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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--WORLD SUPPORT FOR U.S. AT NEW LOW, SURVEY SUGGESTS (The war in Iraq has sent support for the United States to new lows in Muslim countries and significantly damaged the global standing of the United Nations, according to a survey released today. And disagreement over Iraq has taken a toll on Americans' liking for traditional allies who withheld support for the U.S.-led conflict, according to the Pew Global Attitude Project poll...Sixty per cent of those Canadians with an unfavourable view of the United States said the problem was with U.S. President George W. Bush, according to the poll. But Canadians' positive view of Americans - the people rather than the country - stayed virtually unchanged at 77 per cent.)
2//The Moscow Times, Russia--RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS HEAD BACK TO BAGHDAD EMBASSY (Russia will send its diplomats back to Iraq even though the United States says it will not recognize the status and immunity of foreign diplomats accredited by the prewar regime, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday...Yakovenko stressed that Russia would exercise its right under UN Security Council Resolution 1483, which last month ended UN sanctions on Iraq, "to play an equal part with other countries in the restoration of Iraq.")
3//The Jordan Times, Jordan-- UN NUCLEAR AGENCY GETS LITTLE ACCESS IN IRAQ (The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said on Monday it would only have access to a small area outside Iraq's main nuclear site, which diplomats complained fell far short of the agency's original hopes..."Location C is located near the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Centre, but is outside the gate which encloses the main Tuwaitha site," Fleming said, adding the job would last around two weeks. Not only are the inspectors limited to counting what is missing from Tuwaitha, south of Baghdad, but they have no access to six other nuclear sites in Iraq that were allegedly looted in the postwar chaos.)
4//The Japan Times, Japan--U.S. COMMANDER COMING TO SPEED UP TALKS
ON MISSILE DEFENSE (In a move to accelerate Japan's introduction
of a missile defense system, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
announced Tuesday that Washington will soon send its top missile
commander to Tokyo...Japan has yet to decide whether to move on to
the next stage of missile development...Japan is reportedly considering
buying U.S.-developed missile systems regardless of the course of
the bilateral research.)
5//The Independent, UK--MURDOCH FACES CHANNEL FIVE "PUBLIC
INTEREST" TEST (Rupert Murdoch would face a special "public
interest" test if he makes a bid for channel Five under a
proposal introduced in Parliament last night. Lord Puttnam has
led stiff resistance to a clause in the Communications Bill that
allows a major newspaper owner to buy Five (though not ITV). The
clause is widely seen as being directly aimed at allowing Mr Murdoch's
News Corporation to acquire a terrestrial broadcaster.)
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1//The
Toronto Star Jun. 3, 2003. 04:48 PM
[LINK]
WORLD SUPPORT FOR U.S. AT NEW LOW, SURVEY SUGGESTS
Percentage of Americans with a positive view of Canada dips to 65
per cent
WASHINGTON (AP-CP) - The war in Iraq has sent support for the United States to new lows in Muslim countries and significantly damaged the global standing of the United Nations, according to a survey released today.
And disagreement over Iraq has taken a toll on Americans' liking for traditional allies who withheld support for the U.S.-led conflict, according to the Pew Global Attitude Project poll.
Canada, for example, decided against sending troops to back Washington's war on Iraq.
The poll indicated the percentage of Americans with a positive view of Canada dipped to 65 per cent from 83 per cent last summer.
Conversely, Americans who viewed Canada unfavourably rose dramatically to 24 per cent versus 4 per cent last summer. The remainder didn't give an opinion.
Among Canadians, 63 per cent of the 500 people surveyed said they had a favourable view of the United States, down from 72 per cent last summer.
Sixty per cent of those Canadians with an unfavourable view of the United States said the problem was with U.S. President George W. Bush, according to the poll. But Canadians' positive view of Americans - the people rather than the country - stayed virtually unchanged at 77 per cent.
U.S.-French relations are another war casualty.
(SNIP)
The poll found that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden still gets favourable marks in some Muslim countries, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan instill more confidence than Bush in non-Muslim countries.
Even in the United States, Blair comes out ahead of Bush.
Asked about their confidence in world leaders to do the right thing, Palestinians ranked bin Laden first. He came in second in Jordan, Morocco and Pakistan.
Blair was the top-rated world leader in the United States with 83 per cent saying they have "a lot" or "some" confidence in him to do the right thing, though Annan came in first among the British with 72 per cent.
Canadians and Australians also ranked Blair at the top of world leaders, while Annan finished first in Italy and Spain.
In many countries with generally favourable attitudes about the United States - such as Brazil, Russia, Spain, France and Germany - only modest percentages have confidence in Bush. A majority expresses confidence in Bush in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia. Bush led in Israel, with 83 per cent expressing confidence in him.
The poll was conducted April 28 to May 15 in 20 countries and among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Some 16,000 interviews in 31 languages were conducted. Margins of error ranged from plus or minus 3 to 4 percentage points.
(MORE)
2//The Moscow Times Wednesday, Jun. 4, 2003. Page 3
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/06/04/012.html
RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS HEAD BACK TO BAGHDAD EMBASSY
Agence France Presse
Russia will send its diplomats back to Iraq even though the United States says it will not recognize the status and immunity of foreign diplomats accredited by the prewar regime, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
"Russia will in the near future send to Baghdad its embassy staff who worked there and left because of the military activity. The decision to resume full diplomatic service was taken not just to ensure our presence in the country but also to provide assistance to Russian firms returning to the Iraqi market," Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement.
Yakovenko stressed that Russia would exercise its right under UN Security Council Resolution 1483, which last month ended UN sanctions on Iraq, "to play an equal part with other countries in the restoration of Iraq."
Last week, the U.S. State Department said foreign diplomats in Iraq would no longer enjoy diplomatic immunity or any of the privileges they were accorded under their accreditation to Saddam Hussein's regime.
Russia "expects the occupying powers in Iraq to ensure, in line with international legal norms, the status and security of foreign diplomatic missions working in Baghdad," Yakovenko said.
The State Department did not clarify what the exact status of foreign diplomatic missions in Iraq -- which are considered part of the sovereign territory of the country that owns or leases the property -- would be.
Russia on Friday voiced concern over the State Department statement and said it would raise the issue with Washington.
(MORE)
3//The Jordan Times Tuesday, June 3, 2003
http://www.jordantimes.com/Tue/news/news8.htm
UN NUCLEAR AGENCY GETS LITTLE ACCESS IN IRAQ
VIENNA (R) - The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said on
Monday it would only have access to a small area outside Iraq's
main nuclear site, which diplomats complained fell far short of
the agency's original hopes.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is due to head back to Baghdad on Friday to probe reports of looting at the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Centre, Iraq's biggest nuclear site. But they are not allowed on to the main plant.
Vienna-based diplomats complained privately that the IAEA only has the task of counting missing containers of radioactive material and can neither measure environmental contamination nor look into reports of radiation sickness among nearby residents.
"The inspection will be confined to `Location C', the nuclear material storage facility where they will independently identify, verify, repack, seal and secure nuclear material," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.
(SNIP)
"Location C is located near the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Centre, but is outside the gate which encloses the main Tuwaitha site," Fleming said, adding the job would last around two weeks.
Not only are the inspectors limited to counting what is missing from Tuwaitha, south of Baghdad, but they have no access to six other nuclear sites in Iraq that were allegedly looted in the postwar chaos.
There were over 500 tonnes of natural uranium and 1.8 tonnes of low-enriched uranium stored at Tuwaitha, as well as smaller amounts of highly radioactive caesium, cobalt and strontium.
Caesium 137 is a highly radioactive powder that would be especially dangerous if used in a so-called "dirty bomb." In 1987, a canister of caesium powder found in a Brazil junkyard exposed 249 people to radiation, killing four.
4//The Japan Times June 4, 2003
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030604a2.htm
U.S. COMMANDER COMING TO SPEED UP TALKS ON MISSILE DEFENSE
By Nao Shimoyachi
Staff writer
In a move to accelerate Japan's introduction of a missile defense system, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz announced Tuesday that Washington will soon send its top missile commander to Tokyo.
"We will certainly welcome the participation of Japan" in a missile defense project, the Pentagon's No. 2 official told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
Wolfowitz said the kind of system to adopt and deployment details are matters for Japan to decide.
He said U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, chief of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, will visit Japan this month to discuss the "technical aspects" of missile shield systems.
During their summit May 23 in the U.S., Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President George W. Bush agreed to step up the pace of their missile defense cooperation.
Japan and the United States have been conducting joint research since 1999 on the key components of an interceptor missile that will be used as part of a sea-based missile defense system.
Japan has yet to decide whether to move on to the next stage of missile development.
In December, Washington unveiled its "initial stage" missile shield deployment scheme. This includes a plan to deploy, by 2005, 20 ground-based interceptor missiles designed to counter intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as several sea- and ground-based interceptor missiles to counter short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.
In a meeting with Wolfowitz on Monday evening, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba called on the U.S. to provide Japan with "as much information as possible" on U.S. missile defense projects.
Japan is reportedly considering buying U.S.-developed missile systems regardless of the course of the bilateral research.
(MORE)
5//The Independent 04 June 2003
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=412246
MURDOCH
FACES CHANNEL FIVE "PUBLIC INTEREST" TEST
By Saeed Shah
Rupert Murdoch would face a special "public interest" test if he makes a bid for channel Five under a proposal introduced in Parliament last night.
Lord Puttnam has led stiff resistance to a clause in the Communications Bill that allows a major newspaper owner to buy Five (though not ITV). The clause is widely seen as being directly aimed at allowing Mr Murdoch's News Corporation to acquire a terrestrial broadcaster.
Last night, in a Lords debate on the Bill, which is facing a struggle to get through Parliament before the summer recess, Lord Puttnam proposed a compromise that may satisfy critics of the "Murdoch clause". He suggested that a public interest test be applied to all major cross-media acquisitions - currently subject only to the strictures of competition law, under the Enterprise Act.
The new test would apply to major players who want to increase their interests in other areas of media by buying newspapers, radio assets or television stations. The test would examine whether such a deal would damage the plurality of media voices and owners. Ofcom, the media regulator, would initially make this assessment and, if concerns arose, it would be passed to the Competition Commission or Office of Fair Trading to examine in depth.
The amendment would amount to a significant new hurdle for Mr Murdoch or other media magnates in acquiring more British media businesses. Although all cross-media deals would be subject to the proposed test, Lord Puttnam made clear that a possible takeover of Five was the reason for raising the issue.
(MORE)
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©2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm
