IHT Quick Read: Feb. 25

NEWS An influx of Syrians into Lebanon is heightening sectarian tensions in a nation haunted by refugee crises and loath to act. Anne Barnard reports from Qaa, Lebanon.

The Obama administration is escalating demands that China halt the state-sponsored computer hack attacks that Beijing insists it is not mounting. David E. Sanger reports from Washington.

The Afghan government barred elite American forces from operating in a strategic province adjoining Kabul on Sunday, citing complaints that Afghans working for American Special Operations forces had tortured and killed villagers in the area. Matthew Rosenberg reports from Kabul.

Park Geun-hye, the daughter of a late military strongman, was sworn in Monday as South Korea’s first female president, warning North Korea that the primary victim of its pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles will be the isolated country itself. Choe Sang-Hun reports from Seoul.

Italians began voting on Sunday in a two-day general election that is being closely watched by Italy’s European partners as well as investors, who share the concern that unless a clear winner emerges from the voting, a new period of political and market instability lies ahead. Elisabetta Povoledo reports from Rome.

Only a few weeks after the French Constitutional Council rejected one new tax idea â€" a 75 percent levy on annual incomes of more than 1 million euros ($1.3 million) â€" another began percolating through the halls of the French finance ministry here: a proposal to tax the collection of personal data on the Internet. Eric Pfanner reports from Paris.

Privacy advocates are calling on Microsoft to disclose government requests for information of Skype users’ encrypted, peer-to-peer conversations, and to ensure that the service is still hack-proof. Kevin J. O’Brien reports from Barcelona.

EDUCATION Hundreds of new universities and academic departments have opened in Japan, despite the country’s declining youth population. Miki Tanikawa reports from Tokyo.

FASHION Dolce & Gabbana’s collection in Milan was divided between tiny gilded crowns and sensible suits in herringbone tweed. Suzy Menkes reports from Milan.

ARTS The film “Argo” won best picture at the Academy Awards Sunday night, while Daniel Day-Lewis won a best actor award for his role in “Lincoln,” and Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for best actr! ess for â! €œSilver Linings Playbook.” Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply report from Los Angeles.

A show at the Centre Pompidou in Paris breathes new life into the reputation of the designer Eileen Gray. Alice Rawsthorn reviews from Paris.

SPORTS Swansea City defeated Bradford, 5-0, to win the English League Cup on Sunday, the first major trophy in the team’s 100-year history. Rob Hughes reports from London.

Hawkish Chinese General Joins Social Media Fray

BEIJING â€" A hawkish and well-connected Chinese major general, Luo Yuan, who last year reportedly recommended turning islands in the East China Sea claimed by both China and Japan into a shooting range, has debuted in China’s enormously popular world of microblogging with the announcement that “we must fight for our beloved fatherland, beloved party, beloved army and beloved people!”

Mr. Luo also wrote in what appeared to be his first post Friday that he had received “permission” (Chinese media reported that it came from the People’s Liberation Army) to set up the account. In the past, members of the military have been barred from opining online, reports said (though some do, including an air force colonel, Dai Xu, who has a microblog).

Some person or persons, possibly high up i the security or propaganda system, seem to have had a change of heart about that general policy, and the man who reportedly said last September that China should cooperate with Taiwan’s military in a “people’s war at sea” â€" blasting the disputed Diaoyu, or Senkaku, islands “Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,” while the Taiwanese could do it “Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday” â€" is back, and characteristically vocal.

General Luo is believed to be close to the incoming Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and his father, Luo Qingchang, was an early member of the Communist Party and a senior official and intelligence officer, according to Chinese and overseas Web sites. In his post, he wrote that microblogging is “a very important public opinion front. If you don’t speak out, others will, even impersonating your voice to make a din.”

Quo! ting the 20th-century writer Lu Xun (but without attribution), he wrote: “We will no longer be silent. We either die in the silence, we explode in the silence,” a well-known call to speak out. Many conservatives and nationalists in China believe that the microblogs have been largely captured by “liberal” voices and General Luo has said elsewhere that he wanted to offer another voice.

The general, whose debut messages have garnered more than 10,000 “likes” (in reality thumbs-up signs) so far, and whose initial statement was forwarded nearly 40,000 times over the first three days, gives his views on issues such as North Korea’s recent nuclear test; he said “the North Korea problem is the product of the cold war problem, the main players are the United States and North Korea.”

On Japan: “The hyped radar-locking incident was a Japanese fabrication,” he wrote, referring to Japanese claims that Chinese naval vessels last month locked their weapons radar onto a Japanese destroyer and helicopter.

General Luo dismissed that, saying the distance between the two vessels at the time of the incident, which he said was about three kilometers (just under two miles), proved it wasn’t true. He said that “those with a little military common sense all know that for firing a missile this is a dead corner,” as it was too close.

The general’s debut has drawn mixed reviews. While the high number of “likes” may indicate support, and certainly his views are popular among some in China, others took the opportunity to challenge him â€" suggesting that the “very important front” of microblogging might not be an easy one for a hawkish general to occupy.

This post, which called the general on his combat record, was particularly challenging: The writer, who used the name @dongtuqin huohuo, asserted that shortly before the outbreak of war between China and Vietna! m in earl! y 1979, Luo Yuan, who had been stationed in Yunnan Province near the border region, was transferred to Beijing.

“Firstly, why were you suddenly sent back to Beijing just before the outbreak of the Sino-Vietnamese war Secondly, during the Sino-Vietnamese war, countless fighters shed their blood in the struggle, where were you Was it that your life was more precious than that of the ordinary sons of the people” the person wrote.

Nigeria Abuzz Over Who Paid for Beyoncé Concert

Beyoncé performed in Nigeria in 2006

Did the Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, divert $1 million from an anti-poverty program to finance a trip to Lagos by American pop stars Beyoncé Knowles and her husband Jay-Z

Documents unearthed by the intrepid journalists at Sahara Reporters and released recently seem to indicate that he did.

And they have sparked an angry debate among Nigerians.

The gist of the matter is that in 2006 as governor of the oil-producing Bayelsa state, Mr. Jonathan robbed the very poor in his state to help pay the very rich Americans, to burnish Nigeria’s image abroad.

There is no indication that Byoncé and Jay Z, who thrilled crowds in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, knew that their visit could have been paid for, in part, by funds designated to ending abject poverty.

But when she performed this rendition of Nigeria’s national anthem, photos of Bayelsa state appeared on the screens behind her. You can see her thrill the audience above and here, singing live as it were.

This news came on the heels of reality star Kim Kardashian flying into Lagos for a Valentine’s Day event she “co-hosted” for a reported $500,000.

Her entire contribution was a brief appearance and a two-word greeting to the well-heeled crowd: “Hey Naija,” slang for “Hey, Nigeria. She took off immediately after. Folks are wondering where the money to fund her appearance came from.

While many Nigerians are outraged, Mr. Jonathan’s administration has remained! mum on the issue. But Nigerian press accounts revealed this month that in recent years, the administration paid up to $60,000 to contract a American public relations and lobbying powerhouse.

As president, Mr. Jonathan has worked hard to try to burnish Nigeria’s image abroad, even as millions of Nigerians remain mired in poverty in his home state and the country at large.

Sahara Reporters points out that “according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 47 percent of Bayelsans live in poverty. The World Bank says that per capita gross domestic product in the Niger Delta is significantly below the country’s average. According to the state’s own 2005 development strategy, 80 percent of rural communities have no access to safe drinking water.”

Mr. Jonathan’s efforts â€" even his successful ones â€" are not always impressive. The January interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour from Davos, below and here, wasnot widely seen as one of his finer moments.

The Beyoncé concert was organized by Ndukka Obaigbena, a publisher whose efforts to wrangle money from government entities for his jamborees, as well as his high-profile media portrayals abroad have been called into question.

More importantly, the image of Nigeria as a haven for poverty and corruption on the continent â€" and terrorists â€" doesn’t appear to be on the verge of changing soon, as Britain sends bombers to Nigeria and the Obama administration sends drones next door.

But maybe through film, and soft power Nigeria can be rebranded. On Friday, on the eve of the Academy Awards, for the first time a Nigerian film from the country’s Nollywood industry was released in U.S. movie theaters.

Two Precedents Republicans Could Look To

In my Letter From Washington this week, I discuss Karl Rove’s efforts to minimize the role of radical elements in the Republican Party. William F. Buckley and former President Bill Clinton did something similar, to very different groups, decades ago.

In the early 1960s, Mr. Buckley, the influential editor of the National Review, a conservative magazine, decided that the extreme views of the John Birch Society threatened a burgeoning conservative movement. Robert Welch, who ran the Birchers, had charged that President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II, was a “dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.”

If groups such as the John Birch Society weren’t isolated, Mr. Buckley warned, potential conservative voters “will pass by crackpot alley” and align with the other side politically.

In 1992, Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, after heated internal debate, decided to indirectly take on Jesse Jackson, a dominant influence in the Democratic Party and a controversial figure for many voters. The political director of Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign told the Clinton camp that Mr. Mondale had met with Mr. Jackson more than 70 times to thrash out disagreements.

Mr. Clinton, the 1992 presumptive Democratic nominee, was speaking to Mr. Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition. He used the occasion to criticize a rapper named Sister Souljah who a month earlier had talked about killing white people.

Mr. Jackson was furious. But that marked the beginning of a decline in his influence in the Democratic Party. The Clinton campaign thought the move wa! s well-received by a lot of voters.