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World Media Watch
by Gloria R. Lalumia
BUZZFLASH NOTE: Once again, these are the views and perspectives of the individual papers, not of BuzzFlash or Gloria. They offer BuzzFlash readers a way of reading what other nations are saying about the crisis, whether we like it or not. We repeat: This is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.
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1//The Independent, UK-- ARGUMENT: DON'T BE FOOLED: THIS OPPOSITION TO WAR IS MORE THAN JUST ANTI-AMERICANISM (The warmth of the Clinton reception in Blackpool shows that the party has not, largely, reverted to the anti-Americanism that disfigured much of it in the 1980s... It is not any longer the US per se that so much of the Labour Party distrusts. It's George Bush and, even more so, some of those around him, like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.)
2/TurkishPress.com, USA--HOPES FOR PEACE (As our government and General Staff voiced objections to keeping more than 100,000 foreign soldiers on Turkish territory, the US started to revise its northern front plans. The final decision will likely emerge during US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers's contacts in Ankara this weekend...Meanwhile, there is a series of questions calling for answers...)
3/Albawaba.com, Middle East (Unidentified country)--OPPOSITION: SADDAM FORCES FAMILIES OF TOP IRAQI OFFICIALS TO STAY IN SHELTERS IN ORDER TO PREVENT COUP D'ETAT (The opposition coordinator ruled out that the Iraqi regime aimed at protecting these families. She conveyed they were most likely held "as hostages by the regime, which has lost confidence in everybody and wanted to ensure that they would not revolt against it." ... Qubad Talanani, the Washington spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two ruling Kurdish parties, was recently quoted as saying there was "a good chance" that a coup would take place once Saddam's downfall was imminent.)
4/Ha'aretz, Israel--U.S. BOOSTS MILITARY CONTACTS WITH ISRAEL (The United States is raising the level of its military coordination with Israel in advance of its expected war against Iraq. Next week, General Charles Wald, deputy commander of the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), will visit here...Wald took over as deputy head of USEUCOM just last month, and his trip to Israel is being billed as a get-acquainted visit. Israeli sources, however, predict the talks will focus on the expected war with Iraq. "Our strategic coordination with the Americans is at a much higher level than it was during the 1991 Gulf War," a senior security source said.)
5/The Moscow Times, Russia--MILITARY SPENDING BOOSTED BY 33% (The government boosted 2003 military spending by a third Thursday, approving $3.25 billion for arms procurement and the development of new equipment.)
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1/The
Independent 16 January 2003
http://argument.independent.co.uk/regular_columnists/
donald_macintyre/story.jsp?story=369632
ARGUMENT:
DON'T BE FOOLED: THIS OPPOSITION TO WAR IS MORE THAN JUST ANTI-AMERICANISM
It's not the United States that so much of the Labour Party distrusts. It's George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld
By Donald Macintyre
When, at the last Labour Party conference, Bill Clinton was rehearsing the cod delegate's opening that Alastair Campbell had written for his speech - "Clinton, Arkansas CLP" - he turned in understandable puzzlement to Campbell and asked: "Are you sure they're going to laugh at this?" Well, it sounded better than it reads. So they did, heartily. And from then on, despite making a speech that was stronger on style and delivery than substance, he could not put a foot wrong.
The conference loved it. That's worth remembering in any attempt to analyse a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) yesterday, which remained seriously divided despite what even serial rebel MPs such as Bob Marshall-Andrews acknowledged was a "bravura" performance by the Prime Minister in defence of his line in Iraq. (Mr Marshall-Andrews's point was that, given the eloquence and unvarnished, rather un-New Labour passion with which Mr Blair made his case, the fact that - in his estimate - about half the PLP remained opposed showed how serious Mr Blair's problem was. But we'll return to that.)
The warmth of the Clinton reception in Blackpool shows that the party has not, largely, reverted to the anti-Americanism that disfigured much of it in the 1980s. The idea, for example, that Robin Cook, a prominent cabinet doubter, is any longer anti-American, is absurd. If he had been, he would not have enjoyed, as Foreign Secretary, such a close relationship with Madeleine Albright. The party has moved a long way since even the 1990s, when a frequent complaint within the party about New Labour's style was that it reflected the "Clintonisation" of British politics. In probable contrast to the Tory leadership, almost the entire PLP wants to see Hans Blix and not the US administration decide whether the Iraqis are in material breach of UN resolution 1441. It is not any longer the US per se that so much of the Labour Party distrusts. It's George Bush and, even more so, some of those around him, like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.
(MORE)
2/TurkishPress.com BYEGM: Thursday, January 16, 2003
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=8574
HOPES FOR PEACE
MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak comments on the possibility of a peaceful resolution in Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
(SNIP)
Although such UN Security Council members as Russia and China know that the US policy of having its way in the Middle East through Iraq is a declaration of global sovereignty dependent on petroleum, their rejection remains on the level of rhetoric alone, as they seem to lack the military power to back it up. Turkey is among those suffering the most. The US is hoping to send its land forces into Baghdad by opening a corridor through Turkey into northern Iraq.
The number of US soldiers requested for this unprecedented mission, initially 130,000, has since dropped to 80,000 and finally 15,000. As our government and General Staff voiced objections to keeping more than 100,000 foreign soldiers on Turkish territory, the US started to revise its northern front plans. The final decision will likely emerge during US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers's contacts in Ankara this weekend. On the one hand Washington's hopes are dimming, but on the other it's interesting that its inspections extended as far as Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul. Meanwhile, there is a series of questions calling for answers: If the government is really seeking peace, what was contained in its recent message to Saddam Hussein? Did it propose a 'solution without Saddam' to dissuade the US from war? Is Saddam afraid of being tried before an international court? Is the Iraqi leader being provided with guarantees that he could live in another country without fear of trial on condition that he paves the way for the democratization of his country and creates new balances that include Shiites and Kurds in Iraq's administration? Maybe there's still hope for peace to prevail in Iraq.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION
3/Albawaba.com January 16, 2003
http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3
?action=story&sid=239482&lang=e&dir=
OPPOSITION: SADDAM FORCES FAMILIES OF TOP IRAQI OFFICIALS TO STAY IN
SHELTERS IN ORDER TO PREVENT COUP D'ETAT
Albawaba.com special
Amman
A London based Iraqi opposition group said Thursday that the Iraqi regime has recently moved families of a number of senior Iraqi officials and security officers to recently reopened shelters around Baghdad.
Iraq Prospects Organization's events director said in a telephone call with Albawaba.com that sources which have left Iraq in the past few days confirmed to her that "families of senior officials and security officers were moved to shelters in Baghdad."
According to her own resources the organization coordinator, Ebtihal Al Husseini, pointed out that shelters in the Al Mansour and Al A'miriyyah areas have been reopened to receive these families. "These moves were taken to help the regime monitor the movements and whereabouts of these officials," claimed Al Husseini, citing her sources as saying. She indicated that the shelters were put under tight security measures.
The opposition coordinator ruled out that the Iraqi regime aimed at protecting these families. She conveyed they were most likely held "as hostages by the regime, which has lost confidence in everybody and wanted to ensure that they would not revolt against it."
In recent weeks, newspapers throughout the world said a palace coup would be welcomed in most Western capitals.
Qubad Talanani, the Washington spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two ruling Kurdish parties, was recently quoted as saying there was "a good chance" that a coup would take place once Saddam's downfall was imminent.
(MORE)
4/Ha'aretz Friday, January 17, 2003 Shvat 14, 5763 Israel Time: 04:02
(GMT+2)
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo
=252970&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0
U.S. BOOSTS MILITARY CONTACTS WITH ISRAEL
By Aluf Benn
The United States is raising the level of its military coordination with Israel in advance of its expected war against Iraq.
Next week, General Charles Wald, deputy commander of the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), will visit here. Wald, who is in charge of ties with the Israel Defense Forces, will meet with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and senior IDF officers. He will apparently also visit the American soldiers who came to Israel with the Patriot missile batteries.
Wald took over as deputy head of USEUCOM just last month, and his trip to Israel is being billed as a get-acquainted visit. Israeli sources, however, predict the talks will focus on the expected war with Iraq. "Our strategic coordination with the Americans is at a much higher level than it was during the 1991 Gulf War," a senior security source said.
Wald, a fighter pilot who saw action in both Vietnam and Iraq, is also considered the acting commander of USEUCOM, which has responsibility for Israel. In the U.S. military hierarchy, the official commander of USEUCOM is also the head of NATO's military forces and thus spends most of his time running the NATO command in Brussels.
Wald is familiar with the Middle East having served as commander of Central Command's air forces in the late 1990s. Central Command is responsible for the Gulf states.
Wald's visit will follow hard on the heels of that of Gen. Charles Simpson, who left the country on Wednesday. Simpson, the director of air and space operations at USEUCOM, has been appointed chief liaison officer with Israel in the event of a war with Iraq...
(MORE)
5/The Moscow Times Friday, Jan. 17, 2003. Page 1
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/01/17/001.html
MILITARY SPENDING BOOSTED BY 33%
By Lyuba Pronina, Staff Writer
The government boosted 2003 military spending by a third Thursday, approving $3.25 billion for arms procurement and the development of new equipment.
While the windfall promises to provide the military with better hardware and the defense industry with more orders, a government proposal to divert arms export proceeds toward the development of next-generation weapons could end up undermining the industry, defense analysts said.
Some 60 percent of the 109.8 billion rubles earmarked for the military this year will go for buying weapons and repairs, Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Vladislav Putilin told reporters after the government meeting.
The rest will be spent on researching and developing more than 3,000 projects, he said. More than 200 new weapons units are expected to be completed and ready for military use.
The military budget includes a 30 percent boost in funds for the procurement of equipment for anti-terrorist operations, Putilin said.
The military will buy 11,000 apartments, while financing for food, uniforms and fuel will be kept at minimum levels.
(MORE)
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© 2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
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