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| March 17, 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 MARCH 17, 2004 1//The Independent, UK--LABOUR CALLS ON OPPONENTS OF WAR NOT TO LET TORIES IN (Labour is to appeal to opponents of the Iraq war not to desert the party amid growing concern that Tony Blair faces an electoral backlash over the conflict, especially if there is a terrorist attack in Britain. As an opinion poll suggested yesterday that, in protest at the Iraq conflict, one in five Labour supporters may not back the party, a close ally of Mr Blair warned that al-Qa'ida must not be allowed to reap the benefit of the train bombings in Madrid last Thursday.) 2//The
Australian, Australia--NZ A SAFE HAVEN FOR TERRORISTS:
SPY CHIEF (Terrorists may be using
New Zealand as a "safe haven" to plot
attacks or obtain passports, according to the country's
security chief, who has already denied citizenship
to three people with suspected terror links…Mr
Woods's rare public remarks brought a terse response
from the Government. "New Zealand is not a
safe haven for terrorists," Prime Minister
Helen Clark said… Also yesterday, New Zealand announced
a review of security for visiting ships after HMAS
Success was daubed with graffiti in Wellington
Harbour on Monday reading "J Howard US Bootlicker".
Miss Clark said she was "concerned" at
the attack and Foreign Minister Phil Goff said
it showed a terrorist could have blown up the ship.) 4//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates--PROFESSORS AMONG LEADING REFORMISTS HELD (Saudi authorities arrested four leading liberal activists yesterday a few days after they criticised a newly-established human rights body…The sources said the four men had recently criticised the newly established Human Rights Committee, which has been licensed by authorities as the first independent rights group established in Saudi Arabia. However, Taib and his colleagues said in public interviews the body was not independent and that most of its 41 members were appointees of government, the sources added.) 5//Inter Press Service, Italy-ANALYSIS: CLASS HATRED AND THE HIJACKING OF ARISTIDE (…almost all Haiti-watchers agree that various anti-Aristide forces have been at work in the U.S. capital for as long as the former Catholic priest has been leading his campaign on behalf of the poor in the western hemisphere's most impoverished nation. Those opposition elements include the International Republican Institute on International Affairs, linked to the National Endowment for Democracy, which has worked closely with the civil opposition in Haiti…But while the players in the shadow drama against Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, are well known, their motivations are less clear. Their enmity might be personal, suggests Robert Fatton Jr, chairman of the government and foreign affairs department at the University of Virginia.) * * * 1//The
Independent 17 March 2004 LABOUR CALLS ON OPPONENTS OF WAR NOT TO LET TORIES
IN Labour is to appeal to opponents of the Iraq war not to desert the party amid growing concern that Tony Blair faces an electoral backlash over the conflict, especially if there is a terrorist attack in Britain. As an opinion poll suggested yesterday that, in protest at the Iraq conflict, one in five Labour supporters may not back the party, a close ally of Mr Blair warned that al-Qa'ida must not be allowed to reap the benefit of the train bombings in Madrid last Thursday. The former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson told a Dutch Labour Party meeting in Amsterdam that al-Qa'ida must not be "rewarded" for its terrorist acts by creating divisions in Europe or a change of policy in Iraq. That, he warned, would only encourage it to make further attacks. Mr Mandelson said: "People should take care not to allow their hatred of Tony Blair's Iraq policy or in some cases their hatred of him to overcome their better judgement in the aftermath of the Madrid bombings. To say 'Blair is beleaguered' or 'isolated in Europe', neither of which is true, is tantamount to saying that al-Qa'ida has scored and in effect won its first European general election." A YouGov poll for Sky News last night suggested that the Iraq war could cost Labour dearly at the general election. It found that 27 per cent of people who backed Labour at the 2001 election may switch sides, while only 8 per cent said the conflict had made them more likely to vote Labour. The survey of 1,500 people found that 75 per cent believed the war had made Britain more vulnerable to an attack by Islamic terrorists, while 22 per cent thought it had made no difference. (MORE)
NZ A SAFE HAVEN FOR TERRORISTS: SPY CHIEF Terrorists may be using New Zealand as a "safe haven" to plot attacks or obtain passports, according to the country's security chief, who has already denied citizenship to three people with suspected terror links. But the three unnamed individuals were still in New Zealand, Security Intelligence Service director Richard Woods said yesterday, signalling he was frustrated they had not been expelled. New Zealand was realising physical isolation did not make it immune from terror, he said in Wellington. "We are identifying more people in or from New Zealand who are of terrorist or other security concern," he said. "In the year 2002-03 I objected to three people getting citizenship." (SNIP) Mr Woods's rare public remarks brought a terse response from the Government. "New Zealand is not a safe haven for terrorists," Prime Minister Helen Clark said. (SNIP) Security scares are not new. In 2000, Auckland police announced they had discovered a group of Afghan refugees plotting to blow up Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, although they had insufficient evidence for a trial. The men still live in Auckland. Also yesterday, New Zealand announced a review of security for visiting ships after HMAS Success was daubed with graffiti in Wellington Harbour on Monday reading "J Howard US Bootlicker". Miss Clark said she was "concerned" at the attack and Foreign Minister Phil Goff said it showed a terrorist could have blown up the ship. Terrorists could launder money or obtain weapons in New Zealand, Mr Woods said. "Individuals may simply use New Zealand as a place to lie low for a while, perhaps acquiring citizenship and then travelling overseas on that immensely valuable document, a New Zealand passport," he said. New Zealand passports enabled wide travel "without attracting much attention, and there are visa-free arrangements for a number of countries", he said. New Zealand passport-holders are automatically granted visas when entering Australia.
BID TO BRING CALM FAILS: 11 KURDS KILLED IN SYRIA CLASHES Some eleven people were killed in clashes between Arabs and Kurds in northern Syria Tuesday. The incident took place after at least 14 The incident took place after at least 14 Kurds, including three children, were killed in two days of clashes over the weekend with police in the town of Qameshli, Kurdish Syrian representatives reported. Violence broke out on Friday at a premier Violence broke out on Friday at a premier league football match in Qameshli. Dozens of people sustained bullet wounds as thousands of Kurds gathered to protest against the police deaths Friday. In an effort to bring calm to the situation, arrests were conducted by the Syrian authorities against the Kurds living. This is despite several meetings between Syrian officials and the Kurdish leadership in the area. Kurdish sources have asserted to Al Bawaba that the riots have now moved on to other Syrian cities including Aleppo, Damascus, and Hasakeh. Speaking to Al Bawaba, Abdul Hamid Darwish, secretary of the Kurdish , Abdul Hamid Darwish, secretary of the Kurdish Liberal Party described the meeting with the official Syrian delegation as "refreshing". (SNIP) "Previously, there was a Syrian president who had never allowed any of Syria's Baathist to speak out in favor of the [Baathist] regime in Iraq. In the past few years, this has changed and we have been hearing more about the toppled Iraqi regime and how it compared to the one in Syria…I think this issue help trigger a grassroots conviction that it would be easy to riot," Darwish stated. (SNIP) Darwish denied any Turkish presence in the city of Qamishli, however he did say that "gun fire was indeed heard coming from the Turkish border city of Dirbassiyah…the main purpose of the gunfire was probably an attempt on the Turk's part to stimulate the Kurds into causing more turmoil. (SNIP) Al Hasakeh's (the Syrian province to which the town of Qamishli Al Hasakeh's (the Syrian province to which the town of Qamishli belongs to) deputy governor, Khaled Khudair, has openly accused the Kurdish political groups in the area of provoking their constituents into rioting. "The parties that have urged such people to commit these acts of disturbance have been influenced by internal and external forces. The Kurdish residents are just pawns in this larger plan," Khudair added. In the past, the Kurds along with several human rights groups have accused the Syrian government of ignoring the Kurdish plight including their basic human rights. The Kurdish community in Syria is estimated at 2 million, or twelve percent of a Syrian population that now exceeds 17 million. The Syrian government does not view the Kurds in the same way the Turks do (a disregarded minority), but rather consider them as equal citizens with equal rights.
PROFESSORS AMONG LEADING REFORMISTS HELD Saudi authorities arrested four leading liberal activists yesterday a few days after they criticised a newly-established human rights body. Mohammed Said Taib, a human rights activist who had been jailed for years before; Dr Matrouk Al Faleh; Dr Tawfiq Al Qusair and Dr Abdullah Al Hamed, were arrested yesterday afternoon by members of the General Intelligence Police, a close associate of Taib told Gulf News by telephone from Riyadh. (SNIP) An AFP report, however, put the number of detained at five and said Khalid Al Hamid was arrested at King Fahd University. A Reuters report said seven reformists had been arrested. The sources said the four men had recently criticised the newly established Human Rights Committee, which has been licensed by authorities as the first independent rights group established in Saudi Arabia. However, Taib and his colleagues said in public interviews the body was not independent and that most of its 41 members were appointees of government, the sources added. The men were behind a petition presented to Crown Prince Abdullah demanding wide-ranging reforms.
CLASS HATRED AND THE HIJACKING OF ARISTIDE MONTREAL, Mar 16 (IPS) - Some observers have described the Feb. 29 putsch against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as a Bush administration plot while many others label Washington's policy as an indirect one, such as "malign" or "willful" neglect or "estranged engagement". But almost all Haiti-watchers agree that various anti-Aristide forces have been at work in the U.S. capital for as long as the former Catholic priest has been leading his campaign on behalf of the poor in the western hemisphere's most impoverished nation. Those opposition elements include the International Republican Institute on International Affairs, linked to the National Endowment for Democracy, which has worked closely with the civil opposition in Haiti. Politicians from Bush's Republican Party like former Senator Jesse Helms demonised the former president, who was forced to flee the country Feb. 29 as armed rebels seized control of major cities in Haiti's north and descended toward the capital Port-au-Prince. Helms in turn influenced such right-wing officials as Roger Noriega, a member of his staff for several years and now assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, and Otto Reich, the presidential envoy for western hemisphere affairs, who worked with Helms on anti-Cuba legislation as a lobbyist in the 1990s. With the Bush administration intent on waging its "war on terrorism", these lower-tier officials were able to apply heat to Haiti's political tinderbox. But while the players in the shadow drama against Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, are well known, their motivations are less clear. Their enmity might be personal, suggests Robert Fatton Jr, chairman of the government and foreign affairs department at the University of Virginia. "There was something about Aristide that really generated profound hatred on the part of members of the Haitian elite and some right-wing Republicans. You can even sense that (now), because Noriega said (after Aristide's ouster), 'we're certainly not going to spend any money or American lives on Aristide'," Fatton told IPS. "I think Aristide from the very beginning -- we're talking about 1990 when he was elected à always was perceived by the right wing in the Republican Party as an enemy of the United States, as someone who was trouble, a wild card, and a dangerous man -- when they (Republicans) came back in power with Bush the son, I think that antagonism was reactivated". (MORE) | ||||||
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