The Times—London (June 4)
“BP, not to mention its market capitalisation, is disappearing in the Gulf of Mexico” as its offshore oil well uncontrollably gushes oil. Yet, BP’s chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg “has gone missing.” Most people don’t even recognize his name. A low profile is not appropriate during a saga which has claimed 11 lives and become America’s largest disaster. “BP is one of Britain’s most important companies. Its future is in danger.” BP needs “a heavyweight public diplomat rather than the absentee who is presiding over a disaster in silence.”
Wall Street Journal (June 3)
An opinion piece declares the sinking of the South Korean naval warship Cheonan qualifies as a war crime and should be prosecuted. “Kim may have exposed himself for the first time to international justice” and deserves to be tried by the International Criminal Court. In 1953, North Korea signed an armistice promising to cease hostilities with South Korea. Since the North did not first warn the South that it would break the peace agreement, the deadly torpedo strike against the Cheonan qualifies as treacherous act meeting the war crime definition.
Tags: Cheonan, Kim Jong Il, North Korea, South Korea, War Crime