International Herald Tribune 20130225 Asia.pdf

JAPAN SCHOOLS

TOOMUCHOF

A GOOD THING

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SUZYMENKES

A STORY OF SEX

AND FABRIC

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TAIWAN RIVALRY

2 PCMAKERS ON

OPPOSING PATHS

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THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013

GLOBAL.NYTIMES.COM

China mixes

passports

and politics

Refugees

from Syria

testing limits

in Lebanon

QAA, LEBANON

BEIJING

Travel documents used

as a way to control critics

both at home and abroad

Sectarian tensions rise

as government adopts

a hands-off approach

BY ANDREW JACOBS

Flush with cash and eager to see the

world, millions of middle-class Chinese

spent the 10-day Lunar New Year holi-

day that ended last week in places like

Paris, Bangkok and New York. Last

year, Chinese made a record 83 million

trips abroad, 20 percent more than in

2011 and a fivefold increase from a de-

cade earlier.

Sun Wenguang, a retired economics

professor fromShandong Province, was

not among those venturing overseas,

however. And not by choice. An author

whose books offer a critical assessment

of Communist Party rule, Mr. Sun, 79,

has been repeatedly denied a passport

without explanation.

‘‘I’d love to visit my daughter in Amer-

ica andmy 90-year-old brother inTaiwan,

but the authorities have other ideas,’’ he

said. ‘‘I feel like I’m living in a cage.’’

Mr. Sun is among the legions of

Chinese who have been barred from

traveling abroad by a government that

is increasingly using decisions on pass-

ports as a cudgel against perceived en-

emies—or as a carrot to encourage aca-

demics whose writings have at times

strayed from the party line to return to

the fold.

‘‘It’s just another way to punish

people they don’t like,’’ saidWu Zeheng,

a government critic and Buddhist spir-

itual leader from the southern province

of Guangdongwhose failed entreaties to

obtain a passport have prevented him

from accepting at least a dozen speak-

ing invitations in Europe and North

America.

China’s passport restrictions extend

to low-level military personnel, Tibetan

monks and even the security personnel

who process passport applications. ‘‘I

feel so jealous when I see all my friends

taking vacations in Singapore or Thai-

land, but the only way I could join them

is to quit my job,’’ said a 28-year-old po-

lice detective in Beijing.

Lawyers and human rights advocates

BY ANNE BARNARD

Quietly but inexorably, a human tide has

crept into Lebanon, Syria’s smallest and

most vulnerable neighbor.

As Syrians fleeing civil war pour over

the border, the village priest in Qaa, Eli-

an Nasrallah, trudges through muddy

fields to deliver blankets. His family

runs amedical clinic for refugees. When

Christian villagers fret about the flood

of Sunni Muslims, he replies that wel-

coming them is ‘‘the real Christianity.’’

But the priest and his parishioners

cannot keep up. The United Nations

counts more than 305,000 Syrian

refugees in Lebanon, but local officials

and aid workers say the actual number

is about 400,000, saturating the country

of four million.

The Lebanese government — by

design — has largely left them to fend

for themselves. Deeply divided over

Syria, haunted bymemories of an explo-

sive refugee crisis a generation ago, it

has mostly ignored the problem, dump-

ing it on overwhelmed communities like

Qaa.

So far, Lebanon’s delicate balance has

persevered, but there is a growing

sense of emergency.

Sectarian tensions are rising. Fugit-

ive Syrian rebels in border villages have

clashed with Lebanese soldiers. The

government’s anemic response has

delayed international aid. Local volun-

teers are running out of cash and pa-

tience.

And the battle for Damascus, the Syr-

ian capital, has barely begun. Should

fighting overwhelm that religiously and

politically mixed city of 2.5 million a

half-hour drive fromLebanon, the Leba-

nese fear a cataclysm that could sweep

away their tenuous calm.

GILLES SABRIE FOR THE NEWYORK TIMES

A local woman working on a historic mural at Thubchen Monastery in Lo Manthang, Nepal. The project is aimed at restoring to a vibrant state the artwork of two local monasteries.

Defending Tibetan culture with a brush

lights. Dusty statues of Tibetan

Buddhist deities gazed on. From open-

ings in the roof, a few shafts of sunlight

fell through the 35 wooden pillars in the

main chamber of the enormous

Thubchen Monastery, the same edifice

that awed Michel Peissel, the explorer

of Tibet, when he visited a half-century

ago.

‘‘In Nepal, no one knows how to do

this, so we have to learn,’’ said Tashi

Gurung, 34, a painter participating in

what is one of the most ambitious

Tibetan art projects in the Himalayas.

Financed by the American Himala-

yan Foundation, the project is aimed at

restoring to a vibrant state the artwork

of two of the three main monasteries

and temples in LoManthang, the walled

capital of the once-forbidden kingdomof

Mustang. Bordering Tibet in the remote

trans-Himalayan desert, Mustang is an

important enclave of Tibetan Buddhist

culture.

Tibetan leaders, including the Dalai

Lama, say their culture is under assault

in the vast Tibetan regions ruled by the

Chinese Communist Party, which occu-

pied central Tibet in 1951. That, along

with the encroachment of modernity,

means that the act of preserving or re-

viving Tibetan art is arguably more im-

portant than at any time since China’s

Cultural Revolution.

The project in Lo Manthang has

stirred debate. Some scholars of

Tibetan art assert that the painters in

Lo Manthang are altering important

historical murals and jeopardizing

scholarship by painting new images

atop sections of walls where the original

images have been destroyed. Those in-

volved in the project argue that resi-

dents want complete artwork in their

houses of worship.

The project’s director is Luigi Fieni,

39, an Italian who first came to work in

Lo Manthang after graduating from an

art conservation program in Rome. Mr.

Fieni and other Westerners have

LO MANTHANG, NEPAL

An army of amateurs

in Nepal is tasked with

preserving ancient works

BY EDWARDWONG

Dozens of painters sat atop scaffolding

that soared toward the roof of an an-

cient monastery. With a swipe of their

brushes, colors appeared that gave life

to the Buddha. Gold for the skin. Black

for the eyes. Orange for the robes.

They worked by dim portable electric

CHINA, PAGE 3

NEPAL, PAGE 3

Long arm of antidoping law goes fishing

ICE FISHING

there are hurdles to clear. Once the

anglers shuffled off the ice and put down

their rods, they had to submit to the

same examinations as world-class

sprinters and weight lifters.

In sports like ice fishing, where speed

and strength are not necessarily at a

premium, an agent from an internation-

al antidoping federation can seem, well,

like a fish out of water.

After all, ice fishing is not a particu-

larly physical sport. Most days are

spent crouched low around the ice hole

in snow pants, kneepads and impro-

vised shin guards made of foam. The

hardest part is staying warm — most

anglers forgo gloves in order to better

feel fish tugging on the rods.

WAUSAU, WISCONSIN

BY JAMES CARD

The ice fishermen spent a week on the

frozen lake, and on the last day, after

emptying perch and bluegill from their

buckets and scrubbing bait from their

hands, several winners of the World Ice

Fishing Championship were ushered in-

to their rooms in the Plaza Hotel.

There, an official from the U.S. Anti-

Doping Agency ordered them to

provide urine samples for a surprise

test to detect steroids and growth hor-

mones—drugs not normally associated

with the quiet solitude of ice fishing.

‘‘We do not test for beer, because then

everybody would fail,’’

‘‘We do not test for beer,

because then everybody

would fail.’’

LYNSEY ADDARIO FOR THE NYT

A Syrian girl, 15, and her baby brother

escaped to Lebanon with their family.

McDearmon, chairman of the U.S.

Freshwater Fishing Federation.

With doping a rampant problem

throughout sports, drug testing has ar-

rived at themost unlikely places, includ-

ing the chilly Big Eau Pleine Reservoir,

where competitors prize patience over

power.

The leaders of the sport of ice fishing

have started a long-shot bid to take their

lonely pursuit to the Olympics. A berth

in the Winter Games would come with

many obvious advantages, but

‘‘There is a limit to what the country

can handle,’’ saidNadimShubassi, may-

or of Saidnayel, a Sunni town now

packed with Syrians. ‘‘Maybe we have

reached this limit now.’’

Lebanon’s refugee crisis does not

match the familiar image of vast, cen-

tralized tent camps and armies of for-

eign aid organizations. It is nowhere,

and everywhere. Displaced Syrians

seem to fill every nook and cranny: half-

finished cinder block houses, stables,

DARRENHAUCK FOR THE NEWYORK TIMES

A member of the Kazakh team. Ice fishermen hope to get their sport into the Olympics.

said Joel

first

FISHING, PAGE 14

LEBANON, PAGE 4

WORLDNEWS

Afghan rebels stage 4 attacks

The Taliban claimed responsibility

Sunday for three bombings, while a

would-be attacker was killed in a

shootout in Kabul, security and

intelligence officials said. PAGE 3

BUSINESS ASIA

Italian bank undone by scandal

Monte dei Paschi, the world’s oldest

bank, has been bailed out by the Italian

government. In Siena, the bank has

been a major employer and supporter

of local charities for centuries. PAGE 19

Taxing the Web data harvest

A proposal floated in France would tax

data collection by companies like

Google and Facebook, which have

skirted other levies in Europe. PAGE 19

Netflix digs into viewers’ minds

Thanks to a deep reserve of data,

executives at the streaming site Netflix

knew its series ‘‘House of Cards’’ would

be a hit, David Carr writes. PAGE 22

PAGE TWO

Vatican process turns vicious

Fresh accusations have thrown a

shadow over the Vatican during its

delicate transition. Officials fear they

might influence the vote for a new pope

and the direction of the church.

VIEWS

Thomas L. Friedman

In India, people ask you about China,

and in China, people ask you about

India: Which country will become the

dominant economic power? I have the

answer: Mexico. PAGE 8

South Korea’s mother figure

The inauguration onMonday of South

Korea’s first female president, Park

Geun-hye, is a trip down memory lane

for most South Koreans, Suki Kim

writes. PAGE 8

ONLINE

Complete Oscars coverage

Full coverage of the 85th Academy

Awards in Los Angeles, including red-

carpet photos, analysis, live video and

more. global.nytimes.com/movies

Excited and frustrated in China

As ‘‘Oscar fever’’ grows around

the world over the Academy

Awards, excitement has been building

in China even though it has no films in

competition. But there is also a sense of

frustration: Why aren’t its movies

nominated for the world’s biggest

awards? China thinks of itself as

advancing in many ways, growing

richer and more powerful all the time,

so its inability to come up with serious

contenders for the Oscars rankles.

rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com

China wary on Myanmar strife

Chinese Army units have been training

near the border withMyanmar in

anticipation of a spillover from fighting

between rebels and the military. PAGE 4

U.S. agencies to detail cuts

As the across-the-board budget cuts

edge closer to reality, governors,

contractors and others will learn about

what they stand to lose. PAGE 5

DESIGN

A celebrated but elusive figure

Eileen Gray is regarded as one of the

most influential architects and furniture

designers of the last century, but

despite her recent posthumous fame,

she remains an elusive figure. PAGE 12

SPECIAL REPORT

Technology&Innovation

At theMobileWorld Congress, the

disruptions caused by new technology

will be a high priority. An example: The

delicate data collection issues Microsoft

has inherited fromSkype. PAGES 16-17

SAMUEL JAMES FOR THE NYT

Africa refuge for growing flock

Attendance at Catholic Mass has

exploded in Nigeria and across Africa,

where the church provides a backbone

for communities that countries on the

continent cannot. PAGE 2

NEWSSTAND PRICES

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SPORTS

Key to winning? Get some rest

Manchester United, BayernMunich

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Ivory Coast CFA 2.200

2 | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

page two

A struggle

for control

of the right

Like morethanafew of his colleagues

on the right, he directs his greatestvit-

riolatMr.Obama.Mr. Brounboasts

that hewas the firsttocall the president

‘‘a socialistwhoembraces Marxist-Len-

inist policies.’ ’ The ‘‘only Constitution

that Barack Obama upholds is the So-

viet constitution,’ ’ he charges.

These two lawmakers aren’t simply

innocuous backbenchers. Theyare

among the leading contenders in Re-

publican primariesfor openSenate

seatsinGeorgia and Iowa.

Evensome Republicans who aren’t as

far out get caughtupinthe fervor, par-

ticularly whenit touches on Mr.Obama.

This month, Representative Virginia

Foxx ofNorth Carolina likened those

who didn’t fight hard enough against

theObama administration’sregulation

offor-profit colleges to Germans who

didn’t stand up to the Nazis in the 1930s.

Texas,the biggest Republican-domi-

natedstate, is a hotbed of Obama-hat-

ing politicians. Louie Gohmert, in his

fifth term in theU.S. HouseofRepre-

sentatives, assertedinNovember that

the presidentousted the dictatorCol.

Muammar el-Qaddafi to allow Al

Qaeda to take over Libya.

Aftera15-year hiatus, Steve Stock-

man returned to the Housethis year

and wastednotime. When the president

appearedat anewsconference sur-

rounded by childrenafter the school

shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Mr.

Stockman compared Mr.Obama to Sad-

damHussein for using childrenas

props. He’snow talking about impeach-

ing Mr.Obama forproposing gun-con-

trollegislation.

The Senate is hardly immune. Sena-

torTedCruz ofTexas,whowas elected

in November, questioned,withno cause,

whetherChuck Hagel,the defense sec-

retary nominee, had takenmoneyfrom

terrorist states. The commentwas criti-

cized evenbythe Republican senator

John McCain, himselfaHagel critic. Far

from expressing regret, Mr. Cruz

seemed to revelinthe controversy.

This transcends ideology.Mr. Broun

has the least conservative voting record

ofanyHouse Republican fromGeorgia,

according to the latest National Journal

survey of voting records. Claiming the

presidentworships the constitution of

the Soviet Union isn’t aconservative

position — it’sanutty one, reminiscent

of the John Birchers thatMr. Buckley

assailed a half-century ago.

Anothernew senator, Jeff Flakeof

Arizona, is every bit as conservative as

Mr. Cruz, and they will probably vote

alike mostof thetime. Yet Mr. Cruz

revels in vilification,whileMr. Flake

seeks commonground whenpossible.

It is the Flake persona that should of-

fer the greatest appeal to younger or

more independent voters.Many conser-

vatives insistthattheUnitedStatesisa

center-right country,where voters are

receptive to the case for limitedgovern-

ment and cultural traditionalism. The

changing demographic profileof the

electorate seems to undercut that case.

That isagooddebate to have. But

conservativescan’t compete in the ar-

gumentwhen their partyisidentified

withbizarretheories, bigotry and a vis-

ceral hatred of the president.

That’sgoing to changewhenpromi-

nent Republicans withconservative

bona fides —Representative PaulD. Ry-

an of Wisconsin, Senator Marco Rubioof

Florida — don’t justtalk thetalk about a

broader-based partybut walk thewalk

and rejectthe haters. (BLOOMBERG)

E-MAIL: pagetwo@iht.com

Albert R.

Hunt

LETTER FROMWASHINGTON

The late William F. Buckley and Karl

Rove have little in common,other than

the Republican Party and intelligence.

Mr. Buckley’spolitics were guidedby

principles;Mr. Rove’s principlesare

guidedbypolitics.

Yet Mr. Rove, the party establish-

ment’smoney and strategy guru, is

channeling Mr. Buckley, afounding fa-

ther ofcontemporary conservatism, by

trying to root out extremism from the

Republican mainstream.Ahalf-century

ago, Mr. Buckleysoughttoexpungethe

John Birch Society, anti-Semites and

white supremacistsfrom the party’sin-

ner circles. Today,Mr. Rove is threaten-

ing to finance primary campaigns

againstthose he considers right-wing

extremists of thetypethat have already

cost Republicans several Senate seats.

It may bethe right purpose, but he’s

thewrong person. He can’t avoid look-

ing like an inside-the-Beltway king-

maker trying to purge populist insur-

genciesaround the country and make

some more bucks while doing it. There

is a backlash.

Still, prominent Republicans with

more credibility than Mr. Rove need to

consider this cause. There are more

than a few fringe figures who play a

role in defining the party, many of them

express a vitriolic dislikeof President

Barack Obama thatturns off possible

Republican voters.

There is Representative Steve King of

Iowa,who is unrelenting in his criticism

of the president. Oneof his latesttargets

is the Septemberattack in Benghazi,

Libya, in which four Americans, includ-

ing theU.S. ambassador,were killed.

He goesfurther than other critics:

Benghazi, he declares, ‘‘is a lot bigger’’

than other scandals. It is, he says, at

least 10times bigger than Watergate

and Iran-contra combined.

Mr. King has made a name for him-

self withanti-immigrant rants. Last

year, he said Americans should select

eligible immigrants the sameway they

would go about picking a ‘‘good bird

dog.’ ’ That means choosing ‘‘theone

that’s the friskiest, theonethat’s en-

gaged the most, and not theonethat’s

over there sleeping in the corner.’ ’ He

later explained that he meantthis as a

compliment—he likes bird dogs.

Then there’sRepresentative PaulC.

Broun ofGeorgia. The former physician

said evolution,embryology and the Big

Bang theory are ‘‘liesstraight from the

pitofhell.’ ’ Heonce proposed banning

Playboy magazine frommilitary install-

ations,which might have jeopardized

the survival of the all-volunteer army.

SAMUEL JAMES FOR THE NEWYORK TIMES

For many Nigerians who live in areas where stability — or even rest — is elusive, the Christ the King Catholic Church in Lagos provides a refuge. It celebrates six Masses each Sunday.

African refuge for growing flock

‘‘Our only limitation is space,’’ he said.

The Roman Catholic Church’s explo-

sive growthinNigeria and across Africa

has led to serious talk of the possibility

ofanAfrican cardinal succeeding Pope

BenedictXVI, and clerics from Nigeria,

Ghana and the Democratic Republic of

Congo, which has the continent’s

largest Catholic population, have been

mentionedastopcontenders.

With16 percentof theworld’sCatho-

lics now living in Africa,the church’sfu-

ture, many say, is here. The Catholic

populationinAfrica grew nearly 21 per-

cent between2005 and 2010, far outstrip-

ping other parts of theworld.Whilethe

number of priestsinNorth America and

Europe declinedduring the same period,

in Africa theygrew 16 percent. The sem-

inaries, clerical officials say, are bursting

with candidates, and African priestsare

being senttotake overchurchesin

formercolonial powers.

Untaintedbythe child sexual abuse

scandals,the church draws parishion-

ers, many in their 20s and 30s,who flock

eagerly to services,which can last

hours,withno complaints.

‘‘After work, alot ofyoung people

cometoMass,’ ’ said ChineduOkani, 29,

an engineerinLagoswhowas attending

aservice atthe Church of theAssump-

tioninthe Falomo neighborhood. ‘‘It

providesasereneenvironment.’’

He acknowledgesanotherattraction,

too: thatthe churchisafunctioning insti-

tutioninacountry that lacks them. ‘‘The

welfare systemisnot working here,’’ Mr.

Okani said. ‘‘We find a way to makeup

forit: the family, and the church.’ ’

In Nigeria, at least70percentof the

people live below the poverty line, and

80 percentof the country’s oil wealth

goes to 1percentof the population. The

police do not respond to calls, and elec-

tricityisspotty.

Outside Christthe King,on the dirt

streets of theMushin neighborhood,

there are armedrobbers and no lights.

It is littlewonder thatthe priest must

gently shoo away parishioners linger-

ing to read or chat in the church’sar-

cadedmeeting spaces undergenerator-

powered lights.

‘‘A lot ofit is the challengeofliving in

Nigeria,’ ’ said FatherIkechi,whowas

educatedat FordhamUniversityinNew

York. ‘‘We can’t rely on the government

for water, light, security.Whateveryou

want, you have to provide foryourself.’ ’

For his parishioners, he said, ‘‘what

they face is huge. Sothey tend to come

to Godastheir last resort. You can’t go

to the police. Whowill you goto? You

will gotoGod. Someof them,where

theysleepisso bad,theyjust cometo

sleephere during the day.’ ’

Afteradevastating bus accident re-

cently,the church paid parishioners’

hospital bills,the priest said. ‘‘Other-

wisethey would die,’’ he said.

In this way the church is fulfilling a

role it playedinits distant European

past, providing for the peoplewherethe

state cannot, but some question wheth-

er theAfrican church’sgrowth and size

can be sustainedasthe continent’s insti-

tutions develop.

‘‘Whenpeople say Africa is the future,

Isay, ‘Oh, isn’t itthe past?’’’said theRev.

Thomas J. Reese, aseniorfellow atthe

Woodstock Theological Centerat Geor-

getown UniversityinWashington. ‘‘I see

it asarepeatof the past, what happened

in Europe centuriesago. What’sgoing to

happeninAfrica when everybody getsa

televisionset, whenmodernitycomes?’’

Fornow, that question is largely aca-

demic. ‘‘Almostevery system has col-

lapsed,’ ’ said Bishop Matthew Hassan

Kukah ofSokoto, in northwestern Nige-

ria. ‘‘Theentire architectureofgov-

ernance has collapsed. The church re-

mains theonly moral force.

‘‘The church offers the best schools,

social services, medicine. The God talk

in Africa is a mark of the failureof the

economic, social and political system,’ ’

BishopKukah said, adding, ‘‘We are be-

ing calledleft, right and center to mend

the brokenp eces of what are con-

sidered the failing states of Africa.’ ’

Gaia Pianigiani contributed reporting

fromRome.

LAGOS

Catholic Church expands

in the region, providing

services in place of state

BYADAMNOSSITER

The young woman slept soundly on the

cool marble floorbeforethe altar, a

break from the chaosat home. In the

courtyard, neighborhood teenagers

filled giant jerrycanswithpurifiedwater

fromastone fountain. In an aisle, a rail-

thin young woman fromanearby slum

said she had not eaten since yesterday

but was expecting sustenance here.

Behind its high spikedirongatesina

frenetic megalopolis ofanywhere be-

tween 11 million and 21 million,the

church of Christthe King is protector,

feeder and healer.

In the6a.m. darkness,theworking-

class church is already filled withpa-

rishioners in shirt-sleeves and T-shirts,

apool of hymn-singing light in a

blacked-out neighborhood. Six Masses

are celebrated each Sunday for up to

10,000 people, and 102peoplewere bap-

tized onarecent Saturday. The parish

priest, the Rev. Ikenna Ikechi, dreams

ofbuilding amultistory communitycen-

ter to accommodate his growing flock.

Delicate Va tican transition takes a vicious turn

ONLINE: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Russian nationalists say ‘nyet’ to foreign words

‘‘ ‘Liberal’no-Demokraticheskaya Partiya Rossi’ includes three words that are

not Russian. . . I await with bated breath the news that Mr. Zhirinovsky has

set an example for the rest of Russia and renamed his party with Russian

synonyms.’’

ISA B ELLA CLOCHARD, MACEDONIA

ihtrendezvous.com

tor of the John XXIII CenterinBologna

and the author ofabook onconclaves.

Any efforttotarnish rivals is ‘‘partof

the great gameof the conclave, whose

tools include political attacks and ef-

forts to conditionconsensus,’ ’ Mr.Mel-

loni added.

Separately,theVatican spokesman,

the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the re-

ports weretrying to ‘‘discreditthe

church and itsgovernment’’ ahead of

the conclave.

The scandals have flourishedinthe

fertile ground ofpower vacuums, not

only attheVatican but also in Italy,

which was holding national elections

Sunday and Monday.

SomeVatican experts said that recent

newsreports,which depicttheVatican

as an unruly den of scheming Italian

prelates, might convincethe cardinals

to chooseanon-Italian pope, orsomeone

furtherremovedfrom theVatican hier-

archy.OtherItalian newsreportshave

seized onapetitionbycritics who say

that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony ofLos

Angelesshould not be allowed to attend

the conclave, after the releaseofchurch

files that show how he protected priests

accused ofsexually abusing minors.

SomeVatican expertsread the media

reportsabout Cardinal Mahony as an

attempttoundermine any potential

American papal candidates.

On Monday, just days before his

papacy ends, Benedict is expected to is-

sue alawthatwould changethe rules

for electing a new pope, making it possi-

ble for the cardinals to startthe con-

clave sooner than thetraditional wait-

ing periodafter the papacy is vacant.

Some non-Italian cardinals worry that

might favor thosewho are basedatthe

Vatican rather than cardinals from

around theworld,Vatican experts said.

The same day,the pope is alsoexpect-

ed to meet with thethree cardinals who

compiled the dossier on the stolendocu-

ment scandal.

VATICAN CITY

Scandal-related reports

point to a fierce fight

in selection of new pope

BY RACHEL DONADIO

As cardinals fromaround theworld be-

gin arriving in Rome foraconclave to

elect asuccessor to Pope BenedictXVI,

new shadowshave fallen over the delic-

ate transition,which theVatican fears

might influencethe vote and withitthe

direction of the Roman Catholic Church.

In recent days,oftenspeculative re-

portsinthe Italian newsmedia — some

alleging gay sex scandals in theVatican,

others focusing on particular cardinals

stung by the child sexual abuse crisis —

have dominatedheadlines, suggesting

fierce internal strugglesasprelates

scrambletoconsolidate power and at-

tack their rivals in the dying days ofa

troubled papacy.

The reports,which theVatican has

vehemently rejected, touch onsomeof

the mostvexing issues ofBenedict’s

nearly eight-year reign, including a new

round ofaccusations of child sexual

abuse by priests and international crit-

icism of theVatican Bank’s opaque re-

cord-keeping. The recentexplosion of

bad press,which someVatican experts

sayisfedbycarefully orchestratedleaks

meanttoweakensome papal contenders,

also speak to Benedict’s own difficulties

governing,which analystssayhe is try-

ing to address, albeit belatedly,withsev-

eral high-profile personnel changes.

The drumbeatof scandal has reached

such a feverpitch thatonSaturday,the

Vatican SecretariatofState issueda

rare pointedrebuke, calling it ‘‘deplor-

able’’ that ahead of the conclave there

was ‘‘a widespread distribution of often

unverified,unverifiableorcompletely

IN OUR PAGES ✴ 100, 75, 50 YEARS AGO

1913 Zeppelin Visits England

LONDON The Herald has already given

an accountof thetrials of the military

Zeppelin ‘‘L.Z.I.,’’ which onSaturday

[Feb. 23] made a trip lasting thirteen

hours, and keptup wireless communica-

tion with the military stationat Carls-

ruhethroughout. Several English pa-

pers now connectthis flightof the

Zeppelin with the reports of nightvisits

ofstrange airships to England.

1938 Runaway Train Speeds to Paris

PARIS A runaway train offortyfreight

cars speeding toward Paris from the sub-

urban town ofCreil nearly provokedase-

rious accident yesterday morning. Dur-

ing shunting operations at Creil,the forty

cars became detachedfrom the re-

mainder of the convoy, and began to go

toward Paris on themain suburban line

which is alsothemain track for the Lon-

donboat-train.As the land slopes,the

cars gatheredspeedastheywent. A

brakeman aboard the caboosewas unable

to makethe brakesfunction. The alarm

was passedalong the line, and switchmen

finally succeededinswitching the convoy

on a siding. The cars ran into abumperat

theend of thetrack, someof them tele-

scoping and most being damaged.

1963 Burma Nationalizes Banks

RANGOON Burma’s military government

nationalized all private and commercial

banks yesterday [Feb. 23]. Heavily

armed troops sealed off entrances to

private banks in Rangoonminutesafter

the nationalization announcementwas

made over the Burmese Broadcasting

Service. Twenty-four banks were af-

fected, 14 of themforeign.Among the

well-known banks nationalizedare

Lloyds ofLondon, National and Grind-

lay’s Mercantile, Netherlands Trading

and Hong Kong and Shanghai. The gov-

ernment move swiftly followed last

week’s takeover of all import and export

business,the ricetrade and some private

industries. The government said that for-

eign banks would be compensated within

three months.

OSSERVATORE ROMANO, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

End of an era Pope BenedictXVIgiving his final Sunday blessing in St. Peter’s

Square fromhis apartment in theVatican. Benedict, 85,will resign onThursday, and he

toldacrowd estimatedat 100,000 that God was calling him to dedicate himself ‘‘even

moretoprayer and meditation.’ ’ His last public appearance is set forWednesday.

false newsstories,that cause serious

damagetopersons and institutions.’ ’

TheVatican compared the newsre-

ports to past attemptsbyforeign states

to exert pressureon papal elections, say-

ing any efforts to skew the choiceof the

next pope by trying to shape public opin-

ion were ‘‘based onjudgments that do

not typically capturethe spiritual aspect

of the momentthatthe churchisliving.’ ’

At the conclusion of theVatican’sLen-

ten spiritual retreat, Cardinal Gian-

franco Ravasi, a papal contender, spoke

darkly of the ‘‘divisions, dissent, career-

ism, jealousies’’ that he said plagued the

Vatican hierarchy.

The recent newsreports were linked

to a scandal in which the pope’sbutler

stole confidential documents, an episode

considered oneof the gravest security

breachesinthe church’smodern history.

Lastweek, articlesinthe center-left

daily newspaperLaRepubblica and the

center-rightweekly Panorama,which

largely did not reveal their sources, re-

ported thatthree cardinals whomBene-

dict had asked to investigate the docu-

ments scandal had found evidenceof

Vatican officials who had beenput in

compromising positions.

The publications reported that, after

interviewing dozens ofpeople inside

and outsidetheVatican,the cardinals

producedaheftydossier.

Vatican expertsspeculated that prel-

ates and their associates eager to

undermineopponentsduring the con-

clave were behind the latest leaks.

‘‘The conclave isamechanism that

serves to create a dynastyinamonarchy

without children, so it’sacomplicatedop-

eration,’ ’ said Alberto Melloni,the direc-

Wor ld News

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013 | 3

THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

asia

BRIEFLY

Asia

Insurgents

stage several

assaults in

Afghanistan

KABUL

MALÉ, MALDIVES

Ex-president, after 10 days

of refuge, leaves embassy

Mohamed Nasheed, formerpresident

of theMaldives, has leftthe Indian Em-

bassy inMalé after taking refugethere

for10 days because he said his lifewas

under threat.

He did not explain why he lefttheem-

bassy onSaturday but said he believed

that hewould be free to take part in pol-

itics.

Mr. Nasheed arrivedattheembassy

onFeb. 13 afteracourtordered his ar-

rest fornot attending a hearing on

charges that he illegally ordered the de-

tention ofaseniorjudge, amove that

led to his ousterfrompower last year.

The court issuedasecond warrant dur-

ingMr. Nasheed’sstay attheembassy,

but the policewereunabletoexecute it

becausethey were not allowed to enter

a diplomatic building. (AP)

JAKARTA

Governing party chief resigns

over construction graft case

The head ofIndonesia’sgoverning

party has resignedafter the country’s

anti-corruptioncommission named

him as a suspect inacorruptioncase.

Theofficial,Anas Urbaningrum,who

was electedin2010 as general chairman

of the Democratic Party, announced his

resignation onSaturday in a newscon-

ference atthe party’sheadquarters.

On Friday,the Corruption Eradica-

tionCommissionaccusedMr.Anas of

receiving paymentsinconnection with

the construction ofasportscomplexin

West Java Province. (AP)

SEOUL

North Korea warns U.S.

over military exercises

NorthKorea has warned thetop U.S.

military commanderinSouthKorea

that if theUnitedStatespressedahead

withjoint military exercises withSouth

Korea scheduled to begin next month,

it could set off a war in which American

forces would ‘‘meet a miserable de-

struction.’ ’

Thewarning cameonSaturday as

theU.S. and SouthKorean militaries

plannedforjointwar games, KeyRe-

solve and Foal Eagle, beginning early

next month.Washington and Seoulreg-

ularly conduct such joint military drills,

and whenever they happen, NorthKo-

rea warns of war and threatens to deliv-

eradevastating blow to U.S. and South

Korean troops.

DHAKA, BANGLADESH

Death penalty is demanded

for war crimes suspects

Thousands ofstudents ralliedinthe

capital of Bangladesh over theweek-

end to demand the deathpenaltyforIs-

lamic political partyleaders who areon

trial overalleged war crimesduring

the country’s1971 independencewar.

Eighttopleaders of Jamaat-e-Islami,

the country’s largest Islamic party, are

being tried on charges of mass killings,

rape and arsonallegedly committed

during Bangladesh’s nine-month war of

separationfromPakistan. This month,

a tribunal convicted the partyleader,

AbdulQuader Mollah,of mass killings

during thewar and sentenced him to

life in prison, asentencethat many

Bangladeshis consideredlenient. (AP)

Would-be attacker dies

after shootout in Kabul;

bombings in 2 provinces

BYMATTHEW ROSENBERG

AND HABIB ZAHORI

Afghan intelligence agents onSunday

shot and killedamaninasportutility ve-

hiclethatofficials said had been packed

with explosives, foiling whattheyde-

scribedasanattempttoset off amassive

explosioninaKabulneighborhood of

narrow streets lined withforeign em-

bassies.

Around the sametime, Taliban sui-

cide attackers set off three separate car

bombs in a pair ofprovincesnear the

capital. But they inflicted minimal dam-

age, according to officials, and thetoll

from the Sunday violencewas low —

apart from the two attackers and one

suspect killed, two securityguards and

apoliceofficer were slain and five other

peoplewounded, including one attacker

who managed to flee.

Zabiullah Mujahid, aspokesman for

the Taliban, said the insurgents were

behind thethree successfulbombings.

But he disavowedknowledgeof the at-

tempt in Kabul, saying Taliban com-

manders in the city had no plans to

launch an attack onSunday.

While it is not unusual for the Taliban

to deny having a hand in a failedattack,

much about the attemptedbombing

Sunday remainedmurky,with officials

hailingAfghan securityforcesforacting

quickly but offering only the barest de-

tails about how the man said to be a

bomber was spotted.

Gen.Mohammed Ayoub Salangi,the

police chief of Kabul, said the suspect

was in a Toyotasportutility vehicle and

was trying to pass through a checkpoint

whenhewas recognizedbyagentsfrom

the country’sintelligence service, the

National Directorate ofSecurity.

Theman ‘‘was gunneddown,’ ’ Gener-

al Salangi said. The agents had to act

quickly, he added, saying thattherewas

notimetoinspectthevehicleorques-

tion the suspect becausethatwould

have given him the chancetodetonate

theexplosives.

EarlierSunday, in Jalalabad, in eastern

Afghanistan, a single bomberinaToyota

Corolla directly targeted the SecurityDi-

rectorate, officials said, detonating his

explosive-laden vehicle outside abuild-

ing usedbythe spy agency. Two guards

were killed and a third was wounded,

said HazratMohammad Mashraqiwal, a

police spokesman in Jalalabad.

LaterSunday, a pair ofbombers in an-

other car laden with explosives tried to

enter the district governor’scompound

in Baraki Barak districtofLogar

Province, south of Kabul. But they were

stoppedbypoliceofficers, prompting

one man to jump and make arunforit

and theother to set off the car bomb,

said Abdul RahimAmin,the governor.

One policeofficer was woundedinthe

attack, along with the man who fled.

In Logar around dawn, a minivan

packed with explosives was set off at a

police post near the provincial capital,

Pul-e-Alam.One policeofficer was killed

and two others wounded, an official said .

Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting.

GILLES SABRIE FOR THE NEWYORK TIMES

An abandoned Chinese truck by two chortens, or Tibetan Buddhist structures that house religious relics, in Lo Manthang, Nepal, capital of the once-forbidden kingdom of Mustang.

Painters reconstruct Nepal murals

NEPAL, FROMPAGE 1

trainedlocal residents to work on the

art, creating a 35-member team that in-

cludes20women and onemonk (though

therewas initial reluctance fromlocal

men to tolerate thewomen’s participa-

tion).

There arethree majorreligiousbuild-

ings in LoManthang. Two are monas-

teries, and one is a templetraditionally

usedforceremoniesbythe royal family.

Their thick, red walls rise among alley-

ways thatwind pastwhitewashedmud-

brick homes.An80-year-old king and

his family reside in a palace in thetown

center. Thetown was foundedinthe

14thcentury, and theoldest religious

buildings date from the 15thcentury.

Much of the Tibetan art in Lo

Manthang reflectsaNewari influence,

which comesfrom the KatmanduVal-

ley. Centuriesago, Newari artisans

werewelcomedbysome Tibetan rulers,

especially thosewho followed the Sakya

branch of Tibetan Buddhism,which is

common throughout Mustang.

The art project began in 1999 with the

cleaning ofmurals in Thubchen Monas-

tery, afteraninitial round of architec-

tural reconstruction.

Then the painters moved on to Jampa

Temple, wherethe dark main chamber

has a towering statue of Maitreya,the

future Buddha.

Thewalls on the first floorare ad-

orned withremarkably detailed man-

dalas, aform ofgeometric art con-

sideredarepresentation of the cosmos.

Here, Mr. Fieni decided to deviate from

the initial approach takenat Thubchen.

Hewanted his team, rather than do

purely restoration,topaint sections of

thewalls where an original mural had

disappeared orbeendestroyed.

The painters would then try to recre-

ate those pictures based on tradition

and on what had been painted else-

where in the chamber.Mr. Fieni also

consulted withmonks to ask what pic-

tures they wanted on thewalls. In 2010,

theteam returned to Thubchen to adopt

the new approach and paint large sec-

tions.

‘‘Call this painting, not restoration or

conservation,’ ’ Mr. Fieni said. He added

thatthis methodhelpedrestorethe liv-

ing natureof the artwork, as opposed to

what he called theWestern ‘‘colonial-

ism’’ approach ofpreserving theold

above all else.

‘‘When we arrived,westarted work-

ing following theWesterners’theories

ofconservation,’ ’ Mr. Fieni said. ‘‘Then,

whileworking and living within the

community, I changedmypointof view,

and I decided to follow the needs of the

culture I was working for. So Idecided

to start reconstructing the missing

areas.’ ’

Oncetaught how to paint, local resi-

dentsdecide how they wanttodecorate

the monasteries,Mr. Fieni said.

‘‘All theotherconservationprojects

I’ve seenareWesterners doing the art-

work, locals fetching clay,’ ’ he said.

‘‘This is the firstonewherewetrain the

locals.’ ’

Therewere challenges.Painters in

highercastes initially did not want

artistsinlowercastessitting on the

scaffolding above them.And therewere

religiousbeliefs to accommodate. At the

buildings, an abbot used a mirror to ab-

sorb the spirits of the gods in the statues

and murals beforethe painting began;

after the project is completed,the abbot

is expected to releasethe spiritsfrom

the mirrorsotheycanreturn.

Mr. Fieni’s approach to restoring the

temples and monasteries has beencon-

tested. Christian Luczanits, asenior

curatoratthe Rubin Museum of Art in

New York,which displays Himalayan

art, said he blanchedatwhat he saw

whenhetraveled to Mustang in 2010

and 2012.Mr. Luczanits said that suffi-

cient scholarship had not beendone into

theoriginal paintings. Now, becauseof

the new painting, any scholar wanting

to study theoriginals must lookat pho-

tographs rather than rely on what is

present in thetemple, he said.

‘‘Thetemple now afterrestoration

cannot beunderstoodanymorewithout

the previousdocumentation,’ ’ Mr.

Luczanits said in an interview.

Last year, he made his opinionknown

at acontentiousmeeting atthe palace in

LoManthang.Among those present

wereMr. Fieni, an abbot, the princeof

Mustang and representatives of the

American Himalayan Foundation,

which gives financial supporttomany

development projectsinMustang.(The

foundation’spresident, Erica Stone,

said the total being spenton the building

renovations in LoManthang alonewas

$2.58 million.An additional $768,000 had

beenspent forrestoring thetown wall

and constructing drainage.)

Therewas vigorousdebate, and the

royal family and the abbot both backed

Mr. Fieni. The ceremonial prince, Jigme

Singi Palbar Bista, said in an interview

thatthe buildings ‘‘are renovated very

well.’ ’

Thoroughly painting Thubchen Mon-

astery would take another three to four

years, but the project’sbudget will run

out this year.Mr. Fieni estimated there

was a total ofabout 340 square meters,

or3,660 square feet of wall spaceto

paint.

He said hewas thinking about moving

on to restorationprojects in India or

Myanmar withsomeof the painters he

had trainedinLoManthang. In 2006 and

2007, he tookfive of them to work with

him at a Tibetan monastery in Sichuan

Province, in western China, aproject

thatwas nevercompletedbecausethe

Chinese authoritiesshut downaccess to

the areaafter a Tibetan uprising in

2008.

CHINA

16 km

Lo Manthang

NEPAL

MUSTANG REGION

160 km

TIBET

CHINA

NEPAL

Area of

detail

Katmandu

BHUTAN

INDIA

BANGLADESH

China using access to passports as a tool for political leverage

CHINA, FROMPAGE 1

say the number of those affected has

soaredinrecent years,with Tibetans

and Uighurs, he Turkic-speaking

minorityfrom far western China, in-

creasingly ineligible for overseas fel-

lowships, speaking engagements or the

organized sightseeing groups that have

ferried planeloads of Chinesetoforeign

capitals.

Although the government doesnot re-

lease figures on thosewho have been

denied passports, human rightsgroups

suggestthat at least 14 millionpeople—

mostly thoseofficially categorizedas

ethnic Uighurs and Tibetans — have

been directly affectedbythe restric-

tions, as have hundreds ofreligious and

political dissidents.Arepresentative of

the Exit-Entry Administration of the

Public SecurityBureau declined to dis-

cuss the nation’s passport policies.

The seemingly arbitrary restrictions,

not unlikethose long employedbythe

formerSoviet Union, also affect over-

seas Chinesewho had grownaccus-

tomed to frequentvisitshome. Scores of

Chineseexpatriateshave beendenied

new passports by Chinese Embassies

when their old ones expire, whileothers

say theyare simply turnedaway after

landing in Beijing, Shanghai orHong

Kong.

Returnees whose namesshow up ona

blacklist areescortedbybordercontrol

officers to the next outbound flight.

Evenifseldomgiven explanations for

their expulsions, many of thoseturned

away suspect it is punishment for their

anti-government activism abroad.

‘‘Compared to otherforms ofpolitical

persecution,the denial of the righttore-

turn home seems like a small evil,’ ’ said

HuPing,theeditor ofapro-democracy

journal in New York who has not been

allowed to see family members in China

since 1987. ‘‘But it’s a blatantviolation of

human rights.’ ’

Even those carrying valid passports

are subjecttothewhims of the authorit-

ies.OnFeb.6,Wang Zhongxia, 28, a

Chinese activistwho had planned to

meet theMyanmar oppositionleader

DawAung San Suu Kyi,was barred

fromboarding a Myanmar-bound flight

from the southern city ofGuangzhou.

Fourdaysearlier, Ilham Tohti, an aca-

demic and vocal advocate for China’s

ethnic Uighurs,was preventedfrom

leaving for theUnitedStates.

Mr. Tohti,whowas set to begin a year-

long fellowship at Indiana University,

said hewas interrogatedat Beijing

International Airport fornearly 12

hours by officers who refused to explain

his detention. Speaking from his apart-

ment in the capital,Mr. Tohti said that

Uighurs have long faced difficultiesin

obtaining passportsbut thatthe author-

itieshave made it nearly impossible in

recent years.

‘‘We feel like second-class citizens in

our owncountry,’ ’ he said.

Fordecadesafter the Communists

cametopower in 1949, most Chinese

could only dream of traveling abroad;

the handful who managed to leave often

escapedbyevading borderguards and

swimming across shark-infestedwaters

to whatwas then British-ruledHong

Kong.As China opened up to the outside

world in theearly 1980s,the govern-

ment began providing passports and

exitvisas to graduate students who had

acceptance letters from universities

overseas.

All that changed in 1991,whenBeijing

issuednew rulesallowing Chineseto

join group tours to ‘‘approveddestina-

tions’’ in SoutheastAsia, and two years

later,totheUnitedStates and Europe.

These days, members of China’s ethnic

Han majoritycangenerally obtain a

passport in 15 days.

But the rulesare more arduousfor

Tibetans and Uighurs,who mustwin

approvals fromseveral layers ofbu-

reaucracy — including the provincial

authorities;the applicant’shometown

public securitybureau; and forstu-

dents,university administrators. Tser-

ing Woeser, a Tibetan writer who has

tried and failed to get a passport since

2005, says the denials are drivenby

fears thatonce abroad, minorities will

speak out about China’srepressive eth-

nic policies or link up with exile groups.

‘‘For the Han, getting a passport is as

easy as buying a bus ticket,’’ she said.

‘‘But for Tibetans it’s harder than climb-

ing to the sky.’ ’

Since lastApril,the authoritieshave

been onfiscating passports om

Tibetans lucky enough to have themin

the first place. According to documents

obtainedbyHuman Rights Watch,the

police in Tibet are also required to inter-

rogate returnees and determinewheth-

er theyhave broken a signedpledge not

to engage in activities that ‘‘harm state

security and interests’’ while outside

the country.

The new procedures were introduced

after thousands of Tibetans attendeda

religiousgathering in India that in-

cluded an appearance by the Dalai

Lama,the spiritual leaderwhomBeijing

considersaseparatist. Tibetan exiles

say the restrictions also seek to limit in-

formationabout the recent spate ofself-

immolations fromreaching the outside

world.

The frustrations of those affectedby

thetightenedrulesreceivedarare pub-

l ic airing aftera21-year-old Uighurcol -

unwantedattentionfrom the domestic

securityagentsinXinjiang,who during

six hours ofquestioning this monthsug-

gested that shewas ‘‘politically unqual-

ified’’ to go abroad because she had

usedher microblog to complain about

discrimination againstUighurs.

The inability to travel has driven

many Chinesetotake desperate mea-

sures. In 2011, LiaoYiwu, apoet and au-

thorfrom the southwest city ofCheng-

du, escaped overland to Vietnam after

the authoritiesrebuffed his passport ap-

plicationmorethan a dozen times and

then threatened him over plans to pub-

lish a book overseas. He now livesinex-

ile in Germany.

Wu’er Kaixi,whowas No. 2 on the

government’smostwanted list afterhe

organizedstudent protests in Tianan-

menSquare in 1989, has spentthe last

several years trying to get himself ar-

restedbythe Chinese authoritiesinan

attempttoreturn hometosee his aging

parents.Mr. Kaixi,who livesinTaiwan,

has tried crashing through the gates of

the Chinese Embassy in Washington,

and heonce flew to Chinese-admin-

istered Macau and offered himself up to

the police. Hewas promptly put back on

a plane and sent back to Taiwan.

‘‘It is unbearabletocontemplate the

idea that Imayneversee them again,’ ’

hewrote last year of his parents,who

have also been barredfrom eaving

China. ‘‘This is barbaric and cruelbeha-

viorbythe Chinese government.’’

Patrick Zuo contributed research.

PAVEL RAHMAN/AP

An Islamic activist at a demonstration in Dhaka.

NEWDELHI

Villagers threaten to block

road over rape investigation

Villagers in western India threatened

over theweekend to resume a highway

blockadeunless the police showedpro-

gress in the search forsuspectsinthe

rape and killing of three young sisters.

The girls’ bodies were found onFeb.

16 in a villagewell in the Bhandara dis-

trict, inMaharashtra State, after they

were reported missing from school two

days earlier.According to newsre-

ports,their mother has said the girls

were6,9 and 10 years old.

AlsoonSaturday, inaseparate case,

a teacher was arrestedafterbeing ac-

cused of raping a 13-year-old girl in the

Bhandara villageofGolati onThurs-

day,Press Trustof India reported. (AP)

HONGKONG

China reports 2nd fatal bird flu case

China has reportedasecond recent

fatalityfrom the H5N1 bird flu: a31-

year-old man who died of organ failure

in the south-central city ofGuiyang. He

died on Friday at ahospital in Guiyang,

where a21-year-old woman died onFeb.

13.Xinhuareported that 110 peoplewho

had been exposed to thevictims had

beenreleasedfromquarantine.

‘‘I’d love to visit my daughter in

America and my 90-year-old

brother in Taiwan, but the

authorities have other ideas.’’

lege student bloggedabout her unsuc-

cessfulattempttoget a passport. The

student, AtikemRozi, said the repeated

rejections had dashedherhopes to

study abroad.

‘‘Whenever the subjectof a passport

is mentioned, it brings metotears,’ ’ Ms.

Rozi, astudent atMinzu Universityin

Beijing,wrote lastmonth. ‘‘My passport

is still a riddle, aluxury.’ ’

Widely forwarded, he blogposts

promptedfavorable coverage in one

Chinese publication. But they also drew

4 | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

world news asia middle east africa europe

BRIEFLY

Africa

Palestinians

want outside

inquiry after

prisoner dies

Refugees test fragile balance in Lebanon

LEBANON, FROMPAGE 1

crowded apartments.

It is easy to miss them,until a second

glance. Drying laundry peeks fromcon-

structionsites. Bedsheets hang in shop

windows, concealing stark living

spaces. Daffodil sellers, shoeshine men,

women and childrenbegging in Beirut

— all incant, ‘‘Min Suria.’ ’ From Syria.

At first, most refugees —mainly Sun-

nis, like mostof the rebels fighting the

Syrian government—headed or

friendly Sunni areas. Now, those com-

munitiesare swamped and resentful,

and Syrians are spreading to places

wheretheyfit less comfortably, from

Christianmountain villages to theMedi-

terranean city ofTyre in the southern

Shiite Muslim heartland.

Theyare moving,withsometrepida-

tion, into Qaa, in the northern Bekaa

Valley,theterritory of the powerful

Shiite militia Hezbollah,which is allied

with the Syrian government and,to

many refugees, just as fearsome.

As theyflee increasingly sectarian

killing, Syrians layer their fears onto

thoseofacountry deeply scarredbyits

owngeneration-long sectarian civil war.

Theyaretesting, yet also relying on,the

fragile yet flexible balancethat has en-

duredinLebanon, puncturedbyocca-

sional fighting, sincethe civil war ended

22 years ago.

In Baalbek, aHezbollah stronghold

where aposter of the Syrian president,

Bashar al-Assad, grins down onabusy

street, refugees turn to Sawa, acommu-

nitygroup thatviewshelping themas

embodying itsnonsectarian mission.

Still,theyrattleAbbas Othman, aSawa

member.

‘‘We areworried they will bring their

civil war here,’’ he said.

Lebanese decision makers wantedit

this way, at first. A year ago, just 5,000

Syrians had fled across the border, and

Hezbollah, Lebanon’smost powerful

political party, deniedanysenseof

crisis.

The government did not just stand

aside, itoften undermined aid. Donated

supplies went ndelivered. Small

grantsrequired signaturesfrom the

prime minister. During a fierce

snowstorm, securityforcesblockedde-

livery of tents until a cabinet member

intervened.

‘‘Ourgovernmentworried too much

about politics,’ ’ said Emad Shoumari,

mayor of a majority-Sunni town,Marj,

that has embracedrefugees. ‘‘This kept

the refugeesfromgetting the aid they

needed.’ ’

Noone greeted Syrians atthe border.

Some joinedrelativesamong 500,000

Syrian laborers already in Lebanon.

Others had no idea wheretogo and fol-

lowed word ofmouth.

Oneof thewarmestwelcomes was in

Saidnayel,the Sunni towninthe central

Bekaa,wherethe flag of the Syrian rev-

olutionflies openly.Ayear ago, it hosted

265refugee families,their namesrecor-

ded in a handwrittenledger.

‘‘When theyreach the borders,they

ask for directions to Saidnayel,’ ’ the

mayor,Mr. Shubassi, said proudly then.

‘‘Each Friday we protest againstthe

Syrian regime.’’

He squeezed one family into a bakery,

others into arow ofstorage rooms. The

Syrian Army was bombarding cities,

and the mayor expected ‘‘an ava-

lanche.’’

Still, hewas buoyant. Local charities

and mosquescompeted to help.Mr.

Shubassi resented the Syrian govern-

ment, which occupiedLebanoninthe

civil war, and lookedforward to its fall.

But as the influxaccelerated,the Leb-

anese government cut off minimal co-

operation with theunderstaffed U.N.

refugee agency,which struggled to

track scattered Syrians. Familiesseek-

ing U.N. aid must register, a backlogged

process that can take amonth.

In Saidnayel,the mayor’sledgernow

lists 6,000 refugees,one for every five

residents.Prices, rents and crime are

up,wagesdown. Locals, poor them-

selves, are resentful. The family in the

bakery has swollen to 40 from10. They

are incensed with the mayor’sstaff,

ADDIS ABABA

Peace agreement for Congo,

mediated by U.N., is signed

Eleven African countries signedaU.N.-

draftedpeace agreementonSunday to

stabilize the Democratic Republic of

Congo, where rebels allegedly backed

by neighboring countries last year

threatened to topplethe government.

Opening the agreement-signing

meeting attheAfrican Unionheadquar-

ters in Addis Ababa, Ban Ki-moon,the

U.N. secretary general, said the accord,

apeace, security and cooperation

framework forCongo, would bring sta-

bility to the region.

Congo’sneighbors collectively prom-

ised to not interfere in itsinternal af-

fairs. They also agreed to not tolerate or

support armedgroups.AU.N. report

said last year that Rwanda and Uganda

aided the rebelgroupM23 in Congo. The

two countriesdenied the allegations. (AP)

JOHANNESBURG

Olympic amputee’s brother

faces trial in fatal crash

The brother of theOlympic paraplegic

athlete Oscar Pistorius is facing a hom-

icidetrial over a car crash in 2010, the

family’slawyer said Sunday. The law-

yer, Kenny Oldwage, would not confirm

details of the case involving the broth-

er, Carl Pistorius.

The family is also struggling to deal

with charges againstOscar Pistorius,

who has been charged withpremedit-

atedmurderinthe Feb. 14 shooting of

his girlfriend, ReevaSteenkamp.

Local newsreportshave said that

Carl Pistorius was involved in a crash

withafemale motorcyclist and that he

was scheduled to appear in court last

Thursday as his brother was facing a

bail hearing.Oscar Pistorius was re-

leased on bail on Friday. (AP)

JERUSALEM

Demonstrations increase

as officials fear uprising

over death in Israeli jail

BY JODI RUDOREN

AND KHALED ABUAKER

Palestinian officials onSunday called

foraninternational investigationinto

the death ofa30-year-old man in an Is-

raeli jail, saying thatthe prisoner had

been torturedduring interrogation.

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners

wentonaone-day hungerstriketo

protestthe death.

‘‘Israels esponsible for what

happened,’ ’ Issa Qaraqa,thePalestin-

ian ministerfor prisoner affairs, said at

anewsconference in Ramallah, in the

West Bank. ‘‘I accusethe state of Israel

ofsubjecting him to tough physical and

psychological pressure.’’

The Israeli authoritieshave said the

prisoner,Arafat Jaradat, died ofaheart

attack.Anautopsy was scheduledfor

Sunday,withaPalestinian forensic ex-

pert andarelative of Mr. Jaradatex-

pected to observe.

Amid mounting Palestinian demon-

strations in theWest Bank that someoffi-

cials and analystssee as the stirrings ofa

third intifada,or uprising, Israel onSun-

day transferred $100millionintaxmoney

it had been withholding from thePales-

tinian Authority. Isaac Molho, Prime

MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu’sspecial

envoy, also sent amessagetothePales-

tinian leadership that Israeli government

officials describedasan‘‘unequivocal

demand to restore quiet on the ground.’ ’

Israel has refused Palestinian re-

quests to release four prisoners who are

onlong-term hungerstrikes and who

have beendetained since beforethe

signing of theOsloAccords in the 1990s.

Afterdaysof Palestinian demonstra-

tions in solidarity with the hunger

strikers that have includedsomeviolent

clashes with Israeli soldiers and set-

tlers, hundreds ofpeopleturned out on

Sunday in Ramallah, Hebron, GazaCity

and other Palestinian cities and villages

to protestthe deathSaturday of Mr.

Jaradat, who relatives said workedina

gas station and had two young children.

Demonstrators in Gaza waved the flags

ofallPalestinian political factions along

with banners reading ‘‘Tortured.’ ’

Mr. Jaradatwas arrested onFeb. 18 for

throwing stonesat Israeli cars near a

West Bank settlement during theviolent

conflict inNovemberbetweenIsrael and

the GazaStrip.Palestinian officials said

his detention was extended12daysina

hearing onFeb. 21, during which his law-

yer said he complained ofsevere pain in

his back and neck that he attributed to

his interrogation and extreme fear.

Several Israeli and Palestinian lead-

ers and commentators warned onSun-

day thatthe death of Mr. Jaradat could

incite a third intifada,withmost predict-

ing a largely nonviolent movementof

civil disobedience liketheonePalestin-

ians undertookfrom 1987to1993, rather

than the campaign ofsuicide bombings

that beganin2000.

‘‘We’re facing an intifada,’ ’ Qadura

Fares, presidentof thePalestinian Pris-

oners Society,told the Israeli daily

Maariv. ‘‘The hunger-striking prisoners

and thetense demonstrations,theviolent

clashesduring which Palestinian civil-

ians are killed, and the frozenpeace pro-

cess — all indicate thatwe’re sitting ona

barrel of dynamite,’’ he added. ‘‘It may

verywell bethat Jaradat’sdeathwill turn

out to have been thematch that lit it.’’

Khaled Abu Aker reported fromRamal-

lah, West Bank. Fares Akram contrib-

uted reporting from the Gaza Strip.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LYNSEY ADDARIO FOR THE NEWYORK TIMES

Refugees from the Damascus suburbs outside the cave in the Bekaa Valley where they have been staying since crossing into Lebanon,

above. A Syrian family in their tent in Qaa, below. Local officials and aid workers say there are about 400,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

BRIEFLY

Europe

MADRID

King’s son-in-law says family

played no role in his business

A son-in-lawof King Juan Carlos I has

denied that his wife and othermem-

bers of the Spanish royal household

had any direct involvement in his past

business dealings,which have beenat

the heartofafraudinvestigation that

has embarrassed the monarchy.

The son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin,who

becamethe Dukeof Palma in 1997when

hemarried Cristina,the youngerdaugh-

ter of the king,told Judge José Castroon

Saturday thatthe king,Princess Cristina

and royal household officials had not

offered him any advice about the activi-

ties of the NóosInstitute, asportsfoun-

dation thatMr.Urdangarin had run.

Prosecutors have beeninvestigating

whether Mr.Urdangarin used his royal

credentials to secure inflated, no-bid

contractsfromregional politicians for

his foundation and thendiverted mil-

lions of eurosfrom the contract feesin-

to othercompanies and offshore ac-

counts that he and his associates

controlled.

LONDON

Banksy mural is pulled from auction

Amural by the secretive graffitiartist

Banksy has been withdrawnfroman

auctionafter a campaign by London

residents to reclaim it. The mural,

which vanished this monthfrom the

sideofaNorthLondonstore, was due

to be sold onSaturday withanestimat-

ed priceof $500,000 to $700,000. Fine

ArtAuctions Miami later said the mur-

al had been withdrawnfrom sale but

did not say why. (AP)

dropinthe bucket.

Syrians and their hostslive edgily to-

gether,especially in non-Sunni areas. In

the Christian villageofJezzine, where

snowcappedpeaks watch overred-

roofed tone houses, 1,600 Syrian

refugees outnumberresidents.

‘‘We don’t know whotheyare,’’ said

Jezzine’srepresentative in Parliament,

Ziad Aswad, a Christian ally ofHezbol-

lah. ‘‘Theycould beAlQaeda.’ ’

Town officials interrogate Syrians

about their politics and impose a5p.m.

curfew. Mr.Aswad even warns, dramat-

ically,that refugeescould somehow take

over the country: ‘‘Goodbye, Lebanon!’’

But Abu Haidar, a Syrian Sunni who

workedinJezzine beforetheuprising,

said employers helped him bring his

family. He pointedat abed, astove and

his room’s only decoration, a pictureof

theVirgin Mary. ‘‘All this,’ ’ said Abu

Haidar,whowould not disclose his real

name for safetyreasons, ‘‘is from the

peopleofJezzine.’’

In Tyre, the southern city where Ro-

man ruins overlook theMediterranean,

Abdulfattah, 30, found safetyfrom

battles that ravaged his village in north-

ern Syria. But he keeps his childrenin-

side his rentedroom.Whenheventures

out, hewalks with watchful eyes and

tense, hunchedshoulders.

That is becausethis is pro-Assad terri-

tory. The streetsflutter withyellow and

green flags forHezbollah.Ashortwalk

away, morethan 25 of his relativeslive in

a two-room shack, awaiting U.N. aid.

Neighbors do not harass him, he said,

nordothey offerhelp. Outside, Abdul-

fattah,who fearedgiving a last name,

hides his views on thewar. Indoors, he re-

laxed. ‘‘There is pain in every house,’’ he

said. ‘‘There is a martyr in every house.’’

Hwaida Saad, Hania Mourtada, Ben So-

lomon and Lynsey Addario contributed

reporting.

‘‘Our government worried too

much about politics. This kept

the refugees from getting the

aid they needed.’’

which,they said, suggested they share

two blankets.

As the Syrian government hangs on,

themayor’s optimismhas deflated. ‘‘We

don’t know how long this will last,’’ he

said recently. ‘‘We will have apolitical

and social rift.’’

The Lebanese government can no

longerdeny the crisis. Last month,

Hezbollah urgedLebanesetowelcome

refugeesregardless ofsectorpolitics.

The government reversedcourse, at

leaston paper. It approved plans to

managethe crisis withhelp from the

UnitedNations,which nowawaitsfunds

and permission to build two transit

camps,each housing 5,000 refugees, a

Chinese Ar my prepares for spillover fromMyanmar war

BY EDWARDWONG

ChineseArmy unitshave been under-

going intensetraining near the border

with Myanmar in anticipation ofaneth-

nic war there spilling into southwest

China, according to official Chinese

newsreports.

Thetraining has been taking place in

the hills of Yunnan Province. It borders

Kachin State in northern Myanmar,

where acivil war betweenanethnic

Kachin rebel army and theMyanmar

Army has been unfolding. The fighting

intensifiedinlate December, and

Chineseofficials and news organiza-

tions reported that shells had landedin

China and that Kachin refugees had be-

gunliving in hotels and the homes of

family and friends in Yunnan.

Last month,theMyanmar govern-

ment announcedacease-firewith the

rebels of the Kachin Independence

Army in order to hold peacetalks, but

foreigners in the areareportedcontinu-

ing attacks by theMyanmar Army in the

days after.One Chinese newsreporton

Friday said there had been ‘‘no signifi-

cant improvement’’ in the peacetalks.

The goal of the military training in

Yunnan was to ensurethatthe Chinese

Army units can ‘‘fight abattle, and be

victoriousinbattle,’’ according to are-

BRIEFLY

Middle East

portonThursday by Xinhua,the state

newsagency,thatwas citedbyseveral

othernews Websites.

TheXinhuareport said thetraining

began this month, after the startof the

Lunar New Year, and has focused on

preparing borderguards for ‘‘real com-

bat.’’ Among other things,the soldiers

have trained to march in bad weather

and work in areas that have blind spots

forcommunications signals.

The report said the hilly terrain in

Yunnan presentedspecial challenges,

and troops weretraining to fight in the

jungle, ravines and water. Someunits

have beensetting upcommunications

postsalong the border.

Earlier,Yunnan military leaders set

upacommand centerinthe area.Anar-

ticle in January on theWebs te of

People’s Daily, anewspaper that speaks

for the CommunistParty, said border

guards and policeofficers could be seen

throughout one border town, Nabang,

checking the identification cards ofci-

vilians.Many businesses had shut down

becausetransportation was halted, and

artillery fire could be heard through the

night, the article said.

Chinese leaders have been emphasiz-

ing in general thatthe Chinese military

should be prepared to fight and should

proceed vigorously withmodernization.

erjets and heavyartillery, and residents

have said civilians were killed.

Until a flare-upintensions in June

2011,theMyanmar military and Kachin

rebels,who insistonmaintaining auton-

omy, had been adhering to a17-year

cease-fire.

Chineseofficials have expressedcon-

cern this winter over theviolence, espe-

cially artillery shells falling within Yun-

nan; at least fourhave landed sinceDec.

30. There are alsoworriesabout apo-

tential flood ofrefugees.

Thousands of Kachin,who are mostly

Christian,entered Yunnan after thewar

started again in 2011. Chinese Christians

wenttothe refugee camps to provide

aid, as did ethnic Kachin living in China,

who are called Jingpo in Mandarin.

TheninAugust, officials in Yunnan

forcedmostof the refugees to leave the

camps and return to Kachin State.

President Thein Sein of Myanmar, a

formergeneral, has been trying to intro-

duce democratic practices to the na-

tion’sauthoritarian political system.

But ethnic civil wars have afflicted the

country fordecades, and the conflicts

raise questions about whether the de-

mands of ethnic minorities likethe

Kachin will be givenseriousconsidera-

tionbytheevolving ethnic Bamar-dom-

inatedgovernment.

BAGHDAD

Iraqi president, in Germany,

is said to be recovering well

Jalal Talabani,the presidentofIraq, is

abletospeak and understand people

around him as he recovers froma

stroke he sufferedinDecember, adoc-

torresponsible for his medical care

said Sunday.

‘‘He’s improving,’ ’ the doctor, Naj-

maldin Karim, said in an interview.

‘‘He’s talking. He’sconversing. Heun-

derstands whenhe’sspoken to. It’sa

gooddevelopment. We’revery encour-

aged and excitedbythis.’ ’

Dr. Karim said hewas hopeful that

Mr. Talabani,79,would be abletore-

turn to Iraq but acknowledged that any

decisionrests with the doctors treating

him in Germany,where hewas flown

forfurther treatment. (AP)

ALEXANDER F. YUAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Children searched for small fish at a camp housing 8,000 refugees who had fled fighting be-

tween Kachin rebels and the Myanmar military. China is wary of the conflict on its border.

Xi Jinping,the new leader of theCommu-

nistParty,visited army and navyunitsin

southern China late last year and spoke

of the need to strengthen themilitary.

The current round of fighting in

Kachin State has centered on thetown

ofLaiza, from which the Kachin army

controls an autonomousarea of the

state. This winter,theMyanmar Army

has beenpressing an offensive to cap-

ture Laiza orcrucial military positions

around it. The army has deployed fight-

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013 | 5

THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

europe united states world news

French ro le in Mali raises risk of domestic attacks, judge says

PARIS

BY STEVEN ERLANGER

The French military intervention in Mali

has increased the threat of domestic ter-

rorism, with some French citizens of

black African ancestry becoming more

willing to fight under the banner of jihad,

according to France’smost prominent in-

vestigative judge dealing with terrorism.

The concerns of the French authorit-

ies were once largely limited to resi-

dents of North African Arab ancestry,

like Algerians and Tunisians, but atten-

tion has broadened to include those

French with roots in Mali, Senegal, Ni-

geria and Niger, the judge, Marc

Trévidic, said in an interview.

At the same time, since a Frenchman

of Algerian ancestry, Mohammed

Merah, 23, killed seven people last

March in Toulouse, the French police

and intelligence agencies have been

opening more investigations but have

not been given more investigators, and

have also become lesswilling tomonitor

terrorism suspects for longer periods of

time before intervening and detaining

them, Mr. Trévidic said.

‘‘After Merah,’’ who said he had been

recruited into Al Qaeda, ‘‘the French

are afraid of terrorism,’’ Mr. Trévidic

said. ‘‘They are afraid that you can have

one or two or threeMohammedMerahs.

And they could be right; no one really

knows.’’

Mr. Trévidic, 47, has been dealingwith

terrorism cases since 2000, before Al

Qaeda’s attacks in the United States,

and he is perhaps the best known of the

eight investigating magistrates as-

signed to a special anti-terrorism court

in Paris. When he started, he said, ter-

rorism was simpler — ‘‘there were no

women, no children and few groups.’’

Now, ‘‘the field of suspects is much

larger, so the situation gives me a little

fear,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re fighting groups

that are less powerful and organized

than before, but which are much more

difficult to detect.’’

The Mali intervention has raised the

stakes, he said, at home and abroad,

where French tourists and workers are

more vulnerable to kidnapping. When

France said several months ago that it

would intervene inMali, with the help of

African forces, ‘‘at that moment young

Muslims in France heard that Shariah is

in force in northern Mali and they

wanted to go there to defend this ‘real

Islam’ against an announced interven-

tion,’’ he said.

The authorities began to notice an in-

crease in the number of French pass-

port holders departing forMali. Mr. Tré-

vidic is nowdealingwith the case of four

Frenchmen, at least two of whom are in

Mali and are believed to be fighting

alongside the militants, the judge said.

As the intervention continues, he said,

‘‘now the main problem is to try to stop

the departures, because if we can’t, the

threat will be higher and higher.’’

‘‘Because they will be trained and

with and directing the police, gathering

evidence both for and against the ac-

cused.

Mr. Trévidic fears that France is fall-

ing behind the threat, with a system de-

vised to look at larger, better organized

groups. The case of Mr. Merah, who had

been under surveillance for some time,

shocked the authorities. Few cases

were opened before his attacks, and the

resources of the police and the judiciary

were cut to save money. After the shoot-

ings, many cases were opened but with-

out sufficient personnel to handle them,

Mr. Trévidic said.

Another consequence, he said, is that

the French counterintelligence agency,

the D.C.R.I., is more reluctant to con-

duct lengthy surveillance on suspects

who have been abroad, fearing that, like

Mr. Merah, they will commit a crime in

themeantime. ‘‘AfterMerah, our police-

men are afraid,’’ Mr. Trévidic said.

‘‘They don’t want to monitor people for

a long time after they come back, be-

cause if they monitor someone and this

guy commits a bomb attack it will be ter-

rible a second time for D.C.R.I.’’

But quick detentions are bad for the

investigation because there is less

chance to discover a suspect’s contacts

or plans. ‘‘If they arrest the guys imme-

diately, the evidence is thin for us, and

after all, we are a judicial system,’’ he

said. Since Mr. Merah, he said, many

suspects have been arrested, but at

least 20 potential cases have been

thrown out for lack of evidence.

The suspects are also younger, he

said, and angrier. ‘‘The young Muslims

I see in my office have developed a kind

of paranoia,’’ he said. ‘‘They are sure

that we want to fight Islam, that we’re

against Islam. They were born in

France and were not practicing

Muslims, but now they pray and they

are sure we are against Muslims.’’

Part of the problem, he said, is the lack

of religious education in public schools,

which are secular and rarely provide

comparative religion courses. ‘‘So no

one tells them about their own story,

their own origins,’’ he said. ‘‘They have

only what they can pick up themselves

on the Internet or from some friends,

and where there is no foundation, you

can go to extremism very quickly.’’

Young second- and third-generation

Muslims in France are often badly inte-

grated, live in largely segregated, poor

suburbs and feel at home nowhere. ‘‘So

some find their pride in religion now, in

extremism,’’ Mr. Trévidic said.

And they are left out of the national

conversation, he added. Even on issues

like banning the niqab, or full facial veil,

‘‘there is no discourse for the Muslims,

for those who want to wear the niqab, to

explain that their religion does not re-

quire it,’’ he said. ‘‘For all these prob-

lems it’s always the same. We talk only

to the people who agree with us.’’

For now, ‘‘the danger is not so big,

perhaps, but the threat is big,’’ he said.

‘‘This is the way terrorists win — they

can win with very little.’’

BRUNOMARTIN/REUTERS

French officers stood guard as the hearse carrying Mohammed Merah, a Frenchman of Al-

gerian ancestry who killed seven people, arrived at a cemetery near Toulouse last March.

come back and organize themselves,’’

he added.

For the moment, he said, the threat is

not large, because these groups are small

and disorganized. ‘‘But we have a lot of

citizens in France who are also Malians,

Senegalese, Nigerians and Nigeriens,

and they have passports and can also go

there, and the frontiers are very long and

fluid, so it will be very difficult.’’

This month, the police arrested a man

from Senegal, ‘‘and we know him be-

cause his brother went to Mali, and we

think he went to Mali, too,’’ the judge

said. ‘‘Of course hewas arrested, andwe

don’t knowexactly yet what he intended

to do.’’ About 50 or so French Muslims

have traveled to Syria to fight, he said,

‘‘to join who knows what group.’’

Mr. Trévidic has been criticized for his

outspokenness, but he is more con-

sidered than a predecessor, Jean-Louis

Bruguière. An investigating magistrate

in France holds great power, working

U.S. agencies prepare

to detail po tential cuts

said he would replace only half of the

spending cuts with tax increases, in es-

sence accepting a half-trillion dollars in

cuts over 10 years. That would be on top

of more than $1 trillion in cuts already

enacted by the Budget Control Act,

which created the automatic cuts in 2011

as part of a deal to raise the country’s

statutory borrowing limit.

A comprehensive deficit-reduction

deal, which is currently moribund but is

still both Congress and the White

House’s stated goal, might mitigate the

impact by including fast-growing pro-

grams like Medicare and Medicaid in

the cuts. But belt-tightening, for now,

appears to be the new normal.

In private, Capitol Hill staff members

and members of Congress have admit-

ted that there are no viable plans on the

horizon to delay or offset the cuts. At

best, Congress might be able to pass a

bill giving agencies more discretion in

carrying out the budget cuts. But that is

opposed by theWhiteHouse because of-

ficials fear that such a change would

give lawmakers a false sense that they

had done much when in fact, budget of-

ficials say, little would have changed.

That means that as of Friday, dozens

of U.S. agenciesmust start bringing their

budgets down to reduced levels by the

WASHINGTON

BY JONATHANWEISMAN

AND ANNIE LOWREY

In the first week of March, a laid-off per-

son living on $300 a week in unemploy-

ment benefits is liable to find a surprise

in the mailbox: notification from the

United States that come April the check

will be $33 lighter.

‘‘Sequestration,’’ that arcane budget

term consuming Washington in recent

weeks, is about to move from political

abstraction to objective reality for tens

of millions of Americans. Barring an ex-

tremely unlikely last-minute deal, about

$85 billion is set to be cut from military,

domestic and certain health care pro-

grams beginning Friday.

Much of the government will be im-

mune, magnifying the cuts for the rest.

If they are not reversed, U.S. spending

at the discretion of Congress will even-

tually fall to a new five-decade low. Lar-

ger cuts are scheduled to take effect

every year over the next 10 years, sig-

naling an era of government austerity.

By the end of the week, U.S. agencies

will notify governors, private contrac-

tors, grant recipients and other stake-

holders of the dollars they would be

about to lose. As of March 1, the Treas-

ury Department will immediately trim

subsidies for clean energy projects,

school construction, state and local

infrastructure projects, and some small-

business health insurance subsidies.

Nearly two million people who have

been out of work for more than six

months could see unemployment pay-

ments drop 11 percent — an average of

$132 a month — for checks that arrive in

late March or the first days of April, ac-

cording to theWhiteHouse budget office.

Doctors who treat Medicare patients will

see cuts to their reimbursements.

If the stalemate in Washington con-

tinues, furloughs and layoffs will prob-

ably begin in April, starting largely in

the 800,000-member civilian work force

of the Defense Department and then

rippling across the country, including

meat inspectors in Iowa and teachers in

rural NewMexico.

‘‘If they hit me with a $3 million cut in

March, I’m not sure what I’m going to

do,’’ said Raymond R. Arsenault, the

superintendent of the Gallup-McKinley

County Schools, a district that serves

primarily Navajo students on the Ari-

zona-NewMexico border.

Mr. Arsenault’s school system would

be hit much harder than most because

35 percent of his $100 million annual

budget comes from U.S. education ‘‘im-

pact aid’’ to offset the large tracts of

land that are owned by Washington and

therefore not subject to taxation. Of that,

$3 millionmay be about to disappear.

The automatic cuts involve trimming

$85 billion, or about 2.4 percent, from an

annual U.S. budget of $3.6 trillion. But

the cuts will not affect Social Security,

the government-subsidized retirement

program, or Medicaid, a health insur-

ance fund for the poor and disabled; the

cuts in Medicare, a health insurance

fund for the elderly, total about $11 bil-

lion in the 2013 fiscal year, which ends

Sept. 30, according to calculations by the

Bipartisan Policy Center.

Thus, entitlement spending, which

poses the biggest long-term challenge to

the U.S. budget, accounts for a sliver of

the cuts. That leaves more than $70 bil-

lion in cuts to be applied over the next

sevenmonths to the roughly two-fifths of

the budget that is devoted to discretion-

ary spending, including themilitary, edu-

cation and dozens of other categories.

These cuts would probably not be

confined to 2013. Even if President

Barack Obama manages to persuade

Congress to raise new revenue, he has

Nearly two million people

could see unemployment

payments drop 11 percent, or

an average of $132 a month.

end of the fiscal year. Given how much

they have to cut, White House budget of-

ficials said, they will have no choice but

to start the reductions immediately.

The worst hit by far would be the De-

fense Department, which is already ab-

sorbing a $500 billion budget cut over 10

years agreed to in 2011 and is operating

under a temporary spending agreement

even as it draws down the war in Af-

ghanistan. Military personnel are ex-

empted from furloughs, but civilian per-

sonnel are not, so the Pentagon is

preparing to put hundreds of thousands

of civilian workers on notice that they

might lose 22 days of work this year.

‘‘We have long argued that the re-

sponsible way to implement reductions

in defense spending is to formulate a

strategy first and then develop a budget

that supports the strategy,’’ Ashton B.

Carter, the deputy secretary of defense,

told Congress thismonth. Sequestration

‘‘would achieve precisely the opposite

effect by imposing arbitrary budget

cuts that then drive changes in national

security strategy.’’

In some cases, small cuts can take big

tolls. Because meat and poultry plants

cannot operate without U.S. inspectors

on site at all times, one furloughed in-

spector would shut down an entire plant.

Alarmed, J. Patrick Boyle, the presi-

dent of the American Meat Institute,

sent a letter on Feb. 11 to Mr. Obama as-

serting that keeping inspectors home

would violate U.S. law. ‘‘I respectfully

request that, in the event of sequestra-

tion, U.S.D.A. meat and poultry inspec-

tors not be furloughed so that the secre-

tary of agriculture can fulfill his

statutory obligations,’’ he wrote.

But the request, Agriculture Secre-

tary Tom Vilsack replied, would run

counter to the legal requirement he

faces under sequestration.

ONLINE: FAULT-FINDING AND UNCERTAINTY

What makes this debate over blame for

the potential cuts so odd is that both sides’

fingerprints are all over the sequestration

concept.

As cuts loom, state governors are

seeking more control of U.S. funds to lessen

the pain. global.nytimes.com/us

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