July 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//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--BEIJING WEIGHS UP, THEN REJECTS, INVASION OF N KOREA (China asked its military to study a quick intervention in North Korea but decided that its relationship with the United States was more important than propping up the Stalinist state, with which it shares a border. A source in Beijing said the study for a pre-emptive Chinese invasion was ordered by a Chinese Communist Party working group formed in late February under the country's senior leader, Hu Jintao.)

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--SABOTEURS GO FOR IRAQ'S JUGULAR (As Iraq's oil ministry struggles to build production, it has yet to win the confidence of global oil buyers. Analysts say that oil companies remain hesitant to sign contracts to buy Iraqi oil on a steady basis - the mainstay of the oil industry business - until a steady flow of oil is assured. For now, the ministry has been forced to put Iraqi oil up for bid only after the oil has actually been produced and put in storage tanks, rather than taking bids for future production... Iraq's oil infrastructure is an attractive target for saboteurs because it directly undercuts the funding for reconstruction efforts...The saboteurs may also hope that disrupting the oil supply puts political pressure on Washington and London by helping keep world oil prices high. That could make attacks on the pipelines a lever for possibly winning some concessions from the allies if the attacks are pressed hard enough.)

3//The Tehran Times, Iran--TURKISH PM DEFENDS TIES WITH U.S., BUT CAUTIONS WASHINGTON (Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday defended Ankara's ties with the United States after Turkish soldiers were arrested in northern Iraq, but cautioned Washington against by-passing Turkey in the Kurdish-held region..."One should take information directly from its allies," he said. Washington has declined to say why the soldiers were arrested, but the Turkish press has speculated they were suspected of plotting to assassinate the Kurdish governor of Kirkuk.)

4//The News International, Pakistan--PAKISTAN CLOSES KABUL EMBASSY AFTER MOB ATTACK (About 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Kabul for a second straight day on Tuesday to protest against the alleged Pakistani border intrusion that Pakistan has denied. Some of the protesters broke away from the main rally and forced their way into the embassy, witnesses said. Witnesses later saw broken windows, smashed television sets, computers and fans and a partly burnt Pakistani flag. Peacekeepers from Kabul's International Security Assistance Force monitored the situation, a witness said... The protesters later joined the demonstration against the alleged Pakistani incursions led by central bank governor Anwarul Haq Ahady and his Afghan Millat party.)

5//The Mail & Guardian, South Africa--EGYPT, LIBYA HOLD BACK ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS PROTOCOL (Sources within the AU's Executive Council said that Egypt and Libya expressed reservations because the draft was not in line with Islamic Sharia law. The Draft Protocol on the Rights of Women to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights took five years to come before the ministers. It would among other things outlaw female genital mutilation, grant women the vote in all cases, set the minimum age for marriage at 18 and guarantee women the right to inherit and own property.)

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1//The Sydney Morning Herald July 9 2003
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/08/1057430211332.html

BEIJING WEIGHS UP, THEN REJECTS, INVASION OF N KOREA
By Hamish McDonald, Herald Correspondent in Beijing and Tom Allard

China asked its military to study a quick intervention in North Korea but decided that its relationship with the United States was more important than propping up the Stalinist state, with which it shares a border.

A source in Beijing said the study for a pre-emptive Chinese invasion was ordered by a Chinese Communist Party working group formed in late February under the country's senior leader, Hu Jintao.

The result of the study was negative. The People's Liberation Army concluded that although the Chinese-North Korean border was only lightly defended, the Chinese lacked the logistical capability of racing to the demilitarised zone facing South Korea.

"That this kind of thing is being considered in China tells us about the gravity with which this is being regarded in Beijing," said a senior Western diplomat closely following the crisis.

The source said the Chinese working group took the view that China's economic interests in keeping regional stability and co-operative relations with the US far outweighed its strategic stake in North Korea.

Moreover, it is now confident that Korean nationalism would see the Americans off, should the peninsula be reunified under the Seoul Government.

China's role in bringing about a resolution to the nuclear brinkmanship in the Korean peninsula is vital, and its preparedness to accept a democratic, capitalist and unified Korea on its border is a substantial development that will please the West.

But China is yet to be persuaded about other initiatives from the West to curb North Korea's nuclear threat.

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2//Asia Times Online Jul 9, 2003
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EG09Ak02.html

SABOTEURS GO FOR IRAQ'S JUGULAR
By Charles Recknagel
(Reprinted from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

PRAGUE - Resistance to the United States-led authority in Iraq is falling into a clear pattern some three months after the capture of Baghdad and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Most frequently, it takes the form of attacks on US soldiers patrolling Baghdad and areas to the north where concentrations of Ba'ath Party loyalists remain. In the latest of what have become almost daily ambushes of US troops, two soldiers were killed on Monday in separate attacks on their convoys in the capital. Such attacks have killed almost 30 US soldiers since Washington declared on May 1 that major combat was over.

Less frequent, but equally persistent, are attacks by saboteurs on Iraq's energy infrastructure. In past weeks suspected members of the former regime or other anti-coalition groups have hit pipelines to disrupt the operation of power plants in Baghdad and to delay the renewed export of Iraqi crude oil.

Repeated attacks on pipelines carrying crude oil from Iraq's northern oil fields to the main al-Daura refinery in Baghdad caused panic buying of gasoline by motorists in the capital last month. Those attacks, which reduced the refinery to operating at 45 percent capacity, were accompanied by the spreading of anti-American rumors. One rumor was that the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was restricting gasoline supplies to punish ordinary Iraqis for resisting them.

(SNIP)

Walid Khadduri, an oil expert and editor in chief of the Cyprus-based Middle East Economic Survey, said that the widespread looting that took place following the Iraq war "stripped a lot of the fields and refineries and oil installations of equipment and spare parts and material, and this created a big hole in the operations and created the first [production] delay and the first shortfall."

He said that another problem with resuming Iraq's oil exports is the half-dozen pipeline bombings over the past three weeks. "It is possible to fix pipelines in 48 hours, but it disrupts the normal flow of oil and creates havoc in the normalcy of contracts done with customers, because customers expect a steady flow of oil," Khadduri said.

Khadduri said that production in Iraq now stands at about 900,000 barrels per day (bpd). That is just 60 percent of the Iraqi oil ministry's production target of 1.5 million barrels per day by the middle of this month - a quantity that would mark the return of Iraq as a significant oil exporter. Prior to the war, Iraq's production was some 2.5 million bpd.

As Iraq's oil ministry struggles to build production, it has yet to win the confidence of global oil buyers. Analysts say that oil companies remain hesitant to sign contracts to buy Iraqi oil on a steady basis - the mainstay of the oil industry business - until a steady flow of oil is assured. For now, the ministry has been forced to put Iraqi oil up for bid only after the oil has actually been produced and put in storage tanks, rather than taking bids for future production.

Iraq's oil infrastructure is an attractive target for saboteurs because it directly undercuts the funding for reconstruction efforts. Iraq's US-led administration is counting on using the country's oil revenues as the main source of money for reviving the country's economy after more than a decade of UN sanctions.

The saboteurs may also hope that disrupting the oil supply puts political pressure on Washington and London by helping keep world oil prices high. That could make attacks on the pipelines a lever for possibly winning some concessions from the allies if the attacks are pressed hard enough.

(SNIP)

In recent weeks, some evidence has emerged that the sabotage attacks may be part of a plan prepared by Saddam's regime to wage a guerrilla war if it were to be defeated. The New York Times reported late last month that allied officials found an "emergency plan" in Basra dated January 23, which outlined steps including sabotaging power plants and cutting communication lines to undercut any occupying force. The document was marked for distribution to intelligence officers throughout the country.

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3//The Tehran Times Wednesday, July 9, 2003
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=7/9/03&Cat=2&Num=002

TURKISH PM DEFENDS TIES WITH U.S., BUT CAUTIONS WASHINGTON

ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday defended Ankara's ties with the United States after Turkish soldiers were arrested in northern Iraq, but cautioned Washington against by-passing Turkey in the Kurdish-held region.

"When a problem emerges between partners, one tries to resolve it, to compensate for it ... A partnership is not given up as soon as a partner makes a mistake," Erdogan told deputies in parliament.

He was reacting to harsh criticism by the opposition and the media, which said Ankara had responded too mildly to the crisis between the two NATO allies, AFP said. U.S. forces on Friday raided a building used by Turkish special forces in the northern Iraqi town of Sulaymaniyah and arrested 11 soldiers, due to what Washington later said was "reports of disturbing activities that they might have been involved in." The soldiers were freed late Sunday after intense diplomatic contacts between Ankara and Washington, but the Turkish army chief said the incident marked "the biggest crisis of confidence between Turkish and U.S. forces."

The row added to tensions between the two countries, whose ties were already badly bruised after Turkey refused to open up its territory to U.S. troops in the war against Iraq. Erdogan expressed hope that "friends and allies from now on will not act on intelligence supplied by wrong sources."

"One should take information directly from its allies," he said.

Washington has declined to say why the soldiers were arrested, but the Turkish press has speculated they were suspected of plotting to assassinate the Kurdish governor of Kirkuk.

According to other reports, the U.S. was irked by secret Turkish activities to hunt down leaders of Turkish Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, who had allegedly reached a deal with Washington to provide information about Iranian army positions in the border region between Iran and Iraq.

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4//The News International Wednesday July 09, 2003-- Jamaadi-ul-Awwal 08, 1423 A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jul2003-daily/09-07-2003/main/main1.htm

PAKISTAN CLOSES KABUL EMBASSY AFTER MOB ATTACK

Islamabad blames Afghan govt; Karzai apologises to Musharraf on phone; Afghan charge d'affaires summoned to FO to lodge protest

KABUL: Islamabad closed its embassy in Afghanistan in protest after a 500-strong mob, demonstrating against alleged border incursions by Pakistani troops, attacked and ransacked the premises on Tuesday, Ambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand said.

No one was hurt in the violence, which the ambassador blamed on the Afghan government and demanded an apology from Kabul. "I have closed the mission unless the Afghan government compensates, number one; unless the Afghan government apologises, number two; unless the Afghan government gives tangible concrete guarantees for the protection of the mission in the future, the mission will remain closed," he told reporters standing amid smashed glass in the embassy.

About 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Kabul for a second straight day on Tuesday to protest against the alleged Pakistani border intrusion that Pakistan has denied. Some of the protesters broke away from the main rally and forced their way into the embassy, witnesses said. Witnesses later saw broken windows, smashed television sets, computers and fans and a partly burnt Pakistani flag. Peacekeepers from Kabul's International Security Assistance Force monitored the situation, a witness said.

(SNIP)

The protesters later joined the demonstration against the alleged Pakistani incursions led by central bank governor Anwarul Haq Ahady and his Afghan Millat party. Afghan President Hamid Karzai later condemned the incident. "I strongly, strongly, strongly condemn this action," Karzai told a news conference. "Those who committed this act are not the enemies of Pakistan, they are the enemies of Afghanistan, peace in Afghanistan, they are enemies of friendship between Afghanistan and Pakistan," he added. "I will also ask him (Musharraf) for an explanation of what he said some days ago," Karzai earlier told reporters, referring to remarks by Musharraf in which he reportedly said the Kabul government was not in full control of the country and called for greater representation for minorities.

Ambassador Rustam said Musharraf's comments were taken out of context. "The Afghan government created the conditions under which this was made possible," Rustam said, adding they expected to be attacked following a speech by Karzai on Sunday criticising Musharraf's remarks. The ambassador said the attack showed the Afghan government was not even in control of the capital.

(SNIP)

The movement of the Pakistan army to the international border in the Mohmand Agency, was to secure this area which had become a refuge for terrorists and to seal the border, which had been the constant demand also of the Government of Afghanistan. It was regrettable that Pakistani troops within Pakistan's territory had been fired upon by Afghan nationals first within the territory of Pakistan and then from across the border.

Pakistan has informed the Afghan authorities that any differences on this issue could be resolved at the forthcoming meeting of the Tripartite Commission of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US. -Agencies

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5//The Mail & Guardian 08 July 2003 17:25
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=16874

EGYPT, LIBYA HOLD BACK ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS PROTOCOL

Maputo-(Sapa-AFP) Foreign ministers of the African Union (AU) adopted on Tuesday a far-reaching draft protocol on women's rights, but Egypt and Libya attached reservations.

Sources within the AU's Executive Council said that Egypt and Libya expressed reservations because the draft was not in line with Islamic Sharia law.

(SNIP)

The Draft Protocol on the Rights of Women to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights took five years to come before the ministers. It would among other things outlaw female genital mutilation, grant women the vote in all cases, set the minimum age for marriage at 18 and guarantee women the right to inherit and own property.

"Some of these seem basic in Western terms but they are very far reaching in some African societies and amount to a radical change of norms," said an AU official who spoke on condition of anonymity.