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| November 19, 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. * * * WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR NOVEMBER 19, 2003 1//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--US EXIT MAY LEAD TO IRAQI CIVIL WAR (As the insurgency ran amok, Bremer last week realised he had crashed into the brick wall of Iraqi politicking. Try as he might, he could not get the Iraqi Governing Council, hand-picked by Washington, to complete the simple task of appointing a panel to draft a national constitution. The Shiites, a 60-plus per cent majority in Iraq, had dug in their heels, insisting that membership of the panel should be by election. Needless to say, they knew they had the numbers... The American collapse was a staggering win for the Shiites...It seems that many of us who rated the exile-dominated council as ineffectual misjudged it - what was seen as an inability to transact any business now seems to have been a stubborn refusal, which has forced Bush and Bremer deeper into the dangerous "don't know" territory that has bedevilled their Iraq adventure.) 2//The Independent, UK--UN ORDERS AFGHAN RETREAT TO PROTECT
AID STAFF (The United Nations refugee agency began pulling
foreign staff out of southern and eastern Afghanistan yesterday
- a decision that could hit tens of thousands of Afghans
- after a French aid worker was killed. Thirty foreign
workers were being withdrawn, and refugee centres in the
provinces of Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost and Kandahar were
being closed...) 4//The
Moscow Times, Russia--YUKOS, MARKET SUFFER NEW HITS (The
Duma, meanwhile, passed new measures that swept
aside limits on duties on oil product exports that Yukos
had lobbied for in its more powerful days. Instead, in
a move that will allow the government to tighten control
over exports and that comes just one day after President
Vladimir Putin slammed the limits, the government was granted
free rein to impose stiffer duties on these products...
Despite repeated assurances from the Kremlin that the five-month
legal assault against Yukos is a one-off affair, investors
just are not buying it anymore, analysts said. "Investors
are not prepared to trust anyone in this market, including
Putin," said Roland Nash, chief equity strategist
at Renaissance Capital. "Putin looks like he's giving
different signals to different people.) * * * 1//The
Sydney Morning Herald November 19, 2003 US EXIT MAY LEAD TO IRAQI CIVIL WAR Even as more Americans die and their Black Hawks are picked off like sparrows, Washington is hatching an exit strategy - an instant plan to cut US troop numbers in Iraq and to have Iraqis run their own country. Lately, US President George Bush, who arrives in Britain this morning Sydney time for a state visit, has been spinning his wheels. He has slid from asking Americans to "support our troops", a cover for the questionable means by which he landed an army in Iraq, to talking about thousands of troops coming home in the northern spring, a foil for the realisation that Iraq is not an easy land to tame. Last weekend Bush humiliated his proconsul in Baghdad, Paul Bremer, when he dumped the "seven steps to sovereignty" plan, where the combat-booted Bremer controlled Iraq for as long as it took to teach Iraqis about democracy, after which they would be allowed to elect their own government. But there is a risk that Bush's plans for a quick getaway ahead of next year's US presidential election may set the scene for civil war in post-Saddam Iraq. The Pentagon says it must be allowed to control Iraq's security forces, even with a provisional government in place. But fresh from the victory of Washington's cave-in, some members of the existing Iraqi Governing Council want a significantly reduced security brief for the US. Council members believe the proposed provisional government, to be appointed by June next year, should control counter-insurgency. Some of its members argue that Iraqi Kurdish forces in the north and the Shiite militias in the south could be used to undermine the Sunni fighters from the centre. Others insist the Americans be confined to guard duty on Iraq's border and at oil facilities. All that sounds like the civil war Washington said would never happen during the fierce international debate that preceded its invasion of Iraq in March this year. The Sunnis are already stirring the pot, claiming the Shiites want to impose an Iranian-style theocracy, and the Kurds are wary they might be caught by these two in a pincer grip. The question now is to what the extent the US will be able to control the process if it surrenders power to a provisional government, changing its own status from that of all-powerful occupation force to mere invited guest. (SNIP) As the insurgency ran amok, Bremer last week realised he had crashed into the brick wall of Iraqi politicking. Try as he might, he could not get the Iraqi Governing Council, hand-picked by Washington, to complete the simple task of appointing a panel to draft a national constitution. The Shiites, a 60-plus per cent majority in Iraq, had dug in their heels, insisting that membership of the panel should be by election. Needless to say, they knew they had the numbers. The American collapse was a staggering win for the Shiites, whose most revered leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has remained aloof from the political squabbling - with the powerful exception of a fatwah in which he decreed that the membership of any constitutional convention must be by popular election. It seems that many of us who rated the exile-dominated council as ineffectual misjudged it - what was seen as an inability to transact any business now seems to have been a stubborn refusal, which has forced Bush and Bremer deeper into the dangerous "don't know" territory that has bedevilled their Iraq adventure. (MORE)
UN ORDERS AFGHAN RETREAT TO PROTECT AID STAFF The United Nations refugee agency began pulling foreign staff out of southern and eastern Afghanistan yesterday - a decision that could hit tens of thousands of Afghans - after a French aid worker was killed. Thirty foreign workers were being withdrawn, and refugee centres in the provinces of Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost and Kandahar were being closed, said Filippo Grandi, the chief of mission in Afghanistan at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He said: "We will review the situation after two weeks." The withdrawal follows a series of attacks on the UN including the drive-by killing on Sunday of Bettina Goislard, 20, who worked for the UNHCR. She was travelling through a bazaar in a clearly marked UN vehicle in Ghazni, 60 miles south-west of the capital, Kabul. On the same day, a UN vehicle was attacked in Paktia, while a car bomb exploded outside UN offices in Kandahar on 11 November, injuring two people. (MORE)
SAUDI RULERS DRAW THE WRONG LINE BANGALORE - Following the bomb attack on a residential complex in Riyadh on November 8, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd pledged "to strike with an iron fist whoever tries to violate the security of the country or its stability". The announcement, far from reassuring Saudi citizens, has evoked concern; for in the name of crushing terrorism, the Saudi regime is said to be cracking down on activists demanding political reform as well. (SNIP) It is likely that the measures the regime will now employ to crush the terrorists will be far more ruthless than those used over the past six months. There are fears that the "iron fist" that King Fahd has vowed to use could end up crushing the nascent movement for political reform in Saudi Arabia. (SNIP) Prince Nayif is the Saudi Minister of the Interior, head of the intelligence services and chief of police. He has used the "threat of terrorism in Saudi Arabia" to rule out reform at present, arguing that "the current circumstances are not conducive to raising or speaking about such matters." He has stressed that security is the most important issue before Saudi Arabia today and that change must not be achieved at the expense of stability. Prince Nayif has used the terrorist attacks of May and November to give urgency and priority to the issue of security rather than political reform. He has interpreted the meaning of security to mean stability. In the process of cracking down on terrorist cells, he has ordered the arrest of scores of political activists who are demanding political reform and challenging the grip of the monarchy. He has unleashed the powers he has as chief of intelligence and police to undermine the reformist movement. It is therefore likely that the current "threat from terrorism" and the aggressive security campaign that is under way in Saudi Arabia will further slow down the already glacial pace at which the royals were addressing the reform issue. This will only strengthen the hand of extremists like al-Qaeda. (MORE)
YUKOS, MARKET SUFFER NEW HITS Russia's embattled new oil king, YukosSibneft, took a series of hits Tuesday that echoed throughout an already jittery market, pushing the benchmark RTS index to its lowest level in three months. The Finance Ministry, the Audit Chamber, the State Duma and a Moscow court dealt the blows, which could cost the company up to $650 million in taxes next year and could even lead to its breakup. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin forwarded a new resolution to revoke regional tax breaks widely used by both companies six months ahead of schedule. And the Audit Chamber said it has uncovered tax evasion by Sibneft in 2001 and 2002. The budget watchdog's chief of relations with state authorities, Vyacheslav Smirnov, said the chamber has passed on the evidence to the Tax Ministry and the State Customs Committee. The Duma, meanwhile, passed new measures that swept aside limits on duties on oil product exports that Yukos had lobbied for in its more powerful days. Instead, in a move that will allow the government to tighten control over exports and that comes just one day after President Vladimir Putin slammed the limits, the government was granted free rein to impose stiffer duties on these products. Adding further to the pressure, a Moscow court agreed to hear a suit Dec. 11 against the Anti-Monopoly Ministry's approval of the Yukos-Sibneft merger. Despite repeated assurances from the Kremlin that the five-month legal assault against Yukos is a one-off affair, investors just are not buying it anymore, analysts said. "Investors are not prepared to trust anyone in this market, including Putin," said Roland Nash, chief equity strategist at Renaissance Capital. "Putin looks like he's giving different signals to different people. (MORE)
BLOODY BATTLE FOR OIL AT HEART OF SUDAN PEACE TALKS Julie Flint Although some of the differences over wealth-sharing have been narrowed, and the warring parties have agreed to establish a Petroleum Commission to address the needs of people living in areas of oil exploitation, the division of Sudan's oil revenue remains an area of disagreement. Oil accounts for 43 percent of the country's income. But the only production to date is from fields in southern Sudan and the southern rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) are reportedly asking for 60 percent of all proceeds from oil - substantially more than the Khartoum government is believed to be offering. Other southern groups not involved in the negotiations want as much as 75 percent. The issue of wealth-sharing will be discussed against the backdrop of publication, on Nov. 25, of a 754-page critique of international involvement in oil exploration and production. The report by the US-based human rights organization Human Rights Watch, Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights, is expected to recommend that foreign companies suspend their operations until steps are taken, by the companies and the government of Sudan, to end the abuses that surround the exploration and production of oil. (MORE) |
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