The Boston Globe (Mass.), May 27:
The fall of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s largest province, to ISIS last week is more than a military setback. It’s also a humanitarian catastrophe for more than 55,000 Iraqis who fled the violence. Yet thousands of families attempting to cross into the relative safety of Baghdad have been stopped at a checkpoint and turned away if they cannot produce a “sponsor” in Baghdad who can vouch for them as loyal citizens of the state.
While the “sponsorship” system has been created due to the understandable fear of ISIS militants infiltrating Baghdad, it is being enforced in arbitrary ways that undermine that goal. According to the International Rescue Committee, some Iraqis are selling “sponsorships” for up to $700 ”“ an act that undermines security and amounts to extortion of vulnerable people who have already lost nearly everything. To make matters worse, the network of international laws established to help refugees fleeing violence offers scant protection to the internally displaced Iraqis who have not crossed an international border.
Even so, the international community must step up the effort to serve the 2.8 million Iraqis who have been forced from their homes since the ISIS offensive in 2014. The Iraqi government must allow unimpeded access to camps of internally displaced people during this emergency. In addition, Iraq should speed up the process of screening women and children who are attempting to cross into safe areas of the country.
The United States should also help Iraq develop more sophisticated screening methods for men, and every effort should be made to keep families together. Most of all, the Shiite militias that are gearing up to retake areas lost to ISIS must not exact retribution against the population at large. Treating these fleeing Sunnis humanely is not just the right thing to do: It’s the only thing to do, if officials in Baghdad want to keep their country together. If the Sunnis fleeing Anbar get the message that they are unwanted, they’ll return to Ramadi and take their chances with ISIS. The crowd at Baghdad’s doorstep might melt away, but the problem haunting Iraq will only get bigger.
The Providence Journal (R.I.), May 26:
Sir Winston Churchill once said, “It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look farther than you can see.” Yet there are instances when the present can foretell what the future will hold.
Take the Google Self-Driving Car, for example.
The massive tech company started experimenting with autonomous vehicles in 2009. It’s not the only player in the game: several organizations, including Delphi Automotive, are direct competitors. Even so, Google appears to be further ahead in the race for self-driving supremacy.
Twenty-three Lexus SUVs were originally outfitted with $150,000 in equipment. This included software (Google Chauffeur) and LIDAR, a powerful remote sensing technology that uses a 64-beam laser to create a 3-D map of the area around the car.
Some early versions had no steering wheels, gas pedals or brake pedals. That’s not going to be the case with Google’s newest prototype, a bubble-shaped car to be released this summer.
CNET News reporter Lance Whitney wrote that these cars will be self-driving, and have “safety drivers” who can take the wheel. This strategy “will be key to allaying worries among pedestrians and drivers of other vehicles that the robo-cars won’t be ready for every situation.”
It’s a wise idea. Google recently acknowledged that its vehicles have been involved in 11 traffic accidents. There were “a handful of minor fender-benders, light damage, no injuries, so far caused by human error and inattention.”
Although that reminds us of something the evil HAL computer says in the classic film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” there does not yet seem to be cause for alarm in the machines’ taking over. Considering that Google’s cars have logged over 1.7 million miles, with nearly 1 million in self-driving mode, 11 accidents is not bad.
It’s still better to be safe than sorry, however, by equipping cars with the means for humans to take command.
We’re still a ways off from self-driving cars being the norm on our roads. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk recently suggested that it could take 20 years to make the switch. And, while Google hopes its new prototype will be ready for public consumption by 2020, the initial cost will surely be prohibitive.
Regardless, it appears we’re staring a new automotive reality in the face. It will be the driving force, and not us.
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