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| November 5, 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--AFGHAN ALLIES TURN ENEMIES (Almost two years since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's writ barely runs in the country. While in the Pashtun-dominated south his government remains under pressure from a resurgent Taliban, the situation in the north, though less reported by the media, is far from secure. In the northern provinces it is not the Taliban who are stirring trouble, but militias, which in some cases are nominally loyal to the government.) 2//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--DELEGATES OFF TO U.S. FOR DISPATCH TALKS (A high-level South Korean delegation left for Washington on Tuesday for talks with U.S. officials regarding Washington's request that Seoul send additional forces to Iraq...Reportedly, Seoul plans to propose during the meeting that it send 3,000 soldiers, comprising infantry, medical, engineering, communications and transportation personnel. But the figure could change according to the results of the consultations.) 3//The Moscow Times, Russia--PRESIDENT FLIES INTO FIRESTORM IN ROME (President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday moved to calm growing unease in Europe over the jailing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, saying he considers the tycoon "innocent until proven guilty" and that he is "categorically opposed" to overturning the privatizations of the mid-1990s. Putin, speaking to Italian journalists before flying off to Rome to meet with Pope John Paul II and attend the EU-Russia summit, admitted that some officials may have been a little over-zealous in their attack of Khodorkovsky and his Yukos empire...Reiterating his dictatorship-of-the-law line, Putin said the Yukos investigation was "nothing extraordinary" and likened it to the recent corporate scandals in America, including Enron. He also hit back at the United States for what the Foreign Ministry has called Washington's "double standards.") 4//The Independent, UK--MURDOCH SEEKS TO CALM INVESTOR FEARS (James Murdoch was today preparing to meet key investors in BSkyB in an effort to quell the growing storm of protest surrounding his appointment as chief executive of the company. The 30-year-old former Star TV chief takes over from Tony Ball as head of the pay-TV giant today with major investors in the company furiously claiming they "can't live" with the prospect of a father and son management team with Rupert Murdoch as chairman..."He [James] is now in charge of a £13bn plc which Mr Murdoch does not own. He owns 35% of it. The rest of us own the majority of it and although he may do quite a good job because his father's going to hold his hand all the time, what it means is that no matter how smart you are, no matter how good you are at BSkyB - if your name is not Murdoch you don't get the top job." 5//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--KINGDOM FEARS SHORTAGE OF SAND (Perhaps surprisingly, Bahrain is short of sand. Very short. So dire is its need that the country's construction industry is casting around for sources to import the rare commodity. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia has banned export of sand and started strict checks on the borders. Increased construction activity in the Eastern Province has already put several construction materials on the endangered list, and the authorities fear that if sand continues to trickle into foreign markets, very soon a shortage will be felt here as well.) * * * 1//Asia
Times Online November 5, 203 AFGHAN ALLIES TURN ENEMIES BANGALORE - Almost two years since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's writ barely runs in the country. While in the Pashtun-dominated south his government remains under pressure from a resurgent Taliban, the situation in the north, though less reported by the media, is far from secure. In the northern provinces it is not the Taliban who are stirring trouble, but militias, which in some cases are nominally loyal to the government. As for the situation in Kabul - where the government's authority supposedly holds sway - it is said to be worrying. According to the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led International Assistance Security Force (ISAF), Lieutenant-General Gotz Gliemeroth, a "new species" of well-trained terrorists have infiltrated Kabul. Intelligence reports suggest that the terrorists are from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and come from the Russian republic of Chechnya. Meanwhile, thousands of young men are said to be swelling the ranks of the Taliban. According to Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani specialist on Afghan affairs, around 2,500 Taliban fighters are waiting in Balochistan (Pakistan) to cross into Afghanistan before the onset of winter. The Taliban are said to have bought 900 motorcycles in the past three months in the Quetta region, and another 250 in Loralai. Taliban fighters on motorcycles roam Afghanistan's rural areas attacking aid agency vehicles and isolated police posts, Rashid writes. An upsurge in Taliban attacks has resulted in the death of at least 400 Afghan soldiers, aid workers and civilians and four American soldiers since August. But even as the international media remain focused on the deteriorating security situation in the south, fierce fighting between rivals in the northern areas is emerging as another serious problem. Early last month, troops loyal to General Abdul Rashid Dostum clashed with fighters close to General Ustad Atta Mohammad. The skirmishes took place around the town of Fayzabad, 60 kilometers west of Mazar-e-Sharif. About 50 people were killed. Ironically, Dostum and Atta Mohammed are on the same side in the larger war in Afghanistan. Both are nominally loyal to the Karzai government, and control large forces that formally come under Defense Minister Mohammed Qasim Fahim. (MORE)
DELEGATES OFF TO U.S. FOR DISPATCH TALKS Officials from the two countries will meet Wednesday and Thursday to exchange views on Seoul's deployment plans and discuss the number and type of South Korean troops to be dispatched to the Middle Eastern country. Later this month, defense chiefs from each country are supposed to reach a final agreement on these matters at the annual Security Consultative Meeting, to be held in Seoul. (SNIP) Reportedly, Seoul plans to propose during the meeting that it send 3,000 soldiers, comprising infantry, medical, engineering, communications and transportation personnel. But the figure could change according to the results of the consultations. A government official also signaled that the final outline of the troop dispatch would be given only after the annual Security Consultative Meeting. "The size of the dispatch will be determined based on the outcome of the second Iraq investigation team's field study and the result of the SCM to be held on Nov. 17 and 18 in Seoul," he said.
PRESIDENT FLIES INTO FIRESTORM IN ROME President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday moved to calm growing unease in Europe over the jailing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, saying he considers the tycoon "innocent until proven guilty" and that he is "categorically opposed" to overturning the privatizations of the mid-1990s. Putin, speaking to Italian journalists before flying off to Rome to meet with Pope John Paul II and attend the EU-Russia summit, admitted that some officials may have been a little over-zealous in their attack of Khodorkovsky and his Yukos empire. Putin's attempts to limit the political fallout over the Oct. 25 arrest of Khodorkovsky and subsequent sequestering of 40 percent of his oil giant's shares came as Brussels warned that the affair could affect relations between the EU and Russia. The European Commission issued a statement saying it intended to seek "clarifications" from Putin over his handling of the Yukos affair and that the rule of law was upheld in Russia. (SNIP) Putin, however, seemed well prepared for the grilling he was about to receive in Rome. Putin admitted there is a trend in society supporting a review of privatization, but that "we must not allow events to develop in this negative way." Reiterating his dictatorship-of-the-law line, Putin said the Yukos investigation was "nothing extraordinary" and likened it to the recent corporate scandals in America, including Enron. He also hit back at the United States for what the Foreign Ministry has called Washington's "double standards." "The arrests of [U.S. executives] took place directly in their companies' offices. They put handcuffs on them and showed it all on television. One of the people charged killed himself. For some reason there are no questions raised about what's happening there," Putin said. (MORE)
MURDOCH SEEKS TO CALM INVESTOR FEARS Owen Gibson and Lisa O'Carroll James Murdoch was today preparing to meet key investors in BSkyB in an effort to quell the growing storm of protest surrounding his appointment as chief executive of the company. The 30-year-old former Star TV chief takes over from Tony Ball as head of the pay-TV giant today with major investors in the company furiously claiming they "can't live" with the prospect of a father and son management team with Rupert Murdoch as chairman. One investor said the appointment of Lord Rothschild as a non-executive deputy chairman was not enough to satisfy concerns over the secretive appointment process that many suspect had a pre-determined outcome. Iain Richards of Morely Fund Management told the Financial Times that the "token gesture" of two new non-executive board members was "completely inadequate" and that there needed to be a "spring clean". He called on shareholders to oppose the re-election of eight members of the BSkyB board who are deemed to be too close to Rupert Murdoch, BSkyB or News Corp and clean up pay practices. And Andrew Neil, the former editor of Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times and head of Sky TV when it launched, last night added to the criticism saying that the 72-year-old mogul should take the company private if he was going to run it like a News Corp fiefdom. "The institutions are a bunch of wimps. They usually let people like Murdoch run all over them but maybe this time they may just stand up. "If he thinks his son is good enough to do the job and he wants to put his son in - he should buy the company, he should make an offer for the rest of the 65% of shares and run it like a private company," he told BBC2's Newsnight. "It is not a private company - it's a public company and the danger now is not just that James Murdoch is the chief executive and his father stays chairman. Father and son as chairman and chief executive means that Sky would be run in the interests of News Corp and not Sky." (SNIP) "He [James] is now in charge of a £13bn plc which Mr Murdoch does not own. He owns 35% of it. The rest of us own the majority of it and although he may do quite a good job because his father's going to hold his hand all the time, what it means is that no matter how smart you are, no matter how good you are at BSkyB - if your name is not Murdoch you don't get the top job." (MORE)
KINGDOM FEARS SHORTAGE OF SAND Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia has banned export of sand and started strict checks on the borders. Increased construction activity in the Eastern Province has already put several construction materials on the endangered list, and the authorities fear that if sand continues to trickle into foreign markets, very soon a shortage will be felt here as well. The construction industry is already short of cement and steel. Many cement factories are in the process of expanding their production capacity in order to meet domestic requirements. Export of cement has already declined because of high domestic demand. The fact is that although there is plenty of sand in the desert, transporting and bagging it from far-flung areas is often not economically feasible. Construction industry experts say that if only some kind of mechanism could be evolved to transport sand from areas like the Rub Al-Khali (the Empty Quarter) then it might become a "very profitable proposition." Sand, after all, is more common even than oil in the desert Kingdom. Bahrain, an island neighboring Saudi Arabia, is mostly marshy land and, in its endeavor to expand, city planners have relentlessly been reclaiming land from the sea. From its very beginnings the construction industry in Bahrain depended on sand from Saudi Arabia. The authorities have been soft on traders, and as a result sand has been crossing the border despite a ban on exports. Now, however, the ban is being enforced. (MORE) | |||||
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