War and bacteria

The Guardian is sceptical of the British navy's warning that the UK cannot remain much longer than three more months in Libya. And The Wall Street Journal writes that calling for more money and regulations after the E. coli outbreak in Germany will not make food in Europe any safer.

Deep water

The head of Britain's Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, recently warned that Britain won’t be able to continue its mission in Libya beyond the summer. This should to be taken "with a large pinch of sea salt", writes The Guardian.

... It is true that the current Nato operations against Libya cannot go on indefinitely. ... But the reasons are predominantly political, not military or logistical. The Libya mission does not stand or fall by whether UK jet fighters can be launched from a now mothballed aircraft carrier stationed 20 minutes from their targets, rather than from an airfield another hour away in southern Italy, as at present. It stands or falls by whether the pressure on the Gaddafi regime can achieve its object within a reasonable timeframe without mission creep or stalemate. ...

At it again

Farmers affected by the E. coli scare want hundreds of millions of euros in reparations from the German government. And there are also calls for a new, Europe-wide food-safety certification system. This is a typical EU response, writes The Wall Street Journal.

... So here we go again: agitation for more money and regulation, though agricultural authorities still don’t know where the German farm ... erred. Sprouts require warm and humid farm environments, which make them particularly hospitable to bacteria. But both harmful and harmless E. coli strains are present in the intestines of most animals, as well as human beings. No amount of standardization or certification will guarantee E. coli’s eradication from food. ...