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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-- BLAIR APPEALS TO PUBLIC BY CONNECTING IRAQ AND RICIN SEIZED IN LONDON (The Prime Minister made his explicit link between the al-Qa'ida network - which has been blamed for a makeshift poison-producing laboratory discovered in London last month - and President Saddam's regime as he admitted he faced an uphill struggle to win over skeptical voters to military action. He said: "The poison factory in northern Iraq not strictly under the control of Saddam is run by operatives that have people in Baghdad and stuff that they are producing, that includes ricin and other poisons, we believe is being dispersed around the world.)
2//TurkishPress.com, USA--TRAIN LIKE ''ARSENAL'' DEPARTS FOR BORDER; ''IT IS BENEFICIAL TO US IF WE ACT WITH AMERICA'' ; TALABANI PROVOKES AGAIN (news briefs)
3//Mail & Guardian, South Africa--SA SENDS AZIZ PAHAD TO IRAQ (South African President Thabo Mbeki has directed his deputy minister of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad, to leave for Iraq on Friday. "It is our historical duty, as the country that voluntarily dismantled its nuclear capacity, to get involved and get Iraqi disarmament without resorting to war," Pahad said earlier this week.... ANC representative Smuts Ngonyama said desperation was forcing the United States to "conjure up some fabrication" as justification for war, Business Day newspaper reported on Thursday.)
4//Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran--BLAIR: REGULAR TALKS
WITH TEHRAN IN COMING WEEKS VERY VITAL (Blair met Kharrazi at
Downing Street for 30 minutes of talks which focused on the Middle
East developments and ties with Tehran as a signal that the British
premier was prepared to differ with the US over Iran relations
and that he attached importance to the Islamic Republic's position
in the prevailing crisis.)
5//The Moscow Times, Russia--'NEW ERA OF FRIENDSHIP' WITH PAKISTAN
(Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday wrapped up
a three-day visit that was more symbolic than substantive,
saying that Islamabad and Moscow had left behind the Cold War
animosity that once separated them... Russia and Pakistan did
not finalize any concrete deals to boost their meager trade
figures, but outlined several areas of cooperation, Musharraf
said...Another area was oil and gas development. Pakistan invited
natural gas giant Gazprom to have first dibs in the privatization
of Pakistan's oil and gas companies, Interfax reported.)
* * *
1//The
Independent 07 February 2003
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=376143
BLAIR APPEALS TO PUBLIC BY CONNECTING IRAQ AND RICIN SEIZED
IN LONDON
By Ben Russell and Nigel Morris
Britain believes the deadly poison ricin is being manufactured in Iraq and sent around the world, Tony Blair said yesterday as he made a televised appeal for public support of the Government's stance against Saddam Hussein.
The Prime Minister made his explicit link between the al-Qa'ida network - which has been blamed for a makeshift poison-producing laboratory discovered in London last month - and President Saddam's regime as he admitted he faced an uphill struggle to win over sceptical voters to military action. He said: "The poison factory in northern Iraq not strictly under the control of Saddam is run by operatives that have people in Baghdad and stuff that they are producing, that includes ricin and other poisons, we believe is being dispersed around the world. "I'm not sitting here and saying that is why we are taking action against Saddam. It isn't, but it would not be correct to say there is no evidence linking al-Qa'ida and Iraq."
In a tense 50-minute televised debate on Iraq, Mr Blair acknowledged that the public would not back military action without a second resolution from the United Nations Security Council. The Prime Minister told the BBC2 Newsnight special: "I think if there were a second UN resolution then I think people would be behind me. I think if there's not then there's a lot of persuading to do."
But, shrugging off accusations that he was the "poodle" of President Bush, Mr Blair insisted he would not commit British forces to war unless he was convinced it was right.
(MORE)
2//TurkishPress.com Thursday, February 06, 2003
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=8937
Press Scan
SABAH (LIBERAL)
TRAIN LIKE ''ARSENAL'' DEPARTS FOR BORDER
While military build-up on the border continues ahead of any possible United States-Iraq war, a train carrying troops to the border departed from the Arifiye station in Sakarya province in Marmara region. The train is carrying tanks, military ambulances, armored personnel carriers, light armored vehicles, artillery and three railway cars of soldiers. People who see this train described it as ''train like arsenal''. Meanwhile, dispatch of tanks from the Tank Factory in Arifiye region in Sakarya continues. Meanwhile, another train which departed from northwestern province of Tekirdag carried military equipment to southeastern province of Gaziantep yesterday.
CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
''IT IS BENEFICIAL TO US IF WE ACT WITH AMERICA''
Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said that their hopes about peace were dashed, adding, ''don't blame us if something goes wrong.'' Stressing that Turkey could not say 'I am out', Gul said, ''we believe that our national interests necessitate our acting with the United States.'' Announcing that U.S. Treasury Department Undersecretary John Taylor would come to Ankara today, Gul said that the NATO would send Patriot missiles to Turkey. Gul noted that the U.S. administration would form an ''authoritarian'' regime in Iraq at first stage.
TALABANI PROVOKES AGAIN
Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani claimed that if Turkey intervened in Northern Iraq, also Iran would intervene in the region. He said that Kurds would not enter Mousul-Kirkuk. ''An ethnic federation can't work in Iraq,'' Talabani said. He said the best solution to KADEK issues would be a general amnesty by Turkey for KADEK members.
3//Mail & Guardian 06 February 2003 13:04
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=10849&t=1
SA SENDS AZIZ PAHAD TO IRAQ
Pretoria
South Africa on Thursday urged the United States to forward its report on Iraq to UN weapons inspectors in the country, and said it would send a senior government official to Baghdad in a bid to avert war.
"The government expresses its hope that this as well as any other information will be handed over to the UN weapons inspectors to facilitate their ongoing work in Iraq," foreign ministry representative Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement.
(SNIP)
ANC representative Smuts Ngonyama said desperation was forcing the United States to "conjure up some fabrication" as justification for war, Business Day newspaper reported on Thursday.
"We should all refuse to be hoodwinked into believing this so-called new evidence. All peace-loving South Africans need to say they refuse to be hoodwinked into this unprecedented violent morass against the people of Iraq," Ngonyama said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has directed his deputy minister of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad, to leave for Iraq on Friday. "It is our historical duty, as the country that voluntarily dismantled its nuclear capacity, to get involved and get Iraqi disarmament without resorting to war," Pahad said earlier this week.
(SNIP)
Mbeki held a six-hour meeting with British Prime Minister Tony last week to voice his concern about Britain's staunch support for a potential US-led war on Iraq.
Shortly before Powell's submission, former South African President Nelson Mandela reiterated that the United Nations should be left to resolve the matter.
"(UN weapons inspection chief) Hans Blix and (head of the UN's nuclear watchdog) Mohammed el-Baradei are men of integrity, and we want them to be respected. We are going to listen to them alone. We are not going to listen to the United States of America," Mandela said at his Johannesburg home.
"What I'm condemning is that two countries should go out of the United Nations and have their own separate programme which actually undermines the United Nations."
Last week, the 84-year-old statesman said the sole reason for a possible US-led attack on Iraq would be to gain control of its oil resources, adding that US President George Bush "can't think properly." - Sapa-AFP
4//Islamic Republic News Agency (Iran) February 7, 2003
http://www.irna.com/en/tnews/030207015207.etn00.shtml
BLAIR: REGULAR TALKS WITH TEHRAN IN COMING WEEKS VERY VITAL
London, Feb 7, IRNA -- With the world bracing for a showdown between the US and Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi here Thursday that regular exchange of views between Tehran and London in the coming weeks was very vital.
Blair met Kharrazi at Downing Street for 30 minutes of talks which focused on the Middle East developments and ties with Tehran as a signal that the British premier was prepared to differ with the US over Iran relations and that he attached importance to the Islamic Republic's position in the prevailing crisis.
(SNIP)
Kharrazi announced Iran's readiness to discuss with Europe, including Britain, a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis. "Iran has seen harm from Saddam's government more than any other country, but it is opposed to any military attack to change the regime in Iraq," he said.
"It is up to the Iraqi people to determine their own destiny and establish democracy in their country," Kharrazi said as he called for a full disarmament of the Iraqi regime and its submission to UN arms inspectors. "Iraq has the responsibility to effectively cooperate with arms inspectors in order to remove any pretext for a (US) adventure," he added.
5//The Moscow Times Friday, Feb. 7, 2003. Page 1
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/02/07/002.html
'NEW ERA OF FRIENDSHIP' WITH PAKISTAN
By Natalia Yefimova, Staff Writer
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday wrapped up a three-day visit that was more symbolic than substantive, saying that Islamabad and Moscow had left behind the Cold War animosity that once separated them.
(SNIP)
The mutual mistrust between the two nations goes back as far as the Soviet Union's 1979-89 war with Afghanistan, in which Islamabad supported the mujahedin fighting against Moscow.
Today, Russia is a major arms supplier and staunch supporter of Pakistan's nuclear rival India, and has made it clear that closer ties with Islamabad cannot come at the expense of Moscow's relations with New Delhi -- which accounts for more than $1billion in trade turnover, as compared to a paltry $83 million in Russian-Pakistani trade.
(SNIP)
Diplomatic staff familiar with the presidents' meetings said the two leaders had hit it off. Musharraf said he and Putin spent 5 1/2 hours together Wednesday, almost half of that time one-on-one. He added with a smile that they had spoken three languages: Russian, English and "body language."
(SNIP)
Musharraf downplayed U.S. allegations of ties between Iraq and al-Qaida, saying Pakistan did not have any evidence or intelligence supporting that claim and was opposed to military action against Baghdad.
Russia and Pakistan did not finalize any concrete deals to boost their meager trade figures, but outlined several areas of cooperation, Musharraf said.
One such field was metallurgy. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding giving Russian companies priority in a project to upgrade a major steelworks in Karachi built with Soviet assistance.
Another area was oil and gas development. Pakistan invited natural gas giant Gazprom to have first dibs in the privatization of Pakistan's oil and gas companies, Interfax reported.
(MORE)
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© 2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
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