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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//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong-SPLITS EMERGE OVER POST-SADDAM PLAN ("The earliest and most salient rift [in the hawks' coalition] will be the hard-right nationalists, like Rumsfeld and Cheney, and the neo-conservatives," said Charles Kupchan, a foreign-policy analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations and a National Security Council strategist under former president Bill Clinton...The third wing of the coalition, the Christian right, is more likely to side with Rumsfeld and Cheney than with the neo-conservatives, in Kupchan's view, creating a split that "will complicate George Bush's life immensely".)
2//The Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates--1,000 STAGE ANTI-WAR DEMO IN AFGHANISTAN (Around 1,000 Afghans took to the streets in their first ever anti-US protest in eastern Laghman province on Sunday, chanting slogans against coalition forces and demanding an immediate halt to attacks on Iraq, the Afghan Islamic Press reported.)
3//The News International, Pakistan--ITALY, JORDAN EXPEL IRAQI DIPLOMATS (The Italian Foreign Ministry declined to give the reason for the expulsions. In Jordan, state news agency Petra said five Iraqi diplomats were asked to leave because they carried out activities "incompatible to their status of diplomats." In Cairo Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri on Sunday regretted Jordan's expulsion of five Iraqi diplomats and accused Amman of bowing to US pressure. Sabri arrived in Egypt after a day-long stop in Syria, in the first foreign trip by an Iraqi official since the start of the war to end Saddam Hussein's rule. Iraq's top diplomat dared his US counterpart, Colin Powell, to travel likewise. "I challenge their Secretary of State to walk as I do in the streets of Cairo, or even New York," Sabri said.)
4//Interfax, Russia--U.S. AMABASSADOR: GEORGIAN AIRFIELD MAY BE USED IN IRAQ WAR (Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and Miles traveled to Marneuli on Saturday. The use of the Marneuli airfield of the Georgian Defense Ministry is under consideration, Miles noted.)
5//The Independent, UK--ISRAEL STALLS OVER NEW "ROADMAP (With all eyes on the US and British invasion of Iraq, the fact that the "road map" international peace plan has not been released, as President Bush promised it would be by now, has gone largely unnoticed. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has thrown up new objections to the peace plan, calling for all references to an "independent" Palestinian state to be dropped. Some European diplomatic sources are already raising fears that the "two-state solution" promised by George Bush may be in danger.)
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1//Asia
Times Online March 22, 2003
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EC22Ak03.html
SPLITS EMERGE OVER POST-SADDAM PLAN
By Jim Lobe (Inter Press Service)
(SNIP)
The coalition, in the administration centered in the offices of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney, has in essence consisted of three components: hard right-wing or nationalist Republicans such as the Pentagon chief and vice president; neo-conservatives like Perle and most of Rumsfeld's and Cheney's immediate subordinates, such as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz; and the Christian right, whose concerns have been represented most forcefully within the White House itself, particularly among Bush's domestic advisors.
While all three groups have agreed on key tactics - such as marginalizing to the greatest extent possible the influence of Secretary of State Colin Powell and other "realist" veterans of the first Bush administration - and strategy, including ousting Saddam, they have never agreed on what happens once the leader is removed.
"The earliest and most salient rift [in the hawks' coalition] will be the hard-right nationalists, like Rumsfeld and Cheney, and the neo-conservatives," said Charles Kupchan, a foreign-policy analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations and a National Security Council strategist under former president Bill Clinton.
"For the hard right, this is really about getting Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction. Once that's done, they're going to say, 'OK, we've done our job, now let's get the hell out and go home.'"
But the neo-conservatives will want to stay to ensure that the Ba'ath Party is as discredited as the Nazi Party was in Germany, and to use Iraq as a base from which to exert pressure on other presumably hostile regimes, particularly Syria, Iran and even Saudi Arabia.
The third wing of the coalition, the Christian right, is more likely to side with Rumsfeld and Cheney than with the neo-conservatives, in Kupchan's view, creating a split that "will complicate George Bush's life immensely".
In many ways, these rifts were already apparent in Afghanistan, as Rumsfeld and Cheney were dead-set against serious "nation-building" and the extension of peacekeeping forces beyond Kabul for fear it would interfere with US military operations against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.
The result, which the neo-conservatives warned against at the time, is that the authority of the US-installed central government is basically confined to the capital, while most of the countryside remains in the hands of warlords. Washington cannot afford to leave Iraq in a similar state of disorder, say the neo-conservatives.
While Cheney and Rumsfeld have both given lip service to the idea that Washington's occupation of Iraq will be the first step toward the democratization of the entire region, they have also been the most outspoken in affirming that Saddam's self-exile would be one sure way of avoiding war.
This has caused no end of anxiety among the neo-conservatives both within the administration and in the think-tanks - including the AEI - and media outlets such as the Rupert Murdoch-owned Weekly Standard (headquartered in the AEI building), Fox News, and the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal.
The neo-conservatives say that Iraq must not only be "de-Ba'athized", but that Washington must also be accorded the opportunity to show the world, and especially other Muslim states, just how powerful and determined it is both in waging war and reforming their political systems.
(MORE)
2//The Khaleej Times 23 March 2003
http://66.234.3.46/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2003/
March/subcontinent_March551.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=
1,000 STAGE ANTI-WAR DEMO IN AFGHANISTAN
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Around 1,000 Afghans took to the streets in their first ever anti-US protest in eastern Laghman province on Sunday, chanting slogans against coalition forces and demanding an immediate halt to attacks on Iraq, the Afghan Islamic Press reported.
The protesters, shouting Allah-o-Akbar (God is great), gathered in the provincial capital Mehtarlam and torched flags of the United States, Britain and some other members of the US-led coalition, the Pakistan-based private newsagency said quoting witnesses.
(SNIP)
The newsagency quoted an Afghan official as saying that the protesters numbered several thousands.
(MORE)
3//The News International Monday March 24, 2003-- Muharram 20, 1424
A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2003-daily/24-03-2003/main/main6.htm
ITALY, JORDAN EXPEL IRAQI DIPLOMATS
ROME/ AMMAN: Italy and Jordan have expelled Iraqi diplomats here on Sunday. Italy's Foreign Ministry said that it had ordered four Iraqi diplomats to leave the country immediately while Jordan expelled five Iraqi diplomats.
The Italian Foreign Ministry declined to give the reason for the expulsions. In Jordan, state news agency Petra said five Iraqi diplomats were asked to leave because they carried out activities "incompatible to their status of diplomats."
In Cairo Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri on Sunday regretted Jordan's expulsion of five Iraqi diplomats and accused Amman of bowing to US pressure.
"This is something unfortunate. The Jordanian government has bowed before American orders," he told reporters in Cairo, where he will attend an Arab League meeting on Monday. Iraq, he said, "has stood on the side of Jordan for more than 30 years and kept the Jordanian economy alive."
Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher denied the move was tied to Washington's calls for governments worldwide to expel Iraqi representatives amid the US-led war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime.
Sabri arrived in Egypt after a day-long stop in Syria, in the first foreign trip by an Iraqi official since the start of the war to end Saddam Hussein's rule.
Iraq's top diplomat dared his US counterpart, Colin Powell, to travel likewise. "I challenge their Secretary of State to walk as I do in the streets of Cairo, or even New York," Sabri said.
(SNIP)
Although a massive influx of Iraqis fleeing the US-led war was expected in Jordan, not a single refugee had arrived in the kingdom by Sunday.
But a bus carrying Iraqi civilians in the opposite direction was seen crossing the Jordanian border into Iraq. And trucks were moving in and out of Iraq, albeit at a much slower pace than before the US attack began on Thursday.
(MORE)
4//Interfax 22.03.2003 16:56:01
http://www.interfax.ru/one_news_en.html?lang
=EN&tz=0&tz_format=MSK&id_news=5627301
U.S. AMABASSADOR: GEORGIAN AIRFIELD MAY BE USED IN IRAQ WAR
TBILISI. March 22 (Interfax) - U.S. Ambassador to Tbilisi Richard Miles does not rule out that the U.S. Air Force will use the Marneuli airfield in the Iraq war.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and Miles traveled to Marneuli on Saturday. The use of the Marneuli airfield of the Georgian Defense Ministry is under consideration, Miles noted.
Shevardnadze met with Marneuli residents during the ongoing Muslim holiday Novruz Bairam.
(SNIP)
Shevardnadze and Miles went to the local mosque. Miles pointed out that he knew Muslim holidays and customs well because he had served as ambassador to Azerbaijan for several years. Although some Marneuli residents oppose the Iraq war, not all Muslims share this position, he said.
There are Iraq war opponents in the United States too, he said.
5//The Independent 23 March 2003
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=389806
ISRAEL STALLS OVER NEW "ROADMAP"
By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem
The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has scheduled talks with the Israeli Foreign Minister amid mounting concern that international pressure to push forward the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is faltering.
With all eyes on the US and British invasion of Iraq, the fact that the "road map" international peace plan has not been released, as President Bush promised it would be by now, has gone largely unnoticed.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has thrown up new objections to the peace plan, calling for all references to an "independent" Palestinian state to be dropped. Some European diplomatic sources are already raising fears that the "two-state solution" promised by George Bush may be in danger.
The US President pledged just over a week ago that the "road map" would be released when the new Palestinian Prime Minister took office. But Mahmoud Abbas was named as premier several days ago, and yesterday the details were still unreleased. The European Union's envoy has said he hopes it may be released in 10 days while the United Nations is talking about two weeks, but privately, some diplomatic sources are less optimistic.
Mr Powell will hold talks in Washington with the Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalon, but only at the end of the month.
(MORE)
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© 2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm
