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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//TurkishPress.com, USA--BAYKAL: SHOW HAS COME TO AN END ON THE IRAQ ISSUE (Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said on Tuesday, ''Turkey could not display the necessary sensitivity about the Iraq issue and wasted its time. The show has come to an end now. We cannot expend any more efforts to deceive ourselves and others.''...'We can remain a friend of the U.S. without saying 'yes' to everything which the U.S. wants. There is a limit of acceptable things and everybody should know that line,'' he said.)
2//Turkish Daily News, Turkey--EXPULSIONS ALONG IRAQI-KURDISH BORDER PROMPT SPECULATION SADDAM IS CREATING A NORTHERN BUFFER ZONE (brief story)
3//Al Bawaba, Unidentified ME Country--NASRALLAH: HIZBULLAH CONSIDERS NEW MEANS OF FIGHTING (Following a series of Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace in recent days, Nasrallah indicated that "this fact prompts the party to consider new means of fighting because we cannot stand still in the face of such aggression."...Some Israeli newspapers have published information, based on official reports, accusing Hizbullah of having chemical weapons, Nasrallah said. The allegations are "a bunch of lies," he added...)
4//Hindustan Times, India--MAHESH BHATT REFUSES BREAKFAST MEETING WITH BUSH (Noted film director Mahesh Bhatt has refused an invitation to attend the 51st National Prayer Breakfast meeting with US President George Bush in Washington on Thursday. "It occurs to me, on second thought, that participating in such sessions with the President is to condone Born-again-Christian Bush's terrorism of demonic proportions around the globe...," Bhatt said in a letter to a friend in Washington, copies of which were released here.)
5//The Moscow Times, Russia-OPINION: TV BECOMING THE OPIATE OF THE BOSSES (The goal of all this seems to have been to demonstrate the president's tight grip on the television industry. Instead, we saw what an influx of the tsar's appointed servants can do to the command structure of a major corporation...However here's the rub: If you keep the pliable Senkevich in charge, you'll have no trouble controlling the picture, but you'll lose control of the audience entirely. From a means of controlling the populace, television will become the opiate of the leadership. And this is the third moral of the story... Information is like pain. No one likes to feel pain. But you have to contend with two incontrovertible facts. If you modify the nervous system so as to feel no pain, you risk discovering too late that your backside is on fire. And, you can't tune the nervous system using an enema, even if the enema is administered by an experienced proctologist.)
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1//TurkishPress.com Anadolu Agency: Tuesday, February 04, 2003
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=8909
BAYKAL: SHOW HAS COME TO AN END ON THE IRAQ ISSUE
ANKARA - Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said on Tuesday, ''Turkey could not display the necessary sensitivity about the Iraq issue and wasted its time. The show has come to an end now. We cannot expend any more efforts to deceive ourselves and others.''
Speaking at the CHP group meeting, Baykal said, ''a possible U.S.-led military operation against Iraq will play havoc with Iraq's territorial integrity. At the same time, such an operation will seriously jeopardize recent stability and peace in Turkey, which have been settled after a 15-year period of pains. Any official cannot assure us that weapons to be sent to Northern Iraq will remain in the region. These are not the issues which can be solved with intentions. These are dynamics of the history. We need peace. We need to prevent a possible war. We should develop our policy to this end.''
(SNIP)
Baykal said, ''you cannot camouflage your mistake you made during your meeting with Bush at the White House in Washington by your meeting with foreign ministers of neighboring Arab countries. It is possible to perceive these as good willed efforts. Maybe, this is the situation according to members of the ruling in a certain extent. I can sincerely accept that some assume such an understanding. But, when administering a country, you cannot say that I knock on that door with good will. Mistakes have been made. Parliament will be called on to make a decision about cooperation with the United States in coming days. What an important development!''
Parliament was facing a historical week, Baykal noted. He said that this week's initiatives of parliament would deeply affect future of Turkey and the region.
(SNIP)
'We can remain a friend of the U.S. without saying 'yes' to everything which the U.S. wants. There is a limit of acceptable things and everybody should know that line,'' he said.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Gul yesterday, they evaluated the developments in Iraq and that Gul informed him about the issue, Baykal said, noting that the government is at a critical decision-taking stage and that the motion about the decision can be submitted to the parliament on Thursday.
(MORE)
2/Turkish Daily News February 5, 2003
http://www.turkishdailynews.com/#f27
EXPULSIONS ALONG IRAQI-KURDISH BORDER PROMPT SPECULATION SADDAM
IS
CREATING A NORTHERN BUFFER ZONE
The sudden expulsion of families from a 30-kilometer (20 mile) border strip between the autonomous Kurdish north and the rest of Iraq has led to speculation that President Saddam Hussein is clearing a buffer zone to defend against a U.S. invasion from the north.
3//Al Bawaba February 3, 2003
ARTICLE
LINK
NASRALLAH: HIZBULLAH CONSIDERS NEW MEANS OF FIGHTING
Hizbullah will fight and resist any Israeli plan of aggression against Lebanon, Syria, or the Palestinian people because the resistance fighters are more ready than ever, the Lebanese party's chief said Sunday.
(SNIP)
Following a series of Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace in recent days, Nasrallah indicated that "this fact prompts the party to consider new means of fighting because we cannot stand still in the face of such aggression." The flights are aimed at intimidating the country's resistance fighters, he added, but will fail because the resistance has previously suffered more destructive onslaughts and has managed to remain powerful.
Some Israeli newspapers have published information, based on official reports, accusing Hizbullah of having chemical weapons, Nasrallah said. The allegations are "a bunch of lies," he added, reminding his audience of previous Israeli accusations that claimed Hizbullah had obtained longrange missiles that could hit the center of the Jewish state.
(MORE)
4//Hindustan Times New Dehli, Tuesday, February 4, 2003 | Updated:
19:02 IST
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_155232,0008.htm
MAHESH BHATT REFUSES BREAKFAST MEETING WITH BUSH
Press Trust of India
Noted film director Mahesh Bhatt has refused an invitation to attend the 51st National Prayer Breakfast meeting with US President George Bush in Washington on Thursday.
"It occurs to me, on second thought, that participating in such sessions with the President is to condone Born-again-Christian Bush's terrorism of demonic proportions around the globe...," Bhatt said in a letter to a friend in Washington, copies of which were released here.
America's "bullying ways" must come to an end, said Bhatt, noting "America has entered one of its worst periods of historical madness."
"Bush and his junta have succeeded in deflecting America's anger from Bin Laden to Saddam Hussein. It is perhaps one of the most clever eye-wash exercises that the government has achieved to date with the help of their awesome propaganda machinery," he wrote in the letter.
(MORE)
5//The Moscow Times Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003. Page 10
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/02/05/007.html
OPINION: TV BECOMING THE OPIATE OF THE BOSSES
By Yulia Latynina
Yulia Latynina is author and host of "Yest Mneniye" on
TVS.
(SNIP)
Two years ago we watched as businessmen very efficiently took over NTV. They attacked from so many directions at once that the network's executives didn't have time to react. They paid off the NTV security guards and drove a wedge between the journalists.
This year we have seen what happens when bureaucrats try to do a businessman's job. How hard could it be to replace the general director of a company in which you own the controlling stake? Harder than it looks, judging by all the egg on their faces. This is the first moral of the story.
The goal of all this seems to have been to demonstrate the president's tight grip on the television industry. Instead, we saw what an influx of the tsar's appointed servants can do to the command structure of a major corporation.
The problem is that incompetent management of a TV network becomes immediately obvious to its viewers, whereas incompetent management of a corporation only shows up at the end of the year on the balance sheet. It seems to me that Gazprom's 137 billion ruble budget deficit last year is directly related to Miller's habit of not rushing into decisions. This is the second moral of the story.
Those in power view television as an enterprise producing something called "control of the populace." But this is a subtle form of control: It uses information, not the lash. NTV's former general director, Boris Jordan, maintained a balance between pliability and independence, allowing him to control his staff while his staff influenced the viewers.
Then they appointed the totally pliable Senkevich to replace Jordan, but he is unable to control his staff. Although maybe it's no big deal. He could just fire Tatyana Mitkova and Savik Shuster and hire a bunch of journalists from Turkmenistan -- or even better, from Zaire, where during the reign of the unforgettable Mobutu Sese Seko the broadcasting day opened with a picture of the sky from which the figure of the soaring president gradually emerged with a radiant light like a halo above his head.
However here's the rub: If you keep the pliable Senkevich in charge, you'll have no trouble controlling the picture, but you'll lose control of the audience entirely. From a means of controlling the populace, television will become the opiate of the leadership. And this is the third moral of the story.
Information is like pain. No one likes to feel pain. But you have to contend with two incontrovertible facts. If you modify the nervous system so as to feel no pain, you risk discovering too late that your backside is on fire. And, you can't tune the nervous system using an enema, even if the enema is administered by an experienced proctologist.
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© 2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
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