June 9, 2003
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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//Foreign Policy in Focus, USA--LOSS OF KEY AIDE ANOTHER SETBACK FOR POWELL (The announcement that the State Department's director for policy planning, Richard Haass, is leaving to become the next president of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), marks the latest sign of the eclipse of Secretary of State Colin Powell's influence in the Bush administration. Next to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Haass was seen as Powell's closest adviser... The fact that Powell has not nominated anyone of Haass' stature or with whom he has a long-standing relationship as a replacement is being interpreted as an indication that he probably intends to step down after next year's election, if not before.)
2//The Scotsman, Scotland--CUTS LEFT TROOPS FIGHTING WITHOUT ARMOUR
(Dozens of British troops went into battle in Iraq without life-saving
body armour as a direct result of Ministry of Defence cost-cutting...It
has already emerged that 33-year-old tank commander Steven Roberts,
who was fatally shot in the chest near Basra, had not been issued
with a ceramic plate... Beaver was among a trio of experts who told
members of the Commons Defence Committee that the supply system had
thrown up a catalogue of problems in addition to the shortage of
ceramic plates. They included the refusal of an order for thousands
of grenades from a regular supplier in Switzerland just weeks before
the conflict, because the Swiss government's neutrality banned the
export. A consignment of desert filters, needed to protect more than
200 British tanks from sand, failed to arrive at all and defence
chiefs still do not know where the equipment is.)
3//The Japan Times, Japan--KOIZUMI, ROH SET PYONGYANG POLICY (Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun
agreed Saturday that both dialogue and pressure are needed to prod
North Korea into abandoning its nuclear weapons programs, although
Roh preferred to place more emphasis on discussions. At a joint
news conference after their meeting in Tokyo, Koizumi said if Pyongyang
escalates the nuclear crisis, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. will
work together closely and deal with the matter in a "stricter
manner." Roh, however, made it clear that his position is
slightly different.)
4//The Daily Star, Lebanon--OPINION: RUMBLINGS AFOOT IN AZERBAIJAN
(Washington officials continue to look for a way to dislodge the
clerical leadership of Iran's Islamic Republic. The latest ploy may
be to inflame passions in the most politically active part of Iran-Azerbaijan.
Administration officials have been meeting quietly with Mahmoud Ali
Chehregani, who heads the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakeness
Movement which is operating inside Iran. Although, according to the
Washington Times, defense officials emphasized their meetings were
not aimed at supporting or encouraging a change in Iran's government,
it is hard to believe such an assertion... The United States is interested
in the developments in Azerbaijan not only because of the possibility
of launching regime change from an Azeri platform, but because of
something much more important: - oil. Azerbaijan lies just between
the great Caspian oil fields, and the oil fields of northern Iraq.
The transport of Caspian oil is one of the great economic puzzles
of modern times. If Iranian Azerbaijan were to take a sharp turn
toward the United States, a new pipeline linking the Caspian fields
with the Iraqi oil delivery system would be constructed in a trice.)
5//The Dawn, Pakistan--OPPOSITION SAYS NO RELIEF TO COMMON MAN
(The federal budget for the year 2003-04 has elicited a mixed response
from the leaders of political parties, as those belonging to the
treasury benches claimed the budget had provided a relief to the
government employees , while those from the opposition side termed
it a directionless and stereotype document. Opposition leaders
were of the view that the budget would benefit the World Bank and
the IMF as it lacked any incentive for the poor and downtrodden
people... The PPP leader also expressed reservations over the increase
in military allocations from Rs146 billion to over Rs160 billion
and viewed it as "robbing the poor of Pakistan to enrich the
generals rather than strengthening the defence of the country".)
* * *
1//Foreign
Policy in Focus June 6, 2003
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/commentary/2003/0306haass.html
LOSS OF KEY AIDE ANOTHER SETBACK FOR POWELL
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - The announcement that the State Department's director for policy planning, Richard Haass, is leaving to become the next president of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), marks the latest sign of the eclipse of Secretary of State Colin Powell's influence in the Bush administration. Next to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Haass was seen as Powell's closest adviser.
While there is no doubt that his new job, which begins on July 1, has real attractions - a lengthy contract to direct the oldest and most prestigious US foreign policy think tank - Haass has historically preferred to be in the thick of the action. He played a key role on the National Security Council (NSC) under George H W Bush during the Gulf War in 1991 and its aftermath, including the Madrid peace talks in the early 1990s.
While no official announcement has been made, his most likely replacement is said to be the current ambassador to Turkey, Robert Pearson, a career foreign service officer who, while highly regarded as a diplomat and administrator, lacks Haass' reputation as a thinker and grand strategist.
The fact that Powell has not nominated anyone of Haass' stature or with whom he has a long-standing relationship as a replacement is being interpreted as an indication that he probably intends to step down after next year's election, if not before.
Long targeted by neoconservative forces centered in the Pentagon and Vice President Dick Cheney's office, as well as their counterparts outside the administration, Haass has served as an influential voice in favor of traditional Republican realism, a protege of Bush Sr.'s national security adviser, ret. Gen. Brent Scowcroft. During his mere two-and-a-half years in one of the State Department's most coveted positions--George Kennan, the legendary strategist who authored the "containment" doctrine at the dawn of the cold war, was a predecessor--Haass led efforts to define and argue Powell's positions internally and to enunciate more general ideas about where he thought U.S. foreign policy should be headed.
(MORE)
2//The Scotsman Sun 8 Jun 2003
http://www.news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=635522003
CUTS LEFT TROOPS FIGHTING WITHOUT ARMOUR
Brian Brady, Westminster Editor
Dozens of British troops went into battle in Iraq without life-saving body armour as a direct result of Ministry of Defence cost-cutting.
Independent defence consultant Paul Beaver has told MPs that the MoD's equipment supply policy broke down when soldiers needed their protective gear most.
The failure centres on ceramic plates which, when worn with flak jackets, provide a degree of protection against high-velocity bullets.
It has already emerged that 33-year-old tank commander Steven Roberts, who was fatally shot in the chest near Basra, had not been issued with a ceramic plate.
Beaver claims Roberts was one of "several tens" of soldiers sent into battle without a ceramic plate, despite an MoD order that the equipment should be given to all frontline troops. Beaver, who says he was passed the information by reliable military sources, says the equipment simply did not arrive in time.
The allegation has focused attention on the MoD's controversial "just in time" system of buying combat equipment immediately before a conflict.
The system saves money because it avoids the need to stockpile huge quantities of equipment and weaponry.
But Beaver was among a trio of experts who told members of the Commons Defence Committee that the supply system had thrown up a catalogue of problems in addition to the shortage of ceramic plates.
They included the refusal of an order for thousands of grenades from a regular supplier in Switzerland just weeks before the conflict, because the Swiss government's neutrality banned the export. A consignment of desert filters, needed to protect more than 200 British tanks from sand, failed to arrive at all and defence chiefs still do not know where the equipment is.
(MORE)
3//The Japan Times Sunday, June 8, 2003
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030608a1.htm
KOIZUMI, ROH SET PYONGYANG POLICY
Leaders' agreement only upset by question of pressure or dialogue
By Kanako Takahara
Staff writer
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun agreed Saturday that both dialogue and pressure are needed to prod North Korea into abandoning its nuclear weapons programs, although Roh preferred to place more emphasis on discussions.
At a joint news conference after their meeting in Tokyo, Koizumi said if Pyongyang escalates the nuclear crisis, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. will work together closely and deal with the matter in a "stricter manner."
Roh, however, made it clear that his position is slightly different.
"To resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, I believe dialogue and pressure should be conducted simultaneously," he said. "But the South Korean government puts greater weight on dialogue."
Roh also emphasized that North Korea will be able to receive a "wide range of assistance" from the international community if it abandons its nuclear weapons program.
The summit concluded a series of bilateral meetings since last month between leaders of Japan, South Korea and the United States aimed at boosting close cooperation in dealing with Pyongyang.
It also pointed to the difference of opinion the two leaders have over where the emphasis should be placed: dialogue or pressure. Koizumi apparently hopes to emphasize pressure while Roh believes it is necessary to send a milder message.
(MORE)
4//The Daily Star Beirut, Saturday June 07, 2003. Updated 08:30 AM
+3GMT
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/07_06_03_c.asp
OPINION: RUMBLINGS AFOOT IN AZERBAIJAN
William O. Beeman
(William O. Beeman [William_beeman@brown.edu] teaches anthropology and is director of Middle East Studies at Brown University. He is author of Language, Status and Power in Iran, and two forthcoming books: Double Demons: Cultural Impediments to US-Iranian Understanding; and Iraq: State in Search of a Nation.)
Washington officials continue to look for a way to dislodge the clerical leadership of Iran's Islamic Republic. The latest ploy may be to inflame passions in the most politically active part of Iran-Azerbaijan.
Administration officials have been meeting quietly with Mahmoud Ali Chehregani, who heads the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakeness Movement which is operating inside Iran. Although, according to the Washington Times, defense officials emphasized their meetings were not aimed at supporting or encouraging a change in Iran's government, it is hard to believe such an assertion.
It is now no secret that the Bush administration would like to see "regime change" in Iran. However, military planners know that an Iraq-style invasion could not win in a military conflict with Iranian troops. Therefore the most satisfactory strategy for the White House hawks will be to try to find an indigenous resistance movement and provide it with financial, possibly logistical, support and hope for the best.
Chehregani seems ideal. He is an academic (a linguist), and a charismatic figure. He was a popular Parliament representative from Azerbaijan, elected with 600,000 votes. He was imprisoned three years ago for his strong protests against the Islamic regime, but freed with the help of Amnesty International and a letter from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. More important, he espouses a secular, democratic government for Iran.
Azerbaijan is fertile ground for a new Iranian political movement. It has traditionally been the part of Iran with the loosest connections to Tehran. Although culturally Iranian, the majority of its population speaks Azeri- a Turkic language. Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish communities make up significant minority populations in the region
Over the past century, four major anti-government movements have begun from Azerbaijan, starting with Iran's constitutional revolution in 1905. Azerbaijanis also claim to have started the Islamic revolution of 1978-9. Its independent spirit was exploited by the Soviet Union immediately after World War II. Azerbaijanis also tried to set up an independent People's Republic of Azerbaijan in 1945. For a short period, they succeeded. Then the Soviet Union tried to convert it into a communist republic. The United States intervened at that time, and the Iranian state took the extraordinary measure of using the World Court in the Hague to get the Soviets to withdraw.
Ever since this period, the Iranian central state has kept a wary eye on the Azerbaijanis. Under the shah, publication in Azeri and other minority languages was repressed, and although there has been some relaxation of this policy, publication and school instruction in Azeri is discouraged.
(SNIP)
The United States is interested in the developments in Azerbaijan not only because of the possibility of launching regime change from an Azeri platform, but because of something much more important: - oil.
Azerbaijan lies just between the great Caspian oil fields, and the oil fields of northern Iraq. The transport of Caspian oil is one of the great economic puzzles of modern times. If Iranian Azerbaijan were to take a sharp turn toward the United States, a new pipeline linking the Caspian fields with the Iraqi oil delivery system would be constructed in a trice.
The schemes for transforming Iran now seem to be proliferating: using the Mujahideen Khalq (the anti-Iranian government terrorist group in Iraq), restoring the monarchy, direct military intervention. With so many plans in play, can anyone doubt that one of them, at least, will eventually be activated? Stay tuned.
5//The Dawn 08 June 2003 Sunday 07 Rabi-us-Saani 1424
http://www.dawn.com/2003/06/08/top12.htm
OPPOSITION SAYS NO RELIEF TO COMMON MAN
By Ahmed Hassan and Amir Wasim
ISLAMABAD, June 7: The federal budget for the year 2003-04 has elicited a mixed response from the leaders of political parties, as those belonging to the treasury benches claimed the budget had provided a relief to the government employees, while those from the opposition side termed it a directionless and stereotype document.
Opposition leaders were of the view that the budget would benefit the World Bank and the IMF as it lacked any incentive for the poor and downtrodden people.
Secretary-General of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Maulana Fazlur Rahman said: "The budget has been prepared in line with the guidelines of the World Bank and the IMF and would safeguard their interests.
MMA's Deputy Secretary-General Liaquat Baloch said: "It is the fourth budget of Shaukat Aziz which does not offer any relief to the common man."
He said no effort had been made to lower the cost of living for the poor masses whereas prices of petroleum products were raised every quarter.
Acting president of PML-N Makhdoom Javed Hashmi in his reaction said in his entire speech the finance minister made no mention of common man.
He alleged that the budget was prepared to appease the international financial agencies and it offered no new project for the welfare of common people. He was of the view that unemployment would increase after the budget.
(SNIP)
Mr Babar said: "Whether it's the claim of bringing down inflation to three per cent, or increasing job opportunities, or increase in reserves, the facts have been concealed behind half truths and misstatements."
He claimed that inflation stood at over 10 per cent, unemployment had actually increased during the previous year and thousands of civilian jobs had been given to the serving and retired military officers during the previous year.
(SNIP)
The PPP leader also expressed reservations over the increase in military allocations from Rs146 billion to over Rs160 billion and viewed it as "robbing the poor of Pakistan to enrich the generals rather than strengthening the defence of the country".
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©2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm
