Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1046

Everybody Loves Liberace

Today in show business news: Lots of people wanted to watch Michael Douglas and Matt Damon be lovers in Behind the Candelabra, NBC might want Community's creator to come back, and P.T. Anderson adds to his all-star cast in adapting Pynchon.

HBO's biopic Behind the Candelabra, the mildly touching story of one of Liberace's gay relationships, was a ratings boon for the network, earning 2.4 million viewers on Sunday night, its best original movie premiere in nine years. Weird. It's almost as if people were curious to see Michael Douglas and Matt Damon playing gay lovers draped in furs and crystals. Isn't that strange? Who would have thought that people would want to see Gordon Gecko and Jason Bourne rolling around in a golden bed together, giggling? What's the curiosity factor all about there? Seems pretty regular and ho-hum to me. Oh well. Hearts want what they want, I suppose. [Deadline]

There are reports, or rather a report, that Dan Harmon, the creator of Community who was ousted from his own show after its third season, might be returning as show runner for the series's fifth and final season. This is according to remarks he made while recording his podcast in front of a live audience, saying that he's been asked to come back to steer the show home. Harmon was quite publicly given the boot by NBC, amid reports that he was difficult to work with, highly controlling over a fastidiously crafted show, so this would be an interesting reversal for the network. The Harmon-less fourth season creatively stumbled, according to many, so this ought to come as good news for the show's extremely devoted core fanbase. For the rest of us? OK, sure. That's probably for the best, that the show's creator has control over how it ends, but hasn't Community outworn its welcome a bit? It's not really the show's fault, it's just that there has been so much written about it that it feels like it's been on for ten years. So it's hard to get too riled up either way about anything that happens to it at this point. Dan Harmon coming back? Sure, fine, sounds good. That's all I got. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Josh Brolin has joined the cast of Paul Thomas Anderson's next film, an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice. This is shaping up to be quite the cast, with Brolin, Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Martin Short (!), and Jena Malone already on board, and Sean Penn looking to join up too. Not quite as distinguished a roster as the cast of Grown Ups 2, but still a heavy hitting group. I'm especially excited about Reese Witherspoon's involvement, as she seems to be pulling a McConaughey of her own, taking a career in romantic comedy tatters and reviving it with smart, serious choices. Well done, Reese! Could Freeway 2 be too far off? [Deadline]

Melissa Leo has been cast in the Fox "event series" (guess the word "miniseries" has some stink on it or something?) Wayward Pines. In the ten-part crime drama, Leo will play an "intense, unpredictable nurse" who becomes the antagonist to Matt Dillon's Secret Service agent. It all takes place in a mysterioussss small town where everyone's got secrets and dark things lurk. Which is fine and all, but don't try to bite Bates Motel's style, Wayward Pines. Because it is unbiteable. Anyway, I am very excited to hear that Fox is getting in on this game. Everyone should get in on this game! Miniseries — excuse me, event series — are a great way to tell a good story in a reasonable amount of time. Man, imagine if miniseries or limited series or event series or whatever you want to call them had been popular in Lost's day. It really could have been something. Ah well. To the future! [The Hollywood Reporter]

Here is a trailer for a movie called Scenic Route, in which Josh Duhamel's car breaks down in the desert, he gets a mohawk, and then goes crazy. Yes, this is a serious, dark, psychological thriller starring Josh Duhamel in a mohawk. And on crutches. He's joined by Dan Fogler, from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. And Balls of Fury. Huh. Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?

       

Toronto Police Know Where the Mayor's Crack Video Is (or Was)

Toronto mayor Rob Ford is still in office as of Tuesday morning despite allegations he smoked crack cocaine. But his office is losing employees at an alarming rate and Gawker is poised to buy this crack video as soon as they can get their hands on it. But, more importantly, at least the police might know where the crack video is. 

The Toronto Star has a blockbuster story on how the mayor's office reacted the morning Gawker and the Star unveiled the crack smoking allegations against mayor Ford. The mayor told his top staff members the video never existed, but director of operations and logistics David Price went to then-chief of staff Mark Towhey and asked for advice because, just maybe, he knew where the crack smoking video is. And maybe, if he knows where the video is, what they should do about it: 

Price contacted Towhey late on May 17 and asked “hypothetically” what if someone had told him where the video was. “What would we do?” Towhey was asked.

[...]

Towhey, a former military man and the most experienced official in Ford’s office, was alarmed at Price’s comments. Price went further and said, “What if a source has told me where the video might be found?”

Towhey's advice for Price was simple: go to the police. Price then allegedly disclosed Anthony Smith, a 21-year-old killed in front a Toronto night club in March, may have been killed because of the video. Smith was the only face not blurred out in the picture of the mayor given to Gawker and the Star by the men selling the video. One of the other men in the pictures is Muhammad Khattak, a 19-year-old who was shot in the arm and back in the same drive-by that killed Smith, the Star revealed Monday morning. He has since gone into hiding since the crack allegations came out. Towhey allegedly told Price "We’re not getting the f---ing thing!" because he was worried someone might be killed for it. This is the same video Ford told the press doesn't exist. 

Towhey called the police himself and went in to give a sworn statement about the video. Price gave Towhey the details he knew about the apartment before his interview with police. This all corresponds with the Globe and Mail's report yesterday relaying the conversation between Towhey and the police. It's never established how Price knew where the video might be. Price's role in the mayor's office has never been clearly defined. No one knows what he does, exactly. The Globe and Mail linked him as a former hash dealing associate of the mayor's brother, Toronto city councillor Doug Ford. 

So Gawker and the Toronto Star drop their stories about the crack video on May 16. Price told Towhey the video was being kept in an apartment building on "floor (17th) of a building in Rexdale," a community in the Toronto suburb Etobicoke where the mayor lives. On May 21, a man was shot in the leg around 4 a.m. on the 17th floor of a Rexdale apartment building. 

Towhey quickly found himself on the outside of the mayor's inner circle after going to the police. He was fired last week as the mayor's chief of staff for allegedly asking the mayor to get help with an addiction, according to multiple reports. He was walked out of the building by security. 

And then yesterday the mayor's office plunged into further turmoil after it was announced the mayor's press aides, George Christopoulos and Isaac Ransom, both resigned around lunch time. We now know they didn't even wait to say goodbye. Per the Globe and Mail: 

Mr. Christopoulos and Mr. Ransom had been seen by reporters in the glass-walled “fishbowl” area that contains the offices of Mr. Ford’s staff. But at about noon, they informed the mayor by phone that they were leaving, sources in the mayor’s office said. Mr. Ford asked them to wait until he got to the office, a source said, but the two left their letters of resignation on his desk instead. About two hours later, Mr. Ford was seen visiting the staff offices accompanied by the head of security and the city manager, but both men were gone.

They saved themselves the shame of being escorted out by the mayor and his security guards. The mayor would go on to say they were pursuing new things and that he wished them "best of luck in their future endeavours." 

So the mayor's office is in complete disarray while the video showing the mayor allegedly smoking crack cocaine is still out there. It's somewhere and everyone is looking for it, maybe even the police. They may already know where it is. They my have been to the apartment where it was being held. But the men haven't been seen in weeks. Gawker reached its $200,000 goal in the "crackstarter" campaign Monday afternoon, so we know they're doggedly in pursuit of the guys selling the video. The Star reports the sellers are "laying low," according to the middle man brokering the sale. We asked Gawker editor John Cook if he succeeded in contacting the sellers since the campaign reached its goal. "Not yet," he said. 

       

North Korea Invites Its Favorite South Korean Hostages Back to Work

In what may be the latest sign that North Korea is willing to stand down — or at least shut up — the nation has invited South Korean managers back into the countries' jointly-run Kaesong factory, the last major economic link between the two Koreas. But considering the hostage situation in April involving the same South Korean managers, don't expect them to come rushing in all at once. "In a statement carried by the North's official media on Tuesday, the government agency in charge of relations with Seoul said Pyongyang is ready to talk about reopening the Kaesong complex if the business owners visit," reports The New York Times.  

The possibility of North Korea opening up the factory is symbolic — in the same way that shutting down the eight-year-old complex and sending some 50,000 South Korean workers back home in April was interpreted as a sign that diplomacy between the two countries was waning and that war (or whatever the North was calling it that day) could be imminent. The re-opening of the massive industrial park could signal that North Korea is ready for peaceful talks, or at least open economic arms. And the invitation comes on the heels of North Korea's Choe Ryong-hae, a diplomat close to Kim Jong-un, telling Chinese President Xi Jinping that the country "is willing to take positive actions" toward "peace and stability" in the Korean peninsula. 

So, yeah, North Korea's neighborhood foot-stomping might be over for the moment, but there remains doubt: Could this all be a plot to gain political bargaining chips in the form of South Korean business managers? "Attention-seeking toddler seeks to have toy placed back in pram," Quartz's Senior Asia Correspondent Adam Pasick tweeted this morning, suggesting that North Korea is out of options and is either seeking a reward — or something that will garner it yet more attention.

And Pasick's suggestion would be right. North Korea in recent weeks has scaled back its nuclear war propaganda toward the South — at least somewhat. Their leverage over the region doesn't appear to be what it was a couple of months ago. But taking a few South Korean managers hostage could change all that. Almost one month ago, on April 29, when North Korea shut down the factory, it detained seven South Korean managers and demanded that outstanding bills were paid. The managers eventually came home on May 3, after trucks loaded with money paid off their ransom "wages." Should be an interesting next few weeks at work.

       

Dan Harmon Just May End Up Back at 'Community'

Community fans possibly have another reason to stop whining. Not only is their show coming back on the air for an unlikely fifth season, but it looks like the lauded-crazy-genius behind the show, Dan Harmon, might also be coming back. Meaning that perhaps Community will finally get the attention and care its fans think it deserves. 

The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg confirmed that Harmon, the original showrunner, is in talks with Sony Pictures Television to return for its fifth season, but it's unclear just what exactly that would mean. Harmon apparently told the audience about these talks in his Harmontown podcast, according to Hollywookie.com. He initially asked it to be edited out of the podcast, but ultimately said: "Ahhh Fuck it. I don’t care who knows!" 

Harmon was ousted last May in between the third and fourth seasons. Sony was apparently fed up with his creative direction and erratic management. (He had also made headlines for his publicized feud with Chevy Chase, one of the show's stars.) When Community returned in February—after a long delay—critics lamented the lack of Harmon's voice. Harmon has been praised, and to some extent canonized, as one of TV's great thinkers, a crazy genius who forever lives to be misunderstood. Take, for instance, Alex Pappademas' Grantland profile from February. 

Harmon comes back to an NBC comedy lineup very different from how he left it. With 30 Rock and The Office gone so are two of NBC's strong idiosyncratic voices. The network is now banking on family-centric comedies like The Michael J. Fox Show. That leaves Community and Parks and Recreation to hold down the fort for the network when it comes to Internet-dwelling comedy lovers. So it seems a bit strange that as the network seems to move away from shows like Community it seems to be getting everything its fans want it to have. That said, it's still unclear when exactly community is coming back on the air. 

       

China Is Winning the Cyber War Because They Hacked U.S. Plans for Real War

Ballistic-missile defenses, joint-strike fighters, Black Hawks, and more — Chinese hackers have their hands on plans for these and more of the Pentagon's most sophisticated weapons systems, just the latest sign that the culture of hacking in China continues to put America on the defensive ahead of a tense meeting between President Obama and Xi Jinping, a summit bound to be tense with cyberwarfare diplomacy.

The Washington Post's Ellen Nakashima reports in Tuesday's paper that Chinese cyberthieves have "compromised" mockups that form the "backbone" of some of the U.S. military's most important and high-tech defense technology, and that it could signal a copycat advancement of China's arms, while aiming to "weaken the U.S. military advantage" down the road. The Chinese government, as usual with these attacks — even when they seem connected directly to the People's Liberation Army — are distancing themselves from the pervasive, and this time very internationally unsound, hacking. "The Defense Science Board, a senior advisory group made up of government and civilian experts, did not accuse the Chinese of stealing the designs. But senior military and industry officials with knowledge of the breaches said the vast majority were part of a widening Chinese campaign of espionage against U.S. defense contractors and government agencies," the Post reports.

The new breach comes as a newly disclosed part of a classified Defense Science Board report. Back in January, the board released a public version of the report, warning of possible attacks on U.S. defense systems as well as the Defense Department's lack of preparation and protection. And if you look back in 2005, the same group warned U.S. defense officials against buying microchips from China because of trojan horses and spyware — advice the Pentagon eventually took, cutting off Chinese supply in 2011. But in just the last few months, Chinese hackers have gotten to major U.S. news organizations and government agencies. How have the Pentagon's own cybersecurity experts been so far ahead of the Pentagon's actual cybersecurity if China is stealing our war plans — or at least our warplanes? And is there any way to stop it?

Obama has said that the U.S. military would focus on Asia and the Pacific in the coming year — he called it a "vast and complex undertaking" in his big foreign-policy speech on Thursday. "We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy," Obama said in his State of the Union address this year. Except it may be too late for wonder and speeches; Nakashima reports the Chinese cyberspies already have the basic outlines for the following:

The designs included those for the advanced Patriot missile system, known as PAC-3; an Army system for shooting down ballistic missiles, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD; and the Navy's Aegis ballistic-missile defense system.

Also identified in the report are vital combat aircraft and ships, including the F/A-18 fighter jet, the V-22 Osprey, the Black Hawk helicopter and the Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship, which is designed to patrol waters close to shore. Also on the list is the most expensive weapons system ever built — the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is on track to cost about $1.4 trillion.

So while that big Mandiant report from February — the one linking a nondescript building all the way to the PLA and back to critical U.S. infrastructure, the one the Pentagon outright blamed on the Chinese government — might be scary, this is a cyber race to weapons building. And it's got implications for future combat: "You've seen significant improvements in Chinese military capabilities through their willingness to spend, their acquisitions of advanced Russian weapons, and from their cyber-espionage campaign," James A. Lewis, a cyber-policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Post's Nakashima.

According to a report last weekby the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, a group headed up by two ex-Obama administration officials (Dennis Blair and Jon Huntsman), hacking costs the U.S. some $300 billion per year. And you know what? China is reportedly responsible for a full 70 percent of that when it comes to corporate IP and theft. But a New York Times editorial over the weekend added an important point of emphasis: "While there are concerns about military-related incursions, the focus of most public discussion surrounds hacking into business and industry." Behind the scenes, then, the Pentagon is doing more than it's saying — and building up a more sophisticated cyber battle plan of our own: Wired's Noah Shachtman has an in-depth report today on the Pentagon's so-called Plan X, "a program that is specifically working towards building the technology infrastructure that would allow cyber offense to move from the world we're in today," as Darpa's director put it.

Whether videogame-style protections and clandestine preparations will bail out the Pentagon the next time around, well, we may never know. But we know the U.S. isn't the only victim of military-grade cyber espionage: Australian media reported over the American long weekened that the Chinese had hacked blueprints of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's new headquarters. The "blueprints included floor plans and the locations of communications cabling, servers and security systems," reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. So, it wouldn't be that hard to imagine China creating U.S. weapons in a building designed by Australia's ASIO, now would it?

Obama is expected to discuss the Chinese hacks — and the widespread culture of hacking in China, which is increasingly looking more like war games than hobby horse — with Chinese President Xi when they meet next month in California. There might have to be digital ground rules if we want to keep our planes from taking off over Chinese skies.

       

Norah O'Donnell: What I Read

How do people deal with the torrent of information pouring down on us all? What sources can't they live without? We regularly reach out to prominent figures in media, entertainment, politics, the arts, and the literary world to hear their answers. This is drawn from an e-mail exchange Norah O'Donnell, co-host of CBS This Morning and former chief White House correspondent at CBS News.  

I start my day very early in the morning, usually sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., when I first check my Blackberry for emails from the CBS This Morning team — they include the most relevant overnight news stories from The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and other publications. Also included is a note on all of our correspondents’ reporting from the field that will be included in the broadcast. I check Twitter for additional headlines before making my way into the office.

While I’m getting prepped for the show, I make my way through 6 different newspapers: The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, New York Daily News, and USA Today. I like to read the hard copies because there are graphics and charts that are often useful. You’ll notice that a lot of my newspapers have writing and highlighting all over them – I refer to them during our broadcast, and also frequently flag headlines to include in our daily “Papers” segments.

When I make it to the set, I review a binder that is separated by segment and story. In it I have the script and background research for every piece in the show. I also have a “One Sheet” — something our executive producer, Chris Licht, instituted — which includes a quick summary of each segment, why it’s important, and usually includes suggested questions for the guest or correspondent. Starting at around 5:30 a.m., I go over everything in the binder with a senior producer.

If ever there is breaking news, there’s generally little time to be reading except during commercial breaks. In those instances, our executive producer talks in my ear about which correspondents are on the scene; wire stories are also run to me on set so I can quickly look them over.

The funniest thing that's ever happened to me during a commercial break is probably getting picked up by Shaquille O'Neal. He came by the show back in March — and during the commercial break, showed off his strength by picking me. He's a fun guy and a big joker.

When we finish with updates for the West Coast and affiliate teases, I normally go back to my office and look through many of the papers again for stories that might deserve follow-up for the next day. I’ll also make calls, listen to voicemails and make yet another futile attempt to empty my Inbox.

I also enjoy reading for pleasure – usually something that’s a bit escapist. A phrase my husband Geoff and I like to use is, “books that are like reading TV.” I just read Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I loved Laura Hillenbrand ’s Unbroken, too. I’m a big word-of-mouth person when it comes to books; I often choose the books I read based on my friends’ recommendations. Sometimes I’ll follow a whole series — Game of Thrones is a favorite — or, if there’s an author I like, I’ll read all of his or her books. We interview a lot of authors on the show, too, so I’m always reading their books before they come on as guests.

As far as magazines go, my guilty pleasures are House Beautiful, Veranda and Elle Décor. They feature concepts and ideas that are totally different from what I do every day – and I’m so amazed by some people’s creative talents. I subscribe to more than a dozen other magazines, which I look through routinely for story ideas: MORE, O, Time, New York, The New Yorker, People, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, Redbook, Vogue, The Atlantic, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan.

Most evenings I also read children’s books with my three kids. My twins, Henry and Grace, are just learning to read — it’s incredible to see them start to sound out words on their own.

In terms of television, I watch the CBS Evening News every night, and I often have to watch an episode of Ben 10 or Scooby Doo with my kids. Other than that, I don’t get the chance to watch much TV at night.  By the time I read to my kids and get them to bed, I’m so exhausted that I quickly check my iPhone for the next day’s guest list, story updates and any breaking news — and then try to crash as soon as possible.

       

Here Comes the North-South Border Entrance Fee Face-Off

While the long-promised immigration compromise in Congress continues its "will they, won't they" dance, there's a war brewing between states at the northern and southern borders of the U.S. over a plan to charge a fee per land crossing. The south, who'd like the fee to, among other things, pay for renovations to the facilities there, are at least tentatively for it. But legislators from northern states are flatly against the idea. 

Currently, there's a $2 fee to enter the country via air or sea built into the cost of an international ticket, and some states charge tolls at bridge crossings. But a federal fee to, say, drive across the border from Canada to fill up on gas is another thing. And that's exactly what the Department of Homeland Security has asked permission to study. Legislators representing northern border states, predictably, reacted with immediate protest against the idea. Here's the Associated Press, with more: 

"That lone request sparked wide opposition among members of Congress from northern states, who vowed to stop it. A fee, they say, would hurt communities on the border that rely on people, goods and money moving between the U.S. and Canada.

'The imposition of such a toll would act as a barrier to the greater economic integration that we seek, and is the absolute last thing we should be doing to grow our economy,'  stated a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano earlier this month signed by 18 Republican and Democratic House lawmakers."

Despite the swift response, the idea isn't very fleshed out, and it doesn't look like any fee, if it's going to happen at all, will be imposed for awhile. There aren't that many details out there on what the theoretical fee would look like: the DHS didn't specify how much they thought it'd cost, or how it'd be collected. That's why they want to study it, something that, given the strong northern opposition, doesn't look like it'll happen this fiscal year. 

       

The Man Behind 'Unskewed Polls' Levels Up in Conspiracy Theories

Dean Chambers, the man who started up the now discredited "Unskewed Polls" after he thought 2012's election polls were part of the whole biased liberal media conspiracy thing, is back. And this time, he thinks the president was high on cocaine during the Benghazi attack. 

In an article published to the Examiner on Sunday (and noticed by Ezra Klein, who called it "the most amazing article I've ever read"), Chambers experimented with the word "allegedly." Apparently, it can go in front of anything! As in, "While our consulate in Benghazi was attacked during the night of September 11 of last year, our fearless leader was allegedly hiding away somewhere getting 'high as a kite' on cocaine." 

The idea, which actually comes from a blog post by Kevin DuJan, revolves around a sticking point for Benghazi conspiracy theorists: where was the president during the night of the Benghazi attacks? This question was reasserted in a Politico piece by the National Review's Rich Lowry last week, to which DuJan's post is apparently a response. Here's HIS timeline of events for the President on September 11, 2012: 

"Barack Obama retired to his private quarters (perhaps with Reggie Love…or maybe one of the other low-ranking young men who are forever suspiciously palling around with this president, unlike any president before him) sometime around 6pm EST or so on 9/11/12.  He then seems to have taken drugs (which I believe most likely involved cocaine).  Hillary Clinton either showed up to kill his buzz or she kept calling on the phone over and over again until he answered at 10pm.  I’m sure he hung up on her as fast as he could, because the woman scares him (and no doubt scolds his sorry ass every chance she gets).

From then until the staff was finally able to rouse, dress, and make him presentable enough for the public at 1030am the next day Barack Obama appears to have been out of his mind high on drugs."

To be honest, I'm not totally sure if DuJan, who previously claimed that Obama was a regular in Chicago's gay club scene before becoming president, could possibly be for real. DuJan's post almost reads like a joke — a Swiftian attempt to accuse Obama of the most preposterous thing possible in order to force him to disclose his whereabouts that night. That would explain his offer to "retract" the story if it's proven wrong: 

"I would gladly retract this story if the White House would sufficiently explain Barack Obama’s whereabouts during those missing hours and prove he was not out of his mind on cocaine at the time (or gluttonously engaged in gay sex, as my friend Justine believes)."

But the evidence indicates that he's serious. For one thing, DuJan is just one of a handful of conservative fringe writers who allege that the president uses cocaine, apparently seriously. DuJan isn't a stranger to the conservative blogosphere: he's behind Hillbuzz, self-described as a Democratic convert to the GOP. And judging by the comments on the original piece, along with Chambers's straight post on the story, those who are willing to believe anything to support the Benghazi conspiracy theory will believe this, too. 

       

Meghan McCain Found Out About Her Dad's Syria Trip on Twitter

Senator John McCain secretly crossed the border to meet with Syrian rebels on Monday. The trip was apparently so under wraps that the congressman's own daughter ended up learning about it on Twitter: 

Nothing quite like finding out via twitter that my father secretly snuck into Syria and met with rebel leaders.

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 27, 2013

McCain, according to the Daily Beast story on the trip, stayed in the country for several hours, meeting with rebel leaders from across the county. They asked him for weapons, and they gave the senator information on alleged chemical weapons attacks in the country (information that, as we noted earlier today, seems to be backed up by a Le Monde report on chemical weapons use in the country). He's the most senior U.S. official to visit Syria since conflict began there. U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford also visited the country earlier this month. 

Meghan McCain followed up her shocked tweet with a supportive clarification: 

And that last tweet was meant in love - my father is one of the last remaining badasses around and I am endlessly proud to be his daughter.

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 27, 2013

But the senator's daughter wasn't the only author of a notable tweet about McCain's trip. Here's Senator Lindsey Graham (who, granted, isn't exactly a  political enemy of McCain), being super classy about the whole thing: 

Best wishes to @senjohnmccain in Syria today. If he doesn't make it back calling dibs on his office.

— Lindsey Graham (@GrahamBlog) May 27, 2013

 

       

Uniqlo Joins American Brands in Snubbing Bangladesh Safety Pact

Uniqlo, a Japanese clothing brand owned by Fast Retailing, won't join a legally-binding pact to improve safety conditions in Bangladesh's garment industry, the company announced on Monday. Uniqlo is probably best-known in New York, where their ads are pretty much everywhere. But the company's decision mirrors that of many well-known American brands, including Walmart, JC Penny, Sears, and the Gap. 

As we've explained before, the agreement requires retail companies to finance and support some basic safety and labor rights overhauls for the world's second largest exporter of garments. The pact has been around for years, but it was only after the disastrous factory collapse in Bangladesh, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 people, that enough companies signed on to give it any weight. It's designed to put pressure on factory owners, who were literally getting away with murder in the country thanks to a cozy relationship with Bangladesh's government. 

Most of the 30 companies who've signed on to the agreement — including Uniqlo competitor H&M — are European. So Fast Retailing joins the American brands in saying "thanks, but no," pledging to improve conditions in their production factories independently, without a pesky legal agreement getting in the way. Here's the Wall Street Journal, who first reported the news, explaining: 

"We want to first focus on what we can do right now, on our own," said Yukihiro Nitta, head of Fast Retailing's Corporate Social Responsibility group. He said the company also will hire a Japanese company to assess the soundness of its suppliers' factories in Bangladesh. Ultrasound and X-ray technology can be used to check for cracks in concrete and piping and to analyze construction materials used.

Despite apparent litigation fears among many American companies, Abercombie & Fitch and PVC Corp, whose brands include Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, have signed the agreement.