WORLD MEDIA WATCH

Summaries are excerpted from the source articles; the featured article follows the summary section. 

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
RACE FOR SANCTIONS ON IRAN SPEEDS UP [1]

The next Iran report by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is due in early March, and even though Tehran has fully cooperated and there is no evidence of military diversion from its peaceful nuclear activities, the United Nations is about to impose severe new sanctions on Iran, deemed "punitive" by a US government spokesperson.  According to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, the proposed third round of sanctions is really about "escaping answers to world public opinion" because the US and its allies "are worried about the agency report." Mottaki has hinted at compromise and Iran's willingness to show greater flexibility in nuclear negotiations, by calling on the US to "couch whatever it has to say in the Five plus One framework". This refers to the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany, which have been debating Iran's case.  The next IAEA report will raise the question of Tehran's program in public opinion, that is, on what basis and on the proof of what diversions are new sanctions resolutions against Iran proposed?  This is a question asked by a growing number of Third World diplomats. Case in point, South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad has cited "good progress" in the process of negotiation between Iran and the UN's atomic agency (the IAEA), adding that "the world community should support this process". Pahad and a number of diplomats from other nations, who are members of the Non-Aligned Movement, have warned the UN Security Council's actions could end up harming "successful" Iran-IAEA cooperation.                

AN EXPANDED EXCERPT OF THIS FEATURED ARTICLE FOLLOWS THE SUMMARIES 

2//Gulfnews.com, United Arab Emirates
DEFUSING MILLION-WOMAN SOCIAL TIMEBOMB IN IRAQ [2]

Every week, letters from Iraqi widows spill across Samira Al Mousawi's desk. One wrote to ask whether she should spend what scant money she gets on her infant or on school books for her older son.  The member of parliament and head of a parliamentary women's committee is at her wits' end as to how to answer the desperate pleas from what could be as many as one to two million women.  Violence has fallen sharply across Iraq, but the number of women left without breadwinners is mounting, and with only a fraction of them receiving financial support from the government, officials fear the consequences could be explosive.  "What shall the widow do, deviate from what is right?" Mousawi said. "Terrorist groups exploit the destitute."  No-one can give an exact figure for the number of widows left by the reign of Saddam Hussain, the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War and in bloodshed since the 2003 invasion.  Mousawi, basing her estimate on a Ministry of Planning report from mid-2007, put the number of divorces and widows close to 1 million, of a total of 8.5 million women aged between 15 and 80.  Narmeen Othman, Iraq's acting minister for women's affairs, put the number as high as 2 million in a country of 27 million people.  Whatever their number, both parliamentarians say the women who have lost male family members since the US-led invasion are increasingly lacking the means to provide for themselves.  As conservative interpretations of Islam gain ground in Iraq, the opportunities for solitary women to play a role in the economy are shrinking. Many, especially those in poorer areas, are forced to stay at home by conservative Muslim families, rather than go out to work to support themselves.  "The number [of widows] is increasing day after day, it is becoming a time bomb, especially because many of them are still young," Othman said. "They become prisoners at home." Even during Saddam's rule, Mousawi said, widows were paid a monthly salary and given land and a car, which helped to placate many, despite Saddam's brutality. He also rewarded members of the military who married widows. That stopped when he was overthrown. 

3//The Independent, UK
ALLIES SAY BLAIR WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF EU [3]

Tony Blair is warming to the idea of becoming president of Europe, according to friends, even though he would have to give up his clutch of lucrative business appointments.  Mr Blair's allies have previously played down the prospect of the former prime minister taking the new £200,000-a-year post of president of the European Council created under the new EU treaty now going through Parliament. But friends now describe Mr Blair as open-minded and are hinting he would accept the job if EU leaders asked him to do it.  His final decision would also depend on the scope of the job, which has yet to be agreed. Friends believe he would accept a heavy-hitting role as a "Mr Europe" figure but would not want the job if most of his time was to be spent chairing meetings and brokering deals among the EU's 27 member states.  Since leaving Downing Street, Mr Blair has picked up a job with the investment bank JP Morgan reportedly worth £2m a year and is advising Zurich Insurance on its climate change initiative - for an estimated £500,000 a year. He is also said to be earning more than £500,000 a month from speaking engagements. But one close associate said: "Despite the impression given by recent headlines, in his heart he remains committed to public service."  Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, is pressing hard for Mr Blair to become a heavyweight president of Europe. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, may come under domestic pressure to back a rival candidate but is thought likely to rally behind M. Sarkozy. Mr Blair enjoys strong support at the European Commission in Brussels.  Gordon Brown has said Mr Blair would make an "excellent president" but some Brown allies are worried the appointment would allow the media to revive the "Brown-Blair split" stories that marked Mr Blair's 10 years in power. But one diplomat from another EU country said: "Mr Brown might not be in a position to stop it. If France and Germany agree, it will almost certainly happen."  Several obstacles remain. Some EU countries may oppose Mr Blair because of his unwavering support for George Bush over Iraq.  

4//The Guardian, UK
CHINA SUFFERS FOOD SHORTAGES AS SNOW CONTINUES [4]

China is facing food shortages and price rises as blizzards destroy crops and shut down transport.

If the bad weather persists, China's economic losses could run into billions of yuan, threatening the country's growth this year. The national weather forecaster said the freezing conditions would continue for the next 10 days.  The heaviest snowfall for 50 years has severely hit central and southern China, which provide most of the country's winter fruit and vegetables.  "The impact of the snow disaster on winter crop production is extremely serious," said Chen Xiwen, the deputy director of the Communist party's financial group. "The impact on fresh vegetables and on fruit in some places has been catastrophic."  Chen said the overall effect on agriculture would depend on how long the storms lasted and whether they moved into northern China, which produces most of the country's wheat.  The civil affairs ministry said 22bn yuan (£1.5bn) had been lost since the storms started on January 10, bringing factory production to a standstill in some areas.  Wholesalers in Beijing said only 20% of the usual vegetable supply was reaching the city, and prices in some parts of the country had more than doubled.  Millions of travellers stranded at crowded railway stations in east China's Zhejiang province were receiving counselling from psychologists, state media told Reuters today. 

5//RIA Novosti (Russian Inews & Information Agency), Russia
KOSOSVO DECLARATION COULD IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW NIKOLIC WIN IN SERBIA [5]

If Serbian presidential contender Tomislav Nikolic wins the runoff on February 3, Kosovo is likely to immediately declare its independence, a Russian analyst said on Thursday.  Serbian Radical Party leader Nikolic, widely branded an ultra-nationalist, is currently level in the opinion polls with pro-European incumbent Boris Tadic ahead of the presidential runoff.  "Nikolic's victory will mean independence for Kosovo and its recognition by almost all members of the European Union. A victory for Tadic will only put off this moment to mid-March," said Pyotr Iskanderov, a senior expert at the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  "It is obvious that Kosovo's independence is far more important to the United States and the European Union than the elections in Serbia. Kosovo's independence can be acknowledged after the polls," he said. 

Iskanderov said the main problem was not who would win the elections but how the Kosovo situation would develop.  He warned that Kosovo's independence could create a new center of instability in the south Balkans as ethnic Albanians living in Macedonia, southern Serbia and Montenegro could start discussions on their status. ... Kosovo has been a UN protectorate ever since NATO's bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a bloody conflict between Albanians and Serb forces in the region in 1999.  

FEATURED ARTICLE 

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong    Jan 31, 2008 [6]

RACE FOR SANCTIONS ON IRAN SPEEDS UP

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi 

The next Iran report by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is due in early March, and even though Tehran has fully cooperated and there is no evidence of military diversion from its peaceful nuclear activities, the United Nations is about to impose severe new sanctions on Iran, deemed "punitive" by a US government spokesperson. 

According to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, the proposed third round of sanctions is really about "escaping answers to world public opinion" because the US and its allies "are worried about the agency report". Mottaki has hinted at compromise and Iran's willingness to show greater flexibility in nuclear negotiations, by calling on the US to "couch whatever it has to say in the Five plus One framework". This refers to the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany, which have been debating Iran's case. 

The next IAEA report will raise the question of Tehran's program in public opinion, that is, on what basis and on the proof of what diversions are new sanctions resolutions against Iran proposed? 

This is a question asked by a growing number of Third World diplomats. Case in point, South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad has cited "good progress" in the process of negotiation between Iran and the UN's atomic agency (the IAEA), adding that "the world community should support this process". Pahad and a number of diplomats from other nations, who are members of the Non-Aligned Movement, have warned the UN Security Council's actions could end up harming "successful" Iran-IAEA cooperation. 

Concerning the latter, the IAEA's director general, Mohammad ElBaradei, visited Iran from January 11 to 12 and reached an agreement with Tehran on the timeline for implementation of all the remaining verification issues specified in the August 2007 "workplan" between the IAEA and Iran. 

"Iran has nothing to hide and therefore has no fear to answer remaining questions ... to pave the ground for the IAEA to give a transparent report about Iran's program," Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy director of Iran's atomic energy organization, has stated. 

Irrespective of both the decent progress in Iran-IAEA cooperation and the recent intelligence report, compiled by 16 US spy agencies, that concludes Iran is not proliferating nuclear weapons, President George W Bush used his final state of the union address on Tuesday to level the traditional charge of proliferation, as well as Iran's troublemaking in Iraq, against Tehran, calling on Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment program. (The latter is unlikely to happen. Iran has even indicated it could join a proposed international bank for enriched uranium that would provide countries with safe fuel for nuclear power stations - but as a supplier.) 

As if intent on obviating any signs of compromise on Iran's part, the US has escalated its demands, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice going on record about the need for Iran "to give up its nuclear fuel program". This surpasses the UN's demands, which go as far as requesting a mere "suspension" as a confidence-building measure, ie, inherently as a time-specific, temporary step. 

A third resolution ahead of the IAEA report?

Between now and early March, that is, when the IAEA's governing board meets in Vienna to deliberate on ElBaradei's country report on Iran, we will likely witness a stiff struggle at the UN over the exact content, wording and timing of the third sanctions resolution.  

(MORE) 

Copyright 2008, Gloria R. Lalumia

WORLD MEDIA WATCH 

Technorati Tags: Gloria R. Lalumia [12] Iran [13] Sanctions [14] Iraq [15] Blair [16] EU [17] Sarkozy [18] China [19] Food Shortage [20] Kosovo [21] Serbia [22] Independence [23]