Cruel to be kind

EVERY year the members of the International Whaling Commission get together
for a showdown to decide the fate of the world’s largest mammal. And every year
the script gets more predictable
(see “Seeking sanctuary”).
Pro-whaling nations press for a
resumption of commercial whaling. Their opponents cry “shame”. Both sides
ritually block each other’s proposals. The “good guys” harrumph over Japan’s
vetoing of a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific. Japan, the pantomime villain
of the piece, fumes at the West, accusing it of sentimentalism in the face of
evidence that whale populations are thriving. Then everyone settles their
mini-bar…