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| February 6, 2004 |
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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 FEBRUARY 6, 2004 1//The Independent, UK--HOWARD ACCUSES BLAIR OF 'GROSS DERELICTION OF DUTY' (Tony Blair was accused yesterday of misleading Parliament and dereliction of duty over the Government's claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. Michael Howard, the Tory leader, called on him to resign for going to war without asking crucial questions about Iraq's weapons. Mr Blair was under pressure to clarify why he did not know until after the war ended that the intelligence underpinning the claim related simply to battlefield munitions rather than long-range weapons capable of hitting British bases in Cyprus.) 2//Deutsche Welle/dw-World.de, Germany-SEPT. 11 TERROR SUSPECT ACQUITTED (A Hamburg court on Thursday acquitted a Moroccan charged with helping to prepare the Sept. 11 attacks. German officials have already said they plan to deport Abdelghani Mzoudi to his home country..."We're hoping for a second round in the Mzoudi case," Kay Nehm said, adding that he expected the verdict to serve as a wake-up call to U.S. authorities, who have so far been reluctant to release information and witness testimony the prosecution considered crucial to prove their case.) 3//Xinhuanet, China--CHINA TO FORGIVE IRAQ DEBTS, REOPEN EMBASSY (-- Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Thursday that China has decided to forgive debts from Iraq and will reopen the Chinese embassy in that country. The size of the debts to be forgiven is now being calculated and studied, Zhang said at a regular press conference in Beijing.) 4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--NORTH KOREA: JAPAN
PREPARES SANCTIONS NOOSE (Japanese lawmakers are expected
to approve a bill on Friday enabling the government
to impose economic sanctions on any country considered
a threat to Japan's security - read North Korea. The
bill amends the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade
Control Law and would allow Tokyo to halt trade, block
cash remittances to North Korea and even halt ferry
service...The possibility of sanctions, however, will
be an added incentive for Pyongyang not to walk out
of the recently agreed-upon second round of six-party
talks in Beijing on February 25 without making some
kind of progress. Besides North Korea, the talks will
include South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United
States.) * * * 1//The
Independent 06 February 2004 HOWARD ACCUSES BLAIR OF 'GROSS DERELICTION OF DUTY' Tony Blair was accused yesterday of misleading Parliament and dereliction of duty over the Government's claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. Michael Howard, the Tory leader, called on him to resign for going to war without asking crucial questions about Iraq's weapons. Mr Blair was under pressure to clarify why he did not know until after the war ended that the intelligence underpinning the claim related simply to battlefield munitions rather than long-range weapons capable of hitting British bases in Cyprus. Downing Street said yesterday that Mr Blair did not find out until last summer - when the war was over. The "45-minute warning" was included in the Government's dossier on Iraqi weapons published in September 2002. It prompted newspaper headlines that British bases in Cyprus could be attacked by Saddam. Although the Government argues that the claim was never a central part of its case for war, it lay at the heart of the allegation by the former BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan that Downing Street "sexed up" the dossier. Mr Blair's embarrassment was compounded when it emerged that Mr Cook, who was Leader of the Commons at the time, and the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, both knew that the intelligence related only to short-range weapons. (MORE)
SEPT. 11 TERROR SUSPECT ACQUITTED A Hamburg court on Thursday acquitted a Moroccan charged with helping to prepare the Sept. 11 attacks. German officials have already said they plan to deport Abdelghani Mzoudi to his home country. For now, Mzoudi is a free man and will receive financial compensation for the time spent in jail. "This is the day of a justice system, which refuses to be used blindly to combat terrorism," Mzoudi's defense lawyer, Michael Rosenthal, said after the verdict. But Germany's prosecutor-general said Thursday that he planned to appeal the verdict to the Federal Court of Justice. "We're hoping for a second round in the Mzoudi
case," Kay Nehm said, adding that he expected
the verdict to serve as a wake-up call to U.S. authorities,
who have so far been reluctant to release information
and witness testimony the prosecution considered crucial
to prove their case. "There is no case more pressing than Mzoudi's," Dirk Nockemann, the city state's interior minister, told AP news service after the verdict. "The man is dangerous."
CHINA TO FORGIVE IRAQ DEBTS, REOPEN EMBASSY BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Zhang Qiyue said Thursday that China has decided to
forgive debts from Iraq and will reopen the Chinese
embassy in that country. As a developing country, China fully understands difficulties of the reconstruction and the humanitarian situation in Iraq, she explained, expressing the hope that the Iraqi people can quickly step on the road of stable and peaceful development. According to the spokeswoman, a group of Chinese diplomats will leave in a few days for Iraq to make preparations for the reopening of the Chinese embassy. The group will be headed by Chinese interim Charged' Affairs to Iraq Sun Bigan, and is composed of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce. (MORE)
NORTH KOREA: JAPAN PREPARES SANCTIONS NOOSE BEIJING - Japanese lawmakers are expected to approve a bill on Friday enabling the government to impose economic sanctions on any country considered a threat to Japan's security - read North Korea. The bill amends the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law and would allow Tokyo to halt trade, block cash remittances to North Korea and even halt ferry service. Sanctions are not in the offing, as yet, but if imposed, they could have a serious economic impact on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Remittances alone from pro-Pyongyang Koreans and Japanese in Japan are said to amount to tens of billions of yen annually, a major source of income for Pyongyang. Japan is also the DPRK's third-largest trading partner, after China and South Korea. The possibility of sanctions, however, represents important political leverage for Tokyo against Pyongyang in the context of the current nuclear crisis. But for Tokyo the leverage is even more important in its efforts to resolve the case of a dozen Japanese citizens and their families abducted by North Korea in the 1970s. The best guess is that they were abducted to train North Koreans, possibly espionage agents, in Japanese language skills and behavior. The abduction issue has been dominating bilateral relations and preventing improvement since DPRK leader Kim Jong-il admitted that 13 Japanese citizens were abducted in the 1970s and five were still alive in the DPRK. That was in 2002 during the historic visit of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Pyongyang. Lawmakers in the Lower House of parliament, the Diet, overwhelmingly approved the measure on January 29, though the Japan Communist Party voted against it. On Friday, overwhelming approval by the Upper House is expected, clearing the way for the government to impose sanctions. Koizumi has said of the possible economic sanctions, "It is good to have various cards" to play in relations with North Korea, but he added that his government is not yet considering actually applying sanctions. The DPRK Foreign Ministry called it a "wanton violation" of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration of September 2002, warning: "As Japan sows, so it shall reap." Sanctions threat could keep Pyongyang in talks The possibility of sanctions, however, will be an added incentive for Pyongyang not to walk out of the recently agreed-upon second round of six-party talks in Beijing on February 25 without making some kind of progress. Besides North Korea, the talks will include South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. (MORE)
PUTIN WILL NOT DEBATE CHALLENGERS President Vladimir Putin will not debate with other candidates in the run-up to the March 14 presidential election, Central Elections Commission chief Alexander Veshnyakov announced Thursday. Speaking on Mayak-24 radio, Veshnyakov said Putin, whom polls have winning re-election by a large margin, would not take part in national televised debates on state-run channels, or use his allotted free airtime. The announcement came after Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said that his party might pull its candidate, Nikolai Kharitonov, if Putin refused to take part in debates, to protest what he called "dishonest elections." Vladimir Pribylovsky, the head of the Panorama think tank, said the Communists might pull Kharitonov out of the race as late as March 8 -- the last day candidates can take their names off the ballot -- and call on voters to vote "against all" candidates. On Thursday, Rodina bloc co-leader Sergey Glazyev became the second challenger this week to accuse the Kremlin of using "dirty tricks" to ruin his campaign. (SNIP) Pribylovsky said the reports of false signatures were likely a way for the Kremlin to block an unwanted challenge from Glazyev, who has been tipped as a contender to succeed Putin in 2008. Former Duma speaker Ivan Rybkin, who is backed by businessman Boris Berezovsky, complained of harassment earlier this week after officials from the Prosecutor General's Office searched his offices, seizing computers and detaining a campaign worker. (MORE) | |||||
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