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through a caucus system. Cheaper, and restricted solely tomembers of the party. Let it be that way, or let the public pay the price for get- ting in on the game. — Roger Carlstrom, Yakima Fort Lawton housing No threat topark Re: “Yes to affordable hous- ing, but not inDiscovery Park’s backyard” [March 7, Opinion]: The redevelopment plan for Fort Lawtonnear Discov- ery Park inMagnolia is an important step towardmak- ing Seattlemore affordable for its residents. Neal Starkman argues that he is not aNIMBYbut pro- ceeds to use theNIMBYplay- book. He states that he sup- ports the idea of building affordable housing inhis neighborhood, just not this project—whichhas already had extensive public input, an environmental impact study and the potential to come to fruition. Second, he argues that therewill be an increase in noise, traffic and pollution that will harmthe park, al- ready surrounded by hun- dreds of homes. No one com- plains about the traffic and pollution they cause. But these newhomeswould be toomuch. He is saying that an increase innoise, traffic and pollution isOK for other neighborhoods—but not his. I loveDiscovery Park. This planwill not threaten it, but it will helpmore Seattleites afford to live in our city. — Kelly Husted, Seattle A newMarshall Plan Agood idea Howgratifying to read student CelesteAmadon’s My Take that shows her knowl-edge of theU.S. Marshall Plan reparations to Europe after WorldWar II [“Wall won’t makeU.S. safe, but newMar-shall Plan could,”March2, Opinion]. She applies that meaningful application and its generous concept to help mend the sad situation in Central America. She notes its very cause is the drug trade supplying its illegal product to satisfy the huge appetite for drugs in our country. Her suggestion showswe have “an opportunity to dem- onstrate greatness.” This 15-year-old brings notice to something the newsmedia neglects: The cause of the dilemma in immigration. — Marjorie N. Murphy, Edmonds Early primaries Parties shouldpay Re: “Presidential primary meetsmarketing scheme” [March6, NWWednesday]: In order to participate in it, voterswould be required to declare their party prefer- ence, thus creating, according to formerWashingtonSecre- tary of StateRalphMunro, “the biggestmailing list and fundraising list opportunity of the year for the parties, all paid for at taxpayer expense.” Sowhat? Ifmembers of the publicwant to “play” in a primary, then let thempay for it, not just with tax dollars but with a declaration of party affiliation. More to the point, howev- er:Why should the public pay for a primary? Let theDemo- crats pay for it; let theRepub- licans pay for it. They are both private entities, and their selection of candidates is essentially a privatematter. Theway they’ve done that heretofore (especially the Democrats) is through a caucus system. Cheaper, and restricted solely tomembers of the party. Let it be that way, or let the public pay the price for get- ting in on the game. — Roger Carlstrom, Yakima Letters, not exceeding 200 words, must include your full name, address and telephone numbers for verification. Email: letters@seattletimes.com; mail: Letters Editor, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. Read more letters online at seattletimes.com / opinion ON THE WEB More Horsey: See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at st.news /davidhorsey A newMarshall Plan Agood idea Howgratifying to read student CelesteAmadon’sMy Take that shows her knowl- edge of theU.S.Marshall Plan reparations to Europe after WorldWar II [“Wall won’t makeU.S. safe, but newMar- shall Plan could,”March 2, Opinion]. She applies that meaningful application and its generous concept to help mend the sad situation in Central America. She notes its very cause is the drug trade supplying its illegal product to satisfy the huge appetite for drugs in our country. Her suggestion showswe have “an opportunity to dem- onstrate greatness.” This 15-year-old brings notice to something the newsmedia neglects: The cause of the dilemma in immigration. — Marjorie N. Murphy, Edmonds Early primaries Parties shouldpay Re: “Presidential primary meetsmarketing scheme” [March6, NWWednesday]: In order to participate in it, voterswould be required to declare their party prefer- ence, thus creating, according to formerWashingtonSecre- tary of StateRalphMunro, “the biggestmailing list and fundraising list opportunity of the year for the parties, all paid for at taxpayer expense.” Sowhat? Ifmembers of the publicwant to “play” in a primary, then let thempay for it, not just with tax dollars but with a declaration of party affiliation. More to the point, however: Why should the public pay for a primary? Let theDemocrats pay for it; let theRepublicans pay for it. They are both pri- vate entities, and their selec- tion of candidates is essential- ly a privatematter. Theway they’ve done that heretofore (especially theDemocrats) is NORTHWEST VOICES Trudy Rubin Syndicated columnist Last week’s brief skirmish between nuclear India and Pakistan over a terrorist attack in the Himalayan territory of Kash- mir gave the world the shivers. Tensions have diminished after Islamabad returned an Indian pilot downed on a retaliatory bombing run against an alleged Pakistani terrorist base. Yet the most plausi- ble threat of nuclear weapons use still emanates, not fromNorth Korea or Iran, but from those two contentious South Asian neighbors. And the tensions revolve around their historic dispute over control of the spectacular mountains and valleys of Kashmir. My trip last year to the Indian- controlled portion of Kashmir of- fered insights on the behavior on both sides that keeps the conflict boiling - and on why current U.S. policy toward Pakistan could help prevent an all-out war. Driving through the sharp switchbacks and verdant valleys of Kashmir, on the National Highway to the capital, Srinagar, one comes to the Kargil War Memorial in the shadow of the Tololing hills. Built by the Indian Army, the memorial commemorates the soldiers and officers killed in the 1999 Kargil War, when Pakistani soldiers crossed the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between the two countries - and seized key peaks that gave them control over the highway. The memorial is emotional, with pictures and plaques relating the life stories (in Hindi and English) of heroic officers andmen who scaled and retook the peaks under fire. Families with children file through the exhibit and stroll up a flower- lined walkway to a pink stone mon- ument to the fallen. Yet times have changed since the Kargil war, which was begun by Pakistani military commander Pervez Musharraf. At the time, the Clinton administration intervened to prevent any potential escalation to the use of nuclear weapons and ultimately facilitated a Pakistani pullback. However, the Trump administra- tion has proved far less tolerant than previous Republican andDemocrat- ic administrations toward Pakistani prevarications. The administration has cut or frozen hundreds of mil- lions of dollars of security aid to Islamabad in response to Pakistan’s use of militant Islamist groups as proxies to attack India and the Af- ghan government. It also has en- couraged an international task force to place Pakistan on a global terror- ism-financingwatch list. If the task force blacklists Paki- stan, the door would open to inter- national sanctions that would fur- ther shake the country’s wobbly economy. Such a threat may be why Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, quickly ended the latest Kashmir crisis and vowed to crack down onmilitant groups. Khanmay also realize that provo- cations in Kashmir will no longer impel the United States to come to Pakistan’s rescue. Even close allies like China and Saudi Arabia have indicated that they want Pakistan to act against extremists, which include the Jaish-e-Mohammed group that carried out the attack in Kashmir. “The global constellations have aligned in newways,” said the Hudson Institute’s Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington who has written on the links between his country’s military and Islamist militants. “It is clear that no one wants to take Pakistan’s chestnuts out of the fire so they need to be careful about putting them there.” However, my Kashmir visit also showed the risk of Indian overcon- fidence on Kashmir, which leads to increasing repression against local civilians that alienates a generation of Kashmiri youths. The Indianmilitary presence is heavy visible on Kashmiri roads and in the capital and outlying villages, and roundups of young men are routine. With national elections coming in a month, Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Hindu nationalist party have been beating the war drums to gain political advantage. And with the Trump administra- tion openly courtingModi, in hopes of enlisting (a skeptical) India as a bulwark against China, there is little prospect for reopening negoti- ations with Pakistan over Kashmir. As I saw in Srinigar, those Kash- miris who seek a peaceful resolu- tion for their future do so at risk of their lives. While there, I learned of the murder of Shujaat Bukhari, a brave journalist and editor, who was gunned down in front of the office of his newspaper, Rising Kashmir. Bukhari’s “crime,” it appears, was to have worked behind the scenes to encourage negotiations between Pakistan and India. While that earned him enemies in both coun- tries, a bizarrely botched Indian police “investigation” into his death raises the question of an official Indian hand in his murder. Meantime, the Indian govern- ment is pursuing a court case that would allowHindu nationalists to buy up property in Kashmir. The world, and the Trump ad- ministration, may have little inter- est in Kashmir, but continued Indi- an repression will only feed resis- tance - and homegrown terrorism - among Kashmiri youth. On the other hand, the swift end to the latest crisis and U.S. pressure on Pakistan provide an opportunity to restart talks on Kashmir after the Indian elections - if India is interest- ed. Might some Trump encourage- ment to his friendModi on Kashmir provide a better path to that Nobel Peace prize than his efforts with Kim Jong Un? © 2019, The Philadelphia Inquirer Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial- board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Email: trubin@phillynews.com Could Trump policy help calm Kashmir quarrel? Leonard Pitts Jr. Syndicated columnist Should Fox “News” have a seat at the table? Last week, the Democratic Nation- al Committee, citing a recent story in The New Yorker that painted the network as a propaganda machine for the Republican Party and its lamentable leader, said no. who can’t hold his own against a journalist from the other team should be disqualified from run- ning.” And CNN’s Anderson Coo- per said the decision “seems short- sighted.” But all this hand-wringing is precious, if not downright naive, because this one isn’t even close. In being banned by the DNC, Fox is getting what Fox deserves. And here, let us stipulate two things: The first is that the DNC’s critics are right in calling the party disin- genuous for tying its decision to the critics are also right in point- ing out that Fox does have some talented, tough-minded journal- ists, Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace prominent among them. But those two rights don’t make a wrong. And to pretend the DNC’s disingenuousness and Smith’s journalistic credibility are mitigating factors here is to miss the point. Namely, that Fox does not deserve to be treated as a legitimate news organization because it violates journalistic norms daily, almost hourly. embarrassed a candidate. No, Fox is not — as CNN’s Rick Santorum argued — simply the conservative analog to left-lean- ing MSNBC. How many times has that network’s Rachel Maddow campaigned with a president, as Sean Hannity did in November? The answer is, she hasn’t. You see, MSNBC, for all its liberal tilt, is a news organization. Fox is a propa- ganda machine that pretends to be a news organization when that suits its purposes. Yet these critics are implicitly Post columnist Michael Gerson was 10 years ago when he wrote of Americans as a people undergo- ing “a kind of spiritual secession from one another.” To deny Fox, viewed by millions of mistaken Americans as a journalistic enter- prise, the right to render this pres- tigious service to democracy can only exacerbate that sense of secession. © 2019, The Miami Herald Leonard Pitts Jr.’s column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Email: lpitts@miamiherald.com Fox ‘News’ doesn’t deserve a seat at the table | SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019 2 R D2 OPINION |