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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//Turkish
Daily News, Turkey--TURCOMANS SEEKING A US TYPE PROVINCIAL STRUCTURE
IN IRAQ (New representative of the Iraqi
Turcoman Front in Turkey Ahmet Muratli said Turcomans are in favor
of a provincial structure in Iraq like in the U.S. which would guarantee
a province to Turcomans including Mosul, Kirkuk and Salahaddin. "We
are not against federation, but we have concerns that federation
may turn into a confederation that may pave the way to the disintegration
of Iraq," said Muratli in an exclusive interview with the Turkish
Daily News (TDN).)
2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--PRESSURE COOKER ON A STEADY FLAME (The
fact that 70 percent of Saudis are under the age of 21; that we are
breeding like rabbits despite our financial slump; that we are still
dependent on oil and have not found ways to diversify our economy
in the past 50 years - none of it is being properly addressed. We
are like a pressure cooker that has been placed on a steady flame.)
3//The Moscow Times, Russia--LUKOIL SAYS IT WILL SUE IF IT LOSES WEST QURNA (LUKoil said Tuesday it would block Iraq's huge West Qurna oil field development for many years if any U.S. or British firm decided to challenge its leading role in the project..."Nobody can develop this field without us in the next eight years. If somebody decides to squeeze LUKoil out, we are going to appeal in the Geneva arbitration court, which will immediately arrest this field," Fedun said.)
4//The
Dawn, Pakistan--MILITARY SALES TO CONTINUE: US (The United States
said on Monday that military sales and economic assistance
to Pakistan would continue despite recent sanctions. "The sanctions
are only specific to KRL, which does not buy anything from the United
States," a State Department official told Dawn... Commenting
on media reports that Pakistan had purchased missiles from North
Korea as late as last month, the official said he could not verify "the
truth in such reports." The sanctions, he said, were "not
over transactions in March.")
5//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--CHINA GETS TOUGHER WITH NORTH
KOREA (China's newfound interest in urging Pyongyang to go to the
multilateral negotiating table reflects its growing security concerns
about possible US recklessness in handling the North Korean nuclear
crisis, and alarm over military resurgence from neighboring Japan.)
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1//Turkish
Daily News 8 April 2003
http://www.turkishdailynews.com/FrTDN/latest/for.htm#f11
TURCOMANS SEEKING A US TYPE PROVINCIAL STRUCTURE IN IRAQ
Murat Unlu
New representative of the Iraqi Turcoman Front in Turkey Ahmet Muratli said Turcomans are in favor of a provincial structure in Iraq like in the U.S. which would guarantee a province to Turcomans including Mosul, Kirkuk and Salahaddin.
"We are not against federation, but we have concerns that federation may turn into a confederation that may pave the way to the disintegration of Iraq," said Muratli in an exclusive interview with the Turkish Daily News (TDN).
Muratli also unfolded the Turcomans' draft proposal for the future structure of Iraq that foresees a state like in the U.S. Turcomans' proposal which would be voiced officially after the war is foreseeing seven provinces in Iraq including three in the northern part. This proposal also foresees the representation of provinces in the central government.
"We say that Kirkuk, Mosul and Salahaddin should be a province in Iraq. This province may also be a Turcoman and Arab federation," stated Muratli, adding, "Turcomans are in favor of the territorial integrity of Iraq."
Aiming to establish an enclave for themselves in the new Iraq, like the Kurdish groups in the northern part, Turcomans and Arabs seemed to try to make their proposals to be discussed after the war.
(SNIP)
Asked on the U.N.'s possible role in Iraq, Muratli said, "The U.N should intervene in Iraq, there is no need to capture Saddam Hussein to put an end to this war. The war should end after the seizure of Baghdad. The U.S.'s presence in Iraq should be temporary. After the establishment of the system, the U.S. should leave Iraq."
2//Arab News Wednesday, April 09, 2003 / 7 Safar 1424
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=24959
Arab News Features
PRESSURE COOKER ON A STEADY FLAME
Raid Qusti
Do we have domestic problems? You bet. Our per capita income has dropped from over $28,000 in the early 1980s - similar to what it was in the United States - to $7,000 now, the equivalent to Mexico. This has made ours the fastest-shrinking economy in the world.
(SNIP)
Even though wire agencies and Western journalists continue to refer to our country as "oil-rich", each time they mention it, the truth is that it is no longer appropriate. In fact, the majority of Saudi families are those who make a great effort at the end of every month to pay for the car installments, the rent, the electricity bill, the landline plus mobile phone bills, groceries, school supplies, the maid's salary, and other expenses. And with the huge deficit in the government's budget year after year and our population explosion, Saudi society is slowly starting to split in two categories: Rich and poor.
(SNIP)
Our high unemployment rate - which we still have not officially declared - as well as other factors such as frustration and poverty - could be behind an increase in crime. Bank robberies, car theft, rape, and murder are examples, not to mention the rise in domestic violence and ill-treatment of maids in Saudi houses. Such a phenomenon was alien to our society just over a decade ago but has now become commonplace news in our daily papers.
Is any research being done? Have sociologists in our universities been consulted? Have officials called for a nationwide debate? Of course not.
The fact that 70 percent of Saudis are under the age of 21; that we are breeding like rabbits despite our financial slump; that we are still dependent on oil and have not found ways to diversify our economy in the past 50 years - none of it is being properly addressed.
We are like a pressure cooker that has been placed on a steady flame.
3//The Moscow Times Wednesday, Apr. 9, 2003. Page 5
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/04/09/042.html
LUKOIL SAYS IT WILL SUE IF IT LOSES WEST QURNA
Reuters
LUKoil said Tuesday it would block Iraq's huge West Qurna oil field development for many years if any U.S. or British firm decided to challenge its leading role in the project.
LUKoil vice president Leonid Fedun told Kommersant business daily that the firm would sue any new contender for the field for at least $20 billion and ask international courts to arrest tankers with Iraqi crude oil.
"Nobody can develop this field without us in the next eight years. If somebody decides to squeeze LUKoil out, we are going to appeal in the Geneva arbitration court, which will immediately arrest this field," Fedun said.
"This type of trial can last for about six or eight years. ... We are going to arrest tankers with crude produced in Iraq using the Geneva court," he added.
Oil analysts have said that ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips of the United States are likely to compete with Anglo-Dutch Shell Group, Britain's BP and TotalFinaElf of France for major production contracts should postwar Iraq privatize its oil industry.
(SNIP)
Fedun said LUKoil still believed the field belonged to his firm: "From the legal point of view, it is still our field."
Fedun also said he did not expect Iraq's oil output to skyrocket under a new government but to stay at around 2.7 million to 3.5 million barrels per day.
"A huge output hike in Iraq within the next few years is simply impossible from the technical point of view. Out of all the big Iraqi fields only West Qurna is ready to be launched shortly," he said.
4//The Dawn 08 April 2003 Tuesday 05 Safar 1424
http://www.dawn.com/2003/04/08/top3.htm
MILITARY SALES TO CONTINUE: US
By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, April 7: The United States said on Monday that military sales and economic assistance to Pakistan would continue despite recent sanctions.
"The sanctions are only specific to KRL, which does not buy anything from the United States," a State Department official told Dawn.
On March 24, the United States imposed two-year sanctions on the Khan Research Laboratory (KRL) and the Changgwang Sinyong Corp of North Korea. These restrictions debar the companies from any trade or technological exchanges with governmental and non-governmental entities in the United States. The sanctions were imposed as a penalty for what the US officials said a clandestine missile-supply relationship between the two firms.
"The sanctions will not affect defence sales which take place in support of operation enduring freedom," said the official who cannot be identified because of State Department rules governing such interviews. "The US economic assistance will also continue," he added.
Commenting on media reports that Pakistan had purchased missiles from North Korea as late as last month, the official said he could not verify "the truth in such reports." The sanctions, he said, were "not over transactions in March."
(MORE)
5//Asia Times Online April 9, 2003
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/ED09Ad01.html
CHINA GETS TOUGHER WITH NORTH KOREA
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - China's newfound interest in urging Pyongyang to go to the multilateral negotiating table reflects its growing security concerns about possible US recklessness in handling the North Korean nuclear crisis, and alarm over military resurgence from neighboring Japan.
China has obviously grown irritated with its longtime communist ally.
This year, North Korea became the first country to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It kicked out the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and shut down United Nations (UN) surveillance cameras at its Yongbyon nuclear facilities, which are capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.
If North Korea declares itself a nuclear power - it admitted to having a secret nuclear weapons enrichment program in October - China is worried that threat in the region could then lead to a military arms race, possibly resulting in the nuclearization of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, all of which are allies of the United States. Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province.
Already, Beijing is fretting over growing public debate in Japan on how to upgrade its self-defense forces to suit the country's pacifist constitution.
China is also genuinely concerned that after the bombs stop falling in Baghdad, Washington will turn its attention toward North Korea, which US President George W Bush has included in his "axis of evil" along with Iraq and Iran.
(SNIP)
A series of developments over the past few weeks indicate that Beijing is trying to build pressure on Pyongyang to stop the escalation of nuclear tension on the Korean Peninsula and seriously engage in dialogue.
According to diplomatic sources, Chinese officials, including Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, have been holding meetings with North Korean counterparts, trying to persuade Pyongyang in earnest to stop provoking the United States.
(MORE)
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© 2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm
