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| December 29, 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 DECEMBER 29, 2003 1//The Independent, UK--BISHOP ATTACKS BLAIR AS 'WHITE VIGILANTE' (...In an interview with The Independent, the Right Rev Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, accuses the religious conservatives who back President Bush of espousing "a very strange distortion of Christianity", and calls for the creation of a UN army to settle international disputes. Dr Wright says: "For Bush and Blair to go into Iraq together was like a bunch of white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug dealing. This is not to deny that there's a problem to be sorted, just that they are not credible people to do it.") 2//MENA (Middle East News Agency), Egypt--US COMPANIES RUSH BACK TO LIBYA DESPITE ONGOING SANCTIONS (Libya's recent surprise agreement to abort its programs for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has renewed US commercial interest in the Arab state. Texas-based GlobalNet is likely to be an immediate beneficiary of a US move to liberalize trade ties with the country. Communications service provider Globalnet has been awarded a contract for worldwide termination of voice and data mobile satellite telecommunications traffic originating in Libya. Approval from the US Department of State will be required before service can be initiated, but all of the necessary equipment needed to activate the service has already been put into place at the gateway.) 3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--US DRAWS A BEAD ON PAKISTAN, SAUDI ARABIA (With the United States facing the prospect of continuing difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan in the new year, there are signs that it will adopt an aggressive policy to cut all kinds of supply lines to the guerrilla movements in these countries, starting with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and making no concessions.) 4//The News International, Pakistan--INDIA POSSESSES
50 TO 100 NUCLEAR DEVICES (India has between 50 to
100 nuclear devices and can deliver its nuclear weapons
against targets in Pakistan by French Mirages and Soviet
SU-30 fighter-bombers, and indigenous Agni medium-range
missiles...The Bush administration has not pressed
on this front except to urge stricter Indian controls
over the exports of materials and technology that could
be used for WMD. On the CTBT both Pakistan and India
appear to be on the same page given by the Bush administration's
opposition to the treaty. Both continue to maintain
respective moratoria on testing, but US decisions on
developing new types of nuclear weapons like bunker
busters could have an impact on Indian thinking, the
findings say.) * * * 1//The
Independent 29 December 2003 BISHOP ATTACKS BLAIR AS 'WHITE VIGILANTE' One of Britain's most senior churchmen today accuses Tony Blair and George Bush of acting like "white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug dealing" in an outspoken attack on the war on Iraq. In an interview with The Independent, the Right Rev Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, accuses the religious conservatives who back President Bush of espousing "a very strange distortion of Christianity", and calls for the creation of a UN army to settle international disputes. Dr Wright says: "For Bush and Blair to go into Iraq together was like a bunch of white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug dealing. This is not to deny that there's a problem to be sorted, just that they are not credible people to do it." There was further embarrassment for Mr Blair yesterday when Paul Bremer, the head of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, dismissed as a "red herring" the Prime Minister's claims that "massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories" had already been uncovered in Iraq. (MORE)
US COMPANIES RUSH BACK TO LIBYA DESPITE ONGOING SANCTIONS Libya's recent surprise agreement to abort its programs for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has renewed US commercial interest in the Arab state. Texas-based GlobalNet is likely to be an immediate beneficiary of a US move to liberalize trade ties with the country. Communications service provider Globalnet has been awarded a contract for worldwide termination of voice and data mobile satellite telecommunications traffic originating in Libya. Approval from the US Department of State will be required before service can be initiated, but all of the necessary equipment needed to activate the service has already been put into place at the gateway. "This is a great contract for our company because it's based on our proprietary IP Network, VOIP technology and cost-effective service," said Chairman and CEO of GlobalNet Corporation, Mark T. Wood. In 1979, the US Government declared Libya a "state sponsor of terrorism". The superpower prohibited imports of Libyan crude oil into the United States and expanded the controls on US-origin goods intended for export to Libya. In 1986 , additional economic sanctions were adopted including a total ban on direct import and export trade, commercial contracts, and travel-related activities. (MORE)
US DRAWS A BEAD ON PAKISTAN, SAUDI ARABIA KARACHI - With the United States facing the prospect of continuing difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan in the new year, there are signs that it will adopt an aggressive policy to cut all kinds of supply lines to the guerrilla movements in these countries, starting with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and making no concessions. Pakistan Another bone of contention between Pakistan and the US is Pakistan's remote, mountainous and volatile tribal areas that border Afghanistan and which are acknowledged as a base for the resurgent Taliban. Pakistan has repeatedly promised to control the area, but without any significant results. Indeed, sectors within the Pakistani security apparatus are suspected of actively aiding the Taliban in maintaining their supply lines. To deal with Pakistan, the Washington response in the first stage is to control its nuclear power, and then to create more US bases in Pakistan. This strategy would take Pakistan back to the 1960s, when Pakistan had very limited military and strategic interests in the region, and what there were, were linked to agreements with the US. Saudi Arabia According to a source at the Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia, under strict US State Department directives, the Saudi government prepared a new educational reform package, a copy of which was handed to Washington. It was rejected, with Saudi authorities asked to prepare another one which removes any teachings about jihad and anti-Christian and Jewish sentiment. (SNIP) By clamping down on Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the US hopes to stem support for terrorism at its roots.
INDIA POSSESSES 50 TO 100 NUCLEAR DEVICES ISLAMABAD: India has between 50 to 100 nuclear devices and can deliver its nuclear weapons against targets in Pakistan by French Mirages and Soviet SU-30 fighter-bombers, and indigenous Agni medium-range missiles. It is working on a longer range missile - the Agni plus capable of striking major urban centres in eastern China. India is also aggressively developing a submarine-based delivery system to have the third leg of a nuclear triad. And based on its high-tech nuclear know-how it is on its way to develop a submarine-based launch capability. These are the findings of an Independent Task Force co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society - chaired by former US Ambassador to India Frank G Wisner II, former US Ambassador to Pakistan Nicholas Platt and President of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations Marshall M Bouton. (SNIP) The Bush administration has not pressed on this front except to urge stricter Indian controls over the exports of materials and technology that could be used for WMD. On the CTBT both Pakistan and India appear to be on the same page given by the Bush administration's opposition to the treaty. Both continue to maintain respective moratoria on testing, but US decisions on developing new types of nuclear weapons like bunker busters could have an impact on Indian thinking, the findings say. (MORE)
KREMLIN PLAYING OIL GAME FOR KEEPS News of the July arrest of Yukos co-founder Platon Lebedev was greeted with disbelief and excitement in Saudi Arabia, a kingdom increasingly nervous about losing its market-maker status in the global oil industry to long-time rival Russia. According to a source close to OPEC in Riyadh at the time, the Saudi royal family moved within days of the arrest to capitalize on the apparent sea change in Kremlin policy, approving the first official visit to Moscow by a crown prince in 71 years. "The arrest was seen as confirmation that the Russian government was building a policy independent from the United States," the source said. "Before then, they feared Moscow was boosting oil output at Washington's bidding. They saw a window of opportunity to engage Russia in longer-term co-operation. They saw a sign that Russian government was moving to slow down production growth," he said. "That level of dialogue would not occur if the Arabs did not see Russia as being independent from America." Indeed, through the legal onslaught against Yukos, in particular the jailing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man and its most influential pro-American voice, President Vladimir Putin has clearly defined the new rules of the game. In doing so, Putin is not only increasing the power of the state domestically, he is also repositioning the state geopolitically. As the rest of the nation's oligarchs quake and rush to toe the Kremlin line, the wheels have been set in motion for a shift toward greater state control of business, particularly over the commanding heights of the economy, the peak of which is the oil sector. Putin, it seems clear, is intent on restoring Russia's clout on the world stage, and a key plank in this new plan appears to be nourishing the defense sector with energy revenues, setting the stage for a tectonic shift in the political and economic landscape. (SNIP) Although the official Washington line is that America is worried about what Khodorkovsky's arrest means for democracy in Russia, the question of what it means for oil prices and supplies is not far behind. U.S. President George W. Bush called Putin twice this month to raise concerns about where Russia is headed, according to a senior State Department official. On Dec. 1, Bush called to express concerns about whether the rule of law was being used selectively. Then, after pro-Western, pro-market parties collapsed in the Dec. 7 State Duma elections and were replaced with nationalist factions that ran on an anti-oligarch platform, he called again. (SNIP) "Khodorkovsky was the face of Russian oil for the United States," said Nanay of the Petroleum Finance Corporation. "In terms of the message he relayed when he came to Washington and his strategies for private pipelines and for a sale to a U.S. oil major, what he was doing was clearly in U.S. interests," she said. "But now, after his arrest, this seems to be unraveling." | |||||
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