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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 Toronto Star, Canada--IRAQIS OFFERED CANADIAN POLICE, PLANES [NDP Leader Jack Layton said Canada should be working through the United Nations, not the United States. It's good that they're considering some help in Iraq, but let's hope it's in the context of some sort of United Nations involvement," Layton said. That's the big question mark right now. Are we essentially going to play along with the U.S. rebuilding strategy or are we going to work in a multilateral context?"]
2/Turkish Daily News, Turkey--US WON'T WRITE OFF TURKEY BUT...[News that the Americans have started working on plans to phase out their military presence in Turkey and Saudi Arabia as well as talk that the Pentagon is making an extra effort to bar Turkish contractors from even becoming subcontractors in the reconstruction projects in Iraq has fueled speculation that Washington has written off Turkey.]
3//The Daily Star, Lebanon--SAIDI: ARAB WORLD MUST LOOK TO EUROPE [The Middle East will be subjected to US hegemony for coming generations if Arab leaders do not develop and implement a positive action plan for the region, according to Central Bank first vice-governor and former economy minister Nasser Saidi. "The EU is the only credible partner for the Arab world to achieve economic, financial and political reforms," said Saidi at a the seminar, Economic Consequences of the War on Iraq, at the American University for Science and Technology in Beirut on Wednesday..."The negative impact is expected to be higher should the war extend to Syria," Saidi added. "The Middle East is a critical crossroads, a point of conflagration and world instability," said Saidi.]
4/The Moscow Times, Russia--MILITARY ALLIANCE TO ADD MUSCLE [President
Vladimir Putin and his counterparts from Armenia, Belarus and three
Central Asian states agreed Monday to add meat to the bones of the
Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization by appointing
a new chief of the post-Soviet military-political bloc and making
plans to set up a rapid reaction force in Central Asia. The leaders
of the six member nations, which also include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan, picked Russia's former border guard chief Nikolai
Bordyuzha to serve as the organization's secretary general, signaling
their intention to transform it from a paper tiger into a full-fledged
military-political alliance...The alliance legitimizes Russia's military
presence in Central Asia, allowing the Kremlin to both counterbalance
the U.S. military presence in the region and interdict security threats
posed by Islamic militants, the experts said.
5/Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--$30-M PACKAGE IN THE
BAG FOR MACAPAGAL'S US VISIT [When she comes home after her top-level
tete-a-tete with United States President George W. Bush, among
the goodies in President Macapagal-Arroyo's bag will be the Philippines'
30-million-dollar share in the US foreign military finance (FMF).
This is a "done deal," according to Ambassador to Washington
Albert del Rosario...Del Rosario explained that the FMF share,
intended for the country's counterterrorism campaign, was part
of the supplemental budget for the US war on Iraq. He said it would
soon be released to the Armed Forces, on top of a 30-million-dollar
grant under the US economic support fund (ESF).]
***
1/The
Toronto Star Apr. 29, 2003. 04:11 PM
Article
Link
IRAQIS OFFERED CANADIAN POLICE, PLANES
Canada has already committed $106M to post-war plans
Stephen Thorne
Canadian Press
Canada sent a diplomatic note to the United States today offering police, prison experts, legal officers, combat engineers and transport planes to help in reconstructing postwar Iraq.
The offer includes an expanded role for three Hercules aircraft operating in the region and "select units" of the military's Disaster Assistance Response Team, or DART, should they be required.
[SNIP]
Defence Minister John McCallum said about 150 DART members would be offered. He said Canada could not come up with all the options Americans requested in a diplomatic note two weeks ago.
"They might have wanted a large number of soldiers but ... we committed 1,800 soldiers to Afghanistan in August and a further 1,800 six months later," said McCallum.
[SNIP]
NDP Leader Jack Layton said Canada should be working through the United Nations, not the United States.
"It's good that they're considering some help in Iraq, but let's hope it's in the context of some sort of United Nations involvement," Layton said.
"That's the big question mark right now. Are we essentially going to play along with the U.S. rebuilding strategy or are we going to work in a multilateral context?"
He said Canada should have played a stronger role in trying to convince the Americans to go the UN route. U.S. President George W. Bush is "hell-bent on his own direction" in world affairs, said Layton.
[MORE]
2/Turkish Daily News 29 April 2003
http://www.turkishdailynews.com/FrTDN/latest/for.htm#f3
US WON'T WRITE OFF TURKEY BUT...
Ilnur Cevik
The United States will not write off Turkey because of its failure to allow deployment of American troops on Turkish soil to attack Iraq but there is still a serious crisis of confidence between Washington and Ankara which will not be erased too easily, diplomatic sources and leading analysts report.
News that the Americans have started working on plans to phase out their military presence in Turkey and Saudi Arabia as well as talk that the Pentagon is making an extra effort to bar Turkish contractors from even becoming subcontractors in the reconstruction projects in Iraq has fueled speculation that Washington has written off Turkey.
Analysts say the U.S. will not write off Turkey so easily in view of its strategical importance but are unanimous that it will take very hard work for the next few years and some good luck to bring relations back to the level of before the Iraq war.
Middle East expert and leading columnist Cengiz Candar says the U.S. sees the current administration in Turkey as a liability and will want to "put the house in order in Ankara" before it deals with Ankara again in earnest.
"How will the U.S. rely on the Ankara government to help if there are new trouble spots exploding in the Balkans or the Caucasus? This is the question being asked amongst some quarters in Washington," Candar stresses.
He also says the fact that Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will be going to Damascus today is raising eyebrows among American officials as if this is a challenge to Washington. Candar says timing in diplomacy is of great importance and when you set out to visit Damascus and also make a statement that Turkey, Syria and Iran will cooperate for stability in the Gulf this is regarded as a direct challenge to Washington. Candar says the message they get out of all this in the U.S. is "if you toy around with us in Turkey we will slap you in the face like this."
[SNIP]
Another prominent foreign relations expert and prominent columnist Sami Kohen also agrees that the U.S. will not turn its back on Ankara completely, but warned that the geostrategical importance of Turkey for the U.S. may not be the same as it was three months ago.
He said the U.S. may phase out some of its military presence in Turkey and shift its forces to other countries. Some observers say the Americans may set up four bases in Iraq.
However, Turkish and foreign diplomatic sources said it will be rather difficult for the U.S. to settle down in Iraq and set up bases. "No one knows what will happen in Iraq tomorrow. There is some anti-American antagonism which may prove hard for the U.S. to set up roots in Iraq. It is also one thing setting up bases and something else sustaining such bases in an antagonistic environment," said a leading Turkish official who asked not to be named.
[MORE]
3/The Daily Star Beirut, Tuesday April 29, 2003. Updated 08:30 AM
+3GMT
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/business/17_04_03_a.asp
SAIDI: ARAB WORLD MUST LOOK TO EUROPE
Economic future lies principally with next-door neighbors; Central
Bank official says leaders must develop plan or face US hegemony
Ara Alain Arzoumanian
Special to The Daily Star
The Middle East will be subjected to US hegemony for coming generations if Arab leaders do not develop and implement a positive action plan for the region, according to Central Bank first vice-governor and former economy minister Nasser Saidi.
"The EU is the only credible partner for the Arab world to achieve economic, financial and political reforms," said Saidi at a the seminar, Economic Consequences of the War on Iraq, at the American University for Science and Technology in Beirut on Wednesday.
"This does not imply that the Arabs have to choose one side over the other," he also said.
According to Saidi, the choice of the EU is natural as the Arab world has a direct impact on its next-door neighbors. Trade plays an important role and, most importantly, the EU is dependent on the region for 35 percent of its oil imports.
"If the EU does not act on the Middle East now, it risks being sidelined from the decision-making process for good," Saidi maintained. "This is their last chance to act following their failures on the Kyoto Protocol, the International Penal Court and agricultural subsidies."
According to Saidi, an EU-Arab plan for the Middle East can start by addressing the economic, social, political and strategic challenges facing the Arab countries and especially some of the fundamental underlying causes of violence and terrorism. The plan should also be buttressed by a stronger political foundation to the EU's cooperation with the Mediterranean as a strategic partner.
[SNIP]
The direct consequences of the Iraq war on Lebanon, which Saidi considers to be the least affected country in the Middle East, is the reduction of economic growth by 1 to 2 percent. A potential offset exists if Lebanon is allowed to participate in the reconstruction of Iraq.
[SNIP]
"The negative impact is expected to be higher should the war extend to Syria," Saidi added. "The Middle East is a critical crossroads, a point of conflagration and world instability," said Saidi.
4/The Moscow Times Tuesday, Apr. 29, 2003. Page 1
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/04/29/002.html
MILITARY ALLIANCE TO ADD MUSCLE
By Simon Saradzhyan
Staff Writer
President Vladimir Putin and his counterparts from Armenia, Belarus and three Central Asian states agreed Monday to add meat to the bones of the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization by appointing a new chief of the post-Soviet military-political bloc and making plans to set up a rapid reaction force in Central Asia.
The leaders of the six member nations, which also include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, picked Russia's former border guard chief Nikolai Bordyuzha to serve as the organization's secretary general, signaling their intention to transform it from a paper tiger into a full-fledged military-political alliance. Previously the organization was run by career Russian diplomat Valery Nikonenko, who had no experience in military planning.
In another demonstration of their aspirations to increase defense cooperation, they set a Jan. 1 deadline for establishing a headquarters for the rapid reaction force in Central Asia. This regional force will reportedly have 6,000 servicemen and some two dozen warplanes deployed in Kant, Kyrgyzstan.
[SNIP]
While yet to deploy the rapid reaction force, the pact's members already have their air defense forces jointly monitoring the skies within and without the former Soviet Union and are establishing an air force base in Kant. The base, where more than a dozen Russian Su-27 interceptors, Su-25 attack planes and Il-76 transport aircraft are already based, will be inaugurated as the Collective Security Treaty Organization's air base in July, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev said at the news conference. About 500 personnel are there now, according to reports in the press.
Putin also held separate talks with Rakhmonov on Monday and won
his consent to give the 201st infantry division the status of an
official Russian military base in Tajikistan.
[SNIP]
The appointment of Bordyuzha to the post of general secretary is also a sign that the Kremlin is serious about giving military capabilities to the organization, known as ODKB. The fact that Bordyuzha served as Russia's border guard chief, secretary of the Security Council and chief of the Kremlin staff and finally as Russia's ambassador to Denmark "speaks for itself," Pikayev said.
[SNIP]
The alliance legitimizes Russia's military presence in Central Asia,
allowing the Kremlin to both counterbalance the U.S. military presence
in the region and interdict security threats posed by Islamic militants,
the experts said.
[MORE]
5/Philippine Daily Inquirer Posted: 11:38 PM (Manila Time) | Apr.
29, 2003
http://www.inq7.net/nat/2003/apr/30/nat_4-1.htm
$30-M PACKAGE IN THE BAG FOR MACAPAGAL'S US VISIT
By Norman Bordadora and Dona Pazzibugan
Inquirer News Service
WHEN she comes home after her top-level tete-a-tete with United States President George W. Bush, among the goodies in President Macapagal-Arroyo's bag will be the Philippines' 30-million-dollar share in the US foreign military finance (FMF).
This is a "done deal," according to Ambassador to Washington Albert del Rosario.
Ms Macapagal's state visit to the United States will push through this month, although it will be shorter than originally planned.
Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye confirmed Tuesday that the visit, first scheduled April 1-5, had been reset to May 19-21. The President called off the trip as early as March 13 due to the impending United States attack on Iraq.
[SNIP]
In an interview at the Inquirer offices, Del Rosario explained that the FMF share, intended for the country's counterterrorism campaign, was part of the supplemental budget for the US war on Iraq. He said it would soon be released to the Armed Forces, on top of a 30-million-dollar grant under the US economic support fund (ESF).
Del Rosario said both 30-million-dollar packages were the results of the Philippines' moral and political support to the US-led coalition against Iraq.
Bunye did not say why the state visit had been cut to just three days, but he noted that Ms Macapagal was one of the "very few'' world leaders invited to Washington this year.
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©2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm
