Panama is not at the moment living through the most turbulent times the nation has seen, but the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are putting in their appearances. There is no generalized plague, but we keep getting little outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases, and AIDS, the great worldwide pestilence of our times, continues its slow spread in Panama. It might be extreme to call it famine, but half of all Panamanians live in abject poverty, and now we have cases of children dying of malnutrition. Deaths that ought to be avoided or prevented come both quickly and slowly, as law and order and the government's willingness and ability to look after the public welfare are breaking down and the social fabric is starting to unravel.

And then there's the other horseman, war. We're a demilitarized country, but our neighbors in Colombia are escalating their perpetual war and it will affect Panama. The escalation of Colombia's civil war means that we will be seeing more refugees coming across our border.

Sick of the kidnappings, "war taxes," assassinations, sabotage of public utilities and generalized terror, the majority of Colombians have chosen a president who promises to vigorously prosecute the war against the leftist guerrillas. The right-wing paramilitaries, in most ways even more thuggish than the guerrillas, are tightening their alliance with the Colombian government and also getting assistance from several foreign governments.

It's not just a matter of Panamanian authorities taking a lax attitude toward gun running, but most likely a situation in which people at the highest levels of the Moscoso administration are directly involved.

The Moscoso administration's toleration of gun smuggling, its apparent direct participation in the Otterloo arms shipment to the AUC paramilitary and its acquiescence in the use of Panama for US Plan Colombia supply operations put this country squarely on one side of our neighbors' conflict, giving the other side a reason to see us as a target for their wrath.

This is unacceptable, so flagrantly unacceptable to this demilitarized country with a neutral canal as its principal industry that President Moscoso lacks the courage to honestly and forthrightly acknowledge the policy that she's pursuing.

If we don't want to see our country trampled by warring foreign factions, Panama needs to adopt an even-handed negative attitude toward all of Colombia's combatant forces, vigorously suppress all activities that support Colombian violence from Panamanian territory, and offer what assistance we can to the innocent victims who seek refuge with us.

As this editorial was written, the Legislative Assembly had passed a modified version of the Sindicato de Periodistas' proposed law to regulate the press. The president may or may not sign it. If she does, a group of University of Panama journalism students that rightfully complains that it was among the many interested parties who were not consulted in the formulation of this law, says that it will sue.

What the legislature passed is not as obnoxious as the original proposal. Gone are the licensing of journalists, the ban on foreign journalists and the revival of the dictatorship's journalism board.

However, there will be this insulting registry which lets the most undistinguished University of Panama Faculty of Social Communications pass judgment on who is and who isn't a professional. No doubt government bureaucrats will sooner or later use this registry to deny access to information and events to those lacking the stamp of approval from a university that doesn't even have student media.

Moreover, the legislation doesn't deal with the most pressing problems facing Panamanian journalism today.

It doesn't effectively address the bribery of journalists and news media by the government, both in the form of government ad purchasing and under-the-table payments for favorable coverage. While it calls a reporter's acceptance of a bribe unethical, the new law doesn't similar sanction a publisher who takes money, and there is no penalty for those who make the payments.

It doesn't decriminalize libel and slander, or impose penalties on government officials who bring frivolous defamation charges in order to suppress independent reporting or frank discussion of public issues. Nor does it bar the use of summary fines and jail terms for disrespect by certain public officials who want to strike back at their critics.

It doesn't provide any resources to improve the teaching of journalism in Panama. Canal Once will remain a political patronage plum rather than a student-run television station, and Panamanian university students will remain without a newspaper of their own.

This law ought to be vetoed, struck down by the courts or repealed. The legislators who supported it ought to be thrown out of office in the next elections.

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