A18 The World
EZ SU
Britain’s Labor taps youngerMiliband
Pro-union leader defeats brother, vows to rebuild opposition party
BY ANTHONY FAIOLA
london—The fraternal fight to lead Britain’s Labor Party culmi- natedSaturdaywithEdMiliband, a 40-year-old pro-union darling, narrowly defeating his older brother to become the newface of the British opposition. Labor has limped along since
May, when it suffered its worst political defeat in decades, forc- ing its former chief, Gordon Brown, to surrender the keys to No. 10Downing Street to theCon- servative Party’s David Cameron. Since then,Laborhas struggledto find a fresh voice andmessage as it navigates its role in the opposi- tion for the first time in 13 years. That voicewill nowcome from
Miliband, who topped his better- known and more accomplished brother, David, by a margin of 50.65 percent to 49.35 percent in the party’s complex vote tally Sat- urday. Like a political version of ten-
nis’sWilliams sisters, the younger Ed leapfrogged David, taking whathadseemedhispreordained place at the top of British politics. Whereas David Miliband — the front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton once described as “vital” and “attractive”—held the senior job of foreignminister in Brown’s cabinet, Ed Miliband had a com- paratively junior role as climate- change chief. But as his campaign gained
strength, he showed himself to be a politician more emotive, more
everyman than his overtly ambi- tious older brother. Nowitwillbe the youngerMili-
band charged with leading, and rebuilding, the Labor Party. Miliband,who some fear could
tilt the party back to the left and away from the “new Labor” cen- trist line put forward by Tony Blair inthe1990s, cameoutontop by successfully tapping a segment of the party that had been long ignored: unions. Labor’s convoluted balloting
process grants unions, alongwith elected Labor politicians and oth- er key constituents, a significant say inwhowins theparty’s leader- ship. The younger Miliband — who appealed to the unionsmore than his generally pro-business brother and three other challeng- ers — secured their overwhelm- ing support. After results were announced, and following the congratulatory embrace with his brother, Miliband vowed to re- build Labor in a freshmold. “I do believe this country is too
unequal,” he said.He later added, “We must have a society that up- holds and protects things beyond the bottomline.” He will now go against Camer-
on in the pits of theBritish Parlia- ment, where a tradition of verbal joustingwill shapeMiliband’s im- age with the public. He has been more skeptical than his brother about the massive budget cuts proposed by the newruling coali- tion of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, andmany say hemay oppose themmore forcefullynow. He has also called for an increase intheminimumwage,higher tax- es on the rich, and other policies aimed at addressing the growing gap between rich and poor. But his election might compli-
KLMNO
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2010
IED incidents in Afghanistan Although the use of improvised explosive devices has increased in the past year, casualties from the attacks have decreased. IED INCIDENTS
1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0
JJ J 2009
IEDs turned in
IEDs found and cleared
FM AA SO ND SOURCE: Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization
MJ JJ 2010
IED attacks: no casualties . . . casualties M
FM AA THE WASHINGTON POST LEFTERIS PITARAKIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS EdMiliband, left, embraces his brother, David, after Saturday’s vote.
cate attempts torebuildtheLabor vote, which crumbled under Brown. Opinion polls showed that David Miliband, a photoge- nic 45-year-old,was better poised for the task, being more popular with the public at large. The elder Milibandwas also seen as an heir to Blair, with whom he helped craft Labor’s shift fromthe left to themiddle of British politics. “But nowyou are going to see a
man who was elected by the unions and the left of the party in a position where he also needs to appeal to the centrist voters who will win elections,” said Tony Travers, a political analyst with the London School of Economics. “Given who his supporters are, that is going to be more of a challenge.” Miliband’s first priority will be
to smooth over party divisions, including persuading his brother to stay on as one of his top aides. Though the elder Miliband has
suggested he would not abandon his brother if he lost the vote, party insiders have speculated he might stick around only six months or sobefore forging anew path away frompolitics. The son of the noted Marxist
academic andHolocaust survivor Ralph Miliband, the Oxford-edu- cated EdMiliband was elected to Parliament just five years ago, becoming energy and climate- change chief under Brown. His biggestmoment came during the Copenhagen climate-change summit in December, when Brit- ain and other European powers were largely sidelined in amuch- criticized pact forged primarily through an agreement between theUnited States and China. “The critical concernmostpeo-
ple have is that he is quite untest- ed,” said Raymond Duch, profes- sor of politics at Oxford Universi- ty.
faiolaa@washpost.com Taco Bell hoping to spice up South Korea
Residents snap photos and rave about trendy restaurant on blogs
BY CHICO HARLAN
seoul — In South Korea, where talk of the border rarely involves dinner options, Taco Bell this summer opened a restaurant, its only one in Asia. But indeed, not its first. Taco Bell had tried Asia before,
and the pair didn’t get along. The chain closed its two previous South Korean franchises in the early 1990s. It then pulled out of China in 2008, restoring Asia’s reputation as a continent uncon- quered by the taco. Taco Bell chose Seoul for its
Asian re-launch, though, for a reason that has little to do with refried beans and sour cream. Seoul appealed to Taco Bell, exec- utives say, because few cities on Earth can better turn a novelty into a mainstream obsession. In the time it takes for other coun- tries to warm to a new product, South Koreans have already liked it, loved it, photographed it, blogged about it and waited in 30-minute lines for it for two weeks straight. Far away from a customer base
in the United States that knows the delights and agonies of late- night taco dining, paid for entire- ly with pocket change, Taco Bell seeks a higher level of trendiness in South Korea. The new store’s menu appears on an LED board. Wall hangings display a succes- sion of culinary mood words: sizzle, steam, smash. Shin Sang Yong, chief execu-
tive officer of M2G Ltd., the com- pany that brought the chain to SouthKorea, thinks Taco Bell can work here because “people are ready for something new. They’ve had 20 years of pizza and ham- burgers.” Shin envisions opening 30 SouthKorean franchises in the next three years. One hundred in the next six. Right now, Seoul has about 30 Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants. The city’s three-story Taco Bell
opened July 11, with 40-minute lines on the first day. Business in the first month exceeded projec- tions by 20 percent, Shin said. It remains to be seen whether
Taco Bell will prosper here, or elsewhere in Asia, over the long term. Since Taco Bell last existed here 15 years ago, little has funda- mentally changed in the way peo- ple eat. What’s different is how they decide where to eat. In the world’s most wired country, two of every five people, according to some estimates, maintain a blog. One of South Korea’s preeminent search engines, Naver, has a spe- cial category for “powerbloggers,” many ofwhomlove writing about food. Taco Bell has held special events for these bloggers, hoping
COURTESY OF TACO BELL On the day of Taco Bell’s grand opening in Itaewon in Seoul, the line stretched 40 minutes outside.
in particular — Taco Bell has a limited international footprint, with just 250 stores outside the United States. Theories abound as to whyMexican food is a hard sell, but many food enthusiasts in Seoul say they think South Kore- ans are itching not just for West- ern food, but also for food that Westerners like. “A crowd draws a crowd,” said
Daniel Gray, a Seoul resident and food blogger who offers Korean cooking classes and restaurant tours. “The fact that the foreign- ers start to go there, there’s ahuge line around the block — every- body sees that.” Taco Bell’s menu, for now, is
simple: burritos, tacos, nachos, quesadillas and otherdemonstra- tions of nacho cheese engineer- ing, such as the Fries BellGrande, which consists of fries, sour cream, cheese and meat all lay- ered together. Yang says the restaurant might
COURTESY OF TACO BELL
Choi Jin Young, left, and Lee Yoo Jin load up with a table of Taco Bell food in Seoul. Taco Bell had triedAsia before; it didn’t work out.
to win their approval. “They can kill a company,” said
Paul Yang, general manager of M2G. “People here are very fast. One of the fastest places to pick up trends. They lead pop culture in Asia — ahead of Japan, ahead ofHong Kong.” Foodtrends inSouthKoreacan
start from almost anywhere. In the past few years, South Korea has had sudden love affairs with doughnuts, frozen yogurt and waffles. The kebab craze started on a
street corner in 2006, when Tur- key native Omer Yilmaz sold his signature dish to a few fanatics, who spread the gospel. Soon Yil-
maz had one store, then two more, and now there are many copycats. This year, self-trained chef Suji
Park — who had created a mini- empire of restaurants that taught South Koreans to love Western- style brunch — has her sights on starting a newtrend, introducing South Koreans to piled-high pas- trami sandwiches. It is a cross-cultural truth that
people like large quantities of sodium and fat, whether melted atop crust, sandwiched in a bun or stuffed in a tortilla. But Mexi- can food still faces some hurdles inAsia.Unlike otherYum!Brands franchises — KFC and Pizza Hut,
soon put up a sign showing new- comers how to properly eat a taco; he has noticed South Kore- ans struggle to angle their heads, leading to a “taco at the wrong orientation,” and spillage of in- gredients. Several young women sat on
the second floor of Seoul’s Taco Bell one recent evening, devoted equally to consuming and photo- graphing their food. Jung JiYoon, a 20-year-old college student, said that she had eaten at Taco Bell several times this summer, finding the taste to be “good — especially compared to the price.” But Jungrecently decided to go
on a diet, meaning that on this particular night, she planned to use Taco Bell as a meeting spot only, ordering nothing. She brought a small packet of tofu instead.
harlanc@washpost.com
Special correspondent Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.
Taliban bombs are killing fewer troops
Plantings increase by 30 percent, but vehicles are upgraded
BYWALTER PINCUS A 30 percent rise in the plant-
ing of makeshift bombs by Tali- ban insurgents in Afghanistan this year has resulted in more wounded American and coalition troops, according to newly com- piledPentagonstatistics. But few- er of them are dying from the attacks. Through August, there have
been 1,062 effective such attacks against coalition forces, which killed 292 and wounded 2,178 others. In the first eight months of 2009, there were only 820 such attacks, which killed 322 and wounded 1,813, according to the latest figures released by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device De- feat Organization (JIEDDO). Makeshift bombs remain the
main cause of troop deaths in the war with more than half the coalition’s 531 fatalities this year coming from the roadside bomb- ings. The number of bombs that
were found and cleared before harming coalition forces also rose this year, from 4,226 last year to 4,650 this year. The report indi- cates that although bombs re- main the major threat toU.S. and allied forces, the multibillion-dol- lar effort to counter them is hav- ing some success. One reason given for the drop
in deaths is protection provided by upgraded armored fighting vehicles being used in Afghani- stan. A military spokesman estimat-
ed that Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles “have reduced deaths and injuries by 30 per- cent” from January 2009 to July 2010, according to a recent story inUSA TODAY. In its annual report for fiscal
2009, released earlier this month, Army Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, director of JIEDDO said, “IEDs in Afghanistan continued to present a significant threat’’ to coalition forces. He described them as based on
“simple, yet effective, technolo- gies and designs such as Victim Operated IEDs (e.g., pressure plates) and Command Wire IEDs that often used large net explo- sive weight charges.” Because of their simplicity, many of the de- vices continue to avoid detection even by new sophisticated coun- termeasures being developed, Oates said. According to a JIEDDO fact
sheet, 80 percent of the Afghan makeshift bombs use homemade explosive components such as farm fertilizer, ammonium ni- trate along with wood, sawblades and other everyday materials. The JIEDDO program, which
has been given $15.9 billion since 2004, has this year received mixed reviews on Capitol Hill. The administration requested $3.4 billion for next year, an amount that the Senate Armed Services Committee approved in sending the fiscal 2011 Defense Authorization Bill to the Senate floor, where it awaits approval. However, the panel directed
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to review the management and oversight of JIEDDO because of concerns that the program lacks “thorough intra-depart- ment oversight and coordination on development and acquisition activities.” The Senate Appropriations
Committee, in its review of the fiscal 2011 request, took a differ- ent approach. It cut the JIEDDO budget down to $2.8 billion in part by transferring more than $400 million to Army and other military service accounts. In its report, the appropriators said the JIEDDO budget was “being used to cover unrequestedandunjusti- fied items which either are of interest to senior leaders or make up for shortfalls in amounts re- quested by the services.”
Meanwhile,JIEDDOcontinues
to push new items into the field. Last month the Army awarded $17 million in contracts for a Generation IIHelmet Sensor that records concussive forces to a service member’s head after a blast. The data received will help in developing new helmets and internal pads to limit post-blast injuries. A program called Weapons
Technical Intelligence is focused on collection of forensic data from found makeshift bombs, in- cluding fingerprints of those in- volved in planting them.Through fiscal 2009 about 5,000 finger- prints were recovered from devic- es and compared with finger- prints collected from the popula- tion at large.To date, according to JIEDDO, this program has “en- abled the identifications and de- tention of hundreds of suspects.” Anti-bomb program figures
from last month show attempted bomb attacks in Afghanistan dropped from their record highs in July, with the numbers of coali- tion forces killed and wounded from the bombs last month also falling from the previous month.
pincusw@washpost.com
Afghanistan
war deaths Total number of U.S. military
deaths since 2001 and names of the U.S. troops killed recently in the Afghanistan war, as announced by the Pentagon:
1,290 Fatalities
In hostile actions:
982
In non- hostile actions:
308
Tallies may be incomplete because of lags in reporting.
l Spec. Timothy L. Johnson, 24, of Randolph, N.Y.; 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo. Killed Sept. 16 in Kandahar province.
l Sgt. Aaron K. Kramer, 22, of Salt Lake City; 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based at Fort Campbell, Ky. Killed Sept. 16 in Kandahar province.
l Senior Airman Daniel R. Sanchez, 23, of El Paso; 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, based at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Killed Sept. 16 in Uruzgan province.
l 1st Lt. Scott J. Fleming, 24, of Marietta, Ga.; 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Killed Sept. 17 in Helmand province.
l Staff Sgt. Jaime C. Newman, 27, of Richmond;1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based at Fort Campbell, Ky. Killed Sept. 17 in Kandahar province
l Senior Airman Michael J. Buras, 23, of Fitzgerald, Ga.; 99th Civil Engineer Squadron, based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Killed Sept. 21 in Kandahar province.
All troops were killed in action in Afghanistan unless otherwise indicated.
Total fatalities include two civilian employees of the Defense Department. They also include service members killed in other locations involved in Operation Enduring Freedom, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Pakistan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; Uzbekistan; and Yemen.
A full list of casualties is available online
at6washingtonpost.com/nation
SOURCE: Defense Department’s
www.defenselink.mil/news
THE WASHINGTON POST
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174