December 19, 2000

Cohen Urges Continued Balkans Peacekeeping
Does Stadium Seating Discriminate?
One-Child Policy Doesn't Stop China's Population Growth

Cohen Urges Continued Balkans Peacekeeping

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said today that he believes the United States will not abandon its mission in the Balkans under the incoming Bush administration, according to the Associated Press.

During the election campaign, President-elect Bush and his advisers suggested they wanted European countries to assume more responsibility for peacekeeping in Kosovo and Bosnia, leading to concern that some of the 9,000 U.S. troops might be pulled out.

On a pre-Christmas visit to U.S. troops in Kosovo, Cohen told the U.S. contingent at Camp Bondsteel, south of Pristina, "We intend to remain active . . . consistent with security needs in Kosovo and in the Balkans" as part of NATO.

In the Policy Analysis "Dubious Anniversary: Kosovo One Year Later," Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz show how the U.S. bombing campaign and presence in the Balkans has failed to meet any of its objectives. In "A European Garrison for Kosovo?" Doug Bandow writes that "it will be much harder to get out than it was to get in. Washington should turn Kosovo over to the Europeans, as part of their European Security and Defense Identity."

Does Stadium Seating Discriminate?

The U.S. attorney for Massachusetts sued two U.S. movie chains today, saying their theaters with stadium-style seating discriminate against people with disabilities, according to Reuters.

U.S. Attorney Donald Stern accused National Amusements Inc. and Hoyts Cinemas Corp. of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and relegating handicapped people to inferior movie seats, according to separate lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Boston.

With seats built on a series of steep risers, the theaters provide a clear line of sight to the screen but make it difficult for people who use wheelchairs or have other disabilities to find good seats, Stern said. People in wheelchairs, for example, are relegated to seats in the very front or very back of the theater.

"That's the very, very last place people want to see a movie," Stern said.

In "How the ADA Handicaps Me," disabled lawyer Julie Hofius reflects on the ADA and writes that "the physical obstacles have been removed, but they have been replaced with a more daunting obstacle: the employer's fear of lawsuits." In "Handicapping Freedom: The Americans with Disabilities Act," Director of Regulatory Studies Edward L. Hudgins calls the law "one of the worst cases of the Bush-era regulation of the economy" and explains its drawbacks.

One-Child Policy Doesn't Stop China's Population Growth

According to the Associated Press, China hopes to cap its population at 1.6 billion by mid-century by persuading women to have fewer children and bear them later in life, a government policy paper said Tuesday.

China's one-child policy has already slowed growth of the population, currently the world's largest at 1.26 billion and growing by 10 million a year, according to the paper.

"If we relax our work in this regard, it is highly possible that this work will be undone," said Zhang Weiqing, director of the State Family Planning Commission.

In "Defusing the Population Bomb," Stephen Moore shows how an increased population has not led to the doomsday scenarios predicted in the 60's and 70's and how quality of life is continually improving.

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