July 23, 2004

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.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR JULY 23, 2004

1//The Scotsman, UK--BEAMING BLAIR VOWS HE WILL 'GO ON AND ON' (Tony Blair yesterday stamped his authority on the government and pledged he would lead it all the way through a third term from the front. The Prime Minister's remarkably outspoken comments - which pointed towards him staying in Downing Street until 2009 - will further frustrate Gordon Brown, whose ambition to occupy No 10 remains undimmed. Mr Blair's declaration that he would "go on and on" came during a wide-ranging press conference to mark the last day of term at Westminster before the summer recess.)

2//The Independent, UK--NO RESPITE FOR BLAIR AS MPs REOPEN INTELLIGENCE INQUIRY (The inquiry into the flawed intelligence which led Britain to war in Iraq on false claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction is to be reopened by a Labour-led select committee... The Independent also learnt that the Prime Minister's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) agreed at a separate private meeting yesterday to look into the revelations in the Butler report that MI6 had withdrawn the intelligence underpinning the WMD claims... Mr Straw revealed on Tuesday that he was told of the withdrawal in September last year. Mr Blair refused yesterday to give details about when he was told, but insisted it was "as a result of the Butler inquiry" into the intelligence mistakes. Bob Marshall-Andrews QC, a Labour MP opposed to the war, tabled a further question to Mr Blair demanding the date on which Mr Blair was told. Mr Marshall-Andrews said: "This is the silver bullet. Someone is going to come out of the shadows and say, 'I did tell the Prime Minister before he went before the Hutton inquiry'. That would be fatal for Tony Blair. Politically, he would be dead.")

3//Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep, Netherlands--AUSTRALIA'S "GENTLE" REPORT (Along with its American and British allies, Australia has also held an inquiry into the information used to back the country's involvement in last year's military campaign in Iraq. Presented on Thursday, the report prepared by Philip Flood cleared Australia's politicians of "sexing up" the intelligence to justify the war, and its tone appears less critical than the recent Butler report in the United Kingdom...Australian terrorism expert David Wright-Neville gives his view of the main points of the report..."...the author Philip Flood had a distinguished career as a diplomat but also served briefly as the head of one of these intelligence agencies, so there was some suggestion from the very beginning that he'd probably err on the side of a positive assessment. And he's certainly fulfilled those expectations.")

4//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--ERMITA: US ENVOY WANTED ARROYO TO REVERSE DECISION (Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita revealed Thursday that US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone had asked him to help convince the government to reverse its decision to pull out the 51-man Philippine contingent from Iraq...For some allies who have pulled out, Rumsfeld's consternation was thinly veiled: "Sovereign nations make sovereign decisions just as people do. If you want more of something you reward it, and if you want less of it you penalize it."...Rumsfeld's remark was not as well taken...The lawmakers led by Lakas-CMD Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. of Surigao del Sur and Nationalist People's Coalition Rep. Benasing Macarambon Jr. of Lanao del Sur reminded Rumsfeld that it was his defense department that provided the faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which precipitated the war...Now Iraq has become a "dangerous place for all nationalities," he pointed out. "At the very least ... Rumsfeld should be a man and admit he is at fault for this whole fiasco."

5//The Moscow Times, Russia--YUKOS: WE'LL BE BANKRUPT IN WEEKS (A looming liquidity crisis brought on by court marshals' asset freezes could force Yukos to halt its operations and exports and plunge it into bankruptcy as soon as mid-August, company executives warned Thursday. The announcement by the country's embattled No. 1 oil producer sent shock waves through both rattled domestic trading floors and international oil markets, causing shares to fall across the board and world oil prices to soar on fears of supply shortages from Russia..."We will essentially run out of cash and not be able to fund our business operating expenses and obligations at some time in the first half of August," Yukos CEO Steven Theede told journalists in Moscow..."What the government really wants? That is exactly the question," Theede said..."It clearly can't be good for the business investment climate," said Edward Parker, director at Fitch sovereign group, Reuters reported. "We would expect it to reduce investment, to increase capital flight, slow down GDP growth and diversification.")

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1//The Scotsman, UK Fri 23 Jul 2004
http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=842352004

BEAMING BLAIR VOWS HE WILL 'GO ON AND ON'
Alison Hardie, Political Correspondent

Tony Blair yesterday stamped his authority on the government and pledged he would lead it all the way through a third term from the front.

The Prime Minister's remarkably outspoken comments - which pointed towards him staying in Downing Street until 2009 - will further frustrate Gordon Brown, whose ambition to occupy No 10 remains undimmed.

Mr Blair's declaration that he would "go on and on" came during a wide-ranging press conference to mark the last day of term at Westminster before the summer recess.

He was asked outright if he had considered quitting at any time during his ten-year tenure as Labour leader. Mr Blair responded simply: "No."

And he went on to add: "We have still got things to do. It is true that we have fulfilled what we said we would do in terms of improvement and investment in public services and so on, but there are still big challenges that remain and we want - I want - to see them through."

The Prime Minister has often shied away from expressing his true thoughts on his political future as he attempts to keep relations, which are said to be often rocky, with the Chancellor on an even keel.

But yesterday he left no-one in any doubt of his intention to remain as Prime Minister - and he even insisted that the perilous events of recent weeks had left him and his government stronger than ever before. Mr Blair said: "Without any doubt, this has been a testing time over the past few months but the government has come through it strengthened and renewed.

(SNIP)

2//The Independent, UK 22 July 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=543383

NO RESPITE FOR BLAIR AS MPs REOPEN INTELLIGENCE INQUIRY
By Colin Brown and Andrew Grice

The inquiry into the flawed intelligence which led Britain to war in Iraq on false claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction is to be reopened by a Labour-led select committee.

The Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs (FAC) agreed at a meeting behind closed doors to write to Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, with a series of questions, including whether he told the Prime Minister that the intelligence had been withdrawn in July last year, because it was no longer judged to be credible.

The Independent also learnt that the Prime Minister's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) agreed at a separate private meeting yesterday to look into the revelations in the Butler report that MI6 had withdrawn the intelligence underpinning the WMD claims.

The decision by the two committees to pursue the unravelling of the evidence surrounding the Government's Iraq dossiers was a fresh blow to Mr Blair after surviving Tuesday's Commons debate on Iraq. He was hoping to draw a line under the row for the summer, but it is now certain to continue rumbling until the party conferences in the autumn.

The Government also will be alarmed to discover that Donald Anderson, the Labour chairman of the FAC, may also have lost the Labour majority on the committee after two Labour MPs who have been highly critical of the Government - Eric Illsley and Andrew Mackinlay - refused to vote with the Labour majority.

(SNIP)

The opposition MPs will seek the support of Mr Illsley and Mr Mackinlay to recall Mr Straw if disparities are found in the evidence. The MPs want to know why neither they nor the Hutton inquiry were told about the withdrawal by MI6 of the crucial evidence in July, 2003.

Mr Straw revealed on Tuesday that he was told of the withdrawal in September last year. Mr Blair refused yesterday to give details about when he was told, but insisted it was "as a result of the Butler inquiry" into the intelligence mistakes. Bob Marshall-Andrews QC, a Labour MP opposed to the war, tabled a further question to Mr Blair demanding the date on which Mr Blair was told. Mr Marshall-Andrews said: "This is the silver bullet. Someone is going to come out of the shadows and say, 'I did tell the Prime Minister before he went before the Hutton inquiry'. That would be fatal for Tony Blair. Politically, he would be dead."

(MORE)

3//Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep, Netherlands Thursday, 22 July, 2004
http://www.rnw.nl/hotspots/html/aus040722.html

AUSTRALIA'S "GENTLE" REPORT
By our Internet Desk

Along with its American and British allies, Australia has also held an inquiry into the information used to back the country's involvement in last year's military campaign in Iraq.

Presented on Thursday, the report prepared by Philip Flood cleared Australia's politicians of "sexing up" the intelligence to justify the war, and its tone appears less critical than the recent Butler report in the United Kingdom.

However, the report does highlight various flaws, and blames Australia's intelligence agencies for producing "incomplete and ambiguous" information. There's also criticism of the failure to foresee the possibility of the bomb attacks in Bali.

In this interview with Radio Netherlands, Australian terrorism expert David Wright-Neville gives his view of the main points of the report.

"I think the report does point to the difficulty in obtaining information, particularly on terrorist networks in South-East Asia. But the report also goes on to point out that intelligence is an inexact science, and that sometimes it's going to be easy for either terrorists or organised criminals or other groups which have some sort of hostile intentions towards the state or towards its citizens to actually slip through the net. It does make some suggestions about how that might be remedied, but it doesn't actually say that these things can ever be eliminated absolutely."

RN: "So, in some ways the intelligence community in Australia hasn't been criticised as severely as, for example, in Britain?"

"That's absolutely right. I think this is a very gentle report. It emphasizes in particular the positive aspects of the intelligence community. And in many respects perhaps that's not surprising because, of course, the author Philip Flood had a distinguished career as a diplomat but also served briefly as the head of one of these intelligence agencies, so there was some suggestion from the very beginning that he'd probably err on the side of a positive assessment. And he's certainly fulfilled those expectations."

(MORE)

4//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines Posted: 11:04 PM (Manila Time) | Jul. 22, 2004
http://www.inq7.net/nat/2004/jul/23/nat_2-1.htm

ERMITA: US ENVOY WANTED ARROYO TO REVERSE DECISION
By Alcuin Papa, TJ Burgonio, Norman Bordadora and Philip C. Tubeza
Inquirer News Service
Envoy returns to US

Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita revealed Thursday that US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone had asked him to help convince the government to reverse its decision to pull out the 51-man Philippine contingent from Iraq.

In a media conference Thursday, Ermita said Ricciardone paid him a visit at his office in Camp Aguinaldo at the height of the hostage-taking crisis last week.

(SNIP)

Ermita recounted that Ricciardone repeatedly said the Philippines was giving the wrong signal to terrorists by complying with their demands. He said he merely let the envoy "talk his heart out ... because I [realized the pullout was] not what they thought we should do as part of the coalition of the willing."

After meeting with Ermita, Ricciardone told reporters that the United States was still an ally of the country and that we "must not confuse who our friends and enemies are."

Ricciardone left Thursday for consultations in Washington to "reevaluate" relations with the Philippines, now strained over Manila's withdrawal of the peacekeepers, the embassy said.

The US and its allies, notably Australia, have said the pullout, made a month ahead of schedule as demanded by insurgents who had threatened to behead kidnapped worker Angelo de la Cruz, would encourage more terrorism and endanger other members of the US-led coalition.

(SNIP)

Weakness provocative

On the same day in Washington, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asked about Manila's move, told Pentagon reporters: "Weakness is provocative."

Rumsfeld said many other members of the US-led coalition in Iraq "have said they will not withdraw their forces." The spate of kidnappings and attacks still plaguing war-torn Iraq would not affect Washington's resolve, he said.

For some allies who have pulled out, Rumsfeld's consternation was thinly veiled: "Sovereign nations make sovereign decisions just as people do. If you want more of something you reward it, and if you want less of it you penalize it."

(SNIP)

Bristling solons

Rumsfeld's remark was not as well taken. Administration lawmakers Thursday said the US official should find solutions to the Iraq situation instead of slamming his country's allies.

The lawmakers led by Lakas-CMD Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. of Surigao del Sur and Nationalist People's Coalition Rep. Benasing Macarambon Jr. of Lanao del Sur reminded Rumsfeld that it was his defense department that provided the faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which precipitated the war.

"And yet, over a year after the invasion, despite extensive effort by the coalition, there has been no definitive evidence that weapons of mass destruction really existed," Pichay said. Now Iraq has become a "dangerous place for all nationalities," he pointed out. "At the very least ... Rumsfeld should be a man and admit he is at fault for this whole fiasco."

(MORE)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia Friday, July 23, 2004. Page 1.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/07/23/001.html

YUKOS: WE'LL BE BANKRUPT IN WEEKS
By Valeria Korchagina, Staff Writer

A looming liquidity crisis brought on by court marshals' asset freezes could force Yukos to halt its operations and exports and plunge it into bankruptcy as soon as mid-August, company executives warned Thursday.

The announcement by the country's embattled No. 1 oil producer sent shock waves through both rattled domestic trading floors and international oil markets, causing shares to fall across the board and world oil prices to soar on fears of supply shortages from Russia.

"We will essentially run out of cash and not be able to fund our business operating expenses and obligations at some time in the first half of August," Yukos CEO Steven Theede told journalists in Moscow.

(SNIP)

For weeks Yukos management, without any noticeable progress, has been trying to persuade the government to negotiate some kind of settlement. Government officials, from Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin on down, have received a total of at least 11 letters from Yukos management outlining a range of settlement proposals, but have not responded so far, Yukos management said.

"What the government really wants? That is exactly the question," Theede said. When asked whether the government was aiming to destroy Yukos, Theede said, "I don't know. I hope that's not true. I don't think it's in the best interests of the country."

Yukos board chairman Viktor Gerashchenko, who has faced down calls for his resignation by Khodorkovsky, said Thursday that government officials are simply refusing to communicate with the oil major.

"I really don't understand the government's delay in replying. If they are not satisfied with our proposals they must tell us to improve them. But this is not happening," Gerashchenko said, adding that if the government were to clarify its position, Yukos could be in position to borrow money on financial markets.

A clear, but ominous sign of the government's intentions has been the Justice Ministry's move to sell off Yuganskneftegaz, which is likely to be sold for a fraction of its value, managers and analysts say.

(SNIP)

Yukos' announcement also prompted leading international rating agencies to raise alarm over Russia's overall economic and political performance.

"It clearly can't be good for the business investment climate," said Edward Parker, director at Fitch sovereign group, Reuters reported. "We would expect it to reduce investment, to increase capital flight, slow down GDP growth and diversification."

The Yukos affair could also constrain Russia's ability to obtain an investment-grade rating by Standard & Poor's.

"With what we have seen, it curtails the upside for the [sovereign] rating," Konrad Reuss, managing director of sovereign ratings at S&P in London, told Reuters on Thursday.