American-owned and controlled nuclear free-fall bombs stored at US bases in their countries .", "In addition , despite serious concerns raised by Russia , the US wants to put bases on the territory of new NATO ( former", "Warsaw Pact ) members , Poland and the Czech Republic , for missile interceptors and tracking radar to support US ballistic missile defence ( BMD ) deployments .", "It 's time for a new NATO Strategic Concept , more appropriate to the 21st century .", "NATO needs to end nuclear sharing and work more closely with", "Russia to strengthen existing Treaties and withdraw tactical nuclear weapons from Europe .", "NATO 's 1999 Strategic Concept states that war prevention requires `` widespread participation by European Allies involved in collective defence planning in nuclear roles , in peacetime basing of nuclear forces on their territory and in command , control and consultation arrangements . ''", "As a consequence , the participating countries ( with the recent exception of Greece ) host", "US nuclear bases and tactical weapons on their soil ; some of their aircraft are equipped to carry nuclear weapons and their pilots are trained to fly nuclear missions .", "Since Britain deploys its own nuclear weapon system , which is assigned to NATO , it does not participate in nuclear sharing per se , but hosts some US nuclear weapons at the Lakenheath airbase in", "NATO nuclear sharing in the 1960s has been credited with persuading countries like Germany and Italy to give up their national nuclear weapons programmes and join the NPT .", "But it now stands in the way of more effective nonproliferation approaches and progress towards nuclear disarmament .", "NATO members hold that their nuclear sharing is in compliance with Articles I and II of the NPT , arguing that the arrangements predated the NPT and that `` general war '' would end the validity of the NPT .", "Both interpretations are open to challenge .", "If any other NPT states tried to share nuclear weapons using similar arrangements , the NATO countries would be the first to condemn them for breaching Articles I and II of the NPT .", "Yet if they adopted the US/NATO interpretation of their NPT obligations , Russia could reintroduce nuclear weapons into Belarus for wartime use by Belarusian armed forces ; or China could create nuclear sharing arrangements with North Korea .", "NATO has established and continues to maintain a privileged practice that it would not want others to emulate .", "In 1985 , the NPT Review Conference agreed as part of its Final Document that the Treaty remains in force `` under any circumstances '' .", "Though not made explicit , this language was intended to constrain the NATO nuclear sharing policy .", "Since then , a growing number of NPT Parties , including more than 100 nations in the Non-Aligned Movement , have called on NATO members to transform their doctrine and policies to bring them into conformity with their NPT obligations .", "NATO 's nuclear sharing arrangements would amount to de facto proliferation in times of war .", "This is particularly destabilizing in the post 9/11 context : the US has declared a ` war on terror ' and then changed military doctrines to provide for nuclear weapons to be used in"], "_citing_sentence": "Given that NATO members will defend one another, and that \"Three NATO members--the United States, Britain and France - between them deploy more than 10,000 nuclear weapons,\" conventional wars are extremely unlikely.", "_claim_name": "Countries with nuclear weapons or allied to nuclear-armed states do not need as many conventional forces.", "_doc_title": "NATO's nuclear sharing: A cold war anachronism that undermines the NPT | Acronym Institute", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["UK military operations in Libya could cost about # 260m over six months , the defence secretary has said .", "In a written statement to MPs , Liam Fox said that if the Nato-led mission lasted that long , costs would be `` in the region of # 120m '' .", "He added that up to # 140m would also be spent replacing munitions .", "The UK has been contributing to the operation to enforce a no-fly zone since 19 March .", "Overall costs will be met by Treasury reserves .", "Earlier , Dr Fox said avoiding civilian casualties drove up costs but the spending showed the UK held the `` higher moral ground '' .", "When military strikes against Col Muammar Gaddafi 's forces began , Chancellor George Osborne estimated that the cost of British involvement would be `` in the order of tens of millions of pounds , not hundreds of millions '' .", "But last week , Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said the cost could run into `` hundreds of millions '' of pounds .", "Valuing human life", "Ahead of his announcement , Dr Fox people would `` have to take into account that we have used more expensive precision weaponry so that we minimise civilian casualties in Libya .", "`` And if we are going to fight operations in the future based on minimising civilian casualties , there is clearly a financial price to pay . ''", "He added : `` I think that shows that we are on the moral high ground and that we place a higher value on human life than the Gaddafi regime . ''", "Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said Nato allies had to do more to reduce the British contribution .", "He said : `` Many people at home will be thinking ` Why is it always Britain that has to do this ? '", "and I think it is important that Britain does contribute , but I think we want to see some more of our Nato allies , particularly the European Nato allies , do more of the campaign -LSB- and -RSB- more of the fighting . ''", "In a later statement , Mr Murphy added : `` We want the government to be clearer on what stresses and strains operations in Libya are making on the core defence budget , and whether our standing commitments are , or will be , affected by the ongoing conflict . ''", "Pressed by shadow chancellor Ed Balls about the issue of costs during Treasury questions in the Commons on Tuesday , Mr Osborne said the cost was being met by the Treasury special reserve and was `` very much lower than the ongoing operation in Afghanistan '' .", "Earlier this week Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant , the RAF 's second-in-command , said morale among RAF personnel was `` fragile '' and their fighting spirit was being threatened by being over-worked because of operations in Libya .", "But Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday that military leaders were `` absolutely clear '' the mission could be kept going for as long as necessary .", "Donald Trump vows as president to confront and repel multiple threats facing the US , in his speech accepting the Republican nomination . '", "I looked pregnant but knew my daughter had already died '", "What links Pippa Middleton 's fiance to the world of reality TV ?", "The man with no-one to mourn him Is Syrian city of Aleppo about to take its last gasp ?", "Groundhog Day moves from screen to stage", "How online publishers grab your attention", "Taken from home at 10 to do a dangerous job", "What is behind Nigeria 's resurgent oil militancy ?", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess"], "_citing_sentence": "Currently, Britain spends over 2% of its GDP on defense, and Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox recently admitted that the mission in Libya may cost the UK up to PS260 million.", "_claim_name": "Given the economic situation, NATO's European member states need to cut costs. Cutting defense spending is an obvious way to save money", "_doc_title": "Libya mission may cost UK \u00a3260m - defence secretary - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["On 13 June the 20th anniversary of the death of ambassador Stasys Lozoraitis in Washington , DC .", "Read a two part story about this remarkable Lithuanian .", "Topics : missile defence shield , NATO , Rose Gottemoeller , Russia , USA", "NATO 's missile defence system will protect NATO , the US assistant secretary assured the Lithuanians , who are concerned about forthcoming NATO talks with Russia on a missile defence system in Europe .", "` The point that I can most clearly repeat and underscore today for you is that NATO will protect NATO .", "That is the bottom line as far as president Obama is concerned and as far as US government is concerned .", "I know that is a view that is shared by all NATO allies that NATO will protect NATO , ' Rose Gottemoeller , US assistant secretary of state for verification , compliance and implementation said in the Lithuanian Parliament on 9 February .", "` The Russians have some particular views as how to proceed , '' she continued .", "` But that does not mean that we can not have very beneficial cooperation with the Russian Federation on missile defence .", "No matter how complicated it will be to accomplish , we are very optimistic , very hopeful that we will have very productive negotiations with the Russians in that regard . '", "On April 22-23 , at the informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Tallinn , NATO 's new Strat ...", "NATO has all plans necessary to defend its allies said the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmus ...", "Reactions to the latest WikiLeaks revelations that NATO has developed a contingency plan for the Bal ...", "Because of further cutbacks in funding of national defence Lithuania might be unable to be a NATO me ...", "You must be logged in to post a comment .", "\u2190 Where Have All Lithuanians Gone ?", "By Santiago Jurk\u0161aitis", "Lithuania 's exports grow 33.2 % , imports up 34.5 % in 2010 \u2192"], "_citing_sentence": "For example, Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. assistant secretary of state for verification, stated on a visit to Lithuania: \"The point that I can most clearly repeat and underscore today for you is that NATO will protect NATO... I know that is a view that is shared by all NATO allies that NATO will protect NATO\".", "_claim_name": "NATO's European member states will continue to be safe because other members -principally the United States - will come to their defense if they are attacked.", "_doc_title": "NATO will protect its members with missile defence system | The Lithuania TribuneThe Lithuania Tribune", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Papers, Number 171 (London: International Institute f", "What will the spread of nuclear weapons do to the world ?", "I say ` spread rather than proliferation ' because so far nuclear weapons have proliferated only vertically as the major nuclear powers have added to their arsenals .", "Horizontally , they have spread slowly across countries , and the pace is not likely to change much .", "Short-term candidates for the nuclear club are not very numerous .", "and they are not likely to rush into the nuclear military business .", "Nuclear weapons will nevertheless spread , with a new member occasionally joining the club .", "Counting India and Israel , membership grew to seven in the first 35 years of the nuclear age .", "A doubling of membership in this decade would be surprising .", "Since rapid changes in international conditions can be unsettling , the slowness of the spread of nuclear weapons is fortunate .", "Someday the world will be populated by ten or twelve or eighteen nuclear-weapon states ( hereafter referred to as nuclear states ) .", "What the further spread of nuclear weapons will do to the world is therefore a compelling question .", "Most people believe that the world will become a more dangerous one as nuclear weapons spread .", "The chances that nuclear weapons will be fired in anger or accidentally exploded in a way that prompts a nuclear exchange are finite , though unknown .", "Those chances increase as the number of nuclear states increase .", "More is therefore worse .", "Most people also believe that the chances that nuclear weapons will be used vary with the character of the new nuclear states -- their sense of responsibility , inclination toward devotion to the status quo , political and administrative competence .", "If the supply of states of good character is limited as is widely thought , then the larger the number of nuclear states , the greater the chances of nuclear war become .", "If nuclear weapons are acquired by countries whose governments totter and frequently fall , should we not worry more about the world 's destruction then we do now ?", "And if nuclear weapons are acquired by two states that are traditional and bitter rivals , should that not also foster our concern ?", "Predictions on grounds such as the above point less to likelihoods and more to dangers that we can all imagine .", "They identify some possibilities among many , and identifying more of the possibilities would not enable one to say how they are likely to unfold in a world made different by the slow spread of nuclear weapons .", "We want to know both the likelihood that new dangers will manifest themselves and what the possibilities of their mitigation may be .", "We want to be able to see the future world , so to speak , rather than merely imagining ways in which it may be a better or a worse one .", "How can we predict more surely ?", "In two ways : by deducing expectations from the structure of the international political system and by inferring expectations from past events and patterns .", "With those two tasks accomplished in the first part of this paper , I shall ask in the second part whether increases in the number of nuclear states will introduce differences that are dangerous and destabilizing .", "The world has enjoyed more years of peace since 1945 than had been known in this century -- if peace is defined as the absence of general war among the major states of the world .", "Second World War followed the first one within twenty-one years .", "As of 1980 35 years had elapsed since the Allies ' victory over the Axis powers .", "Conflict marks all human affairs .", "In the past third of a century , conflict has generated hostility among states and has at times issued in violence among the weaker and smaller ones .", "Even though the more powerful states of the world have occasionally been direct participants , war has been confined geographically and limited militarily .", "Remarkably , general war has been avoided in a period of rapid and far-reaching changes -- decolonization ; the rapid economic growth of some states ; the formation .", "tightening , and eventual loosening of blocs ; the development of new technologies ; and the emergence of new strategies for fighting guerrilla wars and deterring nuclear ones .", "The prevalence of peace , together with the fighting of circumscribed wars , indicates a high ability of the post-war international system to absorb changes and to contain conflicts and hostility .", "Presumably features found in the post-war system that were not present earlier account for the world 's recent good fortune .", "The biggest changes in the post-war world are the shift from multipolarity to bipolarity and the introduction of nuclear weapons .", "The Effects of Bipolarity", "Bipolarity has produced two outstandingly good effects .", "They are seen by contrasting multipolar and bipolar worlds .", "First , in a multipolar world there are too many powers to permit any of them to draw clear and fixed lines between allies and adversaries and too few to keep the effects of defection low .", "With three or more powers , flexibility of alliances keeps relations of friendship and enmity fluid and makes everyone 's estimate of the present and future relation of forces uncertain .", "S6 long as the system is one of fairly small numbers , the actions of any of them may threaten the security of others .", "There are too many to enable anyone to see for sure what is happening .", "and too few to make what is happening a matter of indifference .", "In a bipolar world , the two great powers depend militarily mainly on themselves .", "This is almost entirely true at the strategic nuclear level , largely true at the tactical nuclear level , and partly true at the conventional level .", "In 1978 , for example , the", "Soviet Union 's military expenditures were over 90 % of the total for the Warsaw", "Treaty Organization , and those of the United States were about 60 % of the total for NATO .", "With a GNP 30 % as large as ours , West Germany 's expenditures were 11.5 % of the NATO total , and that is the second largest national contribution .", "Not only do we carry the main military burden within the alliance because of our disproportionate resources but also because we contribute disproportionately from those resources .", "In fact if not in form , NATO consists of guarantees given by the United States to her European allies and to Canada .", "The United States , with a preponderence of nuclear weapons and as many men in uniform as the West European states combined , may be able to protect them ; they can not protect her .", "Because of the vast differences in the capabilities of member states , the roughly equal sharing of burdens found in earlier alliance systems is no longer possible .", "States and the Soviet Union balance each other by ` internal ' instead of ` external ' means , relying on their own capabilities more than on the capabilities of allies .", "Internal balancing is more reliable and precise than external balancing .", "States are less likely to misjudge their relative strengths than they are to misjudge the strength and reliability of opposing coalitions .", "Rather than making states properly cautious and forwarding the chances of peace , uncertainty and miscalculation cause wars .", "In a bipolar world , uncertainty lessens and calculations are easier to make .", "The military might of both great powers makes quick and easy conquest impossible for either , and this is clearly seen .", "To respond rapidly to fine changes in the military balance is at once less important and more easily done .", "Second , in the great-power politics of a multipolar world , who is a danger to whom .", "and who can be expected to deal with threats and problems , are matters of uncertainty .", "Dangers are diffused , responsibilities blurred , and definitions of vital interest easily obscured .", "Because who is a danger to whom is often unclear , the incentive to regard all disequilibrating changes with concern and respond to them with whatever effort may be required is weakened .", "To respond rapidly to fine changes is at once more difficult , because of blurred responsibilities , and more important , because states live on narrow margins .", "Interdependence of parties , diffusion of dangers , confusion of responses : These are the characteristics of great-power politics in a multi polar world .", "In the great-power politics of a bipolar world , who is a danger to whom is never in doubt .", "Moreover , with only two powers capable of acting on a world scale , anything that happens anywhere is potentially of concern to both of them .", "Changes may affect each of the two powers differently , and this means all the more that few changes in the world at large or within each other 's national realm are likely to be thought irrelevant .", "Self-dependence of parties , clarity of dangers , certainty about who has to face them : These are characteristics of great-power politics in a bipolar world .", "Because responsibility is clearly fixed , and because relative power is easier to estimate .", "a bipolar world tends to be more peaceful than a multipolar world .", "Will the spread of nuclear weapons complicate international life by turning the bipolar world into a multipolar one ?", "The bipolar system has lasted more than three decades because no third state has developed capabilities comparable to those of the United", "States and the Soviet Union .", "The United States produces about a quarter of the world 's goods , and the Soviet Union about half as much .", "Unless Europe unites , the United States will remain economically well ahead of other states .", "And although Japan 's GNP is fast approaching the Soviet Union 's , Japan is not able to compete militarily with the super-powers .", "A state becomes a great power not by military or economic capability alone but by combining political , social , economic , military , and geographic assets in more effective ways than other states can .", "In the old days weaker powers could improve their positions through alliance by adding the strength of foreign armies to their own .", "Can not some of the middle states do together what they are unable to do alone ?", "For two decisive reasons , the answer is ` no ' .", "First , nuclear forces do not add up .", "The technology of warheads , of delivery vehicles , of detection and surveillance devices , of command and control systems , count more than the size of forces .", "Combining separate national forces is not much help .", "Second , to reach top technological levels would require lull collaboration by , say , several European states .", "To achieve this has proved politically impossible .", "As de Gaulle often said , nuclear weapons make alliances obsolete .", "At the strategic level he was right .", "States fear dividing their strategic labours fully -- from research and development through production , planning , and deployment .", "This is less because one of them might in the future be at war with another , and more because anyone 's decision to use the weapons against third parties might be fatal to all of them .", "Decisions to use nuclear weapons may be decisions to commit suicide .", "Only a national authority can be entrusted with the decision , again as de Gaulle always claimed .", "Only by merging and losing their political identities can middle states become great powers .", "The non-additivity of nuclear forces means that in our bipolar world efforts of lesser states can not tilt the strategic balance .", "Great powers are strong not simply because they have nuclear weapons but also because their immense resources enable them to generate and maintain power of all types .", "military and other , at strategic and tactical levels .", "Entering the great-power club was easier when great powers were larger in number and smaller in size .", "With fewer and bigger ones , barriers to entry have risen .", "The club will long remain the world 's most exclusive one .", "We need not fear that the spread of nuclear weapons will turn the world into a multipolar one .", "Nuclear weapons have been the second force working for peace in the post-war world .", "They make the cost of war seem frighteningly high and thus discourage states from starting any wars that might lead to the use of such weapons .", "Nuclear weapons have helped maintain peace between the great powers and have not led their few other possessors into military adventures .5 Their further spread , however , causes widespread fear .", "Much of the writing about the spread of nuclear weapons has this unusual trait : It tells us that what did no , happen in the past is likely to happen in the future , that tomorrow 's nuclear states are likely to do to one another what today 's nuclear states have not done .", "A happy nuclear past leads many to expect an unhappy nuclear future .", "This is odd , and the oddity leads me to believe that we should reconsider how weapons affect the situation of their possessors .", "The Military Logic of Self-Help Systems", "States coexist in a condition of anarchy .", "Self-help is the principle of action in an anarchic order , and the most important way in which states must help themselves is by providing for their own security .", "Therefore , in weighing the chances for peace , the first questions to ask are questions about the ends for which states use force and about the strategies and weapons they employ .", "The chances of peace rise if states can achieve their most important ends without actively using force .", "War becomes less likely as the costs of war rise in relation to possible gains .", "Strategies bring ends and means together .", "How nuclear weapons affect the chances for peace is seen by considering the possible strategies of states .", "Force may be used for offence , for defence , for deterrence , and for coercion .", "Consider offence first .", "Germany and France before World War 1 provide a classic case of two adversaries each neglecting its defence and both planning to launch major attacks at the outset of war .", "France favoured offence over defence , because only by fighting an offensive war could Alsace-Lorraine be reclaimed .", "This illustrates one purpose of the offence : namely , conquest .", "Germany favoured offence over defence .", "believing offence to be the best defence , or even the only defence possible .", "Hemmed in by two adversaries .", "she could avoid fighting a two-front war only by concentrating her forces in the West and defeating France before", "Russia could mobilize and move effectively into battle .", "This is what the", "Schlieffen plan called for .", "The Plan illustrates another purpose of the offence : namely , security .", "Even if security had been Germany 's only goal , an offensive strategy seemed to be the way to obtain it .", "The offence may have either or both of two aims : conquest and security .", "An offence may be conducted in either or in some combination of two ways : preventively or pre-emptively .", "If two countries are unequal in strength and the weaker is gaining , the stronger may be tempted to strike before its advantage is lost .", "Following this logic , a country with nuclear weapons may be tempted to destroy the nascent force of a hostile country .", "This would be preventive war , a war launched against a weak country before it can become disturbingly strong .", "The logic of pre-emption is different .", "Leaving aside the balance of forces , one country may strike another country 's offensive forces to blunt an attack that it presumes is about to be made .", "If each of two countries can eliminate or drastically reduce the other 's offensive forces in one surprise blow , tlien both of them are encouraged to mount sudden attacks , if only for fear that if one does not , the other will .", "Mutual vulnerability of forces leads to mutual fear of surprise attack by giving each power a strong incentive to strike first .", "French and German plans for war against each other emphasized prevention over preemption - to strike before enemies can become fully ready to fight , but not to strike at their forces in order to destroy them before they can be used to strike back .", "Whether pre-emptive or preventive , an offensive first strike is a hard one .", "as military logic suggests and history confirms Whoever strikes first does so to gain a decisive advantage .", "A pre-emptive strike is designed to eliminate or decisively reduce the opponent 's ability to retaliate .", "A preventive strike is designed to defeat an adversary before he can develop and deploy his full potential might .", "I should add , are not planned according to military logic alone .", "Political logic may lead a country another country to attack even in the absence of an expectation of military victory , as Egypt did in October of 1973 .", "How can one state dissuade another state from attacking ?", "In either or in some combination of two ways .", "One way to counter an intended attack is to build fortifications and to muster forces that look forbiddingly strong .", "To build defences so patently strong that no one will try to destroy or overcome them would make international life perfectly tranquil .", "I call this the defensive ideal .", "The other way to inhibit a country 's intended aggressive moves is to scare that country out of making them by threatening to visit unacceptable punishment upon it .", "` To deter ' literally means to stop someone from doing something by frightening him .", "In contrast to dissuasion by defence , dissuasion by deterrence operates by frightening a state out of attacking , not because of the difficulty of launching an attack and carrying it home , but because the expected reaction of the attacked will result in one 's own severe punishment .", "Defence and deterrence are often confused .", "One frequently hears statements like this : ' A strong defence in Europe will deter a", "What is meant is that a strong defence will dissuade Russia from attacking .", "Deterrence is achieved not through the ability to defend but through the ability to punish .", "Purely deterrent forces provide no defence .", "The message of a deterrent strategy is this : ` Although we are defenceless , if you attack we will punish you to an extent that more than cancels your gains ' .", "Second-strike nuclear forces serve that kind of strategy .", "Purely defensive forces provide no deterrence .", "They offer no means of punishment .", "The message of a defensive strategy is this : ` Although we can not strike back , you will find our defences so difficult to overcome that you will dash yourself to pieces against them ' .", "The Maginot Line was to serve that kind of strategy .", "States may also use force for coercion .", "One state may threaten to harm another state not to deter it from taking a certain action but to compel one .", "Napoleon III threatened to bombard", "Tripoli if the Turks did not comply with his demands for Roman Catholic control of the Palestinian Holy Places .", "This is blackmail , which can now be backed by conventional and by nuclear threats .", "Do nuclear weapons increase or decrease the chances of war ?", "The answer depends on whether nuclear weapons permit and encourage states to deploy forces in ways that make the active use of force more or less likely and in ways that promise to be more or less destructive .", "If nuclear weapons make the offence more effective and the blackmailer 's threat more compelling , then nuclear weapons increase the chances of war -- the more so the more widely they spread .", "Lf defence and deterrence are made easier and more reliable by the spread of nuclear weapons , we may expect the opposite result .", "To maintain their security , states must rely on the means they can generate and the arrangements they can make for themselves .", "The quality of international life therefore varies with the ease or the difficulty states experience in making themselves secure .", "Weapons and strategies change the situation of states in ways that make them more or less secure , as Robert", "Jervis has brilliantly shown .", "If weapons are not well suited for conquest , neighbours have more peace of mind .", "According to the defensive-deterrent ideal , we should expect war to become less likely when weaponry is such as to make conquest more difficult , to discourage pre-emptive and preventive war , and to make coercive threats less credible .", "Do nuclear weapons have those effects ?", "Some answers can be found by considering how nuclear deterrence and how nuclear defence may improve the prospects for peace .", "First , wars can be fought in the face of deterrent threats , but the higher the stakes and the closer a country moves toward winning them , the more surely that country invites retaliation and risks its own destruction .", "States are not likely to run major risks for minor gains .", "Wars between nuclear states may escalate as the loser uses larger and larger warheads .", "Fearing that.states will want to draw back .", "Not escalation but de-escalation becomes likely .", "War remains possible .", "but victory in war is too dangerous to fight for .", "If states can score only small gains because large ones risk retaliation , they have little incentive to fight .", "Second , states act with less care if the expected costs of war are low and with more care if they are high .", "In 1853 and 1854 , Britain and France expected to win an easy victory if they went to war against Russia .", "Prestige abroad and political popularity at home would be gained .", "if not much else .", "The vagueness of their plans was matched by the carelessness of their acts .", "In blundering into the Crimean War they acted hastily on scant information , pandered to their people 's frenzy for war , showed more concern for an ally 's whim than for the adversary 's situation , failed to specify the changes in behaviour that threats were supposed to bring .", "and inclined towards testing strength first and bargaining second .", "In sharp contrast , the presence of nuclear weapons makes States exceedingly cautious .", "Think of Kennedy and", "Khruschev in the Cuban missile crisis .", "Why fight if you ca n't win much and might lose everything ?", "Third , the question demands a negative answer all the more insistently when the deter rent deployment of nuclear weapons contributes more to a country 's security than does conquest of territory .", "A country with a deter-rent strategy does not need the extent of territory required by a country relying on a conventional defence in depth .", "A deterrent strategy makes it unnecessary for a country to fight for the sake of increasing its security , and this removes a major cause of war .", "Fourth , deterrent effect depends both on one 's capabilities and on the will one has to use them .", "The will of the attacked , striving to preserve its own territory , can ordinarily be presumed stronger than the will of the attacker striving to annex someone else 's territory .", "Knowing this , the would-be attacker is further inhibited .", "Certainty about the relative strength of adversaries also improves the prospects for peace .", "From the late nineteenth century onwards the speed of technological innovation increased the difficulty of estimating relative strengths and predicting the course of campaigns .", "World War II , technology has advanced even faster , but short of an antiballistic missile ( ABM ) breakthrough , this does not matter very much .", "It does not disturb the American-Russian equilibrium because one side 's missiles are not made obsolete by improvements in the other side 's missiles .", "In 1906 the British Dreadnought , with the greater range and fire power of its guns , made older battleships obsolete .", "This does not happen to missiles .", "As Bernard Brodie put it : ` Weapons that do not have to fight their like do not become useless because of the advent of newer and superior types '' .", "They do have to survive their like , but that is a much simpler problem to solve ( see discussion below ) .", "Many wars might have been avoided had their outcomes been foreseen .", "` To be sure , ' Georg Simmel once said , ` the most effective presupposition for preventing struggle , the exact knowledge of the comparative strength of the two parties , is very often only to be obtained by the actual fighting out of the conflict ' .", "Miscalculation causes wars .", "One side expects victory at an affordable price , while the other side hopes to avoid defeat .", "Here the differences between conventional-multipolar and nuclear-bipolar worlds are fundamental .", "In the former , states are too often tempted to act on advantages that are wishfully discerned and narrowly calculated .", "In 1914 , neither Germany nor France tried very hard to avoid a general war .", "Both hoped for victory even though they believed their forces to be quite evenly matched .", "In 1941 , Japan , in attacking the United States , could hope for victory only if a series of events that were possible but not highly probable took place .", "Japan would grab resources sufficient for continuing the conquest of", "China and then dig in to defend a limited perimeter .", "Meanwhile , the United", "States and Britain would have to deal with Germany , which , having defeated the", "Soviet Union , would be supreme in Europe .", "Japan could then hope to fight a defensive war for a year or two until America , her purpose weakened , became willing to make a compromise peace in Asia .", "Countries more readily run the risks of war when defeat , if it comes , is distant and is expected to bring only limited damage .", "Given such expectations , leaders do not have to be insane to sound the trumpet and urge their people to be bold and courageous in the pursuit of victory .", "The outcome of battles and the course of campaigns are hard to foresee because so many things affect them , including the shifting allegiance and determination of alliance members .", "Predicting the result of conventional wars has proved difficult .", "Uncertainty about outcomes does not work decisively against the fighting of wars in conventional worlds .", "Countries armed with conventional weapons go to war knowing that even in defeat their suffering will be limited .", "Calculations about nuclear war are differently made .", "Nuclear worlds call for and encourage a different kind of reasoning .", "If countries armed with nuclear weapons go to war , they do so knowing that their suffering may be unlimited .", "Of course , it also may not be .", "But that is not the kind of uncertainty that encourages anyone to use force .", "In a conventional world , one is uncertain about winning or losing .", "In a nuclear world , one is uncertain about surviving or being annihilated .", "If force is used and not kept within limits , catastrophe will result .", "That prediction is easy to make because it does not require close estimates of opposing forces .", "The number of one 's cities that can be severely damaged is at least equal to the number of strategic warheads an adversary can deliver .", "Variations of number mean little within wide ranges .", "The expected effect of the deterrent achieves an easy clarity because wide margins of error in estimates of probable damage do not matter .", "Do we expect to lose one city or two , two cities or ten ?", "When these are the pertinent questions , we stop thinking about running risks and start worrying about how to avoid them .", "In a conventional world , deterrent threats are ineffective because the damage threatened is distant , limited , and problematic .", "Nuclear weapons make military miscalculations difficult and politically pertinent prediction easy .", "Dissuading a would-be attacker by throwing up a good-looking defence may be as effective as dissuading him through deterrence .", "Beginning with President Kennedy and", "Secretary of Defense McNamara in the early 1960s , we have asked how we can avoid .", "or at least postpone , using nuclear weapons rather than how we c : an mount the most effective defence .", "NATO 's attempt to keep a defensive war conventional in its initial stage may guarantee that nuclear weapons , if used , will be used in a losing cause and in ways that multiply destruction without promising victory .", "Early use of very small warheads may stop escalation .", "Defensive deployment , if it should fail to dissuade , would bring small nuclear weapons into use before the physical , political and psychological environment had deteriorated .", "The chances of de-escalation are high if the use of nuclear weapons is carefully planned and their use is limited to the battlefield .", "We have rightly put strong emphasis on strategic deterrence , which makes large wars less likely , and wrongly slighted the question of whether nuclear weapons of low yield can effectively be used for defence , which would make any war at all less likely still .", "Lesser nuclear states , with choices tightly constrained by scarcity of resources , may be forced to make choices that NATO has avoided , to choose nuclear defence or nuclear deterrence rather than planning to fight a conventional war on a large scale and to use nuclear weapons only when conventional defences are breaking .", "Increased reliance on nuclear defence would decrease the credibility of nuclear deterrence .", "That would be acceptable if a nuclear defence were seen to be unassailable .", "An unassailable defence is fully dissuasive .", "Dissuasion is what is wanted whether by defence or by deterrence .", "The likelihood of war decreases as deterrent and defensive capabilities increase .", "Whatever the number of nuclear states , a nuclear world is tolerable if those states are able to send convincing deterrent messages : It is useless to attempt to conquer because you will be severely punished .", "A nuclear world becomes even more tolerable if states are able to send convincing defensive messages : It is useless to attempt to conquer because you can not .", "Nuclear weapons and an appropriate doctrine for their use may make it possible to approach the defensive-deterrent ideal , a condition that would cause the chances of war to dwindle .", "Concentrating attention on the destructive power of nuclear weapons has obscured the important benefits they promise to states trying to coexist in a self-help world .", "Why Nations Want Nuclear Weapons", "Nations want nuclear weapons for one or more of seven reasons .", "First , great powers always counter the weapons of other great powers , usually by imitating those who have introduced new weapons .", "It was not surprising that the Soviet Union developed atomic and hydrogen bombs , but rather that we thought the Baruch-Lilienthal plan might persuade her not to .", "Second , a state may want nuclear weapons for fear that its great-power ally will not retaliate if the other great power attacks .", "Although Britain when she became a nuclear power thought of herself as being a great one , her reasons for deciding later to maintain a nuclear force arose from doubts that the United States could be counted on to retaliate in response to an attack by the Soviet Union on Europe and from Britain 's consequent desire to place a finger on our nuclear trigger .", "As soon as the Soviet Union was capable of making nuclear strikes at American cities , West Europeans began to worry that America 's nuclear umbrella no longer ensured that her allies would stay dry if it rained .", "Hugh GaitskeIl , as Leader of the Opposition , could say what Harold Macmillan , as Prime Minister , dared not : ' I do not believe that when we speak of our having to have nuclear weapons of our own it is because we must make a contribution to the deterrent of the West ' .", "As he indicated , no contribution of consequence was made .", "Instead , he remarked , the desire for a nuclear force derives in large part ` from doubts about the readiness of the United States", "Government and the American citizens to risk the destruction of their cities on behalf of Europe ' .", "Similar doubts provided the strongest stimulus for France to become a nuclear power .", "Third , a country without nuclear allies will want nuclear weapons all the more if some of its adversaries have them .", "So China and then India became nuclear powers , and", "Pakistan will probably follow .", "Fourth , a country may want nuclear weapons because it lives in fear of its adversaries ' present or future conventional strength .", "This is reason enough for Israel 's nuclear weapons , which most authorities assume she either has at hand or can quickly assemble .", "Fifth , some countries may find nuclear weapons a cheaper and safer alternative to running economically ruinous and militarily dangerous conventional arms races .", "Nuclear weapons may promise increased security and independence at an affordable price .", "Sixth , countries may want nuclear weapons for offensive purposes .", "This , however , is an unlikely motivation for reasons given below .", "Finally , by building nuclear weapons a country may hope to enhance its international standing .", "This is thought to be both a reason for and a consequence of developing nuclear weapons .", "One may enjoy the prestige that comes with nuclear weapons , and indeed a yearning for glory was not absent from de Gaulle 's soul .", "But the nuclear military business is a serious one , and we may expect that deeper motives than desire for prestige lie behind the decision to enter it .", "Mainly for reasons two through five , new members will occasionally enter the nuclear club .", "Nuclear weapons will spread from one country to another in the future for the same reasons they have spread in the past .", "What effects may we expect ?", "Relations among Nuclear Nations In one important way nuclear weapons do change the relations of nations .", "Adversary states that acquire them are thereby made more cautious in their dealings with each other .", "For the most part , however , the relations of nations display continuity through their transition from non-nuclear to nuclear status .", "Relations between the United States and the new nuclear states were much the same before and after they exploded atomic devices , as Michael Nacht points out .", "Because America 's relations with other nations are based on complex historical , economic , political , and military considerations , they are not likely to change much when lesser parties decide to build nuclear forces .", "This continuity of relations suggests a certain ambivalence .", "The spread of nuclear weapons , though dreaded , prompts only mild reactions when it happens .", "Our ` special relationship ' with Britain led us to help her acquire and maintain nuclear forces .", "The distance tinged with distrust that marks our relations with France led us to oppose France 's similar endeavours .", "China 's nuclear forces neither prevented American-Chinese rapprochement earlier nor prompted it later .", "American-Indian relations worsened when America 'til ted ' toward Pakistan during the India-Pakistan War of 1971 .", "India 's nuclear explosion in 1974 neither improved nor worsened relations with the United States in the long term .", "Canada , we did not deny India access to our nuclear supplies .", "President Carter approved shipment of nuclear fuel to India despite her refusal to accept safeguards on all of her nuclear facilities , as required by the", "Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 , a provision that the President can waive under certain circumstances .", "In asking Congress not to oppose his waiving the requirement , the President said this . '", "` We must do all we reasonably can to promote stability in the area and to bolster our relations with States there , particularly those that can play a role in checking Soviet expansionism ' .", "Nor did Pakistan 's refusal to promise not to conduct nuclear tests prevent the", "United States from proposing to provide military aid after the Soviet Union 's invasion of Afghanistan in December of 1979 .", "Stopping the spread of nuclear weapons has had a high priority for American governments , but clearly not the highest .", "In practice , other interests have proved to be more pressing .", "This is evident in our relations with every country that has developed nuclear weapons , or appeared to be on the verge of doing so , from Britain onwards .", "One may expect that relations of friendship and enmity , that inclinations to help and to hinder , will carry over from the pre - to the post-nuclear relations of nations .", "What holds for the United", "States almost surely holds for the Soviet Union .", "The Soviet Union has strongly supported efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons .", "She has good reasons to do so .", "Many potential nuclear states are both nearby and hostile from West", "Germany through Pakistan to South Korea .", "Others , like Iraq and India , are nearby and friendly .", "In international politics , however , friendliness and hostility are transient qualities .", "No doubt the Soviet Union would prefer conventional to nuclear neighbours whatever their present leanings may be .", "But also , after the discredit earned in occupying Afghanistan , the Soviet Union would like to repair relations with third-world countries .", "If we had refused to supply nuclear fuel to India , would the Soviet Union have done so ?", "State Edmund Muskie and others thought so .", "For the Soviet Union , as for the United States , other interests may weigh more heavily than her interest in halting the spread of nuclear weapons .", "One may wonder , however , whether the quality of relations changes within alliances as some of their members become nuclear powers .", "Alliances relate nations to one another in specific and well defined ways .", "By acquiring nuclear weapons a country is said to erode , and perhaps to wreck , the alliance to which it belongs .", "In part this statement mistakes effects for causes .", "Alliances are weakened by the doubts of some countries that another country will risk committing national suicide through retaliation against a nuclear power that attacks an ally .", "Such doubts caused Britain to remain a nuclear power and France to become one , but it did not destroy NATO .", "The Alliance holds together because even its nuclear members continue to depend on the United States .", "They gain strength from their nuclear weapons but remain weak in conventional arms and continue to be vulnerable economically .", "In an unbalanced world , when the weak feel threatened , they seek aid and protection from the strong .", "The nuclear forces of Britain and France have their effects on the Alliance without ending dependence on the United", "Nuclear weapons were maintained by Britain and acquired by France at least in part as triggers for", "America 's strategic deterrent .", "Given a sense of uncertainty combined with dependence , Europeans understandably strive to fashion their forces so as to ensure our commitment .", "They also wish to determine the form the commitment takes and the manner of its execution .", "After all , an American choice about how to respond to threats in Europe is a choice that affects the lives of Europeans and may bring their deaths .", "Europeans want a large voice in American policies that may determine their destiny .", "By mounting nuclear weapons .", "France hope to decide when we will retaliate against the Soviet Union for acts committed in Europe .", "Since retaliation risks our destruction , we resist surrendering the decision .", "Alliances gain strength through a division of military labour .", "Within NATO , however , British and French duplication of American strategic nuclear weaponry on a minor scale adds little to the strength of NATO .", "The most striking division of labour is seen in the different ways European countries seek to influence American policy .", "Whether or not they are nuclear , lesser powers feeling.threatened will turn to , or remain associated with , one or another of the great powers .", "So long as West European countries fail to increase and concert their efforts , they remain weak and feel threatened .", "Countries that are weak and threatened will continue to rely on the support of more powerful ones and to hope that the latter will bear a disproportionate share of the burden .", "West European states have become accustomed to depending on the United States .", "Relations of dependency are hardest to break where dependent states can not shift from reliance on one great power to reliance on another .", "Under those circumstances , alliances endure even as nuclear weapons spread among their members .", "From NATO 'S experience we may conclude that alliances are not wrecked by the spread of nuclear weapons among their members .", "NATO accommodates both nuclear and conventional states in ways that continue to evolve .", "Past evidence does not support the fear that alliances , which have contributed an element of order to an anarchic world , are threatened by the spread of nuclear weapons .", "The Soviet Union wo n't permit the East", "European countries to become nuclear powers and the United States has accommodated two of her allies doing so , though uneasily in the case of France .", "The spread of nuclear weapons among members of an alliance changes relations among them without breaking alliances apart .", "Contemplating the nuclear past gives grounds for hoping that the world will survive if further nuclear powers join today 's six or seven .", "This tentative conclusion is called into question by the widespread belief that the infirmities of some nuclear states and the delicacy of their nuclear forces will work against the preservation of peace and for the fighting of nuclear wars .", "The likelihood of avoiding destruction as more states become members of the nuclear club is often coupled with the question who those states will be .", "What are the likely differences in situation and behaviour of new as compared to old nuclear powers ?", "Nuclear Weapons and Domestic Stability", "What are the principal worries ?", "Because of the importance of controlling nuclear weapons -- of keeping them firmly in the hands of reliable officials -- rulers of nuclear states may become more authoritarian and ever more given to secrecy .", "Moreover , some potential nuclear states are not politically strong and stable enough to ensure control of the weapons and of the decision to use them .", "If neighhouring , hostile , unstable states are armed with nuclear weapons , each will fear attack by the other .", "Feelings of insecurity may lead to arms races that subordinate civil needs to military necessities .", "Fears are compounded by the danger of internal coups in which the control of nuclear weapons may he the main object of the struggle and the key to political power .", "Under these fearful circumstances to maintain governmental authority and civil order may be impossible .", "The legitimacy of the state and the loyalty of its citizenry may dissolve because the state is no longer thought to be capable of maintaining external security and internal order .", "The first fear is that states become tyrannical ; the second , that they lose control .", "Both these fears may be realized , either in different states or , indeed , in the same state at different times .", "What can one say ?", "Four things primarily .", "First , Possession of nuclear weapons may slow arms races down , rather than speed them up , a possibility considered later .", "Second , for less developed countries to build nuclear arsenals requires a long lead time .", "Nuclear power and nuclear weapons programmes , like population policies , require administrative and technical teams able to formulate and sustain programmes of considerable cost that pay off only in the long run .", "The more unstable a government , the shorter becomes the attention span of its leaders .", "They have to deal with today 's problems and hope for the best tomorrow .", "In countries where political control is most difficult to maintain , governments are least likely to initiate nuclear-weapons programmes .", "In such states , soldiers help to maintain leaders in power or try to overthrow them .", "For those purposes nuclear weapons are not useful .", "Soldiers who have political clout , or want it , are less interested in nuclear weapons than they are in more immediately useful instruments of political control .", "They are not scientists and technicians .", "They like to command troops and squadrons .", "Their vested interests are in the military 's traditional trappings .", "Third , although highly unstable states are unlikely to initiate nuclear projects , such projects , begun in stable times , may continue through periods of political turmoil and succeed in producing nuclear weapons .", "A nuclear state may be unstable or may become so .", "But what is hard to comprehend is why , in an internal struggle for power , any of the contenders should start using nuclear weapons .", "Who would they aim at ?", "How would they use them as instruments for maintaining or gaining control ?", "I see little more reason to fear that one faction or another in some less developed country will fire atomic weapons in a struggle for political power than that they will be used in a crisis of succession in the Soviet Union or", "One or another nuclear state will experience uncertainty of succession , fierce struggles for power , and instability of regime .", "Those who fear the worst have not shown with any plausibility how those expected events may lead to the use of nuclear weapons .", "Fourth , the possibility of one side in a civil war firing a nuclear warhead at its opponent 's stronghold nevertheless remains .", "Such an act would produce a national tragedy .", "not an international one .", "This question then arises : Once the weapon is fired , what happens next ?", "The domestic use of nuclear weapons is , of all the uses imaginable , least likely to lead to escalation and to threaten the stability of the central balance .", "The United States and the Soviet Union , and other countries as well , would have the strongest reasons to issue warnings and to assert control .", "Nuclear weapons and regional stability", "Nuclear weapons are not likely to be used at home .", "Are they likely to be used abroad ?", "As nuclear weapons spread , what new causes may bring effects different from and worse than those known earlier in the nuclear age ?", "This section considers five ways in which the new world is expected to differ from the old and then examines the prospects for , and the consequences of , new nuclear states using their weapons for blackmail or for fighting an offensive war .", "In what ways may the actions and interactions of new nuclear states differ from those of old nuclear powers ?", "new nuclear states may come in hostile pairs and share a common border .", "Where States are bitter enemies one may fear that they will be unable to resist using their nuclear weapons against each other .", "This is a worry about the future that the past does not disclose .", "The Soviet Union and the United", "States , and the Soviet Union and China , are hostile enough ; and the latter pair share a long border .", "Nuclear weapons have caused China and the Soviet Union to deal cautiously with each other .", "But bitterness among some potential nuclear states , so it is said , exceeds that experienced by the old ones .", "Playing down the bitterness sometimes felt by the United States , the Soviet Union , and China requires a creative reading of history .", "Moreover , those who believe that bitterness causes wars assume a close association that is seldom found between bitterness among nations and their willingness to run high risks .", "Second , some new nuclear states may have governments and societies that are not well rooted .", "If a country is a loose collection of hostile tribes , if its leaders form a thin veneer atop a people partly nomadic and with an authoritarian history , its rulers may be freer of constraints than , and have different values from , those who rule older and more fully developed polities .", "Idi Amin and Muammar el-Qaddafi fit into these categories , and they are favourite examples of the kinds of rulers who supposedly can not be trusted to manage nuclear weapons responsibly .", "Despite wild rhetoric ; aimed at foreigners , however , both of these ` irrational ' rulers became cautious and modest when punitive actions against them might have threatened their ability to rule .", "Even though Amin lustily slaughtered members of tribes he disliked , he quickly stopped goading Britain once the sending of her troops appeared to be a possibility .", "Qaddafi has shown similar restraint .", "He and Anwar Sadat have been openly hostile since 1973 .", "In July of 1977 both sides launched commando attacks and air raids , including two large air strikes by Egypt on Libya 's el Adem airbase .", "Neither side let the attacks get out of hand .", "Qaddafi showed himself to he forbearing and amenable to mediation by other Arab leaders .", "Shai Feldman uses these and other examples to argue that Arab leaders are deterred from taking inordinate risks not because they engage in intricate rational calculations but simply because they , like other rulers , are ` sensitive to costs ' .", "Many Westerners who write fearfully about a future in which third-world countries have nuclear weapons seem to view their people in the once familiar imperial manner as ` lesser breeds without the law ' .", "As is usual with ethnocentric views , speculation takes the place of evidence .", "How do we know , someone has asked , that a nuclear-armed and newly hostile Egypt or a nuclear-armed and still hostile", "Syria would not strike to destroy Israel at the risk of Israeli bombs falling on some of their cities ?", "More than a quarter of Egypt 's people live in four cities : Cairo , Alexandria , Giza , and Aswan .", "More than a quarter of Syria 's live in three : Damascus .", "Aleppo , and Homs .", "What government would risk sudden losses of such proportion or indeed of much lesser proportion ?", "Rulers want to have a country that they can continue to rule .", "Some Arab country might wish that some other Arab country would risk its own destruction for the sake of destroying Israel , but there is no reason to think that any Arab country would do so .", "One may be impressed that , despite ample bitterness , Israelis and Arabs have limited their wars and accepted constraints placed on them by others .", "Arabs did not marshal their resources and make an all-out effort to destroy Israel in the years before Israel could strike back with nuclear warheads .", "We can not expect countries to risk more in the presence of nuclear weapons than they have in their absence .", "many fear that states that are radical at home will recklessly use their nuclear weapons in pursuit of revolutionary ends abroad .", "States that are radical at home .", "however , may not be radical abroad .", "Few states have been radical in the conduct of their foreign policy , and fewer have remained so for long .", "Think of the Soviet Union and the People 's Republic of China .", "States coexist in a competitive arena .", "The pressures of competition cause them to behave in ways that make the threats they face manageable , in ways that enable them to get along .", "States can remain radical in foreign policy only if they are overwhelmingly strong -- as none of the new nuclear states will be -- or if their radical acts fall short of damaging vital interests of nuclear powers .", "States that acquire nuclear weapons will not be regarded with indifference .", "States that want to be freewheelers have to stay out of the nuclear business .", "A nuclear Libya , for example , would have to show caution , even in rhetoric , lest she suffer retaliation in response to someone else 's anonymous attack on a third state .", "That state , ignorant of who attacked , might claim that its intelligence agents had identified Libya as the culprit and take the opportunity to silence her by striking a conventional or nuclear blow .", "Nuclear weapons induce caution , especially in weak states .", "Fourth , while some worry about nuclear states coming in hostile pairs , others worry that the bipolar pattern will not be reproduced regionally in a world populated by larger numbers of nuclear states .", "The simplicity of relations that obtains when one party has to concentrate its worry on only one other , and the ease of calculating forces and estimating the dangers they pose , may be lost .", "The structure of international politics , however , will remain bipolar so long as no third state is able to compete militarily with the great powers .", "Whatever the structure , the relations of states run in various directions .", "This applied to relations of deterrence as soon as Britain gained nuclear capabilities .", "It has not weakened deterrence at the centre and need not do so regionally .", "Soviet Union now has to worry lest a move made in Europe cause France and Britain to retaliate , thus possibly setting off American forces .", "She also has to worry about China 's forces .", "Such worries at once complicate calculations and strengthen deterrence .", "Fifth , in some of the new nuclear states , civil control of the military maybe shaky .", "Nuclear weapons may fall into the hands of military officers more inclined than civilians to put them to offensive use .", "This again is an old worry .", "I can see no reason to think that civil control of the military is secure in the Soviet Union given the occasional presence of serving officers in the Politburo and some known and some surmised instances of military intervention in civil affairs at critical times .", "And in the People 's Republic of", "China military and civil branches of government have been not separated but fused .", "Although one may prefer civil control , preventing a highly destructive war does not require it .", "What is required is that decisions be made that keep destruction within bounds , whether decisions are made by civilians or soldiers .", "Soldiers may he more cautious than civilians .", "Generals and admirals do not like uncertainty , and they do not lack patriotism .", "They do not like to fight conventional wars under unfamiliar conditions .", "The offensive use of nuclear weapons multiplies uncertainties .", "Nobody knows what a nuclear battlefield would look like , and nobody knows what happens after the first city is hit .", "Uncertainiy about the course that a nuclear war might follow , along with the certainty that destruction can he immense , strongly inhibits the first use of nuclear weapons .", "Examining the supposedly unfortunate characteristics of new nuclear states removes some of one 's worries .", "One wonders why their civil and military leaders should be less interested in avoiding self-destruction than leaders of other states have been .", "Nuclear weapons have never been used in a world in which two or more states possessed them .", "Still , one 's feeling that something awful will happen as new nuclear powers are added to the present group is not easily quieted .", "The fear remains that one state or another will fire its weapons in a coolly calculated pre-emptive strike , or fire them in a moment of panic , or use them to launch a preventive war .", "These possibilities are examined in the next section .", "Nuclear weapons may also back a policy of blackmail , or be set off anonymously , or be used in a combined conventional-nuclear attack .", "Consider blackmail first .", "Two conditions make for the success of nuclear blackmail .", "First , when only one country had nuclear weapons , threats to use them had more effect .", "President Truman 's nuclear threats may have levered the Soviet Union 's troops out of Azerbaijan in 1946 .", "Second , if a country has invested troops and suffered losses in a conventional war , its nuclear blackmail may work .", "In 1953 , Eisenhower and Dulles may have convinced Russia and China that they would widen the Korean War and intensify it by using nuclear weapons if a settlement were not reached .", "In Korea , we had gone so far that the threat to go further was plausible .", "The blackmailer 's nuclear threat is not a cheap way of working one 's will .", "The threat is simply incredible unless a considerable investment has already been made .", "Dulles 's speech of 12 January 1954 seemed to threaten massive retaliation in response to mildly bothersome actions by others .", "The successful seige of Dien Bien Pbu in the spring of that year showed the limitations of such threats .", "Capabilities foster policies that employ them .", "But monstrous capabilities foster monstrous policies , which when contemplated are seen to be too horrible to carry through .", "Imagine an Arab state threatening to strike Tel Aviv if the West Bank is not evacuated by Israelis .", "No state can make the threat with credibility because no state can expect to execute the threat without danger to themselves .", "Some have feared that nuclear weapons may be fired anonymously -- by radical Arab states , for example , to attack an Israeli city so as block a peace settlement .", "But the state exploding the warhead could not be sure of remaining unidentified .", "Even if a country 's leaders persuade themselves that chances of retaliation are low , who would run the risk ?", "Once two or more countries have nuclear weapons , the response to nuclear threats , even against non-nuclear states , becomes unpredictable .", "Although nuclear weapons are poor instruments for blackmail , would they not provide a cheap and decisive offensive force against a conventionally armed enemy ?", "Some people think that", "South Korea wants , and that earlier the Shah 's Iran had wanted , nuclear weapons for offensive use , Yet one can not say why South Korea would use nuclear weapons against fellow Koreans while trying to reunite them nor how she could use nuclear weapons against the North , knowing that China and Russia might retaliate .", "And what goals could a conventionally strong Iran have entertained that would have tempted her to risk using nuclear weapons ?", "A country that takes the nuclear offensive has to fear an appropriately punishing strike by someone .", "Far from lowering the expected cost of aggression , a nuclear offence even against a non-nuclear state raises the possible costs of aggression to incalculable heights because the aggressor can not be sure of the reaction of other nuclear powers .", "Nuclear weapons do not make nuclear war a likely prospect , as history has so far shown .", "The point made when discussing the domestic use of nuclear weapons , however , bears repeating .", "No one can say that nuclear weapons will never be used .", "Their use , although unlikely , is always possible .", "In asking what the spread of nuclear weapons will do to the world , we are asking about the effects to be expected as a larger number of relatively weak states get nuclear weapons .", "If such states use nuclear weapons , the world will not end .", "And the use of nuclear weapons by lesser powers would hardly trigger them elsewhere , with the US and the USSR becoming involved in ways that might shake the central balance .", "A number of problems arc thought to attend the efforts of minor powers to use nuclear weapons for deterrence .", "In this section , I ask how hard these problems are for new nuclear states to solve .", "The Forces Required for Deterrence In considering the physical requirements of deterrent forces , we should recall the difference between prevention and pre-emption .", "A preventive war is launched by a stronger state against a weaker one that is thought to be gaining strength .", "A pre-emptive strike is launched by one state to blunt an attack that another state is presumably preparing to launch .", "The first danger posed by the spread of nuclear weapons would seem to be that each new nuclear state may tempt an old one to strike preventively in order to destroy an embryonic nuclear capability before it can become militarily effective .", "Because of America 's nuclear arsenal , the Soviet Union could hardly have destroyed the budding forces of Britain and France ; but the United States could have struck the", "Soviet Union 's early nuclear facilities , and the United States and the Soviet", "Union could have struck China 's .", "Such preventive strikes have been treated as more than abstract possibilities .", "When Francis P. Matthews was President", "Truman 's Secretary of the Navy , he made a speech that seemed to favour our waging a preventive war .", "The United States , he urged , should be willing to pay ` even the price of instituting a war to compel cooperation for peace ' .", "The United States and the", "Soviet Union considered making preventive strikes against China early in her nuclear career .", "Preventive strikes against nuclear installations can also be made by non-nuclear states and have sometimes been threatened .", "Nasser warned Israel in 1960 that Egypt would attack if she were sure that Israel was building a bomb .", "` It is inevitable ' , he said , ` that we should attack the base of aggression , even if we have to mobilize four million to destroy it ' .", "The uneven development of the forces of potential and of new nuclear states creates occasions that seem to permit preventive strikes and may seem to invite them .", "Two stages of nuclear development should be distinguished .", "First , a country may be in an early stage of nuclear development and be obviously unable to make nuclear weapons .", "Second , a country may be in an advanced stage of nuclear development , and whether or not it has some nuclear weapons may not be surely known .", "All of the present nuclear countries went through both stages , yet until Israel struck Iraq 's nuclear facility in June of 1981 no one had launched a preventive strike .", "A number of reasons combined may account for the reluctance of States to strike in order to prevent adversaries from developing nuclear forces .", "A preventive strike would seem to be most promising during the first stage of nuclear development .", "A state could strike without fearing that the country it attacked would return a nuclear blow .", "But would one strike so hard as to destroy the very potential for future nuclear development ?", "If not , the country struck could simply resume its nuclear career .", "If the blow struck is less than devastating , one must be prepared to repeat it or to occupy and control the country .", "To do either would be difficult and costly .", "In striking Iraq , Israel showed that a preventive strike can be made , something that was not in doubt .", "Israel 's act and its consequences however , make clear that the likelihood of useful accomplishment is low .", "Israel 's strike increased the determination of", "Arabs to produce nuclear weapons .", "Arab states that may attempt to do so will now be all the more secretive and circumspect .", "Israel 's strike , far from foreclosing Iraq 's nuclear future , gained her the support of some other Arab states in pursuing it .", "And despite Prime Minister Begin 's vow to strike as often as need be , the risks in doing so would rise with each occasion .", "A preventive strike during the second stage of nuclear development is even less promising than a preventive strike during the first stage .", "As more countries acquire nuclear weapons , and as more countries gain nuclear competence through power projects , the difficulties and dangers of making preventive strikes increase .", "To know for sure that the country attacked has not already produced or otherwise acquired some deliverable warheads becomes increasingly difficult .", "If the country attacked has even a rudimentary nuclear capability , one 's own severe punishment becomes possible .", "Fission bombs may work even though they have not been tested , as was the case with the bomb dropped on Hiroshima .", "Israel has apparently not tested weapons , yet Egypt cannot know whether Israel has zero , ten , or twenty warheads .", "And if the number is zero and Egypt can be sure of that , she would still not know how many days are required for assembling components that may be on hand .", "Preventive strikes against states that have , or may have , nuclear weapons are hard to imagine , but what about pre-emptive ones ?", "The new worry in a world in which nuclear weapons have spread is that states of limited and roughly similar capabilities will use them against one another .", "They do not want to risk nuclear devastation anymore than we do .", "Preemptive strikes nevertheless seem likely because we assume that their forces will be ` delicate ' .", "With delicate forces , states are tempted to launch disarming strikes before their own forces can be struck and destroyed .", "To be effective a deterrent force must meet three requirements .", "First , a part of the force must appear to be able to survive an attack and launch one of its own .", "Second , survival of the force must not require early firing in response to what may be false alarms .", "Third , weapons must not be susceptible to accidental and unauthorized use .", "Nobody wants vulnerable .", "hair-trigger , accident-prone forces .", "Will new nuclear states find ways to hide their weapons , to deliver them , and to control them ?", "Will they be able to deploy and manage nuclear weapons in ways that meet the physical requirements of deterrent forces ?", "The United States even today worries about the vulnerability of its vast and varied arsenal .", "Will not new nuclear states , slightly and crudely armed , be all the more worried about the survival of their forces ?", "In recent years , we have exaggerated the difficulty of deterrence by shifting attention from situations to weaponry and from weapons systems to their components .", "Some Americans are concerned about the vulnerability of our strategic system because its land-based component can be struck and perhaps largely destroyed by the Soviet Union in the middle 1980s .", "If the Soviet Union tried that , we would still have thousands of warheads at sea and thousands of bombs in the air .", "The Soviet Union could not be sure that we would fail to launch on warning or fail to retaliate later .", "Uncertainty deters , arid there would be plenty of uncertainty about our response in the minds of the Soviet Union 's leaders .", "In McNamara 's day and earlier the term ` counterforce ' had a clear and precise meaning .", "Country A was said to have a counterforce capability if by striking first it could reduce country B 's missiles and bombers to such small numbers that country A would be reluctantly willing to accept the full force of B 's retaliation .", "In this respect , as in others , strategic discourse now lacks the clarity and precision it once had .", "Whether in a conventional or a nuclear world , one can not usefully compare some components of a nation 's military forces without taking account of what other components can do .", "Both the United States and the Soviet Union have strategic nuclear weapons that can destroy some of the other sides strategic nuclear weapons .", "Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union can reduce the other side 's strategic forces to the point where it no longer retains an immense capability for striking at cities and a considerable capability for striking at military targets as well .", "That we have ten thousand warheads to the Soviet Union 's six thousand makes us no worse and no better off than we were when the ratio was even more favourable .", "That the throw-weight of the Soviet Union 's missiles exceeds ours by several times makes us no better and no worse off than it would be were the ratio to be reversed .", "Deterrent forces are seldom delicate because no state wants delicate forces and nuclear forces can easily be made sturdy .", "Nuclear weapons are fairly small and light .", "They are easy to hide and to move .", "Early in the nuclear age , people worried about atomic bombs being concealed in packing boxes and placed in holds of ships to be exploded when a signal was given .", "Now more than ever people worry about terrorists stealing nuclear warheads because various states have so many of them .", "Everybody seems to believe that terrorists are capable of hiding bombs .", "Why should states be unable to do what terrorist gangs are though to be capable of ?", "It is sometimes claimed that the few bombs of a new nuclear state create a greater danger of nuclear war than additional thousands for the United States and the Soviet Union .", "Such statements assume that pre-emption of a small force is easy .", "It is so only if the would-be attacker knows that the intended victim 's warheads are few in number , knows their exact number and locations , and knows that they will not be moved or fired before they are struck .", "To know all of these things , and to know that you know them for sure , is exceedingly difficult .", "How can military advisers promise the full success of a disarming first strike when the penalty for slight error may be so heavy ?", "In 1962 , Tactical Air Command promised that an American strike against Soviet missiles in Cuba would certainly destroy 90 % of them but would not guarantee 100 % .", "In the best case a first strike destroys all of a country 's deliverable weapons .", "In the worst case , some survive and can still be delivered .", "If the survival of nuclear weapons requires their dispersal and concealment , do not problems of command and control become harder to solve ?", "Americans think so because we think in terms of large nuclear arsenals .", "Small nuclear powers will neither have them nor need them .", "Lesser nuclear states might deploy , say , ten real weapons and ten dummies , while permitting other countries to infer that the numbers are larger .", "The adversary need only believe that some warheads may survive his attack and be visited on him .", "That belief should not be hard to create without making command and control unreliable .", "All nuclear countries must live through a time when their forces are crudely designed .", "All countries have so far been able to control them .", "Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union .", "and later among the United States , the Soviet Union , and China , were at their bitterest just when their nuclear forces were in early stages of development , were unbalanced , were crude and presumably hard to control .", "Why should we expect new nuclear states to experience greater difficulties than the old ones were able to cope with ?", "Moreover , although some of the new nuclear states may be economically and technically backward , they will either have an expert and highly trained group of scientists and engineers or they will not produce nuclear weapons .", "Even if they buy the weapons , they will have to hire technicians to maintain and control them .", "We do not have to wonder whether they will take good care of their weapons .", "They have every incentive to do so .", "They will not want to risk retaliation because one or more of their warheads accidentally strikes another country .", "Hiding nuclear weapons and keeping them under control are tasks for which the ingenuity of numerous states is adequate .", "Nor are means of delivery difficult to devise or procure .", "Bombs can be driven in by trucks from neighbouring countries .", "Ports can be torpedoed by small boats lying off shore .", "Moreover , a thriving arms trade in ever more sophisticated military equipment provides ready access to what may be wanted , including planes and missiles suited nuclear warhead delivery", "Lesser nuclear states can pursue deterrent strategies effectively .", "Deterrence requires the ability to inflict unacceptable damage on another country .", "` Unacceptable damage ' to the", "Soviet Union was variously defined by Robert McNamara as requiring the ability to destroy a fifth to a fourth of ' her population and a half to two-thirds of her industrial capacity .", "American estimates of what is required for deterrence have been absurdly high .", "To deter , a country need not appear to be able to destroy a fourth to a half of another country , although in some cases that might be easily done .", "Would Libya try to destroy Israel 's nuclear weapons at the risk of two bombs surviving to fall on Tripoli and Bengazi ?", "And what would be left of Israel if Tel Aviv and Haifa were destroyed ?", "The weak can deter one another .", "But can the weak deter the strong ?", "Raising the question of China 's ability to deter the Soviet Union highlights the issue .", "The population and industry of most States concentrate in a relatively small number of centres .", "This is true of the Soviet Union .", "A major attack on the top ten cities of the", "Soviet Union would get 25 % of its industrial capacity and 25 % of its urban population .", "Geoffrey Kemp in 1974 concluded that China would probably be able to strike on that scale .", "And , I emphasize again , China need only appear to be able to do it .", "A low probability of carrying a highly destructive attack home is sufficient for deterrence .", "A force of an imprecisely specifiable minimum capability is nevertheless needed .", "In a 1979 study , Justin Galen ( pseud . )", "wonders whether the Chinese have a force physically capable of deterring the Soviet Union .", "He estimates that China has 60 to 80 medium-range and 60 to 80 intermediate-range missiles of doubtful reliability and accuracy and 80 obsolete bombers .", "He rightly points out that the missiles may miss their targets even if tired at cities and that the bombers may not get through the", "Soviet Union 's defences .", "Moreover , the Russians may be able to pre-empt , having almost certainly ` located virtually every Chinese missile , aircraft , weapons storage area and production facility ' .", "But surely Russian leaders reason the other way around .", "To locate virtually all missiles and aircraft is not good enough .", "Despite inaccuracies , a few Chinese missiles may hit", "Russian cities , and some bombers may get through .", "Not much is required to deter .", "What political-military objective is worth risking Vladivostock ,", "and Tomsk , with no way of being sure that Moscow will not go as well ?", "Prevention and pre-emption are difficult games because the costs are so high if the games are not perfectly played .", "Inhibitions against using nuclear forces for such attacks are strong , although one can not say they are absolute .", "Some of the inhibitions are simply human .", "Can country A find justification for a preventive or pre-emptive strike against B if B , in acquiring nuclear weapons , is imitating A ?", "The leader of a country that launches a preventive or preemptive strike courts condemnation by his own people , by the world 's people , and by history .", "Awesome acts are hard to perform .", "Some of the inhibitions are political .", "As Bernard Brodie tirelessly and wisely said , war has to find a political objective that is commensurate with its cost .", "Clausewitz 's central tenet remains valid in the nuclear age .", "Ultimately , the inhibitions lie in the impossibility of knowing for sure that a disarming strike will totally destroy an opposing force and in the immense destruction even a few warheads can wreak .", "The Credibility of Small Deterrent Forces", "The credibility of weaker countries ' deterrent threats has two faces .", "The first is physical .", "Will such countries be able to construct and protect a deliverable force ?", "We have found that they can readily do so .", "The second is psychological .", "Will an adversary believe that retaliation threatened will be carried out ?", "Deterrent threats backed by second-strike nuclear forces raise the expected costs of war to such heights that war becomes unlikely .", "But deterrent threats may not be credible .", "In a world where two or more countries can make them , the prospect of mutual devastation makes it difficult , or irrational , to execute threats should the occasion for doing so arise .", "Would it not be senseless to risk suffering further destruction once a deterrent force had failed to deter ?", "Believing that it would be , an adversary may attack counting on the attacked country 's unwillingness to risk initiating a devastating exchange by its own retaliation .", "Why retaliate once a threat to do so has failed ?", "If one 's policy is to rely on forces designed to deter , then an attack that is nevertheless made shows that one 's reliance was misplaced .", "The course of wisdom may be to pose a new question : What is the best policy once deterrence has failed ?", "One gains nothing by destroying an enemy 's cities .", "Instead , in retaliating , one may prompt the enemy to unleash more warheads .", "A ruthless aggressor may strike believing that the leaders of the attacked country are capable of following such a ` rational ' line of thought .", "To carry out the threat that was ` rationally ' made may be ` irrational ' .", "This old worry achieved new prominence as the strategic capabilities of the Soviet Union approached those of ' the United States in the middle 1970s .", "The Soviet Union , some feared , might believe that the United States would be self-deterred .", "Much of the literature on deterrence emphasizes the problem of achieving the credibility on which deterrence depends and the danger of relying on a deterrent of uncertain credibility .", "One earlier solution to the problem was found in Thomas Sche!ling 's notion of ` the threat that leaves something to chance ' .", "No state can know for sure that another state will refrain from retaliating even when retaliation would be irrational .", "No state can bet heavily on another state 's rationality .", "Bernard Brodie put the thought more directly , while avoiding the slippery notion of rationality .", "Rather than ask what it may be rational or irrational for governments to do , the question he asked , and repeated in various ways over the years , was this : How do governments behave in the presence of awesome dangers ?", "His answer was ` very carefully ' .", "To ask why a country should carry out its deterrent threat once deterrence has failed is to ask the wrong question .", "The question suggests that an aggressor may attack believing that the attacked country may not retaliate .", "This invokes the conventional logic that analysts find so hard to forsake .", "In a conventional world , a country can sensibly attack if it believes that success is probable .", "In a nuclear world , a country can not sensibly attack unless it believes that success is assured .", "An attacker is deterred even if he believes only that the attacked may retaliate .", "Uncertainty of response , not certainty , is required for deterrence because , if retaliation occurs , one risks losing all .", "In a nuclear world , we should look less at the retaliators conceivable inhibitions and more at the challenger 's obvious risks .", "One may nevertheless wonder , as Americans recently have , whether retaliatory threats remain credible if the strategic forces of the attacker are superior to those of the attacked .", "Will an unsuccessful defender in a conventional war nave the courage to unleash its deterrent force , using nuclear weapons first against a country having superior strategic forces ?", "Once more this asks the wrong question .", "The previous paragraph urged the importance of shifting attention from the defender 's possible inhibitions to the aggressor 's unwillingness to run extreme risks .", "This paragraph urges the importance of shifting attention from the defender 's courage to the different valuations that defenders and attackers place on the stakes .", "An attacked country will ordinarily value keeping its own territory more highly than an attacker will value gaining some portion of ' it .", "Given second-strike capabilities , it is not the balance of forces but the courage to use them that counts .", "The balance or imbalance of strategic forces affects neither the calculation of danger nor the question of whose will is the stronger .", "Second-strike forces have to be seen in absolute terms .", "The question of whose interests are paramount will then determine whose will is perceived as being the stronger .", "Emphasizing the importance of the ` balance of resolve ' , to use Glenn Snyder 's apt phrase , raises questions about what a deterrent force covers and what it does not .", "In answering these questions , we can learn something from the experience of the last three decades .", "The United States and the Soviet Union limited and modulated their provocative acts , the more carefully so when major values for one side or the other were at issue .", "This can be seen both in what they have and in what they have not done .", "Whatever support the Soviet Union gave to North Korea 's initial attack on the South was given after Secretary of State Acheson , the Joint", "Chiefs of Staff , General MacArthur , and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign", "Relations Committee all explicitly excluded both South Korea and Taiwan from", "America 's defence perimeter .", "The United States , to take another example , could fight for years on a large scale in South-East ASia because neither success nor failure mattered much internationally .", "Victory would not have made the world one of American hegemony .", "Defeat would not have made the world one of Russian hegemony .", "No vital interest of either great power was at stake , as both", "Kissinger and Brezhnev made clear at the time .", "One can fight without fearing escalation only where little is at stake .", "And that is where the deterrent does not deter .", "Actions at the periphery can safely be bolder than actions at the centre .", "In contrast , where much is at stake for one side , the other side moves with care .", "Trying to win where winning would bring the central balance into question threatens escalation and becomes too risky to contemplate .", "The United States is circumspect when East European crises impend .", "Thus Secretary of State Dulles assured the Soviet Union when", "Hungarians rebelled in October of 1956 that we would not interfere with efforts to suppress them .", "And the Soviet Union 's moves in the centre of Europe are carefully controlled .", "Thus her probes in Berlin have been tentative , reversible , and ineffective .", "Strikingly , the long border between East and West", "Europe -- drawn where borders earlier proved unstable -- has been free even of skirmishes in all of the years since the Second World War .", "Both of the nuclear great powers become watchful and wary when events occur that may get out of control .", "The strikes by Polish workmen that began in August of 1980 provide the most recent illustration of this .", "The Soviet Union , her diplomats privately said , was ` determined to find a peaceful solution ' .", "And a senior Carter", "Administration specialist on the Soviet Union was quoted as follows : ` it is a very explosive situation .", "Everyone is aware of it , and they are all reluctant to strike a match ' .", "Even though many steps would intervene between workers ' strikes and the beginning of any fighting at all in the Centre of Europe , both the Soviet Union and the United", "States showed great caution from the outset .", "By political and military logic , we can understand why nuclear weapons induce great caution , and we can confirm that they do by observing the differences of behaviour between great powers in nuclear and great powers in conventional worlds .", "Contemplating American and", "Russian postwar behaviour , and interpreting it in terms of nuclear logic , suggests that deterrence extends to vital interests beyond the homeland more easily than many have thought .", "The United States cares more about Western", "Europe than the Soviet Union does .", "The Soviet Union cares more about Eastern", "Europe than the United States does .", "Communicating the weight of one side 's concern as compared to the other side 's has been easily enough done when the matters at hand affect the United States and the Soviet Union directly .", "For this reason , Western Europe 's anxiety over the coverage it gets from American strategic forces , while understandable , is exaggerated .", "The United States might well retaliate should the Soviet Union make a major military move against a NATO country , and that is enough to deter .", "The Problem of Extended Deterrence", "How far from the homeland does deterrence extend ?", "One answers that question by defining the conditions that must obtain if deterrent threats are to be credited .", "First , the would-be attacker must be made to see that the deterrer considers the interests at stake to be vital ones .", "One can not assume that countries will instantly agree on the question of whose interests are vital .", "Nuclear weapons , however , strongly incline them to grope for de facto agreement on the answer rather than to fight over it .", "Second , political stability must prevail in the area that the deterrent is intended to cover .", "It the threat to a regime is in good part from internal factions , then an outside power may risk supporting g one of them even in the face of deterrent threats .", "The credibility of a deterrent force requires both that interests be seen to be vital and that it is the attack from outside that threatens them .", "Given these conditions , the would-be attacker provides both the reason to retaliate and the target for retaliation .", "Deterrence gains in credibility the more highly valued the interests covered seem to be .", "The problem of stretching a deterrent , which has so agitated the western alliance , is not a problem for lesser nuclear states .", "Their problem is to protect not others but themselves .", "Many have feared that lesser nuclear states would be the first to break the nuclear taboo and that they would use their nuclear weapons irresponsibly .", "I expect just the opposite .", "Weak states find it easier than strong states to establish their credibility .", "Not only will they not be trying to stretch their deterrent forces to cover others , but also their vulnerability to conventional attacks lends credence to their nuclear threats .", "Because in a conventional war they can lose so much so fast , it is easy to believe that they will unleash a deterrent force even at the risk of receiving a nuclear blow in return .", "With deterrent forces , the party that is absolutely threatened prevails .", "Use of nuclear weapons by lesser states will come only if survival is at stake .", "And this should be called not irresponsible but responsible use .", "An opponent who attacks what is unambiguously mine risks suffering great distress if they have second-strike forces .", "This statement has important implications for both the deterrer and the deterred .", "Where territorial claims are shadowy and disputed , deterrent writs do not run .", "As Steven J. Rosen has said : ` It is difficult to imagine Israel committing national suicide to hold on to Abu Rudeis or Hebron or Mount Hermon .", "Attacks on Israel 's occupied lands would be imaginable even if she admitted having nuclear weapons .", "Establishing the credibility of a deterrent force requires moderation of territorial claims on the part of the would-be deterrer .", "For modest states , weapons whose very existence works strongly against their use are just what is wanted .", "In a nuclear world , conservative would-be attackers will be prudent , but will all would-be attackers be conservative ?", "A new Hitler is not unimaginable .", "Would the presence of nuclear weapons have moderated Hitler 's behaviour ?", "Hitler did not start World War II in order to destroy the Third", "Indeed , he was surprised and dismayed by the British and French declaration of war on Poland 's behalf .", "After all , the western democracies had not come to the aid of a geographically defensible and militarily strong Czechoslovakia .", "Why then should they have declared war on behalf of a less defensible Poland and against a Germany made stronger by the incorporation of Czechoslovakia 's armour ?", "From the occupation of the Rhineland in 1936 to the invasion of Poland in 1939 , Hitler 's calculations were realistically made .", "In those years , Hitler would almost surely have been deterred from acting in ways the immediately threatened massive death and widespread destruction in Germany .", "And , if Hitler had not been deterred , would his generals have obeyed his commands ?", "In a nuclear world , to act in blatantly offensive ways is madness .", "Under the circumstances , how many generals would obey the commands of a madman ?", "One man alone does not make war .", "To believe that nuclear deterrence would have worked against Germany in 1939 is easy .", "It is also easy to believe that in 1945 , given the ability to do so , Hitler and some few around him would have fired nuclear warheads at the United States , Great Britain , and the Soviet Union as their armies advanced , whatever the consequences for", "Two considerations , however , work against this possibility .", "When defeat is seen to be inevitable , a ruler 's authority may vanish .", "Early in 1945 Hitler apparently ordered the initiation of gas warfare , but no one responded .", "The first consideration applies in a conventional world ; the second in a nuclear world .", "In the latter , no country will press another to the point of decisive defeat In the desperation of defeat desperate measures may be taken , but the last thing anyone wants to do is to make a nuclear nation feel desperate .", "The unconditional surrender of a nuclear nation can not be demanded .", "Dreaming up situations in which someone may have ` good reason ' to strike first has plagued strategic thought ever since Herman Kahn began writing scenarios .", "Considering one such scenario is worthwhile because it has achieved some popularity among those who believe that deterrence is difficult .", "Albert Wohlstetter imagines a situation in which the Soviet Union might strike first .", "Her leaders might decide to do so in a desperate effort to save a sinking regime .", "The desperation could be produced , Wohlstetter thinks , by ` disastrous defeat in peripheral war ' , by ` loss of key satellites ' , by the ` danger of revolt spreading -- possibly to", "Russia itself ' , or by ` fear of an attack by ourselves ' .", "Under such circumstances , the risk of not striking might appear very great to the Soviets ' .", "Imagination places the Soviet Union in a situation where striking first is bad , but presumably not striking first is even worse .", "One common characteristic of scenarios is that they are compounded of odd elements .", "How can the Soviet Union suffer disastrous defeat in a peripheral war ?", "If the war is peripheral , defeat may be embarrassing , but hardly disastrous .", "Another common characteristic of scenarios is the failure to say how the imagined act will accomplish the end in view .", "Some rulers will do anything to save themselves and their regimes .", "That is the assumption .", "But how a regime can hope to save itself by making a nuclear strike at a superior adversary , or at any adversary having a second-strike force , is not explained .", "Why is not striking first even worse than doing so , and in what way does it entail a smaller risk ?", "We are not told .", "The most important common characteristic of scenarios , and often their fatal flaw , is also present in this one .", "The scenarist imagines a state in the midst of a terrible crisis in which the alternatives are so bad that launching a first strike supposedly makes some sense , but he does not say how this situation might come about .", "How could the Soviet Union get into such a mess , and what would other states be doing in the meantime ?", "Scenarios often feature just one player , keeping others in the background even though two or more states are necessarily involved in melting and in preventing wars .", "To think that the", "Soviet Union would strike the United States because of incipient revolt within her borders is silly .", "To think that the Soviet Union would strike first believing that we were about to do so is not .", "One must then ask how the US would behave if the USSR were seen to be in a perilous condition .", "It is sometimes surprisingly difficult for strategists to think of the actions and interactions of two or more states at the same time .", "No country will goad a nuclear adversary that finds itself in sad straits .", "When vital interests are at stake , all of the parties involved are strongly constrained to be moderate because one 's immoderate behaviour makes the nuclear threats of others credible .", "No one would want to provoke an already desperate country it that country had strategic nuclear weapons .", "Equally , a regime in crisis would desperately want to avoid calling nuclear warheads down upon itself .", "What scenansts imagine seldom has much to do with how governments behave .", "The bizarre qualities of various scenarios that depict a failure of deterrence strengthens one 's confidence in it .", "Three confusions mark many discussions of deterrence .", "First , that nuclear weapons affect the deterrer as well as the deterred is often overlooked .", "The many who fear that a country will foolishly launch missiles in a moment of panic overlook the care other countries will take in order not to make a nuclear country excessively nervous .", "Second , those who are sceptical of deterrence easily slip back from nuclear logic , by which slight risk of great damage deters , to conventional logic , by which states may somewhat sensibly risk war on narrowly calculated advantages .", "Thus some Amencans fear that the Soviet Union will strike first -- destroying most of our land-based warheads , planes on the ground , submarines in port , and much else besides .", "The strike would be made on the chance that we would not strike back with some of our thousands of remaining warheads .", "But states do not risk immense losses unless the odds on succeeding are overwhelmingly high .", "No one can say what the odds might be .", "Third , the quality of states ' external behaviour is commonly inferred from their internal characteristics .", "Thus many emphasize the importance of who the new nuclear states will be and dwell on the question of whether their rulers will be ` rational ' .", "They have failed to notice that radical states usually show caution in their foreign policies and to notice that nuclear weapons further moderate the behaviour of such states when vital interests are at issue .", "Nuclear peace depends not on rulers and those around them being rational but on their aversion to running catastrophic risks .", "Arms Races among New Nuclear States", "One may easily believe that American and Russian military doctrines have set the pattern that new nuclear states will follow .", "One may then also believe that they will suffer the fate of the United States and the Soviet Union , that they will compete in building larger and larger nuclear arsenals while continuing to accumulate conventional weapons .", "These are doubtful beliefs .", "One can infer the future from the past only insofar as future situations may be like present ones for the actors involved .", "For four main reasons , new nuclear states are likely to decrease rather than increase their military spending .", "First , nuclear weapons alter the dynamics of arms races .", "In a competition of two or more parties , it may be hard to say who is pushing and who is being pushed , who is leading and who is following .", "If one party seeks to increase its capabilities , it may seem that the other ( s ) must too .", "The dynamic may be built into the competition and may unfold despite a mutual wish to resist it .", "But need this be the case in a strategic competition between nuclear countries ?", "It need not be if the conditions of competition make deterrent logic dominant .", "Deterrent logic dominates if the conditions of competition make it nearly impossible for any of the competing parties to achieve a first-strike capability .", "Early in the nuclear age , the implications of deterrent strategy were clearly seen .", "` When dealing with the absolute weapon ' , as William T. R. Fox put it , ` arguments based on relative advantage lose their point ' .", "States has sometimes designed her forces according to that logic .", "Donald A. Quarles argued when he was", "Eisenhower 's Secretary of the Air Force that ` sufficiency of air power ' is determined by ` the force required to accomplish the mission assigned ' .", "Avoidance of total war then does not depend on the ` relative strength of the two opposed forces ' .", "Instead , it depends on the ` absolute power in the hands of each , and in the substantial invulnerability of this power to interdiction ' .", "To repeat : If no state can launch a disarming attack with high confidence , force comparisons are irrelevant .", "Strategic arms races are then pointless .", "Deterrent strategies offer this great advantage : Within wide ranges neither side need respond to increases in the other side 's military capabilities .", "Those who foresee nuclear arms racing among new nuclear states fail to make the distinction between war-fighting and war-deterring capabilities .", "War-fighting forces , because they threaten the forces of others , have to be compared .", "Superior forces may bring victory to one country ; inferior forces may bring defeat to another .", "Force requirements vary with strategies and not just with the characteristics of weapons .", "With war-fighting strategies .", "arms races become difficult , if not impossible , to avoid .", "Forces designed for deterring war need not be compared .", "As Harold Brown said when he was Secretary of Defense , purely deterrent forces ` can be relatively modest , and their size can perhaps be made substantially , though not completely , insensitive to changes in the posture of an opponent ' .", "With deterrent strategies , arms races make sense only if a first-strike capability is within reach .", "Because thwarting a first strike is easy , deterrent forces are quite cheap to build and maintain .", "With deterrent forces , the question is not whether one country has more than another but whether it has the capability of inflicting ` unacceptable damage ' on another , with unacceptable damage sensibly defined .", "Once that capability is assured , additional strategic weapons are useless .", "More is not better if less is enough .", "Deterrent balances are also inherently stable .", "if one can say how much is enough , then within wide limits a country can be insensitive to changes in its adversaries ' forces .", "This is the way French leaders have thought .", "France , as former President Giscard d'Estaing said , ` fixes its security at the level required to maintain , regardless of the way the strategic situation develops in the world , the credibility -- in other words , the effectiveness -- of its deterrent force ' .", "With deterrent forces securely established , no military need presses one side to try to surpass the other .", "Human error and folly may lead some parties involved in deterrent balances to spend more on armaments than is needed , but other parties need not increase their armaments in response , because such excess spending does not threaten them .", "The logic of deterrence eliminates incentives for strategic arms racing .", "This should be easier for lesser nuclear states to understand than it has been for the US and the USSR .", "Because most of them are economically hard pressed , they will not want to have more than enough .", "Allowing for their particular circumstances , lesser nuclear states confirm these statements in their policies .", "Britain and France are relatively rich countries , and they tend to overspend .", "Their strategic forces are nevertheless modest enough when one considers that their purpose is to deter the Soviet Union rather than states with capabilities comparable to their own .", "China of course faces the same task .", "These three countries show no inclination to engage in nuclear arms races with anyone .", "India appears content to have a nuclear military capability that may or may not have produced deliverable warheads , and Israel maintains her ambiguous status .", "New nuclear states are likely to conform to these patterns and aim for a modest sufficiency rather than vie with each for a meaningless superiority .", "Second , because strategic nuclear arms races among lesser powers are unlikely , the interesting question is not whether they will be run but whether countries having strategic nuclear weapons can avoid running conventional races .", "No more than the United States and the Soviet Union will lesser nuclear states want to rely on the deterrent threat that risks all .", "And will not their vulnerability to conventional attack induce them continue their conventional efforts ?", "American policy as it has developed since the early 1960s again teaches lessons that mislead .", "For almost two decades , we have emphasized the importance of having a continuum of forces that would enable the United States and her allies to fight at any level from irregular to strategic nuclear warfare .", "A policy that decreases reliance on deterrence increases the chances that wars will be fought .", "This was well appreciated in Europe when we began to place less emphasis on deterrence and more on defence .", "The worries of many Europeans were well expressed by a senior", "British general in the following words : ` McNamara is practically telling the", "Soviets that the worst they need to expect from an attack on West Germany is a conventional counterattack ' .", "Why risk one 's own destruction if one is able to fight on the ground and forgo the use of strategic weapons ?", "The policy of flexible response lessened reliance on strategic deterrence and increased the chances of fighting a war .", "New nuclear states are not likely to experience this problem .", "The expense of mounting conventional defences , and the difficulties and dangers of fighting conventional wars , will keep most new nuclear states from trying to combine large war-fighting forces with deterrent forces .", "Disjunction within their forces will enhance the value of deterrence .", "Israeli policy seems to contradict these propositions .", "From 1971 through 1978 , both Israel and Egypt spent from 20 % to 40 % of their GNPs on arms .", "Israel 's spending on conventional arms remains high , although it has decreased since 1978 .", "The decrease followed from the making of peace with Egypt and not from increased reliance on nuclear weapons .", "The seeming contradiction in fact bears out deterrent logic .", "So long as Israel holds the West Bank and the Gaza Strip she has to be prepared to fight for them .", "Since they are by no means unambiguously hers , deterrent threats , whether implicit or explicit , will not cover them .", "America 's large subsidies continue , economic constraints will not drive Israel to the territorial settlement that would shrink her borders sufficiently to make a deterrent policy credible .", "From previous points it follows that nuclear weapons are likely to decrease arms racing and reduce military costs for lesser nuclear states in two ways .", "Conventional arms races will wither if countries shift emphasis from conventional defence to nuclear deterrence .", "for example , acquiring nuclear weapons is an alternative to running a ruinous conventional race with India .", "And deterrent strategies make nuclear arms races pointless .", "Finally , arms races in their ultimate form -- the fighting of offensive wars designed to increase national security -- also become pointless .", "The success of a deterrent strategy does not depend on the extent of territory a state holds , a point made earlier .", "It merits repeating because of its unusual importance for states whose geographic limits lead them to obsessive concern for their security in a world of ever more destructive conventional weapons .", "The Frequency and Intensity of War", "The presence of nuclear weapons makes wars less likely .", "One may nevertheless oppose the spread of nuclear weapons on the ground that they would make war , however unlikely , unbearably intense should it occur .", "Nuclear weapons have not been fired in anger in a world in which more than one country has them .", "We have enjoyed three decades of nuclear peace and may enjoy many more .", "But we can never have a guarantee .", "We may be grateful for decades of nuclear peace and for the discouragement of conventional war among those who have nuclear weapons .", "Yet the fear is widespread , and naturally so , that if they ever go off , we may all die .", "People as varied as the scholar Richard Smoke , the arms controller Paul", "Warnke , and former Defense Secretary Harold Brown all believe that if any nuclear weapons go off , many will .", "Although this seems the least likely of all the unlikely possibilities , it is not impossible .", "What makes it so unlikely is that , even if deterrence should fail , the prospects for rapid de-escalation are good .", "McNamara asked himself what fractions of the Soviet Union 's population and industry the United States should be able to destroy in order to deter her .", "For military , although not for budgetary , strategy this was the wrong question .", "States are not deterred because they expect to suffer a certain amount of damage but because they can not know how much damage they will suffer .", "Near the dawn of the nuclear age", "Bernard Brodie put the matter simply : ` The prediction is more important than the fact ' .", "The prediction , that is , that attacking the vital interests of a country having nuclear weapons may bring the attacker untold losses , As Patrick", "Morgan more recently put it : ` To attempt to `` compute '' the cost of a nuclear is to miss the point ' .", "States are deterred by the prospect of suffering severe damage and by their physical inability to do much to limit it .", "Debate over the Soviet Union 's civil defence efforts calls attention to this inability .", "Defensive measures can reduce casualties , but they would still be immense were either of the great powers launch a determined attack .", "Moreover , civil defence can not save the Soviet Union 's heavily concentrated industries .", "Warheads numbered in the hundreds can destroy the United and the", "Soviet Union as viable societies no matter what defensive measures they take .", "Deterrence works because nuclear weapons enable one state to punish another state severely without first defeating it .", "` Victory ' , in Thomas Schellings words , ` is no longer a prerequisite for hurting the enemy ' .", "Countries armed only with conventional weapons can hope that their military forces will be able to limit the damage an attacker can do .", "Among countries armed with strategic nuclear forces , the hope of avoiding heavy damage depends mainly on the attacker 's restraint and little on one 's own efforts .", "Those who compare expected deaths through strategic exchanges of nuclear warheads with casualties suffered by the Soviet Union in World War II overlook this fundamental difference between conventional and nuclear worlds .", "Deterrence rests on what countries can do to each other with strategic nuclear weapons .", "From this statement , one easily leaps to the wrong conclusion : that deterrent strategies , if they have to be carried through , will produce a catastrophe .", "That countries are able to annihilate each other means neither that deterrence depends on their threatening to do so nor that they will do so if deterrence fails .", "Because countries heavily armed with strategic nuclear weapons can carry war to its ultimate intensity , the control of force , in wartime as in peacetime , becomes the primary objective .", "If deterrence fails , leaders will have the strongest incentives to keep force under control and limit damage rather than launching genocidal attacks .", "If the Soviet Union should attack Western Europe , NATO 'S objectives would be to halt the attack and end the war .", "The United States has long had the ability to place hundreds of warheads precisely on targets in the Soviet Union .", "Surely we would strike military targets before striking industrial targets and industrial targets before striking cities .", "The intent to do so is sometimes confused with a war-fighting strategy , which it is not .", "It would not significantly reduce the Soviet Union 's ability to hurt us .", "It is a deterrent strategy , resting initially on the threat to punish .", "The threat , if it fails to deter , is appropriately followed not by spasms of violence but by punishment administered in ways that convey threats to make the punishment more severe .", "For several reasons , then , deterrent strategies promise less damage than war-fighting strategies .", "First , deterrent strategies induce caution all around and thus reduce the incidence of war .", "Second , wars fought in the face of strategic nuclear weapons must be carefully limited because a country having them may retaliate if its vital interests are threatened .", "Third , prospective punishment need only be proportionate to an adversary 's expected gains in war after those gains are discounted for the many uncertainties of war .", "Fourth , should deterrence fail , a few judiciously delivered warheads are likely to produce sobriety in the leaders of all of the countries involved and thus bring rapid de-escalation .", "A deterrent strategy promises less damage , should deterrence fail , than does the Schlesinger-Brown ` countervailing ' strategy , a strategy which contemplates fighting a limited , strategic nuclear war .", "War-fighting strategies offer no clear place to stop short of victory for some and defeat for others .", "Deterrent strategies do , and that place is where one country threatens another 's vital interests .", "Deterrent strategies lower the probability that wars will be fought .", "If wars are nevertheless fought , deterrent strategies lower the probability that they will become wars of high intensity .", "A war between the United", "States and the Soviet Union that did get out of control would be catastrophic .", "If they set out to destroy each other , they would greatly reduce the world 's store of developed resources while killing millions outside of their own borders through fallout .", "Even while destroying themselves , states with few weapons would do less damage to others .", "As ever , the biggest international dangers come from the strongest states .", "Fearing the world 's destruction , one may prefer a world of conventional great powers having a higher probability of fighting less destructive wars to a world of nuclear great powers having a lower probability of fighting more destructive wars .", "But that choice effectively disappeared with the production of atomic bombs by the United", "States during World War II .", "Since the great powers are unlikely to be drawn into the nuclear wars of others , the added global dangers posed by the spread of nuclear weapons are small .", "The spread of nuclear weapons threatens to make wars more intense at the local and not at the global level , where wars of the highest intensity have been possible for a number of years .", "If their national existence should be threatened , weaker countries , unable to defend at lesser levels of violence , may destroy themselves through resorting to nuclear weapons .", "Lesser nuclear states will live in fear of this possibility .", "But this is not different from the fear under which the United", "States and the Soviet Union have lived for years .", "Small nuclear states may experience a keener sense of desperation because of extreme vulnerability to conventional as well as to nuclear attack , but , again , in desperate situations what all parties become most desperate to avoid is the use of strategic nuclear weapons .", "Still , however improbable the event , lesser states may one day fire some of their weapons .", "Are minor nuclear states more or less likely to do so than major ones ?", "The answer to this question is vitally important because the existence of some States would be at stake even if the damage done were regionally confined .", "Looking at the situation of weaker nuclear states and at the statements of stronger nuclear states , one suspects that weak states are less likely to use nuclear weapons first than are strong ones .", "Many have worried about conventional wars between minor nuclear states becoming nuclear wars as one side loses .", "It is NATO , however , that plans to use nuclear weapons in battle if conventional troops cannot hold .", "Moreover , after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December of 1979 , American officials considered using nuclear weapons in the Middle East if need be .", "At various times , some Americans have thought of reasons for making limited counterforce strikes -- firing a few missiles at the Soviet Union to show our determination -- an idea revived by James R. Schlesinger when he was Secretary of", "Among others , Generals Earle G. Wheeler and George Brown , former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , have talked of our emerging from a nuclear war with a ` relative advantage ' over the Soviet Union by targeting their ` war recovery capabilities ' .", "Presidential Directive 59 , signed by President Carter in July of 1980 , contemplates fighting a limited nuclear war , perhaps a prolonged one , if deterrence should fail .", "And some of the Soviet Union 's military leaders have publicly discussed using nuclear weapons to win wars .", "Soviet Union have more readily contemplated the use of nuclear weapons than lesser nuclear states have done or are likely to do .", "But planning is distinct from deciding to act .", "Planners think they should offer Presidents a range of choices and a variety of nuclear weapons to carry them through .", "In the event ,", "Presidents , like Party Chairmen , will shy away from using nuclear weapons and will act with extreme care in dealing with situations that might get out of control , as they have done in the past .", "New nuclear states are likely to be even more mindful of dangers and more concerned for their safety than than some of the old ones have been .", "Ordinarily , weak states calculate more fearfully and move more cautiously than strong ones .", "The thought that fear and caution may lead insecure countries to launch pre-emptive strikes has amplified anxieties about the instability of regions populated by lesser nuclear powers and about the extent of destruction their weapons may bring .", "Such worries rest on inferences drawn froom the behaviour of conventional states and do not apply to nuclear ones , for reasons already discussed .", "Nuclear weapons lessen the intensity as well as the frequency of war among their possessors .", "For fear of escalation , nuclear states do not want to fight long or hard over important interests -- indeed , they do not want to fight at all .", "Minor nuclear states have even better reasons than major ones to accommodate one another peacefully and to avoid any fighting .", "Worries about the intensity of war among nuclear states have to be viewed in this context and against a world in which conventional weapons become ever costlier and more destructive .", "Should a great power help a lesser one improve on its force once it has shown the will and the ability to build one ?", "Will great powers be drawn into the nuclear confrontations of lesser ones , or will they draw away from them to avoid involvement ?", "Will small nuclear powers cut themselves adrift from the great powers and follow independent policies ?", "Will small countries ' nuclear forces trigger an arms race between the great powers ?", "These questions suggest four ways in which big and small nuclear powers may interact .", "Small and crude forces tempt pre-emption , so it is thought , and maybe used in reckless and unintended ways because of inadequate command and control .", "These dangers can be removed by great powers assisting lesser ones in building and managing their forces .", "Nevertheless , neither the United States nor the Soviet Union will want to help much , lest countries come to believe that they can build insufficient and unreliable forces and rely on one of the great powers to turn them into something substantial .", "Such hindrance is unfortunate , if improving others ' forces serves wider interests .", "Is help required , not just for the sake of the recipient , but also to avoid nuclear imbalances between states that might prompt wars and to reduce the chances of accidents that might set them off ?", "We saw earlier that these are minor worries .", "Because they are minor , the United States and the", "Soviet Union are not likely to be tempted to give technical help to countries entering the nuclear military business .", "Nuclear weapons in the hands of six or seven states have lessened wars and limited conflicts .", "The further spread of nuclear weapons can be expected to widen those effects .", "United States then promote the spread of nuclear weapons for the sake of peace , even though we need not for the sake of stability ?", "To do so would replace one extreme policy with another .", "Present policy works hard to prevent additional states from acquiring nuclear weapons .", "My examination of the effects of nuclear weapons leads to the conclusion that our policy is wrong without supporting the proposition that true proliferation -- the rapid spread of nuclear weaponry -- is desirable .", "Rapid change may be destabilizing .", "The slow spread of nuclear weapons gives states time to learn to live with them , to appreciate their virtues , and to understand the limits they place on behaviour .", "Will the United States and the Soviet Union be drawn into the struggles of lesser nuclear states ?", "This question loses much of its urgency given the aversion of states to crises that raise the spectre of nuclear war and the care they take in crises that do so .", "Will they then draw away from other states ' crises rather than being drawn in ?", "The United States and the Soviet Union will continue to have interests in various parts of the world for all of the old political .", "economic , and military reasons .", "In a region where nuclear powers are locked in dispute , the great powers will move cautiously in attempting to tend to their separate and to their common interests .", "We can hardly expect the United States or the Soviet", "Union to risk more in other people 's crises than they have risked in their own .", "Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union want a regional nuclear confrontation to become a global one .", "If that risk hangs over them , their strong mutual interest is to withdraw .", "Will lesser nuclear powers want to edge away from their great-power patrons in order to be able to choose their policies more freely ?", "To do so would be risky .", "A nuclear Israel , for example , may threaten to fire missiles at her attackers ' cities if ever their victory in war seems likely .", "In the face of ' possible Russian opposition , signs of", "American acquiescence in Israel 's policy would help to make the prospect of retaliation credible .", "Any lesser power contemplating the use of nuclear weapons even for deterrent or defensive purposes will expect opposition from at least one of the great powers .", "An alliance or some other kind of connection with one of them may stay the hand of the other .", "This is another way of saying that even with nuclear weapons weaker states continue to depend on stronger states in various ways .", "By acquiring nuclear weapons a state changes one variable in a complex equation of forces .", "That variable is the most important one .", "Nuclear weapons increase the ability of states to fend for themselves when the integrity of their legitimate boundaries is at stake .", "Thus an Israeli deterrent force would enable Israel to maintain her legitimate boundaries while reducing her extreme dependence on the United States .", "In recent years our aid has amounted to a seventh or an eighth of Israel 's GNP yearly .", "Such dependence will substantially lessen only it military security becomes less of a concern or can be more cheaply provided .", "Nuclear weapons and strategies , however , do not cover all of the military problems of new nuclear states nor are military problems the whole of their concerns .", "Israeli dependence on the United States will not disappear so long as she remains a small country in a hostile world .", "Similarly , the deterrent effect of China 's nuclear weapons makes her less dependent on others militarily , without much reducing her need for economic and technical assistance .", "Nuclear weapons are useful against threats to a state 's territorial integrity , but most of the doings of states fall far short of this extreme .", "Independent nuclear forces reduce dependency by lesser powers on others without eliminating it .", "Will the nuclear arms of lesser powers stimulate the great powers to further exertion ?", "And will arms control and disarmament agreements be harder to reach ?", "Consider arms racing first .", "A faster race between the great powers may come about in the following way , and to some extent already has .", "The United States or the Soviet Union builds more missiles and more defences against missiles as she perceives a growing threat from China .", "The increased effort of one of the great powers prompts the other to try harder , and the effects become reciprocating causes .", "Action , reaction , and over-reaction by the United States and the Soviet Union have formed a pattern too familiar to disregard .", "The pattern is likely to repeat itself , but it need not .", "Consider a historical case .", "In 1967 , McNamara half-heartedly proposed deploying a cheap ( $ 5-billion ) ABM system designed to handle an attack by China even though , as he said , we had ` the power not only to destroy completely her entire nuclear offensive forces , but to devastate her society as well ' .", "Whatever his political and bureaucratic reasons , be publicly argued that a light ABM system offered four advantages : 1 ) China might miscalculate .", "2 ) America would be showing Asian states that she would not let China blackmail them and would thus dampen their desires to have their own nuclear weapons .", "3 ) America would gain marginal protection for Minuteman sites against an attack by the", "4 ) America would be safe against accidental launchings .", "Had the United States persisted in building a ` Chinese ' system , this might have prompted further efforts by the Soviet Union .", "The United States and the Soviet Union can react to third countries ' nuclear forces in ways that stimulate their own competition in arms , but they need not do so , as is shown by examining McNamara 's four reasons .", "His fourth reason applies to any and all nuclear countries .", "It raises the question of the value of taking out an ABM insurance policy against accidental firings whether by third countries , by the Soviet Union , or by the United States .", "His third reason applies explicitly to the Soviet Union and not to third nuclear countries .", "His second reason rests on a false belief about the feasibility of nuclear blackmail .", "Only the first of McNamara 's reasons applies specifically to the forces of China or of any lesser nuclear country .", "It raises this question :", "Under any imaginable circumstances , might a lesser nuclear country 's miscalculation lead it to launch an attack on the United States ?", "The miscalculation would have to be monumental .", "Building missile defences against", "China would imply that great powers can deter each other but can not deter minor ones .", "The weakness of the proposition is apparent .", "Nor need more missiles be added to either great power 's arsenal in order to deter lesser nuclear powers , even should the great powers fail to deter each other .", "In 1978 , the United", "States had about 2,150 warheads on land-based launchers , about 5,120 on sea-based launchers , and about 2,580 in bombers .", "These numbers had changed little by 1980 .", "One study estimates that the Soviet Union 's best attack , launched in the mid-1980s and coming at the worst time for us with our forces only on normal day-to-day alert , would leave us with about 6,400 warheads and about 1,800 equivalent megatons .", "After such an attack , the Soviet Union would have about 6,000 warheads left and 6.000 equivalent megatons .", "We would still have more than we need since 1.000 Poseidon warheads ( the force loading of some six submarines ) ` can destroy about 75 percent of the Soviet industrial targets ' .", "With our present force we can absorb a first strike and still destroy the Soviet Union as ` a modern industrial society ' , and do so with missiles to spare for counterforce attacks .", "And we and they would have more than enough left over to deter third countries .", "This plenitude of deliverable warheads is sometimes referred to as ` sufficiency ' .", "The great powers scarcely need get into an arms race because of what lesser powers do .", "Still , the United States and the Soviet Union do race from time to time , and the racing has been fuelled in part by what third countries have done .", "The Soviet Union , for example , argues that many of her intermediate and medium-range ballistic missiles are needed because of the threat posed by China .", "Some of the NATO countries then conclude that because these missiles threaten Western Europe , cruise missiles and Pershing IIs must be deployed there .", "This then further worries the Soviet", "No one doubts these effects .", "Strategic arms races between the United States and the Soviet Union , however , are produced mainly by the strategies they follow and by the kinds of forces they build .", "In their strategies , dissuasion by deterrence has always been alloyed with defensive and war-fighting policies and capabilities .", "The number of Russian cities worth striking is finite and indeed quite low .", "We have long had more survivable warheads than Russian cities to strike .", "If only cities were aimed at , many warheads would lack targets .", "The quantity of warheads on hand and their increased accuracy constitute arguments for a counterforce strategy .", "In the last two decades , the balance between deterrent strategy and war-fighting strategy has tilted towards the latter .", "Available weapons affect the strategy a country adopts , and the strategy that is fashioned in turn calls for the further development of weapons .", "If each side views the other 's strategic forces as designed for fighting wars as much as , or more than , for deterring them , then arms races become very difficult to avoid .", "Such perceptions vary with changes in the strategies and forces of the great powers , not of the lesser ones .", "Great powers engage in arms races mainly because of what other great powers do .", "That was true in a multipolar , conventional world ; it remains true in a bipolar , nuclear world .", "The conclusion is in two parts .", "After saying what follows for American policy from my analysis , I briefly state the main reasons for believing that the slow spread of nuclear weapons will promote peace and reinforce international stability .", "I have argued that the gradual spread of nuclear weapons is better than no spread and better than rapid spread .", "We do not face a set of happy choices .", "We may prefer that countries have conventional weapons only , do not run arms races , and do not fight .", "Yet the alternative to nuclear weapons for some countries may be ruinous arms races with high risk of their becoming engaged in debilitating conventional wars .", "Countries have to care for their security with or without the help of others .", "If a country feels highly insecure and believes that nuclear weapons will make it more secure , America 's policy of opposing the spread of nuclear weapons will not easily determine theirs .", "Any slight chance of bringing the spread of nuclear weapons to a full stop exists only if the United States and the Soviet Union constantly and strenuously try to achieve that end .", "To do so carries costs measured in terms of their other interests .", "The strongest means by which the United States can persuade a country to forgo nuclear weapons is a guarantee of its security , especially if the guarantee is made credible by the presence of American troops .", "But how many commitments do we want to make and how many countries do we want to garrison ?", "We are wisely reluctant to give guarantees , but we then should not expect to decide how other countries are to provide for their security .", "As a neighbour of", "China , India no doubt feels more secure , and can behave more reasonably , with a nuclear weapons capability than without it .", "The thought applies as well to Pakistan as India 's neighbour .", "We damage our relations with such countries by badgering them about nuclear weapons while being unwilling to guarantee their security .", "Under such circumstances they , not we , should decide what their national interests require .", "If the United States and the", "Soviet Union lessen their opposition to the spread of nuclear weapons , will not many states jump on the nuclear bandwagon ?", "Some have feared that weakening opposition to the spread of nuclear weapons will lead numerous states to make them because it may seem that ` everyone is doing it ' .", "Why should we think that if the United States relaxes , numerous states will begin to make nuclear weapons ?", "Both the United States and the Soviet Union were more relaxed in the past , and these effects did not follow .", "The Soviet Union initially furthered China 's nuclear development .", "The United States continues to help Britain maintain her deterrent forces .", "By 1968 the CIA had informed President Johnson of the existence of Israeli nuclear weapons , and in July of 1970 Richard Helms , Director of the CIA , gave this information to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee .", "These and later disclosures were not followed by censure of Israel or by reductions of assistance to her .", "And in September of 1980 the Executive Branch , against the will of the House of Representatives but with the approval of the Senate , continued to do nuclear business with India despite her explosion of a nuclear device and despite her unwillingness to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation", "Assisting some countries in the development of nuclear weapons and failing to oppose others has not caused a nuclear stampede .", "Is the more recent leniency towards India likely to ?", "One reason to think so is that more countries now have the ability to make their own nuclear weapons , more than forty of them according to Joseph Nye .", "Many more countries can than do .", "One can believe that American opposition to nuclear arming stays the deluge only by overlooking the complications of international life .", "Any state has to examine many conditions before deciding whether or not to develop nuclear weapons .", "Our opposition is only one factor and is not likely to be the decisive one .", "Many countries feel fairly secure living with their neighbours .", "Why should they want nuclear weapons ?", "Some countries feeling threatened , have found security through their own strenuous efforts and through arrangements made with others .", "South Korea is an outstanding example .", "Many South Korean officials believe that South Korea would lose more in terms of American support if she acquired nuclear weapons than she would gain by having them .", "Further , on occasion we might slow the spread of nuclear weapons by not opposing the nuclear-weapons programmes of some countries .", "When we oppose Pakistan 's nuclear programme , we are saying that we disapprove of countries developing nuclear weapons no matter what their neighbours do .", "Failing to oppose", "Pakistan 's efforts also sends a signal to potential nuclear states , suggesting that if a country develops nuclear weapons , a regional rival may do so as well and may do so without opposition from us .", "This message may give pause to some of the countries that are tempted to acquire nuclear weapons .", "After all , Argentina is to Brazil as Pakistan is to India .", "Neither the gradual spread of nuclear weapons nor American and Russian acquiescence in this has opened the nuclear floodgates .", "Nations attend to their security in ways they think best .", "The fact that so many more countries can make nuclear weapons than do make them says more about the hesitation of countries to enter the nuclear military business than about the effectiveness of American policy .", "We can sensibly suit our policy to individual cases .", "sometimes bringing pressure against a country moving towards nuclear-weapons capability and sometimes quietly acquiescing .", "No one policy is right for all countries .", "We should ask what our interests in regional peace and stability require in particular instances .", "We should also ask what the interests of other countries require before putting pressure on them .", "Some countries are likely to suffer more in cost and pain if they remain conventional states than if they become nuclear ones .", "The measured and selective spread of nuclear weapons does not run against our interests and can increase the security of some states at a price they can afford to pay .", "It is not likely that nuclear weapons will spread with a speed that exceeds the ability of their new owners to adjust to them .", "The spread of nuclear weapons is something that we have worried too much about and tried too hard to stop .", "What will a world populated by a larger number of nuclear states look like ?", "I have drawn a picture of such a world that accords with experience throughout the nuclear age .", "Those who dread a world with more nuclear states do little more than assert that more is worse and claim without substantiation that new nuclear states will be less responsible and less capable of self-control than the old ones have been .", "They express fears that many felt when they imagined how a nuclear China would behave .", "Such fears have proved un-rounded as nuclear weapons have slowly spread .", "I have found many reasons for believing that with more nuclear states the world will have a promising future .", "I have reached this unusual conclusion for six main reasons .", "First , international politics is a self-help system , and in such systems the principal parties do most to determine their own fate , the fate of other parties , and the fate of the system .", "This will continue to be so , with the United States and the Soviet Union filling their customary roles .", "For the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve nuclear maturity and to show this by behaving sensibly is more important than preventing the spread of nuclear weapons .", "Second , given the massive numbers of American and Russian warheads , and given the impossibility of one side destroying enough of the other side 's missiles to make a retaliatory strike bearable , the balance of terror is indestructible .", "What can lesser states do to disrupt the nuclear equilibrium if even the mighty efforts of the United", "States and the Soviet Union can not shake it ?", "The international equilibrium will endure .", "Third , at the strategic level each of the great powers has to gauge the strength only of itself in relation to the other .", "They do not have to make guesses about the strengths of opposing coalitions , guesses that involve such imponderables as the coherence of diverse parties and their ability to concert their efforts .", "Estimating effective forces is thus made easier .", "Wars come most often by miscalculation .", "Miscalculation will not come from carelessness and inattention in a bipolar world as it may in a multipolar one .", "Fourth , nuclear weaponry makes miscalculation difficult because it is hard not to be aware of how much damage a small number of warheads can do .", "Early in this century Norman Angell argued that wars could not occur because they would not pay .", "But conventional wars have brought political gains to some countries at the expense of others .", "Germans founded a state by fighting three short wars , in the last of which France lost Alsace .", "Among nuclear countries , possible losses in war overwhelm possible gains .", "In the nuclear age Angell 's dictum , broadly interpreted , becomes persuasive .", "When the active use of force threatens to bring great losses , war become less likely .", "This proposition is widely accepted but insufficiently emphasized .", "Nuclear weapons have reduced the chances of war between the United States and the Soviet Union and between the Soviet Union and", "One may expect them to have similar effects elsewhere .", "Where nuclear weapons threaten to make the cost of wars immense , who will dare to start them ?", "Nuclear weapons make it possible to approach the deterrent ideal .", "Filth , nuclear weapons can be used for defence as well as for deterrence .", "Some have argued that an apparently impregnable nuclear defence can be mounted .", "The Maginot Line has given defence a bad name .", "It nevertheless remains true that the incidence of wars decreases as the perceived difficulty of winning them increases .", "No one attacks a defence believed to be impregnable .", "Nuclear weapons may make it possible to approach the defensive ideal .", "If so , the spread of nuclear weapons will further help to maintain peace .", "Sixth , new nuclear states will confront the possibilities and feel the constraints that present nuclear states have experienced .", "New nuclear states will be more concerned for their safety and more mindful of dangers than some of the old ones have been .", "Until recently , only the great and some of the major powers have had nuclear weapons .", "While nuclear weapons have spread , conventional weapons have proliferated .", "Under these circumstances , wars have been fought not at the centre but at the periphery of international politics .", "Nuclear weapons , responsibly used , make wars hard to start .", "Nations that have nuclear weapons have strong incentives to use them responsibly .", "These statements hold for small as for big nuclear powers .", "Because they do , the measured spread of nuclear weapons is more to be welcomed than feared ."], "_citing_sentence": "States are not likely to run major risks for minor gains.\"", "_claim_name": "Countries with nuclear weapons or allied to nuclear-armed states do not need as many conventional forces.", "_doc_title": "Kenneth Waltz, \u201cThe Spread of Nuclear Weapons: More May Better,\u201d Adelphi", "_labeled_lineIDs": [185]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 55, "_topic_name": "This House believes European NATO member governments should significantly reduce their armed forces"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["MOST Kenyans now wish that ICC cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto be dropped , according to a Strategic PR poll released yesterday .", "Around 61 percent want the ICC to terminate the case against Uhuru , apparently `` now that the prosecutor publicly declared that there was not enough evidence to sustain the case against the president . ''", "But 39 percent of the respondents feel that Uhuru 's case should continue .", "Last November an Ipsos Synovate poll showed that a majority , 51 percent , of Kenyans still supported the trials of Uhuru and Ruto at the ICC .", "Two years ago two-thirds of Kenyans supported the ICC trials , according to opinion polls .", "The poll was conducted between January 22 and 24 with 2,471 people interviewed in 36 out of 47 counties with a 2.4 percent margin of error .", "The Strategic PR poll found that 60 percent do not believe that the conclusion of the ICC cases would heal the country while 40 percent think it would .", "Another 57.6 percent believe that the ICC cases are a waste of time and money but 42.4 percent disagreed .", "The ICC case against Uhuru was postponed indefinitely this month .", "The Strategic PR poll said that 57.5 percent of Kenyans feel the case against Uhuru is not credible while 42.5 percent say it is credible .", "For Ruto , 55.6 percent say the ICC case is not credible compared to 44.4 percent who say it is credible .", "Around 23.2 percent of Kenyans are satisfied and 19.6 percent satisfied with the way the ICC court has handled the case against Uhuru , compared to 27.7 percent who are dissatisfied and 21.9 percent very dissatisfied .", "For Ruto 's case , 26.3 per cent very satisfied , 24.2 percent satisfied , 22.3 percent dissatisfied and 19.4 percent very dissatisfied .", "Strategic PR found that 54 percent of respondents would vote today for Uhuru Kenyatta as president , compared 34 percent who would not vote for him and 12 percent who do not know .", "This is better than the 50.04 percent that Uhuru got in the March 2013 elections but the finding should be treated with caution as the question did not refer to any other possible candidates .", "Howebver the poll did find that TNA party is the most popular party with 32.4 percent support compared to ODM 's 28.7 percent support .", "In the March 2013 elections where ODM pipped TNA by winning 78 parliamentary seats compared to 72 .", "Strategic PR Chief Executive Officer Ceasar Handa said ODM 's popularity decline `` could be due to the upcoming party elections slated for February 28 . ''", "The Jubilee coalition , including TNA , has 167 seats in the National Assembly while Cord , including ODM , has 141 .", "Kenyans did not seem to believe that the Jubilee government is a high achiever as 16.6 percent thought that the Jubilee government has no major achievement .", "The next highest scores were 12.9 percent for improved infrastructure and 11.3 percent for free maternity .", "The main complaint was that 31.1 percent thought that there had been a decline in security under the Jubilee government .", "Copyright \u00a9 2014 The Star .", "All rights reserved .", "Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ) .", "To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material , click here .", "AllAfrica publishes around 1,000 reports a day from more than 140 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic .", "We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons .", "Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content , which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct .", "Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica .", "To address comments or complaints , please Contact us .", "AllAfrica is a voice of , by and about Africa - aggregating , producing and distributing 1,000 news and information items daily from over 140 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public .", "We operate from Cape Town , Dakar , Lagos , Monrovia , Nairobi and Washington DC ."], "_citing_sentence": "Kenyans overwhelmingly see the ICC is 'imperialist', and 61% want the ICC to terminate its case against Kenyatta.", "_claim_name": "Kenya can prosecute these crimes itself", "_doc_title": "Kenya: 61 Percent of Kenyans Want ICC Cases Dropped - Poll - allAfrica.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["With Kenya 's President Uhuru Kenyatta under pressure to appear at the International Criminal Court next month to answer charges of crimes against humanity , the African Union ( AU ) has called a special summit to discuss Africa 's relationship with the court .", "BBC Africa 's Farouk Chothia reports .", "The AU is heavily divided over the ICC , with East African leaders facing strong resistance from their West African counterparts in their campaign to whip up hostility towards the court .", "Opposition towards the 11-year-old ICC runs deepest in East Africa - not surprising as two of the region 's presidents - Sudan 's Omar al-Bashir and Kenya 's Uhuru Kenyatta - have been indicted , while Kenya 's Deputy President William Ruto is already on trial on charges of crimes against humanity .", "`` There are strong passions around the issue .", "The ICC has been on the agenda of every AU summit since Mr Bashir 's indictment , '' Steven Gruzd , an analyst with the South African Institute of International Affairs , told the BBC .", "`` The countries that are most vocal in their opposition to the ICC are in East Africa - Kenya , Sudan and Uganda .", "West African countries like Nigeria and Ghana are more supportive of the court , '' he said .", "The AU has called an extraordinary summit , due to take place on Friday and Saturday , in an attempt to ratchet up pressure on the ICC ahead of Mr Kenyatta 's trial next month .", "Despite widespread speculation that the summit will consider calling on all 34 African members to pull out of the ICC , Kenya 's Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said on Wednesday that it was `` quite naive '' to think that leaders would `` come together with the sole aim '' of breaking ties with the court .", "Mr Ruto 's and Mr Kenyatta 's trials are unprecedented - they are the first serving leaders to be tried by an international court .", "Mr Ruto had to ask for his trial to be adjourned , so he could return home to deal with the recent Westgate shopping centre terror attack .", "He was given a week 's delay - less than he had requested .", "`` In advanced countries , sitting presidents are not hauled before courts .", "It 's for the courts to wait for the president to finish their terms before proceedings can be instituted , '' Ms Mohamed told a news conference .", "Like Mr Ruto , Mr Kenyatta is accused of organising violence after disputed elections in 2007 , leaving some 1,100 people dead and 600,000 homeless .", "Both deny the charges , and won in elections in March this year , with voters ignoring warnings by the US of `` consequences '' if they were propelled to power .", "Mr Bashir , accused of genocide in Darfur , has refused to stand trial , as Sudan , unlike Kenya , does not recognise the ICC 's jurisdiction .", "His indictment in 2008 led to relations between the 54-member AU and the ICC plummeting , with the AU calling on countries to ignore an ICC arrest warrant for Mr Bashir , claiming that he enjoyed presidential immunity and that putting him on trial could jeopardise peace efforts in Darfur .", "Source : ICC factsheet `` The Kenyatta and Ruto trials have brought tensions to a head , '' London School of Economics researcher Mark Kersten , who set up the Justice in Conflict blog , told the BBC .", "`` The perception that the court is neo-colonialist and anti-African has burgeoned and solidified -LSB- in the AU -RSB- . ''", "Significantly , South Africa , a major power-broker in the AU , which has been reticent to publicly criticise the ICC up to now , has joined the fray .", "The governing African National Congress ( ANC ) accused the court of staging a `` judicial coup '' by insisting that Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto be present throughout their trials , rather than only at the initial and final stages .", "`` There is clear evidence that the ICC is used more to effect regime change in the majority of cases , '' it said .", "Though South Africa was a staunch advocate of the ICC 's creation , its position is now closer to that of neighbouring Zimbabwe , which has always been a fierce opponent of the court .", "`` President Mugabe sees the court as a tool of imperialists .", "He believes that Tony Blair and George Bush should be in the dock for the war in Iraq , '' Mr Gruzd said .", "`` He is charismatic and dynamic and has clout in the AU .", "He can often change the game . ''", "In contrast , only small southern African states such as Botswana , Lesotho and Mauritius are firm supporters of the ICC .", "In North Africa , there is even less support for the ICC with only Tunisia recognising its jurisdiction .", "But with the region in turmoil following the uprising against long-serving rulers , Mr Gruzd said he does not expect it to play an influential role at the summit .", "Of the AU 's 54 members , 34 have ratified the Rome Statute which established the ICC .", "Significantly , the AU has failed to improve its relations with the ICC since the appointment of Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda as chief prosecutor last year .", "This is despite the fact that it had lobbied for Ms Bensouda to become the ICC 's first African chief prosecutor , succeeding Argentina 's Louis Moreno Ocampo .", "`` The ICC made overtures to set up a liaison office in Addis Ababa , but it was rebuffed by the AU , '' Mr Guzd said .", "One of the AU 's main criticisms of the ICC is that it has only prosecuted Africans , suggesting that it is pursuing selective justice .", "However , Mr Kersten pointed out that the ICC is carrying out investigations in other parts of the world , including Georgia and Colombia , although no-one has yet been charged there .", "Charges have only been laid in eight countries - all in Africa : The Central African Republic ; Democratic Republic of Congo ; Ivory Coast ; Kenya ; Libya ; Sudan and Uganda .", "Profile : Uhuru Kenyatta `` In a lot of theses cases , the ICC intervened after referrals to it by governments , '' Mr Kersten said .", "`` It 's not unusual for states to wear two masks , to engage with the ICC when it suits them and to criticise it when it does n't .", "It 's all very political . ''", "A good example of this is Uganda , which asked the ICC to investigate the rebellion waged in the north by the Lord 's Resistance Army ( LRA ) - a move that led to the court issuing an arrest warrant for the group 's leader , Joseph Kony .", "But at Mr Kenyatta 's inauguration as Kenya 's leader in April this year , Uganda 's President Yoweri Museveni said he no longer supported the ICC because it was being used by `` arrogant actors '' who were trying to `` install leaders of their choice in Africa and eliminate those they do n't like '' .", "In contrast , Ghana 's President John Mahama has expressed strong support for the ICC .", "In an interview with France 24 after the AU denounced the ICC for `` hunting '' Africans at a meeting in May , he said : `` I will not go as far as accusing the ICC of racism ... I think the ICC has done a fantastic job in bringing some people who have committed genocide and mass murder to justice . ''", "However , Mr Kersten acknowledged that some of the AU 's concerns were valid .", "`` It would be folly to deny the fact that the ICC works within an international structure that is far too unequal ... This structure reinforces the reality that powerful states are too often shielded from accountability , '' he said , pointing out that three of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US , China and Russia - do not recognise the ICC 's jurisdiction over their territories .", "`` The court 's promise was to transcend this by being an impartial institution independent of the realpolitik machinations of institutions like the UN Security Council and `` great powers '' like the US .", "It has n't been able to do so , '' he said .", "The UN Security Council has only referred conflicts in Africa - Libya and Darfur - to the ICC for investigation .", "`` The UN Security Council is very politicised and the ICC will have to think more critically about how its relationship with the body and the US are perceived by the rest of the world , '' Mr Kersten said .", "`` If its work is constantly politicised by major powers , the whole system of international justice will be weakened .", "That will be a price too high to pay . ''", "Mr Gruzd said that while many African governments are hostile towards the ICC , their constituents are strong supporters of it .", "Crimes against humanity", "UK barrister disputes Sudan genocide", "Profile : Sudan 's Omar al-Bashir `` There is a fundamental divide between African leaders and African people , '' he said .", "On Monday , about 130 non-governmental organisations wrote an open letter to the AU , warning that `` any withdrawal from the ICC would send the wrong signal about Africa 's commitment to protect and promote human rights and to reject impunity '' .", "Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has also warned African leaders not to quit the ICC .", "`` If they fight the ICC , vote against the ICC , withdraw their cases , it will be a badge of shame for each and every one of them and for their countries if they do that , '' he said , when delivering the annual Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture in Cape Town on Monday .", "Mr Kersten said that while Kenya 's parliament has voted to withdraw from the ICC , he does not expect this to happen .", "`` It will require the head of state , who made a promise during the election campaign to co-operate with the ICC , to deposit a motion at the UN saying : ` We are withdrawing . '", "It 's not a politically intelligent thing to do .", "`` Leaving the ICC is not a pressing issue in any other African state ... It is more politically sensible to remain part of the ICC system and selectively endorse and criticize it from the inside , '' he said .", "Hinting that this was Ghana 's approach , Mr Mahama told France 24 that while he supported the ICC , he opposed its decision to try Mr Kenyatta , who was elected to office five years after the violence for which he has been called to account .", "`` What would you say - the verdict of the Kenyan people or the verdict of the ICC , which of them is more important ? ''", "But international lawyers argue that the whole point of the ICC is to prevent national leaders from using the `` shield '' of immunity to escape prosecution for the atrocities which some have been accused of carrying out ."], "_citing_sentence": "Absence of leadership during the fear and uncertainty surrounding this event might lead to a fresh round of violence as supporters take to the streets in protest - this election had put former enemies Kenyatta and Ruto together, easing ethnic tensions in the region.", "_claim_name": "Having the president out of the country undermines stability", "_doc_title": "Will Africa pull out of the ICC? - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 11]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["GENEVA United Nations human rights experts called on Kenya on Thursday to investigate fully all cases of violence after 2007 elections and denounced a `` climate of impunity '' still shielding suspects .", "Kenya should `` as a matter of urgency , pursue all cases of post-2007 election violence to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice and that victims are adequately compensated '' , the U.N. Human Rights Committee said .", "The Hague-based International Criminal Court said on July 9 that four prominent Kenyans , including presidential hopefuls Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto , would be tried for masterminding the 2007/2008 bloodshed that killed more than 1,200 .", "All deny wrongdoing .", "Their trials for crimes against humanity were set for April 2013 , a month after Kenyatta and Ruto intend to stand in a presidential election in east Africa 's largest economy .", "`` There are cases of a high level pending before the ICC with regard to these events .", "But there are a large number of middle - and low-level perpetrators who are below the radar of the ICC , '' committee member Gerald Neuman told a news briefing .", "`` Kenya needs to accelerate the process of dealing with these cases in order to avoid impunity , '' he said .", "`` Some cases have been brought , small numbers , but what is going to happen to the rest of the files is a matter of concern . ''", "Human Rights Watch , in a report last December , accused the country 's political elite and police of stalling investigations .", "The U.N. committee voiced concern `` at the slow pace of investigations and prosecutions into allegations of torture , extrajudicial killings by the police and by vigilante groups '' .", "It also urged Kenya to boost security at camps of Somali refugees and investigate `` physical and sexual violence by the police towards refugees '' that erupted after bombs killed police officers last December .", "`` The refugees need to be comprehensively protected , but unfortunately they also need to be protected against the people who are there to protect them , '' Neuman said .", "The key to understanding what 's going on lies not with personalities , campaign strategies or party rules but rather with the voter ."], "_citing_sentence": "There have been several cases brought before the courts.", "_claim_name": "Kenya can prosecute these crimes itself", "_doc_title": "UN urges Kenya to probe violence after 2007 elections | Reuters", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 5]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Police respond to the shooting and hostage situation at Nairobi 's Westgate Mall , in which more than 60 people were killed .", "Nairobi -- Deputy President William Ruto has been given a one-week break from his International Criminal Court trial , following the devastating attack at the Westgate shopping mall .", "The judges in Trial Chamber V ( a ) have also sent condolences to victims of the siege , which entered its third day on Monday .", "The judges are yet to decide if the trial can proceed in Ruto 's absence or whether it will be adjourned .", "The Deputy President 's lead Counsel Karim Khan had earlier on Monday told journalists that the judges had allowed the case to proceed without Ruto for two weeks , but the Prosecution appealed against the request leading to the one-week compromise .", "At least 68 people have been killed in the heinous attack with hundreds others suffering serious wounds after Al Shabaab attackers took over the up market mall on Saturday .", "Copyright \u00a9 2013 Capital FM .", "All rights reserved .", "Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ) .", "To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material , click here .", "AllAfrica publishes around 1,000 reports a day from more than 140 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic .", "We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons .", "Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content , which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct .", "Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica .", "To address comments or complaints , please Contact us .", "AllAfrica is a voice of , by and about Africa - aggregating , producing and distributing 1,000 news and information items daily from over 140 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public .", "We operate from Cape Town , Dakar , Lagos , Monrovia , Nairobi and Washington DC ."], "_citing_sentence": "Despite the need to strong leadership in the midst of a potentially divisive event, Ruto was only granted one week away from trial.", "_claim_name": "Having the president out of the country undermines stability", "_doc_title": "Kenya: Ruto Can Return to Kenya For A Week Over Westgate - ICC - allAfrica.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 56, "_topic_name": "This House believes the Uhuru Kenyatta indictment was an unwelcome interference by the ICC"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Infected wild animals pose ` a risk to health ' , says Nigel Gibbens , as population control trials begin", "Tuberculosis in cattle could spread to humans unless the UK takes bold action to curb of the disease in the country 's badger population , Britain 's chief vet warned today .", "With the Government 's highly controversial badger cull season due to start on Saturday , its highest ranking vet , Nigel Gibbens , said there is `` no doubt '' that badgers are partially responsible for spreading bovine TB through cattle , posing a risk to pets and , in turn , human health .", "`` If we do not maintain and improve our bovine TB controls and levels of bovine TB continued to increase , the risk of infection to other mammals and humans would inevitably increase , '' warned Mr Gibbens , of the Department for the Environment , Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra ) .", "His comments come shortly before a trial cull of badgers is due to begin in Somerset and Gloucestershire which aims to kill a total of about 5,000 badgers , or 70 per cent of the estimated population in the two culling zones .", "If these culls are deemed successful at reducing bovine TB in the area , Environment Secretary Owen Paterson plans to extend them to a further 40 zones within four years resulting in the elimination of an estimated 100,000 badgers .", "From Saturday the culling companies are free to begin shooting badgers in the field and trapping them in cages before killing them , although they are not expected to begin the cull immediately .", "Once the cull commences , they have six weeks to complete the programme and must finish by January 31 .", "Public opinion is divided on whether the cull should proceed .", "A new survey out today shows 34 per cent are against the policy , while 29 per cent support it .", "A further 22 per cent said they did n't know and 15 per cent had `` no strong feeling '' , according to the YouGov poll .", "The trial culls aim to cut the incidence of bovine TB in the zones by 16 per cent , which Defra regards as a very meaningful reduction that could reverse the steady rise of the endemic disease .", "The symptoms of bovine TB in people are the same as the human form of tuberculosis and include coughing , fever , night sweats and weight loss .", "Humans would be most likely to pick up bovine TB through their pet cat or dog but they could potentially contract the disease from alpacas , cattle , deer or foxes .", "The disease is typically spread by inhaling the germs breathed out or coughed up by infected animals or from their urine and excrement .", "It can also be picked up by consuming unpasteurised milk and dairy products from infected herds and by handling the carcasses of dead carriers through cuts or by not washing your hands .", "Bovine TB was relatively common in humans before the introduction of milk pasteurisation and regulator testing of cattle in the 1950s .", "Over the last 20 years the strain has accounted for just 0.5 per cent of the tuberculosis contracted by humans and Mr Gibbens points out that the risk of contraction is therefore very low .", "But with the disease spreading rapidly through cattle -- at a rate that would see it double over the next nine years and spread geographically - there is a danger that the number could increase , Mr Gibbens said .", "The spread of TB must be attacked on all fronts , he said , including through the culling of infected cattle and , potentially , of badgers , depending on how the trials turn out .", "The badger cull is highly controversial .", "Police are preparing for clashes between animal rights activists and farmers and marksmen involved in the trials and one group has threatened to squat Mr Paterson 's second home in southern France in protest .", "The timing and location of the culls is shrouded in secrecy along with the identities of the participants .", "Apart from the emotion connected to the widespread killing of badgers , many opponents argue that the cull is an ineffective way or reducing TB in cattle and could even exacerbate the problem because fleeing badgers could spread the disease more widely .", "They put the main reason for the spread of the disease down to the movement of infected cattle across the country .", "Mr Gibbens said : `` There is cattle-to-cattle transmission and badgers infect cattle .", "We have to deal with both in parallel . ''", "Both sides agree that the rise of TB is a huge problem .", "Last year more than 37,000 cattle had to be slaughtered in the UK at a cost to the taxpayer of # 100m in the form of partial compensation to the farmers .", "Meanwhile , Defra was forced to defend the humanity of the programme after a government paper admitted there was a danger that some animals are likely to be wounded but not immediately killed , some of which may eventually die of secondary infection or starvation .", "A Defra spokesman said : `` We are confident that controlled shooting will be an effective and humane shooting method , given its widespread use in other species .", "Operators will be required to follow best-practice guidance , have undertaken training and competence testing and there will be careful monitoring via field observations and post mortems . ''", "`` The humaneness of the pilots will be monitored through field observations and post mortems and a report will be drawn up by the independent panel at the end of the cull , '' he added .", "The heavily redacted government paper came to light in response to a Freedom of Information request by the animal protection group , Humane Society International ."], "_citing_sentence": "The UK's Chief vet, Nigel Gibbons argues that the risk of infection of humans will increase if there is no cull.", "_claim_name": "A cull is needed to prevent bovine TB", "_doc_title": "Chief vet: We need badger cull to prevent spread of TB to humans | News | Lifestyle | The Independent", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 57, "_topic_name": "This House would cull badgers"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Text Browser Navigation Bar : Main Site Navigation and Search | Current Page Navigation | Current Page Content", "U.S. Army War College >> Strategic Studies Institute >> Publications >> NATO Enlargement and the Baltic States : What Can the Great Powers Do ?", "Authored by Dr. Stephen J. Blank .", "As NATO enlarges and approaches the borders of the Baltic states , it faces one of the most difficult and complex security challenges in contemporary Europe .", "While the Baltic states crave membership in NATO , Russia deems that outcome as unacceptable , threatens to break cooperation with the West in such an event , and NATO allies themselves remain divided over the wisdom of Baltic membership .", "The apparent irreconcilability of NATO 's and Russia 's positions , and the Baltic states ' insistence upon consideration for their security interests , oblige both East and West to collaborate on devising a workable and acceptable security system for the region that respects both Russian and Baltic , not to mention Western , interests .", "Otherwise , this region might become the flashpoint of a political conflict that could eventually degenerate into a military one .", "NATO must simultaneously deter Russia and reassure it and the Baltic states that their security will be enhanced .", "The key players in this process are Russia , Germany , and the United States .", "They have the means to shape the future parameters of any Baltic security system and are the principal players in Europe as well .", "And it is their policies that will define the limits of what can be done in the Baltic , as well as in much of Europe , since Baltic security is inseparable from that of Europe as a whole .", "Or , in other words , European security is indivisible , and Baltic security is part of it .", "However , analysis of Russian policy through 1997 suggests that Russia remains fundamentally incapable of playing a constructive role in this process .", "Russian policies for Europe are incoherent and attached to models of European security that have little or no relevance to other states or that actually alarm them .", "Russia still disdains the small states , thinking them to be of no consequence , proposes infeasible and objectionable schemes of pan-European collective security that do not bind it but would bind NATO , and at the same time pursues unilateralist spheres of influence policies in the Commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS ) .", "Russian policy is also frankly and openly revisionist , demanding border revisions and refusing to sign formal border treaties to recognize the post-1989 changes in Central and Eastern Europe .", "Its spokesmen make demands for an exceptional position in Europe or for unworkable security systems that do little to advance faith in Russia 's coherence or good will .", "Furthermore , its policy statements reveal a continuing addiction to old-fashioned doctrines of zero-sum games , of viewing everything in terms of correlations of antagonistic military forces , and of desires for exclusive rights over small states .", "These obstacles to Russian success in Europe are prominent in Russia 's Baltic policies .", "Russia continues to make threats against the Baltic states of economic war , of criminal subversion from without , and of refusing to recognize borders , while attempting to gain a veto over NATO 's activities .", "Because Russia can not carry out these threats , it only further antagonizes the Baltic states , makes them more intractable in their own anti-Russian policies at home and abroad , and only worsens the regional situation .", "Whereas 4-5 years ago Russia might have been able to achieve a genuine neutralization of the region , today that is impossible .", "Now many of NATO 's members are involved in trying to secure the region .", "Until such time as Russia can devise coherent and responsible policies for Europe , it will continue to lose ground there and be seen as a threat more than as part of the solution .", "However , it is precisely due to its military-political capability to be a threat that Germany has attempted to conduct a policy where , on the one hand , it wants to expand ( or so it says ) the European Union ( EU ) and NATO to the East but will otherwise do nothing that antagonizes President Boris Yeltsin and Russia .", "As a result , Germany has steadily backtracked since 1993 on Baltic admission into NATO and proposed terms for Russia 's integration into NATO 's policy process?the new NATO-Russia Council?that remarkably prefigured the final agreement on the Council in May 1997 .", "Unfortunately , those terms went far beyond giving Russia ?", "a voice but not a veto ?", "and certainly made it clear that Germany will not accept Baltic membership in NATO anytime soon .", "Indeed , German Foreign Ministry officials speaking in Moscow openly alluded to the need not to do anything that wounds Russian sensitivities , explicitly giving Russia a veto on future expansion .", "Thus , it is unlikely that Germany will shoulder the responsibilities of helping to underpin a security regime that is viable for the Baltic .", "If anything , all the evidence suggests that Germany is trying to force the Nordic states , mainly Finland and Sweden , and the United States to bear this burden while it basically gets a free ride .", "Accordingly , it falls to Washington to take the lead here , as it has done in the general process of enlargement .", "Washington has done so .", "It has crafted new political and institutional formulas for NATO within the Partnership for Peace ( PfP ) program that will enhance the scope of Baltic and other states ' political and military participation in the alliance 's activities .", "It is devising programs like shared air defense and the U.S.-Baltic charter to allay their security concerns while seeking to integrate Moscow through the Council .", "Yet here , too , American policy seems to run into difficulties .", "Evidently , as cited below , many U.S. officials have come to view Article 5 of the Washington Treaty as having outlived its usefulness and as merely a part of the political superstructure needed for reassurance rather than as an operative , vital part of the Alliance .", "Washington has told Sweden , for example , that it looks towards a collective security system in which all the states of Europe can participate through the PfP program .", "The language of this program 's founding documents is very close to that of Article 4 of the Washington Treaty that calls only for consultations in the event of a threat to security .", "Thus membership in the PfP program only gives states the right of consultation in the event of a threat to their security , it does not give themthe security guarantee commonly held to derive from", "Even though the United States is the only state that is really trying to lead the formation of a regional and continental system , its approach attempts to advance NATO 's enlargement while maintaining that a clearly increasingly anti-American and revisionist Russia is a democratic partner for Washington .", "This lack of realism betrays a substantial confusion in policy that is not warranted by Russia 's truculent posture or Germany 's interest in having others do for it what it will not do for itself , namely play a more active role in areas like the Baltic .", "While the innovations proposed by the United States to NATO and the PfP program are sound and will enhance Baltic security , it is not clear that they will go far enough to overcome regional tensions , unless the EU and Europe are also brought into the picture so that a true regional stabilization can occur .", "Likewise , we need to recognize that , however much Europe has changed since 1949 , the pledge of collective defense to treaty members under Article 5 is still relevant , and that it is not at all clear if Russia truly has reconciled itself to the status quo .", "As President Clinton recently wrote to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson ( R-Texas ) , we still need to guard against the possibility of a regression in Russian politics that would threaten the accomplishments of the last decade .", "Among those achievements is the independence of the Baltic states .", "NATO 's enlargement will transform European security .", "But the Baltic states are not among NATO 's first new members because their defense organizations do not yet meet NATO 's standards , and they have problems with their Russian minorities and with Russia .1 Moreover , NATO members ' reluctance to admit the Baltic states will probably continue , leaving the latter outside of any functioning European security structure .2 Admitting these states to NATO and/or the European Union ( EU ) presents European governments and security organizations with many difficult challenges , among them deterring Russian threats .", "H. Plater-Zyberg , a British military analyst , writes , ?", "Moscow will have no difficulty ensuring that the area is not sufficiently stable to join any security structures in the future . ?", "3 If he is right , at least some of the Baltic states ' entry into NATO , and maybe the EU , might be postponed indefinitely .", "Many pundits and diplomats also contend that these states are indefensible against Russian threats , an argument the Baltic states vehemently deny .4 Thus , these states ' future status has become a major question in European security .", "Russia unconditionally opposes their entry into NATO , calling it unacceptable .5 Russia 's 1993 military doctrine also explicitly states that an alliance 's expansion to states on its borders , e.g. , the Baltic states , threatens vital Russian interests .", "Logically this means that Russia still seeks a veto over NATO and Central and Eastern European security policies even if it can not obtain that goal .6 In the wake of the recent NATO-Russia Founding Act of May 1997 , Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov said that the issue of the Baltic states and NATO was a condition for future East-West cooperation .7 Thus NATO enlargement to the Baltic statescould trigger a strong Russian reaction there , even if it is only rhetorical , economic , and political at first .", "But a military riposte could follow later and feature still more political , and maybe military , pressure against the Baltic states and NATO .8 Moscow will , in either case , probably aim to preserve and/or perpetuate the current regional insecurity and prevent NATO 's enlargement to the Baltic .", "This regional security dilemma confirms that the main problem with NATO 's enlargement is that it complicates the task of building security in and around Russia .9 Nonetheless , NATO is committed to enlargement and must accept its obligations .", "While those obligations do not mean automatic defense of the Baltic states if they are attacked ( as would be the case for members ) , it does mean that NATO can not abstain from a substantive participation in the establishment of a regional security system for the Baltic region .", "NATO can not simply wash it hands of those areas in Europe that are only included in the Partnership for Peace and ignore regional security issues either in the Balkans or in the Baltic .", "Therefore among those obligations that NATO has incurred due to its enlargement is the challenge of building a durable framework for regional security .", "Otherwise , NATO 's enlargement could aggravate , not reduce , Baltic tensions .", "NATO and/or all the littoral states , including Russia , might then adopt more confrontational postures .", "The Baltic states , being outside any European security system and there being no Western consensus over upholding their security and independence , might face strong Russian pressure to rejoin its sphere of influence .", "Such pressures could trigger a European , not merely", "Therefore , to prevent such possibilities , we must consider how to enhance Baltic security .", "Paradoxically , excluding the Baltic states from Europe 's security structures magnifies the Baltic littoral 's importance for Europe .", "Because Russia has made the Baltic states ' exclusion from NATO a condition of future cooperation with the West , it is now more urgent for Europe and the United States to find at least an interim solution forregional security dilemmas .", "In particular , the key great powers?", "Russia , Germany , and the United States?", "who most directly shape the region 's security framework must take the lead to assure mutual cooperation .", "Russia 's importance is clear from the map .", "American preponderance is equally obvious .", "And both the Baltic states and neutrals like Finland and Sweden accept that German policy greatly influences regional trends and is essential to any regional or European balance .", "As in the past , European security organizations must deter and reassure Russia while enhancing the security of the littoral states .11 These organizations must also jointly share in any Baltic security plan so that no state or organization obtains a free ride .", "Free riding occurs when one or more states , or organizations , knowing or believing that some other state or organization can or will formulate solutions for major issues like Baltic security , effectively abstains from serious participation in the solution .", "Instead that state/s or organization/s then lets other states act alone , gaining a free ride at their expense .", "If free riding pervades an entire alliance as in the 1930s , security guarantees are devalued and could even become worthless .12", "Accordingly , to stabilize the Baltic region , states can not keep looking , as they are now tempted to do , for others to ensure regional security .", "Free riding undermines Baltic integration in Europe by dissolving the cohesion of the new NATO-led security system .", "It also fosters renationalized and unilateral security policies .", "Germany could incline further to make a bilateral deal with Russia over Central and Eastern Europe .", "As it is , Baltic cohesion , too , is already eroding .", "Lithuania poses , not as a Baltic state , but as a Central European one that seeks unilateral entry to European organizations , while forsaking Latvia and Estonia .", "Estonia follows suit regarding its future entry into the EU and supports admitting at least one Baltic state into NATO so that others might later gain a hearing .", "Free riding and allied divisions regarding the Baltic could create new and unforeseen regional problems and clearly are due to the EU 's and NATO 's hesitations over Baltic issues .14 Regional cooperation , which is already weakened due to NATO and the EU 's reluctance to expand , will further decrease where free riding and renationalized agendas prevail .15 Russia could then be tempted to extend an unwelcome protectorate over the Baltic states .", "To prevent such outcomes and protect the Baltic states , NATO must continue to provide security , deter Russia , reassure , and lead the non-NATO littoral states and Europe 's other security organizations , the EU and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ( OSCE ) , toward regional as well as European military-political integration .", "Failure to do so will have grave consequences .", "Ex-Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt wrote that Russia 's Baltic policy is a litmus test of its European and security policies .", "Volker Ruhe , Germany 's Minister of Defense , wrote that the Baltic states are the practical testing ground for meeting the challenges of reshaping NATO 's missions , territorial scope , the relations between the United States and its European allies , the hoped for partnership with Russia , and , in general , for building the Europe we want to see .", "German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel also stressed these states ' importance for future European security .", "Thus failure to attend to Baltic issues could jeopardize NATO enlargement and European security .", "Karl Kaiser , of the German Society for Foreign Affairs , worried that the U.S. Senate may make meaningful security for states not admitted in the first round , like the Baltic states , a precondition for ratifying enlargement .", "Dutch analysts Alfred Van Staden and Gert de Nooy call the Baltic Europe 's most contested area where failure to reconcile Baltic , Western , and Russian interests could reignite East-West confrontation .", "The 1991 Soviet coups in the Baltic and Moscow led Central and East Europe to press for NATO membership , so renewed pressure in the Baltic could have equally grave consequences for the region , Europe , and Russia .", "Not surprisingly , much European diplomacy now revolves around the issues raised by NATO enlargementand Baltic exclusion from it .", "On the one hand this diplomatic activity acknowledges the indivisibility of European security , but , on the other , it also reveals the reluctance to accept the full implications of that fact ."], "_citing_sentence": "Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are also former Soviet states, and Russia objected to their entry into NATO quite as much as it objects today about its Black Sea neighbours.", "_claim_name": "There is a strong precedent for expansion", "_doc_title": "Excerpt - NATO Enlargement and the Baltic States: What Can the Great Powers Do?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 58, "_topic_name": "This House would extend NATO membership to Georgia and Ukraine"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Today I planted something new in my vegetable garden -- something very new , as a matter of fact .", "It 's a potato called the New Leaf Superior , which has been genetically engineered -- by Monsanto , the chemical giant recently turned '' life sciences '' giant -- to produce its own insecticide .", "This it can do in every cell of every leaf , stem , flower , root and ( here 's the creepy part ) spud .", "The scourge of potatoes has always been the Colorado potato beetle , a handsome and voracious insect that can pick a plant clean of its leaves virtually overnight .", "Any Colorado potato beetle that takes so much as a nibble of my New Leafs will supposedly keel over and die , its digestive tract pulped , in effect , by the bacterial toxin manufactured in the leaves of these otherwise ordinary Superiors .", "( Superiors are the thin-skinned white spuds sold fresh in the supermarket . )", "You 're probably wondering if I plan to eat these potatoes , or serve them to my family .", "That 's still up in the air ; it 's only the first week of May , and harvest is a few months off .", "Certainly my New Leafs are aptly named .", "They 're part of a new class of crop plants that is rapidly changing the American food chain .", "This year , the fourth year that genetically altered seed has been on the market , some 45 million acres of American farmland have been planted with biotech crops , most of it corn , soybeans , cotton and potatoes that have been engineered to either produce their own pesticides or withstand herbicides .", "Though Americans have already begun to eat genetically engineered potatoes , corn and soybeans , industry research confirms what my own informal surveys suggest : hardly any of us knows it .", "The reason is not hard to find .", "The biotech industry , with the concurrence of the Food and Drug Administration , has decided we do n't need to know it , so biotech foods carry no identifying labels .", "In a dazzling feat of positioning , the industry has succeeded in depicting these plants simultaneously as the linchpins of a biological revolution -- part of a '' new agricultural paradigm '' that will make farming more sustainable , feed the world and improve health and nutrition -- and , oddly enough , as the same old stuff , at least so far as those of us at the eating end of the food chain should be concerned .", "This convenient version of reality has been roundly rejected by both consumers and farmers across the Atlantic .", "Last summer , biotech food emerged as the most explosive environmental issue in Europe .", "Protesters have destroyed dozens of field trials of the very same '' frankenplants '' ( as they are sometimes called ) that we Americans are already serving for dinner , and throughout Europe the public has demanded that biotech food be labeled in the market .", "By growing my own transgenic crop -- and talking with scientists and farmers involved with biotech -- I hoped to discover which of us was crazy .", "Are the Europeans overreacting , or is it possible that we 've been underreacting to genetically engineered food ?", "After digging two shallow trenches in my garden and lining them with compost , I untied the purple mesh bag of seed potatoes that Monsanto had sent and opened up the Grower Guide tied around its neck .", "( Potatoes , you may recall from kindergarten experiments , are grown not from seed but from the eyes of other potatoes . )", "The guide put me in mind not so much of planting potatoes as booting up a new software release .", "By '' opening and using this product , '' the card stated , I was now '' licensed '' to grow these potatoes , but only for a single generation ; the crop I would water and tend and harvest was mine , yet also not mine .", "That is , the potatoes I will harvest come August are mine to eat or sell , but their genes remain the intellectual property of Monsanto , protected under numerous United States patents , including Nos. 5,196,525 , 5,164,316 , 5,322,938 and 5,352,605 .", "Were I to save even one of them to plant next year -- something I 've routinely done with potatoes in the past -- I would be breaking Federal law .", "The small print in the Grower Guide also brought the news that my potato plants were themselves a pesticide , registered with the Environmental Protection Agency .", "If proof were needed that the intricate industrial food chain that begins with seeds and ends on our dinner plates is in the throes of profound change , the small print that accompanied my New Leaf will do .", "That food chain has been unrivaled for its productivity -- on average , a single American farmer today grows enough food each year to feed 100 people .", "But this accomplishment has come at a price .", "The modern industrial farmer can not achieve such yields without enormous amounts of chemical fertilizer , pesticide , machinery and fuel , a set of capital-intensive inputs , as they 're called , that saddle the farmer with debt , threaten his health , erode his soil and destroy its fertility , pollute the ground water and compromise the safety of the food we eat .", "We 've heard all this before , of course , but usually from environmentalists and organic farmers ; what is new is to hear the same critique from conventional farmers , government officials and even many agribusiness corporations , all of whom now acknowledge that our food chain stands in need of reform .", "Sounding more like Wendell Berry than the agribusiness giant it is , Monsanto declared in its most recent annual report that '' current agricultural technology is not sustainable . ''", "Michael Pollan , the author of '' Second Nature , '' is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine .", "He is at work on a book about the relationship between plants and people .", "Room for Debate asks whether shorefront homeowners should have to open their land to all comers .", "New York City 's top public schools must become more diverse ."], "_citing_sentence": "The problem is that the genes remain the intellectual property of Monsanto, protected under numerous United States patents (Nos. 5,196,525, 5,164,316, 5,322,938 and 5,352,605), under these patents, people are not allowed to save even crop for next year, because with this they would break Federal law of intellectual property.", "_claim_name": "GMOs would create too much dependency on biotechnology companies", "_doc_title": "Playing God in the Garden - NYTimes.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [24, 25]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Social , Political , Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All", "The potential benefits of genetically engineered food are exciting .", "At the same time though , there are real concerns on biodiversity , the ecosystem and people 's safety if such food has not been tested properly and guaranteed to be safe .", "As economics are factored in , there is also some concern as to who benefits from such technology , people in need , or people who need more .", "This web page has the following sub-sections :", "The reason that genetically engineered food could be dangerous is because there has been no adequate testing to ensure that extracting genes that perform an apparently useful function as part of that plant or animal is going to have the same effects if inserted into a totally unrelated species .", "It may be that in the long term , genetically modified food could provide us with benefits and be a safe alternative , but we can not know that at this time due to the lack of safety testing .", "The testing that has been done is often to ensure the crop grows .", "There has been less emphasis on testing the effects or testing the wider ecology and the associated impacts .", "It is often claimed that there have been no adverse consequences from over 500 field releases in the United States .", "In 1993 , for the first time , the data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture ( USDA ) field trials were evaluated to see whether they supported these safety claims .", "The Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) , which conducted the evaluation , found that the data collected by the USDA on small-scale tests had little value for commercial risk-assessment .", "Many reports fail to mention -- much less measure -- environmental risks .", "Vandana Shiva , Stolen Harvest ( South End Press , 2000 ) , p. 102", "Back to top In industrial systems , time is money : speed is tied to efficiency because of competition and the need for returns on investments .", "The control and compression of time is central to the creation of profit .", "By contrast , in nature everything has its own time , rhythm and season .", "This natural time is a barrier to productivity and profit ( Adam 1998 ) .", "Politics of GM Food : Risk , Science and Public Trust , Special Briefing # 5 , ESRC Global Environmental Change Programme , University of Sussex and launched at the House of Commons , London , October 18th 1999 .", "Crossbreeding by farmers and evolution by Nature , has always involved gene transfer between similar species , not completely different species like a fish and a potato .", "With the increasing drive for maximized productivity and profits , the diversity of crops used is being reduced .", "If the diversity is reduced enough the benefits that the diversity gives -- resistance to disease , better ability to cope with environmental extremes , increased yields etc. -- is also reduced .", "Scientists have warned that non-target species can be affected by genetically modified food .", "They also urge a precautionary approach to allow science , law and regulations to catch up with the advances that have been made .", "Some GM crops still seem to require pesticide use as well .", "Back to top", "Even if there has been some testing , the long term effects to humans , animals and the environment are unknown .", "The full ramifications of modified genes `` escaping '' and mixing with unmodified ones are unknown .", "It may be that genetically modified food can benefit us , but we can not know that at this time because much needed testing has not been done and current studies point to dangers rather than benefits .", "However , a group of scientists in UK do claim that GE food may be safe , but mention that the long-term effects are still unknown .", "( Also , note that a lot of field tests that companies do perform are aimed at assuring that their products are grown as expected , not always necessarily looking into wider effects . )", "Part of the promising and exciting aspects of biotechnology is that it could perhaps reduce harmful pesticide use , and increase yields to help provide food for the hungry and large world population .", "Genetically engineered crops were created not because they 're productive but because they 're patentable .", "Their economic value is oriented not toward helping subsistence farmers to feed themselves but toward feeding more livestock for the already overfed rich .", "Amory and Hunter Lovins , Founders of the Rocky Mountain Institute , quoted from Are Genetically Altered Foods The Answer to World Hunger ?", ", by John Robbins , Earth Island Institute , Winter 2001-2002 , Vol .", "From a science perspective there are many issues to address , and there are chances that the GM technology can improve over the years .", "However , the issues above hint towards some of the political and economic issues of this which can be very significant .", "As a result , these factors influence the claims of biotechnology being able to feeding the world comes , which we look at next .", "See more related articles", "Bookmark or share this with others using some popular social bookmarking web sites :", "Anup Shah , Is GE Food Safe ?", ", Global Issues , Updated : January 20 , 2002", "Alternatively , copy/paste the following MLA citation format for this page :", "`` Is GE Food Safe ? . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Also many reports also failed to mention or even measure any environmental risks connected with GM food commercialisation.", "_claim_name": "Genetically modified food is too new and little researched to be allowed for public use.", "_doc_title": "Is GE Food Safe? \u2014 Global Issues", "_labeled_lineIDs": [12]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 59, "_topic_name": "This House would ban the development of genetically modified organisms"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["study"], ["factual"], ["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Please choose a country or other area , Region , or U.S. State .", "Under Secretary for Civilian Security , Democracy , and Human Rights '' Bureau of Democracy , Human Rights , and Labor '' Releases '' Human Rights Reports '' 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices '' Europe and Eurasia '' Ukraine", "This is the basic text view .", "SWITCH NOW to the new , more interactive format .", "Ukraine , with a population of 45.4 million , is a multiparty , democratic republic with a presidential-parliamentary system of government .", "The country is governed by a directly elected president , a prime minister who heads the Cabinet of Ministers , and a unicameral parliament ( Verkhovna Rada ) .", "Two rounds of presidential elections held in January and February were assessed by international and domestic observers as having met most standards for openness and fairness .", "The winner , former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych , was inaugurated on February 25 .", "On October 1 , the Constitutional Court reinstated the 1996 constitution , a ruling that considerably strengthened the powers of the president , including authority to dismiss unilaterally the prime minister and other government ministers .", "In its ruling the court stated that amendments to the 1996 constitution , which were passed in 2004 as part of a compromise to end the mass protests of the Orange Revolution , were unconstitutional because they were improperly adopted .", "Security forces generally reported to civilian authorities .", "Human rights problems included reports of serious police abuse and deaths in custody , beatings , and torture of detainees and prisoners , harsh conditions in prisons and detention facilities , arbitrary and lengthy pretrial detention , and an inefficient and corrupt judicial system .", "During the year there were reports of increased government pressure on independent media outlets , limitations on freedom of assembly , and the appearance of politically motivated prosecution of opposition politicians .", "Corruption in government and society was widespread .", "There were reports that the government 's security service harassed and intimidated civil society organizations .", "There was some violence and discrimination against women and children , and reports of nonviolent incidents of anti-Semitism .", "Trafficking in persons continued to be a serious problem .", "Societal discrimination and violence against Roma , Crimean Tatars , and persons of non-Slavic appearance were reported .", "There were reports of police harassment of the gay community .", "Workers faced limitations on organizing and joining unions and on their ability to bargain collectively .", "RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS", "Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person , Including Freedom From : a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life", "There were no reports that the government or its agents committed any politically motivated killings ; however , two persons died in police custody after allegedly being abused .", "On May 18 , college student Ihor Indylo died in police custody at the Shevchenkivsky District police station in Kyiv .", "Police representatives claimed that Indylo fell on the floor and sustained lethal head injuries because he was drunk .", "Indylo 's relatives claimed that he was beaten by police .", "In October prosecutors charged officers Serhiy Prykhodko and Serhiy Kovalenko with negligence and abuse of office , including failure to determine if Indylo 's detention was legal and to arrange surveillance while in custody .", "According to Idylo 's mother and attorney , the charges against the police officers do not address how Ihor sustained the injuries which they claim led to his death .", "The case continued at year 's end .", "On September 10 , the media reported that detainee Mykhaylo Stadnyk died at a district police department in Lviv .", "Stadnyk 's relatives described multiple bruises on his body , which they asserted were a clear sign that he was tortured by police .", "Police representatives denied the claim , suggesting that Stadnyk was drunk and injured himself prior to his detention .", "The Lviv Oblast Prosecutor 's Office ordered an additional forensic examination of the body to ascertain the cause of his death .", "The results of the investigation were pending at year 's end .", "On December 23 , the trial of Viktor Lozynskiy began at Dniprovsky District Court in Kyiv .", "Lozynskiy , a former member of parliament , was charged in connection with the June 2009 death of Valeriy Oliynyk of Kirovohrad Oblast .", "According to police reports at the time , Lozynskiy and two other local officials pursued Oliynyk into a wooded area where they assaulted him , broke his leg , and shot him multiple times .", "The two officials were arrested and dismissed from their posts .", "There were few developments in the government 's ongoing investigation of the 2004 dioxin poisoning of then opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko .", "In a December 10 interview with the Segodnya newspaper , Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka stated that his office had requested new blood samples from Yushchenko because the original ones were improperly secured prior to expert examination and could not be used as credible evidence .", "Pshonka claimed he could not rule out that there was no poisoning .", "On April 13 , parliament terminated the authority of a commission investigating the poisoning for failing to meet reporting deadlines .", "Yushchenko 's spokeswoman described the move as a `` natural step , '' adding that the commission , chaired by Party of Regions member of parliament Volodymyr Sivkovych , had spread false information about the poisoning .", "On April 15 , then prosecutor general Oleksandr Medvedko told the Kommersant-Ukrayina newspaper that , without identifying those who poisoned Yushchenko , one could not determine whether the poisoning was deliberate or not .", "On September 13 , the Prosecutor General 's Office ( PGO ) announced its finding that the killing of investigative journalist Heorhiy Gongadze in 2000 was ordered by Yuriy Kravchenko , the late interior minister who died in 2005 under suspicious circumstances from two gunshots to the head .", "Kravchenko 's death was labeled a suicide .", "In July 2009 authorities arrested Oleksiy Pukach , a former senior ministry of internal affairs official , in connection with the Gongadze killing .", "Prosecutors alleged that Pukach led a group of police officers who abducted and killed Gongadze .", "At year 's end prosecutors stated they had completed a pretrial investigation of the charges against Pukach and would deliver their findings to a court .", "Valentyna Telychenko , an attorney for Myroslava Gongadze , the widow of the slain journalist , stated the PGO had not allowed her to review the Pukach case files before they were sent to court .", "The PGO denied the claim , stating that Telychenko had ignored an invitation to review the materials .", "Pukach 's trial had not started at year 's end .", "In 2008 three police officers were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms for Gongadze 's killing .", "However , members of his family and journalists who investigated the killing continued to maintain that Kravchenko and Pukach acted on orders from senior government officials in the administration of former president Kuchma who wanted to silence the outspoken journalist .", "There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances .", "c. Torture and Other Cruel , Inhuman , or Degrading Treatment or Punishment", "The constitution and the law prohibit such practices ; however , there were reports that police continued to abuse and torture persons in custody .", "For example , the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union ( UHHRU ) , a nonprofit coalition of human rights organizations , reported that during the year it had received 172 complaints of torture and abuse .", "Of that number , 90 complaints pertained to torture and abuse committed by police .", "On August 16 , Yakov Strogan was arrested by police in Kharkiv following an argument with his neighbor .", "He was detained for four days during which he alleged he was tortured .", "He appealed his detention to the prosecutor 's office , held a press conference , and participated in hearings on his allegations .", "On December 9 , Strogan was summoned to the Prosecutor 's Office and arrested again .", "According to the local Kharkiv Human Rights Group , Strogan was brought to court the following day with signs that he had been beaten .", "The judge ruled to remand Strogan to custody , where he remains .", "Human rights groups and Strogan 's wife called for his immediate release and an investigation into his treatment while in custody .", "On December 16 , Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) issued a report stating that asylum seekers and migrants in the country `` risk abusive treatment and arbitrary detention . ''", "Although torture was `` not systemic , '' the testimonies of refugees , migrants and asylum seekers indicated that it did sporadically occur .", "While conditions in some migration detention facilities improved , detainees alleged that inhuman or degrading treatment , including beatings , kicking , and food deprivation occurred .", "`` All of these abuses took place in a climate of impunity , with victims fearful of reporting the abuse and perpetrators not held to account , '' the report stated .", "Police officers were often poorly trained or equipped to gather evidence through investigations and depended on confessions to solve cases .", "The law does not clearly prohibit confessions or other statements made under duress from being introduced as evidence in court proceedings .", "Efforts to check these practices were made more difficult by an ineffective system for investigating allegations of abuse and by detainees ' lack of access to defense lawyers and doctors .", "In a February 2009 report , the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention cited multiple concerns based on a monitoring visit in 2008 to 21 facilities in eight cities .", "Among them were `` numerous , consistent , and often credible allegations from various sources ... of confessions obtained under torture from detainees of the militsia , the Ukrainian police force . ''", "The working group also noted that there was a low acquittal rate by the PGO when it was presented with well-founded accusations that incriminating evidence was obtained by methods that violated proper criminal procedures .", "For example , of some 100,000 such complaints registered in 2008 , the prosecutor general considered 30 to be violations .", "According to the working group , `` impunity for perpetrators of ill-treatment largely prevails . ''", "During the year the European Court of Human Rights ( ECHR ) issued 11 decisions against the country for violation of Article 3 ( inhuman or degrading treatment ) of the European Convention of Human Rights .", "This compared with nine violations in 2009 and four in 2008 .", "During the year the media reported several cases of police abuse .", "For example , on April 1 , UNIAN reported that the Odesa Oblast Prosecutor 's Office and the State Security Service of Ukraine ( SBU ) detained five police officers in the Rozdilna District after examining a complaint that two local residents had been detained on suspicion of theft and tortured .", "According to the report , the prosecutor established that the victims had been beaten and electrocuted and opened a criminal case to investigate the torture allegations .", "On December 21 , UNIAN reported that the Lviv Oblast Prosecutor 's Office completed its investigation and forwarded to court a criminal case against two police officers of the Sambir District police department who beat three detainees in an attempt to extract confessions from them .", "During the year authorities prosecuted police officers who had allegedly abused persons in detention .", "According to the Prosecutor 's General Office , during the first nine months of the year , 39 criminal cases of police torture or inhuman and degrading treatment and were opened , and 28 cases involving 68 law enforcement officers were sent to court .", "According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs , during the first nine months of the year , 520 criminal cases were opened against police officers .", "Of them , 418 were linked to abuse of office , of which 91 involved abuse of power .", "The other charges included 98 cases of exceeding authority , 101 cases of forgery , 16 cases of negligence , and 112 cases of bribery .", "According to the PGO , 26 law enforcement personnel were convicted of torture or inhuman treatment during the first nine months of the year .", "According to Semen Gluzman of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association ( UAHRB ) , patients in mental health facilities remained at risk for abuse , and many psychiatric hospitals continued to use outdated methods and medicines .", "According to the UAHRB , insufficient funding , the absence of public watchdog councils at psychiatric hospitals , patients ' lack of access to legal counsel , and poor enforcement of legal protections deprived patients with disabilities of their right to adequate medical care .", "In April , Andriy Fedosov reported that an investigation by his group , Uzer ( Ukrainian Organization of Users of Psychiatric Care ) , had uncovered poor living conditions and physical abuse in psychiatric hospitals in Crimea .", "Following the release of his findings , Fedosov received threatening phone calls and was beaten .", "According to human rights groups , police failed to investigate the threats and attack on Fedosov .", "In December , Amnesty International highlighted the case of trade unionist Andriy Bondarenko , who was ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination despite no history of mental illness .", "Human rights groups claimed that Bondarenko was targeted for his trade union and human rights work .", "Investigators closed the case against Bondarenko without bringing charges but the court order to undergo an examination had not been rescinded at year 's end .", "There were reports of military hazing violence against conscripts in the armed forces .", "On January 28 , a military court in Sevastopol handed down suspended prison sentences to two soldiers who beat a conscript in December 2009 .", "According to the State Judicial Administration , 76 hazing-related guilty verdicts were issued in the first six months of the year .", "The PGO confirmed that in the first nine months of the year , 151 servicemen were convicted of hazing , and 115 hazing-related criminal cases involving 127 servicemen were forwarded to the courts .", "Prison and Detention Center Conditions", "Prison and detention center conditions remained poor and generally did not meet international standards .", "Overcrowding ; abuse ; inadequate sanitation ; and lack of light , food , water , and medical care were persistent problems .", "The government permitted monitoring visits by independent human rights observers , and such visits occurred during the year .", "During the year human rights groups continued to call for full civilian oversight of the State Penitentiary Directorate by subordinating it to the Ministry of Justice .", "According to the UHHRU , the absence of rigorous and impartial public oversight in facilities controlled by the penitentiary directorate allowed for abuse of prisoners and poor conditions .", "On January 21 , the parliament amended the penal code , prohibiting racial , ethnic , religious , and other types of discrimination against inmates at penitentiary institutions .", "It added additional groups to a list of individuals authorized to visit penitentiary institutions without special permission , including the justice minister , members of the Council of Europe 's Committee for the Prevention of Torture ( CPT ) , and members of civic commissions monitoring prison conditions .", "The legislation also eased restrictions for prisoners serving life sentence and inmates of correctional centers .", "According to the amendments , which are scheduled to go into effect in 2012 , the minimum living area per inmate at penitentiary facilities shall be increased from 32 square feet to 43 square feet .", "As of October 1 , according to the latest available statistics from the State Penitentiary Directorate , 152,315 persons were being held in facilities under its control ; of these 39,137 were in pretrial detention facilities .", "During the first nine months of the year , 584 individuals died in custody , of which 33 were suicides and one a homicide .", "According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs , approximately 198,400 persons were held in police-controlled temporary holding facilities during the first nine months of the year .", "The ministry confirmed 14 deaths in these facilities ; 10 were reported to be by suicide and four due to illness .", "On May 20 , the government 's human rights ombudsman , Nina Karpachopva , expressed concern over the increasing number of detainees in pretrial detention facilities controlled by the State Penitentiary Directorate in Kyiv , Simferopol , Donetsk , Kharkiv , and Odesa .", "For example , 3,900 persons were held at Kyiv 's Lukyanivsky detention center , which has capacity for 2,850 .", "As a result , 2,100 detainees were forced to rotate their sleeping places with cellmates .", "Karpachova emphasized the need to amend government regulations to comply with the penal code by increasing the minimum living area per inmate at penitentiary facilities from 32 square feet to 43 square feet .", "Average space for a detainee at pretrial detention facilities was 27 square feet .", "Karpachopva cited a number of additional problems including old facilities that lacked ventilation , insufficient water supply , adequate lighting , and proper sewage and sanitary systems .", "These facilities frequently violated regulations limiting the length of detention and did not guard against the spread of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases .", "On December 16 , the PGO published a report about overcrowding of pretrial detention facilities of the State Penitentiary Service .", "According to the report , the situations at detention facilities in the Crimea , Donets , Luhansk , Kharkiv , and Kherson Oblasts , and in Kyiv , were described as `` especially difficult . ''", "According to the State Penitentiary Directorate ( SPD ) , an estimated 659 persons in custody had HIV-associated tuberculosis .", "In tuberculosis hospitals controlled by the prison department , 42 percent of patients were terminally ill with tuberculosis , and 44 percent were terminally ill with AIDS .", "The State Penitentiary Directorate acknowledged that tuberculosis was a major communicable disease in its facilities because of poor conditions and inadequate medical resources for examining and treating tuberculosis-infected persons in pretrial detention facilities .", "During the period from January to September , the number of prison inmates with tuberculosis declined by 5 percent compared to the same period in 2009 ( from 747.6 per 100,000 inmates in 2009 to 709.7 in 2010 ) .", "However , during the same time period , the number of such inmates at SPD pretrial detention facilities grew by 8 percent compared to the January-September period in 2009 ( from 730.2 per 100,000 inmates in 2009 to 789.3 )", "Authorities stated that mandatory screening of all new inmates for tuberculosis helped to reduce infection rates ; human rights organizations stated the presence of X-ray machines in several prison facilities was a positive development .", "Conditions in police temporary holding facilities and SPD pretrial detention facilities were harsher than in low - and medium-security prisons .", "The former were often overcrowded and lacked adequate sanitation and medical facilities .", "As of October 1 , according to the SPD , more than 309 individuals serving life sentences were held in pretrial detention facilities .", "There were occasional media reports of self-inflicted injuries and violent incidents in prisons and detention centers to protest poor conditions .", "For example , on May 11 , the Vinnytsya Human Rights Group reported that five inmates at the Kuryazh correctional institution for minors in the Kharkiv Oblast cut their veins to protest abuse by administration of the facility .", "Prisoners generally had access to visitors and were permitted religious observance , although those facing disciplinary actions were barred from receiving visitors .", "Prisoners and detainees were also allowed to file complaints with the ombudsman about conditions in custody , but human rights organizations noted that prison officials continued to censor or discourage complaints .", "By law the prosecutor and ombudsman were obliged to disclose the names of inmates who filed complaints to prison and police authorities .", "The government allowed independent monitoring of prison conditions and detention centers by local and international human rights groups .", "However , according to local human rights activists , mobile monitoring groups made only a few visits during first three months of the year because newly appointed police chiefs impeded their work by refusing to grant permissions for site visits .", "In September 2009 a delegation of the CPT carried out a two-week visit to the country .", "It was the CPT 's fifth visit since 1998 .", "At year 's end , the CPT did not yet release a report of its findings during the 2009 visit .", "On March 18 , the new minister of internal affairs , Anatoliy Mohylyov , reduced the ministry 's Human Rights Monitoring Department from 31 positions to five .", "On March 29 , President Yanukovych called the reduction `` ill-considered '' and called on Mohylyov to rescind it .", "On June 17 , in a letter to UHHRU , Mohylyov described his decision as internal restructuring to improve police response to human rights violations and stated the move would reduce government expenditures and avoid a duplication of efforts .", "Monitoring would be conducted by freelance advisers and consultants who would assume some of the duties of dismissed personnel .", "However , according to UHHRU , none of its 29 member nongovernmental organizations ( NGOs ) were invited to consult with the new minister on the restructuring , and the minister of internal affair 's civic advisory council did not meet during the year , despite numerous calls by its members to do so .", "All 26 regional human rights assistants that conducted mobile monitoring of human rights conditions were fired .", "On December 9 , the president issued a decree to reorganize the State Penitentiary Service within the State Penal Department .", "However , as of year 's end , it was too early to assess whether the reorganization would have any impact on conditions in prison and detention centers .", "d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention", "The constitution and the law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention ; however , in practice problems remained .", "There was a sharp increase in charges brought against opposition politicians after the appointment of a new prosecutor general on November 4 , giving rise to the appearance of selective and politically motivated prosecution by the Yanukovych government .", "Between November 1 and December 31 , prosecutors brought charges against former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and more than eight high-level members of her government for abuse of office and/or misuse of state funds during their tenure .", "The questioning of accused individuals by government prosecutors , which often lasted for hours at a time over a period of several days , and the denial of bail in certain cases further exacerbated the perception of politically motivated prosecution ( see section 4 ) .", "The government contended that the prosecutions were not targeting the opposition , and that there were many ongoing investigations of members of the governing party ; however , with only a few exceptions these were low-level , career officials .", "On December 12 , the UHHRU and the Kharkiv Human Rights Group issued a statement that the government 's criminal prosecutions were only aimed at members of the opposition .", "As a result , the government 's actions `` spell the effective use of criminal court proceedings for political ends ... and run counter to democratic values based on equality of all before the law and undermines the foundations of criminal justice , '' the statement said .", "On December 26 , police detained former interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko in Kyiv on allegations of embezzlement , abuse of office , and forgery .", "The appeals court denied his petition for bail and approved the prosecutor general 's request for a two-month detention .", "Local human rights observers and opposition commentators described Lutsenko 's arrest as politically motivated , given the administrative nature of his alleged offenses .", "Lutsenko alleged that the prosecutor 's office ignored his constitutional rights throughout the investigation , in particular , delaying access to and denying time to review case materials and creating other `` artificial barriers '' to his right to become acquainted with the case .", "Lutsenko remained in jail at year 's end , and his attorney filed a case with the ECHR .", "Police also questioned several civil society activists following the tax protests in November in Kyiv in which small-business owners protested outside the parliament against tax reforms proposed by the government .", "At year 's end at least three protesters remained in custody on charges of damaging public property on Independence Square , where the demonstrators had erected tents .", "Other protest leaders remained free but were subject to travel restrictions ( see section 2 .", "Role of the Police and Security Apparatus", "The Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for maintaining internal security and order ; it oversees the police ( militsia ) and its own armed troops .", "The SBU , which is responsible for internal intelligence and protecting state security , reports directly to the president .", "The State Tax Administration , which exercises law enforcement powers through the tax police , is accountable to both the president and the cabinet .", "The law provides for civilian control of the army and law enforcement agencies and authorizes members of parliament to conduct investigations and public hearings into national security and defense issues .", "The human rights ombudsman is also authorized to initiate investigations into the relevant activities of security forces .", "On September 24 , the NGO Democratic Alliance issued a statement chronicling what it described as `` pressure and intimidation '' at its district branches by the SBU and the Ministry of Internal Affairs .", "On June 12 , an SBU officer approached the chairman of the organization 's Mykolayiv Oblast branch , Yuliya Hrechka , seeking information about its activities .", "Three days later , SBU and Ministry of Internal Affairs representatives met with Tayisiya Plakhuta , the head of the Democratic Alliance 's Cherkasy Oblast branch , to ask about the organization 's future plans , its national leaders , and implied that she should cancel future activities .", "In late July the leader of the Democratic Alliance in Chernihiv , Ihor Andriychenko , received a telephone call from a person who introduced himself as an SBU officer and asked about the activities of the local Democratic Alliance branch , including the number of its registered members .", "On October 4 , following a visit to the country , corapporteurs Renate Wohlwend and Mailis Reps of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ( PACE ) expressed concern about the role of the SBU in monitoring civil society .", "In an addendum to a September 9 PACE report on the functioning of democratic institutions in the country , they wrote : `` The role of the Security Services of Ukraine and its apparent involvement in the domestic political environment has become increasingly problematic and a matter of concern .", "We have received numerous , often substantiated and credible , reports of pressure by the SBU on journalists , politicians , and civil society activists or on people or businesses close to them .", "This is not acceptable in a democratic society . ''", "On December 23 , the coordinator of the Vinnytsya Human Rights Group ( VHRG ) , Dmytro Groisman , was charged with desecration of state symbols and disseminating pornography .", "Human rights groups labeled the charges as politically motivated and harassment of Groisman for his group 's work to protect refugees .", "The charges followed the October search of the VHRG 's offices , during which police confiscated financial documents and other material relating to refugees the group was assisting .", "The police also confiscated correspondence between the group and the ECHR .", "Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention", "By law authorities may detain a suspect for three days without a warrant , after which an arrest order must be issued .", "The courts may extend detention without an arrest warrant for an additional 10 days and thereafter grant extensions for a maximum of 18 months .", "The law permits citizens to contest an arrest in court or appeal it to the prosecutor .", "The law requires that detained persons be informed of their rights and that officials notify family members immediately concerning an arrest ; however , in practice police did not follow the procedures required by law .", "Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious a problem .", "Individuals often remained in pretrial detention for months or , in some cases , years .", "There were unsanctioned arrests , and investigative police at times failed to keep records or register detained suspects .", "According to domestic human rights organizations , the investigation process took four to five months on average .", "Human rights organizations reported that police continued to use detention arbitrarily to extract evidence that could be used against detainees .", "Courts often extended detention to 10 days or more to allow police more time to obtain confessions .", "In October 2009 , in a speech at a conference on police violence sponsored by the Kharkiv Human Rights Group ( KHRG ) , Denys Kobzin , director of the Kharkiv Institute of Sociological research , reported that approximately 40 percent of detainees were held longer than the legally allowed three days .", "The February 2009 report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention noted the following problems : the continued practice of detaining until trial persons suspected of minor crimes ; a perceived lack of independent and effective control by the judiciary over the detention process ; and unlawful restrictions on pretrial detainees , such as denying them contact with their families before court trials .", "The law stipulates that a defense attorney must be provided without charge to indigent detainees from either the time of detention or the filing of charges .", "However , in practice this often did not occur .", "There were insufficient defense attorneys to protect suspects from unlawful and lengthy detention .", "Attorneys often refused to defend indigents for the low payment the government provided .", "The law provides for bail , but it was rarely used .", "Many defendants could not pay imposed bail amounts .", "Courts sometimes imposed travel restrictions as an alternative to pretrial confinement .", "However , they generally opted to place individuals in detention .", "Before leaving office in February former president Yushchenko pardoned 130 persons .", "There was no information about amnesty or pardons that President Yanukovych may have granted during the year .", "e. Denial of Fair Public Trial", "The constitution and law provide for an independent judiciary ; however , in practice the judiciary remained subject to political pressure , suffered from corruption and inefficiency , and lacked public confidence .", "The right to a fair trial was limited by lengthy court proceedings , particularly in administrative courts , and by political pressure on judges , inadequate court funding , a shortage of qualified legal assistance for defendants , and the inability of courts to enforce their rulings .", "Judges also continued to complain about pressure from high-ranking politicians seeking improper resolution of cases .", "The president has the authority , with the agreement of the Minister of Justice and the chair of a corresponding higher court , to establish and abolish courts of general jurisdiction , and establishes appellate commercial and appellate administrative courts .", "Until August , the president also determined the number of judges in the court system , and appointed and removed chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of courts .", "During the year the ECHR issued 15 judgments that found the country in violation of Article 6 ( right to a fair trial ) of the European Convention on Human Rights .", "This compared with 69 judgments issued during 2009 and 61 judgments in 2008 .", "In addition , the ECHR issued judgments that found 60 violations regarding length of proceedings and 43 violations regarding the right to liberty and personal security , compared with 35 and 27 judgments , respectively , in 2009 , and 32 and 14 in 2008 .", "All courts , except for the Supreme Court , were funded through the State Judicial Administration , which was also responsible for staffing .", "The Ministries of Justice and Education were responsible for training judges .", "The judiciary 's lack of adequate staff and funds contributed to inefficiency and corruption and increased its dependence on the executive branch .", "On May 31 , President Yanukovych issued a decree appointing SBU Chief Valeriy Khoroshkovsky as a member of the High Council of Justice , a move that was widely criticized by legal experts and civil society leaders .", "On December 16 , following months of criticism about the apparent conflict of interest , the president issued a follow-up decree dismissing Khoroshkovsky from the council , stating that he did so at Khoroshkovsky 's request .", "On July 7 , parliament adopted a new Law on the Judicial System and Status of Judges .", "Under the law a new High Specialized Court for Examination of Civil and Criminal cases was established , which greatly reducing the powers of the Supreme Court and the number of Supreme Court justices .", "The legislation also gave the 20-member High Council of Justice a more prominent role in nominating and dismissing judges , chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of courts except for the Supreme Court .", "Under the law the number of judges in a court is determined by the Minister of Justice upon the proposal of the State Judicial Administration .", "In their addendum to the PACE report on October 4 , corapporteurs Wohlwend and Reps highlighted concerns expressed by the opposition and other interlocutors over the enlarged powers of the High Council of Justice .", "They noted the Venice Commission 's statement that the legislation creates `` an evident danger of politically motivated nominations to the High Council of Justice guided by political considerations . ''", "Human rights activists and legal experts criticized the legislation for undermining the independence of the judiciary .", "On July 12 , in an open letter to the president , Supreme Court Chairman Vasyl Onopenko warned that the new legislation would increase political pressure on judges .", "On September 14 , the president signed a decree abolishing appellate military courts and local military courts .", "Legal experts welcomed the abolition .", "On September 21 , four new justices appointed by President Yanukovych to the 18-member Constitutional Court were sworn in to begin nine-year terms , a move that legal observers noted gave the president a majority of loyal judges who would be more sympathetic to his proposals .", "The appointments followed the resignation of four Constitutional Court justices days earlier , at least one of whom stated that he was put under pressure to resign .", "On October 1 , the Constitutional Court in a closed-door ruling announced that amendments adopted during the 2004 Orange Revolution to the 1996 constitution were unconstitutional because procedures used to adopt them violated the constitution .", "The court reinstated the 1996 constitution , which granted greater powers to the presidency .", "In their October 4 report addendum , PACE corapporteurs Wohlwend and Reps stated : `` The fact that these four newly appointed judges reportedly tipped the decision in favor of Mr. Yanukovych will only add to the controversy surrounding this ( Constitutional Court ) decision and allegations that the current authorities intend at all cost to monopolize power in the country . ''", "The constitution includes provisions for a fair trial , including the right of suspects or witnesses to refuse to testify against themselves or their relatives ; however , these rights were limited by the absence of implementing legislation , which left a largely Soviet-era criminal justice system in place .", "Defendants are presumed innocent ; however , high conviction rates called that assumption into question .", "The constitution provides for juries , but a jury system has not been implemented .", "Most cases are decided by judges who sit alone , although trials on charges carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment , the highest penalty in the criminal justice system , were heard by two judges and three public assessors who have some legal training .", "By law a trial must begin no later than three weeks after criminal charges are filed with the court ; however , this requirement was rarely met by the overburdened court system .", "Months could pass before a defendant was brought to trial .", "Complicated cases could take years to go to trial .", "The law specifies that a defendant may consult a lawyer in private ; however , human rights groups reported that officials occasionally denied this attorney-client privilege .", "The law also requires free legal counsel for all defendants , but free counsel was often unavailable .", "To protect defendants , investigative files must contain signed documents attesting that defendants were informed of the charges against them , of their right to an attorney at public expense , and of their right not to give evidence against themselves or their relatives .", "Appeals courts may dismiss convictions or order new trials if these signed documents are missing ; however , officials sometimes verbally and physically abused defendants to obtain their signatures .", "By law trials are held in public , and defendants have the right to confront witnesses .", "However , courtroom space was often limited , and media personnel were at times not able to attend and report on court proceedings .", "The law permits the names and addresses of victims and witnesses to be kept confidential if they were at risk of being intimidated into withdrawing or changing their testimony .", "The law requires that a special police unit protect judges , witnesses , defendants , and their relatives , but human rights organizations claimed that this system continued to be ineffective .", "Political Prisoners and Detainees", "There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees .", "Regional Human Rights Court Decisions", "Once they have exhausted domestic legal remedies , citizens may apply to the ECHR for the redress of grievances involving an alleged infringement of rights under the European Convention on Human Rights .", "During the year the ECHR handed down 107 judgments against the country , and a reported 10,800 applications from the country remained pending before the court at year 's end .", "Most of the judgments involved violations of the right to a fair trial , violation of property rights , and unduly lengthy proceedings .", "In 2009 the ECHR issued 126 decisions against the country , all of which found at least one violation of the European Convention on Human Rights .", "According to the government 's ECHR commissioner , Yuriy Zaitsev , during the first 11 months of year , the ECHR issued 68 rulings in cases involving the country .", "The government enforced 76 of the rulings involving prohibition of torture , the right to liberty and security of person , the right to a fair trial , the right to respect for private and family life , and the right to an effective remedy .", "Some of the enforced rulings covered 2009 court decisions .", "Independent observers noted that , while the government paid damages to those who won ECHR cases involving financial issues , it failed to institute reforms to address the root causes of many of the cases brought before the court .", "Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies", "The constitution and laws give citizens the right to challenge any decisions , actions , or omissions of national and local government officials that violate their human rights .", "However , the right of redress was limited by an inefficient and corrupt judicial system .", "Potential victims may also file a collective legal challenge to legislation that they believe may violate basic rights and freedoms .", "Citizens may appeal to the human rights ombudsman and may take cases to international bodies , such as the ECHR .", "f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy , Family , Home , or Correspondence", "The constitution prohibits such actions ; however , in practice authorities generally did not respect these prohibitions .", "By law the SBU may not conduct surveillance and searches without a court-issued warrant .", "The PGO has the constitutional responsibility to ensure that all law enforcement agencies observe the law .", "Citizens have the legal right to examine any dossier concerning them in the possession of the SBU and the legal right to recover losses resulting from an investigation .", "However , authorities generally did not respect these rights in practice because implementing legislation had not been enacted , and many citizens were not aware of their rights or that their privacy had been violated by authorities .", "On March 13 , UNIAN reported that , during a meeting of the interagency coordinating council to combat corruption and organized crime , SBU chief Valeriy Khoroshkovsky requested the Supreme Court to allow courts to sanction with one approval the monitoring of all telephone numbers rather than one telephone number of a suspect .", "The Supreme Court approved the request on June 4 .", "Supreme Court Chairman Vasyl Onopenko stated that , on average , courts issue 20,000 such approvals every year .", "However , despite increased surveillance activity , he stated there was no discernible improvement in the number of solved criminal cases or their quality .", "Human rights groups expressed concern that the SBU may abuse such court approvals to intercept telephone conversations of the government 's critics .", "On July 5 , the Lviv-based newspaper Vysokyi Zamok quoted its sources as stating that district state administrations in the Lviv Oblast were gathering information about political affiliation of local business managers and self-government representatives , the `` degree of their influence on voters , '' and their preferred candidate in the recent presidential election .", "In 2009 there were some media reports of allegations of privacy interference and illegal surveillance by government authorities .", "For example , the weekly newspaper Dzerkalo Tyznia reported in April 2009 that appeals courts reviewed 25,086 requests by law enforcement agencies ( mostly by the SBU , the Ministry of Internal Affairs , and tax police ) for permission to intercept information , seize correspondence , or use other technical means to obtain information .", "According to newspaper , these types of requests amounted to restrictions of the constitutional rights of citizens .", "During the year the ECHR issued six judgments that found violations by the country of the right to respect for family and private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights , compared with four in 2009 , and one in 2008 .", "Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties , Including : a. Freedom of Speech and Press", "The constitution and laws provide for freedom of speech and of the press ; however in practice government pressure on the media intimidated journalists and media owners in some cases into practicing self-censorship .", "Following changes in government leadership after the presidential elections , there were numerous reports that central authorities attempted to direct media content .", "There were also reports of intimidation and violence against journalists by national and local officials .", "Individuals could criticize the government publicly and privately , and independent and international media were active and expressed a wide variety of opinions .", "Private media outlets generally operated free of direct state control or interference ; however , both independent and state-owned media increasingly demonstrated a tendency toward self-censorship on matters that the government deemed sensitive .", "Although private newspapers operated on a commercial basis , they often depended on their owners ( political patrons or wealthy businessmen with government connections ) for revenue and did not enjoy editorial independence .", "According to the Ukrainian Association of Press Publications , in 2009 approximately 4,200 print publications were regularly published in the country .", "Among them were 2,400 newspapers ( including 52 dailies ) and 1,700 magazines , with 1,550 having primarily nationwide distribution .", "On March 11 , President Yanukovych appointed Valeriy Khoroshkovsky as head of the SBU .", "Khoroshkovsky was also the de facto owner of Inter Media Group , the parent company of Inter TV , the most popular news and entertainment channel in the country .", "According to Khoroshkovsky , his wife controlled the company and its operations .", "On April 2 , President Yanukovych disbanded the national free speech commission that had been an official part of the Office of the President .", "On April 20 , the commission decided to continue as a self-governed and independent expert body with the purpose of implementing European media standards in the country .", "Beginning in April , international observers and media watchdog groups issued a range of statements expressing concern about the deterioration of media freedom .", "For example , on April 15 , Reporters without Borders expressed `` dismay and alarm '' over the status of press freedom since the January-February presidential elections .", "On April 29 , the EU released a statement on media freedom in the country that voiced concern over cases of harassment and violence against journalists .", "According to the Institute for Mass Information ( IMI ) , a local , nonprofit media-watchdog , at least 33 journalists and publications were subjected to physical attacks or intimidation during the first nine months of the year , compared with 31 incidents reported in 2009 .", "As in the previous year most cases occurred at the local level and were often attributed to individual politicians , businessmen , or organized criminal groups .", "On March 23 , unknown assailants severely beat Vasyl Demyaniv , chief editor of the Kolomyiskyi Visnyk newspaper in Kolomyia .", "Demyaniv stated he believed the attack was related to his media activities .", "On April 8 , police officers ejected television reporter Serhiy Kutrakov of Novyi Kanal from an exhibition at the Ukraine House in Kyiv .", "Kutrakov filed a legal complaint , but a Kyiv court on July 12 rejected it .", "Kutrakov appealed the court decision , which was pending at year 's end .", "On April 12 , an unidentified man beat Boris Braginskyi , a reporter for 9 Telekanal in Dnipropetrovsk , outside of his apartment .", "Braginskyi stated he believed the attack was related to his work because the assailant did not take any of his belongings .", "On June 15 , there was a scuffle between STB television journalist Serhiy Andrushko and President Yanukovych 's security detail at the Agro 2010 exhibition .", "The guards did not admit Andrushko to the exhibition .", "When he asked for their names , and stated he would record them with his mobile phone , the guards twisted his hands behind his back and threw him onto the ground .", "The State Guard Directorate later apologized to Andrushko for unwarranted use of force .", "He filed a complaint over the incident , but it was denied .", "On August 11 , Vasyl Klymentyev editor in chief of the newspaper Novy Styl , disappeared in Kharkiv and was presumed dead .", "The paper had written about corruption among law enforcement officers and others in the Kharkiv region .", "On August 20 , President Yanukovych took personal control of the case and ordered top law enforcement officials to make every effort to find him .", "However , at year 's end little progress on the case was reported .", "There also were numerous expressions of concern and public protests by local activists , journalists , and NGOs against what they characterized as a return to censorship .", "On May 21 , over 200 media representatives and community activists meeting in Kyiv launched the `` Stop Censorship ! ''", "movement to resist all efforts at censorship , including self-censorship , by media owners .", "In the weeks leading up to `` Stop Censorship ! ''", "protests , journalists at two popular television stations , 1 +1 and STB , released letters protesting censorship by station management , claiming that management either blocked or interfered with reports about the political opposition as well as news critical of the Yanukovych administration .", "On May 27 , the news Web site Forum proUA reported that 41 percent of newspaper publishers interviewed by the Association of Independent Regional Publishers stated the publishing business had become more difficult in April due to government interference , pressure on journalists and editors , and vendors refusing to disseminate publications critical of the authorities .", "On June 4 , visiting PACE Monitoring Committee corapporteurs Wohlwend and Reps stated that they had received reports of an increasing number of violations of human rights and the right of freedom of speech .", "On June 8 , a Kyiv court ruled in a case brought by the Inter Media Group that broadcast licenses had been improperly awarded in January to independent stations TVi and Channel 5 .", "The channels accused SBU Chief Khoroshkovsky , the de facto owner of Inter Media Group and Inter TV , of using his position to influence the court 's decision .", "There were counter allegations that TVi and Channel 5 had paid bribes to receive the additional licenses .", "On August 30 , an appeals court upheld the decision and went beyond the original ruling by stripping TVi of all its broadcast licenses , which it had renewed along with the new licenses in January .", "On July 27 , Walid Arfush , the deputy head of UT-1 , the national state television company , stated in an interview that the channel had a duty to report on the activities of the government in a positive light .", "`` There is a lot of talk about creating a public television station , and some say that UT-1 should not be connected with the authorities .", "But I think UT-1 should be partisan in favor of the authorities , '' Arfush was quoted as telling UNIAN .", "On August 18 , the state tax administration in Crimea froze the bank accounts of Chernomorskaya TV for alleged financial violations involving barter deals .", "Chernomorskaya TV is an independent , opposition-owned station known for its criticism of local and national authorities .", "The station was previously in conflict with local authorities in 2006 and 1999 .", "On September 1 , Reporters without Borders released a report based on a three-day fact-finding mission to the country in July .", "The report , Temptation to Control , described numerous incidents of violence and harassment against journalists and media companies .", "The report also emphasized the conflict of interest between Khoroshkhovsky 's status as both SBU chief and media owner .", "On September 9 , the Council of Europe 's PACE report on the Functioning of Democratic Institutions in Ukraine also expressed concern about developments that could undermine media freedom and pluralism and called on authorities to `` refrain from any attempts to control directly or indirectly the content of reporting in national media . ''", "On October 13 , following a two-day visit to the country , Dunja Mijatovic , the media freedom representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ( OSCE ) , noted public assurances by the authorities to preserve media freedom , but cautioned that results were lacking .", "She stated that recent cases of violence and intimidation of journalists , including the August 11 disappearance of Novy Styl reporter Vasyl Klymentyev and physical attacks against journalists had a `` chilling effect on the media climate . ''", "According to local media NGO IMI , private agreements exist between the authorities and media owners to restrict media content .", "For example , to preserve their business assets owners instruct their television channels and publications to avoid criticism of the president and his administration .", "The IMI also stated that communal and municipal state-funded media are under huge pressure .", "Print materials have to praise local governors , and often the articles must be approved by the corresponding local headquarters of the ruling Party of Regions .", "The IMI also emphasized that political parties frequently ordered placement of stories in regional print media while law enforcement agencies did not investigate this breach of law .", "Some journalists maintained that low salaries encouraged some reporters to supplement their incomes with undocumented payments from benefactors seeking to influence news reporting .", "Inadequate media access to government-held information was a problem , particularly outside of the capital .", "The IMI , the UHHRU , and the Committee for Monitoring Freedom of Press in Crimea asserted that most government agencies regularly denied requests by journalists and NGOs for basic public interest information .", "Libel is considered a civil offense , and the law limits the amount of damages that may be claimed in libel lawsuits ; the press can publish inoffensive , nonfactual judgments , including criticism , without penalty .", "In February 2009 , the Supreme Court adopted a resolution on judicial practice in defamation cases , reiterating that public officials enjoy less protection from criticism than average individuals , emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between factual information and value judgments , and encouraging courts to refer to the ECHR 's practices .", "On June 26 , the president signed a privacy law , scheduled to enter into force in January 2011 , which could significantly complicate the work of journalists and expose them to criminal prosecution .", "According to the IMI , the law would require journalists to request permission before publishing virtually any information about a person other than his or her name .", "High-level politicians and officials are exempted , but other public figures are not .", "Local media observers continued to express concern over high monetary damages that were demanded , and sometimes awarded , for alleged libel .", "Government entities and public figures in particular continued to use the threat of civil suits based on alleged damage to a `` person 's honor and integrity '' to influence or intimidate the press and investigative journalists .", "For example , on October 5 , the Kyiv Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court ruling that Olha Snitsarchuk and Channel 5 should pay member of parliament Yuriy But 20,000 hryvnias ( $ 2,500 ) for pain and suffering .", "But had sued Snitsarchuk for 100,000 hryvnias ( $ 12,500 ) , claiming he suffered severe psychological shock and had been in treatment because Snitsarchuk referred to him as a deserter or renegade in a December 2009 report .", "But was one of the first members of parliament to quit Tymoshenko 's party in 2008 .", "However , But declined to accept the court ruling for damages after widespread criticism and ridicule of his claim .", "There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet .", "Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet , including by e-mail ; however , law enforcement bodies engaged in Internet monitoring .", "On March 27 , police in Kyiv questioned blogger Olena Bilozerska about her coverage of demonstrations by opposition activists the previous month .", "Police searched her apartment and computer .", "Bilozerska asserted that she was a registered journalist and therefore the search was illegal ; her attempt to file a legal complaint was denied .", "On July 30 , the SBU summoned blogger Oleg Shynkarenko to discuss statements on his blog that could be interpreted as a threat to the life of President Yanukovych .", "Shynkarenko apologized on his blog and stated he had not meant to issue a `` call to kill the president . ''", "The SBU compelled Shynkarenko to sign a pledge that he would not write similar statements in the future .", "According to International Telecommunication Union statistics for the year , 34 percent of the country 's inhabitants had access to the Internet .", "Academic Freedom and Cultural Events", "There was at least one case of government restrictions on academic freedom .", "On September 8 in Lviv , the SBU detained the head of the museum `` Prison at Lontskoho Street , '' Ruslan Zabily , alleging that he intended to give away state secrets .", "The museum is dedicated to victims of Soviet and Nazi rule .", "According to Zabily , his laptop and two hard discs were confiscated , he was questioned about his contacts with foreign academics , and he was advised to find new employment .", "Zabily , who is a historian , stated the confiscated data included declassified information about activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army , a partisan militia that fought against both Soviet and German forces in World War II , and about the Soviet-era dissident movement .", "The status of the case against Zabily was pending at year 's end due in part to national and international criticism about the SBU 's handling of the incident .", "b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association", "Freedom of Assembly", "The constitution provides for freedom of assembly , but in some instances regional governments infringed on these rights .", "Since there is no national law governing freedom of assembly , the Code of Administrative Justice and case law prevailed .", "Local authorities sometimes invoked a Soviet-era decree on freedom of assembly that was more restrictive than the constitution .", "The constitution requires that organizers inform authorities in advance of planned demonstrations .", "In compliance with the Soviet-era decree , authorities at times stipulated that organizations must apply for permission at least 10 days beforehand .", "In most cases permits were granted , and in practice unlicensed demonstrations were common and generally occurred without police interference , fines , or detention , although there were several notable exceptions .", "On May 19 , the rector of the Lviv-based Ukrainian Catholic University , Borys Gudziak , publicized a meeting with an SBU officer .", "According to Gudziak , the security official recommended that the university warn students that they would be prosecuted for involvement in any `` illegal activities . ''", "According to the rector , such illegal activities included `` not only violent acts but also , for example , pickets blocking access to the work place of government officials or any protests not sanctioned by authorities . ''", "On May 28 , Kharkiv police detained 10 to 12 environmental activists who were protesting the city 's decision to cut down trees in a central park .", "Two of the activists , Andrei Yevarnitsky and Denis Chernega , were sentenced to 15 days of detention for disobeying police orders .", "The sentence was subsequently reduced to nine days .", "Amnesty International declared the two activists to be `` prisoners of conscience , '' asserting that their rights to freedom of expression and assembly were curtailed .", "On August 2 , the KHRG stated that there had been more violations of freedom of peaceful assembly during the year under the Yanukovych administration than during the entire 2007-09 period .", "The KHRG estimated that during the first 100 days of the new government the oblast-level and national media alone released more than 350 reports criticizing police for such violations that occurred during that period .", "On October 14 , Oleksiy Verentsov and Ihor Tanichkevych were detained after taking part in an approved protest rally near the Lviv Oblast Prosecutor 's Office .", "The two were released after several days of detention .", "The prosecutor subsequently filed charges against Tanichkevych , which carry a prison sentence , after he challenged the legality of the detention .", "The case was pending at year 's end .", "In December two organizers of huge demonstrations against the government 's proposed changes to the tax code , Oleksandr Danylyuk and Serhiy Melnychenko , were questioned by police about their role in the protests .", "Media reports quoted Danylyuk as stating that law enforcement bodies , through their investigations and questioning , were attempting to `` terrorize '' activists and society at large .", "Investigators questioned at least four additional protesters , two of whom remained subject to travel bans at the year 's end .", "At least three protesters remained in custody on charges of damaging public property on Independence Square , where the demonstrators had erected tents .", "In addition , employees of the Pact Office in Simferopol , a local civil society organization , were questioned as to whether their civic engagement activities were training participants to organize protests .", "Freedom of Association", "The constitution and the law provide for freedom of association ; while the government generally respected this right in practice , some restrictions remained .", "There were extensive registration requirements for organizations ; however , there were no reports that the government used them during the year to disband existing organizations or to prevent new ones from being formed .", "The law places restrictions on organizations that advocate violence or racial and religious hatred or that threaten public order or health .", "In January 2009 SBU spokesperson Maryna Ostapenko confirmed that the security service had completed a pretrial investigation in the criminal case against a separatist organization , the Popular Front Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia , and forwarded it to the court .", "In December 2009 the Crimean Appellate Court handed down a four-year suspended prison sentence to Semen Klyuyev , a Popular Front member .", "On March 4 , the Supreme Court overturned the December ruling , returning the case to the Appellate Court for review .", "c. Freedom of Religion", "For a complete description of religious freedom , see the 2010 International Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl//irf/rpt/ .", "d. Freedom of Movement , Internally Displaced Persons , Protection of Refugees , and Stateless Persons", "The constitution and the law provide for freedom of movement within the country , foreign travel , emigration , and repatriation , and the government generally respected these rights .", "The government worked with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) and other humanitarian organizations to provide protection to asylum seekers , stateless persons , and other persons of concern .", "Citizens who wished to travel abroad were able to do so freely .", "Exit visas were not required .", "The government could deny passports to individuals in possession of state secrets , but denials were rare and could be appealed .", "The law prohibits forced exile , and the government did not employ it .", "Protection of Refugees", "The laws provide for granting of asylum or refugee status , and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees ; however , in practice authorities failed to provide effective protection for refugees .", "The constitution provides for asylum ; however , there were no laws to implement the granting of asylum .", "Refugees residing in the country for three years may apply for citizenship .", "In 2009 , 52 refugees acquired citizenship .", "On July 7 , the government abolished the State Migration Service ( SMS ) .", "It was established in June 2009 on the basis of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ' Citizenship and Immigration Department and the State Committee on Nationalities and Religions ( SCNR ) .", "The SCNR retained authority for citizenship , immigration , asylum , and refugee procedures , while the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Border Guard Service ( SBGS ) continued to combat illegal migration .", "However , on December 9 , the president abolished the SCNR and re-instated the SMS as part of wide-ranging administrative reforms to reduce the size of government .", "Before it was abolished in July , the SMS received 524 asylum claims during the first seven months of the year ; however , no asylum decisions were issued from mid-2009 through July .", "Some human rights activists had welcomed the decision to close the SMS , stating that it could help revitalize procedures to review more than 1,000 pending refugee cases .", "In December , Human Rights Watch described the country 's asylum system as `` dysfunctional . ''", "Administrative courts responsible for reviewing appeals of denied asylum applications were overwhelmed by a backlog of cases , while the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal postponed its review of deportation appeals until 2012 .", "According to HRW , 5,397 asylum applications were filed between 2007 and 2009 .", "Of that number , only 284 were granted asylum .", "The government provided some protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to a country where there is reason to believe their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of their race , religion , nationality , membership in a particular social group and political opinion .", "However , there were some exceptions .", "In May an Afghan family requesting asylum in the country was denied entry at Boryspil Airport .", "In June and July , following a request by the Uzbek government , the authorities detained Uzbek citizens Umid Khamroyev , Kosim Dadakhanov , Shodilbek Soibzhonov , and Utkir Akramov , who were seeking political asylum .", "On July 26 , the ECHR ordered the government not to return the four asylum seekers .", "The government complied with the order .", "In 2009 the UNHCR recorded 16 incidents of refugee expulsion , compared to 12 in 2008 .", "Incidents included cases in which individuals were denied access to the territory of the country .", "In August 2009 new regulations initiated by the SBGS took effect that require foreign nationals transiting the country to Western Europe and stateless persons to have in their possession no less than `` 70 subsistence levels '' ( 12,620 hryvnia or $ 1,570 ) to sustain their stay in the country .", "On September 2 , the UNHCR stated that this change `` should not affect access to the asylum procedure and undermine the nonrefoulement principle . ''", "Human rights groups noted that the current law on refugees does not provide protection for war refugees , victims of indiscriminate violence , or failed asylum seekers who could face the threat of torture or loss of life or freedom if deported .", "According to informed observers , several allegedly failed Chechen asylum seekers were kept in pretrial detention facilities , at least two were recognized as refugees under the UNHCR 's mandate .", "In one case the individual had been accepted for resettlement in an EU member state .", "Despite numerous demarches by the resettlement country and the UNHCR , the individual has remained in detention for more than two years .", "According to the UNHCR and local human rights groups , the complicated and burdensome registration system often left asylum seekers without documents during the protracted review of their cases and the appeal process .", "This left them vulnerable to frequent police stops , detention , and fines .", "Refugees and asylum seekers , who frequently came from Africa and Asia , were at times victims of xenophobic attacks .", "Asylum seekers in detention centers were sometimes unable to apply for refugee status within prescribed time limits and had limited access to legal and other assistance .", "The problem was further complicated by the lack of access to qualified interpreters to complete registration documents .", "During the year the UNHCR and local NGOs worked with approximately 100 unaccompanied children seeking asylum .", "The majority were not registered with asylum authorities and were unable to access appropriate services and care , leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse .", "According to the UNHCR , there were 2,334 refugees in the country as of July 1 .", "Of these , 53 percent were from Afghanistan , 27 percent from the former Soviet Union , and 11percent from African countries .", "The country remained a destination and transit country for migrants .", "According to the SBGS , 15,667 irregular migrants were identified in the first nine months of the year , an 18 percent drop compared with the same period in 2009 .", "Of that number , 13,576 were not allowed into the country , and 1,260 were apprehended when illegally crossing the border .", "According to the SBGS , 13 Chechens , 16 Uzbeks , and two Belarusians were also apprehended in the first nine months of the year .", "According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs , 350 detained irregular migrants were held in two new facilities in Chernihiv and Volyn oblasts , compared with 751 in 2009 .", "According to the SCNR , two temporary holding facilities for refugees , in Odesa and Zakarpattia oblast , were not sufficient for providing temporary housing to refugees .", "There are no legal provisions for voluntary return .", "However , the local office of the International Organization for Migration ( IOM ) , in cooperation with the SBGS and the Ministry of Internal Affairs , continued to operate a Program on Assisted Voluntary Return to help stranded migrants and failed asylum seekers to repatriate to their countries of origin .", "Five local NGOs in the Mukachevo , Chernihiv , Odesa , Kharkiv , and Volyn oblasts participated in the voluntary return program .", "In 2009 , 11 persons of concern to the UNHCR voluntarily departed the country .", "According to the law citizenship is derived by birth , territorial origin , naturalization , restored citizenship , and adoption .", "Dual citizenship is not allowed .", "According to UNHCR estimates , there were approximately 52,000 stateless persons in the country .", "In addition , there were an estimated 4,500 formerly deported Crimean Tatars who returned to Crimea but had not registered as citizens , as well as smaller numbers from the separatist region of Abkhazia and Georgia .", "Stateless persons also included an unknown number of persons who either lived in the country for decades but failed to clarify their citizenship status after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 or who arrived in the country as students or visitors both before and after 1991 .", "Many did not obtain residency documents or take other steps to register according to the regulations of their country of origin .", "Section 3 Respect for Political Rights : The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government", "The constitution and the law provide citizens the right to change their government peacefully , and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic , free , and fair elections based on universal suffrage .", "Elections and Political Participation", "On January 17 , the first round of presidential elections took place .", "International and domestic observers assessed the vote as having met most international standards .", "As no candidate received 50 percent of the vote , the two candidates with the most votes -- Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko -- faced each other in a runoff election on February 7 .", "Observers again assessed the run-off election as largely free and fair .", "Yanukovych was inaugurated president on February 25 .", "On March 11 , the president 's Party of Regions , together with two other parties and 16 nonaligned members of parliament ( MPs ) established the `` Stability and Reform '' governing coalition composed of 235 MPs to replace the coalition led by Tymoshenko .", "Opposition MPs and independent observers asserted that the new majority had been formed illegally in violation of established rules and procedures because a coalition could only be composed of factions , not individuals .", "On April 8 , the Constitutional Court ruled that the procedures used to form the Party of Regions-led coalition was constitutional , stating that individual MPs have the right to take part in forming parliamentary coalitions .", "On October 1 , the Constitutional Court ruled that the changes to the constitution enacted following the Orange Revolution violated the procedures for amending the constitution , thereby reinstating the 1996 constitution , which granted greater powers to the presidency ( see section 1 .", "On July 10 , parliament adopted a new law for the conduct of the elections on October 31 for local councils and mayors of cities , towns , and villages .", "Election observers and international experts cited the law as a source of problems on election day .", "In September President Yanukovych ordered revisions to the law that lessened or eliminated some of the problems such as , blocking the participation of new parties , were lessened or eliminated by the revisions ordered by President Yanukovych in September .", "However , other aspects of the election law and regulations challenged the placement of names of some candidates on ballots , allowed for reported cases of improper use of administrative resources during the electoral campaign , established an unbalanced membership in the electoral commission , and created complicated registration and voting procedures .", "While international and local election observers recognized some improvements in the conduct of the October 31 local elections compared to previous local elections , they concluded that overall it did not meet standards for openness and fairness set by the presidential elections earlier in the year .", "Observers noted shortcomings such as , insufficient training for electoral commission members , which contributed to procedural violations and organizational problems .", "In particular , the registration of fraudulent Batkivshchyna Party candidate lists led to the disqualification of all Batkivshchyna Party candidates in the Kyiv and Lviv oblast council elections , preventing the main opposition party from running for election in regions where it had considerable support .", "Election observers also reported incidences of law enforcement authorities ' pressuring monitors and candidates , and election officials selectively barring or removing candidates from ballots .", "There were 36 female members of the 450-seat parliament , and a woman held the post of secretary of the National Security and Defense Council .", "The 18-member Constitutional Court included one female justice .", "The exact number of minorities in parliament and the cabinet was not available due to privacy laws .", "Crimean Tatar leaders continued to call for changes in the electoral law that would give them greater representation in the Crimean and national parliaments .", "The law does not allow for the creation of regional political parties , and Crimean Tatars had to join national political parties or blocs .", "Only one Crimean Tatar was a member of the national parliament .", "According to Refat Chubarov , the deputy leader of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis ( governing body ) , Crimean Tatars , who make up 13 percent of the population of Crimea , occupied eight seats in the 100-member Crimean Mejlis , and had approximately 1,000 members in city , district , and rural councils in Crimea .", "The Mejlis was not legally recognized by national authorities .", "Section 4 Official Corruption and Government Transparency", "The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption ; however , corruption was ineffectively prosecuted , and penalties were rarely imposed .", "Corruption remained a pervasive problem and was widespread in the executive , legislative , and judicial branches of government and in society .", "Officials , including high-ranking officials , often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity .", "On October 5 , at a meeting with foreign investors in Kyiv , Drago Kos , the president of the Group of States against Corruption ( GRECO ) , stated he saw no improvements in the country 's anticorruption efforts since the Yanukovych government took office .", "On April 22 , the president announced that the PGO had opened more than 30 criminal cases on charges of embezzlement of state funds by members of the previous government .", "Opposition politicians claimed the charges were politically motivated .", "On June 24 , the SBU detained the former head of the Customs Service , Anatoliy Makarenko , as a suspect in a criminal case related to damages allegedly caused to the country in connection with the seizure of 11 billion cubic meters of gas by former prime minister Tymoshenko 's government from gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo in 2009 .", "On July 12 , the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported that the Pechersk District Court in Kyiv had approved the arrest of Ihor Didenko , the former first deputy head of national oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrayiny , on suspicion of misappropriation or embezzlement through abuse of office also related to the seizure of 11 billion cubic meters of gas by former prime minister Tymoshenko 's government from gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo in 2009 .", "On October 18 , former economy minister Bohdan Danylyshyn was detained in the Czech Republic after the country 's prosecutor general opened a case against him for abuse of office in connection with procurement procedures at Boryspil Airport .", "As of year 's end , Czech authorities had not made a determination on whether to deport Danylyshyn .", "In December prosecutors arrested a number of former senior government officials with ties to opposition leader and former prime minister Tymoshenko , including Georgy Filipchuk , Yevhen Korniychuk , Mykola Petrenko , and Yuriy Lutsenko ( see section 1 .", "Tymoshenko herself was called in for questioning by authorities on at least nine occasions in December over charges that she misused funds from the sale of carbon credits and that there were irregularities in the her government 's purchase of vehicles subsequently used for her presidential campaign .", "Former First Deputy Prime Oleksandr Turchynov was also called in for questioning at least six times in the last four months of the year .", "Numerous domestic and international observers also raised concerns that , while the government had a right and a duty to investigate corruption , prosecution should not be selective or politically motivated .", "These observers noted that the government 's targeting , with few exceptions , of senior officials connected with the previous government gave the appearance of politically motivated prosecution of political opponents .", "In response the government noted that Bohdan Presner , a former deputy environment minister in the Azarov government , was also under arrest for bribery .", "His case remained ongoing at year 's end .", "On April 14 , the Kyiv Appeals Court upheld a March ruling by a lower court to close criminal corruption cases against Ihor Bakai , former head of the State Management of Affairs Department and Naftohaz , the state gas and oil company .", "The cases were opened in 1998 and 2000 .", "Observers attributed the dismissal of the cases to Bakai 's political connections with the new administration .", "Police corruption remained a problem .", "The PGO reported that in the first nine months of the year 609 criminal cases of corruption were opened against law enforcement officers .", "Criminal cases involving 10 prosecutors and 318 police officers were forwarded to court .", "According to the PGO , in the first nine months of the year , 71 appointed and elected officials and civil servants at all levels of government were found guilty of criminal offenses related to corruption and bribery .", "Judges are immune from prosecution and may not be detained or arrested unless parliament rescinds their immunity .", "During the first nine months of the year , the PGO confirmed that it had initiated 22 corruption cases against judges , and forwarded 25 corruption cases against judges to court .", "During the year 14 judges were found guilty of wrongdoing ; eight were convicted of bribery ; three of knowingly issuing an unjust decision ; and three of abuse of power or office .", "Of these , four were sentenced to prison and seven were placed on probation .", "During the first nine months of the year , military prosecutors opened 119 criminal cases for corruption , of which 21 involved law enforcement personnel and 98 involved other officials .", "A June 2009 survey by the PACE project , `` Promoting Active Citizen Engagement to Combat Corruption in Ukraine , '' found that almost 63 percent of respondents stated they had been involved in corrupt transactions with government officials in the previous 12 months .", "The survey also found increased public support for more active anticorruption programs and increasing criminal charges for corrupt government employees .", "On June 21 , the PGO approved an indictment of Ihor Zvarych , the former head of the Lviv Administrative Court of Appeals .", "The ruling was forwarded to the Supreme Court to determine jurisdiction for a trial .", "Parliament stripped Zvarych of immunity in 2008 after an investigation found evidence that he accepted a bribe of 800,000 hryvnia ( $ 100,000 ) and discovered eight million hryvnias ( $ 1 million ) at his home .", "He was arrested in March 2009 on charges of abuse of office , bribery and fraud , and remains in pretrial detention .", "The constitution and the law authorize public access to government information unless it pertains to national security .", "Government bodies are required to respond to requests within 10 days and to provide information within 30 days .", "Denials can be appealed to a higher level at the agency concerned and then to a court .", "However , it remained difficult to gain access to official information .", "Government officials often did not understand the law and at times created bureaucratic procedures to withhold information .", "Section 5 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights", "A variety of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction , investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases ; however , unlike in previous years , there were numerous complaints of government pressure and intimidation .", "Government officials were not uniformly cooperative or responsive to their views .", "During the year the SBU discontinued meetings of its advisory council consisting of political leaders , NGO activists , and independent experts which had aimed to provide civilian oversight and increase the transparency of SBU activities .", "While the council continued to exist in principle , as of the end of the year , it had not met since February .", "On June 26 , Niko Lange , the local representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation , was detained at Boryspil airport upon his arrival in the country and held without explanation for 10 hours before being allowed entry .", "On July 30 , UNIAN reported that the PGO had announced that the State Border Guard Service had detained Lange on SBU instructions because of his alleged interference in the country 's internal affairs .", "On September 6 , the International Renaissance Foundation ( IRF ) issued a statement that several NGOs it supported had received requests for information from the SBU .", "The foundation appealed to the authorities , emphasizing that it did not support any political party or political activities , only initiatives aimed at electoral processes to ensure fairness .", "On September 8 , the head of the Presidential Administration , Sergiy Lyovochkin , told the media that the SBU 's interest in IRF 's activities was not part of a large-scale investigation into NGOs , but a one-time inquiry .", "However , despite increased attention by the SBU , domestic NGOs continued to criticize openly the government 's human rights performance .", "The government generally cooperated with international organizations , including the UN , the OSCE , and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe .", "For example , PACE rappporteurs visited the country several times during the year , as did the OSCE 's representative on media freedom , among others .", "The constitution provides for a human rights ombudsman , officially designated as the parliamentary commissioner on human rights .", "On June 29 , the parliament amended the ombudsman 's term in office from five to seven years .", "However , the change did not apply to term of the current ombudsman .", "In June 2009 Commissioner Nina Karpachova presented a constitutionally mandated report to parliament on the human rights situation in the country in 2006 and 2007 .", "The report is required annually but has only been produced five times since the office was established in 1998 .", "Human rights groups criticized the report for being outdated , and the ombudsman for poor cooperation with human rights organizations and for not opening regional offices .", "They also expressed concern that government bodies failed to provide proper responses to the ombudsman 's requests .", "Nevertheless , they also noted that the ombudsman 's office became more transparent by increasing media coverage of its activities and by updating information on its Web site on a more regular basis .", "According to the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman , 75,386 persons filed 32,884 complaints with the office in the first 11 months of the year .", "Of that number , approximately 45 percent related to civil rights , in particular the right to a fair trial , abuse by law enforcement personnel , and timely implementation of court rulings .", "The remainder involved social rights ( 13.2 percent ) ; economic rights ( 23.9 percent ) ; individual rights ( 10.8 percent ) including right to life , respect for personal integrity , and prohibition of torture in detention ; and religious rights ( 10.9 percent ) .", "A parliamentary committee on human rights , national minorities , and interethnic relations continued to operate during the year , but its activities were not publicized .", "The committee 's subcommittees work on issues such as interethnic relations , gender policy , indigenous peoples , national minorities and ethnic groups , deported persons , victims of political repression , ethnic policy , prevention of domestic conflict , refugees , and migration .", "Section 6 Discrimination , Societal Abuses , and Trafficking in Persons", "The law prohibits discrimination based on race , gender , language , social status , or other circumstances ; however , both governmental and societal discrimination persisted , and the government did not effectively enforce the prohibitions .", "The law prohibits rape but does not explicitly address spousal rape .", "A law against `` forced sex with a materially dependent person '' may allow prosecution for spousal rape .", "According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs , during the first nine months of the year , police recorded 516 incidents of rape or attempted rape , a decrease of 13.7 percent compared with the same period in 2009 .", "Domestic violence against women remained a serious problem .", "Spousal abuse is illegal but was common .", "Advocacy groups asserted that the percentage of women subjected to physical violence or psychological abuse at home remained high .", "According to Donetsk Regional League of Business and Professional Women , domestic violence annually resulted in 100,000 days of care at in-patient hospital facilities , 30,000 trauma unit cases , and 40,000 doctor visits ; up to 40 percent of calls to police involved complaints about domestic violence .", "The law permits the administrative arrest of a person for up to five days for - offenses related to domestic violence .", "On December 2 , parliament adopted amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses introducing community work of 40-60 hours as a possible punishment for domestic violence .", "According to women 's NGO La Strada-Ukraine , the Ministry for Family , Youth , and Sports continued to work with NGOs and civil society .", "However , on December 9 the president merged the Ministry for Family , Youth , and Sports with the Ministry of Science and Education to form a new Ministry of Education , Youth , and Sports .", "It was unclear at year 's end what impact the reorganization would have on women 's issues .", "Persistent gender stereotypes continued .", "For example , on March 19 , replying to a question about the lack of women in new Cabinet of Ministers , Prime Minister Azarov stated that `` carrying out reforms in Ukraine is not a women 's business . ''", "On March 22 , leaders of six women 's and gender rights advocacy groups sent a letter to Human Rights Commissioner Karpachova expressing concern over Prime Minister Azarov 's comments .", "The women asserted that the statement was discriminatory under the Law on Equal Opportunities of Men and Women and ran counter to article 38 of the constitution because it restricted the right of women to participate in politics and governance .", "On March 9 , Kateryna Levchenko of La Strada-Ukraine and Olena Suslova of Women 's Information Center filed a lawsuit against the prime minister at the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv accusing him of making a statement that violated gender equality .", "In June the court rejected the case , stating that the prime minister 's comments were protected under freedom of speech .", "Levchenko filed an appeal in December .", "During the first six months of the year , the Ministry of Family , Youth , and Sports , the Ministry of Internal Affairs , and their regional offices recorded 53,785 complaints of domestic violence , including 48,097 allegations of violence against women , and 5,265 reported incidents of violence against men .", "As of July 1 , according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry for Family , Youth , and Sports , 70,473 persons were under police supervision for domestic violence , compared with 65,684 in 2009 .", "Police issued 2,085 warnings and 3,724 injunctions for protection related to domestic violence in the first six months of the year .", "The Ministry of Internal Affairs also reported that in the first eight months of the year 4,622 families were put under supervision for domestic violence .", "During the same period of time , administrative charges were brought against 2,555 individuals for domestic violence and for disobeying injunctions of protection .", "The law requires the government to operate a shelter in every major city , but in practice it did not , in part due to the lack of municipal funding .", "According to the Ministry for Family , Youth and Sports there were 21 centers for social-psychological assistance and nine centers for medical and social rehabilitation in 19 oblasts , Crimea , and the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol , which had capacity for 342 persons .", "During the first nine months of the year , these centers provided assistance to 1,194 persons , of whom 91 adults and 96 children had been victims of domestic violence .", "NGOs operated additional centers for domestic violence victims in Vinnytsia , Donetsk , Zhytomyr , Odesa , Chernihiv , Poltava , Sumy and Khmelnytskiy oblasts .", "According to women 's advocacy groups , private and municipally funded shelters were not always accessible .", "Some did not function throughout the year , and shelters in Kyiv did not admit women who were not registered as Kyiv residents .", "Government centers offered only limited legal and psychological assistance to victims of domestic violence .", "Sex tourism remained a problem ; however , there were no official statistics on its extent .", "During the year a local feminist group , FEMEN , held demonstrations against the increase of sex tourism in the country .", "In February 2009 then interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko stated in an interview with Segodnya that `` Ukraine is becoming a paradise for sex tourism . ''", "The law on equal rights and opportunities qualifies sexual harassment as discrimination ; however , women 's rights groups asserted that it does not contain an effective mechanism to protect against sexual harassment .", "Women 's groups reported that there was continuing , widespread sexual harassment in the workplace , including coerced sex .", "While the law prohibits forced sex with a `` materially dependent person , '' which includes employees , legal experts regarded the safeguards against harassment as inadequate .", "La Strada-Ukraine operated a national hotline for victims of violence and sexual harassment .", "The government recognized the basic right of couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number , spacing , and timing of their children .", "Health clinics and local health NGOs were permitted to operate freely in disseminating information on family planning under the guidance of the Ministry of Health .", "There are no restrictions on the right to access contraceptives .", "Quality prenatal and postnatal care remained inaccessible to many women because state-funded clinics were underfunded and lacked quality equipment , and services in private clinics were expensive .", "However , according to data from the Population Reference Bureau ( PRB ) , 99 percent of births occurred in the presence of skilled personnel .", "PRB 's data indicated that the maternal mortality rate was 19 per 100,000 births .", "Some of the reproductive health concerns affecting the system included rapidly growing rates of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS , poor quality sexual and reproductive health services in state-funded hospitals , low awareness of modern contraceptives , and the expense of high-priced medical services in private clinics that made them inaccessible to large groups of local residents .", "Romani rights groups reported that Romani women experienced racial discrimination in standards of medical care and lacked access to information on health matters .", "Men and women received equal access to diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted infections , including HIV , but local health NGOs and clinics reported that women were more likely than men to seek treatment and refer their partners .", "Under the law women enjoyed the same rights as men , including equal pay for equal work , a principle that generally was observed .", "However , industries dominated by female workers had the lowest relative wages .", "The labor code sets the retirement age for women at 55 and for men at 60 .", "Women received lower salaries due to limited opportunities for advancement and the types of industries in which women were employed .", "Citizenship is determined by birthplace or by parentage .", "A child born on the territory of the country in a family of stateless persons residing permanently in the country is a citizen .", "The law requires that parents register a child within a month of birth .", "While education was free , universal , and compulsory until age 15 , the public education system continued to suffer from chronic underfunding , and children from poor families continued to drop out of school before turning 15 .", "More than 20,000 children did not attend school , according to a 2009 report by a coalition of 14 children 's rights NGOs .", "The report , which covered the period 2002-08 , was presented to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child .", "Many children were employed in agriculture and illegal coalmines or , in some cases , forced by their parents to beg .", "NGOs reported that a lack of schooling remained a significant problem among the rural population and within the Romani community .", "In some cases rural schools were closed due to the small number of school-age children , forcing children to travel long distances , often at personal expense , to attend schools in other villages .", "Children continued to be victims of violence and abuse .", "According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs , in the first eight months of the year , 8,156 minors were victims of crime , including 45 of intentionally inflicted bodily injury .", "The PGO confirmed that , in the first nine months of the year , 52 crimes involving child rape and attempted rape were recorded ; 87 minors were raped , compared with 110 during the same period in 2009 .", "In January 2009 the parliament adopted amendments to the criminal and criminal procedural codes that established criminal liability of up to three years in custody for forcing children into begging .", "Romani rights groups reported that early marriages involving girls under 18 were common within the Romani community .", "Commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a serious problem .", "Domestic and foreign law enforcement officials reported that a significant portion of Internet child pornography continued to originate in the country .", "On January 20 , parliament adopted amendments to prevent the spread of child pornography .", "The amendments introduced an internationally recognized definition of child pornography , which allowed law enforcement agencies to identify relevant evidence .", "In addition , the amendments allowed courts to limit access to Web sites that disseminate child pornography and increased financial penalties and prison sentences for offenders .", "On June 1 , the parliament amended the Criminal Code to increase from eight to 10 years the minimum imprisonment term for child rape .", "The amendment also increased to 15 years the maximum prison term for persons `` satisfying sexual passion in perverted forms . ''", "Molesting children under 16 is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years .", "The same offense committed against a child under 14 is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years .", "According to the Ministry for Family , Youth and Sports , the number of street children dropped from 42,000 in 2005 to approximately 22,000 in 2009 and 14,720 during the first nine months of this year as a result of government efforts .", "The ministry reported that as of September there were 88 children shelters across the country in all oblasts and the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol .", "The shelters have a capacity for 3,370 children ; during the first six months of the year , 6,977 children came to these shelters .", "The country is party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction .", "For information on international parental child abduction , please see the Department of State 's annual report on compliance at http://travel.state.gov/abduction/resources/congressreport/congressreport_4308.html .", "An estimated 103,600 Jews lived in the country , comprising approximately 0.2 percent of the population , according to government census data and international Jewish groups .", "Local Jewish leaders estimated the number of persons with an ethnic Jewish heritage to be as high as 370,000 .", "There were a number of acts of anti-Semitism , some involving vandalism of Jewish property .", "According to the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine 's ( VAAD ) there were nine incidents of vandalism during the year compared with 19 incidents in 2009 , and 13 in 2008 .", "There were no reports of violent incidents of anti-Semitism .", "In April a Jewish cemetery in Ternopil was desecrated .", "Other vandalism included the August 12 desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Pavlohrad , paint thrown on a Jewish community building in Sumy on October 12 , the November 17 and November 19 desecrations of Holocaust monuments in Kirovograd and in Sevastopol , and paint thrown on the walls of a synagogue on December 9 in Sumy .", "As of year 's end there were no reports that authorities had identified suspects or made arrests in cases of vandalism against Jewish property in 2009 , including swastikas on the walls of Jewish Charity Center in Melitopol , Nazi symbols on the front door of the Kyiv office of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society , and paint splashed on the monument marking the birthplace of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson in Mykolayiv .", "During the year members of marginal populist and nationalist parties and organizations continued to make occasional extremist , intolerant , and anti-Semitic statements .", "In January unidentified individuals in Sudak , Crimea were reported to have passed out leaflets calling for genocide against Jews in the country .", "As of the end of the year , there had been no further developments in the incident .", "On September 10 , the Prosecutor 's Office in Zakarpattia closed an investigation into charges of hate speech against Serhiy Ratushnyak , the former mayor of Uzhhorod .", "Citing findings by legal and linguistic experts , the prosecutor stated Ratushnyak 's comments made in 2009 reflected his opinion about Jews and could not be described as hate speech .", "Ratushnyak was charged in August 2009 with inciting ethnic hatred , hooliganism , and abuse of office after he allegedly used anti-Semitic rhetoric and attacked a campaign worker for a rival presidential candidate .", "Ratushnyak , who was known for making racist and intolerant comments , ran as a marginal candidate in the presidential elections .", "On November 10 , the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council issued a warning to the Kherson Television and Radio Company about racist and anti-Semitic remarks made by former city councilman Serhiy Kyrychenko in 2009 on a local radio show , Vik .", "In frequent appearances on the program Kyrychenko accused Jews of robbing the country 's people and plotting to enslave Ukrainians and exterminate Slavs .", "The Kherson Oblast Prosecutor 's Office also opened a criminal case against Kyrychenko on charges of inciting interethnic hatred .", "In December the prosecutor completed a pretrial investigation and sent the case to court .", "Anti-Semitic articles continued to appear in small publications , although their number and circulation continued to decline .", "According to VAAD , 46 anti-Semitic articles were published in major print media outlets in 2009 , compared with 54 in 2008 and 542 in 2007 .", "VAAD said the sharp decrease in anti-Semitic publications was due primarily to concerted political and social pressure by NGOs , the government and the Jewish community on the Academy of Personnel Management ( MAUP ) .", "In previous years , MAUP , a private higher-education institution , accounted for nearly 90 percent of all anti-Semitic material , but has now ceased the publications .", "In November 2009 according to media reports , self-described `` writer and philosopher '' Vyacheslav Gudin told a group of 300 persons that 15 Ukrainian children who had been adopted in Israel were taken to Israeli medical centers and used for `` spare parts . ''", "He further asserted that 25,000 Ukrainian children had been taken to Israel over the previous two years to harvest their organs .", "His allegations , which mirrored past anti-Semitic `` blood libel '' claims , were circulated on the Internet by radical right-wing groups .", "Members of the Odesa Jewish community called on the prosecutor 's office to investigate the ZaZUBR group , which had published Gudin 's materials in its newspaper , ZaZUBRina , and on its Web site .", "Prosecutors opened a case but did not bring charges against anyone involved .", "In addition , the government reportedly opened an investigation into the validity of Gudin 's remarks ; however , at year 's end no further information was available about the details of the investigation .", "Senior government officials and politicians from various political parties continued efforts to combat anti-Semitism by speaking out against extremism and social intolerance , and by criticizing anti-Semitic acts .", "The SCNR , together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Ministry of Internal Affairs , State Border Guard Committee , State Customs Service , State Committee for Tourism , and other agencies , cooperated to support Jewish pilgrimages to the burial site in Uman of Rabbi Nakhman , founder of the Bratslav Hasidic movement .", "According to Jewish leaders approximately 23,000 pilgrims traveled to Uman in September .", "Growing numbers of Jewish pilgrims have been visiting burial sites of prominent spiritual leaders in Medzhybizh , Berdychiv , and Hadyach .", "According to the government the SBU acted to prevent at least six hate crimes in 2009 and 2010 , including illegal activities by skinhead groups in Cherkassy and Dnepropetrovsk and an attack on the cultural center Hesed Haim in Sumy .", "Trafficking In Persons", "For information on trafficking in persons , please see the Department of State 's annual Trafficking in Persons Report at www.state.gov/j/tip .", "Persons with Disabilities", "The law prohibits discrimination against persons with physical , sensory , intellectual , and mental disabilities in employment , education , access to health care , and other state services ; however , the government generally did not enforce these laws .", "The government estimated the number of persons with disabilities at between 2.4 and 2.7 million ; however , NGOs working on disability rights asserted that the real number of disabled was twice the government 's estimate .", "The government did not track the number of children with disabilities .", "NGOs complained that the lack official data limited their ability to lobby for more government assistance to children with disabilities .", "According to the law employers must allocate 4 percent of employment opportunities to persons with disabilities .", "NGOs noted that many of those employed to fill these positions received a nominal salary to meet the requirement but did not really work at their companies .", "During the first six months of the year , 4,233 persons with disabilities received jobs through government employment-placement services , according to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy .", "The Ministry of Education confirmed that there were 398 specialized secondary schools and boarding schools with a total of 46,480 children , including 54 specialized secondary schools in which 5,608 children with disabilities studied while staying with their families .", "In addition the Ministry of Education confirmed that there were 484 classes for children with disabilities in general secondary schools .", "These classes served 5,652 children .", "Advocacy groups maintained that , despite existing legal guarantees , most public buildings remained inaccessible to persons with disabilities .", "As a result , access to essential services and activities such as employment , education , health care , transportation , and financial services remained difficult .", "NGOs expressed concern over the lack of programs to promote the integration of students with disabilities into the general student population and noted that the lack of needs assessment programs by state-funded employment centers led to the placement of graduates with disabilities in inappropriate jobs .", "The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race , skin color , and ethnic and social origin .", "Mistreatment of minority groups and harassment of foreigners of non-Slavic appearance remained a problem , although NGO monitors reported that hate crime incidents continued to decrease .", "Incitement to ethnic or religious hatred is a criminal offense ; however , human rights organizations stated the requirement to prove actual intent , including proof of premeditation and intent to incite hatred , made its legal application difficult .", "Police and prosecutors generally prosecuted racially motivated crimes under legal provisions dealing with hooliganism or related offenses .", "Article 161 of the criminal code criminalizes deliberate actions to incite hatred or discrimination based on nationality , race , or religion , including insulting the national honor or dignity of citizens in connection with their religious and political beliefs , race , or skin color .", "The government acknowledged that racism and ethnically motivated attacks were a problem ; however , some officials continued to minimize its seriousness , maintaining that xenophobia was not a problem and that violent attacks were isolated incidents .", "No official statistics were available on the number of racially motivated attacks .", "However , the Diversity Initiative monitoring group , a coalition of international and local NGOs headed by the IOM mission in Kyiv , reported four attacks involving four victims during the first nine months of the year .", "This number compared with 26 attacks during 2009 and 63 in 2008 .", "The attacks involved a Kuwaiti and three African asylum seekers and foreign students .", "The attacks occurred in Kyiv , Simferopol , and Odesa ; none was fatal .", "According to the Diversity Initiative , police did not initiate criminal cases in any of the four attacks they documented during the year .", "According to the PGO , during the year prosecutors forwarded to court two criminal cases based on Article 161 .", "SBU investigators continued pretrial investigation in one case .", "During the first nine months of the year , two persons were found guilty of violating Article 161 , compared with four in 2009 and three in 2008 .", "In December 2009 then president Yushchenko signed into law amendments to the criminal code that increased penalties for hate crimes .", "Accordingly , premeditated killing on grounds of racial , ethnic , or religious hatred carries a 10 - to 15-year prison sentence .", "Parliament also established a fine from 3,400 to 8,500 hryvnias ( $ 425 to $ 1,060 ) or up to five years in prison for hate crimes .", "Advocacy groups asserted that police occasionally detained dark-skinned persons and subjected them to far more frequent and arbitrary document checks ; at times victims of xenophobic attacks were prosecuted for acting in self-defense .", "On December 13 , the media reported that Berkut police officers detained journalist Mustafa Nayem on suspicion that he was a Caucasus national .", "According to the reports , police confiscated Nayem 's mobile phone and took him to a local precinct .", "He was released with an apology from the head of the precinct .", "Two investigations into the incident continued at year 's end .", "Some of the most active xenophobic groups were the unregistered Ukrainian National-Labor Party , the Patriot of Ukraine organization , the Ukrainian Movement against Illegal Immigration , White Power-Skinhead Spektrum , the country 's branch of Blood and Honor , and the World Church of the Creator Ruthenia .", "Such groups appeared to be marginal and poorly organized .", "Roma continued to face governmental and societal discrimination .", "Romani rights groups estimated the country 's Romani population to be between 200,000 and 400,000 ; however , official census data placed the number at 47,600 .", "The discrepancy was due in part by lack of legal documentation and poor record keeping in the Romani community .", "According to SCNR , there were 88 Romani NGOs , of which three were national .", "A 2008 study by Chirikli Roma Women Foundation indicated that almost 70 percent of Roma had experienced a violation of their rights and that the majority did not know how to defend their rights or with whom to lodge complaints .", "According to Romani rights groups , two-thirds of Roma were illiterate , 15 percent were infected with tuberculosis , and 60 percent of Romani children in Zakarpattia were infected with tuberculosis .", "One-third of Roma had no funds to pay for medicine and doctors ' services .", "Representatives of Romani and other minority groups claimed that police officials routinely ignored and sometimes abetted violence against them and referred to Romani ethnicity in crime reports .", "However , the Roma Congress of Ukraine noted diminished ethnic profiling by police as a result of involvement of Romani rights groups .", "There were fewer reports of government cooperation with the Romani community than in 2009 .", "The chairman of the Roma Congress of Ukraine , Petro Hryhorychenko , was formerly a member of the presidential council on ethnic-national policy and a member of the NGO advisory council with the State Committee on Nationalities and Religions ( SCNR ) .", "On April 2 , President Yanukovych abolished the council as part of his effort to cut bureaucracy .", "On December 9 , the president also abolished the SCNR as part of broad administrative reforms and reassigned its duties to the Ministry of Culture .", "The constitution provides for the free development , use , and protection of Russian and other minority languages .", "According to the Ministry of Education , 2,217 educational facilities used Russian as the main language of instruction , serving nearly one million schoolchildren .", "According to ministry figures , 1.3 million students studied Russian as a separate subject in secondary schools , and more than 165,000 secondary school students studied Russian as an extracurricular course .", "Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar minorities in Crimea continued to complain of discrimination by the ethnic Russian majority on the peninsula and in Sevastopol .", "They urged that the Ukrainian and the Crimean Tatar languages be given a status equal to Russian .", "In 2009 the head of the Crimean Republican Committee for Nationalities and Deported Citizens reported approximately 264,500 registered Crimean Tatars in the country .", "The SCNR reported 260,873 Tatars living in Crimea , Kherson Oblast , and Sevastopol .", "In November 2009 the SCNR reported that the government had allocated 28,276 million hryvnias ( approximately $ 3.5 million ) for the resettlement and integration of Crimean Tatars , including housing construction .", "According to Crimean Tatar Mejlis , Crimean Tatars resided in 300 settlements on the Crimean peninsula , and authorities allocated 53 million hryvnias ( $ 6.6 million ) for their integration .", "According to the Ministry of Education , 439 children studied the Crimean Tatar language in separate groups in preschool facilities .", "There were 15 secondary schools with Crimean Tatar as the main language of instruction ; 17,725 students studied Crimean Tatar as a separate subject in secondary schools ; 5,153 secondary school students studied Crimean Tatar as an extracurricular course .", "Crimean Tatars asserted that discrimination by local officials deprived them of equal opportunities for employment in local administrations and that propaganda campaigns , particularly by pro-Russian groups , promoted hostility against them .", "On August 28 , in a speech to the Qurultai ( a Crimean Tatar national convention ) Mustafa Jemilev , the chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis , claimed there had been a significant increase in discrimination against Crimean Tatars since the presidential election .", "In December , Radio Liberty reported that the Crimean Prosecutor 's Office accused the head of Mejlis 's Secretariat , Zair Smedlyaev , of organizing mass disorders and refusing to comply with police orders .", "The case was initiated in 2006 but only sent to court in December .", "Smedlyaev claimed that the prosecutor 's actions were `` an attempt to intimidate the Crimean Tatar people . ''", "On December 25 , the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims in Crimea stated that a fire at a mosque under construction in Myrne village in Crimea may have been attempted arson .", "According to the group the fire was `` a deliberate attempt to destabilize interfaith peace in Crimea . ''", "The local fire department opened an investigation in the incident .", "Societal Abuses , Discrimination , and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity", "The lesbian , gay , bisexual , and transgender ( LGBT ) community continued to suffer societal stigma and discrimination .", "Those who openly declared their sexual orientation experienced discrimination in education , the workplace , and access to medical treatment and to information on the prevention of HIV/AIDS .", "According to the registered LGBT rights group Nash Mir ( Our World ) , law-enforcement representatives were involved in 35 of 79 identified instances of discrimination against gays during the year .", "The group also maintained that police mistreated and collected personal data on gays , while the Ministry of Internal Affairs ignored homophobic attitudes among its personnel .", "Among the incidents documented by Nash Mir was the illegal detention by police of a man in Chernivtsi who was accused of frequenting a gay meeting place .", "Police photographed the man and took his fingerprints .", "In another incident police in Mykolayiv interrogated a gay man as part of an investigation into the killing of a gay man .", "The police insulted him and threatened to expose his sexual orientation if he did not provide contact information of other homosexual persons he knew .", "On November 20 , according to the LGBT group Insight , approximately 10 men broke into a movie screening organized by the group on the Transgender Day of Remembrance and attacked the audience with teargas .", "One of the organizers who attempted to block the attackers was beaten .", "Police investigated the incident as hooliganism , while members of the LGBT community urged the police to open a hate-crime investigation .", "The case remained open at year 's end .", "Other Societal Violence or Discrimination", "Persons with HIV/AIDS faced discrimination and at times lacked access to treatment .", "In a 2008 study , the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS estimated that 1.6 percent of Ukrainians between the ages of 15 and 49 were HIV positive .", "The Ministry of Health estimated the number of HIV-positive persons to be approximately 156,000 , of whom 30,000 were diagnosed with AIDS .", "According to a country report by HRW , the Ukrainian National AIDS Center reported 13,039 newly registered cases of HIV infection in the first eight months of 2009 , nearly half among intravenous-drug users .", "The All-Ukrainian Network of Persons Living with HIV continued to note that persons with HIV/AIDS faced discrimination in the workplace , job loss without legal recourse , harassment by law enforcement officials and prosecutors , social isolation , and stigmatization .", "In July an HRW researcher published an op-ed in the British newspaper The Guardian in which he reported that under President Yanukovych there had been `` an increasing number of law enforcement attacks on -LSB- drug -RSB- substitution treatment programs '' that jeopardized the country 's progress to limit the spread of HIV among the intravenous drug-user population .", "Local NGOs echoed these complaints and asserted that law enforcement officials were illegally collecting information on drug treatment patients to determine their HIV status .", "Section 7 Worker Rights a .", "The Right of Association", "The law provides workers with the right to form and join unions without previous authorization or excessive requirements , and this right was generally respected in practice .", "There were no reliable estimates of the percentage of the workforce that belonged to a trade union .", "To function , a union must be registered by the government .", "Unions reported that the registration process was extremely burdensome , entailing visits to as many as 10 different offices and payments of fees .", "The International Trade Union Confederation characterized the registration requirement as `` a restriction unacceptable by international labor standards . ''", "While by law the registration process did not change , unions reported an increasingly restrictive implementation of the process .", "Unions reported that during the year authorities denied the registration of several regional confederations without merit and questioned the legitimacy of another regional confederation that had successfully registered three years previously .", "By law all trade unions have equal status , and the establishment of a trade union does not require government permission .", "However , unions affiliated with the Federation of Trade Unions ( FPU ) , which inherited assets from Soviet-era unions , have enjoyed an advantage in organizing workers .", "Unions not affiliated with the FPU , including the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine ( CFTU ) , continued to be denied a share of the former Soviet trade unions ' real estate and financial holdings .", "These included social insurance benefit funds , which gave the FPU a benefit that independent unions could not offer .", "Leaders of non-FPU trade unions and some government officials claimed that the FPU improperly sold some Soviet-era assets to thwart their future distribution .", "While a 2007 parliamentary moratorium on the FPU 's sale of property remained in place , a commission formed during the previous administration to inventory union assets was dissolved by the current government in June .", "In August police arrested four union leaders of the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol , seized union materials , and locked the union 's office , charging them with fraud and other offenses .", "Union representatives claimed that the company 's management orchestrated the arrests to block a planned rally by the union .", "In March 2009 the administration of the Sumy customs office seized the offices of the independent trade union Spravedlyvist , which represented customs personnel , and illegally took possession of their stamp , seal , and official documents .", "The administration claimed that the local trade union office was illegally located in the Sumy customs offices .", "The union leader was fired following this incident .", "Following her appeal , a court ruled that she should be reinstated ; however , the decision reportedly has not been enforced .", "In 2009 the FPU and the regional department of the Ministry of Health withheld bonuses and used tactics such as increased scrutiny by tax and labor inspectors to pressure members of a new trade union at a clinic in Chernihiv to join the FPU instead .", "Although the union leader was reinstated after being fired , the deputy leader 's case for reinstatement after dismissal was still pending in court .", "The law provides for the right of workers to strike on condition that a strike does not jeopardize national security , public health , or the rights and liberties of others .", "The right was generally respected in practice .", "The right to strike does not apply to personnel of the PGO , the judiciary , the armed forces , the security services , law enforcement agencies , the transportation sector , or public servants .", "Personnel from these entities may seek redress through the judicial system .", "Federations and confederations are not entitled to strike .", "A strike may be organized only if two-thirds of the workers of an enterprise vote for it , which trade unions considered to be an unfairly high threshold .", "The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively", "The law permits trade unions to organize and participate in collective bargaining , but these rights were not always respected in practice .", "There were no reliable statistics on the percentage of workers covered by collective agreements .", "Union representatives reported that an independent health care union attempted to join a branch collective bargaining agreement concluded with an FPU affiliate but in June was denied without justification .", "Members of CFTU-affiliated unions claimed that management sometimes forced them to carry out additional assignments without compensation or threatened them with dismissal if they refused to leave their unions .", "There were continuing complaints that FPU-affiliated unions deducted union dues from the salaries of workers who had chosen to join a different union .", "During the year unions reported that Epicenter , a home improvement chain , harassed persons attempting to engage in union activities .", "According to representatives , the head of the union was arrested under false pretenses .", "When the police dropped the case for lack of evidence , the union leader tried to return to work but was told that he had been fired .", "While he subsequently won his court case against dismissal , Epicenter ignored the decision .", "Although the union continued to exist , representatives reported that Epicenter management refused to recognize the union or agree to begin collective bargaining .", "The law calls for joint worker-management commissions to resolve differences over wages , working conditions , and the rights and duties of management at the enterprise level .", "However , the commissions were not always effective in practice and sometimes were dominated by management and union representatives co-opted by management .", "Although the law provides the right to collective bargaining , the manner in which the law was applied prejudiced the bargaining process against newer unions and favored FPU-affiliated unions .", "Renouncing membership in an FPU-affiliated union and joining a new union was bureaucratically onerous and typically discouraged by management .", "In 2009 an employer reportedly refused to recognize a newly established trade union at an agricultural company .", "Reports indicated that the company continued to refuse to begin collective bargaining and that the union 's leader suffered harassment , including lawsuits filed by the company against him and visits from police demanding to examine the union 's financial and other documents .", "The law provides for the National Mediation and Reconciliation Service to mediate labor disputes .", "There were no exemptions from labor laws in export processing zones .", "c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor", "The law prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor , including by children ; however , there were reports that women , men , and children were trafficked for labor .", "Also see the Department of State 's annual Trafficking in Persons Report at www.state.gov/j/tip .", "Trafficked women were used as housekeepers , seamstresses , dishwashers , or workers at small and large manufacturing plants .", "Some women with small children and persons with disabilities were trafficked abroad for begging .", "The International Organization for Migration identified 442 cases of men and women exploited for their labor during the first nine months of the year .", "d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment", "The law protects children from exploitation in the workplace , but the government did not always effectively enforce the law .", "The labor code sets 16 as the minimum age for most employment .", "Children 15 years of age may with a parent 's consent perform `` light work , '' but the law does not clearly define the term .", "Children can legally do some forms of work beginning at age 14 as part of an apprenticeship in the context of vocational educational training .", "The Child Labor Division of the State Labor Inspectorate under the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible for enforcing child labor laws .", "The Department of Children 's Affairs in the Ministry of Family , Youth , and Sport , and the Police Department for Children 's Affairs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs have the responsibility of identifying children in the informal sector involved in the worst forms of child labor .", "The ministry 's Antitrafficking Department is responsible for the enforcement of laws against child trafficking .", "The worst forms of child labor were found primarily in the informal sectors , including on family farms and at open-air markets .", "Children also were used for commercial sexual exploitation , including production of pornography .", "Also see the Department of State 's annual Trafficking in Persons Report at www.state.gov/j/tip/ .", "Enforcement remained inadequate to deter violations .", "The State Labor Inspectorate reported it monitored 447 enterprises in August and September .", "During the inspections it identified 140 working children who were 14 or 15 years of age and 39 who were under 14 .", "Almost all cases of labor involving children under the age of 14 were in the agricultural sector .", "The inspectorate found approximately the same number of children under the age of 14 involved in child labor as in 2009 .", "On August 13 , the newspaper Novosti reported that police arrested a resident from the Odesa Oblast for organizing the production of charcoal using child labor .", "Police found three children , age 13 to 17 years , working in an indoor plant .", "Police opened a criminal case .", "Police brought trafficking charges ( as opposed to less severe child labor charges ) in the February 2009 case of a man from Kherson Oblast who forced nine teenagers from Zakarpattia to work on his farm 10 to 16 hours a day without pay while housing them in a poultry barn .", "NGOs successfully lobbied to have the case tried in Zakarpattia so that the children could testify , despite efforts of the defendant to keep the case in Kherson .", "There were no reported developments regarding labor violations discovered by inspectors in Chernivtsi Oblast or regarding cases noted in 2008 .", "One NGO reported is the difficulty for persons not party to a criminal or administrative case to find information regarding its disposition .", "e. Acceptable Conditions of Work", "On December 1 , the government increased the monthly minimum wage to 992 hryvnias ( $ 124 ) .", "The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family .", "The State Labor Inspectorate is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage but was unable to monitor all employers .", "Many workers , particularly in the informal sector , received wages far below the established minimum .", "During the year wage arrears increased in the first half of the year but decreased in July .", "According to the State Statistics Committee , arrears stood at 1.8 billion hryvnias ( $ 228 million ) at the end of June but had decreased to 1.34 billion hryvnias ( $ 169 million ) by December .", "Most arrears accumulated in industry , but also significantly accrued in construction , transport , communications , and agricultural enterprises .", "The law provides for a maximum 40-hour workweek , a 24-hour period of rest per week , and at least 24 days of paid vacation per year .", "The law provides for double pay for overtime work and regulates the number of overtime hours allowed .", "However , regulations covering rest periods , maximum hours , and overtime were not always effectively enforced .", "Although the law contains occupational safety and health standards , the standards were frequently ignored in practice .", "Lax safety standards and aging equipment caused many injuries on the job .", "During the year 11,698 workplace injuries were reported , as compared with 12,370 in 2009 ; these included 644 job-related fatalities , compared with 675 in 2009 .", "There were 131 mining fatalities during the year , compared with 151 in 2009 .", "There were 4,888 coalminers reported injured during the year , compared with 5,251 during the same period in 2009 .", "The law provides workers the right to remove themselves from dangerous work without jeopardizing their continued employment ; however , trade unions reported that in practice asserting this right would result in retaliation or perhaps dismissal .", "Some unions reported good cooperation with government labor inspectors .", "For example , the CFTU signed a memorandum of understanding ( MOU ) with the Labor Inspectorate to cooperate more closely .", "The MOU gave local union leaders and health and safety specialists the right to inspect places of work jointly with labor inspectors .", "Unions report that these joint inspections have proved especially important in the mining sector .", "The Office of Website Management , Bureau of Public Affairs , manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department .", "External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein ."], "_citing_sentence": "There are numerous human rights abuses in Ukraine; migrants \"risk abusive treatment and arbitrary detention\", Roma and people with dark skin in particular face governmental and societal discrimination and some xenophobic attacks and may be prosecuted for acting in self defense.", "_claim_name": "Boycotting Euro 2012 will highlight Ukraine's backsliding on human rights", "_doc_title": "2010 Human Rights Reports: Ukraine", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 66, 451, 718]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 60, "_topic_name": "This House would boycott the Euro 2012 in Ukraine unless Yulia Timoshenko is released from prison"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["WHEN Jobbik , a Hungarian far-right party , took 15 % of the vote in June 's European election , it sent shudders across the continent .", "Running on an anti-Roma ( gypsy ) platform , with nasty words for Jews and homosexuals and with its own uniformed wing , Jobbik seemed more troubling than earlier groups .", "It joined existing extremists in the region to suggest a new resurgence of the far right .", "The Slovak National Party ( SNP ) , whose leader , Jan Slota , is known for pungent anti-Hungarian remarks , has won seats in every Slovak parliament but one since 1990 and been part of the government since 2006 .", "Bulgaria 's Ataka lives up to its name with verbal onslaughts against the country 's Turks , and has taken 10 % of the vote since 2005 .", "Jobbik may be the third-biggest party in Hungary after next spring 's election .", "Yet in other places the far right is in retreat .", "Poland 's League of Polish Families , a xenophobic bunch with a youth wing known for anti-Semitism , was knocked out of parliament in 2007 .", "The Greater Romania Party , an irredentist group of Magyar-bashers whose leader came second in Romania 's presidential election of 2000 , lost all its seats in 2008 .", "Jobbik 's uniformed outfit was banned earlier this year .", "A far-right group in the European Parliament in 2007 broke up after ten months of in-fighting ( Romanian members objected to being called `` gypsies '' by Italians ) .", "The Baltics , the Czech Republic and Slovenia have no big far-right parties .", "The far right in central Europe differs from its western equivalents in its choice of enemies .", "In the west it thrives on immigrant-bashing .", "In the east it dwells on more atavistic grievances : ethnic minorities , old territorial disputes , homosexuals , international financiers and , naturally , Jews .", "Hatred of the Roma has become a defining issue .", "Everywhere economic anxiety is exploited .", "Even a decade of growth has left plenty of poor and disaffected people .", "Many hark back to an era when the state protected them from crude market forces .", "This produces a far right that likes nationalisation and dislikes the market .", "Yet what seems to open up most space for the far right is political anxiety stemming from corruption , weak institutions and mainstream parties that few trust .", "The essence of the far right is to be anti-establishment , with leaders railing against corrupt elites who have sold out to foreign bankers .", "Jobbik and Ataka grew out of a collapse in support for centrist parties .", "Poland 's far right was boosted in 2005 by the mismanagement and corruption of the outgoing Socialist-led government .", "The far right is often ineffective .", "Standing against a corrupt and incompetent establishment , the parties can turn out to be the same .", "Mr Slota 's SNP has had three ministers thrown out of office after accusations of shady dealings .", "After three years in government the party 's only achievement is poor relations with Hungary and with Slovakia 's ethnic Hungarians .", "Similarly , Gheorghe Funar , an ultra-nationalist who in the 1990s was mayor of Cluj-Napoca in Romania , is remembered only for a semi-official Ponzi scheme and for painting park benches in national colours .", "Usually the far right has been de-fanged in a ruling coalition .", "In Poland , its 2005 success was a prelude to its demise in 2007 , as Poles opted for a moderate government after two years of right-wing rule .", "Yet some far-right ideas have percolated into the mainstream .", "One reason there are no big far-right parties in the Baltics is that they have a harder centre-right .", "Latvia banned gay marriage in 2005 , after Poland and Lithuania .", "Gay-rights marches attract bans and scuffles .", "Hungary 's right-wing press is awash with anti-capitalist conspiracy theories aimed at `` communists '' , liberals and , occasionally , Jews .", "Bulgaria 's centre-right prime minister , Boyko Borisov , has complained about the `` human material '' of his country ( ie , too many gypsies , Turks and pensioners ) .", "Poland 's Law and Justice Party is socially to the right of most western conservatives ( though , with the Czech Republic 's Civic Democrats , it is an ally of Britain 's Tories in the European Parliament ) .", "Anti-Hungarian feelings stretch beyond the far right in Romania and Slovakia .", "The far right 's incompetence may doom it politically , but some of its ideas are here to stay ."], "_citing_sentence": "A good example of this is that intolerant far-right parties are much more successful in the young democracies of Eastern Europe than the old democracies of Western Europe.", "_claim_name": "Participation Is Good In Itself", "_doc_title": "Right on down | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Kim Willsher in Paris and", "Sunday 3 March 2013 13.43 EST", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 12.33 EDT", "Swiss voters have approved measures to curb executives ' pay and outlawed golden parachutes that can result on directors pocketing multimillion-pound payoffs .", "Exit polls suggested almost 68 % of those who turned out for Sunday 's referendum , and all of Switzerland 's 26 cantons , were in favour of the measures , which also include giving shareholders a binding vote on executive pay , banning golden hellos and banning bonuses that encourage buying or selling firms .", "Boards of directors that fail to comply face jail terms .", "In Zurich , Switzerland 's financial capital where polling stations remained open until 6.30 pm local time -- as opposed to noon in other cantons -- analysts were suggesting that an overwhelming majority of 71 % of voters approved the Minder initiative .", "`` The people have decided to send a strong signal to boards , the federal council -LSB- Swiss government -RSB- and the parliament , '' Thomas Minder , the businessman and Swiss senator behind the measure , told the state broadcaster , RTS .", "Minder said he was not surprised by the projected results .", "The draft law , which covers Swiss companies listed on Swiss or foreign stock exchanges , is likely to put pressure on David Cameron , who has signalled his intention to object to proposals put forward by Brussels for a cap on bankers ' bonuses .", "The Eurogroup of finance ministers meets on Monday to debate proposals for the cap , announced last Wednesday , which would mean that bankers face an automatic limit on bonus payouts of one year 's salary , or twice their salary if a majority of shareholders agree .", "George Osborne or the Treasury minister Greg Clark will represent Britain to relay what No 10 described as real concerns about the proposal .", "The Swiss law would limit the mandate of board members to one year , and would ban certain kinds of compensation , including the golden handshakes or golden parachutes given to some executives when they join or leave a company .", "It also outlaws bonuses paid for takeovers or for the sell-off of part of a business .", "If a similar law were passed in the UK , several high-profile business leaders would be out of pocket .", "Marc Bolland , the Marks & Spencer boss , struck a # 15m deal in 2010 that included # 7.5 m compensation for lost bonuses and shares that he would have received in his old job .", "Switzerland has escaped the worst of the economic crisis that has hit the European Union , of which it is not a member .", "The legislation was sparked by public anger over pay and bonuses for senior bosses .", "Among those whose remuneration has caused ire is Daniel Vasella , the former head of the pharmaceuticals giant Novartis , who was paid a total of 15m Swiss francs ( # 11m ) in 2011 .", "Voters were outraged by plans to pay Vasella a further 72m-franc golden parachute over the next six years , on the condition he did not work for rival companies , after he stepped down last month .", "In the face of such public anger , Novartis subsequently announced that Vasella , who has run the company since 1996 , would forgo the sum .", "However , he remained the focus of public anger over what are seen as pay abuses .", "Minder says the massive sums demonstrate that company boards have lost control of pay and prefer to fork out `` astronomical '' salaries rather than pay dividends to shareholders .", "Minder told the Swiss daily Le Temps that the only solution was to give shareholders the power to set pay .", "If his law is passed all compensation packages to board members and company heads would need their approval .", "According to the proposed law , executives of listed companies who failed to abide by the new rules could face up to three years in jail and fines amounting to up to six years ' salary .", "The Swiss government and the upper house of parliament opposed the initiative , warning it could provoke an exodus of big companies .", "Minder rejected this , saying that the level of disquiet over executive pay and bonuses in other countries meant his initiative could become Switzerland 's `` best export product '' .", "`` It 's a great advantage for investors , '' he said , suggesting that instead of chasing companies away , such a law would entice investors to set up firms in Switzerland .", "He said he hoped other countries would be inspired by the initiative .", "If voters approve the Minder initiative , the government will draw up a proposed law to present to parliament , a process likely to take a year ."], "_citing_sentence": "Thus for example Switzerland has passed with 68% of the vote in a referendum  a proposal that prevents big payouts for managers known as 'golden handshakes' and 'golden parachutes' and shareholders will have a veto over saleries.", "_claim_name": "Participatory Democracy Produces Better Decisions", "_doc_title": "Voters in Swiss referendum back curbs on executives' pay and bonuses | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 9 June 2011 13.43 EDT", "Last modified on Monday 13 June 2011 09.48 EDT It is not the way the scribes of yore would have done it but Iceland is tearing up the rulebook by drawing up its new constitution through crowdsourcing .", "As the country recovers from the financial crisis that saw the collapse of its banks and government , it is using social media to get its citizens to share their ideas as to what the new document should contain .", "`` I believe this is the first time a constitution is being drafted basically on the internet , '' said Thorvaldur Gylfason , member of Iceland 's constitutional council .", "`` The public sees the constitution come into being before their eyes ... This is very different from old times where constitution makers sometimes found it better to find themselves a remote spot out of sight , out of touch . ''", "Iceland 's existing constitution dates back to when it gained independence from Denmark in 1944 .", "It simply took the Danish constitution and made a few minor adjustments , such as substituting the word `` president '' for `` king '' .", "In creating the new document , the council has been posting draft clauses on its website every week since the project launched in April .", "The public can comment underneath or join a discussion on the council 's Facebook page .", "The council also has a Twitter account , a YouTube page where interviews with its members are regularly posted , and a Flickr account containing pictures of the 25 members at work , all intended to maximise interaction with citizens .", "Meetings of the council are open to the public and streamed live on to the website and Facebook page .", "The latter has more than 1,300 likes in a country of 320,000 people .", "The crowdsourcing follows a national forum last year where 950 randomly selected people spent a day discussing the constitution .", "If the committee has its way the draft bill , due to be ready at the end of July , will be put to a referendum without any changes imposed by parliament -- so it will genuinely be a document by the people , for the people .", "Given that it was intended to go to a referendum , Gylfason said , the idea was that the public should be involved from the start of the process and not just at the end .", "Social media is seen as a way of making that happen with Iceland 's population among the world 's most computer-literate .", "Two-thirds of its people are on Facebook .", "Gylfason said he had been pleasantly surprised by the level of discussion .", "`` There 's been a lot of goodwill for what we are trying to do .", "The public have added much to our debate .", "Their comments have been quite helpful and they have had a positive effect on the outcome . ''", "Gylfason , an economics professor at the University of Iceland , said the draft bill would include checks and responsibilities for parliament and provisions for separation of powers intended to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis .", "It would also contain significant changes in the way MPs are elected and judges appointed ."], "_citing_sentence": "A clear example is the Iceland's \"wiki constitution\" (2011).", "_claim_name": "Representative Democracy Enables Rule by Elites", "_doc_title": "Mob rule: Iceland crowdsources its next constitution | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2, 3]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Friday 8 July 2011 15.30 EDT", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 14.37 EDT", "David Cameron 's press conference was nearly a masterclass in damage limitation .", "How firm he sounded with his three-point actions , announcing two inquiries and the demise of the `` failed '' Press Complaints Commission .", "Yes , he would have accepted Rebekah Brooks 's resignation .", "How shocked he was .", "It was `` simply disgusting '' .", "Here was a wake-up call on the `` culture , practice and ethics of the press '' and , for now , the crucial BSkyB deal would be delayed .", "He strove with every sinew to show he gets it , he really does get the public outrage at the hacked phones of a murdered child and dead soldiers .", "But as the questions rained down , you could see the crisis slipping from his control .", "This was too little , too late , not quite grasping the changed rules of the old politico-media game .", "He said `` frankly '' once too often , a word that rings alarm bells from politicians on the ropes .", "`` We 've all been in this together , '' he confessed .", "All the parties , `` yes , including me '' , had cosied up to Murdoch , turning a blind eye to court political support .", "But paddling hard to stay afloat , he could not say the Murdoch bid should be stopped .", "He could not apologise for hiring a man who had already resigned over phone hacking .", "Every time he said he gave Andy Coulson `` a second chance '' , that soundbite sounded weaker .", "What may some day do for him was his denial that he ever received private warnings , one from the Guardian , not to take Coulson into Downing Street , as further revelations were imminent .", "`` I was n't given any specific information ... I do n't recall being given any information . ''", "Denials about who knew what often turn embarrassments into serious political danger .", "At last Labour has kicked off the shackles : no more of the toadying to Murdoch that shamed Tony Blair and Gordon Brown .", "In this crisis Ed Miliband has made all the running -- and Cameron has been forced to follow , doing what he might not have done otherwise .", "Miliband was first to call for inquiries , first to call for axing the `` toothless poodle '' PCC , first to call for Rebekah Brooks 's head .", "Above all , he is the one demanding the BSkyB bid be sent to the Competition Commission , pointing out the emptiness of Murdoch 's assurances that Sky News would be independent .", "He went further and called for a vote in the Commons on the take-over .", "He will use an opposition day debate on Wednesday for a vote on the BSkyB bid : there is a good chance the Lib Dems would vote with Labour against Murdoch -- how could they dare do otherwise ?", "If they do , they are well and truly done for .", "Quite a few Tory MPs might join a vote against Murdoch .", "Over the years Labour leaders have been implored to regain their dignity and find the nerve to stand up to Murdoch .", "Ed wavered at first : he did n't dare strike out from the start .", "But now he has crossed that Rubicon there is no going back -- and it turns out to be liberating .", "The game has changed and any politicians creeping back to kowtow will be mocked from now on .", "The emperor lost his clothes .", "Do n't imagine this act of defiance will be painless or without consequence .", "Already a senior Miliband aide tells me they received a `` very hostile '' threat , not veiled at all , from a News International journalist warning : `` You have made it personal about Rebekah , so we 'll make it personal about you . ''", "Braggadocio maybe , but as the recipient of the threat said : `` That 's how they operate . ''", "And it can be terrifying .", "Bugging , blagging and Benji the Binman send shudders down many a spine .", "The spell is broken , but the terror may not be over .", "In this whirl of arrests , denials and inquiries , keep your eye firmly fixed on the vital issue .", "Will Murdoch still get his hands on the rest of BSkyB ?", "Other damage this government does can mostly be rectified -- but this would darken the future media landscape forever .", "It was Cameron 's plan to gift Murdoch a power beyond imagining .", "So precious that Murdoch was ready to cast away his highly profitable market leading newspaper selling 2.6 m. To casual observers , it may not look important .", "He already owns 39 % of Sky , so why not let him have the rest ?", "Follow the money .", "Already Sky 's revenue is bigger than the BBC 's : this merger would make far more .", "Bundling up the Times , Sunday Times and other papers with Sky News behind a paywall with sports and movie rights , puts them beyond serious competition .", "With this online blend , Murdoch expects to knock most other newspapers and their podcasting out of the market .", "Expensive shares to buy at first , within just two years huge sums would flow in .", "Buying up everything worth having , he would cripple the BBC -- always under Murdoch press attack .", "Ofcom is the one regulator that might stop him : two years ago it did weaken Sky 's grip on Premier League football and movies , forcing them to sell on the rights at a more reasonable price to others .", "Murdoch turned the pens of his papers against Ofcom and 10 days later Cameron made an unscheduled speech attacking `` the quango state '' -- in which , oddly , of all the quangos ripe for attack or ridicule , only one was singled out for the axe : Ofcom .", "Inside the industry , rightly or wrongly it was assumed Coulson was the conduit for this message from the News Corp puppet-master .", "So now Ofcom may get another chance to declare Murdoch not `` fit and proper '' to take over all of Sky .", "But if so , surely that must mean he is not `` fit and proper '' to own any of it ?", "Meanwhile , US law may enter the fray .", "A former Labour cabinet minister has alerted attention to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act , which makes an American company ( News Corp ) liable for colossal fines if any employee bribes a foreign official ( the Met police ) even if no one at head office knew .", "What 's more , any whistleblower inside the company ( sacked News of the World reporters ) , stands to win a percentage of that fine if they report acts of bribery .", "Suddenly , what looked like a done deal is unravelling .", "Cameron 's hiring of Coulson was part of his pact with Murdoch , willing and eager to sell press and broadcasting diversity to a monopolist who has made his fortune out of intimidating governments , avoiding taxes and trouncing regulators in exchange for political support .", "Labour sank humiliatingly low in its dealings with the old monster .", "Cameron hit rock bottom .", "Now that Labour has broken the omerta and is opposing Murdoch unequivocally , Cameron will press on with this deal at his peril .", "\u2022 To comment on this story or any other about phone hacking , please visit our open thread \u2022 This article was amended on 11 July 2011 .", "The original said that Rupert Murdoch already owns 31 % of Sky .", "This has been corrected ."], "_citing_sentence": "A good example of this is Rupert Murdoch's behind-the-scenes lobbying for the repeal of regulations preventing him from dominating the media market.", "_claim_name": "Representative Democracy Enables Rule by Elites", "_doc_title": "The game has changed. The emperor has lost his clothes | Polly Toynbee | Opinion | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Sorry , John Kerry and Chuck Hagel .", "Just because Iran holds elections does n't mean that its government represents the people .", "In November 1990 Guatemalans went to the polls , determining that for the first time in decades the transition of power from one elected civilian government to another would take place at the beginning of the new year .", "I was an election observer .", "I recall being flown aboard a small , rickety propeller plane into a mountain village where we landed on a grassy field .", "A short car ride later we found ourselves at a polling station in breathtaking beauty .", "What really took your breath away , though , were the hundreds of Mayan farmers ( Mayans represented at least half of Guatemala 's nine million population at the time ) lined up single file in the warm sun , waiting for hours to cast their vote .", "That 's why it raised eyebrows when Secretary of State John Kerry recently said that Iran has `` a government that was elected '' and Chuck Hagel , in his confirmation hearings for Secretary of Defense , similarly contended that Iranians have an `` elected legitimate government . ''", "Elections alone do n't make for democracy , but there are no democracies without elections and governments of all stripes seem to crave the legitimacy that flows from the ballot box .", "Francis Fukuyama has wisely observed that people often care as much about dignity and honor as they do about things like territory or food .", "Not long before his death in 2011 , Christopher Hitchens recounted in Slate the story of a friend meeting an Arab acquaintance for dinner who became apoplectic when he discovered that Albanians had enjoyed reasonably fair and free elections .", "`` What does that make us ?", "Are we peasants ?", "Yes , Iran has elected government .", "But as John Kerry and Chuck Hagel surely know , not all elections are created equal .", "Communist East Germany , officially known as the German Democratic Republic , had elections that included four different political parties that campaigned alongside the SED , the Socialist Unity Party that actually ran the country .", "North Korea has a multi-party system today .", "Cuba had its most recent elections last month -- though the same ruler has remained in power for 55 years running .", "There 's a body of academic literature on how elections work in authoritarian countries .", "In the book Everyday Stalinism by University of Chicago Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick , one finds the sentence , `` During the Soviet elections of 1929 , conducted under the slogan of class war , more people were deprived of the vote than ever before . ''", "Yes , Stalin actually held elections .", "How do elections work in Iran ?", "For starters , not very well .", "Iran 's head of intelligence recently acknowledged that his services are currently conducting `` heavy monitoring '' of the populace in advance of the country 's Presidential elections scheduled for June .", "In the country 's last elections on June 12 , 2009 , nation-wide protests erupted amid wide-spread allegations of fraud .", "The so-called Green Movement was born .", "Its slogan was simple : `` Where is my vote ? ''", "The Iranian government had sensed trouble back then as well .", "In the run-up to the 2009 election authorities blocked access to Facebook .", "They jammed international broadcasters like the BBC , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , and Voice of America .", "They slowed down internet access and on election day interrupted mobile phone communications .", "The Green Movement as such did n't last very long .", "After the election , hundreds of protestors and civic leaders across the country were imprisoned .", "Two prominent Iranian opposition leaders , Mir Hossein Musavi and Mehdi Karroubi , both candidates in the 2009 election , were harassed and eventually placed under house arrest .", "Iranian Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi was forced into exile .", "What about this time ?", "As in the past , the Supreme Leader 's Guardian Council , a group of 12 theologians , will vet candidates for the election .", "The process will exclude `` reformists , liberals , individuals who are not in line with the Islamic establishment , and women , '' says Golnaz Esfandiari , the Iranian human rights reporter and curator of the blog Persian Letters .", "At the same time , the government appears to be pursuing a deliberate strategy aimed at ratcheting up the climate of intimidation and fear , according to Denise Ajiri , another Iranian journalist and founder of Iran Election Watch , a site covering the upcoming presidential election .", "Musavi 's two daughters were arrested last month in Teheran .", "At least 17 journalists have been jailed in the last six weeks .", "I recall meeting in Europe in summer 2010 the brother of an Iranian journalist friend , a Teheran-based engineer who described himself to me as having been previously thoroughly apolitical -- or at least until the disputed 2009 elections and the ensuing wave of repression .", "He told me that he and his friends had been left feeling furious and humiliated by government actions .", "In 1990 in the Guatemalan hills when I asked a poor farmer through an interpreter why he was waiting hours in line to vote , he responded simply , `` How else do I get to have my voice heard ? ''", "In a 2002 essay in Journal of Democracy , Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way sought to distinguish between democratic and authoritarian approaches to elections .", "According to the authors , democracies must have : 1 ) executives and legislatures selected through open , fair and free elections ; 2 ) virtually all adults permitted to vote ; 3 ) political rights and civil liberties , including freedom of press and freedom to criticize the government without fear of reprisal ; and 4 ) elected authorities who are not subject to control by the military or clerical leaders .", "When John Kerry and Chuck Hagel talk about elections and legitimate government in Iran , what exactly do they have in mind ?"], "_citing_sentence": "It is quite possible to create an authoritarian system that has regular representative elections, even with several competitive candidates and yet still not be giving power to the people, as is shown by Iran.", "_claim_name": "Participatory Democracy Preserves our Natural Liberty", "_doc_title": "Not All Elections Are Worthy of the Name | Foreign Policy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 8]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 61, "_topic_name": "This house supports the idea of participatory democracy"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Vaccine controversies have occurred since almost 80 years before the terms vaccine and vaccination were introduced , and continue to this day .", "Opponents question the effectiveness , safety , and necessity of recommended vaccines .", "They also argue that mandatory vaccinations violate individual rights to medical decisions and religious principles .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- These arguments have reduced vaccination rates in certain communities , resulting in outbreaks and deaths from preventable childhood diseases .", "Evidence surrounding vaccination shows that prevented suffering and death from infectious diseases outweigh any adverse effects .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- Immunization programs depend on public confidence to be effective .", "Safety concerns often follow a pattern : a potential adverse effect is hypothesized ; a premature announcement is made ; the initial study is not reproduced ; and finally , it takes several years for the vaccine to regain public confidence .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- A modern and notable example involved Andrew Wakefield 's discredited claims of MMR vaccines causing autism .", "Public reaction has contributed to a significant increase in preventable diseases , notably measles .", "LSB- 6 -RSB- -LSB- 7 -RSB- In 2011 the vaccine-autism connection was described as `` the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years '' .", "Early attempts to prevent smallpox involved deliberate inoculation of the disease in hopes that a mild result would confer immunity .", "Originally called inoculation , this technique was later called variolation to avoid confusion with cowpox inoculation ( vaccination ) when that was introduced by Edward Jenner .", "Although variolation had a long history in China and India , it was first used in North America and England in 1721 .", "Reverend Cotton Mather introduced variolation to Boston , Massachusetts , during the 1721 smallpox epidemic .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- Many -LSB- citation needed -RSB- had religious objections , but Mather convinced Dr. Zabdiel Boylston to try it .", "Boylston first experimented on his 6-year-old son , his slave , and his slave 's son ; each subject contracted the disease and was sick for several days , until the sickness vanished and they were `` no longer gravely ill '' .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- Boylston went on to variolate thousands of Massachusetts residents , and many places were named for him in gratitude as a result .", "Lady Mary Wortley Montagu introduced variolation to England .", "She had seen it used in Turkey and , in 1718 , had her son successfully variolated in Constantinople under the supervision of Dr. Charles Maitland .", "When she returned to England in 1721 , she had her daughter variolated by Maitland .", "This aroused considerable interest , and Sir Hans Sloane organized the variolation of some inmates in Newgate Prison .", "These were successful , and after a further short trial in 1722 , two daughters of Caroline of Ansbach Princess of Wales were variolated without mishap .", "With this royal approval , the procedure became common when smallpox epidemics threatened .", "Religious arguments against inoculation were soon advanced .", "For example , in a 1772 sermon entitled `` The Dangerous and Sinful Practice of Inoculation '' , the English theologian Reverend Edmund Massey argued that diseases are sent by God to punish sin and that any attempt to prevent smallpox via inoculation is a `` diabolical operation '' .", "LSB- 11 -RSB- It was customary at the time for popular preachers to publish sermons , which reached a wide audience .", "This was the case with Massey , whose sermon reached North America , where there was early religious opposition , particularly by John Williams .", "A greater source of opposition there was Dr. William Douglass , a medical graduate of Edinburgh University and a Fellow of the Royal Society , who had settled in Boston .", "After Edward Jenner introduced the smallpox vaccine in 1798 , variolation declined and was banned in some countries .", "As with variolation , there was some religious opposition to vaccination , although this was balanced to some extent by support from clergymen who not only preached in its favour but also performed vaccination themselves .", "These included Reverend Robert Ferryman , a friend of Jenner 's , and Rowland Hill .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- :221 There was also opposition from some variolators who saw the loss of a lucrative monopoly .", "William Rowley published illustrations of deformities allegedly produced by vaccination , lampooned in James Gillray 's famous caricature depicted on this page , and Benjamin Moseley likened cowpox to syphilis , starting a controversy that would last into the 20th century .", "There was legitimate concern from supporters of vaccination about its safety and efficacy , but this was overshadowed by general condemnation , particularly when legislation started to introduce compulsory vaccination .", "The reason for this was that vaccination was introduced before laboratory methods were developed to control its production and account for its failures .", "LSB- 14 -RSB- Vaccine was maintained initially through arm-to-arm transfer and later through production on the skin of animals , and bacteriological sterility was impossible .", "Further , identification methods for potential pathogens were not available until the late 19th to early 20th century .", "Diseases later shown to be caused by contaminated vaccine included erysipelas , tuberculosis , tetanus , and syphilis .", "This last , though rare -- estimated at 750 cases in 100 million vaccinations -LSB- 15 -RSB- -- attracted particular attention .", "Much later , Dr. Charles Creighton , a leading medical opponent of vaccination , claimed that the vaccine itself was a cause of syphilis and devoted a whole book to the subject .", "LSB- 16 -RSB- As cases of smallpox started to occur in those who had been vaccinated earlier , supporters of vaccination pointed out that these were usually very mild and occurred years after the vaccination .", "In turn , opponents of vaccination pointed out that this contradicted Jenner 's belief that vaccination conferred complete protection .", "LSB- 14 -RSB- :17 -- 21 The views of opponents of vaccination that it was both dangerous and ineffective led to the development of determined anti-vaccination movements in England when legislation was introduced to make vaccination compulsory .", "Because of its greater risks , variolation was banned in England by the 1840 Vaccination Act , which also introduced free voluntary vaccination for infants .", "Thereafter Parliament passed successive acts that imposed and enforced compulsory vaccination .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- The 1853 act introduced compulsory vaccination , with fines for non-compliance and imprisonment for non-payment .", "The 1867 act extended the age requirement to 14 years and introduced repeated fines for repeated refusal for the same child .", "Initially , vaccination regulations were organised by the local Poor Law Guardians , and in towns where there was strong opposition to vaccination , sympathetic Guardians were elected who did not pursue prosecutions .", "This was changed by the 1871 act , which required Guardians to act .", "This significantly changed the relationship between the government and the public , and organized protests increased .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- In Keighley , Yorkshire , in 1876 the Guardians were arrested and briefly imprisoned in York Castle , prompting large demonstrations in support of the `` Keighley Seven '' .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- :108 -- 9 The protest movements crossed social boundaries .", "The financial burden of fines fell hardest on the working class , who would provide the largest numbers at public demonstrations .", "LSB- 19 -RSB- Societies and publications were organized by the middle classes , and support came from celebrities such as George Bernard Shaw and Alfred Russel Wallace , doctors such as Charles Creighton and Edgar Crookshank , and parliamentarians such as Jacob Bright and James Allanson Picton .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- By 1885 , with over 3,000 prosecutions pending in Leicester , a mass rally there was attended by over 20,000 protesters .", "Under increasing pressure , the government appointed a Royal Commission on Vaccination in 1889 , which issued six reports between 1892 and 1896 , with a detailed summary in 1898 .", "LSB- 21 -RSB- Its recommendations were incorporated into the 1898 Vaccination Act , which still required compulsory vaccination but allowed exemption on the grounds of conscientious objection on presentation of a certificate signed by two magistrates .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- -LSB- 18 -RSB- These were not easy to obtain in towns where magistrates supported compulsory vaccination , and after continued protests , a further act in 1907 allowed exemption on a simple signed declaration .", "LSB- 20 -RSB- Although this solved the immediate problem , the compulsory vaccination acts remained legally enforceable , and determined opponents lobbied for their repeal .", "No Compulsory Vaccination was one of the demands of the 1900 Labour Party General Election Manifesto .", "LSB- 22 -RSB- This was done as a matter of routine when the National Health Service was introduced in 1948 , with `` almost negligible '' opposition from supporters of compulsory vaccination .", "Vaccination in Wales was covered by English legislation , but the Scottish legal system was separate .", "Vaccination was not made compulsory there until 1863 , and conscientious objection was allowed after vigorous protest only in 1907 .", "LSB- 14 -RSB- :10 -- 11 In the late 19th century , the city of Leicester in the UK received much attention because of the way smallpox was managed there .", "There was particularly strong opposition to compulsory vaccination , and medical authorities had to work within this framework .", "They developed a system that did not use vaccination but was based on the notification of cases , the strict isolation of patients and contacts , and the provision of isolation hospitals .", "LSB- 24 -RSB- This proved successful but required acceptance of compulsory isolation rather than vaccination .", "C. Killick Millard , initially a supporter of compulsory vaccination , was appointed Medical Officer of Health in 1901 .", "He moderated his views on compulsion but encouraged contacts and his staff to accept vaccination .", "This approach , developed initially due to overwhelming opposition to government policy , became known as the Leicester Method .", "LSB- 23 -RSB- -LSB- 25 -RSB- In time it became generally accepted as the most appropriate way to deal with smallpox outbreaks and was listed as one of the `` important events in the history of smallpox control '' by those most involved in the World Health Organization 's successful Smallpox Eradication Campaign .", "The final stages of the campaign , generally referred to as `` surveillance containment '' , owed much to the Leicester method .", "LSB- 26 -RSB- -LSB- 27 -RSB- In the US , President Thomas Jefferson took a close interest in vaccination , alongside Dr. Waterhouse , chief physician at Boston .", "Jefferson encouraged the development of ways to transport vaccine material through the Southern states , which included measures to avoid damage by heat , a leading cause of ineffective batches .", "Smallpox outbreaks were contained by the latter half of the 19th century , a development widely attributed to the vaccination of a large portion of the population .", "Vaccination rates fell after this decline in smallpox cases , and the disease again became epidemic in the late 19th century ( see Smallpox ) .", "After an 1879 visit to New York by prominent British anti-vaccinationist William Tebb , The Anti-Vaccination Society of America was founded .", "LSB- 29 -RSB- -LSB- 30 -RSB- The New England Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League formed in 1882 , and the Anti-Vaccination League of New York City in 1885 .", "LSB- 30 -RSB- Tactics in the US largely followed those used in England .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- Vaccination in the US was regulated by individual states , in which there followed the progression of compulsion , opposition , and repeal similar to that in England .", "LSB- 32 -RSB- Although generally organized on a state-by-state basis , the vaccination controversy reached the US Supreme Court in 1905 .", "There , in the case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts , the court issued a landmark ruling that the public good overrode personal freedom .", "John Pitcairn , the wealthy founder of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company ( now PPG Industries ) , emerged as a major financier and leader of the American anti-vaccination movement .", "On March 5 , 1907 , in Harrisburg , Pennsylvania , he delivered an address to the Committee on Public Health and Sanitation of the Pennsylvania General Assembly criticizing vaccination .", "LSB- 33 -RSB- He later sponsored the National Anti-Vaccination Conference , which , held in Philadelphia in October 1908 , led to the creation of The Anti-Vaccination League of America .", "When the league organized later that month , members chose Pitcairn as their first president .", "On December 1 , 1911 , Pitcairn was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor John K. Tener to the Pennsylvania State Vaccination Commission , and subsequently authored a detailed report strongly opposing the commission 's conclusions .", "LSB- 34 -RSB- He remained a staunch opponent of vaccination until his death in 1916 .", "In November 1904 , in response to years of inadequate sanitation and disease , followed by a poorly explained public health campaign led by the renowned Brazilian public health official Oswaldo Cruz , citizens and military cadets in Rio de Janeiro arose in a Revolta da Vacina , or Vaccine Revolt .", "Riots broke out on the day a vaccination law took effect ; vaccination symbolized the most feared and most tangible aspect of a public health plan that included other features , such as urban renewal , that many had opposed for years .", "Since the early 19th century , the anti-vaccination movement has drawn members from a wide range of society .", "Opposition to smallpox vaccination continued into the 20th century and was joined by controversy over new vaccines and the introduction of antitoxin treatment for diphtheria .", "Injection of horse serum into humans as used in antitoxin can cause hypersensitivity , commonly referred to as serum sickness .", "Moreover , the continued production of smallpox vaccine in animals and the production of antitoxins in horses prompted anti-vivisectionists to oppose vaccination .", "Diphtheria antitoxin was serum from horses that had been immunized against diphtheria , and was used to treat human cases by providing passive immunity .", "In 1901 , antitoxin from a horse named Jim was contaminated with tetanus and killed 13 children in St Louis , Missouri .", "This incident , together with nine deaths from tetanus from contaminated smallpox vaccine in Camden , New Jersey , led directly and quickly to the passing of the Biologics Control Act in 1902 .", "Robert Koch developed tuberculin in 1890 .", "Inoculated into individuals who have had tuberculosis , it produces a hypersensitivity reaction , and is still used to detect those who have been infected .", "However , Koch used tuberculin as a vaccine .", "This caused serious reactions and deaths in individuals whose latent tuberculosis was reactivated by the tuberculin .", "LSB- 37 -RSB- This was a major setback for supporters of new vaccines .", "LSB- 14 -RSB- :30 -- 31 Such incidents and others ensured that any untoward results concerning vaccination and related procedures received continued publicity , which grew as the number of new procedures increased .", "In 1955 , in a tragedy known as the Cutter incident , Cutter Laboratories produced 120,000 doses of the Salk polio vaccine that inadvertently contained some live polio virus along with inactivated virus .", "This vaccine caused 40,000 cases of polio , 53 cases of paralysis , and five deaths .", "The disease spread through the recipients ' families , creating a polio epidemic that led to a further 113 cases of paralytic polio and another five deaths .", "It was one of the worst pharmaceutical disasters in US history .", "Later 20th-century events include the 1982 broadcast of DPT : Vaccine Roulette , which sparked debate over the DPT vaccine , -LSB- 39 -RSB- and the 1998 publication of a fraudulent academic article by Andrew Wakefield -LSB- 40 -RSB- which sparked the MMR vaccine controversy .", "Also recently , the HPV vaccine has become controversial due to concerns that it may encourage promiscuity when given to 11 - and 12-year-old girls .", "Arguments against vaccines in the 21st century are often similar to those of 19th-century anti-vaccinationists .", "Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of large-scale vaccination campaigns is well established .", "Vaccination campaigns helped eradicate smallpox , which once killed as many as one in seven children in Europe , -LSB- 43 -RSB- and have nearly eradicated polio .", "LSB- 44 -RSB- As a more modest example , infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae , a major cause of bacterial meningitis and other serious diseases in children , have decreased by over 99 % in the US since the introduction of a vaccine in 1988 .", "LSB- 45 -RSB- Full vaccination , from birth to adolescence , of all US children born in a given year saves an estimated 33,000 lives and prevents an estimated 14 million infections .", "Some opponents of vaccination argue that these reductions in infectious disease are a result of improved sanitation and hygiene ( rather than vaccination ) , or that these diseases were already in decline before the introduction of specific vaccines .", "These claims are not supported by scientific data ; the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases tended to fluctuate over time until the introduction of specific vaccines , at which point the incidence dropped to near zero .", "A Centers for Disease Control website aimed at countering common misconceptions about vaccines argued , `` Are we expected to believe that better sanitation caused incidence of each disease to drop , just at the time a vaccine for that disease was introduced ? ''", "Other critics argue that the immunity granted by vaccines is only temporary and requires boosters , whereas those who survive the disease become permanently immune .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- As discussed below , the philosophies of some alternative medicine practitioners are incompatible with the idea that vaccines are effective .", "LSB- 48 -RSB- Incomplete vaccine coverage increases the risk of disease for the entire population , including those who have been vaccinated , because it reduces herd immunity .", "For example , the measles vaccine targets children between the ages of 9 and 12 months , and the short window between the disappearance of maternal antibody ( before which the vaccine often fails to seroconvert ) and natural infection means that vaccinated children are frequently still vulnerable .", "Herd immunity lessens this vulnerability if all the children are vaccinated .", "Increasing herd immunity during an outbreak or threatened outbreak is perhaps the most widely accepted justification for mass vaccination .", "Mass vaccination also helps to increase coverage rapidly , thus obtaining herd immunity , when a new vaccine is introduced .", "LSB- 50 -RSB- Increasing herd immunity also helps people who have a compromised immune system .", "Some children who have a compromised immune system can not get certain vaccines and thus have to rely on others to be vaccinated for those diseases .", "If the immunocompromised child is surrounded by children who have not been vaccinated and have the disease , that child will likely contract the disease .", "The outcome for children with compromised immune systems who subsequently get infected is often worse than that of the general population .", "Increasing herd immunity and requiring vaccination in children helps decrease this risk .", "Commonly used vaccines are a cost-effective and preventive way of promoting health , compared to the treatment of acute or chronic disease .", "In the US during the year 2001 , routine childhood immunizations against seven diseases were estimated to save over $ 40 billion per birth-year cohort in overall social costs , including $ 10 billion in direct health costs , and the societal benefit-cost ratio for these vaccinations was estimated to be 16.5 .", "LSB- 52 -RSB- In several countries , reductions in the use of some vaccines were followed by increases in the diseases ' morbidity and mortality .", "LSB- 53 -RSB- -LSB- 54 -RSB- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , continued high levels of vaccine coverage are necessary to prevent resurgence of diseases that have been nearly eliminated .", "LSB- 55 -RSB- Pertussis remains a major health problem in developing countries , where mass vaccination is not practiced ; the World Health Organization estimates it caused 294,000 deaths in 2002 .", "An anti-vaccination campaign motivated by religious objections , concerns about effectiveness , and concerns about individual rights led to the vaccination rate in Stockholm dropping to just over 40 % , compared to about 90 % elsewhere in Sweden .", "A major smallpox epidemic then started in 1873 .", "It led to a rise in vaccine uptake and an end of the epidemic .", "During the Vietnam War , vaccination was necessary for soldiers in order for them to fight overseas .", "Because disease follows soldiers , they had to receive vaccines preventing cholera , influenza , measles , meningococcal , plague , poliovirus , smallpox , tetanus-diphtheria , typhoid , typhus , and yellow fever .", "However , the diseases mainly prevalent in Vietnam at this time were measles and polio .", "After arriving in Vietnam , the United States Military conducted the `` Military Public Health Assistance Project . ''", "LSB- 58 -RSB- This public health program was a joint United States Military and the Government of Vietnam concept to create or expand public medical facilities throughout South Vietnam .", "LSB- 59 -RSB- Local villages in Vietnam were inoculated .", "The United States military screened patients , dispensed medication , distributed clothing and food , and even passed out propaganda such as comic books .", "In a 1974 report ascribing 36 reactions to whooping cough ( pertussis ) vaccine , a prominent public-health academic claimed that the vaccine was only marginally effective and questioned whether its benefits outweigh its risks , and extended television and press coverage caused a scare .", "Vaccine uptake in the UK decreased from 81 % to 31 % , and pertussis epidemics followed , leading to the deaths of some children .", "Mainstream medical opinion continued to support the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine ; public confidence was restored after the publication of a national reassessment of vaccine efficacy .", "Vaccine uptake then increased to levels above 90 % , and disease incidence declined dramatically .", "LSB- 53 -RSB- In the vaccination moratorium period that occurred when Sweden suspended vaccination against whooping cough ( pertussis ) from 1979 to 1996 , 60 % of the country 's children contracted the potentially fatal disease before the age of 10 ; close medical monitoring kept the death rate from whooping cough at about one per year .", "An outbreak at a religious community and school in the Netherlands illustrates the effect of measles in an unvaccinated population .", "LSB- 60 -RSB- The population in the several provinces affected had a high level of immunization , with the exception of one of the religious denominations , which traditionally does not accept vaccination .", "The three measles-related deaths and 68 hospitalizations that occurred among 2,961 cases in the Netherlands demonstrate that measles can be severe and may result in death , even in industrialized countries .", "As a result of the MMR vaccine controversy , vaccination compliance dropped sharply in the United Kingdom after 1996 .", "LSB- 61 -RSB- From late 1999 until the summer of 2000 , there was a measles outbreak in North Dublin , Ireland .", "At the time , the national immunization level had fallen below 80 % , and in part of North Dublin the level was around 60 % .", "There were more than 100 hospital admissions from over 300 cases .", "Three children died and several more were gravely ill , some requiring mechanical ventilation to recover .", "LSB- 62 -RSB- In the early first decade of the 21st century , conservative religious leaders in northern Nigeria , suspicious of Western medicine , advised their followers not to have their children vaccinated with oral polio vaccine .", "The boycott was endorsed by the governor of Kano State , and immunization was suspended for several months .", "Subsequently , polio reappeared in a dozen formerly polio-free neighbors of Nigeria , and genetic tests showed the virus was the same one that originated in northern Nigeria .", "Nigeria had become a net exporter of the polio virus to its African neighbors .", "People in the northern states were also reported to be wary of other vaccinations , and Nigeria reported over 20,000 measles cases and nearly 600 deaths from measles from January through March 2005 .", "LSB- 63 -RSB- In 2006 , Nigeria accounted for over half of all new polio cases worldwide .", "LSB- 64 -RSB- Outbreaks continued thereafter ; for example , at least 200 children died in a late-2007 measles outbreak in Borno State .", "A 2005 measles outbreak in the US state of Indiana was attributed to parents who had refused to have their children vaccinated .", "LSB- 66 -RSB- Most cases of pediatric tetanus in the US occur in children whose parents objected to their vaccination .", "LSB- 67 -RSB- In 2000 , measles was declared eliminated from the United States because internal transmission had been interrupted for one year ; remaining reported cases were due to importation .", "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) reported that the three biggest outbreaks of measles in 2013 were attributed to clusters of people who were unvaccinated due to their philosophical or religious beliefs .", "As of August 2013 , three pockets of outbreak -- New York City , North Carolina , and Texas -- contributed to 64 % of the 159 cases of measles reported in 16 states .", "The number of cases in 2014 quadrupled to 644 , -LSB- 71 -RSB- including transmission by unvaccinated visitors to Disneyland in California .", "LSB- 72 -RSB- -LSB- 73 -RSB- Some 97 % of cases in the first half of the year were confirmed to be due directly or indirectly to importation ( the remainder were unknown ) , and 49 % from the Philippines .", "165 of the 288 victims ( 57 % ) during that time were confirmed to be unvaccinated by choice ; 30 ( 10 % ) were confirmed to have been vaccinated .", "LSB- 74 -RSB- The final count of measles outbreaks in 2014 is 668 cases in 27 states .", "From January 1 to June 26 , 2015 , 178 people from 24 states and the District of Columbia were reported to have measles .", "Most of these cases ( 117 cases -LSB- 66 % -RSB- ) were part of a large multi-state outbreak linked to Disneyland in California , continued from 2014 .", "Analysis by the CDC scientists showed that the measles virus type in this outbreak ( B3 ) was identical to the virus type that caused the large measles outbreak in the Philippines in 2014 .", "LSB- 75 -RSB- On July 2 , 2015 , the first confirmed death from measles in 12 years was recorded .", "An immunocompromised woman in Washington State was infected and later died of pneumonia due to measles .", "LSB- 76 -RSB- In 2013 , an outbreak of measles occurred in the Welsh city of Swansea .", "One death was reported .", "LSB- 77 -RSB- Some estimates indicate that while in 1995 , MMR uptake for two-year-olds was at 94 % in Wales , it fell to as low as 67.5 % in Swansea in 2003 , meaning the region had a `` vulnerable '' age group .", "LSB- 78 -RSB- This has been linked to the MMR vaccine controversy , which caused a significant number of parents to fear allowing their children to receive the MMR vaccine .", "Few deny the vast improvements vaccination has made to public health ; a more common concern is their safety .", "LSB- 79 -RSB- As with any medical treatment , there is a potential for vaccines to cause serious complications , such as severe allergic reactions , -LSB- 80 -RSB- but unlike most other medical interventions , vaccines are given to healthy people and so a higher standard of safety is expected .", "LSB- 81 -RSB- While serious complications from vaccinations are possible , they are extremely rare and much less common than similar risks from the diseases they prevent .", "LSB- 47 -RSB- As the success of immunization programs increases and the incidence of disease decreases , public attention shifts away from the risks of disease to the risk of vaccination , -LSB- 5 -RSB- and it becomes challenging for health authorities to preserve public support for vaccination programs .", "Concerns about immunization safety often follow a pattern .", "First , some investigators suggest that a medical condition of increasing prevalence or unknown cause is an adverse effect of vaccination .", "The initial study and subsequent studies by the same group have inadequate methodology -- typically a poorly controlled or uncontrolled case series .", "A premature announcement is made about the alleged adverse effect , resonating with individuals suffering from the condition , and underestimating the potential harm of foregoing vaccination to those whom the vaccine could protect .", "Other groups attempt to replicate the initial study but fail to get the same results .", "Finally , it takes several years to regain public confidence in the vaccine .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- Adverse effects ascribed to vaccines typically have an unknown origin , an increasing incidence , some biological plausibility , occurrences close to the time of vaccination , and dreaded outcomes .", "LSB- 83 -RSB- In almost all cases , the public health effect is limited by cultural boundaries : English speakers worry about one vaccine causing autism , while French speakers worry about another vaccine causing multiple sclerosis , and Nigerians worry that a third vaccine causes infertility .", "There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism despite popular press and media linking the two .", "Thiomersal ( spelled `` thimerosal '' in the US ) is an antifungal preservative used in small amounts in some multi-dose vaccines ( where the same vial is opened and used for multiple patients ) to prevent contamination of the vaccine .", "LSB- 87 -RSB- Despite thiomersal 's efficacy , the use of thiomersal is controversial because it contains mercury .", "As a result , in 1999 , the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ) and the American Academy of Pediatrics ( AAP ) asked vaccine makers to remove thiomersal from vaccines as quickly as possible on the precautionary principle .", "Thiomersal is now absent from all common US and European vaccines , except for some preparations of influenza vaccine .", "LSB- 88 -RSB- ( Trace amounts remain in some vaccines due to production processes , at an approximate maximum of 1 microgramme , around 15 % of the average daily mercury intake in the USA for adults and 2.5 % of the daily level considered tolerable by the WHO .", "LSB- 89 -RSB- -LSB- 90 -RSB- ) The action sparked concern that thiomersal could have been responsible for autism .", "LSB- 88 -RSB- The idea is now considered disproven , as incidence rates for autism increased steadily even after thiomersal was removed from childhood vaccines .", "LSB- 91 -RSB- Currently there is no accepted scientific evidence that exposure to thiomersal is a factor in causing autism .", "LSB- 92 -RSB- Since 2000 , parents in the United States have pursued legal compensation from a federal fund arguing that thiomersal caused autism in their children .", "LSB- 93 -RSB- A 2004 Institute of Medicine ( IOM ) committee favored rejecting any causal relationship between thiomersal-containing vaccines and autism .", "LSB- 94 -RSB- In the UK , the MMR vaccine was the subject of controversy after the publication in The Lancet of a 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield and others reporting case histories of 12 children mostly with autism spectrum disorders with onset soon after administration of the vaccine .", "LSB- 95 -RSB- At a 1998 press conference , Wakefield suggested that giving children the vaccines in three separate doses would be safer than a single vaccination .", "This suggestion was not supported by the paper , and several subsequent peer-reviewed studies have failed to show any association between the vaccine and autism .", "LSB- 96 -RSB- It later emerged that Wakefield had received funding from litigants against vaccine manufacturers and that he had not informed colleagues or medical authorities of his conflict of interest ; -LSB- 97 -RSB- had this been known , publication in The Lancet would not have taken place in the way that it did .", "LSB- 98 -RSB- Wakefield has been heavily criticized on scientific grounds and for triggering a decline in vaccination rates -LSB- 99 -RSB- ( vaccination rates in the UK dropped to 80 % in the years following the study ) , -LSB- 72 -RSB- as well as on ethical grounds for the way the research was conducted .", "LSB- 100 -RSB- In 2004 , the MMR-and-autism interpretation of the paper was formally retracted by 10 of Wakefield 's 12 coauthors , -LSB- 101 -RSB- and in 2010 The Lancet 's editors fully retracted the paper .", "LSB- 102 -RSB- Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register , with a statement identifying deliberate falsification in the research published in The Lancet , -LSB- 103 -RSB- and is barred from practising medicine in the UK .", "The CDC , -LSB- 105 -RSB- the IOM of the National Academy of Sciences , -LSB- 94 -RSB- and the UK National Health Service -LSB- 106 -RSB- have all concluded that there is no evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism .", "A systematic review by the Cochrane Library concluded that there is no credible link between the MMR vaccine and autism , that MMR has prevented diseases that still carry a heavy burden of death and complications , that the lack of confidence in MMR has damaged public health , and that the design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine studies are largely inadequate .", "LSB- 107 -RSB- In 2009 , The Sunday Times reported that Wakefield had manipulated patient data and misreported results in his 1998 paper , creating the appearance of a link with autism .", "LSB- 108 -RSB- A 2011 article in the British Medical Journal described how the data in the study had been falsified by Wakefield so that it would arrive at a predetermined conclusion .", "LSB- 109 -RSB- An accompanying editorial in the same journal described Wakefield 's work as an `` elaborate fraud '' that led to lower vaccination rates , putting hundreds of thousands of children at risk and diverting energy and money away from research into the true cause of autism .", "A special court convened in the United States to review claims under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program ruled on February 12 , 2009 that parents of autistic children are not entitled to compensation in their contention that certain vaccines caused autism in their children .", "Vaccine overload is the notion that giving many vaccines at once may overwhelm or weaken a child 's immature immune system and lead to adverse effects .", "LSB- 112 -RSB- Despite scientific evidence that strongly contradicts this idea , -LSB- 91 -RSB- some parents of autistic children believe that vaccine overload causes autism .", "LSB- 113 -RSB- The resulting controversy has caused many parents to delay or avoid immunizing their children .", "LSB- 112 -RSB- Such parental misperceptions are major obstacles towards immunization of children .", "The concept of vaccine overload is flawed on several levels .", "LSB- 91 -RSB- Despite the increase in the number of vaccines over recent decades , improvements in vaccine design have reduced the immunologic load from vaccines ; the total number of immunological components in the 14 vaccines administered to US children in 2009 is less than 10 % of what it was in the 7 vaccines given in 1980 .", "LSB- 91 -RSB- A study published in 2013 found no correlation between autism and the antigen number in the vaccines the children were administered up to the age of two .", "Of the 1,008 children in the study , one quarter of those diagnosed with autism were born between 1994 and 1999 , when the routine vaccine schedule could contain more than 3,000 antigens ( in a single shot of DTP vaccine ) .", "The vaccine schedule in 2012 contains several more vaccines , but the number of antigens the child is exposed to by the age of two is 315 .", "LSB- 115 -RSB- -LSB- 116 -RSB- Vaccines pose a minuscule immunologic load compared to the pathogens naturally encountered by a child in a typical year ; -LSB- 91 -RSB- common childhood conditions such as fevers and middle-ear infections pose a much greater challenge to the immune system than vaccines , -LSB- 117 -RSB- and studies have shown that vaccinations , even multiple concurrent vaccinations , do not weaken the immune system -LSB- 91 -RSB- or compromise overall immunity .", "LSB- 118 -RSB- The lack of evidence supporting the vaccine overload hypothesis , combined with these findings directly contradicting it , has led to the conclusion that currently recommended vaccine programs do not `` overload '' or weaken the immune system .", "Any experiment based on withholding vaccines from children has been considered unethical , -LSB- 121 -RSB- and observational studies would likely be confounded by differences in the health care-seeking behaviours of under-vaccinated children .", "Thus , no study directly comparing rates of autism in vaccinated and unvaccinated children has been done .", "However , the concept of vaccine overload is biologically implausible , vaccinated and unvaccinated children have the same immune response to non-vaccine-related infections , and autism is not an immune-mediated disease , so claims that vaccines could cause it by overloading the immune system go against current knowledge of the pathogenesis of autism .", "As such , the idea that vaccines cause autism has been effectively dismissed by the weight of current evidence .", "There is evidence that schizophrenia is associated with prenatal exposure to rubella , influenza , and toxoplasmosis infection .", "For example , one study found a sevenfold increased risk of schizophrenia when mothers were exposed to influenza in the first trimester of gestation .", "This may have public health implications , as strategies for preventing infection include vaccination , antibiotics , and simple hygiene .", "LSB- 122 -RSB- Based on studies in animal models , theoretical concerns have been raised about a possible link between schizophrenia and maternal immune response activated by virus antigens ; a 2009 review concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend routine use of trivalent influenza vaccine during the first trimester of pregnancy , but that the vaccine was still recommended outside the first trimester and in special circumstances such as pandemics or in women with certain other conditions .", "LSB- 123 -RSB- The CDC 's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices , the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists , and the American Academy of Family Physicians all recommend routine flu shots for pregnant women , for several reasons : -LSB- 124 -RSB-", "Despite this recommendation , only 16 % of healthy pregnant US women surveyed in 2005 had been vaccinated against the flu .", "Aluminium compounds are used as immunologic adjuvants to increase the effectiveness of many vaccines .", "The aluminium apparently simulates or causes small amounts of tissue damage , driving the body to respond more powerfully to what it sees as a serious infection and promoting the development of a lasting immune response .", "LSB- 125 -RSB- -LSB- 126 -RSB- In some cases these compounds have been associated with redness , itching , and low-grade fever , -LSB- 125 -RSB- but the use of aluminium in vaccines has not been associated with serious adverse events .", "LSB- 127 -RSB- In some cases , aluminium-containing vaccines are associated with macrophagic myofasciitis ( MMF ) , localized microscopic lesions containing aluminium salts that persist for up to 8 years .", "However , recent case-controlled studies have found no specific clinical symptoms in individuals with biopsies showing MMF , and there is no evidence that aluminium-containing vaccines are a serious health risk or justify changes to immunization practice .", "LSB- 127 -RSB- Over the first six months of its life , an infant ingests more aluminium from dietary sources such as breast milk and infant formula than it does from vaccinations .", "Anti-vaccination activists such as Harold E. Buttram have claimed that shaken baby syndrome , also known as abusive head trauma , is a misdiagnosis for vaccine injury .", "Buttram became a paid legal expert witness for the defense in a number of shaken-baby prosecutions , the most well known of which was the case of Alan Yurko .", "When the U.S. military began requiring its troops to receive the anthrax vaccine , multiple US military troops refused to do so , which led to threats of military courts martial .", "During the 2009 flu pandemic , significant controversy broke out regarding whether the vaccine for the flu was safe in , among other countries , France .", "Numerous different French groups publicly criticized the vaccine as potentially dangerous , usually to promote a larger political or cultural agenda .", "Other safety concerns about vaccines have been published on the Internet , in informal meetings , in books , and at symposia .", "These include hypotheses that vaccination can cause sudden infant death syndrome , epileptic seizures , allergies , multiple sclerosis , and autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes , as well as hypotheses that vaccinations can transmit bovine spongiform encephalopathy , hepatitis C virus , and HIV .", "These hypotheses have been investigated , with the conclusion that currently used vaccines meet high safety standards and that criticism of vaccine safety in the popular press is not justified .", "LSB- 120 -RSB- Large well-controlled epidemiologic studies have been conducted and the results do not support the hypothesis that vaccines cause chronic diseases .", "Furthermore , some vaccines are probably more likely to prevent or modify than cause or exacerbate autoimmune diseases .", "Compulsory vaccination policies have provoked opposition at various times from people who say that governments should not infringe on an individual 's freedom to choose medications , even if that choice increases the risk of disease to themselves and others .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- -LSB- 134 -RSB- If a vaccination program successfully reduces the disease threat , it may reduce the perceived risk of disease as cultural memories of the effects of that disease fade .", "At this point , parents may consider that they have nothing to lose by refusing vaccinations .", "LSB- 135 -RSB- If enough people hope to become free-riders , gaining the benefits of herd immunity without vaccination , vaccination levels may drop to a level where herd immunity ceases to be as effective .", "LSB- 136 -RSB- In the United States , mandatory vaccination laws sometimes provoke reactions from members of anti-government or libertarian factions , who profess concern for what they view as the convergence or merger of the public and private sectors .", "They point to possible conflicts of interest due to vaccine research funding and misinformation that fuel debate on both sides ( Wolfe , Sharpe ) .", "Others argue that , for compulsory vaccination to work to broadly prevent disease , there must be not only available vaccines and a population willing to immunize , but also sufficient ability to decline vaccination on grounds of personal belief .", "Vaccination offers ethical issues beyond the normal issues of a parent deciding on medical care for their children , as unvaccinated but asymptomatic or weakly infected individuals may spread disease to people ( especially children and the elderly ) with weaker immune systems , and to individuals in whom the vaccine has not been effective .", "For this reason , even where not required by law some schools and doctors ' surgeries have prohibited parents with unvaccinated children from enrolling .", "LSB- 138 -RSB- -LSB- 139 -RSB- A further complication arises in emergency room and urgent care facilities , particularly those geared towards treating children as an unvaccinated child is often brought to these facilities after acquiring the disease and showing symptoms .", "Other children that are in the facility with compromised immune systems are then exposed .", "Vaccination has been opposed on religious grounds ever since it was introduced , even when vaccination is not compulsory .", "Some Christian opponents argued , when vaccination was first becoming widespread , that if God had decreed that someone should die of smallpox , it would be a sin to thwart God 's will via vaccination .", "LSB- 11 -RSB- Religious opposition continues to the present day , on various grounds , raising ethical difficulties when the number of unvaccinated children threatens harm to the entire population .", "LSB- 141 -RSB- Many governments allow parents to opt out of their children 's otherwise mandatory vaccinations for religious reasons ; some parents falsely claim religious beliefs to get vaccination exemptions .", "The Haredi burqa sect in Israel took a moral stand against vaccinations or medical treatments , which led to the death of at least one baby from untreated influenza .", "LSB- 143 -RSB- In the United States , there are currently only three states ( Mississippi , West Virginia , and California ) that do not provide exemptions based on religious beliefs .", "The cell culture media of some viral vaccines , and the virus of the rubella vaccine , are derived from tissues taken from therapeutic abortions performed in the 1960s , leading to moral questions .", "For example , the principle of double effect , originated by Thomas Aquinas , holds that actions with both good and bad consequences are morally acceptable in specific circumstances , and the question is how this principle applies to vaccination .", "LSB- 144 -RSB- The Vatican Curia has expressed concern about the rubella vaccine 's embryonic cell origin , saying that Catholics have `` a grave responsibility to use alternative vaccines and to make a conscientious objection with regard to those which have moral problems . ''", "LSB- 145 -RSB- The Vatican concluded that until an alternative becomes available , it is acceptable for Catholics to use the existing vaccine , writing , `` This is an unjust alternative choice , which must be eliminated as soon as possible . ''", "Many forms of alternative medicine are based on philosophies that oppose vaccination and have practitioners who voice their opposition .", "These include some elements of the chiropractic community , some homeopaths , and naturopaths .", "LSB- 48 -RSB- The reasons for this negative vaccination view are complicated and rest at least in part on the early philosophies that shape the foundation of these groups .", "Historically , chiropractic strongly opposed vaccination based on its belief that all diseases were traceable to causes in the spine and therefore could not be affected by vaccines .", "Daniel D. Palmer ( 1845-1913 ) , the founder of chiropractic , wrote : `` It is the very height of absurdity to strive to ` protect ' any person from smallpox or any other malady by inoculating them with a filthy animal poison . ''", "LSB- 146 -RSB- Vaccination remains controversial within the profession .", "LSB- 147 -RSB- Most chiropractic writings on vaccination focus on its negative aspects ; -LSB- 146 -RSB- the American Chiropractic Association and the International Chiropractic Association support individual exemptions to compulsory vaccination laws ; a 1995 survey of US chiropractors found that about one third believed there was no scientific proof that immunization prevents disease .", "LSB- 147 -RSB- While the Canadian Chiropractic Association supports vaccination , -LSB- 146 -RSB- a survey in Alberta in 2002 found that 25 % of chiropractors advised patients for , and 27 % advised against , vaccinations for patients or for their children .", "Although most chiropractic colleges try to teach about vaccination responsibly , several have faculty who seem to stress negative views .", "LSB- 147 -RSB- -LSB- need quotation to verify -RSB- A survey of a 1999 -- 2000 cross-section of students of Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College ( CMCC ) , which does not formally teach anti-vaccination views , reported that fourth-year students opposed vaccination more strongly than did first-year students , with 29.4 % of fourth-year students opposing vaccination .", "LSB- 149 -RSB- A follow-up study on 2011 -- 12 CMCC students found that pro-vaccination attitudes heavily predominated .", "Students reported support rates ranging from 83.9 % to 90 % .", "This difference in attitude was proposed -LSB- by whom ? -RSB-", "to be due to the lack of the previous influence of a `` subgroup of some charismatic students who were enrolled at CMCC at the time , students who championed the Palmer postulates that advocated against the use of vaccination '' .", "Some chiropractic groups still oppose attempts to limit or eliminate nonmedical exemptions to vaccination .", "In March 2015 , the Oregon Chiropractic Association invited Andrew Wakefield , chief author of a fraudulent research paper , to testify against Senate Bill 442 , -LSB- 151 -RSB- `` a bill that would eliminate nonmedical exemptions from Oregon 's school immunization law '' .", "LSB- 152 -RSB- The California Chiropractic Association lobbied against a 2015 bill ending belief exemptions for vaccines .", "They had also opposed a 2012 bill related to vaccination exemptions .", "Several surveys have shown that some practitioners of homeopathy , particularly homeopaths without any medical training , advise patients against vaccination .", "LSB- 154 -RSB- For example , a survey of registered homeopaths in Austria found that only 28 % considered immunization an important preventive measure , and 83 % of homeopaths surveyed in Sydney , Australia , did not recommend vaccination .", "LSB- 48 -RSB- Many practitioners of naturopathy also oppose vaccination .", "Homeopathic `` vaccines '' ( nosodes ) are ineffective because they do not contain any active ingredients and thus do not stimulate the immune system .", "They can be dangerous if they take the place of effective treatments .", "LSB- 155 -RSB- Some medical organizations have taken action against nosodes .", "In Canada , the labeling of homeopathic nosodes require the statement : `` This product is neither a vaccine nor an alternative to vaccination . ''", "Alternative medicine proponents gain from promoting vaccine conspiracy theories through the sale of ineffective and expensive medications , supplements , and procedures such as chelation therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy , sold as able to cure the ` damage ' caused by vaccines .", "LSB- 157 -RSB- Homeopaths in particular gain through the promotion of water injections or ` nosodes ' which are alleged to have a ` natural ' vaccine-like effect .", "LSB- 158 -RSB- Additional bodies with a vested interest in promoting the `` unsafeness '' of vaccines may include lawyers and legal groups organizing court cases and class action lawsuits against vaccine providers .", "Conversely , alternative medicine providers have accused the vaccine industry of misrepresenting the safety and effectiveness of vaccines , covering up and suppressing information , and influencing health policy decisions for financial gain .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- In the late 20th century , vaccines were a product with low profit margins , -LSB- 159 -RSB- and the number of companies involved in vaccine manufacture declined .", "In addition to low profits and liability risks , manufacturers complained about low prices paid for vaccines by the CDC and other US government agencies .", "LSB- 160 -RSB- In the early 21st century , the vaccine market greatly improved with the approval of the vaccine Prevnar , along with a small number of other high-priced blockbuster vaccines , such as Gardasil and Pediarix , which each had sales revenues of over $ 1 billion in 2008 .", "The United States has a very complex history with compulsory vaccination , particularly in enforcing compulsory vaccinations both domestically and abroad to protect American soldiers during times of war .", "There are hundreds of thousands of examples of soldier deaths that were not the result of combat wounds , but were instead from disease .", "LSB- 161 -RSB- Among wars with high death tolls from disease is the Civil War where an estimated 620,000 soldiers died from disease .", "War ultimately becomes as much of a battle against disease as it is a battle against the enemy .", "American soldiers actively spread diseases in other countries that ultimately disrupted entire societies with inflicted famine , poverty , and disrupted entire healthcare systems .", "The Spanish -- American War began in April 1898 and ended in August 1898 .", "During this time the United States gained control of Cuba , Puerto Rico , and the Philippines from Spain .", "As a military police power and as colonizers the United States took a very hands-on approach in administering healthcare particularly vaccinations to natives during the invasion and conquest of these countries .", "LSB- 161 -RSB- Although the Spanish -- American War occurred during the era of `` bacteriological revolution '' where knowledge of disease was bolstered by germ theory more than half of the soldier casualties in this war were from disease .", "LSB- 161 -RSB- Unknowingly American soldiers acted as agents of disease fostering bacteria in their haphazardly made camps .", "These soldiers invaded Cuba , Puerto Rico , and the Philippines and connected parts of these countries that had never before been connected due to the countries disperse nature thereby beginning epidemics .", "LSB- 161 -RSB- The mobility of American soldiers around these countries encouraged a newfound mobility of disease that quickly infected natives .", "Military personnel used Rudyard 's Kipling 's poem `` The White Man 's Burden '' to explain their imperialistic actions in Cuba , the Philippines , and Puerto Rico and the need for the United States to help the `` dark-skinned Barbarians '' -LSB- 161 -RSB- reach modern sanitary standards .", "American actions abroad before , during , and after the war emphasized a need for proper sanitation habits especially on behalf of the natives .", "Natives who refuse to oblige with American health standards and procedures risked fines or imprisonment .", "LSB- 161 -RSB- One penalty in Puerto Rico included a $ 10 fine for a failure to vaccinate and an additional $ 5 fine for any day you continue to be unvaccinated , refusal to pay resulted in ten or more days of imprisonment .", "If entire villages refused the army 's current sanitation policy at any given time they risked being burnt to the ground in order to preserve the health and safety of soldiers from endemic smallpox and yellow fever .", "LSB- 161 -RSB- Vaccines were forcibly administered in order to combat the barbaric health and nature of the uncivilized , dark skinned Puerto Ricans , Cubans , and Filipinos .", "Military personnel in Puerto Rico provided Public Health services which culminated in military orders that mandated vaccinations for children before they were six months as well as another order that issued a general vaccination order .", "LSB- 161 -RSB- By the end of 1899 in Puerto Rico alone the U.S. military and other hired native vaccinators called practicantes , vaccinated an estimated 860,000 natives in a five-month period .", "This period began the United State 's movement toward an expansion of medical practices that included `` tropical medicine '' in an attempt to protect the lives of soldiers abroad ."], "_citing_sentence": "In the U.S. during the year 2001, routine childhood immunizations against seven diseases were estimated to save over $40 billion per birth-year cohort in overall social costs including $10 billion in direct health costs, and the societal benefit-cost ratio for these vaccinations was estimated to be 16.5 billion.", "_claim_name": "Compulsory vaccines are a financial relief on the health system", "_doc_title": "Vaccine controversies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [130]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 62, "_topic_name": "This House Would Make Vaccination Compulsory"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 2 June 2011 10.46 EDT", "Last modified on Thursday 2 June 2011 12.22 EDT", "Julian Assange , the WikiLeaks founder , has won the 2011 Martha Gellhorn prize for journalism .", "The annual prize is awarded to a journalist `` whose work has penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth that exposes establishment propaganda , or ` official drivel ' , as Martha Gellhorn called it '' .", "`` WikiLeaks has been portrayed as a phenomenon of the hi-tech age , which it is .", "But it 's much more .", "Its goal of justice through transparency is in the oldest and finest tradition of journalism , '' Martha Gellhorn prize judges said in their citation .", "`` WikiLeaks has given the public more scoops than most journalists can imagine : a truth-telling that has empowered people all over the world .", "As publisher and editor , Julian Assange represents that which journalists once prided themselves in -- he 's brave , determined , independent : a true agent of people not of power . ''", "The judges also gave Martha Gellhorn special awards for journalism to Umar Cheema , of the International Times of Pakistan ; Charles Clover , the Financial Times 's Moscow correspondent ; and Jonathan Cook , a freelance journalist based in Nazareth .", "Judges for the 2011 awards were Dr Alexander Matthews , John Pilger , James Fox , Shirlee Matthews , Cynthia Kee and Jeremy Harding ."], "_citing_sentence": "At a time when much of the traditional media seems to have lost its sense of what its role is, Wikileaks is providing a timely reminder.", "_claim_name": "The concept of what is a journalist needs to be clarified to deal with the reality of new forms of mass communication. Assange gathers, collates and disseminates information, ergo, he is a journalist.", "_doc_title": "Julian Assange wins Martha Gellhorn journalism prize | Media | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["CLEVELAND -- It was the modern-day , expletive-filled media version of the Jets and the Sharks squaring off in `` West Side Story . ''", "`` I want to have a rant-off with you , '' ... Read More", "Discover the best apps , tips and tricks for 2016 in our webinar on May 25 .", "By Steve Myers \u2022 August 9 , 2011", "Newspaper ombudsmen and media critics complain often about excessive and unnecessary use of anonymous sources , and yet the press uses them less frequently now than in the so-called `` golden age '' of journalism .", "The use of unnamed sources peaked in the 1970s in the wake of Watergate .", "By 2008 it had dropped to the same relative frequency as in 1958 , according to a paper to be presented at AEJMC this week .", "`` Going into this , I really did think that I was going to find that anonymous sourcing was used more than in the past , '' said Prof. Matt J. Duffy , a professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi who worked on the study with Prof. Ann E. Williams of Georgia State University .", "The other key findings :", "Duffy and Williams ' study is the first to track anonymous sourcing over such a long time with the same methodology .", "They did it by analyzing a representative sample ( 14 days ) of front-page stories in The New York Times and The Washington Post , looking at one year each decade .", "( Focusing on just those two papers has its weaknesses , but others have used the same method to judge the overall performance of the press . )", "Because half as many stories appeared on 1A in 2008 than in 1958 , the rates are presented as a percentage of all front-page stories for that year .", "So at the peak in 1978 , almost half of all front-page stories included anonymous sources .", "In 1958 and 2008 , the figure is about 25 percent .", "Andy Alexander , former ombudsman of the Post , said he was n't surprised that the rate has dropped .", "`` Over the past few decades , I think there 's been a greater awareness throughout the news industry that excessive use of anonymous sources damages credibility , '' he told me via email .", "`` But before we celebrate , let 's keep in mind that the study -- correctly , in my view -- said the use of unnamed sources remains unacceptably high . ''", "Len Downie , who was executive editor during part of the period studied , said he was pleased at the progress .", "Twenty-five percent `` probably feels like it is so high , but again , we 're constantly battling the convention in Washington , '' he said .", "The paper quotes Bill Keller , executive editor at the Times , saying in 2005 that in a year he hoped his reporters would see the use of anonymous sources `` is not a routine , but an exception . ''", "He told me via email that he was `` heartened '' by the improvement noted in the study , although since 2005 `` I suppose I 've come to feel more like Sisyphus .", "Excessive anonymity is one of those things that simply require constant vigilance . ''", "In the absence of identification , Keller said , readers deserve to have enough information to judge whether a source is believable or has an ax to grind .", "The study notes improvement in describing sources and explaining why they are n't named , which can help on both counts .", "But it did n't judge the quality of the description or the merits of the explanation .", "And as Clark Hoyt noted while ombudsman , in some cases those reasons are pretty thin .", "( Hoyt , who now works for Bloomberg , declined to be interviewed for this story . )", "Among the questionable examples Hoyt cited in a 2009 column : In an article about the decoration of New York apartment building lobbies , a woman was granted anonymity to describe a particularly edgy one as ' a den of hell . '", "She had been visiting a friend in the building and would not give her name , the article said , ` for fear of offending the hostess . '", "Columbia University journalism students found that the paper did n't follow its own guidelines on anonymous sourcing in 4 out of 5 cases , according to Hoyt .", "Hence the image of Bill Keller pushing that enormous boulder up the hill , only to have it roll back down .", "Alexander also concluded that the Post often did n't follow its own policies , in print and online .", "`` I found that unwarranted use of anonymous sources often occurred in stories played inside the paper . ''", "`` In many cases , '' he continued , `` it 's not sufficient to say simply that a source was granted anonymity ` in order not to offend ' or so they could ` speak more freely . '", "Those are reasons , but they 're often not very good ones .", "As The Post 's internal policies say , granting anonymity ` should not be done casually or automatically . ' ''", "Though he found the study encouraging , Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli acknowledged shortcomings in meeting the paper 's standards , saying in an email , `` We 're not perfect at this -- many days , we fail to keep from using the noun ` source ' to describe someone who has spoken to us -- but our editors are pretty harmonized on the need to use anonymous sources only when there is no other way to get information . ''", "In another paper to be presented at AEJMC , Duffy challenges news outlets and the Society of Professional Jouranalists to raise their standards for anonymity .", "The paper identifies Watergate as one reason for the rise in unnamed sources in the '60s and '70s .", "Downie , who was involved in that coverage , agreed .", "`` There was a period when reporters , especially young reporters , were tempted to use anonymous sources with that vague reference -LSB- `` informed sources '' -RSB- just because it sounded good , '' he said .", "`` We had to break them of those habits . ''", "The problem , Duffy said , is that journalists use `` idealized '' examples such as Watergate to defend the practice .", "`` But I think in reality the pedestrian , day-to-day use of anonymous sourcing is pretty far away from that ideal . ''", "The Poynter Institute 801 Third Street South", "St. Petersburg , FL 33701 ( 727 ) 821 -- 9494 \u00a9 Copyright 2016", "Poynter offers range of newsletters to keep you informed and up-to-date ."], "_citing_sentence": "Anonymous sources such as those used by Assange are a key part of journalism with many of the biggest stories such as Watergate only being published because of anonymity.", "_claim_name": "There is a difference between actual journalists and those who like having their names published in newspapers. Assange has far more claim to the description than many of them.", "_doc_title": "Study: Use of anonymous sources peaked in 1970s, dropped by 2008 \u2013 Poynter", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Alex Massie 2 November 2010 4:59 PM 2 November 2010 4:59 PM I 'm not sure I understand the Wikileaks controversy .", "If one of the many definitions of news is ( and always has been ) that it is something that someone , somewhere does not want you to know then , yes , Julian Assange is a journalist .", "Perhaps newsman would be a better , more strictly accurate way of putting it .", "As such , it 's strange to see Americans accusing him of treason ( he 's an Australian ! )", "or William Hague complaining that the Wikileaks document-dumps put `` British lives '' at risk .", "Then there 's Jonah Goldberg complaining that a column headlined `` All Quiet On the Black-Ops Front '' and subtitled `` Why is Julian Assange Still Alive ? ''", "has -- this may shock you -- been misunderstood .", "Acording to Goldberg he was n't suggesting Assange should be killed ( true ) , merely that no-one should be surprised if he is murdered and that if peoples ' romantic/conspiratorial views of what the CIA are capable of were accurate then Assange would be dead .", "As he explains : -LSB- W -RSB- hile it 's political palatable to kill a member of al-Qaeda , `` assassinating a hipster Australian Web guru as opposed to a Muslim terrorist is the kind of controversy no official dares invite . ''", "Does anyone dispute this ?", "Regardless , what I find amazing is how so many of these fulminating free-speech lovers seem to think that Assange is not only a journalist but a hero .", "Indeed , one gets the distinct impression that what offends is any casting of Assange as a bad guy .", "But of course he 's a bad guy .", "And the idea that he 's a journalist is a joke .", "Perhaps it would be easier to see this if Assange were giving all of these documents solely to the Iranian government .", "But he 's not doing that .", "He 's giving these documents to the Iranians , and al-Qaeda , and the Chinese , and the Russians and everyone else .", "that makes him a hero !", "LSB- ... -RSB- a great number of my critics are being willfully idiotic , not only because they 're misreading it , but because they 're rushing to the defense of someone who is doing something indefensible .", "Or should I say it 's indefensible if you actually care about American national security .", "I do n't have to agree with Assange 's motives ( or even his own , long-term desires ) any more than I need agree with Daniel Ellsberg 's politics to think that Wikileaks , like leaking the Pentagon Papers , constitutes a public service .", "( The Pentagon Papers , mind you , were much more significant and , actually , much more damning . )", "Assange is `` of course '' a bad guy from the perspective of the Pentagon who 'd much rather avoid this kind of scrutiny .", "But in this instance it 's not obvious that Assange -- even if he were an American -- is required to put the putative interests of American ( or British or even Australian ) `` national security '' above all else ; far less that he should presume that the public interest in how our wars are fought counts for almost nothing .", "Is Assange `` irresponsible '' ?", "I dare say he is .", "But not as irresponsible as those who permitted the torture of prisoners or the grisly abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and lord knows what else .", "In any case , one can easily read the latest Wikileaks disclosures and conclude that it 's surprising how few blunders or abuses have been committed by British troops in times of great stress , danger and difficulty .", "As a general rule that 's not the press 's responsibility .", "And the more you think Julian Assange is irresponsible the more , perhaps , you suggest he is a journalist -- if also a newsman of a particular type .", "Irresponsible , vainglorious , hypocritical , shameless , reckless ?", "Is there any doubt he 's a newsman ?", "That does n't mean you have to like him .", "Subscribe to The Spectator today for a quality of argument not found in any other publication .", "Get more Spectator for less -- just # 12 for 12 issues .", "Spectator comment moderator & Alex Massie -- I once thought that Assange was reckless -LSB- or overly ambitious -RSB- for confronting the US military industrial complex -LSB- NSA , FBI , CIA , CIA , ATF -RSB- rather than first exposing less powerful doers of evil such as Murdoch media -LSB- who want to kill Assange -RSB- but have since come to understand that as powerful as the US authorities -LSB- pursuing Assange -RSB- are even they are incapable of confronting Rupert Murdoch over his international crimes .", "Murdoch crimes in the UK are next to nothing compared to his Australian crimes -LSB- exported to the UK -RSB- such as the fake records of his newspapers published -LSB- Adelaide South Australia SA -- the first newspapers he ever owned -RSB- with journalism -LSB- & news articles erased from the fake archives -RSB- concealing local SA crimes & corruption of Australian & international significance .", "Details of crimes & corruption concealed & news articles erased or altered for fake archives -LSB- Murdoch 's control of governments has priority -RSB- can be viewed at https://rjrbtsrupertsfirstnewspaper.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/australian-government-law-enforcement-and-news-media-corruption-in-brief-ref-sbsa-bankruptcy-6/ -- https://rjrbtsrupertsfirstnewspaper.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/timeline-of-australian-corruption-events-conceled-by-fake-archives-of-newspapers/ although the sites are somewhat hacked .", "The BBC is aware UK authorities including UK PM Cameron know of the evidence of the fake ` archives ' of newspapers sold by British Libraries UK London , the genuine microfilmed archives having been stolen & replaced with the fake archives .", "This Spectator website dated 2 Nov 2011 appears via Yahoo as posted within the `` Past Week '' with text appearing as a result of a search using the ` Assange ' -- The text appearing on the search page -LSB- below -RSB- does n't appear on the website `` Yes , Julian Assange Is A Journalist -- Spectator Blogs blogs.spectator.co.uk / 2010/11/yes-julian-assange - is-a ... Only in today 's trash political culture is Assange a `` journalist . ''", "In the era of the Twitter-press and the ` blogosphere ' , what was journalism a while ago is ... '' -- does n't appear on the website .", "Also odd that accessed by my browser -LSB- s -RSB- there are 0 comments so far posted .", "Only in today 's trash political culture is Assange a `` journalist . ''", "In the era of the Twitter-press and the ` blogosphere ' , what was journalism a while ago is just another word for sitting back and letting other , smarter , braver people do the work for you .", "It seems to me that not only is Assange not a journalist , but he hardly even qualifies as an editor either .", "Things get sent to him ( not actually him of course , his volunteer staff ) which is then `` prepared '' and dumped onto the doorstep of even lazier `` journalists '' in the world of print .", "Are n't we citizens lucky to have all these brave reporters working on our behalf ?", "What a farce .", "NewsBusters : Julian Assange Hid Out in London Journalists ' Clubhttp : / / newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2010/12/10/julian-assange-hid-out-london-journalists-club you do n't have to like him but surely you have to admire him .", "The ` so what ' is not Assange 's it 's yours .", "Do n't worry about your not making things clear .", "We got it .", "It 's well worth reading Stratfor 's take on what was actually released .", "The vast bulk of it was Secret , which is becoming a default setting for `` anything that happens outside the US '' ( or UK , for that matter ) .", "Some of it was Confidential ( and most of it should have been ) , and none of it was TS .", "Suggesting that it puts lives at risk may be true insofar as it contains official documents which confirm that , yes , someone got shot by the coalition forces .", "It 's probably not true in the sense that some AQ bad guy can pore through it and go `` Aha !", "Allah be praised -- it seems that if I dial 01-811-8055 then press hash twice , all their bombs will go off ! ''", "The actual villain of the piece is the guy who decided to save his comically poor presidency by inventing a reason to invade a country which had nothing to do with 9/11 , thereby persuading millions of hitherto reasonable Muslims that maybe the frothing-at-the-mouth boys had a point after all .", "Julian Assange is a brave man .", "It speaks volumes about the times we live in that just exposing the truth can stir up so much debate.Don ' t kill the messenger .", "Edward McLaughlin : I should have thought it clear that , since Assange is an Australian , the question of risking `` British lives '' is not something that we can reasonably expect to be at the forefront of his mind .", "Perhaps , however , I did n't make it clear .", "But , yes , simply saying that `` British lives are put at risk '' is n't enough to make publication a problem .", "Even if this * is * true , it 's balanced by the public interest issues that weigh heavily on the side of publication .", "In my view anyway .", "No lives have been lost due to wiki-leaks .", "This is just a smokescreen and essentially a wish to shoot the messanger .", "Wiki-leaks fills a vacuum left by our main stream media in bringing the truth about our war on terror and the terror we visit on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan .", "Assange should be awarded the nobel peace prize `` ... the Wikileaks document-dumps put `` British lives '' at risk .", "What a revealing sentiment Alex. I 'm sure this will be warmly received by the relatives of William Blanchard and many others who are protecting your arse .", "Journalist or not he is definitely not good at running a website .", "Where is the full site ?", "Where are the rest of the Afgahn files ?", "I am now in agreement with John Young at Cryptome in that the CIA took control some time back and the whole enterprise is compromised .", "Good luck to those who downloaded the insurance file .", "Assange is just a another handled asset ."], "_citing_sentence": "By such a definition, Assange would clearly qualify.", "_claim_name": "There is a difference between actual journalists and those who like having their names published in newspapers. Assange has far more claim to the description than many of them.", "_doc_title": "Yes, Julian Assange Is A Journalist | Coffee House", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 63, "_topic_name": "This House believes Julian Assange is a journalist"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The people of the Falkland Islands have voted overwhelmingly to keep their current status as a British Overseas Territory .", "Following the result of the weekend 's referendum the Foreign Secretary , William Hague , said : I welcome today 's result , which demonstrates more clearly than ever the Falkland Islanders ' wish to remain an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom .", "We have always been clear that we believe in the rights of the Falklands people to determine their own futures and to decide on the path they wish to take .", "It is only right that , in the twenty-first century , these rights are respected .", "All countries should accept the results of this referendum and support the Falkland Islanders as they continue to develop their home and their economy .", "I wish them every success in doing so .", "Read about the FCO 's work supporting the Falkland Islanders ' right to self-determination", "Follow Foreign Office on Twitter Facebook and Google +", "Do n't include personal or financial information , eg your National Insurance number or credit card details ."], "_citing_sentence": "It is only right that, in the twenty-first century, these rights are respected.\"", "_claim_name": "Self determination", "_doc_title": "Falkland Islands vote to remain British Overseas Territory - Press releases - GOV.UK", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The General Assembly , Mindful of the determination proclaimed by the peoples of the world in the Charter of the United Nations to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights , in the dignity and worth of the human person , in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom ,", "Conscious of the need for the creation of conditions of stability and well-being and peaceful and friendly relations based on respect for the principles of equal rights and self-determination of all peoples , and of universal respect for , and observance of , human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race , sex , language or religion ,", "Recognizing the passionate yearning for freedom in all dependent peoples and the decisive role of such peoples in the attainment of their independence ,", "A ware of the increasing conflicts resulting from the denial of or impediments in the way of the freedom of such peoples , which constitute a serious threat to world peace ,", "Considering the important role of the United Nations in assisting the movement for independence in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories ,", "Recognizing that the peoples of the world ardently desire the end of colonialism in all its manifestations ,", "Convinced that the continued existence of colonialism prevents the development of international economic co-operation , impedes the social , cultural and economic development of dependent peoples and militates against the United Nations ideal of universal peace ,", "Affirming that peoples may , for their own ends , freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation , based upon the principle of mutual benefit , and international law ,", "Believing that the process of liberation is irresistible and irreversible and that , in order to avoid serious crises , an end must be put to colonialism and all practices of segregation and discrimination associated therewith ,", "Welcoming the emergence in recent years of a large number of dependent territories into freedom and independence , and recognizing the increasingly powerful trends towards freedom in such territories which have not yet attained independence ,", "Convinced that all peoples have an inalienable right to complete freedom , the exercise of their sovereignty and the integrity of their national territory ,", "Solemnly proclaims the necessity of bringing to a speedy and unconditional end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations ;", "And to this end Declares that : 1 .", "The subjection of peoples to alien subjugation , domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights , is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and co-operation .", "All peoples have the right to self-determination ; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic , social and cultural development .", "Inadequacy of political , economic , social or educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence .", "All armed action or repressive measures of all kinds directed against dependent peoples shall cease in order to enable them to exercise peacefully and freely their right to complete independence , and the integrity of their national territory shall be respected .", "Immediate steps shall be taken , in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence , to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories , without any conditions or reservations , in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire , without any distinction as to race , creed or colour , in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom .", "Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations .", "All States shall observe faithfully and strictly the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations , the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the present Declaration on the basis of equality , non-interference in the internal affairs of all States , and respect for the sovereign rights of all peoples and their territorial integrity ."], "_citing_sentence": "General Assembly Resolution 1514 made this clear \"Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.\"", "_claim_name": "Uti Possidetis", "_doc_title": "The United Nations and Decolonization - Declaration", "_labeled_lineIDs": [18]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 64, "_topic_name": "This House would return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["You must follow the rules for hunting and shooting wildlife including :", "You can be fined or jailed for hunting illegally or causing unnecessary suffering to an animal .", "You must have permission from the land owner .", "You must get a certificate to use a shotgun , rifle or other firearm .", "You do n't need a certificate for :", "You ca n't use :", "There are different rules about what you can do to manage wildlife on your land or control pests on your property .", "Last updated : 1 March 2016", "Do n't include personal or financial information , eg your National Insurance number or credit card details .", "Open Government Licence", "All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3 .0 , except where otherwise stated"], "_citing_sentence": "For example, in 2004 the UK passed a law banning hunting with dogs on the grounds that it is cruel.", "_claim_name": "We should treat animals well", "_doc_title": "Hunting and shooting wildlife - GOV.UK", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Animals are not oursto eat , wear , experiment on , use for entertainment , or abuse in any other way .", "None of PETA 's lifesaving work for animals would be possible without the generosity of our more than 5 million members and supporters .", "PETA 's membership services team is here to answer any questions that you may have about supporting our vital work for animals .", "Please use the resources on the right of this page to find out how your gift can make a difference in our groundbreaking fight to end animal abuse and suffering .", "Gift Illustrator : Calculate Your Legacy Gift", "Text BEAR to 73822 ( US ) or 99099 ( Canada ) .", "Msg/Data Rates May Apply .", "Almost all of us grew up eating meat , wearing leather , and going to circuses and zoos .", "We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved .", "For whatever reason , you are now asking the question : Why should animals have rights ?"], "_citing_sentence": "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has 3 million members worldwide.", "_claim_name": "Animal welfare is a legitimate political aim", "_doc_title": "Membership Services | Donate | PETA", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Which is Britain 's biggest charity ?", "The death of Claire Squires in the London marathon - and subsequent influx of donations to the Samaritans - have drawn attention to the size of Britain 's charities .", "The money is a huge boost to the Samaritans , who raised # 6.7 m in the latest year available , 2010 - according to this data from the Charities Aid Foundation ( CAF ) .", "CAF collects the data by interrogating the Charity Commission database .", "The figure for each charity is a full year 's data - but many organisations have different collecting periods .", "While some charities have turnovers that would put a major company to shame , others have much more modest means .", "The biggest charity on this list is the Gavi Alliance - which draws together major international bodies to fund immunsation programmes .", "If you exclude Gavi , then the list is dominated by major health charities , such as Cancer Research UK and MacMillan ; global development groups Save the Children , Oxfam and the British Red Cross ; and animal charities such as the RSPCA and the RSPB .", "Humans , birds and animals gather together in the top 10 .", "The Samaritans are quite far down the list - and well below the Donkey Sanctuary , which received # 18.5 m - most of its income - in legacy giving from supporter 's wills .", "We have excluded government bodies such as the Arts Council and the British Council from this graphic - although we 've left them in the full data below .", "Editor of Guardian Society Alison Benjamin says :", "There are around 160,000 general charities in the UK .", "According to the UK Civil Society Almanac 2012 , these charities have a combined income of around # 37bn .", "Big household names such as Cancer Research UK , NSPCC , Oxfam and the RSPCA with annual incomes above # 10m make up less than 1 % of these charities , yet these few hundred charities account for almost half of the total income .", "Take the next 4,000 or so largest charities , with incomes of between # 1m and # 10m a year and we still have less than 3 % of the total charities in the UK .", "In contrast the majority of charities ( 54 % ) are very small , local volunteer-run organisations with less than # 10,000 a year coming in .", "Donations and purchases , which includes membership dues and legacies , account for around # 14bn of charities ' total income ( 39 % ) .", "Donations make up more than a third of the income of the household name charities .", "They employ teams of professional fundraisers and have departments dedicated to securing legacies , getting major gifts from wealthy philanthropists and signing up new supporters in the street which shores up their income year on year even during a recession .", "The RNLI for example says that six out of ten of its launches are funded by legacies .", "For every # 1 given to the RNLI 81p is spent on providing a rescue service , but 16p is spent on generating voluntary income .", "The big cancer charities and animal charities , such as the Donkey Sanctuary and People 's Dispensary for Sick Animals , consistently top the list for legacy income .", "As Peter Beresford professor of social policy at Brunel University points out , today the government 's U-turn on efforts to restrict tax relief to super-rich givers shows just what muscle big charity has .", "There seems to be a growing divide between small charitable organisations -- with little profile but high energy , real street credibility and beneficiary involvement -- and the traditional large organisations -- with big reserves , highly paid chief executives and expensive central London headquarters , adds Beresford .", "Very little of the money that may come from the super-rich is ever likely to find its way into the accounts of the grassroots voluntary organisations that make up the majority of charities .", "But their survival is dependent on the generosity of individuals .", "Almost two thirds of their meagre income does comes from ordinary , local people raising funds in a variety of ways from car boot sales to sponsored swims and rattling tins .", "Thanks to CAF , the full data for the top 1,000 is below for you to download .", "What can you do with it ?", "Click heading to sort table .", "Download this data", "SOURCE : Charities Aid Foundation ( CAF ) \u2022 DATA : download the full spreadsheet \u2022 Facts are Sacred : the power of data ( on Kindle )", "Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian \u2022 Search the world 's government data with our gateway \u2022 Search the world 's global development data with our gateway \u2022 Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group \u2022 Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk \u2022 Get the A-Z of data \u2022 More at the Datastore directory \u2022 Follow us on Twitter \u2022 Like us on Facebook"], "_citing_sentence": "In the UK, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) are both in the 15 wealthiest charities.", "_claim_name": "Animal welfare is a legitimate political aim", "_doc_title": "Britain's top 1,000 charities ranked by donations. Who raises the most money? | News | theguardian.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Nick Fagge for the Daily Mail", "Updated : 07:11 EST , 25 January 2011 157", "Halal meat is being routinely served at some of Britain 's most popular sporting venues , pubs , schools and hospitals without the public 's knowledge , it has emerged .", "All beef , chicken and lamb sold to fans at Wembley Stadium has been secretly prepared in accordance with strict Islamic law .", "And hundreds of pubs and restaurants in Britain , as well as top racecourses , schools and hospitals , now only serve chicken that has been ritually slaughtered according to Sharia Law .", "Dish of the day : Fans at top sporting venues are unwittingly supporting the butchering of animals according to strict Islamic principles as Halal meat is routinely served up without the public 's knowledge", "Under Muslim laws , animals are slaughtered by having their throat slit to allow all the blood to drain out .", "Some research suggests that animals can die a slow painful death because religious slaughter houses are exempt from laws that require animals to be stunned before killing .", "Last night there were growing concerns that members of public were unwittingly supporting a cruel form of butchery .", "A RSPCA spokesman said : ` The public has a right to know how their meat is produced .", "` Many people are extremely worried about animal welfare .", "` Lots of food products have not got any form of information on them .", "` It is similar to battery eggs which used to be the norm but now consumers prefer to buy free range ones because they are concerned about the welfare of chickens .", "` The key to a more humane death for these animals is that they are stunned before slaughter . '", "Animal rights group Viva !", "said : ` Other practices which may be undertaken for religious reasons -- such as polygamy or the stoning of adulterers -- are not permitted in the UK .", "` Religious freedom does not override other moral considerations and the suffering caused by this form of slaughter is so severe that it can not be allowed to prevent action being taken .", "what 's on the menu ?", "It 's been revealed that many schools serve non-Muslim children halal meat as a matter of course", "Rugby fans watching fixtures at Twickenham and horse racing enthusiasts visiting Ascot can only buy halal chicken .", "School children across Britain are routinely given halal meat with the only alternative a vegetarian option .", "In one London borough , Tower Hamlets , in east London , over 100 schools only use halal meat .", "Hospitals including the Guy 's and St Thomas ' NHS Trust in London and the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation also insist all meat must comply with Sharia law .", "And Britain 's biggest hotel and restaurant group Whitbread , which owns the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre chains as well as Costa Coffee , Taybarns and Table Table restaurants has admitted that more than three-quarters of its poultry is halal .", "However a spokesman last night insisted the firm demanded that all poultry is ` pre-stunned prior to slaughter ' .", "Rival operator Mitchells and Butlers , which owns the Harvester , Browns and Toby Carvery restaurants as well as pub chains All Bar One and O'Neills also uses halal meat .", "A spokesman was unable to give details of what percentage of the meat was ritually slaughtered .", "Last night a Football Association spokeswoman said she was investigating the decision to ensure all meat sold at Wembley is halal .", "She added : ` All beef , chicken and lamb sold at Wembley Stadium is halal . '"], "_citing_sentence": "Halal food is even more common, and many places serve halal meat as standard.", "_claim_name": "Since this meat is often sold unlabeled, this affects everyone", "_doc_title": "Halal Britain: Famous institutions routinely serve the public ritually slaughtered meat | Daily Mail Online", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3, 4, 18, 20]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Almost half the population favour a ban on religious slaughter of animals for meat and nearly a third want a ban on male circumcision , according to the results of a YouGov poll for the JC .", "Asked whether they support or oppose a ban on religious slaughter , 45 per cent back a ban , 27 per cent are against and 28 per cent say they do not know .", "Opinion diverges less when respondents are asked about `` male circumcision for religious reasons '' , with 38 per cent supporting a ban , 35 per cent against and 27 per cent undecided .", "Dayan Yisroel Lichtenstein , head of the Federation Beth Din , said : `` It 's worrying and it shows we need to do a lot more public relations to put our case . ''", "Dayan Lichtenstein is particularly concerned at the level of support for a ban on shechita among young people `` because I would have expected their education to have made them more liberally-minded . ''", "Forty-one per cent of 18-24 year-olds would ban both shechita and circumcision .", "However , the most striking difference emerges in the political inclinations of those polled .", "As many as 71 per cent of people who say they would vote UKIP back a ban on religious slaughter , and 51 per cent support a ban on male circumcision -- the only political allegiance where more than half back bans in either case .", "Dayan Pinchas Toledano , former head of the Sephardi Beth Din , now Haham of Amsterdam , said that the survey 's results `` do n't surprise or shock me '' .", "The Dutch community recently mobilised to protect shechita after politicians wanted to introduce compulsory pre-stunning of animals before religious slaughter -- which would have meant banning the Jewish method of killing animals .", "Dayan Toledano , himself a retired mohel , said : `` If you try to ban such practices , you have no religious freedom at all . ''", "Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner , rabbi to the Reform movement , commented : `` I greatly appreciate living in a tolerant , pluralist country where key rituals of kashrut and brit milah are understood and respected .", "These results indicate a worrying intolerance , not only towards the specific rituals of shechita and brit milah , but possibly may indicate a more widespread intolerance towards Jews and other minorities in the UK .", "`` I am particularly concerned by the statistics of the UKIP voters and I assume this pattern of rejecting Jewish religious rituals would also be mirrored if a similar question were to be posed about Muslim rituals . ''", "The German government recently passed legislation to protect religious circumcision after a mohel was arrested last year .", "Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg , senior rabbi of the Masorti movement , was also not surprised by the figures because `` there has been a lot of discussion across Europe '' .", "Rabbi Wittenberg , who does not eat meat himself , said that there had not been proven to be `` a kinder method '' to kill animals than shechita .", "`` The real issue is the frequent cruelty within the meat industry generally and the question of how animals live their lives , not only how they die . ''", "Brit milah is `` an ancient ritual of identity and a significant commandment , '' he said .", "`` It is essential it is always practised with maximum skill , scrupulous hygiene and a minimisation of pain and careful aftercare .", "`` Having witnessed many circumcisions , I believe overwhelmingly that the pain quickly passes and I do n't believe that it causes lasting trauma . ''", "But David Graham , senior research fellow of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research , cautioned against reading too much into the figures .", "`` While this may be indicative of a general negative attitude towards these Jewish traditions , that conclusion can not be drawn from this YouGov poll , '' he said .", "If people are asked are whether they support or oppose a ban on an issue , he said , `` the seed of doubt is already sown in the respondent 's mind , before he or she has had a chance to consider what they are being asked .", "It is hardly surprising a majority opts for a ban . ''", "A spokesman for Jewish defence organisations Shechita UK and Milah UK refused to comment ."], "_citing_sentence": "In one poll in the UK, 45% of people backed a ban on shechita.", "_claim_name": "Animal welfare is a legitimate political aim", "_doc_title": "Forty five per cent of Britons ready to ban shechita | The Jewish Chronicle", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 7]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 65, "_topic_name": "This House would ban the slaughter of animals which have not been stunned first"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Alex Duval Smith in Maseru , Lesotho", "Saturday 5 June 2010 19.06 EDT", "Thousands of people in the impoverished Commonwealth kingdom of Lesotho have asked South Africa in effect to annex their state because it has been bankrupted by the HIV pandemic .", "The move comes as South Africa , in a move to secure its borders ahead of the World Cup , which starts on Friday , has barred thousands of people from Lesotho from crossing its borders .", "`` Aids has killed us , '' said charity director Ntate Manyanye .", "`` Lesotho is fighting for survival .", "We have a population of about 1.9 million but there may be as many as 400,000 Aids orphans among us .", "Life expectancy has fallen to 34 .", "We are desperate . ''", "Ten days ago , several hundred people marched through the capital Maseru and delivered a petition to parliament and the South African High Commission requesting that their country be integrated into its giant neighbour , which completely surrounds it .", "`` We have 30,000 signatures .", "Lesotho is not just landlocked -- it is South Africa-locked .", "We were a labour reserve for apartheid South Africa .", "There is no reason for us to exist any longer as a nation with its own currency and army , '' said Vuyani Tyhali , a trade unionist and initiator of the Lesotho People 's Charter Movement .", "Lesotho , two hours from Bloemfontein at the end of the N8 highway , is the world 's highest country -- no part of it lies below 1,400 m above sea level -- and one of its most beautiful .", "Its mountains and valleys are peppered with horsemen wearing conical straw hats and traditional blankets fastened with giant safety pins .", "Rivers cross roads , rather than the other way round .", "But the African idyll masks harsh realities .", "In the past 12 years , valleys have been flooded to produce dams to feed Johannesburg , 250 miles away , with water .", "Yet a third of the country 's wells are dry .", "Its highly mechanised new diamond plant has failed to absorb tens of thousands of labourers laid off by South African mines .", "Even its textile industry -- which at its height employed 50,000 people -- has collapsed .", "Salaries are low .", "A factory worker in Bloemfontein earns around 2,400 rands ( # 213 ) a month against 700 maloti ( # 63 ) in the constantly retrenching Chinese -- owned textile plants of Lesotho .", "The impact of Aids -- brought in by the migrant workforce -- has ruined the economy .", "Uniquely in the developing world , Lesotho 's deaths are close to outnumbering its births .", "A third of the population is HIV positive .", "In 1980 , Lesotho produced 80 % of the cereals it consumed .", "Now it imports 70 % .", "The only real cash crop is marijuana , grown between rows of maize and smuggled to South Africa on donkeys .", "Drug cultivation is such a lifeline that the children clothed and fed with its proceeds have a name : bana bamatekoane ( children of marijuana ) .", "Manyanye 's charity , Sentebale , was set up in 2006 by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso , Lesotho 's high commissioner in London and younger brother of the king , Letsie III .", "Its work -- including night schooling for herd boys and activity groups for HIV-positive orphans -- is keeping the country on life support .", "But morale is low .", "Volunteer Selloane Taole said : `` Nurses and teachers are leaving the country because there is no future .", "You just see everyone dying . ''", "The argument for incorporating the constitutional monarchy as South Africa 's 10th province is compelling .", "Lesotho 's children are taught that their country exists because King Moshoeshoe I , founder of the Basotho nation , stood up to the Boers and British in the late 19th century .", "In reality , the British allowed the kingdom to survive so as to keep the Boers of the Orange Free State from the sea .", "Many Basotho look to South Africa 's government for compassion .", "The African National Congress was founded in Lesotho in 1912 by King Letsie II .", "During the struggle against apartheid , the ANC 's armed wing organised its guerilla units from the enclave .", "But the government in Pretoria has a short memory .", "Last Tuesday , South Africa stopped recognising the temporary travel documents Basotho have used for years to shuttle in and out of the Free State to work .", "`` Lesotho 's inefficient government has not produced passports for five years , '' said Tyhali .", "`` Thousands of people doing piece jobs over the border are now forced to stay in Lesotho or cross over illegally and face deportation . ''", "South Africa 's home affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa rejected the idea that Lesotho should be treated as a special case .", "`` It is a sovereign country like South Africa .", "We sent envoys to our neighbours -- Botswana , Zimbabwe , Swaziland and Lesotho -- before we enforced the passport rule .", "When you travel from Britain to South Africa , do n't you expect to use a passport ? ''", "Few Basotho feel attached to their currency or their borders -- even less to their chaotic 122-seat parliament , which limps from one disputed election to the next amid assassination attempts and strikes .", "A recent study by the African Union noted a `` lingering threat of internal conflict '' and identified deep problems of corruption and accountability .", "The report stopped short of calling for Lesotho to be annexed but recommended economic integration with South Africa .", "Sekhobe Letsie , chief of Koung Makhalaneng , said Basotho were attached to their monarchy , not their politicians .", "`` The maloti is a worthless currency .", "We do not even print it .", "We buy it from Britain and there is an arrangement to give it parity with the South African rand .", "It should be abolished .", "Lesotho has only survived this long thanks to apartheid .", "In those days we had embassies and we received international aid .", "Now when we ask for help for our education system , the aid people tell us to turn to South Africa . ''", "But his unemployed son , Seeiso , 26 , had reservations about becoming a South African .", "`` If you look at them , they have lost their traditions and roots .", "We Basotho are very attached to our identity .", "The thought of losing that scares me . ''", "Tyhali argues that there is nothing drastic in the concept of the United Nations having to take down a flagpole in New York , or in the Commonwealth and African Union losing a member .", "He points out that when Japan play Cameroon in the World Cup on 14 June in Bloemfontein , the sound of fans blowing their vuvuzela horns will almost be audible in Maseru .", "Yet Basotho , with their worthless travel documents ( and a team that is ranked 152nd in the world ) , will not be able to attend .", "He says the People 's Charter Movement has broad support because it does not threaten the monarchy . ''", "I doubt if the king is jittering about this .", "The people who are nervous are the politicians , who are afraid of losing their power base .", "We would keep our king .", "Look at the king of the Zulus : he is very happy to be part of South Africa .", "The main thing we are after is one common identity document with South Africa so that everyone can come and go as they please , '' he said ."], "_citing_sentence": "Moreover, during the struggle against apartheid, the ANC's armed wing organized its guerilla units from the enclave.", "_claim_name": "The historical reasons for which the state of Lesotho exists are no longer relevant in a post-apartheid South Africa", "_doc_title": "Lesotho's people plead with South Africa to annex their troubled country | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [41]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Series Editor : Jonathan Crush", "Southern African Migration Project", "Migration Policy Series No. 26", "PLEASE NOTE : Readers are welcome to reproduce and reference this article as long as appropriate acknowledgments are given .", "EXECUTIVE SUMMARY It is impractical to treat Lesotho like any other foreign country in regulating movement across borders .", "Until 1963 no passports were required to enter South Africa from Lesotho , and it was only the security concerns of the apartheid government that led to travel documents being required .", "Africa 's transition to democracy , border controls with", "Lesotho might reasonably be subject to review .", "The report argues that streamlining , integration , and relaxation of immigration services at the Free State Border posts would not only be less costly and more cost-effective , but also mutually beneficial for com-munities and government agencies on both sides of the border .", "While Lesotho citizens are covered by the same South African immigration regulations as those of any other country , in practice quite different regulations , permits , concessions , and arrangements are also in place and national policies are often ignored in accommodation to local realities .", "There is an assumption in South Africa that liberalised border regulation would be to the exclusive benefit of citizens of neighbouring countries seeking economic advantages to the detriment of South Africa and South Africans .", "In the Free State towns along the Lesotho border , however , South African businesses would be the major beneficiaries of rationalised border regulation .", "More important , the economic development of the entire Caledon River valley depends upon such rationalisation .", "The report thus establishes the principles of bi-lateral relationship that should underlie management of the border with", "Second , it offers a portrait of how the border actually operates within the context of current immigration regulation and practice .", "Third , it reviews the problems that have arisen from the character and development of that operational context .", "Four , it provides a limited set of possible solu-tions to those problems and alternatives for post operations in specific relation to the probable costs and benefits of each potential course of action ( or inaction ) .", "In view of the limited period available for the study , the decision was taken to focus on the two most important posts in the Free State where cross-border traffic of all kinds is greatest , Maseru and Ficksburg Bridges .", "Border officials at both places argue that border operations ought to be made more efficient and effective .", "To this end , they argue for the commitment of greater , not fewer resources , specifically the provision of more numerous , better trained staff , physical plant , and computer technology .", "They did not consider how such improvements might generate any portion of the revenues required to pay for them .", "Nor had they considered the possibility that removing immigration officials from the Lesotho border altogether and redeploying them to other stations where staffing was more necessary might be the most cost-effective and rational solution for the DHA .", "Lesotho contributes over 40 % of the movement of people across", "South Africa 's borders from all neighbouring countries .", "Maseru and Ficksburg Bridges handle , by a very great margin , more travellers than any other border posts with any country .", "As a result , thousands of six months concession permits have to be issued at these posts , drastically reducing the monitoring of cross border traffic .", "Only a massive provision of additional resources would eliminate the necessity for six months concessions .", "Junior DHA staff and security guards at the two posts complain of overwork and poor conditions of pay and service , and additional resources would be required to address these problems as well .", "A control-oriented policy to operate the posts with even limited effectiveness would need new resources for the following : 1 ) A new , larger building with more staff and windows open during the daylight shifts at Maseru Bridge .", "2 ) Separate windows for South African , Lesotho , and third state passport holders , and `` streams '' for goods lorries , private light vehicles , and pedestrians 3 ) An end to the 6 months concession system , with every traveller reporting to immigration at the windows .", "4 ) Electrically charged fencing along the entire Free State border .", "5 ) More police patrols and road blocks , operated away from the border posts themselves , where inquiries from officials are anticipated 6 ) Better training both prior to and during service for all ranks 7 ) Connections to the central MCS system and the input of data on people crossing , along with accessibility of police and immigration records through Pretoria , providing information on the frequency , nature and pattern of individual crossings .", "These changes could only be implemented at enormous additional expense .", "The physical , social , economic , and regulatory conditions in place at Maseru and Ficksburg Bridges create an environment in which circumvention of immigration and passport control regulations for personal gain is greatly facilitated , and transparent attention to legal responsibilities and procedures is discouraged .", "There is no document , permit , regulation , or procedure required by South Africa at the border that can not be obtained , ignored , or circumvented at a price .", "There is no form of regulation that would do anything but exacerbate the environment for corruption without the commitment of very significant additional resources .", "In the absence of such an increased outlay , border control produces border corruption .", "This report argues , conversely , that the harmonisation of regulations among the three services working at the border , the easing of travel requirements for Lesotho and South African citizens , and the scaling down of immigration service operations would do much to reduce or even eliminate this environment for corruption .", "Are existing border controls at all effective in controlling the movement of unauthorized migrants from both Lesotho to South", "Immigration officials say that in practice they are not .", "Nor is this simply a result of corruption .", "Lesotho citizens are given visitors ' visas as long as they have valid passports , and South African identity documents have never been difficult for them to obtain .", "Those who really wish to cross without documents can easily use the river or `` jump the fence '' .", "The SAMP surveys reported here demonstrate the great number of", "Basotho who have significant regular involvement in South African society ; the difficulty of separating Lesotho nationals from the rest of South Africa 's population ; and the futility and waste involved in efforts to keep them out .", "The data show that a most of those who cross the border to South Africa go to the border towns and the neighbouring areas , and soon return to", "Most Basotho go to South Africa to purchase goods and attend to personal matters .", "Based on the annual statistics from", "DHA , large numbers of Basotho go to South Africa for business purposes and thus help to support the economies of the border towns .", "The economies of the border towns are heavily dependant upon Basotho who buy goods and services .", "Stringent border controls would impact negatively on the economic situation in the border towns .", "Some 63 % of respondents interviewed in a survey of border-crossers noted that they experienced problems crossing the border .", "The problems mentioned by most respondents were long queues and slow service .", "Other complaints included irregular and corrupt procedures , unfair and hostile attitudes and behaviour on the part of SA officials , poor facilities , discrimination against black travellers , overly stringent and inconvenient restrictions on travel , and favouritism towards certain known individuals .", "Asked what should be done to improve border crossing , 47 % said it should be easier for people to get six-month permits .", "Almost 72 % noted that it is not at all likely for someone to be caught while crossing the border illegally .", "It is hard to justify the expenditure on border controls when these have so little effect on the ability of people to cross the border when and where they choose .", "Results of the surveys indicate that the border between", "Lesotho and South Africa is a hindrance to movement but that it is not insurmountable .", "People are able to cross with or without documents with little fear of being arrested .", "They also do not mind if they are arrested and returned to Lesotho .", "There is no official revenue to be derived from passport control .", "Stamps , visas , concessions , and permits are graciously issued without charge .", "Unfortunately the delays ( at times seemingly deliberate ) and inefficiencies at Maseru and Ficksburg", "Bridges lead to the collection of significant personal revenue by officials and those members of the public who assist them , but these payments do not find their way into the government account .", "The attempt to require customs gate passes was found to be unenforceable at Maseru Bridge , and would not in any case have brought in significant additional customs or tax revenue .", "It does not appear that any increase in the monitoring of customs and tax regulation would justify the budgetary resources and major inconvenience to the general travelling public that such monitoring would incur .", "The stamping of every South African citizen and permanent resident travelling to and from Lesotho has no economic benefits .", "With regard to Lesotho nationals , unauthorized immigration , employment , free use of South African social services , and criminal activity in general have been cited as reasons why control of Lesotho passports must be maintained .", "This report suggests , however , that immigration and passport control are entirely ineffective in dealing with these problems , and do not repay the costs incurred in providing them .", "Within South Africa ,", "Lesotho citizens must have study or work permits or labour contracts in order to legally remain .", "In brief , it is simply not worthwhile to maintain border controls for the purpose of protecting the South African labour market .", "Recent statistics indicate that citizens of third states may use Lesotho and its border posts to obtain entry to and even six months concessions enabling them to reside illegally in South", "Immigration officials at Maseru Bridge , however , argued that such persons could be more effectively monitored at South", "Africa 's international airports , if cooperation with Lesotho officials stationed at Johannesburg International could be arranged .", "While SAPS officers emphasised how useful it might be if computers at passport control had information on wanted criminals , the legal status of the passport holder , or even on when and how often a particular person crossed the border , at present DHA neither collects nor has access to any such information .", "Immigration officers merely check whether the traveller has valid documents .", "At present 10 percent of travellers are `` spot searched '' , and of those caught in violation of the law , 80 percent have valid six months concessions .", "Criminals wish to avoid the inconvenience , delay , and risk of illegal crossing just like everyone else , and officials of both services noted that the documents of criminals are most often quite in order .", "Rivalries and an underlying lack of coordination among the public agencies serving at the border emerged when senior police officers were asked to comment on whether , as at smaller posts , the SAPS might run all operations , as they did before 1994 .", "If some of the savings would be given over to them for expanded and improved services , senior police officers at both Maseru and", "Ficksburg Bridges favoured this plan , since they regarded immigration as of little use in itself .", "This would allow police to concentrate on crime control while facilitating the freer and more productive movement of the ordinary public , and to coordinate passport , permit , and crime control operations with the MCS within a single service .", "While free movement through the posts might encourage Basotho to attempt to work illegally , better police services , coordinated at a higher level , would be a more effective means of dealing with this .", "Senior officers at Ladybrand pointed out , however , that SAPS investigators regularly arrest members of their own service for taking bribes , and for assisting criminal escapes and the transport of stolen vehicles and contraband at posts on all", "South Africa 's borders .", "If South Africa wished to withdraw immigration services from the border this could be more than compensated for by increasing resources and cooperation in policing .", "This would allow for a more effective concentration on both undocumented migration and cross-border crime , as passport control presently does little to control either one , without inconveniencing the law-abiding public .", "Joint patrols for illegal crossing and smuggling along the river itself might become feasible , along with more effective cooperative efforts to control the crime syndicates that span the border .", "An example is the current close cooperation between the", "Lesotho vehicle theft unit and the SAPS .", "Criminals based in", "Lesotho who steal livestock and attack farms in the Free State use the river to cross and re-cross , and immigration and passport control at the posts play virtually no role in controlling these sorts of crime .", "The river crossings for the most part connect Free State farms with Lesotho villages , and most illegal crossings take place where there is not a formal border post for a considerable distance , such as between Maseru and Van Rooyen 's Gate .", "Border fencing , where it has not been completely destroyed , has no practical effect on crime or unauthorized crossing .", "Beefing up the SANDF presence on the Free State-Lesotho border , with its attendant increase in expenditure , is in any event not what the government or the army desire , and there are currently plans to close down the SANDF base at Ladybrand altogether .", "Officials of the Lesotho Government might well agree to the removal of South African DHA services from the border .", "If the DHA feels passports must be stamped , all Basotho could be allowed to get an automatic and free six months concession , which would provide a stamp and put them in the system twice a year at least .", "Virtually every business and professional leader in both", "Ladybrand/Manyatseng and Ficksburg/Meqheleng has important interests , enterprises and associations across the border in", "Their activities generate economic development , and thereby the private employment and public revenue that benefit government and help pay for border services .", "According to this view , DHA operations would be more productive for the region and the country if they facilitated rather than hindered such legitimate , taxable economic activity .", "Eastern Free State business people believe they could not survive in business without personal `` connections '' at the border .", "Border service officials , they claim , have turned the border into an `` own income-generating scheme '' , and that official forms and procedures are required simply to encourage business to pay on the spot to circumvent or manipulate them .", "Business leaders suggest that passport control might well be abandoned , as it encourages rather than reduces illegal activity .", "In any case , they insist that it is impossible to do business at all without six months concessions , which ought to be automatic for business travellers .", "They further request that business people on both sides of the valley should have special permits or a reciprocal bi-national arrangement , as a good deal of time is wasted at the border .", "Good cross-border relations , especially in the form of harmonisation of legal regulations , reciprocal permissions and agreements , and better working relationships are desired by businesses on both sides .", "The problem of poor bi-lateral relations was particularly emphasized by black business located in the border townships .", "Business people in Ladybrand/Manyatseng and Ficksburg / Meqheleng feel that free movement for Lesotho and South Africa citizens would encourage and promote cross-border economic activity without cost or disadvantage to South Africa .", "Tourism is currently the fastest growing sector of the Eastern", "Free State economy .", "Such growth depends directly upon the integration of the Eastern Free State and Lesotho into a single complex of attractions , with routes crossing and re-crossing the border at various points within a single tour .", "Rather than eyesores that delay , obstruct , and spoil the cross-border travel enjoyment of tourists , the border posts ought to be the gateways to the pleasures of the valley , with public conveniences , pleasant settings , and tourist information and fast , friendly services .", "The models of post operation need to shift from movement control to tourist movement incentive and facilitation .", "Public transport services are very poorly managed at the border posts .", "Lesotho and Free State taxis can not ( officially ) cross the border to deliver passengers to the other side without a special and expensive ( R300 for three months ) group-tour permit .", "After Lesotho passengers are dropped at the Lesotho side , they must walk with their baggage across the bridge to the South", "Africa post , stand in line at passport control if they have no six months concession , and then walk again a half a kilometre up the long hill on the Ladybrand road , where taxis heading to towns in the Free State and Gauteng are allowed to load .", "On the issue of farm labour , it is extremely difficult to prevent Basotho who have been crossing the river without documentation for generations from doing so now .", "They are aware , conversely , that the permit system can serve positively as a legal protection , as it prevents farmers who employ Basotho without permits from simply having them arrested and deported when the time comes to pay them their small wages .", "There is simply no way to prevent the daily casual use of the informal river and fence crossings visible every few hundred metres along the entire length of the Free State - Lesotho border .", "In conclusion , certain benefits might follow directly from the reduction or removal of passport control at the posts .", "The governments would be able to provide other necessary services in with physically more manageable and attractive infrastructure in the same space .", "South Africa could create a more friendly , supportive atmosphere among the general public , including valued business people , tourists , and professionals , as well as ordinary travellers .", "Business , agriculture , transport , tourism , cultural education , and cross-border co-operation could be greatly enhanced in the Caledon Valley through the easing and harmonisation of border regulations , leading to economic development , job creation , increased public revenue and public services in the border districts .", "The first principle underlying maximum utilisation of resources , increase of revenues , and mutually beneficial inter-state relations is that Lesotho be accorded particular status and treatment in border management .", "This is because of the tremendous volumes of traffic crossing in both directions at the border posts , reflecting a high degree of economic and social integration .", "Against this background , the report identifies the following alternatives :", "While there would be returns in the form of improved control combined with service to the public , the question must be asked whether such a result would be worth the investment required to produce it .", "There is little gain for South Africa , and much loss to the people and economy of the border region , in control for control 's sake ."], "_citing_sentence": "There is corruption at border posts and the number of crossings results in long queues and slow service; 63% of border crossers experience problems.", "_claim_name": "Annexation will allow the free movement of Basotho people, goods and services", "_doc_title": "THE BORDER WITHIN: THE FUTURE OF THE LESOTHO-SOUTH AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY", "_labeled_lineIDs": [51, 52]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Khadija peddles words on street corners , in polite company she 's known as a journalist .", "Words are her only defence against impending doom , old age and iniquity - spurring her interest in what language tells us about where we are from , what we are doing and where we are headed .", "Do n't mind the headscarf , she do n't need no liberation .", "On Thursday , the foreign ministers of South Africa and Lesotho met to repair any damage the elements may have wrought on the `` walls '' between the two countries .", "By KHADIJA PATEL .", "`` I let my neighbour know beyond the hill ; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again ... ''", "Like the neighbours in Robert Frost 's Mending Wall , South Africa and Lesotho 's foreign ministers have been discussing boundaries .", "The negotiations , it seems , straddle an awkward line between increasing collaboration and cracking down on border controls .", "`` This is a joint bi-lateral commission , so regularly we will look at things that neighbours look at , '' Minister of International Relations and Cooperation , Maite Nkoana-Mashabane , said after the conclusion of the Joint Bilateral Commission for Cooperation with the Kingdom of Lesotho .", "`` The overarching objective of the -LSB- Joint Bilateral Commission for Cooperation ( JBCC ) -RSB- is essentially to consolidate not only the historical and cultural ties that exist between South Africa and Lesotho , but also to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries , '' South Africa 's foreign minister explained .", "Lesotho 's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations , Mohlabi Kenneth Tsekoa , declared that there was a special kind of unity between the two countries .", "`` Lesotho and South Africa have been one from time immemorial , '' he said .", "Minister Nkonae-Mashabane agreed .", "`` Our commonalities do not end only with language , geography and culture , but our destiny , development and hopes are inextricably intertwined , hence our common resolve to continue working together for the emancipation of our people , '' she said .", "Despite the declarations of unity and expressions of fraternal relations by the two ministers , the meeting did also expose a particularly sore point between South Africa and Lesotho -- border control .", "In recent years , cross-border crimes affecting both countries have strained diplomatic relations between South Africa and Lesotho .", "In response to complaints of cattle theft from across the border , South Africa tightened border restrictions in 2010 ahead of the soccer World Cup , and detained several Lesotho nationals after a spate of criminal activity along the border .", "At the time , President Zuma was quoted as saying , `` Many criminals with Lesotho passports have been arrested in South Africa . ''", "And as South Africa tightened border controls , thousands of Basotho complained that they were unable to travel out of the country , while businesses complained about the adverse effects the new controls were having on them .", "All this in spite of the JBCC which , when it was originally signed in 2001 , sought to facilitate the movement of goods and people across the Lesotho-South African border .", "When Lesotho 's Prime Minister Thomas Thabane met with President Zuma last October , he said he had pleaded with the South African president to remove all obstacles `` hampering the ease of movement between the two countries '' .", "`` I emphasised the importance of that and pleaded with South Africa to remove all obstacles hampering ease of movement and trade , '' Thabane said .", "While President Zuma did give an undertaking to ease some of these obstacles , border control has remained a sore point between the two countries .", "The meeting of the two foreign ministers on Thursday sought to smooth over some of the ill feeling that these moves inspired .", "`` Today 's focus was equally on increased bilateral trade and investment and what we need to do to ease cross-border movement , '' Nkoana-Mashabane said .", "During the Thabo Mbeki administration , the two governments signed the JBCC , which was conceived as a strategic partnership to assist Lesotho to accelerate its economic development and ease cross-border movement between Lesotho and South Africa .", "Implementation has , however , been slow , and the unacceptable rate of development in Lesotho has been blamed by some on the failure to implement the principles of the JBCC .", "In October last year , the Basotho Foreign Minister complained that previous JBCC agreements signed between Lesotho and South Africa had not been effective , owing to `` ailing relations between Lesotho and South Africa '' .", "`` We keep the wall between us as we go . ''", "When pushed on what exactly the discussions on cross-border movement entailed , Nkoana-Mashabane said one of the key issues raised at these meetings was `` securitisation '' .", "Lesotho 's foreign minister has previously said South Africa 's principal reservations about easing cross-border movement stemmed from concerns that Basotho travel documents were getting into the wrong hands .", "`` South Africa 's main concern is that our passport is easily accessible to foreign nationals who violate it by using it to enter South Africa to commit crime , '' Thabane said .", "`` We assured South Africa that we were already working on improving our passport . ''", "Nkoana-Mashabane on Thursday said that her counterpart had reassured her that `` they -LSB- would -RSB- be using documents that are verifiable and identifiable '' .", "`` We 've also said that the Kingdom of Lesotho government confirmed that they are finalising their population registry .", "They are finalising the production of their documents , -LSB- and -RSB- we will also be working together with our custom officials to respect these documents and handle them with care , '' she said .", "`` From both sides , that our people are going to be treated with respect when they present themselves at the customs gates , so we continue to facilitate this movement of goods , services but above all , people . ''", "Lesotho 's geographic location - being entirely surrounded by South Africa - makes it extremely difficult to separate the fortunes of one from the other .", "Ever since the establishment of Lesotho as a British protectorate in 1868 , Basotho nationals have participated overwhelmingly in the South African economy as wage labourers , traders , produce exporters and retail consumers .", "Johnny Steinberg , writing for the Institute for Security Studies in 2005 , put it this way : `` -LSB- Lesotho 's -RSB- citizens have always participated in the South African economy , and always will . ''", "He added , `` -LSB- S -RSB- everal commentators have argued that the South African state has neither the capacity nor the moral authority to keep Lesotho 's citizens out of South Africa ; that border controls between the two countries are bound to whittle away , whether de jure or merely in practice ; that the raison d'etre for Lesotho 's sovereignty vanished at the end of Apartheid , and that political incorporation into South Africa is inevitable -- or at very least , highly desirable -- in the long run . ''", "Incorporation into South Africa nonetheless appears to be the furthest thing from the minds of the two nations ' top diplomats for now .", "Like the neighbour from across the hill in Frost 's poem , South Africa still believes in mending the wall , not breaking it down .", "`` Good fences make good neighbours . ''", "Photo : Herdsmen guide their cattle towards grazing areas near Makopanong village in eastern Lesotho , July 31 , 2011 .", "Winter temperatures in the southern African mountain kingdom often fall below freezing and heavy snow fell recently there and in parts of neighbouring South Africa .", "Daily Maverick has temporarily suspended comments on the site ."], "_citing_sentence": "This is sometimes made even more difficult by SA government actions as before the World Cup in 2010 when border restrictions were tightened making it almost impossible for Basotho to leave their country.", "_claim_name": "Annexation will allow the free movement of Basotho people, goods and services", "_doc_title": "Lesotho and South Africa: \u2018Good fences make good neighbours\u2019 | Daily Maverick", "_labeled_lineIDs": [16, 18]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 66, "_topic_name": "This House believes Lesotho should be annexed by South Africa"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["NASA gives us the lowdown on the Star Trek 's Starship Enterprise bit.ly / 29WlKrM snpy.tv / 2abIeWF", "Viet Dinh has been called a `` political pit bull '' and `` a foot soldier '' for Attorney General John Ashcroft .", "But the 36-year-old author of the Patriot Act prefers to be called an `` attendant of freedom . ''", "In May 2001 , the professor of law at Georgetown University was tapped by the Justice Department to work for two years as an assistant attorney general , working primarily on judicial nominations for the department .", "But three months later the World Trade Center towers collapsed , and Dinh was drafted to work on the USA Patriot Act , a bill that would give the government some of its most controversial surveillance powers .", "The bill , coupled with the government 's subsequent treatment of immigrants and native-born citizens , prompted critics to charge the administration with overthrowing `` 800 years of democratic tradition . ''", "Ironically , Dinh is an immigrant himself .", "The youngest of seven children born in Vietnam , he was 7 years old when communists took over the country and imprisoned his father , a city councilman , for `` reeducation . ''", "Three years later , Dinh 's mother escaped with him and five of his siblings to the United States .", "His father arrived eight years later .", "This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links .", "Contact wiredlabs@wired.com to report an issue .", "Dinh graduated from Harvard Law School and clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor .", "He has had a hand in many high-profile issues , including the Whitewater investigation and the impeachment trial of former President Clinton .", "In 2000 , he also wrote a friend-of-the-court brief for the Supreme Court on behalf of Florida voters who favored George W. Bush 's win in the contested presidential election .", "He once said that he was drawn to study the government because he `` had seen government that did not work , '' and he was drawn to the Republican Party because of his hatred for communism .", "Wired News spoke to Dinh about the Patriot Act and its effect on the liberties of American citizens .", "Wired News : The Patriot Act was drafted and passed quite hastily in response to the crisis of 9/11 .", "Do we still need it ?", "Viet Dinh : There is no question that the last 28 months of peace in America , where not another life has been lost on American soil to terrorism , would have been much more difficult without the USA Patriot Act .", "I do think we still need it .", "The terrorists are out there trying to reinvent themselves .", "It behooves us all to think about how we ( could ) better do our job to close the barn door for the next horse , not just for the last one , and to be proactive about ways to combat terrorism .", "WN : An estimated 5,000 people have been subjected to detention since 9/11 .", "Of those , only five -- three noncitizens and two citizens -- were charged with terrorism-related crimes and one was convicted .", "How do we justify such broad-sweeping legislation that has resulted in very few terrorist-related convictions ?", "Dinh : I 've heard the 5,000 number .", "The official numbers released from the Department of Justice indicate approximately 500 persons have been charged with immigration violations and have been deported who have been of interest to the 9/11 investigation .", "Also , approximately 300 individuals have been criminally charged who are of interest to the 9/11 investigation .", "Of the persons criminally charged , approximately half have either pled guilty or been convicted after trial .", "It may well be that a number of citizens were not charged with terrorism-related crimes , but they need not be .", "Where the department has suspected people of terrorism it will prosecute those persons for other violations of law , rather than wait for a terrorist conspiracy to fully develop and risk the potential that that conspiracy will be missed and thereby sacrificing innocent American lives in the process .", "WN : In his recent State of the Union address President Bush pushed to have parts of the Patriot Act , such as section 215 , renewed when their sunset clause kicks in next year .", "Did you intend for these sweeping laws and other powers granted in the Patriot Act to be remedial measures or long-standing legislation ?", "Dinh : I did not intend any of these provisions , nor did Congress intend the provisions , to be having such wide-sweeping effect that your characterization would make it out to be .", "I think that is a fundamental mischaracterization of both the meaning , the effect and the operation of the law and the interpretation of the law .", "Section 215 only follows the long-standing practice of ( allowing ) criminal investigators to be able to seek business records that are relevant to criminal investigations .", "Section 215 gives the same power to national security investigators in order to seek the same records with very important safeguards .", "First , a judge has to approve such orders , not simply a clerk of the court , as in ordinary criminal investigations .", "Second , the Department of Justice is under a statutory obligation in section 215 to report to Congress once every six months on the manner and the number of times it has used that section .", "And third , it calls for special protection by requiring that the FBI not target an investigation based solely on First Amendment activities .", "There has been a lot of hue and cry regarding specific provisions with USA Patriot Act that is predicated upon a misunderstanding .", "Once we engage in this national conversation that the president has called for , all the facts will come out , and we will see that the fears are unfounded .", "WN : Has n't a national conversation been lacking until now ?", "The act was passed very quickly .", "There has n't really been any national debate or any willingness by the government to debate this issue .", "Dinh : The USA Patriot Act was passed after six weeks of deliberation by Congress .", "That is a very quick process in the normal legislative agenda , but then again the six weeks following Sept. 11 was a very unique time in our national history and also in the legislative process .", "For those six weeks , key members of Congress , including the members of the Senate and House judiciary committees , sat down and rolled up their sleeves .", "And while the process was very quick , it was also the most deliberate process that I have seen in Washington , D.C.", "With respect to the ongoing national conversation , I think it should be noted that the administration and the Department of Justice has , within the last six months to a year , given incredible amounts of information to Congress regarding how the USA Patriot Act has been implemented , to provide to Congress the information that Congress needs in order to do the proper oversight and debate for the next level -- that is , the reauthorization debate in 2005 .", "WN : In October 2002 you told The Washington Post that civil liberties were not being compromised .", "Do you still feel that way even after the Jose Padilla case ?", "Dinh : I do feel that way .", "I think right now at this time and this place the greatest threat to American liberty comes from al-Qaida and their sympathizers rather than from the men and women of law enforcement and national security who seek to defend America and her people against that threat .", "That does n't mean that each and every single one of us agrees with everything that is done in the name of the fight against terror .", "While I would do things somewhat differently in minor aspects in the war on terror , I do recognize that our Defense Department officials have an awesome responsibility to play in not only prosecuting the war in Afghanistan and Iraq but also continuing to protect the American homeland .", "WN : Is there anything that you would change about the Patriot Act in light of how it 's been implemented ?", "Dinh : I think the overall answer is generally no .", "I do , however , recognize that the act has been mischaracterized and misunderstood and has engendered a lot of well-meaning and genuine fear , even if that fear is unfounded .", "The issue is not one of substance but one of perception .", "But perception is also very important because we do not want the people , however many of them , to fear the government when that fear is unfounded .", "WN : But the government has mischaracterized how the Patriot Act can be interpreted .", "For instance , the government has told the American people that in many cases these laws can not be applied to citizens and in fact some of them have been applied to U.S. citizens .", "Dinh : There are a number of provisions within the USA Patriot Act that have a tremendous effect on our war against terror .", "However , they are tools that can be used in general criminal investigations as well .", "At no time do I think that anybody intentionally sought to elide the difference between the two .", "The reason why you need tools of general applicability is that terrorists do not go around wearing an `` I am a terrorist '' T-shirt , and these normal investigative tools are the ones that allow us not only to deter terrorism but also to investigate crimes .", "WN : Some critics have called you the purveyor of the most sweeping curtailment of freedom since the McCarthy era .", "Is that an exaggeration ?", "Dinh : I think it is very easy to employ sweeping rhetoric and personal denunciations .", "I think it is much harder to back it up with facts and concrete examples .", "I seek to engage in this conversation by giving as much facts as I can and letting the efforts of the Department of Justice , the administration and my own to be judged by the people , by history and by eternity .", "Where I err , I obviously am not hesitant in recognizing my mistakes .", "I wish people who criticize me would just pick up the phone and ask me specific questions , like we are engaging right now , so that we can isolate the issues of difference , so that we can engage in a constructive dialogue rather than a destructive dialogue .", "WN : Some Asian Americans have accused you of dishonoring your own struggle and background as a refugee and immigrant .", "What do you say to charges that the law you wrote is hostile to immigrants and noncitizens ?", "Dinh : I come to this country having known government that does not work , either through the chaos of war or through the repression of totalitarian communism .", "In each and every thing that I do in my life -- in the law and as my life as a public official -- I ask myself how can I better serve the cause of freedom and the cause of good government .", "And while some may disagree with the decisions I make , just as some may disagree with the overall strategy on terror , I hope that people will recognize that there is no dishonor , there is no disconnect , there is no irony -- just an honest effort of a person trying to serve his country at her time of greatest need according to his best ability , however limited that may be .", "WN : You once wrote that the rule of government was to maximize the zone of liberty around each person .", "You said , `` Security without liberty -- it 's not an America I would want to live in . ''", "Dinh : I firmly believe that liberty should not be traded off for some sense of security .", "I think the harder task is to determine our best tools we can have in order to protect our security , while at the same time ascertain the safeguards that will be necessary in order to protect against abuse of that tool and misuse of it at the expense of privacy or liberty .", "WN : So what do you say to Americans who feel that the Patriot Act has shrunk their zone of liberty ?", "Dinh : If indeed that is your fear or that is your perception then engage in the democratic process .", "Back up your argument , back up your belief with facts , marshal evidence in order to convince those who are engaged in the process of governance .", "I have the utmost respect for those who engage in this ( national conversation ) , even when I am unfairly maligned because those persons are willing to engage in order to advance the national conversation and contribute meaningfully to our process of governance .", "Somebody once said that democracy is not a spectator sport .", "We should all applaud each other for getting into the game and risking injury because of it , because at the end of the day we all win if we do engage .", "Gore to Bush : Rescind Patriot Act", "Court Rules Against Patriot Act", "A Pledge for Privacy Protection", "Keep an eye on Privacy Matters"], "_citing_sentence": "The issue of the erosion of a few minor liberties of (states like the US's) citizens should be overlooked in favour of the much greater issue of protecting the very existence of that state.", "_claim_name": "Western countries already benefit from extremely liberal laws.", "_doc_title": "The Patriot Act Is Your Friend | WIRED", "_labeled_lineIDs": [63, 67]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["NASA gives us the lowdown on the Star Trek 's Starship Enterprise bit.ly / 29WlKrM snpy.tv / 2abIeWF", "The Mumbai terrorists used an array of commercial technologies -- from Blackberries to GPS navigators to anonymous e-mail accounts -- to pull off their heinous attacks .", "For years , terrorists and insurgents around the world have used off-the-shelf hardware and software to stay ahead of bigger , better-funded authorities .", "In 2007 , former U.S. Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid complained that , with their Radio Shack stockpile of communications gear , `` this enemy is better networked than we are . ''", "The strikes that killed at least 174 appears to be another example of how wired today 's `` global guerrillas '' can be .", "As they approached Mumbai by boat , the terrorists `` steered the vessel using GPS equipment , '' according to the Daily Mail .", "A satellite phone was later found aboard .", "Once the coordinated attacks began , the terrorists were on their cell phones constantly .", "They used BlackBerries `` to monitor international reaction to the atrocities , and to check on the police response via the internet , '' the Courier Mail reports .", "The gunmen were able to trawl the internet for information after cable television feeds to the two luxury hotels and office block were cut by the authorities .", "The men looked beyond the instant updates of the Indian media to find worldwide reaction to the events in Mumbai , and to keep abreast of the movements of the soldiers sent to stop them .", "Outside of Leopold 's Cafe , `` one of the gunmen seemed to be talking on a mobile phone even as he used his other hand to fire off rounds , '' an eyewitness told The New York Times .", "The terror group then took credit for the bloodshed with a series of e-mails to local media .", "They used a `` remailer '' service to mask their identities ; earlier attacks were claimed from cyber cafes ."], "_citing_sentence": "Escalation is the name of the game imposed on governments around the world by terrorists for example the Mumbai terrorists used GPS systems to guide them into Mumbai, attacks were coordinated on cell and satellite phones and Blackberrys were used to monitor the international reaction .", "_claim_name": "National security is something that must be protected even at the cost of civil liberties.", "_doc_title": "How Gadgets Helped Mumbai Attackers | WIRED", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 67, "_topic_name": "This House Believes civil liberties should be sacrificed for the greater good"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The Honorable Colin J. Powell", "Secretary of State", "U.S. Department of State", "Dear Secretary Powell : I am writing to convey our strong dismay over recent U.S. government actions towards the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) .", "We are familiar with the Bush administration 's deep reservations towards the court .", "Administration officials have frequently expressed their concern about the ICC 's potential to become a politically motivated vehicle advancing an anti-American agenda .", "While we strongly believe the treaty contains ample safeguards -- many of which were crafted by U.S. negotiators -- I am not writing to defend the efficacy of those checks and balances .", "U.S. officials are engaged in a worldwide campaign pressing small , vulnerable and often fragile democratic governments to sign bilateral agreements with Washington .", "As you know , these agreements would exempt 270 million Americans and foreign nationals working under contract to the U.S. government from the authority of the court .", "While we believe the agreements the United States is proposing violate the ICC treaty by going beyond the letter and spirit of Article 98 , I am not writing to argue the unlawfulness of these instruments .", "Whatever the administration thinks of the International Criminal Court , its tactics in pursuing these bilateral agreements are unconscionable .", "Other governments can plainly see that punitive measures are being used primarily against poor and relatively weak states with few options other than to give in to the United States .", "Signing an agreement will put an ICC state party in breach of its legal obligations and at odds with other important national interests .", "This raw misuse of U.S. power makes the policy all the more objectionable .", "The administration 's hostility to the International Criminal Court is particularly ill-conceived given the progress made in establishing the ICC on the strongest possible basis .", "The confidence of governments worldwide in the court has been strengthened by the recent inauguration of 18 qualified , competent judges .", "Most of these jurists come from countries closely allied with the United States .", "The election of Luis Moreno Ocampo , most recently the Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard Law School , as the court 's Chief Prosecutor has further enhanced the court 's credibility .", "No one believes Moreno Ocampo is likely to indulge in unwarranted prosecutions of American citizens .", "In this context I want to draw your attention to the tactics U.S. officials are taking in their campaign to obtain bilateral agreements .", "We are aware of many examples of American diplomats going far beyond the provisions of the American Servicemembers ' Protection Act ( ASPA ) to pressure small countries .", "This excessive pressure can not be blamed on the ASPA .", "The following examples crystallize our profound concern .", "Croatia : U.S. Ambassador Lawrence Rossin has recently published an article in Croatia ( it is on the U.S. Embassy website ) raising questions about the viability of Croatia 's accession to NATO if Zagreb does not sign a bilateral immunity agreement .", "Bahamas : U.S. Ambassador Richard Blankenship has publicly warned that if the Bahamas did not support the U.S. position on the ICC , a significant amount of U.S. aid would be withheld , including aid for paving and lighting an airport runway .", "CARICOM : We understand that on May 23 , U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Rademaker told foreign ministers of the CARICOM that they would lose the benefits of the New Horizons program if they did not sign agreements .", "The program , originally conceived to provide hurricane relief to countries at risk from tropical storms , now includes rural dentistry and veterinary programs .", "Comoros : According to a Comorese diplomat , the United States has informed his country that a previously promised USAID project has been relocated to Djibouti following the latter 's signing of a bilateral agreement .", "Niger : According to a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs official , the United States has threatened to suspend cooperative development projects if Niger does not sign a bilateral agreement .", "Honduras : Government officials and legislatures have stated that the United States threatened important non-military assistance to Honduras if an agreement was not ratified by July 1 .", "Bosnia : Before Bosnia 's signature and subsequent ratification of an agreement , Bosnian Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic said that the U.S. message was that it would be `` very difficult to continue military and other assistance '' if Bosnia did not sign .", "We understand that Bosnia was told that the Department of State would review `` dispensable programs , '' including economic aid .", "Furthermore , while the American Servicemembers ' Protection Act pertains only to ICC states parties , U.S. diplomats have obtained agreements from twenty-six non-states parties as compared to nineteen states parties .", "These non-states parties have no obligation to cooperate with the court .", "We have also heard of cases where U.S. pressure is chilling state interest in ratifying the ICC treaty .", "The Philippines : According to Philippine government officials , quoted in the local media , the United States has linked $ 30 million in additional military assistance to prevent Manila from ratifying the ICC Treaty .", "Georgia : Government sources have told Human Rights Watch that ratification of the ICC Treaty is stalled in the President 's office as `` a direct consequence of U.S. pressure . ''", "Georgia has already signed an immunity agreement .", "It would be good to know whether these accounts are exaggerated , or as I suspect , not only true , but part of a larger pattern .", "Such demands on the part of the United States weaken support for the rule of law worldwide and respect for human rights .", "They also deplete increasingly scarce U.S. diplomatic capital and credibility .", "Moreover , because most ICC member states are democracies with a relatively strong commitment to the rule of law , the threatened aid cutoffs represent a sanction primarily targeting states that abide by democratic values .", "Indeed , we find it ironic that at a time when the United States has been increasing assistance to countries with poor human rights records like Pakistan and Uzbekistan , it is threatening to cut aid to struggling democracies in the Caribbean , Latin America , and Africa over this issue .", "U.S. diplomats have tried to blame the European Union 's support for the ICC as the cause of pressure many small countries feel in `` choosing '' between the United States and Europe .", "It is clear , however , that the pressure is coming from the United States , since the European Union is not threatening punitive measures over the ICC .", "These pressures are perceived as petty and mean-spirited by the U.S. government 's closest allies .", "Indifference to this resentment is particularly counterproductive at a time when the U.S. is seeking global cooperation in the fight against terrorism .", "We urge you to bring an end to the vendetta against the ICC that U.S. diplomats around the world have been compelled to carry out .", "This is an initiative that is likely to do far more harm to the United States than it could ever do to the court .", "This campaign is creating a legacy that will tar the Bush administration for years to come .", "With everything else taking place in the world today , the United States ought to adopt a wiser approach to the International Criminal Court .", "Abuses in Counterterrorism Operations in Nairobi and in Northeastern Kenya", "Hazardous Child Labor in Afghanistan", "Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in 90 countries worldwide , spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice \u00a9 2016 Human Rights Watch"], "_citing_sentence": "This has included significant reductions in non-military, development aid, including to countries such as South Africa, the Bahamas and Peru, as well as making threats to accession to NATO in the case of Croatia.", "_claim_name": "The BIAs were only granted following bully tactics from the United States", "_doc_title": "Letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell on US Bully Tactics against the International Criminal Court | Human Rights Watch", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23, 24]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["LSE 's Mark Kersten offers some suggestions on how the International Criminal Court can alter its image in Africa .", "This post originally appeared on the Justice in Conflict blog .", "Allegations that the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) is biased against Africa are n't going away .", "On the contrary , in the wake of the victory of Uhuru Kenyatta in Kenya 's recent Presidential elections , they seem to be increasingly common .", "Most recently , at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa this week , Ethiopia 's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn declared that the ICC is `` hunting '' Africans because of their race .", "I continue to maintain that the Court is not biased against Africa , neo-colonial nor racist .", "Africa is not uniform and many states continue to support the ICC and its mandate .", "As has often been pointed out , many African citizens do n't share the views of their governments and , in fact , would like to see them held accountable .", "At the same time , even if some cases that are n't before the Court should be , no case or situation currently before the Court should n't be .", "As Abdul Tejan-Cole writes , '' while it is true that the ICC can be lambasted for inconsistent case selection , there is not a single case before the Court that one could dismiss as being frivolous or vexatious . ''", "Moreover , in cases where the Court has functioned to bolster the legitimacy and the political and military aims of African leaders ( like Museveni in Uganda , Ouattara in Cote D'Ivoire , and Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo ) , governments have been more than happy to accept and manipulate the Court 's interventions for their own political purposes .", "At the same time , it would be folly to deny the fact that the ICC works within an international structure that is far too unequal and within an international hierarchy that no longer reflects the distribution of power in the world .", "This structure reinforces the reality that powerful states are too often shielded from accountability .", "The Court 's promise was to transcend this by being an impartial institution independent of the realpolitik machinations of institutions like the United Nations Security Council and `` great powers '' like the United States .", "It has n't been able to do so .", "That 's no secret .", "No honest advocate of international criminal justice can say that he or she is satisfied with the current reach of international criminal justice .", "The Court is selective and that is a problem .", "So how did we get here ?", "In my view , part of the problem comes down to the `` perception game '' -- how the ICC has communicated its work and decision-making .", "Too often the ICC and its strongest proponents have responded to criticisms by being reactionary and defensive rather than reflective and measured .", "Far too often the Court has blamed its negative perception on external sources , refusing to take responsibility for how it is perceived by others .", "In an interview that touched on the question of the Court 's perceived bias against Africa , Bensouda suggested that it was the media 's fault .", "More recently , when recently asked about whether the Court has dealt poorly with the perception that it is biased against Africa , Bill Pace , the head of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court , responded by apportioning blame on the media and academia .", "It is unwise and possibly even dangerous to refuse to understand how you are perceived by others , whether you are a state , an institution or an individual .", "It is a refusal that demonstrates , above all , immaturity .", "The ICC needs to -- and can -- avoid going down this path .", "But it can only do so if it is honest and accepts that it has an active role to play in the `` perception game '' .", "It also has to realise that its current messaging strategies are not working .", "Working against the Court is the fact that the playing field in the `` perception game '' is highly uneven .", "In comparison to states like Kenya and institutions like the African Union , the ICC has very few resources for counter-messaging .", "Sadly , key states that ostensibly support the Court 's work have not picked up the slack .", "But there is also another problem .", "As I recently argued , the ICC has responded to allegations of being biased by consistently repeating the same set of responses : the vast majority of African states have signed and ratified the Rome Statute ; there are numerous preliminary investigations in situations outside of Africa ; the Court can only investigate situations under its jurisdiction ; the argument that the ICC is biased is the work of a few autocrats and anti-ICC dictators afraid of justice , etc. .", "All of these arguments are , to varying degrees , true .", "The problem is that they seem to be falling on deaf ears and have been for quite some time .", "They may be well-versed amongst proponents of the Court but , again , it is worth asking : has anyone who initially believed that the ICC was biased against African been convinced that it is not ?", "So what can the ICC do ?", "Here are a few suggestions from an ICC supporter who wants to get beyond this ICC-Africa debate .", "Do n't externalise blame to the `` media '' and `` academia '' .", "If a particular article or post is unfair or inaccurate , Court officials should feel free to engage and respond .", "Some journalists and academics will be inclined to support the ICC and some will not but the institution is not unique in this instance .", "It does no good to blame academia or media and can easily come across as petulant .", "If the media is consistently not reporting the narrative that the Court is trying to establish , it is probably time to try a new communication strategy .", "Assemble a working group of experts on the politics of the ICC , including staff who work on ICC-state relations , along with communications experts .", "Ask them to come up with a professional communication strategy which does not shy away from political controversies or rely exclusively on legal arguments .", "Carefully consider where criticisms of the Court are coming from .", "Do not dismiss them out of hand .", "Again , do n't blame it on `` bad apples '' even if they clearly have a role to play .", "It is virtually impossible that a persuasive line of criticism has no legitimate grounds whatsoever .", "Invite and welcome fair critics to come to the Court and voice their opinions .", "Take the time to understand where critics and criticisms are coming from .", "Some of the suggestions below may help in this regard .", "Publicly accept that the limitations on the Court are a result of the current international political context in which the ICC operates .", "Make it clear that the Court is not satisfied with these limitations .", "Reiterate how the Court was intended to challenge and transcend the uneven distribution of power and will continue to do so .", "Publicly address the relationship between the ICC and the UN Security Council .", "This should be relatively easy as numerous key ICC figures ( including former ASP Presidents Christian Wenaweser and Bruno Stagno Ugarte and now current President Tiina Intelmann ) have written and commented on the subject .", "Accept that the proximity of this relationship has caused problems and declare a renewed commitment to the original vision of the ICC as an impartial institution independent of the Security Council .", "Accept and state that the Court 's relationship with the United States is not ideal .", "Despite the US not having ratified the Rome Statute , the US-ICC relationship gets more attention than the Court 's relationship with any other state .", "And while that relationship is undoubtedly better than it was and is of clear importance to the success of the ICC , there are clear dangers in appearing overly dependent on a powerful non-member state .", "Renew the pledge to be a Court for committed member-states above all .", "Be more transparent and open about developments in preliminary investigations taking place outside Africa .", "The Office of the Prosecutor ( OTP ) , as it regularly points out , is investigating numerous situations outside of Africa , including in Georgia , Colombia , the Korean peninsula and Afghanistan .", "However , civil society groups , academics and media have too often failed to push the OTP to state their position on these investigations .", "Consider making the theme of the next Assembly of States Parties conference `` Africa and the ICC '' .", "Invite any and all African heads of state ( or their representatives ) .", "Allow them to speak and openly debate the relationship between the Court and Africa .", "It will demonstrate a clear willingness to engage with critics and it would be a unique opportunity to apply new communications strategies .", "Of course , it is n't sufficient to suggest that this advice should be taken up by `` the ICC '' as a whole .", "The Court is composed of numerous organs and departments , all of which have constraints imposed on what they can say and how .", "As a result , some of these suggestions and messages could be taken up by the Prosecutor , some by the President and some by the President of the Assembly of States Parties .", "Moreover , it may also be worthwhile considering the creation of a communications unit and representative who represents the interests of the institution as a whole and who can speak to the legal and political challenges facing the Court .", "The allegations of the ICC being biased against Africa are a distraction from the Court 's work and its potential role in international politics .", "But while it has long been clear that these allegations ca n't be ignored , repeating the same rebukes and responses clearly is n't working .", "For too long the ICC and Africa have been talking past each other .", "It is not too late to have an open , honest and respectful conversation .", "There are two sections here .", "The first argues and concludes that the court is selective and that powerful states get away with what they like -- - with murder actually.So do their client states . .", "After this objective view , the writer goes on to offer the ICC advice on how to improve its position , perception and image.The problems which he quite rightly highlighted are structural and inform the very fabric of the ICC.No massage , lipstick or perfume will change them or improve them ."], "_citing_sentence": "A proliferation in BIAs could potentially render the ICC a court that can only try nationals of small states that do not have the leverage to get others to agree to BIAs, already the ICC is accused of bias in putting Africans on trial and ignoring the rest of the world, such agreements make this worse.", "_claim_name": "The rationale for the BIAs is flawed", "_doc_title": "Africa at LSE   \u2013  Africa and the ICC: Some Unsolicited Advice", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 68, "_topic_name": "This House would pull out of the Article 98 Agreements that prevent US soldiers from being sent to the ICC for trial"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["MONTREAL -- From one ecologist 's perspective , the American system of farming grain-fed livestock consumes resources far out of proportion to the yield , accelerates soil erosion , affects world food supply and will be changing in the future .", "`` If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people , the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million , '' David Pimentel , professor of ecology in Cornell University 's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences , reported at the July 24-26 meeting of the Canadian Society of Animal Science in Montreal .", "Or , if those grains were exported , it would boost the U.S. trade balance by $ 80 billion a year , Pimentel estimated .", "With only grass-fed livestock , individual Americans would still get more than the recommended daily allowance ( RDA ) of meat and dairy protein , according to Pimentel 's report , `` Livestock Production : Energy Inputs and the Environment . ''", "An environmental analyst and longtime critic of waste and inefficiency in agricultural practices , Pimentel depicted grain-fed livestock farming as a costly and nonsustainable way to produce animal protein .", "He distinguished grain-fed meat production from pasture-raised livestock , calling cattle-grazing a more reasonable use of marginal land .", "Animal protein production requires more than eight times as much fossil-fuel energy than production of plant protein while yielding animal protein that is only 1.4 times more nutritious for humans than the comparable amount of plant protein , according to the Cornell ecologist 's analysis .", "Tracking food animal production from the feed trough to the dinner table , Pimentel found broiler chickens to be the most efficient use of fossil energy , and beef , the least .", "Chicken meat production consumes energy in a 4:1 ratio to protein output ; beef cattle production requires an energy input to protein output ratio of 54:1 .", "( Lamb meat production is nearly as inefficient at 50:1 , according to the ecologist 's analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics .", "Other ratios range from 13:1 for turkey meat and 14:1 for milk protein to 17:1 for pork and 26:1 for eggs . )", "Animal agriculture is a leading consumer of water resources in the United States , Pimentel noted .", "Grain-fed beef production takes 100,000 liters of water for every kilogram of food .", "Raising broiler chickens takes 3,500 liters of water to make a kilogram of meat .", "In comparison , soybean production uses 2,000 liters for kilogram of food produced ; rice , 1,912 ; wheat , 900 ; and potatoes , 500 liters .", "`` Water shortages already are severe in the Western and Southern United States and the situation is quickly becoming worse because of a rapidly growing U.S. population that requires more water for all of its needs , especially agriculture , '' Pimentel observed .", "Livestock are directly or indirectly responsible for much of the soil erosion in the United States , the ecologist determined .", "On lands where feed grain is produced , soil loss averages 13 tons per hectare per year .", "Pasture lands are eroding at a slower pace , at an average of 6 tons per hectare per year .", "But erosion may exceed 100 tons on severely overgrazed pastures , and 54 percent of U.S. pasture land is being overgrazed .", "`` More than half the U.S. grain and nearly 40 percent of world grain is being fed to livestock rather than being consumed directly by humans , '' Pimentel said .", "`` Although grain production is increasing in total , the per capita supply has been decreasing for more than a decade .", "Clearly , there is reason for concern in the future . ''", "From `` Livestock Production : Energy Inputs and the Environment ''", "By David Pimentel -- WHERE 'S THE GRAIN ?", "The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the entire American population .", "HERBIVORES ON THE HOOF .", "Each year an estimated 41 million tons of plant protein is fed to U.S. livestock to produce an estimated 7 million tons of animal protein for human consumption .", "About 26 million tons of the livestock feed comes from grains and 15 million tons from forage crops .", "For every kilogram of high-quality animal protein produced , livestock are fed nearly 6 kg of plant protein .", "FOSSIL FUEL TO FOOD FUEL .", "On average , animal protein production in the U.S. requires 28 kilocalories ( kcal ) for every kcal of protein produced for human consumption .", "Beef and lamb are the most costly , in terms of fossil fuel energy input to protein output at 54:1 and 50:1 , respectively .", "Turkey and chicken meat production are the most efficient ( 13:1 and 4:1 , respectively ) .", "Grain production , on average , requires 3.3 kcal of fossil fuel for every kcal of protein produced .", "The U.S. now imports about 54 percent of its oil ; by the year 2015 , that import figure is expected to rise to 100 percent .", "THIRSTY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS .", "U.S. agriculture accounts for 87 percent of all the fresh water consumed each year .", "Livestock directly use only 1.3 percent of that water .", "But when the water required for forage and grain production is included , livestock 's water usage rises dramatically .", "Every kilogram of beef produced takes 100,000 liters of water .", "Some 900 liters of water go into producing a kilogram of wheat .", "Potatoes are even less `` thirsty , '' at 500 liters per kilogram .", "HOME ON THE RANGE .", "More than 302 million hectares of land are devoted to producing feed for the U.S. livestock population -- about 272 million hectares in pasture and about 30 million hectares for cultivated feed grains .", "About 90 percent of U.S. cropland is losing soil -- to wind and water erosion -- at 13 times above the sustainable rate .", "Soil loss is most severe in some of the richest farming areas ; Iowa loses topsoil at 30 times the rate of soil formation .", "Iowa has lost one-half its topsoil in only 150 years of farming -- soil that took thousands of years to form .", "PLENTY OF PROTEIN : Nearly 7 million tons ( metric ) of animal protein is produced annually in the U.S. -- enough to supply every American man , woman and child with 75 grams of animal protein a day .", "With the addition of 34 grams of available plant protein , a total of 109 grams of protein is available per capita .", "The RDA ( recommended daily allowance ) per adult per day is 56 grams of protein for a mixed diet .", "OUT TO PASTURE .", "If all the U.S. grain now fed to livestock were exported and if cattlemen switched to grass-fed production systems , less beef would be available and animal protein in the average American diet would drop from 75 grams to 29 grams per day .", "That , plus current levels of plant-protein consumption , would still yield more than the RDA for protein ."], "_citing_sentence": "In comparison, soybean production uses 2,000 liters for kilogram of food produced; rice, 1,912; wheat, 900; and potatoes, 500 liters.", "_claim_name": "Being vegetarian helps the environment", "_doc_title": "U.S. could feed 800 million people with grain that livestock eat, Cornell ecologist advises animal scientists | Cornell Chronicle", "_labeled_lineIDs": [14]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The Yellow River valley in northern China is known as the cradle of Chinese civilisation .", "Millions of farmers might be forced to migrate It 's what the Nile is to ancient Egypt , the Tigris and Euphrates to the Babylonians .", "This is where the Chinese first learned to till and irrigate the land and where porcelain was first made 1,000 years before its `` invention '' in Europe .", "It 's not really a valley at all , more a vast expanse of plains and mountains stretching for 2,000 km from the river 's source high on the edge of the Tibetan plateau , to its mouth on the Yellow Sea .", "Along the river 's banks live a third of China 's enormous population , more than 400 million people .", "The vast plains that are irrigated by its muddy waters produce most of China 's wheat , much of its maize and even some of its rice .", "The Yellow River is also known as `` China 's sorrow '' .", "The name comes from its propensity to run wild , regularly inundating large swathes of the North China plain , and drowning tens of thousands of its inhabitants .", "Overused and abused", "But today the Yellow River is more famous for the exact opposite .", "For more than 200 days of the year this once mighty river no longer makes it to the sea .", "It 's like the Rhine petering out in central Germany , or the Nile drying up in northern Sudan .", "In large part humans are to blame , in particular China 's communist rulers , who have long believed nature should be bent to man 's will .", "The river has been overused and abused .", "Dozens of dams block its flow , drawing off huge quantities of water to grow cotton in the desert .", "In 50 years the communists have done more to destroy the river than their predecessors in the last 5,000 .", "Today the whole region teeters on the edge of disaster .", "Global warming could push it over the edge .", "Crops threat In the next 50 years temperatures in Northern China are expected to rise by 3 to 4C .", "Guide to climate change", "As they do , the already arid climate will dry further .", "The drought that has afflicted the region for the last six years would become permanent .", "The whole Yellow River valley will dry up .", "The impact on crops would be dramatic .", "Scientists predict yields in China 's main wheat growing region could fall by 20 % to 40 % .", "This would force China to import huge quantities of wheat , maize and even rice .", "But worse will be the effect upon those who live along the river .", "Economic policy has contributed to the river 's decline", "Some are now predicting the creation of a dustbowl that would dwarf that of the American mid-west during the 1930s .", "That forced hundreds of thousands of Americans farmers off the land in a mass migration to California .", "But in China the effect would be much worse .", "Literally tens of millions of farmers could be pushed off the land , and China has no California for them to move to .", "Instead they would flood in to the cities , further swelling the ranks of the unemployed and dispossessed .", "For China 's leaders , it 's a frightening prospect .", "In the next 50 years temperatures in Northern China are expected to rise by 3 to 4C ."], "_citing_sentence": "Already some of the biggest rivers such as China's Yellow river do not reach the sea.", "_claim_name": "Being vegetarian helps the environment", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Yellow River 'drying up'", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9, 10, 22]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Your health , your choices Information navigation", "See what the NHS offers", "Food can become contaminated at any stage during its production , processing or cooking .", "For example , it can become contaminated by :", "Cross-contamination can occur , for example , if you prepare raw chicken on a chopping board and do n't wash the board before preparing food that wo n't be cooked ( such as salad ) , as the harmful bacteria can be spread from the chopping board to the salad .", "It can also occur if raw meat is stored above ready-to-eat meals and juices from the meat drip on to the food below .", "See preventing food poisoning for information about reducing these risks .", "Food contamination is usually caused by bacteria , but it can also sometimes be caused by viruses or parasites .", "Some of the main sources of contamination are described below .", "In the UK , campylobacter bacteria are the most common cause of food poisoning .", "The bacteria are usually found on raw or undercooked meat ( particularly poultry ) , unpasteurised milk and untreated water .", "The incubation period ( the time between eating contaminated food and the start of symptoms ) for food poisoning caused by campylobacter is usually between two and five days .", "The symptoms usually last less than a week .", "Salmonella bacteria are often found in raw or undercooked meat , raw eggs , milk , and other dairy products .", "The incubation period is usually between 12 and 72 hours .", "The symptoms usually last around four to seven days .", "Read more about salmonella infections .", "Listeria bacteria may be found in a range of chilled , `` ready-to-eat '' foods , including pre-packed sandwiches , cooked sliced meats and p\u00e2t\u00e9 , and soft cheeses ( such as Brie or Camembert ) .", "All of these foods should be eaten by their `` use-by '' dates .", "This is particularly important for pregnant women , because a listeria infection ( known as listeriosis ) in pregnancy can cause pregnancy and birth complications , and can result in miscarriage .", "The incubation period can vary considerably , from a few days to several weeks .", "The symptoms will usually pass within three days .", "Read more about listeriosis .", "Escherichia coli , often known as E. coli , are bacteria found in the digestive systems of many animals , including humans .", "Most strains are harmless but some can cause serious illness .", "Most cases of E. coli food poisoning occur after eating undercooked beef ( particularly mince , burgers and meatballs ) or drinking unpasteurised milk .", "The incubation period for food poisoning caused by E. coli is typically one to eight days .", "The symptoms usually last for a few days or weeks .", "Shigella bacteria can contaminate any food that has been washed in contaminated water .", "Symptoms typically develop within seven days of eating contaminated food and last for up to a week .", "An infection caused by Shigella bacteria is known as bacillary dysentery or shigellosis .", "See the topic on dysentery for more information about it .", "The virus that most commonly causes diarrhoea and vomiting is the norovirus .", "It 's easily spread from person to person , through contaminated food or water .", "Raw shellfish , particularly oysters , can also be a source of infection .", "The incubation period typically lasts 24-48 hours and the symptoms usually pass in a couple of days .", "In young children , the rotavirus is a common cause of infection from contaminated food .", "The symptoms usually develop within a week and pass in around five to seven days .", "In the UK , food poisoning caused by parasites is rare .", "It 's much more common in the developing world .", "Parasitic infections that can be spread in contaminated food include :", "The symptoms of food poisoning caused by a parasite usually develop within 10 days of eating contaminated food , although sometimes it may be weeks before you feel unwell .", "If left untreated , the symptoms can last a long time -- sometimes several weeks or even a few months ."], "_citing_sentence": "Salmonella come from raw meat, poultry and dairy products and most cases of escherichia coli (E-Coli) food poisoning occur after eating undercooked beef or drinking unpasteurised milk.", "_claim_name": "Being vegetarian reduces risks of food poisoning", "_doc_title": "Food poisoning - Causes - NHS Choices", "_labeled_lineIDs": [25]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["David Adam , environment correspondent", "Sunday 21 June 2009 13.32 EDT", "Brazilian authorities investigating illegal deforestation have accused the suppliers of several UK supermarkets of selling meat linked to massive destruction of the Amazon rainforest .", "Brazilian firms that supply Tesco , Asda and Marks & Spencer are among dozens of companies named by prosecutors , who are seeking hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation .", "The move follows a three-year investigation by Greenpeace into the trade in cattle products such as meat and leather traced to illegal farms across the Amazon region .", "The Greenpeace report , revealed in the Guardian earlier this month , showed that a handful of major Brazilian processors exported products linked to Amazon destruction to dozens of blue-chip companies across the world .", "Daniel Cesar Avelino , the public prosecutor handling the cases , brought by Brazil 's Federal Public Prosecution Office ( MPF ) , said : `` We know that the single biggest driver of deforestation in the Amazon is cattle .", "We want all companies who are part of this destructive economic chain to be responsible for their economic crimes . ''", "The MPF has started legal action against 21 farms and slaughterhouse companies , including Bertin , which supplies Tesco and Princes Food with processed beef .", "The MPF said the investigated Brazilian companies could be to blame for illegal deforestation across 150,000 hectares .", "It is seeking # 630m compensation for `` environmental crimes against Brazilian society '' .", "The accused farms include the Espirito Santo farm in Para state , which the Guardian visited in an undercover investigation with Greenpeace last month .", "Bertin said it was `` analysing the content of the -LSB- legal -RSB- action to respond later '' .", "The MPF has also warned a further 69 firms for buying products associated with illegal deforestation , including JBS , which supplies Princes Foods , Asda and Marks and Spencer .", "Bertin and JBS , the Greenpeace report said , source cattle from illegal farms , and ship the beef and hides to facilities in the south of Brazil for export .", "Greenpeace claims records show that cattle from hundreds of farms across the Amazon are mixed and processed in this way , making it currently impossible to trace the origins of products .", "`` In effect , criminal or ` dirty ' supplies of cattle are ` laundered ' through the supply chain . ''", "JBS would not comment .", "Several supermarkets in Brazil , including Wal - Mart , have already banned beef from deforested areas .", "The Brazilian Association of Supermarkets said it would cancel supply contracts with accused farms .", "John Sauven , executive director of Greenpeace , said : `` Major supermarkets in Brazil have promised action to remove Amazon beef and leather from their stores , and now it 's time that UK companies did the same ... we need to see British firms cancelling contracts with suppliers who are implicated in Amazon deforestation . ''", "The UK supermarkets said the beef did not come from the Amazon .", "Tesco and Marks and Spencer said they had received assurances from their suppliers .", "Asda said it was sending people to Brazil to audit the supply line .", "Princes Foods said : `` We have contacted both suppliers to discuss the claims in detail , and they are liaising directly with Greenpeace .", "We will monitor the outcome of these discussions closely . ''", "In a separate move , the World Bank said it will withdraw a $ 90m ( # 54.47 m ) loan to Bertin from its private lending arm , which Greenpeace says was used to expand activities in the Amazon .", "Bertin supplies several companies with leather for shoes , including Nike and Timberland .", "A Timberland spokesman said it was `` actively engaged with Bertin to better understand this very complex issue '' .", "Nike said it was meeting its tannery suppliers and investigating the supply chain .", "Greenpeace wants companies to refuse to buy products sourced from farms that have carried out illegal deforestation .", "It wants consumers to pressure supermarkets and high-street brands identified in the report to clean up supply chains .", "Clearing tropical forests for agriculture is estimated to produce 17 % of the world 's greenhouse gas emissions -- more than the global transport system .", "Cattle farming is now the biggest threat to the remaining Amazon rainforest , a fifth of which has been lost since 1970 .", "The Greenpeace report compiles government records , company documents and trade data from Brazil , China , Europe , Vietnam and the US to piece together the global movement of meat , leather and cosmetics ingredients made from Brazilian cattle .", "Top footwear companies instigate crackdown against ` environmental criminals ' following three-year Greenpeace investigation"], "_citing_sentence": "This clearing of tropical rainforests such as the Amazon for agriculture is estimated to produce 17% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.", "_claim_name": "Being vegetarian helps the environment", "_doc_title": "Supermarket suppliers 'helping destroy Amazon rainforest' | Environment | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [32]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Beef cattle grazed on a hillside below wind towers 50 miles east of San Francisco along Altamont Pass on April 14", "Need another reason to feel guilty about feeding your children that Happy Meal -- aside from the fat , the calories and that voice in your head asking why you ca n't be bothered to actually cook a well-balanced meal now and then ?", "Rajendra Pachauri would like to offer you one .", "The head of the U.N. 's Nobel Prize -- winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , Pachauri on Monday urged people around the world to cut back on meat in order to combat climate change .", "`` Give up meat for one day -LSB- per week -RSB- at least initially , and decrease it from there , '' Pachauri told Britain 's Observer newspaper .", "`` In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time , it clearly is the most attractive opportunity . ''", "So , that addiction to pork and beef is n't just clogging your arteries ; it 's flame-broiling the earth , too .", "By the numbers , Pachauri is absolutely right .", "In a 2006 report , the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ) concluded that worldwide livestock farming generates 18 % of the planet 's greenhouse gas emissions -- by comparison , all the world 's cars , trains , planes and boats account for a combined 13 % of greenhouse gas emissions .", "Much of livestock 's contribution to global warming come from deforestation , as the growing demand for meat results in trees being cut down to make space for pasture or farmland to grow animal feed .", "Livestock takes up a lot of space -- nearly one-third of the earth 's entire landmass .", "In Latin America , the FAO estimates that some 70 % of former forest cover has been converted for grazing .", "Lost forest cover heats the planet , because trees absorb CO2 while they 're alive -- and when they 're burned or cut down , the greenhouse gas is released back into the atmosphere .", "Then there 's manure -- all that animal waste generates nitrous oxide , a greenhouse gas that has 296 times the warming effect of CO2 .", "And of course , there is cow flatulence : as cattle digest grass or grain , they produce methane gas , of which they expel up to 200 L a day .", "Given that there are 100 million cattle in the U.S. alone , and that methane has 23 times the warming impact of CO2 , the gas adds up .", "The worrisome news is that as the world economy grows , so does global meat consumption .", "The average person in the industrialized world eats more than 176 lb .", "of meat annually , compared with around 66 lb .", "consumed by the average resident of the developing world .", "As developing nations get richer , one of the first things citizens spend their extra income on is a more meat-rich diet .", "Whereas pork would once have been a rare luxury in China , today even the relatively poor in the country 's cities can afford a little meat at almost every meal -- so much so that pork imports to China rose more than 900 % through the first four months of the year .", "In 2008 , global meat production is expected to top 280 million tons , and that figure could nearly double by 2050 .", "Producing all that meat will do more than just warm the world ; it will also raise pressure on land resources .", "The FAO estimates that about 20 % of the planet 's pastureland has been degraded by grazing animals , and increased demand for meat means increased demand for animal feed -- much of the world 's grain production is fed to animals rather than to humans .", "( The global spike in grain prices over the past year is in large part due to the impact on grain supplies of the growing demand for meat . )", "The expanded production of meat has been facilitated by industrial feedlots , which bleed antibiotics and other noxious chemicals .", "And of course , the human health impact of too much meat can be seen in everything from bloated waistlines in America to rising rates of cardiovascular disease in developing nations , where heart attacks were once as rare as a T-bone steak .", "So is Pachauri right that going vegetarian can save the planet ?", "( At least the 68-year-old Indian economist practices what he preaches . )", "It 's true that giving up that average 176 lb .", "of meat a year is one of the greenest lifestyle changes you can make as an individual .", "You can drive a more fuel-efficient car , or install compact fluorescent lightbulbs , or improve your insulation , but unless you intend to hunt wild buffalo and boar , there 's really no green way to get meat -- although organic , locally farmed beef or chicken is better than its factory-raised equivalents .", "The geophysicists Gidon Eschel and Pamela Martin have estimated that if every American reduced meat consumption by just 20 % , the greenhouse gas savings would be the same as if we all switched from a normal sedan to a hybrid Prius .", "Still , Pachauri is just slightly off .", "It 's a tactical mistake , first of all , to focus global warming action on personal restrictions .", "The developed world could cut back hugely on its meat consumption , but those gains would be largely swallowed up -- sorry -- by the developing world , which is n't likely to give up its newly acquired taste for cheeseburgers and pork .", "The same goes for energy use , or travel .", "It 's great for magazines to come up with 51 ways you can save the environment , but relying on individuals to voluntarily change their behavior is nowhere near as effective as political change aimed at speeding the transition to an economy far less carbon-intensive than our current one .", "So , by all means cut back on the burgers -- I recommend a nice deep-fried scorpion -- but remember that your choices from the takeout menu will matter less than the choices made by those who inherit the White House next January .", "See photos of the effects of climate change here ."], "_citing_sentence": "The 2006 U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report concluded that worldwide livestock farming generates 18% of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions -- by comparison, all the world's cars, trains, planes and boats account for a combined 13% of greenhouse gas emissions.", "_claim_name": "Being vegetarian helps the environment", "_doc_title": "Meat: Making Global Warming Worse - TIME", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Follow @TIME In more news that has steak lovers feeling deflated , a study published in this week 's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that people who indulge in high amounts of red meat and processed meats , including steak , bacon , sausage and cold cuts , have an increased risk of death from cancer and heart disease .", "The findings add power to the growing push -- by health officials , environmentalists and even some chefs -- to cool America 's love affair with meat .", "The analysis of more than half a million Americans between the ages of 50 and 71 found that men in the highest quintile of red-meat consumption -- those who ate about 5 oz .", "of red meat a day , roughly the equivalent of a small steak , according to lead author Rashmi Sinha -- had a 31 % higher risk of death over a 10-year period than men in the lowest-consumption quintile , who ate less than 1 oz .", "of red meat per day , or approximately three slices of corned beef .", "Men in the top fifth also had a 22 % higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 % higher risk of dying of heart disease .", "In women , the figures were starker : women in the highest quintile of consumption had a 36 % increase in death over a 10-year period compared with women who ate little red meat ; eating lots of meat was associated with a 20 % higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 % higher risk of dying of heart disease .", "( Read `` A History of Beef , Times Two . '' )", "The data for one of the largest analyses of meat consumption and mortality to date were first gathered for the National Institutes of Health and AARP Diet and Health Study in 1995 .", "Researchers then tracked deaths for 10 years , until 2005 , using the Social Security Administration Death Master File and the National Death Index , controlling for factors such as age , race , education , body-mass index and alcohol intake .", "( See pictures of a perfect steak instead of eating one . )", "`` Basically , the consumption of red and processed meat was associated with modest increases in mortality , '' says Sinha , a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute 's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics , who is careful to emphasize that the institute is a research organization and does not make health recommendations .", "She suggests , however , that the fat content of and heavy iron concentration in red and processed meats , along with high-temperature cooking methods that can lead to the development of carcinogens , may increase the risk for disease and death .", "In contrast , the study found that higher white-meat consumption was associated with a lower risk of death .", "( Read `` Meat : Making Global Warming Worse . '' )", "Dr. Barry Popkin , a nutrition epidemiologist and economist who directs the interdisciplinary obesity program at the University of North Carolina , would use a term other than Sinha 's `` modest . ''", "`` You 're talking about a lot of deaths that would be prevented by cutting your processed meat or cutting your red meat , '' he says .", "He suggests framing the issue in real terms .", "A McDonald 's Big Mac contains 7.5 oz . of red meat , Popkin points out .", "So if your diet consists of a Big Mac every other day -- roughly equivalent to the highest quintile of meat consumption in the study ; in other words , the typical American diet -- you could cut back to one Big Mac a week and see dramatic health benefits ."], "_citing_sentence": "of red meat per day, or approximately three slices of corned beef.\"", "_claim_name": "Vegetarianism is healthier", "_doc_title": "The Growing Case Against Red Meat - TIME", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3, 4]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 69, "_topic_name": "This House would go vegetarian"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4 's World at One that the UK has to `` face up to the fact '' that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system .", "Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion .", "For example , Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court .", "He says Muslims should not have to choose between `` the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty '' .", "` Sensational reporting ' In an exclusive interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau , ahead of a lecture to lawyers in London on Monday , Dr Williams argues this relies on Sharia law being better understood .", "At the moment , he says `` sensational reporting of opinion polls '' clouds the issue .", "An approach to law which simply said - there 's one law for everybody - I think that 's a bit of a danger", "Dr Rowan WilliamsArchbishop of Canterbury", "Religious courts in the UK", "He stresses that `` nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that 's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states ; the extreme punishments , the attitudes to women as well '' .", "But Dr Williams said an approach to law which simply said `` there 's one law for everybody and that 's all there is to be said , and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts - I think that 's a bit of a danger '' .", "`` There 's a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law , as we already do with some other aspects of religious law . ''", "Dr Williams added : `` What we do n't want either , is I think , a stand-off , where the law squares up to people 's religious consciences . ''", "HAVE YOUR SAY", "There is , and should only be , one law which covers all people and to suggest it can be otherwise is to seriously damage our rights", "Patricia London , UK", "Send us your comments `` We do n't either want a situation where , because there 's no way of legally monitoring what communities do ... people do what they like in private in such a way that that becomes another way of intensifying oppression inside a community . ''", "The issue of whether Catholic adoption agencies would be forced to accept gay parents under equality laws showed the potential for legal confusion , he said .", "`` That principle that there is only one law for everybody is an important pillar of our social identity as a western democracy , '' he said .", "`` But I think it is a misunderstanding to suppose that means people do n't have other affiliations , other loyalties which shape and dictate how they behave in society and that the law needs to take some account of that . ''", "` Custom and community '", "Dr Williams noted that Orthodox Jewish courts already operated , and that the law accommodated the anti-abortion views of some Christians .", "`` The whole idea that there are perfectly proper ways the law of the land pays respect to custom and community , that 's already there , '' he said .", "People may legally devise their own way to settle a dispute in front of an agreed third party as long as both sides agree to the process .", "Muslim Sharia courts and the Jewish Beth Din which already exist in the UK come into this category .", "The country 's main Beth Din at Finchley in north London oversees a wide range of cases including divorce settlements , contractual rows between traders and tenancy disputes .", "Dr Williams 's comments are likely to fuel the debate over multiculturalism in the UK .", "Last month , the Bishop of Rochester , the Right Reverend Dr Michael Nazir-Ali , said some places in the UK were no-go areas for non-Muslims .", "Dr Williams said it was `` not at all the case that we have absolute social exclusion '' .", "In an exclusive interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau , ahead of a lecture to lawyers in London on Monday , Dr Williams argues this relies on Sharia law being better understood .", "`` We do n't either want a situation where , because there 's no way of legally monitoring what communities do ... people do what they like in private in such a way that that becomes another way of intensifying oppression inside a community . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "He believes this would help maintain social cohesion because Muslims would not need to choose between \"the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty\".", "_claim_name": "Delegitimises religious", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 70, "_topic_name": "This House believes that religious beliefs should override government laws"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The whitewashing of the late Ariel Sharon 's blood-stained legacy was both predictable - and predicted .", "But that does n't make it any less forgivable or tolerable .", "Listen to Carl Bildt , the Swedish foreign minister : `` Ariel Sharon was a great leader of Israel .", "A brilliant military commander , but also a wise statesman seeing the necessity of peace . ''", "Or US senator and former Republican presidential candidate John McCain : `` Few statesmen have made sacrifices that were as difficult , and were prepared to make more painful sacrifices still , for the sake of peace and the security for their nation . ''", "Then there 's our own prime minister David Cameron , who said that Sharon `` took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace '' .", "It was left to the Independent 's veteran Middle East watcher , Robert Fisk , to point out the hypocrisy and cant : `` Cursed in life as a killer by quite a few Israeli soldiers as well as by the Arab world - which has proved pretty efficient at slaughtering its own people these past few years - Sharon was respected in his eight years of near-death . .", "and he will , be assured , receive the funeral of a hero and a peacemaker .", "Thus do we remake history .", "How speedily did toady journalists in Washington and New York patch up this brutal man 's image . ''", "As the Jerusalem Fund 's Yousef Munayyer tweeted yesterday : `` That Sharon was responsible for wanton destruction and mass civilian casualties -LSB- is n't -RSB- a ` Palestinian perspective ' but objective fact . ''", "Here are just five numbers , five `` objective facts '' , that suggest Ariel Sharon was responsible for war crimes .", "On the evening of 14 October 1953 , a commando unit of the Israel Defence Force ( IDF ) called Unit 101 , under the command of a 25-year-old Ariel Sharon , raided the village of Qibya , in the then Jordanian-controlled West Bank .", "Their attack involved mortars , grenades and shooting ; the majority of the victims were civilians .", "Sixty-nine Palestinians were killed that night , two-thirds of whom were women and children .", "Fifty homes were demolished by the Israeli commandos .", "Sharon later wrote in his diary that he had received orders to inflict heavy damage on the Arab forces in the village : `` The orders were utterly clear : Qibya was to be an example for everyone . ''", "As the UN observers on the ground documented : `` Witnesses -LSB- in Qibya -RSB- were uniform in describing their experience as a night of horror , during which Israel soldiers moved about in their village blowing up buildings , firing into doorways and windows with automatic weapons and throwing hand grenades . ''", "The late premier 's defenders have tried to argue that Sharon was unaware of the civilians inside these homes .", "This is nonsense .", "Again , according to the UN observers , `` bullet-riddled bodies near the doorways and multiple bullet hits on the doors of the demolished houses indicated that the inhabitants had been forced to remain inside until their homes were blown up over them '' .", "49 In 1995 , the Los Angeles Times reported that retired Israeli brigadier , Arye Biro , had confessed that he and his paratroops had killed 49 unarmed Egyptian prisoners of war , in cold blood , during the 1956 Sinai campaign .", "The paratroops ' brigade commander ?", "General Ariel Sharon .", "`` There were exactly 49 , '' Biro said , according to the LA Times .", "`` We tied their hands and made them go down to the quarry .", "They were startled , broken and shattered ... As for the question who exactly shot or did n't shoot the workers at the quarry , why is it important ?", "Between us , the main thing is that they shot . ''", "The US paper said Israeli journalists had `` tried to publish accounts of the killings for decades but -LSB- were -RSB- prohibited by government censors '' .", "Sharon never offered - and was never asked to offer - an explanation or defence for these killings before he passed away on Saturday .", "Sabra and Shatila .", "These are the words that should lead off any serious obituary of the former Israeli PM and general .", "On 18 September 1982 , hundreds , if not thousands of Palestinians , in the Lebanese refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila were slaughtered by the Phalangists , a Lebanese Christian militia who had been ushered into the camps with Sharon 's consent , blessing and approval .", "( Sharon , then the Israeli defence minister , had earlier engineered an invasion of southern Lebanon to try and topple the Lebanese government and install a pro-Israeli Maronite Christian regime . )", "In 1983 , a formal Israeli commission of inquiry , chaired by president of the supreme Court , Yitzhak Kahan , found Sharon bore `` personal responsibility '' for the Sabra and Shatila killings ; `` for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge '' and `` not taking appropriate measures to prevent bloodshed '' .", "`` It is impossible to justify the Minister of Defense 's disregard of the danger of a massacre , '' declared the Kahan commission .", "And it was , undeniably , a massacre .", "As Al Ahram reported in 2001 , `` the count of victims varies between Israel 's estimate of 700 to that of independent sources , who say the death toll was as high as 3,500 .", "The exact figure , however , will never be determined . ''", "Or remembered , it seems .", "Shamefully , on Sunday morning , the BBC 's lead news package on the former Israeli prime minister 's death did n't deign to mention Sabra or Shatila or the damning verdict of the Kahane commission .", "According to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem , at least 240 Palestinians were killed by the IDF between March and May 2002 , as part of ` Operation Defensive Shield ' - Sharon 's massive military invasion of the West Bank and aerial bombardment of Palestinian towns and cities .", "This death toll includes the 22 civilians who , according to Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) , lost their lives in the much-disputed ` Battle of Jenin ' : `` Among the civilian deaths were those of Kamal Zgheir , a fifty-seven-year-old wheelchair-bound man who was shot and run over by a tank on a major road outside the camp on April 10 , even though he had a white flag attached to his wheelchair ; fifty-eight year old Mariam Wishahi , killed by a missile in her home on April 6 just hours after her unarmed son was shot in the street ; Jamal Fayid , a thirty-seven-year old paralyzed man who was crushed in the rubble of his home on April 7 despite his family 's pleas to be allowed to remove him . . ''", "While HRW refused to validate Palestinian claims of a ` massacre ' at Jenin , or anywhere else , it did determine that `` Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law , some amounting prima facie to war crimes '' .", "Amnesty International accused Sharon 's IDF of behaving as if `` the main aim was to punish all Palestinians '' .", "Or as the Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling famously described Sharon 's 2002 strategy : `` politicide ... -LSB- a -RSB- gradual but systematic attempt to cause -LSB- Palestine 's -RSB- annihilation as an independent political and social entity '' .", "Sharon has been lauded by the obituarists for his unilateral withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza in 2005 , and the dismantlement of the illegal settlements in the strip .", "Yet , during his five-year premiership between 2001 and 2006 , as Human Rights Watch notes , `` the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank , including East Jerusalem , and the Golan Heights , increased from roughly 388,000 to 461,000 '' - that is , 73,000 .", "According to Munayyer , Sharon `` presided over the single most significant period of Israeli settlement expansion ... since the -LSB- Menachem -RSB- Begin era '' .", "HRW reminds us that `` the transfer by an occupying power of its civilians into an occupied territory is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions , and a potential war crime '' .", "Such pesky international conventions never bothered Sharon - `` Everyone there should move , should run , should grab more hills , expand the territory , '' he said , as foreign minister in 1998 , referring to the Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank .", "`` Everything that 's grabbed will be in our hands ; everything that we do n't grab will be in their hands . ''", "`` It 's a shame that Sharon has gone to his grave without facing justice for his role in Sabra and Shatila and other abuses , '' says HRW 's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson .", "I agree - but it is even bigger shame that sections of the media , allied with our leading politicians , seem bent on glossing over those abuses ."], "_citing_sentence": "He would likely not have had the chance to allow the Sabra and Shatia massacre or Operation Defensive Shield.", "_claim_name": "Necessary for an impartial peace.", "_doc_title": "Five Numbers That Suggest Ariel Sharon Was a War Criminal", "_labeled_lineIDs": [32, 34, 41]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["JERUSALEM -- In response to Egypt 's request , Israel 's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday asked defense officials to investigate a retired general 's claim that he and other Israeli soldiers killed scores of Egyptian prisoners of war in the 1956 Sinai campaign .", "The assertion by Arye Biro and other soldiers in the Israeli-Egyptian war are potentially embarrassing to Israel and its most important Arab ally , forcing them to confront events of nearly 40 years ago when they were bitter enemies .", "The case reaches high into Israel 's honored military elite because Biro 's commanding officers were former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and former Chief of Staff Rafael Eytan -- both colonels at the time and now right-wing members of the Knesset , or Parliament .", "Egyptian officials summoned Israeli diplomats in Cairo on Monday to ask them to clarify the general 's boastful account of the wartime killings .", "It was published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv earlier this month .", "Israeli Foreign Ministry officials then asked their colleagues in the Defense Ministry to provide information on events described by Biro and determine if legal action might be in order , a military source said , noting : `` It 's something that nobody is very happy about , but , as the military , we have a moral duty to look into it .", "This is a question of war crimes , and it 's something that wo n't just go away . ''", "On Tuesday , Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin , also a former army general , declined to comment on the investigation .", "With their history of successful battles against bigger , more powerful Arab enemies , Israel 's soldiers have long enjoyed an exalted status in Israeli society .", "They were heroes who , until recently , have been relatively free of criticism and public scrutiny in the name of national security interests .", "Uri Avneri , a journalist and leftist former member of the Knesset , said he had tried to publish accounts of the killings for decades but was prohibited by government censors .", "He said the Egyptian government also knew about the killings and chose not to make an issue of them .", "Maariv explained that it completed its report in December , 1993 , but complied with Israeli censors ' demands not to publish it .", "But the editors said they decided to print the report because the army 's own history department recently published an account of the killings by historian Moti Golani .", "In his stunningly frank , unrepentant account in the paper , Biro told of landing in the Sinai , east of the Mitla Pass , on Oct. 29 , 1956 , as commander of a paratroop company in Eytan 's Battalion 890 -- part of Sharon 's 202 Parachute Brigade .", "Paratroopers found two large tents with civilian Egyptian workers and took them captive .", "Two days later , they moved out toward Ras Sudar and killed their prisoners , he said .", "`` There were exactly 49 , '' Biro said .", "`` We tied their hands and made them go down to the quarry .", "They were startled , broken and shattered .", "Raful -LSB- Eytan 's nickname -RSB- did n't give an explicit instruction , and I did n't ask for one .", "Only a fool can ask his commander for permission to do what he has to do .", "`` Anyway , I can tell you that Raful did n't mourn over the bodies of the workers at Parker Quarry , '' he says .", "`` He did n't even punish those who finished the job and got rid of them .", "They were a burden ... .", "They died and that 's it . ''", "He then tells of a prisoner who had escaped into the desert with bullet wounds but returned to the Israeli soldiers rather than die of thirst .", "`` I 'm not responsible for the enemy 's stupidity , and surely he very quickly found himself together with his friends , '' Biro told Maariv .", "`` As for the question who exactly shot or did n't shoot the workers at the quarry , why is it important ?", "Between us , the main thing is that they shot , '' he said .", "The general did not say whether the brigade commander , Sharon , knew of the killings .", "Neither Eytan nor Sharon could be reached for comment Tuesday .", "In Maariv , Eytan denied any knowledge that Israeli soldiers killed the Egyptian workers and said he had `` no problem of conscience , neither today nor then , regarding what happened in the Sinai during the war . ''", "Danni Wolf , a colonel in the army reserves and one of Biro 's soldiers in the Sinai , corroborated Biro 's account , telling Maariv : `` Theoretically it was possible to leave them there with a little water and food , but the truth is that we did n't have enough water even for ourselves .", "Do n't get me wrong , I 'm not trying to find excuses for what we did now .", "But really , any way you look at it , there was nothing to do with these workers . ''", "Asked who did the shooting , he said , `` Arye Biro , the company commander . ''", "And as for who gave the order : `` Raful , the battalion commander . ''", "In another case , Biro and Shaul Ziv , a colonel in the army reserves , described firing hundreds of bullets into a truck full of civilians on the road to Ras Sudar .", "`` It was simply shocking , '' Ziv said .", "`` When they opened the back of the truck , the bodies poured out one on top of the other ... .", "I could n't stand the thought that we shot these people without a battle . ''", "Biro added : `` There were 56 men on the truck .", "Six remained alive after the first -LSB- round of -RSB- fire .", "They too ` went to sleep ' later on . ''", "A third incident , in which chained prisoners were massacred at Ras Sudar , was documented by the United Nations after the war , and Israel was asked for an explanation at that time .", "Eytan reportedly was reprimanded but never tried or formally punished .", "Biro denied in the article that Eytan was even reprimanded , saying : `` After all , it was really my mistake .", "I mean , not the shooting of the prisoners , but the fact that I forgot to unchain their hands after they were killed and before we cleared off . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "In addition to events mentioned in the introduction, Sharon was accused of, along with troops under his command, execution-style killings of 49 Egyptian civilians taken prisoner by the IDF in the Saini peninsula in 1956 - wilful killing of civilians being a war crime as per the Fourth Geneva Convention.The purpose of international criminal law is that individuals are brought to trial to ensure that individuals are held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity: if a person isn't prosecuted, either by a domestic or international court, the credibility of the limits civilized nations place on war is eroded.", "_claim_name": "Impunity", "_doc_title": "Israel to Probe Deaths of Egyptian POWs in '56 :  Sinai: At Cairo's request, defense officials will investigate general's claim that scores were shot. - latimes", "_labeled_lineIDs": [14, 15, 16, 17]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["British Broadcasting CorporationHome", "Rebel commander Laurent Nkunda studied psychology at university", "Rebel General Laurent Nkunda has long sought to portray himself as the only man who can protect his Tutsi community in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo from Hutu forces .", "This led to accusations that he was a stooge of the Tutsi-led Rwandan government .", "But in a surprising about-turn , it is the Rwandans who have finally arrested him .", "The Congolese government issued an international arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in 2005 .", "It says it wants Gen Nkunda to be sent back home to face trial .", "Human Rights Watch says his troops have been implicated in numerous killings , torture and rapes .", "More than one million people have fled three-way clashes between Gen Nkunda 's forces , ethnic Hutu Rwandan rebels and the Congolese army in recent years .", "Although a peace deal officially ended DR Congo 's war in 2002 , and a subsequent deal in January to disarm rebel groups in the east , Gen Nkunda and his men have not joined the army , as former rebel units were supposed to .", "His force , estimated to be several thousand strong has remained around Goma , always a potential threat to DR Congo 's precarious peace .", "Fought for Tutsi rebels in Rwanda and DR Congo", "Accused of war crimes in DR Congo", "Owns a cheese farm", "Nkunda 's spectacular fallQ & A ; : DR Congo conflict", "The 17,000 UN peacekeepers in the country have never tried to move against his force , aware that disarming so many troops would not be easy .", "He fought in both the Rwandan and Congolese conflicts but first came to widespread notice when he led his forces into the Congolese town of Bukavu in 2004 .", "He said he was protecting Congolese Tutsis from `` genocide '' - an emotive word following the slaughter by Hutu extremists of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda 10 years earlier .", "Independent investigations confirmed that there had been some attacks on Tutsis in Bukavu , but not to the extent the general claimed .", "Most local people believed it was all a pretext - his real objective was not the protection of the Tutsi - it was power .", "Laurent Nkunda studied psychology at university .", "Even today the gaunt 40-year-old looks studious with glasses perched on the end of his nose .", "He is also a farmer .", "Tutsis traditionally keep cows and Gen Nkunda has a family farm in the Masisi area north of Goma , where his workers make cheese from cows ' milk .", "But for the past 14 years he has been a soldier .", "Time 's up", "Although he was born in DR Congo , he fought with the Rwandan Patriotic Front , the rebel movement formed by Rwandan Tutsi exiles , which took control of Rwanda in 1994 , ending the genocide .", "After that Laurent Nkunda returned home to join Rwanda 's adventures in DR Congo .", "He was a commander in the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy ( RCD ) - the main rebel group which controlled most of eastern DR Congo during the five-year civil war .", "He was accused of committing atrocities in 2002 as a commander in the diamond-rich town of Kisangani .", "Similar charges were also made after his forces captured Bukavu .", "After the RCD joined the transitional government in 2003 , it looked like Gen Nkunda would have a chance to spend more time with his wife and four children .", "But while other rebel units joined the newly integrated national army , he refused .", "It was only in 2007 that he agreed for his forces to set up `` mixed brigades '' with the Congolese army .", "And then only to pursue the remnants of the Hutu militias who had committed the genocide in Rwanda and then fled into DR Congo , after his former comrades in the RPF seized power in Kigali .", "Rwanda has twice invaded DR Congo , saying it wants to stop these rebel groups from staging cross-border attacks .", "But now that the Congolese government has allowed Rwandan troops on to its territory , maybe Gen Nkunda has outlived his usefulness ."], "_citing_sentence": "The career of Laurent Nkunda is a good example of this; he fought in the Tutsi group that took control of Rwanda in 1994 ending the genocide and then was a rebel commander in both Congolese civil wars in which he was accused of atrocities before launching his own rebellion, only now after 14 years as an army commander is he under arrest.", "_claim_name": "Necessary for an impartial peace.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Africa | Profile: General Laurent Nkunda", "_labeled_lineIDs": [28, 29]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 71, "_topic_name": "This House regrets that Ariel Sharon was not tried for war crimes by an international court"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Vikram Dodd , crime correspondent", "Monday 28 February 2011 17.01 EST", "Sermons from Anwar al-Awlaki , the radical cleric said to be linked to multiple terrorist plots against Britain and the United States , remain on YouTube despite calls for them to be taken down .", "The news follows the conviction of Rajib Karim , a former British Airways computer specialist , for terrorism offences after being inspired by Awalki to explore ways of staging al-Qaida style attacks .", "YouTube has been under pressure to remove sermons from Awlaki , who the US say is the `` spiritual leader '' of al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula and is currently holed up in Yemen .", "His sermons have inspired people in Britain and the US to carry out terrorist attacks , with the internet being Awlaki 's main way of spreading his message that violence against the west is justified .", "Among scores of his videos on YouTube are a 22-part series called `` The constraints -LSB- of -RSB- Jihad '' , a five-part interview with the al-Qaida cleric , one called `` It 's a war against Islam '' and even a defence of Awlaki by a commander from al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula .", "The home office said it was looking into the issue , which was highlighted last year by the security minister , Lady Neville-Jones , who called on the White House to `` take down this hateful material '' when it was hosted on servers within US control .", "Conservative MP Patrick Mercer , former chair of the counter-terrorism sub-committee , said : `` This is criminally irresponsible , this material continues to inspire jihadists .", "I 'm amazed it is in the public domain so easily .", "The government must put pressure on YouTube to get this stuff down immediately . ''", "Awlaki has already inspired at least two Britons to commit to violent jihad .", "They are Rajib Karim , convicted of terrorism offences , and Roshonara Choudhry , a student from London , jailed last year for trying to murder the Labour MP Stephen Timms after watching Awlaki 's sermons online .", "In his message to Karim , Awlaki said his prime target was the United States , and it is the superpower that has borne the brunt of his attentions .", "Awlaki is linked to multiple attempted plots against the US , by plane and by car bomb .", "A YouTube spokesperson said : `` YouTube has community guidelines that prohibit dangerous or illegal activities such as bomb-making , hate speech and incitement to commit violent acts , and we have removed a significant number of videos under these policies .", "These are difficult issues and material that is brought to our attention is reviewed carefully .", "We will continue to remove all content that incites violence according to our policies .", "Material of a purely religious nature will remain on the site . ''", "Washington officials believe the Islamist cleric is the prime suspect behind the `` ink printer '' bombs which were sent as cargo on planes and timed to explode over the eastern United States .", "He is also linked to one successful atrocity -- the fatal shootings of 13 soldiers at Fort Hood , Texas by an American Muslim fellow soldier in November 2009 .", "Awlaki , 39 , was born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents .", "He is believed to have lived in London for 18 months before moving to Yemen in 2004 , and is now thought to be in hiding in Yemen 's rugged Shabwa or Mareb regions , an area jihadists have at times found to be a safe haven .", "The cleric is thought by US authorities to be connected to the attempted car bombing in Times Square , New York and the Christmas Day attempt to explode a bomb concealed in underwear on a flight over the US as well as inspiring the US army psychiatrist who opened fire at Fort Hood .", "US officials say he is a `` recruiter and motivator '' for al-Qaida and skilled at using social media , including a Facebook page and YouTube , to spread his message of violent jihad .", "In contrast to most extremist clerics , he communicates clearly , even referencing pop culture , alluding in one online sermon to the singer Michael Jackson to emphasise his point .", "Awlaki is the only US citizen known to be on the list of targets for assassination by the CIA because of his links to past attacks against the US .", "After 9/11 , Awlaki was seen as a credible voice against extremism and was once invited to speak at the Pentagon ."], "_citing_sentence": "Punishing users of extremist websites will mean that the government can stop those who are on a path to radicalisation through their access to the internet and as a result this will help neutralise a key tool used by extremists to radicalise others.There have already been examples of people being inspired to carry out violent jihad through material online such as Roshonara Choudhry who after watching some of Anwar Al Awlaki's sermons online attempted to murder Labour MP Stephen Timms.", "_claim_name": "Link between visiting extremist websites and being radicalised", "_doc_title": "YouTube urged to delete radical cleric's sermons | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 12]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 72, "_topic_name": "This House would punish users of extremist websites"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By EVO MORALES AYMAMARCH 13 , 2009", "La Paz , Bolivia", "THIS week in Vienna , a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs took place that will help shape international antidrug efforts for the next 10 years .", "I attended the meeting to reaffirm Bolivia 's commitment to this struggle but also to call for the reversal of a mistake made 48 years ago .", "In 1961 , the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs placed the coca leaf in the same category with cocaine -- thus promoting the false notion that the coca leaf is a narcotic -- and ordered that `` coca leaf chewing must be abolished within 25 years from the coming into force of this convention . ''", "Bolivia signed the convention in 1976 , during the brutal dictatorship of Col. Hugo Banzer , and the 25-year deadline expired in 2001 .", "So for the past eight years , the millions of us who maintain the traditional practice of chewing coca have been , according to the convention , criminals who violate international law .", "This is an unacceptable and absurd state of affairs for Bolivians and other Andean peoples .", "Many plants have small quantities of various chemical compounds called alkaloids .", "One common alkaloid is caffeine , which is found in more than 50 varieties of plants , from coffee to cacao , and even in the flowers of orange and lemon trees .", "Excessive use of caffeine can cause nervousness , elevated pulse , insomnia and other unwanted effects .", "Another common alkaloid is nicotine , found in the tobacco plant .", "Its consumption can lead to addiction , high blood pressure and cancer ; smoking causes one in five deaths in the United States .", "Some alkaloids have important medicinal qualities .", "Quinine , for example , the first known treatment for malaria , was discovered by the Quechua Indians of Peru in the bark of the cinchona tree .", "The coca leaf also has alkaloids ; the one that concerns antidrug officials is the cocaine alkaloid , which amounts to less than one-tenth of a percent of the leaf .", "But as the above examples show , that a plant , leaf or flower contains a minimal amount of alkaloids does not make it a narcotic .", "To be made into a narcotic , alkaloids must typically be extracted , concentrated and in many cases processed chemically .", "What is absurd about the 1961 convention is that it considers the coca leaf in its natural , unaltered state to be a narcotic .", "The paste or the concentrate that is extracted from the coca leaf , commonly known as cocaine , is indeed a narcotic , but the plant itself is not .", "Why is Bolivia so concerned with the coca leaf ?", "Because it is an important symbol of the history and identity of the indigenous cultures of the Andes .", "The custom of chewing coca leaves has existed in the Andean region of South America since at least 3000 B.C. .", "It helps mitigate the sensation of hunger , offers energy during long days of labor and helps counter altitude sickness .", "Unlike nicotine or caffeine , it causes no harm to human health nor addiction or altered state , and it is effective in the struggle against obesity , a major problem in many modern societies .", "Today , millions of people chew coca in Bolivia , Colombia , Peru and northern Argentina and Chile .", "The coca leaf continues to have ritual , religious and cultural significance that transcends indigenous cultures and encompasses the mestizo population .", "Mistakes are an unavoidable part of human history , but sometimes we have the opportunity to correct them .", "It is time for the international community to reverse its misguided policy toward the coca leaf .", "Evo Morales Ayma is the president of Bolivia ."], "_citing_sentence": "The custom of chewing coca leaves may date back as far as 3000 BC in the region, and so hugely pre-dates cocaine consumption, and thus shouldn't be bundled with it or banned on the grounds that cocaine is banned.", "_claim_name": "Coca production can be justified on cultural grounds", "_doc_title": "Let Me Chew My Coca Leaves - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [22]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 73, "_topic_name": "This House would legalise the growing of coca leaf"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Help us build a vibrant , collaborative global commons", "All Creative Commons licenses have many important features in common .", "Every license helps creators -- we call them licensors if they use our tools -- retain copyright while allowing others to copy , distribute , and make some uses of their work -- at least non-commercially .", "Every Creative Commons license also ensures licensors get the credit for their work they deserve .", "Every Creative Commons license works around the world and lasts as long as applicable copyright lasts ( because they are built on copyright ) .", "These common features serve as the baseline , on top of which licensors can choose to grant additional permissions when deciding how they want their work to be used .", "A Creative Commons licensor answers a few simple questions on the path to choosing a license -- first , do I want to allow commercial use or not , and then second , do I want to allow derivative works or not ?", "If a licensor decides to allow derivative works , she may also choose to require that anyone who uses the work -- we call them licensees -- to make that new work available under the same license terms .", "We call this idea `` ShareAlike '' and it is one of the mechanisms that ( if chosen ) helps the digital commons grow over time .", "ShareAlike is inspired by the GNU General Public License , used by many free and open source software projects .", "Our licenses do not affect freedoms that the law grants to users of creative works otherwise protected by copyright , such as exceptions and limitations to copyright law like fair dealing .", "Creative Commons licenses require licensees to get permission to do any of the things with a work that the law reserves exclusively to a licensor and that the license does not expressly allow .", "Licensees must credit the licensor , keep copyright notices intact on all copies of the work , and link to the license from copies of the work .", "Licensees can not use technological measures to restrict access to the work by others .", "Try out our simple License Chooser .", "Our public copyright licenses incorporate a unique and innovative `` three-layer '' design .", "Each license begins as a traditional legal tool , in the kind of language and text formats that most lawyers know and love .", "We call this the Legal Code layer of each license .", "But since most creators , educators , and scientists are not in fact lawyers , we also make the licenses available in a format that normal people can read -- the Commons Deed ( also known as the `` human readable '' version of the license ) .", "The Commons Deed is a handy reference for licensors and licensees , summarizing and expressing some of the most important terms and conditions .", "Think of the Commons Deed as a user-friendly interface to the Legal Code beneath , although the Deed itself is not a license , and its contents are not part of the Legal Code itself .", "The final layer of the license design recognizes that software , from search engines to office productivity to music editing , plays an enormous role in the creation , copying , discovery , and distribution of works .", "In order to make it easy for the Web to know when a work is available under a Creative Commons license , we provide a `` machine readable '' version of the license -- a summary of the key freedoms and obligations written into a format that software systems , search engines , and other kinds of technology can understand .", "We developed a standardized way to describe licenses that software can understand called CC Rights Expression Language ( CC REL ) to accomplish this .", "Searching for open content is an important function enabled by our approach .", "You can use Google to search for Creative Commons content , look for pictures at Flickr , albums at Jamendo , and general media at spinxpress .", "The Wikimedia Commons , the multimedia repository of Wikipedia , is a core user of our licenses as well .", "Taken together , these three layers of licenses ensure that the spectrum of rights is n't just a legal concept .", "It 's something that the creators of works can understand , their users can understand , and even the Web itself can understand .", "This license lets others distribute , remix , tweak , and build upon your work , even commercially , as long as they credit you for the original creation .", "This is the most accommodating of licenses offered .", "Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials .", "View License Deed |", "View Legal Code", "This license lets others remix , tweak , and build upon your work even for commercial purposes , as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms .", "This license is often compared to `` copyleft '' free and open source software licenses .", "All new works based on yours will carry the same license , so any derivatives will also allow commercial use .", "This is the license used by Wikipedia , and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects .", "This license allows for redistribution , commercial and non-commercial , as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole , with credit to you .", "This license lets others remix , tweak , and build upon your work non-commercially , and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial , they do n't have to license their derivative works on the same terms .", "This license lets others remix , tweak , and build upon your work non-commercially , as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms .", "This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses , only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you , but they ca n't change them in any way or use them commercially .", "We also provide tools that work in the `` all rights granted '' space of the public domain .", "Our CC0 tool allows licensors to waive all rights and place a work in the public domain , and our Public Domain Mark allows any web user to `` mark '' a work as being in the public domain .", "Except where otherwise noted , content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license .", "Icons by The Noun Project ."], "_citing_sentence": "The creative commons license guarantees attribution to the creator and they retain the power to set up other for-profit deals with distributors, something that is particularly useful for building programs that need to be maintained.", "_claim_name": "The default of copyright restricts the spreading of information", "_doc_title": "About The Licenses - Creative Commons", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Access to information held by public bodies is a crucial component of freedom of expression and warrants a separate principle dedicated to it for several reasons .", "First , and most importantly , access to information held by public bodies , as well as by private entities that perform public functions or receive public funds , is essential if people are to be able to participate in informed debate ; hold governments accountable ; protect human rights , health , public safety , and the environment ; and ensure access to public goods and services on an equitable basis .", "There are two broad categories of information that people need from the government .", "We need information as consumers and users of government services , including how to access services and entitlements , and how to evaluate what services -- hospitals , schools , means of transportation -- are best for us .", "The public , and especially the watchdogs , also need information about how government agencies are functioning -- their budgets , their outputs , their policies , the salaries of officials , contracts for outsourcing , reports of oversight bodies -- in order to evaluate whether agencies are providing value for money and complying with international law , and constitutional and statutory requirements .", "Public agencies are particularly reluctant to make information available that the public could use to hold them , or key officials , accountable .", "They may also not want to make some consumer information available simply because it 's cumbersome to compile and double-check , or because disclosure of the information could expose wrongdoing or mismanagement by entities that press for secrecy .", "For instance , the US Consumer Agency for a long time resisted publishing complaints about products , citing the concern that some complaints might be ill-founded and that publishing the information could unfairly prejudice the manufacturer and/or lead to defamation actions .", "The agency finally agreed to publish the information in June 2011 noting that they would include a disclaimer .", "Second , concepts such as the freedom to `` receive and impart information and ideas '' , mentioned in Principle 1 do not encompass the full meaning of `` access to information held by public bodies '' .", "The `` freedom to receive and impart information '' , set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent UN and regional treaties , has generally been understood to apply only to the freedom of willing entities to exchange information free from government interference , but not to address the claims of citizens and others to get information from public bodies that those bodies do n't want to disclose .", "Third , international and national experts , institutions and laws have only very recently affirmed that the right to freedom of expression includes a right of access to information held by public bodies .", "For instance , only in 2011 did the UN Human Rights Committee declare that Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights embraces a right of access to information held by public bodies .", "The committee , comprised of 18 experts elected by UN member states , is the body tasked with authoritatively interpreting and applying the Covenant , a treaty that codifies parts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights .", "Given the newness of the international recognition of this right , its importance , and the proclivity of governments to deny an obligation to make information available , a separate principle is warranted .", "Constitutions of more than fifty countries now grant constitutional status to the right to information ; and nearly 90 countries have national-level rights to information laws or regulations in force -- including the population giants of Brazil , China , India , Indonesia , Russia and the United States , most countries in Europe and Central Asia , more than half of the countries in Latin America , more than a dozen in Asia and the Pacific , seven countries in Africa , and three in the Middle East and North Africa .", "More than 5.2 billion people now live in countries that include in their domestic law an enforceable right , at least in theory , to obtain information from their governments .", "( Citations to all of these constitutions and court judgments can be found on a website maintained by the Open Society Justice Initiative .", "Accordingly , I would add a new principle , worded as follows : `` We require information , including from public bodies , in order to be able to participate in informed debate ; hold our governments accountable ; protect our human rights , public safety , health and the environment ; and ensure our access to public goods and services on an equitable basis . ''", "That principle responds to the points above , and also implicitly makes two additional points .", "First our need for information includes , but is not limited to , information held by public bodies .", "The UN Human Rights Committee and numerous national laws recognise that people also need information from non-public entities that perform public functions , receive public funds , are substantially government-controlled or are established by law .", "A few modern laws and constitutions , including South Africa 's , recognise that people also may need information from any entity that impairs their rights .", "Second , the need for information held by public bodies is not limited to citizens ; rather , it is a human right , which , as freedom of expression , has both an instrumental as well as an essential value .", "It is as essential to our humanity and freedom to be able to make informed choices as it is to be able to express ourselves .", "At the instrumental level , residents of a country ( whether or not citizens ) , as well as individuals that are in other ways impacted by a government 's actions , certainly have a need and a right to information held by that government .", "Finally , I also suggest that Principle 10 should be expanded to expressly refer to freedom of information : `` We must be free to challenge all limits to freedom of information and expression justified on such grounds as national security , public order and morality . ''", "This addition makes clear that people must be allowed not only to express opinions that offend the government of the day , but also to challenge secrecy based on national security and related public interests .", "The wording of this motion deliberately allows for the Opposition to run a counter-case along the lines set out above .", "It demands of Proposition that they confront a heavier burden of proof than would be normally required but it 's still achievable by arguing a case based in principle .", "Most other wordings , as well as being cumbersomely full of caveats , would also place Opposition in the virtually impossible position of defending the suppression of information for no particularly good reason .", "It 's a good example of when to use a counter-case , for more on doing so , see Meany & Shuster , On that Point !", "An Introduction to Parliamentary Debate .", "Read similar discussions on Free Speech Debate", "The primary advantage of putting the duty on government to publish , rather than on citizens to enquire is that it does not require the citizen to know what they need to know before they know it .", "Publication en masse allows researchers to investigate areas they think are likely to produce results , specialists to follow decisions relevant to their field and , also , raises the possibility of discovering things by chance .", "The experience of Wikipedia suggests that even very large quantities of data are relatively easy to mine as long as all the related documentation is available to the researcher -- the frustration , by contrast , comes when one has only a single datum with no way of contextualising it .", "Any other situation , at the very least , panders to the interests of government to find any available excuse for not publishing anything that it is likely to find embarrassing and , virtually by definition , would be of most interest to the active citizen .", "Knowing that accounts of discussions , records of payments , agreements with commercial bodies or other areas that might be of interest to citizens will be published with no recourse to ` national security ' or ` commercial sensitivity ' is likely to prevent abuses before they happen but will certainly ensure that they are discovered after the event -LSB- i -RSB- .", "The publication of documents , in both Washington and London , relating to the build-up to war in Iraq is a prime example of where both governments used every available excuse to cover up the fact that that the advice they had been given showed that either they were misguided or had been deliberately lying -LSB- ii -RSB- .", "A presumption of publication would have prevented either of those from determining a matter of vital interest to the peoples of the UK , the US and , of course , Iraq .", "All three of those groups would have had access to the information were there a presumption of publication .", "LSB- i -RSB- The Public 's Right To Know .", "Article 19 Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression .", "LSB- ii -RSB- Whatreallyhappened.com has an overview of this an example of how politicians were misguided -- wilfully or otherwise can be found in : Defector admits to lies that triggered the Iraq War .", "Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd .", "Relying on a right of access would also have addressed the concerns set out by Proposition but would do so in a way that would not endanger actual concerns of national security by allowing citizens the right to challenge such decisions .", "An independent review could determine where the motivation is genuinely one of national security and those where it is really political expediency .", "The right to information for citizens is important but should not jeopardize the right to life of combat troops .", "Genuine transparency and accountability of government action is not only in the interests of those who also have the right to vote for that government or who support it through the payment of taxes .", "The functioning of immigration services would seem to be a prime example .", "Maximising access to information relating to government decisions by dint of its automatic publication of information relating to those decisions ensures that all those affected will have recourse to the facts behind any decision .", "If , for example , a nation 's aid budget is cut or redirected , why should the citizens of the affected nation not have a right to know why -LSB- i -RSB- ?", "If , as is frequently the case , it has happened because of an action or inaction by their own government , then it is important that they know .", "Equally if such a decision were taken for electoral gain , they at least have the right to know that there is nothing they or their government could do about it .", "LSB- i -RSB- Publish What You Fund : The Global Campaign For Aid Transparency .", "Governments have , prima facie , a different relationship with their own citizens than they have with those of other countries .", "In addition , as with the previous argument , extending the right of access does not , per se , require total access .", "The approach is also simply impractical as it would require every nation on the planet to take the same approach and to have comparable standards in terms of record keeping and data management .", "At present most states publish some data but the upper and lower thresholds of what is made public vary between them .", "To abolish the upper limit ( ministerial briefing , security briefings , military contractors , etc. ) would require everyone to do it , otherwise it would be deeply unsafe for any one state to act alone .", "The likelihood of persuading some of the world 's more unsavory or corrupt regimes to play ball seems pretty unlikely .", "The first of those is improbable , the latter is impossible .", "People have many different interests in the accountability of governments ; different areas of concern , differing levels of skill in pursuing those interests and so on .", "They deserve , however , an equal degree of transparency from governments in relation to those decisions that affect them .", "Relying on a right to access is almost certainly most likely to favour those who already have the greatest access either through their profession , their skills or their social capital .", "The use of freedom of information requests in those countries where they are available shows this to be the case , as they have overwhelmingly been used by journalists , with a smattering of representation from researchers , other politicians and lawyers and so on .", "In the UK between 2005 and 2010 the total number registered by all ` ordinary ' members of the public is just ahead of journalists , the next largest group .", "The public are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the listed professional groups -LSB- i -RSB- .", "Required publication , by contrast , presents an even playing field to all parties .", "Rather than allowing legislators to determine how and to whom -- and for what -- they should be accountable , a presumption in favour of publication makes them accountable to all .", "As a result , it is the only truly effective way of ensuring one of the key aims set out in favour of any freedom of information process .", "LSB- i -RSB- Who Makes FOI Requests ?", "BBC Open Secrets Website .", "The idea that , presented with a vast mass of frequently complex data , everyone would be able to access , process and act on it in the same way is fantasy .", "Equally the issue of ` who guards the guards ' that Proposition raises is a misnomer ; exactly the groups mentioned are already those with the primary role of scrutinizing government actions because they have the time , interest and skills to do so .", "Giving a right to access would give them greater opportunities to continue with that in a way that deluging them with information would not .", "There are cost concerned with processing FoI requests both in terms of time and cash terms .", "LSB- i -RSB- To take one example Britain 's largest local authority , Birmingham , spends # 800,000 a year dealing with FoI requests .", "LSB- ii -RSB- There is also a delay from the point of view of the applicant .", "Such a delay is more than an irritant in the case of , for example , immigration appeals or journalistic investigations .", "Governments know that journalists usually have to operate within a window of time while a story is still ` hot ' .", "As a result all they have to do is wait it out until the attention of the media turns elsewhere to ensure that if evidence of misconduct or culpability were found , it would probably be buried as a minor story if not lost altogether .", "As journalism remains the primary method most societies have of holding government to account , it does n't seem unreasonable that the methodology for releasing data should , at least in part , reflect the reality of how journalism works as an industry .", "LSB- i -RSB- Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act .", "LSB- ii -RSB- Dunton , Jim , ` Cost of FoI requests rises to # 34m ' , Local Government Chronicle , 16 September 2010 , http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article It seems unlikely that total publication would save much in the way of time or money .", "If the data was not indexed in some way it would be absurdly difficult to navigate - and that takes time and money .", "There are advantages to building a delay into systems such as this , if a piece of information genuinely justifies a news story , then it will do so at any time .", "If it 's only of interest in the middle of a media feeding frenzy , then it seems unlikely that it was all that important .", "It is a misnomer in many things that more is necessarily better but that is , perhaps , more true of information than of most things .", "Public bodies produce vast quantities of data and are often have a greater tendency to maintain copious records than their private sector equivalents .", "US government agencies will create data that would require `` 20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text , '' over the next two years .", "LSB- i -RSB- Simply dumping this en masse would be a fairly effective way of masking any information that a public body wanted kept hidden .", "Deliberately poor referencing would achieve the same result .", "This ` burying ' of bad news at a time when everyone is looking somewhere else is one of the oldest tricks in press management .", "For example Jo Moore , an aide to then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers suggested that September 11 2001 was `` a very good day to get out anything we want to bury . ''", "Suggesting burying a u turn on councillors ' expenses .", "For it to genuinely help with the transparency and accountability of public agencies it would require inordinately detailed and precise cataloguing and indexing -- a process that would be likely to be both time consuming and expensive .", "The choice would , therefore , be between a mostly useless set of data that would require complex mining by those citizens who were keen to use it or the great expense of effectively cataloguing it in advance .", "Even this latter option would defeat the objective of greater accountability because whoever had responsibility for the cataloguing would have far greater control of what would be likely to come to light .", "Instead ensuring a right of access for citizens ensures that they can have a reasonable access to exactly the piece of information they are seeking -LSB- iii -RSB- .", "LSB- i -RSB- Eddy , Nathan , ` Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT ' , eweek , 8th May 2012 , http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-fo ... -LSB- ii -RSB- Sparrow , Andrew , ` September 11 : ` a good day to bury bad news '' , The Telegraph , 10 October 2001 , http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html -LSB- iii -RSB- Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right .", "Toby Mendel , Head of Law at Article 19 .", "Although it would be time-consuming to approach so much information , it is not impossible to manage it effectively .", "As Wikileaks has demonstrated , given access to large quantities of information , it is a relatively straightforward process to start with records that are likely to prove interesting and then follow particular routes from there .", "In addition , governments , like all organisations , have information management systems , there would be no reason not to use the same model .", "Additionally , the very skill of journalism is going beyond the executive summary to find the embarrassing fact buried away in appendix nineteen .", "That would still be the case under this model , it would just be easier .", "Knowing that everything is likely to be recorded and then published is likely to be counter-productive .", "It seems probable that anything sensitive -- such as advice given to ministers by senior officials -- would either not be recorded or it would be done in a way so opaque as to make it effectively meaningless -LSB- i -RSB- .", "By contrast knowing that such conversations , to focus on one particularly example , are recorded and can be subjected to public scrutiny when there is a proven need to do so ensures that genuine accountability -- rather than prurience or curiosity , is likely to be both the goal and the outcome .", "None of us would like the process of how we reached decisions made public as it often involves getting things wrong a few times first .", "However , there are some instances where it is important to know how a particular decision was reached and whether those responsible for that decision were aware of certain facts at the time -- notably when public figures are claiming that they were not aware of something and others are insisting that they were .", "In such an instance the right to access is useful and relevant ; having records of every brainstorming session in every public body is not .", "As the Leveson inquiry is discovering , an extraordinary amount of decisions in government seem to be made informally , by text message or chats at parties .", "Presumably that would become evermore the case if every formal discussion were to be published -LSB- ii -RSB- .", "LSB- i -RSB- The Pitfalls of Britain 's Confidential Civil Service .", "Financial Time 5 March 2010 .", "LSB- ii -RSB- This is nothing very new , see : Downing Street : Informal Style .", "It is frequently useful to see the general approach of a public organisation as reflected in routine discussions .", "Opposition is wrong to suggest that such information would only cast a light on ideas that were never pursued anyway so they do n't matter .", "It would also highlight ideas that agencies wanted to pursue but felt they could n't because of the likely impact of public opinion , knowing such information gives useful insight into the intentions of the public agency in question .", "The right to access allows people to see information that affects them personally or where there is reasonable suspicion of harm or nefarious practices .", "It does n't allow them to invade the privacy of other citizens who just happen to work for public bodies or have some other association -LSB- i -RSB- .", "Unless there is reason to suspect corruption , why should law-abiding citizens who sell goods and services to public bodies have the full details of their negotiations made public for their other buyers , who may have got a worse deal , to see ?", "Why should the memo sent by an otherwise competent official on a bad day be made available for her neighbours to read over ?", "A presumption in favour of publication would ensure that all of these things , and others , would be made a reality with the force of law behind them .", "This would place additional burdens on government in terms of recruitment and negotiations with private firms -- not to mention negotiations with other governments with less transparent systems .", "Let 's assume for the moment that the British government introduced a system , it is quite easy imagine a sense of `` For God 's sake do n't tell the British '' spreading around the capitals of the world fairly quickly .", "LSB- i -RSB- Section 40 0 ( A ) od the FOIA .", "See also Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations .", "When Should Salaries be Disclosed ?", "Information Commissioner 's Office .", "There are , of course some costs to having a truly open and accountable government , but an effective right of access would allow much of that information to be made available .", "After all what the public sector bodies are paying in commercial transactions is of great interest to the public .", "If public bodies are getting a particularly good rate from suppliers , it might well raise the question of `` Why ? ''", "For example , are they failing to enforce regulations on a particular supplier in return for a good price .", "In that instance , their other customers and their competitors would seem to have every right to know .", "Coliver , Sandra , ` The principles should affirm the public 's right to information held by public bodies ' , Free Speech Debate , 10 February 2012 , http://freespeechdebate.com/en/discuss/the-principles-should-affirm-the-publics-right-to-information-held-by-public-bodies/ ` Downing Street : ` Informal style '' , BBC News , 14 July 2004 , http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3894021.stm", "Brittan , Samuel , ` The pitfalls of Britain 's confidential civil service ' , The Financial Times , 5 March 2010 , http://www.samuelbrittan.co.uk/text360_p.html", "Chulov , Martin , and Pidd , Helen , ` Defectors admit to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war ' , The Guardian , 15 February 2011 , http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war", "Dunton , Jim , ` Cost of FoI requests rises to # 34m ' , Local Government Chronicle , 16 September 2010 , http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article", "Eddy , Nathan , ` Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT ' , eweek , 8th May 2012 , http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-for-Government-IT-651653/ ` Independent Review of the impact of the Freedom of Information Act ' , Frontier Economics , October 2006 , http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/%2B/http:/www.dca.gov.uk/foi/reference/foi-independent-review.pdf ` Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations When should salaries be disclosed ? '", ", Information Commissioner 's Office , 21 February 2009 , http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/freedom_of_information/practical_application/salaries_v1.pdf", "Mendel , Toby , ` The Public 's Right to Know ' , Article 19 , June 1999 , http://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/standards/righttoknow.pdf", "Mendel , Toby , ` Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right ' , Article 19 , http://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/publications/foi-as-an-international-right.pdf ` The Issue ' , Publish What You Fund , accessed 13 November 2012 , http://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/issue/", "Rosenbaum , Martin , ` Who makes FOI requests ? '", ", BBC News , 14 January 2011 , http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2011/01/who_makes_foi_requests.html", "Sparrow , Andrew , ` September 11 : ` a good day to bury bad news '' , The Telegraph , 10 October 2001 , http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html If you are an academic or highly knowledgeable about a particular debate could you give an hour or two a month to curate a debate ?", "Find out more", "Find out more Idebate needs editors from around the world to check , moderate and create content for debatabase and the site more generally .", "Editors are vital in making the site run smoothly and ensuring that debates are as informative as possible .", "Find out more I think the recent legal fight between the Scottish government and the Scottish information commissioner over legal advice regarding scottish Independence and the EU is an excellent example supporting the need for presumption of transparency .", "Salmond and the Scottish Government refused to say if there was legal advice on Scotlands post independence situation in Europe .", "The Information commissioner tried to force publication of the advice .", "the final result : The Scottish government revealed that they had no advice while lamenting that they had been legally obliged not to let anyone know if there was or was not any advice .", "So hundreds of thousands of pounds were spend on a legal battle chasing advice that did not exist just because the Government was not supposed to say if there was any advice .", "IDEA Amsterdam , IDEA & puncsp ; London , IDEA & puncsp ; New York and IDEA Central are separate organizations that operate independently yet cooperate informally with each other ."], "_citing_sentence": "All governments recognise a right to freedom of information as part of freedom of expression making it the government's responsibility to provide access to public information and many are enabling this through creating freedom of information acts.", "_claim_name": "The default of copyright restricts the spreading of information", "_doc_title": "This House believes that there should be a presumption in favour of publication for information held by public bodies | Digital Freedoms", "_labeled_lineIDs": [25]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Charles Arthur , Technology editor", "Wednesday 31 March 2010 19.05 EDT", "Last modified on Thursday 1 April 2010 08.31 EDT It is the biggest shakeup in the Ordnance Survey 's 260-year history : from tomorrow you can download maps as detailed as 1:10,000 scale , or collect a list of locations appearing on maps at the 1:50,000 scale , or a conversion system for postcodes to grid references -- free for personal or commercial use .", "The move marks a radical departure from the OS 's previous financial model , under which every piece of map data had to be paid for , except for very low-volume experimental applications .", "It is also the outcome of a lobbying battle inside government between a `` free data '' faction led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee , the inventor of the world wide web who has been advising government on making better use of open data , and the OS 's current management allied with parts of the Treasury .", "The new arrangement also removes the principal objection that would-be internet entrepreneurs have had to OS maps -- which , while admired for their quality , have been reviled by websites for their licensing terms , under which OS claimed ownership of any product created using them .", "That licensing has now been dropped : all that is required with the new maps is an attribution of their origin .", "Internet entrepreneurs who have been held back by licensing costs and restrictions expressed delight .", "Harry Metcalfe , who has been sued by the Royal Mail over the use by one of his sites , ernestmarples.com , of postcode-to-grid reference data , said : `` The end of the licensing is brilliant -- though I 'll want to read it to be absolutely sure .", "The devil is in the detail . ''", "But the Ramblers ' Association and private makers of paper maps expressed disappointment that OS is not forced to release the details necessary to produce competing commercial versions of its popular Explorer ( 1:25,000 scale ) and Landranger ( 1:50,000 scale ) maps .", "John Denham , the communities secretary , is visiting OS 's Southampton offices tomorrow to formally launch the `` OS OpenData '' initiative , which he said `` shows the UK is at the cutting edge of a digital revolution .", "The move to free up public data encourages fresh thinking -- people re-using information in different and more imaginative ways than may have originally been intended ... increasing access to Ordnance Survey data will attract a new wave of entrepreneurs and result in new solutions to old problems that will benefit us all .", "It will also drive a new industry , creating new jobs and driving future growth . ''", "Gordon Brown has made the creation of a high-tech economy part of the Labour Party 's election platform .", "Berners-Lee welcomed the move : `` I 'm delighted that the Ordnance Survey is releasing this data for free re-use .", "It will help people make fuller use of other government data on data.gov.uk , as well as stimulating innovation in mapping itself . ''", "But OS has been less happy .", "It was caught by surprise when Gordon Brown announced the move in November -- so much so that it was not quoted in the press release from its department touting the move .", "Brown set April as the deadline , and a hurried consultation opened in December and closed in mid-March .", "That suggested that the Explorer and Landranger maps would be available for commercial republishing .", "Documents seen by the Guardian suggest that OS considered lobbying the Ramblers , and its head Sir Chris Bonington , to get them to oppose the move on the basis that map quality would suffer .", "Instead the Ramblers welcomed the idea of opening up paper maps to competition -- leading to disappointment when the details of the datasets was announced .", "`` Explorer and Landranger are two of the things that we definitely wanted , '' said Des de Mor , its senior everyday walking officer .", "`` Streetview -LSB- the 1:10,000 maps -RSB- has its uses for some of our work , but this stymies us in terms of using other businesses ' mapping in rural areas for putting routes online . ''", "Existing OS maps lack detail that ramblers desire , he said .", "OS is government-owned but self-funding through the sale of licences to use its maps .", "It had revenues of about # 117m in 2009 , of which roughly half came from the public sector , and provided a dividend of about # 5m to the Treasury .", "The new arrangements are expected to cost about # 20m in forgone revenues -- which the government anticipates will be made up through increased tax revenues .", "The Treasury has agreed to fund the difference .", "The Ordnance Survey has opened up its map data for free after a long campaign .", "Find out what was released", "From 1 April you 'll be able to create your own maps - even paper ones .", "So , what sort will you make ?"], "_citing_sentence": "This is why applications like openstreetmap or google maps (which is not creative commons but can be easily built upon by creative commons projects) are now much more successful than traditional mapping and has often forced government map providers to follow suit such as the UK's Ordnance Survey making many of its maps free and downloadable.", "_claim_name": "Creative commons allows existing work to be used as a building block by others", "_doc_title": "Ordnance Survey launches free downloadable maps | Technology | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 74, "_topic_name": "This House would not fund any work that is not released under a creative commons license"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Don Denkinger knows a thing or two about what Jim Joyce is going through .", "Denkinger , whose questionable call at first base in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series helped the Kansas City Royals come back to beat the St. Louis Cardinals , said that he supports the use of instant replay in baseball to reverse blown calls such as the one Joyce made Wednesday night , costing Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game .", "`` There are so many areas you can use instant replay , '' Denkinger said , according to the New York Post .", "`` Maybe instant replay can clean things up .", "If a play is missed , it can be corrected .", "I did n't feel that way in ' 85 , but I feel that way now . ''", "Joyce called Cleveland 's Jason Donald safe at first base on what would have been the 27th and final out of a perfect game for Galarraga .", "After the game , a tearful Joyce , having seen the replay , admitted he blew the call and apologized to Galarraga and the Tigers .", "`` It looked to me he was in perfect position to see the play ... obviously he did n't see it properly , '' Denkinger told ESPN Radio 's `` Mike and Mike in the Morning '' on Thursday .", "`` I think that 's admirable for him , '' Denkinger said of Joyce 's apology .", "`` Unfortunately , it 's going to be with him as long as he officiates . ''", "Although Denkinger supports instant replay , he said there are a lot of factors that will need to be addressed if it 's to be more widely implemented in baseball -- including any effect on the length of games and whether umpires would hesitate on making close calls as a result .", "Currently , replay can be used only on questionable home runs calls .", "`` There 's a whole lot they need to clean up before they get to bang-bangers at first base , '' Denkinger said on `` Mike and Mike . ''", "`` Go out there and try and call it when it 's at full speed . ''", "Denkinger worked on the same umpiring crew as Joyce during his career .", "`` He 's a very good umpire , '' Denkinger said , according to the Post .", "`` I feel badly for the situation . ''", "Denkinger had a 30-year career as an umpire , retiring in 1998 .", "But he 's known for just one call -- when he ruled the Royals ' Jorge Orta was safe at first base in the ninth inning of Game 6 .", "The Royals , who were trailing by one run , went on to win the game , then take Game 7 and the World Series ; the Cardinals and their fans said they had been robbed by Denkinger 's call at first .", "`` I had 30 great years ... and I had one call that 's all anybody ever wants to talk about .", "It 's not right , '' Denkinger said , according to the Post .", "`` But it 's the way the game 's played , and that 's what happens . ''", "Denkinger was on the umpiring crew for two of baseball 's rare perfect games during his career .", "He was at second base when Len Barker of the Cleveland Indians threw a perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 15 , 1981 .", "And he was at first base when Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers threw a perfect game against the then-California Angels on July 28 , 1994 ."], "_citing_sentence": "It's not right,\" he said, adding that he now supports instant replay.", "_claim_name": "Instant replay will actually enhance umpires' stature", "_doc_title": "Former umpire Don Denkinger supports instant replay in baseball", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The human drama of Armando Galarraga 's imperfect game last week might have accomplished what past game-changing , even championship-altering decisions , could n't : provide the final push toward the increased use of instant replay in baseball .", "QUESTIONABLE CALLS : Some controversial call in big games If there 's any strong sentiment against expanding the role of technology in umpires ' decisions , it revolves around `` instant '' more than `` replay . ''", "`` We 'd be out there all night , '' says Terry Francona , manager of the Boston Red Sox , one of the teams criticized earlier this season by umpire Joe West for the length of their games .", "`` I think there has to be a line where you stop .", "I think they 've done a good job with instant replay .", "... We 've got pretty good umpires .", "Sometimes , everyone makes a mistake .", "That 's just the way it is . ''", "In a USA TODAY/Gallup poll conducted June 3 , 78 % of people said they believe Major League Baseball should expand replay to include plays such as the one in Galarraga 's one-hit shutout victory for the Detroit Tigers .", "The current replay system , implemented during the 2008 season , only determines whether potential home runs are over the wall or fair or foul .", "In the same poll , 64 % of respondents who described themselves as baseball fans said MLB should overturn umpire Jim Joyce 's safe call with two outs in the ninth inning June 2 against the Cleveland Indians .", "The poll , which was based on 470 respondents who identified themselves as baseball fans , has a margin of error of 6 % .", "Joyce , a 22-year veteran , admitted he got the call wrong when Jason Donald hit a grounder to first baseman Miguel Cabrera , who fielded the ball to his right and threw to Galarraga covering first .", "Replays showed Donald was out .", "Joyce apologized to Galarraga , who has forgiven the umpire and turned yet another high-profile umpire gaffe into a feel-good story .", "`` I just cost that kid a perfect game , '' Joyce said .", "`` I would 've been the first person in my face , and he never said a word to me . ''", "Joyce 's reaction has also garnered overwhelming support among fans in the USA TODAY/Gallup poll , 84 % of whom said they feel sympathetic toward the umpire .", "There have been calls to overturn Joyce 's ruling , and Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement the matter was being reviewed .", "But a high-ranking MLB official with knowledge of Selig 's plans told USA TODAY the commissioner would n't reverse the call .", "The official requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter .", "`` Given ( Joyce 's ) call and other recent events , I will examine our umpiring system , the expanded use of instant replay and all other related features , '' Selig said in a statement .", "Increased use of replay certainly is on the table but hardly a sure thing .", "Selig has admitted he has been slow to embrace replay , citing a reluctance to tamper with the game 's tradition and the human element .", "`` I do n't agree with seeing replay every time there 's a close play , '' says Rich Garcia , the umpire who missed 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reaching over a Yankee Stadium wall to touch a ball during a 1996 playoff game and awarded Derek Jeter a home run .", "`` If that 's the case , you can get anybody to umpire , get a guy off the street .", "What 's that going to do with the integrity of the game ?", "It 's part of the game . ''", "Replay under review", "Time , not tradition , could be a bigger stumbling block .", "MLB has been pushing teams and umpires to speed up play .", "Current replays generally take three to five minutes , with umpires going to video screens installed under the stands and near the field .", "If replay were expanded , one possibility is to borrow from the NFL 's system of allowing coaches a limited number of challenges to officials ' calls .", "The types of plays that could be challenged would have to be defined .", "Calls such as Joyce 's would be prime candidates .", "Determining balls and strikes likely would not .", "`` When does it stop , when does it start ? ''", "Jeter says of expanding replay .", "`` Do you have a flag that you throw from the bench for challenges ?", "There are always plays throughout the course of a game that you wish were called the other way . ''", "Longtime National League umpire Ed Vargo , a former umpiring supervisor who died in 2008 , had long campaigned for adding a fifth umpire to crews .", "Originally , Vargo wanted the official scorer role to be part of the umpiring rotation , but in recent years he said the same system could be used to add a replay official .", "A fifth umpire in the stadium with immediate replay-review capabilities could speed up the review process .", "Selig has noted that any changes would involve discussions with owners , the players ' union , the umpires ' union and MLB 's Special Committee for On-Field Matters .", "Tigers manager Jim Leyland , who was among the first to verbally accost Joyce after his blown call and then helped orchestrate much of the feel-good follow-up , is on that committee .", "Umpires have been advised by their union leadership not to discuss replay or any other matters that might fall under the parameters of their collective bargaining agreement .", "But that silence is n't complete .", "Umpire Tim McClelland , who was involved in controversial calls during last season 's playoffs , says , `` After watching what I went through in the playoffs last year and then what Jim 's going through , I think more and more umpires are coming around to ( increased use of replay ) .", "I have n't talked to all the umpires , and maybe this is not the sentiment of our union or our union leadership , but this is my own personal opinion . ''", "The intense scrutiny that follows a high-profile missed call is enough to sway some umps .", "`` He 's sick .", "I 've been there , so I know , '' Don Denkinger says of Joyce 's plight .", "Denkinger blew the call on a similar play during Game 6 of the 1985 World Series .", "`` My best advice to him is to keep his chin up , '' he says .", "`` Do n't look back .", "He 's going to be an umpire for a long time .", "He ca n't let this get him down . ''", "Denkinger says last year 's postseason finally swayed him on replay .", "`` They have to start somewhere , '' he says , `` and now 's the time . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Umpire Tim McClelland, who was involved in questionable calls during the 2009 playoffs, said as much about his experience and those of Jim Joyce, the umpire who blew Galarraga's perfect game: \"After watching what I went through in the playoffs last year and then what Jim's going through, I think more and more umpires are coming around to [increased use of replay].\"", "_claim_name": "Instant replay will actually enhance umpires' stature", "_doc_title": "Expanding instant replay not an easy call to make for MLB - USATODAY.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [47]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["There is a saying among sports officials in baseball , basketball , and any other sport with two teams : `` Every time we make a close call , we earn a temporary friend and a permanent enemy . ''", "Before the advent of television replay , umpires were questioned but never objectively criticized .", "Before super slow-mo , a close call was always right if it benefited one 's own team and wrong if it did n't .", "Before technology came into the picture , second guessing an umpire was purely subjective .", "These days , every close play is reviewed multiple times , in multiple speeds , across multiple angles .", "In the World Series , non-umpires by the names of Buck , McCarver , and even La Russa criticize the state of umpiring on national television .", "During Game 1 , Fox turned to an infrared camera slowed to display each and every one of its 100 frames per second to demonstrate a missed call .", "In Game 3 , Fox identified the second missed call of the series using traditional replay technology .", "As a result , umpire Ron Kulpa was very harshly criticized for blowing an `` obvious '' call -- a pool reporter even asked if his being from St. Louis had anything to do with it .", "Coincidentally , both missed calls did benefit the Cardinals .", "Indeed , the Texas Rangers lost both Games 1 and 3 , though not at all because of the missed calls .", "Meet instant replay , a process that takes significantly longer than the original play to complete .", "Had MLB employed expanded instant replay during this World Series , no more than two calls might have been overturned as a result .", "How should MLB expand instant replay ?", "They should n't ( keep it at boundary calls )", "Expand replay for the World Series only", "Expand replay for the CS + World Series only", "Expand replay for the entire postseason only", "Expand replay for the entire season + postseason", "Abolish instant replay entirely", "Submit Vote vote to see results", "They should n't ( keep it at boundary calls ) 20.7 %", "Expand replay for the World Series only 3.1 %", "Expand replay for the CS + World Series only 1.7 %", "Expand replay for the entire postseason only 9.2 %", "Expand replay for the entire season + postseason 46.9 %", "Abolish instant replay entirely 18.4 %", "Considering 27 outs per game per team , there have been at least 270 calls made in this year 's World Series .", "That is a minimum of 270 calls of which the umpires missed two -- a missed call every 135 calls .", "That equates to an accuracy of 99.3 percent , or one missed call every two-and-a-half games .", "We 'll round that to three games due to our low-balling of calls made per game .", "Officials have another saying when it comes to statistics : `` 100 percent of the time , we upset at least 50 percent of the crowd . ''", "To further demonstrate the issue of umpire accuracy , we turn to a curiously phrased study in MLB umpiring .", "ESPN previously touted that MLB umpires miss an egregious 20 percent of close calls .", "But ESPN did n't especially define what missing 20 percent means .", "Considering our previous model of 54 outs per game equating to a minimum of 54 calls per game , we look more closely at ESPN 's data .", "ESPN found 47 incorrect calls over the course of 184 games , or one missed call every four games .", "With 184 games examined , ESPN analyzed 9,936 calls ( 54 minimum calls per game times 184 games ) .", "If , out of 9,936 calls , 47 were deemed incorrect , that means umpires missed approximately 0.47 percent of all calls thrown their way .", "That comes out to approximately 99.5 percent of calls that were not missed .", "Had expanded replay been in place , umpire Jim Joyce and pitcher Armando Gallaraga may have never had the chance to share their tremendous sportsmanship with the world .", "Welcome to the wonderful world of statistics , where ESPN can take a study showing MLB umpires miss less than half of one percent of calls and turn it into a headline accusing umps of missing 20 percent of calls that presumably should n't be missed .", "When Rangers catcher Mike Napoli was asked about the controversial call in Game 3 , he was adamant he had tagged his runner before the runner arrived at first base .", "Napoli , of course , was correct .", "However , when asked about instant replay during a follow-up question , Napoli stated he was unequivocally opposed to expanding instant replay to determine tag plays .", "Proponents for keeping replay out of the more routine plays of baseball often cite a desire to `` preserve the human element . ''", "The `` human element '' refers to umpires ' calls which sparingly might be incorrect , but which always must be final .", "So how does one go about quantifying the human element ?", "We 've already done that .", "If the human element refers to an incorrect call , ESPN has already determined this occurs once every four games .", "We 're looking at a 25 percent chance of a missed call occurring in any given game , and an even lesser chance that the missed call will be a game-changer .", "For those keeping score , the last missed call that was a game changer occurred on July 26 , 2011 .", "Umpire Jerry Meals incorrectly ruled Braves runner Julio Lugo safe at home plate to break a tie score in the bottom of the 19th inning of a Pirates-Braves game .", "By that point , the Pirates-Braves game had persevered through a minimum of 111 correct calls over the course of six hours , 38 minutes .", "Meals 's miss in the sixth hour , 39th minute cemented his crew 's accuracy at no less than 99.1 percent for the entire contest .", "How would expanded instant replay impact the classic umpire-manager argument ?", "In the end , the `` human element '' purists and replay advocates are arguing over less than one half of one percent of all calls made .", "Reading this article , the baseball purists will say umpires are so close to perfect , we need that tiniest of imperfections to remind us that umpires are human .", "Meanwhile , the replay advocates will say disruptions to the game will be minimal , since only 0.5 percent of all calls would be overturned .", "ESPN 's study showed that only 1.3 calls per game were deemed close enough to warrant instant replay review .", "For replay advocates , this proves games will be minimally affected if only one or two calls per game will be reviewed .", "Meanwhile , the purists will counter with the fact that only 20 percent of these reviewed calls would be overturned : why stop play when an overturn will only occur in one out of every four games ?", "It is a philosophical debate that has subjectively made its way into player union meetings , owners ' meetings and into the office of Commissioner Bud Selig .", "At least now , thanks to statistics , we can insert some objectivity into the debate .", "Whether or not MLB institutes expanded instant replay to raise 99.5 percent to 100 percent , the highest of standards in umpiring is extremely real .", "As Hall of Fame umpire Nestor Chylak once said , `` They expect an umpire to be perfect on Opening Day and to improve as the season goes on . ''", "By `` they , '' Chylak referred to fans , players , coaches , the media ... everyone .", "Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images", "July 's 19-inning Pirates-Braves contest may never had ended without umpire Jerry Meal 's missed call at the plate", "With expanded instant replay , many are hoping Chylak 's quote will become the new reality while others are hoping to leave the call-making to the men in blue .", "As a footnote to this piece , you may be wondering why I left out ball/strike calls , in which umpires ' 99.5 percent accuracy dips to the 95 percent level .", "Plate umpires ' ball/strike calls are graded by the computerized Pitch f/x tracking system .", "The reason is simple -- many people simply can not bring themselves to accept Pitch f/x 's judgement .", "Throughout these playoffs , the television commentators who proudly replayed close pitches using the famous FoxTrax box could not bring themselves to agree with the computer 's determination .", "From Terry Francona to Buck , McCarver and everybody in between , the prevailing attitude in regards to Pitch f/x was best summed up by Francona during Game 1 of the ALCS .", "Francona disagreed with a plate umpire 's call of `` ball '' on a 2-2 fastball located near the outer edge of home plate .", "As Francona bemoaned the `` missed call , '' FoxTrax flashed on the screen , conclusively showing the pitch was located several inches off the plate and had correctly been ruled ball three .", "Instead of eating crow , Francona brazenly remarked , `` I do n't care what FoxTrax says .", "That was a good pitch . ''", "Even if replay does expand to include safe/out and fair/foul calls , computers can not be used to call a strike zone .", "No one seems to agree with the computer 's judgement .", "Calling balls and strikes via computer would require fans and broadcasters to accept the computer as an accurate arbiter", "After the Cardinals ' loss in Game 4 of the 2011 World Series , St. Louis fans took to the blogosphere to complain about plate umpire Kulpa 's allegedly unfair strike zone .", "Kulpa was atoning for his Game 3 mistake by calling an unfair pro-Texas zone .", "However , contrary to St. Louis fans ' claims , Kulpa called a Game 3 zone with 95.6 percent accuracy .", "He missed all of seven pitches , including two against St. Louis and five against Texas .", "If anything , Kulpa 's Game 4 zone was pro-Cardinals , not pro-Rangers , proving once and for all that sour grapes from losing fans carry very little logic and objective weight .", "In a recent article for Bleacher Report , I asked who should call balls and strikes in Major League Baseball -- a computer or a human .", "With 127 votes in , the answer is clear .", "The umpire wins , 93 percent to seven ."], "_citing_sentence": "Statistical analyses have shown that well over 99 percent of calls are accurate, but this is not always appreciated by spectators.", "_claim_name": "Instant replay will actually enhance umpires' stature", "_doc_title": "Stats Prove MLB Umpires Call 99.5 Percent of Plays Correctly | Bleacher Report", "_labeled_lineIDs": [39]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By JACK CURRYAUG .", "There may not ever be another Jeffrey Maier moment at a major league game .", "Now that Major League Baseball has added instant replay on home runs calls , something like Maier 's deflecting a ball over the fence during the 1996 playoffs at Yankee Stadium would be reversed by the umpires .", "Commissioner Bud Selig announced Tuesday that the replay system would start with the three series that open Thursday .", "Instant replay will then be used in all games throughout the rest of the season .", "Baseball is the last of the four major sports to use a form of replay to correct calls .", "Selig said the replays would be used to determine if a home run ball was fair or foul , whether the ball cleared the fence and whether a fan had interfered with it .", "Selig said he remained opposed to unlimited instant replay .", "`` I believe that the extraordinary technology that we now have merits the use of instant replay on a very limited basis , '' Selig said .", "`` The system we have in place will ensure that the proper call is made on home run balls and will not cause a significant delay in the game . ''", "Every game will be monitored at the offices of Major League Baseball Advanced Media in Manhattan .", "If an umpire crew chief determines that a play needs to be reviewed , the umpires will leave the field to look at the video .", "After a technician from Advanced Media delivers the video , the crew chief will make the decision about upholding or reversing a call .", "Donald Fehr , the executive director of the players union , said the players were pleased with the addition of replay .", "The players union must notify the commissioner 's office by Dec. 10 if it wants to further negotiate replay in 2009 and beyond .", "If the players do not make that request , replay will be used until the current labor agreement expires in 2011 ."], "_citing_sentence": "Even MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, generally an opponent of instant replay, acknowledged \"that the extraordinary technology that we now have merits the use of instant replay on a very limited basis\" when he announced its adoption on boundary calls.", "_claim_name": "It's not possible to get every call right, so instant replay is a necessary supplement to umpires' skill", "_doc_title": "Baseball Will Use Instant Replay to Review Home Run Calls - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["William Klem ( Catfish ) Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1953", "Bill Klem , perhaps the most famous of umpires , was a colorful National League umpire from 1905 to 1941 and then was chief of league umpires .", "He was one of the first to use arm signals to indicate his calls .", "He was also the first ump to wear an inside chest protector .", "Klem was nicknamed `` The Old Arbitrator '' , which he liked , and was also called `` Catfish '' , which he hated :", "He wanted to be a catcher in the Canadian League in 1896 , but had arm problems .", "He played semi-pro ball for a few years and worked in construction .", "He umpired his first game in 1901 in a contest involving the New York Cuban Giants .", "He umped in the Connecticut League in 1902 and then the New York State League in 1903 .", "He was introduced in 1904 to president Harry Pulliam of the National League by umpire Hank O'Day , later to be famous as the umpire faced with the Merkle Bonehead Play .", "He was acknowledged as a great caller of the balls and the strikes , which was quite useful in his early umpiring days when he might often be the only umpire on the field .", "He was an umpire in 18 different World Series , from 1908 to 1940 .", "He also worked the first All-Star Game , and agreed to officiate at a race around the bases between Hans Lobert and a race horse in 1914 .", "His home was in Yonkers , NY but he wintered from 1925 on in Florida .", "`` It ai n't nothin ' till I call it . ''", "- Bill Klem `` The best umpired game is the game in which the fans can not recall the umpires who worked it . ''", "Bill Klem `` Gentleman , he was out because I said he was out . ''", "Bill Klem `` Son , when you pitch a strike , Mr. Hornsby will let you know . ''", "Bill Klem , said to a rookie pitcher questioning a pitch that Klem called as a ball `` I Never Missed One in My Heart '' - title of an article Klem wrote for Collier 's magazine , 1951"], "_citing_sentence": "Legendary Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem accurately stated, \"The best umpired game is the game in which the fans cannot recall the umpires who worked it.\"", "_claim_name": "Instant replay will place the focus of the game where it belongs--on the players, not the umpires", "_doc_title": "Bill Klem - BR Bullpen", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Baseball Almanac is pleased to present an unprecedented collection of baseball related quotations spoken by and about Major League umpires .", "Quotes From & About Major League Umpires `` An umpire is a loner .", "The restraints of his trade impose problems not normally endured by players , coaches , management , press and others connected with organized baseball .", "He is a friend to none .", "More often he is considered an enemy by all around him - including the fans in the stands who threaten his life . ''", "Art Rosenbaum in The San Francisco Chronicle ( 1965 ) `` Despite all the nasty things I have said about umpires , I think they 're one-hundred percent honest , but I ca n't for the life of me figure out how they arrive at some of their decisions . ''", "Athletics Manager Jimmy Dykes `` I could n't see well enough to play when I was a boy , so they gave me a special job - they made me an umpire . ''", "President of the United States Harry S. Truman `` I know that if I bump ( an umpire ) , I 'm suspended for four games .", "If they bump a guy you never hear about it .", "If we curse one of them , we get thrown out of a game and fined .", "If they curse a guy , they do n't get thrown out . ''", "Terry Pendleton in The Seattle Times ( Gordon Edes , 07/09/1995 , ` Pendleton Wants Some Action Against Power-Trip Umpires ' ) `` I think umpires have too much power , without any system of checks and balances and the more money a player makes , the more the umpire tries to show off that power to him .", "Unfortunately , since I signed my contract my strike zone has suddenly become a lot larger . ''", "Hall of Fame Shortstop Ozzie Smith `` I 've never questioned the integrity of an umpire .", "Their eyesight , yes . ''", "Leo Durocher `` Let 's face it .", "Umpiring is not an easy or happy way to make a living .", "In the abuse they suffer , and the pay they get for it , you see an imbalance that can only be explained by their need to stay close to a game they ca n't resist . ''", "Bob Uecker in Catcher in the Wry ( 1982 ) `` Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball , like the odor that follows an automobile . ''", "Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson `` My favorite umpire is a dead one . ''", "Hall of Fame Infielder Johnny Evers `` The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager , because it wo n't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game . ''", "Hall of Fame Manager Earl Weaver `` The umpire must be quick witted .", "He may not , like the wise old owl of the bench , look over his gold-rimmed eyeglasses , inform the assembled multitude that he will ` take the matter under advisement , ' and then adjourn the court for a week or two to satisfy himself how he ought to decide .", "He must be johnny-on-the-spot with a decision hot off the griddle and he must stick to it , right or wrong - or be lost . ''", "A.G. Spalding in America 's National Game ( 1911 ) `` Umpires are most vigorous when defending their miscalls . ''", "Jim Brosnan `` Umpires have the toughest job in baseball .", "Ever since the birth of the boos , they have suffered more abuse than a washroom wall . ''", "Ernie Harwell in Tuned to Baseball ( 1985 ) `` Umpires , you see , have on flashing button .", "They do n't like to be shown up .", "Push that button and you 're pushing the button on your own ejection seat . ''", "Jay Johnstone in Temporary Insanity ( 1985 ) `` Umpires would be natural Republicans -- dead to human feelings . ''", "George Will in Men at Work ( 1990 ) `` Wanting to be an umpire is tantamount to wanting to be President of the United States .", "I can admire their fierce sense of responsibility , whether they are right or wrong , but sometimes it comes down to being a thankless job ; however , the job must be done . ''", "Art Rust in Recollections of a Baseball Junkie ( 1985 ) `` Any time I got those ` bang-bang ' plays at first base , I called 'em out .", "It made the game shorter . ''", "National League Umpire Tom Gorman `` Fans and players boo and abuse umpires , but there is n't one umpire in the history of baseball who has ever been proved guilty of being dishonest .", "I 've very proud to have been an umpire . ''", "American League Umpire George Pipgras `` I can truthfully say that I never did like umpiring .", "I stayed with it because I had to eat . ''", "National League Umpire Lee Ballanfant `` If they did get a machine to replace us , you know what would happen to it ?", "Why , the players would bust it to pieces every time it ruled against them .", "They 'd clobber it with a bat . ''", "National League Umpire Harry Wendelstadt `` It is n't enough for an umpire merely to know what he 's doing .", "He has to look as though he know what he 's doing too . ''", "National League Umpire Larry Goetz `` It 's not easy to be an umpire and a Negro too .", "Maybe Sammy Davis would have a more difficult problem .", "He 's a Negro too , but he only has one eye . ''", "American League Umpire Emmett Ashford `` I 've been hit with mudballs and whiskey bottles , and had everything from shoes to fruits and vegetables thrown at me .", "I 've been hospitalized with a concussion and broken ribs .", "I 've probably experienced more violence than any other umpire who ever lived . ''", "American League Umpire Joe Rue `` One of the really wrong theories about officiating is that a good official is one you never notice .", "The umpire who made that statement was probably a real poor official who tried to get his paycheck and hide behind his partners and stay out of trouble all his life .", "Control of the ballgame is the difference between umpires that show up for the players and the managers . ''", "National League Umpire Bruce Froemming `` The best thing about umpiring is seeing the best in baseball every day .", "The cardinal rule of umpiring is to follow the ball wherever it goes .", "Well , if you watch the ball , you ca n't help seeing somebody make a great catch ... That 's what makes umpiring so much fun . ''", "National League Umpire Shag Crawford `` The worst thing about umpiring is the loneliness .", "It 's a killer .", "Every city is a strange city .", "You do n't have a home .", "Ballplayers are home fifty percent of the them , umpires are not . ''", "- American League Umpire Ernie Stewart `` They expect an umpire to be perfect on Opening Day and to improve as the season goes on . ''", "American League Umpire Nestor Chylak `` Umpire 's heaven is a place where he works third base every game .", "Home is where the heartache is . ''", "American League Umpire Ron Luciano `` When I first went into the American League , Johnny Rice told me that the toughest call an umpire has to make is not the half-swing .", "The toughest call is throwing a guy out of the game after you blew the hell out of the play . ''", "American League Umpire Bill Kinnamon `` Why is it they boo me when I call a foul ball correctly and they applaud the starting pitcher when he gets taken out of the ballgame ? ''", "American League Umpire Jerry Neudecker", "Quotations From & About Major League Umpires", "Think you know the rules ?", "Think you would make a great umpire ?", "Want to discuss umpires ?", "Visit Baseball Fever today where all this is possible and actual umpires frequently visit as well .", "Those interested in reading quotations from and about Bill Klem or quotations from and about Cal Hubbard should click the links in this section as they have their own page .", "Visit out Umpire Section and read about major league players who became umpires , All-Star umpires , Hall of Fame umpires , World Series umpires , and more .", "All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac , Inc. .", "Hosted by Hosting 4 Less .", "Part of the Baseball Almanac family : 755 Home Runs |", "Baseball Box Scores |", "Today in Baseball History ."], "_citing_sentence": "Fans hold umpires to an exceptionally high standard; as former umpire Nestor Chylak put it, \"They expect an umpire to be perfect on Opening Day and to improve as the season goes on.\"", "_claim_name": "It's not possible to get every call right, so instant replay is a necessary supplement to umpires' skill", "_doc_title": "Umpire Quotes", "_labeled_lineIDs": [61]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 75, "_topic_name": "This House Believes Instant Replay Should Be Used in Major League Baseball"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["LSB- Home -RSB- -LSB- Databases -RSB- -LSB- World Law -RSB- -LSB- Multidatabase Search -RSB- -LSB- Help -RSB- -LSB- Feedback -RSB-", "European Court of Human Rights", "THE UNITED KINGDOM ( Application no. 14038/88 )", "STRASBOURG 07 July 1989 In the Soering case * ,", "The European Court of Human Rights , taking its decision in plenary session in pursuance of Rule 50 of the Rules of Court and composed of the following judges : Mr R. Ryssdal ,", "President , Mr J. Cremona , Mr Th\u00f3r Vilhj\u00e1lmsson , Mr F. G\u00f6lc\u00fckl\u00fc , Mr F. Matscher , Mr L.-E .", "Pettiti , Mr B. Walsh , Sir Vincent Evans , Mr R. Macdonald , Mr C. Russo , Mr R. Bernhardt , Mr A. Spielmann , Mr J. De Meyer , Mr J.A. Carrillo", "Salcedo , Mr N. Valticos , Mr S.K. Martens , Mrs E. Palm , Mr I. Foighel , and also of Mr M.-A .", "Eissen , Registrar , and Mr H. Petzold , Deputy Registrar ,", "Having deliberated in private on 27 April and 26 June 1989 ,", "Delivers the following judgment , which was adopted on the last-mentioned date :", "The case was brought before the Court on 25 January 1989 by the European Commission of Human Rights ( `` the Commission '' ) , on 30", "January 1989 by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and", "Northern Ireland and on 3 February 1989 by the Government of the Federal", "Republic of Germany , within the three-month period laid down by Article 32 \u00a7 1 and Article 47 ( art. 32-1 , art. 47 ) of the Convention for the Protection of", "Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ( `` the Convention '' ) .", "It originated in an application ( no. 14038/88 ) against the United Kingdom lodged with the Commission under Article 25 ( art. 25 ) by a German national ,", "Mr Jens Soering , on 8 July 1988 .", "The Commission 's request referred to Articles 44 and 48 ( art. 44 , art. 48 ) and to the declaration whereby the United Kingdom recognised the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court ( Article 46 ) ( art. 46 ) .", "The object of the request and of the two governmental applications was to obtain a decision from the Court as to whether or not the facts of the case disclosed a breach by the respondent State of its obligations under Articles 3 , 6 and 13 ( art. 3 , art. 6 , art. 13 ) of the Convention .", "In response to the enquiry made in accordance with Rule 33 \u00a7 3 ( d ) of the Rules of Court , the applicant stated that he wished to take part in the proceedings pending before the Court and designated the lawyers who would represent him ( Rule 30 ) .", "The Chamber was constituted on 26 January 1989 .", "It included ex officio Sir Vincent Evans , the elected judge of British nationality ( Article 43 of the Convention ) ( art. 43 ) , the Federal Republic of Germany at that stage not being a Party to the case , and Mr R. Ryssdal , the President of the Court ( Rule 21 \u00a7 3 ( b ) ) .", "The names of the other five members , namely Mr J. Cremona ,", "Mrs D. Bindschedler-Robert , Mr R. Bernhardt , Mr N. Valticos and Mrs E. Palm , were drawn by lot by the President in the presence of the Registrar .", "On the same day the Chamber relinquished jurisdiction forthwith in favour of the plenary Court ( Rule 50 ) .", "Likewise on the same day , following requests for an interim measure made by the Commission and the applicant , the Court indicated to the United Kingdom Government that it would be advisable not to extradite the applicant to the United States of America pending the outcome of the proceedings before the Court ( Rule 36 ) .", "The President of the Court consulted , through the", "Registrar , the Agents of the two Government Parties , the Delegate of the", "Commission and the representative of the applicant on the need for a written procedure ( Rules 37 \u00a7 1 and 50 \u00a7 3 ) .", "Thereafter , in accordance with the", "President 's Orders and directions , the following documents were lodged at the registry : - on 28 March 1989 , the memorial of the United Kingdom", "Government and the memorial of the applicant ; - on 31 March 1989 , the memorial of the German Government ; - on 17 April 1989 , the counter-memorial of the applicant ; - on 18 April 1989 , further affidavits submitted by the United", "Kingdom Government ; - on 20 April 1989 , further evidence submitted by the applicant .", "On 7 April 1989 the Secretary to the Commission had informed the Registrar that the Delegate did not propose to reply in writing to the memorials .", "After consulting , through the Registrar , those who would be appearing before the Court , the President directed on 3 February 1989 that the oral proceedings should open on 24 April 1989 ( Rule 38 ) .", "On 17 February 1989 , having been asked to do so by the applicant , the President invited the Commission to produce to the Court all the written and oral pleadings submitted before the Commission .", "The Commission complied with this request on 22 February .", "By letter received on 28 March 1989 , Amnesty International , London , sought leave to submit written comments ( Rule 37 \u00a7 2 ) .", "March the President granted leave subject to certain conditions .", "The comments were filed at the registry on 13 April .", "The hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building , Strasbourg , on the appointed day .", "The Court had held a preparatory meeting immediately beforehand .", "There appeared before the Court : - for the Government of the United Kingdom Mr M. Wood , Legal", "Counsellor , Foreign and Commonwealth Office , Agent , Sir Patrick Mayhew , Q.C. , M.P. , Attorney", "General , Mr M. Baker ,", "Barrister-at-Law , Counsel , Miss E. Wilmshurst , Legal", "Secretariat to the Law Officers , Mr D. Bentley , Home Office , Mr T. Cobley , Home Office , Advisers ; - for the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany Mr J. Meyer-Ladewig ,", "Ministry of Justice , Agent , Mr M. Grotz ,", "Regierungsdirektor , Federal Ministry of", "Justice , Mrs S. Werner ,", "Richterin am Amtsgericht , Federal", "Ministry of Justice , Advisers ; - for the Commission Mr E. Busuttil , Delegate ; - for the applicant Mr Colin Nicholls , Q.C. , Counsel , Mr R. Spencer , Solicitor , Mr F. Gardner , Solicitor , Advisers .", "The Court heard addresses by Sir Patrick Mayhew for the United", "Kingdom Government , by Mr Meyer-Ladewig for the German Government , by Mr", "Busuttil for the Commission and by Mr Nicholls for the applicant .", "Various documents were filed by the United Kingdom", "Government , the German Government and the applicant on the day of the public hearing and on dates between 26 April and 15 June 1989 .", "AS TO THE FACTS I. PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 11 .", "The applicant , Mr Jens Soering , was born on 1 August 1966 and is a German national .", "He is currently detained in prison in England pending extradition to the United States of America to face charges of murder in the Commonwealth of Virginia .", "The homicides in question were committed in Bedford County , Virginia , in March 1985 .", "The victims , William Reginald Haysom ( aged 72 ) and", "Nancy Astor Haysom ( aged 53 ) , were the parents of the applicant 's girlfriend ,", "Elizabeth Haysom , who is a Canadian national .", "Death in each case was the result of multiple and massive stab and slash wounds to the neck , throat and body .", "At the time the applicant and Elizabeth Haysom , aged 18 and 20 respectively , were students at the University of Virginia .", "They disappeared together from Virginia in October 1985 , but were arrested in England in April 1986 in connection with cheque fraud .", "The applicant was interviewed in England between 5 and 8 June 1986 by a police investigator from the Sheriff 's Department of", "In a sworn affidavit dated 24 July 1986 the investigator recorded the applicant as having admitted the killings in his presence and in that of two United Kingdom police officers .", "The applicant had stated that he was in love with Miss Haysom but that her parents were opposed to the relationship .", "He and Miss Haysom had therefore planned to kill them .", "They rented a car in Charlottesville and travelled to Washington where they set up an alibi .", "The applicant then went to the parents ' house , discussed the relationship with them and , when they told him that they would do anything to prevent it , a row developed during which he killed them with a knife .", "On 13 June 1986 a grand jury of the Circuit Court of Bedford County indicted him on charges of murdering the Haysom parents .", "The charges alleged capital murder of both of them and the separate non-capital murders of each .", "On 11 August 1986 the Government of the United States of", "America requested the applicant 's and Miss Haysom 's extradition under the terms of the Extradition Treaty of 1972 between the United States and the United", "Kingdom ( see paragraph 30 below ) .", "On 12 September a Magistrate at Bow Street", "Magistrates ' Court was required by the Secretary of State for Home Affairs to issue a warrant for the applicant 's arrest under the provisions of section 8 of the Extradition Act 1870 ( see paragraph 32 below ) .", "The applicant was subsequently arrested on 30 December at HM Prison Chelmsford after serving a prison sentence for cheque fraud .", "On 29 October 1986 the British Embassy in Washington addressed a request to the United States authorities in the following terms : `` Because the death penalty has been abolished in Great", "Britain , the Embassy has been instructed to seek an assurance , in accordance with the terms of ... the Extradition Treaty , that , in the event of Mr Soering being surrendered and being convicted of the crimes for which he has been indicted ... , the death penalty , if imposed , will not be carried out .", "Should it not be possible on constitutional grounds for the", "United States Government to give such an assurance , the United Kingdom authorities ask that the United States Government undertake to recommend to the appropriate authorities that the death penalty should not be imposed or , if imposed , should not be executed . ''", "On 30 December 1986 the applicant was interviewed in prison by a German prosecutor ( Staatsanwalt ) from Bonn .", "In a sworn witness statement the prosecutor recorded the applicant as having said , inter alia , that `` he had never had the intention of killing Mr and Mrs Haysom and ... he could only remember having inflicted wounds at the neck on Mr and Mrs Haysom which must have had something to do with their dying later '' ; and that in the immediately preceding days `` there had been no talk whatsoever -LSB- between him and Elizabeth Haysom -RSB- about killing Elizabeth 's parents '' .", "The prosecutor also referred to documents which had been put at his disposal , for example the statements made by the applicant to the American police investigator , the autopsy reports and two psychiatric reports on the applicant ( see paragraph 21 below ) .", "On 11 February 1987 the local court in Bonn issued a warrant for the applicant 's arrest in respect of the alleged murders .", "On 11 March the", "Government of the Federal Republic of Germany requested his extradition to the Federal Republic under the Extradition Treaty of 1872 between the Federal Republic and the United Kingdom ( see paragraph 31 below ) .", "The Secretary of State was then advised by the Director of Public Prosecutions that , although the German request contained proof that German courts had jurisdiction to try the applicant , the evidence submitted , since it consisted solely of the admissions made by the applicant to the Bonn prosecutor in the absence of a caution , did not amount to a prima facie case against him and that a magistrate would not be able under the Extradition Act 1870 ( see paragraph 32 below ) to commit him to await extradition to Germany on the strength of admissions obtained in such circumstances .", "In a letter dated 20 April 1987 to the Director of the", "Office of International Affairs , Criminal Division , United States Department of", "Justice , the Attorney for Bedford County , Virginia ( Mr James W. Updike Jr ) stated that , on the assumption that the applicant could not be tried in Germany on the basis of admissions alone , there was no means of compelling witnesses from the United States to appear in a criminal court in Germany .", "On 23 April the United States , by diplomatic note , requested the applicant 's extradition to the United States in preference to the Federal Republic of Germany .", "On 8 May 1987 Elizabeth Haysom was surrendered for extradition to the United States .", "After pleading guilty on 22 August as an accessory to the murder of her parents , she was sentenced on 6 October to 90 years ' imprisonment ( 45 years on each count of murder ) .", "On 20 May 1987 the United Kingdom Government informed the", "Federal Republic of Germany that the United States had earlier `` submitted a request , supported by prima facie evidence , for the extradition of Mr", "The United Kingdom Government notified the Federal Republic that they had `` concluded that , having regard to all the circumstances of the case , the court should continue to consider in the normal way the United States request '' .", "They further indicated that they had sought an assurance from the United States authorities on the question of the death penalty and that `` in the event that the court commits Mr Soering , his surrender to the United States authorities would be subject to the receipt of satisfactory assurances on this matter '' .", "On 1 June 1987 Mr Updike swore an affidavit in his capacity as Attorney for Bedford County , in which he certified as follows : `` I hereby certify that should Jens Soering be convicted of the offence of capital murder as charged in Bedford County , Virginia ... a representation will be made in the name of the United Kingdom to the judge at the time of sentencing that it is the wish of the United Kingdom that the death penalty should not be imposed or carried out . ''", "This assurance was transmitted to the United Kingdom Government under cover of a diplomatic note on 8 June .", "It was repeated in the same terms in a further affidavit from Mr Updike sworn on 16 February 1988 and forwarded to the United Kingdom by diplomatic note on 17 May 1988 .", "In the same note the Federal Government of the United States undertook to ensure that the commitment of the appropriate authorities of the Commonwealth of Virginia to make representations on behalf of the United Kingdom would be honoured .", "During the course of the present proceedings the Virginia authorities informed the United Kingdom Government that Mr Updike was not planning to provide any further assurances and intended to seek the death penalty in Mr", "Soering 's case because the evidence , in his determination , supported such action .", "On 16 June 1987 at the Bow Street Magistrates ' Court committal proceedings took place before the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate .", "The Government of the United States adduced evidence that on the night of 30 March 1985 the applicant killed William and Nancy Haysom at their home in Bedford County , Virginia .", "In particular , evidence was given of the applicant 's own admissions as recorded in the affidavit of the Bedford County police investigator ( see paragraph 13 above ) .", "On behalf of the applicant psychiatric evidence was adduced from a consultant forensic psychiatrist ( report dated 15 December 1986 by Dr", "Henrietta Bullard ) that he was immature and inexperienced and had lost his personal identity in a symbiotic relationship with his girlfriend - a powerful , persuasive and disturbed young woman .", "The psychiatric report concluded : `` There existed between Miss Haysom and Soering a ` folie \u00e0 deux ' , in which the most disturbed partner was Miss Haysom .", "At the time of the offence , it is my opinion that Jens Soering was suffering from -LSB- such -RSB- an abnormality of mind due to inherent causes as substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts .", "The psychiatric syndrome referred to as ` folie \u00e0 deux ' is a well-recognised state of mind where one partner is suggestible to the extent that he or she believes in the psychotic delusions of the other .", "The degree of disturbance of Miss Haysom borders on the psychotic and , over the course of many months , she was able to persuade Soering that he might have to kill her parents for she and him to survive as a couple .", "... Miss Haysom had a stupefying and mesmeric effect on", "Soering which led to an abnormal psychological state in which he became unable to think rationally or question the absurdities in Miss Haysom 's view of her life and the influence of her parents .", "... In conclusion , it is my opinion that , at the time of the offences , Soering was suffering from an abnormality of mind which , in this country , would constitute a defence of ` not guilty to murder but guilty of manslaughter ' . ''", "Dr Bullard 's conclusions were substantially the same as those contained in an earlier psychiatric report ( dated 11 December 1986 by Dr John R. Hamilton , Medical Director of Broadmoor Hospital ) , which was not however put before the Magistrates ' Court .", "The Chief Magistrate found that the evidence of Dr Bullard was not relevant to any issue that he had to decide and committed the applicant to await the Secretary of State 's order for his return to the United States .", "On 29 June 1987 Mr Soering applied to the Divisional Court for a writ of habeas corpus in respect of his committal and for leave to apply for judicial review .", "On 11 December both applications were refused by the", "Divisional Court ( Lord Justice Lloyd and Mr Justice Macpherson ) .", "In support of his application for leave to apply for judicial review , Mr Soering had submitted that the assurance received from the United States authorities was so worthless that no reasonable Secretary of State could regard it as satisfactory under Article IV of the Extradition Treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States ( see paragraph 36 below ) .", "In his judgment Lord Justice Lloyd agreed that `` the assurance leaves something to be desired '' : `` Article IV of the Treaty contemplates an assurance that the death penalty will not be carried out .", "That must presumably mean an assurance by or on behalf of the Executive Branch of Government , which in this case would be the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia .", "The certificate sworn by Mr Updike , far from being an assurance on behalf of the Executive , is nothing more than an undertaking to make representations on behalf of the United Kingdom to the judge .", "I can not believe that this is what was intended when the", "Treaty was signed .", "But I can understand that there may well be difficulties in obtaining more by way of assurance in view of the federal nature of the United", "Leave to apply for judicial review was refused because the claim was premature .", "Lord Justice Lloyd stated : `` The Secretary of State has not yet decided whether to accept the assurance as satisfactory and he has certainly not yet decided whether or not to issue a warrant for Soering 's surrender .", "Other factors may well intervene between now and then .", "This court will never allow itself to be put in the position of reviewing an administrative decision before the decision has been made . ''", "As a supplementary reason , he added : `` Secondly , even if a decision to regard the assurance as satisfactory had already been made by the Secretary of State , then on the evidence currently before us I am far from being persuaded that such a decision would have been irrational in the Wednesbury sense . ''", "( As to `` irrationality '' in the Wednesbury sense , see paragraph 35 below . )", "On 30 June 1988 the House of Lords rejected the applicant 's petition for leave to appeal against the decision of the Divisional Court .", "On 14 July 1988 the applicant petitioned the Secretary of", "State , requesting him to exercise his discretion not to make an order for the applicant 's surrender under section 11 of the Extradition Act 1870 ( see paragraph 34 below ) .", "This request was rejected , and on 3 August 1988 the Secretary of State signed a warrant ordering the applicant 's surrender to the United States authorities .", "However , the applicant has not been transferred to the United States by virtue of the interim measures indicated in the present proceedings firstly by the European Commission and then by the European Court ( see paragraphs 4 above and 77 below ) .", "On 5 August 1988 the applicant was transferred to a prison hospital where he remained until early November 1988 under the special regime applied to suicide-risk prisoners .", "According to psychiatric evidence adduced on behalf of the applicant ( report dated 16 March 1989 by Dr D. Somekh ) , the applicant 's dread of extreme physical violence and homosexual abuse from other inmates in death row in Virginia is in particular having a profound psychological effect on him .", "The psychiatrist 's report records a mounting desperation in the applicant , together with objective fears that he may seek to take his own life .", "By a declaration dated 20 March 1989 submitted to this Court , the applicant stated that should the United Kingdom Government require that he be deported to the Federal Republic of Germany he would consent to such requirement and would present no factual or legal opposition against the making or execution of an order to that effect .", "RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW AND PRACTICE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM", "A. Criminal law 27 .", "In England murder is defined as the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought .", "The penalty is life imprisonment .", "The death penalty can not be imposed for murder ( Murder ( Abolition of the Death", "Penalty ) Act 1965 , section 1 ) .", "Section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957 provides that where a person kills another , he shall not be convicted of murder if he was suffering from such abnormality of mind ( whether arising from a condition of arrested development of mind or any inherent causes or induced by disease or injury ) as substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts in doing the killing .", "A person who but for the section would be liable to be convicted of murder shall be liable to be convicted of manslaughter .", "English courts do not exercise criminal jurisdiction in respect of acts of foreigners abroad except in certain cases immaterial to the present proceedings .", "Consequently , neither the applicant , as a German citizen , nor Elizabeth Haysom , a Canadian citizen , was or is amenable to criminal trial in the United Kingdom .", "The relevant general law on extradition is contained in the Extradition Acts 1870-1935 .", "The extradition arrangements between the United Kingdom and the United States of America are governed by the Extradition Treaty signed by the two Governments on 8 June 1972 , a Supplementary Treaty signed on 25 June 1982 , and an Exchange of Notes dated 19 and 20 August 1986 amending the Supplementary Treaty .", "These arrangements have been incorporated into the law of the United Kingdom by Orders in Council ( the United States of America ( Extradition ) Order 1976 , S.I. 1976/2144 and the United States of America ( Extradition ) ( Amendment ) Order 1986 , S.I. 1986/2020 ) .", "By virtue of Article I of the Extradition Treaty , `` each", "Contracting Party undertakes to extradite to the other , in the circumstances and subject to the conditions specified in this Treaty , any person found in its territory who has been accused or convicted of any offence -LSB- specified in the", "Treaty and including murder -RSB- , committed within the jurisdiction of the other", "Extradition between the United Kingdom and the Federal", "Republic of Germany is governed by the Treaty of 14 May 1872 between the United", "Kingdom and Germany for the Mutual Surrender of Fugitive Criminals , as reapplied with amendments by an Agreement signed at Bonn on 23 February 1960 and as further amended by an Exchange of Notes dated 25 and 27 September 1978 .", "These agreements have been incorporated into the law of the United Kingdom by Orders in Council ( the Federal Republic of Germany ( Extradition ) Order 1960 , S.I. 1960/1375 and the Federal Republic of Germany ( Extradition ) ( Amendment ) Order 1978 , S.I. 1978/1403 ) .", "After receipt of an extradition request , the Secretary of", "State may , by order , require a magistrate to issue a warrant for the arrest of the fugitive criminal ( Extradition Act 1870 , sections 7 and 8 ) .", "Extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom consist in an extradition hearing before a magistrate .", "Section 10 of the Extradition Act 1870 provides that if `` such evidence is produced as ( subject to the provisions of this Act ) would , according to the law of England , justify the committal for trial of the prisoner if the crime of which he is accused had been committed in", "England ... the ... magistrate shall commit him to prison but otherwise he shall order him to be discharged '' .", "A magistrate must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to put the accused on trial ; before committing him a prima facie case must be made out against him .", "`` The test is whether , if the evidence before the magistrate stood alone at the trial , a reasonable jury properly directed could accept it and find a verdict of guilty '' ( Schtraks v. Government of Israel -LSB- 1964 -RSB- Appeal Cases 556 ) .", "Section 11 of the Extradition Act 1870 provides that decisions taken in committal proceedings may be challenged by way of application for habeas corpus .", "In practice , such application is made to a Divisional Court and , with leave , to the House of Lords .", "Habeas corpus proceedings are primarily concerned with checking that the magistrate had jurisdiction to hear the case ; that there was evidence before him which could justify the committal ; that the offence is an extradition crime which is not of a political character ; and that there is no bar on other grounds to surrender .", "Section 12 of the 1870", "Act provides for the release of a prisoner , if not surrendered , at the conclusion of such proceedings or within two months of committal unless sufficient cause is shown to the contrary .", "Furthermore , under section 11 of the 1870 Act the", "Secretary of State enjoys a discretion not to sign the surrender warrant ( Atkinson v. United States -LSB- 1971 -RSB- Appeal Cases 197 ) .", "This discretion may override a decision of the courts that a fugitive should be surrendered , and it is open to every prisoner who has exhausted his remedies by way of application for habeas corpus to petition the Secretary of State for that purpose .", "In considering whether to order the fugitive 's surrender , the Secretary of State is bound to take account of fresh evidence which was not before the magistrate ( Schtraks v. Government of Israel , loc .", "In addition , it is open to the prisoner to challenge both the decision of the Secretary of State rejecting his petition and the decision to sign the warrant in judicial review proceedings .", "In such proceedings the court may review the exercise of the Secretary of State 's discretion on the basis that it is tainted with illegality , irrationality or procedural impropriety ( Council of Civil Service Unions and Others v. Minister for the", "Civil Service -LSB- 1984 -RSB- 3 All England Law Reports 935 ) .", "Irrationality is determined on the basis of the administrative-law principles set out in Associated Provincial Picture Houses", "Ltd v. Wednesbury Corporation -LSB- 1948 -RSB- 1 King 's Bench Reports 223 ( the so-called `` Wednesbury principles '' of reasonableness ) .", "The test in an extradition case would be that no reasonable Secretary of State could have made an order for return in the circumstances .", "As the judgment of Lord Justice Lloyd in the Divisional Court in the present case shows ( see paragraph 22 above ) , the reliance placed by the Secretary of State on any assurance given by the requesting State may be tested to determine whether such reliance is within the confines of `` reasonableness '' .", "According to the United Kingdom", "Government , on the same principle a court would have jurisdiction to quash a challenged decision to send a fugitive to a country where it was established that there was a serious risk of inhuman or degrading treatment , on the ground that in all the circumstances of the case the decision was one which no reasonable Secretary of State could take .", "In R v. Home Secretary , ex parte Bugdaycay -LSB- 1987 -RSB- 1 All England", "Law Reports 940 at 952 , a House of Lords case concerning a refusal to grant asylum , Lord Bridge , while acknowledging the limitations of the Wednesbury principles , explained that the courts will apply them extremely strictly against the Secretary of State in a case in which the life of the applicant is at risk : `` Within those limitations the court must , I think , be entitled to subject an administrative decision to the most rigorous examination , to ensure that it is in no way flawed , according to the gravity of the issue which the decision determines .", "The most fundamental of all human rights is the individual 's right to life and , when an administrative decision under challenge is said to be one which may put the applicant 's life at risk , the basis of the decision must surely call for the most anxious scrutiny . ''", "Lord Templeman added ( at page 956 ) : `` In my opinion where the result of a flawed decision may imperil life or liberty a special responsibility lies on the court in the examination of the decision-making process . ''", "However , the courts will not review any decision of the", "Secretary of State by reason of the fact only that he failed to consider whether or not there was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights ( R v. Secretary of State , ex parte Kirkwood -LSB- 1984 -RSB- 1 Weekly Law Reports 913 ) .", "In addition , the courts have no jurisdiction to issue interim injunctions against the Crown in judicial review proceedings ( Kirkwood , ibid. , and R v. Secretary of State for Transport , ex parte Factortame Ltd and Others ,", "The Times , 19 May 1989 ) .", "There is no provision in the Extradition Acts relating to the death penalty , but Article IV of the United Kingdom-United States Treaty provides : `` If the offence for which extradition is requested is punishable by death under the relevant law of the requesting Party , but the relevant law of the requested Party does not provide for the death penalty in a similar case , extradition may be refused unless the requesting Party gives assurances satisfactory to the requested Party that the death penalty will not be carried out . ''", "In the case of a fugitive requested by the United States who faces a charge carrying the death penalty , it is the Secretary of State 's practice , pursuant to Article IV of the United Kingdom-United States", "Extradition Treaty , to accept an assurance from the prosecuting authorities of the relevant State that a representation will be made to the judge at the time of sentencing that it is the wish of the United Kingdom that the death penalty should be neither imposed no carried out .", "This practice has been described by", "Mr David Mellor , then Minister of State at the Home Office , in the following terms : `` The written undertakings about the death penalty that the", "Secretary of State obtains from the Federal authorities amount to an undertaking that the views of the United Kingdom will be represented to the judge .", "At the time of sentencing he will be informed that the United Kingdom does not wish the death penalty to be imposed or carried out .", "That means that the United Kingdom authorities render up a fugitive or are prepared to send a citizen to face an American court on the clear understanding that the death penalty will not be carried out - it has never been carried out in such cases .", "It would be a fundamental blow to the extradition arrangements between our two countries if the death penalty were carried out on an individual who had been returned under those circumstances . ''", "( Hansard , 10 March 1987 , col. 955 )", "There has , however , never been a case in which the effectiveness of such an undertaking has been tested .", "Concurrent requests for extradition in respect of the same crime from two different States are not a common occurrence .", "If both requests are received at the same time , the Secretary of State decides which request is to be proceeded with , having regard to all the facts of the case , including the nationality of the fugitive and the place of commission of the offence .", "In this respect Article X of the Extradition Treaty between the", "United Kingdom and the United States provides as follows : `` If the extradition of a person is requested concurrently by one of the Contracting Parties and by another State or States , either for the same offence or for different offences , the requested Party shall make its decision , in so far as its law allows , having regard to all the circumstances , including the provisions in this regard in any Agreements in force between the requested Party and the requesting States , the relative seriousness and place of commission of the offences , the respective dates of the requests , the nationality of the person sought and the possibility of subsequent extradition to another", "RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA", "The law relating to murder 39 .", "The relevant definition and classification of murder and sentencing for murder are governed by the Code of Virginia of 1950 , as amended , and the decided cases in the State and Federal courts .", "Section 18.2-31 of the Virginia Code provides that eight types of homicide constitute capital murder , punishable as a Class 1 felony , including `` the wilful , deliberate and premeditated killing of more than one person as a part of the same act or transaction '' ( sub-section ( g ) ) .", "The punishment for a Class 1 felony is `` death or imprisonment for life '' ( Virginia Code , section 18.2-10 ( a ) ) .", "Except in the case of murder for hire , only the `` triggerman '' , that is the actual perpetrator of the killing , may be charged with capital murder ( Johnston v. Commonwealth , 220 Virginia", "Reports ( Va. ) 146 , 255 South Eastern Reporter , Second Series ( S.E. 2d ) 525 ( 1979 ) ) .", "Murder other than capital murder is classified as murder in the first degree or murder in the second degree and is punishable by varying terms of imprisonment ( Virginia Code , sections 18.2-10 ( b ) , ( c ) and 18.2-32 ) .", "In most felony trials , including trials for capital murder , the defendant is guaranteed trial by jury .", "The defendant may waive this right but does not often do so .", "B. Sentencing procedure 42 .", "The sentencing procedure in a capital murder case in Virginia is a separate proceeding from the determination of guilt .", "Following a determination of guilt of capital murder , the same jury , or judge sitting without a jury , will forthwith proceed to hear evidence regarding punishment .", "All relevant evidence concerning the offence and the defendant is admissible .", "Evidence in mitigation is subject to almost no limitation , while evidence of aggravation is restricted by statute ( Virginia Code , section 19.2-264 .4 ) .", "Unless the prosecution proves beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of at least one of two statutory aggravating circumstances - future dangerousness or vileness - the sentencer may not return a death sentence .", "`` Future dangerousness '' exists where there is a probability that the defendant would commit `` criminal acts of violence '' in the future such as would constitute a `` continuing serious threat to society '' ( Virginia Code , section 19.2-264 .2 ) .", "`` Vileness '' exists when the crime was `` outrageously or wantonly vile , horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture , depravity of mind or an aggravated battery to the victim '' ( Virginia Code , ibid . ) .", "The words `` depravity of mind '' mean `` a degree of moral turpitude and psychical debasement surpassing that inherent in the definition of ordinary legal malice and premeditation '' .", "The words `` aggravated battery '' mean a battery which , `` qualitatively and quantitatively , is more culpable than the minimum necessary to accomplish an act of murder '' ( Smith v. Commonwealth , 219 Va. 455 , 248 S.E. 2d 135 ( 1978 ) , certiorari denied , 441 United States Supreme Court Reports ( U.S. ) 967 ( 1979 ) ) .", "Proof of multiple wounds sustained by the victim , particularly a neck wound , which even considered alone , constituted an aggravated battery in the light of the savage , methodical manner in which it was inflicted , leaving the victim to suffer an interval of agony awaiting death , has been held to satisfy the test of `` vileness '' under this section ( Edmonds v. Commonwealth , 229 Va. 303 , 329 S.E. 2d 807 , certiorari denied , 106 Supreme Court Reporter ( S.Ct . )", "United States Supreme Court Reports , Lawyers ' Edition , Second Series ( L.Ed .2 d ) 324 ( 1985 ) ) .", "The imposition of the death penalty on a young person who has reached the age of majority - which is 18 years ( Virginia Code , section 1.13.42 ) - is not precluded under Virginia law .", "Age is a fact to be weighed by the jury ( Peterson v. Commonwealth , 225 Va. 289 , 302 S.E. 2d 520 , certiorari denied , 464 U.S. 865 , 104 S.Ct .", "Facts in mitigation are specified by statute as including but not being limited to the following : '' ( i ) the defendant has no significant history of prior criminal activity , or ( ii ) the capital felony was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance , or ( iii ) the victim was a participant in the defendant 's conduct or consented to the act , or ( iv ) at the time of the commission of the capital felony , the capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was significantly impaired , or ( v ) the age of the defendant at the time of the commission of the capital offence '' ( Virginia Code , section 19.2-264 .4 B ) .", "In a case of trial by jury , the jury in a capital murder case has the duty to consider all evidence relevant to sentencing , both favourable and unfavourable , before fixing punishment .", "In particular , a jury may sentence a defendant to death only after having considered the evidence in mitigation of the offence ( Watkins v. Commonwealth , 229 Va. 469 , 331 S.E. 2d 422 ( 1985 ) , certiorari denied , 475 U.S. 1099 , 106 S.Ct .", "Furthermore , unless the jury is unanimous the sentence can not be death but must be life imprisonment ( Virginia Code , section 19.2-264 .4 ) .", "Even if one or more of the statutory aggravating circumstances are shown , the sentencer still remains at liberty to fix a life sentence instead of death in the light of the mitigating circumstances and even for no reason other than mercy ( Smith v. Commonwealth , loc .", "Following a sentence of death , the trial judge must order the preparation of an investigative report detailing the defendant 's history and `` any and all other relevant facts , to the end that the court may be fully advised as to whether the penalty of death is appropriate and just '' ; after consideration of the report , and upon good cause shown , the judge may set aside the sentence of death and impose a life sentence ( Virginia Code , section 19.2-264 .5 ) .", "Following a moratorium consequent upon a decision of the", "United States Supreme Court ( Furman v. Georgia , 92 S.Ct .", "2726 ( 1972 ) ) , imposition of the death penalty was resumed in Virginia in 1977 , since which date seven persons have been executed .", "The means of execution used is electrocution .", "The Virginia death penalty statutory scheme , including the provision on mandatory review of sentence ( see paragraph 52 below ) , has been judicially determined to be constitutional .", "It was considered to prevent the arbitrary or capricious imposition of the death penalty and narrowly to channel the sentencer 's discretion ( Smith v. Commonwealth , loc .", "cit. ; Turnver v. Bass , 753 Federal Reporter , Second Series ( F. 2d ) 342 ( 4th Circuit , 1985 ) ; Briley v.", "Bass , 750 F. 2d 1238 ( 4th Circuit , 1984 ) ) .", "The death penalty under the Virginia capital murder statute has also been held not to constitute cruel and unusual punishment or to deny a defendant due process or equal protection ( Stamper v.", "Commonwealth , 220 Va. 260 , 257 S.E. 2d 808 ( 1979 ) , certiorari denied , 445 U.S. 972 , 100 S.Ct .", "The Supreme Court of Virginia rejected the submission that death by electrocution would cause `` the needless imposition of pain before death and emotional suffering while awaiting execution of sentence '' ( ibid . ) .", "C. Insanity , mental disorders and diminished responsibility 49 .", "The law of Virginia generally does not recognise a defence of diminished capacity ( Stamper v. Commonwealth , 228 Va. 707 , 324", "A plea of insanity at the time of the offence is recognised as a defence in Virginia and , if successful , is a bar to conviction .", "Such a plea will apply where the defendant knows that the act is wrong but is driven by an irresistible impulse , induced by some mental disease affecting the volitive powers , to commit it ( Thompson v. Commonwealth , 193 Va. 704 , 70 S.E. 2d 284 ( 1952 ) and Godley v. Commonwealth , 2 Virginia Court of Appeals Reports ( Va. .", "249 ( 1986 ) ) or where he does not understand the nature , character and consequences of his act or is unable to distinguish right from wrong ( Price v.", "Where no insanity defence is interposed , the defendant 's mental condition is only relevant at the guilt stage in so far as it might be probative of a fact in issue , for example premeditation at the time of the killing ( Le Vasseur v. Commonwealth , 225 Va. 564 , 304 S.E. 2d 644 ( 1983 ) , certiorari denied , 464 U.S. 1063 , 104 S.Ct 744 , 79 L.Ed .2 d 202 ( 1984 ) ) .", "In a capital murder trial , the defendant 's mental condition at the time of the offence , including any level of mental illness , may be pleaded as a mitigating factor at the sentencing stage .", "Evidence on this may include , but is not limited to , showing that the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance or that at the time of the offence his capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct was significantly impaired ( Virginia Code , section 19.2-264 .4 B - see paragraph 45 above ) .", "Additionally , indigent capital murder defendants are entitled by statute to the appointment of a qualified mental health expert to assist in the preparation and presentation of information concerning their history , character and mental condition with a view to establishing factors in mitigation ( Virginia Code , section 19.2-264 .3:1 ) .", "Upon presentation of evidence of the defendant 's mental state , the sentencer may elect to impose life imprisonment rather than the death penalty .", "D. Appeals in capital cases 52 .", "The Supreme Court of Virginia reviews automatically every case in which a capital sentence has been passed , regardless of the plea entered by the defendant at his trial .", "In addition to consideration of `` any errors in the trial '' alleged by the defendant on appeal , the", "Supreme Court reviews the death sentence to determine whether it was imposed `` under the influence of passion , prejudice or any other arbitrary factor '' and whether it is excessive or disproportionate `` to the penalty imposed in similar cases '' ( Virginia Code , section 17-110 .1 ) .", "This automatic direct appeal is governed by the Rules of the", "Supreme Court of Virginia and encompasses various time-limits for the filing of briefs .", "In addition , precedence is given to the review of sentences of death before any other case ( Rule 5.23 ; see also Virginia Code , section 17-110 .2 ) .", "Normally the time taken by this appeal does not exceed six months .", "After this appeal process is completed , the sentence of death will be executed unless a stay of execution is entered .", "As a practical matter , a stay will be entered when the prisoner initiates further proceedings .", "There has apparently been only one case since 1977 where the", "Virginia Supreme Court has itself reduced a death sentence to life imprisonment .", "The prisoner may apply to the United States Supreme Court for certiorari review of the decision of the Supreme Court of Virginia .", "If unsuccessful , he may begin collateral attacks upon the conviction and sentence in habeas corpus proceedings in both State and Federal courts .", "The prisoner may file a habeas corpus petition either in the Supreme", "Court of Virginia or in the trial court , with appeal to the Supreme Court of", "Thereafter he may once more apply to the United States Supreme Court for certiorari review of the State 's habeas corpus decision .", "He may then file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Federal District Court .", "The decision of the District Court may be appealed to the Federal", "Circuit Court of Appeals , followed , if no relief is obtained , by a petition for certiorari review in the United States Supreme Court .", "At each stage of his collateral attacks , the prisoner may seek a stay of execution pending final determination of his applications .", "The Virginia and Federal statutes and rules of court set time-limits for the presentation of appeals following conviction or appeals against the decisions in habeas corpus proceedings .", "There are , however , no time-limits for filing the initial State and Federal habeas corpus petitions .", "The grounds which may be presented and argued on appeal and in habeas corpus proceedings are restricted by the `` contemporaneous objections rule '' to those which have been raised in the course of the trial ( see Rule 5.25 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia ) .", "The rule is based on the principle that the trial itself is the `` main event '' , so that the real issues between the parties should be canvassed and determined at the trial and not on appeal or in any subsequent review proceedings .", "It was adopted to prevent the setting of traps for trial courts ( Keeney v.", "Commonwealth , 147 Va. 678 , 137 South Eastern Reporter ( S.E. ) 478 ( 1927 ) ) , and so that the trial judge will be given the opportunity to rule upon the issues intelligently and unnecessary appeals , reversals and mistrials will be avoided ( Woodson v. Commonwealth , 211 Va. 285 , 176 S.E. 2d 818 ( 1970 ) , certiorari denied , 401 U.S. 959 ( 1971 ) ) .", "The rule applies equally in capital cases and is recognised by the Federal courts ( see Briley v. Bass , 584 Federal Supplement ( F. Supp . )", "807 ( Eastern District Virginia ) , aff 'd , 742 F. 2d 155 ( 4th Circuit 1984 ) ) .", "By way of exception to the rule , errors to which no objections were made at the trial may be objected to on appeal where this is necessary to attain the ends of justice or where good cause is shown .", "This exception has been applied by the Supreme Court of Virginia to overturn a capital murder conviction ( Ball v. Commonwealth , 221 Va. 754 , 273 S.E. 2d 790 ( 1981 ) ) .", "In death penalty cases , the proportionality of the sentence and the issue of whether the sentence was imposed under the influence of passion , prejudice or other arbitrary factor ( see paragraph 52 above ) is reviewed without regard to whether objection was made at trial ( see Briley v. Bass , loc .", "The average time between trial and execution in Virginia , calculated on the basis of the seven executions which have taken place since 1977 , is six to eight years .", "The delays are primarily due to a strategy by convicted prisoners to prolong the appeal proceedings as much as possible .", "United States Supreme Court has not as yet considered or ruled on the `` death row phenomenon '' and in particular whether it falls foul of the prohibition of `` cruel and unusual punishment '' under the Eighth", "Amendment to the Constitution of the United States .", "E. Legal assistance for appeals 57 .", "All prisoners who have been sentenced to death have individual lawyers to represent them , whether privately recruited or court-appointed .", "On the other hand , there is no statutory provision expressly mandating legal assistance to be made available to the indigent prisoner to file habeas corpus petitions .", "However , it has recently been affirmed by a", "United States Court of Appeal that the Commonwealth of Virginia is required to provide indigent prisoners who have been sentenced to death with the assistance of lawyers to pursue challenges to their death sentences in State habeas corpus actions ( Giarratano v. Murray , 847 F. 2d 1118 ( 4th Circuit 1988 ) ( en banc ) - case currently pending before the United States Supreme Court ) .", "In Federal habeas corpus and certiorari proceedings case-law does not impose the same obligation ( ibid. , p. 1122 , column 1 ) , for the reason that the Federal courts would have available the appellate briefs , a transcript and State court opinion ( in certiorari proceedings ) and the briefs of counsel , a transcript and opinion ( in habeas corpus proceedings ) .", "Virginia inmates also have access to legal information and assistance in the form of law libraries and institutional attorneys .", "The institutional attorneys are available to assist inmates in `` any legal matter relating to their incarceration '' ( Virginia Code , section 53.1-40 ) , including the drafting of habeas corpus petitions and motions for appointment of counsel for the inmates to file .", "A prisoner is not obliged to proceed with counsel , and he may litigate in both State and Federal courts pro se .", "However , no Virginia prisoner under sentence of death in contemporary times has ever been unrepresented during his trial , appeal or habeas corpus proceedings .", "Nor has any such prisoner faced execution without counsel .", "F. Authorities involved in the death penalty procedure 58 .", "A Commonwealth 's Attorney for each county in Virginia is elected every four years ( Article VII ( 4 ) of the Constitution of Virginia ) .", "His primary duty is the prosecution of all criminal cases within his locality ( see", "Virginia Code , section 15.1-18 .1 ) .", "He has discretion as to what degree of murder to present for indictment , but that discretion is limited by considerations of prosecutorial ethics and his legal duty under the general law and to the public to present the indictment for the crime which is best supported by the evidence .", "He is independent in the discharge of his duty , not being subject to direction in any relevant way , whether as to charging offences , seeking sentences or giving related assurances , by the Attorney", "General of Virginia ( see Virginia Code , section 2.1-124 ) , the Governor of", "Virginia or anyone else .", "It is open to the Commonwealth 's Attorney to engage in plea negotiations , but the court is not bound to accept any resultant agreement ( Rule 3A .8 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia ) .", "Judges of the district and higher courts of the State of Virginia are not elected but are appointed to the bench .", "Their conduct is governed by published Canons of Judicial Conduct , which have been adopted by the Supreme", "Court of Virginia as Rules of the Supreme Court .", "Observance of high standards of conduct so as to preserve the integrity and independence of the judiciary is included as part of the first Canon .", "The Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia has an unrestricted power `` to commute capital punishment '' ( Article V , section 12 , of the Constitution of Virginia ) .", "As a matter of policy , the", "Governor does not promise , before a conviction and sentence , that he will later exercise his commutation power .", "Since 1977 there has been no case in which the", "Governor has commuted a death sentence .", "G. Prison conditions in Mecklenburg Correctional Center 61 .", "There are currently 40 people under sentence of death in Virginia .", "The majority are detained in Mecklenburg Correctional Center , which is a modern maximum-security institution with a total capacity of 335 inmates .", "Operating Procedures ( IOP 821.1 ) establish uniform operating procedures for the administration , security , control and delivery of necessary services to death row inmates in Mecklenburg .", "In addition conditions of confinement are governed by a comprehensive consent decree handed down by the United States District", "Court in Richmond in the case of Alan Brown et al. v. Allyn R. Sielaff et al. ( 5 April 1985 ) .", "Both the Virginia Department of Corrections and the American", "Civil Liberties Union monitor compliance with the terms of the consent decree .", "United States District Court also retains jurisdiction to enforce compliance with the decree .", "The channels by which grievances may be ventilated and , if well-founded , remedied include ( 1 ) the use of a Federal Court approved Inmate Grievance Procedure of the Virginia Department of Corrections , involving the Warden , the Regional Administrator and the Director of Prisons , and the", "Regional Ombudsman , ( 2 ) formal or informal contact between inmates ' counsel and the prison staff , ( 3 ) complaint to the courts for breach of the consent decree , and ( 4 ) the institution of legal proceedings under Federal or State tort laws .", "The size of a death row inmate 's cell is 3m by 2.2 m.", "Prisoners have an opportunity for approximately 7 1/2 hours ' recreation per week in summer and approximately 6 hours ' per week , weather permitting , in winter .", "The death row area has two recreation yards , both of which are equipped with basketball courts and one of which is equipped with weights and weight benches .", "Inmates are also permitted to leave their cells on other occasions , such as to receive visits , to visit the law library or to attend the prison infirmary .", "In addition , death row inmates are given one hour out-of-cell time in the morning in a common area .", "Each death row inmate is eligible for work assignments , such as cleaning duties .", "When prisoners move around the prison they are handcuffed , with special shackles around the waist .", "When not in their cells , death row inmates are housed in a common area called `` the pod '' .", "The guards are not within this area and remain in a box outside .", "In the event of disturbance or inter-inmate assault , the guards are not allowed to intervene until instructed to do so by the ranking officer present .", "The applicant adduced much evidence of extreme stress , psychological deterioration and risk of homosexual abuse and physical attack undergone by prisoners on death row , including Mecklenburg Correctional Center .", "This evidence was strongly contested by the United Kingdom Government on the basis of affidavits sworn by administrators from the Virginia Department of", "Death row inmates receive the same medical service as inmates in the general population .", "An infirmary equipped with adequate supplies , equipment and staff provides for 24-hour in-patient care , and emergency facilities are provided in each building .", "Mecklenburg also provides psychological and psychiatric services to death row inmates .", "The United States", "District Court ( Eastern District of Virginia ) has recently upheld the adequacy of mental health treatment available to death row inmates in Mecklenburg ( Stamper et al. v. Blair et al. , decision of 14 July 1988 ) .", "Inmates are allowed non-contact visits in a visiting room on Saturdays , Sundays and holidays between 8.30 am and 3.30 pm .", "Attorneys have access to their clients during normal working hours on request as well as during the scheduled visiting hours .", "Death row inmates who have a record of good behaviour are eligible for contact visits with members of their immediate family two days per week .", "Outgoing correspondence from inmates is picked up daily and all incoming correspondence is delivered each evening .", "As a security precaution , pursuant to rules applicable to all institutions in Virginia , routine searches are conducted of the entire institution on a quarterly basis .", "These searches may last for approximately a week .", "During such times , called lockdowns , inmates are confined to their cells ; they are showered , receive medical , dental and psychological services outside their cells as deemed necessary by medical staff , and upon request may visit the law library , and are allowed legal visits and legal telephone calls .", "Other services such as meals are provided to the inmates in their cells .", "During the lockdown , privileges and out-of-cell time are gradually increased to return to normal operations .", "Lockdowns may also be ordered from time to time in relation to death row if information is received indicating that certain of its inmates may be planning a disturbance , hostage situation or escape .", "A death row prisoner is moved to the death house 15 days before he is due to be executed .", "The death house is next to the death chamber where the electric chair is situated .", "Whilst a prisoner is in the death house he is watched 24 hours a day .", "He is isolated and has no light in his cell .", "The lights outside are permanently lit .", "A prisoner who utilises the appeals process can be placed in the death house several times .", "The giving and effect of assurances in relation to the death penalty 69 .", "Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States of America on matters concerning extradition are conducted by and with the", "Federal and not the State authorities .", "However , in respect of offences against", "State laws the Federal authorities have no legally binding power to provide , in an appropriate extradition case , an assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed or carried out .", "In such cases the power rests with the State .", "State does decide to give a promise in relation to the death penalty , the", "United States Government has the power to give an assurance to the extraditing", "Government that the State 's promise will be honoured .", "According to evidence from the Virginia authorities , Virginia 's capital sentencing procedure and notably the provision on post-sentencing reports ( see paragraph 47 above ) would allow the sentencing judge to consider the representation to be made on behalf of the United Kingdom Government pursuant to the assurance given by the Attorney for Bedford County ( see paragraph 20 above ) .", "In addition , it would be open to the Governor to take into account the wishes of the United Kingdom Government in any application for clemency ( see paragraph 60 above ) .", "I. Mutual assistance in criminal matters 70 .", "There is no way of compelling American witnesses to give evidence at a trial in the Federal Republic of Germany .", "However , such witnesses would normally , unless imprisoned , be free to appear voluntarily before a", "German court and the German authorities would pay their expenses .", "Furthermore , a United States Federal court may , pursuant to a letter rogatory or a request from a foreign tribunal , order a person to give testimony or a statement or to produce a document or other thing for use in a proceeding in a foreign tribunal ( 28 United States Code , section 1782 ) .", "In addition , public documents , for example the transcript of a criminal trial , are available to foreign prosecuting authorities .", "RELEVANT LAW AND PRACTICE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY 71 .", "German criminal law applies to acts committed abroad by a", "German national if the act is liable to punishment at the place where the offence is committed ( Criminal Code , section 7 ( 2 ) ) .", "Murder is defined as follows in section 211 ( 2 ) of the", "Criminal Code : `` He is deemed a murderer who because of murderous lust , to satisfy his sexual instinct , for reasons of covetousness or for otherwise base motives , insidiously or cruelly or by means constituting a public danger or in order to render another crime possible or to conceal another crime kills a person . ''", "Murder is punishable with life imprisonment ( Criminal Code , section 211 ( 1 ) ) , the death penalty having been abolished under the Constitution ( Article 102 of the Basic Law , 1949 ) .", "Under the terms of the Juvenile Court Act ( 1953 ) as amended , if a young adult - defined as a person who is 18 but not yet 21 years of age at the time of the criminal act ( section 1 ( 3 ) ) - commits an offence , the judge will apply the provisions applicable to a juvenile - defined as a person who is at least 14 but not yet 18 years of age ( ibid . )", "if , inter alia , `` the overall assessment of the offender 's personality , having regard also to the circumstances of his environment , reveals that , according to his moral and mental development , he was still equal to a juvenile at the time of committing the offence '' ( section 105 ( 1 ) ) .", "The sentence for young adults who come within this section is youth imprisonment of 6 months to 10 years or , under certain conditions , of indeterminate duration ( sections 18 , 19 and 105 ( 3 ) ) .", "Where , on the other hand , the young adult offender 's personal development corresponds to his age , the general criminal law applies but the judge may pass a sentence of 10 to 15 years ' imprisonment instead of a life sentence ( section 106 ( 1 ) ) .", "Where an offender , at the time of commission of the offence , was incapable of appreciating the wrongfulness of the offence or of acting in accordance with such appreciation by reason of a morbid mental or emotional disturbance , by reason of a profound disturbance of consciousness or by reason of mental deficiency or some other serious mental or emotional abnormality , there can be no culpability on his part and he may not be punished ( Criminal Code , section 20 ) .", "In such a case , however , it is possible for an order to be made placing the offender in a psychiatric hospital indefinitely ( Criminal Code , section 63 ) .", "In a case of diminished responsibility , namely where there is substantial impairment of the offender 's ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of the offence or to act in accordance with such appreciation at the time of commission of the offence for one of the reasons set out in section 20 ( Criminal Code , section 21 ) , punishment may be reduced and , in particular , in homicide cases imprisonment of not less than 3 years shall be substituted for life imprisonment ( Criminal Code , section 49 ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ) .", "Alternatively , the court may order placement in a psychiatric hospital .", "Where a death sentence is risked , the Federal Government will grant extradition only if there is an unequivocal assurance by the requesting State that the death penalty will not be imposed or that it will not be carried out .", "The German-United States Extradition Treaty of 20 June 1978 , in force since 29 August 1980 , contains a provision ( Article 12 ) corresponding , in its essentials , to Article IV of the United Kingdom/United States Extradition", "Treaty ( see paragraph 36 above ) .", "The Government of the Federal Republic of", "Germany stated in evidence that they would not have deemed an assurance of the kind given by the United States Government in the present case to be adequate and would have refused extradition .", "In accordance with recent judicial decisions , the question whether an adequate assurance has been given is subject to examination in proceedings before the higher regional court .", "PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION 76 .", "Mr Soering 's application ( no. 14038/88 ) was lodged with the Commission on 8 July 1988 .", "In his application Mr Soering stated his belief that , notwithstanding the assurance given to the United Kingdom Government , there was a serious likelihood that he would be sentenced to death if extradited to the United States of America .", "He maintained that in the circumstances and , in particular , having regard to the `` death row phenomenon '' he would thereby be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment contrary to Article 3 ( art. 3 ) of the Convention .", "In his further submission his extradition to the United States would constitute a violation of Article 6 \u00a7 3 ( c ) ( art. 6-3-c ) because of the absence of legal aid in the State of Virginia to pursue various appeals .", "Finally , he claimed that , in breach of Article 13 ( art. 13 ) , he had no effective remedy under United Kingdom law in respect of his complaint under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "On 11 August 1988 the President of the Commission indicated to the United Kingdom Government , in accordance with Rule 36 of the", "Commission 's Rules of Procedure , that it was desirable , in the interests of the parties and the proper conduct of the proceedings , not to extradite the applicant to the United States until the Commission had had an opportunity to examine the application .", "This indication was subsequently prolonged by the", "Commission on several occasions until the reference of the case to the Court .", "The Commission declared the application admissible on 10 November 1988 .", "In its report adopted on 19 January 1989 ( Article 31 ) ( art. 31 ) the Commission expressed the opinion that there had been a breach of", "Article 13 ( art. 13 ) ( seven votes to four ) but no breach of either Article 3 ( art. 3 ) ( six votes to five ) or Article 6 \u00a7 3 ( c ) ( art. 6-3-c ) ( unanimously ) .", "The full text of the Commission 's opinion and of the separate opinions contained in the report is reproduced as an annex to this judgment * .", "FINAL SUBMISSIONS TO THE COURT BY THE UNITED KINGDOM GOVERNMENT 79 .", "At the public hearing on 24 April 1989 the United Kingdom Government maintained the concluding submissions set out in their memorial , whereby they requested the Court to hold `` 1 .", "that neither the extradition of the applicant nor any act or decision of the United Kingdom Government in relation thereto constitutes a breach of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) of the Convention ; 2 .", "that neither the extradition of the applicant nor any act or decision of the United Kingdom Government in relation thereto constitutes a breach of Article 6 \u00a7 3 ( c ) ( art. 6-3-c ) of the Convention ; 3 .", "that there has been no violation of Article 13 ( art. 13 ) of the Convention ; 4 .", "that no issues arise under Article 50 ( art. 50 ) of the", "Convention which call for consideration by the Court '' .", "They also submitted that further complaints under Article 6 ( art. 6 ) made by the applicant before the Court were not within the scope of the case as declared admissible by the Commission .", "AS TO THE LAW I. ALLEGED BREACH OF ARTICLE 3 ( art. 3 ) 80 .", "The applicant alleged that the decision by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to surrender him to the authorities of the United States of America would , if implemented , give rise to a breach by the United Kingdom of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) of the Convention , which provides : `` No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment . ''", "A. Applicability of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) in cases of extradition 81 .", "The alleged breach derives from the applicant 's exposure to the so-called `` death row phenomenon '' .", "This phenomenon may be described as consisting in a combination of circumstances to which the applicant would be exposed if , after having been extradited to Virginia to face a capital murder charge , he were sentenced to death .", "In its report ( at paragraph 94 ) the Commission reaffirmed `` its case-law that a person 's deportation or extradition may give rise to an issue under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) of the Convention where there are serious reasons to believe that the individual will be subjected , in the receiving", "State , to treatment contrary to that Article ( art. 3 ) '' .", "The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany supported the approach of the Commission , pointing to a similar approach in the case-law of the German courts .", "The applicant likewise submitted that Article 3 ( art. 3 ) not only prohibits the Contracting States from causing inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to occur within their jurisdiction but also embodies an associated obligation not to put a person in a position where he will or may suffer such treatment or punishment at the hands of other States .", "For the applicant , at least as far as Article 3 ( art. 3 ) is concerned , an individual may not be surrendered out of the protective zone of the Convention without the certainty that the safeguards which he would enjoy are as effective as the", "The United Kingdom Government , on the other hand , contended that Article 3 ( art. 3 ) should not be interpreted so as to impose responsibility on a Contracting State for acts which occur outside its jurisdiction .", "In particular , in their submission , extradition does not involve the responsibility of the extraditing State for inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which the extradited person may suffer outside the State 's jurisdiction .", "To begin with , they maintained , it would be straining the language of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) intolerably to hold that by surrendering a fugitive criminal the extraditing State has `` subjected '' him to any treatment or punishment that he will receive following conviction and sentence in the receiving State .", "Further arguments advanced against the approach of the Commission were that it interferes with international treaty rights ; it leads to a conflict with the norms of international judicial process , in that it in effect involves adjudication on the internal affairs of foreign States not Parties to the", "Convention or to the proceedings before the Convention institutions ; it entails grave difficulties of evaluation and proof in requiring the examination of alien systems of law and of conditions in foreign States ; the practice of national courts and the international community can not reasonably be invoked to support it ; it causes a serious risk of harm in the Contracting State which is obliged to harbour the protected person , and leaves criminals untried , at large and unpunished .", "In the alternative , the United Kingdom Government submitted that the application of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) in extradition cases should be limited to those occasions in which the treatment or punishment abroad is certain , imminent and serious .", "In their view , the fact that by definition the matters complained of are only anticipated , together with the common and legitimate interest of all States in bringing fugitive criminals to justice , requires a very high degree of risk , proved beyond reasonable doubt , that ill-treatment will actually occur .", "The Court will approach the matter on the basis of the following considerations .", "As results from Article 5 \u00a7 1 ( f ) ( art. 5-1-f ) , which permits `` the lawful ... detention of a person against whom action is being taken with a view to ... extradition '' , no right not to be extradited is as such protected by the Convention .", "Nevertheless , in so far as a measure of extradition has consequences adversely affecting the enjoyment of a Convention right , it may , assuming that the consequences are not too remote , attract the obligations of a Contracting State under the relevant Convention guarantee ( see , mutatis mutandis , the Abdulaziz , Cabales and Balkandali judgment of 25", "May 1985 , Series A no. 94 , pp. 31-32 , \u00a7 \u00a7 59-60 - in relation to rights in the field of immigration ) .", "What is at issue in the present case is whether Article 3 ( art. 3 ) can be applicable when the adverse consequences of extradition are , or may be , suffered outside the jurisdiction of the extraditing State as a result of treatment or punishment administered in the receiving State .", "Article 1 ( art. 1 ) of the Convention , which provides that `` the High Contracting Parties shall secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in Section I '' , sets a limit , notably territorial , on the reach of the Convention .", "In particular , the engagement undertaken by a Contracting State is confined to `` securing '' ( `` reconna\u00eetre '' in the French text ) the listed rights and freedoms to persons within its own `` jurisdiction '' .", "Further , the Convention does not govern the actions of States not Parties to it , nor does it purport to be a means of requiring the Contracting States to impose", "Convention standards on other States .", "Article 1 ( art. 1 ) can not be read as justifying a general principle to the effect that , notwithstanding its extradition obligations , a Contracting State may not surrender an individual unless satisfied that the conditions awaiting him in the country of destination are in full accord with each of the safeguards of the Convention .", "Indeed , as the United Kingdom Government stressed , the beneficial purpose of extradition in preventing fugitive offenders from evading justice can not be ignored in determining the scope of application of the Convention and of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) in particular .", "In the instant case it is common ground that the United Kingdom has no power over the practices and arrangements of the Virginia authorities which are the subject of the applicant 's complaints .", "It is also true that in other international instruments cited by the United Kingdom Government - for example the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees ( Article 33 ) , the 1957 European Convention on Extradition ( Article 11 ) and the 1984 United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel , Inhuman and", "Degrading Treatment or Punishment ( Article 3 ) - the problems of removing a person to another jurisdiction where unwanted consequences may follow are addressed expressly and specifically .", "These considerations can not , however , absolve the Contracting", "Parties from responsibility under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) for all and any foreseeable consequences of extradition suffered outside their jurisdiction .", "In interpreting the Convention regard must be had to its special character as a treaty for the collective enforcement of human rights and fundamental freedoms ( see the Ireland v. the United Kingdom judgment of 18", "January 1978 , Series A no. 25 , p. 90 , \u00a7 239 ) .", "Thus , the object and purpose of the Convention as an instrument for the protection of individual human beings require that its provisions be interpreted and applied so as to make its safeguards practical and effective ( see , inter alia , the Artico judgment of 13", "May 1980 , Series A no. 37 , p. 16 , \u00a7 33 ) .", "In addition , any interpretation of the rights and freedoms guaranteed has to be consistent with `` the general spirit of the Convention , an instrument designed to maintain and promote the ideals and values of a democratic society '' ( see the Kjeldsen , Busk Madsen and Pedersen judgment of 7 December 1976 , Series A no. 23 , p. 27 , \u00a7 53 ) .", "Article 3 ( art. 3 ) makes no provision for exceptions and no derogation from it is permissible under Article 15 ( art. 15 ) in time of war or other national emergency .", "This absolute prohibition of torture and of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under the terms of the Convention shows that Article 3 ( art. 3 ) enshrines one of the fundamental values of the democratic societies making up the Council of Europe .", "It is also to be found in similar terms in other international instruments such as the 1966 International", "Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1969 American Convention on", "Human Rights and is generally recognised as an internationally accepted standard .", "The question remains whether the extradition of a fugitive to another State where he would be subjected or be likely to be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment would itself engage the responsibility of a Contracting State under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "That the abhorrence of torture has such implications is recognised in Article 3 of the", "United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel , Inhuman or Degrading", "Treatment or Punishment , which provides that `` no State Party shall ... extradite a person where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture '' .", "The fact that a specialised treaty should spell out in detail a specific obligation attaching to the prohibition of torture does not mean that an essentially similar obligation is not already inherent in the general terms of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) of the European Convention .", "It would hardly be compatible with the underlying values of the Convention , that `` common heritage of political traditions , ideals , freedom and the rule of law '' to which the Preamble refers , were a", "Contracting State knowingly to surrender a fugitive to another State where there were substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture , however heinous the crime allegedly committed .", "Extradition in such circumstances , while not explicitly referred to in the brief and general wording of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) , would plainly be contrary to the spirit and intendment of the Article , and in the Court 's view this inherent obligation not to extradite also extends to cases in which the fugitive would be faced in the receiving State by a real risk of exposure to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment proscribed by that Article ( art. 3 ) .", "What amounts to `` inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment '' depends on all the circumstances of the case ( see paragraph 100 below ) .", "Furthermore , inherent in the whole of the Convention is a search for a fair balance between the demands of the general interest of the community and the requirements of the protection of the individual 's fundamental rights .", "As movement about the world becomes easier and crime takes on a larger international dimension , it is increasingly in the interest of all nations that suspected offenders who flee abroad should be brought to justice .", "Conversely , the establishment of safe havens for fugitives would not only result in danger for the State obliged to harbour the protected person but also tend to undermine the foundations of extradition .", "These considerations must also be included among the factors to be taken into account in the interpretation and application of the notions of inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in extradition cases .", "It is not normally for the Convention institutions to pronounce on the existence or otherwise of potential violations of the", "However , where an applicant claims that a decision to extradite him would , if implemented , be contrary to Article 3 ( art. 3 ) by reason of its foreseeable consequences in the requesting country , a departure from this principle is necessary , in view of the serious and irreparable nature of the alleged suffering risked , in order to ensure the effectiveness of the safeguard provided by that Article ( art. 3 ) ( see paragraph 87 above ) .", "In sum , the decision by a Contracting State to extradite a fugitive may give rise to an issue under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) , and hence engage the responsibility of that State under the Convention , where substantial grounds have been shown for believing that the person concerned , if extradited , faces a real risk of being subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the requesting country .", "The establishment of such responsibility inevitably involves an assessment of conditions in the requesting country against the standards of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) of the", "Nonetheless , there is no question of adjudicating on or establishing the responsibility of the receiving country , whether under general international law , under the Convention or otherwise .", "In so far as any liability under the Convention is or may be incurred , it is liability incurred by the extraditing Contracting State by reason of its having taken action which has as a direct consequence the exposure of an individual to proscribed ill-treatment .", "B. Application of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) in the particular circumstances of the present case 92 .", "The extradition procedure against the applicant in the", "United Kingdom has been completed , the Secretary of State having signed a warrant ordering his surrender to the United States authorities ( see paragraph 24 above ) ; this decision , albeit as yet not implemented , directly affects him .", "It therefore has to be determined on the above principles whether the foreseeable consequences of Mr Soering 's return to the United States are such as to attract the application of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "This inquiry must concentrate firstly on whether Mr Soering runs a real risk of being sentenced to death in Virginia , since the source of the alleged inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment , namely the `` death row phenomenon '' , lies in the imposition of the death penalty .", "Only in the event of an affirmative answer to this question need the Court examine whether exposure to the `` death row phenomenon '' in the circumstances of the applicant 's case would involve treatment or punishment incompatible with Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "Whether the applicant runs a real risk of a death sentence and hence of exposure to the `` death row phenomenon '' 93 .", "The United Kingdom Government , contrary to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany , the Commission and the applicant , did not accept that the risk of a death sentence attains a sufficient level of likelihood to bring Article 3 ( art. 3 ) into play .", "Their reasons were fourfold .", "Firstly , as illustrated by his interview with the German prosecutor where he appeared to deny any intention to kill ( see paragraph 16 above ) , the applicant has not acknowledged his guilt of capital murder as such .", "Secondly , only a prima facie case has so far been made out against him .", "In particular , in the United Kingdom Government 's view the psychiatric evidence ( see paragraph 21 above ) is equivocal as to whether Mr", "Soering was suffering from a disease of the mind sufficient to amount to a defence of insanity under Virginia law ( as to which , see paragraph 50 above ) .", "Thirdly , even if Mr Soering is convicted of capital murder , it can not be assumed that in the general exercise of their discretion the jury will recommend , the judge will confirm and the Supreme Court of Virginia will uphold the imposition of the death penalty ( see paragraphs 42-47 and 52 above ) .", "The United Kingdom Government referred to the presence of important mitigating factors , such as the applicant 's age and mental condition at the time of commission of the offence and his lack of previous criminal activity , which would have to be taken into account by the jury and then by the judge in the separate sentencing proceedings ( see paragraphs 44-47 and 51 above ) .", "Fourthly , the assurance received from the United States must at the very least significantly reduce the risk of a capital sentence either being imposed or carried out ( see paragraphs 20 , 37 and 69 above ) .", "At the public hearing the Attorney General nevertheless made clear his Government 's understanding that if Mr Soering were extradited to the United States there was `` some risk '' , which was `` more than merely negligible '' , that the death penalty would be imposed .", "As the applicant himself pointed out , he has made to", "American and British police officers and to two psychiatrists admissions of his participation in the killings of the Haysom parents , although he appeared to retract those admissions somewhat when questioned by the German prosecutor ( see paragraphs 13 , 16 and 21 above ) .", "It is not for the European Court to usurp the function of the Virginia courts by ruling that a defence of insanity would or would not be available on the psychiatric evidence as it stands .", "Kingdom Government are justified in their assertion that no assumption can be made that Mr Soering would certainly or even probably be convicted of capital murder as charged ( see paragraphs 13 in fine and 40 above ) .", "Nevertheless , as the Attorney General conceded on their behalf at the public hearing , there is `` a significant risk '' that the applicant would be so convicted .", "Under Virginia law , before a death sentence can be returned the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt the existence of at least one of the two statutory aggravating circumstances , namely future dangerousness or vileness ( see paragraph 43 above ) .", "In this connection , the horrible and brutal circumstances of the killings ( see paragraph 12 above ) would presumably tell against the applicant , regard being had to the case-law on the grounds for establishing the `` vileness '' of the crime ( see paragraph 43 above ) .", "Admittedly , taken on their own the mitigating factors do reduce the likelihood of the death sentence being imposed .", "No less than four of the five facts in mitigation expressly mentioned in the Code of Virginia could arguably apply to Mr Soering 's case .", "These are a defendant 's lack of any previous criminal history , the fact that the offence was committed while a defendant was under extreme mental or emotional disturbance , the fact that at the time of commission of the offence the capacity of a defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law was significantly diminished , and a defendant 's age ( see paragraph 45 above ) .", "These various elements arguing for or against the imposition of a death sentence have to be viewed in the light of the attitude of the prosecuting authorities .", "The Commonwealth 's Attorney for Bedford County , Mr", "Updike , who is responsible for conducting the prosecution against the applicant , has certified that `` should Jens Soering be convicted of the offence of capital murder as charged ... a representation will be made in the name of the United Kingdom to the judge at the time of sentencing that it is the wish of the United Kingdom that the death penalty should not be imposed or carried out '' ( see paragraph 20 above ) .", "The Court notes , like Lord Justice", "Lloyd in the Divisional Court ( see paragraph 22 above ) , that this undertaking is far from reflecting the wording of Article IV of the 1972 Extradition Treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States , which speaks of `` assurances satisfactory to the requested Party that the death penalty will not be carried out '' ( see paragraph 36 above ) .", "However , the offence charged , being a State and not a Federal offence , comes within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Virginia ; it appears as a consequence that no direction could or can be given to the Commonwealth 's Attorney by any State or Federal authority to promise more ; the Virginia courts as judicial bodies can not bind themselves in advance as to what decisions they may arrive at on the evidence ; and the Governor of Virginia does not , as a matter of policy , promise that he will later exercise his executive power to commute a death penalty ( see paragraphs 58-60 above ) .", "This being so , Mr Updike 's undertaking may well have been the best `` assurance '' that the United Kingdom could have obtained from the", "United States Federal Government in the particular circumstances .", "According to the statement made to Parliament in 1987 by a Home Office Minister , acceptance of undertakings in such terms `` means that the United Kingdom authorities render up a fugitive or are prepared to send a citizen to face an American court on the clear understanding that the death penalty will not be carried out ... It would be a fundamental blow to the extradition arrangements between our two countries if the death penalty were carried out on an individual who had been returned under those circumstances '' ( see paragraph 37 above ) .", "Nonetheless , the effectiveness of such an undertaking has not yet been put to the test .", "The applicant contended that representations concerning the wishes of a foreign government would not be admissible as a matter of law under the Virginia Code or , if admissible , of any influence on the sentencing judge .", "Whatever the position under Virginia law and practice ( as to which , see paragraphs 42 , 46 , 47 and 69 above ) , and notwithstanding the diplomatic context of the extradition relations between the United Kingdom and the United States , objectively it can not be said that the undertaking to inform the judge at the sentencing stage of the wishes of the United Kingdom eliminates the risk of the death penalty being imposed .", "In the independent exercise of his discretion the Commonwealth 's Attorney has himself decided to seek and to persist in seeking the death penalty because the evidence , in his determination , supports such action ( see paragraph 20 in fine above ) .", "If the national authority with responsibility for prosecuting the offence takes such a firm stance , it is hardly open to the Court to hold that there are no substantial grounds for believing that the applicant faces a real risk of being sentenced to death and hence experiencing the `` death row phenomenon '' .", "The Court 's conclusion is therefore that the likelihood of the feared exposure of the applicant to the `` death row phenomenon '' has been shown to be such as to bring Article 3 ( art. 3 ) into play .", "Whether in the circumstances the risk of exposure to the `` death row phenomenon '' would make extradition a breach of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) ( a ) General considerations 100 .", "As is established in the Court 's case-law , ill-treatment , including punishment , must attain a minimum level of severity if it is to fall within the scope of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "The assessment of this minimum is , in the nature of things , relative ; it depends on all the circumstances of the case , such as the nature and context of the treatment or punishment , the manner and method of its execution , its duration , its physical or mental effects and , in some instances , the sex , age and state of health of the victim ( see the above-mentioned Ireland v. the United Kingdom judgment , Series", "A no. 25 , p. 65 , \u00a7 162 ; and the Tyrer judgment of 25 April 1978 , Series A no. 26 , pp. 14-15 , \u00a7 \u00a7 29 and 30 ) .", "Treatment has been held by the Court to be both `` inhuman '' because it was premeditated , was applied for hours at a stretch and `` caused , if not actual bodily injury , at least intense physical and mental suffering '' , and also `` degrading '' because it was `` such as to arouse in -LSB- its -RSB- victims feelings of fear , anguish and inferiority capable of humiliating and debasing them and possibly breaking their physical or moral resistance '' ( see the above-mentioned Ireland v. the United Kingdom judgment , p. 66 , \u00a7 167 ) .", "In order for a punishment or treatment associated with it to be `` inhuman '' or `` degrading '' , the suffering or humiliation involved must in any event go beyond that inevitable element of suffering or humiliation connected with a given form of legitimate punishment ( see the Tyrer judgment , loc .", "In this connection , account is to be taken not only of the physical pain experienced but also , where there is a considerable delay before execution of the punishment , of the sentenced person 's mental anguish of anticipating the violence he is to have inflicted on him .", "Capital punishment is permitted under certain conditions by Article 2 \u00a7 1 ( art. 2-1 ) of the Convention , which reads : `` Everyone 's right to life shall be protected by law .", "No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law . ''", "In view of this wording , the applicant did not suggest that the death penalty per se violated Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "He , like the two Government", "Parties , agreed with the Commission that the extradition of a person to a country where he risks the death penalty does not in itself raise an issue under either Article 2 ( art. 2 ) or Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "On the other hand ,", "Amnesty International in their written comments ( see paragraph 8 above ) argued that the evolving standards in Western Europe regarding the existence and use of the death penalty required that the death penalty should now be considered as an inhuman and degrading punishment within the meaning of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "Certainly , `` the Convention is a living instrument which ... must be interpreted in the light of present-day conditions '' ; and , in assessing whether a given treatment or punishment is to be regarded as inhuman or degrading for the purposes of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) , `` the Court can not but be influenced by the developments and commonly accepted standards in the penal policy of the member States of the Council of Europe in this field '' ( see the above-mentioned Tyrer judgment , Series A no. 26 , pp. 15-16 , \u00a7 31 ) .", "De facto the death penalty no longer exists in time of peace in the Contracting States to the Convention .", "In the few Contracting States which retain the death penalty in law for some peacetime offences , death sentences , if ever imposed , are nowadays not carried out .", "This `` virtual consensus in", "Western European legal systems that the death penalty is , under current circumstances , no longer consistent with regional standards of justice '' , to use the words of Amnesty International , is reflected in Protocol No. 6 ( P6 ) to the Convention , which provides for the abolition of the death penalty in time of peace .", "Protocol No. 6 ( P6 ) was opened for signature in April 1983 , which in the practice of the Council of Europe indicates the absence of objection on the part of any of the Member States of the Organisation ; it came into force in", "March 1985 and to date has been ratified by thirteen Contracting States to the", "Convention , not however including the United Kingdom .", "Whether these marked changes have the effect of bringing the death penalty per se within the prohibition of ill-treatment under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) must be determined on the principles governing the interpretation of the", "The Convention is to be read as a whole and Article 3 ( art. 3 ) should therefore be construed in harmony with the provisions of", "Article 2 ( art. 2 ) ( see , mutatis mutandis , the Klass and Others judgment of 6 September 1978 , Series A no. 28 , p. 31 , \u00a7 68 ) .", "On this basis Article 3 ( art. 3 ) evidently can not have been intended by the drafters of the Convention to include a general prohibition of the death penalty since that would nullify the clear wording of Article 2 \u00a7 1 ( art. 2-1 ) .", "Subsequent practice in national penal policy , in the form of a generalised abolition of capital punishment , could be taken as establishing the agreement of the Contracting States to abrogate the exception provided for under Article 2 \u00a7 1 ( art. 2-1 ) and hence to remove a textual limit on the scope for evolutive interpretation of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "However , Protocol No. 6 ( P6 ) , as a subsequent written agreement , shows that the intention of the", "Contracting Parties as recently as 1983 was to adopt the normal method of amendment of the text in order to introduce a new obligation to abolish capital punishment in time of peace and , what is more , to do so by an optional instrument allowing each State to choose the moment when to undertake such an engagement .", "In these conditions , notwithstanding the special character of the", "Convention ( see paragraph 87 above ) , Article 3 ( art. 3 ) can not be interpreted as generally prohibiting the death penalty .", "That does not mean however that circumstances relating to a death sentence can never give rise to an issue under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "The manner in which it is imposed or executed , the personal circumstances of the condemned person and a disproportionality to the gravity of the crime committed , as well as the conditions of detention awaiting execution , are examples of factors capable of bringing the treatment or punishment received by the condemned person within the proscription under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "Present-day attitudes in the Contracting States to capital punishment are relevant for the assessment whether the acceptable threshold of suffering or degradation has been exceeded .", "( b ) The particular circumstances 105 .", "The applicant submitted that the circumstances to which he would be exposed as a consequence of the implementation of the Secretary of", "State 's decision to return him to the United States , namely the `` death row phenomenon '' , cumulatively constituted such serious treatment that his extradition would be contrary to Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "He cited in particular the delays in the appeal and review procedures following a death sentence , during which time he would be subject to increasing tension and psychological trauma ; the fact , so he said , that the judge or jury in determining sentence is not obliged to take into account the defendant 's age and mental state at the time of the offence ; the extreme conditions of his future detention on `` death row '' in Mecklenburg Correctional Center , where he expects to be the victim of violence and sexual abuse because of his age , colour and nationality ; and the constant spectre of the execution itself , including the ritual of execution .", "He also relied on the possibility of extradition or deportation , which he would not oppose , to the Federal Republic of Germany as accentuating the disproportionality of the Secretary of State 's decision .", "The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany took the view that , taking all the circumstances together , the treatment awaiting the applicant in Virginia would go so far beyond treatment inevitably connected with the imposition and execution of a death penalty as to be `` inhuman '' within the meaning of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "On the other hand , the conclusion expressed by the Commission was that the degree of severity contemplated by Article 3 ( art. 3 ) would not be attained .", "The United Kingdom Government shared this opinion .", "In particular , they disputed many of the applicant 's factual allegations as to the conditions on death row in Mecklenburg and his expected fate there .", "i. Length of detention prior to execution 106 .", "The period that a condemned prisoner can expect to spend on death row in Virginia before being executed is on average six to eight years ( see paragraph 56 above ) .", "This length of time awaiting death is , as the", "Commission and the United Kingdom Government noted , in a sense largely of the prisoner 's own making in that he takes advantage of all avenues of appeal which are offered to him by Virginia law .", "The automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia normally takes no more than six months ( see paragraph 52 above ) .", "The remaining time is accounted for by collateral attacks mounted by the prisoner himself in habeas corpus proceedings before both the State and Federal courts and in applications to the Supreme Court of the United States for certiorari review , the prisoner at each stage being able to seek a stay of execution ( see paragraphs 53-54 above ) .", "The remedies available under Virginia law serve the purpose of ensuring that the ultimate sanction of death is not unlawfully or arbitrarily imposed .", "Nevertheless , just as some lapse of time between sentence and execution is inevitable if appeal safeguards are to be provided to the condemned person , so it is equally part of human nature that the person will cling to life by exploiting those safeguards to the full .", "However well-intentioned and even potentially beneficial is the provision of the complex of post-sentence procedures in Virginia , the consequence is that the condemned prisoner has to endure for many years the conditions on death row and the anguish and mounting tension of living in the ever-present shadow of death .", "Conditions on death row 107 .", "As to conditions in Mecklenburg Correctional Center , where the applicant could expect to be held if sentenced to death , the Court bases itself on the facts which were uncontested by the United Kingdom", "Government , without finding it necessary to determine the reliability of the additional evidence adduced by the applicant , notably as to the risk of homosexual abuse and physical attack undergone by prisoners on death row ( see paragraph 64 above ) .", "The stringency of the custodial regime in Mecklenburg , as well as the services ( medical , legal and social ) and the controls ( legislative , judicial and administrative ) provided for inmates , are described in some detail above ( see paragraphs 61-63 and 65-68 ) .", "In this connection , the United Kingdom", "Government drew attention to the necessary requirement of extra security for the safe custody of prisoners condemned to death for murder .", "Whilst it might thus well be justifiable in principle , the severity of a special regime such as that operated on death row in Mecklenburg is compounded by the fact of inmates being subject to it for a protracted period lasting on average six to eight years .", "The applicant 's age and mental state 108 .", "At the time of the killings , the applicant was only 18 years old and there is some psychiatric evidence , which was not contested as such , that he `` was suffering from -LSB- such -RSB- an abnormality of mind ... as substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts '' ( see paragraphs 11 , 12 and 21 above ) .", "Unlike Article 2 ( art. 2 ) of the Convention , Article 6 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 4 of the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights expressly prohibit the death penalty from being imposed on persons aged less than 18 at the time of commission of the offence .", "Whether or not such a prohibition be inherent in the brief and general language of Article 2 ( art. 2 ) of the European Convention , its explicit enunciation in other , later international instruments , the former of which has been ratified by a large number of States Parties to the European Convention , at the very least indicates that as a general principle the youth of the person concerned is a circumstance which is liable , with others , to put in question the compatibility with Article 3 ( art. 3 ) of measures connected with a death sentence .", "It is in line with the Court 's case-law ( as summarised above at paragraph 100 ) to treat disturbed mental health as having the same effect for the application of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "Virginia law , as the United Kingdom Government and the", "Commission emphasised , certainly does not ignore these two factors .", "Virginia Code account has to be taken of mental disturbance in a defendant , either as an absolute bar to conviction if it is judged to be sufficient to amount to insanity or , like age , as a fact in mitigation at the sentencing stage ( see paragraphs 44-47 and 50-51 above ) .", "Additionally , indigent capital murder defendants are entitled to the appointment of a qualified mental health expert to assist in the preparation of their submissions at the separate sentencing proceedings ( see paragraph 51 above ) .", "These provisions in the Virginia Code undoubtedly serve , as the American courts have stated , to prevent the arbitrary or capricious imposition of the death penalty and narrowly to channel the sentencer 's discretion ( see paragraph 48 above ) .", "They do not however remove the relevance of age and mental condition in relation to the acceptability , under", "Article 3 ( art. 3 ) , of the `` death row phenomenon '' for a given individual once condemned to death .", "Although it is not for this Court to prejudge issues of criminal responsibility and appropriate sentence , the applicant 's youth at the time of the offence and his then mental state , on the psychiatric evidence as it stands , are therefore to be taken into consideration as contributory factors tending , in his case , to bring the treatment on death row within the terms of", "Possibility of extradition to the Federal Republic of", "For the United Kingdom Government and the majority of the", "Commission , the possibility of extraditing or deporting the applicant to face trial in the Federal Republic of Germany ( see paragraphs 16 , 19 , 26 , 38 and 71-74 above ) , where the death penalty has been abolished under the Constitution ( see paragraph 72 above ) , is not material for the present purposes .", "Any other approach , the United Kingdom Government submitted , would lead to a `` dual standard '' affording the protection of the Convention to extraditable persons fortunate enough to have such an alternative destination available but refusing it to others not so fortunate .", "This argument is not without weight .", "Furthermore , the Court can not overlook either the horrible nature of the murders with which Mr Soering is charged or the legitimate and beneficial role of extradition arrangements in combating crime .", "The purpose for which his removal to the United States was sought , in accordance with the Extradition Treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States , is undoubtedly a legitimate one .", "However , sending Mr", "Soering to be tried in his own country would remove the danger of a fugitive criminal going unpunished as well as the risk of intense and protracted suffering on death row .", "It is therefore a circumstance of relevance for the overall assessment under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) in that it goes to the search for the requisite fair balance of interests and to the proportionality of the contested extradition decision in the particular case ( see paragraphs 89 and 104 above ) .", "For any prisoner condemned to death , some element of delay between imposition and execution of the sentence and the experience of severe stress in conditions necessary for strict incarceration are inevitable .", "The democratic character of the Virginia legal system in general and the positive features of Virginia trial , sentencing and appeal procedures in particular are beyond doubt .", "The Court agrees with the Commission that the machinery of justice to which the applicant would be subject in the United States is in itself neither arbitrary nor unreasonable , but , rather , respects the rule of law and affords not inconsiderable procedural safeguards to the defendant in a capital trial .", "Facilities are available on death row for the assistance of inmates , notably through provision of psychological and psychiatric services ( see paragraph 65 above ) .", "However , in the Court 's view , having regard to the very long period of time spent on death row in such extreme conditions , with the ever present and mounting anguish of awaiting execution of the death penalty , and to the personal circumstances of the applicant , especially his age and mental state at the time of the offence , the applicant 's extradition to the United", "States would expose him to a real risk of treatment going beyond the threshold set by Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "A further consideration of relevance is that in the particular instance the legitimate purpose of extradition could be achieved by another means which would not involve suffering of such exceptional intensity or duration .", "Accordingly , the Secretary of State 's decision to extradite the applicant to the United States would , if implemented , give rise to a breach of", "This finding in no way puts in question the good faith of the", "United Kingdom Government , who have from the outset of the present proceedings demonstrated their desire to abide by their Convention obligations , firstly by staying the applicant 's surrender to the United States authorities in accord with the interim measures indicated by the Convention institutions and secondly by themselves referring the case to the Court for a judicial ruling ( see paragraphs 1 , 4 , 24 and 77 above ) .", "ALLEGED BREACH OF ARTICLE 6 ( art. 6 )", "The United States criminal proceedings 112 .", "The applicant submitted that , because of the absence of legal aid in Virginia to fund collateral challenges before the Federal courts ( see paragraph 57 above ) , on his return to the United States he would not be able to secure his legal representation as required by Article 6 \u00a7 3 ( c ) ( art. 6-3-c ) , which reads : `` Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights : ... ( c ) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing or , if he has not sufficient means to pay for legal assistance , to be given it free when the interests of justice so require ; ... ''", "The Commission expressed the opinion that the proposed extradition of the applicant could not give rise to the responsibility of the", "United Kingdom Government under Article 6 \u00a7 3 ( c ) ( art. 6-3-c ) .", "Kingdom Government concurred with this analysis and , in the alternative , submitted that the applicant 's allegations were ill-founded .", "The right to a fair trial in criminal proceedings , as embodied in Article 6 ( art. 6 ) , holds a prominent place in a democratic society ( see , inter alia , the Colozza judgment of 12 February 1985 , Series A no. 89 , p. 16 , \u00a7 32 ) .", "The Court does not exclude that an issue might exceptionally be raised under Article 6 ( art. 6 ) by an extradition decision in circumstances where the fugitive has suffered or risks suffering a flagrant denial of a fair trial in the requesting country .", "However , the facts of the present case do not disclose such a risk .", "Accordingly , no issue arises under Article 6 \u00a7 3 ( c ) ( art. 6-3-c ) in this respect .", "The extradition proceedings in England 114 .", "The applicant further contended that the refusal of the", "Magistrates ' Court in the extradition proceedings to consider evidence as to his psychiatric condition ( see paragraph 21 above ) violated paragraphs 1 and 3 ( d ) of Article 6 ( art. 6-1 , art. 6-3-d ) , which respectively provide : `` 1 .", "In the determination ... of any criminal charge against him , everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... . ''", "Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights : ... ( d ) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him ; ... '' 115 .", "As the Delegate of the Commission pointed out , this complaint was not pleaded before the Commission .", "Such claims as the applicant then made of a failure to take proper account of the psychiatric evidence were in relation to Article 3 ( art. 3 ) and limited to the Secretary of State 's ultimate decision to extradite him to the United States .", "He did not formulate any grievances , whether under Article 6 ( art. 6 ) , Article 3 ( art. 3 ) or Article 13 ( art. 13 ) , regarding the scope or conduct of the Magistrates ' Court proceedings as such .", "This being so , the new allegation of a breach of Article 6 ( art. 6 ) constitutes not merely a further legal submission or argument but a fresh and separate complaint falling outside the compass of the case , which is delimited by the Commission 's decision on admissibility ( see , inter alia , the", "Schiesser judgment of 4 December 1979 , Series A no. 34 , p. 17 , \u00a7 41 , and the", "Johnston and Others judgment of 18 December 1986 , Series A no. 112 , p. 23 , \u00a7 48 ) .", "Accordingly , the Court has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter .", "ALLEGED BREACH OF ARTICLE 13 ( art. 13 ) 116 .", "Finally , the applicant alleged a breach of Article 13 ( art. 13 ) , which provides : `` Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in -LSB- the -RSB-", "Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity . ''", "In his submission , he had no effective remedy in the United Kingdom in respect of his complaint under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "The majority of the", "Commission arrived at the same conclusion .", "The United Kingdom Government however disagreed , arguing that Article 13 ( art. 13 ) had no application in the circumstances of the present case or , in the alternative , that the aggregate of remedies provided for under domestic law was adequate .", "In view of the Court 's finding regarding Article 3 ( art. 3 ) ( see paragraph 111 above ) , the applicant 's claim under that Article ( art. 3 ) can not be regarded either as incompatible with the provisions of the Convention or as not `` arguable '' on its merits ( see , inter alia , the Boyle and", "Rice judgment of 27 April 1988 , Series A no. 131 , p. 23 , \u00a7 52 ) .", "The United Kingdom Government contended , however , that Article 13 ( art. 13 ) can have no application in the circumstances of the case , because the challenge is in effect to the terms of a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States and also because the alleged violation of the substantive provision is of an anticipatory nature .", "The Court does not consider it necessary to rule specifically on these two objections to applicability since it has come to the conclusion that in any event the requirements of Article 13 ( art. 13 ) were not violated .", "The United Kingdom Government relied on the aggregate of remedies provided by the Magistrates ' Court proceedings , an application for habeas corpus and an application for judicial review ( see paragraphs 21-23 , 32-33 and 35 above ) .", "The Court will commence its examination with judicial review proceedings since they constitute the principal means for challenging a decision to extradite once it has been taken .", "Both the applicant and the Commission were of the opinion that the scope of judicial review was too narrow to allow the courts to consider the subject matter of the complaint which the applicant has made in the context of", "The applicant further contended that the courts ' lack of jurisdiction to issue interim injunctions against the Crown was an additional reason rendering judicial review an ineffective remedy .", "Article 13 ( art. 13 ) guarantees the availability of a remedy at national level to enforce the substance of the Convention rights and freedoms in whatever form they may happen to be secured in the domestic legal order ( see the above-mentioned Boyle and Rice judgment , Series A no. 131 , p. 23 , \u00a7 52 ) .", "The effect of Article 13 ( art. 13 ) is thus to require the provision of a domestic remedy allowing the competent `` national authority '' both to deal with the substance of the relevant Convention complaint and to grant appropriate relief ( see , inter alia , the Silver and Others judgment of 25 March 1983 , Series A no. 61 , p. 42 , \u00a7 113 ( a ) ) .", "In judicial review proceedings the court may rule the exercise of executive discretion unlawful on the ground that it is tainted with illegality , irrationality or procedural impropriety ( see paragraph 35 above ) .", "In an extradition case the test of `` irrationality '' , on the basis of the so-called `` Wednesbury principles '' , would be that no reasonable Secretary of State could have made an order for surrender in the circumstances ( ibid . ) .", "According to the United Kingdom Government , a court would have jurisdiction to quash a challenged decision to send a fugitive to a country where it was established that there was a serious risk of inhuman or degrading treatment , on the ground that in all the circumstances of the case the decision was one that no reasonable Secretary of State could take .", "Although the Convention is not considered to be part of United Kingdom law ( ibid . )", ", the Court is satisfied that the English courts can review the `` reasonableness '' of an extradition decision in the light of the kind of factors relied on by Mr", "Soering before the Convention institutions in the context of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) .", "Mr Soering did admittedly make an application for judicial review together with his application for habeas corpus and was met with an unfavourable response from Lord Justice Lloyd on the issue of `` irrationality '' ( see paragraph 22 above ) .", "However , as Lord Justice", "Lloyd explained , the claim failed because it was premature , the courts only having jurisdiction once the Minister has actually taken his decision ( ibid . ) .", "Furthermore , the arguments adduced by Mr Soering were by no means the same as those relied on when justifying his complaint under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) before the Convention institutions .", "His counsel before the Divisional Court limited himself to submitting that the assurance by the United States authorities was so worthless that no reasonable Secretary of State could regard it as satisfactory under the", "This is an argument going to the likelihood of the death penalty being imposed but says nothing about the quality of the treatment awaiting Mr Soering after sentence to death , this being the substance of his allegation of inhuman and degrading treatment .", "There was nothing to have stopped Mr Soering bringing an application for judicial review at the appropriate moment and arguing `` Wednesbury unreasonableness '' on the basis of much the same material that he adduced before the Convention institutions in relation to the `` death row phenomenon '' .", "Such a claim would have been given `` the most anxious scrutiny '' in view of the fundamental nature of the human right at stake ( see paragraph 35 above ) .", "The effectiveness of the remedy , for the purposes of Article 13 ( art. 13 ) , does not depend on the certainty of a favourable outcome for Mr Soering ( see the Swedish Engine Drivers ' Union judgment of 6 February 1976 , Series A no. 20 , p. 18 , \u00a7 50 ) , and in any event it is not for this Court to speculate as to what would have been the decision of the English courts .", "The English courts ' lack of jurisdiction to grant interim injunctions against the Crown ( see paragraph 35 in fine above ) does not , in the", "Court 's opinion , detract from the effectiveness of judicial review in the present connection , since there is no suggestion that in practice a fugitive would ever be surrendered before his application to the Divisional Court and any eventual appeal therefrom had been determined .", "The Court concludes that Mr Soering did have available to him under English law an effective remedy in relation to his complaint under", "This being so , there is no need to inquire into the other two remedies referred to by the United Kingdom Government .", "There is accordingly no breach of Article 13 ( art. 13 ) .", "APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 50 ( art. 50 ) 125 .", "Under the terms of Article 50 ( art. 50 ) , `` If the Court finds that a decision or a measure taken by a legal authority or any other authority of a High Contracting Party is completely or partially in conflict with the obligations arising from the ...", "Convention , and if the internal law of the said Party allows only partial reparation to be made for the consequences of this decision or measure , the decision of the Court shall , if necessary , afford just satisfaction to the injured party . ''", "Mr Soering stated that , since the object of his application was to secure the enjoyment of his rights guaranteed by the Convention , just satisfaction of his claims would be achieved by effective enforcement of the Court 's ruling .", "He invited the Court to assist the States Parties to the case and himself by giving directions in relation to the operation of its judgment .", "In addition , he claimed the costs and expenses of his representation in the proceedings arising from the request to the United", "Kingdom Government by the authorities of the United States of America for his extradition .", "He quantified these costs and expenses at # 1,500 and # 21,000 for lawyers ' fees in respect of the domestic and Strasbourg proceedings respectively , # 2,067 and 4,885.60 FF for his lawyers ' travel and accommodation expenses when appearing before the Convention institutions , and # 2,185.80 and 145 FF for sundry out-of-pocket expenses , making an overall total of # 26,752.80 and 5,030.60 FF .", "No breach of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) has as yet occurred .", "Nevertheless , the Court having found that the Secretary of State 's decision to extradite to the United States of America would , if implemented , give rise to a breach of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) , Article 50 ( art. 50 ) must be taken as applying to the facts of the present case .", "The Court considers that its finding regarding Article 3 ( art. 3 ) of itself amounts to adequate just satisfaction for the purposes of", "The Court is not empowered under the Convention to make accessory directions of the kind requested by the applicant ( see , mutatis mutandis , the Dudgeon judgment of 24 February 1983 , Series A no. 59 , p. 8 , \u00a7 15 ) .", "By virtue of Article 54 ( art. 54 ) , the responsibility for supervising execution of the Court 's judgment rests with the Committee of Ministers of the", "Council of Europe .", "The United Kingdom Government did not in principle contest the claim for reimbursement of costs and expenses , but suggested that , in the event that the Court should find one or more of the applicant 's complaints of violation of the Convention to be unfounded , it would be appropriate for the Court , deciding on an equitable basis as required by", "Article 50 ( art. 50 ) , to reduce the amount awarded accordingly ( see the Le", "Compte , Van Leuven and De Meyere judgment of 18 October 1982 , Series A no. 54 , p. 10 , \u00a7 21 ) .", "The applicant 's essential concern , and the bulk of the argument on all sides , focused on the complaint under Article 3 ( art. 3 ) , and on that issue the applicant has been successful .", "The Court therefore considers that in equity the applicant should recover his costs and expenses in full .", "FOR THESE REASONS , THE COURT UNANIMOUSLY 1 .", "Holds that , in the event of the Secretary of State 's decision to extradite the applicant to the United States of America being implemented , there would be a violation of Article 3 ( art. 3 ) ; 2 .", "Holds that , in the same event , there would be no violation of Article 6 \u00a7 3 ( c ) ( art. 6-3-c ) ; 3 .", "Holds that it has no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint under Article 6 \u00a7 \u00a7 1 and 3 ( d ) ( art. 6-1 , art. 6-3-d ) ; 4 .", "Holds that there is no violation of Article 13 ( art. 13 ) ; 5 .", "Holds that the United Kingdom is to pay to the applicant , in respect of legal costs and expenses , the sum of # 26,752.80 ( twenty-six thousand seven hundred and fifty-two pounds sterling and eighty pence ) and 5,030.60 FF ( five thousand and thirty French francs and sixty centimes ) , together with any value-added tax that may be chargeable ; 6 .", "Rejects the remainder of the claim for just satisfaction .", "Done in English and in French , and delivered at a public hearing in the Human Rights Building , Strasbourg , on 7 July 1989 .", "For the Registrar", "Deputy Registrar In accordance with Article 51 \u00a7 2 ( art. 51-2 ) of the", "Convention and Rule 52 \u00a7 2 of the Rules of Court , the separate opinion of Judge", "De Meyer is annexed to the present judgment .", "CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE DE MEYER", "The applicant 's extradition to the United States of America would not only expose him to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment .", "It would also , and above all , violate his right to life .", "Indeed , the most important issue in this case is not `` the likelihood of the feared exposure of the applicant to the ` death row phenomenon ' '' -LSB- 1 -RSB- , but the very simple fact that his life would be put in jeopardy by the said extradition .", "The second sentence of Article 2 \u00a7 1 ( art. 2-1 ) of the", "Convention , as it was drafted in 1950 , states that `` no one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law '' .", "In the circumstances of the present case , the applicant 's extradition to the United States would subject him to the risk of being sentenced to death , and executed , in Virginia -LSB- 2 -RSB- for a crime for which that penalty is not provided by the law of the United Kingdom -LSB- 3 -RSB- .", "When a person 's right to life is involved , no requested State can be entitled to allow a requesting State to do what the requested State is not itself allowed to do .", "If , as in the present case , the domestic law of a State does not provide the death penalty for the crime concerned , that State is not permitted to put the person concerned in a position where he may be deprived of his life for that crime at the hands of another State .", "That consideration may already suffice to preclude the United Kingdom from surrendering the applicant to the United States .", "There is also something more fundamental .", "Convention was adopted , nearly forty years ago , in particular historical circumstances , shortly after the Second World War .", "In so far as it still may seem to permit , under certain conditions , capital punishment in time of peace , it does not reflect the contemporary situation , and is now overridden by the development of legal conscience and practice -LSB- 4 -RSB- .", "Such punishment is not consistent with the present state of", "De facto , it no longer exists in any State Party to the Convention -LSB- 5 -RSB- .", "Its unlawfulness was recognised by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe when it adopted in December 1982 , and opened for signature in April 1983 , the Sixth Protocol ( P6 ) to the Convention , which to date has been signed by sixteen , and ratified by thirteen , Contracting States .", "No State Party to the Convention can in that context , even if it has not yet ratified the Sixth Protocol , be allowed to extradite any person if that person thereby incurs the risk of being put to death in the requesting", "Extraditing somebody in such circumstances would be repugnant to European standards of justice , and contrary to the public order of Europe -LSB- 6 -RSB- .", "The applicant 's surrender by the United Kingdom to the United", "States could only be lawful if the United States were to give absolute assurances that he will not be put to death if convicted of the crime he is charged with -LSB- 7 -RSB- .", "No such assurances were , or can be , obtained .", "The Federal Government of the United States is unable to give any undertaking as to what may or may not be decided , or done , by the judicial and other authorities of the Commonwealth of Virginia -LSB- 8 -RSB- .", "In fact , the Commonwealth 's Attorney dealing with the case intends to seek the death penalty -LSB- 9 -RSB- and the Commonwealth 's Governor has never commuted a death sentence since the imposition of the death penalty was resumed in 1977 -LSB- 10 -RSB- .", "In these circumstances there can be no doubt whatsoever that the applicant 's extradition to the United States would violate his right to life -LSB- 11 -RSB- .", "Note by the registry : The case is numbered 1/1989/161 / 217 .", "The second figure indicates the year in which the case was referred to the Court and the first figure its place on the list of cases referred in that year ; the last two figures indicate , respectively , the case 's order on the list of cases and of originating applications ( to the Commission ) referred to the Court since its creation .", "Note by the Registrar .", "For practical reasons this annex will appear only with the printed version of the judgment ( volume 161 of Series A of the Publications of the Court ) , but a copy of the Commission 's report is obtainable from the registry .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- \u00a7 99 of the judgment .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- \u00a7 40 of the judgment .", "LSB- 3 -RSB- \u00a7 27 of the judgment .", "See also Article 6 \u00a7 \u00a7 2 and 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and", "Political Rights and Article 4 \u00a7 \u00a7 2 and 3 of the American Convention on Human", "The very wording of each of these provisions , adopted respectively in 1966 and in 1969 , clearly reflects the evolution of legal conscience and practice towards the universal abolition of the death penalty .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- \u00a7 102 of the judgment .", "See , mutatis mutandis , the judgment of 27 February 1987 by the French Conseil d'\u00c9tat in the Fidan case , Recueil Dalloz Sirey , 1987 , pp. 305-310 .", "See the French Fidan judgment referred to above .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- \u00a7 97 of the judgment .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- \u00a7 20 of the judgment .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- \u00a7 60 of the judgment .", "This opinion deals only with what I consider to be the essential points .", "I would just like to add briefly that ( a ) I can not agree with the first sub-paragraph of \u00a7 86 , or with \u00a7 89 , since these parts of the Court 's reasoning leave too much room for unacceptable infringements of the fundamental rights of persons whose extradition is sought , and ( b ) with due respect for the Court 's case-law , I wish to maintain my earlier reservations concerning the matters at issue in \u00a7 115 , the first sub-paragraph of \u00a7 117 and \u00a7 127 ( see the W v. the", "United Kingdom judgment of 8 July 1987 , Series A no. 121-A , p. 42 , the Boyle and Rice judgment of 27 April 1988 , Series A no. 131 , p. 35 , and the W v. the", "United Kingdom judgment of 9 June 1988 ( Article 50 ) ( art. 50 ) , Series A no. 136-C , p. 26 ) .", "Donate to BAILII"], "_citing_sentence": "Not only could more people be extradited, foreign states may be more willing to provide broader based assistance and co-operation if they see that a state has made steps forward in criminal justice policy.Some states have a policy of not extraditing to states where there is a risk of capital punishment: a particular clause on this is included in the US-Mexico extradition treaty, and it is the position of the European Court of Human Rights.", "_claim_name": "Justice co-operation", "_doc_title": "Soering v United Kingdom - 14038/88 [1989] ECHR 14 (7 July 1989)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [737, 738]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["VIENNA Three groups campaigning against the death penalty called on the United Nations to freeze counter-narcotics aid to Vietnam after it sentenced 30 people to die for heroin trafficking .", "Judges in northern Vietnam condemned 30 people to death and jailed dozens more on January 20 for trafficking over 12 tonnes of heroin , in the Communist country 's biggest-ever drugs trial .", "Vietnam has long been used as a connecting point for moving heroin from Laos , Myanmar and China to other Asian countries and Australia .", "Its courts hand out harsh sentences to traffickers , which until recently included death by firing squad .", "It now uses lethal injection .", "Harm Reduction International , Reprieve and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty said U.N. drug enforcement support in Vietnam was extensive , with a 2012-17 budget of more than $ 5 million for technical assistance , equipment , training and other assistance .", "In a letter to the Vienna-based U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ) , they said they had raised concern for several years about U.N. support for countries that impose the death penalty for drug offences .", "The UNODC had no immediate comment on Wednesday .", "It has said before that , as part of the United Nations , it `` advocates the abolition of the death penalty and calls upon member states to follow international standards concerning prohibition of the death penalty for offences of a drug-related or purely economic nature . ''", "Harm Reduction International , Reprieve and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty said the UNODC had internal human rights guidance which required it `` to cease support for a country if it is feared the support may facilitate executions '' .", "`` If law enforcement aid can not be provided with the assurance that it will not contribute to human rights abuses , it can be redirected to health services instead , '' they said .", "Vietnam had about 180,000 drug addicts as of September 2013 , according to government statistics .", "Trafficking of more than 100 grams ( 3.5 oz ) of heroin is punishable by death or life imprisonment in Vietnam .", "( Reporting by Fredrik Dahl ; Editing by Larry King )", "BEIRUT Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm , a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said .", "ERBIL/BAGHDAD Islamic State militants have placed booby traps across the city of Mosul , dug tunnels and recruited children as spies in anticipation of an offensive to dislodge the jihadists from their Iraqi stronghold , Iraqis and U.S. officials said .", "BEIJING China and Russia will hold their second joint anti-missile drills next year , Chinese state media said on Tuesday , after South Korea and the United States angered the two countries with plans to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea ."], "_citing_sentence": "When using capital punishment the opposite is the case; controversy has been created by the use of UN resources in drugs cases in Vietnam that could lead to executions for drug offences.", "_claim_name": "Diplomatic relations", "_doc_title": "U.N. urged to freeze anti-drug aid to Vietnam over death penalty | Reuters", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 76, "_topic_name": "This House believes that capital punishment should be abolished in Africa"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Three flights landed at Heathrow airport within five minutes of each other , watched by thousands of onlookers on Friday afternoon .", "The last transatlantic flight carried 100 celebrities from New York and touched down at 1605 BST .", "On disembarking , actress Joan Collins said there were `` cheers and tears '' among the passengers when the plane landed .", "Minutes before the transatlantic trip touched down , competition winners landed on a flight from Edinburgh and a third completed its trip for invited guests around the Bay of Biscay .", "British Airways decided to retire the famous aircraft after 27 years because it was no longer profitable .", "Airport operator BAA built a 1,000-seat grandstand for spectators and many arrived at Heathrow hours before Concorde was due to arrive .", "CONCORDE 'S LAST DAY OF FLIGHTS", "Departure from New York 0735 ( 1235 BST )", "Planes from New York , Edinburgh and one that has completed a loop over the Atlantic arrive in Heathrow 1600 BST", "Ceremony with British Airways staff", "Crowds gather to witness history", "Popping the question at 60,000 ft", "John Cowburn , 39 , from Basingstoke , equipped with a ladder to get a good view , has seen it in action 25 times .", "He said : `` Today is a very sad day but we must make the most of it .", "Concorde is potentially the most special thing man has ever built . ''", "There was also an emotional goodbye on the other side of the Atlantic .", "Water cannon sprayed the Concorde with jets of red , white and blue water to evoke the colours of the British , American and French flags in a symbolic farewell on the runway at John F Kennedy airport .", "Before entering the Concorde cockpit for the last time , Captain Mike Bannister said he was `` proud and privileged '' to fly the plane back from New York .", "`` What we have tried to do is to make the retirement of Concorde a celebration - something that both the public and the airline can look back at with pride .", "Concorde 's last day in pictures `` When I power the engines for the last time at Heathrow I shall be thinking of all the people in BA who 've kept this plane flying successfully for 27 years , '' he said .", "The New York flight left at at 1235 BST , another left Edinburgh at 1420 BST and a third began a loop of the Bay of Biscay a few minutes later .", "Earlier , the first of the planes departed from Heathrow at 1035 BST for a flight to Edinburgh , where it landed at noon before leaving again for its final journey .", "Actress Joan Collins , who has flown Concorde about 10 times and is on board the flight from New York , said the end of the era was `` tragic '' .", "`` The first time I ever flew Concorde was a bit of a white knuckle ride .", "I am more used to it now , it 's so wonderful to make the journey in three and a half hours , '' she said as she boarded the plane .", "British broadcaster and frequent flyer Sir David Frost said he had lost count of the number of times he had been on Concorde - `` somewhere between 300 and 500 , I think . ''", "The passenger list for Concorde 's final flight from New York includes :", "Model Jodie Kidd ( pictured with broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson before boarding )", "Broadcaster Sir David Frost", "Actress Joan Collins", "Politician Tony Benn", "Former US model Christie Brinkley", "Stock exchange chairman Chris Gibson-Smith", "British Airways chairman Lord Marshall", "Model Jodie Kidd , checking into the flight , said : `` I always really love the rush of takeoff .", "I am just a speed freak . ''", "British Airways chief executive officer Rod Eddington said there was a `` mixture of sadness and celebration '' about the retirement .", "`` It is a wonderful plane , an icon , but its time has come .", "It 's an old plane - it does n't look it - but it was designed in the 50s and built in the 60s , '' he told BBC One 's Breakfast .", "In 1956 , Britain and France began working separately on an aircraft that would fly at twice the speed of sound .", "BA and Air France made a joint announcement on the retirement in April and the French Concorde 's final flight was in May .", "Concorde never recovered after a horrific crash near Paris Charles de Gaulle airport three years ago , in which 113 people died ."], "_citing_sentence": "The fastest method of transport, supersonic jets in the form of Concorde ceased operation in October 2003.", "_claim_name": "Fastest possible transportation over a short distance", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | End of an era for Concorde", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["California moves forward on $68 billion high-speed rail project", "SACRAMENTO California moved full steam ahead on Wednesday with a $ 68 billion high speed rail project , a move that comes as the state slashes spending to close a nearly $ 16 billion budget deficit and as a string of its cities mull bankruptcy .", "At a ceremony in Los Angeles , Governor Jerry Brown signed an initial funding bill for the train project , clearing the way for construction of a 130-mile section of track through the state 's agricultural heartland .", "Brown says a bullet train network will boost job creation and provide an alternative to car and plane travel in the country 's most populous state .", "Critics say California can ill afford the $ 68 billion project that farmers unions regard as an `` imminent threat '' to some of the most agriculturally productive land in the United States .", "`` This legislation will help put thousands of people in California back to work , '' Brown said .", "`` By improving regional transportation systems , we are investing in the future of our state and making California a better place to live and work . ''", "Brown and fellow Democrats who control the legislature recently approved a state budget that closed a $ 15.7 billion budget gap with spending cuts , fund transfers and revenue that assumes voters will approve a tax ballot measure in November .", "And in the last two months , three cities in California have sought bankruptcy protection as they struggle with weighty deficits : the state 's fourth-largest city , Stockton , the ski resort city of Mammoth Lakes and San Bernardino .", "Other cities , like Los Angeles suburb Compton , are considering following suit .", "Undeterred , Brown criss-crossed the state on Wednesday to tout the project .", "The signing in Los Angeles marked one of the planned endpoints of the bullet train network and he was due in San Francisco later for another ceremony celebrating what is a substantial win for the Democratic governor .", "`` This project brings an infusion of energy into rural areas of high unemployment and provides relief for urban traffic gridlock , '' California state Senator Darrell Steinberg said in a statement welcoming the governor 's signature .", "FUNDING ` HIGHLY UNCERTAIN '", "High speed rail links have proved popular alternatives to air travel in European countries such as France and Spain .", "They have not caught on in the United States where sprawling cities and cheaper gasoline make the costly train systems a hard sell in most states .", "California 's bullet train network , expected to take decades to complete , would eventually connect Sacramento and San Francisco to Los Angeles , with stops along the way .", "The California Senate narrowly approved the measure earlier in July after a lengthy floor debate in which critics said the cash-strapped state lacked the financial means to undertake the project , the most ambitious public works endeavor to date in California .", "The state and federal financing outlined in the bill includes the issuance of $ 2.6 billion in state bonds , which would in turn unlock $ 3.2 billion in federal funds for construction of track in the Central Valley that was expected to begin at the end of 2012 or the start of 2013 .", "The bill , which passed by a wider margin in the Democratic-controlled Assembly one day before the contentious Senate vote , also approves spending over $ 2 billion in federal , state and local funds on rail projects in urban areas to prepare to link them to a statewide system .", "Construction on the bullet train line will start in the agriculturally rich Central Valley , where trains could reach 220 mph over flat and more sparsely populated terrain .", "Critics worry that funding for the project will eventually run dry before the rail network can be completed , leaving California with a `` train to nowhere '' in its agrarian midsection .", "The Legislative Analyst 's Office , an independent budget watchdog agency , said the source of funding for the project beyond the initial round was `` highly uncertain '' .", "Other bullet train projects have fared poorly .", "Last year , Florida Governor Rick Scott rejected $ 2.4 billion in federal funds to build a high-speed line between Tampa and Orlando , saying it would put the state on the hook for billions of dollars it did not have .", "Ohio and Wisconsin also rejected federal funds for high-speed rail projects .", "( Reporting by Mary Slosson , editing by Dan Whitcomb and Andrew Hay )", "The key to understanding what 's going on lies not with personalities , campaign strategies or party rules but rather with the voter .", "Measuring and evaluating academic innovation"], "_citing_sentence": "This should be compared to the current cost for California's high speed rail project which is estimated to be $68billion while covering much the same ground.", "_claim_name": "The Hyperloop is comparatively cheap", "_doc_title": "California moves forward on $68 billion high-speed rail project", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 77, "_topic_name": "This House would build the Hyperloop"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Chris McGreal in Washington", "Thursday 8 October 2009 11.10 EDT", "The number of reported rapes in the US has dropped to its lowest level in two decades as the increasing use of DNA has helped identify attackers and encouraged prosecutors to pursue more convictions .", "FBI statistics show that rapes notified to the police dropped by one-third to 29 for every 100,000 people last year , down from 43 in 1992 when DNA testing was only just beginning to be widely used in law enforcement .", "A total of 89,000 rapes were reported in 2008 .", "Victims ' rights groups say that the use of DNA has been an important , but not the only , factor by helping secure more convictions and keeping some rapists from repeating their crimes .", "In doing so , it has also given some women and district attorneys greater confidence to go to court .", "`` The fact that the DNA evidence can secure a conviction has changed the situation , '' said Kim Gandy , a former prosecutor and past president of the National Organisation for Women .", "`` When I was a prosecutor it was very difficult to get a conviction .", "There was a real reluctance to accept rape cases .", "District attorneys face election every year and they do n't want it to bring down their overall conviction rate because it makes them politically vulnerable . ''", "Gandy says evolving social attitudes have also helped with juries less inclined to believe defence claims that victims brought assaults on themselves `` although it has n't entirely gone away '' .", "Governments also began to take the crime more seriously .", "As DNA started to become a significant factor in investigating sexual violence , the 1994 Violence Against Women Act came in to force with a $ 1.6 bn ( # 994m ) injection to improve investigations , promote prosecutions and introduce rape kits to hospitals to collect evidence .", "Some researchers believe that the use of DNA evidence also discourages some potential rapists .", "Others have taken to using condoms .", "But Lauren Sogor of the National Sexual Violence Resource Centre said that the growing emphasis on DNA sometimes makes it harder to secure convictions where it is not available .", "`` There 's a lot of controversy around DNA .", "In some cases it does help but it can complicate cases because people expect that there should be DNA evidence and when there is n't it 's harder to get a prosecution , '' she said .", "This week , the FBI acknowledged that its failure to enter a DNA sample in its database from a federal prisoner meant that he was able to rape and assault several women in Florida after his release .", "Local police say they collected DNA samples from attacks earlier this year but they did not turn up any match in the FBI database .", "It was only after Delmer Smith was arrested in a bar brawl that he was identified as the attacker .", "The FBI said it is grappling with a backlog of samples taken from convicts in federal prison .", "It holds DNA records on only about 80,000 individuals but it plans to expand that by more than 1 million convicts a year from 2012 .", "DNA has also identified a significant number of wrongful convictions for rape .", "Sogor also noted that the total number of rapes is many times those reported .", "She said that US justice department statistics estimate that in 2005 only 38 % of rapes were reported ."], "_citing_sentence": "Furthermore, in the United States, the number of reported rapes dropped to its lowest level in two decades due in large part to the use of DNA evidence", "_claim_name": "A DNA database would lead to more convictions, particularly in cases of violent crime", "_doc_title": "Number of reported rapes in US drops to lowest level in two decades | US news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 19 November 2009 12.05 EST", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 16.47 EDT", "The national DNA database is once again being hotly debated .", "The government is now proposing that the DNA profile of innocent people ( those arrested but never convicted ) should be kept for only six years , instead of indefinitely , as is the case now .", "This late and mealy-mouthed concession is unlikely to satisfy the European court of human rights , but it forces all of us to consider the important , long-term question .", "Given that this technology is here to stay , as a crucial means of solving crimes , who should be on the database ?", "The problem with the government 's approach is that it uses the criterion of whether you happen to have been arrested -- even for a fairly trivial offence .", "This means that ethnic minorities , subject to disproportionately higher levels of arrest , end up over-represented : it 's estimated that 40 % of black men are on the database .", "Because being on the database is linked with having been arrested , it becomes a stigma , a taint of suspicion .", "It also means that when DNA evidence is recovered from a crime scene , whether there is a match depends , arbitrarily , upon whether the perpetrator happens to have been arrested before .", "Justice becomes a matter of chance .", "There are also huge problems with access to the database : at present 56 non-police bodies have access , including BT and the Association of British Insurers .", "This is ridiculous and wrong : since the justification for the database is fighting crime , access to it should be strictly confined to crime-fighting agencies and its use to generating matches from crime-scenes .", "But what of the much longer term ?", "One eventual solution we should consider -- if the above safeguards were put in place -- is a system in which everyone is on .", "The logic of the proposal arises from two propositions : ( a ) DNA is an invaluable technology in solving serious crime ; but ( b ) as soon as you confine it to certain classes of people you produce arbitrariness and injustice .", "If everyone is on , everyone is equally treated : it would cease to be a stigma and instead becomes an honourable means by which everyone makes a contribution towards protecting the vulnerable from violent crime .", "And of course it would mean that the database has comprehensive coverage , radically increasing its effectiveness .", "Many will argue that this would be a disproportionate intrusion into our privacy .", "I have great respect for that view , though I do n't think it 's quite as clear-cut as this : if we are talking not about retaining DNA samples , but only the digital profile , and if access and use were to be strictly confined as suggested above , then I do n't think the intrusion into privacy is particularly grave , while the societal gains in solving and deterring appalling crimes are very significant .", "Sceptics doubt the effectiveness of DNA matching , and invoke fears of false matches and planted samples .", "As to effectiveness , a 2006 academic study found that the overall detection rate for crimes of 23.5 % rises to 38 % where DNA is successfully recovered ; in domestic burglary , the detection rate rises more than threefold , from 14 % to 48 % .", "One estimate is that DNA-matching helps solve 400 murders a year , about 800 rapes and serious assaults and about 8,000 burglaries .", "And the uncomfortable fact is that some of these crimes have been solved using DNA from the innocent on the database : 114 murders , 55 attempted murders , 116 rapes and 119 aggravated burglaries , according to one estimate .", "US prosecutors have seen significant success in using DNA evidence to convict and deter rapists .", "As to false matches , thus far , the fears are exaggerated : a 2002 study found only two cases worldwide .", "Of course DNA evidence can be planted ; but so can drugs or stolen goods ; confessions are frequently unreliable ; witnesses can be intimidated or bribed ; even honest eye-witness accounts are so unreliable that juries have to be warned about them .", "DNA matching is generally much less prone to producing misleading evidence than other methods ; real dangers arise only if it is thought that it is some kind of magical , infallible crime solver .", "It 's not as simple as sinister Orwellian government database v virtuous civil libertarians : it 's a real dilemma that we should try to think about dispassionately and with a full grasp of the facts ."], "_citing_sentence": "Studies support this assertion; 'the overall detection rate for crimes of 23.5% rises to 38% where DNA is successfully recovered'.", "_claim_name": "A DNA database would lead to more convictions, particularly in cases of violent crime", "_doc_title": "The case for a complete DNA database | Gavin Phillipson | Opinion | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [21]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 78, "_topic_name": "This house would have a criminal DNA database"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Riazat Butt , religious affairs correspondent", "Wednesday 23 February 2011 07.46 EST", "Last modified on Wednesday 10 February 2016 10.43 EST", "News that the Vatican is boldly going where no Catholic priest has gone before has stirred up excitement as the religious institution sinks its teeth into something considerably more ancient and unfathomable than itself -- the universe .", "Alas , the much talked about collaboration between the Italian space agency and the Pontifical Lateran University has yet to launch .", "But the initiative is another sign that the Vatican wants to be taken ( more ) seriously on science .", "In the past , Roman Catholicism has hardly covered itself in glory when it comes to science .", "It took the Vatican more than 350 years to admit it was wrong about Galileo , cementing its contrition by erecting a statue of him in 2009 .", "Its pronouncements over the years on life issues have often put it at odds with the scientific community , not to mention its historical vacillation over the theory of evolution .", "Blogger Sensuous Curmudgeon has a pair of posts on the subject .", "But the Vatican 's impending partnership with the Italian space agency ( ASI ) , coupled with a greater willingness to open up -- whether it 's through the pope 's astronomer Guy `` baptising aliens '' Consolmagno embarking on speaking tours or holding science events in Rome ( even if they are sometimes behind closed doors ) -- is evidence that it is more comfortable with its scientific endeavours .", "Up to a point .", "Priya Shetty is among those to note that the Vatican is hosting an Aids conference on 28 May , but wonders whether a forthcoming update on bioethics issues in stem cell research and reproductive technology will be as `` pragmatic '' as its new stance on condom use .", "Pragmatism is something of a deal breaker for the Vatican .", "It will not endorse or explore anything that contradicts church teaching , which is why it prefers stem cell research on adults and stops short of giving its wholehearted endorsement to evolution .", "As Peter Raven tells Science Magazine : `` There is belief in a creator who existed before the big bang and set the universe in motion , which is something that can not be proved or disproved by science . ''", "The official Vatican position on evolution tilts towards intelligent design .", "Its point man on the subject , Cardinal Sch\u00f6nborn , says : `` Scientific theories that try to explain away the appearance of design as the result of ` chance and necessity ' are not scientific at all , but , as John Paul put it , an abdication of human intelligence . ''", "Whatever outsiders might think , the Vatican 's scientific activities are pretty radical by its own standards , but it is n't about to stop promoting belief in a creator or espousing certain values on life issues .", "But are these non-negotiables too great an impediment for it to be a true scientific innovator ?"], "_citing_sentence": "For example Churches have adapted to the problems that science has thrown up, even the Catholic church, often the slowest to embrace change did eventually agree with Galileo over the earth going round the sun.", "_claim_name": "The Church has adapted before, it can adapt now", "_doc_title": "The Vatican may be cosying up to science but it will never go all the way | Riazat Butt | Science | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 79, "_topic_name": "This House Would (as a Christian Church) allow the ordination of gay and lesbian priests"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Jason Burke in Delhi", "Friday 19 August 2011 13.36 EDT", "Last modified on Tuesday 23 August 2011 07.54 EDT", "Vishal is an ordinary man with an ordinary story of corruption in India .", "He lives in east Delhi , part of the traffic-choked sprawl of India 's capital .", "He owns a fried chicken takeaway similar to thousands of others that have sprung up in recent years to serve the new tastes of the burgeoning middle class .", "And he faces an ordinary Indian daily routine of petty corruption .", "The number of people Vishal has to pay off is bewildering .", "There are the local beat constables who take free lunches , and the more senior police officers who can cause problems with opening hours .", "They take 10,000 rupees ( # 130 ) on the 10th of each month to allow Vishal to stay open late .", "Then there are the officials from various local authorities who also receive regular payments -- around # 50 per month -- to ensure that health , safety and hygiene inspections go smoothly .", "`` Of the 40,000 rupees ( # 520 ) I earn a month from my restaurant , I pay at least a third in bribes , '' Vishal , 26 , said .", "But bribery also extends into his personal life .", "Vishal has two young children and to get the eldest in to the best local school he paid a `` donation '' of 25,000 rupees ( # 340 ) in cash to the headmaster .", "A driving licence needed another bribe .", "Getting an appointment with a competent public doctor cost a substantial amount .", "And then there are the traffic police .", "Every other week Vishal says he is stopped , told he has committed an offence and made to pay 100 rupees ( # 1.25 ) , the standard fee to avoid `` too much bother '' .", "`` I am so disappointed -LSB- about -RSB- everything you have to pay , '' he said .", "`` And no one does anything .", "The politicians wo n't do anything because they are all corrupt too . ''", "Such sentiments are widespread in India and explain the sudden outpouring of anger over recent days as tens of thousands of people took to the streets across the country to protest about the arrest of anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare .", "Though a string of major corruption scandals such as the telecoms licence scam that cost the country up to # 26bn , and the alleged fraud surrounding the high-profile Commonwealth Games in Delhi , has fuelled some of the fury , it is the grinding daily routine of petty corruption that is at the root .", "`` You pay for a birth certificate , a death certificate , '' said Varun Mishra , a 30-year-old software engineer and one of thousands who marched in Delhi to support Hazare .", "`` All your life you pay .", "And for what ?", "For things that should be free . ''", "Hazare , 74 , has harnessed this grassroots frustration to launch a popular movement .", "Having been jailed as a threat to public order , he went on hunger strike and refused to leave prison when released .", "He has finally left jail , having been granted permission to hold a 15-day fast in a public park .", "His public relations team has run rings around clumsy and slow official spokesmen .", "India 's prime minister , Manmohan Singh , has an impeccable reputation for personal probity but has looked distant and out of touch .", "Hazare is campaigning for a powerful new anti-corruption ombudsman with the right to investigate senior politicians , officials and judges .", "His critics say this would be undemocratic , and worry about the division of powers .", "But for people like restaurateur Vishal , Hazare is a hero .", "`` At least he is doing something , '' he said .", "`` No one else is . ''", "Though bribery , or `` graft '' , is a fact of life for more or less everybody in India , the demonstrators are largely urban , educated and relatively well-off .", "`` What you are seeing on the street is a middle-class rebellion , '' said Mohan Guruswamy , a former senior official in the ministry of finance and founder of the Centre for Policy Alternatives thinktank .", "There are reports in local media that call centres and other back office operations in IT hubs such as Gurgaon , a satellite town of Delhi , and Bengaluru , the southern city , have faced staffing problems with up to half of workers joining the protests .", "Teachers , lawyers and medical professionals have also featured prominently .", "Support for Hazare is particularly strong among those who have benefited most from India 's recent breakneck economic development but are frustrated by a largely unreformed public sector that delivers poor and haphazard services .", "They are often the young .", "Many of those who waited outside Tihar jail in Delhi to greet Hazare on his triumphant exit were in their teens or even younger .", "One 12-year-old carried a placard saying `` save my future '' .", "Tens of millions of school and college-leavers pour into the Indian jobs market each year .", "State institutions have not kept pace with aspirations raised by years of rapid economic growth and with skill levels low and good jobs scare , unrest could rise .", "Senior Congress party politicians this week argued that some level of graft was `` inevitable '' in a developing economy .", "However , analysts said the extent of the problem in India -- which ranks at 87 out of 178 on the campaign group Transparency International 's index of corruption -- is unique .", "`` India is comparable to China , doing better than Russia , less well than Brazil , '' said Robin Hodess , the group 's research director .", "`` But bureaucratic and petty corruption is extreme in India . ''", "Some say India 's generally patchy law enforcement is to blame .", "`` We are politically advanced in terms of institutions , '' said Guruswamy .", "`` We have courts , a parliament and a long tradition of democracy ... but very few people are ever held to account . ''", "Last week a senior judge faced unprecedented impeachment proceedings 25 years after the alleged offence .", "Others say those who pay the bribes are to blame too .", "One supreme court lawyer who refused demands for commissions in return for sanctioning payment for work he had done for the government , said giving in to corruption could be down to `` deep powerlessness '' or simply a `` I just want to get on with my day '' type of attitude .", "`` As Indians we see corruption as something that permeates our lives , like air pollution , but we need to think much more carefully about it , '' he said .", "Raghu Thoniparambil , who runs the website ipaidabribe.com , pointed out that corruption in the private sector was just as prevalent .", "`` All these protests are very inspiring but will people really change ?", "I do n't know , '' he said .", "Less ambitious and spectacular measures could have more impact than the ombudsman office Hazare and his followers want to create , Thoniparambil argues .", "As well as perceptions of general corruption , Transparency International also compiles an index of nations where bribes are paid most frequently , particularly in business .", "India ranks 19 out of 22 , above Mexico , Russia and China .", "Manu Joseph , editor of the news magazine Open , speaks of `` hypocrisy '' .", "`` The Indian relationship with corruption is very complex and politicians are representative of society as a whole , '' he said .", "But the widespread anger is also due to a sense that modern India not only deserves better but needs to at least moderate rampant corruption to compete on the world stage .", "The most high profile cases have already damaged the nation 's image sufficiently to slow economic growth .", "One text message circulating in India last week focused on the huge sums of `` black money '' illegally stashed by wealthy Indians in overseas assets and bank accounts .", "The return of these funds could pay for `` Oxford-like universities '' , borders stronger than `` the China wall '' and roads `` like in Paris '' , it said .", "`` We want a great country , stronger than the US , UK and Australia , '' said 18-year-old Sushil Kumar as he waited for the protest march from Hazare 's jail to start .", "`` India will be great , with its traditions , its culture .", "But we have to beat corruption . ''", "Launched last October , ipaidabribe.com is the brainchild of Raghunandan Thoniparambil , a retired official from the elite Indian Administrative Service .", "By Friday 12,076 people had posted their personal stories of graft for all to see .", "They included businessmen forced to pay 50 rupees ( 70p ) to traffic police , 300 rupees ( # 3.20 ) paid for a passport verification , 40,000 rupees ( # 540 ) handed over to have property registered , 5,000 rupees ( # 67 ) for a birth certificate and travellers who had to give 100 rupees ( # 1.30 ) to get berths on otherwise full express trains .", "Software takes names off the site .", "`` The aim is not to identify people but to identify the problem , '' Thoniparambil said .", "In June , after a BBC report about ipaidabribe.com several similar sites opened in China .", "Within two weeks they were shut down .", "`` In India we are sometimes a little slow or dysfunctional but civil society , simple democracy can make a huge difference , '' added Thoniparambil .", "\u2022 This article was amended on 23 August 2011 because the original converted 25,000 rupees to # 3,400 .", "This has been corrected ."], "_citing_sentence": "For example in Delhi police officers regularly take lunch without paying and more senior officers take 10,000 each month to allow the restaurant to stay open late.", "_claim_name": "Individuals may have no choice", "_doc_title": "Corruption in India: 'All your life you pay for things that should be free' | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8, 9]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["THE Bribery Act comes into force on July 1st .", "Conceived by the previous Labour government in response to the scandal of BAE bribes in Saudi Arabia , it was meant to renew the tarnished reputation of British business abroad .", "One commitment is to end so-called `` facilitation payments '' paid to foreign government officials in the course of routine business .", "Crown Prosecution Service guidelines published alongside the law in March promised `` no exemption '' for companies caught in the act .", "Britain is unusual in that its Parliament had not previously found it necessary to pass a law banning bribery , relying instead on a series of lesser offences , guidelines and conventions .", "The new law is seen as being stricter than elsewhere : America 's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act , for example , bans bribes but allows the payment of small sums to ease transactions in countries in which they are seen as customary .", "On June 9th the director of the Serious Fraud Office , Richard Alderman , told a UK-Russia Business Council event that banning facilitation payments may not be practical .", "Although he congratulated large firms that have implemented zero-tolerance policies on bribes and still found it possible to do business in the shadier parts of the world , he said he thought the approach was unrealistic for small firms : `` What we have said is that our aspiration is that companies generally should move towards zero tolerance over a period of time ... I recognise that this may be a process that takes a few years ... I do though want -LSB- companies -RSB- to come and talk to us , not least because it means that when we hear complaints from their competitors that these payments are being made , then we are less likely to open an investigation because we will know from the company that they are committed to zero tolerance in due course . ''", "So small British businesses can go on greasing palms so long as they commit to phasing out such payments eventually , and the Serious Fraud Office will not investigate allegations against them .", "An unexpected interpretation of the law and , surprisingly , one that anti-corruption campaigners seem to accept sanguinely .", "Transparency International , a lobby group , acknowledges that small companies are far more vulnerable to corruption since they often do not have the connections to bypass individual officials .", "Yet it also believes that those large firms that have successfully eradicated bribes have done so by becoming well known for refusing to pay backhanders and for reporting those who seek them .", "Once a particular company has gain such a reputation , officials are deterred from asking for payments .", "This suggests that phasing out facilitation payments will be tricky : once a small business has paid them , local officials will expect the practice to continue .", "Indeed Transparency International reckons that if a company has paid just once , it will face demands for larger payments , more frequently and from higher levels of officialdom .", "If this is the case , a commitment to stop paying in the future while turning a blind eye today may not only be self-defeating but risks also undermining the law ."], "_citing_sentence": "It is hypocritical for the west to target developing countries for this as many so-called democracies are hopelessly compromised by business interests through political funding and lobbying.The United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bans large bribes but allows for the payment of small 'customary' sums in order to ease transactions.", "_claim_name": "Bribery is only wrong under a Western-centric notion of corruption", "_doc_title": "Anti-bribery laws: When a bribe is merely facilitating business | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 80, "_topic_name": "This House believes that bribery is sometimes acceptable"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["NEW YORK ( March 30 , 2001 12:01 a.m. EST ) - Death penalty opponents believe life behind bars , unlike execution , gives convicts decades to recover from their crimes .", "`` As long as a prisoner remains alive he or she can hope for rehabilitation , '' Amnesty International has declared .", "Unfortunately , some murderers stop pondering their misdeeds and seek greener pastures beyond the penitentiary walls .", "Such wanderlust led William D. Davis and Douglas E. Gray to escape a", "Stringtown , Okla. , prison on March 16 .", "Both were serving life sentences for homicide .", "Davis stabbed a man 80 times with a knife during a 1974 robbery while Gray fatally beat and shot a teacher in 1988 .", "After hiding in a truck bound for the local post office , prison authorities say , the convicts seized the vehicle from its driver .", "They reportedly entered a woman 's home , tied her up , stole her guns and fled in her Ford Taurus .", "Later , officials say , the two car-jacked a pickup truck containing two rifles .", "After being spotted by a cop , Davis and Gray held an elderly couple hostage in their home for seven hours on March 24 .", "Gray gave up while Davis apparently committed suicide .", "A higher-profile jailbreak ended in a similar standoff .", "Michael Rodriguez , sentenced to life for murder , joined six lesser criminals in overpowering prison employees in Connolly , Texas , last Dec. 13 before leaving in a maintenance truck .", "Police say the `` Malevolent Seven '' robbed an", "Oshman 's sporting goods store on Christmas Eve , then shot Irving , Texas , police officer Aubrey Hawkins 11 times and drove over his corpse .", "Authorities eventually captured Rodriguez and two other fugitives in a stolen Jeep near", "Woodland Park , Colo. .", "A SWAT team surrounded two escapees hidden in a trailer .", "Randy Halprin surrendered .", "After negotiating with police , Larry Harper fatally shot himself .", "Statistics on this phenomenon are rare .", "States categorize escapes differently and appear not to report them nationally .", "Clearly though , for some imprisoned murderers , `` life without parole '' is more suggestion than reality .", "Lee John Knoch escaped Oregon 's Snake River Correctional Institute Feb. 28 before being caught in Idaho .", "He received life for burying Robert Holliday alive to prevent his testimony at Knoch 's torture trial .", "After escaping a Florida prison in 1991 , John Fred Woolard shot and killed a park ranger .", "Last May 28 , Woolard escaped again , this time from a", "Mississippi prison , accompanied by armed robber Roy Randall Harper .", "The two convicts allegedly fired at a sheriff 's deputy who stopped them for speeding , then embarked on a high-speed chase in a stolen van last June 14 .", "Woolard surrendered three days later , after a final getaway bid in yet another car-jacked van .", "Would tighter facilities help ?", "But on Jan. 15 , three convicts escaped Oklahoma 's H-Unit , a supposedly hermetically sealed `` prison within a prison . ''", "The inmates reportedly disappeared into the crawl space behind the toilet each had pried loose in his respective cell .", "Robber Nathan Washington became ensnared in the complex 's concertina wire .", "Murderer James Robert Thomas and kidnapper Willie Lee Hoffman were recovered , but not before they stole an Oldsmobile belonging to one of two women they ambushed .", "Thomas , who escaped the Oklahoma County Jail in 1994 , was doing life for the 1993 rape and killing of Jessie Roberts , his 81-year-old neighbor who paid the then 17-year-old to mow her lawn .", "A 5,000-volt electric fence did not deter Steve Murphy , O.C. Borden and", "These three murderers , all lifers , escaped a high-security prison in St. Clair Springs , Ala. , on Jan. 30 .", "Along with three fellow inmates , they lifted the fence with a broom handle and slithered to freedom .", "Murphy once escaped this facility in the 1980s .", "`` There are always people who rebel against being contained , '' says", "Captain Dave Arnold , personnel director at the Virginia Peninsula Regional", "Jail in Williamsburg .", "`` There are those who will take that to heart and make it their mission to get out . ''", "Arnold explains that prison overcrowding has decreased guard-inmate ratios , something convicts surely notice .", "`` These guys can look for all kinds of flaws , '' he adds .", "`` It 's their job to poke holes in the system . ''", "Execution foes correctly argue that the legal system must shield innocents from improper capital punishment .", "DNA technology addresses this legitimate concern , as would better legal representation for indigent defendants .", "Nevertheless , properly convicted capital murderers should be dispatched .", "Life sentences too often are mere challenges for prisoners to escape , terrify law-abiding citizens and sometimes kill again .", "The death penalty 's detractors can not refute this fact : Even the toughest criminals become remarkably docile once separated from society by six feet of soil .", "New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a columnist with the Scripps", "Howard News Service and a senior fellow with the Atlas Economic Research", "Foundation in Fairfax , Va. .", "Foundation in Fairfax , Va. `` There are always people who rebel against being contained , '' says"], "_citing_sentence": "The death penalty is the only way to ensure that criminals do not escape back into society or commit further crimes while in prison.While in prison, it is not uncommon for those receiving life in jail sentences to commit homicide, suicide, or other crimes while in jail, since there is no worse punishment they can receive.", "_claim_name": "Execution prevents the accused from committing further crimes.", "_doc_title": "Prevent prison escapes", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"], ["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["By ADAM LIPTAKNOV .", "For the first time in a generation , the question of whether the death penalty deters murders has captured the attention of scholars in law and economics , setting off an intense new debate about one of the central justifications for capital punishment .", "According to roughly a dozen recent studies , executions save lives .", "For each inmate put to death , the studies say , 3 to 18 murders are prevented .", "The effect is most pronounced , according to some studies , in Texas and other states that execute condemned inmates relatively often and relatively quickly .", "The studies , performed by economists in the past decade , compare the number of executions in different jurisdictions with homicide rates over time -- while trying to eliminate the effects of crime rates , conviction rates and other factors -- and say that murder rates tend to fall as executions rise .", "One influential study looked at 3,054 counties over two decades .", "`` I personally am opposed to the death penalty , '' said H. Naci Mocan , an economist at Louisiana State University and an author of a study finding that each execution saves five lives .", "`` But my research shows that there is a deterrent effect . ''", "The studies have been the subject of sharp criticism , much of it from legal scholars who say that the theories of economists do not apply to the violent world of crime and punishment .", "Critics of the studies say they are based on faulty premises , insufficient data and flawed methodologies .", "The death penalty `` is applied so rarely that the number of homicides it can plausibly have caused or deterred can not reliably be disentangled from the large year-to-year changes in the homicide rate caused by other factors , '' John J. Donohue III , a law professor at Yale with a doctorate in economics , and Justin Wolfers , an economist at the University of Pennsylvania , wrote in the Stanford Law Review in 2005 .", "`` The existing evidence for deterrence , '' they concluded , `` is surprisingly fragile . ''", "Gary Becker , who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1992 and has followed the debate , said the current empirical evidence was `` certainly not decisive '' because `` we just do n't get enough variation to be confident we have isolated a deterrent effect . ''", "But , Mr. Becker added , `` the evidence of a variety of types -- not simply the quantitative evidence -- has been enough to convince me that capital punishment does deter and is worth using for the worst sorts of offenses . ''", "The debate , which first gained significant academic attention two years ago , reprises one from the 1970 's , when early and since largely discredited studies on the deterrent effect of capital punishment were discussed in the Supreme Court 's decision to reinstitute capital punishment in 1976 after a four-year moratorium .", "The early studies were inconclusive , Justice Potter Stewart wrote for three justices in the majority in that decision .", "But he nonetheless concluded that `` the death penalty undoubtedly is a significant deterrent . ''", "The Supreme Court now appears to have once again imposed a moratorium on executions as it considers how to assess the constitutionality of lethal injections .", "The decision in that case , which is expected next year , will be much narrower than the one in 1976 , and the new studies will probably not play any direct role in it .", "But the studies have started to reshape the debate over capital punishment and to influence prominent legal scholars .", "Advertisement `` The evidence on whether it has a significant deterrent effect seems sufficiently plausible that the moral issue becomes a difficult one , '' said Cass R. Sunstein , a law professor at the University of Chicago who has frequently taken liberal positions .", "`` I did shift from being against the death penalty to thinking that if it has a significant deterrent effect it 's probably justified . ''", "Professor Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule , a law professor at Harvard , wrote in their own Stanford Law Review article that `` the recent evidence of a deterrent effect from capital punishment seems impressive , especially in light of its ` apparent power and unanimity , ' '' quoting a conclusion of a separate overview of the evidence in 2005 by Robert Weisberg , a law professor at Stanford , in the Annual Review of Law and Social Science .", "`` Capital punishment may well save lives , '' the two professors continued .", "`` Those who object to capital punishment , and who do so in the name of protecting life , must come to terms with the possibility that the failure to inflict capital punishment will fail to protect life . ''", "To a large extent , the participants in the debate talk past one another because they work in different disciplines .", "`` You have two parallel universes -- economists and others , '' said Franklin E. Zimring , a law professor at the University of California , Berkeley , and the author of `` The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment . ''", "Responding to the new studies , he said , `` is like learning to waltz with a cloud . ''", "To economists , it is obvious that if the cost of an activity rises , the amount of the activity will drop .", "`` To say anything else is to brand yourself an imbecile , '' said Professor Wolfers , an author of the Stanford Law Review article criticizing the death penalty studies .", "To many economists , then , it follows inexorably that there will be fewer murders as the likelihood of execution rises .", "Advertisement `` I am definitely against the death penalty on lots of different grounds , '' said Joanna M. Shepherd , a law professor at Emory with a doctorate in economics who wrote or contributed to several studies .", "`` But I do believe that people respond to incentives . ''", "But not everyone agrees that potential murderers know enough or can think clearly enough to make rational calculations .", "And the chances of being caught , convicted , sentenced to death and executed are in any event quite remote .", "Only about one in 300 homicides results in an execution .", "`` I honestly think it 's a distraction , '' Professor Wolfers said .", "`` The debate here is over whether we kill 60 guys or not .", "The food stamps program is much more important . ''", "The studies try to explain changes in the murder rate over time , asking whether the use of the death penalty made a difference .", "They look at the experiences of states or counties , gauging whether executions at a given time seemed to affect the murder rate that year , the year after or at some other later time .", "And they try to remove the influence of broader social trends like the crime rate generally , the effectiveness of the criminal justice system , economic conditions and demographic changes .", "Critics say the larger factors are impossible to disentangle from whatever effects executions may have .", "They add that the new studies ' conclusions are skewed by data from a few anomalous jurisdictions , notably Texas , and by a failure to distinguish among various kinds of homicide .", "There is also a classic economics question lurking in the background , Professor Wolfers said .", "`` Capital punishment is very expensive , '' he said , `` so if you choose to spend money on capital punishment you are choosing not to spend it somewhere else , like policing . ''", "A single capital litigation can cost more than $ 1 million .", "It is at least possible that devoting that money to crime prevention would prevent more murders than whatever number , if any , an execution would deter .", "The recent studies are , some independent observers say , of good quality , given the limitations of the available data .", "Advertisement `` These are sophisticated econometricians who know how to do multiple regression analysis at a pretty high level , '' Professor Weisberg of Stanford said .", "The economics studies are , moreover , typically published in peer-reviewed journals , while critiques tend to appear in law reviews edited by students .", "The available data is nevertheless thin , mostly because there are so few executions .", "In 2003 , for instance , there were more than 16,000 homicides but only 153 death sentences and 65 executions .", "`` It seems unlikely , '' Professor Donohue and Professor Wolfers concluded in their Stanford article , `` that any study based only on recent U.S. data can find a reliable link between homicide and execution rates . ''", "The two professors offered one particularly compelling comparison .", "Canada has executed no one since 1962 .", "Yet the murder rates in the United States and Canada have moved in close parallel since then , including before , during and after the four-year death penalty moratorium in the United States in the 1970s .", "If criminals do not clearly respond to the slim possibility of an execution , another study suggested , they are affected by the kind of existence they will face in their state prison system .", "A 2003 paper by Lawrence Katz , Steven D. Levitt and Ellen Shustorovich published in The American Law and Economics Review found a `` a strong and robust negative relationship '' between prison conditions , as measured by the number of deaths in prison from any cause , and the crime rate .", "The effect is , the authors say , `` quite large : 30-100 violent crimes and a similar number or property crimes '' were deterred per prison death .", "On the other hand , the authors found , `` there simply does not appear to be enough information in the data on capital punishment to reliably estimate a deterrent effect . ''", "There is a lesson here , according to some scholars .", "`` Deterrence can not be achieved with a half-hearted execution program , '' Professor Shepherd of Emory wrote in the Michigan Law Review in 2005 .", "She found a deterrent effect in only those states that executed at least nine people between 1977 and 1996 .", "Professor Wolfers said the answer to the question of whether the death penalty deterred was `` not unknowable in the abstract , '' given enough data .", "`` If I was allowed 1,000 executions and 1,000 exonerations , and I was allowed to do it in a random , focused way , '' he said , `` I could probably give you an answer . ''", "A version of this article appears in print on , on page 11 of the New York edition with the headline : Does Death Penalty Save Lives ?"], "_citing_sentence": "Another influential study, which looked at over 3,054 counties over two decades, further found support for the claim that murder rates tend to fall as executions rise.", "_claim_name": "The death penalty deters crime.", "_doc_title": "Does Death Penalty Save Lives? A New Debate - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 7, 8, 14]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Staff and agencies", "Tuesday 25 August 2009 06.33 EDT", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 17.10 EDT", "Two-thirds of prisons in England and Wales are overcrowded , with some jails holding hundreds more inmates than they were built for , figures revealed today .", "There are 8,865 more prisoners inside the prisons system than it was designed to hold , according to the Prison Reform Trust .", "Shrewsbury prison is the most overcrowded , at 179 % of normal capacity , followed by Swansea and Dorchester .", "One of the largest prisons in England and Wales , Wandsworth in south London , is at 150 % capacity , with 1,650 inmates in spaces intended for 1,107 .", "A total of 88 out of 140 jails were over their certified normal accommodation level -- defined as providing `` decent '' standards .", "The trust today warned that `` sentence inflation '' meant too many people were being locked up .", "Its director , Juliet Lyon , said : `` Pressure on public spending means that ministers can no longer afford to be complacent about prison overcrowding or the high reconviction rates it leads to .", "`` Simply building more prisons is an expensive dead end .", "The only way to reserve prison for serious and violent offenders is to cut out all unnecessary use of breach and remand and tackle sentence inflation and the growth of indeterminate punishments .", "`` Investment in prevention , treatment for addicts and mental healthcare would all pay dividends .", "After more than 10 years of lurching from crisis to crisis it must be time for co-ordinated effort across departments and authoritative leadership . ''", "Prisons can increase capacity by holding two prisoners in cells designed for one , or three in a two-person cell .", "Last month nine prisons were so full they reached their absolute capacity -- beyond which they are unsafe .", "At the start of this month the prison population hit a record high , passing the 84,000 mark for the first time .", "There are now 84,150 inmates in jails in England and Wales , up 3,000 in two years , despite around 2,500 prisoners being released early every month .", "Ministers have pledged to increase prison capacity to 96,000 by 2014 .", "A Ministry of Justice spokesman said : `` We will always provide enough prison places for serious and persistent offenders .", "`` The government is pursuing an extensive building programme to expand the prison estate and expect to deliver an additional 1,750 places in 2009 .", "`` Since 2007 a total of 4,929 places have been delivered as part of the capacity programme .", "The vast majority of these places , almost 4,700 , have been provided in new accommodation .", "`` This is intended to provide us with sufficient space to modernise the estate and ensure prisons remain places of both punishment and reform . ''", "The Liberal Democrats ' justice spokesman , Paul Holmes , said : `` These deeply troubling figures highlight the chronic failure of this government 's prison policy .", "`` Labour 's obsession with sounding tough on crime has left our prisons dangerously overcrowded with sky-high reoffending rates .", "`` Ministers must realise the bankruptcy of their approach and focus instead on what works .", "`` This means moving drug addicts and prisoners with mental health problems into more appropriate accommodation and treatment and investing in alternatives such as restorative justice . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Similarly, in the United Kingdom two thirds of prisons in England and Wales have been deemed overcrowded.", "_claim_name": "Execution helps alleviate the overcrowding of prisons.", "_doc_title": "Two-thirds of prisons overcrowded | Society | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 81, "_topic_name": "This House supports the death penalty"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Tibet has maintained a unique culture , written and spoken language , religion and political system for centuries .", "In 1912 , the 13th Dalai Lama - Tibet 's political and spiritual leader - issued a proclamation reaffirming Tibet 's independence : `` We are a small , religious , and independent nation . ''", "The country had its own national flag , currency , stamps , passports and army ; signed international treaties , and maintained diplomatic relations with neighbouring countries .", "In 1950 , the newly established Communist regime in China invaded Tibet , which was rich in natural resources and had a strategically important border with India .", "Tibet today is under China 's occupation .", "The Chinese government justifies its occupation by claiming that Tibet has been part of China for around 800 years .", "Its claim is not supported by the facts .", "Tibet is located to the south-west of China , also bordering India , Nepal , Burma and Bhutan .", "Tibet 's historical territory would make it the world 's 10th largest nation .", "Today it is under China 's occupation and has been divided up , renamed and incorporated into Chinese provinces ( see more maps of Tibet here ) .", "When China refers to Tibet , it means only part of historic Tibet : what it names the Tibet Autonomous Region ( TAR ) of China .", "Because China denies Tibetans inside Tibet the right to speak freely , it is n't possible to say exactly what their goals are - but their opposition to China 's current rule is clear .", "Protesters in Tibet repeatedly call for the protection of Tibetan identity , for freedom , for human rights and for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet .", "Some call for `` Rangzen '' ( independence from China ) .", "In exile , the 14th Dalai Lama has established a democratic government ( known as the Central Tibetan Administration ) which currently advocates for the `` Middle Way Approach '' ( MWA ) , which he first proposed in the 1980s .", "The MWA proposes that Tibet remains a part of the People 's Republic of China but with far greater control over its own affairs .", "Within the exile Tibetan community there is vigorous debate between supporters of Rangzen and those of the Middle Way Approach .", "Free Tibet has no position on the future political status of Tibet .", "Our goal is to secure Tibetans ' right to determine their own future and it will then be for the Tibetan people to make that decision .", "Michael van Walt is an international legal scholar and a visiting professor at the Institute of Advanced Study .", "In the article below , he explains Tibet 's legal status .", "The People 's Republic of China ( PRC ) claims that Tibet is an integral part of China .", "The Tibetan Government-in-Exile maintains that Tibet is an independent state under unlawful occupation .", "If Tibet is under unlawful Chinese occupation , Beijing 's large-scale transfer of Chinese settlers into Tibet is a serious violation of the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 , which prohibits the transfer of civilian population into occupied territory .", "If Tibet is under unlawful Chinese occupation , China 's illegal presence in the country is a legitimate object of international concern .", "If , on the other hand , Tibet is an integral part of China , then these questions fall , as China claims , within its own domestic jurisdiction .", "The issue of human rights , including the right of self-determination and the right of the Tibetan people to maintain their own identity and autonomy are , of course , legitimate objects of international concern regardless of Tibet 's legal status .", "China makes no claim to sovereign rights over Tibet as a result of its military subjugation and occupation of Tibet following the country 's invasion in 1949-1950 .", "Instead , it bases its claim to Tibet solely on its theory that Tibet has been an integral part of China for many centuries .", "China 's claim to sovereignty over Tibet is based almost exclusively on self-serving Chinese official histories .", "Chinese sources portrayed most countries with whom the emperor of China had relations , not only Tibet , as vassals of the emperor .", "When studying Tibet 's history , Tibetan sources should be given primary importance ; foreign sources , including Chinese ones , should only be given secondary weight .", "Tibet has a history dating back over 2,000 years .", "A good starting point in analysing the country 's status is the period referred to as Tibet 's `` imperial age '' , when the entire country was first united under one ruler .", "There is no serious dispute over the existence of Tibet as an independent state during this period .", "Even China 's own historical records and treaties Tibet and China concluded during that period refer to Tibet as a strong state with whom China was forced to deal on a footing of equality .", "International law protects the independence of states from attempts to destroy it and , therefore , the presumption is in favour of the continuation of statehood .", "This means that , whereas an independent state that has existed for centuries , such as Tibet , does not need to prove its continued independence when challenged , a foreign state claiming sovereign rights over it needs to prove those rights by showing at what precise moment and by what legal means they were acquired .", "China 's present claim to Tibet is based entirely on the influence the Mongol and Manchu emperors exercised over Tibet in the 13th and 18th centuries , respectively .", "To claim that Tibet became a part of China because both countries were independently subjected to varying degrees of Mongol control , as the People 's Republic of China does , is absurd .", "This relatively brief period of foreign domination over Tibet occurred 700 years ago .", "Tibet broke away from the Yuan emperor before China regained its independence from the Mongols with the establishment of the native Ming Dynasty .", "Not until the 18th century did Tibet once again come under a degree of foreign influence .", "The Ming Dynasty , which ruled China from 1368 to 1644 , had few ties to and no authority over Tibet .", "On the other hand , the Manchus , who conquered China and established the Qing Dynasty in the 17th century , embraced Tibetan Buddhism as the Mongols had and developed close ties with the Tibetans .", "On the political level , some powerful Manchu emperors succeeded in exerting a degree of influence over Tibet but they did not incorporate Tibet into their empire , much less China .", "Manchu influence did not last for very long .", "It was entirely ineffective by the time the British briefly invaded Tibet in 1904 .", "From 1911 to 1950 , Tibet successfully avoided undue foreign influence and behaved , in every respect , as a fully independent state .", "The 13th Dalai Lama emphasised his country 's independent status externally , in formal communications to foreign rulers , and internally , by issuing a proclamation reaffirming Tibet 's independence and by strengthening the country 's defences .", "Tibet remained neutral during the Second World War , despite strong pressure from China and its allies , Britain and the USA .", "The Tibetan Government maintained independent international relations with all neighbouring countries , most of whom had diplomatic representatives in Lhasa .", "The attitude of most foreign governments with whom Tibet maintained relations implied their recognition of Tibet 's independent status .", "The British Government bound itself not to recognise Chinese sovereignty or any other rights over Tibet unless China signed the draft Simla Convention of 1914 with Britain and Tibet , which China never did .", "The turning point in Tibet 's history came in 1949 , when the People 's Liberation Army of the PRC first crossed into Tibet .", "After defeating the small Tibetan army , the Chinese Government imposed the so-called `` Seventeen-Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet '' on the Tibetan Government in May 1951 .", "Because it was signed under duress , the agreement was void under international law .", "The presence of 40,000 troops in Tibet , the threat of an immediate occupation of Lhasa and the prospect of the total obliteration of the Tibetan state left Tibetans little choice .", "From a legal standpoint , Tibet has to this day not lost its statehood .", "It is an independent state under illegal occupation .", "( Key points extracted from an article that first appeared in Cultural Survival Quarterly -LSB- Vol .", "The Tibetan people 's courageous resistance to occupation and oppression needs international support .", "Can you send a message to the foreign minister in your country , asking them to take action to support the people of Tibet ?"], "_citing_sentence": "Even in times of Chinese \"domination\", Tibetans largely governed themselves independently of the small number of Chinese officials in Lhasa.", "_claim_name": "Tibet is a distinct nation with a distinct history that China illegally invaded", "_doc_title": "Is Tibet a country? | Free Tibet", "_labeled_lineIDs": [48]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["` India 's Tibet : A Case for Policy Review ' In my years of travelling around the world talking about Tibet ; it has been my experience that , more often than not , the audience generally consist of people who are interested in Tibet and already know a great deal about Tibet .", "Many , in fact , turn out to be old friends and experts on Tibet .", "So a lot of the time it is like ` preaching to the converted ' .", "Therefore , repeating basic facts about Tibet appears to be unnecessary and a waste of time .", "Nevertheless , one can not help wondering how many in any particular audience or how many of your readers are truly aware : that never before 23 May 1951 - when a conquered and defeated Tibetan government was forced to sign an unequal ` treaty ' - the so-called ` 17", "Point Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet ' - had", "Tibet ever surrendered its independence .", "Therefore , China 's claim that ` Tibet has always been a part of China ' has no basis , whatsoever , in fact .", "that Tibetan language - both spoken and written - have no relation whatsoever with Chinese .", "that Tibet has its own National flag and National Anthem .", "that while it is true various Chinese dynasties had on several occasions interfered in Tibetan affairs , it is equally true that various Tibetan kings and rulers had invaded China or otherwise exercised influence in", "On one occasion in 763 AD Tibetan troops even occupied", "Chang ' an - the then Chinese capital - deposed the Chinese Emperor who was not friendly towards the Tibetans and appointed the son of another branch of the royal family as Emperor .", "that the traditional boundary between Tibet and China was demarcated by the Peace Treaty of 821 when it was decided that the two countries shall never interfere in each other 's affairs ; believing that ` Chinese shall be happy in the land of China and Tibetans shall be happy in the land of", "The text of this Treaty - containing these ancient words of wisdom - were carved on three stone pillars - one pillar each for the two capitals of Lhasa and Chang ' an and the third pillar for the border , which was placed at a placed called Gugu Meru .", "The third stone pillar has so far not been found .", "But the texts of the other two stone pillars have been compared by independent western and Tibetan scholars and have been found to match .", "that long before the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in China in 1279 ; the Tibetans established a tribute relationship with the Mongols in 1207 and thus averted a military invasion by Gengis Khan .", "The ties of the Mongols with Tibet not only pre-dated their conquest of China - it was an entirely separate relationship .", "The Mongols never considered", "Tibet a Province of China .", "As such China 's revised claim that ` Tibet has been a part of China since the Mongol rule over China ' has no substance .", "that Tibet was recognised as an independent country during the Second", "World War , most importantly by China , USA and Great Britain .", "This is evident from the fact that the US government had to send a mission to", "Lhasa in 1943 to request the Government of Tibet to permit the Allies to send military aid through Tibet to help China in its war with Japan .", "Needless to say , this would not have been necessary if , as the Chinese claim today , Tibet ` has always been an integral part of China ' .", "As an independent country dedicated to the principles of peace , Tibet granted permission to the Allies to send only humanitarian assistance to China but no weapons of war .", "In retrospect , one can not help feeling that Tibet is being punished today for its principled commitment to peace and for remaining neutral during the War .", "More evidence can be listed to prove that Tibet was an independent country before the Communist Chinese invasion in 1949 .", "However , for anyone willing to accept reason - the above facts should be sufficient .", "First Things First : I have sub-titled this article ` A Case for Policy Review ' and not ` The", "Case for a Policy Review ' .", "I have chosen this awkward construction for a reason .", "Generally , when we talk about the need for a policy review on the issue of Tibet it is understood to mean a review of India 's policy on Tibet .", "Or , in other contexts , the policy of the United Nations or the", "United States - among others .", "I am of the view that , first and foremost , it is the Tibetan people - especially the Tibetan Government-in-Exile - who must review the so-called ` Middle-Way ' policy .", "This is the policy that must be changed - urgently - before we can call on other countries to review their policy on Tibet .", "For the past twenty years or more , we have been confusing our own people and also our friends by first talking about ` settling for autonomy ' and then of seeking ` association with China ' and now of working for ` genuine autonomy within China ' .", "Of course , no one has yet to tell us who will define ` association ' , or ` autonomy ' or ` genuine ' .", "Under the circumstances one can only assume that it will be the Chinese , since they hold all the cards .", "In any case , as things stand now , there is no reason to believe that the Chinese even need to bother about defining these terms .", "When speaking of ` autonomy ' we need to take into consideration the fact that , as far as the Chinese are concerned , Tibetans are already supposed to have ` autonomy ' .", "The truncated half of Tibet - the so-called Tibet", "Autonomous Region which today the rest of the world knows as ` Tibet ' - as also other areas of Tibetan territory ; have been labelled ` autonomous ' one thing or another by the Chinese .", "So the Chinese may well wonder what this offer of accepting ` autonomy ' is all about when ` autonomy ' is exactly what they think the Tibetans already have .", "It is true the so-called autonomy the Tibetans are supposed to enjoy under", "Chinese rule is only in name .", "But what reason do we have to believe that the ` genuine autonomy ' of the future - if ever there is to be one - will be any different ?", "On the question of ` autonomy ' another important factor to be born in mind is that the people inside Tibet are sick and tired of ` autonomy ' with Chinese characteristics and they want no more of it - never .", "I believe the only hope for the Tibetan people and the survival of our religion , our culture and our land is the restoration of Tibetan independence .", "My reasons are simple and straightforward .", "In the first place , I hold that the few Tibetans in exile do not have the mandate to change the goal .", "When we left Tibet - we did so with the sole purpose of continuing the struggle for independence .", "We also do not have the right to foreclose the options of future generations of", "Secondly , I believe China 's strategic , political and economic reasons for invading Tibet are far too important and that they will never willingly relinquish their hold on Tibet .", "They will certainly not be talked out of leaving Tibet and returning Tibet to the Tibetan people in whatever shape or form .", "It is all very well for us to call for negotiations with China , and I believe the various proposals put forward by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Chinese - in particular the ` Five-Point Peace Proposal ' - are all well-intended .", "The problem is that the Communist dictatorship in China will not respond favourably to any of these proposals .", "For them compromise is a sign of weakness and they will continue to expect and demand further concessions .", "What is more , at present China has no need to negotiate with the", "In all these years no one has yet to answer this one simple question : Why should the Chinese talk to us ?", "Tibet is firmly under their control .", "No government in the world has the courage to question this .", "We are not a threat to their position in Tibet .", "Why then should the Chinese surrender to us any part of their complete , unquestioned and unchallenged control over Tibet ?", "But even if the impossible should happen and , for some temporary expedience , China should enter into an agreement with us - what reason do we have to believe that China will abide by the terms of such an agreement ?", "Our bitter and bloody experience has been that China will not abide by the terms of any agreement once the purpose for which the agreement was signed has been served .", "This is exactly what", "China did with the so-called ` 17-Point Agreement ' .", "The reality is that China is playing for time and we are playing into their hands .", "Therefore , before we call on India to review its policy on", "Tibet and before we can expect India and the world to support us - I believe it is absolutely necessary for us Tibetans to make up our minds as to what it is we want .", "Having said this , I hasten to add , if I am wrong on the dismal picture I have painted above - no man will be happier than I .", "As a matter of fact , in weaker moments , I hope and wish that I am wrong .", "That the Chinese will one day - and it better be soon - wake up to the fact that they have committed untold atrocities in Tibet ; that in the very first place they have no right to be in Tibet and that the Tibetan people do n't want them there ; and apologise and leave Tibet .", "But then the harsh reality of our tragic past and the harsher reality of the ever deteriorating situation in Tibet together remind me that the Chinese are not going to leave Tibet .", "That we are not facing a multiple choice problem .", "Indeed , that we are faced with a struggle for survival - a struggle for life and death where there are no choices .", "This is the brutal reality that the", "Tibetan people and the Tibetan Government must accept .", "The Chinese are not offering us any choices .", "It is not a question of getting the ` right ' proposal with the ` correct ' wording into place .", "CHINA DOES NOT NEED THE", "CHINA ONLY NEEDS TIBET .", "A demonstration in Delhi to protest the arrest of more than fifty Tibetan school children by Chinese Border security police India 's Policy :", "On the question of India 's policy on Tibet , I wish to make the case that today India has more at stake in the future of Tibet than even the", "And , therefore , India should review its Tibet policy regardless of what the Tibetan people decide to do .", "I hope I do not sound ungrateful or even manipulative and/or provocative in saying this .", "My reasons for believing that today India has more at stake in the future of Tibet than the Tibetan people are sincere and simple :", "For one , Tibet will never be free when in the first place freedom is no longer our goal .", "Even otherwise , much as we wish Tibet to be free ; much as we want and long for Tibet to be free - today we are faced with the real and urgent danger of the Tibetans disappearing as a people and as a distinct culture .", "After death there is no pain and certainly no need for freedom or for land - especially for a people who feed their dead to vultures .", "What use is environmental protection or human rights to the dead ?", "On the other hand , India can not and will not disappear as a nation .", "However , with the death of Tibet , India will be left with a wound extending from Ladakh in the West to Arunachal in the East - a wound extending through the entire Himalayan range - some 2,500 km - for which there will be no cure .", "I need not elaborate on the far reaching implications of such a wound which will forever eat into India like a deadly cancer .", "After all , India has already had a foretaste of this wound for the past four decades .", "The need to defend India 's long and difficult borders with Tibet is a major burden on India 's economy and an obstacle to socio-economic development in the country .", "For these and other reasons I can not understand India 's policy on Tibet .", "If it were in India 's interest to accept and concede that ` Tibet is an autonomous region of China ' ( this has been India 's position on the status of Tibet since Nehru 's time ) - for the Tibetan people this will not be less painful , but at least it will be comprehensible .", "After all , foreign policy is not merely the ` art of the possible ' - foreign policy is made on the grounds of national self-interest - or at least the perception of national self-interest .", "That such perceptions are often misguided and mistaken is an entirely different issue .", "The Way Ahead :", "We now have two issues before us .", "One , for the Tibetan people to make a clear decision about our goal and our struggle .", "The second issue is for the people of India to make a firm and clear decision about India 's long-term interest regarding Tibet .", "If India decides that it is in India 's interest to see Tibet free - then the next step is for us together to decide what we are willing to do for our mutual interest .", "This is to say that Tibetans should stop passively appealing for help .", "At the same time India must stop merely pitying the", "India must start an active partnership with the", "In so doing there must be a clear understanding on both sides that in the short-term there will be a heavy price to pay and enormous sacrifices to be made .", "However , whatever the difficulty , we must never loose sight of two things : that the long-term rewards will be lasting and worthy of any sacrifice ; and , more importantly , that the struggle for the independence of Tibet must never be given up because in the end this is a question of right and wrong .", "Victory is important but it is secondary to the fact that we are fighting an evil for the restoration of Truth , Justice and Freedom .", "On the other hand , if as a result of an informed national debate India should decide that it is indeed in India 's long-term interest to have", "China and not Tibet as her northern neighbour - then so be it .", "I , for one , will return to Tibet .", "As a boy I made myself one promise .", "If by dedicating my entire life to the struggle I can not free my country from the clutches of the Chinese , then at the very least I will die in Tibet .", "Of course , I will never forget my gratitude to India .", "The Tibetan people are forever indebted to India for two reasons : in the past for the", "Dharma and today for Refuge .", "The level of ignorance and misunderstanding about Tibet in India was evident during the escape of the 17th Karmapa to India .", "It was painful for us to read in certain sections of the Indian press ; reports and letters suggesting that the Tibetan refugees in India are a liability and a security risk to India .", "There still seems to be speculation that the presence of the 17th Karmapa is a hindrance to India 's relations with China .", "The long-term strategic importance of Tibet to India should be evident even to those who wish to sacrifice everything on the alter of ` friendship ' with China .", "The presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile ; and to a lesser extent the rest of the", "Tibetan refugee community , is at the very least a bargaining factor India can use in its dealings with China .", "The same is now true of such a prominent figure as the 17th Karmapa .", "Even at the level of individual", "Tibetan refugees , it is not known and , therefore , not appreciated that", "Tibetan blood has been shed along with India 's bravest sons in all the wars India has fought ever since Tibetans sought refuge in India .", "We are fond of talking of unsung heroes .", "These Tibetans are the true unrecognised and unsung heroes .", "Yet they continue to fight and to die for India - believing that it is as much in the interest of their beloved Tibet as their host country to continue to serve in the armed forces .", "These brave men and women - as also their families and loved ones ; along with the rest of the Tibetan refugee community - believe that defending India 's security is but a small way of expressing their gratitude to India .", "India 's Tibet :", "Finally , a few words about the topic of this article .", "So far I have been commenting on the sub-title , which is about policy review , without saying a word about what I mean by calling Tibet - ` India 's Tibet ' .", "There is a Chinese propaganda magazine called ` China 's Tibet ' .", "This is a clear example of how insecure China feels - not only about its hold over", "Tibet but more fundamentally even about its claims over Tibet .", "Fifty years after the invasion , forty years after the flight of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government ; with an estimated half-a-million troops in", "Tibet and not a single foreign government openly questioning China 's military and colonial occupation of Tibet - it is indeed instructive that China still feels the need to call Tibet - ` China 's Tibet ' .", "No doubt , in addition to trying to reassure themselves , this is primarily an effort to convince the world that Tibet ` belongs ' to China .", "In my view it has precisely the opposite effect .", "Be that as it may .", "I have often wondered why India does n't stake its claim on Tibet .", "Between China - which seeks to exterminate the Tibetan people and to wipe out Tibetan religion and culture ; and India - which gave Tibet the Buddha Dharma and has helped to save Tibetan religion and culture - there is no doubt ; India has the greater claim .", "It is like the story of young Prince Siddhartha who saves the swan his cousin Prince", "Devadatta has shot .", "The claim of the latter rests on the grounds of having shot the swan .", "On the other hand , Prince Siddhartha - the future", "Buddha - stakes his claim on the grounds of having saved the life of the wounded swan .", "The King rightly awards the swan to Prince Siddhartha .", "In today 's world of realpolitik and spineless world leaders , we could hardly hope for such a decisive verdict .", "Nevertheless ; even if only as a diplomatic exercise , why does n't India file a case in the International", "Court of Justice and also raise the issue in the United Nations to stake its claims over Tibet ?", "In the first place India gave Buddhism to Tibet - the life-force of Tibetan life and culture .", "Today India has rendered crucial assistance and helped to save Tibetan religion and culture .", "Tibet must belong to either of its giant neighbours , then surely , it should be to India - which has helped to save Tibet ; and not China - which seeks to destroy Tibet .", "52nd State of USA :", "Even on the part of the Tibetan people , if we decide that Tibetan independence is not achievable ( this is the present position of the", "Tibetan Government-in-Exile to which I am totally opposed ) and that the only option for us is to settle for some form of autonomy - however genuine or false - why then do we not decide to be a part of India ?", "Under any given situation or conceivable scenario ; Tibet will fare far better under India than under China .", "Those not willing to take decisions - especially one so unprecedented as this - will no doubt hasten to point out that the situation is too complicated ; that this might not be acceptable to the Government of India ; and even for a change , that such a decision may not be acceptable to the majority of our people inside Tibet ; etc. etc. .", "But we still have other options .", "We could ask to join the United States and declare Tibet the 52nd State of USA .", "And I can not see what objections can be raised to this proposal .", "It is hardly a secret that almost all Tibetans in exile - from senior Tibetan government officials down to the most lowly and unemployed ; from high lamas to young novices - are all clamouring to emigrate to the USA by any means .", "If it achieves nothing else , declaring Tibet a part of the USA will give the US President and the State Department the splitting headache they so deserve .", "But this could become more than a headache .", "It could throw a real spanner in the works and mean that the US and China will no longer be in a position to ignore Tibet in their bilateral ties .", "Also , calling the US and the Tibetans ` splittists ' - China 's favourite epithet for the Dalai Lama and the US President - will finally have some substance .", "But as far as I am concerned the fight for Tibetan independence must go on .", "Whenever the question of our goal - or rather the lack of one - comes up ; I am told time and again that every Tibetan wants independence .", "In that case why is n't independence our goal ?", "I am not sure about ` every ' Tibetan wanting independence .", "But I know that this is true of the vast majority - especially those inside Tibet who continue to suffer and to die in the struggle against Chinese rule .", "But so long as we remain silent , however big this majority , we are not going to be heard .", "I , therefore , call on every single Tibetan who believes in independence and who live in exile to make their feelings known to our Government and to the public at large .", "I also call on the Tibetan Government to respect the memory of all our patriots who have laid down their lives in the struggle for Tibetan independence and to heed the feelings of the vast majority of our people inside Tibet who continue to face the gravest risks in protesting against Chinese rule .", "Government-in-Exile has itself stated that already more than one million and two hundred thousand Tibetans - which is fully twenty percent of our entire population - have died as a direct result of China 's invasion and occupation of Tibet .", "How much longer will our Government continue to pretend that it does n't know what the Tibetan people want ?", "Can anyone vote more clearly than to vote with their lives ?", "Or does our Government have evidence to show that these people died to make Tibet a part of", "I have also been told just as often by friends and supporters of Tibet that they agree with my analysis that China is merely playing for time ; that we can expect nothing from China and that they also believe that the only way forward for the Tibetan people is to struggle for independence .", "I have no way of knowing how many say this out of conviction and how many do so not to hurt my feelings .", "I appeal to all our friends who believe in independence to please make your feelings and your reasons known to the Tibetan Government-in-Exile .", "It is quite possible that the opinions of our friends may carry more weight with our government than the wishes and the lives of the Tibetan people .", "The subject of this article , under the same title , formed the basis of a talk given in Bombay on 17 March 2000 as part of the week-long ` Festival of Tibet 2000 ' organised by the", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress ` India 's Tibet : A Case for Policy Review ' In my years of travelling around the world talking about Tibet ; it has been my experience that , more often than not , the audience generally consist of people who are interested in Tibet and already know a great deal about Tibet .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress that Tibetan language - both spoken and written - have no relation whatsoever with Chinese .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress that Tibet has its own National flag and National Anthem .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress that the traditional boundary between Tibet and China was demarcated by the Peace Treaty of 821 when it was decided that the two countries shall never interfere in each other 's affairs ; believing that ` Chinese shall be happy in the land of China and Tibetans shall be happy in the land of", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress that long before the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in China in 1279 ; the Tibetans established a tribute relationship with the Mongols in 1207 and thus averted a military invasion by Gengis Khan .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress that Tibet was recognised as an independent country during the Second", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress I have sub-titled this article ` A Case for Policy Review ' and not ` The", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress 1 .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress 2 .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress 3 .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress 4 .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress 5 .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress India 's Policy :", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress If India decides that it is in India 's interest to see Tibet free - then the next step is for us together to decide what we are willing to do for our mutual interest .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress India 's Tibet :", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress 52nd State of USA :", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress If it achieves nothing else , declaring Tibet a part of the USA will give the US President and the State Department the splitting headache they so deserve .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress I , therefore , call on every single Tibetan who believes in independence and who live in exile to make their feelings known to our Government and to the public at large .", "Friends of Tibet ( INDIA ) and Tibetan Youth Congress I have also been told just as often by friends and supporters of Tibet that they agree with my analysis that China is merely playing for time ; that we can expect nothing from China and that they also believe that the only way forward for the Tibetan people is to struggle for independence ."], "_citing_sentence": "And from 1911 until 1950 it was entirely independent and conducted its foreign relations as such, for example remaining neutral in World War II despite both its neighbours the Republic of China and the British Empire being on the side of the Allies.Tibet's annexation by China occurred under the guns of 40,000 Chinese soldiers, and the precedent begun by the invasion stands as one of the few post-1945 cases in which the national principle was abandoned and the only one in which a fully independent state vanished from the map.When one notes that Tibetans have their own language, and a history that includes far more wars with the Chinese than examples of kinship, Chinese arguments of sovereignty have little bearing on the reality.", "_claim_name": "Tibet is a distinct nation with a distinct history that China illegally invaded", "_doc_title": "India\u2019s Tibet: A Case for Policy Review", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7, 8, 10]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 82, "_topic_name": "This House believes that tibet should be an independent state"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The EU manages trade and investment relations with non-EU countries through the EU 's trade and investment policy .", "Trade policy is an exclusive power of the EU -- so only the EU , and not individual member states , can legislate on trade matters and conclude international trade agreements .", "The scope of EU 's exclusive powers covers not just trade in goods , but also :", "The EU has exclusive powers in some other areas which may also be relevant for trade policy , such as transport , capital movements , etc. .", "Trade policy is set down in Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ( TFEU ) .", "Videos also available in fr and de", "The Commission negotiates with the trading partner on behalf of the EU .", "It does this , working closely with the Member States in the Council and keeping the European Parliament fully informed .", "The Commission must request an authorisation to negotiate a trade agreement with a trading partner from the Council , which sets out the general objectives to be achieved .", "While the negotiations are going on the Commission reports regularly to Council and the European Parliament .", "Once the Commission has completed the negotiations , it presents the deal to the Council and the European Parliament .", "They are the ones to formally agree the outcome and prepare the way for signature and ratification of the deal with the trading partner .", "The trade agreement enters into force once it is fully ratified but parts of the agreement can be provisionally applied if the Member States agree to do so .", "For more information on bilateral deals , see Agreements .", "Sometimes the legislation setting out trade rules need to be updated or adjusted or on other occasions the legislation asks the Commission to implement certain aspects .", "The Lisbon Treaty introduces clearer categories of legal acts .", "Besides the framework legislation adopted through co-decision , the explicit categories of ` delegated ' and ` implementing ' acts are instituted .", "The European Parliament decides jointly with the Council on the framework of EU trade policy -- through the ordinary legislative procedure .", "While the Commission maintains the right of initiative , for its proposals to be formally adopted , agreement has to be reached between the co-legislators .", "International agreements are adopted by the Council , after the Parliament has given its consent .", "The Commission obtains from the legislator the power to adopt non-legislative acts of general application , in order to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of the legislative act .", "The objective of the delegation , along with the content , the scope and its duration must be explicitly provided in the delegating act .", "The delegation can be subject to specific conditions , including that it can be revoked or that its exercise in specific circumstances can be objected to by the Parliament or Council .", "The possibility to adopt such delegated acts is to be included in the relevant framework legislation .", "The three institutions have agreed on Common Understanding on Delegated Acts .", "The Commission , or the Council in duly specified cases , acquires the necessary implementing powers , in instances where uniform conditions for implementing legally binding Union acts are needed .", "The Commission 's exercise of implementing powers is controlled by the Member States .", "The rules are set out in Regulation 182/2011 on the control by the Member States of the Commission 's exercise of implementing powers ."], "_citing_sentence": "Britain's is not completely sovereign within the European Union with the EU having a common foreign and security policy and all economic negotiations taking place under the auspices of the EU trade commissioner, it is what the EU refers to as an 'exclusive power', rather than the Foreign Office.", "_claim_name": "The UK would have a completely independent foreign policy", "_doc_title": "Policy making - Trade - European Commission", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2, 3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["TTIP is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership being negotiated between the US Department of Commerce and the European Commission .", "TTIP is a free trade agreement that proposes to remove ` non-tariff barriers to trade ' .", "The confirmed ( from numerous leaked documents ) concern is that because tariffs are at an all-time low , the undeclared non tariff barriers on the table include safety regulations , workers ' rights , environmental protection rules and food standards regulations .", "Multinationals view these as barriers to trade and profits and the actions of their lawyers clearly indicate that they want them removed .", "This concern is exasperated by the fact that the negotiations have been held in the most secretive settings of all European Commission dealings to date .", "Our MEPs do not have convenient access to this particularly complicated and important text ( as they would any other text ) .", "As Jean Lambert UK MEP Green Group states in the What 's Wrong With TTIP report : `` In the US 600 corporate advisors have direct access to the negotiating texts of these deals , while the public , press and the vast majority of elected politicians are locked out ''", "The Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism ( ISDS )", "The ISDS is to be included in TTIP and as its name indicates it is the set of rules by which any disagreements that may arise from foreign investments might get sorted out .", "ISDS is a legal system , run entirely by corporate lawyers , ( the independence of the ` judges ' is not monitored ) which allows corporations to sue governments if they think legislation will impede future profits .", "It is a system that has been implemented in other trade deals previously , it does not have equitable access to justice ( meaning only corporations can sue governments , no other body , including our democratically elected governments can sue them ) and we can see the injustices it brings : \u2022 Tobacco giant Philip Morris has sued Australia for introducing plain packaging on cigarettes \u2022 Philip Morris also sued Uruguay for simply printing a health warning on cigarette packets \u2022 Waste and energy company Veolia sued Egypt for introducing a minimum wage \u2022 Argentina was sued for freezing energy prices to protect consumers following the country 's financial collapse", "Removing ISDS will not make TTIP an acceptable deal .", "Food and Agricultural multinationals are spending more money than any other sector in lobbying for TTIP , US food giants want EU legislation removed on certain food safety rules -- including the bans on chickens washed in chlorinated water and meat raised using certain growth hormones and additives .", "Privatisation If TTIP is agreed , health , education and water will each face being opened up to private companies .", "The chances of rolling back any privatisation of previously publicly owned entities will be seriously diminished .", "These new private markets will be locked into a legal framework in which our governments are the weaker entity thanks to ISDS .", "De-Regulation -- No Protection for workers .", "Weaker Safety Standards", "Regulations on the financial sector introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crash are also in the sights of big business , as are restrictions which protect the welfare of farm animals or protection for consumers ' data online .", "TTIP is less of a negotiation about trade and more of a full frontal attack on society by transnational corporations wishing to impose their will on people both sides of the Atlantic .", "We can win", "But we can beat TTIP .", "We did it before in 1996 when leading industrialised nations pushed for agreement on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment .", "The campaign against TTIP is gaining huge support and great momentum .", "A year ago , very few people had heard of TTIP .", "Now , over a million people have signed petitions against the deal in the UK , and the French government has declared that any deal containing ISDS is unacceptable .", "If we educate ourselves and those around us about the contents and the impacts of TTIP , if we continue to campaign in every quarter of society at every opportunity , we can beat TTIP .", "Main body of text from Global Justice Now", "Edited by Inka Stafrace"], "_citing_sentence": "it also means the UK is free to reject such joint agreements, as many campaigning groups would like with the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal.", "_claim_name": "EU economic preference will no longer bind Britain", "_doc_title": "WHAT IS TTIP? | noTTIP", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 83, "_topic_name": "This House believes the UK would have more influence outside the EU"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Before you post that picture of you and your friends hanging out with those strippers in Vegas , remember that your future employer might be watching .", "Since the advent of Facebook , people have had to worry about how the new culture of completely open information could affect their reputations .", "Some worry more than others - kids with strict parents , college grads trying to get into professional school , people in the public eye , for instance .", "But to a certain extent , we should all be wary of what we post on social networking sites like Facebook , LinkedIn , and Twitter ( or at least learn how to use privacy settings ) .", "That 's because a significant number of employers are still patrolling those sites for reasons not to hire your debauchery-loving ass .", "In fact , in a study conducted by Career Builder , 37 % of hiring managers and human resource people from various industries said that their online background checks for prospective employees includes social media .", "That number is actually down from last year 's similar study ( 50 % ) and also less than 2009 ( 45 % ) - but it 's still nearly two in every five employers .", "It could have something to do with the fact that 15 % of those surveyed said their company has specific rules barring the practice .", "The survey also unearthed 11 % who say that they plan on scanning their employees ' Facebook profiles in the near future .", "Out of those 37 % of HR professionals and hiring consultants perusing through your social media accounts , one-third of them say they 've found reason there to not hire a job candidate .", "The top reason ?", "49 % say that inappropriate photos/info threw up the red light .", "That was followed very closely by `` info about drinking or using drugs , '' at 45 % .", "Other red flags : `` Poor communication skills , '' which I can only assume means so sound like an idiot in your statuses or tweets .", "Also , talking bad about previous employers is a no-no ( 33 % ) said that they have nixed a prospective employee because of that .", "Nobody wants an employee that 's going to publicly trash their employer if things go south .", "Of course , it 's only mostly the bad stuff that people care about .", "There 's a chance that something you do or say on a social media site can actually help your chances in landing a job .", "According to the study , 29 % said that they have hired someone because something they saw on Facebook or Twitter boosted their opinion of them as a person .", "The most cited ways that social media made a good impression include showing a good personality , conveying a professional image , showing a well-rounded candidate , displaying creativity , and reinforcing qualifications .", "If some of this comes out sounding like mixed signals , that 's because there are many fine lines here .", "In terms of landing a job with these social media hounds , you have to have a well-rounded personality , but not be too into the booze .", "You have to be creative but also professional .", "The best advice is to use it to your advantage .", "Just cut out the bad stuff , and overplay the good stuff : `` Job seekers should be mindful of what potential employers can learn about them online , '' says Rosemary Haefner , vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder .", "`` If you choose to leave social media content public , tailor the message to your advantage .", "Filter out anything that can tarnish your professional reputation and post communications , links and photos that portray you in the best possible light . ''", "Finally , if you want to be a little edgy with your social media presence - it looks like Twitter is the place to do it .", "While 65 % of the hirers said they look at Facebook and 63 % said they look at LinkedIn , only 16 % use Twitter in their social media background checks .", "Of course , all of this only takes into account social media investigations from the outside .", "If your future employer wants to take a look at your accounts from the inside , you might have a whole other problem altogether .", "Tags : Employers , Facebook , jobs , Social Media , Stuff \u00a9 2016 iEntry Network All Rights Reserved"], "_citing_sentence": "Around 37% of companies admit to doing this and take what they find into account when hiring.", "_claim_name": "Internet anonymity allows people to speak the truth without fearing harm to their careers", "_doc_title": "Employers Are Still Patrolling Facebook, And Your Drunk Stripper Photos Are Why You're Not Hired", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 19 April 2012 11.47 EDT", "Before Facebook and Google became the megaliths of the web , the most famous online adage was , `` on the internet , no one knows you 're a dog '' .", "It seems the days when people were allowed to be dogs is coming to a close .", "The old web , a place where identity could remain separate from real life , is rapidly disappearing from the computer screen .", "According to Sheryl Sandberg , Facebook 's chief operating officer , and Richard Allan , its director of policy in Europe , a critical mass of people only want online interactions supported by `` authentic '' identity .", "And this , say critics , will have irrevocable effects on the openness of the web .", "The pursuit of authenticity is creeping into the heart of most social media models and in the current internet landscape is playing an important role in how we engage with one another and with web content .", "For many people , Facebook and Google products are the sum total of their web interaction , and the value in creating a platform that provides confidence that a person is who they say they are , rather someone pretending to be them , is critical to a social network 's success .", "Within this model , authentic identity is non-anonymous .", "Facebook profiles and Google IDs are tied to a person 's real name and real connections , and increasingly to their activities across cyberspace .", "Users are familiar with logging into other services using Facebook or Google IDs , forming a single public identity that 's an aggregated version of their offline past , the online present and their combined future .", "Facebook also believes authenticity is linked to a person 's photo stream , which is why it has just paid $ 1bn for the photo-sharing service Instagram .", "`` Pictures speak a thousand words , '' says Allan .", "`` Immigration officials will ask to see a photo album to see if a relationship is genuine .", "It 's a very instinctive and powerful way to confirm authentic identity . ''", "Not everyone agrees .", "`` I would not call what you have on Facebook ` authentic ' identity , '' says Christopher Poole , the 24-year-old creator of 4Chan , an online community founded in 2004 .", "4Chan boasts two design features antithetical to Facebook : first , its 20 million users do n't register an account to participate and are therefore anonymous ; second , there 's no archive .", "Poole , who was voted Time 's most influential person of 2008 -- two years before Facebook 's Mark Zuckerberg was declared the magazine 's Man of the Year -- believes Facebook 's commercial motivations shut down the online experience : `` Mark and Sheryl have gone out and said that identity is authenticity , that you are online who you are offline , and to have multiple identities is lacking in integrity .", "I think that 's nuts . ''", "`` We went from a web that was interest-driven , and then we transitioned into a web where the connections were in-person , real-life friendship relationships , '' adds Poole .", "`` Individuals are multifaceted .", "Identity is prismatic , and communities like 4Chan exist as a holdover from the interest-driven web . ''", "Allan believes such attitudes are naive .", "The millions who have gone online over the past decade want a safe place where they wo n't experience bad behaviour , have their identities stolen or be duped by impostors , he says : `` Pretend identities do n't work very well now that the web has moved from a minority sport for geeks to a mainstream occupation . ''", "And this attitude is baked into the main players ' systems : any profile on Facebook or Google that does not appear to be tied to an offline name is removed .", "Nicknames and pseudonyms , regardless of their longevity -- and some have been in use for decades -- are considered breaches of terms of service .", "What people do online now , and will be doing in the foreseeable future , is inherently tied to their offline selves .", "And this locks down what it is considered acceptable to do and who it is acceptable to meet .", "Yet a social network 's success need not rely upon this direct link between online and offline identity .", "In Japan , the three most popular social networks operate under pseudonyms at the discretion of the account holder . ''", "LSB- Japanese social networks are -RSB- anonymous , but we can trace past mentions by login ID or nickname , '' explains Yasutaka Yuno , editor-in-chief of Japan 's most popular mobile technology site , K-tai Watch .", "`` The past mentions are useful to judge credibility .", "In each social community , ID acts as personal name . ''", "An online identity can be as permanent as an offline one : pseudonymous users often identify themselves in different social networks using the same account name .", "But because their handles are n't based on real names , they can deliberately delineate their identity accordingly , and reassert anonymity if they wish .", "Psychologists argue that this is valuable for the development of a sense of who one is , who one can be , and how one fits into different contexts .", "This kind of activity is allowed even in countries where social network account holders are required to register for a service using a national ID , as in South Korea and China ; their online public identities are still fabrications .", "Even with this explicit link with the state , when users are aware that their activities online are traceable , identity play continues .", "Andrew Lewman , executive director of the Tor Project , hopes to re-anonymise the web .", "`` The ability to be anonymous is increasingly important because it gives people control , it lets them be creative , it lets them figure out their identity and explore what they want to do , or to research topics that are n't necessarily ` them ' and may not want tied to their real name for perpetuity , '' he says .", "The Tor browser and software obfuscates a user 's web traffic so anyone watching is unable to trace who a user is or where they are coming from , by bouncing an individual 's communications through at least three different places .", "People can still be identifiable on a service like Facebook or Google if they choose to log in , but Tor prevents these sites knowing what users were doing before , and where they go after they log out .", "This is a technological solution to what Lewman feels is an elemental problem with the de-anonymisation of the web .", "`` The ability to forget , to start over is important , '' he argues .", "`` Maybe you just got divorced , maybe you just came out of rehab and you want to start over .", "`` As soon as you log into a Gmail account , you start getting ads for the drug rehab you want to forget .", "If you 're in a real-name environment , such as Facebook , unless you actually physically change your name and your friends , you 're thrown right back into your old life . ''", "Although Facebook does allow users to curate what 's public and private -- `` recasting your public persona by selecting from the data you 've put onto the service , '' explains Allan -- Lewman believes the automated systems make a total social reinvention difficult to pull off .", "`` If you truly wanted to be anonymous , you 'd have to use a combination of 4Chan and Tor , '' explains Poole .", "Tor provides the back-end anonymity that compliments 4Chan 's front-end anonymity .", "But this is technologically advanced : it is the major players setting the identity agenda .", "And so the ideological battle over online identity continues .", "`` Facebook is setting the expectations of what we want , '' says Poole .", "`` They set the bar in terms of what kind of control their users have over their identity online .", "They 've been moving that bar slowly but surely in a direction that they might call transparency , but what other people might call lack of choice . ''", "Allan believes the benefits of authentic identity outweigh the costs .", "Facebook and other services with an assurance of security and credibility are more inclusive , and open up the web to new audiences who never would have gone online before , he says .", "`` We 're optimists .", "Facebook enables hundreds of millions of people to express themselves online because they did n't have or know how to use the tools they needed . ''", "Facebook , he believes , is a stepping stone to the rest of the web .", "And if they are successful at promoting their particular brand of authentic identity , if you want to be a dog on the internet in the future , you 'll have to have papers to prove it .", "Grateful Dead 's John Perry Barlow explains why he is working to fund online activists hit by corporate blockades", "From politicians and professors to computer scientists and the first programmer , champions of the open internet .", "Who have we missed ?", "Nominate your choices for the Open 20 here .", "We 've chosen a list of 20 people who have influenced the open internet .", "But who are we missing ?", "Leave your nominations in a comment before we put it to a vote", "Join our live webchat with prominent thinker and academic Clay Shirky to talk about the future of Sopa , online piracy and the threat of a ` consumption-only internet ' ( 7pm UK time ; 2pm EST )"], "_citing_sentence": "Or think of people who through certain life-experiences needed to invent a new identity, for example someone who was addicted to drugs but now has come clean and is ready to build a new life - with an 'authentic' profile, this person will continuously be confronted with his or her previous identity.", "_claim_name": "Internet anonymity allows people to experiment and construct with new social identities", "_doc_title": "Online identity: is authenticity or anonymity more important? | Technology | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [44, 45, 46, 47]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Powered by DuckDuckGo", "Universal identification is portrayed by some as the holy grail of Internet security .", "Anonymity is bad , the argument goes ; and if we abolish it , we can ensure only the proper people have access to their own information .", "We 'll know who is sending us spam and who is trying to hack into corporate networks .", "And when there are massive denial-of-service attacks , such as those against Estonia or Georgia or South Korea , we 'll know who was responsible and take action accordingly .", "The problem is that it wo n't work .", "Any design of the Internet must allow for anonymity .", "Universal identification is impossible .", "Even attribution -- knowing who is responsible for particular Internet packets -- is impossible .", "Attempting to build such a system is futile , and will only give criminals and hackers new ways to hide .", "Imagine a magic world in which every Internet packet could be traced to its origin .", "Even in this world , our Internet security problems would n't be solved .", "There 's a huge gap between proving that a packet came from a particular computer and that a packet was directed by a particular person .", "This is the exact problem we have with botnets , or pedophiles storing child porn on innocents ' computers .", "In these cases , we know the origins of the DDoS packets and the spam ; they 're from legitimate machines that have been hacked .", "Attribution is n't as valuable as you might think .", "Implementing an Internet without anonymity is very difficult , and causes its own problems .", "In order to have perfect attribution , we 'd need agencies -- real-world organizations -- to provide Internet identity credentials based on other identification systems : passports , national identity cards , driver 's licenses , whatever .", "Sloppier identification systems , based on things such as credit cards , are simply too easy to subvert .", "We have nothing that comes close to this global identification infrastructure .", "Moreover , centralizing information like this actually hurts security because it makes identity theft that much more profitable a crime .", "And realistically , any theoretical ideal Internet would need to allow people access even without their magic credentials .", "People would still use the Internet at public kiosks and at friends ' houses .", "People would lose their magic Internet tokens just like they lose their driver 's licenses and passports today .", "The legitimate bypass mechanisms would allow even more ways for criminals and hackers to subvert the system .", "On top of all this , the magic attribution technology does n't exist .", "Bits are bits ; they do n't come with identity information attached to them .", "Every software system we 've ever invented has been successfully hacked , repeatedly .", "We simply do n't have anywhere near the expertise to build an airtight attribution system .", "Not that it really matters .", "Even if everyone could trace all packets perfectly , to the person or origin and not just the computer , anonymity would still be possible .", "It would just take one person to set up an anonymity server .", "If I wanted to send a packet anonymously to someone else , I 'd just route it through that server .", "For even greater anonymity , I could route it through multiple servers .", "This is called onion routing and , with appropriate cryptography and enough users , it adds anonymity back to any communications system that prohibits it .", "Attempts to banish anonymity from the Internet wo n't affect those savvy enough to bypass it , would cost billions , and would have only a negligible effect on security .", "What such attempts would do is affect the average user 's access to free speech , including those who use the Internet 's anonymity to survive : dissidents in Iran , China , and elsewhere .", "Mandating universal identity and attribution is the wrong goal .", "Accept that there will always be anonymous speech on the Internet .", "Accept that you 'll never truly know where a packet came from .", "Work on the problems you can solve : software that 's secure in the face of whatever packet it receives , identification systems that are secure enough in the face of the risks .", "We can do far better at these things than we 're doing , and they 'll do more to improve security than trying to fix insoluble problems .", "The whole attribution problem is very similar to the copy-protection/digital-rights-management problem .", "Just as it 's impossible to make specific bits not copyable , it 's impossible to know where specific bits came from .", "Bits are bits .", "They do n't naturally come with restrictions on their use attached to them , and they do n't naturally come with author information attached to them .", "Any attempts to circumvent this limitation will fail , and will increasingly need to be backed up by the sort of real-world police-state measures that the entertainment industry is demanding in order to make copy-protection work .", "That 's how China does it : police , informants , and fear .", "Just as the music industry needs to learn that the world of bits requires a different business model , law enforcement and others need to understand that the old ideas of identification do n't work on the Internet .", "For good or for bad , whether you like it or not , there 's always going to be anonymity on the Internet .", "This essay originally appeared in Information Security , as part of a point/counterpoint with Marcus Ranum .", "You can read Marcus 's response below my essay .", "EDITED TO ADD ( 2/5 ) : Microsoft 's Craig Mundie wants to abolish anonymity as well .", "What Mundie is proposing is to impose authentication .", "He draws an analogy to automobile use .", "If you want to drive a car , you have to have a license ( not to mention an inspection , insurance , etc ) .", "If you do something bad with that car , like break a law , there is the chance that you will lose your license and be prevented from driving in the future .", "In other words , there is a legal and social process for imposing discipline .", "Mundie imagines three tiers of Internet ID : one for people , one for machines and one for programs ( which often act as proxies for the other two ) .", "Tags : anonymity , debates , essays , identification , Internet , Microsoft", "Posted on February 3 , 2010 at 6:16 AM \u2022 62 Comments", "Muffin \u2022 February 3 , 2010 6:55 AM", "To put it more succinctly : if you outlaw anonymity on the Internet , only outlaws will have anonymity on the Internet .", "greg \u2022 February 3 , 2010 7:17 AM", "There is also legal issues to prevent anonymity .", "These legal issues cross more than 100 different countries all with different laws and even legal systems .", "It would take only one , and you have your anonymity back .", "Like money laundering .", "Fire walling countries does n't work that well either .", "Not that it does n't stop some countries from tring .", "Noodle \u2022 February 3 , 2010 7:24 AM I 'm not sure I follow how Ranum mentions `` Bruce neglected to mention : identity has a value '' when Bruce is saying that losing anonymity will make the value of identity more valuable to a thief .", "I do n't see how this system that ( is n't really ) described by Ranum is supposed to do more than charge someone for some kind of uniqueness which could be stolen and then used to hang the owner with ( sort of like CC pin numbers do - anything fraudulent you 're either lying or you gave it to someone )", "Clive Robinson \u2022 February 3 , 2010 8:00 AM @ Bruce ,", "You forgot to mention that it is impossible for some to prove who they say they are to a stranger .", "One of the falacies about ID documents is that you could tie them to an individual via their bio-metrics .", "So what the document could be one of hundreds that point to the same bio-metrics", "The problem is although in theory you could trace back everyones DNA to work out who the maternal relatives are it comes up against a problem .", "Infidelity , there are a very very large number of people who are not actually related to their `` fathers '' in some parts of the UK it was found that a very high percentage .", "Then there is adoption and a whole host of other issues such as badly kept records , parents who did not register the birth of their child and quite a few more other reasons .", "Then there is the new generation of problems people who 's DNA has changed ( Bone Marrow etc ) .", "I recently had multiple unit 's of blood transfused into me so my blood DNA is a mixture of possibly six people .", "Over time my own blood DNA will ( hopefuly ) return .", "Some establishing who you are is at some point in the chain a matter of trust .", "And as we know trust can be abused in many ways .", "It is part of the risk of living and it is important that it be there for us to live as humans .", "Contary to what people may tell you being able to learn `` hinky '' is part of growing up .", "We can not be `` molly coddled '' all our lives .", "Also without the risk we will quickly get to the point where those who can abuse the trust of the system with stelth will be able to frame anybody they chose with time .", "That sort of power in any individuals hands is just unimaginable .", "It is time our Politicos came to except the fact that there are new rules in the intangable `` information world '' and few if any of the constraints that hold the tangable world in check .", "For instance , 1 , No real distance vector constraints , thus everywhere is local .", "2 , No real force multiplier constraints , thus one person could be an army .", "3 , No real copy limits , it 's just bits and bytes to be duplicated at will .", "Untill people take these first three points on board then they will design systems wit hidden assumptions that will be exploitable in some way .", "And `` digital ID 's '' will be the first targets Cyber-naredowells will go for ... casey \u2022 February 3 , 2010 8:15 AM", "Ranum is using a straw man tactic - Bruce did not say - `` just because something will always be there , it 's right ''", "Also he did not address the idea that all systems will be cracked .", "He offers $ 1000 to be the only Marcus Ranum , but neglects the dire consequences if his scheme fails .", "He offers no way to remedy a stolen super-ID .", "He does not argue to ban anonymity either .", "In his rebuttal , he suggests using an expensive phony ID .", "Lastly , the sun will not collapse when it runs out of hydrogen , but fuse heavier elements for some time .", "I am not swayed that we need to address anonymity on the Internet .", "Another Kevin \u2022 February 3 , 2010 8:29 AM", "That 's rather the point , if you think like a high-level politician :", "Qu'on me donne six lignes \u00e9crites de la main du plus honn\u00eate homme , j' y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre .", "Richelieu ( Give me six lines written in the hand of the most honest man , and I will find in them something to have him hanged . )", "The Government \u2022 February 3 , 2010 8:59 AM", "Seems we need to ` convince ' this Bruce guy he is wrong , he somehow saw past the ` security ' facade of our regulations and right to the true purpose .", "jacob \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:00 AM I agree .", "The more the powers that be or wan na be try to control or profit from information or identity the more people will slip through the `` cracks '' .", "ie the Riaa tries to control music .", "People simply encrypt or exchange hard drives .", "What they should do is try to sell more value .", "The Ipod comes to mind .", "My wife has bought more then 1k of music because it 's convenient and relatively inexpensive .", "She has bought 10-15 $ per week for quite a while .", "And no I have never bought a single song from Apple .", "Although it did take me weeks to convert thousand CDs .", "The example of Peds is a good one .", "Files either on a computer ( Riaa ) or Pron should not dismiss good police work .", "It is in some cases an excuse not to do a through job of studying the case .", "There are examples of people be investigated who did not even own a computer .", "Try to figure that out .", "IN todays world almost everyone has a computer .", "The desire to keep information private is not unreasonable , but all too often the argument is that noone should want to protect any information .", "The government ( VA ) or UK have lost information .", "I have told my son to assume that anyone can read what you do on the internet at any time .", "Protect what you can , limit info given out , encrypt , encrypt , encrypt .", "Do not assume that government or law enforcement is your friend .", "Sad but true .", "HJohn \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:07 AM I agree .", "A lot of times , identifying the source machine does not lead us to the perpetrator , it just leads us to another victim .", "Imagine a criminal stealing license plates off someone elses car , committing a crime , then putting the license plates back on the original car .", "Ryan \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:25 AM", "We would be able to eliminate ( or at least hugely reduce ) spam if everyone had to have a valid email certificate verified by a CA .", "Email clients could reject all email that 's unsigned , so spammers could n't quickly set up junk email accounts to send spam from .", "It 's pretty common practice in spam to not have a valid reply address at all .", "You can put anything you want in the `` from '' field , whether the address exists or not .", "By forcing all email to be signed , spam would be virtually eliminated .", "Mark S. \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:27 AM", "Let 's not forget the new kerfluffle in Australia where the Attorney General got a law passed banning anonymous comments on blogs .", "He was motivated because of a comment on the AdelaideNow website from a person he claimed was fictitious and created to attack him .", "He backed down after it was pointed out that it was unconstitutional and the fictitious person was real and lived 500 meters from the AG 's electorate office .", "Paul \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:30 AM", "Anonymity is a key ingredient to creating freedom and security .", "The point about dissidents in Iran , China and elsewhere is an repeating theme in such struggles .", "Think back a little over two centuries ago : The USA was a series of colonies under British rule .", "Many of our founding fathers used anonymous writings and publications ( e.g. the Federalist Papers ) to help win support for the cause of independence .", "Without anonymity , they would have easily been identified , captured and probably executed for treason .", "Also , consider another example : An car maker designs a vehicle that has a flaw that could lead to fatal crashes if not fixed .", "Profit margins are very good for this vehicle , so management proceeds to sell many thousands of units .", "An employee , wanting to prevent the loss of life resulting from these vehicles , sends an anonymous tip to a news agency .", "Said agency then does an investigation and expose on the vehicle , causing public outcry and forcing the manufacturer to recall the vehicle and repair the flaw .", "Whether the employee is ever named is irrelevant ... The shield of anonymity gave the person the ability to overcome fear of reprisal and make the tip .", "Jan \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:37 AM", "Sometimes the internet is less anonymous than people want it to be .", "I think this is quite an interesting attempt to spy on the average user .", "Although the technique is not new , the results are quite nice .", "Clearly you might not want to be identified the next time you visit your favorite porn , torrent or whatever side .", "As the authors point out , this gives the bad guys a variety of new potential phishing attacks to play with .", "TexasDex \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:42 AM", "Ranum 's first mistake in his counterpoint is that he assumes that Bruce is saying that crime on the internet is ` right ' .", "Bruce 's point , as I read it , is that a small amount of crime is preferable to the idea of governments having draconian capabilities to unmask dissent , or just squash it .", "Ranum happily admits he pulled the 99.9999 % number out of his ass , but uses it to argue his point anyways .", "He makes no credible argument that removing anonymity is even technically possible .", "My favorite part is where he argues that if their identity is valuable people will take measures to protect it .", "Does he not read the news ?", "Valuable things -- bank account info , passports -- get stolen all the time , partly because the public is dumb but mostly just because they 're valuable , and there 's lots of incentive to steal them .", "My favorite part though is where he advocates paying outrageous amounts of money for what is essentially an email certificate , and assumes that everybody else will want to do the same so that they only get email from other people with $ 1000 bucks on hand .", "This answers only a small subset of anonymous activity on the internet , and people have n't been willing to pay for personal email certificates in the past , why will they in the future ?", ": : sigh : : where 's that Slasdot spam solution debunking form when you need it ?", "HJohn \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:42 AM @Ryan : `` We would be able to eliminate ( or at least hugely reduce ) spam if everyone had to have a valid email certificate verified by a CA .", "Email clients could reject all email that 's unsigned , so spammers could n't quickly set up junk email accounts to send spam from . ''", "__________ It 's a trade off .", "We could reduce spam your way , it would also reduce if free accounts were eliminated .", "The spammers would then resort to attacking valid accounts and certificates more .", "They already do this in order to abuse the trust of the person they hijack , but they would just do it more without access to free accounts or certificate-less accounts .", "For almost everything , there is an upside and a downside .", "The downside of anonymity is obviously abuse .", "However , the downside of identity is diminished privacy and being framed through impersonation .", "Bill Nye \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:50 AM @TexasDex : Here it is .", "your post advocates a ( ) technical ( ) legislative ( x ) market-based ( ) vigilante approach to fighting spam .", "your idea will not work .", "here is why it wo n't work .", "( one or more of the following may apply to your particular idea , and it may have other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed . )", "( ) spammers can easily use it to harvest email addresses ( ) mailing lists and other legitimate email uses would be affected ( ) no one will be able to find the guy or collect the money ( ) it is defenseless against brute force attacks ( ) it will stop spam for two weeks and then we 'll be stuck with it ( x ) users of email will not put up with it ( ) microsoft will not put up with it ( ) the police will not put up with it ( ) requires too much cooperation from spammers ( x ) requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once ( x ) many email users can not afford to lose business or alienate potential employers ( ) spammers do n't care about invalid addresses in their lists ( ) anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else 's career or business specifically , your plan fails to account for ( ) laws expressly prohibiting it ( ) lack of centrally controlling authority for email ( ) open relays in foreign countries ( ) ease of searching tiny alphanumeric address space of all email addresses ( ) asshats ( ) jurisdictional problems ( x ) unpopularity of weird new taxes ( ) public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money ( ) huge existing software investment in smtp ( ) susceptibility of protocols other than smtp to attack ( x ) willingness of users to install os patches received by email ( ) armies of worm riddled broadband-connected windows boxes ( ) eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches ( ) extreme profitability of spam ( x ) joe jobs and/or identity theft ( ) technically illiterate politicians ( ) extreme stupidity on the part of people who do business with spammers ( ) dishonesty on the part of spammers themselves ( ) bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering ( ) outlook and the following philosophical objections may also apply : ( ) ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with , yet none have ever been shown practical ( ) any scheme based on opt-out is unacceptable ( ) smtp headers should not be the subject of legislation ( ) blacklists suck ( ) whitelists suck ( ) we should be able to talk about viagra without being censored ( ) countermeasures should not involve wire fraud or credit card fraud ( ) countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks ( x ) countermeasures must work if phased in gradually ( x ) sending email should be free ( ) why should we have to trust you and your servers ?", "( ) incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses ( ) feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem ( ) temporary/one-time email addresses are cumbersome ( ) i do n't want the government reading my email ( ) killing them that way is not slow and painful enough furthermore , this is what i think about you : ( x ) sorry dude , but i do n't think it would work .", "( ) this is a stupid idea , and you 're a stupid person for suggesting it .", "i 'm going to find out where you live and burn your house down !", "Obijan \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:57 AM `` somehow prevent others from posting or sending messages with my identity ''", "Just use message boards that use OpenID then .", "That gives everybody a working standard implementation to verify the `` identity '' of a URL .", "Marcus , pay up !", "Richard Schneeman \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:57 AM", "Data is money , and you should n't give up your privacy unless you 're getting paid for it .", "I got so sick of people selling my information I wrote a spam tracking application http://www.whyspam.me so I could see exactly who was making off of my personal data .", "TexasDex \u2022 February 3 , 2010 10:05 AM @Bill Nye :", "You forgot this one : ( x ) it will stop spam for two weeks and then we 'll be stuck with it", "Once you 've gone to a certificate-only email system , it 's not really feasible to go back , BUT spam will still happen anyways .", "HamptonJ \u2022 February 3 , 2010 10:27 AM + '' Anonymity is bad ... '' __________ Ironic that the entire basis of American government is the ` secret ballot ' -- personally anonymous voting .", "Why should the government permit cowardly citizens to hide their choices in such serious public matters ??", "Voting is a such a scared & patriotic duty that the government should maintain a public web database of all formal votes ever cast by specific citizens , clearly identifying individuals with their detailed voting records .", "Anonymity is bad !", "Honest citizens should cheer the public display of their votes .", "There is no downside to `` public '' voting .", "Marcus Ranum \u2022 February 3 , 2010 10:35 AM", "From the `` I paid $ 20,000 Dollars and all I got was this lousy ID '' department :", "Marcus typically makes a good counter point , but lost out on this one .", "I 'm a bit disappointed in him ( or is it myself ? ) .", "He usually shows a bit more acumen when dealing with security and creative thinking .", "Try harder next time Marcus !", "You can do it !", "RH \u2022 February 3 , 2010 10:50 AM `` Every software system we 've ever invented has been successfully hacked , repeatedly . ''", "Not L4 =) ( or is that too small to be considered a `` system ? '' )", "Charles \u2022 February 3 , 2010 10:52 AM", "Dear Bruce , though I very much agree with your point : Universal Id is bad , I think you are missing a point :", "Universal Id is bad because it is stated as a principle and not linked with actual uses .", "In many western country having an id when you want to do some specific things is necessary ( e.g. have a drink when you look young ) , but you dont have to display your id in the streets when you are walking .", "I found some of your arguments a bit unsatisfactory : `` Bits are bits ; they do n't come with identity information attached to them . ''", "Well , words are words , but shooting abuse at your neighbour is illegal and punishable by law any way , when you can write the same abuse and keep it in your private locker all you want without any legal issues .", "Context is everything IMO spaceman spiff \u2022 February 3 , 2010 11:24 AM @Charles `` In many western country having an id when you want to do some specific things is necessary ( e.g. have a drink when you look young ) , but you dont have to display your id in the streets when you are walking . ''", "Just say that to any number of young men in the USA who have been arrested for WWB ( Walking While Black ) because they did n't have their ID , or objected to something the `` peace '' officer said or did .", "Bryan Feir \u2022 February 3 , 2010 12:08 PM @Bruce :", "I know Matthew Skala has posted here in the past , but his ` What Colour are your bits ' essay discusses this , and the culture clashes that result between computer professionals who are ` colour-blind ' and legal professionals who are highly colour-aware , both by profession .", "Anyfish \u2022 February 3 , 2010 12:29 PM @RH Feb 3 , 2010 10:52 : Not to mention KeyKos ( an old successfull Timesharing Os ) , Eros ( KeyKos descendant ) and Capros ( Eros descendant ) .", "Identity Based Access Control doesnt work when any process one fires up has one 's full authority to do what ever to your files and or resources .", "( One resource : printing , is expensive as shown by price comparation cart between ink and human blood )", "Authorization Based Access Control as avocated by object capabilities and other such systems might make computing more secure and relieable than todays systems .", "Anyfish http://capros.org/ http://wiki.eros.org/ http://www.cap-lore.com/ andrew \u2022 February 3 , 2010 12:52 PM", "Game , set , and match : Bruce .", "JimFive \u2022 February 3 , 2010 12:54 PM @Anyfish", "Authorization based Access Control might work in a business setting but I do n't think it is going to cut it for home users .", "You end up with something like that Windows Security thing ( What is it called ? )", "that is constantly asking `` Deny or Allow ? ''", "DC \u2022 February 3 , 2010 12:59 PM `` those who use the Internet 's anonymity to survive : dissidents in Iran , China , and USA '' .", "There , fixed that for you .", "@Bill Nye , are you the guy who originated that nice checkbox list on Slashdot ?", "If so , kudos , if not , well , it was worth broader attention anyway .", "Shane \u2022 February 3 , 2010 1:08 PM", "Stephan E \u2022 February 3 , 2010 1:36 PM", "This position on banning anonymity is basically a fundamental threat to both democracy and free markets .", "Free markets work because consumers have barganning power vs. suppliers .", "The assymetry of transparant consumers vs. increasingly more powerfull providers make market processes funcitoning increasingly worse - it will make us poor .", "Democracy is not about centralised control of citizens - the second you get it , democracy fails .", "Look to the socialist countries .", "But the real clue here is that it is not so much about anonymity as about eliminating linkability across non-related transactions .", "ed \u2022 February 3 , 2010 2:16 PM @Ryan : `` We would be able to eliminate ( or at least hugely reduce ) spam if everyone had to have a valid email certificate verified by a CA .", "What if the spammers set up their own CA ?", "What if they corrupt a small CA ?", "And they keep doing this over and over .", "Now the problem is how to certify CA 's as not issuing certs to spammers .", "Then you have to certify the certifiers of CA 's .", "Infinite regress ensues .", "What if a cert 's private key is stolen by malware ?", "The cert is revoked , costing the innocent user a re-issue fee , but the malware is n't removed before recalculating the key , so the new cert is compromised again .", "Boon times for CA 's , costly times for innocent users .", "Cress \u2022 February 3 , 2010 3:10 PM I 'm sure it 's been said in the comments and the rest of the article , but I do n't have a lot of time to read today ... Miscreants would just impersonate or compromise other individuals anyway so this system is even more flawed .", "Remember that case with the malware on the substitue teachers computer that made pop-up ads of adult images appear ?", "Hell , there was n't even proof that she did anything but she was still assualted in the court room .", "Make all users ` universally identifiable ' and how well the system holds up .", "Dan \u2022 February 3 , 2010 3:27 PM `` Even if everyone could trace all packets perfectly , to the person or origin and not just the computer , anonymity would still be possible .", "It would just take one person to set up an anonymity server . ''", "Good point , and I think these two sentences could save a lot of people a lot of money trying to eliminate anonymity .", "There are times , however , when we 'd like to keep from being bothered by people who are anonymous .", "To that end , we can set up our firewalls to eliminate traffic from sources we do not trust .", "For example , people talk about using a CA to qualify email .", "This is probably not necessary ; all we need to do is set up a system where each email recipient only receives email from sources that have either A ) properly identified themselves through a bounce-back mechanism , or B ) are on a local list of qualified email senders .", "There is already software that will implement that strategy .", "And I 'm sure there are other strategies equally as effective .", "Bottom line is , I believe , Internet anonymity is an unobtainable fantasy .", "But that does n't mean that we can not protect ourselves from anonymous troublemakers .", "David \u2022 February 3 , 2010 4:32 PM In general , I wholeheartedly agree .", "In particular , tracing attacks back to members of a botnet , if detection and communication is reliable , could be valuable as you could inform the owners of those computers that they should fix them .", "pfogg \u2022 February 3 , 2010 4:51 PM @Ranum Here 's the part Bruce neglected to mention : identity has a value .", "... I 'd be happy to pay $ 1,000 to be the only mjr@ranum.com on the Internet and be able to somehow prevent others from posting or sending messages with my identity .", "Here 's the part Ranum neglected to mention ( and probably is unaware of ) : to an introvert , anonymity has value .", "It allows an introvert to constrain a non-social interaction ( e.g. buying something at a store ) to remain non-social ( once it 's done , it 's done -- no ongoing connections or contacts ) .", "It also allows social interaction ( e.g. commenting on a blog ) to be compartmentalized ( responses can occur only on the blog ) .", "These things have value to an introvert because to an introvert any random or ongoing social interaction represents a noticeable cost , and the possibility of such issues functions as a ` chilling effect ' : if a persistent , accessible identity is required , these people will tend to remain silent in the absence of specific need or exceptional circumstances .", "It 's easy to count anonymity abuses , but how does one count neutral uses ?", "Ranum more or less ignores the possibility that anonymity might serve neutral , personal , non-criminal intent .", "On the other hand , however many introverts there are ( 25 % of the population is often quoted , but never substantiated ) , I would suggest that most or all would choose to constrain and compartmentalize ordinary internet activities , given the choice .", "\u2022 February 3 , 2010 8:20 PM @Marcus Ranum", "You do n't have to shell out $ 1,000 : it 's free and it 's called public key cryptography .", "If you want to pay $ 1,000 dollars for an alias , I know a Nigerian banker who can help you with that .", "However , if you just want to make sure that when Voltaire posts it is the real Voltaire , whoever that is , that is already completely doable .", "Unless you ban the very technology , the very source code that currently allows me use onion routing to access this website anonymously , you can not force spammers to reveal their identity .", "Grow up and deal with it .", "fjpoblam \u2022 February 3 , 2010 9:38 PM @HamptonJ * Voters * are anonymous ( In fact , there is some flap always going on in our area about requiring some sort of photo identification for voters ) .", "It is their * VOTES * that are anonymous , and the fact that their votes are not associated with their identities during the counting of the votes .", "bonelyfish \u2022 February 3 , 2010 10:17 PM", "Universal identity may be security expert 's holy grail , a silver bullet security expert wished for but will not deliver .", "Firstly , do you want to wear a name badge wherever you go ?", "Showing credit card to whoever you meet ?", "Sometimes you just want to keep being anonymous .", "Personally I have several email accounts so I can be anonymous in forum , shielded from spamming , keep contact with friends , keep business transactions separated .", "When we open a bank account , you got to be identified .", "If doing serious transaction you have to get identified .", "But you can go into a pub and call yourself whatever you like .", "Secondly , will universal identity stops spamming or crimes ?", "In countries with ID card issued to citizens , there are many ( homeless ) people eager to sell their identities or bank accounts .", "Anonymous \u2022 February 4 , 2010 3:25 AM I wish that more people understood that this is a technical solution to a social problem that we have n't been able to solve in all of human history .", "Also , I wish they understood the lesson of prohibition : black markets are subject to the network effect .", "In other words , the more people willing to join it , the more powerful and influential it is .", "I really do n't want to see the market for identity theft ( or identity farming ) expand .", "It 's bad enough as is .", "Pseudonymous \u2022 February 4 , 2010 3:45 AM I wish that more people understood that this is a technical solution to a social problem that we have n't been able to solve in all of human history .", "I have to admit , though , it 's odd to read this and then realize that your comment here gets blocked if you choose the name ` Anonymous ' , even for irony 's sake .", "Maik Tipps \u2022 February 4 , 2010 7:13 AM It \u00b4 s very difficult to give the right answer for this problem .", "On the one hand i don \u00b4 t want that someone knows exactly what i do in the internet but to catch criminals it is good to have not so much anonymity ... .", "sooth sayer \u2022 February 4 , 2010 8:07 AM I agree with the analysis and some of the comments - though argument about licensing weapons and not having `` illegal weapons '' with citizens is EXACTLY the same - I am sure Bruce is on the other side of the gun control : - )", "Lucian \u2022 February 4 , 2010 8:45 AM", "Look at facebook , myspace , linked in , people share personal information to other people , to the public .", "I think in the future , some websites will be able to make something to have `` verified IDS '' on the web or something like this .", "For example for IP 's , i verify my IP and all websites where i go with my IP know that in that interval i was on their websites .", "Anonymous \u2022 February 4 , 2010 9:07 AM @Pseudonymous - `` I have to admit , though , it 's odd to read this and then realize that your comment here gets blocked if you choose the name ` Anonymous ' , even for irony 's sake . ''", "sidelobe \u2022 February 4 , 2010 12:56 PM", "Cell phone networks do an excellent job of carrying universal identity .", "It 's not perfect , but it 's good enough to entrust to be a system of payments and currency in a number of parts of the world .", "The networks are very well protected , and it 's difficult to use an anonymous device .", "You can argue that the networks identify the device but not the holder of the device .", "But the association of device to holder is good enough to use for the aforementioned payment systems .", "The only people who can send me Facebook messages are people I 've identified and authorized .", "I 've yet to receive a spam message .", "I ca n't say the same for my plain-old anonymous e-mail account , which would be useless without spam filters .", "I do n't advocate perfect identity for everything .", "It would be pointless or detrimental for a discussion group such as this .", "But it sure would be nice to be better able to take advantage of good identity management for more Internet applications .", "moo \u2022 February 4 , 2010 1:22 PM", "Related to this quote from the essay : `` Just as it 's impossible to make specific bits not copyable , it 's impossible to know where specific bits came from .", "Bits are bits . ''", "There is an interesting thing written a few years ago called `` What color are your bits ? ''", "http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/lawpoli/colour/2004061001.php -LSB- WARNING : may contain ads which are somewhat NSFW . -RSB-", "It explores the programmer angle , which is that bits do n't really support the attachment of identifiable , tamperproof metadata such as origin info , because any such metadata is also just bits ( Bruce summarizes this viewpoint succinctly when he says `` bits are bits '' ) .", "But it also explores the * lawyer * angle , where bizarre metamystical ideas ( such as derivative-work-ness according to copyright laws ) can be imagined to propagate with a piece of information when the bits themselves are propagated .", "Its important for techies to recognize that lawyers and courts routinely can and do reason about intangible `` meta '' properties that our legal and social systems attempt to apply to information ( in whatever forms ) , even if in general there is no robust technical way of representing this meta info in a way that would carry these meta properties around tangibly and keep them bundled with the works of information ( i.e. piles of bits ) that they are about .", "So even if `` bits are just bits '' , they can also have a `` color '' ( or `` smell '' ? )", "from that point of view .", "A property that is not capturable in any robust tangible form , but is nonetheless relied on heavily by things like copyright law .", "DRM , digital watermarking , etc. can be seen in part , as attempts to solve a part of this impossible problem , of attaching trackable tamper-resistant metadata to bits , or attempt to prevent certain uses of those bits which are undesired by the controller of the DRM .", "Anyway , its an interesting world we live in !", "HavaCuppaJoe \u2022 February 4 , 2010 4:47 PM @sidelobe - `` Cell phone networks do an excellent job of carrying universal identity . ''", "This is only true to the extent that people agree to behave nicely .", "I can call you 5 different times in 5 minutes from the same phone with an entirely different identity .", "All I have to do is switch the SIM card and toss the old one in between calls .", "So , inherently , this is no different than internet anonymity .", "We do n't have to police the people that are behaving good do we ?", "But it 's these exact good-behaving people are the ones who inevitabley shoulder the burden that Ranum seems to be advocating .", "HavaCuppaJoe \u2022 February 4 , 2010 4:57 PM @Marc Ranum - ` Indeed , it 's suspiciously close to blaming the victim , since we 're implicitly telling the music industry that they have no recourse and society washes its hands of their problem : `` figure out how to survive '' is not the advice anyone in a precarious position is going to appreciate . '", "From what planet do you come ?", "`` figure out how to survive '' is EXACTLY the basis upon which normal US businesses operate .", "Just try to open up a donut shop in Topeka and you 'll find out for yourself how true this is .", "The RIAA and its members do NOT have an entitlement to exist , even though this seems to be their fundamental position .", "Peter da Silva \u2022 February 4 , 2010 5:52 PM", "The article at http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/lawpoli/colour/2004061001.php that has been twice referenced in this thread is intersting , and contains the germ of truth , but the way it presents itself is misleading and muddies teh water .", "The `` color '' in that article is metadata , in the literal sense .", "It 's meta data .", "It 's data ABOUT the data .", "It 's not inline , as part of the file , but most metadata is n't inline .", "The name of a file , possibly the most fundamental piece of metadata about it , is rarely stored inside it ( and if it is it 's often wrong ) .", "If I have an encrypted file , the key to decrypt it and the decryption algorithm are metadata .", "The file has no meaning without that information .", "If I have an MP3 file , it is n't a piece of music without an MP3 player to play it .", "The description of the file , the interpreter for the program , the drivers for hardware , these are all metadata .", "If you want to use the contents of a file as evidence in court , then you need metadata about how the file got to the courtroom .", "That 's not something magic , it 's not `` color '' , it 's nothing real computer scientists have any problem with ... it 's simply out-of-band metadata .", "Ohad \u2022 February 4 , 2010 11:36 PM", "Right on , and is the flip side of what I 'm trying to relay here : http://fraudbackstage.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-more-secrets-managing-risk-when.html data can either not be attributed or is so public that anyone can provide it .", "Any1288 \u2022 February 5 , 2010 10:19 AM Ironic that this post can not be done anonymously .", "Animosity is a form of free speech .", "If animosity becomes illegal , and only the criminals have it , then I will choose to become a criminal .", "Bill Nye \u2022 February 5 , 2010 10:25 AM @DC I 'm definitely not the inventor .", "It 's been around a lot longer than I 've been online .", "Whoever invented it must have been a genius though , because I 've seen it used , without additions , to debunk an awful lot of purported solutions to spam .", "anon12 \u2022 February 5 , 2010 10:29 AM If animosity is outlawed and prevented by hardware/software means , then most of us will be subjegated under it , but those with the money and resources will have the means to remain anonymous .", "Much like the telemarketers that call you up with fake phone numbers .", "But most individuals ca n't do that .", "Jay \u2022 February 5 , 2010 3:27 PM `` 1984 '' George Orwell uk visa \u2022 February 6 , 2010 9:05 AM", "Given that piracy - of the high seas variety - has been a problem for hundreds of years , you 'd think we might have developed international laws to deal with it ; we have n't .", "So , even if the powers eradicated anonymity on the net it would n't make a blind bit of difference to the criminals .", "Tom Barry \u2022 February 7 , 2010 7:50 AM I personally believe we have a right to be anonymous on the Internet .", "However when doing so we should make it obvious we are anonymous .", "If we are anonymous that means we are just obviously anonymous .", "We are not pretending to be someone else .", "Pretending to be someone else is fraud , illegal , and should be strongly discouraged .", "We should regularly prosecute all impostors for fraud .", "Likewise I believe there is obvious value in optionally being able to prove who we are and authenticate an identity .", "Since that identity has a value thieves will have an incentive to steal it .", "But we just have to deal with that .", "Just my own opinions .", "Tom cathyg \u2022 February 8 , 2010 8:28 AM", "To : Posted by : Charles at February 3 , 2010 10:52 AM", "You actually MAY be asked to show an ID while you are walking on the street .", "If you live on a military base - you are OFTEN asked to show your military ID whilst walking in the street .", "Americans complain that that their ` rights have been violated ' - but actually we should be comfortable with pulling out an ID that shows who we are whenever and by whomever .", "IMHO : This is not infiltration of my privacy ... this means that I am living above reproach , I have the credentials I have EARNED as a citizen of this country and I carry with me proof of this .", "just like my insurance card ( auto insurance is changing exactly how this is determined right now ! )", "I am not saying we should ` chip ' everyone ... but people should be ` alright ' with anyone asking for their identification ... as long as it just identifies that person and no other information is on that ID .", "Even tying your DR LIC to your address is a bit shoddy in forethought is n't it ?", "The system is not perfect , but we should never mind showing an ID .", "It would surely slow up the web , adding a lot of non-certifiable data , however to add a universal ID - just nonsense because your identity on the web may be counterfeited very easily .", "Rick Keller \u2022 February 8 , 2010 10:44 AM", "Not being anonymous means those with the resources will have the ability to do more with the knowledge of my ID .", "This post here is with my name , but if it was not liked by political powers , or private ones , who knows who might be showing up at my door in the middle of the night and what their intentions are .", "I would not feel very safe , and that is one of my RIGHTS .", "To feel safe in my person .", "Knowledge is power", "Absolute power corrupts absolutely .", "Anyfish \u2022 February 9 , 2010 9:23 AM @JimFive at February 3 , 2010 12:54 PM :", "You mean the incessant `` May I ? ''", "That is because designation has been divorced from authorization in Windows , various * NIXes and MacOS ( both Classic and X ) In object-capability based systems ( like those I linked to ) names that name things are kernel/supervisor/programming-lingustically protected entities .", "In short , if an process ( the running instance of an program ) can not name an object then it ( program ) cant affect the object .", "Of course objects can be implemented by programs and the name of objects be passed along to other objects .", "A Google Tech talk serie that explains it better than I can : http://erights.org/talks/index.html#google-abac", "Michael Hagerty \u2022 February 17 , 2010 6:03 PM", "Dyson has written on the need for pseudonymity , particularly persistent pseudonymity , as a requirement for the development of online communities , especially those in which disclosure of identity might jeopardize an individual 's family , job or well-being .", "I recognize governments are eager to strip away any barriers to instant recognition of identity , but a very real need for a degree of anonymity does exist , without which many online communities would cease to function .", "To require proof of identity to participate in online communities would present a formidable barrier to many individuals , but pure anonymity would preclude the development of the implicit trust necessary to maintain such communities over time .", "AA and other organizations , and most certainly their Internet equivalents could not function without at least pseudonymity and the benefit such organizations provide society would be lost .", "Jennifer @ Vergent T1 Service \u2022 July 27 , 2010 5:43 PM @JimFive -- I think it 's called User Access Control , and it is the most annoying little piece of code Windows has ever implemented in an OS .", "I also am going to agree with the previous poster .", "Maintaining anonymity on the web is a safety issue .", "There are fraudsters everywhere .", "Subscribe to comments on this entry", "Fill in the blank : the name of this blog is Schneier on ___________ ( required ) :", "Photo of Bruce Schneier by Per Ervland .", "Schneier on Security is a personal website .", "Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Resilient , an IBM Company .", "I 've been writing about security issues on my blog since 2004 , and in my monthly newsletter since 1998 .", "I write books , articles , and academic papers .", "Currently , I 'm the Chief Technology Officer of Resilient , an IBM Company , a fellow at Harvard 's Berkman Center , and a board member of EFF ."], "_citing_sentence": "Citizens have a right to speak their mind without government interference - which is why in the offline world people also have a right to speak anonymously.", "_claim_name": "Internet anonymity enables citizens to exercise their right to free speech", "_doc_title": "Anonymity and the Internet - Schneier on Security", "_labeled_lineIDs": [36]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["After all , do guns increase or decrease crime ?", "Let 's see the data Carlos Go\u00c3 \u00a9 s", "Nepal 's recovery process since the 2015 earthquake Jini Agrawal", "Land of the Golden Pagodas : Checking in on Myanmar\u00e2 $ \u2122 s Peace Process Monica Paniagua", "Bend it Like Beckham -LSB- in a Burka -RSB- : Qatar v. 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n Martinez Blanco and Diana Ubico Dur\u00c3 \u00a1 n", "Reborn Arunima Chouguley", "An Open Letter to the American People : Political Responsibility in the Nuclear Age Richard Falk , David Krieger , and Robert Laney", "Past Interview Interview with Anders Hastrup , author of \u00e2 $ The War in Darfur : Reclaiming Sudanese History\u00e2 $ \u2122", "Douglas Janoff on LGBTQIA Human Rights", "Romancing the Wild : A conversation with Robert Fletcher on the cultural dimensions of ecotourism Interview Archive \u00c2 ''", "The recent revolution in Egypt that ended the autocratic presidency of Hosni Mubarak was a modern example of successful nonviolent resistance .", "Social Media technologies provided a useful tool for the young activist to orchestrate this revolution .", "However the repressive Mubarak regime prosecuted many activists and censored a number of websites .", "This made their activities precarious , making it necessary for activists to hide their identity on the Internet .", "The anonymity software Tor was a tool used by some bloggers , journalists and online activists to protect their identity and to practice free speech .", "Jacob Appelbaum , Tor developer , independent computer security researcher , and co-founder of the the San Francisco hackerspace Noisebrige has conducted a number of Tor trainings in the Middle East .", "In this comprehensive interview , Appelbaum explains the concept of Tor and how it was used by the people of Egypt .", "Furthermore he discusses the possibilities and limitations of anonymity on the internet and explains why he believes an anonymous person can be a credible source of information .", "What does Tor do and who uses it ?", "In brief , Tor is an anonymity network that allows people to use the internet in a way that avoids traffic analysis .", "So that means that people who live in an area where there is extensive Internet censorship can circumvent that Internet censorship using Tor .", "If people simply wish to not be profiled online or watched on the Internet , then they can use Tor as well .", "It serves as many things because anonymity at the core means that you have resistance to very serious deep packet inspection in most cases .", "Unless Tor itself is blocked , it is n't really possible for someone to easily distinguish what you are doing with Tor \u00e2 $ `` that is sort of the purpose of Tor .", "People use it for all sorts of different reasons .", "People in Egypt used it to get around the censorship that was occurring there , and people use it all over the place for non-censorship reasons .", "Police officers use Tor to do investigations , people in countries where there is no Internet censorship but extensive corporate surveillance use it \u00e2 $ `` those corporations often look at your IP address , Tor hides your IP address , and so people often use it to avoid this kind of corporate profiling .", "You might be looking at Tor from a particular perspective \u00e2 $ `` maybe you are interested in any of those properties or maybe you simply want to be able to browse the web and see what it looks like to use Google from Germany , that is also a possibility .", "In some cases , such as in Egypt , people get very excited about it , because they think it is a technology that has this possibility for revolution .", "I think it is nice that Tor was probably used by some number of people , although it might have only been one , it could have been several thousand , who knows .", "What I think is nice is that Tor is one of the sort of disruptive technologies that the Internet makes possible .", "Such a thing would n't be possible without the Internet and I think that it -LSB- the Internet -RSB- deserves the credit not Tor necessarily , not Facebook necessarily although each different platform that is built on top of the Internet obviously does have a reason for existing and does deserve some credit to some extent .", "Tor is just a network and its a dual use technology - people use it for good things and they use it for bad things .", "Ultimately , free speech is the core of anonymity .", "There are no payments , there are no logins or passwords or anything like that .", "It is just free software that you download \u00e2 $ `` and we do n't just mean free as in beer , we mean free as in the free network that is available for people to use without cost .", "The source code that connects to the network is available for people to read , to study , to modify , to change , and to distribute their changes .", "We are a non-profit that is dedicated to promoting and helping with anonymity online and the Tor network is one of the things that we produce .", "We also produce other software that interfaces with it , so Tor in a nutshell is quite a lot of things , used by quite a lot of people and it is in fact made up of those people that use it .", "Can you give a concrete example how Tor was used during the revolution in Egypt ?", "Because Twitter and other websites were blocked , people in Egypt actually used Tor as a proxy for their web browser .", "They knew that they could install Tor and they would be able to get past the Internet censorship in their country , which was their primary concern .", "You know , Tor is only as secure as the protocols you send across it , except in certain cases such as this one where you know that the problem is directly between you and the Internet .", "In that case , Tor is extremely secure and no matter what you are doing over Tor you are almost certainly better off than the government that might arrest you for behavior you do on the Internet or for other things that they would be able to detect and log and then later analyze .", "Using Tor is probably not a very big deal in these types of investigations , but if they are looking , for example , for a person posting a photograph to a particular website at a certain time , if they had that in a log , that could be very dangerous .", "If everybody using Tor , you know , is in trouble , that 's a lot more people than just one person at one particular time-frame doing a particular thing .", "It 's interesting to note that , from what I understand , people in Egypt , some of them were in this situation where they were doing things on the Internet , where they were either being censored or they were worried that later they would get in trouble for the things that they were posting , like truthful things that they had seen or witnessed , and so they used Tor .", "Obviously I was not in Egypt during this January 25 , January 27th or any of this time this year in fact , so I can only speak to this as a second hand or first hand relay experience and so having not seen with my own two eyes what people are doing .", "Tor as a project as a network has no idea , there is no way to know except with some statistical analysis .", "We published those statistics on our website ( metrix.torproject.org ) but other than that we have to rely on what people tell us .", "What we have heard is that it is useful and that it has been quite a help for some people .", "Many people use other things , virtual private networks and so forth , but in general it works very well against the kind of very specific censorship that the Egyptian regime deployed .", "Do you believe that with a tool like Tor it is truly possible to be anonymous on the Internet ?", "It is possible to do some things anonymously on the Internet .", "I think about anonymity like the roots of a tree ; if you have someone that is digging around in the dirt and they run into a broken-off part of the tree root , they do n't realize it is attached with this big structure , but if you were looking at the tree from above you would be able to look at the root structures attached to the tree quite easily and you might even be able to find pieces of the root that have been broken off and you could see all of these things .", "So if we all carry cell phones , we all carry tracking devices , and if we are all carrying tracking devices one must ask the question how can we have privacy or anonymity ?", "The answer is when some of the actions you take are not directly attached to the large data trail you create , some of your actions can be anonymous \u00e2 $ `` largely , though , they are not .", "The things that you do on a daily basis they are all tracked .", "Your financial transactions , whether or not you spend cash or credit cards , it does n't make a difference .", "There are different tracking methods for each of those things and so in this regard privacy is in a lot of ways a very difficult thing to achieve .", "When using Tor and the Internet , if you wanted to read the Wikipedia about the conflict in Egypt but you did n't want anyone to know you were doing that , Wikipedia would see someone from the Tor network .", "Your ISP would not see anything about the Wikipedia , they would only see Tor and Tor as a network would not know who you were and where you are coming from ; so if you are in Costa Rica , or you are in some other place , they do n't know where you are .", "The network is segmented in such a way ; we call it \u00e2 $ privacy by design\u00e2 $ .", "There are a lot of cases when using Tor in which you can do things online that are anonymous .", "When you use it correctly , you wo n't have a thing we call \u00e2 $ linkability\u00e2 $ .", "One web browsing session to the next , no one will know it was you that looked at that page about Egypt 's conflict and then you also looked at a comic book by Guy Delisle by the name of Shenzhen , which is a well drawn comic about a travel log in China .", "They would n't know that it was the same person .", "In that way it is very anonymous but if you were to log onto the Wikipedia with your real name and make a lot of edits you would start to leave behind a trail of where you used Tor often .", "That would build a profile of you and no amount of anonymity or security technology really changes the fact that if you say \u00e2 $ my name is Ingmar\u00e2 $ \u00e2 $ `` Tor will do its job and route that anonymously somewhere , but if the other person really believes you are Ingmar , than its going to be hard to convince them otherwise .", "No security or anonymity will change that .", "Privacy is really only as good as you make it .", "In some cases , you can definitely take action that is hard to trace to you .", "You can consume or read things , but if , for example , you were to write a blog post about a conflict situation that you had seen in a war zone and you were to take photographs and post it on a blog , your camera has a thing called meta data , that it embeds into an image .", "Maybe that includes your camera 's serial number .", "So now you anonymously posted that photograph and you 've done a writeup .", "Well your words that you write down are susceptible to a type of anonymity attack called `` Stylometry '' , which is the idea that you can characterize a person 's writing style and positively identify them from large bodies of text , so if you were also an experienced journalist and there were many people that suspected it was you , they could use these stylometry techniques to look and see if the person that wrote the anonymous blog post was the same as the person that writes a weekly column in the local newspaper .", "That can be a real threat to privacy , so , you know , you have to be very careful about how you cross your \u00e2 $ T\u00e2 $ s and dot your \u00e2 $ I\u00e2 $ s and of course , your serial number for your camera is also in that post at the same time and you 've even taken another photograph and put it online somewhere else , so someone will be able to look at that photograph and see that the serial number is the same so they do n't even have to go to the camera company , they already got you as a suspect .", "So , depending on what people are doing , yeah , Tor will help you to be anonymous in some cases , but that does n't mean that you will be perfectly private if the things that you are doing leak information about you .", "You have to be very careful about the details and you really have to take some time to realize that there is a process where everything that you do might betray you .", "It is very easy to do this in the real world , because in the real world we think about it .", "When you walk you leave a footprint behind .", "When you use your credit card you literally leave your name and number behind , and so , if you have these situations , its easy you see it with your own eyes \u00e2 $ `` you remember putting your footprints down , you remember that your shoes have a particular print on the bottom .", "You mostly understand this in general in your own experience in your own life .", "People notice how you are dressed , they see this identity that you put forward to the world .", "With technology , it is often the case that the identity you put forward to the world is hidden even from yourself in this way .", "I mean , the things that you say are there but there are traits about you that are not obvious that you are leaving behind .", "So , yes , Tor can help you to some degree \u00e2 $ `` it is a very powerful tool in service of your privacy and of your anonymity \u00e2 $ `` but it is n't a panacea , because you may still do things that are threatening to your own privacy .", "Can an anonymous person have credibility ?", "Well there are different types of anonymity .", "For example , location anonymity means that if you connect to Twitter , Twitter does n't know if you are in Costa Rica or in Iran .", "Can someone who is posting online on a regular basis on Twitter have credibility ?", "I think so .", "Because location anonymity and anonymity from Twitter means almost nothing in the context of what they are saying .", "Unless they are saying they are at a particular place , in which case the burden of proof lies with what they have said .", "If what they have said is something that can be cited or is backed up in some way , then absolutely , anonymous people can have credibility .", "Additionally , it is possible that someone can post something a single time and not sign it and that in itself is a record that brings credibility by the mere existence of it .", "For example , a leaked document is a great example of where an anonymous person speaks out and says this is something that needs attention , let 's look at this , and sure enough other people will confirm the authenticity of the document .", "So , an anonymous person for that moment , that action , sure seems like a credible thing to me .", "There are lots of other examples that are just like this where people take time to write things down or write them up as it where , and when they do that , they are able to do this a couple times in a row and in a sense this is a kind of anonymity , but in another sense its a thing we call `` pseudonymity '' ; so if I were to write online and I was to say my name is ioerror , that is the kind of anonymity .", "I am actually that anonymous person but I claim to be a person called \u00e2 $ ioerror\u00e2 $ and that is my nickname , my pseudonym , and you know , when I post on Twitter , people see these things that I am posting online and there is some ability for someone to read what I said or see what I said and to determine if it is something that interests them and if it is verifiable , whether or not they actually have seen my drivers license to know my real name or my passport or my birth certificate ; all that is kind of irrelevant .", "We live in a world where for the most part we use our real names to interface with people , but really what we do is we leave behind a bunch of digital trails , like our preferred login name or a style of writing or whatever .", "These are like facets of our identity that we leave behind , little tiny pieces here and there and they make up the whole that we experience and then we think of our own experience and say \u00e2 $ oh we have no privacy\u00e2 $ , or \u00e2 $ oh no , we have no anonymity\u00e2 $ .", "When you look at just a piece of someone else you might think , \u00e2 $ how can you have credibility there because they are just an anonymous person?\u00e2 $ , but if you can sew a thread together or if the thing that 's said is factual , you can back it up if there is something to it , and it seems likely and so forth , than it is absolutely possible to have credibility .", "At the same time , just because someone has said something that does not make it credible and it does n't mean that because they are anonymous they have some noble goal or they have something they want to say that really needs to be heard .", "It is important to note that there is n't some amazing magical thing in itself that gives anonymity some value .", "The things that need to be said probably still need to be vetted in some way .", "Ingmar Zahorsky is a Master degree candidate in Media , Peace & Conflict Studies .", "He is a German born international journalist with an interest in social justice , new media activism and cultural explorations ."], "_citing_sentence": "Conversely, internet anonymity has helped in the Arab Uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia: people used anonymising software like TOR to come online and communicate, organize and criticize freely without fear of political repercussions.", "_claim_name": "Internet anonymity enables citizens to exercise their right to free speech", "_doc_title": "Peace and Conflict Monitor, Tor, Anonymity, and the Arab Spring: An Interview with Jacob Appelbaum", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23, 28, 34]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Anonymity and Privacy on the Internet Under Fresh Attack", "Customers use computers at an internet cafe in Hefei , Anhui province on March 16 , 2012 .", "- The Chinese government 's further tightening of internet controls and mandating real name registration threaten security and privacy of internet users .", "On December 28 , 2012 , the Standing Committee of the National People 's Congress , China 's legislative body , passed the `` Decision to Strengthen the Protection of Online Information . ''", "The Decision contains troubling provisions that require internet access and telecommunications providers to collect personal information about users when they sign up for internet access , landline , or mobile phone service .", "Paragraph 6 of the Decision also applies to service providers that allow users to publish online , who must be able to connect pseudonyms to real identities when citizens post information .", "In the days following the decision , several well-known online activists found that their weibo micro-blogging accounts had been shut down .", "`` These new mandates send a chilling message to China 's netizens , '' said Cynthia Wong , senior researcher on the internet and human rights at Human Rights Watch .", "`` The government 's decision is an effort to silence critics and curb anonymity online by further conscripting internet companies to monitor and censor users . ''", "`` Real name registration '' requirements allow authorities to more easily identify online commentators or tie mobile use to specific individuals , limiting anonymous expression , `` whistleblowers '' who spotlight official corruption , and the right to privacy .", "Even without energetic enforcement , the law will suppress critical speech as users may fear that anything they post critical of the government could lead to reprisals .", "Although the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed in article 35 of the Constitution of the People 's Republic of China , the Chinese government continues to regularly impose sharp curbs , including through broad internet censorship , surveillance practices , and prosecution of citizens and journalists for their online activity .", "For example , in February 2012 , writer Zhu Yufu was sentenced to seven years in prison for `` inciting subversion of state power '' because he posted a poem online calling for political reform in the wake of the Arab Spring .", "Real Name Registration BackgroundThis is not the government 's first attempt to impose real name registration .", "In 2011 , the government promulgated registration requirements for weibo , a . .", "Twitter-like service , and previously tried to impose similar rules for blogging services in 2007 .", "In 2010 , two US companies stopped registering internet domain names in China because of expanded registration rules that the companies deemed too intrusive of their customers ' privacy .", "To date , the Chinese government has not consistently implemented or enforced these directives , though real name registration was a key part of the internet strategy released in 2010 .", "However , the new action by the Standing Committee may signal renewed commitment to the real name approach and increased enforcement of existing controls .", "This decision follows a series of high-profile corruption expos\u00e9s that were widely discussed online , despite government efforts to control media coverage , as well as increased use of social media to mobilize citizen action .", "For example , weibo users and bloggers became important watchdogs in revealing corruption and governmental cover-up attempts in the wake of the July 2011 Wenzhou high-speed train crash .", "Public outcry forced officials to respond : railway workers unearthed the first train car for analysis after initially burying it , and local officials rescinded an order they had given to lawyers to refuse cases from the families of crash victims .", "Similarly , Shaanxi safety official Yang Dacai was removed from office after a photo of him smiling at the site of a deadly bus crash and wearing a luxury watch went viral online in August 2012 .", "Outraged netizens quickly posted photos of Yang wearing other expensive watches and discovered that Yang owned property worth millions of dollars , at odds with his public servant salary .", "Given the otherwise tightly controlled media in China , the internet remains one of the few sources for independent information and an increasingly powerful tool for citizens to call for government accountability .", "The Decision also follows a series of commentaries published by state-run news outlets in December 2012 describing the internet as a haven for bullies , rumor-mongers , and cyber criminals .", "The Standing Committee cited the need to safeguard privacy and information security as justification for the Decision .", "However , the real name requirement may exacerbate security and privacy risks instead .", "For example , South Korea , in response to concern about online bullying , passed a law in 2007 requiring all websites to collect identity information of users who wished to post content on social media services .", "The government was forced to abandon the law after hackers breached databases used to comply with the real name system , compromising the privacy of about 35 million social media users .", "The South Korean Supreme Court eventually ruled the law an unconstitutional restraint on expression , finding it ineffective at addressing online bullying .", "In China 's case , the Standing Committee has not offered a persuasive case that there are sufficiently serious threats that justify such draconian restrictions on privacy and expression online , especially restrictions that could also harm users ' security .", "Both the right to privacy and the right to free expression entail a corollary right to communicate anonymously .", "While this right is not absolute , the importance of allowing individuals to speak anonymously has been recognized as worthy of protection to encourage speech that might invite reprisals .", "In his 2011 report to the Human Rights Council , the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression explicitly called upon states to `` ensure that individuals can express themselves anonymously online and to refrain from adopting real-name registration systems . ''", "Human Rights Watch believes that users should have the ability to comment anonymously online , particularly in countries such as China where the government persecutes critics .", "Service Providers Conscripted for CensorshipThe Standing Committee 's decision also directs network service providers to `` strengthen management of information '' published by users , a phrase used to signify privatized censorship by internet and telecommunications companies .", "All service providers in China are already responsible for restricting access to a wide range of `` illegal content , '' defined broadly and implemented in a way to prohibit speech that reflects a line different from the official government position , or contains information that the government deems too politically sensitive .", "A directive to strengthen such efforts may indicate increased pressure on private companies to further limit use of social media , search engines , and other key online tools .", "In addition , companies that provide virtual private networks ( VPNs ) that circumvent China 's `` Great Firewall '' have also reported expanded interference with the use of their services .", "VPNs can allow users to secure their communications over an internet connection .", "Businesses , journalists , and ordinary users rely on VPNs to encrypt internet traffic and evade China 's filtering system .", "`` Social media has become an incredible tool for public accountability in China , but these new controls certainly undermine that potential , '' Wong said .", "`` If the government is serious about fighting rampant corruption , it should n't silence whistleblowers and ordinary citizens , or enlist companies to do it on their behalf .", "Instead , it should allow people to speak out and to protect their identities online . ''", "`` Kneecapping '' and Maiming of Detainees by Bangladesh Security Forces", "Police Abuse and Reform in Pakistan", "Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in 90 countries worldwide , spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice \u00a9 2016 Human Rights Watch"], "_citing_sentence": "For example, China recently introduced a bill requiring 'real name registration' of every Chinese internet user, thus hampering free communication and the airing of political dissident opinions.", "_claim_name": "Internet anonymity enables citizens to exercise their right to free speech", "_doc_title": "China: Renewed Restrictions Send Online Chill | Human Rights Watch", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["When Salvador Castro , a medical electronics engineer working at Air-Shields Inc. in Hatboro , Pa. , spotted a serious design flaw in one of the company 's infant incubators , he did n't hesitate to tell his supervisor .", "The problem was easy and inexpensive to fix , whereas the possible consequences of not fixing it could kill .", "Much to his surprise , though , nobody acted on his observation , and when Castro threatened to notify the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) , he was fired .", "`` I was shocked , '' Castro says .", "Castro 's case is far from unique .", "Indeed , it 's the rare whistle-blower who manages to expose wrongdoing and remain on the job .", "The vast majority suffer a fate similar to Castro 's -- they end up being harassed , fired ( often on trumped-up charges ) , and blackballed from their professions .", "The financial and emotional strain can snowball further , breaking up marriages , draining bank accounts , and taking a toll on physical and mental health .", "`` I 've interviewed hundreds of whistle-blowers over the years , and hardly any have been successful in both not suffering reprisals and leading to a change in the situation , '' says Brian Martin , an associate professor in science , technology , and society at the University of Wollongong , in Australia , who has written a how-to for whistle-blowers -LSB- see `` To Probe Further '' -RSB- .", "`` Even if you 've got everything going your way , it 's still hard to be successful . ''", "And yet , an open society relies on those who are willing to come forward and reveal wrongdoing .", "Think of Roger Boisjoly , the Morton Thiokol engineer who tried to avert the Challenger disaster and later testified about how his company ignored problems with the shuttle 's booster rockets .", "Or perhaps the most famous whistle-blower of all , Deep Throat , who exposed criminal activity within the Nixon administration .", "The act of speaking out is even built into certain codes of professional ethics .", "The IEEE code , for example , states that engineers shall `` protect the safety , health , and welfare of the public and speak out against abuses in those areas affecting the public interest . ''", "How then can the ethical engineer do the right thing and not sacrifice his or her career ?", "Everyone who works with whistle-blowers agrees that there are certain basic steps that potential whistle-blowers can and should take to protect themselves -- and that very few actually take such steps , much to their detriment .", "When Martin found that the people he interviewed were making the same mistakes over and over again , he decided to lead off his book with a chapter on `` seven common mistakes '' whistle-blowers tend to make .", "Mistake number 1 : trusting too much .", "`` Most whistle-blowers believe the system works , '' Martin says .", "`` So when they find a lapse in their organization , their instinct is to go to their boss or through the regular grievance process .", "And then they 're shocked when bad things start to happen . ''", "Dina Rasor , principal investigator for the Military Money Project , observes , `` Whistle-blowers tend to have a real strong sense of right and wrong . ''", "Her organization , which looks into fraud and waste at the Pentagon , is run under the auspices of the National Whistleblower Center , a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington , D.C. `` They 're the ones who believed as kids that if you throw a ball through a window and you just tell the truth , you wo n't get spanked .", "Most of us learn to ignore that message .", "Whistle-blowers do n't . ''", "Among the other mistakes Martin cites are that people do n't collect enough evidence of the problem they 're trying to expose , do n't build support among colleagues and others , and do n't wait for the right opportunity to come forward .", "`` My advice to most people is , ` Do n't do it -- until you 're done investigating , preparing an escape route , and weighing your options , ' '' he says .", "That last piece of advice is especially important .", "`` People think the right thing to do is just speaking out .", "But there are many different ways to do the right thing .", "It may be best to wait and collect more information .", "You also have to look at the consequences , for yourself , your family , your colleagues . ''", "`` I hate the term whistle-blower , '' says IEEE Fellow Stephen H. Unger , a computer science professor at Columbia University in New York City .", "He has a long-standing interest in engineering ethics , and as chairman of the IEEE Ethics Committee in the 1990s he helped develop a set of guidelines for engineers faced with ethical dilemmas .", "`` It conveys the wrong impression , of someone running around , being noisy and disruptive , behaving in an erratic way .", "Which is the very opposite of all the engineer whistle-blowers I 'm aware of .", "They did everything they could to avoid publicity , to avoid making waves .", "Engineers are very quiet people . ''", "His basic message for any engineer who 's contemplating speaking out is to `` make sure you 're right .", "Check and recheck whatever calculations you 've made , talk to people on the other side so that you understand their case , and be able to back off at any time if you see your case is weak . ''", "`` Do n't exaggerate at all , '' Unger adds .", "`` You could be 99 percent right , but if you make one little mistake , they 'll focus on that to discredit you . ''", "Because of the many bad things that happen to whistle-blowers , Dina Rasor likens the act to `` setting your hair on fire for one glorious minute . ''", "She has two words of advice for would-be whistle-blowers : remain anonymous .", "`` If there 's any way to get the information out -- through a nonprofit , or a trusted reporter , or a friend -- without identifying yourself and having your fingerprints all over it , that 's preferable to going public .", "Then the fraud becomes the issue , and not you . ''", "A common tactic used against whistle-blowers is to dig up -- or manufacture -- personal or professional problems .", "When Rasor first began investigating Pentagon fraud back in the 1970s , `` people who did n't like what I was doing spread rumors that I was a lesbian , or that I was ` living in sin ' with a man .", "At the time , that was scandalous stuff , '' Rasor recalls .", "`` I was in fact living with a man -- my husband . ''", "Some people find the idea of leaking information sneaky or cowardly , she adds .", "`` But if you 're doing it because there 's some horrible fraud going on , it 's the smart thing to do .", "If whistle-blowers could get up and be protected , I 'd say come forward .", "But the reality is they ca n't . ''", "An insider is also in a much better position to keep the investigation going , she points out .", "Once the person 's identity is known , any further access to critical evidence usually evaporates .", "A number of organizations now exist to help whistle-blowers publicize their messages without having to put their careers on the line .", "In the United States , the National Whistle-blower Center , the Government Accountability Program , and the Project on Government Oversight are three such groups .", "Rasor runs a Web site , http://www.quitam.com , which educates whistle-blowers on filing suits against contractors or others who have defrauded the U.S. government .", "If used carefully , the Internet can also be a boon to whistle-blowers ; anonymous remailers let people send e-mail that ca n't be traced to its source , and Web sites make it easier both to publicize wrongdoing and to offer advice to whistle-blowers .", "LSB- For more about staying anonymous online , see `` The Illusion of Web Privacy '' in this issue . -RSB-", "Martin , for one , believes the climate for whistle-blowers is gradually improving .", "Over the last few decades , he notes , media coverage and public attitudes toward whistle-blowers have improved .", "He adds , though , `` Problems tend to arise in an organization when people are too afraid or too powerless or too cynical to speak out .", "Whereas if more people are willing to speak out , then it 's less likely a problem will occur in the first place . ''", "As for Salvador Castro , he sued Air-Shields for wrongful termination , and his case has been tied up in the Pennsylvania courts for nearly eight years ; the company has tried three times to have the case dismissed but has n't succeeded yet .", "The IEEE , of which Castro is a Life Member , has promised to file an amicus curiae brief on his behalf should his case go to trial .", "In the process , Castro has had a crash course in labor law and whistleblower protections .", "Before his dismissal , for instance , he 'd never considered Pennsylvania 's `` at-will '' employment laws , which allow companies to fire workers `` for a good reason , or a bad reason , or no reason at all , '' he says .", "Had his employer been polluting a stream rather than designing defective medical devices , he might still be on the job ; the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and other environmental legislation make it illegal to fire someone for blowing the whistle , but the FDA has no such protection .", "Meanwhile , his old employer has changed hands twice since firing him ; most recently it was acquired by Germany 's Draeger Medical .", "Air-Shields , which did n't respond to IEEE Spectrum 's interview requests , recently offered to settle out of court ; Castro declined .", "`` This will set a precedent for all engineers in Pennsylvania , '' he says .", "`` The next guy who figures he can fire an engineer for doing the right thing will think twice . ''", "Although he has worked only sporadically since his firing , Castro has no regrets about his actions .", "`` I 'd do it again in a heartbeat , '' he says .", "Nor has his long fight gone unrecognized .", "In 2001 , the IEEE Society on the Social Implications of Technology presented him its Carl Barus Award , given for outstanding service in the public interest .", "And in December 1999 , the FDA finally forced his former employer to recall the incubator and correct the defect Castro had brought to light four years before .", "Two guides to blowing the whistle are Brian Martin 's The Whistleblower 's Handbook : How to Be an Effective Resister ( Jon Carpenter Publishing , 1999 ) and Courage Without Martyrdom : A Survival Guide for Whistleblowers ( Fund for Constitutional Government , 1997 ) , by Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project ( http://www.whistleblower.org ) .", "Martin 's Web site , http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/ , also has useful links about whistle-blowing .", "Stephen Unger 's Controlling Technology : Ethics and the Responsible Engineer ( Wiley , 1994 ) examines ethical and moral conflicts that engineers face on the job and offers practical advice on how to deal with them .", "The IEEE Ethics Committee 's `` Guidelines for Engineers Dissenting on Ethical Grounds '' is available at http://onlineethics.org/codes/guidelines.html .", "On a doctor 's advice , an EE decided to become a fighter pilot1 Jan 2008", "Considering a job in Iraq or Afghanistan ?", "Here 's what to expect1 Sep 2007", "Retirement planning is about more than just money1 Aug 2006", "From dream to reality1 Apr 2007", "Though hiring remains focused , there 's more of it1 Jan 2005", "Awareness and open communication can resolve on-the-job frictions due to age differences1 Feb 2003", "Overwhelmed by to-do lists ?", "David Allen has a solution1 Jan 2006", "Exoskeletons are strutting out of the lab -- and they are carrying their creators with them1 Oct 2005", "No engineer can succeed without a certain obsessiveness , but if you 're reading this article at your office after hours , our advice is : go home1 Jun 2007", "What can you do to spark new ideas ?", "How to act boldly but not foolishly1 Dec 2006", "What professional certifications can do for you -- maybe1 Nov 2006", "When two spacecraft meet , they rely on Vladimir Syromyatnikov1 Apr 2006", "Tired of designing devices that policy-makers will misuse ?", "Go back to school and train to become a policy maven yourself1 Oct 2007", "Take a university campus , attach a subdivision , stir in some start-up firms , and incubate .1 May 2007", "Tech companies are increasingly accepting of gays and lesbians1 Feb 2005", "How one engineer contributes to her field , her business , and the community1 May 2006", "The folks at the Foundry did n't need a pretty face to win an Academy Award1 Mar 2008", "Getting the most from career counselors1 Jul 2008", "A big-time financial firm is recruiting tech talent by offering prizes to the college kids whose software chooses the best investments1 Aug 2007 \u00a9 Copyright 2016 IEEE -- All rights reserved .", "Use of this Web site signifies your agreement to the IEEE Terms and Conditions.A not-for-profit organization , IEEE is the world 's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity ."], "_citing_sentence": "Allowing them to speak out anonymously enables them to invite public scrutiny to their employer without fear of getting fired.", "_claim_name": "Internet anonymity allows people to speak the truth without fearing harm to their careers", "_doc_title": "The Whistle-blower's Dilemma - IEEE Spectrum", "_labeled_lineIDs": [60]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Thank you for visiting techPresident , where politics and technology meet .", "We 're asking our readers to help support the site .", "Let us tell you why :", "Since 2007 , we 've expanded techPresident 's staff and daily work to exhaustively look at how technology is changing politics , government and civic life .", "To provide the independent and deeply informed journalism we do , we need to find ways to support this growth that will allow us to keep the majority of our content free .", "So , now we are asking you , our readers , to contribute if you can by :", "Subscribing to our premium service Personal Democracy Plus for $ 6.95 a month or $ 75 a year ( 10 % off ! ) .", "Making a contribution in the amount of your choosing .", "To subscribe to Personal Democracy Plus , visit personaldemocracy.com/subscribe .", "To make a contribution in the amount of your choosing , visit personaldemocracy.com/contribute .", "Anna Lekas Miller | Thursday , September 6 2012 It is no secret that homosexuality is taboo in the Arab world .", "In Saudi Arabia and Yemen , homosexuality is punishable by death .", "In Iraq and the United Arab Emirates , homosexuals can face years in prison -- if they are n't immediately sentenced to death .", "Even in Beirut , Lebanon -- a city that has been dubbed the Provincetown of the Middle East by the New York Times travel section for its gay-friendly reputation -- men suspected of being homosexuals have recently been arrested and forced to submit to an anal examination to `` confirm '' their sexual orientation .", "Homophobia and homophobic stigma hang heavily in the air .", "Until recently , there was no Arabic word for `` homosexual '' -- the terms used to describe homosexuality were the same words for `` sexual deviant , '' `` pervert '' and `` Citizen of Lot . ''", "Due to both laws and language , homosexuality is viewed as an unspeakably shameful disorder , curable only through suppressing and denying it until it `` disappears . ''", "Understandably , many young gay Arabs only come out to a small handful of trusted people -- and still others do n't come out at all .", "But could this be changing ?", "I reached out to a young blogger in Lebanon known online as Lebanon Rebel .", "We have never met and I did not verify her identity independently , but we have communicated over e-mail , and I find her highly credible .", "Unlike the sensationalist fake blogger Gay Girl in Damascus , Lebanon Rebel 's blog resembles a personal project that has gained political prominence as more and more people use the Internet as a space to come out .", "`` I did n't know there was an LGBT movement in Lebanon , '' Lebanon Rebel told me .", "Lebanon Rebel lives in rural Lebanon , far from the underground but still thriving gay scene of Beirut .", "Like many Arabs living away from urban oases , her first exposure to homosexuality -- and LGBT social justice activism -- was online .", "Before she started blogging , she thought that there were no other homosexuals in Lebanon .", "`` Thankfully , I had a bunch of foreign friends over the Internet that made it easy to see that I was not an abomination .", "I started blogging to meet other activists , make friends and show other LGBT people that they are not alone . ''", "Now , Lebanon Rebel has been blogging for almost two years .", "At first , she was hesitant to reveal any details about her personal identity or her location .", "However , as time went on , she became more and more comfortable and even agreed to meet with local friends and followers in person .", "`` The Internet revolutionized our coming out , without it most of us would feel alone and helpless . ''", "There are many other bloggers like Lebanon Rebel -- many are also anonymous or blogging under pseudonyms , though an increasing amount are beginning to use their real names and identities online .", "Raja Farah -- who uses his real name and photograph -- frequently blogs about the history of LGBT activism in Lebanon and also shares articles about current news and events in the Lebanese gay community .", "Gay in Beirut , another anonymous blog run by two friends , features reflective political pieces about the social effects of homophobia in Lebanon .", "Blog posts , comment exchanges and the personal relationships that form through the cyber world are allowing LGBT Arabs to share information and empower each other in a way that would be impossible or dangerous in the offline Arab world .", "Still , it is important to note that the majority of the LGBT Arab blogosphere is in Lebanon , a country that is considered the exception rather than the rule for many progressive issues in the region .", "As far as homosexuality is concerned , though it is technically criminalized , the punishment is a year in prison -- compared to ten years , or trial , torture and death often experienced in other countries .", "For this reason , Lebanese LGBT-oriented blogs , social media accounts and other online spaces are far less likely to be tracked and targeted by the government than they might be elsewhere .", "`` While using the Internet has opened up possibilities for activists -- LGBT and otherwise -- it also means that these activists can be more easily traced and targeted by regimes , '' said Michael Luongo , author of Gay Travels in the Muslim World .", "As one attempts to navigate the LGBT Arab blogosphere , this dichotomy becomes apparent .", "The Syrian Same Sex Society Network , the first Arabic language website concerned with the LGBT community in Syria and the Arab World featuring non-porn articles such as gay news and health resources , is now a blank page .", "Enha , a recent attempt at an Egyptian LGBT online publication recently had to be shut down due to vague `` security reasons '' -- even though the contributors were anonymous and their location was never disclosed .", "Though it could be purely coincidental that blogs from Lebanon are current while others are inactive , the severity of laws and stigma in the surrounding countries suggest otherwise .", "Language is another privilege that separates the Lebanese LGBT community from the rest of the Arab world .", "In Lebanon , bloggers can communicate in English or French , languages that are spoken widely throughout the country .", "However , bloggers from other countries in the region who communicate predominantly in their native Arabic -- making their writing more accessible to a wider Arab audience -- are far more likely to be targeted and interrogated or detained and tortured by authorities .", "Despite these threats , human rights organizations in the Middle East are still incorporating sexual minorities into their work .", "Last year , Bahrain-based human rights umbrella organization MidEastYouth launched Ahwaa , a bilingual English-Arabic online forum specifically for LGBT youth in the Middle East .", "`` We knew that we were pushing the limits , but we have done Ahwaa in a very special way that protects the privacy of the users , '' co-founder Ahmed Zidan told me .", "`` It was important to us as a minority rights organization to support sexual minorities in the Middle East . ''", "Ahwaa , meaning `` passions '' in Arabic , operates several forums devoted to discussions about homophobia , religion , culture , family and identity .", "There are also message boards for conversations on transsexuality and gender-based violence .", "Some of the topics are casual and light , such as discussions of homosexuality in popular culture .", "`` I 've recently watched interesting films like Brokeback Mountain and Milk -- these films did n't stereotype homosexuals like other mainstream media .", "Does anyone have experience with underground oriental documentaries/films that deal with these issues ? ''", "asks one young man in the culture section .", "Another user muses about homosexuality in the context of religious dominance in the Arab World , `` Why would God create gay people and then make Christianity and Islam into homophobic religions ? ''", "`` Is life better outside the closet ? ''", "one user asks , polling others on their experiences coming out to friends and family , and whether or not they think it is worth it .", "As users respond to questions , their comments are carefully moderated to ensure that they are sincere and that their advice is informative and helpful .", "The more one responds to questions , the more `` points '' one earns -- these points translate to levels of trust that are denoted through a colored heart next to the users ' screen name .", "New users have gray hearts while the most trusted users have green hearts .", "Despite this quantification of trust , users are instructed to remain anonymous and not share any personal information .", "Ultimately , Ahwaa moderators have no way to ensure that users are who they say they are and users must be responsible for their own safety .", "It is undeniable that the Internet is a mixed bag for LGBT minorities in the Middle East .", "For every thriving , increasingly open blog or online community there is another that is threatened and shutdown , often resulting in serious consequences for the participants .", "Still , for many young LGBT Arabs the Internet for all of its risk , is an essential lifeline of self-expression and moral support .", "Part of the Internet 's beauty is the duality of intimacy and anonymity -- and in many instances , the anonymity that allows for intimacy .", "Though dangerous , dodging regimes and authorities through multiple pseudonyms and cryptic avatars is essential to breaking into this alternate cyber universe , where LGBT identity and Arab identity can intersect and co-exist .", "Without this unique space , LGBT Arabs would be living without the language or solidarity to combat the monolithic homophobic stigmas and stereotypes of the Arab World .", "Personal Democracy Media is grateful to the Omidyar Network for its generous support of techPresident 's WeGov section ."], "_citing_sentence": "Think for example of people who don't have a heteronormative lifestyle (where heterosexuality is considered the norm/default lifestyle): in their own communities they could be condemned, despised and even prosecuted, but because of internet anonymity, they can safely join an online community without fear of social repercussions.", "_claim_name": "Internet anonymity allows people to experiment and construct with new social identities", "_doc_title": "In the Middle East, Marginalized LGBT Youth Find Supportive Communities Online | TechPresident", "_labeled_lineIDs": [27, 30, 31, 32]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 84, "_topic_name": "This House believes that the right to anonymous posting on the internet should be protected by law"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Secretary-General of the United Nations ( UNSG or just SG ) is the head of the United Nations Secretariat , one of the principal organs of the United Nations .", "The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations .", "Their role is laid out by Chapter XV ( Articles 97 to 101 ) of the United Nations Charter .", "The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon of South Korea , who took office on 1 January 2007 .", "His first term expired on 31 December 2011 .", "He was re-elected , unopposed , to a second term on 21 June 2011 .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- His successor will be appointed by the General Assembly in 2016 .", "The Secretary-General was envisioned by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a `` world moderator '' , but the vague definition provided by the UN Charter -LSB- 2 -RSB- left much room for interpretation by those who would later inhabit the position .", "According to the UN website , their roles are further defined as `` diplomat and advocate , civil servant , and CEO '' .", "LSB- 3 -RSB- Nevertheless , this more abstract description has not prevented the office holders from speaking out and playing important roles on global issues to various degrees .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- Article 97 under Chapter XV of the United Nations Charter states that the Secretary-General shall be the `` chief administrative officer '' of the Organization , but does not dictate their specific obligations .", "Responsibilities of the Secretary-General are further outlined in Articles 98 through 100 .", "Article 98 states that they shall act as the chief administrative officer `` in all meetings of the General Assembly , of the Security Council , of the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council , and shall perform other functions as are entrusted to him by these organs '' .", "They are also responsible for making an annual report to the General Assembly .", "According to Article 99 , they may notify the Security Council on matters which `` in their opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security '' .", "Other than these few guidelines , little else is dictated by the Charter .", "Interpretation of the Charter has varied between Secretaries-General , with some being much more active than others .", "The Secretary-General , along with the Secretariat , is given the prerogative to exhibit no allegiance to any state but to only the United Nations organization : decisions must be made without regard to the state of origin .", "The Secretary-General is highly dependent upon the support of the member states of the UN .", "`` The Secretary-General would fail if they did not take careful account of the concerns of Member States , but they must also uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations , and speak and act for peace , even at the risk , from time to time , of challenging or disagreeing with those same Member States . ''", "LSB- 3 -RSB- `` The personal skills of the Secretary-General and their staff are crucial to their function .", "The central position of the UN headquarters in the international diplomatic network is also an important asset .", "The Secretary-General has the right to place any dispute on the provisional agenda of the Security Council .", "However , they work mostly behind the scenes if the members of the council are unwilling to discuss a dispute .", "Most of their time is spent on good offices missions and mediation , sometimes at the request of deliberative organs of the UN , but also frequently on their own initiative .", "Their function may be replaced or supplemented by mediation efforts by the major powers .", "UN peacekeeping missions are often closely linked to mediation ( peacemaking ) .", "The recent improvement in relations between the permanent members of the Security Council ( P5 ) has strengthened the role of the Secretary-General as the world 's most reputable intermediary . ''", "LSB- 5 -RSB- In the early 1960s , Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev led an effort to abolish the Secretary-General position .", "The numerical superiority of the Western powers combined with the one state , one vote system meant that the Secretary-General would come from one of them , and would potentially be sympathetic towards the West .", "Khrushchev proposed to replace the Secretary-General with a three-person leading council ( a `` troika '' ) : one member from the West , one from the Eastern Bloc , and one from the Non-Aligned powers .", "This idea failed because the neutral powers failed to back the Soviet proposal .", "Article 97 of the United Nations Charter determines that the Secretary-General is `` appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council . ''", "As the recommendation must come from the Security Council , any of the five permanent members of the Council can veto a nomination .", "Most Secretaries-General are compromise candidates from middle powers and have little prior fame .", "Despite the Charter giving the General Assembly provisions to influence the selection process , the chosen Secretaries-General reflect that the selection process remains in the control of the Permanent Members .", "Some customs have developed regarding the selection process , such as that the appointee may not be a citizen of any of the Security Council 's five permanent members .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- The General Assembly resolution 51/241 in 1997 stated that in the appointment of `` the best candidate '' , due regard should be given to regional ( continental ) rotation of the appointee 's national origin and to gender equality .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- It has become customary for Secretaries-General to be appointed for five-year terms , although this is discretionary , and Trygve Lie 's second appointment was for three years .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- They may be reappointed for subsequent terms , and while there is no formal limit to the number of terms , none so far has held office for more than two terms .", "The Security Council and General Assembly have taken steps towards making the selection process more transparent and open in 2016 and have sent a letter to member states asking them to nominate candidates for the position .", "In practice , previous secretaries-general were chosen behind closed doors by the Security Council and then had their names submitted to General Assembly for ratification .", "No candidate has ever been rejected by the General Assembly .", "General Assembly president Mogens Lykketoft intends to hold public meetings in early 2016 where general assembly members can question candidates for the position and advocates the General Assembly selecting a candidate .", "The official residence of the Secretary-General is a townhouse in Sutton Place , Manhattan , in New York City , United States .", "The townhouse was built for Anne Morgan in 1921 , and donated to the United Nations in 1972 .", "As of July 2016 , two former Secretaries-General are alive .", "The most recent death of a former Secretary-General is that of Boutros Boutros-Ghali ( 1992 -- 96 ) on 16 February 2016 ."], "_citing_sentence": "For instance, figures like Charles De Gaulle or Dwight Eisenhower are rumored to have been considered for the first Secretary-General position, but were rejected in favor of the uncontroversial Norwegian, Trygve Lie.", "_claim_name": "Popular vote would improve the choice of candidates", "_doc_title": "Secretary-General of the United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [38]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Authors : Carin Zissis , and Lauren Vriens", "Updated : September 21 , 2011 This publication is now archived .", "The UN 's first secretary-general , Trygve Lie , called it the most difficult job in the world -- an observation iterated by most of his seven successors .", "Some of the difficulty lies in the job description itself .", "Though U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , several years before the UN 's creation , saw the secretary-general 's role as that of `` world moderator , '' the UN charter refers to it as `` chief administrative officer . ''", "Each of the eight secretaries has tended to favor one role or the other .", "Kofi Annan , for example , considered an activist , `` world moderator '' - style secretary-general , won a Nobel Prize for encouraging global cooperation on peace , but he was criticized for his management of the UN 's Oil for Food program in Iraq and other issues .", "His successor , Ban Ki-moon , more of an administrator by temperament , has been regarded as less than successful ( Economist ) in pushing forward his agendas on climate change and ending global poverty .", "What does appear to be constant is the ambiguous nature of the secretary-general position itself -- a role bifurcated between the tasks of `` secretary '' and `` general . ''", "What is the UN secretary-general ?", "At the time the United Nations was established in 1945 , the UN Charter described the secretary-general broadly as the `` chief administrative officer . ''", "Beyond that , the type of leader needed , how to select the candidate , and the person 's length of tenure were left open to interpretation , writes Brian Urquhart , former undersecretary-general , in an article for Foreign Affairs .", "The UN website stipulates that the secretary-general be `` equal parts diplomat and advocate , civil servant and CEO . ''", "These guidelines also require that the secretary-general uphold the values of the UN , even at the risk of challenging member states .", "In the book Secretary or General , Simon Chesterman and Thomas M. Franck say the person in the post is sometimes treated as `` an errand boy and punching bag , '' expected to be at once an independent political force and a public servant .", "Despite the broad and vague requirements of the job , some informal norms are observed in appointments for the post .", "Secretary-generals usually come from countries considered small - to medium-sized neutral powers , are career diplomats , and serve no more than two five-year terms .", "Regional rotation is observed , with nationals of the five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States , China , Russia , France , and the United Kingdom -- ineligible .", "Does the secretary-general play a political role ?", "Despite the open-ended nature of the job description , the position calls for less of a clerk than did the role of director of the League of Nations , the UN 's predecessor .", "Article 99 of the UN Charter says the secretary-general `` may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security . ''", "This provision allows a secretary-general to choose between playing an activist role , in the tradition of Dag Hammerskj\u00f6ld , a Swedish diplomat , or more of a bureaucratic role , as did Austria 's Kurt Waldheim .", "Stephen Schlesinger , a UN expert and former director of the World Policy Institute , says the job can serve as a `` perch '' used `` to rally world public opinion around issues that would n't necessarily have been addressed otherwise . ''", "What are the main responsibilities of the secretary-general ?", "The secretary-general oversees the UN Secretariat , which handles UN operations , including research , translation , and media relations .", "The Secretariat -- the UN 's executive office -- has a staff of close to nine thousand people from about 170 different countries .", "Each secretary-general has handled his administrative responsibilities differently .", "Hammerskj\u00f6ld established a system of offices in charge of legal , political , personnel , and budgetary aspects of the secretariat .", "Boutros Boutros-Ghali streamlined the system by adding under-secretaries-general to oversee operations and report back .", "During Annan 's administration , the deputy secretary-general position was created to handle day-to-day operations .", "This book , published by the International Peace Institute , chronicles the evolution of the secretariat .", "The hiring of under-secretaries for approximately fifty UN posts , including the heads of funds such as UNICEF and UNDP , falls under the purview of the secretary-general .", "An important aspect of the hiring process involves lobbying from members to fill posts with their nationals , highlighting the secretary-general 's role of negotiating with the Security Council and General Assembly to ensure broad regional representation .", "The secretary-general 's office shoulders responsibility for overseeing peacekeeping missions and appoints the under-secretary in charge of that department , involving some sixteen operations worldwide as of September 2008 .", "Although the General Assembly or Security Council may initiate a peacekeeping mission , operational control rests with the Secretariat .", "This function involves the secretary-general 's role as a mediator between parties in conflict .", "As part of his `` good offices '' role the secretary-general makes use of his independence and impartiality as the head of a global organization to prevent and stop the spread of conflict .", "Examples of UN leaders taking on mediation roles in the past include Hammarskj\u00f6ld 's promotion of an armistice between Israel and Arab states and Javier Perez de Cuellar 's negotiation of a ceasefire to end the Iraq-Iran War .", "How is the secretary-general appointed ?", "The Security Council recommends a candidate for the General Assembly 's 193 members to appoint .", "Although all UN members get a voice in the secretary-general 's selection , the five permanent members of the Security Council hold sway as any one of them can eliminate a nominee with a veto .", "China vetoed a third term for the UN 's fourth secretary-general , Austria 's Kurt Waldheim , while the United States vetoed a second term for the fifth , Egypt 's Boutros Boutros-Ghali .", "Although the ten elected members of the Security Council do not have veto power , their votes can prove crucial as a candidate needs at least nine votes to be recommended as secretary-general .", "Critics of the appointment process say it historically lacks transparency and falls prey to cronyism due to the permanent members ' veto power and negotiations over secret candidates .", "The selection of Ban Ki-moon was possibly the most open , with the Security Council announcing formal candidates .", "Still , Ban was the favored choice of China , demonstrating the importance of the permanent members in shaping UN policy through the secretary-general selection process .", "What is the secretary-general 's relationship with the Security Council ?", "In working with the Council , the secretary-general is tasked with standing for the interests of underrepresented states and balancing the demands of the Security Council with those of General Assembly members .", "The relationship between the Security Council 's five permanent members and the secretary-general is similar to one between constituents and their elected representative .", "Critics say the structure of this relationship has made the secretary-general beholden to Security Council members , particularly the United States .", "With the United States serving as the UN 's largest funder ( Heritage ) , accounting for more than 20 percent of the organization 's total budget as of 2010 , `` no secretary-general can afford to alienate the United States if they want to have success in the job , '' says Schlesinger .", "The United States ' position as both founder and host to the United Nations has at times complicated Washington 's relationship with the secretary-general .", "During Annan 's second term , which coincided with the Bush administration coming to power , the relationship grew contentious .", "Annan called the U.S. deployment of troops in Iraq `` illegal , '' angering the White House , while some UN members criticized him for failing to take an even stronger stand .", "The relations between the United Nations and the United States have improved under Annan 's successor .", "Ban Ki-moon told President Bush in 2007 that Iraq is the world 's problem ( Reuters ) , clearly extending a diplomatic hand to the United States .", "What is likely to be the future focus of the UN secretary-general ?", "The most pressing issues for the world community , whether human trafficking or civil wars , will continue to play a role .", "Emphasizing the link between climate change and conflict has been Ban 's top priority since he took office .", "Ban has stressed that the Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis in an effort to encourage countries to combat global warming in the interest of security .", "Like Annan , Ban has also made reform of the UN management structure a priority .", "`` Just about everything we do hinges on sound management of the limited resources entrusted to us , '' he said in a speech to the General Assembly in April 2008 .", "Nonproliferation , Annan 's Millennium Development Goals , and human rights are also included on the secretary-general 's hefty agenda , though he leaves the implementation of these programs up to agencies such as the UN Development Program and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights .", "Each secretary-general interprets the role differently , however .", "Discussing the organization 's future , former CFR Senior Fellow Lee Feinstein put it as follows : `` A secretary-general is like a Supreme Court justice -- you never know what you 're going to get . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Like in the case of heads of state, having to compete in a contest for the popular vote would require candidates to demonstrate their competence for the job and their vision for the future of the organization.", "_claim_name": "The UN Secretary General needs to convince the people of the world that he/she is competent enough for the job", "_doc_title": "The Role of the UN Secretary-General - Council on Foreign Relations", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 8, 12]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By WARREN HOGESEPT .", "UNITED NATIONS , Sept. 28 -- Ban Ki-moon , the South Korean foreign minister , moved significantly closer on Thursday to becoming the successor to Kofi Annan as United Nations secretary general by maintaining a wide lead over six other candidates in the Security Council 's third informal poll .", "A fourth and more definitive informal poll is scheduled for Monday , and Mr. Ban , with 13 favorable votes from the 15 Council members , goes into that poll as the only candidate with the 9 votes required for approval .", "On Monday , the ballots of the five permanent members , Britain , China , France , Russia and the United States , will be colored different than the others , a way of determining whether any nation with veto power has exercised it .", "Barring a veto , Mr. Ban 's election in a subsequent formal vote appears assured .", "`` I am encouraged by the level of support I received , and I hope that eventually I will have unanimous support , '' Mr. Ban said in a telephone interview from Seoul on Thursday after his return from New York .", "Mr. Ban , 62 , has traveled widely as he has campaigned for the secretary general position over the past six months , and questions have arisen about how effective his modest and soft-spoken style would be in bringing discipline and coherence to such a sprawling and rivalry-ridden organization as the United Nations .", "Advertisement `` I now realize that some people regard me as a person with a soft leadership , '' he said .", "`` But I have been telling them that while I may look soft and have a sense of humility and speak in a restrained manner , this should not be regarded as a lack of determination or commitment . ''", "`` Some people have a different aspect , '' he said .", "`` They speak loud and have a more flamboyant attitude .", "But I think I have my own charisma . ''", "Mr. Ban has a master 's degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard , was assigned twice to the South Korean Embassy in Washington and is a former director general of American affairs for South Korea 's Foreign Ministry .", "He has the firm backing of the Bush administration and is known as an ally of Washington .", "If he gets the job , that part of his political makeup will be closely monitored at the United Nations , where tensions between the United States and the developing world have been on the rise .", "`` I have many friends in the United States , and I think this can be a great asset for me instead of a point of concern for others , '' he said .", "`` The countries in the third world , in Africa , the Middle East , Southeast Asia and Latin America , they know that I am their close friend , too . ''", "Mr. Annan steps down Dec. 31 after two five-year terms .", "Under United Nations procedures for choosing a secretary general , the Security Council selects one name and sends it to the 192-member General Assembly for ratification .", "Six of the seven candidates are Asian , in keeping with the unwritten but accepted notion at the United Nations that this year it is Asia 's turn to occupy the top job .", "The last Asian secretary general was U Thant of Burma , who left office in 1971 .", "In the informal polls , the 15 members of the Council have been asked to mark one of three boxes -- `` encourage , '' `` discourage '' or `` no opinion '' -- after each candidate 's name .", "Mr. Ban 's latest total actually decreased by a vote compared with the tally from the previous secret poll on Sept. 14 , because one positive shifted to no opinion .", "But his lead widened over his closest challenger , Shashi Tharoor , 50 , the under secretary general for public information , who saw his support diminish to 8 favorable votes from 10 .", "Vaira Vike-Freiberga , 68 , the president of Latvia , a new entry and the only woman under consideration , polled seven favorable votes .", "The other new candidate , Ashraf Ghani , 57 , a former finance minister of Afghanistan and the current chancellor of Kabul University , managed to attract only three .", "Surakiart Sathirathai , 47 , deputy prime minister of Thailand , saw his positives fall to five from nine .", "Both Prince Zeid Raad Zeid al-Hussein , 42 , Jordan 's ambassador to the United Nations , and Jayantha Dhanapala , 67 , of Sri Lanka , a former under secretary general for disarmament , drew only three positive votes ."], "_citing_sentence": "Vaira Vike-Freiberga, only got seven positive votes when she ran against Ban Ki-moon.", "_claim_name": "Gender and geographic diversity would improve through popular election", "_doc_title": "South Korean Favored to Win Top Job at U.N. - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [24]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 85, "_topic_name": "This House would elect the UN Secretary General"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The Transport Select Committee said traffic police had been marginalised , adding : `` Technology must support road police officers , not replace them . ''", "The MPs criticised rules that allow cameras to be sited only where there is a record of deaths or serious injuries .", "But the transport department said those rules were changed in April and local authorities now have more flexibility .", "The changes meant local officials could now look at all accidents over a longer period when deciding where speed cameras should be placed , a department spokeswoman said .", "The report , Roads Policing and Technology - Getting the Balance Right , called for new technologies to be approved more rapidly .", "It highlighted the `` alcolocks '' system - whereby a car is immobilised if the driver has had alcohol - as one which should be introduced as soon as possible .", "We are quite clear that technology alone can not meet all the aims of the road policing strategy", "Committee chairman Gwyneth Dunwoody said it was clear that speed cameras were `` effective , good value for money , and well-accepted by the public '' .", "But Ms Dunwoody , a Labour MP , said senior officers often cut traffic policing to help balance their budgets .", "`` You ca n't assume that a camera is going to replace somebody who can assess when a driver has been drinking or has been taking drugs that make them unable to drive , '' she said .", "Careful consideration In a joint statement , the Home Office and Department for Transport said the number of dedicated traffic officers had actually increased since 2002 .", "`` Technology enhances police officers ' work , allowing them to do their job better and more quickly , '' the statement said .", "`` But we are quite clear that technology alone can not meet all the aims of the road policing strategy and we would not expect it to . ''", "The departments said they would consider the committee 's recommendations carefully .", "The RAC Foundation said it was concerned about falling numbers of traffic police .", "`` A camera can clock someone a few miles over the limit but does nothing to deter the drink , drugged or other forms of dangerous driving , '' said the foundation 's Edmund King .", "Andrew Howard , of the AA Motoring Trust , also called for `` more conspicuous police activity '' to deter drivers .", "He added that speed cameras were achieving their road safety goals , but limiting their deployment to proven accident sites would help to make them more acceptable to motorists .", "In a joint statement , the Home Office and Department for Transport said the number of dedicated traffic officers had actually increased since 2002 .", "Most Popular Now | 109,414 people are reading stories on the site right now . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Human life is precious and whilst driving remains one of the most dangerous things people do on a day to day basis, we must do everything reasonable to prevent deaths.", "_claim_name": "Every study carried out in this field shows that younger drivers are more likely to be involved in serious accidents - raising the age would make the roads a safer place.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | Extra traffic police needed - MPs", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 86, "_topic_name": "This house would raise the legal driving age to 18"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["28 June 2016 -- Corporate report", "The third annual report on the state of children 's social care in England .", "Ofsted 's Chief Inspector , Sir Michael Wilshaw , spoke at the Baker Dearing UTC annual conference in central London 11 July 2016 -- Open consultation", "This consultation seeks views on proposed changes across Ofsted 's inspections of children 's social care .", "14 July 2016 -- News story", "The first 2 reports about these joint inspections are about SEND services in Bolton , and Brighton and Hove .", "Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education , Children 's Services and Skills .", "We inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people , and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages ."], "_citing_sentence": "In Britain for example, Ofsted is a public body that exists specifically to inspect public schools.", "_claim_name": "The ban on homework could be easily enforced through school inspections", "_doc_title": "New report says that last year around 80,000 eligible children did not take up their free place at an early years setting .", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["reasoning"], ["opinion", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["A motion for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference will also seek a Royal Commission to examine why children are unhappy at school .", "Union leader Mary Bousted said the difficulty of completing homework could set up a cycle of resistance to school in children from poorer homes .", "The government says that homework is not compulsory but it is encouraged as a key part of the learning process .", "Its guidelines for schools in England say children should be doing homework from the day they start school , rising from one hour a week at five , to 90 to 150 minutes a day at 16 .", "They say 10 and 11-year-olds should be doing half an hour of homework every day .", "But research has cast doubt on its effectiveness , and has even suggested that too much is counter-productive .", "Some independent schools have abolished the practice .", "Dr Bousted told journalists that in state schools everyone just accepted that homework had to be done .", "`` I think a lot of homework is a waste of time .", "The teacher has got to set it , so what gets set is ` busy ' homework , '' she said .", "But children from disadvantaged homes , who did not have the resources and support middle class parents provided , could get into trouble for not completing it .", "`` I think it sets up a cycle of resistance to school because they do n't have access to the cultural and emotional and learning support which middle-class children can get . ''", "The motion also says many children appear `` unhappy and anxious '' .", "`` Children should be able to explore , experiment and enjoy their learning without feeling pressurised , '' it adds .", "`` Homework has become an increasing pressure placed on children in primary and secondary schools . ''", "The motion wants ministers to `` scrap compulsory homework for primary-aged children and to limit the amount of time allocated to compulsory homework at secondary level '' .", "` Most are happy '", "A spokesman for the Department for Children , Schools and Families said homework was not compulsory but it encouraged teachers to set children work to do at outside the classroom .", "`` We have clear guidance for teachers on their legal entitlement to set homework .", "`` A good , well-organised homework programme helps children and young people to develop the skills and attitudes they will need for successful , independent , lifelong learning .", "`` Research shows that for most children , 2008 is a great time to be a child .", "Most children are happy , most are achieving to a higher level than ever before , enjoying better health , more opportunities to travel , to engage in sport or cultural activities than was the case for any previous generation . ''", "The government has a new Children 's Plan for England - underpinned by a study of parents which said they felt there was something fundamentally wrong with modern childhood .", "What are these ?"], "_citing_sentence": "Teachers in Britain fear that poor children, because they lack the support to do their homework, will be turned off school .", "_claim_name": "Homework puts students off learning", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Teachers call for ban on homework", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 10, 11]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Get unlimited access to all of our learning resources .", "Every school day brings something new , but there is one status quo most parents expect : homework .", "The old adage that practice makes perfect seems to make sense when it comes to schoolwork .", "But , while hunkering down after dinner among books and worksheets might seem like a natural part of childhood , there 's more research now than ever suggesting that it should n't be so.", "Many in the education field today are looking for evidence to support the case for homework , but are coming up empty-handed .", "`` Homework is all pain and no gain , '' says author Alfie Kohn .", "In his book The Homework Myth , Kohn points out that no study has ever found a correlation between homework and academic achievement in elementary school , and there is little reason to believe that homework is necessary in high school .", "In fact , it may even diminish interest in learning , says Kohn .", "If you 've ever had a late night argument with your child about completing homework , you probably know first-hand that homework can be a strain on families .", "In an effort to reduce that stress , a growing number of schools are banning homework .", "Mary Jane Cera is the academic administrator for the Kino School , a private , nonprofit K-12 school in Tucson , Arizona , which maintains a no-homework policy across all grades .", "The purpose of the policy is to make sure learning remains a joy for students , not a second shift of work that impedes social time and creative activity .", "Cera says that when new students are told there will be no homework assignments , they breathe a sigh of relief .", "Many proponents of homework argue that life is filled with things we do n't like to do , and that homework teaches self-discipline , time management and other nonacademic life skills .", "Kohn challenges this popular notion : If kids have no choice in the matter of homework , they 're not really exercising judgment , and are instead losing their sense of autonomy .", "At the Kino school , Cera says children often choose to take their favorite parts of school home .", "`` A lot of what we see kids doing is continuing to write in journals , practicing music with their friends , and taking experiments home to show their parents , '' she says .", "Anecdotal information from Kino graduates suggests that the early control over their education continues to serve them well into college ; they feel better equipped to manage their time and approach professors with questions .", "One of the reasons that we continue to dole out mountains of homework , Kohn says , is our obsession with standardized tests .", "This concern is especially relevant with the latest Program for International Student Assessment ( PISA ) results placing American students 25th in math and 21st in science .", "`` The standards and accountability craze that has our students in its grip argues for getting tougher with children , making them do more mindless worksheets at earlier ages so that we can score higher in international assessments , '' Kohn says .", "`` It 's not about learning ; it 's about winning . ''", "Even if we can agree on the importance of kids doing better on tests like PISA , Kohn says , there is no research to suggest that homework is our ticket to success .", "Our `` competitors '' in the global marketplace are coming up with the same conclusions about homework .", "A recent comparative study of kids in China , Japan and two U.S. cities shows there is no correlation between time spent on studying and academic achievement .", "How Much Is Too Much ?", "So , what 's the solution ?", "The National Parent Teacher Association suggests children in kindergarten through second grade should do homework for no more than 10 to 20 minutes a day , and for third through sixth graders the limit is 30-60 minutes a day .", "Kohn says the question is n't just , `` How much homework is too much ? ''", "Many parents would be delighted if teachers reduced the amount their children are getting , but he says the quality of those assignments needs to be addressed as well .", "`` Some of this stuff is n't worth two minutes of their children 's time , '' he says .", "Kohn believes that the `` default '' setting for schools should be no homework , but that if evening work was assigned on occasion , it better be for a good reason .", "That means repetitive practice problems from 500-page textbooks get tossed out the window .", "Instead , Kohn says parents should be asking two fundamental questions :", "Does this assignment make kids more excited about the topic and learning in general ?", "Does this assignment help kids to think more deeply about questions that matter ?", "What You Can Do", "For parents who want to probe deeper into the quality of homework their child is getting , Kohn says the first step is to check the school 's policy .", "In the case where poorly designed homework is being given , it 's time to talk to the teacher , sit down with the principal , write a letter to the editor , and/or speak up at the next school board meeting .", "`` It makes sense to do this with other parents , '' he says .", "`` Ten parents saying that homework does more harm than good are hard to ignore . ''", "Wherever the homework debate goes next , be it the front pages or on the back burner , it 's worth taking a moment to examine if we 're asking the right questions about our children 's education .", "The good news is , it 's never too late to start ."], "_citing_sentence": "As Alfie Kohn notes, no study has ever found a link between homework and better tests results in elementary school, and there is no reason to believe it is necessary in high school.", "_claim_name": "Homework has little educational worth, and therefore is a waste of students' time", "_doc_title": "The Homework Debate | Education.com", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["IF YOU think love is dead , this hilariously poetic note a fifth grader received from her crush may restore your faith in romance .", "Get the tissues ready .", "THE mum of murdered teacher Stephanie Scott thinks crucial signs were missed that could have prevented the crime .", "MIKE Baird 's backdowns are expected to continue with the NSW Premier reportedly preparing to overhaul the state 's tough lockout laws .", "TWO women have been rushed to hospital in a serious condition after a heavy metal gate at a building site in central Adelaide fell off its hinges and pinned them to the ground .", "BALI prosecutors have confirmed that Aussie mum Sara Connor will face murder charges alongside her British boyfriend when the case comes to court next month .", "AN ELDERLY man has died after being struck by a car driven by his wife in their driveway in a shocking incident overheard by horrified neighbours .", "CHILLING audio played in court has left no question that Warriena Wright was in fear for her life in her final moments .", "NINETEEN passengers were injured when a SuperCat ferry smashed into a wharf in Sydney 's Circular Quay yesterday .", "So what went wrong ?", "RUDE students , parents who `` think they know better '' and the never-ending amounts of marking are driving the state 's teachers crazy .", "Teachers say long hours and little pay are just two aspects of what makes the job difficult .", "They crave higher staff morale , more respect from students and parents , and they want fun put back into teaching with less pressure on them to follow curriculum content .", "Teachers say homework marking can result in four extra hours of work a day and they are rarely rewarded for their commitment .", "A Liverpool Catholic High School teacher , who has been teaching for 12 years said students `` get away with murder '' and many schools lacked strong discipline policies that discouraged bad behaviour .", "`` Students do n't respect anyone these days , including themselves , '' she said .", "`` They are rude and disrespectful , and they do n't care about getting caught as there are really no consequences . ''", "The amount of curriculum content they were expected to teach was also taking its toll .", "Several teachers told The Sunday Telegraph they found it `` overwhelming '' and it left them with little time to plan `` fun and exciting '' lessons to engage students .", "`` Too much to teach , too little time , nothing done properly , '' a Bossley Park primary school teacher , who has been teaching for six years , said .", "`` Spending your lunchtimes on the phone to concerned parents , photocopying , preparing lessons ( all the while we 're ) trying to eat a bread-roll , '' a Kogarah primary school teacher said .", "`` That 's if you 're not in the playground looking after a student with a bleeding nose , or another who has lost their lunch order . ''", "An Epping primary school teacher , with more than 20 years ' experience , said that rude parents were part and parcel of the job .", "`` Parents sometimes forget we want the best for their children too , '' she said .", "`` This is why we devote so much of our personal time . ''", "Numerous teachers said they were disappointed by the lack of passion within the industry and students deserved better educators .", "`` We need more competent and passionate teachers - people who actually want to be there to help and develop our kids , '' a 30-year-old high school teacher from Tamworth said .", "Contributing to the unhappiness is teachers ' belief that their hard work is not appreciated by the community ."], "_citing_sentence": "Australian teachers have complained that 'homework marking can result in four extra hours of work a day and they are rarely rewarded for their effort'.", "_claim_name": "Marking homework reduces the amount of time teachers have to prepare good lessons", "_doc_title": "Teachers want more respect", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13]}, {"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["A comprehensive review of academic performance around the world gives bad marks to excessive homework .", "Teachers in Japan , the Czech Republic and Denmark assign relatively little homework , yet students there score well , researchers said this week .", "`` At the other end of the spectrum , countries with very low average scores -- Thailand , Greece , Iran -- have teachers who assign a great deal of homework , '' says Penn State researcher David Baker .", "`` American students appear to do as much homework as their peers overseas -- if not more -- but still only score around the international average , '' said co-researcher Gerald LeTendre .", "Baker and LeTendre examined the Third International Study of Mathematics and Sciences ( TIMSS ) , which in 1994 collected data from schools in 41 nations on performance in grades 4 , 8 and 12 .", "Additional similar data from 1999 was factored in .", "The homework burden is especially problematic in poorer households , where parents may not have the time or inclination to provide an environment conducive to good study habits , the researchers conclude .", "In particular , drills designed to improve memorization may not be suited to many homes .", "`` An unintended consequence may be that those children who need extra work and drill the most are the ones least likely to get it , '' Baker said .", "`` Increasing homework loads is likely to aggravate tensions within the family , thereby generating more inequality and eroding the quality of overall education . ''", "The findings are detailed in a new book , `` National Differences , Global Similarities : World Culture and the Future of Schooling '' ( Stanford University Press ) .", "In the early 1980s , U.S. teachers began assigning more homework , the researchers say .", "The shift was in response to mediocre performance in comparison to Japanese students .", "At the same time , the trend was going the other way in Japanese schools .", "The new study found U.S. math teachers assigned more than two hours of homework a week in 1994-95 , while in Japan the figure was about one hour per week .", "`` Undue focus on homework as a national quick-fix , rather than a focus on issues of instructional quality and equity of access to opportunity to learn , may lead a country into wasted expenditures of time and energy , '' LeTendre says .", "The homework burden might also affect performance among children of higher-income parents .", "`` Parents are extremely busy with work and household chores , not to mention chauffeuring young people to various extracurricular activities , athletic and otherwise , '' LeTendre said .", "`` Parents might sometimes see exercises in drill and memorization as intrusions into family time . ''", "Rob was a writer and editor at Space.com starting in 1999 .", "He served as managing editor of Live Science at its launch in 2004 .", "He is now Chief Content Officer overseeing media properties for the sites ' parent company , Purch .", "Prior to joining the company , Rob was an editor at The Star-Ledger in New Jersey , and in 1998 he was founder and editor of the science news website ExploreZone .", "He has a journalism degree from Humboldt State University in California ."], "_citing_sentence": "International comparisons of older students have found no positive relationship between the amount of homework set and average test scores - students in Japan and Denmark get little homework but score very well on tests.", "_claim_name": "Homework has little educational worth, and therefore is a waste of students' time", "_doc_title": "Too Much Homework = Lower Test Scores", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Christina Harris does n't believe kindergartners should have homework .", "So at the beginning of her son 's kindergarten year , she flat-out told the teacher he would n't be doing any .", "`` I do n't believe that there 's any use for it , '' said Harris , of Federal Way , Wash. `` I think that 's a complete waste of childhood . ''", "A grassroots parents movement has taken hold in recent years calling for less -- or at least better -- homework .", "Books like `` The Case Against Homework '' ( Crown , 2006 ) and `` The Homework Myth '' ( Da Capo , 2007 ) have argued that too much of today 's homework is mindless busywork that takes away from family time and does not improve academic performance .", "Homework 's critics argue that kids should instead be reading for enjoyment , exploring and being creative .", "Many school officials are taking note .", "But how much homework is too much ?", "One standard that many school districts are turning to is the `` 10-minute rule '' created by Duke University psychology professor Harris Cooper .", "The rule , endorsed by the National PTA and the National Education Association , says kids should get 10 minutes of homework a night per grade .", "A first grader would have 10 minutes of homework each night ; a fifth grader 50 minutes .", "Cooper said the amount of homework in America actually has n't changed that much over the past 50 years except that there has been an increase in the amount given in the early grades .", "Attitudes towards homework go in cycles , he said .", "After the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957 , he says , there was a drive toward more homework because it was thought that the United States was falling behind .", "The same happened in the mid - '80s , and again in recent years .", "If a child is doing homework effectively but it seems to be taking too long , Cooper suggests that parents approach the teacher in a non-confrontational way , as a collaborator in the education process .", "Kerry Dickinson , a Danville , Calif. , mom of two , took that advice a step further .", "She asked other parents what they thought about homework , then she and a friend met with the school district 's director of curriculum and instruction .", "She got a call days later saying the San Ramon Valley Unified School District was forming a task force to rewrite homework policy .", "Last year , the district implemented a new policy , adapting Cooper 's formula , for kindergarten through eighth grade .", "A new high school policy will take effect in the fall .", "Rates of women who are opting for preventive mastectomies , such as Angeline Jolie , have increased by an estimated 50 percent in recent years , experts say .", "But many doctors are puzzled because the operation does n't carry a 100 percent guarantee , it 's major surgery -- and women have other options , from a once-a-day pill to careful monitoring .", "`` I think what I 'm most happy about is this dialogue has started in this community about rethinking accepted homework practices , '' she said .", "`` That 's the most important thing , that we do n't always accept the status quo in education . ''", "Some Danville parents , however , thought the old homework policy was fine .", "Mary Grace Houlihan , who has two teenagers , says attempts to limit homework can amount to lazy parenting : `` At what point do you start saying , whoa , I decided to be a parent and learning does n't stop at 3 o'clock ? ''", "In her home , she said , homework often turns into a family discussion .", "Learning outside the classroom is necessary for students to be accepted into major universities , says Houlihan , whose daughter was just accepted to Princeton .", "Cooper 's research found that practice-style assignments in elementary school , such as learning number places and vocabulary , do help improve unit test scores , but found little or no connection between the amount of time spent on homework and academic achievement .", "Homework does help secondary students overall and on tests , he said .", "Other places that have wrestled with the homework question recently include Broward County , Fla. , where the school board recently approved the 10-minute rule , and urged teachers to assign academically challenging work , but not too much .", "An elementary school in Glenrock , Wyo. , implemented a no-homework practice in fall 2007 .", "In Vermont , the Colchester School District now makes homework count for only 10 percent of a grade , instead of the previous 40 percent .", "And no longer are kids kept in from recess if they do n't do their homework .", "`` It helped us really define what our purpose is , '' said Gwen Carmolli , Colchester 's director of curriculum and instruction .", "`` Our purpose is to help students understand the concepts they 're learning at school .", "But we should n't give homework just to give it . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "In America, they encourage the '10 minute rule', 10 minutes homework for every grade, meaning that high-school students are all doing more than an hour's worth of homework each night.", "_claim_name": "Homework reduces the amount of time for students to do other activities", "_doc_title": "How much homework is too much? - Health - Children's health | NBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9, 10]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 87, "_topic_name": "This House would ban homework"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 1 July 2010 02.30 EDT", "Last modified on Friday 2 July 2010 06.02 EDT", "From 2001 to 2008 , Kirk Reid committed 71 sexual assaults on women .", "Police face the sack after this week 's Independent Police Complaints Commission report into their failure to catch him .", "But his crimes should have been halted as early as 1996 , when he was first brought to trial for a vicious attack on a lone woman in a dark alley and wrongfully acquitted .", "I say that because I was on his jury .", "His victim testified with obvious sincerity that Reid had attacked her as she passed him in a narrow lane , violently penetrating her vaginally with his fingers .", "She fought back and gave chase .", "Reid then suffered his only piece of bad luck -- he ran into the arms of a policeman .", "Hilaire Belloc described a jury as 12 people summoned at random to decide who has the better lawyer .", "Regrettably , it was true in this case .", "The prosecution barrister plodded through the evidence .", "He made no final speech .", "said my fellow jurors , before we retired to consider our verdict , `` even the prosecutor does not believe in his own case . ''", "In fact , the CPS guidelines stated that barristers were not obliged to make final speeches in short cases -- a rule not explained to jurors and which was completely misunderstood .", "In this country , absurdly , it 's a crime for jurors ever to talk about what goes on in the jury room , so prosecutors never realise the psychological impact conduct such as this can have in undermining their case .", "The defence barrister , on the other hand , was shrewd and persuasive .", "He insinuated that the victim was unstable and probably a man-hater .", "Reid was a black man victimised by a racist society and by a xenophobic police force .", "To me , one of only two women on the jury , Reid 's defence was absurd -- the notion that this young woman of good character , rushing back to work after her busy lunch hour , would randomly condemn a stranger by a false accusation , was impossible to believe .", "Juries look to the judge for guidance .", "Judge Gee , looming over us with pompous disdain , decreed that there was no DNA evidence .", "He did not remind us that the woman 's testimony was evidence enough .", "He appeared to instruct us that any conviction might be unsafe .", "Our jury room movie would have been called One Angry Woman and 11 Irritated People Who Want Lunch .", "Jury secrecy laws forbid me from saying more than that the judge 's instructions must have reverberated in the minds of my fellow jurors .", "When Reid was found `` not guilty '' , the young victim looked at the jury in dismayed disbelief .", "She had faced her attacker in court , only to be publicly discredited .", "I was determined to let her know that the verdict did not mean she had been disbelieved .", "I tracked down her address and wrote praising her bravery .", "The letter I received back was harrowing .", "When Reid was acquitted , the young woman was crushed , emotionally distraught and frightened of reprisals .", "She was comforted by the fact that someone believed her .", "Reid went on to assault large numbers of women in the same way , raping several of them .", "But the police are not the only ones to blame .", "Not only was the CPS tactically inept , but why was a man like Judge Gee -- formerly a commercial solicitor -- appointed to the criminal court ?", "( He was later arrested for mortgage fraud .", "His own jury failed to agree . )", "The unfair dynamics of adversary trial and savage cuts to the CPS budget will bring more wrongful acquittals for the likes of Kirk Reid .", "Censorship imposed by section 8 of the contempt act means that lawyers and judges will never understand how the language they use misleads juries .", "An estimated 50,000 women are raped each year in Britain .", "The way sexual assault cases are handled remains on trial ."], "_citing_sentence": "Not only did his victim lose all sense of hope in the justice system - she had faced her attacked and been discredited - but one of the jurors at the trial who believed that he was guilty went on to criticise the justice system itself.", "_claim_name": "The current system is unfairly weighted in favour of criminals.", "_doc_title": "For sexual assault, justice is on trial | Kathy Lette | Opinion | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [27, 35, 38]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Juror jailed for researching the case she was on and telling the rest of the jury information they did not know .", "The Divisional Court , headed by the Lord Chief Justice , has found a juror whose internet research caused a trial to collapse guilty of common law contempt , following a case brought by the Attorney General , Dominic Grieve QC MP .", "Theodora Dallas was a juror in a case at Luton Crown Court in July , 2011 .", "The High Court heard that she disobeyed several orders not to conduct research on the internet and then told her fellow jurors about a previous charge against the defendant which they had been unaware of .", "The case she was trying was discharged and a retrial ordered .", "Mr Grieve said : I take no pleasure in bringing such cases but they send an important message .", "By her action Ms Dallas halted a trial which was near completion and aside from the financial implications , her actions resulted in the victim in the case being forced to return to court and give evidence for a second time .", "There can be little doubt that repeated warnings were given to Ms Dallas and her fellow jurors as to the prohibition on conducting research into the case which they were trying .", "Only 3 weeks earlier the Solicitor General prosecuted juror Joanne Fraill for discussing a trial on Facebook ; a case mentioned by the Judge in his directions to the jury .", "Before the trial started the potential jurors had been given verbal instructions from the court 's Jury Officer not to research their cases on the internet , or any of the individuals involved in the trial .", "Notice boards in the jury waiting room gave similar warnings and the trial judge also reminded them of the Fraill case .", "The trial related to Barry Medlock , charged with 2 co-defendants with causing grievous bodily harm with intent , contrary to section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 .", "The allegation was that over an extended period of time he and the co-defendants tortured the victim , beat him with various objects , set him alight and poured caustic soda with boiling water over him .", "The victim was scarred for life .", "The 2 co-defendants pleaded guilty , and Medlock was tried alone , starting on 4 July 2011 .", "Details of a previous conviction for Actual Bodily Harm were allowed to be adduced in evidence under Bad Character provisions .", "However , on the third day of the trial another juror reported that Ms Dallas had been on the internet , found that the defendant and his accomplice had also been previously charged with rape ( Medlock was acquitted ) , and had told the other jurors , despite being asked to stop .", "Ms Dallas denied that she had deliberately conducted research and had understood the directions only related to Facebook .", "The Attorney submitted that she , deliberately and in breach of instructions given by the jury officer , a warning contained in a written notice , her jury oath or affirmation and directions given by the trial judge , ( a ) conducted internet research on the case she was trying , and thereby obtained extraneous information about the case , and ( b ) imparted that extraneous information to other members of the jury whilst the jury were in deliberation ."], "_citing_sentence": "There have been some cases where jurors search the internet to find the backgrounds to their cases, despite the fact that this is not allowed.", "_claim_name": "Jurors are already aware of information which might 'bias' their verdict.", "_doc_title": "Juror convicted for internet research  - Announcements - GOV.UK", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["by DAVID HUGHES , Daily Mail", "Sex offenders and violent criminals face the toughest sentencing crackdown in decades under plans to be unveiled by David Blunkett today .", "The most dangerous convicts will lose any right to remission and have to serve 100 per cent of their sentences .", "When they are released , they will be kept under close supervision for up to ten years - and sent straight back inside if they re-offend .", "The Home Secretary says that for imprisonment to be credible both to criminals and the law-abiding public ' a sentence should mean just what it says ' .", "Mr Blunkett also plans to change the law to force judges and magistrates to take a criminal 's previous convictions into account when passing sentence .", "There is currently no such requirement .", "The Home Secretary wants to set up a ` custody plus ' system which would ensure tight supervision for everyone released from prison .", "` The message to thugs would be clear : Stay straight or go straight back to jail , ' Mr Blunkett says .", "His tough approach follows a year-long review of sentencing policy , by Home Office civil servant John Halliday , which seeks to end the chaos of the current system .", "The Home Secretary is determined to use the review to end the scandal of hardened criminals being released years before the end of their sentences and without any checks on their behaviour .", "He is convinced the failure of courts to make punishment fit the crime has led to a public crisis of confidence in the judicial system .", "He also knows that the police are frustrated by the failure of the courts to impose effective sentences .", "Mr Blunkett intervened personally to toughen up the Halliday proposals for serious sex offenders .", "Under existing laws , passed a decade ago , serious violent and sex offenders are automatically released from prison after serving two-thirds of their sentences - regardless of whether they show any contrition or signs of rehabilitation .", "The only way they can lose this right is if they commit offences when they are in prison .", "Mr Blunkett is determined to bring this to an end .", "He says : ' I believe that , if the parole board decide it 's necessary , such offenders should stay behind bars for the whole of their sentence - and then be closely supervised for years after their release . '", "For example , a rapist who is sentenced to 15 years - and would currently serve only ten - would remain locked up for the full term and then be supervised outside prison for up to ten years .", "Mr Blunkett wants to extend the concept of post-prison supervision to all offenders .", "Under the ` custody plus ' scheme no offender would be set free without being under some kind of treatment or supervision .", "The Home Secretary also wants to introduce radical proposals to try to nip criminal behaviour in the bud .", "He has been impressed by anti-social behaviour contracts that have been set up in some inner-city estates .", "The informal contracts are drawn up between tearaways , local residents , the local authority , and the police .", "The youngsters are under pressure to behave by the threat of the loss of tenancy for their families .", "` Mr Blunkett is taken by the self-help aspects of these contracts , ' a Home Office source said .", "The Home Secretary is also unhappy at the prevalence of short sentences of a month or two .", "Experts say they do little to deter young offenders .", "In their place he wants ` highly structured and tough ' community punishments .", "They could feature reparation - for example , a vandal might be made to clean up graffiti or repair park benches .", "Someone who re-offends while serving a community sentence will face custody .", "` Our criminal justice system has lost the confidence of the public , ' Mr Blunkett says .", "` Victims , the public and police are frustrated and angered by the failure of the criminal justice system to deliver sentences that ensure public safety and help cut crime . '", "Under current rules serious criminals become eligible for release on parole after serving just half their sentences .", "Even if they are denied parole because they are judged too dangerous , they will be automatically released after completing two-thirds of their sentence ."], "_citing_sentence": "A higher conviction rate, informed by the knowledge of previous offences, helps to reach justice for these victims and their families, as well as promoting justice and the safety of the general public who find it frustrating that so many dangerous offenders are released without appropriate conviction.", "_claim_name": "The current system is unfairly weighted in favour of criminals.", "_doc_title": "Sex offenders to lose right to get out of jail early | Daily Mail Online", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 5]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["A YEAR ago , a consultant gynaecologist was acquitted at Preston Crown Court of raping a 38-year-old patient under hypnosis .", "Minutes after giving its verdict , the jury was horrified to learn that he was serving a six-year prison sentence for a series of indecent assaults on nine female patients , also under hypnosis .", "His angry victim declared that she had been `` raped again '' , this time by the law .", "When Parliament goes back to work next week , the most important piece of legislation facing it will be the Criminal Justice Bill .", "The government describes this mammoth piece of legislation , spanning 293 pages and 26 schedules , as the most radical shake-up of the criminal justice system in decades .", "It aims to `` redress the balance of the law in favour of victims '' .", "It is also exceedingly controversial .", "Those lining up against it include Lord Woolf , the Lord Chief Justice ( top judge ) , the Bar Council ( the barristers ' trade union ) , opposition parties and civil liberties groups .", "The most contentious part of the bill is the proposal to allow juries to be told of a defendant 's criminal record .", "In Britain , as in most other English-speaking jurisdictions including America , Canada , Australia and New Zealand , previous convictions can not be used in evidence , on the grounds that juries should evaluate a case on its own merits , and that knowledge of previous offences would prejudice the outcome of a trial .", "In Britain , exceptions are made when the facts of the case are so `` strikingly similar '' that the value of the evidence outweighs any prejudicial effect , and when a defendant attacks a prosecution witness or falsely claims to be of good character .", "Different judges interpret these provisions in very different ways .", "If the new bill becomes law , there will be a presumption that juries should be told of past misconduct unless the court determines that `` its prejudicial effect exceeds its probative value '' .", "But it is not just previous convictions that the bill proposes should be admissible as evidence .", "Acquittals and other past conduct are also included .", "So a jury might be told that a defendant was sexually attracted to children , even if he had never been charged , let alone tried , for paedophilia .", "If the government wants more people banged up , the bill seems likely to achieve that .", "In 1995 the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies published the results of some work using mock juries on the effect of revealing previous convictions on juries ' likelihood to convict .", "The study found that a jury was 50 % more likely to convict if it was told that the defendant had a conviction for a similar previous offence than if it was given no information .", "The effect was most noticeable in sexual offences .", "A follow-up study found that magistrates were also more inclined to convict if they knew about previous convictions .", "As the Law Commission noted : `` These findings are not easy to reconcile with the view that lay justices ( and , by inference , real jurors ) are not susceptible to prejudice . ''", "But more convictions do not necessarily mean more justice .", "Critics fear that the new disclosure rules will encourage police to round up the usual suspects .", "`` The worrying thing is that it will not just cause miscarriages of justice , it will also cause investigations to be skewed , '' says Peter Rook , chairman of the Criminal Bar Association .", "The home secretary , David Blunkett , has sought to justify the proposal on the grounds that `` only a fifth of crimes reported to the police result in a conviction and public confidence in justice being done is at an all-time low '' .", "But that is not because the courts are failing .", "It is because the police solve only a quarter of crimes .", "In the cases that do go to court , 95 % of defendants in magistrates ' courts plead guilty , as do 74 % in Crown Courts .", "Tilting the balance of justice in favour of the victim will thus have only a marginal impact on crime , and by undermining a fundamental principle of the law -- the presumption of innocence -- it may well weaken public confidence in the system .", "There is no justice in hanging a dog for its bad name .", "From the print edition : Britain", "America has few options in the face of North Korean bomb-making .", "Which holds lessons for Iraq", "Criticism of America is inevitable and even healthy -- but do n't let it get out of hand", "Better to control and regulate human cloning than to try to ban it", "To succeed in the years ahead , business leaders need new strategies , both inside and outside their ...", "George Bush can not rely on the new Republican-controlled Senate to do everything he wants", "The city that never sleeps may soon be the city that never smokes", "Some nasty numbers on the west coast", "A revolutionary new packing plant had everything , save business sense", "North Korea and Iraq dramatise the dangers of America 's reckless new foreign policy .", "The new president faces a difficult Congress , wary investors and popular hunger for change", "President Ch\u00e1vez is clinging on -- but at a terrible cost to his country", "Embargo or not , the United States is now Fidel Castro 's economic partner", "Can Chile 's new trade agreements revive its flagging economic growth ?", "Is America 's insouciance just a front ?", "Roh Moo-hyun already has problems", "President Arroyo to bow out", "The release of a prominent dissident does not presage more dissent", "An Islamist wave of anti-American anger is sweeping in random victims", "At this time of phoney war", "But a tough and sullen electorate has no patience with the dovecotes", "And goodbye and good riddance to ( most of ) the old lot", "Despite a political impasse in Serbia , the Balkans are still a lot calmer than before", "France is twitchier than other countries about home-grown Islamic terror", "Russia 's insistence that it can bring calm to Chechnya rings hollower than ever", "Greece 's leader has high hopes for its EU presidency but faces big problems", "The European Union 's institutional dynamism is marred by its economic sloth", "Why wo n't the British deal with the government online ?", "Mixing politics and sport produces a nasty reaction", "Lessons in game theory from Scotland 's new cluster", "For the desperate Tory leadership , the `` tipping point '' is an idea whose time has come", "Some values are held in common by America and its allies .", "As three studies show , many others are not ...", "Emigr\u00e9s have long sought to bring pressure to bear on governments in their adopted countries .", "The world 's car companies are betting on a surge in sales of super-luxury vehicles .", "It is a huge ...", "A certification process is launched", "How fast will American firms reduce their excessive borrowing ?", "Expectations are low for Japan 's new Industrial Revitalisation Corporation", "A new investigation finds no smoking gun", "Good news for the grand circle", "All may be plain sailing for Larry Ellison 's yacht in the America 's Cup .", "Less so for his Oracle ...", "Shares have had their worst year for decades .", "Interest rates are close to record lows .", "The euro is quietly making a comeback", "Why such a sweetheart deal should have investors howling for blood", "Legal and other hindrances to the clear-up of a region 's bad loans", "France 's biggest reinsurer has been thrown a lifeline", "Claims that a human has been cloned must now be backed up by solid evidence It might be better to identify species by number , not name", "Practical quantum computers are another step closer", "Taking the heat out of gynaecological examinations", "A popular British stage director leaves for the United States on a high note", "James Alan Ferman , film censor , died on December 24th , aged 72", "Virginia veep : Hillary Clinton chooses Tim Kaine as her running mate", "Democracy in America 2 hrs 32 mins ago", "Terrorism in Europe : A mass shooting in Munich", "Wheels of justice : Christine Lagarde must face trial on charges of ...", "Daily chart : Measuring well-being", "Sci-fi films : `` Star Trek : Beyond '' strips politics from the universe", "Special : `` The world if ... '' International", "The man who would be king : Donald Trump 's coronation"], "_citing_sentence": "At present in Britain, some previous convictions may be disclosed if they bear a striking resemblance to the case at trial, if the defendant falsely claims to be of good character, or if they attack the character of a prosecution witness.", "_claim_name": "Occasional disclosure of convictions leads to an inconsistent justice system.", "_doc_title": "Tilting the balance | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [10]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 88, "_topic_name": "This House would disclose previous convictions in court"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"], ["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["It is believed to be the first time a link has been found with dancing for pleasure as a child and such problems .", "The researchers said the study suggests `` participation in dance as a young girl has a long term effect on a woman 's eating behaviour '' .", "The study , by the University of Minnesota , is published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research .", "Once youngsters become aware of how they look it can become quite a consuming interest .", "Previous studies have found eating disorders are more common in professional ballet dancers , as well as elite athletes .", "Eating disorders are a serious problem in the UK .", "It is estimated that at least 165,000 people , mostly women , are affected and that one in 10 will die as a result of their condition .", "Both anorexia , which involves starving the body of food and bulimia , a cycle of starving and bingeing , are closely linked to mental illness .", "They now account for more deaths among psychiatric patients than anything else .", "Media images of super thin models and pop stars are thought to be a major influence on youngsters ' eating habits .", "Obsessed by appearance", "The desire for a perfect body can mean some lose control of their eating habits and become preoccupied with their appearance .", "To see if there was any connection between childhood dance and adult eating , researchers recruited 546 women aged from 17 to 55 .", "Each one was quizzed on whether they had danced in childhood .", "They also completed special questionnaires designed to measure disordered eating behaviours , body image and signs of depression .", "Just under two-thirds of the women said they had danced when they were children .", "The results showed dancers displayed more bulimic behaviour , were more worried about their weight and had greater desire for perfect looks .", "`` Although there were no significant differences between dancers and non-dancers on current body mass index , results showed dancers had a smaller ideal , or preferred , body mass , '' the researchers said .", "Steve Bloomfield , spokesman for the Eating Disorders Association , said it was aware that children in certain areas of dance , particularly ballet , are put under considerable pressure to be thin and have the perfect figure .", "Last year , the association produced a booklet called `` Your Body Your Risk '' , aimed specifically at educating young dancers on the risk of developing eating disorders .", "`` What some people consider to be the perfect weight for a ballet dancer is right on the edge of the danger zone for being anorexic , '' said Mr Bloomfield .", "`` Once youngsters become aware of how they look it can become quite a consuming interest . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "It has been found, for example, that girls who dance in their childhood are more likely than their peers to develop anorexia nervosa in later life.", "_claim_name": "Being a performer can make the child physically vulnerable", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Health | Anorexia linked to child dancers", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 4, 16]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Tuesday 18 March 2008 09.39 EDT", "Self-harm , anorexia , aggression and bullying are the results of increasing childhood stress , according to a survey published today by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers ( ATL ) .", "Nearly three-quarters ( 73 % ) of the 804 teachers and lecturers believe children are under more pressure now than 10 years ago , with testing and exams , and family break-up causing the most distress .", "Delegates at the ATL 's annual conference in Torquay expressed concern at the increasing number of pupils across the UK who have killed themselves due to academic , social and peer pressure .", "They urged the union to demand ministers co-ordinate work on suicide prevention and develop robust programmes for all schools .", "John Harkin , headteacher of Oakgrove integrated college in Londonderry , said between 600 and 800 15 - to 24-year-olds killed themselves each year - `` equivalent to the population of a small secondary school '' .", "He called the current suicide prevention strategy `` piecemeal '' and said mental health care was not available in all schools .", "`` Full access to mental health services is needed in all our schools not just the few ... it 's like treating cancer with aspirin , '' he said .", "Today 's ATL survey found that while most children release the pressure by crying or becoming withdrawn , 46 % of teachers reported that pupils self-harm .", "Some have developed eating disorders , with 18 secondary teachers and two primary teachers commenting that there are increasing numbers of anorexia cases in their schools .", "A secondary school teacher in Berkshire said : `` Self-harm seems to be a growing problem .", "In my first 30 years of teaching I was aware of only one case .", "In the last eight years , there have been at least 10 cases .", "The youngest pupil I know is 14 years old .", "`` Pupils cut their arms and even their stomachs .", "It 's not just girls , but boys too .", "Some say that if they hurt themselves in other ways , then they do n't hurt so much from what 's really causing the pain .", "I also know three or four cases of anorexia in the school brought on by stress . ''", "Other manifestations of stress include : crying ( reported by 76 % of respondents ) ; withdrawal ( 70 % ) ; aggression against other pupils ( 68 % ) ; verbal abuse ( 64 % ) ; bullying other pupils ( 53 % ) ; and fighting ( 48 % ) .", "Most teachers ( 89 % ) think stress comes from testing and exams , with family break-ups ( 68 % ) and peer and family pressure to do well ( 51 % ) also the main causes of problems .", "The recent phenomenon of cyber-bullying as a cause of stress was highlighted by 38 % of teachers , compared to physical or verbal bullying ( 26 % ) .", "Phil Walley , of Hardenhuish school in Wiltshire , said social dysfunction had potentially disastrous effects on pupils ' education achievement .", "He said : `` Those who underachieve in their education are much more likely to go on and live dysfunctional lives and be unable to support a stable family life for their own children .", "`` As a society we are in danger of creating an expanding , perpetuating and toxic circle .", "If we are not careful we could reach that crossover point where no matter how hard schools and teachers try , they will not be able to overcome the negative impact of broken and dysfunctional families . ''", "According to ATL 's survey , 72 % of teachers said their school has a policy to identify pupils with problems , and 74 % have a counsellor .", "But only 18 % of teachers thought support services were well co-ordinated .", "A secondary school teacher from Bristol said : `` I am dealing with three pupils at the moment with mental health issues and many more face stress , mainly from family dysfunction and exam pressure , with pupils showing signs of withdrawal and inability to learn . ''", "Mary Bousted , general secretary of ATL , said : `` The recent shocking spate of teenage suicide has focused attention on children 's mental health and wellbeing .", "`` We believe that young people face intolerable strain from an education system which can not stand failure .", "From an early age , children face the pressure to perform in tests to boost their schools ' league tables .", "`` Then they take on parental demands to get into their choice of secondary school and later university .", "They are anxious to fit in with their peers , and then when they do n't fit in , are bullied via text , email and social networking sites . ''", "Local support services were `` alarmingly '' over-burdened and teachers were forced to `` pick up the slack '' , she said ."], "_citing_sentence": "Although suicide among children is rare, it is believed often to occur as a result of the child feeling like she is under too much pressure, or failing to meet the expectations of others.", "_claim_name": "It is unethical to expose children to the pressures of performing", "_doc_title": "Stress driving pupils to suicide, says union | Education | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 89, "_topic_name": "This House would ban child performers"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["reasoning", "factual"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Tom Kelly for the Daily Mail", "Updated : 06:16 EST , 23 December 2010 161", "Romania and Bulgaria are to be blocked from joining the EU 's borderless travel zone because of fears of an influx of organised criminals into western Europe .", "The eastern European states hoped to enter the passport-free Schengen zone in March , which would allow the free movement of their citizens between 25 EU countries .", "But France and Germany have urged the European Commission to postpone their inclusion indefinitely because of concerns about their failure to tackle corruption and organised crime since joining the EU three years ago .", "Visa-free : The Schengen Agreement , signed in 1985 , allows more than 400 million citizens to travel without border checks within the so-called Schengen Area", "Romania and Bulgaria have faced repeated criticism from the European Commission for their failure to deal with the problems .", "This has raised concerns about the countries ' ability to curb trafficking in people and drugs from eastern Europe to the west if they were allowed to join the Schengen zone .", "Thousands of illegal migrants from outside the EU would also be likely to sneak into Romania and Bulgaria and use the lack of checks once inside the zone to travel to the furthest parts of mainland western Europe .", "Britain and Ireland are not in the Schengen zone and have separate entry requirements .", "Checks : The Schengen Area covers 25 EU member states , as well as three non-EU members - Iceland , Norway and Switzerland", "Concerns : German minister Thomas de Maiziere ( left ) and Brice Hortefeux , France 's Interior Minister ( right ) , do n't believe Bulgaria and Romania should be allowed to enter the Schengen Area just yet", "French interior minister Brice Hortefeux and her German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere said in a letter to the European Commission : ` In our opinion it is still premature to envisage the entry into the Schengen zone in March 2011 . '", "They urged the EU to postpone any discussion of Schengen entry for the two states until they strengthen the ability of the judiciary and public administration to combat abuses .", "` Deficiencies ... would have serious consequences for the internal security of the European Union and each member state , ' the ministers wrote .", "Expelled : Hundreds of Roma gypsies were sent back to Bulgaria and Romania after France announced a hard-line policy", "Security concerns : Nicolas Sarkozy agreed with the foreign policy , worried about the Romas ' crime and dismantled hundreds of their shantytowns", "Angry : Romanian President Traian Basescu said : ` We wo n't accept discrimination from anyone , not even from the most powerful members of the European Union . '", "Tough line : French President Nicolas Sarkozy kicked out more than 1,000 Roma gypies earlier this year", "But Romanian president Traian Basescu criticised any attempt to impose new entry conditions on Bucharest .", "He said : ` We will not accept discrimination from anyone , not even from the EU 's most powerful states .", "` We must have the same conditions all the other states had that are also specified in the accession treaty .", "Introducing new conditions is against European law and it creates an unacceptable precedent . '", "Bulgarian interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov told reporters that the letter did not change Sofia 's plans to push ahead with technical preparations for joining the Schengen zone .", "Thousands of illegal immigrants have entered western Europe since the zone was extended in December 2007 to include Poland , the Czech Republic , Hungary , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Slovakia , Slovenia and Malta .", "Migrants slipped across the new eastern borders of the Schengen zone , many of them from Chechnya or from countries even farther east , such as Vietnam and India ."], "_citing_sentence": "This was the rationale behind the blocking of Romania and Bulgaria from entering the zone at the same time as they entered the EU; they failed to curb organised crime before their accession and if they were join access routes would be opened to the whole of Europe.This means that all countries are dependent on the security forces of countries monitoring external borders.", "_claim_name": "As the Schengen area gets bigger, it becomes more difficult to police and this increases the risk of rogue elements being able to move freely between countries", "_doc_title": "Germany & France block Bulgaria & Romania from visa-free travel zone | Daily Mail Online", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 4]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 90, "_topic_name": "This House would dissolve the Schengen Agreement"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Paul Harris , New York", "Saturday 26 April 2008 19.56 EDT", "Last modified on Monday 4 April 2016 22.48 EDT", "Jennifer Sey remembers exactly what it felt like to fly through the air , performing gravity-defying moves as a champion US gymnast .", "` It is a transcendent experience .", "Pushing your body like that ; it 's beyond human , ' she said .", "But Sey was also pushing her body - and mind - in disturbing ways far beyond her feats of athleticism .", "In a shocking new book , the former No. 1 gymnast in America has revealed the terrible regime of starvation and abuse that lay behind her achievements .", "Sey 's memoir has sent shock waves through the tightly knit world of top athletes , sparking controversy as the Beijing Olympics loom .", "She has detailed widespread eating disorders , coaches suspected of being sexually attracted to their young charges , and a brutal physical regime that leaves gymnasts crippled in later life and bearing psychological scars .", "She describes a sometimes hellish experience in which she ended up so obsessed with losing weight that she did not menstruate until she gave up gymnastics and turned 20 .", "She was so addicted to laxatives that she once soiled herself in public .", "And the physical brutalities of her training and injuries left her years later with premature arthritis and permanently bruised feet and other physical problems .", "Now she hopes her book , Chalked Up , might serve as both a wake-up call to a sport that she says she still loves and a lesson to parents whose children enter the world of top athletics .", "` My interest was not to write just an expos\u00e9 .", "This is my memoir of my experience ... but there are certain policies that could be put in place that might encourage better behaviours in the sport , ' she told The Observer", "Sey won admiring headlines across America after she won the US National title in 1986 .", "Her win had been all the more special as the year before she had suffered a horrific injury in a fall that snapped her femur .", "But just two years after her win , Sey went to college to pursue a non-sporting career .", "Now her book has explained that dramatic move .", "Her life as a competitive gymnast was one of seemingly unending competitive pressure that went far beyond the vault or the parallel bars .", "Most damaging was the constant pressure to lose weight put on the girls , many of whom were barely in their teens and often younger .", "Sey describes eating disorders being common and coaches humiliating their athletes by calling them fat .", "In one memorable scene a coach picks up a loudhailer and berates a young gymnast in public for putting on 2lb .", "` At this rate you 'll look like your mother in no time , ' the coach screams , as the mother watches in the crowd and does nothing to intervene .", "In another incident , Sey 's coach chastises her for eating a whole bagel for dinner .", "She also recounts filling coffee cups with spit every night to lose a few grams of ` water weight ' .", "She binges and purges food .", "Even now , two decades later , Sey still has nightmares about the ` weigh in ' all gymnasts go through as part of training .", "But perhaps the most controversial part of the book are allegations that top coaches had unhealthy attractions towards the pre-pubescent girls who populate the sport .", "Those parts of the book have caused ructions in the gymnastic world , with Sey being both condemned and applauded for bringing the sport 's ` dirty little secret ' into the open .", "` It is the exception not the rule , but it does exist , ' Sey said .", "But she added that the really shocking thing was the attitude of silence within the sport .", "` There are suspected improprieties , but no one is bothered to ask .", "No one wants to upset the apple cart , ' she said .", "Sey does not want her memoir to discourage anyone from entering gymnastics , which is the most popular sport in the Olympic Games .", "But she does want it to act as a sort of guide to the parents of those children who do succeed .", "` They need to pay attention to their children .", "Watch their mood and see if anything is wrong , ' she said .", "Sey is also reflective on a sport that is notoriously dominated by the very young .", "That means gymnasts who hit 20 are already veterans who have burnt out and have no future .", "Sey was just 16 years old when she won her US title .", "Yet even then she knew she was at a peak that she was unlikely ever to repeat .", "` That night I remember thinking : It 's all downhill from here , ' she said .", "That is an astonishing realisation for a 16-year-old girl .", "But Sey , who is now a successful executive and mother of two children , has no real regrets about her gymnastic career .", "` Hardship makes you stronger .", "In the end I would not change anything , because it was my life and it made me what I am , ' she said .", "And she still relishes the memories of what being a top gymnast felt like ; of being able to use your body to perform physical feats that others can only dream of . '", "I still miss it .", "I miss it every day , ' she said ."], "_citing_sentence": "So, if a gymnastics coach tells her athlete that she needs to starve herself to win gold, the athlete will think themselves a bad athlete if they refuse.", "_claim_name": "Athletes are vulnerable to their coaches", "_doc_title": "Secret world of a top US gymnast: starvation, abuse and fear | Sport | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [29]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Friday 22 July 2016 9:44 PM BST 16 Aug 2008", "We will probably never know how many anguished tears teenager Tom Daley cried into the cuddly brown monkey , a still-treasured toy from infancy , that sleeps at the bottom of his bed in Beijing 's Olympic village .", "At just 14 he had been feted as the Next Big Thing in British sport and , although diving pundits nodded sagely and made measured remarks about the current Olympics being merely an acclimatisation process for the Plymouth boy , predicting that his finest hour will come in our own 2012 Games , there can be no denying the optimistic , fingers crossed dreams of glory with which his homeland sent him off to Beijing .", "How we British yearned for our own Golden Boy .", "How thrilling if Tom , one of the youngest competitors in the Games , could pull off the unthinkable and take his place on the winner 's podium ?", "Sadly , `` what if '' became `` what was n't '' .", "Young Tom tried his best but , in the end , he finished last in the synchronised platform-diving event last week .", "He has a chance to redeem himself when he dives in the individual competition this Friday .", "For all that , rumour in the Olympic village is that Tom has such a strong appeal that more than one major British sponsor is already clamouring to have him confirmed as the official poster boy for the British Olympics .", "It is a nice idea : after all , by 2012 he will be 18 and should be at the peak of his prowess .", "The day Britain struck gold", "But what if Tom suffers the fate of so many youthful sports stars before him : what if he suffers serious injury , or burn-out puts an end to his sporting brilliance ?", "Or , more worryingly , what if the emotional pressure to become the sporting hero Britain longs for becomes too much and Tom , as so many others have done , simply walks away from diving , ditching his dreams of becoming the best in the world and , with them , Britain 's Olympic dream ?", "`` Tom has nutritionists , coaches and sports scientists looking after him , '' says John Steele , the chief executive of UK Sport , the umbrella body charged with developing world-class performances in Britain .", "`` We have a responsibility to nurture talent , but we also have a huge responsibility to ensure a balanced life and make sure that these athletes interact with peers their own age . ''", "The focus at UK Sport , he insists , is to `` develop young athletes at an appropriate pace '' .", "It is a laudable -- though some might say naive -- goal .", "And one of which , if it is adhered to , Britain should be proud .", "But how many other countries can boast as much ?", "And , truthfully , can we be sure that our own budding sporting talents are n't occasionally driven too hard ?", "The harsh training regimes of countries such as China , Russia and to some extent even America have long been the subject of debate .", "And while there has been little hard evidence that some youngsters are abused and terrorised by over-zealous coaches seeking vicarious glory , rumours are rife .", "A decade ago Sang Lan , 17 , a Chinese gymnast , was left paralysed from the neck down after landing on her head .", "She had been cajoled into attempting an over-complicated vault .", "In America , gymnast Christy Henrich became so anorexic that she died weighing only 3st 5lb , and team-mate Julissa Gomez broke her neck when , at 15 , she too was encouraged to attempt a vault that was beyond her .", "Three years ago , while filming for the BBC in Beijing , British rowing gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent was given first-hand accounts of Chinese gymnasts being beaten by their coaches .", "He personally saw welts on one girl 's back and , when he openly criticised the harsh training regime , was told it was a sign that `` the coach cares about the children '' .", "When Jacques Rogge , the International Olympic Committee president , was confronted with the evidence his response was scathing and , it could be said , morally reprehensible .", "`` While it is not for us to condone what might not be acceptable , you also have to look at the cultural factor .", "I do n't need to remind you of the fact that physical punishment was still in use in English public schools until , I believe , the 1970s , '' was his pompous reply .", "Just three days ago , Pinsent 's former crew mate James Cracknell took a camera to a Chinese gym to see for himself .", "While there was no evidence of beatings , he was surprised at how long the youngsters , some as young as three , were expected to train .", "`` My own four year-old does gymnastics and her class is under an hour , '' he said .", "`` These children had been going for over an hour and a half when we left . ''", "While the physical pressure upon these young athletes to perform is enormous , so too is the emotional pressure .", "In the first event of the Games , Du Li , the defending champion in the women 's 10m air rifle sport , could barely hold her gun steady as she attempted to satisfy her home nation 's lust for national glory .", "Under the weight of such intense expectations , she buckled .", "Afterwards , outside the arena , she collapsed in tears .", "As friend and fellow athlete Chang Fei explained : `` So many people expect us to get gold that sometimes I find it hard to breathe or even cry under the pressure . ''", "But it is n't national glory alone that drives the parents of the young Chinese athletes .", "As Dr Susan Brownell , author of Beijing Games : What the Olympics Means to China , points out : `` Sport in China has been seen as a vehicle for upward social mobility , particularly for children from peasant families . ''", "Promising athletes are scouted at primary level and offered places within the sports programme -- usually at one of the 3,000 government-funded sports schools around the country .", "For the very best there is the opportunity of attending one of the 300 elite academies that are dedicated to training future Olympic athletes .", "Some 70 per cent of China 's full-time athletes are graduates of these schools .", "Their financial future , and that of their families , is assured .", "For the youngest among the athletes at the Games -- and there are several younger than Tom Daley -- the pressure to perform is undoubtedly greatest .", "Last Thursday Dwayne Benjamin Didon , a 13-year-old swimmer from the Seychelles , competed in the men 's 50m freestyle swimming event .", "Massively underdeveloped compared to the piston-shouldered adults , who were more than seven seconds faster , Didon stood by the pool with the ambitions of a man and the waist of a little girl .", "This is a boy who lives and breathes his sport to the exclusion of practically all else .", "`` I used to sit on my bed and think : ' I want to be like those guys at the Olympics ' , '' he said , as he clambered from the pool .", "On Friday , an even younger competitor swam in the women 's 50m freestyle -- the 12-year-old Antoinette Joyce Guedia Mouafo of the Cameroon .", "Similarly , the American Lia Neal qualified for Olympic trials this year at just 12 .", "On the winner 's podium the diminutive form of China 's synchronised diving champion , Chen Ruolin , 16 , was dwarfed by the healthy-sized silver and bronze medallists who flanked her .", "And one only has to stroll through the Beijing gymnastics hall to see the swarms of tiny girls twirling and tossing their muscular but petite frames .", "Training beside a 10ft pile of mats , they resembled tumbling ants .", "As one journalist remarked : `` It 's like watching small children doing circus tricks . ''", "It is hard to disagree as one watches these little girls whirl by in a tumble of sequins and toothy grins .", "Their ages seem indeterminable .", "Already there has been a speculation about whether the Chinese authorities have forged the dates of birth on their passports .", "The lowest age limit to compete is 16 .", "Three of China 's gymnastics medal hopes -- Jiang Yuyuan , Yang Yilin and He Kexin -- are said to be 16 .", "The New York Times , however , says it possesses proof that they are 14 at most .", "When the world was introduced to He Kexin last week , it was obvious that if she was truly 16 , she was seriously underdeveloped .", "At 4ft 8in , she weighs only 5st 1lb .", "`` Passports mean nothing , '' growled Bela Karolyi , a world expert on female gymnasts .", "`` Do these people think we are stupid ?", "They are obviously kids .", "They are 12 , 14 at most .", "They are half people . ''", "In Britain , sport psychologists work at ensuring our youngsters are not pushed too hard .", "`` Young bodies -- and young minds -- need careful nurturing , '' says Patrick Rowebottom , who runs a clinic in Birmingham .", "`` There is a world of difference between encouraging your child at his chosen sport and becoming obsessive about his progress .", "Push too hard and you will produce a resentful youngster who will simply squander his natural talent because he has been pushed too hard . ''", "Already in this country , several local authorities have banned youth competitions to discourage the scourge of pushy parents .", "Last month , the Football Association ruled that footballers under eight years old could not play in competitive matches after September .", "Similarly , in May , Hickstead showjumping arena cancelled all children 's events for the first time in 50 years .", "Both cited parental pressure as the reason for the decision .", "Sadly , it is a hint that will fall on deaf ears as far as Tony Romaeo , who lives in Cardiff with his six children , is concerned .", "As each child was born ( his brood are Romeo , Venus , Angel , Isis , Achilles and Caesar ) , Mr Romaeo was determined they would grow up to be sporting stars .", "Romeo , 12 , boxes ; Venus , 11 , is a gymnast ; and the others play almost every sport imaginable .", "The children 's timetable is hectic .", "`` At quarter to five in the morning I get Romeo up , '' Mr Romaeo explains matter of factly .", "`` I decide what he does every day . ''", "Breakfast is egg whites , and all Romeo , the oldest , seems to do is eat , train , go to school , come home , train and go to bed .", "Should Romeo and Venus fail to live up to their father 's expectations , he has a back-up plan .", "`` I have other children , '' he says airily .", "Mr Romaeo insists he does n't drive his children too hard .", "`` I want my children to be superstars , but I am not a pushy parent , '' he says emphatically .", "Then he utters the phrase that will probably strike fear in the heart of every child who has been pushed beyond endurance by a parent who wants to recapture what they perceive as their own missed opportunities .", "`` You know , I feel that I could probably have been a champion at one time . ''", "Top Sports Galleries In pics : 21 record breaking rod snappers reeled in by anglers In pics : British yachtsman Alex Thomson sails 280ft into the air above", "Hugo Boss racing yacht", "The runners and riders to succeed Steve McClaren if - or when - Mike Ashley loses patience", "As Blackburn meet Burnley and Spurs host Arsenal , Jonathan Liew passes judgement on English football 's most ferocious derby games", "Seaman or Jennings ?", "Brady or Gascoigne ?", "Bergkamp or Klinsmann ?", "Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith picks his greatest north London XI", "Ahead of tomorrow 's showdown at White Hart Lane , we remember 11 players north", "London would rather forget", "Adam Hurrey : Is the North London derby now the showpiece fixture ?", "Leicester finally run out of steam ?", "And how ready is Pato ?", "Ahead of a north London derby which could decisively shape the title race , whose starting XI does Alan Smith rate stronger ?", "The battles for the title and survival are really hotting up , but who has the toughest task ?", "Thanks to some ( very ) simple maths , we can count down the easiest to the hardest ...", "Manchester United have reaped the rewards of giving Marcus Rashford a run in the team - but which club can claim to have fielded the most local talent ?"], "_citing_sentence": "And worse the coercion can lead to injury and even death; American gymnast Christy Henrich became anorexic and as a result died weighing only 3st 5lb while Chinese gymnast Sang Lan was paralysed after being cajoled into attempting a vault.", "_claim_name": "The suffering of those who are treated to harsh training outweighs banning the team", "_doc_title": "Beijing Olympics: The Games are not child\u2019s play - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [24]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Young swimmers hoping to emulate the double Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington 's Beijing exploits at the London 2012 Games are being subjected to an unacceptably heavy training regime and excessive `` surveillance '' , a study has concluded .", "Research into the training of 17 competitive swimming squads found young atheletes have to spend excessive amounts of time in the pool and face being dropped from their teams if they can not take the pressure .", "Eleven and 12-year-olds are expected to swim up to 32 miles a week , according to Melanie Lang of Leeds Metropolitan University .", "By 14 , many swim 40 miles a week -- the aerobic equivalent of running 160 miles .", "They are also required to work out in a gym and still find time for schoolwork .", "`` I am concerned about this because excessive training by young athletes can reverse the benefits of sports participation , '' Ms Lang will tell the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association in Edinburgh today .", "`` It removes the element of fun that first attracts so many youngsters to sport .", "It can inhibit bone growth , cause physical and mental burnout and increase the potential for injury and dropout .", "Indeed , swimmers cite the emphasis on frequent , intense training as a major reason for leaving the sport .", "`` Elite swimmers begin competitive training earlier than in any other sport .", "By 11 or 12 they are spending up to 27 hours a week in the pool .", "By comparison , the England netball development plan recommends no more than four-and-a-half hours of training at the same age . ''", "Britain 's gruelling swimming training , introduced by the former national performance director Bill Sweetenham , is credited with transforming Britain 's fortunes at the Olympics this year .", "He made Team GB swimmers sleep on floors to simulate the uncomfortable conditions of Olympic villages , and imposed mandatory training of at least 37 miles a week -- anyone who did not comply was dropped .", "Three-quarters of the 139 swimmers vying for places in the 2012 British team are 16 or under , and the youngest are 12 .", "Ms Lang is worried not only about the amount of training but the surveillance to which the children are subjected .", "`` Swimmers in some top squads were required to keep records of their attendance in log books that were submitted to the coach monthly , '' she said .", "`` Those who transgressed training regimes were punished .", "One swimmer was banned from the squad for failure to adhere to the rigorous regime .", "`` Swimmers in the top squads knew never to ask for a toilet break until the end of training .", "Anyone who stopped swimming several metres out from the wall or took rests to fix ` broken ' goggles was considered to be cheating . ''", "Brian McGuiness , national organiser of the British Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association , acknowledged that potential Olympians had to practise intensively but insisted that modern training was tailored to the needs of the individual so they did not become injured or burnt out .", "Michael Phelps , the American who won eight golds in Beijing last month , has swum almost 50 miles a week during peak training times since he was in his mid-teens , Mr McGuiness said .", "`` That is the commitment required if somebody is to become an international athlete .", "It is a demand which is only placed on swimmers who have the ability , the talent , a wish to train that often and parents who want them to do it . ''", "A spokeswoman for British Swimming said that Ms Lang 's mileage figures were `` excessive '' .", "Eleanor Hudson , 21 : ` If you were n't in pain you had to work harder and do better '", "Eleanor , a maths undergraduate from Wick , Worcestershire , gave up swimming at the age of 16 because she could no longer bear the gruelling training regime which required her to spend four to five hours in the pool every day .", "At her peak she was ranked third in England for her age , and won a swimming scholarship to a public school famous for its sporting achievements .", "But she has not been in a pool for three years .", "She said : `` I was having to do four to five hours in the pool every day .", "I would have to get up at 5.45 am to be in the pool at 6am , swim until 8.30 am , then have 20 minutes to get breakfast before the first bell for school went at 8.50 am .", "Then , after lessons finished , I 'd have to do another two hours in the pool .", "`` I was expected to swim 70km a week .", "You had to wear a heart monitor and , if it did n't show you working hard enough , you had to do more .", "Basically , if you were n't in pain and red in the face you were not performing at your best and had to do better .", "In the end I just could n't do it any more .", "I was falling asleep in lessons -- twice I fell asleep with my head on a book .", "`` I do feel sad that I do n't swim any more .", "I really likedit to begin with but there was just too much pressure .", "Now I ca n't believe I stuck it out for as long as I did . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "It can inhibit bone growth, cause physical and mental burnout and increase the potential for injury and dropout.\"", "_claim_name": "The suffering of those who are treated to harsh training outweighs banning the team", "_doc_title": "Olympic swimming training 'too hard on young athletes' | The Independent", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 91, "_topic_name": "This House would ban countries with very harsh training methods from participating in international competitions"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["British Broadcasting CorporationHome", "Since 1945 , when the United Nations was founded , the Soviet Union and Russia have used their veto at the Security Council 120 times , the United States 76 times , Britain 32 , France 18 and China only five .", "The word `` veto '' is actually never used in the United Nation 's charter .", "For a resolution to be passed , it needs nine votes in favour from the 15 members of the council , five permanent and 10 non-permanent .", "These nine votes in favour must include the `` concurring votes of the permanent members '' , the charter says .", "THE VETO RECORD", "Only two vetoes since the collapse of the Soviet Union", "Blocked 36 resolutions criticising Israel .", "UK : 32 vetoes , 23 times with the US .", "All solo UK vetoes on Zimbabwe", "France : 18 vetoes , 13 with the US and UK", "The United Nations Charter", "The veto power of the permanent members has been widely criticised .", "The heavy use of the veto by the Soviet Union and the United States have gone a long way to discrediting the veto system .", "The threat to use the veto can often sink a draft resolution .", "In the run-up to the Iraq war in March 2003 , France and Russia indicated that they would not support a new resolution sanctioning war .", "As a result the US , UK and Spain withdrew their draft , and went to war without specific UN backing .", "During the Cold War the Soviet Union used to veto UN resolutions almost as a matter of course .", "More recently , the US has used its veto regularly to shield the Israeli Government from international criticism or attempts to restrain the behaviour of its military .", "The veto and its critics", "Critics of the system also point out that among those resolutions that do actually make it onto the books , not all are enforced .", "`` Mr Nyet '' : The USSR 's Andrei Gromyko blocked dozens of resolutions as a matter of course", "The other main criticism of the veto system is that the permanent five , in effect the victors of World War II , do not reflect the geopolitical realities of today .", "Were the veto to be abolished , the majority view at the council would prevail and we might expect more resolutions passed , more situations identified as threats to world security , more cases of states being reprimanded and sanctions being imposed .", "This assumes that a new , reformed Security Council would have widely respected powers of enforcement and the funds to carry out its will - the current permanent five council members supply a little under half of the UN 's overall budget .", "None of the existing permanent council members have indicated that want to surrender their veto .", "Changes to the UN 's charter have to be approved by all five permanent members .", "So familiar was a Soviet veto in the early days of the UN that Andrei Gromyko , foreign minister between 1957 and 1985 , became known as `` Mr Nyet '' , Mr No .", "During the first 10 years of the UN the Soviet Union used its veto 79 times .", "In the same period China used the veto once , France twice and the others not at all .", "The Soviet Union came to use its veto less and less , however .", "Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 , the veto has been used by Russia only twice - once to block a resolution criticising Bosnian Serb forces for denying the UNHCR access to Bihac in Bosnia and once to block a resolution on the finances of UN operations on Cyprus .", "Eight of the last 10 vetoes at the Security Council have been by the United States , and seven of these have been of draft resolutions criticising the Israeli Government in some way .", "Most recently , in September 2003 , the US vetoed a resolution drafted by Syria that denounced Israel 's threat to `` remove '' Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat .", "Washington said the resolution was `` flawed '' because it did not include a `` robust condemnation of acts of terrorism '' by Palestinian militant groups .", "In December 2002 , the US blocked a draft resolution criticising the killing by Israeli forces of several United Nations employees and the destruction of the World Food Programme warehouse in the West Bank .", "In total , the US has blocked 36 draft resolutions on Israel .", "Washington first used its veto in March 1970 .", "Along with the UK it blocked a draft resolution on what was to become Zimbabwe .", "The US has vetoed 10 resolutions criticising South Africa , eight on Namibia , seven on Nicaragua and five on Vietnam .", "It has been the lone voice in blocking a resolution 54 times .", "Of Britain 's 32 vetoes , 23 have been on draft resolutions also vetoed by the United States , and 14 also vetoed by France .", "The most recent UK veto was in 1989 , when the US , France and Britain vetoed a resolution deploring the US military intervention in Panama .", "The UK has gone out on a limb , by vetoing a resolution alone , only seven times .", "The most recent solo veto was in 1972 and all seven were on the situation in Rhodesia , later to become Zimbabwe .", "Thirteen of France 's 18 vetoes have been on resolutions also vetoed by the US and UK .", "France has vetoed two resolutions alongside the UK - both on the Suez crisis in 1956 .", "Only two resolutions have been vetoed by France on its own - one on 1976 on a dispute between France and the Comoros and the other on Indonesia in 1947 .", "In 1946 , France and the USSR vetoed a resolution on the Spanish Civil War .", "Between 1946 and 1971 , the Chinese seat at the Security Council was occupied by the Republic of China ( Taiwan ) , which used its veto once to block Mongolia 's application for UN membership .", "China vetoed resolutions twice in 1972 : once to block Bangladeshi membership and once , with Russia , on the situation in the Middle East .", "Other vetoes were in 1999 blocking the extension of the mandate of United Nations Preventive Deployment Force in Macedonia and in 1997 blocking the sending of 155 UN observers to Guatemala to verify a ceasefire ."], "_citing_sentence": "Moreover, the global power balance has shifted dramatically since 1945; the P5 'do not reflect the geopolitical realities of today'.", "_claim_name": "The veto power is an anachronism that does not suit the contemporary international society and it's power relations.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Middle East | The veto and how to use it", "_labeled_lineIDs": [22]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 92, "_topic_name": "This house would abolish the security council veto"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Why explore space ?", "Well , for one , it 's about life on Earth .", "The exploration of space is an engine for creation .", "It sparks high-tech and high-paying jobs .", "It captures the pulse of our planet and its complicated climate .", "It spurs technological innovation that enhances daily life , from advances in aviation to medical devices that help save lives .", "It is also a key engine for igniting interest in youth to study science , technology and math .", "Dollars spent on space exploration do n't get blasted into Earth orbit .", "Everyone on Earth is a beneficiary of space exploration -- robotic and human -- with a global return on investment that is truly immeasurable .", "Follow Me on Twitter", "Get explore deep space news , and updates delivered straight to your inbox !", "Be the first to learn about special contests and events in your area .", "COALITION FOR DEEP SPACE EXPLORATION 3101 NASA Parkway , St. L", "The Coalition for Deep Space Exploration is comprised of aerospace industry companies that are collaborating to advance the cause of space exploration ."], "_citing_sentence": "Many of these developments arose due to the focus on the human element of space travel; scientists had to focus on the very real challenge of getting humans into space and back home safely.", "_claim_name": "Some activities in space require human dexterity of both mind and body to succeed", "_doc_title": "Benefits of Space - Explore Deep Space", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["We have extensive evidence that Earth has already been hit by asteroids many times throughout history-the most famous ( or infamous ) example is probably the asteroid or comet that created the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico and may have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago .", "A more recent but less devastating example , called the Tunguska event , occurred in 1908 , when a meteor or comet exploded over the wilderness of Siberia , damaging farmland and leveling trees for miles around .", "Because most of the earth is covered by oceans , there may also be many small impacts that go unnoticed .", "There are thousands of small bodies that we call asteroids or meteoroids in orbit around the sun .", "Many of these objects are called near-Earth asteroids ( or NEAs ) because they have orbits that repeatedly bring them close to , or intersect with , Earth 's orbit .", "Although the odds of any one particular asteroid ever impacting Earth are quite low , it is still likely that one day our planet will be hit by another asteroid .", "At the current rate of impacts , we would expect about one large asteroid to impact Earth every 100 million years or so .", "For that reason several programs , such as the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research ( LINEAR ) project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , have been undertaken around the world to discover and monitor potentially Earth-threatening asteroids .", "When a new asteroid is discovered , astronomers analyze it to determine whether its orbit around the sun could bring it close to the Earth .", "They take successive images of the asteroid over the course of days after its discovery in order to predict its probable orbital path for the near future .", "The predicted orbit is then compared to the orbit and position of Earth to check for any times when they might pass close to each other .", "Although scientists can calculate a most-likely orbit from these early observations , each single observation of the asteroid 's position contains some uncertainty .", "Most asteroids are small objects , a few meters to a few tens of meters across , and even the resolving power of a large telescope can not determine their positions exactly .", "The uncertainties in an asteroid 's position lead to uncertainties in how well we can determine its speed and direction of travel .", "As a result , a large number of possible orbits for an asteroid can be predicted within these windows of uncertainty .", "Careful computer simulations are used to calculate the future orbital path of the asteroid , with randomly chosen initial positions and velocities that fall within the margin of error of the telescopic observations to date .", "A large number of these simulations are generated for each asteroid .", "The probability that any particular one will actually hit Earth is given by the fraction of the extrapolated paths that leads to an impact .", "For example , if one million different possible orbits are calculated , and one of those leads to an impact , then we say that the odds of the asteroid hitting our world are one million to one .", "The uncertainties in an asteroid 's orbit are greatest in the hours just after its discovery , and thus the calculated probability of an impact also tends to be the highest at these times .", "As we monitor an asteroid over the course of the weeks or months that follow , its orbit becomes more and more certain , and we become more knowledgeable about its position at a given date in the future .", "We can then rule out many possible paths it may take .", "In most cases , monitoring the asteroid over a few weeks quickly leads to an impact probability of very nearly zero .", "Answer originally published October 18 , 2004 .", "November 1 , 2003 -- Russell L. Schweickart , Edward T. Lu , Piet Hut and Clark R. Chapman", "July 8 , 2002 -- Lucy Komisar", "July 14 , 2003 -- Steve Nadis"], "_citing_sentence": "The galaxy is permeated with giant meteors like the one that struck the Earth 16 million years ago, which succeeded in wiping out the dinosaurs and precipitating an ice age.", "_claim_name": "Manned space flight, and the new worlds it would serve to unlock, are essential to the long-term survival of humanity", "_doc_title": "What is the chance of an asteroid hitting Earth and how do astronomers calculate it? - Scientific American", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 93, "_topic_name": "This House believes in manned space flight"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["They say they have found worrying signs that the forests may become less able to absorb the carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming .", "Their long-term study in supposedly pristine areas reveals trees have been growing and dying faster than before .", "The trends could have consequences for other plant and animal species , the authors warn in the journal Nature .", "The Amazon accounts for more than half of the world 's remaining rainforests .", "They are thought to limit the greenhouse effect of global warming by storing carbon and hence reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere .", "Scientists from Brazil and the US detected the changes while engaged on a 20-year study of the effects of rain forest clearance by humans .", "Rainforest dynamics are changing", "Study author William Laurance", "They marked out plots in the central Amazon region , tagged almost 14,000 trees with a girth of more than 10 centimetres ( four inches ) and monitored their growth .", "But it was in `` control '' areas , where there was no human activity such as logging or burning , that they discovered that bigger , quicker-growing species were flourishing at the expense of the smaller ones living below the forest canopy .", "`` It is clear that this is not random variation .", "Rainforest dynamics are changing , '' said William Laurance , of the Smithsonian Tropical Institute , who led the study .", "Plant growth requires carbon dioxide , and the researchers speculate that the Amazon trees are getting an extra boost from the rising levels of the gas caused by vehicle exhausts , factory emissions and other industrial processes .", "Call for more research `` Undisturbed Amazonian forests appear to be functioning as an important carbon sink , helping to slow global warming , but pervasive changes in tree communities could modify this effect , '' the study says .", "`` In particular , increases in forest carbon storage may be slowed by the tendency of canopy and emergent trees to produce wood of reduced density as their size and growth rate increases , and by the decline of densely wooded sub-canopy trees . ''", "The changing composition of supposedly `` untouched '' rain forest would also have an effect on other inhabitants .", "`` Tropical rainforests are renowned for having lots of highly specialised species .", "If you change the tree communities then other species - especially the animals that feed on and pollinate the trees - will undoubtedly change as well , '' Mr Laurance was quoted as saying .", "The scientists say their findings could have global consequences and that more research is urgently needed in other tropical forests .", "`` Undisturbed Amazonian forests appear to be functioning as an important carbon sink , helping to slow global warming , but pervasive changes in tree communities could modify this effect , '' the study says ."], "_citing_sentence": "The rainforests are also a key carbon sink; they are thought to limit the greenhouse effect of global warming by absorbing and storing carbon, hence reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.", "_claim_name": "With global warming high on the international agenda, rainforests are a vital carbon sink which help to balance the atmosphere", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Americas | Amazon carbon sink effect 'slows'", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The destruction of animal and plant species in the rainforest has been rapid .", "The loss is permanent .", "According to the German environmental organization OroVerde , three different types of animal and plant life are made extinct every hour .", "The biggest killer of the rainforest is man .", "The ecosystem is disturbed and biodiversity destroyed with the incursion of man and his harmful and greedy activities and enterprises .", "The rainforests exclusively contain around 40 to 75 percent of all species on Earth .", "28 percent of the world 's oxygen is supplied by rainforests .", "Unfortunately , forest cover has been quickly depleting .", "The rainforest in West Africa has already lost 90 percent of its existence .", "Madagascar has lost 60 percent .", "Illegal logging is the killer culprit in the destruction of the rainforest .", "The rainforests in Indonesia would be lost to logging in 10 years , while Papua New Guinea in 13 to 16 years .", "Deforestation in the Amazon has escalated by 69 percent in 2008 , as compared to 2007 .", "According to the WWF , if present rate of logging continues , almost 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest could disappear by 2030 .", "OroVerde commissioned the Ogilvy branch in Frankfurt , Germany to come up with one of the most interesting graphic translations of the destruction of the rainforest in recent years .", "The intriguing print campaign came from the concept and execution of the ad agency 's creative team led by Delle Krause , Chief Creative Officer .", "Sonja Fritsch 's graphic design and Anke Vera Zink 's illustration are what brought the novel idea to life ."], "_citing_sentence": "Rainforests are responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen turnover, which is why they have been labelled the 'Lungs of the Earth'.", "_claim_name": "With global warming high on the international agenda, rainforests are a vital carbon sink which help to balance the atmosphere", "_doc_title": "Killer Inhabitants of the Rainforests", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Wednesday 8 December 2010 13.00 EST", "Sir Nicholas Stern 's seminal 2007 report for the UK Treasury had hugely important and mostly positive impacts on UK government policy on how to stop greenhouse gas emissions at home and worldwide .", "But propelling the problem of tropical deforestation into the limelight of climate change negotiations was probably less helpful than he would have imagined and , if this week 's events at the UN summit in Canc\u00fan , Mexico , are anything to go by , could help undermine the integrity of global efforts to reduce carbon emissions .", "One of the more curious features about the current climate discussions in Canc\u00fan is that those who are most passionate about stopping the destruction of rainforests are also those most adamantly opposed to a scheme known as Redd -- reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation -- which basically aims to pay tropical countries to stop cutting down their forests and releasing the carbon they contain to the atmosphere .", "Common sense dictates that the green lobby should welcome such a scheme , which promises the conservation of wildlife-rich forests , while reducing the 12 % -14 % of global carbon emissions that come from their destruction in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia .", "It has become commonplace to hear Redd described as the `` low-hanging fruit '' of efforts to prevent climate change : everybody ( so the received wisdom goes ) wants to protect forests and , if you believe the economic analysis from the likes of influential management consultants , McKinsey 's , it should also be much cheaper and quicker to save rainforests overseas than doing things like building windfarms in the UK or converting the national car fleet to hybrid vehicles .", "So convinced of this logic are wealthy countries that they have promised over $ 4.5 bn to the scheme for the coming years .", "But what looks good on a spreadsheet in an office in London , New York or Los Angeles can look quite different when it comes down to realities .", "Most of the countries where rainforests are found are notoriously corrupt and badly governed .", "Theft of international funding is endemic , and governmental ability to exert any real control over remote forested areas is nil , even where there is the willingness to do so .", "Long-term contracts that simply can not be reneged upon have been handed by officials to logging and other forest-destroying companies ; the kickbacks that came with the deals have already been spent or banked in offshore accounts .", "Added to these prosaic realities , the UN itself has helped undermine the chances of Redd ever succeeding .", "Bizarrely , the UN 's definition of `` forests '' includes many things that actually cause their destruction , such as plantations of oil palm and fast-growing exotic tree species , which often replace natural forest .", "Areas that have been smashed up by logging companies equally count as `` forest '' , as does bare land which , in the UN 's gloriously euphemistic term , is `` temporarily unstocked '' of trees .", "Some tropical countries have spotted an opportunity here to cash in on payments to protect `` forests '' in order to subsidise yet more plantations of oil palm and `` fastwood '' .", "Early attempts to set up well-meaning Redd schemes in countries such as Guyana and Indonesia have quickly hit the buffers of vested interest and corruption , with `` avoided deforestation funds '' already being lined up for projects -- such as hydroelectric dams and associated infrastructure -- that will increase the destruction of forests .", "In the absence of any internationally-agreed and mandatory safeguards , it is very probable that these kinds of abuses of Redd funding will be widespread .", "However , this week in Canc\u00fan , tropical countries have successfully stripped from the summit 's draft decision any wording obliging them to protect the environment or the rights of indigenous forest people , and have similarly purged all such references from the Redd `` plan of action '' .", "The consequence of this could be a lose-lose situation whereby schemes such as recently introduced in California to trade continuing carbon emissions from factories and power stations there against putative reductions in deforestation in developing countries will see neither the rich world 's carbon emissions coming down , nor effective measures introduced to genuinely protect tropical forests .", "Advocates of these forest conservation offset schemes seem not to have appreciated that the resulting continued rise in atmospheric temperatures will eventually destroy large areas of rainforest anyway .", "So , why are rich countries falling for this flawed and potentially planet-wrecking scam ?", "Industrialised countries , especially the US , have found it politically impossible to introduce domestic emissions-reduction measures that interfere in the slightest with our high-carbon lifestyles .", "Consequently , with the UN 's efforts to forge binding global commitments having now run into the ground , and with the Canc\u00fan talks degenerating into acrimony , agreement on Redd is possibly the one face-saver left to them .", "Because rich countries politically now need Redd much more than tropical ones do , it is the latter that are dictating the terms of the debate -- and it is why they will probably get their Redd payments , for a few years anyway , even if they use them to destroy forests rather than protect them .", "Rich countries will never be able to exert the moral authority required to genuinely convert poor countries to the cause of forest conservation until they themselves show a willingness to take tough political decisions and reduce carbon emissions at home .", "So far , this week , they have totally failed to do so , and it is why forest conservationists such as myself now expect only the worst to emerge from Canc\u00fan -- a deal that promises to reduce emissions from deforestation , but will almost certainly fail to do so , while we continue spewing carbon dioxide into an ever-warming atmosphere ."], "_citing_sentence": "In addition, it has been calculated that 12%-14% of global carbon emissions come from the deforestation of rainforests in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia.", "_claim_name": "With global warming high on the international agenda, rainforests are a vital carbon sink which help to balance the atmosphere", "_doc_title": "Seeing Redd in Canc\u00fan | Simon Counsell | Opinion | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["study", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The tropical rain forest is a forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth .", "An average of 50 to 260 inches ( 125 to 660 cm . ) of rain falls yearly .", "Rain forests belong to the tropical wet climate group .", "The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 93 \u00b0 F ( 34 \u00b0 C ) or drops below 68 \u00b0 F ( 20 \u00b0 C ) ; average humidity is between 77 and 88 % ; rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year .", "There is usually a brief season of less rain .", "In monsoonal areas , there is a real dry season .", "Almost all rain forests lie near the equator .", "Rainforests now cover less than 6 % of Earth 's land surface .", "Scientists estimate that more than half of all the world 's plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests .", "Tropical rainforests produce 40 % of Earth 's oxygen .", "A tropical rain forest has more kinds of trees than any other area in the world .", "Scientists have counted about 100 to 300 species in one 2\u00a01/2 - acre ( 1-hectare ) area in South America .", "Seventy percent of the plants in the rainforest are trees .", "About 1/4 of all the medicines we use come from rainforest plants .", "Curare comes from a tropical vine , and is used as an anesthetic and to relax muscles during surgery .", "Quinine , from the cinchona tree , is used to treat malaria .", "A person with lymphocytic leukemia has a 99 % chance that the disease will go into remission because of the rosy periwinkle .", "More than 1,400 varieties of tropical plants are thought to be potential cures for cancer .", "All tropical rain forests resemble one another in some ways .", "Many of the trees have straight trunks that do n't branch out for 100 feet or more .", "There is no sense in growing branches below the canopy where there is little light .", "The majority of the trees have smooth , thin bark because there is no need to protect the them from water loss and freezing temperatures .", "It also makes it difficult for epiphytes and plant parasites to get a hold on the trunks .", "The bark of different species is so similar that it is difficult to identify a tree by its bark .", "Many trees can only be identified by their flowers .", "Despite these differences , each of the three largest rainforests -- the American , the African , and the Asian -- has a different group of animal and plant species .", "Each rain forest has many species of monkeys , all of which differ from the species of the other two rain forests .", "In addition , different areas of the same rain forest may have different species .", "Many kinds of trees that grow in the mountains of the Amazon rain forest do not grow in the lowlands of that same forest .", "Layers of the Rainforest", "There are four very distinct layers of trees in a tropical rain forest .", "These layers have been identified as the emergent , upper canopy , understory , and forest floor .", "Emergent trees are spaced wide apart , and are 100 to 240 feet tall with umbrella-shaped canopies that grow above the forest .", "Because emergent trees are exposed to drying winds , they tend to have small , pointed leaves .", "Some species lose their leaves during the brief dry season in monsoon rainforests .", "These giant trees have straight , smooth trunks with few branches .", "Their root system is very shallow , and to support their size they grow buttresses that can spread out to a distance of 30 feet .", "The upper canopy of 60 to 130 foot trees allows light to be easily available at the top of this layer , but greatly reduced any light below it .", "Most of the rainforest 's animals live in the upper canopy .", "There is so much food available at this level that some animals never go down to the forest floor .", "The leaves have `` drip spouts '' that allows rain to run off .", "This keeps them dry and prevents mold and mildew from forming in the humid environment .", "The understory , or lower canopy , consists of 60 foot trees .", "This layer is made up of the trunks of canopy trees , shrubs , plants and small trees .", "There is little air movement .", "As a result the humidity is constantly high .", "This level is in constant shade .", "The forest floor is usually completely shaded , except where a canopy tree has fallen and created an opening .", "Most areas of the forest floor receive so little light that few bushes or herbs can grow there .", "As a result , a person can easily walk through most parts of a tropical rain forest .", "Less than 1 % of the light that strikes the top of the forest penetrates to the forest floor .", "The top soil is very thin and of poor quality .", "A lot of litter falls to the ground where it is quickly broken down by decomposers like termites , earthworms and fungi .", "The heat and humidity further help to break down the litter .", "This organic matter is then just as quickly absorbed by the trees ' shallow roots .", "Besides these four layers , a shrub/sapling layer receives about 3 % of the light that filters in through the canopies .", "These stunted trees are capable of a sudden growth surge when a gap in the canopy opens above them .", "The air beneath the lower canopy is almost always humid .", "The trees themselves give off water through the pores ( stomata ) of their leaves .", "This process , called transpiration , can account for as much as half of the precipitation in the rain forest .", "Rainforest plants have made many adaptations to their environment .", "With over 80 inches of rain per year , plants have made adaptations that helps them shed water off their leaves quickly so the branches do n't get weighed down and break .", "Many plants have drip tips and grooved leaves , and some leaves have oily coatings to shed water .", "To absorb as much sunlight as possible on the dark understory , leaves are very large .", "Some trees have leaf stalks that turn with the movement of the sun so they always absorb the maximum amount of light .", "Leaves in the upper canopy are dark green , small and leathery to reduce water loss in the strong sunlight .", "Some trees will grow large leaves at the lower canopy level and small leaves in the upper canopy .", "Other plants grow in the upper canopy on larger trees to get sunlight .", "These are the epiphytes such as orchids and bromeliads .", "Many trees have buttress and stilt roots for extra support in the shallow , wet soil of the rainforests .", "Over 2,500 species of vines grow in the rainforest .", "Lianas start off as small shrubs that grow on the forest floor .", "To reach the sunlight in the upper canopy it sends out tendrils to grab sapling trees .", "The liana and the tree grow towards the canopy together .", "The vines grow from one tree to another and make up 40 % of the canopy leaves .", "The rattan vine has spikes on the underside of its leaves that point backwards to grab onto sapling trees .", "Other `` strangler '' vines will use trees as support and grow thicker and thicker as they reach the canopy , strangling its host tree .", "They look like trees whose centers have been hollowed out .", "Dominant species do not exist in tropical rainforests .", "Lowland dipterocarp forest can consist of many different species of", "Dipterocarpaceae , but not all of the same species .", "Trees of the same species are very seldom found growing close together .", "This bio diversity and separation of the species prevents mass contamination and die-off from disease or insect infestation .", "Bio diversity also insures that there will be enough pollinators to take care of each species ' needs .", "Animals depend on the staggered blooming and fruiting of rainforest plants to supply them with a year-round source of food .", "Many species of animal life can be found in the rain forest .", "Common characteristics found among mammals and birds ( and reptiles and amphibians , too ) include adaptations to a life in the trees , such as the prehensile tails of New World monkeys .", "Other characteristics are bright colors and sharp patterns , loud vocalizations , and diets heavy on fruits .", "Insects make up the largest single group of animals that live in tropical forests .", "They include brightly colored butterflies , mosquitoes , camouflaged stick insects , and huge colonies of ants .", "The Amazon river basin rainforest contains a wider variety of plant and animal life than any other biome in the world .", "The second largest population of plant and animal life can be found in scattered locations and islands of Southeast Asia .", "The lowest variety can be found in Africa .", "There may be 40 to 100 different species in 2.5 acres ( 1 hectare ) of a tropical rain forest .", "When early explorers first discovered the rainforests of Africa , Southeast Asia and South America , they They were amazed by the dense growth , trees with giant buttresses , vines and epiphytes .", "The tropical vegetation grew so dense that it was difficult to cut one 's way through it .", "It was thought at the time that the soil of a rainforest must be very fertile , filled with nutrients , enabling it to support the immense trees and other vegetation they found .", "Today we know that the soil of the tropical rainforests is shallow , very poor in nutrients and almost without soluble minerals .", "Thousands of years of heavy rains have washed away the nutrients in the soil obtained from weathered rocks .", "The rainforest has a very short nutrient cycle .", "Nutrients generally stay in an ecosystem by being recycled and in a rainforest are mainly found in the living plants and the layers of decomposing leaf litter .", "Various species of decomposers like insects , bacteria , and fungi make quick work of turning dead plant and animal matter into nutrients .", "Plants take up these nutrients the moment they are released .", "A study in the", "Amazon rainforest found that 99 % of nutrients are held in root mats .", "When a rainforest is burned or cut down the nutrients are removed from the ecosystem .", "The soil can only be used for a very short time before it becomes completely depleted of all nutrients .", "Rainforests Are Found", "The tropical rain forest can be found in three major geographical areas around the world .", "Central America in the Amazon river basin .", "Africa - Zaire basin , with a small area in West Africa ; also eastern", "Indo-Malaysia - west coast of India , Assam , Southeast Asia , New Guinea and Queensland , Australia .", "Rainforests by Michael", "G. 2001 In an average year the climate in a tropical rain forest is very humid because of all the rainfall .", "A tropical rainforest gets about 150 cm of rain per year .", "It gets lots of rain because it is very hot and wet in rain forests .", "The hotter the air , the more water vapor it can hold .", "It rains usually about 1/8 of an inch per day .", "This climate is found near the equator .", "That means that there is more direct sunlight hitting the land and sea there than anywhere else .", "The sun warms the land and sea and the water evaporates into the air .", "The warm air can hold a lot of water vapor .", "As the air rises , it cools .", "That means it can hold less water vapor .", "Then as warm meets cold , condensation takes place and the vapor forms droplets and clouds form .", "The clouds then produce rain .", "It rains more than ninety days a year and the strong sun usually shines between the storms .", "The water cycle repeats often along the equator .", "The main plants in this biome are trees .", "This is important because in the rain forest , some rain never gets past the trees and to the smaller plants and ground below .", "Trees in this climate reach a height of more than 164 feet .", "They form a canopy .", "The forest floor is called understory .", "The canopy also keeps sunlight from reaching the plants in the understory .", "Between the canopy and understory is a lower canopy made up of smaller trees .", "These plants do receive some filtered sunlight .", "The tropical rain forest is classified under the K\u00f6ppen Classification system as Af , meaning tropical forest .", "The A is given to tropical climates that are moist for all months and which have average temperatures above 18 degrees", "The f stands for sufficient precipitation for all months .", "The latitude range for my climate is 15 \u00b0 to 25 \u00b0 North and South of the equator .", "The annual precipitation of a rain forest is greater than 150 cm .", "In a rain forest there is a short dry season .", "In only a month the rainforest receives 4 inches of rain .", "The rain forest climate is different from a lot of other climates .", "In other climates , the evaporation is carried away to fall as rain in far off areas , but in the rain forests , 50 percent of the precipitation comes from its own evaporation .", "A lot of the rain that falls on the rain forest never reaches the ground , instead it stays on the trees because the leaves act as a shield .", "The average temperature of a rain forest is about 77 \u00b0 Fahrenheit .", "The rain forest is about the same temperature year round .", "The temperature never drops below 64 \u00b0 Fahrenheit .", "Rain forests are so hot because they are found near the equator .", "The closer to the equator you are , the more solar radiation there is .", "The more solar radiation there is , the hotter it is .", "Rain forest are never found in climates which have temperatures 32 \u00b0 Fahrenheit and below because the plant life will not be able to live in the frost .", "All the plants will die out if the rain forest is cooler .", "The plants that make up the understory of a rain forest have adapted to the small amount of sunlight that they receive .", "Ferns and mosses do well , along with epiphytes .", "These are plants that grow on other plants .", "They can be found growing on branches of tall trees .", "There are many different plant species found in the rain forest ."], "_citing_sentence": "Rainforests are the most diverse habitats on earth; they cover only 6% of the land surface of the world but scientists estimate they have over 50% of the earth's plants and animals.", "_claim_name": "Uncontrolled deforestation has a profound negative environmental impact and results in significant loss of biodiversity", "_doc_title": "Rainforest Biomes", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7, 8]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["FIRST it was on , then it was off , then it was on again .", "By the end , the fate of the agreement made by the federal government , the state of California and Pacific Lumber Company to protect the Headwaters Forest , the world 's last groves of privately owned old-growth redwood trees , seemed to hang on the time difference between Washington , DC , and Sacramento , where the documents had to be filed .", "Congress 's 1997 approval of federal funds to purchase the Headwaters property from Pacific Lumber was set to expire at midnight on Monday , March 1st , but the three-hour difference between the east and west coasts provided just enough time for the parties to smooth out the final wrinkles .", "The agreement was signed with two minutes to spare .", "Some of the trees that will be saved are more than 2,000 years old and taller than 300 feet ( 91 metres ) , and they are among the very last sentinels of what was once a vast redwood forest .", "Pacific Lumber , which owns about 211,000 acres ( 85,000 hectares ) of timberlands , will be paid $ 480m for the 7,500-acre Headwaters tract and 2,500 acres of additional old-growth woodlands , with the federal government supplying $ 250m of the price and California $ 230m .", "The agreement also bans , for 50 years , logging in 12 `` lesser cathedral '' groves on about 8,000 acres of company land in order to protect the habitat of the marbled murrelet , an endangered waterfowl ; and it establishes buffer zones to protect the stream habitats of endangered coho salmon and steelhead trout .", "The agreement also allows Pacific Lumber to log an estimated 180m board-feet ( 425,000 cubic metres ) of redwood in the buffer zones .", "A single redwood tree may supply as much as $ 100,000 worth of lumber .", "The California Division of Forestry had originally projected that 136m board-feet could be logged in the buffer zones over 10 years , but on Friday , February 26th , Pacific Lumber claimed that it required at least 200m board-feet for the project to be economically feasible .", "Last summer Pacific Lumber refinanced for $ 868m , and the payments on the debt will be made in part from proceeds from the buffer-zone logging .", "So the forestry division remodelled its projections .", "While government , state and Pacific Lumber officials congratulated each other , many environmentalists , some of whom have been working to save the Headwaters forest since 1986 , professed themselves unhappy with many of the agreement 's provisions .", "A letter dated March 1st confirms that Pacific Lumber can propose changes to the agreement through a peer-review panel ; the letter was signed by David Hayes , counsellor to the federal secretary of the interior , and Terry Garcia , assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere at the Department of Commerce .", "The five-member panel includes one member representing Pacific Lumber , two members representing the federal and state governments , and two at-large members , who must be unanimously approved by the other panelists .", "`` In effect , Pacific Lumber controls the panel , '' says Elyssa Rosen , speaking for the Sierra Club .", "Moreover , the government 's letter states that it is `` unlikely '' to `` reach a different conclusion '' from the panel regarding proposed changes .", "In addition , the language of the agreement protects Charles Hurwitz -- the boss of Maxxam , the parent company of Pacific Lumber since a hostile takeover in 1986 -- from future lawsuits over Headwaters .", "Any suits would be filed against the Habitat Conservation Plan , which would make Pacific Lumber and the state and federal governments co-defendants .", "Habitat Conservation Plans , or HCPs , have become the tool of choice within the Endangered Species Act for preserving wildlife and fragile ecosystems .", "Clinton administration officials have negotiated and signed approximately 200 HCPs since 1993 ; only 14 had been signed previously .", "A typical HCP involves an exchange of land for money or other property , and protects a company 's exposure to lawsuits filed under the Endangered Species Act .", "David Harris , the author of `` The Last Stand : The War Between Wall Street and Main Street Over California 's Ancient Redwoods '' , said he is appalled by the agreement .", "`` Hurwitz paid only $ 810m for the entire company -- sawmills , property , the works , '' he says .", "`` Now we 're giving him $ 480m cash for a just few thousand acres ?", "He 's making out like a bandit , and he knows it . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Pacific Lumber can log 425,000 cubic metres in specially-protected buffer zones.", "_claim_name": "A ban would be possible because there are alternatives", "_doc_title": "Saved, at a price | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["There are an estimated 15 uncontacted tribes living in the Peruvian Amazon , all face catastrophe unless their land is protected", "Survival has been calling on the Peruvian government to protect land inhabited by uncontacted tribes since the 1970s .", "Today , five reserves have been created for uncontacted tribes , and Peru has ratified laws that uphold the tribes ' right to be left alone .", "But now the threats are greater than ever .", "Illegal loggers and miners are invading the forest , and oil and gas concessions cut across more than 70 % of Peru 's Amazon region .", "We 're campaigning to ensure the government upholds uncontacted tribes ' right to their land and prevents outsiders from invading it .", "Act now \u2193 Donate \u2192", "Survival estimates there are 15 uncontacted tribes in Peru .", "They live in the most remote , isolated regions of the Amazon rainforest , but their land is being rapidly destroyed by outsiders .", "They include the Cacataibo , Isconahua , Matsigenka , Mashco-Piro , Mastanahua , Murunahua ( or Chitonahua ) , Nanti and Yora .", "All of these peoples face terrible threats -- to their land , livelihoods and , ultimately , their lives .", "If nothing is done , they are likely to disappear entirely .", "Uncontacted tribes are extremely vulnerable to any form of contact with outsiders because they do not have immunity to Western diseases .", "International law recognizes the Indians ' land as theirs , just as it recognizes their right to live on it as they want to .", "That law is not being respected by the Peruvian government or the companies who are invading tribal land .", "Everything we know about these isolated Indians makes it clear they seek to maintain their isolation .", "On the very rare occasions when they are seen or encountered , they make it clear they want to be left alone .", "Sometimes they react aggressively , as a way of defending their territory , or leave signs in the forest warning outsiders away .", "The Indians have suffered horrific violence and diseases brought by outsiders in the past .", "For many this suffering continues today .", "They clearly have very good reason not to want contact .", "Survival is urging the Peruvian government to protect these isolated Indians by not allowing any oil exploration , logging or other form of natural resource extraction on their land .", "The government must recognize the Indians as the owners of their land .", "After a Survival campaign in the 1990s , in collaboration with local indigenous organisation FENAMAD , the oil company Mobil pulled out of an area inhabited by uncontacted tribes in south-east Peru .", "Please help us fight for the rights of the world 's most vulnerable peoples .", "The greatest threats to Peru 's uncontacted Indians are oil workers and illegal loggers .", "More than 70 % of the Peruvian Amazon has been leased by the government to oil companies .", "Much of this includes regions inhabited by uncontacted tribes .", "Oil exploration is particularly dangerous to the Indians because it opens up previously remote areas to other outsiders , such as loggers and colonists .", "They use the roads and paths made by the exploration teams to enter .", "In the past , oil exploration has led to violent and disastrous contact with isolated Indians .", "In the early 1980s , exploration by Shell led to contact with the isolated Nahua tribe .", "Within a few years around 50 % of the Nahua had died .", "Now a consortium of companies led by Argentine Pluspetrol is working on the Nahua 's land and plans to expand the massive gas project .", "It is Peru 's largest gas field , and is known as ` Camisea ' .", "Camisea lies inside a reserve for uncontacted and isolated tribes that includes the Nanti and Matsigenka Indians .", "Further expansion of the project could result in the demise of these vulnerable tribes .", "Meanwhile , Peru describes its policy to international companies as ` open door ' .", "The government is actively encouraging new companies to explore in areas inhabited by uncontacted tribes including the Mashco-Piro and Isconahua .", "The other principal threat is illegal loggers , many of them after mahogany .", "Known as ` red gold ' , mahogany commands a very high price on the global market .", "Peru 's rainforest has some of the last commercially viable mahogany stands anywhere in the world , prompting a ` red gold fever ' for the last of them .", "Tragically , these are the same regions where the isolated Indians live , meaning that loggers invade their territory and contact is almost inevitable .", "In 1996 illegal loggers forced contact with the Murunahua Indians .", "In the following years over 50 % of them died , mainly from colds , flu and other respiratory infections .", "Loggers have also been forcing members of an uncontacted tribe to flee from Peru across the border into Brazil .", "A vast amount of evidence , including video footage , audio material , photographs , artifacts , testimonies and interviews , has been collected over the years .", "For example , on the 18th of September 2007 a plane chartered by the Frankfurt Zoological Society checking for the presence of illegal loggers flew over a remote part of Peru 's south-eastern rainforest .", "By chance they came across a group of twenty-one Indians , probably members of the Mashco-Piro tribe , in a temporary fishing camp on a river bank .", "Just six weeks after the sighting , Peru 's President Garcia wrote in a newspaper article that the uncontacted Indians had been ` created by environmentalists ' opposed to oil exploration .", "Almost all the isolated Indians are nomads , moving across the rainforest according to the seasons in small , extended family groups .", "In the rainy season , when water levels are high , the tribes , who generally do not use canoes , live away from the rivers deep in the rainforest .", "During the dry season , however , when water levels are low and beaches form in the river bends they camp on the beaches and fish .", "The dry season is also the time of year river turtles appear on the beaches to lay their eggs , burying them in the sand .", "The eggs are an important source of protein for the Indians , and they are experts at finding and digging them up .", "The Indians ' appearance on the beaches means that they are most likely to be seen by loggers , other outsiders or neighbouring , contacted Indians at this time of year .", "Besides turtle eggs , the uncontacted Indians eat a variety of meat , fish , plantains , nuts , berries , roots and grubs .", "Animals hunted include tapir , peccary , monkey and deer .", "Your efforts are crucial in defending the Uncontacted Tribes .", "Get involved in this urgent effort in the following ways ."], "_citing_sentence": "Similarly, there are 15 un-contacted tribes in the Peruvian Amazon, but their ancient way of life is under threat because more than 70% of the Peruvian rainforest has been leased to oil companies for exploration.", "_claim_name": "Local tribes are displaced", "_doc_title": "Uncontacted Indians of Peru - Survival International", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 26]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["PARAGOMINAS , a sweltering , mosquito-ridden town in the north of Brazil , is the stuff of an environmentalist 's nightmares .", "The air is bitter with sawdust and smoke .", "Dozens of sawmills are slicing up prime rainforest tree-trunks , and each is surrounded by dozens of charcoal kilns spewing out black smoke .", "For hundreds of miles around , the landscape is bare of trees except for the odd stump .", "No one takes any notice of government regulations that restrict logging , explains a manager at one of the sawmills ; and if officials try to enforce them , they can easily be bribed .", "`` Everyone is out for a quick buck here , '' he says .", "Yet Brazilians get annoyed when environmentalists from developed countries start moaning about the destruction of the rainforests .", "Most of the arguments for preserving the forests , they point out , are something of a rich man 's luxury .", "They are about nebulous worries for the medium-term future , not about a developing country 's crying need , here and now , to improve its people 's living standards .", "Besides , satellite pictures show that despite decades of exploitation , over 85 % of Brazil 's Amazon jungle region is still covered in trees .", "So why , ask Brazilians , should they not be allowed to put some of their forests to commercial use ?", "The best answer is that rapid deforestation is rarely in the economic interest of the country concerned .", "More often it is due to a combination of bad policies , population growth and poverty .", "In some parts of the world , such as the highlands of Bolivia , Peru and Nepal , and in the countryside surrounding many fast-growing cities in Africa , trees are lost because the poor use wood for fuel .", "Elsewhere the culprit is war .", "During Cambodia 's long civil war , both the government and the Khmers Rouges financed their military operations partly through logging .", "Since the 1970s , around half of Cambodia 's forests have disappeared .", "Another reason for forest depletion is the slash-and-burn method of cultivation employed by the poorest farmers .", "In East Asia , environmentalists think that the recent economic troubles will hurt the forests as poor families lose their city jobs and return to the countryside .", "More intensive farming technology can help , by reducing the amount of land that poor families need to reclaim from forests to feed themselves .", "In parts of the Brazilian Amazon , where smallholders ' farming techniques are still very basic , a local environmental group has helped reduce forest loss in one community by getting farmers to adopt a few simple improvements , such as planting their crops in rows rather than scattering seeds , and using hoes for weeding .", "The biggest potential gains from applying existing farming technology could be achieved in sub-Saharan Africa , where the use of fertiliser , for example , is running at only a quarter the level in India .", "Commercial logging , too , is a big cause of deforestation .", "Demand for industrial timber is expected to increase from around 1.6 billion cubic metres a year in 1995 to 1.9 billion cubic metres in 2010 , driven by rising standards of living .", "Developing countries with hot climates have a competitive advantage in this market , simply because trees grow much faster than in temperate climates .", "But plantation forestry can be as profitable as chopping trees from virgin forest , and has the obvious advantage that growers can choose which species to cultivate .", "The main reason why virgin forest is being cut down is not so much the simple pursuit of profit but a set of perverse economic incentives .", "In the Brazilian Amazon , between the 1960s and the early 1990s the forest shrank largely because the government intended it to .", "Brazil 's military rulers saw the region as a safety valve for the overpopulation , landlessness and poverty in the country 's crowded coastal region ; they also feared that a thinly inhabited Amazon was an invitation to foreign invaders .", "In their attempt to give `` the land without people to the people without land '' , the authorities colonised the region and built roads and schools .", "Newcomers qualified for ownership of a plot of land simply by clearing the trees on it .", "But usually the soil of cleared Amazon rainforest proved unsuitable for agriculture : after a few years crops would begin to fail , forcing farmers to deforest yet more land .", "The government also offered tax breaks to companies spending money on approved development schemes in the region .", "Firms poured in , many of them setting up giant cattle ranches .", "In the early 1990s some of the more obvious incentives to wreak environmental havoc were dismantled .", "Partly to appease the green lobby abroad , the Brazilian government also passed a series of increasingly tough laws -- first prohibiting landowners from logging more than 50 % of their land , then lowering the limit to 20 % .", "Yet satellite data released at the beginning of this year show that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in 1995 reached an all-time high of 29,000 square kilometres , an area about the size of Belgium .", "The figure for 1996 was down , but at 18,100 square kilometres still substantial .", "Why the continuing destruction ?", "On the face of it , the problem appears to be that existing rules are simply not enforced .", "Ibama , Brazil 's environment agency , has a small number of officials to police a vast region .", "Last year it collected just 6 % of the fines it levied .", "The Brazilian government has estimated that 80 % of the timber in the region is harvested illegally .", "But a visit to a town such as Paragominas suggests that effective enforcement would take a lot more than hiring extra inspectors .", "The atmosphere is that of a frontier region where no one quite knows who owns the land and property disputes are often settled by violence .", "Everyone milks the forest for what they can get .", "Because of confusion over land titles , conflicts often flare between Indians , squatters and loggers .", "Many owners deliberately do not register their property with the authorities because they fear it might restrict their logging .", "But they also burn trees as a sign of occcupation to discourage invasions from the country 's militant landless .", "Insecurity of land tenure explains the continuing popularity of cattle ranching in the region : if someone else takes the land , at least the cattle can be moved on .", "That same insecurity of tenure also means that plantation forestry , however sensible in theory , does not stand a chance in practice .", "Landowners would have to wait perhaps 20 years to harvest the trees , during which time squatters or accidental fires could easily wipe out their investment .", "Deforestation in Indonesia -- which last year caught the world 's attention by producing a series of catastrophic smogs -- has a similar tangle of causes .", "As in Brazil , the government had an official programme encouraging millions of people to move from the crowded islands of Java and Bali to less densely populated but heavily forested islands such as Kalimantan , Sumatra and Irian Jaya .", "And as in Brazil , property rights in the forests are often ill-defined , leading to violent conflicts between locals , migrants and forestry firms .", "Traditional adat law , which has governed the use of forest lands until the past few decades , clashes with more recent logging concessions handed out by the government in Jakarta , and fire is used as a weapon by both sides .", "Small farmers sometimes burn trees planted by big forestry companies , and large firms have in turn burnt land to drive out smallholders .", "But whereas Brazil has abandoned government policies that explicitly encourage deforestation , Indonesia is further behind .", "The government levies high export taxes on unprocessed logs to help the domestic wood-processing industry .", "This has kept domestic timber prices below world levels , providing forestry firms with an implicit subsidy estimated at over $ 2 billion a year , but also encouraging them to use logs inefficiently .", "Government concessions to log a particular area have been handed out in what development bankers call `` a non-transparent fashion '' ( ie , to friends of President Suharto 's family ) , and for periods too short to give the firms an incentive to look after the forest .", "Only now , under pressure from the IMF , has the government promised to reform the timber trade .", "In sum , the sort of policies that might help developing countries to reduce their rate of deforestation are also the sort of policies that are likely to promote economic growth : upholding the rule of law , securing property rights , weeding out corruption and reducing subsidies .", "That may seem obvious , but it challenges an assumption still widely held in rich and poor countries alike : that rapid development and rapid deforestation must go hand in hand .", "As long as that belief persists , the pleas of the rich world 's environmentalists will be seen as somewhat other-worldly .", "They want to preserve the forests for two main reasons : because burning them could eventually contribute to world climate change , and because they know that forest loss will reduce biodiversity .", "Both are worries for the longer term , although recent research suggests that burning trees is now beginning to affect the local climate of the Brazilian rainforest too , making it drier and more liable to accidental fires .", "A loss of biodiversity will not start to show up until well into the next century , but it is an issue that gets environmentalists really excited .", "According to one estimate , tropical rainforests contain around half of all the world 's species -- far more than the temperate forests of Europe and America .", "( The Amazon forests also contain about 400 human tribes , which are gradually being squeezed out . )", "The depletion of rainforests is being blamed for the increasingly rapid rate at which the world is losing species .", "But scientific understanding of species loss , and its potential dangers , is riddled with uncertainties .", "Life 's rich pattern", "Scientists have little idea how many species exist in the first place .", "Recent estimates range from 7m to 20m .", "According to the Global Biodiversity Assessment , a UN-sponsored report in which about 1,000 scientists have had a hand , a good working estimate is between 13m and 14m species .", "But of that number , says the report , only about 1.75 m have been scientifically described .", "If scientists have no clear idea how many species exist in the first place , rates of loss are necessarily even harder to divine .", "Since 1600 , over 480 animal species and 650 plant species are recorded as having become extinct .", "But since the vast majority of all species are unknown , rates of loss of known species are not much of a guide to anything .", "Besides , species thought to be extinct occasionally pop up from nowhere .", "So scientists rely on a crude calculation .", "They have a very rough idea , from a number of detailed studies , how many species are likely to be lost if the size of a particular habitat -- a tropical forest , say -- is reduced by a certain amount .", "They then apply this number to the total area of tropical forest lost each year ( another very approximate figure , often derived from incomplete satellite data ) .", "Using this method , scientists working on the Global Biodiversity Assessment have estimated that , if current rates of forest loss continue over the next 30 years , the number of species in tropical forests will fall by 5-10 % .", "Losing species , even bugs and spiders , might matter for a number of reasons .", "Ecosystems containing a broad diversity of species and genes are generally better able to adapt to changing conditions than those with just a handful of species , however abundant .", "Genetic variation is nature 's insurance against all sort of eventualities .", "It might help cushion , for example , the impact of a sudden change in the world 's climate .", "It also can help reduce the effect of disease .", "The Irish potato famine was so devastating because in the 19th century only a few varieties of potato were planted in Ireland , and these all happened to be vulnerable to the same disease .", "At present almost all the world 's food crops are based on a mere nine species of plants , but in the future any of thousands of other species might prove invaluable .", "Today 's apparently useless species may contain tomorrow 's medicine .", "To rich-world inhabitants , the best arguments for preserving the rainforests are spiritual : that the diversity of life is a wonder of nature , whether it has a practical application or not ; and that it is good to hold on to some wildernesses in the world .", "But for developing countries trying to lift themselves out of poverty , such arguments seem utterly irrelevant ."], "_citing_sentence": "In a more sinister example, logging was used by the Khmer Rouge to fund its civil war in Cambodia.", "_claim_name": "Logging is often used as a political tool by corrupt governments", "_doc_title": "Stumped by trees | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["It 's the short-term !", "Associated with the philosophical and ethical ideas mentioned in # 17 has been an indifference about the future consequences of actions , an interest in short-term gain over long-term sustainability , a preference for free markets , and the idea that everything can be valued in terms of economics ( dollars ) .", "Over time , as economic systems have become global and surpluses the norm in affluent countries , more and more goods have become available , and , as populations surge , there are more and more people to consume .", "Population growth , as well as the increasing desire of each individual to have more goods ( and an increased ability to pay , in some countries ) has led to an increase in consumer demand which shows no signs of peaking .", "The demand for more goods has fueled destructive activities in tropical countries , which provide many of these goods ( exotic woods like mahogany and ebony , beverages such as coffee and tea , pharmaceuticals , precious metals , foods such as chocolate , cheap meat , and bananas ) .", "Many of these products are raised not only at the expense of rainforests , which are cut down to provide land or timber , but at the expense of local foodstuffs .", "Land which had been or could be used for local subsistence purposes is converted for raising export goods -- cocoa , coffee , palm oil , soybeans and the like .", "Coffee is an interesting example .", "Globally , there are approximately 11.8 million hectares of coffee plantations , almost all of which have been established in former rainforests .", "For a long time , coffee trees , which require shade , have been raised on plantations in which many forest trees are retained to provide shade for the light-intolerant coffee trees .", "These plantations , while not undisturbed rainforest any longer , still provide excellent habitat for a number of species , particularly birds , insects , rodents , reptiles and amphibians .", "More than 150 species of birds have been reported from coffee farms in Central America .", "These `` canopy farms '' provide an income for local farmers as well as retaining the integrity of the forest to some extent .", "More recently , new varieties of coffee which tolerate direct sunlight have been introduced , obviating the need for a shady tree cover .", "This coffee is raised on plantations which have been razed of their tree cover , and , because they are so open ( coffee trees are rather small and spindly ) , do not provide a good environment for wildlife .", "Halweil ( 2002 ) states that there are fewer than half as many bird species in `` sun '' coffee plantations as in `` shade '' plantations .", "Trees in sun plantations require huge amounts of fertilizer , herbicides and pesticides , which contaminate the local waterways and soils .", "Additionally , because all of the forest trees have been removed , there is no chance that the forest can ever grow back when the plantations are abandoned .", "Half of the coffee now produced in Central America comes from these `` full-sun '' plantations .", "Likewise , cocoa is grown on eight million hectares worldwide .", "Coffee and cocoa plantations occupy 80 % of the original rainforest land in Ivory Coast .", "Oil palms have taken the place of three million hectares of lowland rainforests in Malaysia , which produces half of the global supply of palm oil , and Indonesia , with 2.5 million hectares of oil palm planted , has designated 15 million additional hectares for cultivation of this tree ( Hardner and Rice , 2002 ) .", "The interest in short-term profits is incompatible with conservation because the benefits of conservation activities will not necessarily be seen for a long time , perhaps for centuries .", "There is a substantial difference in time scale between economic development projects and conservation projects .", "Economic development forecloses options ; conservation is dedicated to keeping options open .", "However , as Goodland ( 1995 ) maintains , `` The south will gain more from a preventive approach than from emulating the short-sighted and expensive curative approach and similar mistakes of the north . ''", "a. Free market economics and the profit motive : In elaborating economic theories , economists have often made the assumption that natural resources exist to be exploited by humans , and that the value of everything -- including our environment -- can be expressed in terms of money .", "If , then , everything on earth has to justify itself in terms of its value in the world economy , plants and animals ( and other natural resources ) are simply exploitable objects , only to be kept if they turn a profit for someone .", "As expressed by Amelung , Torsten and Diehl ( 1992 ) , `` The tropical rainforest is an economic resource providing a multitude of products and input factors for a number of economic activities and industries .", "From the viewpoint of the respective tropical countries these resources should be exploited in order to enhance the development process , even if the exploitation of these resources incurs serious environmental problems in the long run . ''", "This attitude toward rainforests , not to mention other resources , is widespread and pervasive .", "In part it is due to the philosophical attitudes mentioned above , in part to greed or unconcern on the part of governments and individuals , and in part to desperation .", "The international economic order and powerful business interests : The purpose of the current global economic order is to make profits , and , as the components of this system are not tied to any particular social or cultural system ( except the capitalistic economic system ) , their concerns are almost entirely economic .", "The marketplace rules these global organizations , and it gives high value to wood and wood products , as well as to agricultural and pastoral uses of land .", "It has little regard for the `` ecosystem services '' provided by rainforests , and which are essential for the health of the earth .", "Consequently , species which are popular in international trade ( such as rattan and mahogany ) usually suffer depletion , and the forests in which they reside are damaged or destroyed .", "In Papua New Guinea , where local people control most of the forest land , international logging interests override weak and corrupt government controls and persuade inhabitants to sell them logging concessions ( usually at very cheap rates ) .", "This happens over and over again in tropical countries , in which the forest sector becomes a fief of the multinational logging operations .", "c. Local economic benefits : Obviously , local ranchers , farmers and loggers benefit in the short run , in obtaining ( at least briefly ) some profits from the removal of rainforest .", "For some , these benefits are very large , especially in comparison with using the forest for other purposes , although their activities may result in losses for others .", "Consumers elsewhere may obtain cheap goods -- foodstuffs , construction materials and fibers , although generally these goods do not substantially alter their standard of living .", "These sorts of marginal benefits are known as `` diffuse gains . ''", "For instance , in the 1980 's , Malaysia , Indonesia and The Philippines exported 85 million cubic meters of wood ( 4 % of the global wood supply ) , worth about $ 3 billion ( Katzman and Cale , 1990 ) .", "While the benefits to the logging companies were great , loss of this supply would have simply shifted the global market toward nontropical woods and increased consumption of wood substitutes .", "Thus in these cases , the tremendous deforestation occurring in tropical countries ( almost complete in The Philippines , and well on the way in the others ) has not had a crucial effect on the global economy .", "Certain groups have indeed been enriched , however .", "The same is true of meat derived from tropical cattle ranching .", "Amazonian meat production yields only 3 % of meat imports into industrial countries , although the vast areas of forest converted for ranching are irremediably degraded .", "In the process of producing wealth for the few , many poor and indigenous peoples -- those without political power -- are dislocated and marginalized , and people in developed countries lose many values .", "`` In economic terms , tropical deforestation imposes external diseconomies -LSB- a cost borne by those not involved in the activity providing the economic benefits -RSB- on the remaining inhabitants of the globe .", "If the polluter always paid -LSB- for these diseconomies -RSB- , the parties responsible for deforestation would compensate the rest of the world for the lost aesthetic , scientific , climatological and economic option values . ''", "( Katzman and Cale , 1990 , p. 828 )"], "_citing_sentence": "s, Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines exported 85 million cubic meters of wood (4% of the global wood supply), worth about $3 billion, which has since grown to be one of their main industries.", "_claim_name": "Logging is often used as a political tool by corrupt governments", "_doc_title": "18) Economic attitudes \u00ab  Rainforest Conservation Fund", "_labeled_lineIDs": [42]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Amazon is the world 's largest rainforest .", "It is also the ancestral home of 1 million Indians .", "They are divided into about 400 tribes , each with its own language , culture and territory .", "Many have had contact with outsiders for almost 500 years .", "Others -- ` uncontacted ' tribes -- have had no contact at all .", "Most Indians live in settled villages by the rivers , and grow vegetables and fruits like manioc , corn , beans and bananas .", "The Yanomami live in Roraima state , Brazil , and across the border in Venezuela", "They also hunt and fish , using plant-based poisons to stun the fish .", "Some tribes use shotguns for hunting , others use bows and arrows , spears , or blowguns with darts tipped with curare .", "Only a few Amazonian tribes are nomadic ; they tend to live deep in the forest away from the rivers .", "They grow some crops but rely more on hunting and gathering .", "Today , most Indians in the Amazon have access to ` Western ' healthcare and education .", "When these are controlled by the Indians themselves they are usually very successful .", "Almost all the Indians ' problems revolve around land : outsiders either want their land , or something on or underneath it .", "The key threats are a massive boom in oil and gas exploration , rampant illegal logging and the rapid spread of ranching and farming .", "Indian tribes whose lands are respected generally thrive .", "But in Brazil Indians have no communal land ownership rights , while in Peru and Colombia many villages secured land title decades ago , but governments and companies regularly ride rough-shod over their rights .", "Indians from Brazil 's Raposa-Serra do Sol indigenous area tell Survival about their lands and lives", "Five centuries after the first Europeans entered Amazonia , many Indians are still dying at the hands of outsiders , and entire tribes continue to face the threat of annihilation .", "Amazon tribes need your help .", "Survival 's most urgent campaigns in the Amazon are for the Nukak , two thirds of whom have died in the 20 years since contact , for Peru 's uncontacted Indians under threat from oil companies and loggers , and for the Indians of Raposa-Serra do Sol , whose land is under siege by violent rice farmers .", "` Survival ' albumBruce Parry has brought together the brightest stars in the music world with a new fundraising album .", "Nukak Indians of Raposa-Serra do Sol", "Peru 's uncontacted Indians"], "_citing_sentence": "The Amazon rainforest is the ancestral home of one million people and contains 400 human tribes, many of whom have never had contact with the outside world; they eat many plant foods such as oranges, yams and bananas, and bushmeats such as wild pigs.", "_claim_name": "Local tribes are displaced", "_doc_title": "Amazon tribes", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2, 3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 94, "_topic_name": "This house would ban all unsustainable logging"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["study"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Graeme Paton , Education Editor 6:00 AM BST 15 May 2013 \u2022 University Course Finder : search and compare UK universities", "Students are receiving just 20 minutes more teaching each week in the current academic year compared with 2005/6 when courses cost just # 1,000 , it was revealed .", "The report found that the average student receives just 14 hours a week in `` contact time '' and has a total workload of 30 hours , including private study .", "IN PICTURES : Top 10 universities by teaching hours", "Researchers warned that a degree course at an English university was still `` more like a part-time than a full-time job '' , with workload around 25 per cent less than the average recommended by the higher education watchdog .", "Ministers consider radical overhaul of GCSE grading ` New universities ' offer longer teaching hours", "Top 10 universities by teaching hours", "Tuition fees ` do n't boost standards '", "University teaching : a lost art ?", "Most universities ` to raise student tuition fees in 2013 '", "The study -- by Which ?", "and the Higher Education Policy Institute -- found large variations by subject discipline and between universities , sparking fears that the disparity could cause `` damage '' to the reputation of the higher education system .", "Students taking physical sciences degrees could receive anything between 11 and 25 hours a week in teaching depending on their chosen university , it emerged .", "In a key conclusion , it was claimed that the imposition of tuition fees of up to # 9,000 for the first time this year had failed to have any impact on courses , although students themselves are working harder in their spare time .", "Average contact hours `` have rise by just 20 minutes per week '' since 2006 , the study said , adding : `` Over this time , students at English institutions have seen a nine-fold increase in fees , from # 1,000 to # 9,000 per annum . ''", "The study -- based on a survey of more than 17,000 undergraduates -- also found that students paying maximum fees this year received no more tuition than those on courses that cost less than # 8,000 .", "Visit the Telegraph 's Student Life section", "But Nicola Dandridge , chief executive of Universities UK , the vice-chancellors ' group , said it was `` misleading to make a crude assumption that time spent in lectures and seminars can be equated with university course quality '' .", "`` Tuition fees also pay for far more than contact time , '' she said .", "`` They cover all manner of services including student support facilities , employment advice and training , library services and clubs . ''", "An analysis by HEPI -- released alongside the study -- said it was `` disquieting '' that different universities could make varying demands of their students in the same subject .", "`` Students studying physical sciences can receive anywhere between 11 and 25 hours per week , and social studies students anywhere between nine and 16 hours , based on the institution they 're enrolled with , '' the study said .", "`` Students studying Mathematics reported receiving anywhere between 13 and 22 hours per week and Nursing students between 15 and 25 hours . ''", "HEPI said the issue should be seriously addressed to prevent long-term damage being caused to the high education sector .", "The think-tank said : `` If it becomes known that it is ` easier ' to obtain a qualification in one university than another , then that will in due course damage the reputation of that university , but it will also have an impact on the reputation of the entire UK higher education system . ''", "A spokeswoman for the Department for Business , Innovation and Skills said : `` We want the best possible match between students and institutions .", "People must be able to make informed decisions about what and where to study .", "`` That 's why we introduced the key information set , which compares a range of data at course level on costs satisfaction and outcomes .", "Institutions should explain to prospective students how their course will be delivered in order to help them make the right decisions . ''", "Find and compare degrees with our University Course Finder", "Post-1992 universities ` offer longer teaching hours ' In Education News"], "_citing_sentence": "In the UK, almost a third of applicants do not get places as it is, and those that do often find they have less contact time with staff than they had expected.", "_claim_name": "Universities don't have unlimited places available", "_doc_title": "University teaching time 'fails to rise' despite fees hike - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2, 14]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Graeme Paton , Education Editor 2:42 PM BST 29 Mar 2012", "More than one-in-five undergraduates are failing to compete the first year of their degree at the worst-performing universities , it emerged , prompting fears that millions of pounds of taxpayers ' money is being wasted on unwanted courses .", "At some universities , an estimated four-in-10 students will fail to finish the course they started after either dropping out , switching to another institution or graduating with a lesser qualification .", "In England , the University of Bolton had the worst drop-out rate with 21.4 per cent of students quitting higher education after just a year .", "An estimated 45 per cent of undergraduates will fail to complete their full degree course , it emerged .", "Drop-out rates were as high as a third at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland and hit almost a quarter at the University of West Scotland .", "Across Britain , the number of students dropping out increased from 28,210 to 31,755 last year -- a rise of almost 13 per cent .", "OECD : fifth of British teenagers ` drop out of school at 16 '", "Three-quarters of universities ` to cut student places '", "Oxford ` admitting more students from poor backgrounds '", "Major university admissions shake-up axed , says Ucas", "Reputation of British universities ` damaged by student riots ' It was the first time since records began a decade ago that the rate had crept above 30,000 , fuelled by an increase in the overall student population .", "The rise -- in data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency -- comes despite the Government spending # 1bn on initiatives designed to improve student retention .", "The University and College Union warned that the drop-out rate would soar in coming years following a decision to increase the cap on student tuition fees to # 9,000 .", "Sally Hunt , the UCU general secretary , said undergraduates would be tempted to chase places on the cheapest courses , even if they fail to fit their requirements .", "`` Over the past five years , in England alone , over # 1bn has been spent on measures to improve student retention in higher education , '' she said .", "`` Sadly , today 's figures show that too many students , particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds , are still failing to complete their studies .", "`` We have real concerns that the new funding regime with hugely increased tuition fees may force some students onto courses that , although cheaper , do not best suit their abilities .", "`` That scenario is likely to lead to further drop outs , which will not benefit the student , the university or society . ''", "Figures from HESA show the number of students dropping out of university each year along with the proportion expected to complete the degree they started .", "In all , 8.6 per cent of students quit higher education after 12 months last year compared with 7.9 per cent a year earlier .", "Some 21.6 per cent are expected to fail to complete their degree .", "According to data , the worst performer was Highlands and Islands where 32 per cent dropped out last year and just 48.6 per cent of students are expected to finish the degree course they started .", "More than one-in-seven students dropped out of higher education altogether at eight other British universities , including West Scotland , Bolton , West London , London Metropolitan , Swansea Metropolitan , Middlesex , University Campus Suffolk and Salford .", "By comparison , Cambridge and St Andrews had the lowest drop out rates last year with just 1.4 per cent of students quitting , following by Oxford at 1.4 per cent .", "A spokesman for the Department for Business , Innovation and Skills said : `` Although our student completion rates compare well internationally , we want to reduce the number of students who do n't complete their studies .", "`` We are improving information for prospective students so that they can make more informed choices and we are committee to a better overall student experience . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "In fact, at some (typically less prestigious) universities, dropout rates can be as high as 20%, meaning students will literally gain nothing.", "_claim_name": "Students are forcing themselves through university even when it is not right for them", "_doc_title": "University drop-out rate soars by 13pc in a year - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["But the $ 9.4 million cost may make it difficult for the Senate to approve the work initiatives proposal .", "AUGUSTA -- The House voted unanimously Monday to pass a bill aimed at addressing Maine 's `` skills gap '' by developing the state 's work force with job-training initiatives .", "L.D. 90 , sponsored by Senate President Justin Alfond , D-Portland , would establish a uniform credit-transfer system between the University of Maine System and the Maine Community College System , reduce waiting lists for popular community college programs , provide financial assistance to adults who went to college but did n't earn degrees , and establish a worker-training system between businesses and community colleges .", "`` This is about an investment in Maine 's future , '' Rep. Gay Grant , D-Gardiner , a member of the Legislature 's Committee on Maine 's Workforce and Economic Future , said in a prepared statement .", "`` We 're investing in our workers , we 're investing in our businesses , we 're investing in our infrastructure so there will be more opportunity in Maine . ''", "The bill would cost nearly $ 9.4 million over four years , $ 5 million of which would come in the next two budget years .", "About half of the four-year total , just over $ 4.7 million , would go to the community college system .", "House Minority Leader Kenneth Fredette said the cost could make the bill difficult to pass .", "The 138-0 vote in the House sent the bill to the Senate for approval .", "It can take effect only if the Legislature 's Appropriations Committee can fund it in the next two-year budget , which begins July 1 .", "The bill is supported by a broad coalition that includes the university and community college systems , the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Maine AFL-CIO , a coalition of labor unions .", "Democrats and Republicans have often cited a study from Southern Maine Community College in South Portland , saying 4,000 high-wage jobs will go unfilled over 10 years in Maine because workers ' skills do n't match up with the jobs available .", "Even though the parties agree , Peter Cappelli , a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania , is skeptical of the skills gap 's existence .", "He told the Portland Press Herald in January that companies nationwide are asking for changes in the educational system to compensate for their lack of investment in training and employees ' development ."], "_citing_sentence": "There are schemes underway in many areas to do just that - to give one example, in Maine, USA, a bill has been passed to improve local colleges.", "_claim_name": "Vocational courses produce better employees", "_doc_title": "House OKs bill to plug 'skills gap' - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Friday 10 September 2010 19.01 EDT Illness , indolence , inability or inebriation might have stymied your chances .", "Whatever the cause , your degree result was a disaster and you 've spent the summer mourning what might have been .", "Now it 's time to stop panicking and work out how to launch your career on the back of a third .", "It will seem daunting : a survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters found 78 % of leading employers filter out the third of graduates who achieve less than a 2:1 and that 69 applicants are , on average , chasing each graduate job .", "The good news is that statistics are misleading .", "Big companies can afford to be fastidious , but smaller ones are more likely to look beyond a grade and , even if your degree result is an embarrassment , experience , adaptability and personal charm can be effective currency .", "`` Most students hear of graduate trainee schemes and a good degree is often required for these , but they make up only about 15 % of the graduate job market , '' says Saiyada Smith , careers adviser for The Careers Group , which counsels graduates and recruiters .", "Lateral thinking could ease you into your preferred profession via a sideways route so long as you are realistic about status and salary .", "`` In the financial sector a 2:1 or more is needed for front of office jobs , but you could get a lowlier position and work your way up , '' says Smith .", "`` Once you 've got your foot through the door you can build up your skills and contacts and if you do well you 'll be favourably placed when jobs are advertised internally .", "Your degree result only really matters for your first job ; after that it 's your professional achievements that count . ''", "Experience , be it voluntary work , hobbies or holiday jobs , will help mask your academic blip on your CV , so make sure you highlight any extracurricular activities and what you have learned from them , then set to work on a succinct but engaging covering letter that will reveal you as an enthusiastic team player .", "Send this to smaller companies and not only those who have advertised posts in the national press .", "Scour relevant trade magazines and company websites for openings or find a suitable contact within the company and send in your CV speculatively .", "Flexibility is essential , according to Tanya de Grunwald , founder of independent careers website GraduateFog.co.uk .", "`` It 's a myth that graduates must choose their career for the next 40 years the second they leave university .", "Now it 's all about navigating things as you go along , so consider fixed contracts or temp work as well as permanent jobs .", "If your grades are n't great , your personality and work ethic will have to convince your employer -- and it 's much easier to demonstrate these when you 're already in the building . ''", "If time goes by without result , you might consider taking on voluntary work or work experience in between sending applications , because employers distrust long gaps on a CV .", "It might also be time to reassess the situation .", "`` If you 're getting nowhere chasing your ` dream job ' , ask yourself : ` Is the universe trying to tell me something ? ' ''", "says de Grunwald , `` For example , if you were destined to be a high-flying management consultant , why did n't you get the grades ?", "Would you have continued to struggle with the hours of detailed study required of new starters ?", "Is it possible that your ` dream job ' might have made you miserable ?", "Consider the idea that you might actually have dodged a bullet and start looking for something you might enjoy for the next 18 months .", "Suddenly , everything will feel much more doable . ''", "Online networking sites mean you can advertise yourself to potential employers .", "Many firms approach appealing-sounding personalities via cyberspace so compile a compelling Twitter profile , link it to your LinkedIn page , add hash tags to attract new followers and start tweeting knowledgably and entertainingly about your chosen industry .", "You can glean fodder from trade magazines and while you 're at it note down any useful names mentioned in articles and approach them by letter or email .", "If you discover that a society or association relevant to your line of interest is holding a public event , turn up and get chatting .", "Eventually you 're bound to meet someone who might help your cause .", "However hard the struggle , do n't lose confidence in yourself because it will show .", "`` Every applicant has an Achilles heel so do n't assume your rivals tick every box , '' says de Grunwald .", "`` Someone with a first from Cambridge might be really shy .", "Someone with lots of experience might have an abrasive personality .", "Play up everything else that you do have going for you , in order to make up for your less-than-amazing degree . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Partial blame for this lies with employers - the large number of graduates means a culture has developed among recruiters of using the presence or absence of a degree as a default filter for applicants; 78% of leading employers filter out anyone with less than a 2:1.", "_claim_name": "Students are forcing themselves through university even when it is not right for them", "_doc_title": "Get a third? Time to turn on the charm | Money | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 95, "_topic_name": "This House would encourage fewer people to go to university"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The president of Yemen has been hurt in an attack on a mosque in his compound in the capital Sanaa , as fighting continues between the government and armed tribes .", "In an audio message hours later , Ali Abdullah Saleh said he was well and blamed tribal opponents for the attack .", "The PM and speaker of parliament were hurt and seven people killed .", "Earlier troops shelled the home of the brother of the tribal leader whose supporters they are fighting .", "Thousands meanwhile attended a funeral for 50 people killed in the violence , and there were huge demonstrations after Friday prayers .", "In the southern city of Taiz , at least three members of the security forces and two protesters were killed in clashes , officials and doctors said .", "It was not clear if the security forces were soldiers or police .", "One report said they had been killed by a rocket-propelled grenade .", "A crackdown on protesters in Taiz on Sunday left more than 50 demonstrators dead .", "By Lina SinjabBBC News , Sanaa", "This is the first attack on the presidential palace since the clashes started .", "His forces were intending to crush Hamid al-Ahmar 's forces .", "They have moved the fight from the north of the city in Hassaba to the south in Hadda , a residential upper-class area occupied by diplomats , top officials and businessmen .", "Sheikh Ahmar 's house is there and has been heavily targeted .", "But the president 's army is not as powerful as it was .", "Its first division , led by Gen Ali Mohsen , has defected to the opposition and has not been involved in the fighting yet .", "But if it did become involved , it would mean a declaration of war .", "The retaliation against President Saleh 's compound could expand into further clashes in the capital .", "It is also being seen as a sign that the end is near for him .", "The US White House condemned the recent bloodshed , including the attack on the presidential palace .", "`` Violence can not resolve the issues that confront Yemen , and today 's events can not be a justification for a new round of fighting , '' spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement .", "More than 350 people have been killed since the uprising started in January , but at least 135 of them have died in the past 10 days .", "There has been heavy fighting in the northern Sanaa district of Hassaba since last week between Mr Saleh 's forces and tribesman loyal to Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar , the head of the powerful Hashid tribal confederation .", "Explosions were heard in the south of the capital for the first time .", "Witnesses said the army had shelled the home of his brother Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar , a leader of the opposition Islah party , in the Hadda district .", "Later , at least two shells hit a mosque in the presidential palace compound .", "Mr Saleh was injured and received treatment in a military hospital .", "State TV later broadcast an audio message in which he urged the military to fight Sheikh Ahmar 's tribal group .", "`` I salute our armed forces and the security forces for standing up firmly to confront this challenge by an outlaw gang that has nothing to do with the so-called youth revolution , '' he said .", "`` Seven officers were martyred .", "We will follow these culprits sooner or later in co-operation with all security services . ''", "Correspondents say Mr Saleh spoke with a laboured voice , at times breathing heavily .", "Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar , speaker of parliament Yahya al-Rai and several other officials were also wounded .", "Al-Arabiya TV reported that Mr Rai was in a critical condition .", "Ruling party spokesman Tariq al-Shami told AFP news agency the tribesmen were to blame .", "Overshadowed by tribal conflict `` The Ahmar -LSB- tribe -RSB- have crossed all the red lines , '' he added .", "However , the office of Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar denied responsibility for the attack on the palace .", "This contradicted an earlier claim made by Sheikh Ahmar 's spokesman that the attack had been retaliatory .", "Earlier , troops set fire to the headquarters of Suhail TV , while state TV showed pictures of the burning offices of national airline Yemenia , blaming it on the tribesmen .", "Western and regional powers have been urging Mr Saleh to sign a Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered deal that would see him hand over to his deputy in return for an amnesty from prosecution .", "He has agreed to sign on several occasions , but then backed out .", "The US has sent an envoy to the Gulf to discuss ways of stopping the violence ."], "_citing_sentence": "A very current example are the terrorist attacks in several Middle Eastern countries that have led to the Arab spring, such as the attack on the Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh.", "_claim_name": "Consequentialism", "_doc_title": "Yemen: President Saleh injured in attack on palace - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Oslo Accords , officially known as `` Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements '' , is a document signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and representatives of the State of Israel in September 1993 .", "The agreement which was signed in a ceremony held in Washington by U.S. President Bill Clinton marked a breakthrough in decades-old conflicts between Arabs and Jews in Palestine .", "Yitzhak Rabin , the then Israeli Prime Minister and Yasser Arafat , the president of PLO , brought an end to their sworn enmity in a historic handshake in an event which went on to become one of the most momentous in the history of Middle East .", "The entire geo-political map of the region was redrawn in that one thoughtful move .", "This agreement , which was the result of the Madrid Conference in 1991 , contained a set of general principles pertaining to a five year interim self-rule period allowed to Palestine , mutually agreed upon by the both parties .", "The issue of `` permanent status '' was to be initiated in the third year so that the negotiations would lead to the implementations that were to take effect at the end of this interim period .", "Mentioned below are the main points of the Declaration of Principles ( DOP ) .", "Transfer of Powers to the Palestinians", "According to a feature of DOP , power and responsibilities in Gaza and the West Bank are to be transferred to Palestine to let them have a control of their own in these areas .", "No Prejudgment of the Permanent Status Issues of the permanent status like refuges , Jerusalem , Security arrangements and settlements are excluded from the DOP .", "It stated that the outcomes of the permanent status decisions are not to be prejudged from the interim agreement .", "Israel to be Responsible for the Security", "The DOP states that Israel is to retain the responsibility of the security of areas pertaining to the international borders as well as the Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank .", "Phases involved in the implementation of the DOP were specified as below .", "Self rule in Gaza-Jericho :", "Withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the areas of Gaza and Jericho was the first step in the implementation of the DOP .", "This aspect was negotiated and brought to a conclusion in Cairo Agreement signed by the PLO and Israel in May 1994 .", "Transfer of power and responsibilities :", "The authority of tourism , direct taxation , social welfare , health , culture and education was to be transferred to the Palestinian representatives .", "Additional sectors were to be transferred gradually as per agreements .", "According to the DOP , these powers should be transferred immediately after the implementation of Gaza-Jericho agreement .", "Permanent status issue :", "Negotiations regarding the permanent status were to commence no later than the third year of the interim period .", "The talks in this regard were supposed to bring out final settlements between the two parties .", "It was understood that these negotiations would cover the refugee issue , positions on Jerusalem , issue of borders and settlements as well as security arrangements and other issues of common interest .", "According to the DOP , the Gaza-Jericho agreement would follow implementation of the permanent status , taking effect in 5 years from the time of agreement , that is , May 1999 .", "The bilateral agreement of Oslo Accords was a positive step in promoting peace-process between Palestine and Israel .", "However , lack of commitment and consistent use of force by IDF caused its failure .", "The peace-process never took a healthy flight and the DOP finally came to a standstill after Camp David summit and of the second intifada .", "Discount Tickets For Sesame Street Live Discount Cavalia Tickets San Francisco Theatre Tickets", "Yassir Arafat was naive and reached , under pressure , a conclusion that only negotiations will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state .", "He was totally wrong .", "He gave every thing and but got nothing .", "He should have realised that the Israelis not only wasting time but also taking everything for nothing .", "Most of the Palestinian people believed he was their saviour but he did nothing for them .", "He should have negotiated with the Israelis but kept the gun in his hand .", "Ben Goriun once said '' the future boundaries of Israel will be decided by the future generations of Israel '' .", "It is clear that the Israelis do n't intend to give Arafat anything .", "Israel is built on stolen and more stolen land .", "The only way they can be stopped is by force and armed risestance and popular disopediance .", "The population growth of the Palestinian will exceed that of the Jews before the turn of the decade .", "And the Israeli migration or return to their original countries will increase many folds over .", "The Palestinians will realise that the Oslo Accord is nothing but a laugh on their face .", "By the end of this month , the Palestinians will have their own state , and for the next seven years will live side by side with Israel .", "My question is ; will they maintain security ?", "We thank both Arafat and PM Rabin for opening this door and preparing us for this September .", "In fact the accords are no longer relevant .", "They expired in 1998 .", "So why do both sides continue to act as if they are ?", "Because , both sides want to continue the stale-mate .", "Israel 's nightmare is spreading it 's sovereignty to the occupied territories with all it entails , on the other hand the Israelis certainly do n't want a Palestine state next door .", "So , what gives with the Palestinians ?", "They love the thousands of jobs that the accords have given them , including the political ones .", "They love the status of the victim .", "How Do We Create A Palestinian State ?", "If the Palestinians had real courage and leadership they would hand over all administrative responsibility back to Israel .", "Believe me that is the last thing the Israelis want .", "This move would work as a catalyst and move things forward with much more effectiveness than going to the U.N. .", "I like the valuable info you provide in your articles .", "I 'll bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly .", "I 'm quite certain I will learn plenty of new stuff right here !", "Best of luck for the next !"], "_citing_sentence": "In many other countries we see this trend too - in Israel, Northern Ireland, in Sri Lanka, and in the Oslo peace process that led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority.", "_claim_name": "Terrorism can lead to discussion", "_doc_title": "Details of the Oslo Accords", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By Pierre Tristam", "On Sept. 6 , 1970 , terrorists belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( PFLP ) almost simultaneously hijack three jetliners shortly after they take off from European airports on routes toward the United States .", "When hijackers on one plane are foiled , hijackers seize a fourth jet , divert it to Cairo , and blow it up .", "The two other hijacked planes are ordered to a desert air strip in Jordan known as Dawson Field .", "Three days later , PFLP hijackers seize another jet and divert it to the desert strip , which the hijackers call Revolution Field .", "Most of the 421 passengers and crew on board the three planes in Jordan are freed on Sept. 11 , but hijackers hold on to 56 hostages , most of them Jewish and American men , and blow up the three jets on Sept. 12 .", "The hijackings -- part of 29 hijackings attempted or carried out by Palestinian factions between 1968 and 1977 -- trigger the Jordanian civil war , also known as Black September , as the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ) and the PFLP attempt to seize control of Jordan from King Hussein .", "Hussein 's toppling fails , however , and the hostage crisis is resolved on Sept. 30 when the PFLP releases the last six hostages it held in exchange for the release of several Palestinian and Arab prisoners held in European and Israeli jails .", "PFLP hijackers seized a total of five planes during their September 1970 operation .", "The planes were : `` The hijackers told us the plane would be blown up , but they said it so politely and with such smiles that we could n't take this too seriously , '' Cornelius Van Aalst , the flight 's service supervisor , tells reporters in Cairo , after the ordeal .", "The hijackers were very friendly , '' according to Van Aalst , showing `` exemplary manners '' and helping to carry an injured woman in a blanket from the plane .", "PFLP leader George Habash had planned the hijackings with Wadi Haddad , his lieutenant , in July 1970 , when Jordan and Egypt agreed to a cease-fire with Israel that ended the War of Attrition that had stretched back to 1967 .", "Habash , whose militants had been taking part in raids on Israel from the Sinai , Jordan and Lebanon , was opposed to the settlement .", "`` If a settlement is made with Israel , '' Habash vowed , `` we will turn the Middle East into a hell . ''", "He was true to his word .", "Habash was in North Korea ( on his way home from Beijing ) , on a shopping trip for weapons , when the hijackings took place .", "That created confusion over what the hijackers were demanding , as they had no clear spokesman .", "At one point a hijacker on board the Pan Am flight said the PFLP wanted the release of Sirhan Sirhan , the Palestinian convicted assassin of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 , and serving a life sentence at the California State Prison , Corcoran .", "The PFLP then submitted a formal list of demands that called for the release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in European and Israeli jails .", "There were about 3,000 Palestinian and other Arab individuals in Israeli jails at the time .", "Over three weeks , hostages were released in trickles -- and the hijackers ' demands were met .", "On Sept. 30 , Britain , Switzerland and West Germany agree to release seven Arab guerillas , including Leila Khaled , the El Al Flight 219 hijacker .", "Israel also releases two Algerians and 10 Libyans .", "PLO leader Yasser Arafat seized on the hijackings to go on the offensive in Jordan -- against King Hussein , who nearly abdicated his throne .", "A Syrian military column was on its way toward Amman , the Jordanian capital , in support of the Palestinian assault .", "But with the backing of the United States ' Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and even the Israeli military , which was ready to intervene on the king 's behalf , Hussein mobilized his forces and turned them against Palestinians in a bloody three-week war .", "Hussein triumphed , severely weakening the hijackers ' stance .", "A turning point in the battle -- and the hostage crisis -- was the Jordanian military 's rescue of 16 British , Swiss and German hostages held captive near Amman ."], "_citing_sentence": "The hi-jackings of the 1970s and 1980s brought publicity to the Palestinian cause, helping to bring it to the attention of the world.", "_claim_name": "Terrorism can bring attention", "_doc_title": "1970 Palestinian Hijackings of Three Jets to Jordan", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 96, "_topic_name": "This House Believes Terrorism can be justified"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Federal Government has backed a new voluntary code of conduct on body image for the fashion and advertising industries .", "The code of conduct was developed by the government-appointed advisory group on body image and provides a list of principles to guide those working in the media , advertising and fashion industries .", "The code recommends designers not to hire models with a dangerously low body mass index or excessively muscular male models .", "The code also calls for a ban on advertising rapid weight loss products and cosmetic surgery that is not medically necessary .", "At the launch of the code in Sydney , Women 's Weekly editor Helen McCabe committed her magazine to revealing whether images have been digitally changed .", "`` We 've already taken steps to reduce the amount of digital enhancement in the image we produce , but we can go further , '' she said .", "`` In the future we will identify all Australian images that have been digitally altered . ''", "Youth Minister Kate Ellis also launched a new body image tick of approval which will be awarded to businesses who stick to the new guidelines outlined in the code .", "She says eating disorders are affecting children as young as six and the insidious problem must be tackled .", "`` I 'm asking on behalf of all of the teenagers who have suffered as a result of body image pressures , including those whose long-term health and wellbeing have been forever damaged , '' she said .", "Topics : eating-disorders , arts-and-entertainment , design , fashion , government-and-politics , federal-government , health , diseases-and-disorders , australia", "June 27 , 2010 15:00:00 If you have inside knowledge of a topic in the news , contact the ABC .", "By Washington DC bureau chief Zoe Daniel", "Zoe Daniel gives us her wrap of the Republican convention .", "Many relatives of the 152 Chinese passengers aboard MH370 vow to continue their search , despite authorities announcing a planned suspension .", "Here is a selection of photos sent in by ABC Open audience members from around Australia .", "If you know your halal from your haram , and know a Trump when you see one , this is the quiz for you .", "This service may include material from Agence France-Presse ( AFP ) , APTN , Reuters , AAP , CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and can not be reproduced .", "AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of UTC ( Greenwich Mean Time )"], "_citing_sentence": "In Australia a government advisory board has developed a list of principles to guide both advertising and the fashion industry.", "_claim_name": "Policies should be established which ban the promotion of sexist attitudes in advertising.", "_doc_title": "Fashion industry asked to adopt body image code - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Newswise -- BUFFALO , N.Y. -- A study by University at Buffalo sociologists has found that the portrayal of women in the popular media over the last several decades has become increasingly sexualized , even `` pornified . ''", "The same is not true of the portrayal of men .", "These findings may be cause for concern , the researchers say , because previous research has found sexualized images of women to have far-reaching negative consequences for both men and women .", "Erin Hatton , PhD , and Mary Nell Trautner , PhD , assistant professors in the UB Department of Sociology , are the authors of `` Equal Opportunity Objectification ?", "The Sexualization of Men and Women on the Cover of Rolling Stone , '' which examines the covers of Rolling Stone magazine from 1967 to 2009 to measure changes in the sexualization of men and women in popular media over time .", "The study will be published in the September issue of the journal Sexuality & Culture and is available at http://www.springerlink.com/content/k722255851qh46u8 .", "`` We chose Rolling Stone , '' explains Hatton , `` because it is a well-established , pop-culture media outlet .", "It is not explicitly about sex or relationships ; foremost it is about music .", "But it also covers politics , film , television and current events , and so offers a useful window into how women and men are portrayed generally in popular culture . ''", "After analyzing more than 1,000 images of men and women on Rolling Stone covers over the course of 43 years , the authors came to several conclusions .", "First , representations of both women and men have indeed become more sexualized over time ; and , second , women continue to be more frequently sexualized than men .", "Their most striking finding , however , was the change in how intensely sexualized images of women -- but not men -- have become .", "In order to measure the intensity of sexualized representations men and women , the authors developed a `` scale of sexualization . ''", "An image was given `` points '' for being sexualized if , for example , the subject 's lips were parted or his/her tongue was showing , the subject was only partially clad or naked , or the text describing the subject used explicitly sexual language .", "Based on this scale , the authors identified three categories of images : a ) those that were , for the most part , not sexualized ( i.e. , scoring 0-4 points on the scale ) , b ) those that were sexualized ( 5-10 points ) , and c ) those that were so intensely sexualized that the authors labeled them `` hypersexualized '' ( 11-23 points ) .", "In the 1960s they found that 11 percent of men and 44 percent of women on the covers of Rolling Stone were sexualized .", "In the 2000s , 17 percent of men were sexualized ( an increase of 55 percent from the 1960s ) , and 83 percent of women were sexualized ( an increase of 89 percent ) .", "Among those images that were sexualized , 2 percent of men and 61 percent of women were hypersexualized .", "`` In the 2000s , '' Hatton says , `` there were 10 times more hypersexualized images of women than men , and 11 times more non-sexualized images of men than of women . ''", "`` What we conclude from this is that popular media outlets such as Rolling Stone are not depicting women as sexy musicians or actors ; they are depicting women musicians and actors as ready and available for sex .", "This is problematic , '' Hatton says , `` because it indicates a decisive narrowing of media representations of women .", "`` We do n't necessarily think it 's problematic for women to be portrayed as ` sexy . '", "But we do think it is problematic when nearly all images of women depict them not simply as ` sexy women ' but as passive objects for someone else 's sexual pleasure . ''", "These findings are important , the authors say , because a plethora of research has found such images to have a range of negative consequences : `` Sexualized portrayals of women have been found to legitimize or exacerbate violence against women and girls , as well as sexual harassment and anti-women attitudes among men and boys , '' Hatton says .", "`` Such images also have been shown to increase rates of body dissatisfaction and/or eating disorders among men , women and girls ; and they have even been shown to decrease sexual satisfaction among both men and women . ''", "`` For these reasons , '' says Hatton , `` we find the frequency of sexualized images of women in popular media , combined with the extreme intensity of their sexualization , to be cause for concern . ''", "Hatton is the author of `` The Temp Economy : From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America '' ( Temple University Press , 2011 ) .", "Her work focuses on the sociology of work , with attention to gender , race , labor , political economy and public policy .", "Trautner has published articles in journals such as the American Sociological Review , Gender & Society , and Sociology of Crime , Law and Deviance .", "Her work examines how law , culture and organizational practices shape how inequality is created , perpetuated and/or experienced .", "The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university , a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus .", "UB 's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate , graduate and professional degree programs .", "Founded in 1846 , the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities .", "Leave a comment ... `` Return to article list", "UB sociologists Erin Hatton and Mary Nell Trautner are the authors of `` Equal Opportunity Objectification ?", ", '' which examines 43 years of Rolling Stone magazine covers ."], "_citing_sentence": "Gender inequality and sexual harassment in the work place is not likely to diminish.", "_claim_name": "Women have a right to be free of stereotyping.", "_doc_title": "Study Finds Rise in Sexualized Images of Women", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Sweden has decided not to ban sexist advertising , saying it would risk undermining the country 's cherished right to freedom of speech .", "In Norway , ads can use sexual images but they must be relevant", "But the decision puts the country at odds with its Nordic neighbours .", "Norway and Denmark have strict limits on the use of such images for commercial gain .", "In Norway , sexist advertising has been banned since 2003 .", "The ban forms part of a much broader package of legal limits on advertising , protecting the depiction of religion , sexuality , race and gender .", "`` Basically , if something is offensive or it makes the viewer feel uncomfortable when they look at it , it should n't be done '' , explained Sol Olving , head of Norway 's Kreativt Forum , an association of the country 's top advertising agencies .", "`` Naked people are wonderful , of course , but they have to be relevant to the product .", "You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream , but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car . ''", "Norwegian firms that refuse to remove or alter offensive adverts after having a complaint upheld face a hefty fine of 500,000 Norwegian kroner ( # 49,000 ; 62,500 euros ) .", "But Ms Olving says there were no complaints about the law from advertisers , who have learnt to come up with less obvious ways of persuading consumers to part with their cash .", "We 're not that puritan that you ca n't have naked bodies - but it has to be done in the right way , with charm and passion", "Sol Olving , Head of Norway 's Kreativt Forum", "But in Denmark , where similar guidelines have been in place since 1993 , some firms are ready to exploit the additional free publicity they will get from being highlighted .", "Denmark 's advertising ombudsman recounts a recent example of a male underwear company which was forced to withdraw adverts portraying women in low-paid jobs , after outrage from several trade unions .", "One ad in the series showed a nurse lying on a bed with the male underpants covering her face , implying that she had just had sex with a patient .", "`` People in these different occupations already have problems with sexual discrimination , '' says ombudsman Henrik Oe .", "`` You can not play on the male fantasy that a patient can have sex with a nurse just to sell a product . ''", "`` These areas of employment are already ones where women are already vulnerable to sexual harassment , '' he added .", "Both Norway and Denmark are keen to emphasise that their advertising limits do not prevent freedom of speech , stifle creativity or mean that there is never a beautiful naked human form on display .", "In Denmark , Mr Oe says , many advertisers are becoming increasingly creative , using humour to stretch the boundaries and appeal to Danish consumers .", "He says he receives only around 10 complaints about sexist advertising each year and that firms normally remove the offending images quickly .", "From Oslo , Ms Olving says : `` We 're not that puritan that you ca n't have naked bodies .", "But it has to be done in the right way , with charm and passion . ''", "Sweden says freedom of expression is a fundamental right", "Sweden , however , despite commissioning a special government rapporteur to look into the matter , is not following the legal professor 's advice that freedom of speech does not extend to commercial messages and limits are needed .", "`` This law would be against freedom of speech , which is protected by the constitution , '' said Malin Engstedt , spokesperson for Equality Minister Nyamko Sabuni .", "`` The minister is not convinced that this law would improve things , '' she added .", "Ms Engstedt said the Swedish government was confident that efforts made by the country 's advertisers themselves - including the introduction of an ombudsman similar to Denmark 's to oversee adverts - would be more effective .", "`` They are more than capable of finding other ways of advertising their products , '' she said ."], "_citing_sentence": "Norway and Denmark have already developed policies to restrict sexist advertising.", "_claim_name": "Policies should be established which ban the promotion of sexist attitudes in advertising.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Europe | Scandinavian split on sexist ads", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 4, 13]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Tuesday 29 September 2009 21.16 EDT", "Last modified on Thursday 11 August 2016 12.06 EDT", "The UK has become the first major economy where advertisers spend more on internet advertising than on television advertising , with a record # 1.75 bn online spend in the first six months of the year .", "The milestone marks a watershed for the embattled TV industry , the leading ad medium in the UK for almost half a century .", "It has taken the internet little more than a decade to become the biggest advertising sector in the UK .", "UK advertisers spent # 1.75 bn on internet advertising in the six months to the end of June , a 4.6 % year-on-year increase , according to a report by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers .", "To put this in perspective , in 1998 , when the IAB first measured internet advertising , just # 19.4 m was spent online .", "The internet now accounts for 23.5 % of all advertising money spent in the UK , while TV ad spend accounts for 21.9 % of marketing budgets .", "The IAB originally predicted that internet ad spend would overtake TV at the end of 2009 ; however , the crippling advertising recession accelerated this by six months .", "TV advertising fell about 17 % year on year in the first half , to about # 1.6 bn , according to the report .", "The IAB 's figures show that of the total of # 1.75 bn spent on internet advertising , # 1.05 bn , or 60 % , was spent on search advertising on websites including Google , up 6.8 % year on year .", "Online classified advertising grew by 10.6 % year on year to # 385m , about 22 % of total internet ad spend .", "But online display advertising , such as banners on websites , fell by 5.2 % year on year , to # 316.5 m .", "This was an 18 % share of all internet ad spend .", "The ray of light within the online display ad sector was the nascent , but rapidly growing , online video advertising sector .", "The IAB estimated that this sector grew by close to 300 % year on year , to almost # 12m .", "Thinkbox , the UK TV marketing body , has taken exception to the IAB 's figures , arguing that the internet is now mature and diverse and it is inaccurate to collate all the figures as if it is one single medium .", "`` It is interesting but meaningless to sweep all the money spent on every aspect of online marketing into one big figure and celebrate it , '' said Lindsey Clay , marketing director at Thinkbox .", "`` Online marketing spend is made up of many things , including email , classified ads , display ads ( including online TV advertising ) and , overwhelmingly , search marketing .", "They should be judged individually . ''", "Guy Phillipson , the chief executive of the IAB , reckoned that there is still significant growth potential left in the internet ad market .", "`` We could absolutely see it grow to being a 30 % medium -LSB- of share of ad spend -RSB- , to go past # 4bn to even # 5bn annually , '' he said .", "`` Online display advertising has plenty of room for growth . ''", "Despite the seemingly inexorable rise of internet ad spend , a closer examination of the IAB 's figures show that the recession has had an impact .", "In the first quarter # 920m was spent on online advertising , representing 8.6 % year-on-year growth .", "However , in the second quarter , spend fell almost # 100m to # 832m , representing only a 1.1 % increase on the amount spent in the same period last year .", "Adam Smith , futures director at WPP 's combined media operation Group M , argued that the internet 's share of total UK ad spend could be close to its peak .", "Smith cited factors such as the increasing share of time that users spend on social networking websites , which have not attracted huge advertising spend , and the increasing saturation of internet penetration in the UK as potential limiting factors .", "`` This day was bound to arrive , as the internet has been attracting a huge long tail of advertisers that have not advertised before doing completely new things , '' he said .", "`` It is a memorable event .", "However , it is a bit simplistic to make this comparison -LSB- and -RSB- it is always possible that internet 's share -LSB- of total UK ad spend -RSB- could go backwards if TV has a good year . ''", "The UK is not the first country where internet ad spend has overtaken TV spend , Denmark reached the milestone about six months ago .", "But it is the first major economy to do so ."], "_citing_sentence": "Due to technology, public space is global and ads can been seen around the world, in 2009 the UK became the first major economy where advertisers spend more on internet advertising than on television advertising.", "_claim_name": "Since advertising is pervasive in mediated messages, it has the power to influence social attitudes.", "_doc_title": "Internet overtakes television to become biggest advertising sector in the UK | Media | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 97, "_topic_name": "This House would ban sexist advertising"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["A private college in England aiming to rival Oxford and Cambridge is being launched by leading academics .", "The New College of the Humanities says it will teach `` gifted '' undergraduates and prepare them for degrees from the University of London .", "The privately-owned London-based college will open in September 2012 and is planning to charge fees of # 18,000 .", "The 14 professors involved include biologist Richard Dawkins and historian Sir David Cannadine .", "Professor Dawkins is an emeritus fellow of New College , Oxford , as well as being the author of The God Delusion , and Sir David is a professor at Princeton University in the United States .", "Based in Bloomsbury , central London , the new college says it will offer eight undergraduate courses in the humanities taught by some of the world 's most prominent academics .", "Degrees cover five subject areas - law , economics , history , English literature and philosophy .", "Students will also take three `` intellectual skills '' modules in science literacy , logic and critical thinking and applied ethics .", "The college will award its own Diploma and students will take University of London degrees , making a combined award of BA Hons ( London ) DNC .", "Professor AC Grayling , the philosopher who will be the college 's first Master , secured millions of pounds of funding from investors to set up the institution .", "He said : `` Our priorities at the college will be excellent teaching quality , excellent ratios of teachers to students , and a strongly supportive and responsive learning environment .", "`` Our students will be challenged to develop as skilled , informed and reflective thinkers , and will receive an education to match that aspiration . ''", "Prof Grayling is a professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College , University of London , and a fellow of St Anne 's College , Oxford .", "The college claims to offer a `` new model of higher education for the humanities in the UK '' .", "Students can apply immediately and assisted places will be offered to 20 % of the first year 's intake .", "Applicants need to meet the University of London minimum entrance requirements and be fully competent in English .", "The college will not be part of the UCAS applications process , with each application considered `` individually , personally and on its merits '' .", "It also has scholarships and `` exhibition schemes '' to `` ensure that finance should not be a barrier to any talented UK student '' .", "But the University and College Union ( UCU ) said the launch of the new college - and state funding cuts for arts , humanities and social sciences - would result in the subjects becoming the preserve of a `` select few '' .", "UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said : `` While many would love the opportunity to be taught by the likes of AC Grayling and Richard Dawkins , at # 18,000 a go it seems it wo n't be the very brightest but those with the deepest pockets who are afforded the chance .", "`` The launch of this college highlights the government 's failure to protect art and humanities and is further proof that its university funding plans will entrench inequality within higher education , '' she said .", "The government has set fees in England 's public universities at a maximum of # 9,000 from September next year .", "The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites", "The Munich shootings which left nine dead at a shopping centre were carried out by one gunman who then killed himself , police say ."], "_citing_sentence": "The New College of the Humanities for example is aiming to rival Oxford and Cambridge so helping to provide these two elite institutions with the necessary competition to force up standards.", "_claim_name": "The introduction of more private universities would increase the quality of education by allowing open competition", "_doc_title": "Academics launch \u00a318,000 college in London - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 98, "_topic_name": "This House would encourage the creation of private universities in the UK"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["INFORM \u2022 INSPIRE \u2022 ENTERTAIN \u2022 EMPOWER", "WASHINGTON -- Billionaire Warren Buffett rebutted claims that the Obama administration is unjustly hurting business orders with high taxes by saying that in fact , the wealthy have never had it so good .", "`` I think that people at the high end , people like myself , should be paying a lot more in taxes .", "We have it better than we 've ever had it , '' he told ABC 's Christiane Amanpour in a clip played on `` This Week '' on Sunday .", "When Amanpour pointed to critics ' claims that the very wealthy need tax cuts to spur business and capitalism , Buffett replied , `` The rich are always going to say that , you know , ` Just give us more money , and we 'll go out and spend more , and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you . '", "But that has not worked the last 10 years , and I hope the American public is catching on . ''", "On Tuesday , Buffett wrote a New York Times op-ed in the form of a letter to `` Uncle Sam , '' thanking him for saving the U.S. economy :", "When the crisis struck , I felt you would understand the role you had to play .", "But you 've never been known for speed , and in a meltdown minutes matter .", "I worried whether the barrage of shattering surprises would disorient you .", "You would have to improvise solutions on the run , stretch legal boundaries and avoid slowdowns , like Congressional hearings and studies .", "You would also need to get turf-conscious departments to work together in mounting your counterattack .", "The challenge was huge , and many people thought you were not up to it .", "Well , Uncle Sam , you delivered .", "People will second-guess your specific decisions ; you can always count on that .", "But just as there is a fog of war , there is a fog of panic -- and , overall , your actions were remarkably effective .", "Buffett is n't the only billionaire who has argued for higher taxes .", "Both Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his father , Bill Gates , Sr. , recently came out in support of a Washington state measure to `` create a 5 percent tax rate on annual income exceeding $ 200,000 for individuals and $ 400,000 for couples , and a 9 percent tax rate on income that tops $ 500,000 for individuals and $ 1 million for couples . ''", "Buffett has spoken out in the past about taxes for the wealthy , telling the Senate Finance Committee in 2007 that the estate tax should not be repealed .", "`` I think we need to ... take a little more out of the hides of guys like me , '' Buffett testified ."], "_citing_sentence": "Warren Buffett, for example, has argued that he could never have amassed anywhere near the sort of wealth he has in a country without the rule of law, such as Bangladesh.", "_claim_name": "Those who have more owe more to the state", "_doc_title": "Warren Buffett: I 'Should Be Paying A Lot More In Taxes'", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["study", "reasoning"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["`` On 08-08-08 : Fascination with Eight |", "Main | Thinking Outside of ` The Game ' '' `` Contentment is natural wealth , luxury is artificial poverty . ''", "Does quality increase with quantity ?", "Once our physiological needs are met , can more money bring more happiness ?", "If we are already `` satisfied , '' why do we consume more ?", "Can we possibly become `` more satisfied ? ''", "`` Contentment is natural wealth , luxury is artificial poverty . ''", "While individual consumers may not have an economic measure of satisfaction , Economists , as you would imagine , do have one for consumers : It is called utility .", "In economics , total utility is essentially the `` sum of satisfaction or benefit that an individual gains from consuming a given amount of goods or services ... '' There is , of course , a certain level of consumption at which we become `` satisfied '' and our desire to consume more begins to diminish .", "Accordingly , the price you are willing to pay for more of the product or service also diminishes .", "This summarizes the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility .", "`` Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired , but by controlling the desire . ''", "We humans can really get ourselves into trouble when we plot a course to obtain the object of our desire when we are `` hungry , '' which is a point long before our utility begins to diminish -- when we perceive a need for satisfaction that may be much larger than is required to obtain the satisfaction :", "Have you ever gone grocery shopping on an empty stomach ?", "Do you go to the `` all-you-can-eat '' buffet for a nice little salad or do you go when you are ready to eat twice your weight in food ?", "Do you wait until you are thirsty to drink ?", "You get the picture ...", "While one could certainly cite some examples where desire can be leveraged for benefit , buying behavior is much less controllable when our desire is strongest , and it takes little persuasion to get us to buy twice as much as we really need , especially in the absence of self-awareness ...", "For example , economists ( and marketing managers at 7-Eleven ) know that you may be willing to pay $ 1.50 for a 16-ounce `` medium '' soft drink ; but you are not willing to pay $ 3.00 ( twice as much ) for twice the size ; however , you will pay $ 1.99 for the 32-ounce `` Big Gulp , '' even though you do not `` need '' the extra 16 ounces .", "After all , it 's `` just 49 cents more '' for twice the size!Economists see the diminishing marginal utility as the consumer 's decreasing willingness to pay more money for the same incremental increase in units of a product or service .", "The problem , however , is that our willingness to pay and consume more should stop at ` satisfactory , ' not just diminish .", "Making matters worse , we do not often make decisions about our future when we are already satisfied or content , primarily because we are never satisfied or content !", "It may be time to enlist the help of philosophy here ... `` Let no one delay the study of philosophy when young nor weary of it when old . ''", "As you would imagine , the law of diminishing marginal utility also translates to our inability to predict our happiness , especially when it comes to money .", "A contentment quote from Lau-Tzu would be too easy here -- So I dug up a philosophy gem from a lesser known philosopher , Jeremy Bentham , dating back nearly 200 years , which illustrates what an economist today might call the diminishing marginal utility of wealth :", "So far as depends on wealth , -- of two persons having unequal fortunes , he who has most wealth must by a legislator be regarded as having most happiness .", "But the quantity of happiness will not go on increasing in anything near the same proportion as the quantity of wealth ...", "The effect of wealth in the production of happiness goes on diminishing , as the quantity by which the wealth of one man exceeds that of another goes on increasing : in other words , the quantity of happiness produced by a particle of wealth ( each particle being of the same magnitude ) will be less and less at every particle ; the second will produce less than the first , the third than the second , and so on .", "~ Jeremy Bentham ( 1748 - 1832 ) , ` Pannamonial Fragments ' , Works , III , p. 228", "How Much is ` Enough ? '", "The secret to happiness is ... no secret", "The ` Experience-Stretching Hypothesis '", "Posted by Kent Thune at 06:00 AM in Behavioral Finance , Self Awareness | Permalink | | | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us", "You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post .", "I read this post yesterday and could n't remember if I responded or not .", "I 'm on vacation , so I guess that may be a reason ... lol .", "What I wanted to say was that I have been reading about a similar idea recently on another post .", "There the author has been part of a `` 100 things '' challenge , which serves a similar , purpose .", "By reducing the `` things '' you own , you can thereby increase the overall worth of the things you keep .", "It 's an interesting idea , as is your article .", "I really enjoy coming here and reading your posts , and I just wanted to say thanks for all your hard work .", "As a side note , I have written a post about my favorite blogs , and I put a link to your blog in my post .", "I hope you do n't mind .", "Keep up the good work .", "I finally figured out what a `` reader '' was , and you were one of the first sites I entered .", "Have a great week .", "Jerame Clough - Next Gen Politics", "Next Gen Politics |", "August 14 , 2008 at 01:32 AM", "Philosophy certainly has taught me that words , such as wealth and freedom , have so many different meanings to so many different people that the words become almost without meaning -- they become abstract .", "The terms wealth and freedom are quite often mistakenly tied to eachother .", "I believe wealth does not provide freedom BY money , but wealth is actually better defined as freedom FROM money .", "The paradox that arises is that the more monetary wealth we obtain , the less freedom we possess .", "Thanks for the comment and for being a `` reader ! ''", "Enjoy your vacation ...", "The Financial Philosopher |", "August 14 , 2008 at 01:47 PM", "Coincidentaly last evening on TV , I heard Warren Buffet address this question when answering a group of students at Nebraska U.", "Happiness , Buffet said , '' ... when you get to my age '' comes from being surrounded by people , family , friends and colleagues , who care about and LIKE you .", "He went on to say that he knows many including Forbes 400 members who get honors and acclaim , have building named after them and dinners given in their honor but `` no one really likes them ! ''", "Maimonides about 800 years ago spoke of how man engages in economic activity in order to take care of his family 's material needs .", "However , he goes on to say , too often man forgets the original need , getting caught up in making money for the sake of making money .", "My late father-in-law in his 94 years , never had much money but left a legacy of love , knowledge and respect among the hundreds who had the privilege of knowing him .", "It is a priceless legacy reaching down to his great-granchildren .", "Thanks for another thoughtful posting .", "August 18 , 2008 at 06:39 AM", "My personal lesson on this subject began the day my 4-year old son asked me why I was away from the family so much .", "I told him that I was `` earning money for the family so we can pay for all of our things ... ''", "He said , `` I 'd rather have my Daddy than money . ''", "That day I began a plan to start my own business ... It is now three years later and I am succesfully self-employed and I spend more time with my family than ever before ...", "Thanks for taking time to make a thoughtful comment ...", "Kent ( The Financial Philosopher )", "August 18 , 2008 at 09:31 AM", "Kent , this was very timely since I was doing a lot of thinking about the diminishing utility of information back when you posted this .", "In particular , how it impacts or sustains markets with asymmetric information .", "Maybe there 's another post in that idea .", "Here 's some Nobel Prize winning links on asymmetry : http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2001/ecoadv.pdf http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1996/press.html", "August 25 , 2008 at 02:24 PM", "Thanks , Aaron ... I will take a look at the links .", "August 25 , 2008 at 03:44 PM", "These are not Nobel Prize winning links , but here are some thoughts that develop this idea a little further , use it to demonstrate why gambling is typically irrational , and suggest/develop applications of this idea in taxing and trading : 1 ."], "_citing_sentence": "One might be able to buy a second car or a second house with extra money, but eventually one runs out of things one particularly wants to buy or own.", "_claim_name": "The state should promote the efficient distribution of income in order to maximize the utility derived by society from its economic resources", "_doc_title": "THE FINANCIAL PHILOSOPHER: The 'Diminishing Marginal Utility' of Wealth", "_labeled_lineIDs": [8, 27]}], "_split": "train", "_topic_ID": 99, "_topic_name": "This House supports a progressive tax rate"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Each month , when I face an auditorium full of engaged couples preparing for a Catholic marriage , there is a Q-and-A session .", "It is the interesting , unrehearsed part of the evening .", "The couples write their queries on a piece of paper , and the anonymity guarantees at least a few hardball questions about the Church and its practices .", "`` What about Galileo ? ''", "is among my favorites , along with inquisitive notes about Torquemada .", "But the majority of these `` zingers '' turn out to be protests about the Church 's rule of clerical celibacy .", "`` You 've told us how wonderful marriage is , that it 's a great good for the human person , that the body has a nuptial meaning , and so forth .", "Well , then : Why ca n't priests marry ? ''", "It is a question that comes up among even devout Catholics at coffee hour after Mass and at cocktail parties .", "A married clergy is seen as the obvious solution to a number of problems that confront the Church , ranging from the shortage of priests to the recent sex scandals .", "Moreover , both the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic churches allow married clergy .", "So do Protestants ; and , in fact , the rejection of clerical celibacy was a much larger issue for the leaders of the Reformation than the fuss over indulgences .", "Luther , Zwingli , Carlstadt , Bucer , and many other rebellious priests soon took wives ( often former nuns ) , while Thomas Cranmer already had one hidden in Germany .", "During the Council of Trent , powerful rulers like the Emperor Ferdinand put enormous pressure on the Church to abolish the law of celibacy , but the popes resolutely declined , and have done so ever since .", "The agitation for a married priesthood has sharpened in recent decades .", "There is a drumbeat in the media , often from ex-priests who write copiously for the op-ed pages .", "Probably a majority of American Catholics also favor the change .", "So , it 's not surprising that my engaged couples think that Rome should `` get with the times '' and allow priests to marry .", "Is n't the rule of celibacy simply another example of a retrograde Church sitting on somebody 's rights ?", "Wedded To The Church ?", "I surprise my audience by first telling them that clerical celibacy is not a Church doctrine .", "It is a discipline , and so can be changed .", "The pope could wake up tomorrow and allow priests to marry .", "Moreover , in the early centuries there were married priests , starting with some of the apostles .", "We know that Peter was married , because we 're told that Jesus cured his mother-in-law .", "The immediate successors to the apostles were also allowed to marry .", "Paul writes to Timothy that a bishop should be `` married but once . ''", "Clearly , by not permitting married clergy , the Church since the early Middle Ages has departed from the more commodious practice of the early hierarchy .", "But -- a further surprise for my audience -- there are , in fact , married priests in the Latin Church today .", "There are n't many , because a priest may have a wife only in one circumstance : A Lutheran or Episcopalian minister who is already married and wishes to convert to Catholicism is allowed the option of becoming a Catholic priest , on condition that his wife gives full consent .", "You do n't usually see these married priests , because they 're generally not given parish assignments ; they teach in seminaries or work in the chancery .", "But this one exception to the general rule is the occasion of a story that I tell my audience .", "It is about a friend of mine who is now a prominent Catholic moral theologian .", "Years ago , he was an Episcopalian priest who decided to convert to Catholicism .", "He was married with children and was given the option of becoming a Catholic priest .", "He agonized over the decision .", "He was already an ordained minister ( although the Church does not recognize the validity of Episcopalian orders ) and was deeply attracted to the Catholic priesthood .", "But at the same time , he recognized that there must be serious reasons why the Church insists on a discipline that is such a sign of contradiction to the modern world .", "The debate went on , until finally there came the moment of clarification .", "He was up all night with one of his children who was seriously ill .", "Feeling drained and haggard , he went to Mass the next morning , and the priest celebrating Mass came out looking equally drawn .", "During the brief homily , the priest mentioned in passing that he had been up all night with a parishioner 's child who was dying of meningitis .", "A light bulb went off over my friend 's head : You ca n't do both .", "If you fully understand the vocations to marriage and to the priesthood -- the total availability and self-emptying that each demands -- you would not choose to do both .", "And so he became a lay theologian and , apart from raising a large family , has served the Church in ways that he probably could not have as a member of the clergy .", "As my bleary-eyed friend discovered at that early morning Mass , the sacraments of Holy Orders and matrimony are too consuming to allow for both .", "A married priest ca n't help giving his first thoughts to his wife and children .", "To the extent he does so , he may be forgoing his priestly role as `` father , '' and people who call a married priest `` father '' would rightly get the idea that they are second in line as spiritual children .", "Paul understood this perfectly well when he wrote to the Corinthians , `` For he who is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord , how he may please God .", "But he that is with a wife , is solicitous for the things of this world , how he may please his wife ; and he is divided '' ( 1 Cor 7:32 -34 ) .", "Tracing the History", "There are many reasons , both practical and theological , why the Church insists on clerical celibacy .", "It is a wise practice that was gradually codified in light of centuries of accumulated knowledge and experience .", "Early on , it became obvious to many bishops that a married priesthood does n't work and that the Church needs men who are willing to embrace a higher spiritual state .", "Starting with the Spanish Council of Elvira in 305 , regional churches began to ask of the clergy what many priests had already spontaneously chosen .", "The early Church Fathers -- Tertullian , Augustine , Ambrose , Jerome , and Hilary -- wrote in favor of clerical celibacy , and at the end of the Dark Ages , great reforming popes like Leo IX and Gregory VII insisted that henceforth the priesthood would be celibate .", "This decision greatly strengthened the Church and still does so today .", "Admittedly , there 's no hint in the New Testament of celibacy being mandatory either among the apostles or those they ordained .", "But we have ample warrant in the words of Christ and the writings of Paul that celibacy is a higher calling than marriage .", "Christ Himself was celibate , and the Incarnation took place , so to speak , in the context of Mary and Joseph 's abstention from sexual relations .", "Pope Benedict XVI has written eloquently about how Mary 's virginity is really a condition of spiritual fruitfulness .", "At one point , the disciples ask Christ if it is `` expedient not to marry ? ''", "He replies that `` not all can accept this teaching ; but those to whom it has been given .", "For there are eunuchs who were born so ... and there are eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of heaven .", "Let him accept it who can '' ( Mt 19:10 -12 ) .", "As Christopher West points out , Christ 's use of the word `` eunuch '' must have profoundly shocked his Jewish listeners .", "Under the Old Covenant , priests were enjoined to marry and have children who would become priests .", "Childlessness was seen as a curse , and the idea of a descendant of Abraham opting to be a `` eunuch '' was unthinkable .", "But the celibate lives of Mary and Joseph , who brought the Old Covenant to perfection , speak of a new dimension of self-giving .", "West writes that their celibacy , in effect , brings about `` the most fruitful union in the cosmos -- the union of the human and divine natures in the person of Christ .", "All those who live an authentic celibate vocation participate in some way in this new super-abounding spiritual fruitfulness . ''", "There has always been a deep human intuition that celibacy brings great spiritual gifts , a heightened sensitivity to divine things .", "Even under the Old Covenant , a married priest had to observe continence while he served in the Temple -- in other words , when he was acting as priest .", "Moses asked that the Jews abstain from conjugal sex while he ascended Mount Sinai , and the prophet Jeremiah was forbidden by God to take a wife in order that he might fulfill his ministry .", "And although the apostles and their successors had freedom of choice in this matter -- at least until the fourth century -- a large number of the clergy during this period did choose celibacy .", "There is a tradition that after their calling by Christ , those apostles who were married lived as though they were not .", "St. Jerome speaks of a general custom in the late fourth century when he declares that clerics , `` even though they may have wives , cease to be husbands . ''", "This is not so exotic as it sounds ; in the 20th century the great French theologian Jacques Maritain and his wife Raissa , a Jewish convert , had a marriage blanc for the sake of their spiritual apostleship .", "The exaltation of celibacy does not in any way denigrate marriage .", "Nobody can outdo Pope John Paul II in praising conjugal love .", "And yet , as he points out in his famous talks on the theology of the body , marriage `` is only a tentative solution to the problem of a union of persons through love . ''", "The final solution lies only in heaven , where , as Christ explained to the Sadducees , there is no marriage .", "Those who live celibately are , in effect , `` skipping '' the sacrament in anticipation of the ultimate reality , the `` Marriage of the Lamb . ''", "They are an `` eschatological sign '' for the rest of us ; their total gift of self , which includes their sexuality , to God anticipates the eternal union for which we were all created .", "The celibate vocation , West writes , `` is ` superior ' only in its more direct orientation toward man 's superior heavenly destiny . ''", "The Practical Problems", "A married clergy would certainly dilute the Catholic priesthood as an eschatological sign .", "But it would also involve practical problems .", "One of the great strengths of an unmarried clergy is their availability .", "During World War I , there were many converts to Catholicism among British soldiers fighting in the trenches .", "This was because the Catholic priests were right up there in the danger zone , hearing confessions and giving spiritual counsel , while many Anglican ministers held back , understandably thinking about their wives and children at home .", "Recently , a priest I know expressed delight at being assigned to an impoverished area of New York .", "`` I want to work among the poor , '' he told me .", "Would this be his attitude if he were married with small children ?", "His wife 's probable reaction would be , `` I 'm not going to raise the kids in that neighborhood . ''", "Clerical marriages , moreover , are not easy .", "I am told that the wives of the handful of Catholic clergy who have the dispensation from celibacy are the first to support the Church 's general position .", "Preachers ' wives and preachers ' kids do not have an easy time .", "Just read the novels of Trollope or Samuel Butler 's much underrated The Way of All Flesh , whose narrator complains about being the son of a clergyman : I have often thought that the Church of Rome does wisely in not allowing her priests to marry .", "Certainly it is a matter of common observation in England that the sons of clergymen are frequently unsatisfactory .", "The explanation is very simple ... .", "The clergyman is expected to be a kind of human Sunday .", "He is paid for this business of leading a stricter life than other people .", "It is his raison d'etre .", "If his parishioners feel that he does this , they approve of him , for they look upon him as their own contribution towards what they deem a holy life ... .", "But his home is his castle as much as that of any other Englishman , and with him , as with others , unnatural tension in public is followed by exhaustion when tension is no longer necessary .", "His children are the most defenseless things he can reach , and it is on them that nine cases out of ten that he will relieve his mind .", "Obviously , not all married clergymen are like this , but clerical marriages have their special difficulties , and , unlike 130 years ago , when Butler wrote his novel , there is now the possibility of divorce .", "This is already a serious problem in the Anglican Church .", "It is inevitable that after a decade or so of a married Catholic priesthood , there would be a fair number of divorced priests , some clamoring for remarriage .", "And as for those priests who still chose not to marry : Might there not be a corresponding diminishment of their public image , so that they would tend to be regarded more as pious bachelors than a special sign among us ?", "Their freedom to get romantically involved with female parishioners gives such questions even more point .", "Another practical consideration is the financial cost of allowing priests to marry .", "The average salary of a diocesan priest is $ 20,000 , and living arrangements in a parish rectory allow for many economies .", "Married priests would most likely want to live outside the rectory , would need much higher salaries to support a family , and there would be an exponential increase in insurance costs .", "Where would the money come from ?", "As it is , many parishes can barely pay their bills .", "Will Catholics in the pews be willing to significantly increase their weekly contributions ?", "The answer is that some will , but many will not , and too many parishes would find themselves in an even deeper financial hole .", "The most insistent argument for a married clergy is that it would cure the shortage of priests .", "The reasons for the decline in the number of clergy are too numerous to go into here .", "Almost every Catholic shares some of the blame .", "On the institutional side , there 's the past situation in many seminaries and the refusal of some diocesan vocation directors to present the priesthood in its full spiritual dimension , which includes the challenge of celibacy .", "If you look around today , it is striking which dioceses ( for example , Denver ) have plentiful vocations .", "They raise the bar very high and , taking a page from John Paul II , present celibacy as a great spiritual gift .", "In contrast , some dioceses , until recently , held out to seminarians the possibility of a reversal of the rule of celibacy ; they certainly did not present celibacy in a positive light .", "Those dioceses with near-empty seminaries might want to look at those that are doing it right .", "They will find -- among other things -- a vibrant orthodoxy and a theologically rich understanding of the call to celibacy .", "As for the Catholic laity : Along with the widespread use of the Pill , there has been a corresponding diminution of generosity in family size , which means fewer vocations .", "( One could make the case , by the way , that natural family planning allows a couple to participate in the spiritual benefits of celibacy ; the periodic abstinence is part of the `` gift '' of themselves to one another and to God . )", "But the point is that there will be many more vocations if both the clergy and the laity fully live their Christian vocations , which include prayer , sacrifice , and generosity .", "Although it may be tempting in the short term , the solution is not to define the priesthood down in order to attract men who will only take a lightened version of Holy Orders .", "Freud 's Unwelcome Appearance", "The other argument against celibacy is that the Church 's requirement of continence is a primary cause of the sex scandals .", "Plying their Freud , `` experts '' like Richard Sipe argue that a lack of sexual outlets drives priests into pedophilia .", "But the recent scandals have little to do with pedophilia , a clinical disorder whose incidence among Catholic priests is no greater than among the general population .", "Rather , the majority of episodes involves homosexual acts with teenagers or young men , and it may be wondered how marriage would solve this particular problem .", "It is clear that not a few homosexual men have entered the priesthood partly as a `` cover '' for their condition .", "Arguably , it would only make matters worse if they had to take on a wife as additional camouflage .", "In any event , it would n't stop some of them from going after teenage boys , as has been amply demonstrated in other clerical milieu .", "It should also be pointed out that Freud was wrong about the nature and effects of `` sexual repression '' -- in other words , abstinence .", "He considered it the taproot of all neuroses , and the sexual revolution has been driven by his idea that such `` repression '' is a very bad thing .", "But we all know celibate priests -- and laity , for that matter -- who are adjusted and well-balanced .", "We also meet promiscuous individuals who are not .", "Freud nonetheless taught that the libido is a pressure that builds relentlessly to the point where it demands release , as in a steam engine ; and if you do n't find a sexual outlet , you become neurotic , or even worse .", "But , in fact , our sex drives do n't work that way .", "There is no build-up of pressure in the central nervous system , and the libido does n't plot revenge if for whatever reason one is continent for a period of time .", "It largely depends on what `` messages '' one allows to get through to it , which is why the Church has always taught the necessity of guarding one 's eyes and imagination .", "This is not Puritanism , but self-possession ; and all Christians , not just Catholic priests , are called to this heroic struggle .", "The more likely neurotics are those who separate sex from married love and , in the process , compulsively turn people into objects , into a means to an end .", "The sexual revolution , which amounted to a willful misreading of human nature , has failed on its own terms , but there are still those who want the Church to buy into it .", "In a world that has absolutized sex , a celibate priesthood is a necessary sign of higher things .", "It 's tough , but then so is Christianity .", "Those who wish to abolish celibacy generally favor other dilutions of Catholic doctrine and discipline .", "They are pursuing an essentially bourgeois project .", "They think that Christianity is fine so long as it makes no demands and , as a corollary , that the Church should turn itself into yet another liberal Protestant denomination .", "But these leftover modernists are no longer in the ascendancy , if they ever were , and it is not surprising that the recent synod of bishops in Rome overwhelmingly endorsed the Church 's ancient discipline of celibacy .", "George Sim Johnston is the author of Did Darwin Get It Right ?", "Catholics and the Theory of Evolution ( Our Sunday Visitor ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "Even today within the Catholic Church celibacy is not universal as Eastern Rite Catholics can marry and it is the norm that they do, and there are some Lutheran and Episcopalian ministers who have converted to Catholicism.", "_claim_name": "Priest have not always been celibate", "_doc_title": "The Case for Priestly Celibacy :: Catholic News Agency", "_labeled_lineIDs": [10, 29]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia , Church Fathers , Summa , Bible and more -- all for only $ 19.99 ...", "Celibacy is the renunciation of marriage implicitly or explicitly made , for the more perfect observance of chastity , by all those who receive the Sacrament of Orders in any of the higher grades .", "The character of this renunciation , as we shall see , is differently understood in the Eastern and in the Western Church .", "Speaking , for the moment , only of Western Christendom , the candidates for orders are solemnly warned by the bishop at the beginning of the ceremony regarding the gravity of the obligation which they are incurring .", "He tells them :", "You ought anxiously to consider again and again what sort of a burden this is which you are taking upon you of your own accord .", "Up to this you are free .", "You may still , if you choose , turn to the aims and desires of the world ( licet vobis pro artitrio ad caecularia vota transire ) .", "But if you receive this order ( of the subdiaconate ) it will no longer be lawful to turn back from your purpose .", "You will be required to continue in the service of God , and with His assistance to observe chastity and to be bound for ever in the ministrations of the Altar , to serve who is to reign .", "By stepping forward despite this warning , when invited to do so , and by co-operating in the rest of the ordination service , the candidate is understood to bind himself equivalently by a vow of chastity .", "He is henceforth unable to contract a valid marriage , and any serious transgression in the matter of this vow is not only a grievous sin in itself but incurs the additional guilt of sacrilege .", "Before turning to the history of this observance it will be convenient to deal in the first place with certain general principles involved .", "The law of celibacy has repeatedly been made the object of attack , especially of recent years , and it is important at the outset to correct certain prejudices thus created .", "Although we do not find in the New Testament any indication of celibacy being made compulsory either upon the Apostles or those whom they ordained , we have ample warrant in the language of Our Saviour , and of St. Paul for looking upon virginity as the higher call , and by inference , as the condition befitting those who are set apart for the work of the ministry .", "In Matthew 19:12 , Christ clearly commends those who , `` for the sake of the kingdom of God '' , have held aloof from the married state , though He adds : `` he who can accept it , let him accept it '' .", "St. Paul is even more explicit : I would that all men were even as myself ; but every one hath his proper gift from God ... .", "But I say to the unmarried and to the widows , it is good for them if they so continue , even as I.", "And further on :", "But I would have you to be without solicitude .", "He that is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord , how he may please God .", "But he that is with a wife , is solicitous for the things of the world , how he may please his wife : and he is divided .", "And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord , that she may be holy both in body and spirit .", "But she that is married thinketh on the things of this world how she may please her husband .", "And this I speak for your profit , not to cast a snare upon you , but for that which is decent and which may give you power to attend upon the Lord without impediment .", "Further , although we grant that the motive here appealed to is in some measure utilitarian , we shall probably be justified in saying that the principle which underlies the Church 's action in enforcing celibacy is not limited to this utilitarian aspect but goes even deeper .", "From the earliest period the Church was personified and conceived of by her disciples as the Virgin Bride and as the pure Body of Christ , or again as the Virgin Mother ( parthenos meter ) , and it was plainly fitting that this virgin Church should be served by a virgin priesthood .", "Among Jews and pagans the priesthood was hereditary .", "Its functions and powers were transmitted by natural generation .", "But in the Church of Christ , as an antithesis to this , the priestly character was imparted by the Holy Ghost in the Divinely-instituted Sacrament of Orders .", "Virginity is consequently the special prerogative of the Christian priesthood .", "Virginity and marriage both holy , but in different ways .", "The conviction that virginity possesses a higher sanctity and clearer spiritual intuitions , seems to be an instinct planted deep in the heart of man .", "Even in the Jewish Dispensation where the priest begot children to whom his functions descended , it was nevertheless enjoined that he should observe continence during the period in which he served in the Temple .", "No doubt a mystical reason of this kind does not appeal to all , but such considerations have always held a prominent place in the thought of the Fathers of the Church ; as is seen , for example , in the admonition very commonly addressed to subdeacons of the Middle Ages at the time of their ordination .", "`` With regard to them it has pleased our fathers that they who handle the sacred mysteries should observe the law of continence , as it is written ` be clean ye who handle the vessels of the Lord ? ' ''", "( Maskell , Monumenta Ritualia , II , 242 ) .", "On the other hand , such motives as are dwelt upon in the passage just quoted from the Epistle to the Corinthians are of a kind which must appeal to the intelligence of all .", "The more holy and exalted we represent the state of marriage to be , the more we justify the married priest in giving the first place in his thoughts to his wife and family and only the second to his work .", "It would be hard to find more unexceptionable testimony to this point of view than that of Dr. D\u00f6llinger .", "No scholar of this generation was more intimately acquainted with the by-ways of medieval history .", "No one could have supplied so much material for a chronique scandaleuse like that which Dr. Lea has compiled in his history of celibacy .", "Moreover , when Dr. D\u00f6llinger severed his connection with the Church after the Vatican Council , he had absolutely no motive to influence his judgment in favour of Rome 's traditional discipline , if it were not that he believed that the lesson both of the past and the present was clear .", "Nevertheless , when the Old Catholics abolished compulsory celibacy for the priesthood , Dr. D\u00f6llinger , as we are told by the intimate friend of his , an Anglican , was `` sorely grieved '' by the step , and this seems to have been one of the principal things which kept him from any formal participation in the Old Catholic communion .", "In reference to this matter he wrote to the same Anglican friend :", "You in England can not understand how completely engrained it is into our people that a priest is a man who sacrifices himself for the sake of his parishioners .", "He has no children of his own , in order that all the children in the parish may be his children .", "His people know that his small wants are supplied , and that he can devote all his time and thought to them .", "They know that it is quite otherwise with the married pastors of the Protestants .", "The pastor 's income may be enough for himself , but it is not enough for his wife and children also .", "In order to maintain them he must take other work , literary or scholastic , only a portion of his time can be given to his people ; and they know that when the interests of his family and those of his flock collide , his family must come first and his flock second .", "In short , he has a profession or trade , a Gewerbe , rather than a vocation ; he has to earn a livelihood .", "In almost all Catholic congregations , a priest who married would be ruined ; all his influence would be gone .", "The people are not at all ready for so fundamental a change , and the circumstances of the clergy do not admit of it .", "It is a fatal resolution .", "( A. Plummer in `` The Expositor '' , December , 1890 , p. 470 . )", "A testimony given under such circumstances carries more weight than long explanations would do .", "Neither was it the only occasion on which the historian so expressed himself .", "`` When a priest '' , D\u00f6llinger wrote in a letter to one of his Old Catholic friends in 1876 , `` can no longer point to personal sacrifice which he makes for the good of his people , then it is all over with him and the cause which he represents .", "He sinks to the level of men who make a trade of their work -LSB- Er rangiert dann mit den Gewerbetreibenden -RSB- . ''", "( See Michael , Ignaz von D\u00f6llinger , ed .", "Supposing always that the vow of celibacy is faithfully kept , the power which this practical lesson in disinterestedness must lend to the priest 's exhortations when addressing his people is too obvious to need insisting upon .", "Numberless observers , Protestant and Agnostic as well as Catholic , have borne the obstacles to really confidential relations and more especially to confession in the case of the married clergy -- even if this difficulty is often quite unfairly exaggerated in the many current stories of Anglican clergymen sharing the secrets of the confessional with their wives -- are certainly real enough .", "When the once famous P\u00e8re Hyacinth ( M. Loyson ) left the Church and married , this was the first point which once struck a free-thinker like George Sand .", "`` Will P\u00e8re Hyacinthe still hear confessions ? ''", "`` That is the question .", "Is the secrecy of the confessional compatible with the mutual confidences of conjugal love ?", "If I were a Catholic , I would say to my children : ` Have no secrets which cost too much in the telling and then you will no cause to fear the gossip of the vicar 's wife ' . ''", "Again , with regard to missionary work in barbarous countries , the advantages which lies with a celibate clergy can hardly need insisting upon and are freely admitted both by indifferent observers and by the non-Catholic missionaries themselves .", "The testimonies which have been gathered in such a work as Marshall 's `` Children Missions '' are calculated perhaps , from their juxtaposition , to give an exaggerated impression , while the editor 's bantering tone will sometimes wound and repel : but the indictment is substantially accurate , and the materials for a continuation of this standard work , which have been collected from recent sources by the Rev. B. Solferstan , S.J. , in every respect bear out Marshall 's main contention .", "Over and over again the admission is made by well-qualified observers , who are themselves either indifferent or opposed to the Catholic Faith , that whatever genuine work of conversion is done , is effected by the Catholic missionaries whose celibate condition permits them to live among the natives as one of themselves .", "See , for example , to speak only of China , Stoddard , `` Life of Isabella Bird '' , ( 1906 ) , pp. 319-320 ; Arnot Reid , `` Peking to Petersburgh '' ( 1897 ) , p. 73 ; Professor E.H. Parker , `` China Past and Present '' ( 1903 ) , pp. 95-96 .", "The comparatively slight cost of the Catholic missions with their unmarried clergy need not be dwelt upon .", "To take a single example , the late Anglican Bishop Bickersteth , the much-respected Bishop of South Tokio , Japan , describes in one of his published letters how he had `` a good deal of talk '' with a Catholic vicar Apostolic , who was on his way to China .", "Whereupon Bickersteth remarks that `` Roman Catholics certainly can teach us much by their readiness to bear hardships .", "This man and his priests are at times subject to the most serious privations I should fear .", "In Japan a Roman priest gets one-seventh of what the Church Missionary Society and the Society of the Gospel allow to an unmarried deacon .", "Of course they can only live on the food of the country . ''", "( See `` The Life and Letters of Edward Bickersteth '' , 2nd ed. , London , 1905 ) , p. 214 ) With regard again to the effect upon a priest 's work the following candid testimony from a distinguished married clergyman and professor of Trinity College , Dublin , is very striking .", "`` But from the point of view of preaching '' , writes Professor Mahaffy , `` there can be little doubt that married life creates great difficulties and hindrances .", "The distractions caused by sickness and other human misfortunes increase necessarily in proportion to the number of the household ; and as the clergy in all countries are likely to have large families the time which might be spent in meditation on their discourses is stolen from them by other duties and other cares .", "The Catholic priest when his daily round of outdoor duties is over , comes home to a quiet study , where there is nothing to disturb his thoughts .", "The family man is met at the door by troops of children welcoming his return and claiming his interest in all their little affairs .", "Or else the disagreements of the household demand him as an umpire and his mind is disturbed by no mere speculative contemplation of the faults and follies of mankind but by their actual invasion of his home . ''", "( Mahaffy , The Decay of Modern Preaching , London , 1882 , p. 42 . )", "To these general considerations various replies are urged .", "In the first place , it is asserted that celibacy is a mere specious device invented to ensure the subjection of the clergy to the central authority of the Roman See .", "Such writers as Heigl ( Das C\u00f6libat , Berlin , 1902 ) contend that the deprivation of home and family ties tends to rob the priest of all national feeling and of standing in the country , and consequently to render him a willing tool in the hands of the spiritual autocracy of the popes .", "The historical summary which follows will help to do justice to this objection .", "But for the moment , we may note that St. Dunstan , who more than any other character in early English history is identified with the cause of a celibate clergy , was Archbishop of Canterbury from 960 to 988 , a period during which the papacy was subjected to oppression and disorder of the worst kind .", "In fact the practice of celibacy was almost universally enjoined long before the resolute energy of Gregory VII ( Hildebrand ) built up what it has of late years been the fashion to call the papal monarchy .", "Again , the consistently nationalist tone of such a chronicler as Matthew Paris , not to speak of countless others , lets us see how mistaken it would be to suppose that celibates are devoid of patriotism or inclined to lay aside their racial sympathies in deference to the commands of the pope .", "And a similar lesson might be drawn from the Gallicanism of the French clergy in the seventeenth century , which seemingly was not inconsistent with at least ordinary fidelity to their vows of continence .", "Another objection which has been urged against sacerdotal celibacy is that the reproduction of the species is a primary function and law of man 's nature , and therefore constitutes an inalienable right of which no man can deprive himself by any vow .", "In view of the fact that social conditions of every sort , as well as the moral law , necessitate celibacy on the part of millions of the race , no one takes this objection seriously .", "So far as any justification of this position has been attempted , it has been found in the analogy of the animal or vegetable kingdom , in which the reproduction of its own kind has been represented as the main object of created existence .", "But such a comparison applied to an intellectual being like man is hardly more than puerile , and if the argument is pressed we might answer that , as horticulturists are well aware , some of the most beautiful and highly-developed of the natural products of our flower-gardens are only to be obtained at the sacrifice of their fertility .", "The argument if anything tells the other way .", "The one serious objection against the law of clerical celibacy is the difficulty which its observance presents for all but men of exceptionally strong character and high principle .", "Such writers as Dr. H.C. Lea and M. Chavard have set themselves to gather up all the scandalous excesses which have been charged against a celibate priesthood since the beginning of the Middle Ages .", "It has been their aim to show that the observance of continence in a much-exposed life is beyond the strength of the average man , and that consequently to bind the rank and file of the clergy by such a law is only to open the door to irregularities and abuses far more derogatory to the priestly character than the toleration of honourable marriage could possible be .", "They urge that , in point of fact , the law during long periods of time has become a dead letter throughout the greater part of Christendom , and that its only result has been to force the priest into courses of licence and hypocrisy which have robbed him of all power to influence men for good .", "As to the historical evidence upon which such charges are based , there will probably always be much difference of opinion .", "The anti-clerical animus which prompts a certain type of mind to rake these scandals together , and to revel in and exaggerate their prurient details , is at least as marked as the tendency on the part of the Church 's apologists to ignore these uncomfortable pages of history altogether .", "In any case , it may be said in reply , that the observance of continence with substantial fidelity by a numerous clergy , even for centuries together , is assuredly not beyond the strength of human nature when elevated by prayer and strengthened by Divine grace .", "Not to speak of such countries as Ireland and Germany , where , it might be contended , the admixture with other creeds tends to put the Catholic clergy unduly upon their mettle , we might turn to the example of France or Belgium during the last century .", "No candid student of history who reviews this period will hesitate to admit that the immense majority of many thousands of secular priests in these two countries have led lives which are clean and upright , in accordance with their professions .", "We prove it not only by the good report which they have enjoyed with all moderate men , by the tone of respectable novelists who have portrayed them in fiction , by the testimony of foreign residents , and by the comparatively rare occurrence of scandals , but , what is most striking of all , we argue from the tributes paid to their integrity by former associates who have themselves severed their connection with the Catholic Church , men , for example , like M. Loyson ( P\u00e8re Hyacinthe ) or M. Ernest Renan .", "Speaking of the wholesale charges of incontinence often levelled against a celibate priesthood , M. Renan remarks : `` The fact is that what is commonly said about the morality of the clergy is , so far as my experience goes , absolutely devoid of foundation .", "I spent thirteen years of my life under the charge of priests , and I never saw the shadow of a scandal -LSB- je n'ai pas vu l'ombre d'un scandale -RSB- ; I have known no priests but good priests .", "The confessional may possibly be productive of evil in some countries , but I saw no trace of it in my life as an ecclesiastic '' ( Renan , Souvenirs ` Enfance et de Jeunesse , p. 139 ) .", "Similarly M. Loyson , when seeking to justify his own marriage , does not attempt to suggest that the obligation of celibacy was beyond the strength of the average man , or that the Catholic clergy lived otherwise than chastely .", "On the contrary , he writes : `` I am well aware of the true state of our clergy .", "I know of the self-sacrifice and virtues within its ranks . ''", "His line of argument is that the priest needs to be reconciled with the interests , the affections , and the duties of human nature ; which seems to mean that he ought to be made less spiritual and more earthly .", "`` It is only '' , he says , `` by tearing himself away from the traditions of a blind asceticism , and of a theocracy still more political than religious , that the priest will become once more a man and a citizen .", "He will find himself at the same time more truly a priest . ''", "We are not contending that the high moral standard conspicuous in the clergy of France and Belgium is to be found in an equally-marked degree all over the world .", "Our argument is that the observance of celibacy is not only possible for the few called to be monks and enjoying the safeguards of the monastic life , but that it is not beyond the strength of a great body of men numbered by tens of thousands , and recruited , as the French and Belgian clergy mostly are , from the ranks of the industrious peasantry .", "We have no wish to deny or to palliate the very low level of morality to which at different periods of the world 's history , and in different periods of the world 's history , and in different countries calling themselves Christian , but Catholic priesthood has occasionally sunk , but such scandals are no more the effect of compulsory celibacy than the prostitution , which is everywhere rampant in our great cities , is the effect of our marriage laws .", "We do not abolish Christian marriage because so large a proportion of mankind are not faithful to the restraints which it imposes on human concupiscence .", "No one in his heart believes that civilized nations would be cleaner or purer if polygamy were substituted for monogamy .", "Neither is there any reason to suppose that scandals would be fewer and the clergy more respected if Catholic priests were permitted to marry .", "History of clerical celibacy", "Turning now to the historical development of the present law of celibacy , we must necessarily begin with St. Paul 's direction ( 1 Timothy 3:2 , 12 , and Titus 1:6 ) that a bishop or a deacon should be `` the husband of one wife '' .", "These passages seem fatal to any contention that celibacy was made obligatory upon the clergy from the beginning , but on the other hand , the Apostle 's desire that other men might be as himself ( 1 Corinthians 7:7 -8 ) , already quoted ) precludes the inference that he wished all ministers of the Gospel to be married .", "The words beyond doubt mean that the fitting candidate was a man , who , amongst other qualities which St. Paul enunciates as likely to make his authority respected , possessed also such stability of divorce , by remaining faithful to one wife .", "The direction is therefore restrictive , no injunctive ; it excludes men who have married more than once , but it does not impose marriage as a necessary condition .", "This freedom of choice seems to have lasted during the whole of what we may call , with Vacandard , the first period of the Church 's legislation , i.e. down to about the time of Constantine and the Council of Nicaea .", "A strenuous attempt has indeed been made by some writers , of whom the late Professor Bickell was the most distinguished , to prove that even at this early date the Church exacted celibacy of all her ministers of the higher grades .", "But the contrary view , represented by such scholars as Funk and Kraus , seems much better founded and has won general acceptance of recent years .", "It is not , of course , disputed that all times virginity was held in honour , and that in particular large numbers of the clergy practised it or separated from their wives if they were already married .", "Tertullian comments with admiration upon the number of those in sacred orders who have embraced continence ( De exhortatione castitatis , cap .", "xiii ) , while Origen seems to contrast the spiritual offspring of the priests of the New Law with the natural offspring begotten in wedlock by the priests of the Old ( In Levit .", "Clearly , however , there is nothing in this or similar language which could be considered decisive , and Bickell , in support of his thesis , found it needful to appeal mainly to the testimony of writers of the fourth and fifth century .", "Thus Eusebius declares that it is befitting that priests and those occupied in the ministry should observe continence ( Demonst .", "Evangel. , I , C. ix ) , and St. Cyril of Jerusalem urges that the minister of the altar who serves God properly holds himself aloof from women ( Cat .", "St. Jerome further seems to speak of a custom generally observed when he declares that clerics , `` even though they may have wives , cease to be husbands '' .", "But the passage most confidently appealed to is one of St. Epiphanius where the holy doctor first of all speaks of the accepted ecclesiastical rule of the priesthood ( kanona tes ierosynes ) as something established by the Apostles ( Haer. , xlviii , 9 ) , and then in a later passage seems to describe this rule or canon in some detail .", "`` Holy Church '' , he says , `` respects the dignity of the priesthood to such a point that she does not admit to the diaconate , the priesthood , or the episcopate , no nor even to the subdiaconate , anyone still living in marriage and begetting children .", "She accepts only him who if married gives up his wife or has lost her by death , especially in those places where the ecclesiastical canons are strictly attended to '' ( Haer. , lix , 4 ) .", "Epiphanius goes on , however , to explain that there are localities in which priests and deacons continue to have children , but he argues against the practice as most unbecoming and urges that the Church under the guidance of the Holy Ghost has always in the past shown her disapproval of such procedure .", "But we need hardly insist that all this is very inadequate evidence ( even when supplemented by some few citations from St. Ephraem and other Orientals ) to support the contention that a general rule of celibacy existed from Apostolic times .", "Writers in the fourth century were prone to describe many practices ( e.g. the Lenten fast of forty days ) as of Apostolic institution which certainly had no claim to be so regarded .", "On the other hand , there are facts which tell the other way .", "The statement of Clement of Alexandria at an earlier date is open to no ambiguity .", "After commenting on the texts of St. Paul noted above , and expressing his veneration for a life of chastity , Clement adds : `` All the same , the Church fully receives the husband of one wife whether he be priest or deacon or layman , supposing always that he uses his marriage blamelessly , and such a one shall be saved in the begetting of children '' ( Stromateiae , III , xiii ) .", "Not less explicit is the testimony given by the church historian , Socrates .", "He declares that in the Eastern Churches neither priests nor even bishops were bound to separate from their wives , though he recognized that a different custom obtained in Thessaly and in Greece ( H.E. , Bk .", "xi ) Socrates tells the story of Paphnutius rising in the assembly and objecting to an enactment which he considered too rigorous in behalf of celibacy .", "It would be sufficient , he thought , that such as had previously entered on their sacred calling should abjure matrimony according to the ancient tradition of the Church , but that none should be separated from her to whom , while yet unordained , he had been united .", "And these sentiments he expressed although himself without experience of marriage .", "Some attempt has been made to discredit this story , but nearly all modern scholars ( notably Bishop von Hefele , with his most recent editor , Dom H. Leclercq ) accept it without reserve .", "The fact that the attitude of Bishop Paphnutius differs but little from the existing practice of the Eastern Churches is alone a strong point in its favour .", "These testimonies , it will be observed , are from Eastern sources and indicate , no doubt , the prevailing Oriental discipline .", "Wernz expressed the opinion that from the earliest days of the Church the custom , if not the law , was for bishops , priests , and all in major orders , to observe celibacy .", "Editor 's note : More recent scholarship has strengthened the case for the legendary character of the Paphnutius story , and its possible origin in Novatianist circles .", "According to Winkelmann ( 1968 ) , Stickler ( 1970 ) and Heid ( 1997 ) , it seems unlikely that this Paphnutius ever attended the council , much less made the speech attributed to him .", "See Christian Cochini , The Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy ( San Francisco : Ignatius Press , 1990 ; original French edition 1981 ) , pp. 24-26 , 44-46 , 195-200 and index ; and Stefan Heid , Celibacy in the Early Church ( Ignatius , 2000 , original German edition , 1997 ) , pp. 15-19 , 297-305 and index .", "Second period In the history of clerical celibacy conciliar legislation marks the second period during which the law took definite shape both in the East and in the West .", "The earliest enactment on the subject is that of the Spanish Council of Elvira ( between 295 and 302 ) in canon xxxiii .", "It imposes celibacy upon the three higher orders of the clergy , bishops , priests , and deacons .", "If they continue to live with their wives and beget children after their ordination they are to be deposed .", "This would seem to have been the beginning of the divergence in this matter between East and West .", "If we may trust the account of Socrates , just quoted , an attempt was made at the Council of Nicaea , ( perhaps by Bishop Osius who had also sat at Elvira ) to impose a law similar to that passed in the Spanish council .", "But Paphnutius , as we have seen , argued against it , and the Fathers of Nicaea were content with the prohibition expressed in the third canon which forbade mulieres subintroductas .", "No bishop , priest , or deacon was to have any woman living in the house with him , unless it were his mother , sister , or aunt , or at any rate persons against whom no suspicion could lodge .", "But the account of Socrates at the same time shows that marriage on the part of those who were already bishops or priests was not contemplated ; in fact , that it was assumed to be contrary to the tradition of the Church .", "This is again what we learn from the Council of Ancyra in Galatia , in 314 ( canon x ) , and of Neo-Caesarea in Cappadocia , in 315 ( canon i ) .", "The latter canon absolutely forbids a priest to contract a new marriage under the pain of deposition ; the former forbids even a deacon to contract marriage , if at the moment of his ordination he made no reservation as to celibacy .", "Supposing , however , that he protested at the time that a celibate life was above his strength , the decrees of Ancyra allow him to marry subsequently , as having tacitly received the permission of the ordaining bishop .", "There is nothing here which of itself forbids even a bishop to retain his wife , if he were married before ordination .", "In this respect the law , as observed in the Eastern Churches , was drawn gradually tighter .", "Justinian 's Code of Civil Law would not allow anyone who had children or even nephews to be consecrated bishop , for fear that natural affection should warp his judgment .", "The Apostolic Constitutions ( c. 400 ) , which formed the principal factor of the church law of the East , are not particularly rigid on the point of celibacy , but whether through imperial influence or not the Council of Trullo , in 692 , finally adopted a somewhat stricter view .", "Celibacy in a bishop became a matter of precept .", "If he were previously married , he had at once to separate from his wife upon his consecration .", "On the other hand , this council , while forbidding priests , deacons , and subdeacons to take a wife after ordination , asserts in emphatic terms their right and duty to continue in conjugal relations with the wife to whom they had been wedded previously .", "This canon ( xiii of Trullo ) still makes the law for the great majority of the Churches of the East , though some of the Eastern Catholic communions have adopted the Western discipline .", "In Latin Christendom , however , everything was ripe for a stricter law .", "We have already spoken of the Council of Elvira , and this does not seem to have been an isolated expression of opinion .", "`` As a rule '' , remarks Bishop Wordsworth from his anti-celibate standpoint , `` the great writers of the fourth and fifth century pressed celibacy as the more excellent way with an unfair and misleading emphasis which led to the gravest and moral mischief and loss of power in the Church . ''", "( The Ministry of Grace , 1902 , p. 223 ) .", "This , one would think , must be held to relieve the papacy of some of the onus which modern critics would thrust upon it in this matter .", "Such writers as St. Augustine , St. Ambrose , St. Jerome , St. Hilary , etc. , could hardly be described as acting in collusion with the supposed ambitious projects of the Holy See to enslave and denationalize the local clergy .", "Although it is true that at the close of the fourth century , as we may learn from St. Ambrose ( De Officiis , I , l ) , some married clergy were still to be found , especially in the outlying country districts , many laws then enacted were strong in favour of celibacy .", "At a Roman council held by Pope Siricius in 386 an edict was passed forbidding priests and deacons to have conjugal intercourse with their wives ( Jaffe-L\u00f6wenfeld , Regesta , I , 41 ) , and the pope took steps to have the decree enforced in Spain and in other parts of Christendom ( Migne , P.L. , LVI , 558 and 728 ) .", "Africa and Gaul , as we learn from the canons of various synods , seem to have been earnest in the same movement , and though we hear of some mitigation of the severity of the ordinance of Elvira , was enforced against transgressors than that if they took back their wives they were declared incapable of promotion to any higher grade , it may fairly be said that by the time of St. Leo the Great the law of celibacy was generally recognized in the West .", "With regard to subdeacons , indeed , the case was not clear .", "Pope Ciricius ( 385-398 ) seems to rank them with acolytes and not to require separation from their wives until after the age of thirty when they might be ordained deacons if they had previously , during some short period of trial , given proof of their ability to lead a life of stricter continence .", "Writers like and Wernz regard them as bound to celibacy in the time of Pope Leo the Great ( 446 ) .", "The Council of Agde in Gaul , in 506 , forbade subdeacons to marry , and such synods as those of Orl\u00e9ans in 538 and Tours in 567 prohibited even those already married from continuing to live with their wives .", "As other councils took an opposite line , the uncertainty continued until King Pepin , in 747 , addressed a question upon the subject to Pope Zachary .", "Even then the pope left each locality in some measure to its own traditions , but he decided clearly that once a man had received the subdiaconate he was no longer free to contract a new marriage .", "The doubtful point was the lawfulness of his continuing to live with his wife as her husband .", "During this Merovingian period the actual separation of the clergy from the wives which they had previously married was not insisted on .", "A law of the Emperor Honorius , in 420 , forbids that these wives should be left unprovided for , and it even lays stress upon the fact that by their upright behaviour they had helped their husbands to earn that good repute which had made them worthy of ordination .", "However , this living together in the relation of brother and sister can not have proved entirely satisfactory , even though it had in its favour such illustrious examples as those of St. Paulinus of Nola , and of Salvinianus of Marseilles .", "At any rate the synods of the sixth and seventh centuries , while fully recognizing the position of these former wives and according them even the formal designation of bishopess , priestess , deaconess , and subdeaconess ( episcopissa , presbytera , diaconissa , subdiaconissa ) , laid down some very strict rules to guide their relations with their former husbands .", "The bishopess , as a rule , did not live in the same house with the bishop ( see the Council of Tours in 567 , can .", "For the lower grades actual separation does not seem to have been required , although the Council of Orl\u00e9ans in 541 , can .", "xvii , ordained : `` ut sacerdotes sive diacom cum conjugibus suis non habeant commune lectum et cellulam '' ; while curious regulations were enforced requiring the presence of subordinate clergy in the sleeping apartment of the bishop , archpriest , etc. , to prevent all suspicion of scandal ( see , e.g. , the Council of Tours , in 567 ) , canons xiii and xx ) .", "A good deal seems to have been done at the beginning of the Carolingian epoch to set things upon a more satisfactory footing .", "To this St. Chrodegang ( formerly the chancellor of Charles Martel , and after 742 Bishop of Metz ) , contributed greatly by his institution of canons .", "Those were clergy leading a life in common ( vita canonica ) , according to the rule composed for them by St. Chrodegang himself , but at the same time not precluded by their hours of study and prayer from giving themselves like ordinary secular priests to the pastoral duties of the ministry .", "This institution developed rapidly and met with much encouragement .", "In a slightly modified form the Rule of St. Chrodegang was approved by the Council of Aachen , in 816 , and it formed the basis of the cathedral chapters in most of the diocese throughout the dominions of Charlemagne .", "The influence both of these canons who devoted themselves principally to the public recitation of the Office , as also of those who lived with the bishop in the episcopium and were busied with parochial work , seems to have had an excellent effect upon the general standard of clerical duty .", "Unfortunately , `` the Iron Age '' , that terrible period of war , barbarism , and corruption in high places which marked the break-up of the Carolingian Empire , followed almost immediately upon this revival .", "`` Impurity , adultery , sacrilege and murder have overwhelmed the world '' , cried the Council of Trosly in 909 .", "The episcopal sees , as we learn from such an authority as Bishop Egbert of Trier , were given as fiefs to rude soldiers , and were treated as property which descended by hereditary right from father to son .", "A terrible picture of the decay both of clerical morality and of all sense of anything like vocation is drawn in the writings of St. Peter Damian , particularly in his `` Liber Gomorrhianus '' .", "The style , no doubt , is rhetorical and exaggerated , and his authority as an eyewitness does not extend beyond that district of Northern Italy , in which he lived , but we have evidence from other sources that the corruption was widespread and that few parts of the world failed to feel the effect of the licence and venality of the times .", "How could it be otherwise when there were intruded into bishoprics on every side men of brutal nature and unbridled passions , who gave the very worst example to the clergy over whom they ruled ?", "Undoubtedly during this period the traditions of sacerdotal celibacy in Western Christendom suffered severely but even though a large number of the clergy , not only priests but bishops , openly took wives and begot children to whom they transmitted their benefices , the principle of celibacy was never completely surrendered in the official enactments of the Church .", "With Pope St. Leo IX , St. Gregory VII ( Hildebrand ) , and their successors , a determined and successful stand was made against the further spread of corruption .", "For a while in certain districts where effective interference appeared hopeless , it would seem that various synodal enactments allowed the rural clergy to retain the wives to whom they had previously been married .", "See , for example , the Councils of Lisieux of 1064 , Rouen in 1063 and 1072 , and Winchester , this last presided over by Lanfranc , in 1076 .", "In all these we may possibly trace the personal influence of William the Conqueror .", "But despite these concessions , the attitude of Gregory VII remained firm , and the reform which he consolidated has never subsequently been set aside .", "His determined attitude brought forth a whole literature of protests , amongst others the letter `` De Continenti\u00e2 '' which is widely attributed to St. Ulric of Augsburg , though every modern scholar admits it to be a forgery , fabricated more than one hundred years after St. Ulric 's death .", "The point is of importance because the evidence seems to show that in this long struggle the whole of the more high-principled and more learned section of the clergy was enlisted in the cause of celibacy .", "The incidents of the long final campaign , which began indeed even before the time of Pope St. Leo IX and lasted down to the First Council of Lateran in 1123 , are too complicated to be detailed here .", "We may note , however that the attack was conducted along two distinct lines of action .", "In the first place , disabilities of all kinds were enacted and as far as possible enforced against the wives and children of ecclesiastics .", "Their offspring were declared to be of servile condition , debarred from sacred orders , and , in particular , incapable of succeeding to their fathers ' benefices .", "The earliest decree in which the children were declared to be slaves , the property of the Church , and never to be enfranchised , seems to have been a canon of the Synod of Pavia in 1018 .", "Similar penalties were promulgated later on against the wives and concubines ( see the Synod of Melfi , 1189 , can .", "xii ) , who by the very fact of their unlawful connection with a subdeacon or clerk of higher rank became liable to be seized as slaves by the over-lord .", "Hefele ( Concilienge-schichte , V , 195 ) sees in this first trace of the principle that the marriages of the clerics are ipso facto invalid .", "As regards to the offenders themselves , the strongest step seems to have been that taken by Nicholas II in 1059 , and more vigorously by Gregory VII in 1075 , who interdicted such priests from saying Mass and from all ecclesiastical functions , while the people were forbidden to hear the Mass which they celebrated or to admit their ministrations so long as they remain contumacious .", "In the controversies of this time the Masses said by these incontinent priests were sometimes described as `` idolatrous '' ; but this word must not be pressed , as if it meant to insinuate that such priests were incapable of consecrating validly .", "The term was only loosely used , just as if it was also sometimes applied at the same period to any sort of homage rendered to an antipope .", "Moreover the wording of a letter of Urban II ( Ep .", "cclxxiii ) enforcing the decree takes an exception for cases of urgent necessity , as , for example , when Communion has to be given to the dying .", "Clearly , therefore , the validity of the sacraments when consecrated or administered by a married priest was not in question .", "Finally , in 1123 , at the First Lateran Council , an enactment was passed ( confirmed more explicitly in the Second Lateran Council , can .", "vii ) which , while not in itself very plainly worded , was held to pronounce the marriages contracted by subdeacons or ecclesiastics of any of the higher orders to be invalid ( contracta quoque matrimonia ab hujusmodi personis disjungi ... judicamus -- can .", "This may be said to mark the victory of the cause of celibacy .", "Henceforth all conjugal relations on the part of the clergy in sacred orders were reduced in the eyes of canon law to mere concubinage .", "Neither can it be pretended that this legislation , backed , as it were , by the firm and clear pronouncements of the Fourth Council of Lateran in 1215 , and later by those of the Council of Trent , remained any longer a dead letter .", "Laxity among the clergy at certain periods and in certain localities must undoubtedly be admitted , but the principles of the canon law remained unshaken , and despite all assertions to the contrary made by unscrupulous assailants of the Roman system the call to a life of self-denying continence has , as a rule , been respected by the clergy of Western Christendom .", "A few words may here be added in particular about the history of clerical celibacy upon English soil .", "Very extreme views have been put forward by various Anglican writers .", "Passing over Dr. Lea as quite untrustworthy , the following statement of a more sober writer , the Bishop of Salisbury ( John Wordsworth ) may be taken as a specimen .", "After declaring that during the Anglo-Saxon period the English clergy were undisguisedly married , he adds : `` It would be easy to multiply evidence for the continuance of a practically married clergy in this country up to the time of the Reformation .", "Sometimes I believe that they were privately but still legally married so that their wives and children might have the benefit of their property after their death .", "For all marriages properly performed in England were valid according to the civil law , unless they were voided by action in the Bishop 's Court , down to the passing of Lord Lynhurst 's Act in 1835 , however much they might be contrary to law '' ( Ministry of Grace , p. 236 ) .", "It can only be said that this is a quite gratuitous assertion , unsupported by any evidence yet produced , and founded in the main upon that strange misconception , so well exposed in Professor Maitland 's `` Roman Canon Law in the Church of England '' , that ecclesiastical law in England differed from , and was independent of , the jus commune ( i.e. the canon law ) of the Catholic Church .", "Objectors may safely be challenged to produce a single case during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in which a clerk in sacred orders went through the marriage ceremony with any woman , or in which is wife or the children born after his ordination claimed to inherit his property upon his death .", "On the other hand , the denunciations of all such unions as mere concubinage are innumerable , and the evidence for any great prevalence of these irregular connections , despite the rhetorical exaggerations of such writers as Gower or Langland , is relatively slight .", "Unfortunately , nearly all the best-known popular histories ( Trevelyan 's `` Age of Wicliffe '' might be cited as a specimen ) are written with a strong anti-Roman or anti-sacerdotal bias , particularly disastrous in matters in which there can be no question of comparative statistics , but only of general impressions .", "With regard to the Saxon and Angevin period again , careful study of the evidence has convinced the present writer that a very exaggerated estimate has been formed of the prevalence of marriage or concubinage among the secular clergy .", "Two points deserve especially to be remembered .", "First , that the Anglo-Saxon word preost does not necessarily mean a priest but simply a cleric .", "The ordinary word for priest in the sense of sacerdos , was maesse-preost .", "This is continually ignored , but the evidence for it is quite unmistakable and is fully admitted in Bosworth-Toller 's `` Dictionary '' and in the important monograph , `` The Influence of Christianity upon the Vocabulary of Old English '' ( 1902 ) by the American scholar Dr. H. MacGillivray .", "To take one illustration , Abbot \u00c6lfric writes : `` Gemaenes hades preostum is alyfed ... thaet hi syferlice sincipes brucon '' -- i.e. `` To clerics -LSB- preostum -RSB- of the common order -LSB- i.e. to clerks in minor orders -RSB- it is permitted that they enjoy marriage soberly '' ; and then he continues : `` but in sooth to the others that minister at God 's altar , that is to say mass-priests and deacons ( maessepreostum and diaconum ) , all conjugal relations are forbidden '' ( \u00c6lfric , Homilies ) .", "Similarly , where Bede speaks of St. Wilfrid receiving the tonsure , the Anglo-Saxon translation , as in many similar cases , renders it , `` he waes to preost gesceoren '' , i.e. he was shorn into a cleric ( preost ) .", "Wilfrid 's ordination as priest did not take place until several years later .", "Now the importance of this will be appreciated when we find a well-known historian writing thus : `` Celibacy was avowedly not practised by the northern clergy -LSB- in Anglo-Saxon England -RSB- .", "The law of the Northumbrian Priests declares ` if a priest forsake a woman and take another let him be excommunicate ' .", "A priest might therefore take a wife and cleave to her without rebuke '' .", "( Hunt , The English Church to the Norman Conquest , 1899 , p 383 ) .", "Now this piece of evidence is quite inconclusive ; the word preost which is here used , may or may not assume that it refers to any other class of preost , i.e. cleric , than those in minor orders who were always entirely free to marry .", "The second point which it is equally important to remember is that clerics in minor orders were a very numerous class in Saxon , Norman and Angevin times .", "With us there are , practically preparing for ordination to the priesthood , while such candidates now from their earliest years lead a life apart from the world in the seclusion of colleges and seminaries .", "In the medieval Church things were very different .", "Almost all young men with any little education preferred to enroll themselves in the ranks of the clergy to receiving the tonsure , hoping that some chance of employment or of a benefice might come their way .", "They were still free to marry and sometimes they married openly .", "But often , it seems , they entangled themselves in rather ambiguous relations which in the then state of marriage law might easily be legitimized afterwards , but which also might be repudiated and broken off if they desired to receive ordination .", "All this , which up to a certain point was not inconsistent with good faith , unfortunately prepared the way for easy relapses into incontinence , and generated a public opinion in which it was not accounted a reproach to be known as the son of a priest .", "Undoubtedly the sons of priests formed a large class .", "There was a natural tendency to bring them up also as clerics , and there was no doubt an immense amount of scheming , not unfrequently successful , to secure their promotion to the benefices held by their fathers .", "But promotion to the benefices held by their fathers .", "But it would be a great mistake to regard these sons of priests as all necessarily born in flagrant violation of the canons .", "The situation was a very complicated one , and it is impossible to pronounce any sober opinion upon its moral aspects without a careful study , on the other hand , of the conditions of social , and particularly of student , life , which an appreciation of the ambiguities of the marriage law , as regards which the difficulties raised by the sponsalia de praesenti have long been the despair of canonists .", "One of the Constitutions of the Legate Otho , issued in 1237 , is particularly instructive in this connection .", "He has learnt , he declares , on good authority that `` many clerics -LSB- not yet priests , be it noted -RSB- forgetful of the salvation of their souls , after contracting a clandestine marriage , do not fear to retain the churches ( to which they may previously have been appointed ) without putting away their wives , and to acquire fresh ecclesiastical benefices and to be promoted to sacred orders contrary to the provisions of the sacred canons , and finally in due course of time after children have been reared from this union , to prove at the proper moment , by means of witnesses and documents , whether they themselves be still living or have passed away , that a marriage had really be contracted between the parties '' .", "To meet this , Otho decrees that any married clerk in possession of a benefice , loses all title to it ipso jure , and secondly , that all property in possession of such clerks or priests who have been clandestinely married before their promotion to Holy orders , is to go to the Church and none of it to their children .", "But the whole legal aspect of the celibacy question in England can best be studied in the pages of Lyndewode 's `` Provinciale '' .", "( See particularly pp. 16 sqq .", "and 126-130 , of the standard edition of 1679 .", "The only thing which Lyndewode makes clear , quoted above , is that the English Church in the fifteenth century refused to recognize the existence of any such entity as the priest 's `` wife '' .", "It knew of nothing but concubinae and denied to these any legal right whatever or any claim upon the property of the partner of their guilt .", "With regard to the law of celibacy and its canonical effects in the Western Church at the present day , only one or two points can be briefly touched upon .", "For the details the reader must be referred to such a work as that of Wernz `` Jus Decretalium '' , II , 295-321 .", "Clerk in minor orders , as already stated , as free to marry , and by such marriages they forfeit the privilegia canonis and the privilegia fori only in part , provided they observe the required conditions ( cf. Decreta Conc .", "Trid. , Sess XIII , cap .", "vi ) ; though in our day such observance is practically impossible ; but they are incapable of being promoted to sacred orders unless they separate from their wives , and make a vow of perpetual continence .", "Further , if as clerks they held any benefice or ecclesiastical pension , these are at once forfeited by marriage , and then become incapable of acquiring any new benefice .", "Historically there has been some little variation of practice with regard to married clerks , and the severe measures enacted in their regard by Pope Alexander III were subsequently mitigated by Boniface VIII and the Council of Trent .", "As regards ecclesiastics in sacred orders ( i.e. the subdiaconate and those that follow ) , the teaching of both theologians and canonists alike , for many centuries past , has been unanimous as regards the facts , though some little divergence has existed regarding the manner of explaining them .", "All are agreed that the subdeacon in presenting himself of his own free will for ordination binds himself by a tacit vow of chastity ( Wernz , IV , n. 393 ) , and that this even constitutes a diriment impediment in view of any subsequent marriage .", "The idea of this votum annexum seems to be traceable in one form or another as far back as the time of Gregory the Great .", "Although the opposition to the law of celibacy frequently took the form of open agitation , both in the earlier Middle Ages and again at the Reformation period , only one such movement calls for notice in modern times .", "This was an association formed principally in W\u00fcrtemberg and Baden in the early part of the nineteenth century to advocate the mitigation or repeal of the law of celibacy .", "The agitation was condemned by an Encyclical of Pope Gregory XVI , on 15 August , 1832 , and no more permanent harm seems to have resulted than the publication of a certain amount of disaffected literature , such as the pretentious but extremely biased and inaccurate work on compulsory celibacy by the brothers Theiner , a book which at once prohibited by authority and repudiated by Aug. .", "Theiner before he was reconciled to the Church .", "Law of celibacy in Oriental Churches", "Upon this head something has already been said above , and the general principle has been stated that in the Oriental Churches deacons and priests are free to retain the wives to whom they have been wedded before ordination , but are not allowed to contract any new marriage when once they are ordained .", "A few details may here be added about the practice of the different Churches , taking first the schismatical communions and then those united to the Holy See .", "In the Greek Churches acknowledging the jurisdiction of the schismatic Patriarchs of Constantinople , Alexandria , etc. , lectors and cantors , who are clerics in minor orders , are still free to marry , but if they contract a second marriage they can be promoted to no higher grade , and if they are guilty of continence with any other person or marry a third time , they are no longer allowed to exercise their functions .", "Subdeacons seem to be able to marry a second time without being deposed , but in that case they can not be promoted to the priesthood .", "Again , a priest who before his ordination has contracted an unlawful marriage , even unwittingly , is no longer permitted to exercise his priestly functions when the fact is discovered .", "Priests and deacons are bidden to practise continence during the time of their service of the altar .", "In 1897 there seem to have been 4025 parish churches in Greece , and these were served by 5423 married and 242 unmarried priests .", "In the Russian Church , though a previous marriage seems to be , practically speaking , a conditio sine qu\u00e2 non for ordination in the case of the secular clergy , still their canonists deny that this is a strict obligation .", "The candidate for orders must either be already married or must formally declare his intention of remaining celibate .", "Any marriage attempted after the reception of the subdiaconate is invalid and the ecclesiastic so offending renders himself liable to severe penalties .", "Further , to have been already married , or to have married a widow , or to have contracted any other marriage which offends against the canons -- e.g. with a near relative , an unbeliever , or person or notoriously loose character , e.g. an actress -- constitutes a disqualification for ordination .", "Formerly the priest who lost his wife was required to retire into a monastery .", "He is still free to do so and in this way may qualify for higher functions , e.g. for the episcopate , etc. , the bishops in the Greek and Russian Church being selected exclusively from the monastic clergy .", "Since the beginning of the eighteenth century , widower priests are no longer compelled to retire into monasteries , but they need the permission of the Synod to continue to discharge their parochial functions .", "In the Armenian Church , again , clerics in minor orders are still free to contract marriage , and such marriage is required as a condition for ordination to the simple secular priesthood .", "Besides monks and the ordinary clergy , the Armenian Church recognizes a class of Vartapeds , or preachers , who are celibate priests of higher education .", "From their ranks the bishops and higher clergy are as a rule selected .", "It is only by exception that a monk is chosen to the episcopate .", "Amongst the Nestorians celibacy is not so much honoured as amongst most of the Oriental Churches .", "Priests and deacons may marry even after ordination , and if their wife should die they marry a second or even a third time .", "Still , bishops are required to live as celibates , though formerly this does not seem to have been the case .", "The Copts and also the Abyssinian Monophysites resemble the Greek Church in their laws regarding clerical marriage .", "A marriage contracted after the reception of Holy orders , or any second marriage , involves deposition .", "All the Coptic bishops are chosen from the monastic clergy .", "Among the Syrian Jacobites similar rules prevail .", "Bishops , as a rule , are chosen from the monks and a second marriage is forbidden to a priest who is left a widower .", "If , however , he marries , the marriage is regarded as valid although he is deprived of his clerical functions .", "Turning now to the Oriental Churches in communion with the Holy See , we may note that as a general principle married clerics are not ineligible for the subdiaconate , diaconate , and priesthood .", "As in the Russian Church they must either be married in accordance with the canons ( i.e. not to a widow , etc. ) , or else as a preliminary to ordination they are asked whether they will promise to observe chastity .", "The full recognition of the right of the Oriental clergy to retain their wives will be found in the Constitution of Benedict XIV , `` Etsi pastoralis '' , 26 May , 1742 .", "There has , however , been a strong movement of recent years among the Eastern Catholic Churches favouring conformity with Western Christendom in this matter of celibacy .", "For example , the Armenian Church dependent upon the Patriarch of Cilicia even as far back as July , 1869 , passed a resolution that celibacy should be required of all the higher orders of the clergy .", "Again the Synod of Scharfa in Syria , in 1888 , decreed that `` the celibate life which is already observed by the great majority of the priests of our Church should henceforth be common to all '' , although the deacons and priests who were already married were allowed to continue as before , and though a certain power of dispensation in cases of necessity was left with the patriarch .", "Similarly in 1898 a synod of the Catholic Copts at Alexandria decreed that henceforth all candidates for any of the higher orders must be celibate `` according to the ancient discipline of the Church of Alexandria and the other Churches of God '' ."], "_citing_sentence": "Originally, around 1100 the Gregorian Reform movement in the church was keen to enforce celibacy for fear that too many married priests would leave church property and benefices to their children, or create local priestly dynasties.", "_claim_name": "Celibacy is outdated", "_doc_title": "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Celibacy of the Clergy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [246, 279]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["More than 140 Austrian , German and Swiss professors also urged the Church to ordain women", "More than 140 Catholic theologians from universities in Austria , Germany and Switzerland have called for the Church to end priestly celibacy , ordain women and allow lay people to help select bishops , among other changes .", "The 143 professors said their appeal was made in response to the clergy sexual abuse scandals that surfaced in Europe last year and that they no longer could remain silent in the face of what they say is a lingering crisis within the Catholic Church .", "The theologians , who also called for the Church to welcome same-sex couples and divorced and remarried couples , said their statement was issued to open a discussion about the future of the Church .", "`` We have the responsibility to contribute to a new start , '' the statement said .", "Judith Konemann , a professor from Munster and one of the signatories , told the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung : `` It looks like we struck a nerve . ''", "Most of the changes sought by the theologians have no chance of being adopted by the Catholic Church .", "The Church teaches that it has no right to ordain women to the priesthood , and that any sexual activity outside of marriage , understood to be between a woman and a man only , is sinful .", "Regarding divorce and remarriage , in the Catholic Church civil divorce does n't exclude one from the sacraments .", "A person can not receive the sacraments if he or she remarries outside the Church while still bound by a previous marriage .", "The German bishops ' conference said it would discuss the proposals at a meeting in March .", "Pope Benedict XVI will visit his native Germany on September 22 to 25 .", "The theologians ' appeal comes two weeks after a group of prominent German politicians urged the bishops to ordain older married men because of the dwindling number of priests .", "The German bishops have said two-thirds of all parishes will not have their own priest by 2020 and have embarked on an effort to merge parishes in response .", "The statement said that enacting the reforms would attract people back to the Church .", "`` The Church needs married priests and women in Church ministry , '' the theologians said .", "The Church should not `` shut out people who live in love , loyalty and mutual support as same-sex couples or remarried divorced people '' , they said .", "The professors also questioned actions by Pope Benedict that have brought back older worship practices .", "`` The liturgy must not be frozen in traditionalism , '' they said .", "Benedict XVI calls for ` passionate ' study of new youth catechism", "Fr Austin J Milner OP explains the rationale for one of the most striking changes in the new English Mass translation", "Miles Jesu founder suffered from serious mental and physical health problems celibacy , German Church , Germany , Papal visit to Germany , priestly celibacy , women 's ordination", "At The Catholic Herald we want our articles to provoke spirited and lively debate .", "We also want to ensure the discussions hosted on our website are carried out in civil terms .", "All commenters are therefore politely asked to ensure that their posts respond directly to points raised in the particular article or by fellow contributors , and that all responses are respectful .", "Bishops should be elected by their clergy , nuns and laity in their diocese .", "They have a tremendous responsibility and impact on their priests and nuns Many people talk about sense , non sense , fairness etc. .", "The church talks about truth and the bible and can not u turn easily .", "Both Popes ( JP1 and B16 indicated they were notinfallible .", "Both popes were keen to deconstruct the idea of papal primacy .", "Both were keen to kin of overhaul their offices to make them `` First among equals '' only .", "But sad to say nothing happens .", "This Popesaid that in theearly church there were women preachers , there were Prophetess in the bible .", "Who is Ruth and Esther then ?", "meaning he had no objection to women priests .", "He also pointed outin one of his many preachings that St.Peter was married , indicating he could consider married priests .", "Now he goes leaving everything hanging ... . .", "I think the sexual abuse scandal and the betrayal by the butler , a Judas like betrayal ( whom he looked on as a son ) just overwhelmed him .", "There is no problem with this Pope .", "he was the first to deal with the scandal when the CDF was assigned responsibility in 2001 .", "Others like Cardinals Re and Gantin did nothing .", "This Pope is not the problem .", "How can this Pope be the problem ... .", "He is intelligent , knows his theology inside out , holy , courageous , humble ( a humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord ?", "He himself said he was humble without boosting ? )", "He might want to do many things but his hands are tied by previous Popes decisions and previous Councils doctrines .", "If you ignore the previous councils and the early church fathers you might soon get to to the point to say that the magisterum of the church can not and has no right to teach .", "If you get there everything comes undone .", "That is a very dangerous place to lead to ... .", "Theologians mostly are a hybrid variety of Eunuchs in the institutionalised Church to promote the cause of a different Christ .", "They do it by their dreamy speculation and actvist intervention.That is exactly why they want the Authorities to promote and execute the plans and base desires of a Godless world like same sex marriage , married clergy .", "They should instead clamour for sttling immoral and incontinent Priests and religious with a reasonable and just financial provision in the world so that the rest of their unworthy lives can be lived with a good conscience in their married or unmarried lives .", "Thomas Poovathinkal SSP", "St.Peter was married only till the very moment he left EVERYTHING to follow Christ the Lord .", "The Mother of The Lord , Mary is the QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES ; Mary Magdalene is APOSTLE TO THE APOSTLES ( in the words of Pope John Paul II ) .", "Apostleship includes Priesthood but mere Priesthood does not include Apostleship .", "This is the Problems , a sinful Problem created by INSTITUTIONALISED CHURCH .", "Indtitutionalisation of The Church of Christ the Lord took place when the Pagans took over the Church by seducing The Church into worldiness .", "And in the course of history The Church became the world and Apostleship practically became nonexistent or very little existent .", "Before the candidates join and finalise their entry into Priesthood and Religious life they are told in black and white about the conditions to become priests and religious in the Church of Peter , where The Pope is the ultimate Authority in this world , for he represents here Christ The Lord .", "To find out the Nature and functioning the PURE AND ORIGINAL CHURCH go to THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES .", "By just READING alone do n't expect to get hold of the Truth of it .", "SPIRITUAL THINGS ARE CAUGHT SPIRITUALLY .", "That is because mostly they are SPIRITUAL IDIOTS ; When Personal CALL from the Lord is not esteemed and cultivated as the best thing that has happened to a person , the loss of the same comes about in the course of time .", "How can such people then speak for or take a stand on his own for the Lord ?", "Such people come to enjoy the God-head of the official Church whereby they can have the best of both the worlds .", "DISQUS , PLEASE , PLEASE give editing facility , and also simplify the POSTING system here .", "It is irritating to type name and e-mail for every posting .", "Looks like an ignorant Teenager ; we need to be generous with Teenagers and LOVE and CARE for them with lot of concessions .", "`` The German bishops have said two-thirds of all parishes will not have their own priest by 2020 '' .", "Start reminding the Bishops to go back and start dong the things in the WAY Jesus the Lord DID , for example the WAY he called his APOSTLES and promoted APOSTLESHIP in so many others after the ORIGINAL 12 Apostles .", "When there are Apostles , we will not NEED PRIESTS separate from them to DO GOD 'S WORK .", "In Apostleship there is Priesthood but not vice-versa .", "Highlighting Priesthood as against highlighting Apostleship is a PAGAN PROCESS to do away with the PURE and ORIGINAL Spirit of Jesus ' Church .", "If the Bishops are obstinate to live with their PAGAN WAYS , the OFFICIAL CHURCH and all it stands for will be reduced to DUST sooner or later .", "IF THEY CLAIM that they have inherited the offices of THE APOSTLES , they themselves should be APOSTLES first and foremost .", "Thomas Poovathinkal SSP `` I read the bible and think about God a lot .", "Am I a Catholic theologian ? ''", "WHY NOT you could be the best of Theologians and even more than such if you Stop thinking too much , instead , start PRAYING AND YEARNING for GOD based on what you understood from GOD 'S WORD .", "But without purity of heart one can not understand GOD 'S WORD .", "Not all men are called to be Priests .", "Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to the affairs of the Lord . .", "BIBLE : Mt 19:10 -12 ; 1 Cor 7:32 -35 . .", "CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH , Second Edition : '' 1579 All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church , with the exception of permanent deacons , are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate `` for the sake of the kingdom of heaven . ''", "Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to `` the affairs of the Lord , '' they give themselves entirely to God and to men .", "Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church 's minister is consecrated ; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God . ''", "The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord , how to please the Lord ; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs , how to please his wife. , and his interests are divided . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "As a result even many within the church believe the demand for celibacy should be ended.", "_claim_name": "Celibacy reduces the pool of people wanting to become priests", "_doc_title": "European theologians call for end to priestly celibacy \u2013 CatholicHerald.co.uk", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Henry McDonald , Ireland correspondent", "Wednesday 10 September 2008 19.01 EDT", "Last modified on Wednesday 10 September 2008 19.31 EDT Ireland may be running out of priests and nuns but if a young Mother Teresa tried to join the Catholic clergy today she would be sent packing for being psychologically unsuitable .", "Nuns and priests from Ireland 's dwindling religious orders have revealed that all new recruits are now psychologically vetted .", "The screening process is partly to prevent a repetition of the clerical abuse scandals that hit Irish Catholicism in the 1990s and dramatically reduced the church hierarchy 's political power .", "Fr Kenneth Brady from the Passionist order based in Mount Argus , Dublin , admitted that the psychological testing had exacerbated the decline in men being accepted into the priesthood .", "`` Four said they wanted to apply to join last year : when it came to the crunch , only two made a formal application ; they met with the psychologist and were assessed .", "One was deferred and one was accepted .", "`` There is no point in people coming to us expecting a sheltered life ; the walls have come down a long time ago .", "They are going to meet the same kind of humanity as everywhere else , and they have to be ready for it . ''", "Even nuns belonging to the same order as the late Mother Teresa accept that their most famous member may not have stood up to the rigorous vetting procedures .", "Sister Kathleen Fitzgerald of the Loreto order based in Dublin 's Rathfarnham district conceded that if a teenage Mother Teresa were to turn up today and offer herself as she did in the 1920s she would not be accepted .", "`` Teresa was only 18 years old and referred to the order by a priest who was impressed by her religious temperament .", "Today , psychological profiling would weed her out . ''", "Malachi O'Doherty , whose book Empty Pulpits will be published this month , said that leading members of religious orders in Ireland admitted they now preferred quality to quantity in the priesthood .", "He said : `` The Catholic church seems to be acknowledging that no one in their right minds would want to be a priest these days .", "And that is actually a sign of maturity on the part of the religious orders .", "It has to be in part to do with the scandals from the 1990s but also because the religious life is such a painful and lonely life , so only someone with a rugged sense of self-esteem could survive it . ''", "Fr Paschal Scallon , a Vincentian father , says in the book that there is `` widespread low level depression among priests ... priests are grossly demoralised '' .", "He says : `` I have come across circumstances where colleagues were told , under no circumstances are you to encourage my son to be a priest .", "`` People are afraid that if their son went forward to be a priest he would be lonely beyond endurance .", "But the thing is , it takes several years to get ordained or to become professed in a religious community .", "It is a great deal more rigorous than the preparation for marriage is .", "You can get married at three months ' notice . ''", "But Scallon wants the vetting to be even more rigorous , given that people are going through the years of training and ordination and then dropping out .", "`` In the past boys were accepted for training in junior seminaries at 14 .", "The junior seminary is a thing of the past .", "Even 18 is too young now .", "`` In our own community if people want to come and join us we would be looking for them to be in their early to mid-20s but no older than 35 , '' he says .", "\u00b7 160 Irish priests died last year but only nine priests were ordained \u00b7 228 Irish nuns died but only two Irish women joined holy orders \u00b7 According to the Irish Catholic newspaper there are 4,752 priests serving in Ireland , with the number expected to fall to 1,500 by 2028 \u00b7 The paedophile priest scandals began in 1994 when the government initially refused to extradite serial child abuser Fr Brendan Smyth to Northern Ireland .", "Resistance within the Irish establishment to handing over Smyth led to the collapse of Albert Reynolds ' Fianna F\u00e1il-Labour government , with Labour pulling out in protest at the Smyth scandal \u00b7 The scandal was followed by similar revelations of priests abusing children in parishes across Ireland \u00b7 About $ 1bn ( # 800m ) has been paid out to the victims of clerical abuse to date .", "The whole cost has been shouldered by the Irish taxpayer rather than the church"], "_citing_sentence": "It is expected that the number of priests in Ireland will fall from 4758 in 2008 to 1500 by 2028.", "_claim_name": "Celibacy reduces the pool of people wanting to become priests", "_doc_title": "Catholic church: Decline in priest numbers exacerbated by psychological vetting | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [29]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 100, "_topic_name": "This House would remove the requirement for Catholic Priests to take a vow of celibacy"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- These devices achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to breed more fissile fuel than they use from fertile material , such as uranium-238 or thorium-232 .", "Breeders were at first found attractive because their fuel economy was better than light water reactors , but interest declined after the 1960s as more uranium reserves were found , -LSB- 2 -RSB- and new methods of uranium enrichment reduced fuel costs .", "Breeder reactors could , in principle , extract almost all of the energy contained in uranium or thorium , decreasing fuel requirements by a factor of 100 compared to widely-used once-through light water reactors , which extract less than 1 % of the energy in the uranium mined from the earth .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- The high fuel efficiency of breeder reactors could greatly reduce concerns about fuel supply or energy used in mining .", "Adherents claim that with seawater uranium extraction , there would be enough fuel for breeder reactors to satisfy our energy needs for 5 billion years at 1983 's total energy consumption rate , thus making nuclear energy effectively a renewable energy .", "Nuclear waste became a greater concern by the 1990s .", "In broad terms , spent nuclear fuel has two main components .", "The first consists of fission products , the leftover fragments of fuel atoms after they have been split to release energy .", "Fission products come in dozens of elements and hundreds of isotopes , all of them lighter than uranium .", "The second main component of spent fuel is transuranics ( atoms heavier than uranium ) , which are generated from uranium or heavier atoms in the fuel when they absorb neutrons but do not undergo fission .", "All transuranic isotopes fall within the actinide series on the periodic table , and so they are frequently referred to as the actinides .", "The physical behavior of the fission products is markedly different from that of the transuranics .", "In particular , fission products do not themselves undergo fission , and therefore can not be used for nuclear weapons .", "Furthermore , only seven long-lived fission product isotopes have half-lives longer than a hundred years , which makes their geological storage or disposal less problematic than for transuranic materials .", "With increased concerns about nuclear waste , breeding fuel cycles became interesting again because they can reduce actinide wastes , particularly plutonium and minor actinides .", "LSB- 12 -RSB- Breeder reactors are designed to fission the actinide wastes as fuel , and thus convert them to more fission products .", "After `` spent nuclear fuel '' is removed from a light water reactor , it undergoes a complex decay profile as each nuclide decays at a different rate .", "Due to a physical oddity referenced below , there is a large gap in the decay half-lives of fission products compared to transuranic isotopes .", "If the transuranics are left in the spent fuel , after 1,000 to 100,000 years , the slow decay of these transuranics would generate most of the radioactivity in that spent fuel .", "Thus , removing the transuranics from the waste eliminates much of the long-term radioactivity of spent nuclear fuel .", "Today 's commercial light water reactors do breed some new fissile material , mostly in the form of plutonium .", "Because commercial reactors were never designed as breeders , they do not convert enough uranium-238 into plutonium to replace the uranium-235 consumed .", "Nonetheless , at least one-third of the power produced by commercial nuclear reactors comes from fission of plutonium generated within the fuel .", "LSB- 14 -RSB- Even with this level of plutonium consumption , light water reactors consume only part of the plutonium and minor actinides they produce , and nonfissile isotopes of plutonium build up , along with significant quantities of other minor actinides .", "One measure of a reactor 's performance is the `` conversion ratio '' ( the average number of new fissile atoms created per fission event ) .", "All proposed nuclear reactors except specially designed and operated actinide burners -LSB- 16 -RSB- experience some degree of conversion .", "As long as there is any amount of a fertile material within the neutron flux of the reactor , some new fissile material is always created .", "The ratio of new fissile material in spent fuel to fissile material consumed from the fresh fuel is known as the `` conversion ratio '' or `` breeding ratio '' of a reactor .", "For example , commonly used light water reactors have a conversion ratio of approximately 0.6 .", "Pressurized heavy water reactors ( PHWR ) running on natural uranium have a conversion ratio of 0.8 .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- In a breeder reactor , the conversion ratio is higher than 1 .", "`` Breakeven '' is achieved when the conversion ratio becomes 1 : the reactor produces as much fissile material as it uses .", "`` Doubling time '' is the amount of time it would take for a breeder reactor to produce enough new fissile material to create a starting fuel load for another nuclear reactor .", "This was considered an important measure of breeder performance in early years , when uranium was thought to be scarce .", "However , since uranium is more abundant than thought , and given the amount of plutonium available in spent reactor fuel , doubling time has become a less important metric in modern breeder reactor design .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- -LSB- 19 -RSB- `` Burnup '' is a measure of how much energy has been extracted from a given mass of heavy metal in fuel , often expressed ( for power reactors ) in terms of gigawatt-days per ton of heavy metal .", "Burnup is an important factor in determining the types and abundances of isotopes produced by a fission reactor .", "Breeder reactors , by design , have extremely high burnup compared to a conventional reactor , as breeder reactors produce much more of their waste in the form of fission products , while most or all of the actinides are meant to be fissioned and destroyed .", "LSB- 20 -RSB- In the past breeder reactor development focused on reactors with low breeding ratios , from 1.01 for the Shippingport Reactor -LSB- 21 -RSB- -LSB- 22 -RSB- running on thorium fuel and cooled by conventional light water to over 1.2 for the Soviet BN-350 liquid-metal-cooled reactor .", "LSB- 23 -RSB- Theoretical models of breeders with liquid sodium coolant flowing through tubes inside fuel elements ( `` tube-in-shell '' construction ) suggest breeding ratios of at least 1.8 are possible .", "LSB- 24 -RSB- The Soviet BR-1 reactor achieved a breeding ratio of 2.5 .", "Many types of breeder reactor are possible :", "A ` breeder ' is simply a reactor designed for very high neutron economy with an associated conversion rate higher than 1.0 .", "In principle , almost any reactor design could possibly be tweaked to become a breeder .", "An example of this process is the evolution of the Light Water Reactor , a very heavily moderated thermal design , into the Super Fast Reactor -LSB- 26 -RSB- concept , using light water in an extremely low-density supercritical form to increase the neutron economy high enough to allow breeding .", "Aside from water cooled , there are many other types of breeder reactor currently envisioned as possible .", "These include molten-salt cooled , gas cooled , and liquid metal cooled designs in many variations .", "Almost any of these basic design types may be fueled by uranium , plutonium , many minor actinides , or thorium , and they may be designed for many different goals , such as creating more fissile fuel , long-term steady-state operation , or active burning of nuclear wastes .", "For convenience , it is perhaps simplest to divide the extant reactor designs into two broad categories based upon their neutron spectrum , which has the natural effect of dividing the reactor designs into those designed to use primarily uranium and transuranics , and those designed to use thorium and avoid transuranics .", "Fission of the nuclear fuel in any reactor produces neutron-absorbing fission products .", "Because of this unavoidable physical process , it is necessary to reprocess the fertile material from a breeder reactor to remove those neutron poisons .", "This step is required if one is to fully utilize the ability to breed as much or more fuel than is consumed .", "All reprocessing can present a proliferation concern , since it extracts weapons usable material from spent fuel .", "LSB- 27 -RSB- The most common reprocessing technique , PUREX , presents a particular concern , since it was expressly designed to separate pure plutonium .", "Early proposals for the breeder reactor fuel cycle posed an even greater proliferation concern because they would use PUREX to separate plutonium in a highly attractive isotopic form for use in nuclear weapons .", "Several countries are developing reprocessing methods that do not separate the plutonium from the other actinides .", "For instance , the non-water based pyrometallurgical electrowinning process , when used to reprocess fuel from an integral fast reactor , leaves large amounts of radioactive actinides in the reactor fuel .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- More conventional advanced , water-based reprocessing systems like PUREX , include SANEX , UNEX , DIAMEX , COEX , and TRUEX -- as well as proposals to combine PUREX with co-processes .", "All these systems have better proliferation resistance than PUREX , though their adoption rate is low .", "LSB- 30 -RSB- -LSB- 31 -RSB- In the thorium cycle , thorium-232 breeds by converting first to protactinium-233 , which then decays to uranium-233 .", "If the protactinium remains in the reactor , small amounts of U-232 are also produced , which has the strong gamma emitter Tl-208 in its decay chain .", "Similar to uranium-fueled designs , the longer the fuel and fertile material remain in the reactor , the more of these undesirable elements build up .", "Inside the envisioned commercial thorium reactors high levels of U232 would be allowed to accumulate , leading to extremely high gamma radiation doses from any uranium derived from thorium .", "These gamma rays complicate the safe handling of a weapon and the design of its electronics ; this explains why U-233 has never been pursued for weapons beyond proof-of-concept demonstrations .", "No fission products have a half-life in the range of 100 -- 210 k years ... ... nor beyond 15.7 M years -LSB- 37 -RSB-", "Legend for superscript symbols has thermal neutron capture cross section in the range of 8 -- 50 barns \u0192 fissile m metastable isomer \u2116 naturally occurring radioactive material ( NORM ) \u00fe neutron poison ( thermal neutron capture cross section greater than 3k barns ) \u2020 range 4 -- 97 y : Medium-lived fission product \u2021 over 200,000 y : Long-lived fission product", "Breeding fuel cycles attracted renewed interest because of their potential to reduce actinide wastes , particularly plutonium and minor actinides .", "LSB- 12 -RSB- Since breeder reactors on a closed fuel cycle would use nearly all of the actinides fed into them as fuel , their fuel requirements would be reduced by a factor of about 100 .", "The volume of waste they generate would be reduced by a factor of about 100 as well .", "While there is a huge reduction in the volume of waste from a breeder reactor , the activity of the waste is about the same as that produced by a light water reactor .", "LSB- 38 -RSB- In addition , the waste from a breeder reactor has a different decay behavior , because it is made up of different materials .", "Breeder reactor waste is mostly fission products , while light water reactor waste has a large quantity of transuranics .", "After spent nuclear fuel has been removed from a light water reactor for longer than 100,000 years , these transuranics would be the main source of radioactivity .", "Eliminating them would eliminate much of the long-term radioactivity from the spent fuel .", "LSB- 13 -RSB- In principle , breeder fuel cycles can recycle and consume all actinides , -LSB- 9 -RSB- leaving only fission products .", "As the graphic in this section indicates , fission products have a peculiar ` gap ' in their aggregate half-lives , such that no fission products have a half-life longer than 91 years and shorter than two hundred thousand years .", "As a result of this physical oddity , after several hundred years in storage , the activity of the radioactive waste from a Fast Breeder Reactor would quickly drop to the low level of the long-lived fission products .", "However , to obtain this benefit requires the highly efficient separation of transuranics from spent fuel .", "If the fuel reprocessing methods used leave a large fraction of the transuranics in the final waste stream , this advantage would be greatly reduced .", "Both types of breeding cycles can reduce actinide wastes :", "A reactor whose main purpose is to destroy actinides , rather than increasing fissile fuel stocks , is sometimes known as a burner reactor .", "Both breeding and burning depend on good neutron economy , and many designs can do either .", "Breeding designs surround the core by a breeding blanket of fertile material .", "Waste burners surround the core with non-fertile wastes to be destroyed .", "Some designs add neutron reflectors or absorbers .", "There are several concepts for breeder reactors ; the two main ones are : In 2006 all large-scale fast breeder reactor ( FBR ) power stations were liquid metal fast breeder reactors ( LMFBR ) cooled by liquid sodium .", "These have been of one of two designs : -LSB- 1 -RSB-", "All current fast neutron reactor designs use liquid metal as the primary coolant , to transfer heat from the core to steam used to power the electricity generating turbines .", "FBRs have been built cooled by liquid metals other than sodium -- some early FBRs used mercury , other experimental reactors have used a sodium-potassium alloy called NaK .", "Both have the advantage that they are liquids at room temperature , which is convenient for experimental rigs but less important for pilot or full scale power stations .", "Lead and lead-bismuth alloy have also been used .", "The relative merits of lead vs sodium are discussed here .", "Looking further ahead , four of the proposed generation IV reactor types are FBRs : -LSB- 42 -RSB-", "FBRs usually use a mixed oxide fuel core of up to 20 % plutonium dioxide ( PuO2 ) and at least 80 % uranium dioxide ( UO2 ) .", "Another fuel option is metal alloys , typically a blend of uranium , plutonium , and zirconium ( used because it is `` transparent '' to neutrons ) .", "Enriched uranium can also be used on its own .", "Many designs surround the core in a blanket of tubes that contain non-fissile uranium-238 , which , by capturing fast neutrons from the reaction in the core , converts to fissile plutonium-239 ( as is some of the uranium in the core ) , which is then reprocessed and used as nuclear fuel .", "Other FBR designs rely on the geometry of the fuel itself ( which also contains uranium-238 ) , arranged to attain sufficient fast neutron capture .", "The plutonium-239 ( or the fissile uranium-235 ) fission cross-section is much smaller in a fast spectrum than in a thermal spectrum , as is the ratio between the 239Pu/235U fission cross-section and the 238U absorption cross-section .", "This increases the concentration of 239Pu/235U needed to sustain a chain reaction , as well as the ratio of breeding to fission .", "On the other hand , a fast reactor needs no moderator to slow down the neutrons at all , taking advantage of the fast neutrons producing a greater number of neutrons per fission than slow neutrons .", "For this reason ordinary liquid water , being a moderator as well as a neutron absorber , is an undesirable primary coolant for fast reactors .", "Because large amounts of water in the core are required to cool the reactor , the yield of neutrons and therefore breeding of 239Pu are strongly affected .", "Theoretical work has been done on reduced moderation water reactors , which may have a sufficiently fast spectrum to provide a breeding ratio slightly over 1 .", "This would likely result in an unacceptable power derating and high costs in an liquid-water-cooled reactor , but the supercritical water coolant of the SCWR has sufficient heat capacity to allow adequate cooling with less water , making a fast-spectrum water-cooled reactor a practical possibility .", "The only commercially operating reactor to date ( 2015 ) is the BN-600 reactor in Russia , a 560MW sodium cooled reactor .", "One design of fast neutron reactor , specifically designed to address the waste disposal and plutonium issues , was the integral fast reactor ( also known as an integral fast breeder reactor , although the original reactor was designed to not breed a net surplus of fissile material ) .", "To solve the waste disposal problem , the IFR had an on-site electrowinning fuel reprocessing unit that recycled the uranium and all the transuranics ( not just plutonium ) via electroplating , leaving just short half-life fission products in the waste .", "Some of these fission products could later be separated for industrial or medical uses and the rest sent to a waste repository ( where they would not have to be stored for anywhere near as long as wastes containing long half-life transuranics ) .", "The IFR pyroprocessing system uses molten cadmium cathodes and electrorefiners to reprocess metallic fuel directly on-site at the reactor .", "LSB- 45 -RSB- Such systems not only commingle all the minor actinides with both uranium and plutonium , they are compact and self-contained , so that no plutonium-containing material ever needs to be transported away from the site of the breeder reactor .", "Breeder reactors incorporating such technology would most likely be designed with breeding ratios very close to 1.00 , so that after an initial loading of enriched uranium and/or plutonium fuel , the reactor would then be refueled only with small deliveries of natural uranium metal .", "A quantity of natural uranium metal equivalent to a block about the size of a milk crate delivered once per month would be all the fuel such a 1 gigawatt reactor would need .", "LSB- 46 -RSB- Such self-contained breeders are currently envisioned as the final self-contained and self-supporting ultimate goal of nuclear reactor designers .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- -LSB- 16 -RSB- The project was canceled in 1994 by United States Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary .", "Another proposed fast reactor is a fast molten salt reactor , in which the molten salt 's moderating properties are insignificant .", "This is typically achieved by replacing the light metal fluorides ( e.g. LiF , BeF2 ) in the salt carrier with heavier metal chlorides ( e.g. , KCl , RbCl , ZrCl4 ) .", "Several prototype FBRs have been built , ranging in electrical output from a few light bulbs ' equivalent ( EBR-I , 1951 ) to over 1,000 MWe .", "As of 2006 , the technology is not economically competitive to thermal reactor technology -- but India , Japan , China , South Korea and Russia are all committing substantial research funds to further development of Fast Breeder reactors , anticipating that rising uranium prices will change this in the long term .", "Germany , in contrast , abandoned the technology due to safety concerns .", "The SNR-300 fast breeder reactor was finished after 19 years despite cost overruns summing up to a total of 3.6 billion Euros , only to then be abandoned .", "As well as their thermal breeder program , India is also developing FBR technology , using both uranium and thorium feedstocks .", "The advanced heavy water reactor ( AHWR ) is one of the few proposed large-scale uses of thorium .", "LSB- 50 -RSB- India is developing this technology , their interest motivated by substantial thorium reserves ; almost a third of the world 's thorium reserves are in India , which also lacks significant uranium reserves .", "The third and final core of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station 60 MWe reactor was a light water thorium breeder , which began operating in 1977 .", "LSB- 51 -RSB- It used pellets made of thorium dioxide and uranium-233 oxide ; initially , the U-233 content of the pellets was 5 -- 6 % in the seed region , 1.5 -- 3 % in the blanket region and none in the reflector region .", "It operated at 236 MWt , generating 60 MWe and ultimately produced over 2.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity .", "After five years , the core was removed and found to contain nearly 1.4 % more fissile material than when it was installed , demonstrating that breeding from thorium had occurred .", "The liquid fluoride thorium reactor ( LFTR ) is also planned as a thorium thermal breeder .", "Liquid-fluoride reactors may have attractive features , such as inherent safety , no need to manufacture fuel rods and possibly simpler reprocessing of the liquid fuel .", "This concept was first investigated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment in the 1960s .", "From 2012 it became the subject of renewed interest worldwide .", "LSB- 54 -RSB- Japan , China , the UK , as well as private US , Czech and Australian companies have expressed intent to develop and commercialize the technology .", "Like many aspects of nuclear power , fast breeder reactors have been subject to much controversy over the years .", "In 2010 the International Panel on Fissile Materials said `` After six decades and the expenditure of the equivalent of tens of billions of dollars , the promise of breeder reactors remains largely unfulfilled and efforts to commercialize them have been steadily cut back in most countries '' .", "In Germany , the United Kingdom , and the United States , breeder reactor development programs have been abandoned .", "LSB- 55 -RSB- -LSB- 56 -RSB- The rationale for pursuing breeder reactors -- sometimes explicit and sometimes implicit -- was based on the following key assumptions : -LSB- 56 -RSB- -LSB- 57 -RSB-", "There are some past anti-nuclear advocates that have become pro-nuclear power as a clean source of electricity since breeder reactors effectively recycle most of their waste .", "This solves one of the most important negative issues of nuclear power .", "In the documentary Pandora 's Promise , a case is made for breeder reactors because they provide a real , high kW alternative to fossil fuel energy .", "According to the movie , one pound of uranium provides as much energy as 5000 barrels of oil .", "FBRs have been built and operated in the United States , the United Kingdom , France , the former USSR , India and Japan .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- The experimental FBR SNR-300 was built in Germany but never operated and eventually shut down amid political controversy following the Chernobyl disaster .", "As of 2014 one such reactor was being used for power generation , with another scheduled for early 2015 .", "Several reactors are planned , many for research related to the Generation IV reactor initiative .", "The Soviet Union ( comprising Russia and other countries , dissolved in 1991 ) constructed a series of fast reactors , the first being mercury-cooled and fueled with plutonium metal , and the later plants sodium-cooled and fueled with plutonium oxide .", "BR-1 ( 1955 ) was 100W ( thermal ) was followed by BR-2 at 100 kW and then the 5MW BR-5 .", "BOR-60 ( first criticality 1969 ) was 60 MW , with construction started in 1965 .", "LSB- 68 -RSB- In 2012 an FBR called the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor was under construction in India , due to be completed that year , with commissioning date known by mid-year .", "LSB- 69 -RSB- -LSB- 70 -RSB- The FBR program of India includes the concept of using fertile thorium-232 to breed fissile uranium-233 .", "India is also pursuing the thorium thermal breeder reactor .", "A thermal breeder is not possible with purely uranium/plutonium based technology .", "Thorium fuel is the strategic direction of the power program of India , owing to the nation 's large reserves of thorium , but worldwide known reserves of thorium are also some four times those of uranium .", "India 's Department of Atomic Energy ( DAE ) said in 2007 that it would simultaneously construct four more breeder reactors of 500 MWe each including two at Kalpakkam .", "The China Experimental Fast Reactor ( CEFR ) is a 25 MW ( e ) prototype for the planned China Prototype Fast Reactor ( CFRP ) .", "LSB- 72 -RSB- It started generating power on 21 July 2011 .", "China also initiated a research and development project in thorium molten-salt thermal breeder reactor technology ( Liquid fluoride thorium reactor ) , formally announced at the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( CAS ) annual conference in January 2011 .", "Its ultimate target is to investigate and develop a thorium-based molten salt nuclear system over about 20 years .", "Kirk Sorensen , former NASA scientist and Chief Nuclear Technologist at Teledyne Brown Engineering , has long been a promoter of thorium fuel cycle and particularly liquid fluoride thorium reactors .", "In 2011 , Sorensen founded Flibe Energy , a company aimed to develop 20-50 MW LFTR reactor designs to power military bases .", "South Korea is developing a design for a standardized modular FBR for export , to complement the standardized PWR ( Pressurized Water Reactor ) and CANDU designs they have already developed and built , but has not yet committed to building a prototype .", "Russia has a plan for increasing its fleet of fast breeder reactors significantly .", "A BN-800 reactor ( 800 MWe ) at Beloyarsk was completed in 2012 , succeeding a smaller BN-600 .", "In June 2014 the BN-800 was started in the minimum power mode .", "LSB- 80 -RSB- The reactor working at 35 % of the nominal efficiency , was plugged-in the energy network on 10 December 2015 .", "Plans for the construction of an even larger BN-1200 reactor ( 1,200 MWe ) initially anticipated completion in 2018 , with two additional BN-1200 reactors built by the end of 2030 .", "LSB- 82 -RSB- However , in 2015 Rosenergoatom postponed construction indefinitely to allow fuel design to be improved after more experience of operating the BN-800 reactor , and amongst cost concerns .", "An experimental lead-cooled fast reactor , BREST-300 will be built at the Siberian Chemical Combine ( SCC ) in Seversk .", "The BREST design is seen as a successor to the BN series and the 300 MWe unit at the SCC could be the forerunner to a 1,200 MWe version for wide deployment as a commercial power generation unit .", "The development program is as part of an Advanced Nuclear Technologies Federal Program 2010-2020 that seeks to exploit fast reactors as a way to be vastly more efficient in the use of uranium while ` burning ' radioactive substances that otherwise would have to be disposed of as waste .", "BREST refers to bystry reaktor so svintsovym teplonositelem , Russian for ` fast reactor with lead coolant ' .", "Its core would measure about 2.3 metres in diameter by 1.1 metres in height and contain 16 tonnes of fuel .", "The unit would be refuelled every year , with each fuel element spending five years in total within the core .", "Lead coolant temperature would be around 540 \u00b0 C , giving a high efficiency of 43 % , primary heat production of 700 MWt yielding electrical power of 300 MWe .", "The operational lifespan of the unit could be 60 years .", "The design is expected to be completed by NIKIET in 2014 for construction between 2016 and 2020 .", "On February 16 , 2006 , the U.S. , France and Japan signed an `` arrangement '' to research and develop sodium-cooled fast reactors in support of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership .", "LSB- 85 -RSB- In April 2007 the Japanese government selected Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as the `` core company in FBR development in Japan '' .", "Shortly thereafter , MHI started a new company , Mitsubishi FBR Systems ( MFBR ) to develop and eventually sell FBR technology .", "LSB- 86 -RSB- In September 2010 the French government allocated 651.6 million euros to the Commissariat \u00e0 l'\u00e9nergie atomique to finalize the design of `` Astrid '' ( Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration ) , a 600 MW reactor design of the 4th generation to be operational in 2020 .", "LSB- 87 -RSB- -LSB- 88 -RSB- As of 2013 the UK had shown interest in the PRISM reactor and was working in concert with France to develop ASTRID .", "In October 2010 GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy signed a memorandum of understanding with the operators of the US Department of Energy 's Savannah River site , which should allow the construction of a demonstration plant based on the company 's S-PRISM fast breeder reactor prior to the design receiving full NRC licensing approval .", "LSB- 89 -RSB- In October 2011 The Independent reported that the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority ( NDA ) and senior advisers within the Department for Energy and Climate Change ( DECC ) had asked for technical and financial details of the PRISM , partly as a means of reducing the country 's plutonium stockpile .", "The traveling wave reactor proposed in a patent by Intellectual Ventures is a fast breeder reactor designed to not need fuel reprocessing during the decades-long lifetime of the reactor .", "The breed-burn wave in the TWR design does not move from one end of the reactor to the other but gradually from the inside out .", "Moreover , as the fuel 's composition changes through nuclear transmutation , fuel rods are continually reshuffled within the core to optimize the neutron flux and fuel usage at any given point in time .", "Thus , instead of letting the wave propagate through the fuel , the fuel itself is moved through a largely stationary burn wave .", "This is contrary to many media reports , which have popularized the concept as a candle-like reactor with a burn region that moves down a stick of fuel .", "By replacing a static core configuration with an actively managed `` standing wave '' or `` soliton '' core , TerraPower 's design avoids the problem of cooling a highly variable burn region .", "Under this scenario , the reconfiguration of fuel rods is accomplished remotely by robotic devices ; the containment vessel remains closed during the procedure , and there is no associated downtime ."], "_citing_sentence": "(A recent example is the development of the fast breeder reactor, which uses fuel much more efficiently)", "_claim_name": "Nuclear power is clean and emits significantly less CO2 than other renewable energy sources", "_doc_title": "Breeder reactor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Aswan High Dam , when it was build created Lake Nasser , Lake Nasser Streches back 270 kilometres from the Dam .", "The Lake has also created alot more land for people to farm on .", "This is because a lot of water is stored in the lake , and in turn this water can be used to irrigate land around the lake .", "Lake Nasser has also created a big fishing industry , which produces 25,000 tonnes of fish a year , the fishing industry is aiming to produce 100,000 tonnes by the year 2000 .", "Unfortunately this dam has caused a big change to the lifes of farmers downstream from the dam .", "Usually when the river flooded once a year before the dam was built .", "It deposited fertile soil from upstream on its banks downstream .", "This washed up soil was extremely furtile , and renewed itself every year at in flood season .", "But now , since the dam was built the annual flood has been stopped .", "Causing all the farmers downstream to have to use fertilizers to grow their crops , which makes it more expensive .", "The Aswan High Dam is also used to create hydro-electricity for Egypt ,", "Quote from a book in my school library : : `` in the 1980 's this dam was providing half of Egypt 's Electricity , but by the 1990 's this had fallen as energy demands increased .", "The electric power capacity of the Aswan High Dam is : 2.1 gigawatts ( GW ) .", "It consists of 12 Hydro-Generators each rated at 175 MW .", "Egypt currently has a total installed generating capacity of 16.6 gigawatts ( GW ) compared to 3.8 GW in 1976 , thus the percentage contribution by the High dam has decreased from over half the total electricity generation to less than 13 % .", "This percentage will continue to decrease as more thermal power plants are added .", "Total capacity expected to be 26 GW by 2010 . ''", "Some of the Hydroelectric Generators at Aswan High", "When the Aswan high dam was built , the entire Temple of Abu Simel was shifted , so it would n't be flooded and destroyed when Lake Nasser filled up ."], "_citing_sentence": "Not only did many thousands lose their homes but the yearly inundation of the Nile, which fertilised the surrounding land for thousands of year, was also stopped; the subsequent silting up of the river destroyed much wildlife.", "_claim_name": "Alternative renewables are inefficient for the cost", "_doc_title": "Environmental Impact of the Aswan High Dam", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5, 6, 7, 8]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Important legal notice", "Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament , the Council and the Economic and Social Committee - Update of the nuclear illustrative programme in the context of the second strategic energy review / * COM/2008/0776 final * / -LSB- pic -RSB- | COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES | Brussels , 13.11.2008 COM ( 2008 ) 776 finalCOMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT , THE COUNCIL AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEEUPDATE OF THE NUCLEAR ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMME IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SECOND STRATEGIC ENERGY REVIEWCOMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT , THE COUNCIL AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEEUPDATE OF THE NUCLEAR ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMMEIN THE CONTEXT OF THE SECOND STRATEGIC ENERGY REVIEW1 .", "INTRODUCTIONThis document -- as part of the Second Strategic Energy Review -- updates the information contained in the 2007 Nuclear Illustrative Programme -LSB- 1 -RSB- .", "It focuses on the key aspects of security of supply , investment needs , the conditions for realising investments , and makes recommendations for the continued safe use of nuclear energy in the EU.", "Over the past two years , there have been political statements of interest with respect to nuclear energy in some EU Member States and around the world .", "Nuclear energy has come back into the political debate -LSB- 2 -RSB- , with the subsequent establishment of the European Nuclear Energy Forum , the High Level Group on Nuclear Safety and Waste Management and the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform .", "The International Energy Agency and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency have also highlighted the important contribution of nuclear energy in the near future -LSB- 3 -RSB- , -LSB- 4 -RSB- .", "In this context , the EU can play a central role to further develop an even more advanced framework meeting the highest standards of safety , security and non-proliferation .", "The Spring 2007 European Council endorsed the Commission proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 % as well as to increase energy efficiency in the EU by the same amount by 2020 .", "At present , nuclear energy generates two thirds of the EU low carbon electricity and makes an important contribution to mitigation of global climate change .", "The Community 's SET-Plan , which addresses Research and Development needs in all low-carbon technologies , including nuclear fission , is important to the future long term requirements of nuclear energy.Nuclear energy is also one of the most economic energy sources , less vulnerable to fuel price changes , thereby protecting EU economies against raw materials price volatility .", "It also increases the security of energy supply in Europe , since uranium sources are widely distributed around the globe , in geopolitically stable areas.The concerns of the general public on nuclear safety and waste management still need to be fully addressed .", "As shown by a recent Eurobarometer study -LSB- 5 -RSB- , a large majority of European citizens considers that the European Union is best placed to ensure that the highest level of nuclear safety is guaranteed in Europe .", "On the other hand , the fragmentation of the regulatory framework in the European Union , in particular for the issuing of licences and design certification , constitutes an obstacle for investments .", "The European Union should promote a more coherent economic and regulatory framework .", "This will facilitate the investments in the Member States which choose to include the nuclear energy in their energy mix and will ensure that investment decisions are based on more transparent and comprehensible rules .2 .", "INVESTMENT NEEDS FOR NUCLEAR GENERATING CAPACITY2 .1 .", "Projections for energy and electricity demandUnder the PRIMES New Energy Policy scenario , the overall final energy demand in the EU by 2020 is expected to grow slightly ( +1,5 % ) in case of moderate oil prices and to decrease slightly ( -2 % ) in case of high oil prices -LSB- 6 -RSB- .", "Electricity demand growth is expected to be 8-9 % over the same period .", "As a result , the share of electricity in the final energy demand would grow from 20 % to 23 % .", "Electricity generation capacity is forecast to grow between 20 % and 24 % by 2020 , but under the PRIMES New Energy Policy assumptions and depending on the oil price , the share of nuclear energy will decrease from 30 % to between 25 % and 26 % in electricity generation and from 14 % to between 12 % and 14 % in total primary energy demand by 2020 -LSB- 7 -RSB- .", "However these figures reflect policies implemented in the Member States and thereby exclude the most recent discussions on possible lifetime extensions and new constructions that could change the future capacity situation.Energy efficiency measures should curb the growth of total energy consumption as well as electricity demand .", "Yet , if fossil fuel prices remain at the 2008 record levels , electricity demand , especially in the transport sector , can be expected to increase .", "Therefore , the security of electricity supply will increase its importance for the overall economy .2.2 .", "Investment perspectives in the nuclear sectorRegardless of the exact evolution of energy consumption , EU electricity demand is expected to continue growing faster than overall energy demand .", "Insufficient base load capacity may jeopardise the stability of the EU 's electricity network unless countermeasures on a large scale are introduced .", "Renewable energy sources will increase their share but other energy sources will be needed , since possibilities to store electricity are limited and demand has to be met at all times .", "Replacement and/or life extension of ageing nuclear power plants coming to the end of their originally foreseen lifetime before 2020 need increasing levels of attention .", "If shut down , the contribution of nuclear energy to the overall electricity supply will substantially decrease , unless new plants are built or older ones are safely upgraded to operate for an extended period.The graph ( Fig. 1 Annex 1 ) illustrates the decreasing trend of nuclear power capacity in the EU despite new plants under construction or notified to the Commission -LSB- 8 -RSB- ( FI , FR , BG and SK ) , and the already agreed ( or pending ) operating lifetime extensions up to 40 , 50 or 60 years.According to current projections , the nuclear generation capacity in the EU would fall by as much as 33 GWe -LSB- 9 -RSB- by 2020 .", "If this base load capacity is not replaced by new nuclear power plant ( NPP ) , an important part of it will be replaced by gas or coal-fired plants .", "The extension of the lifetime of existing plants or new build would be needed just to maintain the share of nuclear power generation at the current level , contributing to the attainment of the EU 's emissions reductions and security of supply objectives .", "With generalised lifetime extensions of existing reactors to 50 years , capacity would remain stable until 2020 .", "However , generalised lifetime extensions have an upper limit as the actual number of installations that can be extended will have to be assessed case by case , subject to the respect of the highest safety standards available .", "The Sustainable Nuclear Fission Technology Platform will play a significant role in identifying research and development needs with respect to lifetime extensions.In these scenarios , immediate decommissioning after obsolete plants shutdown would ease the construction of replacement capacity on existing nuclear sites .", "New investments in the nuclear sector need to be planned sufficiently in advance as industrial capacity also needs to be developed in order to realise these investments .", "This is not only valid for generation of electricity but also for other applications , in particular , nuclear medicine .2.3 .", "Overview of new and planned NPPs , planned closures and extensions2 .3.1 .", "New plants under construction , new investment plansTwo 1600 MWe European Pressurized Reactor ( EPR ) are being built : in Finland ( 3rd Unit of the Olkiluoto NPP ) and at Flamanville , France , expected to be operational by 2012 .", "Finland is also starting the procedure for the possible construction of a 6th reactor , and France has announced it will construct a second EPR and is planning more reactors by 2020-30 .", "Other on-going , or firmly planned , new build in the EU are the two units of the Belene AES-92 VVER in Bulgaria , Units 3 and 4 of the Mochovce VVER in Slovakia .", "Romania is close to notify their plans to complete Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda CANDU NPP ( unit-2 connected to the grid in 2007 ) .", "The Baltic countries , Poland and the Netherlands are considering regional projects and national options for new nuclear power plants.In January 2008 the UK government gave the go ahead for new nuclear build , stating that nuclear power should play a role in providing the UK with clean , secure and affordable energy .", "It published its Energy Bill , which encourages nuclear investment , with clauses to ensure an adequate funding provision is made by potential developers of new nuclear power stations for full costs of decommissioning and their full share of waste costs .", "The government has invited companies to draw up plans to build and operate new stations indicating that land surrounding 18 mostly shut-down sites around Britain would be made available for sale and development through the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority ( NDA ) .", "At least 7 new Generation III category NPPs are expected to be built.Italy announced on 22 May 2008 that only nuclear can produce energy on a large scale , in a secure manner , at competitive costs and with respect for the environment and it therefore plans to restart the nuclear sector , with a 2020 horizon with view to constructing between 4 and 8 new NPPs .2.3.2 .", "Capacity uprating and Lifetime extensionsCapacity uprating continues to be undertaken at more than 25 % of all NPPs ; the EU-wide average unit availability has steadily increased over the last 10 to 15 years ( reaching 84 % for the period 2004-06 ) .", "Over the same period , programmes on both capacity uprating and increasing plant availability have resulted in over 5000 MWe additional net power output in the EU-27 ( equivalent to 3 to 5 reactors depending on their power level ) .", "However , all operating plants are soon approaching the limits of their original design lifetime ( 30 to 40 years ) : the EU-27 average fleet age is 23 years , compared to a world average of 20 years ( Fig. 2 , Annex 1 ) .", "Of the current EU nuclear generating capacity , 18 % comes from plants of 30 years old or more , and only 8 % from plants which are 15 years old or less .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- Based upon the original 30 to 40-year plant lifetimes , about 44 GWe or 33 % of the installed EU-27 nuclear net capacity would need to be removed from the grid over the next 10 years and be replaced .", "And yet , the utilities face political and regulatory uncertainty when applying for new builds , which are investments with long break-even periods .", "Therefore , extending the operating lifetime under safe conditions looks , under current circumstances , more cost effective than opting for new construction and is becoming normal practice in many countries.There is no evidence of approved life extension programmes compromising the continued safety of nuclear plant operation .", "Those plants selected for lifetime extension are subject to significant investments for power uprating and modernisation , including improved safety features .", "Life extension is applied only in those cases where sufficient safety margins to cover ageing mechanisms of major components are in place .", "A discussion on lifetime extensions is currently on-going in both Belgium and Germany despite the official phase out policies presented below .2.3.3 .", "Recovered capacityIn addition to uprating and lifetime extensions , the progressive transition from use of gaseous diffusion to centrifuge enrichment plants will recover approximately 3000 MWe of electricity production capacity .2.3.4 .", "Planned closuresBelgium and Germany are planning to phase out nuclear energy after closure of the existing NPPs -LSB- 11 -RSB- .", "Apart from nuclear phase-out decisions taken by these 2 countries at political level , at least 11 operational plants in the EU are expected to be shut down by 2010 , totalling about 7.7 GWe or 5.5 % of the EU 's current capacity .", "Lithuania and Slovakia will still have to shut down one reactor each as part of their EU accession commitments .", "All these closures contribute to the forecast decrease in the share of nuclear energy by 2020 , unless phase-out policies are reversed .3 .", "CONDITIONS FOR REALISING THE NECESSARY INVESTMENTS3 .1 .", "Public acceptancePublic acceptance is essential for the use of nuclear energy in Europe .", "The EU has a mature nuclear industry , covering the entire nuclear fuel cycle , with a good safety and security record .", "However , a number of concerns still need to be addressed.Public authorities at local , regional , national , EU and international level all have a role to play .", "It is necessary to reinforce the current European legal framework to enhance transparency and governance of nuclear activities .", "Efforts need to be made to provide factual , timely and easily understandable information to the public , ensuring an open debate among the key actors on all aspects of nuclear energy.The Commission is addressing these issues through both the High Level Group on Nuclear Safety and Waste Management ( HLG ) , composed of senior national regulators , as well as the European Nuclear Energy Forum ( ENEF ) , a broader cross section of society.The HLG was established by the Commission in 2007 with the mandate to develop a common understanding and to suggest common approaches for further improving nuclear safety and the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste .", "In the framework of the HLG initiative and taking into account discussions and developments in other fora , the Commission is preparing a revised proposal for a Directive setting up a Community framework for Nuclear Safety.The ENEF provides a platform for a broad stakeholder discussion on opportunities and risks of nuclear energy , concentrating on the competitiveness of nuclear energy , the specificities of financing new nuclear build , the need for a legal roadmap accompanying the responsible use of nuclear energy , ways to progress on waste management and approaches to enhance trust , transparency and confidence between the public and the actors involved in the process.A recent Eurobarometer survey -LSB- 12 -RSB- , conducted during February to March 2008 , concluded that European citizens ' attitudes towards nuclear energy were more positive than in 2005 .", "However it also confirmed that public acceptance of nuclear energy is very much linked to the availability of permanent and safe solutions for management of radioactive waste .", "While Member States bear full responsibility for managing its own radioactive waste , European citizens want the EU to play an active role to ensure that national practices and programmes for radioactive waste are monitored , harmonised and coherent with specific plans and fixed deadlines .", "Scientific and technological areas important to geological disposal have reached a level of maturity and a `` wait and see '' policy is no longer acceptable .", "Progress has to be made towards identified solutions , including through further research and development , not leaving political decisions for later generations .", "A collaborative effort amongst the key research and development stakeholders , in particular the national waste management agencies , is needed to establish a strategic research agenda and deployment strategy for the implementation oriented research.Synergy to address the issue of nuclear waste at EU level is fostered through the HLG on nuclear safety and waste management , the European Nuclear Energy Forum as well as the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform and a new Technology Platform on Geological Disposal , with the aim to facilitate additional efforts to optimise European research and development , to better co-ordinate , in setting common goals and in having a larger participation and commitment from industry to tackle radioactive waste management issues .", "On the occasion of the presentation of the sixth report on nuclear waste -LSB- 13 -RSB- , the Council took stock of the situation of nuclear waste management in the EU.Nuclear non-proliferation is a global issue , which reminds and concerns the public of the potential security risks associated with the use and future development of nuclear energy .", "With the growing number of countries starting or considering starting a nuclear power programme , there is a clear need to strengthen nuclear safety , security and guarantees for non-proliferation .", "The European Union has an important role to play in this context using the available external dimension instruments : the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation ( INSC ) and the Instrument for Stability -LSB- 14 -RSB- .", "A key priority of the Community is to maintain its support for the Non-Proliferation Treaty ( NPT ) , by developing a shared approach with the IAEA towards the risks of proliferation .", "The Joint Statement between the European Commission and the IAEA of 7 May 2008 outlines that importance -LSB- 15 -RSB- .", "The Commission intends to address a Communication to the Council and the European Parliament on nuclear non-proliferation .", "In the framework of an early exchange of information and warning in case of nuclear incidents in the EU , the Commission also discusses with Member States the functioning of the ECURIE system .3.2 .", "LicensingThere is a need for planning stability and for reduction of investment risks due to regulatory uncertainty for investors and other stakeholders .", "Licensing includes standard design certifications , early site permits , construction permits , operating licenses or combined licenses .", "Public authorities in the EU should be encouraged to harmonize and simplify licensing procedures in order to provide legal certainty .3.2.2 .", "Design certificationAlthough there are moves in Europe towards harmonised requirements for licensing , design certification is done nationally and is safety-based .", "The EUR document is a nuclear power plant specification written by a group of potential investors in electricity generation in Europe , mostly utilities and other industrial institutions , originally designed to facilitate the licensing of EPR reactors .", "Although used as a basis for the bid specification of the new nuclear constructions in Finland ( EPR at Olkiluoto 3 ) and Bulgaria ( AES-92 at Belene ) , it is not a regulatory type of design safety standard at EU level.WENRA brings together the nuclear regulatory authorities of EU Member States and Switzerland .", "Its main objectives are to develop a common approach to nuclear safety , to provide an independent capability to examine nuclear safety in accession and candidate countries to the EU and network regulators in Europe by exchanging experience and discussing significant safety issues .", "WENRA has established and regularly revises its reference levels applicable to reactor safety , taking into account the Safety Requirements issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) .", "Recommendation : common reactor safety levels for existing NPPs and new build should be adopted .3.2.3 .", "Generation III designsGeneration I reactors were developed in the 1950-60s , and outside the UK , none are still operating today in the EU .", "Generation II reactors are those that are predominantly in operation in both the EU-27 and the rest of the world .", "Generation III advanced Light Water Reactors and evolutionary designs offer advances in both safety and economics over preceding generations and are thus proposed for construction of new plants in the EU .", "Lacking formal definitions , they are characterised by the following features : - Improved safety systems , including passive or inherent safety features and a containment providing protection against internal impacts due to effects of accidents as well as against external impacts ; - Increase in thermal efficiency and thus a reduction in fuel requirements ; - Longer plant life ; - Improved fuel technology and thus reduction of the volume of high level waste.Examples of Generation III reactors are the recent new builds in Olkiluoto ( Finland ) , Flamanville ( France ) and Belene ( Bulgaria ) .", "Nuclear plants must also be carefully protected against both attempted sabotage or terrorist attack and possible theft of nuclear material .", "Recent plants in the EU have included safeguards and security requirements into their design , setting an example in terms of nuclear security and non-proliferation .", "Recommendation : only designs whose safety and security levels are equivalent to Generation III , or subsequent improvements should be considered in the EU for future new build .3.3 .", "Financing issuesA NPP has significantly higher construction costs than an equivalent coal or gas-fired plant .", "However , an NPP is less costly to operate over the design lifetime , due to lower and more predictable fuel costs .", "Yet , the size of the initial investment and the time needed to pay it back implies a high risk for private companies that sell electricity on short-term contracts or on the exchanges .", "So far , this has favoured generation plants with lower capital costs and higher , potentially fluctuating , fuel costs ( such as gas-fired plants ) .", "The price increase of fossil fuels over the last five years is strongly influencing a reassessment of the structure of financing , leading to a renewed interest for investing in new NPPs.However , the recent volatility in global credit markets is likely to put pressure on large scale investment projects in the near term .", "At the same time , rising costs for construction materials and labour have led to increased cost estimates for new power plants in general.All forms of electricity generation produce some form of negative externality -- costs imposed on third parties that are not directly paid by the producer -- and generation costs often do not reflect these external costs .", "The most significant external costs for nuclear power , i.e. costs for decommissioning and waste management , should be internalised in the electricity price -LSB- 16 -RSB- .", "Measures to mitigate global warming , such as an effective emissions trading mechanism , are ways of internalising external costs of fossil fuels and could provide a level playing field for the economics of nuclear power.It is important to ensure in the EU that nuclear energy projects do not benefit from any State subsidy .", "Different ways to proceed are possible in this regard .", "Cost structure for NPPsServicing the construction costs of a nuclear power plant is the most important factor determining the competitiveness of nuclear energy .", "Despite high investment costs ( ( 70 % of total generation costs for nuclear in contrast to ( 40 % for coal and ( 30 % for gas ) and the need to internalise all waste disposal and decommissioning costs , nuclear power plants compete favourably with fossil-fuelled units ( $ 40 -- 45/MWh and no emissions trading costs ) .", "Improvements in nuclear power plant performance over the last 10 to 15 years have resulted in increased plant availability and output , further lowering generating costs.Because a power plant does not yield profits during construction , longer construction times and construction delays translate directly into higher interest charges on borrowed funds .", "Standardised regulatory processes for siting , licensing , and construction would shorten the overall time frame required and increase certainty that , if the plant is built as designed , it will be allowed to operate .3.3.2 .", "Level playing field for financingIn order to achieve the transition to a low-carbon economy , the EU needs a balance between market investment decisions and regulation .", "While the market will ultimately influence decisions on technologies and concrete investment projects , public authorities have a vital role in guiding clean energy investments by providing clear and credible long-term policy frameworks.While financing new NPP construction belongs to private operators and the capital markets , some measures may be justified to facilitate financing , especially since the general investment climate for large-scale borrowers has become more difficult over the past year .", "The European Investment Bank revised in 2007 its investment policy to include nuclear power related projects .", "Euratom loans have been provided in the past for new nuclear installations and for safety improvements of reactors in the acceding and other countries .", "This facility is limited by an overall ceiling , adopted by the Council .", "The amount currently available could only provide a small part of the financing required for 2 or 3 projects .", "The Commission has proposed raising the borrowing and lending ceilings for Euratom loans and remains committed to doing so at an appropriate time -LSB- 18 -RSB- .", "These loans are given at market rates by borrowing on the international capital markets ; they do not come from the Community budget and do not constitute subsidies .3.4 .", "Civil liability for nuclear damageOperators of nuclear power plants are liable for any damage caused by them , and are therefore required to take out insurance .", "National laws are supplemented by a number of international conventions -LSB- 19 -RSB- .", "Compensation above the limits provided in the conventions and in national legislation needs to be covered by the individual insurance , or the State concerned must accept responsibility as insurer of last resort , as is the case for liability in other industries .", "Additional details are given in Annex II.Recommendation : a more coherent and harmonised liability scheme should be developed to ensure a comparable level of protection for citizens and to create a level playing field for EU nuclear industry .4 .", "SECURITY OF SUPPLY FOR NUCLEAR FUELSNuclear reactor operators usually purchase concentrated uranium ores and conclude contracts with fuel cycle service providers for the chemical conversion of the concentrates to uranium hexafluoride , for its enrichment and chemical conversion to uranium oxide , and finally for its fabrication into fuel elements for loading into a power reactor .", "For all these production activities , long term contracts prevail ( 5 years being typical but 10 years or even longer term contracts are not uncommon ) .", "Spot market deliveries play a minor role , although long term contract prices are often linked to recent spot prices .4.1 .", "Supply and demand situation , investment needs ( Fig. 4 Annex 1 ) With about one third of the world 's reactors , EU fuel needs are also about one third of the global nuclear fuel market .", "The EU industry has the needed capacity to fulfill EU requirements for uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication ( except for the Russian design VVER reactors ) , but lacks some capacity for uranium conversion and is dependent on imported uranium.Annex II describes the nuclear fuel cycle .5 .", "CONCLUSIONSNuclear energy plays an important role in the transition to a low carbon economy and reduces EU external supply dependency .", "The choice to include nuclear energy in the energy mix lies with the Member States .", "Nevertheless , it should be noted that if strategic investment decisions about power generation capacities in nuclear as well as in renewable energy are taken rapidly , nearly two thirds of EU 's electricity generation could be low carbon in the early 2020s .", "The role of the European Union is to ensure that this source of energy is developed while meeting the highest level of safety .", "The European Union should also promote more coherent rules on licensing and safety for the construction of new nuclear power plants .", "This will facilitate investments and ensure to the citizens that these decisions are implemented on the basis of clear and transparent rules .", "An appropriate regulatory framework for new nuclear investments would facilitate future investments in this sector and thereby contribute to security of supply.The strategic investment choices for the generation of electricity will have an impact for decades on CO2 emissions , competitiveness and security of supply in the EU.Public authorities have a role to play , by establishing predictable and effective licensing procedures , improving public acceptance by addressing concerns related to nuclear safety , waste management and decommissioning .", "Due consideration should also be given to the issue of facilitating access to financing.The EU industry is a global leader in nuclear technology and has the capacity to supply both reactor equipment and most of the fuel cycle services , even though natural uranium is mostly imported .", "To maintain this leadership and to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors required to meet the ambitious 2050 EU low carbon vision , research and development effort in the framework of the SET Plan European Industrial Initiative on fission energy needs to be progressively stepped up.The role of the EU is to develop further , and to support third countries through its external instruments in accessing , the most advanced framework for nuclear energy , meeting the high standards of safety , security and non-proliferation as required by the Euratom Treaty .", "The Commission is preparing a revised proposal for a Directive setting up a Community framework for Nuclear Safety .", "The Commission supports the implementation of the already existing technical solutions for nuclear waste management .", "While maintaining the high level of nuclear safeguards throughout the EU , as a model for security inside and outside the Union , the EU should continue its efforts to promote high safety and security standards internationally through its external cooperation instruments.Security of supply of nuclear fuels can not be taken for granted , especially should there be a rapid increase in global demand due to an expansion of nuclear power programmes .", "However , the situation is better than for fossil fuels , due to the wide ranging availability of uranium and the possibility to recycle nuclear materials several times .", "The industry must increase its capacity in line with demand , but with the exception of new mines , this can be done within the time frame of the construction of a new power plant .", "When there is enough evidence of additional demand , the required processing capacities will be built.While the capital requirements are often important , financial markets have recognized the profit potential of energy related investments and capital is available to financially sound projects .", "Significant new investments are already being undertaken in the EU and elsewhere .", "Increasing natural uranium production takes more time , but over the next 5 to 10 years , production around the world is expected to increase significantly .", "Global uranium resources are sufficient at the current rate of consumption -LSB- 20 -RSB- .", "However , over the longer term , new reactor technologies are needed to reduce the depletion of uranium resources.The implementation of a diversified supply policy remains vital for the EU nuclear industry .", "The low number of major players at the various steps of the fuel cycle may create unexpected supply constraints .", "Due to the need for uranium imports and taking into account EU 's leading position for developing nuclear technology , it is important for the EU to maintain and further develop cooperation with third countries , in particular through Euratom agreements on peaceful uses of nuclear energy as well as on research cooperation .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- Nuclear Illustrative Programme - COM ( 2007 ) 565 , 4.10.2007 .", "LSB- 2 -RSB- EESC Opinion on the Commission 's nuclear Illustrative Programme ( TEN/283 , 12.07.2007 ) ; The Maldeikis report of the European Parliament , Assessing Euratom 50 Years of European nuclear energy ( A6-0129 / 2007 , 02.04.2007 ) ; Reul Report of the European Parliament , Conventional energy sources and energy technology ( A6-0348 / 2007 , 24.10.2007 ) .", "LSB- 3 -RSB- World Energy Outlook 2006 , International Energy Agency .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- Nuclear Energy Outlook , OECD/NEA , published in October 2008 .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_297_en.pdf[6] Given the uncertainty concerning crude oil prices the development under current trends is described by giving ranges for 2020 depending on a moderate or high oil price environment .", "The moderate price environment means an oil price of 61 $ ( 2005 ) / barrel in 2020 .", "The high price environment would have an oil price in 2005 money of 100 $ / barrel in 2020 .", "LSB- 7 -RSB- In the EU Energy Policy review , the IEA also notes that '' ... EU nuclear generating capacity will decline from now on , unless significant investment is forthcoming in the near future for plant lifetime extensions and the replacement of facilities reaching the end of their operational lives .", "Without this investment , this low carbon source of base load electricity generation could be reduced from 31 % to 21 % of the total electricity generated in the EU in 2020 '' .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- Under Article 41 of the Euratom Treaty , investment projects related to the nuclear fuel cycle in the EU must be notified to the Commission prior to conclusion of contracts with suppliers or , if the work is to be carried out by the undertaking with its own resources , three months before work begins .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- These figures take into account firm decisions on new NPPs , already agreed life extensions and the currently announced phase-outs , but do not include assumptions on potential new NPPs .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- 45 % from NPPs over 25 years , 25 % from NPPs having less than 20 y ( Fig. 3 , Annex 1 ) .", "LSB- 11 -RSB- According to current policy , the generating power of German reactors is limited hence reactors should be shut down after about 32 years of operation , meaning that the currently operating reactors would be closed by 2022 .", "In Belgium , the operating lifetime is limited to 40 years and the closure of all existing reactors is currently foreseen by 2025 .", "Sweden has also made a political decision to phase out nuclear energy , but concrete actions to this effect have not yet been implemented .", "LSB- 12 -RSB- Special Eurobarometer , no. 297 `` Attitudes to radioactive waste '' , published July 2008 .", "LSB- 14 -RSB- COM ( 2008 ) 312 : `` Addressing the international challenge of nuclear safety and security '' .", "LSB- 15 -RSB- www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/PDF/iaea_euratom070508.pdf[16] Commission Recommendation on adequate financial resources for decommissioning funds ( OJ L 330 , 28.11.2006 ) .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- The UK in its recent Energy Bill , stipulated that development of new nuclear plants should be initiated , funded , constructed and operated through the private sector to avoid any perception of State aid .", "LSB- 19 -RSB- Paris Convention ( OECD ) on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy of 1960 bolstered by the Brussels Supplementary Convention in 1963 and entered into force 1968 .", "Vienna Convention ( IAEA ) on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage of 1963 , entering into force in 1977 .", "LSB- 20 -RSB- Without taking into account more efficient utilization of resources resulting from the potential deployment of Generation IV reactors in the future .", "LSB- pic -RSB- | COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES |", "COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT , THE COUNCIL AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE", "UPDATE OF THE NUCLEAR ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMME IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SECOND STRATEGIC ENERGY REVIEW", "UPDATE OF THE NUCLEAR ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMMEIN THE CONTEXT OF THE SECOND STRATEGIC ENERGY REVIEW 1 .", "This document -- as part of the Second Strategic Energy Review -- updates the information contained in the 2007 Nuclear Illustrative Programme -LSB- 1 -RSB- .", "It focuses on the key aspects of security of supply , investment needs , the conditions for realising investments , and makes recommendations for the continued safe use of nuclear energy in the EU .", "Over the past two years , there have been political statements of interest with respect to nuclear energy in some EU Member States and around the world .", "The Community 's SET-Plan , which addresses Research and Development needs in all low-carbon technologies , including nuclear fission , is important to the future long term requirements of nuclear energy .", "Nuclear energy is also one of the most economic energy sources , less vulnerable to fuel price changes , thereby protecting EU economies against raw materials price volatility .", "It also increases the security of energy supply in Europe , since uranium sources are widely distributed around the globe , in geopolitically stable areas .", "The concerns of the general public on nuclear safety and waste management still need to be fully addressed .", "This will facilitate the investments in the Member States which choose to include the nuclear energy in their energy mix and will ensure that investment decisions are based on more transparent and comprehensible rules .", "INVESTMENT NEEDS FOR NUCLEAR GENERATING CAPACITY 2.1 .", "Projections for energy and electricity demand", "Under the PRIMES New Energy Policy scenario , the overall final energy demand in the EU by 2020 is expected to grow slightly ( +1,5 % ) in case of moderate oil prices and to decrease slightly ( -2 % ) in case of high oil prices -LSB- 6 -RSB- .", "However these figures reflect policies implemented in the Member States and thereby exclude the most recent discussions on possible lifetime extensions and new constructions that could change the future capacity situation .", "Energy efficiency measures should curb the growth of total energy consumption as well as electricity demand .", "Therefore , the security of electricity supply will increase its importance for the overall economy .", "Investment perspectives in the nuclear sector", "Regardless of the exact evolution of energy consumption , EU electricity demand is expected to continue growing faster than overall energy demand .", "If shut down , the contribution of nuclear energy to the overall electricity supply will substantially decrease , unless new plants are built or older ones are safely upgraded to operate for an extended period .", "The graph ( Fig. 1 Annex 1 ) illustrates the decreasing trend of nuclear power capacity in the EU despite new plants under construction or notified to the Commission -LSB- 8 -RSB- ( FI , FR , BG and SK ) , and the already agreed ( or pending ) operating lifetime extensions up to 40 , 50 or 60 years .", "According to current projections , the nuclear generation capacity in the EU would fall by as much as 33 GWe -LSB- 9 -RSB- by 2020 .", "The Sustainable Nuclear Fission Technology Platform will play a significant role in identifying research and development needs with respect to lifetime extensions .", "In these scenarios , immediate decommissioning after obsolete plants shutdown would ease the construction of replacement capacity on existing nuclear sites .", "This is not only valid for generation of electricity but also for other applications , in particular , nuclear medicine .", "Overview of new and planned NPPs , planned closures and extensions 2.3.1 .", "New plants under construction , new investment plans", "Two 1600 MWe European Pressurized Reactor ( EPR ) are being built : in Finland ( 3rd Unit of the Olkiluoto NPP ) and at Flamanville , France , expected to be operational by 2012 .", "The Baltic countries , Poland and the Netherlands are considering regional projects and national options for new nuclear power plants .", "In January 2008 the UK government gave the go ahead for new nuclear build , stating that nuclear power should play a role in providing the UK with clean , secure and affordable energy .", "At least 7 new Generation III category NPPs are expected to be built .", "Italy announced on 22 May 2008 that only nuclear can produce energy on a large scale , in a secure manner , at competitive costs and with respect for the environment and it therefore plans to restart the nuclear sector , with a 2020 horizon with view to constructing between 4 and 8 new NPPs .", "Capacity uprating and Lifetime extensions", "Capacity uprating continues to be undertaken at more than 25 % of all NPPs ; the EU-wide average unit availability has steadily increased over the last 10 to 15 years ( reaching 84 % for the period 2004-06 ) .", "Based upon the original 30 to 40-year plant lifetimes , about 44 GWe or 33 % of the installed EU-27 nuclear net capacity would need to be removed from the grid over the next 10 years and be replaced .", "Therefore , extending the operating lifetime under safe conditions looks , under current circumstances , more cost effective than opting for new construction and is becoming normal practice in many countries .", "There is no evidence of approved life extension programmes compromising the continued safety of nuclear plant operation .", "A discussion on lifetime extensions is currently on-going in both Belgium and Germany despite the official phase out policies presented below .", "Recovered capacity In addition to uprating and lifetime extensions , the progressive transition from use of gaseous diffusion to centrifuge enrichment plants will recover approximately 3000 MWe of electricity production capacity .", "Belgium and Germany are planning to phase out nuclear energy after closure of the existing NPPs -LSB- 11 -RSB- .", "All these closures contribute to the forecast decrease in the share of nuclear energy by 2020 , unless phase-out policies are reversed .", "CONDITIONS FOR REALISING THE NECESSARY INVESTMENTS 3.1 .", "Public acceptance is essential for the use of nuclear energy in Europe .", "However , a number of concerns still need to be addressed .", "Public authorities at local , regional , national , EU and international level all have a role to play .", "Efforts need to be made to provide factual , timely and easily understandable information to the public , ensuring an open debate among the key actors on all aspects of nuclear energy .", "The Commission is addressing these issues through both the High Level Group on Nuclear Safety and Waste Management ( HLG ) , composed of senior national regulators , as well as the European Nuclear Energy Forum ( ENEF ) , a broader cross section of society .", "The HLG was established by the Commission in 2007 with the mandate to develop a common understanding and to suggest common approaches for further improving nuclear safety and the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste .", "In the framework of the HLG initiative and taking into account discussions and developments in other fora , the Commission is preparing a revised proposal for a Directive setting up a Community framework for Nuclear Safety .", "The ENEF provides a platform for a broad stakeholder discussion on opportunities and risks of nuclear energy , concentrating on the competitiveness of nuclear energy , the specificities of financing new nuclear build , the need for a legal roadmap accompanying the responsible use of nuclear energy , ways to progress on waste management and approaches to enhance trust , transparency and confidence between the public and the actors involved in the process .", "A recent Eurobarometer survey -LSB- 12 -RSB- , conducted during February to March 2008 , concluded that European citizens ' attitudes towards nuclear energy were more positive than in 2005 .", "A collaborative effort amongst the key research and development stakeholders , in particular the national waste management agencies , is needed to establish a strategic research agenda and deployment strategy for the implementation oriented research .", "Synergy to address the issue of nuclear waste at EU level is fostered through the HLG on nuclear safety and waste management , the European Nuclear Energy Forum as well as the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform and a new Technology Platform on Geological Disposal , with the aim to facilitate additional efforts to optimise European research and development , to better co-ordinate , in setting common goals and in having a larger participation and commitment from industry to tackle radioactive waste management issues .", "On the occasion of the presentation of the sixth report on nuclear waste -LSB- 13 -RSB- , the Council took stock of the situation of nuclear waste management in the EU .", "Nuclear non-proliferation is a global issue , which reminds and concerns the public of the potential security risks associated with the use and future development of nuclear energy .", "In the framework of an early exchange of information and warning in case of nuclear incidents in the EU , the Commission also discusses with Member States the functioning of the ECURIE system .", "There is a need for planning stability and for reduction of investment risks due to regulatory uncertainty for investors and other stakeholders .", "Public authorities in the EU should be encouraged to harmonize and simplify licensing procedures in order to provide legal certainty .", "Although there are moves in Europe towards harmonised requirements for licensing , design certification is done nationally and is safety-based .", "Although used as a basis for the bid specification of the new nuclear constructions in Finland ( EPR at Olkiluoto 3 ) and Bulgaria ( AES-92 at Belene ) , it is not a regulatory type of design safety standard at EU level .", "WENRA brings together the nuclear regulatory authorities of EU Member States and Switzerland .", "Recommendation : common reactor safety levels for existing NPPs and new build should be adopted .", "Generation III designs", "Generation I reactors were developed in the 1950-60s , and outside the UK , none are still operating today in the EU .", "Lacking formal definitions , they are characterised by the following features : - Improved safety systems , including passive or inherent safety features and a containment providing protection against internal impacts due to effects of accidents as well as against external impacts ; - Increase in thermal efficiency and thus a reduction in fuel requirements ; - Longer plant life ; - Improved fuel technology and thus reduction of the volume of high level waste .", "Examples of Generation III reactors are the recent new builds in Olkiluoto ( Finland ) , Flamanville ( France ) and Belene ( Bulgaria ) .", "Recommendation : only designs whose safety and security levels are equivalent to Generation III , or subsequent improvements should be considered in the EU for future new build .", "A NPP has significantly higher construction costs than an equivalent coal or gas-fired plant .", "The price increase of fossil fuels over the last five years is strongly influencing a reassessment of the structure of financing , leading to a renewed interest for investing in new NPPs .", "However , the recent volatility in global credit markets is likely to put pressure on large scale investment projects in the near term .", "At the same time , rising costs for construction materials and labour have led to increased cost estimates for new power plants in general .", "All forms of electricity generation produce some form of negative externality -- costs imposed on third parties that are not directly paid by the producer -- and generation costs often do not reflect these external costs .", "Measures to mitigate global warming , such as an effective emissions trading mechanism , are ways of internalising external costs of fossil fuels and could provide a level playing field for the economics of nuclear power .", "It is important to ensure in the EU that nuclear energy projects do not benefit from any State subsidy .", "Cost structure for NPPs", "Servicing the construction costs of a nuclear power plant is the most important factor determining the competitiveness of nuclear energy .", "Improvements in nuclear power plant performance over the last 10 to 15 years have resulted in increased plant availability and output , further lowering generating costs .", "Because a power plant does not yield profits during construction , longer construction times and construction delays translate directly into higher interest charges on borrowed funds .", "Standardised regulatory processes for siting , licensing , and construction would shorten the overall time frame required and increase certainty that , if the plant is built as designed , it will be allowed to operate .", "Level playing field for financing In order to achieve the transition to a low-carbon economy , the EU needs a balance between market investment decisions and regulation .", "While the market will ultimately influence decisions on technologies and concrete investment projects , public authorities have a vital role in guiding clean energy investments by providing clear and credible long-term policy frameworks .", "While financing new NPP construction belongs to private operators and the capital markets , some measures may be justified to facilitate financing , especially since the general investment climate for large-scale borrowers has become more difficult over the past year .", "These loans are given at market rates by borrowing on the international capital markets ; they do not come from the Community budget and do not constitute subsidies .", "Civil liability for nuclear damage", "Operators of nuclear power plants are liable for any damage caused by them , and are therefore required to take out insurance .", "Additional details are given in Annex II .", "Recommendation : a more coherent and harmonised liability scheme should be developed to ensure a comparable level of protection for citizens and to create a level playing field for EU nuclear industry .", "SECURITY OF SUPPLY FOR NUCLEAR FUELS", "Nuclear reactor operators usually purchase concentrated uranium ores and conclude contracts with fuel cycle service providers for the chemical conversion of the concentrates to uranium hexafluoride , for its enrichment and chemical conversion to uranium oxide , and finally for its fabrication into fuel elements for loading into a power reactor .", "Spot market deliveries play a minor role , although long term contract prices are often linked to recent spot prices .", "Supply and demand situation , investment needs ( Fig. 4 Annex 1 )", "With about one third of the world 's reactors , EU fuel needs are also about one third of the global nuclear fuel market .", "The EU industry has the needed capacity to fulfill EU requirements for uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication ( except for the Russian design VVER reactors ) , but lacks some capacity for uranium conversion and is dependent on imported uranium .", "Annex II describes the nuclear fuel cycle .", "Nuclear energy plays an important role in the transition to a low carbon economy and reduces EU external supply dependency .", "An appropriate regulatory framework for new nuclear investments would facilitate future investments in this sector and thereby contribute to security of supply .", "The strategic investment choices for the generation of electricity will have an impact for decades on CO2 emissions , competitiveness and security of supply in the EU .", "Public authorities have a role to play , by establishing predictable and effective licensing procedures , improving public acceptance by addressing concerns related to nuclear safety , waste management and decommissioning .", "Due consideration should also be given to the issue of facilitating access to financing .", "The EU industry is a global leader in nuclear technology and has the capacity to supply both reactor equipment and most of the fuel cycle services , even though natural uranium is mostly imported .", "To maintain this leadership and to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors required to meet the ambitious 2050 EU low carbon vision , research and development effort in the framework of the SET Plan European Industrial Initiative on fission energy needs to be progressively stepped up .", "The role of the EU is to develop further , and to support third countries through its external instruments in accessing , the most advanced framework for nuclear energy , meeting the high standards of safety , security and non-proliferation as required by the Euratom Treaty .", "While maintaining the high level of nuclear safeguards throughout the EU , as a model for security inside and outside the Union , the EU should continue its efforts to promote high safety and security standards internationally through its external cooperation instruments .", "Security of supply of nuclear fuels can not be taken for granted , especially should there be a rapid increase in global demand due to an expansion of nuclear power programmes .", "When there is enough evidence of additional demand , the required processing capacities will be built .", "While the capital requirements are often important , financial markets have recognized the profit potential of energy related investments and capital is available to financially sound projects .", "However , over the longer term , new reactor technologies are needed to reduce the depletion of uranium resources .", "The implementation of a diversified supply policy remains vital for the EU nuclear industry .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_297_en.pdf -LSB- 6 -RSB- Given the uncertainty concerning crude oil prices the development under current trends is described by giving ranges for 2020 depending on a moderate or high oil price environment .", "LSB- 15 -RSB- www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/PDF/iaea_euratom070508.pdf -LSB- 16 -RSB- Commission Recommendation on adequate financial resources for decommissioning funds ( OJ L 330 , 28.11.2006 ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "The demand for electricity is expected to rise by 8-9% by 2020 meaning a much more urgent need for generating capacity.", "_claim_name": "Energy demands are increasing exponentially and nuclear power is the only renewable source capable of matching it", "_doc_title": "EUR-Lex - 52008DC0776 - EN", "_labeled_lineIDs": [18]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Russia -- Ukraine gas disputes refer to a number of disputes between Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrayiny and Russian gas supplier Gazprom over natural gas supplies , prices , and debts .", "These disputes have grown beyond simple business disputes into transnational political issues -- involving political leaders from several countries -- that threaten natural gas supplies in numerous European countries dependent on natural gas imports from Russian suppliers , which are transported through Ukraine .", "Russia provides approximately a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the European Union ; approximately 80 % of those exports travel through pipelines across Ukrainian soil prior to arriving in the EU .", "A serious dispute began in March 2005 over the price of natural gas supplied and the cost of transit .", "During this conflict , Russia claimed Ukraine was not paying for gas , but diverting that which was intended to be exported to the EU from the pipelines .", "Ukrainian officials at first denied the accusation , -LSB- 2 -RSB- -LSB- 3 -RSB- but later Naftohaz admitted that natural gas intended for other European countries was retained and used for domestic needs .", "The dispute reached a high point on 1 January 2006 , when Russia cut off all gas supplies passing through Ukrainian territory .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- On 4 January 2006 , a preliminary agreement between Russia and Ukraine was achieved , and the supply was restored .", "The situation calmed until October 2007 when new disputes began over Ukrainian gas debts .", "This led to reduction of gas supplies in March 2008 .", "During the last months of 2008 , relations once again became tense when Ukraine and Russia could not agree on the debts owed by Ukraine .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- In January 2009 , this disagreement resulted in supply disruptions in many European nations , with eighteen European countries reporting major drops in or complete cut-offs of their gas supplies transported through Ukraine from Russia .", "LSB- 6 -RSB- -LSB- 7 -RSB- In September 2009 officials from both countries stated they felt the situation was under control and that there would be no more conflicts over the topic , -LSB- 8 -RSB- -LSB- 9 -RSB- at least until the Ukrainian 2010 presidential elections .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- However , in October 2009 , another disagreement arose about the amount of gas Ukraine would import from Russia in 2010 .", "Ukraine intended to import less gas in 2010 as a result of reduced industry needs because of its economic recession ; however , Gazprom insisted that Ukraine fulfill its contractual obligations and purchase the previously agreed upon quantities of gas .", "On June 8 , 2010 , a Stockholm court of arbitration ruled Naftohaz of Ukraine must return 12.1 billion cubic metres ( 430 billion cubic feet ) of gas to RosUkrEnergo , a Swiss-based company in which Gazprom controls a 50 % stake .", "Russia accused Ukrainian side of diverting gas from pipelines passing through Ukraine in 2009 .", "LSB- 12 -RSB- -LSB- 13 -RSB- Several high-ranking Ukrainian officials stated the return `` would not be quick '' .", "Russia plans to completely abandon gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine after 2018 .", "After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , oil import prices to Ukraine reached world market levels in 1993 .", "However , gas import prices and transit fees remained below European levels for Russian exports to Europe through pipelines in Ukraine ; these were set in bilateral negotiations .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- At the same time Ukraine remained the main transit corridor for Russia 's gas export .", "In 2004 -- 2005 , 80 % of Russian gas exports to the European Union were made through Ukrainian Territory .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- -LSB- 19 -RSB- Two-thirds of Gazprom 's revenue comes from the sale of gas that crosses Ukraine .", "Ukraine 's own annual gas consumption in 2004 -- 2005 was around 80 billion cubic metres ( 2.8 trillion cubic feet ) , of which around 20 billion cubic metres ( 710 billion cubic feet ) were produced domestically , 36 billion cubic metres ( 1.3 trillion cubic feet ) were bought from Turkmenistan , and 17 billion cubic metres ( 600 billion cubic feet ) were received from Russia in exchange for transport of Russian natural gas .", "The remaining 8 billion cubic metres ( 280 billion cubic feet ) were purchased from Russia .", "LSB- 21 -RSB- The gas trading system differed substantially from the gas sale to the European Union and caused problems in the form of large-scale deliveries of relatively cheap Russian gas causing an increase of energy-intensive industries and supporting Ukraine 's status as one of the world 's least energy-efficient countries and largest gas importers , the accumulation of Ukrainian debts and non-payment of same , unsanctioned diversion of gas and alleged theft from the transit system , and Russian pressure on Ukraine to hand over infrastructure in return for relief of debts accumulated over natural gas transactions .", "Gas trading was conducted under a framework of bilateral intergovernmental agreements which provided for sales , transit volumes , gas prices , gas storage , and other issues such as the establishment of production joint ventures .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Commercial agreements were negotiated between the relevant companies within the guidelines and dictates of that framework and supplemented by annual agreements specifying exact prices and volumes for the following year .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Gas sales prices and transit tariffs were determined in relationship to each other .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- Commercial agreements and trade relations have been non-transparent and trade has been conducted via intermediaries such as Itera , EuralTransGaz , and RosUkrEnergo .", "RosUkrEnergo 's involvement in the Russian-Ukrainian gas trade has been controversial .", "There are allegations that the company is controlled by Semion Mogilevich and its beneficiaries include strategically placed officials in the Russian and Ukrainian gas industries and governmental structures related to the energy sector .", "LSB- 20 -RSB- -LSB- 22 -RSB- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has made accusations that RosUkrEnergo is owned by a business ally of Ukraine 's ex-president , Viktor Yushchenko .", "LSB- 23 -RSB- The Ukrainian investigation into RosUkrEnergo , during Yulia Tymoshenko 's first term as Prime Minister , was closed after she was fired by Yushchenko in September 2005 .", "According to a contract between Gazprom and Naftohaz signed on 21 June 2002 , payment for the transfer of Russian natural gas through the Ukrainian pipeline system had been made in exchange for no more than 15 % of the gas pumped through Ukrainian territory to be taken in lieu of cash .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- This contract was supposed to be valid until the end of 2013 .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- On 9 August 2004 , the two companies signed an addendum to the contract , according to which the amount of gas given as a payment was calculated based on a tariff of US$ 1.09 for the transportation of 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas over a distance of 100 kilometres ( 62 mi ) ; the addendum further stated the price of the natural gas supplied to Ukraine was to be $ 50 per 1,000 cubic meters ( approximately $ 1.40 per million Btu ) .", "LSB- 25 -RSB- This price was constant notwithstanding the gas prices in the European markets .", "LSB- 26 -RSB- According to the addendum the price was not subject to change until the end of 2009 .", "LSB- 25 -RSB- Gazprom argued that this addendum was only applicable provided that the two countries sign an annual intergovernmental protocol that has higher legal status for specifying the terms of gas transit .", "LSB- 27 -RSB- According to Gazprom , the addendum becomes void as the annual protocol had not been signed for 2006 under the required terms .", "LSB- 28 -RSB- Russia claimed that Gazprom 's subsidies to the Ukrainian economy amounted to billions of dollars .", "According to the agreement of 2006 , RosUkrEnergo was to receive no more than 20 percent of the total delivered gas , which in 2007 was 15 billion cubic metres ( 530 billion cubic feet ) of 73 billion cubic metres ( 2.6 trillion cubic feet ) .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Initial disputes concerning gas debts and non-payment appeared immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- As a result of disputes over non-payments by Ukraine , Russia suspended natural gas exports several times between 1992 and 1994 .", "This led to the illicit diversion of Russian natural gas exports from transit pipelines by Ukrainian companies and institutions in September 1993 and November 1994 .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- The diversion of gas was acknowledged by Ukraine , while accusations of other diversions were disputed .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- In September 1993 , at a summit conference in Massandra , Crimea , Russian President Boris Yeltsin offered to Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk to forgive Ukrainian debts in return for control of the Black Sea Fleet and Ukraine 's nuclear arsenal .", "LSB- 30 -RSB- -LSB- citation needed -RSB- After a strong negative reaction from politicians in Kiev , the idea was abandoned .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- An intergovernmental agreement was drafted on gas issues , including a clause stating Ukraine would permit Gazprom to participate in the privatization of Ukrainian enterprises in gas and other sectors .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- In March 1994 , a Ukrainian deputy prime minister agreed with Russia that Gazprom could acquire a 51 % stake in the pipeline system .", "In early 1995 , Russia and Ukraine agreed to create a joint company , Gaztransit , to operate Ukraine 's natural gas transit infrastructure in exchange for the cancellation of a substantial portion of Ukraine 's debts to Russia .", "These agreements were never implemented , and in November 1995 , the Verkhovna Rada , Ukraine 's parliament , adopted a law prohibiting the privatization of oil and gas assets .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- In 1998 , Gazprom and Naftohaz made a contract under which Gazprom would pay for the transit of volumes of gas , which established a link between gas prices and transit tariffs , -LSB- citation needed -RSB- but this contract did not resolve the issue of already incurred gas debts .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- In 1998 , Gazprom alleged that Ukraine had illegally diverted gas meant for export to other European countries and suspended exports of oil and electricity to Ukraine in 1999 .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Gazprom also claimed that Ukraine 's gas debt had reached $ 2.8 billion .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- In 2001 , Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Dubyna acknowledged that in 2000 alone 8 -- 7 billion cubic metres ( 280 -- 250 billion cubic feet ) of Russian natural gas had been diverted from export pipelines .", "LSB- 17 -RSB- The debt issue was settled on 4 October 2001 , by the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on Additional Measures Regarding the Provision of Transit of Russian Natural Gas on the Territory of Ukraine ( the 2001 Transit Agreement ) .", "LSB- 18 -RSB- In 2005 , negotiations over gas prices for 2006 started .", "Gazprom insisted on a new price of $ 160 per 1,000 cubic meters .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- The Government of Ukraine agreed , with the stipulation that price increases were to be gradual , in return for increased gas transit fees and changing the method of payment for transit from payment in kind to cash .", "LSB- 31 -RSB- -LSB- verification needed -RSB- In May 2005 , it was revealed that 7.8 billion cubic metres ( 280 billion cubic feet ) of gas which Gazprom had deposited in Ukrainian storage reservoirs during the previous winter had not been made available to the company .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- It remained unclear if the gas was missing , had disappeared due to technical problems , or had been stolen .", "LSB- 32 -RSB- This issue was resolved in July 2005 by agreement between Gazprom , Naftohaz and RosUkrEnergo , according to which Naftohaz received 2.55 billion cubic metres ( 90 billion cubic feet ) of gas as partial settlement of the Russian gas transit over 2005 services and 5.25 billion cubic metres ( 185 billion cubic feet ) was sold by Gazprom to RosUkrEnergo who has to receive it from Naftohaz .", "LSB- 33 -RSB- However , the negotiations between Gazprom and Naftohaz over gas prices and a new gas supply agreement failed .", "LSB- 34 -RSB- On 1 January 2006 , Gazprom started reducing the pressure in the pipelines from Russia to Ukraine .", "Although Russia cut off supplies only to Ukraine , a number of European countries saw a drop in their supplies as well .", "LSB- 3 -RSB- The European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs and several affected member states warned that blocking of gas deliveries was unacceptable .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Pascal Lamy , director general of the World Trade Organisation , expressed the opinion that all Post-Soviet states should pay market prices for their energy needs in order to improve the efficiency of their economies .", "The supply was restored on 4 January 2006 , after the preliminary agreement between Ukraine and Gazprom was settled .", "LSB- 36 -RSB- The five-year contract was signed , although with prices set for only six months .", "According to the contract , the gas was sold not directly to Naftohaz , but to the intermediary Russian-Swiss company RosUkrEnergo .", "The price of natural gas sold by Gazprom to RosUkrEnergo rose to $ 230 per 1,000 cubic metres , which , after mixing it in a proportion of one-third Russian gas to two-thirds cheaper supplies from Central Asia , was resold to Ukraine at a price of $ 95 per 1,000 cubic metres .", "LSB- 37 -RSB- -LSB- 38 -RSB- The parties also agreed to raise the tariff for transit from US$ 1.09 to US$ 1.60 per 1,000 cubic meters per 100 km ; this applied not only to the transit of Russian gas to Europe , but also Turkmen gas through Russia to Ukraine .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- On 11 January 2006 , Presidents Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yushchenko confirmed that the conflict had been concluded .", "One possible reason for this conflict is the more pro-NATO and European Union-style approach of the new `` orange '' government of Ukraine .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Russia disagreed , stating they did not want to subsidize former Soviet republics .", "On 2 October 2007 , Gazprom threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine because of unpaid debt of $ 1.3 billion .", "LSB- 40 -RSB- This dispute appeared to be settled on 8 October 2007 .", "LSB- 41 -RSB- On 5 January 2008 , Gazprom warned Ukraine that it would reduce its gas supplies on 11 January if $ 1.5 billion in gas debts were not paid .", "LSB- 42 -RSB- Presidents Putin and Yushchenko announced on 12 February 2008 , an agreement on the gas issue .", "LSB- 43 -RSB- Ukraine would begin paying off its debts for natural gas consumed in November -- December 2007 and the price of $ 179.5 would be preserved in 2008 .", "LSB- 44 -RSB- -LSB- 44 -RSB- The presidents also decided to replace RosUkrEnergo and UkrGazEnergo with two new intermediaries , creating them as joint ventures of Gazprom and Naftohaz .", "At the end of February 2008 , Gazprom threatened to reduce the supply of natural gas to Ukraine beginning on 3 March 2008 , unless the pre-payment for 2008 was paid .", "LSB- 46 -RSB- -LSB- 47 -RSB- The Ukrainian government said it paid for the natural gas which was consumed in 2007 , but refused to pay the bill for 2008 .", "LSB- 48 -RSB- A Gazprom spokesman claimed that the bill for 1.9 billion cubic metres ( 67 billion cubic feet ) of gas deliveries to Ukraine valued around $ 600 million remained unpaid .", "Ukraine disagreed as that debt accumulated in recent months when Russia used its own gas to make up for a shortfall in less expensive Central Asian gas .", "LSB- 49 -RSB- On 3 March , Gazprom cut its shipments to Ukraine by 25 % and an additional 25 % the next day , claiming that the $ 1.5 billion debt still was not paid , although Ukrainian officials stated it had indeed been paid .", "LSB- 50 -RSB- Gas supplies were restored on 5 March after Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Naftohaz CEO Oleh Dubyna agreed during negotiations by phone on a settlement .", "On 6 March , the Ukrainian cabinet refused to execute the gas agreements made by presidents Yushchenko and Putin .", "The Ukrainian cabinet did not want to pay in advance for 2008 , and it opposed the creation of a Naftohaz -- Gazprom venture that would sell gas in Ukraine .", "LSB- 51 -RSB- Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko stated that Ukraine did not need any additional joint ventures , and as of 1 March 2008 , UkrGazEnergo is no longer operating in Ukraine 's domestic gas market .", "The gas crisis of 2009 began with a failure to reach an agreement on gas prices and supplies for 2009 .", "Ukraine owed a debt of $ 2.4 billion to Gazprom for gas already consumed , and Gazprom requested payment before the commencement of a new supply contract .", "LSB- 53 -RSB- In December 2008 , despite Ukraine 's repayment of more than $ 1 billion of its debt , Gazprom maintained its position , intending to cut the supply of natural gas to Ukraine on 1 January 2009 , if Ukraine did not fully repay the remainder of $ 1.67 billion debt in natural gas supplies and an additional $ 450 million in fines levied by Gazprom .", "LSB- 54 -RSB- -LSB- 55 -RSB- -LSB- 56 -RSB- On 30 December , Naftohaz paid $ 1.522 billion , -LSB- 57 -RSB- of the outstanding debt , but the two parties were not able to agree on the price for 2009 .", "Ukraine proposed a price of $ 201 , and later increased their proposed price to $ 235 , while Gazprom demanded $ 250 per 1,000 cubic meters .", "LSB- 58 -RSB- Negotiations between Gazprom and Naftohaz were interrupted on 31 December .", "On 1 January 2009 , exports to Ukraine of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day were halted completely at 10:00 MSK .", "Exports intended for transhipment to the EU continued at a volume of 300 million cubic meters per day .", "LSB- 60 -RSB- President Yushchenko requested that the European Union become involved in the settlement of this dispute in a letter to the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso .", "LSB- 61 -RSB- A Ukrainian delegation including Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan , Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantin Yeliseyev , the President 's Representative for Energy Issues Bohdan Sokolovsky , and Deputy Head of Naftohaz Vadym Chuprun visited the Czech Republic as the first stop on a tour of a number EU member states to hold consultations on the gas crisis .", "On 2 January 2009 , Hungary , Romania , and Poland reported that pressure in their pipelines had dropped .", "Bulgaria also reported that their natural gas supply was dropping , affecting the shipment of natural gas to Turkey , Greece , and Macedonia .", "Furthermore , the United Kingdom Government announced that it was preparing to enter its gas reserves after gas pressure had dropped from the continent .", "LSB- 64 -RSB- -LSB- 65 -RSB- -LSB- 66 -RSB- On 4 January 2009 , both RosUkrEnergo and Gazprom filed lawsuits against Ukraine and Naftohaz respectively with the Stockholm Tribunal of the Arbitration Institute .", "LSB- 67 -RSB- -LSB- 68 -RSB- Ukraine also filed lawsuits with the tribunal .", "LSB- 69 -RSB- According to Naftohaz , RosUkrEnergo owes the company $ 40 million for services in transportation of natural gas .", "LSB- 70 -RSB- On 5 January 2009 , Kiev 's economic court banned Naftohaz from transshipping Russian natural gas in 2009 at the price of $ 1.60 per 1,600 cubic meters per 100 kilometers .", "The court declared contracts made by Naftohaz for the transit of natural gas through Ukraine void because the contracts were signed by Naftohaz without authorization from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine .", "LSB- 71 -RSB- On 30 March 2010 , the Stockholm tribunal ordered Naftohaz to pay RosUkrEnergo around $ 200 million as a penalty for various breaches of supply , transit , and storage contracts .", "LSB- 72 -RSB- On 8 June 2010 , the tribunal ordered Naftohaz to return 11 billion cubic metres ( 390 billion cubic feet ) of natural gas to RosUkrEnergo .", "The tribunal further ordered that RosUkrEnergo would receive from Naftohaz a further 1.1 billion cubic metres ( 39 billion cubic feet ) of natural gas in lieu of RosUkrEnergo 's damages for breach of contract .", "On 5 January 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin instructed Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller to reduce natural gas exports to Europe via transshipment through Ukraine by quantities equivalent to the amounts of gas which Ukraine had allegedly diverted from the pipelines since deliveries ended on 1 January 2009 .", "LSB- 74 -RSB- On 7 January , all Russian natural gas exports via Ukraine were halted amid accusations between the two parties .", "LSB- 75 -RSB- -LSB- 76 -RSB- -LSB- 77 -RSB- Several countries reported a major fall in supplies of Russian gas starting on 7 January ; Bulgaria , Moldova , and Slovakia were among the most affected by these supply drops .", "Talks between Naftohaz and Gazprom resumed overnight on 8 January 2009 .", "LSB- 75 -RSB- -LSB- 80 -RSB- -LSB- 81 -RSB- Ukraine agreed to guarantee the unfettered transport of natural gas on the condition that Gazprom would guarantee and supply technical gas for Ukraine 's gas transit system to function ; this was denied by Russia .", "LSB- 82 -RSB- The supplies to Europe were not restored although the European Union , Ukraine , and Russia agreed to the deployment of an international monitoring group to the gas metering stations between Russia and Ukraine .", "LSB- 83 -RSB- -LSB- 84 -RSB- -LSB- 85 -RSB- -LSB- 86 -RSB- Naftohaz blocked the transit of gas , blaming a lack of pressure in the pipeline system and saying the design of the Soviet-built pipeline meant it could not ship gas entering through the Sudzha metering station governing gas leaving through the Orlivka metering station without cutting off the Donetsk region , Luhansk region , and portions of the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine .", "LSB- 87 -RSB- -LSB- 88 -RSB- -LSB- 89 -RSB- Naftohaz suggested a technically more feasible alternative through the Valuyki and Pisarevka metering stations but was refused .", "On 17 January 2009 , Russia held an international gas conference in Moscow .", "The EU was represented by the Presidency , the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Martin \u0158\u00edman , and the EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs , so that the European Union could speak with one voice .", "LSB- 93 -RSB- -LSB- 94 -RSB- -LSB- 95 -RSB- Ukraine was represented by the Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko .", "LSB- 96 -RSB- The conference did not achieve any solution to the crisis , and the negotiations continued bilaterally between Prime Ministers Putin and Tymoshenko .", "Early on 18 January 2009 , after five hours of talks , Putin and Tymoshenko reached a deal to restore gas supplies to Europe and Ukraine .", "LSB- 97 -RSB- -LSB- 98 -RSB- Both parties agreed that Ukraine would start paying European prices for its natural gas , less a 20 % discount for 2009 , and that Ukraine would pay the full European market price starting in 2010 .", "In return for the discounts for 2009 , Ukraine agreed to keep its transit fee for Russian gas unchanged in 2009 .", "The two sides also agreed not to use intermediaries .", "LSB- 99 -RSB- -LSB- 99 -RSB- On 19 January 2009 , Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and the head of Naftohaz Oleh Dubyna signed an agreement on natural gas supply to Ukraine for the period of 2009-2019 .", "LSB- 100 -RSB- -LSB- 101 -RSB- -LSB- 102 -RSB- Gas supplies restarted on 20 January 2009 , and were fully restored on 21 January .", "According to the EU Commission and Presidency , the Russia -- Ukraine gas disputes caused irreparable and irreversible damage to customers ' confidence in Russia and Ukraine , causing Russia and Ukraine to no longer be regarded as reliable partners .", "LSB- 89 -RSB- -LSB- 91 -RSB- -LSB- 95 -RSB- According to reports , due to the gas crisis Gazprom lost more than $ 1.1 billion in revenue for the unsupplied gas .", "LSB- 104 -RSB- Ukraine also incurred losses as a result of the temporary closure of its steel and chemical industries due to the lack of gas .", "Ukraine also lost $ 100 million of potential revenue in transit fees from natural gas .", "There were also accusations of illegal diversion of natural gas by Ukraine ; however , these accusations were not confirmed .", "LSB- 105 -RSB- -LSB- 106 -RSB- The issue of technical gas used to fuel compressor stations and to maintain gas pressure in the pipeline network remained unclear .", "LSB- 107 -RSB- -LSB- 108 -RSB- Some sources asserted that the responsibility for providing the technical gas falls to Ukraine , -LSB- 109 -RSB- while others say that this is the responsibility of Gazprom .", "There were several theories as to alleged political motives behind the gas disputes , including Russia exerting pressure on Ukrainian politicians or attempting to subvert EU and NATO expansions to include Ukraine .", "LSB- 111 -RSB- -LSB- 112 -RSB- -LSB- 113 -RSB- Others suggested that Ukraine 's actions were being orchestrated by the United States .", "LSB- 86 -RSB- Both sides tried to win sympathy for their arguments fighting a PR war .", "LSB- 114 -RSB- -LSB- 115 -RSB- In August 2009 , it was agreed that loans worth $ 1.7 billion would be given to Ukraine to help it provide stable supplies of Russian gas to Europe by the International Monetary Fund , the World Bank , and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development , in return for reforms in Ukraine 's gas sector .", "On 28 December 2009 , the Slovakian government announced that Russia warned it would stop oil supplies to Slovakia , Hungary , and the Czech Republic over a transit price dispute with Ukraine .", "LSB- 116 -RSB- However , the next day , Ukraine 's Naftohaz issued a statement confirming that Russia agreed to a 30 % increase in the transit fees through Ukraine .", "The alleged rise in the tariff would be from $ 7.8 to $ 9.50 ( or $ 6.6 ) per tonne of oil going through Ukraine in 2010 .", "Additionally , unlike previous payments , new payments would be made in Euros as this was one of Ukraine 's demands .", "Russia and Ukraine also agreed on the volume of oil to be transported through Ukraine .", "The overall amount of oil to be transported to Slovakia , Czech Republic , and Hungary through Ukraine in 2010 will be 15 million tonnes -- a decrease from 17.1 million tonnes in 2008 .", "After meeting her Russian counterpart Putin , Ukrainian Prime Minister Tymoshenko declared on 3 September 2009 , `` Both sides , Russia and Ukraine , have agreed that at Christmas , there wo n't be -LSB- any halt in gas supplies -RSB- , as usually happens when there are crises in the gas sector .", "Everything will be quite calm on the basis of the current agreements '' .", "LSB- 118 -RSB- Tymoshenko also said that the Ukrainian and Russian premiers had agreed that sanctions would not be imposed on Ukraine for the country buying less gas than expected and that the price of Russian gas transit across Ukraine may grow 65 % till 70 % in 2010 .", "LSB- 119 -RSB- A week before Gazprom had said it expected gas transit fees via Ukraine to rise by up to 59 % in 2010 .", "On 8 October 2009 Tymoshenko announced that Ukrainian 2010 natural gas imports will be significantly less than in previous years `` because we have less need for natural gas '' .", "Because of its economic recession the industries require far less gas .", "In response to Tymoshenko Gazprom Chief Executive Alexey Miller stated that Ukraine should stick to the January ( 2009 ) contract for 2010 .", "On 16 November 2009 Commissioner for Energy at the European Commission Andris Piebalgs stated that Russia and the European Union do not expect another gas conflict with Ukraine .", "According to him there were no gas price negotiations or questions other than that of gas payments .", "On 20 November 2009 , the gas deal of 18 January 2009 , was altered after a meeting between Tymoshenko and Putin in Yalta ; meaning Ukraine would not be fined for buying less gas then the old contract stipulated , this was done in view of the 2008 -- 2009 Ukrainian financial crisis .", "LSB- 121 -RSB- On 24 November 2009 Gazprom and Naftohaz signed these supplements to the contract of 19 January 2009 on the purchase and sale of natural gas ; according to the supplements , the annual contracted amount of gas to be supplied to Ukraine in 2010 has been set at 33.75 billion cubic metres ( 1.192 trillion cubic feet ) , instead of the 52 billion cubic metres ( 1.8 trillion cubic feet ) contracted earlier .", "The documents signed by the sides also stipulated that there will be no fines related to the amount of gas consumed by Naftohaz in 2009 .", "LSB- 122 -RSB- Over the first ten months of 2009 Naftohaz has purchased 18.85 billion cubic metres ( 666 billion cubic feet ) of gas with the contracted volume being 31.7 billion cubic metres ( 1.12 trillion cubic feet ) .", "On 15 December 2009 , Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko stated he expects no problems with Ukraine over gas supplies at New Year .", "Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko were in Moscow late March 2010 to negotiate lower gas prices ; neither clearly explained what Ukraine was prepared to offer in return .", "LSB- 125 -RSB- Following these talks Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated that Russia was prepared to discuss the revision of the price for natural gas it sells to Ukraine .", "On 21 April 2010 , Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed an agreement -LSB- 127 -RSB- in which Russia agreed to a 30 percent drop in the price of natural gas sold to Ukraine .", "Russia agreed to this in exchange for permission to extend Russia 's lease of a major naval base in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol for an additional 25 years with an additional five-year renewal option ( to 2042-47 ) .", "LSB- 128 -RSB- As of June 2010 Ukraine pays Gazprom around $ 234/mcm ( thousand cubic meter ) .", "This agreement was subject to approval by both the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments .", "LSB- 128 -RSB- They did ratify the agreement on 27 April 2010 .", "LSB- 130 -RSB- The Ukrainian parliament ratified it after several eggs were thrown towards the speaker , Volodymyr Lytvyn , by deputies and other incidents .", "LSB- 131 -RSB- -LSB- 132 -RSB- -LSB- 133 -RSB- Opposition members in Ukraine and Russia expressed doubts the agreement would be fulfilled by the Ukrainian side .", "Yanukovych has defended the agreement as a tool to help stabilise the state budget .", "LSB- 135 -RSB- Opposition members in Ukraine described the agreement as a sell out of national interests .", "LSB- 135 -RSB- In February 2014 , Ukraine 's state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz sued Chornomornaftogaz for delayed debt payments of 11.614 billion UAH ( almost $ 1 billion ) in the Economic Court of the Crimean Autonomous Republic .", "LSB- 136 -RSB- In March 2014 , Crimean authorities announced that they would nationalize the company .", "LSB- 137 -RSB- Crimean deputy prime minister Rustam Temirgaliev said that Russia 's Gazprom would be its new owner .", "LSB- 138 -RSB- A group of Gazprom representatives , including its head of business development , has been working at the Chornomornaftogaz head office since mid-March 2014 .", "LSB- 139 -RSB- On April 1 , Russia 's energy minister Alexander Novak said that Gazprom would finance an undersea gas pipeline to Crimea .", "On 11 April 2014 the U.S. Treasury 's Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) announced that it had added Chornomornaftagaz to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List as part of the third round of U.S. sanctions .", "LSB- 141 -RSB- Reuters quoted an anonymous U.S. official who explained that the United States wanted to make it impossible for Gazprom to `` have dealings with Chornomorneftegaz '' , and if that were to happen , Gazprom itself could face sanctions .", "The European Union followed suit on May 13 , 2014 , the first time its sanctions list has included a company ( in addition to Chornomorneftegaz , a Crimean oil supplier called Feodosia was also included ) .", "LSB- 142 -RSB- -LSB- 143 -RSB- In an attempt at energy independence , Naftogaz signed a pipeline access deal with Slovakia 's Eustream on April 28 , 2014 .", "Eustream and its Ukrainian counterpart Ukrtransgaz , owned by Naftogaz , agreed to allow Ukraine to use a never used ( but aging , at 20 years old ) pipeline on Slovakia 's eastern border with Uzhhorod in western Ukraine .", "The deal would provide Ukraine with 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas beginning in autumn of 2014 with the aim of increasing that amount to 10 billion cubic meters in 2015 .", "On 1 April 2014 Gazprom cancelled Ukraine 's natural gas discount as agreed in the 17 December 2013 Ukrainian -- Russian action plan because its debt to the company had risen to $ 1.7 billion since 2013 .", "LSB- 144 -RSB- -LSB- 145 -RSB- Later that month the price `` automatically '' jumped to $ 485 per 1,000 cubic meters because the Russian government annulled an export-duty exemption for Gazprom in place since the 2010 Kharkiv Pact ( this agreement was denounced by Russia on 31 March 2014 -LSB- 146 -RSB- ) .", "LSB- 147 -RSB- -LSB- 148 -RSB- On 16 June 2014 Gazprom stated that Ukraine 's debt to the company was $ 4.5 billion .", "LSB- 147 -RSB- On 30 May 2014 Ukraine paid $ 786 million to Gazprom .", "After intermediary ( that had started in May 2014 -LSB- 147 -RSB- ) trilateral talks between EU Energy Commissioner G\u00fcnther Oettinger , Ukraine and Russia failed on 15 June 2014 the latter halted ( after a deadline of 10 a.m. Moscow time passed without it receiving payment -LSB- 147 -RSB- ) its natural gas supplies to Ukraine the next day .", "LSB- 144 -RSB- Unilaterally Gazprom decided that Ukraine had to pay upfront for its natural gas .", "LSB- 150 -RSB- The company assured that its supplies to other European countries would continue .", "LSB- 150 -RSB- Ukraine vowed to `` provide reliable supply of gas to consumers in Ukraine and we will provide reliable transit to the European Union '' .", "LSB- 147 -RSB- At the time about 15 percent of European Union 's demand depended on Russian natural gas piped through Ukraine .", "After trilateral months of talks between the European Union , Ukraine and Russia a deal was reached on 30 October 2014 in which Ukraine agreed to pay ( in advance ) $ 378 per 1,000 cubic metres to the end of 2014 , and $ 365 in the first quarter ( ending on 31 March ) of 2015 .", "LSB- 151 -RSB- Of its debts to Gazprom Ukraine agreed to pay of $ 1.45 bn immediately , and $ 1.65 bn by the end of 2014 .", "LSB- 151 -RSB- It was agreed that the European Union will be acting as guarantor for Ukraine 's gas purchases from Russia and would help to meet outstanding debts ( using funds from existing accords with the European Union and IMF ) .", "LSB- 151 -RSB- The total package was worth $ 4.6 bn .", "LSB- 151 -RSB- According to European Union officials the deal secured that there would be no natural gas supply disruptions in other European countries .", "On 25 November 2015 Gazprom halted its exports of Russian natural gas to Ukraine .", "LSB- 152 -RSB- According to the Ukrainian government they had stopped buying from Gazprom because Ukraine did buy natural gas cheaper from other suppliers .", "LSB- 152 -RSB- According to Gazprom it had halted deliveries because Ukraine had not paid them for the next delivery .", "Political pressure Russia to Ukraine led to the emergence of a public campaign to boycott Russian goods in Ukraine during the gas conflict of 2005-2006 .", "Active actions in the campaign also continued in early 2009 - during the gas war of 2008-2009 ."], "_citing_sentence": "Events such as the dispute between Russia and the Ukraine over gas supplies demonstrated that the EU's energy can easily be disrupted by political situations outside its control.", "_claim_name": "Nuclear power gives countries energy security and self-sufficiency", "_doc_title": "Russia\u2013Ukraine gas disputes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 101, "_topic_name": "This House would go nuclear"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["`` We can not accept the view that Amendment 2 's prohibition on specific legal protections does no more than deprive homosexuals of special rights .", "To the contrary , the amendment imposes a special disability on those persons alone .", "Homosexuals are forbidden the safeguards that others enjoy or may seek without constraint '' - Justice Anthony Kennedy , writing for the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court in the decision overturning Colorado 's Amendment 2 referendum", "Ask just about anyone .", "They 'll all tell you they 're in favor of equal rights for homosexuals .", "Just name the situation , and ask .", "They 'll all say , yes , gays should have the same rights in housing , jobs , public accomodations , and should have equal access to government benefits , equal protection of the law , etcetera , etcetera .", "Then you get to gay marriage .", "And that 's when all this talk of equality stops dead cold .", "About half of people in the U.S. support gay marriage , far less than those who are otherwise supportive of legally enforced gay rights ( about 75 % ) .", "This means that many of the same people who are even passionately in favor of gay rights oppose gays on this one issue .", "Why all the passion ?", "It 's because there is a lot of misunderstanding about what homosexuality really is , as well as the erroneous assumption that gay people enjoy the same civil rights protections as everyone else .", "There are also a lot of stereotypes about gay relationships , and even a great deal of misunderstanding of what marriage itself is all about .", "The purpose of this essay is to clear up a few of these misunderstandings and discuss some of facts surrounding gay relationships and marriage , gay and straight .", "First , lets discuss what gay relationships are really all about .", "The long-standing , but increasingly obsolete stereotype has it that gays are promiscuous , unable to form lasting relationships , and the relationships that do form are shallow and uncommitted .", "And gays do have such relationships !", "But the important fact to note is that just like in straight society , where such relationships also exist , they are a small minority , and exist primarily among the very young .", "Indeed , one of the most frequent complaints of older gay men is that it is almost impossible to find quality single men to get into a relationship with , because they 're already all ` taken ! '", "If you attend any gay event , such as a Pride festival or a PFLAG convention , you 'll find this to be true .", "As gays age and mature , just like their straight cohorts , they begin to appreciate and find their way into long-term committed relationships .", "The values that such gay couples exhibit in their daily lives are often indistinguishable from those of their straight neighbors .", "They 're loyal to their mates , are monogamous , devoted partners .", "They value and participate in family life , are committed to making their neighborhoods and communities safer and better places to live , and honor and abide by the law .", "Many make valuable contributions to their communities , serving on school boards , volunteering in community charities , and trying to be good citizens .", "In doing so , they take full advantage of their relationship to make not only their own lives better , but those of their neighbors as well .", "A benefit to heterosexual society of gay marriage is the fact that the commitment of a marriage means the participants are discouraged from promiscous sex .", "This has the advantage of slowing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases , which know no sexual orientation and are equal opportunity destroyers .", "These benefits of gay marriage have changed the attitudes of the majority of people in Denmark and other countries where various forms of gay marriage have been legal for years .", "Indeed , in 1989 , when the proposal to legalize marriage between gays first was proposed in Denmark , the majority of the clergy were opposed .", "Now , after having seen the benefits to the partners and to society , they are overwhelmingly in favor , according to the surveys done then and now .", "So , having established the value of gay marriage , why are people so opposed to it ?", "Many of the reasons offered for opposing gay marriage are based on the assumption that gays have a choice in who they can feel attracted to , and the reality is quite different .", "Many people actually believe that gays could simply choose to be heterosexual if they wished .", "But the reality is that very few do have a choice -- any more than very few heterosexuals could choose which sex to find themselves attracted to .", "Additionally , many people continue to believe that homosexuality is about nothing but sex , considering it to be merely a sexual perversion .", "The reality is that homosexuality is multidimensional , and is much more about love and affection than it is about sex .", "And this is what gay relationships are based on -- mutual attraction , love and affection .", "Sex is a means of expressing that love , just the same as it is for heterosexuals .", "Being gay is much more profound than simply a sexual relationship ; being gay is part of that person 's core indentity , and goes right the very center of his being .", "It 's like being black in a society of whites , or a blonde European in a nation of black-haired Asians .", "Yes , being gay is just that profound to the person who is .", "This is something that few heterosexuals can understand unless they are a minority themselves .", "Science itself has finally weighed in on the reasons why conservatives in particular are so opposed to gay marriage .", "It has a lot to do with the conservative mindset , of placing high values on a sacred , valued in-group - the married - and the intrusion into that sacred group of a largely despised out-group - gays .", "So now we know why conservatives as a group is in opposition to gay marriage , but there are additional , subtle reasons which will be delineated below , which address individual concerns , not necessarily related to a general conservative worldview .", "The Arguments Against Gay Marriage", "Well , of course there are a lot of reasons being offered these days for opposing gay marriage , and they are usually variations on a few well-established themes .", "Interestingly , the Supreme Court in Hawaii has heard them all .", "And it found , after due deliberation , that they did n't hold water .", "Here 's a summary of the common reasons given : 1 .", "Marriage is an institution between one man and one woman .", "Well , that 's the most often heard argument , one even codified in a recently passed U.S. federal law .", "Yet it is easily the weakest .", "Who says who marriage is to be defined by ?", "Is n't that kind of like allowing a banker to decide who is going to own the money in stored in his vaults ?", "It seems to me that if the straight community can not show a compelling reason to deny the institution of marriage to gay people , it should n't be denied .", "And such simple , nebulous declarations are hardly a compelling reason .", "They 're really more like an expression of prejudce than any kind of a real argument .", "The concept of not denying people their rights unless you can show a compelling reason to do so is the very basis of the American ideal of human rights .", "Marriage is for procreation .", "The proponents of that argument are really hard pressed to explain why , if that 's the case , that infertile couples are allowed to marry .", "I , for one , would love to be there when the proponent of such an argument is to explain to his post-menopausal mother or impotent father that since they can not procreate , they must now surrender their wedding rings !", "That would be fun to watch !", "Again , such an argument fails to persuade based on the marriages society does allow routinely , without even a second thought .", "Same-sex couples are n't the optimum environment in which to raise children .", "That 's an interesting one , in light of who society does allow to get married and bring children into their marriage .", "Check it out : murderers , convicted felons of all sorts , even known child molesters are all allowed to freely marry and procreate , and do so every day , with hardly a second thought by these same critics .", "So if children are truly the priority here , why is this allowed ?", "Why are the advocates of this argument not working to prohibit the above categories of people from raising children ?", "The fact is that many gay couples raise children , adopted and occasionally their own from failed attempts at heterosexual marriages .", "Lots and lots of scientific studies have shown that the outcomes of the children raised in the homes of gay and lesbian couples are just as good as those of straight couples .", "The differences have been shown again and again to be insignificant .", "Psychologists tell us that what makes the difference is the love of the parents , not their gender .", "The studies are very clear about that .", "And gay people are as capable of loving children as fully as anyone else .", "Gay relationships are immoral and violate the sacred institution of marriage .", "Somehow , I always thought that freedom of religion implied the right to freedom from religion as well .", "The Bible has absolutely no standing in American law ( and none other than the father of the American democracy , Thomas Jefferson , very proudly took credit for that fact ) , and because it does n't , no one has the right to impose rules anyone else simply because of something they percieve to be mandated by the Bible .", "Not all world religions have a problem with homosexuality ; many sects of Buddhism , for example , celebrate gay relationships freely and would like to have the authority to make them legal marriages .", "In that sense , their religious freedom is being infringed .", "If one believes in religious freedom , the recognition that opposition to gay marriage is based on religious arguments is reason enough to discount this argument .", "Marriages are for ensuring the continuation of the species .", "The proponents of such an argument are going to have a really hard time persuading me that the human species is in any real danger of dying out through lack of procreation .", "If the ten percent of all the human race that is gay were to suddenly refrain from procreation , I think it is safe to say that the world would probably be better off .", "One of the world 's most serious problems is overpopulation and the increasing anarchy that is resulting from it .", "Seems to me that gays would be doing the world a favor by not bringing more hungry mouths into an already overburdened world .", "So why encourage them ?", "The vacuity of this argument is seen in the fact that those who raise this objection never object to infertile couples marrying ; indeed , when their retired single parent , long past reproductive age , seeks to marry , the usual reaction is how cute and sweet that is .", "That fact alone shows how false this argument really is .", "Let 's face it - marriage is about love and commitment , and support for that commitment , not about procreation .", "Same-sex marriage would threaten the institution of marriage .", "That one 's contradictory right on the face of it .", "By allowing people to marry ?", "That does n't sound very logical to me .", "If you allow gay people to marry each other , you no longer encourage them to marry people to whom they feel little attraction , with whom they most often can not relate sexually , and thereby reduce the number of supposed heterosexual marriages that end up in the divorce courts .", "If it is the institution of heterosexual marriage that worries you , then consider that no one would require you or anyone else to participate in a gay marriage .", "So you would have freedom of choice , of choosing what kind of marriage to participate in -- something more than what you have now .", "And speaking of divorce -- to argue that the institution of marriage is worth preserving at the cost of requiring involuntary participants to remain in it is a better argument for tightening divorce laws than proscribing gay marriage .", "We should n't alter heterosexual marriage , which is a traditional institution that goes back to the dawn of time .", "This is morally the weakest argument .", "Slavery was also a traditional institution , based on traditions that went back to the very beginnings of human history .", "But by the 19th century , humankind had realized the evils of that institution , and abolished its legal status .", "So what happened to tradition ?", "In the first place , no one is proposing the alteration of heterosexual marriage at all .", "Heterosexuals may still marry ( and divorce ) at will - entirely unaffected by the institution of gay marriage .", "No change there - not even one whit .", "Then there is the issue of divorce .", "If we are supposed to worship the traditional status and nature of marriage , why do we freely allow divorce , which has only been legal in most states for just a few decades ?", "To suggest to most of the ardent supporters of this argument that they should not only be married , but will get only one shot at getting it right , and a mistake will and must permanently ruin their life , will sound onerous .", "But how less onerous is the notion that one will have to marry someone one can not love and to whom one can not relate , if one is to enjoy the benefits of marriage ?", "Clearly , this hypocrisy - on the one hand , asserting the importance of the traditional nature of marriage , while allowing its destruction through the thoroughly modern concept of divorce with hardly a second thought - demonstrates very clearly that this really is n't about traditional definitions at all , it 's about using this argument as a cover for another , less acceptable motivation .", "Why not recognize the hypocrisy - that there is no sound moral ground on which to support the notion of worshipfully traditional heterosexual marriage while freely allowing its destruction through divorce ?", "Would n't it just be better to recognize that the concept of marriage is not as rigidly traditional and fixed as claimed ?", "Same-sex marriage is an untried social experiment .", "The American critics of same-sex marriage betray their provincialism with this argument .", "The fact is that a form of gay marriage has been legal in Denmark since 1989 ( full marriage rights except for adoption rights and church weddings , and a proposal now exists in the Danish parliament to allow both of those rights as well ) , and most of the rest of Scandinavia from not long after .", "Full marriage rights have existed in many Dutch cities for several years , and it was recently made legal nationwide , including the word `` marriage '' to describe it .", "In other words , we have a long-running `` experiment '' to examine for its results -- which have uniformly been positive .", "Opposition to the Danish law was led by the clergy ( much the same as in the States ) .", "A survey conducted at the time revealed that 72 percent of Danish clergy were opposed to the law .", "It was passed anyway , and the change in the attitude of the clergy there has been dramatic -- a survey conducted in 1995 indicated that 89 percent of the Danish clergy now admit that the law is a good one and has had many beneficial effects , including a reduction in suicide , a reduction in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and in promiscuity and infidelity among gays .", "Far from leading to the `` destruction of Western civilization '' as some critics ( including the Mormon and Catholic churches among others ) have warned , the result of the `` experiment '' has actually been civilizing and strengthening , not just to the institution of marriage , but to society as a whole .", "So perhaps we should accept the fact that someone else has already done the `` experiment '' and accept the results as positive .", "The fact that many churches are not willing to accept this evidence says more about the churches than it does about gay marriage .", "Same-sex marriage would start us down a `` slippery slope '' towards legalized incest , bestial marriage , polygamy and all manner of other horrible consequences .", "A classic example of the reductio ad absurdum fallacy , it is calculated to instill fear in the mind of anyone hearing the argument .", "It is , of course , absolutely without any merit based on experience .", "If the argument were true , would n't that have already happened in countries where forms of legalized gay marriage already exist ?", "Would n't they have ` slid ' towards legalized incest and bestial marriage ?", "The reality is that a form of gay marriage has been legal in Scandinavian countries for many years , and no such legalization has happened , nor has there been a clamor for it .", "It 's a classic scare tactic - making the end scenario so scary and so horrible that the first step should never be taken .", "Such are the tactics of the fear and hatemongers .", "If concern over the `` slippery slope '' were the real motive behind this argument , the advocate of this line of reasoning would be equally vocal about the fact that today , even as you read this , convicted murderers , child molesters , known pedophiles , drug pushers , pimps , black market gun dealers , etc. , are quite free to marry , and are doing so every day .", "Where 's the outrage ?", "Of course there is n't any , and that lack of outrage betrays their real motives .", "This is an anti-gay issue and not a pro marriage or child protection issue .", "Granting gays the right to marry is a `` special '' right .", "Since ninety percent of the population already have the right to marry the informed , consenting adult of their choice , and would even consider that right a fundamental , constitutionally protected right , since when does extending it to the rest constitute a `` special '' right to that remaining ten percent ?", "As Justice Kennedy observed in his opinion overturning Colorado 's infamous Amendment 2 ( Roemer vs. Evans ) , many gay and lesbian Americans are , under current law , denied civil rights protections that others either do n't need or assume that everyone else along with themselves , already have .", "The problem with all that special rights talk is that it proceeds from that very assumption , that because of all the civil rights laws in this country that everyone is already equal , so therefore any rights gay people are being granted must therefore be special .", "That is most assuredly not the case , especially regarding marriage and all the legal protections that go along with it .", "Churches would be forced to marry gay people against their will .", "This one has absolutely no basis in law whatever , existing or proposed .", "There are many marriages to which many churches object , such as interracial marriage , interfaith marriage , the marriage of divorcees , etc. , and yet no state law of which I am aware requires any church to marry any couple when that church objects to performance of that particular marriage .", "The right granted by the state to a church to perform marriages is a right , not a requirement , and to pretend that it would be a requirement in the case of gays , but not in the above examples , is disingenuous on the face of it .", "If gay marriage is legalized , homosexuality would be promoted in the public schools .", "Gay marriage is already legal in several states and many foreign countries , including Canada , but can anyone point to an example of homosexuality being promoted in the public schools ?", "Because it has n't happened in any significant way .", "What is being objected to is tolerance of gays , not genuine promotion of homosexuality .", "And if tolerance itself is not acceptable , what is the absence of tolerance ?", "It is bigotry .", "If we do not promote tolerance in the public schools , we are accepting that bigotry has a place there .", "Is this really what we want ?", "Gay marriage and its associated promotion of homosexuality would undermine western civilization .", "Homosexuality is as old as civilization itself , and has always been a part of civilization , including this one - indeed , cross-cultural studies indicate that the percentage of homosexuals in a population is independent of culture .", "So even if promotion of homosexuality were to occur , it would n't change anything - people are n't gay because they were `` recruited , '' they 're gay because they were born that way , as the population statistics across cultures makes clear .", "As for gay marriage itself undermining western civilization , it is hard to see how the promotion of love , commitment , sharing and commonality of values and goals is n't going to strengthen civilization a lot sooner than it is going to undermine it .", "Gay marriage has been legal , in various forms , in parts of Europe for more than twenty years , and in Canada and many states in the United States for some time now , but can anyone point to any credible evidence that gay marriage itself is leading to the crumbling of western civilization ?", "If they can , it certainly has n't been presented to me .", "If gay people really want to get married , all they have to do is to become straight and marry someone of the opposite sex .", "There are several problems with this argument , the first of which is that it presumes that sexual orientation is a choice .", "This lie is promoted so endlessly by bigoted religious leaders that it has become accepted as fact by society as a whole , and it was advanced , beginning in the 1980 's , for the purpose of discrediting the gay rights movement .", "But the reality is that a half century of social research on this subject , consisting of thousands of studies , beginning with the Kinsey and Minnesota Twin studies of the 1950 's and continuing to the present , has shown conclusively - beyond any reasonable doubt - that among males , sexual orientation is only very slightly flexible , and among females , it is only modestly more so .", "That homosexuality is congenital , inborn , and has a strong genetic component .", "In other words , if you 're gay , you 're gay and there is little that you do about it , regardless of the endless propaganda to the contrary .", "Another problem with this argument is that it presumes that heterosexuality , if it were a choice , is self-evidently a more desireable and/or morally superior choice to make .", "This is a qualitative argument with whom many gay people - and many thinking straight people as well , both religious and secular - would take issue .", "A third problem is that this argument presumes that someone else has the right to veto your presumed choice sexual orientation on the basis that they are not comfortable with the choice you have made .", "It is difficult for me to see how any religionist or anti-gay bigot , however sincere and well-meaning , has the right to arrogate to himself that veto power .", "Or , frankly , why a homosexual should be forced to go out of his way to make bigots comfortable with their bigotry .", "A fourth , legalistic problem with this argument is that it presumes that if the choice of sexual orientation can be made , the voluntary nature of that choice removes any and all right to the protection of the law for the choice which has been made .", "But I would point out that the First Amendment to the United States constitution protects , by constitutional fiat itself , a purely voluntary choice - that of religion .", "So if it is acceptable to argue that unpopular sexual minorities have no right to equal protection of the law because they can avoid disadvantage or persecution by voluntarily changing the choice they have presumably made , then it is equally true that the First Amendment should not include protection for choice in religion , because no rational person could argue that religious belief is itself not a choice .", "In other words , this is like arguing that you should not expect legal protection from being persecuted because you are a Mormon or a Catholic ; the solution to such disadvantage or persecution is simple : just become a Southern Baptist or whatever .", "I have never , ever seen a religious opponent of homosexuality who is asserting that homosexuality is a choice , advance that last point with regards to religion - a fact which very glaringly demonstrates the clearly bigoted character of this argument .", "The real reasons people oppose gay marriage", "So far , we 've examined the reasons everyone give for opposing gay marriage .", "Let 's examine now the real reasons people oppose it , even fear it : 1 .", "Just not comfortable with the idea .", "The fact the people are n't comfortable with the idea stems primarily from the fact that for many years , society has promoted the idea that a marriage between members of the same sex is ludicrous , mainly because of the objections raised above .", "But if those objections do n't make sense , neither does the idea that gay marriage is neccessarily ludicrous .", "Societies have long recognized that allowing civil rights to certain groups may offend some , and at times , even the majority .", "But that is why constitutional government was established -- to ensure that powerless , unpopular minorities are still protected from the tyranny of the majority .", "It offends everything religion stands for .", "Many mainstream Christian denominations , to be sure , and definitely most branches of Islam and Orthodox Judaism , but outside those , most religions are unopposed to gay marriage , and many actually favor it .", "When the Mormon church arrogantly claimed to represent all religions in the Baehr vs. Lewin trial in Hawaii , the principal Buddhist sect in that state made it very clear that the Mormon church did n't represent them , and made it very clear that they support the right of gay couples to marry .", "That particular Buddhist sect claims many more members in Hawaii than does the Mormon church .", "In a society that claims to offer religious freedom , the use of the power of the state to enforce private religious sensibilities is an affront to all who would claim the right to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience .", "Marriage is a sacred institution and gay marriage violates that sanctity .", "This is , of course , related to the motive above .", "But it is really subtly different .", "It 's based on the assumption that the state has the responsibility to `` sanctify '' marriages - a fundamentally religious idea .", "Here we 're dealing with people trying to enforce their religious doctrines on someone else , but by doing it through weakening the separation of church and state , by undermining the Bill of Rights .", "Not that there 's anything new about this , of course .", "But the attempt itself runs against the grain of everything the First Amendment stands for - one does not truly have freedom of religion if one does not have the right to freedom from religion as well .", "It would seem to me that anyone who feels that the sanctity of their marriage is threatened by a gay couple down the street having the right to marry , is mighty insecure about their religion anyway .", "Even if one accepts the presumption of the United States as a bible-believing , Christian nation as an acceptable legal doctrine , as many conservative Christians insist , and the bible should be the basis for the sacred institution of marriage , perhaps those Christians should get out their bibles and actually read them for a change .", "Including all the inconvenient passages that not only permit but can even require polygamy , involuntary marriage and the like .", "How about Deuteronomy 25:5 -10 , for example : `` When brothers reside together , and one of them dies and has no son , the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger .", "Her husband 's brother shall go in to her , taking her in marriage and performing the duty of a husband 's brother to her , and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother , so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel .", "But if the man has no desire to marry his brother 's widow , then his brother 's widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say ` My husband 's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother 's name in Israel ; he will not perform the duty of a husband 's brother to me .", "Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him .", "If he persists , saying ' I have no desire to marry her , ' then his brother 's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders , pull his sandal from his foot , spit in his face , and declare ` This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother 's house .", "Throughout Israel his family will be known as ` the house of him whose sandal was pulled off . ' ''", "If the Bible is sacred and inviolate when it comes to the institution of marriage , then the above passage and all the other inconvenient ones require reverence too , do they not ?", "If the Christian is going to say , well , that 's old , quaint and should no longer be expected to apply , well , then , that 's exactly the point !", "The institution of marriage as it is practiced in the real world is a culturally defined institution , not biblically defined , as a reading of the above quotation should make quite clear , and it is high time we recognize and face up to the cold reality that cultural values have changed since the bible was written , and the institution of marriage has changed along with it .", "Gay marriage is simply part of that evolutionary process of social progress .", "Gay sex is unnatural .", "This argument , often encoded in the very name of sodomy statutes , betrays a considerable ignorance of behavior in the animal kingdom .", "The fact is that among the approximately 1500 animal species whose behavior has been extensively studied , homosexual behavior in animals has been described in at least 450 of those species .", "It runs the gamut , too , ranging from occasional displays of affection to life-long pair bonding including sex and even adopting and raising orphans , going so far as the rejection by force of potential heterosexual partners .", "The reality is that it is so common that it begs for an explanation , and sociobiologists have proposed a wide variety of explanations to account for it .", "The fact that it is so common also means that it has evolutionary significance , which applies as much to humans as it does to other animal species .", "A man making love to another man betrays everything that is masculine .", "Well , I 've known ( and dated ) plenty of very masculine gay men in my day , including champion bull-riding rodeo cowboys and a Hell 's Angel biker type , who , if you suggested he is a limp-wristed fairy , would likely rip your head off and hand it to you .", "There was a long-honored tradition of gay relationships among the tough and macho cowboys of the Old West , and many diaries exist , detailing their relationships .", "In fact , the Autrey Museum of the Old West in Los Angeles recently did an exhibition of this little-told story .", "Plenty of masculine , respected movies stars are gay .", "Indeed , Rock Hudson was considered the very archtype of a masculine man .", "Came as quite a shock to a lot of macho-men to find out he was gay !", "So what 's wrong with all these kinds of men expressing love for each other ?", "Why is that so wrong ?", "A society that devalues love devalues that upon which civilized society itself is based .", "Should any form of that love for one another be discouraged ?", "The base fear here is that of rape and a loss of control or loss of masculine status .", "This is instinctual and goes right to the core of our being as primates .", "If you examine what happens in many animal species , especially displays of dominance in other primate species , dominance displays often have sexual overtones .", "When , for example , in many species of primates , a subordinate male is faced with aggression by a dominant male , the dominant male will bite the subordinate , causing him to squeal in pain , drop the food ( or the female ) and present his rump .", "This is an act of submission , and it is saying to the whole troupe that the subordinate is just that - subordinate .", "It has been suggested that homophobia is an instinctual fear of being raped by someone that the homophobe regards as lower than him in status .", "And the notion that a gay man might rape him is an instinctual fear .", "This happens in humans just as it does in other primates .", "It is the cause of homosexual rape in prisons .", "Prison rape is not an act of sex as much as it is an assertion of dominance and a means of control .", "Nearly all of the men who aggressively rape other men in a prison setting actually revert to promiscuous heterosexual sex once they 're on the outside .", "So is this something straight men should fear from gay men ?", "Well , relax , all you straight guys .", "You 've nothing to worry about .", "The vast majority of gay men prefer sex in the same emotional setting you do as a straight man with a woman - as a part of the expression of love , affection and commitment .", "We 're not out to rape you or force you into a subordinate position .", "The majority of gay men do n't want sex with you because we 're looking for the same thing in a sexual relationship that you do - the love and affection of a partner .", "Since we 're not likely to get that from you , you 're not desirable to us and you have nothing to fear from us .", "The small minority of us ( and it 's a very small minority ) who enjoy sex with straight men understand your fears and are not going to have sex with you unless it 's clearly and completely on a peer-to-peer basis and your requirement for full and complete consent and need for discretion is honored .", "The thought of gay sex is repulsive .", "This is the so-called `` ick factor . ''", "Well , it will come as some surprise to a lot of heterosexuals to find out that , to a lot of gays , the thought of heterosexual sex is repulsive !", "But does that mean the discomfort of some gays to heterosexual couples should be a reason to deny heterosexuals the right to marry ?", "I do n't think so , even though the thought of a man kissing a woman is rather repulsive to many homosexuals !", "Well then , why should it work the other way ?", "Besides , the same sexual practices that gays engage in are often engaged in by heterosexual couples anyway .", "Prompting the ever-popular gay T-shirt : `` SO-DO-MY -- SO DO MY neighbors , SO DO MY friends . ''", "They might recruit .", "The core cause of this fear is the result of the fact that most virulent , even violent homophobes are themselves repressed sexually , often with same sex attractions .", "One of the recent studies done at the University of Georgia among convicted killers of gay men has shown that the overwhelmingly large percentage of them exhibit sexual arousal when shown scenes of gay sex .", "The fear , then , for the homophobe is that he himself might be gay , and might be forced to face that fact .", "The homophobia is as internalized as it is externalized - bash the queer and you do n't have to worry about being aroused by him .", "The fear of recruitment is baseless because it is based on a false premise - that gay people recruit .", "We do n't .", "We do n't recruit because we know from our own experience that sexual orientation is inborn , and ca n't be changed to any significant degree .", "Indeed , the attempts by psychologists , counselors and religious therapy and support groups to change sexual orientation have all uniformly met with failure - the studies that have been done of these therapies have never shown any significant results , and usually create psychological damage in the process , which is why they are uniformly condemned by mental health professional associations .", "So the notion that someone can be changed from straight to gay is quite unlikely .", "Yet there remains that deep , dark fear that somehow , someone might be .", "Gay marriage would undermine sodomy laws .", "Because it would be hard to justify , before a court , allowing a couple to marry and then legally bar them from having sexual relations , many conservative religionists privately oppose gay marriage in part because it would undermine the legal basis for sodomy laws , which , even though they have been struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court ( Lawrence vs. Texas ) , they are still dreamed of by those who would seek to legalize discrimination against gays - and are occasionally still enforced in some states , in spite of the fact that the laws have been invalidated and doing so is quite illegal and opens the state to civil lawsuit .", "In several states , gays convicted under these invalidated laws are even still being required to register as sex offenders .", "Gay marriage would legitimize homosexuality .", "This presumes that homosexuality is something other than simply a normal variation of human development .", "The reality is that every mental health association has recognized that homosexuality is a perfectly normal variation on how humans develop , and there is now a substantial body of evidence from science that there are sound reasons why it has evolved , and why it is not selected against in evolutionary pressure .", "It is not perverted , it does not degrade human culture , it is not a threat to humankind in any way .", "All those stereotypes , long cultivated by homophobes and religious bigots , have been disproven both by experience and by scientific research , but that does not prevent the homophobe from holding to them dearly .", "And allowing state sanction in the form of marriage , threatens the stereotype by undermining the justification for it .", "At the end of the day , the opposition to gay marriage stems ultimately from a deep-seated homophobia in American culture , borne almost entirely out of religious prejudice .", "While many Americans do not realize that that homophobia exists to the extent that it does , it is a very real part of every gay person 's life , just like racism is a very real part of every black person 's life .", "It is there , it is pervasive , and it has far more serious consequences for American society than most Americans realize , not just for gay people , but for society in general .", "The Anti-Gay-Marriage Propaganda Effort", "That the organized opposition to gay marriage is primarily from groups with an obvious homophobic agenda should be self evident if one looks at who they are and what they are doing outside of the arena of the gay marriage debate .", "That many of them call themselves `` Christian '' does not , in any way , relieve them of the responsibility for the fact that preaching hate is still preaching hate , even when the hate is dressed up in the form of religious doctrine .", "Putting lipstick on a pig does not make it any less a pig .", "These are some of the most respected religious organizations in the United States .", "One of the most persistent and vigorous players is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , better known as the Mormons .", "It was the vigorous organization and strong fundraising effort by the Mormon church that raised approximately 70 % of the money that came into California from out of state , to push the campaign for Proposition 8 , a ballot measure that amended that state 's constitution to prohibit gay marriage and even the recognition of gay marriages performed elsewhere .", "Other players were the usual suspects , the Catholic church , several of the more conservative Protestant denominations , the American Family Association , Focus On The Family , their various political subsidiary groups , and a whole host of smaller right-wing political and religious organizations , including a few out-right hate groups .", "The Southern Poverty Law Center maintains a `` hate group '' watch on many of these groups .", "What these groups do , persistently , is to try desperately to legitimize what is clearly a campaign of hatred , fear and disinformation .", "The people of California saw that recently , when the campaign for Proposition 8 used just that tactic relentlessly , for months on end , spending millions of dollars in the process .", "Eventually the fear and disinformation campaign took its toll , emotion overtook reason , the majority in favor of gay marriage slowly eroded , and the proposition passed rather narrowly .", "Hatred by itself , dressed up as religious dogma has been used for so long that it is beginning to lose its effectiveness ( eventually people begin to figure out that it is mostly a tactic for filling pews , collection plates and campaign coffers more than it is a way of reforming lost souls and improving society ) , so the more clever of these organizations have begun to move onto a slick propaganda effort based on that long-time favorite argument-winner - fear .", "Of course , the all time favorite among those fearmongering tactics is that logical fallacy called the slippery-slope argument , described briefly above .", "One sees the slippery-slope fallacy in almost every one of their arguments , because they have few logically sound arguments to which to resort .", "Take , for example , one of the most popular anti-gay-marriage web sites out there , one so frequently clicked-on that it frequently comes to the top of Google results , the `` Ten Arguments '' page at nogaymarriage.com ( as retrieved on 6/3/09 ) .", "This web site is operated by the notorious American Family Association , run by Donald Wildmon , and one need only read that organization 's Wikipedia entry ( in its entirety ) to understand just what kind of organization is behind this page .", "Among those `` ten arguments , '' the slippery-slope fallacy ( often more than one ) can be seen clearly in every one of the ten .", "But for every slippery slope argument that Wildmon 's organization has identified here , there is not a shred of verifiable evidence given for even a single one .", "That is a clear demonstration of just how logically fallacious those arguments are - no evidence , just disinformation , just fearmongering .", "Gay marriage has been a reality for two decades in Denmark , nearly as long in one form or another in several other Scandinavian countries , and for several years now in Canada , and in the form of civil unions , and more recently , full-on gay marriage itself in several states in the United States .", "Can anyone point to civilization collapsing ( as was alleged would happen in the recent Proposition 8 campaign in California ) or students being taught gay sex in the public schools ( another frequent allegation from that campaign ) ?", "If twenty years of gay marriage in Denmark has not brought about the collapse of civilization in that country ( indeed , it remains higher on the United Nations Development Index than does the United States ) , I doubt that the collapse of civilization will be brought on in the United States by a couple of dudes saying `` I do '' - but that simple reality does n't stop the argument from being made .", "Fear has long been used to neuter reason , and , well applied , it does so reliably - so all one has to do to nullify a logical argument is to instill fear .", "As for any of the other arguments raised against gay marriage , an examination of what has happened during the last twenty years in that country and other Scandinavian countries that followed suit shortly thereafter , will show that the fears are misplaced and the slippery slope so often fearmongered , remains remarkably ungreased .", "The easiest way to counter the slippery-slope fallacy is to simply point out that gay marriage has been tried in many places in the world for many years , including the United States itself , and none of the dire effects insistently predicted have yet to occur in any of those locations to any significant degree .", "The anti-gay-marriage campaigners have recently been losing in the courts with increasing frequency .", "It is n't difficult to understand why .", "It is hard to argue that gays , unable to access the dozens of rights of marriage available to straights ( as identified by the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii ) , have equal protection of the law , when they clearly do not under any reasonable standard of logic , and so the courts have been ruling that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. constitution , and similar statutes in state constitutions mean that the rights and responsibilities available to straight married couples are due to gays as well , and have struck down numerous state laws forbidding gay marriage .", "As a result , the anti-crowd has been losing in the courts .", "Simply putting a measure on the ballot , or getting a law through the legislature to overturn such decisions has not worked , because they run afoul of state constitution requirement for equal treatment under the law , and are therefore promptly struck down again .", "So the response has been to place ballot constitutional amendment initiatives on the ballot in the states that allow for that .", "To date , more than half of all states have passed such initiatives , and in every case , the initiative campaign was based on fear , disinformation and hatemongering .", "Hardly a surprise , when an appeal to logic is not available to them , so an appeal to emotion , especially fear , is their only alternative .", "An additional advantage to the constitutional amendment approach is that it is court-proof .", "For all intents and purposes , an amendment to a state constitution is by definition , constitutional , and ca n't be overturned as unconstitutional by a state supreme court , at least under most ordinary circumstances .", "Gay marriage is a hot-button issue .", "There is no doubt about that .", "And because it is , the strategy is often used to put a gay-marriage initiative on the ballot when interest in an election important to the right is otherwise flagging .", "It gets out the homophobe vote quite reliably , so when right-wing candidates are behind in the polls , a gay marriage ballot measure is often used as a way to also raise the participation and push a right-winger into office when he would otherwise have lost .", "Conversely , when there is a hotly contested race between a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican , interest in the race is often used to get out conservative votes for a gay marriage ballot measure which may otherwise lose .", "Once on the ballot , the disinformation used in the campaign consists of nearly always variations on the same arguments regardless of where the campaign is taking place , nearly all of them lies , generally easily refuted and can be easily seen to be without merit : 1 ) that homosexual sex ( and/or gay marriage ) would be taught and promoted in the public schools ; 2 ) that heterosexual marriage would be undermined ; 3 ) that churches would be forced to sanctify gay marriages ; 4 ) that the underpinnings of western civilization ( presumed to be heterosexual marriage ) would be threatened ; 5 ) that gay married couples would recruit , recruiting especially any adopted children who would then grow up to be gay .", "It does n't matter whether these claims are true or not for this disinformation campaign to succeed ; as Adolf Hitler himself noted , all it takes for a lie to be believed is for it to be repeated often enough , especially if it is a big lie , and these campaigns repeat the same lies over and over and over again until they finally become conventional wisdom .", "But there is a looming problem for the anti-gay-marriage crowd .", "That is the United States constitution , whose 14th Amendment states that all persons are entitled to equal protection of the law , and it makes no exceptions for gays , as the U.S. Supreme Court itself noted in its ruling striking down state sodomy laws .", "So if straights are entitled to special treatment for being married , gays are , in theory at least , due those same treatments under the 14th Amendment .", "So to deal with this pesky issue of equal protection of the law that just wo n't seem to go away , the anti 's have formulated a strategy .", "There is currently ( as of this writing ) a slim majority ( of one vote ) of conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court .", "It could easily tip back into a minority of conservatives , and so the forces of reaction have initiated a gay marriage lawsuit , ostensibly seeking the right to gay marriage , but deliberately calculated to fail before the Supreme Court , in a deliberate effort to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court before a new justice is appointed who would shift the balance in favor of gay marriage .", "That would have the effect of nullifying any challenge to the heterosexual monopoly on marriage solely on the basis of a violation of the 14th Amendment ( equal protection of the law ) .", "If the lawsuit succeeds in failing , as intended , it would prevent an equal-protection challenge to gay marriage prohibitions to the U.S. Supreme Court for at least a generation .", "Which is precisely what happened in Hardwick vs. Bowers , the notorious Supreme Court decision that upheld state sodomy laws until the court reversed itself in Lawrence vs. Texas only recently .", "Talk about judicial activism !", "Why This Is A Civil Rights Issue", "When gay people say that this is a civil rights issue , we are referring to matters like the fact that we can not make medical decisions for our partners in an emergency .", "Instead , the hospitals are usually forced by state laws to go to the families who may be estranged from us for decades , who are often hostile to us , and totally ignore our wishes for the treatment of our partners .", "If that hostile family wishes to exclude us from the hospital room , they may legally do so in nearly all cases .", "It is even not uncommon for hostile families to make decisions based on their hostility -- with results actually intended to be inimical to the interests of the patient !", "One couple I know uses the following line in the `` sig '' lines on their email : '' ... partners and lovers for 40 years , yet still strangers before the law . ''", "Is this fair ?", "If our partners are arrested , we can be compelled to testify against them or provide evidence against them , which legally married couples are not forced to do .", "International married couples can usually pick which country in which to reside , with barely a thought about the law .", "Gay couples who are not married are not recognized in immigration law in most countries , and therefore can not enter a partner 's country to reside under `` family reunion '' immigration laws .", "Is that fair ?", "For married couples , it is a given that one parent or both can simply get on an airplane and take their child to another state if they wish .", "If you are gay , but unmarried , you can not do so ; you must get a written , notarized document of permission from the legal parent or gardian of the child before the child will be let on an airplane .", "Even if you are permanently parenting the child .", "Married heterosexuals are never asked for such a document .", "In most cases , even carefully drafted wills and durable powers of attorney have proven to not be enough if a family wishes to challenge a will , overturn a custody decision , or exclude us from a funeral or deny us the right to visit a partner 's grave .", "As survivors , they can even sieze a real estate property that we may have been buying together for years , quickly sell it at a huge loss and stick us with the remaining debt on a property we no longer own .", "When these are presented to a homophobic probate judge , he will usually find some pretext to overturn them .", "These are n't just theoretical issues , either ; they happen with surprising frequency .", "Almost any older gay couple can tell you horror stories of themselves or friends who have been victimized in such ways and many others .", "These are all civil rights issues that have nothing whatever to do with the ecclesiastical origins of marriage ; they are matters that have become enshrined in state and federal laws over the years in many ways that exclude us from the rights that legally married couples enjoy and consider their constitutional right .", "This is why we say it is very much a civil rights issue ; it has nothing to do with who performs the ceremony or whether an announcement is accepted for publication in the local paper .", "It is not a matter of `` special rights '' to ask for the same rights that other couples enjoy by law , even by constitutional mandate .", "How To Deal With Conservatives On This Issue", "Those who have a great deal of experience in dealing with conservatives in hostile political venues have suggested that simply posing the facts , outlined above , is n't enough .", "In fact , it can often simply generate considerable hostility , when they realize they are backed into a logical corner from which they have no face-saving way out .", "What , then , to do ?", "How to approach discussions with them ?", "The most simple answer is to appeal to conservative values .", "Principal among these are a love of control , an often over-developed reverence for what they consider sacred , a respect for authority , a deep loyalty to and reverence for one 's own group ( especially family and church ) , a strong desire for law and order and social stability , and an abiding fear of lawlessness , social disorder and chaos , and/or loss of control .", "Conservatives themselves generally understand this .", "It is why , in September of 2011 , David Cameron , the British Prime Minister , in addressing the convention of his Conservative Party , addressed these values in his announcement of his plans for a gay marriage law in Britain .", "He said , `` Yes , it 's about equality , but it 's also about something else : commitment .", "Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us ... So I do n't support gay marriage despite being a Conservative .", "I support gay marriage because I 'm a Conservative . ''", "As you can see , arguments that can be readily framed to appeal to conservative values , such as those cited by Cameron .", "But they can include such arguments as these , also framed to appeal to conservative values : `` Is it not better for gay couples to be encouraged to have the same commitment to each other within well-delineated responsibility as are heterosexual couples , rather than just hit-and-miss , kiss-and-gone , easily discarded relationships ? ''", "`` When gays are not given the rights of marriage , are they not more likely to get involved in legal entanglements , court battles , family feuds , etc. , than when they have legal , as well as emotional commitment to each other ?", "Why encourage that ? ''", "`` Marriage is strengthened , not demeaned by gay marriage , because people who do not love each other and can not relate to each other are not being encouraged or even forced to marry in order to enjoy the many hundreds of benefits and rights that legal marriage offers .", "That can only mean fewer divorces and better , more wholesome family life . ''", "`` Gay couples are going to get together .", "It 's been happening since ancient times .", "Legal prohibitions did n't , could n't and would never stop it .", "Is n't it better that gays conduct their relationships within the context of a well-defined marriage law , same as heterosexual couples ? ''", "You get the idea .", "Come to understand what values motivate conservatives , frame the argument within those values and show why it is consistent with conservative values , and the conservative can be won over , however reluctantly .", "As we have seen , the arguments against gay marriage do n't hold up to close scrutiny .", "Neither the arguments traditionally raised nor the real feelings of the opponents make much sense when held up to the light of reason .", "So let 's get on with it .", "Let 's get over our aversion to what we oppose for silly , irrational reasons , based on ignorance and faulty assumptions , and make ours a more just and honorable society , finally honoring that last phrase from the Pledge of Allegance ; `` With liberty and justice for all . ''", "Resources for those researching the subject of gay marriage :", "Books I strongly recommend , which you can obtain from Amazon.com , if you wish , by following the links ( your transaction will be secure ! )", "The Case for Same-Sex Marriage : From Sexual Liberty to Civilized Commitment by William N. Eskridge , Jr. offers some compelling legal reasons why the arguments raised in this essay make sense , both from a legal and moral point of view .", "Created Equal : Why Gay Rights Matter To America by Michael Nava and Robert Dawidoff is a compelling argument on why the issue of gay marriage and gay rights are vitally important to all Americans , not just gays .", "A Place At The Table is Bruce Bawer 's excellent treatise on how Americans have come to misunderstand homosexuality , and in the process , have failed to understand why gay marriage would benefit society as a whole .", "To get the current bibliography on gay marriage from Amazon.com , type the phrase same-sex marriage ( be sure to include the hyphen ) in the form above and click the `` search '' button .", "Other suggested search phrases are gay couples and homosexuality + law .", "Of course , you can search any other phrase you wish , too .", "In any event , Amazon.com will then return to you a list of the currently available books on the subject , which if you wish , you can safely purchase online and have within a few days .", "Need to cite this article in your essay , paper , or report ?", "Use one of the following formats :", "MLA format : Bidstrup , Scott .", "`` Gay Marriage , The Arguments And The Motives '' -LSB- today 's date here -RSB- http://www.bidstrup.com/marriage.htm .", "APA format : Bidstrup , Scott ( 2009 , June 3 ) .", "Gay Marriage , The Arguments And The Motives .", "Retrieved -LSB- today 's date here -RSB- , from http://www.bidstrup.com/marriage.htm Information on the author : Scott Bidstrup is a graduate of Brigham Young University , in Communications ( BA , 1971 ) .", "He is widely traveled and is a published author and has been a staunch human rights advocate for many years , especially in gay rights issues since coming out at the age 44 in the mid ' 90 's .", "He is currently retired and living in exile in Costa Rica ."], "_citing_sentence": "As Scott Bidstrup argues, a gay couple together for 40 years can still be compelled by law to testify or provide evidence against one another, something married spouses cannot be forced to do .", "_claim_name": "Gay couples should be able to take advantage of the fiscal and legal benefits of marriage", "_doc_title": "Gay Marriage: The Arguments and the Motives", "_labeled_lineIDs": [337]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 102, "_topic_name": "This house would allow gay couples to marry"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Why should the U.S. want Puerto Rico as a state ?", "Why should Puerto Ricans want to be a state ?", "What would it cost the U.S. taxpayer to bring Puerto Rico into the fold ?", "Based on studies conducted by noted economists , it is projected that Puerto Rico as a state will actually contribute to , rather than be dependent upon , the U.S. taxpayer .", "Here 's why .", "Under the current system , Puerto Rico costs the", "U.S. over $ 9.7 billion yearly .", "Because that 's what we lose from a combination of federal taxes forgone from large corporations doing business on the island as well as from individuals , together with grants-in-aid and transfer payments to the island .", "Puerto Rico gets significant amounts of federal grants-in-aid and transfer payments to individuals , such as veterans benefits , and welfare payments , which are not off-set by taxes collected on the island .", "( Puerto Ricans also draw Social", "Security , but they pay into it like everyone else . )", "These payments are in large part `` needs tested . ''", "In other words , they support people who are elderly , poor or disabled .", "Nothing wrong with that , except that no income taxes are being paid in .", "Part of the reason there are so many poor people in Puerto Rico is that the economic system in place under Commonwealth just does n't work well , creating a situation where many people are out of work ; many underemployed .", "La Alcaldia ( city hall ) In San Juan .", "Puerto Rico were to vote for independence , even though there is no evidence that they will , it would also be costly .", "It is inconceivable that the U.S. would set Puerto Rico adrift without a large `` transition package '' and continued foreign aid of a large magnitude .", "Remember , we are talking here of people who are currently U.S. citizens , who would demand favorable treatment and help .", "Puerto Rico , as an island with 3.8 million people and no other significant natural resources , is not economically viable as a separate nation without significant external aid and free access to large markets like our own .", "With statehood , Puerto Rico can be economically viable and a contributor to our nation 's wealth .", "Look at what happened to the last two states admitted to the Union , Hawaii and Alaska .", "Both economies grew substantially after being admitted to the Union and became net contributors to the U.S. Treasury .", "Puerto Rico would receive equal treatment in both taxes and benefits , the same as the other states .", "Benefits to the island under the current system are limited by Congress .", "Those limitations would be removed .", "At the same time , payments of federal taxes would be phased in , as provided by the enabling legislation .", "We estimate Puerto Rico as a state will contribute nearly $ 2 billion to the U.S. Treasury each year .", "How is that possible ?", "Through economic growth .", "With economic growth there are more jobs , fewer unemployed , and less of a public assistance burden .", "Why is this statehood issue of Puerto Rico important now ?", "Ca n't it wait ?", "Ricans have been waiting over 100 years for equal treatment ; from 1898 when the United States wrested control of the island from Spain following the Spanish-American War , until today .", "That is a long time to wait .", "No other U.S. Territory has been held in limbo for this length of time The world has changed during that century .", "Colonialism was commonplace in 1898 , and was a foundation for large industrial economies .", "Colonies were used as friendly and dependable sources of raw materials for industry , as markets for finished products and for soldier for armies .", "The world is different today .", "Everyone in the world has much higher standards and expectations regarding human and civil rights , and worldwide the United States has championed this enhanced notion of self-determination and equality The", "United States remains the leading nation in the world , economically and militarily .", "More importantly , it is the preeminent standard bearer for democracy .", "Our nation is still looked to for moral leadership in the world .", "Therefore , our colonial relationship with Puerto Rico is not justified by today 's standards and not in our nation 's best interest Puerto", "Rico continues to be dependent on the U.S. taxpayers ' assistance top", "Honor Guards at U.S. Cemetry in Bayamon , PR", "What are the economic arguments for statehood ?", "The arguments for statehood from the U.S. perspective lead to one single overriding factor-economic growth .", "Statehood means that the island would shed its ineffective and costly reliance on preferential tax credits and more fully integrate into the national economy .", "In a study by Hexner , Jenkins ,", "Lad and Lame , `` Puerto Rican Statehood : A Precondition to Sound Economic Growth , '' the case is persuasively made that statehood is necessary for the island 's economic growth .", "Rico would no longer be a substantial cash drain on the U.S. economy .", "With statehood , the Puerto Rico economy will grow , become a source of additional revenue to the national treasury , and be less costly in support for the unemployed , the underemployed , and for disabled individuals who require public assistance .", "Puerto Rico , the standard of living would profoundly improve for the average person .", "With average income going up , families will be able to pay their fair share of taxes while still improving their net income and standard of living .", "For those with low incomes , the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico will have the same access to tax relief and federal support programs as any other citizen of the country , unlike under the present status where significant disparities exist .", "top What about the issue of the English language ?", "Some have made the argument that Puerto Rico should not be a state because Puerto Ricans do not speak", "English , and we should not have a non-English speaking state .", "This is a red herring issue for the following reasons :", "English is already an official language on the island , as is Spanish", "Ricans are already citizens of the U.S. , and have been since the Jones Act of 1917 .", "There was no language requirement with the granting of citizenship then , so it makes no sense to ask this question now .", "In fact , there has never been a language requirement of territories entering the union in our history English is a required subject in public schools through high school English is the only language of the Federal Court system and all U.S. government agencies in Puerto Rico and is the common language in banking , commerce , real estate and the tourism industry Learning English as well as Spanish just makes good sense .", "English is the the international language of business , science , and increasingly , diplomacy .", "Puerto Rico should do all it can to increase English language capability .", "But , making it a requirement of statehood would ignore the precedents of Enabling Acts of Louisiana , New Mexico , Oklahoma and Arizona top Politically , would Puerto Rico be controlled by the Democratic", "Party or the Republican Party ?", "Rico has a strong and vibrant Republican Party .", "Luis Ferre served as Chairman of the Republican", "Party of Puerto Rico for much of his life .", "Lt. Governor Norma Burgos and many New Progressive", "Party members of the Puerto Rico Legislature and mayors on the island are Republican .", "Does this mean the Republicans will dominate ?", "Puerto Rico also has a strong and vibrant Democratic", "Just ask former Governor Pedro Rossello , or", "Resident Commissioner Carlos Romero Barcelo .", "They are Democrats .", "Nobody can predict how a state will turn out politically .", "We must remember that when Hawaii and Alaska came into the Union , it was widely predicted that", "Hawaii was assured for the Republicans and Alaska would only send Democrats to the Senate and House of Representatives .", "How did it turn out ?", "Just the opposite .", "Democratic Senators Inouye and Akaka of Hawaii ; or", "Republican Senators Murkowski and Stevens of Alaska , or their Republican Congressman , Don Young .", "In fact , it has been Don Young who lent his name to the `` Young", "Bill '' in 1998 which passed the House of Representatives authorizing a self-determination process for Puerto", "The fact is , Puerto Rico , like most states in the union , will be a contested state politically , with good candidates from both parties being sent to Washington to represent the island .", "Puerto Rico is politically sophisticated with a history of strong party affiliation and contested elections .", "And nearly everyone who is eligible to vote in Puerto Rico exercises that privilege .", "Does A Territory Become A State ?", "Various routes have been taken in the long history of the United", "States for colonies and territories to become a state .", "Normally , the area must muster local political support and petition the U.S. Congress for admittance to the", "The approval process is relatively straightforward .", "A bill , called an `` enabling act , '' must gain a majority vote in both houses of the U.S. Congress , the House of Representatives and the Senate .", "When approved , it is signed by the President .", "Normally there will be provisions in the bill spelling out any transitional measures that must be taken to become a state by either the petitioning entity or the U.S. government .", "Admission of a state does not change the Constitution .", "It requires no super majority ; nor does it require ratification by the individual states .", "Puerto Rico 's Legislature Building", "Happening In Congress Now on the Statehood For", "Puerto Rico issue ?", "The 105th ( 1997 - ' 98 ) Congress was the most active on this issue of any Congress in History .", "A bill co-sponsored by a host of Congressmen from both", "Republican and Democratic Parties , ( HR 856 ) , after long debate was passed by a vote of 209 to 208 .", "This legislation , The Puerto Rico Political Status Act , commonly referred to as the `` Young Bill '' after its chief sponsor , Congressman Don Young of Alaska , established definitions for the three basic alternatives , statehood , independence or separate sovereignty , and commonwealth , and a multi-year process by which a final disposition of the issue could be made .", "Essentially , the process called for a referendum on the issue to be held in Puerto Rico .", "Once the decision was made for statehood or independence , a process would be set up to transition into that status , to be agreed to by subsequent votes of the U.S. Congress and Puerto", "A similar bill , S-472 , was initiated in the Senate , sponsored by Senator Murkowski , Chairman of the Senate Energy and", "Natural Resources Committee , and a host of co-sponsors .", "The bill was not reported from committee after the Chairman concluded that due to the lack of time remaining on the legislative calendar , there would not be time for Senate action .", "What the Senate did do , however , was pass a resolution ( S. Res .", "279 ) by unanimous consent that endorsed a Puerto", "Rico plebiscite ( scheduled for December 1998 ) , which called for preferences on status options .", "December 1998 , a non-binding plebiscite on status was held in Puerto Rico , but due to the alternatives presented the voters , little in the way of definite conclusions can be drawn .", "In addition to the normal alternatives , of statehood , commonwealth , and independence , voters were given the alternatives of `` None of The Above '' and `` Free", "Because of the confusion on the ballot with definitions of status provided , the `` None of The Above '' alternative won the majority ( 50.2 % ) votes cast .", "Statehood won the plurality of votes cast for the actual alternatives decisively ( 46.5 % ) , followed by Independence ( 2.5 % ) ; Free Association ( 0.2 % ; and", "No legislation favoring self determination for Puerto", "Rico has been pushed in the U.S. Congress during the period 1999-2003 .", "This was due primarily to the preoccupation of Congress with other issues , the national election campaign and Puerto Rican elections that run conterminous , and subsequent world and national events .", "It was also due in part to the preoccupation in Puerto Rico and the Congress with the issue related to Navy use of Vieques Island for bombing practice and the accidental death of a Puerto Rican security guard .", "It is possible that legislation could be introduced in 2004 or 2005 .", "top I heard that not all Puerto Ricans want statehood .", "It is true that not all Puerto Ricans favor statehood , but the trend for the last two decades has been towards majority support of joining the union .", "There are some very legitimate reasons why people may favor another alternative , commonwealth ( the current status ) , independence , or free association ( like Micronesia ) .", "The vast majority of people in Puerto Rico have a very positive feeling towards the", "United States , even though some may not want to become a state .", "Although we do not agree with these reasons , we understand them .", "Some people would rather Puerto Rico become an independent country .", "Puerto Ricans are a proud people and a minority in Puerto Rico want sovereignty as a separate country .", "We believe that this is an honorable alternative , but in vote after vote , independence has been rejected by the overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans .", "National identity is understandable , and is something that the people of every territory that ever became a state of the United States had to grapple with .", "Strong national and state identity is evident in every state of the union .", "Indeed , the original 13 colonies had to also deal with this issue over whether or not and how to give up some of their individual sovereignty in order to form a", "Some people are concerned that their Spanish heritage and culture will be overwhelmed and therefore lost forever by a dominant `` anglo '' culture .", "This is also an understandable feeling .", "We believe that Puerto", "Rico and Puerto Ricans will never lose their identity , while becoming an equal part of our whole country .", "Rican identity is strong and continues to be so .", "Puerto Rico has been exposed to U.S. mainland cultures for a long time , 100 years -- and Puerto Rican culture and heritage has thrived and grown .", "Puerto Rico has adopted and adapted aspects of U.S. culture , just as we have incorporated much of Puerto", "Rican culture when exposed to it .", "At their core , these cultures are western and we believe they are compatible and complement each other .", "They are not a threat to one another .", "In sum , Puerto Ricans , while citizens , in much the same way as Texans and others view themselves , are still Puerto", "Ricans despite the more than 100 years of the deep and strong relationship with the mainland United States .", "Commonwealth backers insist that statehood would bring more pressure against Puerto Rican culture through full integration into the Union .", "But the fact is , Puerto", "Ricans and mainland citizens have moved freely between the island and the mainland with no resulting cultural dilution or weakening of Puerto Rican 's strong identity , even with the large migrations of the 1930 's , the 1950 's and since then .", "Furthermore , the fact is that", "Puerto Ricans will be in a stronger position to control their own destiny as a state than it ever can be as a territory , achieved through the protections of the U.S.", "Constitution and full representation in Congress that would be available to it as a state .", "Currently , Puerto Rico is legally a territory , and governed by the will of the Congress .", "U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans is granted by act of Congress , and due to the territorial status of Puerto Rico , is not guaranteed by the Constitution .", "Some Puerto Ricans believe they would be worse off economically under statehood because they would be subject to federal income taxes .", "But our studies show that Puerto Ricans will be better off through the economic growth that would come from full integration into the U.S. economy , and have higher disposable incomes , after taxes , under the statehood option .", "They would also have full access to the full range of federal support and programs available to citizens in need .", "Commonwealth backers insist on what we call the `` Big Lie . ''", "They claim Puerto Rico can continue to have the `` best of both worlds '' under the Commonwealth status and continue to get federal benefits , while they promise even more financial and economic benefits under their plans ; without paying federal income taxes and still staying outside the union .", "They promise all this while Puerto Rico and Puerto", "Ricans are without full voting representation in the", "House of Representatives and the Senate .", "Under the Commonwealth arrangement Puerto Rico 's one single delegate to Congress has no voting rights .", "Nothing could be further from the truth .", "Evidence shows that the Puerto Rico state income tax burden to Puerto Ricans under the current Commonwealth system in which the islands has its own tax system , is excessive and disproportionate to incomes when compared with the states .", "This reality is even more acute with respect to the majority of Puerto Rican families and individuals , those with low and moderate incomes .", "Approximately 50 percent of Puerto Ricans live under the federal poverty line .", "The fact is that the commonwealth option costs Puerto Ricans economically everyday .", "Full integration to the national economy will provide job creation and income benefits .", "Preferential tax benefits to mainland corporations are already being reduced due to legislation that is phasing out IRS Section 936 tax incentives for these corporations .", "It is estimated that Puerto", "Ricans are on the average $ 6,000 per year poorer today than citizens of Mississippi , our least well off state .", "Payroll Taxes in Puerto Rico - No change with statehood .", "Puerto Ricans are already integrated to the mainland payroll tax system and therefore full incorporation as a state of the union will not mean drastic changes in the way individuals and families in Puerto Rico make their contributions .", "It will not cause economic hardship to Puerto Ricans nor it will require new federal processes or the creation of new agencies for implementation .", "Puerto Ricans already fully contribute", "Payroll Taxes to the national Social Security and Medicare systems ( combined these are known as FICA tax ) the same way as all other US taxpayers .", "The rate is exactly the same as that paid by taxpayers in the states , 7.65 % .", "The self-employed are also already required to pay Social", "Security and Medicare taxes at the same rate , and are permitted to take a deduction on their income tax returns , proportionate to the self-employed .", "As mentioned earlier , Puerto Ricans pay proportionately more in Puerto", "Rico state income tax than the citizens of similar incomes in the states who pay a combination of federal , state and sometimes local income taxes .", "Medicaid - Commonwealth status continues to immiserate U.S. citizens in need .", "For the least financially well off in US society , Medicaid is often the support mechanism through which needed medical care service and attention is provided .", "Medicaid funding is disbursed to state governments and the program is administered by state agencies .", "Due to Puerto Rico 's status as a territory and not a state , the US citizens of", "Puerto Rico receive only 15 percent of the funding in Puerto", "Rico where 50 percent of citizens live under the poverty line .", "Federal funding for Medicaid in Puerto Rico is capped at about $ 200 million annually as of December 2003 , according to the Council of State Governments .", "The federal government funds 85 percent of Medicaid spending in the states .", "Response Independence is an honorable option that gets high marks only from those who think in emotional and highly nationalistic terms .", "Puerto Rican identity is strong and will always be strong , irrespective of status .", "A people with a history as long and rich as Puerto Ricans will not lose their identity as a result of a change in political status .", "Commonwealth holds out the falsehood that Puerto Ricans call their own shots , can have all benefits bestowed by U.S. citizenship , and still not pay federal taxes .", "To us , this inequality is the worst of all worlds and", "Commonwealth backers paints a colorful that simply does not exist .", "It does not exist now and under Commonwealth status it never will .", "Fundamentally , it can not .", "In response to these myths we put forward the following facts : 1 .", "Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States with limited self-government .", "Despite pretensions to the contrary by proponents of the existing status Puerto Rico does not call its own shots in its dealing with the U.S. Congress , the mainland , regionally or internationally .", "It has been the habit of commonwealth backers , to say , suggest or imply that it does ; and this is both a gross untruth and a misinterpretation of the most dishonest proportions .", "The people of Puerto Rico are not fully represented and do not have fiull voting rights in the U.S.", "Congress where they are represented by a single non-voting delegate .", "Therefore , the people of Puerto Rico do not exercise sovereignty over their own affairs .", "While Puerto Ricans elect a governor and have a state government like all the states , the United States Congress controls the destiny of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico 's external affair , in foreign trade , international relations and international security affairs including military issues .", "Puerto Rico has powerless representation in the U.S. House of Representatives under Commonwealth .", "It is also a fact that Federal law is already paramount in", "Puerto Rico due to its territorial status , and has been since the Treaty of Paris in 1898 .", "The U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico will never be able to deal with the Congress on an equal footing until they have full sovereign voting rights in Congress and thereby exercise control over their own affairs .", "This can only be achieved with statehood .", "Puerto Ricans do not have constitutionally guaranteed citizenship now and what they have is a limited second class variety extended to them by Act of Congress in 1917 .", "United States citizenship can only be guaranteed by Puerto Rico becoming a state .", "Under the current status Puerto Ricans will not receive more or equal benefits as citizens residing in the states .", "On the contrary , it is likely that under the current status they will probably receive less federal benefits , and are losing more federal tax incentives as each year goes by .", "Statehood , on the other hand , will offer first class citizenship with full rights as guaranteed by the U.S.", "Puerto Rico will be able to send a full delegation of elected representatives and senators to the", "U.S. Congress and be able to vote for President for the first time .", "That very same U.S. Constitution will protect the rights of Puerto Rico as a state and Puerto", "Ricans as citizens , the same as the other 50 states .", "And we predict the island will experience swift economic growth with statehood , bringing its economic indicators and standard of living up to a level equal to the other states of the Union .", "top top What about the issue of the English language ?", "What about the issue of the English language ?", "This is a red herring issue for the following reasons : top", "Politically , would Puerto Rico be controlled by the Democratic"], "_citing_sentence": "In a study by Hexner, Jenkins, Lad and Lame, \"Puerto Rican Statehood: A Precondition to Sound Economic Growth,\" the case is persuasively made that statehood is necessary for the island's economic growth.", "_claim_name": "Puerto Rico would benefit economically from statehood", "_doc_title": "U.S. Council for Puerto Rico Statehood", "_labeled_lineIDs": [50]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["by Matthew Yglesias May 1 , 2010 10:00 am", "The House of Representatives moved last week to create a process to clarify the legal status of Puerto Rico with a two-stage vote .", "First , Puerto Ricans will vote on whether they want the status quo or want a change .", "Second , they 'll vote on whether they want to be a state or an independent country .", "Apparently this is controversial among US politicians with Puerto Rican roots :", "Some of those differences were evident among lawmakers of Puerto Rican background .", "Puerto Rico-born Rep. Nydia Velazquez , D-N.Y. , and Rep. Luis Gutierrez , D-Ill. , whose parents were from Puerto Rico , strongly opposed the measure , saying it was designed to push a statehood agenda .", "`` This is the Puerto Rico 51st state bill , '' said Gutierrez , an independence proponent .", "`` The deck is stacked . ''", "But another Puerto Rico-born lawmaker , Democrat Jose Serrano of New York , backed it .", "`` I support it because for the first time in 112 years the people of Puerto Rico will have an opportunity to express themselves . ''", "As you know , I try to oppose knee-jerk nationalism in American foreign policy .", "But that anti-nationalistic outlook has broad applicability , and I have to say that in this case knee-jerk Puerto Rican nationalism seems mighty illogical .", "The United States of America is basically the richest country on earth , and being a part of it gives Puerto Ricans a lot of practical advantages that the independent countries of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean lack .", "The right to move to the US-proper and work here legally , for example , is extremely valuable and was even in a time when Puerto Ricans living in America were subject to considerably more racist discrimination : I think reasonable people can disagree as to whether the current situation , which has tax advantages , or statehood , which would be more dignified , give Puerto Rico more political power , and possibly drive investment by definitively settling the island 's status .", "Right now , however , Puerto Rico 's per capita GDP is quite high compared to Latin American countries and independence would seem to imperil that with no practical upside .", "All that said , were Puerto Ricans to choose a nationalistic path they 'd hardly be the first people on the planet to do so and I think they should have the right ."], "_citing_sentence": "The right to move to the US-proper and work there legally, for example, is extremely valuable.", "_claim_name": "Puerto Rico would benefit economically from statehood", "_doc_title": "What is the Case for Puerto Rican Independence? | ThinkProgress", "_labeled_lineIDs": [14]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 103, "_topic_name": "This House believes that Puerto Rico should seek American statehood"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference .", "I. Freedom of expression consists of the rights to freedom of speech , press , assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances , and the implied rights of association and belief .", "The Supreme Court interprets the extent of the protection afforded to these rights .", "The First Amendment has been interpreted by the Court as applying to the entire federal government even though it is only expressly applicable to Congress .", "Furthermore , the Court has interpreted , the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as protecting the rights in the First Amendment from interference by state governments .", "Two clauses in the First Amendment guarantee freedom of religion .", "The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another .", "It enforces the `` separation of church and state . ''", "Some governmental activity related to religion has been declared constitutional by the Supreme Court .", "For example , providing bus transportation for parochial school students and the enforcement of `` blue laws '' is not prohibited .", "The free exercise clause prohibits the government , in most instances , from interfering with a person 's practice of their religion .", "The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech .", "The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government .", "The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech .", "A less stringent test is applied for content-neutral legislation .", "The Supreme Court has also recognized that the government may prohibit some speech that may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence .", "For more on unprotected and less protected categories of speech see advocacy of illegal action , fighting words , commercial speech and obscenity .", "The right to free speech includes other mediums of expression that communicate a message .", "The level of protection speech receives also depends on the forum in which it takes place .", "Despite popular misunderstanding the right to freedom of the press guaranteed by the first amendment is not very different from the right to freedom of speech .", "It allows an individual to express themselves through publication and dissemination .", "It is part of the constitutional protection of freedom of expression .", "It does not afford members of the media any special rights or privileges not afforded to citizens in general .", "The right to assemble allows people to gather for peaceful and lawful purposes .", "Implicit within this right is the right to association and belief .", "The Supreme Court has expressly recognized that a right to freedom of association and belief is implicit in the First , Fifth , and Fourteenth Amendments .", "This implicit right is limited to the right to associate for First Amendment purposes .", "It does not include a right of social association .", "The government may prohibit people from knowingly associating in groups that engage and promote illegal activities .", "The right to associate also prohibits the government from requiring a group to register or disclose its members or from denying government benefits on the basis of an individual 's current or past membership in a particular group .", "There are exceptions to this rule where the Court finds that governmental interests in disclosure/registration outweigh interference with first amendment rights .", "The government may also , generally , not compel individuals to express themselves , hold certain beliefs , or belong to particular associations or groups .", "The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances guarantees people the right to ask the government to provide relief for a wrong through the courts ( litigation ) or other governmental action .", "It works with the right of assembly by allowing people to join together and seek change from the government ."], "_citing_sentence": "Freedom of speech and expression are protected by the first amendment to the US constitution and teachers are entitled to freedom of speech and their academic freedom as much as anyone else.", "_claim_name": "Freedom of speech should apply to teachers as much as anyone else", "_doc_title": "First Amendment | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia | LII / Legal Information Institute", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 11]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["As a Ph.D. with 30 years of experience within academia , government and industry , I am appalled that anyone interested in improving science education within the state of Tennessee could be opposed to William Dunn 's House Bill 368 .", "The Wall Street Journal reported that 80 percent of our high school seniors nationwide are now scoring below proficiency in science and mathematics ( January 26 ) .", "Moreover , our country has now slipped to 31st in world science and math education .", "It is clear that something is wrong with our approach to teaching and something must be done for the welfare of our kids , our state and our great nation .", "Mr. Dunn 's timely amendment ( HB 368 ) offers an improvement in our approach to science education .", "The bill simply proposes that public teachers be permitted to allow critical analysis of scientific theories within the public classroom .", "Two UT science department chairs testified in opposition to the bill .", "What strikes me as odd is how academic scientists could argue with an approach that , in all honesty , molded them into the professionals that they are today .", "What I am talking about is advanced critical thinking and analysis that lies at the very core of a scientist 's world .", "A well functioning peer review system challenges a scientist 's thinking and ensures critical and constructive discourse .", "This is the scientific process .", "Why would we deprive our future scientists from understanding how to critically challenge and assess scientific theories ?", "Those who oppose the bill seem to be focused on the teaching of evolution as a non-controversial fact .", "But are there controversies associated with theories such as full Darwinian macroevolution ?", "Sure there are .", "Michael Behe , a biochemist from Lehigh University , recently published a book entitled : The Edge of Evolution , the Search for the Limits of Darwinism .", "In it he notes that plasmodium bacteria , which cause malaria , have developed resistance to new drugs .", "This is indeed a form of evolutionary change through adaptation .", "But why is it that these bugs have not evolved significantly in other ways ?", "Why is it that malaria is still confined to the tropics and has not evolved to thrive in more temperate regions ?", "He then argues that there are limitations or boundaries to classic Darwinian evolution .", "Dr. Behe is not alone in questioning apparent boundaries .", "I am not writing to argue for or against macroevolution or any other scientific theory .", "But the bottom line is that critical thinking and analysis fosters good science .", "For high schoolers , their love of science and acumen for it will not come from memorizing and repeating textbook prose , but rather by diving into the strengths and weaknesses of theories such as evolution .", "Amazing biomedical advances are on the horizon , and these will drive economic growth in the decades to come , and the seeds of creativeness and innovation are sowed early in the high school years .", "Let us not deprive our kids , our state and our nation of the opportunity to regain our world prominence in science , technology and economic might .", "Robin D. Zimmer , who lives in Knoxville , is a private biotech consultant and affiliate of the Center for Faith and Science International , which was founded to assist faith-based organizations such as churches better understand the importance and benefits of science and how it relates to their faith ."], "_citing_sentence": "This is an improvement in scientific education as it will help ensure that science is about critical, constructive discourse rather than just imbibing 'facts'.", "_claim_name": "Teaching creationism as well as evolution gives students freedom to choose", "_doc_title": "Critical Thinking, Analysis Foster Good Science | Center for Science and Culture", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 104, "_topic_name": "This House believes Tennessee is correct to protect teachers who wish to explore the merits of creationism"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["DAVID B. KOPEL", "One of the central strategies of the gun prohibition advocates has been to tell Americans that they are all in immediate peril of gun violence .", "The strategy may involve exaggerating the rate of gun accidents , or announcing an epidemic of suicide among mentally healthy teenagers-caused by gun availability .", "Or the strategy may attempt to place Americans in fear of gun crime .", "For example , Fortune magazine touts handgun prohibition while warning its wealthy readership that the recent rise in youth homicide puts all Americans at imminent risk , for `` this onslaught of childhood violence knows no boundaries of race , geography , or class . ''", "The Journal of the American", "Medical Ass 'n insists `` It 's not limited to the inner city .", "To the contrary , the problem of youth homicide is very heavily concentrated in black males aged 15-19 .", "In order to respond effectively to the crisis , we must attempt to understand its nature , and must not be misled by the efforts of some gun prohibition advocates to distract attention from the most important factor in any homicide : the motivations of the person perpetrating the crime .", "For inner-city black teenagers , the homicide rate is astronomical .", "The huge rise in gun crime perpetrated by older urban teenagers has not been replicated in other areas .", "In the suburbs , where legal restrictions on guns are generally less severe , the mortality rate has stayed about the same .", "Gun control advocates sometimes convey the impression that current murder rates are dramatically higher than ever before .", "And if one looks at statistics for particular age groups , one finds a substantial rise in murder arrests .", "From 1985 to 1991 , arrests of adults for murder declined , but arrests for murder of 17-year-old males rose 121 % ; arrests of 16-year-old males rose 158 % ; arrests of 15-year-old males rose 217 % ; and arrests of boys 12 and under rose 100 % .", "But it is important to note that the American homicide rate is still reasonably stable .", "The homicide rate has stayed at about nine or 10 homicides per 100,000 population for the last three decades .", "And happily , preliminary major city figures indicate that most cities saw a leveling off of homicide rates in 1992.", "Analysis of homicide figures should also keep in mind that roughly 7-13 % of American firearms homicides involve legitimate defense against criminal attack .", "While homicide overall is stable , homicides among youths have definitely risen .", "To look simply at the category `` youth , '' however , is to miss the real story .", "The white youth homicide arrest rate has remained stable , while the black rate has skyrocketed .", "The murder arrest rate of whites aged 10 to 11 was the same in 1989 as in 1980 ( having dipped in the middle of the decade , and then risen to its former level ) .", "But whereas in 1980 the black arrest rate was four times the white rate , by 1989 the black rate was eight times the white rate .", "The conflation of black and white crime statistics is , incidentally , a common tactic of gun control advocates .", "The conflation produces the erroneous impression of a widespread serious problem with gun crime , rather than of a disastrous problem with gun crime among racial minorities .", "For example , Dr. Katherine Christoffel , of the American Academy of Pediatrics , told Congress , `` A resident of Seattle is five times likelier to be murdered with a handgun than is a resident of Vancouver , just 140 miles to the north .", "`` 10 Actually , a white resident of Seattle is at no greater risk of gun violence than a white resident of Vancouver , despite Vancouver 's more restrictive gun laws .", "A black or Hispanic resident of Seattle , however , faces a much higher risk of gun violence .", "( There are few blacks or Hispanics in Vancouver . )", "All this is not to say that America does not have a serious homicide problem .", "But America can not begin addressing the murder problem without a realistic understanding of the issue .", "The crisis of America 's rising teenage murder rate is directly linked to the crisis of America 's inner-city black youth .", "Unless the problems of the inner city are addressed , the murder crisis will continue .", "Some public officials argue that the problem of teenage homicide is directly related to the availability of firearms .", "In a narrow sense the argument is accurate , because the majority of murders are committed with guns .", "Yet it is not accurate to claim that there is a correlation between the availability of guns and the frequency of homicide .", "If there is any relationship between gun density and homicide in the U.S. , it is an inverse one .", "In other words , the regions with the most guns are the regions with the lowest homicide rates .", "And while whites have a higher rate of gun ownership than blacks , they have a much lower homicide rate .", "Time periods in which gun ownership increases heavily are not necessarily periods when homicide rates increase ; conversely , periods of increasing homicide are not necessarily periods of increasing gun ownership .", "For example , while homicide rates were rising in the late 1980s , firearms sales were stagnant .", "The fact that American homicide rates are often lowest among regions and population groups where gun ownership is highest should at least give pause to theorists who insist that gun prohibition is the only rational response to rising murder rates .", "Professor Hans Toch , of the State University of New York 's School of Criminology served , in the late 1960s , on the Eisenhower Commission , whose purpose was to investigate the causes and cures of American violence .", "Professor Toch fully endorsed the Commission 's conclusion that `` reducing the availability of the handgun will reduce firearms violence . ''", "( emphasis in original ) .", "But based on modern research , Professor Toch has found : when used for protection , firearms can seriously inhibit aggression and can provide a psychological buffer against the fear of crime .", "Furthermore , the fact that national patterns show little violent crime where guns are most dense implies that guns do not elicit aggression in any meaningful way .", "Quite the contrary , these findings suggest that high saturations of guns in places , or something correlated with that condition , inhibit illegal aggression .", "One way in which high density of guns can , as Professor Toch concludes , be associated with lower levels of violence is that armed citizens provide a substantial deterrent to criminals .", "Another , perhaps more important factor in the association of high gun ownership rates with low crime rates is that American areas with the highest rate of gun ownership tend to be rural and small-town .", "In rural and small-town America , family structures are relatively strong , and communities are often more stable and unified .", "Thus , the problem of violence in American inner cities may have less to do with the fact that guns are available there ( as they are everywhere else ) than with the fact that so many families are dysfunctional , and that so little sense of community can be found .", "Whatever may be said about rates of gun ownership in America , it is obvious that America has more guns -- and more gun murders -- than other industrial democracies .", "As a widely-reported study by Centers for Disease Control researchers noted , the American murder rate for teenagers is much higher than the rate in most industrial countries , where gun control laws are generally stricter .", "The researchers concluded that the U.S. needs tougher gun laws .", "While the authors of the study did an excellent job of compiling data ( as they have done on other studies ) , their conclusion that the international data proved that America 's gun laws were the cause of its high teenage homicide rate was perhaps overstated .", "For example , England has harsh gun laws and a low homicide rate , but the historical evidence seems to show no cause and effect between the former and the latter .", "The lowest rates of violent crime and homicide in England did not occur in the period with the strongest gun laws ( the late 1980s and 1990s ) , but in the era with the weakest gun laws .", "At the turn of the 20th century , there was virtually no violent crime in England , and virtually no gun control .", "Anyone ( children included ) could buy any type of gun , no questions asked .", "There were no background checks , no forms to fill out , and no safety training .", "All that was needed was ready cash .", "Yet gun homicide and other crime was only a small percentage of the current British rates .", "At the turn of the century , Victorian social morality was strong ; it was a more effective check on British criminal impulses than are the rigid gun laws of today .", "Overall , comparative data shows little relation between the severity of gun laws and the homicide rate .", "Scotland has rigorous gun laws , and its murder rate for males aged 15-24 is over three times as high as the rate in Switzerland .", "In Switzerland , the government issues every adult male a fully-automatic SIG-Sauer assault rifle to keep at home , and trains him to use it .", "The American states that impose waiting periods on gun buyers suffer killings at the same rate as the states that do not .", "By looking only at firearms , the Centers for Disease Control study did not consider other factors which might explain why American males aged 15 to 24 are so much more likely to kill each other than their counterparts in other nations .", "America is the only country studied that has a three-and-a-half-century history of enslaving and degrading a major part of its population .", "And America is the only country studied where demand for drugs is sky-high , and the only country with an all-out drug war .", "After declining for several years , the black teenage homicide rate began soaring upward in 1987 .", "That year was not marked by any sudden increase in the availability of guns ( sales were flat ) .", "What did happen in 1987 was that the drug war suddenly intensified , at the same time that drugs themselves became more dangerous .", "The 1987 cocaine overdose death of college basketball star Len Bias and the popularization of crack cocaine produced an unprecedented media and political determination to fight a `` drug war '' in the U.S. .", "Some drug policy scholars trace the sudden upsurge in violence to the pharmacological effects of crack/cocaine .", "They note that crack ( like PCP and alcohol , but unlike hemp and heroin ) , often reduces inhibitions against violence and stimulates aggressive behavior .", "Without denying the destructive effect of crack , other scholars trace the roots of the violence to governmental drug policy .", "They note that the `` war on drugs '' has lived up to its name by producing a genuine war in inner-city", "Economist Sam Staley argues that the war on drugs and the criminalization of the drug trade generate levels of violence that make the inner city unlivable , with levels of violence far higher than would occur in a world where drugs were controlled by means other than the criminal law .", "Since drug dealers are likely to be carrying large sums of money , they are at serious risk of robbery .", "Since they can not rely on the police for protection , they must , to survive , protect themselves .", "When drug dealers engage in commercial transactions with each other , there is no Uniform Commercial Code and state district court for resolving disputes about the quality of goods sold .", "Disgruntled buyers , having no other means of redress , may resort to violence .", "Similarly , the addicts who sell drugs often end up consuming the drugs which should have been sold ; because higher-level dealers have no legal means of handling salespersons who stole the merchandise with which they were entrusted , violence often results .", "Other drug users buy goods on credit , but fail to pay their debt .", "Since the seller has no lawful means of debt collection , violence again may result .", "In addition , when disputes are settled violently , they are often settled in the most vicious manner possible , for acquiring a reputation for being willing to `` exert maximum force '' may assist the resolution of future disputes .", "The tendency of current drug laws to promote violence can be seen in a study of cocaine-related homicides in New York .", "Eighty-seven percent of the homicides were related to territorial disputes , debt collection , or cocaine deals gone bad .", "Only 7.5 % of the homicides were related to the pharmacological effects of drugs .", "While there are many reasons that teenagers join gangs , the lure of income from the drug trade is certainly an important factor .", "If currently-illegal drugs were sold in liquor stores , gangs would no longer be able to profit from selling substances at the artificially high prices created by prohibition laws .", "Despite the youth violence engendered by drug prohibition , it may be that the prohibition strategy yields benefits that outweigh its negative effects .", "Any realistic analysis of American drug policy should , however , acknowledge the substantial toll of violence that is a , perhaps necessary , price that America is paying for current laws .", "Almost anytime a child is murdered with a gun , or dies in a gun accident , the event is at least a statewide news story -- as such a tragedy should be .", "But it is not accurate to conclude on the basis of news coverage that gun-related deaths of children are among the major killers of children ; it is not correct to assume that the amount of press coverage devoted to any event correlates with the frequency of the event .", "Coverage of professional football games saturates many cities ' media , but in an average year in most cities , there are fewer than a dozen professional football games .", "Homicides account for about 5 % of the deaths of children 1-4 , and 4 % of children aged 5-14 .", "The number is about the same as the children in those age groups who die of heart disease .", "The relatively small fraction of homicides perpetrated against children is not likely to be solved through gun control .", "The most common form of homicide against younger children is child abuse murder by a relative or caretaker .", "The availability of firearms has little to do with such crimes , since the murderer will generally have limitless opportunity , and vastly superior strength .", "( Reduced availability of firearms might , however , reduce the not insignificant number of younger teenagers who lawfully shoot abusive relatives in self-defense . )", "For older teenagers ( 15 and up ) , the number of firearms murders is higher , especially for urban minority teenagers .", "Under what circumstances do those teenage murders take place ?", "The American Academy of Pediatrics writes : `` A common misperception is that teen homicides are largely related to crime , gang activity , or premeditated assault .", "The most common event precipitating a shooting is an argument , often over something later seen as trivial .", "Such shootings are usually impulsive , unplanned , and instantly regretted .", "American Academy of Pediatrics ' assertion about the non-criminal nature of teenage homicide cited only one study as support for its conclusions .", "That study , however , did not claim that teenage homicides did not involve `` crime , gang activity , or premeditated assault . ''", "Nor did the cited study claim that teenage shootings were `` impulsive , unplanned , and instantly regretted . ''", "The cited study only discussed the relationship between murderer and victim , and showed ( not surprisingly ) that murderers generally target people who have offended them , rather than total strangers .", "A Philadelphia Inquirer investigation of teenage murderers in", "Philadelphia casts some doubt on the proposition that homicides are `` instantly regretted . ''", "Of the 57 teenage murders studied , `` With few exceptions , the teenagers felt little remorse or regret .", "`` 28 It is not implausible that the older teenagers who commit murder share many characteristics with persons over 18 who commit murder .", "The studies of adult murderers have shown that murderers are not `` nice '' people who happened to get too emotional in the presence of a handgun .", "Rather , murders are generally people with long records of criminal violence .", "The pattern for teenage homicides is similar .", "The persons who are most likely to be killed by a teenager with a gun are gang members , gang hangers-on , and other teenage criminals .", "In many killings of inner-city high school-age persons , the victim is a person who engaged in risky behaviors , such as selling drugs .", "Studies of trauma center patients with penetrating ( bullet or knife ) wounds have found that over a third of such patients are repeat users of trauma centers .", "A Baltimore journalist , who investigated his city 's emergency rooms concludes , `` it is safe to estimate that seven of every 10 assault victims who arrive at a Baltimore hospital are in some way culpable in the violence that has incapacitated them .", "Yet while one teenage gang member killing another teenage gang member may account for an important fraction of teenage homicides , there are many other victims of these criminals who have done nothing to put themselves at risk , except being born in a dangerous neighborhood .", "While there are a great many innocent victims , there are not many innocent murderers .", "The authors of the most extensive study of the gun-carrying habits of modern juvenile felons found them to be : better armed , more criminally active , and more violent than were the adult felons of a decade ago .", "Even at that , one is struck less by the armament than by the evident willingness to pull the trigger .", "From the viewpoint of public policy , it matters less , perhaps , where these juveniles get their guns than where they get the idea that it is acceptable to kill .", "It may be convenient to think that the problems of juvenile violence could be magically solved by cracking down or getting tough , but this is unlikely .", "The problem before us is not so much getting guns out of the hands of juveniles as it is reducing the motivations for juveniles to arm themselves in the first place .", "Convincing inner-city juveniles , or adults , not to own , carry , and use guns requires convincing them that they can survive in their neighborhoods without being armed ... that the customary agents of social control can be relied upon to provide for personal security .", "So long as this is not believed to be the case , gun ownership and carrying in the city will remain widespread .", "To the enormous crisis of the inner city , many liberals and conservatives offer the same , seemingly easy solution : use government coercion to remove the evil item that is the cause of violence .", "Many liberals look to guns as the cause of the inner-city 's social pathologies , and fail to recognize that the willingness of many criminals to use guns , and the necessity for law-abiding residents of the inner city to carry guns for protection , are symptoms of deeper afflictions .", "No set of criminal justice approaches focused on `` gun control '' are likely to reduce the inner-city problems regarding guns .", "Solutions must be found in dealing with the more complex pathologies of the lack of hope and economic opportunity , and the decay of cultural values .", "At the same time , some conservatives make the same mistake with gangs and drugs that liberals make with guns .", "Some inner-city youth are attracted to gangs because the gangs `` give estranged youth something meaningful to which they can belong , an identity otherwise lacking .", "Gangs express the pathology of inner-city life and the new urban culture of violence , but are the consequences of these developments , not the cause .", "`` 34 The criminal justice system can continue to incarcerate gang members , but gangs will remain attractive until better alternatives for identity appear .", "The many youthful lives wasted through illegal drug abuse are tragic .", "But if there were no narcotics , these lives would be wasted through alcohol abuse , or some other method of numbing the mind to the bleakness of ordinary life .", "A century of sternly enforced drug prohibition has resulted in drugs being more available than ever to inner-city youth .", "The fact should offer a caution to liberals who imagine that gun laws can succeed where drug laws have failed , and somehow keep a commodity away from a market that demands it .", "And the fact should suggest to conservatives that a better strategy to reducing drug abuse should be to offer inner-city youth a future brighter than the false and numbing consciousness offered by drug pushers .", "As long as the debate over the decay of inner-city America focuses only on symptoms-guns , gangs , and drugs-there will never be a solution .", "Wright and Sheley put it : -LSB- U -RSB- ntil we rectify the conditions that breed hostility , estrangement , futility and hopelessness , whatever else we do will come to little or nothing ... .", "Widespread joblessness and few opportunities for upward mobility are the heart of the problem .", "Stricter gun control laws , more aggressive enforcement of existing laws , a crack-down on drug traffic , police task forces aimed at juvenile gangs , metal detectors at the doors of schools , periodic searches of lockers and shake-downs of students , and other similar measures are inconsequential compared to the true need : the economic , social and moral resurrection of the inner city .", "Just how this might be accomplished and at what cost can be debated ; the urgent need to do so can not .", "Or as Yephet Copeland , a former member of the Hoover Street Crips in Los Angeles , put it , `` We need better schools and jobs .", "That 's the way you stop the killing .", "You have to offer hope .", "If there 's no hope , the killing will go on-gun ban or not .", "How to resurrect the inner city ?", "Do we need a massive government jobs programs , or urban enterprise zones ?", "Should we increase funding for public schools , or should we end-run the failed public school bureaucracy through charter schools and education vouchers ?", "Are welfare payments insufficiently generous , or is welfare itself a cause of learned helplessness ?", "All of these difficult questions must begin to come to the center of the public debate on the inner city , and the disastrous condition of so many inner-city youth .", "Every day that the public allows legislatures to waste their collective breath with symbolic laws that merely address the symptoms of social pathology -- laws such as those forbidding the wearing of Los Angeles Raiders clothing , or gun waiting periods which will supposedly disarm teenagers who are already forbidden to buy guns -- is another day wasted , another day in which the problem grows worse .", "Gun control is not merely a phony solution to inner-city youth violence .", "It is a formidable political obstacle to genuine solutions , because gun control offers political officials a high-profile ( but empty ) way to tell the public that the legislature is `` doing something . ''", "Every gun control bill that is introduced , and every editorial demanding that we `` do something about guns , '' makes it that much harder to force the political system to do something real about the desperate conditions of the inner city , to address the fundamental social pathologies of modern America .", "Criminologist Gary Kleck summarizes :", "Fixating on guns seems to be , for many people , a fetish which allows them to ignore the more intransigent causes of American violence , including its dying cities , inequality , deteriorating family structure , and the all-pervasive economic and social consequences of a history of slavery and racism ... .", "All parties to the crime debate would do well to give more concentrated attention to more difficult , but far more relevant , issues like how to generate more good-paying jobs for the underclass , an issue which is at the heart of the violence problem .", "There are 210 million guns in the U.S.-more than enough to supply a blackmarket gun to anyone who wants one , no matter how severely prohibition and confiscation were enforced .", "As William Fox , a former member of the Brawling Street Rolling Crips observed , `` How are you going to get the guns off the street that are already there ?", "It ai n't going to change .", "It 's not the guns that have to change .", "It 's the people that have to change .", "`` 38 It is long past time for us to stop fixating on the gun supply , and to start dealing with the persons who misuse guns , and the social conditions under which innocent babies grow in less than two decades into callous murderers .", "Improving the juvenile justice system is a first step toward reducing teenage criminal violence .", "Taking violent teenagers off the streets is a more effective approach than leaving them on the street and enacting gun control palliatives .", "After all , teenagers have ready access to drugs , despite the severe prohibition of drugs for nearly a century .", "It is foolish to pretend that gun control will somehow succeed where drug control has failed .", "In the long term , the most effective solutions will be found in addressing the social conditions that have caused so many inner-city youth to value their own lives and the lives of others so cheaply .", "As one author put it , `` The solution is in the playpen , not in the state pen .", "`` 39 Every day hundreds of children are born to women with inadequate pre-natal care , and hundreds more are physically and sexually abused .", "Many more children , while not directly abused , suffer from `` father hunger , '' growing up in a family where the father has left , or was never present to begin with .", "And today , 18 % of American children live in poverty .", "Does it make sense to start spending more money on children today , knowing that a child who can lead a healthy childhood is much less likely to need to be incarcerated ( at great taxpayer expense ) when he becomes a teenager ?", "There are no simple solutions to today 's social pathologies ; if there were , the solutions would already have been implemented .", "Yet the sooner it is recognized that political discussion about violence must start debating the ways to remedy urban decay , and must abandon the focus on useless gestures such as gun control , the sooner America will begin making forward progress .", "Social programs , unlike gun control , typically involve heavy tax revenue expenditures .", "That is one reason why New York City Mayor David Dinkins makes a ban on semi-automatic `` assault weapons '' ( used in about 1 % of New York", "City gun crime40 ) the focus of his anti-crime effort , and why he ignores the shambles at the City 's child welfare agencies , where barely literate city employees do nothing to save children from being murdered by their parents , even when the children arrive at city hospitals time and again with broken bones , scars , and bruises symptomatic of child abuse .", "True , hiring child abuse workers who can write coherent English is more expensive than New York City 's current policy of hiring those who can not .", "And skimping on early childhood programs also produces short-term savings .", "In the long run , though , these savings are dwarfed by the costs of imprisoning children who could have been helped , but who have grown into criminals .", "One promising approach to preventing crime is Hawaii 's Healthy Start program .", "The state identifies at-risk parents ( alcoholics and victims of child or spouse abuse ) and offers them free in-home counseling .", "The program helps parents learn non-abusive approaches to child care , and also assists the parents ' application for Medicaid assistance and job training programs .", "While at-risk parents who are not contacted by the program have a 20 % risk of perpetrating child abuse , the abuse rate in homes covered by Healthy Start is only 2 % .", "Since child abuse is linked to crime ( 84 % of first-time juvenile offenders in Denver reported having been abused before age 6 ) , the funds expended in Healthy Start result in savings many times over in reduced criminal justice and victim treatment costs .", "Another innovative approach is the Positive Adolescent Choices Training ( PACT ) program , which uses role-playing to help teenagers deal with anger through talking problems out , rather than `` getting even '' through a physical attack .", "PACT and similar programs aim to help teenagers develop empathy for other persons .", "There are many other ways that American government can work to remediate the social ills that lie at the heart of America 's problem of inner-city teenage violence .", "Fixing the present government schools system would certainly be a start .", "While Americans must insist that the government begin confronting the real causes of crimes , the problem is ultimately not within the government 's sole power to solve .", "The problem can only be solved one child at a time , as America 's more affluent population reaches out to its neighbors through Big Brother programs , literacy tutoring , the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts , church programs , and the great range of private endeavors that have worked for America in previous decades .", "As the African saying puts it , `` It takes a whole village to raise a child . ''", "Such an approach requires far more effort on the part of every citizen than simply watching the evening news and nodding in agreement as President Clinton promises that enacting the Brady Bill will reduce teenage gun violence .", "Perhaps that is why President Clinton , and so many other politicians , are so eager to offer voters the placebo of gun control , rather than to challenge voters with the moral obligation to lead the moral and social reconstruction of urban America .", "Ronald Henkoff , `` Kids are Killing , Dying , Bleeding , ''", "Paul Cotton , `` Gun-Associated Violence Increasingly Viewed as", "Public Health Challenge , '' JAMA 267 ( 1992 ) : 1171-74 .", "U.S. Dept. of Justice , Bureau of Justice Statistics , `` Teenage Victims : A National Crime Survey Report , '' NCJ128129 ( May 1991 ) , p. 11 .", "Blackman , Children and Firearms : Lies the CDC Loves , p. 3 .", "Leland Ropp , Paul Visintainer , Jame Uman , & David Treloar , `` Death in the City : An American Childhood Tragedy , '' JAMA 267 ( June 3 , 1992 ) : 2905-10 .", "Fox Butterfield , `` Seeds of Murder Epidemic : Teen-Age Boys with Guns , '' New York Times , Oct. 19 , 1992 , ( Reporting study by James A Fox , dean of Northeastern University 's College of Criminal Justice , by National Crime Analysis Project at Northeastern ) .", "Criminal Justice Prof. William Wilbanks , quoted in `` Homicide Down , Leveling Off in Many Major Cities , '' Crime Control Digest , Dec. 14 , 1992 , pp. 9-10 .", "Kleck , Point Blank . Howard N. Snyder , `` Arrests of Youth 1990 , '' OJJDP ( Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs , Dept. of Justice ) Update on Statistics , Jan. 1992 , pp. 9-11 ; Marcella Hammett , Kenneth E. Powell , Patrick W. O'Carroll , and Sharon T. Clanton , `` Homicide Surveillance_United States 1979-1988 , '' Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 41 ( S-3 ) : 1-33 ; Lois Fingerhut , Joel Kleinman , Elizabeth Godfrey , & Harry Rosenberg .", "`` Firearm Mortality Among Children , Youth , and Young Adults 1-34 Years of Age , Trends and Current Status : United States 1979-1988 , '' Monthly Vital Statistics Report 39 ( 11 Sup . )", "( March 14 , 1991 , CDC National Center for Health", "Christoffel , June 15 , 1989 , supra note 4 .", "J.H. Sloan , A.L. Kellerman , D.I. Reay , J.A. Fenis , T. Koepsell , F.P.Rivara , C. Rice , L. Gray , & J. Logerfo , `` Handgun", "Regulations , Crime , Assaults , and Homicide : A Tale of Two Cities , '' New England Journal of Medicine 319 ( Nov. 10 , 1988 ) : 1256-1262 .", "Walter J. Howe , `` Firearm Production , Imports , and Exports , ''", "Shooting Industry ( Jan. 1992 ) : 91-118 .", "Toch & Lizotte , `` Research & Policy : The Case of Gun Control , '' in eds .", "P. Suedfeld & P. Tetlock , Psychology and Social Advocacy ( New York : Hemisphere Press , 1990 ) .", "Lois A. Fingerhut & Joel C. Kleinman , `` International and Interstate Comparisons of Homicide Among Young Males , '' JAMA , 263 June 27 , 1990 ) : 3292-95 .", "David B. Kopel , The Samurai , the Mountie , and the Cowboy : Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies ?", "( Buffalo : Prometheus Books , 1992 ) .", "Fingerhut & Kleinman , p. 3923 ( the rates were 1.4 in Switzerland and 5.0 in Scotland for 1987 ) .", "Kopel , Samurai , pp. 282-84 .", "Sam Staley , Drug Policy and the Decline of American Cities ( Transaction : 1992 ) .", "Eric Sterling , `` Outline of Some Issues Involving Drug Trafficking , '' address to Nat'l Conference on Schools & Communities , L. Dash , `` A Dealer 's Creed : Be Willing to Die , '' Washington Discussed in Ira Glasser , `` Taking Liberties : Taboo No More , '' Civil Liberties ( Fall/Winter 1989 ) .", "on Children , Youth , and Families , U.S. Children and Their Families : Current Conditions and Recent Trends , 1989 , 101st Cong. , 1st sess. , Sept. 1989 ( Wash. : Govt .", "J.A. Jason , `` Childhood Homicide Spectrum , '' American Journal of Diseases of Children ( AJDC ) 137 ( 1983 ) : 578-581 .", "AAP , `` Firearms and Adolescents . ''", "Blackman , Lies the CDC Loves , p. 28 .", "Dianna Marder , `` A New Generation of Killers : Feeling No Blame and No Shame , '' Philadelphia Inquirer , Dec. 6 , 1992 , p. 1 .", "It is disturbing to consider how frequently the comments of the killers , blaming the victims for resisting , echo the insistent advice of gun control organizations and some law enforcement administrators that victims of a criminal attack should never do anything but passively submit .", "Could the advice , repeated frequently and unquestioningly by the media , have provided the killers with a perceived social legitimation of the killing ?", "Joseph F. Sheley , Zina T. McGee , James D. Wright , `` Gun-related Violence in and Around Inner-City Schools , '' AJDC , 146 ( June 1992 ) : 677-82 ; Janet L. Lauritsen , Robert J. Sampson , & John H. Laub , `` The Link between Offending and Victimization among Adolescents , '' Criminology 29 ( 1991 ) : 265-92 .", "Joseph F. Sheley , Zina T. McGee , James D. Wright , `` Gun-Related Violence in and Around Inner-City Schools , '' AJDC , 146 ( June 1992 ) : 677-82 .", "M.C. Morrisey , R.C. Byrd , E.A. Deitch , `` The Incidence of Recurrent Penetrating Trauma in an Urban Trauma Center , '' Journal of Trauma 31 ( 1991 ) : 1536-38 ; D.W. Sims , B.A. Bivins , F.N. Obeid , et al. , `` Urban Trauma : A Chronic Recurrent Disease , '' Journal of Trauma 29 ( 1989 ) : 940 .", "David Simon , `` A Journalist 's Eye View of the Trauma Physician 's", "Dilemma , '' Archives of Otolaryngology 118 ( June 1992 ) 577 , 578 .", "Wright , et al. , Society , supra note 113 , pp. 88-89 .", "James D. Wright & Joseph Sheley , `` Teenage Violence and the", "Underclass , '' Peace Review ( Fall 1992 ) , p. 32 , 34 .", "Wright & Sheley , supra note 170 , p. 35 .", "`` Platform : '' The Right to Bear Arms is Outdated , ' '' Los", "Angeles Times , Jan. 18 , 1993 .", "Gary Kleck , `` Guns and Violence : A Summary of the Field , '' paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Ass ` n ,", "`` Platform : ` The Right to Bear Arms is Outdated , ' '' Los", "Carole A. McKelvy , `` Children Who Kill , '' School Safety ,", "Of 16,000 guns seized by New York City police in 1988 , only 80 were `` assault-type '' rifles .", "Lt. Moran of the New York City Police", "Ballistics Unit , in White Plains Reporter-Dispatch , March 27 , 1989 ( Associated", "Mitchell Powell & Rita Giordano , `` Parents Who Kill : Crime", "But Little Punishment , '' New York Newsday , Jan. 8 , 1992 , p. 1 .", "( In one case , `` untrained and inexperienced caseworkers ignored blisters and bruises on the boy , failed to talk with his three siblings or his father and failed even to have sufficient command of the English language to write intelligible reports . '' )", "Fortune , Aug. 10 , 1992 , p. 68 .", "It is possible that some of the prisoners who reported abuse were not in fact abused .", "For a description of how scouting programs have helped inner-city teenagers , see Mark Parenti , `` Scouts 'n the Hood , '' Policy Review ( Spring 1993 ) : 62-66 ."], "_citing_sentence": "This is the case, for example, in inner cities where policing is limited and poverty rates high.", "_claim_name": "Crime is often the result of state failure, so the individual must defend himself when the state fails to do so:", "_doc_title": "Crime: The Inner-City Crisis", "_labeled_lineIDs": [80]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 105, "_topic_name": "This house believes in a right to self-defense"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Try two trial issues of The Atlantic with our compliments .", "Since 1798 , opponents have groused every time a commander in chief has taken leave .", "Obama 's current trip to Martha 's Vineyard is no exception .", "It 's vacation time for President Obama .", "So cue the critics and listen to the echoes of history in their complaints .", "You 'll hear that this vacation is too long .", "Or too lavish .", "Or too insensitive .", "Or too far removed from the struggles of average Americans .", "In the two centuries since John Adams was the first president to seek solace outside Washington and the 109 years since Theodore Roosevelt invented the modern presidential vacation , the critics have always been there to attack .", "Now , it 's Obama 's turn to weather the storm .", "From his arrival Thursday on Martha 's Vineyard in Massachusetts until he returns on August 27 , Obama will be seen mostly in full relaxation mode , buying ice cream for his daughters , browsing in book stores , riding a bike , and hitting the beach .", "And with each sighting will almost certainly come lamentations from the critics -- the media , political opponents , nervous supporters -- that he should be back in the White House tending to the nation 's business .", "Like all his modern predecessors , his aides will defend him , insisting that the business and the trappings of office travel with him .", "In contrast to some of those predecessors , though , no one will be able to accuse Obama of using Navy battleships and submarines , Army dirigibles , or Air Force planes to enhance his vacation enjoyment .", "There was always criticism ; but in the past , there were also some vacation perks that went with being commander in chief .", "Before July 5 , 1902 , no president pretended that a vacation trip was anything other than a vacation .", "When John Adams spent seven months at his Quincy , Mass. , farm in 1798 , he was accused of abdicating his office and Congress tried to take advantage of his lengthy absence to push for a war with France .", "The criticism helped undercut his bid for a second term .", "James Madison celebrated the end of the War of 1812 by staying away from Washington for four months - from June until October 1816 .", "Thomas Jefferson went home from July until October in 1805 .", "But no president claimed he was on a `` working '' vacation until that summer day in 1902 when a special presidential train took Theodore Roosevelt to his home in Oyster Bay , N.Y. Later there was to be Harry Truman 's `` Little White House '' in Key West , Fla. , Richard Nixon 's `` Florida White House '' in Key Biscayne , and George W. Bush 's `` Western White House '' in Texas .", "But Roosevelt 's `` Summer White House '' in Oyster Bay was the first vacation home to carry the White House moniker .", "And he was the first president to bring staff with him .", "It was , declares historian Lawrence L. Knutson and the White House Historical Association , the trip that `` forever transformed the nature of the presidential vacation . ''", "Roosevelt brought with him , wrote Knutson , aides , `` a platoon of reporters , '' and a large number of `` stenographers , typists , telegraphers and messengers . ''", "All were stuffed into makeshift quarters they shared with a dentist named Dr. W.C. Root over the Oyster Bay Bank .", "A newspaper cartoon showed Roosevelt riding off with an uprooted White House and a sign declaring `` White House : Gone to Oyster Bay , Back in the Fall . ''", "The critics roared , but The New York Times defended the long vacation , saying it `` will be good for him and good for all of us . ''", "It was on that vacation that Roosevelt coined the term `` bully pulpit '' and brushed aside concerns about his vacation safety so soon after his predecessor was assassinated .", "He insisted on ditching the Secret Service , explaining he was carrying a revolver and could protect himself .", "He also sought his own amusement , at one point going to Long Island Sound where the torpedo submarine USS Plunger was berthed .", "For 55 minutes , he was the first president ever to be submerged in a sub .", "For this , The New York Times spanked him for risking his life in `` some new-fangled , submersible , collapsible or other dangerous device . ''", "Twenty-nine years later , Herbert Hoover sought the Navy 's help to give him some respite during the depths of the Depression .", "Almost on the spur of the moment , the White House announced in March 1931 that `` to secure a short rest '' Hoover was going to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands .", "Somewhat defensively , the announcement noted `` this will be the first vacation of the president since assuming office with the exception of a seven-day fishing trip to Florida something more than a year ago . ''", "His mode of transportation was to be the newly modernized battleship Arizona .", "It 's trial run became a luxury cruise for the president .", "Time magazine described Hoover as `` a very tired man '' at the outset of the cruise .", "But after many `` long naps , '' exercise on the deck with a medicine ball , and dinners ( in formal wear ) accompanied by an orchestra , Hoover was rejuvenated .", "Time described him as `` a new man physically ... his cheeks were a pinkish tan ( and ) lines around his eyes had been smoothed out . ''", "To keep him in touch with the White House , an Army blimp was used daily to shuttle mail from Washington to be dropped in bags on the deck of the Arizona .", "Image credit : Reuters", "The one thing Hoover did n't do was fish , even though he was an avid angler .", "In one of two press conferences he held on the deck of the battleship , he told reporters : `` I would like to , but I do n't believe I can go fishing .", "It seems very inapropos to catch small fish with a large boat . ''", "His successor was not similarly constrained .", "For Franklin D. Roosevelt , his vacation ship of choice was the cruiser USS Houston .", "Four times - in 1934 , 1935 , 1938 and 1939 - the warship was specially adapted by the shipfitters and metalsmiths to handle the president 's wheelchair .", "In 1934 , he went 12,000 miles from Annapolis , Md. , to Portland , Ore. , by way of Haiti , the Virgin Islands , Puerto Rico , the Panama Canal , Colombia , and Hawaii .", "In 1935 , he went from San Diego to Charleston , S.C. , by a similar route .", "And the best-remembered trip was in 1938 when he went from San Francisco on a fishing cruise to the Galapagos Islands , during which he presided over an elaborate `` King Neptune '' ceremony when the ship crossed the equator .", "According to naval historian James D. Hornfischer , Roosevelt was beloved by the crew and spent much of that 24-day trip telling jokes and fishing on the ship 's motor launch .", "Roosevelt 's successor also preferred a military venue for his vacations .", "But the ships were much smaller .", "Harry Truman took 11 trips to a submarine base in Key West .", "Alone in the annals of presidential vacations , near-complete logs of his activities there were maintained and today are available at the Truman Library .", "They divulge details that never would be admitted by today 's image-conscious White House aides .", "Oddly , on most of these vacations Truman left his wife and daughter back home .", "Instead , he surrounded himself with military aides , advisers , and reporters - all possible poker partners .", "The log for every trip shows his first act was to telephone the first lady to report his arrival .", "Of course , in contrast to the high-tech communications that travel with presidents everywhere , the logs for these trips - by the first commander in chief with nuclear weapons at his disposal -- noted that `` except for a direct telephone wire from the Commandant 's quarters to the White House , no special communication facilities were installed incident to the visit . ''", "The logs describe the president relaxing , noting he `` donned bathing trunks and spent an hour loafing in the warm sun '' and `` after lunch the president took a long nap . ''", "Like Theodore Roosevelt , he also went down in a submarine , touring one captured from the Germans .", "He also toured a blimp .", "In 1948 , at a time when he was being battered by Southern Democrats threatening to bolt the party to preserve segregation , he took a long cruise in the presidential yacht , the USS Williamsburg , to Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands and Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .", "Time magazine noted that even this vacation , though , could n't get him away from his political woes .", "His decision to visit the Virgin Islands ' Gov. William Hastie - a black man - enraged white supremacists back home in the South .", "Truman and all of Obama 's predecessors learned the same lesson the president will learn over the next nine days : Vacations can not stop recessions , end wars , or cure political problems .", "And on Martha 's Vineyard , Obama wo n't have submarines , yachts , dirigibles , or battleships to help take his mind off them .", "A short film about a team of scientists and their mission to build a powerful telescope to explore exoplanets .", "Fulfilling what might be the Russian autocrat 's dearest wish , Trump has openly questioned whether the U.S. should keep its commitments to NATO .", "The Republican nominee for president , Donald J. Trump , has chosen this week to unmask himself as a de facto agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin , a KGB-trained dictator who seeks to rebuild the Soviet empire by undermining the free nations of Europe , marginalizing NATO , and ending America 's reign as the world 's sole superpower .", "I am not suggesting that Donald Trump is employed by Putin -- though his campaign manager , Paul Manafort , was for many years on the payroll of the Putin-backed former president of Ukraine , Viktor Yanukovych .", "I am arguing that Trump 's understanding of America 's role in the world aligns with Russia 's geostrategic interests ; that his critique of American democracy is in accord with the Kremlin 's critique of American democracy ; and that he shares numerous ideological and dispositional proclivities with Putin -- for one thing , an obsession with the sort of `` strength '' often associated with dictators .", "Trump is making it clear that , as president , he would allow Russia to advance its hegemonic interests across Europe and the Middle East .", "His election would immediately trigger a wave of global instability -- much worse than anything we are seeing today -- because America 's allies understand that Trump would likely dismantle the post-World War II U.S.-created international order .", "Many of these countries , feeling abandoned , would likely pursue nuclear weapons programs on their own , leading to a nightmare of proliferation .", "In a week full of political propaganda , here 's messaging done delightfully .", "In a segment for James Corden 's `` Carpool Karaoke '' series that aired last night , Michelle Obama told the late-night host that this was one of the only times she 's been near the steering wheel of an automobile since arriving at the White House : `` I 've been in a car maybe months ago with my daughter who learned to drive , and we rocked out with her .", "But that was the only time in seven and a half years that I 've been in the passenger seat , listening to music , rocking out like this . ''", "It 's one little anecdote that does so much : remind of how long we 've all lived with this first family , of the isolating conditions they exist in , and also of their relatability as parents , as teenagers , and as people who love belting Beyonc\u00e9 on their commute .", "The exchange also provides a near metaphor for what Michelle Obama has done with this instantly viral Late Late Show segment .", "She 's technically in the passenger seat , but really , she 's driving the car .", "Why did n't the most talented , most influential Republican politicians -- men like Chris Christie , Tom Cotton , and Paul Ryan -- do more to stop Donald Trump ?", "The neediness of politicians has always fascinated me ; the pathological desire for relevance ; the plasticity of belief in the service of self-aggrandizement ; the depths plumbed in order to stave off insignificance , which can be as frightening as non-existence itself .", "One of my favorite politicians , Chris Christie , the governor of New Jersey , is almost morbidly needy .", "His desire for attention made him into a brilliant retailer , mainly of himself , but also of his ideas , and intermittently , of his state .", "His neediness made him greatly entertaining .", "But it also caused him to betray his own principles .", "I recognize that it took millions of Republican primary voters to bring America to this frightening moment , a moment in which a preposterous grifter of authoritarian bent whose mental health is the subject of pervasive and anxious speculation , has become a major-party nominee for president .", "But it was men like Christie who were indispensable in the creation of this moment .", "Donald J. Trump could have been stopped .", "I believe he could have been stopped early , by a concerted effort to unify the party behind a single , viable , non-fraudulent candidate ; and he could have been stopped late , if Republicans like Christie had not crumpled before Trump .", "A handful of honorable men did , in fact , try to stop him .", "But they were too few in number , and too marginal to make a difference .", "Collectively , the most influential and smartest Republican elected officials -- people who fall into the general category of Them That Knew Better -- just might have been able to devise a way to prevent what is happening from happening .", "But abdication of responsibility and self-debasement in the pursuit of power were the order of the day .", "Taking his biographer 's claim seriously", "This week , the co-author of Donald Trump 's autobiography said in The New Yorker that if he were writing The Art of the Deal today , it would be a very different book with a very different title : The Sociopath .", "To title a person 's life story with that label is a serious accusation , and one worth considering .", "The stakes are high .", "Tony Schwartz , the writer of the best-selling book , said that he `` genuinely believe -LSB- s -RSB- that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes , there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization . ''", "In that light , Schwartz said he feels `` deep remorse '' at having `` put lipstick on a pig . ''", "That seemed to me to be something of a contradiction to the charge of sociopathy , as pigs have been found to show signs of empathy .", "If you call a pig by name , it will come and play with you , reciprocating affection like a dog .", "So which is it , pig or sociopath ?", "Biology textbooks tell us that lichens are alliances between two organisms -- a fungus and an alga .", "They are wrong .", "In 1995 , if you had told Toby Spribille that he 'd eventually overthrow a scientific idea that 's been the stuff of textbooks for 150 years , he would have laughed at you .", "Back then , his life seemed constrained to a very different path .", "He was raised in a Montana trailer park , and home-schooled by what he now describes as a `` fundamentalist cult . ''", "At a young age , he fell in love with science , but had no way of feeding that love .", "He longed to break away from his roots and get a proper education .", "At 19 , he got a job at a local forestry service .", "Within a few years , he had earned enough to leave home .", "His meager savings and non-existent grades meant that no American university would take him , so Spribille looked to Europe .", "The hard structures started forming before the long reign of the dinosaurs , and they did so for a specific purpose .", "Travel back in time to 260 million years ago , just before the dawn of the dinosaur era .", "Journey to what is now South Africa , and make your way to a river bank .", "If you 're lucky , you might see a small , hand-sized creature poking its head out of the mud .", "It looks like a fat lizard , with bulging flanks and stocky legs .", "But if you managed to grab it and flip it over , you 'd find that its flanks are bulging because its ribs are exceptionally wide , broad , and flat , reinforcing its undersides .", "It 's almost like the little creature has half a shell .", "This is Eunotosaurus , and despite its lizard-like appearance , it 's actually one of the earliest known turtles .", "It was discovered in 1892 and ignored for almost a century .", "But by studying the many fossils of this enigmatic reptile , Tyler Lyson from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science has devised a fascinating new idea about turtle origins .", "He thinks that their iconic shells evolved not for defense , but for digging .", "They anchored the powerful arm strokes needed to shift soil and sand .", "Before turtles became impregnable walking fortresses , they were professional burrowers .", "On the final night in Cleveland , Donald Trump will finally take the podium as the official GOP nominee .", "At the Republican National Convention , reactions to Donald Trump range from lackluster enthusiasm to outright defiance .", "CLEVELAND -- The theme for the concluding night of the Republican convention is `` Make America One Again . ''", "Most of the delegates would surely settle for making the Republican Party one again .", "Apart from the GOP leaders already in Donald Trump 's inner circle , the current elected official who has offered the party nominee the most extensive praise from the podium at the Republican national convention so far was Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker .", "And he was done talking about Trump at the 53-second mark of his 10-and-a-half-minute address Wednesday night .", "While formally endorsing Trump , neither House Speaker Paul Ryan , Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , or Florida Senator Marco Rubio said a single word in their remarks in praise of Trump 's character , temperament , or qualifications for the presidency .", "Their speeches embodied the idea of one hand clapping .", "The Republican nominee 's comments to The New York Times are likely to be received very differently by his base than by Washington 's elites .", "Imagine that President Obama summoned the New York Times to the Oval Office and demeaned the United States , declared his support for an authoritarian leader , threatened to expose U.S. allies to Russian control , and offered a one-word solution to a globe afire : `` Meetings . ''", "Donald Trump 's head would explode .", "Obama hates America !", "He 's leading from behind !", "And yet these are the positions the Republican presidential candidate presented in an extraordinary interview on the eve of accepting his party 's presidential nomination .", "Setting aside his hypocrisy and reckless rhetoric , the interview offers a chance to understand Trump .", "These comments are consistent with his populism -- they appeal to his base and , more importantly , could find appeal beyond his nominating coalition .", "Why lime juice and sunlight do n't mix", "Last month , on a hot Saturday afternoon , Justin Fehntrich showed up to bartend at a swanky Fire Island Pines estate .", "The event he was working , a fundraiser for an LGBT-advocacy nonprofit , had about 100 guests and two other bartenders .", "He got the bar with the best view : the one in the sun , wedged between the sprawling , sparkling pool and the breezy ocean shore .", "Just as he and the other bartenders were about to prep their stations , a representative from the event 's official liquor sponsor asked if they would n't mind squeezing four bags of limes .", "Justin offered to drive to the supermarket and buy a bottle of juice , but the rep insisted on fresh , so Justin and another bartender sliced and squeezed about 100 limes into pitchers for cocktails .", "A short documentary profiles the difficult lives of senior citizens who have lived in the city for decades .", "Welcome to Inishturk , where they really do n't like Donald Trump .", "It takes three words .", "Get 10 issues a year and save 65 % off the cover price ."], "_citing_sentence": "We are rightly aggravated when politicians take extensive vacations or other extracurricular forays.", "_claim_name": "Giving politicians' immunity from prosecution allows them to focus on performing their duties", "_doc_title": "The Long Tradition of Criticizing Presidential Vacations - The Atlantic", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 9]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 106, "_topic_name": "This House would grant politicians immunity from prosecution"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Saturday 16 October 2010 19.07 EDT", "Last modified on Monday 18 October 2010 06.46 EDT", "For Alan Bounville it has felt like a lonely protest .", "For 16 days he has held a vigil outside the campaign office of Kirsten Gillibrand , a New York senator , holding a sign calling for equal civil rights for gay people .", "The 33-year-old New Yorker has suffered the stares of strangers , been ignored by the political target of his demonstration , and endured the harsh cold of sleeping overnight outside on a hard Manhattan pavement .", "But a series of brutal attacks on young gay men , a number of tragic suicides and alarming anti-gay public statements by Republican politicians have led Bounville to feel he has no choice .", "`` Our people are dying .", "So I am just going to sit and protest .", "That is my job , '' Bounville said .", "Liberal America has looked on aghast as virulent homophobic prejudice seems to have returned to its streets and cities .", "Most remarkable of all , much of it seems to be centred on the New York region , usually tolerant in its politics and not seen as hostile to homosexuals living openly .", "But it was just a few miles away from Bounville 's protest in the Bronx that a group of suspected gang members brutally beat and tortured a 30-year-old gay man and several other youths who had been associated with him .", "The details of the assault , for which 10 people have been arrested , horrified New Yorkers .", "The gay victim was kidnapped , beaten , whipped and burned .", "The shocking crime was just one of a series of incidents that have hit the city .", "Others have even occurred in the heart of New York 's vibrant gay scene .", "In the Chelsea neighbourhood , which has a large gay population , a group of men hugging each other goodbye after a night out were punched and had a rubbish bin thrown at them .", "Meanwhile in the famous Stonewall Inn , where the modern gay rights movement was founded after a police raid in 1969 , a customer was beaten and robbed by men who hurled homophobic insults at him .", "For many observers the violence has been especially worrying as it has come at the same time as several leading Republicans have made anti-gay statements .", "South Carolina 's Senator Jim DeMint , one of America 's most powerful Republican politicians , has publicly said that gay people should not be allowed to become teachers .", "Those sentiments were echoed by the Republican candidate in the New York governor race , Carl Paladino .", "In an astonishing piece of political theatre at a meeting of conservative Orthodox Jews , Paladino condemned gay pride parades and said gay people should not teach in schools .", "When the comments stirred outrage in the media , Paladino went on the talk show circuit in New York to complain about men `` grinding '' against each other at marches while wearing Speedos .", "`` Is that normal ? ''", "he asked one TV interviewer .", "The remarks were so bizarre some observers dismissed them as just another gaffe from a candidate dogged by allegations of infidelity and sending pornographic images by email .", "But gay rights activists say that is a mistake .", "There is a direct link , they say , between such public statements of homophobia and attacks .", "`` These comments give licence to those who use violence .", "It is dangerous .", "It is tragic to think these hateful kinds of words have consequences , '' said Michael Cole , a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign , which campaigns for gay rights in America .", "Such sentiments do not just encourage violent attacks ; they can also spur people to suicide .", "Recently a student at Rutgers University committed suicide after his room-mate broadcast one of his gay sexual encounters over the internet .", "In Oklahoma recently a 19-year-old man killed himself after attending a local council meeting where members of the public had spoken out against celebrating the local gay community .", "The family of Zach Harrington , who committed suicide at home , told their local newspaper in the small town of Norman that they believed the `` toxic '' environment of the meeting had pushed him over the edge .", "Yet the rash of violence , deaths and homophobia has actually come against the backdrop of a series of legal and political advances in gay rights .", "The longstanding `` Do n't Ask , Do n't Tell '' ban against gay people serving openly in the US military has suffered a series of legal defeats and President Barack Obama has committed himself to revoking it .", "In Florida a recent court case allowed gay people to adopt children .", "`` Things are moving faster and in more unpredictable ways then we could have thought even six months ago , '' said Julie Shapiro , an expert on the legal struggle for gay rights at Seattle University .", "History , she said , was on the side of equality and that was making homophobic people more anxious .", "`` They will land up where the white supremacists landed up .", "Fifty years ago it was OK to oppose inter-racial marriage .", "Now they are marginalised , '' Shapiro said .", "Bounville has a simple thought when he hears statements such as those made by Paladino .", "`` People like him are the new Ku Klux Klan , '' he said ."], "_citing_sentence": "For example in New York there were a series of homophobic attacks after anti-gay statements by republican politicians.", "_claim_name": "Because religion promotes certainty of belief, divinely inspired hatred is easy to use to justify and promote violent actions and discriminatory practices.", "_doc_title": "US shaken by sudden surge of violence against gay people | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Heterosexism in Contemporary", "By Daniel C. Maguire Introduction", "Homosexuality is not a problem : heterosexism is a problem , and not just for sexual minorities .", "To think of homosexuality as `` problem '' - which even persons of liberal bent can do-is a distraction and a surrender to the unjust and poisonous prejudice of heterosexism .", "Homophobia has , in irony , been called `` the last respectable prejudice '' but , of course , no prejudice merits respect .", "All prejudice metastasizes into other sites and spreads its malignancy into policy , law , custom , and culture .", "Any prejudice tolerated makes other prejudices seem more natural .", "By its nature , prejudice `` outgroups '' persons , disenfranchising them of their human rights .", "It marks persons out for special and negative handling simply because of who they are .", "Unlike its cousins anti-Semitism , sexism , and racism , heterosexism has enjoyed undue immunity from critique , especially religious critique .", "Worse yet , religions have been the major offenders in fomenting prejudice against sexual minorities .", "The Pope says gays can not be priests .", "As theologian Mary Hunt points out in Chapter", "Six , heterosexual Catholics have seven sacraments ; gays and lesbians have only six since the sacrament of matrimony is denied them .", "Some Episcopalians want to split their church apart to prevent same-sex marital bonding .", "The stress on reproduction in all religions often disparages non-reproductive sex , thus tabooing and insulting all homosexual relationships .", "Religious prejudices seep deeply into cultures .", "Thus , sexual minorities not only can not be clergy , they also can not be teachers or even soldiers .", "Religions are always active and influential in defining the meaning of the bonding called family and have regularly shrunken it into a gated preserve for heterosexuals .", "This gives religious blessing to a heterosexual monopoly on committed love .", "It transforms marriage from a human right into an award for being heterosexual .", "Sexual pleasure itself is put on trial ; it must be justified or validated by reproductivity .", "Sexual joy in its own right is stripped of its natural legitimacy .", "Sexual minorities are thus not the only victims of heterosexist brutality .", "The damage is so much broader .", "Humanity needs its exuberant diversity , but humans tend to flee from it .", "William Sloane Coffin writes : `` Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with-and perhaps the most dangerous thing to live without . ''", "This self-protective hunger for a cowering monism could indeed be the fatal flaw of our species .", "We either learn to live with and exult in the wealth of our natural and cultural differences-religious , ethnic , racial , sexual -- or we perish .", "The fervor that animates homophobia seeks ill-fated support from zoology , hoping to show that nature requires heteronormativity .", "Alas , the desired evidence is not there , and contrary evidence abounds .", "In his extensive study , Biological Exuberance : Animal", "Homosexuality and Natural Diversity , biologist Bruce Bagemihl shows that homosexuality is part of our evolutionary heritage as primates .", "He reports that more than 450 species regularly engage in a wide range of same-sex activities ranging from copulation to long-term bonding .", "Even the assumed male/female dimorphism is not fixed in nature .", "`` Many animals live without two distinct genders , or with multiple genders . ''", "Finding evidence that our preferred social arrangements are exemplified in edifying animal conduct is also doomed .", "The lovely mallards sometimes form `` trio-bonds '' with one male and two females or one female with two males .", "Homophobia and Fear of Change", "A similar and related timidity makes us fear change .", "Extreme conservatives seem to be saying that `` nothing should be done for the first time . ''", "Yet change is of the essence .", "From the molecular micro to the macro of the universe , flux is normative and incessant .", "`` First times '' are an unending feature of nature .", "Clearly many changes would come to society if heterosexism with its multiple noxious ramifications were banished from our cultural lexicon and buried with evils of the past , such as cannibalism and the divine right of kings .", "The extent of change , it seems , is keenly felt .", "If the patriarchally conceived model of marriage were changed and more egalitarian forms of marriage and family were legitimated , a lynchpin would be yanked out of current social constructions .", "As Marvin Ellison points out in Chapter Two of this volume , governments might have to support people on the basis of need and not of conformity to a narrow definition of family .", "His words : `` Making marital status the exclusive conduit for those benefits does little to correct the entrenched patterns of social and economic inequities that are rapidly expanding within the global capitalist social order . ''", "Patriarchal marriage has long been the building block of society , and through its symbolic power it finds reflection in governments and corporate structures .", "It weaves hierarchical assumptions into the expression of power .", "Heterosexist and biased definitions of normalcy attach to the central nerves in the economic and political arrangements now in place .", "Change in these matters is not just personal : it is political and important and powerholders know it .", "Hence the frenzy and uproar in church and state when regnant notions of marriage and family are threatened by new thought .", "Fear of two persons who love one another and want to bond permanently , legally , and if they choose , religiously , would not , on its face , seem to presage social disaster .", "Why does it engender such panic ?", "It does seem to be a rule of life when an issue becomes suddenly inflamed in society , it rarely has anything to do with the issue .", "It has everything to do with power .", "Powerholders , like animals who sense earthquakes before others , first feel the distant tremors that threaten their foundations and their privileges . .", "All of this helps to explain the shocking enigma of misplaced moral indignation in the political arena and among religious people .", "One would think that the ongoing starvation of 1.3 billion people in absolute poverty would command our moral attention .", "If not that , then one would hope that the double basting of the planet in CO2 with catastrophes of melting polar and glacial ice already happening would focus our minds .", "How compatible it would be with the peace-passions and empathy traditions of all the world 's major religions to mount campaigns against obesely bloated military budgets that suck blood out of our economies while children starve and wars and illiteracy spread , with health care needs unforgivably unmet .", "In countries such as the United States , a demonic , fear-driven pelvic orthodoxy , with scandalous over-absorption in issues like same-sex marriage , contraception , and abortion , consumes politics , churches , legislatures , and judiciaries .", "The widely unappreciated truth is that heterosexism with its attendant assumptions force us into a closet of fear-terrible , damaging , corrupting fear .", "This book is written as an invitation to exit that closet .", "Religion as Problem : Religion as Cure", "With support from The Brico Fund , The Religious Consultation on", "Population , Reproductive Health and Ethics ( www.religiousconsultation.org ) recruited the scholars contributing to this volume , some living as far away as Singapore , Taiwan , and New Zealand .", "We met twice over two years for four day meetings .", "At the table were representatives of Hinduism , Buddhism , Taoism , Confucianism , Judaism , Protestant and Catholic Christianity ( including a specialist in Black American", "Christianity ) , and Islam .", "We gathered in the conviction that where heterosexism flourishes , fundamentalist religious inaccuracies dominate public discourse affecting public attitudes , laws , and policies .", "The ingredients in the world 's religions that support same-sex unions are largely hidden , and we set out to correct that .", "Our goal is to give voice in this volume and in multiple media to the religious resources that are truly antidotal to heterosexism and can bring balance to discussions of the moral rights of sexual minorities .", "Truth well delivered is the hoped-for solvent of prejudice .", "All the scholars in this volume agree , as we do in all the Consultation 's projects , that multi-religious collaboration breaks open the lockbox of mono-cultural ethical analysis .", "It facilitates what Robert", "McAfee Brown used to call `` caricature assassination . ''", "Meeting twice over two years face-to-face and not just by e-mail , fax , and phone-though we did that too-makes a qualitative difference in the dialogue .", "The Jesuit social theorist John Courtney Murray used to say that `` disagreement is a rare achievement , '' and he had a point .", "Distance from one 's interlocutors can breed an undue politeness .", "We break thorough that with this methodology .", "We can agree and disagree , probe and question , and so more effectively pull away the veils of false , culturally ensconced assumptions .", "Our funder saw the value of this and made it possible for us to build a small collegium through these intense and exhilarating meetings .", "Parting after our second meeting was `` sweet sorrow '' since bonds were forged which will continue to bear scholarly fruit .", "Each chapter of this volume has a different perspective to offer .", "There was refreshment in seeing that Chinese cultures did not think of a person as `` a homosexual ; '' they did n't even have a word for it though the reality was there .", "This is in chastening contrast to much of Western homophobic culture .", "In this view , sexual orientation did not constitute personhood .", "In other religions , too , sexual orientation is not the grounds for either dignity or scorn .", "Homosexuality like heterosexuality is morally neutral .", "Rather , it is , primarily , how persons live and relate to other persons and to their parent earth that gives persons their main identity .", "In healthier cultures , the `` is '' of a person is not established by one 's sexual orientation or by one 's height , but by one 's moral commitments .", "The object of one 's passion and love does not stigmatize the lover .", "We know more of what makes a person a person by finding their lived-out attraction to compassion and justice .", "Buddhism , the concern is not so much with whether a person is homosexual as with whether the person observes and embraces celibacy and the other requirements of a moral life as a monk .", "This same healing theme appears here and there like an aspiring", "Leitmotif in all those flawed but powerful classics called world religions .", "The healthy emphasis on the moral character of persons -- rather than with whom they fall in love - strips away and embarrasses the moralistic pretensions of heterosexist cultures .", "Seeing persons through heterosexist lenses is radically distortional .", "Realism on Religion", "The writers in this volume do not proceed under the illusion that religions are immaculately conceived and free of sin .", "Religions are not only sinners , they are also influential sinners .", "As already noted , all religions contributed and continue to contribute to heterosexist prejudice .", "No religion is a complete moral success .", "There is a Buddhist saying that every belief system is an illness waiting to be cured .", "That may overstate the case and it may also out-post-modern the post-modernists , but there is a point there .", "The goal of our authors is to seek out the renewable moral energies of these classics , however flawed they may be , and direct those energies creatively to contemporary moral crises .", "All religions suffer from amnesia .", "They can forget their better moments in the past when prejudice did not dull their vision .", "Thus , as John Boswell showed , Christianity was not always heterosexist and homophobic .", "The task of religious scholarship is to call the religions before the bar of their professed ideals and to show them times when those ideals were better realized . .", "Religions also suffer from contagion .", "Heterosexist poisons cross borders and our various scholars in this volume take note of these unhappy imports into their religions .", "Some , not all , of our authors in this volume bring their own experience as sexual minorities to their scholarship .", "This was indispensable and appreciated by all participants .", "Seven of the participants are women , two men .", "Since men tended to write the script for most religions , all of our Consultation projects welcome the newly emergent voices of women scholars .", "Judith Plaskow , our scholar in Judaism and co-editor of the book , is no stranger in feminist literature .", "As past president of the American Academy of Religion , she has been an influential presence , and few are they who are not in debt to her valuable and courageous work .", "She points out how society tries to shrink sexual expression into a tight binary and then derives sexual norms from this artificial arrangement that do not match the richness of nature .", "Violations of these norms , she says , `` seem to endanger the foundations of the earth , the walls of our only safe and certain home in the universe . ''", "It takes courage to challenge these norms .", "But courage , of course , is the mark of all who struggle against the headwinds of prejudice .", "Our other editor , Marvin Ellison , is a gay man teaching in the venerable Bangor Theological Seminary and author of the recently published Same-Sex Marriage ?", "A Christian Ethical Analysis in which he defends same-sex marriage on Christian grounds .", "Ellison shows how power concerns operate in the effort to make heterosexuality normative for the whole human race and how government conspires with religious prejudice and religious ignorance to dictate narrowly defined `` family values . '' .", "Ghazala Anwar , a leading Muslim scholar , brings to this volume what most have thought impossible : a defense of same-sex marriage based on the Qur ` an and other authoritative Muslim sources .", "She even shows how this has moved beyond scholarly debate and is being lived out successfully in ways that are virtually unknown in the", "West by committed and fully faithful Muslim lesbians , the Samadiyyah .", "Professor Anwar , now teaching in New Zealand , returns frequently to her native Pakistan where she has lectured on `` Lesbian", "She reports in her chapter on the surprisingly encouraging reactions she has gotten on her courageous mission to her beloved Muslim community .", "Anantanand Rambachan draws from his own Hindu experience and from his life of scholarship on the multiple traditions covered by the general term Hinduism .", "Respect for diversity is at the heart of Hindu cultures .", "There are many names for God and many embodiments of divinity .", "Unlike the rigidly monotheistic faiths , there is less stress on tidy categories , more humility , and more openness to surprise .", "Since early times , the Hindus saw that persons were not divided neatly into male and female ; there was also a third sex , and this normalized gender and sexual variety .", "This reflects the acceptance of `` two spirit '' people in native", "There are remedies in these traditions for the dogmatic dimorphism found in other cultures .", "Yu-Chen Li , from the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan , shows how Buddhism relativizes not only gender but sexual orientation .", "It is the successful management of sexual desire , not the orientation of that desire that matters .", "Virtue and enlightenment are possible for anyone in this tradition .", "Of course , the privileging of males is pandemic and leaves no religion untouched , and so sexual and gender prejudices are present in Buddhist history even to this day .", "Still , professor Yu-Chen Li shows that there are forces within", "Buddhism that stress that acceptance of this universe as it is , with all of its natural differences , is the path to true enlightenment .", "Privileging one sexual orientation over another is not the path of wisdom .", "Professor Ann Marie Hsiung writes of Taoism and Confucianism .", "In the Chinese religions there is , of course , a strong stress on the need for reproduction , and Professor Hsiung points out how Confucian rigidities were conducive to heterosexism .", "Still there is not the homophobic resistance to same-sex romance found so widely in the West .", "Same-sex relations among males were common though often in situations where status , power , and wealth gave freedom to privileged males .", "Women enjoyed more freedom for homoerotic relationships as witnessed in the outpouring of passionate literature .", "In one play , a young married woman Cui falls in love with a beautiful young woman Cao in her visit to a Buddhist convent , and Cao reciprocates her feelings .", "The two seek union as husband and wife and even invoke the Buddha as their witness : `` We could share the same bed and afterwards the same tomb and we would be joined , like two butterflies , flitting hither and thither . ''", "In some cases a partnered lesbian would take up a simultaneous relationship with a man to fulfill her child-bearing duty and then would return to her true lesbian love .", "The human desire ( more prominent in the West than in the East ) to pack sexual and gender reality into tidy fenced-in categories does little justice to human experience more broadly seen .", "Professor Kelly Brown Douglas discusses the fact that in the African American church communities there is pronounced homophobia and heterosexism .", "She points out that this was strategically exploited by the Republican party with some success in the 2004 Presidential election .", "She explores the multiple reasons for this : a reaction to past charges of their aberrant hypersexuality , fear that the anti-heterosexist movement is bypassing the enduring justice claims of African Americans , and an overreaction to their past history where marriage was denied them .", "It is also stimulated by fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible 's anti-homosexual texts .", "Douglas counters all of this with a sophisticated Christian theology that better corresponds to the spiritual power and elan of the", "African American churches .", "These biblical `` texts of terror '' used by popular evangelists are also influential with conservative Catholics newly bonded with fundamentalist Protestants .", "The texts themselves are their own refutation , and no one could take them literally .", "Leviticus 20:13 demands capital punishment for sexual minorities .", "It says of anyone who has had homosexual sex , `` they shall be put to death .", "Their blood shall be on their own heads . ''", "Paul writing to Romans also prescribes capital punishment for same-sex activity .", "`` Those who behave like this deserve to die '' ( Rom .", "Obviously these texts , like other texts in the Bible permitting slavery , animal sacrifice , and polygamy , are not applicable or applied today .", "Yet they continue to do mischief and not just in the African American communities .", "They also resonate in the chambers of American lawmakers and judges .", "Dr. Mary Hunt writes `` as a Catholic lesbian feminist theologian '' and faces up to the enormous problems caused by homophobia and heterosexism in the Roman Catholic Church .", "She notes the basic irrationality of heterosexism : `` Homosexuality is a phenomenon that , absent heterosexism , is no more ethically interesting or relevant than heterosexuality .", "It is a descriptive category that is morally neutral . ''", "Hunt argues that heterosexism has a deviant power mission in Catholicism .", "She asks why `` a religious organization would spend its symbolic capital on sexuality if it were not the lynchpin in its hierarchically dualistic world view .", "Paired with the sexism that always accompanies it , heterosexism plays a key role in Catholic kyriarchal thinking both to discriminate against lgbt people and to prevent especially women from exercising moral and spiritual agency . ''", "A truly Catholic theology would call for the celebration of same-sex love , not its condemnation .", "True Catholicism would extol persons for their virtues and not burn them for their loves .", "Dr. Hunt 's logic would also hold for political heterosexism .", "There is no state interest in preventing two persons who love one another from bonding for life in secular or religious ceremonies of their choosing .", "Thus , a not-so-secret power agenda is again afoot .", "Religions are never neutral or passive bystanders in public debates on issues of morality and human relations .", "Nothing so stirs the will as the tincture of the sacred .", "In the United States and many other countries , simplistic and fundamentalistic theologies that distort the religious traditions have held sway .", "They have been the loudest voices in the public square .", "This book seeks to remedy that .", "and to do honor to the racial , ethnic , and sexual variety with which humanity is blessed ."], "_citing_sentence": "Homophobia is the last respectable prejudice and should be tackled with the same passion and force that others have been, and continue to be, confronted.", "_claim_name": "Ill-informed prejudice has no place in society. The veneer of religion has been used to justify hatred, prejudice and division and should be confronted.", "_doc_title": "Heterosexism in Contemporary World Religion", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Heidi Blake 1:05 PM BST 02 May 2010", "Dale McAlpine was charged with causing `` harassment , alarm or distress '' after a homosexual police community support officer ( PCSO ) overheard him reciting a number of `` sins '' referred to in the Bible , including blasphemy , drunkenness and same sex relationships .", "The 42-year-old Baptist , who has preached Christianity in Workington , Cumbria for years , said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder , but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God .", "Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language , contrary to the Public Order Act .", "Mr McAlpine , who was taken to the police station in the back of a marked van and locked in a cell for seven hours on April 20 , said the incident was among the worst experiences of his life .", "`` I felt deeply shocked and humiliated that I had been arrested in my own town and treated like a common criminal in front of people I know , '' he said .", "Tory candidate ` prayed to cure gay people ' `` My freedom was taken away on the hearsay of someone who disliked what I said , and I was charged under a law that does n't apply . ''", "Christian campaigners have expressed alarm that the Public Order Act , introduced in 1986 to tackle violent rioters and football hooligans , is being used to curb religious free speech .", "Sam Webster , a solicitor-advocate for the Christian Institute , which is supporting Mr McAlpine , said it is not a crime to express the belief that homosexual conduct is a sin .", "`` The police have a duty to maintain public order but they also have a duty to defend the lawful free speech of citizens , '' he said .", "`` Case law has ruled that the orthodox Christian belief that homosexual conduct is sinful is a belief worthy of respect in a democratic society . ''", "Mr McAlpine was handing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments or offering a `` ticket to heaven '' with a church colleague on April 20 , when a woman came up and engaged him in a debate about his faith .", "During the exchange , he says he quietly listed homosexuality among a number of sins referred to in 1 Corinthians , including blasphemy , fornication , adultery and drunkenness .", "After the woman walked away , she was approached by a PCSO who spoke with her briefly and then walked over to Mr McAlpine and told him a complaint had been made , and that he could be arrested for using racist or homophobic language .", "The street preacher said he told the PCSO : `` I am not homophobic but sometimes I do say that the Bible says homosexuality is a crime against the Creator '' .", "He claims that the PCSO then said he was homosexual and identified himself as the Lesbian , Gay , Bisexual and Transgender liaison officer for Cumbria police .", "Mr McAlpine replied : `` It 's still a sin . ''", "The preacher then began a 20 minute sermon , in which he says he mentioned drunkenness and adultery , but not homosexuality .", "Three regular uniformed police officers arrived during the address , arrested Mr McAlpine and put him in the back of a police van .", "At the station , he was told to empty his pockets and his mobile telephone , belt and shoes were confiscated .", "Police took fingerprints , a palm print , a retina scan and a DNA swab .", "He was later interviewed , charged under Sections 5 ( 1 ) and ( 6 ) of the Public Order Act and released on bail on the condition that he did not preach in public .", "Mr McAlpine pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing on Friday at Workington magistrates court and is now awaiting a trial date .", "The Public Order Act , which outlaws the unreasonable use of abusive language likely to cause distress , has been used to arrest religious people in a number of similar cases .", "Harry Hammond , a pensioner , was convicted under Section 5 of the Act in 2002 for holding up a sign saying `` Stop immorality .", "Jesus is Lord '' while preaching in Bournemouth .", "Stephen Green , a Christian campaigner , was arrested and charged in 2006 for handing out religious leaflets at a Gay Pride festival in Cardiff .", "The case against him was later dropped .", "Cumbria police said last night that no one was available to comment on Mr McAlpine 's case ."], "_citing_sentence": "In the light of this, it makes sense to judge the views on their own basis, regardless of the religiosity surrounding them.The views expressed by Harry Hammond, and others, need to be stripped of their religious veneer and shown that at their heart they are simply offensive.", "_claim_name": "Religion simply justifies reactionary views which many find offensive. There is no reason for vitriol to be tolerated just because it presents a mask of religion.", "_doc_title": "Christian preacher arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin  - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [24, 25]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 107, "_topic_name": "This House would penalise religious hate speech"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["This column has been a model of probity and restraint when assessing Hillary Rodham Clinton 's claim to be a welfare reformer .", "When Mrs. Clinton said she 'd been in favor of her husband 's signing of the landmark 1996 reform law , kausfiles was there for her , backing up her boast .", "When she charged that her Senate opponent , New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani , had actually opposed the same law , kausfiles did n't believe it -- until her bizarre claim checked out .", "When conservative columnists like Paul Gigot tried to paint her as a welfare-supporting lefty , kausfiles defended her against these crude right-wing clich\u00e9s .", "But last week Mrs. Clinton , speaking to a crowd of unionized government workers in upstate New York , attacked Mayor Giuliani 's welfare reform using crude labor and left-wing clich\u00e9s .", "Specifically , she said : `` We have a mayor who perverts welfare reform , who puts people in make-work jobs and does n't give them the support or the opportunity to get a job . ''", "What does she mean by `` make-work '' ?", "Does she mean that the workfare jobs that tens of thousands of New York City welfare recipients perform -- cleaning subways and parks , for example -- are useless ?", "This is a charge often made against government jobs programs -- starting with Franklin Roosevelt 's WPA .", "It 's sometimes true , but it 's provably false in this case .", "As the New York Post 's Bob McManus points out , the public employee unionists who oppose workfare do n't do so because they think the work performed is useless .", "They do it because they think it 's useful -- so useful that in many cases union members are already doing similar tasks .", "They fear workfare workers will put them out of a job .", "Is Hillary charging , then , that the jobs pay too little ?", "It 's true , workfare jobs ( including Giuliani 's ) do n't pay very well .", "Often workfare pays a bit less than the minimum wage .", "That 's because these are jobs of last resort , and we want to preserve an incentive for workfarers to move into the private sector .", "If you offered a $ 20-an-hour workfare job to everyone on welfare , half the workers in New York would quit their current jobs and try to get workfare .", "Roosevelt , for one , realized that public last-resort jobs had to pay less than private jobs .", "Modern advocates of WPA-style jobs , such as William Julius Wilson of Harvard , have also come around to the sub-minimum-wage position .", "The welfare plan proposed by Mrs. Clinton 's husband in 1994 -- before the Republicans took over the House and passed their own plan -- had 170,000 of these `` make-work '' workfare jobs in it , all paying effectively less than the minimum wage .", "( Those who worked in the jobs would have gotten a minimum-wage paycheck but would have been denied the normal Earned Income Tax Credit . )", "Is Mrs. Clinton saying she opposes her husband 's own welfare-reform plan ?", "If you go around trying to discredit public workfare jobs `` make-work , '' you are in effect saying you do n't support welfare reform .", "Political support for workfare is especially crucial at the moment , because the so-called `` five-year time limit '' in the 1996 welfare law is about to kick in for some recipients .", "The limit is legally toothless -- states can easily chicken out and effectively keep all their 5-year recipients on the dole indefinitely .", "They can also cut them off .", "But neither of these two responses is very attractive .", "The alternative is to offer them last-resort workfare jobs -- a Third Way !", "and only cut them off if they refuse to work .", "I suspect Mrs. Clinton understands this .", "My guess is she was just pandering to AFSCME , the anti-workfare government employees ' union heavily represented in her audience .", "But that does n't make it any better .", "One of the dirty little secrets of the left is that unions have always tried to throw a monkey wrench into public jobs programs , even when they have been proposed by union heroes like Franklin Roosevelt .", "That 's because any program that threatens to put poorer people into government jobs threatens to undermine union wages and bargaining leverage .", "FDR had to break a strike against his WPA over this issue .", "It remains to be seen whether the unions will succeed in sabotaging the last-resort jobs programs that are the key to welfare reform .", "They are certainly trying , especially in New York City .", "By speaking out to discredit workfare as `` make-work , '' Mrs. Clinton has n't merely lent them rhetorical support ( which she might later withdraw , as is her habit ) .", "She 's already done her bit to help them succeed .", "My apologies to Gigot .", "The right may be right on this one -- it looks like Mrs. Clinton does n't really support welfare reform after all .", "LSB- Always good to get a nice welfare-reform item .", "But where is the haiku contest ?"], "_citing_sentence": "Furthermore, workfare schemes require applicants also search for work whilst completing the scheme.", "_claim_name": "Workfare will eliminate scroungers, who are a financial drain on the system", "_doc_title": "Now She's Done It", "_labeled_lineIDs": [16]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["This column has been a model of probity and restraint when assessing Hillary Rodham Clinton 's claim to be a welfare reformer .", "When Mrs. Clinton said she 'd been in favor of her husband 's signing of the landmark 1996 reform law , kausfiles was there for her , backing up her boast .", "When she charged that her Senate opponent , New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani , had actually opposed the same law , kausfiles did n't believe it -- until her bizarre claim checked out .", "When conservative columnists like Paul Gigot tried to paint her as a welfare-supporting lefty , kausfiles defended her against these crude right-wing clich\u00e9s .", "But last week Mrs. Clinton , speaking to a crowd of unionized government workers in upstate New York , attacked Mayor Giuliani 's welfare reform using crude labor and left-wing clich\u00e9s .", "Specifically , she said : `` We have a mayor who perverts welfare reform , who puts people in make-work jobs and does n't give them the support or the opportunity to get a job . ''", "What does she mean by `` make-work '' ?", "Does she mean that the workfare jobs that tens of thousands of New York City welfare recipients perform -- cleaning subways and parks , for example -- are useless ?", "This is a charge often made against government jobs programs -- starting with Franklin Roosevelt 's WPA .", "It 's sometimes true , but it 's provably false in this case .", "As the New York Post 's Bob McManus points out , the public employee unionists who oppose workfare do n't do so because they think the work performed is useless .", "They do it because they think it 's useful -- so useful that in many cases union members are already doing similar tasks .", "They fear workfare workers will put them out of a job .", "Is Hillary charging , then , that the jobs pay too little ?", "It 's true , workfare jobs ( including Giuliani 's ) do n't pay very well .", "Often workfare pays a bit less than the minimum wage .", "That 's because these are jobs of last resort , and we want to preserve an incentive for workfarers to move into the private sector .", "If you offered a $ 20-an-hour workfare job to everyone on welfare , half the workers in New York would quit their current jobs and try to get workfare .", "Roosevelt , for one , realized that public last-resort jobs had to pay less than private jobs .", "Modern advocates of WPA-style jobs , such as William Julius Wilson of Harvard , have also come around to the sub-minimum-wage position .", "The welfare plan proposed by Mrs. Clinton 's husband in 1994 -- before the Republicans took over the House and passed their own plan -- had 170,000 of these `` make-work '' workfare jobs in it , all paying effectively less than the minimum wage .", "( Those who worked in the jobs would have gotten a minimum-wage paycheck but would have been denied the normal Earned Income Tax Credit . )", "Is Mrs. Clinton saying she opposes her husband 's own welfare-reform plan ?", "If you go around trying to discredit public workfare jobs `` make-work , '' you are in effect saying you do n't support welfare reform .", "Political support for workfare is especially crucial at the moment , because the so-called `` five-year time limit '' in the 1996 welfare law is about to kick in for some recipients .", "The limit is legally toothless -- states can easily chicken out and effectively keep all their 5-year recipients on the dole indefinitely .", "They can also cut them off .", "But neither of these two responses is very attractive .", "The alternative is to offer them last-resort workfare jobs -- a Third Way !", "and only cut them off if they refuse to work .", "I suspect Mrs. Clinton understands this .", "My guess is she was just pandering to AFSCME , the anti-workfare government employees ' union heavily represented in her audience .", "But that does n't make it any better .", "One of the dirty little secrets of the left is that unions have always tried to throw a monkey wrench into public jobs programs , even when they have been proposed by union heroes like Franklin Roosevelt .", "That 's because any program that threatens to put poorer people into government jobs threatens to undermine union wages and bargaining leverage .", "FDR had to break a strike against his WPA over this issue .", "It remains to be seen whether the unions will succeed in sabotaging the last-resort jobs programs that are the key to welfare reform .", "They are certainly trying , especially in New York City .", "By speaking out to discredit workfare as `` make-work , '' Mrs. Clinton has n't merely lent them rhetorical support ( which she might later withdraw , as is her habit ) .", "She 's already done her bit to help them succeed .", "My apologies to Gigot .", "The right may be right on this one -- it looks like Mrs. Clinton does n't really support welfare reform after all .", "LSB- Always good to get a nice welfare-reform item .", "But where is the haiku contest ?"], "_citing_sentence": "In New York, workfare pays slightly less than the minimum wage, preserving the incentive for the unemployed to use workfare as a stepping stone into a better-paid, long-term job.", "_claim_name": "Workfare breaks the dependency culture", "_doc_title": "Now She's Done It", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15, 16]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 108, "_topic_name": "This house believes the unemployed should be made to work for their welfare money"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By Puneet Kollipara - 06/13/10 12:05 AM EDT", "Senators are exploring ways to improve U.S. agencies ' ability to understand and translate foreign languages , as experts and government reports express continuing concerns that the foreign-language deficiencies may undermine national security .", "A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee will hear from experts on the subject and government officials at a hearing on Thursday .", "The subcommittee will explore deficiencies in federal foreign language capabilities and ways to improve them , according to the office of Sen. Daniel Akaka ( D-Hawaii ) , the subcommittee chairman .", "As Democrats gather in Philadelphia for the purpose of nominating America 's first woman ...", "Anyone mapping out Donald Trump 's road to victory in November 's presidential election has to ...", "Nominating Donald Trump probably wo n't change the Republican Party , but putting him ...", "As voters hunger for a healing of racial wounds in a nation that comes together , the Republican ...", "The Hill 1625 K Street , NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax", "The contents of this site are \u00a9 2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. , a subsidiary of News Communications , Inc. ."], "_citing_sentence": "The call for students to learn a foreign language not only stems from economic needs but also from the need of improved security and diplomacy, in particular a better understanding of cultures and languages in order to better understand threats to the state and improved foreign services are needed.", "_claim_name": "Learning a language is a sign of good diplomacy.", "_doc_title": "Government still trying to catch up on foreign language capabilities | TheHill", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["A third of secondary pupils in England fail to reach their potential in maths and a quarter are making insufficient progress in English , figures show .", "In total some 200,000 maths pupils and 160,000 English students are failing to make the progress expected between starting secondary school and finishing GCSE , according to official data .", "Also , the gap in progress between boys and girls has widened in the past year .", "The schools minister said it was `` not good enough '' .", "The figures show how many pupils are attaining the GCSEs they would be expected to gain on the basis of the national curriculum tests known as Sats that they take at the end of primary school .", "Those with a level 5 in Sats are expected to attain at least a B grade at GCSE , those with a level 4 should obtain at least a C , while those with a level 3 should achieve at least a D.", "The 2010 figures show that , in mainstream maintained schools , more than 37 % of pupils failed to make the progress expected of them in maths , while more than 29 % missed their GCSE targets in English .", "However , these figures were down from 41 % in maths and 34 % in English in 2009 , continuing a trend of gradual improvement .", "But more boys than girls are failing to fulfil their potential - with nearly 35 % of boys missing their English targets compared with just less than 25 % of girls .", "The gulf between them has widened slightly , from 10.3 percentage points in 2009 , to 10.7 in 2010 .", "The difference is less pronounced in maths - with 38 % of boys failing to make the expected progress , compared with nearly 36 % of girls .", "But this gap has also widened slightly , from 1.5 percentage points in 2009 to 2.3 in 2010 .", "Schools Minister Nick Gibb said it was `` not good enough '' that more than 200,000 pupils in maths and 160,000 in English were still falling short of expected progress .", "`` And it 's a huge concern that one in three boys fails to reach their potential in English - with the gap with girls remaining stubbornly wide , '' he said .", "The further behind pupils were at 11 , the less likely they were to catch up later , he added .", "He said government reforms would `` give all pupils a solid grounding in reading and arithmetic , with the right catch up support if they start to fall behind '' .", "The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites", "The Munich shootings which left nine dead at a shopping centre were carried out by one gunman who then killed himself , police say .", "A selection of the best news photographs from around the world", "Could Brexit revive Poland 's ghost towns ?", "Which pest is repelled by chickens ?", "How the BBC planned to stay on air during a nuclear war", "How the Great Fire changed London", "The early years of a Rolling Stone", "The man with no-one to mourn him", "A look back at 90 years of the Queen 's fashion", "The traumatic question this mother struggles to answer"], "_citing_sentence": "The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reports that in the UK \"A quarter of secondary pupils (aged 11 and over) fail to reach their potential in math(s) and a quarter are making insufficient progress in English\".", "_claim_name": "Language acquisition is no less vital than competence in mathematics and english", "_doc_title": "Third of England pupils fail to reach maths potential - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday , September 02 , 2010 06:44 PM EDT | Updated :", "Friday , September 03 , 2010 09:30 AM EDT", "OTTAWA - Only 33 % of Canada 's diplomats have the necessary foreign language skills to do their job , recently released figures show .", "Auditor General Sheila Fraser took the federal government to task in 2007 after discovering only 16 % of the 180 foreign service officers who were required to have advanced foreign languages skills for their positions , could speak the needed language .", "In a report tabled in August , the Conservative government said it began re-investing in foreign language training last year and now 33 % of officers who need to speak another foreign language have the required capability .", "`` It is kind of like going from an F to an F + , '' former Foreign Affairs deputy minister Peter Harder told QMI Agency .", "He said it 's embarrassing countries such as New Zealand spend more on foreign language training than Canada .", "`` Foreign language skills are a prerequisite of effective foreign ministries , '' he said .", "In large parts of the world , especially in China and parts of Asia generally , English is not as prevalent `` and it is a handicap '' for Canada , Harder said .", "Diplomats who are not fluent in the local language ca n't communicate with a broad-range of society , he said . ''", "LSB- English -RSB- may allow you to speak to some elites , it might allow you to speak through translation but it does not allow you to pick up the nuances and the range of social opinions and observations . ''", "Using local staff abroad for important communications may not necessarily pose security issues but it can have an impact on confidential business dealings and other issues , Harder adds .", "Canada has fewer foreign officers posted abroad than like-minded countries ; our diplomats spend less time abroad during their careers and fewer of them have foreign language skills , he notes .", "`` That does n't make for a competitive advantaged for Canada . ''", "Carleton University Professor Jonathan Malloy said there are internal disincentives for diplomats leave the possibility of quick promotions in Ottawa for extensive language training and a country-specific expertise .", "But Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Laura Markle said the government is reinvesting abroad .", "Despite cutting 329 positions in Ottawa , the department has created 205 positions overseas , she said .", "The Conservatives have also pledge to spend $ 7.7 million on language training and aim to have 65 % of diplomats adequately trained in any necessarily languages by 2015 ."], "_citing_sentence": "In many Anglophone countries even in the role of a diplomat there are worrying numbers who do not have the language skills they need, for example in Canada \"only 16% of the 180 foreign service officers who were required to have advanced foreign languages skills for their positions, could speak the needed language.\"", "_claim_name": "Learning a language is a sign of good diplomacy.", "_doc_title": "Canadian diplomats don't have necessary foreign language skills: Harder | Canada", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Now it 's time to pay for the fun", "Ted Cruz 's risky strategy", "UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL", "Unless America pumps up foreign language education , both the nation 's global competitiveness and national security could be at risk .", "That 's the opinion of a cross-section of experts concerned that a weakened economy and heightened international tensions leave the nation in need of clearer communication with friend and foe alike .", "Deficiencies in Middle Eastern and Asian languages pose the most immediate problems .", "`` If the U.S. , in the modern world , is going to maintain its position as a global leader it 's going to have to become more conversant , '' said Ken Gude , a former Center for National Security Studies policy analyst .", "An estimated 200 million school-aged children in China study English , according to a 2006 Education Department release .", "Just 24,000 of their U.S. counterparts study Chinese languages .", "The gap is significant .", "David Gray , former Labor Department acting assistant secretary for policy , said one thing is certain to emerge from the retooling of the worldwide financial system - greater global challenges to America 's economic dominance .", "It used to be that the United States could skate by with workers who spoke only English because they sold to a more concentrated customer base and the quality of their products was superior , Mr. Gray said .", "But now that countries like India are closing the quality gap - offering products that are equally good or better - U.S. businesses are forced to adopt new strategies .", "`` In a more competitive market where products are increasing in quality we need to be able to compete on relationships and service , ( and ) languages are an important factor , '' said Mr. Gray , who now works at the New America Foundation , a Washington-based think tank .", "Technology and globalization are also boosting the number of players in competitive markets , putting the United States at a further disadvantage with countries where workers grow up learning multiple languages .", "`` The communication and technology revolutions make it imperative that we be able to communicate with people who do n't speak English ( primarily ) , '' Mr. Gray said .", "`` To make a sale , you have a great disadvantage if your competitor speaks the language of the customer and you do n't . ''", "Just 31 percent of American elementary schools ( and only 24 percent of public elementary schools ) teach foreign languages , and 79 percent of these schools are geared at basic language exposure , not proficiency , according to Center for Applied Linguistics data put forth by the Education Department in 2006 .", "`` We are very unusual in the world 's developed countries in our learning of foreign languages and the tiny space it gets in the curriculum , '' said Catherine Ingold , director of the National Foreign Language Center .", "Less than half of American high school students are enrolled in foreign language classes , according to the 2002 Digest of Education Statistics , released by the Education Department in 2006 .", "Of those students , the overwhelming majority are enrolled in Spanish , and less than 1 percent combined study Arabic , Chinese , Farsi , Japanese , Russian or Urdu .", "`` By default , Spanish is far and away the most widely taught language in the United States , '' Miss Ingold said .", "As the majority of U.S. education policy is driven at the state or local level , the languages taught in high schools are usually a reflection of parent demand .", "Various agencies involved in national security , including the Defense and State departments and the CIA , try to combat America 's lack of critical language proficiency with their own training programs for translators , interpreters and other officials who need these skills .", "But defense and language authorities are calling for more systematic foreign language education efforts .", "`` It 's necessary and important for the intelligence agencies to have late-stage intensive training but that 's just a Band-Aid '' solution , said Mr. Gude , who now works for the Center for American Progress .", "Experts maintain it 's easier for students to pick up new languages and speak without an accent if they 're exposed at an early age ."], "_citing_sentence": "In the United States the situation is similar only 31% of US elementary schools and 24% of public schools teach foreign languages.", "_claim_name": "Learning a language is a sign of good diplomacy.", "_doc_title": "ANALYSIS: U.S. must strengthen foreign language education - Washington Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [17]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["This book offers a timely look at issues that are increasingly important in an interconnected world .", "It discusses the effect of the nation 's lack of expertise in foreign languages and cultural knowledge on national security and global competitiveness and it describes the challenges faced by the U.S. educational system and the federal government in trying to address those needs .", "The book also examines the federal government 's recent proposal to create a new National Security Language Initiative , the role of the Department of Education , and current efforts to hold higher education programs accountable .", "This book provides information and recommendations that can help universities , educators , and policy makers establish a system of foreign language and international education that is ready to respond to new and unanticipated challenges around the world .", "Find relevant information like your own rough draft from among the thousands of reports available for free at NAP.edu .", "Copy and paste up to 8 pages of content -- whether from your own draft or an outside article -- and Reference Finder will recommend NAP publications related to your text .", "View Reference Finder", "The National Academies Press ( NAP ) has partnered with Copyright Clearance Center 's Rightslink service to offer you a variety of options for reusing NAP content .", "Through Rightslink , you may request permission to reprint NAP content in another publication , course pack , secure website , or other media .", "Rightslink allows you to instantly obtain permission , pay related fees , and print a license directly from the NAP website .", "The complete terms and conditions of your reuse license can be found in the license agreement that will be made available to you during the online order process .", "To request permission through Rightslink you are required to create an account by filling out a simple online form .", "The following list describes license reuses offered by the National Academies Press ( NAP ) through Rightslink :", "Click here to obtain permission for the above reuses .", "If you have questions or comments concerning the Rightslink service , please contact :", "To request permission to distribute a PDF , please contact our Customer Service Department at 800-624-6242 for pricing .", "To request permission to translate a book published by the National Academies Press or its imprint , the Joseph Henry Press , please click here to view more information .", "Loading stats for International Education and Foreign Languages : Keys to Securing America 's Future ...", "Finding similar items ..."], "_citing_sentence": "As a 2007 National Academy of sciences report warns us \"the pervasive lack of knowledge of foreign languages and cultures threatens the security of the united states as well as its ability to compete in the global marketplace and produce an unformed citizenry\".", "_claim_name": "Learning a language is a sign of good diplomacy.", "_doc_title": "International Education and Foreign Languages: Keys to Securing America's Future | The National Academies Press", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 109, "_topic_name": "This House would make lessons in a foreign language compulsory for school pupils"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"], ["study"]], "_doc_body": ["By LAURIE GOODSTEINAUG .", "Correction Appended In a finding that is likely to intensify the debate over what to teach students about the origins of life , a poll released yesterday found that nearly two-thirds of Americans say that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools .", "The poll found that 42 percent of respondents held strict creationist views , agreeing that `` living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time . ''", "In contrast , 48 percent said they believed that humans had evolved over time .", "But of those , 18 percent said that evolution was `` guided by a supreme being , '' and 26 percent said that evolution occurred through natural selection .", "In all , 64 percent said they were open to the idea of teaching creationism in addition to evolution , while 38 percent favored replacing evolution with creationism .", "The poll was conducted July 7-17 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press .", "The questions about evolution were asked of 2,000 people .", "The margin of error was 2.5 percentage points .", "John C. Green , a senior fellow at the Pew Forum , said he was surprised to see that teaching both evolution and creationism was favored not only by conservative Christians , but also by majorities of secular respondents , liberal Democrats and those who accept the theory of natural selection .", "Mr. Green called it a reflection of `` American pragmatism . ''", "Advertisement `` It 's like they 're saying , ` Some people see it this way , some see it that way , so just teach it all and let the kids figure it out . '", "It seems like a nice compromise , but it infuriates both the creationists and the scientists , '' said Mr. Green , who is also a professor at the University of Akron in Ohio .", "Eugenie C. Scott , the director of the National Center for Science Education and a prominent defender of evolution , said the findings were not surprising because `` Americans react very positively to the fairness or equal time kind of argument . ''", "`` In fact , it 's the strongest thing that creationists have got going for them because their science is dismal , '' Ms. Scott said .", "`` But they do have American culture on their side . ''", "This year , the National Center for Science Education has tracked 70 new controversies over evolution in 26 states , some in school districts , others in the state legislatures .", "President Bush joined the debate on Aug. 2 , telling reporters that both evolution and the theory of intelligent design should be taught in schools `` so people can understand what the debate is about . ''", "Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee , the Republican leader , took the same position a few weeks later .", "Intelligent design , a descendant of creationism , is the belief that life is so intricate that only a supreme being could have designed it .", "The poll showed 41 percent of respondents wanted parents to have the primary say over how evolution is taught , compared with 28 percent who said teachers and scientists should decide and 21 percent who said school boards should .", "Asked whether they believed creationism should be taught instead of evolution , 38 percent were in favor , and 49 percent were opposed .", "More of those who believe in creationism said they were `` very certain '' of their views ( 63 percent ) , compared with those who believe in evolution ( 32 percent ) .", "The poll also asked about religion and politics , government financing of religious charities , and gay men and lesbians in the military .", "Most of these questions were asked of a smaller pool of 1,000 respondents , and the margin of error was 2.5 percentage points , Pew researchers said .", "The public 's impression of the Democratic Party has changed in the last year , the survey found .", "Only 29 percent of respondents said they viewed Democrats as being `` friendly toward religion , '' down from 40 percent in August of 2004 .", "Meanwhile , 55 percent said the Republican Party was friendly toward religion .", "Luis E. Lugo , the director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life , said : `` I think this is a continuation of the Republican Party 's very successful use of the values issue in the 2004 election , and the Democrats not being able up until now to answer that successfully .", "Some of the more visible leaders , such as Howard Dean and others , have reinforced that image of a secular party .", "Of course , if you look at the Democratic Party , there 's a large religious constituency there . ''", "Survey respondents agreed in nearly equal numbers that nonreligious liberals had `` too much control '' over the Democratic Party ( 44 percent ) , and that religious conservatives had too much control over the Republican Party ( 45 percent ) .", "On religion-based charities , two-thirds of respondents favored allowing churches and houses of worship to apply for government financing to provide social services .", "But support for such financing declined from 75 percent in early 2001 , when Mr. Bush rolled out his religion-based initiative .", "On gay men and lesbians in the military , 58 percent of those polled said they should be allowed to serve openly , a modest increase from 1994 , when 52 percent agreed .", "Strong opposition has fallen in that time , to 15 percent from 26 percent in 1994 .", "Correction : September 1 , 2005 , Thursday An article yesterday about a poll on Americans ' views on the teaching of creationism misstated the margin of error of findings taken from a smaller sample of respondents who were asked about religion and politics , government financing of religious charities and gays in the military ."], "_citing_sentence": "This is particularly true in the United States, where in several states the majority of people does not accept evolution, but have instead adopted Creationism, considering the evidence for the latter to be more convincing.", "_claim_name": "Communities should have a say in what is taught in schools, and many communities want to teach creationism.", "_doc_title": "Teaching of Creationism Is Endorsed in New Survey - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 2]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Controversy", "The issue : What restrictions does the First Amendment place on the ability of states and school boards to restrict the teaching of evolution or encourage the teaching of `` creation science '' in the public school classrooms ?", "Stubborn Thing by Douglas O. Linder It is hardly surprising that Darwin 's theory of evolution should meet with so much resistance .", "We encounter an idea that comforts us , an account like Genesis 1 that establishes our specialness , and ask : `` Can I believe it ? ''", "We consider a thing that troubles us , a process like evolution that seems chance-driven and dethrones us from our special place in the universe , and ask instead : `` Must I believe it ? ''", "Evolution suggests that our species , if not quite an accident , is an extreme improbability -- and , most likely , one whose time is limited -- on life 's continuing and circuitous journey to an undetermined destination .", "Must we believe it ?", "Darwin knew that many people , raised to believe in miracles or magic , would find his theory hard to swallow .", "In his autobiography , he noted that , as a young man on the H.M.S. Beagle , he had written in his journal of `` the higher feelings of wonder , admiration , and devotion '' that would `` fill and elevate '' his mind .", "He lamented that now , older and wiser , believing in evolution and disbelieving in God , even `` the grandest scenes '' evoked no powerful feelings : `` I am like a man that has become color-blind . ''", "Publishing his theory , he said , felt `` like confessing a murder . ''", "When William Jennings Bryan took on evolution in a courtroom in Tennessee in 1925 , in the famous Scopes `` Monkey '' trial , he acknowledged that he did not fully understand the theory of evolution , but said that he fully understood the theory 's dangers and misuse : how it threatened to leave students feeling lost in an uncaring universe , how it could lead to sterilization of the abnormal and diminished concern for the survival of the `` unfit . ''", "Bryan cheerfully ignored the evidence for evolution , explaining , `` I would rather begin with God and reason down than begin with a piece of dirt and reason up . ''", "I believe in the theory evolution not because I want to , but because I feel I must , and because , unlike Bryan , I find it hard to reason in one direction or another .", "Creationists have offered one objection after another -- `` The immune system is too complex to have evolved , '' `` Evolution could never produce an eye , because what use is half an eye ? ''", "and each has been answered .", "As the confirming fossil and DNA evidence piles up , as the theory of evolution reveals itself to be a powerful tool for both explaining the imperfections of species and accounting for transitional species , it becomes ever more difficult to believe in the pleasing creation stories told in Genesis and elsewhere .", "Facts , as John Adams reminded us , are stubborn things .", "Whether 20 years or 200 years from now , the accumulating evidence will become so overwhelming that evolution will be as accepted as the Sun-centered solar system is today .", "( No gloating allowed , scientists . )", "Our challenge is to accept evolution while maintaining a sense of wonder , concern for those whose survival is beyond their own means , and a vision of a colorful and surprise-filled world .", "Selected E-mail Messages", "A student 's pro-Creationist critique of this page", "Critique of this page by a Creationist theologian", "E-mail messages from an eyewitness to the Scopes trial", "Why intelligent design is not science", "Conservapedia on Evolution", "Generally Supporting Evolutionary Theory :", "Evidence for Evolution", "Life Introduction to", "National Center for Science Education", "Rolling Stone 's", "View of ID and the Dover , PA Case", "John Scopes , defendant in the celebrated 1925 trial concerning the teaching of evolution .", "Account of the Scopes Trial", "Used by Scopes Images of the Scopes Trial", "Chat on Scopes Trial ( 7/12/2000 )", "Article on the Kansas Controversy ( 1999 )", "Article on Intelligent Design Theory ( 2001 )", "Creationism in 2001 : State by State Report ( People for American Way )", "Notes on Intelligent Design in the Public Schools ( 2001 ) Intelligent", "Challenged in Pennsylvania Court ( 2004 )", "Susan Epperson , the Arkansas teacher who successfully challenged her state 's anti-evolution law in the 1968 Supreme Court case ,", "Epperson v Arkansas", "YOUNG EARTH CREATIONIST : A young earth creationist believes that the earth is nowhere near the 4.6 billion or so years old that most scientists estimate , but is instead closer to 6,000 or so years old , based on the assumption the Genesis contains a complete listing of the generations from", "Adam and Eve to historical times .", "INTELLIGENT DESIGN PROPONENT :", "An ID proponent might or might not reject the theory of evolution .", "At a minimum , the ID proponent rejects that evolution is randomly driven or , more generally , the notion that natural law and chance alone can explain the diversity of life on earth .", "Instead , the ID proponent argues -- often from statistics -- that the diversity of life is the result of a purposeful scheme of some higher power ( who may or may not be the God of the Bible ) .", "EVOLUTIONIST : An evolutionist accepts the Darwinian argument that natural selection and environmental factors combine to explain the diversity of life we see on earth .", "An evolutionist may or may not believe that evolution is the way in which a Divine", "Being has chosen to work in the world .", "Evolutionists divide into various camps , including PUNCTUALISTS ( who believe that evolution usually occurs sporadically , in relatively short bursts , as the result of major environmental change ) and GRADUALISTS ( who are more inclined to believe that evolution occurs more evenly , over longer periods of time ) .", "PUNCTUALISTS seem now to be winning the argument .", "The case for the theory of evolution is made most compellingly in Science and Creationism ( Ashley Montagu , ed . )", "( 1984 Oxford Press ) which includes essays by scientists such as Asimov ,", "Hardin , Gould , Marsden , Boulding , Stent , and others .", "Jay Gould devoted considerable attention to the issue .", "His works are voluminous .", "Some of the better reads include Wonderful", "Life ( 1989 ) , Bully for Brontosaurus ( 1991 ) , Dinosaur in a Haystack ( 1995 ) , and Ever Since Darwin ( 1977 ) .", "The most important critique of evolution is presented by Berkeley law professor Phillip", "Johnson in his Darwin on Trial ( 2nd ed. , 1993 ) .", "Darwin 's H. M.S. Beagle"], "_citing_sentence": "This controversy is highlighted in the many court cases, books, and televised debates occurring in countries all over the world.", "_claim_name": "There is a very real controversy regarding the origin and development of life, and children deserve to hear both sides.", "_doc_title": "The Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 42]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["reasoning"], ["reasoning"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Jerry A. Coyne is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at The University of Chicago .", "In Why Evolution is True , he summarizes Darwinism -- the modern theory of evolution -- as follows : `` Life on earth evolved gradually beginning with one primitive species -- perhaps a self-replicating molecule -- that lived more than 3.5 billion years ago ; it then branched out over time , throwing off many new and diverse species ; and the mechanism for most ( but not all ) of evolutionary change is natural selection . ''", "Coyne further explains that evolution `` simply means that a species undergoes genetic change over time .", "That is , over many generations a species can evolve into something quite different , and those differences are based on changes in the DNA , which originate as mutations .", "The species of animals and plants living today were n't around in the past , but are descended from those that lived earlier . ''", "According to Coyne , however , `` if evolution meant only gradual genetic change within a species , we 'd have only one species today -- a single highly evolved descendant of the first species .", "Yet we have many ... How does this diversity arise from one ancestral form ? ''", "It arises because of `` splitting , or , more accurately , speciation , '' which `` simply means the evolution of different groups that ca n't interbreed . ''", "3 If Darwinian theory were true , `` we should be able to find some cases of speciation in the fossil record , with one line of descent dividing into two or more .", "And we should be able to find new species forming in the wild . ''", "Furthermore , `` we should be able to find examples of species that link together major groups suspected to have common ancestry , like birds with reptiles and fish with amphibians . ''", "Finally , there are facts that `` make sense only in light of the theory of evolution '' but do not make sense in the light of creation or design .", "These include `` patterns of species distribution on the earth 's surface , peculiarities of how organisms develop from embryos , and the existence of vestigial features that are of no apparent use . ''", "Coyne concludes his introduction with the bold statement that `` all the evidence -- both old and new -- leads ineluctably to the conclusion that evolution is true . ''", "Of course , `` evolution '' is undeniably true if it means simply that existing species can change in minor ways over time , or that many species living today did not exist in the past .", "But Darwin 's claim that all species are modified descendants of a common ancestor , and Coyne 's claim that DNA mutations and natural selection have produced those modifications , are not so undeniably true .", "Coyne devotes the remainder of his book to providing evidence for them .", "Coyne turns first to the fossil record .", "`` We should be able , '' he writes , `` to find some evidence for evolutionary change in the fossil record .", "The deepest ( and oldest ) layers of rock would contain the fossils of more primitive species , and some fossils should become more complex as the layers of rock become younger , with organisms resembling present-day species found in the most recent layers .", "And we should be able to see some species changing over time , forming lineages showing ` descent with modification ' ( adaptation ) . ''", "In particular , `` later species should have traits that make them look like the descendants of earlier ones . ''", "5 In The Origin of Species , Charles Darwin acknowledged that the fossil record presented difficulties for his theory .", "`` By the theory of natural selection , '' he wrote , `` all living species have been connected with the parent-species of each genus , by differences not greater than we see between the natural and domestic varieties of the same species at the present day . ''", "Thus in the past `` the number of intermediate and transitional links , between all living and extinct species , must have been inconceivably great . ''", "But Darwin knew that the major animal groups -- which modern biologists call `` phyla '' -- appeared fully formed in what were at the time the earliest known fossil-bearing rocks , deposited during a geological period known as the Cambrian .", "He considered this a `` serious '' difficulty for his theory , since `` if the theory be true , it is indisputable that before the lowest Cambrian stratum was deposited long periods elapsed ... and that during these vast periods the world swarmed with living creatures . ''", "And `` to the question why we do not find rich fossiliferous deposits belonging to these assumed earliest periods prior to the Cambrian system , I can give no satisfactory answer . ''", "So `` the case at present must remain inexplicable ; and may be truly urged as a valid argument against the views here entertained . ''", "Darwin defended his theory by citing the imperfection of the geological record .", "In particular , he argued that Precambrian fossils had been destroyed by heat , pressure , and erosion .", "Some of Darwin 's modern followers have likewise argued that Precambrian fossils existed but were later destroyed , or that Precambrian organisms were too small or too soft to have fossilized in the first place .", "Since 1859 , however , paleontologists have discovered many Precambrian fossils , many of them microscopic or soft-bodied .", "As American paleobiologist William Schopf wrote in 1994 , `` The long-held notion that Precambrian organisms must have been too small or too delicate to have been preserved in geological materials ... -LSB- is -RSB- now recognized as incorrect . ''", "If anything , the abrupt appearance of the major animal phyla about 540 million years ago -- which modern biologists call `` the Cambrian explosion '' or `` biology 's Big Bang '' -- is better documented now than in Darwin 's time .", "According to Berkeley paleontologist James Valentine and his colleagues , the `` explosion is real , it is too big to be masked by flaws in the fossil record . ''", "Indeed , as more fossils are discovered it becomes clear that the Cambrian explosion was `` even more abrupt and extensive than previously envisioned . ''", "What does Coyne 's book have to say about this ?", "`` Around 600 million years ago , '' Coyne writes , `` a whole gamut of relatively simple but multicelled organisms arise , including worms , jellyfish , and sponges .", "These groups diversify over the next several million years , with terrestrial plants and tetrapods ( four-legged animals , the earliest of which were lobe-finned fish ) appearing about 400 million years ago . ''", "8 In other words , Coyne 's account of evolutionary history jumps from 600 to 400 million years ago without mentioning the 540 million year-old Cambrian explosion .", "In this respect , Coyne 's book reads like a modern biology textbook that has been written to indoctrinate students in Darwinian evolution rather than provide them with the facts .", "Coyne goes on to discuss several `` transitional '' forms .", "`` One of our best examples of an evolutionary transition , '' he writes , is the fossil record of whales , `` since we have a chronologically ordered series of fossils , perhaps a lineage of ancestors and descendants , showing their movement from land to water . ''", "9 `` The sequence begins , '' Coyne writes , `` with the recently discovered fossil of a close relative of whales , a raccoon-sized animal called Indohyus .", "Living 48 million years ago , Indohyus was ... probably very close to what the whale ancestor looked like . ''", "In the next paragraph , Coyne writes , `` Indohyus was not the ancestor of whales , but was almost certainly its cousin .", "But if we go back 4 million more years , to 52 million years ago , we see what might well be that ancestor .", "It is a fossil skull from a wolf-sized creature called Pakicetus , which is bit more whalelike than Indohyus . ''", "On the page separating these two paragraphs is a figure captioned `` Transitional forms in the evolution of modern whales , '' which shows Indohyus as the first in the series and Pakicetus as the second .10", "But Pakicetus -- as Coyne just told us -- is 4 million years older than Indohyus .", "To a Darwinist , this does n't matter : Pakicetus is `` more whalelike '' than Indohyus , so it must fall between Indohyus and modern whales , regardless of the fossil evidence .", "( Coyne performs the same trick with fossils that are supposedly ancestral to modern birds .", "The textbook icon Archaeopteryx , with feathered wings like a modern bird but teeth and a tail like a reptile , is dated at 145 million years .", "But what Coyne calls the `` nonflying feathered dinosaur fossils '' -- which should have come before Archaeopteryx -- are tens of millions of years younger .", "Like Darwinists Kevin Padian and Luis Chiappe eleven years earlier , Coyne simply rearranges the evidence to fit Darwinian theory . )", "So much for Coyne 's prediction that `` later species should have traits that make them look like the descendants of earlier ones . ''", "And so much for his argument that `` if evolution were not true , fossils would not occur in an order that makes evolutionary sense . ''", "Ignoring the facts he himself has just presented , Coyne brazenly concludes : `` When we find transitional forms , they occur in the fossil record precisely where they should . ''", "If Coyne 's book were turned into a movie , this scene might feature Chico Marx saying , `` Who are you going to believe , me or your own eyes ? ''", "There is another problem with the whale series ( and every other series of fossils ) that Coyne fails to address : No species in the series could possibly be the ancestor of any other , because all of them possess characteristics they would first have to lose before evolving into a subsequent form .", "This is why the scientific literature typically shows each species branching off a supposed lineage .", "In the figure below , all the lines are hypothetical .", "The diagram on the left is a representation of evolutionary theory : Species A is ancestral to B , which is ancestral to C , which is ancestral to D , which is ancestral to E .", "But the diagram on the right is a better representation of the evidence : Species A , B , C and D are not in the actual lineage leading to E , which remains unknown .", "It turns out that no series of fossils can provide evidence for Darwinian descent with modification .", "Even in the case of living species , buried remains can not generally be used to establish ancestor-descendant relationships .", "Imagine finding two human skeletons in the same grave , one about thirty years older than the other .", "Was the older individual the parent of the younger ?", "Without written genealogical records and identifying marks ( or in some cases DNA ) , it is impossible to answer the question .", "And in this case we would be dealing with two skeletons from the same species that are only a generation apart and from the same location .", "With fossils from different species that are now extinct , and widely separated in time and space , there is no way to establish that one is the ancestor of another -- no matter how many transitional fossils we find .", "In 1978 , Gareth Nelson of the American Museum of Natural History wrote : `` The idea that one can go to the fossil record and expect to empirically recover an ancestor-descendant sequence , be it of species , genera , families , or whatever , has been , and continues to be , a pernicious illusion . ''", "13 Nature science writer Henry Gee wrote in 1999 that `` no fossil is buried with its birth certificate . ''", "When we call new fossil discoveries `` missing links , '' it is `` as if the chain of ancestry and descent were a real object for our contemplation , and not what it really is : a completely human invention created after the fact , shaped to accord with human prejudices . ''", "Gee concluded : `` To take a line of fossils and claim that they represent a lineage is not a scientific hypothesis that can be tested , but an assertion that carries the same validity as a bedtime story -- amusing , perhaps even instructive , but not scientific . ''", "So evolutionary theory needs better evidence than the fossil record can provide .", "Coyne correctly notes : `` When he wrote The Origin , Darwin considered embryology his strongest evidence for evolution . ''", "Darwin had written that the evidence seemed to show that `` the embryos of the most distinct species belonging to the same class are closely similar , but become , when fully developed , widely dissimilar , '' a pattern that `` reveals community of descent . ''", "Indeed , Darwin thought that early embryos `` show us , more or less completely , the condition of the progenitor of the whole group in its adult state . ''", "But Darwin was not an embryologist .", "In The Origin of Species he supported his contention by citing a passage by German embryologist Karl Ernst von Baer : `` The embryos of mammals , birds , lizards and snakes , and probably chelonia -LSB- turtles -RSB- are in their earliest states exceedingly like one another ... .", "In my possession are two little embryos in spirit , whose names I have omitted to attach , and at present I am quite unable to say to what class they belong .", "They may be lizards or small birds , or very young mammals , so complete is the similarity in the mode of formation of the head and trunk in these animals . ''", "Coyne claims that this is something von Baer `` wrote to Darwin , '' but Coyne 's history is as unreliable as his paleontology .", "The passage Darwin cited was from a work written in German by von Baer in 1828 ; Thomas Henry Huxley translated it into English and published it in 1853 .", "Darwin did n't even realize at first that it was from von Baer : In the first two editions of The Origin of Species he incorrectly attributed the passage to Louis Agassiz .17 Ironically , von Baer was a strong critic of Darwin 's theory , rejecting the idea that all vertebrates share a common ancestor .", "According to historian of science Timothy Lenoir , von Baer feared that Darwin and his followers had `` already accepted the Darwinian evolutionary hypothesis as true before they set to the task of observing embryos . ''", "The myth that von Baer 's work supported Darwin 's theory was due primarily to another German biologist , Ernst Haeckel . ''", "18 Haeckel maintained not only that all vertebrate embryos evolved from a common ancestor , but also that in their development ( `` ontogeny '' ) they replay ( `` recapitulate '' ) their evolutionary history ( `` phylogeny '' ) .", "He called this The Biogenetic Law : Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny .", "In Why Evolution Is True , Coyne writes that `` the ` recapitulation ' of an evolutionary sequence is seen in the developmental sequence '' of various organs .", "`` Each vertebrate undergoes development in a series of stages , and the sequence of those stages happens to follow the evolutionary sequence of its ancestors . ''", "The probable reason for this is that `` as one species evolves into another , the descendant inherits the developmental program of its ancestor . ''", "So the descendant tacks changes `` onto what is already a robust and basic developmental plan .", "It is best for things that evolved later to be programmed to develop later in the embryo .", "This ` adding new stuff onto old ' principle also explains why the sequence of developmental stages mirrors the evolutionary sequence of organisms .", "As one group evolves from another , it often adds its developmental program on top of the old one . ''", "Thus `` all vertebrates begin development looking like embryonic fish because we all descended from a fishlike ancestor . ''", "Nevertheless , Coyne writes , Haeckel 's Biogenetic Law `` was n't strictly true , '' because `` embryonic stages do n't look like the adult forms of their ancestors , '' as Haeckel ( and Darwin ) believed , `` but like the embryonic forms of their ancestors . ''", "But this reformulation of The Biogenetic Law does n't solve the problem .", "First , fossil embryos are extremely rare ,20 so the reformulated law has to rely on embryos of modern organisms that are assumed to resemble ancestral forms .", "The result is a circular argument : According to Darwin 's theory , fish are our ancestors ; human embryos ( allegedly ) look like fish embryos ; therefore , human embryos look like the embryos of our ancestors .", "Theory first , observation later -- just as von Baer had objected .", "Second , the idea that later evolutionary stages can simply be tacked onto development is biologically unrealistic .", "A human is not just a fish embryo with some added features .", "As British embryologist Walter Garstang pointed out in 1922 , `` a house is not a cottage with an extra story on the top .", "A house represents a higher grade in the evolution of a residence , but the whole building is altered -- foundations , timbers , and roof -- even if the bricks are the same . ''", "Third , and most important , vertebrate embryos are not most similar in their earliest stages .", "In the 1860s , Haeckel made some drawings to show that vertebrate embryos look almost identical in their first stage -- but his drawings were faked .", "Not only had he distorted the embryos by making them appear more similar than they really are , but he had also omitted earlier stages in which the embryos are strikingly different from each other .", "A human embryo in its earliest stages looks nothing like a fish embryo .", "Only after vertebrate embryos have progressed halfway through their development do they reach the stage that Darwin and Haeckel treated as the first .", "Developmental biologists call this different-similar-different pattern the `` developmental hourglass . ''", "Vertebrate embryos do not resemble each other in their earliest stages , but they converge somewhat in appearance midway through development before diverging again .", "If ontogeny were a recapitulation of phylogeny , such a pattern would be more consistent with separate origins than with common ancestry .", "Modern Darwinists attempt to salvage their theory by assuming that the common ancestry of vertebrates is obscured because early development can evolve easily , but there is no justification for this assumption other than the theory itself .22", "Although Haeckel 's drawings were exposed as fakes by his own contemporaries , biology textbooks used them throughout the twentieth century to convince students that humans share a common ancestor with fish .", "Then , in 1997 , a scientific journal published an article comparing photos of vertebrate embryos to Haeckel 's drawings , which the lead author described as `` one of the most famous fakes in biology . ''", "In 2000 , Harvard evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould called Haeckel 's drawings `` fraudulent '' and wrote that biologists should `` be both astonished and ashamed by the century of mindless recycling that has led to the persistence of these drawings in a large number , if not a majority , of modern textbooks . ''", "But Coyne is not ashamed .", "He defends Haeckel 's drawings `` Haeckel was accused , largely unjustly , '' Coyne writes , `` of fudging some drawings of early embryos to make them look more similar than they really are .", "Yet we should n't throw out the baby with the bath water . ''", "24 The `` baby '' is Darwin 's theory , which Coyne stubbornly defends regardless of the evidence .", "Vestiges and Bad Design", "Darwin argued in The Origin of Species that the widespread occurrence of vestigial organs -- organs that may have once had a function but are now useless -- is evidence against creation .", "`` On the view of each organism with all its separate parts having been specially created , how utterly inexplicable is it that organs bearing the plain stamp of inutility ... should so frequently occur . ''", "But such organs , he argued , are readily explained by his theory : `` On the view of descent with modification , we may conclude that the existence of organs in a rudimentary , imperfect , and useless condition , or quite aborted , far from presenting a strange difficulty , as they assuredly do on the old doctrine of creation , might even have been anticipated in accordance with the views here explained . ''", "25 In The Descent of Man , Darwin cited the human appendix as an example of a vestigial organ .", "But Darwin was mistaken : The appendix is now known to be an important source of antibody-producing blood cells and thus an integral part of the human immune system .", "It may also serve as a compartment for beneficial bacteria that are needed for normal digestion .", "So the appendix is not useless at all .26 In 1981 , Canadian biologist Steven Scadding argued that although he had no objection to Darwinism , `` vestigial organs provide no evidence for evolutionary theory . ''", "The primarily reason is that `` it is difficult , if not impossible , to unambiguously identify organs totally lacking in function . ''", "Scadding cited the human appendix as an organ previously thought to be vestigial but now known to have a function .", "Another Canadian biologist , Bruce Naylor , countered that an organ with some function can still be considered vestigial .", "Furthermore , Naylor argued , `` perfectly designed organisms necessitated the existence of a creator , '' but `` organisms are often something less than perfectly designed '' and thus better explained by evolution .", "Scadding replied : `` The entire argument of Darwin and others regarding vestigial organs hinges on their uselessness and inutility . ''", "Otherwise , the argument from vestigiality is nothing more than an argument from homology , and `` Darwin treated these arguments separately recognizing that they were in fact independent . ''", "Scadding also objected that Naylor 's `` less than perfectly designed '' argument was `` based on a theological assumption about the nature of God , i.e. that he would not create useless structures .", "Whatever the validity of this theological claim , it certainly can not be defended as a scientific statement , and thus should be given no place in a scientific discussion of evolution . ''", "27 In Why Evolution Is True , Coyne ( like Darwin ) cites the human appendix as an example of a vestigial organ .", "Unlike Darwin , however , Coyne concedes that `` it may be of some small use .", "The appendix contains patches of tissue that may function as part of the immune system .", "It has also been suggested that it provides a refuge for useful gut bacteria .", "But these minor benefits are surely outweighed by the severe problems that come with the human appendix . ''", "In any case , Coyne argues , `` the appendix is still vestigial , for it no longer performs the function for which it evolved . ''", "As Scadding had pointed out nearly thirty years ago , however , Darwin 's argument rested on lack of function , not change of function .", "Furthermore , if vestigiality were redefined as Coyne proposes , it would include many features never before thought to be vestigial .", "For example , if the human arm evolved from the leg of a four-footed mammal ( as Darwinists claim ) , then the human arm is vestigial .", "And if ( as Coyne argues ) the wings of flying birds evolved from feathered forelimbs of dinosaurs that used them for other purposes , then the wings of flying birds are vestigial .", "This is the opposite of what most people mean by `` vestigial . ''", "Coyne also ignores Scadding 's other criticism , arguing that whether the human appendix is useless or not , it is an example of imperfect or bad design .", "`` What I mean by ` bad design ' , '' Coyne writes , `` is the notion that if organisms were built from scratch by a designer -- one who used the biological building blocks or nerves , muscles , bone , and so on -- they would not have such imperfections .", "Perfect design would truly be the sign of a skilled and intelligent designer .", "Imperfect design is the mark of evolution ; in fact , it 's precisely what we expect from evolution . ''", "An even better example of bad design , Coyne argues , is the prevalence of `` dead genes . ''", "According to the modern version of Darwinism that Coyne defends , DNA carries a genetic program that encodes proteins that direct embryo development ; mutations occasionally alter the genetic program to produce new proteins ( or change their locations ) ; and natural selection then sorts those mutations to produce evolution .", "In the 1970s , however , molecular biologists discovered that most of our DNA does not encode proteins .", "In 1972 Susumu Ohno called this `` junk , '' and in 1976 Richard Dawkins wrote : `` A large fraction of the DNA is never translated into protein .", "From the point of view of the individual organism this seems paradoxical .", "If the ` purpose ' of DNA is to supervise the building of bodies , it is surprising to find a large quantity of DNA which does no such thing . ''", "From the point of view of Darwinian evolution , however , there is no paradox .", "`` The true ` purpose ' of DNA is to survive , no more and no less .", "The simplest way to explain the surplus DNA is to suppose that it is a parasite , or at best a harmless but useless passenger , hitching a ride in the survival machines created by the other DNA . ''", "Like Dawkins , Coyne regards much of our DNA as parasitic .", "He writes in Why Evolution Is True : `` When a trait is no longer used , or becomes reduced , the genes that make it do n't instantly disappear from the genome : evolution stops their action by inactivating them , not snipping them out of the DNA .", "From this we can make a prediction .", "We expect to find , in the genomes of many species , silenced , or ` dead , ' genes : genes that once were useful but are no longer intact or expressed .", "In other words , there should be vestigial genes .", "In contrast , the idea that all species were created from scratch predicts that no such genes would exist . ''", "Coyne continues : `` Thirty years ago we could n't test this prediction because we had no way to read the DNA code .", "Now , however , it 's quite easy to sequence the complete genome of species , and it 's been done for many of them , including humans .", "This gives us a unique tool to study evolution when we realize that the normal function of a gene is to make a protein -- a protein whose sequence of amino acids is determined by the sequence of nucleotide bases that make up the DNA .", "And once we have the DNA sequence of a given gene , we can usually tell if it is expressed normally -- that is , whether it makes a functional protein -- or whether it is silenced and makes nothing .", "We can see , for example , whether mutations have changed the gene so that a usable protein can no longer be made , or whether the ` control ' regions responsible for turning on a gene have been inactivated .", "A gene that does n't function is called a pseudogene .", "And the evolutionary prediction that we 'll find pseudogenes has been fulfilled -- amply .", "Virtually every species harbors dead genes , many of them still active in its relatives .", "This implies that those genes were also active in a common ancestor , and were killed off in some descendants but not in others .", "Out of about thirty thousand genes , for example , we humans carry more than two thousand pseudogenes .", "Our genome -- and that of other species -- are truly well populated graveyards of dead genes . ''", "But Coyne is dead wrong .", "Evidence pouring in from genome-sequencing projects shows that virtually all of an organism 's DNA is transcribed into RNA , and that even though most of that RNA is not translated into proteins , it performs essential regulatory functions .", "Every month , science journals publish articles describing more such functions .", "And this is not late-breaking news : The evidence has been accumulating since 2003 ( when scientists finished sequencing the human genome ) that `` pseudogenes '' and other so-called `` junk DNA '' sequences are not useless after all .33 Why Evolution Is True ignores this enormous body of evidence , which decisively refutes Coyne 's Darwinian prediction that our genome should contain lots of `` dead '' DNA .", "It 's no wonder that Coyne falls back again and again on the sort of theological arguments that Scadding wrote `` should be given no place in a scientific discussion of evolution . ''", "Theological arguments are also prominent in The Origin of Species .", "For example , Darwin argued that the geographic distribution of living things made no sense if species had been separately created , but it did make sense in the context of his theory .", "Cases such as `` the presence of peculiar species of bats on oceanic islands and the absence of all other terrestrial mammals , '' Darwin wrote , `` are facts utterly inexplicable on the theory of independent acts of creation . ''", "In particular : `` Why , it may be asked , has the supposed creative force produced bats and no other mammals on remote islands ? ''", "According to Darwin , `` on my view this question can easily be answered ; for no terrestrial mammal can be transported across a wide space of sea , but bats can fly across . ''", "But Darwin knew that migration can not account for all patterns of geographic distribution .", "He wrote in The Origin of Species that `` the identity of many plants and animals , on mountain-summits , separated from each other by hundreds of miles of lowlands , where Alpine species could not possibly exist , is one of the most striking cases known of the same species living at distant points without the apparent possibility of their having migrated from one point to the other . ''", "Darwin argued that the recent ice age `` affords a simple explanation of these facts . ''", "Arctic plants and animals that were `` nearly the same '' could have flourished everywhere in Europe and North America , but `` when the warmth had fully returned , the same species , which had lately lived together on the European and North American lowlands , would again be found in the arctic regions of the Old and New Worlds , and on many isolated mountain-summits far distant from each other . ''", "So some cases of geographic distribution may not be due to migration , but to the splitting of a formerly large , widespread population into small , isolated populations -- what modern biologists call `` vicariance . ''", "Darwin argued that all modern distributions of species could be explained by these two possibilities .", "Yet there are many cases of geographic distribution that neither migration nor vicariance seem able to explain .", "One example is the worldwide distribution of flightless birds , or `` ratites . ''", "These include ostriches in Africa , rheas in South America , emus and cassowaries in Australia , and kiwis in New Zealand .", "Since the birds are flightless , explanations based on migration over vast oceanic distances are implausible .", "After continental drift was discovered in the twentieth century , it was thought that the various populations might have separated with the landmasses .", "But ostriches and kiwis are much too recent ; the continents had already drifted apart when these species originated .", "So neither migration nor vicariance explain ratite biogeography .36", "Another example is freshwater crabs .", "Studied intensively by Italian biologist Giuseppe Colosi in the 1920s , these animals complete their life cycles exclusively in freshwater habitats and are incapable of surviving prolonged exposure to salt water .", "Today , very similar species are found in widely separated lakes and rivers in Central and South America , Africa , Madagascar , southern Europe , India , Asia and Australia .", "Fossil and molecular evidence indicates that these animals originated long after the continents separated , so their distribution is inconsistent with the vicariance hypothesis .", "Some biologists speculate that the crabs may have migrated by `` transoceanic rafting '' in hollow logs , but this seems unlikely given their inability to tolerate salt water .", "So neither vicariance nor migration provides a convincing explanation for the biogeography of these animals .37", "An alternative explanation was suggested in the mid-twentieth century by L\u00e9on Croizat , a French biologist raised in Italy .", "Croizat found that Darwin 's theory did `` not seem to agree at all with certain important facts of nature , '' especially the facts of biogeography .", "Indeed , he concluded , `` Darwinism is by now only a straitjacket ... a thoroughly decrepit skin to hold new wine . ''", "Croizat did not argue for independent acts of creation ; instead , he proposed that in many cases a widespread primitive species was split into fragments , then its remnants evolved in parallel , in separate locations , into new species that were remarkably similar .", "Croizat called this process of parallel evolution `` orthogenesis . ''", "Neo-Darwinists such as Ernst Mayr , however , pointed out that there is no mechanism for orthogenesis , which implies -- contrary to Darwinism -- that evolution is guided in certain directions ; so they rejected Croizat 's hypothesis .38 In Why Evolution Is True , Coyne ( like Darwin ) attributes the biogeography of oceanic islands to migration , and certain other distributions to vicariance .", "But Coyne ( unlike Darwin ) acknowledges that these two processes can not explain everything .", "For example , the internal anatomy of marsupial mammals is so different from the internal anatomy of placental mammals that the two groups are thought to have split a long time ago .", "Yet there are marsupial flying squirrels , anteaters and moles in Australia that strikingly resemble placental flying squirrels , anteaters and moles on other continents , and these forms originated long after the continents had separated .", "Coyne attributes the similarities to `` a well-known process called convergent evolution . ''", "According to Coyne .", "`` It 's really quite simple .", "Species that live in similar habitats will experience similar selection pressures from their environment , so they may evolve similar adaptations , or converge , coming to look and behave very much alike even though they are unrelated . ''", "Put together common ancestry , natural selection , and the origin of species ( `` speciation '' ) , `` add in the fact that distant areas of the world can have similar habitats , and you get convergent evolution -- and a simple explanation of a major geographic pattern . ''", "This is not the same as Croizat 's `` orthogenesis , '' according to which populations of a single species , after becoming separated from each other , evolve in parallel due to some internal directive force .", "According to Coyne 's `` convergent evolution , '' organisms that are fundamentally different from each other evolve through natural selection to become superficially similar because they inhabit similar environments .", "The mechanism for orthogenesis is internal , whereas the mechanism for convergence is external .", "In both cases , however , mechanism is crucial : Without it , orthogenesis and convergence are simply words describing biogeographical patterns , not explanations of how those patterns originated .", "So the same question can be asked of convergence that was asked of orthogenesis : What is the evidence for the proposed mechanism ?", "According to Coyne , the mechanism of convergence involves natural selection and speciation .", "Selection and Speciation", "Coyne writes that Darwin `` had little direct evidence for selection acting in natural populations . ''", "Actually , Darwin had no direct evidence for natural selection ; the best he could do in The Origin of Species was `` give one or two imaginary illustrations . ''", "It was n't until a century later that Bernard Kettlewell provided what he called `` Darwin 's missing evidence '' for natural selection -- a shift in the proportion of light - and dark-colored peppered moths that Kettlewell attributed to camouflage and bird predation .40", "Since then , biologists have found lots of direct evidence for natural selection .", "Coyne describes some of it , including an increase in average beak depth of finches on the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands and a change in flowering time in wild mustard plants in Southern California -- both due to drought .", "Like Darwin , Coyne also compares natural selection to the artificial selection used in plant and animal breeding .", "But these examples of selection -- natural as well as artificial -- involve only minor changes within existing species .", "Breeders were familiar with such changes before 1859 , which is why Darwin did not write a book titled How Existing Species Change Over Time ; he wrote a book titled The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection .", "`` Darwin called his great work On the Origin of Species , '' wrote Harvard evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr in 1982 , `` for he was fully conscious of the fact that the change from one species into another was the most fundamental problem of evolution . ''", "Yet , Mayr had written earlier , `` Darwin failed to solve the problem indicated by the title of his work . ''", "In 1997 , evolutionary biologist Keith Stewart Thomson wrote : `` A matter of unfinished business for biologists is the identification of evolution 's smoking gun , '' and `` the smoking gun of evolution is speciation , not local adaptation and differentiation of populations . ''", "Before Darwin , the consensus was that species can vary only within certain limits ; indeed , centuries of artificial selection had seemingly demonstrated such limits experimentally .", "`` Darwin had to show that the limits could be broken , '' wrote Thomson , `` so do we . ''", "41 In 2004 , Coyne and H. Allen Orr published a detailed book titled Speciation , in which they noted that biologists have not been able to agree on a definition of `` species '' because no single definition fits every case .", "For example , a definition applicable to living , sexually reproducing organisms might make no sense when applied to fossils or bacteria .", "In fact , there are more than 25 definitions of `` species . ''", "What definition is best ?", "Coyne and Orr argued that , `` when deciding on a species concept , one should first identify the nature of one 's ` species problem , ' and then choose the concept best at solving that problem . ''", "Like most other Darwinists , Coyne and Orr favor Ernst Mayr 's `` biological species concept '' ( BSC ) , according to which `` species are groups of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups . ''", "In Why Evolution Is True , Coyne explains that the biological species concept is `` the one that evolutionists prefer when studying speciation , because it gets you to the heart of the evolutionary question .", "Under the BSC , if you can explain how reproductive barriers evolve , you 've explained the origin of species . ''", "Theoretically , reproductive barriers arise when geographically separated populations diverge genetically .", "But Coyne describes five `` cases of real-time speciation '' that involve a different mechanism : chromosome doubling , or `` polyploidy . ''", "43 This usually follows hybridization between two existing plant species .", "Most hybrids are sterile because their mismatched chromosomes ca n't separate properly to produce fertile pollen and ovaries ; occasionally , however , the chromosomes in a hybrid spontaneously double , producing two perfectly matched sets and making reproduction possible .", "The result is a fertile plant that is reproductively isolated from the two parents -- a new species , according to the BSC .", "But speciation by polyploidy ( `` secondary speciation '' ) has been observed only in plants .", "It does not provide evidence for Darwin 's theory that species originate through natural selection , nor for the neo-Darwinian theory of speciation by geographic separation and genetic divergence .", "Indeed , according to evolutionary biologist Douglas J. Futuyma , polyploidy `` does not confer major new morphological characteristics ... -LSB- and -RSB- does not cause the evolution of new genera '' or higher levels in the biological hierarchy .44", "So secondary speciation does not solve Darwin 's problem .", "Only primary speciation -- the splitting of one species into two by natural selection -- would be capable of producing the branching-tree pattern of Darwinian evolution .", "But no one has ever observed primary speciation .", "Evolution 's smoking gun has never been found .45", "Or has it ?", "In Why Evolution Is True , Coyne claims that primary speciation was observed in an experiment reported in 1998 .", "Curiously , Coyne did not mention it in the 2004 book he co-authored with Orr , but his 2009 account of it is worth quoting in full : `` We can even see the origin of a new , ecologically diverse bacterial species , all within a single laboratory flask .", "Paul Rainey and his colleagues at Oxford University placed a strain of the bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens in a small vessel containing nutrient broth , and simply watched it .", "( It 's surprising but true that such a vessel actually contains diverse environments .", "Oxygen concentration , for example , is highest on the top and lowest on the bottom . )", "Within ten days -- no more than a few hundred generations -- the ancestral free-floating ` smooth ' bacterium had evolved into two additional forms occupying different parts of the beaker .", "One , called ` wrinkly spreader , ' formed a mat on top of the broth .", "The other , called ` fuzzy spreader , ' formed a carpet on the bottom .", "The smooth ancestral type persisted in the liquid environment in the middle .", "Each of the two new forms was genetically different from the ancestor , having evolved through mutation and natural selection to reproduce best in their respective environments .", "Here , then , is not only evolution but speciation occurring in the lab : the ancestral form produced , and coexisted with , two ecologically different descendants , and in bacteria such forms are considered distinct species .", "Over a very short time , natural selection in Pseudomonas yielded a small-scale ` adaptive radiation , ' the equivalent of how animals or plants form species when they encounter new environments on an oceanic island . ''", "But Coyne omits the fact that when the ecologically different forms were placed back into the same environment , they `` suffered a rapid loss of diversity , '' according to Rainey .", "In bacteria , an ecologically distinct population ( called an `` ecotype '' ) may constitute a separate species , but only if the distinction is permanent .", "As evolutionary microbiologist Frederick Cohan wrote in 2002 , species in bacteria `` are ecologically distinct from one another ; and they are irreversibly separate . ''", "47 The rapid reversal of ecological distinctions when the bacterial populations in Rainey 's experiment were put back into the same environment refutes Coyne 's claim that the experiment demonstrated the origin of a new species .", "Exaggerating the evidence to prop up Darwinism is not new .", "In the Gal\u00e1pagos finches , average beak depth reverted to normal after the drought ended .", "There was no net evolution , much less speciation .", "Yet Coyne writes in Why Evolution Is True that `` everything we require of evolution by natural selection was amply documented '' by the finch studies .", "Since scientific theories stand or fall on the evidence , Coyne 's tendency to exaggerate the evidence does not speak well for the theory he is defending .", "When a 1999 booklet published by The U. S. National Academy of Sciences called the change in finch beaks `` a particularly compelling example of speciation , '' Berkeley law professor and Darwin critic Phillip E. Johnson wrote in The Wall Street Journal : `` When our leading scientists have to resort to the sort of distortion that would land a stock promoter in jail , you know they are in trouble . ''", "So there are observed instances of secondary speciation -- which is not what Darwinism needs -- but no observed instances of primary speciation , not even in bacteria .", "British bacteriologist Alan H. Linton looked for confirmed reports of primary speciation and concluded in 2001 : `` None exists in the literature claiming that one species has been shown to evolve into another .", "Bacteria , the simplest form of independent life , are ideal for this kind of study , with generation times of twenty to thirty minutes , and populations achieved after eighteen hours .", "But throughout 150 years of the science of bacteriology , there is no evidence that one species of bacteria has changed into another . ''", "Darwin called The Origin of Species `` one long argument '' for his theory , but Jerry Coyne has given us one long bluff .", "Why Evolution Is True tries to defend Darwinian evolution by rearranging the fossil record ; by misrepresenting the development of vertebrate embryos ; by ignoring evidence for the functionality of allegedly vestigial organs and non-coding DNA , then propping up Darwinism with theological arguments about `` bad design ; '' by attributing some biogeographical patterns to convergence due to the supposedly `` well-known '' processes of natural selection and speciation ; and then exaggerating the evidence for selection and speciation to make it seem as though they could accomplish what Darwinism requires of them .", "The actual evidence shows that major features of the fossil record are an embarrassment to Darwinian evolution ; that early development in vertebrate embryos is more consistent with separate origins than with common ancestry ; that non-coding DNA is fully functional , contrary to neo-Darwinian predictions ; and that natural selection can accomplish nothing more than artificial selection -- which is to say , minor changes within existing species .", "Faced with such evidence , any other scientific theory would probably have been abandoned long ago .", "Judged by the normal criteria of empirical science , Darwinism is false .", "Its persists in spite of the evidence , and the eagerness of Darwin and his followers to defend it with theological arguments about creation and design suggests that its persistence has nothing to do with science at all .50", "Nevertheless , biology students might find Coyne 's book useful .", "Given accurate information and the freedom to exercise critical thinking , students could learn from Why Evolution Is True how Darwinists manipulate the evidence and mix it with theology to recycle a false theory that should have been discarded long ago .", "Notes1 Jerry A. Coyne , Why Evolution Is True ( New York : Viking , 2009 ) , p. 3.2 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 3-4 .3 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 5-6 .4 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 18-19 .5 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 17-18 , 25.6 Charles Darwin , The Origin of Species , Sixth Edition ( London : John Murray , 1872 ) , Chapter X , pp. 266 , 285-288 .", "Available online ( 2009 ) here .7 J. William Schopf , `` The early evolution of life : solution to Darwin 's dilemma , '' Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9 ( 1994 ) : 375-377 .", "James W. Valentine , Stanley M. Awramik , Philip W. Signor & M. Sadler , `` The Biological Explosion at the Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary , '' Evolutionary Biology 25 ( 1991 ) : 279-356 .", "James W. Valentine & Douglas H. Erwin , `` Interpreting Great Developmental Experiments : The Fossil Record , '' pp. 71-107 in Rudolf A. Raff & Elizabeth C. Raff , ( editors ) , Development as an Evolutionary Process ( New York : Alan R. Liss , 1987 ) .", "Jeffrey S. Levinton , `` The Big Bang of Animal Evolution , '' Scientific American 267 ( November , 1992 ) : 84-91 .", "`` The Scientific Controversy Over the Cambrian Explosion , '' Discovery Institute .", "Available online ( 2009 ) here.Jonathan Wells , Icons of Evolution ( Washington , DC : Regnery Publishing , 2002 ) , Chapter 3 .", "More information available online ( 2009 ) here.Stephen C. Meyer , `` The Cambrian Explosion : Biology 's Big Bang , '' pp. 323-402 in John Angus Campbell & Stephen C. Meyer ( editors ) , Darwinism , Design , and Public Education ( East Lansing , MI : Michigan State University Press , 2003 ) .", "More information available online ( 2009 ) here .8 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , p. 28 .", "9 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , p. 48.10 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 49-51 .11 Kevin Padian & Luis M. Chiappe , `` The origin and early evolution of birds , '' Biological Reviews 73 ( 1998 ) : 1-42 .", "Available online ( 2009 ) here.Wells , Icons of Evolution , pp. 119-122 .", "12 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 25 , 53 .", "Chico Marx in Duck Soup ( Paramount Pictures , 1933 ) .", "This and other Marx Brothers quotations are available online ( 2009 ) here .13 Gareth Nelson , `` Presentation to the American Museum of Natural History ( 1969 ) , '' in David M. Williams & Malte C. Ebach , `` The reform of palaeontology and the rise of biogeography -- 25 years after ` ontogeny , phylogeny , palaeontology and the biogenetic law ' ( Nelson , 1978 ) , '' Journal of Biogeography 31 ( 2004 ) : 685-712 .14 Henry Gee , In Search of Deep Time .", "New York : Free Press , 1999 , pp. 5 , 32 , 113-117 .", "Jonathan Wells , The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design ( Washington , DC : Regnery Publishing , 2006 ) .", "More information available online ( 2009 ) here .", "15 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , p. 79 .", "Darwin , The Origin of Species , Chapter XIV , pp. 386-396 .", "Available online ( 2009 ) here .16 Darwin , The Origin of Species , Chapter XIV , pp. 387-388 .", "Available online ( 2009 ) here .17 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , p. 73 .", "Karl Ernst von Baer , `` On the Development of Animals , with Observations and Reflections : The Fifth Scholium , '' translated by Thomas Henry Huxley , pp. 186-237 in Arthur Henfrey & Thomas H. Huxley ( editors ) , Scientific Memoirs : Selected from the Transactions of Foreign Academies of Science and from Foreign Journals : Natural History ( London , 1853 ; reprinted 1966 by Johnson Reprint Corporation , New York ) .", "The passage quoted by Darwin is on p. 210 .", "Jane M. Oppenheimer , `` An Embryological Enigma in the Origin of Species , '' pp. 221-255 in Jane M. Oppenheimer , Essays in the History of Embryology and Biology ( Cambridge , MA : The M.I.T. Press , 1967 ) .18 Timothy Lenoir , The Strategy of Life ( Chicago : The University of Chicago Press , 1982 ) , p. 258 .", "Frederick B. Churchill , `` The Rise of Classical Descriptive Embryology , '' pp. 1-29 in Scott F. Gilbert ( editor ) , A Conceptual History of Modern Embryology ( Baltimore , MD : The Johns Hopkins University Press , 1991 ) , pp. 19-20 .19 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 77-79 .20 Simon Conway Morris , `` Fossil Embryos , '' pp. 703-711 in Claudio D. Stern ( editor ) , Gastrulation : From Cells to Embryos ( Cold Spring Harbor , NY : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press , 2004 ) .21 Walter Garstang , `` The theory of recapitulation : a critical restatement of the biogenetic law , '' Journal of the Linnean Society ( Zoology ) , 35 ( 1922 ) : 81-101 .22 See Chapter Five and accompanying references in Wells , Icons of Evolution.See Chapter Three and accompanying references in Wells , The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design .23 Michael K. Richardson , J. Hanken , M. L. Gooneratne , C. Pieau , A. Raynaud , L. Selwood & G. M. Wright , `` There is no highly conserved embryonic stage in the vertebrates : implications for current theories of evolution and development , '' Anatomy & Embryology 196 ( 1997 ) : 91-106 .", "Michael K. 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Scadding , `` Vestigial organs do not provide scientific evidence for evolution , '' Evolutionary Theory 6 ( 1982 ) : 171-173 .28 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 61-62 .", "29 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , p. 46 .", "30 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 81.31 Susumu Ohno , `` So much ` junk ' DNA in our genome , '' Brookhaven Symposia in Biology 23 ( 1972 ) : 366-70 .", "Richard Dawkins , The Selfish Gene ( New York : Oxford University Press , 1976 ) , p. 47.32 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 66-67 .", "33 A few of the many scientific articles published since 2003 that document the function of so-called `` junk '' DNA are : E.S Balakirev & F.J. Ayala , `` Pseudogenes : are they ` junk ' or functional DNA ? ''", "Annual Review of Genetics 37 ( 2003 ) : 123-151 .", "A. H\u00fcttenhofer , P. Schattner & N. Polacek , `` Non-coding RNAs : hope or hype ? ''", "Trends in Genetics 21 ( 2005 ) : 289-297 .", "J.S. Mattick & I.V. 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Yuri , `` Phylogenomic evidence for multiple losses of flight in ratite birds , '' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 105 ( 2008 ) : 13462-13467 .", "Abstract available online ( 2008 ) here.Giuseppe Sermonti , `` L'evoluzione in Italia - La via torinese / How Evolution Came to Italy - The Turin Connection , '' Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum 94 ( 2001 ) : 5-12 .", "Available online ( 2008 ) here .37 Giuseppe Colosi , `` La distribuzione geografica dei Potamonidae , '' Rivista di Biologia 3 ( 1921 ) : 294-301 .", "Available online ( 2009 ) here.Savel R. Daniels , N. Cumberlidge , M. P\u00e9rez-Losada , S.A.E. Marijnissen & K.A. Crandall , `` Evolution of Afrotropical freshwater crab lineages obscured by morphological convergence , '' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 ( 2006 ) : 227 -- 235 .", "von Sternberg , N. Cumberlidge & G. 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Kettlewell , `` Darwin 's Missing Evidence , '' Scientific American 200 ( March , 1959 ) : 48-53 .", "41 Ernst Mayr , The Growth of Biological Thought ( Cambridge , MA : Harvard University Press , 1982 ) , p. 403 .", "Ernst Mayr , Populations , Species and Evolution ( Cambridge , MA : Harvard University Press , 1963 ) , p. 10 .", "Keith Stewart Thomson , `` Natural Selection and Evolution 's Smoking Gun , '' American Scientist 85 ( 1997 ) : 516-518 .", "42 Jerry A. Coyne & H. Allen Orr , Speciation ( Sunderland , MA : Sinauer Associates , 2004 ) , p. 25-39 .", "Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , p. 174 .", "43 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , p. 188 .", "44 Douglas J. Futuyma , Evolution ( Sunderland , MA : Sinauer Associates , 2005 ) , p. 398 .", "45 Wells , The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design , Chapter Five ( `` The Ultimate Missing Link '' ) , pp. 49-59 .", "46 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , pp. 129-130 .", "47 Paul B. Rainey & Michael Travisano .", "`` Adaptive radiation in a heterogeneous environment , '' Nature 394 ( 1998 ) : 69-72 .", "Frederick M. Cohan , `` What Are Bacterial Species ? ''", "Annual Review of Microbiology 56 ( 2002 ) : 457-482 .", "Available online ( 2009 ) here .", "48 Coyne , Why Evolution Is True , p. 134 .", "National Academy of Sciences , Science and Creationism : A View from the National Academy of Sciences , Second edition ( Washington , DC : National Academy of Sciences Press , 1999 ) , Chapter on `` Evidence Supporting Biological Evolution , '' p. 10 .", "Available online ( 2009 ) here.Phillip E. Johnson , `` The Church of Darwin , '' The Wall Street Journal ( August 16 , 1999 ) : A14 .", "49 Alan H. Linton , `` Scant Search for the Maker , '' The Times Higher Education Supplement ( April 20 , 2001 ) , Book Section , p. 29 .", "50 Paul A. Nelson , `` The role of theology in current evolutionary reasoning , '' Biology and Philosophy 11 ( October 1996 ) : 493 - 517 .", "Abstract available online ( 2009 ) here.Jonathan Wells , `` Darwin 's Straw God Argument , '' Discovery Institute ( December 2008 ) .", "Jonathan Wells , `` Darwin 's Straw God Argument , '' Discovery Institute ( December 2008 ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "In the case of evolution, evolutionists consistently fail to show the development of new kinds of organisms.", "_claim_name": "Creationism is as valid a scientific theory as those of evolution and abiogenesis, and should therefore be given equal time in the classroom.", "_doc_title": "Why Darwinism Is False | Center for Science and Culture", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15, 19, 20, 21]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 110, "_topic_name": "This house would teach creationism in schools"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The inside track on Washington politics .", "The United States gives Egypt about $ 1.3 billion in military aid each year .", "And , so far this year , the Obama administration has been unwilling to cut off those funds -- even in the midst of a violent military crackdown that has left more than 525 dead .", "So here 's one question worth exploring : Just how important is all that aid to Egypt , anyway ?", "NPR 's Julia Simon recently did some reporting on that exact question .", "It seems that in many cases , Egypt receives far more weaponry than it could possibly use :", "The U.S. started sending M1A1 Abrams tanks to Egypt in the late '80s .", "In all , the U.S. sent more than 1,000 tanks to Egypt since then -- valued at some $ 3.9 billion -- which Egypt maintains along with several thousand Soviet-era tanks .", "`` There 's no conceivable scenario in which they 'd need all those tanks short of an alien invasion , '' Shana Marshall of the Institute of Middle East Studies at George Washington University , told me .", "The story with F-16 fighter jets is similar .", "Since 1980 , we 've sent Egypt 221 fighter jets , valued at $ 8 billion .", "`` Our American military advisers in Cairo have for many years been advising against further acquisitions of F-16s , '' Springborg said .", "Egypt already has more F-16s than it needs , he said .", "But then why do we keep sending all these tanks and jets ?", "One possible answer is that it helps create jobs here in the United States :", "The U.S. wants Egypt to have them in part because of people like Bruce Baron , president of Baron Industries , a small business in Oxford , Mich. `` The aid that we give to Egypt is coming back to the U.S. and keeping 30 of my people working , '' Baron told me .", "Specifically , he said , 30 of his 57 employees are working on parts for the M1A1 Abrams tanks that we give to Egypt .", "Now , that 's not the only consideration here .", "For one , even if Egypt is getting more tanks than it needs , that does n't mean altering the policy is simple .", "Earlier this year , Secretary of State John Kerry warned that cutting off aid could send Egypt 's already-struggling economy into a tailspin .", "`` A hold up of aid might contribute to the chaos that may ensue because of their collapsing economy , '' he said .", "If it seems odd that military aid has become so crucial to Egypt 's economy , consider this : The Egyptian military is utterly gigantic , one of the largest in the world , `` controlling between 10 and 30 percent of the economy and employing hundreds of thousands of Egyptians . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Due to the \"War on Terror\" and a need to maintain a military equipment export industry, the US has been a reliable ally for many African states.", "_claim_name": "There are few alternatives", "_doc_title": "The U.S. sends Egypt far more military aid than it needs - The Washington Post", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The BBC 's Dan Damon is one of the few journalists to have visited the US military mission deep in the forests of Central Africa .", "The airstrip at Obo in the Central African Republic is little more than a stretch of dirt track .", "Our single engine plane takes nearly four hours to reach Obo from the Ugandan capital , Kampala , and `` kangaroos '' its landing .", "As the propeller slows , we are met by the small detachment of US special forces .", "They are Navy Seals , the same force that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden .", "Here , as far away as you can get from the sea in any direction in Africa , I meet Captain Greg .", "For security reasons , special forces soldiers are reluctant to give you more than their rank and first name .", "`` What are you doing here ? ''", "It is a rapid-fire list : `` Logistical improvements , medical capabilities , planning operations and also incorporating intelligence into the operations to make them more effective . ''", "So how about using the United States 's legendary electronic intelligence to track Mr Kony down ?", "`` That 's really not what we 're here to bring , we 're here to assist and advise the partner nations , '' says Capt Greg .", "However sophisticated the US spy satellites and drones , it is not certain they would help in this terrain anyway .", "All around Obo is what the military calls `` triple canopy '' jungle - thick undergrowth and trees so close and lush , they blot out the sky .", "You could hide a fully equipped army in this forest , let alone a few hundred experienced bush fighters like the Lord 's Resistance Army .", "According to fighters who have dared to escape their sinister leader , the LRA , once 2,000 strong , now totals around 300 .", "They include those abducted in recent raids in the Central African Republic , South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo .", "This is where Mr Kony moved after being chased out of Uganda in 2006 .", "The Ugandan army , the UPDF , pursued him but failed to catch him , despite getting close on a number of occasions .", "The man in overall charge of the US Africa Command ( Africom ) is General Carter Ham .", "He emphasises that US soldiers will not be out on patrol in the jungle tracking Mr Kony , but he acknowledges that that is what a lot of Africans think is going to happen .", "`` I call it ` Man On The Moon ' syndrome - if America can put a man on the Moon , why have n't we caught Joseph Kony ?", "But we are there to work with our partner forces from the countries of Central Africa , '' says Gen Ham .", "However small the LRA , its reputation and the spirit powers that many believe Joseph Kony can call on mean that even one man with a gun entering a village will scare the inhabitants away from their homes and farmland for years .", "In Gulu , northern Uganda , which has seen no LRA activity for more than five years , people still live in fear of Mr Kony .", "There , we met Mugaga Maiko , who was abducted when he was 15 and spent three years as Mr Kony 's escort .", "`` I saw that guy with my eyes , and the way he is operating I believe that he has the traditional spirits , '' says Mugaga .", "`` The reason I say that is you can find he is not among you when he is there .", "He has disappeared .", "That is why I say that Kony has the spirit , just like a ghost ! ''", "All too real is the experience of Adye Sunday , captured when she was 13 and taken by Kony to add to his tally of `` wives '' - he is said to have had more than 80 - and held for 10 years .", "I found Adye in a rehabilitation centre in Gulu , making cakes for sale .", "With her is her three-year-old daughter Betty , fathered by Mr Kony .", "She has a seven-year-old boy by Mr Kony as well .", "Adye talks in a hushed monotone about her life in the bush , even when she tells us about the time Mr Kony 's group was fleeing the Ugandan army and she was shot in the leg .", "`` What are your hopes ? ''", "`` I want a bicycle so I can sell the cakes more widely and make more money to bring up my children , '' she says .", "`` With my leg , I ca n't walk far .", "A bicycle would help a lot . ''", "Mr Kony has released a large number of women and children like Adye and Betty in the past three years , not out of any compassion , according to the social workers trying to help them , but because they slow him down now he needs to keep on the move to avoid the four armies searching for him .", "The men who come out of the bush are more likely to have made their own escape .", "One reason is Radio Zereda in Obo , which broadcasts advice and information on UN camps to help those trying to flee the LRA .", "The main DJ at Radio Zereda - Zereda means `` peace '' in the local Zande language - is Emmanuel Daba , who was himself abducted in 2008 , along with 76 others seized in a series of raids in that year .", "`` It 's time to make an end to your time with the LRA , '' he chants over dance music , with the signal beamed from a tall transmitter mast funded by the US .", "The small US special forces unit in Obo has had an impact disproportionate to its size .", "Maria Wangechi from the British medical charity Merlin told me that the presence of the US soldiers has allowed people to till their fields within a radius of 25km from the town .", "`` They were restricted to 5km , '' she says .", "But the threat continues .", "`` The last attack was about seven days ago , '' she adds .", "`` The people need security , and they need to know that all the health and other services they are getting now from aid organisations like Merlin will follow them when they go back to their villages in the bush . ''", "That is the only positive potential outcome so far for these communities now blighted by Mr Kony 's LRA .", "The world knows they are there , at last , because of US pressure group Invisible Children and its 30-minute documentary Kony2012 , and because the US has sent troops .", "The local betting is that Joseph Kony is more likely to die in the forest than appear in the dock in The Hague as an indicted war criminal .", "Whatever brings his reign of terror to an end , the people of these remote communities in Central Africa might eventually find their lives and livelihoods are improved by all the global attention they are now getting .", "The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites", "Police are treating an incident at RAF Marham , Norfolk , involving a serviceman as attempted abduction .", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess", "A 15cm-high wall is put around Trump 's Hollywood star", "Should we take supplements as experts suggest ?", "The anti-jihad activist whose sibling killed seven people", "The man hired to have sex with children", "How tragedy inspired US rocker to teach guitar in Kabul", "Where in Japan might Pokemon be hiding ?", "Black man 's unique response to being told ` go home '", "The country where it pays to buy protection"], "_citing_sentence": "US military advisers were sent to Uganda to help combat the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and assisted with 'an impact disproportionate to its size'.", "_claim_name": "Specialism of the United States in counter terrorism", "_doc_title": "US forces join jungle search for Kony - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [43]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The US is suspending a large part of the $ 1.3 bn ( # 810m ) in aid it gives to Egypt 's military .", "The delivery of large-scale military systems as well as cash assistance to the Egyptian government would be withheld , said the state department .", "It said `` credible progress '' must be made towards free and fair elections .", "A review was launched in August after a crackdown by the authorities on supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi left hundreds of people dead .", "`` We will continue to hold the delivery of certain large-scale military systems and cash assistance to the government pending credible progress toward an inclusive , democratically elected civilian government through free and fair elections , '' state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said .", "Officials said the freeze amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars in aid .", "The US is halting the delivery of Apache helicopters , as well as Harpoon missiles and tank parts , officials said .", "Washington also plans to halt a $ 260m cash transfer and a $ 300m loan guarantee .", "The BBC 's Kim Ghattas in Washington says the suspension of aid is more symbolic - a slap on the wrist - than a painful cut in essential aid .", "The announcement had been expected , with deliveries of military hardware already halted , a military exercise cancelled , and cash aid in effect on hold since the summer , our correspondent says .", "The US will continue to provide health and education assistance , and money to help Egypt to ensure security in the increasingly volatile Sinai peninsula .", "The freeze was not intended to be permanent , the state department added .", "In a speech to the UN General Assembly last month , US President Barack Obama criticised Egypt 's military-backed interim government for `` decisions inconsistent with inclusive democracy '' .", "However , the US has held back from labelling President Morsi 's removal from power a coup .", "Since the army ousted Mr Morsi in July , Egyptian authorities have clashed repeatedly with Muslim Brotherhood supporters .", "In the latest round of violence , more than 50 people were killed in clashes between Morsi supporters , opponents and security forces in several cities on Sunday .", "Thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood have also been detained in the past two months .", "Hundreds of Egyptian activists held a candlelight vigil in Cairo on Wednesday night to commemorate the deaths of Christian protestors in clashes with the military two years ago .", "Twenty-five people were killed in what became known as the Maspero massacre , when soldiers in armoured personnel carriers ran over Christians demonstrating outside the state television building in Maspero Square .", "Some participants chanted slogans against the military , but others said the army had saved Christians from the Muslim Brotherhood .", "Mr Morsi is set to go on trial on 4 November on charges of inciting murder and violence , state media reported on Wednesday .", "The charges relate to the deaths of at least seven people during clashes between opposition protesters and Muslim Brotherhood supporters outside a presidential palace in Cairo last year .", "Mr Morsi has been detained at a secret location since being deposed on 3 July .", "After he was toppled , Gulf states including Saudi Arabia pledged $ 12bn ( # 7.5 bn ) to Egypt 's military-backed government .", "Saudi princes have said that if the US cuts aid to Egypt , they will increase it ."], "_citing_sentence": "Before military aid was cut to Egypt in 2013, the US provided $1.3 billion annually to support one of the strongest militaries on the continent.", "_claim_name": "African states can't afford the full cost", "_doc_title": "US withholds Egypt military aid over crackdown - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 111, "_topic_name": "This House welcomes US help in fighting terrorist organisations in Africa"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["After decades of ignorance , public awareness of demographic change in Europe is growing .", "Many countries in Europe have low birth rates", "By 2050 , every third German will be over 60 years old .", "That fact will affect the affluence and quality of life in Germany .", "And instead of high unemployment as a dominating theme , the discussion will instead become focused on labor shortages .", "The problem essentially is the low birth rate -- German women have 1.3 children on average compared to 1.9 for the French .", "The reason is difficult to explain , says Francois Heran , director of the France 's National Institute for Demographic Studies .", "`` The French birth rate is higher because of the continuity of ` family ' politics and a series of complimentary measures by the government that affect daily life and education , '' she said .", "`` I believe also , that the system of pre-school that we have certainly is an important factor in boosting the French birth rate -- 100 percent of children who are 3-years-old take part -- that is a world record .", "That is n't only childcare but also an element of education . ''", "A new approach needed In Germany , it has been long taboo to connect `` family '' politics with demographics , says Rudolf Herweck of the German Ministry for Family Affairs , Senior Citizens , Women and Youth .", "But since 2003 , there has been a change in perspective , he adds .", "European countries are aging", "European countries are aging `` Our new ` politics ' is that additional money is not sufficient to support families and that we need a three-pronged approach focusing on money , time and infrastructure , '' he said .", "`` Money also means measures such as money for seniors , for children , tax deductions .", "Another point is time -- that employers should take measures to make the workplace more family-friendly .", "And finally we have changed our strategy , reaching out to other players in society because we ca n't make sustainable changes alone . ''", "Employers must be involved", "Employers have to be a partner , says Johannes Meier of the Bertelsmann Foundation .", "Germany is going to need more skilled workers", "Germany is going to need more skilled workers `` Employers must naturally realize , when they even half think about their long term interests , that our labor pool will dramatically change in the next twenty or thirty years , '' he said .", "`` They have to consider from where can we get qualified workers and how to guarantee that the skill level of employees is maintained .", "And that means very concretely that employers and local officials must take measures to reconcile work and family so that both parents can be gainfully employed .", "That is something normal in Scandinavian countries and in France and hopefully it will become something common for us , too . ''", "Heran says that reforms in France tried to make it easier for working parents to return to work after having a child .", "`` When a woman in France has a child , she takes off work about one to three months , not three years , '' said Heran .", "`` The French government also implemented a reform insuring that parents are compensated for their maternity leave but for a shorter time ensuring a more successful return to work . ''", "UN population expert Andres Vikat says that it will take a series of measures to affect a change in the birth rate .", "But he adds that part of the problem is a change in values .", "`` If a tradition model of a family , where the man works and the woman stays home with the children is seen as a hindrance to personal goals , then people are not going to do that , '' he said .", "`` So if the state tries to promote that kind of model and go against the values of society , then even a large investment in measures promoting family is not going to have the desired results . ''", "Already boasting one of the highest birth rates in the EU , France has unveiled measures to spur women to have more children .", "They include an increased monthly grant for mothers who take time off work for a third baby .", "The German government wants to combat the falling birth rate with better family policies .", "Tainted by controversial associations during the Nazi era , the issue was all but taboo until a few years ago .", "Once dismissed as `` nonsense '' by former Chancellor Schr\u00f6der , family policies have now climbed to the top of Germany 's political agenda .", "The debate is headed in the right direction , says DW-WORLD 's Uta Thofern .", "The Brexit vote has thrown the lives of 1.2 million Britons living in the European Union into uncertainty .", "What should they do now ?", "The German Statistics Office has released a report negating hopes that the refugee crisis might actually help the country 's demographic decline .", "The country would need around half a million immigrants every year .", "The leader of Germany 's Greens party has called on Chancellor Merkel to push for a shutdown of nuclear reactors near the German-France border .", "The push comes a day after revelations France downplayed a reactor incident .", "Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Munich to pay tribute to the victims of Friday 's mass shooting .", "Makeshift memorials have sprung up , but many mourners just want to do their public grieving in peace .", "French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have agreed to increase cooperation to prevent such violence .", "Leaders from North America , Europe , and the Muslim world have condemned the attack .", "The Bundeswehr 's boot camp for journalists offers some unique lessons for conflict reporters .", "DW 's Elizabeth Schumacher spent a week gaining a new appreciation for the challenges of reporting in the field .", "Emigration has led to positive outcomes for migrants , and for the EU as a whole .", "Yet it may also have slowed growth and income convergence in the 20 Eastern European economies that were studied in the new IMF report .", "A seafood specialty from Gdansk 384 trombone players gather in New York to try and break a flashmob world record during the 2016 International Trombone Festival .", "DW offers its readers , listeners and viewers the opportunity to engage in a discussion on dw.com , Facebook , Twitter and other online platforms ."], "_citing_sentence": "For example in Germany by 2050 a third of the population will be over 60, and over the next 15 years will as a result loose five million workers from the current workforce of 41 million.", "_claim_name": "Immigrants are needed to make up for aging populations", "_doc_title": "The Challenge of Demographic Change in Old, Shriveling Europe | Europe | DW.COM | 23.01.2006", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Thursday 17 March 2011 13.06 EDT", "Last modified on Thursday 17 March 2011 14.08 EDT", "Germany is bracing itself for the loss of 5 million workers over the next 15 years as it becomes Europe 's first and biggest test of the problems caused by an ageing and declining population .", "Having used generous job subsidies to steer the labour market through the country 's worst downturn since the 1930s , labour and social affairs minister Ralf Brauksiepe told the Guardian on Thursday that a longer working life and an influx of skilled workers from overseas were the answer to the demographic time bomb .", "`` We see the problems of an ageing and diminishing population , '' he said , adding that the 41m workforce would shrink rapidly by the mid-2020s on current trends .", "Immigration was seen as only a partial solution to the problem , Brauksiepe said .", "Restrictions on labour mobility from EU member states in eastern Europe will finally be lifted this spring , but Berlin expects this to lead only to an extra 100,000 workers over the coming years .", "A domestic solution has been the controversial decision to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 , an age fixed in 1916 when Germany was ruled by Kaiser Wilhelm II .", "The changes will be phased in between 2012 and 2029 , when 67 which will become the statutory retirement age .", "`` It must be clear to people that working longer than the age of 65 must be the rule , '' Brauksiepe said .", "`` I am convinced that in 20 years people wo n't understand how people were opposed to the enlargement of the working life in 2011 . ''", "For Germany , the problems of an ageing population are far more pressing than youth unemployment -- the big issue for labour ministers in the UK , France and Spain .", "Youth unemployment at 7.9 % in Germany compares with 20 % in the UK and 40 % of young people out of work in Spain .", "Brauksiepe says a key reason is Germany 's dual apprenticeship programme , on which -- according to the labour ministry -- up to 60 % of young people enrol .", "Over two to three years , they undergo on-the-job training with a firm but also spend one to two days a week at school .", "Germany 's use of wage subsidies is seen by ministers as the key factor in preventing the 4.7 % contraction in the economy resulting in huge job losses in 2009 .", "Much envied by trade unions in the UK , the wage top-ups meant workers lost half their hours but received 80 % of their pay .", "During the worst of the crisis in 2009 , 1.5 m people were on short-time working in Germany , and the scheme was vital for exporters of manufactured goods , who saw demand crash following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 .", "The government says it was responsible for saving 330,000 jobs directly and more indirectly , by boosting consumer spending by those on reduced hours .", "Germany has often been criticised by bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development for its lack of labour market flexibility , but Brauksiepe says the handling of the crisis reflected tripartite burden-sharing between government , employers and unions .", "`` In contrast to what some observers say , we did n't have an employment miracle -- what we 've had in this country is a successful coordinated effort , '' he said .", "Economists also point to Germany 's Agenda 2010 labour market reforms under former chancellor Gerhard Schr\u00f6der , which created work incentives and led to more temporary work , making companies less hesitant to employ people , although some problems remain .", "Jens Sondergaard , senior European economist at Nomura in London , said : `` It 's very hard to get a licence in Germany if you 're a Spanish doctor .", "Germany is lacking in professional services regulation and businesses are still heavily regulated . ''", "Using the internationally-agreed measure , unemployment in Germany is 6.6 % , with just under 3m people out of work .", "Brauksiepe said the total was lower than before the start of the financial crisis , and although unemployment is still higher in east Germany the gap has closed .", "`` This crisis was a western , southwestern , male , industrial crisis .", "The people affected most worked in industry , were male , employed in the southwest and they were skilled workers producing export goods ... and they were much more affected than workers in the east , '' he said .", "`` The crisis brought the country closer together economically .", "The west was hit harder and the east was not affected so badly . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "For example in Germany by 2050 a third of the population will be over 60, and over the next 15 years will as a result loose five million workers from the current workforce of 41 million.", "_claim_name": "Immigrants are needed to make up for aging populations", "_doc_title": "Germany takes a broad approach to the problem of its shrinking workforce | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 4]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 112, "_topic_name": "This House would grant an amnesty to illegal immigrants"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The $ 80 billion ( R800bn ) Grand Inga Hydropower Project which promises to generate from the Congo River a massive 44 000 MW and features South Africa as a critical piece is taking shape .", "The African Development Bank ( AfDB ) announced yesterday that its board has approved $ 68 million ( R680m ) in financing for the multinational Inga Site Development and Electricity Access Support Project ( PASEL ) .", "The AfDB said the project ( PASEL ) will further the development of the Inga hydropower plant which has `` a vast hydro-electric potential estimated at 44 000 MW -- half of the continent 's installed electricity capacity . ''", "The AfDB said PASEL will finalize the preparation of the first phase of the Grand Inga Hydropower Project called the Inga 3 Project .", "Inga 3 will consist of developing a power-generating capacity of 4,800 MW on the Inga site and building power transmission lines that will supply electricity to the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ) and South Africa .", "The AfDB announcement comes a few weeks after South African President Jacob Zuma came back from the DRC waving an agreement to take up about half of the electricity to be generated out of Inga .", "While it will materialize in the medium to long term , the project is critical to South Africa 's scramble to secure power supply as the country is currently struggling with a very tight national grid .", "New capacity being rolled out by South Africa 's power utility Eskom will come to plug a whole temporarily because more and more of the country 's old power stations are reaching their expiry dates .", "The AfDB cited the DRC/South African agreement as a critical piece in that it guarantees the bankability of the Grand Inga Hydropower Project .", "The project has been described as the most ambitious infrastructure development project ever undertaken across the African continent .", "The AfDB said with this approval , the support of the AfDB to the Inga project , since the inception of the mandate to lead the implementation of the NEPAD Infrastructure Action Plan , will amount to-US $ 90 million .", "The AfDB noted that `` Specifically , this project will facilitate the development of the local institutions and skills necessary ( technical , legal and financial advisors will be provided ) to attract private capital for the completion of Inga 3 which is a complex project .", "In addition , capacity-building efforts will enable local actors to make a wise choice for the project 's principal investor-developer under the public-private partnership .", "Improved access to electricity is also expected in the semi-urban areas of Kinshasa for more than 25,000 households .", "`` This is the right project for the DRC and the Bank -- at the right time , '' said Alex Rugamba , Director of the AfDB 's Energy , Environment and Climate Change Department .", "`` It is timely because it facilitates the implementation of Inga 3 whose investment costs would otherwise be difficult to mobilize in the current context of the DRC . ''", "The AfDB 's financing will be used to cover the cost of technical assistance to ensure the completion of preparatory activities for the Inga 3 Project .", "It will also help address electricity scarcity in remote areas that are not directly covered by Inga but where the DRC intends to develop electrical systems around micro - or mini-hydropower plants .", "The Bank will put several advisers at the disposal of the Inga Site Development and Promotion Authority and conduct several studies on the Inga project that will generate real-time gains in the overall project schedule .", "The AfDB said PASEL builds on previous AfDB support to the Inga Hydropower Project , which led to : the development of institutional and technical plans ; a feasibility study , which defined the development pattern of the Grand Inga by successive phases ; and the identification of an innovative approach to the project that will guarantee the full realization of Inga 's hydro-electricity potential and promote continental integration .", "The Inga 3 Project will increase access to more reliable and cheaper energy in the DRC , contributing to an increase from the current 9 % to over 40 % by 2020 .", "It is also expected to improve the business climate and productivity of the economies of beneficiary countries .", "The AfDB said `` Current demand for electricity in the region is huge and steady , guaranteeing a market for the energy to be produced from the hydropower plant . ''", "`` Indeed , South Africa has already signed an agreement with the DRC to import about half of the electricity that will be produced , guaranteeing the bankability of project .", "Signed by the presidents of South Africa and DRC in October 2013 , the treaty , which is the framework for the energy-purchase agreement , is awaiting ratification by their respective national parliaments , '' said the AfDB statement ."], "_citing_sentence": "Even the initial stages through Inga III are expected to provide electricity for 25,000 households in Kinshasa.", "_claim_name": "An immense boost to DRC's economy", "_doc_title": "Movement on the Grand Inga Hydropower Project | UJUH", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["ADDIS ABABA ( AlertNet ) - Ethiopia is gearing up to export large amounts of clean power across East Africa in the coming years , starting with neighbouring countries Djibouti and Sudan .", "But the ambitious plans have ignited controversy on several fronts .", "Ethiopia wants to increase its electricity exports - mainly generated from hydropower - as a reliable source of precious hard currency .", "It is estimated to possess a potential capacity of 45,000 megawatts ( MW ) from hydro alone , which could place it at the centre of an emerging electricity network across the region , driven largely by renewable energy .", "The Eastern Africa Power Pool aims to connect the power grids of at least nine countries , including Ethiopia , Kenya , Rwanda , Uganda , Burundi , Tanzania , Democratic Republic of Congo , Sudan and Djibouti .", "It may also be extended to northern and southern Africa .", "State-owned Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation ( EEPCo ) last year announced a revised 25-year power-sector strategy , aiming to boost generating capacity to 37,000 MW by 2037 .", "A substantial amount is intended to be surplus power and is slated for export .", "Work is already underway to achieve this goal .", "The 283-km Ethiopia-Djibouti transmission line was officially inaugurated in October 2011 .", "The 230-kV line , enabling Djibouti to import up to 60 MW of electricity , is estimated to be earning Ethiopia at least $ 1.5 million per month , and has eased Djibouti 's reliance on fossil-fuel power plants and generators .", "The African Development Bank ( AfDB ) provided $ 95 million for the project linking the two countries .", "Its launch was significant for Ethiopia , as tiny Djibouti has a port that serves as the gateway for around 98 percent of landlocked Ethiopia 's export-import trade , creating economic and security interdependence .", "Electricity is costly in Djibouti compared with the rest of East Africa and even Arab League member states , making its capital , Djibouti City , one of the most expensive cities in the Arab world .", "Producing power with fuel-operated generators costs about $ 0.25 per kilowatt hour compared with around $ 0.07 per kilowatt hour for the power Ethiopia is exporting to Djibouti , according to EEPCo .", "But the project caused some controversy when it was launched .", "At the time , major cities in Ethiopia , including Addis Ababa , faced sporadic power cuts , sparking grumbles by some Ethiopians that the scheme came at the expense of their own domestic power supply .", "Multilateral donors were also initially hesitant about the feasibility of power export schemes due to concerns over inadequate infrastructure and political instability in the region .", "SUDAN CONNECTION ` OVERDUE '", "Nonetheless , wider plans are gathering speed , with the 296-km , 230-kV Ethiopia-Sudan transmission line now being tested .", "Ethiopia expects to sell up to 100 MW of electricity to Sudan , according to EEPCo spokesman Miskir Negash .", "The power exports will be managed so as not to jeopardise Ethiopia 's domestic power supply , and the price for the electricity will be announced soon by the Ethiopian government after it finalises negotiations with Sudan , Negash added .", "The $ 41million project , funded by the World Bank , started in 2008 and has three sections of transmission lines in Ethiopia which will connect with a line in the Sudanese border city of Gedaref .", "Abdelrahman Sirelkhatim , Sudan 's ambassador to Ethiopia , said the project is long overdue , and will help foster economic ties between the two countries .", "But it has experienced difficulties getting off the ground , running more than two years over deadline , primarily because of financial sanctions on foreign payments imposed by the United States on Iranian banks .", "This meant that the substation contractor , an Iranian firm called SUNIR International , had trouble obtaining credit and financing the project in US dollars .", "As a result , the Ethiopian government had to stump up an extra $ 3 million to expedite the work , money the Iranian company has agreed to refund later , Negash said .", "All eyes are now on a proposed Ethiopia-Kenya electric transmission line , which could bring Ethiopia closer to the East African community .", "Historically , Ethiopia has had fewer trade ties with Kenya than with other East African nations , including war-torn Somalia , due to a combination of infrastructure problems and trade and tariff restrictions imposed by Addis Ababa .", "The 500-kv transmission line connecting the Kenyan and Ethiopian grids is expected to be completed by the end of 2016 at a cost of up to $ 1.26 billion .", "It would make Kenya , which has the region 's largest industrial base , the largest buyer of Ethiopian power at an eventual 400 MW , and could allow Ethiopia to export up to 1,600 MW to countries further afield .", "This project too has its critics , mainly on the Kenyan side .", "They say Kenyan leaders are brushing aside concerns about the controversial 1,870 MW Gibe III dam being built in southern Ethiopia , because of Nairobi 's desire to purchase power from Ethiopia to reduce power cuts and drive down electricity prices .", "Kenyan and international NGOs , including Survival International , have warned that the project will displace tribal people in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya , and could pose a serious threat to Lake Turkana , the world 's largest desert lake , in northeast Kenya .", "According to Chinese news agency Xinhua , Prime Minister Raila Odinga said last year any problems caused by the dam would be temporary .", "The two governments have also set up a joint council to deal with matters arising from the use of the Omo River waters .", "In June 2012 , EEPCo brokered its fourth power export agreement with the newly independent country of South Sudan , to be undertaken in two phases .", "South Sudan , which has rich oil reserves , has depended on fossil fuels for its power supply .", "One key risk for Ethiopia 's power export strategy is climate change , which is likely to affect the flow of water in the rivers and dams driving hydro-power production .", "But there is still a high level of uncertainty over how this will play out .", "Wondewossen Sintayehu , an official at Ethiopia 's Environmental Protection Authority ( EPA ) , said more research is needed to establish the impacts of climate shifts and changes in precipitation on electricity generation .", "Smaller rivers are likely to be more vulnerable to any reduction in water levels or increase in pollution , whereas most hydro-power projects are being constructed on larger rivers such as the Nile and the Omo , he added .", "So far , data has shown that climate change is leading to higher rainfall in general , which could be a positive factor for hydro-power production , he noted .", "But Ethiopia has more than 30 agro-ecological zones , and detailed studies are being carried out to analyse the effects of climate change on specific regions and the rivers that originate in them , Sintayehu said .", "Sileshi Bekele , a senior water and climate specialist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA ) , said climate extremes could have negative consequences for hydro-power projects .", "A sustained drought period lasting for several years could lead to declines in production , while dams built without due attention to climate data could see their reservoirs and spillways unable to cope with water levels in times of flooding , he noted .", "But he also emphasised the environmental benefits of hydropower schemes .", "They contribute to climate change mitigation , as they have negligible carbon emissions , and they can also help regenerate ecosystems , he said .", "E.G. Woldegebriel is a journalist based in Addis Ababa with an interest in environmental issues .", "We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion , anecdotes , links and data .", "If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate , you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links .", "Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of the Thomson Reuters Foundation .", "For more information see our Acceptable Use Policy .", "`` I thought it was a toy before it exploded in my hand , '' the 11-year-old said in her home in Gaza City , where she picked up an unexploded remnant from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .", "Want to feature your job here ?", "Find out how ."], "_citing_sentence": "It will also provide large export earnings; to take an comparatively local example Ethiopia earns $1.5million per month exporting 60MW to Djibouti at 7 cents per KwH comparable to prices in South Africa so if Congo were to be exporting 500 times that (at 30,000 MW only 3/4ths of the capacity) it would be earning $9billion per year.", "_claim_name": "Will enable the rebuilding of DRC", "_doc_title": "Detail Page | Thomson Reuters Foundation News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [10, 14]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 113, "_topic_name": "This House would build the Grand Inga Dam"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Friday 27 August 2004 21.33 EDT", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 21.54 EDT I was not making any great protest by abandoning television five years ago .", "I moved house , my old telly would n't work and I put off getting a new one until the builders had moved out .", "That took three months and I realised that I had n't missed it , so I just never got around to buying another one .", "That gives me a unique perspective .", "I have watched a lot of television in the past few months - and it has changed a lot in five years .", "First , let me dispel a myth that pops up as regularly as the weather forecast : there 's nothing worth watching these days .", "It 's rubbish .", "The quality of the best television is not just as good as it ever was .", "It is even better .", "But ... there 's the rest of it .", "A vast amount is simply mediocre .", "One of the most senior executives in the business described it to me as carbohydrate television .", "You watch it ( `` consume '' might be better ) because it 's there .", "After an hour or two you feel as if you 've wasted your time , but what the hell .", "It probably has n't done you much harm and if it leaves you feeling a bit bloated ... well , you can search out a bit of quality stuff - a bit of protein to go with the carbohydrate .", "We all know why there is so much of it .", "Michael Grade has talked about the `` market-driven drift towards programme-making as a commodity '' .", "This would n't matter if all this stuff were cheap , but it costs money , and that 's money that ca n't be spent on decent programmes .", "The fashionable defence of it is to say that it is `` no-brow '' television : not high-brow , not low-brow - just no-brow .", "It is no-brow because it is no content , no nourishment , no good .", "There is , of course , another defence against this kind of television .", "It 's the Blue Planet defence : `` Yes there 's some lousy television around , but what about The Blue Planet ?", "What about Walking With Dinosaurs ... ? ''", "Well , you might - just - get away with that .", "But it is not a defence against bad television .", "The first principle of the Hippocratic oath , which doctors have been swearing for 2,500 years , is `` Do no harm '' .", "It 's not a bad principle for broadcasters .", "The good television of today is better than the best television of the old days .", "The bad television is worse .", "It is not only bad , it is damaging .", "Good television does not balance the bad .", "Not if it coarsens and brutalises and turns us into voyeurs .", "The good can not pay the dues of the bad when the bad is indefensible .", "And some of our worst television is indefensible .", "It does harm .", "I was shocked by some of what I saw when I came out of my Rip Van Winkle state .", "So much of it seemed not just vulgar and obsessed with sex , but altogether more confrontational than I 'd remembered .", "The violence of the language surprised me .", "It seemed almost impossible to switch on without encountering some sort of aggression , even in the soaps .", "So that 's one big change , but it 's been an incremental one .", "There has been another , seminal , change that made this Rip Van Winkle wonder if he had woken from his long sleep not just in another time , but in another place .", "It is , of course , so-called reality television .", "Reality implies authenticity and honesty .", "And whatever some of this stuff may be , it is not authentic and it is not honest .", "This is not just bad television in the sense that it 's mediocre , pointless , puerile even .", "It 's bad because it is damaging .", "Remember : first , do no harm .", "The influence of reality programmes has been out of all proportion to their number .", "They have infected the mainstream of the medium .", "History is one small example - now it has to be `` living '' history .", "Commissioning editors have less of the schedule to play with ; they become risk-averse .", "Then there is the cult of celebrity , which fosters values that are utterly shallow and kill real ambition .", "We tell kids what matters is being a celebrity and we wonder why some behave the way they do .", "And what about the `` lucky '' ones , the ones who make it into the house , on to the screen ?", "Most survive unscathed - so far as we know .", "But then , we would not know if they were damaged , would we , because we lose interest once they are no longer `` famous '' .", "BB5 , we were told , would `` get evil '' .", "The house would be made more claustrophobic to `` prompt the explosion of any tensions '' .", "And when the explosions duly happened , what are we told ?", "`` The welfare of the housemates is always our overriding concern '' .", "Note the `` always '' .", "Do I need to join the dots ?", "In society as a whole , reality television erodes the distinction between the public and the private , which is a profoundly important aspect of our culture .", "Much more worrying is its coarsening effect .", "It turns human beings into freaks for us to gawp at .", "And do n't tell me it 's just entertainment .", "You ca n't use people with real lives and real problems and real children as `` just entertainment '' .", "Well , you can , but it 's corrupting .", "The first time I watched Big Brother live there were two men lying on beds and talking about women .", "Or rather `` fucking women '' .", "And talking about their responses to them .", "Or , rather , `` my fucking stiffy '' .", "My , how we 've pushed back the boundaries of television .", "How proud we should be .", "Let me give you a quote : `` To apply broadcasting to the dissemination of the shoddy , the vulgar and the sensational would be a blasphemy against human nature . ''", "That was Lord Reith .", "But what did he know ?", "Patronising old toff .", "You may ask why I 'm attacking reality TV when it 's in its death throes .", "Well , because it 's not .", "What happened when Big Brother ratings were down last year ?", "The ratchet effect took over .", "We had to be shocked that bit more .", "That 's what always happens when ratings are the only measure .", "And ratchets work only one way .", "Even when this genre exhausts itself , it will leave behind an audience that has been desensitised .", "The ratchet has been at work .", "There has always been a clash between freedom , especially freedom of expression , and the conservative wish to preserve values .", "In the 60s , Mary Whitehouse was taken apart by the liberal elite , who defended Lady Chatterley and the Oz publishers , arguing - in my view rightly - that it was not just censorious but stupid to pretend that sex happened only in the marital bed .", "This was a genuine debate between different views of what was good for society .", "What 's happening now is different .", "This is a battle between people who are concerned about society and those whose interest is simply to make programmes that make money .", "Those who fought for the word fuck in Lady Chatterley did n't do it to make money .", "Now the cash registers go ker-ching every time there 's a fumble beneath the bed sheets .", "In the bad old days we had paternalists trying to capture the masses for what they believed in their patrician way to be good .", "Now we have businessmen calculating how much they can get away with to titillate or to outrage the masses and deliver the profits .", "Which is worse ?", "Some of the people who bring us junk TV admit there may be something in what I 'm saying .", "They have a defence : the free market .", "`` Sorry , '' they say , `` it 's out of our hands . ''", "This brings us to the heart of it .", "What can people who are worried do about a television market that is increasingly open and free from regulation ?", "If we tried to limit the harm , it would not amount to censorship .", "People who want the stuff that I find offensive can always get it if they 're prepared to pay .", "The question for us is : do we want to keep part of the television world within the boundaries of regulation ?", "Ofcom is examining its regulatory role in relation to public service broadcasting .", "It will soon be coming out with the second stage of its conclusions .", "It is interested in what it calls the `` citizen rationale '' for regulation : that is `` to secure wider social benefits '' .", "Economists talk about `` merit goods '' - a useful concept to apply to television .", "Public service broadcasters must provide goods that individuals and advertisers are not prepared to pay for .", "I 'd like to suggest to Ofcom that there is an obverse of merit goods : debit goods .", "Just as it intervenes to make sure that merit goods are provided on terrestrial channels , it should intervene to prevent the supply of debit goods .", "It may , indeed , be moving in that direction .", "It 's planning to remove prescriptions on taste and decency and replace them with guidelines on harm and offence .", "Some say Ofcom may not have the power to muck about with its regulatory framework .", "Well , parliament should give it that power .", "It 's also for parliament to decide if terrestrial commercial channels need special protection in return for a more committed public-service approach that avoids harm .", "The BBC 's responsibilities in this brave new world are greater than ever .", "It has recently rediscovered the value of genuine public service broadcasting , or so we are told .", "Some cynical souls make a connection between that and charter renewal.If that 's true , so what ?", "That 's what the charter process is for , is n't it ?", "The BBC has avoided the excesses of reality television .", "But what of that other vital aspect of public service broadcasting : news - the most important thing we do .", "By a mile .", "If we get it wrong , we forfeit the right to exist .", "We are living in what everyone seems to call the post-Hutton era .", "If this means we should make ever greater efforts to get things right , that 's fine - but we 've always tried to do that .", "But it seems to imply that our political journalism needs somehow to be different .", "This is the bit that worries me .", "It 's usually linked to the idea that people have lost interest in politics and that 's somehow our fault .", "Certainly fewer people bother to vote , but we 've had 12 years of economic growth .", "In a culture where getting and spending is the big preoccupation , it 's hardly surprising they 're a bit apathetic .", "But if we do have some responsibility for apathy , what might it be ?", "It was Greg Dyke 's view that we had n't faced up to the fact that politics is boring and it 's our job to make it less boring .", "If that 's true , how come so many people were voting when Brian Walden was supposedly boring the pants off us on Weekend World , and there were other political programmes that were just as analytical , just as ( in the Dyke view ) boring .", "Even if it were true , it 's not our job to make it fun .", "It 's a serious business and it 's our job to report it seriously .", "We should n't be trying to lure people into politics by pretending that it 's just another game show .", "Greg got it wrong .", "But there 's a more serious charge : that our own cynical approach has turned people off politics .", "This is the thesis of John Lloyd 's book , What the Media Are Doing to Our Politics .", "He says that the Gilligan affair must be seen in the context of a wider media narrative that assumes the government lies about everything .", "This is a serious charge .", "The question is not whether there is cynicism about politics , but whether journalism is the cause .", "If you believe that , then , yes , we need a post-Hutton era in which we purge this virus .", "But I do n't believe it .", "For one thing , do n't politicians have some responsibility for it ?", "What about the so-called Tory sleaze and the way Labour made capital from it ?", "Or the war many believe ( rightly or wrongly ) they were misled into supporting ?", "Lloyd argues that the threat posed to democratic institutions is at its greatest `` when the media is at its most fearless '' .", "What a remarkable thing for a journalist to say .", "We threaten democratic institutions when we are fearless .", "Well , we should be fearful of many things : getting it right , abiding by the law , genuine impartiality .", "We should not be fearful of standing up to those in power .", "That is our job : to be fearless in the face of power .", "In any era .", "I have not personally been leaned on by the bosses to go easy in the wake of Hutton .", "But it 's not that simple .", "I 've read about the `` knives being out '' .", "Well , I ca n't remember when they were n't .", "What matters is something more subtle .", "The Lloyd thesis is not his alone .", "He has some powerful supporters .", "It 's easy , in the shockwaves created by the Hutton report and all that preceded it , for confidence to be replaced by uncertainty , particularly when the phrase `` post-Hutton BBC '' is used to suggest that we have been cowed .", "It 's easy for producers and editors to ask not only `` Is this right ? ''", "( as they must ) but `` Who might we be upsetting ? '' .", "Let me steal a phrase from Lord Hutton himself .", "It is possible to be `` subconsciously influenced '' into thinking this is what your masters might want .", "We need more , not less , in-depth interviewing of politicians .", "The idea that tough questions prevent politicians from giving answers , and gentle chats seduce them into candour is , frankly , risible .", "We need more , not less , investigative journalism .", "We need much more straightforward political analysis .", "Public service broadcasting can and must make an important contribution to the democratic process .", "It can do so only if not cowed by those in power .", "Halfway through my period of abstinence , I began to think television did n't matter much .", "I did n't miss it as entertainment ; I have no great interest in sport , and I get all the news I need from newspapers , magazines and Radio 4 .", "But you ca n't escape from it , its influence is everywhere .", "And I do n't want to .", "I watched Life of Mammals with my four-year-old son on my lap .", "He was wide-eyed with wonder .", "It 's not cutting edge .", "It 's not shocking .", "It 's old hat .", "But , like the very best of television , it really opens new windows on to the world .", "It may seem odd to end on this slightly soppy note .", "But I 've been reminded after my long absence that television can enrich lives .", "It can lift our spirits .", "It can give us a deeper understanding of the human condition .", "It can help maintain the momentum that takes us from barbarity to civilisation .", "There is good stuff out there .", "Do n't allow it be dragged down .", "First , do no harm .", "\u00b7 John Humphrys is a presenter on Radio 4 's Today programme .", "This is an edited extract of his MacTaggart lecture , delivered last night at the Edinburgh Television Festival"], "_citing_sentence": "As John Humphrys points out, 'we tell kids what matters is being a celebrity and we wonder why some behave the way they do'  As American lawyer Lisa Bloom fears, 'addiction to celebrity culture is creating a generation of dumbed-down women.'", "_claim_name": "Reality TV encourages people to pursue celebrity status, and discourages the value of hard work and an education", "_doc_title": "John Humphrys: Take this oath: First, do no harm | Media | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [53]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By Anne Becker , published on March 1 , 2003 - last reviewed on June 9 , 2016 ` Are You Hot ?", ", '' the ABC reality show in which comely competitors submit to a panel of judges for appearance-rating , might not be so hot for young female viewers , says one eating disorders expert .", "The more frequently young women watch the show , which seeks to crown the sexiest people in America , the more dissatisfied they are with their appearance and the more likely they are to resort to unhealthy weight control habits , says Randall Flanery , Ph.D. , an associate professor of community and family medicine at Saint Louis University in", "LSB- The show -RSB- emphasizes that how you look is more important than who you are or what you do .", "It really narrows the worth of the individual , ''", "`` The viewer identifies with the person being scrutinized , but at the same time can participate with the critics and make fun of the person .", "The net result is the viewer gets reinforced that appearance is the most important thing , and they are not measuring up . ''", "Though female adolescents and young women are most prone to developing negative body images from shows like `` Are You Hot ? ''", "they are exactly the individuals who tune into such shows and other potentially harmful media , says Flanery , who also runs an eating disorders program .", "`` Those who we 're most concerned about are going to watch it more and be most influenced by it , '' he said .", "`` The more you 're primed to look at those factors , the more they affect you . ''", "A study recently published in theAmerican Journal of Health and Educationshowed that women who read health and fitness magazines were significantly more likely to have practiced unhealthy weight control methods than were moderate or infrequent readers , says Steven Thomsen , Ph.D. , the study 's author and an associate communications professor at Brigham Young", "University in Provo , Utah .", "Nearly 80 percent of frequent readers had induced vomiting , 73 percent had taken diet pills and 60 percent had used laxatives .", "And women who limited their daily caloric intake read health and fitness magazines more frequently than those who did not restrict their diets .", "Flanery put the onus on young women 's parents to be assertive and prohibit their daughters from watching `` Are You Hot ? ''", "and similar programs .", "`` They can counterbalance that distorted view of what 's important and emphasize a healthy alternative message , '' he said .", "`` You 're more than what you look like . ''", "`` Are You Hot ? ''", "airs Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. on ABC .", "Disorders Awareness week is February 23 - March 2 .", "Depression is ugly in reality and in film ."], "_citing_sentence": ", in which competitors submit to a panel of judges for 'appearance-rating', was blamed by eating disorder experts as encouraging the notion that 'appearance is the most important thing' (Becker, 2003).", "_claim_name": "Reality shows make for bad, lazy and corrupting television, encouraging such behaviour in society", "_doc_title": "Hot or Not: Reality TV can be harmful to women | Psychology Today", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 114, "_topic_name": "This House believes reality television does more harm than good"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By STEPHEN CASTLEFEB .", "BRUSSELS -- Two years after it was supposed to have melted away for good , Europe 's `` butter mountain '' is back .", "Faced with a drastic drop in the price of dairy goods , the European Union is to buy 30,000 tons of unsold butter at the taxpayers ' expense - reviving one of the abiding symbols of Europe 's generous farm subsidy system .", "While the butter piles up in cold storage , more than three times that amount in skimmed milk powder will also accumulate in warehouses on the EU 's tab .", "The collapse in the price of dairy products has also prompted officials to announce that they will resume subsidies for the export of a range of goods .", "Officials argue that , by historical standards , the purchase is insignificant , amounting to more of a butter molehill than a mountain .", "In 1986 , the EU bought 1.23 million tons of unwanted butter .", "But the announcement that stocks of butter had disappeared completely in 2007 was seen as a milestone in the reform of the EU 's Common Agricultural Policy , which swallows up about $ 50 billion a year , or $ 65 billion .", "That has now gone into reverse because of the sharp drop in the price of butter and milk resulting partly from the global slowdown .", "A big decline in the value of the ruble has also made it hard for Europeans to export butter to Russia , one of their best markets .", "In response , the EU 's executive body , the European Commission , said it would buy 30,000 tons of butter at a guaranteed price of $ 2,299 a ton , and 109,000 tons of skimmed-milk powder at $ 1,698 a ton .", "Michael Mann , spokesman for the European Commission , said that the move was temporary but that if necessary , the EU would buy more than those quantities of butter and milk powder - though not at the same price .", "In addition , export subsidies will be given to skimmed-milk powder , butter , butter oil and cheese , a committee of experts agreed Tuesday .", "These subsidies are particularly controversial because critics claim they allow subsidized European produce to be dumped in Third World countries , undermining domestic farming .", "`` We have an exceptional situation on the market , '' said Mann , `` where the milk price has slumped and there is a fear that small and vulnerable producers will be forced out of business . ''", "The move has been welcomed by organizations representing farmers , including the European group Copa-Cogeca .", "But its spokesman , Simon Michel-Berger , added that further measures might be needed .", "Advertisement `` What we need in general , '' he said , `` is for European institutions to look at the dairy market and see how the situation can be improved in the long term .", "This might just be a drop on a hot stone . ''", "According to Copa-Cogeca , the price of a ton of skimmed-milk powder , which in the summer of 2007 was above $ 3,000 , had fallen roughly in half .", "In Germany it is currently around $ 1,400 , the organization said .", "Michel-Berger said farmers had been hit by a slump in demand for commodities caused by the global financial slowdown , and by the strength of the euro .", "`` We export a lot to Russia in terms of butter , cheese to the United States and milk powder to Africa and Asia , and all these are hit by the strength of the euro , '' he said .", "Though the EU managed to dispense with its butter stocks in 2007 , grain mountains and wine lakes still exist .", "The latest figures show that 717,810 tons of cereals is piling up , along with 41,422 tons of sugar and 2.3 million hectoliters of wine , according to the European Commission .", "Carlos Galian , agriculture expert for Oxfam International , said the resumption of export subsidies worried him .", "`` The message that the EU governments are looking to their own interests by reintroducing export subsidies , '' he said , `` does not give a good signal to developing countries . ''", "`` Once you start using export subsidies , the EU opens the door to pressure from other groups to press for them .", "In terms of global trade negotiations , it does not give a good signal to developing countries . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "In 2008 the stockpiles of cereals rising to 717 810 tons while the surplus of wine was about 2.3 million hectolitres.", "_claim_name": "It harms the economies of developing world", "_doc_title": "EU's butter mountain is back - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [24]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["NEXT week sees both a European Union summit in Brussels devoted to the EU budget and a Hong Kong ministerial conference to review the Doha round of world trade talks .", "At first sight the two meetings might seem unconnected .", "But they share a crucial common thread : the attachment of the rich West , especially Europe , to farm subsidies .", "Indeed , the EU 's common agricultural policy ( CAP ) will lie at the root of many of the arguments in both Hong Kong and Brussels .", "Not that the CAP is the only problem in either set of negotiations .", "Big disputes also loom over industrial tariffs and trade in services .", "Even in agriculture , where the EU has come under attack for the meagreness of its offer to improve market access for farm products , it is by no means the only offender ( see article ) .", "As for the EU budget , many political leaders gathering in Brussels next week are more concerned about the proposals by the current British EU presidency to cut regional aid and other spending than about France 's obstinate defence of the CAP .", "And most want bigger cuts in Britain 's EU budget rebate .", "The CAP costs European taxpayers over $ 40 billion ( $ 47 billion ) a year , or around 40 % of the total EU budget .", "That is a huge sum , given that farming accounts for less than 2 % of the EU 's workforce .", "Yet the share of the budget devoted to CAP spending has fallen sharply : 20 years ago , it was 70 % .", "Moreover , the CAP has been reformed significantly , most recently in 2003 , when a deal was struck to complete the switch of most CAP subsidies from price supports to direct income payments .", "After this reform has been fully implemented , some 90 % of EU farm support will be classified as `` non trade-distorting '' .", "That has not dampened demands for more change , however .", "The world 's big agricultural exporters want greater access to the EU market , meaning sharply lower tariffs on farm imports .", "Within the EU , countries such as Britain that get few farm subsidies want them cut further ; those such as France that are big net recipients are determined to preserve them .", "The CAP is criticised even by those who want to protect Europe 's countryside and its small farmers .", "As much as 80 % of its subsidies go to the richest 20 % of farmers , and -- as recently published figures have shown in graphic detail -- the biggest single recipients of CAP payments tend to be giant agribusinesses and big , wealthy landowners .", "In the face of such attacks , the French , in particular , remain defiant .", "President Jacques Chirac , who cut his political teeth as a farm minister , insists on sticking to a deal that he struck in October 2002 with the then German chancellor , Gerhard Schr\u00f6der , to freeze CAP spending in real terms until 2013 .", "That deal was subsequently endorsed by all EU leaders , including even Britain 's Tony Blair .", "Yet it is not only Mr Chirac who supports the CAP : so does the entire French political class .", "Given agriculture 's shrinking role in the French economy , it is worth asking why .", "The fat of the land", "On a wooded plateau in eastern Normandy , near the village of Grossoeuvre , Didier Lefebvre keeps 110 dairy cows and farms 45 hectares of maize , wheat , rapeseed and flax .", "He is the model of a modern French farmer .", "His milking machines are computer-monitored .", "An automatic cleaning machine pushes muck across his stalls for recycling .", "He keeps 10,000 litres of milk in his cooling vat , and French literary classics on his bookshelves .", "A large chunk of his net income comes from the CAP .", "France is Europe 's biggest farm producer and the biggest single beneficiary from the CAP , taking around a quarter of all EU farm subsidies .", "Farmers such as Mr Lefebvre help to supply what is both Europe 's biggest agri-food business and France 's leading industry .", "From the fertile plains of the Paris basin and Picardy to the olive groves of the Mediterranean , France 's agricultural variety makes it in many ways a test case for the changes in European farming .", "In other ways , however , France is different .", "When the government says , in both the EU budget and the Doha negotiations , that it can not touch the CAP , it is partly making a point about sticking to the October 2002 deal .", "`` We all agreed to the 2002 reform , '' says Catherine Colonna , France 's Europe minister , `` and it can not be changed until 2013 . ''", "But there is also a more general resistance to reform that reflects the special place of farming in the French imagination .", "Its importance runs deeper than agriculture 's tiny 4 % share of the workforce or its 3 % share of GDP .", "It is not by accident that French politicians rush each year to the Paris Agricultural Fair to pose for the cameras with heaving bulls .", "Why are the French so infatuated by farming ?", "And what would happen to French farming if subsidies were slashed ?", "The answer to the first question is a mix of tradition , nostalgia and Gaullist politics .", "Food in France is not just a way to fill the belly : it is part of the national identity .", "France 's regionally based gastronomy emerged from the varied local produce of different terroirs .", "Across France , twice-weekly street markets that sell everything from skinned rabbits to whole unpasteurised bries are not rustic marketing inventions but ancient exchanges .", "The French are fussy about the quality and origin of what they put in their supermarket trolleys , often preferring to pay more at a butcher or baker than to buy stuff cellophane-wrapped .", "Many town-dwellers , besides , still have living relatives who till the land , and memories persist of post-war food shortages .", "Pride in agricultural self-sufficiency , with the farmer as folk hero , is strong .", "De Gaulle once said , `` A country that can not feed itself is not a great country . ''", "His political descendants keep the faith .", "Mr Chirac was first elected to parliament for rural Corr\u00e8ze , and was farm minister under Georges Pompidou .", "The ruling Gaullist right sees food self-sufficiency , like the nuclear force de frappe , as a centrepiece of France 's geopolitical independence .", "Christine Lagarde , France 's trade minister , recently described farming as `` fundamental to our identity '' .", "Even reformers such as Nicolas Sarkozy , the interior minister , back farm protection .", "The country 's biggest farm union , the FNSEA , has powerful regional roots and a lobbying network that stretches from local elected officials to senators , 8.5 % of whom are farmers .", "Would any of this really be at risk if the protection that French farmers enjoy , through tariff barriers and direct subsidies , were radically dismantled ?", "The government foresees catastrophe .", "Dominique Bussereau , the farm minister , told Les Echos recently that `` almost all '' farms would disappear and that tens of thousands of jobs would be at risk .", "But the answer is more nuanced than zealous liberalisers like to think .", "Radical reformers concede that the number of farms in France would shrink dramatically .", "But this is already happening .", "France has 550,000 farmers -- a quarter of the number in 1950 -- working fewer than 400,000 `` professional '' farms .", "Between 1993 and 2004 , the number of arable farms fell by nearly a third .", "This is partly due to earlier CAP reforms that began the switch of support from prices to direct payments .", "Fearful that this might herald more cuts , many farmers expanded their land to keep their farms viable .", "Others gave up or went into retirement .", "Today , direct CAP subsidies make up , on average , 90 % of a farmer 's pre-tax income .", "That suggests that the average farmer would barely scrape a living without such aid .", "But the figure masks wide variations .", "For market gardeners , the share is below 10 % ; for quality wine-growers , it is 8 % .", "Over a quarter of payments go to just 5 % of farmers , according to the Groupe d'Economie Mondiale ( GEM ) at Paris 's Institut d'Etudes Politiques .", "It calculates that the biggest 30 farmers -- among them , Prince Albert of Monaco -- get an average of over $ 390,000 each a year .", "That is 217 times the average received by the 180,000 or so smallest farms , which make up 40 % of the country 's total .", "`` The scandal is that these inequalities will be maintained by the latest CAP reform , '' says Pierre Boulanger of the GEM .", "The EU 's decoupling of aid from production , which takes effect in France next year , relates future subsidies to what each farm produced in 2000-02 .", "The idea is to get rid of artificial incentives to produce .", "But the upshot is that big farmers will continue to get the most , and that small farmers are left most vulnerable to more reforms .", "What might the French landscape look like if all subsidies and external tariffs were drastically cut ?", "Estimates suggest that France would lose between a third and two-thirds of its farms .", "A sustainable industry might consist of just 150,000 farms , according to a recent study by the Institut Montaigne , a think-tank .", "These would range from big , efficient producers , such as lowland cereal , dairy and beef farmers , through the fruit , vegetable and wine-growers who already get very little help , to niche producers of `` appellation d'origine contr\u00f4l\u00e9e '' and organic foodstuffs .", "The big lowland farmers are already among Europe 's most competitive .", "The latest talk among them is about a new satellite-controlled combine harvester .", "Indeed , Patrick Messerlin , director of the GEM , argues that it is in France 's interests to reduce CAP protection , since its farmers would be better placed to compete than those elsewhere .", "Back in Normandy , where farmers face a mountain of paperwork tied to the latest CAP reforms , not to mention the new environmental tasks these payments now require , farmers are already preparing for the day when subsidies will be cut again .", "Mr Lefebvre concedes that , while cereals would suffer , his dairy farm would manage .", "`` French farming will survive , '' he says , `` because French farmers are dynamic and adaptive . ''", "Beef farmers might have more trouble .", "Increased imports from countries such as Argentina or Brazil would force French producers to look more to the quality end of the market .", "Already , `` quality '' foodstuffs ( from small , local or specialist producers ) account for some 20-30 % of French consumption .", "Even in hypermarkets , French shoppers can choose between quality cuts of French Charolais beef or cheaper stuff of uncertain provenance .", "The more that consumers , in France and abroad , move upmarket , the more French producers will stress this strength .", "Would the French countryside lose its bucolic look , and give way to vast American-style fields bereft of hedgerows or quietly grazing herds ?", "Such concerns are widespread .", "`` If you take the cows out of the Massif Central , '' asks Xavier Beulin of the FNSEA , `` who would go there to visit ? ''", "The 2003 CAP reform stresses farmers ' role as rural park-keepers , not hardy producers , a change that some consider emasculating .", "And is it not the quaint farms , as much as the rugged landscape , that holidaymakers in search of authenticity want to see ?", "In reality , the average French arable farm has already grown in size , by 40 % over the past decade .", "Yet the average French farm is less than a quarter the size of the average American farm .", "Even the plains of Picardy do not resemble the vast flat spaces of the American mid-west .", "Moreover , the French farm-property market is regulated , and farm size is controlled .", "Upland farmers in marginal terrain , such as the Massif Central , already find it hard to survive without taking up activities such as tourism .", "Keeping such farms going , for reasons of tourism or the rural economy , has become a social-policy choice .", "In any event , nobody is seriously proposing the abolition of farm protection altogether .", "What is clear from French farming , however , is that there is still room to reduce it , as long as it is managed carefully for the most vulnerable small farmers .", "At the very least , there is a strong case for putting a ceiling on payments made to individual big farmers .", "The long-term outlook for world agricultural demand is strong , and competitive French farmers are well placed to take advantage of it .", "There are some signs that French public opinion is beginning to change .", "Fewer young people now have any family links with the countryside .", "More voices are speaking out against the power of the French farm lobby .", "Medef , the French employers ' federation , has urged the government not to let the Doha round fail since , for industry and services , a deal is `` vital for growth and jobs in France '' .", "Yet the governing class remains , for now , as wedded to farm protection as ever .", "That is the background against which to assess France 's approach both to next week 's trade talks and to the EU summit on the budget .", "But the budget is also emerging as the last and biggest test of the current British presidency of the EU , which comes to an end this month .", "If there is no deal in Brussels , Mr Blair will be widely criticised for achieving little during his presidency .", "Indeed , fear of such criticism has become the biggest weapon wielded by other countries hoping to extract more concessions from the British prime minister .", "What Mr Blair wanted to do was to achieve a more rational budget -- or , more modestly , to set out a process that might lead to one .", "As he put it in his speech to the European Parliament in June , `` A modern budget for Europe is not one that ten years from now is still spending 40 % of its money on the CAP . ''", "Five months on , those who hoped for radical reform to create such a budget have been disappointed .", "In the hope of averting rows , the British delayed their tabling of a budget compromise until this week .", "Yet when it came , it left CAP spending more or less untouched : a token cut of less than 2 % , which will actually raise its share of the budget to 44 % , plus a proposal for a review in 2008 .", "Even this is arousing fierce resistance in Paris , where it is seen as just one more attempt to reopen the 2002 deal to leave the CAP unchanged until 2013 .", "The rest of the British plan for the EU budget has run into almost as much trouble .", "It revolves , yet again , around the CAP , and the rebate Britain receives because , as a country with relatively few farmers or poor regions , it gets back so much less than it contributes to the budget .", "In June , Mr Blair was one of five EU leaders who rejected a compromise put forward by the then Luxembourg EU presidency .", "That compromise would have frozen the British rebate at $ 4 billion a year , instead of letting it rise to some $ 7 billion .", "Yet Mr Blair conceded that he was at least willing to put the rebate on the table .", "Now , because he has been unable to secure any more farm reforms , Mr Blair proposes to trim the British budget rebate only a little .", "The Luxembourg plan to freeze the rebate would have cost Britain around $ 3 billion a year and rising .", "The British presidency plan would cut the rebate by $ 8 billion in all ( a shade over $ 1 billion a year ) .", "The aim , according to officials , is to leave Britain 's net contribution more or less equal to that of France and Italy , at some 0.4 % of GDP -- whereas the Luxembourg proposal would have left Britain paying significantly more .", "By shaving the rebate , Mr Blair can claim that Britain will pay its fair share towards the cost of EU enlargement to central Europe .", "But he has annoyed those countries by also suggesting a cut of almost 10 % in the regional and structural funds that they were hoping to get from the budget .", "That , plus cuts in administrative and other spending , has enabled the British to pare the budget down from the 1.06 % of EU GDP proposed by Luxembourg to 1.03 % .", "By 2013 , on the British plan , the budget should be below 1 % of EU GDP .", "This austerity is designed to win the backing for the budget of other big net contributors such as Germany , the Netherlands , Sweden and Austria .", "As for the central Europeans , Mr Blair is calculating that , although they will squeal at the 10 % cut , they may be placated by proposals to cut the red tape that delays grant payments -- and that they would prefer a smaller budget to be agreed now than the alternative of no budget deal at all .", "Thus the British hope that , by next week , there will be enough momentum to secure an agreement , even a bad-tempered one .", "The odds are still against any budget deal being struck .", "Because it requires unanimity , only one political leader at next week 's summit has to say no .", "And there is plenty of dissatisfaction around ; indeed , the British have been forced to promise to float a revised plan next week .", "Yet the real objection to the British proposals is neither that they are too cheese-paring , nor that they hit the poor central Europeans , nor that they are skewed to protect the British rebate .", "It is that , once again , they fail to advance the cause of CAP reform , which remains as urgent as ever ."], "_citing_sentence": "Moreover, the subsidies for European farmers are so high they can contribute up to 90 % of farmers' pre-tax income.", "_claim_name": "CAP is costly and unfair to other industries", "_doc_title": "Europe's farm follies | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [67]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["WHEN Charles de Gaulle rejected Britain 's bid to enter the then European Economic Community ( EEC ) in the 1960s , one reason he gave was the incompatibility of its farming policies .", "Britain was a trading nation that fed itself mainly by importing cheap food from across the world , said the general .", "France and its continental partners ate what they produced at home .", "Contrasting attitudes to farming have dogged the European project at least since Britain joined in 1973 , through budget rows and wider clashes between protectionists and free-traders .", "As European Union leaders began their latest budget fight at a summit on November 22nd , one thing was certain : the EU will go on spending disproportionate sums on farmers .", "Yet , at a time of harsh domestic austerity , it can ill-afford the extravagance of the common agricultural policy ( CAP ) .", "Worse , the CAP favours big producers over small ones , and rich western countries over poor eastern ones .", "The EU still spends some 40 % of its budget on agriculture , an industry that generates less than 2 % of GDP and employs less than 5 % of the workforce .", "No other group of workers gets such coddling .", "Steel , coal and shipyard workers lost their jobs en masse when uncompetitive industries slimmed down ; car workers are now following suit .", "Yet rural peasants must be preserved .", "Why such largesse ?", "Eurocrats point out that the CAP is one of the few entirely Europeanised areas of spending .", "It may take a big chunk of money in a modest EU budget , but it is still tiny as a share of overall public spending in the EU : about 0.4 % of GDP .", "Yet EU governments ( and non-EU ones , too : Norway and Switzerland are even more egregious ) seem fearful of their obstreperous farm lobbies .", "At a deeper level , farming evokes memories of ancestral villages , rural landscapes and national identities expressed through food .", "De Gaulle himself once asked : `` How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese ? ''", "The CAP was born , in part , out of a wish to boost food production after the second world war .", "The creation of the common market meant that Germany could freely sell industrial goods across borders , so France wanted to export its agricultural bounty .", "The CAP was also a transfer system from Germany to France , a hidden form of war reparations .", "Producers benefited at the expense of consumers through guaranteed high prices for farmers , buttressed by high tariffs .", "By the 1980s the EEC had butter mountains and wine lakes that had to be paid for , stored and often dumped on the global market .", "Britain got little from the CAP , which absorbed almost 80 % of the EEC budget , driving Margaret Thatcher to secure a permanent rebate on the country 's net contribution in the early 1980s .", "Over the years the CAP has declined as a share of EU spending , and moved from price support to paying farmers directly ( on occasion , to leave some land fallow ) .", "Reforms have tried to make farmers respond to market prices , not subsidies .", "Money has shifted from unconditional payments under `` pillar one '' of the CAP to incentives for rural development under `` pillar two '' .", "Subsidies are now justified to support public benefits ( maintaining the landscape , looking after the environment ) and to reduce rural poverty , as well as guarantee food security and quality .", "Yet many of these arguments are still bogus .", "Most of the money still goes to pillar one , and it is based on historical levels of production .", "Big money continues to go to big landowners , who often use intensive , soil-degrading and water-polluting methods , rather than to struggling hill farmers making goat 's cheese .", "And to protect western farmers , subsidies for eastern Europe are being phased in only gradually , with low ceilings .", "A hectare of land in Belgium or the Netherlands still earns three or four times as much support as a hectare in the Baltics .", "Even where farmers are struggling , it is hard to justify treating them so differently from other workers whose livelihoods are precarious or under threat .", "They should be helped to adjust , not supported indefinitely .", "A more sensible EU policy would end direct subsidies and limit the EU 's role to policing common environmental , food-quality and animal-welfare standards .", "Brussels could help finance research into farming or non-farming rural employment .", "But much farm support ought to revert to national level , with strict rules on competition and state aid to prevent too much of a free-for-all .", "If governments ( and voters ) want cows with bells to graze on flowering pastures , or stipends for poor farmers so they can live on marginal land , they should surely pay themselves through targeted assistance .", "Sadly , the pressure for even modest reforms , let alone a root-and-branch liberalisation , has dissipated .", "The latest compromise budget proposal presented by Herman Van Rompuy , president of the European Council , cuts more from pillar two than pillar one .", "It removes the European Commission 's proposed cap on large payouts .", "And it stretches out the timetable to equalise ( partly ) payments per hectare .", "Even the worst crisis in the EU 's history , it seems , is not sufficient incentive to curb the CAP .", "Most attention is focused on saving the euro .", "With anti-austerity protesters on the streets , nobody wants to upset farmers .", "For some in southern Europe losing farm aid would strain public finances .", "France is becoming a net contributor to the CAP , yet still staunchly defends farm subsidies .", "Britain has largely given up on reform -- perhaps because the Tories are friendlier to farmers , or because their priority is to cut the size of the EU budget and defend their rebate .", "And there is no point in looking to the European Commission .", "It may be an engine of liberalisation , but it is weak and unpopular .", "It can hardly antagonise one of the few groups with a reason to support it ."], "_citing_sentence": "However, this money is used to provide subsidies for industry that only employs less than 5 % of workforce and creates less than 2 % of GDP.", "_claim_name": "CAP is costly and unfair to other industries", "_doc_title": "Milking the budget | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 115, "_topic_name": "This House believes that the EU should abandon the Common Agricultural Policy"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Following a representative makes it simple to find out where and when they have spoken .", "Videos are listed in one place , allowing you quick and easy access .", "Please turn on JavaScript .", "Media requires JavaScript to play .", "The military action by coalition forces in Libya may have helped to prevent a `` bloody massacre '' in Benghazi , Prime Minister David Cameron has told MPs .", "On 21 March 2011 , opening a Commons debate on the UN Security Council resolution authorising the intervention , the prime minister claimed that the intervention had begun `` just in the nick of time '' .", "Mr Cameron said the intervention was `` necessary , legal and right '' , telling MPs that inaction would have resulted in the `` slaughter of civilians '' .", "But he acknowledged that there were `` risks '' , and suggested there would be `` unforeseen consequences '' .", "Mr Cameron said that the aim of the military action was to destroy Libyan air defences , enforce a no-fly zone , and protect civilians from troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi .", "`` Good progress has been made '' on these aims , he said .", "The PM also argued that the intervention would mean that Libyans would `` have a much better chance of determining their destiny '' .", "`` In taking this action , we should be proud that we are not only acting in British interests but being true to our values as a nation , '' he concluded .", "Labour leader Ed Miliband told the Commons : `` It is a just cause , with a feasible mission and it has international support . ''", "Mr Miliband compared leaving Libyans to their fate with failure to intervene in the Spanish Civil War , saying : `` As we saw the defenceless people of Libya attacked by their own government , it would equally revolt the conscience of the world to know we could have done something to help them , yet chose not to . ''", "But he added : `` We should be clear in this House about the degree of difficulty of what we are attempting : to secure a coalition from beyond western powers to support intervention in another North African state .", "And we can not afford mission creep , therefore - including in our public pronouncements . ''", "Labour former defence secretary Bob Ainsworth expressed concern over the `` enthusiasm '' for the operation displayed by some newspapers and `` parts '' of the Commons .", "He said he was a `` late and reluctant supporter '' of the military action , but he criticised his successor at the MoD , Dr Liam Fox , accusing him of `` loose talk '' for suggesting Colonel Gaddafi could be a `` legitimate target '' .", "Part two of the debate , including the vote on the UNSC resolution , can be found here ."], "_citing_sentence": "While the conflict in Libya is still going on, the rebel movement has not petered out, and the likelihood of success has been strengthened by international support and help.", "_claim_name": "Interventions show external support, strengthening local democratic movements.", "_doc_title": "BBC - Democracy Live - Libya intervention 'may have averted massacre' - PM", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9, 10, 12]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Electoral violence was down for parliamentary vote", "The speech Donald Trump should give tonight to win it all", "Ted Cruz puts his political career ahead of his country -- and it backfires", "FBI exoneration of Hillary raises a disturbing question : What if the fix was in ?", "Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Sunday that he did n't know if the United States was winning in Afghanistan .", "One certain sign of progress is the relative lack of reporting on the recent Wolesi Jirga ( parliamentary ) election .", "Had the balloting been a disaster - with wide-scale , strategically significant Taliban attacks , minuscule turnout and unbridled vote fraud - coverage would have been substantial and the prognoses negative .", "Sometimes , little news is good news .", "According to the Pew Research Center 's PEJ News Coverage Index , stories about Afghanistan for the week amounted to only 3 percent of total coverage , and that was divided between election reports and more prominent stories about Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta .", "As was seen in Iraq , when the press attention stops , it means something is working .", "Despite dire predictions of intensified Taliban activity in this election , the number of incidents declined compared to the 2009 presidential election .", "The International Security Assistance Force reports that insurgent-initiated attacks were down by approximately a third compared to the previous balloting and that there were `` no sensational or high-profile attacks . ''", "Most insurgent actions were of the hit-and-run variety , and only 1 percent of polling places experienced significant violence .", "In the capital of Kabul , there was only one attempted rocket attack , which calls into question the widespread notion in the American press that the Taliban can mount significant attacks where and when they want .", "Turnout for the parliamentary election was lower than for last year 's presidential race - a phenomenon also common in the United States - but at about the level of the 2005 parliamentary ballot .", "Afghanistan 's Independent Election Commission ( IEC ) estimates 40 percent of the votes were cast by women , who in particular are under insurgent threat for showing any public signs of independence or freedom of action .", "This degree of participation is another indication of the progress being made in developing a democratic political culture .", "Vote fraud is the default critique of Afghan elections , which have seen their share of outrages .", "In that respect , however , Afghanistan is a typical emerging democracy .", "IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said press outlets and some international observer groups `` have been quick to imply the electoral process is unsuccessful based on allegations of fraud and misconduct . ''", "He admitted such cases `` are inevitable in the current security climate '' but that they are being mitigated through the Electoral Complaints Commission process , in which egregious examples of fraud are investigated and corrected .", "This is one reason why Afghan election results take time to report , unlike the snap results here , which paradoxically increase the impact of fraud in close races .", "Once a winner is declared in an American race , it 's more difficult to bring corrective measures to bear .", "Mr. Noor noted that in Afghanistan , `` the process is not yet completed '' and urged the press to `` display restraint in their statements , in order to permit voters to decide on the legitimacy of the process as it continues to unfold . ''", "Regardless of the results of the 2010 election , the fact it was carried off with less violence , a respectable turnout and more accountability shows that Afghanistan continues to make progress along the path to sustainable democracy .", "It may never reach the ideal of the New England town-meeting model , but it may be close to what passes for democracy in Chicago ."], "_citing_sentence": "For example the United States has helped Afghanistan organize democratic elections and a centralized government, which on their own they likely would have been unable to do.", "_claim_name": "Interventions show external support, strengthening local democratic movements.", "_doc_title": "EDITORIAL: Progress for democracy in Afghanistan - Washington Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The State of Libya , situated along the Mediterranean Sea on Africa 's northern coast , shares borders with Egypt , Sudan , Chad , Niger , Algeria and Tunisia .", "Inhabited by its native Berber population since the Bronze Age , the region has variously been ruled by Persians , Egyptians and the Roman and Ottoman Empires .", "Its capital city of Tripoli is home to more than one million of the nation 's roughly six million residents .", "Libya emerged as an independent kingdom in 1951 after serving as a key battleground in World War II .", "Its relatively poor economy was given a major boost in 1958 with the discovery of petroleum .", "To this day , oil accounts for some 80 percent of the nation 's gross domestic product and Libya continues to boast the largest proven reserves in Africa .", "In 1969 a group of officers led by 27-year-old Col Muammar el-Qaddafi ousted King Idris I in a coup .", "Qaddafi would remain Libya 's de facto absolute ruler for more than 40 years , establishing a policy of Arab nationalism and a unique , if erratic , admixture of socialist policies and anti-Communist principles .", "Qaddafi was pushed from power by a popular revolt in 2011 amid Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East .", "He was killed the same year following a six-month struggle between loyalists and rebel militias that eventually gained significant military support from NATO .", "The country has since struggled to attain stability , with a weak and divided central government failing to curtail the power of rival armed militias .", "This instability was punctuated in September 2012 , when Islamist militants executed a deadly surprise attack on the American embassy in Benghazi , claiming the life of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens .", "Keep up to date on breaking news in Libya and explore our extensive archive below .", "Hisham Matar , the son of the Libyan dissident Jaballa Matar , discusses his father and what he realized after returning to his homeland ."], "_citing_sentence": "NATO intervened in Libya under the responsibility to protect clause of the United Nations charter.", "_claim_name": "Incentivizes democratic development in other countries as well.", "_doc_title": "Libya  - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7, 8, 9]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 116, "_topic_name": "This House believes democracy can be built as a result of interventions"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Taking the drudge out of finding marketing news", "Posted September 9 , 2011 2:03 pm by Cynthia Boris with 0 comments", "A TNS survey says that 46 % of all mobile phone owners use the video camera app and 62 % use the still camera .", "That 's up a smidgen over last year , but growth is growth .", "eMarketer reports that online photo sharing service Photobucket is bursting at the seams with 45 % of members saying they upload at least one video a week and 17 % uploading one video per day .", "9 % of their members said they upload multiple videos a day .", "That 's pretty amazing when you realize that as recently as 2001 , we were using cassette tapes to record our home movies .", "Now that its video cameras are a common mobile phone feature , social media is taking encouraging the act by adding easy upload buttons that let you go from phone to friends in seconds .", "Marketers can take advantage of this by sponsoring video upload contests for fun or prizes .", "Ask your Facebook fans to create a video that shows off your product and you 'll be surprised by the results .", "Along with the quickie uploads , you 'll also get fully-edited , creative pieces that may rival anything you 'd get from a pricy PR firm .", "A picture may be worth a thousand words , but a video is worth a million , especially if it 's newsworthy or exactly the opposite .", "Often it 's the dumbest ideas that gain the most ground .", "The six second clip called `` Dramatic Chipmunk '' currently shows 31,472,619 views on YouTube .", "Over at Photobucket , recent uploads include a child shopping for groceries , a shaky video of a student trying to make time with a girl while walking to class and a sideways video that is 90 % thumb .", "No one ever said you had to upload good , or even watchable videos .", "If we started screening for that , YouTube would become a ghost town .", "Have you ever used home video in your marketing campaigns ?", "We 'd like to hear about it .", "\u2190 Marketing Pilgrim home"], "_citing_sentence": "The internet has many means of portraying information and opinion, including film clips and sound, and almost all the information found on television or in newspapers can be found somewhere on the internet, alongside the millions of uploads from internet users themselves.", "_claim_name": "As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.", "_doc_title": "17 Percent of Photobucket Users Upload Video Once a Day | Marketing Pilgrim", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The parents of a 13-year-old girl who believe their daughter 's October 2006 suicide was the result of a cruel cyber hoax are pushing for measures to protect other children online .", "Tina and Ron Meier , who are now separated and plan to divorce , have taken up the cause of Internet safety after a bizarre twist in their daughter Megan Meier 's death .", "The mother of a former friend of Megan 's allegedly created a fictitious profile in order to gain Megan 's trust and learn what Megan was saying about her daughter .", "But the communication eventually turned hostile .", "`` There needs to be some sort of regulations out there to protect children .", "Parents can only be in so many places and so many times , '' Tina Meier said on `` Good Morning America Weekend Edition '' Sunday .", "`` I wish there were regulations with these forums .", "There 's got to be something . ''", "The Meiers said they are unsure why someone would do such a thing .", "`` We do n't know .", "How do you get in the mind of somebody ?", "We just have no idea , '' Tina Meier said .", "While the Meiers do not believe it was the woman 's intent to have Megan commit suicide , they do hold her solely responsible for the death .", "`` I believe they are the ones who took her to the edge of the cliff and forced her to go over , '' Ron Meier said on `` GMA . ''", "`` Everything that we found out so far -- it was the sole idea of the mother . ''", "He added that he did not believe the mother was acting on her daughter 's behalf .", "Megan Meier sometimes suffered from low self-esteem and was on medication at the time of her death .", "But her family said she looked forward to her 14th birthday and having her braces removed .", "When a cute boy befriended Megan on the social networking site MySpace , the two formed a quick connection during their more than month-long relationship .", "`` She got this e-mail from this boy named Josh Evans , '' Tina Meier said .", "Evans claimed to be a 16-year-old boy who lived nearby and was home schooled .", "But what began as a promising online friendship soon turned sour , as compliments turned to insults .", "Evans said he did n't have a phone and so Megan could n't talk to him .", "But the two continued their communication online , despite some red flags Tina Meier said she saw .", "`` It was just that nervous mom , '' Tina Meier said .", "She called police to find out if they could determine if a MySpace account was real .", "They could n't .", "Still , all seemed to go well between Megan and Josh until an unsettling message started a tragic chain of events .", "`` Megan gets an e-mail , or a message from Josh on her MySpace on Oct. 15 , 2006 , saying , ' I do n't know if I want to be friends with you any longer because I hear you 're not nice to your friends , ' '' Tina Meier said .", "Someone using Josh 's account was sending cruel messages and Megan called her mother , saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her , saying things like , `` Megan Meier is a slut .", "Megan Meier is fat , '' according to the Associated Press .", "The cyber exchange devastated Megan , who was unable to understand how and why her friendship unraveled .", "The stress and frustration was too much for Megan , who had a history of depression .", "Tina Meier discovered her daughter 's body in a bedroom closet on Oct. 16 , 2006 .", "Megan had hanged herself and died a day later .", "But six weeks after Megan 's death , the Meiers learned Josh Evans never existed .", "A mother , who had learned of the page from her own daughter , told the Meiers a neighborhood mom had created and monitored Evans ' profile and page .", "There was a connection between the Meiers and the family with the mother accused of running Evans ' profile .", "In fact , the woman who created the profile had asked the Meiers if her family could store their foosball table .", "Once they learned of the family 's involvement , the Meiers destroyed the table , placed it in the woman 's yard and encouraged the family to move , according to the AP .", "`` That 's the biggest tragedy of this whole thing : An adult did it , '' Ron Meier said .", "While the woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime , residents have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment .", "It could come before city leaders on Wednesday , according to the AP .", "In the information age , playground poundings have moved to online chat rooms and instant messages .", "Nearly half of all teenagers report they have been the victim of cyber attacks .", "Everything from text messaging to e-mail can be used to bully victims .", "Some people even create Web sites solely dedicated to harassment .", "It may be difficult for a well-meaning child to initially tell the difference between friend and foe online .", "`` When emotionally vulnerable young people get online , they can be very easily manipulated , '' said Nancy Willard , executive director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use .", "Ron Meier said parents should be mindful of their children 's online activities and relationships .", "`` Be as watchful as you can be , '' he said ."], "_citing_sentence": "Victims of cyber bullying have even led victims to commit suicide in extreme cases.", "_claim_name": "Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites.", "_doc_title": "Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen's Suicide - ABC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["At present , Vietnam has 24 million internet users .", "About 90 per cent of students in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City use the World Wide Web for their research .", "More than 60 per cent of young and middle aged people use internet at home or at cybercaf\u00e9s .", "Some shops have added internet access to increase business .", "Last month , the authorities forced to install special software to track a user 's activities for 30 days .", "In interviews , officials , professors , reporters , socialists and even educators who work for the government said , `` In Vietnam , we have not yet obtained the right to free speech or free information .", "` Radicals ' can never hope or try to access ` sensitive topics ' and have to be reasonable to live '' .", "Dorothy Chou , a policy analyst at Google , recently looked at the Vietnamese government 's new internet regulations .", "She found that Vietnamese authorities now have the means to `` block access to websites , as well as to track user activities '' .", "Nguyen Phuong Nga , a spokesman for Vietnam 's Foreign Ministry , explained , `` On 26 April 2010 , the People 's Committee of Hanoi City made a decision with No. 15/2010/QD-UBND on the ` Principles regarding the management of internet services by internet agents in Hanoi City .", "It said that ` Vietnam respects the right to information , communication and free speech but it also enforces the laws of Vietnam . '", "People who think the government threatens freedom of thought have no logical basis for that '' .", "In Ho Chi Minh City , people told AsiaNews that `` local authorities are blocking all ` radical sites ' . ''", "This has pushed cybercaf\u00e9s to install programmes with violent games .", "Children and young people end up spending time and money on them .", "They live in a virtual world and have no relations with their families and communities .", "One cybercaf\u00e9 manager in the capital said that since people can not open sites that discuss democracy , freedom , justice and peace , `` to make money I had to install violent and deceitful games '' .", "According to the sister , the jailed doctor is sick and needs treatment .", "While the number of internet users swells , state censorship is also quick to react thanks to new technology", "New pro-Erdogan demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara .", "The weak attempt to overthrow the regime was not supported by Army Chiefs .", "Increased arrests and the possibility of introduction of the death penalty .", "Turkish democracy threatened by Kemalist secularism and Islamic fundamentalism .", "Communist officials launch a campaign of intimidation against a community in Central Guizhou Province .", "The aim is to force its members to join the Three-Self Patriotic Movement , the mainland 's state-controlled Protestant Church .", "Taking one 's children to church can lead to a law suit ."], "_citing_sentence": "Some governments, such as the Vietnamese government, have already seen sufficient cause to ban social networking sites such as Facebook.", "_claim_name": "Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.", "_doc_title": "VIETNAM Internet censorship tightening in Vietnam", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["London 's reputation as a place to do business has been damaged by the recent riots , according to the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( LCCI ) .", "A poll of 183 businesses conducted by ComRes on behalf of the LCCI revealed that 83 per cent of London firms believed that the capital 's reputation had taken a hit , whilst 73 per cent of firms agreed that these riots have highlighted the potential threat of civil disorder during the Olympic Games next year .", "The UK may face a short-term bill of up to # 100m following four days of disorder across the country , but the long term economic implications are less clear .", "John Walker , National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses , warned of the potential longer-term effects of rioting to the national economy .", "`` This disruption is causing untold damage to individual businesses , our extremely fragile economy and our image , less than a year ahead of the Olympic Games .", "Our cities simply can not afford for this to continue and it is impossible to estimate how much this is going to cost the business community . ''", "Fears have also been raised about the impact of rioting on London 's image as a tourist destination .", "Several countries , including Australia , Germany , and Canada have advised citizens to take extra care in the capital .", "The US Embassy in London has also brought the disturbances to the attention of US citizens .", "Colin Stanbridge , Chief Executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( LCCI ) , said : `` This could not have come at a worse time for London 's business community , with the capital 's firms already bearing the heavy cost of the continuing economic turmoil .", "At the peak of the tourist season and with only a year to go until the London 2012 Games , this really is n't the image we want to present to the world . ''", "Meanwhile , VisitBritain has pulled a marketing campaign aimed at attracting visitors to the UK as it was deemed to be inappropriate to show in the context of widespread rioting and looting .", "However , the tourist board appeared confident that there will be no long-term negative effect on UK tourism .", "VisitBritain Head of Marketing Joss Croft told Marketing Week : `` We need to recognise that people 's perceptions of Britain are formed over many decades , if not centuries , and these incidents are not likely to have a long-lasting effect .", "We think this will all blow over quite quickly . ''", "The travel website expedia.com told the Huffington Post UK on Tuesday that there had been no discernable change in bookings to UK from abroad and no spike in cancellations ."], "_citing_sentence": "These events prove that seemingly innocent Internet sites can be used by anybody, even apparently normal citizens, to a devastating effect which has caused harm to thousands.", "_claim_name": "Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.", "_doc_title": "UK Riots: What Long-Term Effects Could They Have?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 4]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Juliette Garside and", "Tuesday 9 August 2011 13.04 EDT", "Last modified on Tuesday 9 August 2011 18.06 EDT", "Taxpayers could face a # 100m bill for the riots in London and across the UK , with police authorities facing the prospect of picking up insurance costs for damage to property across the country .", "Retailers and homeowners were contacting insurers on Tuesday over the huge damage done to their properties and businesses in three days of rioting .", "Shops around the capital were shutting early amid fears of further violence .", "Damage to both domestic and business property is likely to be picked up by police authorities , in particular the Metropolitan police authority , under the provisions of the Riots ( Damages ) Act 1886 , which specifies that where damage is caused by people `` riotously and tumultuously assembled '' , local police authorities are required to compensate victims .", "The Met has suggested in a statement to the Guardian that it would meet the cost from its reserves , which are funded by the taxpayer .", "`` No specific fund is maintained by the Metropolitan police authority to cover claims against such contingencies but we maintain general reserves to cover unexpected events .", "Such risks can not be insured against , '' a Met spokesman said .", "The bill could run to more than # 100m , according to provisional estimates of insurance claims arising from the unrest .", "The Met authority 's reserves stood at # 70.6 m at the end of March , the 2010/11 accounts show .", "Nick Starling , the director of general insurance and health at the Association of British Insurers , said : `` It is too early for us to have an accurate picture of total costs , especially business interruption costs , but insurers are expecting significant losses , of well over # 100m . ''", "Liability for riot damages is a contentious issue .", "The Association of Police Authorities ( APA ) and the Commons home affairs select committee have both called for it to be reviewed .", "Bedfordshire police was sued for # 42m over the riot at the Yarl 's Wood immigration detention centre in 2002 , but was insured against the cost .", "Rob Garnham , chairman of the APA , said : `` The potential implications of the Riot Damages Act have been of considerable concern for police authorities for a number of years .", "It is crucial that riot damage is quickly repaired and communities restored but in a context of cuts the public will see little sense in a shrinking police fund being diverted to pay for criminal damage . ''", "Businesses and individuals were being urged to get claims in as soon as possible .", "Insurers require claims to be submitted within seven days , since they in turn have to claim on police budgets within two weeks .", "Stuart White , a partner at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain , said : `` The good news for some of the smaller retail units that have been damaged is that even if they do not have a property insurance policy they may be able to recover the value of any damage sustained because of the rioting directly from the police .", "`` However the compensation under the act will not normally extend to the financial losses of the business while it is unable to trade .", "Trading losses are likely to be recoverable only by businesses with business interruption insurance . ''", "The ABI urged the government to allow affected businesses more time to prepare claims .", "The association met the home secretary on Tuesday , suggesting an extension of the claims period from the usual 14 days to the maximum 42 .", "Caroline Woolley , from insurance broker Marsh , said that the losses could be much larger than figures being put out by insurers .", "`` Any figures quoted will be in relation to insured losses , -LSB- and not include uninsured losses -RSB- . ''", "Shops closed early and were boarded up or emptied for the night on Tuesday in Wolverhampton , Coventry and many London neighbourhoods including Lewisham , Tooting , Camden , Hackney and Croydon .", "In London Whiteleys shopping centre closed at 3pm .", "Carphone Warehouse in Clapham High Street posted a sign saying `` All stock and money removed '' , and the company 's Birmingham store was emptied of stock .", "It was reported that 20 Carphone Warehouse stores around the country have been damaged or looted .", "Everything Everywhere , which runs the Orange and T-Mobile brands , saw 25 shops hit .", "The company was boarding up stores and calling in extra security personnel in some areas .", "Rioters smashed up fewer than 20 Vodafone and O2 shops .", "Among the supermarkets , 16 Sainsbury 's stores were attacked , and three remain closed .", "Morrisons reported four attacks .", "Tesco said a number of stores around the country were attacked and a handful had yet to reopen .", "Peter Marks , chief executive of the Co-operative Group , the country 's fifth largest food retailer , said : `` There is no justification for this wanton and senseless violence , which has endangered people 's lives and destroyed property .", "The safety of our staff and customers is paramount , and over 100 Co-operative branches , primarily food outlets in the London area , were temporarily closed last night ( Monday ) on police advice .", "Two members of staff were attacked during looting at one of our petrol forecourts in Streatham and staff in other locations narrowly escaped mob violence , which is completely intolerable .", "`` Although the vast majority of our stores have now re-opened , around a dozen remain closed due to damage incurred , including the three most seriously damaged food stores -- London Road ( Croydon ) , Hilton House ( Brockley ) and New Addington , which was completely destroyed by fire . ''", "`` We are liaising with the police and local authorities in each of the affected areas and , as the UK 's largest community retailer , we are ready to play our part in helping affected communities to recover from these unprecedented attacks , and would urge the prime minister and the government to take firm and decisive action to quickly bring this appalling situation under control . ''", "A Sainsbury 's spokesperson said : `` A number of our stores were closed earlier than usual yesterday as a precaution , in some cases on the advice of police .", "Sixteen of our stores experienced serious incidents during the disturbances last night .", "`` All of these stores have now reopened , except three of our convenience stores , which remain closed and will reopen as soon as possible .", "All our other stores are open for business as usual .", "As far as we are aware , no customers or store colleagues have been injured , and their safety remains our priority .", "`` We are assessing the situation on an hour by hour basis as the safety of our customers and store colleagues is paramount .", "We will continue to take advice from police and other authorities throughout the day . ''", "A spokesman for Debenhams said the Romford store had suffered smashed windows but was open for business as usual .", "The Clapham store remains closed .", "`` We do n't know when it will reopen yet , the whole area is cordoned off by police .", "We do n't know how much was taken .", "Thankfully no one was hurt .", "We are taking guidance with the police in all the areas we operate stores , and the safety of our staff is our main priority . ''", "An Everything Everywhere spokesperson said : `` We can confirm that 25 of our stores were affected , causing varying levels of property damage and some loss of stock .", "Most importantly , none of our team members have been hurt .", "We are putting additional security and safeguard measures into place in case there is further escalation of similar activities , with our top priority being the protection of our staff . ''", "Security firms reported increased inquiries from worried businesses.A G4S spokesman said : `` The current disturbances in London and other cities have resulted in an understandable increase in requests for increased security from our business customers and some disruption to our cash transportation services .", "`` We have been responding to requests for additional security personnel , as well as for security advice .", "We have also been contacting our customers to provide advice and , where needed , are helping them to develop contingency plans to deal with any incidents ."], "_citing_sentence": "Rioters contacted each other through Facebook and blackberry instant messenger to ensure that they could cause maximum damage, which resulted in the destruction of property, physical violence towards others, and even the deaths of three young men.", "_claim_name": "Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.", "_doc_title": "UK riots could cost taxpayer \u00a3100m | UK news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6, 39, 40]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Children 's Books", "get the full version of this research at Questia Online Library by clicking here Introduction", "The 1996 Oxford Modern English Dictionary defines the `` media '' as `` the main means of mass communication ( esp .", "newspapers and broadcasting ) . ''", "The 1995 Cambridge Paperback Encyclopedia ( David Crystal , ed. , 2d ed. , 1995 ) says `` media '' is `` a collective term for television , radio , cinema , and the press . ''", "This book will use these standard definitions , with one modification : the inclusion of the Internet , the newest and most controversial form of mass communication .", "There is little doubt that the media have overwhelmed books as the preferred source of information and entertainment worldwide , and the United States is both the primary producer and the primary consumer of the media product .", "A recent study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the New York communications investment house , Veronis Suhler , produced some startling figures .", "The media business has become one of the twelve largest industries in the United States .", "Profits are high ; operating margins range from 5.4 percent for the emerging interactive digital media to more than 16 percent for broadcasters .", "Several of the big newspapers do even better .", "The expectation is that the growth rate of newspaper revenues will double between 1995 and the year 2000 , and the other media will do almost as well .", "More interesting is the data indicating the stranglehold that the media have on the American public .", "The ordinary American spends 3,400 hours a year consuming the media output .", "That represents almost 40 percent of our lives , more time than we spend sleeping and far more time than we spend working .", "Radio and television represent 80 percent of our media consumption .", "Our reading occupies about an hour a day , half of it for newspapers .", "By the year 2000 , according to the study , we will be reading even less , watching television even more , and spending more time on the Internet .", "Little wonder , then , that we hear so much about the power of the media and its influence on everything from morality to politics .", "The current problem is not the growing media power , but the narrowing corporate cabal that wields it .", "In 1983 Ben Bagdikian , then journalism dean at the University of California ,", "Berkeley , published The Media Monopoly , which revealed that at least half of all media business was controlled by just fifty corporations .", "By 1987 , when his second edition appeared , he reported that just twenty-nine corporations exercised that power , and by the time of his fourth edition in 1992 , that number had shrunk to twenty .", "Bagdikian noted a similar evolution in newspapers and magazines .", "Of the 1,700 daily newspapers in this country , 98 percent were local monopolies and most of their combined circulation was controlled by fewer than fifteen corporations .", "Among magazines , Time , Inc. , alone was responsible for 40 percent of industry revenues .", "Bagdikian wrote , -LSB- A -RSB- shrinking number of large media corporations now regard monopoly , oligopoly , and historic levels of profit as not only normal , but as their earned right .", "In the process , the usual democratic expectations for the media -- diversity of ownership and ideas -- have disappeared as the goal of official policy , and worse , as a daily experience of a generation of American viewers and readers ... .", "It 's no way to maintain a lively marketplace of ideas , which is to say it is no way to maintain a democracy .", "Bagdikian 's trailblazing research and widely praised 1987 edition of The Media", "Monopoly were virtually ignored by the media .", "His explanation of why the major media had failed to discuss the disadvantages of media consolidation was simple : editors were not interested in these problems because they were all in the newspaper consolidation business themselves .", "Indeed , the media 's failure to address the most significant problem in its industry caused that very issue to be declared the `` most censored news story of 1987 '' by the prestigious Project Censored .", "Every year since 1977 ,", "Project Censored , based at Sonoma State University , has published its list of the news issues or `` stories '' that have been most heavily suppressed during the previous year .", "The judges who selected the media monopoly story as the `` most censored '' during 1987 included John Kenneth Galbraith , Bill", "Moyers , and Judith Krug .", "Communications professor Carl Jensen , originator of", "Project Censored , said the judges selected the media monopoly story because it was the root cause for underreporting generally .", "`` We have fewer sources , fewer outlets and more control by fewer people , '' said Jensen .", "The problem of media monopolies has worsened in recent years , but it continues to be ignored by the media .", "Project Censored 's latest edition , Censored 1997 .", "The News That Did n't Make the News , featured an article , `` Free the Media , '' that literally mapped out the four giant corporations that control the major television news divisions : the National Broadcasting Company ( NBC ) , the American", "Broadcasting Company ( ABC ) , the Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ) and the Cable", "News Network ( CNN ) .", "Author Mark Miller notes that two of the four holding corporations are defense contractors ( both involved in nuclear production ) , and the other two purvey entertainment .", "Miller concludes that we are thus the subjects of a `` national entertainment state , '' in which the news and much of our amusement are provided by the two most powerful industries in the United States .", "Miller presents an elaborate chart that maps the tentacles of General Electric ,", "Time Warner , Disney/Cap Cities and Westinghouse , the four media giants .", "He says a glance at each chart reveals why , say , Tom Brokaw might have difficulty covering stories critical of nuclear power , or ABC News will no longer be likely to do an expos\u00e9 of Disney 's policies , or , indeed , why none of the media is willing to touch the biggest story of them all -- the media monopoly itself .", "Miller says such maps `` suggest the true causes of those enormous ills that now dismay so many Americans : the universal sleaze and ` dumbing down , ' the flood tide of corporate propaganda , the terminal inanity of U.S. politics . ''", "He warns that `` the same gigantic players that control the elder media are planning shortly to absorb the Internet , which could be transformed from a thriving common wilderness into an immeasurable de facto cyberpark for corporate interests , with all the dissident voices exiled to sites known only to the activists . ''", "Only a new , broad-based antitrust movement can save the media , according to", "The media have always been the captive of religion and politics , scorned and manipulated by both in ways beyond anything suffered by book publishers .", "A recent example of the former is the boycott launched by Baptists against the Walt Disney", "On June 18 , 1997 , the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas , Texas overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging the denomination 's 15.7 million members to boycott all presentations and products bearing the Disney name and everything produced by the vast Disney conglomerate that includes Miramax Films ,", "ABC television , ESPN , E! and Disney cable channels and Hyperion Books .", "The primary objection expressed by the Baptists was Disney 's support for homosexuals , as represented by ABC 's sitcom `` Ellen , '' whose star is an admitted lesbian and Disney 's willingness to grant health benefits to the partners of homosexual employees .", "The Baptists admit that the effectiveness of the boycott may not be immediately evident , but Ted Baehr , chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission , said , `` The Crusades were not a high point in public relations for the church , but they give people a feeling of accomplishment , and this boycott may do the same for many Americans . ''", "Banned in the U.S.A. ( 1994 ) examined censorship in book publishing , but only in the context of schools and libraries .", "This book may be regarded as a sequel to Banned in the U.S.A. , but there are significant differences .", "Banned in the", "Media examines censorship in six formats - newspapers , magazines , radio , television , motion pictures and the Internet-in a wide variety of contexts .", "Whereas individual books can be plucked from school classrooms or library shelves by nervous school or library officials , much of the media product is ephemeral , and its censorship is wielded with a broader brush .", "An important distinction between my methodologies for analyzing books and the media is the manner in which incidents of censorship are tallied and compared .", "The number of times a particular book title is banned from school curricula or removed from library shelves can be tallied and a list of the most banned books can be assembled , but much of the media does not admit to such particularization .", "The wide and disparate variety of media formats make it impossible to analyze statistically and rank incidents across the entire media .", "Frequently , it is even difficult to isolate and identify the origin of media censorship .", "Serial publications , particularly magazines , are uniquely vulnerable to newsstand or convenience store boycotts .", "They also suffer censorship of individual articles or issues .", "Motion pictures , like books , have been banned in ways that allow statistical analysis , but the monolithic ... get the full version of this research at Questia Online Library by clicking here Introduction", "Motion pictures , like books , have been banned in ways that allow statistical analysis , but the monolithic ... get the full version of this research at Questia Online Library by clicking here"], "_citing_sentence": "Newspapers and books are subject to censorship, and mediums such as television, film and video receive a higher degree of regulation because it is widely recognised that moving pictures and sound can be more emotive and powerful than text and photographs or illustrations.", "_claim_name": "As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.", "_doc_title": "Book Publishing: Banned in the Media", "_labeled_lineIDs": [62]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 117, "_topic_name": "This House would Censor the Internet"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["The idea of the social contract goes back , in a recognizably modern form , to Thomas Hobbes ; it was developed in different ways by John Locke , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , and Immanuel Kant .", "After Kant the idea largely fell into disrepute until it was resurrected by", "It is now at the heart of the work of a number of moral and political philosophers .", "The basic idea seems simple : in some way , the agreement ( or consent ) of all individuals subject to collectively enforced social arrangements shows that those arrangements have some normative property ( they are legitimate , just , obligating , etc. ) .", "Even this vague basic idea , though , is anything but simple , and even this abstract rendering is objectionable in many ways .", "To explicate the idea of the social contract we analyze contractual approaches into five variables : ( 1 ) the nature of the contractual act ; ( 2 ) the parties to the act ; ( 3 ) what the parties are agreeing to ; ( 4 ) the reasoning that leads to the agreement ; ( 5 ) what the agreement is supposed to show .", "The traditional social contract views of Hobbes , Locke , and Rousseau crucially relied on the idea of consent .", "For Locke only `` consent of Free-men '' could make them members of government ( Locke 1689 , \u00a7 117 ) .", "Now in the hands of these theorists -- and in much ordinary discourse -- the idea of `` consent '' implies a normative power to bind oneself .", "When one reaches `` the age of consent '' one is empowered to make certain sorts of binding agreements -- contracts .", "By putting consent at the center of their contracts these early modern contract theorists ( 1 ) were clearly supposing that individuals had basic normative powers over themselves before they entered into the social contract ( a point that Hume -LSB- 1741 -RSB- stressed ) , and ( 2 ) brought the question of political obligation to the fore .", "If the parties have the power to bind themselves by exercising this normative power , then the upshot of the social contract was obligation .", "As Hobbes ( 1651 , 81 -LSB- chap xiv , \u00b6 7 ) insisted , covenants bind ; that is why they are `` artificial chains '' ( 1651 , 138 -LSB- chap .", "According to James Buchanan , the key development of recent social contract theory has been to distinguish the question of what generates political obligation ( the key concern of the consent tradition in social contract thought ) from the question of what constitutional orders or social institutions are mutually beneficial and stable over time ( 1965b ) .", "The nature of a person 's duty to abide by the law or social rules is a matter of a morality as it pertains to individuals ( Rawls 1999 , 293ff ) , while the design and justification of political and social institutions is a question of public or social morality .", "Thus , on Buchanan 's view a crucial feature of more recent contractual thought has been to refocus political philosophy on public or social morality rather than individual obligation .", "Although contemporary social contract theorists still sometimes employ the language of consent , the core idea of contemporary social contract theory is agreement .", "`` Social contract views work from the intuitive idea of agreement '' ( Freeman 2007a , 17 ) .", "Now one can endorse or agree to a principle without that act of endorsement in any way binding one to obey .", "Social contract theorists as diverse as Freeman and Jan", "Narveson ( 1988 , 148 ) see the act of agreement as indicating what reasons we have .", "Agreement is a `` test '' or a heuristic .", "The `` role of unanimous collective agreement '' is in showing `` what we have reasons to do in our social and political relations '' ( Freeman 2007 , 19 ) .", "Thus understood the agreement is not itself a binding act -- it is not a performative that somehow creates obligation -- but is reason-revealing ( Lessnoff 1986 ) .", "If individuals are rational , what they agree to reflects the reasons they have .", "In contemporary contract theories such as Rawls 's , the problem of justification takes center stage .", "Rawls 's revival of social contract theory in A Theory of", "Justice thus did not base obligations on consent , though the apparatus of an `` original agreement '' persisted .", "The aim of the original position , Rawls announced ( 1999 , 16 ) , is to settle `` the question of justification ... by working out a problem of deliberation . ''", "The social contract in contemporary moral and political theory is an attempt , then , to solve a justificatory problem by converting it to a deliberative problem .", "At its heart is the `` question of justification . ''", "As James Buchanan points out , `` precepts for living together are not going to be handed down from on high '' ( 1975 , 3 ) .", "Justifying social arrangements ( showing that they have the requisite normative property , see \u00a7 5 below ) requires showing that all ( suitably idealized ) citizens have reasons favoring the arrangements .", "Now this would be an otiose requirement unless , to some extent , the reasons of citizens differed .", "If all citizens had precisely the same set of reasons there would be no point in showing what they all can agree to .", "The idea of a unanimous collective agreement only does justificatory work when the reasons of citizens can differ , and so it is an open question what everyone has reason to endorse -- what everyone would agree to .", "Under conditions of reasonable pluralism , we can not suppose that the reasoning of one member of the public is a proxy for everyone else 's reasoning .", "Consequently , under reasonable pluralism the requirement that every member of the public has reason to endorse a social arrangement is not implied by one member doing so .", "Given that the problem of justification has taken center stage , the second aspect of contemporary social contract thinking appears to fall into place : its reliance on models of hypothetical agreement .", "The aim is to model the reasons of citizens , and so we ask what they would agree to under conditions in which their agreements would be expected to track their reasons .", "Contemporary contract theory is , characteristically , doubly hypothetical .", "Certainly , no prominent theorist thinks that questions of justification are settled by an actual survey of attitudes towards existing social arrangements , and are not settled until such a survey has been carried out .", "The question , then , is not `` Are these arrangements presently the object of an actual agreement among citizens ? ''", "( If this were the question , the answer would typically be `` No '' . )", "The question , rather , is `` Would these arrangements be the object of an agreement if citizens were surveyed ? ''", "Although both of the questions are , in some sense , susceptible to an empirical reading , only the latter is in play in present-day theorizing .", "The contract nowadays is always hypothetical in at least this first sense .", "There is a reading of the ( first-order ) hypothetical question `` Would the arrangements be the object of agreement if ___ '' which , as indicated , is still resolutely empirical in some sense .", "This is the reading where what is required of the theorist is that she try to determine what an actual survey of actual citizens would reveal about their actual attitudes towards their system of social arrangements .", "( This is seldom done , of course ; the theorist does it in her imagination .", "See , though , Klosko 2000 ) .", "But there is another interpretation that is more widely accepted in the contemporary context .", "On this reading , the question is no longer a hypothetical question about actual reactions ; it is , rather , a hypothetical question about hypothetical reactions -- it is , as we have said , doubly hypothetical .", "Framing the question is the first hypothetical element : `` Would it be the object of agreement if they were surveyed ? ''", "Framed by this question is the second hypothetical element , one which involves the citizens , who are no longer treated empirically , i.e. taken as given , but are , instead , themselves considered from a hypothetical point of view -- as they would be if ( typically ) they were better informed or more impartial , etc. ( see further \u00a7 2.2 below ) .", "The question for most contemporary contract theorists , then , is , roughly : `` If we surveyed the idealized surrogates of the actual citizens in this polity , what social arrangements would be the object of an agreement among them ? ''", "Famously , Ronald Dworkin has objected that a ( doubly ) hypothetical agreement can not bind any actual person .", "For the hypothetical analysis to make sense , it must be shown that hypothetical persons in the contract can agree to be bound by some principle P regulating social arrangements .", "Suppose that it could be shown that your surrogate ( a better informed , more impartial version of you ) would agree to P .", "What has that to do with you ?", "Where this second-stage hypothetical analysis is employed , it seems to be proposed that you can be bound by agreements that others , different from you , would have made .", "While it might ( though it need n't ) be reasonable to suppose that you can be bound by agreements that you would yourself have entered into if given the opportunity , it seems crazy to think that you can be bound by agreements that , demonstrably , you would n't have made even if you had been asked .", "This criticism is decisive , however , only if the hypothetical social contract is supposed to invoke your normative power to self-bind via consent .", "That your surrogate employs his power to self-bind would not mean that you had employed your power .", "Again , though , the power to obligate oneself is not typically invoked in the contemporary social contract : the problem of deliberation is supposed to help us make headway on the problem of justification .", "So the question for contemporary hypothetical contract theories is whether the hypothetical agreement of your surrogate tracks your reasons to accept social arrangements , a very different issue .", "It is almost a commonplace today that contemporary social contract theory relies on hypothetical , not actual , agreement .", "As we have seen , in one sense this is certainly the case .", "However , in many ways the `` hypothetical/actual '' divide is artificial : the hypothetical agreement is meant to model , and provide the basis for , actual agreement .", "Understanding contemporary social contract theory is best achieved , not through insisting on the distinction between actual and hypothetical contracts , but by grasping the interplay of the hypothetical and the actual .", "The key here is Rawls 's ( 1996 , 28 ) distinction among the perspectives of :", "The agreement of the parties in the deliberative model is certainly hypothetical in the two-fold sense we have analyzed : a hypothetical agreement among hypothetical parties .", "But the point of the deliberative model is to help us ( i.e. , `` you and me '' ) solve our justificatory problem -- what social arrangements we can all accept as `` free persons who have no authority over one another '' ( Rawls 1958 , 33 ) .", "The parties ' deliberations and the conditions under which they deliberate , then , model our actual convictions about justice and justification .", "Rawls says ( 1999 , 514 ) , the reasoning of the hypothetical parties matters to us because `` the conditions embodied in the description of this situation are ones that we do in fact accept . ''", "Unless the hypothetical models the actual , the upshot of the hypothetical could not provide us with reasons .", "Gerald Gaus describes something like this process as a `` testing conception '' of the social contract ( 2011a , 425 ) .", "We use the hypothetical deliberative device of the contract to `` test '' our social institutions .", "In this way , the contemporary social contract is meant to be a model of the justificatory situation that all individuals face .", "The hypothetical and abstracted ( see \u00a7 2 ) nature of the contract is needed to highlight the relevant features of the parties to show what reasons they have .", "Freeman has recently stressed the way in which focusing on the third perspective -- of citizens in a well ordered society -- shows the importance of actual agreement in Rawls 's contract theory .", "On Freeman 's interpretation , the social contract must meet the condition of publicity .", "A justified contract must meet the full publicity condition : its complete justification must be capable of being actually accepted by members of a well-ordered society .", "The hypothetical agreement itself provides only what Rawls ( 1996 , 386 ) calls a `` pro tanto '' or `` so far as it goes '' justification of the principles of justice .", "`` Full justification '' is achieved only when actual `` people endorse and will liberal justice for the particular ( and often conflicting ) reasons implicit in the reasonable comprehensive doctrines they hold '' ( Freeman 2007b , 19 ) .", "Thus understood , Rawls 's concern with the stability of justice as fairness , which motivated the move to political liberalism , is itself a question of justification ( Weithman , 2010 ) .", "Only if the principles of justice are stable in this way are they fully justified .", "Rawls 's concern with stability and publicity is not , however , idiosyncratic and is shared by all contemporary contract theorists .", "It is significant that even theorists such as James", "Buchanan ( 2000 -LSB- 1975 -RSB- , 26-27 ) , David Gauthier ( 1986 , 348 ) , and Ken", "Binmore ( 2005 , 5-7 ) -- who are so different from Rawls in other respects -- share his concern with stability .", "How the contract theorist models the parties to the hypothetical agreement , then , is determined by our ( actual ) justificatory problem , and what is relevant to solving it .", "A major divide among contemporary social contract theories thus involves defining the justificatory problem .", "A distinction is often drawn between the", "Hobbesian ( `` contractarian '' ) and Kantian ( `` contractualist '' ) interpretations of the justificatory problem .", "These categories are imprecise , and there is often as much difference within these two approaches as between them , yet , nevertheless , the distinction is useful in isolating some key disputes in contemporary social contract theory .", "Among those `` contractarians '' who -- very roughly -- can be called followers of Hobbes , the crucial justificatory task is , as", "David Gauthier puts it , to resolve the `` foundational crisis '' of morality : If our justificatory problem is not simply what morality requires , but whether morality ought to be paid attention to , or instead dismissed as a superstition based on outmoded metaphysical theories , then obviously the parties to the agreement must not employ moral judgments in their reasoning .", "Another version of this concern is Gregory Kavka 's ( 1984 ) description of the project to reconcile morality with prudence .", "On both these accounts , the aim of the contract is to show that commitment to morality is an effective way to further one 's non-moral aims and interests .", "The justificatory problem is the problem of satisfactorily answering the question `` why be moral ? ''", "This `` contractarian '' project is reductionist in a pretty straightforward sense : it derives moral reasons from non-moral ones .", "Or , to use Rawls 's terminology , it attempts to generate the reasonable out of the rational ( 1996 , 53 ) .", "This approach is appealing for several reasons .", "First , insofar as we doubt that moral reasons are genuine or motivationally effective , such a reductionist strategy promises to ground morality on the prosaic requirements of instrumentalist practical rationality .", "The justificatory question `` why be moral ? ''", "is transformed into the less troubling question `` why be rational ? ''", "Second , even if we recognize that moral reasons are , in some sense , genuine , contractarians like Kavka also want to show that prudent individuals , not independently motivated by morality would have reason to reflectively endorse morality .", "Furthermore , if we have reason to suspect that some segment of the population is , in fact , knavish then we have good defensive reasons based on stability to build our social institutions and morality so as to restrain those who are only motivated by prudence , even if we suspect that most persons are not so motivated .", "Anticipating concerns about evolutionary stability ( see \u00a7 4 below ) Geoffrey Brennan and James Buchanan argue that a version of Gresham 's law holds in political and social institutions that `` bad behavior drives out good and that all persons will be led themselves by even the presence of a few self-seekers to adopt self-interested behavior '' ( 2008 -LSB- 1985 -RSB- , 68 ) .", "We need not think people are mostly self-seeking to think that social institutions and morality should be justified to and restrain those who are .", "On the other hand , `` contractualists , '' such as John Rawls ,", "John Harsanyi ( 1977 ) , Thomas Scanlon ( 1998 ) , Stephen Darwall ( 2006 ) , and Nicholas Southwood ( 2010 ) attribute ethical or political values to the deliberative parties , as well as a much more substantive , non-instrumentalist form of practical reasoning .", "The kinds of surrogates that model the justificatory problem of ` you and me ' are already so situated that their deliberations will be framed by ethico-political considerations .", "The agents ' deliberations are not , as with the Hobbesian theorists , carried out in purely prudential or instrumentalist terms , but they are subject to the ` veil of ignorance ' or other substantive conditions .", "Here the core justificatory problem is not whether the very idea of moral and political constraints makes sense , but what sorts of moral or political principles meet certain basic moral demands , such as treating all as free and equal moral persons , or not subjecting any person to the will or judgment of another ( Reiman 1990 , chap .", "This approach , then , is non-reductionist in the sense that not all of morality is derived from the non-moral .", "Many of the concerns with this approach to contract theory are related to the particular idealization of the parties that the substantive conception of practical rationality in the contract procedure requires .", "The core idea of social contract theories , we have been stressing , is that the deliberation of the parties is supposed to model the justificatory problem of `` you and me . ''", "Now this pulls social contract theories in two opposing directions .", "On the one hand , if the deliberations of the hypothetical parties are to model our problem and their conclusions are to be of relevance to us , the parties must be similar to us .", "The closer the parties are to `` you and me '' the better their deliberations will model you and me , and be of relevance to us .", "On the other hand , the point of contract theories is to make headway on our justificatory problem by constructing parties that are idealizations of you and me , suggesting that some idealization is necessary and salutary .", "To recognize that some forms of idealization are problematic does not imply that we should embrace what Gaus has called `` justificatory populism '' that every person in a society must actually assent to the social and moral institutions in question ( Gaus 1996 , 130-131 ) .", "Such a standard would take us back to the older social contract tradition based on direct consent .", "But , as we saw in \u00a7 1 , modern contract theories are concerned with appeals to our reason , not our self-binding power of consent .", "Despite possible problems , there are two important motivations behind idealization of the deliberative parties .", "First , you and I , as we now are , may be confused about what considerations are relevant to our justificatory problem .", "We have biases and false beliefs ; to make progress on solving our problem of justification we wish , as far as possible , to see what the result would be if we only reasoned correctly from sound and relevant premises .", "So in constructing the hypothetical parties we wish to idealize them in this way .", "Ideal deliberation theorists like Habermas ( 1985 ) and Southwood ( 2010 ) , in their different ways , are deeply concerned with this reason for idealization .", "On the face of it , such idealization does not seem especially troublesome , since our ultimate concern is with what is justified , and so we want the deliberations of the parties to track good reasons .", "But if we idealize too far from citizens as they presently are -- suppose we posit that they are fully rational in the sense that they know all the implications of all their beliefs and have perfect information -- their deliberations may not help much in solving our justificatory problems .", "For example , suppose that hyper-rational and perfectly informed parties would have no religious beliefs , so they would not be concerned with freedom of religion or the role of religion of political decision making .", "But our problem is that , among tolerably reasonable but far from perfectly rational citizens , pluralism of religious belief is inescapable .", "Consequently to gain insight into the justificatory problem among citizens of limited rationality , the parties must model our imperfect rationality .", "Secondly , social contract theories are pulled towards idealized and abstracted representations of the parties in order to render the choice situation determinate .", "This goal of determinacy , however , can have the effect of eliminating the pluralism of the parties that was the original impetus for contracting in the first place .", "In his Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy Rawls tells us that `` a normalization of interests attributed to the parties '' is `` common to social contract doctrines '' and it is necessary to unify the perspectives of the different parties so as to construct a `` shared point of view '' ( 2007 , 226 ) .", "Here Rawls seems to be suggesting that to achieve determinacy in the contract procedure it is necessary to `` normalize '' the perspectives of the parties .", "The problem , however , is this .", "Suppose that the parties to the contract closely model you and me , and so they have diverse bases for their deliberations -- religious , secular , perfectionist , and so on .", "In this case it is hard to see how the contract theorist can get a determinate result .", "Just as you and I disagree , so will the parties .", "Social contract theorists have sought to generate a determinate result by modeling the parties in a very abstracted way , supposing that they are all centrally concerned with promoting their conception of the good , and insuring that they reason in the same way .", "Rawls ( 1999 , 121 ) acknowledges that his restrictions on particular information in the original position are necessary to achieve a determinate result .", "If we exclude `` knowledge of those contingencies which set men at odds ... '' then since `` everyone is equally rational and similarly situated , each is convinced by the same arguments '' ( Rawls 1999 , 17 , 120 ) .", "Gaus ( 2011a , 36-47 ) has recently argued that a determinative result can only be generated by an implausibly high degree of abstraction , in which the basic pluralism of evaluative standards -- the core of our justificatory problem -- is abstracted away .", "Gaus 's view , modelings of the parties that make them anything approaching representations of you and me will only be able to generate a non-singleton set of eligible social contracts .", "The parties might agree that some social contracts are better than none , but they will disagree on their ordering of possible social contracts .", "This conclusion , refined and developed in ( Gaus 2011a , Part Two ) connects the traditional problem of indeterminacy in the contract procedure with the contemporary , technical problem of equilibrium selection in games ( see Vanderschraaf , 2005 ) .", "A topic we will explore more in \u00a7 4 below .", "It is possible , however , that determinacy may actually require diversity in the perspective of the deliberative parties in a way that", "Rawls and others like Harsanyi did n't expect .", "The reason for this is simple , the proof is somewhat complex .", "Normalizing the perspectives of the parties assumes that there is one stable point of view that has all of the relevant information necessary for generating a stable and determinate set of social rules .", "There is no reason , antecedently , to think that such a perspective can be found , however .", "Instead , if we recognize that there are epistemic gains to be had from a `` division of cognitive labor '' there is reason to prefer a diverse rather than normalized idealization of the parties to the contract ( see Weisberg and Muldoon , 2009 and Muldoon 2009 ) .", "There is reason to conclude that if we wish to discover social contracts that best achieve a set of interrelated normative desiderata ( e.g. , liberty , equality , welfare , etc. ) , a deliberative process that draws on a diversity of perspectives will outperform one based on a strict normalization of perspectives ( Gaus 2011b ) .", "James Buchanan goes even further , eliminating all idealization and normalization of the parties ( 2000 -LSB- 1975 -RSB- , 221-222 ) .", "Although , insofar as Buchanan and other contractarians model the parties as guided solely by the reasoning characteristic of Homo Economicus there is some idealization of the parties in terms of their practical rationality .", "Social contract theories differ about the object of the contract .", "In the traditional contract theories of Hobbes and Locke the contract was about the terms of political association .", "In particular , the problem was the grounds and limits of citizen 's obligation to obey the state .", "In his early formulation , Rawls 's parties deliberated about `` common practices '' ( 1958 ) .", "In his later statement of his view Rawls took the object of agreement to be principles of justice to regulate `` the basic structure : ''", "For Rawls , as for most contemporary contract theorists , the object of agreement is not , at least directly , the grounds of political obligation , but the principles of justice that regulate the basic institutions of society .", "Freeman ( 2007a : 23 ) , perhaps the preeminent student of Rawls , focuses on `` the social role of norms in public life . ''", "James Buchanan is concerned with justifying constitutional orders of social and political institutions ( 2000 -LSB- 1975 -RSB- ) .", "Gauthier ( 1986 ) , Scanlon ( 1998 ) , Darwall ( 2006 ) , Southwood ( 2010 ) , and Gaus ( 2011a ) employ the contract device to justify inter-personal moral claims .", "The common thread that runs through all of these contemporary accounts is an idea at the heart of the contract theory , namely that rules and constraints , at whatever level , must be justified to those whom they apply .", "There is some debate over how to understand this condition ( see Gauthier 2003 ) but some version of it underlies the desire for agreement inherent in the idea of the social contract .", "The level at which the object of the contract is described is apt to affect the outcome of the agreement .", "`` A striking feature of Hobbes ' view , '' Russell Hardin points out , `` is that it is a relative assessment of whole states of affairs .", "Life under one form of government versus life under anarchy '' ( 2003 , 43 ) .", "Hobbes could plausibly argue that everyone would agree to the social contract because `` life under government '' is , from the perspective of everyone , better than `` life under anarchy . ''", "However , if a Hobbesian sought to divide the contract up into , say , more fine-grained agreements about the various functions of government , she is apt to find that agreement would not be forthcoming on many functions .", "As we `` zoom in '' ( Lister , 2010 ) on more fine-grained functions of government , the contract is apt to become more limited .", "If the parties are simply considering whether government is better than anarchy , they will opt for just about any government ( including one that funds the arts ) ; if they are considering whether to have a government that funds the arts or one that does n't , it is easy to see how they may not agree on the former .", "In a similar way , if the parties are deliberating about entire moral codes , there may be wide agreement that all the moral codes , overall , are in everyone 's interests ; if we `` zoom in '' in specific rights and duties , we are apt to get a very different answer .", "The point is that the level of agreement on the object of the contract will likely be very different depending on how concretely the contract itself is specified .", "One way to specify the alternative to the contract so as to make the choice situation more determinate is to think of the alternative to the contract not as an idealized `` state of nature '' but rather as the status quo .", "Binmore ( 2005 , 5 ) and Gaus ( 2011a , 424-446 ) suggest that the contract procedure can be used as a device to test different sets of rules against the status quo .", "This is one way to incorporate the insight from Buchanan that when we theorize :", "Binmore , for instance , argues that we should think of the status quo as analogous to the state of nature in traditional contract theories .", "He makes this explicit in his representation of the contract device as a bargaining problem , making the disagreement point of the bargain ( the equivalent of the state of nature ) the status quo ( 2205 , 25 ) .", "To some , this identification of the state of nature with the status quo may seem unduly conservative , but this may be a mistake .", "Recall that Hardin 's complaint against contract theories is that they , in effect , rig the game in favor of a particular outcome by making the disagreement point or state of nature so horrible that almost any alternative will look attractive in comparison .", "By making the disagreement point the status quo instead of the Hobbesian state of nature , however , agreement will be harder to achieve because , presumably , many will find the status quo attractive .", "Whether or not this will lead to conservative outcomes depends on the alternatives that are put up against the status quo .", "It also depends on the nature of the status quo .", "Each starting point will present new challenges and will likely result in different points of agreement .", "Another way to avoid ambiguity is the determination of the object of agreement is to follow Buchanan and , arguably , Gauthier in developing a two-stage contract theory .", "Buchanan divides his contract procedure into two stages : the constitutional and post-constitutional .", "The object of the constitutional stage is to develop a system of constraints that will allow individuals to peacefully co-exist , what", "Buchanan calls the `` protective state '' ( 2000 -LSB- 1975 -RSB- ) .", "The state of nature , for Buchanan , is characterized by both predation and defense .", "The amount of time one can engage in productive enterprises is decreased because of the need to defend the fruits of those enterprises against those who would rely on predation rather than production .", "We have reason to contract , according to Buchanan , in order to increase the overall ability of everyone to produce by limiting the need for defense by constraining the ability to engage in predation .", "Once the solution to the predation-production conflict has been solved by the constitutional contract , members of society also realize that if all contributed to production of various public goods , the productive possibility of society would be similarly increased .", "This second , post-constitutional stage , involves what Buchanan calls the `` productive state '' .", "Each stage is logically distinct though there are causal relationships between changes made at one stage and the efficacy and stability of the solution at the later stage .", "The distinction between the two stages is analogous to the traditional distinction between commutative and distributive justice .", "Although these two are often bound up together in contemporary contract theory , one of Buchanan 's novel contributions is to suggest that there are theoretical gains to separating these distinct objects of agreement .", "Suppose we have identified the object of the parties ' deliberations : practice , norms , basic institutions , moral codes , etc. .", "Now social contract theories fundamentally differ in whether the parties reason differently or the same .", "As we have seen ( \u00a7 2.2 ) in Rawls 's contract everyone reasons the same : the collective choice problem is reduced to the choice of one individual .", "Any one person 's decision is a proxy for everyone else .", "In social contracts of this sort , the description of the parties ( their motivation , the conditions under which they choose ) does all the work : once we have fully specified the reasoning of one party , the contract has been identified .", "The alternative view is that , even after we have specified the parties ( including their rationality , values and information ) , they continue to disagree in their rankings of possible social contracts .", "On this view , the contract only has a determinate result if there is some uniquely rational or correct way to commensurate the different rankings of each individual to yield a social choice ( D'Agostino , 2003 ) .", "We can distinguish three different commensuration mechanisms .", "As Rawls recognized in his 1958 essay `` Justice as", "Fairness '' one way for parties to resolve their disagreements is to employ bargaining solutions , such as that proposed by", "Rawls himself rejected bargaining solutions to the social contract since , in his opinion , such solutions rely on threat advantage and `` to each according to his threat advantage is hardly a principle of fairness '' ( Rawls 1958 , 58n ) .", "Gauthier , however , famously pursued this approach , building his", "Morals by Agreement on the Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining solution ( see also Gaus 1990 , Ch .", "Binmore ( 2005 ) has recently advanced a version of social contract theory that relies on the Nash bargaining solution , as does Muldoon ( 2009 ) while Moehler ( 2010 ) relies on a `` stabilized '' Nash bargaining solution .", "In addition to Rawls 's concern about threat advantage , a drawback of all such approaches is the multiplicity of bargaining solutions , which can significantly differ .", "Although the Nash solution is most favored today , it can have counter-intuitive implications .", "Furthermore , there are many who argue that bargaining solutions are inherently indeterminate and so the only way to achieve determinacy is to introduce unrealistic or controversial assumptions ( Sugden , 1990 , 1991 ) .", "Similar problems also exist for equilibrium selection in games ( see Vanderschraaf 2005 and Harsanyi and Selten 1988 ) Although appealing to a bargaining solution can give determinacy to a social contract , it does so at the cost of appealing to a controversial commensuration mechanism .", "We might distinguish bargaining from aggregation solutions .", "Rather than seeking an outcome that ( as , roughly , the Kalai-Smorodinsky solution does ) splits the difference between various claims , we might seek to aggregate the individual rankings into an overall social choice .", "Arrow 's theorem and related problems with social choice rules casts doubt on any claim that one specific way of aggregating is uniquely rational : all have their shortcomings ( Gaus 2008 , chap .", "1 and 2 ; 1982 ) develops a contractual theory much like Rawls 's .", "Reasoning behind a veil of ignorance in which people do not know their post-contract identities , he supposes that rational contractors will assume it is equally probable that they will be any specific person .", "Moreover , he argues that contractors can agree on interpersonal utility comparisons , and so they will opt for a contract that aggregates utility at the highest average ( see also", "This , of course , depends on the supposition that there is a non-controversial metric that allows us to aggregate the parties ' utility functions .", "Binmore ( 2005 ) follows Harsanyi and", "Amartya Sen ( 2009 , Chap .", "13 ) in arguing that interpersonal comparisons can be made for the purposes of aggregation , at least some of the time .", "One of the problems with this approach , however , is that if the interpersonal comparisons are incomplete they will not be able to produce a complete social ordering .", "As Sen points out , this will lead to a maximal set of alternatives where no alternative is dominated by any other within the set but also where no particular alternative is optimal ( Sen , 1997 ) .", "Instead of solving the aggregation problem , then , interpersonal comparisons may only be able to reduce the set of alternatives without being able to complete the ordering of alternatives .", "There is a long tradition of thinking of the social contract as a kind of equilibrium .", "Within this tradition , however , the tendency is to see the social contract as some kind of equilibrium solution to a prisoner 's dilemma type situation ( see Gauthier , 1986 and Buchanan , 2000 -LSB- 1975 -RSB- ) .", "Brian Skyrms ( 1996 , 2004 ) suggests a different approach .", "Suppose that we have a contractual negotiation in which there are two parties , ordering four possible `` social contracts '' :", "Let 3 be the best outcome , and let 1 be the worst in each person 's ranking ( Alf 's ranking is first in each pair ) .", "We thus get Figure 1", "The Stag Hunt , Skyrms argues , `` should be a focal point for social contract theory '' ( 2004 , 4 ) .", "The issue in the Stag Hunt is not whether we fight or not , but whether we cooperate and gain , or each go our separate ways .", "There are two Nash equilibria in this game : both hunting stag and both hunting hare .", "Alf and Betty , should they find themselves at one of these equilibria , will stick to it if each consults only his or her own ranking of options .", "In a Nash equilibrium , no individual has a reason to defect .", "Of course the contract in which they both hunt stag is a better contract : it is", "Pareto superior to that in which they both hunt hare .", "The Hare equilibrium is , however , risk superior in that it is a safer bet .", "Skyrms argues that the theory of iterated games can show not simply that our parties will arrive at a social contract , but how they can come to arrive at the cooperative , mutually beneficial contract .", "If we have a chance to play repeated games , Skyrms holds , we can learn from Hume about the `` shadow of the future '' : `` I learn to do a service to another , without bearing him any real kindness ; because I foresee , that he will return my service , in expectation of another of the same kind , and in order to maintain the same correspondence of good offices with me and with others '' ( Skyrms 2004 , 5 ) .", "Sugden , along different lines , also suggests that repeated interactions , what he calls `` experience '' is essential to the determination of which norms of social interaction actually hold over time ( 1986 ) .", "The problem with equilibrium solutions is that , as in the stag hunt game , many games have multiple equilibria .", "The problem then becomes how to select one unique equilibrium from a set of possible ones .", "The problem is compounded by the controversies over equilibrium refinement concepts ( see Harsanyi and Selten 1988 ) .", "Many refinements have been suggested but , as in bargaining theory , all are controversial to one degree or another .", "One of the interesting developments in social contract theory spurred by game theorists such as Skyrms and Binmore is the appeal to evolutionary game theory as a way to solve the commensuration and equilibrium selection problem ( Vanderschraaf 2005 ) .", "What can not be solved by appeal to reason ( because there simply is no determinate solution ) may be solved by repeated interactions among rational parties .", "The work of theorists such as Skyrms and", "Binmore also blurs the line between justification and explanation .", "Their analyses shed light both on the justificatory problem -- what are the characteristics of a cooperative social order that people freely follow ?", "while also explaining how such orders may come about .", "The use of evolutionary game theory and evolutionary techniques is a burgeoning and exciting area of contract theory .", "One of the many questions that arise , however , is that of why , and if so under what circumstances , we should endorse the output of evolutionary procedures .", "Should one equilibrium be preferred to another merely because it was the output of an evolutionary procedure ?", "Surely we would want reasons independent of history for reflectively endorsing some equilibrium .", "This problem highlights the concern that social contracts that are the product of evolutionary procedures will not meet the publicity condition ( \u00a7 1.3 ) in the right kind of way .", "If the publicity condition seems harder to meet , the evolutionary approach provides a powerful and dynamic way to understand stability .", "Following Maynard Smith , we can see stability as being an evolutionarily stable strategy equilibrium or an ESS ( 1982 ) .", "Basically this is the idea that an equilibrium in an evolutionary game where successful strategies replicate at higher rates is stable if the equilibrium composition of the population in terms of strategies is not susceptible to invasion by a mutant strategy .", "An ESS is an application of the Nash equilibrium concept to populations .", "A population is evolutionarily stable when a mutant strategy is not a better response to the population than the current mix of strategies in the population .", "This gives a formal interpretation of Rawls 's conception of `` inherent stability '' and to Buchanan 's notion that social contracts should be able to withstand subversion by a sub-population of knaves .", "This new conception of stability combined with the dynamic nature of evolutionary games provides interesting new ways for the social contract theorist to model the output of the contract .", "Suppose , then , that we have arrived at some social contract .", "Depending on the initial justificatory problem , it will specify principles ( P ) that have some normative property ( N ) -- such as justice , morality , authority , obligation , legitimacy , mutual benefit , and so on .", "But , supposing that the contract has generated principle P with the relevant normative property N , precisely what is shown by the fact that P was generated through the contractual device ?", "Throughout we have been distinguishing the justificatory problem from the deliberative model .", "Now the strongest that could be claimed for a contractual argument is that the outcome of the deliberative model is constitutive of both the correct solution of the justificatory problem and that P has N. On this `` constructivist '' reading of the outcome of the deliberative model , there is no independent and determinate external justification that", "P has N that the contractual device is intended to approximate , but , rather , that P is the outcome of the deliberative model is the truth-maker for `` P has", "Rawls , along with Gauthier and Buchanan , were attracted to such a reading .", "Rawls ( 1999 , 104 ) describes the argument from the original position as invoking `` pure procedural justice '' -- the deliberative situation is so set up that whatever principles it generates are , by the fact of their generation , just .", "But though Rawls sometimes seemed attracted to this strong interpretation , his considered position is that the outcome of the deliberative model is indicative ( not constitutive ) of the correct solution to `` the question of justification '' ( 1999 , 16 ) .", "We might say that the deliberative model is evidence of the proper answer to the question of justification .", "However , this is still consistent with Rawls 's `` constructivism '' because the answer to the justificatory problem is constitutive of P 's having N .", "So we might say that Rawls 's two principles are just -- simply because they are in reflective equilibrium with the considered judgments of you and me , and that they would be chosen in the original position is indicative of this .", "The weakest interpretation of the contract is that the contractual result is simply indicative of the correct answer to the justificatory problem , which itself is simply indicative of the fact that P has N .", "One could be a `` realist , '' maintaining that whether P has N is a fact that holds whether or not the contract device generates principle P with", "N , and independently of whether the correct answer to our justificatory problem ( i.e. , what we can justify to each other ) is that P has N .", "There is still room for contractualism here , but not `` constructivism . ''", "Some , for example , have argued that T.M. Scanlon 's theory is actually based on a sort of natural rights theory , where these rights are prior to the contract ( Mack 2007 ) .", "Even if this is correct , Scanlon can be a sort of social contract theorist .", "The diversity of possible approaches within social contract theory indicates the variety of different uses to which social contract theory can be applied .", "The social contract theories of Hobbes , Locke and Rousseau all stressed that the justification of the state depends on showing that everyone would , in some way , consent to it .", "By relying on consent , social contract theory seemed to suppose a voluntarist conception of political justice and obligation : what is just depends on what people choose to agree to -- what they will .", "Only in Kant ( 1797 ) does it become clear that consent is not fundamental to a social contract view : we have a duty to agree to act according to the idea of the `` original contract . ''", "Rawls 's revival of social contract theory in A Theory of Justice did not base obligations on consent , though the apparatus of an `` original agreement '' persisted as a way to help solve the problem of justification .", "As the question of public justification takes center stage ( we might say as contractualist liberalism becomes justificatory liberalism ) , it becomes clear that posing the problem of justification in terms of a deliberative or a bargaining problem is a heuristic : the real issue is `` the problem of justification '' -- what principles can be justified to all reasonable citizens or persons ."], "_citing_sentence": "Thus, a social contract exists between the people and their government.", "_claim_name": "The government has a right to make decisions in the best interest of the people", "_doc_title": "Contemporary Approaches to the Social Contract (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2012 Edition)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [173, 174, 175, 176, 177]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning"], ["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Urban-rural relationsIdentification of some of the misguided development interventions in the past provides a better understanding of the components for an agri-environmental framework that meets the requirements of a `` growing cities/growing food '' scenario in the context of sustainable development .", "Such a framework is needed as the supply and demand conditions for food have undergone significant changes in Asian countries.On the supply side the interaction of rural and urban labour markets and rural and urban food production and processing need to be addressed .", "Regarding labour markets and following the Schultz urban-industrial hypothesis ( Schultz 1953 ) , the interaction between rural and urban labour markets is marked by a regional disparity in income .", "The demand for labour in urban ( relative to rural ) areas grows faster than the supply .", "The effect is magnified by the more rapid rural natural increase in population .", "Disproportionality between supply and demand in the short run raises urban relative to rural wages .", "As stated by", "Katzmann ( 1974 : p. 687 ) `` potential migrants from rural areas will weigh their lifetime gain in earnings against its economic and psychic costs .", "The farther a rural area is from the urban opportunities , the higher the costs of migrating and acquiring information about these opportunities .", "Consequently at economic equilibrium conditions , rural income will increase with distance from urban centres . ''", "On the other hand , physical distance is no longer a real constraint to information diffusion , and migration may occur on a seasonal or temporal scale only .", "After planting , farmers move to the cities to work in the construction or tourism industries and return to harvest their crops .", "The extent of this form of migration became transparent during the Asian financial crisis .", "A study by the World Bank ( Feder 2000 ) has shown that small farmers , despite a lower degree of agricultural commercialization , were more seriously affected by the crisis because the share of non-farm income on their total household income is higher than that of larger farms .", "In conclusion , due to the relationship between urban and rural labour markets , economic development in urban agglomerations is affected by migration costs on the one hand but , in turn , can also significantly affect rural livelihood .", "Furthermore , migration decisions are based on perceived costs and benefits with a strong tendency to overestimate the latter .", "One successful rural migrant visiting his former village will attract numerous others who have only a slight chance of achieving their desired level of economic success in the city.On the production side , agriculture in general has become more intensive in terms of external input use and more commercialized on the output side .", "In response to technological changes on the production side and urban consumer demand for increasing amounts of only a few staple foods on the output side , agriculture has become less diversified relative to the time when the main purpose of farms was to produce food for the household itself .", "Today , in many", "Asian countries , the once integrated crop-livestock farm is just a memory .", "Technology input from the private and public sectors has been mainly concentrated on rice , corn and wheat .", "Technology and price factors ( as mentioned in the previous section ) have stimulated monoculture .", "The use of high yielding varieties , fertilizer and chemical pesticides has created well-known negative side effects on the environment , farmers ' and consumers ' health .", "Water for irrigation has been practically free of charge for farmers , contributing to its inefficient use .", "At the same time dwindling water resources have led to increasing competition between rural and urban water users .", "Consolidation and concentration of agroindustry have accompanied developments in the post-harvest sector over the past decade on the urban fringe .", "These changes may have increased transaction costs for effectively signalling changes in consumer preferences to producers .", "Despite obvious interconnection between urban-based factor and product markets and rural food production , there is still a lack of coordination between private and public urban and rural planning and public policy interventions largely due to the sector orientation of governmental policy.There is also a connection between urban labour markets and agricultural production .", "As migrants fail to find adequate employment in urban areas , they tend to produce their own food on whatever land they can find .", "The phenomenon of urban agriculture in many cities of the developing world is a reality although its magnitude in quantitative terms is still undetermined .", "Some estimates place the number of people who engage in some form of urban agriculture at around 800 million people worldwide ( UNDP 1996 ) .", "On the demand side changing consumer preferences induce modifications to the food industry .", "In South East Asia this is especially true for fruits and vegetables ( Isvilanonda 1992 ; Jansen et al. 1996 ) .", "The driving forces behind these developments are changes in input and output price , development of physical infrastructure , population growth , increase in per capita income , and better informed consumers ( Ali 1998 ) .", "In Thailand , for example , the share of vegetables as a percentage of total crop value increased from some 20 percent in 1985 to 35 percent in 1994 ( Titapiwatanakun 1998 : p. 1 ) .", "Likewise the share of fruits and vegetables in total consumption expenditures increased from 19.0 to 24.3 percent whereas the share of rice and cereals decreased ( IBID : p. 2 ) .", "This value change is also accompanied by changes in quantity ( Ali 1998 : p. 2 ; Inoue and Titapiwatanakun 1997 ; IBID : p. 2 ) .", "The growing demand for vegetables has been accompanied by a rapid transformation of the traditional chain marketing system to a more diversified system of retailing through discount stores , supermarkets and convenience stores .", "These changes have been accompanied by adjustments in the whole distribution system , e.g. central markets and large-scale trading .", "This adjustment has stimulated the growth and concentration of the food processing industry .", "Consumers have become aware of potential health hazards caused by over and misuse of pesticides especially in vegetable production and of the environmental damage caused by indiscriminate use of chemicals .", "Although some of these perceptions may be the result of wrong or biased information and public hysteria , they nevertheless influence consumer decisions .", "As a result , city people gradually become interested in agriculture and are a driving force behind the emergence of niche markets especially for `` green products '' .", "In conclusion , rural relations in Asian countries have become more complex .", "Despite the contraction of the agricultural sector as measured in its share of GDP , food production affects human development in rural as well as in urban areas in a multifaceted way .", "This rural complexity poses a challenge to both rural and urban planners to effectively coordinate public policy interventions .", "It becomes clear from exploring only some of the urban-rural relations that agriculture and food is too much of a cross-cutting issue to be left to agricultural experts alone whose paradigm until now has been made up of a rather one-sided rural production philosophy .", "Identification of some of the misguided development interventions in the past provides a better understanding of the components for an agri-environmental framework that meets the requirements of a `` growing cities/growing food '' scenario in the context of sustainable development .", "On the supply side the interaction of rural and urban labour markets and rural and urban food production and processing need to be addressed .", "On the production side , agriculture in general has become more intensive in terms of external input use and more commercialized on the output side .", "There is also a connection between urban labour markets and agricultural production ."], "_citing_sentence": "Myths can be easily propagated by a single successful migrant returning home to visit that then attracts many others to try their luck without any knowledge of the possible costs.", "_claim_name": "Poor, uneducated people are lured into cities", "_doc_title": "Urban-rural relations", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15, 16]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Who is being Trafficked in Vietnam ?", "Action being taken in Vietnam", "Contact UNIAP Vietnam", "Who is being trafficked in Vietnam ?", "Human trafficking affects women , men and children in Vietnam .", "Trafficked persons experience various difficulties ranging from physical and mental health issues , to economic and social reintegration issues .", "There are various vulnerability factors to human trafficking and usually no single factor brings about the vulnerability of a person .", "Women and girls are considered more vulnerable to trafficking than men due to unequal gender relations and social and economic power , but it is important to recognize the agency both women and men exert in the migration process and the special needs of children in making that decision .", "There is an increasing demand for virgins and children in prostitution , due to such factors as the threat of HIV/AIDS .", "Vietnam is also increasingly a destination for child sex tourism with perpetrators coming from various countries .", "Trafficking in newborn babies , foetuses , viscera and counterfeit adoption documents for the trade of children has also been identified .", "Main Routes for Trafficking in Vietnam", "Vietnam is primarily a source country for men , women , and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor , but also marriages .", "The main destination countries are China and Cambodia , but there are other destination countries within and GMS as well .", "Vietnam is also a recipient country for trafficked persons from Cambodia and serves as a transit country for Chinese children to Cambodia .", "In addition , internal trafficking of women and children has become apparent , mainly from rural areas to urban areas .", "From Vietnam to China", "Women , children and newborn babies are trafficked for marriage , labor exploitation , sex work and adoption .", "Wives from Vietnam are in demand , due to both demographic and economic factors , such as China 's `` female deficit '' and bride prices .", "Social pressure for marriage and to have children are risk factors for rural women .", "The use of violence , abduction and anesthetic seems on the rise by increasingly organized networks .", "The majority of the trafficked women and children come from Vietnam 's northern provinces through unofficial paths or border gates in Lang Son , Quang Ninh and Lao Cai , but also Cao Bang , Ha Giang and Lai Chau .", "Across the border , Bang Tuong , Dong Hung , Quang Xi , Nam Ninh , Ha Khau are receiving communities .", "But , destinations for trafficking now extend beyond the border provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi to inland provinces such as Henan , Hebei , Anhui , Jiangsu and Guangdong .", "According to official estimates , trafficked women into China account for 70 % of the total number of trafficked women abroad , but the nature and numbers remain difficult to determine .", "From Vietnam to Cambodia", "Due to Vietnam 's recent history , large numbers of Vietnamese have migrated to Cambodia , whose children remain largely stateless and more vulnerable to exploitation .", "Vietnamese are often perceived as more diligent and beautiful by Cambodian society , fuelling the demand for Vietnamese migrants and , more specifically Vietnamese prostitutes .", "Studies indicate that 15 -- 32 % of sex workers in Cambodia are of Vietnamese origin .", "Individuals enter prostitution either voluntarily or by force , however , debt bondage is particularly prominent among Vietnamese sex workers in Cambodia .", "Around 50 % of the trafficked persons of Vietnamese origin identified in Cambodia come from An Giang province .", "They come through three main routes : the border checkpoints at Toanlaop , Bavet , or Kansang in Cambodia ; by plane to Phnom Penh ; and , by river via three river checkpoints : Chery Thom and K'om Samnor in Kandal province , and Bak Dey in Takeo province in Cambodia .", "From Vietnam to Other GMS Countries In addition to trafficking to Cambodia and China , Lao PDR and Thailand are also reportedly destination and transit countries for trafficked Vietnamese from central and southern part of the country .", "Limited research and interventions to date provide some indications of trafficking into the commercial sex industry in Lao PDR mainly to serve the male Vietnamese workers there .", "Findings to date , however , indicate that : ( 1 ) the vast majority are more than 18 years old and entered voluntarily ; and ( 2 ) exploitation is not widespread .", "The East-West Economic Corridor linking Vietnam ( Lao Bao border gate ) , Lao PDR and Thailand , may also increase both migration and human trafficking vulnerability of Vietnamese migrants", "From Vietnam to Beyond the GMS", "Vietnamese women and children , especially from the southern provinces , are sold into the sex trade in other countries .", "From Cambodia and Thailand , the women and children are reportedly transferred to third countries such as Macao , Taiwan-China , Hong Kong-China , Malaysia and even to European countries .", "In addition , an increasing number of young Vietnamese women are trafficked for marriage purposes particularly to Taiwan and South Korea .", "The lure of marriage to a man in a comparatively rich country , coupled with a promised payment of anything up to $ 5,000 ( or ten times the average annual wage ) , is often too much of a temptation for rural women and their families .", "Disguised under the form of arranged marriages , many women become domestic slaves rather than honored wives .", "From Cambodia to Vietnam", "Trafficking is mostly into begging in Ho Chi Minh City ( HCMC ) and elsewhere in southern Vietnam , involving young or handicapped children , women with babies and elderly people .", "Cambodian children are also trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor to sell various articles on the street .", "Difficult climate and poverty in Svay Rieng province are key push factors .", "Family debt , lack of opportunities , the acceptance of child work , and the myth of `` big money '' are other vulnerability factors .", "Traffickers are often local women who recruit children of poor families in financial difficulties , and disabled children .", "Internal Trafficking Internal trafficking is thought to be closely linked to the rural-urban migration flows .", "Prostitution is prevalent in Hanoi , HCMC , Quang Ninh , Hue , Da Nang , Khanh Hoa , Ba Ria-Vung Tau , Hai Phong and Da Lat , which are said to be major destinations of internal trafficking .", "Trafficking in the form of labor exploitation also takes place in the domestic , agricultural and construction sectors , as well as in factories , sweatshops , karaoke bars etc. .", "Poverty and indebtedness , lack of awareness/education , family breakdown and problems , individual nature , influence of friends are frequently cited vulnerability factors .", "Similarly , the vulnerability factors for children in prostitution , are largely listed and not analyzed ( family poverty , indebtedness , social exclusion , low education , dysfunctional families and external influences , i.e. , consumer values , peer pressure , and filial piety ) .", "Children in prostitution , enter either voluntarily or by force , sometimes under pressure from family members .", "Boys in prostitution appear to be rare , but vulnerabilities in relation to ethnicity are still debated .", "For more trafficking information from UNIAP Vietnam and sources for the above statistics , download the SIREN Human Trafficking Datasheet for Vietnam -LSB- Download PDF -RSB-"], "_citing_sentence": "Some of those who are trafficked find themselves brought to the city and exploited through forced labour, begging, or even prostitution.", "_claim_name": "Poor, uneducated people are lured into cities", "_doc_title": "UNIAP  |  no-trafficking.org  |  Who is Being Trafficked in Vietnam?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [12, 17]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 118, "_topic_name": "This House believes that developing nations should place restrictions on rural-urban migration"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["David Grayson for the Guardian Professional network", "Monday 25 July 2011 05.39 EDT", "Last modified on Monday 25 July 2011 05.48 EDT", "The baying mob in full cry , circling alleged perpetrators of great wrongs , is not a pretty sight .", "Sudden swarming , like nests of disturbed wasps , is bad both for corporate and political decision-making , and for justice .", "In an era of 24/7 news-channels , internet and social media , the potential for swarming is dramatically magnified -- as we have seen in the last three weeks .", "Many now expect the phone-hacking scandal to engulf more newspapers .", "Personally , I have no specialist knowledge of either the media or mobile telephone technology .", "I certainly do n't understand the culture of news organisations with the constant pressure to get the scoops .", "Yet it does n't take too much imagination to speculate how practices like phone hacking might have started .", "Nor to see how phone hacking spread as boundaries blurred .", "I do n't think one has to be over-credulous to understand an evolution where hackers did not ever stop and consciously recognise a Rubicon crossed .", "This is not to excuse .", "It is to try and understand .", "I do n't want to be misunderstood .", "I am as appalled as most people are by the hacking of Millie Dowler 's phone or that of the other victims .", "Of course the hackers and their immediate journalistic clients have to share some responsibility .", "However , from a corporate responsibility perspective , we should be more concerned with the responsibilities of media company managements : editorial and commercial .", "It is management that creates the culture of sales targets ( circulation and advertising ) and profitability improvements at all costs .", "It is management which -- intentionally or negligently -- suggests business results are so important that employees should not be too fastidious about how these results are achieved .", "Perhaps News International was one of those organisations that thought you could have some `` CSR initiatives '' on the side , get some high-profile CSR adviser , do some corporate philanthropy -- and imagined that it was that boxed ticked .", "Yet corporate responsibility is about how companies behave in their core operations : how they go about their business .", "How they make their money .", "Part of the challenge that long-term capitalists who believe that improving environmental , social and governance performance is a superior route to long-term value-creation have faced , has been the failure of much of the media really to get to grips with thinking about responsible business .", "Arguably , some parts of the media have helped to perpetuate sloppy and out-dated thinking about CSR .", "Recent events suggest that this may have been at least partly because their own corporate behaviour at best represented CSR as a `` bolt-on '' to business operations rather than responsible business being `` built-in '' to business purpose and practice .", "If what journalists experienced on their own doorstep was `` bolt-on , '' it is not surprising that is how they presented corporate responsibility in their newspapers .", "The News International scandal reminds us again that you can not think your way into a new mode of acting .", "Rather you have to act your way into a new mode of thinking .", "One desirable and long-term outcome of the scandal might usefully be deeper and more informed media coverage about debates about the responsibilities of business and just what being a responsible corporation involves .", "Is that too much to expect ?", "David Grayson is director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management and a member of the GSB editorial advisory panel"], "_citing_sentence": "It is the owners and the management that create the corporate culture which in Murdoch tabloids meant profits at all costs and doing anything to get a story.", "_claim_name": "Murdoch is morally unfit to run a powerful media company.", "_doc_title": "Phone hacking: what corporate responsibility could have done to stop it | Guardian Sustainable Business | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [18]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Saturday 28 April 2012 16.00 EDT", "Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 13.35 EDT", "Assuming the role of the loyal manservant after Rupert Murdoch 's first day of evidence at the Leveson inquiry , the Times suggested in its leader that we were at last seeing its master humanised .", "Instead of the familiar caricature , `` Murdoch emerged as someone with a broad experience , a ready wit , a commitment to newspapers and readers and a becoming humility '' .", "Only in that word `` becoming '' was there anything resembling a Jeeves-like demurral on the matter of Murdoch 's personality .", "By the end of the second day 's testimony , the paper looked silly .", "Murdoch had revealed himself as one of those toxic elderly relatives who leverage as much from the weakness of others as from their own ability , spreading self-doubt and calamity along the way .", "We watched for the facts about his access to Number 10 , business practices and response to the phone-hacking scandal , but the really compelling part was the character revealed in those 10 hours .", "To that degree , he was humanised -- or at least made flesh -- and , in the process , his grip on British political life was relaxed that much more .", "Murdoch 's defenders always said that his power was never as great as his enemies maintain and now insist the issue is only of historic interest , because newspapers are in decline .", "They add , as if obituarising , that he risked much to increase plurality in the British media and was one of the boldest and most visionary entrepreneurs to emerge since the Second World War .", "To concede these things does not invalidate the truth of the News International scandal , which is that the body count of those who had direct or indirect contact with Murdoch , whether by chance or choice , is extremely high .", "Prime ministers , MPs , newspaper editors , business executives , members of the public , special advisers , ordinary journalists , celebrities , senior policemen , lawyers and even family members are littered in his trail .", "While more than 30 individuals wait to hear if they will face criminal charges , reputations are in shreds and political careers on life support , Murdoch , like a Marvel Comics villain , puts on the don 's Borsalino at the end of last week 's show , flashes the re-enamelled fangs and is swept from the Royal Courts of Justice looking triumphant .", "Of course he has been irreparably damaged by the scandal , as he pointed out several times ( like all true villains , Murdoch aspires to victimhood ) .", "It 's just that he seems to be suffering a good deal less than anyone else who became entangled with his enterprises .", "Even after his tactical penitence in court , he could n't help himself from settling scores with , among others , Gordon Brown , Harold Evans , Colin Myler , Tom Crone , David Yelland and Paul Dacre .", "The most revealing barb was aimed at Andrew Neil , because it showed Murdoch 's self-pity as well as his vindictiveness -- `` Mr Neil seems to have found it very profitable to get up and spread lies about me , but that 's his business . ''", "To watch him was both fascinating and debilitating .", "Never before had I quite understood friends in New York who dread dinners with Murdoch , because he is liable to tell you at length about his company 's new iPad app or give you a tour d'horizon of new and old media .", "Like many autocrats , he 's a bit of a crasher , astonishingly incurious and profoundly lowering .", "But the part where my ears pricked up during his evidence was when he started talking about democracy , because while democracy and free speech nearly always form his alibi , it is in these areas that he has done most damage .", "His frequent claim on the word democracy was striking .", "While speaking about privacy , he said : `` If we 're a transparent society , a transparent democracy , let 's have it out there '' and : `` A privacy law is always proposed for the protection of the great and the good ... not for the people who make up our democracy . ''", "He also told the inquiry that `` meeting politicians is part of the democratic process '' ; `` local newspapers have a great history of contribution to our democracy '' ; and `` a varied press guarantees democracy and we want democracy rather than autocracy '' .", "The use of the first person plural , the `` we '' and `` our '' of these utterances is highly objectionable , because Murdoch is obviously not one of us .", "He is an American citizen who does not pay taxes in Britain and does not vote here .", "It is no more his democracy to preach to us about than it is Vladimir Putin 's .", "But the larger hypocrisy is that while he argues that he increased media plurality , he has been a steady drain on British democracy , debauching it with his cynicism and corrupting the process with threats and inducements , murmured in back channels .", "The idea that he did not ask favours from those seeking election is simply risible .", "They needed him and he needed them -- why else would Cameron go to Santorini or Blair go to Hayman Island ?", "But , hey , this particular nightmare is over .", "A reporter and editor did their jobs brilliantly , the long-awaited House of Commons select committee report will be published this week and can not surely fail to doubt his and son James 's word , and Leveson trundles on , eliciting truth with great subtlety .", "We can take heart that Murdoch is already finished as a political force here , that the record of his morbid influence is being settled and serious crimes will be prosecuted .", "What we have to focus on now is protecting our democracy from the influence of such a character again .", "And that means directing an unflinching gaze at our own complacency as well as the evidence of current influence on , for instance , the Scottish first minister , Alex Salmond .", "Did Salmond lobby for the BSkyB merger , and was it in exchange for favourable coverage in the Scottish Sun ?", "Jeremy Hunt is in grave trouble because of similar dealings and he should resign immediately , while Cameron may yet find himself in a greater fix , having allowed himself in a few brief weeks around Christmas 2010 to be surrounded by people lobbying for the merger between News International and BSkyB , talking to James about the deal at dinner with Rebekah Brooks , riding one of the horses loaned to her by the police and employing in a senior position at Number 10 Andy Coulson , Brooks 's former deputy at the News of the World .", "It 's humiliating to realise how easy it was for Murdoch to ensnare the British prime minister and Scotland 's first minister and , before that , how his company 's agenda formed the core of at least three of Cameron 's announcements on the scrapping of Ofcom , a review of the BBC licence fee and the relaxation of impartiality rules in broadcasting .", "It is as if Cameron had taken dictation .", "My belief is that he is in serious trouble and that this scandal has a long way to go and might yet bring him down .", "We can no longer trust politicians to adjudicate on bids and mergers involving the media because they have too much to gain and lose .", "If journalists are to be more closely regulated , politicians must also be distanced from these decisions and changes in media ownership made more transparent and open to challenge and meaningful consultation .", "The point of regulations and institutions is to defend the relatively fragile democratic process from people like Murdoch .", "The fact that none of the safeguards worked and we came within a whisker of allowing his near total dominance of the marketplace further erodes our faith in the political class to act in the interests of the public .", "Let 's not forget that it was largely accident , and the dedication of a very few journalists , that exposed the cover-up , of which Murdoch now claims , with eye-watering hypocrisy , that he was a victim .", "Rupert Murdoch did n't do all this by himself .", "Over the years , he accrued a large number of supporters outside politics and his own newspapers ; people who were happy to attend his parties and write sycophantic pieces about the benefits he brought to our society -- whether because they were in awe of his withering cynicism or simply supported his obsessions with neoliberal economics and going to war in Iraq .", "These hangers-on were corrupted by Murdoch and enabled his dark side as much as any politician did over the last 30 years .", "We are rid of this destructive character , and that is worth celebrating , for nothing so becomes him as this slow-motion downfall .", "But let 's not forget that he took advantage of our weaknesses and of our failure to apprehend his true nature ."], "_citing_sentence": "Murdoch himself in his testimony to Leveson said \"If we're a transparent society, a transparent democracy, let's have it out there\" yet he has been exactly the opposite in terms of accountability and transparency.", "_claim_name": "There was a lack of transparency in News Corp", "_doc_title": "We are rid of Murdoch and that is worth celebrating | Henry Porter | Opinion | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Dial M for Murdoch : News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain .", "By Tom Watson and Martin Hickman .", "Allen Lane ; 384 pages ; # 20 .", "To be published in America in hardback on May 8th ; Blue Rider Press ; $ 26.95 .", "E-book already available ; $ 10.99 .", "URGING jurors to convict Al Capone of tax evasion in 1931 , a federal prosecutor portrayed the Chicago mob boss 's fate as a turning-point in American history .", "This verdict would establish whether a man `` can so conduct his affairs that he is above the government and above the law . ''", "On November 10th 2011 , in the blander setting of a British parliamentary committee room , charges of similar rhetorical weight were advanced against News International ( NI ) , the British arm of News Corporation , Rupert Murdoch 's global media business .", "By then NI , by far the largest media company in Britain , which was once courted by political leaders of left and right , had already endured a grim year .", "The troubles began in January 2011 when Andy Coulson , a former NI editor , resigned as press chief to the prime minister , David Cameron .", "He was later arrested on suspicion of corruption and conspiring to intercept telephone voicemails .", "Further arrests followed of other NI executives , former editors and tabloid reporters , amid claims of industrial-scale snooping .", "Charges included the illegal hacking of voicemail messages on the phones of politicians , celebrities and ordinary people caught up in high-profile crimes .", "Revelations of spying on a 13-year-old murder victim , Milly Dowler , and her family triggered a spike in public outrage .", "Mr Murdoch responded by closing NI 's bestselling Sunday tabloid , the News of the World , and abandoning a multi-billion-pound bid to take over the whole of BSkyB , a profitable satellite-television company .", "Questions of police collaboration pushed the head of the Metropolitan Police , the country 's leading force , to step down .", "Four months later , shielded from defamation law by parliamentary privilege , a Labour member of parliament , Tom Watson , upped the stakes .", "Expressing disbelief that NI bosses had not known about lawbreaking in their newsrooms , Mr Watson told Mr Murdoch 's son James , a senior NI executive , that he must be `` the first mafia boss in history who did n't know he was running a criminal enterprise '' .", "`` Mr Watson , please '' , replied the younger Mr Murdoch .", "`` I think that 's inappropriate . ''", "Mr Watson , in collaboration with Martin Hickman , a journalist from the Independent newspaper , has now published a book-length indictment of the Murdoch businesses , attempting -- in effect -- to prove that his soundbite was all too appropriate .", "In part it is a recital , spiced by insider anecdote , of the scandal that has enveloped the British press since 2005 , when the young Prince William wanted to find out how a Murdoch tabloid knew about his slightly hurt knee , leading to the first probes into phone hacking .", "At its most readable , the book has the pace and moral scorn of a prosecutor 's summing up .", "Deriding the slow , fingernail-dragging retreat of NI bosses from their claim that a lone `` rogue reporter '' had broken the law , the authors describe how that became `` a few rogue reporters '' , then finally a whole `` rogue newspaper '' , sacrificed to save a parent company that the book calls a `` shadow state '' .", "Mr Watson alleges that the NI team was apparently so sure of its police and political connections that it felt able to destroy evidence , threaten critics and cover up wrongdoing with impunity .", "Carl Bernstein ( of Watergate fame ) is quoted finding `` remarkable '' parallels between the woes of the Murdoch press and the scandal that felled Richard Nixon .", "A rising star under Gordon Brown , Mr Watson offers glimpses of the world of mirrors inhabited by the ruling classes and the press .", "The same tabloids that hounded politicians and police chiefs then offered them lucrative gigs as columnists .", "Both the main parties have distanced themselves from Mr Murdoch 's business , but ties were once strikingly cosy .", "Tony Blair is godfather to one of Mr Murdoch 's young daughters , and David Cameron went riding with the husband of Rebekah Brooks , a former NI boss and neighbour .", "Readers may struggle at times to navigate the claims and counter-claims .", "Bold talk of a mafia-like conspiracy also points to the book 's central weaknesses .", "Mr Watson has a tendency to exaggerate ; whatever Mr Murdoch is , he does not gun down his enemies .", "Secondly , a prosecutorial indictment of one firm is not enough to fix Britain 's broken political-media system .", "A mobster like Al Capone can be jailed .", "Impeach a wicked president , and good government can return .", "Mr Murdoch 's media empire is not a criminal gang to be locked behind bars , leaving the streets safe .", "It is the largest player in a British newspaper industry in which abuses were rampant across many titles .", "The book dwells at length on nastiness among the powerful .", "But millions of ordinary newspaper-buyers gave Mr Murdoch his clout -- and did not murmur when tabloids invaded the privacy of the rich or famous .", "Without the Milly Dowler case , involving an ordinary schoolgirl , the public mood might never have turned against the News of the World .", "Nor is NI a shadowy secret state .", "It is a business which has behaved wretchedly , but which also does something increasingly rare : in most years it makes a profit by disseminating the news .", "In part , Mr Murdoch makes journalism pay by running both serious , loss-making British titles such as the Times and lurid , bullying , popular tabloids like the Sun .", "Wish the tycoon away , and there might simply be fewer newspapers in Britain .", "That would be a high price to pay .", "Britain 's rowdy , raucous press also holds governments to account , assesses election promises , reports from battlefields and lives to highlight the hubris of the mighty .", "It is unclear how much Mr Watson , a star of the Westminster blogosphere and Twitter community , might care .", "His book points scornfully to Mr Murdoch 's quaint love of ink and old forms of media .", "He depicts the hapless tycoon discovering `` the protest power of an electronic age '' ; Twitter and Facebook swiftly consolidated outrage and lent a `` devastating '' momentum to calls to boycott the News of the World .", "Yet that fury was largely parasitic , feeding on years of painstaking , professional investigative reporting , above all by the Guardian , the ( loss-making ) daily that broke many of the phone-hacking stories .", "Exposing horrible practices within the British press , some of them blatantly against the law , is an important mission , not yet complete .", "In recent years it has been hopelessly bungled by those meant to keep watch , from toothless press regulators to the police .", "No journalist or proprietor should feel above government or law .", "Now , however , comes a still harder task : crafting new forms of oversight and media-ownership rules that work , leaving Britain with a free press that is less horrible but still profitable .", "To that vital debate , this energetic , morally indignant book has almost nothing to add ."], "_citing_sentence": "Tom Watson MP has gone so far as to accuse Murdoch of being \"the first mafia boss in history who didn't know he was running a criminal enterprise\".", "_claim_name": "Murdoch is morally unfit to run a powerful media company.", "_doc_title": "Stringfellows | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [17]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Matthew Holehouse 4:55 PM GMT 22 Feb 2012", "Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch 's youngest daughter , Chloe .", "He shares the honour with Lachlan Murdoch , the media baron 's eldest son and the actors Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman .", "Mr Blair was present in March 2010 when Murdoch 's two daughters by his third wife , Wendi , were baptised on the banks of the Jordan .", "The former Prime Minister was said to be `` garbed in white '' at the event , hosted by Queen Rania .", "Tony Blair attended the baptism of Rupert Murdoch 's wife Wendi Murdoch 's papers had been heavily critical of Neil Kinnock in the 1992 election .", "But things changed when Mr Blair flew to Hayman Island , Australia , while opposition leader in 1995 to address News Corp executives .", "Mr Blair later said in his memoirs : `` The country 's most powerful newspaper proprietor , whose publications have hitherto been rancorous in their opposition to the Labour party , invites us into the lion 's den .", "You go , do n't you ? ''", "Meetings between politicians and media is inevitable , says Tony Blair", "The great Murdoch conspiracy", "Mr Blair said of Murdoch : `` He was hard , no doubt .", "He was rightwing .", "I did not share or like his attitudes on Europe , social policy or on issues like gay rights , but there were two points of connection : he was an outsider and he had balls . ''", "In 1997 the daily tabloid announced : `` The Sun Backs Blair - give chance a chance . ''", "In 2005 , ahead of Gordon Brown 's election bid , it swung back to the Tories , saying : `` Labour 's Lost It . ''", "Mr Blair would address the annual gathering in California again in 2006 .", "During his time in office Mr Blair did little to change the regulation of newspapers or BSkyB .", "The News International titles supported the war in Iraq , and former Number 10 staff credit Murdoch for discouraging Blair from holding a referendum on euro entry .", "`` I think if there had n't been Murdoch there , he would have felt braver and more able to follow his instincts .", "It was certainly under consideration for early in the second term .", "The fact that there was n't one is a credit to Rupert Murdoch rather than to anyone else , '' recalled Lance Prince , a former Blair press secretary .", "Alastair Campbell , Mr Blair 's press secretary , attended News International chief executive Rebekah Wade 's wedding to Charlie Brooks - as did David Cameron and Mr Murdoch .", "Rebekah Brooks is a friend of both Tony and Cherie Blair", "He later defended the relationship .", "`` For any political leader who 's been operating in Britain in the last 30 or 40 years , the power of the media is such that you ca n't but have a relationship with people who are major and powerful media people .", "`` By the way , that 's not limited to News International .", "There 's this slight sense in the UK where it 's all about Rupert Murdoch and News International .", "That 's true of any of the major media outlets . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "His influence was such that even naturally left wing parties such as New Labour under Tony Blair stuck to right wing or wing orthodoxies in order to keep the support of the Murdoch press.", "_claim_name": "Murdoch is morally unfit to run a powerful media company.", "_doc_title": "The Blairs and the Murdochs: a special relationship - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 12, 13]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Rupert Murdoch says there was a `` cover-up '' at the News of the World but he insists it was kept hidden from him .", "The News Corp boss told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics he and senior executives were `` shielded '' from the extent of phone-hacking at the tabloid , which he was forced to close .", "He said : `` I also have to say that I failed , and I am very sorry about it . ''", "A former member of staff said later it was a `` shameful lie '' to suggest he had been involved in a cover-up .", "On claims that `` one rogue reporter '' was responsible for phone-hacking , Mr Murdoch said senior executives were all misinformed about its extent .", "`` I do blame one or two people for that ... someone took charge of a cover-up we were victim to and I regret that . ''", "He said a lawyer , whom he described as a `` drinking pal '' of NoW journalists , forbade staff to report instances of phone hacking .", "Mr Murdoch also told the inquiry he and senior executives were misinformed from what was going on .", "After the inquiry had adjourned for the day , former News International legal manager Tom Crone said Mr Murdoch could have been referring `` only '' to him when he mentioned a company lawyer .", "He added that Mr Murdoch 's claim was a `` shameful lie '' .", "Mr Murdoch also said the editor , Colin Myler , had failed to report back .", "By Peter HuntNews correspondent", "A rather different Rupert Murdoch was on display for the second day of his evidence .", "Having emerged unscathed from Wednesday 's grilling over his relationships with politicians , a penitent proprietor was this morning under oath as he faced questioning about the phone hacking scandal .", "The mea culpas kept on coming .", "`` I am very sorry about that . ''", "The fault though did n't lie with him or others at the top .", "He was n't guilty , he insisted , of a cover-up .", "Others were at the News of the World though he did n't explicitly name names .", "And the man who is passionate about papers - who has print ink running through his veins , the inquiry heard - provided his rivals with a headline for their coverage .", "Speaking about the News of the World hacking scandal , Rupert Murdoch told the court : `` It is going to be a blot on my reputation for the rest of my life . ''", "Mr Myler , who became editor in 2007 , told the inquiry last year that he had accepted phone hacking must have been limited because police had not shown otherwise .", "But he said he feared `` bombs under the newsroom floor '' in the form of possible widespread wrongdoing in the past .", "In other developments during his second day of evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice , 81-year-old Mr Murdoch said :", "Mr Murdoch went on to apologise to all the `` innocent '' staff at the tabloid who lost their jobs when the newspaper closed after journalists hacked into the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler .", "`` I am guilty of not having paid enough attention to the News of the World , probably throughout all of the time that we 've owned it . ''", "Explaining why he closed the NoW , he said after the Dowler story was given `` huge publicity '' he `` could feel the blast coming in the window , almost '' and panicked .", "He said he regretted the phone-hacking scandal at the newspaper , adding : `` It is going to be a blot on my reputation for the rest of my life . ''", "BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins said Mr Murdoch at times painted himself as a victim , saying people had lied about him , but the tycoon ultimately argued that he had now built a new company .", "Earlier , Mr Murdoch said he was `` surprised '' by how long email contacts between one of his executives and the government went on during his bid to gain control of broadcaster BSkyB .", "But he added that Frederic Michel , who repeatedly refers to contacts with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt , had done nothing wrong .", "Mr Hunt 's special adviser Adam Smith has quit over the emails and the minister faces calls to follow him .", "The media mogul said he did not believe he had ever met Mr Hunt and he `` certainly did n't discuss '' the bid .", "News Corporation is the parent company of News Group , which owned the News of the World , and owner of 39 % of BSkyB .", "Broadcast regulator Ofcom , which is investigating BSkyB 's fitness to own a broadcasting licence , has asked News Group newspapers for the documents disclosed in civil cases relating to phone hacking .", "At the end of his seven hours of evidence to the inquiry , Mr Murdoch urged Lord Justice Leveson not to over-regulate the press .", "`` I think you have a danger of putting regulations in place which will mean there will be no press in 10 years to regulate .", "`` And I honestly believe that newspapers and all they mean , mistakes and qualities , are a huge benefit to society . ''", "On Thursday , the inquiry also heard about the number of meetings between Prime Minister David Cameron and Mr Murdoch .", "By Torin DouglasMedia Correspondent", "BBC political correspondent Norman Smith said Downing Street had disputed claims that Mr Cameron could have had up to eight meetings since he became prime minister , saying there had been only two meetings .", "On another occasion Mr Murdoch was in the audience during a speech by Mr Cameron , and there was also a social event , Downing Street said .", "Our correspondent adds that the reasons for Downing Street 's denials are that it wants to shield Mr Cameron from any controversy , quash the idea that Mr Murdoch has easy access to the prime minister , and dispel the impression that there is some sort of inner sanctum of influence within the Establishment .", "A revised list of meetings between Mr Murdoch and British prime ministers was provided to the Leveson Inquiry by Mr Murdoch after Thursday 's session .", "It listed four events with Mr Cameron - two meetings , one dinner and the News Corp summer party - as well as one `` proposed '' meeting and one `` possible '' breakfast .", "Meanwhile , culture select committee chairman John Whittingdale has told the BBC he hopes its report into phone hacking will be published on Tuesday ."], "_citing_sentence": "This was a cover up within the News of the World and News International that kept Murdoch out of the loop and misinformed on phone hacking, showing that he was unable to keep control over his businesses when he was the one with ultimate responsibility for the actions of that company.", "_claim_name": "Lack of control", "_doc_title": "Leveson Inquiry: Murdoch admits missing hacking 'cover-up' - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Saturday 28 April 2012 16.00 EDT", "Last modified on Saturday 28 April 2012 16.28 EDT", "The story that unfolded last week at the Royal Courts of Justice has roots that stretch back more than three decades .", "Behind the highly rehearsed faux candour of Murdoch senior , and the bland evasions of his son , lies a story in which democracy -- not just in the UK , but in the US , Australia and elsewhere -- has been consistently and wilfully undermined in pursuit not simply of profit but , far more corrosively , of power .", "For the past 30 years , the Murdoch empire has sought to undermine and destabilise elected governments , and independent regulators , in pursuit of a political agenda that , while hiding behind a smokescreen of free market orthodoxy , is in the end nothing less than a sophisticated attempt to optimise the power and influence of News Corporation and its populist , rightwing agenda .", "That 's to say low ( or better still , no ) corporate taxes , minimal state regulation and the creation of an aura of `` exceptionalism '' sufficient to convince and recruit many of the most senior politicians in the western world to either turn a blind eye or actively help the company to achieve its commercial objectives .", "The strategy is well-honed and , as Murdoch himself once admitted , brutally simple .", "`` You tell the bloody politicians what they want to hear and once the deal is done do n't worry about it , '' ran one quote in Thomas Kiernan 's biography , Citizen Murdoch .", "`` They 're not going to chase after you later if they suddenly decide what you said was n't what they wanted to hear .", "Otherwise , they 're made to look bad and they ca n't abide that .", "So they just stick their heads up their asses and wait for the blow to pass . ''", "The prime minister , Jeremy Hunt and other cabinet ministers were simply the latest in a long line , reaching back over three decades , to find themselves seduced by the possibility of Murdoch 's support , only to discover their fair-weather friend has a habit of turning nasty when things fail to go his way .", "Indeed , as I once ( unsuccessfully ) tried to explain to Jeremy Hunt , vast quantities of political capital can be spent clearing up the unintended consequences of what might , at the time , have appeared politically expedient decisions .", "It is now clear that the extent of the secretary of state 's prior dealings with the Murdoch empire , in opposition and then in government , were such as to make it totally inappropriate for him to have been handed political responsibility for oversight of News Corporation 's bid for the whole of BSkyB .", "He now finds himself branded as having behaved , not impartially , but more like a dodgy ref who not only demonstrates bias on the pitch , but ducks into the dressing room at half-time to offer advice .", "To any politician with a serious interest in pursuing a `` quasi-judicial '' approach based on carefully assembled evidence , it ought to have been clear from the outset that the level of unregulated market and financial power that would accrue to News Corporation as a result of this transaction was likely to ensure the eventual emasculation of `` free to air '' public service broadcasting as we 've known it .", "It should have been clear that the BBC and Channel 4 would in a relatively short time have become little more than publicly funded research-and-development operations for subscription services , in danger of following the trajectory towards irrelevance that 's been the fate of the public broadcasting system in the US .", "Almost exactly 10 years ago , I had the privilege of chairing a joint committee ( Lords and Commons ) that sought to unhook any future secretary of state from the decision-making nightmare into which Mr Hunt has plunged himself .", "Clearly we failed .", "As he described it in Parliament last week : `` This is a problem that has bedevilled politics for a very long time ... they are very , very difficult issues . ''", "On 6 July 2009 , the then leader of the opposition , David Cameron , announced that , should he become prime minister , he would remove Ofcom 's policy-making powers and cut back the communications regulator `` by a huge amount '' .", "He went on to say that `` the scope of their influence raises important questions for our democracy and our politics -- these are organisations that feel no pressure to answer for what happens -- in a way that is completely unaccountable '' .", "They must have been cheering him to the echo in Wapping and two months later the Sun came out , all guns blazing , for the Conservative party .", "Corporate objectives and political expediency had found themselves in perfect alignment .", "Rereading that `` Bonfire of the Quangos '' speech in the light of last week 's events , it 's hard to know whether to laugh or to cry !", "I 've devoted the past 30 years of my life to issues of media plurality and the challenge of preserving the widest possible spectrum in the provision of both information and entertainment .", "Many will argue , with some justification , that the shotgun marriage that became BSkyB brought a significant degree of plurality and diversity to broadcast television , albeit at a cost few would have believed possible 25 years ago .", "However , a successful media environment does not happen by accident and , when it does occur , it can and to my mind absolutely should be supported by thoughtful and sensitive regulation .", "What is certain is that plurality and diversity are not , and never can be , a natural `` byproduct '' of unregulated market forces .", "I believe it 's the responsibility of public policy to ensure the independence and diversity of opinion that have been a unique hallmark of our national culture , a quality much envied in other parts of the world .", "I 've also attempted to be strictly non-partisan in my commitment to these issues .", "At different times , this has led to battles with most of the relevant unions and trade bodies , all of the broadcasters , even my own party .", "In every case , what I was opposing was the concentration of power -- be it from the market or elsewhere .", "The impact of new communication technologies has , if anything , made this more rather than less challenging .", "I would argue that competition law , in a fast-moving sector such as the media , must be able to take account of , and make judgments based on , `` highly probable '' as well as `` actual '' market dominance .", "In the House of Lords and elsewhere , I have repeatedly called for a comprehensive cross-media impact study -- so far to no avail .", "At the end of his session with Lord Justice Leveson , Rupert Murdoch described the digital landscape , which we have now entered , as one in which tablets and GPS-enabled smartphones are displacing newsprint .", "The potential of this technology to engender even greater competitive diversity in an intelligently regulated democracy ought to be very welcome .", "It should result in a broadening of the lens through which we see the world , not a narrowing of it .", "But that requires a clear regulatory framework that encourages , in fact enables , media plurality to flourish .", "We can not , for example , legislate for good journalism , but we can legislate for the conditions under which the very best journalism is nurtured and sustained .", "We can create frameworks in which each new technology becomes a spur for diversity , not an instrument of its erosion .", "My passion was always based on a conviction that `` information '' and its related industries are unlike any other , in that they have an enormous influence on the broadest range of opinions and behaviour -- in fact on the very health of society .", "As the distinguished historian Lord Hennessy put it : `` This debate is about nothing less than the nature of 21st-century sovereignty . ''", "Lord Puttnam is a Labour peer and was chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee for the 2003 Communications Act"], "_citing_sentence": "This is however not at all how Rupert Murdoch ran News Corp or his newspapers.Murdoch has been running his empire in pursuit of power and to advance a right wing agenda.", "_claim_name": "Murdoch is morally unfit to run a powerful media company.", "_doc_title": "News Corporation has sought to undermine elected governments | David Puttnam | Opinion | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 119, "_topic_name": "This House believes Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to run an international media corporation"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Add this article to your reading list by clicking this button IF Spain has become a noisy place , with protest against austerity now a daily event in some cities , the soccer match on October 7th between arch-rivals FC Barcelona and Real Madrid threatens to be noisier still .", "Both sides will be roaring for goals from the likes of Barcelona 's Leo Messi or Real Madrid 's Cristiano Ronaldo .", "But many fans at Barcelona 's Camp Nou stadium will also holler for independence for their Catalan homeland .", "`` It will be very , very loud , '' warned one senior local businessman .", "FC Barcelona is fanning the separatist flame .", "It will hand out red and gold coloured placards to the 98,000 fans at the match so they can ring the pitch in a giant Catalan national senyera flag .", "Shouts for independence will be timed to coincide with the seventeenth minute and fourteenth second of each half -- symbolically matching the year , 1714 , when Catalans lost key rights .", "The match also presents football-loving separatists with a quandary that neatly sums up many of the obstacles to Catalan independence .", "Many view FC Barcelona as a national Catalan team manqu\u00e9 even if Mr Messi is from Argentina and many other players are not Catalan .", "But should an independent Catalonia have its own soccer league ?", "If so , should Barcelona , used to playing mighty Real Madrid and other well-financed , talented teams , join that new league ?", "That would force the club to play poorly-financed local tiddlers and , probably , lose its position as a world soccer power ( it has won the all-important European Champions League competition three times in the last seven seasons ) .", "The bi-annual cl\u00e1sico against Real Madrid with its reported 400m strong global TV audience would become history .", "Sandro Rosell , the club chairman , may have joined the September 11th march in Barcelona that shot Catalan independence to the forefront of national debate , but he is clear about the club 's future .", "It must continue to play in the Spanish league , he says , even if Catalonia becomes independent .", "But would the Spanish league allow it to stay ?", "Barcelona 's football club is not the only business that would have to make tough decisions if independence came .", "Others would also have to choose their new `` home '' market .", "Would it be Catalonia 's relatively well-off 7.5 m residents ?", "Or would they rather make their home among the remaining , not-as-rich 40m in Spain ?", "Barcelona proudly declares itself to be the capital of the world 's Spanish-speaking publishing business .", "Jos\u00e9 Manuel Lara , chairman of the giant Planeta publishing house , which each year hands out one of the world 's wealthiest literary prize , worth $ 601,000 ( $ 783,000 ) , has already said his company would go .", "It would be absurd to be based in a country that had a different language , Catalan , as its official tongue .", "Foreign investors already face a similar dilemma .", "Should they invest in Catalonia ?", "They do not know either whether they should invest in Spain , if a Catalan break-off is a threat to the country 's stability .", "Spanish executives and bankers already report that Catalonia is the first thing they are asked about when they travel abroad .", "Regional premier Artur Mas has called a snap election on November 25th .", "Many see this as a plebiscite on independence , though Mr Mas may try to water that down .", "Either way , the election obliges Catalonia 's often ambiguous politicians , especially Mr Mas 's nationalist Convergence and Union coalition , to define themselves on the independence issue .", "Anything less than absolute clarity risks adding to the uncertainty and pushing investors even further away ."], "_citing_sentence": "Allow a referendum, particularly if it has to be accompanied by a long period of campaigning for reflection and Catalans will have to agonise whether it is in their own best interests, decide whether they want to damage their economy by having large companies such as Planeta the world's largest Spanish language publishing business pulling out, sever extensive links with Spain, and risk their membership of the European Union which Spain would veto.", "_claim_name": "Control over Catalan destiny would reduce tensions and may help prevent independence", "_doc_title": "Spanish politics: Hostage to Catalonia | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [21]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["In addressing Catalunya 's call for autonomy , the EU and Spain must remember lessons from Slovenia 's case for independence .", "There are clear parallels between the situation in Spain and that of Yugoslavia in the late 1980s .", "Pro-independence protesters in Barcelona .", "The political and fiscal conflicts between the Spanish government and Catalunya have intensified over the last few years .", "After up to 1.5 million people rallied in Barcelona on 11 September 2012 the atmosphere in Catalunya has changed significantly - calls for independence are now mainstream .", "So far Spain has refused to engage in any dialogue with the", "Catalans and has invoked the provisions of the 1978 post-Franco constitution to reject calls for greater fiscal autonomy as well as to block Catalans from holding a referendum on independence .", "Spain is in the throes of an economic crisis and the central government is taking action to centralise the state and promising more of the same .", "The controversial 2010 decision of the Spanish constitutional court which declared any referendum organised by the", "Catalan government as unconstitutional , and furthermore the provocative statements by Colonel Alam\u00e1n recall the situation Yugoslavia found itself in in the late 1980s .", "Ethnic tension is wrongly considered the cause of the break-up of Yugoslavia .", "The causes were first and foremost economic and constitutional .", "Under the 1974 Constitution the Socialist Federal Republic of", "Yugoslavia ( SFRY ) was a highly de-centralised federal state made up of six constitutive Republics ( Slovenia , Croatia , Bosnia , Serbia , Montenegro and Macedonia ) and two autonomous regions ( Kosovo and Vojvodina , which formed part of Serbia ) , each with its own parliament and considerable fiscal independence .", "At the time of its adoption , the 1974", "Constitution was seen by many as the blueprint for a peaceful transition from a centralised state led by the communist party to a market-based pluralistic democracy .", "The Preamble of the 1974 Constitution confirmed that `` -LSB- t -RSB- he peoples of Yugoslavia , on the basis of the right of every people to self-determination , including the right to secession ... have united in a federal republic of free and equal peoples '' .", "Article 1 made clear that SFRY was `` a federal state of voluntarily united peoples and their socialist republics and the socialist autonomous regions '' .", "Despite the clear wording of the", "Constitution , the pro-centralists argued that the republics and autonomous provinces had no right to secede and that any such action would be illegal .", "By the late 1980s Yugoslavia was in a severe economic crisis , inflation was rampant ( 400 % in 1988 and 1600 % in 1989 ) and the calls for democratisation and decentralisation were rising strongly .", "The year 1989 saw the legalisation of political parties and 1990 saw the first multi-party elections .", "At the same time , however , reactionary forces ( led by the federal army and the leaders of the Serbian communist party ) were trying to turn the clock back to the times before the 1974 Constitution .", "They succeeded in 1988 in pushing through the adoption of amendments to the 1974 Constitution , which effectively curtailed the autonomy of the republics and the autonomous provinces and thus sparked a a full-blown constitutional crisis .", "A further attack on the constitution and the political framework of the country followed on quickly when Milosevic , then", "President of the Communist Party of Serbia , proceeded to forcibly overthrow the local governments of the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina ( which had been strengthened by the 1974 Constitution and attained considerable autonomy from the Serbian government ) as well as the government of Montenegro in late 1988 and early 1989 .", "These moves gave the pro-Serbian bloc de facto control of half the votes in the federal institutions , enabling them to block all economic , political and constitutional reforms proposed by the other", "The next attack on the de-centralised Yugoslav constitutional framework occurred in March 1989 when under the guise of a state of emergency declared in Kosovo after the Trepca miner 's strike , the Serbian", "Parliament adopted a new Constitution of Serbia on 27 March 1989 whereby it considerably weakened Kosovo 's autonomy .", "With the 1974 constitutional arrangement in tatters , Slovenia and Croatia were left with no other choice but to demand that a new constitutional arrangement be drawn up .", "As net contributors to the federal state they demanded greater fiscal independence and greater decentralisation of power and decision making .", "As constitutive republics they had greater fiscal independence than", "Catalunya has today .", "Although calls for independence from", "Yugoslavia were becoming more vocal they were by no means mainstream in either", "Slovenia or Croatia in 1988 and 1989 .", "In fact the political elite in Slovenia did not embrace these calls until mid-1990 , after Yugoslavia had in fact ceased to be a functioning state .", "The referendum on the independence of", "Slovenia on 23 December 1990 took even the political leaders by surprise .", "An overwhelming ninety-five percent of the vote ( and 88.5 % of all Slovenians turned out to vote in the referendum ) supported independence .", "Interestingly , a rearguard attempt to get the Yugoslav Constitutional Court to declare the referendum illegal and so prevent it from being held had failed .", "Based on the arguments of the constitutional judge Dr Ivan Kristan representing Slovenia , the", "Constitutional Court of Yugoslavia held on 20 December 1990 that no action had yet been taken pursuant to the Law on the Referendum for the Independence of", "Slovenia which had or would cause irreparable harm .", "Therefore , it concluded that although the question of the constitutionality of the Law was a matter which it would consider it refused to grant a provisional measure to stop the referendum from taking place .", "The resounding support of the Slovenes in the referendum for independence rendered the subsequent ruling meaningless .", "The break-up of Yugoslavia had been foreseeable and certainly was not inevitable .", "There is little doubt that had the EU and the US supported the pluralistic and democratic forces in Yugoslavia instead of the reactionary and military forces , the bloody war that followed the break-up could have been avoided .", "There is even a case to argue that that the break-up of the country could have been avoided as well .", "One hopes that lessons can be learned from the Slovenian case .", "The key lesson for the Spanish central government is that it must resist the temptation to use the economic crisis to centralise Spain at a time when Catalunya and other regions of Spain are demanding greater fiscal independence and decentralisation .", "The time of centralised , top-down rule and the rule of political parties has passed .", "The countries in the EU which are bold enough to embrace this paradigm shift will be the ones who come out of the present crisis stronger .", "The lesson for the EU is that it must not stand on the sidelines as issues which go to the heart of democratic rule and human rights are being debated in one of its member states .", "The EU can not aspire to evolve into a federation itself without ensuring that the will of the people throughout its lands is allowed to be heard and is respected .", "The most important lesson is that steps must be taken , and the pressures of the EU and the international community brought to bear on all parties , to ensure that there is dialogue between the Spanish central government and Catalunya as well as with the other provinces of Spain .", "A functioning democracy presumes a continuous process of discussion in order to ensure that democratic institutions continue to evolve and reflect the aspirations and will of all the people of Spain .", "With the Catalans and the", "Spanish government seemingly unable to make any progress on their own , the EU must take the lead in ensuring that there is a structured dialogue between them should , as they are expected to , pro-independence parties win an absolute majority in Catalunya at the elections on 25 November 2012 .", "There is no time to lose .", "A shorter version of this article has previously been published ( in Catalan ) by El Punt Avui .", "Ana Stanic is an English lawyer with expertise in international and EU law .", "She has written on international law on financial state succession .", "Democracy and government", "We encourage anyone to comment , please consult the oD commenting guidelines if you have any questions .", "Tweets about `` opendemocracy ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Some outside observers see parallels with the break up of Yugoslavia where the solution has to be further decentralisation and the center accepting a democratic route - in Yugoslavia failure to do so ultimately lead to several wars.", "_claim_name": "If a referendum is not allowed violence may be the result", "_doc_title": "Catalunya and Spain: more than time for dialogue | openDemocracy", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 20, 47]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information , people and ideas , Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information , news and insight around the world .", "Europe , Middle East , & Africa +44\u00a020\u00a07330\u00a07500", "Asia Pacific +65\u00a06212\u00a01000 It is a truth believed by nations around the world that their borders are God-given and immutable .", "It 's also false .", "The important question -- as Standard & Poor 's downgrades Spanish debt to a grade above junk and Catalonia contemplates a referendum to secede -- is when breaking up is right .", "That 's hard even for outsiders to judge dispassionately , but as Europe 's debt crisis washes away some of the redistributive glue that has held together the continent for the past half-century , it 's also important .", "Scotland and Catalonia plan referendums on secession from two of Europe 's largest economies as soon as 2014 , and others may follow -- this weekend , a Flemish separatist won an election to become the mayor of Antwerp , Belgium .", "In the case of Catalonia , there is a thicket of historical , legal and economic issues to cut through .", "Catalans speak a distinct language , were once separate from the rest of Spain , and contribute more in tax to Madrid than they receive back -- a net annual loss of 8 percent of the region 's gross domestic product , according to the government in Barcelona , although that 's probably an overstatement .", "Catalonia also suffered severe repression during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco .", "Things have been much better since , with Catalonia and Spain 's 16 other regions gaining substantial autonomy .", "But democratic Spain never reached a full settlement between the Castilian center and the regions , and in 2010 , Spain 's Constitutional Court watered down a new Catalonia settlement that the Spanish parliament had approved four years earlier .", "Now Spain 's economic crisis has led to renewed centralization and resentment , as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy seeks to impose more budgetary control on the regions .", "Last month , more than 1 million Catalans turned out to demonstrate for independence on La Diada , Catalonia 's national day , which celebrates ( or mourns ) defeat and submission to Madrid in 1714 .", "The turnout surprised everyone .", "President Artur Mas called early elections for Nov. 25 , and said that if he gets a mandate he 'll call a referendum on independence .", "Legally , Spain 's constitution does n't allow for one -- by contrast the U.K. 's laws do give Scotland the right to a vote .", "But would secession improve life for Catalans and Spaniards ?", "Probably not , and especially not now .", "Catalonia represents about 16 percent of Spain 's population , 20 percent of the economy and 30 percent of exports .", "A contested bid for independence and disruption of payments to the center would probably Spain 's fragile finances , with unpredictable consequences for Catalonia , Spain and the rest of the euro area .", "Not all of the arguments for independence are straightforward .", "Catalonia is a long way from being all Catalan .", "Between 2000 and 2011 , its population rose from 6.2 million to 7.5 million , with immigrants who came from outside Spain accounting for 1 million of the increase .", "A large if difficult-to-determine proportion of the remaining 6 million were born in other parts of Spain .", "One way to look at who comes from where is by examining language .", "Although schools in Catalonia are taught in Catalan , 44 percent of the population ca n't write in the language , indicating that it may be their second tongue .", "Moreover , Catalonia 's economy is intricately connected to the rest of Spain .", "Hong Kong 's Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd. is investing as much as 500 million euros ( $ 647 million ) to expand Barcelona 's port to service 110 million consumers in Spain and France , not just the 7.5 million in Catalonia .", "The central government is building the new rail link required .", "A contested divorce would hurt Catalan economically .", "That 8 percent of GDP transfer to Madrid would be eaten up quickly by the increase in bureaucracy and services that Catalonia would have to replicate for itself .", "Catalonia has a debt problem of its own and is seeking a bailout from Madrid while calling for independence .", "An independent Catalonia would n't automatically get to join the EU -- Spain , as an existing member , would probably have the right to veto that .", "Given all those complications , the most likely outcome is a lengthy negotiation .", "The challenge for both sets of leaders is to avoid scorched earth tactics that spook markets and damage the economy .", "Secession does n't need to happen to keep a majority of Catalans happy .", "Even now , opinion polls suggest a referendum for independence would be very tight , with 51 percent saying yes .", "As recently as 2007 , support for independence was 15 percent .", "It would n't take much to reverse the trend .", "Things have come to this pass primarily due to the ineptitude of the ruling People 's Party in Madrid , which complains that Catalonia 's leaders are taking advantage of Spain 's economic weakness to push their own political agendas .", "There 's something to that , but Spain needs to settle on a constitutional arrangement and tax distribution that both sides can accept .", "It is n't a question of no tax transfers , but a new agreement on the amounts .", "The Basques already get a better deal than the Catalans .", "The People 's Party also needs to stop pushing centralization and Spanish nationalism .", "On Oct. 11 , Education Minister Jose Ignacio Wert said he wants to `` Hispanicise '' pupils in Catalonia , following on his demands to centralize the school curriculum to reflect a more Spanish version of history .", "Such moves are needlessly provocative and he should reverse them .", "The central government should also cede more regional control over infrastructure such as Barcelona 's airport .", "Above all , Spain should follow the U.K. 's example by granting Catalonians the right to hold a referendum on independence and conduct a legal , orderly secession if they want to .", "Last week , Spain 's parliament voted against doing so , and it was a mistake .", "Without the right to determine their statehood for themselves , Scots would be enraged .", "Instead , they 're agonizing over whether it 's really in their interests to leave the U.K. in 2014 , no matter how much they love to hate the English .", "By allowing Catalans a free choice in a legally sanctioned referendum , Spain 's government would go a long way toward winning the vote .", "To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg View 's editorials : David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net ."], "_citing_sentence": "If Spain were to offer as an alternative a new constitutional settlement that solves many of the grievances the Catalans have at the moment they might find they really want to remain within Spain, much as many scots would prefer devo-max.", "_claim_name": "Control over Catalan destiny would reduce tensions and may help prevent independence", "_doc_title": "To Keep Catalonia In, Spain Should Allow a Vote to Secede - Bloomberg View", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 41]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Giles Tremlett in Madrid", "Monday 15 October 2012 10.47 EDT", "Last modified on Monday 15 October 2012 12.59 EDT", "Catalonia in north-east Spain will issue a challenge to Brussels when its voters are asked to declare whether they want an independent state within the EU .", "Regional leader Artur Mas said on Monday he planned to ask the question , including the reference to the EU , during a four-year term that starts after regional elections on 25 November -- even though Spain 's prime minister , Mariano Rajoy , has threatened to block a referendum .", "A yes vote in the referendum would not just create a constitutional crisis for Spain , which has no mechanism for allowing the independence of one of its regions , but would also issue a clear challenge to the EU , which has no system for the breakup of a member state .", "A new entity could have future membership blocked by just one member country .", "The Catalan referendum would take place around the time of a similar vote in Scotland in 2014 and could be followed by an independence vote in the Basque country , where nationalists and separatists are expected to win elections this weekend .", "Basque nationalists have long pursued the dream of joining the EU as a separate state on an equal footing with Spain .", "`` Do you want Catalonia to become a new state within the European Union ? ''", "is Mas 's preferred wording for the referendum .", "He told the newspaper La Vanguardia that a definitive question would be agreed by the Catalan parliament , where he can expect to renew his majority on 25 November .", "He said he would like to follow the Scottish example and negotiate a referendum with central government , but Rajoy 's conservative People 's party ( PP ) government has vowed to use Spain 's constitutional court to declare any referendum illegal .", "`` There are legal instruments available to stop this and there is a government prepared to use them , '' the deputy prime minister , Soraya S\u00e1enz de Santamar\u00eda , said recently .", "The justice minister , Alberto Ruiz-Gallard\u00f3n , threatened action against Mas if he ignored the constitutional court .", "`` If a person commits an illegal act ... then that person will have take responsibility for their actions , '' he said on Monday .", "But Mas appears determined to push ahead with a referendum question that could draw the EU into a confrontation between the Catalans and the governments of member states .", "Mas threatened to `` internationalise the conflict '' if Rajoy blocked the referendum .", "`` In that case , we will have to go to Brussels to explain that they do n't even let us consult with the people , '' he told the regional public TV channel TV3 on Monday .", "Mas said David Cameron 's decision to allow Scotland to hold a referendum -- though the Scottish question will not mention the EU -- should be an example to Rajoy .", "`` While the British negotiate , the Spanish state simply threatens , '' he told La Vanguardia .", "His Convergence and Union coalition is close to obtaining an absolute majority in the Catalan parliament , according to the latest polls .", "The separatist Catalan Republic Left party ( ERC ) , which would be a natural ally in the push for independence , is also set to increase its vote .", "Spain 's two biggest parties -- the PP and the PSOE socialists -- are expected to lose seats in next month 's election , reducing their representation in the Catalan parliament to less than 40 % .", "Polls show support for independence in Catalonia has climbed to more than 50 % ."], "_citing_sentence": "So far the Catalan option is simply to \"internationalise the conflict we will have to go to Brussels to explain that they don't even let us consult with the people\".", "_claim_name": "Catalonia will hold its own referendum regardless of Spain's position", "_doc_title": "Catalonia leader threatens to draw EU into independence row with Spain | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [17, 18]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Most Searched 30 Sep 2012 08:41 GMT | Montenegro , Spain", "Could Catalonia become the world 's newest state ?", "The Spanish region - with a culture , history , and language of its own - faces high barriers to becoming a fully independent country .", "But that has n't stopped an emboldened independence movement from trying .", "On Thursday , the parliament in Catalonia - an affluent but debt-laden region in Spain 's northeast - voted to hold a referendum on independence after elections in November .", "Some Catalans have long favoured full independence , as opposed to the semi-autonomous status the region currently enjoys .", "But as Spain 's economy continues to stagnate and unemployment rates remain sky-high , more Catalans are questioning whether they would be better off on their own .", "A June opinion poll found support for full independence at 51 per cent , near record high levels .", "And on Catalonia 's national day this September 11 , a massive pro-independence rally saw between 600,000 and 1.5 million people - about 8 to 20 per cent of the region 's population - take to the streets of the capital , Barcelona .", "Coming to a head Catalonia push for economic independence", "Alfons L\u00f3pez Tena , an MP in the Catalan parliament and the leader of pro-independence party Solidaritat Catalana per la Independ\u00e8ncia , told Al Jazeera that 10 years ago , most people `` thought that it was possible to have a home rule system inside Spain '' .", "Now , he says , public opinion has shifted , and a majority now thinks `` the only way to have a good situation is to be outside Spain '' .", "Pro-independence Catalans cite their region 's strong national identity , and note that Catalan taxpayers pay more to the central government than the region receives in return .", "Long one of the richest and most industralised parts of Spain , data from 2011 shows the region 's GDP per capita is 18 per cent higher than in Spain at large .", "The central Spanish government , however , is annoyed with the calling of a referendum on independence , even if it is non-binding .", "Spain 's deputy prime minister , Soraya Saenz de Santamaria , told a news conference that there were `` legal and judicial instruments '' to stop such a referendum , reported AFP .", "`` And this government is ready to use them . ''", "Given Spain 's precarious economic state , the timing rankled the deputy prime minister , who added on a radio programme that `` this debate , at this time , is creating tremendous instability '' .", "Independence for Catalonia would be far from a cakewalk , especially because secession would seem to violate the Spanish constitution : its Article 2 states that the constitution is `` based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation '' .", "But Artur Mas , the head of government in Catalonia , said the central government 's approval was not necessary .", "`` If we can go ahead with a referendum because the government authorises it , it 's better .", "If not , we should do it anyway , '' he said on Wednesday .", "Last week , Mas called snap elections to be held in November , after the central government rejected his request for more autonomy in collecting taxes .", "Support for Catalan independence has recently increased in part because Spain 's economy is in such dire straits .", "More than a quarter of Spaniards are unemployed , including more than half of young people .", "Four years after a property bubble burst , home prices in Spain continue to fall , and many banks are teetering on the edge of insolvency .", "Tough economic conditions in Spain have caused burgeoning budget deficits , but austerity measures designed to close this gap - including tax hikes and cuts to social spending - are deeply unpopular with the Spanish people , and have sparked mass demonstrations .", "As of July , 56 per cent of Spaniards said they had a bad or very bad opinion of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy , according to a poll conducted by Sigma Dos .", "A recent photograph of Rajoy smoking a cigar on New York City 's Sixth Avenue while Spain braces for another round of belt-tightening has not helped his image .", "Although richer than other parts of Spain , Catalonia has also been hard-hit in recent years - 20 per cent of residents in the region are out of work - and last month the region requested a 5bn euro ( $ 6.43 bn ) bailout from Spain 's central government .", "Amid this malaise , Catalans complain that they pay more to the central government in taxes than they receive in benefits .", "`` All the money that we give in taxes , the Spanish government does n't invest it in Catalonia at all , '' said L\u00f3pez , mentioning that Catalans pay about 24 per cent of taxes collected by the central government .", "And given Catalonia 's population of about 7.5 million people and its highly developed infrastructure , Catalonia `` wo n't have any problem with being economically sustainable '' , said Josep Ramoneda , a philosopher and writer for newspaper El Pais .", "Some economists , though , are sceptical that a new state would indeed be better off .", "`` Catalonia has extremely close links with the rest of Spain , '' University of Edinburgh economics professor Jose Vicente Rodriguez Mora told Al Jazeera .", "A large portion of the region 's exports go to Spain and in the case of independence , Mora said , `` it would be reasonable to assume these links would be severed to a large extent '' .", "In 2005 , a boycott against some Catalan products was launched in Spain in protest against the region 's passage of a new autonomy statute , and a drive for full independence could spur a similar boycott .", "There 's also the matter of European Union membership : if Catalonia were to secede , it would no longer be an EU member , and would have to apply for membership .", "Because the EU requires unanimous approval of new members , refusal on the part of Spain would prevent Catalonia from acceding .", "Indeed , Spain 's foreign minister has already said Spain would `` indefinitely '' veto Catalan accession to the EU , which he termed `` illegal and lethal '' .", "Thomas Jeffrey Miley , a political sociologist at Cambridge University , told Al Jazeera it is `` not clear at all that Brussels would let this happen without consequences .", "... Any one country can veto you .", "Assuming Spain 's not going to veto , do the French want to see precedence of this ? ''", "For his part , L\u00f3pez Tena , the head of Solidaritat Catalana , said he does not see this as a major problem , explaining that Catalonia would still be able to use the euro - just as non-EU members Montenegro and Kosovo use the currency - and would maintain the economic freedoms mandated by the EU .", "A new generation of Catalans - Salvador Giner", "Arguments for independence go far beyond economics .", "Although some degree of Catalan national consciousness has existed for centuries , nationalist sentiment began stirring again in the 1800s .", "The region was granted some autonomy , but during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco , from 1939 to 1975 , the use of the Catalan language in public was illegal , and nationalist sentiment was harshly suppressed .", "During Spain 's transition to democracy in the late 1970s , Catalonia was granted more power to self-govern .", "`` We hoped a lot from the democracy about 35 years ago when Franco finally disappeared , '' said Salvador Giner , the president of the Institute of Catalan Studies .", "`` And yes , we got something , but not all we wanted . ''", "For instance , Giner told Al Jazeera that although the Spanish constitution obliges the state to protect the Catalan language , `` they do n't do anything about it .", "It 's us or nobody .", "We have to look after it .", "This is a treasure for us . ''", "Many people in the region identify themselves primarily as Catalan , not Spanish , and cultural shibboleths inviolable elsewhere in the country are not as sacred in Catalonia : in 2010 the region became the first in mainland Spain to ban bullfighting .", "Today , younger Catalan are more supportive of independence than their older cohort .", "Miley pointed to `` a generation of Catalan schooling '' and the political system 's support `` for a kind of nationalist agenda '' , while Ramoneda said the young lack the `` prejudices or fears '' emerging from Spain 's transition to democracy in the 1970s .", "That said , although the idea of independence may have become more popular in recent years , many in the region originally hail from other parts of Spain , speak Spanish as a first language , and are wary of independence .", "If there is a majority supporting full independence in Catalonia , it 's a thin one at the moment .", "Nevertheless , pro-independence groups have `` mobilisational capacity '' on their side , said Miley , citing the massive September march - whereas opponents of nationalism `` are n't necessarily willing to go out on the street to demonstrate against it '' .", "Although the Catalan parliament approved calling a referendum , it will likely be a long time until the vote actually takes place - and even if the non-binding measure does pass , the independence process will still be far from complete .", "`` The Spanish constitution does not allow certain things , '' explained Giner .", "`` Since we have to do it -LSB- the independence process -RSB- peacefully and in a civilised manner , it 's going to be a long fight . ''", "Elizabeth Melimopoulos assisted with translation from Spanish .", "Follow Sam Bollier on Twitter : @SamBollier", "Source : Al Jazeera and agencies", "Protesters surround parliament in Madrid , while thousands take to the streets of Lisbon in new anti-austerity protests .", "Politics , Europe , Greece , Italy , Portugal", "At least ten people killed and 35 wounded as heavy rains trigger floods in southern coastal towns .", "Environment , Humanitarian crises , Europe , Spain", "Content on this website is for general information purposes only .", "Your comments are provided by your own free will and you take sole responsibility for any direct or indirect liability .", "You hereby provide us with an irrevocable , unlimited , and global license for no consideration to use , reuse , delete or publish comments , in accordance with Community Rules & Guidelines and Terms and Conditions .", "When she was 12 , Grace was abducted and then raped and beaten every day for 11 months .", "Human Rights , Women 's Rights , Child rights", "As the government tightens its grip on the critical press , we explore the issues behind Turkey 's media takeover .", "Media , Turkey , Recep Tayyip Erdogan", "Exclusive gated communities are springing up across Istanbul , but how are they shaping the social fabric of the city ?", "Uganda : ` When my first son with albinism was born ... I did n't know what to think , but I immediately decided to love him . '", "Africa , Uganda , Human Rights", "Politics , Europe , Greece , Italy , Portugal , Spain", "Ultimatum by US-backed forces comes days after coalition strikes allegedly killed 56 civilians in the northern city .", "Syria 's Civil War , War & Conflict , Middle East , ISIS", "Eight Turkish military staff given suspended two-months prison terms for illegal entry into Greece after coup attempt .", "Turkey attempted coup , Turkey , Greece In Burkina Faso , one women challenges stigma and educates mothers on how to prevent transmitting HIV to their children .", "Women , HIV , Burkina Faso", "We see how one of the most cutting-edge prosthetic advancements in the world includes the ability to touch and feel .", "Health , Sweden , Europe", "Al Jazeera tells the story of the caliphate providing a fascinating insight into past empires and present-day politics .", "We examine the debate over climate change in the US and how the city of Miami is dealing with the effects now ."], "_citing_sentence": "If not, we should do it anyway\".", "_claim_name": "Catalonia will hold its own referendum regardless of Spain's position", "_doc_title": "Catalans press for secession from Spain - Al Jazeera English", "_labeled_lineIDs": [19, 20, 21]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["BBC News", "If Catalonia does , one day , get its own air force , it will probably be able to afford something better than Spitfires .", "For now the kit-built replica planes zoom acrobatically across the beach in Barcelona , the crowd 's `` oohs and ahhs '' moderated by that essential Catalan characteristic : cool .", "They shelter under umbrellas to avoid getting tanned .", "And they chat .", "And what they chat about is beginning to cause a quiet terror in Madrid , and in Brussels .", "`` My feeling is that the Spanish government has totally rejected what is happening here , '' says Jorge Fernandez , who has come here to watch the show .", "`` They have spread rejection and hate with comments calling us ` the damn Catalans that do n't want to collaborate ' . ''", "Another spectator , Eduard Castells , says : `` The situation has evidently changed a lot .", "It 's no longer about what people are feeling in their hearts , it 's what they feel in their pockets too .", "And the feeling is that they would be a lot better off if they were not a part of Spain . ''", "Three weeks ago one and a half million Catalans went on the streets , with outright demands for independence much higher in the mix than ever .", "When the government in Madrid refused the region 's demand for a new fiscal settlement , allowing it to keep more of the tax it raises , its government , led by the Convergence and Union ( CiU ) parties , called snap elections .", "They want a referendum on Catalonia 's future : through legal means or otherwise .", "Oriol Pujol , the general secretary of Convergence , tells me : `` We have an enormous fiscal transfer to Spain - about 8 % or 9 % of GDP - and never returns , year after year .", "And we could agree to carry on with that : there 's no problem with agreeing to show solidarity with the rest of Spain .", "But when we have to make double cuts in services , when taxes are double - we have to make a change . ''", "But he is keen to stress this is not just the result of the economic problems that have seen the region demand a 5bn euro bailout from Madrid : `` One cause of it is the crisis , but the crisis just gave the last push .", "It 's the addition of obstacles , one on top of the other by Madrid , over the past two years .", "Political obstacles - and obstacles to identity , which really says to us there is no option to have Catalonia as we imagine it inside the Spanish state . ''", "If , as expected the CiU wins the regional election on 25 November , then the clash over a referendum could crucially affect the course of the coming sovereign bailout for Spain .", "`` If we exhaust all legal routes to get a referendum we wo n't stop , '' says Mr Pujol .", "I ask him , point blank if the region will call a referendum in defiance of the national courts and constitution .", "`` There will be no way to avoid it .", "If we do n't deliver it someone else will .", "More radical parties .", "But in a negotiation , '' he smiles , `` it 's not the best thing to reveal what you are going to do next . ''", "Bond markets , which have for 12 months tried to price the risk of a eurozone breakup , now have to calculate the possibility of the breakup of the Spanish state - for secession in Barcelona would surely prompt centrifugal tendencies in the Basque region , and exacerbate the fiscal crisis in the poorest regions .", "Mr Pujol says that an independent Catalonia - often called the `` Germany of Spain '' , for its high GDP and industrial base - could play a role in turning around the image north Europe has of southern Europe .", "But the rise of Catalan nationalism is provoking tension in Spain itself .", "When I vox-popped villagers in neighbouring Valencia this week , about the impact of the crisis there , talk turned among the oldsters , who had lived through the Civil War , to `` the Catalans '' - the word is almost spat .", "`` It 's outrageous ! ''", "one elderly lady smacked her fist into her palm .", "`` We 'll never let them leave ! '", "Last week a serving officer in the Spanish army , Colonel Francisco Aleman , upped the stakes , telling a website `` Catalan independence ?", "Over my dead body and that of many soldiers '' .", "Adding that the crisis was already `` like 1936 '' - the year the Civil War began - `` only without the blood '' .", "Mr Pujol smiles painfully when I put this to him .", "It 's not exactly laughable he says ; it has to be taken seriously : `` There are no other options than democratic answers - knowing the whole EU and international community are observing what Spain answers .", "It 's not the moment : we passed that some years ago . ''", "`` The politics of fear , not only the comment of this person from the army , will appear : we know that .", "But the process is so driven by enthusiasm that we think such comments show how weak Spain is faced with the process in Catalonia . ''", "If they ever do become a country , they will of course have no trouble fielding a football team .", "At Barcelona fans ' bar , the supporters watching their team trounce Benfica are adamant , the region will leave Spain : `` Two or three years ago people would tell you ` hey , that independence thing will never happen , do n't get too excited about it and do n't expect too much ' .", "And now , after what has happened in the month and a half it is amazing . ''", "`` I feel Catalan , '' insists another .", "`` My passport and ID card say I 'm Spanish , but I just do n't feel Spanish . ''", "And here is the problem .", "You can dispute the economic costs of Catalan independence , but at least you can measure it with facts and figures .", "What you can not measure is feeling : and there 's a huge wave of national sentiment in Catalonia , sparked by the austerity , but drawing above all on anger at Madrid 's perceived power grab .", "`` For the past 10 years Spain constructed its relationship with Catalonia on the separation of powers , '' Raul Ramos , an economics professor at Barcelona University , tells me '' ; `` economic power in Barcelona , political power in Madrid .", "But now , to impose the bailout conditions , Madrid has to concentrate economic power in the centre .", "That 's what 's driven Catalan politicians to act . ''", "Two years ago , when I put footage of a million strong Catalan demonstration into a report about the economic crisis , I had tweets back saying `` the two are n't linked '' .", "For years the threat of Catalan recession has been rhetorical ; always producing a fiscal compromise with Madrid .", "But now Madrid has nothing left to offer .", "Under Franco people died for the right to speak their own language , sing their own folk songs , dance the Sardana in the shade of the old cathedral .", "And in the years after , this cultural freedom has been enough to contain demands for independence .", "But the crisis changes everything .", "And we still do n't know where the crisis ends .", "Police are treating an incident at RAF Marham , Norfolk , involving a serviceman as attempted abduction .", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess"], "_citing_sentence": "But in a negotiation... it's not the best thing to reveal what you are going to do next\" so there is the possibility some factions of the independence movement turning to violence as Eta did in the Basque region if denied the democratic route.", "_claim_name": "If a referendum is not allowed violence may be the result", "_doc_title": "Catalan leaders seek independence vote, legal or not - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [26]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 120, "_topic_name": "This House would allow a referendum on Catalan independence"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By Veit Medick and Annett Meiritz", "Berlin wants a deal with the US that prohibits trans-Atlantic spying , but Washington seems uninterested .", "Last summer , German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised her citizens a pact which would prohibit US spying on German citizens .", "But since then , Washington has shown little interest in pursuing such a treaty .", "Now , officials in Germany fear the deal is dead .", "The negotiations `` are continuing , '' says Germany 's foreign intelligence service , the Bundesnachrichtendienst ( BND ) .", "`` We are still talking , '' says the German government .", "In other words , nothing has yet been decided .", "The No-Spy deal is still alive .", "But the statements coming out of Berlin and Pullach , where the BND is headquartered , reek of forced optimism .", "Nobody wants it to look as though efforts have been abandoned toward a deal which would see the US agree to swear off spying operations in Germany .", "Yet despite the assertions , most of those involved are slowly coming to the realization that a surveillance deal between Washington and Berlin is n't likely to become reality .", "The US government is still digging in its heels .", "On Tuesday , the German daily S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung quoted one source who is familiar with the talks as saying `` we wo n't get anything . ''", "The paper also reported that the US is refusing to promise that it wo n't monitor members of the German government and other politicians in the future .", "SPIEGEL ONLINE Interactive Graphic : The NSA 's Spy Catalog", "The current gloominess is a stark shift from the confidence on display in the middle of last year .", "To be sure , Germany was in the middle of a general election campaign .", "But in the summer of 2013 , National Security Agency head Keith Alexander had told his German counterpart , BND chief Gerhard Schindler , that a far-reaching deal was possible , though he also acknowledged that it was ultimately up to the White House to give the green light .", "German officials began speaking of the treaty as though it were a done deal .", "Since then , however , news broke that the US had monitored Chancellor Angela Merkel 's mobile phone and that the US undertakes far-reaching surveillance activities from the roof of its embassy in Berlin .", "Washington has thus far refused to tell Berlin exactly when it tapped into Merkel 's phone and has denied German experts access to its roof-top spying operation .", "The German government has informed Washington that it considers the surveillance post to be a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and it is considering taking legal action .", "The mood , in short , has dramatically worsened , and US stonewalling on a No-Spy deal is n't helping .", "`` The Americans lied to us , '' one high-ranking official told the S\u00fcddeutsche in reference to the treaty .", "It is an extremely uncomfortable situation for German Chancellor Angela Merkel .", "For months , her staff , together with high-ranking officers within German security agencies , have sought to move the project forward .", "Sources in the government now believe that a thin declaration of intent , in which both countries pledge to obey the laws of the other , is the most that can be hoped for .", "Merkel will have to take charge of the issue if she wants to achieve anything at all .", "She will have the opportunity to speak personally with US President Barack Obama in Washington next week .", "It seems likely that the chancellor will do all she can to return with something concrete .", "Should the two NATO allies not be able to reach agreement on a treaty preventing them from spying on one another , it would be the clearest indication yet that trans-Atlantic relations are in trouble .", "And it would be embarrassing for her domestically .", "After all , her pledge to work towards a No-Spy deal was key to ensuring that the swelling debate over the American National Security Agency 's mass surveillance practices did n't derail her re-election campaign last year .", "It was a message to voters that she and her conservatives were doing all they could to protect the data of German citizens .", "Both her then-chief of staff , Ronald Pofalla , and then-Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich used every chance they got to promise as much .", "Should she fail , it will be a black mark on her credibility and make clear just how little influence Merkel has in Washington .", "Overstepping Its Bounds", "The revelations of widespread NSA surveillance in Europe and Germany have already hurt Merkel .", "Since the affair began last June , the Chancellery has been in the awkward position of not really knowing what is coming next and has seemed helpless .", "Interior Minister Friedrich , for his part , complained of `` anti-Americanism '' spoke of a `` super basic right of security , '' and , in an interview with SPIEGEL , seemed extremely eager to counter concerns that the US was overstepping its bounds .", "German government representatives seeking answers returned home from Washington empty handed and questions sent to Washington have been ignored or returned with unsatisfying responses .", "Domestically this week , the issue has returned .", "The opposition has placed NSA surveillance and the No Spy treaty on the parliamentary agenda for Wednesday and difficult questions are sure to be asked .", "Members of the governing coalition , which pairs Merkel 's Christian Democrats with the center-left Social Democrats , are becoming concerned as well .", "Stephan Meyer , domestic affairs expert for Merkel 's conservatives in parliament , has even suggested that economic sanctions should be considered .", "`` It is time , '' he said .", "`` The US has to be candid . ''", "Thomas Oppermann , floor leader for the SPD , also said that `` a failure of the treaty would be unacceptable . ''", "Still , he insists that he remains optimistic .", "`` I am hopeful that the chancellor 's visit to the US will help us achieve a deal in the end . ''", "His meaning , though , is clear .", "Merkel must deliver ."], "_citing_sentence": "It however looks unlikely that such a deal will every become a reality with officials saying \"we won't get anything\" and \"the Americans lied to us\" about the chances of an agreement.", "_claim_name": "No chance of an agreement with the USA", "_doc_title": "US German No Spy Deal in Danger of Failure - SPIEGEL ONLINE", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 13, 24]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information , people and ideas , Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information , news and insight around the world .", "Europe , Middle East , & Africa +44\u00a020\u00a07330\u00a07500", "President Barack Obama 's pledge of new restrictions on mass surveillance by U.S. spy agencies so far offer `` no answer '' to Germany 's concerns over spying , Chancellor Angela Merkel 's government said .", "The government in Berlin will `` look very closely '' at the consequences of Obama 's Jan. 17 speech addressing the topic while talks between the two countries ' intelligence officials continue , Steffen Seibert , Merkel 's chief spokesman , told reporters today .", "Norbert Roettgen , chairman of Germany 's lower house foreign affairs committee , said divisions over U.S. surveillance presented a `` real problem '' in the face of U.S. defense of its bulk data collection .", "`` The fundamental question is , should security services be able to do everything they 're technically able to do , '' Roettgen , a member of Merkel 's Christian Democratic Union , told broadcaster ZDF yesterday .", "`` Obama essentially said ` yes ' . ''", "The National Security Agency 's collection of signal intelligence , including allegedly hacking into Merkel 's mobile phone , has sparked a trans-Atlantic rift as Germany struggles to lock in a `` no spy '' agreement with the U.S.", "The Federal Prosecutor 's office in Karlsruhe said it 's reviewing whether to open a probe to investigate mass surveillance of e-mails and phone calls as well as tapping of Merkel 's phone , the office said in an e-mailed statement .", "The prosecutor told Germany 's Justice Ministry that there was an initial basis to begin a probe , Der Spiegel reported .", "`` We will look very closely at what practical consequences the announcements of the U.S. president carry , '' Seibert told a regular government press conference in Berlin , adding that key German concerns had not yet been addressed .", "Private negotiations with the Obama administration to re-orient the nations ' espionage cooperation must continue , he said .", "German officials last week said failure to reach an accord would be unacceptable following a report that German spy chiefs had received no solid commitments from American counterparts .", "The U.S. president told Germany 's ZDF in an interview broadcast on Jan. 18 that it will `` take some time to win back trust '' and that his presidential directive blocking surveillance on leaders of U.S. allies means that `` the chancellor of Germany will not have to worry about this '' as long as he 's president .", "The NSA will continue to spy on Merkel advisers even after Obama 's assurances on the chancellor , German newspaper Bild reported today .", "Citing intelligence employees it did n't name , Bild said that the NSA has monitored and analyzed with whom Merkel telephoned , had e-mail exchanges and discussed decisions .", "`` This is not about the chancellor 's mobile phone , '' Seibert said .", "`` It 's about safeguarding the interests of the German public , '' by achieving the correct balance between freedom , data protection and security , he said .", "In his speech , Obama defended U.S. electronic spying as a bulwark against terrorism , while announcing new restraints on global surveillance programs .", "Those included a judicial review of requests to query phone call databases and an order to Justice Department and intelligence officials to devise a way to take storage of that data out of the government 's hands .", "Other steps to limit surveillance were left up to a divided Congress , meaning many of the changes may be months away if they are adopted at all .", "`` I am very sympathetic to why the German people would be concerned about this , '' Obama told ZDF , referring to communist East Germany 's Stasi secret police , which deployed hundreds of thousands of informants to snoop on the country 's citizens .", "`` Obviously there 's a history there with respect to East Germany that tells us what happens if you have a vast surveillance state and it turns on its own citizens . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "German officials have also been disparaging of Obama's new announcements on restrictions of the NSA; Roettgen, a member of Merkel's party says \"The fundamental question is, should security services be able to do everything they're technically able to do, Obama essentially said 'yes'\".", "_claim_name": "No chance of an agreement with the USA", "_doc_title": "Germany Says Obama\u2019s Spying Pledges Fail to Address Concerns - Bloomberg", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5, 6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The US has been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel 's mobile phone since 2002 , according to a report in Der Spiegel magazine .", "The German publication claims to have seen secret documents from the National Security Agency which show Mrs Merkel 's number on a list dating from 2002 - before she became chancellor .", "Another report says Mr Obama was told in 2010 about the surveillance .", "Meanwhile Washington has seen a protest against the NSA 's spying programme .", "Several thousand protesters marched to the US Capitol to demand a limit to the surveillance .", "Some of them held banners in support of the fugitive former contractor Edward Snowden , who revealed the extent of the NSA 's activities .", "The nature of the monitoring of Mrs Merkel 's mobile phone is not clear from the files , Der Spiegel says .", "For example , it is possible that the chancellor 's conversations were recorded , or that her contacts were simply assessed .", "Germany is sending its top intelligence chiefs to Washington in the coming week to `` push forward '' an investigation into the spying allegations , which have caused outrage in Germany .", "Mrs Merkel phoned the US president when she first heard of the spying allegations on Wednesday .", "President Barack Obama apologised to the German chancellor and promised Mrs Merkel he knew nothing of the alleged phone monitoring and would have stopped it if he had , Der Spiegel reports .", "But on Sunday Bild newspaper quoted US intelligence sources as saying NSA head Keith Alexander personally briefed the president about the covert operation targeting Mrs Merkel in 2010 .", "`` Obama did not halt the operation but rather let it continue , '' the newspaper quoted a senior NSA official as saying .", "Her number was still on a surveillance list in 2013 .", "On Friday , Germany and France said they wanted the US to sign a no-spy deal by the end of the year .", "As well as the bugging of Mrs Merkel 's phone , there are claims the NSA has monitored millions of telephone calls made by German and French citizens .", "By Damien McGuinnessBBC News , Berlin", "This scandal has caused one of the biggest diplomatic rifts between Germany and the US in recent years .", "A close ally of Mrs Merkel told the BBC that she was personally very hurt by the idea of being spied on by American friends .", "The chancellor is said to be shocked that Washington may have engaged in the sort of spying that she had to deal with while growing up in Communist East Germany .", "The documents seen by Der Spiegel give further details of the NSA 's targeting of European governments .", "A unit called Special Collection Services , based on the fourth floor of the US embassy in Pariser Platz in Berlin , was responsible for monitoring communications in the German capital 's government quarter , including those targeting Mrs Merkel .", "Germany 's Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told Bild that running such an operation on German soil would be illegal under German law , and adds that those `` responsible must be held accountable '' .", "A criminal investigation would take the current scandal out of the hands of diplomats and politicians , and so make it harder to control politically , says the BBC 's Steve Evans in Berlin .", "Similar listening units were based in around 80 locations worldwide , according to the documents seen by Der Spiegel , 19 of them in European cities .", "If the existence of listening stations in US embassies were known , there would be `` severe damage for the US 's relations with a foreign government , '' the documents said .", "The US government had a second German spy base in Frankfurt am Main , the magazine reports .", "The scandal has caused the biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and the US in living memory , reports the BBC 's Damien McGuinness in Berlin .", "Mrs Merkel - an Americophile who was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 - is said to be shocked that Washington may have engaged in the sort of spying she had to endure growing up in Communist East Germany ."], "_citing_sentence": "Numerous politicians, such as then interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich have stated that those \"responsible must be held accountable\".", "_claim_name": "Illegal under German law", "_doc_title": "US bugged Merkel's phone from 2002 until 2013, report claims - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [22]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich says he is satisfied with US assurances about spying activities .", "Weeks ahead of a federal election though , the opposition is not about to let the issue go .", "Neither of Germany 's main opposition parties was satisfied with the assurances Friedrich ( pictured above ) said he received during his meetings with senior US officials in Washington on Friday .", "Thomas Oppermann the parliamentary floor leader of the Social Democrats said Friedrich 's trip had not achieved much .", "`` Minister Friedrich is returning empty-handed , '' Oppermann said in an interview published in the Saturday edition of the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper .", "`` We have not moved a single step forward on any of the key points '' ''", "Konstantin von Notz , the Green Party 's interior affairs spokesman described Friedrich 's trip as a complete flop .", "As talks on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership began this week in Washington , a second topic loomed large : US intelligence programs .", "Germany wanted to make sure the issue did n't fade into the background .", "The liberal Free Democrats ( FDP ) , the junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel 's conservative coalition , announced , however , that they were prepared to accept the US officials at their word .", "At the same time the FDP 's deputy parliamentary floor leader , Gisela Piltz said the party would `` repeatedy demand '' that the US live up to its pledge to be more transparent about its activities .", "The SPD and the Greens hope to win enough support to replace Merkel 's Christian Democrats and the FDP after Germans go to the polls in a federal election on September 22 .", "The comments came just hours after Interior Minister Friedrich declared himself satisfied with the outcome of his talks with US Vice President Joe Biden , Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama 's chief counterterrorism advisor , Lisa Monaco .", "Friedrich told reporters that US officials had promised to begin a `` declassification process '' to allow their German counterparts to be better informed about the activities of US intelligence services .", "The interior minister also pointed to what he described as `` concrete results , '' including an agreement to rescind a 1960s NATO accord that allowed US intelligence agents to take any necessary action to protect US troops stationed in Germany .", "Friedrich also expressed understanding for the US position , saying that the country had heightened needs following the September 11 , 2001 , attacks in New York and Washington .", "`` The program is strictly focused only on terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction , and organized crime , '' the German interior minister said .", "Friedrich said that he had learned that surveillance conducted by the US National Security Agency ( NSA ) had uncovered and helped prevent a total of 45 terrorist plots worldwide , indlding 25 in Europe and five in Germany .", "He also said he was satisfied that Germany 's concerns were taken seriously in Washington .", "`` Everyone here in the United States understood that there is high sensitivity in Germany over protection of the private sphere , '' Friedrich said .", "Revelations made by the US fugitive Edward Snowden about an NSA surveillance program known as Prism have stirred up controversy in Germany in particular because of sensitivities about data protection , in part related to memories of repression by East Germany 's Stasi and the Gestapo under the Nazis .", "pfd/mkg ( dpa , Reuters , ots )", "German Chancellor Merkel has said that the UK can not expect to keep its privileges if it leaves the EU `` family . ''", "She has also pledged to do her best to keep the EU from drifting apart following the UK 's vote to leave .", "A key minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel 's last government has criticized his former boss , claiming she has let her party be outflanked on the political right .", "The result , he said , was growing support for extremists .", "The center-right Christian Democrats have won the election in Saxony , but will need a partner to form a government .", "They have ruled out a coalition with the euroskeptic Alternative for Germany .", "DW offers its readers the opportunity to engage in a discussion on dw.de and other platforms ."], "_citing_sentence": "Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich went to Washington in July but was accused of \"returning empty-handed\" and having \"not moved a single step forward on any of the key points\".", "_claim_name": "Doing nothing makes Merkel and Germany look weak", "_doc_title": "SPD, Greens slam Interior Minister Friedrich after US surveillance talks in Washington | News | DW.COM | 13.07.2013", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 5]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By SPIEGEL Staff", "Germany and the US appear to be edging closer to political confrontation .", "The Federal Prosecutor says there is sufficient evidence to open a politically explosive investigation into NSA spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel 's mobile phone .", "Last Tuesday , on the sidelines of an Social Democrat party caucus in Berlin , German Justice Minister Heiko Maas ran into Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier .", "Maas pulled his fellow SPD member aside and warned him about what could become a difficult matter .", "`` Something may be coming our way , '' Maas whispered , and noted that the foreign minister could be affected as well .", "Germany 's federal prosecutor , Maas intimated , is currently considering opening an investigation into the scandal surrounding the surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel 's mobile phone by US intelligence .", "It 's a step that would undoubtedly be considered an affront by the Americans .", "Steinmeier listened attentively and nodded several times , but he did n't say much .", "At the start of his second posting as foreign minister ( he previously served for four years from 2005-2009 ) , Steinmeier is facing the extremely tricky problem of new discord in German-American relations .", "The current difficulties got their start in October , when SPIEGEL reported that US intelligence services were interested in Merkel 's mobile phone .", "When the magazine published its report , the National Security Agency 's curiosity suddenly became an open act of provocation .", "Merkel Fights Back In short , US President Barack Obama allowed Angela Merkel , his `` friend , '' to be eavesdropped upon .", "It did n't go uncommented either .", "`` We 're no longer living in the Cold War , '' Merkel 's spokesman countered .", "The chancellor also complained personally to Obama .", "Merkel staffers said Obama 's reaction had been contrite , that he said he would quickly rectify the situation and that he offered far-reaching concessions .", "But Germany has been waiting in vain ever since .", "The Americans may be primarily to blame for the delay , but it is nevertheless becoming a problem for Merkel -- not least because the revelations from the archive of former spy Edward Snowden continue to flow .", "The risk is high that she will appear as powerless in the face of US obstinancy as her former interior minister , Hans-Peter Friedrich , did last summer .", "After his fruitless trip to Washington , he was ridiculed in the press and became the butt of numerous jokes .", "It is a scenario Merkel would like to avoid .", "But a showdown is not in her interests either -- and formel investigative proceedings would mark the next step toward escalation .", "In conflicts like this , there are often many losers , but seldom winners .", "Avoiding Further Mistakes", "Chancellor Merkel has recognized the dimensions of her problem .", "After missteps last year , she strengthened the Chancellery 's role in addressing the spying scandal .", "She has assigned the task to her new chief of staff , former environment minister Peter Altmeier , and Klaus-Dieter Fritsche , a former deputy minister in the Interior Ministry .", "She expects the two to finally make headway on the issue .", "In the close to eight months that have passed since the first reports were published about the National Security Agency 's massive spying operations , the only things Germany has been given by the US are well-meaning assurances .", "Last summer , the German government sent a list of questions about their surveillance programs to the Americans and the British , whose GCHQ intelligence agency has likewise been accused of conducting espionage against European Union member countries .", "To this day , neither has provided complete answers .", "Instead , ever more threads are becoming visible in the global spying network .", "It is also slowly dawning on the Germans that the parameters of a No-Spy Agreement announced by the NSA will never become a reality .", "German government representatives last week denied media reports claiming that negotiations were close to collapsing .", "At the same time , hopes are no longer high .", "Merkel 's staff sensed as far back back as November that a full-fledged No-Spy Agreement might not be possible .", "Pointing to Germany 's privacy of correspondence , posts and telecommunications law , which is anchored in the constitution , Gerhard Schindler , the head of the country 's foreign intelligence agency , the Bundesnachrichtendienst ( BND ) , demanded concrete commitments , but the Americans fought over demands they said would be equivalent to sacrificing any espionage at all .", "Instead NSA chief Keith Alexander called for an agreement that would include more detailed provisions for closer cooperation between the intelligence agencies , particularly on issues such as counter-terrorism .", "But then the White House took over negotiations from the NSA and began questioning compromises that had already been reached .", "To this day , the US has refused to offer a full explanation in response to allegations about spying on Merkel 's mobile phone .", "Obama 's speech on Friday did n't change much .", "Music played from violins and NSA chief Alexander and a number of important senators , including Dianne Feinstein , sat inside the Justice Department as they waited for what could have been a historical speech .", "But it soon became clear that Obama wanted to use the opportunity to announce a kind of democratic version of total surveillance .", "None of the NSA 's disputed spying programs would be ended , but more independent controls would be imposed , including a panel of legal experts .", "What Obama did do is reiterate his promise that he would not eavesdrop on the leaders of countries that are US allies in cases where there are no pressing security reasons for doing so .", "He said he had ordered his national security team and the intelligence community to `` rebuild trust '' going forward .", "He added , however , `` Now let me be clear : Our intelligence agencies will continue to gather information about the intentions of governments ... around the world . ''", "Germans Seek Clarity", "Few view that as true peacemaking , and voices within the German government calling for a tougher approach are growing more numerous .", "Domestic policy experts have been openly placing their hopes on German Federal Public Prosecutor Harald Range , who has spent months looking into a possible official investigation into the NSA for spying on German soil .", "Michael Hartmann , a domestic policy expert with the SPD , says he expects `` clarity as soon as possible . ''", "His colleague Clemens Binninger of the CDU , recently elected as chairman of the Parliamentary Control Panel , the body in parliament responsible for supervision of the intelligence services , concluded , `` It seems quite clear to me that the law was violated on German soil . ''", "He says it would be understandable if an investigation were opened .", "The official line at the Public Prosecutor 's Office is that it remains unclear what will become of the allegations against the NSA .", "The office is treating the surveillance as two separate instances .", "One is the allegation that the NSA spied on the data of Germans millions of times .", "The other is the allegation that it eavesdropped on the chancellor 's mobile phone .", "Thus far , the Prosecutor 's Office has told parliament that there is n't yet enough evidence to pursue a formal investigation .", "It 's a position that Hans-Christian Str\u00f6bele , a member of parliament with the Green Party who gained global headlines by visiting Edward Snowden in Moscow in late 2012 , considers absurd .", "`` They 're just looking for reasons to shirk responsibility because the issue is too controversial for them , '' he says .", "Gregor Gysi , the head of the parliamentary group of the far-left Left Party , rails against what he describes as government `` yes-men '' when it comes to America .", "`` The fact that the German government and the Federal Prosecutor is n't acting shows that their fear of the US government is greater than their respect for our legal system . ''", "However , one person is giving serious consideration to doing just the opposite : Prosecutor Range himself .", "He already signaled to Merkel 's last government that there was sufficient evidence for him to launch an investigation into the issue of the chancellor 's mobile phone .", "It 's an assessment he has since shared with the new leadership inside the Justice Ministry , despite some concerns within his own agency .", "`` Who 's going to spring into action like a tiger if they know they will wind up a bedside rug ? ''", "posits one source close to the proceedings ."], "_citing_sentence": "There are even those, such as Gregor Gysi from the far left Left Party who say \"The fact that the German government and the Federal Prosecutor isn't acting shows that their fear of the US government is greater than their respect for our legal system.\"", "_claim_name": "Illegal under German law", "_doc_title": "NSA Syping Scandal - SPIEGEL ONLINE", "_labeled_lineIDs": [62]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["WASHINGTON President Barack Obama invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Washington this year , the White House said on Wednesday in a brief statement about a phone conversation between the two leaders .", "The visit would give Obama a chance to make amends after revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency had been monitoring Merkel 's cellphone .", "Merkel accepted the president 's invitation to come , her spokesman said in a statement .", "Obama is set to announce this month his decisions on how to rein in U.S. surveillance .", "Obama wished Merkel `` a speedy recovery '' after she broke her pelvis while cross-country skiing , the White House said , and the two leaders discussed ongoing talks for a U.S.-European Union trade deal and an upcoming NATO summit .", "Asked at a briefing whether Obama had reached the German chancellor on a land line or by cell phone , White House spokesman Jay Carney the president 's calls to foreign leaders are done by hard line .", "He did not have further information on whether Obama and Merkel discussed the NSA scandal .", "( Reporting by Roberta Rampton , Jeff Mason and Sarah Marsh ; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli )", "The key to understanding what 's going on lies not with personalities , campaign strategies or party rules but rather with the voter ."], "_citing_sentence": "Merkel has been invited to visit Washington at some point in 2014 by President Obama, Merkel can't afford for her own diplomacy to have as little result as Friedrich's.", "_claim_name": "Doing nothing makes Merkel and Germany look weak", "_doc_title": "Obama invites Merkel to visit during call about trade, NATO | Reuters", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 121, "_topic_name": "This House believes German prosecutors should investigate NSA surveillance of Angela Merkel"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["When four psychiatrists published a study showing that six out of 23 schizophrenic patients carried weapons during psychotic episodes , little did they realise how their work would be presented to the public .", "The day after it appeared in the Royal College of Psychiatrists ' Bulletin in 1998 , banner headlines in the Sunday Express proclaimed : `` Armed and dangerous : public at risk as mental patients escape the care net . ''", "The Sunday Express journalist extrapolated that 1250 mentally ill patients in the community carried weapons and posed `` a serious threat to public safety . ''", "This claim was based on a figure quoted by the Zito Trust that 5000 schizophrenic patients in the community represented a danger to themselves or others .", "Distortions of this kind are no surprise to mental health groups .", "Focus on Mental Health , an umbrella organisation , thinks that mentally ill people get a raw deal from the press , with words such as `` maniac , '' `` schizo , '' and `` psycho '' contributing to the stigma .", "Consequently , a year ago , it joined with the National Union of Journalists , the Department of Health , and Lilly Psychiatry to set up the Media Forum on ...", "Register for a free trial to thebmj.com to receive unlimited access to all content on thebmj.com for 14 days .", "Respond to this article", "Register for alerts If you have registered for alerts , you should use your registered email address as your username If you are unable to import citations , please contact technical support for your product directly ( links go to external sites ) :", "Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about The BMJ .", "NOTE : We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it , and that it is not junk mail ."], "_citing_sentence": "People who are mentally ill are significantly more of a danger to themselves than to others with only 5% of homicides being committed by people with mental illness.", "_claim_name": "We have a duty to the patient's best interest.", "_doc_title": "The stigma of schizophrenia | The BMJ", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Official blog from the Law Library of Congress", "The United Kingdom has faced the issue of terrorism for several decades .", "It has more recently faced the issue of legislating against the terrorist threat whilst complying with the European Convention on Human Rights .", "One of the UK 's anti-terrorism measures is the pre-charge detention of terrorist suspects for up to twenty eight days without charge .", "During the summer of 2008 the government attempted to further extend this period to forty two days , but were ultimately unsuccessful .", "The continued efforts of the government to protect the national security of the UK whilst protecting the civil liberties of its citizens is an ongoing struggle with no clear solution .", "`` We strive to achieve the appropriate balance between the measures necessary to deal with the very real threat to national security posed by terrorism and the need to avoid diminishing the civil and human rights of the population . ''", "COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS : 28 DAYS , INTERCEPT AND POST-CHARGE QUESTIONING , 2007-08 , Cm 7215 , \u00b6 1 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7215/7215.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "The United Kingdom ( UK ) has had lengthy experience with indefinitely detaining suspected terrorists without trial in Northern Ireland .", "Under the Prevention of Terrorism ( Temporary Provisions ) Act 1984 ( PTA ) -LSB- 1 -RSB- the Secretary of State for the Home Department ( hereinafter , `` Home Secretary '' ) could authorize the detention of a person for up to seven days .", "The use of these powers was controversial and in response to increasing violence .", "In 1988 , the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the detention was a breach of article 5 ( 3 ) of the European Convention on Human Rights ( external link ) ( ECHR ) -LSB- 2 -RSB- unless the detention was judicially authorized .", "LSB- 3 -RSB- This ruling resulted in the government derogating ( exempting itself ) from article 5 ( 3 ) of the ECHR in order to lawfully retain this provision of the PTA .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- The derogation was automatically renewable , but expired with the expiration of the PTA .", "The resulting internment of almost 2,000 predominantly Catholic men was stated to lead to greater civil disturbances and a `` diminished respect for the rule of law in Northern Ireland . ''", "LSB- 5 -RSB- It was widely reported that the use of internment was `` among the best recruiting tools the IRA -LSB- Irish Republican Army -RSB- ever had . ''", "LSB- 6 -RSB- It was against this experience and background that the government has had to determine the most effective , least controversial method to address individuals whom the government suspected of being terrorists that was also least likely to succumb to legal challenges .", "This issue of how to detain terrorist suspects was tackled during the drafting of the Terrorism Act 2000 ( external link ) ( Terrorism Act ) , -LSB- 7 -RSB- which replaced the temporary provisions of the PTA .", "As part of this process , alternative options to derogation from the ECHR were considered .", "The Terrorism Act was enacted to modernize anti-terrorism legislation and apply it to the whole of the UK , rather than just Northern Ireland .", "The Terrorism Act attempted to address all forms of terrorism with an `` appropriate and effective range of measures , which are -LSB- sufficiently flexible and -RSB- proportionate to the reality of the threats that we face and are of practical operational benefit ... -LSB- and -RSB- enable the UK to cooperate more fully in the international fight against terrorism .", "LSB- 8 -RSB- It was finally decided that individuals could be detained for up to forty-eight hours after arrest without charge , and that the responsibility for extending detention for up to an additional fourteen days should rest with a judicial authority .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- Critics of the Terrorism Act regarded this provision as providing for `` incommunicado detention '' and unnecessary , as individuals previously detained under similar provisions were rarely charged with a terrorist offense .", "Despite these criticisms , the period of detention has been extended by successive acts -- from forty-eight hours to seven days by the Terrorism Act 2000 ; from seven days to fourteen days by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 ( external link ) ; -LSB- 10 -RSB- and , from fourteen days to twenty-eight days by a highly contentious provision in the Terrorism Act 2006 ( external link ) .", "Back to Top", "The Current Law Governing Pre-Charge Detention of Terrorists", "The current counter terrorism laws of the UK allow the police , under certain specified circumstances , to arrest individuals without a warrant who are reasonably suspected of being terrorists .", "LSB- 12 -RSB- Once arrested , these terrorist suspects may be detained , without charge , for up to twenty-eight days to allow the police to obtain , preserve , analyze or examine evidence for use in criminal proceedings .", "This power of the police to arrest and detain individuals based upon reasonable suspicion only has been described as one of `` the most important powers available to the police in the fight against terrorism ... the principal usefulness of the power ... -LSB- is that -RSB- it allows arrests to be made at an earlier stage than if there was a requirement for suspicion of a specific offence . ''", "LSB- 13 -RSB- This may have both a disruptive and preventative impact on any terrorist plans that may be in process .", "Requirements for Pre-Charge Detention", "Once a person has been arrested by the police , he may be detained without charge for an initial period of forty-eight hours .", "Additional periods of detention , in seven day increments , may then be granted by magistrates , up to a total of fourteen days .", "Detention from fourteen to twenty-eight days may then be granted by a High Court judge .", "Applications for the extensions of detention are made by the Crown Prosecution Services ' Counter Terrorism Division ( external link ) , rather than the police .", "While the main impetus of the arrest may `` have a preventative or disruptive effect on a terrorist or network of terrorists , and while this may be the impetus for executing arrests at any point during an investigation , legislation does not allow continued detention on this basis . ''", "LSB- 14 -RSB- The detention may only be extended if a judicial authority is satisfied that the extension is necessary to : obtain or preserve relevant evidence ; permit the completion of an examination or analysis of any relevant matter with a view to obtaining evidence ; and the investigation connected with the detention is being conducted diligently and expeditiously .", "The first two requirements require the police or prosecutors to inform the court of the precise details of the investigation , the expected date of completion , what the investigation will achieve and what difference any evidence obtained as a result of the investigation will make to any charging decision .", "To be satisfied that the investigation is being conducted diligently and expeditiously the court must be shown that the investigation has been carried out as quickly as reasonably possible .", "These issues can be proven both with non-sensitive material presented in the presence of the defense attorney and with sensitive material that is presented in the absence of the defense attorney .", "The government maintains that public interest immunity issues do not arise as , whilst the individual is being deprived of his liberty , it is for a short , defined time and not in the same venue as a criminal trial .", "The requirements for applications for the extension of pre-charge detentions are extensive and the courts are careful in considering the application , given the result is the deprivation of an individual 's liberty .", "In Operation Gamble in Birmingham , applications to detain nine men for seven to fourteen days were refused for two suspects , who were subsequently released , and were not granted for seven days for the remaining seven suspects , who were subsequently charged .", "The period of detention under the Terrorism Act 2006 is subject to a sunset provision , requiring that Parliament approve the extension of detention from fourteen to twenty-eight days annually by an affirmative resolution debate in both Houses of Parliament .", "LSB- 19 -RSB- This was recently renewed by Terrorism Act 2006 ( Disapplication of Section 25 ) Order 2008 ( external link ) on July 25 2008 .", "Extension of Pre-Charge Detention to Forty Two Days", "On June 11 , 2008 the House of Commons , by a narrow majority of nine , passed a Counter-Terrorism Bill ( external link ) ( PDF ) , -LSB- 21 -RSB- to further increase the pre-charge detention period from twenty eight to forty-two days .", "The passage of the bill through the House of Commons was highly contentious , and rumors , which were strongly denied , surfaced that the government had entered into an improper agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party ( DUP ) in return for their votes on the bill .", "LSB- 22 -RSB- The provisions of the bill extending pre-charge detention were defeated in the House of Lords by a majority of 309 votes to 118 .", "The provisions have been completely removed from the bill , rather than amended .", "Newspapers reported that this heavy defeat was humiliating for Prime Minister Gordon Brown who had attempted to garner cross-party support for the measure .", "LSB- 23 -RSB- The government immediately prepared a new Counter Terrorism ( Temporary Provisions ) Bill ( external link ) ( PDF ) to be introduced `` if and when the need arises . ''", "LSB- 24 -RSB- The bill is significantly shorter than the rejected provisions and intends to `` enable the police and prosecutors to do their work -- should the worst happen , should a terrorist plot overtake us and threaten our current investigatory capabilities . ''", "LSB- 25 -RSB- The bill amends the Terrorism Act 2000 and permits the Director of Public Prosecutions to apply to the courts to detain a suspect already for up to forty two days .", "The use of the powers would be reviewed and reported upon by the independent reviewer of the terrorism legislation within six months of the use of the power and the report is to be laid before Parliament .", "A sunset provision is included in the bill , causing the provisions to cease to have effect after a period of sixty days .", "To place the new bill in context and show the struggles faced by both the government and Parliament in balancing the right of civil liberties against national security , the original provisions of the Counter-Terrorism Bill are discussed below .", "Provisions of the Counter-Terrorism Bill If enacted , the Counter-Terrorism Bill would haved amended the pre-charge detention provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000 .", "LSB- 26 -RSB- The bill introduced a ` reserve power ' which would have enabled senior prosecutors to apply to senior judges for an extension of an individual 's detention for up to forty two days , in seven day increments , after the current maximum of twenty eight days expired , when an order issued by the Home Secretary was in force .", "Thus the bill did not extend the pre-charge detention limit beyond twenty eight days now , but allowed it to be extended in the future if there was a clear and exceptional need to do so , through the issuance of an order which allows the reserve power to be used .", "The bill aimed to introduce a large number of safeguards to prevent an individual from being arbitrarily deprived of their liberty for such a long period without charge .", "It provided for a `` triple layer of authorizations for extended detention . ''", "LSB- 28 -RSB- This process consisted of the following : the Home Secretary issues an order ;", "Parliament approves or rejects the order of the Home Secretary ; a judge ( who has the ultimate authority on whether to detain a person for up to forty two days ) hears an application made under the order by the Crown Prosecution Service ( CPS ) for detention of the individual for up to forty-two days , in seven day increments ;", "The designated reviewer of the anti-terrorism legislation reviews each instance of use of the reserve power , and issues a report ; and", "Parliament debates the report to consider whether the reserve power was appropriately used .", "The Home Secretary would only issue an order under the Counter-Terrorism Bill if an individual was detained for twenty eight days through the provisions of the Terrorism Act 2006 and he have been able toreceived the reports required by the bill in support of the necessity for the order .", "Prior to issuing the order , the Home Secretary would have received a joint `` report on the operational need for the further extension of the maximum period required from the Director of Public Prosecutions ( or equivalent in Scotland or Northern Ireland ) and -LSB- a senior police official -RSB- . ''", "LSB- 31 -RSB- This report was required to include :", "A statement from the individuals compiling the report that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the detention of the person beyond twenty eight days is necessary for the purposes of obtaining , preserving or analyzing evidence that relates to the commission of a serious terrorist offence by the detained person -LSB- 32 -RSB- ;", "Details of the grounds for the belief ;", "A statement from the individuals making the report that the investigation in connection with the detained person is being `` conducted diligently and `` We strive to achieve the appropriate balance between the measures necessary to deal with the very real threat to national security posed by terrorism and the need to avoid diminishing the civil and human rights of the population . ''", "LSB- 14 -RSB- The detention may only be extended if a judicial authority is satisfied that the extension is necessary to :", "Back to Top If enacted , the Counter-Terrorism Bill would haved amended the pre-charge detention provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000 .", "LSB- 28 -RSB- This process consisted of the following :", "LSB- 31 -RSB- This report was required to include : In addition to seeking legal advice through the usual government channels , prior to issuing an order , the Home Secretary would have had to obtain independent legal advice from a non-government lawyer on the following issues :", "Once the order was issued , each of the above grounds `` must have been proved to the court to obtain a further extension of detention beyond 28 days . ''", "The order issued , as well as the legal advice obtained , would have been presented to Parliament ( when it would have become public information ) unless it appeared to the Home Secretary that the advice `` ... contained material that the disclosure -LSB- of -RSB- would be damaging to the public interest , or might prejudice the prosecution of any person . ''", "LSB- 37 -RSB- If the advice contained this type of sensitive material the Home Secretary may have layed ( presented ) before Parliament a redacted version , in agreement with the independent legal adviser before Parliament .", "Once an order was issued , and prior to Parliamentary debate , the Home Secretary would have had to required to notify the chairs of the Home Affairs Select Committee , the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Cabinet Office 's Intelligence and Security Committee , and provide them with a copy of the full legal advice and reports .", "The purpose of the notification was to make these individuals aware of the circumstances of the Home Secretary 's decision and enable them to `` participate fully in the subsequent debates on the issue . ''", "LSB- 38 -RSB- The Home Secretary was also tolay a statement before Parliament within two days of issuing the order , or as soon as practicable that he/she was satisfied the points on which legal advice was sought were met , and may have also included any other information he/she believeed to be appropriate , such as the terrorist threat level facing the UK .", "LSB- 39 -RSB- The statement was not to include `` the name of any person then detained under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 or any material that might have prejudiced the prosecution of any person . ''", "Once the order was placed before Parliament , it would have continued in force for seven days , after which period it would have lapsed unless approved by resolution by each House of Parliament .", "If Parliament was not sitting at the time the order is made , the bill provided for Parliament to be recalled in order to consider the order .", "Judicial Oversight If the order was approved , it would have continued in force for up to thirty days , during which period senior prosecutors are allowed to exercise their `` reserve power '' to apply to senior judges to extend the pre-charge detention of individuals for up to forty-two days in seven day increments .", "Lapsing of the Order", "Any individual that would have been detained for longer than twenty eight days by the ` reserve power ' and not otherwise legally detained would have been released immediately when the order lapsed .", "The lapsing of the order would not `` render unlawful any application made or granted for detention beyond 28 days before the order lapsed . ''", "LSB- 43 -RSB- It also would not preclude the making of another order , although a new report must be made by the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions .", "LSB- 44 -RSB- If a person was detained for longer than 28 days , the Home Secretary must lay a further statement before Parliament as soon as reasonably practicable specifying the details of the extension , including the total number of days for which the person 's detention has been authorized .", "Review of the Reserve Power", "The independent reviewer of the terrorism legislation -LSB- 46 -RSB- must have been completed a report and sent it to the Home Secretary within six months of the exercise of the reserve power .", "The report was to be laid before Parliament for debate within a reasonably practicable period .", "The reviewer was required to consider whether the legal requirements contained in the bill , such as including the required information in the statement before Parliament and receiving a report from the Director of Public Prosecutions and Police , were met .", "The reviewer was then to determine whether in their `` opinion the Home Secretary 's decision to make the reserve power exercisable was reasonable in all the circumstances . ''", "The reviewer would considerd the case of individuals detained `` in pursuance of a warrant of further detention in which the specified period was extended beyond 28 days ... -LSB- and -RSB- must state with respect to each case whether in the opinion of the person carrying out the review the procedures applicable to the making of an application to extend beyond 28 days the period specified in a warrant of further detention were properly followed . ''", "Reasons for the Extension of Pre-Charge Detention", "The extension of pre-charge detention , as noted above , is not a new issue and has presented itself with some regularity over the past several years to controversy each time legislation has been introduced .", "The struggle the government faces of how to balance protecting its citizens from the risk of a terrorist attack without undermining the basic human rights of individuals and their right to liberty , while acting within the limits of the law -LSB- 49 -RSB- can be demonstrated by the fact that pre-charge detention has reportedly been `` debated more than any other legal procedural issue in recent years . ''", "The government noted the need in terrorism investigations for a separate power of arrest from the normal criminal law in its anti-terrorism legislation .", "In 1998 , prior to the introduction of the Terrorism Act 2000 , it stated :", "Terrorist groups are frequently highly organised with well practised procedures for thwarting police actions against them .", "Many of those who have operated in the UK ( including non-Irish terrorist groups ) have been trained to evade surveillance and their operations have been meticulously planned both to minimise the risk of arousing suspicion before the terrorist act is undertaken and to minimise the chance of leaving forensic evidence .", "When arguing for the extension of pre-charge detention from fourteen to twenty eight days , the government claimed that `` any proposal to extend the maximum period of pre-charge detention is going to be based on professional judgment and experience rather than exact science , '' -LSB- 52 -RSB- and the reviewer of terrorism legislation has claimed that there is no logical answer for the maximum number of days of detention , that rather it is a political decision .", "LSB- 53 -RSB- The government has noted that the terrorist threat is rapidly changing in nature and that :", "The primary responsibility of any government must be to ensure the safety of its citizens .", "This must include looking at what powers the law enforcement agencies may need in future instead of waiting until current powers have been proved inadequate ... the scale and nature of the current terrorist threat and the increasing complexity of cases lead the Government to believe that we need to look again at the time limit on pre-charge detention .", "The complex cases presented by terrorists include the use of encrypted data ; voluminous quantities of material ; data from cellular telephones ; multiple false identities ; forensic science delays ; language problems ; difficulties when large numbers of suspects are held together ; problems if the suspect is injured at the time of arrest and unfit for interview for a prolonged period of time ; and the cumulative impact of all the above issues .", "The progression in the complexity of cases has been evidenced over the past two years with the array of cases faced by the police .", "In a single case in 2004 , 8,224 exhibits were seized and the operation surrounding the individual detained without charge was extensive , involving seven co-conspirators and investigations in eight countries across three continents .", "LSB- 55 -RSB- In the August 2006 alleged airline plot , in which twenty one people were arrested after intelligence showed there was a plan to detonate bombs on up to ten airplanes in flight from the UK to the US , over 25,000 exhibits were seized .", "LSB- 56 -RSB- Sir Ian Blair , the Chief of the Metropolitan Police , has given evidence to a government committee that :", "The number of the conspiracies , the number of conspirators within those conspiracies and the magnitude of the ambition in terms of destruction and the loss of life is mounting , has continued to mount , is increasing year by year and a pragmatic inference can be drawn that at some stage 28 days is not going to be sufficient ... when that happens we should be in a position that Parliament has discussed this and made its own conclusions before we face an atrocity .", "The complex nature of evidence presented from multiple sources , combined with the need to arrest individuals earlier to protect the public by disrupting what could be a catastrophic terrorist attack , -LSB- 58 -RSB- appear to be the most compelling arguments presented by the government to extend pre-charge detention - to protect the public from the threat posed by terrorist attacks while investigations continue .", "In the 2004 case , the police noted that at the time of arrest of the terrorist suspect `` there was not one shred of admissible evidence . ''", "LSB- 59 -RSB- The individual in the case was later convicted and sentenced to forty years imprisonment .", "Critics of the provisions have noted that this example serves to justify maintaining the pre-charge detention period at its current maximum of twenty eight days , noting that the case cited above was challenging and complex but that charges were brought against the suspect within fourteen days , well within the current time period for pre-charge detention .", "The government has asserted that pre-charge detention for over twenty eight days will only be used in exceptional circumstances in cases that involve `` multiple plots , or links with multiple countries , or where the investigation is highly complex . ''", "LSB- 61 -RSB- It has attempted to balance individual rights by `` strengthening the judicial oversight and Parliamentary accountability '' -LSB- 62 -RSB- of the proposed measures .", "It claims that the twenty eight day limit is already being tested and that `` one person had been charged after fifteen days , four were charged after nineteen and twenty days , and six were held for between twenty-seven and twenty-eight days , three of whom were charged . ''", "LSB- 63 -RSB- A government report , reviewing the use of pre-charge detention , opined that while no recent investigations have justified the extension of pre-charge detention beyond twenty eight days , the `` growing number of cases and the increase in suspects monitored by the police and the security services make it entirely possible , and perhaps increasingly likely , that there will be cases that do provide that justification ... the twenty-eight day limit may well prove inadequate in the future . ''", "The Director General of the Security Services has recently stated that the police and Security Services are currently working on thirty known plots that include over two hundred groups or networks comprised of approximately two thousand individuals .", "LSB- 65 -RSB- The government claims that this : is not a spike , but a new and sustained level of activity as evidenced by the fact that there have been 16 plots primarily targeting the UK since 2000 ... -LSB- and in 2007 -RSB- alone a total of 42 individuals have been convicted of terrorist offences in 16 cases .", "The number of people charged with an offence after arrest under the terrorist legislation grew from just over 50 in 2004 to around 80 in 2006 .", "The reviewer of terrorist legislation , Lord Carlile , has reported that there have been no instances in which detaining a suspect for longer than twenty-eight days would be more likely to result in charges .", "However , Lord Carlile notes that he shares the view of the police that there `` may well arise in the future a very small number of extremely important cases in which twenty-eight days would prove insufficient . ''", "LSB- 67 -RSB- He opines that the system proposed by the Counter-Terrorism Bill may serve to `` ensure fairness , and would be likely to reduce the period of detention of some suspects compared with the present position . ''", "Pre-Charge Detention as a form of Preventive Detention", "References to pre-charge detention as solely for preventive purposes have been shunned by the government in somewhat contradictory statements that indicate the initial use of pre-charge detention may be for preventive purposes , but that its continued use is not permitted on this basis .", "The government claims the use of pre-charge detention for preventive purposes is misleading and that `` while an arrest may have a preventative or disruptive effect on a terrorist or network of terrorists , and while this may be the impetus for executing arrests at any point during an investigation , the legislation does not allow the continued detention on this basis . ''", "LSB- 69 -RSB- The primary purpose of pre-charge detentions is to `` secure sufficient admissible evidence for use in criminal proceedings . ''", "However , as indicated in the previous statement , pre-charge detention may , in its initial use , be used for preventive purposes and the government further continues that : `` there is no legal basis in making an arrest on the grounds of protecting the public , but it is evident that the police have a duty to act where it is necessary for them to do so . ''", "Criticisms of the Extension of Pre-Charge Detention", "There has been extensive criticism of the provisions to extend pre-charge detention , both within and outside of Parliament .", "A number of Parliamentary reports are strongly critical of the pre-charge detention provisions in the bill and many members have been outspoken about their dislike of its inclusion in the bill , claiming that the government has become fixated on extending the pre-charge detention period for political reasons .", "Several high profile members of the House of Lords have spoken out against the bill , including the former Labour Lord Chancellor , Lord Falconer , the former Director General of the Security Service Baroness Manning Buller , the former Metropolitan Police Commission and two former Law Lords , Lord Steyn and Lord Llyod of Berwick .", "Baroness Manning Buller noted that the bill : ... represents yet another attempt on the part of the Government to abridge , without sufficient justification , fundamental democratic rights and freedom that have underpinned our society for centuries and which we have defended against tyranny on so many occasions .", "The Government are putting those rights and freedoms at risk in a reactionary fashion .", "Terrorists want to undermine our freedoms and way of life by provoking the state into putting in place repressive measures .", "We therefore risk , in effect , doing their job for them .", "Despite the increases in the number of people being charged with terrorist offenses , opponents of the bill maintain that the increase in the number of people being charged is not evidence of the growing threat of terrorism to the nation , rather that it is indicative that the current laws are working .", "LSB- 73 -RSB- The Joint Committee on Human Rights has stated that without a qualitative analysis of the seriousness of the charges brought , it is not `` satisfactory to infer an increase in the level of the threat from bare statistics about the number of convictions or the number of people charged with terrorism offenses ... nor is it satisfactory to draw inferences about the level of the threat from the number of active investigations , the number of suspects , nor the number of prosecutions . ''", "The order issued by the Home Secretary which enables the ` reserve power ' to be used has been criticized as limited in many ways .", "The order under which the extension of pre-charge detention to forty two days is authorized has been described as essentially an executive order that is not subject to any `` meaningful opportunity for that assertion to be tested by independent scrutineers '' -LSB- 75 -RSB- and over which Parliament may only operate as safeguard to a limited extent -LSB- 76 -RSB- .", "Critics have noted that `` by the time -LSB- it -RSB- expresses a view on whether the reserve power should be made available it is likely that the full forty-two day period will have expired , '' -LSB- 77 -RSB- thus allowing individuals to be detained for forty two days at the `` subjective unfettered discretion of the Home Secretary . ''", "A Blurring of Roles", "Critics have further argued that when the order reaches Parliament for debate , the bill places Parliament in a quasi-judicial capacity , and requires it to make decisions that it is `` institutionally ill-equipped to determine . ''", "LSB- 79 -RSB- While the role of Parliament is included to ensure democratic accountability , concern has been raised that this `` risks conflating the roles of Parliament and the Judiciary , '' -LSB- 80 -RSB- as Parliamentary debate would obviously have political overtones and the judiciary would have to consider an application within a short period of time after this debate .", "Critics argue that this would lead to the debate having to be severely restricted and thus defeat the purpose of an open debate to ensure democratic accountability .", "LSB- 81 -RSB- If the debate were not restricted , it could serve to prejudice any future trials and , at the least , lead to the appearance that the independence of the judiciary is being undermined .", "Compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights", "A government report has criticized the provisions , claiming that they are contrary to the ECHR .", "The highly critical report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights has stated that , in its opinion , the lack of judicial safeguards would be in breach of the right to liberty contained in article five of the ECHR and thus require a derogation in order for it to be lawful .", "LSB- 83 -RSB- A separate report has noted that charging suspects after detaining them for longer than twenty-eight days is likely to contravene article 5 ( 2 ) that requires a suspect be informed promptly of any charges against them and that even with additional judicial safeguards , pre-charge detention for forty two days would not be `` compatible with the right to liberty in Article 5 of the ECHR ... such provision inevitably -LSB- requires a -RSB- derogation . ''", "LSB- 84 -RSB- The report argues that the pre-charge detention for forty-two days is disproportionate and that `` the legal framework does not provide sufficient safeguards against arbitrariness and is incompatible with ... -LSB- the ECHR -RSB- for that reason alone . ''", "The government argues that the extension of pre-charge detention is compatible with the ECHR as jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights has not set a specific time period for which a person can be detained without charge .", "It has rather , established an `` overarching principle that detention under Article 5 must not be arbitrary . ''", "LSB- 86 -RSB- The government argues that pre-charge detention as provided for in the bill is not arbitrary as it is reviewed by the court at least every seven days , which it considers to be in compliance with the ECHR .", "The government further argues that article 5 ( 4 ) of the ECHR is met as the `` detainee may challenge the lawfulness of his detention at the hearings for extending his detention and may also issue habeas corpus proceedings if appropriate . ''", "LSB- 87 -RSB- The Joint Committee on Human Rights has argued that while there is not exact jurisprudence surrounding the time period in which a suspect must be informed of charges against them parallels can be drawn from a recent case ( external link ) in which the European Court of Human Rights unanimously found that a delay of seventy two hours before the reason for detention was provided was not ` prompt ' and thus not compatible with article 5 ( 2 ) of the ECHR .", "Alternatives to Pre-Charge Detention", "The use of pre-charge detention to disrupt terrorist plots and protect the public has not been considered in isolation , but along with a number of alternatives also being considered .", "The continued use of the CPS threshold test ;", "Charging suspects with lesser crimes ;", "Providing more financial and human resources to tackle terrorist cases ;", "Providing framework legislation for future derogation from Article 5 of the ECHR to allow for extensive pre-charge detention when an emergency arises ; -LSB- 89 -RSB- or", "The use of intercept evidence to facilitate prosecution at an earlier stage .", "The Threshold Test", "Since 2004 the CPS has utilized a test known as the threshold test in both criminal and terrorist cases .", "LSB- 90 -RSB- This test allows the CPS to charge suspects where evidence that shows there is a realistic prospect of conviction is not yet available , but reasonable grounds exist to believe that evidence will become available , but not within the typical pre-charge detention time limits .", "In order to apply the threshold test , the suspect must also pose a danger to individuals or the community at large if he were released on bail .", "LSB- 91 -RSB- The evidence that the CPS has reasonable grounds to believe will become available must meet evidentiary laws , thus inadmissible evidence , such as intelligence or intercept materials can not be relied upon .", "The government argues that the test is compliant with the ECHR as it brings the suspect promptly before a court .", "The court and defense attorney are presented with `` an outline of the case and the reasons why the prosecution -LSB- are -RSB- seeking remand into custody . ''", "LSB- 92 -RSB- The defense attorney receives a copy of the evidence or a summary of the evidence .", "The court then determines whether the suspect is released on bail or remanded into custody .", "The CPS is required to review the cases submitted using the threshold test within a reasonable period of time .", "The Director of Public Prosecutions has noted that there is no specific data on cases to which this test has been applied , but has stated that the test was applied to four of the eight individuals charged after being detained for more than fourteen days .", "Lesser Criminal Charges", "Charging suspected terrorists with lesser criminal offences has been met with a number of objections on practical and moral grounds , with the wide ranging view that it `` is not appropriate to bring lesser charges purely to enable suspects to be held while more serious charges were investigated . ''", "Framework for Future Derogation", "The Joint Committee on Human Rights has recommended that the government should establish a framework for future derogation from the ECHR rather than extending pre-charge detention .", "Derogation could occur under Article 15 of the ECHR , which permits derogation where there is a public emergency that threatens the life of the nation and would allow for measures `` to the extent strictly required by exigencies of the situation . ''", "LSB- 95 -RSB- The report of the Joint Committee notes that this approach `` both recognizes that human rights law can accommodate a wholly exceptional power to extend the pre-charge detention limit in a case of genuine public emergency , and at the same time ensures that the scope of any such future derogation will be strictly confined to that which is permitted by the ECHR . ''", "More Human and Financial Resources", "The effectiveness of increasing both human and financial resources to reduce the amount of time investigations take has been considered .", "This approach was viewed as untenable and not the best solution , particularly given the cross border dimension of many terrorist investigations resulting in there being differences in the procedures used in other jurisdictions that would delay the investigation in the UK .", "The Use of Intercept Evidence", "There is currently a statutory ban on the use of intercept evidence in the courts by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ( external link ) .", "LSB- 98 -RSB- Debates over the use of intercept evidence have occurred almost simultaneously with those for the extension of pre-charge detention as many argue that the use of intercept evidence in the courts could be used to secure more convictions against terrorists .", "LSB- 99 -RSB- A government committee has considered that the use of intercept evidence in courts should be seriously considered and has near universal support outside the government .", "LSB- 100 -RSB- The government has conducted an extensive review on this issue and continues to view the concept with reluctance , stating that it wishes to wait to see the impact of new technologies before it makes a decision .", "LSB- 101 -RSB- Individuals have criticized the structure of the British legal system , and questioned why the government does not remove the legal constraints that prevent the prosecution of individuals for existing criminal and terrorist offenses in the courts in the first instance , such as the prohibition on the use of intercepted evidence in court .", "LSB- 102 -RSB- This approach was further supported by members of the Conservative Party , who argued that the evidence could be protected through a vetted judge to view the intelligence and intercept evidence before it is heard in open court , with the intention of bringing suspects to trial .", "The government responded to these suggestions by stating an extensive review has concluded that the use of intercepted evidence would only produce a `` modest '' increase in the number of prosecutions for serious criminal offenses but none for terrorists .", "It has further argued :", "There is a widespread misconception that if we could only adduce intercepted evidence , we would be able to prosecute those detained .", "However , the review of intercepted evidence found no evidence to support this ... Government does not intend to change the existing arrangements .", "Intercept provides only part of the intelligence against individuals , and sometimes a small part ; it does not stand alone .", "Some of the material that we have in these cases is inadmissible , and other material , while technically admissible , could not be adduced without compromising national security , damaging relationships with foreign powers or intelligence agencies , or putting the lives of sources at risk .", "So there are cases in which we remain unable to prosecute .", "The former Director General of the Security Service ( MI5 ) publicly announced his reluctance for the use of intercepted evidence in court : I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that due to the changing nature of telephone technology and the importance , during a period of change , of not sensitising terrorists and serious criminals to particular capabilities that will be important for the future , there are indeed good reasons not to remove the bar on the use of intercept in our courts .", "Despite the arguments that the repeal of this rule would enable terrorist suspects to be charged more promptly , there remains no momentum for this restriction to be removed", "The Joint Committee on Human Rights has noted that `` whilst anti-terrorist legislation is not new , each incremental installment , generated by concerns about public safety , must be considered not only on its merits but also in relation to the totality of such legislation . ''", "LSB- 106 -RSB- The large volume of anti-terrorism legislation in the UK appears to have caused much controversy about the pre-charge detention provisions in the context of its cumulative effect .", "Additionally , much controversy exists regarding the potential injustice that an individual could face by being detained for up to forty two days without being charged with a crime to only later be determined to not pose a threat .", "The government 's concerns regarding the challenges that it faces and the consequences of not having powers to enable police to effectively tackle the terrorist threat are unenviable and not open to an easy solution .", "The final resolution of the controversy surrounding the issue of pre-charge detention is dependent upon the social and political climate to determine whether the chosen measures are proportionate to the challenges faced .", "The reception that the provisions in the bill relating to pre-charge detention have met in the House of Lords indicates that the provisions would likely not be enacted .", "For more information on United Kingdom see :", "Global Legal Monitor : United Kingdom", "Guide to Law Online : United Kingdom", "Children 's Rights : United Kingdom", "Habeas Corpus Rights : United Kingdom", "Legal Research Guide : United Kingdom", "Medical Malpractice Liability : United Kingdom ( England and Wales )", "The United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010", "Prepared by Clare Feikert , Senior Law Specialist", "Prevention of Terrorism ( Temporary Provisions ) Act 1984 , c. 8 .", "LSB- Back to Text -RSB-", "The ECHR was incorporated into the domestic law of the United Kingdom by the Human Rights Act 1998 , c. 42 , at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS / acts1998/ukpga _ 19980042_en_1 ( official source ) .", "See further The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms , opened for signature Nov. 4 , 1950 , 213 UNTS 222 , at http://convention s.coe.int / Treaty/en/Treaties / Html/005 .", "Brogan and others v UK , ( 1989 ) 11 EHRR 117 .", "This derogation was later withdrawn by the Human Rights Act ( Amendment ) Order 2001 , SI 2001/1216 at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20011216.htm ( external link ) .", "MARY O'RAWE , OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVE , ETHNIC PROFILING , POLICING , AND SUSPECT COMMUNITIES : LESSONS FROM NORTHERN IRELAND 92 ( 2005 ) at 92 , at , at http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource 2 ?", "Former IRA Commander Jim McVeigh , quoted in M. O'Connor and C. Rumann , Into the Fire : How to avoid getting burned by the same mistakes made fighting Terrorism in Northern Ireland , 24 Cardozo L. Rev. 1657 , 1662 ( 2005 ) .", "Terrorism Act 2000 c. 11 ( as amended ) at http://www.opsi .", "gov.uk / acts/acts2000/ukpga _ 20000011_en_1 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "BBC News , Head to Head : New Terrorism Act , Feb. .", "stm ( external link ) .", "Terrorism Act 2000 , c. 11 , sch .", "8 , ( as amended ) at http://www.ops i.gov.uk / acts/acts2000/ukpga _ 20000011 _ en_21 #sch 8-pt3 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "Part III permits a judicial authority to extend detention for up to seven days , later extended to fourteen days by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 , c. 44 , \u00a7 306 at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/ukpga_20030044 _ en_22 #pt 13-pb1-l1g306 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "Criminal Justice Act 2003 , c. 44 , \u00a7 306 at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/ukpga_20030044_en_22#pt13-pb1-l1g306 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "Terrorism Act 2006 , c. 11 , \u00a7 23 at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS / acts2006/ukpga _ 20060011_en_4 #pt 2-pb2-l1g23 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "Terrorism Act 2000 c. 11 , \u00a7 41 ( as amended ) at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/ukpga_20000011_en_1 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "The Government Reply to the Fourth Report from the Home Affairs Committee Session 2005-6 , H.C. 910 , Terrorism Detention Powers , 2006-07 , Cm .", "6906 , \u00b6 22 , at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/ document/cm69/6906 / 6906.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "THE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE NINETEENTH REPORT FROM THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS SESSION 2006-07 H.L. PAPER 157 , H.C. 394 , COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS : 28 DAYS , INTERCEPT AND POST-CHARGE QUESTIONING , 2007-08 , Cm 7215 , at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7215/7215.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Terrorism Act 2000 c. 11 , sch .", "8 part 3 ( as amended ) at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/ ukpga_20000011_en_1 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "Home Office , Scrutiny of Pre-charge Detention in Terrorist Cases , at http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-publications / publication-search / counter-terrorism - bill-2007 / cps-pre-charge-detention.pdf ?", "view = Binary ( external link ) ( last visited Aug. 27 , 2008 ) .", "Home Office , Scrutiny of Pre-charge Detention in Terrorist Cases , at http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-publications / publication-search / counter-terrorism-bill - 2007/cps-pre-charge - detention.pdf?view = Binary ( external link ) ( PDF ) ( last visited Aug. 27 , 2008 ) .", "Terrorism Act 2006 , c. 11 , \u00a7 25 at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS / acts2006/ukpga _ 20060011_en_4 #pt 2-pb2-l1g23 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "The Terrorism Act 2006 ( Disapplication of Section 25 ) Order 2008 , SI 2008/1745 , at http://www.opsi.gov.uk / si/si2008/uksi _ 20081745_en_1 ( external link ) .", "Counter-terrorism Bill , -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- , 2007-08 , as brought from the Commons including the pre-charge detention provisions at http://www.publications .", "pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "The most current version of the Bill is the Counter-terrorism Bill , -LSB- HL Bill 82 -RSB- , 2007-08 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708 / ldbills/082/2008082 .", "pdf ( external link ) .", "Phillipe Naughton , Gordon Brown denies 42-day terror deal with DUP , June 12 , 2008 , Times ( London ) at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol / news/politics/article4119881 .", "ece ( external link ) .", "Nico Hines and David Byersordon , Brown 's last-ditch appeal fails as Lords reject 42-day Bill , The Times ( London ) Oct. 13 , 2008 , http://www.timesonline .", "( external link ) -LSB- Back to Text -RSB-", "Home Office , Home Secretary 's statement on the counter-terrorism bill , 13 October 2008 at http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk / news-publications/news-speeches/counter-terrorism-bill - statement ( external link ) .", "Counter-terrorism Bill , -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- , 2007-08 , sch .", "Counter-terrorism Bill , -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- , 2007-08 , cl .", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , 10th Report of Session 2007 -- 08 : Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 , \u00b6 18 at http://www.parliament .", "pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) and Explanatory Notes to the Counter-Terrorism Bill -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- 2007-8 , as brought from the House of Commons on 12th June 2008 , \u00b6 69 , at http://www .", "LSB- Back to Text -RSB- `` Serious terrorist threat '' is defined in the Act as being an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 , the Terrorism Act 2006 , or any offense that has a terrorist connection and is punishable upon conviction by life imprisonment .", "Clause 22 of the Counter-Terrorism Bill defines `` grave exceptional terrorist threat '' as `` as an event or situation involving terrorism which causes or threatens serious loss of human life or serious damage to human welfare in the UK . ''", "The Home Office gives the examples of `` disruption of energy supplies or transport facilities , or serious damage to the security of the UK .", "The provision ... is to ensure that terrorist plots which are foiled by the authorities or which otherwise fail are included in the definition . ''", "Home Office , Pre-charge Detention - The Facts , http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news - publications/publication-search/counter-terrorism - bill-2007 / pre-charge-facts ?", "view = Binary ( external link ) ( last visited Aug. 27 , 2008 .", "Counter-terrorism Bill , -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- , 2007-08 , cls .", "25 and 27 , at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa / ld200708/ldbills/065 / 2008065.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) and Explanatory Notes to the Counter-Terrorism Bill -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- 2007-8 , as brought from the House of Commons on 12th June 2008 , \u00b6 93 , at http://www .", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , 10th Report of Session 2007 -- 08 : Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 , at http://www.parliament .", "co.uk / pa/ld200708 / ldselect/ldconst/167 / 167.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Explanatory Notes to the Counter-Terrorism Bill -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- 2007-8 , as brought from the House of Commons on 12th June 2008 , \u00b6 85 at http://www .", "27 , at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa / ld200708/ldbills/065 / 2008065.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "29 , at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa / ld200708/ldbills/065 / 2008065.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "2 , at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa / ld200708/ldbills/065 / 2008065.pdf ( external link ) .", "Explanatory Notes to the Counter-Terrorism Bill -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- 2007-8 , as brought from the House of Commons on 12th June 2008 , \u00b6 88 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708 / ldbills/065/en / 2008065en.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "publications.parliament.uk / pa / ld200708/ldbills/065 / 2008065.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Counter-terrorism Bill , -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- , 2007-08 , sch 2 and cl .", "41 , at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa / ld200708/ldbills/065 / 2008065.pdf ( external link ) .", "The current reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation is Lord Carlile of Berriew , appointed under section thirty six of the Terrorism Act 2006 , c. 11 at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2006/ukpga_20060011_en_4#pt2-pb2-l1g23 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "31 , at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa / ld200708/ldbills/065 / 2008065.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Lord Carlile of Berriew , Q.C. , Report on Proposed Measures for Inclusion in a Counter-Terrorism Bill , 2007-08 , Cm 7262 , \u00b6 41 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7262/7262.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Secretary of State for the Home Department et al , Legislation Against Terrorism , 1998-99 , Cm .", "The Government Reply to the Fourth Report from the Home Affairs Committee Session 2005-06 , H.C. 910 , Terrorism Detention Powers , 2006-07 , Cm 6906 , at 3 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm69/ 6906/6906 .", "LORD CARLILE OF BERRIEW , Q.C. , REPORT ON PROPOSED MEASURES FOR INCLUSION IN A COUNTER-TERRORISM BILL , 2007-08 , Cm 7262 , \u00b6 45 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7262/7262.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Home Office , Options for Pre-Charge Detention in Terrorist Cases , July 2007 , http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news - publications/publication-search/counter-terrorism - bill-2007 / pre-charge-detention.pdf ?", "view = Binary ( external link ) ( PDF ) referring to the case of Dhiren Barot .", "See further CPS , Terrorist Sentenced for Conspiracy to Murder , Nov. 2006 , http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/pressrelease s/archive/2006 / 161_06.html ( external link ) .", "Home Office , Options for Pre-Charge Detention in Terrorist Cases , July 2007 , http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk / news - publications/publication-search/counter - terrorism-bill-2007 / pre-charge-detention.pdf ?", "See further CPS , Terrorist Sentenced for Conspiracy to Murder , Nov. 2006 , http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/pressreleases / archive/2006/161 _ 06.html ( external link ) .", "BBC News , Met chief warns over terror plots , Oct. 9 , 2007 , http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7035388.stm ( external link ) .", "House of Commons Home Affairs Committee , Terrorism Detention Powers : Fourth Report of Session 2005 -- 06 , H.C. 910-I , \u00b6 90 at http://www.publications .", "Home Office , Options for Pre-Charge Detention in Terrorist Cases , July 2007 , http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news - publications/publication-search/counter - terrorism-bill-2007 / pre-charge-detention.pdf ?", "LSB- Back to Text -RSB- 8 July 2008 , Parl .", "THE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE NINETEENTH REPORT FROM THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS SESSION 2006-07 H.L. PAPER 157 , H.C. 394 , COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS : 28 DAYS , INTERCEPT AND POST-CHARGE QUESTIONING , 2007-08 , Cm 7215 , \u00b6 22 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7215/7215.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "House of Commons Library Research Paper , Counter-Terrorism Bill Committee Stage Report Bill 100 of 2007-8 , Research Paper 08/52 June 2008 at http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2008/rp08-052.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) and LORD CARLILE OF BERRIEW , Q.C. , REPORT ON PROPOSED MEASURES FOR INCLUSION IN A COUNTER-TERRORISM BILL , 2007-08 , Cm 7262 , \u00b6 42 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7262/7262.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Home Affairs Committee , Fourth Report of Session 2005-06 , Terrorism Detention Powers , HC 910-I , \u00b6 143 and THE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE FOURTH REPORT FROM THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SESSION 2005-6 , H.C. 910 , TERRORISM DETENTION POWERS , 2006-07 , Cm .", "6906 , \u00b6 35 , at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm69/6906/6906.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Home Affairs Select Committee , First Report , The Government 's Counter-Terrorism Proposals , 2007-08 , HC 43-I , at http://www.parliament.the - stationery-office .", "co.uk / pa/cm200708 / cmselect/cmhaff/43 / 43i.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Home Affairs Select Committee , First Report , The Government 's Counter-Terrorism Proposals , 2007-08 , HC 43-I , at http://www.parliament .", "LORD CARLILE OF BERRIEW , Q.C. , REPORT ON PROPOSED MEASURES FOR INCLUSION IN A COUNTER-TERRORISM BILL , 2007-08 , Cm 7262 , \u00b6 42 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7262/7262.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "THE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE TWENTY-FOURTH REPORT FROM THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS SESSION 2005-06 HL PAPER 240 , HC 1574 , COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS : PROSECUTION AND PRE-CHARGE DETENTION , 2006-07 , Cm .", "6920 , at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm69/6920/6920.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "TTHE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE NINETEENTH REPORT FROM THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS SESSION 2006-07 H.L. PAPER 157 , H.C. 394 , COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS : 28 DAYS , INTERCEPT AND POST-CHARGE QUESTIONING , 2007-08 , Cm 7215 , \u00b6 22 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7215/7215.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , Tenth Report , Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa / ld200708/ldselect/ldconst / 167/167 .", "Joint Committee on Human Rights , Twenty First Report ,", "Counter -- Terrorism Policy and Human Rights ( Eleventh Report ) : 42 Days and Public Emergencies , 2007-08 , H.L. 116/H .", "htm #a 2 ( external link ) .", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , Tenth Report , Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 , \u00b6 32 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk / pa/ld200708/ldselect / ldconst/167/167 .", "LSB- Back to Text -RSB- Id .", "Joint Committee on Human Rights , Ninth Report ,", "Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights ( Eighth Report ) :", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , Tenth Report , Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708 / ldselect/ldconst/167 / 167.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , Tenth Report , Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld20070 8/ldselect/ldconst / 167/167 .", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , Tenth Report , Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 , \u00b6 43 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk / pa/ld200708 / ldselect/ldconst/167 / 167.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Joint Committee on Human Rights , Ninth Report , Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights ( Eighth Report ) : Counter-Terrorism Bill , 2007-8 , H.L. 50/H .", "Explanatory Notes to the Counter-Terrorism Bill -LSB- HL Bill 65 -RSB- 2007-8 , as brought from the House of Commons on 12th June 2008 , \u00b6 306 , at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldbills/065 / en/2008065en .", "LSB- Back to Text -RSB- In another government report on pre-charge detention the use of habeas corpus was considered to be insignificant `` to the debate about judicial control over extensions of detention time '' as the judicial review mechanisms provided in Part fifty four of the Civil Procedure Rules are considered to be a `` more effective means of challenging detention . ''", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , Tenth Report , Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 , \u00b6 47 at http://www .", "Saadi v UK , Application no. 13229/03 , 29 January 2008 , http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html& documentId = 788396 & portal = hbkm & source = externalbydocnumber & table =", "Joint Committee on Human Rights , Twenty First Report , Counter -- Terrorism Policy and Human Rights ( Eleventh Report ) : 42 Days and Public Emergencies , 2007-08 , H.L. 116/H .", "Code for Crown Prosecutions ( the Code ) First issued June 2004 , Part 6 , http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/docs/code2004english.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) ( last visited Aug. 26 , 2008 ) .", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , Tenth Report , Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 , appendix 3 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk / pa/ld200708/ldselect / ldconst/167/167 .", "THE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE FOURTH REPORT FROM THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SESSION 2005-6 , H.C. 910 , TERRORISM DETENTION POWERS , 2006-07 , Cm 6906 , 28 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm69/6906/6906.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms , opened for signature Nov. 4 , 1950 , 213 UNTS 222 , Article 15 ( 1 ) at http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 , c. 23 , at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/ukpga_20000023_en_1 ( external link ) ( official source ) .", "THE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE FOURTH REPORT FROM THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SESSION 2005-6 , H.C. 910 , TERRORISM DETENTION POWERS , 2006-07 , Cm 6906 , \u00b6 28 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document / cm69/6906/6906 .", "THE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE FOURTH REPORT FROM THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SESSION 2005-6 , H.C. 910 , TERRORISM DETENTION POWERS , 2006-07 , Cm 6906 , \u00b6 28 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm69/6906/6906.pdf ( external link ) ( PDF ) .", "THE GOVERNMENT REPLY TO THE FOURTH REPORT FROM THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SESSION 2005-6 , H.C. 910 , TERRORISM DETENTION POWERS , 2006-07 , Cm 6906 , \u00b6 28 at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm69 / 6906/6906 .", "BBC News , Anti-Terror Proposals , quoting Paul Wilkinson , Feb. 28 , 2005 , at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4291565.stm#Jones ( external link ) -LSB- Back to Text -RSB- 430 Parl .", "LSB- Back to Text -RSB- 430 Parl .", "House of Commons Library Research Paper , The Prevention of Terrorism Bill , Bill 61 of 2004-05 , Research Paper 05/14 , Feb. 2005 citing Sir Stephen Lander , Tapping and Terror , Independent ( London ) , Feb. 7 , 2005 .", "House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , Tenth Report , Counter-Terrorism Bill : The Role of Ministers , Parliament and the Judiciary , 2007-08 , H.L. 167 , at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/ pa/ld200708/ldselect / ldconst/167/167 .", "LSB- Back to Text -RSB- 8 July 2008 , PARL .", "( 2008 ) 635 and see also Nicholas Watt , Impractical and wrong in principle : former MI5 chief 's verdict on Brown 's 42-day plan : Peers round on anti-terror detention legislation : PM 's former cabinet colleagues join critics , July 9 2008 at 4 , GUARDIAN ( London ) at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jul/09/terrorism.police ( external link ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "Furthermore it seems it is not unreasonable to detain people who you have good grounds to suspect could be dangerous as we already detain potentially dangerous people who do not have mental health problems anyway, if authorities believe they may be terrorists.", "_claim_name": "It is important for the protection of the public.", "_doc_title": "Pre-Charge Detention for Terrorist Suspects: United Kingdom | Law Library of Congress", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 8, 9]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 122, "_topic_name": "This House would detain people on grounds of mental health"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["For some litigants , the award of # 60,000 and a declaration that a liking for sado-masochistic orgies with prostitutes is broadly nobody else 's business would have been a satisfactory outcome .", "But not all litigants are 68-year-old Formula One bosses with a burning sense of injustice and a desire to foist a privacy law on Britain .", "Max Mosley who this summer won damages at the High Court in London from the News of the World after the newspaper claimed that a sex party attended by him involved Nazi role-playing , will today take a case to the European Court of Human Rights ( ECHR ) to force a change in British law which would require editors to contact the subjects of any revelations before publishing allegations about their private lives .", "The president of the FIA , the governing body of the # 2bn Formula One industry , said the finding of Mr Justice Eady in July that his privacy had been infringed by the Sunday tabloid when it published lurid details of a sex party involving five prostitutes -- along with the award of # 60,000 in damages and # 450,000 in costs -- was not sufficient `` remedy '' for his complaint .", "Mr Mosley said : `` I feel a great wrong has been done to me .", "Anyone who is a victim of this situation has to publicise all over again the very thing they are trying to keep private .", "If I had been notified first , it would n't have necessarily stopped them publishing , but at least I could have challenged it in front of an independent person . ''", "Lawyers for Mr Mosley , the son of the 1930s British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley , said yesterday that they want to persuade the ECHR in Strasbourg to change UK rules , which allow allegations to be published without the prior knowledge of an individual or the courts , to ensure that a judge is permitted to scrutinise any claims before they are made public .", "Dominic Crossley , the lawyer representing the multimillionaire , said : `` The only effective remedy -LSB- open to Mr Mosley -RSB- would have been to prevent the publication in the first place by means of an injunction but because he did not know about the article beforehand the opportunity of an injunction was not open to him . ''", "Mr Crossley added that if the application was successful `` everyone in the UK will equally share in the right to have an editor 's decision to publish reviewed by a judge before irreparable damage can be done '' .", "Legal experts warned that such a move could lead to damaging curbs on freedom of speech and impinge on the ability of the newspapers and broadcasters to expose corruption in the public interest .", "Mark Stephens , a leading media lawyer , said : `` This would shear the media of the ability to report matters of public interest and thus look into corruption lurking in those dark corners the rich and powerful would rather were kept out of sight .", "`` It is part of our system that an editor should be able to choose to publish and deal with the consequences .", "There is a tension between the right to privacy and the right to know and the checks and balances that currently we have within English law achieve the correct balance . ''", "The publication in March this year of graphic images of Mr Mosley engaged in sado-masochistic acts with call girls speaking German and dressed in pseudo-militaristic clothing sparked widespread calls for him to stand down from his FIA post .", "George Carey , the former Archbishop of Canterbury , criticised his `` unspeakable and indecent behaviour '' .", "Although the Formula One boss never denied taking part in the orgy and apologised for `` the embarrassment the revelations caused '' , he fervently denied that there was any Nazi theme to the party .", "After a week of lurid evidence in which the High Court was asked to consider the increased likelihood of an S&M habitu\u00e9 bleeding and one of the prostitutes involved offering to don one of the uniforms used in the session , it was found that Mr Mosley 's sexual tastes , `` albeit unconventional '' , had not involved any Nazi overtones .", "Mr Mosley said : `` I think it 's wrong that a tabloid editor can destroy a family and wreck a life without being answerable to anybody just to sell newspapers .", "The chance of being sued is very small , the damages are not very big and it is a worthwhile risk . ''", "The motor sport magnate , who will stand down from the FIA when his four-year term expires in 12 months , is seeking to expose those who led to his activities being recorded on covert cameras .", "He believes those responsible were `` something to do with motor racing '' ."], "_citing_sentence": "Media lawyer Mark Stevens states that this idea \"...would shear the media of the ability to report matters of public interest and thus look into corruption lurking in those dark corners the rich and powerful would rather were kept out of sight\"", "_claim_name": "It would not be practical to involve the judiciary prior to the publication of every story", "_doc_title": "Mosley's crusade to banish 'kiss and tells' | Press | News | The Independent", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 123, "_topic_name": "This house believes that the press should be able to publish allegations about private lives without consent"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Egypt 's army has removed President Mohammed Morsi from power , suspended the constitution and pledged new elections following mass protests .", "The army chief announced the move in a TV address .", "The head of the constitutional court is expected to be sworn in as interim leader on Thursday .", "Mr Morsi 's supporters denounced the move as a military coup and said he was being held in detention .", "His opponents celebrated through the night in Cairo 's Tahrir Square .", "But officials from Mr Morsi 's Muslim Brotherhood said its main rally in Cairo had come under attack by armed assailants and there were reports of deadly clashes elsewhere .", "US President Barack Obama said he was `` deeply concerned '' by the latest turn of events and called for a swift return to civilian rule .", "The military moved quickly after the TV address by army chief Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi , who said Mr Morsi , Egypt 's first freely elected president , had `` failed to meet the demands of the Egyptian people '' .", "By Jeremy BowenBBC Middle East editor , Tahrir Square", "The military 's move against the Muslim Brotherhood was well planned .", "Intervention must have been in the mind of the army chief , Gen Sisi , for some time .", "Muslim Brotherhood activists were arrested .", "Islamist TV stations were taken off the air .", "In the elections that followed the Arab uprisings of 2011 , the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood , and its offshoots across the region , did extremely well .", "That was because it was well organised , with a reputation for honesty , and took advantage of the failure of secular parties to organise themselves .", "But now the Egyptian army has inflicted a serious blow on the Muslim Brotherhood .", "One question is whether the Brotherhood will be forced back underground , as it was when it was banned in the years before 2011 .", "The Brotherhood foreswore violence many years ago .", "But there are jihadist groups in Egypt that have not .", "The army has calculated it can handle any trouble .", "But it is playing for high stakes - the future of Egypt .", "Military vehicles were seen fanning out across the capital .", "Muslim Brotherhood media spokesman Gehad el-Haddad told the BBC that Mr Morsi had been put under house arrest and the `` entire presidential team '' was in detention .", "Mr Haddad 's father , senior Morsi aide Essam el-Haddad , and Saad al-Katatni , head of the Brotherhood 's political wing , were among those held .", "State-run al-Ahram newspaper reported that arrest warrants had been issued for 300 leaders and members of the Muslim Brotherhood .", "TV stations belonging to the Brotherhood went off air at the end of Gen Sisi 's speech and state news agency Mena said managers at the movement 's Misr25 channel had been arrested .", "Mr Haddad said a crowd of some 2,000 Morsi supporters had been shot at by men in civilian dress with machine guns at the main Brotherhood rally .", "A notice on Mr Morsi 's Facebook page denounced the army for its `` military coup '' .", "The statement asked Egyptian citizens - both civilians and military - to `` abide by the constitution and the law and not to respond to this coup '' .", "But a number of clashes were reported in several Egyptian cities .", "At least 10 people were said to have been killed in the coastal cities of Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh , as well as in the southern city of Minya .", "In Tahrir Square , thousands of anti-Morsi protesters celebrated with fireworks and honking car horns .", "One protester , Omar Sherif , told Agence France-Presse : `` It 's a new historical moment .", "We got rid of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood . ''", "The BBC 's Kevin Connolly in Cairo says no-one knows what will happen next .", "The danger , he says , is that both sides will try to settle differences by bringing supporters on to the streets .", "The army has said it will not allow that to happen but , our correspondent says , it will not be easy to stop .", "The army 's move to depose the president followed four days of mass street demonstrations against Mr Morsi and an ultimatum issued by the military which expired on Wednesday afternoon .", "Gen Sisi said in his speech that the armed forces could not stay silent and blind to the call of the Egyptian masses .", "He spoke of a new roadmap for the future , and said that the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court , Adli Mansour , would be given the task of `` running the country 's affairs during the transitional period until the election of a new president '' .", "He is scheduled to be sworn in as head of state at 10:00 ( 08:00 GMT ) .", "After Gen Sisi 's address , both Pope Tawadros II - the head of the Coptic Church - and leading opposition figure Mohammed ElBaradei made short televised speeches about the new roadmap for Egypt 's future which they had agreed with the army .", "Mr ElBaradei said the roadmap aimed for national reconciliation and represented a fresh start to the January 2011 revolution .", "`` This roadmap has been drafted by honourable people who seek the interests , first and foremost , of the country , '' added Pope Tawadros .", "Opposition leader and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa told AFP news agency that consultations for a government and reconciliation `` will start from now '' .", "Reacting to the army announcement , President Obama said he hoped to see a quick restoration of a democratically elected government in Egypt .", "He ordered a review of US foreign aid to Egypt which by US law must be suspended in the event an elected leader is deposed by a military coup .", "UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also voiced his concern , appealing for calm and restraint in Egypt .", "Mr Morsi became Egypt 's first Islamist president on 30 June 2012 , after winning an election considered free and fair following the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak ."], "_citing_sentence": "General el-Sisi, leader of the coup, claimed that they 'could not stay silent and blind to the call of the Egyptian masses'.", "_claim_name": "Failed to gain control of the Egyptian crisis", "_doc_title": "Egypt crisis: Army ousts President Mohammed Morsi - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [38]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Huge protests across Egypt calling for the resignation of President Mohammed Morsi have taken place through the night , with some outbreaks of violence .", "In the capital , Cairo , tens of thousands of people massed in Tahrir Square and outside the presidential palace in the biggest demonstration there since the 2011 revolution .", "At least one person was killed in clashes at Cairo 's headquarters of Mr Morsi 's Muslim Brotherhood movement .", "Four others died in clashes elsewhere .", "Millions of protesters across the country accuse the country 's first Islamist president of failing to tackle economic and security problems since taking power a year ago .", "Angry mood in provincial Egypt", "The demonstration was largely peaceful , but some protesters later threw stones and petrol bombs at the Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood .", "At least one person was killed when shooting broke out near the political office , activists and a hospital official said .", "Meanwhile , thousands of Mr Morsi supporters staged a rally in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City .", "A presidential spokesman later urged the protesters to respect the democratic process , referring to Mr Morsi 's victory in last year 's elections which were widely seen as free and fair .", "By Aleem MaqboolBBC News , Cairo", "Many of those on the streets feel betrayed by a president who they say has been uninterested in uniting Egyptians despite once promising to be inclusive .", "They feel that he has instead governed purely in the interests of his own party .", "For his part , the president insists he has invited opposition groups to enter into dialogue but that they have not co-operated .", "His supporters say that whatever the considerable problems Egypt is facing , Mohammed Morsi must see out his full term in office for the sake of stability .", "Some pro-Morsi demonstrators have decided to stage their own sit-ins , and there are fears of clashes between opposing groups .", "The coming hours , and the way the situation is handled by the authorities , are likely to give us clear indications about whether or not Egypt 's president can survive in office as he insists he will .", "One clear achievement of President Morsi 's opponents has been to get so many people out on to the streets , BBC 's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen reports from Cairo .", "The last time such numbers were seen on the square was during the revolution in 2011 which saw the removal of President Hosni Mubarak from power .", "The question they face now is how to fashion a political strategy that can rival the organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood , he says .", "Another big question , he adds , is what the army will do .", "The defence minister has warned that the military may intervene if Egypt becomes ungovernable .", "On Sunday , one man was killed and at least 24 injured in Beni Suef , 115km ( 71 miles ) south of Cairo , security sources said .", "According to a report on the Ahram news website , Morsi supporters attacked an opposition rally and unidentified gunmen opened fire .", "The report could not be confirmed independently .", "In the southern city of Assiut , three people died and several were injured when shots were fired at protesters , reportedly by attackers on a motorcycle .", "According to the health ministry , 253 people were injured across the country during Sunday 's protests .", "Polarisation marks Morsi 's first year", "Egyptian views of Morsi one year on", "Families torn by political divide In Cairo , unidentified persons attacked the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters , which had been fortified with sandbags earlier .", "Staff inside said they had not broken in , Reuters news agency reports .", "Demonstrations were also held in Alexandria , Port Said , Suez and other cities .", "Presidential spokesman Ihab Fahmi called on all Egyptians to `` unite and listen to the sound of wisdom '' .", "`` Political diversity necessitates on all parties to abide by the democratic process , '' he said .", "And he reiterated that President Morsi was open to a `` real and serious national dialogue '' .", "As darkness fell , the opposition National Salvation Front ( NSF ) released what it called `` Revolution Statement 1 '' , calling on protesters across Egypt to `` maintain their peaceful -LSB- rallies -RSB- in all the squares and streets and villages and hamlets of the country ... until the last of this dictatorial regime falls '' .", "The NSF is among liberal and secular opposition groups which have endorsed a petition organised by the grassroots movement Tamarod ( Rebellion ) , which calls for a snap election .", "Opposition activists say more than 22 million people have signed it .", "There was also some evidence of anti-American and anti-Israeli feeling among the protesters , with one flag portraying President Morsi inside a Star of David .", "The BBC 's Aleem Maqbool in Cairo says many ordinary Egyptians - angered by Mr Morsi 's political and economic policies - have been taking part in the rally in Tahrir Square .", "At one point , army helicopters flew over Tahrir Square and dropped Egyptian flags , to cheers from the anti-Morsi crowd , he says .", "Mr Morsi , who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood , became president on 30 June 2012 .", "His first year as president has been marred by constant political unrest and a sinking economy ."], "_citing_sentence": "On the 1st July 2013 millions of protestors gathered in Tahrir Square, as well as in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez and the Egyptian army stated it would intervene if the government did not 'meet the demands of the people' by restructuring the government to appease protestors.", "_claim_name": "Failed to gain control of the Egyptian crisis", "_doc_title": "Egypt crisis: Mass protests over Morsi grip cities - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0, 1, 21, 31]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["by Louisa Loveluck , Correspondent , GlobalPost", "CAIRO -- Former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi goes on trial Monday , four months after being ousted in a popularly-backed coup .", "He is accused of inciting the murder of anti-government protesters who gathered outside his palace in Cairo last December .", "Morsi 's fall from grace has taken place at astonishing speed .", "Until early July , his Muslim Brotherhood was one of the most powerful political forces in the country , dominating ministry posts and the assembly responsible for drafting Egypt 's post-revolution constitution .", "Today , the movement 's ranks have been decimated by a bloody crackdown and mass arrests .", "Court proceedings involving a number of other senior Brotherhood figures have already begun .", "However , Monday 's event is the one that Egypt has been waiting for .", "The trial takes place amid heightened security and clashes outside the courtroom are likely .", "While Morsi supporters are vowing to rally in support of their leader , Egypt 's interior ministry has promised to deploy up to 20,000 policemen around the courthouse .", "So how did Egypt get here ?", "Here 's the background and why Morsi 's trial is so important .", "Just over a year after he was elected through a popular majority , why is Mohammed Morsi on trial ?", "What is he accused of ?", "Morsi was ousted in a July 3 military coup , following a single , disastrous year in office .", "Today , he will stand trial along with 14 others , including members of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party .", "The coup took place after Egypt 's military sided with millions of protesters and stepped in to arrest Morsi .", "He has been held in incommunicado detention for four months .", "His arrest attracted widespread support .", "Although elected with 51.7 percent of the freest national vote in Egyptian history , Morsi 's support ebbed away after he failed to meet high expectations raised by the country 's 2011 uprising , or even to achieve more moderate successes in social or economic spheres .", "Crucially , Egypt 's economy continued to nosedive , precipitating food and fuel crises across the Arab world 's most populous nation .", "Despite initial signs of a desire to bring the country 's hated interior ministry to heel , it remained unreformed .", "Protests continued to be crushed by lethal force , while arbitrary arrests and abuse in custody also remained frequent .", "Morsi 's prosecution now forms a vital piece in the jigsaw of legitimacy that Egypt 's military and interim government are piecing together in the wake of the coup .", "The former president is charged with incitement to murder and the violent break-up of a peaceful protest .", "The charges relate to bloody clashes which took place outside the Presidential Palace on December 5 and 6 last year .", "Anti-government protesters had gathered outside the facility , protesting against a presidential decree handing Morsi extrajudicial powers and allowing him to push through a constitution drawn up by an Islamist-dominated assembly .", "After Muslim Brotherhood supporters responded to a call to defend the palace , at least 10 people were killed .", "The origins of the call to protect the palace remain unclear , but the prosecution will want to trace it back to Morsi .", "The former president also faces separate charges of helping a number of prisoners break out of Wadi Natroun prison during Egypt 's 2011 revolution .", "Where has Morsi been ?", "Morsi has not been seen since July 2 , when he gave a televised speech in the final hours of his presidency .", "Since then , he has been held at an undisclosed location with limited access to his lawyers .", "According to rights group Amnesty International , his conditions `` amount to enforced disappearance . ''", "Local media reports suggest that Morsi has refused to cooperate with his investigators , who have grilled him on his role in a number of events that took place during his presidency .", "The Egyptian authorities will try to ensure that minimal footage emerges from the courtroom .", "Television cameras have been banned and journalists are not even allowed to take their cell phones inside .", "Why is the trial important ?", "After hundreds of Morsi supporters were killed on the orders of Egypt 's new leaders this summer , the military-backed authorities are now seeking to shift the focus back to the crimes of the Brotherhood .", "The worst single incident of violence this summer took place on August 14 when security forces forcibly dispersed a thousands-strong pro-Morsi encampment in Cairo .", "Over 1,000 people were killed nationwide that day in what Human Rights Watch has called `` the most serious incident of mass unlawful killings in modern Egyptian history . ''", "The bloodshed was condemned around the world and led the United States to partially suspend an annual $ 1.3 billion aid package to Egypt .", "Although relations with western governments have not suffered as much as one might expect , it is still vital that Egypt provide some sort of legal basis for the decision to remove Morsi from office .", "The US has emphasized the need for due process to be observed in the former president 's trial .", "Secretary of State John Kerry made a surprise visit to Cairo on Sunday , a sign that the world will be watching the proceedings closely .", "This story originally appeared on GlobalPost .", "Related stories from GlobalPost :"], "_citing_sentence": "Muslim Brotherhood supporters were called to defend the palace and the resulting clashes left ten dead.", "_claim_name": "Failed to gain control of the Egyptian crisis", "_doc_title": "Why deposed Egypt president Morsi's trial is so important - NBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [27]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The separation of powers , often imprecisely and metonymically used interchangeably with the trias politica principle , -LSB- 1 -RSB- is a model for the governance of a state ( or who controls the state ) .", "The model was first developed in ancient Greece .", "Under this model , the state is divided into branches , each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with the powers associated with the other branches .", "The typical division of branches is into a legislature , an executive , and a judiciary .", "It can be contrasted with the fusion of powers in a parliamentary system where the executive and legislature ( and sometimes parts of the judiciary ) are unified .", "Separation of powers , therefore , refers to the division of responsibilities into distinct branches to limit any one branch from exercising the core functions of another .", "The intent is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks and balances .", "Aristotle first mentioned the idea of a `` mixed government '' or hybrid government in his work Politics where he drew upon many of the constitutional forms in the city-states of Ancient Greece .", "In the Roman Republic , the Roman Senate , Consuls and the Assemblies showed an example of a mixed government according to Polybius ( Histories , Book 6 , 11 -- 13 ) .", "John Calvin ( 1509 -- 1564 ) favoured a system of government that divided political power between democracy and aristocracy ( mixed government ) .", "Calvin appreciated the advantages of democracy , stating : `` It is an invaluable gift if God allows a people to elect its own government and magistrates . ''", "LSB- 2 -RSB- In order to reduce the danger of misuse of political power , Calvin suggested setting up several political institutions which should complement and control each other in a system of checks and balances .", "LSB- 3 -RSB- In this way , Calvin and his followers resisted political absolutism and furthered the growth of democracy .", "Calvin aimed to protect the rights and the well-being of ordinary people .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- -LSB- need quotation to verify -RSB- In 1620 , a group of English separatist Congregationalists and Anglicans ( later known as the Pilgrim Fathers ) founded Plymouth Colony in North America .", "Enjoying self-rule , they established a bipartite democratic system of government .", "The `` freemen '' elected the General Court , which functioned as legislature and judiciary and which in turn elected a governor , who together with his seven `` assistants '' served in the functional role of providing executive power .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- Massachusetts Bay Colony ( founded 1628 ) , Rhode Island ( 1636 ) , Connecticut ( 1636 ) , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania had similar constitutions -- they all separated political powers .", "( Except for Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony , these English outposts added religious freedom to their democratic systems , an important step towards the development of human rights .", "LSB- 6 -RSB- -LSB- 7 -RSB- ) Books like William Bradford 's History of Plymoth Plantation ( written between 1630 and 1651 ) were widely read in England .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- So the form of government in the colonies was well known in the mother country , including to the philosopher John Locke ( 1632 -- 1704 ) .", "He deduced from a study of the English constitutional system the advantages of dividing political power into the legislative ( which should be distributed among several bodies , for example , the House of Lords and the House of Commons ) , on the one hand , and the executive and federative , responsible for the protection of the country and prerogative of the monarch , on the other hand .", "( The Kingdom of England had no written constitution . )", "LSB- 8 -RSB- -LSB- need quotation to verify -RSB-", "The term tripartite system is ascribed to French Enlightenment political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- -LSB- 10 -RSB- In The Spirit of the Laws ( 1748 ) , Montesquieu described the separation of political power among a legislature , an executive , and a judiciary .", "Montesquieu 's approach was to present and defend a form of government which was not excessively centralized in all its powers to a single monarch or similar ruler .", "He based this model on the Constitution of the Roman Republic and the British constitutional system .", "Montesquieu took the view that the Roman Republic had powers separated so that no one could usurp complete power .", "LSB- 11 -RSB- -LSB- 12 -RSB- -LSB- 13 -RSB- In the British constitutional system , Montesquieu discerned a separation of powers among the monarch , Parliament , and the courts of law .", "Montesquieu did actually specify that `` the independence of the judiciary has to be real , and not apparent merely '' .", "`` The judiciary was generally seen as the most important of powers , independent and unchecked '' , and also was considered dangerous .", "To prevent one branch from becoming supreme , protect the `` opulent minority '' from the majority , and to induce the branches to cooperate , government systems that employ a separation of powers need a way to balance each of the branches .", "Typically this was accomplished through a system of `` checks and balances '' , the origin of which , like separation of powers itself , is specifically credited to Montesquieu .", "Checks and balances allow for a system-based regulation that allows one branch to limit another , such as the power of the United States Congress to alter the composition and jurisdiction of the federal courts .", "Both bipartite and tripartite governmental systems apply the principles of the separation of powers to allow for the branches represented by the separate powers to hold each other reciprocally responsible to the assertion of powers as apportioned by law .", "The following example of the separation of powers and their mutual checks and balances for the experience of the United States Constitution is presented as illustrative of the general principles applied in similar forms of government as well .", "Constitutions with a high degree of separation of powers are found worldwide .", "The UK system is distinguished by a particular entwining of powers .", "LSB- 15 -RSB- A number of Latin American countries have electoral branches of government .", "Countries with little separation of power include New Zealand and Canada .", "Canada makes limited use of separation of powers in practice , although in theory it distinguishes between branches of government .", "New Zealand 's constitution is based on the principle of separation of powers through a series of constitutional safeguards , many of which are tacit .", "The Executive 's ability to carry out decisions often depends on the Legislature , which is elected under the mixed member proportional system .", "This means the government is rarely a single party but a coalition of parties .", "The Judiciary is also free of government interference .", "If a series of judicial decisions result in an interpretation of the law which the Executive considers does not reflect the intention of the policy , the Executive can initiate changes to the legislation in question through the Legislature .", "The Executive can not direct or request a judicial officer to revise or reconsider a decision ; decisions are final .", "Should there be a dispute between the Executive and Judiciary , the Executive has no authority to direct the Judiciary , or its individual members and vice versa .", "Complete separation of powers systems are almost always presidential , although theoretically this need not be the case .", "There are a few historical exceptions , such as the Directoire system of revolutionary France .", "Switzerland offers an example of non-Presidential separation of powers today : It is run by a seven-member executive branch , the Federal Council .", "However , some might argue that Switzerland does not have a strong separation of powers system , as the Federal Council is appointed by parliament ( but not dependent on parliament ) and although the judiciary has no power of review , the judiciary is still separate from the other branches .", "Australia does not maintain a strict separation between the legislative and executive branches of government -- indeed , government ministers are required to be members of parliament -- but the federal judiciary strictly guards its independence from the other two branches .", "However , under influence from the American constitution , the Australian constitution does define the three branches of government separately , and this has been interpreted by the judiciary to induce an implicit separation of powers .", "LSB- 16 -RSB- State governments have a similar level of separation of power , but this is generally on the basis of convention , rather than constitution .", "The Constitution of Austria was originally written by Hans Kelsen , the prominent constitutional scholar in Europe at that time .", "Kelsen was to serve as a part of the judicial court of review for Austria as part of its tripartite government .", "The Constitution of the Czech Republic , adopted in 1992 immediately before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia , establishes the traditional tripartite division of powers -LSB- 17 -RSB- and continues the tradition of its predecessor constitutions ; The Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920 , which replaced the provisional constitution adopted by the newly independent state in 1918 , was modeled after the constitutions of established democracies such as those of the United Kingdom , United States and France , and maintained this division , -LSB- 18 -RSB- as have subsequent changes to the constitution that followed in 1948 with the Ninth-of-May Constitution , the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia as well as the Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak Federation of 1968 .", "According to the Constitution of the Fifth Republic , the government of France -LSB- 19 -RSB- is divided up into three branches :", "Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region established in 1997 pursuant to the Sino-British Joint Declaration , an international treaty made between Britain and China in 1984 , registered with the United Nations .", "Currently , Hong Kong has three branches of government as codified in the Basic Law , its constitution , which largely preserved political structures of the British colonial era , under the doctrine of one country , two systems :", "The Chief Executive , elected by a 1200-member Election Committee which , by design , is dominated by pro-Beijing , pro-government members , is both head of the region and head of government , and chairs the Executive Council which is composed of `` unofficial '' members and government secretaries .", "The legislature consists of 70 members , 30 of whom are elected by undemocratic `` functional '' consistencies formulated by design to strongly support government and Beijing policy .", "Separation of power between executive and legislature is , therefore , weak .", "The courts frequently exercise an unrestrained power of judicial review of administrative actions and also decide matters of constitutionality of legislation , though this power is circumscribed under the power of the People 's Republic of China 's National People 's Congress to make final determinations as to interpretation .", "LSB- 21 -RSB- Hence , the separation of powers is again structurally weak .", "Leaders of the PRC have further undermined the principle by publicly calling on the three branches to cooperate and be led by the executive .", "LSB- 22 -RSB- India follows a parliamentary system of government , which offers a clear separation of powers .", "The judiciary branch is fairly independent of the other two branches .", "Executive powers are vested with the President and Prime Minister , who are assisted by the Cabinet Secretary and other Secretaries .", "But practically the separation of powers does not exist between Legislature and Executive , as Prime Minister is elected by Parliament itself .", "Hence in India , there is no separation between Legislature and Executive .", "All three branches have `` checks and balances '' over each other to maintain the balance .", "LSB- 23 -RSB- In Italy the powers are separated , even though the Council of Ministers needs a vote of confidence from both chambers of Parliament , that represents a large number of members ( almost 1,000 ) .", "Like every parliamentary form of government , there is no real separation between Legislature and Executive , rather a continuum between them due to the confidence link .", "By the way , the balance is protected by Constitution also between these two branches .", "LSB- 25 -RSB- and , obviously , between them and the judiciary branch , which is really independent .", "The development of the British constitution , which is not a codified document , is based on this fusion in the person of the Monarch , who has a formal role to play in the legislature ( Parliament , which is where legal and political sovereignty lies , is the Crown-in-Parliament , and is summoned and dissolved by the Sovereign who must give his or her Royal Assent to all Bills so that they become Acts ) , the executive ( the Sovereign appoints all ministers of His/Her Majesty 's Government , who govern in the name of the Crown ) and the judiciary ( the Sovereign , as the fount of justice , appoints all senior judges , and all public prosecutions are brought in his or her name ) .", "Although the doctrine of separation of power plays a role in the United Kingdom 's constitutional doctrine , the UK constitution is often described as having `` a weak separation of powers '' A. V. Dicey , despite its constitution being the one to which Montesquieu originally referred .", "For example , in the United Kingdom , the executive forms a subset of the legislature , as did -- to a lesser extent -- the judiciary until the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom .", "The Prime Minister , the Chief Executive , sits as a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , either as a peer in the House of Lords or as an elected member of the House of Commons ( by convention , and as a result of the supremacy of the Lower House , the Prime Minister now sits in the House of Commons ) and can effectively be removed from office by a simple majority vote .", "Furthermore , while the courts in the United Kingdom are amongst the most independent in the world , -LSB- citation needed -RSB- the Law Lords , who were the final arbiters of judicial disputes in the UK sat simultaneously in the House of Lords , the upper house of the legislature , although this arrangement ceased in 2009 when the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into existence .", "Furthermore , because of the existence of Parliamentary sovereignty , while the theory of separation of powers may be studied there , a system such as that of the UK is more accurately described as a `` fusion of powers '' .", "Until 2005 , the Lord Chancellor fused the Legislature , Executive and Judiciary , as he was the ex officio Speaker of the House of Lords , a Government Minister who sat in Cabinet and was head of the Lord Chancellor 's Department which administered the courts , the justice system and appointed judges , and was the head of the Judiciary in England and Wales and sat as a judge on the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords , the highest domestic court in the entire United Kingdom , and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council , the senior tribunal court for parts of the Commonwealth .", "The Lord Chancellor also had certain other judicial positions , including being a judge in the Court of Appeal and President of the Chancery Division .", "The Lord Chancellor combines other aspects of the constitution , including having certain ecclesiastical functions of the established state church , making certain church appointments , nominations and sitting as one of the thirty-three Church Commissioners .", "These functions remain intact and unaffected by the Constitutional Reform Act .", "In 2005 , the Constitutional Reform Act separated the powers with Legislative functions going to an elected Lord Speaker and the Judicial functions going to the Lord Chief Justice .", "The Lord Chancellor 's Department was replaced with a Ministry of Justice and the Lord Chancellor currently serves in the position of Secretary of State for Justice .", "The judiciary has no power to strike down primary legislation , and can only rule on secondary legislation that it is invalid with regard to the primary legislation if necessary .", "Under the concept of parliamentary sovereignty , Parliament can enact any primary legislation it chooses .", "However , the concept immediately becomes problematic when the question is asked ; `` If parliament can do anything , can it bind its successors ? '' .", "It is generally held that parliament can do no such thing .", "Equally , while statute takes precedence over precedent-derived common law and the judiciary has no power to strike down primary legislation , there are certain cases where the supreme judicature has effected an injunction against the application of an act or reliance on its authority by the civil service .", "The seminal example of this is the Factortame case , where the House of Lords granted such an injunction preventing the operation of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 until litigation in the European Court of Justice had been resolved .", "The House of Lords ruling in Factortame ( No. 1 ) , approving the European Court of Justice formulation that `` a national court which , in a case before it concerning Community law , considers that the sole obstacle which precludes it from granting interim relief is a rule of national law , must disapply that rule '' , has created an implicit tiering of legislative reviewability ; the only way for parliament to prevent the supreme judicature from injunctively striking out a law on the basis of incompatibility with Community law is to pass an act specifically removing that power from the court , or by repealing the European Communities Act 1972 .", "The British legal systems are based on common law traditions , which require : In the United States Constitution , Article 1 Section I gives Congress only those `` legislative powers herein granted '' and proceeds to list those permissible actions in Article I Section 8 , while Section 9 lists actions that are prohibited for Congress .", "The vesting clause in Article II places no limits on the Executive branch , simply stating that , `` The Executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America . ''", "LSB- 26 -RSB- The Supreme Court holds `` The judicial Power '' according to Article III , and it established the implication of Judicial review in Marbury v. Madison under the Marshall court .", "LSB- 27 -RSB- The federal government refers to the branches as `` branches of government '' , while some systems use `` government '' to describe the executive .", "The Executive branch has attempted to claim power arguing for separation of powers to include being the Commander in Chief of a standing army since the American Civil War , executive orders , emergency powers and security classifications since World War II , national security , signing statements , and the scope of the unitary executive .", "According to Sun Yat-sen 's idea of `` separation of the five powers '' , the government of the Republic of China has five branches :", "The president and vice president as well as the defunct National Assembly are constitutionally not part of the above five branches .", "Before being abolished in 2005 , the National Assembly was a constitutional convention and electoral college for the president and vice president .", "Its constitutional amending powers were passed to the legislative yuan and its electoral powers were passed to the electorate .", "The relationship between the executive and legislative branches are poorly defined .", "An example of the problems this causes is the near complete political paralysis that results when the president , who has neither the power to veto nor the ability to dissolve the legislature and call new elections , can not negotiate with the legislature when his party is in the minority .", "LSB- 28 -RSB- The examination and control yuans are marginal branches ; their leaders as well as the leaders of the executive and judicial yuans are appointed by the president and confirmed by the legislative yuan .", "The legislature is the only branch that chooses its own leadership .", "The vice president has practically no responsibilities .", "Belgium is currently a federated state that has imposed the trias politica on different governmental levels .", "The constitution of 1831 , considered one of the most liberal of its time for limiting the powers of its monarch and imposing a rigorous system of separation of powers , is based on three principles ( represented in the Schematic overview of Belgian institutions ) :", "Trias Politica ( horizontal separation of powers ) :", "Subsidiarity ( vertical separation of powers ) :", "Secularism ( separation of state and religion ) : In the aftermath of the 43-day civil war in 1948 ( after former President and incumbent candidate Rafael \u00c1lgel Calder\u00f3n Guardia tried to take power through fraud , by not recognising the results of the presidential election that he had lost ) , the question of which transformational model the Costa Rican State would follow was the main issue that confronted the victors .", "A Constituent Assembly was elected by popular vote to draw up a new constitution , enacted in 1949 , and remains in force .", "This document was an edit of the constitution of 1871 , as the constituent assembly rejected more radical corporatist ideas proposed by the ruling Junta Fundadora de la Segunda Rep\u00fablica ( which , although having come to power by military force , abolished the armed forces ) .", "Nonetheless , the new constitution increased centralization of power at the expense of municipalities and eliminated provincial government altogether , at the time it increased the powers of congress and the judiciary .", "It established the three supreme powers as the legislature , executive , and judicial branches , but also created two other autonomous state organs that have equivalent power , but not equivalent rank .", "The first is the Supreme Elections Tribunal ( electoral branch ) which controls elections and makes unique , unappealable decisions on their outcomes .", "The second is the office of the Comptroller General ( audit branch ) , an autonomous and independent organ nominally subordinate to the unicameral legislative assembly .", "All budgets of ministries and municipalities must pass through this agency , including the execution of budget items such as contracting for routine operations .", "The Comptroller also provides financial vigilance over government offices and office holders , and routinely brings actions to remove mayors for malfeasance , firmly establishing this organization as the fifth branch of the Republic .", "The European Union is a supranational polity , and is neither a country nor a federation ; but as the EU wields political power and is fully aware of its `` democratic deficit '' , it attempts to comply with the principle of separation of powers .", "There are seven institutions of the European Union .", "In intergovernmental matters , most power is concentrated in the Council of the European Union -- giving it the characteristics of a normal international organization .", "Here , all power at the EU level is in one branch .", "In the latter there are four main actors .", "The European Commission acts as an independent executive which is appointed by the Council in conjunction with the European Parliament ; but the Commission also has a legislative role as the sole initiator of EU legislation .", "LSB- 29 -RSB- -LSB- 30 -RSB- -LSB- 31 -RSB- An early maxim was : `` The Commission proposes and the Council disposes '' ; and although the EU 's lawmaking procedure is now much more complicated , this simple maxim still holds some truth .", "As well as both executive and legislative functions , the Commission arguably exercises a third , quasi-judicial , function under Articles 101 & 102 TFEU ( competition law ) ; although the ECJ remains the final arbiter .", "The European Parliament is one half of the legislative branch and is directly elected .", "The Council itself acts both as the second half of the legislative branch and also holds some executive functions ( some of which are exercised by the related European Council in practice ) .", "The European Court of Justice acts as the independent judicial branch , interpreting EU law and treaties .", "The remaining institution , the European Court of Auditors , is an independent audit authority ( due to the sensitive nature of fraud in the EU ) .", "The three branches in German government are further divided into six main bodies enshrined in the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany :", "Besides the constitutional court the judicial branch at the federal level is made up of five supreme courts -- one for civil and criminal cases ( Bundesgerichtshof ) , and one each for administrative , tax , labour , and social security issues .", "There are also state ( L\u00e4nder / Bundesl\u00e4nder ) based courts beneath them , and a rarely used senate of the supreme courts .", "The four independent branches of power in Hungary ( the parliament , the government , the court system , and the office of the public accuser ) are divided into six bodies :", "The independent pillar status of the Hungarian public accuser 's office is a unique construction , loosely modeled on the system Portugal introduced after the 1974 victory of the Carnation Revolution .", "The public accuser ( attorney general ) body has become the fourth column of Hungarian democracy only in recent times : after communism fell in 1989 , the office was made independent by a new clausule XI .", "of the Constitution .", "The change was meant to prevent abuse of state power , especially with regards to the use of false accusations against opposition politicians , who may be excluded from elections if locked in protracted or excessively severe court cases .", "To prevent the Hungarian accuser 's office from neglecting its duties , natural human private persons can submit investigation requests , called `` p\u00f3tmag\u00e1nv\u00e1d '' directly to the courts , if the accusers ' office refuses to do its job .", "Courts will decide if the allegations have merit and order police to act in lieu of the accuser 's office if warranted .", "In its decision No. 42/2005 the Hungarian constitutional court declared that the government does not enjoy such privilege and the state is powerless to further pursue cases if the public accuser refuses to do so ."], "_citing_sentence": "That is why there are a number of checks and balances set out which allows each branch to constrain the actions of the others to prevent them acting illegally.", "_claim_name": "Morsi Undermined Democratic Principles", "_doc_title": "Separation of powers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [73]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["* Energy subsidies account for 20 percent of state spending * Government consulting industry leaders to set dates * Will continue to support industries that affect the poor", "By Patrick Werr", "CAIRO , April 24 Egypt aims next month to issue a schedule of gradual rises in the subsidised prices various industries pay for fuel , to bring them near to world levels in four years , its trade and industry minister said .", "A reduction in energy subsidies is widely seen as an important step towards allowing Egypt to secure a $ 4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) to shore up its finances .", "Egypt spends around a fifth of its budget on fuel subsidies , and the government is under pressure to reduce them to plug a deficit that has mushroomed since the popular uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in early 2011 .", "A growing population and a falling currency are expected to push the energy subsidy bill to more than 120 billion Egyptian pounds ( $ 17.4 billion ) in the financial year that ends in June .", "Trade and Industry Minister Hatem Saleh said the government has been negotiating with industry leaders on the plan to increase prices .", "`` A very big dialogue is taking place with the Federation of Industries .", "I expect that within a week or two we will bring in the petroleum minister , and there will be a protocol so that the direction is clear for everyone , '' he said in an interview .", "The protocol will set dates for increases in the price different industries pay for natural gas , diesel and fuel oil .", "`` Some industries will continue to be supported and will not reach world prices .", "They will be subsidised .", "These are labour-intensive industries and strategic industries that have an impact on poor people , such as basic food industries , basic commodities . ''", "REACHING WORLD LEVELS In February , the government raised the price of fuel oil , which is widely used in energy-intensive local industries , to 1,500 Egyptian pounds per tonne from a previous 1,000 pounds .", "It also increased prices of natural gas and diesel for some industries by 50 percent , industry sources said at the time .", "`` Within four years , we will approach world prices , especially energy intensive industries , '' Saleh told Reuters .", "Egypt , which used to be a significant gas exporter , has struggled to pay for energy imports since the uprising drove away investors and tourists , two main sources of foreign currency .", "It has paid for energy imports partly by drawing down foreign reserves , borrowing from foreign governments and delaying payments to oil companies operating in Egypt .", "Foreign reserves dropped to a critical level of $ 13.4 billion in March - insufficient to cover three months of total imports .", "The government has said it will start rationing state-subsidised motor fuel in the second half of 2014 .", "Farmers say they are concerned about a shortage of diesel to power irrigation pumps and tractors for the harvest season which may hinder this year 's wheat crop .", "Our top photos from the last 24 hours .", "All the latest news and analysis as Britain votes to leave the European Union ."], "_citing_sentence": "The Morsi government planned to reduce its fuel subsidies to entitle the country to a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, raising the living costs of the average citizens.", "_claim_name": "Morsi's economic and social policies had been ineffective and unpopular", "_doc_title": "Egypt to issue schedule next month for gradual fuel subsidy cuts | Reuters", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information , people and ideas , Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information , news and insight around the world .", "Europe , Middle East , & Africa +44\u00a020\u00a07330\u00a07500", "Mohamed Kamel and dozens of other engineering graduates have gathered outside Egypt 's Oil Ministry and a state-run energy company in Cairo for months , clamoring for jobs .", "During one of their demonstrations , he says , they were chased away by security guards wielding sticks and belts .", "Kamel , 23 , blames his unemployment on the regime of President Mohamed Mursi .", "On June 30 , he plans to join nationwide protests marking the first year of Mursi 's presidency and demanding early elections .", "Kamel is among those who say Mursi has failed to create jobs or revive the economy , among the complaints that sparked the 2011 uprising ousting Hosni Mubarak .", "`` We are all frustrated and are in a bad psychological state , '' Kamel said of his fellow job-seekers .", "`` I will be demanding that this regime leave because it has proved to be a failure . ''", "More than 1 million people have swelled the ranks of Egypt 's unemployed since the first quarter of 2010 , bringing joblessness to a record 13.2 percent in the same period this year .", "Eight out of every 10 jobless Egyptians are under 30 , and more than a quarter of them hold university degrees or higher , official data show .", "`` Economic grievances pose the greatest threat to Mursi 's rule , '' said Yasser el-Shimy , a Cairo-based analyst with the International Crisis Group , which tracks conflict around the world .", "Many unemployed youths feel `` left out of this whole system , so they might increasingly resort to rioting and other forms of violence to make their voices heard , which ironically contributes to more deterioration in the overall situation . ''", "The newly elected Islamist rulers in North Africa , saddled with one of the world 's highest rates of youth unemployment , are struggling to live up to the aspirations of those who brought them to power .", "Almost 17 percent of all Tunisians are unemployed , higher than the level in 2010 , according to International Monetary Fund data .", "Unrest that year led to the toppling of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali .", "And while joblessness in Morocco has `` steadily declined over the past decade , youth unemployment remains very high at about 18 percent , '' the IMF said in a report last month .", "In his bid to become Egypt 's first democratically elected civilian president , Mursi pledged to lure investments and bring joblessness to below 7 percent by 2016 , according to his platform .", "In Tunisia , the Ennahdha party campaigned on a promise to bring unemployment down to 8.5 percent by 2016 .", "The promises fueled already high expectations spurred by the revolts .", "In Egypt , a country where government jobs are seen as the best path to steady work , many Arab Spring protesters thought they 'd see an explosion in employment .", "After Egypt 's uprising , `` I dreamed and my imagination led me to believe that salaries will increase , that those who are hungry will no longer be and that there will be social justice , '' said Manar Shoukre , 23 , who participated in the 2011 protests that led to Mubarak 's fall .", "Instead , she was laid off from a translation job shortly after that .", "The bumpy transition to democracy eroded investor confidence and stifled job creation in a region long plagued with unemployment .", "In Tunisia , an unidentified street vendor set himself ablaze in March , more than two years after a similar act by Mohamed Bouazizi triggered the so-called Arab Spring .", "`` This is what 's happening to a young man from Tunisia because of unemployment , '' the man , thought to be in his 20s , shouted before immolating himself .", "He later died .", "Hakim Al Rajhi , 32 , has a degree in law and humanities .", "To make a living , the Sidi Bouzid resident works in shops selling clothes or , occasionally , in construction .", "He 's been looking for a job that fits his qualifications since 2007 .", "`` We revolted against Ben Ali because of poor social conditions but after the revolution it became worse , '' he said in a phone interview .", "`` I ca n't get married '' or meet his `` smallest need , '' he said .", "`` The government 's ignoring our demands will lead us to one solution , which is a new revolution . ''", "Tunisia 's economic growth slowed to 2.5 percent in the first quarter this year , compared with 4.8 percent a year earlier .", "The country 's sovereign debt has lost its investment-grade status at Moody 's Investors Service , Standard & Poor 's and Fitch Ratings .", "The Egyptian economy is set to grow 2 percent this year , close to the slowest pace since 1992 , according to the IMF .", "Cuts by the three ratings companies after the revolt pushed Egypt 's credit rating deeper into junk .", "`` The management of the post-revolutionary economy has been miserable , '' former Finance Minister Samir Radwan said in a telephone interview .", "`` The public sector is still the main provider of jobs . ''", "He was appointed by Mubarak and continued to serve in the transition government .", "Mursi 's first year in office has been dominated by struggles with opposition groups , the military and the judiciary .", "Critics such as Shoukre say the president , an Islamist , is more focused on consolidating the power of the Muslim Brotherhood , which pushed his candidacy , than on tackling unemployment and other woes .", "`` Because the poor still have no place , we do n't want you , '' reads a petition that a group called Tamarud , or Rebel , says millions have signed to withdraw confidence from Mursi .", "Mursi 's supporters say strikes and protests undermine his efforts to stabilize the country and the president has dismissed talk of an early vote as `` nonsense . ''", "`` We have a real problem in Egypt because of unemployment , as the labor force is untrained , '' said Cabinet spokesman Alaa el-Hadidi in an interview .", "He said the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade , for instance , announced 20,000 jobs but got just 13,000 applicants , about half of them unqualified .", "The government has tried to calm the anger by pushing up public-sector wages over past two years .", "The result : A budget deficit projected at 11 percent to 11.5 percent this fiscal year , according to Investment Minister Yehia Hamed .", "It also converted hundreds of thousands of temporary government contractors into bureaucrats .", "`` The government can not turn a switch and create more jobs , '' said Ragui Assaad , a professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota , by phone .", "He was involved in an Egypt labor-market survey for the Economic Research Forum with the government 's statistics agency .", "`` In fact if they do that , as they have tried to create more jobs in the public sector , that has long-term negative consequences . ''", "Others are trying too .", "Education for Employment , a Washington-based nonprofit organization , offers training for young graduates from low-income backgrounds in the Arab world .", "It then seeks to find them jobs in industries such as retail , hospitality and banking , according to Chief Executive Officer Jamie McAuliffe .", "`` Since the Arab Spring there has been an increased focus on getting young people into the work force , '' McAuliffe , who is also chairman of the World Economic Forum 's Global Agenda Council on Youth Unemployment , said in a phone interview .", "The placement rate -- about 3,000 people found jobs in the Middle East between 2006 and 2012 -- is almost 80 percent , he said .", "Still , the planned June 30 protest is already heightening investors ' concern .", "Thousands of Mursi supporters massed in Cairo on June 21 , with hardline clerics warning the president 's detractors against attempting to overthrow him .", "The turmoil prompted the military to say it might intervene to prevent the country from descending into an uncontrollable conflict .", "Egypt 's benchmark EGX 30 stock index has plunged more than 17 percent this year , while the country 's credit risk surged to the highest level since 2008 , data compiled by Bloomberg show .", "The government 's benchmark dollar bonds have also tumbled , sending the yield to a record high of 9.55 percent on June 21 .", "With private job creation stalling , Shoukre says she 's headed for the public sector .", "She says she left two other jobs in the private sector , one after her boss 's husband pursued her and the other after her paycheck was often delayed and the owner 's son bossed her around .", "Her attempt to seek job security in a bloated public sector highlights the challenge officials such as Alaa Awad , adviser to the minister of manpower and immigration , say they face .", "When the government recently started a program to train people for work , only about 173,000 applied from more than 3 million people listed as job seekers in the database , he said .", "`` As soon as they find out that the jobs are for the private sector , they say , ` No , we want a government job , we 'll wait for a bit longer , ''' Awad said in an interview .", "`` We are trying to change this mentality but it wo n't happen overnight . ''", "While Tunisia signed a $ 1.74 billion agreement with the IMF this month , Egypt has been struggling to secure a $ 4.8 billion accord , which officials say is key to luring back investors .", "Political bickering and unrest have made it harder for post-revolution governments to implement changes seen as unpopular .", "Failure to improve the lot of the young may backfire , said engineering graduate Kamel , who said he supported the Arab Spring protests but did n't take part .", "`` I got high grades in high school , studied hard at university and served my country in the army , '' he said .", "`` How come then that after all of this , my country says it has nothing to offer me ?", "If there 's no real solution , there will be chaos .", "The people will take to the street and demand their rights . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Analysts linked the lack of jobs to the security of the state claiming that unemployment would lead to greater numbers of rioters and furthering instability.", "_claim_name": "Morsi's economic and social policies had been ineffective and unpopular", "_doc_title": "Egypt\u2019s Unemployed Target Mursi After Toppling Mubarak: Jobs - Bloomberg", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6, 12]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By Richard Spencer in Cairo 7:17 PM GMT 23 Nov 2012", "Headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood 's political front , the Freedom and Justice Party , were ransacked and burned in Alexandria , Port Said and Ismailiya .", "Protesters described Mr Morsi as `` Egypt 's new pharaoh '' and said his declaration on Thursday night was a `` constitutional coup '' .", "In Cairo , the biggest demonstrations for months filled Tahrir Square , reviving the spirit and chants of last year 's revolution against the country 's former leader , ex-President Hosni Mubarak .", "`` Out , out , '' the crowd chanted .", "The people want the downfall of the regime . ''", "Mr Morsi publicly defended his decision to make his decrees unchallengeable by law as necessary to complete Egypt 's transformation .", "He told a crowd of supporters gathered in front of the presidential palace that he was trying to stop a `` minority '' trying to `` block the revolution '' .", "He also alleged that money stolen under the old regime was being used to fund new protests , including by `` thugs '' - a politically loaded term suggesting that the pro-democracy protesters were the same as Mr Mubarak 's hired henchmen .", "`` There are weevils eating away at the nation of Egypt , '' he told them , insisting that he by contrast , was trying to assure `` political stability , social stability and economic stability '' .", "`` I have always been , and still am , and will always be , God willing , with the pulse of the people , what the people want , with clear legitimacy , '' he said .", "Mr Morsi , fresh from his success in negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday night , made the unexpected announcement of his new powers on Thursday .", "He sacked the prosecutor general , a `` remnant '' of the Mubarak regime , blocked legal challenges to the committee drawing up a constitution , and said that any decrees he issued until a new parliament was elected were also beyond challenge .", "He claimed to be cutting through a legal gordian knot in which Egypt 's transition to democracy had become entangled , but in doing so he gave himself unprecedented powers .", "Yesterday , tens of thousands of people took to Tahrir Square , fewer than at the height of last year 's uprising against Mr Mubarak but nevertheless a rallying point for secular activists and politicians who feel that their toppling of the former dictator has been `` hi-jacked '' by Islamists .", "One march was led by Mohammed ElBaradei , the former United Nations Atomic Energy Agency chief who has become a figurehead for the opposition , and Hamdeen Sabahy , a Nasserist who came third in this year 's presidential election .", "`` I reject all these decisions , '' said Reem Ahmed , 32 .", "`` The country is in danger . ''", "`` The decree is basically a coup on state institutions and the rule of law that is likely to undermine the revolution and the transition to democracy , '' said Mervat Ahmed , an independent activist in Tahrir protesting against the decree .", "`` I worry Morsi will be another dictator like the one before him . ''", "Mr Morsi 's handling of the Gaza negotiations , which have won him praise from across the world , including the White House , is less of an issue in Egypt , where most people are more concerned with crime and the state of the economy .", "Many also actively oppose continuing relations with Israel in the first place .", "`` I voted for Morsi last year , but now he is a dictator , '' said Shaabel Abu Talib , 55 , a small businessman .", "`` We have now discovered that he is also an American agent .", "He is playing the same role negotiating with Israel as Mubarak did . ''", "The president in part justified his declaration as a response to calls for new prosecutions of those responsible for shooting protesters last year .", "He said there would be new trials of `` political and executive figures '' .", "An estimated 846 people died in the revolution , and scores more in subsequent protests against interim military rule .", "Yesterday demonstrators surrounded a school near the interior ministry said to have been taken over as a police base and set it on fire with Molotov cocktails .", "There were further clashes nearby as police in armoured vehicles moved against the crowds spilling out of the square into Qasr el-Aini Street , which leads to the parliament building , empty since the assembly was dissolved in June .", "At one stage the police fired tear gas , the smoke scattering protesters just as it did in the original Tahrir Square demonstrations last year .", "`` Morsi is not responding to the revolutionaries , '' said Faris , 27 , a driver , who was wearing a bandanna saying `` Remember the Martyrs '' .", "`` He is making decisions based on his own opinions and of those who fund him . ''", "Mr Morsi and his Brotherhood supporters are convinced that the secular opposition is in a minority .", "His spokesmen also took to Twitter , a sign of the greater political sophistication of the new leadership compared to the dictatorship which it replaced , to insist the declaration was a temporary measure .", "`` All constitutional declarations become void once a constitution is in place , '' said Gehad al-Haddad , a Muslim Brotherhood adviser .", "Top news galleries", "Martin Chilton selects 30 great one-liners from the comedian and film star Woody Allen", "A hilarious history of political insults and putdowns , from Churchill to", "We celebrate and remember the culture stars who have passed away in 2016", "Great quotes from White House incumbents : will Donald Trump be joining them ?", "One hundred whip-smart wisecracks", "From global warming to 9/11 , Shakespeare to Elvis , Diana to JFK , peak oil to", "Roswell , conspiracy theories abound .", "In pics : Stunning aerial shots of London 's football stadia by photographer Jason Hawkes In pics : The crumbling remains of the Soviet Union 's space programme", "Ambitious Chinese inventors take on crazy do-it-yourself projects In pics : Sinkholes , craters and collapsed roads around the world"], "_citing_sentence": "This led many to fear that Morsi was returning the country to a dictatorship where he could force through the Muslim Brotherhood's agenda , undoing the work of the Arab Spring.", "_claim_name": "Morsi Undermined Democratic Principles", "_doc_title": "Violence breaks out across Egypt as protesters decry Mohammed Morsi's constitutional 'coup'  - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [19, 31, 32, 33]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 124, "_topic_name": "This house believes that the Egyptian army was right to depose Morsi"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["Turkey had the youngest population in Western Europe by median age in 2010 , largely due to high birth and fertility rates , which have been aided by impressive economic expansion .", "The country 's young and expanding population is increasingly attractive to businesses , while its large , urban consumer markets are flourishing .", "Nonetheless , disposable incomes are low by regional standards , while adequate job provision is a challenge for the government .", "Source : National statistical offices/UN/Euromonitor International/Council of Europe", "The young and well-educated population offers a responsive workforce and a dynamic consumer market in Turkey , although businesses opportunities remain largely restricted to urban areas :", "Note : population statistics at mid-year", "An Hodgson joined Euromonitor International in 2006 .", "She manages research into income and expenditure as well as industry , infrastructure and environment .", "Her strategic analysis helps businesses gain important insight into global , regional and key emerging market trends and thereby allowing them to make more informed commercial decisions .", "Turkey joined to 2 .", "World War therefore number of young population diminished in Turkey.After that The Turkish Government followed to increase the birth rate policies until 1965 .", "By the time , health and living conditions were improved by The Turkish Government.Therefore all these developments led to the increase in the child population up to 1970 .", "And then the urbanization , increasing the educational level of women , active participation of women in working life were improved in Turkey.", "These developments caused to decrease fertility.At the same time , these changes caused a reduction in the proportion of the child population in the total population.", "Birth rate population decreased but aging population increased with these reasons.", "On the other hand , children and young population rate in Turkey is still quite a high level compared to developed countries ."], "_citing_sentence": "Turkey is a good example of the kind of country the EU needs to allow to join; its economy is growing rapidly, even faster than China's in the first half of 2011, and the median age of the population is still only 25.", "_claim_name": "EU expansion is good for current members economically.", "_doc_title": "Turkey's Population Young and Rapidly Expanding", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Try two trial issues of The Atlantic with our compliments .", "The Continent 's problems are as much demographic as financial .", "They wo n't go away soon .", "For us to continue writing great stories , we need to display ads .", "Please select the extension that is blocking ads .", "Please follow the steps below", "All of us can breathe easy now : policy makers and analysts finally agree on how to fix Europe 's problems .", "`` Europe Debt Crisis Plan Hinges on Economic Growth , '' declared the Los Angeles Times in October , after finance ministers announced what felt like the hundredth plan to seriously , no-foolin ' - this-time , really rescue the European Union 's illiquid and insolvent states .", "`` Countries have to undergo significant structural reforms that would revamp growth , '' said Mario Draghi , the head of the European Central Bank , in a December interview with the Financial Times .", "`` Austerity is not enough , even for budgetary discipline , if economic activity does not pick up a decent rate of growth , '' Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti told The Economist in January .", "Their words have been echoed in a thousand or more op-eds , policy briefs , and TV spots , for good reason .", "Growth could fix so many dire fiscal and political problems -- not just in Europe , but all over the developed world .", "If only economic growth could be delivered on demand , like a pizza , just minutes after we realize we want it .", "Unfortunately , growth ( or at least the sustainable variety ) is typically a long time in the baking , and dependent on two main ingredients : more workers and higher worker productivity .", "And much of Europe is short on the former .", "That has big implications for Europe 's future .", "It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Italy is the fate of the euro zone : if Italy can keep its debt under control and its banking system solvent , the euro zone will probably make it ; if Italy defaults , the resulting panic will probably force Portugal , Ireland , Greece , and Spain to follow suit .", "This linchpin is under a great deal of strain .", "Italy 's public debt stands at $ 2.3 trillion , roughly 20 percent larger than the country 's GDP .", "If not for that debt , Italy would have run a slight budget surplus in 2011 .", "But interest payments alone soaked up nearly 5 percent of the GDP , creating a deficit of about 3.6 percent of national income and increasing the debt even more .", "This has left Italy incredibly vulnerable .", "For every percentage point that the interest rate on the debt increases , Italians have to divert another 1.2 percent of national income into debt payments .", "And because markets are worried about this problem , interest rates have been rising at a brisk clip , with only occasional pauses while the powers that be deploy yet another emergency rescue plan .", "Sweating this debt down by austerity alone would take ages , cause immense suffering among people who depended on the cut services , and -- as Greece has shown -- draw fierce public opposition .", "Moreover , commentators like Paul Krugman argue that it would actually make the problem worse in the short term , because government austerity makes the economy contract .", "As they see it , trying to close Europe 's fiscal gaps with austerity alone is like trying to get out of a deep hole by digging harder .", "Strong growth by Europe 's troubled debtor nations would of course offer a different , and less painful , way out .", "After all , if you make $ 30,000 a year , a $ 10,000 credit-card balance is crippling ; but if you make $ 300,000 a year , it 's fairly trivial .", "The faster Italy 's economy expands , the more manageable Italy 's debt becomes .", "But that 's where the dearth of workers comes into play .", "Everyone agrees that rapid growth would be much nicer than higher taxes and slashed pension payments .", "The hitch is that over the past five years , growth in the Italian economy has n't averaged even 1 percent a year .", "Soaring growth will be tough to achieve , because more and more Italians are getting too old to work -- and fewer and fewer Italians have been having the babies needed to replace them .", "Italy 's fertility rate has actually been inching up from its 1995 low of 1.19 children for every woman , but it is still only about 1.4 -- well below the number needed to replenish its population ( 2.1 ) .", "As a result , even with some immigration , Italy 's population growth has been very slow .", "It will soon stall , and eventually go into reverse .", "And then , one by one , the rest of Europe 's nations will follow .", "Not one country on the Continent has a fertility rate high enough to replace its current population .", "Heavy debt and a shrinking population are a very bad combination .", "Since the invention of birth control and antibiotics , country after country has gone through a fairly standard shift .", "First , the mortality rate drops , especially among the young and the aging , and that quickly translates into a bigger workforce .", "Then , birthrates drop , as families realize that they no longer need to birth a basketball team to ensure that a couple members will survive to adulthood .", "A falling birthrate means that parents can invest more in each child ; with fewer mouths to feed , more and better food can nourish each of them , and children can spend more years in school , causing worker productivity to rise from one generation to the next .", "As the burden of bearing and rearing children lightens , mothers can do more work outside the home , boosting both household resources and the national economy .", "In 1984 , when Ronald Reagan spoke of `` morning in America , '' he was at least demographically accurate .", "The youngest members of America 's vast Baby Boom were in college ; the oldest were on the brink of their peak earning power .", "America was about to reap what the economists David Bloom and David Canning have dubbed the `` demographic dividend '' of rising labor supply and productivity .", "Bloom and Canning 's analysis of East Asia and Ireland attributes a substantial fraction of the recent economic booms in those places to this dividend .", "But the dividend does not last forever .", "Eventually , the baby bulge reaches retirement age , the labor force stops growing , and older workers start spending their savings , depleting the nation 's supply of capital .", "The virtuous cycle turns vicious .", "This is what is happening right now in much of southern Europe .", "Is strong growth still possible once the demographic dividend has been paid out ?", "Of course it is , at least in theory .", "Even if the workforce is n't expanding , strong-enough gains in worker productivity can substantially lift the economy .", "Longer hours and longer careers can theoretically have the same effect .", "But it is far from clear that in practice , these solutions will work , given the advanced age of Europe 's workers .", "To see why , picture two neighboring towns , sharing all the same infrastructure and economic opportunities , with one key difference : their median age .", "In the first town , which I 'll call Morningburg , the average resident is 28 .", "In the second , which I 'll call Twilight City , the average householder is 58 .", "Research indicates that even with all the same resources at their disposal , these two places look very different , and not just because one 's grocery store does a booming business in diapers while the other 's has a whole aisle devoted to Centrum Silver .", "In Morningburg , young workers are rapid , plastic learners , eager to try out new ways of doing things .", "Since they 're still hoping to make a name for themselves and maybe get rich , they take a lot of risks .", "They push their managers to expand into new markets , propose iffy but innovative product lines , maybe start their own firm if the boss wo n't let them advance fast enough .", "For the right opportunity , they 'll put in 18-hour days for a year or more .", "In Twilight City , time horizons are shorter -- people are n't looking for projects that will make them rich or famous 20 years from now .", "They are interested in conserving what they have .", "That 's mostly rational , given Twilighters ' life stage ; but studies show that older people worry more than younger ones about losses and are therefore especially averse to risk .", "Twilighters also tire more easily and need more time off for illness , so hours worked slowly decline each year .", "Wages stay steady , however ; Twilighters , like most people , get very angry if you try to cut their salary .", "That makes Twilighters expensive -- so when they lose a job , finding another is tough .", "As a result , Twilighters tend to cling fiercely to their positions , and may block younger workers from getting a foothold in the labor market .", "The difficulty of reemployment contributes to Twilight City 's surprisingly high , but somewhat deceptive , rate of entrepreneurship .", "Looking closely , we find that businesses there are disproportionately owned by semi-retirees who have hung out a consulting shingle , or become part-time caterers , or invested in a hobby business like an antique store .", "These businesses typically do n't have much growth potential , in part because cautious Twilighters wo n't ( or ca n't ) borrow money for expansion .", "Morningburg is a boomtown , prone to periodic savage busts when the young strivers realize that those fur-bearing-trout farms they invested in are n't going to make them rich .", "Twilight City is a less volatile place -- but little change also means little growth .", "In theory , smart policy could make Twilight City look a little more like Morningburg : public investment and forced savings could boost research and business development ; employment laws could be reformed to make labor markets more flexible ; heavy investments could be made in education to improve the productivity of Twilight City 's few young workers .", "In practice , all of this is likely to be fiercely opposed by Twilight City 's citizens , who tend to vote against change , particularly if it threatens their pensions or health care .", "Many of the most vehement public demonstrations in Europe over the past two decades have followed attempts at pension reform .", "It is somewhat ironic that the first serious strains caused by Europe 's changing demographics are showing up in the Continent 's welfare budgets , because the pension systems themselves may well have shaped , and limited , Europe 's growth .", "The 20th century saw international adoption of social-security systems that promised defined benefits paid out of future tax revenue -- known to pension experts as `` paygo '' systems , and to critics as Ponzi schemes .", "These systems have greatly eased fears of a destitute old age , but multiple studies show that as social-security systems become more generous ( and old age more secure ) , people have fewer children .", "By one estimate , 50 to 60 percent of the difference between America 's ( above-replacement ) birthrate and Europe 's can be explained by the latter 's more generous systems .", "In other words , Europe 's pension system may have set in motion the very demographic decline that helped make that system -- and some European governments -- insolvent .", "Pension and other welfare benefits , promised long ago when the workforce was expanding quickly , are at the heart of Europe 's current fiscal convulsions , which are perhaps a harbinger of worse to come .", "In David Canning 's view , the 2008 crash and its aftermath have merely moved up a long-inevitable implosion by 10 to 15 years .", "European nations `` had unrealistic systems that were eventually going to cause a crisis , '' he told me .", "These difficulties are why almost everyone who studies the interaction of rich-world demographics and economic growth recommends raising the retirement age and forcing people to save more on their own , well before a debt crisis hits .", "`` Aging is a good thing , '' Canning says .", "`` It means health improvements and longer lives .", "We only think it 's a bad thing because we 're trying to hang on to these institutions .", "We should be welcoming these changes , but changing our institutions to match . ''", "He and Bloom , among others , are urging countries to use their demographic dividends wisely -- to reinvest them in the things that make their workforces more productive .", "If they do that , perhaps living standards can keep rising .", "`` There 's a big difference between aggregate GDP growth and per capita GDP growth , '' says Nick Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute .", "`` For personal well-being , what matters is per capita GDP growth .", "You can certainly imagine a country with declining GDP but increasing per capita well-being . ''", "You certainly can imagine it , but it seems hard to actually achieve in a country with heavy national debt .", "If the population is shrinking but the debt burden is n't , then promises to bondholders will weigh ever more heavily on each person .", "The government could default , of course , but the resulting crisis would also depress growth .", "For the most part , Europe has already spent its demographic dividend .", "And the recent inability of countries like Spain and Greece to hit their deficit targets illustrates just how difficult coping with financial and fiscal instability can be when growth fails to materialize as expected .", "Neither voters nor employers were prepared to make the necessary compromises -- and as the endless , fractious negotiations over Greek debt show , it is very hard to get them to adjust to reality , even when the alternative is disastrous .", "We should n't necessarily expect people to become more resigned to compromise as time goes on -- quite possibly we should expect the opposite .", "Southern Europe is already living in Twilight City .", "And those of us who live in Morningburg or Afternoonville should pay close attention to what happens next , because eventually , we 're all heading to that neck of the woods .", "The United Nations estimates that by 2030 , the number of people older than 60 will be growing more than three times as fast as the general population .", "By 2050 , one in every five people will be over 60 .", "In the developed world , the proportion will be more like one in three .", "Europe ( along with Japan ) is at the forefront of an unprecedented shift .", "`` The problem , '' says Canning , `` is that aging is a new thing .", "We know quite well what the effects of going to low fertility are -- but we 've never seen this sort of aging before , so it 's hard to make predictions . ''", "One prediction is safe , however : aging will present challenges that , as of now , no nation has adequately prepared to face .", "A short film about a team of scientists and their mission to build a powerful telescope to explore exoplanets .", "Fulfilling what might be the Russian autocrat 's dearest wish , Trump has openly questioned whether the U.S. should keep its commitments to NATO .", "The Republican nominee for president , Donald J. Trump , has chosen this week to unmask himself as a de facto agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin , a KGB-trained dictator who seeks to rebuild the Soviet empire by undermining the free nations of Europe , marginalizing NATO , and ending America 's reign as the world 's sole superpower .", "I am not suggesting that Donald Trump is employed by Putin -- though his campaign manager , Paul Manafort , was for many years on the payroll of the Putin-backed former president of Ukraine , Viktor Yanukovych .", "I am arguing that Trump 's understanding of America 's role in the world aligns with Russia 's geostrategic interests ; that his critique of American democracy is in accord with the Kremlin 's critique of American democracy ; and that he shares numerous ideological and dispositional proclivities with Putin -- for one thing , an obsession with the sort of `` strength '' often associated with dictators .", "Trump is making it clear that , as president , he would allow Russia to advance its hegemonic interests across Europe and the Middle East .", "His election would immediately trigger a wave of global instability -- much worse than anything we are seeing today -- because America 's allies understand that Trump would likely dismantle the post-World War II U.S.-created international order .", "Many of these countries , feeling abandoned , would likely pursue nuclear weapons programs on their own , leading to a nightmare of proliferation .", "In a week full of political propaganda , here 's messaging done delightfully .", "In a segment for James Corden 's `` Carpool Karaoke '' series that aired last night , Michelle Obama told the late-night host that this was one of the only times she 's been near the steering wheel of an automobile since arriving at the White House : `` I 've been in a car maybe months ago with my daughter who learned to drive , and we rocked out with her .", "But that was the only time in seven and a half years that I 've been in the passenger seat , listening to music , rocking out like this . ''", "It 's one little anecdote that does so much : remind of how long we 've all lived with this first family , of the isolating conditions they exist in , and also of their relatability as parents , as teenagers , and as people who love belting Beyonc\u00e9 on their commute .", "The exchange also provides a near metaphor for what Michelle Obama has done with this instantly viral Late Late Show segment .", "She 's technically in the passenger seat , but really , she 's driving the car .", "Why did n't the most talented , most influential Republican politicians -- men like Chris Christie , Tom Cotton , and Paul Ryan -- do more to stop Donald Trump ?", "The neediness of politicians has always fascinated me ; the pathological desire for relevance ; the plasticity of belief in the service of self-aggrandizement ; the depths plumbed in order to stave off insignificance , which can be as frightening as non-existence itself .", "One of my favorite politicians , Chris Christie , the governor of New Jersey , is almost morbidly needy .", "His desire for attention made him into a brilliant retailer , mainly of himself , but also of his ideas , and intermittently , of his state .", "His neediness made him greatly entertaining .", "But it also caused him to betray his own principles .", "I recognize that it took millions of Republican primary voters to bring America to this frightening moment , a moment in which a preposterous grifter of authoritarian bent whose mental health is the subject of pervasive and anxious speculation , has become a major-party nominee for president .", "But it was men like Christie who were indispensable in the creation of this moment .", "Donald J. Trump could have been stopped .", "I believe he could have been stopped early , by a concerted effort to unify the party behind a single , viable , non-fraudulent candidate ; and he could have been stopped late , if Republicans like Christie had not crumpled before Trump .", "A handful of honorable men did , in fact , try to stop him .", "But they were too few in number , and too marginal to make a difference .", "Collectively , the most influential and smartest Republican elected officials -- people who fall into the general category of Them That Knew Better -- just might have been able to devise a way to prevent what is happening from happening .", "But abdication of responsibility and self-debasement in the pursuit of power were the order of the day .", "Taking his biographer 's claim seriously", "This week , the co-author of Donald Trump 's autobiography said in The New Yorker that if he were writing The Art of the Deal today , it would be a very different book with a very different title : The Sociopath .", "To title a person 's life story with that label is a serious accusation , and one worth considering .", "The stakes are high .", "Tony Schwartz , the writer of the best-selling book , said that he `` genuinely believe -LSB- s -RSB- that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes , there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization . ''", "In that light , Schwartz said he feels `` deep remorse '' at having `` put lipstick on a pig . ''", "That seemed to me to be something of a contradiction to the charge of sociopathy , as pigs have been found to show signs of empathy .", "If you call a pig by name , it will come and play with you , reciprocating affection like a dog .", "So which is it , pig or sociopath ?", "The Republican nominee 's comments to The New York Times are likely to be received very differently by his base than by Washington 's elites .", "Imagine that President Obama summoned the New York Times to the Oval Office and demeaned the United States , declared his support for an authoritarian leader , threatened to expose U.S. allies to Russian control , and offered a one-word solution to a globe afire : `` Meetings . ''", "Donald Trump 's head would explode .", "Obama hates America !", "He 's leading from behind !", "And yet these are the positions the Republican presidential candidate presented in an extraordinary interview on the eve of accepting his party 's presidential nomination .", "Setting aside his hypocrisy and reckless rhetoric , the interview offers a chance to understand Trump .", "These comments are consistent with his populism -- they appeal to his base and , more importantly , could find appeal beyond his nominating coalition .", "On the final night in Cleveland , Donald Trump will finally take the podium as the official GOP nominee .", "Biology textbooks tell us that lichens are alliances between two organisms -- a fungus and an alga .", "They are wrong .", "In 1995 , if you had told Toby Spribille that he 'd eventually overthrow a scientific idea that 's been the stuff of textbooks for 150 years , he would have laughed at you .", "Back then , his life seemed constrained to a very different path .", "He was raised in a Montana trailer park , and home-schooled by what he now describes as a `` fundamentalist cult . ''", "At a young age , he fell in love with science , but had no way of feeding that love .", "He longed to break away from his roots and get a proper education .", "At 19 , he got a job at a local forestry service .", "Within a few years , he had earned enough to leave home .", "His meager savings and non-existent grades meant that no American university would take him , so Spribille looked to Europe .", "Why lime juice and sunlight do n't mix", "Last month , on a hot Saturday afternoon , Justin Fehntrich showed up to bartend at a swanky Fire Island Pines estate .", "The event he was working , a fundraiser for an LGBT-advocacy nonprofit , had about 100 guests and two other bartenders .", "He got the bar with the best view : the one in the sun , wedged between the sprawling , sparkling pool and the breezy ocean shore .", "Just as he and the other bartenders were about to prep their stations , a representative from the event 's official liquor sponsor asked if they would n't mind squeezing four bags of limes .", "Justin offered to drive to the supermarket and buy a bottle of juice , but the rep insisted on fresh , so Justin and another bartender sliced and squeezed about 100 limes into pitchers for cocktails .", "It was n't so long ago that the Turkish leader was seen as a model democrat in the Islamic world .", "It was n't supposed to be like this .", "In October 2004 , the European Commission offered Turkey a formal invitation to begin negotiations for membership in that exclusive club of democracies , the European Union .", "The Justice and Development Party ( AKP ) , which had been in power for just two years at the time , hailed the commission 's offer as validation of its self-described Muslim Democrat worldview .", "Yet only a few years after that triumphant moment , Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who was prime minister for 11 years before becoming president in 2014 -- began to veer away from the political reforms that were a condition of the EU 's offer , and away from the promise of a democratic transition in Turkey .", "The authoritarian approach to politics that Erdogan has pursued for the better part of the last decade seems destined to accelerate after last week 's failed coup d'\u00e9tat , as the president directs a widespread crackdown against his enemies , both real and perceived .", "Turkey today looks less like a liberal European democracy and more like the kind of one-man autocracy commonly found in the Middle East .", "How did this country , which so many journalists , government officials , and analysts had once believed to be a model for the Arab world , become a case study in `` re-authoritarianization '' ?", "Donald Trump 's apparent rejection of the cornerstone of global security after World War II has stunned U.S. partners in the alliance .", "Updated at 10:21 a.m. ET", "America 's NATO allies may be on their own after November if Russia attacks them .", "Donald Trump , the GOP presidential nominee , appeared to make U.S. military support for NATO member states conditional on whether those states have met their financial obligations to the bloc , which has served as the cornerstone of global security after World War II .", "The comments , in an interview with The New York Times , represent a marked departure from the security policy of every presidential nominee from either of the two major parties since NATO 's founding in 1949 .", "The Times asked Trump : `` If Russia came over the border into Estonia or Latvia , Lithuania , places that Americans do n't think about all that often , would you come to their immediate military aid ? ''", "The full exchange is worth reading :", "A short documentary profiles the difficult lives of senior citizens who have lived in the city for decades .", "Welcome to Inishturk , where they really do n't like Donald Trump .", "It takes three words ."], "_citing_sentence": "Encouraging economic growth in countries that are old and getting older is difficult because they are less inclined to take risks and be innovative.", "_claim_name": "EU expansion is good for current members economically.", "_doc_title": "Europe\u2019s Real Crisis - The Atlantic", "_labeled_lineIDs": [68]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Prime Minister Vladimir Putin : This 7,500 word opus published in Moscow newspaper Moskovskiye Novosti , outlines what the once and apparently future Russian president thinks of the United States and Afghanistan , Syria , human rights , China , the Arab Spring , global intrusions into the sovereignty of nations and many other issues .", "Novosti , Russia ` Russia 's Place in a Changing World , ' By Vladimir Putin `` It seems that NATO members , especially the United States , have developed a peculiar interpretation of security that is different from ours .", "The Americans have become obsessed with the idea of becoming absolutely invulnerable .", "This utopian concept is unfeasible both technologically and geopolitically - but it is the root of the problem .", "... By definition , total invulnerability for one country would in theory require absolute vulnerability for all others . ''", "By Vladimir Putin , Prime Minister of Russia", "Translated By Igor", "Russia - Moskovskiye Novosti - Original Article ( Russia )", "Putin as Dirty Harry : In the midst of a presidential election campaign , the results of which appear to be a foregone conclusion , the current Russian prime minister has decided that election week is a perfect time to opine on a wide swath of issues involving Russia 's relations with the rest of the world .", "RUSSIA TODAY VIDEO : Putin assassination plan foiled by Russian and Ukrainian Special Forces , Feb. 27 , 00:03:11 In my past articles , I have discussed some of the key foreign policy challenges that Russia now faces .", "But the subject deserves a more detailed discussion - and not just because foreign policy is part and parcel of any government strategy .", "External challenges and our changing world compel us to make decisions that have implications for the economy , our culture , the budget and for investment .", "Whether we are talking about the economy , media coverage or cultural development , Russia is part of the larger world .", "We do n't wish to and can not isolate ourselves .", "It is our hope that openness will result in a higher standard of living for Russians plus a more diverse culture and a general level of trust - something that has become increasingly scarce .", "However , we intend to proceed in a way that is consistent with our own interests and goals , rather than based on decisions that are dictated by others .", "Russia is respected and taken into account only when it is strong and stands firmly on its own two feet .", "Generally speaking , Russia has always enjoyed the privilege of conducting an independent foreign policy , and it will continue to do so .", "In addition , I am convinced that global security can only be achieved with Russian cooperation rather than by attempting to push it into the background , weaken its geopolitical position or compromise its defenses .", "Our foreign policy objectives are strategic in nature and do n't proceed out of opportunistic considerations .", "They reflect Russia 's unique role on the world political map , its role in history , and in the development of civilization .", "I do not doubt that we will continue on our constructive course to enhance global security , renounce confrontation , and counter challenges like the proliferation of nuclear weapons , regional conflict and crises , terrorism and drug trafficking .", "We will do everything we can to see that Russia enjoys the latest scientific and technical achievements and to assist our entrepreneurs to occupy their rightful place on the global market .", "We will strive to ensure a new world order that meets current geopolitical realities , and develops smoothly and without unnecessary upheaval .", "Who is it that Undermines Confidence ?", "As in the past , I believe that the key principles necessary for any feasible civilization include shared security for all states , the unacceptability of the excessive use of force , and unconditional observance of the central tenets of international law .", "Neglect of any of these principles can only lead to a destabilization of global relations .", "It is through this prism that we perceive aspects of U.S. and NATO conduct that contradict the logic of modern development , and which instead rely on the stereotypes of a block-based mentality .", "Everyone understands what I 'm referring to : an expansion of NATO that includes the deployment of new pieces of military infrastructure and U.S.-drafted plans to establish a missile defense system in Europe .", "If these plans were n't being conducted in such close proximity to Russia - and if they did n't undermine our security and global stability in general - I would n't even touch on this .", "Our arguments are well known , and I wo n't spell them out again .", "But regrettably , our Western partners are unresponsive and simply brush our concerns aside .", "We worry that although the outlines of our `` new '' relations with NATO are n't finalized , the Alliance is already providing us with `` facts on the ground '' that are counterproductive to confidence building .", "At the same time , NATO 's approach will backfire with respect to its global objectives , make cooperation on a positive international agenda more difficult to achieve and impede any constructive flexibility .", "The recent series of armed conflicts begun under the pretext of humanitarianism undermine the time-honored principle of national sovereignty , and create a void in the moral and legal implications of international relations .", "It is often said that human rights override national sovereignty .", "There is no doubt - crimes against humanity must be punished by the International Court .", "However , when sovereignty is too easily violated in the name of this provision - when human rights are protected selectively and from without , and when the same rights of a people are trampled underfoot in the process of such `` protection , '' including the most basic and sacred right , the right to one 's life - such actions can not be considered noble , but are rather outright demagoguery .", "It is vital that the United", "Nations and its Security Council effectively counter the dictates of certain countries and their arbitrary actions on the global stage .", "No one has the right to usurp the prerogatives and powers of the United Nations , particularly by using force against sovereign states .", "This concerns NATO , an organization that has assumed an attitude inconsistent with a `` defensive alliance . ''", "These issues are very serious .", "We recall how states that have fallen victim to `` humanitarian '' operations and the export of `` missile-and-bomb democracy '' have appealed for a respect of legal standards and common human decency .", "But their cries were in vain .", "Their appeals went unheard .", "Putin presidential campaign video from Britain 's Daily Mail .", "LSB- CLICK HERE OR CLICK PHOTO TO WATCH -RSB-", "SEE ALSO ON THIS :", "Le Quotidien d'Oran , Algeria :", "The ` Brutality of the World ' , According to Putin It seems that NATO members , especially the United States , have developed a peculiar interpretation of security that is different from ours .", "By definition , total invulnerability for one country would in theory require absolute vulnerability for all others .", "This is completely unacceptable .", "For a variety of reasons , many countries prefer not to be straight about this , but that is another matter .", "Russia will always call a spade a spade and do so openly .", "I would like to emphasize again that a violation of the principle of unity and the indivisibility of security - despite -LSB- America 's -RSB- numerous declarations of commitment to it - poses a serious threat .", "The Arab Spring : lessons and conclusions", "A year ago , the world witnessed a new phenomenon : almost simultaneous demonstrations in many Arab countries against authoritarian regimes .", "The Arab Spring was initially perceived with hope for positive change .", "Russia 's people sympathized with those who were seeking democratic reform .", "However , it soon became clear that in many countries , events were not following a civilized path .", "Instead of asserting democracy and protecting the rights of minorities , attempts were being made to stage a coup and depose an enemy .", "This only resulted in replacing one dominant force with another even more aggressive dominant force .", "Foreign interference and the use of force in support of one side of a domestic conflict gave developments a negative aura .", "By using air power in the name of humanitarian support , a number of countries did away with the Libyan regime .", "The revolting slaughter of", "Muammar Qaddafi - not just medieval but primeval - was the embodiment of these actions .", "No one should be permitted to use the Libya scenario on Syria .", "The global community must work to achieve inter-Syrian reconciliation .", "It is important to achieve an early end to the violence no matter what the source , and to initiate a national dialogue - without preconditions or foreign interference , and with due respect for the country 's sovereignty .", "This would create the conditions necessary for the measures on democratization that have been announced by the Syrian leadership .", "The main objective is to prevent an all-out civil war .", "Russian diplomacy has worked and will continue to work toward this end .", "Sadder but wiser , we oppose the adoption of U.N. Security Council resolutions that may be interpreted as backing armed interference in Syria 's domestic developments .", "In February , guided by this consistent approach , Russia and China prevented the adoption of an ambiguous resolution that would have encouraged one side of this domestic conflict to resort to violence .", "In this context and considering the extremely negative , almost hysterical reaction to the", "Russia-China veto , I would like to warn our Western colleagues against the temptation to resort to this simple , previously used tactic : If the Security", "Council approves of a given action , fine ; if not , we will establish a coalition of concerned states and strike anyway .", "The logic of this conduct is counterproductive and extremely dangerous .", "No good can come of it .", "In any case , it wo n't help achieve a settlement in a country experiencing a domestic conflict .", "Even worse , it further undermines the entire system of international security and the authority and central role of the U.N. Let me point out that the right to veto -LSB- at the U.N. Security Council -RSB- is not some whimsical item , but an inalienable part of the international agreement that resulted in the U.N.", "Charter - at U.S. insistence , incidentally .", "The implication of this right is that decisions which raise the objection of even one permanent U.N. Security", "Council member can not be well-grounded or effective .", "I hope very much that the", "United States and other nations will consider this sad experience and not pursue the use of force in Syria without U.N. Security Council approval .", "In general , I can not understand what causes this itch for military intervention .", "Why is n't there the patience to develop a well-considered , balanced and cooperative approach ?", "This is all the more puzzling since such an approach was already taking hold in the form of the previously mentioned Syrian resolution .", "All it lacked was a demand that the armed opposition do the same as the government ; specifically , withdraw military units and detachments from cities .", "The refusal to do so is cynical .", "If we want to protect civilians - and this is Russia 's central goal - we must bring to reason all participants to armed confrontation .", "And one more point : It appears that with the Arab Spring countries as with Iraq , Russian companies are losing their decades-old positions in local commercial markets and are being deprived of large commercial contracts .", "These vacated niches are being filled by economic agents from states that had a hand in the change of regime .", "One could reasonably conclude that to some degree , the interest of someone else in re-dividing the market rather than any concern for human rights has encouraged tragic events .", "Be that as it may , Russians can not sit back watch all of this with Olympian serenity .", "We intend to work with new Arab governments in order to promptly restore our economic position .", "Current events in the Arab world are in many ways instructive .", "They show that attempting to introduce democracy by the use of force can and often does produce contradictory results .", "In such a case , elements that include religious extremists can rise up from the bottom and seek to alter the very direction of a country 's development and government 's secular nature .", "Russia has always had good relations with the moderate representatives of Islam , who shared a global outlook close to the traditions of Muslims in Russia .", "We are prepared to develop those contacts further .", "We are interested in stepping up our political , trade and economic ties with all Arab states , including those , let me repeat , that have experienced domestic upheaval .", "Moreover , I see real opportunity to enable", "Russia to fully preserve its leading position in the Middle East , where we have always had friends .", "As for the Arab-Israeli conflict , to this day , there remains no `` magic recipe '' for producing a final settlement .", "But giving up on this issue would be unacceptable .", "Considering our close ties with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders , Russian diplomacy will continue to work for a resumption of the peace process , both bilaterally basis and within the framework of the Middle East Quartet , while coordinating with the Arab League .", "The Arab Spring graphically illustrates that global public opinion is being shaped by the most active use of advanced information and communications technology .", "One might say that the Internet , social networks , cell phones , etc. have turned into an effective tool - on a par with television - for promoting domestic and international policy .", "This new variable gives us food for thought : how do we continue developing the unique freedoms of communication that the Internet provides and at the same time limit its use by terrorists and other criminal elements .", "The notion of `` soft power '' is being used increasingly often .", "This implies a matrix of tools and methods for reaching foreign policy goals without resort to force of arm and by exerting information and other levers of influence .", "Regrettably , such methods are all too often being used to develop and provoke extremist , separatist and nationalistic attitudes , to manipulate the public and exercise direct interference over the domestic policies of sovereign states .", "There must be a clear division between free speech and normal political activity on the one hand , and illegal instruments of `` soft power '' on the other .", "The civilized work of non-governmental humanitarian and charity organizations deserves every support .", "This also applies to those who actively criticize the current authorities .", "However , the activities of `` pseudo-NGOs '' and other agencies that try to destabilize other countries with outside support are unacceptable .", "I 'm referring to those cases in which the activities of NGOs are not based on the interests ( and resources ) of local social groups , but are instead funded and supported by outside forces .", "Large countries , international blocks and corporations have many agents of influence .", "When they act in the open , it is simply a form of civilized lobbying .", "Russia also uses such institutions , such as the Federal Agency for CIS", "Affairs , Compatriots Living Abroad , International Humanitarian Cooperation , the Russkiy Mir", "Foundation and our leading universities , which recruits talented students from abroad .", "However , Russia does n't use or fund national NGOs or foreign political organizations in pursuit of its own interests based in other countries .", "Neither do China , India and Brazil .", "We believe that any influence over domestic policy and public attitudes in other states must be exerted in the open .", "This way , those who seek to exert influence will do so responsibly .", "New Challenges and Threats", "Today , Iran is the focus of international attention .", "Needless to say , Russia is concerned about the growing threat of a military strike against Iran .", "If that occurs , the consequences will be disastrous .", "It is impossible to imagine the true scope of such a turn of events .", "I am convinced that this issue must be settled exclusively by peaceful means .", "We propose recognizing Iran 's right to develop a civilian nuclear program , including the right to enrich uranium .", "But this must only be pursued in exchange for putting all Iranian nuclear activity under reliable and comprehensive IAEA oversight .", "If Tehran agrees to do so , all sanctions against Iran , including the unilateral ones , must be rescinded .", "The West has shown too much willingness to `` punish '' certain countries .", "With every minor development , the West reaches for sanctions if not armed force .", "Let me remind you that we are not in the 19th century - or even the 20th .", "Developments surrounding the", "Korean nuclear issue are no less serious .", "Violating the non-proliferation regime , Pyongyang openly claims the right to develop `` the military atom '' and has already conducted two nuclear tests .", "We can not accept North", "Korea 's nuclear status .", "We have consistently advocated the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula - exclusively through political and diplomatic means - and the early resumption of Six-Party Talks .", "But it is evident that not all of our partners share this approach .", "I am convinced that today it is essential to be particularly careful .", "It would be unadvisable to provoke a rash of countermeasures by trying to test the strength of the new North Korean leader .", "Allow me to recall that North", "Korea and Russia share a common border - and that we can not choose our neighbors .", "We will continue to hold an active dialogue with North Korean leaders and continue to develop good-neighborly relations with them , while at the same time seeking to encourage Pyongyang to settle the nuclear issue .", "Obviously , it would be easier to do this with a measure of mutual trust and a resumption of inter-Korean talks .", "The fervor surrounding nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea brings up the question of how the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation has emerged and who is aggravating it .", "It appears that the more frequent crude and even armed interference by outside forces in the domestic affairs of other nations , the more likely it is that hard authoritarian ( and other ) regimes wish to possess nuclear weapons .", "If I have an", "A-Bomb in my pocket , no one will touch me , because to do so would be more trouble than it is worth .", "And those who do n't have the bomb might have to sit and wait for `` humanitarian intervention . ''", "Whether we like it or not , foreign interference prompts this train of thought .", "That is why the number of threshold countries which are one step from the `` military atom '' is growing rather than dropping .", "Under these conditions , areas which are free of WMDs are being established in a number of places , and are becoming increasingly important .", "Russia has initiated discussion on the parameters of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East .", "It is essential to do everything we can to prevent any country from being tempted to obtain nuclear weapons .", "Non-proliferation campaigners must also change their tactics , especially those that have grown used to penalizing other nations by force without letting diplomats do their job .", "Such was the case in Iraq - and its problems have only become worse after an almost decade-long occupation .", "If incentives for becoming a nuclear power are eradicated , it will become possible to make the global non-proliferation regime firm and universal based on existing treaties .", "This would allow all interested countries to fully enjoy the benefits of the `` peaceful atom '' under IAEA safeguards .", "Russia would gain a lot from this because we operate actively on global markets and build nuclear power plants based on safe , modern technology and help develop multilateral nuclear enrichment centers and nuclear fuel banks .", "Afghanistan 's likely future is alarming .", "We have supported the military operation for the purpose of offering aid to that country .", "But the international NATO-led military contingent has failed to meet its objectives .", "Threats of terrorism and drug trafficking have not been reduced .", "Having announced its withdrawal from", "Afghanistan in 2014 , the United States has been building military bases , both there and in neighboring countries , without a clear-cut mandate , objectives or duration of operation .", "Understandably , this does n't suit us .", "Russia has obvious interests in Afghanistan and these interests are understandable .", "Afghanistan is a close neighbor and we have a stake in its stable and peaceful development .", "Most importantly , we want it to stop being the central source of the drug threat .", "Illegal drug trafficking has become one of the most urgent threats .", "It undermines the genetic bank of entire nations , while creating fertile soil for corruption and crime .", "And it is leading to a more destabilized Afghanistan .", "Far from declining , the production of drugs in Afghanistan rose by almost 40 percent last year .", "Russia is being subjected to vicious heroin-related aggression which is doing tremendous damage to the health of our people .", "The dimensions of the Afghan drug threat make clear that only a global effort that relies on the United", "Nations and regional organizations like the Collective", "Security Treaty Organization , the Shanghai", "Cooperation Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States can overcome it .", "We are willing to consider much greater participation in operations to relieve the Afghan people - but only if the international contingent in Afghanistan acts with greater zeal and in our interests - by pursuing the physical destruction of drug crops and underground labs .", "Invigorated anti-drug measures inside Afghanistan must be accompanied by blocking routes for opium transport to external markets , financial flows and the supply of chemical substances used in heroin production .", "The goal is to build a comprehensive system of anti-drug security in the region .", "Russia will contribute to effective global cooperation to turn the tide in the war against the global drug threat .", "Predicting further developments in Afghanistan is a difficult affair .", "History shows that a foreign military presence does not offer serenity .", "Only Afghans can resolve their problems .", "I see Russia 's role as follows : to help the Afghan people with the active involvement of other neighboring countries , by helping develop a sustainable economy and enhancing the capacity of Afghanistan 's national armed forces to counter threats of terrorism and drug-related crime .", "We have no objection to the armed opposition , including the Taliban , joining the process of national reconciliation , on condition that they renounce violence , recognize the country 's Constitution and sever all ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups .", "In principle , I believe it is possible to build a peaceful , stable , independent and neutral Afghan state .", "The decades-long instability that has persisted in Afghanistan has created a breeding ground for global terrorism that is universally recognized as one of the most dangerous challenges to the international community .", "I 'd like to note that the zones that engender a terrorist threat are located near Russian borders and hence are much closer to us than to our European or American partners .", "The United Nations has adopted the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation .", "But the struggle against this evil is not conducted under a consistent , common universal plan .", "Rather , it has been pursued in a series of responses to the most urgent and savage manifestations of terror - after which the public uproar over such impudent acts of terrorists expands out of all proportion .", "The civilized world must n't wait for tragedies like the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks on New York or the Beslan disaster , and only act collectively and resolutely after the shock of such events .", "I am far from denying the results achieved in the global war on terror .", "There has been progress .", "Over the last few years , the security services and law-enforcement agencies in many countries have greatly improved the level of cooperation .", "But there remains obvious potential for further cooperation .", "Double standards still exist and terrorists are perceived differently in different countries - some are `` bad guys '' and others are `` not so bad . ''", "Some forces are n't averse to using the latter for purposes of political manipulation , for example in shaking up objectionable regimes .", "All available public institutions - the media , religious associations , NGOs , the educational system , science and businesses - must be used to prevent terrorism across the world .", "We must have a dialogue between religions and , on a broader plane , among civilizations .", "Russia has many religions , but we have never had religious wars .", "We could make a contribution to an international discussion on the issue .", "The Expanding Role of the Asia-Pacific", "One of our neighbors is", "China , a major hub of the global economy .", "It has become fashionable to opine about that nation 's future role in the global economy and international affairs .", "Last year , China moved into second place in terms of GDP and is poised to surpass the U.S. on that count , according to international experts - including the Americans .", "The overall might of the People 's Republic of China is growing , and that includes the capacity to project power .", "How should we conduct ourselves in the face of a rapidly strengthening China ?", "First of all , I am convinced that China 's economic growth is by no means a threat , but a challenge that carries colossal potential for business cooperation .", "It is a chance to catch some of China 's wind in the sails of our economy .", "We should seek to more actively form new ties , combining the technological and productive capabilities of our two countries and tapping China 's potential - judiciously , of course - in order to develop the economy of Siberia and the Russian Far East .", "Second , China 's conduct on the world stage gives no grounds to talk of its aspirations to dominance .", "Chinese voice in the world is indeed growing ever more confident , and we welcome that , because Beijing shares our vision of an emerging equitable world order .", "We will continue to support one another in the international arena , to work together to solve acute regional and global problems , and promote cooperation within the U.N. Security Council , the BRICS nations , the SCO , the", "G20 , and other multilateral forums .", "And third , we have settled all major political issues in our relations with China , including the critical border issue .", "Our nations have created a solid mechanism for bilateral ties , reinforced by legally-binding documents .", "There is an unprecedented high level of trust between the leaders of our two countries .", "This enables us and the", "Chinese to act in the spirit of genuine partnership , rooted in pragmatism and respect for each other 's interests .", "The model we have created for Russia-China relations has good prospects .", "Of course , this is not to suggest that our relationship with China is problem-free .", "There are some sources of friction .", "Our commercial interests in third countries do not by any means always coincide , and we are n't entirely satisfied with the emerging trade structure and low level of mutual investment .", "We will also closely monitor immigration from the People 's Republic of China .", "But my main premise is that", "Russia needs a prosperous and stable China , and I am convinced that China needs a strong and successful Russia .", "Another rapidly growing Asian giant is India .", "Russia has traditionally enjoyed friendly relations with India , and the leaders of our two countries have classified our ties as a `` privileged strategic partnership . ''", "Not only our countries but the entire multipolar system that is emerging in the world stands to gain from this .", "We see before us not only the rise of China and India , but the growing weight of the entire Asia-Pacific", "This has opened up new horizons for fruitful work within the framework of the Russian chairmanship of APEC .", "In September of this year , we will host a meeting of its leaders in Vladivostok .", "We are actively preparing for it , creating modern infrastructure that will promote the further development of", "Siberia and the Russian Far East and enable our country to become more involved in the dynamic integration processes of the `` new Asia . ''", "We will continue to prioritize our cooperation with our BRICS partners .", "Created in 2006 , this unique structure is a striking symbol of the transition from a unipolar world to a more just global order .", "BRICS brings together five countries with a population of almost three billion people , the largest emerging economies , colossal labor and natural resources and huge domestic markets .", "With the addition of South Africa , BRICS acquired a truly global format , and it now accounts for more than 25 percent of global GDP .", "We are still getting used to working together in this format .", "In particular , we have to better coordinate on foreign policy matters and work more closely at the U.N. .", "But when BRICS is really up and running , its impact on the global economy and politics will be considerable .", "In recent years , cooperation with the countries of Asia , Latin America and Africa has become a growing focus of Russian diplomacy and our business community .", "In these regions there remains sincere good will toward Russia .", "One of the key tasks for the coming period , in my view , is cultivating trade and economic cooperation as well as joint projects in the fields of energy , infrastructure , investment , science , technology , banking and tourism .", "The growing role of Asia ,", "Latin America and Africa in the emerging democratic system of managing the global economy and global finance is reflected in the work of the G20 .", "I believe that this association will soon become a strategically-important tool , not only for responding to crises , but for the long-term reform of the global financial and economic architecture .", "Russia will chair the G20 in 2013 , and we must use the opportunity to better coordinate the work of the G20 and other multilateral structures , above all the G8 and , of course , the U.N.", "The Europe Factor", "Russia is an inalienable and organic part of a greater Europe and European civilization .", "Our citizens think of themselves as Europeans .", "We are by no means indifferent to developments in the united Europe .", "That is why Russia proposes moving toward the creation of a common economic and human space from the", "Atlantic to the Pacific - a community referred to by Russian experts as `` the Union of Europe , '' which will strengthen Russia 's potential and economically pivot us toward the `` new Asia . ''", "Against the background of the rise of China , India and other new economies , the financial and economic upheavals in Europe - formerly an oasis of stability and order - is particularly worrisome .", "The crisis that has struck the eurozone can not but affect Russian interests , especially if one considers that the E.U. is our major economic and trade partner .", "Likewise , it is clear that the prospects of the entire global economic structure depend greatly on the state of affairs in", "Russia is actively participating in the global effort to support ailing European economies , and is consistently working with its partners to formulate collective decisions under the auspices of the IMF .", "In principle , Russia is n't opposed to direct financial assistance in some cases .", "At the same time , I believe that outside financial injections can only partially resolve the problem .", "A true solution will require energetic , system-wide measures .", "European leaders face the task of effecting a large-scale transformation that will fundamentally change many financial and economic mechanisms to ensure genuine budget discipline .", "We have a stake in ensuring a strong E.U. as envisioned by Germany and France .", "It is in our interests to realize the enormous potential of the", "The current level of cooperation between Russia and the European Union does n't correspond to today 's global challenges , above all making our shared continent more competitive .", "I propose again that we work toward creating a harmonious community of economies from Lisbon to Vladivostok , which will , in future , evolve into a free trade zone and even more advanced forms of economic integration .", "The resulting common continental market would be worth trillions of euros .", "Does anyone doubt that this would be a wonderful development , and that it would meet the interests of both Russians and Europeans ?", "We must also consider more extensive cooperation in the energy sphere , up to and including the formation of a common European energy complex .", "The Nord Stream gas pipeline under the", "Baltic Sea and the South Stream pipeline under the Black Sea are important steps in that direction .", "These projects have the support of many governments and involve major European energy companies .", "Once the pipelines begin operating at full capacity , Europe will have a reliable and flexible gas-supply that does n't depend on the political whims of any nation .", "This will strengthen the continent 's energy security - not only in form , but in substance .", "This is particularly relevant in light of the decision of some European states to reduce or renounce nuclear energy .", "The Third Energy Package , backed by the European Commission and aimed at squeezing out integrated Russian companies , is frankly not conducive to stronger relations between Russia and the E.U. Considering the growing instability of energy suppliers which could act as an alternative to Russia , the package aggravates the systemic risks to the European energy sector and scares away potential investors in new infrastructure .", "Many European politicians have been critical of the package in their talks with me .", "We should summon the courage to remove this obstacle to mutually-beneficial cooperation .", "I believe that genuine partnership between Russia and the European Union is impossible as long as there are barriers that impede human and economic contacts , first and foremost visa requirements .", "The abolition of visas would give powerful impetus to real integration between Russia and the EU , and would help expand cultural and business ties , especially between medium-sized and small businesses .", "The threat to Europeans from Russian economic migrants is largely imagined .", "Our people have opportunities to put their abilities and skills to use in their own country , and these opportunities are becoming ever more numerous .", "In December 2011 , we agreed with the E.U. on `` joint steps '' toward a visa-free regime .", "They can and should be taken without delay .", "We should continue to actively pursue this goal .", "Russian-American Affairs In recent years , a good deal has been done to develop Russian-American relations .", "Even so , we have n't managed to fundamentally change the matrix of our relations , which continue to ebb and flow .", "The instability of the partnership with America is due in part to the tenacity of some well-known stereotypes and phobias , particularly the perception of Russia on Capitol Hill .", "But the main problem is that bilateral political dialogue and cooperation do n't sit on a solid economic foundation .", "The current level of bilateral trade falls far short of the potential of our economies .", "The same is true of mutual investments .", "We have yet to create a safety net that would protect our relations against ups and downs .", "We should work on this .", "Nor is mutual understanding strengthened by regular U.S. attempts to engage in `` political engineering , '' including in regions that are traditionally important to us and during Russian elections .", "As I 've said before , U.S. plans to create a missile defense system in Europe give rise to legitimate Russian fears .", "Why does the system worry us more than others ?", "Because it affects the strategic nuclear deterrence that only Russia possesses in that theater , and it upsets the military-political balance established over decades .", "The inseparable link between missile defense and strategic offensive weapons is reflected in the New START treaty signed in 2010 .", "The treaty has come into effect and is working fairly well .", "It is a major foreign policy achievement .", "In the coming period , we are prepared to consider various options for our joint agenda in the field of arms control .", "In this effort we must seek to balance our interests and renounce any attempts to gain one-sided advantages through negotiations .", "In 2007 , during a meeting with President Bush at Kennebunkport , I proposed a solution to the missile defense problem , which , if adopted , would have changed the customary character of Russian-American relations and opened up a positive path forward .", "Moreover , if we had managed to achieve a breakthrough on missile defense , this would have opened the floodgates for a qualitatively new model of cooperation , similar to an alliance , in many other sensitive areas .", "It was not to be .", "Perhaps it would be useful to look back at the transcripts of the talks in Kennebunkport .", "Over recent years , the Russian leadership has come forward with other proposals to resolve the dispute over missile defense .", "These proposals still stand .", "I am loath to dismiss the possibility of reaching a compromise on missile defense .", "One would n't like to see the deployment of the American system on a scale that would demand the implementation of our declared countermeasures .", "I recently had a talk with", "I meet with him regularly .", "I fully share this consummate professional 's thesis that close and trusting interactions between Moscow and", "Washington are particularly important in periods of international turbulence .", "In general , to achieve a qualitative breakthrough , we are prepared to make great strides in our relations with the U.S. .", "But only on the condition the Americans are guided by the principles of equal and mutually respectful partnership .", "Economic Diplomacy In December of last year ,", "Russia finally concluded its marathon accession to the WTO .", "The process took many years .", "I must mention that in the closing stretch , the Obama Administration and leaders of some major European states made a significant contribution to achieving the final agreement .", "To be honest , at times during this long and arduous journey , we wanted to turn our backs on the talks and slam the door shut .", "But we did n't succumb to emotion .", "As a result , a compromise was reached that is quite acceptable for our country : we managed to defend the interests of Russian industrial and agricultural producers in the face of growing foreign competition .", "Our economic actors have gained substantial additional opportunities to enter world markets and uphold their rights in a civilized fashion .", "It is this , rather than the symbolism of Russia 's accession to the World Trade `` club , '' that I see as the main outcome of the process .", "Russia will comply with WTO norms and will meet all of its international obligations .", "Likewise , I hope our partners will play according to the rules .", "Let me note in passing that we have already integrated WTO principles into the legal framework of the Common", "Economic Space of Russia , Belarus and Kazakhstan .", "Russia is still learning how to systematically and consistently promote its economic interests in the world .", "We have yet to learn , as many Western partners have , how to lobby for decisions that favor Russian business in international forums .", "The challenges facing us in this area , given our priority of innovation-driven development , are very serious : to achieve equal standing for Russia in the modern system of global economic ties , and minimize the risks arising from integration into the global economy , including Russia 's membership in the WTO and its forthcoming accession to the OECD .", "We are badly in need of broader , non-discriminatory access to foreign markets .", "So far Russian economic actors have been getting a raw deal .", "Restrictive trade and political measures are being taken against them , and technical barriers are being erected that put them at a disadvantage compared with their competitors .", "The same holds true for investments .", "We are trying to attract foreign capital to the Russian economy .", "We are opening up the most attractive areas of our economy to foreign investors , granting them access to the `` juiciest morsels , '' in particular , our fuel and energy complex .", "But our investors are not welcome abroad and are often pointedly brushed aside .", "Take the story of Germany 's Opel , which Russian investors tried and failed to acquire despite the fact that the deal was approved by the German government and was positively received by German trade unions .", "Or take the outrageous examples of", "Russian businesses being denied their rights as investors after investing considerable resources in foreign assets .", "This is a frequent occurrence in", "Central and Eastern Europe .", "All this leads to the conclusion that Russia must strengthen its political and diplomatic support for", "Russian entrepreneurs in foreign markets , and provide more robust assistance to major , landmark business projects .", "Nor should we forget that Russia can employ reciprocal measures against those who resort to dishonest methods of competition .", "Government and business associations should better coordinate their efforts in the foreign economic sphere , more aggressively promote the interests of Russian business and help it to open up new markets .", "I would like to draw attention to another important factor that shapes the role and place of Russia in present-day and future political and economic alignments : the vast size of our nation .", "Granted , we no longer occupy one-sixth of the earth 's surface , but the Russian Federation is still the world 's largest nation with an unrivaled abundance of natural resources .", "I refer not only to oil and gas , but also our forests , agricultural land and clean fresh water resources .", "Russian territory is a source of its potential strength .", "In the past , our vast territory mainly served as a buffer against foreign aggression .", "Now , given a sound economic strategy , it can become a very important foundation for increasing our competitiveness .", "In particular , I want to mention the growing shortage of fresh water in the world .", "One can already foresee the beginning of geopolitical competition for water resources and the capacity to produce water-intensive goods .", "When the time comes , Russia will have its trump card ready .", "We understand that we must use our natural wealth prudently and strategically .", "Global Support for Compatriots and Russian Culture", "Respect for one 's country is rooted , among other things , in its ability to protect the rights of its citizens abroad .", "We must never neglect the interests of the millions of Russian nationals who live and travel abroad on vacation or business .", "I would like to stress that the Foreign Ministry and all diplomatic and consular agencies must be prepared to provide real support to our citizens around the clock .", "Diplomats must respond to conflicts between Russian nationals and local authorities , and to incidents and accidents in a prompt fashion - before the media announces the news to the world .", "We are determined to ensure that Latvian and Estonian authorities follow the numerous recommendations of reputable international organizations on observing generally accepted rights of ethnic minorities .", "We can not tolerate the shameful status of `` non-citizen . ''", "How can we accept that , due to their status as non-citizens , one in six Latvian residents and one in thirteen Estonians are denied their fundamental political , electoral and socioeconomic rights - and their capacity to freely use Russian ?", "The recent referendum in", "Latvia on the status of the Russian language again demonstrated to the international community how acute this problem is .", "Over 300,000 non-citizens were once again barred from taking part in a referendum .", "Even more outrageous is the fact that the Latvian Central Electoral Commission refused to allow a delegation from the Russian Public Chamber to monitor the vote .", "Meanwhile , international organizations responsible for compliance with generally accepted democratic norms remain silent .", "On the whole , we are less than satisfied with how the issue of human rights is handled around the world .", "First , the United States and other Western states dominate and politicize the human rights agenda , using it as a means for exerting pressure .", "At the same time , they are very sensitive and even intolerant to criticism .", "Second , the objects of human rights monitoring are chosen regardless of objective criteria but at the discretion of the states that have `` privatized '' the human rights agenda .", "Russia has been the target of biased and aggressive criticism that , at times , goes over the line .", "When we are offered constructive criticism , we welcome it and are prepared to learn from it .", "But when we are subjected , again and again , to blanket criticism in a persistent effort to influence our citizens , their attitudes , and our domestic affairs , it becomes clear that these attacks are n't rooted in moral and democratic values .", "No one should possess complete control over the human rights agenda .", "Russia is a young democracy .", "More often than not , we are too humble and all too willing to spare the self-regard of our more experienced partners .", "Still , we often have something to say , and no country has a perfect record on human rights and basic freedoms .", "Even the older democracies commit serious violations , and we should n't look the other way when they do .", "Obviously , this should n't be about trading insults .", "All sides stand to gain from a constructive discussion of human rights issues .", "In late 2011 , the Russian", "Foreign Ministry published its first report on the observance of human rights in other countries .", "I believe we should become more active in this area .", "This will facilitate broader and more equitable cooperation in the effort to resolve humanitarian problems and promote fundamental democratic principles and human rights .", "Of course , this is just one aspect of our efforts to promote our international and diplomatic agenda and foster an accurate image of Russia abroad .", "Admittedly , we have n't seen great success here .", "When it comes to media influence , we are often outperformed .", "This is a separate and complex challenge that we must confront .", "Russia has a great cultural heritage , recognized both in the West and East .", "But we have yet to make a serious investment in our culture and its promotion around the world .", "The surge in global interest in ideas and culture , sparked by the merging of societies and economies on the global information network , provides new opportunities for", "Russia , which has a proven talent for creating cultural objects .", "Russia has a chance not only to preserve its own culture , but to use it as a powerful force for progress on international markets .", "The Russian language is spoken in nearly all former", "Soviet republics and in a significant portion of Eastern Europe .", "This is not about empire , but rather cultural progress .", "Exporting education and culture will help promote Russian goods , services and ideas ; weapons and imposing political regimes will not .", "We must work to expand Russia 's educational and cultural presence in the world , especially in those countries where a substantial part of the population speaks or understands Russian .", "We must discuss how we can derive the maximum benefit for Russia 's image from hosting major international events , including the APEC Leaders ' Meeting in 2012 , the G20 Summit in 2013 and the G8 summit in 2014 , the Universiade in Kazan in 2013 , the Winter Olympics in 2014 , the IIHF World Championships in 2016 , and the FIFA World Cup in 2018 .", "Russia intends to continue promoting its security and protecting its national interest by actively and constructively engaging in global politics and in efforts to resolve global and regional problems .", "We are ready for mutually beneficial cooperation and open dialogue with all of our foreign partners .", "We aim to understand and take into account the interests of our partners , and we ask that our own interests be respected by them .", "HERE FOR RUSSIAN VERSION -LSB- Posted by WORLDMEETS.US Feb. 29 , 9:22 pm -RSB-"], "_citing_sentence": "Vladimir Putin has many times made statements referring to western NGO such as \"the activities of \"pseudo-NGOs\" and other agencies that try to destabilize other countries with outside support are unacceptable.\"", "_claim_name": "Expansion furthers EU ideals.", "_doc_title": "'Russia's Place in a Changing World,' By Vladimir Putin: Moskovskiye Novosti, Russia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [118]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["UK Minister for Europe , Rt Hon David Lindington MP speaks on the opportunities of further EU enlargement to the UK , the Netherlands and Europe .", "Your Excellencies , distinguished guests , ladies and gentlemen .", "I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak to you on my first visit to The Hague as the British Minister for Europe .", "It is a pleasure to be here at the VNO-NCW , as a guest of both this institution and Clingendael , the Netherlands Institute of International Relations .", "I know that the VNO-NCW is a very effective representative of Dutch business and industry at both home and abroad , serving in the interest of more than 115,000 individual enterprises .", "I understand you have an office in Brussels and represent Dutch companies through the OECD .", "It is no surprise to me that you hold such an international outlook : for it is firmly in the Dutch , as it is in the British tradition , to look beyond your borders for economic opportunities .", "That international outlook is embodied by the excellent work carried out under Professor de Zwaan 's direction at Clingendael .", "The institute rightly has an esteemed reputation for its insightful analysis of global politics .", "It also has a history rich with links to the world of trade and commerce .", "The magnificent Huys Clingendael is home to the Institute and which I hope one day to visit , was built in the seventeenth century for the Doublet family , several of whom held the office of Treasurer General in what was the Republic of the Seven United Provinces .", "I am grateful that your co-hosting with VNO-NCW has provided me with such a fitting platform from which to speak about international politics and trade .", "Trade has , of course , played an enormously important role in the development of both our nations .", "As a keen historian , I know well that relations between Britain and the Netherlands have in the past been stretched at times to breaking point as both nations sought commercial advantage over the other , principally through establishing supremacy over lucrative maritime trade routes .", "Three Anglo-Dutch Sea Wars in the 17th century , and a fourth in the 18th century , are testament to the importance that both countries placed on international trade .", "Even when not coming to blows , the fervour with which we defended our national economic interests has long been a feature of both our bilateral relations .", "Indeed , that single-mindedness , which I think it is fair to say is a trait in both the Dutch and British national characters , has at times even intruded into the normally urbane civilized discourse of international diplomacy .", "In 1826 the British Foreign Secretary George Canning sent a coarse rhyming despatch to his good friend the British Ambassador to The Hague , Sir Charles Bagot .", "In it he announced a Franco - British retaliation for the earlier Dutch decision to impose a 20 % duty on foreign ships and cargoes calling at Dutch ports .", "Canning had had enough of obdurate negotiations in London with the Dutch Ambassador Falck , and he made clear that in his opinion the Dutch were over-asking .", "He wrote : In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch Is giving too little and asking too much ;", "With equal protection the French are content", "So we 'll clap on Dutch bottoms a twenty per cent .", "Twenty per cent ,", "Nous frapperons Falck with twenty per cent .", "Now I can reassure you that today Ambassador Arkwright receives no such colourful instructions from London .", "Nor would he need to .", "The great commercial rivalry between our countries has been replaced today by a strong and enduring partnership .", "Today our trade relationship is thriving .", "Bilateral trade is worth approximately # 47 billion - up 20 % from just a year ago .", "Exports are up , imports are up , and investment is up .", "It is no surprise that the Netherlands is Britain 's third largest overseas market after Germany and the USA .", "But we are keen to develop this even further .", "That is why the British and Dutch Deputy Prime Ministers launched the UK/Netherlands Strategic Business Dialogue in November last year .", "It is the only one of its kind and it will further strengthen the commercial relationship between our countries .", "Ours is a partnership geared towards succeeding in the modern world .", "We share the same economic ambitions .", "If we are to meet the challenges of globalisation , tackle the threat of recession and secure growth , we need even greater efforts to stimulate business and to liberate competition .", "We want to complete the Doha Development Round this year .", "We want to make rapid progress on completing the EU Single Market : work which is still unfinished .", "We want to see a strong and sustainable economic recovery across Europe and , selfishly , we want to see Britain and the Netherlands lead that success .", "And the partnership extends beyond economics .", "We cooperate on a range of global issues from counter-terrorism and combating piracy to managing climate change .", "Of course we are still each fervent in pursuit of our national interests , but those interests are increasingly shared so that we can work together to safeguard national and international security and build prosperity for the benefit of all our citizens .", "In the 21st century ours is a relationship of close cooperation , rather than fierce competition .", "As Britain 's Minister for Europe , I see the similar approach that our countries take towards membership of the European Union .", "We are both coalition governments , a somewhat novel experience in our case , arguing within Europe for a focus on economic growth , while pushing for a lean European Union budget that delivers for our citizens in a time of economic constraint .", "We share this view because , notwithstanding the serious economic challenges facing our continent and the world , an effective European Union remains a region of opportunity .", "Above all , for countries like the Netherlands and Britain , whose economies rely heavily on export success and on an ambitious approach to investing in emerging markets .", "For both our countries , the opportunity lies not in a European Union standing still , let alone becoming introverted , but from being part of a dynamic European Union that is on the move and which is active in exercising its transformational power .", "And it 's that dynamic , outward-looking aspect of the European Union that I want to talk about today .", "In particular , I want to set out Britain 's resounding commitment to an ambitious agenda for European enlargement .", "In principle , this is an area on which both our coalition governments share much common ground .", "We recognize that further enlargement will entrench stability , prosperity and security across the continent of Europe .", "It will spread the core values upon which both our nations are built : democracy , human rights , and the rule of law .", "But , like the Dutch , we are hard-headed and pragmatic in our approach , believing that conditionality is crucial in order to protect the credibility of further enlargement , and to ensure that the foundations of the European Union remain strong .", "So , the British Government supports European Union membership for all European countries which want to join and - this is a vital point - which are able to meet the accession criteria .", "We share the Dutch Government 's position that future membership depends upon a ` strict but fair ' application of the accession criteria .", "Indeed , I am rather fond of your Government 's expression : `` Eerst rode lijnen , dan pas de rode lopers , '' which in English can be rendered as `` first the red lines , and then the red carpets '' .", "But the voices speaking out against further enlargement are growing in volume .", "Opinion polls suggest that the Dutch public have become increasingly critical of further EU enlargement in recent years .", "In the autumn of 2008 , according to Eurobarometer figures , nearly 80 % of Dutch respondents thought EU membership was a good thing .", "The percentage that thought the Netherlands benefited from membership was nearly as high .", "In contrast , however , the support for future enlargement was less than 50 % .", "Compared with the turn of the century , there has been a sharp fall in the number of supporters of enlargement .", "There is a fear that the European Union would not be able to absorb more member states , that the budget would become too imbalanced , that the bureaucracy would become too slow .", "I understand those reservations , but I do not share them .", "Because I firmly believe that in a changing world , where economic and political weight is swinging eastwards , the European Union will remain strong only if it is outward-looking and continues to grow .", "Last month in Vienna , I gave a speech in which I emphasized the profoundly stabilizing effect that enlargement has had on Europe and the significant weight that continued enlargement would give the European Union on the world stage .", "I argued then that the European Union 's single greatest success , even greater than the achievement of the Single Market , had been the entrenchment of democracy in the countries liberated by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 .", "That was a time of great change .", "A time that I regard as perhaps the most exciting and welcome set of international events in my entire lifetime .", "Freedom , the rule of law , and democracy successfully took root in countries where they had long been denied .", "The key to this was the magnet of attraction that is the European Union and the vital support and encouragement that was offered to those countries which were casting off decades of totalitarian rule .", "I am pleased to know that a number of Ambassadors of these countries in the audience today .", "Two decades later and we are again witnessing history being made on Europe 's borders .", "Once more Europe has a pivotal role to play in helping its neighbours develop the building blocks of prosperous , stable and free societies .", "The people in Sidi Bouzid , in Tahrir Square , in Benghazi and elsewhere in the region called for a new reality to match their aspirations and Europe needs to respond with ambition and clarity of purpose .", "We will do this through a re-energized European Neighbourhood Policy which supports home-grown political and economic reform .", "At the same time we should be tougher and more rigorous with our neighbours - we should not patronize , but neither should we shy away from promoting universal values and responding vigorously when they are violated .", "I believe that the ongoing events in North Africa and the wider Middle East reinforce the arguments I made in Vienna .", "They remind us of the great value of extending the European Union 's reach : its ability to spread democracy , human rights and the rule of law .", "To improve the lives of millions and to build a stable European neighbourhood .", "But today I want to focus on making the case for further enlargement in a different context , that of business , trade , and economic opportunities .", "The starting point is that membership of the European Union provides the UK and the Netherlands with access to a Single Market that is vital to the prosperity of both our countries .", "With 500 million consumers generating a total Gross Domestic Product of more than # 10.5 trillion it is the world 's largest single market and has been a key driver for economic growth in the UK , in the Netherlands and in the rest of Europe .", "By some estimates EU countries currently trade twice as much with each other as they would have done in the absence of the Single Market .", "The British Government has made driving up exports and deepening inward investment central to achieving a sustainable economic recovery in our country .", "Being a member of the Single Market underpins those efforts : no less than half of the overall stock of Foreign Direct Investment to the UK now comes from elsewhere in the European Union ; trade with the European Union amounts to almost 1/3 of our annual GDP , EU member states comprise 7 of the UK 's top 10 overall trade partners ; and roughly 3.5 million jobs , or 10 % of the United Kingdom 's workforce , are either directly or indirectly involved in the export of goods or services to European Union countries .", "Member States right across Europe , including the Netherlands , benefit in exactly the same way .", "This is why we must support and strengthen the Single Market , widening its remit to focus on the digital economy , on energy , on low carbon development and on the much needed further liberalisation in the services sector : it is the only way that we can see off the challenge to our competitiveness from both the emerging economies and the US .", "And when European companies succeed on the world stage , it is because greater competition within the Single Market has fostered the innovation that is key to success in a global economy .", "This is particularly the case for those small and medium sized enterprises , for whom the European Union serves as an effective starter market for new exporters .", "Now one clear way of strengthening the Single Market would be to enlarge it .", "As we have seen in the past decade , this can bring huge economic benefits .", "The accession of new member states to the European Union in the last decade opened up new export markets for British companies .", "Between 2004 and 2008 , British exports of goods and services to the Czech Republic increased by over 50 % , amounting to an additional # 700m .", "For Poland they also more than doubled , bringing over # 2billion of increased exports to the UK .", "Taken as a whole , UK exports of goods and services to the 12 new member states were worth over # 11.6 billion in 2009 , almost three times the # 4.5 billion of exports ten years previously .", "This success story was mirrored across Europe .", "The enlargement of the Single Market by an extra 104 million consumers , a population increase of around 32 % , increased the sales markets of the old member states .", "Indeed , according to a report last year on enlargement commissioned by the Dutch Government and Parliament : `` Of all the old member states , the Netherlands has benefited the most from enlargement .", "It has generated nearly $ 11 billion in additional income , or more than $ 650 per inhabitant . ''", "That report , drafted by the Advisory Council on International Affairs , looked at the cost and ability of the European Union to absorb new Member States .", "In these straitened economic times , it is quite right to consider the issue of absorption capacity when we discuss further enlargement .", "I believe this is one of the critical reasons for ensuring that prospective member states meet the strict but fair accession criteria .", "This includes having the capacity to cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the European Union and aligning domestic legislation with EU standards in 35 different sectors or `` chapters '' .", "Meeting these rigorous criteria for accession ensures that the applicant country makes the reforms which are necessary to build a sound economic climate in the long-term .", "Croatia is now in the final stages of its accession negotiations , having closed 28 of the 35 chapters .", "Like many other countries Croatia is still suffering from the impact of the economic crisis .", "And she faces some difficult choices on issues such as restructuring of shipyards and reform of the judiciary .", "But the government has shown commendable determination in continuing its reform efforts and we look forward to welcoming Croatia into the European Union as soon as possible .", "Given the relatively small size of Croatia 's economy its accession is unlikely to have a major impact on the overall EU budget .", "And any short-term costs of accession needed be considered alongside the benefits that will be accrued through stability in the Western Balkans and through increased trade and investment flows .", "A balance should also be struck on the effects of further enlargement on migration and labour markets .", "We must not be naive about this .", "What is clear is that the UK economy benefitted a great deal from the influx of skilled labour after 2004 and 2007 .", "Independent research suggests that around one million immigrants have arrived in the UK from the eight central European countries admitted to European Union in 2004 .", "Those immigrants were willing to work on average four hours longer per week than British born workers .", "This helps benefit the UK and Netherlands as workers are able to fill gaps and meet businesses needs , and then move on when work becomes scarcer .", "I understand the concerns of some professions , of plumbers and electricians , who are seeing their prices undercut by those from Eastern Europe .", "I have seen this for myself in my constituency .", "But I have also seen consumers benefit from cheaper goods and services .", "Nevertheless , the European Union is careful to ensure that free movement of workers is managed so as not to disrupt old Member States ' labour markets .", "In Britain we have committed to applying transitional controls as a matter of course for all new Member States , and these could include - if necessary - imposing temporary controls on the movement of workers and their families as we have in the past .", "But I stress that these measures are about managing further enlargement , not impeding it .", "The experiences of the last decade show that further enlargement makes good business sense .", "It removes barriers and facilitates trade , allowing European consumers to more easily buy Dutch and British products and services .", "Enlargement also increases the international competitiveness of British and Dutch companies as they benefit from cheaper inputs from a larger and more diverse labour market , and from additional opportunities for technology transfers and greater economies of scale .", "Countries like ours , whose economies rely upon trade , should be among the first to make the case for continuing to accept prospective member states , provided they meet the necessary accession criteria .", "Now the accession criteria do not require countries to pitch a business case for membership but , by way of conclusion , I want to make the case for two countries on opposite sides of our continent .", "First , let us consider Iceland .", "Only a short while ago its economy was booming , and it has the fundamentals in place to ensure that it can bounce back to prosperity .", "Iceland has already taken the first steps to economic recovery and membership will help to consolidate this .", "Membership would open Iceland 's economy to foreign investors and I think that there are exciting opportunities there , particularly in the energy sector .", "We know that Europe is striving to reach its target of 20 % of energy from renewable sources by 2020 .", "Iceland has the potential to help us realize that goal .", "Iceland already derives more than 80 % of its energy from renewables , notably geothermal and hydropower , and the Icelandic government estimates that 75 % of Iceland 's potential energy supply remains undeveloped .", "Finally , at a time when investors are increasingly looking east , Europe 's gaze surely falls upon the abundant economic potential of Turkish membership .", "Turkey is already Europe 's 6th and the world 's 16th largest economy .", "And it continues to grow at a rapid rate : the OECD predicts that by 2017 it will be the third fastest growing emerging economy anywhere in the World after China and India .", "By 2050 Goldman Sachs predicts that Turkey 's economy will be the 9th largest in the World .", "The European Union already has a Customs Union with Turkey , although this only covers trade in manufactured goods rather than services or agricultural products and so on .", "In 2010 , 42 % of Turkey 's trade transactions by volume were with the European Union and 70 % of Turkey 's foreign direct investment was from the European Union .", "Full accession would resolve many of the current problems that businesses are experiencing with the Customs Union Agreement and further increase Europe 's share of Turkey 's rapidly growing market .", "Indeed a study by the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands suggested that full accession could see a 50 % increase in Dutch exports to Turkey by 2025 .", "Turkish membership would boost the European Single Market and would play a major part in Europe 's long term prosperity by adding significant clout to our common external trade policy .", "Turkey is keen to be closely associated with European Union efforts to negotiate Free Trade Agreements with countries like India .", "And last October , Turkey joined Germany , Indonesia and the UK in co-sponsoring an expert group to look at ways of unblocking the Doha Round of WTO negotiations .", "I know that people here will recognize Turkey 's huge economic potential .", "Indeed , the Netherlands has a proud tradition of recognizing commercial opportunities in the East .", "The VOC pioneered international trade in the 17th century and of course it was from Turkey that tulips arrived in the Netherlands a century earlier , dazzling the population and triggering the world 's very first speculative bubble .", "Now I am not suggesting that Turkish membership would have a similar bubble impact , because as the figures demonstrate the economic benefits for Europe would be significant and sustainable in the long-term .", "But if we are to realize them , we must focus on Turkish accession as something that - in time - really can and should happen .", "The British government believes that the European Union must work hard to keep Turkey 's accession process on track", "Too often in the UK and the Netherlands the debate about the European Union is dominated by its most trenchant critics .", "The great benefits that membership affords our nations , many of which I have spoken about today , are easily overlooked and we only hear about the down sides .", "Such negativity breeds fear and suppresses creativity , turns us inward and makes us defensive .", "I would rather that we work together to create a positive , confident agenda for the European Union : building on its strengths ; exploiting natural British and Dutch talents ; and revitalising our traditional outward-looking globalist approach .", "Enlargement is central to that approach .", "It is the momentum that has driven forward so much of Europe 's progress .", "And not just for the acceding members , but for existing member states too .", "So I believe it 's time to take a dispassionate look at the case for enlargement - the business case .", "I hope that what I have said today convinces you that enlargement is a project worth political as well as business investment .", "Because I believe that it is time for businesses to make their voice heard in this political debate .", "It is time to grasp the opportunity in the entrepreneurial spirit which has been the inspiration for Dutch , as for British , success over the centuries .", "As the current Dutch coalition agreement says , to be a leading presence in the world requires `` entrepreneurship and not being afraid to break new ground '' ."], "_citing_sentence": "For example British exports to the 12 new member states were worth PS11.6billion in 2009 compared to PS4.5billion in 1999 whereas the Dutch government estimates that the benefits of enlargement to each of its inhabitants was 650 Euros.", "_claim_name": "EU expansion is good for current members economically.", "_doc_title": "European Union Enlargement: Tulips, Trade and Growth - Speeches - GOV.UK", "_labeled_lineIDs": [98]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 125, "_topic_name": "This House believes the EU should engage in further enlargement"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["More than 100,000 rail commuters into London have to stand in the busiest times of the morning rush hour on a typical day , new figures have shown .", "The government figures showed a fifth of rush hour passengers stand and some trains run at 60 % over capacity .", "On a typical weekday in autumn last year , 535,000 passengers arrived in central London by train in the morning peak time of 07:00 to 09:59 .", "The Department of Transport ( DfT ) said overcrowding in 2012 was down on 2011 .", "On average , a total of 977,000 people travel into London by trains each day .", "The rail company with the highest level of passengers in excess of capacity ( PiXC ) of any London and south-east England operator was First Great Western , which was 7.1 % over capacity .", "This was lower than in 2011 .", "The worst service for overcrowding was the 08:27 Heathrow Connect service from Heathrow to Paddington Station which typically travelled with 786 standard-class passengers - 65 % over the capacity figure of 476 .", "The 10 worst-crowded services in autumn 2012 travelled between 49 % and 65 % over capacity .", "Outside London , the highest PiXC levels were at Leeds , Manchester and Sheffield , which all had just over 2 % PiXC in the morning peak and between 1 % and 2 % in the afternoon peak .", "Richard Hebditch , campaigns director for the Campaign for Better Transport , said : `` These statistics show rail is vital to the economy , getting millions of people to work every day .", "`` But it also shows many commuters are faced with an unacceptable combination of overcrowded trains and spiralling ticket prices .", "`` Government needs to give rail passengers a fair deal by ending above-inflation ticket price hikes and making sure franchise holders tackle overcrowding . ''", "A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said : `` Year on year , the official measure of overcrowding during peak times has fallen slightly overall .", "`` We recognise that some services remain crowded and passengers get frustrated when they ca n't get a seat , which is why the rail industry is planning to increase peak time seats into and out of major cities by almost a third by 2019 . ''", "Transport Minister Norman Baker said : `` Climbing on to a very crowded train is an unpleasant experience and I sympathise with passengers using these services .", "`` I urge train operators to do what they can on these particular trains .", "The department is working closely with the industry to ensure this issue is tackled . ''", "RMT rail union leader Bob Crow said nothing would change unless the railways were renationalised .", "`` While passengers are forced to pay through the nose to stand , crammed in on sweltering , overcrowded trains , the private companies running these services are making huge profits in the safe knowledge that the whole racket of rail privatisation is a one-way ticket to the bank , '' Mr Crow said .", "The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites", "Donald Trump says his presidency would usher in a new era of security and prosperity , as he accepts the Republican presidential nomination .", "` My daughter was born and died on the same day '", "The man with no-one to mourn him", "What links Pippa Middleton 's fiance to the world of reality TV ?", "Is Syrian city of Aleppo about to take its last gasp ?", "Groundhog Day moves from screen to stage", "How online publishers grab your attention", "Taken from home at 10 to do a dangerous job", "What is behind Nigeria 's resurgent oil militancy ?", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess"], "_citing_sentence": "Due to growth since privatisation Britain's railways take as many passengers as it is physically possible to do; more than a fifth of rush hour passengers have to stand.", "_claim_name": "More capacity is needed on Britain's railways", "_doc_title": "London-bound train overcrowding: 100,000 have to stand - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 126, "_topic_name": "This House would build High Speed Two"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Monday 13 December 2010 12.41 EST", "The first person to face a second murder trial following the removal of the double jeopardy rule was today convicted of battering a woman to death in 1995 .", "Mark Weston , 35 , from the Oxfordshire village of Ascott-under-Wychwood , was acquitted of the murder of 30-year-old Vikki Thompson , a married mother of two children , in 1996 , but a new trial was held after forensic scientists discovered specks of her blood on Weston 's boots when the case was reopened .", "The law was changed in 2005 to allow for retrials for serious offences in the light of new evidence .", "Sentencing Weston to a minimum of 13 years following the trial at Reading crown court , Mr Justice David Bean told him : `` It has taken 15 years for justice to catch up with you , but it has done so at last today . ''", "Thompson was found near a railway line with head injuries inflicted by heavy objects and died six days later .", "She had been walking the family dog Daisy near the village and the alarm was raised when the dog returned home alone .", "Weston , described as an odd-job man around the village and a loner , was arrested soon after the murder and tried the following year but acquitted after the jury deliberated for 50 minutes .", "Later the jury foreman wrote to him urging him to sue the police for wrongful arrest .", "The foreman told him : `` I hope you are all getting on well now and hope you go ahead and get big compensation from the police as they had no evidence of any sort whatsoever . ''", "The judge at the original trial did not permit the jury to know about a plastic bag containing two bras stained with Weston 's semen , found near the railway embankment where Thompson 's body was discovered .", "Police believe she chanced upon Weston masturbating and he attacked her before hauling her body to the embankment in the hope that it would be thought she had been hit by a train .", "After reopening the case and re-examining Weston 's boots , which had been retained following the original trial , forensic scientists discovered two specks of Thompson 's blood , which had been deposited on the footwear when wet but had been previously overlooked .", "Peter Beirne , a retired detective brought in to investigate the crime , said : `` This is the first time using double jeopardy legislation that new forensic evidence has been used to secure a conviction , so it is very significant . ''", "Following the original trial Weston , who lived with his parents in the village , was twice convicted of harassing other women , including the daughter of a police officer .", "Judge Bean told him : `` It seems that the reason why you attacked her was that she observed you masturbating .", "You attacked her in the lane , dragged her across a field and finished her off in a railway embankment . ''", "Jonathan Thompson , the victim 's husband , said after the hearing : `` Vikki 's family have been through agony and have been exceptionally patient waiting for this to happen , having to live with the fact that whoever did this to Vikki was not in jail .", "`` During that period Mark Weston has been free to live his life .", "There was no justice in that .", "He deserves to be punished for what he did and now he will be .", "Vikki was the perfect wife and mother and should have been able to see Matthew and Jenny turn into the fine young adults they are today .", "At least now they know that truth and justice have finally been seen . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Mark Weston, for example, was convicted at a re-trial after specks of the victim's blood were found on Weston's shoes, justifying the re-opening of the case.", "_claim_name": "The rules and laws that protect the accused will remain at retrial", "_doc_title": "'Loner' convicted of murder in double jeopardy retrial | UK news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["British Broadcasting CorporationHome", "A footballer who was found not guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend has admitted killing her after new evidence from a second victim came to light.Mario Celaire , 31 , from Sydenham , south-east London , was cleared in 2002 of killing Cassandra McDermott , 19 .", "He was prosecuted again under `` double jeopardy '' laws after his next victim Kara Hoyte , 19 , told police Celaire confessed to killing Miss McDermott .", "Celaire admitted manslaughter and attempted murder at the Old Bailey .", "The court heard that Celaire , a former Maidstone United player , had a history of physically abusing Miss McDermott .", "He began stalking her after she ended their four-year relationship and met a new man .", "Miss McDermott was killed while house-sitting at her mother 's home in Norbury , south London , in October 2001 .", "The court heard that Celaire either punched Miss McDermott or pushed her head into furniture , knocking her out and leaving her to choke to death .", "Celaire physically abused Cassandra McDermott during their relationship", "Celaire , who also called himself Mario McNish , was cleared of killing Miss McDermott by a jury in 2002 .", "His relationship with Miss Hoyte followed a similar pattern and he attacked her with a hammer after they split in February 2007 .", "Miss Hoyte was left with brain damage and partial paralysis , and was barely able to communicate .", "However nine months after Celaire attacked her , Miss Hoyte told police that he had admitted killing Miss McDermott after Miss Hoyte found case papers from his trial and challenged him about it .", "Since Celaire 's original trial , the has law been changed to enable someone to be prosecuted more than once for serious offences such as murder where `` compelling new evidence '' exists - a process known as `` double jeopardy '' .", "Prosecuting , Simon Denison QC said the new investigation into Miss McDermott 's death found fresh evidence of Celaire 's previous violence towards her and others .", "It is a victory for everyone who feels that they have been let down by the justice system", "Jennifer McDermott , Cassandra 's mother", "On Thursday Celaire admitted the manslaughter of Miss McDermott and the attempted murder of Miss Hoyte .", "The 2002 jury verdict was quashed .", "Scotland Yard said it was the first Metropolitan Police prosecution under `` double jeopardy '' since the law changed in 2003 .", "Judge Paul Worsley warned Celaire that he faced a `` very significant '' jail term when he is sentenced on 3 July .", "Outside court Miss McDermott 's sister Andrea said : `` We knew Mario killed Cassie .", "Today we have been vindicated .", "`` We have had to wait eight years for it - eight years of hell . ''", "Miss McDermott 's mother Jennifer said : `` It is a victory for everyone who feels that they have been let down by the justice system .", "`` This double jeopardy will give people the chance to say ` we can go back and fight again , we wo n't give up ' . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "In 2009, a footballer in London confessed to murdering his ex-girlfriend at a re-trial after fresh evidence was found to overturn the original verdict; under previous double jeopardy laws in Britain, the murderer would have remained free.", "_claim_name": "Abolishment of double jeopardy would ensure the guilty do not escape punishment", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Cleared man admits killing woman", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 127, "_topic_name": "This House would scrap the double jeopardy rule"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Szu Ping Chan , in Washington 4:43 PM BST 10 Oct 2014", "The threat of a triple-dip recession in the eurozone poses the biggest risk to the UK and global economy , George Osborne has warned .", "Speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund 's annual meeting , the Chancellor said `` serious clouds were gathering on the horizon '' for the global economy , and a third recession since the financial crisis for the 18-nation bloc would hit UK growth .", "`` We have a set of external shocks from the conflicts in the Middle East , the Ukrainian -LSB- crisis -RSB- to the horrific disease of Ebola in West Africa , which are increasing uncertainty .", "But most seriously , the biggest risk to the global economy at the moment and certainly the biggest external risk to the UK is the risk of the eurozone falling back into recession and into crisis , '' he said .", "Mr Osborne 's comments came amid a slew of poor economic data on Friday that suggested Europe was slowing down .", "UK construction figures showed that output contracted 3.9 pc in August , while French industrial production stagnated and reports emerged that Germany 's central bank would cut its official growth forecast next week .", "The gloomy data hit stock markets on Friday .", "Britain 's benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 1.18 pc , or 76 points , to 6,356 .", "while Germany 's DAX index dropped 1.96 pc , or 176.7 points , to 8,828 .", "France outlook cut by S&P on budget fears", "Eurozone on cusp of triple-dip recession as German exports drop", "Dam breaks in Europe as deflation fears wash over ECB rhetoric", "UK third in EU house price league table ( France is 21st )", "How we spent # 6bn on our pets this year", "English football : a talent deficit ?", "The Washington-based Fund 's annual healthcheck of the global economy showed the UK would be the fastest growing economy this year , with expected growth of 3.2 pc in 2014 .", "However , it downgraded its estimates for the global economy and the eurozone .", "The Chancellor said it would be unwise to `` rest on my laurels '' as the eurozone remained Britain 's single biggest trading partner , and repeated his comments on Thursday that the UK recovery was at a critical juncture .", "`` We 've seen the growth forecast not just of Italy and France , but also Germany , cut back this year .", "Unemployment remains 11pc in the euro area , which is now close to double the UK 's unemployment rate .", "This is a weak position for these European economies from which to weather further deterioration in our economic performance .", "`` The UK is not immune to this turbulence , 40pc of our exports go to the eurozone , and manufacturing -LSB- data is -RSB- showing output beginning to fall .", "The British Chambers of Commerce in Britain have warned of a fall in export growth this autumn , and indeed today we 've got volatile figures on construction in the UK . ''", "Mr Osborne said Britain was not `` powerless when faced with these external risks '' .", "Lowering taxes for business , cutting welfare and encouraging more people into work would ensure the UK remained competitive , he said .", "The IMF believes there is around a 40pc chance that the eurozone could slip back into recession over the next year .", "Mr Osborne said it was critical that growth in Germany , Europe 's largest economy , remained robust .", "`` Without the strength of the German economy the European situation would have been a lot worse , '' said Mr Osborne .", "`` Perhaps the issue that gives the greatest cause for concern at the moment are the German data in the sense that we know about the weakness of some of the other economies .", "Germany has been the exception , and we want it to remain that .", "But there has been some surprisingly weak German data -LSB- and -RSB- there 's no doubt that they 've been more affected than others have been by the situation in Ukraine and resulting sanctions . ''", "The Chancellor also raised doubts over the IMF 's call for governments to raise public spending on infrastructure , which the Fund claimed would `` pay for itself '' in the current environment of low borrowing costs .", "However , Mr Osborne said that while he supports proposals by the G20 for governments to support infrastructure initiatives by backing projects led by the private sector , he insisted there was no such thing as a `` free lunch '' .", "`` When it comes to investment in capital , I would question whether there is such a thing as a free lunch here .", "It 's a fashionable theory , often by people who just want to spend more money in all circumstances .", "Things needs to be paid for , governments have to show they can credibly pay for things , and I 'm all for spending more on capital and transport infrastructure , but I think you have to make savings in your budget to afford those , '' he said .", "The best way to transfer money overseas", "Find an independent financial adviser In Economics", "Top finance galleries ''", "The Fortune Global 500 has been released -- the annual ranking of the largest companies in the world by revenues .", "Here is a list of the 20 biggest corporate money-makers", "The Big Short , the film adaptation of Michael Lewis ' book of the same name about the causes of the financial crisis , opens in UK cinemas this weekend .", "How will the story stack up against the greatest films about business ?", "In pics : Some fledgling firms have reached valuations in the tens of billions .", "These are the 20 priciest of them all", "There are over 87,000 different drink combinations at Starbucks , according to the coffee retailer 's website .", "How many of them do you know ?", "From flu remedies to Harry Potter-inspired beverages , we highlight the weird and the wonderful brews and infusions .", "From ` scary cult movies from the 1980s ' to ` coming-of-age animal tales ' ,", "Netflix has every niche covered .", "Forbes 's annual index assess countries by a range of factors from taxes and technology to red tape and innovation .", "These are the top 20 countries for doing business", "From a rare pair of Gucci shoes , to spending # 110,000 releasing an album ,", "Britain 's wealthiest are pulling out all the stops", "Briefing : Predictions saw a huge shift this week .", "We explain why - and what it means for mortgages and savings", "New data : Discover the priciest cities around the globe for luxury property .", "Our colour-coded tables show at a glance which investment shop will be cheapest for you"], "_citing_sentence": "The chancellor George Osborne has in the past said that a Eurozone recession is the biggest economic risk to the UK.", "_claim_name": "A step away from a failing Eurozone", "_doc_title": "Eurozone recession is biggest risk to UK, says George Osborne - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1, 4]}, {"_labels": [["reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["BBC News", "A pinch of cardamom , a little coriander and a smattering of cinnamon - all ingredients not just in a great British curry but in a political row that 's been bubbling up in the kitchens of Indian restaurants up and down the country .", "It begins with a question - where is the next generation of curry chefs going to come from - and ends in with another - would leaving the EU save your local Indian from closing ?", "Currently two or three curry restaurants are shutting every week .", "Now , you may think you know the answer to where Indian chefs come from .", "If so think again .", "For decades your `` Indian '' - whether a chicken tikka masala or late night vindaloo - was almost certainly cooked by a chef from Bangladesh or , perhaps , someone whose father was .", "Not any more though .", "The voices you hear in a growing number of kitchens above the noise of the chopping and the sizzling are the voices of East Europeans - in particular Romanians .", "The reason is that tougher immigration rules mean it simply costs too much for most restaurants to bring new chefs over here .", "White thug poster aimed at ethnic minority voters", "Polls reveal divided nation", "Ethnic minorities could be key , says UKIP", "A decade or so ago a curry chef would earn around # 15,000 a year .", "Now , a restaurant has to pay almost double that as well as jumping a series of complex bureaucratic hurdles to persuade the Home Office to allow them to bring in a chef from abroad .", "`` Abroad '' means , of course , not from outside the UK but outside the EU .", "Pasha Khandakar , the president of the Bangladesh Caterers Association , told me that this was an `` immigration double standard '' .", "`` We 've been told by British ministers to import European Union people , '' he said , pointing to a `` language problem , a culture problem and a smell problem . ''", "He contends that Eastern European workers dislike the smell of curries .", "`` We have to give chance for everyone in this world who 's fit for these jobs - not for their colour , not for their geographical identity . ''", "`` Why should it be easier and cheaper to hire a Romanian to work in a curry house than a Bangladeshi ? ''", "many British Asians ask .", "Why , indeed , should it be so easy for Eastern Europeans to bring their families to live with them when it is now so much harder than it once was for the families of British people with Commonwealth roots to do the same ?", "It is the widespread feeling that immigration rules now discriminate against them and their families which Brexit campaigners have sought to tap into .", "Indeed , the employment minister and prominent Leave campaigner , Priti Patel , has claimed that a vote to quit the EU is the only way to save the curry industry .", "That depends on a very big assumption .", "That following Brexit the British public would become so relaxed about immigration that politicians felt able to relax the immigration rules that stop low paid and low skilled workers coming here from elsewhere .", "At Le Raj in Epsom - an upmarket restaurant in Surrey which is a favourite of Chris Tarrant and Heston Blumenthal - that 's not how they see things .", "The head chef here is a Bangladeshi .", "Recently he 's had to brush up on his language skills - to learn not English but Romanian .", "His kitchen is manned now by people who had never smelt a curry never mind cooked one before coming to work under his tutelage .", "The boss of the Raj , Jeffrey Ali , is as frustrated as anyone in his industry with the current immigration rules but he tells me that he simply does not believe any politician will want `` to touch relaxing the rules with a 10 foot pole '' .", "`` If immigration were to be brought down , even by half , there would still be no onus from any politician to say , ` Ok now because we have less people coming from the EU , let 's bring in more people from the Commonwealth , ' '' said Mr Ali , who plans to vote Remain in the referendum .", "Not least when unemployment is high amongst the British Bangladeshi community whose children choose , he argues , to claim benefit rather than to take the relatively low pay and long hours that their parents once worked as waiters or chefs .", "Brexit , he believes , offers a false dawn for an industry that needs to do more to raise its status and to train the next generation of chefs .", "Jeffrey Ali is helping to sponsor a new academy down the road to teach cooking to young British born people in the hope that one day he will not be forced to choose between immigrants he can not afford and those who know as much about curry as he knows about Romanian cuisine .", "Immigration is the main reason people who plan to Vote Leave give for their choice .", "What 's clear , though , is that even if we do vote to quit the EU on the 23rd June the debate about how much immigration we need and want and can afford as a country will stay firmly on the menu alongside the question - who will cook and serve my Indian in the future ?", "Donald Trump says his presidency would usher in a new era of security and prosperity , as he accepts the Republican presidential nomination .", "` My daughter was born and died on the same day '", "The man with no-one to mourn him", "What links Pippa Middleton 's fiance to the world of reality TV ?", "Is Syrian city of Aleppo about to take its last gasp ?", "Groundhog Day moves from screen to stage", "How online publishers grab your attention", "Taken from home at 10 to do a dangerous job", "What is behind Nigeria 's resurgent oil militancy ?", "Scotland 's leaders show political debate is n't in recess"], "_citing_sentence": "To take one example Britain is facing a curry crisis; curry houses are closing due to an inability to secure skilled chefs from the Indian subcontinent.", "_claim_name": "We need to unshackle the economy", "_doc_title": "Who will cook your Indian curry? - BBC News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Britain sends over # 350 million to the European Union each week", "The Eurozone 's debt and pensions problem will absorb a huge % of national income", "Terrible youth unemployment in the Eurozone", "Over the past decade Britain paid over # 150 billion to the EU budget .", "We send about # 350 million to Brussels every week .", "This is about half the English schools budget , four times the Scottish schools budget , four times the science budget , and about 60 times what we spend on the NHS cancer drugs fund .", "If we vote to ` remain ' , it is a vote for the permanent payment to Brussels of all this money .", "It will get worse .", "UK taxpayers will be paying for the huge bills caused by the euro 's crisis .", "All this money could be better spent on the NHS , schools , and fundamental science research .", "It means permanent EU control over migration policy .", "It means permanent EU control over important aspects of how public services work , including the rules on hospital building , privatisation , and procurement ( see the 2012 disaster over rail franchises that cost taxpayers over # 50 million ) .", "Many of these EU rules help a small number of big companies but cost the taxpayer billions .", "Britain will have no power to make our own trade deals .", "We will have no vote at the World Trade Organisation to influence world trade negotiations .", "It means that EU judges will strike down UK laws using the new Charter of Fundamental Rights .", "The Government promised it would have no more legal effect than ` The Beano ' .", "It is already being applied by the European Court .", "It gives EU judges far more power over Britain than the US Supreme Court has over US states .", "This is not about your view on human rights .", "It is about whether the EU control human rights in Britain or whether the British public and courts control human rights .", "The nineteen Eurozone countries now constitute a majority in the EU that can routinely outvote Britain .", "We now only have 8 % of the votes on vital EU decisions .", "Since 1996 , Britain has strongly opposed over seventy measures in the Council of Ministers .", "Britain has been outvoted on every occasion and every one of those measures became UK law .", "If we vote to leave , we will be able to spend the # 350 million we send to Brussels every week on our priorities like the NHS , schools , and fundamental science research .", "Many cuts would be unnecessary if we saved the money wasted on the EU .", "We end the supremacy of EU law .", "Countries around the world trade freely and cooperate in a friendly , effective way without making EU law supreme .", "We too will have a new UK-EU deal based on free trade and friendly cooperation .", "We will carry on cooperating on all sorts of things such as scientific collaborations .", "We regain legal control of things like trade , tax , economic regulation , energy and food bills , migration , crime , and civil liberties .", "If we vote for the people who make our trade deals and control public services , the results will be better .", "British voters should be able to change our laws and control our taxes by voting out politicians .", "We regain an independent voice in world trade negotiations with independent voting rights at the World Trade Organisation ( unlike now ) .", "We regain seats on other international rule-setting bodies that we 've given away to the EU .", "We use our stronger international influence to work for closer international cooperation .", "We stop the current immoral , expensive , and out of control immigration system that means an open door to the EU while blocking people who could contribute to the UK coming from non-EU countries .", "We make it easier for some to come , such as scientists and job-creators , and impossible for others to come , such as convicted criminals .", "If we regain the power to control our own affairs , we can sort out our own problems .", "We can invest in scientific research and education so we can build new industries and technologies .", "Britain would have far greater ` influence ' if it successfully pursued an alternative national policy .", "The best way to get a better deal for Britain and Europe is to vote to leave .", "This will force the politicians to renegotiate a new friendly deal .", "Which is safer - a vote for the permanent supremacy of EU law , or a vote to take back control ?", "A vote to keep sending hundreds of millions to Brussels every week , or a vote to put that money into scientific research and the NHS ?", "It is safer to take back control than to vote for the permanent supremacy of EU law .", "Optional email code", "Created with NationBuilder", "Together we can make a difference and win the referendum with grassroot support from campaigners like you .", "Please get involved and take action by downloading the official Vote Leave mobile app and join tens of thousands of volunteers helping us take back control !"], "_citing_sentence": "Through leaving the EU Britain will no longer send PS350million per week to Europe so can spend it at home.", "_claim_name": "There will be PS350 million more to spend a week", "_doc_title": "Balance Sheet - Vote Leave", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 9, 25]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["A favourite eurosceptic myth is that Britain sends # 350 million a week or # 55 million a day to Brussels .", "Nigel Farage , Daniel Hannan , Priti Patel and Vote Leave are just some of the people and organisations that have spouted these inaccurate figures .", "Until now , they have been able to hide behind Full Fact , the fact-checking website .", "It produced research in 2014 saying ` it 's reasonable to describe # 55 million as our ` membership fee ' , but it ignores the fact that we get money back as well '' .", "If you put # 55 million a day into Google , its research is the top result .", "But , after InFacts pointed out errors in its calculation , Full Fact corrected their piece .", "In 2015 , Britain actually sent # 250 million a week to the EU .", "After accounting for the money the Brussels sent back to Britain and EU spending we include in our foreign aid target , the net cost was # 120 million a week or # 17 million a day .", "Per person , that 's 26p a day -- or half the price of a Mars bar .", "This is a fraction of the benefits we have got from being part of the EU 's single market .", "And remember that if we wanted to leave the EU but stay in the single market , like Norway , we 'd most likely still have to pay a membership fee .", "Norway 's net payment per person is about the same as ours .", "The rebate never goes to Brussels", "Last year our notional contribution to the EU was # 17.8 billion ( # 340 million a week ) .", "But the UK gets a rebate , which is deducted from our payments .", "Margaret Thatcher fought hard for this rebate when she was prime minister .", "It is never sent to Brussels .", "Our 2015 rebate was about # 4.9 billion , so we actually sent Brussels # 12.9 billion or just under # 250 million a week .", "Funny how eurosceptics , for most of whom Thatcher is a hero , have forgotten one of her best known achievements .", "The EU sends money back", "But describing # 250 million a week as the `` cost '' of being in the EU would be misleading .", "Last year the EU sent the British government # 4.4 billion to spend in the UK , mainly on farming and regional aid .", "It also gives money directly to the private sector , in particular for research .", "In 2013 , the last year for which the government has published figures , this amounted to # 1.4 billion .", "Moreover , we are committed to spend 0.7 % of our national income on official aid for developing countries .", "When we calculate our total spending , we include our share of EU aid -- # 816 million in 2014 .", "We would likely maintain our support for agriculture , the regions , science and developing countries after a Brexit .", "The amount the Treasury actually pays for membership is # 6.3 billion a year .", "That 's # 17m a day , or 26p each -- half the price of a Mars bar .", "We would n't save that much if we left .", "If we wanted privileged access to the EU market along the lines of that enjoyed by Norway , we would have to pay for it .", "The net payment Norway makes for its arrangement is about the same as ours per person .", "But if we did n't have full access , any savings on contributions could well be wiped out by economic turmoil .", "Far from adding to the Chancellor 's piggy bank , a Brexit could deplete the government 's financial resources .", "Full Fact has issued a timely correction to its research , and will no longer provide intellectual cover for the # 55 million a day figure .", "It 's time for eurosceptics to stop using it too .", "Edited by Hugo Dixon", "This piece has been updated to reflect the fact that Full Fact never unequivocally endorsed the # 55 million a day figure .", "This article was updated on April 7 to explain more fully why quitting the EU may not save the government any money , and to express the cost of membership on a per person basis .", "Markets reacted badly this week to the PM 's Conservative Party conference speech , which increased the odds of a hard Brexit .", "Theresa May 's first conference as prime minister yielded detail on migration , health and the economy , as well as its fair share of gaffes .", "Disorderly exit will damage UK 's top money spinner and threaten financial stability .", "But it will be hard to sell alternatives to Brexiters .", "May is clinging to foolish migration target because it 's a sacred manifesto pledge but happily throwing deficit target to the winds .", "Would be interesting to know what percentage this EU expenditure represents out of the total yearly UK budget -- less than 1 % ?", "In this sense , it seems hardly worth so much emphasis .", "More like pocket money in terms of the overall budget .", "Hi Ed , we reckon that 2.15 % of the # 600 billion-odd in taxes British people pay goes to the EU .", "Some of that then comes back as EU spending within the UK ( e.g. payments to British farmers ) .", "What a relief .", "So it 's only 120 million a week to an organization which has never been able to clear its books .", "Nobody knows where the money goes .", "If the UK stays in it will be Civil War down the road .", "The EU is undemocratic , corrupt and run by elitist snobs who make Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette look like commoners .", "It is the most disgusting organisation on the planet and needs to die sooner rather than later .", "I am with you El Duchy on every word you typed -- I absolutely DESPISE and HATE the EU and everything it stands for -- Telling this Great British Country what to do .", "Time for the EU to FLOAT OFF into space .", "This Great British Country being England , Northern Ireland , Scotland and Wales along with Our People , survived for 1,973 Years before it ( we ) joined the European Economic Community ( EEC ) .", "Again , Our Great British Country , being England , Northern Ireland , Scotland & Wales , along with Our People also survived for 1,993 Years before the European Union ( EU ) was formed .", "Whichever way you want to look at it , 43 years or 23 years : -", "The EU is still a `` Young Pup '' calling the ` Big Shots ' over Our Great British Country and taking away Millions of Great British Pounds from Our People and Our Great British Country everyday .", "I say it again , before the EU ` Took Over ' Our Great British Country -- England , Northern Ireland , Scotland & Wales , survived for 1,973 years and 1,993 years respectively !", "As a Great British Country -- England , Northern Ireland , Scotland and Wales , along with our ` Great British People ' , ` All Standing Together ' , ` As A Nation ' , we can begin the exciting process of ` Taking Back Control ' of ` Our Money ' , ` Our Borders ' , ` Our Security ' , ` Our Own Trading Deals ' with important economies like , India , China and Brazil -- Or even our close allies like Australia and New Zealand .", "As a ` Great British Country ' we can ` Take Control ' of ` Our VAT ' by Cutting VAT on Family Energy Bills ' -- And we can ` Cut the Cost of Fuel and Other Everyday Items ' .", "As a Great British Country we can do all this and more !", "The ` Great British People ' ` Can Survive ' and this Great British Country ` Can Thrive ' for another 2,000 years or more !", "Time to start spending more of ` Our Money ' on ` Our National Health Service ' ( NHS ) , in this ` Great British Country ' and on our ` Great British People ' .", "European Union ( EU ) -- Brussels -- To fund your big fat Bureaucrats and Euroland -- Go take ( Steal ) your money from the rest of the countries around you -- Add Turkey to your list and raid their people of their hard earned money -- No more money from this Great British Country -- We are OUT .", "On Thursday , 23 June 2016 -- I will be voting LEAVE the European Union -LSB- X -RSB-", "Notes : The UK joined the EEC in 1973 -- The EU did NOT exist until 1993 -- The world is Millions of years old and the UK never ever needed a EEC or EU before 1973 and 1993 .", "Do you know any research that can quantify if funds given by EU to other EU countries is invested in/comes to UK .", "For example , a Danish industry is given EU funding and a British company wins a tender to carry out work paid for by EU funding .", "Why is it a good idea to send such vast sums to the EU when clearly they could be better used in this country for matters nearer to our home and hearts ???", "How pathetic do you have to be to not want to govern yourself and instead be governed by foreigners in Brussels ?", "Yes we may get money back from our EU membership but it 's our money anyway , we wo n't have to send any money if we left .", "Do you EU lovers really think we would lose any sort of trade if we were to leave the EU ?", "If anything we would be able to gain more trade by dealing with the world and not just through the EU and create our own trade deals with countries .", "We are slowly and legally signing more and more ownership of our country away to the EU and unless we leave we will have no control whatsoever in years to come .", "Leaving the EU and taking control of our borders so we will welcome everyone throughout the world and not just favour those from the EU .", "Why should we welcome some criminal from some European country", "Rather than a qualified doctor from India say , who will benefit our country more .", "We should n't have an open door policy with immigration .", "It 's dangerous and will one day bite us in the backside , you would n't leave your front door open of your house and let anyone walk in so we should n't have that for our country .", "Clearly shows how unpatriotic those who would rather be governed by Brussels are .", "About as pathetic as the people of Scotland not wanting to be governed by foreigners in Westminster i suppose .", "Tony , my recollection is that the ruling from Westminster has been done by scots until very recently .", "Oh Aaron you make a rod for your own back !", "It 's our money . . .", "that comes back ... . .", "yes up to a point .", "One of the largest groups receiving our money this way are the farmers .", "They all seem to agree that they prefer to get money via the EU than struggle with Whitehall ministries !", "They know how the Treasury just loves to hand out what it sees as subsidies .", "So Brussels acts as a device to get our government to behave better .", "Ask Cornwall if it would do better with regional aid from Whitehall !", "A big fat no is the answer .", "Was speaking to a farmer yesterday who ca n't wait to get back to the old way of farming subsidies when he had more help with a lot less paperwork and could farm the way he thought best .", "Still quite steep ... where is the EU aid spent ?", "I would love to govern myself but I did n't vote for my MP , I did n't vote for my government , I did n't vote for any of the members of the House of Lords and I did n't vote for my Head of State .", "UK democracy is an illusion and you are being manipulated if you use sovereignty as a reason to leave the EU without wanting to dramatically change UK political system too .", "If you mean that you did n't vote at all , then shame on you .", "If on the other hand you found yourself in the minority , then you 've simply taken part in a democratic process .", "You may not have won , but your vote did count .", "Your MP knows he is being held to account , and he knows that he did not achieve the 100 % support he would have desired .", "He knows he may not win next time and that 's the point of our democracy .", "The EU offers us none of that accountability and probably never will .", "A regular argument for exit ( repressed xenophobia aside ) is that the EU is unaccountable .", "Er , what about MEP 's then ?", "You can vote for them and they influence decisions that are made .", "I accept that is true , but I did ' t think it worth mentioning because our MEPs influence is only 4 % -9 % so it 's not the sort of accountability that faces our own government .", "It 's perhaps worth noting that we are subject to numerous non-EU treaties and Conventions , notably the UN Convention Against Torture , which prohibits deporting people to countries where there 's a reasonable expectation they 'll be tortured or tried using evidence obtained under torture .", "The ECHR and HRA both contain implementations of this Convention , which deal with it at more local levels .", "Oh , and talking of the ECHR , it 's not an instrument of the EU but an older ( 1949 ) and larger ( 47 Member States including Russia and Ukraine ) club -- the Council of Europe .", "The ECHR was also largely drafted by British lawyers , while the HRA already allows British judges to issue rulings that ignore the ECHR if they believe that following the ECHR would be contrary to British law / practice .", "We can also ignore inconvenient rulings e.g. their judgement against a blanket ban on voting applying to all prisoners .", "Conversely , there has been speculation that Cameron 's British Bill of Rights would include minimum thresholds to ensure `` only the most serious '' cases would get anywhere near a court ( so if implemented , only paying lip service to human rights legislation ) .", "Curious to know how much of the money which ` comes back ' to the UK requires matched funding from UK public or private sector sources ?", "I have ended up here following a leaflet put through my door titled `` The UK and the European Union : THE FACTS '' I initially thought it was just that , but three `` Facts '' in I was getting deeply suspicious about the bias in the facts .", "One of these `` Facts '' was the # 350m figure that has been debunked here .", "It was only when I read the smallest of small print at the back of the leaflet that I found it had been sent by Vote Leave .", "Are such entities allowed to send communication such as this without making it clear whom is the sender ?", "I had one of these ` information ' sheets .", "It talked of facts and gave kipper opinions .", "I filled it in with a stupid address and sent it back so that they get charged postage .", "It will also give work for the Lithuanians that I believe they use to run their show", "Your `` facts '' site is like the HM Government `` facts '' posted through my letterbox at my own expense .", "Do n't pretend that `` Leave '' is alone in selectively quoting information .", "For example , you must know . .", "but choose not to mention . .", "that UK have to contribute a very large sum to the EU but the amount of money we get back is NOT guaranteed .", "The other EU representatives can agree . .", "or not agree .", "Unless you are from another country how can you be ?", "You people are either for or against I do n't give a stuff about your facts I 'm out on the immigration question alone .", "26p for a Mars bar . .", "most of them are at 60p if not more . .", "I would n't trust any of the figures mentioned on that basis alone", "Hi Rob , we say `` half '' the price of a Mars bar !", "You also imply that is the cost per person and yet it only really applies to tax payers", "Those figures are completely inaccurate , if you want real facts then look to the work of Professor Patrick Minford , he gives clear evidence as to why we would be better out of the European Union ( we are part of Europe ) .", "Most of the in/out blogs are n't factual , you owe it to yourself and country to reveal the accurate facts on this very important vote", "Germany and the UK are the only 2 countries that pay positively into the EU all the others take .", "Big businesses/bankers make money but very few others do .", "Do your own independent research because when it comes to the truth the ` in/outs ' shake it all about .", "Yes but what does it cost us in extra NHS treatments for non tax people .", "These sort of things are hidden costs of having too many people in a relatively small island .", "Not to mention having criminals mixing freely here and not being able to send them back .", "EU regulations that stifle initiative in small businesses .", "It goes on and on the drawbacks .", "Its not all about money .", "How much do we borrow a day compared to how much we send ?", "Oh dear , anyone fixated on the immigration issue is going to be sooo disappointed ( and very short-sighted ) .", "To leave the EU and still stay in the single market trade agreement means we 'd still have to accept free movement of EU workers , still have to pay for the privilege and still be bound by EU regulations and red tape -- without any of the EU benefits or a say in anything at all .", "And to leave the single market would be no less than economic suicide .", "And if I may point out that over 50 % of the immigration to the UK is actually from outside of the EU .", "So how is leaving going to help that ?", "Not rocket science .", "We ca n't control our borders because we are in the EU .", "If we can control our borders it will be to everyone , not just Europe .", "Why are people so ready and happy to take just anyone in ?", "Would you take the same stance if you were renting a room out but had no say over who moved in ?", "We send a lot more money to the EU in fines ,", "Twice you state that Norway pays as much as us per person for access to the single market clearly insinuating that this option would still cost us # 350 million a week .", "Whether you count the EU ` generously ' giving a portion of our money back with specific conditions on how it is spent as a reduction of that amount is not the point of this comment .", "The fact Norway 's population is about 12 times smaller than ours is not mentioned in this article .", "Norway pay 12 times less than us for access to the EU so if we paid the same total , we 'd be laughing .", "There are of course valid arguments for sides so you should n't have to spin this fact by using ` per person ' to make the Norway option look undesirable .", "I wonder what all these uninformed nationalists are thinking now that the pound is nose-diving .", "You can always count on the shortsighted older generation to ruin the lives of the next generations .", "So where is that important membership fee going to now ?", "Medicare like you were promised ?", "Busted on morning news the very next day .", "Probably on more propaganda spending based on fear of anti-globalization .", "If you feel that you do not need the EU , that `` stronger together '' was a lie , do n't cry when Scotland and North Ireland goes referendum on you lot and leaves UK .", "It 's going to be a world of hurt on the England economy and you have no one to blame except yourselves .", "It was so funny watching the news with all the wankers all shocked saying they did n't know their vote would count .", "Cameron was such a great leader .", "US should now know better than to vote Trump based on fear .", "The pound is nose-diving at the moment .", "In fact , this has been the trend for a long while now , but ask yourself , what 's worse , a temporary glitch , or a lifelong one ?", "If you think we 're headed for Utopia in the future , then your superiority complex over leave voters is seriously flawed .", "The EU was a sinking ship that we possibly helped on it 's way , but if we had n't , another country would have left and we 'd be the one 's propping everyone else 's economy ( even more so than we do now ! ) .", "Can anybody ballpark a number for contributions from.VAT .", "It seems the rate was hiked as a result of the UK being in the EU .", "If so could we cut VAT as a result of leaving .", "Would there be a potential benefit from this ?", "We DO send # 350 million a week .", "If the figure was lower ultimately , then why demand # 350 million from us and not just ask for the lower figure ?", "Because the rebate comes back with conditions attached ."], "_citing_sentence": "Even taking in to account money that comes back to the UK, and the rebate, the UK still sends PS120million per week to Europe.", "_claim_name": "There will be PS350 million more to spend a week", "_doc_title": "InFacts UK doesn\u2019t send EU \u00a3350m a week or \u00a355m a day - InFacts", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Belgium told to claw back # 162m given to steel firm as commissioner says industry can not rely on public funds , in blow to UK", "Jennifer Rankin in Brussels", "Wednesday 20 January 2016 13.02 EST", "Last modified on Wednesday 20 January 2016 17.06 EST", "The EU has fired a warning shot against countries using subsidies to help struggling steelworks , in a further blow to UK government attempts to protect the British steel industry .", "Belgium has been ordered to claw back $ 211m ( # 162m ) in illegal state aid given to privately owned Duferco , while the European commission -- which enforces EU law -- has opened an investigation into $ 2bn of state support the Italian government is alleged to have given to Ilva , the EU 's third largest steel manufacturer .", "Related : Tata job cuts : unions attack lack of government action", "Margrethe Vestager , the Danish politician in charge of EU competition policy , said the European steel industry could not rely on public funds to survive .", "Governments across Europe are under growing pressure to rescue steel companies , amid a global glut of supply that is forcing plants out of business or triggering significant job cuts .", "This week Tata Steel , Britain 's largest steelmaker , announced plans to shed more than 1,000 jobs .", "The Indian-owned business said on Monday it was cutting 1,050 jobs , including 750 at the UK 's biggest steel plant in Port Talbot .", "Sheffield Forgemasters also announced it would be cutting up to 100 jobs , after recently recording a loss , of # 9.4 m , for the first time in its 210-year history .", "Vestager said the European steel industry was undergoing `` restructuring '' , with `` severe painful consequences as we have seen in the UK '' .", "She stressed the commission would act to prevent illegal state subsidies , as `` this kind of aid distorts competition and it risks ... a harmful subsidy race within member states '' .", "Steel companies have blamed their troubles on a glut of cheap steel from China and are calling on Brussels to take action against `` unfairly '' cheap imports .", "Vestager said the commission had deployed measures that allow Europe to levy duties on non-EU products that are artificially cheap thanks to government subsidies .", "The EU has 30 anti-dumping measures in place on steel , with investigations ongoing into six other steel products .", "Related : The Guardian view on the global economy : China sends a shiver through Davos | Editorial", "The backdrop to the moves against state aid is a fractious debate within the EU about whether to grant China market economy status , which would boost the flow of Chinese goods into Europe .", "EU rules allowing the bloc to treat China as a non-market economy expire at the end of 2016 .", "Steel producers are bitterly opposed to letting down Europe 's defences and claim a move to market economy status will destroy the continent 's 330,000 jobs in the sector .", "The Danish EU commissioner said she had opened the case against Ilva , following complaints from competitors that the Italian firm was benefitting from illegal government aid to modernise its plant .", "Ilva has `` a long tradition '' of not complying with EU rules on industrial pollution , the commissioner said .", "`` We need to look into the concerns very carefully as they concern large-scale measures to a significant player , and might bring a serious distortion of competition in a very competitive sector , '' she said .", "In the Belgian case , the commission found the regional government of Wallonia had handed out public money to the Duferco steelworks between 2006 and 2011 to boost production .", "Despite receiving millions of euros in taxpayer funding , the steel firm closed its works in La Louvi\u00e8re in 2013 ."], "_citing_sentence": "If the UK were to leave the British government would be once more able to shape an industrial policy; for example under EU rules it did not have the power to save Port Talbot as it is not allowed to provide subsidies to support the failing plant.", "_claim_name": "Leaving would take back power to control the economy", "_doc_title": "EU sets tone as it cracks down on subsidies for struggling steelworks | Business | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 128, "_topic_name": "This House believes the UK would be better off economically outside the European Union"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["SEE : Follow Up Article - The Interconnected Factors on Apartheid in South Africa", "SEE : Sports Diplomacy and Apartheid South Africa", "Author : Alexander Laverty", "Final Paper : MMW 6 Spring 2007 7 June 2007 Impact of Economic and Political Sanctions on Apartheid", "When the Afrikaner-backed National Party Came to power in South Africa in 1948 , it implemented its campaign promises in the form of high apartheid .", "This contrasted with the segregationist policies of the pre-war government .", "While much of that legislation was designed to restructure the organization of economic opportunity in South Africa , apartheid legislation lacked the trademark of systematic exploitation of native Africans ( Butler 19 ) .", "The English speaking whites who had held power before the war were sidelined as the white constituency was consolidated under the National Party , a Afrikaner dominated political group .", "This allowed the National Party to enact such legislation as the Population Registration Act , which enforced classification into four racial categories : white , Coloured , Asiatic , or native .", "The next high apartheid landmark was the Group Areas Act of 1950 .", "This act enforced the separate areas of residence by race across the country .", "It would be this act that eventually led to Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 that transferred Africans ' political rights to these quasi-states , which allowed the South African government to treat natives as foreigners and allow them no political representation in the South African government ( Butler 19-23 ) .", "Apartheid , the Afrikaans ' word for segregation , brought white supremacy to a whole new level as the rest of the continent was decolonizing following World War II .", "The National Party government treated non-whites as second class citizens and in the case of Africans , non-citizens .", "By confining Africans to the ` homelands ' of Bantustans , the National Party was able to justify stripping away any basic rights Africans had in the country of South Africa .", "The international community refused to recognize these homelands , and pressure eventually began to build from all sides to allow equal rights for all residents of South Africa .", "Pressure came in the form of economic sanctions , expulsions from international organizations , and the divestment of foreign companies ( Craig et al 1002 & Vandenbosch 1-11 ) .", "In response to this oppression by the white minority government , the anti-apartheid struggle by South Africans began soon after the implementation of apartheid in 1948 .", "The movement went global and was heavily influenced by the organizations and networks of South Africans that operated inside and outside the nation ( Thorn 50 ) .", "Did the international anti-apartheid movement against South Africa during the apartheid era play a significant role in causing the National Party government to end apartheid ?", "In attempting to discern the actual effects of the pressure put on South Africa by the international community , two different schools of thought will be addressed in relation to the actual effectiveness of international sanctions placed on South Africa .", "Nelson Mandela , the first president in post-apartheid South Africa , believes the results from the anti-apartheid movement , sanctions , were effective .", "On the side that believes the anti-apartheid movement had no discernable impact on the dismantling of apartheid is the former South African President , F.W. de Klerk .", "When announcing the end of apartheid in his 1990 address to Parliament , de Klerk mentions the conflict and violence that had pervaded South Africa as his considerations for the ending of apartheid .", "With the end of Communism in Europe , de Klerk felt that that the removal of the African National Congress from the banned organization list was now reasonable , as they would no longer have any financial support from Moscow to continue their fight against the apartheid government .", "Eventually a negotiated peace was agreed upon and the first elections for all South Africans took place in 1994 , resulting an electoral victory for the ANC .", "De Klerk continued to deny the importance of sanctions in his acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993 in Oslo ( de Villiers 197 ) .", "The term ` sanctions ' in contemporary international law is viewed as `` a punitive action by one state against another , designed to force a change of policy without resorting to overt aggression '' ( Brewer 36 ) .", "Thus sanctions require actors , a target group , punitive instruments of a non-military fashion , and political objectives that determine the range and limitations of sanctions .", "In the case of South Africa , the actors are church groups and public opinion , not the traditional actors : national governments and international bodies .", "Typically the target group of sanctions are other governments and their constituency .", "In South Africa however , while the Afrikaner backed National Party is the target of the sanctions , the possible greater affects on the black majority rather than the white minority had to be taken into account .", "Thus while the intentions were to force the National Party to change its attitudes and behavior , the side effects of the sanctions had to be considered before choosing the best course of action ( Brewer 36-37 ) .", "The punitive instruments of sanctions range from prohibitive to revocative means .", "The economic means of sanctions are usually deemed the most effective , short of violence .", "Economic sanctions can come in two different forms : trade and financial restrictions .", "Trade sanctions are aimed at the restriction or cessation of imports and exports between state actors and the target nation .", "Financial sanctions seek to control or manipulate the flow of private foreign capital into the country targeted by sanctions .", "Financial sanctions appear in South Africa as disinvestment and divestment .", "Disinvestment is the reduction or withdrawal of all forms of foreign capital that is invested in the country , as well as banks not making any new investments .", "Divestment is the breaking of financial and economic relations with companies that profit from business done with South Africa ( Brewer 37 ) .", "Apart from the economic side of sanctions , political and diplomatic sanctions in the form of breaking off or reducing diplomatic ties or refusal of entry can be used against the target nation .", "Military and scientific sanctions can prohibit the exchange of technology and know-how between nations , which can be in the form of an arms embargo ( Brewer 38 ) .", "Talk in the 1960s of the use of sanctions to force a policy change were looked at with skepticism based on their predicted effectiveness .", "In fact one writer believed that only a world wide sanctions movement , coupled with a naval blockade would have the intended effect .", "For this to happen the UN would have to be willing to send in an invasion force to reinstall stability in the country after it had fallen into disarray following a world-wide boycott .", "The belief was that if South Africa was able to promote an appearance of stability then the Western powers would not have the resolve or justification for economic sanctions .", "Proponents of the sanctions movement in the 1960s believed that white South Africans would abandon the National Party in great numbers because many South Africans only supported white supremacy because of the high standard of living that the National Party gave them .", "This does not recognize that many whites were in fact Nationalists and would prove inflexible to outside pressure ( Spence 63-65 ) .", "With the passing of Resolution 418 by the UN Security Council in 1977 , international efforts to hurt the apartheid government turned to the form of an arms embargo ( Klotz 50 ) .", "This resolution stemmed from the international attention created by the 1976 Soweto movement .", "This was revolt in a Johannesburg suburb that erupted against the apartheid government over a plan to hold instruction of maths and sciences in public schools in Afrikaans ( Levy 416 ) .", "The South African government in turn began to develop and produce more of their arms in country , but sophisticated systems such as high-performance aircraft , helicopters , and naval vessels were not so easily produced at home .", "However , self-sufficiency did come in the production of ammunition , military vehicles and communications equipment .", "The cost of Research and Development accompanied with the smaller production runs did equate to higher prices for even ` home-made ' arms .", "The arms embargo can claim success in at least South Africa 's outward policy .", "The inability to replace the loss of ageing fighter-bombers in the conflict with Angola ( and their better equipped Cuban allies ) began to toll and brought the South African government to the peace table for a negotiated settlement .", "The greater expense came in regard to South African society and economy .", "South Africa 's resources were diverted from other pressing policy matters towards keeping a well-equipped and prepared military .", "Funds that could have been spent on public utilities , education , or health care , were instead put towards military readiness .", "Dissatisfaction with the continued deprivation inside the country began to grow .", "At the same time , the limited amount of educated manpower in the country was required to serve in the armed forces .", "Additionally , due to the isolation from the rest of the world more money , citizens , and time were forced to be spent on research new military technologies because of the inability to purchase Western weapons systems .", "Finally , the profound effect of the arms embargo was on South Africa 's relationship with the international community .", "If an arms embargo had not been put in place , the West would not have been able to directly challenge the regime in power .", "Thus the embargo as a whole not only served to raise awareness and politicize the struggle against the apartheid movement in the West , it boosted the opposition against the South African state ( Grundy 109-111 ) .", "In the early 1980s the furthering unrest in the country began to worry many of the foreign investor 's in South Africa .", "While many of these private business were feeling the pressure in their home country to disinvest , the political instability of the country was the primary concern for many of the foreign companies .", "It was only after this withdrawal of funds and business from the country in the mid-1980s did South Africa begin to feel the squeeze put on by their foreign debts .", "In 1985 , the European Community put a limited scope of trade sanctions on South Africa , yet still the most expansive to date .", "This was followed by more significant sanctions in 1986 from the EC , coupled with the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act passed by the US Congress over a presidential veto in the same year .", "While South Africa did its best to circumvent governmental sanctions , the loss of private capital was inescapable ( Levy 417 ) .", "As the end of the 1980s approached , proponents of the sanctions movement claimed success as they interpreted the fall of the apartheid state as justification of a strong sanctions movement .", "If nothing more , the economic sanctions were certainly the final straw in the campaign against the apartheid government .", "While a handful of South Africans began to draw links between the economic climate and political change , many dismissed the effectiveness of sanctions .", "In retrospect however , many see these comments as simply propaganda to dissuade more sanctions against their country ( Levy 418-419 ) .", "When measuring the success of sanctions , comparison with past experiences are invariably drawn .", "For obvious reasons , sanctions have a higher chance of success when placed against smaller and less developed target states .", "The more specific objectives the sending state sets the more easier it will be to assess the consequences on the target state and will make sanctions more efficient in the long run .", "Once these objectives have been set a combination of good timing with rapid and merciless implementation must be enforced .", "If the screw is tightened slowly , this gives the target state to develop countermeasures to the sanctions while at the same time giving the sender state time to develop second thoughts about their sanctions ( Brewer 39 ) .", "On the other side of sanctions lie the causes of their downfall .", "First , the expression of not using a sledgehammer to crack a nut is very appropriate here .", "Cultural and military add-on measures can make the sending states lose sight of the initial objectives .", "Secondly , the search for comprehensive boycotts and sanctions does not necessarily produce a more effective sanctions campaign .", "In many cases the search for general consensus among sender states can be self-defeating in the end , causing there to be more leaks in the campaign , rather than less .", "While the exact effectiveness of the international sanctions that arose from the anti-apartheid movement against the National Party in South Africa on an economic scale can be debated , the praise from black South African leaders for the anti-apartheid movement must be taken into account as well .", "Both Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela made statements to this extent .", "On his release from prison in 1990 Mandela stressed that to end sanctions at that moment would risk allowing the National Party to abort the process towards ending apartheid .", "Thus the psychological impact of international isolation could be viewed as just as important as the economic impact .", "While some form of sanctions had been in place for many decades , efforts intensified in the 1980s , notably from prominent South African allies in the form of the United States and Europe .", "This change could be attributed to causing the eventual political change of the 1990s , meaning that those that point to the considerable time lag between the implementation of sanctions and the fall of the National Party as evidence of the ineffectiveness of sanctions , do not account for the time that it takes for sanctions to effect the country as a whole .", "Instant change was an unrealistic goal ( Levy 418 ) .", "Empirical data has been collected during the time of enforced sanctions that back up Mandela 's claim of effectives .", "An IMF report put together by Tamim Bayoumi in 1990 concludes that the impact economic sanctions had on the country is unmistakable .", "He concludes that sanctions are leading to a large upturn in white unemployment and that the nonwhite employment growth will rise while resulting in a decline in white 's wages .", "His report would support previous statements that suggested that the removal of private capital from the country , rather than governmental sanctions against the National Party , achieved the greatest success .", "His report finds that nonwhite employment had increased in the intermediary while coinciding with the fall of real white wages .", "This analysis would seem to conclude that economic sanctions are having the exact opposite affect on the South African economy that apartheid was meant to provide , which was the economic exploitation of blacks by the whites ( Bayoumi 1 , 21 ) .", "The anti-apartheid movement from an outside perspective obviously had an effect on South Africa .", "However , reports from inside the country differ somewhat with the West 's assessment of the effectiveness of sanctions .", "F.W. de Klerk , writing in his autobiography , states `` Obviously , sanctions also did serious damage to the country . ''", "He goes on to corroborate the findings made by the IMF , that South Africa 's growth rate suffered approximately 1.5 percent during the 1980s and early 1990s .", "However , he states that the white minority was ready and willing to bear this cost because they feared the alternative was a Soviet-backed African National Congress regime ruling the country .", "This is more typical rhetoric from the South African government about fighting Soviet expansion in Africa .", "South Africa attempted to justify their foreign and domestic polices throughout the 1960s and 1970s as combating communism .", "While in truth the ANC was heavily funded by the Kremlin , Moscow certainly did not stir up the initial causes for the ANC to come into being .", "Moreover , De Klerk goes on to write that sanctions delayed change , rather than promoted it in the government .", "Importantly , he believes that the isolation South Africans felt by the West essentially nipped change in the bud as it was beginning to rise in the country 's universities as well as the intellectual and scientific elite .", "He believes that as a truism , isolation , sanctions , and rampant criticism of a society rarely encourage changes in the society .", "He is very reluctant to draw a link between governmental policies and the sanctions movement that was put forth by the worldwide anti-apartheid campaign ( de Klerk 70-71 ) .", "On the political side , de Klerk believes that the National Party owed some of its electoral success to the sanctions .", "He implies that had no sanctions been in place , the National Party would not have been able to appeal to the resentment and siege mentality that many white South Africans felt when confronted with the West 's sanctions .", "Concluding , de Klerk feels that the real factor in change was the economic growth of the country .", "Thus from his perspective , had South Africa been allowed to grow unimpeded economically , change would have come sooner than it actually did ( de Klerk 71 ) .", "Alternate views of the fall of the National Party 's apartheid stem from outside forces that did not include sanctions .", "Most often cited is the rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev and the fall of the Iron Curtain in Europe .", "Gorbachev realized that the Soviet Union could no longer afford to fund proxy wars across the world and abruptly ended all funding to socialist movements , thus depriving the ANC of most of its resources .", "While the Afrikaners once saw the ANC as godless communists , once the Soviet bloc fell , political dealings with the ANC became publicly acceptable ( Evans 3 May 2007 & Levy 418 ) .", "While the timing of the Soviet collapse certainly played a role in the changes in South Africa , for de Klerk to say that sanctions had no impact in policy making would be dismissing the effectiveness of the anti-apartheid movement as a whole .", "Governments did not enact most of these sanctions and embargoes because they felt South Africa was a threat like present day Iran or North Korea .", "Much of the support for forcing change in South Africa began with grassroots movements across the United States and Europe .", "De Klerk , in his own book , gives credence to the overall international movement .", "He notes that never before in history had a country had to deal with the `` comprehensive international campaign '' against the country ( de Klerk 114 ) .", "Not only were the economic stresses demanding , the restrictions on travel , notably on fly-over and landing rights for South African airlines , and the cold-shoulder many white South Africans received while traveling abroad in the 1980s all contributed to the isolation .", "He then describes how the sanctions net began to tighten in on the country .", "Later , he stressed the impact that the loss of financial support was taking on the country as a whole and that it became a `` source of social unrest '' ( de Klerk 183 ) .", "De Klerk then describes the need for financial stability in order to keep everyone , including the ANC , satisfied with the progress of the negotiations to end apartheid .", "Perhaps de Klerk can not see the lines between the causes and effects , but it is most obvious that the reason South Africa is in financial doldrums is because of the anti-apartheid movement coupled with economic sanctions .", "Thus by his own reasoning , it would be safe to assume that the world-wide movement against the National Party had an undeniable and to some extent a very palpable link between the actual removal of the National Party from power and sanctions that were employed .", "The view championed by Nelson Mandela has a significant amount of empirical and scholarly evidence that would support his view that the international anti-apartheid movement against the National Party-led South African government was successful .", "Despite the campaign against apartheid not always meeting the requirements discussed earlier for successful sanctions , the political and overall isolation felt by South Africans , which was manufactured by the global anti-apartheid campaign , made up for the lapses in economic sanctions .", "Eventually the ` total onslaught ' that the government and white society felt they were under , beginning in the 1960s , encompassed the riots caused by students within the country and the ANC 's fight from exile .", "The international sanction movement against the South African government was the final push that brought the National Party to near bankruptcy and brought them to the negotiating table with the ANC .", "While each factor of ` total onslaught ' played a role , the global anti-apartheid movement was a significant dynamic in causing the turning the tide against the white-minority government and eventually bringing to power a true democracy on the southern tip of the African continent .", "Bayoumi , Tamim , `` Output , Employment and Financial Sanctions in South Africa '' ( December 1990 ) ."], "_citing_sentence": "Nelson Mandela himself has stated that sanctions played a role in forcing the South African government to end apartheid.", "_claim_name": "Sanctions have been an effective long term policy tool in the past.", "_doc_title": "Impact of Economic and Political Sanctions on Apartheid | The African File", "_labeled_lineIDs": [21]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Discussants : Jake Colvin , Director , USA Engage , National Foreign Trade Council , and Simon Cox , Economics Correspondent , The Economist", "With the United Nations discussing a possible third round of economic sanctions against Iran and the United States lobbying hard for tougher measures , the effectiveness of sanctions more generally remains a point of contention among policymakers .", "Some experts say trade bans serve as an important policy lever , allowing nations to unilaterally or multilaterally block funds from flowing to rogue regimes .", "Others argue that sanctions fail to squeeze foreign leaders while wreaking havoc on local communities that are not their intended target .", "Jake Colvin , the director of USA Engage , a coalition established under the National Foreign Trade Council that promotes alternatives to unilateral U.S. economic sanctions , and Simon Cox , Economics Correspondent at the Economist , discuss the merits and drawbacks of different types of economic sanctions .", "Weigh in on this debate by emailing the editors at CFR.org .", "To view other online debates click here .", "Simon Cox Iran allows only for different shades of pessimism .", "As you say , Iranians have only their government to blame for their current economic woes .", "Perhaps America should stand back and watch its opponent buckle , rather than propping it up with punches of its own .", "But I think the Economist has n't yet given up on China and Russia doing more to dissuade Iran .", "Their surprising vote for Resolution 1737 , passed by the UN Security Council last December , was more significant than any of the mild sanctions the resolution contained .", "One lesson of the scholarly literature is that by the time sanctions are imposed , they have probably already failed .", "If a country is ever going to fold , it will do so when sanctions are threatened , rather than waiting for the punishment actually to fall on its head .", "This , incidentally , means sanctions may be more successful than the Peterson Institute 's 19 percent figure suggests .", "That tally presumably misses a lot of cases when the mere threat of sanctions did the trick , without the sanctions themselves ever being needed .", "Daniel Drezner of Tufts University had a paper a few years back arguing this point .", "As he points out , economic threats are often made behind closed doors and their success passes largely unrecorded .", "That makes it difficult for students of sanctions to spot them when they are working .", "One can only hope that some hard words are being spoken far from our ears between the leaders of China , Russia , and Iran .", "That wish aside , I share much of your bracing skepticism about sanctions .", "If I were to express this skepticism crudely , I would say the problem with economic diplomacy is that it is carried out by diplomats not economists .", "They think of states as `` unitary actors , '' hence it makes perfect sense to them to disable a sewage plant in order to punish a dictator , because both are `` Iraq '' in their eyes .", "Because they do not understand how economies work , they fail to understand that sanctions can be both more damaging than one might expect -- disrupting the delicate mechanisms by which a society provisions itself -- and less effective -- because , as you say , economies adapt .", "To a diplomat , trade belongs to the `` low politics '' of profit not prestige .", "Economists , on the other hand , prize trade and are used to thinking about who gains and who loses from it .", "They understand that to let trade continue unimpeded is not to do nothing .", "International commerce can be subversive in its own way , nibbling at the cozy monopolies that sustain many powerful figures , imposing the discipline of the market on leaders accustomed to getting their own way .", "Montesquieu put it best : `` Peace is the natural effect of trade .", "Two nations who traffic with each other become reciprocally dependent ; for if one has an interest in buying , the other has an interest in selling : and thus their union is founded on their mutual necessities . ''", "Jake Colvin It would n't be a proper sanctions debate without a reference to sports sanctions .", "The rub with the multilateral approach , which my organization favors as well , is that it is hard work to get countries like Russia and China on board with a meaty sanctions program .", "Regrettably , successful multilateral diplomacy has not been a defining feature of the early twenty-first century .", "Here 's where U.S. policymakers step in and point out that it 's too difficult to get multilateral agreement .", "Instead , they suggest extending U.S. sanctions to cover foreign companies , often forgetting that even our friends occasionally object to being told what to do .", "Much like over-prescribing antibiotics , the results of some of the morally - or politically-satisfying sanctions policies are that they actually may cause some harm in the end .", "Let 's imagine for a moment though that we did succeed in having the world sanction Iran .", "To play devil 's advocate , adaptation and unintended consequences are hallmarks of even the most multilateral of sanctions programs .", "For example , South Africa developed coal gasification in response to sanctions .", "Iran might learn to adapt as well .", "Suggesting an oil embargo on a country awash in the stuff already has generated calls from within Iran to improve its domestic refining capacity .", "At the same time , sanctions could allow the regime to shift the blame for gas shortages and rationing to outside forces , whereas now the Iranian people have only their government to blame .", "While sanctions may be a satisfying way for some to fill that pesky gap between denunciation and action , let 's remember that the policy crowd who brought you the war with Iraq is advocating for sanctions against Tehran as well .", "If they fail , as they often do , it 's a lot easier to call for that air offensive .", "Like I said , that 's just me playing devil 's advocate .", "The truth is that the approach you and the Economist suggest is one worth pursuing as long as you can line up sufficiently broad support for sanctions .", "Throw in those juicy carrots you suggest , and you have a couple of key ingredients that may change the calculus for some elements of the regime in Tehran .", "As a result , you might actually change behavior .", "One element is still missing , however , and that is a robust dialogue that includes the United States .", "Historically , American leaders have talked with despicable or decrepit regimes , from apartheid South Africa to the Soviet Union .", "Ronald Reagan demonstrated that it is possible to stand on conviction and still sit down at the table with your adversary .", "Policymakers should make certain that their toolboxes include appropriate forms of engagement as well as the types of imaginative economic levers we have discussed over the past few days , instead of over-relying on the kind of `` blunt instruments '' that `` make for botched jobs and unbothered dictators , '' to quote your fine publication .", "Simon Cox It 's a pity Iran 's leadership does not share Kim Jong-Il 's taste for cognac and digital music .", "The truth is that sanctions do , in a sense , work .", "They may not achieve their stated aims ( at least not more than 19 percent of the time ! )", ", but for many politicians they do a satisfying job of filling the awkward gap between denunciation and action .", "I 'm tempted to say that commercial sanctions are the antibiotics of world statecraft , over-prescribed by lazy doctors , regardless of whether they fit the case at hand .", "I 'm sympathetic to the Kimberley process , by contrast , because it offers an economic prescription for what is , at bottom , an economic malady .", "Greed not grievance sustained the fighting in Angola and Sierra Leone .", "Therefore , stifling diamond profits also slowed the bloodletting .", "In other cases -- you mention Iran -- policymakers resort to economic tools to solve a political dilemma .", "But it 's very hard to know how a regime will weigh its political objectives against any economic penalties .", "A boycott of carpets and caviar , it is clear , will not persuade Iran 's regime to relinquish its nuclear ambitions .", "But would the loss of $ 10 billion of foreign investment make it think twice ?", "No one really knows : what is the exchange rate between prosperity and prestige ?", "The lead editorial in the Economist this week urges the outside world to find out .", "It calls for sharper sanctions against Iran if it perseveres with its nuclear ambitions , as well as juicier carrots if it quits .", "Peter David , a colleague , has written a special report on the country .", "The report offers little comfort to hawks or doves .", "It made me more worried about a nuclear-armed Iran , but also more doubtful of the wisdom , let alone the morality , of a pre-emptive attack .", "Given those alternatives , sanctions , for all their flaws , might be worth tightening .", "But what kind of sanctions ?", "It 's easy to assume that Iran is impervious to economic pressure from a world thirsty for oil .", "In fact , the country is surprisingly vulnerable .", "For one thing , it is better at pumping crude than refining it .", "The country is therefore oddly dependent on imports of gas for its cars , motorbikes and trucks .", "Ahmadinejad recently imposed rations on subsidized gas , which sells for as little as forty cents a gallon .", "This provoked an outcry -- it was a damaging deviation from the holy texts of economic populism .", "The Revolutionary Guards , from which Ahmadinejad springs , have lost some of their otherworldly purity and evolved into a commercial mafia .", "The guards have their sticky fingers in lots of big infrastructure projects , which might be hampered by more thorough sanctions .", "Iran also needs foreign investment and technology to exploit its gas reserves and shore up its oil production .", "Without this infusion of foreign cash and know-how , its existing oilfields will run dry ; its rigs and derricks will decay .", "By one estimate , it could be a net oil importer by 2010 .", "Should the world ban exports of gas to Iran ?", "Such an embargo would be hard to enforce , and if it were successful would wreak economic havoc with unpredictable consequences .", "But deterring foreign investment in Iran 's oil and gas industries would have a more subtle effect on the regime 's long-term calculations .", "Iran would have to choose between a future as a nuclear power and one as an energy power .", "If that is not a stark enough choice , the world could get really tough .", "According to one source , U.S. administration officials are even contemplating throwing Iran out of the next soccer World Cup !", "There are limitations built into even the most well-intentioned regimes .", "Efforts like the Kimberley Process are only as good as their enforcement .", "As groups like Global Witness have documented , getting governments , companies , and organizations to deliver on the promises they made has been a challenge .", "There is also the question of targeting the right people .", "President Bush 's recent `` Plan B '' sanctions on Sudan missed a number of top government officials responsible for the genocide in Darfur .", "And the Kimberley Process has been slow to include diamond traders and other handlers along the supply chain under its umbrella .", "None of this is to suggest that policymakers should not try to pursue the more intelligent of these projects where the will exists ; however , success will always be limited by incomplete participation and enforcement and incentives for unscrupulous or unaware buyers and sellers to deal in sanctioned goods .", "Back to your more general point , you 're right -- the more imaginative is often the most effective .", "The prospect of losing a steady supply of iPods and Hennessey to pass around likely factored into Kim Jong-Il 's decision to return to the negotiating table .", "Steven Spielberg 's recent missive to China 's President Hu asking him to use his country 's influence in Darfur , coupled with chatter of a boycott of the Beijing Olympics , led quickly to the appointment of an envoy to Sudan .", "If only there were more of this creative thinking when it comes to economic pressure .", "Unfortunately , the imaginative Sanctions 2.0 approach that you commend is often jettisoned in a chest-thumping rush to be toughest on the bad actor du jour .", "Ask a typical member of the U.S. Congress about sanctions as a foreign policy tool and you 're more likely to get an earful about being tougher on Iran than you are to hear about halting illegal exports of mahogany from the Amazon .", "Too many policymakers care not for a thoughtful approach .", "Rather , they believe , or at least propose , that just a bit more pressure , indiscriminately applied , will do the trick .", "To suggest that banning the export of Iranian pistachios and rugs to the United States might topple the regime in Tehran , as some in Congress would have it , borders on the absurd .", "While these policymakers may suffer from a lack of economic imagination , they are awfully creative when it comes to influencing the policy process .", "Agreed that policymakers could be more imaginative and intelligent in applying pressure .", "But given the penchant of many for blunt instruments , what can be done to differentiate and capitalize on this new generation of economic weapons ?", "How do you contend with the one-size-fits-all , often-counterproductive approach , favored by many in Washington , which is frequently at the heart of the `` sanctions-as-a-policy-option '' debate ?", "Simon Cox It 's customary in these debates to invoke Woodrow Wilson , so let me be the first to do so .", "He described embargoes and boycotts as a `` peaceful , silent , deadly remedy . ''", "It 's partly the silence that makes them so deadly .", "When a country bombs or invades its enemies , everyone pays attention .", "The costs and rewards of the venture are agonized over .", "But a big economy , such as America 's , can lay siege to a small one for years without its citizens paying too much attention to the embargo 's grim but unspectacular effects .", "This is partly because people suffer from a lack of economic imagination .", "They can readily picture the damage of a bomb blast , but struggle to think through the indirect and insidious ramifications of a boycott .", "The sanctions imposed on Iraq in the 1990s , for example , made it harder to repair power stations destroyed in the first Gulf war .", "That , in turn , hampered the country 's water-pumping and sewage systems .", "Untreated fecal matter contaminated the water supply , exposing people to the fatal dangers of diarrhea and other waterborne diseases .", "But what if policymakers were to use a bit of economic imagination ?", "What kind of arrows could they pull from their quiver , as you put it ?", "It strikes me that you first have to know your victim .", "Does the regime owe its power to popularity , fear , or greed ?", "If , like Saddam 's , it relies on fear , sanctions may only tighten its grip , as you rightly point out .", "Saddam Hussein was a tyrant who brutalized his own people .", "So how did anyone expect to hurt him by hurting them ?", "If , on the other hand , you face a popular regime , which sustains itself with broad taxes on a diversified economy , you have a different problem .", "To hurt such a government you would need a comprehensive cordon , and blanket sanctions inflict too much hardship on ordinary people .", "But if a regime depends on straightforward patronage , distributing spoils to its backers , then it may be vulnerable to economic weapons .", "Such regimes usually rely on revenues from a finite number of commodities , such as oil , diamonds , or timber .", "If you can block its access to these honeypots , you might be able to cow the government without harming too many of its subjects .", "That , of course , is the logic behind things like the Kimberley Process , which try to keep blood diamonds off international markets , and the Forest Stewardship Council 's attempts to do the same for illegal logging .", "I share your skepticism about the motives behind most sanctions , but what do you think of this new generation of economic weapons ?", "Jake Colvin It is understandable that sanctions are popular when it comes to making foreign policy .", "Sanctions satisfy a powerful instinct to `` do something '' against behavior that is offensive or contrary to our national interests .", "The trouble is that sanctions have a poor track record , they often hinder our ability to achieve foreign policy objectives , and their supposed successes are overstated .", "Sanctions rarely achieve their objectives , particularly when they are unilateral .", "The Peterson Institute for International Economics found that unilateral U.S. sanctions imposed from 1970-2000 were successful only 19 percent of the time .", "Dictators are especially good at making sure the burden of sanctions falls to their people while they continue to pursue their priorities .", "Sanctions can be counterproductive when it comes to achieving foreign policy objectives by providing a convenient excuse for the target government .", "Cuba and Iran are just two examples where sanctions have rallied support for nationalistic regimes , which survive in part by allowing them to blame problems -- largely of their own making -- on the United States .", "Additional difficulties crop up when sub-national entities like U.S. states take up foreign policy sanctions .", "As the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios said in April , `` to have each state or municipality conducting its own foreign policy could create chaotic conditions . ''", "Where proponents of sanctions cite success , the reality is often more complicated .", "Consider South Africa , where multilateral sanctions were only one part of a process that included sustained internal pressure and activism , diplomatic efforts , worldwide condemnation , and isolation from sporting events and global forums , which resulted in the collapse of an unsustainable system .", "When it comes to judging the success of sanctions , correlation is different than causation .", "True success may result from the threat of sanctions rather than their imposition .", "In 1993 , Guatemalan President Jorge Serrano El\u00edas dissolved the country 's Congress and Supreme Court and seized power in a coup .", "Faced with international pressure and a threat that U.S. trade preferences would be revoked , civil society and the business community ( backed by the military ) helped turn back the coup .", "Unfortunately , once sanctions are imposed and the target country adapts to them , it is difficult to regain leverage to influence behavior .", "Certain sanctions deserve to be arrows in the quiver of foreign policy , particularly when they are multilateral and targeted at specific behavior that realistically may be influenced .", "But while sanctions may have contributed to a few positive outcomes , they have failed spectacularly in a number of other cases and often do more harm than good .", "Policymakers ought to consider whether they are really doing good -- or simply feeling good -- by imposing them .", "* See U.S. Cuba policy for the past half-century .", "See More of the Most Recent", "See More of the Most Shared", "See More of the Most Viewed", "Receive your morning roundup of international news and analysis from sources around the globe .", "Kurlantzick offers the sharpest analysis yet of what state capitalism 's emergence means for democratic politics around the world .", "More In a cogent analysis of why the United States is losing ground as a world power , Blackwill and Harris explore the statecraft of geoeconomics .", "Takeyh and Simon reframe the legacy of U.S. involvement in the Arab world from 1945 to 1991 and shed new light on the makings of the contemporary Middle East .", "View Complete List India now matters to U.S. interests in virtually every dimension .", "This Independent Task Force report assesses the current situation in India and the U.S.-India relationship , and suggests a new model for partnership with a rising India .", "Rates of heart disease , cancer , diabetes , and other noncommunicable diseases ( NCDs ) in low - and middle-income countries are increasing faster than in wealthier countries .", "The report outlines a plan for collective action on this growing epidemic .", "This report asserts that elevating and prioritizing the U.S.-Canada-Mexico relationship offers the best opportunity for strengthening the United States and its place in the world .", "To ensure the success of Myanmar 's historic democratic transition , the United States should revise its outdated and counterproductive sanctions policy .", "Blackwill and Campbell analyze the rise of Chinese President Xi Jinping and call for a new American grand strategy for Asia .", "Williams argues that greater U.S. involvement is necessary to enhance the quality and success of peacekeeping missions .", "Complete list of Council Special Reports", "Learn more about CFR 's mission and its work over the past year in the 2015 Annual Report .", "The Annual Report spotlights new initiatives , high-profile events , and authoritative scholarship from CFR experts , and includes a message from CFR President Richard N. Haass.Read and download ''", "The biggest threat to America 's security and prosperity comes not from abroad but from within , writes CFR President Richard N. Haass in his provocative new book .", "More In this special collection , experts weigh in on how China has -- and has n't -- changed since those pivotal events at Tiananmen Square twenty-five years ago ."], "_citing_sentence": "They caused the living standards in the country to deteriorate, however this ultimately led to the right amount of pressure on the government for apartheid to be ended.", "_claim_name": "Sanctions have been an effective long term policy tool in the past.", "_doc_title": "Are Economic Sanctions Good Foreign Policy? - Council on Foreign Relations", "_labeled_lineIDs": [14, 15]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 129, "_topic_name": "This house believes sanctions should be used to promote democracy"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Connecting You with the United Nations", "What We Do :", "Achieving Universal Energy Access", "Working Toward a Sustainable Future", "Energy is central to nearly every major challenge , and opportunity the world faces today .", "Be it jobs , security , climate change , food production or increasing incomes , access to sustainable energy for all is essential for strengthening economies , protecting ecosystems and achieving equity .", "Worldwide , about 1.2 billion people have no access to electricity and the development benefits it brings , and 1 billion more have access only to unreliable electricity networks .", "Nearly 3 billion people rely on traditional biomass ( such as wood and charcoal ) for cooking and heating .", "This lack of modern energy services stifles income-generating activities and hampers the provision of basic services such as health care and education .", "In addition , smoke from polluting and inefficient cooking , lighting , and heating devices kills an estimated four million people a year and causes a range of chronic illnesses and other negative health impacts .", "These emissions are also important drivers of climate change and local environmental degradation .", "UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is a strong advocate for universal access to modern energy services .", "As he has said :", "Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth , social equity , and environmental sustainability .", "I know this from my own experience .", "When I was a boy in post-war Korea , I studied at night by a dim and smoky oil lamp .", "Only when I prepared for examinations was I allowed to use a candle .", "Candles were considered too expensive to use for ordinary homework .", "This memory has stayed with me .", "My country changed , and my prospects changed , with the advent of affordable modern energy in Korea .", "But too many others have not been so lucky .", "Widespread energy poverty condemns billions to darkness , to ill health , to missed opportunities .", "Energy poverty is a threat to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals .", "It is inequitable and unsustainable .", "Children can not study in the dark .", "Girls and women can not learn or be productive when they spend hours a day collecting firewood .", "Businesses and economies can not grow without power .", "We must find a way to end energy poverty .", "Sustainable Energy for All", "Sustainable Energy for All , the initiative launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and co-led by World Bank President Jim Kim , has as one of its three goals for 2030 ensuring universal access to modern energy services .", "The UN General Assembly has recognized the importance of this objective on several occasions -- designating 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All and then declaring 2014-2024 the Decade of Sustainable Energy for All .", "Sustainable energy has also been a widely accepted pillar of the post-2015 development agenda as the General Assembly prepares a new set of global goals .", "In support of Sustainable Energy for All , the UN Foundation launched a global Energy Access Practitioner Network comprising 2,000 members in 170 countries .", "The Network focuses on the removal of market barriers to the effective delivery of energy services by promoting the adoption of new technologies and innovative financial and business models , as well as the identification and dissemination of best practices and advocacy for universal energy access .", "Also in support of Sustainable Energy for All , the UN Foundation is collaborating with the World Health Organization and UN Women , together with other private sector and non-profit partners , to expand access to modern , sustainable energy services in health facilities , particularly clinics in rural areas that are not served by the electricity grid .", "Reliable electricity is essential to powering emergency medical equipment , storing blood and vaccines , and performing basic health procedures , especially after dark .", "Without it , pregnant women must deliver their babies in the dark or are unable to undergo an emergency cesarean section at night .", "Children do not have access to life-saving vaccines or critical emergency care .", "Women do not have full access to vital pre - and post-natal maternal health care services .", "Yet many health clinics in developing countries lack any access to electricity or have it only intermittently .", "The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves , an initiative hosted by the UN Foundation in support of Sustainable Energy for All , is a public-private partnership that seeks to save lives , improve livelihoods , empower women , and protect the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions .", "The Alliance has a goal of enabling an additional 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020 .", "In its first four years , the Alliance has helped spur the adoption of clean cooking solutions in more than 20 million homes , putting it on pace to reach its 2020 goal .", "In November , the Alliance hosted its inaugural Cookstoves Future Summit to raise awareness of clean cooking solutions , kick off Phase II of its Strategic Roadmap , and mobilize funding to achieve its 2020 goals , The Summit raised commitments of $ 413 million over three years to further mobilize the clean cooking sector and advance the widespread adoption of clean cooking solutions .", "Government commitments totaled $ 286 million , and the private sector pledged to mobilize an additional $ 127 million .", "In addition , more than $ 250 million in commitments were announced by implementing countries .", "These Alliance partner nations -- whose citizens currently rely on unclean and inefficient traditional cookstoves or open fires -- outlined plans for programs aimed at increasing access to clean , efficient cookstoves and fuels .", "`` When the Alliance launched four years ago , it had the support of 19 founding partners , '' Executive Director Radha Muthiah said at the Summit , which was co-hosted by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton , honorary chair of the Alliance 's Leadership Council .", "`` Today that number has swelled to more than 1,000 partners , and the group of commitment makers around the table has similarly expanded .", "The global community has taken a clear stand in support of the clean cooking sector , and implementing countries have likewise made clear their steadfast determination to tackle the issue of household air pollution in a way that yields tangible results . ''", "Partners announce collaboration to bolster dialogue , increase and enhance reporting about the next set of global development goals", "UN Foundation , Kenneth Cole announce Global Daily Partnership", "UN Foundation Welcomes Addis Ababa Action Agenda as Vital Step to End Extreme Poverty and Protect the Planet", "Join us and help the United Nations solve global problems !", "Donate Now > Impact", "Time to tackle one of the world 's deadliest killers : Cookstove smoke", "Access to clean and affordable modern energy is critical to fostering lasting social and economic development and to achieving the Millennium ..."], "_citing_sentence": "The United Nations Foundation placed access to energy as a high priority for developing countries, it enables access to key services and enables more income-generating activities.", "_claim_name": "The dam is predicted to provide energy for all of Ethiopia", "_doc_title": "United Nations Foundation - Achieving Universal Energy Access", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 5, 8, 39]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By Tesfa-Alem Tekle", "March 30 , 2013 ( ADDIS ABABA ) - The Ethiopian Petroleum Supplier Enterprise ( EPSE ) said on Saturday that the nation has imported over 1 million metric tonnes of petroleum from neighbouring Sudan via the port of Djibouti .", "Officials said the stated fuel amount was imported at a cost $ 1.12 billion over the past six months .", "A similar amount of petroleum is expected to be imported over the next six months to meet the growing demand for energy in one of Africa 's emerging and fastest growing economies .", "The fuel imported during first half of the Ethiopian fiscal year was a rise of 21 % in comparison to the same period last year .", "According to EPSE 's spokesperson , Alemayehu Tsegaye , the imported 1,091,823 metric tonnes of fuel surpasses the initial planned target of 1,093 , 073 metric tonnes .", "Ethiopia imports up to 85 % of its annual oil consumption from neighbouring Sudan , largely due to its geographic proximity .", "The Horn of Africa nation saves at least $ 10 million in transit related costs per year by using Sudanese oil sources rather than importing from markets further afield , such as the Middle East .", "During the stated period of the budget year , Ethiopia has also imported over 125,000 metric tonnes of coal and spent over $ 20 million on maintaining sustainable energy supplies for manufacturing and industry .", "Over 50 % of Ethiopia 's imports are to meet the nation 's fuel demand .", "As Ethiopia and Sudan link their power grids , the two East African countries are planning to offset the revenues earned from Ethiopia 's sale of hydropower processed electricity to Sudan with the equivalent expenditure on Sudanese fuel .", "Under Ethiopia 's five-year Growth and Transformation Plan ( GTP ) launched two-and-a-half years ago , the government is spending billions of US dollars on the construction of several power plants , including the Ethiopian Great Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River , which will be Africa 's largest once complete .", "Ethiopia 's electricity generation capacity is set to increase to 10,000 MW by 2015 up from the current level of about 3,000 MW once the power projects are complete , making the country a regional power hub .", "Ethiopia hopes that power exports can provide a crucial bridge to its plans to develop the country 's economy .", "Never ever think this oil that Mondokoro is exporting to Ethiopia is stolen oil from the south never , Mondokoro are known to be honest , generous and never broke into their president office and stole $ 6 million as your SPLA/M shamefully did !!", "repondre message I told you before that Ethiopia imports around 80 % of its oil from Sudan with very cheap price in compare to international oil price ( please do n't say because it 's stolen oil ) !", "The stoppage of the south oil did n't just affect Sudan but Ethiopia as well because Ethiopia gets cheap oil from Sudan in addition to their economy that becomes so associated to Sudan economy repondre message and gets affected positively or negatively by Sudan economy momentum and you can see Ethiopians at every corner in Khartoum and everywhere in Sudan and when the Sudanese pound was strong against dollar before SPLA/M thieves halt the oil production , the minimum income for any Ethiopian labor in Sudan was around $ 300 per month and there was no restriction before in repondre message transferring dollars outside Sudan when the central bank had surplus of foreign currency and those Ethiopian labors were supporting their Ethiopian economy when transfer hard currency and feed their economy !", "Remember former Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawy worked so hard with AU to convince Mr. Kiir to resume their oil production through Sudan and remember when repondre message", "Why are you suspicious ?", "You have not been asked as to where you got the oil but then you decided to pre-empt the question and answer by yourself .", "It is obvious that the oil is that of South Sudan .", "Mr. Kiir returned from Ethiopia after the first round of negotiation with Bashir and he accused the African mediation committee led by Mr. Mbeky and Meles of pushing on the south to accept the deal !!", "that 's because Ethiopian economy will also be affected by thieves decision of halting the oil production !!", "repondre message It 's not secret that Ethiopia was n't happy with South Sudan separation despite never said it publicly like neighboring Chad mentioned it publicly when president Idris Deby openly opposed the south separation from Sudan because all these countries have their similar situation at their home and that will encourage the minority in their country to ask the same thing repondre message especially Ethiopia because Ethiopia is known to be the country of ethnicity and many regions in Ethiopia that based on ethnicity will ask the same thing as we all know about the Ogden problem and many other ethnic groups demand such as Oromo in Ethiopia plus one Sudan for sure will pour into their benefit and interest from economy and stability point of view !", "You can make your comparison and make your own judgement if any one of Sudan neighboring is benefiting from the south separation but the opposite is correct I believe and Ethiopia is n't getting anything good from the south other than creating instability security problem at their border with Jonglei state and many other problems repondre message", "Except for Uganda & Kenya all Sudan neighboring countries including Congo & Republican Central Africa were opposing the south separation for the reason that I mentioned above , and for Uganda & Kenya which supported the separation hoping to get benefit from that separation and enrich their economies with south oil money and others , repondre message", "Unfortunately their dream evaporated in the air so quickly and they got to know the hard truth so late that South Sudan economy is so associated with Sudan economy exactly like the child who ca n't stay away from his mother milk for so long otherwise will die and that 's exactly what happened to South Sudan !", "repondre message I strongly urge Mondokoro in the north to steal south oil when it passes through their land , do n't worry or feel any bad ethical feeling because that theft will be well justified for many reasons , first the thieves in the south will steal it anyway and will never reach to the poor people in the south who suppose to benefit it , repondre message", "Second , there is no hope for any positive development in the south and better life for southerners as long as thieves are ruling and fully controlling the south and north Sudan is expected to make a giant development and flourishing economy as most of Sudan infrastructure projects are about to finish and peace has become very close in B.N. & S.K. and Darfour , therefore repondre message", "Jonobean will migrate in huge number to north benefiting from 4 freedoms agreement seeking for a better opportunities and life , Mondokoro should use that stolen oil money to benefit southerners in the north , and remember good and strong economy in the north will directly strengthen the economy in the south and the opposite is correct no single doubt about it !", "Remember , the south had started the war since 1955 and destroyed Sudan economy so badly and now it 's time to fix and pay back regarding all the damages and devastation that the south created by initiating that ugly war !", "Also the recent invasion to Heglig and SPLA thieves destroyed the oil facilities over there in a crazy way and that facility is considered to be the repondre message main station for processing the oil from Unity state in the south and now SPLA/M thieves want to use it to allow their oil to head north , see how those people are visionless !", "Absolutely , stealing oil south by Mondokoro is well justified no single doubt about it , just go nut Mondokoro !!", "Ethiopian have been backing us during the war but economic can force you to sell your brother just for one pound .", "how can they involve themselves in the stealing of our oil from Republic of South Sudan and pretend it to be from Sudan.Sudan have been surviving from resources of RS S otherwise they would have fade off sincerely.i have realize now from this text the cause of delay of all agreemen repondre message", "The Ethiopians are fed up with cleoptocrats called the SPLM/SPLA .", "The South has been stabed right at the back .", "There is nothing Ethiopian can do other than survive economically .", "Provision of services to the Ethiopians is priority number one for the FDRE .", "Jalaby , are you mental on medication?If your drugs run out please see your GP , if you have one , ASAP.Your comments are complete trash.Ethiopians donot have any fear of separation as you wish , our threat is the current TIGRE led gov.Before you open your stinky mouth and throw nasty words on us out of the blue think twice.The oil thats said to have been imported to Eth is fake and fabricated by the TPL repondre message", "TPLF ( Tigray People Libration Front ) is preoccupied with scrambling our country day to day in association with Sudanes .", "TPLF is a group of enemies of Ethiopia .", "Telling lies and announcing unfounded growth by TPLF since 1991 is not strange to Ethiopians.we 've got used to it.Anyways it wont be too long to celebrate their demise & revenge to the neighbouring countries incomplicit with TPLF to harm Eth repondre message", "Guys ( from both S and Sudan ) :", "You know the man from Ethiopia with the name Fethyelem is a lost soul from the former defunct , defeated dictatorial regime .", "He comes here lonely and leaves toxic words against the current progressive and neibghours-friendly government : The EPRDF .", "He was just a soldier in that gone for ever regime .", "He writes down completely unrelated , hatred-infested words .", "His target repondre message is the TPLF/EPRDF that beat him in the actual battle field and chased away the clumsy Derg regime.Fetehyelem lives abroad lamenting his defeat and loss of power.So do not give him a shit as he himself is a tard , a mass of shit .", "At times , he attempts to disseminate a seed of discord between people of the three countries.Ahyaw Fetehyelem , the old , dying dogs like u keep barking , but the caravan marches repondre message"], "_citing_sentence": "Over 50% of the country's imports are orientated towards meeting its fuel demands.", "_claim_name": "Economic benefits of the dam for Ethiopia", "_doc_title": "Ethiopia imports $1 billion in fuel from Sudan via Djibouti - Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan", "_labeled_lineIDs": [9]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 130, "_topic_name": "This House believes Ethiopia is right to build a dam on the River Nile"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["The leader of Uganda 's Lord 's Resistance Army rebels , Joseph Kony , surrounded by his officers in Nabanga , Sudan , August 1 , 2006 .", "As more than 50 million viewers on YouTube of the Kony 2012 viral video now know , Joseph Kony , founder and leader of the Lord 's Resistance Army , is a wanted man with the blood of many people on his hands .", "We 've spent years investigating the horrors perpetrated by the LRA in central Africa -- Uganda , Democratic Republic of Congo , Central African Republic ( CAR ) , and South Sudan .", "We gathered evidence at massacre sites -- wooden clubs covered in dried blood , rubber strips from bicycle tires used to tie up the victims , and freshly dug graves -- and spoke to hundreds of boys and girls forced to fight for his army or held captive as sex slaves .", "And we 're elated that #stopKony is a trending topic on Twitter -- if anyone deserves global notoriety it 's Kony .", "The Lord 's Resistance Army began fighting the government of Uganda in the mid-1980s partly as a response to the government 's marginalization of the people of the country 's north .", "It swiftly degenerated into one of the most brutal and merciless of armed groups , able to replenish its ranks only by abducting , terrorizing and brainwashing children to fight .", "Its forces , currently thought to number 150-300 fighters plus hundreds of captive civilians , left Uganda in 2005 and now operate in remote areas of Congo , South Sudan and the CAR , leaving a trail of death and destruction among all those in its path .", "The group struck again in recent weeks , with attacks on villages in northern Congo .", "Residents of this region have already endured innumerable atrocities at the hands of the LRA , including massacres that took the lives of 865 civilians in late 2008 and early 2009 .", "In our report , `` The Christmas Massacres , '' we documented these killings as well as the abductions of more than 160 children .", "I remember clearly the story of a 72-year-old grandfather who had survived by hiding in the bushes and watched as the LRA slaughtered his family and fellow villagers .", "`` The LRA were quick at killing , '' he said to me only a few weeks after the attack .", "`` It did not take them very long and they said nothing while they were doing it .", "They killed all 26 .", "I was horrified .", "I knew all these people .", "They were my family , my friends , my neighbors .", "When they finished I slipped away and went to my home , where I sat trembling all over . ''", "After the attack , on his own , he began the painful task of burying the dead .", "He remains haunted by the experience .", "As we documented the LRA 's bloody trail , we found survivors desperate to tell their stories and afraid that the world would forget them .", "Many of the killings we documented in Congo and CAR received little international attention -- so the Kony2012 video has already achieved something by spreading word of Kony 's infamy .", "But the question is whether all this public attention , welcome as it is , will help lead to Kony 's arrest .", "And more important , whether it can jumpstart international action to stop the LRA 's abuses and protect civilians living in vulnerable areas .", "Human Rights Watch has long urged a concerted international response to assist regional efforts to arrest Kony and other LRA leaders , who since 2005 have been subject to arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court .", "Any such action requires stepped-up protection for civilians in the regions where the LRA operates to prevent the inevitable retaliatory attacks .", "There is also a dire need to rescue children and adults captured by the LRA -- including many who are forced to fight -- and to help those who manage to escape .", "In 2010 , the US Congress passed a law that called on President Barack Obama to develop a comprehensive strategy to protect civilians and to work with the governments in central Africa to bring the LRA leaders to justice .", "The law offered hope to many in the region who had long felt forgotten .", "US help has mostly come as logistical and intelligence support to the Ugandan armed forces , which has been pursuing Kony outside of Uganda for the past four years ( though it has a long history of abuse ) .", "In October 2011 the US announced it would send 100 US Special Forces personnel as military advisers to the Ugandan army and other armed forces in the region to assist in apprehending the LRA 's leaders .", "The US is also supporting efforts to transform the operation into an African Union-backed regional effort .", "So far this has n't yet resulted in Kony 's capture .", "Other countries -- such as France and the UK -- could also be doing more .", "The LRA operates in extremely remote areas and is hard to track .", "Its three most senior leaders -- Kony , Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen -- previously communicated by satellite phone and two-way radios but no longer do so , military experts and former LRA members say , for fear their locations will be monitored .", "Instead they send messages via runners , or through occasional face-to-face meetings in isolated locations .", "The three senior leaders are now thought to operate in the CAR , with smaller groups carrying out attacks in South Sudan and northern Congo .", "The governments in the region have not shown the capability or resolve to protect their populations from LRA abuses .", "UN peacekeepers are too few in numbers and have inadequate capacity to safeguard civilians much beyond the perimeters of their bases .", "The UN should be redeploying peacekeepers to the areas where communities are most vulnerable .", "Countries willing to help should provide intelligence support to help track the LRA 's leaders and deploy more helicopters over these areas , including to drop leaflets telling unwilling LRA fighters how and where to safely demobilize ( Uganda 's treatment of defectors has been uneven and problematic ) .", "And they should set up programs to help them overcome the horrors of their LRA experience and to build a future life .", "Civilians in remote areas need an early-warning system to relay word of LRA attacks to get a rapid intervention from UN peacekeepers .", "Invisible Children , the group behind the Kony2012 video , helped to set up a radio system in northern Congo , but a cell phone tower network would be even more effective .", "The US government has committed to building such towers but implementation has been extremely slow .", "Late last year , several local groups wrote to the presidents of Congo , CAR , South Sudan and the United States asking for more help .", "`` Civilians in this remote region have no protection from LRA attacks , and often no means of communicating with others to call for help , '' they wrote .", "`` We can only truly rejoice when the LRA threat is over and when we hear that Joseph Kony is no longer terrorizing our region .", "We have suffered too much and we are tired of living in total insecurity -- afraid to go to our fields to farm and unsure when or where the rebels may surface again .", "We do n't know whether our children who were abducted by the LRA will ever come back home . ''", "A woman whose 13-year-old daughter had been abducted by the LRA in September 2008 told me : `` I cry every day for her .", "You ca n't imagine what it 's like to have your daughter taken from you .", "It makes me ill when I think about what they -LSB- the LRA -RSB- could be doing to her in the bush .", "I do n't know if I 'll ever see her again , or even if she 's still alive . ''", "Arresting Kony and other senior LRA leaders would reaffirm that those who commit mass atrocities will face justice .", "It will also help end the scourge of one of the most brutal rebel groups in Africa .", "Anneke Van Woudenberg is a senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch ."], "_citing_sentence": "One of the suggested solutions to the failure to capture Joseph Kony and leaders of the LRA is to have greater involvement of peacekeepers; an ICC force would provide the same kind of help.", "_claim_name": "An ICC Enforcement arm would bring in a higher proportion of defendants in to trial", "_doc_title": "How to Catch Joseph Kony | Human Rights Watch", "_labeled_lineIDs": [25]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 131, "_topic_name": "This House believes the ICC should have its own enforcement arm"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Republican presidents have long led the crucial fight to protect the United States against nuclear dangers .", "That is why Presidents Richard Nixon , Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush negotiated the SALT I , START I and START II agreements .", "It is why President George W. Bush negotiated the Moscow Treaty .", "All four recognized that reducing the number of nuclear arms in an open , verifiable manner would reduce the risk of nuclear catastrophe and increase the stability of America 's relationship with the Soviet Union and , later , the Russian Federation .", "The world is safer today because of the decades-long effort to reduce its supply of nuclear weapons .", "As a result , we urge the Senate to ratify the New START treaty signed by President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev .", "It is a modest and appropriate continuation of the START I treaty that expired almost a year ago .", "It reduces the number of nuclear weapons that each side deploys while enabling the United States to maintain a strong nuclear deterrent and preserving the flexibility to deploy those forces as we see fit .", "Along with our obligation to protect the homeland , the United States has responsibilities to allies around the world .", "The commander of our nuclear forces has testified that the 1,550 warheads allowed under this treaty are sufficient for all our missions - and seven former nuclear commanders agree .", "The defense secretary , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the head of the Missile Defense Agency - all originally appointed by a Republican president - argue that New START is essential for our national defense .", "We do not make a recommendation about the exact timing of a Senate ratification vote .", "That is a matter for the administration and Senate leaders .", "The most important thing is to have bipartisan support for the treaty , as previous nuclear arms treaties did .", "Although each of us had initial questions about New START , administration officials have provided reasonable answers .", "We believe there are compelling reasons Republicans should support ratification .", "First , the agreement emphasizes verification , providing a valuable window into Russia 's nuclear arsenal .", "Since the original START expired last December , Russia has not been required to provide notifications about changes in its strategic nuclear arsenal , and the United States has been unable to conduct on-site inspections .", "Each day , America 's understanding of Russia 's arsenal has been degraded , and resources have been diverted from national security tasks to try to fill the gaps .", "Our military planners increasingly lack the best possible insight into Russia 's activity with its strategic nuclear arsenal , making it more difficult to carry out their nuclear deterrent mission .", "Second , New START preserves our ability to deploy effective missile defenses .", "The testimonies of our military commanders and civilian leaders make clear that the treaty does not limit U.S. missile defense plans .", "Although the treaty prohibits the conversion of existing launchers for intercontinental and submarine-based ballistic missiles , our military leaders say they do not want to do that because it is more expensive and less effective than building new ones for defense purposes .", "Finally , the Obama administration has agreed to provide for modernization of the infrastructure essential to maintaining our nuclear arsenal .", "Funding these efforts has become part of the negotiations in the ratification process .", "The administration has put forth a 10-year plan to spend $ 84 billion on the Energy Department 's nuclear weapons complex .", "Much of the credit for getting the administration to add $ 14 billion to the originally proposed $ 70 billion for modernization goes to Sen. Jon Kyl , the Arizona Republican who has been vigilant in this effort .", "Implementing this modernization program in a timely fashion would be important in ensuring that our nuclear arsenal is maintained appropriately over the next decade and beyond .", "Although the United States needs a strong and reliable nuclear force , the chief nuclear danger today comes not from Russia but from rogue states such as Iran and North Korea and the potential for nuclear material to fall into the hands of terrorists .", "Given those pressing dangers , some question why an arms control treaty with Russia matters .", "It matters because it is in both parties ' interest that there be transparency and stability in their strategic nuclear relationship .", "It also matters because Russia 's cooperation will be needed if we are to make progress in rolling back the Iranian and North Korean programs .", "Russian help will be needed to continue our work to secure `` loose nukes '' in Russia and elsewhere .", "And Russian assistance is needed to improve the situation in Afghanistan , a breeding ground for international terrorism .", "Obviously , the United States does not sign arms control agreements just to make friends .", "Any treaty must be considered on its merits .", "But we have here an agreement that is clearly in our national interest , and we should consider the ramifications of not ratifying it .", "Whenever New START is brought up for debate , we encourage all senators to focus on national security .", "There are plenty of opportunities to battle on domestic political issues linked to the future of the American economy .", "With our country facing the dual threats of unemployment and a growing federal debt bomb , we anticipate significant conflict between Democrats and Republicans .", "It is , however , in the national interest to ratify New START .", "The writers were secretaries of state for the past five Republican presidents ."], "_citing_sentence": "But the New START agreement is clearly in the US' national interest, and the ramifications of not ratifying it could be significantly negative.", "_claim_name": "The New START treaty will help against Iran's nuclear program.", "_doc_title": "Henry A. Kissinger, George P. Shultz, James A. Baker III, Lawrence S. Eagleburger and Colin L. Powell - The Republican case for ratifying New START", "_labeled_lineIDs": [36]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["INFORM \u2022 INSPIRE \u2022 ENTERTAIN \u2022 EMPOWER I was reviewing my academic bio recently , and discovered that the very first article I ever published was called `` Security , Sin , and Nuclear Weapons . ''", "The year was 1987 .", "Twenty-three years later , despite the collapse of the Soviet Union , security , sin and nuclear weapons remain concerns that are as relevant as ever .", "The issue on the table is a nuclear arms reduction and verification treaty between the United States and Russia .", "The treaty , called New START , would reduce Russian and American deployed nuclear weapons to 1,550 and delivery vehicles to 700 each .", "This would be a 33 percent reduction in the existing arsenals , which is worth achieving and celebrating even as we know that countless cities and millions of precious human beings could be destroyed by the use of even part of the remaining arsenals .", "Still , these reductions would be a great step on the way to a safer world , as would the re-establishment of bilateral , intrusive verification measures for both sides , also part of the treaty .", "This treaty has been signed , sealed and delivered by Russia and the U.S. and now sits on the floor of the United States Senate , which must muster 67 votes to approve it .", "The treaty has been the subject of more than 209 committee hearings , and was recommended for approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a bipartisan 14-4 vote in September .", "It is supported by , well , just about everyone who matters in the foreign policy establishment .", "It has unanimous support from the current uniformed military leadership , and bipartisan support from former lawmakers and top security officials from the last seven presidential administrations , including old hawks like Henry Kissinger and George Shultz and Sam Nunn .", "So what 's the problem ?", "The treaty is being held up by a small number of Republican senators , led by Jon Kyl ( R-AZ ) , who purport to be concerned that it does not adequately provide for the modernization of our nuclear weapons complex .", "Others express concern that the treaty will curtail our missile defense options or that its verification procedures are inadequate .", "President Obama has offered tens of billions in spending increases for these ( disastrous , evil , unusable ) weapons to meet the objections offered on that score , but so far there is no budging .", "It is hard not to conclude that the primary motivation for opposing the treaty is to hurt the president or oppose the Administration 's foreign policy in general .", "Nuclear weapons present one of the gravest threats to the human future that has ever existed .", "Here is the combination of human creativity and human fear incarnate .", "We build these weapons to secure our future but also know , as if in a nightmare we try our hardest to forget , that one miscalculation or one acquisition of nuclear weapons by a committed terrorist could unleash annihilation on millions .", "It is hard to think of a more profound symbol of human sinfulness .", "Nuclear treaties like New START represent an agonizingly slow human crawl-back from the ledge of our own destruction .", "In the tiniest baby steps we learn to live over time with somewhat fewer of these devices , which if ever used will destroy us and our children .", "We have come a long way from the hottest days of the coldest war , when the U.S. and the Soviet Union each aimed 25,000 weapons at each other and scanned the skies and computer screens for possible preemptive strikes , red buttons at the ready .", "That was absurd , and where we are is still absurd , but this treaty would at least move us one step down the absurdity ladder .", "As a Christian , I believe in a God of life and peace .", "I believe in a God who nudges us but does not compel us toward choices that are in our own best interests .", "I also believe that human beings have the capacity and certainly the responsibility to make wise choices when it comes to matters as grave as nuclear weapons .", "I do not believe in a God who overrides our choices .", "If we want to step back from the brink of self-destruction , God will help us do so , but if we choose the other path , God will start over with the amoeba .", "Which shall it be for us ?", "For the sake of God and humanity and the human future , the Senate must ratify this treaty ."], "_citing_sentence": "Still, these reductions would be a great step on the way to a safer world, as would the re-establishment of bilateral, intrusive verification measures for both sides, also part of the treaty.\"", "_claim_name": "The New START treaty will make for a safer world.", "_doc_title": "Security, Sin and Nuclear Weapons: A Christian Plea for the New START Treaty", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Try two trial issues of The Atlantic with our compliments .", "For us to continue writing great stories , we need to display ads .", "Please select the extension that is blocking ads .", "Please follow the steps below", "On the surface , the New START treaty does n't have much to do with the work of Jewish advocacy groups .", "But ever since Iran became part of the pro-ratification rhetoric , Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League ( ADL ) and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs ( JINSA ) have weighed in , as Iran has become inextricably tied to Israel 's security .", "On Nov. 19 , the ADL released a statement calling on Congress to ratify the treaty .", "The statement , which came from Robert G. Sugarman , ADL National Chair , and Abraham H. Foxman , ADL National Director , echoed the words of the Obama administration :", "On Monday , JINSA blasted its policy letter through email , siding against the treaty .", "`` This treaty would restrain the development and deployment of new nuclear weapons , missile defense systems , and missile delivery systems , '' wrote David Ganz , the president of JINSA , and Tom Neumann , the executive director .", "`` Many in our community have been pressured to join this public effort .", "We will not join this effort . ''", "While the White House has reportedly urged Jewish groups to speak out in favor of New START , JINSA rejected the Iran argument in its letter :", "Today , the State Department responded to one of JINSA 's central complaints , that the treaty would hamper American nuclear weapons development .", "This morning , all 42 Senate Republicans signed a letter agreeing to block all legislation not related to the Bush tax cuts , or government spending .", "But the block does n't include the New START treaty : The debate rules to ratify a treaty are different than those to pass legislation .", "`` The START treaty will be done by Christmas , '' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said .", "A short film about a team of scientists and their mission to build a powerful telescope to explore exoplanets .", "Fulfilling what might be the Russian autocrat 's dearest wish , Trump has openly questioned whether the U.S. should keep its commitments to NATO .", "The Republican nominee for president , Donald J. Trump , has chosen this week to unmask himself as a de facto agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin , a KGB-trained dictator who seeks to rebuild the Soviet empire by undermining the free nations of Europe , marginalizing NATO , and ending America 's reign as the world 's sole superpower .", "I am not suggesting that Donald Trump is employed by Putin -- though his campaign manager , Paul Manafort , was for many years on the payroll of the Putin-backed former president of Ukraine , Viktor Yanukovych .", "I am arguing that Trump 's understanding of America 's role in the world aligns with Russia 's geostrategic interests ; that his critique of American democracy is in accord with the Kremlin 's critique of American democracy ; and that he shares numerous ideological and dispositional proclivities with Putin -- for one thing , an obsession with the sort of `` strength '' often associated with dictators .", "Trump is making it clear that , as president , he would allow Russia to advance its hegemonic interests across Europe and the Middle East .", "His election would immediately trigger a wave of global instability -- much worse than anything we are seeing today -- because America 's allies understand that Trump would likely dismantle the post-World War II U.S.-created international order .", "Many of these countries , feeling abandoned , would likely pursue nuclear weapons programs on their own , leading to a nightmare of proliferation .", "In a week full of political propaganda , here 's messaging done delightfully .", "In a segment for James Corden 's `` Carpool Karaoke '' series that aired last night , Michelle Obama told the late-night host that this was one of the only times she 's been near the steering wheel of an automobile since arriving at the White House : `` I 've been in a car maybe months ago with my daughter who learned to drive , and we rocked out with her .", "But that was the only time in seven and a half years that I 've been in the passenger seat , listening to music , rocking out like this . ''", "It 's one little anecdote that does so much : remind of how long we 've all lived with this first family , of the isolating conditions they exist in , and also of their relatability as parents , as teenagers , and as people who love belting Beyonc\u00e9 on their commute .", "The exchange also provides a near metaphor for what Michelle Obama has done with this instantly viral Late Late Show segment .", "She 's technically in the passenger seat , but really , she 's driving the car .", "Why did n't the most talented , most influential Republican politicians -- men like Chris Christie , Tom Cotton , and Paul Ryan -- do more to stop Donald Trump ?", "The neediness of politicians has always fascinated me ; the pathological desire for relevance ; the plasticity of belief in the service of self-aggrandizement ; the depths plumbed in order to stave off insignificance , which can be as frightening as non-existence itself .", "One of my favorite politicians , Chris Christie , the governor of New Jersey , is almost morbidly needy .", "His desire for attention made him into a brilliant retailer , mainly of himself , but also of his ideas , and intermittently , of his state .", "His neediness made him greatly entertaining .", "But it also caused him to betray his own principles .", "I recognize that it took millions of Republican primary voters to bring America to this frightening moment , a moment in which a preposterous grifter of authoritarian bent whose mental health is the subject of pervasive and anxious speculation , has become a major-party nominee for president .", "But it was men like Christie who were indispensable in the creation of this moment .", "Donald J. Trump could have been stopped .", "I believe he could have been stopped early , by a concerted effort to unify the party behind a single , viable , non-fraudulent candidate ; and he could have been stopped late , if Republicans like Christie had not crumpled before Trump .", "A handful of honorable men did , in fact , try to stop him .", "But they were too few in number , and too marginal to make a difference .", "Collectively , the most influential and smartest Republican elected officials -- people who fall into the general category of Them That Knew Better -- just might have been able to devise a way to prevent what is happening from happening .", "But abdication of responsibility and self-debasement in the pursuit of power were the order of the day .", "Taking his biographer 's claim seriously", "This week , the co-author of Donald Trump 's autobiography said in The New Yorker that if he were writing The Art of the Deal today , it would be a very different book with a very different title : The Sociopath .", "To title a person 's life story with that label is a serious accusation , and one worth considering .", "The stakes are high .", "Tony Schwartz , the writer of the best-selling book , said that he `` genuinely believe -LSB- s -RSB- that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes , there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization . ''", "In that light , Schwartz said he feels `` deep remorse '' at having `` put lipstick on a pig . ''", "That seemed to me to be something of a contradiction to the charge of sociopathy , as pigs have been found to show signs of empathy .", "If you call a pig by name , it will come and play with you , reciprocating affection like a dog .", "So which is it , pig or sociopath ?", "Biology textbooks tell us that lichens are alliances between two organisms -- a fungus and an alga .", "They are wrong .", "In 1995 , if you had told Toby Spribille that he 'd eventually overthrow a scientific idea that 's been the stuff of textbooks for 150 years , he would have laughed at you .", "Back then , his life seemed constrained to a very different path .", "He was raised in a Montana trailer park , and home-schooled by what he now describes as a `` fundamentalist cult . ''", "At a young age , he fell in love with science , but had no way of feeding that love .", "He longed to break away from his roots and get a proper education .", "At 19 , he got a job at a local forestry service .", "Within a few years , he had earned enough to leave home .", "His meager savings and non-existent grades meant that no American university would take him , so Spribille looked to Europe .", "The Republican nominee 's comments to The New York Times are likely to be received very differently by his base than by Washington 's elites .", "Imagine that President Obama summoned the New York Times to the Oval Office and demeaned the United States , declared his support for an authoritarian leader , threatened to expose U.S. allies to Russian control , and offered a one-word solution to a globe afire : `` Meetings . ''", "Donald Trump 's head would explode .", "Obama hates America !", "He 's leading from behind !", "And yet these are the positions the Republican presidential candidate presented in an extraordinary interview on the eve of accepting his party 's presidential nomination .", "Setting aside his hypocrisy and reckless rhetoric , the interview offers a chance to understand Trump .", "These comments are consistent with his populism -- they appeal to his base and , more importantly , could find appeal beyond his nominating coalition .", "On the final night in Cleveland , Donald Trump will finally take the podium as the official GOP nominee .", "How surprising is the tech billionaire 's endorsement , really ?", "Twelve years ago , Peter Thiel made the luckiest gamble of his life .", "He bought 10 percent of a startup founded by a scrappy Harvard kid for $ 500,000 .", "It was that company 's first infusion of outside cash , and it helped it grow incredibly fast .", "The firm 's signature product , built around the kid 's idea of how identity should work online , picked up 4 million users in 2005 and another 6.5 million in 2006 .", "In 2012 , Thiel cashed out those original shares .", "They now fetched more than $ 1 billion .", "To this day , he remains on the board of that company : Facebook , Inc. .", "Until this week , that famous bet -- the `` most lucrative angel investment in history '' -- was the main reason that most Americans would have ever heard of Peter Thiel .", "Along with his co-founding of PayPal , it 's why his character appeared on screen in The Social Network and a big part of why The New Yorker profiled him in 2011 .", "But now he is stepping into a new and much more prominent role in the American republic .", "Thiel will speak first on Thursday evening at the 2016 Republican National Convention , where -- according to early reports -- he will endorse Donald Trump .", "Why lime juice and sunlight do n't mix", "Last month , on a hot Saturday afternoon , Justin Fehntrich showed up to bartend at a swanky Fire Island Pines estate .", "The event he was working , a fundraiser for an LGBT-advocacy nonprofit , had about 100 guests and two other bartenders .", "He got the bar with the best view : the one in the sun , wedged between the sprawling , sparkling pool and the breezy ocean shore .", "Just as he and the other bartenders were about to prep their stations , a representative from the event 's official liquor sponsor asked if they would n't mind squeezing four bags of limes .", "Justin offered to drive to the supermarket and buy a bottle of juice , but the rep insisted on fresh , so Justin and another bartender sliced and squeezed about 100 limes into pitchers for cocktails .", "It was n't so long ago that the Turkish leader was seen as a model democrat in the Islamic world .", "It was n't supposed to be like this .", "In October 2004 , the European Commission offered Turkey a formal invitation to begin negotiations for membership in that exclusive club of democracies , the European Union .", "The Justice and Development Party ( AKP ) , which had been in power for just two years at the time , hailed the commission 's offer as validation of its self-described Muslim Democrat worldview .", "Yet only a few years after that triumphant moment , Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who was prime minister for 11 years before becoming president in 2014 -- began to veer away from the political reforms that were a condition of the EU 's offer , and away from the promise of a democratic transition in Turkey .", "The authoritarian approach to politics that Erdogan has pursued for the better part of the last decade seems destined to accelerate after last week 's failed coup d'\u00e9tat , as the president directs a widespread crackdown against his enemies , both real and perceived .", "Turkey today looks less like a liberal European democracy and more like the kind of one-man autocracy commonly found in the Middle East .", "How did this country , which so many journalists , government officials , and analysts had once believed to be a model for the Arab world , become a case study in `` re-authoritarianization '' ?", "A short documentary profiles the difficult lives of senior citizens who have lived in the city for decades .", "Welcome to Inishturk , where they really do n't like Donald Trump ."], "_citing_sentence": "While some Senators may have legitimate reservations about the New START treaty or its protocol, we believe the interest of our greater and common goal of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons must take precedence.\"", "_claim_name": "The New START treaty will help against Iran's nuclear program.", "_doc_title": "How Did New START Become a Jewish Issue?  - The Atlantic", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 5, 9]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Others thought that we would derail the reset by proceeding with the new plan .", "The skeptics were wrong on both counts .", "At NATO 's summit in Lisbon last weekend , President Obama united Europe behind our missile-defense plans and received strong support for the New Start Treaty that is currently before the Senate .", "In doing so , he proved that missile defense and arms control can proceed hand-in-hand .", "It 's hard to remember how much relations between the United States and our European allies had frayed before this administration took office .", "U.S. leadership was viewed negatively by many foreign publics , and U.S. policies often met with opposition from our traditional partners .", "The positive atmosphere in Lisbon -- and the substantial progress on priorities like missile defense , arms control and the Russia reset -- simply would not have been possible without nearly two years of intensive diplomacy .", "NATO 's adoption of territorial missile defense as a new mission shows that President Obama has rebuilt the alliance 's underlying consensus about the threats we face and how to meet them .", "Once considered an insurmountable political , technical and financial challenge , NATO 's decision to embrace territorial missile defense demonstrates the alliance 's determination to meet 21st-century threats .", "The ballistic missile threat to our allies , partners and deployed forces is real and growing , particularly from Iran .", "Unlike previous approaches , this NATO missile-defense system will protect all NATO allies in Europe , not just some .", "And it will protect more European territory sooner than the system it replaced .", "The capability will improve over time , addressing existing and near-term threats first , then expanding to provide greater coverage and protection as the threat and technology evolve .", "The U.S. contribution to this effort will be the European Phased Adaptive Approach , which will include Aegis ships capable of ballistic missile defense , a forward-based radar , and land-based SM-3 interceptor sites in Romania and Poland .", "Our European missile-defense system will employ cost-effective and proven technologies , using a distributed network of sensors and shooters , making it far more flexible , adaptable and survivable than earlier proposals .", "This system demonstrates America 's enduring commitment to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty -- that an attack on one is an attack on all .", "NATO missile defense also provides the opportunity for further improvements in both NATO-Russian and U.S.-Russian relations .", "NATO and Russia agreed at Lisbon to carry out a joint ballistic missile threat assessment , to resume theater missile-defense exercises , and to explore further cooperation on territorial missile defense -- things that were nearly unimaginable two years ago .", "These agreements underscore the strategic importance the alliance attaches to improving its relationship with Russia .", "But trust and confidence in our relationship with Russia would be undermined without Senate approval of the New Start Treaty , which reduces strategic nuclear forces to levels not seen since the 1950s , and restores important verification mechanisms that ceased when the first Start Treaty expired last December .", "The U.S. has been conducting on-site inspections in Europe since the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 , which banned medium-range missiles .", "That treaty showed how U.S.-Russian arms control can make Europe more secure , and New Start continues that tradition .", "European leaders understand that New Start advances their security as well as America 's , and that is an important foundation for future negotiations on conventional forces and tactical nuclear weapons in Europe .", "That is why all 27 of our NATO allies expressed their desire to see the treaty 's early ratification .", "NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen , for instance , cautioned that delay in ratification would be damaging to security in Europe .", "And leaders from nations that border Russia ( including Poland , Latvia and Lithuania ) spoke out strongly in support of the treaty .", "New Start is also a cornerstone of our efforts to reset relations with Russia , which have improved significantly in the last two years .", "This has led to real benefits for U.S. and global security .", "Russian cooperation made it possible to secure strong sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions , and Russia canceled a sale to Iran of an advanced anti-aircraft missile system that would have been dangerously destabilizing .", "Russia has permitted the flow of materiel through its territory for our troops in Afghanistan .", "And -- as the NATO-Russia Council in Lisbon demonstrated -- European security has been advanced by the pursuit of a more cooperative relationship with Russia .", "We should not jeopardize this progress .", "The Lisbon summit showed that American leadership in Europe remains essential .", "It also reminded us why the stakes of the New Start Treaty are so high .", "Our uniformed military supports it .", "Our European allies support it .", "Our national security interests are at stake .", "It is time for the Senate to approve New Start .", "Mr. Biden is vice president of the United States ."], "_citing_sentence": "We should not jeopardize this progress.\"", "_claim_name": "The New START treaty will help against Iran's nuclear program.", "_doc_title": "Joseph R. Biden Jr.: The Case for Ratifying New Start - WSJ", "_labeled_lineIDs": [30, 31]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 132, "_topic_name": "This House Supports the New START Treaty"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["PRINCETON , NJ -- Prior to the State of the Union address , a majority of Americans said they favor cutting U.S. foreign aid , but more than 6 in 10 opposed cuts to education , Social Security , and Medicare .", "Smaller majorities objected to cutting programs for the poor , national defense , homeland security , aid to farmers , and funding for the arts and sciences .", "In the weeks ahead , Congress and the White House will likely focus on negotiations over government spending and how to cut the federal budget deficit .", "In addition to broad concerns about the size of the deficit , Congress is under pressure to raise the legal limit on the national debt before U.S. borrowing exceeds the existing limit -- or face what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner describes as `` catastrophic economic consequences . ''", "Geithner 's department predicts the current debt ceiling could be exceeded as early as March 31 of this year .", "The new Republican leadership in Congress has indicated it will look for progress on deficit reduction before agreeing to raise the federal debt ceiling , and Americans appear to agree with that point in principle .", "Half of Americans say the limit on the national debt should be raised only if Congress specifies in advance what measures would be taken to reduce the deficit in the future , compared with 16 % who think Congress should raise the debt limit regardless .", "An additional third of Americans have no opinion on the matter .", "A thriving national economy can be effective in reducing the federal deficit , because it produces increased revenues even if tax rates remain the same .", "This happened in the late 1990s during the `` dot-com '' boom , but few economists are predicting a recurrence of those circumstances in the immediate future .", "That leaves two practical , but politically painful , approaches to deficit reduction : raising taxes and reducing spending .", "Americans certainly do not favor an increase in taxes for anyone other than the wealthy , and at this point frown on spending cuts in most of the obvious areas where such reductions could be made .", "The largest slices of the current government spending pie , other than interest on the debt , are the entitlement programs and national defense .", "Entitlement programs are of particular concern , given the looming impact of the aging baby boom generation , the oldest members of which are now turning 65 .", "Despite this , 64 % of Americans interviewed in the Jan. 14-16 USA Today/Gallup survey are opposed to cutting government spending for Social Security , and 61 % oppose cutting Medicare .", "Meanwhile , 57 % of Americans oppose cutting government spending for national defense .", "A majority of Americans also oppose cutting education , anti-poverty programs , homeland security , aid to farmers , and funding for the arts and sciences .", "Foreign aid is the only area out of the nine measured that a majority of Americans agree should be cut .", "Two areas of possible cuts generate the biggest differences between Republicans ( including independents who lean Republican ) and Democrats ( including leaners ) : national defense and funding for the arts and sciences .", "Democrats are much more in favor of cutting the former , and Republicans , the latter .", "Republicans and Democrats differ only minimally in their views on cutting the big-ticket items of Medicare and Social Security .", "Democrats are slightly more likely to favor cuts in homeland security and aid to farmers , while Republicans are slightly more likely to favor cuts in anti-poverty programs and foreign aid .", "Implications It has become a maxim of U.S. politics that Americans approve of cutting spending in concept but disapprove of cutting specific programs .", "The Defense Department long ago realized that closing specific military bases is difficult because local politicians always push to keep their area 's bases open .", "This realization led to the creation of a special commission that recommends base closures without directly involving Congress -- an idea that may need to be replicated to achieve broader government spending cuts .", "In his State of the Union address Tuesday night , President Barack Obama called for a five-year freeze in most domestic federal discretionary spending , contrasting with Rep. Paul Ryan 's Republican response , which emphasized broader and deeper cuts in domestic spending .", "While Americans may believe , in principle , that the federal government should cut spending , the current data suggest they may be more receptive to Obama 's spending freeze , given that Republicans ' cuts will inevitably take aim at some programs Americans think ought to be spared .", "Results for this USA Today/Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 14-16 , 2011 , with a random sample of 1,032 adults , aged 18 and older , living in the continental U.S. , selected using random-digit-dial sampling .", "For results based on the total sample of national adults , one can say with 95 % confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is \u00b1 4 percentage points .", "For results based on the sample of 516 national adults in Form A and 516 national adults in Form B , the maximum margins of sampling error are \u00b1 5 percentage points .", "Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones ( for respondents with a landline telephone ) and cellular phones ( for respondents who are cell phone-only ) .", "Each sample includes a minimum quota of 150 cell phone-only respondents and 850 landline respondents , with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region .", "Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday .", "Samples are weighted by gender , age , race , education , region , and phone lines .", "Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in continental U.S. telephone households .", "All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design .", "In addition to sampling error , question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls .", "View methodology , full question results , and trend data .", "For more details on Gallup 's polling methodology , visit www.gallup.com .", "U.S. Leadership Loses Ground in Africa , Asia", "Melania Trump 's pre-convention favorable rating is the worst of any potential first lady Gallup has measured since 1992 , mainly because Democrats tilt strongly against her .", "Republicans are more positive , though many ca n't rate her .", "Gallup World Headquarters , 901 F Street , Washington , D.C. , 20001 , U.S.A +1 202.715.3030", "President Barack Obama averaged 50.9 % job approval during his 30th quarter in office , up more than a point from his 29th quarter average , and one of just six times he has averaged higher than 50 % approval in a quarter .", "Americans ' Satisfaction With U.S. Drops Sharply", "Americans ' satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. fell sharply in July , to the lowest level measured since October 2013 .", "This coincides with a surge in mentions of race relations/racism as the most important U.S. problem .", "More Republicans favor a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants living in the U.S. than either of two proposals advanced by Donald Trump -- building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and deporting all illegal immigrants .", "Paul Ryan enjoys higher favorable ratings among both Republicans and U.S. adults overall than his fellow party leaders who are attending the Republican National Convention .", "Americans are less confident in the economy than they were earlier in the year .", "Gallup 's U.S. Economic Confidence Index was -17 last week , similar to the lower levels seen since mid-June .", "Americans ' views of Donald Trump have been generally stable and continually negative over the past year .", "Trump 's current 34 % favorable and 61 % unfavorable ratings are within a few points of where they were in July 2015 .", "American voters ' first reaction to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as Donald Trump 's running mate is among the least positive Gallup has measured for vice presidential picks , although similar to their reaction to Paul Ryan four years ago .", "Nearly half of blacks and Hispanics are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. , compared with 28 % of whites .", "Satisfaction levels among these three groups have been fairly steady since 2013 .", "More than six in 10 Americans think it is likely the U.S. economy will become cashless in their lifetime .", "Still , more say they personally like to have cash on them at all times than say they are comfortable without it .", "Most Americans believe blacks have the same chance as whites to get a job , a good education and any housing they can afford , but fewer hold these views than at any point in the last two decades ."], "_citing_sentence": "The individual taxpayer sees none of the benefit of this money and often they don't like paying so much aid, 59% of Americans support cutting aid.", "_claim_name": "Remittances creates freedom of choice for individuals", "_doc_title": "Americans Oppose Cuts in Education, Social Security, Defense", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Wednesday 18 February 2009 19.01 EST", "Last modified on Thursday 19 February 2009 05.31 EST", "The breakfast room of the H\u00f4tel Balzac on the Champs-Elys\u00e9es is slowly filling up with the murmuringly well-heeled when Dambisa Moyo makes her entrance , in an oyster-coloured sheath dress and platform heels half as high as her calves .", "She is , if not demure , very ladylike ; tightly controlled and girlishly friendly - she was at a party here last night so knows most of the people making their way to their $ 76 breakfasts , and has to keep saying `` hello '' , in her quiet , American-accented voice .", "She is forthright , however , on the subject of what she refers to as `` the book '' , rather than `` my book '' , and occasionally `` the prescription '' , rather than `` my prescription '' : Dead Aid , which was published this month , and in which she argues , in no uncertain terms , that foreign aid has been bad for Africa , and must stop .", "People are listening .", "Rwandan government ministers read her book and asked her to come to talk to them ; she is about to fly out there .", "A piece she wrote on the subject in a national newspaper drew responses from policy directors of three major charities .", "Paul Collier , a former mentor whose theories about the effects of geography and resources on economic growth she draws on , began his review of Dead Aid by comparing her to Dutch feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali , whose critique of Islam has forced her into hiding .", "Many people will disagree vociferously with her ; many will think she is being recklessly contrarian - but , as Collier pointed out , they can not easily dismiss her .", "It is n't just the archipelago of degrees ( the chemistry BSc from Lusaka , Zambia , the MBA in finance from American University in Washington DC , the masters from Harvard University 's Kennedy School of Government , the PhD in economics from Oxford ) ; or the high-profile jobs ( as consultant at the World Bank , then as head of economic research and strategy for sub-Saharan Africa at Goldman Sachs , until about a month ago ) ; or the fact that in a time when there has been a general bemoaning of the lack of big-idea books from women this is a big-idea book from an African woman , a vanishingly small number of whom are ever heard from at all - although all of these play a part .", "It is because everyone knows that things are n't quite right , and that something must be done .", "The question is what , and this is Moyo 's contribution .", "She would be the first to admit that others have taken her tack , that aid simply does n't work : William Easterly , for example , in The White Man 's Burden : Why the West 's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good ; Peter Bauer , the Hungarian-born economist to whom Moyo has dedicated her book , was arguing that large transfers of aid were a mistake as far back as the 1960s .", "It is an argument often made within Africa , too : her mother , chair of a leading Zambian bank , and her father , a linguistics academic-turned-anti-corruption campaigner , could n't believe she was giving up her evenings and weekends to write tens of thousands of words about such a self-evident truth .", "`` They were kind of , like , so what ?", "It 's kind of the emperor has no clothes .", "Yes , nice book .", "Great that you could articulate it , and you can turn the pages , but - everybody knows it does n't work . ''", "She makes it clear at the outset what kind of aid she means .", "She does not mean humanitarian or emergency aid , mobilised in response to calamities ; she does not mean charity-based aid , given to specific organisations and people on the ground , in order to achieve specific things ( she sits on the boards of several charities , one of which distributes antiretrovirals ) ; she is hopeful about a new attitude to food aid , whereby the money is used to buy food from farmers within a country , and then distribute it to those in need , instead of flooding the place with foreign food that undercuts local growers .", "What she means is `` systemic aid '' , the vast sums regularly transferred from government to government , or via institutions such as the World Bank .", "She paints a dismaying picture of the history of that aid , beginning with the realisation , at Bretton Woods in July 1944 , that Europe would need massive injections of cash to get back on its feet ( and the concurrent establishment of the World Bank and the IMF ) .", "The Marshall Plan did a similar job .", "Both were so successful in Europe that it seemed sensible to assume that the same paradigm could apply in Africa .", "But these capital injections , she argues , worked in Europe because they were limited in scope , and Europe had the institutions to make the most of them ; this was not true in many African countries .", "And there were other , not particularly altruistic imperatives : the cold war had begun , and `` aid '' , writes Moyo , `` became the key tool in the contest to turn the world capitalist or communist '' .", "Geopolitics trumped sense , again and again .", "Rising oil prices in the 1970s meant that international banks were awash with money , lax with their policies , and lending at low interest rates ; many African countries borrowed large sums to pay off existing debts - until 1979 , when another oil crisis prompted banks to raise their interest rates , and those debts could no longer be serviced .", "In Africa , 11 countries defaulted .", "When their finances were restructured by the IMF - they were lent money to pay off what they owed - they simply sank deeper into debt .", "The 80s also saw aggressive trade liberalisation and privatisation : the IMF and the World Bank lent large amounts of cash on the condition that free-market policies were adopted - policies that often led to the destruction of local industries that could not compete .", "By the end of the 80s debt servicing meant a net reverse flow of money , from poor countries to rich .", "This could not continue , and campaigns for debt relief soon followed - but they were accompanied , Moyo notes drily , with campaigns , such as Live8 , to send large amounts of new aid , `` and thus the prospect of fresh debt , all over again '' .", "More than $ 1 trillion has been sent to Africa over the last 50 years .", "And what has it all achieved ?", "She wants to know .", "`` Between 1970 and 1998 , when aid flows to Africa were at their peak , poverty in Africa rose from 11 % to a staggering 66 % '' - roughly 600 million of Africa 's billion people are now trapped in poverty .", "She would admit that aid has done some good on a local level , however her conclusion is uncompromising : `` Aid has been , and continues to be , an unmitigated political , economic and humanitarian disaster for most parts of the developing world '' - and Africa in particular , which is `` shearing off .", "The rest of the world is going one direction , on one growth trajectory , and Africa is going completely in the opposite direction .", "And yet we sit around and discuss sending another $ 50bn dollars of aid ?", "I mean , come on . ''", "Why is Africa different ?", "Wisely , perhaps , she does n't get entangled in generalities about colonial guilt , and refers only in one short paragraph to `` the largely unspoken and insidious view that the problem with Africa is Africans - that culturally , mentally and physically Africans are innately different .", "That , somehow , deeply embedded in their psyche is an inability to embrace development and improve their own lot in life without guidance and help . ''", "Her argument is that , for whatever reason , the problem is `` pity .", "We do n't feel sorry for the Chinese .", "The Chinese have 30 million people who live like us , if you will .", "Western standards , but a billion people living in dire poverty .", "Do you think anybody feels sorry for the Chinese ?", "What about Indians ?", "India has a huge proportion of poverty-stricken -LSB- people -RSB- - does anybody feel sorry for them ? ''", "And the pity , in her reading , has been devastating .", "It has meant a blind eye being turned to corruption - aid being like striking oil , or finding diamonds , in its potential to tempt .", "It has meant a kind of continent-wide addiction ( with , as the policy director of Christian Aid pointed out in a letter to the Independent , the concomitant `` loss of self-control , ability to think forward , the confidence to act for oneself and believe in oneself '' ) .", "And it 's not just the developing countries that become dependent : around 500,000 people , Moyo estimates , depend on disbursing aid for their livelihoods .", "It is self-perpetuating : multilaterals have to keep lending in order for debts to be serviced .", "It nurtures , she argues , civil war : it becomes worth fighting over resources .", "Over the past 50 years 40 million Africans have died in war - equal to the population of South Africa .", "Increasingly , over the last decade , the stick that accompanies the aid carrot has been a demand for `` good governance '' .", "What is meant is transparent institutions , rule of law , lack of corruption ; in practice , this is often equated with multi-party elections .", "But , as she quite scornfully points out , `` the western mindset erroneously equates a political system of multi-party democracy with high-quality institutions ... the two are not synonymous . ''", "Many African countries have dutifully held elections - but that has n't made them any more liberal , or improved the quality of their civil institutions .", "Like many of us who grew up in Africa ( in my case , Ethiopia , where , she claims , 97 % of the government budget is attributed to foreign aid ) , she saw the aid economy in action - the flash 4x4s , the high salaries , the foreign workers living cushioned lives on nice exchange rates .", "`` In addition it was clear how little say not only the citizens have , but the governments have .", "You hardly ever saw participation from domestic policymakers in designing and discussing what was , essentially , our future - Africa 's future .", "I mean , there are so many classic examples of people 's lives essentially being shaped and designed by policy that 's not domestically constructed . ''", "She cites the donor who refused to give any aid unless an entirely new town be built in Zambia , despite the government 's protests that they would be left holding the baby , as indeed happened ; or George Bush 's requirement that two-thirds of the $ 15bn he was giving to fight Aids had to go to pro-abstinence programmes , and none could go to any establishment that provided abortions .", "Partly , of course , it 's about power , and purse-strings ; partly , she believes , it 's a PR issue , `` there are many well-spoken , smart African leaders who should be on the global stage '' ; very largely , given that so far not many are , it 's a case of who gets to do the talking , and increasingly , it is people like Bob Geldof and Bono , the most visible representatives of what she calls , in a thrillingly withering manner , `` glamour aid '' .", "`` There are African policymakers who are charged with the responsibility of creating policy , and implementing policy .", "That 's their job .", "Long , long lines of people have stood in the sun to vote for a president who is effectively impotent because of donors or because glamour aid has decided to speak on behalf of a continent .", "How would British people feel if tomorrow Michael Jackson started telling them how they should get out of the housing crisis ?", "Or if Amy Winehouse started to give the US government advice about the credit crunch ?", "And was listened to ?", "I think they would be perturbed , and worried .", "I mean , they 've completely disenfranchised the very people we 've actually elected ! ''", "But what she 's particularly keen on is that people pay attention to her solutions , of which there are a few .", "First is the issue of bonds .", "To those who object that this is yet another kind of debt , but with higher interest rates , she answers that that 's part of the point : aid lending has been far too lenient ( 50-year terms , low interest rates , more money lent even if a country defaults ) .", "The capital markets are not forgiving of corruption : mess up once , and that 's it - there is no more cash .", "`` Where private capital trumps aid every time , '' she writes , `` is on the question of governance . ''", "Her critics would point out that this is a tricky position to hold in the current financial climate , where countries that have gone to the capital markets , such as South Africa ( one of her examples for how to do it right ) , are already beginning to struggle .", "But she is bullish : it is a unique opportunity , she says , for a complete systemic overhaul .", "She proposes more dealings with the Chinese , who , she says , have done more for Africa 's infrastructure and economic growth in the last five years than America has done in the last 50 .", "A great point in their favour is that they give the impression , at least , of striking business deals between equal partners ; it is foolhardy to underestimate the animating effect this has on governments used to being preached at and condescended to .", "There are real worries , of course - the fact that China ignores human rights abuses in its quest for commodities , as in Sudan ( the west , she counters , was a willing handmaiden to the rise of many corrupt and violent governments and does n't have a leg to stand on ) ; worries about empire building , that China will eventually want to protect its investments by force ( for the moment , she says , that 's irrelevant - what matters is progress now ) ; about undercutting local industry and taking jobs from Africans ( this , she says , must be dealt with by policy-makers ) .", "She refers to surveys that indicate local people feel things have improved with the arrival of the Chinese , `` in terms of living standards , incomes , jobs , and so on .", "It suggests to me that people feel this new model seems to be working , where Africans are treated as equal partners . ''", "It remains to be seen , however , how the general drop in commodities prices over the last few months will affect this optimism ; also the fact that Chinese growth is slowing down .", "She is not the first to note that free trade is freer for some than for others , that trade protection means that each European cow gets $ 2.50 a day in subsidies , `` more than what a billion people , many of them Africans , each have to live on every day '' - but her solution is not yet more banging on the doors of the EU and the US , but to turn elsewhere , to Brazil and India and China , which has 1.3 billion people , and only 7 % arable land .", "`` What an opportunity ! ''", "She advocates more microfinance , and efficient banking of savings ( Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has estimated that the value of savings among the poor of Asia , the Middle East and Africa is as much as 40 times all the foreign aid received throughout the world since 1945 ) and remittances ( 33 million Africans live abroad , and many send money home ; in 2006 , remittances accounted for 40 % of Somalia 's GDP ) .", "Her biggest and most controversial solution is that all aid should be turned off in the next five years .", "But is n't this cavalier , and deeply irresponsible ?", "Would n't it damn millions to even more suffering ?", "Most people , I suggest , would find that very hard to watch .", "`` It 's hard to watch already .", "There are many countries where 70 % of the population is living on less than a dollar a day .", "If we continue down this path , the extreme could be that we end up with huge uprisings .", "Remember that in a lot of these countries 50 % of the population is under the age of 15 .", "In 10-15 years , you have so many people on the streets who have no jobs , no prospects , that you end up in a situation where the state implodes .", "And we 've already seen that in Africa , in cases like Somalia .", "There are no vested interests , there 's no growth , there are no jobs , no prospects for the future .", "Most Africans , I believe , if you went to them and said this is going to be tough , but we 're going to assure you that your children are going to have a better future , I 'm pretty sure most families would -LSB- be -RSB- willing to make the sacrifice .", "That was how America was built .", "Families made major , major sacrifices so that their children would have a better life .", "And Africans are willing to do that .", "They are not different .", "They have the same aspirations and hopes that everybody else has . ''", "Is n't she playing into the hands of governments that would like to wash their hands of such responsibilities ?", "`` Quite the contrary .", "They absolutely should be involved .", "Things like disease , risk of terrorism , political instability , are no longer contained by borders , and probably never really were .", "It 's actually beneficial to the world as a whole to see Africa as an equal partner as opposed to a drag on the economy . ''", "Is n't she suggesting yet another wholescale capitalist experiment on Africa ?", "`` I 'm going to paraphrase Obama 's inaugural speech .", "Capitalism is undoubtedly , unquestionably , the system that has best delivered and reduced poverty .", "Even with its flaws .", "There is not another system that has delivered more .", "So does it need reform ?", "Does it have to be regulated better ?", "But to think that we should now ignore everything that it has done for the past 200 years is foolhardy . ''", "Probably the answer is a careful combination of her proposals and other things : Christian Aid , for example , suggests plugging the corporate tax loopholes that mean poor countries lose a minimum of $ 160bn a year .", "Much more aid , suggests Collier , should be in non-cash form : in peacekeeping , security guarantees , trade privileges , governance .", "Moyo may not have all the answers , or even the right ones - but the fact is that aid levels are dropping whether we like it or not .", "The Catholic aid agency Cafod recently estimated that the current crisis , and the weakening pound , could cut $ 41bn , in real terms , out of the UK foreign aid budget over the next seven years .", "However , she is determined to begin an urgent conversation , one not confined to suited white men and middle-aged rock stars .", "When she was writing the book , she says , she also was not trying to reach `` economists , because we already know .", "Dead Aid was really targeted at African policymakers , and anybody , globally , who 's interested in seeing Africans become an equal partner in the world .", "I wanted to talk to anybody who watches TV and sees a poor starving African child and thinks , ` This is ridiculous , ' - but at the same time is interested in finding a long-term solution .", "Who 's not just going to say , ` Oh , I 'll write another cheque for 14p , ' who thinks , ' I actually want to see these countries really rise up from this horror , into something where the country and its people contribute meaningfully - not just to their countries , or to their continent but to the world as a whole .", "I want to know African artists , musicians , teachers , doctors , lawyers , writers - I want them to be on equal footing . '", "I want people to call their MPs after reading it and say , ` Hang on , you 're asking us to give more aid - do you know that there are actually other alternatives ?", "What do you think about that ? ' '' ."], "_citing_sentence": "Dambisa Moyo points out that \"Between 1970 and 1998, when aid flows to Africa were at their peak, poverty in Africa rose from 11% to a staggering 66%\".", "_claim_name": "Remittances reduce poverty", "_doc_title": "G2 interviews Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid, on why aid is to blame for Africa's dire economic straits | Global development | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [37]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["For many countries , money transfers from citizens working abroad are a lifeline for development", "Send this to grandma ( photo : Romeo Ranoco/Reuters/Corbis )", "When migrants send home part of their earnings in the form of either cash or goods to support their families , these transfers are known as workers ' or migrant remittances .", "They have been growing rapidly in the past few years and now represent the largest source of foreign income for many developing countries .", "It is hard to estimate the exact size of remittance flows because many transfers take place through unofficial channels .", "Worldwide , officially recorded international migrant remittances were projected to exceed $ 483 billion in 2011 , with $ 351 billion flowing to developing countries .", "These flows are recorded in the balance of payments ; exactly how to record them is being reviewed by an international technical group .", "Unrecorded flows through informal channels are believed to be at least 50 percent larger than recorded flows .", "Not only are remittances large but they are also more evenly distributed among developing countries than capital flows , including foreign direct investment , most of which goes to a few big emerging markets .", "In fact , remittances are especially important for low-income countries .", "Remittance flows to low-income countries are nearly 6 percent of their gross domestic product ( GDP ) , compared with about 2 percent of GDP for middle-income countries .", "A typical remittance transaction takes place in three steps : \u25cf Step 1 : The migrant sender pays the remittance to the sending agent using cash , check , money order , credit card , debit card , or a debit instruction sent by e-mail , phone , or through the Internet .", "\u25cf Step 2 : The sending agency instructs its agent in the recipient 's country to deliver the remittance .", "\u25cf Step 3 : The paying agent makes the payment to the beneficiary .", "For settlement between agents , in most cases , there is no real-time fund transfer ; instead , the balance owed by the sending agent to the paying agent is settled periodically according to an agreed schedule , through a commercial bank .", "Informal remittances are sometimes settled through goods trade .", "The costs of a remittance transaction include a fee charged by the sending agent , typically paid by the sender , and a currency-conversion fee for delivery of local currency to the beneficiary in another country .", "Some smaller money transfer operators require the beneficiary to pay a fee to collect remittances , presumably to account for unexpected exchange-rate movements .", "In addition , remittance agents ( especially banks ) may earn an indirect fee in the form of interest ( or `` float '' ) by investing funds before delivering them to the beneficiary .", "The float can be significant in countries where overnight interest rates are high .", "Remittances are typically transfers from a well-meaning individual or family member to another individual or household .", "They are targeted to meet specific needs of the recipients and thus tend to reduce poverty .", "Cross-country analyses generally find that remittances have reduced the share of poor people in the population ( Adams and Page 2003 , 2005 ; Gupta , Pattillo , and Wagh 2009 ) .", "In fact , World Bank studies , based on recent household surveys , suggest that international remittance receipts helped lower poverty ( measured by the proportion of the population below the poverty line ) by nearly 11 percentage points in Uganda , 6 percentage points in Bangladesh , and 5 percentage points in Ghana .", "Between a fifth and half of the 11 percent reduction in poverty in Nepal between 1995 and 2004 , a time of political conflict , has been attributed to remittances .", "In poorer households , remittances may finance the purchase of basic consumption goods , housing , and children 's education and health care .", "In richer households , they may provide capital for small businesses and entrepreneurial activities .", "They also help pay for imports and external debt service , and in some countries , banks have been able to raise overseas financing using future remittances as collateral .", "Remittance flows tend to be more stable than capital flows , and they also tend to be countercyclical -- increasing during economic downturns or after a natural disaster in the migrants ' home countries , when private capital flows tend to decrease .", "In countries affected by political conflict , they often provide an economic lifeline to the poor .", "The World Bank estimated that in Haiti they represented about 12 percent of GDP in 2011 , while in some areas of Somalia , they accounted for more than 70 percent of GDP in 2006 .", "More recently remittances proved to be resilient during the financial crisis in source countries such as the United States or western European countries .", "The crisis affected migrants ' incomes , but migrants tried to absorb the income loss by cutting consumption and rental expenditures .", "Those affected by the crisis , say in the construction sector , moved to jobs in other sectors ( such as restaurants or agriculture ) .", "While the crisis reduced new immigration flows , it also discouraged return migration because migrants feared they would not be able reenter the host country .", "Thus , the number of migrants -- and hence remittances -- continued to rise even during the global financial crisis that began in 2008 .", "There are a number of potential costs associated with remittances .", "Countries that receive remittances from migrants incur costs if the emigrating workers are highly skilled or if their departure creates labor shortages .", "Also , if remittances are large , the recipient country could face an appreciation of the real exchange rate that may make its economy less competitive internationally .", "Some argue that remittances can also create dependency , undercutting recipients ' incentives to work and thus slowing economic growth .", "But others argue that the negative relationship between remittances and growth observed in some empirical studies may simply reflect the countercyclical nature of remittances -- that is , the influence of growth on remittances rather than vice versa .", "Remittances may also have human costs .", "Migrants sometimes make significant sacrifices -- often including separation from family -- and incur risks to find work in another country .", "And they may have to work extremely hard to save enough to send remittances .", "Transaction costs are not usually an issue for large remittances ( those made for the purpose of trade , investment , or aid ) , because , as a percentage of the principal amount , they tend to be small , and major international banks are eager to offer competitive services for large-value remittances .", "But for smaller remittances -- under $ 200 , say , which is often typical for poor migrants -- remittance fees typically average 10 percent , and can be as high as 15 -- 20 percent of the principal in smaller migration corridors ( see table ) .", "Remittance fees could be reduced significantly if they were a flat fee instead of a percentage of the principal transferred .", "Approximate cost of remitting $ 200 ( as a percent of principal ) between", "Australia -- Papua New Guinea", "New Zealand -- Tonga", "South Africa -- Mozambique", "South Africa -- Zimbabwe", "Saudi Arabia -- Pakistan", "United Arab Emirates -- India", "United Kingdom -- India", "United Kingdom -- Philippines", "United States -- Colombia", "United States -- Mexico", "United States -- Philippines", "Cutting transaction costs would significantly help recipient families .", "A number of factors could reduce transactions costs :", "First , the remittance fee should be a low fixed amount , not a percentage of the principal , because the cost of remittance services does not depend on the amount of principal .", "Indeed , the real cost of a remittance transaction -- including labor , technology , networks , and rent -- is estimated to be significantly below the current level of fees .", "Second , greater competition would bring prices down .", "Entry of new market players can be facilitated by harmonizing and lowering bond and capital requirements , and avoiding overregulation ( such as requiring full banking licenses for money transfer operators ) .", "The intense scrutiny of money service businesses for money laundering or terrorism financing since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center has made it difficult for them to maintain accounts with their correspondent banks , forcing many in the United States to close .", "While regulations are necessary to curb money laundering and terrorism financing , they should not make it difficult for legitimate money service businesses to maintain accounts with correspondent banks .", "Using a risk-based approach to regulation -- in which only suspicious transactions are checked and small transactions below , say , $ 1,000 are exempt from requiring proof of identity and address -- can reduce remittance costs and facilitate flows .", "An example where competition has spurred reductions in fees is in the U.S. -- Mexico corridor , where remittance fees have fallen by more than 50 percent from over $ 26 ( to send $ 300 ) in 1999 to about $ 12 in 2005 .", "Fees appear to have leveled off since then .", "In addition , some commercial banks have recently started providing remittance services for free , hoping that would attract customers for their deposit and loan products .", "And in some countries , new remittance tools -- based on cell phones , smart cards , or the Internet -- have emerged .", "Third , establishing nonexclusive partnerships between remittance-service providers and existing postal and other retail networks would help expand remittance services without requiring large fixed investments to develop payment networks .", "Fouth , poor migrants could be given greater access to banking .", "Banks tend to provide cheaper remittance services than money transfer operators .", "Both sending and receiving countries can increase banking access for migrants by allowing origin-country banks to operate overseas ; by providing identification cards ( such as the Mexican matricula consular ) that are accepted by banks to open accounts ; and by facilitating participation of microfinance institutions and credit unions in the remittance market .", "Governments have often offered incentives to increase remittance flows and to channel them to productive uses .", "But such policies are more problematic than efforts to expand access to financial services or reduce transaction costs .", "Tax incentives may attract remittances , but they may also encourage tax evasion .", "Matching-fund programs to attract remittances from migrant associations may divert funds from other local funding priorities , while efforts to channel remittances to investment have met with little success .", "Fundamentally , remittances are private funds that should be treated like other sources of household income .", "Efforts to increase savings and improve the allocation of expenditures should be accomplished through improvements in the overall investment climate , rather than by targeting remittances .", "Dilip Ratha is Lead Economist and Manager of the Migration and Remittances Unit in the World Bank .", "Adams Richard H. , Jr. , and John Page , 2003 , International Migration , Remittances , and Poverty in Developing Countries , World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3179 ( Washington ) .", "2005 , `` Do International Migration and Remittances Reduce Poverty in Developing Countries ? ''", "World Development , Vol .", "Gupta , Sanjeev , Catherine Pattillo , and Smita Wagh , 2009 , `` Impact of Remittances on Poverty and Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa , '' World Development , Vol .", "F&D welcomes comments and brief letters , a selection of which are posted under Letters to the Editor ."], "_citing_sentence": "Indeed remittances are noticeably stable with money still being sent home during recessions and can even be countercyclical as migrants will send more if they know things are bad back home.", "_claim_name": "Provides autonomy for developing countries", "_doc_title": "Remittances: Funds for the Folks Back Home - Back to Basics: Finance & Development", "_labeled_lineIDs": [28]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation", "Thursday 11 October 2012 02.00 EDT", "Rwandans in the UK are among those being tapped to contribute to a new `` solidarity fund '' set up by President Paul Kagame in a bid to lessen the government 's reliance on foreign aid .", "`` Why should a citizen of another country have an obligation to feed me forever ?", "This is almost blasphemy , '' Kagame reportedly said last week at a fundraising lunch for the Agaciro Development Fund in the capital , Kigali .", "According to the government , Agaciro -- which means `` dignity '' in kinyarwanda -- has already attracted pledges totalling 20bn Rwandan francs ( # 20m ) since launching in August .", "The fund 's website says Agaciro aims to improve the country 's financial autonomy and will give Rwandans `` a higher level of direct ownership in the nation 's projects '' , with priorities chosen through national consultations .", "Individuals can transfer money to the fund through banks , online or SMS .", "Its Twitter feed features a rolling record of pledges .", "Businessmen in Kigali , the Rwanda ministry of defence , and the diaspora in Uganda , Tanzania and Belgium are among those listed as contributing to the fund .", "Local newspapers report contributions from members of parliament and Rwandan peacekeepers in Darfur .", "Launching the sovereign wealth fund in August , Kagame said it would help raise additional funds for development projects in the country but that it is not intended to replace foreign aid .", "`` Other people may provide assistance and this should not be considered entirely a bad thing , '' he said .", "`` However , such assistance should only come as a supplement to what has been generated by ourselves , because assistance by other people is like anaesthesia .", "`` We are not changing our relationship with our partners and neither are we trying to isolate ourselves .", "We are simply trying to add value to the relationship because aid is never enough and we need to complement it with homegrown schemes to accelerate growth . ''", "Often dubbed an aid darling , Rwanda 's position with its donors has become increasingly precarious .", "Last month , the EU followed the US and Germany in suspending part of its multimillion euro aid package to the country over allegations that the Rwandan military is supporting the M23 rebellion in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo .", "Britain froze # 16m in aid to the Rwandan government in July , though # 8m was reinstated by Andrew Mitchell before leaving his post as international development secretary last month .", "The Agaciro fund falls under the ministry of finance , though the government says it plans to place it under independent management .", "Since the fund 's launch it has embarked on a wide-ranging awareness campaign , erecting billboards , hosting cultural events , and organising talk shows on radio stations and the national TV channel .", "This weekend Coventry will host a UK launch event for Agaciro under the banner of `` Let 's drive our own development '' .", "Kitoko , a popular Rwandan singer , is set to perform at the event , organised by the West Midlands Rwandan Community Association .", "Apollinaire Kageruka , president of the WMRCA , said he expects up to 400 to attend the fundraising event , with members of the Rwandan diaspora travelling from across the UK .", "`` We are trying to contribute to our country 's development , '' said Kageruka .", "Remittances to developing countries from migrants were last year expected to top $ 370bn -- more than three times the size of foreign aid -- pushing governments around the world to look for ways to harness these funds , which typically flow directly to family and friends .", "According to World Bank figures ( xls ) , remittances to Rwanda topped $ 100m ( # 62m ) in 2010 , more than 1.5 % of the country 's GDP .", "Other countries , including Ethiopia and Kenya , have created `` diaspora bonds '' to encourage investment in local development projects .", "Fishermen report dozens of corpses carried down the Akagera river , which has overtones of previous political violence", "Tony Blair and Bill Clinton have heaped praise on the Rwandan president , but his halo is starting to slip"], "_citing_sentence": "He wants \"a higher level of direct ownership in the nation's projects\" and wants it because western donors had suspended aid.", "_claim_name": "Provides autonomy for developing countries", "_doc_title": "Rwanda seeks diaspora investment to cut reliance on foreign aid | Global development | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 133, "_topic_name": "This House would replace aid with remittances"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["For over a century , several government agencies in various states in Australia were set up to watch over the interests of the", "With legal mandate , thousands of aboriginal children were forcibly separated from their families through the years and brought to government and church institutions , and later on to adoptive white families for some , to be brought up in an environment of white", "It is estimated that one half to two-thirds of the aboriginal children were taken during their infancy ( under 5 years ) .", "The aboriginal families never wanted to let their children be taken away .", "Many tried in vain to get them back .", "In many instances since 1874 , the program of forcible removal of aboriginal children was objected to .", "Warnings were sounded out about the ' ... threat to family structures and systems ; the links ... between the removal of young girl children for domestic work , and slavery ; ... the lack of responsibility , authority and supervision of those involved in the forcible removal of children ; and ... the repressive conditions in which the children were held . '", "When an inquiry was made on what happened to these children , stories of abuse ( physical and sexual ) , and deprived identity came up .", "Even for those who grew up in caring families , their longing to return to their real family tormented them for years .", "For many of these people and the communities they come from , their suffering continues .", "The effects of the forcible removal show in these childrenO ~ s children .", "The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission ( HREOC ) which started the inquiry in 1995 submitted its report in April 1997 .", "The commission found out that the separation of aboriginal children from their own families is still being done at present .", "The HREOC inquiry reveals the pain suffered by the aboriginal children who in the latter years of their lives still long to get back their real identity .", "As the HREOC states : `` It is difficult to capture the complexity of effects for each person .", "For the majority of witnesses to the Inquiry , the effects have been multiple , continuing and profoundly disabling .", "The trauma of separation and attempts at O ^ assimilationO ~ have damaged their self-esteem and well-being , and impaired their parenting and relationships .", "In turn their children suffer .", "There is a cycle of damage people find difficult to escape unaided . ''", "xxx xxx xxx `` The Inquiry found that many forcibly removed children and their children have lost their cultures , their languages , their heritage and their lands , as well as their families and communities . ''", "The effects of the removal of children naturally extend to the aboriginal communities from where the children come from .", "Again , in the words of HREOC : `` The Inquiry found the loss of so many children has affected the health and morale of many indigenous communities .", "Indigenous men and women generally lost their purpose in their families and communities .", "Individual responses to this loss could result in drinking binges , hospitalisation following accidents or assaults , or behavi our which leads to incarceration or premature death . ''", "The expected benefit of separation in terms of better future in a predominantly non-aboriginal community has not been shown to be extensive .", "The rate of likely assessment of poor or fair health of people removed is double that of people who were not .", "The removed people are not better educated , not more likely getting employed , not receiving significantly higher income than those who were not .", "They are twice as likely arrested more than once in the past five years .", "The Australian government as well as private institutions ( mainly church orphanages and similar institutions ) in the country believe that separation of children from families who they consider unfit to raise them is necessary for their own best interests .", "But with the", "HREOC inquiry , there is a grave doubt on whether indeed the best interests of the aboriginal children had been promoted judging from the effects of the separation .", "The sincere intention of the government and the private institutions to help the children is not exactly being questioned .", "But the manner by which the program was done especially in the light of the highly sensitive idea of separating children from their natural parents and community is criticized .", "On the other hand , the program becomes controversial as it is based on the concept of assimilation .", "The inquiry has shown that assimilationist programs lead to loss of language , culture , heritage and sense of own community - matters held dearest by the aborigines .", "The HREOC inquiry made a conclusion that the forcible removal of aboriginal children is a violation of human rights .", "It stated that : - `` the forcible removal of indigenous children was a gross violation of their human rights .", "It was racially discriminatory and continued after Australia , as a member of the United Nations from 1945 , committed itself to abolish racial discrimination ... '' - `` by the early 1950s , the international prohibition of racial discrimination of the kind to which indigenous families and children were subjected was well-recognised , even in Australia ... '' - `` forcible removal was an act of genocide contrary to the Convention of Genocide ratified by Australia in 1949 .", "The Convention on Genocide specifically includes ` forcibly transferring children of -LSB- a -RSB- group ' with the intention of destroying the group . ''", "The HREOC inquiry likewise found that '' ... even before international human rights law developed in the 1940s the treatment of Indigenous people breached Australian legal stan dards .", "Indigenous families were entitled to expect the protection of the British common law imported into Australia .", "Two relevant legal principles were denied on racial grounds to indigenous families .", "These principles grew from the common law 's respect for personal and family liberty and parental rights .", "The first was that children should not be removed from their parents unless a court makes that decsion .", "The court order must be based on evidence proving removal is in the best interests of the child .", "The second principle was that parents are the legal guardians of their children unless a court orders otherwise in the interests of the child .", "The legal guardian has the right to decide where the children will live and how they will be educated and raised . ''", "In many parts of Australia , taking aboriginal children without court order was legal for many years .", "The HREOC inquiry does not attempt to create a sense of guilt among", "Australians especially the younger generations .", "But it urges a recognition that harm was done to members of their own community based merely on their being aboriginal people .", "For the sake of the aboriginal people and the non-aboriginal", "Australians , a healing process is recommended .", "The people removed are being helped in ` going home ' - in knowing their own family , community , and roots .", "HREOC thus recommends a host of measures to address the harm done .", "Such measures are the following : government assistance ; giving people access to their personal files and information recorded about their families ; funding family tracing and reunion services ; funding indigenous mental health programs dealing with grief and loss , parenting and families , and other effects of forced removal .", "These measures are meant to heal the wounds of those who were removed from their aboriginal families .", "The measures are premised on the recognition of the ill-effects of removal , and on official apology for the same .", "They are not meant to bring back a lost past but to help build still a better future where aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples live together reconciled and mutually respecting each other 's rights .", "The people affected by this episode on the life of aboriginal people in Australia include the non-aboriginal people themselves .", "They underwent the experience of witnessing how a group of people is been deprived of culture , language and sense of indigenous community living .", "This episode of ` stolen generation ' provides an example of how redressing human rights violations relates to the larger community where the violations had occurred .", "Though the principal violators can be identified and even brought to justice , the wounds sustained can not heal unless the whole community takes a significant part in the recognition of the harm and in the provision of reparation for those who suffered .", "Ultimately , any violation of human rights is an assault on the well-being of the community .", "Bringing them home - A guide to the findings and recommendations of the National Inquiry into the separation of", "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families ,", "Human Rights and Equal", "Opportunity Commission , Sydney , Australia , 1997 .", "Various other documents on the issue made by HREOC for public distribution .", "`` In the Name of the Indigenous Peoples", "FOCUS '' ... even before international human rights law developed in the 1940s the treatment of Indigenous people breached Australian legal stan dards ."], "_citing_sentence": "Settlers in Australia are similarly responsible for a multitude of massacres, as well as several decades of forced separation of aboriginal children from their parents in an effort to \"Christianize\" them.", "_claim_name": "Existing states are responsible for the destruction of indigenous populations and their societies, and thereby have an obligation to help reverse the effects of their actions", "_doc_title": "Living with the Past  | \u30d2\u30e5\u30fc\u30e9\u30a4\u30c4\u5927\u962a", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["If you know anything about the quiet Southern African country of Botswana , the chances are that it will chiefly be because you have read the delightful novels of Alexander McCall Smith .", "Bushmen are fighting to remain in their Kalahari reserve", "Botswana is indeed one of the most pleasant and successful countries in Africa .", "But two important cases which will come before the courts in the capital , Gaborone , next week will hint at the direction Botswana is taking .", "And many people around the world may feel anxious as a result .", "Read John Simpson 's previous columns", "The Central Kalahari Game Reserve ( CKGR ) in Botswana is a vast , arid , yet immensely rich area , which for tens of thousands of years has been one of the chief hunting-grounds in southern Africa for the Bushmen .", "They are small , hardy , intelligent and gentle people , who have eked out a life for themselves while the rest of humanity developed along completely different lines .", "Bushmen is the term they themselves use .", "They speak a series of remarkably intricate languages , involving a variety of clicking sounds .", "And they can live comfortably in terrain where you and I would die of thirst within two days .", "But there are diamonds under the CKGR - potentially an important source , controlled by an offshoot of the gigantic De Beers organisation .", "The Botswana government decreed that the Bushmen should be moved out of the reserve , and onto relocation sites outside , and this started in 1997 .", "Their villages were pulled down , and they were expelled .", "It was often an ugly process .", "When I last went to the CKGR , I saw that the wells the Bushmen had used were broken up and concreted over .", "There is something particularly distasteful about destroying wells in a desert .", "It was often an ugly process I also went to the relocation site at New Xade .", "At a shebeen ( bar ) , I saw men staggering round , drunk from early in the morning on the beer which costs next to nothing .", "Prostitution is rife , and so are sexually transmitted diseases unknown in the reserve itself .", "Click here if you want to comment", "When the Botswana government takes foreign guests to New Xade on fact-finding trips , it shows them the showcase schools and clinics which have been built for the Bushmen .", "The VIP buses take a detour in order to miss the shebeens .", "A group of 240 Bushmen have taken the Botswana government to court , demanding the right to return to their ancestral lands .", "A new session of the hearing will begin next week .", "This case has dragged on for a long time - so long that 20 of the original Bushmen litigants have died in the meantime .", "The Bushmen believe the government wants to wear them down and drain their money through delaying tactics .", "The government lawyers ask witnesses the same questions again and again , and there are frequent adjournments .", "The judges are not friendly to the Bushmen .", "Yet even though they expect to lose here , they have to continue .", "If the case goes to appeal , the judges will be drawn from other Commonwealth countries , and the Bushmen are confident of winning .", "The other case which will be heard next week is that of an Australian academic , Professor Ken Good , who teaches at Gaborone University .", "President Mogai says the Bushmen do not belong to modern society In February , after he had publicly criticised the evictions of the Bushmen , he was issued with a deportation order , which he is contesting .", "His students staged a demonstration in his support .", "Why should the Botswana government , whose record is otherwise impressive , choose to damage itself in the eyes of the world like this ?", "Some of it seems almost personal .", "President Festus Mogai is a charming and intelligent man , but he has a particular hang-up about the Bushmen - `` Stone-Age creatures '' , he once called them .", "He believes they do not belong in a modern , go-ahead state , and should be forced to integrate into Botswanan society .", "And then there are the diamonds .", "Glory of Africa I used not to believe that this was the real cause , but now I have changed my mind .", "Somehow , it is too much of a coincidence that so much wealth lies under the land of so few Bushmen .", "De Beers strongly denies any link with the evictions , knowing how badly this allegation would damage a corporate image it has done a great deal to improve .", "Yet it is hard to get rid of the suspicion that if De Beers really wanted the Bushmen back on the land , the Botswana government would agree .", "Instead , the Botswana government is planning to change the clause in the constitution which protects areas like the CKGR .", "Once this is changed , it will be easier to evict the Bushmen forever .", "And eventually , perhaps , the mining of diamonds could start .", "Still , there have been no further evictions since February 2002 , and none of the disgusting beatings and torture which accompanied the earlier forced removals .", "Some 250 Bushmen have managed to make their way back into the reserve , and have so far been allowed to stay there .", "While the court case continues , they are probably safe .", "There are Bushmen in many of the surrounding countries , but the CKGR group is the most viable and independent group of all .", "The harshness of the Kalahari has always protected them from cattle grazers , agricultural farmers , and developers - but not , alas , from diamonds .", "Nor from a government which finds them an irritating nuisance - instead of understanding that they are one of the great glories of Africa .", "Read John Simpson 's previous columns :", "War crimes - have we learned anything ?", "Divided Church seeks new inspiration", "Pope 's gift to native Poland Iraq realities refuse to fade away", "No ` Vietnam ' but much to be done", "Click here to return", "What a pity that the world demands these bits of stone", "Jane , England I have not heard of the novels you mention .", "However , I have lived in Botswana , have travelled over the Kalahari , have been concerned that the Basarwa/Bushmen were not allowed to live their lives in their own way when they harm no one .", "I saw the carefully fenced off diamond areas back in the 70 's and feared that those areas would expand .", "What a pity that the world demands these bits of stone such that the Botswana government ( for whom I had great respect in the 70s ) feels it must evict people and try to mould them into a common mould which does not fit them.Jane , England", "The so-called UN should be acting in cases like these to step in and protect indigenous populations where simple greed is the driving force .", "Soon the closest thing to nature will be the green concrete we walk on and Ray Mears will be a myth .", "We owe it to our grandchildren to protect unique ways of life .", "Our way of life could be next !", "Sean , Penzance , Cornwall It 's always about profit , not people .", "Whether they be Bushmen in Africa or the various aboriginal tribes of Canada , if there are resources under or on the land , the TRUE owners/residents of that land are forced off .", "Hopefully , the Bushmen will win their fight , as that will help inspire other aboriginal groups fighting for their land rights.Joanna , Calgary , Canada", "This account seems extremely one-sided as it does not provide any element of support from the Botswanan government to the Bushmen of Botswana .", "I am currently completing my PhD at Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute on issues related to the rights of indigenous peoples and in the course of my research I have travelled to South Africa and have been following very closely the issues of the South African San and the Botswanan Bushmen .", "I am very sympathetic to their concerns but at the same time , I think governments have this difficult task to reconcile the necessity to satisfy the needs of specific groups while addressing issues of national interest.Marcelin Tonye Mahop , London , UK I wish them all the best in their Commonwealth appeal", "John Muir , Edinburgh In a world often set on destroying its own history , native tribal peoples everywhere are at risk and so often go unnoticed .", "It 's easy to see the troubles in advanced nations like Iraq but no one can say that their very culture is endangered .", "John Simpson 's done a good job to highlight this cause , as without the surviving tribes of the world we would all be poorer - diamonds or not !", "I wish them all the best in their Commonwealth appeal.John Muir , Edinburgh Thank you for such an insightful article .", "Sadly , we do n't change much over the years .", "We relocate people and then give them just enough to buy beer and keep them under a thumb .", "I 've never been to this part of the world , but your last comment was wonderful .", "I 'm sure these people are their nation 's gift .", "We should instead be watching and learning how to live with less .", "We could start by living with less diamonds .", "Again , thank you.Bobbi , Olympia , WA", "As a human race , we would go to extreme measure to protect other species on Earth , why ca n't we use the same approach to other human race ?", "But when there is money involved , it 's often difficult .", "Just look at hunting for whales and the killing of seals.Michael Yue , London , United Kingdom I am a citizen of Botswana who has lived in the areas referred to and who is very much sympathetic to the plight of the Bushmen .", "With due respect , this is the most ridiculous account I have heard on the issue by a professional and respected journalist .", "I am disappointed because I always had respect for Mr Simpson and thought him to be credible .", "Why do Western journalists always have to shamelessly ferment fantasies when they report on Africa ?", "The reason Western campaigners have failed to get the support of the locals stems mainly from their persistence to use disinformation , supposedly , to create a more appealing picture for their Western audience .", "Edward Dintwa , Gaborone , Botswana", "The Bushmen have always been persecuted - many generations have been enslaved by Bantu .", "Pressure should be brought to bear on De Beers to influence the Botswana government , and the Bushmen should be allowed to choose their future.Stephanie Wiffen , Pershore , Worcestershire", "This is another sad case of the world elite placing profits before human dignity", "Starr Feeler , Ft Worth , TX , USA", "This is another sad case of the world elite placing profits before human dignity .", "I 'm reminded of the relocation programs the US forced on native Americans .", "I 'm sure De Beers in tandem with the media will successfully slide this cultural tragedy through without much world attention .", "That 's how they work .", "Starr Feeler , Ft Worth , TX , USA It 's not often that I read news and even vaguely understand what it 's all about but John Simpson 's report hit a soft spot .", "Great reporting and I sincerely hope that somebody listens ; although I doubt it .", "Sadly , where money ; especially in the shape of diamonds , people lose out .", "I just hope that De Beers and the Bushmen can come to an understanding .", "Surely they are big enough to let them live there while they make lots and lots of money !", "Frank Lee , Limassol , Cyprus I think it 's a disgrace that companies like De Beers should have so much clout over the government .", "Places that are protected for their raw and natural beauty need to stay that way .", "So the president calls the Bushmen `` Stone Age Creatures '' maybe they are but they are probably happier with the little they have as long as they maintain a semblance of cultural identity .", "Gideon , London ( Ethiopian )", "This is really a story that should hit the headlines because these people have been removed from places where they should be .", "Stone age creatures \u00bf I think that 's a misunderstanding of modernisation .", "If the mining starts in yet another place it will affect their already dry country.Mangaliso , Lilongwe I 've just returned from South Africa and I had the opportunity to hear from a field researcher about the Kalahari Bushman 's way of life .", "I genuinely believe that we in the First world could learn much from the sustainability techniques they have practiced over 40,000 years .", "Martyn Emery , Stockholm , Sweden", "Mr Simpson stated in the article that `` Why should the Botswana government , whose record is otherwise impressive , choose to damage itself in the eyes of the world like this ? ''", "Botswana leaders are not stupid .", "A good name for Botswana means a lot of benefits for the country 's economy and image .", "I am sure they value what the rest of the world think about us and violation of human rights openly will surely damage our good reputation .", "Then the question is `` why would they do that ?", "If the reason is for diamonds , does Mr Simpson think we are so ignorant that we do n't know what happened with the sale of mink coats ?", "The industry suffered because of the ban on killing of the animals .", "Then surely our leaders are not stupid to chase away the Bushman for the love of diamonds and money only to be hit with the same kind of ban on Botswana diamonds .", "Mr Simpson needs to check his sources .", "Whatever the reason is for removing the Bushmen , it is not diamonds .", "Our diamonds are clean ; they are used for the benefit of everyone , including the Bushmen .", "Botswana is one of the safest countries in Africa .", "Human rights are respected , that 's why there are no civil wars here .", "We are trying hard to attract investors to diversify the diamond based economy .", "Why would someone like Mr Simpson want to destroy that ?", "We pride ourselves for being one of the shining democratic examples of Africa .", "We do n't seize anyone 's land by force , we do n't fight each other , we do n't exile any political activists , we do n't kick anyone out of the country without a good reason and we do n't remove the Bushmen from their land .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone ` Stone-Age creatures '", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone In February , after he had publicly criticised the evictions of the Bushmen , he was issued with a deportation order , which he is contesting .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone I used not to believe that this was the real cause , but now I have changed my mind .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone Instead , the Botswana government is planning to change the clause in the constitution which protects areas like the CKGR .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone Iraq realities refuse to fade away", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone It 's always about profit , not people .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone I wish them all the best in their Commonwealth appeal", "Thank you for such an insightful article .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone I am a citizen of Botswana who has lived in the areas referred to and who is very much sympathetic to the plight of the Bushmen .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone It 's not often that I read news and even vaguely understand what it 's all about but John Simpson 's report hit a soft spot .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone I think it 's a disgrace that companies like De Beers should have so much clout over the government .", "Vincent Moloi , Gaborone I 've just returned from South Africa and I had the opportunity to hear from a field researcher about the Kalahari Bushman 's way of life .", "Most Popular Now | 33,914 people are reading stories on the site right now . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "For example, when the government of Botswana expelled the Kalahari Bushmen from their land in 2002, President Mogai defended his actions by describing the bushmen as \"stone age creatures.\"", "_claim_name": "The preservation of displaced cultures is important in preventing future oppression.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Africa | Bushmen fight for homeland", "_labeled_lineIDs": [12, 13, 36]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["AN INDIAN MANIFESTO", "RESTORATION OF LANDS", "FOR A RECONSTRUCTION OF", "AN INDIAN FUTURE IN AMERICA", "THE TRAIL OF BROKEN TREATIES", "We need not give another recitation of past complaints nor engage in redundant dialogue of discontent .", "Our conditions and their cause for being should perhaps be best known by those who have written the record of America 's action against Indian people .", "In 1832 , Black Hawk correctly observed : You know the cause of our making war .", "It is known to all white men .", "They ought to be ashamed of it .", "The government of the United States knows the reasons for our going to its capital city .", "Unfortunately , they do n't know how to greet us .", "We go because America has been only too ready to express shame , and suffer none from the expression - while remaining wholly unwilling to change to allow life for Indian people .", "We seek a new American majority - a majority that is not content merely to confirm itself by superiority in numbers , but which by conscience is committed toward prevailing upon the public will in ceasing wrongs and in doing right .", "For our part , in words and deeds of coming days , we propose to produce a rational , reasoned manifesto for construction of an Indian future in America .", "If America has maintained faith with its original spirit , or may recognize it now , we should not be denied .", "Press Statement issued : October 31 , 1972", "TRAIL OF BROKEN TREATIES 20-POINT POSITION PAPER", "We want to have a new", "RELATIONSHIP with you ... an", "OUR 20 POINT PROPOSAL", "October 1972 , Minneapolis , Minnesota", "October 1972 , Minneapolis , Minnesota `` TRAIL OF BROKEN TREATIES '' : FOR RENEWAL OF CONTRACTS -", "RECONSTRUCTION OF INDIAN COMMUNITIES & SECURING AN INDIAN FUTURE IN AMERICA !", "ESTABLISHMENT OF TREATY COMMISSION TO MAKE NEW TREATIES :", "The President should impanel and the Congress establish , with next year , a Treaty Commission to contract a security and assistance treaty of treaties , with Indian people to negotiate a national commitment to the future of Indian people for the last quarter of the Twentieth Century .", "Authority should be granted to allow tribes to contract by separate and individual treaty , multi-tribal or regional groupings or national collective , respecting general or limited subject matter . .", "and provide that no provisions of existing treaty agreements may be withdrawn or in any manner affected without the explicit consent and agreement of any particularly related Indian Nation .", "AN ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE & JOINT SESSSIONS OF CONGRESS :", "The President and the leadership of Congress should make a commitment now and next January to request and arrange for four Native Americans - selected by Indian people at a future date - and the President of the United States and any designated U.S. Senators and Representatives to address a joint session of Congress and the American people through national communications media regarding the Indian future within the American Nation , and relationships between the Federal Government and Indian Nations - on or before June 2 , 1974 , the first half century anniversary of the 1924 `` Indian Citizenship Act . ''", "COMMISSION TO REVIEW TREATY COMMITMENTS & VIOLATIONS :", "The President should immediately create a multi-lateral , Indian and non-Indian Commission to review domestic treaty commitments and complaints of chronic violations and to recommend or act for corrective actions including the imposition of mandatory sanctions or interim restraints upon violative activities , and including formulation of legislation designed to protect the jeopardized Indian rights and eliminate the unending patterns of prohibitively complex lawsuits and legal defenses -- which habitually have produced indecisive and interment results , only too frequently forming guidelines for more court battles , or additional challenges and attacks against Indian rights .", "( Indians have paid attorneys and lawyers more than $ 40,000,000 since 1962 .", "Yet many Indian people are virtually imprisoned in the nation 's courtrooms in being forced constantly to defend their rights , while many tribes are forced to maintain a multitude of suits in numerous jurisdictions relating to the same or a single issue , or a few similar issues .", "There is less need for more attorney assurances than there is for institution of protections that reduce violations and minimize the possibilities for attacks upon Indian rights ) .", "RESUBMISSION OF UNRATIFIED TREATIES TO THE SENATE :", "The President should resubmit to the U.S. Senate of the next Congress those treaties negotiated with Indian nations or their representatives , but never heretofore ratified nor rendered moot by subsequent treaty contract with such Indians not having ratified treaties with the United States .", "The primary purpose to be served shall be that of restoring the rule of law to the relationships between such Indians and the United States , and resuming a recognition of rights controlled by treaty relations where the failure to ratify prior treaties operated to affirm the cessions and loss of title to Indian lands and territory , but failed to secure and protect the reservations of lands , rights , and resources reserved against cession , relinquishment , or loss , the Senate should adopt resolutions certifying that a prior de facto ratification has been affected by the Government of the United States , and direct that appropriate actions be undertaken to restore to such Indians an equitable measure of their reserved rights and ownership in lands , resources , and rights of self-government .", "Additionally , the President and the Congress should direct that reports be concluded upon the disposition of land rights and land title which were lawfully vested or held , for people of Native Indian blood under the 1840 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico .", "ALL INDIANS TO BE GOVERNED BY TREATY RELATIONS :", "The Congress should enact a Joint Resolution declaring that as a matter of public policy and good faith , all Indian people in the United States shall be considered to be in treaty relations with the Federal Government and governed by doctrines of such relationship .", "MANDATORY RELIEF AGAINST TREATY RIGHTS VIOLATIONS :", "The Congress should add a new section to Title 28 of the United States Code to provide for the judicial en - forcement and protection of Indian Treaty Rights .", "Such section should direct that upon petition of any Indian Tribe or prescribed Indian groups and Individuals claiming substantial injury to , or interference in the equitable and good faith exercise of any rights , governing authority or utilization and preservation of resources , secured by Treaty , mandatorily the Federal District courts shall grant immediate enjoinder or injunctive relief against any non-Indian party or defendants , including State governments and their subdivisions or officers , alleged to be engaged in such injurious actions , until such time as the District U.S. Court may be reasonably satisfied that a Treaty Violation is not being committed , or otherwise satisfied that the Indians ' interests and rights , in equity and in law , are preserved and protected from jeopardy and secure from harm .", "JUDICIAL RECOGNITION OF INDIAN RIGHT TO INTERPRET TREATIES :", "The Congress should by law provide for a new system of federal court jurisdiction and procedure , when Indian treaty or governmental rights are at issue , and when there are non-Indian parties involved in the controversy , whereby an Indian Tribe or Indian party may by motion advance the case from a federal District Court for hearing , and decision by the related U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals .", "The law should provide that , once an Interpretation upon the matter has been rendered by either a federal district or circuit court an Indian Nation may , on its own behalf or on behalf of any of its members , if dissatisfied with the federal court ruling or regarding it in error respecting treaty or tribal rights , certify directly to the United States Supreme Court a `` Declaratory Judgment of Interpretation '' , regarding the contested rights and drawn at the direction or under the auspices of the affected Indian Nation , which that Court shall be mandated to receive with the contested decision for hearing and final judgment and resolution of the controversy - except and unless that any new treaties which might be contracted may provide for some other impartial body for making ultimate and final interpretations of treaty provisions and their application .", "In addition , the law should provide that an Indian Nation , to protect its exercise of rights or the exercise of treaty or tribal rights by its members , or when engaging in new activities based upon sovereign or treaty rights , may issue an interim `` Declaratory Opinion on Interpretation of Rights '' , which shall be controlling upon the exercise of police powers or administrative authorities of that Indian Nation , the United States or any State ( s ) , unless or until successfully challenged or modified upon certification to and decision by the United States Supreme Court - and not withstanding any contrary U.S. Attorney General 's opinion ( s ) . .", "solicitor 's opinion ( s ) , or Attorney General 's Opinion ( s ) of any of the States .", "CREATION OF CONGRESSIONAL JOINT COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION OF INDIAN RELATIONS :", "The next Congress of the United States , and its respective houses , should agree at its outset and in its organization to withdraw jurisdiction over Indian Affairs and Indian-related program authorizations from all existing Committees except Appropriations of the House and Senate , and create a Joint House-Senate `` Committee on Reconstruction of Indian Relations and Programs '' to assume such jurisdiction and responsibilities for recommending new legislation and program authorizations to both houses of Congress - including consideration and action upon all proposals presented herewith by the `` Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan , '' as well as matters from other sources .", "The Joint Committee membership should consist of Senators and Representatives who would be willing to commit considerable amounts of time and labors and conscientious thought to an exhaustive review and examining evaluation of past and present policies , program and practices of the Federal Government relating to Indian people , to the development of a comprehensive broadly-inclusive `` American Indian Community Reconstruction Act '' , which shall provide for certain of the measures herein proposed , repeal numerous laws which have oppressively disallowed the existence of a viable `` Indian Life '' in this country , and affect the purposes while constructing the provisions which shall allow and ensure a secure Indian future in America .", "LAND REFORM AND RESTORATION OF A 110-MILLION ACRE NATIVE LAND BASE :", "The next Congress and Administration should commit themselves and effect a national commitment implemented by statutes or executive and administrative actions , to restore a permanent non-diminishing Native American land base of not less than 110-million acres by July 4 , 1976 .", "This land base and its separate parts , should be vested with the recognized rights and conditions of being perpetually non-taxable except by autonomous and sovereign Indian authority , and should never again be permitted to be alienated from Native American or Indian ownership and control .", "A. Priorities In Restoration of the Native American Line Base :", "When Congress acted to delimit the President 's authority and the Indian Nations ' powers for making treaties in 1871 , approximately 135,000,000 acres of land and territory had been secured to Indian ownership against cession or relinquishment .", "This acreage did not include the 1867 treaty-secured recognition of land title and rights of Alaskan Natives , nor millions of acres otherwise retained by Indians in what were to become `` unrelated '' treaties of Indian land cession as in California ; nor other land areas authorized to be set aside for Indian Nations contracted by , but never benefiting from their treaties .", "When the Congress , in 1887 , under the General Allotment Act and other measures of the period and `` single system of legislation , '' delegated treaty-assigned Presidential responsibilities to the Secretary of the Interior and his Commissioner of Indian Affairs and agents in the Bureau of Indian Affairs , relating to the government of Indian relations under the treaties for the 135 million acres , collectively held , immediately became subject to loss .", "The 1887 Act provided for the sale of `` surplus '' Indian lands - and contained a formula for the assignment or allocation of land tracts to Indian individuals , dependent partly on family size , which would have allowed an average-sized allotment of 135 acres to one million Indians - at a time when the number of tribally-related Indians was less than a quarter million or fewer than 200,000 .", "The Interior Department efficiently managed the loss of 100-million acres of Indian land , and its transfer to non-Indian ownership ( frequently by homestead , not direct purchase - in little more then the next quarter century .", "When Congress prohibited further allotments to Indian individuals , by its 1934 Indian Reorganization Act , it effectively determined that future generations of Indian people would be `` land-less Indians '' except by hiership and inheritance .", "( 110-million acres , including 40-million acres in Alaska , would approximate an average 135 acres multiplied by .8 million Native Americans , a number indicated by the 1970 U.S. Census .", "Simple justice would seem to demand that priorities in restorations of land bases be granted to those Indian Nations who are land-less by fault of unratified or unfulfilled treaty provisions ; Indian Nations , land-less because of congressional and administrative actions reflective of criminal abuse of trust responsibilities ; and other groupings of land-less Indians , particularly of the land-less generations , including many urban Indians and non-reservation Indian people - many of whom have been forced to pay in forms of deprivation , loss of rights and entitlements , and other extreme costs upon their lives , an `` emigration-migration-education-training '' tax for their unfulfilled pursuit of opportunity in America - a `` tax '' as unwarranted and unjustified as it is unprecedented in the history of human rights mature nations possessed of a modern conscience .", "B. Consolidation of Indians ' Land , Water , Natural and Economic Resources :", "The restoration of an equitable Native American Land Base should be accompanied by enlightened revision in the present character of alleged `` trust relationships and by reaffirmation of that creative and positive characters of Indian sovereignty and sovereign rights .", "The past pattern of treating `` trust status '' as wrongful `` non-ownership '' of properties beyond control of individual interests and `` owners , '' could be converted to a beneficial method of consolidating useable land , water , forests , fisheries , and other exploitable and renewable natural resources into productive economic , cultural , or other community-purpose units , benefiting both individual and tribal interests in direct forms under autonomous control of properly-defined , appropriate levels of Indian government .", "For example , the 13.5 million acres of multiple and fractionated hiership lands should not represent a collective denial of beneficial ownership and interests of inheriting individuals , but be considered for plans of collective and consolidated use .", "( The alternatives and complexities of this subject and its discussion require the issuance of a separate essay at a later date . )", "C. Termination of Losses and Condemnation of Non-Indian Land Title :", "Most short-term and long term leases of some four million acres of Indians ' agricultural and industrial-use lands represent a constant pattern of mismanagement of trust responsibilities with the federal trustees knowingly and willfully administering properties in methods and terms which are adverse or inimical to the interests of the Indian beneficiaries and their tribes .", "Non-Indians have benefit of the best of Indian agricultural range and dry farm lands , and of some irrigation systems , generally having the lowest investment/highest return ratios , while Indians are relegated to lands requiring high investments/low returns .", "A large-scale , if selective , program of lease cancellations and non-renewals should be Instituted under Congressional authorization as quickly as possible .", "As well , Indian Tribes should be authorized to re-secure Indian ownership of alienated lands within reservation boundaries under a system of condemnation for national policy purposes , with the federal government bearing the basic costs of `` just compensation '' as burden for unjustified betrayals of its trust responsibilities to Indian people .", "These actions would no way be as extreme as the termination , nationalization , confiscation and sale of millions of acres of reservation land by a single measure as in the .", "cases of the Menominee and Klamath Indian Tribes , and attempted repeatedly with the Colvilles .", "D. Repeal of the Menominee , Klamath , and Other Termination Acts :", "The Congress should act immediately to repeal the Termination Acts of the 1950s and 1960s and restore ownership of the several million acres of land to the Indian people involved , perpetually non-alienable and tax-exempt .", "The Indians rights to autonomous self-government and sovereign control of their resources and development should be reinstated .", "Repeal of the terminal legislation would also advance a commitment towards a collective 110-million acre land base for Native Americans - when added to the near 55-million acres already held by Indians , apart from the additional 40-million acres allocated in Alaska .", "( The impact of termination and its various forms have never been understood fully by the American people , the Congress , and many Indian people .", "Few wars between nations have ever accomplished as much as the total dispossession of a people of their rights and resources as have the total victories and total surrenders legislated by the Termination Laws .", "If the Arab States of the present Mid-East could comparably presume the same authority over the State of Israel , they could eliminate Israel by the purchase or by declaring it an Arab State or subdivision thereof , on the one hand , evicting the Israelis from the newly-acquired Arab lands , or on the other , allowing the Israelis to remain as part of the larger Arab Nation and justify the disposition to the world by the claim that , whether leaving or remaining , but without their nation , the Jewish people would still be Jewish .", "Such on unacceptable outrage to American people would quickly succeed to World War III - except when such actions are factually taken against Menominees , Klamaths , Senecas , Utes , and threatened against many other landed nations of Indian people .", "REVISION OF 25 U.S.C. 163 ; RESTORATION OF RIGHTS TO INDIANS TERMINATED BY ENROLLMENT AND REVOCATION OF PROHIBITIONS AGAINST `` DUAL BENEFITS '' :", "The Congress should enact measures fully in support of the doctrine that an Indian Nation has complete power to govern and control its own membership - but eradicating the extortive and coercive devices in federal policy and programming which have subverted and denied the natural human relationships and natural development of Indian communities , and committed countless injuries upon Indian families and individuals .", "The general prohibition against benefiting dually from federal assistance or tribal resources by having membership or maintaining relationships in more than one Indian Tribe has frequently resulted in denial of rights and benefits from any sources .", "Blood quantum criteria , closed and restrictive enrollment , and `` dual benefits prohibitions '' have generated minimal problems for Indians having successive non-Indian parentage involved in their ancestry - while creating vast problems and complexities for full-blood and predominant Indian blood persons , when ancestry or current relationships involve two separate Indian tribes , or more .", "Full-blood Indians can fail to qualify for membership in any of several tribes to which they may be directly related if quantum-relationships happen to be in wrong configuration , or non-qualifying fractions .", "Families have been divided to be partly included upon enrollments , while some children of the same parents are wrongly ( if there are at all to be enrollments ) excluded .", "There should be a restoration of Indian and tribal rights to all individual Indians who have been victimized and deprived by the vicious forms of termination effected by forced choices between multiply-related Tribes , abusive application of blood-quantum criteria , and federally-engineered and federally-approved enrollments .", "The right of Indian persons to maintain , sever , or resume valid relations with several Indian Nations or communities unto which they are born , or acquire relationships through natural marriage relations or parenthood and other customary forms , must again be recognized under law and practice and also the right of Indian Nations to receive other Indian people into relations with them -- or to maintain relations with all their own people , without regard to blood-quantum criteria and federal standards for exclusion or restrictions upon benefits .", "( I t may be recognized that the general Indian leadership has become conditioned to accept and give application to these forms of terminating rights , patterns which are an atrocious aberration from any concepts of Indian justice and sovereignty ) .", "REPEAL OF STATE LAWS ENACTED UNDER PUBLIC LAW 280 ( 1953 ) :", "State enactment 's under the authority conferred by the Congress In Public Law 280 has posed the most serious threat to Indian sovereignty and local self-government of any measure in recent decades .", "Congress must now nullify those State statutes .", "Represented as a `` law enforcement '' measure , PL280 robs Indian communities of the core of their governing authority and operates to convert reservation areas into refuges from responsibilities , where many people , not restricted by race , can take full advantage of a veritable vacuum of controlling law , or law which commands its first respect for justice by encouraging an absence of offenses .", "These States ' acceptance of condition for their own statehood in their Enabling Acts - that they forever disclaim sovereignty and jurisdiction over Indian lands and Indian people - should be binding upon them and that restrictive condition upon their sovereignty be reinstated .", "They should not be permitted further to gain from the conflict of interest engaged by such States ' participation in enactment of Public Law 280 -- at the expense of the future of Indian people in their own communities , as well as our present welfare and well-being .", "RESUME FEDERAL PROTECTIVE JURISDICTION FOR OFFENSES AGAINST INDIANS :", "The Congress should enact , the Administration support and seek passage of , new provisions under Titles 18 and 25 of the U.S. Code , which shall extend the protective jurisdiction of the United States over Indian persons wherever situated in its territory and the territory of the several States , outside of Indian Reservations or Country , and provide the prescribed offenses of violence against Indian persons shall be federal crimes , punishable by prescribed penalties through prosecutions in the federal judiciary , and enforced in arrest actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation .", "U.S. Marshals , and other commissioned police agents of the United States - who shall be compelled to act upon the commission of such crimes , and upon any written complaint or sworn request alleging an offense , which by itself would be deemed probable cause for arresting actions .", "A. Establishment of a National Federal Indian Grand Jury :", "The Congress should establish a special national grand jury consisting solely of Indian members selected in part by the President and in part by Indian people , having a continuous life , and equipped with its own investigative and legal staff , and presided over by competent judicial officers , while vested with prescribed authorities of indictments to be prosecuted in the federal and Indian court systems .", "This grand jury should be granted jurisdiction to act in the bringing of indictments on basis of evidence and probable cause within any federal judicial district where a crime of violence has been committed against an Indian and resulting in an Indian 's death , or resulting in bodily injury and involving lethal weapons or aggressive force , when finding reason to be not satisfied with handling or disposition of a case or incident by local authorities , and operating consistent with federal constitutional standards respecting rights of an accused .", "More broadly and generally , the grand jury should be granted broad authority to monitor the enforcement of law under Titles 18 , 25 , and 42 , respecting Indian jurisdiction and civil rights protections ; the administration of law enforcement ; confinement facilities and juvenile detention centers , and judicial systems in Indian country ; corrupt practices or violations of law in the administration of federal Indian agencies or of federally-funded programs for Indian people - including administration by tribal officials or tribal governmental units - and federal employees , and issue special reports bringing indictments when warranted , directed toward elimination of wrong-doing , wrongful administration or practices ; and improvement recommendations for-systems to ensure proper services and benefits to communities , or Indian people .", "B. Jurisdiction over Non-Indians Within Indian Reservations :", "The Congress should eliminate the immunity of non-Indians to the general application of law and law enforcement within Reservation Boundaries , without regard to land or property title .", "Title 18 of the U.S. Code should be amended to clarify and compel that all persons within the originally-established boundaries of an Indian Reservation are subject to the laws of the sovereign Indian Nation in the exercise of its autonomous governing authority .", "A system of concurrent jurisdiction should be minimum requirement in incorporated towns .", "C. Accelerated Rehabilitation and Release Program for State and Federal Indian Prisoners :", "The Administration should immediately contract an appropriately staffed Commission of Review on Rehabilitation of Indian Prisoners in Federal and State institutions , funded from Safe Streets and Crime Control funds , or discretionary funds under control of the President , and consisting of Indian membership .", "The review commission would conduct census and survey of all Indian prisoners presently confined , compile information on records of offenses , sentences , actions of committing jurisdictions ( courts , police .", "pre-sentence reports , probation and parole systems ) and related pertinent data .", "The basic objective of the review commission would be to arrange for the development of new systems of community treatment centers , or national/regional rehabilitation centers as alternatives to existing prison , situations ; to work with Bureau of Prison and federal parole systems to arrange for accelerated rehabilitation and release programs as justified , and to give major attention to the reduction of offenses and recidivism in Indian communities .", "The commission would act to provide forms by which Indian people may assume the largest measures of responsibility in reversing the rapidly increasing crime rates on Indian reservations , and re-approaching situations where needs for jails and prisoner institutions may again be virtually eliminated .", "The Congress should provide appropriate authorizations in support of such effort - perhaps extending the protective jurisdiction of the United States over Indians in State institutions to provide for transfer to Indian operated rehabilitation and treatment centers , at least probation systems , in a bargain of responsibility for bringing about vast reduction in incidences of offenses among Indian communities .", "( The $ 8,000,000 BIA budget for Law and Order is not directed toward such purpose - spending nearly half of its present increases on new cars to gauge the increases in reported offenses . )", "The U.S. has asserted its jurisdiction over Indians nationwide , and may now do so again protectively .", "The Congress controlled liquor sales to Indians nationally until 1953 , allowing prosecution for non-Indian offenders .", "Education of Indians in public state schools is essentially a contracting of jurisdiction to States . )", "ABOLITION OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS BY 1976 :", "A New Structure : The Congress working through the proposed Senate-House `` Joint Committee on Reconstruction of Indian Relations and Programs , '' in formulation of an Indian Community Reconstruction Act should direct that the Bureau of Indian Affairs shall be abolished as an agency on or before July 4 , 1976 ; to provide for an alternative structure of government for sustaining and revitalizing the Indian-federal relationship between the President and the Congress of the United States , respectively , and the respective Indian Nations and Indian people at last consistent with constitutional criteria , national treaty commitments , and Indian sovereignty , and provide for transformation and transition into the new system as rapidly as possible prior to abolition of the BIA .", "CREATION OF AN `` OFFICE OF FEDERAL INDIAN RELATIONS AND COMMUNITY RECONSTRUCTION :", "The Bureau of Indian Affairs should be replaced by a new unit in the federal government which represents an equality of responsibility among and between the President , the Congress , and the Governments of the separate Indian Nations ( or their respective people collectively ) , and equal standing in the control of relations between the Federal Government and Indian Nations .", "The following standards and conditions should be obtained :", "The Office would structurally be placed in the Executive Offices of the President , but be directed by a tripartite Commission of three Commissioners ; one being appointed by the President , one being appointed by the joint congressional committee , and one being selected by national election among Indian people , and all three requiring confirmation by the U.S. Senate .", "The Office would be directly responsible to each the President , the Congress , and Indian people , represented by a newly-established National Indian Council of no more than twenty members selected by combination national and regional elections for two-year terms with half expiring each year .", "C. All existing federal agencies and program units presently involved or primarily directed toward serving Indians would be consolidated under the office , together with the budget allocations of the Departments assisting Indians although primarily oriented toward other concerns .", "All programs would be reviewed for revision of form , or elimination altogether , or continuance .", "A total personnel and employee structure ceiling of no more than 1,000 employees in all categories should be placed upon the new office for its first live years of operation .", "Employment in the new office would be exempt from Civil Service regulations and provisions .", "( The Civil Service Commission and federal employee unions should be requested to propose a plan for preference hiring in other agencies and for transfer of benefits to new employment , for presentation to Congress , incident to abolition of the BIA and other Indian-related federal programs . )", "The Office would maintain responsibility over its own budget and planning functions , independent from any control by the Office of Management and Budget ( OMB ) , and should be authorized $ 15,000,000,000 budget , reviewing the efficiency of the Office and the impact and progress of the programming .", "The Appropriations Committees should not impose undue interference in plans - but should insist upon equitable treatment of all Indian Nations and general Indian people who would not be denied their respective direct relations with the Congress , or with the President .", "The office of Federal Indian Relations would assume the administrative responsibility as trustee of Indian properties and property rights until revision of the trust responsibility might be accomplished and delegated for administration as a function and expression of the sovereign authority of the respective Indian Nations .", "PRIORITIES AND PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED NEW OFFICE :", "The central purpose of the proposed `` Office of Federal Indian Relations and Community Reconstruction '' is to remedy the break-down in constitutionally-prescribed relationships between the United States and Indian Nations and people and to alleviate the destructive impact that distortion in those relationships has rendered upon the lives of Indian people .", "More directly , it is proposed for allowing broad attacks upon the multitude of millions of problems which confront Indian lives , or consume them , and which can not be eliminated by piecemeal approaches , jerry-built structures , or bureaucracies , or by taking on one problem at a time , always to be confronted by many more .", "The Congress with assent of the Courts , has developed its constitutional mandate to `` regulate Indian commerce '' into a doctrine of absolute control and total power over the lives of Indians - through failing to give these concerns the time and attention that the responsibilities of such power demand .", "The Congress restricted the highest authority of the President for dealing with Indian matters and affairs , then abandoned Indian people to the lowest levels of bureaucratic government for administration of its part-time care and asserted all-powerful control .", "The constitution maintained Indian people in citizenship and allegiance to our own Nations , but the Congress and the Bureau of Indian Affairs has converted this constitutional standard into the most bastardized forms of acknowledged autonomy and `` sovereign self-governing control '' - scarcely worthy of the terms , if remaining divested of their meaning .", "A central priority of the proposed Office should be the formulation of legislation designed to repeal the body of `` Indian Law that continues to operate most harmfully against Indian communities - including sections of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act and prior legislation which instituted foreign forms of government upon our Nations , or which have served to divorce tribal government from responsibilities and accountability to Indian people .", "At this point in time , there is demonstrable need for the Congress to exercise highest responsibilities to Indian people in order that we might have a future in our homeland .", "This requires that Congress now recognize some restrictions upon its own authority to intervene in Indian communities and act to totally exclude the exercise of local tribal sovereignty and self-governing control .", "The proposed Office of Federal Indian Relations and Community Reconstruction should be authorized the greatest latitude to act and to remove restrictions from the positive actions of Indian people .", "This can be achieved if the Congress establishes a new Office in the manner proposed and authorizes it in promising degree to operate as instrumentality of its responsibilities .", "INDIAN COMMERCE AND TAX IMMUNITIES :", "The Congress should enact a statute or Joint Resolution certifying that trade , commerce , and transportation of Indians remain wholly outside the authority , control , and regulation of the several States .", "Congressional acts should provide that complete taxing authority upon properties , use of properties and incomes derived therefrom , and business activities within the exterior boundaries of Indian reservations , as well as commerce between reservations and Indian Nations , shall be vested with the respective or related tribal governments , or their appropriate to subdivisions - or certify that consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment , Section 2 statehood enabling acts , prevailing treaty commitments , and the general policy of the United States , that total Indian immunity to taxing authority of states is reaffirmed and extended with uniformity to all Indian Nations as a matter/established or vested right .", "( These questions should not have to be constantly carried to the courts for reaffirmation - disregarded as general law , and attacked by challenge with every discernable variation or difference in fact not considered at a prior trial ) .", "( Tribes have been restricted in their taxing authorities by some of the same laws which exclude federal or state authority .", "However , there are areas where taxing authorities might be used beneficially in the generation of revenues for financing government functions , services , and community insti - tutions . )", "( The Congress should remove any obstacles to the rights of Indian people to travel freely between Indian Nations without being blocked in movement , commerce , or trade , by barriers of borders , customs , duties , or tax . )", "PROTECTION OF INDIANS ' RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND CULTURAL INTEGRITY :", "The Congress shall proclaim its insistence that the religious freedom and cultural integrity of Indian people shall be respected and protected throughout the United States , and provide that Indian religion and culture , even in regenerating or renaissance or developing stages , or when manifested in the personal character and treatment of one 's own body , shall not be interfered with , disrespected , or denied .", "( No Indian shall be forced to cut their hair by any institution or public agency or official , including military authorities or prison regulation , for example . )", "It should be an insistence by Congress that implies strict penalty for its violation .", "NATIONAL REFERENDUMS , LOCAL OPTIONS , AND FORMS OF INDIAN ORGANIZATION :", "The Indian population Is small enough to be amenable to voting and elective processes of national referendums , local option referendums , and other elections for rendering decisions , approvals , or disapproval on many issues and matters .", "The steady proliferation of Indian and Indian-interest organizations and Indian advisory boards and the like , the multiplication of Indian officials and the emergence of countless Indian `` leaders '' , represent a less preferable form for decision-making a state of disorganization , and a clear reflection of deterioration in the relations between the United States and Indian people as contracting sovereigns holding a high standard of accountability and responsibility .", "Some Indians seem to standby to ratify any viewpoints relating to any or all Indians ; others conditioned to accept any viewpoint or proposal from official source .", "Whereas Indian people were to be secure from political manipulation and the general political system in the service of Indian needs , political favor , and cutthroat competition for funds with grants made among limited alliances of agency-Indian friends have become the rule - while responsibilities and accountability to Indian people and Indian communities have been forgotten .", "While the treaty relationship allows that we should not be deprived by power what we are possessed of by right - little personal power and political games are being played by a few Indians while we are being deprived our rights .", "This dissipation of strength , energies , and commitment should end .", "We should consolidate our resources and purpose to restore relations born of sovereignty and to resume command of our communities , our rights , our resources , and our destiny .", "( The National Council on Indian Opportunity Association on American Indian Affairs , and the National Tribal Chairman 's Association are examples of government , non-Indian directed , and Indian organizations which are among may which could and should be eliminated ) .", "( At least none should be funded from federal sources ) .", "HEALTH , HOUSING , EMPLOYMENT , ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT , AND EDUCATION :", "The Congress and Administration and proposed Indian Community Reconstruction Office must allow for the most creative , if demanding and disciplined forms of community development and purposeful initiatives .", "The proposed $ 15,000,000,000 budget for the 1970s remainder could provide for completed construction of 100,000 now housing units ; create more than 100,000 new permanent , income and tribal revenue-producing jobs on reservations and lay foundation for as many more in years following ; meet all the economic and industrial development needs of numerous communities ; and make education at all levels , and provide health services or medical care to all Indians as a matter of entitlement and fulfilled right.Yet , we now find most Indians unserved and programs not keeping pace with growing problems under a billion dollar plus budget annually - approximately a service cost of $ 10,000 per reservation Indian family per year , or $ 100,000 in this decade .", "Our fight is not over a $ 50-million cutback in a mismanaged and misdirected budget , and can not be ended with restoration of that then invisible amount - but over the part that it , any and all amounts , have come to play in a perennial billion-dollar indignity upon the lives of Indian people , our aged , our young , our parents , and our children .", "Death remains a standard cure for environmentally induced diseases afflicting many Indian children without adequate housing facilities , heating systems , and pure water sources .", "Their delicate bodies provide their only defense and protection - and too often their own body processes become allies to the quickening of their deaths as with numerous cases of dysentery and diarrhea .", "Still , more has been spent on hotel bills for Indian-related problem-solving meetings , conferences , and conventions , than has been spent on needed housing in recent years .", "More is being spent from federal and tribal fund sources on such decision-making activities that is being committed to assist but two-thirds of Indian college students having desperate financial need .", "Rather , few decisions are made , and less problems solved , because there has developed an insensitivity to conscience which has eliminated basic standards of accountability .", "Indian communities have been fragmented in governmental , social , and constitutional functions as they have become restructured or de-structured to accommodate the fragmentation in governmental programming and contradictions in federal policies .", "There is a need to reintegrate these functions into the life and fabric of the communities .", "Of treaty provisions standard to most treaties , none has been breached more viciously and often as those dealing with education - first by withdrawing education processes from jurisdiction and responsibility of Indian communities , and from the power of Indian self-government - and falling yet to restore authority to our people , except through increased funding of old advisory and contract-delegation laws , or through control to conduct school in the conditioned forms and systems devised by non-Indians , or otherwise commended by current popularity .", "At minimum , Indian Nations have to reclaim community education authority to allow creative education processes in forms of their free choice , in a system of federally-sanctioned unit or consolidated Indian districts , supported by a mandatory recognition of accreditation in all other systems in this land ."], "_citing_sentence": "The Indian Removal Act of 1830, the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act, and the 1887 General Allotment Act are just a few examples of legislation used to destroy Native American communities in the US.", "_claim_name": "Existing states are responsible for the destruction of indigenous populations and their societies, and thereby have an obligation to help reverse the effects of their actions", "_doc_title": "Trail of Broken Treaties 20-Point Position Paper - An Indian Manifesto", "_labeled_lineIDs": [58, 137]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 134, "_topic_name": "This House would protect aboriginal culture"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The bronze plaques were seized by the British in 1897 when they took over the kingdom of Benin , now south-west Nigeria .", "Most of the plaques sold by the museum have been bought by Nigeria , says a 1972 report which has only now been declassified .", "The Nigerian Government has called several times for all the 700 bronze plaques to be returned .", "The revelation is an interesting one for those campaigning to see the Benin bronzes return to Nigeria - and the Elgin Marbles to Greece .", "The museum now regrets the sales , reports The Art Newspaper .", "In 1950 , the keeper of ethnography at the museum , Hermann Braunholtz , told the trustees that of the 203 plaques acquired from the Foreign Office in 1898 : `` About 30 are duplicate specimens , and therefore surplus to the Museum 's requirements . ''", "If there were two bronzes with a profile of a leopard , one was deemed to be a duplicate , even though they were individually modelled and cast .", "The Nigerian Government was interested in buying the pieces but , because the museum did not know how much the plaques were worth , it sold four to a London dealer as a test .", "The four went for # 1,100 , with the museum receiving # 876 after deduction of commission .", "The following year 13 plaques were sold to the Nigerian Government for # 1,050 , an average price of # 75 .", "The sale was stopped in 1972 .", "The museum 's African specialist , Dr Nigel Barley , admitted the decision to sell was unfortunate .", "The fate of the plaques sent to Nigeria are in doubt as little of the collection of Benin bronzes is currently on display .", "Earlier this month Nigeria 's lower house of parliament called on its president , Olusegun Obasanjo , to request the repatriation of all the artefacts .", "The sale of the plaques could also have relevance for the fate of the Elgin Marbles .", "The Greek Government has been calling for the Marbles to be returned since they were seized in 1799 and given to the British Museum .", "Links to more Arts stories In This Section", "Egypt reclaims stolen antiquities", "Record numbers at da Vinci exhibition", "Wartime bomb found at Bolshoi", "Poetry prize shortlist unveiled", "Sculpture of Queen for Jubilee", "Princeton offers sculpture return", "Turners return home", "Blood sculpture ` melted '", "Fake Harry Potter novel hits China", "Kandinsky painting row settled", "Artist 's work saved for nation", "Singer catches fire at Royal Opera", "Chirac wins Dumas ashes wrangle", "Bell tolls for ` hunchback ' title", "Star pair to tread London boards", "Berkoff deported from US ` Anti-Semitic ' book sells out", "Strike hits exhibition launch In This Section", "Strike hits exhibition launch"], "_citing_sentence": "They have also been irresponsible when it comes to protecting the fate of many of its artefacts: \"The British Museum has sold off more than 30 controversial Benin bronzes for as little as PS75 each since 1950, it has emerged\"; \"The museum now regrets the sales\".", "_claim_name": "Developing countries are able to guard and preserve their own cultural treasures", "_doc_title": "BBC News | ARTS | Benin bronzes sold to Nigeria", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 9]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["The Axum obelisk , regarded as one of Ethiopia 's national treasures , was seized by Mussolini as a trophy of war .", "Its return is likely to renew calls for other countries to return looted treasures .", "In Britain the British Museum is adamant that the Elgin Marbles should remain in a place where they can be seen by international visitors .", "Are you pleased that the Axum obelisk has been returned to Ethiopia ?", "Should historical artefacts be returned to their country of origin ?", "Or are they better looked after where more people can see them ?", "This debate is now closed .", "Read a selection of your comments below .", "The following comments reflect the balance of opinion received so far .", "The return of the Axum obelisk is a symbolic reconciliation", "Solomon , Addis Ababa , Ethiopia", "The return of the Axum obelisk is a symbolic reconciliation , putting aside all the past differences between Ethiopia and Italy , and the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the people of both countries .", "Restoration of historical artefacts to their origins helps for better understanding of history and culture of the people .", "Ownership of cultural property has been a very controversial subject in times of war and cultural imperialism .", "Historical artefacts ideally belong to their countries of origin , but returning them would mean that the historic and national museum of all the imperialistic states would empty .", "I do n't believe that the `` better looked after '' argument stands in the modern world of today , where grants can be given to poorer states so that they can preserve and own their history!Elena Doganis , Athens", "Any property taken away without the consent of the owner : such an action amounts to theft .", "Hence the right of retention does not remain with the thief .", "In principle then , all other historical artefacts must be returned to the rightful countries of origin .", "Charles I Nyambe , Lusaka , Zambia", "To say that any artefacts taken by force should stay where they are now is to validate all the atrocities that were done in the past .", "I think all historical artefacts should be returned to the place they belong .", "It is a civilised behaviour to do so and to make a wrong right .", "I give the Italians thumbs up for what they have done here .", "It shows that they are better people than what their forefathers were.Mebea Tesfaye , Richmond , VA USA", "Historic facts are more valuable when they are in their original places .", "For it is a sign of social and economic developments to the country than the other part of planet.Sintayoh , Axum , Ethiopia", "Let not the return of the obelisk be used as political propaganda for the coming May election in Ethiopia", "Abdii , Sweden It is a priceless treasure that Africans should be proud of .", "It does not belong to any ethnic group or languages contrary to what Meles Zenawi said one time ago , and let not the return of the obelisk be used as political propaganda for the coming May election in Ethiopia.Abdii , Sweden", "Why on earth did they slice the obelisk into three parts ?", "Would it not have been more efficient and cost-saving to ship the entire structure in one piece back to Ethiopia , just as Mussolini did in 1937 ?", "It is a travesty when artefacts of such antiquity are consciously altered.Robert Tanen , Washington , DC , USA", "When is looting not looting ?", "Sometimes museums thought they were acquiring artefacts from legitimate owners , and paid accordingly .", "By this definition , ` return all looted items ' policy would leave US museums and galleries looking pretty bare as well.Dale , New Zealand", "The sad truth is that in some cases , the artefacts will be privately sold to collectors by corrupt museum officials , if returned to original countries .", "I say let them remain where they are for now , until the time comes when the original owners can recognize their value.Saif , USA", "The return of the obelisk to Axum is a great event , not only for Ethiopia , but also for all countries that were colonized and lost their properties .", "They have to demand the return of their historical artefacts so their real beauty can be manifested when they are in their home land.Azeb Assefa Mersha , Mekelle , Ethiopia", "All historical artefacts should be placed and viewed in their country of origin", "Berhane Asfaw , Addis Ababa , Ethiopia", "All historical artefacts should be placed and viewed in their country of origin .", "That is where they belong and that is where they should be looked at .", "Anybody who wants to see them should see them in their appropriate place - their original country .", "Berhane Asfaw , Addis Ababa , Ethiopia I am extremely happy one of our national treasures is finally coming home where it belongs .", "This is the start , there are more and more artefacts and national treasures that were looted , stolen and taken to Britain , Italy , Germany and so on .", "We will struggle to do what ever it takes to bring them back .", "Our forefathers created those historical treasures , they are ours and we want them back .", "What gives you the idea they will not be looked after ?", "How do you think they existed for thousands of years before they were stolen ? .", "Suhulmikael Abay The Bihere Tigrai , Kitchener , Ontario , Canada I saw the Elgin Marbles when they were exhibited in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford .", "I was truly sickened by the damage done to the statues during their time here .", "Theft is theft - their return ought to be offered along with a full apology and compensation for the blatant vandalism inflicted.Gerry Best , Oxford , UK It would be educationally better to keep precious artefacts in places that have experience in looking after them .", "The British Museum is one such ideal place .", "London is accessible to foreign visitors and its collection of artefacts is open for the world to see and learn the history of .", "It does n't even charge other countries for the burden of upkeep .", "I fear that if we allow rare treasures to go elsewhere , they will either be destroyed through incompetent negligence stemming from inexperience , or be hidden away zealously where the world public and historians alike can not see them .", "That would truly be a shame and a loss for us all.Joe Carpenter , London , UK", "The artefacts must return to its place of origin .", "Stolen artefacts have no connection with the country that stole them .", "All religions on earth oppose stealing .", "Solomon Tekola , Fairfax , Virginia I think important historical artefacts should be given back to their home country if they are going to be maintained and made available for public viewing .", "They do represent the history of a particular country and culture which is not our own ( often anyway ) .", "I think our mentality has changed enough that we appreciate the context enough to not just be curious onlookers ( although that is a bit reason to visit museums too ) .", "Just think of all the loot from the Napoleonic wars that are just collecting dust in the archives of the Louvre which are not available for public viewing.M Kroll , Fife , Scotland", "To the victor go the spoils .", "It has always been and should always remain this way .", "If everyone has to now give back everything ever taken , how far back in history do we go ?", "A hundred years ?", "It 's ridiculous.Frank , USA", "Countries have no right to be stingy with artefacts that they stole from another country .", "Museums have been known to lend out their exhibits for international tours .", "If you want to see foreign history see , it that way or travel .", "Do n't steal it!Elizabeth , USA", "The return of the obelisk to Ethiopia is a sign of the complete victory of Ethiopia and Africa over colonial system .", "Not only the Axum obelisk but also all the stolen historic artefacts should be returned to their countries at the expense of the countries which stole them.Terefe Bolteno , Chicago , US I 'm extremely pleased for the Ethiopians , but concerned that it returns in three pieces .", "The Italians already left another obelisk in shambles 70 years ago and it lies ruined in Axum to this day .", "Ethiopian governments since then have fought hard for the return of this obelisk and this day will mean much to a country whose people 's national pride runs deep and true .", "Ethiopia is a country rich with artefacts which rival those to be found in the museums of Europe and North America .", "Attention of the international community should now turn to supporting the Ethiopian government and people in the proper preservation of these extremely precious resources.Eileen , Ottawa , Canada", "Of course they should be returned to where they belong .", "What else do we have ?", "The only thing we have is our history and identity , we ca n't compromise that for anything .", "Ethiopia , as one of the oldest country in the world , has a rich history - give us back our history , we are good in keeping it.Tewodros Haile , Atlanta , USA I am so glad for the return of the Axum stele .", "I have monitored its progress over the past year or so .", "Depending on the circumstances under which they were taken , I believe that artefacts stolen by Europeans ( eg Benin ` bronzes ' stolen from Nigeria by the British ) should be returned to their rightful homeland .", "The issue of whether the true owners can look after them better is at best immaterial and at worst a downright insult - they are not toys to be dished out.Noel Murrell , Portsmouth", "The problem with returning artefacts to some part of the world is that the country of origin may not have the money , skill , desire etc to preserve the artefact to ensure its survival for future generations .", "I have seen artefacts in some countries poorly maintained and exhibited badly .", "In some places I could have quite easily broken off and walked off with a piece had I been so minded .", "Attached to the agreement to return artefacts should be guarantees for the preservation of the items and possibly offers of help , financial or in expertise , to ensure this.Marion Brown , Poole , England I personally believe that monuments such as Ethiopia 's and the Elgin Marbles should be returned to their birth place .", "Their value will be more appreciated since they will be back in their natural environment .", "Elina Petousi , Patra , Greece", "The West has stolen enough from other parts of the world , especially Africa ( dignity , human life , artefacts , etc ) so it should return the things which are returnable .", "The fact that museums are accessible to many people is irrelevant .", "The point is many of those artefacts were stolen , and if the West has any inkling of morality , it should return them.Linovene Haikola , Namibian in Virginia , USA", "Artefacts should only be returned if the recipient country can display competence to preserve them", "Frank , London , UK", "Artefacts should only be returned if the recipient country can display competence to preserve them .", "The disgraceful destruction of the Bamiyan monuments in Afghanistan shows that political instability should be an absolute bar to returning such items .", "Following this argument , there is no reason for the British Museum retaining the Elgin Marbles other than that they were purchased , rather than stolen .", "Frank , London , UK I am very much happy that the obelisk has finally been returned to its homeland .", "The return of the obelisk has got many advantages in attracting tourism and also introducing Ethiopia to other part of the World .", "Zerihun Alemu , Addis Ababa , Ethiopia", "Many artefacts were obtained when no nation existed .", "Now in many cases , new nations want artefacts taken in war or when the political reality was different .", "What about nations that start wars and lose ?", "Quite frankly , the spoils should go to the victors as a pretty good reason not to start a war .", "Perhaps nations would think twice if they knew they risked losing their treasure ( and land ) .", "Michael S. Nowak , Pittsburgh , PA , USA", "All artefacts should be returned to the land of their origin , whether stolen , gained by deception or legally excavated .", "However , historical artefacts are the heritage of all man and existed before imposed boundaries rendered tracts of land countries - so there should be some sort of international agreement that they will be available for everyone to see and not locked away somewhere .", "As to the British Museum 's feeling that they should remain where ` International ' visitors can see them - many of these artefacts are from very poor countries - how many of their nationals can afford to travel to see them ?", "If the countries are unable to care adequately for the artefacts , surely with the amount of importance attached to them by the international community , a foundation could be set up to assist them in this and to promote travel to the new locations.Ami , USA", "The British Museum is a revolting phenomenon .", "Please note that stolen and ancient artefacts are being auctioned off on a daily basis in London .", "So lets be clear , this is not a problem of the past , but one that persists to this day .", "Shame on those that take pride in these illegal institutions.Ali , Toronto , Canada", "Countries that insist on holding on to looted treasure are only attempting to preserve and justify their past dominance .", "One can easily see through the empty argument for international display in museums .", "Artefacts have a lot to say about culture and history but this is best told within the context of the country and culture of their origin .", "Jack Bini , USA", "All the countries of the world have the right to have their precious national treasures returned to their homeland .", "At the same time , it would be a disaster if ever country on earth only owned artefacts from their own nation .", "All Egyptian works would be in Egypt , all Chinese works in China - meaning that it would be nearly impossible to learn about foreign cultures .", "Countries should organize compromises with other nations to ensure that artefacts are safe as well as educational to the entire planet.Matthew Rarey , Chicago , Illinois , US", "As an Egyptologist , I believe that this is an extremely thorny issue .", "Some artefacts could and should be returned to the countries , but only if conditions are in place to keep and maintain them in their current state .", "In the case of the Elgin Marbles , the British Museum should return them , as I 'm sure the Greeks would be able to look after it .", "However , on the Egyptian side , I believe that a lot of work has to be done in Egyptian museums before any of the important pieces , such as the Rosetta Stone , can be returned .", "Although I myself have never been to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo , I 've heard horror stories about pieces slowly falling apart , and not enough security on the pieces , allowing children to climb on precious artefacts .", "Most of these pieces are important for the entire human race , and should only return when everything is in place to ensure their survival for future generations .", "Mark , Toronto , Canada I can only quote Napoleon when he said that he did n't steal the French Crown , he found it lying in the gutter and picked it up with his sword .", "We are the sons and daughters of pirates and conquerors - this is what kept us free and what made us who we are today .", "To hand back these treasures would be the denial of our entire history as a people - and the end of our nation.Iain Howe , Amsterdam , Netherlands", "Even though I believe the return of the obelisk is a proper thing , I strongly condemn our government for refusing the offer made by Italian government .", "The Italian government offered about 45 million dollar , which could save the lives of millions and which could have helped the government build roads , hospitals , and schools .", "Sometimes , we have to see which one is more crucial .", "After all the obelisk represents the god of fertility which was being worshiped during King Axum time , which is meaning less to most Christians and Moslems in Ethiopia .", "Kali Kalit , Addis Ababa , Ethiopia", "While I applaud Italy 's actions and agree with the premise of returning looted artefacts , I fear that the original home countries of some treasures will not be able to afford the cost or provide the expertise required to maintain these artefacts for future generations .", "That said , I would prefer most artefacts to remain in a museum ; however , if Ethiopia , a country stricken with poverty , can find a way to properly maintain its national treasures , then I will fully support the majority opinion.Drew , Port of Spain , Trinidad , West Indies I think it is important for artefacts to be in countries other than their own .", "It allows people to know about other cultures without having to travel.Andre , Brussels , Belgium If countries had to return all their historical artefacts to their countries of origin , British museums would shut down due to lack of exhibits!Paul Serwinski , New Britain , CT , USA I think all artefacts should be returned so long as their home country can take care of them", "Hannah , The Hague , the Netherlands I think that all artefacts should be returned so long as their home country can take care of them in all necessary ways , such as security , etc.Hannah , The Hague , the Netherlands", "Sweet words aside , many parts of the world would have lost their cultural treasures altogether had it not been for the patronage , academic investment and determination of certain ` Western ' countries and individuals .", "The motives were not always honest , but to slate them out of hand is naive .", "Anyone who has walked around a historical site in the Third World will have been approached by locals trying to sell real or fake artefacts .", "Impoverished locals do not have high ideals when it comes to their cultural treasures .", "If I were in Ethiopia now and passed the word around that I would purchase fragments of the Axum obelisk , I am sure I would get some.Clinton Davis , Zimbabwe", "These items were mostly looted , bought , or excavated many years ago and that itself is part of history .", "We might as well start asking for reparations from the Danish because I 'm sure the Vikings pinched lots of our national treasures ... Dan , Manchester , UK", "History finds the world in constant flux and the transport and movement of objects is definitely a part of this dynamic .", "My main issue is the preservation of these `` historic '' artefacts .", "It seems to me that a place like the British Museum could preserve a historic treasure much better and for much longer than a developing nation , thereby saving it for many future generations.Andrew Langdell , Minneapolis , USA It is a nice gesture to return historic artefacts .", "The British Museum is chock full of such things , as are many of the world 's museums .", "But who do you `` return '' them to ?", "Many of the artefacts belong to cultures long gone , and the `` countries '' which claim them may have little tangible connection .", "Perhaps it is more a local political issue .", "There are exceptions to be sure , but given the destruction of historic artefacts by the Taleban in Afghanistan , it is clear that blindly `` returning '' them has some risk .", "Many artefacts may be considered evil or religiously offensive and be destroyed when returned .", "What purpose would that serve?Michael , California , USA", "A question for those of you demanding the return of artefacts to their countries of origin : if the British had stolen the statues of Buddha at Bamiyan , would you have demanded their return to Afghanistan ?", "Would they have been better cared for by those who stole them , or by their rightful owners ( who blew them up because they were pagan idols ) ?", "Pete , Chicago , IL , USA", "If you follow this inane argument to its `` logical '' conclusion , you are saying that the Louvre should have only artwork by Frenchmen .", "Or the National Gallery only American art .", "I thought art was supposed to be universal .", "Instead it 's been hijacked by political agendas .", "Peter C. Kohler , Washington DC USA", "One problem that strikes me is definition .", "The obelisk has an obvious and stark connection with Ethiopia , does the same apply to the Scottish stone of destiny ?", "How about an item of Maori memorabilia first acquired as a souvenir , should this be returned to New Zealand ?", "What about a letter or diary written by a political prisoner , who has a claim to that ?", "The grey area between normal and `` cultural '' property may be difficult to delimit in the less extreme cases.MMC , Glasgow , Scotland", "Yes I am pleased that the Axum obelisk returned to Ethiopia where it belongs .", "With a little help for Ethiopia , more people can still see them .", "Ethiopia can be a tourist place to be visited .", "I hope rich countries will be support Ethiopia as it is a beautiful country with rich culture .", "Kedi , Atlanta , USA", "SUGGEST A DEBATE", "This topic was suggested by AJ , Scotland :", "The Italians have returned a national treasure to Ethiopia .", "Should the British Museum do the same with the Elgin Marbles ?", "Send us your suggestions for Have Your Say debates", "Everything looks nice in its original place , especially a big Ethiopian historical obelisk from a country which was one of the four strongest empires in the world thousands years ago ( Ethiopia , Persia , China and Rome ) .", "Hereg , Mumbai , India If countries like Britain did not pillage Egypt of all its treasures , looters would have , and they would have been lost forever .", "Surely some of these prizes deserve to be kept where they are.Paul G , Toronto , Canada", "All looted historic artefacts should be returned to the country they came from.Prakash Aryal , Kathmandu , Nepal It must be kept in mind that the artefacts taken by foreign ( mostly European ) countries were removed at a time when countries that lost them had no say in the matter .", "It therefore amounts to plunder or theft .", "The goodwill earned in their return would be enormous .", "Just the way citizens of US or UK are attached to the statue of liberty or the tower of London , so we are and are the citizens of Asian or African countries .", "There is no reason for their non-return .", "Anand Singh , India", "As long as the government of the day in the return country will not destroy or neglect historical artefacts , then of course they should be returned .", "Dan , Hampton , UK I think historical artefacts ought to stay where they are .", "Can you imagine the upheaval there would be if each and every country wanted back their possessions ?", "For example , France would have to give back the Mona Lisa to Italy !", "Steve Fricker , Warsash , UK", "The return of Ethiopia 's Axum Obelisk has symbolic significance to many African countries colonized by Europeans .", "Historical artefacts looted at the time of colonisation must be returned as they are culturally owned by the colonised country .", "Who is to say those countries would n't look after their own heritages ?", "Does that mean the Europeans are better if in caring for artefacts?Tewodros , San Francisco , USA I was shocked to see how many stolen artefacts were kept at the British Museum .", "I think in some cases , instability in the countries of origin make them being kept elsewhere acceptable .", "However , there should be conditions , one being that the artefact is not of extraordinary cultural or historic value to the country of origin .", "In addition , if another country does keep the artefact , the source country should be compensated , or even better , given a similar valued local artefact in exchange for their museums.Brett , Arizona If a return is difficult maybe monetary recompense would be acceptable", "John Powelson , Australia", "Historical artefacts should be returned to the original countries if they have been stolen or looted ( even if it has been over 100 years ) .", "Concern should be expressed when returning an item if the country is not stable or the item could just be resold .", "If a return is difficult maybe monetary recompense would be acceptable.John Powelson , Australia", "Ownership rights should have precedence over all other considerations , with one exception .", "In a sense , we all have some ownership interest in artefacts which are part of the mosaic of human evolution .", "With respect to such irreplaceable artefacts , security is a crucial consideration .", "Some of the archaeological record , which has been protected in modern museums , probably would n't exist if it had been returned to its place of origin .", "A protocol should be developed based on these principles , to insure all the history of all peoples should be protected .", "Jim Hopewell , Maryland USA", "Nations should be proud of their history and permit other nations the ability to be proud of theirs by returning what is rightfully theirs , not looted booty in the name of archaeology .", "This includes the return of the Elgin Marbles to the Parthenon as well .", "Naming them after their looter ( Lord Elgin ) adds further insult to the nation that bore their creation .", "Rob G , Kansas City , USA I think it 's time for Britain to follow the Italian example and return the Elgin Marbles to Greece .", "The country has several museums where they could be seen by visitors from all over the world .", "Alessandro Rossi , Rome , Italy It 's not about the commercial aspect of having people see treasures , these treasures are significant to the place of origin and must be returned.Jason , London It is about time the ancient obelisk returned to its home in Axum .", "As part of reducing poverty Ethiopia can attract international visitors to see the country and the return of the historic obelisk will play great role in attracting visitors .", "Great job for the Ethiopian and Italian government for making this happen.Mekonnen Atsbaha , Atlanta , US", "The ethical and cultural arguments notwithstanding , dominant countries should own artefacts .", "While they are dominant they may wish to reap the spoils of their position .", "Once this dominance ends , naturally enough they find themselves being forced to return the loot .", "The problem with the Elgin Marbles is that UK dominance went on for an insane amount of time - no comparison to Italy 's brief adventure in Ethiopia.John , Toronto , Ontario", "We do n't need any more wars over bickering about artefacts", "Todd , Virginia , USA", "Possession is 9/10ths of the law or so they say .", "When 2 parties can reach an agreement , that should be honoured .", "We do n't need any more wars over bickering about artefacts and disputed islands.Todd , Virginia , USA", "The return of the obelisk is great news for the Ethiopians .", "Historical artefacts that were stolen by invading/occupying countries should always be returned to their country of origin , as long as that country has the means to safeguard it .", "I think if the UK was more ethical in its treatment of such artefacts , the British Museum would be almost empty , since many of those items were stolen from the former Empire .", "Whilst it is nice to be able to see such artefacts in one place , the original countries must be able to assert their rights of ownership , which must take precedence over the right to see these items.Rustam Roy , London , UK ( ex-India ) I think that a country should decide how best to keep and observe its own heritage .", "The real question being asked is should industrialized nations be allowed to continue their paternalistic hold on the rest of the world by deciding how best to keep and preserve what they see as treasures and heritage?Conswelia , Philadelphia , PA", "Anything stolen should be returned to it 's owners .", "I 'm glad to see Italy returning it .", "Crime never pays .", "I 'm sure Greece knows how to handle international visitors ; they did just fine with the Olympic Games .", "But you know the English - to hand the Elgin Marbles back is just not cricket.Philip Smith , Melbourne , Australia", "There can be no clear-cut rule on where artefacts belong .", "When they were taken , how and where they are kept are all relevant factors .", "Loot from Baghdad , the Mona Lisa , treasures taken during WWII and the Elgin Marbles should not and can not be treated under the same rules .", "The general rule should be to allow objects taken in history to remain where they are , but to do all that can be done to prevent modern day illicit trade in antiquities .", "Michael Sigge , Stockholm , Sweden", "Too much love is lost over artefacts , especially during the Holocaust where Jewish treasure was robbed and then slowly returned after the war .", "The only people not to rob those who they invaded were the Muslims who charged a tax to the non-Muslim subjects .", "However politics and religious convictions are two different matters , and in Muslim civilisation there was looting and robbing , they looted the Vatican a number of times under Islamic banners .", "Nazis robbed , the British robbed , the American robbed , the Italians , the French robbed , the Russians have robbed , Europeans are the worst in keeping the commandment thou shalt not steal.HS , Sama", "My first impression of the British Museum was of absolute disbelief", "Wikus Erasmus , South Africa", "My first impression of the British Museum was of absolute disbelief .", "The vast amounts of world treasure that can be seen there is astonishing .", "I would never have seen the wonders , if it had n't been consolidated in one place .", "However , the British Museum is monument to piracy where other countries wealth , history and symbols of culture are being kept .", "Such important artefacts belong to the countries of origin from which they were stolen .", "The Italian initiative is one of excellent good will .", "Just because the British were part of the winning side of war does n't mean they can keep their plunder.Wikus Erasmus , Johannesburg , South Africa If we stole them we should give them back .", "Can you imagine the uproar if someone took Nelson 's Column and refused to give it back ?", "Besides , who cares if all the people who come to London wo n't get to see the Elgin marbles ?", "It 's not like the museum 's going to go bust as a consequence.James , UK", "Looting is theft and considered illegal in all cultures .", "If the rightful owner of an object is known , it should be returned to them .", "The owner should make the decision of who sees the item and how it is looked after.Dwayne Chastain , West Jefferson , Ohio I 'm very pleased that the obelisk has been returned to Ethiopia .", "Judging from the many well preserved ancient sites and texts in Ethiopia , the Ethiopian people have proved that they are the best keepers of their own ancient historical texts and monuments .", "Not all countries , however , have been able to protect their heritage in the same way and there is a good case for keeping artefacts in safe places until the conditions are right for them to return to their place of origin.Ian , Reading , UK", "The cultures that created the artefacts should own them .", "Having said this , it is important to remember that these artefacts should also be on display so that current and future generations can learn about the pasts of other cultures.Doug Fisher , Asheville , USA", "Historical artefacts should be returned to their country of origin .", "The attitude that they are better looked after by the same people who broke them apart is colonial thinking at its worst .", "It is about time the Elgin marbles are returned to Greece .", "Enough damage was caused to them by their caretakers already.George Sampson , Athens , Greece I am very happy that Italy has returned Ethiopia 's historical artefacts and hope that the move will be followed by other countries , such as Britain returning Ottoman artefacts back to Turkey where they belong.Esra Karatash Alpay , Istanbul , Turkey", "Well done Italy .", "In these days of relatively cheap global travel surely it makes sense to leave , or return these treasures to the places in which they were always intended to be .", "The argument that they are better in places where more people can see them does n't really stand up anymore .", "How about relocating the Sphinx to Chipping Sodbury ?", "I do n't think so.Dan , Brussels", "Hiding behind tourists holds little water anymore", "Bruce Cockburn , Blackburn , UK", "The British museum should return all stolen artefacts to their original owners .", "Hiding behind tourists holds little water anymore.Bruce Cockburn , Blackburn , UK", "Archaeology pieces should stay at the place where actually were risen , they form part of the cultural treasure and legacy.Josntonio Tam Cordero , Mexico I find it nigh on impossible to justify the keeping of historic artefacts , obtained unlawfully , by whatever means .", "The suggestion that such artefacts have been well looked after , particularly where the country of origin became unstable , might have held water for a short time , but that stance is no longer tenable .", "I 'm for returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece , particularly as I understand that the British Museum displays fibre-glass copies.Ken Cook , Bromley , Kent I do n't think so - everyone keeps on talking about ` historic ' items - but are n't these trophies of war part of history?Gary , Isle of Man", "Of course artefacts should be returned to the original country - they were simply looted or stolen by occupying or invading forces .", "This would be no different to a burglar coming into your house and stealing your prized possessions .", "If people want to see them , they should travel to the rightful home and see them .", "There is simply no excuse for not returning stolen artefacts.Tarek Alami , Abu Dhabi , UAE If some item belongs to somebody else you have no right to possess it", "Basically , if some item belongs to somebody else you have no right to possess it , unless with his approval .", "That 's the human norm.Ghouse , Colombo", "This is very beautiful day .", "A beautiful moment not only for Ethiopia , but also for the whole African continent .", "Any excuse are unpalatable and totally unacceptable .", "I wo n't compromise my identity for anything.Aneley , Boston , USA It belongs to Ethiopia and nobody else.Chuma Anierobi , Montreal , Canada", "Clearly , Ethiopia owns the Axum Obelisk , but why ca n't Italy return it intact ?", "They got it to Rome that way.L Dykstra , USA", "Last year I visited the Acropolis in Athens , and was horrified to find that the museum there was full of replicas with little notes beside them saying that the originals were all in the British Museum .", "Historic artefacts should remain as close to where they are found as possible , as they belong to the people of that land .", "Everything looted by former colonial powers should be returned to it 's rightful owners.Franchesca Mullin , Belfast", "Looted treasures should be returned wherever possible ; after all , international visitors can visit them where they originated instead of in some stuffy museum where all their grandeur is lost .", "The caveat to this is that the treasures need to be properly preserved if they are returned or they cease to be treasures.Fiona , UK", "Comparing the Elgin marbles to the obelisk is unfair .", "The Italians stole the obelisk ; Lord Elgin bought the marbles from the Turkish governor of Athens and by doing so almost certainly saved them from destruction .", "If Jack Chirac sold the Mona Lisa to Britain because the Louver was being demolished , would it be acceptable for a future French premier to demand its return without compensation ?", "The same situation exists between us and Greece over the marbles.Peter , Nottingham Is looted not a synonym for stolen ?", "Des Currie , Umdloti , South Africa", "We are hungry , yet we have treasures that are spinning money in other countries of Europe .", "Let it be known that what is not ours is not ours and what is ours will always be ours .", "If what is ours is in your possession and we neither gave it to you as a gift , nor sold it to you as a good ; then it is best described as stolen .", "It is not very normal for either a gift or a sold item to be returned ; but it is absolutely modest , descent and earnest for stolen items to be returned and we will appreciate to have back all what Europe ( especially Britain and France ) took away from us Africans.Chigbu Uchendu , Uturu , Nigeria", "Who will see it in Ethiopia ?", "Will the French return their stolen loot?Christos Economakis , Geneva", "Artefacts are better off looked after where they belong", "Ophious , London , UK", "Artefacts are better off looked after where they belong , that is , where they were looted from .", "Most of these have religious attachments .", "If people want to see them , they can visit those places and see the artefacts in their true context.Ophious , London , UK", "The answer is an emphatic ` yes ' in my opinion unless the country ca n't protect and cherish it properly .", "Senthil Kumar , Ottawa , Canada", "What kind of pleasure can I get by standing in a museum watching a stolen art from another country ?", "All artefacts should be returned ( with interest ) to their native place .", "We can not extradite the criminals who stole the artefacts but we must extradite the art because it represents the symbol and the history of its native place .", "Khalid , Morocco/USA It depends whether the article was stolen ( in which case it should be returned ) , or whether it was gained legitimately e.g. through an authorised excavation ( in which case it definitely should n't ) .", "Many of these objects would never have been found , or properly preserved were it not for the intervention of foreign archaeologists decades or even centuries ago .", "Looking at artefacts from different civilisations encourages an interest in history and culture and actually promotes tourism - so countries ( such as Egypt ) who have ` lost ' treasures to foreign museums have indirectly benefited hugely by the influx of tourists.Laura , Brighton I agree that artefacts should be seen .", "Take Egyptian relics - having been to the British Museum and the Met in New York , I was inspired to visit Egypt to see the real tombs , boosting my education and the Egyptian economy .", "And it was well worth the visit.Angela C , London , UK I was horrified by the booty at the British Museum when I visited for the first time thirty years ago .", "It is one thing to display items that were gifts or museum purchases but quite another to do so when the items were looted .", "It is equally bad to display them in outdoor settings such as plazas etc. making them landmarks in a land that is not their home ."], "_citing_sentence": "The Axum obelisk was seized from Ethiopia by Mussolini as a trophy of war; fortunately the injustice of this action has since been recognised and the obelisk was restored to its rightful place in 2005.", "_claim_name": "Many artefacts resting in western museums were acquired illegally. Western states have a duty to retain them.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | Who should own historic artefacts?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [0]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Land and Resources", "Greece is famous for its natural beauty .", "The land is mountainous and rugged , but Greece is relatively poor in natural resources .", "Although a small country , Greece has a very diverse topography .", "The most important divisions of the country are the central mountains ; the damp , mountainous regions in the west ; the dry , sunny plains and lower mountain ranges in eastern Thessaly , Macedonia , and Thraki ; Central", "Greece , the southeastern `` point '' ( peninsula ) of the mainland that cradled the city-states of the country , the mountainous regions of Peloponnisos ; and the islands , most of which are in the Aegean Sea .", "The central mountain area , the Pindus Mountains , which extends from a northern to a southern direction , is one of the most rugged , isolated , and sparsely populated parts of the country .", "Olympus ( 2,917 m/9 ,570 ft ) , Greece 's highest peak , was considered in ancient times to be home to the 12 gods .", "Its western slopes , which extend through Epirus down to the Ionian Sea , are lower and more hospitable .", "The southeastern extremity of Central Greece , Attica , is broken into many isolated valleys and plains by mountain ridges , where the Athenian", "Plain , with Athens in the center , is located .", "Thessaly , a plain ringed by mountains , is one of the most fertile parts of the country .", "Macedonia has the largest plains in Greece .", "Thraki , east of Macedonia , has a varied topography of mountains , valleys and several coastal plains .", "Peloponnisos , is mountainous , but to a lesser degree than Central Greece .", "It is shaped like a giant hand with impassable mountain ridges extending like fingers into the sea .", "Between the mountains are narrow valleys , which are isolated from one another , but which open onto the water .", "The western section of Peloponnisos is less mountainous than its eastern parts .", "The islands of the Aegean Sea are generally high , rugged , stony and dry , and consequently their contribution to economic life of the country is limited .", "They are important however , because of their great beauty , historical importance , potential for tourism and strategic military value .", "The climate of Greece is similar to that of other", "In the lowlands the summers are hot and dry , with clear , cloudless skies .", "The winters are relatively mild , but rainy .", "The mountainous regions are much cooler , with considerable rain during the summer months .", "Frost , sleet , ice , or snow are rare in the lowlands , but most mountains are covered with snow in the winter .", "Precipitation varies from region to region .", "For example , in Thessaly less than 38mm ( 1.5 in ) of rain falls in some years , whereas parts of the western coast receive about 1,270 mm ( 50in ) .", "The mean annual temperature in Athens is about 17 \u00b0 C ( 63 \u00b0 F ) ; the extremes range from a normal low of -0.6 \u00b0 C ( 31 \u00b0 F ) in January to a normal high of 37.2 \u00b0", "C ( 99 \u00b0 F ) in July and at times higher in August .", "Greece is poorly endowed with natural resources of high economic value .", "Only 23 % of the land is arable , while the rest consists mostly of barren mountains .", "Forests , probably abundant in ancient times , have to a great extent been depleted .", "Subsequent soil erosion has made reforestation difficult .", "Greece has little black coal , and its lignite is of poor quality .", "On the other hand , the country does have significant petroleum and natural gas deposits , located under the Aegean Sea , near the island of", "The deposits of bauxite and iron ore are rich in metal content , but the reserves of other commercially important minerals , such as chromium , nickel , copper , uranium , and magnesium , are relatively small .", "Although the waters surrounding the country are inhabited by a large variety of fish , only a few species are plentiful .", "Rapid industrialization in Greece during the 1970s has resulted in heavy pollution .", "Especially air pollution , a serious environmental problem in Athens , where the government called 19 air pollution emergencies between 1982 and 1989 .", "In addition to causing respiratory problems , the smog erodes marble and other stone and has pocked and discolored many of the country 's priceless monuments and statues .", "Pollution monitoring stations have been installed throughout metropolitan Athens and in numerous other Greek cities .", "Recent efforts have reduced air pollution from heating and industry .", "Although motor vehicles must comply with emission standards , automobile exhaust , particularly from diesel-powered vehicles , is still a major pollution agent .", "Water pollution is also a problem , especially in the gulfs of Saronikos and Thermaikos , where untreated industrial wastes , sewage , and municipal wastewater are discharged .", "Plants and Animals", "Greece has a great diversity of vegetation .", "From sea level to an elevation of about 460m ( 1,500 ft ) , olives , oranges , dates , pomegranates , figs , cotton , and tobacco are grown .", "From about 120 to 460m ( 400 to 1,500 ft ) deciduous and evergreen forests are found , where oak , black pine , chestnut , beech , and sumac grow .", "Tulips , hyacinths , and laurel are also characteristic of the area .", "Firs and such wild flowers as anemone and cyclamen are found above 1,220 m ( 4,000 ft ) , and mosses and lichens predominate above 1,525 m ( 5,000 ft ) .", "Wildlife includes boar , European black bear , lynx , jackal , chamois , deer , fox , badger , and weasel .", "Among the birds are the hawk , pelican , egret , pheasant , partridge , nightingale , turtledove , and stork .", "The soils in Greece is mostly very rocky and very dry , but the country is interspersed with small valleys where the soils are of the rich Mediterranean terra rosa , or red earth , variety .", "The population of Greece is about 98 % ethnic Greek .", "About 1 % of the population is classified by the Greek Government as Muslim .", "Most of the Muslims are of", "About 100,000 Muslims live in Thrace .", "The remainder of the population includes people of Slavic , Albanian , and Armenian descent , as well as Vlachs , a people who speak a Romanian dialect .", "The population of Greece at the 1994 census was 10,264,156 .", "The estimated population in 1997 was 10,564,630 , giving the country an overall population density of about 80 persons per square kilometer ( 207 per square mile ) .", "The population of", "Greece is very large in relation to the size and economic capacity of the country , and poverty exists .", "Both the birthrate ( formerly one of the highest in Europe ) and the death rate have declined in recent years , and in the mid 1990s the annual rate of population growth was less than 1 % .", "About 63 % of the population is urban .", "Much of the urban population is concentrated around Athens , Thessaloniki ( Salonika ) in Macedonia , in the western", "Peloponnisos , and on the islands .", "Kerkira ( Corfu ) , Zakinthos , and", "Khios are among the most densely populated islands .", "Famous ancient cities such as Argos , Korinthos ( Corinth ) , and Sparti ( Sparta ) are only small towns today .", "Under a reorganization plan introduced in 1987 , Greece is divided for administrated purposes into 13 regions ( diamerismata ) , which are subdivided into departments ( nomous ) .", "The 13 regions , with their populations according to the 1994 census , are Northern Aegean ( 198,241 ) ,", "Southern Aegean ( 257,522 ) , Attica ( 3,522,769 ) , Crete ( 536,980 ) , Epirus ( 339,210 ) , Central Greece ( 578,876 ) , Western Greece ( 655,262 ) , Ionian Islands ( 191,003 ) , Eastern Macedonia and Threce ( 570,261 ) , Central Macedonia ( 1,737,623 ) ,", "Peloponnisos ( 605,663 ) , and Thessaly ( 731,230 ) .", "The 1975 constitution recognizes Mount Athos ( 1,472 ) , located on the Khalkidiki Peninsula in Macedonia , as an autonomous district .", "Mount Athos is the site of many well-known monasteries and has a monastic administration .", "Municipalities , or dimi ( cities that have more than 100,000 inhabitants ) , are administered by a mayor and a city council , and communities that have 300 to 10,000 inhabitants by a president and a community council .", "The largest and most important city is", "Athens , the capital , with a population of 748,110 .", "Piraeus , seaport of", "Athens , is the largest port of Greece ( second largest in the Mediterranean Sea after Marseilles in France ) with a population of 169,622 .", "Thessaloniki , ( sometimes referred to as the co-capital ) with a population of 377,951 , is a seaport and an important textile center .", "Patra , located on the northwestern part of Peloponnisos , is a major seaport with 155,180 inhabitants .", "Other sizable cities are Heraclion , Crete ( 117,167 ) and Larisa ( 113,426 ) .", "About 98 % of the Greek people are followers of the Christian Orthodox", "Church of Greece .", "Although similar to the Eastern Orthodox religion of several eastern European nations , the Greek Orthodox religion is different in many ways as well .", "The remaining 2 % of the population includes Muslims , Roman Catholics , Protestants , and Jews .", "The official language of Greece is", "Modern Greek , which is also spoken by the majority of the people .", "The vernacular Modern Greek and language of popular literature is Demotiki or Kathomiloumeni , as opposed to Katharevousa , a more formal Modern Greek or Purist Greek .", "Demotiki became the official language of the country by an act of parliament in 1976 .", "It is used by the government , the newspapers , the media , and educational institutions .", "Great differences exist between the language of the educated classes and that used by the majority of the people ."], "_citing_sentence": "Pollution control measures (such as installing pollution monitoring stations throughout metropolitan Athens and ensuring that motor vehicles must comply with emission standards) have reduced sulphur-dioxide levels in the city to a fifth of their previous levels.At the same time the curatorship of institutions such as the British Museum is being called into question, as it becomes apparent that controversial cleaning and restoration practices may have harmed the sculptures they claim to protect.", "_claim_name": "Developing countries are able to guard and preserve their own cultural treasures", "_doc_title": "General Info about Greece", "_labeled_lineIDs": [40, 41]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Helena Smith in Athens", "Friday 12 November 1999 13.10 EST", "Last modified on Tuesday 28 January 2003 13.10 EST", "The culture minister , Elisavet Papazoe , said the damage wrought by the museum 's botched attempt to clean the 2,500-year-old treasure earlier this century had been much worse than originally thought .", "She said the findings of a Greek group of conservationists , who recently inspected the marbles , demonstrated that the very morphology of the sculptures had suffered as a result of the misguided efforts to make them whiter than white .", "Original carvers ' toolmarks had been removed and scratch marks had been left by the unskilled labourers who had used copper chisels and wire brushes to clean the marbles in the 1930s .", "`` This was the first time the marbles have ever been examined by experts outside the British Museum and unfortunately the findings have confirmed the fears that they were damaged irreparably , '' Ms Papazoe said .", "In some cases `` excessive rubbing and polishing '' had not only destroyed the sculptures ' historic surfaces but `` deformed '' them to a shocking degree , she added .", "In their preliminary report , made available to the Guardian yesterday , the Greek conservationists concluded that : `` Several of the sculptures lost morphological features which constituted their identity and the criteria by which -LSB- historians -RSB- have been able to attribute them to the art of that period .", "You can no longer trace those particular features which define the essence of classical sculpture as it is expressed in the architectural sculptures of the Parthenon . ''", "The six-member team , which comprised archeologists , conservationists and chemical engineers , had waited months to examine the marbles , removed from the Acropolis temple by Lord Elgin in 1801 .", "Then they spent four days examining them with the latest technological methods .", "The findings are to be expanded into a 100-page report that the Greeks will present to a two-day international conference at the British Museum later this month .", "The colloquium will assess the degree of the damage done to the marbles during the 16-month cleaning period .", "Prior to the bungled restoration , the sculptures had only been touched with a feather duster , according to the Cambridge academic William St Clair , who first brought the scandal to light last year .", "Athens is still pinning its hopes on winning the marbles back from the British Museum by 2004 when it holds the Olympic games .", "It is presently pressing ahead with plans to build a new state-of-the-art museum at the foot of the Acropolis .", "The Greek culture minister said the team 's findings fatally undermined the argument that under the British Museum 's custody , the marbles had enjoyed better conservation and care than would have been possible in Athens .", "`` The debate around the marbles is full of myths which have been exposed with this new evidence , '' she said .", "`` For the first time we have a scientific reality , beyond archive material , which we can not ignore . ''", "Greece first raised the issue of the cleaning damage when it initially requested the restitution of the marbles through Unesco in 1982 .", "Until now an explanation had not been forthcoming , with the British Museum denouncing the allegations as a gross exaggeration .", "`` There has been a resistance on the part of the British to reveal what really happened between 1937 and 1938 , '' said Ms Papazoe .", "A spokesman for the British Museum said last night : `` We have received no official notification about the findings , so it is difficult to comment specifically .", "The museum admits mistakes were made at that time but we are talking about 50 or 60 years ago . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "In the 1930s the British museum's attempt to clean them using chisels caused irreparable damage.", "_claim_name": "Developing countries are able to guard and preserve their own cultural treasures", "_doc_title": "British damage to Elgin marbles 'irreparable' | UK news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Friday , 29 January 2010 00:00 Nigerian Compass", "THERE are indications that Nigeria 's efforts to repatriate some of it 's stolen artifacts have started yielding dividends as officials of the French government handed over to Nigeria two artifacts dated over 400 years which were unlawfully taken away from the country during the colonial times .", "The works which prices in local and international market have risen immensely , have been in the collections of", "A representative of the French government handed over the monoliths to a representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs , Chief Ojo", "Maduekwe in France .", "At the international workshop on Illicit Trafficking of", "Cultural Property held early this week at the Reiz Continental Hotel in Abuja , the artifacts were handed over to the Minister of Tourism , Culture and National", "Orientation , Senator Jibrin Gada who left it in the custody of the Director", "General of National Commission for Museums and Monuments ( NCMM ) , Mallam Yusuf", "Also , the government is about to recover two Nok cultural artifacts in", "Canada and bring them back to the country as early as possible , the Federal", "Maduekwe who was represented at the event by Mr. John Shama Shaga , reiterated that the governemt of Nigeria is not leaving any stone unturned in its quest to bring back the stolen artifacts to where they rightfully belong and commended", "French government for returning the two monoliths .", "Accepting the returned antiquities on behalf of the government , the Minister of", "Tourism , Culture and National Orientation , Senator Gada , urged museum professionals and agencies with the responsibilities of protecting the nation 's cultural property to come up with concrete workable measures for protecting", "Nigeria 's vast cultural heritage .", "`` I wish to reiterate that our cultural property represents the soul of our nation , the pages of our history and the source of inspiration to our country which therefore must be safeguarded for future generations of Nigerians .", "I wish to express my gratitude to French government and call on other countries to follow suit , '' Gada said .", "In his welcome address at the colourful ceremony held at the Reiz Continental", "Hotel in Abuja , the NCMM helmsman , Mallam Usman noted that `` unauthorised and illicit movement of cultural objects and property '' have become high issues of concern in the country .", "According to him the development gives so much concern to experts in the field of the arts and cultural studies as well as lovers of art that the topic now takes a prime place in international discourses .", "Therefore , several countries around the world have been putting in place various means of monitoring and controling the illegal movement of cultural materials to stem the now tidal vicious practice .", "He moaned that the trend diminishes and impoverishes the growth potentials of a country 's art and cultural sector adding that the act also undermines a country 's tourism potentials and most unfortunately , exposes the apparent lapses of security procedures .", "`` Nigeria has suffered greatly from unlawful pillaging of her cultural property .", "This assault which has come in various forms and guises over the years has further depleted our national collections and added to those of other nations .", "`` Just like other nations , Nigeria has over the years put in place various legislations and means of checking this embarrassing practice by appending signatures to various international conventions entered into by the international community , '' Usman informed at the occasion .", "In the keynote address entitled , Towards a Strategy for Curbing Illicit", "Trafficking and the Return of Cultural Property , which was presented by Prof.", "Folarin Shyllon , the scholar recommended that Nigeria should commence bilateral negotiations with the governments of the United Kingdom and the Federal", "Republic of Germany for the return of the Benin bronzes adding that if negotiations fails , Nigeria should seek the assistance of the international committee to facilitate her request for the return of its antique treasures in", "UK , Germany and other European countries .", "During the colonial era , an immense number of Nigerian and other African nations ' artefacts were plundered and taken to Europe prompting the growth of art movements and socio-cultural trends that built on African artistic culture .", "Several palaces , shrines , communual art collections and communities were sacked as the colonialists went for the cultural materials .", "The looting was grandly executed by the European who at some events obtains the items through the force of arms and via the abduction of cultural costudians and dethronement of kings as in the case of the plunder of the palace of Oba Ovurawon in Benin City in 1897 .", "Under the guise of Christian evangelism , trade exchange and others cummunities were made to part with their artefacts , masquerades , totems and other masterpieces which ended up in western collections .", "As a result , such cultural items as masks , bronze sculptures , ivory pieces , ancestral drums and others from Oron monoliths to highly ornamented Igbo Ukwu artefacts , Benin bronze , Nok teracotta pieces , Awka traditional door posts , Ife sculptures among others are found in large numbers in big art collections in western world including the such highly rated art houses as the British Museum in London , The", "Luvre in Paris , Museum Island in Berlin among other places .", "In September last year , France made a surprise hand-over of four fragments of an ancient tomb mural to Egyptian antiquities authorities .", "the four pieces were priceless tomb murals that are originally from Egypt .", "President Nicolas Sarkozy of France who handed over the pieces to Mubarak during a lunch at the presidential palace in Paris further pledged his country 's willingness to return a fifth piece in the first week of October , 2009 to the Egyptian", "President Hosni Mubarak .", "That pledge was fulfilled .", "The move set art authorities around the world abuzz with discussions on the repatration of artifacts .", "Most experts at home narrowed the questions to what the Nigerian government is doing in the campaign to retreive its thousands of antiques scattered across the western art collections and museums filled Internet-based art discourse platforms .", "An Associated Press report claimed that the fragments were acquired in good faith by the Louvre between 2000 and 2003 , but their provenance was called into doubt in 2008 after the discovery of the tomb from which they were believed to have been taken .", "France said in October that the return of the highly treasured fragments held by the Louvre museum was its way of showing the country 's determination to fight the illegal traffic in cultural objects .", "Under the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) convention of 1970 , countries agreed measures to prevent the illegal export of national treasures .", "Based on that article of the UNESCO convention countries of the west and central Africa such as Nigeria , as well as Ethiopia , Algeria and other black nations who were heavy victims of the looting of artifacts by western countries have been engaged in a quest for a return of their treasures in European collections .", "In January , 2002 the National Assembly communicated Nigeria 's demands for the return of its treasures in Britain .", "Through the House of Representatives the", "Nigerian parliament called for the return of Nigerian works of art in the", "The legislators called on the then president , Chief", "Olusegun Obasanjo , to request the repatriation of the artifacts , taken away during British colonial rule in the 19th Century .", "Explaining the quest , the late Dr. Omotoso Eluyemi , who was then the director-general of NCMM told the British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC ) : `` If you go to the British Museum , half the things there are from Africa . ''", "The motion , sponsored by 57 legislators , was passed unanimously .", "It urged the government to safeguard Nigerian museums from being `` burgled '' by hired agents .", "In 2001 Time magazine reported Eluyemi as saying : `` These objects of art are the relics of our history -- why must we lose them to Europe ?", "`` If you go to the British Museum , half the things there are from Africa .", "It should be called the Museum of Africa . ''", "The French handover of Nigerian artefacts marks a beginning of substantiable result in the still simmering campaign for the return of the artefacts to its orignal homes in Nigeria and other parts of Africa which is enjoying increasing global support .", "By Lekan Olaseinde ( Abuja ) and Chuka Nnabuife ( Arts Editor )"], "_citing_sentence": "For instance, the British Museum is refusing to return 700 of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria despite repeated requests by the Nigerian government.", "_claim_name": "Retaining artefacts is a relic of imperialist attitudes to non-occidental cultures", "_doc_title": "France returns Nigerian artifacts", "_labeled_lineIDs": [49, 50, 51, 52]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 135, "_topic_name": "This House would return cultural property residing in museums to its place of origin"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["\u25aa Abstract Revised FDA regulations governing pharmaceutical companies ' broadcast advertisements directed to consumers produced substantial increases in direct-to-consumer advertising ( DTCA ) expenditures .", "Proponents of DTCA claim it supports patient autonomy in the patient-physician relationship and has motivated some consumers to seek a physician 's care for conditions they previously had not discussed with a doctor .", "However , DTCA 's blend of promotion and information has produced more prescription drug awareness than knowledge -- it has been largely ineffective in educating patients with medical conditions about the medications for those conditions .", "The evidence for DTCA 's increase in pharmaceutical sales is as impressive as is the lack of evidence concerning its impact on the health of the public .", "Broadcast advertisements are too brief to include extensive technical information ; consequently , the impact of FDA regulations to assure a fair balance of risk and benefit in DTCA is still being assessed .", "Changes in Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) regulations governing pharmaceutical companies ' broadcast advertisements directed to consumers produced substantial increases in direct-to-consumer advertising ( DTCA ) expenditures , yet there is little evidence of their effect on public health .", "This article examines the motivations for DTCA , its evolution , and the limited evidence of its results .", "Financial aspects are considered ; however , the focus concerns health services and outcomes .", "The lack of information on DTCA 's health impact has not prevented key stakeholders from identifying strong and often opposing positions .", "DTCA supporters view it as an appropriate extension of patient empowerment , opponents reject it as inappropriate and misleading for its intended audience , whereas others see a role for DTCA under specific circumstances and with additional safeguards .", "Alan Holmer , president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America , cites the extent of undiagnosed or undertreated chronic illnesses such as diabetes , hypercholesterolemia , hypertension , and depressive illness , for which DTCA may motivate consumers to seek a physician 's care .", "Mr. Holmer asserts both the `` right and responsibility '' of pharmaceutical companies to advertise their products , arguing that the drug companies do not determine the physician 's prescribing decision ( 38 ) .", "Noting that FDA relaxed standards for marketing prescription drugs directly to consumers in the absence of `` rigorous , independent studies , '' Matthew Hollon emphasizes the mixed incentives influencing communications from the pharmaceutical industry .", "Industry 's legitimate profit motive makes the quality of the information it provides `` suspect '' so Hollon proposes stronger regulation until `` well designed , independent studies '' demonstrate the public health value of the information provided ( 37 ) .", "The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy discourages product-specific DTCA ( 2 ) ; however , many organizations share the perspective of the American Association of Retired Persons ( AARP ) that `` FDA should regulate all direct-to-consumer ( DTC ) advertising and promotion of prescription drugs to ensure that it is balanced and accurate and includes information on any adverse effects '' ( 3 ) .", "Information provided through DTCA under these safeguards could complement the prescription drug initiatives of Healthy People 2010 , a national initiative to identify and reduce the leading preventable threats to health .", "Under Healthy People 2010 , FDA 's objectives include increasing the proportion of patients ( a ) receiving drug information with their new prescriptions , and ( b ) receiving verbal counseling on appropriate medication use and risks ( 36 ) .", "The growth of managed care in the United States both expanded the number of people with prescription drug insurance but restricted their options for coverage of specific drugs : Greater choice among the marketed pharmaceuticals typically requires greater patient cost-sharing ( 47 ) .", "Managed care controls that limit the physician 's prescriptive authority also reduce the potential impact of promotional activities targeting physicians ; consequently , pharmaceutical companies have responded by seeking alternative ways to influence physician prescribing ( 45 ) .", "Managed care arrangements that produce time constraints on patient-physician interactions and financial incentives for physicians have contributed to erosion of the patient 's trust ( 49 ) .", "One fourth of respondents in a recent national poll trust their doctor less than in recent years , and over half believe their health plan is more worried about saving money than about providing the best treatment ( 61 ) .", "DTCA reflects the consumer 's growing role in prescription drug decisions in managed care , desire for information , and distrust in their providers .", "Self-medication and DTCA have a long history ( see Table 1 ) .", "Contrasting drug advertising expenditures circa 1930 with those of 1972 , 90 % of the former was in newspapers and popular magazines -- with detailing , samples , and technical journal advertisements totaling 5 % , whereas the latter categories represented 75 % by 1972 ( 68 ) .", "Testimony by the chief of the FDA and a subsequent U.S. House of Representatives Report on what would become the Food , Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 ( FDCA ) were clear that the FDCA was `` not intended to restrict in any way the availability of drugs for self-medication .", "On the contrary , it is intended to make self-medication safer and more effective '' ( 69 ) .", "For the next 13 years , manufacturers determined what was , and was not , a prescription drug , although FDA could sue if it disagreed ( 1 ) .", "The Durham-Humphrey Amendment of 1951 ( 21 ) finally clarified the distinction between over-the-counter ( OTC ) and prescription drugs , requiring prescription drugs to display the legend `` CAUTION : Federal law prohibits dispensing without a prescription . ''", "TABLE 1 Chronology of selected issues relevant to DTCA", "Until 1962 , the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) regulated advertising both for OTC and for prescription drugs .", "During the thalidomide tragedy the Kefauver-Harris Amendment , passed to strengthen the drug approval process ( 42 ) , placed prescription drug advertising under FDA 's jurisdiction .", "Consequently , different criteria regulate the content of OTC vs prescription drugs advertised directly to consumers .", "The FDCA does not define what constitutes a prescription medicine advertisement ; consequently , the FDA has interpreted it to `` include information ( other than labeling ) that is sponsored by a manufacturer and is intended to supplement or explain a product '' ( 43 ) .", "Under the FDCA , drug advertising must not be false , misleading or lacking in material facts , and its information must represent a fair balance of the drug risks and benefits .", "Specifically , it has to contain a brief summary from the approved product label ( the package insert ) , consisting of `` the product 's adverse event profile , contraindications , warnings and precautions '' ( 31 ) .", "Clearly , the brief summary was likely to be anything but brief .", "Consumers can not directly purchase prescription medications in the United States , so DTCA was a minor aspect of prescription drug promotions from the 1950s through the 1970s .", "Changes began in the 1980s with the first product-specific DTCA , a price advertisement for Rufen \u00ae , a branded generic of ibuprofen ( 58 ) .", "A 1981 advertisement in Reader 's Digest for pneumococcal vaccine ( Pneumovax \u00ae ) and a 1982 Washington Post advertisement for acyclovir at People 's Drug Store signaled a growing interest in DTCA , though the companies referred to these as public service campaigns ( 7 ) .", "Pfizer 's `` Healthcare Series '' in 1982 was an early example of help-seeking promotions : It described symptoms and diseases , but did not mention specific drug products ( 7 ) .", "The 1982 campaign for Oraflex \u00ae ( benoxaprofen ) changed the direction of DTCA from price or general information to product-specific promotion by distributing press kits and videotapes for the broadcast media .", "However , the drug was soon associated with adverse events and deaths , leading the manufacturer to withdraw it from the market voluntarily ( 7 ) .", "This experience illustrates a substantial concern for DTCA -- that it promotes drugs recently approved for marketing at a time when their side effects are less understood , particularly if these side effects are less common , have a long induction period , or result from interaction with other agents or patient characteristics ( 62 ) .", "Based on many DTCA proposals , in 1983 the Commissioner of the FDA requested a moratorium on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs ( 43 ) .", "During this moratorium , the FDA encouraged ( a ) a dialogue among consumers , health professionals and industry ; and ( b ) research and interpretation of findings on DTCA .", "The moratorium ended in 1985 with the FDA concluding that the existing regulations , intended for physicians , provided adequate consumer protection and would be applied to all prescription drug advertisement audiences ( 16 ) .", "FDA also requested pre-dissemination submission of DTCA ; even though many companies voluntarily sought prior review of promotional materials , it has never been a requirement .", "The brief summary and fair balance requirements effectively eliminated broadcast advertisements from pharmaceutical companies ' consideration and lessened print advertisements ' promotional appeal since their effectiveness message might be negated in the viewer 's mind by the contraindications and side-effect warnings that would follow .", "FDA recognizes three categories of DTCA : ( a ) Product-claims promote a specific product and must present a brief summary with a fair balance of benefits and of risks ; ( b ) Help-seeking advertisements provide information on diseases or conditions -- they encourage consumers to consult their physician regarding treatment options ; specific prescription drugs or treatments can not be mentioned , nor can the advertisement contain linkages to materials identified with a specific product ; and ( c ) Reminder advertisements : these materials can not contain or suggest the clinical role of the product ( 17 ) .", "Although pharmaceutical companies have sponsored reminder and helpseeking advertisements , not having both the product name and the condition it treated in the same promotional communication meant that they provided little helpful information to consumers ( 58 ) .", "However , the growing use of reminder and help-seeking advertisements coupled with their limited utility as a source of consumer information led to a reconsideration of the guidelines for broadcast advertisements .", "FDA Commissioner David Kessler was opposed to expanding broadcast DTCA ; consequently , his departure in January 1997 removed one of the remaining barriers to change for DTCA ( 58 ) .", "Broadcast advertisements pose special challenges to communicating risk effectively : They are too brief to include information as extensive and as technical as a brief summary .", "Thus , the 1997 Draft Guidance on DTC Broadcast Advertisements permitted broadcast media ( radio , television advertisements , or telephone communications ) to address risk differently : A major statement containing the most important product risks had to be either in the audio or in the audio and visual segments of the advertisement , but adequate provision was required for consumers to access the full package labeling ( 31 ) .", "Adequate provision required the advertisement to contain four additional sources from which the consumer could obtain the labeling information : ( a ) a toll-free telephone number , ( b ) a currently running print advertisement that contained the information , ( c ) referral to a health care provider , and ( d ) an Internet web page address .", "In this draft FDA committed to `` evaluating the effects of the guidance -LSB- within two years of the publication of the final guidance -RSB- , including effects on the public health of DTC promotion , and specifically of consumer-directed broadcast advertising '' ( 20 ) .", "FDA `` is unaware of any data supporting the assertion that the public health ... is being harmed , or is likely to be harmed , by the Agency 's actions in facilitating consumer-directed broadcast advertising '' ( 29 ) .", "Consequently , the final Guidance , issued August 1999 , is essentially the same as the draft ( 28 ) .", "Surveillance and enforcement of the Guidance covering DTCA is the responsibility of the Division of Drug Marketing , Advertising and Communications in the FDA ( 26 ) .", "Advertisements that do not satisfy regulatory requirements may result in enforcement actions , ranging from an Untitled Letter to a Warning Letter , to `` recalls , seizures , injunctions , administrative detention and criminal prosecution '' ( 29 ) .", "Examples of print DTCA for tamoxifen ( Figure 1 ) and for simvastatin ( Figure 2 ) demonstrate the major statement and adequate provision requirements .", "In addition , these advertisements illustrate information on risk factors for the specific condition ( Figure 1 ) and on nondrug alternatives ( Figure 2 ) .", "Figure 1 Direct-to-consumer advertisement for Tamoxifen Citrate .", "Figure 2 Direct-to-consumer advertisement for Simvastatin .", "Source : Merck & Co. , Inc. .", "In summary , current regulations have not eliminated the strong , divergent positions that stakeholders have regarding DTCA .", "Proponents assert that DTCA : ( a ) provides educational information , ( b ) enhances the physician-patient relationship , ( c ) improves adherence to prescription drug regimens , ( d ) stimulates competition , and ( e ) results in lower prices for pharmaceuticals .", "Opponents counter that : ( a ) consumers lack the expertise to assess the quality of the content of the advertisements , ( b ) the promotional aspect of advertising will not communicate risk information effectively , ( c ) it will harm the physician-patient relationship , ( d ) it will lead to increased drug prices , ( e ) it will lead to increased liability and litigation , and ( f ) it will encourage overuse of medications ( 17 ) .", "Patient autonomy has become a primary feature of the patient-physician relationship , demonstrated through measures such as informed consent , advance directives , and shared decision-making among treatment options ( 64 ) .", "Autonomy extends to health promotion , emphasizing the need for increased control over factors influencing one 's health ; for example , the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion specifically included access to information as one of the factors ( 13 ) .", "Surprisingly , patients want more information on their medical conditions and treatment options than they express directly to their physician ( 22 , 63 ) .", "The gap between the information that consumers want and what is routinely provided is small for instructions on medication use ( 3 % ) , but substantial for serious side effects ( 22 % ) , for possible drug interactions ( 23 % ) , for how the medication works ( 23 % ) , and for how much it costs ( 19 % ) ( 61 ) .", "National , cross-sectional surveys from 1982 to1994 indicate that physician counseling has increased , mostly on risk information , but only slightly ( 52 ) .", "By raising consumer awareness about prescription medications , DTCA increases the likelihood that patients may discuss these products with their physician .", "Supporting patient autonomy , however , will require physicians to employ a variety of communication skills to encourage patients to be active partners in their own care ( 63 ) .", "When patients evaluated the quality of communication with their physician as low , they have been less likely to accept their doctor 's decision not to prescribe a requested advertised drug without considering other actions or ways to get the drug ( 9 ) .", "Another consequence of effective communications is that adherence to medical recommendations is higher among satisfied patients ( 63 ) and when client preferences are included in the therapeutic selection ( 14 ) .", "Twenty-five percent of a national survey 's respondents reported trusting their doctor 's advice less than in previous years , whereas 18 % were dissatisfied with the information they received about their medical conditions and treatment options ( 61 ) .", "Across many medical conditions and dosing regimens patient adherence too often ranges from suboptimal to subtherapeutic ( 35 ) , emphasizing the importance of the patient-physician relationship for effective pharmacotherapy .", "Some physicians may require training to develop their communication skills ; a study using objective evidence , including video analysis , demonstrated that physicians overestimated how much they communicated with patients regarding the patient 's view of a treatment regimen and of medication risks ( 48 ) .", "Patient Package Inserts are another potential source of prescription drug information for patients .", "Patient Package Inserts , according to FDA , `` provide patients with information that will promote safe and effective use and ... provide patients with adequate and meaningful information sufficient for them to participate in evaluating the benefits , risks , and proper use of drug products '' ( 32 ) .", "In 1968 , FDA 's first labeling directed to patients was a brief caution on isoproterenol inhalers , not to exceed the recommended dose ( overuse could produce a paradoxical , fatal response ) .", "However , even a diminished pilot program was cancelled in 1982 based on the anticipated program costs and the intervening growth of voluntary patient information initiatives .", "For example , the National Council on Patient Information and Education was formed in 1982 as a nonprofit coalition `` to stimulate and improve communication of information on the appropriate use of medicines to consumers and health care professionals '' ( 53 ) .", "DTCA is one component of a broader marketing and communication plan for businesses ; as such , it represents an investment of resources that can be evaluated by its return-on-investment .", "Although purely financial models may measure the achievement of business goals , they are silent on health consequences .", "Useful research models must also provide insight into the behavioral components of health care , permit interactions among the participants , and accommodate levels of analysis ranging from the individual patient to the pharmaceutical industry .", "There is no single , comprehensive framework that organizes the diverse behavioral , economic , policy , and business models that may be applied to DTCA research .", "Consequently , alternate conceptual frameworks may be appropriate depending on the specific issues being examined and on the perspectives of the research .", "The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation ( ASPE ) of the U.S. Department of Health Human Services convened a conference on May 30 , 2001 , to stimulate the examination of methodological issues concerning the effects of DTCA on health care use , costs , and outcomes ( 54 ) .", "The ASPE-sponsored workshop highlights the importance of a broadly applicable model of DTCA and its effects : A common conceptual framework would encourage increased and consistent rigor in the analyses undertaken , and a cumulative body of results for research findings .", "Promotional expenditures for prescription drugs have experienced unprecedented growth during 1996 -- 2000 ; over this four-year period total promotional spending increased 71 % .", "Although DTCA increased 216 % in absolute dollars , it was just 57 % of the increase in product-sampling to office-based physicians and only 8.1 % greater than the increase in office promotional expenditures ( 39 ) .", "These collective expenditures represent an expanded marketing strategy to influence the prescription drug decisions of physicians and patients .", "Although the dollar increase in DTCA is large , it is a selective strategy .", "DTCA tends to be concentrated in a small number of products ; 24 brands represented 74 % of 1999 spending .", "These same 24 brands had a 42 % increase in 1999 sales compared with a 14.4 % increase for all other drugs .", "Three antiallergy medications together accounted for 4.4 % of the increase in all prescription drug expenditures in 1999 , while the increase in sales of atorvastatin , a cholesterol-reducing agent , represented 5.5 % of the total increase in 1999 prescription drug expenditures .", "Taken together , these 24 brands represented 34 % of the increase in all prescription drug spending from 1998 to 1999 ( 23 ) .", "Both the magnitude of the increase in DTCA and the shift in media purchased for promotional activities are striking .", "Television consumed 27 % of the DTCA spending in 1997 , whereas magazines were 62 % and newspapers 10 % of the expenditures .", "This distribution is consistent with the guidance on broadcast advertisements not being released until August 1997 .", "Preliminary data for 2000 report television expenditures at 64 % , magazines at 30 % , and newspapers at 5 % ( 66 ) ( Table 2 ) .", "TABLE 2 U.S. pharmaceutical prescription market", "FDA 's continuing surveillance and review of DTCA against regulatory requirements focus resources on priorities ; the first in a class of advertisements may have a more vivid or durable impact , thus it will be reviewed in more detail than will subsequent submissions in the class .", "During July and August 2000 , for example , there were four first-in-class submissions ; by contrast , during May to August 2000 per-month DTC broadcast submissions ranged from 9 to 28 .", "FDA 's enforcement actions against pharmaceutical companies for broadcast DTCA were most numerous ( 13 ) during the first year following the 1997 Draft Guidance .", "Product claim advertisements received the most enforcement actions , for reasons such as statements or suggestions that efficacy was greater than the labeling supported , that minimized risk , lacked fair balance , or contained implied , unsubstantiated claims ( 55 ) .", "The absolute number of enforcement actions is small ; however , reviewing advertisements after they have been broadcast may not offer sufficient protection .", "The American Public Health Association resolution on DTCA calls for increased FDA funding and more assertive reviews ( 12 ) , while the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine 's position supports mandatory pre-broadcast clearance ( 4 ) .", "Regulatory oversight is critical since many consumers believe television advertising implies drug safety .", "Of people who had seen a doctor within the last three months , 29 % believed `` only the safest prescription drugs are allowed to be advertised to the public '' ( 30 ) .", "A separate study reported that 43 % believed drugs could be advertised only if they were completely safe : People with these and similar misconceptions regarding regulatory oversight view DTCA more positively ( 8 ) .", "These beliefs provide the context within which risk information and potential benefits of an advertised drug are considered , as such they suggest a positive bias for some consumers and a potential filter if corrections are required following FDA 's review .", "Almost half of the people who see a DTCA do not pursue the sources required by adequate provision for additional information and , thus , miss the opportunity for a more balanced , comprehensive assessment of benefit and risk .", "Having the four specific alternate sources for additional information is intended to provide formats that address the diversity in consumers ' information processing abilities and in their preferences for privacy .", "Those who do seek more information most often get it from a doctor ( 81 % ) or a pharmacist ( 52 % ) , and , much less frequently , the advertisement 's toll-free number ( 18 % ) , the Internet ( 18 % ) , a magazine ( 14 % ) , or a newspaper ( 7 % ) ( 30 ) .", "FDA has planned to evaluate the effects of the Guidance within two years of its publication in final form .", "Pending authorization by the Office of Management and Budget , FDA anticipated conducting two national telephone surveys on DTCA in 2001 , one directed to physicians and one to patients who have seen a physician within the last three months .", "Unaided consumer awareness of prescription drug advertisements increased from 63 % in 1997 to 81 % in 1999 , though it was flat for 2000 ( 80 % ) and higher for those taking medications .", "However , in response to questions concerning advertisements for ten named prescription medicines , 91 % of consumers were aware of advertisements for at least one .", "Among respondents who had the medical condition for which the advertised medicine is indicated , only two of the ten medications had consumer awareness greater than 50 % , suggesting a failure of DTCA to reach its intended audience .", "Awareness of DTCA varies by race or ethnicity , socioeconomic strata , and gender ; it is lower among minorities , particularly Hispanics , and those with annual household incomes below $ 25,000 .", "Women are , in general , more likely to be aware of prescription drug advertisements than are men ( 61 ) .", "From a public health perspective , inappropriate patient demand for advertised prescription drugs wastes resources at best and , at worst , may lead to the use of unnecessary or inappropriate medications .", "Appropriately targeted messages might lead consumers who are not currently in treatment but might benefit from it to seek care for their condition ( s ) .", "However , the failure of a large portion of DTCA to reach its target audience , at a time when it might influence decisions and in a form that the audience can comprehend , means that alternative approaches , tailored to specific groups , are required .", "The information needs of patients with chronic conditions are particularly important , because patients are assuming a larger role in managing their chronic conditions ( 34 ) .", "Since pharmaceutical companies not only continue but increase their spending on DTCA despite this failure suggests that they are ( a ) basing their decisions on early financial results and ( b ) learning how to use these new broadcast marketing options most effectively .", "The impact of different advertising media ( TV vs magazine advertisements ) and the format of the benefit and risk information were studied long before FDA 's 1997 Guidance on DTCA .", "Research comparing fictitious prescription drug advertisements on television and in magazines concluded that patients had a greater sense of empowerment in prescription drug decisions after reading magazine advertisements , which contained comparatively more information .", "Television advertisements , by contrast , led consumers to seek more specific drug information and to be more likely to consult a physician .", "To provide effective guidance and oversight of DTCA , regulations governing risk communication must be adaptable to diverse media , formats , and consumer information processing styles ( 50 ) .", "The percent of patients being advised of side effects and precautions for their medications , though improving during 1992 to 1998 , is below 40 % for physician offices and 25 % for pharmacies .", "Although consumers reported that they were more likely to take their medication if they believed they had received adequate risk information , few ( 40 % ) report reading at least half of the information in small print , although more ( 93 % ) felt they would if they were especially interested in the drug ( 30 ) .", "Broadcast advertisements are only required to include the most important product risks , making this , alone , an incomplete source of information for viewers .", "Beyond raising basic awareness regarding prescription drugs , the educational potential of DTCA appears to be failing .", "Of ten heavily promoted products , only one had consumer awareness both of the product and of its indication above 70 % ( Claritin \u00ae ) , one at 40 % ( Lipitor \u00ae ) , and the remainder at 32 % or less .", "These statistics , calculated on the basis of those who were aware of the advertisement for any of the ten medications , may overstate the effectiveness of DTCA messages since products are also mentioned in news reports , press releases , and in other forms that may elevate awareness for specific agents ( 61 ) .", "From 1997 to 2000 , about 30 % of consumers who saw a DTCA spoke with their physician about it .", "Women more often than men spoke with their doctor , and people currently taking a prescription drug did so more often than those not taking one .", "Conversely , 78 % of consumers who felt that DTCA provided inadequate risk information , and 82 % who felt the benefit information was inadequate , did not discuss the drug with a doctor ( 61 ) .", "Advertising aims to increase not only awareness but also sales ; therefore , a central question is whether DTCA viewers request those specific , advertised medications when they do speak with their doctor .", "Of the 32 % of consumers who spoke with their doctor about an advertised prescription drug , 26 % requested that drug , with higher percentages for the younger and lower percentages for the older age groups ( 61 ) .", "Improved adherence to pharmacotherapy is another potential benefit of DTCA .", "Some consumers who are taking a prescription medicine and see an advertisement for it report feeling better about the product 's safety ( 36 % ) and that they are more likely to take their medicine ( 22 % ) .", "The reported likelihood of taking their medication increases if the consumers ' doctor provides information on serious side effects or if the drug 's mechanism of action is explained ( 61 ) .", "DTCA has the potential to support the belief in patient autonomy in clinical decisions .", "Forty-seven percent of persons who had seen or heard a prescription drug advertisement agreed that `` Advertisements for prescription drugs help me make better decisions about my health , '' and 62 % of those who had seen a physician within the last three months believed that `` Advertisements for prescription drugs help me have better discussions with my doctor about my health '' ( 30 ) .", "Based on their self-report , the prescription drug advertisement motivated 27 % of survey respondents to discuss a medical condition or illness that they had not previously discussed with a physician ( 30 ) .", "These responses , however , reflect beliefs and not necessarily that patient autonomy is actually increasing .", "DTCA still does not provide enough risk ( 30 % ) or benefit ( 25 % ) information for many consumers to speak with their physician about the advertised drug .", "For those 55 plus years of age , a population at high risk for medical conditions and for prescription drug use , DTCA is least adequate in providing the necessary information on risks or benefits to lead them to discuss it with their doctor ( 61 ) .", "Experiments that assessed factors conducive to risk communication in television prescription drug promotions demonstrate its complexity .", "Risk information was conveyed more effectively when both audio and visual information were presented , rather than video alone ; when the risk information was dispersed throughout the commercial rather than in a single warning at the end ; and when specific rather than general disclosures were used .", "Formats with more opportunities for consumers to process information increased awareness and knowledge of risks .", "However , consumers appear to trade-off risk and benefit information ; recalled benefits declined as the number of risks included in the commercial increased ( 51 ) .", "An advertisement for a prescription drug had led 51 % of respondents in an FDA survey to seek more information , most often from their doctors and/or a pharmacist .", "However , some consumers may get a different message .", "Twenty-four percent of those who had seen or heard a DTCA agreed that `` Prescription drug advertisements make it seem like a doctor is not needed to decide whether a drug is right for me '' ( 30 ) .", "A better understanding of risk communication is essential to avoid consumer overconfidence .", "DTCA effectiveness in promoting communication between a patient and his or her physician depends , in part , on the physician 's support of the patient 's participation .", "Physicians ' participatory decision-making styles vary with their patients ' characteristics ; it is generally lower with patients who are 75 plus years of age , less educated , a minority or male , but it increases with the continuity of the physician-patient relationship ( 40 ) .", "Communication and intuition of both the physician 's and the patient 's prior expectations also influence subsequent drug-prescribing decisions .", "When a patient expects to receive a medication , the odds of it occurring increase ; however , when the physician believes the patient expects a medication , the odds increase even more ( 15 ) .", "National data from 1992 through 1997 , the years preceding the 1997 Guidance on broadcast advertisements , established a relationship between the modest DTCA occurring then and the physician diagnosing and prescribing an advertised product ( 70 ) .", "More recently , 71 % of consumers who requested an advertised medicine from their physician received a prescription for that product , whereas 10 % received a prescription for a different product ; only 19 % did not receive a prescription ( 61 ) .", "An earlier study , predating the FDA 's guidance for broadcast DTCA , reported that the most frequent reason physicians gave for suboptimal prescribing was patient demand ( 65 ) .", "There are no data on the appropriateness of the prescribing for those who request and receive the advertised drug ; nor a contrast with those who request prescription drugs for reasons other than DTCA .", "An alternative approach to understanding the impact of DTCA is to test consumers directly for the appropriateness of their medication .", "When patients receiving one of three nonsedating antihistamines , nasal steroids , or both received specific IgE testing , 65 % were determined not to have allergies , suggesting that the nonsedating antihistamines might be eliminated appropriately in these patients ( 67 ) .", "Does DTCA cause patients and physicians to overlook nondrug options ?", "Physicians provided information on nondrug therapies to 53 % of consumers who asked about an advertised medication , but this was higher for certain conditions : diabetes ( 77 % ) , high cholesterol ( 92 % ) , or being overweight ( 84 % ) .", "When these nondrug therapies are discussed , patients report greater trust in their doctor 's advice and are less worried that the health plan is more concerned about money than about what is their best treatment ( 61 ) .", "In FDA 's survey , 13 % of persons who had seen a physician within the last three months mentioned an advertisement or brought something about the drug to the visit with the physician .", "Eighty-one percent of these people reported that the physician seemed to welcome the questions , but 4 % said the doctor seemed to get angry or upset ; overall , 85 % were satisfied with the doctor 's reactions to questions about the advertised drug .", "Although 50 % of the patients received the prescription drug requested , 29 % were counseled to make behavioral or lifestyle changes ( 30 ) .", "The physician 's perspective of this interaction may be less positive than the consumer 's .", "In a systematic sample of active members of the American Academy of Family Physicians , 84 % held negative views of television and radio advertisements , many seeing them as biased and misleading .", "Overall , 80 % felt DTCA was not a good idea , though 56 % felt DTCA informed consumers who might seek care for conditions that otherwise may have been neglected ( 46 ) .", "These paradoxical findings reflect the multiple realities concerning DTCA .", "An American Medical Association Member Pulse poll reported similar reservations ; most respondents ( 72 % ) believed that DTCA 's impact on their practice was negative ( 5 ) .", "The values the marketing industry brings to DTCA are demonstrated in the criteria weights for the second annual DTC Excellence Awards : 60 % for `` creativity and breakthrough execution of the marketing strategy '' and 40 % for `` bottom-line results in achieving marketing objectives and growing sales '' ( 44 ) .", "Content analysis of advertisements from popular magazines from 1989 to 1998 reported the drug information quality to be inconsistent , with information on alternative treatments mentioned in only 29 % of the advertisements , lifestyle changes in 24 % , and the success rate for the advertised drug in just 9 % ( 10 ) .", "The imminent transition of leading branded products from brand only to brand plus generic options has intensified consumer marketing for these agents .", "As some brand name -- only prescription drugs reach the end of their patent life , manufacturers are introducing versions of their products that may require fewer doses , thus potentially improving compliance but also securing a patent extension for these versions .", "DTCA for some products extends to inducements such as coupons for discounts or a free period of supply , such as a month .", "Others are raising the level of competition by assuring the achievement of targeted therapeutic endpoints or the price of the medication will be refunded ( 43 ) .", "Consequently , complete information with a fair balance of drug risks and benefits is more necessary than ever .", "Direct marketing to consumers also includes the Internet .", "Most people over 50 do not use the Internet ( 57 ) , yet most who do have used it to obtain health-related information ( 56 ) .", "Online prescription drug information was more likely to be sought by women , current prescription drug users , and people who reported less trust in their doctor 's advice .", "Minorities and people living in households with annual incomes below $ 25,000 have lower rates of Internet use ( 61 ) .", "Internet sites sponsored by pharmaceutical companies must also conform to the Guidance for DTCA and are monitored by FDA 's Division of Drug Marketing , Advertising and Communications .", "Consequently , a product-specific website will typically use its home page to direct consumers and health care professionals to separate areas for information .", "However , health information on the Internet may require that consumers have advanced reading levels to comprehend it , reinforcing the need for health care professionals to `` individualize '' the information for patients ( 11 ) .", "DTCA may alter existing standards and perceptions of liability .", "Courts have held that physicians are the `` learned intermediary '' between pharmaceutical companies and patients , and that they are responsible for judging a prescription drug 's benefit and risk for their patients .", "Consequently , the `` learned intermediary '' doctrine has protected pharmaceutical companies from having to provide patients with product warnings directly .", "Litigation against pharmaceutical companies challenge this doctrine when the companies communicate directly with patients ( 33 ) .", "With DTCA the manufacturer 's liability may increase , particularly if FDA requires corrective actions subsequent to a pharmaceutical company 's consumer-directed broadcast advertisement .", "By communicating directly with consumers and bypassing health plans , pharmaceutical companies may have provoked health plans to bypass pharmaceutical companies and initiate actions with the FDA directly .", "DTCA of prescription nonsedating antihistamines has been substantial , as have the sales for these products .", "Wellpoint Health Networks filed a citizens ' petition to have these drugs switched from prescription to OTC status , claiming that they are safer than the current OTC antihistamines .", "FDA 's Advisory Committees agreed that these drugs are safe for OTC use ( 6 ) , though FDA may lack authority to require a pharmaceutical company to market its approved prescription product as an OTC instead .", "Another potential consequence of DTCA is civil litigation against pharmaceutical companies based on advertised claims for their products .", "In August 2001 , a consumer coalition of more than 50 groups , the Prescription Access Litigation project ( 59 ) , initiated a class action lawsuit against Schering-Plough Corporation based on the content of its DTCA for Claritin \u00ae ( 18 ) .", "The coalition alleges that research reports Claritin 's success to be 50 % , but the lawsuit alleges that the advertisements contain `` numerous statements of unqualified and absolute effectiveness and no mention of the limited usefulness of Claritin \u00ae products '' ( 19 ) .", "At the time of the news reports , Schering-Plough had not seen the charges and so did not comment on the contents of the lawsuit ( 18 ) .", "Direct marketing of pharmaceuticals to consumers follows social and economic trends that recognize patient autonomy in medical care and increasingly require consumers to consider costs in their prescription drug decisions .", "DTCA is also a reaction of the pharmaceutical industry to more restrictive prescription drug benefits and to the uncertain effectiveness of relying only on traditional marketing activities such as medical journal advertisements and detailing individual physicians .", "The evidence for DTCA 's impact on pharmaceutical sales is as impressive as is the lack of evidence concerning its impact on the health of the public .", "The limited research on DTCA suggests that there has been some improvement in communicating risk and benefit information since August 1997 , but it is modest and insufficient .", "The values for excellence in marketing , increasing brand awareness and sales , are not those of public health .", "The postmarketing period for a new drug requires what has been termed pharmacovigilence , i.e. , active identification and follow-up of unexpected consequences as experience is gained with the new prescription drug product .", "Experimental research , employing sound methodologies and examining actual consumer decisions and their health consequences , is needed to guide effective communications on drug risk and benefit in different media .", "Although the available evidence suggests that advertisements containing adequate risk information are more likely to motivate consumers to speak with their doctor , a substantial portion of consumers still believe the risk information in DTCA is inadequate .", "It may indicate the limits of traditional marketing approaches that most people having the conditions treated by the most heavily promoted DTCA can not associate the product with the condition it treats .", "Recognizing the blend of promotion and information contained in DTCA , physicians and the American Pharmaceutical Association are ambivalent about product-specific advertisements directed to consumers because many consumers may be unable to separate the two .", "Yet one appeal of these advertisements for consumers arises from the failure of physicians and pharmacists to provide drug information to them .", "Empirical evidence of DTCA 's impact on physicians ' and pharmacists ' practices and on patient health outcomes is needed ; does DTCA lead to meaningful dialogue and empowered patients or merely to motivated but ill-informed purchasers ?", "When used alone , patient leaflets are an inadequate and ineffective response to the consumer 's need for information .", "As the preferred information source , health care professionals should communicate directly with their patients and employ the leaflet as a reminder rather than as the main message .", "However , changing clinical practice to accommodate more time for patient communications will be exceedingly difficult if it must occur as an uncompensated , additional task in an already compressed schedule .", "Much of the drug information on the Internet is not provided through the support , sponsorship , or promotion of a pharmaceutical company and , therefore , is beyond FDA 's jurisdiction .", "As a practical matter , rescinding the DTCA guidance would not remove the consumer 's exposure to drug information .", "The unregulated information would continue to exist ( and likely increase ) , but it would no longer be balanced by communications that must meet a standard of fair balance in representing a pharmaceutical 's effectiveness , side effects , and contraindications .", "If anything , it is FDA 's mandatory review of advertisements after broadcast that should be reconsidered .", "What is the evidence that corrective advertisements actually change the consumer 's initial perception ?", "The practice and regulation of DTCA must move beyond the positions and interests of stakeholders to an evidence-based examination of impacts .", "DTCA is unlikely to disappear ; consequently , the central issues are how to create and how to regulate the communications most effectively .", "The resurgence of health care costs may result in more people receiving health insurance benefits as defined contributions by their employer rather than as defined benefits .", "Under that arrangement more choices and trade-offs will be made by the individual consumer , raising the significance and potential impact of DTCA that address prescription drug concerns from the patient 's perspective ."], "_citing_sentence": "56% of AMA general practitioners believed that direct-to-consumer advertising had prompted some of their patients to seek treatment for a condition which would have otherwise been neglected.", "_claim_name": "Patients will be better informed than under the status quo", "_doc_title": "Direct Marketing of Pharmaceuticals to Consumers - Annual Review of Public Health, 23(1):73", "_labeled_lineIDs": [180]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 136, "_topic_name": "This House would allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to consumers"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["by Emily Nussbaum by Dorothy Wickenden by Elif Shafak by David Remnick by Jane Mayer by Andy Borowitz by Emily Nussbaum by Evan Osnos", "On March 1st , Wikipedia , the online interactive encyclopedia , hit the million-articles mark , with an entry on Jordanhill , a railway station in suburban Glasgow .", "Its author , Ewan MacDonald , posted a single sentence about the station at 11 P.M. , local time ; over the next twenty-four hours , the entry was edited more than four hundred times , by dozens of people .", "( Jordanhill happens to be the `` 1029th busiest station in the United Kingdom '' ; it `` no longer has a staffed ticket counter . '' )", "The Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica , which for more than two centuries has been considered the gold standard for reference works , has only a hundred and twenty thousand entries in its most comprehensive edition .", "Apparently , no traditional encyclopedia has ever suspected that someone might wonder about Sudoku or about prostitution in China .", "Or , for that matter , about Capgras delusion ( the unnerving sensation that an impostor is sitting in for a close relative ) , the Boston molasses disaster , the Rhinoceros Party of Canada , Bill Gates 's house , the forty-five-minute Anglo-Zanzibar War , or Islam in Iceland .", "Wikipedia includes fine entries on Kafka and the War of the Spanish Succession , and also a complete guide to the ships of the U.S. Navy , a definition of Philadelphia cheesesteak , a masterly page on Scrabble , a list of historical cats ( celebrity cats , a cat millionaire , the first feline to circumnavigate Australia ) , a survey of invented expletives in fiction ( `` bippie , '' `` cakesniffer , '' `` furgle '' ) , instructions for curing hiccups , and an article that describes , with schematic diagrams , how to build a stove from a discarded soda can .", "The how-to entries represent territory that the encyclopedia has not claimed since the eighteenth century .", "You could cure a toothache or make snowshoes using the original Britannica , of 1768-71 .", "( You could also imbibe a lot of prejudice and superstition .", "The entry on Woman was just six words : `` The female of man .", "If you look up `` coffee preparation '' on Wikipedia , you will find your way , via the entry on Espresso , to a piece on types of espresso machines , which you will want to consult before buying .", "There is also a page on the site dedicated to `` Errors in the Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica that have been corrected in Wikipedia '' ( Stalin 's birth date , the true inventor of the safety razor ) .", "Because there are no physical limits on its size , Wikipedia can aspire to be all-inclusive .", "It is also perfectly configured to be current : there are detailed entries for each of the twelve finalists on this season 's `` American Idol , '' and the article on the `` 2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict '' has been edited more than four thousand times since it was created , on July 12th , six hours after Hezbollah militants ignited the hostilities by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers .", "Wikipedia , which was launched in 2001 , is now the seventeenth-most-popular site on the Internet , generating more traffic daily than MSNBC.com and the online versions of the Times and the Wall Street Journal combined .", "The number of visitors has been doubling every four months ; the site receives as many as fourteen thousand hits per second .", "Wikipedia functions as a filter for vast amounts of information online , and it could be said that Google owes the site for tidying up the neighborhood .", "But the search engine is amply repaying its debt : because Wikipedia pages contain so many links to other entries on the site , and are so frequently updated , they enjoy an enviably high page rank .", "The site has achieved this prominence largely without paid staff or revenue .", "It has five employees in addition to Jimmy Wales , Wikipedia 's thirty-nine-year-old founder , and it carries no advertising .", "In 2003 , Wikipedia became a nonprofit organization ; it meets most of its budget , of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars , with donations , the bulk of them contributions of twenty dollars or less .", "Wales says that he is on a mission to `` distribute a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet in their own language , '' and to an astonishing degree he is succeeding .", "Anyone with Internet access can create a Wikipedia entry or edit an existing one .", "The site currently exists in more than two hundred languages and has hundreds of thousands of contributors around the world .", "Wales is at the forefront of a revolution in knowledge gathering : he has marshalled an army of volunteers who believe that , working collaboratively , they can produce an encyclopedia that is as good as any written by experts , and with an unprecedented range .", "Wikipedia is an online community devoted not to last night 's party or to next season 's iPod but to a higher good .", "It is also no more immune to human nature than any other utopian project .", "Pettiness , idiocy , and vulgarity are regular features of the site .", "Nothing about high-minded collaboration guarantees accuracy , and open editing invites abuse .", "Senators and congressmen have been caught tampering with their entries ; the entire House of Representatives has been banned from Wikipedia several times .", "( It is not subtle to change Senator Robert Byrd 's age from eighty-eight to a hundred and eighty .", "It is subtler to sanitize one 's voting record in order to distance oneself from an unpopular President , or to delete broken campaign promises . )", "Curiously , though , mob rule has not led to chaos .", "Wikipedia , which began as an experiment in unfettered democracy , has sprouted policies and procedures .", "At the same time , the site embodies our newly casual relationship to truth .", "When confronted with evidence of errors or bias , Wikipedians invoke a favorite excuse : look how often the mainstream media , and the traditional encyclopedia , are wrong !", "As defenses go , this is the epistemological equivalent of `` But Johnny jumped off the bridge first . ''", "Wikipedia , though , is only five years old .", "One day , it may grow up .", "The encyclopedic impulse dates back more than two thousand years and has rarely balked at national borders .", "Among the first general reference works was Emperor 's Mirror , commissioned in 220 A.D. by a Chinese emperor , for use by civil servants .", "The quest to catalogue all human knowledge accelerated in the eighteenth century .", "In the seventeen-seventies , the Germans , champions of thoroughness , began assembling a two-hundred-and-forty-two-volume masterwork .", "A few decades earlier , Johann Heinrich Zedler , a Leipzig bookseller , had alarmed local competitors when he solicited articles for his Universal-Lexicon .", "His rivals , fearing that the work would put them out of business by rendering all other books obsolete , tried unsuccessfully to sabotage the project .", "It took a devious Frenchman , Pierre Bayle , to conceive of an encyclopedia composed solely of errors .", "After the idea failed to generate much enthusiasm among potential readers , he instead compiled a `` Dictionnaire Historique et Critique , '' which consisted almost entirely of footnotes , many highlighting flaws of earlier scholarship .", "Bayle taught readers to doubt , a lesson in subversion that Diderot and d'Alembert , the authors of the Encyclop\u00e9die ( 1751-80 ) , learned well .", "Their thirty-five-volume work preached rationalism at the expense of church and state .", "The more stolid Britannica was born of cross-channel rivalry and an Anglo-Saxon passion for utility .", "Wales 's first encyclopedia was the World Book , which his parents acquired after dinner one evening in 1969 , from a door-to-door salesman .", "Wales -- who resembles a young Billy Crystal with the neuroses neatly tucked in -- recalls the enchantment of pasting in update stickers that cross-referenced older entries to the annual supplements .", "Wales 's mother and grandmother ran a private school in Huntsville , Alabama , which he attended from the age of three .", "He graduated from Auburn University with a degree in finance and began a Ph.D. in the subject , enrolling first at the University of Alabama and later at Indiana University .", "In 1994 , he decided to take a job trading options in Chicago rather than write his dissertation .", "Four years later , he moved to San Diego , where he used his savings to found an Internet portal .", "Its audience was mostly men ; pornography -- videos and blogs -- accounted for about a tenth of its revenues .", "Meanwhile , Wales was cogitating .", "In his view , misinformation , propaganda , and ignorance are responsible for many of the world 's ills .", "`` I 'm very much an Enlightenment kind of guy , '' Wales told me .", "The promise of the Internet is free knowledge for everyone , he recalls thinking .", "How do we make that happen ?", "As an undergraduate , he had read Friedrich Hayek 's 1945 free-market manifesto , `` The Use of Knowledge in Society , '' which argues that a person 's knowledge is by definition partial , and that truth is established only when people pool their wisdom .", "Wales thought of the essay again in the nineteen-nineties , when he began reading about the open-source movement , a group of programmers who believed that software should be free and distributed in such a way that anyone could modify the code .", "He was particularly impressed by `` The Cathedral and the Bazaar , '' an essay , later expanded into a book , by Eric Raymond , one of the movement 's founders .", "`` It opened my eyes to the possibility of mass collaboration , '' Wales said .", "The first step was a misstep .", "In 2000 , Wales hired Larry Sanger , a graduate student in philosophy he had met on a Listserv , to help him create an online general-interest encyclopedia called Nupedia .", "The idea was to solicit articles from scholars , subject the articles to a seven-step review process , and post them free online .", "Wales himself tried to compose the entry on Robert Merton and options-pricing theory ; after he had written a few sentences , he remembered why he had dropped out of graduate school .", "`` They were going to take my essay and send it to two finance professors in the field , '' he recalled .", "`` I had been out of academia for several years .", "It was intimidating ; it felt like homework . ''", "After a year , Nupedia had only twenty-one articles , on such topics as atonality and Herodotus .", "In January , 2001 , Sanger had dinner with a friend , who told him about the wiki , a simple software tool that allows for collaborative writing and editing .", "Sanger thought that a wiki might attract new contributors to Nupedia .", "( Wales says that using a wiki was his idea . )", "Wales agreed to try it , more or less as a lark .", "Under the wiki model that Sanger and Wales adopted , each entry included a history page , which preserves a record of all editing changes .", "They added a talk page , to allow for discussion of the editorial process -- an idea Bayle would have appreciated .", "Sanger coined the term Wikipedia , and the site went live on January 15 , 2001 .", "Two days later , he sent an e-mail to the Nupedia mailing list -- about two thousand people .", "`` Wikipedia is up ! ''", "Go there and add a little article .", "It will take all of five or ten minutes . ''", "Wales braced himself for `` complete rubbish . ''", "He figured that if he and Sanger were lucky the wiki would generate a few rough drafts for Nupedia .", "Within a month , Wikipedia had six hundred articles .", "After a year , there were twenty thousand .", "Wales is fond of citing a 1962 proclamation by Charles Van Doren , who later became an editor at Britannica .", "Van Doren believed that the traditional encyclopedia was defunct .", "It had grown by accretion rather than by design ; it had sacrificed artful synthesis to plodding convention ; it looked backward .", "`` Because the world is radically new , the ideal encyclopedia should be radical , too , '' Van Doren wrote .", "`` It should stop being safe -- in politics , in philosophy , in science . ''", "In its seminal Western incarnation , the encyclopedia had been a dangerous book .", "The Encyclop\u00e9die muscled aside religious institutions and orthodoxies to install human reason at the center of the universe -- and , for that muscling , briefly earned the book 's publisher a place in the Bastille .", "As the historian Robert Darnton pointed out , the entry in the Encyclop\u00e9die on cannibalism ends with the cross-reference `` See Eucharist . ''", "What Wales seems to have in mind , however , is less Van Doren 's call to arms than that of an earlier rabble-rouser .", "In the nineteen-thirties , H. G. Wells lamented that , while the world was becoming smaller and moving at increasing speed , the way information was distributed remained old-fashioned and ineffective .", "He prescribed a `` world brain , '' a collaborative , decentralized repository of knowledge that would be subject to continual revision .", "More radically -- with `` alma-matricidal impiety , '' as he put it -- Wells indicted academia ; the university was itself medieval .", "`` We want a Henry Ford today to modernize the distribution of knowledge , make good knowledge cheap and easy in this still very ignorant , ill-educated , ill-served English-speaking world of ours , '' he wrote .", "Had the Internet existed in his lifetime , Wells might have beaten Wales to the punch .", "Wales 's most radical contribution may be not to have made information free but -- in his own alma-matricidal way -- to have invented a system that does not favor the Ph.D. over the well-read fifteen-year-old .", "`` To me , the key thing is getting it right , '' Wales has said of Wikipedia 's contributors .", "`` I do n't care if they 're a high-school kid or a Harvard professor . ''", "At the beginning , there were no formal rules , though Sanger eventually posted a set of guidelines on the site .", "The first was `` Ignore all the rules . ''", "Two of the others have become central tenets : articles must reflect a neutral point of view ( N.P.O.V. , in Wikipedia lingo ) , and their content must be both verifiable and previously published .", "Among other things , the prohibition against original research heads off a great deal of material about people 's pets .", "Insofar as Wikipedia has a physical existence , it is in St. Petersburg , Florida , in an executive suite that serves as the headquarters of the Wikimedia Foundation , the parent organization of Wikipedia and its lesser-known sister projects , among them Wikisource ( a library of free texts ) , Wikinews ( a current-events site ) and Wikiquote ( bye-bye Bartlett 's ) .", "Wales , who is married and has a five-year-old daughter , says that St. Petersburg 's attractive housing prices lured him from California .", "When I visited the offices in March , the walls were bare , the furniture battered .", "With the addition of a dead plant , the suite could pass for a graduate-student lounge .", "The real work at Wikipedia takes place not in Florida but on thousands of computer screens across the world .", "Perhaps Wikipedia 's greatest achievement -- one that Wales did not fully anticipate -- was the creation of a community .", "Wikipedians are officially anonymous , contributing to unsigned entries under screen names .", "They are also predominantly male -- about eighty per cent , Wales says -- and compulsively social , conversing with each other not only on the talk pages attached to each entry but on Wikipedia-dedicated I.R.C. channels and on user pages , which regular contributors often create and which serve as a sort of personalized office cooler .", "On the page of a twenty-year-old Wikipedian named Arocoun , who lists `` philosophizing '' among his favorite activities , messages from other users range from the reflective ( `` I 'd argue against your claim that humans should aim to be independent/self-reliant in all aspects of their lives ... I do n't think true independence is a realistic ideal given all the inherent intertwinings of any society '' ) to the geekily flirtatious ( `` I 'm a neurotic painter from Ohio , and I guess if you consider your views radical , then I 'm a radical , too .", "So ... we should be friends '' ) .", "Wikipedians have evolved a distinctive vocabulary , of which `` revert , '' meaning `` reinstate '' -- as in `` I reverted the edit , but the user has simply rereverted it '' -- may be the most commonly used word .", "Other terms include WikiGnome ( a user who keeps a low profile , fixing typos , poor grammar , and broken links ) and its antithesis , WikiTroll ( a user who persistently violates the site 's guidelines or otherwise engages in disruptive behavior ) .", "There are Aspergian Wikipedians ( seventy-two ) , bipolar Wikipedians , vegetarian Wikipedians , antivegetarian Wikipedians , existential Wikipedians , pro-Luxembourg Wikipedians , and Wikipedians who do n't like to be categorized .", "According to a page on the site , an avid interest in Wikipedia has been known to afflict `` computer programmers , academics , graduate students , game-show contestants , news junkies , the unemployed , the soon-to-be unemployed and , in general , people with multiple interests and good memories . ''", "You may travel in more exalted circles , but this covers pretty much everyone I know .", "Wikipedia may be the world 's most ambitious vanity press .", "There are two hundred thousand registered users on the English-language site , of whom about thirty-three hundred -- fewer than two per cent -- are responsible for seventy per cent of the work .", "The site allows you to compare contributors by the number of edits they have made , by the number of articles that have been judged by community vote to be outstanding ( these `` featured '' articles often appear on the site 's home page ) , and by hourly activity , in graph form .", "A seventeen-year-old P. G. Wodehouse fan who specializes in British peerages leads the featured-article pack , with fifty-eight entries .", "A twenty-four-year-old University of Toronto graduate is the site 's premier contributor .", "Since composing his first piece , on the Panama Canal , in 2001 , he has written or edited more than seventy-two thousand articles .", "`` Wikipediholism '' and `` editcountitis '' are well defined on the site ; both link to an article on obsessive-compulsive disorder .", "( There is a Britannica entry for O.C.D. , but no version of it has included Felix Unger 's name in the third sentence , a comprehensive survey of `` OCD in literature and film , '' or a list of celebrity O.C.D. sufferers , which unites , surely for the first time in history , Florence Nightingale with Joey Ramone . )", "One regular on the site is a user known as Essjay , who holds a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law and has written or contributed to sixteen thousand entries .", "A tenured professor of religion at a private university , Essjay made his first edit in February , 2005 .", "Initially , he contributed to articles in his field -- on the penitential rite , transubstantiation , the papal tiara .", "Soon he was spending fourteen hours a day on the site , though he was careful to keep his online life a secret from his colleagues and friends .", "( To his knowledge , he has never met another Wikipedian , and he will not be attending Wikimania , the second international gathering of the encyclopedia 's contributors , which will take place in early August in Boston . )", "Gradually , Essjay found himself devoting less time to editing and more to correcting errors and removing obscenities from the site .", "In May , he twice removed a sentence from the entry on Justin Timberlake asserting that the pop star had lost his home in 2002 for failing to pay federal taxes -- a statement that Essjay knew to be false .", "The incident ended there .", "Others involve ideological disagreements and escalate into intense edit wars .", "A number of the disputes on the English-language Wikipedia relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to religious issues .", "Almost as acrimonious are the battles waged over the entries on Macedonia , Danzig , the Armenian genocide , and Henry Ford .", "Ethnic feuds die hard : Was Copernicus Polish , German , or Prussian ?", "( A nonbinding poll was conducted earlier this year to determine whether the question merited mention in the article 's lead . )", "Some debates may never be resolved : Was the 1812 Battle of Borodino a victory for the Russians or for the French ?", "What is the date of Ann Coulter 's birth ?", "Is apple pie all-American ?", "( The answer , at least for now , is no : `` Apple trees did n't even grow in America until the Europeans brought them over , '' one user railed .", "He was seconded by another , who added , `` Apple pie is very popular in the Netherlands too .", "Americans did not invent or introduce it to the Netherlands .", "You already plagiarized Santa Claus from our Saint Nicholas .", "Who could have guessed that `` cheese '' would figure among the site 's most contested entries ?", "( The controversy entailed whether in Asia there is a cultural prohibition against eating it . )", "For the past nine months , Baltimore 's climate has been a subject of bitter debate .", "What is the average temperature in January ?", "At first , Wales handled the fistfights himself , but he was reluctant to ban anyone from the site .", "As the number of users increased , so did the editing wars and the incidence of vandalism .", "In October , 2001 , Wales appointed a small cadre of administrators , called admins , to police the site for abuse .", "Admins can delete articles or protect them from further changes , block users from editing , and revert text more efficiently than can ordinary users .", "( There are now nearly a thousand admins on the site . )", "In 2004 , Wales formalized the 3R rule -- initially it had been merely a guideline -- according to which any user who reverts the same text more than three times in a twenty-four-hour period is blocked from editing for a day .", "The policy grew out of a series of particularly vitriolic battles , including one over the U.S. economy -- it was experiencing either high growth and low unemployment or low growth and high unemployment .", "Wales also appointed an arbitration committee to rule on disputes .", "Before a case reaches the arbitration committee , it often passes through a mediation committee .", "Essjay is serving a second term as chair of the mediation committee .", "He is also an admin , a bureaucrat , and a checkuser , which means that he is one of fourteen Wikipedians authorized to trace I.P. addresses in cases of suspected abuse .", "He often takes his laptop to class , so that he can be available to Wikipedians while giving a quiz , and he keeps an eye on twenty I.R.C. chat channels , where users often trade gossip about abuses they have witnessed .", "Five robots troll the site for obvious vandalism , searching for obscenities and evidence of mass deletions , reverting text as they go .", "More egregious violations require human intervention .", "Essjay recently caught a user who , under one screen name , was replacing sentences with nonsense and deleting whole entries and , under another , correcting the abuses -- all in order to boost his edit count .", "He was banned permanently from the site .", "Some users who have been caught tampering threaten revenge against the admins who apprehend them .", "Essjay says that he routinely receives death threats .", "`` There are people who take Wikipedia way too seriously , '' he told me .", "( Wikipedians have acknowledged Essjay 's labors by awarding him numerous barnstars -- five-pointed stars , which the community has adopted as a symbol of praise -- including several Random Acts of Kindness Barnstars and the Tireless Contributor Barnstar . )", "Wikipedia has become a regulatory thicket , complete with an elaborate hierarchy of users and policies about policies .", "Martin Wattenberg and Fernanda B. Vi\u00e9gas , two researchers at I.B.M. who have studied the site using computerized visual models called `` history flows , '' found that the talk pages and `` meta pages '' -- those dealing with co\u00f6rdination and administration -- have experienced the greatest growth .", "Whereas articles once made up about eighty-five per cent of the site 's content , as of last October they represented seventy per cent .", "As Wattenberg put it , `` People are talking about governance , not working on content . ''", "Wales is ambivalent about the rules and procedures but believes that they are necessary .", "`` Things work well when a group of people know each other , and things break down when it 's a bunch of random people interacting , '' he told me .", "For all its protocol , Wikipedia 's bureaucracy does n't necessarily favor truth .", "In March , 2005 , William Connolley , a climate modeller at the British Antarctic Survey , in Cambridge , was briefly a victim of an edit war over the entry on global warming , to which he had contributed .", "After a particularly nasty confrontation with a skeptic , who had repeatedly watered down language pertaining to the greenhouse effect , the case went into arbitration .", "`` User William M. Connolley strongly pushes his POV with systematic removal of any POV which does not match his own , '' his accuser charged in a written deposition .", "`` His views on climate science are singular and narrow . ''", "A decision from the arbitration committee was three months in coming , after which Connolley was placed on a humiliating one-revert-a-day parole .", "The punishment was later revoked , and Connolley is now an admin , with two thousand pages on his watchlist -- a feature that enables users to compile a list of entries and to be notified when changes are made to them .", "He says that Wikipedia 's entry on global warming may be the best page on the subject anywhere on the Web .", "Nevertheless , Wales admits that in this case the system failed .", "It can still seem as though the user who spends the most time on the site -- or who yells the loudest -- wins .", "Connolley believes that Wikipedia `` gives no privilege to those who know what they 're talking about , '' a view that is echoed by many academics and former contributors , including Larry Sanger , who argues that too many Wikipedians are fundamentally suspicious of experts and unjustly confident of their own opinions .", "He left Wikipedia in March , 2002 , after Wales ran out of money to support the site during the dot-com bust .", "Sanger concluded that he had become a symbol of authority in an anti-authoritarian community .", "`` Wikipedia has gone from a nearly perfect anarchy to an anarchy with gang rule , '' he told me .", "( Sanger is now the director of collaborative projects at the online foundation Digital Universe , where he is helping to develop a Web-based encyclopedia , a hybrid between a wiki and a traditional reference work .", "He promises that it will have `` the lowest error rate in history . '' )", "Even Eric Raymond , the open-source pioneer whose work inspired Wales , argues that `` ` disaster ' is not too strong a word '' for Wikipedia .", "In his view , the site is `` infested with moonbats . ''", "( Think hobgoblins of little minds , varsity division . )", "He has found his corrections to entries on science fiction dismantled by users who evidently felt that he was trespassing on their terrain .", "`` The more you look at what some of the Wikipedia contributors have done , the better Britannica looks , '' Raymond said .", "He believes that the open-source model is simply inapplicable to an encyclopedia .", "For software , there is an objective standard : either it works or it does n't .", "There is no such test for truth .", "Nor has increasing surveillance of the site by admins deterred vandals , a majority of whom seem to be inserting obscenities and absurdities into Wikipedia when they should be doing their homework .", "Many are committing their pranks in the classroom : the abuse tends to ebb on a Friday afternoon and resume early on a Monday .", "Entire schools and universities have found their I.P. addresses blocked as a result .", "The entry on George W. Bush has been vandalized so frequently -- sometimes more than twice a minute -- that it is often closed to editing for days .", "At any given time , a couple of hundred entries are semi-protected , which means that a user must register his I.P. address and wait several days before making changes .", "This group recently included not only the entries on God , Galileo , and Al Gore but also those on poodles , oranges , and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin .", "Even Wales has been caught airbrushing his Wikipedia entry -- eighteen times in the past year .", "He is particularly sensitive about references to the porn traffic on his Web portal .", "`` Adult content '' or `` glamour photography '' are the terms that he prefers , though , as one user pointed out on the site , they are perhaps not the most precise way to describe lesbian strip-poker threesomes .", "( In January , Wales agreed to a compromise : `` erotic photography . '' )", "He is repentant about his meddling .", "`` People should n't do it , including me , '' he said .", "`` It 's in poor taste . ''", "Wales recently established an `` oversight '' function , by which some admins ( Essjay among them ) can purge text from the system , so that even the history page bears no record of its ever having been there .", "Wales says that this measure is rarely used , and only in order to remove slanderous or private information , such as a telephone number .", "`` It 's a perfectly reasonable power in any other situation , but completely antithetical to this project , '' said Jason Scott , a longtime contributor to Wikipedia who has published several essays critical of the site .", "Is Wikipedia accurate ?", "Last year , Nature published a survey comparing forty-two entries on scientific topics on Wikipedia with their counterparts in Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica .", "According to the survey , Wikipedia had four errors for every three of Britannica 's , a result that , oddly , was hailed as a triumph for the upstart .", "Such exercises in nitpicking are relatively meaningless , as no reference work is infallible .", "Britannica issued a public statement refuting the survey 's findings , and took out a half-page advertisement in the Times , which said , in part , `` Britannica has never claimed to be error-free .", "We have a reputation not for unattainable perfection but for strong scholarship , sound judgment , and disciplined editorial review . ''", "Later , Jorge Cauz , Britannica 's president , told me in an e-mail that if Wikipedia continued without some kind of editorial oversight it would `` decline into a hulking mediocre mass of uneven , unreliable , and , many times , unreadable articles . ''", "Wales has said that he would consider Britannica a competitor , `` except that I think they will be crushed out of existence within five years . ''", "Larry Sanger proposes a fine distinction between knowledge that is useful and knowledge that is reliable , and there is no question that Wikipedia beats every other source when it comes to breadth , efficiency , and accessibility .", "Yet the site 's virtues are also liabilities .", "Cauz scoffed at the notion of `` good enough knowledge . ''", "`` I hate that , '' he said , pointing out that there is no way to know which facts in an entry to trust .", "Or , as Robert McHenry , a veteran editor at Britannica , put it , `` We can get the wrong answer to a question quicker than our fathers and mothers could find a pencil . ''", "Part of the problem is provenance .", "The bulk of Wikipedia 's content originates not in the stacks but on the Web , which offers up everything from breaking news , spin , and gossip to proof that the moon landings never took place .", "Glaring errors jostle quiet omissions .", "Wales , in his public speeches , cites the Google test : `` If it is n't on Google , it does n't exist . ''", "This position poses another difficulty : on Wikipedia , the present takes precedent over the past .", "The ( generally good ) entry on St. Augustine is shorter than the one on Britney Spears .", "The article on Nietzsche has been modified incessantly , yielding five archived talk pages .", "But the debate is largely over Nietzsche 's politics ; taken as a whole , the entry is inferior to the essay in the current Britannica , a model of its form .", "( From Wikipedia : `` Nietzsche also owned a copy of Philipp Mainl\u00e4nder 's ` Die Philosophie der Erl\u00f6sung , ' a work which , like Schopenhauer 's philosophy , expressed pessimism . '' )", "Wikipedia remains a lumpy work in progress .", "The entries can read as though they had been written by a seventh grader : clarity and concision are lacking ; the facts may be sturdy , but the connective tissue is either anemic or absent ; and citation is hit or miss .", "Wattenberg and Vi\u00e9gas , of I.B.M. , note that the vast majority of Wikipedia edits consist of deletions and additions rather than of attempts to reorder paragraphs or to shape an entry as a whole , and they believe that Wikipedia 's twenty-five-line editing window deserves some of the blame .", "It is difficult to craft an article in its entirety when reading it piecemeal , and , given Wikipedians ' obsession with racking up edits , simple fixes often take priority over more complex edits .", "Wattenberg and Vi\u00e9gas have also identified a `` first-mover advantage '' : the initial contributor to an article often sets the tone , and that person is rarely a Macaulay or a Johnson .", "The over-all effect is jittery , the textual equivalent of a film shot with a handheld camera .", "What can be said for an encyclopedia that is sometimes right , sometimes wrong , and sometimes illiterate ?", "When I showed the Harvard philosopher Hilary Putnam his entry , he was surprised to find it as good as the one in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .", "He was flabbergasted when he learned how Wikipedia worked .", "`` Obviously , this was the work of experts , '' he said .", "In the nineteen-sixties , William F. Buckley , Jr. , said that he would sooner `` live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University . ''", "On Wikipedia , he might finally have his wish .", "How was his page ?", "Essentially on target , he said .", "All the same , Buckley added , he would prefer that those anonymous two thousand souls govern , and leave the encyclopedia writing to the experts .", "Over breakfast in early May , I asked Cauz for an analogy with which to compare Britannica and Wikipedia .", "`` Wikipedia is to Britannica as ` American Idol ' is to the Juilliard School , '' he e-mailed me the next day .", "A few days later , Wales also chose a musical metaphor .", "`` Wikipedia is to Britannica as rock and roll is to easy listening , '' he suggested .", "`` It may not be as smooth , but it scares the parents and is a lot smarter in the end . ''", "He is right to emphasize the fright factor over accuracy .", "As was the Encyclop\u00e9die , Wikipedia is a combination of manifesto and reference work .", "Peer review , the mainstream media , and government agencies have landed us in a ditch .", "Not only are we impatient with the authorities but we are in a mood to talk back .", "Wikipedia offers endless opportunities for self-expression .", "It is the love child of reading groups and chat rooms , a second home for anyone who has written an Amazon review .", "This is not the first time that encyclopedia-makers have snatched control from an \u00e9lite , or cast a harsh light on certitude .", "Jimmy Wales may or may not be the new Henry Ford , yet he has sent us tooling down the interstate , with but a squint back at the railroad .", "We 're on the open road now , without conductors and timetables .", "We 're free to chart our own course , also free to get gloriously , recklessly lost .", "Your truth or mine ?", "The July 31 , 2006 , piece on Wikipedia , `` Know It All , '' by Stacy Schiff , contained an interview with a Wikipedia site administrator and contributor called Essjay , whose responsibilities included handling disagreements about the accuracy of the site 's articles and taking action against users who violate site policy .", "He was described in the piece as `` a tenured professor of religion at a private university '' with `` a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law . ''", "Essjay was recommended to Ms. Schiff as a source by a member of Wikipedia 's management team because of his respected position within the Wikipedia community .", "He was willing to describe his work as a Wikipedia administrator but would not identify himself other than by confirming the biographical details that appeared on his user page .", "At the time of publication , neither we nor Wikipedia knew Essjay 's real name .", "Essjay 's entire Wikipedia life was conducted with only a user name ; anonymity is common for Wikipedia administrators and contributors , and he says that he feared personal retribution from those he had ruled against online .", "Essjay now says that his real name is Ryan Jordan , that he is twenty-four and holds no advanced degrees , and that he has never taught .", "He was recently hired by Wikia -- a for-profit company affiliated with Wikipedia -- as a `` community manager '' ; he continues to hold his Wikipedia positions .", "He did not answer a message we sent to him ; Jimmy Wales , the co-founder of Wikia and of Wikipedia , said of Essjay 's invented persona , `` I regard it as a pseudonym and I do n't really have a problem with it . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Its goal is to 'distribute a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet in their own language, and to an astonishing degree (it) is succeeding'.", "_claim_name": "Wikipedia provides free, open access to knowledge", "_doc_title": "Know It All - The New Yorker", "_labeled_lineIDs": [23]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["David Smith and", "Sunday 10 September 2006 09.02 EDT", "The founder of Wikipedia , the online encyclopaedia written by its users , has defied the Chinese government by refusing to bow to censorship of politically sensitive entries .", "Jimmy Wales , one of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine , challenged other internet companies , including Google , to justify their claim that they could do more good than harm by co-operating with Beijing .", "Wikipedia , a hugely popular reference tool in the West , has been banned from China since last October .", "Whereas Google , Microsoft and Yahoo went into the country accepting some restrictions on their online content , Wales believes it must be all or nothing for Wikipedia .", "His stand comes as Irrepressible.info , a joint campaign by The Observer and Amnesty International for free speech on the web , continues with the support of more than 37,000 people around the world .", "The campaign calls on governments to stop persecuting political bloggers and on IT companies to stop complying with these repressive regimes .", "` We 're really unclear why we would be -LSB- banned -RSB- , ' Wales told The Observer .", "` We have internal rules about neutrality and deleting personal attacks and things like this .", "We 're far from being a haven for dissidents or a protest site .", "So our view is that the block is in error and should be removed , but we shall see . '", "Wales said censorship was ' antithetical to the philosophy of Wikipedia .", "We occupy a position in the culture that I wish Google would take up , which is that we stand for the freedom for information , and for us to compromise I think would send very much the wrong signal : that there 's no one left on the planet who 's willing to say `` You know what ?", "We 're not going to give up . '' '", "Wikipedia 's entry on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 includes the government 's official claim that 200-300 died and the Chinese student associations and Chinese Red Cross 's estimate of 2,000-3 ,000 deaths .", "Wales said : ' I think it 's an interesting question whether they 're prepared to understand the difference between advocating one set of figures or another versus simply reporting on what the controversy is .", "I can understand that they would be upset - although of course I still do n't think they have any moral right to ban anything - if we were pushing one set of figures in contrast to their objections , but if we are reporting both , to me that 's exactly what an encyclopaedia should do and they should be comfortable with that . '", "Wales will meet senior Chinese officials in an attempt to persuade them to allow the website 's 1.3 million articles to appear there uncensored .", "` One of the points that I 'm trying to push is that if there 's a small town in China that has a wonderful local tradition , that wo n't make its way into Wikipedia because the people of China are not allowed to share their knowledge with the world .", "I think that 's an ironic side-effect and something the people in the censorship department need to have a much bigger awareness of : you 're not just preventing information about Falun Gong or whatever you 're upset about getting into China , you 're preventing the Chinese people speaking to the world . '", "The Irrepressible.info website will allow visitors next week to access and distribute censored content .", "Since Amnesty International launched Irrepressible.info with The Observer on 28 May 2006 : \u00b7 More than 37,000 people around the world have signed the pledge calling on all governments and companies to ensure the internet is a force for political freedom , not repression .", "They include Coldplay 's Chris Martin , dotcom entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox , Bob Geldof and Archbishop Desmond Tutu .", "\u00b7 The House of Commons foreign affairs select committee has condemned Google , Microsoft and Yahoo 's co-operation with the Chinese government as ` morally unacceptable ' .", "\u00b7 Sergey Brin , co-founder of Google , has said that the company compromised its principles by accepting Chinese censorship .", "He said it was ' a set of rules that we were n't comfortable with . '", "\u00b7 Members of the US Congress have championed the Global Online Freedom Act in a bid to stop major internet companies co-operating with regimes that restrict free expression , including Belarus , China , Cuba , Ethiopia , Iran , Laos , North Korea , Tunisia and Vietnam ."], "_citing_sentence": "This has led to Wikipedia being banned in China, after Jimmy Wales refused to censor articles to make the site acceptable to the Chinese government.", "_claim_name": "Wikipedia enshrines the principle of freedom of information", "_doc_title": "Wikipedia defies China's censors | World news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion", "reasoning"]], "_doc_body": ["| View Exclusive AAUP Compensation Survey Data |", "Academics can strengthen the online encyclopedia and benefit from doing so , writes Mark A. Wilson .", "When the online , anyone-can-edit Wikipedia appeared in 2001 , teachers , especially college professors , were appalled .", "The Internet was already an apparently limitless source of nonsense for their students to eagerly consume -- now there was a Web site with the appearance of legitimacy and a dead-easy interface that would complete the seduction until all sense of fact , fiction , myth and propaganda blended into a popular culture of pseudointelligence masking the basest ignorance .", "An Inside Higher Ed article just last year on Wikipedia use in the academy drew a huge and passionate response , much of it negative .", "Now the English version of Wikipedia has over 2 million articles , and it has been translated into over 250 languages .", "It has become so massive that you can type virtually any noun into a search engine and the first link will be to a Wikipedia page .", "After seven years and this exponential growth , Wikipedia can still be edited by anyone at any time .", "A generation of students was warned away from this information siren , but we know as professors that it is the first place they go to start a research project , look up an unfamiliar term from lecture , or find something disturbing to ask about during the next lecture .", "In fact , we learned too that Wikipedia is indeed the most convenient repository of information ever invented , and we go there often -- if a bit covertly -- to get a few questions answered .", "Its accuracy , at least for science articles , is actually as high as the revered Encyclopedia Britannica , as shown by a test published in the journal Nature .", "It is time for the academic world to recognize Wikipedia for what it has become : a global library open to anyone with an Internet connection and a pressing curiosity .", "The vision of its founders , Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger , has become reality , and the librarians were right : the world has not been the same since .", "If the Web is the greatest information delivery device ever , and Wikipedia is the largest coherent store of information and ideas , then we as teachers and scholars should have been on this train years ago for the benefit of our students , our professions , and that mystical pool of human knowledge .", "What Wikipedia too often lacks is academic authority , or at least the perception of it .", "Most of its thousands of editors are anonymous , sometimes known only by an IP address or a cryptic username .", "Every article has a `` talk '' page for discussions of content , bias , and organization .", "`` Revert '' wars can rage out of control as one faction battles another over a few words in an article .", "Sometimes administrators have to step in and lock a page down until tempers cool and the main protagonists lose interest .", "The very anonymity of the editors is often the source of the problem : how do we know who has an authoritative grasp of the topic ?", "That is what academics do best .", "We can quickly sort out scholarly authority into complex hierarchies with a quick glance at a vita and a sniff at a publication list .", "We make many mistakes doing this , of course , but at least our debates are supported with citations and a modicum of civility because we are identifiable and we have our reputations to maintain and friends to keep .", "Maybe this academic culture can be added to the Wild West of Wikipedia to make it more useful for everyone ?", "I propose that all academics with research specialties , no matter how arcane ( and nothing is too obscure for Wikipedia ) , enroll as identifiable editors of Wikipedia .", "We then watch over a few wikipages of our choosing , adding to them when appropriate , stepping in to resolve disputes when we know something useful .", "We can add new articles on topics which should be covered , and argue that others should be removed or combined .", "This is not to displace anonymous editors , many of whom possess vast amounts of valuable information and innovative ideas , but to add our authority and hard-won knowledge to this growing universal library .", "The advantages should be obvious .", "First , it is another outlet for our scholarship , one that may be more likely to be read than many of our journals .", "Second , we are directly serving our students by improving the source they go to first for information .", "Third , by identifying ourselves , we can connect with other scholars and interested parties who stumble across our edits and new articles .", "I have been an open Wikipedia editor now for several months .", "I have enjoyed it immensely .", "In my teaching I use a `` living syllabus '' for each course , which is a kind of academic blog .", "( For example , see my History of Life course online syllabus . )", "I connect students through links to outside sources of information .", "Quite often I refer students to Wikipedia articles that are well-sourced and well written .", "Wikipages that are not so good are easily fixed with a judicious edit or two , and many pages become more useful with the addition of an image from my collection ( all donated to the public domain ) .", "Since I am open in my editorial identity , I often get questions from around the world about the topics I find most fascinating .", "I 've even made important new connections through my edits to new collaborators and reporters who want more background for a story .", "For example , this year I met online a biology professor from Centre College who is interested in the ecology of fish on Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas .", "He saw my additions and images on that Wikipedia page and had several questions about the island .", "He invited me to speak at Centre next year about evolution-creation controversies , which is unrelated to the original contact but flowed from our academic conversations .", "I in turn have been learning much about the island 's living ecology I did not know .", "I 've also learned much about the kind of prose that is most effective for a general audience , and I 've in turn taught some people how to properly reference ideas and information .", "In short , I 've expanded my teaching .", "Wikipedia as we know it will undoubtedly change in the coming years as all technologies do .", "By involving ourselves directly and in large numbers now , we can help direct that change into ever more useful ways for our students and the public .", "This is , after all , our sacred charge as teacher-scholars : to educate when and where we can to the greatest effect .", "Mark A. Wilson is a professor of geology at the College of Wooster ."], "_citing_sentence": "Therefore, Wikipedia can be an excellent teaching tool.", "_claim_name": "Wikipedia models, in an accessible form, the process of knowledge creation through writing.", "_doc_title": "Professors Should Embrace Wikipedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [11, 13]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["WHEN people express scepticism about participatory media , they usually have people like Brian Chase in mind .", "Mr Chase is a 38-year-old from Nashville , Tennessee , who until recently worked in the middle-management layers of a courier firm called Rush Delivery and seemed destined to remain entirely unremarkable .", "For reasons known only to himself , however , Mr Chase last May decided to play a joke , `` a joke that went horribly , horribly wrong '' , as he would later tell his local newspaper , the Tennessean .", "His joke consisted of a hoax entry on Wikipedia.org , a free online encyclopedia that anybody -- anybody at all -- can edit , simply by clicking on a button that says `` edit this page '' .", "Mr Chase posted a biographical article on John Seigenthaler , a distinguished journalist ( and former editor of the Tennessean ) who in 1961 did a stint as assistant to Robert Kennedy , America 's attorney-general at the time .", "Mr Chase , however , fabricated an entirely different life for Mr Seigenthaler , one that had him living in the Soviet Union , founding a public-relations firm and , most perniciously , suggested that he was implicated in the assassinations of both John and Robert Kennedy .", "Normally , such vandalism is corrected within minutes on Wikipedia because other people see it , remove it and improve the entry with their own genuine insight -- that , in a nutshell , is the philosophy and power of collaborative intelligence .", "This particular item , however , fell through the cracks .", "For 132 days , the libellous lies went unnoticed and remained on the site .", "Eventually , some volunteer sleuths traced the vandalism to Mr Chase , who finally came clean last December and apologised profusely to an impressively gracious Mr Seigenthaler .", "With that , the episode became a scholarly footnote in media history .", "A telling one , however .", "Reflecting on the incident in USA Today , Mr Seigenthaler succinctly summarised the promise and peril of the latest media revolution : `` And so we live in a universe of new media with phenomenal opportunities for worldwide communications and research -- but populated by volunteer vandals with poison-pen intellects . ''", "For the most part , it is much more worthwhile to dwell on the phenomenal opportunities than on the poison pens .", "Wikipedia 's promise is nothing less than the liberation of human knowledge -- both by incorporating all of it through the collaborative process , and by freely sharing it with everybody who has access to the internet .", "This is a radically popular idea .", "Wikipedia 's English-language version doubled in size last year and now has over 1m articles .", "By this measure , it is almost 12 times larger than the print version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica .", "Taking in the other 200-odd languages in which it is published , Wikipedia has more than 3m articles .", "Over 100,000 people all over the world have contributed , with a total of almost 4m `` edits '' between them .", "Wikipedia already has more `` visitors '' than the online New York Times , CNN and other mainstream sites .", "It has become a vital research tool for huge numbers of people .", "And Wikipedia is only five years old .", "This success has made Wikipedia the most famous example of a wider wiki phenomenon .", "Wikis are web pages that allow anybody who is allowed to log into them to change them .", "In Wikipedia 's case , that happens to be anybody at all .", "The word `` wiki '' comes from the Hawaiian word for `` quick '' , but also stands for `` what I know is ... '' .", "Wikis are thus the purest form of participatory creativity and intellectual sharing , and represent `` a socialisation of expertise '' , as David Weinberger , who is currently writing a book on collaborative intelligence , puts it .", "Among the new media , wikis are the perfect complement to blogs .", "Whereas blogs contain the unedited , opinionated voice of one person , wikis explicitly and literally allow groups of people to get on the proverbial `` same page '' .", "This is the main reason for the failure of a Los Angeles Times experiment with wikitorials , described in the previous article .", "Wikis are good at summarising debates , but they are ill-suited for biased opinion .", "Wikipedia 's numbers actually make it an anomaly among wikis .", "Joe Kraus , the co-founder of JotSpot , a provider of wiki software , reckons that most of the millions of wikis already in existence are designed for small , well-defined groups of people .", "Team members in a company , for instance , might use wikis to collaborate on presentations or project calendars .", "Wikis are communities , and `` communities require trust , '' says Mr Kraus .", "Trust comes most easily when the people involved know one another or are accountable for their contributions .", "Given that the optimal group size for humans may be less than 150 members ( see the article on blogging earlier in this survey ) , most wikis might be expected to be small .", "Darwin or intelligent design ?", "At first sight , Wikipedia seems too large for its contributors to be able to trust each other easily .", "How , then , does it work ?", "A common assumption , expressed most cuttingly by Robert McHenry , a former editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Britannica , is that Wikipedians trust in `` some unspecified quasi-Darwinian '' process , whereby accuracy `` evolves '' as more and more `` eyeballs '' examine an item .", "`` Does someone actually believe this ? ''", ", wonders Mr McHenry .", "He obviously does not .", "To him , Wikipedia is a `` faith-based encyclopedia '' , based on `` the moist and modish notion of community and some vague notions about information wanting to be free '' .", "In fact , it turns out that such quasi-Darwinian logic is `` not the way we talk about ourselves within the community '' , says Jimmy Wales , who started the ( not-for-profit ) Wikimedia Foundation that operates Wikipedia , as well as lesser-known sites such as Wiktionary , Wikinews and Wikibooks .", "Instead , says Mr Wales , the process `` is much more traditional than people realise '' .", "Fewer than 1 % of all users do half the total edits .", "They add up to a few hundred committed volunteers like himself , says Mr Wales -- `` a real community of people who know each other '' and value their reputations .", "Besides `` democracy '' on the site , he says , there is occasional `` aristocracy '' ( when editors with superior reputations get more say than others ) and even occasional `` monarchy '' ( `` that 's my role '' ) in cases such as the Seigenthaler biography , when quick intervention is needed .", "To put this process to the test , the journal Nature recently commissioned a study to compare the accuracy of a sample of articles drawn from Wikipedia and the Encyclopaedia Britannica respectively .", "Nature 's experts found 162 errors in Wikipedia 's articles and 123 errors in Britannica 's .", "Jorge Cauz , Britannica 's president , immediately claimed victory because Wikipedia had `` a third more errors '' .", "We are all fallible", "Privately , however , Britannica 's editors were shocked to have to concede that their creation contained any errors at all .", "Total accuracy , after all , is the main selling point for the old media .", "So Dale Hoiberg , Britannica 's current editor-in-chief , commissioned his own review of the study and found that `` Nature did everything wrong that they could possibly have done wrong . ''", "Last month Nature issued a rebuttal .", "But if it did get it wrong , it is not clear why it would have erred more for Britannica than for Wikipedia .", "Mr Hoiberg puts a brave face on it , claiming that `` our model , although not perfect , is the best . ''", "For a lot of new-media watchers , the most interesting thing about the episode was something entirely different : that Britannica , somewhat representative of old media in general , instinctively regards Wikipedia as a threat , whereas Wikipedians are not the least bit tempted to reciprocate .", "`` I 'm a big fan of Britannica 's work , '' says Mr Wales , adding that he is not motivated by `` disrupting '' anybody , and is glad that Brockhaus , the biggest encyclopedia in Germany ( where Wikipedia is very popular ) , appears to be doing better than ever .", "But why not have a free alternative as well ?", "And why not test the limits of what social collaboration can do ?", "Mr Wales is the first to admit that `` there are some inherent limitations , '' and says they are busy trying to discover what they are .", "Contrast that with the joyful reaction of Wikipedia 's detractors to Brian Chase , the dodgy biographer ( whose article was literally one in a million ) .", "Somebody who reads Wikipedia is `` rather in the position of a visitor to a public restroom , '' says Mr McHenry , Britannica 's former editor .", "`` It may be obviously dirty , so that he knows to exercise great care , or it may seem fairly clean , so that he may be lulled into a false sense of security .", "What he certainly does not know is who has used the facilities before him . ''", "One wonders whether people like Mr McHenry would prefer there to be no public lavatories at all .", "From the print edition : Special report", "The Democrats still have a lot to prove", "The refusal to accept Israel 's right to exist harms Palestinians too", "What can be done to loosen America 's burdensome post-Enron rules ?", "Uncertainty looks a bigger problem than high prices", "America should not hesitate to press China over human rights", "The fund needs a gentle overhaul , not a fundamental rethink", "Do not be too afraid of the coming age of mass participation", "What George Bush 's reshuffle implies about his economic strategy", "Making a few improvements with November in mind", "A new plan to help New Orleans could go dangerously wrong", "A humane and sensible policy slashes the prison population", "Rich city-dwellers face the chore of opening their own doors", "A bank dares to challenge the Sulzberger family 's control of the New York Times", "George Bush is a fool for keeping Donald Rumsfeld in his job", "With his opinion-poll lead wobbling , Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador has yet to define precisely what ...", "Discontent hits the streets", "A compromised secret police", "A return of labour militancy", "A heresy that dare not speak its name", "Saying sorry is a delicate business -- and an expensive one", "Will the affluent young deny the bossy ruling party a clean sweep ?", "Why Australia and Indonesia have fallen out over poor Papua", "When state secrecy meets modern motoring", "But impressively literate", "A messy abdication is another compromise ?", "A defiant Hamas defends this week 's suicide-bombing in Tel Aviv , despite economic pressure from ... Iraq continues to fight and squabble its way to sectarian disaster", "But who believed an old autocrat 's talk of reform ?", "Filling in the gaps in Iran 's nuclear story", "Sex and politics collide in a trial that has outraged many South Africans", "Chad 's president clings to power , with the help of some powerful friends", "Kremlin watchers wonder what Vladimir Putin is up to with Hamas and Iran", "The harsh reality of immigrants who ca n't or wo n't fit in", "A pre-emptive strike by a politician from the Pyrenees In a turbulent world , Euro-voters should live a bit more dangerously", "Another car plant dies ; long live British carmaking", "Critics of Tony Blair 's plans for a nuclear revival make their case", "A split threatens the ruling coalition", "Why the monarchy is stronger today than ten years ago", "The threat to Mr Blair 's cherished education reforms", "Parents of hyperactive children face a dreadful dilemma", "A proposed new bill would invite judges into the boardroom", "Tony Blair is confident the NHS will pull through its latest crisis .", "The era of mass media is giving way to one of personal and participatory media , says Andreas Kluth ...", "Americans are fed up with George Bush 's Republicans .", "But the Democrats look far from invincible", "Why the world is not about to run out of oil", "Blogging is just another word for having conversations", "Journalism too is becoming interactive , and maybe better", "Podcasting will change radio , not kill it", "A fantasy world where people make their own films", "So what is a media company ?", "Both good and bad -- but it 's too early to say in what proportions", "The corporate regulation brought in after the Enron scandal stands accused of making matters worse", "A frustrating week for Jeffrey Skilling", "Proponents of `` software as a service '' say it will wipe out traditional software", "Why the outrage about Exxon misses the point", "The market for Indian IT and outsourcing firms gets even hotter", "General Motors tries to revive Saturn -- its former great hope", "The biotechnology industry needs to grow up", "Belgium has produced one of Europe 's most interesting businessmen", "The International Monetary Fund contemplates its future", "A giant retailer 's bid for a banking licence reopens old questions", "Applying modern finance to America 's biggest asset class", "Unexpected twists in the booming market for credit-default swaps", "Covenants that once protected lenders are becoming notable for their absence", "The world 's insurers are taking a more serious look at robbery on the sea", "Why oil exporters ' enormous surpluses may last longer this time", "How to live longer -- maybe", "Like Caesar 's Gaul , the history of Mars is divided into three parts", "Arguments over the human impact of Chernobyl", "A new result bearing on the question of why the universe is made of matter", "American politics today are micro-managed by an array of political professionals .", "A new book asks ...", "The viola da gamba is enjoying a new lease of life , thanks to a Catalan enthusiast"], "_citing_sentence": "This \"socialisation of expertise\" as David Weinberger puts it ensures that errors and omissions are rapidly identified and corrected and that the site is constantly and accurately updated.", "_claim_name": "Collaboration in editing encourages democratic principles", "_doc_title": "The wiki principle | The Economist", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6, 26, 27]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Dry and mostly cloudy throughout the day .", "The Jakarta Post Ivan Lanin , a linguist and former executive director of Wikimedia Indonesia , said he could only find a few Wikipedia entries in Indonesian -- which were mostly poorly written -- when he decided to become a contributor to the site five years ago .", "Not much has changed since then , he told The Jakarta Post .", "As of March this year , there were about 3.6 million English articles in the free online encyclopedia , while there were only about 160,000 entries in Indonesian.Siska Doviana , the executive director of Wikimedia Indonesia , an independent association established by Indonesian volunteers originating from Indonesian language Wikipedia contributors , said the site was running short of contributors.Wikipedia English has 3,652 active contributors and 36,800 seasonal contributors , while Wikipedia Indonesia has only 30 active contributors and 200 seasonal contributors , she said .", "Compared to other Southeast Asian nations , Wikipedia Indonesia falls behind Wikipedia Vietnam , though it still fares better than Wikipedia Malay .", "Vietnamese has only 80 million speakers but Wikipedia Vietnam has around 210,000 articles , while Malay has 300 million speakers and Wikipedia Malay only has 118,000 articles .", "Wikipedia Indonesia comes in 17th out of the 200 Wikipedia language sites around the world .", "As of February , the Indonesian language Wikipedia received 1.6 million page views every day.Siska said the problem could be that the writing and editing work for Wikipedia was voluntary .", "Last month , Wikimedia Indonesia received a US$ 40,000 grant for their initiative , `` Volunteer Recruitment and Capacity Building '' .", "The initiative was launched to increase volunteer capacity to design free knowledge projects and attract talented young volunteers from academic circles to participate and contribute using the wiki platform while running a project or writing on the internet.As much as Rp 90 million ( $ 10,260 ) will be allocated for a program in cooperation with Semarang State University ( SSU ) to increase activity on the Javanese language Wikipedia , which currently has only two regular editors since it launched in June 2006 .", "Around Rp 50 million from the grant will be allocated to revive the Sundanese language Wikipedia , which has not had any regular editors since 2009 .", "Some sociologists believe that Indonesians have long been living in a verbal culture and the shift to a writing culture did not necessarily happen after the arrival of the Internet .", "But , not all experts believe that 's the case .", "Felicia Utorodewo , a linguist from the University of Indonesia , said the main problem was Indonesians ' lack of ability with the Indonesian language .", "`` Not all Indonesians know how to use the Indonesian language properly .", "Most Indonesians have traditional languages as their mother tongue , so when they have to write in Bahasa , they still use the logics of their own language . ''", "Nevertheless , she said that a common mistake Indonesians made in writing was to mix informal , day-to-day speech in their writing .", "For example , Felicia said , people often left out the subject in conversation and then applied it in written sentences .", "`` There is nothing wrong with using the informal language in writing as long as they follow the grammatical rules . ''", "Ivan said the lack of a reading habit might be to blame , saying that reading influenced how people wrote because the more books people read the better their writing becomes .", "Felicia said that Indonesians had the potential to develop the habit of reading but that it was hampered by the high price of books .", "She cited the case of Wamena , a town in Papua , where there were no bookstores .", "Despite all these problems , Felicia said she was optimistic that writing could become a popular activity for Indonesians , especially with burgeoning social media such as blogs and social networking sites .", "`` Unlike people in the past who only knew literary works as writing and reading material , people of today can write anything , anytime and anywhere , '' she said .", "Niskala Media Tenggara"], "_citing_sentence": "It already has over 3.5 million articles in English alone.", "_claim_name": "Wikipedia provides free, open access to knowledge", "_doc_title": "Writing culture on the web: Are we still better at talking? - Wed, April 27 2011 - The Jakarta Post", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Try two trial issues of The Atlantic with our compliments .", "Can thousands of Wikipedians be wrong ?", "How an attempt to build an online encyclopedia touched off history 's biggest experiment in collaborative knowledge", "For us to continue writing great stories , we need to display ads .", "Please select the extension that is blocking ads .", "Please follow the steps below", "Several months ago , I discovered that I was being `` considered for deletion . ''", "Or rather , the entry on me in the Internet behemoth that is Wikipedia was .", "For those of you who are ( as uncharitableWikipedians sometimes say ) `` clueless newbies , '' Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia .", "But it is like no encyclopedia Diderot could have imagined .", "Instead of relying on experts to write articles according to their expertise , Wikipedia lets anyone write about anything .", "You , I , and any wired-up fool can add entries , change entries , even propose that entries be deleted .", "For reasons I 'd rather not share outside of therapy , I created a one-line biographical entry on `` Marshall Poe . ''", "It did n't take long for my tiny article to come to the attention of Wikipedia 's self-appointed guardians .", "Within a week , a very active -- and by most accounts responsible -- Scottish Wikipedian named `` Alai '' decided that ... well , that I was n't worth knowing about .", "`` No real evidence of notability , '' Alai cruelly but accurately wrote , `` beyond the proverbial average college professor . ''", "Wikipedia has the potential to be the greatest effort in collaborative knowledge gathering the world has ever known , and it may well be the greatest effort in voluntary collaboration of any kind .", "The English-language version alone has more than a million entries .", "It is consistently ranked among the most visited Web sites in the world .", "A quarter century ago it was inconceivable that a legion of unpaid , unorganized amateurs scattered about the globe could create anything of value , let alone what may one day be the most comprehensive repository of knowledge in human history .", "Back then we knew that people do not work for free ; or if they do work for free , they do a poor job ; and if they work for free in large numbers , the result is a muddle .", "Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger knew all this when they began an online encyclopedia in 1999 .", "Now , just seven years later , everyone knows different .", "Jimmy Wales does not fit the profile of an Internet revolutionary .", "He was born in 1966 and raised in modest circumstances in Huntsville , Alabama .", "Wales majored in finance at Auburn , and after completing his degree enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Alabama .", "It was there that he developed a passion for the Internet .", "His entry point was typical for the nerdy set of his generation : fantasy games .", "In 1974 , Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson , two gamers who had obviously read The Lord of the Rings , invented the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons .", "The game spread largely through networks of teenage boys , and by 1979 , the year the classic Dungeon Master 's Guide was published , it seemed that every youth who could n't get a date was rolling the storied twenty-sided die in a shag-carpeted den .", "Meanwhile , a more electronically inclined crowd at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was experimenting with moving fantasy play from the basement to a computer network .", "The fruit of their labors was the unfortunately named MUD ( Multi-User Dungeon ) .", "Allowing masses of players to create virtual fantasy worlds , MUDs garnered a large audience in the 1980s and 1990s under names like Zork , Myst , and Scepter of Goth .", "( MUDs came to be known as `` Multi-Undergraduate Destroyers '' for their tendency to divert college students from their studies . )", "Wales began to play MUDs at Alabama in the late 1980s .", "It was in this context that he first encountered the power of networked computers to facilitate voluntary cooperation on a large scale .", "He did not , however , set up house in these fantasy worlds , nor did he show any evidence of wanting to begin a career in high tech .", "He completed a degree in finance at Auburn , received a master 's in finance at the University of Alabama , and then pursued a Ph.D. in finance at Indiana University .", "He was interested , it would seem , in finance .", "In 1994 , he quit his doctoral program and moved to Chicago to take a job as an options trader .", "There he made ( as he has repeatedly said ) `` enough . ''", "Wales is of a thoughtful cast of mind .", "He was a frequent contributor to the philosophical `` discussion lists '' ( the first popular online discussion forums ) that emerged in the late '80s as e-mail spread through the humanities .", "His particular passion was objectivism , the philosophical system developed by Ayn Rand .", "In 1989 , he initiated the Ayn Rand Philosophy Discussion List and served as moderator -- the person who invites and edits e-mails from subscribers .", "Though discussion lists were not new among the technorati in the 1980s , they were unfamiliar territory for most academics .", "In the oak-paneled seminar room , everyone had always been careful to behave properly -- the chairman sat at the head of the table , and everyone spoke in turn and stuck to the topic .", "E-mail lists were something altogether different .", "Unrestrained by convention and cloaked by anonymity , participants could behave very badly without fear of real consequences .", "The term for such poor comportment -- flaming -- became one of the first bits of net jargon to enter common usage .", "Wales had a careful moderation style :", "Wales was an advocate of what is generically termed `` openness '' online .", "An `` open '' online community is one with few restrictions on membership or posting -- everyone is welcome , and anyone can say anything as long as it 's generally on point and does n't include gratuitous ad hominem attacks .", "Openness fit not only Wales 's idea of objectivism , with its emphasis on reason and rejection of force , but also his mild personality .", "He does n't like to fight .", "He would rather suffer fools in silence , waiting for them to talk themselves out , than confront them .", "This patience would serve Wales well in the years to come .", "In the mid-1990s , the great dream of Internet entrepreneurs was to create the entry point on the Web .", "`` Portals , '' as they were called , would provide everything : e-mail , news , entertainment , and , most important , the tools to help users find what they wanted on the Web .", "As Google later showed , if you build the best `` finding aid , '' you 'll be a dominant player .", "In 1996 , the smart money was on `` Web directories , '' man-made guides to the Internet .", "Both Netscape and Yahoo relied on Web directories as their primary finding aids , and their IPOs in the mid-1990s suggested a bright future .", "In 1996 , Wales and two partners founded a Web directory called Bomis .", "Initially , the idea was to build a universal directory , like Yahoo 's .", "The question was how to build it .", "At the time , there were two dominant models : top-down and bottom-up .", "The former is best exemplified by Yahoo , which began as Jerry 's Guide to the World Wide Web .", "Jerry -- in this case Jerry Yang , Yahoo 's cofounder -- set up a system of categories and began to classify Web sites accordingly .", "Web surfers flocked to the site because no one could find anything on the Web in the early 1990s .", "So Yang and his partner , David Filo , spent a mountain of venture capital to hire a team of surfers to classify the Web .", "Yahoo ( `` Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle '' ) was born .", "Other would-be classifiers approached the problem of Web chaos more democratically .", "Beginning from the sound premise that it 's good to share , a seventeen-year-old Oregonian named Sage Weil created the first `` Web ring '' at about the time Yang and Filo were assembling their army of paid Web librarians .", "A Web ring is nothing more than a set of topically related Web sites that have been linked together for ease of surfing .", "Rings are easy to find , easy to join , and easy to create ; by 1997 , they numbered 10,000 .", "Wales focused on the bottom-up strategy using Web rings , and it worked .", "Bomis users built hundreds of rings -- on cars , computers , sports , and especially `` babes '' ( e.g. , the Anna Kournikova Web ring ) , effectively creating an index of the `` laddie '' Web .", "Instead of helping all users find all content , Bomis found itself positioned as the Playboy of the Internet , helping guys find guy stuff .", "Wales 's experience with Web rings reinforced the lesson he had learned with MUDs : given the right technology , large groups of self-interested individuals will unite to create something they could not produce by themselves , be it a sword-and-sorcery world or an index of Web sites on Pamela Anderson .", "He saw the power of what we now call `` peer-to-peer , '' or `` distributed , '' content production .", "Wales was not alone : Rich Skrenta and Bob Truel , two programmers at Sun Microsystems , saw it too .", "In June 1998 , along with three partners , they launched GnuHoo , an all - volunteer alternative to the Yahoo Directory .", "( GNU , a recursive acronym for `` GNUs Not Unix , '' is a free operating system created by the \u00fcber-hacker Richard Stallman . )", "The project was an immediate success , and it quickly drew the attention of Netscape , which was eager to find a directory capable of competing with Yahoo 's index .", "In November 1998 , Netscape acquired GnuHoo ( then called NewHoo ) , promising to both develop it and release it under an `` open content '' license , which meant anyone could use it .", "At the date of Netscape 's acquisition , the directory had indexed some 100,000 URLs ; a year later , it included about a million .", "Wales clearly had the open-content movement in mind when , in the fall of 1999 , he began thinking about a `` volunteer-built '' online encyclopedia .", "The idea -- explored most prominently in Stallman 's 1999 essay `` The Free Universal Encyclopedia and Learning Resource '' -- had been around for some time .", "Wales says he had no direct knowledge of Stallman 's essay when he embarked on his encyclopedia project , but two bits of evidence suggest that he was thinking of Stallman 's GNU free documentation license .", "First , the name Wales adopted for his encyclopedia -- Nupedia.org -- strongly suggested a Stallman-esque venture .", "Second , he took the trouble of leasing a related domain name , GNUpedia.org .", "By January 2000 , his encyclopedia project had acquired funding from Bomis and hired its first employee : Larry Sanger .", "Sanger was born in 1968 in Bellevue , Washington , a suburb of Seattle .", "When he was seven , his father , a marine biologist , moved the family to Anchorage , Alaska , where Sanger spent his youth .", "He excelled in high school , and in 1986 he enrolled at Reed College .", "Reed is the sort of school you attend if you are intelligent , are not interested in investment banking , and wonder a lot about truth .", "There Sanger found a question that fired his imagination : What is knowledge ?", "He embarked on that most unremunerative of careers , epistemology , and entered a doctoral program in philosophy at Ohio State .", "Sanger fits the profile of almost every Internet early adopter : he 'd been a good student , played Dungeons & Dragons , and tinkered with PCs as a youth -- going so far as to code a text-based adventure game in BASIC , the first popular programming language .", "He was drawn into the world of philosophy discussion lists and , in the early 1990s , was an active participant in Wales 's objectivism forum .", "Sanger also hosted a mailing list as part of his own online philosophy project ( eventually named the Association for Systematic Philosophy ) .", "The mission and mien of Sanger 's list stood in stark contrast to Wales 's Rand forum .", "Sanger was far more programmatic .", "As he wrote in his opening manifesto , dated March 22 , 1994 :", "Wales 's Rand forum was generally serious , but it was also a place for philosophically inclined laypeople to shoot the breeze : Wales permitted discussion of `` objectivism in the movies '' or `` objectivism in Rush lyrics . ''", "Sanger 's list was more disciplined , but he soon began to feel it , too , was of limited philosophical worth .", "He resigned after little more than a year .", "`` I think that my time could really be better spent in the real world , '' Sanger wrote in his resignation letter , `` as opposed to cyberspace , and in thinking to myself , rather than out loud to a bunch of other people . ''", "Sanger was seriously considering abandoning his academic career .", "As the decade and the century came to a close , another opportunity arose , one that would let Sanger make a living away from academia , using the acumen he had developed on the Internet .", "In 1998 , Sanger created a digest of news reports relating to the `` Y2K problem . ''", "Sanger 's Review of Y2K News Reports became a staple of IT managers across the globe .", "It also set him to thinking about how he might make a living in the new millennium .", "In January 2000 , he sent Wales a business proposal for what was in essence a cultural news blog .", "Sanger 's timing was excellent .", "Wales was looking for someone with good academic credentials to organize Nupedia , and Sanger fit the bill .", "Wales pitched the project to Sanger in terms of Eric S. Raymond 's essay ( and later book ) `` The Cathedral and the Bazaar . ''", "Raymond sketched two models of software development .", "Under the `` cathedral model , '' source code was guarded by a core group of developers ; under the `` bazaar model , '' it was released on the Internet for anyone to tinker with .", "Raymond argued that the latter model was better , and he coined a now-famous hacker aphorism to capture its superiority : `` Given enough eyeballs , all bugs are shallow . ''", "His point was simply that the speed with which a complex project is perfected is directly proportional to the number of informed people working on it .", "Wales was enthusiastic about Raymond 's thesis .", "His experience with MUDs and Web rings had demonstrated to him the power of the bazaar .", "Sanger , the philosopher , was charier about the wisdom-of-crowds scheme but drawn to the idea of creating an open online encyclopedia that would break all the molds .", "Sanger signed on and moved to San Diego .", "According to Sanger , Wales was very `` hands-off . ''", "He gave Sanger only the loosest sketch of an open encyclopedia .", "`` Open '' meant two things : First , anyone , in principle , could contribute .", "Second , all of the content would be made freely available .", "Sanger proceeded to create , in effect , an online academic journal .", "There was simply no question in his mind that Nupedia would be guided by a board of experts , that submissions would be largely written by experts , and that articles would be published only after extensive peer review .", "Sanger set about recruiting academics to work on Nupedia .", "In early March 2000 , he and Wales deemed the project ready to go public , and the Nupedia Web site was launched with the following words :", "The answer , as Wales and Sanger found out , was `` not very . ''", "Over the first several months little was actually accomplished in terms of article assignment , writing , and publication .", "First , there was the competition .", "Wales and Sanger had the bad luck to launch Nupedia around the same time as Encyclopedia Britannica was made available for free on the Internet .", "Then there was the real problem : production .", "Sanger and the Nupedia board had worked out a multistage editorial system that could have been borrowed from any scholarly journal .", "In a sense , it worked : assignments were made , articles were submitted and evaluated , and copyediting was done .", "But , to both Wales and Sanger , it was all much too slow .", "They had built a cathedral .", "In the mid-1980s , a programmer named Ward Cunningham began trying to create a `` pattern language '' for software design .", "A pattern language is in essence a common vocabulary used in solving engineering problems -- think of it as best practices for designers .", "Cunningham believed that software development should have a pattern language , and he proposed to find a way for software developers to create it .", "Apple 's Hypercard offered inspiration .", "Hypercard was a very flexible database application .", "It allowed users to create records ( `` cards '' ) , add data fields to them , and link them in sets .", "Cunningham created a Hypercard `` stack '' of software patterns and shared it with colleagues .", "His stack was well liked but difficult to share , since it existed only on Cunningham 's computer .", "In the 1990s , Cunningham found himself looking for a problem-solving technique that would allow software developers to fine-tune and accumulate their knowledge collaboratively .", "A variation on Hypercard seemed like an obvious option .", "Cunningham coded and , in the spring of 1995 , launched the first `` wiki , '' calling it the `` WikiWikiWeb . ''", "( Wiki is Hawaiian for `` quick , '' which Cunningham chose to indicate the ease with which a user could edit the pages . )", "A wiki is a Web site that allows multiple users to create , edit , and hyperlink pages .", "As users work , a wiki can keep track of all changes ; users can compare versions as they edit and , if necessary , revert to earlier states .", "Nothing is lost , and everything is transparent .", "The wiki quickly gained a devoted following within the software community .", "And there it remained until January 2001 , when Sanger had dinner with an old friend named Ben Kovitz .", "Kovitz was a fan of `` extreme programming . ''", "Standard software engineering is very methodical -- first you plan , then you plan and plan and plan , then you code .", "The premise is that you must correctly anticipate what the program will need to do in order to avoid drastic changes late in the coding process .", "In contrast , extreme programmers advocate going live with the earliest possible version of new software and letting many people work simultaneously to rapidly refine it .", "Over tacos that night , Sanger explained his concerns about Nupedia 's lack of progress , the root cause of which was its serial editorial system .", "As Nupedia was then structured , no stage of the editorial process could proceed before the previous stage was completed .", "Kovitz brought up the wiki and sketched out `` wiki magic , '' the mysterious process by which communities with common interests work to improve wiki pages by incremental contributions .", "If it worked for the rambunctious hacker culture of programming , Kovitz said , it could work for any online collaborative project .", "The wiki could break the Nupedia bottleneck by permitting volunteers to work simultaneously all over the project .", "With Kovitz in tow , Sanger rushed back to his apartment and called Wales to share the idea .", "Over the next few days he wrote a formal proposal for Wales and started a page on Cunningham 's wiki called `` WikiPedia . ''", "Wales and Sanger created the first Nupedia wiki on January 10 , 2001 .", "The initial purpose was to get the public to add entries that would then be `` fed into the Nupedia process '' of authorization .", "Most of Nupedia 's expert volunteers , however , wanted nothing to do with this , so Sanger decided to launch a separate site called `` Wikipedia . ''", "Neither Sanger nor Wales looked on Wikipedia as anything more than a lark .", "This is evident in Sanger 's flip announcement of Wikipedia to the Nupedia discussion list .", "`` Humor me , '' he wrote .", "`` Go there and add a little article .", "It will take all of five or ten minutes . ''", "And , to Sanger 's surprise , go they did .", "Within a few days , Wikipedia outstripped Nupedia in terms of quantity , if not quality , and a small community developed .", "In late January , Sanger created a Wikipedia discussion list ( Wikipedia-L ) to facilitate discussion of the project .", "At the end of January , Wikipedia had seventeen `` real '' articles ( entries with more than 200 characters ) .", "By the end of February , it had 150 ; March , 572 ; April , 835 ; May , 1,300 ; June , 1,700 ; July , 2,400 ; August , 3,700 .", "At the end of the year , the site boasted approximately 15,000 articles and about 350 `` Wikipedians . ''", "Wikipedia 's growth caught Wales and Sanger off guard .", "It forced them to make quick decisions about what Wikipedia would be , how to foster cooperation , and how to manage it .", "In the beginning it was by no means clear what an `` open '' encyclopedia should include .", "People posted all manner of things : dictionary definitions , autobiographies , position papers , historical documents , and original research .", "In response , Sanger created a `` What Wikipedia Is Not '' page .", "There he and the community defined Wikipedia by exclusion -- not a dictionary , not a scientific journal , not a source collection , and so on .", "For everything else , they reasoned that if an article could conceivably have gone in Britannica , it was `` encyclopedic '' and permitted ; if not , it was `` not encyclopedic '' and deleted .", "Sanger and Wales knew that online collaborative ventures can easily slide into a morass of unproductive invective .", "They had already worked out a solution for Nupedia , called the `` lack of bias '' policy .", "On Wikipedia it became NPOV , or the `` neutral point of view , '' and it brilliantly encouraged the work of the community .", "Under NPOV , authors were enjoined to present the conventionally acknowledged `` facts '' in an unbiased way , and , where arguments occurred , to accord space to both sides .", "The concept of neutrality , though philosophically unsatisfying , had a kind of everybody-lay-down-your-arms ring to it .", "Debates about what to include in the article were encouraged on the `` discussion '' page that attends every Wikipedia article .", "The most important initial question , however , concerned governance .", "When Wikipedia was created , wikis were synonymous with creative anarchy .", "Both Wales and Sanger thought that the software might be useful , but that it was no way to build a trusted encyclopedia .", "Some sort of authority was assumed to be essential .", "Wales 's part in it was clear : he owned Wikipedia .", "Sanger 's role was murkier .", "Citing the communal nature of the project , Sanger refused the title of `` editor in chief , '' a position he held at Nupedia , opting instead to be `` chief organizer . ''", "He governed the day-to-day operations of the project in close consultation with the `` community , '' the roughly two dozen committed Wikipedians ( most of them Nupedia converts ) who were really designing the software and adding content to the site .", "Though the division of powers between Sanger and the community remained to be worked out , an important precedent had been set : Wikipedia would have an owner , but no leader .", "By October 2001 , the number of Wikipedians was growing by about fifty a month .", "There were a lot of new voices , among them a user known as `` The Cunctator '' ( Latin for `` procrastinator '' or `` delayer '' ) .", "`` Cunc , '' as he was called , advocated a combination of anarchy ( no hierarchy within the project ) and radical openness ( few or no limitations on contributions ) .", "Sanger was not favorably disposed to either of these positions , though he had not had much of a chance to air his opposition .", "Cunc offered such an opportunity by launching a prolonged `` edit war '' with Sanger in mid-October of that year .", "In an edit war , two or more parties cyclically cancel each other 's work on an article with no attempt to find the NPOV .", "It 's the wiki equivalent of `` No , your mother wears combat boots . ''", "With Cunc clearly in mind , Sanger curtly defended his role before the community on November 1 , 2001 :", "Seen from the trenches , this was a striking statement .", "Sanger had so far said he was primus inter pares ; now he seemed to be saying that he was just primus .", "Upon reading this post , one Wikipedian wrote : `` Am I the only person who detects a change in -LSB- Sanger 's -RSB- view of his own position ?", "Am I the only person who fears this is a change for the worse ? ''", "On November 4 , the Sanger-Cunc contretemps exploded .", "Simon Kissane , a respected Wikipedian , accused Sanger of capriciously deleting pages , including some of Cunc 's work .", "Sanger denied the allegation but implied that the excised material was no great loss .", "He then launched a defense of his position in words that bled resentment :", "The blowup disturbed Wales to no end .", "As a list moderator , he had tried hard to keep his discussants out of flame wars .", "He weighed in with an unusually forceful posting that warned against a `` culture of conflict . ''", "Wikipedia , he implied , was about building an encyclopedia , not about debating how to build or govern an encyclopedia .", "Echoing Sanger , he argued that the primary duty of community members was to contribute -- by writing code , adding content , and editing .", "Enough talk , he seemed to be saying : we know what to do , now let 's get to work .", "Yet he also seemed to take a quiet stand against Sanger 's positions on openness and on his own authority :", "Wales also made a strong case that anyone deleting pages should record his or her identity , explain his or her reasons , and archive the entire affair .", "Within several weeks , Sanger and Cunc were at each other 's throats again .", "Sanger had proposed creating a `` Wikipedia Militia '' that would deal with issues arising from sudden massive influxes of new visitors .", "It was hardly a bad idea : such surges did occur ( they 're commonly called `` slash-dottings '' ) .", "But Cunc saw in Sanger 's reasonable proposition a very slippery slope toward `` central authority . ''", "`` You start deputizing groups of people to do necessary and difficult tasks , '' he wrote , `` fast-forward two/three years , and you have pernicious cabals . ''", "Given the structure of Wikipedia there was little Sanger could do to defend himself .", "The principles of the project denied him real punitive authority : he could n't ban `` trolls '' -- users like Cunc who baited others for sport -- and deleting posts was evidence of tyranny in the eyes of Sanger 's detractors .", "A defensive strategy would n't work either , as the skilled moderator 's tactic for fighting bad behavior -- ignoring it -- was blunted by the wiki .", "On e-mail lists , unanswered inflammatory posts quickly vanish under layers of new discussion ; on a wiki , they remain visible to all , often near the tops of pages .", "Sanger was trapped by his own creation .", "Wales saw that Sanger was having trouble managing the project .", "Indeed , he seems to have sensed that Wikipedia really needed no manager .", "In mid-December 2001 , citing financial shortfalls , he told Sanger that Bomis would be cutting its staff and that he should look for a new job .", "To that point , Wales and his partners had supported both Nupedia and Wikipedia .", "But with Bomis suffering in the Internet bust , there was financial pressure .", "Early on , Wales had said that advertising was a possibility , but the community was now set against any commercialization .", "In January 2002 , Sanger loaded up his possessions and returned to Ohio .", "Cunc responded to Sanger 's departure with apparent appreciation :", "Characteristically , Sanger took this as nothing more than provocation : `` Oh , how nice and gracious this was .", "Oh , thank you SO much , Cunctator .", "I 'm sure glad I wo n't have to deal with you anymore , Cunctator .", "You 're a friggin ' piece of work . ''", "The next post on the list is from Wales , who showed a business - as-usual sangfroid : `` With the resignation of Larry , there is a much less pressing need for funds . ''", "Sanger made two great contributions to Wikipedia : he built it , and he left it .", "After forging a revolutionary mode of knowledge building , he came to realize -- albeit dimly at first -- that it was not to his liking .", "He found that he was not heading a disciplined crew of qualified writers and editors collaborating on authoritative statements ( the Nupedia ideal ) , but trying to control an ill-disciplined crowd of volunteers fighting over ever-shifting articles .", "From Sanger 's point of view , both the behavior of the participants and the quality of the scholarship were wanting .", "Even after seeing Wikipedia 's explosive growth , Sanger continued to argue that Wikipedia should engage experts and that Nupedia should be saved .", "Wales , though , was a businessman .", "He wanted to build a free encyclopedia , and Wikipedia offered a very rapid and economically efficient means to that end .", "The articles flooded in , many were good , and they cost him almost nothing .", "Moreover , Wales was not really the meddling kind .", "Early on , Wikipedians took to calling him the `` God-King . ''", "The appellation is purely ironic .", "Over the past four years , Wales has repeatedly demonstrated an astounding reluctance to use his power , even when the community has begged him to .", "He would n't exile trolls or erase offensive material , much less settle on rules for how things should or should not be done .", "In 2003 , Wales diminished his own authority by transferring Wikipedia and all of its assets to the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation , whose sole purpose is to set general policy for Wikipedia and its allied projects .", "( He is one of five members of the foundation 's board . )", "Wales 's benign rule has allowed Wikipedia to do what it does best : grow .", "The numbers are staggering .", "The English-language Wikipedia alone has well more than a million articles and expands by about 1,700 a day .", "( Britannica 's online version , by comparison , has about 100,000 articles . )", "As of mid-February 2006 , more than 65,000 Wikipedians -- registered users who have made at least ten edits since joining -- had contributed to the English-language Wikipedia .", "The number of registered contributors is increasing by more than 6,000 a month ; the number of unregistered contributors is presumably much larger .", "Then there are the 200-odd non-English-language Wikipedias .", "Nine of them already have more than 100,000 entries each , and nearly all of the major-language versions are growing on pace with the English version .", "The Internet did not create the desire to collect human knowledge .", "For most of history , however , standardizing and gathering knowledge was hard to do very effectively .", "The main problem was rampant equivocation .", "Can we all agree on what an apple is exactly , or the shades of the color green ?", "The wiki offered a way for people to actually decide in common .", "On Wikipedia , an apple is what the contributors say it is right now .", "You can try to change the definition by throwing in your own two cents , but the community -- the voices actually negotiating and renegotiating the definition -- decides in the end .", "Wikipedia grew out of a natural impluse ( communication ) facilitated by a new technology ( the wiki ) .", "The power of the community to decide , of course , asks us to reexamine what we mean when we say that something is `` true . ''", "We tend to think of truth as something that resides in the world .", "The fact that two plus two equals four is written in the stars -- we merely discovered it .", "But Wikipedia suggests a different theory of truth .", "Just think about the way we learn what words mean .", "Generally speaking , we do so by listening to other people ( our parents , first ) .", "Since we want to communicate with them ( after all , they feed us ) , we use the words in the same way they do .", "Wikipedia says judgments of truth and falsehood work the same way .", "The community decides that two plus two equals four the same way it decides what an apple is : by consensus .", "Yes , that means that if the community changes its mind and decides that two plus two equals five , then two plus two does equal five .", "The community is n't likely to do such an absurd or useless thing , but it has the ability .", "Early detractors commonly made two criticisms of Wikipedia .", "First , unless experts were writing and vetting the material , the articles were inevitably going to be inaccurate .", "Second , since anyone could edit , vandals would have their way with even the best articles , making them suspect .", "No encyclopedia produced in this way could be trusted .", "Last year , however , a study in the journal Nature compared Britannica and Wikipedia science articles and suggested that the former are usually only marginally more accurate than the latter .", "Britannica demonstrated that Nature 's analysis was seriously flawed ( `` Fatally Flawed '' was the fair title of the response ) , and no one has produced a more authoritative study of Wikipedia 's accuracy .", "Yet it is a widely accepted view that Wikipedia is comparable to Britannica .", "Vandalism also has proved much less of an issue than originally feared .", "A study by IBM suggests that although vandalism does occur ( particularly on high-profile entries like `` George W. Bush '' ) , watchful members of the huge Wikipedia community usually swoop down to stop the malfeasance shortly after it begins .", "There are , of course , exceptions , as in the case of the journalist John Seigenthaler , whose Wikipedia biography long contained a libel about his supposed complicity in the assassinations of John F. and Robert Kennedy .", "But even this example shows that the system is , if not perfect , at least responsive .", "When Seigenthaler became aware of the error , he contacted Wikipedia .", "The community ( led in this instance by Wales ) purged the entry of erroneous material , expanded it , and began to monitor it closely .", "Even though the Seigenthaler entry is often attacked by vandals , and is occasionally locked to block them , the page is more reliable precisely because it is now under `` enough eyeballs . ''", "The same could be said about many controversial entries on Wikipedia : the quality of articles generally increases with the number of eyeballs .", "Given enough eyeballs , all errors are shallow .", "In June 2001 , only six months after Wikipedia was founded , a Polish Wikipedian named Krzysztof Jasiutowicz made an arresting and remarkably forward-looking observation .", "The Internet , he mused , was nothing but a `` global Wikipedia without the end-user editing facility . ''", "The contents of the Internet -- its pages -- are created by a loose community of users , namely those on the Web .", "The contents of Wikipedia -- its entries -- are also created by a loose community of users , namely Wikipedians .", "On the Internet , contributors own their own pages , and only they can edit them .", "They can also create new pages as they see fit .", "On Wikipedia , contributors own all of the pages collectively , and each can edit nearly every page .", "Page creation is ultimately subject to community approval .", "The private-property regime that governs the Internet allows it to grow freely , but it makes organization and improvement very difficult .", "In contrast , Wikipedia 's communal regime permits growth plus organization and improvement .", "The result of this difference is there for all to see : much of the Internet is a chaotic mess and therefore useless , whereas Wikipedia is well ordered and hence very useful .", "Having seen all of this in prospect , Jasiutowicz asked a logical question : `` Can someone please tell me what 's the end point/goal of Wikipedia ? ''", "Wales responded , only half jokingly , `` The goal of Wikipedia is fun for the contributors . ''", "He had a point .", "Editing Wikipedia is fun , and even rewarding .", "The site is huge , so somewhere on it there is probably something you know quite a bit about .", "Imagine that you happen upon your pet subject , or perhaps even look it up to see how it 's being treated .", "And what do you find ?", "Well , this date is wrong , that characterization is poor , and a word is mispelled .", "You click the `` edit '' tab and make the corrections , and you 've just contributed to the progress of human knowledge .", "All in under five minutes , and at no cost .", "Yet Wikipedia has a value that goes far beyond the enjoyment of its contributors .", "For all intents and purposes , the project is laying claim to a vast region of the Internet , a territory we might call `` common knowledge . ''", "It is the place where all nominal information about objects of widely shared experience will be negotiated , stored , and renegotiated .", "When you want to find out what something is , you will go to Wikipedia , for that is where common knowledge will , by convention , be archived and updated and made freely available .", "And while you are there , you may just add or change a little something , and thereby feel the pride of authorship shared by the tens of thousands of Wikipedians .", "One of the objects of common knowledge in Wikipedia , I 'm relieved to report , is `` Marshall Poe . ''", "Recall that the Scottish Wikipedian Alai said that I had no `` notability '' and therefore could n't really be considered encyclopedic .", "On the same day that Alai suggested my entry be deleted , a rather vigorous discussion took place on the `` discussion '' page that attended the Marshall Poe entry .", "A Wikipedian who goes by `` Dlyons493 '' discovered that I had indeed written an obscure dissertation on an obscure topic at a not-so-obscure university .", "He gave the article a `` Weak Keep . ''", "Someone with the handle `` Splash '' searched Amazon and verified that I had indeed written books on Russian history , so my claim to be a historian was true .", "He gave me a `` Keep . ''", "And finally , my champion and hero , a Wikipedian called `` Tupsharru , '' dismissed my detractors with this :", "Bear in mind that I knew none of these people , and they had , as far as I know , no interest other than truth in doing all of this work .", "Yet they did n't stop with verifying my claims and approving my article .", "They also searched the Web for material they could use to expand my one-line biography .", "After they were done , the Marshall Poe entry was two paragraphs long and included a good bibliography .", "Now that 's wiki magic .", "Hive photograph by Ralph A. Clevenger/Corbis", "A constantly on-the-road life means that families have to find unique school programs to cater to their kids .", "Her latest Full Frontal episode is a reminder of how deeply the election 's outrage has permeated American culture .", "During an extended monologue on her TBS show Full Frontal on Monday evening , Samantha Bee described Donald Trump and Billy Bush as `` two drooling hyenas '' and `` two leering dildos . ''", "She referred to the vehicle that carried the pair , in that now iconically infamous Access Hollywood video , as `` the adolescent boner bus '' and , later , `` Donny and Billy 's fun-time pussy wagon . ''", "She compared Bush 's deference to Trump to George W. Bush 's deference to Dick Cheney , and then referred to both of the latter as `` a bullying , cold-hearted alpha male who was completely in charge . ''", "Later , in response to the non-apology apology that Trump read dutifully off of a Teleprompter , Bee said , `` I 'm sorry , you were handing out words like a first-grader with a head injury . ''", "The most devastating effect of Trump 's candidacy may be yet to come .", "A challenger intent on `` stopping crooked Hillary from rigging the election '' could feasibly single out any number of voters without any evidence to offer , and try to keep those voters from casting a ballot by calling into question their eligibility .", "At least 22 states make it a crime to disturb school in ways that teenagers are wired to do .", "Why did this happen ?", "One Monday morning last fall , at Spring Valley High School in Columbia , South Carolina , a 16-year-old girl refused to hand over her cellphone to her algebra teacher .", "After multiple requests , the teacher called an administrator , who eventually summoned a sheriff 's deputy who was stationed at the school .", "The deputy walked over to the girl 's desk .", "`` Are you going to come with me , '' he said , `` or am I going to make you ? ''", "Niya Kenny , a student sitting nearby , did not know the name of the girl who was in trouble .", "That girl was new to class and rarely spoke .", "But Kenny had heard stories about the deputy , Ben Fields , who also coached football at the school , and she had a feeling he might do something extreme .", "`` Take out your phones , '' she whispered to the boys sitting next to her , and she did the same .", "The girl still had n't moved .", "While Kenny watched , recording with her iPhone , Fields wrenched the girl 's right arm behind her and grabbed her left leg .", "The girl flailed a fist in his direction .", "As he tried to wrestle her out of her chair , the desk it was attached to flipped over , slamming the girl backwards .", "Then he reached for her again , extracting her this time , and hurled her across the classroom floor .", "Four culprits : Presidential debates , cord-cutters , Twitter streams , and Peyton Manning .", "What does $ 50 billion buy ?", "It 's about how much Americans spend on their pets each year and approximately the size of the Department of Education .", "It 's also how much television networks and carriers , such as ESPN , CBS , NBC , and DirecTV , have committed to the National Football League until the early 2020s .", "In an age of fractured audiences , guaranteed viewers are more valuable ( and expensive ) than ever .", "As younger viewers abandon linear television and cable subscribers DVR their favorite shows , live sports has become traditional television 's most valuable property for advertisers , the keystone holding up the grand arc of the cable bundle .", "But perhaps television 's safest bet is n't as safe as people thought .", "Football ratings are down double digits across the board , and the pain is spread across networks and nights .", "Ratings are down on Sunday afternoons on Fox and CBS , on Sunday nights on NBC , and on Monday nights on ESPN .", "His campaign manager , Kellyanne Conway , warned that she knows of GOP congressmen who perpetrated sexual assaults .", "Despite polls from CNN and You.gov that show Donald Trump losing Sunday 's debate , the conventional wisdom holds that he did well enough to stop Republican defections from his campaign and to save his place at the top of the ticket .", "Look closer , however , and a different reality emerges : The reality TV star is n't holding on because of his debate performance so much as his campaign 's willingness to openly threaten those who dare to cross him with mutually assured destruction .", "These people are willing to destroy the GOP .", "Before joining the Trump campaign , one campaign official , Stephen Bannon , openly described his project as follows : `` What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party . ''", "Trump 's campaign manager , Kellyanne Conway , has apparently reached the conclusion that the best course is threatening down-ballot Republicans if they are not sufficiently loyal -- according to The New York Times , she ominously warned on television that `` she knew of Republican lawmakers who had behaved inappropriately toward young women , and whose criticism of Mr. Trump was therefore hypocritical . ''", "Says Rod Dreher , `` Trump is going to drop those names .", "The House Republican leader could have withdrawn his endorsement of Donald Trump immediately after a controversial 2005 recording surfaced last week .", "Why did n't he ?", "Paul Ryan claims he was `` sickened '' by Donald Trump 's remarks in a 2005 recording in which Trump brags about using his celebrity status to grope unsuspecting women .", "But by declining to immediately withdraw his endorsement of the Republican presidential nominee , the House speaker missed a chance to take a principled stand .", "Ryan has worked to brand himself as a compassionate conservative -- a lawmaker who has put forward an agenda to improve the lives of everyday Americans while promoting conservative values .", "After failing to fully withdraw support for Trump in the wake of his comments -- which degrade women and seem to glorify sexual assault -- it will be far more difficult for Ryan to credibly promote himself that way .", "Especially when other Republicans , like senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte , have used this latest controversy as an opportunity to jump ship and pull their support from the GOP nominee .", "The latest PRRI/The Atlantic poll shows Hillary Clinton building a double-digit advantage -- after being locked in a dead heat two weeks ago .", "With less than a month to go until Election Day , Donald Trump 's standing has plummeted with likely voters , falling from a dead heat just two weeks ago to a double-digit deficit behind Hillary Clinton , according to a PRRI/The Atlantic poll released Tuesday .", "Clinton holds a 49-38 lead over the Republican .", "Two weeks ago , a previous PRRI/Atlantic poll found Trump and Clinton tied at 43-43 .", "Following the first presidential debate in Hempstead , New York , the Democrat broke out to a 47-41 lead .", "She has now built on that lead .", "That 's the bad news for Trump .", "The worse news is that this poll likely does not include the full impact of a video , published Friday afternoon by The Washington Post , in which Trump boasts about sexually assaulting women .", "The poll was conducted Wednesday through Sunday , meaning some respondents were interviewed before the video 's release and some afterward .", "It also does not take into account the second presidential debate , in which Trump 's performance drew widely varying reviews .", "Tristan Harris believes Silicon Valley is addicting us to our phones .", "He 's determined to make it stop .", "On a recent evening in San Francisco , Tristan Harris , a former product philosopher at Google , took a name tag from a man in pajamas called `` Honey Bear '' and wrote down his pseudonym for the night : `` Presence . ''", "Harris had just arrived at Unplug SF , a `` digital detox experiment '' held in honor of the National Day of Unplugging , and the organizers had banned real names .", "Also outlawed : clocks , `` w-talk '' ( work talk ) , and `` WMDs '' ( the planners ' loaded shorthand for wireless mobile devices ) .", "Harris , a slight 32-year-old with copper hair and a tidy beard , surrendered his iPhone , a device he considers so addictive that he 's called it `` a slot machine in my pocket . ''", "He keeps the background set to an image of Scrabble tiles spelling out the words face down , a reminder of the device 's optimal position .", "Four weeks before Election Day , the GOP 's nominee is attacking not Hillary Clinton but his own party and its most senior office-holder .", "How many times has the press declared a `` Republican civil war '' since the Tea Party wave of 2010 ?", "It turns out we had no idea .", "Just as Donald Trump has underscored and amplified many of the existing gulfs in the GOP , he 's also taking the concept of intraparty civil war to a new high .", "The Republican nominee has been perhaps comparatively quiet on Twitter the last few weeks , but Tuesday morning , he started breaking loose -- a metaphor Trump himself used : It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to .", "Who knew that Trump had been shackled before ?", "It certainly had n't shown in in much of his approach to the campaign , which has been freewheeling .", "It 's true that Trump had appeared to be taking a more subdued approach in the weeks leading up to the first presidential debate .", "Pundits speculated that Trump 's new campaign team of Stephen Bannon and Kellyanne Conway had instilled some discipline .", "But since that meeting in Hempstead , New York , he 's been closer to the old Trump -- tweeting at 3 a.m. , improvising speeches on the stump .", "How social media is being weaponized across the world", "Like most everything today , the campaign was launched with a hashtag .", "But instead of promoting a new album or a movie release , #AllEyesOnISIS announced the 2014 invasion of northern Iraq -- a bloody takeover that still haunts global politics two years later .", "Revealing a military operation via Twitter would seem a strange strategy , but it should not be surprising given the source .", "The self-styled Islamic State owes its existence to what the internet has become with the rise of social media -- a vast chamber of online sharing and conversation and argumentation and indoctrination , echoing with billions of voices .", "Social media has empowered isis recruiting , helping the group draw at least 30,000 foreign fighters , from some 100 countries , to the battlefields of Syria and Iraq .", "It has aided the seeding of new franchises in places ranging from Libya and Afghanistan to Nigeria and Bangladesh .", "It was the vehicle isis used to declare war on the United States : The execution of the American journalist James Foley was deliberately choreographed for viral distribution .", "And it is how the group has inspired acts of terror on five continents .", "A few simple rules could help you spend less time answering emails .", "Three rules that might make your child a future Nobel Prize winner", "Welcome to the experimental town of Arcosanti in central Arizona .", "Get 10 issues a year and save 65 % off the cover price ."], "_citing_sentence": "Indeed, \"Wikipedia has the potential to be the greatest effort in collaborative knowledge gathering the world has ever known, and it may well be the greatest effort in voluntary collaboration of any kind.\"", "_claim_name": "Collaboration in editing encourages democratic principles", "_doc_title": "The Hive - The Atlantic", "_labeled_lineIDs": [16]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Emma Barnett , Technology and Digital Media Correspondent 2:26 PM GMT 17 Nov 2009", "Jimmy Wales is eating dinner alongside Princess Caroline of Monaco .", "Web royalty has come to meet the real thing .", "Wales , the man who co-founded Wikipedia eight years ago , is in Monaco to be awarded the Monaco Media Prize at the principality 's annual invite-only media forum .", "Princess Caroline said that he was a worthy recipient because he empowered people to work together in pursuit of knowledge .", "Wikipedia , the online encyclopaedia which anyone can contribute to or edit , is the largest encyclopaedia in the world .", "There are more than three million entries in the English version and yet survives on 25 paid staff and a core of dedicated volunteers who painstakingly protect , edit and source the reams of material uploaded every day .", "However , recently the rate at which new articles are being submitted to the English-language version of Wikipedia has slowed down .", "According to research performed in August 2009 , there are 1,300 articles being added a day , compared with 2,200 which were being created in July 2007 .", "The site came under fire recently when it announced new measures which would enable a core group of volunteer editors to adjudicate on any changes made to a living person 's Wikipedia before those modifications were published .", "These new measures , known as `` flagged revisions '' , which are set to be adopted in December , were designed to combat the growing problem of vandalism on the site .", "The measures will mean that amendments made by a new Wikipedia user to the page of a famous person or someone in the news , such as Tony Blair , will be held in a queue for as long as a few days , until the editors have checked the veracity of the new material .", "This new process was criticised by many observers for being a fundamental shift in Wikipedia 's approach to gathering and sharing of online information .", "Focus on Tory Wikipedia ` rigging '", "Wikipedia articles flagged for deletion", "Wikipedia alternatives : nine other ` pedias '", "Wikipedia ends free editing", "Mr Wales dismisses concerns that the web encyclopaedia has changed its ethos .", "He says : `` We have not compromised .", "There has always been protection on the site .", "There is a mythology that Wikipedia used to be a crazy anarchy but that just is n't true .", "We have an ongoing trend towards openness -- which is getting more open .", "People used to have to register to make these sort of changes to high profile Wikipedia pages and then wait a few days .", "Now they can upload the changes without registering and wait to see if they are uploaded . ''", "Wikipedia is run as a charity by the Wikimedia Foundation so , free from commercial pressures , Mr Wales can be very candid about the site .", "He admits that he 's not quite sure why the rate of new English articles is slowing down but he 's not concerned by it .", "I suppose after putting your faith and trust into the worldwide web community for so long , you learn to let go .", "But after musing a short while , he concludes that the English version of the site is now really focusing on accuracy .", "`` There are n't that many obvious topics left to write about , '' he says .", "`` Content will still grow as there are always new things to write things to write about in the world.But now there is an increasing focus on quality and referencing .", "People really want to see sources so they can trust the entries -- so I think the community is building upon that . ''", "He also thinks improving accessibility is key .", "Beyond its hard core group of editors and occasional users , there has been a slight stigma of needing to be a techie to be an editor or contributor to Wikipedia .", "However , Mr Wales is hopeful that a group of developers currently working on how to make the site easier to use -- having been funded by $ 950,000 research donation -- will find the answer .", "A new site design is in the offing , which will re-skin the service and make important links , such as the ` edit ' button , bigger , in the hope of attracting more engaged users .", "Developers are also working on improving the technology which powers the editing process -- with the introduction of WYSIWYG -- What You See Is What You Get - editing .", "`` WYSIWYG editing will make the process more similar to that of a word processor , '' Mr Wales explains .", "`` In the Wiki text world , there are all these codes for bold , which you have to insert in order to make the words bold on the screen .", "This has worked very well in the past but we need to make it easier to use -- so what you write is how it appears on screen -- with no code needed . ''", "However , the Wikipedia core community is a dedicated and wide-reaching group and Mr Wales knows any changes to the site could be met with scorn .", "`` There is a fine line to be tread to ensure the site continues to attract news users -- so it can continue -- but does n't change too much in order to avoid upsetting the loyal community . ''", "Foreign expansion is also vitally important to the encyclopaedia 's future .", "There are now over 175 languages across Wikipedia , with at least 1,000 entries each .", "European countries , Japan and China have the largest amount of articles but India is a key growth area .", "`` It used to be a third of all Wikipedia articles were in English , but now under 20 per cent are , '' Mr Wales proudly announces .", "However , there are still some important languages which need to grow .", "The Arabic Wikipedia only has approximately 110,000 entries despite having around 100 million native speakers .", "But the Finnish Wikipedia has around double the amount of entries -- with only five million speakers in the world .", "Again though , aside from making the site easier to use , Mr Wales knows there is a limited amount he or his team can do -- as it will ultimately be the communities which will dictate the shape of Wikipedia 's future and its capacity to grow .", "Mr Wales also dedicates a bulk of his time to growing Wikia , his for-profit site , which has thousands of wikis on thousands of topics -- but with advertising around the entries .", "It turned a profit for the first time in March earlier this year .", "He remains rather vague on the future plans for the site -- other than revealing he wants to make it as open as platform as possible and keep expanding its capabilities around the world .", "Indeed while I am interviewing him a press release is being circulated about the launch of a French version of Wikia 's question and answer service : Wikiresponses .", "Open platforms and open source software remain a central tenet of Mr Wales 's ethos .", "He clearly regrets the failure of his attempt to create an open-source Google rival : Wikia Search .", "He had to close the door on that due to the economic pressures of the global downturn .", "But he is still optimistic that a Wikipedia-like search engine where everyone could vote results up and down could be a reality in the future , even if he has to accept his role is cheering from the sidelines and not at the centre of the creation .", "`` I still believe there is a need to open up search and it will come eventually .", "It is very important to challenge the current models , '' he explains .", "Interestingly on the subject of search , Mr Wales does n't buy into the latest buzz around real-time induced by the popularity of Twitter .", "`` I do n't see search changing all that much -- in a real-time sense .", "It is more of feature which will help the search engines speed up -- that 's all . ''", "He is also very open and philosophical about the fact Wikipedia will end one day and be replaced by another way of sharing knowledge on a mass level .", "However , it is still growing at an impressive rate , eight years on , and there are massive responsibilities which come with the information business .", "Right now the encyclopedia is being sued by two German killers looking to have the entry removed from the site about their crimes in order to protect their identities .", "The sentiment of George Orwell 's 1984 book , has since been echoed by The Electronic Frontier Foundation , an online civil liberties group , in reference to this case : `` he who controls the past , controls the future '' .", "Wikipedia must keep evolving in order to face challenges like this straight on and remain accountable -- otherwise it will lose the trust of its users and be abandoned by those who created it .", "Read more from Telegraph Technology", "Ambitious Chinese inventors take on crazy do-it-yourself projects", "The Fortune Global 500 has been released -- the annual ranking of the largest companies in the world by revenues .", "Here is a list of the 20 biggest corporate money-makers", "The Big Short , the film adaptation of Michael Lewis ' book of the same name about the causes of the financial crisis , opens in UK cinemas this weekend .", "How will the story stack up against the greatest films about business ?", "The mobile industry may be locked in a bitter battle between Samsung and", "Apple , but history tells a very different story ...", "From the Apple iPod to Google driverless cars , we run down the technologies that have transformed our world since the start of the 21st century", "The futuristic building in California should be completed in 2016 .", "As an extraordinary photo showing the solar eclipse from space is revealed as fake , a look back at famous photoshopped images", "As Instagram announces that it now has more than more than 400 million monthly active users , Sophie Curtis takes us through the ten most followed accounts on the Facebook-owned site", "Ahead of the launch of the new iPhone 5 SE , the Telegraph Tech team take a look at how the handset has changed the mobile phone industry since it was launched in 2007", "Many children have never seen or used a video tape , camcorder or floppy disc .", "Take a look at the gadgets which will puzzle younger people", "Top Technology Videos ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Its founder, Jimmy Wales, readily acknowledges it will eventually be superseded by another way of sharing knowledge on a mass level.", "_claim_name": "Wikipedia enshrines the principle of freedom of information", "_doc_title": "Jimmy Wales interview: Wikipedia is focusing on accuracy - Telegraph", "_labeled_lineIDs": [62]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 137, "_topic_name": "This House believes Wikipedia is a force for good"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Author : Tim Evans , Director , Elections Systems & Policy", "After each federal election , the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters ( JSCEM ) conducts an inquiry into the election and considers public submissions .", "A report , with recommendations for improvement to Australia 's electoral system , is subsequently published .", "The 1996 JSCEM report recommended that compulsory voting should be repealed .", "The ALP and Democrat members of the committee did not support the recommendation , and the government rejected the recommendation , saying that voluntary voting should not be considered at this time .", "The 1998 and 2001 JSCEMs received submissions on voluntary voting , but chose not to pursue the issue .", "The 2004 JSCEM recommended that a full and separate inquiry be held into voluntary and compulsory voting .", "Compulsory voting is an issue for the federal parliament .", "The AEC does not have an official view .", "Its role is to conduct elections according to the electoral law in force at the time .", "If there is to be a public debate on voluntary and compulsory voting , the AEC does have a role to ensure that the community is informed about all matters relevant to the debate .", "What I propose to do today is to provide you with some background information on compulsory voting in Australia , and then discuss some of the more significant arguments about compulsory voting .", "The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 , under section 245 ( 1 ) , states : `` It shall be the duty of every elector to vote at each election '' .", "Under the Electoral Act , the actual duty of the elector is to attend a polling place , have their name marked off the certified list , receive a ballot paper and take it to an individual voting booth , mark it , fold the ballot paper and place it in the ballot box .", "It is not the case , as some people have claimed , that it is only compulsory to attend the polling place and have your name marked off , and this has been upheld by a number of legal decisions :", "On a related matter , it is also an offence under the Electoral Act to remove a ballot paper from a polling place .", "As voting is compulsory , electors are given a number of ways to cast their vote at an election , including postal voting , pre-poll voting , absent voting , voting at Australian overseas missions and voting at mobile teams at hospitals and nursing homes and in remote localities , as well as ordinary voting at a polling place in their electorate .", "Because of the secrecy of the ballot , it is not possible to determine whether a person has completed their ballot paper prior to placing it in the ballot box .", "It is therefore not possible to determine whether all electors have met their legislated duty to vote .", "It is , however , possible to determine that an elector has attended a polling place or mobile polling team ( or applied for a postal vote , pre-poll vote or absent vote ) and been issued with a ballot paper .", "Compulsory voting was first advocated by Alfred Deakin at the turn of the 20th century .", "Voting was voluntary at the first 9 federal elections .", "Compulsory enrolment for federal elections was introduced in 1911 .", "In 1915 , consideration was given to introducing compulsory voting for a proposed referendum .", "As the referendum was never held the idea was n't pursued .", "Also in 1915 , compulsory voting was introduced in Queensland by the Liberal Government of Digby Denham , apparently concerned that ALP shop stewards were more effective in `` getting out the vote '' , and that compulsory voting would restore a level playing ground ( ironically , Denham went on to lose the 1915 election ) .", "The significant impetus for compulsory voting at federal elections appears to have been a decline in turnout from more than 71 % at the 1919 election to less than 60 % at the 1922 election .", "The Bruce-Page government ( a conservative coalition of the Nationalist and Country parties ) was reluctant to be too closely identified to such a proposal .", "In 1924 , a private member 's bill to amend the Electoral Act was introduced in the Senate by Senator H. J. M. Payne ( Nat .", "Tas ) sponsored in the House of Representatives by Edward Martin ( Nat .", "It was only the third private member 's bill passed into law since 1901 .", "The impact was immediate , with turnout at the 1925 election rising to over 91 % .", "Victoria introduced compulsory voting in 1926 , NSW and Tasmania in 1928 , WA in 1936 and SA in 1942 .", "When enrolment and voting at federal elections was introduced for Australian Aborigines in 1949 it was voluntary , and continued to be so until 1984 when enrolment and voting became compulsory for all eligible electors .", "When Queensland introduced compulsory voting in 1915 , it became the first place in the then British Empire to do so .", "There are currently 32 countries with compulsory voting , of which 19 ( including Australia ) pursue it through enforcement .", "10 of the 30 members of the OECD have compulsory voting .", "Table 1 provides details :", "Note : OECD countries are in bold .", "It could be argued that Australia is out of step with the world , or at least the industrialised world .", "One of the initial reasons for introducing compulsory voting in Australia , and one of the arguments frequently advanced for maintaining it , is that it maintains a high level of participation in elections .", "The turnout at Australian elections has never fallen below 90 % since the introduction of compulsory voting in 1924 .", "Table 2 compares turnout at selected House of Representative elections , including the election held immediately before the introduction of compulsory voting , with House of Commons elections held in the United Kingdom at around the same time .", "The UK has voluntary voting : * Note : there were two UK elections in 1974 .", "in table is for October election .", "It is also useful to compare turnout with enrolment .", "In Table 3 , I have compared enrolment and turnout at the last parliamentary elections for Australia ( compulsory enrolment and compulsory voting ) , New Zealand ( compulsory enrolment and voluntary voting ) and the UK ( voluntary enrolment and voluntary voting ) .", "For Australia and New Zealand I have also expressed enrolment as a percentage of the estimated eligible population .", "As this figure is not known with confidence for the whole of the UK , I have also shown the figures for Northern Ireland , where there is an estimate of the eligible population , for the same election .", "The turnout figure for the Oct 2004 election in Australia is for the House of Representatives ( not the Senate ) .", "The turnout figure for the Sept 2005 election in New Zealand is for the electorate votes ( not the party list votes ) .", "Note : figs for UK include figs for Northern Ireland .", "Proponents of compulsory voting argue that it teaches the benefits of political participation .", "Opponents argue that it may increase the number of `` donkey votes '' ( ballot papers numbered from 1 , 2 and so on down the ballot paper -- the `` reverse donkey '' goes from 1 , 2 and so on up the ballot paper ) and the number of informal votes and so diminishes the quality of the vote .", "Donkey votes are a correctly completed vote .", "There is no way of knowing whether or not the preference order indicated accurately reflects the elector 's considered opinion , or is a manifestation of ignorance or exasperation .", "Votes are informal if they are not completed correctly .", "Table 4 shows informal voting at the last five elections :", "The link between informal voting and compulsory voting is difficult to prove .", "Of the informal House of Representatives votes cast at the 2001 election , 34 % had only the number 1 , 17 % did not complete the full sequence of numbers required and 13 % used ticks and crosses .", "These informal votes are likely to result from a misunderstanding of electoral laws rather than a deliberate act of civil disobedience .", "22 % were blank and 6 % had a slogan or some other mark , but no numbers ( or else the numbers were obscured ) .", "It is possible that these are protest votes , although not all protests will be against compulsory voting .", "Blanks may merely be mistakes .", "There is evidence of strong popular support for compulsory voting .", "The first Australian Election Study , after the 1996 election , showed 74 % of respondents supported compulsory voting at federal elections .", "The Australian Election Study after the 2004 election was still showing 74 % in support .", "A Morgan poll in 2005 showed 71 % support , and an Ipsos-Mackay Study , also in 2005 , showed 74 % .", "Proponents of compulsory voting argue that government and opposition parties must consider the total electorate in policy formulation .", "Compulsory voting is claimed to encourage policies which collectively address the full spectrum of elector values , because all voters have to be appealed to by government and opposition parties in order to win , and maintain , a majority in Parliament .", "Opponents argue that it increases the number of safe electorates and clearly identifies the marginal electorates on which government and opposition parties need to concentrate .", "At its most extreme this could lead to `` pork barrelling '' with increased government expenditure in marginal electorates and less in safer electorates .", "Proponents of compulsory voting argue that a parliament elected by a compulsory vote more accurately reflects the will of the electorate .", "As electorates have nearly as practicable the same number of electors , each Member of Parliament is elected by the majority decision of the same number of electors as any other MP .", "In a voluntary system , the turnout could vary significantly from electorate to electorate .", "In the UK elections in May 2005 , turnout varied from 74.6 % in Dorset West to 41.5 % in Liverpool Riverside .", "By contrast , the turnout of all but 2 electorates in the Australian elections in October 2004 was over 90 % ( the exceptions were Kalgoorlie with 83.53 % and Lingiari with 77.71 % , both covering remote areas with transient populations ) .", "The legitimacy of a government formed by a voluntary turnout could also be questioned .", "In the UK in May 2005 , Labour won 55 % of the seats with 35 % of the vote after a turnout of 61.4 % ( in other words , 21 % of the total possible electorate delivered 55 % of the seats in the House of Commons ) .", "Proponents of compulsory voting argue that voting is a civic duty comparable to other duties citizens perform , such as taxation , compulsory education and jury duty .", "Opponents argue that it is an infringement of liberty to force people to vote , and that the ill informed and those with little interest in politics are forced to the polls .", "One argument against compulsory voting is that voting can be an onerous imposition on some citizens .", "Against this it has been stated by Mr Christopher Bayliss , in a submission to JSCEM , that : `` All our voting system requires is for a voter to attend a polling booth and mark some papers as they wish , approximately once every three years .", "This does not seem to be an insurmountable burden to be part of a democracy '' .", "Another argument is that both the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights refer to people 's rights to `` freely chosen representatives '' .", "It is then claimed that a `` right '' is something that a person possesses and chooses to use , not something produced on demand .", "Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , however , states that `` rights and freedoms '' are subject to `` duties to the community '' , including the `` just requirements of morality , public order and the general welfare in a democratic society '' .", "The Public Interest Advocacy Centre has stated , in a submission to JSCEM , that :", "For opponents of compulsory voting , the question is about the nature and extent of the obligations that it is acceptable for the parliament to impose .", "Proponents of compulsory voting argue that candidates can concentrate their campaigning energies on issues rather than encouraging voters to attend a polling place and vote .", "Opponents see this as wealth transfer , to the advantage of political parties , while proponents see it as a wealth transfer to the advantage of the democratic process .", "Opponents also argue that resources must be allocated for the enforcement of compulsory voting -- determining whether those who failed to vote have `` valid and sufficient reasons '' and penalising those who do not .", "Parties would be anxious to maximise turnout at an election , not only for the obvious need to secure sufficient votes , but also for the access to public funding .", "If a candidate secures 4 % of the formal vote cast in the electorate for which they are a candidate , they are funded $ 1.95 for each formal vote .", "At the October 2004 election , the total amount of public funding paid was $ 41\u00a0926\u00a0158 .91 .", "Given that any public debate about compulsory voting will be a political debate , one of the issues that will be canvassed is whether voluntary voting produces a partisan advantage .", "Modelling of voluntary voting at elections has been hampered by inadequate data .", "Views vary from the Liberal Party increasing its share of the two-party preferred vote by about 5 % , thereby gaining a significant advantage , to more modest increases for the Liberal Party and the Greens and decreases for independents , the Nationals and , to a lesser extent , the ALP .", "There appears to be a consensus that there would have been the same result at each of the last four elections if they had been held under a voluntary regime .", "Parties would behave differently in a voluntary voting regime , so it is difficult to form conclusions derived from existing data .", "On balance , there is no empirical evidence that a move to voluntary voting would advantage one major party over another .", "Any change to compulsory voting or enrolment is a matter for the federal parliament .", "The Prime Minister has stated that the abolition of compulsory voting will not occur before the next federal election , and there are a number of members of the government who are in favour of the status quo .", "On the other hand , influential ministers , such as Senator Nick Minchin , and backbenchers , such as Tony Smith , are on the public record in favour of voluntary voting .", "Given the high degree of public support for , and acceptance of , compulsory voting any move for its abolition would need to be underpinned by a high degree of public acceptance and support .", "In order to obtain this , it is likely that the government will seek to engage the public in a debate about the relative merits of the current system .", "This will also provide supporters of compulsory voting with their best opportunity to advance their cause .", "The debate should focus on which arrangements deliver the best reflection of the electorate 's wishes , and the implications of each arrangement for the legitimacy of a government 's mandate .", "Hopefully , this has helped to focus your own contributions to this debate ."], "_citing_sentence": "In Australia Compulsory voting was introduced at federal elections in 1924 .", "_claim_name": "Compulsory voting has been implemented successfully.", "_doc_title": "Compulsory voting in Australia - Australian Electoral Commission", "_labeled_lineIDs": [41]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Financial Advisors , 529 College Savings ,", "Best by State ,", "Cold and Allergy ,", "Search Nursing Homes ,", "Paying for Care ,", "Law Firm of the Year ,", "Find an Agent ,", "Best Places to Live ,", "Jessica Rettig | Contributor", "Political polarization is getting in the way of dealing with the nation 's growing debt problem and other urgent issues , says William Galston , senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution .", "One way to loosen the partisan gridlock and facilitate a larger role for political moderates , he says , would be to require voting by all adult U.S. citizens .", "At least two dozen democratic countries have some form of compulsory voting .", "Galston sat down with U.S. News to discuss his proposal .", "What would forcing people to vote do for democracy ?", "The evidence from other countries suggests that it would expand political participation dramatically .", "In Australia , for example , the election after a compulsory voting law was passed saw political participation rise from 59 percent to 91 percent .", "It 's been around 95 percent ever since .", "And that means a couple things .", "First of all , everybody has a stake in their democracy .", "And second , the outcome is n't dominated by the people who are most passionate , who tend frequently to be farther from the center than people who are less passionate .", "So that means less polarization ?", "My prediction , based on the difference between voters and nonvoters in the United States today , is that it would reduce political polarization .", "A lot of people out there seem to be more interested in voting for an American Idol than for a primary candidate .", "Do we really want these uninterested people voting ?", "That question has been asked in many other countries .", "In Australia , the case that I know the best , these nonvoters who are being drafted into the political system were referred to pejoratively as `` donkey voters '' -LSB- who vote for candidates based only on their order on the ballot -RSB- .", "But in fact , once they have to vote , they may work a little bit harder than they would have otherwise to know what 's going on .", "There 's evidence for that in Australia ?", "There 's not a lot of evidence that many people are casting protest votes or intentionally foolish votes or are spoiling their ballots .", "That 's about 2 or 3 percent of the electorate .", "Those are the free spirits who resent the law so much that they are protesting in the only way that the law provides .", "But by and large , for the other 91 or 92 percent , the system is working just fine .", "What do you say to people who think that they have a right not to vote ?", "There probably are a lot of people who believe that not serving on juries is a right .", "But that 's not how we see it in this country -- it 's a duty .", "So , the issue that my proposal puts on the table is : What are the responsibilities of American citizenship ?", "That 's a matter that we can decide collectively .", "What would be the penalties for those who do n't vote ?", "In Australia , the penalties range from $ 20 to $ 70 , if you do n't show up and then ca n't show afterward that you 're a member of one of the categories of people that are exempted from the law .", "For example , if you have severe health problems or a family emergency or you are a conscientious objector on religious grounds , then you do n't have to show up .", "We can come up with a reasonable list of acceptable excuses for nonvoting as well .", "Wo n't making voting easier , such as making Election Day a national holiday , accomplish the same thing ?", "What we know is that steps to make voting easier can take us some distance down the road , but they wo n't get us anywhere near the rates of political participation of countries with mandatory voting .", "There was a poll a while back that found that more than 70 percent of Americans opposed a compulsory voting system .", "What we do know is that Americans over time change their minds on very fundamental questions .", "If you had polled Americans 50 years ago on interracial marriage , you would have found a majority opposed , but the Supreme Court acted nonetheless and now you have overwhelming majorities in favor .", "Once a conversation is started , if there is some intrinsic merit to the argument , then public opinion shifts over time .", "In my own view -- which reflects a constitutional necessity since the electoral laws are largely determined by the 50 states -- it would probably be a good idea for a handful of states to try mandatory voting for a couple of election cycles and see what happens .", "My best guess is some of the states in the upper Midwest .", "States like Wisconsin and Minnesota and maybe the Dakotas would be more open to this sort of proposal .", "Are these the states with high voter turnout already ?", "And also , these tend to be states with good government traditions .", "I guess I would not start with a state like Illinois .", "A famous Illinois politician once said , `` Chicago ai n't ready for reform . ''", "Well , that was true then , and I 'm afraid that 's still true .", "How would campaigns change if voting was mandatory ?", "Campaigns would n't have to spend nearly as much time on voter mobilization , nor would they be able to target their message simply to the most passionate partisan members of the electorate .", "They 'd have to craft broader and more inclusive messages .", "That would be all to the good ."], "_citing_sentence": "By making the most disenfranchised vote the major political parties are forced to take notice of them and this would reduce political polarisation .", "_claim_name": "Compulsory voting broadens representation of disadvantaged groups", "_doc_title": "Galston: Mandatory Voting Would Loosen Partisan Gridlock | US News", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15, 21]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Faced with the problem of an historically low turnout , Gavin Whenman asks what we can do about it .", "Is compulsory voting the answer ?", "And / or an extra bank holiday ?", "Turnout in the 2005 UK General Election was 61.4 % of the electorate , up on the 2001 figure ( by 2 % ) but still historically speaking very low .", "Such a low turnout undermines the legitimacy of our elected politicians and disconnects them from the concerns of their constituents .", "If they know that certain demographic groups are more likely to vote , for example the elderly and the middle class , they will listen to that group more than they will listen to the other groups , for example young people and the working class .", "On Thursday 14th September 2006 the Hansard Society are launching the second publication in their Democracy Series , which asks if compulsory voting is `` A solution to low turnout or just papering over the cracks ? ''", "Forcing someone to do anything against their will is something the Liberal Democrats are ideologically opposed to , unless there is an overriding public policy reason to do so .", "Arguably , such a reason exists , as compulsory voting could increase political participation , political accountability and political engagement , thus strengthening our democracy .", "The term `` compulsory voting '' is something of a misnomer , as most advocates of compulsory voting are not actually in favour of forcing someone to vote for a candidate or party , even if they disagree with all of them , but instead imposing upon all citizens a duty to cast a ballot , which can be left blank or with the option `` none of the above '' ticked .", "Thus the idea that with the right to vote comes a right not to vote remain intact .", "There is also an argument that the right to vote is in fact more than a right , it is a civic responsibility or duty -- the duty of the voter to decide who will run the country seems reasonable as s/he will be the one that will benefit ( or not ) from the new government .", "Like the relationship between taxes and public services , why should a citizen be allowed to ` free ride ' on an electoral choice they had n't made -- we expect someone who does n't pay their taxes without good reason to be pursued and bought to justice swiftly partly because we do n't want them to be benefiting from public services they haven '' t paid for .", "Perhaps the same should apply to the relationship between voting and public policy decisions ?", "The state already forces citizens to do many things which infringe on individual freedom but which are recognised as necessary in order to live in a better , more cohesive , stable society : jury duty , the obligations to pay taxes , compulsory school attendance , and many others .", "And if polling day was designated a public holiday than compulsory voting might in fact be seen as one of the least troublesome of all these obligations -- if return for a day off work you have to spend half an hour casting your ballot .", "Or you could even cast your ballot by post and spend the whole day at the beach or in bed .", "There is no evidence at all that compulsory voting would improve participation , as opposed to the appearance of participation .", "You can lead a horse to water , but you ca n't make it carefully consider the different policies and manifestos .", "Frankly , if somebody ca n't tell which , if any , of the parties are not lying to them , and ca n't see which policies would be for the best -- because it is hard -- then for them , not voting is an entirely reasonable decision .", "Were such a person to be successfully coerced into voting , the reasons for their choice would probably be superficial , adding noise to the signal .", "What such a person does not deserve is having pompous twits bleat on at them about how awfully important it is for them to vote .", "A civic responsibility is not a legal responsibility .", "There are all sorts of good and proper acts that we do not make compulsory , that if we did it would be a gross impingement on freedom .", "Attempts to use the law to force people to be good rather than to prevent them from doing harm is utterly illiberal .", "Joe 's spot on .", "`` Just papering over the cracks '' is the answer to the Hansard Society 's question .", "What stops most people voting who do n't vote is n't the inconvenience , it 's a positive choice not to do it and one which they 're absolutely entitled to make .", "`` Ban '' might be liberals ' number one danger word , but `` compulsory '' must be a close second .", "Compulsory voting creates the facade of political participation without actually increasing it .", "Change the voting system so that votes count ; introduce funded mailouts for council elections as for parliamentary elections ; give real power to local councils ; fix the dates of elections .", "These would increase turnout by tackling some of the reasons people do n't vote .", "Plus , turnout is a reasonable measure of political engagement ; force people to the polling stations and you lose it .", "One of the reasons given for why Fair Votes will raise turnout is that it would dramatically reduce the large number of areas where politicians no longer compete for votes because the result is a foregone conclusion .", "In the absence of Fair Votes , we should be looking at changes which support grassroots political campaigning instead of the Electoral Commission 's instinctive distrust of politicians and their active supporters .", "Just one step in the right direction , before the last resort of compulsory voting would be a switch to weekend voting ( all weekend ) .", "This was piloted in the early New Labour electoral experiments , but was deeply flawed because all the national coverage of the elections suggested it was all over by Friday , so the pilot areas rather had the wind taken out of their sails .", "We know that knocking on doors raises turnout .", "All political parties are doing less of it -- most noticeably on polling day .", "Perhaps it would help if polling day campaigning was n't the reserve of those committed/obsessive enough to dedicate a day of their annual leave each year to elections ?", "`` There is no evidence at all that compulsory voting would improve participation , as opposed to the appearance of participation . ''", "In fairness , there 's no way to prove that a lack of compulsory voting improves participation , it 's not really something you can measure in any concrete way .", "What you can do , is look to , not only turnout -- people that collect the ballot paper -- but the number of people that actually cast a vote ( not a distinction in the UK , but a distinction in countries with compulsory voting ) .", "And here , there is evidence that more people cast a vote .", "`` You can lead a horse to water , but you ca n't make it carefully consider the different policies and manifestos . ''", "That 's possibly a valid point ( it 's been made many a time ) , but people will , inevitably , turn their mind to the proper way they should cast their ballot -- if they choose to cast a vote -- if they know that they must collect their ballot .", "`` Frankly , if somebody ca n't tell which , if any , of the parties are not lying to them , and ca n't see which policies would be for the best -- because it is hard -- then for them , not voting is an entirely reasonable decision . ''", "I did n't say it was n't .", "Which is why I wrote : `` imposing upon all citizens a duty to cast a ballot , which can be left blank or with the option `` none of the above '' ticked .", "Thus the idea that with the right to vote comes a right not to vote remain intact . ''", "`` A civic responsibility is not a legal responsibility . ''", "But in some cases ( Jury duty , paying taxes ) it should be turned into one .", "I agree with Will about the need for further reform of the political system and in the original version of this article ( http://oberon2001.blogspot.com/2006/03/voting-more-than-just-right.html WARNING : lot more rambling than this article ) I suggested that compulsory voting could be coupled with reform .", "Although now I think reform should come first before looking to more radical solutions .", "I 've always fancied the idea of a lottery for those who turned out -- electors could win a year 's discount on their council tax ( or a resident 's parking permit ) .", "Trivial , but a bit more concrete than appeals to civic duty ...", "Councils often do a prize draw from those who return their electoral registration forms , despite that being a legal requirement , so I would n't object to an extension to people who actually turn out to vote .", "Why make people vote if they honestly do n't care what the outcome is ?", "Some people always vote because they consider it a civic duty , others vote because they want a particular party or candidate to win , or to stop a particular party or candidate from winning .", "Others simply do n't give a toss , so what -- that 's their choice just as much as it is my choice to care passionately about politics .", "Anyway , the key factor in turnout is the likelihood that a person 's vote might make a difference .", "Just look at the difference in turnout between marginal and safe seats .", "The answer is to have a system where every vote has a chance of making a differnce .", "I dealt with this issue in an article a few months ago : http://www.new-politics.com/2006/05/05/compulsory-voting/ , in particular I 'd direct you to Comment # 4 .", "The elephant in the room that compulsory voting fans do n't like to talk about is the fact that countries with compulsory voting laws have low voter levels of voter registration .", "You say that people who do n't vote should not be allowed an ` electoral free ride ' .", "I think that is a nonsense expression .", "It assumes that people derive some benefit by not voting .", "I ca n't see that this is the case -- by not voting people are far more likely to end up with someone they do n't like rather than somebody they do .", "And as politically active people ourselves , we sometimes over-estimate the attraction which politics has for people .", "If somebody ca n't see what relevance voting has for their lives , why should they be forced to do so ?", "It is everyone 's democratic right to slob in front of the TV watching Eastenders if they so wish , rather than having to go to a polling station for the charade of placing an empty ballot paper in a box .", "Gavin `` In fairness , there 's no way to prove that a lack of compulsory voting improves participation , ''", "Yes , but so what ?", "Since when did everything have to be judged against its effect on the level of participation , as if that were the only thing that mattered ?", "What matters to me is that people are free to make their own decisions without the presumption being made that they are doing something wrong when other people do n't like it .", "That freedom is backed up , in part , by the right to vote , by the ability to get rid of governments .", "It is n't backed up by the act of voting , except of course when that freedom is under threat from one of the parties .", "So I suppose there 's a good basis for a campaign to get non-voters to turn out and vote against any party proposing compulsory voting : `` if you do n't do it now , you 'll have to do it more in the long run '' .", "I do n't support lotteries etc either .", "By all means extend the hours and have polling stations in convenient places .", "With polling stations in commercial centres for the week before polling day , people could vote in their lunch break .", "But direct enticements smell bad and increase the noise .", "Sunday voting is the less draconian solution .", "It works well on the continent and does n't involve closing schools for the day .", "`` Sunday voting is the less draconian solution '' -- eep !", "what would God say ?", "Interesting theological question Rob .", "But how does voting count as `` work '' ?", "Either way , why not split the difference and have polling on both Saturday AND Sunday .", "That way you are n't excluding anyone .", "We 'd have to press presiding officers into work at polling stations on the sabbath ( whichever of those days depending on your preference ) .", "And may the Lord have mercy on our souls .", "I do n't think the duty to pay tax/right to vote analogy works .", "If I do n't use my vote it can rightly be taken that I do n't care enough about politics to make me take the trouble .", "Aside from the deeply dubious question about the state 's moral right to force anyone to express an opinion , I doubt there 's much to be gained from forcing people who do n't care much to make a choice ; it 's unlikely to be a rational one .", "At double time -- they 'd be queuing up to work !", "And it would still be cheaper than paying not to educate half the nation 's kids .", "Ultimately , the best way to ensure greater participation in politics is for politicians to remember that it is they who have an obligation to the public rather than the other way round .", "They should remember in these scandal-ridden times that theirs is a mandatory requirement to serve us with honesty and integrity .", "Ours is a voluntary act to give them our vote .", "Any decision not to is a logical response to the options available .", "The problem lies with the politicians , not the voters .", "Like James , I wrote about this ( briefly ) when the IPPR report came out .", "I used to be in favour of the idea , but the more I 've thought about things , the more I 've written and analysed my own thought , the more I come to the conclusion that it should be a last resort .", "Improve the electoral system , make voting day on the weekends or a public holiday , have politicians start campaigning on issues rather than chasing the median voter in the swing seats and we might get somewhere .", "STV will increase overall turnout a lot more , and increase genuine participation .", "No safe seats ?", "Sounds good to me .", "Papering over the cracks is precisely it .", "Anybody who has to be forced to vote is hardly likely to make a considered choice .", "This all seems deeply illiberal to me .", "Surely , in a democracy , there should be a positive right not to vote , just as much as there is a right to vote .", "To choose not to vote is as legitimate a choice as to choose to vote for any of the candidates .", "If someone looks at the candidates and genuinely does n't care who wins , why should they be forced to make an arbitrary choice .", "If none of the candidates can inspire the voters to make the ( fairly small ) effort to go and vote , that 's the candidates fault , not the electors .", "I 'm also somewhat dubious about Sunday voting .", "Perhaps 30 or 40 years ago it might have been possible to argue that everyone would be at home on a Sunday , and thus able to vote , but that really is n't the reality any more .", "There may still be comparatively few people who work on a Sunday , but I suspect there would now be far more people away from home on a Sunday ( visiting friends / relatives , taking part in leisure activities , or simply going away for the weekend ) and thus unable to vote than would have difficulty in voting on a Thursday .", "`` You say that people who do n't vote should not be allowed an ` electoral free ride ' .", "It assumes that people derive some benefit by not voting . ''", "It 's not my expression , it was Lijphart 's ( I think ... ) -- he makes the point that when people pay taxes they expect other people to pay taxes too , and they resent those that do n't .", "He then draws an analogy with voting .", "`` I do n't think the duty to pay tax/right to vote analogy works .", "Aside from the deeply dubious question about the state 's moral right to force anyone to express an opinion , I doubt there 's much to be gained from forcing people who do n't care much to make a choice ; it 's unlikely to be a rational one . ''", "Also sounds like a good reason to scrap jury trials to me .", "I probably should have said in the article that I 'm actually not in favour of compulsory voting , but not because it 's illiberal -- as I said in the article , there are some things we have to accept the state should force us to do , and in some way it could be justified that voting is one of those .", "Although I believe some of the reasons people have given ( political reform should come first in particular ) override this justification .", "If voting were made compulsory , spoiling your ballot paper must be given real meaning .", "I have suggested in the past that MPs ' salaries are determined by a formula based on percentage turnout at the last general election MINUS the national percentage of spoilt ballot papers .", "Fixing the turnout at 100pc ( compulsory voting ) would not allow the system to provide the same feedback as using the actual turnout but the percentage of spoiled ballots could still be used to express feedback on the performance/perception of politicians in general .", "Spoiling your ballot says you are unhappy with the behaviour of politicians as a group .", "Otherwise vote for the politician or party you admire/respect/trust .", "Parties that are systemically honest and engaged for the public good will tend to do better than those for which even many of their natural supporters are unhappy with their behaviour .", "As the national aggregate percentage of spoilt ballots is used to calculate the reduction in politicians ' salaries , it is in all politicians ' and parties ' interests to behave better and there is likely to be an element of self-policing .", "Not a panacea , but probably an improvement on what we have now ( and would work even better if voting were not compulsory and politicians were actively encouraged by the weight of their wallets to listen to the voters and do the things that would bring them out to vote ) .", "The trouble with treating spoiled ballots as an objection is that plenty of ballots are spoiled by people who just do n't seem able to put a cross in a box .", "How do you know who was making a political point ?", "OK , um , how to implement a decent compulsory voting system .", "1 ) a none-of-the-above / RON box ( to measure actual spoiled ballots compared to discontents ) 2 ) a decent electoral register ( it 's estimated that turnout can never be above 90 % in most constituencies due to deaths , people moving , double registries , etc -- I 've been , legitimately , registered at 3 addresses at the same time once )", "Given that ( 2 ) would have to be linked to some sort of national register of citizens , um , no thanks , unless we 're going to drop our opposition to the NIR ?", "I do like Phil 's idea of some sort of salary adjustment , but it would have to be a per constituency thing ...", "Hey , that would make safe seats MPs have much lower salaries , and mean that parties would be more inclined to push for every vote , rather than just the median vote .", "Bugger to implement properly though , especially with irregularities , and you 'd be giving a financial incentive to have an incorrect voter register .", "Much better to just bring in STV , acheives all the preferred objectives ( including eliminating safe seats and making parties appeal to their broad church not just the median ) , without any enforced illiberalism .", "I have previously argued in favour of compulsory voting , and I am now more in favour of it than ever .", "My own experience , from canvassing and subsequent knock-ups , is that most people do have a view about what they expect from their councillors and MPs .", "But when Thursday comes , Eastenders takes priority !", "I am also weary of people who say they support the Lib Dems , but then say that they do n't bother turning out to cast the vote because we ` wo n't win anyway ' .", "I am a liberal , of course , but voting should be a duty for those of us lucky enough to live in a democracy .", "The move from compulsory voter registration to compulsory submission of a ballot ( even a blank one ) is not a big infringement of anybody 's liberty , in my view .", "I do n't think that it is necessary to change polling day ( since polling hours are long anyway , and everyone now has the right to choose a postal ballot ) .", "One thing I would introduce as soon as possible is internet voting .", "The technology required is simple enough to implement , and I believe the uptake would be high .", "If you think we lose votes because our potential voters do n't turn out , bear in mind that it is also our voters who are the most stubborn on issues like this , i.e. the ones most likely not to vote simply because they object to being compelled to do so .", "The big problem I have with compulsory voting is that all the soft Labour/Tory voters who ca n't be bothered to vote will vote with their colours once they reach the ballot box .", "We had a hard tory in my ward who told me that she considered tactually voting for me but once she had the ballot paper in her hand could n't do anything other than put a cross against the tory candidates name .", "I support compulsory voting .", "There is an assumption by some people that not voting is a positive act -- that people are disenchanted with all parties and are protesting by not voting .", "This is rubbish .", "All the available evidence is that people do n't vote because they are lazy .", "The all postal voting experiment shows that if you make it easier for people to vote they will do so .", "If the `` protest '' theory were correct postal voting ( and all the other suggestions like changing the polling day to the weekend ) would have no effect .", "However , there are two ways to make voting compulsory -- the carrot and the stick .", "Do we really want to see tabloid headlines about tearful poor old pensioners being fined for not voting ?", "Let 's not go down that road .", "Instead let 's pay people to vote ( or give them a tax discount which amounts to the same thing ) .", "Good citizenship should be rewarded .", "Finally , a message to all those who support the `` None of the above '' option on the ballot paper .", "What happens if ( unlikely though it may be ) `` None Of The Above '' wins ?", "If you 're giving people incentives to vote rather than fining them , that is n't really making it compulsory .", "Will , I take your point , though when you think about it the only real form of compulsion is if the police and/or army are instructed to drag unwilling voters to the polls .", "Nobody ( I hope ) is seriously suggesting that .", "What supporters of `` compulsory '' voting are really talking about is some form of incentive .", "My argument is about whether that incentive is a positive one ( as I advocate ) or a negative one ( a fine ) .", "I certainly agree that if there is to be an incentive ( other than the most significant one of getting elected the person/party you want , or keeping out someone you oppose ) it should be a carrot rather than a stick .", "However , I do think most proponents of compulsory voting are suggesting that voting should be a legal requirement of citizens , and that 's what I reserve my biggest objection for .", "Compulsory voting is tackling the problem from the wrong end .", "The way to improve participation is to improve the quality of politicians not to force people to vote for bad ones .", "On the point about electoral reform , I dont think there is conclusive evidence that proportional systems encourage higher turnout than majoritarian ones .", "And , fan of STV though i am , watch the Scottish local elections next year for evidence of the extent to which parties have learned to limit electors choice by only fielding the number of candidates they think will get elected ... I am sure that the quality of politicians will improve if we support the `` None of the above '' option on the ballot paper .", "If `` None Of The Above '' wins ; good riddance .", "The old faces will go out of the field of politics , new faces will come in ; and they will get the chance to test their quality of service ."], "_citing_sentence": "Other civic duties also exist \"which are recognised as necessary in order to live in a better, more cohesive, stable society\"  like paying taxes, attending school, obeying road rules and, in some countries, military conscription and jury duty.", "_claim_name": "Voting is a civic duty", "_doc_title": "Compulsory voting: time to think again?", "_labeled_lineIDs": [14]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Even $ 50 will make a difference .", "We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $ 200 a month .", "We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors .", "Got something to say ?", "Submit an essay .", "By comparison , Figures 5 and 6 show some relatively high scores on Australian voter knowledge and interest , which indicates that some synthesis , analysis and comparison of candidates and policy issues must have been undertaken by voters .", "The above data show a generally high level of engagement in political issues by the majority of voters , but what of the depth of knowledge ?", "Ian McAllister undertook a study in 2001 leading him to suppose that , `` by any standards , levels of political knowledge in the electorate are low . ''", "Based on analysis of a survey of voters in the 1997 Australian federal election he found that the median voter could only answer correctly two out of seven factual statements about political institutions .", "But not all of McAllister 's observations were that damning .", "He also asked respondents if they knew the name of their federal member prior to the election .", "Seventy per cent correctly gave the name of the member and 61 per cent the correct name of the party .", "This is an interesting finding , because it appears not to be consistent with the experiences in the US .", "Figure 4 shows only 44 per cent of Americans could name an election candidate .", "This is not exactly the same question , but close enough to indicate that Australians are more knowledgeable about who their candidates and parliamentarians are .", "The picture emerges , perhaps , of the Australian voter who is not as politically ignorant as his or her counterparts in some western democracies , particularly in countries like the US where the turnout rates are low .", "But attempting to put a `` level '' on the extent of ignorance or knowledge is a hard task .", "Determining what the voter should know , the point at which knowledge can be considered sufficient , and how it should be measured , is patronising to the public and something we perhaps should not attempt .", "Rabinowitz and MacDonald ( 1989 ) are among those who question whether voters weigh up issue alternatives in an empirical way , in the sense that they choose between policy tradeoffs .", "Rabinowitz and MacDonald accept that the ignorant voter exists , to the extent that voters operate with low levels of information , but reject the notion that the voter acts within a rational choice framework .", "It is clear that a person acting `` rationally '' does not vote in order to exert an influence on the outcome as one vote can not possibly make any difference amongst thousands .", "But people do vote , so there is a reward there somewhere .", "Some no doubt enjoy the feeling of participation in a crowd - voting as an event .", "Some like to express an opinion , even if they keep it to themselves , and many I am sure do so out of `` civic duty '' on the belief that to not vote would bring a detriment to democracy .", "This last point does not stand , logically speaking , as the abstention of one individual excerpts no perceptible influence on the system .", "But people believe it anyway .", "Australians , as do many other nationalities , appear to believe it is their moral duty to vote ( although one could just as readily mount an argument that it is one 's moral duty not to vote , but that is a discussion for another day ) .", "Putting all the above together , what influence does compulsory voting have on Australians ?", "First , it puts us up with the leaders when it comes to voter turnout , but by no means way out in front .", "After taking high levels of non-registration and informal voting into account , voter participation in Australia only just exceeds OECD averages .", "And it does appear that , compared to many countries , Australian elections are characterised by higher levels of citizen engagement in politics , higher public awareness of policy options , and generally a belief by voters that their vote is important .", "But all this is relative .", "It is difficult to escape the conclusion that Australia 's elections are decided by at least a sizable portion of the electorate that does not know about political issues and does not care .", "They care about their duty to vote but do not necessarily go to the ballot box armed with much knowledge ; but whether any voter in a modern democracy can ever have enough information to know all they need to know on all issues is highly unlikely .", "No one acting rationally could invest the time and effort needed to fully analyse all policy issues so , to an extent , all voters are politically ignorant .", "What might be concluded is that the Australian voter is somewhat less ignorant - or somewhat more knowledgeable , take your pick - than voters in many western democracies .", "Article edited by Julie Marlow ."], "_citing_sentence": "Compulsory voting increases the number of people who cast their vote .", "_claim_name": "It will cause more people to become interested in politics", "_doc_title": "Voter turnout, voter ignorance and compulsory voting - On Line Opinion - 19/10/2005", "_labeled_lineIDs": [28]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 138, "_topic_name": "This house would make voting compulsory"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["When the Government funded the massive growth in CCTV across the UK there was no body of research to justify and guide the implementation of CCTV ( Ditton and Short , 1999 ; Farrington and Walsh , 2002 ) .", "Subsequently the effectiveness of CCTV across a number of contexts has been explored and research has started to establish an evidence base for where and how CCTV can be effective .", "Many of the studies into CCTV have produced contradictory results due to variations in the circumstances of the introduction of CCTV leading to varying effects ( Tilley , 1998 ) .", "Research that utilises the scientific realism approach developed by Pawson and Tilley ( 1997 ) tried to identify how CCTV works and specifically in what contexts ( see Tilley 1993 , Gill and Spriggs , 2005 ) .", "Academics ( Armitage et al , 1999 ; Tilley 1993 ) have documented several ways or mechanisms that could result in CCTV bringing about change in an area and those devised by Tilley ( 1993 , quoted in Gill and Spriggs , 2005 ) are as follows :", "The list above represents a starting point to consider how CCTV can impact on crime and numerous other mechanisms can be developed across a range of settings and offence types ( Ratcliffe , 2006 ) .", "Coupe and Kaur ( 2005 ) examined the impact of CCTV and alarms in detecting commercial burglary and they highlighted the complex interplay of mechanisms that can result in CCTV impacting on crime and how different crime prevention measures can have conflicting mechanism .", "CCTV can provide evidence on film that leads to arrest , while visible CCTV cameras like alarms , may also deter burglars or displace them to other targets .", "In addition , visible or hidden CCTV cameras may alert a watchman or employee to the commission of a crime .", "On the other hand , activated alarms may frighten burglars so that they quickly flee the scene , reducing not only capture there , but also , where CCTV is additionally fitted inside the premises , of a subsequent arrest by catching the offender on film .", "( Coupe and Kaur 2005 : 53 )", "Sivarajasingam , Shepherd and Matthews ( 2003 ) examined the impact of CCTV in town/city centres and detailed how theoretically the cameras may impact on levels of violent crime :", "Perpetrators may be detected and removed ; CCTV may deter potential offenders who perceive an increased risk of detection ; CCTV may direct security personnel to locations where precursors to offending have been detected , which may head off their translation into crime and reduce the severity of harm ; CCTV could symbolise efforts to take crime seriously , and the perception of those efforts may both energise law abiding citizens and/or deter crime .", "The presence of CCTV may induce people to take elementary precautions , for fear that they will be shamed by being shown on CCTV .", "( Sivarajasingam et al , 2003 : 315 )", "The mechanisms outlined above highlight the potential problems of using recorded crimes rates to evaluate the impact of CCTV as the different mechanisms can have conflicting effects on crime rates ( Ditton and Short , 1999 : 212 ; Ratcliffe , 2006 , Gill et al , 2007 : 24 ) .", "Although CCTV will not increase actual levels of crime the increased surveillance may result in more offences coming to the attention of the police , particularly violent offending ( Brown , 1995 ) .", "Using disaggregated crime data that identifies changes across individual offence types can help to understand the impact of CCTV across a target area .", "The range of additional crime reduction measures that often operate alongside CCTV system make if difficult to isolate the impact of the cameras and these can include changes to policing practices ( Webb and Laycock , 1992 ) , ad hoc police operations , improved lighting , community wardens and youth inclusion projects ( Gill et al , 2007 ) .", "Using crime statistics alone to evaluate CCTV means that many of the potential benefits of the cameras can be missed including supporting police activity leading to cost savings in relation to police time , increased detection rates , court time and the increased level of guilty pleas and guilty verdicts obtained when CCTV evidence in available ( Home Office , 2007 ) .", "CCTV can work on a number of different levels across a range of different contexts and this has resulted in mixed research findings in terms of CCTV effectiveness .", "Welsh and Farrington ( 2002 ) conducted a meta-analysis on studies of CCTV effectiveness and collected 46 studies but only considered 22 of the research papers to be rigorous enough for inclusion in their review .", "Half ( eleven ) of the studies found a desirable effect on crime , five found an undesirable effect on crime , five found a null effect , and one was classified as an uncertain effect .", "The largest impact on CCTV was found across car parks where there was evidence that crime reduced by 41 % in the experimental compared to control area , which was significant .", "The research identified that CCTV had little or no effect on violent crime but the authors advocated the need for more high quality research that ` established the causal mechanism by which CCTV has any effect on crime ' which should involve methodologically rigorous evaluations and interviewing offenders .", "A further meta-analysis of CCTV studies conducted in 2008 by Walsh and Farrington the confirmed earlier findings that CCTV was effective in car parks and they advocated narrowing the use of CCTV to reflect research findings related to its effectiveness .", "The Home Office 's National Evaluation of CCTV ( Gill and Spriggs , 2005 ) attempted to address some of the deficiencies identified in previous CCTV evaluations by combining a process and impact evaluation that incorporated control areas and identified other crime control initiatives that were operating in the target area to evaluate their impact on recorded crime levels .", "Thirteen CCTV systems were evaluated across a range of system including town centres , city centres , car parks , hospital and residential areas .", "The inclusion of residential areas reflected the governments push to include these types of areas into the Phase 2 of the Crime Reduction Programme ( Home Office , 2007 ) .", "The main findings were :", "Out of the 13 systems evaluated six showed a relatively substantial reduction in crime in the target area compared with the control area , but only two showed a statistically significant reduction relative to the control area , and in one of these cases the change could be explained by the presence of confounding variables .", "Crime increased in seven areas but this could not be attributed to CCTV .", "The findings in these seven areas were inconclusive as a range of variables accounted for the changes in crime levels , including fluctuations in crime caused by seasonal , divisional and national trends and additional initiatives .", "( Gill and Spriggs , 2005i )", "The quotation above highlights the difficulties in obtaining a true picture of the impact of CCTV schemes given the complex environments where they often operate .", "The research concluded that for CCTV to be effective it needs to be implemented with a clear strategy that takes into account local crime problems and identifies the mechanism by which the system will address the problems .", "CCTV should not be implemented as a stand alone crime prevention tool but needs to be integrated into prevention measures already in place and operate alongside local police structures to create rapid responses to incidents and effective use of images for evidential purposes .", "Research has found mixed results regarding the effectiveness of CCTV but what has emerged is a body of literature that has started to identify the specific context where CCTV works and types of mechanisms that need to be in place .", "Brown ( 1995 ) found that in certain circumstances CCTV can make a positive contribution to addressing crime and this was reliant on CCTV being used by the police as an integral part of a command and control strategy .", "The research highlighted the deterrent effects of CCTV but suggested that CCTV must also be used to effectively manage police resources through rapid responses to incidents .", "Brown found that the use of CCTV in Newcastle and King 's Lynn resulted in a reduction in recorded crime particularly across burglary , criminal damage and vehicle crime offences .", "The research found CCTV had no overall impact in Birmingham on crime levels ( Brown , 1995 : 46 ) .", "Research indicated that the layout of the streets has an impact on the ability of CCTV to detect crime and areas with less side streets and more long straight roads more conducive to CCTV ( see also Gill et al 2005b ) .", "Ditton and Short ( 1999 ) found that recorded crime fell and detections rose after CCTV was implemented in Airdrie but in Glasgow recorded crime increased and detection increased .", "The research found a differential effect of the cameras across crime type with drug offences , low-level public order and minor traffic violations increasing whilst various forms of acquisitive crime fell .", "Airdrie is a little town where awareness and a sense of ownership of the cameras were high compared to Glasgow where the cameras merged into the structure of the city , and these situational differences may have impacted on the effect of the cameras .", "Most evaluations of CCTV in town/city centres have used recorded crime and found that cameras had very little impact on violent crime ( Gill and Spriggs , 2005 ) but through the use of accident and emergency data Sivarajasingam et al ( 2003 ) found that the ` effectiveness of CCTV lies less in preventing assaults and their precursor , but more in preventing injury through increased police detection and intervention ' ( ibid : 315 ) .", "CCTV was found to increase police detection but was associated with reductions in the seriousness of violent incidents .", "There was no evidence of the deterrent effect of CCTV in relation to violent crime but the effectiveness of CCTV within this context is related to surveillance facilitating a faster police response that limits the length of violent incidents and therefore the severity of injuries .", "The body of CCTV research literature emphasises that it is more effective in relatively simple target areas with clear lines of sight .", "CCTV has been shown to reduce crime in car parks ( Tilley , 1993 ; Gill and Spriggs , 2005 ) and this may be partly explained by the cameras monitoring an environment where access and egress can be carefully monitored .", "CCTV in car parks has reduced crime by acting primarily as a deterrent and this mechanism has been facilitated by clear CCTV signage and the visibility of the cameras ( Gill and Spriggs , 2005 ) .", "The impact on ` theft of ' and ` theft from ' motor vehicles was different with a larger positive impact across ` theft of ' offences which may be due to these types of offences taking longer and offenders having to drive out of exits monitored by cameras ( Tilley , 1993 ) .", "CCTV systems rarely work in isolation and often form part of a crime prevention strategy .", "Webb and Laycock ( 1992 ) found evidence that CCTV can reduce robberies on the London Underground but the cameras were part of a package of measures to reduce crime in the area that made it difficult to identify the impact of the cameras alone .", "The research concluded that ` CCTV does not seem to be very useful in large complex and crowded environments to deal with surreptitious behaviour such as pick pocketing or shoplifting ' ( Webb and Laycock , 1992 : 23 ) as the quick nature of the offences made it unlikely that they would be picked up by operators .", "Given that it was unlikely offenders would be detected by the cameras their effectiveness was mainly linked to whether offenders associated the cameras with an increased risk of getting caught on the London Underground .", "CCTV is a type of situational crime prevention and is often used to facilitate a change in the behaviour of offenders .", "Mayhew ( 1984 ) suggested that formal surveillance would deter potential offenders and this follows the rational choice theory perspective ( Clarke and Felson , 1993 ) that proposes offenders act in a rational manner and by calculating whether the perceived benefits outweigh the cost in a given situation .", "The application of the deterrent effect of CCTV to routine activity theory means that the presence of CCTV can be perceived to act as the capable guardian and therefore demotivate offenders .", "The majority of CCTV systems rely on the deterrent effect of the cameras but the deterrent is often symbolic and ` more or less incompetent deterrence because cameras are highly visible but those under surveillance are hardly visible for an observer due to irregular monitoring , informational overkill or even deployment of dummy cameras ' ( Hempel and Topfer , 2004 : 33 ) .", "Research has examined the effect of CCTV on offenders ' behaviour across a range of contexts and identified that CCTV tends to be an effective deterrent against planned offences .", "Allard , Wortley and Steward ( 2008 ) examined whether the presence of CCTV in prisons reduced the number of incidents that were defined as ` breaches of law or rules that may result in criminal prosecution or breach hearings and emergencies ' .", "The research found that CCTV had a greater impact on non-violent than violent prisoner misbehaviour and affected planned behaviour to a greater extent than unplanned behaviour .", "The spontaneous nature of violence means that the deterrent effect of CCTV can be removed and it tends to be more ` effective when behaviour is motivated ' ( Allard et al , 2008 : 416 ) .", "Research into public space CCTV has identified similar patterns and indicated that CCTV impacts more on premeditated crimes ( Brown , 1995 ; Welsh and Farrington , 2002 ; Gill et al , 2005 ) .", "Analysing the impact of CCTV on public behaviour , Mazerolle ( 2002 ) found that the cameras created an initial deterrence in the two-month period after installation but to prolong the effect recommended increasing the deterrence of using signs and short sporadic cameras deployment .", "Tilley ( 1993 : 24 ) suggested that ` when the real potential of CCTV to lead to apprehension loses credibility amongst criminals , the effect will begin to fade , though by ( over ) - statement of successes periodic effectiveness can be re-established ' .", "The positive impact of CCTV on levels of robbery in the London Underground was found to fade over time and this may have been due to offenders discovering that the CCTV did not increase the risk of being caught ( Webb and Laycock , 1992 : 15 ) .", "High camera density and quality lighting may increase the perceived risk for offenders ( Gill et al , 2007 ) .", "Research indicates that only by combining the different mechanism by which CCTV works ( Armitage , et al , 1999 , Tilley 1993 , Gill and Spriggs , 2005 ) and integrating other crime prevention measures can the optimal use of CCTV occur and research is currently building the evidence base to fully understand where and how the mechanisms work .", "CCTV does not create a physical barrier to crime and therefore can rely to a large extent on changing offenders ' behaviour .", "Therefore key to the success of CCTV is offenders ' views regarding its effectiveness .", "Evaluations that use crime levels to investigate the impact of CCTV on offenders need to be supplemented with offender interview based research to develop a full picture of how CCTV can be utilised fully to address criminal behaviour ( Farrington and Walsh , 2002 ; Gill and Loveday , 2003 ) .", "Gill and Loveday interviewed 77 convicted offenders in prison and the general consensus amongst those interviewed was that they did not worry about CCTV but there was evidence that some offenders chose to take precautions against the cameras by wearing clothes that hid their identity or offended in camera blind spots .", "Many of the offenders committed ` swift offences ' and therefore believed that police notified by the cameras would not arrive in time to apprehend them ( see also Short and Ditton , 1998 ) .", "Roughly half the sample of offenders believed that CCTV increased the risk of getting caught but those that had been caught by CCTV perceived it as more of a threat .", "There was a lack of understanding amongst the offenders regarding image quality and how the images could be used to increase detection .", "The types of mechanisms that need to be utilised to increase the perceived risk of CCTV for offenders include using publicity detailing successes of the cameras and the capabilities of systems .", "Built with Wimba Create ."], "_citing_sentence": "Crimes which are committed impulsively and without forethought are rarely deterred by the possibility of punishment or being caught.", "_claim_name": "Prison is not necessarily a deterrent", "_doc_title": "8.4.2 CCTV effectiveness and Context", "_labeled_lineIDs": [48]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Alan Travis , home affairs editor", "Thursday 4 November 2010 10.31 EDT", "Fourteen prisons in England and Wales , most of which hold short-term inmates , have reconviction rates of more than 70 % , Ministry of Justice figures disclosed today reveal .", "The reconviction rates for individual prisons published for the first time show that Dorchester , in Dorset , has the highest at 74.7 % for adult male prisoners and New Hall , in Yorkshire , has the highest reconviction rates for female prisoners at 76 % .", "The MoJ 's first compendium of reoffending statistics and analysis shows that prisoners starting a community punishment under probation supervision have a reoffending rate 7 points below those discharged from short-term prison sentences of 12 months or less -- 46 % compared with 53 % .", "The statistics , based on 2007 data , show that reoffending rates for individual prisons range from 26.7 % to 76.6 % for criminals locked up for less than 12 months and between 2 % and 55 % for those serving more than a year .", "MoJ statisticians warn against creating a prison performance league table and argue that the mix of prisoner types in each jail determines the reconviction rate .", "But Dorchester is named as having the highest rate for those serving short sentences at male local prisons , followed by Gloucester ( 74.6 % ) , Leeds ( 74 % ) and Hull ( 73.8 % ) .", "Other male prisons with reconviction rates above 70 % are Bristol , Durham , Exeter , High Down in Surrey , and Holme House in Cleveland .", "Elmley in Kent is the only category C training prison with a rate above 70 % , while four women 's prisons fall into this category -- New Hall , Low Newton , near Durham , Styal in Cheshire and Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire .", "The statistics underline the long-term ineffectiveness of the criminal justice system at diverting persistent offenders from a life of crime .", "Of those given a community punishment or sent to prison , 74 % are convicted of another crime within nine years .", "In a survey of 1,435 prisoners , 68 % named a job as the most important factor in preventing them going back to a life of crime after leaving prison , while for 60 % it was having somewhere to live .", "The analysis also reveals that the number of serious further offences , including murder , rape and grievous bodily harm , committed by former prisoners within a year of their release reached 592 in 2008/09 .", "The MoJ figures show that reconviction rates were higher for prisoners who had at one time been excluded from school or taken into care , were homeless or jobless before being sent to prison , or had witnessed violence in their childhood home .", "Reoffending rates were also higher for those from criminal families -- those in which an immediate relative has been convicted of a crime other than a motoring offence .", "More than 70 % of prisoners admitted using drugs in the 12 months before they went to prison .", "An alarming 7 % said they first took heroin in prison .", "The prisons minister , Crispin Blunt , said the statistics showed that a more intelligent approach to sentencing was needed to tackle the causes of crime and reoffending .", "He said : `` Reoffending rates among short-term prisoners remain unacceptably high .", "We will address this failure in the system by making prisons places of hard work which prepare offenders more effectively in the outside world . ''", "He added that while it was invidious to compare reoffending rates between prisons , it was an important first step in focusing work on ending the cycle of reoffending by targeting interventions that work .", "Juliet Lyon , of the Prison Reform Trust , said the figures showed that a home , a job and a supportive family were important in helping criminals avoid recidivism .", "`` If you compare the results of a community penalty with a short prison sentence , you can see why the justice secretary wants to keep petty offenders out of prison and paying back in the community , '' she said .", "But Blair Gibbs of the centre-right think-tank Policy Exchange , said they showed that neither prison nor probation work well enough .", "He said : `` The justice system is failing to deter criminals who remain active for many years and sentences are clearly not working to rehabilitate when most offenders go back to crime regardless of how many prior sentences they have served .", "`` The government 's ambition for a rehabilitation revolution is welcome , but the hard truth is that cutting reoffending is really difficult and there is no magic bullet . ''", "Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion .", "This discussion is closed for comments .", "We 're doing some maintenance right now .", "You can still read comments , but please come back later to add your own .", "Commenting has been disabled for this account ( why ? )", "Ken Clarke wants to spare mentally ill offenders from prison by reforming the system to give them hospital treatment", "Research shows providing generous social security system is more effective than criminalising addicts"], "_citing_sentence": "The idea of prison as a deterrent is immediately disproved by a rising violent crime rate, and the argument that these prisoners will not re-offend is disproved by the high rate of re-offending after a prison sentence, reaching up to 70% for some prisons.", "_claim_name": "Prison is not necessarily a deterrent", "_doc_title": "Reoffending rates top 70% in some prisons, figures reveal | UK news | The Guardian", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["We revealed new research showing just how over-stretched prisons have become in England and Wales .", "Our story came within weeks of violent disturbances at three jails .", "We 've had exclusive access to the views of the independent monitors who see inside the prisons - and they are overwhelmingly concerned about overcrowding leading to assaults , damage to the prison regime and an increasing lack of safety inside .", "There are more people serving life sentences in England and Wales than in the whole of the rest of Western Europe - and the total number of prisoners has rocketed to more than 70,000 .", "Richard Watson looked at the consequences .", "Watch Richard Watson 's report", "Degrading and inhuman .", "Grinding to a halt .", "These are the words from prisons across the country describing a system at breaking point .", "It 's clear something has to give , and soon , if long-term damage to the prison system and violence are to be avoided , as the numbers locked up continue to climb .", "UNNAMED OFFICER : If you are going to take in more prisoners into establishments that are designed for half the numbers , and you are keeping them locked in their cells for extended periods of time , then when they do finally come out there is the potential for serious unrest .", "We 're not geared up to take those sort of numbers .", "We 're on the verge of a crisis , yes .", "Newsnight has been given exclusive access to survey information from the chairmen of Boards of Visitors , groups of independent monitors attached to local prisons .", "53 out of the 60 responses received report serious problems or concerns about overcrowding .", "15 prison boards warned of more assaults and threats to safety .", "The prison service is in crisis .", "More than 71,000 people are locked up .", "There is talk of unrest , and emergency measures such as prison ships and prefabricated buildings .", "We 've come to Chelmsford Prison in Essex to see how overcrowding is affecting the prison regime .", "The regime at Chelmsford has improved since being criticised by the Chief Inspector of Prisons two years ago .", "Now the good work is in jeopardy .", "Baluti Yese 's story is one reason why .", "Baluti is from Essex .", "He was sentenced close to home and sent to his nearest prison , Chelmsford , six months ago .", "He only has eight weeks to serve , but today he 's been told he 's has to move further from home to Norwich Prison .", "Chelmsford needs the space for incoming prisoners just sentenced .", "BALUTI YESE : ( Prisoner ) I 'm getting transferred to Norwich .", "Not happy today .", "I like in Essex , now my mum ca n't come and visit me .", "As Baluti leaves Chelmsford , this farrago is repeated at prisons everywhere , a desperate juggling act controlled centrally by the Prison Service .", "It undermines education and rehabilitation programmes , vital for re-offending rates to fall .", "Currently seven out of every ten young offenders end up back inside .", "31 out of the 60 prisons who have responded to the survey said relentless movement of prisoners was causing serious problems .", "One board of visitors said the distance from families was `` distressing for juveniles '' .", "Another said pressure on staff was `` intolerable '' .", "Chelmsford had similar concerns .", "PAUL HALEY : ( Governor , Chelmsford Prison ) It 's a problem about which we ca n't seem to do anything .", "So to plan ahead is very difficult and to create spaces very difficult .", "Some people would say it is crazy , that a person serving 3 or 4 months would be transported 200 miles away .", "Yes , it is .", "People are being moved all over the country at short notice , and those family relationships have been damaged .", "MARTIN NAREY : ( Director General , Prison Service )", "Family relationships will not be helped by moving .", "We will do all we can to try to make up for the disruption because , but I 'm not pretending it is n't of course , a great deal of difficulty , but the point I have to make is I have no choice , I don not have a waiting list , this is not like the health service , it is not like European prison services .", "You have been to Chelmsford , whoever is committed to Chelmsford Prison tonight , Paul Haley must accept them .", "Paul Haley and his boss , the Prisons Director , are most concerned about damage to rehabilitation courses .", "The inmates were n't slow to point out the problems .", "Now you 've started doubling up , there 's not enough room to swing a goldfish .", "This should be a single cell , but since the governor had to accept a further 76 prisoners , he 's had to double up .", "We 've now got 20 cells on this wing and 20 on the other wing we 've had to double up .", "A bunk bed for two people , extra locker , table , chair , and now we have had to introduce a privacy screen in front of the toilets .", "RICHARD WATSON : 18 prisons told the Prison Reforms Trust that they were already doubling up , with some boards of visitors describing the practice as `` degrading and inhumane '' .", "MARTIN NAREY : I think doubling up is pretty gross , to be frank .", "And tonight and every night some 13,000 men are sharing two for one and they 'll have to share a toilet in that cell .", "That 's not the way I want prisoners to be treated .", "And the fact that the number of prisoners living in those conditions is increasing is very troubling for me and I know it 's troubling for ministers too .", "You can feel the tension here .", "There are 130 more prisoners here than normal capacity .", "MARTIN SALES : ( Prisoner )", "These were made for single bang-up .", "I 've been in and out since ' 97 .", "Doubling up on the ones but the phones are still the same , so you get fights on the phones all night .", "THOMAS CUMMINGS : ( Prisoner )", "The alarm bells have been going off pretty regular .", "I 've been in prison before , but overcrowding causes problems .", "It gets explosive , people find things to hit each other with .", "It 's getting worse .", "Thomas Cummings is one of the luckier ones , he spends much of the time out of his cell working in the kitchens .", "He thinks overcrowding is partly to blame for the death of an inmate .", "THOMAS CUMMINGS : I knew one of the youngsters who died , he 'd hanged himself in the block when they found him .", "I had n't seen him for a long time , but he came for a chat .", "He got into the general population , where they 're locked up a lot .", "No-one for him to turn to , staff are preoccupied with running a prison .", "This was the second death in custody in a year for Chelmsford .", "If they both turn out to be suicides , it would reflect a worrying national trend .", "After falling figures for years , prison suicides are up again .", "Juliet Lyon , director of the Prison Reform Trust , believes overcrowding is behind the rise and that it 's time for a fundamental shift in sentencing policy to remove prisoners on short sentences .", "JULIET LYON : ( Director , Prison Reform Trust )", "Let 's get them out of the system and work with them more effectively within the criminal justice system , and let 's reserve prison for the people who have committed serious offences .", "By imprisoning them , we 're reducing their chances for future employability , housing , relationships and friends and consequently , creating a cycle of crime , which we are just perpetuating by the over-use of imprisonment .", "At Chelmsford , evidence that the prison is being choked with those on short sentences was n't exactly hard to find .", "What are you in for ?", "Driving while disqualified .", "How long did you get ?", "Five and a half months .", "RICHARD WATSON : Is that going to make you a better person ?", "I 'm meeting all these armed robbers , so it 's not good , is it ?", "About 50 % of convicted prisoners are serving six months or less .", "We ca n't change their behaviour when they get outside .", "We have now earned the nickname of `` Revolving Door Prisoners '' , because while they with us , very little is happening in terms of any positive alteration to their lifestyle inside .", "The message is for the courts .", "14,000 times last year , people were sent into my custody for one month or less .", "40,000 times , people were sent for three months or less .", "It 's a waste of time and money .", "It 's making the work we can do with longer term prisoners difficult .", "Could John 's story be the route out of this mess ?", "He 's served time for theft linked to drug addiction .", "Like thousands of other drug offenders , prison did nothing to curtail his habit , or his crime .", "JOHN : ( Prisoner ) I came across heroin when I was doing a six-year prison sentence .", "I was in the Mount Prison in Hemel Hempstead .", "I was smoking cannabis in one of the cells , and a fella come in and he had some heroin. , and would we like to try it .", "Last year , John faced yet another prison term for theft .", "This time , he was offered the chance to avoid prison if he agreed to drug treatment .", "The court sentenced him to a Drugs Treatment and Testing Order , designed to help him off drugs , and therefore stop his offending .", "He 's had to undergo weekly urine tests and monthly meetings with his judge .", "JOHN : I tested negative all the time .", "So the crime stopped ?", "The crime stopped , definitely .", "I have n't committed a crime for over a year", "How does that make you feel ?", "JOHN : I feel proud inside , because everyone praises me , my family and the probation and everyone .", "And I think I 've come a long way in a year from being a no-good junkie criminal , to all right now .", "But so far the numbers on community sentences are low .", "Resources for drug treatment are scarce and short sentences for non-violent crime are still being handed out .", "PAUL HALEY : It 's on the verge of a crisis , without a doubt .", "Over 71,000 prisoners were locked up at the end of last week , and we 're not geared up to cope with them .", "We 're in crisis .", "There 's no two ways about it .", "Prefabricated prison buildings are being prepared .", "The Prison Service says we can no longer build our way to a successful penal policy in the longer term .", "For the Government , changing the sentencing framework is a sensitive issue .", "Will pressure now be applied to the courts to find alternatives to prison , and more importantly , will the resources in the community be there ?", "This transcript was produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight .", "It has been checked against the programme as broadcast , however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies .", "We will be happy to correct serious errors ."], "_citing_sentence": "Merely having a criminal record which states that an individual was imprisoned, rather than given a more productive sentence such as community service, can have enormous implications on that individual's future employment opportunities.", "_claim_name": "Prison sentences are damaging for minor offenders", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | Archive | Britain's prisons", "_labeled_lineIDs": [80]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By Robert Longley", "America 's combined prison and local jail population topped 2 million inmates for the first time in history on June 30 , 2002 according to a new report from the Justice Department 's Bureau of Justice Statistics ( BJS ) .", "The 50 states , the District of Columbia and the federal government held 1,355,748 prisoners ( two-thirds of the total incarcerated population ) , and local municipal and county jails held 665,475 inmates .", "By midyear 2002 , America 's jails held 1 in every 142 U.S. residents .", "Males were incarcerated at the rate of 1,309 inmates per 100,000 U.S. men , while the female incarceration rate was 113 per 100,000 women residents .", "Of the 1,200,203 state prisoners , 3,055 were younger than 18 years old .", "In addition , adult jails held 7,248 inmates under 18 .", "Federal , state and local prisons see increasesDuring the 12-month period ending last June 30 , the local jail population increased by 34,235 inmates , the largest increase ( 5.4 percent ) since 1997 .", "State prisons added 12,440 inmates ( a 1 percent increase ) and the federal prison system grew by 8,042 ( 5.7 percent ) .", "More than 40 percent of the total increase in the number of people incarcerated during the period was accounted for by the growth in the federal prison population .", "During the year the responsibility for housing sentenced District of Columbia felons was transferred to the federal system and completed on December 31 , 2001 .", "This accounted for one-quarter of the federal increase between midyear 2001 and midyear 2002 and contributed to making the federal system the largest prison jurisdiction in the nation .", "State prison populationsTwenty states experienced an inmate population increase of 5 percent or more during the 12 months ending June 30 , 2002 , led by Rhode Island ( up 17.4 percent ) and New Mexico ( 11.1 percent ) .", "Nine states , including several large states , experienced prison population declines .", "Illinois had the largest percentage decrease ( down 5.5 percent ) , followed by Texas ( down 3.9 percent ) , New York ( down 2.9 percent ) , Delaware ( down 2.3 percent ) and California ( down 2.2 percent ) .", "Non-citizen prison population also growingAs of last June 30 , state and federal correctional authorities held 88,776 non-citizens , a 1 percent increase from the 87,917 held a year earlier .", "Sixty-two percent were held in state prisons and 38 percent in federal institutions .", "Private prison population dropsPrivately operated prisons held 86,626 inmates last June 30 , down 6.1 percent from the number held on December 31 , 2001 .", "Texas reported the largest decline , from 16,331 to 10,764 prisoners .", "More new inmates than new prison bedsFor the first time since midyear 1997 the number of additional jail inmates grew faster than the number of new jail beds during the 12 months preceding June 30 , 2002 .", "Nonetheless , at midyear 2002 local jails were operating at 7 percent below their officially rated capacities .", "At the end of 2001 , the most recent period for which the data are available , state prisons were operating from 1 to 16 percent above capacity , and federal prisons were at 31 percent above capacity ."], "_citing_sentence": "It is practically unfeasible for the government to continue imprisoning people at this rate when prisons are already over capacity.", "_claim_name": "Prisons should be reserved for those who are truly dangerous to society", "_doc_title": "U.S. Prison Population Tops 2 Million", "_labeled_lineIDs": [21]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["Crime in America.Net Information on Crime , Crime Statistics , Crime Rates , Violent Crime , Crime News , Crime Prevention , Criminal Offenders", "Gentlereaders : We recently posted rates of recidivism for the state of California and attached them to an existing page displaying national recidivism for the United States .", "As a result of this article , a gracious reader sent this article ( below ) regarding recidivism in the United Kingdom .", "Recidivism is measured differently by jurisdictions and usually refers to people on parole ( released from prison ) and probation supervision who are rearrested or convicted or sent back to prison .", "Periods of measurement will differ as well .", "We find it interesting that for many western industrialized countries , measures of crime and related statistics seem to have considerable similarities .", "While there are differences in raw numbers , trend lines seem to be similar .", "We will present all three sources on this post and we will let you come to your own conclusions as to recidivism .", "We are interested in your opinions .", "Can these Results be Changed ?", "Interventions providing programs for offenders both in and out of prison can lower recidivism from 10 to 20 percent .", "Recidivism in the United Kingdom -- News from The Telegraph , UK", "New figures from the Ministry of Justice show that 74 per cent of those convicted of a criminal offence go on to commit a further crime within a decade at the very most .", "More than half reoffend again within a year .", "The figures include both offenders who have served time in jail and those dealt with by community punishments .", "They demonstrate the challenge facing Kenneth Clarke , the Justice Secretary , to meet his promise to bring about a `` rehabilitation revolution '' .", "Mr. Clarke wants to send fewer offenders to prison and make more use of community penalties .", "But the Ministry of Justice figures show that community orders are only slightly more effective than short term prison sentences and that , over time , most offenders returned to crime regardless of what punishment they are given .", "The research , the most detailed yet on reoffending , also disclosed that at 14 prisons , seven in ten inmates reoffend within a year of release .", "Reoffending statistics are normally only based on the first year after punishment but a long range study by the Ministry of Justice found that 74 per cent of offenders who were released from custody or who started a community penalty between January and March 2000 were reconvicted within nine years .", "It means the majority of offenders are never rehabilitated .", "The report below comes from KALW news , a public radio station serving the San Francisco and Oakland areas .", "It 's really great to see a radio station retake the mantle of news reporting .", "The summary is extracted from their report .", "National prisoner recidivism data is offered below .", "San Francisco has one of the highest recidivism rates in the state -- some 78.3 percent go back to prison within three years of release -- according to a report released today by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ( CDCR ) .", "The study tracked about 108,000 inmates released from state prisons between 2005 and 2006 over the course of three years .", "Overall , the state recidivism rate , which has long been among the highest in the country , clocks in at 67.5 percent .", "The study notes that San Francisco , like other high-recidivism counties , `` received more re-released inmates than those who were first released . ''", "Re-released offenders are 10 percent more likely to return to lockup .", "By far , men between the ages of 18 and 19 are the most likely to reoffend , and mostly for stealing cars and `` absconding , '' which is corrections-speak for failing to regularly report in to a parole officer .", "Parole violations are the reason the majority of parolees return to prison ( 47 percent ) .", "Recidivists also went back to prison for property crimes ( 8 percent ) , drug crimes ( 6 percent ) and 3 percent went back for `` crimes against persons . ''", "Guest blogger Bernice Yeung is a San Francisco-based journalist who writes frequently about social and cultural issues , with a focus on legal affairs and the criminal justice system .", "Recidivism in America 52 Percent of Released Prisoners Return to Prison-67 Percent Rearrested", "We have a reader request ; she asks about recidivism of people released from prison ( arrests , convictions , returns to prison ) .", "The difficulty of this request is that there is nothing of a national and substantive nature except for a US Department of Justice study from the Bureau of Justice Statistics that was released in June of 2002 based on inmates released from prison in 1994 .", "Note that there are a variety of older studies from the Bureau of Justice Statistics that remains definitive for many years .", "This study involved a very large set of data from 15 states and the methodology ( quality of the research ) was very good .", "This is the most quoted recidivism study in the country .", "It followed offenders for three years and tracked results .", "The study ( see summary below ) found that :", "Two-thirds ( sixty-seven ) of offenders were arrested for `` serious '' crimes .", "Fifty-two percent of the offenders were returned to prison for `` serious '' crimes and technical violations ( they did n't follow the rules of their release after prison ) .", "There are a wide variety of state and local studies that also examined recidivism but none with the same large data set ( numbers of people followed ) and none with the same rigorous methodology .", "We will address these studies in a future post .", "The Bureau of Justice Statistics is redoing the study discussed here and will have results in 2011 .", "Main Characteristics of Recidivism : The study found two primary variables in recidivism which seem to be present in virtually all past and current studies :", "Younger prisoners and those with longer records were more likely to be rearrested .", "Post-prison recidivism was strongly related to arrest history .", "A previous study titled `` Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1983 '' was released in April of 1989 .", "It was an analysis of the criminal records of more than 16,000 men and women , representing the almost 109,000 offenders who were released from prisons in 11 States during 1983 .", "The study links correctional data with federal and state criminal history records to provide a complete portrait of criminal careers for more than a half of the State prisoners released .", "About 47 % of the former prisoners were convicted of a new crime and 41 percent were sent back to prison or jail .", "TWO-THIRDS OF FORMER STATE PRISONERS REARRESTED FOR SERIOUS NEW CRIMES", "WASHINGTON , D.C. -- Sixty-seven percent of former inmates released from state prisons in 1994 committed at least one serious new crime within the following three years .", "This was a rearrest rate 5 percent higher than that among prisoners released during 1983 .", "State prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were those who had been incarcerated for stealing motor vehicles ( 79 percent ) , possessing or selling stolen property ( 77 percent ) , larceny ( 75 percent ) , burglary ( 74 percent ) , robbery ( 70 percent ) or those using , possessing or trafficking in illegal weapons ( 70 percent ) .", "Those with the lowest rearrest rates were former inmates who had been in prison for homicide ( 41 percent ) , sexual assault ( 41 percent ) , rape ( 46 percent ) or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol ( 51 percent ) .", "About 1 percent of the released prisoners who had served time for murder were arrested for another homicide within three years , and about 2 percent of the rapists were arrested for another rape within that period .", "Within three years , 52 percent of the 272,111 released prisoners were back in prison either because of a new crime or because they had violated their parole conditions ( e.g. , failed a drug test , missed a parole office appointment ) .", "Men were more likely to be rearrested than were women ( 68 percent , compared to 58 percent ) , blacks more likely than whites ( 73 percent vs. 63 percent ) and non-Hispanics more than Hispanics ( 71 percent vs. 65 percent ) .", "Younger prisoners and those with longer records were also more likely to be rearrested .", "Among prisoners with one arrest prior to their release , 41 percent were rearrested .", "Of those with two prior arrests , 47 percent were rearrested .", "Of those with three earlier arrests , 55 percent were rearrested .", "Among those with more than 15 prior arrests , that is about 18 percent of all released prisoners , 82 percent were rearrested within the three-year period .", "The 272,111 inmates had accumulated more than 4.1 million arrest charges prior to their current imprisonment and acquired an additional 744,000 arrest charges in the 3 years following their discharge in 1994 -- an average of about 18 criminal arrest charges per offender during their criminal careers .", "These charges included almost 21,000 homicides , 200,000 robberies , 50,000 rapes and sexual assaults and almost 300,000 assaults .", "Almost 8 percent of all released prisoners were rearrested for a new crime in a state other than the one that released them .", "These alleged offenders were charged with committing 55,760 new crimes in states other than the imprisoning state within the three-year period .", "New York , Arizona and California had the most arrests of out-of-state offenders in this study .", "The data were from the largest recidivism study ever conducted in the United States , which tracked prisoners discharged in 15 states representing two-thirds of all state prisoners released in 1994 .", "They were 91 percent male , 50 percent white , 48 percent black , 24 percent Hispanic ( of any race ) and 44 percent were younger than 30 years old .", "Most of them had been in prison for felonies : 22 percent for a violent offense ( such as murder , rape , sexual assault or robbery ) , 33 percent for a serious property offense ( mostly burglary , motor vehicle theft or fraud ) , 33 percent for a drug offense ( primarily drug trafficking or possession ) and 10 percent for public order offenses ( mainly drunk driving or weapons crimes ) .", "Most former convicts were rearrested shortly after getting out of prison : 30 percent within six months , 44 percent within a year , 59 percent within two years and 67 percent by the end of three years .", "The study findings are based upon the prison and criminal records of an estimated 272,111 discharged prisoners in 15 states who were tracked through fingerprints records made at various points of contact with the justice system , both within the state in which they had served time and other states to which they traveled .", "The BJS special report , `` Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994 \u2033 was written by BJS statisticians Patrick A. Langan and David J. Levin .", "As a taxpayer I resent violent criminals being released in my neighborhood or city .", "It seems the criminal justice system of America feeds itself at the public 's expense : more cops , more jails , more training , etc. .", "I am a taxpayer and I demand the government keep my streets safe .", "Who would rehire an exterminator who let 65 % of mice , roaches , etc. back into their homes ?", "But nobody can stop this anti-American , self-serving selfish government !", "I should be allowed to carry a gun to protect myself from the government ( ` s policies ) .", "Thomas Jefferson said America should have a revolution ( Hopefully peaceful ) every 15 years .", "If the government where to follow its own laws things would be better : Public Law 102-15 ` The Seven Noahide Laws . '", "Hi Rusty : Please let us know the results .", "LSB- ... -RSB- the attitude law enforcement has toward the expectation that parolees will break the law again .", "The recidivism rates in this state , in this country , are outrageous -- well above 50 % for those und ... -- and I can only assume it 's because prison and probation is mostly sticks , stones , vinegar , and -LSB- ... -RSB- -LSB- ... -RSB- CelebritiesRock Pass A Drug Test | Spice : Safe Substitute Or ` dangerous Product ' ?", "Return to Prison ( Recidivism ) Rates for the UK-America-California -- Crime in America.Net Lindsay Lohan Photos & Pics | Lindsay Lohan Admits To Failing Drug Test , Says She 's `` Prepared To -LSB- ... -RSB-", "Return to Prison ( Recidivism ) Rates for the UK-America-California ... ...", "Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing ... ... -LSB- ... -RSB- Visit link : Return to Prison ( Recidivism ) Rates for the UK-America-California ... -LSB- ... -RSB-"], "_citing_sentence": "Moreover, re-offending statistics are normally only based on crimes committed within a year of release; there may be many, many more ex-prisoners who re-offend who are not recorded within these statistics.", "_claim_name": "Prison is not necessarily a deterrent", "_doc_title": "Return to Prison (Recidivism) Rates for the UK-America-California", "_labeled_lineIDs": [19]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 139, "_topic_name": "This House Would Limit Prison to Violent Offenders"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["There are outstanding changes not yet made by the legislation.gov.uk editorial team to School Standards and Framework Act 1998 .", "Any changes that have already been made by the team appear in the content and are referenced with annotations .", "Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date .", "Changes and effects are recorded by our editorial team in lists which can be found in the ` Changes to Legislation ' area .", "Where those effects have yet to be applied to the text of the legislation by the editorial team they are also listed alongside the legislation in the affected provisions .", "Use the ` more ' link to open the changes and effects relevant to the provision you are viewing .", "This section lists the changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Act , associated Parts and Chapters where applicable .", "This includes any insertions of whole new Parts , Chapters or provisions yet to be inserted into this Act .", "These effects are included in this view as they may be ( but wo n't necessarily be ) relevant to the specific provision that you are viewing .", "Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Act ( including any effects on those provisions ) :", "This section lists the commencement orders yet to be applied to the whole Act .", "Where applicable the commencement orders are listed under two headings , firstly those that bring some part of the Act you are viewing into force and secondly , those that bring into force legislation that affects some part of the legislation you are viewing .", "If you are viewing a prospective version or there is a prospective version available there may be commencement orders listed here that are relevant to the provision you are viewing .", "Commencement Orders bringing legislation that affects this Act into force : ( 1 ) Subject to section 71 , each pupil in attendance at a community , foundation or voluntary school shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship .", "( 2 ) Subject to section 71 , in relation to any community , foundation or voluntary school -- ( a ) the local education authority and the governing body shall exercise their functions with a view to securing , and ( b ) the head teacher shall secure , that subsection ( 1 ) is complied with .", "( 3 ) Schedule 20 makes further provision with respect to the collective worship required by this section , including provision relating to -- ( a ) the arrangements which are to be made in connection with such worship , and ( b ) the nature of such worship ."], "_citing_sentence": "The School Standards and Framework Act (1998) set out that every pupil \"shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship.\"", "_claim_name": "It would be almost impossible to ensure that children had a choice in the matter as the status quo requires.", "_doc_title": "School Standards and Framework Act 1998", "_labeled_lineIDs": [13]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["All state schools should hold an act of worship each day , either for all pupils in assembly or as a class-based prayer .", "But in the 149 secondaries inspected , 81 failed to meet the legal obligation .", "Some heads have called for a cut in the amount of compulsory prayer , but the archbishop of Wales said instead teachers needed practical help .", "The 1944 Education Act promised lessons for children up to the age of 15 , created grammar , technical and secondary modern schools - and also placed worship at the heart of school life .", "The 1988 Education Reform Act strengthened the legislation , further defining worship in schools as wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character .", "It would be idiotic to leave out faith in God in a school when that 's part of our society and when it 's part of the Christian foundation of this country", "Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan", "But the new law also offered schools greater flexibility , and it meant worship was no longer confined to the morning assembly .", "Instead children can pray in smaller groups , during class tutorial time , or indeed at any time during the day .", "But research by BBC Wales suggests schools are struggling to remain within the law .", "Ysgol Gwynllyw , a Welsh-medium school in Pontypool is one of the 81 secondary schools inspectors said were failing to offer prayers on a daily basis .", "HAVE YOUR SAY I think that there should be a service for all religions", "Theresa Penold , Westbury", "Send us your comments", "Head teacher Ellis Griffiths said it was impossible to fit the entire school into the hall for a daily assembly , and he could not guarantee all his teachers would hold class-based worship every day .", "`` I think they should make it a requirement that every child should have an assembly at least once or twice per week , '' said Mr Griffiths .", "`` That would give all schools the option of coping with the legislation .", "Daily collective worship in schools must be `` broadly Christian '' `` It would keep the present arrangements virtually untouched and reduce the tension between Estyn -LSB- Wales ' school inspection service -RSB- and the schools in that we would be complying with virtually everything that the law states . ''", "But Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan said instead of changing the law , schools should have more support to enable them to provide worship .", "`` I think perhaps more practical help could be given in that area in terms of training teachers who 've been in post a bit longer , '' said the archbishop .", "`` There are resources available - perhaps more money ought to be available for that because actually it affects the kind of society that we are .", "`` It 's not just the hard religious sell in acts of worship , it 's asking questions about the meaning of life .", "It 's asking questions about what it means to live in a society where you respect others .", "`` Now all those , it seems to me , are religious virtues - tolerance , forgiveness , compassion .", "`` It would be idiotic to leave out faith in God in a school when that 's part of our society and when it 's part of the Christian foundation of this country . ''", "` Strong reactions ' In a statement on Friday , Welsh Education Minister , Jane Davidson , said she expected `` all schools to meet their obligations under the law '' .", "She added : `` All registered pupils attending a maintained school should take part in collective worship and it is the head teacher 's duty to secure this .", "`` The systems are in place to identify any shortcomings and to ensure that the appropriate action is taken . ''", "School inspection body Estyn added : `` The matter of collective worship sometimes evokes quite strong reactions both from those who think it should be absolutely enforced and those who think it should not .", "`` The job for schools is to find a way that meets the requirements for a daily basis . ''", "`` It would keep the present arrangements virtually untouched and reduce the tension between Estyn -LSB- Wales ' school inspection service -RSB- and the schools in that we would be complying with virtually everything that the law states . ''", "In a statement on Friday , Welsh Education Minister , Jane Davidson , said she expected `` all schools to meet their obligations under the law '' ."], "_citing_sentence": "A BBC survey showed in fact that less than half of the schools inspected carried out this obligation - and equally if schools in America were permitted to conduct prayer, the level of continuity and the monitoring of whether or not the rights of the children under the constitution were being breached would be an impossible task.", "_claim_name": "It would be almost impossible to ensure that children had a choice in the matter as the status quo requires.", "_doc_title": "BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Schools' failure on daily prayers", "_labeled_lineIDs": [1]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By Austin Cline", "One tactic used by conservative Christians to introduce more official prayers into schools is to get students to vote on prayers .", "In communities where one sort of Christianity dominates , the outcome of voting can be predicted and defended as the `` private '' speech of students .", "Courts , though , have ruled that prayers done on under the auspices of government supervision , with government approval , and with government equipment , is effectively government speech and thus must be restricted .", "Before 1995 , a student elected as Santa Fe High School 's student council chaplain delivered a prayer over the public address system before each home varsity football game .", "Mormon and Catholic students ( or alumni ) and their mothers challenged the prayers as violations of the First Amendment .", "While their lawsuit was pending , the school created a new policy authorizing two student elections : one on whether `` invocations '' should be delivered at games and a second to select a spokesperson to deliver them ( if the first election turned out favorable to invocations ) .", "After an election authorizing prayers and selecting someone to deliver them , the District Court ordered a modification of the policy to permit only nonsectarian , nonproselytizing prayer .", "The Fifth Circuit Court , however , ruled the football prayer policy invalid even with the modification .", "With Justice Stephens writing the majority opinion , the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the school 's policy authorizing student-led , student-initiated prayer at football games violates the Establishment Clause .", "The justices relied heavily on Lee v. Weisman :", "The school argued that these principles were not relevant because the messages were private student speech , not public speech .", "The Court disagreed , holding that the delivery of a message on school property , at school-sponsored events , over the school 's public address system , by a speaker representing the student body , under the supervision of faculty , and following school policies which encourage public prayer could not justifiably be called private speech .", "Also important that the delivery of the prayer did not occur at a public forum where all manner of opinions are permitted :", "The Supreme Court rejected the claim that the policy was different from the graduation prayer in Lee because it did not coerce students to participate in religious observances .", "The Court pointed out that one of the Establishment Clause 's purposes is to remove debate over this kind of issue from governmental supervision or control .", "The election turned the school into a forum for religious debate .", "It unjustifiably empowered a majority to subject students of minority views to constitutionally improper messages .", "The Court noted that the policy did have an element of coercion : some students , like cheerleaders , members of the band , and the team members themselves , are required to be at football games .", "There is also great social pressure on students to be involved in activities like football .", "According to the Court , schools should not force students to choose between attending these games or `` risk facing a personally offensive religious ritual . ''", "The dissent by Rhenquist , Scalia , and Thomas argued : It is unclear why prohibiting students from voting on having religious rituals and then using school equipment to deliver said rituals to students -- some of whom are forced to be there -- is `` hostile '' to religion .", "This decision reaffirmed a long-running tradition at the court to strike down laws and policies which place students in an environment where they are forced to listen to the promotion of a particular , sectarian religious message .", "The Court made it clear that religion could not be used by the government to divide the community of students by making some of them feel like insiders and others feel like outsiders .", "It is because of this that religion has so often divided nations , and it was this which the authors of the Constitution wished to avoid .", "In this decision , the majority of justices supported the principle that a neutral , secular government is necessary for the political inclusion of all citizens ."], "_citing_sentence": "The Supreme Court in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe recognised the significance of social influence upon pupils exerted by colleagues and staff, and that in any school environment, a prayer will be seen as an approved action by the school which is unconstitutional.", "_claim_name": "Students are unable to give their consent in a school environment.", "_doc_title": "Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000)", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3, 9]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Homeschooling in the United States constitutes the education for about 3.4 % of U.S. students ( around 2 million students ) .", "LSB- 1 -RSB- It is a subject of legal debate ; not about the right to homeschool but about the amount of state regulation and help that can or should be expected .", "United States Supreme Court precedent appears to favor educational choice , as long as states set standards .", "Originally homeschooling in the United States was practiced mainly underground or in rural areas .", "In the 1970s , several books called attention to homeschooling , and more families began to homeschool their children .", "As of 2006 , about 1.1 million students were homeschooled .", "The United States Department of Education estimates that 1.5 million K-12 students were homeschooled in the United States in 2007 ( with a confidence interval of 1.3 million to 1.7 million ) , constituting nearly three percent of students .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- In these estimations , students were defined as being homeschooled if their parents reported them as being schooled at home instead of at a public or private school for at least part of their education , and if their part-time enrollment in public or private school did not exceed 25 hours a week , and excluding students who were schooled at home primarily because of a temporary illness .", "LSB- 4 -RSB- About four out of five homeschoolers were homeschooled only , while about one out of five homeschoolers was also enrolled in public or private school for 25 hours or less per week .", "By 2006 , increasing numbers of homeschoolers partook in private school and home and public school and home partnerships .", "Homeschool families opt for them to help teach subjects , such as foreign languages and sciences , that are more difficult to teach .", "In addition many families do partnerships to help their children compete in academics and athletics with non-homeschooled children .", "According to the National Center for Education Statistics , around 2006 , 18 % of homeschooled students attend a public or private school on a part-time basis .", "Some students take one or two classes at traditional school campuses .", "Some spend several days per week on campuses that are designed to educate part-time students .", "Parents give many different reasons for homeschooling their children .", "In the 2003 and 2007 NHES , parents were asked whether particular reasons for homeschooling their children applied to them .", "The three reasons selected by parents of more than two-thirds of students were concern about the school environment , to provide religious or moral instruction , and dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools .", "From 2003 to 2007 , the percentage of students whose parents reported homeschooling to provide religious or moral instruction increased from 72 percent to 83 percent .", "In 2007 , the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction ( 36 percent of students ) .", "Typically the religious belief being represented is evangelical Christian .", "LSB- 5 -RSB- -LSB- 6 -RSB- This reason was followed by a concern about the school environment ( such as safety , drugs , or negative peer pressure ) ( 21 percent ) , dissatisfaction with academic instruction ( seventeen percent ) , and `` other reasons '' including family time , finances , travel , and distance ( 14 percent ) .", "LSB- 7 -RSB- Other reasons include more flexibility in educational practices and family core stability for children with learning disabilities or prolonged chronic illnesses , or for children of missionaries , military families , or families who move often , as frequently as every two years .", "In addition , some parents want more opportunities to socialize with a wide range of ages , to travel more , to do more field trips , to visit museums , to do outdoor education , to attend concerts , to visit work places , to tour government buildings , to seek mentorships , and to study nature outside .", "A homeschooling family can do more field trips , with only one vehicle and one parent required .", "Although many parents cite wanting to provide religious instruction as one of the primary reasons for homeschooling , research has shown that young adults who are homeschooled are not significantly more likely to be religious than demographically similar peers who went to private or public school .", "Analysis by Baylor University sociologist Jeremy Uecker of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion revealed that homeschooled young adults were no more religious than other young adults from the same demographic profile who attended public or private school .", "LSB- 9 -RSB- In addition , results from the Cardus Education Survey in 2011 found that homeschooled young adults attended religious services with roughly the same frequency as their peers who attended a private , Protestant school , although homeschoolers attended church more often than their Catholic school peers .", "LSB- 10 -RSB- Milton Gaither , a Professor of Education at Messiah College who has extensively studied homeschooling , concludes that , `` homeschooling itself will not automatically produce adults who share the conservative political , religious and moral beliefs of their parents . ''", "The legality of homeschooling in the United States has been debated by educators , lawmakers , and parents since the beginnings of compulsory education in Massachusetts in 1852 .", "For decades the source of debate was focused on whether it was legal for parents to withhold their children from school and educate them in a home setting , pitting homeschooling advocates against those in favor of organized public schools .", "Since the late 1980s , the focus on the legality of homeschooling in general is no longer in serious debate but legal questions have shifted to whether homeschooling communities can access state school funds , facilities , and resources .", "There are also legal questions over the degree of control that a state can exercise on homeschooling families regarding areas like curricula and standardized testing .", "In 2008 a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that children must be taught by a credentialed tutor or person with a teaching credential .", "The court stated that `` It is clear that the education of the children at their home , whatever the quality of that education , does not qualify for the private full-time day school or credentialed tutor exemptions from compulsory education in a public full-time day school . ''", "LSB- 12 -RSB- The court rejected the parent 's reliance on Yoder 's holding regarding religious choice .", "LSB- 12 -RSB- However , in March 2008 , the court agreed to rehear the case and vacated its prior decision .", "In August 2008 , the court issued a new decision unanimously reversing its earlier decision and the Court further stated that homeschooling was legal in California .", "LSB- 13 -RSB- In the United States , homeschooling is lawful in all fifty states .", "The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on homeschooling specifically , but in Wisconsin v. Yoder , 406 U.S. 205 ( 1972 ) -LSB- 14 -RSB- it supported the rights of Amish parents to keep their children out of public schools for religious reasons .", "The Court has ruled , however , that parents have a fundamental right to `` establish a home and bring up children '' along with the right to `` worship God according to the dictates of -LSB- their -RSB- own conscience . ''", "LSB- 15 -RSB- This combination of rights is the basis for calling homeschooling a fundamental right under the Supreme Court 's concept of liberty protected by the Due Process clause .", "Laws that restrict fundamental rights are subject to strict scrutiny , the highest standard , if the law is challenged in the courts .", "The final two sentences from the Supreme Court 's opinion in Runyon v. McCrary , analyze Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary , 268 U.S. 510 ( 1925 ) -LSB- 16 -RSB- and the Court holds that a State may set educational standards but may not limit how parents choose to meet those educational standards .", "In Runyon v. McCrary the Court analyzed its prior rulings on educational choice : In Meyer v. Nebraska , 262 U.S. 390 , the Court held that the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment includes the right `` to acquire useful knowledge , to marry , establish a home and bring up children , '' id. , at 399 , and , concomitantly , the right to send one 's children to a private school that offers specialized training - in that case , instruction in the German language .", "In Pierce v. Society of Sisters , 268 U.S. 510 , the Court applied `` the doctrine of Meyer v. Nebraska , '' id. , at 534 , to hold unconstitutional an Oregon law requiring the parent , guardian , or other person having custody of a child between 8 and 16 years of age -LSB- 427 U.S. 160 , 177 -RSB- to send that child to public school on pain of criminal liability .", "The Court thought it `` entirely plain that the -LSB- statute -RSB- unreasonably interferes with the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control . ''", "In Wisconsin v. Yoder , 406 U.S. 205 , the Court stressed the limited scope of Pierce , pointing out that it lent `` no support to the contention that parents may replace state educational requirements with their own idiosyncratic views of what knowledge a child needs to be a productive and happy member of society '' but rather `` held simply that while a State may posit -LSB- educational -RSB- standards , it may not pre-empt the educational process by requiring children to attend public schools . ''", "Id. , at 239 ( WHITE , J. , concurring ) .", "In addition the Runyon Court held that : recognized that `` The Court has repeatedly stressed that while parents have a constitutional right to send their children to private schools and a constitutional right to select private schools that offer specialized instruction , they have no constitutional right to provide their children with private school education unfettered by reasonable government regulation . ''", "Additionally , in Meyer v. Nebraska , the U.S. Supreme Court 's majority opinion stated that the liberty protected by the Due Process clause `` without doubt ... denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint but also the right of the individual to contract , to engage in any of the common occupations of life , to acquire useful knowledge , to marry , establish a home and bring up children , to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience , and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized ... as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men . ''", "In Meyer , the Court held that a 1919 Nebraska law prohibiting the teaching of foreign languages to school children before high school unconstitutionally violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment .", "Many other Court rulings have established or supported the right of parents to provide home education .", "Only a short time after compulsory attendance laws became common in the United States , Oregon adopted a statute outlawing private schools .", "The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state law as unconstitutional in its 1925 ruling in Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary , 268 U.S. 510 ( 1925 ) .", "LSB- 16 -RSB- The Court held that a state may not prohibit a parent from satisfying a compulsory attendance requirement by sending their children to private school .", "This case has frequently been cited by other courts in support of the proposition that parents have a right to satisfy compulsory attendance requirements through home instruction .", "Parents ' right to homeschool their children has clearly been established through subsequent court decisions to such an extent that any statute attempting to forbid it entirely would certainly be struck down on constitutional or other grounds .", "Every state has some form of a compulsory attendance law that requires children in a certain age range to spend a specific amount of time being educated .", "The most common way for parents to meet these requirements is to have their children attend public school .", "Homeschooling laws can be divided into three categories :", "While every state has some requirements , there is great diversity in the type , number , and level of burden imposed .", "No two states treat homeschooling in exactly the same way .", "Generally , the burden is less in states in category one above .", "Furthermore , many states offer more than one option for homeschooling with different requirements applying to each option .", "Law professor David Smolin states that `` Article 29 ( of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ) limits the right of parents and others to educate children in private school by requiring that all such schools support both the charter and principles of the United Nations and a list of specific values and ideals .", "By contrast , Supreme Court case law has provided that a combination of parental rights and religious liberties provide a broader right of parents and private schools to control the values and curriculum of private education free from State interference . ''", "LSB- 17 -RSB- While the quote deals with private schools it can also be assumed to extend to private home educational choices because the educational venue must support the U.N. 's values and ideals .", "All member nation states of the United Nations , except the United States and South Sudan , have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child .", "Some states do not require any notice of intent .", "Others require the filing of a notice with local school officials containing specified information .", "In conformity with the general trend to ease requirements however , only two states , Rhode Island and Massachusetts , still require parents to obtain approval prior to homeschooling .", "More stringent requirements even include the need to have a credentialed teacher supervise the homeschooled child 's education .", "Some states require homeschool students to be enrolled in public schools .", "Some states allow homeschool students to enroll in public schools but do not require them to do so .", "Some states prohibit homeschool students from enrolling in public schools .", "Proponents of heavier requirements -LSB- who ? -RSB-", "argue that they are necessary for the societal goal of an educated public that is prepared to participate in democratic society .", "No scientific studies , however , indicate that heavier requirements produce better results .", "In general , standardized test scores in states with high requirements are no better than in states with lower requirements casting doubt on the wisdom of placing high requirements on homeschooling since higher requirements create higher administrative costs .", "The 2013 Freedom in the 50 States study by the Mercatus Center ranks the fifty states by their homeschooling laws including : curriculum control , notification requirements , recordkeeping requirements , standardized testing , and teacher qualifications .", "The study finds states such as Alaska , Oklahoma , and Kansas as the freest states for homeschooling while ranking Ohio , Maryland , and Massachusetts at the bottom .", "You must register with a cover , church , or umbrella ( all mean the same thing ) .", "The cover must be located in the state of Alabama .", "If you enroll in any online curriculum provider , they are not legal cover -- they are just a curriculum provider .", "Even if you pay fees and tuition , you are truant in Alabama .", "If your cover school does not care what curriculum you use , you may enroll for it .", "Curriculum providers online , however , can not be cover schools , even if accredited .", "Once you enroll with a legal cover school , the state requires the parents to send a form from the cover school to the public superintendent to prove enrollment within 5 days from withdrawal date .", "If you stay with the same school you do not mail this form again .", "LSB- 20 -RSB- In Alabama , homeschoolers have two options : 1 .", "Church School Option - Homeschools qualify as church schools operated as a ministry of a local church , group of churches , denomination , or association of churches on a nonprofit basis , and do not receive any state or federal funding .", "LSB- Paraphrased from Ala. .", "Children who attend a church school are exempt from the compulsory attendance section , provided the child complies with the procedure in Ala. .", "Code \u00a7 16-28-7 -LSB- a parent or guardian reports attendance in church school -RSB- .", "A church can establish different church schools within each home .", "Also , under this option , some home parents enroll children in an existing church school .", "a. `` The enrollment and attendance of a child in a church school shall be filed with the local public school superintendent by the parent ... on a form provided by the superintendent ... countersigned by the administrator of the church school . ''", "( No requirement to file annually .", "Only need to file this form once at initial enrollment in church school . )", "The principal teacher of the church school must keep an attendance register for each day of the school year .", "A church school must `` offer instruction in grades K-12 , or any combination thereof ... '' Ala. .", "If the local school district believes a family is not in compliance with the law , it must give the family 3 days ' written notice ( Ala. .", "Code \u00a7 16-28-16 ) prior to instituting criminal charges .", "In an HSLDA case , the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction of a homeschool father who only received a 2-hour verbal notice from a truant officer .", "Maas v. Alabama , 601 So .", "According to an Alabama Attorney General 's opinion dated January 3 , 1997 , `` other than the state laws requiring parents to report attendance and for church schools to report if a student is no longer in attendance at such a church school , there is no provision of Alabama law that permit any state or local authority to regulate a church school . ''", "Private Tutor Option .", "Code \u00a7 16-28-5 , the children in a homeschool must be instructed by a competent private tutor .", "Under this statute : a .", "The teacher must be state certified .", "The certified teacher must teach `` for at least three hours a day for 140 days each calendar year , between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. '' c .", "The tutor must file with the county superintendent , a statement showing the child to b the subjects taught , and period of instruction .", "The tutor must keep a register of the child 's work showing daily hours of instruction and attendance and shall make such reports as the State Board of Education may require .", "Teacher Qualifications : None , if the homeschool is operated as a ministry of a local church .", "Certification is necessary if homeschool tries to qualify as private school , Ala. .", "Code \u00a7 16-28-1 ( 1 ) ( a ) , or as a private tutor , Ala. .", "Standardized Tests : Not required by statute .", "Religious Freedom Act : Alabama Constitution Amendment 622 .", "LSB- 21 -RSB- In California , for example , homeschoolers must either a ) be part of a public homeschooling program through independent study or a charter school , b ) use a credentialed tutor , or c ) enroll their children in a qualified private school .", "Such private schools may be formed by the parents in their own home , or parents may use a number of private schools that offer some kind of independent study or distance learning options .", "All persons who operate private schools in California , including parents forming schools just for their own children , must file an annual affidavit with the Department of Education .", "They must offer certain courses of study ( generally similar to the content required in public schools , but requiring less detailed curricula than those that public schools must follow ) and must keep attendance records , but are otherwise not subject to any state oversight .", "There is no requirement in California that any private school teachers , whether the school is large or small , must have state credentials , although all teachers must be capable of teaching .", "This principle was recently challenged .", "A homeschooling family in Southern California had satisfactorily resolved a lower court case concerning parenting issues , but the children 's court-appointed attorneys wanted the court of appeals to make a ruling on the topic of homeschooling .", "On February 28 , 2008 , the California Court of Appeals issued a ruling that effectively made homeschooling ( except for tutoring by certified teachers ) illegal in the state of California .", "Since the lower case was not about homeschooling , the legal representation of the family and its school , Sunland Christian School , requested a rehearing .", "LSB- 24 -RSB- The court granted the petition for rehearing , and unanimously reversed itself , deciding that non-credentialed parents could homeschool their children under California law .", "The law in Ohio that excuses students from compulsory attendance is the Ohio Administrative Code , Chapter 3301-34 .", "Under this law , home education is defined as education that is directed by the parent/guardian of the child .", "The purpose of the law is to ensure that parent rights to homeschool their children are not violated .", "Before the homeschooling process begins , the parent/guardian must notify the superintendent in his/her child 's school district .", "Some school districts have forms that they use .", "As long as the following information is provided in a letter or other form of notification , parents do not have to use the school district forms .", "LSB- 27 -RSB- Information that must be provided in a form of notification to the superintendent before homeschooling begins includes : the school year , name of parent , and address ( telephone is optional ) , child 's birth date , parent signature guaranteeing that the subjects listed in the Ohio Administrative Code are part of homeschooling , outline of the curriculum that the parent plans to cover in the next year , a list of materials ( textbooks , etc. ) that the parent plans to use , parent signature guaranteeing that the child will be in home education for 900 hours during the upcoming school year , and finally assurance that the home instructor has a high school diploma or the equivalence of a high school diploma .", "Parents must also send an academic assessment to the superintendent from the previous school year .", "The academic assessment report needs to be one of two things : either the results of a nationally normed , standardized test or a written portfolio .", "The portfolio should include samples of the student 's work .", "The superintendent must notify the parents within fourteen days of his/her decision .", "Before 1985 , the legality of homeschooling was undefined in Texas State law , which was silent on the practice .", "As such , homeschooling parents interpreted the lack of prohibition as giving them the right to homeschool , while school districts interpreted it as prohibitive .", "The requirements were clarified in the landmark case `` Leeper vs. Arlington Independent School District ( AISD ) '' , which put in place clear standards and guidelines for defining a homeschool and removed any doubt about the legality of homeschooling in the State .", "The Texas Education Agency ( TEA ) has no authority to regulate homeschools ( TEA considers homeschools to be equivalent to unaccredited private schools ; TEA states that private schools are not required to be accredited , and it has no authority to regulate those either ) .", "The only requirements within state law are as follows :", "Homeschool students may enroll in public schools , but they are not required to do so .", "To teach children at home , the teaching parent must meet at least one of the following criteria :", "The teaching parent must annually inform the district of their intent to instruct children at home .", "The children must have all state-mandated vaccinations required of students in public education , with the exception of those under the protection of religious exemption ( i.e. , the tenets of that family 's faith prohibits them from attending school ) .", "Part-time enrollment in public school is rare , but allows for home-instructed students to take some classes ( often higher level math and science or electives like foreign language that parents do n't feel confident teaching ) .", "A homeschooled student may or may not be eligible to play sports for the school in their area , depending on the school .", "Other options not governed by the above include home instruction by a certified tutor with a valid Virginia Board of Education teaching license and religious exemptions .", "The latter , unique to Virginia , is due to a family 's irreconcilable religious difference with a public education .", "This often relates to science and social studies , which may teach information contrary to the beliefs of a particular family .", "If parents present sufficient evidence that a child 's family has religious backing that attending school is abhorrent to their faith , and fill out the proper forms , none of the above is required to instruct a child at home .", "At the end of each year , the district must be provided with written documentation that the student has made academic progress .", "This could be through a letter from an educator holding a master 's degree or higher in education who has evaluated the achievement of the student through the submission of a portfolio or through a report card or transcript from an accredited program ( i.e. , a community college or correspondence program employed as the primary curriculum ) .", "If these are not available , the use of some form of `` nationally normed standardized achievement test '' is required .", "LSB- 29 -RSB- The scores attained must be at or above the twenty-third percentile .", "Some tests that may be used include the `` Stanford Achievement Test , the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills ( CTBS ) , the California Achievement Tests ( CAT ) , the Iowa Test of Basic Skills ( ITBS-TAP ) , Science Research Associates ( SRA ) , or the Woodcock-Johnson Educational Battery . ''", "Because homeschoolers do not receive a diploma from the state of Virginia , one of the major struggles faced is entering community college or higher education .", "Those who do correspondence curricula get diplomas from the program , while others get GEDs .", "LSB- 32 -RSB- Children who receive home instruction are not required to take the SOL examinations , which may contribute to the inability to obtain a diploma accredited by the state .", "However , this does not stop many homeschooled students in Virginia from going to college and studying a wide variety of subjects .", "It just means that there is a lot of consideration given to scores on achievement tests like the SATs and the Advanced Placement exams .", "Under Washington state law RCW 28A .225.010 education is compulsory for children eight or older or if the child has been officially enrolled in public school .", "Washington does require ( RCW 28A .225.010 ) that homeschools teach reading , writing , spelling , language , math , science , social studies , history , health , occupational education , art and music appreciation .", "However , the subjects do not have to be taught separately , and the state does not require a timeline or schedule to be submitted or adhered to , other than to meet the requirements of a yearly evaluation .", "Each year the student must be evaluated according to law RCW28A .200.010 , in the form of :", "The tests are confidential and only the parent receives a copy .", "The Washington Homeschooling Organization ( WHO ) keeps a list of the individuals who may administer the tests , or non-test evaluation .", "Both the tests and results are required to be kept per RCW 28A .200.010 but does not specify in what form they be kept ( Original or photocopy ) , they are not required by any state agency and parents do not have to share them .", "However , the records can , and probably will be requested by a school administration if the parents later decide to enroll their children in formal schooling .", "The state requires immunization records in accordance with law , and requests that further records be kept on instructional and educational activities .", "To start homeschooling parents must annually file a Declaration of Intent to Provide Home Based Instruction RCW 28A .200.010 and be state qualified to homeschool ( RCW 28A .225.010 ) .", "States also differ in their requirements regarding testing and assessment .", "Following the general trend toward easing requirements , fewer than half the states now require any testing or assessment .", "In some states , homeschoolers are required either to submit the results of a standardized test ( sometimes from an established list of tests ) or to have a narrative evaluation done by a qualified teacher .", "Other states give parents wide latitude in the type of assessment to be submitted .", "Again , using California as an example , students enrolled in a public program are encouraged to take the same year-end standardized tests that all public school students take , but students using tutors or enrolled in any private school , homeschool or not , are not required to take any tests .", "Texas also does not require standardized tests for any student outside the public school arena , and absence of such tests can not be used to discriminate against enrollment in higher education .", "There are also differences between the states in graduating children from homeschools .", "In states where homeschools must be , or can be operated as any other private school , graduation requirements for all private schools in that state generally also apply to the homeschools .", "Some state education laws have no graduation requirements for private schools , leaving it up to the private schools to determine which students meet graduation requirements , and thus allow homeschoolers the same privilege .", "( For example , as stated above , Texas considers homeschools equivalent to unaccredited private schools . )", "In yet other states , homeschoolers receive no official recognition equivalent to graduation .", "Independent homeschoolers in Florida , for example , can not truthfully claim to have graduated , even after completing twelve years of homeschooling .", "( However , Florida does grant such students equal access to the state 's system of public colleges and universities . )", "Homeschooling is increasingly becoming recognized as a viable alternative to institutional education , and fewer families are targeted for prosecution .", "In an unintended demonstration of the increasing acceptance of homeschooling , the outgoing Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of California , Delaine Eastin , caused a furor by telling the state legislature that homeschooling was illegal and that families could not form private schools themselves or teach their children without credentials .", "She called for a legislative `` solution '' to the growing `` problem '' of homeschooling .", "The legislature balked at taking any action .", "Then , Ms. Eastin 's successor , Jack O'Connell , instructed his legal staff to review the state laws .", "Homeschooling advocates were informed by one of the Department of Education attorneys that the state was reversing the position it had taken under Ms. Eastin 's tenure .", "Statements that parents could not teach their own children or form their own private schools were removed from the state Department of Education website .", "Although some officials still maintain traditional views , truancy prosecutions in California are much rarer now than they were under Ms. Eastin 's leadership .", "Those prosecutions that are still pursued routinely fail , and district attorneys now usually refuse to file such cases .", "Curriculum requirements vary from state to state .", "Some states require homeschoolers to submit information about their curriculum or lesson plans .", "Other states ( such as Texas ) just require that certain subjects be covered and do not require submission of the curriculum .", "Still others , such as North Carolina , view homeschools as a type of private school , affording each homeschool the freedom to choose the curriculum appropriate for its students .", "While many complete curricula are available from a wide variety of secular and religious sources , many families choose to use a variety of resources to cover the required subjects .", "In fact , it is not uncommon for a homeschooled student to earn a number of college credits from a 2 - or 4-year college before completing the 12th grade .", "Some states offer public-school-at-home programs .", "These online or virtual , public schools ( usually charter schools ) mimic major aspects of the homeschooling paradigm , for example , instruction occurs outside of a traditional classroom , usually in the home .", "However , students in such programs are truly public school students and are subject to all or most of the requirements of other public school students .", "When parents enroll their children in such a program , they effectively surrender control over the curriculum and program to the public school , although a casual observer might think they are homeschooling .", "Some public-school-at-home programs give parents leeway in curriculum choice ; others require use of a specified curriculum .", "Full parental or student control over the curriculum and program , however , is a hallmark feature of homeschooling .", "Taxpayers pay the cost of providing books , supplies , and other needs , for public-school-at-home students , just as they do for conventional public school students .", "The U.S. Constitution 's prohibition against establishing religion applies to public-school-at-home programs , so taxpayer money can not lawfully be used to purchase a curriculum that is religious in nature .", "A minority of states have statutes that require public schools to give homeschooled students access to district resources , such as school libraries , computer labs , extracurricular activities , or even academic courses .", "In some communities , homeschoolers meet with a teacher periodically for curriculum review and suggestions .", "The laws of some states give districts the option of giving homeschooled students access to such resources .", "Public libraries will also foster homeschooling .", "Librarians are able to aid in the procurement of resources needed for homeschooling such as internet access , database access , and interlibrary loan material .", "Striking up a conversation with a librarian might lead to new knowledge about available resources , as librarians work with homeschooled patrons often .", "Access to interscholastic athletic competition varies from state to state .", "Many students choose to pursue higher education at the college or university level , some through dual enrollment while in high school and through standardized tests such as the College Level Examination Program ( CLEP ) and DANTES Subject Standard Tests ( DSST ) .", "The College Board recommends that homeschooled students keep detailed records and portfolios to aid them in the admission process .", "Over the last several decades , US colleges and universities have become increasingly open to accepting homeschooled students .", "LSB- 40 -RSB- 75 % of colleges and universities have an official policy for homeschool admissions .", "LSB- 41 -RSB- 95 % have received applications from homeschoolers for admission .", "LSB- 41 -RSB- Documents that may be required for admission vary , but may include ACT/SAT scores , essays , high school transcript , letters of recommendation , SAT 2 scores , personal interviews , portfolio , and a GED .", "LSB- 41 -RSB- 78 % of admissions officers expect homeschooled students to do as well or better than traditional high school graduates at college .", "LSB- 41 -RSB- Students coming from a homeschool graduated from college at a higher rate than their peers \u00ac -- 66.7 percent compared to 57.5 percent -- and earned higher grade point averages along the way .", "Such students have matriculated at over 900 different colleges and universities , including institutions with highly selective standards of admission such as the US military academies , Rice University , Haverford College , Harvard University , Stanford University , Cornell University , Brown University , Dartmouth College , and Princeton University .", "LSB- 43 -RSB- -LSB- citation needed -RSB- In 1994 , Jason Taylor was a homeschool football player in Pennsylvania who engaged a legal battle against the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( N.C.A.A. , the leading oversight association governing U.S. collegiate athletics ) and its classification of homeschool athletes as essentially high school dropouts .", "Taylor 's legal victory has provided a precedent for thousands of other homeschool athletes to compete in colleges and attain the same opportunities in education and professional development that other athletes enjoy .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- Other homeschool students who have risen to the top of collegiate competition include N.C.A.A. 2005 champion tennis player , Chris Lam , Kevin Johnson of the University of Tulsa basketball team , 2010-2011 Big South Player of the Year Jesse Sanders of the Liberty University Flames and the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow from the University of Florida .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- In 2012 , another homeschool student was a Heisman Trophy finalist : Collin Klein of Kansas State University .", "LSB- citation needed -RSB- In Texas , Six-Man Football has also been popular among homeschoolers , with at least five teams being fielded for the 2008-2009 season .", "Interestingly enough , the top 3 places in the Texas Independent State Championship ( TISC , also referred to as `` the Ironman Bowl '' ) were claimed by homeschool teams .", "There are several national homeschooling advocacy groups , such as :", "There are many homeschooling conventions and conferences featuring exhibitors and workshops .", "There are two main types of homeschooling conventions : public and organization ( Christian , Secular , Catholic ) .", "Some larger shows in the United States include , but are n't limited to the following :"], "_citing_sentence": "The Court in Pierce v. Society of Sisters and Wisconsin v. Yoder recognised that the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing of children under their control extends to the religious faith that is imparted to the children.", "_claim_name": "The provision of school prayer fundamentally undermines the proper role of the parents or guardians of the child.", "_doc_title": "Homeschooling in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", "_labeled_lineIDs": [45, 46]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Language Liberalism Freethought BirdsVerbing Weirds Language only if you 're expecting it to work in a simple way .", "This is a special case of the more general truth that Language Weirds.Only when a republic 's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong .", "There is no other time.The church says Earth is flat ; but I have seen its shadow on the moon , and I have more confidence in a shadow than the church.If we ca n't find Heaven , there are always bluejays .", "Verbing Weirds Language only if you 're expecting it to work in a simple way .", "Only when a republic 's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong .", "The church says Earth is flat ; but I have seen its shadow on the moon , and I have more confidence in a shadow than the church.If we ca n't find Heaven , there are always bluejays .", "If we ca n't find Heaven , there are always bluejays .", "So , a Hindu cleric opened the Senate.Here is the text of his prayer : Let us pray .", "We meditate on the transcendental Glory of the Deity Supreme , who is inside the heart of the Earth , inside the life of the sky , and inside the soul of the Heaven .", "May He stimulate and illuminate our minds.Lead us from the unreal to the real , from darkness to light , and from death to immortality .", "May we be protected together .", "May we be nourished together .", "May we work together with great vigor .", "May our study be enlightening .", "May no obstacle arise between us.May the Senators strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world , performing their duties with the welfare of others always in mind , because by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life .", "May they work carefully and wisely , guided by compassion and without thought for themselves.United your resolve , united your hearts , may your spirits be as one , that you may long dwell in unity and concord.Peace , peace , peace be unto all .", "Lord , we ask You to comfort the family of former First Lady , Lady Bird Johnson .", "Amen.Seems pretty `` non-denominational '' and harmless , does n't it ?", "Like most prayers offered at political events , unless they 're deliberately catering to one group or another - and certainly like those offered by the Senate Chaplain , whose website states : The Office of the Chaplain is nonpartisan , nonpolitical , and nonsectarian .", "( After all , anything else would be unconstitutional .", "Not to mention dangerous . )", "The president is n't nonsectarian , of course - even when he might feel the urge .", "For instance , when he addressed the nation after the Columbia crash , his words included this : In the skies today , we saw destruction and tragedy .", "Yet farther than we can see , there is comfort and hope .", "In the words of the prophet Isaiah , ` Lift your eyes and look to the heavens .", "Who created all these ?", "He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name .", "Because of his great power and mighty strength , not one of them is missing .", "` The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today .", "The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to earth , yet we can pray that all are safely home.Not very non-sectarian ; although Kalpana Chawla was a practicing Hindu , our practicing Christian president quoted from his holy book .", "I 'm not saying he should have quoted from a Veda ( though it would have been a nice gesture , I doubt he could have brought himself to do it and perhaps he should n't have to ) - but would it have killed him to be non-sectarian ?", "Judging by the way a lot of people react to `` watered-down '' prayers , he might have thought so.But , the Senate Chaplain ( and those who are invited ) are supposed to be `` non-sectarian '' .", "Non-sectarian : Merriam-Webster defines that as `` not restricted to or dominated by a particular religious group . ''", "Clearly , if you mean to do that , you have to be very vague in your prayer .", "Rajan Zed was pretty non-sectarian in his prayer ( if those Christians who protested had n't known he was Hindu , I doubt they could have told from these words ) .", "`` Transcendental '' and `` the soul of the Heaven '' - those are n't commonly heard in Protestant prayers , but they 're not obviously Hindu .", "Yet , pagans who worship a goddess are n't included in prayers to any `` Lord '' , nor are deists or animists ... let alone , of course , atheists.But can you really pray to a god so vague that everyone is more or less satisfied ?", "( I hear the Unitarians manage pretty well .", "But of course lots of Christians hate Unitarians ... and have for centuries . )", "Well , it can be done - sort of.Here 's a genuninely nondenominational prayer for a dying person ( often called ` The Agnostic 's Prayer , it was written by Roger Zelazny for one of the characters in Creatures of Light and Darkness ) : `` Insofar as I may be heard by anything , which may or may not care what I say , I ask , if it matters , that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness .", "Conversely , if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body , I ask that this , whatever it may be , be granted or withheld , as the case may be , in such a manner as to insure said benefit .", "I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself , but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing , and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony .", "`` Less well known - though shorter , funnier , and singable , is this hymn from a sketch from A Bit of Fry & Laurie : We worship you , o god or gods , Whoever you may be.We realise that you operateSupernaturally.We thank you for the birds and bees , For creatures live or dead.But if you actually do n't exist , Then ignore what we 've just said.You see the problem , do n't you ?", "As the headmaster in that sketch said , meeting the needs of all his pupils was important - `` any religious package that we offer must take account of all those differences under a basic overarching umbrella ... What we 've done is to sweep away all these old divisions and basically invent an entirely new religion .", "A kind of religious Esperanto , if you like .", "`` A religious Esperanto.I do n't think that satisfies anyone.Christians want real Christian prayers ; Jews do n't want Jesus ; and so on .", "And I mean , we have n't quite reached the stage where we add `` if not , then not '' clause .", "Non-sectarian is as unsatisfying to anyone as fat-free or artificial anything else.No public religion is better than this `` one size fits most '' , is n't it?Labels : freethought In the words of the prophet Isaiah , ` Lift your eyes and look to the heavens .", "Because of his great power and mighty strength , not one of them is missing . '", "The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today .", "The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to earth , yet we can pray that all are safely home .", "Judging by the way a lot of people react to `` watered-down '' prayers , he might have thought so .", "But , the Senate Chaplain ( and those who are invited ) are supposed to be `` non-sectarian '' .", "Post 's permalink - posted at 5:46 PM I have never even understood what they are praying for .", "If it is for Divine Guidance in leading the country towards peace , justice and prosperity for all , it 's fairly damning evidence against the power of prayer now , is n't it ?", "I do agree .", "It 's all part of the `` God is on our side '' way of thinking .", "( Who was it said the important thing was to be on God 's side ? )", "Anyway , IMO , we should n't have a Chaplain for the Senate in the first place .", "If we do , then the more watered-down and non-sectarian he is , the better .", "Like `` In God We Trust , all others pay cash '' , this sort of `` religion '' leads to jokes and loss .", "And the sooner , the better .", "Very stimulating piece .", "So much so that I posted my own piece and referenced this post there ."], "_citing_sentence": "The incorporation of any or all such addresses into a single prayer at best confuses its meaning, and at worst renders it meaningless.", "_claim_name": "Prayers in public schools are inherently discriminatory against those who are not of the same faith.", "_doc_title": "The Greenbelt: The futility of \"non-denominational\" prayer", "_labeled_lineIDs": [36]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 140, "_topic_name": "This House would prohibit school prayer"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["In the middle of August this year the South African Rugby Union announced a return of racial quotas in the countries secondary competition , the Vodacom Cup .", "The racial quota rules will be that 7 of the 22-man match-day squad must be black , of which 2 must be forwards , and 5 must be in the starting line-up .", "The aim of the return of the racial quotas is to produce more top-level black players .", "Within the South African Rugby Union it is seen as an embarrassment that England and France are producing more top-level black rugby players than they are .", "Historically , in apartheid South Africa , rugby was seen as a ` white sport ' , with the majority of black South Africans preferring football .", "The lack of black South Africans playing rugby was a concern , and so to encourage development , racial quotas were first introduced in South African rugby in 1999 , but were scrapped 5-years later without a considerable rise in black rugby players .", "Similarly the South African cricket team had similar racial quotas in place until 2007 .", "When I first started to write this article , my thinking was very much that the introduction of quotas of any kind in sport was a bad thing ; and that players should be selected on ability and merit , and not the colour of their skin , background or religion .", "However , the more I researched for this article , the more I found out about the reasoning behind the quotas , and so it got me thinking ; surely anything that encourages participation in sport from all corners of the community is a good thing ?", "The question that still burns with me though is that the South African Rugby Union has previously implemented racial quotas , before later abandoning the idea .", "So what is different this time ?", "Surely more can be done than just the implementation of a quota ?", "The other burning question is ; how will white players react ?", "How will someone feel who has worked hard and played well only to see their place given to someone else , not because they are a better player , but because of the colour of their skin ?", "I mentioned earlier the South African cricket team , they previously had racial quotas and this led to many white players who were being over-looked because of the colour of their skin to move overseas and ply their trade elsewhere .", "This was to the obvious benefit of the England Cricket Team who now fields a whole host of naturalised South Africans .", "Without being alarmist , could a similar scenario develop with rugby players ?", "I like the idea of getting people from all walks of life engaged in participation sport .", "Variety and diversity are after all the spice of life .", "But maybe they should be looking to engage with community groups and using role models to encourage players to take up rugby over football .", "Maybe I am over-analysing it , but football is seen as the ` world game ' , and all over the world rugby faces the challenge from football for player attention and participation .", "This is not a problem isolated to South Africa .", "Australia , New Zealand , England , Wales , France , Italy , Argentina , the list goes on for countries where participation in rugby is falling and participation in football rising .", "The only difference is with South Africa is that rugby was historically seen as a ` white sport ' .", "But in England , rugby is seen as the ` middle-England ' or ` posh ' sport with the derogatory term ` rugger-bugger ' often thrown around .", "Cut through the colour of people 's skin and the problem of participation in rugby runs deeper .", "Now I admit , I am not South African .", "I have not lived there or even been there .", "So maybe I am missing the point completely .", "I agree that anything to encourage diversity in sport should be actively encouraged .", "I just believe there may be a better way than racial quotas that have previously been shown not to work .", "I 'd really welcome people 's opinions on this .", "I know it 's a sensitive topic but would encourage anyone to provide me with feedback or more insight into the problems facing domestic South African Rugby ."], "_citing_sentence": "The talent pool in South African rugby is not as racially diverse as one would expect from the \"Rainbow Nation\" - some commentators have argued that England and France produce more top level black players than South Africa.", "_claim_name": "Broadening participation", "_doc_title": "South African Rugby Quotas \u2013 Right or Wrong? | Sporting Mad", "_labeled_lineIDs": [3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By James Peacock", "The first black coach of the Springboks says the South African Rugby Union is `` wasting its time '' by introducing a new racial quota system .", "From next year teams playing in the Vodacom Cup - the professional third tier of competition in South Africa behind the Currie Cup and Super Rugby - will have to field seven non-white players in their 22-man squads .", "But Peter de Villiers , who was head coach of the Springboks between 2008 and 2011 , is against the idea and says it will not help to produce elite players .", "He told BBC Sport : `` It 's the worst decision they could make .", "`` I do n't think the SARU understands its purpose in life .", "`` Everybody will believe that these players will be picked because people are looking out for them . ''", "The 14 provincial sides who will bound by the new rules will have to play five of the seven players in their starting XV .", "Two of them will have to be forwards .", "In a statement , SARU president Oregan Hoskins said the aim was to provide opportunities for young emerging players , particularly black players .", "He added : `` The intended outcome is an increased pool of black talent from which Currie Cup and Super Rugby coaches can select and - in due course - more options for the Springbok coach . ''", "Although there has never been an official quota system in place for Super Rugby teams or the South Africa national side , they accept that they can not field all-white teams .", "There are currently nine black players in the 30-man South Africa squad for the Rugby Championship , which gets under way on Saturday .", "Some teams that play in the Vodacom Cup such as Western Province , Boland and Border are already on target to meet the guidelines set out by the SARU - but there are big disparities between clubs .", "Western Province often fielded nine black players in their 22-man squad and made the semi-finals of the competition last year - but the team that won the tournament , the Golden Lions , had just two .", "Across the division the number of non-white players will increase from about 6 % to 33 % .", "De Villiers , who is now in charge of rugby at the University of Western Cape in Cape Town , said he never felt the need for a quota system when he was in charge of the Springboks .", "He added : `` They -LSB- SARU -RSB- make people believe they care about who is coming through the system - but they only do that to tick some boxes .", "`` They like to report these things but you do n't see the difference in reality .", "`` It 's not the first time they have tried to put these things in place and they have never worked .", "`` It will only ever work if there is a transformation period in people 's hearts .", "`` If there is n't I think they are wasting their time . ''", "De Villiers stood down as head coach of South Africa after the World Cup in 2011 .", "His time in charge of the national side was colourful and controversial , partly down to his outspoken nature and sometimes because of his fractious relationship with sections of the media .", "Hoskins confirmed after his appointment in 2008 that De Villiers had been an ` affirmative-action ' choice ."], "_citing_sentence": "Across the division where the quotas will come in only about 6% of players are black, a number that should increase to 33%.", "_claim_name": "Radical action needed for racial equality in South Africa", "_doc_title": "Peter de Villiers says racial quotas are 'waste of time' - BBC Sport", "_labeled_lineIDs": [15]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 141, "_topic_name": "This House supports racial quotas in South African rugby"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual"], ["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Ms. Magazine Blog If someone assaulted you , would you want to then cheer for his performance on a basketball court ?", "A 16-year-old Texas high school student sure did n't .", "High school football star Rakheem Bolton and two others were indicted for sexual assault of a child -- identified only as H.S. -- at a post-game party in 2008 .", "According to H.S. -- a fellow student and cheerleader at Silsbee High -- Bolton , football player Christian Rountree and another juvenile male forced her into a room , locked the door , held her down and sexually assaulted her .", "When other party-goers tried to get into the room , two of the men fled through an open window , including Bolton , who left clothing behind .", "Bolton allegedly threatened to shoot the occupants of the house when the homeowner refused to return his clothes .", "In September 2010 , Bolton pled guilty to a lesser charge of Class A Assault and was sentenced to one year in prison , a sentence that was suspended by the judge in lieu of two years probation , a $ 2,500 fine , community service and an anger management course .", "Silsbee school officials had two responses to the incident .", "First , they urged H.S. to keep a low profile , such as avoiding the school cafeteria and not taking part in homecoming activities .", "With the support of her family , she refused to do so , rejecting the notion that she had anything to be ashamed of .", "Secondly , school officials kicked her off the cheerleading squad for refusing to cheer for Bolton .", "Bolton had been allowed back on campus during a brief period when one grand jury withdrew the charges before another grand jury reinstated them .", "During a basketball game , H.S. cheered for the entire team but refused to cheer `` Rakheem '' during his free-throws , so she was off the squad .", "H.S. 's parents sued the school for violating her right to free speech , but an appeals court dismissed her case earlier this month .", "The bizarre reasoning : `` In her capacity as cheerleader , -LSB- she -RSB- served as a mouthpiece through which the school could disseminate speech -- namely , support for its athletic teams . ''", "Not cheering for Bolton `` constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because , as a cheerleader , -LSB- she -RSB- was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering , a position she undertook voluntarily . ''", "In other words , the `` work of the school '' is basketball , and H.S. was obligated to put on a robotic smile and cheer for the man who had assaulted her .", "Silsbee High School officials should be held accountable for their actions .", "Richard Bain , Jr. , the superintendent of schools , allegedly ordered H.S. to cheer for her attacker .", "Why do n't you tell him what you think ?", "You can contact Bain and the school 's new principal , Eldon Franco :", "Richard Bain Jr. , Superintendent , Silsbee Independent School District , 415 Highway 327 West , Silsbee , TX , 77656 ; rbain@silsbeeisd.org; (409)\u00a0980-7800", "Eldon Franco , Principal , Silsbee High School , 1575 Highway 96 North , Silsbee , TX , 77656-4799 ; efranco@silsbeeisd.org; (409)\u00a0980-7800", "Edited Photo from Flickr.com user DeusXFlorida through Creative Commons License 2.0", "Time for a leap into modern times and realize that rapists are nothing but lowly little criminals , and their victims have every right to dignity and grace .", "This woman should hold her head high , while the criminals hide THEIRS in shame .", "Clearly , this brave young lady has suffered .", "Clearly , school officials have identified H.S. as having a need for specially designed educational instruction .", "After all , they `` urged H.S. to keep a low profile , such as avoiding the school cafeteria and not taking part in homecoming activities . ''", "Are these recommendations made for all typical students in relation to their educational needs ?", "The school district and its officials have an obligation to identify the individual needs of H.S. , make appropriate adaptations and recommendations to facilitate and enable H.S. to access and benefit from all educational activities ( including lunch and homecoming ! )", "afforded to other students .", "Good for H.S. and her family ... for rejecting the ridiculous , inappropriate , and self-serving , exclusionary recommendations and adaptations .", "I am confident the school district would like for H.S. ( and her family as well ) to keep a low profile .", "Golly gee ... sure would n't want anyone to know the school district has knowledge of a known danger running up and down their basketball court and in the school .", "Many words , terms and thoughts are coming to mind ... that perhaps are worth exploring .", "For example , Civil Rights violations , ADA title ll , prior knowledge of a known danger , willful and reckless endangerment , undue delay , abuse of power and position , whistle blower protection , female victim ( aka . .", "minority ) , equal access ... ... I hope the family reads this and finds a really good Civil Rights attorney who is familiar with educational and federal laws .", "H.S. and her family should be protected ... not abused .", "I am from Houston , Texas and take my word for it sports are king .", "Anything to protect an athlete .", "If they were innocent why jump out the window .", "A girl would be up a creek without a paddle against any kind of athlete .", "Why were there 3 boys and why was the door locked .", "Because in Texas athletes get what they want and when they want it .", "Report I am shocked at this post .", "I am a former student of this high school and was a senior at the time of this situation .", "The High School is being completely misrepresented .", "H.S is someone I know personally and I truly grieve for her and this situation but to have petitions and send emails to the superintendent and principal are causing more harm than good .", "I know both of these men and they are good kind people with good families who are being unfairly involved in situation that spun completely out of control due to the irresponsible actions of at the time 17 year olds .", "I 'm not saying that every decision made was the right one but there was a lot of stories going around during this time , and each day the story seemed to change .", "Its been 2 years and our town and her family is still suffering from one night of stupidity from many people .", "I just wish a decision would be made , and that innocent people would be left out of it .", "P.S Principle Eldon Franco was not even the principle , nor in the district at the time of the incident .", "It is always hard to hear bad things being said about somebody you know , but to say that a sxual assault is just an irresponsible actionof 17 year olds is crazy .", "When people are trying to get into a room and you escape through a window after assaulting somebody you know what you participated in was wrong .", "People from good families do bad things all the time and to excuse their behavior and just let it go is wrong .", "This petiion is important because schools need to know they need to put more effort into protecting victims and preventing these crimes as they do into protecting the perpetrators .", "If the message is not sent that this is unacceptable it will just happen again .", "If anyone was kicked off a team it should have been the assailant !", "Unbelievable that the school tried to hide the girl and tell her not to go to the cafeteria .", "The school board ought to suspend the school officials who mishandled this from the beginning .", "I 'm sorry , but there is no excuse for their actions no matter HOW good a family they may come from .", "The fact remains that this girl is being punished by the school , while the perpetrator has NOT .", "Why should that be allowed to stand ?", "It should n't .", "And those in charge need to be held accountable for THEIR decisions .", "How is the high school being misrepresented ?", "By not expelling a student convicted of sexual assault ?", "So it 's okay that a rapist still attends that school and plays sports ?", "Their priorities are very clear - the male atheletes can get away with sexual assault .", "`` Good kind people '' ?!", "I do n't know a single good , kind person who would do that to someone .", "Those kdis should have gone to juvie or jail .", "There is no reason for them to get away with it .", "That girl should be protected , not kicked off her squad for refusing to cheer on a rapist .", "Sure , it was at a basketball game , but cheering for him would give the impression that nothing happened and that she forgives him which is completely untrue .", "No person in the world should have to suffer by having their body violated without their permission .", "This is n't something the school should have taken lightly and it spun out of control because a girl was molested and her attackers are playing sports !", "That is n't stupidity that happened , it was rape pure and simple .", "Do n't make a molehill out of a mountain .", "there is NO excuse for what these guys have done .", "it should n't matter if he was the star althete or the nerd who hangs in the chemistry lab after school .", "WHAT HE DID WAS WRONG !!!", "Rape is serious , and to make HS hide around the school and walk the opposite way if she happens to see Rakheem in the same hallway , thats ridiculous .", "it is obvious what the schools main priorities are , and it 's just wrong .", "it was her right to refuse to cheer for that lowlife , and it was her right to attend school functions like any other student .", "for you to say it was just an irresponsible action made by some 17 year olds , makes me wonder where YOUR priorities are .", "you may as well have been one of the ones to assault her .", "This young lady was my best friend in high school and we cheered together .", "sadly all the cheerleaders turned their backs on her exept for me .", "If you were raped by a stupid athlete would u seriously cheer for him .", "i think not .", "this idiot should not have ever been allowed back on the court .", "he was in the wrong , not her .", "nevertheless , she won thank God :) In the end , yes ... she is ultimately the winner and one day , people will see that .", "And should he do this again , and there is NO QUESTION he will , the courts and those who either turned a blind eye or insisted he was innocent will have no one but themselves to blame .", "he is a product of his environment , a criminal of their OWN making .", "Alas , she did n't win .", "The latest reports ( from www .", "com ) say that the Supreme Court would n't even listen to her case , and has fined her FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS for bringing a `` frivolous '' lawsuit against the school .", "FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS .", "As a fine against the victim of an underage RAPE for refusing to carry on like notihng ever happened , and for not bouncing around cheering him personally .", "They 're trying to raise the money to cover this insanity ; there 's a place you can donate on the link .", "Good god , why would n't the Supreme Court even give her a chance to talk to them ?", "Why would they fine her family a decent year 's income without even bothering to listen to her first ?", "This is absolutely so Bizarro world I can barely even wrap my head around it .", "She should sell her story to Hollywood and make a shitload off it ; perhaps she can finally get some good out of it .", "At the very least she can self-publish a book if writes it up and ca n't find a publisher .", "Wow , i wouldnt want to cheer for someome who did that to me as well .", "The officials are so wrong .", "My ten years in Texas showed me that Texans are , generally speaking , homophobic , sexist , racist and totally lacking in empathy .", "No intelligent person would choose to raise their family there and I arm myself heavily every time I must visit that state .", "If this family truly cares about the well-being of their daughter they will pack up and move out of the southwest sewer of Texas .", "I 've signed the petition in support of this brave teen cheerleader to finally get the justice she deserves .", "Punishing and victimizing her is outrageous while just giving the rapist athlete a mild slap on the hand if at all .", "The criminal justice system in this country is weak when it comes to sexual crimes .", "Even if these boys were younger than eighteen , they still should have been thrown in jail for at least two years , and had their record charged as sexual offenders !", "That poor girl - clearly there is no sympathy , and a whole lot of sexism at her school and in her community .", "OMG !!!!! That 's Terrible .", "Just TERRIBLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOO SAD", "So why , instead of trying to ` hide ' the victim did the school administration not suspend the assailant ?", "Why was he allowed to continue to enjoy playing basketball as if nothing happened ?", "I 'd feel insulted and angry if I was the parent of the victim and leave no stone unturned to get justice for my daughter .", "If this was your daughter , sister , mother , would you feel the same way ?", "Obviously the first step to NOT cheering for him would be to not go to game to cheer since she knew he was on the team .", "It 's also not surprising why the school wanted to keep a low profile on the situation .", "I do n't think it was meant to benefit any one person in particular but it seems most beneficial to the victim that she be encouraged and allowed to avoid certain school activities .", "Once she makes it clear she wants to go to the game anyway they expected her to cheer and not draw attention or drama to the fact that she blatantly did n't cheer for the guy who assaulted her .", "It 's just really clear to me that the school was avoiding confrontation , increased school drama and gossip , and possible additional emotional trauma to the girl .", "Upsetting her by firing her from the squad may have been considered an acceptable evil , yet worthwhile if it meant upholding the previous avoidance 's that I mentioned .", "Why should this girl change HER life because if him ?", "From some of the other articles , it seems that the girl was following her rape counselor 's advice to continue the activities she enjoyed doing .", "I think there is difference between thoughtfully protecting the girl from `` possible additional trauma '' and telling her to stop going to the cafeteria .", "What is even more surprising is DA Sheffield has a daughter .", "Would he want her to cheer for her perp ?", "I doubt it .", "This is truly disgusting , not to mention a MAJOR INJUSTICE .", "Im so proud of not standing sports of any kind ... .", "This is so ridiculous and even more so that her attacker is allowed to go to school with her and continue playing sports like nothing happened in his life vs paying for what he did to her .", "What kind of backwards place is America when something like this can happened .", "She should be allowed to cheer and he should be forced into nightschool if they do n't have the balls to send him to prison .", "He pleaded guilty to assault .", "Even though something sexual probably did happen .", "That is just hearsay .", "The only obligation the school has is to keep him away from her , but since she is a cheerleader and he is an athlete , she is choosing to be around him .", "So yes , as the article states , she was supposed to continue business as usual .", "She probably could have worked something out with her coach to not cheer for any games in which he played , or she could have done something for cheer in a smaller capacity that did n't need her to cheer for anyone in particular , or she could have quit .", "The school was not going to punish him for an assault charge that had nothing to do with the school .", "I think she should have gotten a restraining order against him .", "That way she would have had the `` right of way '' and he would have to stay clear of her .", "I do n't know how the school would handle the situation in that scenario .", "This situation is unfortunate , but the school spent money on legal fees .", "That is money out of the schools budget that needs to be recouped , and the easiest way for the school to get it back is from the people that sued them .", "Somehow the school system , as well as the court of law , managed to prioritize everything upside down in this case .", "Personally , I believe that a rape conviction should carry a mandatory charge of life in prison .", "This case is MIND-NUMBING .", "The school should have placed the rapist in an alternative school setting for a minimum of 60 days .", "He should not have been allowed to play his basketball games .", "The girl needs to hire a high powered attorney on a contingency basis to see what all of her rights have been trampled on .", "Then she should sue the rapist for the assault if he does n't get any other punishment .", "Personally , I believe that a rape conviction should carry"], "_citing_sentence": "This can lead to anger when they are turned down, which can escalate to sexual  violence against women, for example, the case of the high school cheerleader who was sexually assaulted by a member of her basketball team that she cheered for.", "_claim_name": "Professional cheerleading sexualises teenagers and young women", "_doc_title": "Cheerleader Required to Cheer for Man Who Assaulted Her", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["By Erik Brady , USA TODAY", "Forget the American archetype of blond cheerleader in tight sweater pining for the muscled quarterback .", "The world of cheer no longer means sideline squads that exist solely to support other teams .", "They are teams in their own right these days , not so different in some respects from the football and basketball teams for which they traditionally cheer .", "College and high school cheerleaders compete for national championships .", "They risk terrible injury .", "They get recruited for college scholarships .", "And , in some cases , they put in more practice hours than the football team .", "If that sounds like the world turned upside down , consider this : In 2001 , Varsity Spirit", "Corp. sold its Riddell Group Division , a leading maker of football helmets .", "`` Football is not growing , '' says Jeffrey Webb , president and CEO .", "We looked at it and decided we were better off alone . ''", "You can argue whether cheerleading is a sport -- as many as 20 state high school organizations say it is -- but not whether it is a business .", "Shout this into the nearest megaphone : Cheerleading , that uniquely American exemplar of earnest enthusiasm , is now an industry .", "Crop or body suit : $ 20", "Pom-Pom : $ 18 per pair", "Source : National Cheerleading Association", "There are about 3 million cheerleaders in the USA , and perhaps half as many more on dance teams .", "Varsity Spirit , largest of about 50 companies catering to their needs , had revenue approaching $ 150 million last year .", "American Cheerleader magazine made its debut in 1994 and now boasts 200,000 in circulation with readership of 1 million .", "What 's going on ?", "When babyboomers were growing up , cheerleading was a quasi-athletic opportunity for girls who had few full-fledged ones .", "Title IX changed that .", "One might have expected fewer cheerleaders 30 years later .", "Instead , to borrow the word of a character from the 2000 teen flick Bring It On , we live these days in a `` cheer-ocracy . ''", "An estimated half-million cheerleaders attend cheer camps each summer .", "The past 10 years has seen the rise of All Star programs , in which kids as young as 6 begin intensive cheer programs with an emphasis on gymnastics .", "All Star programs exist apart from schools , like AAU basketball teams : They cheer only to compete .", "By the count of Gwen Holtsclaw , president of Cheer Limited , there are about 1,500 All Star programs in the USA operating in 613 gyms .", "These burgeoning programs feed high schools and colleges .", "The University of Kentucky , which awards full in-state tuition scholarships , is a 12-time national champ .", "Jokes cheer adviser T. Lynn Williamson , `` We 're trying to be an inspiration to the basketball team . ''", "Do n't look now , but we live these days in Cheer", "We get morning news from Katie Couric ( cheerleader , Yorktown High , Arlington ,", "We elect George W. Bush ( cheerleader , Phillips Academy ; Andover ,", "We watch Oscar winner Halle Berry ( cheerleader , Bedford ,", "Ohio , High , circa 1980s ) .", "Other former cheerleaders operate behind the scenes .", "America often seeks ex-cheerleaders , especially for sales jobs , where success goes to attractive , energetic and personable people who know how to work a crowd .", "`` I 've got a note on my desk right now from a pharmaceutical company with a sales opening , '' Williamson says .", "`` I get these calls regularly .", "Cheerleaders know how to set goals and how to work hard to attain them .", "They are competitive , and they understand personality and body language . ''", "Organized cheers begin at Princeton University football games 1890s : Yell squads use megaphones at University of Minnesota 1920s : Cheer squads put tumbling execises and pyramids into routines 1940s : Mostly male activity gets more and more females during World War II 1948 : Cheer pioneer", "Lawrence `` Herkie '' Herkimer forms national association 1978 : CBS televises collegiate cheering championships and a genre is born 1980s : Stunts and pyramids grow more complex ; safety guidelines grow apace 1990s : Dance squads , an offshoot of cheerleading , become increasingly popular 2002 : Estimated 3 million cheerleaders and 2 million dance team members in USA", "Bush and Berry manned megaphones in a quainter time , when cheerleaders pulled for their school teams , long before the notion of All Star cheer squads for tykes .", "Traditional cheer teams at high schools and colleges still exist primarily to root for school teams , but many also compete on their own .", "Holtsclaw counts 72 national or regional competitions for college , high school or youth teams .", "That 's up from eight in 1988 .", "Male cheerleaders are indispensable at the highest level of competitive cheer for catching and throwing .", "But in the wider world of cheer , by Holtsclaw 's estimate , 95 % are female , down from 98 % .", "Like boxing , competitions are run by rival sanctioning bodies .", "The biggest , under the auspices of Varsity Spirit , is the Universal", "Cheerleading Association ( UCA ) , whose competitions are staples on ESPN .", "Twelve broadcasts in 2001 were watched by an average of 445,000 households , about the same audience drawn by billiards .", "The Chick-fil-A Collegiate Cheer and Dance Competition , run by the National Cheerleading Association ( NCA ) , will air Saturday afternoon on CBS ( 2 ET ) .", "It was taped this month in Daytona Beach , Fla. .", "There were 183 teams -- 110 cheer and 73 dance -- competing in eight cheer and three dance divisions .", "They qualified by reputation or by sending a video .", "She kept dancin '", "One particular dance routine you wo n't see on TV , though it already is the stuff of legend in cheer and dance circles .", "It had everything :", "True grit , high drama -- and bare breasts .", "Carla Sanchez calls herself very modest , the most modest person she knows .", "`` You have no idea , '' she says .", "`` Not even my mother has seen me naked . ''", "Imagine the dilemma she faced when she and 17 other members of the New York University dance team began the 2-minute , 15-second routine they had worked on for months in hopes of securing a national championship .", "All was fine for about 15 seconds -- until the plastic snap on Sanchez 's spandex top inexplicably came undone .", "Sanchez had an instant to make a very public decision :", "Quickly cover up , as every fiber in her preacher 's - daughter body wanted -- or just keep dancin ' .", "It is the kind of plot twist you might find on Fox 's Boston", "Public : Sanchez danced those last two minutes topless in front of astounded onlookers .", "She believed that if she were out of sync for even a moment , her teammates would be assessed a major deduction , dooming their dream .", "So she soldiered on , never missing a beat .", "You can guess the rest .", "NYU won its division , and Sanchez was acclaimed a hero .", "`` That was very brave , '' said co-captain Carolyn Comparato .", "`` She 's a rock star . ''", "Most in the audience were fellow competitors or parents , true believers in the culture of cheer and dance , and they understood instinctively :", "She was taking one for the team .", "A few men hooted and tossed coins onstage .", "But the atmosphere was more admiring than salacious .", "`` I ca n't believe I just danced topless ! ''", "She asked teammates if there would be a deduction for her uniform coming undone .", "`` We 'll get bonus points ! ''", "Michelle Allison , head judge for dance , explained there was no deduction for the uniform failure .", "But neither would there have been a deduction had Sanchez broken ranks and quickly righted her costume .", "Being out of sync is a major deduction in almost every instance , Allison said , `` but not in an extreme case like this . ''", "No one seemed to know the exception to the rule because no one could remember anything like it happening before -- except in the movies .", "The opening number in Bring It On , No. 1 at the box office in late summer 2000 , features a high-kicking cheer routine in which actress Kirsten", "Dunst loses her top ( demurely , in PG-13 fashion ) .", "She wakes up screaming : It is only a nightmare .", "Sanchez 's nightmare was real -- not so much life imitating art as choreography trumping a teen movie script .", "The University of North Texas charges on stage .", "The music begins .", "Human pyramids form as if by magic .", "Cheerleaders make tumbling passes and fly through the air .", "One thing is missing amid all the radiant , raucous rah-rah .", "Um , no football teams .", "Or , as GQ writer Jim Nelson puts it , `` Nothing to cheer but cheer itself . ''", "This is off-putting only for the uninitiated .", "For believers , it is as it should be .", "` We cheer for us ' `` We 're always cheering for them , '' says Liana Sheintal , a senior cheerleader at George Washington University in Washington , D.C. , and by `` them '' she means GW 's basketball teams .", "`` This is the one time we get to cheer for us . ''", "Sheintal says this as she watches her teammates perform .", "She has an arm in a sling ; she broke her shoulder blade a day before during practice .", "Cheerleading can be risky business : Some cheerleaders in Daytona Beach performed with wrapped ankles and knees .", "`` I am the coach for cheer and adviser for dance , '' says", "Jamie Bero of Clarion ( Pa. ) University .", "`` If there is a conflict in practice times , I go to cheer .", "You ca n't get killed dancing .", "Safety is our top concern . ''", "Memphis coach Cheri Ganong-Robinson says it is important that schools have the right equipment , like harnesses for learning jumps safely .", "She runs a program in which cheerleaders get full in-state tuition scholarships .", "American Cheerleader lists 225 colleges and junior colleges that offer full and partial scholarships -- from Penn State , which awards $ 1,500 annually to cheerleaders who maintain a 3.0 GPA , to Three Rivers", "Community College , Poplar Bluff , Mo. , which awards a dozen full-tuition scholarships .", "Cheerleaders work hard for the money .", "At Memphis , they practice three hours a day , five days a week .", "Add in games and appearances and cheerleaders spend 20-25 hours a week at their craft -- and far more before big competitions .", "`` The big joke on campus is that we practice more than the basketball team , '' Ganong-Robinson says .", "It 's no joke : NCAA rules limit teams to 20 hours a week .", "But cheerleading is n't an NCAA-sponsored sport .", "It 's more like an odd hybrid of gymnastics and show biz -- Mary Lou Retton meets Bob Fosse .", "`` College cheer is all about athletics , '' says Maryland cheer coach Tina Simijoski , who directs the NFL 's Baltimore Ravens cheerleaders .", "`` The pros are more about glamour .", "They 're two different things . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "Because the seeming 'professionals' are only supporting their team and are only there to entertain, it diminishes the overall status of cheerleading as a sport.This is unfair since it is a highly demanding activity that should be considered a sport, and yet the girls and boys who participate in college and high school are not considered real athletes.", "_claim_name": "The excesses of professional cheerleading undermines the reputation of high school and college cheerleading", "_doc_title": "USATODAY.com - Cheerleading in the USA: A sport and an industry", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3, 12]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["By WINNIE HUJAN .", "WHITNEY POINT , N.Y. -- Thirty girls signed up for the cheerleading squad this winter at Whitney Point High School in upstate New York .", "But upon learning they would be waving their pompoms for the girls ' basketball team as well as the boys ' , more than half of the aspiring cheerleaders dropped out .", "The eight remaining cheerleaders now awkwardly adjust their routines for whichever team is playing here on the home court -- `` Hands Up You Guys '' becomes `` Hands Up You Girls '' -- to comply with a new ruling from federal education officials interpreting Title IX , the law intended to guarantee gender equality in student sports .", "`` It feels funny when we do it , '' said Amanda Cummings , 15 , the cheerleading co-captain , who forgot the name of a female basketball player mid-cheer last month .", "Whitney Point is one of 14 high schools in the Binghamton area that began sending cheerleaders to girls ' games in late November , after the mother of a female basketball player in Johnson City , N.Y. , filed a discrimination complaint with the United States Department of Education .", "She said the lack of official sideline support made the girls seem like second-string , and violated Title IX 's promise of equal playing fields for both sexes .", "But the ruling has left many people here and across the New York region booing , as dozens of schools have chosen to stop sending cheerleaders to away games , as part of an effort to squeeze all the home girls ' games into the cheerleading schedule .", "Boys ' basketball boosters say something is missing in the stands at away games , cheerleaders resent not being able to meet their rivals on the road , and even female basketball players being hurrahed are unhappy .", "In Johnson City , students and parents say they have accepted the change even as they question the need for it .", "Several cheerleaders there recalled a game two years ago , long before the complaint , when the squad decided at the last minute to cheer for the girls ' team because a boys ' game was canceled .", "The cheers drowned out directions from the girls ' coach , frustrated the players , and created so much tension that the cheerleaders left before halftime .", "`` They asked , ` Why are you here ? ' ''", "recalled Joquina Spence , 18 , a senior cheerleader .", "`` We told them , ` We 're here to support you , ' and it was a problem because they kept yelling at us . ''", "But , as the New York State Public High School Athletic Association warned in a letter to its 768 members in November , the education department determined that cheerleaders should be provided `` regardless of whether the girls ' basketball teams wanted and/or asked for '' them .", "The ruling followed a similar one in September in the Philadelphia suburbs , and comes as high schools nationwide are redefining the role of cheerleaders in response to parental and legal pressures as well as growing sensitivity to sexism among athletic directors , especially as more women step into those roles .", "Federal education officials would not specify how many Title IX complaints concerning cheerleading the Office for Civil Rights is investigating .", "But a spokesman said the department received 64 complaints nationwide last year concerning unequal levels of publicity given to girls ' and boys ' teams -- which includes the issue of cheerleading -- most from New York state .", "That compares with a total of 28 such complaints over the previous four years .", "Advertisement In September , the Prince George 's County , Md. , public schools agreed to provide publicity equally for its male and female athletes , including cheerleaders at competitive events , as part of a lengthy list of changes after the National Women 's Law Center raised Title IX complaints against the 134,000-student district .", "Last February , a statewide group of physical education teachers in California called for cheerleaders to attend girls ' and boys ' games `` in the same number , and with equal enthusiasm '' as part of its five-year goals .", "And for the first time this fall at Westborough High school in the Boston suburbs , cheerleaders were provided for all the varsity athletic teams , including girls ' field hockey and volleyball .", "`` In our minds , there 's no major or minor sports , '' said Brian Callaghan , Westborough 's athletic director .", "Here in the Binghamton area , three schools named in the original complaint -- two in Elmira , N.Y. , and one in Horseheads -- are rebelling against the ruling , in the latest in a series of arguments over fulfilling the requirements of Title IX , which has been a source of contention among educators , athletes and feminists alike since its adoption in 1972 .", "James Young , a lawyer for the Horseheads Central School District , said cheerleaders there compete in their own tournaments and are not seen as support players .", "He noted that the `` Rowdy Raiders '' pep group is already dispatched to cheer for boys ' and girls ' teams alike .", "Advertisement `` We regard our cheerleaders as athletes , while they are working on a 1970s stereotype that cheerleaders are here to support the boys , '' Mr. Young said of the education department 's ruling .", "`` We have a really solid women 's athletics program and we support it our way . ''", "Richard T. Stank , president of the Southern Tier Athletic Conference , which represents the 17 schools in the Binghamton area named in the complaint , said even some of the school officials and coaches complying with the ruling question its validity .", "`` I do n't see how cheerleaders having to be at boys ' and girls ' games is what Title IX was set up to do , '' he said .", "Under Title IX , all schools and colleges that receive federal money are prohibited from gender discrimination in any area , from academics to athletics .", "The education department has interpreted that mandate to mean , among other things , that girls ' and boys ' teams must receive equal treatment , from the salaries of their coaches to the condition of their locker rooms .", "Advertisement Intended to expand opportunities for female athletes , Title IX essentially requires schools and colleges to spend equivalent amounts on men 's and women 's sports programs .", "But some Title IX supporters complain that some schools have twisted the letter of the law to skirt its spirit , cutting lower-profile men 's sports like wrestling or swimming to offset the costs of football rather than adding women 's teams .", "But others complain that the law has expanded women 's teams of limited interest at the expense of more popular boys ' teams .", "Cheerleading has long been a source of contention .", "Some women 's sports advocates complain that schools count it as a varsity sport as a sneaky way to increase the numbers of the female side of the athletic department balance sheet without changing historic disparities .", "Others see the varsity letters as a mark of respect for the athletic and acrobatic feats the squads perform .", "So while the complaint that originated here was based on whether the boys and girls basketball players were being treated equally , the ruling has renewed questions about cheerleaders ' status .", "Rosie Pudish , the parent who filed the original complaint , said she did so even though her own daughter , Keri , a varsity basketball player at Johnson City High School , did not particularly want cheerleaders at her games .", "Ms. Pudish said that as many as 60 cheerleaders , along with their friends and parents , would attend the boys ' games , injecting a level of excitement and spirit that was missing from the girls ' contests .", "`` It sends the wrong message that girls are second-class athletes and do n't deserve the school spirit , that they 're just little girls playing silly games and the real athletes are the boys , '' said Ms. Pudish , an accountant who works for the federal government .", "At most high schools , including those in New York City and its suburbs , cheerleaders traditionally follow the boys ' basketball and football games , and only occasionally root for other teams -- like girls ' basketball -- if a playoff berth or a championship is at stake .", "So far , no one here has suggested that football cheerleaders have to show up for field hockey games next fall .", "But the education department ruled that if the Binghamton-area schools provided cheerleaders for boys ' basketball games , then they must provide them on the same terms for girls ' basketball .", "To comply , nearly all of the schools have decided to send cheerleaders to an equal number of boys ' and girls ' games , and only at home to avoid overloading the cheerleaders ' schedules .", "That drew complaints from cheerleaders who liked traveling to away games -- and from boys ' basketball players and fans who were left cheer-less half the time .", "`` It 's probably toughest on some of the parents , '' said John Allen , athletic director of the Chenango Valley Central School District , just northeast of Binghamton .", "`` All of a sudden they 're at games , and there are no cheerleaders . ''", "At a small school like Whitney Point , with 525 students , the ruling has devastated a cheerleading program that had just begun to rebound after being eliminated in budget cuts in 2002 .", "Some of the girls who dropped out just did not want to cheer for other girls , while others said the team was not as fun without traveling to away games and being able to check out routines by rival cheerleading teams .", "( Since most schools in the league are complying with the ruling by keeping cheerleaders on their home courts , the squads are now left to rah-rah without response . )", "The girls ' basketball players complained about the change , too ; the coach asked cheerleaders to stay on the bench at crucial moments during the first few games so as not to distract his players .", "But after an awkward start , the girls have settled into a routine of sorts , and have posed together for post-game pictures .", "Katelin Maxson , 17 , a senior who is the cheerleading captain , said that while she does not mind cheering for the girls , it has doubled her workload : She has continued the tradition here of decorating the lockers of the basketball players on game days and bringing them treats .", "`` We joined sports to have fun , but they 're basically taking the fun away and giving us more work , '' she said .", "`` The interest is down so much , and it 's going to keep dropping , until there 's no cheerleading anymore . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "This is further true considering that many of the women participating in professional cheerleading would no doubt be very talented at other athletic pursuits.The perception of women as on the side-lines is so ingrained that most women's sport teams do not have a cheer squad and in several high schools in the US, cheerleaders have been uncomfortable when asked to cheer for girls sports teams.", "_claim_name": "Cheerleading denies women a more central role in sport", "_doc_title": "Equal Cheers for Boys and Girls Draw Some Boos - The New York Times", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 142, "_topic_name": "This House would ban professional cheerleading"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Returning to original good causes will boost income by # 150 million .", "Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced today that the National Lottery will be reformed , bringing an extra # 50 million each to arts , sport and heritage .", "`` The National Lottery was created in 1994 and , since that time , around # 25 billion has been raised for good causes , '' said Mr Hunt .", "`` But the founding vision - that it should primarily benefit the arts , sport and heritage with funding for projects that would not otherwise get off the ground - got lost along the way .", "Today I am putting that right . ''", "A Statutory Instrument , laid before Parliament today , means that from 2012 the original good causes will once again receive the 20 per cent share of the total , the same as in 1994 .", "Mr Hunt also pledged that funding for the voluntary and community sector ( VCS ) - key players in the Government 's plans to create a Big Society - will be protected .", "It should rise from current levels of # 564 million a year in 2009 to more than # 630 million a year by 2013 , when the Olympic transfer comes to an end .", "In Many cases the greater shares going to the arts , sport and heritage will also directly benefit the VCS sector ."], "_citing_sentence": "The National Lottery (UK) was initially founded on the principle of providing funding for the arts, sport and heritage with funding for projects that would not otherwise get off the ground, and in recent years there has been a drive by the government to return the distribution of lottery money to those causes.", "_claim_name": "National lotteries are also one of the largest contributors to charitable causes.", "_doc_title": "National Lottery to be reformed - News stories - GOV.UK", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2, 3]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Making sure as much money as possible goes towards life-changing projects is incredibly important to us .", "In fact , it 's what we 're here for .", "For every ticket sold , a hefty slice of the money received goes to a huge variety of projects , both big and small -- from repairing Scout huts to making Olympic and Paralympic champions .", "So , every time you play , the UK wins .", "Less than 1 % of our total revenue is kept as profit after tax and just 4 % goes on operating costs .", "It 's how we 're able to raise , on average , over # 36 million a week for National Lottery projects .", "So far , that 's amounted to a whopping # 35 billion spread across 490,000 projects -- averaging 150 for every UK neighbourhood .", "As has always been the case , the total amount delivered to these projects depends on a number of variable factors .", "These include the mix of games sold , whether they 're bought in a shop or online , and the level of unclaimed prizes .", "A year in numbers", "From total ticket sales of # 7,595 million in the year ending 31 March 2016 :", "Awarding National Lottery funding", "Decisions on how and where funding is invested are made by 12 specialist organisations .", "These are chosen by Parliament for their knowledge and expertise to help ensure the money goes exactly where it 's needed .", "In the year ending 31 March 2016 , the funds were shared as follows :", "To find out more about the funding made possible by our players and discover projects in your local area , visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/good-causes .", "Read our featured National Lottery Projects stories to find out who has benefited from National Lottery funding and the difference it has made .", "Over the last 21 years we 've created over 4,250 millionaires and funded more than 490,000 National Lottery projects - discover more life-changing stories .", "Players must be 16 or over and physically located in the UK or Isle of Man .", "You can set your own play and spend limits , if you like .", "We 're all about being fun but responsible .", "Take a look .", "We 're accredited by GamCare for our high standards in player protection and social responsibility ."], "_citing_sentence": "There is good documentation of how much these people's lives are changed - governmental involvement in this activity has no negative impacts on the individuals playing the game - indeed their regulation means that the revenue generated goes to more deserving causes than would happen were the lotteries to be privately regulated.", "_claim_name": "Lotteries provide a unique opportunity to change people's lives.", "_doc_title": "Where the money goes | Life Changing | The National Lottery", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Making sure as much money as possible goes towards life-changing projects is incredibly important to us .", "In fact , it 's what we 're here for .", "For every ticket sold , a hefty slice of the money received goes to a huge variety of projects , both big and small -- from repairing Scout huts to making Olympic and Paralympic champions .", "So , every time you play , the UK wins .", "Less than 1 % of our total revenue is kept as profit after tax and just 4 % goes on operating costs .", "It 's how we 're able to raise , on average , over # 36 million a week for National Lottery projects .", "So far , that 's amounted to a whopping # 35 billion spread across 490,000 projects -- averaging 150 for every UK neighbourhood .", "As has always been the case , the total amount delivered to these projects depends on a number of variable factors .", "These include the mix of games sold , whether they 're bought in a shop or online , and the level of unclaimed prizes .", "A year in numbers", "From total ticket sales of # 7,595 million in the year ending 31 March 2016 :", "Awarding National Lottery funding", "Decisions on how and where funding is invested are made by 12 specialist organisations .", "These are chosen by Parliament for their knowledge and expertise to help ensure the money goes exactly where it 's needed .", "In the year ending 31 March 2016 , the funds were shared as follows :", "To find out more about the funding made possible by our players and discover projects in your local area , visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/good-causes .", "Read our featured National Lottery Projects stories to find out who has benefited from National Lottery funding and the difference it has made .", "Over the last 21 years we 've created over 4,250 millionaires and funded more than 490,000 National Lottery projects - discover more life-changing stories .", "Players must be 16 or over and physically located in the UK or Isle of Man .", "You can set your own play and spend limits , if you like .", "We 're all about being fun but responsible .", "Take a look ."], "_citing_sentence": "According to the official National Lottery website, \"Camelot already runs the most cost-efficient lottery in Europe - an achievement that has helped the UK National Lottery to generate over PS26 billion for the Good Causes, and counting\".", "_claim_name": "National lotteries are also one of the largest contributors to charitable causes.", "_doc_title": "Where the money goes | Life Changing | The National Lottery", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 143, "_topic_name": "This house would create a national lottery"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Human Rights & Freedoms", "Fundamental and other human rigths and freedoms .", "( 1 ) Fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual are inherent and not granted by the State .", "( 2 ) The rights and freedoms of the individual and groups enshrined in this Chapter shall be respected , upheld and promoted by all organs and agencies of Government and by all persons .", "Equality and freedom from discrimination .", "( 1 ) All persons are equal before and under the law in all spheres of political , economic , social and cultural life and in every other respect and shall enjoy equal protection of the law .", "( 2 ) Wthout prejudice to clause ( 1 ) of this article , a person shall not be discriminated against on the ground of sex , race , colour , ethnic origin , tribe , birth , creed or religion , or social or economic standing , political opinion or disability .", "( 3 ) For the purposes of this article , `` discriminate '' means to give different treatment to different persons attributable only or mainly to their respective descriptions by sex , race , colour , ethnic origin , tribe , birth , creed or religion , or social or economic standing , political opinion or disability .", "( 4 ) Nothing in this article shall prevent Parliament from enacting laws that are necessary for - ( a ) implementing policies and programmes aimed at redressing social , economic or educational or other imbalance in society ; or ( b ) making such provision as is required or authorised to be made under this Constitution ; or ( c ) providing for any matter acceptable and demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society .", "( 5 ) Nothing shall be taken to be inconsistent with this article which is allowed to be done under any provision of this Constitution .", "Protection of right to life .", "( 1 ) No person shall be deprived of life intentionally except in execution of a sentence passed in a fair trial by a court of competent jurisdiction in respect of a crirninal offence under the laws of Uganda and the conviction and sentence have been confirmed by the highest appellate court .", "( 2 ) No person has the right to terminate the life of an unborn child except as may be authorised by law .", "Protection of personal liberty .", "( 1 ) No person shall be deprived of personal liberty except in any of the follow ( a ) in execution of the sentence or order of a court , whether established for Uganda or another country or of an international court or tribunal in respect of a criminal offence of ~ hich that person has been convicted ; or of an order of a court punishing the person for contempt of court ; ( b ) in execution of the order of a court made to secure the fulfilment of any obligation imposed on that person by law ; ( c ) for the purpose of bringing that person before a court in execution of the order of a count or upon reasonable suspicion that that person has committed or is about to commit a criminal offence under the laws of Uganda ; fd ) for the purpose of preventing the spread of an infectious or contagious disease ; ( e ) in the case of a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years , for the purpose of the education or welfare of that person ; ( f ) in the case of a person who is , or is reasonably suspected to be , of unsound mind or addicted to drugs or alcohol , for the purpose of the care or treatment of that person or the protection of the community ; ( g ) for the purpose of preventing the unlawful entry of that person into Uganda , or for the purpose of effecting the expulsion , extradition or other lawful removal of that person from Uganda or for the purpose of restricting that person while being conveyed through Uganda in the course of the extradition or removal of that person as a convicted prisoner from one country to another ; or ( h ) as may be authorised by law , in any other circumstances similar to any of the cases specified in paragraphs ( a ) to ( g ) of this clause .", "2 ) A person arrested , restricted or detained shall be kept in a place authorised by ( 3 ) A person arrested , restricted or detained shall be informed immediately , in a language that the person understands , of the reasons for the arrest , restriction or detention and of his or her right to a lawyer of his or her choice .", "( 4 ) A person arrested or detained - ( a ) the purpose of bringing him or her before a court in executution of an order of a court ; or ( b ) upon reasonable suspicion of his or her having committed or being about to commit a criminal offence under the laws of Uganda , shall , if not earlier released , be brought to court as soon as possible but in any case not later than forty-eight hours from the time of his or her arrest .", "( 5 ) Where a person is restricted or detained - ( a ) the next-of-kin of that person shall , at the request of that person , be informed as soon as practicable of the restriction or detention ; ( b ) the next-of-kin , lawyer and personal doctor of that person shall be allowed reasonable access to that person ; and ( c ) that person shall be allowed access to medical treatment including , at the request and at the cost af that person , access to private medical treatment .", "( 6 ) Where a person is arrested in respect of a crirninal offence - ( a ) the person is entitled to apply to the court to be released on bail and the court may grant that person bail on such conditions as the court considers reasonable : ( b ) in the case of an offence which is triable by thc High Court as well as by a subordinate court , the person shall be released on bail on such conditions as the court considers reasonable , if that person has been remanded in custody in respect of the offence before trial for one hundred and twenty days ; ( c ) in the case of an offence triable only by the High Court the person shall be released on bail on such conditions as the Court considers reasonable , if the person has been remanded in custody for three hundred and sixty days before the case is committed to the High Court .", "( 7 ) A person unlawfully arrested .", "restricted or detained bv any other person or authority , shall be entitled to compensation from that other person or authority whether it is the State or an agency of the State or other person or authority .", "( 8 ) Where a person is convicted and sentenced to a terrn of imprisonment for an offence , any period he or she spends in lawful custody in respect of the offence before the completion of his or her trial shall be taken into account in imposing the term of imprisonment .", "( 9 ) The right to an order of habeas corpus shall be inviolable and shall not be suspended .", "Respect for human dignity and protection from inhuman treatment .", "No person shall be subjected to any form of torture , cruel , inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment .", "Protection from slavery , servitude and forced labour .", "( 1 ) No person shall be held in slavery or servitude .", "( 2 ) No person shall be required to perform forced labour .", "( 3 ) For the purposes of this article , `` forced labour '' does not include - ( a ) any labour required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court ; ( b ) any labour required of any person while that person is lawfully detained which , though not required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court , is reasonably necessary in the interests of hygiene or for the maintenance of the place at which the person is detained ; ( c ) any labour required of a member of a disciplined force as part of that member 's duties as such or , in the case of a person who has conscientious objections to service as a member of a naval , military or air force .", "any labour which that person is required by law to perform in place of that service ; ( d ) any labour required during any period when Uganda is at war or in case of any emergency or calamity which threatens the life and well-being of the community , to the extent that the requiring of the labour is reasonably justifiable in the circumstances of any situation arising or existing during the period or as a result of the emergency or calamity , for the purpose of dealing with that situation ; or ( e ) any labour reasonably required as part of reasonable and norrnal communal or other civic obligations .", "Protection from deprivation of property .", "( 1 ) Every person has a right to own property either individually or in association with others .", "( 2 ) No person shall be compulsorily deprived of property or any interest in or right over property of any description except where the following conditions are satisfied - ( a ) the taking of possession or acquisition is necessary for public use or in the interest of defence , public safety , public order , public morality or public health ; and ( b ) the compulsory taking of possession or acquisition of property is made under a law which makes provision for - ( i ) prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation .", "prior to the taking of possession or acquisition of the property ; and ( ii ) a right of access to a court of law by any person who has an interest or right over the property .", "Right to privacy of person , home and other property .", "( 1 ) No person shall be subjected to - ( a ) unlawful search of the person , home or other property of that person ; ( b ) unlawful entry by others of the premises of that person .", "( 2 ) No person shall be subjected to interference with the privacy of that person 's home , correspondence , communication or other property .", "( 1 ) ln the determination of civil rights and obligations or any criminal charge , a person shall be entitled to a fair , speedy and public hearing before an independent and impartial court or tribunal established by law .", "( 2 ) Nothing in clause ( l ) of this article shall prevent the court or tribunal from excluding the press or the public from all or any proceedings before it for reasons of morality , public order or national security , as may be necessary in a free and democratic society .", "( 3 ) Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall - ( a ) be presumed to be innocent until proved guilty or until that person has pleaded guilty ; ( b ) be informed immediately , in a language that the person understands of the nature of the offence ; ( c ) be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his or her defence : ( d ) be permitted to appear before the court in person or at that person 's own expense , by a lawyer of his or her choice ; ( e ) in the case of any offence which carries a sentence of death or imprisonment for life , be entitled to legal representation at the expense of the State ; ( f ) be afforded , without payment by that person , the assistance of an interpreter if that person can not understand the language used at the trial : ( g ) be afforded facilities to examine witnesses and to obtain the attendance of other witnesses before the court .", "( 4 ) Nothing done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with - ( a ) paragraph ( a ) of clause ( 3 ) of this article , to the extent that the law in question imposes upon any person charged with a criminal offence , the burden of proving particular facts ; ( b ) paragraph ( g ) of clause ( 3 ) of this article , to the extent that the law imposes conditions that must be satisfied if witnesses called to testify on behalf of an accused are to be paid their expenses out of public funds .", "( 5 ) Except with his or her consent .", "the trial of any person shall not take place in the absence of that person unless the person so conducts himself or herself as to render the continuance of the proceedings in the presence of that person impracticable and the court makes an order for the person to be removed and the trial to proceed in absence of that person .", "( 6 ) A person tried for any criminal offence , or any person authorised by him or her , shall , after the judgment in respect of that offence , be entitled to a copy of the proceedings upon payment of a fee prescribed by law .", "( 7 ) No person shall be charged with or convicted of a criminal offence which is founded on an act or omission that did not at the time it took place constitute a criminal offence .", "( 8 ) No penalty shall be imposed for a criminal offence that is severer in degree or description than the maximum penalty that could have been imposed for that offence at the time when it was committed .", "( 9 ) A person who shows that he or she has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and convicted or acquitted of that offence , shall not again be tried for the offence or for any other criminal offence of which he or she could have been con victed at the trial for that offence , except upon the order of a superior court in the course of appeal or review proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal ( 10 ) No person shall be tried for a criminal offence if the person shows that he or she has been pardoned in respect of that offence .", "( 11 ) Where a person is being tried for a criminal offence , neither that person nor the spouse of that person shall be compelled to give evidence against that person .", "( 12 ) Except for contempt of court , no person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless the offence is defined and the penalty for it prescribed by law .", "Protection of freedom of co-science , expression , movement , religion , assembly and association .", "( 1 ) Every person shall have the right to - ( a ) freedom of speech and expression , which shall include freedom of the press and other media : ( b ) freedom of thought , conscience and belief which shall include academic freedom in institutions of learning ; ( c ) freedom to practise any religion and manifest such practice which shall include the right to belong to and participate in the practices of any religious body or organisation in a manner consistent with this Constitution ; ( d ) freedom to assemble and to demonstrate together with others peacefully and unarmed and to petition ; and ( e ) freedom of association which shall include the freedom to form and join associations or unions , including trade unions and political and other civic organisations .", "( 2 ) Every Ugandan shall have the right - ( a ) to move freely throughout Uganda and to reside and settle in any part of Uganda ; ( b ) to enter , leave and return to , Uganda ; and ( c ) to a passport or other travel document .", "Right to education 30 .", "All persons have a right to education .", "Rights of the family .", "( 1 ) Men and women of the age of eighteen years and above , have the right to marry and to found a family and are entitled to equal rights in marriage , during marriage and at its dissolution .", "( 2 ) Parliament shall make appropriate laws for the protection of the rights of widows and widowers to inherit the property of their deceased spouses and to enjoy parental rights over their children .", "( 3 ) Marriage shall be entered into with the free consent of the man and woman intending to marry .", "( 4 ) It is the right and duty of parents to care for and bring up their children .", "( 5 ) Children may not be separated from their families or the persons entitled to bring them up against the will of their families or of those persons , except in accordance with the law .", "Affirmative action in favour of marginilised groups 32 .", "( I ) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution , the State shall take affirmative action in favour of groups marginalised on the basis of gender , age , disability or any other reason created by history , tradition or custom , for the purpose of redressing imbalances which exist against them .", "( 2 ) Parliament shall make relevant laws , including laws for the establishment of an equal opportunities commission , for the purpose of giving full effect to clause ( 1 ) of this article .", "Rights of women 33 .", "( 1 ) Women shall be accorded full and equal dignity of the person with men .", "( 2 ) The State shall provide the facilities and opportunities necessary to enhance the welfare of women to enable them to realise their full potential and advancement .", "( 3 ) The State shall protect women and their rights , taking into account their unique status and natural maternal functions in society .", "( 4 ) Women shall have the right to equal treatment with men and that right shall include equal opportunities in political , economic and social activities .", "( 5 ) Without prejudice to article 32 of this Constitution , women shall have the right to affirmative action for the purpose of redressing the imbalances created by history , tradition or custom .", "( 6 ) Laws , cultures , customs or traditions which are against the dignity , welfare or interest of women or which undermine their status .", "are prohibited by this Constitution .", "Rights of children 34 .", "( 1 ) Subject to laws enacted in their best interests , children shall have the right to know and be cared for by their parents or those entitled by law to bring them up .", "( 2 ) A child is entitled to basic education which shall be the responsibility of the State and the parents of the child .", "( 3 ) No child shall be deprived by any person of medical treatment , education or any other social or economic benefit by reason of religious or other beliefs ( 4 ) Children are entitled to be protected from social or economic exploitation and shall not be employed in or required to perform work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with their education or to be harmful to their health or physical .", "mental spiritual , moral or social development .", "( 5 ) For the purposes of clause ( 4 ) of this article , children shall be persons under the age of sixteen years .", "( 6 ) A child offender who is kept in lawful custody or detention shall be kept separately from adult offenders .", "( 7 ) The law shall accord special protection to orphans and other vulnerable children .", "Rights of persons with disabilities 35 .", "( 1 ) Persons with disabilities have a right to respect and hurnan dignity and the State and society shall take appropriate measures to ensure that they realise their full mental and physical potential .", "( 2 ) Parliament shall enact laws appropriate for the protection of persons with disabilities .", "Protection of minorities 36 .", "Minorities have a right to participate in decision-making processes and their views and interests shall be taken into account in the making of national plans and programmes .", "Right to culture and similar rights 37 .", "Every person has a right as applicable , to belong to , enjoy , practise , profess , maintain and promote any culture , cultural institution , language , tradition , creed or religion in community with others .", "Civic rights and activities 38 .", "( I ) Every Uganda citizen has the right to participate in the affairs of government , individually or through his or her representatives in accordance with law .", "2 ) Every Ugandan has a right to participate in peaceful activities to influence the policies of government through civic organisations .", "Right to a clean and healthy environment 39 .", "Every Ugandan has a right to a clean and healthy environment .", "( 1 ) Parliament shall enact laws - ( a ) to provide for the right of persons to work under satisfactory .", "safe and healthy conditions ; ( b ) to ensure equal payment for equal work without discrimination : and ( c ) to ensure that every worker is accorded rest and reasonable working hours and periods of holidays with pay , as well as remuneration for public holidays .", "( 2 ) Every person in Uganda has the right to practise his or her profession and to carry on any lawful occupation , trade or business .", "( 3 ) Every worker has a right - ( a ) to form or join a trade union of his or her choice for the promotion and protection of his or her economic and social interests ; ( b ) to collective bargaining and representation ; and ( c ) to withdraw his or her labour according to law .", "( 4 ) The employer of every woman worlcer shall accord her protection during pregnancy and after birth , in accordance with the law .", "Right of access to information 41 .", "( 1 ) Every citizen has a right of access to information in the possession of the State or any other organ or agency of the State except where the release of the infor mation is likely to prejudice the security or sovereignty of the State or interfere with the right to the privacy of any other person .", "( 2 ) Parliarnent shall make laws prescribing the classes of inforrnation referred to in clause ( 1 ) of this article and the procedure for obtaining access to that information .", "Right to just and fair treatment in administrative decisions 42 .", "Any person appearing before any administrative official or body has a right to be treated justly and fairly and shall have a right to apply to a court of law in respect of any administrative decision taken against him or her .", "General limitation on fundamental and other human rights and freedoms 43 .", "( I ) In the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms prescribed in this Chapter , no person shall prejudice the fundamental or other human rights and freedoms of others or the public interest .", "( 2 ) Public interest under this article shall not permit - ( a ) political persecution ; ( b ) detention without trial ; ( c ) any limitation of the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms prescribed by this Chapter beyond what is acceptable and demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society , or what is provided in this Constitution .", "Prohibition of derogation from particular human rights and freedoms 44 .", "Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution , there shall be no derogation from enjoyment of the following rights and freedoms - ( a ) freedom from torture , cruel , inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment ; ( b ) freedom from slavery or servitude : ( c ) the right to fair hearing ; ( d ) the right to an order of habeas corpus .", "Human rights and freedoms additional to other rights 45 .", "The rights , duties , declarations and guarantees relating to the fundamental and Human other human rights and freedoms specifically mentioned in this Chapter shall not be regarded as excluding others not specifically mentioned .", "Human Rights and Freedoms During a State of Emergency 46 .", "( 1 ) An Act of Parliament shall not be taken to contravene the rights and freedoms guaranteed in this Chapte , if that Act authorises the taking of measures that are reasonably justifiable for dealing with a state of emergency .", "( 2 ) The provisions of any enactrnent other than an Act of Parliament dealing with a state of emergency declared under this Constitution shall apply only to that part of Uganda where the emergency exists .", "( 3 ) Without prejudice to clause ( 1 ) of this article , an Act enacted in accordance with that clause may make provision for the detention of persons where necessary for the purposes of dealing with the emergency .", "Detention under emergency laws 47 .", "Where a person is restricted or detained under a law made for the purpose of a emergency state of emergency , the following provisions shall apply - ( a ) he or she shall .", "within twenty-four hours after the commencement of the restriction or detention , be furnished with a statement in writing specifying the grounds upon which he or she is restricted or detained ; ( b ) the spouse or next-of-kin of or other person named by the person restricted or detained shall be informed of the restriction or detention and allowed access to the person within seventy-two hours after the cormnencement of the restriction or detention ; ( c ) not more than thirty days after the commencement of his or her restriction or detention , a notification shall be published in the Gazette and in the media stating that he or she has been restricted or detained and giving particulars of the provisions of the law under which his or her restriction or detention is authorised and the grounds of his or her restriction or detention .", "Review by Uganda Human Rights Commission 48 .", "( 1 ) The Uganda Human Rights Commission shall review the case of a person who is restricted or detained and to whom article 47 of this Constitution applies , not later than twenty-one days after the commencement of the restriction or detention , and after that , at intervals of not more than thirty days .", "( 2 ) A person who is restricted or detained shall be permitted and afforded every possible facility - ( a ) to consult a lawyer of his or her choice or any group of persons who shall be permitted to make representations to the Uganda Human Rights Comrnission for the review of his or her case ; ( b ) to appear in person or by a lawyer of his or her choice at the hearing or review of his or her case .", "( 3 ) On a review of the case , the Uganda Human Rights Commission may order the release of that person , or uphold the grounds of the restriction or detention .", "Report to Parliament 49 .", "( 1 ) in every month in which there is a sitting of Parliament , the Minister responsible shall make a report to Parliament in respect of - ( a ) the number of persons restricted or detained under the state of emergency ; and ( b ) the action taken in compliance with the findings of the Human Rights Commission .", "( 2 ) The Minister responsible shall publish every month in the Gazzette and in the Media - ( a ) the number and names and addresses of the persons restricted or detained ; ( b ) the number of cases reviewed by the Uganda Human Rights Cornmission ; and ( c ) the action taken in compliance with the findings of the Uganda Human Rights Commission .", "( 3 ) For the avoidance of doubt , it is declared that at the end of the emergency declared under this Constitution , any person in or under restriction , detention or custody as a result of the declaration of emergency , shall be released immediately , unless charged with a crin ~ inal offence in a court of law .", "Enforcement of Rights and Freedoms by Courts 50 .", "( 1 ) Any person who claims that a fundarnental or freedom guaranteed under this Constitution has been infringed or threatened , is entitled to apply to a rights and competent court for redress which may include compensation .", "( 2 ) Any person or organisation may bring an action against the violation of another person 's or group 's human rights .", "( 3 ) Any person aggrieved by any decision of the court may appeal to the appropriate court .", "( 4 ) Parliarnent shall make laws for the enforcement of the rights and freedoms under this Chapter .", "Uganda Human Rights Commission 51 .", "( 1 ) There shall be a Commission called the Uganda Human Rights Commission .", "( 2 ) The Commission shall be composed of a Chairperson and not less than three other persons appointed by the President with the approval of Parliament .", "( 3 ) The Chairperson of the Commission shall be a Judge of the High Court or a person qualified to hold that office .", "( 4 ) The Chairperson and members of the commssion shall be persons of high moral character and proven integrity and shall serve for a period of six years and be eligible for re-appointment .", "Functions of Human Rights Commission 52 .", "( 1 ) The Commission shall have the following functions of Human ( a ) to investigate , at its own initiative or on a complaint made by any person or group of persons against the violation of any human right ; ( b ) to visit jails , prisons , and places of detention or related facilities with a view to assessing and inspecting conditions of the imnates and make recommendations ; ( c ) to establish a continuing programme of research , education and information to enhance respect of human rights ; ( d ) to recommend to Parliament effective measures to promote human rights .", "including provision of compensation to victims of violations of human rights , or their families ; ( e ) to create and sustain within society the awareness of the provisions of this Constitution as the fundamental law of the people of Uganda ; ( f ) to educate and encourage the public to defend this Constitution at all times against all forms of abuse and violation .", "( g ) to formulate , implement and oversee programmes intended to inculcate in the citizens of Uganda awareness of their civic responsibilities and an appreciation of their rights and obligations as free people ; ( h ) to monitor the Government 's compliance with international treaty and convention obLigations on human rights ; and ( i ) to perforrn such other functions as may be provided by law .", "( 2 ) The Uganda Human Rights Commission shall publish periodical reports on its findings and subrnit armual reports to Parliament on the state of human nghts and freedoms in the country .", "( 3 ) ln the performance of its functions , the Uganda Human Rights Commission shall - ( a ) establish its operational guidelines and rules of procedure ; ( b ) request the assistance of any department , bureau , office , agency or person in the performance of its functions ; and ( c ) observe the rules of natural justice .", "Powers of the Commission 53 .", "( 1 ) In the perforrnance of its functions , the Commission shall have the powers of a court - ( a ) to issue surnrnons or other orders requiring the attendance of any person before the Commission and the production of any document or record rele vant to any investigation by the Coommission ; ( b ) to question any person in respect of any subject matter under investigation before the commission ; ( c ) to require any person to disclose any information within his or her knowledge relevant to any investigation by the Commission ( d ) to commit persons for contempt of its orders ( 2 ) The Cornmission may , if satisfied that there has been an infrinaement of a human right or freedom .", "order - ( a ) the release of a detained or restricted person ; ( b ) payment of compensation ; or ( c ) any other legal remedy or redress .", "( 3 ) A person or authority dissatisfied with an order made by the Commission under clause ( ' ) of this article , has a right to appeal to the High Court .", "( 4 ) The Commission shall not investigate - ( a ) any matter which is pending before a court or judicial tribunal ; or ( b ) a matter involving the relations or dealings between the Government and the Government of any foreign State or international organisation ; or ( c ) a matter relating to the exercise ot the prerogative of mercy Independence of the Commission 54 .", "Subject to this Constitution , the Commission shall be independent and shall not , in the perfomance of its duties , be subject to the direction or control of any person or control authority .", "( 1 ) The Commission shall be self-accounting and all the administrative expenses including salaries , allowances and pensions payable to persons serving with the Commission shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund .", "( 2 ) The Chairperson and other members of the Commission shall be paid such salaries and allowances as Parliament may prescribe .", "Removal of Commissioners 56 .", "The provisions of this Constitution relating to the removal of a Judge of the High Removal of Court from office shall , with the necessary modifications , apply to the removal from office of a member of the Commission .", "Staff of Commission 57 .", "The appointment of the officers and other employees of the Commission shall be Staff of made by the Commission in consultation with the Public Service Commission .", "Parliament to make laws regarding functions of Commission 58 .", "Parliament may make laws to regulate and facilitate the performance of the functions of the Uganda Human Rights Commission ."], "_citing_sentence": "The constitution states; All persons are equal before and under the law in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life and in every other respect and shall enjoy equal protection of the law; Without prejudice, a person shall not be discriminated against on the ground of sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, or social or economic standing, political opinion or disability.", "_claim_name": "The law is contrary to the constitution", "_doc_title": "Uganda's Constitution: Chapter 4", "_labeled_lineIDs": [5, 6]}, {"_labels": [["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["INFORM \u2022 INSPIRE \u2022 ENTERTAIN \u2022 EMPOWER * Opponents say law violates constitutionally rights , freedoms * Western donors have cut aid to protest the law * Telecom firm stops ads in local paper which outed gays", "By Elias Biryabarema", "KAMPALA , March 11 ( Reuters ) - - Ugandans opposed to a new anti-homosexuality law that punishes gay sex with long jail sentences have filed a constitutional petition alleging that the law violates fundamental rights .", "The Anti-Homosexuality Act metes out jail terms of up to life for `` aggravated homosexuality '' while `` aiding and abetting homosexuality '' is punishable by seven year prison sentences .", "Some Western donors have cut aid to Uganda in protest .", "The punishments are some of the harshest in Africa , a continent where homosexuality is broadly taboo and illegal in 37 countries .", "Fear of violence , imprisonment and loss of jobs means few gays in Africa are open about their sexuality .", "Activists say the new legislation , signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni on Feb. 24 , infringes on fundamental rights to privacy , non-discrimination and freedom from cruelty and inhumane treatment .", "`` This Act not only represents an effort by the Executive and Parliament to scapegoat an unpopular minority for political gain but we believe it also violates the highest law of our country , '' said Andrew Mwenda , a journalist who is one of the petitioners .", "The court receiving the petition must now set a date for a hearing .", "Complex judicial cases in Uganda can take sometimes years to go through full consideration .", "The United States , Uganda 's biggest donor , has called the legislation `` atrocious '' , likening it to anti-Semitic laws in Nazi Germany and apartheid in South Africa .", "It said it is reviewing ties .", "The World Bank and some European donors - Sweden , Norway , Denmark and the Netherlands - have withheld aid or loans worth more than $ 118 million .", "Despite Western opprobrium Museveni has strengthened his political appeal by signing a bill that most Ugandans firmly support , analysts say .", "During the bill signing , Museveni said homosexuality was emblematic of the West 's `` social imperialism '' in Africa .", "Powerful Christian groups with links to U.S. evangelical groups have labelled homosexuality an imported Western social evil .", "Petitioners , who include eight Ugandans and two rights groups , have also asked for a `` permanent injunction '' against media houses from publishing pictures , names and addresses of suspected homosexuals .", "Ugandan tabloid newspaper Red Pepper has outed hundreds of gays since the bill was signed into law .", "A day after Museveni enacted the legislation , Red Pepper 's front page read `` Exposed : Uganda 's top 200 homos '' .", "Orange Uganda , a unit of French telecommunications giant France Telecom , said on Tuesday it had cut advertising in Red Pepper due to its campaign to out gays .", "Red Pepper said its coverage was in the public 's interest but rights groups say the reporting exposes gays to violence , blackmail and harassment .", "`` The decision was made by ( the ) group to ensure that our brand does not contradict our company 's ethics and values , '' said Vanessa Clarke , director of external communications for Orange SA , the owner of Orange Uganda .", "The media campaign to out gays , along with homophobic vitriol from politicians and radical preachers has driven many homosexual Ugandans deeper into the shadows .", "( Additional reporting by Philippa Croome ; editing by Drazen Jorgic )"], "_citing_sentence": "The government has a responsibility to protect every citizen but in this case the Ugandan government has taken the first step in rejecting and mistreating its own people.The new law infringes on fundamental rights to privacy, non-discrimination, equality and freedom from cruelty and inhumane treatment.", "_claim_name": "Marginalising the minority", "_doc_title": "Uganda's Anti-Gay Law Prompts Court Petition", "_labeled_lineIDs": [7]}, {"_labels": [["opinion", "factual"]], "_doc_body": ["Published : 23:53 EST , 23 February 2014 |", "Updated : 20:53 EST , 24 February 2014", "Uganda 's president yesterday described gay people as ` unnatural ' and ` disgusting ' after signing a controversial bill that punishes homosexual sex with up to life in prison .", "Yoweri Museveni said the bill , which goes into effect immediately , was needed because the West is promoting homosexuality in Africa .", "It is a measure likely to send Uganda 's beleaguered gay community further underground as the police try to implement it amid fevered anti-homosexual sentiment across the country .", "Scroll down for video", "Controversial : Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signs the anti-gay legislation in Kampala , Uganda", "Arms raised : Ugandan pupils from different schools take part in an event organised by Christians to celebrate the signing of a new anti-gay bill that sets high penalties for homosexual sex", "He told CNN : ` They 're disgusting .", "What sort of people are they ?", "I never knew what they were doing .", "` I 've been told recently that what they do is terrible .", "But I was ready to ignore that if there was proof that that 's how he is born , abnormal .", "But now the proof is not there . '", "Scientists had written a report which found there is no proven genetic basis for homosexuality , Mr Museveni said , citing it as a reason for signing the bill .", "He added : ` I was regarding it as an inborn problem .", "Genetic distortion - that was my argument .", "But now our scientists have knocked this one out . '", "Celebration : Supporters hold banners after Mr Museveni signed the anti-gay law , defying protests from rights groups , criticism from Western donors and a US warning that it will complicate relations", "Anger : Gay and lesbian people and others supporting their cause wear masks as they stage a rare protest , against Uganda 's increasingly stance against homosexuality , outside the Uganda High Commission in Nairobi", "Mr Museveni may have defied Western pressure to shelve the bill , four years and many versions after it was introduced , but his move pleased many Ugandans who repeatedly urged him to sign it .", "` They 're disgusting .", "I 've been told recently that what they do is terrible .", "Yoweri Museveni , Ugandan President", "Nigeria 's president similarly signed an anti-gay bill into law just over a month ago , sparking increased violence against gays who already were persecuted in mob attacks .", "Some watchdog groups warn a similar backlash of violence may occur in Uganda - where support is now likely to be galvanized for Mr Museveni ahead of presidential elections .", "` Experience from other jurisdictions with similarly draconian laws , such as Nigeria or Russia , indicates that their implementation is often followed by a surge in violence against individuals thought to be lesbian , gay , bisexual or transgender , ' an International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights", "Commission spokesman said .", "CNN interview : Uganda 's President Yoweri Museveni described gay people as ` unnatural ' and ` disgusting '", "President Yoweri Museveni 's bill is popular in Uganda , a country where homosexuality is already illegal ` The Ugandan government has not indicated any plans to counter such violence or to investigate potential allegations of abuse . '", "The Ugandan law calls for first-time offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in jail .", "It sets life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for ` aggravated homosexuality , ' defined as repeated gay sex between consenting adults and acts involving a minor , a disabled person or where one partner is infected with HIV .", "Uganda 's new anti-gay law has been condemned around the world .", "Washington , White House press secretary Jay Carney called the law ` abhorrent , ' urged its repeal and said the White House is reviewing its relationship with Uganda .", "` The president is making this decision because he has never met an openly gay person .", "That disappoints me '", "Pepe Julian Onziema , Ugandan gay activist", "Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned that the law would institutionalise discrimination and could encourage harassment and violence against gays .", "The office of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in a statement said that she ` is deeply concerned ' by ` draconian legislation ' to criminalise homosexuality in Uganda .", "At least six people have already been arrested over alleged homosexual offences and more than a dozen have fled Uganda since lawmakers passed the bill in December , according to a prominent Ugandan gay activist ,", "Pepe Julian Onziema .", "Happy : Ugandan anti-gay activist Pastor Martin Ssempa ( right ) leads anti-gay supporters as they celebrate", "African leaders : Kenya 's President Uhuru Kenyatta , left , Uganda 's President Yoweri Museveni , centre , and the transitional leader of the Central African Republic Michel Djotodia , right ` The president is making this decision because he has never met an openly gay person .", "That disappoints me , ' he said .", "Museveni signed the bill at the presidential palace as government officials , journalists and Ugandan scientists looked on .", "Government officials applauded after Museveni affixed his signature .", "` They should rehabilitate themselves and society should assist them to do so , ' Mr Museveni said after signing the bill .", "European countries have threatened to cut aid to Uganda if the measure was enacted , though some EU officials have cautioned that interrupting development aid may not be the best reaction since it would harm", "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton , left , meets with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni , right , at the State House in Kampala , Uganda", "Barack Obama warned that signing the bill would ` complicate ' the East", "African country 's relationship with Washington .", "` We have been disappointed for a long time by the conduct of the West .", "There is now an attempt at social imperialism '", "After Mr Museveni signed the bill , the White House said the US would urge Uganda 's government to repeal the ` abhorrent law . '", "President Obama has said , this law is more than an affront and a danger to the gay community in Uganda , it reflects poorly on the country 's commitment to protecting the human rights of its people and will undermine public health , including efforts to fight HIV/AIDS , ' a statement said .", "But in signing the legislation passed by lawmakers , Mr Museveni said he rejected such reaction as interference in Ugandan affairs .", "` We Africans never seek to impose our view on others .", "If only they could let us alone , ' Mr Museveni said .", "There is now an attempt at social imperialism . '", "Museveni accused ` arrogant and careless Western groups ' of trying to recruit Ugandan children into homosexuality , but he did not name these purported groups .", "Museveni said he believes Western homosexuals have targeted poor", "Ugandans who then ` prostitute ' themselves for the money , an allegation repeated by the bill 's Ugandan defenders ."], "_citing_sentence": "It defines \"discriminate\" as giving different treatment to different persons attributable only or mainly to their respective descriptions by sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, or social or economic standing, political opinion or disability.The government has acted contrary to their own law, with President Museveni remarking that what homosexuals do is disgusting, un African and had no place in his country and MP David Bahati, asserting that homosexuals do not deserve to be treated as humans.", "_claim_name": "The law is contrary to the constitution", "_doc_title": "Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signs harsh anti-gay bill | Daily Mail Online", "_labeled_lineIDs": [2]}, {"_labels": [["factual"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["Oversight and interpretation of the Charter is the task of the African Commission on Human and Peoples ' Rights , which was set up in 1987 and is now headquartered in Banjul , Gambia .", "A protocol to the Charter was subsequently adopted in 1998 whereby an African Court on Human and Peoples ' Rights was to be created .", "The protocol came into effect on 25 January 2005 .", "The African States members of the Organisation of African Unity , parties to the present Convention entitled `` African Charter on Human and Peoples ' Rights", "Recalling Decision 115 ( XVI ) of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government at its Sixteenth Ordinary Session held in Monrovia , Liberia , from 17 to 20 July 1979 on the preparation of `` a preliminary draft on an African Charter on Human and Peoples ' Rights , providing inter alia for the establishment of bodies to promote and protect human and peoples ' rights '' ;", "Considering the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity , which stipulates that `` freedom , equality , justice and dignity are essential objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of the African peoples '' ;", "Reaffirming the pledge they solemnly made in Article 2 of the said Charter to eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa , to coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa and to promote international cooperation having due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ;", "Taking into consideration the virtues of their historical tradition and the values of African civilization which should inspire and characterize their reflection on the concept of human and peoples ' rights ;", "Recognizing on the one hand , that fundamental human rights stem from the attitudes of human beings , which justifies their international protection and on the other hand that the reality and respect of peoples ' rights should necessarily guarantee human rights ;", "Considering that the enjoyment of rights and freedoms also implies the performance of duties on the part of everyone ;", "Convinced that it is henceforth essential to pay particular attention to the right to development and that civil and political rights can not be dissociated from economic , social and cultural rights in their conception as well as universality and that the satisfaction of economic , social and cultural rights is a guarantee for the enjoyment of civil and political rights ;", "Conscious of their duty to achieve the total liberation of Africa , the peoples of which are still struggling for their dignity and genuine independence , and undertaking to eliminate colonialism , neo-colonialism , apartheid , zionism and to dismantle aggressive foreign military bases and all forms of discrimination , language , religion or political opinions ;", "Reaffirming their adherence to the principles of human and peoples ' rights and freedoms contained in the declarations , conventions and other instruments adopted by the Organisation of African Unity , the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries and the United Nations ;", "Firmly convinced of their duty to promote and protect human and peoples ' rights and freedoms and taking into account the importance traditionally attached to these rights and freedoms in Africa ;", "HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS :", "The Member States of the Organisation of African Unity , parties to the present Charter shall recognise the rights , duties and freedoms enshrined in the Charter and shall undertake to adopt legislative or other measures to give effect to them .", "Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognised and guaranteed in the present Charter without distinction of any kind such as race , ethnic group , colour , sex , language , religion , political or any other opinion , national and social origin , fortune , birth or any status .", "Human beings are inviolable .", "Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person .", "No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right .", "Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status .", "All forms of exploitation and degradation of man , particularly slavery , slave trade , torture , cruel , inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited .", "Every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person .", "No one may be deprived of his freedom except for reasons and conditions previously laid down by law .", "In particular , no one may be arbitrarily arrested or detained .", "Freedom of conscience , the profession and free practice of religion shall be guaranteed .", "No one may , subject to law and order , be submitted to measures restricting the exercise of these freedoms .", "Every individual shall have the right to assemble freely with others .", "The exercise of this right shall be subject only to necessary restrictions provided for by law , in particular those enacted in the interest of national security , the safety , health , ethics and rights and freedoms of others .", "Every individual shall have the right to leave any country including his own , and to return to his country .", "This right may only be subject to restrictions , provided for by law for the protection of national security , law and order , public health or morality .", "The right to property shall be guaranteed .", "It may only be encroached upon in the interest of public need or in the general interest of the community and in accordance with the provisions of appropriate laws .", "Every individual shall have the right to work under equitable and satisfactory conditions , and shall receive equal pay for equal work .", "All peoples shall be equal ; they shall enjoy the same respect and shall have the same rights .", "Nothing shall justify the domination of a people by another .", "All peoples shall have the right to a general satisfactory environment favourable to their development .", "State Parties to the present Charter shall have the duty to promote and ensure through teaching , education and publication , the respect of the rights and freedoms contained in the present Charter and to see to it that these freedoms and rights as well as corresponding obligations and duties are understood .", "State Parties to the present Charter shall have the duty to guarantee the independence of the Courts and shall allow the establishment and improvement of appropriate national institutions entrusted with the promotion and protection of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the present Charter .", "Every individual shall have the duty to respect and consider his fellow beings without discrimination , and to maintain relations aimed at promoting , safeguarding and reinforcing mutual respect and tolerance .", "The individual shall also have the duty :", "An African Commission on Human and Peoples ' Rights , hereinafter called `` the Commission '' , shall be established within the Organisation of African Unity to promote human and peoples ' rights and ensure their protection in Africa .", "The Commission shall not include more than one national of the same State .", "The members of the Commission shall be elected by secret ballot by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government , from a list of persons nominated by the State Parties to the present Charter .", "Each State Party to the present Charter may not nominate more than two candidates .", "The candidates must have the nationality of one of the State Parties to the present Charter .", "When two candidates are nominated by a State , one of them may not be a national of that State .", "The members of the Commission shall be elected for a six year period and shall be eligible for re-election .", "However , the term of office of four of the members elected at the first election shall terminate after two years and the term of office of three others , at the end of four years .", "Immediately after the first election , the Chairman of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity shall draw lots to decide the names of those members referred to in Article 36 .", "After their election , the members of the Commission shall make a solemn declaration to discharge their duties impartially and faithfully .", "Every member of the Commission shall be in office until the date his successor assumes office .", "The Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity shall appoint the Secretary of the Commission .", "He shall provide the staff and services necessary for the effective discharge of the duties of the Commission .", "The Organisation of African Unity shall bear cost of the staff and services .", "In discharging their duties , members of the Commission shall enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities provided for in the General Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Organisation of African Unity .", "Provision shall be made for the emoluments and allowances of the members of the Commission in the Regular Budget of the Organisation of African Unity .", "The functions of the Commission shall be :", "The Commission may resort to any appropriate method of investigation ; it may hear from the Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity or any other person capable of enlightening it .", "If a State Party to the present Charter has good reasons to believe that another State Party to this Charter has violated the provisions of the Charter , it may draw , by written communication , the attention of that State to the matter .", "This Communication shall also be addressed to the Secretary General of the OAU and to the Chairman of the Commission .", "Within three months of the receipt of the Communication , the State to which the Communication is addressed shall give the enquiring State , written explanation or statement elucidating the matter .", "This should include as much as possible , relevant information relating to the laws and rules of procedure applied and applicable and the redress already given or course of action available .", "If within three months from the date on which the original communication is received by the State to which it is addressed , the issue is not settled to the satisfaction of the two States involved through bilateral negotiation or by any other peaceful procedure , either State shall have the right to submit the matter to the Commission through the Chairman and shall notify the other States involved .", "Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 47 , if a State Party to the present Charter considers that another State Party has violated the provisions of the Charter , it may refer the matter directly to the Commission by addressing a communication to the Chairman , to the Secretary General of the Organisation of African unity and the State concerned .", "The Commission can only deal with a matter submitted to it after making sure that all local remedies , if they exist , have been exhausted , unless it is obvious to the Commission that the procedure of achieving these remedies would be unduly prolonged .", "After having obtained from the States concerned and from other sources all the information it deems necessary and after having tried all appropriate means to reach an amicable solution based on the respect of human and peoples ' rights , the Commission shall prepare , within a reasonable period of time from the notification referred to in Article 48 , a report to the States concerned and communicated to the Assembly of Heads of State and Government .", "While transmitting its report , the Commission may make to the Assembly of Heads of State and Government such recommendations as it deems useful .", "The Commission shall submit to each Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government a report on its activities .", "Communications relating to Human and Peoples ' rights referred to in Article 55 received by the Commission , shall be considered if they :", "Prior to any substantive consideration , all communications shall be brought to the knowledge of the State concerned by the Chairman of the Commission .", "The Commission shall draw inspiration from international law on human and peoples ' rights , particularly from the provisions of various African instruments on Human and Peoples ' Rights , the Charter of the United Nations , the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity , the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , other instruments adopted by the United Nations and by African countries in the field of Human and Peoples ' Rights , as well as from the provisions of various instruments adopted within the Specialised Agencies of the United Nations of which the Parties to the present Charter are members .", "The Commission shall also take into consideration , as subsidiary measures to determine the principles of law , other general or special international conventions , laying down rules expressly recognised by Member States of the Organisation of African Unity , African practices consistent with international norms on Human and Peoples ' Rights , customs generally accepted as law , general principles of law recognised by African States as well as legal precedents and doctrine .", "Each State Party shall undertake to submit every two years , from the date the present Charter comes into force , a report on the legislative or other measures taken , with a view to giving effect to the rights and freedoms recognised and guaranteed by the present Charter .", "For each of the States that will ratify or adhere to the present Charter after its coming into force , the Charter shall take effect three months after the date of the deposit by that State of the instrument of ratification or adherence .", "Special protocols or agreements may , if necessary , supplement the provisions of the present Charter .", "The Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity shall inform members of the Organisation of the deposit of each instrument of ratification or adherence .", "The present Charter may be amended if a State Party makes a written request to that effect to the Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity .", "The Assembly of Heads of State and Government may only consider the draft amendment after all the State Parties have been duly informed of it and the Commission has given its opinion on it at the request of the sponsoring State .", "The amendment shall be approved by a simple majority of the State Parties .", "It shall come into force for each State which has accepted it in accordance with its constitutional procedure three months after the Secretary General has received notice of the acceptance .", "Adopted by the eighteenth Assembly of Heads of State and Government ,", "June 1981 - Nairobi , Kenya", "Having considered the African Charter on Human and Peoples ' Rights , the Arab Republic of Egypt signed the said Charter on 16 November 1981 and attached hereto is the following instrument of ratification :", "Having accepted all the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples ' Rights with the approval of the People 's Assembly and with the reservation that article 8 and paragraph 3 of article 8 and paragraph 3 of article 18 be implemented in accordance with the Islamic Law and that , as far as the Arab Republic of Egypt is concerned , the provision of the first paragraph of article 9 should be -LSB- confined -RSB- to such information as could be obtained within the limits of the Egyptian laws and regulations ;", "We hereby declare acceptance and ratification of the said Charter .", "While acceding to the African Charter on Human and Peoples ' Rights it is the view of the Republic of South Africa that there should be consultation between States parties to the Charter , inter alia , to :", "WHEREAS the African Charter on Human and Peoples ' Rights was adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the Organisation of African Unity held at Nairobi in June 1981 :", "AND WHEREAS the Government of the Republic of Zambia signed the Charter on 17th January 1983 ;", "AND WHEREAS the Charter provides that the Charter is subject to ratification by the States Parties which are signatories to the Charter ;", "AND WHEREAS the Republic of Zambia is a State Party to the Charter on whose behalf the Charter has been signed ;", "NOW THEREFORE the Government of the Republic of Zambia having considered the aforesaid Charter hereby", "CONFIRMS AND RATIFIES the same on behalf of the Republic of Zambia and undertakes faithfully to observe the provisions and carry out all the stipulations therein contained subject to the following amendments or reservations : ( Explanation : The purpose of this reservation is to exclude any claim for the right to use by all citizens of all public property other than as fairly established . )", "( Explanation : This is to avoid calling on the Chairman , who is after all a Head of State , carrying out the rather menial exercise of drawing lots .", "It being understood that the Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity would draw such lots . )", "( Explanation : - In the interest of early universal ratification of the Charter by the Organisation of African Unity Countries and also since all Heads of State of the OAU will together tackle the problems of administering or enforcing the Charter including , where necessary , criticising fellow Heads of State who are proved to have violated the Charter , all members of the OAU should carry some responsibility , under the Charter , for the state of human and peoples ' rights in their respective countries . )"], "_citing_sentence": "This and rights such as equality are universal and fundamental rights that the government of Uganda has on numerous occasions signed up for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights among other documents.", "_claim_name": "Marginalising the minority", "_doc_title": "African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights / Legal Instruments / ACHPR", "_labeled_lineIDs": [4, 5]}, {"_labels": [["factual", "opinion"], ["opinion"]], "_doc_body": ["INFORM \u2022 INSPIRE \u2022 ENTERTAIN \u2022 EMPOWER", "Rachel Maddow devoted almost half of her Wednesday show to a lengthy interview with David Bahati , author of the infamous bill in the Ugandan Parliament that calls for gay people to face life imprisonment or , in some cases , execution if they are convicted of having practiced homosexuality .", "Bahati is also a member of The Family , the religious organization that carries substantial power on Capitol Hill .", "Before playing her interview with him , Maddow recounted some of the history of anti-gay legislation in the United States , and pointed out that they all had one thing in common : their claim that gay people were trying to `` recruit '' children into homosexuality .", "In the eighteen-minute interview , Bahati used the same reasoning to explain his thinking behind the bill .", "He said he has a `` passion for children '' and wanted to protect them from homosexuality .", "He also said that , while he understood that many in the United States might see being gay as a human right , `` we do n't believe it 's a human right in Uganda . ''", "`` You 're describing one of the foundational myths about how gay people have been slandered and attacked in every country , '' Maddow told Bahati .", "`` The idea , this myth that gay people are recruiting kids .", "Assert it as if it is baldly true , and no evidence of it is ever ever ever ever put forward in any way that can be evaluated and every responsible authority who 's looked into it says that it 's a myth . ''", "Bahati said that there was substantial evidence that he would show Maddow , including the assertion that $ 15 million of foreign money has been poured into Uganda for the purpose of recruiting children into homosexuality .", "( Maddow was , needless to say , skeptical about that claim . )", "Maddow asked him how gays living openly in Uganda harmed children .", "`` It hurts my family when my child goes to school and is converted into gay ... when the purpose of procreation is undermined , '' Bahati said .", "He also said that he was concerned about following `` God 's law . ''", "Maddow pressed him on this point , finally getting him to acknowledge that , in his view , the `` appropriate punishment '' for violating God 's law is death .", "`` We need to turn to God , '' he said .", "At the end of the interview , Maddow told Bahati he risked turning Uganda into a rogue state : `` You are promoting life imprisonment for all gay people in your country , and your country has a lot of gay people who do not want to be subject to life imprisonment .", "And I think the international community is trying to decide whether Uganda is going to become an international pariah , a rogue state excluded from the community of nations , because you are singling out a minority among your population for treatment that frankly is not the direction that the rest of the world is going . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "In his interview defending the anti-gay bill, MP David Bahati lamented, that God doesn't accept homosexuality quoting a bible verse that the wages of sin is death; as if the Ugandan parliament is filled with righteous souls!", "_claim_name": "Policy should not be dictated by religion", "_doc_title": "Rachel Maddow Interviews David Bahati, Author Of Ugandan 'Kill The Gays' Bill (VIDEO) | Huffington Post", "_labeled_lineIDs": [14, 15]}], "_split": "test", "_topic_ID": 144, "_topic_name": "This House believes the government of Uganda has failed its citizens over LGBT rights"}, {"_annotation": [{"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["We know what young people are doing more of : watching television , surfing the Web , listening to their iPods , talking on cellphones , and instant-messaging their friends .", "But a new report released today by the National Endowment for the Arts makes clear what they 're doing a lot less of : reading .", "The report - a 99-page compendium of more than 40 studies by universities , foundations , business groups , and government agencies since 2004 - paints a dire picture of plummeting levels of reading among young people over the past two decades .", "Among the findings :", "Only 30 percent of 13-year-olds read almost every day .", "The number of 17-year-olds who never read for pleasure increased from 9 percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004 .", "Almost half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 never read books for pleasure .", "The average person between ages 15 and 24 spends 2 to 2\u00a01/2 hours a day watching TV and 7 minutes reading .", "`` This is a massive social problem , '' NEA chairman Dana Gioia , said by phone from Washington .", "`` We are losing the majority of the new generation .", "They will not achieve anything close to their potential because of poor reading . ''", "It is not just the amount of reading .", "According to the report , reading ability has fallen as well .", "While scores have improved for 9-year-olds , they dropped sharply for 17-year-olds .", "Only about a third of high school seniors read at a proficient level , a 13 percent decline since 1992 .", "`` And proficiency is not a high standard , '' Gioia said .", "`` We 're not asking them to be able to read Proust in the original .", "We 're talking about reading the daily newspaper . ''", "Apparently , things are not much better among college students .", "In 2005 , almost 40 percent of college freshmen ( and 35 percent of seniors ) read nothing at all for pleasure , and 26 percent ( 28 percent of seniors ) read less than one hour per week .", "Even among college graduates , prose-reading proficiency declined from 40 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003 .", "The report incorporates national studies that have been carried out since the NEA 's 2004 report , `` Reading at Risk , '' found that literary reading - fiction , poetry , and plays - had crashed over 20 years among adult Americans .", "The new report , titled `` To Read or Not to Read : A Question of National Consequence , '' focuses on reading in general , and it reaches down to younger age levels .", "While not all studies are exactly comparable in some details ( such as time spans ) , overall they trend in the same direction .", "`` We took information from so many sources , you would expect some results in the opposite direction , '' Gioia said .", "`` But I was impressed and depressed at how consistent the information was on the general decline in reading and reading ability . ''", "Changes in young people 's reading habits have not escaped notice in the publishing and library fields .", "`` I 'm not hearing of a dramatically big drop , but I would say the number of serious readers , the kids who used to come in and get 20 and 30 books - we 're just not seeing that , '' said Caroline Ward , a children 's librarian in Stamford , Conn. , who is past president of the children 's division of the American Library Association .", "`` We see some , but fewer than we used to . ''", "The report found that the more books there are in a young person 's home , the higher the average scores in science , civics , and history , all reading-based subjects .", "The report notes that average annual household spending on books , adjusted for inflation , dropped 14 percent between 1985 and 2005 , and that consumer book sales declined 6 percent from 2000 to 2006 .", "The report does not explain why youth reading has declined , but Gioia said he suspects three main reasons : `` First , something is not happening in our educational system .", "Second , we are surrounded by nonstop media , but for the most part it does not acknowledge reading .", "When the media made a celebrity of J.K. Rowling , 10 million people bought her book .", "Oprah Winfrey put ` Anna Karenina ' on the best-seller list .", "Third , our lives are completely cluttered with a million gadgets . ''", "Indeed , the report suggests that multitasking is a factor .", "It found that more than half of middle and high school students use other media most or some of the time while reading , and that 20 percent of the time they spend reading they are also watching TV , playing video games , sending messages , or otherwise using a computer .", "Besides plotting statistical trends , the report cites economic consequences .", "Seventy-two percent of employers rated high school graduates deficient in writing , and 38 percent cited reading deficiency .", "One out of five American workers reads at a lower level than necessary to do his or her job .", "Not surprisingly , proficient readers are more likely to attain management jobs and higher incomes .", "Possibly the most striking finding is that , regardless of income , levels of reading for pleasure correlate closely with levels of social life , voting , and political activism , participation in culture and fine arts , volunteerism , charity work , and even regular exercise .", "`` The poorest Americans who read did twice as much volunteering and charity work as the richest who did not read , '' Gioia said .", "`` The habit of regular reading awakens something inside a person that makes him or her take their own life more seriously and at the same time develops the sense that other people 's lives are real . ''", "That finding confirms previous studies , said Timothy Shanahan , an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and past president of the International Reading Association .", "`` If you 're low in reading ability , not only would you not read the newspaper , but you wo n't watch news on TV or listen to it on radio , '' Shanahan said .", "`` You 're less likely to take part in activities like sports or church .", "Being low in literacy is self-isolating , tends to push you out of culture altogether . ''", "Patricia S. Schroeder , president and chief executive of the Association of American Publishers , said part of the problem could be that adults can make children feel that reading is a duty .", "A common complaint she hears from children and young adults is that few books relate to their lives or interests .", "`` Reading is not really easy , '' she said , `` unless they get into something they want to read about . ''"], "_citing_sentence": "This issue is also not limited to the UK, as an article in the Boston Globe suggests that more than half of Americans aged 18 to 24 never read books for pleasure.", "_claim_name": "The classics make up a key part of English culture and history that would otherwise be forgotten.", "_doc_title": "US report says young people reading a lot less - The Boston Globe", "_labeled_lineIDs": [6]}, {"_labels": [["study"]], "_doc_body": ["A survey of thousands of teachers , pupils , parents , writers and advisers found great support for the classics .", "Poet Laureate Andrew Motion said it was a `` deep crime '' never to have read key Shakespeare works , Paradise Lost or Great Expectations .", "The consultation on the future of English teaching was by England 's curriculum and exams watchdog , the QCA .", "The idea was to ask people what would be important to English teaching in 2015 .", "Nearly 270 responses were received , which the organisation says represent the views of about 5,000 people .", "The main areas of agreement were : the importance of speaking and listening the value of the literary heritage but this is not staticthe desire of teachers to have more time and space for creativity the need for more contact with writers and actors the need to connect the classroom with the work place.spelling should remain a baseline skill whole works should be read , not just extracts", "The previous Children 's Laureate , Michael Morpurgo , wanted every primary school day to end with a creative half hour where children enjoyed stories and drama , and recommended `` soaking them in stories '' .", "Although many teachers canvassed agreed on the importance of the classics , many also said this had to be balanced with the need to include new writers and to make sure the works studied reflected the culturally diverse world of today .", "`` Introduce pupils to great works from the past while not neglecting those of the present , '' one group said .", "Other teachers , working in the inner city , said the compulsion to study Shakespeare and other classic writers `` seemed wasteful '' when time would be better spent on basic literary skills .", "There has previously been criticism of the national curriculum for England 's schools over the study of Shakespeare .", "Critics claimed this area of study was being `` dumbed down '' , with some qualifications not requiring much detailed study of the plays and some children being allowed to take media studies with English instead of literature .", "Teachers in the survey warned that time for creativity was being squeezed by the busy curriculum and demands for assessment .", "The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority ( QCA ) said the report did not represent finalised policies but would act as a `` touchstone '' for future planning .", "The report said : `` Underlying many of the comments is a sense that now is the time for renewal in the English curriculum .", "`` Many of the current structures of curriculum and assessment have been in place for some time and some fresh inspiration in the classroom is needed to encourage adventurous and ambitious teaching and learning .", "`` The place of the literary heritage is secure but the concept needs now to be refreshed in the light of changes in society so that their full cultural heritage is available to all pupils . ''", "the importance of speaking and listening the value of the literary heritage but this is not staticthe desire of teachers to have more time and space for creativity the need for more contact with writers and actors the need to connect the classroom with the work place.spelling should remain a baseline skill whole works should be read , not just extracts"], "_citing_sentence": "As the director of Th