I. TRANSLATE INTO ROMANIAN: A. Who are the war criminals? From 19 1: O!r re"ort on the militar# co!

rt "rocee$in%s that &ollowe$ the M# Lai massacre Unlike most tribunals, a military court does not explain its judgments. The long full trial proceedings in the case of Lieutenant William Calley left no room for doubt that he did in fact kill many unresisting Vietnamese illagers at !y Lai ", or #on !y, or $hate er the place is rightly called, $hen he $as an infantry platoon commander three years ago. The number of ictims could be, and $as, disputed. The charge sheet had at least %&' men, $omen and children( the jury amended the figure to not less than ''. !r Calley)s defence ne er denied the killing, but maintained that it had been done under orders and in the belief that it $as $hat his military duty re*uired of him.+ither the jury made a conclusion of fact, that !r Calley did not recei e the orders he claimed, or it made a conclusion of la$, that the orders $ere $rongful and should ha e been disobeyed. ,o$e er, it did not ha e to say $hich of the t$o paths it took to arri e at the erdict, guilty of pre-meditated murder, pronounced on !onday, and at the sentence, life imprisonment. .t some point, perhaps, the series of appeals $hich are promised by !r Calley)s defence la$yer $ill escape from the reticence of the military process into the relati e light of the ci ilian courts. Certainly the rising legal and academic clamour about the rules of $ar as they ha e been applied in Vietnam $ill not lea e the case alone.There $as a time $hen eminent la$yers like the late Thurman .rnold defended /resident 0ohnson)s inter ention in Vietnam as 1the enforcement of the principle that 2uremberg announced to the $orld.3 That principle $as the criminality of aggressi e $ar. 4ut the 2uremberg and Tokyo tribunals of a *uarter of a century ago also stated other principles5for instance, that responsibility for the manner in $hich $ar $as conducted rested most hea ily upon the commanders at the top. .s the .merican prosecutor said in United #tates versus Von Leeb, 1mitigation should be reser ed for those upon $hom superior orders are pressed do$n.3 6eneral 7amashita $as hanged, after due process, for his failure to pre ent the cruelties committed by his far-flung army. The 2uremberg prosecutor, 6eneral 8no$ /rofessor9 Telford Taylor, brooded on these memories in a recent scholarly book, 12uremberg and Vietnam.3 ,e concluded that the series of courts martial arising out of the #on !y or !y Lai massacre 1cannot be fairly determined $ithout full in*uiry into the higher responsibilities3 and that the moral health of the .merican .rmy $ill not be reco ered until its leaders are $illing to scrutinise their beha iour by the same standards that their re ered predecessors applied to 7amashita ': years ago.;t $as the late 6eneral !ac.rthur $ho confirmed the death sentence on 7amashita. The scale of the uproar that has built up around these and related *uestions is illustrated by the bibliography of << book titles published last $eekend by the New York Times Book Review, together $ith a ast re ie$ by a former $ar correspondent in Vietnam, !r 2eil #heehan, demanding a general congressional in*uiry into $ar crimes.This does not stop !r Calley getting a lot of sympathy in his misfortune. The ine itable stream of telegrams protesting against the erdict is pouring into the White ,ouse, the =efence =epartment and Congress. T$o themes mark the protests> one that a dim junior officer is being made to bear guilt that belongs much higher up( the other, that $hat he did $as in the nature of $ar and that the soldier)s life is made impossible if his actions in the stress of battle are to be picked o er and dissected after$ards by la$yers and officials.;n some $ays the $a e of sympathy distorts the facts. #ince nearly six years and millions of $ords of ne$s reporting ha e failed to disclose any other massacre by .merican troops on anything like the scale of #on !y, the probability that #on !y $as in fact an extraordinary occurrence looks o er$helming. Whether !r Calley understood that anything extraordinary had been done or not, the beha iour of many of the other people concerned5those $ho refused to join in, those $ho hushed it up and those $ho e entually talked5suggests that they kne$ it. 4ut #on !y $as also out of the ordinary in another $ay, as /rofessor Taylor says,in the candour $ith $hich the operation $as carried on, $ith army photographers on the scene and commanders in helicopters circling o erhead.Considering all this, the performance of the =epartment of the .rmy in finding out $hat happened and deciding $hat judicial steps to take $as unbelie ably sluggish. . first in estigation in %?@A $as defeated by the bland denials of the brigade and di isional authorities. .fter the story had all come out in the press a senior general in estigated the reason for the collapse of the first in estigation.,e did his job thoroughly and as a result %" officers $ere accused of arious degrees of lying, concealment and failure to follo$ staff regulations. 4ut the charges ha e been dropped or dismissed against all but one, the brigade commander. 6eneral Westmoreland, the .rmy)s Chief of #taff, has recommended that the di isional general at the time be demoted to brigadier-general and that his assistant commander should be demoted from brigadier-general to colonel. The demotions, if they go through, are punishments. .s the New York Times commented this $eek, 1if the t$o officers are innocent, ob iously they should not be punished.3 2obody has tried to explain ho$, if their part in the concealment of the massacre deser es to be punished at all, it can be ade*uately punished by demotion to brigadier-general and colonel.Bne thing that is totally impossible is that !r Calley alone is guilty. 4ut, lea ing aside the brigade commander $ho is charged $ith failing to tell $hat happened, only t$o men besides !r Calley are at present faced $ith charges of ha ing had a part in the massacre. !r Calley)s company commander, Captain !edina, $ho denied ha ing gi en him orders to kill off the population, is charged $ith murder. .nother officer of the task force, Captain Cotouc, is charged $ith maiming and assault. . $arrant officer and a sergeant $ere accused of murder and ac*uitted. Charges against six other soldiers in Captain !edina)s company ha e been dropped. Bthers had left the ser ice by the time the fact of the massacre became public and the legal problem of bringing any of them to justice has not been sol ed.6ranted that #on !y $as not a usual e ent, it $ould still seem that the $ar has calloused a lot of consciences. The trial proceedings themsel es, $ith their emphasis on the preponderance of $omen, children and infirm old men among the ictims, ga e e idence of ho$ standards ha e slipped( nor is there anything in the accepted rules of $ar to justify the unnecessary killing of unarmed, unresisting men, ho$e er able-bodied. 4ut the Vietcong do not exactly obser e the pro ision of the 6ene a Con ention $hich says that a combatant must $ear 1a fixed distincti e sign recognisable at a distance.3 Thus it has become commonplace in Vietnam for people to be treated as enemies e en if they are not carrying arms and are not dressed, and are not seen to beha e, like soldiers. + en $omen and children can, and sometimes do, plant booby-traps.;n the $ords of an .merican .ir Dorce major, 1in the mountains,

just about anything that mo es is considered to be Vietcong.3 #on !y is not in the mountains but it is in an old communist area and Lieutenant Calley)s platoon, men of limited intellectual e*uipment in a state of ner ous tension, entered it belie ing that e ery li ing thing $as hostile. This does not justify $hat they did. They $ere, ho$e er, familiar $ith the practice by $hich illages and hamlets are routinely threatened $ith destruction $ith bombs or gunfire, as a penalty for ha ing harboured the Vietcong, and $ith the doctrine of free fire or free strike Eones, $hich orders the remo al of the rural population from an area so that any persons remaining in it may, if sighted, be killed. #uccess in operations of this kind tends to be measured by the 1body count,3 a standard of military effecti eness $hich $ould be laughable if it $ere not sad.Last year the trial of Lieutenant =uffy brought out the importance of the body count. !r =uffy, it is not disputed, had a prisoner tied securely to a stake and $hen morning came had one of his sergeants shoot the man dead. .t his trial !r =uffy explained that his superiors expected, indeed insisted upon, a good body count and soldiers $ho turned in li e prisoners $ere apt to encounter official disappro al. The curious thing about !r =uffy)s trial $as that the military court re ised its first erdict of murder, bet$een judgment and sentencing, substituted a ne$ erdict, of 1in oluntary manslaughter3 and ga e him only six months. Whate er else could be said of !r =uffy)s action, there $as manifestly nothing in oluntary about it. Court martial $atchers concluded, therefore, that the court felt there $as something in his contention that he thought he $as only conforming to established policy and that it found in this a mitigating circumstance..berrations like this in the obser ance of the rules of $ar may be liable to creep in as a result of some tactical brain$a e or *uirk of military bureaucracy but, once they are examined and brought to light, it is impossible for the .merican .rmy and the .merican .dministration to do anything but disa o$ them and try to put them do$n. That the Vietcong and the 2orth Vietnamese do $orse things, and on a bigger scale, may be true but, as an argument, it is no help at all. Thus, $hile /resident 2ixon exposed himself to censure for an indiscretion $hen he condemned the 1massacre3 at #on !y at a time $hen judicial proceedings $ere pending, he could ne er ha e contemplated doing other than condemn it.#imilarly the .rmy as an institution cannot defend or explain or condone> if a side-effect of the callousing process that is inflicted upon .merican ser icemen in Vietnam comes to its attention, it has to express its condemnation in the ob ious $ay, by prosecuting the transgressors. ;n pressing for criminal con ictions against !r =uffy and !r Calley, the army authorities $ere seeking to rebut the charge that inhuman actions are a conse*uence inherent in their strategic or tactical doctrines or in the use of military force itself as a political instrument. This they ha e to do in defence of not only the propriety of their policies, but also the legitimacy of the .rmy itself. '.The worl$wi$e war on (a(# %irls. Technolo%#) $eclinin% &ertilit# an$ ancient "re*!$ice are com(inin% to !n(alance societies F;2G.2 FU+, a Chinese $riter, describes isiting a peasant family in the 7imeng area of #handong pro ince. The $ife $as gi ing birth. 1We had scarcely sat do$n in the kitchen3, she $rites 8see article9, 1$hen $e heard a moan of pain from the bedroom next doorHThe cries from the inner room gre$ louder5and abruptly stopped. There $as a lo$ sob, and then a manIs gruff oice said accusingly> JUseless thingKI1#uddenly, ; thought ; heard a slight mo ement in the slops pail behind me,3 !iss Finran remembers. 1To my absolute horror, ; sa$ a tiny foot poking out of the pail. The mid$ife must ha e dropped that tiny baby ali e into the slops pailK ; nearly thre$ myself at it, but the t$o policemen L$ho had accompanied meM held my shoulders in a firm grip. J=onIt mo e, you canIt sa e it, itIs too late.I1J4ut thatIs...murder...and youIre the policeKI The little foot $as still no$. The policemen held on to me for a fe$ more minutes. J=oing a baby girl is not a big thing around here,I LanM older $oman said comfortingly. JThatIs a li ing child,I ; said in a shaking oice, pointing at the slops pail. J;tIs not a child,I she corrected me. J;tIs a girl baby, and $e canIt keep it. .round these parts, you canIt get by $ithout a son. 6irl babies donIt count.I3;n 0anuary '&%& the Chinese .cademy of #ocial #ciences 8C.##9 sho$ed $hat can happen to a country $hen girl babies donIt count. Within ten years, the academy said, one in fi e young men $ould be unable to find a bride because of the dearth of young $omen5a figure unprecedented in a country at peace. The number is based on the sexual discrepancy among people aged %? and belo$. .ccording to C.##, China in '&'& $ill ha e <&m-"&m more men of this age than young $omen. Dor comparison, there are '<m boys belo$ the age of '& in 6ermany, Drance and 4ritain combined and around "&m .merican boys and young men. #o $ithin ten years, China faces the prospect of ha ing the e*ui alent of the $hole young male population of .merica, or almost t$ice that of +uropeIs three largest countries, $ith little prospect of marriage, untethered to a home of their o$n and $ithout the stake in society that marriage and children pro ide.6endercide5to borro$ the title of a %?A: book by !ary .nne Warren5is often seen as an unintended conse*uence of ChinaIs one-child policy, or as a product of po erty or ignorance. 4ut that cannot be the $hole story. The surplus of bachelors5called in China guanggun, or 1bare branches35 seems to ha e accelerated bet$een %??& and '&&:, in $ays not ob iously linked to the one-child policy, $hich $as introduced in %?N?. .nd, as is becoming clear, the $ar against baby girls is not confined to China./arts of ;ndia ha e sex ratios as ske$ed as anything in its northern neighbour. Bther +ast .sian countries5#outh Corea, #ingapore and Tai$an5ha e peculiarly high numbers of male births. #o, since the collapse of the #o iet Union, ha e former communist countries in the Caucasus and the $estern 4alkans. + en subsets of .mericaIs population are follo$ing suit, though not the population as a $hole. The real cause, argues 2ick +berstadt, a demographer at the .merican +nterprise ;nstitute, a think-tank in Washington, =C, is not any countryIs particular policy but 1the fateful collision bet$een o er$eening son preference, the use of rapidly spreading prenatal sex-determination technology and declining fertility.3 These are global trends. .nd the selecti e destruction of baby girls is global, too.4oys are slightly more likely to die in infancy than girls. To compensate, more boys are born than girls so there $ill be e*ual numbers of young men and $omen at puberty. ;n all societies that record births, bet$een %&< and %&@ boys are normally born for e ery %&& girls. The ratio has been so stable o er time that it appears to be the natural order of things.That order has changed fundamentally in the past ': years. ;n China the sex ratio for the generation born bet$een %?A: and %?A? $as %&A, already just outside the natural range. Dor the generation born in '&&&-&", it $as %'" 8ie, %'" boys $ere born in

those years for e ery %&& girls9. .ccording to C.## the ratio today is %'< boys per %&& girls. These rates are biologically impossible $ithout human inter ention.The national a erages hide astonishing figures at the pro incial le el. .ccording to an analysis of Chinese household data carried out in late '&&: and reported in the British Medical Journal*, only one region, Tibet, has a sex ratio $ithin the bounds of nature. Dourteen pro inces5mostly in the east and south5ha e sex ratios at birth of %'& and abo e, and three ha e unprecedented le els of more than %<&. .s C.## says, 1the gender imbalance has been gro$ing $ider year after year.3The 4!0 study also casts light on one of the puEEles about ChinaIs sexual imbalance. ,o$ far has it been exaggerated by the presumed practice of not reporting the birth of baby daughters in the hope of getting another shot at bearing a sonO 2ot much, the authors think. ;f this explanation $ere correct, you $ould expect to find sex ratios falling precipitously as girls $ho had been hidden at birth start entering the official registers on attending school or the doctor. ;n fact, there is no such fall. The sex ratio of %:-year-olds in '&&: $as not far from the sex ratio at birth in %??&. The implication is that sex-selecti e abortion, not under-registration of girls, accounts for the excess of boys.Bther countries ha e $ildly ske$ed sex ratios $ithout ChinaIs draconian population controls 8see chart %9. Tai$anIs sex ratio also rose from just abo e normal in %?A& to %%& in the early %??&s( it remains just belo$ that le el today. =uring the same period, #outh CoreaIs sex ratio rose from just abo e normal to %%N in %??&5then the highest in the $orld5before falling back to more natural le els. 4oth these countries $ere already rich, gro$ing *uickly and becoming more highly educated e en $hile the balance bet$een the sexes $as s$inging sharply to$ards males.#outh Corea is experiencing some surprising conse*uences. The surplus of bachelors in a rich country has sucked in brides from abroad. ;n '&&A, %%P of marriages $ere 1mixed3, mostly bet$een a Corean man and a foreign $oman. This is causing tensions in a hitherto homogenous society, $hich is often hostile to the children of mixed marriages. The trend is especially marked in rural areas, $here the go ernment thinks half the children of farm households $ill be mixed by '&'&. The children are common enough to ha e produced a ne$ $ord> 1Cosians3, or Corean-.sians.China is nominally a communist country, but else$here it $as communismIs collapse that $as associated $ith the gro$th of sexual disparities. .fter the #o iet Union imploded in %??%, there $as an upsurge in the ratio of boys to girls in .rmenia, .Eerbaijan and 6eorgia. Their sex ratios rose from normal le els in %??% to %%:-%'& by '&&&. . rise also occurred in se eral 4alkan states after the $ars of 7ugosla succession. The ratio in #erbia and !acedonia is around %&A. There are e en signs of distorted sex ratios in .merica, among arious groups of .sian-.mericans. ;n %?N:, calculates !r +berstadt, the sex ratio for Chinese-, 0apanese- and Dilipino-.mericans $as bet$een %&& and %&@. ;n '&&', it $as %&N to %&?. 4ut the country $ith the most remarkable record is that other supergiant, ;ndia. ;ndia does not produce figures for sex ratios at birth, so its numbers are not strictly comparable $ith the others. 4ut there is no doubt that the number of boys has been rising relati e to girls and that, as in China, there are large regional disparities. The north-$estern states of /unjab and ,aryana ha e sex ratios as high as the pro inces of ChinaIs east and south. 2ationally, the ratio for children up to six years of age rose from a biologically unexceptionable %&" in %?A% to a biologically impossible %&A in '&&%. ;n %??%, there $as a single district $ith a sex ratio o er %':( by '&&%, there $ere "@.Con entional $isdom about such disparities is that they are the result of 1back$ard thinking3 in old-fashioned societies or5in China5of the one-child policy. 4y implication, reforming the policy or modernising the society 8by, for example, enhancing the status of $omen9 should bring the sex ratio back to normal. 4ut this is not al$ays true and, $here it is, the road to normal sex ratios is $inding and bumpy.2ot all traditional societies sho$ a marked preference for sons o er daughters. 4ut in those that do 5especially those in $hich the family line passes through the son and in $hich he is supposed to look after his parents in old age5a son is $orth more than a daughter. . girl is deemed to ha e joined her husbandIs family on marriage, and is lost to her parents. .s a ,indu saying puts it, 1Gaising a daughter is like $atering your neighboursI garden.31#on preference3 is discernible5o er$helming, e en5in polling e idence. ;n %??? the go ernment of ;ndia asked $omen $hat sex they $anted their next child to be. Bne third of those $ithout children said a son, t$o-thirds had no preference and only a residual said a daughter. /olls carried out in /akistan and 7emen sho$ similar results. !others in some de eloping countries say they $ant sons, not daughters, by margins of ten to one. ;n China mid$i es charge more for deli ering a son than a daughter. The unusual thing about son preference is that it rises sharply at second and later births 8see chart '9. .mong ;ndian $omen $ith t$o children 8of either sex9, @&P said they $anted a son next time, almost t$ice the preference for first-borns. This reflected the desire of those $ith t$o daughters for a son. The share rose to N:P for those $ith three children. The difference in parental attitudes bet$een first-borns and subse*uent children is large and significant. Until the %?A&s people in poor countries could do little about this preference> before birth, nature took its course. 4ut in that decade, ultrasound scanning and other methods of detecting the sex of a child before birth began to make their appearance. These technologies changed e erything. =octors in ;ndia started ad ertising ultrasound scans $ith the slogan 1/ay :,&&& rupees 8Q%%&9 today and sa e :&,&&& rupees tomorro$3 8the sa ing $as on the cost of a daughterIs do$ry9. /arents $ho $anted a son, but balked at killing baby daughters, chose abortion in their millions. The use of sex-selecti e abortion $as banned in ;ndia in %??" and in China in %??:. ;t is illegal in most countries 8though #$eden legalised the practice in '&&?9. 4ut since it is almost impossible to pro e that an abortion has been carried out for reasons of sex selection, the practice remains $idespread. .n ultrasound scan costs about Q%', $hich is $ithin the scope of many5perhaps most5Chinese and ;ndian families. ;n one hospital in /unjab, in northern ;ndia, the only girls born after a round of ultrasound scans had been mistakenly identified as boys, or else had a male t$in. The spread of fetal-imaging technology has not only ske$ed the sex ratio but also explains $hat $ould other$ise be something of a puEEle> sexual disparities tend to rise $ith income and education, $hich you $ould not expect if 1back$ard thinking3 $as all that mattered. ;n ;ndia, some of the most prosperous states5!aharashtra, /unjab, 6ujarat5ha e the $orst sex ratios. ;n China, the higher a pro inceIs literacy rate, the more ske$ed its sex ratio. The ratio also rises $ith income per head. ;n /unjab !onica =as 6upta of the World 4ank disco ered that second and third daughters of $ell-educated mothers $ere more than t$ice as likely to die before their fifth birthday as their brothers, regardless of their birth order.

The discrepancy $as far lo$er in poorer households. !s =as 6upta argues that $omen do not necessarily use impro ements in education and income to help daughters. Gicher, $ell-educated families share their poorer neighboursI preference for sons and, because they tend to ha e smaller families, come under greater pressure to produce a son and heir if their first child is an unlooked-for daughterRR. #o modernisation and rising incomes make it easier and more desirable to select the sex of your children. .nd on top of that smaller families combine $ith greater $ealth to reinforce the imperati e to produce a son. When families are large, at least one male child $ill doubtless come along to maintain the family line. 4ut if you ha e only one or t$o children, the birth of a daughter may be at a sonIs expense. #o, $ith rising incomes and falling fertility, more and more people li e in the smaller, richer families that are under the most pressure to produce a son. ;n China the one-child policy increases that pressure further. Unexpectedly, though, it is the relaxation of the policy, rather than the policy pure and simple, $hich explains the unnatural upsurge in the number of boys.;n most Chinese cities couples are usually allo$ed to ha e only one child5the policy in its pure form. 4ut in the countryside, $here ::P of ChinaIs population li es, there are three ariants of the one-child policy. ;n the coastal pro inces some "&P of couples are permitted a second child if their first is a girl. ;n central and southern pro inces e eryone is permitted a second child either if the first is a girl or if the parents suffer 1hardship3, a criterion determined by local officials. ;n the far $est and ;nner !ongolia, the pro inces do not really operate a one-child policy at all. !inorities are permitted second5sometimes e en third5children, $hate er the sex of the first-born 8see map9.The pro inces in this last group are the only ones $ith close to normal sex ratios. They are sparsely populated and inhabited by ethnic groups that do not much like abortion and $hose family systems do not disparage the alue of daughters so much. The pro inces $ith by far the highest ratios of boys to girls are in the second group, the ones $ith the most exceptions to the one-child policy. .s the 4!0 study sho$s, these exceptions matter because of the preference for sons in second or third births. Dor an example, take 6uangdong, ChinaIs most populous pro ince. ;ts o erall sex ratio is %'&, $hich is ery high. 4ut if you take first births alone, the ratio is 1only3 %&A. That is outside the bounds of normality but not by much. ;f you take just second children, ho$e er, $hich are permitted in the pro ince, the ratio leaps to %"@ boys for e ery %&& girls. .nd for the relati ely fe$ births $here parents are permitted a third child, the sex ratio is %@N. + en this startling ratio is not the outer limit. ;n .nhui pro ince, among third children, there are ''N boys for e ery %&& girls, $hile in 4eijing municipality 8$hich also permits exceptions in rural areas9, the sex ratio reaches a hard-to-credit 'N:. There are almost three baby boys for each baby girl.!s =as 6upta found something similar in ;ndia. Dirst-born daughters $ere treated the same as their brothers( younger sisters $ere more likely to die in infancy. The rule seems to be that parents $ill joyfully embrace a daughter as their first child. 4ut they $ill go to extraordinary lengths to ensure subse*uent children are sons. Throughout human history, young men ha e been responsible for the ast preponderance of crime and iolence5 especially single men in countries $here status and social acceptance depend on being married and ha ing children, as it does in China and ;ndia. . rising population of frustrated single men spells trouble. The crime rate has almost doubled in China during the past '& years of rising sex ratios, $ith stories abounding of bride abduction, the trafficking of $omen, rape and prostitution. . study into $hether these things $ere connectedS concluded that they $ere, and that higher sex ratios accounted for about one-se enth of the rise in crime. ;n ;ndia, too, there is a correlation bet$een pro incial crime rates and sex ratios. ;n 14are 4ranches3SS, Valerie ,udson and .ndrea den 4oer ga e $arning that the social problems of biased sex ratios $ould lead to more authoritarian policing. 6o ernments, they say, 1must decrease the threat to society posed by these young men. ;ncreased authoritarianism in an effort to crack do$n on crime, gangs, smuggling and so forth can be one result.3Violence is not the only conse*uence. ;n parts of ;ndia, the cost of do$ries is said to ha e fallen 8see article9. Where people pay a bride price 8ie, the groomIs family gi es money to the brideIs9, that price has risen. =uring the %??&s, China sa$ the appearance of tens of thousands of 1extra-birth guerrilla troops35couples from one-child areas $ho li e in a legal limbo, shifting restlessly from city to city in order to shield their t$o or three children from the authoritiesI baleful eye. .nd, according to the World ,ealth Brganisation, female suicide rates in China are among the highest in the $orld 8as are #outh CoreaIs9. #uicide is the commonest form of death among Chinese rural $omen aged %:-<"( young mothers kill themsel es by drinking agricultural fertilisers, $hich are easy to come by. The journalist Finran Fue thinks they cannot li e $ith the kno$ledge that they ha e aborted or killed their baby daughters.#ome of the conse*uences of the ske$ed sex ratio ha e been unexpected. ;t has probably increased ChinaIs sa ings rate. This is because parents $ith a single son sa e to increase his chances of attracting a $ife in ChinaIs ultracompetiti e marriage market. #hang-0in Wei of Columbia Uni ersity and Fiaobo Thang of the ;nternational Dood /olicy Gesearch ;nstitute in Washington, =C, compared sa ings rates for households $ith sons ersus those $ith daughters. 1We find not only that households $ith sons sa e more than households $ith daughters in all regions,3 says !r Wei, 1but that households $ith sons tend to raise their sa ings rate if they also happen to li e in a region $ith a more ske$ed sex ratio.3 They calculate that about half the increase in ChinaIs sa ings in the past ': years can be attributed to the rise in the sex ratio. ;f true, this $ould suggest that economic-policy changes to boost consumption $ill be less effecti e than the go ernment hopes.B er the next generation, many of the problems associated $ith sex selection $ill get $orse. The social conse*uences $ill become more e ident because the boys born in large numbers o er the past decade $ill reach maturity then. !ean$hile, the practice of sex selection itself may spread because fertility rates are continuing to fall and ultrasound scanners reach throughout the de eloping $orld.7et the story of the destruction of baby girls does not end in deepest gloom. .t least one country5#outh Corea5has re ersed its cultural preference for sons and cut the distorted sex ratio 8see chart <9. There are reasons for thinking China and ;ndia might follo$ suit.#outh Corea $as the first country to report exceptionally high sex ratios and has been the first to cut them. 4et$een %?A: and '&&<, the share of #outh Corean $omen $ho told national health sur eyors that they felt 1they must ha e a son3 fell by almost t$o-thirds, from "AP to %NP. .fter a lag of a decade, the sex ratio began to fall in the mid-%??&s and is no$ %%& to %&&. !s =as 6upta argues that though it takes a long time for social norms fa ouring sons to alter, and though the transition can be delayed

by the introduction of ultrasound scans, e entually change $ill come. !odernisation not only makes it easier for parents to control the sex of their children, it also changes peopleIs alues and undermines those norms $hich set a higher store on sons. .t some point, one trend becomes more important than the other. ;t is just possible that China and ;ndia may be reaching that point no$. The census of '&&& and the C.## study both sho$ed the sex ratio stable at around %'&. .t the ery least, it seems to ha e stopped rising. Locally, !s =as 6upta arguesSSS, the pro inces $hich had the highest sex ratios 8and ha e t$o-thirds of ChinaIs population9 ha e seen a deceleration in their ratios since '&&&, and pro inces $ith a *uarter of the population ha e seen their ratios fall. ;n ;ndia, one study found that the cultural preference for sons has been falling, too, and that the sex ratio, as in much of China, is rising more slo$ly. ;n illages in ,aryana, grandmothers sit eiled and silent $hile men are present. 4ut their daughters sit and chat unco ered because, they say, they ha e seen un eiled $omen at $ork or on tele ision so much that at last it seems normal to them.!s =as 6upta points out that, though the t$o giants are much poorer than #outh Corea, their go ernments are doing more than it e er did to persuade people to treat girls e*ually 8through anti-discrimination la$s and media campaigns9. The unintended conse*uences of sex selection ha e been ast. They may get $orse. 4ut, at long last, she reckons, 1there seems to be an incipient turnaround in the phenomenon of Jmissing girlsI in .sia.3 +. ,aile$ an$ tort!re$ in M#anmar. -a#in% the "rice. The terri(le &ate o& two (ra.e men ;T T.C+# great courage and commitment to translate for a foreign journalist in !yanmar. T$o men $ho helped The Economist after Cyclone 2argis, $hich killed some %"&,&&& people in '&&A, $ere rounded up last #eptember for opposing the ruling junta. The men are held in ;nsein prison in the main city, 7angon. ;nformation about their conditions and treatment is hard to come by. 4ut the latest reports are horrifying. Chine Cya$ !oe has reportedly been hooded, half-suffocated, sa agely beaten, half-star ed and then fed contaminated food. ,e is said to be ery sick. There is no recent ne$s of another colleague, Tun Lun Cya$. The t$o men $ere earlier seen together at the prison. They $ere $eeping, and looked emaciated and broken. 4oth men are from the north-$estern state of Gakhine 8formerly .rakan9, $hich is rich in natural gas yet ery poor, and home to some of !yanmarIs many oppressed ethnic minorities. .long $ith at least %< other students arrested around the same time, they are accused of belonging to the .ll .rakan #tudentsI and 7outhsI Congress, $hich the regime calls a terrorist organisation, but professes belief in a peaceful struggle for democracy. That they had helped the foreign press $ill ha e $orsened their plight.!yanmarIs best-kno$n political prisoner, the opposition leader, .ung #an #uu Cyi, is detained at home in 7angon. 4esides her, more than ',%&& other political prisoners are held, all in s*ualid and brutal conditions. !any are ser ing sentences of up to @: years for peaceful political acti ities. Dormer detainees say that torture is routine, and that medical attention is often denied e en $hen prisoners fall gra ely ill.Under a 1road-map for democracy3, !yanmar $ill this year ote in a 1multiparty election3. !iss #uu CyiIs party, the 2ational League for =emocracy, is deciding $hether to take part. ;t is a difficult choice. 0oining in $ould add legitimacy to a process $ith a preordained outcome5army dominance. 4ut no other sort of change is on offer. This $eek a court sentenced a 4urmese-born .merican acti ist, 2yi 2yi .ung, to three years in prison for forging an identity card and iolating immigration la$. Bne League precondition to taking part in the election is the release of all political prisoners. The regime, ho$e er, seems intent only on adding to their number. II.TRANSLATE INTO EN/LIS0: +on$amnat la moarte $e Nicolae +ea!1esc!. 2n s"ion rom3n cere com!tarea "e$e"sei Constantin GUuVU, fost agent =;+ condamnat la moarte pentru trUdare de cUtre regimul CeauWescu, cere instanVei romXneWti sU re iEuiascU deciEia pe baEa unor documente noi de la C2#.# Wi de la departamentul de stat american. Dostul agent =;+, acum Wi cetUVean american, a dat deja statul romXn Yn judecatU la C+=B pe moti cU i-au fost YncUlcate drepturile. /rin plXngerea formulatU Ympotri a statului romXn, GUuVU solicitU ca toate condamnUrile la moarte Wi ordinele de executare emise Yn GomXnia sU fie declarate nule. GUuVU mai cere daune pentru nerestituirea proprietUVilor Wi neacordarea cetUVeniei romXne..nul trecut, douU instanVe romXneWti au menVinut deciEia.Dostul agent fusese trimis Yn %?N< pentru a pregUti iEita oficialU a lui CeauWescu la Washington. !isiunea lui era sa erifice reEidenVele unde a ea sU locuiascU Weful statului. ;mediat ce a ateriEat Yn #tatele Unite, GUuVU s-a preEentat YnsU la primul post de poliVie pentru a cere aEil politic. . ea la el o ser ietU diplomaticU ce a fost returnatU de americani securiWtilor dupU ce a primit aEil.=upU YntXmplare, GUuVU e fost gUsit ino at pentru trUdare Yn urma unui proces Yn GomXnia Wi condamnat Yn absenVU pe ' septembrie %?N". #ecuriWtii Yl acuEU cU ar fi oferit americanilor documentele din ser ietU.ZCU eu am luat aliEa diplomaticU este o in enVie prin care procurorii militari care sunt la fel ca atunci nu s-au gXndit cU eu oi ajunge odatU sU erific documentele care au stat la baEa condamnUrii meleZ, spune GUuVU./rin plXngerea formulatU Ympotri a statului romXn la C+=B, GUuVU solicita> toate condamnUrile la moarte Wi ordinele de executare emise Yn GomXnia sU fie declarate nule Wi fUrU aloare Yn baEa protocoalelor nr. @ Wi %< prin care condamnarea la moarte sau executarea Yn U+ au fost abolite( reprimirea cetUVeniei romXne, Zun drept ci il care i-a fost negatZ( reprimirea proprietUVii confiscate 8un apartament Yn 4ucureWti9. =e asemenea, solicita Wi ca statul romXn sU-i plUteascU o sumU de bani, pentru cU a fost lipsit de dreptul de a-Wi folosi apartamentul YncU din momentul condamnUrii.+l cere %@?.&&& de euro calculat la %.&&& de euro[lunU pentru %@? de luni de la % iulie %??", moment la care GomXnia a ratificat /rotocolul nr. @. GUuVU mai solicita Wi o compensaVie moralU, pe care Curtea o considera corectU, pentru cU a fost subiectul unei condamnUri la moarte nejustU Wi pentru cU iaVa i-a fost pusU Yn pericol sub condamnarea la moarte de persoane instabile sau alVii.\n '&&N, GUuVU formuleaEU atXt la instanVele ci ile, cXt Wi la cele militare cereri de re iEuire a pedepsei cu moartea. .tXt Tribunalul !ilitar, cXt Wi \nalta Curte de CasaVie Wi 0ustiVie resping solicitUrile menVinXnd o pedeapsU care nu se mai regUseWte Yn codul penal romXnesc> condamnarea la moarte. .tXt condamnatul, cXt Wi a ocatul ales al acestuia susVin cU nu au fost citaVi de instanVU sU inU la proces, deWi judecUtorii a eau adresele lor. GUuVU, sa ant 2.#., era condamnat practic la moarte fiindcU a trecut la 2.TB. #usVinUtorii lui spun cU condamnarea lui nu are nici o rele anVU Yn Eiua de aEi, cXnd GomXnia este VarU membra 2.TB. =eWi merge Yn GomXnia cXnd rea, la #ummitul 2.TB de la 4ucureWti Yn anul '&&A, el nu a fost lUsat sU manifesteEe. .cesta afirmU cU el a fUcut studii Yn inginerie Wi a acceptat transferul ca inginer la =;+ deoarece a fost condiVia

pusU personal de 2icolae .ndruVU CeauWeWcu, Weful de personal al =;+, pentru a primi un paWaport Wi o iEU de ieWire din GomXnia pentru a merge la studii cu o bursU U2+#CB cXWtigatU pin concurs atunci cXnd lucra la !inisterul Chimiei.GUuVU a absol it Dacultatea de +lectronicU, ;nstitutul /olitehnic 4ucureWti, Wi a lucrat ca inginer proiectant la ;/GBC,;! 4ucureWti Wi apoi inginer consultant Yn !inisterul Chimiei. #pune cU, Yn afarU de ser iciul militar obligatoriu de @ luni dupU terminarea facultUVii, nu a fUcut nici o WcoalU militarU Wi nu a acti at Yn nici o acti itate militarU care sU justifice acordarea unui titlu Wi a gradului de ofiVer militar. =e cXnd este Yn #tate, GUuVU a lucrat timp de <& de ani pe proiecte importante Yn domeniul aerospaVial precum ,U44L+, CB4+, +B# Wi L.2=#.T. +ra implicat Wi Yn deE oltarea unor sisteme de apUrare care au contribuit la apUrarea #U. Wi aliaVilor sUi.