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| April 12, 2004 |
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World Media Watch by Gloria R. Lalumia BUZZFLASH NOTE: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints. * * * WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR APRIL 12, 2004 1//The Independent, UK--AT LAST, BLAIR IDENTIFIES THE REAL THREAT: COMPLACENCY (The PM mounted his latest defence of the Allies' troubled mission in the pro-war Observer. Nigel Morris highlights the gaping holes, contradictions, and double standards... What he said: But our greatest threat, apart from the immediate one of terrorism, is our complacency. When some ascribe, as they do, the upsurge in Islamic extremism to Iraq, do they really forget who killed whom on 11 September 2001? When they call on us to bring the troops home, do they seriously think that this would slake the thirst of these extremists, to say nothing of what it would do to the Iraqis? What it means: Allied complacency - the lack of preparedness for post-Saddam Iraq - could be seen as a key factor in the turmoil in Iraq. A further attempt to elide the violence with the 11 September atrocities and an implicit portrayal of critics as unpatriotic.) 2//The
News International, Pakistan--AFGHANS TO FOLLOW
IRAQIS IN RESISTANCE: HEKMATYAR (Former
Afghan prime minister and chief of Hezb-i-Islami
Afghanistan Gulbaddin Hikmatyar has welcomed the
uprising from supporters of Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada
Al-Sadr and termed it the base for forging unity
between the Sunni and Shia sects. In a statement
written in Pashto, Hikmatyar said, "we welcome
the uprising from Moqtadar Al-Sadr and his supporters
and consider it a disclosure. It will absolve the
Shias from siding with the invading forces of crusaders
in Afghanistan and Iraq". Hikmatyar also released
an audio-cassette, a copy of which is available
with The News. He said it was made known to all
that the capture of Kabul and Baghdad was easy
but keeping it under control would be a gigantic
task. "We had made it clear that the first
days of capture for the invaders would be a honeymoon,
but after that they will only hear bad news and
would see bad days," he said.) 4//The Taipei Times, Taiwan--RALLIES TURN VIOLENT: MA TAKES ACTION (Pan-blue rallies yesterday again turned violent as protesters attempted to destroy the barricade separating them from the Presidential Office. Supporters of the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard for another demonstration, demanding a special task force be assembled to probe the election-eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian...Yesterday's protest was the latest in the series of weekly demonstrations staged by the pan-blue camp since the alliance's presidential candidate, Lien and Soong lost to Chen during the March 20 election with a margin of less than 30,000 votes...The alliance claimed the demonstration had drawn over 200,000 people, but wire agencies reported the police as saying 80,000 people attended the rally.) 5//The Moscow Times, Russia--PUTIN SHAKES UP WEAPONS
EXPORTER (President Vladimir Putin relieved Yury
Belyaninov from his post as head of the state-owned
arms selling agency Rosoboronexport on Friday,
putting him in charge of domestic arms procurement.
It was unclear Friday who will head the arms export
company with annual revenues of more than $5 billion.
Sources in the defense industry suggested that
Belyaninov's deputy Sergei Chemezov will most probably
be given the job...Though only deputy head at Rosoboronexport,
Chemezov was widely understood to be the real chief
and rumored to become Belyaninov's eventual replacement... * * * 1//The
Independent, UK 12 April 2004 AT LAST, BLAIR IDENTIFIES THE REAL THREAT: COMPLACENCY What he said: We are locked in a historic struggle in Iraq. On its outcome hangs more than the fate of the Iraqi people. Were we to fail, which we will not, it is more than 'the power of America' that would be defeated. The hope of freedom and religious tolerance in Iraq would be snuffed out. Dictators would rejoice; fanatics and terrorists would be triumphant. Every nascent strand of moderate Arab opinion, knowing full well that the future should not belong to fundamentalist religion, would be set back in bitter disappointment. What it means: A mixture of apocalyptic words (later he says "civilisation and democracy everywhere" are at stake) and careless reference to "fundamentalist religion" that threatens to play into the hands of Iraqi insurgents who want to portray Iraq under the yoke of Christian oppressors. The tone - the phrase "historic struggle" is used twice - is at odds with Cabinet colleagues, but may find favour in an election-year White House. He raises, for the first time, the possibility of failure in Iraq, although it is swiftly dismissed. Further conditional language later chimes with the private fears of ministers that Iraq will not be able to successfully achieve the planned transfer of sovereignty on 30 June. What he said: In every country, including our own, the fanatics are preaching their gospel of hate, basing their doctrine on a wilful perversion of the true religion of Islam. At their fringe are groups of young men prepared to conduct terrorist attacks however and whenever they can. Thousands of victims the world over have now died, but the impact is worse than the death of innocent people. The terrorists prey on ethnic or religious discord. From Kashmir to Chechnya, to Palestine and Israel, they foment hatred, they deter reconciliation. In Europe, they conducted the massacre in Madrid. They threaten France. They forced the cancellation of the President of Germany's visit to Djibouti. They have been foiled in Britain, but only for now. Of course they use Iraq. It is vital to them. What it means: This section explicitly connects the turmoil in Iraq with the terrorist threat from al-Qa'ida to Britain and western Europe. Before the war last year, there was little serious suggestion of a link between Iraq and Osama bin Laden's followers; if it has developed then some of the blame must rest with the fall-out from the conflict. What he said: So what exactly is the nature of the battle inside Iraq itself? This is not a 'civil war', though the purpose of the terrorism is undoubtedly to try to provoke one. The current upsurge in violence has not spread throughout Iraq. Much of Iraq is unaffected and most Iraqis reject it. The insurgents are former Saddam sympathisers, angry that their status as 'boss' has been removed, terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda and, most recently, followers of the Shia cleric, Muqtada-al-Sadr. What it means: After doom-laden language, this attempt to play down the anarchy rings hollow. The attempt to boil down the insurgents to three groups sidesteps the obvious point that their foment is finding many sympathetic ears. It ignores the problems in pacifying growing disquiet among the majority Sunnis in northern Iraq. Nor is there any acknowledgment that the Allies should have foreseen, and prepared for, the chaos. (SNIP) What he said: But our greatest threat, apart from the immediate one of terrorism, is our complacency. When some ascribe, as they do, the upsurge in Islamic extremism to Iraq, do they really forget who killed whom on 11 September 2001? When they call on us to bring the troops home, do they seriously think that this would slake the thirst of these extremists, to say nothing of what it would do to the Iraqis? What it means: Allied complacency - the lack of preparedness for post-Saddam Iraq - could be seen as a key factor in the turmoil in Iraq. A further attempt to elide the violence with the 11 September atrocities and an implicit portrayal of critics as unpatriotic. (MORE)
AFGHANS TO FOLLOW IRAQIS IN RESISTANCE: HEKMATYAR PESHAWAR: Former Afghan prime minister and chief of Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan Gulbaddin Hikmatyar has welcomed the uprising from supporters of Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr and termed it the base for forging unity between the Sunni and Shia sects. In a statement written in Pashto, Hikmatyar said, "we welcome the uprising from Moqtadar Al-Sadr and his supporters and consider it a disclosure. It will absolve the Shias from siding with the invading forces of crusaders in Afghanistan and Iraq". (SNIP) "Afghans will soon be following the path chosen by the Iraqis. No one believed that Iraqis will take the lead," he said. He said it was a wrong decision that some groups from Afghanistan, Iraq and Kashmir chose to follow the path, which was in clash with the one chosen by the muajhideen, at the behest of some religious leaders and stood by the enemy. Hikmatyar also released an audio-cassette, a copy of which is available with The News. He said it was made known to all that the capture of Kabul and Baghdad was easy but keeping it under control would be a gigantic task. "We had made it clear that the first days of capture for the invaders would be a honeymoon, but after that they will only hear bad news and would see bad days," he said. (SNIP) He said the use of chemical weapons and destruction of homes, mosques and villages was now an open secret, which is going on in Afghanistan and Iraq. He said the formation and encouraging of the formation of local militias would not help either the Americans or the Britain, because the resistance in Afghanistan against these militias have proved that it wouldn't work, as these people have been purchased through money and money could not work against ideology.
REVENUE REFORMS TO BRING INCOME TAX TO AFGHANISTAN KABUL: After suffering through years of war, drought and poverty, Afghans will soon face another trial - income tax. Personal income tax is one of a range of taxation reforms being introduced by the country, one of the poorest in the world, to help fill the coffers of the central government, a high-ranking official said. Taxes on money-changing, rental properties and snuff and tobacco have already been introduced and reforms to road tolls and an agricultural land tax are in the wings. The income tax will be introduced on a sliding scale dependent on salary and will have a reasonable tax-free threshold, according to the Director-General of Revenue Timor Anwaryar. Anwaryar refused to comment further on the tax except to say: "We are trying to keep in mind social justice. We are doing our best trying to be very fair." But he admits that people will not be happy to pay, particularly as there has not been a strong tax-paying culture in the country which has experienced decades of war and the 1996 to 2001 Islamic fundamentalist Taleban regime. (SNIP) Afghanistan's current per capita GDP is less than $200 and the projected national revenue for this financial year ending March 2005 is $300 million. However, according to a government document on the economy presented at a recent aid-pledging conference in Berlin, this is expected to rise to $500 million within two years. The document, Securing Afghanistan's Future, states that the Finance Ministry is establishing a taxpayer office in Kabul to focus on domestic revenue collection from the top 100 or more tax-paying bodies. (SNIP) As in any post-conflict country, simply collecting the taxes will be a task in itself, Anwaryar says. "We have to educate people about this," he says, "so people who haven't paid tax for such a long time, and who've gotten used to this habit ... realize they should pay taxes and what the taxes are used for." (MORE)
RALLIES TURN VIOLENT: MA TAKES ACTION CROWD CONTROL: What had been a large, peaceful
protest turned into a angry demonstration as pan-blue
supporters attacked the barricade on Ketagalan
Blvd Pan-blue rallies yesterday again turned violent as protesters attempted to destroy the barricade separating them from the Presidential Office. Supporters of the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard for another demonstration, demanding a special task force be assembled to probe the election-eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian. As the pan-blue's rally turned towards violence yesterday evening, KMT Secretary General accused the pan-green camp of purposely inciting confrontation while DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan said a lawsuit would be in order if the accusation were not retracted. (SNIP) While protestors had peacefully assembled in front of the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon, a confrontation between police and protestors broke out when protestors tore down the barricade blocking the protest at 6:07pm, and began knocking down scaffolding at 6:30pm. Police began using water cannon against the crowds to put a halt to the violence at 7:05pm, and by 7:55pm, Ma ordered the police to step up their actions to deter illegal acts. (SNIP) At 10:30pm, as the crowds grew more aggressive, police began fighting off protestors with shields and batons as the agitated protestors threw at least two Molotov cocktails at police and engaged in violent physical clashes. The latest reports indicated that at least seven people had registered at National Taiwan University Hospital with protest-related injuries. Yesterday's protest was the latest in the series of weekly demonstrations staged by the pan-blue camp since the alliance's presidential candidate, Lien and Soong lost to Chen during the March 20 election with a margin of less than 30,000 votes. Although he has not been able to produce proof, Lien made claims about voting irregularities, calling the election unfair and refusing to concede defeat. Raising question about the attack on Chen on March 19 -- which the alliance claimed was an attempt to win sympathy votes -- Lien urged Chen to form an independent task force to investigate the shooting, in which bullets grazed Chen's stomach and Vice President Annette Lu's knee. (SNIP) "Until the truth is known, Chen should not take part in the presidential inauguration on May 20," said Soong, who spoke after Lien. Soong called on the crowd to come back and gather at the square in front of the Presidential Office on May 19 if Chen insisted on holding the presidential inauguration -- as required by law -- before "the truth is revealed." "No truth, no president!" Soong shouted, leading the crowd in chanting the slogan. The alliance claimed the demonstration had drawn over 200,000 people, but wire agencies reported the police as saying 80,000 people attended the rally.
PUTIN SHAKES UP WEAPONS EXPORTER President Vladimir Putin relieved Yury Belyaninov from his post as head of the state-owned arms selling agency Rosoboronexport on Friday, putting him in charge of domestic arms procurement. It was unclear Friday who will head the arms export company with annual revenues of more than $5 billion. Sources in the defense industry suggested that Belyaninov's deputy Sergei Chemezov will most probably be given the job. (SNIP) Promexport, together with Rossiiskiye Tekhnologii and Rosvooruzheniye, was merged into Rosoboronexport in 2000 to put an end internal competition. Chemezov was one of the merger's chief backers. Though only deputy head at Rosoboronexport, Chemezov was widely understood to be the real chief and rumored to become Belyaninov's eventual replacement. Before becoming active in the arms trade, Belyaninov also worked in foreign intelligence and later in the banking sector. (SNIP) During Belyaninov's tenure as head of Rosoboronexport, the agency struck four consecutive records in arms sales, last year reaping $5.1 billion in revenues. In his new job, Belyaninov will oversee 138 billion rubles ($4.8 billion) allocated for procurement and weapons upgrade programs. (MORE) | ||||||
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