June 16, 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//The Times of India, India--INDIA MAY RESIST PRESSURE ON TROOPS FOR IRAQ (L K Advani is expected to try and resolutely keep Iraq off the agenda in talks with Tony Blair on Tuesday, in an indication of the BJP-led government's growing discomfiture with the prospect of Indian troops policing a country invaded by the US and UK without a UN mandate...However, it's unlikely Advani will leave London without further pressure from Blair, a leading member of the Anglo-American coalition, to dispatch Indian troops for an Iraqi "stabilisation force". Observers said Iraq was becoming a hot-button issue for New Delhi anyway, with a Pentagon team arriving in India on a day-long visit on Sunday.)
Related Story: THE MAN WHO CAME AROUND FROM THE COLD WAR (It is a measure of the changed nature of Indo-US relationship that the man who will be conveying American "clarifications" on Monday about the need for Indian troop contribution to Iraq was once part of the team that threatened India with a US nuclear carrier.)
2/The Daily Star, Lebanon--PENTAGON IS MOVING SWIFTLY TO POSITION WASHINGTON AS 'GLOBOCOP' (While preparing for sharp reductions of forces in Germany, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, military planners are talking about establishing semi-permanent or permanent bases along a giant swathe of global territory increasingly referred to as "the arc of instability," from the Caribbean Basin through Africa to South and Central Asia and across to North Korea...On the eve of the war in Iraq, Barnett predicted that taking Baghdad would not be about settling old scores or enforcing disarmament of illegal weapons. Rather, he wrote, it "will mark a historic tipping point the moment when Washington takes real ownership of strategic security in the age of globalization." Observers will note that Barnett's arc of instability corresponds well to regions of great oil, gas, and mineral wealth, a reminder again of Wolfowitz's 1992 draft study, which asserted that the key objective of US strategy should be "to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.") (Originally published in Foreign Policy in Focus, June 12, 2003)
3//Institute for War and Peace Reporting, London--INSTABILITY THREATENS
RECONSTRUCTION (Despite considerable international efforts to bring
about sufficient stability to allow the peaceful reconstruction of
Afghanistan, the security situation is a long way from allowing this
to happen... Moreover, there are the telltale signs of partisan support
by neighbouring states to individual warlords and Afghan leaders.
It is reported that Dostum has received assistance from Turkey and
Uzbekistan. Russia is believed to have given support to Fahim. And
Iran is helping Khan... The race to bring the country to some kind
of normality is being lost. Despite the best efforts of the international
community, the vested interests of militaristic individuals and the
fervour of extremists are still the more potent force.)
4//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--JUDGE PAVES THE WAY FOR
FLOOD OF GULF WAR ILLNESS CLAIMS (Britain's High Court has upheld
a claim by an army veteran that he is entitled to a pension because
he suffers from a syndrome linked to his service in the 1991 Gulf
War. The case was brought by Shaun Rusling, a former medic in the
Parachute Regiment who has struggled for nine years to get Britain's
Ministry of Defence to recognise Gulf War syndrome. The ruling
could open the way to pensions being awarded to hundreds of other
veterans who say their illnesses are related to their service in
the conflict.)
5//The Independent, UK--MPs TO NAME AND SHAME ROGUE NEWSPAPER EDITORS (A powerful select committee of MPs will take the innovative step of listing the worst-offending editors and publications as they call for more rigorous controls and sanctions to be applied to the press, including fines for any breach of the Press Complaints Commission code.)
* * *
1//The
Times of India TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2003 07:42:09
PM ]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=24145
INDIA MAY RESIST PRESSURE ON TROOPS FOR IRAQ
Rashmee Zahmed
LONDON: L K Advani is expected to try and resolutely keep Iraq off
the agenda in talks with Tony Blair on Tuesday, in an indication
of the BJP-led government's growing discomfiture with the prospect
of Indian troops policing a country invaded by the US and UK without
a UN mandate.
But in a sign that the Indian-jawan-for-Iraq issue will not go
away, the deputy prime minister faces pickets and protests by several
South Asian civil rights groups opposed to potential Indian deployment
in Iraq.
Advani, who arrived in London early on Sunday, is expected to discuss
issues closer to home with Blair, his deputy John Prescott, foreign
secretary Jack Straw and home secretary David Blunkett during the
course of a packed and high-profile four-day visit.
(SNIP)
On
Iraq, sources said, "there is no reason why we should bring
it up". However, it's unlikely Advani will leave London without
further pressure from Blair, a leading member of the Anglo-American
coalition, to dispatch Indian troops for an Iraqi "stabilisation
force".
Observers said Iraq was becoming a hot-button issue for New Delhi
anyway, with a Pentagon team arriving in India on a day-long visit
on Sunday.
(SNIP)
Amrit
Wilson of the Solidarity Group said: "Despite massive
and widespread opposition in India, the government looks set to give
into US pressure to send at least one division of up to 20,000 Indian
troops to central Iraq where American forces are under siege from
the people of the country. With US-UK casualties mounting to something
like one soldier a day, America is now looking to third world countries
to provide soldiers to die on its behalf".
(MORE)
RELATED STORY:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2003 12:37:51 AM ]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=24539
THE MAN WHO CAME AROUND FROM THE COLD WAR
Chidanand Rajghatta
WASHINGTON:
It is a measure of the changed nature of Indo-US relationship that
the man who will be conveying American "clarifications" on
Monday about the need for Indian troop contribution to Iraq was once
part of the team that threatened India with a US nuclear carrier.
Peter Rodman, the US Assistant Secretary of Defence for International
Security Affairs, is a Cold Warrior of impeccable credentials who
might have been a red rag for New Delhi a decade or two ago.
At the height of the US involvement in Afghanistan during the Reagan
and the first Bush administrations and their shenanigans that led
to the explosion of Islamic terrorism, Rodman served successively
as Director of the State Department Policy Planning Staff (1984-1986),
Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
(1986-1987), and Special Assistant to the President for National
Security Affairs and NSC Counsellor (1987-1990).
(MORE)
2//The Daily Star Beirut, Saturday June 14, 2003. Updated 08:30 AM
+3GMT
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/14_06_03/art18.asp
(Originally published in Foreign Policy in Focus, June 12, 2003)
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2003/0306globocop.html
PENTAGON IS MOVING SWIFTLY TO POSITION WASHINGTON AS 'GLOBOCOP'
New and augmented series of military bases would allow America to
react quickly to emerging crises
Jim Lobe
Special to The Daily Star
WASHINGTON: Much like its successful military campaign in Iraq, the Pentagon is moving at seemingly breakneck speeds to redeploy US forces and equipment around the world in ways that will allow Washington to play "Globocop," according to a number of statements by top officials and defense planners.
While preparing for sharp reductions of forces in Germany, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, military planners are talking about establishing semi-permanent or permanent bases along a giant swathe of global territory increasingly referred to as "the arc of instability," from the Caribbean Basin through Africa to South and Central Asia and across to North Korea.
The latest details, disclosed by the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, include plans to increase US forces in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa across the Red Sea from Yemen, setting up semi-permanent "forward bases" in Algeria, Morocco and possibly Tunisia, and smaller facilities in Senegal, Ghana, and Mali that could be used to intervene in oil-rich west African countries.
Similar bases are being sought or expanded in northern Australia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Kenya, Georgia, Azerbaijan, throughout Central Asia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Qatar, Vietnam and Iraq.
(SNIP)
The emerging Pentagon doctrine, founded mainly on the works of Arthur Cebrowski, chief of the Pentagon's Office of Force Transformation, and Thomas Barnett of the Naval War College, argues that the dangers against which US forces must be arrayed derive precisely from countries and region that are "disconnected" from the prevailing trends of economic globalization.
(SNIP)
The challenges in fighting terrorist networks are to "get them where they live" in the arc of instability and prevent them from spreading their influence into what Barnett calls "seam states" located between the Gap and the Core.
Such seam states, he says, include Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Greece, Turkey, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. These seam states, logic suggests, should play critical roles that would presumably include providing forward bases for interventions in the Gap. At the same time, if states "loosen their ties" to the global economy, "bloodshed will follow. If you are lucky, so will American troops."
On the eve of the war in Iraq, Barnett predicted that taking Baghdad would not be about settling old scores or enforcing disarmament of illegal weapons. Rather, he wrote, it "will mark a historic tipping point the moment when Washington takes real ownership of strategic security in the age of globalization."
Observers will note that Barnett's arc of instability corresponds well to regions of great oil, gas, and mineral wealth, a reminder again of Wolfowitz's 1992 draft study, which asserted that the key objective of US strategy should be "to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power."
3//Institute for War and Peace Reporting (ARR No. 64, 13-Jun-03)
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/arr/arr_200306_64_2_eng.txt
INSTABILITY THREATENS RECONSTRUCTION
Efforts to rebuild Afghanistan are being undermined by warlordism
and the resurgence of the Taleban
By Christopher Langton in London
(Christopher Langton is head of the defence analysis department and
Russia/CIS Research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic
Studies.)
Despite considerable international efforts to bring about sufficient stability to allow the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan, the security situation is a long way from allowing this to happen.
The re-emergence of the Taleban and the continuing attempts by former Northern Alliance leaders to forge their own paths in defiance of central government are making a secure future more difficult to foresee.
The Taleban, supported by the equally extreme Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have returned to the fray, enjoying relative freedom of movement as they conduct increasingly bold operations from the border areas with Pakistan.
The frontier has never been recognised by local Pashtun tribes and is an area in which Pakistan's security forces have difficulty operating. The latter have deployed there just once in the 55 years since partition. That was this spring following a request from the US that they act against suspected Taleban elements gathering there.
But further cooperation is unlikely given the hostility of the local population and the sporadic exchanges of fire between Taleban elements and US troops on the Afghan side of the border, as well as occasional clashes between US and Pakistani forces.
Meanwhile, the MMA government of the North-West Frontier Province voted to introduce Islamic law on June 2, thereby giving impetus to re-Talebanisation in the area. Baluchistan, which also has an MMA leadership, may soon follow suit.
(SNIP)
Away from the troubled southern regions, there is a different, but just as complex security problem. The transitional government holds some sway around Kabul and to the north, but President Hamed Karzai's authority is far from complete.
Former Northern Alliance commanders such as Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Abdul Rashid Dostum still have vested interests in their areas of the country.
(SNIP)
In Herat, Ismail Khan flouts central governmental rule, and has established his own cross border tariff regime with the Iranians. He has also reintroduced some restrictions on women's rights.
Moreover, there are the telltale signs of partisan support by neighbouring states to individual warlords and Afghan leaders. It is reported that Dostum has received assistance from Turkey and Uzbekistan. Russia is believed to have given support to Fahim. And Iran is helping Khan.
(SNIP)
The estimated total of the non-state armed militia groups loyal to warlords is 200,000. It is these groups principally which should be disarmed under the UN New Beginnings Programme. However, there is a crucial weakness in this programme, which is that the sum it offers for an AK-47 is 10 US dollars lower than the market rate. Moreover, the employment opportunities for those fighters disarmed and demobilised are sadly lacking.
Then there is the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, which has done good work in stabilising Kabul. However, despite the best efforts of Karzai to get an expanded mandate for the western military operation, there is no sign of this happening so far. Moreover, it seems unlikely that it will happen, as that would mean a greater contribution of manpower and funds from donor countries, which believe they are doing their bit already.
With all these negative signs on the security front, reconstruction efforts are severely hampered. It is hard for building companies, NGOs and others to operate without the requisite stability. And these uncertainties, in turn, create an environment ideal for the Taleban as well as warlords.
(SNIP)
In conclusion, Afghanistan's security situation is reverting very much to type. The race to bring the country to some kind of normality is being lost. Despite the best efforts of the international community, the vested interests of militaristic individuals and the fervour of extremists are still the more potent force.
It is notable that many of the aforementioned have been around ever since the war against the Soviet occupiers. These include Hekmatyar, Dostum, and Ismail Khan amongst others. And these leopards are unlikely to change their spots very easily or quickly.
4//The Sydney Morning Herald June 16 2003
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/15/1055615675186.html
JUDGE PAVES THE WAY FOR FLOOD OF GULF WAR ILLNESS CLAIMS
By Richard Norton-Taylor in London
Britain's High Court has upheld a claim by an army veteran that he is entitled to a pension because he suffers from a syndrome linked to his service in the 1991 Gulf War.
The case was brought by Shaun Rusling, a former medic in the Parachute Regiment who has struggled for nine years to get Britain's Ministry of Defence to recognise Gulf War syndrome. The ruling could open the way to pensions being awarded to hundreds of other veterans who say their illnesses are related to their service in the conflict.
(SNIP)
The claim was supported last year by the War Pensions Appeal Tribunal, which referred to a Gulf War syndrome attributable to military service.
The Ministry of Defence accepted Mr Rusling suffered from the symptoms he complained about, but it described them as "symptoms and signs of ill-defined conditions". It accepted evidence that Gulf War veterans suffered more illnesses than other comparable groups but insisted that no one knew the causes.
The judge in the case said he had no evidence the syndrome existed as a "single disease entity". He ruled against the Ministry of Defence on the grounds that it could not ignore the pensions tribunal by giving its own label to the symptoms.
He said the ministry admitted Mr Rusling was disabled and that this was due to military service.
(MORE)
5//The Independent 15 June 2003
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=415596
MPs TO NAME AND SHAME ROGUE NEWSPAPER EDITORS
By Jo Dillon, Deputy Political Editor
Newspapers will be named and shamed tomorrow in a league table of violations against the code governing the conduct of the press.
A powerful select committee of MPs will take the innovative step of listing the worst-offending editors and publications as they call for more rigorous controls and sanctions to be applied to the press, including fines for any breach of the Press Complaints Commission code.
The report, published by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, follows claims that the PCC is not an effective rein on the press. Critics cite the £50,000 damages awarded to the Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox after intrusive pictures of her on honeymoon were printed by The People, and the News of the World's role in a "sting" involving a supposed plot to kidnap the singer Victoria Beckham. Five men were cleared.
There
are also fears that a failure to control "chequebook
journalism" could lead to an escalation in the activities of
people like Nadine Milroy-Sloan, jailed for three years last week
for fabricating rape claims against Neil and Christine Hamilton in
an attempt to make money. The judge in that case criticised the methods
of the News of the World, which paid the woman £50,000 for
her story.
(SNIP)
Though the recommendations will be made to the Government, ministers have already signalled an unwillingness to amend the controversial Communications Bill - currently going through the House of Lords - to bring in new powers for the PCC.
(MORE)
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©2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm
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