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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//KurdishMedia.com, UK--PRO ANKARA TURKMEN PARTY PROVOKE THE SITUATION IN KIRKUK, THE KURDISTAN'S CAPITAL (The pro-Ankara Turkmen party, Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) has started giving arms and weapons to local Turkmens in Kirkuk in order to provoke the atmosphere in the region. According to AFP, the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Kirkuk has put a banner in one of its quarters saying Kirkuk is a nail in our enemy's eye" and the place has an air of an entrenched camp.)
2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--EDITORIAL: ANKARA'S MISCALCULATION (Ever since Enver Pasha threw in the lot of the Ottoman Empire with the Central Powers in 1914, Turkey has a record of acting against its own best interests in foreign affairs. Now it seems that Turkey's miscalculated policy on the Iraq invasion, may have brought about the very thing that the Turks had been seeking to avoid - the de facto creation of a Kurdish state.)
3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--THE DANGERS IN SADDAM'S 'BLACK FILES' (Over the past weeks, various Mukhabarat (Iraqi secret police) offices have been hit by US artillery fire. However, US officials have repeatedly reassured that this does not mean that the archives in these locations are destroyed. But the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US Special Forces are probably not the only ones on the ground hunting for the archives. Other countries may have their own people on the job as well.)
4//The
Jordan Times, Jordan--IRAQ WAR ROCKS MIDDLE EAST ECONOMIES, WORLD
BANK WARNS (The Iraq war has rocked Middle East economies,
pushing Jordan to the brink of recession, and post-conflict uncertainty
may now linger for years, the World Bank warned Friday... Instability
was unlikely to be resolved rapidly, possibly slowing down reforms
needed to help the Middle East lock its economy more closely with
the rest of the world, he told a news conference. "That is really
what is worrisome," Nabli said, speaking in the run-up to weekend
meetings of the 184-nation World Bank and International Monetary
Fund here.)
5//The Dawn. Pakistan--INDIA HELPED LIBYA IN MISSILE PLAN: US (An
exchange of diplomatic snubs between India and the United States
appeared to have intensified on Saturday, as New Delhi accused
Washington of misleading the world over a weapons hunt in Iraq,
and the CIA naming India in a Libyan missile programme...PTI said
the report, released on Friday, says the suspension of UN sanctions
in 1999 allowed Libya to expand its efforts to obtain ballistic
missile-related equipment, materials, technology and expertise
from foreign sources...On India's part, Defence Minister George
Fernandes continued to cock a snook at Washington, telling reporters
in Kolkota that Washington's claims about Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) had been proved wrong, because US forces had
found no such weapons.)
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1//KurdishMedia.com Updated: 13/04/2003 21:43:49 GMT
http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=3720
PRO ANKARA TURKMEN PARTY PROVOKE THE SITUATION IN KIRKUK, THE KURDISTAN'S CAPITAL
By Bryar Mariwani
London (KurdishMedia.com) 12 April 2003: The pro-Ankara Turkmen party, Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) has started giving arms and weapons to local Turkmens in Kirkuk in order to provoke the atmosphere in the region.
According to AFP, the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Kirkuk has put a banner in one of its quarters saying Kirkuk is a nail in our enemy's eye" and the place has an air of an entrenched camp.
Inside the ITF gang quarter the Iraqi Turkmen Fronts members are calling men to take up arms.
According to AFP, Kemal Yaycili an ITF gang leader is in favour of his fellow citizens taking up arms and for the entry of Turkish troops into Iraq.
(MORE)
2//Arab News Monday, April 14, 2003 / 12 Safar 1424
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=25141
EDITORIAL: ANKARA'S MISCALCULATION
13 April 2003
Ever since Enver Pasha threw in the lot of the Ottoman Empire with the Central Powers in 1914, Turkey has a record of acting against its own best interests in foreign affairs. Now it seems that Turkey's miscalculated policy on the Iraq invasion, may have brought about the very thing that the Turks had been seeking to avoid - the de facto creation of a Kurdish state.
(SNIP)
The key drivers of this policy were clearly the Turkish military, not the moderate Justice and Development (AK) Party government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Nowhere in the world is the military mind notable for its subtlety and Turkey is no exception. Ankara set a high and nonnegotiable price - with the result that the Americans gave up and walked away.
Turkey thus loses on every count. No one will praise its government for making a moral stand against the invasion, because it is crystal clear that if its demands had been met, it would have supported the invasion enthusiastically. Washington is not going to forget the massive disruption to its military plans caused by Turkey's generals, the guys Americans always thought were their NATO buddies, who walked the same walk, talked the same talk and fired the same bullets. Military and civilian aid packages just aren't going to happen now. Washington will surely whisper in the ears of the World Bank and the IMF to ensure that they give Turkey an altogether harder time from now on.
But perhaps the most major loss has been the opportunity for handling the perceived threat from Kurds in northern Iraq which was done in such a knuckle-headed way. Consider this: The AK Party government has recognized, in part at least, the rights and culture of Turkey's ethnic Kurds. Ankara could have capitalized upon that good will in the most extraordinary and internationally impressive way.
(MORE)
3//Asia Times Online April 12, 2003
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED12Ak04.html
THE DANGERS IN SADDAM'S 'BLACK FILES'
By Ian Urbina
Ian Urbina is an editor at the Middle East Report and is based at
the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), a foreign
policy think tank.
When it comes to file-keeping, the Baathists of Iraq were often referred to as the "Prussians of the Middle East". Saddam Hussein's officials kept impeccable and detailed records on virtually all realms of government and society. But as looting grips Baghdad and throngs of civilians rush government buildings to exact retribution in whatever small way they can, the fate of these records is an open question. In post-war Iraq, these documents will prove to be of inestimable value for determining guilt and meting out justice. But it will all depend on whether the prized materials have already been destroyed or disappeared.
(SNIP)
At least since late March, before the bombing began, US Special Forces have been in Baghdad discretely hunting for key files. US Intelligence sources in Washington also have reported, off the record, that they have received assistance from members within the Iraqi intelligence community.
The hope with these files is that they will not simply provide solid evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction programs but also a full picture of his alleged ties to international terrorist groups. If a truth and reconciliation legal apparatus is to be constituted in the post-war context, these files will also prove necessary for the sake of detailing the full scope of Saddam's repressive state machine.
Additionally, US officials are looking for proof that Russian and French firms may have skirted the UN weapons embargo of Iraq over the years, possibly by shipping materiel to third party countries, ultimately destined for Saddam.
Over the past weeks, various Mukhabarat (Iraqi secret police) offices have been hit by US artillery fire. However, US officials have repeatedly reassured that this does not mean that the archives in these locations are destroyed. But the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US Special Forces are probably not the only ones on the ground hunting for the archives. Other countries may have their own people on the job as well. Last week, a Russian diplomatic convoy came under US fire as it evacuated Baghdad. One passenger sustained serious wounds.
Within Russia there is speculation that the passengers in the convoy were possibly carrying sensitive records which Moscow wants to keep out of American hands. The Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta broke the story, reporting that there was a high-stakes race going on between the CIA and the SVR (Russian foreign intelligence). "One was taking out classified Iraqi archives, and the other was trying to hamper it by force." The newspaper claimed that Russian intelligence agents had been sent to Iraq several weeks ago to begin collecting the materials which could be used in protecting Russian interests in post-war Iraq. Surely, Moscow is also worried about any records that implicate them in Saddam's wrongdoings.
(MORE)
4//The Jordan Times Sunday, April 13, 2003
http://www.jordantimes.com/Sun/economy/economy1.htm
IRAQ WAR ROCKS MIDDLE EAST ECONOMIES, WORLD BANK WARNS
Nabli: Jordan is the most impacted
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Iraq war has rocked Middle East economies,
pushing Jordan to the brink of recession, and post-conflict uncertainty
may now linger for years, the World Bank warned Friday.
Tourism collapsed, oil prices shot up, trade in oil and non-oil products with Iraq halted and foreign direct investment dwindled, said the bank's chief economist for the region, Mustafa Nabli.
"When you look at the region, one of the features is the uncertainty and the volatility. Clearly what is happening now is another manifestation of this volatility," Nabli said.
Instability was unlikely to be resolved rapidly, possibly slowing down reforms needed to help the Middle East lock its economy more closely with the rest of the world, he told a news conference.
"That is really what is worrisome," Nabli said, speaking in the run-up to weekend meetings of the 184-nation World Bank and International Monetary Fund here.
Middle East countries affected by the war fell into three broad categories, he explained: Those hurt by the conflict, those that benefit from higher oil prices, and those that will encounter as-yet unknown repercussions.
Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia were the worst casualties.
(SNIP)
A second group of countries receiving World Bank aid - Iran, Algeria
and Yemen - would benefit from the war.
"We expect the overall impact of the recent events to be globally positive for these countries because the oil prices are higher than what they would have been without the conflict," the World Bank economist said.
In the third group of countries, Lebanon and Syria would suffer from a decline in trade with Iraq, and uncertainty in the region, but they also would benefit somewhat from higher oil prices, he said.
Jean-Louis Sarbib, World Bank vice president for the Middle East and North Africa region, said the immediate economic impact of wars was rarely positive, disrupting institutions, networks and infrastructure.
(SNIP)
"The situation is too unclear for us to say which way the chips are going to fall."
5//The Dawn 13 April 2003 Sunday 10 Safar 1424
http://www.dawn.com/2003/04/13/top10.htm
INDIA HELPED LIBYA IN MISSILE PLAN: US
By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, April 12: An exchange of diplomatic snubs between India and the United States appeared to have intensified on Saturday, as New Delhi accused Washington of misleading the world over a weapons hunt in Iraq , and the CIA naming India in a Libyan missile programme.
The Press Trust of India quoted a newly publicised CIA report in Washington as alleging that India had helped Libya with its missile programme.
Serbia, Iran, North Korea and China are the other nations, according to the CIA's semi-annual report to Congress on the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and advanced conventional weapons, which covers the first half of 2002.
PTI said the report, released on Friday, says the suspension of UN sanctions in 1999 allowed Libya to expand its efforts to obtain ballistic missile-related equipment, materials, technology and expertise from foreign sources.
(SNIP)
On other weapons-related developments in Libya, the CIA said that it continued to develop its nuclear infrastructure. Tripoli and Moscow have been talking on cooperation at the Tajura nuclear research centre and a potential power reactor deal.
On chemical and biological weapons, Tripoli still appeared to be working towards an offensive chemical warfare capability and eventual indigenous production, the CIA said.
Evidence suggested that Libya also is seeking to acquire the capability to develop and produce BW (biological warfare) agents, it said.
On India's part, Defence Minister George Fernandes continued to cock a snook at Washington, telling reporters in Kolkota that Washington's claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) had been proved wrong, because US forces had found no such weapons.
(SNIP)
Fernandes said the United States started the war by talking about weapons of mass destruction and then changed its objective to a regime change in Baghdad.
"It was determined to do what it has done in Iraq and the rest was brought in as supporting reasons," said Fernandes, who has been known to be close to German socialist leaders.
Fernandes however said that India's dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir and the US action in Iraq could not be compared.
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© 2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm
