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| September 24, 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. * * * 1/Asia Times Online, Hong Kong-THE ROVING EYE: HOT OFF THE PRESS (Abdo Satar al-Chaalan, chairman of the weekly newspaper al-Mustaki (The Independent) - the self-described "spokesman of the Iraqi resistance" - proudly recalls the five times that he was arrested by Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1970s, as a member of an opposition party. He has already been arrested once by the Americans, and another arrest may be just around the corner...Al-Mustakil believes that the resistance will keep growing - spreading to the whole country. "Iran is saying to the Americans that if you press us with nuclear issues, we are going to tell the Shi'ites in Iraq to start resisting. Iran is saying 'leave us alone'. One word from al-Hawza [the powerful Shi'ite clergy, seated in Najaf] would be enough to launch a jihad. If the situation continues like this, al-Hawza will say the word. And the Americans know it.") 2//Times of India, India--NO TROOPS TO IRAQ, SAYS FERNANDES (The Iraqi situation is ''very complex'' and ''there is virtually no UN role in Iraq as on today''. Unless these matters are resolved, India ''cannot think of sending its troops to Iraq'', said Fernandes, in an interview to Doordarshan... Declaring that terrorism was the biggest challenge facing India today, Fernandes said intrusions across the Line of Control (LoC) were ''still continuing''. Replying to a question on the proposed Indo-US-Israeli axis against terrorism, Fernandes said this idea had been floated recently. ''When one of the countries in this axis (the US) has close links with Pakistan, which is the foremost country sponsoring terrorism, the axis does not seem feasible,'' said Fernandes.) 3//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--DEFENSE MINISTER TALKS DISPATCH (Defense Minister Cho Yung-gil said Tuesday that if Seoul dispatched troops to Iraq the annual cost of the endeavor would be about W200 billion ($170 million). Cho, speaking before the defense committee of the National Assembly, said that the decision on whether to send troops should be made by Oct. 25, when an annual meeting on security between Korea and the U.S is scheduled to be held.) 4//The Moscow Times, Russia--ENERGY SUMMIT FUELS U.S. PROMISES ("We all recognize a simple truth. Russia will be an important player in the global energy market," U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans told a packed house of some 500 executives and officials from both countries Monday...Leading up to the summit, the oil world was abuzz with reports that either ChevronTexaco or ExxonMobil would agree to pay up to $11 billion for 25 percent of Yukos, Russia's largest oil producer. All three of the companies, however, would neither deny nor confirm the reports, adding to speculation that something big was in the works...The "language and the tone" of the summit are consistent "with the talk of big transactions within a defined period of time," said Stephen Jennings, CEO and founder of Renaissance Capital, a leading Moscow investment bank.) 5//The Independent, UK--BLAIR FACES MOTION AT CONFERENCE TO RESIGN (Labour sources said yesterday that the party in Brent, north London, would table an emergency motion at Labour's annual conference in Bournemouth next week calling for a leadership contest. Some members have complained that the Labour campaign was "taken over" by figures from the party's national headquarters.) * * * 1//Asia
Times Online September 24, 2003 The Roving Eye BAGHDAD - Abdo Satar al-Chaalan, chairman of the weekly newspaper al-Mustaki (The Independent) - the self-described "spokesman of the Iraqi resistance" - proudly recalls the five times that he was arrested by Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1970s, as a member of an opposition party. He has already been arrested once by the Americans, and another arrest may be just around the corner. "After the invasion," says Chaalan, "I decided to set up a newspaper," along with lawyer and chief editor Abdel Hamid Dhari. "Al-Mustakil" is totally self-financed. "It's the first Iraqi paper which is not sponsored. That's why many people are against us," says Chaalan. The first edition was printed on May 15, now 5,000 copies go out into the Baghdad area every week. Including writers, editors and volunteers - nobody gets a salary - there's a staff of around 50. After a few editions, al-Mustakil became the talk of the town. It had some daring photos on the front page of mujahideen veiled by their keffieh (scarves) pleading resistance against the occupation. Both Chalaan and Dhari are from Falluja - the heart of Iraqi resistance. But the paper stopped short of calling for armed struggle. US proconsul L Paul Bremer obviously didn't like it: any media in the new Iraq critical of the occupation is accused by Bremer of "incitement to violence". So on July 21 the Americans came in full force to the white house off Saadoun St. "Sixty armed soldiers, two Humvees, two Iraqi police cars," recalls Chaalan. "I was arrested. They took computers, disks, printers, everything. They took me to the police college, with my hands tied. I spent two weeks in a jail cell, with another 150 prisoners, mostly looters." Chaalan was never interrogated, not even once, in those two weeks. Finally, he says that an Iraqi judge came to see him. Chaalan was inevitably accused of being a Ba'ath Party member. The judge found nothing, and Chalaan was released. As a result, al-Mustakil was closed for two months. Now it's back with a vengeance. The latest edition of September 20 carries five photos on the front page and a full account on page 4 of the Americans smashing into their office. Chaalan and Dhari are crucial characters in the sense that they are intimately close to the eyes and the ears of the Iraqi popular resistance. "Any Iraqi who is loyal to the country does not agree with the occupation, under whatever name. UN forces will work under orders of the Americans, so we are against them all." Chaalan says that Iraqis would agree with UN forces, blue helmets, but not under American command. Their solution to the quagmire: "The American military leave Iraq, the UN comes with a multinational force." Al-Mustakil is positioned remarkably like the slain Swedish foreign minister, Anna Lindh, who just days before being murdered in a Stockholm department store this month was saying that "you cannot have a situation where the US remains in control over what happens in Iraq and at the same time others have to move in and take care of security and reconstruction". Chaalan draws the inevitable parallel with Palestine. "Palestine is occupied. Iraq as well. It's the same kind of resistance. Only five months after the war, the Americans started suffering, and asked the UN for help. We will resist, even if it is for a hundred years." Chaalan and Dhari simply can't believe the existence of Executive Order 13315, signed by US President George W Bush on August 28, which in fact places Iraq's state assets under the total control of the US Treasury: by all means the institutionalization of the looting of Iraq, under the banner of "Iraqi reconstruction". "It's not legal," says Dhari, "because nobody in Iraqi was consulted. When the Americans are gone, this paper means nothing." With this order in the bag, the Bush administration shouldn't lose much in case it is forced to hand over just a little control of Iraq to the UN. Al-Mustakil expresses a widely-held view in Iraq: Saddam remains an American agent. He was secretly negotiating with the Americans, even during the war. And he remains under American protection. "[Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld stayed in Tikrit for 24 hours in his recent visit. Why?" Dhari lists oil as only one of the main reasons for war. The other major reason is redrawing the Middle East map. He mentions [Israeli Premier] Ariel Sharon's visit to India. "There will be a new security triangle [Israel, Iraq and India]. And Iraq will be the sponsor of this triangle with its oil." Al-Mustakil is very much aware that for the Bush administration the main thing in Iraq is to privatize Iraq's oil, privatize Iraq's economy and to get the big US corporations in. There's no concern as to how the country will be run. Al-Mustakil considers the recent Iraq privatization announcement in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates by Iraq's "unknown" finance minister a sham: "Iraq was sold." This means that most, if not all, of the 25 members of the American-appointed Governing Council are not honest: "Most of them don't even have Iraqi nationality. They are privatizing everything except the oil, because the oil already belongs to America." (SNIP) (MORE)
NO TROOPS TO IRAQ, SAYS FERNANDES NEW DELHI: Ahead of Prime Minister Vajpayee's meeting with US President George Bush in New York, defence minister George Fernandes on Tuesday said the situation in Iraq was ''not conducive'' for sending Indian troops to the war-ravaged country for ''security reasons''. Moreover, as the Army is actively involved in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East, their presence is ''more essential here than anywhere else'', said Fernandes. The Iraqi situation is ''very complex'' and ''there is virtually no UN role in Iraq as on today''. Unless these matters are resolved, India ''cannot think of sending its troops to Iraq'', said Fernandes, in an interview to Doordarshan. The minister, however, made it clear that despite India not sending troops to Iraq, there was no ''ill-will'' between Washington and New Delhi. Declaring that terrorism was the biggest challenge facing India today, Fernandes said intrusions across the Line of Control (LoC) were ''still continuing''. Replying to a question on the proposed Indo-US-Israeli axis against terrorism, Fernandes said this idea had been floated recently. ''When one of the countries in this axis (the US) has close links with Pakistan, which is the foremost country sponsoring terrorism, the axis does not seem feasible,'' said Fernandes. (MORE)
DEFENSE MINISTER TALKS DISPATCH Defense Minister Cho Yung-gil said Tuesday that if Seoul dispatched troops to Iraq the annual cost of the endeavor would be about W200 billion ($170 million). Cho, speaking before the defense committee of the National Assembly, said that the decision on whether to send troops should be made by Oct. 25, when an annual meeting on security between Korea and the U.S is scheduled to be held. Regarding the size of a possible dispatch, Cho said that Washington had officially asked through the Foreign Ministry to send a brigade including the divisional headquarters, citing Poland's as an example. The media has speculated that the size could be 10,000-15,000 troops. But the United States has not officially proposed any number, Cho added. (MORE)
ENERGY SUMMIT FUELS U.S. PROMISES ST. PETERSBURG -- If last year's buzzword was "dialogue," this year's was surely "partnership." It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but unlike the get-to-know-you session in Texas last year, the second annual U.S.-Russia energy summit in St. Petersburg has more of an imperial air to it, more of a feeling of urgency. "We all recognize a simple truth. Russia will be an important player in the global energy market," U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans told a packed house of some 500 executives and officials from both countries Monday. "You cannot help realize what a powerful thing this partnership between these two countries can be," Evans said. Although a few significant deals were announced on the first day of the two-day affair, it was the rumble of even bigger deals in the making that dominated hallway conversations. A year ago, oil-rich Iraq was still pumping considerable amounts of crude, America had yet to articulate its strategy to combat its chronic shortage of liquefied natural gas, and the British hadn't trumped its global rivals via BP's record $7.7 billion play for half of TNK. And with the Saudis, Germans, Italians, French, Japanese and Chinese increasingly anxious to get a slice of the vast Russian hydrocarbon pie, Washington needs to act fast if it is to secure future energy supplies from its former Cold War foe. "You will see more and more [U.S.] companies coming to this country," Evans said, naming the familiar list of oil majors with a major interest in Russia: ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips and Marathon. If anyone knows, Evans should. Like his boss, U.S. President George W. Bush, Evans has spent a considerable part of his life in the oil business. "And if this event had taken place 26 years ago, President Bush and I might have been in this crowd," he said. Leading up to the summit, the oil world was abuzz with reports that either ChevronTexaco or ExxonMobil would agree to pay up to $11 billion for 25 percent of Yukos, Russia's largest oil producer. All three of the companies, however, would neither deny nor confirm the reports, adding to speculation that something big was in the works. "I've said on several occasions that we are constantly holding talks with all international oil companies, Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky told journalists. "We'll consider any good offer," he said, adding that there was no chance that journalists could "milk any more words" out of him on the subject. But the very real possibility of a U.S. supermajor rerating the Russian market by paying a huge premium for a blocking stake in a company under siege by prosecutors kept discussions lively. (See story, Page 5.) The "language and the tone" of the summit are consistent "with the talk of big transactions within a defined period of time," said Stephen Jennings, CEO and founder of Renaissance Capital, a leading Moscow investment bank. (SNIP) Unlike last year's summit, which was dominated by oil, natural gas is playing a leading role this time around. Evans said the dynamics of the liquefied natural gas market and growing U.S. demand have combined to create "vast opportunities" for the two nations to cooperate in the sector. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said that America was counting on Russia's emerging LNG industry to satisfy booming U.S. demand. And on Monday, Gazprom said it planned to strike a deal with a U.S. company by the end of the year for a joint project to build a $10 billion LNG facility to tap the massive Shtokman field, which is estimated to contain 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. (SNIP) Energy Minister Igor Yusufov said the government is trying to woo U.S. companies into helping it create a special fleet for transporting LNG, as well as the technologies for LNG production itself. Russia so far has no facilities to produce LNG. But even before Russian gas hits U.S. shores, Russia's gas industry is blazing a trail into the world's largest economy, said Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref. Gref said Stroitransgaz, a Gazprom affiliate, will sign a contract during the summit to build a gas pipeline in the United States, although he offered no further details. (MORE)
BLAIR FACES MOTION AT CONFERENCE TO RESIGN Grassroots members of the Labour Party in Brent East want to oust Tony Blair as Prime Minister because of the party's surprise defeat in last week's by-election. Labour sources said yesterday that the party in Brent, north London, would table an emergency motion at Labour's annual conference in Bournemouth next week calling for a leadership contest. Some members have complained that the Labour campaign was "taken over" by figures from the party's national headquarters. When Labour is in power, a leadership contest can be triggered only by the conference voting for one by a simple majority on a card vote. Other local parties are also expected to submit emergency motions calling for a leadership election. The Labour hierarchy is expected to ensure that the motion is not debated. The trade unions hold 50 per cent of the conference votes and, while some have been critical of Mr Blair, there is little stomach for a divisive leadership contest. "People may want a different leader and different policies, but very few want six months of self-flagellation," said one left-winger. "It would be mutually assured destruction." (MORE) | |||||
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